In many ways, Octopath Traveler 0 is quite unlike its predecessors. Whereas the original Octopath Traveler and its stellar 2023 sequel followed the stories of eight pivotal characters – with a nice climactic arc attached in the case of the latter – this prequel to the first title focuses instead on a trio of villains and the dark forces behind subsequent curtains.
Whether Octopath Traveler 0 Will Maintain Series Continuity Is Entirely Up To You
Alterpath Traveler.
It’s also a reconfigured spin on Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, the long-running mobile gacha from which 0’s story originates. All these variations promise a remarkably different game, so even if you’re an Octo-pro, it’ll do you well to keep the following tips in mind.
Know Your Place
Borrowing a page from Champions of the Continent (and decidedly unlike the series’ previous pair of mainline installments), you can bring up to eight characters into battles with you at a given time. But there’s a catch: with a few exceptions, those situated in the back row cannot be issued commands.
As such, they’ll often seem like dead weight. But there’s a synergy here; you can, and should, actively move your fighters between the front and back rows as the situation calls for it. Enemies may be better-handled by folks who are stuck in the back when battle begins, but you can always call them forward as needed.
Doing so replaces the character whose turn it is when you make the swap, and a full turn must pass before you have this option. But it’s also good if a character in the front is on their last legs; get them to safety for the time being! There are also healing skills which can cover the entire back row, which will bring your backups into fighting-fit status. You can bring those formerly weak-kneed fighter back into the fray!
There’s A Skill In Selecting Skills
Don’t spend all your JP learning the skills that are specifically listed in the, er, ‘Learn Skills’ submenu. Spend some JP on unlocking Battle and Support Skill slots as well, because you’ll often find that filling out these spots with all those Masteries you’ll find on your journey has just as tangible an effect on your party’s strength.
This will cost you a fair bit, mind you, but it’s generally worth the effort. Offensive Action Skills/Masteries can provide useful elemental type coverage for casters and more powerful melee strikes than you’d otherwise have access to. Support Masteries like Eye for an Eye, when equipped to a Warrior or similar damage-dealing sort, will deal heaps of passive damage through a 50 percent physical counter rate.
Kill Those Caits
This one’s applicable to every former Octopath Traveler, but it bears repeating for anybody whose inaugural time with Square Enix’s bestselling HD-2D franchise happens to be Octopath Traveler 0. In many zones, you’ll occasionally run into a monster called a Cait. It is, as its name implies, a cat-like creature.
I love cats, but these cats are dangerous. Except… not particularly dangerous, really; they tend to flee, you see. They have low HP, but take very little damage from your hits. As with similar JRPG mainstays, like Metal Slimes in the Dragon Quest series, you really want to slay these before they run.
Caits provide far and away the most EXP you’ll get from any area they can be found. To put things into perspective, my party was in the level 12-13 range when I encountered my first Cait. I beat it, and everyone gained three full levels. This is a bit of an outlier, given the low starting levels involved, but as a rule, you will get gobs of experience points when they’re dead and dusted.
Jump Between Quests – And Count Rekindling The Flame Among Them
Here’s another that’s technically a series-spanning suggestion, but there’s a twist in Octopath Traveler 0. You see, the premium-priced COTC reimagining adds heaps of new content, including a town-rebuilding questline that’s the key to plenty of remarkable rewards.
It’s called “Rekindling The Flame,” and it’s a full-fledged arc with recommended levels per section and everything. It’s important, albeit not mandatory, to carry forward with these quests alongside the others. And, in general, you should consider doing every questline simultaneously as your party’s levels suit the task.
Is it a truly terrible idea not to do so? Well, not really. It’s just that if you leave, say, a Chapter 1 Master of [X] mission until you’ve completed everything that a separate Master of [X] line has to offer, you could be looking at a party in the level 40s range going after something with a recommendation for level 6. Yes, it’ll be a curbstomp, but the treasures you’ll gain from such a venture will have long since outlived their usefulness.
Later on in Octopath Traveler 0, after you’ve completed Master of Power/Wealth/Fame, a more singular string of quests will unlock to carry the story forward to its conclusion. But “Rekindling The Flame” will still be right there alongside it.
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Don’t Break The Bank On Path Actions
Path Actions are an Octopath series staple, and, at least speaking for myself, they can be remarkably captivating. Going around each settlement, chatting people up, and tapping into a unique set of endeavours – in 0’s case, that means Inquire, Invite, Contend, Impress, Purchase, and so forth – makes every named NPC an important part of the game.
They can also be terribly expensive to complete. The Purchase/Haggle Path Action requires leaves, which is to say, money, and while the temptation may linger for you to buy everything you see, keep a careful eye on your cash reserves. I have found, without fail, that no matter how much dough I make while adventuring, it can fast become slim pickings if I don’t restrain myself from going on an NPC spending spree.
Think first. Is even a high Haggle chance actually worth it? Do you really need yet another Healing Grape? If you see a stat-boosting nut, or an excellent piece of gear, then by all means, toss tons of cash at it if you can afford to do so. But those grapes, they do add up…
Blue Chests Are Not A Bother
Don’t worry about those blue chests. I don’t mean don’t worry about them because you’ll eventually have a way to open them; that goes without saying. I mean, don’t worry about them because the game will eventually give you a checklist of sorts that marks their locations.
In other words, you needn’t take screenshots like the one snapped by yours truly at the top of this section. Ergo, I needn’t write a guide on blue chests, even though I thought for sure I’d have to when I began my Octopath Traveler 0 adventure. Just wait ‘til you’ve got that checklist, and you’ll have no trouble at all knowing where to go to reap their rewards.
Those Elite Enemy Difficulty Designations Are All Rather Relative
The first time you approach one of those plethora of enemies that appear directly on the field, you’ll get a tutorial introducing elite enemies. These tougher-than-average monsters are, as the pop-up will explain, split into three colour categories to denote whether they’re relatively weak, just about average, or especially strong.
The thing is… don’t let those (literal) red flags for the higher-powered sorts prevent you from bashing them. What the game neglects to tell you is that it’s frankly just not very good at gauging its own content. A blue-tinted enemy gave me a bit of trouble, while red-marked foes were frequently easy. Partly, it depends on your lineup; but by and large, it’s all rather relative.
As an example, my crew was already around level 26 when I did the first Master of Wealth mission. (Not intentionally, I assure you.) The elite enemy there went down in less than two turns.
The Main Story Alone Will Eat Up 100 Hours Of Octopath Traveler 0 Players’ Lives
That’s a lot of travel time.
It’s A Blessing In Disguise, Really
As of this writing, I’ve not yet found the Blessing in Disguise gear, but thanks to a review document provided by the publisher, I’m already quite familiar with it. And it’s cited for a reason: the Blessing in Disguise removes the unfortunate curses attached to several separate pieces of gear that would be great were it not for their side effects.
The point here isn’t to call attention to the Blessing Disguise alone. Rather, always look for potential semi-hidden purposes behind gear before resigning it to an easy sell. Lots of stuff out there has somewhat weaker stats but perks that are well worth your consideration.
Why Not Wishvale?
Every town’s got an inn. Why you would spend your money there is rather beyond me. With certain exceptions – and most would also prevent you from heading to one of those inns – you can just fast travel to Wishvale and sleep in your own bed. This requires going through the very first couple of quests in the “Rekindling The Flame” questline, but that’s over in a flash.
There’s no good reason to part with your leaves when it’ll take you mere seconds to curl up in your own humble abode. Those costs add up, so skip the travel experience and settle in for a full HP/SP restoration on the cheap.
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