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Octopath Traveler & YS 8: Lacrimosa of Dana *Spoilers*


On 08/08/2018 at 01:19 AM by Nicoleb1989

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SPOILERS AHEAD! SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU SPOIL THESE 2 GAMES FOR YOURSELF ITS NOT MY FAULT! I GAVE YOU A WARNING!

Ive played 2 recently released RPG's this year and I got to say for how different they play, both are pretty good games. Octopath Traveler is a turnbased rpg with a boost system very similar to the Bravely series. YS 8 is a action rpg with 3 party members based combat and each character has a special attribute to their weapon type that makes some enemies easier to kill by "breaking" them. Both vastly different but they actually share a common theme which is well, the end of the world. While YS tackles this theme upfront Octopath kinda hides it in little sprinkles through each of the characters stories. However just because Octopath hides it doesnt mean its storytelling is bad, if anything they have done something very unique. They gave you 8 characters each with a 4 chapter story to tell. Each one carried a piece to that over arching story that would essentially tie them together. Now I got to say thats pretty fucking cool. Also the freaking Tressa/Alfyn twist was fucking insane. It blew my mind and I didnt see it coming a mile away. I wont say what but damn did it knock me threw a loop. 

Also does this thing for fucking sure look like a creature from the far fucking reaches of hell?

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Because it fucking does to me.....scared the hell out of me when I first fought it. 

Both games also had really great soundtracks that I cant stop listening to. The fighting music in both gets you pumped to fight and it really just makes the battles ten times better. Battle music is a has to be good thing in these kinds of games. If not I dont know about yall but I wont be able to stick to playing the game. 

When this played in Octo I was just pumped to fight who ever the fuck it was I was battling.

I also loved this battle music track from YS 8

Even past battle music, the soundtracks are really amazing and fit the games perfectly. 

I love this song, I really do. Id literally let the opening play just for it. It fits because its like your laying everything on the line to save yourself and everyone else but is it enough? Did time run out? Can fate/destiny truely be changed? To me thats what I got from it. Especially hearing again after playing through the whole game. 

The characters are intriguing, especially the main party ones, hell Ys 8 made a whole village interesting and not only that but the characters went through changes through the story. I think my biggest opinion change was Laxia. I hated Laxia when you recruited her. I mean I loathed her character. She was your typical hard ass bitch type and I lose patience real quick with those. By the end of the game I loved Laxia and would dare say she is one of my favorites next to Dana. Dana I loved because of how strong she becomes through her life. She literally has to watch her own race die out but refuses to let the next Lacrimosa happen, not without a fight. My  favorite in Octopath was Haanit. She was my favorite class "Hunter' and had a cat companion. To be honest I saw alot of myself in Haanit, especially when it comes to how naive she is but she is willing to carry on to save her teacher/master.  I liked that she talked in old english as well, it just to me was a nice difference for her character. I know Im most likely alone on that hill but thats okay. 

Ys does have some slight translation issues. All of it comes down to that fact that the dialogue is not the best it could be. It could have seen improvement but it gave me a good laugh more than once through the game so I pretty much gave it a pass.

While.....

Octopath is a grind heavy game. I mean super grind heavy and coming off YS which spoiled me on letting all party members gain Xp whether they were used or not in fights was tough to ring back into. YS atleast kinda kept all your party members in close levels and I never really felt like I needed to grind much. You kinda leveled pretty well just doing the main story and side quests if you fought everything you ran into for the most part. 

Both of these titles have something to offer in the means of gameplay and story that the other doesnt. Story I feel like YS definitely sticks out somewhat more but for some Ive realized that the story content they choose was apparently weird? Now my knowledge on the YS series is low, I havent played but 2 games Lacrimosa and Celceta and this was the only one I beat so I cant very much say if a race being drove to extinction is odd for its story or not. If one thing can be said it kinda did get me thinking about my mortality and of the mortality of the human race as a whole. I mean it did get me asking, would we be able to stop something like this in our own world or would be doomed to die out. 

Anyway past all that 

I pretty much give

Octopath Traveler 9/10

YS8 8/10

Both are solid and good RPG's. Not too difficult, pretty easy to grasp battle mechanics but also challenging fun boss fights. They can be massive time sinks, Octo was 85 hours while YS was 60. They didnt beat out Persona or God Eater but they got up there thats for damn sure.

Also 1 more thing, So YS had a true ending that you could unlock under the right conditions. Im not gonna say if it was worth it, however I will say if you should wish to pursue that be warned, the true final boss FUCKING SUCKS. You have been warned. 


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

08/08/2018 at 03:12 AM

I'm not an RPG fan, so I don't think I'd be into either, but the grinding aspect of Octopath sounds oddly appealing to me right now. I think it's because I like the feeling of progression. Keep it going too long though, and I'll get really frustrated. Balancing act. 

