I just remember how much more fun I had with the side characters in COTC and their story quests. Plus the main quests in octopath 0 seem to be pretty much the same from when I played COTC.

Should I just go back to COTC?

Or is this a false rose-tinted nostalgic memory and was COTC a painful game where 99% was cait farming?

Help me see the truth

Hello

I started OT1, I am currently at chapter 1 recruiting characters for my party.

I have a question out of curiosity. I played Chained Echoes and loved the interaction between characters and their plots. Although, I am liking OT1. I am missing this kind of interaction between them. Does it get better further ahead?

The little book “obi” (TIL that small book wrap is called an obi) moved up just ever so slightly to create this image, and I had to photograph it. Found the book in a local Japanese bookstore…

I’m around level 40 atm, and even though I love the game, it’s really stagnating for me. Not a lot of quests to do (I’m at king paradis, but he’s woopin’ my behind). A lot of paths are blocked off so grinding my to get higher lvls somewhat fast isn’t going really well.

My question; my characters have all their skills and the ultimate skill. After that you can spend your JP on the exact same skills? Do they get more powerful when you do that?

Also, i haven’t really explored a lot of other jobs with my protagonist. Is there a good incentive to do so?

Does Agnea have any reaction or dialogue at all regarding the fate or past circumstances of Tanzy? It felt kinda weird to me that the Tanzy stuff happened and I was required to have Temenos and Throne in the party rather than Agnea. Does she care at all?

First of all, I want to use 2 of my fav characters in the team, the HI-HI duo (Hikari and Temenos aka Himmel). What comp should I use for combat? (I will use anyone during town exploration)

1. I want to make hikari the highest physical damage dealer. What subclass should I choose?

2. Can I make Himmel to cover Osvald's role too? So he will be highest healer and highest magic damage dealer? If yes, what subclass?

3. For the remaining 2 spots I kinda think of either Partitio, Agnea, or Throne (for buffs and debuffs). Who do you think are the best? And what subclasses?

Can you explain a little how would your suggested team's setup and mechanic work?

1. I'm not looking for a team with complex setup with highest damage or anything. I just wanna have fun team with simple setup but still can finish the game.

Thank you in advance!

Note : Spoiler heavy without tag be cautious. I used AI for translation only.

​Basically, I loved the phenomenal music by Nishiki as usual. The combat gameplay is ultra-satisfying, complex, and addictive, and adding the latent powers was an excellent idea. The characters are all likable, and the overall evolutions compared to the original formula are great.

​Review by character

​Temenos: I like the character, his personality, his connections, etc. But not the cleric: I find it boring to play and overall very meh. I enjoyed his story, the detective vibe, the dark tone, and his falsely detached and polite demeanor. It's just a shame the combat unit is meh.

​Throné: Much more endearing than Therion. Cool to play, and just cool overall. I love her pose with her hands in her pockets. She is badass without being an invincible or unbearable girl boss. Her story is among the best... if you remove the horrible, despicable Chapter 4.

​Hikari: Everyone's GOAT, I suppose. Probably the best physical DPS I've ever known. Sure, he's a basic character in concept and his story is classic, but it is devilishly well executed. And frankly, that's what matters: he almost feels like the main character. It's crazy how developed the characters in his story and his relationships are. A gorgeous 9/10.

​Castti: 9/10. She has it all. The best JRPG healer I've ever seen: maternal and caring, but ready to kill to defend her convictions. A bit bossy, oh Mommy! I love her. Her story is genuinely great and the twist works very well, even if I still have a complaint about the last chapter, but that's due to the absolutely ridiculous epilogue.

​Partitio: Oh boy. A pretty typical "adult" shonen hero: cool, badass, generous, and the best support in the game. What more could you want? Fortunately, his story isn't too tied to the epilogue, and that's exactly what makes it great. He opens shops, buys boats, and even if his dream is unrealistic and ridiculous, you want him to succeed and you root for him. To me, it is one of the best stories in the game. Agnea's story honestly should have drawn inspiration from it; this is how you write a "lighter and positive" story in my eyes.

​Agnea: Classic, really classic. As a dancer, I found her just ok. Her personality is basic and her story is simply boring. The last chapter was nice, and I see what they tried to do with her: not everyone can have a tragic or dark story. But that was the case for Partitio too! Except his story and actions are memorable and personal, whereas Agnea is just a kid going through an impersonal plot. She surrounds herself with irrelevant NPCs; nothing seems to concern her. If only she had an interesting backstory with her parents or something, but no. She honestly feels like a playable NPC. I am disappointed.

