LogFAQs > #942538912

BakusaiTenketsu posted...

So I must wonder if when playing these chapters that I should almost pretend the rest of the party does not exist, and only the party member of which the story is about is the only character present.

It's a bit of a conundrum in regards to story telling within this game.

People gave me grief for saying this in my legendary topic "In Defense of Octopath Traveler's Story," but I'll say it again: the game relies on players using their imagination to fill in the gaps here. For some this is a huge, game-breaking weakness. These people say that this is "bad writing" - but I wholeheartedly disagree. It's the writers using the conventions of 16-bit era storytelling to create immersion in a game by asking players to be an active participant in creating a narrative.

Everyone who plays Octopath Traveler, if they so choose, can supply their own narrative to how these characters interact and get along outside of their individually-focused stories. What is actually there - in terms of skits and overarching lore, is enough to provide a foundation on which to build. Again, some people will argue that if you have to "imagine the story yourself" that means there isn't a story there. I see where these people are coming from but I also think this way of storytelling reminds me of some of my favorite gameplay experiences as a child, where games didn't have fully fleshed out narratives and character development: early FF, FF6's World of Ruin, Saga Fronntier, etc.