Yeah, I had nothing new to add here, really, I just wanted to comment. How are you?

Nicoleb1989

08/08/2018 at 10:03 AM

The grinding does make you feel like your still doing progress. However depending on how you grind will decide if if it takes a long time. Final chapters are a recommended level of 45. I did all 8 with 3 level 45 to 55 and a fourth member still in there 30s.

Im good, for once. Id been really low on self confidence in my reviews and blogging but Im slowly getting back in the groove. How are you?

Blake Turner Staff Writer

08/08/2018 at 01:16 PM

I finished Ys viii but haven't touched octopath yet so I skipped the parts where you talked about it as I do want to get around to it.

I found the true ending of the game to be really dumb. I've seen this ending used a lot in anime and it's something that annoys me every time. The rest of the game is really good and Dana's story is surprisingly heartbreaking. At first I didn't like Dana's sections because I wanted to get back to the village stuff but by the end I was more invested in her story than I was the rest.

The game play balance was weird though. I found the bosses to be really easy and I don't think I died to any of them but some of the normal enemies completely destroyed me. It's like the opposite to how Ys usually works. 

I also really enjoyed Laxias progression. She's a great character who learns from her mistakes and becomes a better person for it while still remaining flawed and sympathetic. 

I was vaguely annoyed the noble guy came back and didn't change at all. I would have liked it better if he grew as a character or became more of a hindrance to you that had to be dealt with. He would have made a decent antagonist - especially if you didn't have to fight him and instead just made him realise how much of a dick he was being.

I wish they went a bit further and killed off a few more characters and raised the stakes a bit more. 

It's also a long game, and I wish you got more powers over the course of the game for exploration, as the ones you did get were quite good but there weren't enough for a 50 hour game in my opinion.

Who was your main party BTW? I switched Adol out for Dana as soon as I could but still stuck to Sahad and Laxia despite Hummel having more OP moves (that counter) and found ricotta just boring to play as. 

Nicoleb1989

08/08/2018 at 03:10 PM

The ending was weird but hey Im just glad they got off the damn island. I would of highly been disappointed if they hadnt of made it free after all the work! Lol!

I didnt like the rude rich guy either, I hated him and I kinda wish he had actually died. When I saw another entry in the journal for him I kinda figured he would be found again later. I still was disappointed upon learning I was right.

My main party was mostly Adol, Laxia and Sahad but I used Dana like you did once she became available. I really liked using the first few because I was used to them. Hummel kinda came and went before becoming a fulltime party member and Ricotta came after exploring the first chunk of the island had been done. Dana's story really broke my heart but again she to me was the strongest one because she had been through hell but refused to give up. I really didnt use skills big time till the end of it. Im lame.

Im hoping they come through on some of those promises to go see the other villagers on down the road. Id like to see some of them in another YS game!

Cary Woodham

08/09/2018 at 02:36 PM

Octopath is 85 hours long?  Bluh!  Kinda makes me not want to play it now.  Ys 8 was half that long and I felt it was way too overbloated.

My only other problem with Ys 8 was how you had to get the best ending.  You had to get enough points doing sidequests and many of them interrupt what you're doing and slows down the game flow.  I was only like 3 points away from getting the best ending and couldn't find a way to get any other points, so I said, 'screw it' and beat the game and watched the true ending online.

My favorite characters were Dana and the fisherman guy who farted a lot.  Lexia I called "Stabby Girl."  She was kind of cool, too, I suppose.

Nicoleb1989

08/09/2018 at 11:54 PM

Octopath is a long game. Each character has 4 chapters and since you do gotta grind for levels it takes some time to finish. The nice thing though you can do it at your own pace and work on it little by little.

I didnt like the whole 200 points either. I thankfully got it but I feel like it was kinda unnesscary. Hell they should have just made the true final boss optional to do and that would have been way better instead of worrying about points. 

KnightDriver

08/10/2018 at 12:02 AM

Oh that Octopath screenshot is so cool. I hope it migrates to other systems eventually.

Nicoleb1989

08/11/2018 at 12:20 PM

See I wonder if it is a timed exclusive. I figure it might be and will eventually atleast come to PS4 and PC. I highly recommend picking it up!

goaztecs

08/13/2018 at 04:23 PM

You know I seemed to have eased up on my stance against turn based games, especially after playing a couple of games on my phone/iPad that do just that. Granted they are easier versions, they are still fun. Reading your review about Octopath, I think eventually I could give either this game or something similar a try. Maybe YS might be a better starting off point because it sounds like an easier grind. 

Nicoleb1989

08/13/2018 at 09:27 PM

The grind was way easier in YS but Octopath does have its "fast" methods. I just didnt use them really since 1 was especially risky. It could literally kill the main party and lose all the progress you just made pretty easy. I think phones definitly make turnbased and grinding games more accesible because you can literally grind and play when your not doing anything but have your phone anywhere.

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