LogFAQs > #926393891

The most common complaints leveled against the game are:

1. No over-arching narrative
2. Not enough party interaction
3. All the stories are the same

All of these criticisms can be addressed through a simple re-orientation of what one expects when it comes to video game narratives. I'll get to this later. First, I want to make it clear that the first critique is flat-out false. There is a subtle overarching narrative that is surprisingly emotional and epic. That being said, I will admit that Octopath's overarching narrative is technically relegated to the "post-game" and is so hard to activate that most players will not figure out how to activate the quest without consulting the internet. I will also admit that the extra dungeon is... well, not a dungeon really.

One more thing about the over-arching narrative; I believe many are unsatisfied due to their own expectations. While this game does have an overarching lore, Octopath isn't really about huge world-ending cataclysms in the way most jrpg's are. The developers are out to tell smaller, more personal stories that intertwine through their similarity. The story works by seeing how separate individuals respond to similar conflicts/choices (again, more on this later).

Now, when I said earlier that all of the criticisms can be addressed through a "re-orientation," here's what I mean. Octopath, and by extension the early Square Enix 16-bit rpg's it emulates, are more like comics/graphic novels than movies. Video game storytelling, as a genre, has by and large become more cinematic as graphics have improved, but Octopath stays true to its roots by cutting up the story into sections and allowing the player to "fill in" the gaps. Players here might initially complain - "a game I paid 60 dollars for shouldn't require me to tell my own story." I find this complaint banal and short-sighted, as the best stories are those that compel their viewers/listeners/readers to invest their imagination into.

In "Understanding Comics," Scott McCloud talks about panel transitions and "the gutter" - the space between panels, as places that compel readers to imagine what happens. In that way, the player/reader becomes co-author to the story. For example, if one panel features a person being chased by a second person with an axe, while the next panel features a shot of the moon and EEEYYAAAAAA in big spooky letters, readers imagine what has happened: "the reader is the one that swings the axe."

Octopath does the same sort of thing.

(continued)