Octopath Thoughts As I Played It

The title screen song is DOPE AF

Starting demo at 1:08PM

Given the choice of 8 characters, only 2 unlocked for the demo
	Are we going to have 8 completely separate stories, with story interactions throughout the plot of the game?

"Three men bearing the mark of the crow. They took my father from me." -- Primrose

Starting with Olberic

Starting with a 8 year flashback, possibly from when the coup happened?

Voice acting :O

"Unbending Blade of Hornburg", Olberic Eisenberg

I'm REALLY liking this art style. I love seeing sprites on this 3D world.

THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD SO FAR.

Haven't heard any orders coming from the king, but Sir Erhardt is with him.
	Predicting Sir Erhardt is secretly not a good guy.

Uh oh, this doesn't look good. The king's guard has been wiped out. And Erhardt is missing.

FUCKIN' knew it. Erhardt just straight up killed King Alfred.

It was a bad dream.

Voice acting is pretty great so far, I hope all of the characters are voiced.

Ok, so no-name NPCs have generic voices, but don't match their dialog. That's alright.

And it looks like PCs also have generic voices for general dialog.

Alright, we have control. Let's see what the controls are...
	B toggles run/walk
	X opens the menu
	Left stick and D-pad controls the same way

Let's check out the menu
	In settings, looks like there's Japanese and English voices. Pretty cool.
	Individual voice, music, and sound volume sliders. Very cool.
	HD rumble enable/disable
	There's an in-game timer in the menu, which counts seconds. There's a three-digit hours section, might be a good indication of how many hours will be possible to sink in this game?
	Right stick in menu navigates the map in the background
	Looks like we're in the Highlands as Olberic, and I can see the Sunlands to the west. Isn't that where Primrose is from?
	That's as far as I can see on the map. Might be limited because of the demo.
	Traditional HP and SP for characters. SP probably won't replenish automatically, if I had to guess.
	Looks like there are 6 weapon classes: swords, polearms, daggers, axes, bows, and staves. Olberic looks like he can wield swords and polearms at the same time, so maybe the characters will be able to hold a couple types each?
	There's a Tutorial section in the menu, but I'm just going to play through the demo and see if I can figure stuff out.

Ok, back to the game, let's go talk to the Headman.

Oh right, brigands are being a pain in the town.

There's a really heavy vignette and fog in this town. Maybe because it's so early in the morning?

Interesting. You hit A to open a door, but you don't automatically walk throug the door after opening it. The door also doesn't seem to close automatically?

Looks like Olberic is going by the name "Berg" to hide his previous identity in this town.

Sounds like the brigands are being a nuisance and the villagers can't gather food in the highlands, so I'll have to find the den and take them out probably.

But first, it looks like we get to put the militia through some drills. (AKA, probably a tutorial section for me to go through)

Philip wants to be part of the militia and his mom and the Headman are also asking Berg to train him. This kid better not die to brigands. That would suck. Philip's dad died in the war, whichever war that was.

Quick tutorial image showing that each playable character has a different way of interacting with NPCs (Olberic can fight people, Primrose can charm people; like the Direct showed off)

"Basics of Battle I: Exploiting Weaknesses" tutorial

So it looks like you can attack with either weapon on each turn. Changing equipment doesn't take up a turn like it does in FFX for example.

So I can Boost with R to attack twice in a turn, but it uses up some of this Boost meter. I wonder how that fills up.

"Basics of Battle II: Boost Mode" tutorial
	Ah, Boost Points accumulate at 1 BP per turn and it looks like it costs 1 BP per Boost?

Looks like I broke this militia member, so he has super low defense at the moment I think.

It looks like combat is semi-real time. Kind of like FF9 I think.

The Boost effects are pretty freaking cool looking.

I just owned this militiaman with a 4x Boost and he got obliterated into dust. Oops.

Victory screen. Money & EXP earned. There's this "Warrior" icon under Olberic's EXP bar. Will characters be able to change classes? Or maybe this is like an award title for the fight. Don't know yet.

Ok, militiaman isn't actually dead.

I'm REALLY liking this music, my goodness.

The character art style *kinda* reminds me of Chrono Trigger a little bit.

"I, too, once had someone to protect." The king I'm assuming?

I wonder if you can Challenge anyone, and I wonder if there's any consequence to Challenging someone that doesn't want to fight.

I can Challenge the Headman. Gonna fight this old geezer.

So it looks like if you attack an enemy with something it's weak to, it decreases the Break counter.

I like how you can get EXP from Challenging.

Uh oh, the Headman is knocked out. Ah ha! But now since he's knocked out, I can get into the house that he was standing in front of. Ooh! Treasure! Inside is... A Healing Grape (L). Alright then.

Uh oh, a Villager is screaming. Brigands are attacking the village.

HYPE BATTLE MUSIC INCOMING.

Wait, hang on a sec. Gotta Challenge the Captain of the Watch. Hold on brigands.

