Recent reviews by cream

S tier bullet heaven.

full stop --

this isn't anything like skyrim or whatever else you have in mind. it's very realistic, down-to-earth, and honestly, boring. if you're looking for a super authentic medieval experience that's actually true to what we know historically, i'm sure this'll work beautifully for you.

but this is definitely not for everybody, and i didn't enjoy it much. just to counterbalance this game being jerked off all the time, i'm leaving a negative review.

would have loved to give this a thumbs up, but it's just not good enough. a decent JRPG with a couple of huge flaws that sadly drag the experience down.

1: the central concept of the game, having 8 main characters, is pretty flawed. it means the game is essentially split into 8 different little stories, most of which don't interweave or interact with each other at any point. thus, the game lacks coherence and flow. another issue is that you probably won't really enjoy most of the cast. you'll have one favorite, and a couple others you like, but i'm pretty sure nobody will enjoy every story. in fact some of them, like tressa the merchant, are almost painfully boring. also, the voice acting can be super cringy and amateur at times, and the mostly cliche writing doesn't help here.

2: very little interaction between party members. there is something called travel banter, but that consists only of a short, two-way conversation that happens at very specific points in the chapters. they don't interact with each other outside of travel banter. and that's all there is, maybe 30 little conversations (actually half that since you can only have 4 party members out at a time). outside of that - nothing. i don't believe any of these characters are really friends or companions.

3: huge lack of customization. the game has a job system, but not a very deep one. basically each character has a primary job / class (thief, dancer, warrior etc.) and you can unlock secondary jobs to give each of them. this changes the sprite of the character, but only in battle. in cutscenes and regular traveling, you'll only ever see the default skin. there could have easily been an option to choose which sprites to use for what purpose. also, since you can never change the primary job of a character, there's little room to really move and experiment with the classes. it's almost all surface level. adding to this, items you equip have no influence over how your character looks. they're all just there for stats - the only way to change your sprite is equipping a secondary job. and again, this only changes your sprite for battle.


4: maybe most importantly: all of the characters are pretty flat, with a few cliche attributes and motivations each. most of the villains are even worse, being basically just cartoons. of course since it's a JRPG, a certain adherence to tradition is expected. these games don't innovate much, but it's still possible to create compelling characters and stories within the standard framework.

octopath traveler doesn't achieve this. yeah, it's got the look and feel, but none of the charm, soul and depth of other, better games like Dragon Quest (especially compared to 11 and 9). it's essentially a plastic reproduction of a good JRPG. worth buying if you're okay with all that (admittedly, combat is pretty fun), would not recommend this at full price though.

its pretty good. decent gta clone with its own sort of humor and flair. lots of customization options as expected. can get a little boring on repeat plays but overall an enjoyable game :)

tl,dr: if you liked / loved dragon quest 8 or 9, this is a must buy. if you're new to the series, pick this one up.

its an even greater experience that does more than justice to all its predecessors. really, the only thing it kinda lacks is replayability, since you can't customize your party much. everybody has their class and the only thing you can change up is choosing different routes up the skill trees. but this is basically the way it was in 8, so most DQ fans shouldn't mind.

but still, what a beautiful game. mastercrafted experience (well, almost) from start to finish. really good pacing throughout the game, well written charming characters, satisfying time-tested gameplay and most importantly, a great story with a great ending. youre gonna get around 80hrs or more on a playthrough. there's a lot to do and experience even (though its only semi-open world). graphics look gorgeous too. it does have its flaws, but those are all pretty minor - and if you're looking for one of the best JRPG experiences of all time, this is it.

great game. it's lasted this long for a reason.