Octopath Traveler is a JRPG dream come true. Both its battle system and aesthetic pay loving tribute to the Super NES era while moving the formula forward in exciting and novel ways. This isn’t merely a modern retread of past classics, but a phenomenal homage with genuinely fresh ideas in a fantastically charming wrapper of old-school meets new. While the eight different character stories could’ve used a little more connection between them, I’m looking forward to going back to complete them all, explore the many side areas, battle optional bosses, and unlock the final job classes.

Every element of Octopath Traveler comes together brilliantly to create a refreshing take on the genre. While it channels the spirit of old favorites, it never feels derivative. It genuinely does feel like a 16-bit RPG that has evolved into something new rather than being mere nostalgia-bait. Even if its visual tricks can feel strained at times, I admire the way Traveler sidesteps and even corrects the mistakes that other RPGs tend to make in trying to recapture the essence of the Super NES era. It’s informed by the classics, but it never feels blind or slavish. While I don’t feel comfortable putting a score on this review until I’ve completed the game and seen how (or if) the stories come together, I can confidently say that anyone who’s been pining for a great RPG will not be disappointed by Octopath Traveler... whether they want a vintage experience or a brand-new one.

Octopath Traveler is a JRPG dream come true. Both its battle system and aesthetic pay loving tribute to the Super NES era while moving the formula forward in exciting and novel ways. This isn’t merely a modern retread of past classics, but a phenomenal homage with genuinely fresh ideas in a fantastically charming wrapper of old-school meets new. While the eight different character stories could’ve used a little more connection between them, I’m looking forward to going back to complete them all, explore the many side areas, battle optional bosses, and unlock the final job classes.

Every element of Octopath Traveler comes together brilliantly to create a refreshing take on the genre. While it channels the spirit of old favorites, it never feels derivative. It genuinely does feel like a 16-bit RPG that has evolved into something new rather than being mere nostalgia-bait. Even if its visual tricks can feel strained at times, I admire the way Traveler sidesteps and even corrects the mistakes that other RPGs tend to make in trying to recapture the essence of the Super NES era. It’s informed by the classics, but it never feels blind or slavish. While I don’t feel comfortable putting a score on this review until I’ve completed the game and seen how (or if) the stories come together, I can confidently say that anyone who’s been pining for a great RPG will not be disappointed by Octopath Traveler... whether they want a vintage experience or a brand-new one.

Octopath Traveler is the kind of game that gets hand-waved aside as being for "the old school", but that's to overlook its charismatic innovations in battle and the curious, detached, even austere construction of its narrative. For good and a little for ill, it's a lot more eccentric than it looks. JRPG detractors will bounce off the hoarier elements - changeless villages, that well-thumbed handbook of classes and abilities, those sparsely animated sprites - and so, miss the peculiarities those devices hide. Genre aficionados may take umbrage at being forced by the levelling curve to alternate characters, and never quite seeing those stories entwine as fully as in, say, the Mass Effect games. Give the game time to bed in, however, and you'll find it a bold contribution to a genre that has always been a little too in love with its past and the past in general. There's much here to inspire nostalgia for the classics, but Octopath Traveler is at its best when following its own nose through a history of its own creation.

Octopath Traveler is a beautiful game with one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard. The combat system rocks and will hopefully be used in more Square Enix games to come. There are plenty of good ideas in here. But the game is too grindy, too repetitive, too full of structural problems to be viewed as much more than another botched JRPG experiment.