Hello everyone! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. I hope everyone has been having a good year so far. I’ve got a lot planned for this including one of my biggest reviews this summer. More on that later, but let’s just say it’s going to be a lot. So this month I want to talk about Octopath Travel 0. As I mentioned before, the Octopath Traveler series has become one of my favorite JRPG series. It’s old school strategic combat system and beautiful HD-2D graphics show respect and appreciation to a bygone era of gaming we were too young to appreciate. 0 switched up the narrative by putting you as the main character and giving you over 30 travelers to play with in your journey. With so many characters and only 7 spots on your team, who do you choose to bring into battle with you? Who can you depend on to help you gain that victory in a hard boss fight? Well after playing the game these past two months I feel like I’m qualified to give my thoughts on which characters I think are the best, the worst, and who you should choose to be in your party. Join me as we go through each class of travelers to see who was the best, the worst, and passable as well as the special class of travelers.
Warrior
So let’s start with everyone’s safety net, the warrior. The heavy hitters, your main offensive force. Now each class gives you three travelers to choose from. For the most part the warrior class is good as all three of them are reliable. The first one is Viator. Who you can recruit to join your party in the early stages of the game and trust me, you’ll want to recruit him ASAP to fill in your numbers. A decent warrior with good damage options, but unfortunately, he suffers from having low defenses. Both physical and magic. It’s important that you have a healer on standby to keep him alive, otherwise he’s going to go down quickly. In terms of skill, his foresight is helpful for those looking to build up BP and deliver a powerful attack when an enemy is broken. Next up is Olberic, the original warrior from the first game who had the best story. He’s recruitable near the end of the second act of the game and a solid warrior. Specializing in polearm attacks and having the Surpassing Power skill which allows your max damage meter to go from 9,999 to 99,999 (and trust me, you’ll want to equip this on almost all your characters as the game goes on). Now some people have said Viator is better than Olberic, but I think Olberic is better. He’s got defense and HP which works great with his Cover ability and his damage output combined with Surpassing Power makes him an early heavy hitter until you rack up enough JP to pass the skill to other characters.
Now while both these two are good, they pale in comparison to Reime who is hands down the best warrior in the game. Despite coming late in the third act of the game and having to beat her in battle in order to get her to join your party, trust me when I say she’s worth it. She has a number of multi-hit attacks, a skill that stops her from consuming BP which allows you to use max attacks more often, and her ultimate guarantees you 6 hits making it one of the best ultimates in the game (combine that with Surpassing Power and she’ll be dealing 12,000 or more damage a round). I did notice she had low defenses so make sure she has good armor equipped, an SP bracelet, and watch her tear through everyone.
Hunter
Next up is the hunter. Your critical and multi-hitters. Next to the warrior, they’re your damage out-putters. The first hunter we come across is Phenn, a good friend and survivor of the village just like you. He’s got good attacks, can take hits like a tank, and one of his skills Vigorous Vigor restores 30% of the character’s max HP and SP at the end of battle. On top of that, his ultimate reduces damage for all allies which is perfect for those struggling in boss fights. Next up is Delitia. She’s recruitable pretty early in the game, depending on where you start. Out of all the hunters she’s the worst in my opinion. She specializes in ice attacks and debuffing enemies. Her ultimate is good too (lower enemy defenses and raises team’s attacks), but she gets outclassed by stronger characters who join your party and contribute more to the team. Between her and Phenn, I stuck with Phenn as my primary hunter until H’aanit joins the team.
Yep, despite getting flack for her speech in the first game, H’aanit is easily the best hunter in 0. She’s recruitable in the early stages of the third act and quickly earns her keep on the team with her strong multi-hit attacks and powerful passive abilities. While her passive abilities can be random and unpredictable, when they do happen it’s a huge relief on your part as she gets a chance to act again at the end of a round to do additional damage or set up for the next round. She also has Entrap, which forces enemies to act last in each round. A perfect counter for enemies who attack multiple times in one round. Her only downside is her accuracy. So be sure to use accuracy nuts on her as well as the Take Aim ability to make sure her multi-hit attacks can hit and break enemies.