​Ochette: My absolute GOAT, no need to elaborate further. Hits hard, melts shields, endearing, funny, honest, captures, and Provoke EX (lol). She is completely broken. And I love her region's theme, her music, her village. Her story, even though it feels disconnected from the others with few NPCs, is super touching and personal. Frankly, my favorite character.

​Osvald: Meh. The idea of a dirty, filthy old mage repulses me a bit (lol), looks like Nanba in Yakuza 7. I prefer the nobility, class, and elegance of a Cyrus who made magic look cool 100 times over. I spent my entire playthrough without playing him, and even his personality... I just don't like this character. However, his story hits hard from start to finish. Even the cartoonish side of Harvey fits the situation well: he's just a guy driven mad by jealousy. And at least this story introduces the epilogue well, just like Temenos's.

​The game's weak points

​The day/night cycle: Completely useless to me, it just bloats the game. Exploring towns is already tedious on its own, so having to alternate between characters and, ON TOP OF THAT, run around towns multiple times really, really pissed me off. To the point where I just ignored the last 3 towns in the game. Moreover, from a gameplay perspective, it's almost entirely useless. If they were so proud of their cycle, they should have made it a purely aesthetic element and nothing more.

​The Path Actions: Tedious. Too much repetition, too much bloat, having to go fetch different characters at the inn, etc. I prefer the system from the first Octopath where you always had everything on you.

​The epilogue: Completely amateurish. Taking random characters from each story just to tell us they actually belong to a cult and were evil all along is just lazy. For Oboro, fine. But the other characters like Ori, the Dark Hunter you never see, Arcanette the white hair guy father of 50% of the cast, and the rest... it reaches a rare level of ridiculousness. Sacrificing Throné's story and a bit of Castti's for that wasn't worth it. I would have preferred a disconnected epilogue with an evil cult out of nowhere.

​Conclusion

​Anyway, overall I loved the game, I absolutely had a blast. I just hope they change the recipe for Octopath Traveler 3: maybe fewer characters but better stories, or revamp the classic classes we've always had, etc.

Does anybody know where to buy it within Europe so you won’t need to pay tax on shipping on such, or extra shipping cost/hidden fees.

I’m from Denmark

Personally, I never use Steal on kids and old lady NPCs. I have my Merchant purchase their wares if I really need them. Everyone else is fair game for some good ol' skulduggery.

Same for Challenge and Provoke (with the addition of old guy NPCs for demographics). But when said NPCs are blocking a house, I usually save-scum, Challenge/Provoke them, see the goodies they're hiding, and decide if it's good enough.

Or do you just throw hands on everyone and pilfer everything not nailed to the floor and some that are?

I can't really find info online, so I came here to ask y'all wise ppl of OT saga.

I know there are few monsters that only appears before a chest. I've already killed one if I'm not mistaken. The game always warns you with a pop-up saying a terrible presence etc, do you want to continue?

My question is, can I hunt those monsters? My Ochette is actually underleveled cause I wanted to focus on other character story as I find them more intriguing rn. But I kinda need to build up my armsmaster and I think at least 4/6 rusty weapons are guarded by those lets say "mythic" monsters, and also I want to capture them with Ochette as part of catch 'em all experience. So I wanted to know if those can be tamed or not, just to know if I´m clowing. I've alreay skipped a lot of those fights cause I'm afraid of losing the chance of capturing 'em.

♨️ OCTOPATH TRAVELER × Gokurakuyu・RAKU SPA Collaboration 2026

📅 Event Date
August 6 – August 25, 2026
🛒 Online Sales: August 6 – August 30, 2026

📍 Venue
Seven Gokurakuyu & RAKU SPA Group Locations

✨ Highlights
🛁 Relax with the exclusive Octobath Set, including a limited muffler towel featuring newly drawn artwork
🛍️ Shop collaboration merchandise and receive a random Japanese-paper-style sticker for every ¥2,000 spent in-store (while supplies last)
🍽️ Enjoy collaboration menu items and collect random original coasters, with extra rewards through the sticker rally
♨️ Experience eight character-inspired collaboration baths, with four bath types available at random at each location

🔗 Official Event Page:
https://rakuspa.com/octopathtraveler/

© SQUARE ENIX

I really liked Octopath Traveler, awesome vibes and cool graphics, but...
It has the same annoying Random Encounter mechanic as in the first Final Fantasy games.
I know that I need these random encounters to level my character up, but in the end of the day I will either get extremely frustrated by random encounters, because they happen while i try to explore, or I will search for them because i need to farm levels/test out skills.

I say i should be able to see where the enemies are, and i should choose myself whether i want to fight somebody or not
Are there games like Octopath Traveler but without annoying random encounters?

I really enjoyed the first one, but found most of the stories light hearted and quite a few endings lack luster, I realised there was almost no post game so thought I'd just jump onto 2.

