List of Octopath Challenge Runs v2.1

I thought it could be fun to compile a list of challenge runs for Octopath, and I figured other Octopath fans might be interested. Some of these are from the Octopath discords, other Reddit posters, Gamefaqs, or maybe other places. (I posted this a while back, but this is the updated version.)

**Character Restricted Runs:**

- Solo - use only 1 character and none of the other 7. Goal is completing the 1 char's story but can extend to include optional bosses or use glitches/mods to access Gate of Finis, etc. Another option is to recruit other characters and leave them knocked out to do more of the game.

- Duo - same as above but 2 characters

- Trio - same as above but 3 characters

- Quad - same as above but 4 characters. Includes sub-categories of Nobles Only, Rogues Only, Males Only, and Females Only runs.

Some good side goals would be to complete any other possibly available bosses and/or side quests, like Devourer of Men and maybe Mánagarmr in OT1. (Mánagarmr requires doing Ophilia and Cyrus for the low-level Scrutinize).

**Other Run Ideas**

- No Subjobs - original 8 jobs only and only your base job's 4 passives

- No Subjobs (but allow sub-passives) - original 8 jobs only but you're able to use passives from other jobs

- No Passives - may never put on a support skill (but may freely switch jobs and learn skills)

- No Advanced Sub Jobs - sub jobs allowed but none of the 4 secret jobs

- No JP - no spending any JP at all (so none of the 4 passives or unlockable skills/divines). Jobs may still be used and switched around.

- Level 1 or No EXP - requires modding so mainly for PC players, see Nexus Mods or the Octopath Modding Discord for the links

- Starting Equipment Only/No Equipment Change - may not enter equipment menu at all (so whatever you have on when you get a character is permanent).

- No Equipment - remove all equipment when you get a character and never put any on

- Locked Sub Jobs/Random Sub Jobs - each character may select a sub job once but is locked into that job for the whole game. Can be selected or randomized, optionally allowing Advanced Jobs or not.

- Elemental Run - only use magic or elemental attacks/skills

- Physical Run - only use physical attacks/skills

- Weapon/Element Only - only use a specific weapon(s) and skills related to that weapon (ex Sword Run would allow Cross Strike, Hired Help Mercenaries, etc). Or a specific element and skills related to just that.

- No Items in Battle - may not use Item command in battle

- No Items at All - may not use item command in battle or item command in menu

- Danger Level Restriction - may not enter optional areas above your level to prevent good loot, may only enter chapters above your level (maybe be + or - 5 levels of boss dungeon so you dont overlevel)

- No Heals/Grinds - may not use Inns, Grapes, Nuts, Plums, Heal Wounds, Steal HP/SP, or anything else that would make an HP/SP number go up. No grinding is added to ensure players don't just grind a level before each boss.

- No Breaking - may never break any enemies

- No Boosting - may never boost an attack. [Example 1 combined with no Breaking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2btgFWdKtQ)

- No Chests - may never open any treasure chests

- No Path Actions - may not use Path Actions except to advance a chapter or quest for a boss

- Summons Only - may only use summonable NPCs, Beast Lore, or Hired Help to deal damage. May still use non-offensive skills like healing, buffing, etc.

- No Optional Talents - may not use optional Talents like Concoct, Summon, Capture/Beast Lore, Pick Lock, etc. Eye for Money and Study Foe are mandatory and allowed.

- No Shops/Steals/Purchases - may not use these three methods to gain items

- No Side Stories - no side quests may be completed except for Galdera and other boss specific ones

- No Buying/Stealing - no purchase with Tressa, no steal with Therion, and no buying from item and weapon shops or anywhere else.

- Permanent Death - a character who dies may not be revived (so you would no longer be able to do that character's Path Actions or fight in battle, with an exception being to progress story or quest bosses)

- Super Solo/Duo/Trio/Quad - same as ones in the beginning using 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 characters but using those character(s) to complete the entire game of all chapters and/or Galdera. (Let boss knockout unused characters in their chapter 1 and only revive briefly to unlock chapters or boss quests. Challenges/Provokes with non-used characters should be done with Soulstones or other resources, not by grinding. Press Y in tavern to deposit 7 members and keep the 1.)

- Switched Solo - Same as a solo run but using one character to do a different character's chapters (ex start with Ophilia but use her to do all of Primrose's chapters)

- Switched Duo/Trio/Quad - Same as above but using the characters to complete different characters' chapters

- Speedruns - try to beat the game as quickly as possible with a goal, See https://www.speedrun.com/octopath for examples and categories. A casual approach to this could be using the in-game timer or doing the run in segments, so it's more lenient.

- No Fast Travel/Never Travel Far - may not use Fast Travel feature (thus players may be more inclined to do more difficult chapters if its close)

- Sell All - must sell every item and equipment every time you enter town

- Blindfolded - wear a blindfold as you play, requires planning out run beforehand usually

- Nuzlocke/Hardcore Nuzlocke - use H'aanit/Ochette but use some variation of the Pokemon rules for nuzlockes

- Scavenger/Caveman/Barbarian challenge - may only enter towns to complete the chapter and can only obtain items from monsters and dungeons, no speaking to NPCs/looting chests/Inns/etc.

- Challenge/Provoke only - may only level up with Challenge/Provoke battles

- Sidequest only - may only level up/get resources from Side Stories

- Mandatory/Minimum Battles Only - only fight required battles for the chapters. (Modding in Spurning Ribbon is an easy way to avoid having to flee the tedious random encounters.)

- Level Restricted/Minimum Levels - limit characters based on levels such as below Dungeon Levels

- Level 1 Challenge - sub-category of the above, but the idea is to defeat some difficult boss with level 1 characters' abilities and skills. (May use other characters to farm the resources necessary.)

- Region Locked - character(s) must stay in one region (either one of the eight like Riverlands/Coastlands/etc or one of the rings Ring 1/2/3)

- No Weapon Shops, Nightmare Chimera Only - use a mod/glitch/hack or just rush Winnehild to get the skill and use only that for damage

- Stat Swap Run - use a mod/glitch/hack or rush Balogar to get the passive on all characters

- No Doors Run - may only open mandatory doors for story progression and cannot open any other doors otherwise

- Minimum Run - do as little to affect the world as possible, minimizing anything traceable. Ex: revealing as few weaknesses as possible, never getting the quest tutorial to pop up, never getting the breaking tutorial to pop up, never using Purchase/Steal/etc to get an NPC item that can be traced if someone were to log on your file, never opening a chest, etc

- Mods/Hacks/Randomizers - these can include the boss randomizer, skill/job randomizer, item randomizer, hard mode difficulty, and/or anything else that interests you

- and any combination run of the above or anything else you come up with

It's up to the player the main goal(s) to set. The most common main goal is to just clear the relevant chapters to reach the credits, but other good goals can be to do all available chapters, side bosses (like Galdera, Mánagarmr, Devourer of Man, or any of the four Advanced Job bosses), or any other combination or goals that the player wants to set.

Do you have any ideas to add? Which runs sound the most enjoyable for you? What runs have you done and enjoyed the most?