Octopath Traveller is an incredible modern JRPG that follows the stories of eight different protagonists across the expansive land of Orsterra. Given that the story and combat style of each character is different, players can easily get confused and require some Octopath Traveler tips to help them get back on track.
Octopath Traveler Beginner Tips
Octopath Traveler’s intricate mechanics make it impossible to simply spam the same buttons and get through the game – it takes patience, intelligence and strategic thinking to progress. Here are some pointers to help you on your incredible journey.
Be mindful of Danger levels
As you’re changing areas specifically areas of enemies as you can See in the bottom corner it says danger level for this more or less translates To you need to be about level four to be able to do decently in that area.
Capturing enemies during battles
One of the most overlooked tips for Octopath Traveler is try to capture enemies during battle. By capturing an enemy, don’t miss out on any of the XP but it’s a quicker way to end battles if you’re looking to get through many battles or just simply struggling with an enemy.
Pay close attention to party setup
The game has eight possible party members but only four slots. Within these slots three are interchangeable to help you create the best party combinations. The main character which you choose at the beginning cannot be switched out until you fully complete their storyline (that is all 4 chapters).
It’s difficult to know who you should choose as your main character as each character has very different abilities skills and support skills weapons and path actions.
It would be best to choose a character that can perform most Elemental attacks such as ice, fire and lightning the best party member for this is the scholar Cyrus who can target single or all enemies at once with powerful Elemental attacks. Furthermore, Cyrus has the ability to analyze foes which reveals one weakness at the start of battle every time.
This is a very useful skill to have rather than going into battle completely blind and depleting SP or spell power trying to discover a weakness through trial and error.
If you encounter an enemy multiple times then each time Cyrus will identify additional weaknesses since the weaknesses already discovered carry over to all other battles.
Side quests also need your attention
When it comes to side questing Octopath Traveller embraces more of an old school style of side questing. You get minimal clues and it’s up to you to figure out the rest. Expected to figure things out on your own you need to speak to people and pay attention to what’s going on.
In some cases, recalling what an NPC said is the difference between completing a quest quickly or aimlessly wandering around completely clueless about what you need to do or where you have to go next.
The side quests are generally straightforward and can be finished by either providing items, investigating, or using other characters’ path actions- that brings us to my next tip.
Path Actions
There are eight recruitable party members in Octopath Traveler and each have a path action that allow characters to interact with NPCs in different ways.
The Provoke and Challenge are dueling actions of H’annit and Olberic which allow you to challenge NPCs in battle which is useful when you want to enter a building they are guarding.
The Steal and Purchase path actions of Therion and Tressa let you acquire items from NPCs in different ways. The Guide and Allure Skills of Ophilia and Primrose enable temporary recruitment of NPCs and the ability to summon them to assist in battle
And finally Alfyn and Cyrus’s investigative skills of Inquire and Scrutinize not only reveal sometimes crucial information about NPCs or a situation but also reveals hidden items.
Save the game to avoid reckless spending
Every type of path action, whether it’s dueling, acquisition, summoning, or investigating there is one character who acts in a Noble way and another who acts in a Rogue manner.
Doing Rogue path actions could lead to your reputation in the town being reduced, while Noble actions don’t affect it in any way. If your reputation is depleted in a town you will be unable to perform further path actions, you’ll need to go to an inn and pay leaves, the game’s currency, to restore it – which can be pricey.
The game is very strict with money and drops are rare, so it’s best to use your leaves on better equipment and gain JP and XP more quickly. The best solution for this is to save the game any time before performing a rogue path action this way if you fail you can always try again from the last saved point.
Choosing the correct skills for the job
Characters can only hold up to four skills per character at any given time. You’ll have to decide what skills are the best for each of your characters according to your play style and the skills of your party as a whole.
Find and use shrines for secondary jobs
This tip is of utmost importance and builds upon my previous tips. Scattered around the map are shrines that enable you to assign a secondary job to each character, thus allowing them to have two different character classes at once – a major game-changer!
Finding these shrines can help to cover any battle-related deficits by gifting your favored characters a secondary job that fits them best. It is recommended to assign secondary jobs that match their current specialties and path action.
For example, I always give Cyrus the Apothecary job because his path action is interchangeable with Alfyn and vice versa. There are 8 starting job shrines to discover, each one representing one of the 8 character classes or jobs.
These secondary jobs can be assigned to different party members, but some pairings work better than others. Decide what jobs you want to assign depending on your preferences.
Facing Galdera
Since the game tells the story of 8 separate characters as each character completes their arc and fades away. At first glance, there isn’t any final boss, but it actually has a really tough secret boss.
While boss fights aren’t exactly all that challenging if players are well-equipped. But the final boss Galdera is an incredibly hard opponent that requires gamers to separate their party into two for the fight. It’s one of the toughest JRPG bosses ever, it is best to fight this boss with caution in order to take it down.
Losing the battle would mean heading back to the start and having to go through the boss rush again – so good luck!