Thief
Let’s talk about the thieves next. This is probably my favorite class not only in the game but in any RPG setting. I always gravitate toward the thief/rogue class. Just like the warrior and hunter these guys are your hitters who specialize in speed. Our first thief is Celsus. Just like Viator he’s an early recruit and is actually in the same town as him. He’s good at hitting multiple targets but his evasion could use some work. He’s a reliable character in the first part of the game as you find your footing, but he falls behind the other thieves, Therion and Heidne. Both characters are recruitable in act 2 of the game and it’s a toss up on which one is better. Therion is the stronger of the two, has great debuffing abilities, and has high evasion. Heidne on the other hand is the better stealer, quicker and gets stronger when paired with the protagonist. She also has the Patience passive ability which gives her a chance to act again at the end of a round. In the end, it all depends on your play style and both characters will give you what you want. If you’re looking to farm items, I recommend Heidne. If you’re looking for a solid thief to fight with, choose Therion. I experimented with both of these characters, but in the end I choose Therion as he fitted my play style more.
Merchant
Moving on, we have the merchant. A supporter/fighter class known more for their passive abilities that earns you more money and JP. If I had to name the weakest merchant in the game it would be Carinda. Actually, she’s one of the weakest characters overall in the game. Her skill set is about the same as the protagonist’s merchant class. So she’s not all that unique or different. On top of that she’s the last merchant to join the party. The other two join you by the end of act 1. She doesn’t join until the beginning of act 3. For the other two merchants we have Tressa, are go-getter who specializes in collecting money, wind magic, and saving SP with her passive skill SP Saver (a must have for scholars and healers). Her downside is she’s not an attacker. Her physical strength is low and her magic is below average.
Finally, there’s Ludo who is the best merchant in my opinion. He sets himself apart from the other merchants with his Appraisal skill which reveals an enemy’s weakness and Negotiation which is one of the most broken abilities in the game. By using this ability on a target, they provide extra EXP and money at the end of battle. A perfect way to farm for EXP and money. It works especially well on bosses and rare monsters. He’s also a decent hitter, has good passive skills, and his ultimate lowers shield points when an enemy recovers from being broken. While he’s not going to down foes left in right for you, he’s the perfect guy to make sure you get more from defeating enemies, can still hold his own in a fight and deliver a good amount of damage. This guy was definitely a mainstay on my team.
Scholars
Following merchants are the scholars. Now out of all the classes in the game this is the most balanced of them all. No matter which scholar you place on your team, they’re going to be a top tier character that delivers on magic damage. The first scholar is Alexia. Just like Viator, Phenn, and Celsus she’s an early game recruit and will be a mainstay on your party for a majority of the game as the other scholars don’t come until act 3. She’s an early game powerhouse who deals consistent elemental damage to all foes (lightning and dark), her ultimate deals a lot of damage on broken enemies, and her passive skill Incidental Analysis (reveal an enemy’s weakness) is a major help early on in the game (I can’t tell you how many times that ability saved me in the first two acts). Aside from her we have Cyrus and Xerc. Just like Alexia both of them are elemental power houses. Cyrus has more elemental coverage and the strongest ultimate out of the scholars. It’s a 6-hitter like Reime and his passive skill Rechant, gives him a chance to recast the same magic spell he used this turn. Xerc is a more gimmicky scholar. Decent elemental coverage and a 6-hitter ultimate just like Cyrus and Reime that uses all the elements. His gimmick is soulstones. He can increase their power so he’s perfect for those looking to conserve SP and have a lot of stones on them. In the end, I stuck with Alexia as my main scholar. Because she joined the party early on, I invested more time and experience into her than a majority of my other party members. Next to the protagonist this was the only character who remained in my party from beginning to end. While Cyrus and Xerc have better elemental coverage, just unlock her skill slots and give her the elements you need. In the end, all three scholars are great, but Alexia is the best.