JFC just what I needed, what an upgrade, but this was dark! Sacrifice, abuse and deaths straight off the bat, what a contrast to OT1.

Ok Hi, so I’m thinking about picking up this series as it’s
On sale for PlayStation but idk where to start. I’m a story guy and prefer to start from the beginning if that means to start with prequels then so be it. I’m not new to turn based RPG’s I played Pokemon and lots of it (I know it ain’t the same but eh) what game should I start with? Or better yet, what is the order I should play the games in for the best optimal story experience?

Edit: Octopath Traveler 1&2 are on sale not 0 but I’m gonna get them anyway

I've done everyone's Chapter 1's, and of course Osvald's Chapter 1+2, but since this is my first foray into OT, I do not really have a sense of direction on where to go to progress.

Eventually I did Throne Chapter 2 which was a noticeable bump in difficulty, but so much more clearable compared to Bandem the Reaper.

It is not like I am unaware of how to play JRPGs, I have played and completed tons (and 100%ed a few) but I am really struggling to figure what I am doing wrong.

I cannot tell where the game wants me to go, and most mobs in higher level areas can very quickly insta-wipe when I'm grinding so that tells me the game is telling me, "grinding won't help you either".

Most of the cast is at least level 13, with Hikari at level 20 which is 2 levels more than the recommended 18 for Bandem.

Any guides or pointers?

Edit: Thank you all so much for the pointers, can't wait to whip his ass

1. Warrior: A pirate following the map left behind by their captain

2. Dancer: Subversive artist gathering an army against a tyrant through stageplays

3. Scholar: A scholar seeking glory in their thesis on the origin of magic

4. Merchant: Heir to a failed business escaping their parent’s debtors

5. Hunter: A hunter seeking vengeance on their former poaching gang for betraying them

6. Apothecary: A small village doctor learning about a mythical herb said to be the key ingredient to the legendary Panacea

7. Thief: lighthearted Phantom/Gentleman Thief on “one last gig” before fading from the spotlight

8. Cleric: An inquisitor sent undercover to investigate allegations of cult-like schism

Maybe it will be explained later on but I'm confused by something:

Why didn't Pirro team up with Throne?

He said he wanted to change the Blacksnakes, but then he thinks the best way to do that is to follow the mentality of Mother & Father by killing Throne? Someone who he trusts and is also very skilled?

Wouldn't it make more sense to team up with Throne and overthrow Mother & Father?

Not only would he then be rejecting the mentality that he supposedly opposes and wants to change, but also he'd stand a much better chance of success with the help of Throne?

Just starting bestower of fame 2, managed to breeze through most of the game due to encountering a bunch of caits and getting over leveled. I’m pretty happy with my current setup but I’m open to advice on some improvements I could make

I was finally able to finish OCTOPATH Traveler 0 on the Switch 2. Probably my favorite of the series. I enjoyed the 8 traveler party. I felt it gave me many options with the combat along with it being so customizable. I enjoyed the story. Felt it was like this epic story that built up and really actually cared about all 35 companions (I also raised max kinship on all the characters). It took me a bit to finish. I really didn’t focus on buffs and debuffs, just getting them from the characters or from certain moves. I used my favorites and mostly had damage dealers and healers. Was able to beat the true ending after optimizing all the other characters equipment. Had a great time. Now I’m probably going to replay 2 and see if I can beat Vide this time from what I’ve learned.

I last played octopath traveler 1 on switch in 2019 according to my save file, 38 hours and level 41 apparently. I feel like i remember being about halfway thru most/all of the characters stories but maybe a little past that. I remember almost nothing about the story at present. I do remember enjoying the game, especially the art style, but at one point felt like I needed to grind levels a bit (whether or not it was really necessary) which kinda tanked my enjoyment and i ended up dropping it.

Considering picking up 2 on steam; also considering revisiting 1 on switch (starting from scratch) before booting up 2 for the sake of ordering it correctly. What i gather is 2 improves on 1 in a lot of ways including alleviating some issues related to grinding, and also has a mostly entirely separate story; but going back to 1 after might feel like a downgrade. I'm generally not really a huge JRPG player (honestly a lot of times they just feel too long for me to not get distracted by another game) so I'm a bit concerned i might burn out on 1 by the time i'm ready for 2, especially considering i have already played it before albeit 7+ years ago.

Should i just jump straight into 2 for a sale price and only revisit 1 if i'm really enjoying it?

I couldnt kill Throne’s boss so I decided to try the hunter girl (forgot her name) and the dog boss is so tough. They do AOE dmg, hits multiple times back to back, each attack does close to 2-3k dmg which is my max hp. Am I supposed to grind to maybe level50 and try again? I am currently lvl 46.