Lengthy RPGs are one of the great joys in my life, but it can sometimes feel a bit daunting to pack one into just a few weeks for the review process. As of writing this, I have played just over 70 hours of Octopath Traveler 0 and am nearing the final few chapters in its main questline – and having played these kinds of RPGs most of my life, I already know those "final few chapters" will be anything but short. However, I'm eager to wrap them up in the coming days because it's been a worthwhile journey so far. Between the new wrinkles in its dynamic combat system and some fantastic music that uplift its big battles, Octopath Traveler 0 is hitting the right notes and delivering the things I seek from RPGs. The tales told within its various quest branches have been hit and miss, though, and I'm still waiting to see if the story will come together and hit its stride in this last stretch before I settle with a final, scored review.

With Octopath Traveler 0, Square Enix has adapted the 2022 mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent into a more traditional package, serving as both a prequel to the original and a reconfiguration of what's already available on phones. Regardless of where I land in my final review, I'm glad it exists in this form at all since it ditches the gacha/microtransaction elements that were used to build your party and instead has you recruiting team members through sidequests. Thus, the better parts of the mobile game come to the forefront and highlight that the foundation of the series held up then and still holds up now.

Story is where most of my reservations are since it hits some pretty high highs and fairly low lows. While I'm not expecting it to be the most beautifully written script or deepest character study, I've found several plot beats to fall quite flat due to some shallow storytelling, rudimentary dialogue, or things that happen just because. Comically evil villains make for bosses I get fired up to absolutely destroy, but it's hard to take them seriously at times when their foolish cruelty and thirst for power is the main hook, so I'm not coming away with a sense of satisfaction I've felt elsewhere (namely, Octopath Traveler 2). Like the rest of the series, godly powers linger in the background and slowly reveal themselves as you uncover the real purpose behind the eight divine rings, one of which is assigned to "the chosen one" who is your created protagonist. Despite the inconsistent quality of its storytelling across this long runtime, Octopath Traveler 0 runs at a decent pace and propels you forward without sitting on any one story thread for too long.

A big part of this is in how the main questline is structured; after a tragic prologue where your hometown is burned to the ground, you're given three story branches to pursue the trio of villains responsible. Themed around power, fame, and wealth, respectively, those three paths then converge into a conclusion for what is roughly the first half of the overall story (at about 40 hours). It then splits into three new questlines that pick up those themes once again, and although they retread similar territory, the stakes get higher as more of Octopath's world gets involved. That's a lot to chew on, but it's able to keep momentum rather than trying to build eight separate stories that have to run in parallel. Octopath Traveler 2 was very successful with regard to its cast of eight and made for some of the most memorable RPG stories in recent memory, but this is a smart direction considering that this (and the mobile game) centers around recruiting a lot of characters to swap in and out of your party. Unfortunately this means most party members feel rather disposable, so the disonance it creates is just the trade-off that gets made.

While I haven't experienced the same compelling, emotionally resonant character arcs I saw in the second game, specific moments remind me that there's still some heartfelt stuff tucked within. Whether it's a character wielding their pain from tragedy to summon a new power mid-battle or a quiet, reflective cutscene back at town to remind you what "home" really means, Octopath Traveler 0 has brief moments of greatness. The big picture is solid, too – the alliances and betrayals of various kingdoms don't get bogged down in exposition and deliver good old fashioned drama. The stories around Octopath's world religion get a bit unwieldy when it comes to the greater lore, but it's not incomprehensible and makes the mechanism of the church quite clear. Like the previous game, class warfare and going from nothing to something remains a prominent motif, and even though it sometimes fumbles the messaging here, it's willing to talk about those topics with enough clarity. Whether or not all these threads pay off, well, that's what's left for me to determine as I finish the main story.

Now, that's the A-plot. There's a B-plot that revolves around rebuilding your hometown through an independent but related questline that's tied to the town-building system. In the process of bringing your hometown back to life narratively, you actually rebuild it in a similar vein to Fallout 4 or even Ni no Kuni 2. You collect crafting materials naturally throughout which then allow you to build housing, shops, and decor wherever you like within certain parameters. It’s an enjoyable side activity, with tangible benefits that come from constructing new buildings and recruiting new residents you invite from across the map. You get perks such as discounted shop prices, a self-sufficient flow of materials, and a training ground for inactive party members to continue leveling up, among other things. Town building may seem optional at first, but it becomes almost essential the deeper you get, especially when you consider the story's broader message about what home means to you and the people you care for. It's a bit cheesy at times, but its heart is in the right place as it gets sentimental about what it takes to rebuild after losing everything.

You get a ton of sidequests thrown at you as you progress in the main game, many of which are a short series' of objectives to unlock new party members – some of which are cast members from the original game. It's super cool to see, but don't expect them to have any particular depth as the main story is largely focused on specific, non-optional characters. One thing I do enjoy about Octopath games and RPGs like them is the sense of discovery and stumbling upon secrets or locations you wouldn't visit otherwise, and the sidequests, if anything, have been a good way to pull you in those directions.

I've been on record saying Octopath Traveler 2 has one of my favorite turn-based combat systems ever; it shines here as well and for slightly different reasons. The Boost and Break systems give the typical dynamic of hitting elemental affinities extra depth. Playing the guessing game of discovering what enemies are weak against gets a little tiresome, but once that part is solved, scheming for your plan of attack based on turn order to Break enemies and tee up the big hits is oh so satisfying. Building each party members' Boost points to add extra hits or increase spell potency gives you something to plan around for turns well in advance. And lining up all these variables while juggling the threat of hard-hitting bosses who impose some impactful status ailments have me feeling like a genius tactician. Octopath might be playing on our nostalgia with its HD-2D retro-style visuals, but I honestly believe it has continually set a higher bar for turn-based combat systems in modern gaming.

Party composition is quite different this time around since you have eight active party members at all times – four in the front row and four in the back who you can swap between mid-turn. With 30-something characters in my current roster, it's an overwhelming amount to process and manage. But while the fundamentals of Octopath's combat system are familiar, pairing characters as duos for the column they occupy is a unique strategic layer that allows for a lot of flexibility in combat. And because they build Boost points individually, you can dole out the big hits more frequently and keep up a brisk pace in battle. You sacrifice individual character depth, however, as each party member has just one Job to progress through (aside from your protagonist), but you can at least master specific Job skills to then equip on other characters to diversify their moveset.

I'm not quite ready to say whether I like this combat more or less than Octopath Traveler 2 since I found its character growth more meaningful, but it’s still been a welcome change of pace that hits the turn-based highs that've made the series special. The slow-motion cinematic camera cuts for Max Boost attacks and tide-turning limit breaks still get me hyped up, giving combat the visual flair that truly makes the HD-2D style stand out when the action picks up. The confluence of thoughtful gameplay, fantastic graphics, and a banging soundtrack that contends with some of the RPG greats, showcases why the genre is still in good hands.

Octopath Traveler 0 has so much firing off in parallel with its separate story branches, overarching themes, and complex-but-satisfying RPG combat system, and I'm excited to see how it all concludes as I inch closer to the end. Great RPGs live or die by how their final acts play out – with the expectation of wild boss battles, story revelations, and resolution to an 80-hour-plus journey, a lot is riding on it. And I'm just as eager to finalize my thoughts and feelings on Octopath Traveler 0 soon after.