Ooh, he's 4/10 difficulty. My polearm attacks are missing a lot. I wonder if it's because of the Captain dodging, or just a feature of polearms.

I lost, and used up all of my healing items.

Oh good, there's a store I can buy grapes from.

There's an Inn here too. Looked like it was free to Rest in. I wonder if Inns will be free, or if it's free because it's the home town, or the demo, or what.

There's a Traveler here that lets me save the game. I wonder if he's the only way to?

I can't Challenge the Traveler. So I guess not everyone is Challengable.

Alright, let's fight these brigands.

The brigands in the fight have full-sized detailed sprites, like the Soldiers did in FF4. Pretty cool.

I wonder if there's any sort of back line, like in FF4. It doesn't seem like it.

Actually had to use a couple of grapes in this fight, surprisingly for a first actual battle.

Level up!

Oh crap, Philip's getting kidnapped.

"Saving Your Progress" tutorial. Looks like the Traveler is the only way to save your game.

I Challenged a militiaman again, he seemed to have recovered after the cutscenes. I wonder how often you can Challenge an NPC.

I CAN CHALLENGE PHILLIP'S MOM. IT IS ON.

Oh shit her Break meter is 3. Damn girl.

She has quite a bit of HP. Thankfully she doesn't do much damage.

She can heal! :O

Phew, that actually took a while. Go Philip's mom!

Alright, off to go save Philip.

First random battle. Against 3 Hill Ratkin. Pretty cool sprite.

Looks like you can easily juggle two enemies if their Break counters are 1 or 2.

I got a lot of gold for that fight, wow.

One thing that I find hilarious, that also exists in other RPGs, is that Olberic has this awesome broadsword that he had from his days as a knight. But then the town's General Store sells a Longsword that does more Physical Attack than Olberic's broadsword.

OH RIGHT. I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THESE SKILLS. Oops.

I am determined to win a Challenge against the Captain of the Guard.

Oh, it looks like all of the NPCs in town recover from the previous Challenge after leaving and coming back to town.

It looks like your HP and SP get replenished when you level up, that's good.

I know it's just for the ease of having save places accessible, but it's pretty spooky that the Traveler is at the bottom and top of this mountain and you never see his scale it. Kinda like the stranger in RE4.

I can't attack myself. I wonder if that won't be allowed in the game at all.

AYYY, WE BEAT THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD. HOORAY. All that for 30 gold, 10 exp, and an Inspiring Plum.

What's in the treasure in the house he was standing in front of? It's... a Jewel of Vitality. Oooooooh. It gives 100 HP when equipped. Alright, not bad.

I'm liking the decision on whether to spend Boost to attack multiple times to break an enemy, using it to boost my attack, or using it to boost abilities. Or just saving it. Adds a tad of strategic decision making.

Alright, time to FINALLY head into the cave. Dungeon time.

Oh that's cute. Olberic is carrying a lantern.

I love the lighting and shadow effects in the cave from using the lantern.

So the brigand boss has Erhardt's blade.... Interesting.

WHOA. The brigand boss's sprite is HUGE.

This boss fight music is pretty awesome.

Whoops, the boss knows who I am.

Welp, the secret's out.

Off to go find this Gustav guy to find out where Erhardt is.

Oh, there's a new girl in town. Noelle, the historian.

And I can Challenge her. >:U

TIME TO GET REKT, NOELLE.

ezpz

I got an Olive of Life from her. I wonder what that is. Oh, it's a resurrect item, ok.

There's a Pathetic Father here now, too. Time to Challenge him too. >:U

Thanks for another Olive of Life old man.

Oh?? A cutscene? Oh shit, I just made him depressed.

Who is this Moneylender?

Uh oh, tragic backstory for Pathetic Father. FeelsBadMan

Ok, so I literally beat some sense into this dude by Challenging him. Alright, glad I could help I guess.

Who are all of these new villagers??????

Uh oh, Philip is mad that I'm leaving. Don't cry Philip ;3;

Olberic demo is done I think? It's telling me to go to the Sunlands to find Primrose, but as Olberic. Interesting.

I've made it to Sunshade as Olberic and found Primrose.

"In the full version of the game, you will be free to recruit any of the eight protagonists at any time you like. Here, the dancer Primrose has joined your party. She can interact with NPCs and do battle in entirely new ways, so be sure to try everything out!"

Sunshade Inn doesn't cost anything either.

Sounds like there are thieves in Sunshade...

Looks like I got a reward from a shopkeep here for saving his business by Challenging a rival and making him leave town.

I guess there's not much else to do story-wise once you leave the initial town for a character.

Time to start as Primrose.

Damn, Helgenish is a terrible person.

Damn, Helgenish is a REALLY terrible person.

RIP

Well, Primrose's demo felt significantly shorter than Olberic's. Maybe because I played her story second, so I knew the gameplay already?