Your Starting Character Can’t Leave Your Party
Alright, so maybe you already knew this, but it’s worth repeating anyway. At the start of the game, Octopath Traveler allows you to choose to play as any of the eight characters. The one that you pick will be locked into your party for the whole game, and you can’t swap them out for anyone else. This means that you’re going to want to pick a character with a backstory you really resonate with, or one with a play style that suits you best. Don’t worry too much about this, though; once you hit chapter 2, you’ll start unlocking secondary classes, and this will give your main character a little more flexibility when it comes to abilities and weapon types in Octopath Traveler.
You will be able to remove your main character from the party once you complete all four chapters for them, but this means you can only swap them out at what is basically the very end of Octopath Traveler’s story. So unless you plan on grinding that character up to level 45 before playing around with the rest of the cast, you’re stuck with them for the whole duration of the game. We found that the experience was way better with a character and story that we really liked, so just go with your gut and don’t worry too much about it. Also, Primrose has the best story by the way.
The Boost System Is Your Friend
Using the boost system effectively is key to winning your battles in Octopath Traveler. Unlike in Bravely Default, you can save up Boost Points (BP) simply by not boosting during your turn. If you don’t boost, you gain 1 BP during your next turn. If you boosted, you won’t gain any BP during your next turn. Every enemy has a shield with a number attached to it, and if you hit it with a weapon or magic type it’s weak to, that shield count goes down by one. With that in mind, you could potentially break a shield in one turn if you have enough BP saved up. However, that’s not always wise. As I progressed through Octopath Traveler, I found that it was usually better to have two characters saving up their BP just in case a boss was about to charge up before unleashing a powerful attack. With enough BP in your back pocket, you could break their shield in one turn, preventing them from doing massive damage to your party.
Not only that, boosting can help in other ways, like capturing beasts or stealing. For instance, when you break an enemy’s shield, you can boost Therion’s Steal to increase your chances of actually stealing an item. Similarly, boosting H’aanit’s Capture skill will increase her chances of capturing the monster. Olberic also has the ability to boost while defending, allowing him to mitigate the damage taken.
Interacting With NPCs Is Important
In every town you visit, there will be tons of NPCs that you can interact with. Before starting a new tale in Octopath Traveler, we recommend putting Therion/Tressa and Cyrus/Alfyn in your party so you can gain information from everyone, while also getting extra items. Inquire or Scrutinize will give you more information about the NPCs themselves, which can be useful for completing side quests, or getting perks like inn discounts and better stock at the weapon and item shops.
On the other hand, using Steal or Purchase lets you obtain more items from NPCs. This can be very helpful, as you can get ingredients and resources at far lower prices than at general stores. Or you could get them for free, if you’re willing to risk your reputation by stealing instead of purchasing.
Whenever you take on new side quests, don’t worry too much about completing them immediately either. Most side quests in Octopath Traveler will require you to venture to towns you haven’t been to yet, and with the fast travel option, it’s very easy to go back and forth between locations to get them done.
Story Bosses Always Have Weaknesses that the Corresponding Hero Can Exploit
Every chapter in Octopath Traveler features a dungeon and a boss fight, and when you encounter the boss itself, they’ll definitely have a weakness that the story character can exploit. For instance, if you continue Alfyn’s second chapter, the boss will be vulnerable to either ice or axe attacks, as those are the basic damage types Alfyn starts out with as an Apothecary. This means that you should try to bring characters with overlapping weapon and magic types as well, so you can break the enemy’s shield more effectively.
However, as a general rule of thumb, you’ll also want to make sure you have all the weapon types covered at all times. As you progress into the higher level content, bosses will start changing their weaknesses, and you need to be prepared for whatever they throw at you. Because of this, mixing the Hunter and Warrior classes is a great idea as you’ll gain access to the sword, axe, bow, and spear types.
Everyone Needs Some Playtime
Octopath Traveler is a fantastic JRPG through and through, but it does suffer from a few questionable design choices that hold it back a little. For instance, when you rest at an inn, all your active party members will be healed up, but characters outside of your party won’t be affected at all. Similarly, non-active characters will also not receive experience if they’re not in your party. This means that it’s extremely important to level all your characters evenly. We recommend leveling up Olberic and H’aanit, as they have the Challenge and Provoke Path Actions, and some of their chapters will require you to get into 1v1 duels without any outside help.
The level recommendations will start to get a bit steep after chapter 2 in Octopath Traveler, so you’ll definitely need to keep everyone leveled up properly if you’re hoping to complete all eight stories in one playthrough. Keep rotating characters in your party, and you should be able to distribute enough experience to everyone without ever needing to grind.
Be sure to check out our Octopath Traveler wiki for more tips, tricks, and guides on the game.
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