OST So Good! #19: Octopath Traveler

On 02/25/2022 at 10:06 AM by The Last Ninja

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Switch, 2018

Composer: Yasunori Nishiki

Octopath Traveler is a fantastic JRPG, although it’s very hardcore, so beating it will take a lot of patience. The music is on another level altogether. The OST is basically beautiful town themes and epic battle themes. The use of a real orchestra makes it all sound even better. The composer, Yasunori Nishiki, has worked on a lot of obscure Japanese games, but he’s also helped with music for notable games such as Gravity Rush 2, Kingdom Hearts III, Sakura Wars, and Final Fantasy VII Remake. He knocked it out of the park with this OST. Truly fantastic work. It’s a shame he’s not doing the OST for the upcoming Triangle Strategy.

Main Theme

The main theme begins very gently with a flute coming out with the melody. Then the strings come in (they’re beautiful), and things start to ramp up with the trumpets. The melody sounds very fantasy-like, if that makes sense. At 1’08” the song becomes adventurous and continues to build. It’s quite incredible! If that’s not enough, the song ends in a triumphant fashion.

Flamesgrace, Guiding Light

This is my favorite of the town themes. Flamesgrace is nestled in snowy mountains, and so the song has that calm, winter feel to it. The piano is so soothing, but at 43 seconds the strings come in and are simply beautiful. The whole song is very slow, simple, and yet extremely enjoyable. I’m not sure if anyone can listen to this and not enjoy it. It will help you relax too.

Decisive Battle II

All the battle themes in the game are so intense! Notice how forceful each instrument is playing its part: drums are banging loudly, the piano is very forceful, and the strings are going at it! This is one of my favorite battle themes. The composition is very strong as the song evokes struggle and intensity, with just a little hope sprinkled in. Nishiki will often change up the song just when you think it’s going to loop, which is always a nice surprise, and he does that here.

Dark Caverns

This is one of the dungeon themes. It’s very calming. The piano slowly plays a simple tune, backed up by strings, and some horns come in a little later. The melody is sad and somber, and surprisingly, a more hopeful part never happens. There’s not much to the song, but the composition is so strong and the instruments blend together so well that it works excellently.

Battle at Journey’s End

Another hardcore and rocking battle theme! Once again, everything is so intense, with the strings leading the way at first. There’s a sense of despair here, and yet a more hopeful theme comes in at 1’02.” The song seems to loop, but then does something different at 2’57” when the song becomes even more intense! Now there’s a feeling of dread, but then there’s another hopeful part just before the song loops. It’s quite a ride!

Download this OST here

daftman

02/25/2022 at 02:26 PM

This is hands down one of the best soundtracks on the past decade. So good! And there's so much music! Not just the melodies and themes but the instrumentation as well is just so well done. The sadly anemic story kind of killed the game for me eventually but I still listen to this soundtrack.

The Last Ninja

02/26/2022 at 09:36 AM

Yeah, I love this game, but I gave up because it's so freakin' hard. I liked the story, but you probably got farther than I did. It's surprising that this is apparently the only OST that Nishiki has done by himself.

KnightDriver

02/26/2022 at 08:15 PM

I bounced off this game several different times but it's so beautiful, and the music so grand, I think I will probably try it again.

The music really grabs my attention in this game. I sometimes wonder if its sound is even too big for this retro style of game. I used to think that about the music in Dragon Quest VIII too, but. . . you can't have too much of a good thing.

02/26/2022 at 10:27 PM

You're right, the music is almost too good for this game, but then again, why not go all the way?

Cary Woodham

02/27/2022 at 08:42 AM

My main problem with this game is that it's too grindy. But I did like the graphics and music. There is another game coming out that uses this same graphical style, and I'm not talking about Triangle Strategy. The Live A Live remake also uses this style, and this is a very significant release for several reasons. It was orginally a game that was on the Super Famicom only, and now it's being released in the US for the first time. And also, Nintendo is publishing this game in the US, not Square! And since Nintendo is publishing it, they're making a physical version of it! So I've already got that preordered.

02/27/2022 at 10:16 AM

I'm also very excited for Live A Live, I'll have to try and get the physical copy too. Did you know that Live A Live was the inspiration for Octopath Traveler as it does the same kind of thing where you have different characters and stories and then they merge at the end? Pretty cool.

PixlBit