mark cerqueira well-rounded nerd

Octopath Traveler 0

11 Dec 2025

Octopath Traveler 0 came out a week ago and I’ve been hooked on the game. Similar to how the second entry in the series improved on the first entry, the third entry is yet another step-function improvement in an already solid series. If you enjoyed the previous entries or are looking for an old-school, HD-2D JRPG I can easily recommend this one.

Here are some quick thoughts on the game so far:

  1. Increasing the party roster from 4 to 8 is great. Beyond more alignment with the “octo” theme, this has made battles much more dynamic. While you still only have four characters in the active fight at a time (split between a front and back row), having an additional four characters ready to swap in adds strategic depth. You now have to choose your full eight, and strategically pair them up. It’s a nice touch and helps brunt the impact of the next thought / complaint.

  2. There are too many characters! The previous two entries had 8 main characters and that was also your playable character roster. Octopath Traveler 0 has over 30 characters! I am generally not a fan of games that have playable character counts higher than the number of battlers. I find I am not keen to experiment with new characters unless I need to or I feel like someone is not adding enough value (i.e. DPS). For example, in Expedition 33 I barely used Sciel and Monoco because they joined the party in positions #4 and #5 and the battler count was 3. Right now in Octopath Traveler 0 6 out of my 8 battlers are there because they were the first to join the team!

  3. The chest and enemy-tracking mechanic is nice. As you rebuild your hometown in the game you eventually unlock a mechanic that lets you see on the world map if you are missing opening any chests or taking down any Elite Enemies. This is a nice tough and obviates the need for a notepad I was using to track all those blue chests I could not open (and had to do a ton of backtracking to open). I wish more games added simple mechanics like this to ease completionist anxiety!

  4. I dislike silent protagonists. I expressed my dislike for silent protagonists back in 2017. My opinion here has not changed: “Great stories are not built by introducing a character who plays a central role and then simply having that character listen to everyone else.” Octopath Traveler 0 gives you so many vibrant characters, but the main one often feels like a hollow vessel, undermining some of the game’s more serious dramatic moments.

Thanks for reading - I’m heading back to Orsterra now and highly recommend you join me!