Cleric
Sticking with magic, let’s move on to the healers, probably the most important class in any RPG. These guys aren’t here to fight, they’re here for one thing. Heal and revive your allies. That’s their only job. Pius joins the party early on and depending on how you progress the town restoration story, Laurana could join your party about midway through act 1 at the earliest. They’re both decent healers with their positives and negatives. Pius is better at healing multiple people and has a good early game ultimate but his skills don’t cut it as the game progresses. Laurana has good HP regeneration skills but once again that’s just not enough as you progress through the game. Then we have Ophilia, the original cleric from the first game and the best cleric in the game. First off, she has the best healing skills in the game. Heal Wounds, which restores the HP of an entire row and Heal More which does more healing. Second, she knows Revive. Whichever party members are down will be brought back (whether it’s one or multiple characters). She’s the only character who can use it. Third, JP Saver. She gathers up more JP than everyone else in the game and you’ll need that JP to copy her passive skill, Saving Grace. Finally, Saving Grace. This was a must have for most of my party members. It gives the equipped character the ability to be healed above their max. HP and as you enter the final act of the game Saving Grace combined with Heal More is going to save you so many times. The only downside is Ophilia joins the party about midway through act 3. So you have to be patient and make due with the other cleric or an apothecary. Speaking of which-
Apothecary
My least favorite class in the entire series. They’re essentially clerics with an axe. They have some offensive capabilities but nothing to write home about. Our first apothecary is Macy who is the weakest of the bunch. Another early game character who supports the team early on but quickly loses all value when Pius joins. The second is Esperre who joins in act 3. Next to Carinda and Macy he’s one of the weakest characters in the game. His only saving grace is the fact that his healing skill not only heals characters, but removes any status aliments they have. If not for that, he’d be useless. Finally, there’s Alfyn, a fan favorite and the best of his class. Not that that’s saying much. Joining in act 2, Alfyn earns his keep by having hands down the best axe skill in the game, Vigorous Axe which deals more damage the more HP you have. Teaching H’aanit this along with Saving Grace is a must. He also knows Vivify which can revive an ally but that easily gets replaced by Revive. Combine that with H’aanit stealing his axe skills and you pretty much make him useless.
Dancer
Finally, we have Dancer. Next to apothecary, this is my least favorite class. Debuffers and buffers. Which was never my focus when playing. To this game’s credit, all three dancers are pretty solid. Each one fills a different role within the party. Saoirse is the first one you’ll find near the end of act 1. For a lot of people, she’s the best and it’s hard to argue. She’s got the best support ultimate in the game which is great for getting around enemy weaknesses. If you have a hard time exploiting enemy weaknesses, use her. Primrose is recruitable near the end of act 2 and specializes in buffing up allies but loses steam later on in the game. Lastly, Goodwin, joins depending on how far you advance the town restoration story and buy a ship. Works great with heavy attackers, good at casting spells, decent ultimate and debuffing skills. For me, he was the best. I rarely used the dancers, but he was the one I gravitated toward the most.
Special Classes
Finally, we end with the special classes. I guess you could say this was their substitute for advance and dual classes, but it wasn’t good, overall. Most of them become available as your progress through the final act and by this point I had already established my team and wasn’t going to change it. Whatever these special classes did I felt the characters I already had did a better job. However, there were two characters I admit to experimenting with and adding to my party. The first is Isla, a cait who specializes in non-elemental attacks. He is quite possibly the strongest spellcaster in the game and is a miss if you don’t get all the 5 Letter Fragments which are scattered throughout the world. He’s fun to play with when you beat the game. I let him stay in my party for a few chapters, but put him away when I saw he wasn’t working with my current setup. All of his attacks are non-elemental so he only shows true value when an enemy is broken. Finally, Bargello. This guy replaced Theorin in my party and filled in the thief role. His main selling point is the Step Ahead passive skill. This skill allows him to go first at the start of battle in his own special round. It’s a free hit on the enemy, a free BP for everyone, and works even better if H’aanit is in the party with him as she has a chance to attack as well. They say he’s not a heavy hitter, but I found a way to get him to do a fair amount of damage. Most likely because I had the strongest daggers in the game and gave one of them to him. Out of all the special classes, Bargello was the one I liked the most and the one I recommend using in the final act of the game. Honorable mention also goes to Stia who joins your party at the start of the game. She’s like a cross between an apothecary and thief. She can heal and has decent attack power. One of her passive skills allows her to heal an ally at the end of each turn which was a broken ability early on in the game but just like the other apothecaries, she loses her spot as the game goes on.
My Party
Lastly, here was my party I ended the game with and used throughout the final act. Not sure if this setup will help you guys out, but I thought I’d share it with you and give you some ideas. Okay, so in the front row we have me as a thief along with Reime, Bargello, and H’aanit. In the back row we have Ophilia, Alexia, Ludo, and Olberic. I focused on physical attacks with this group and had H’aanit, Reime, and Ludo as my multi-hitters. Ludo also functioned as a second healer as well with Healing Wounds just in case. Me, Reime, Alexia, and H’aanit were the heavy hitters followed by Olberic and Bargello who were average hitters. Ophilia was the healer who kept us all alive. Aside from Alexia, I equipped everyone with Saving Grace to increase their max HP. Aside from Ophilia, everyone had Surpassing Power for good measure. Alexia and Ophilia both had SP Saver to save on using skills. In hindsight, I probably should have switched Olberic out with either Cyrus, Goodwin, or Saoirse and put them behind Reime. Isla probably would have worked also. Hope this helps in anyway. Like I said, I was able to beat the final boss in the game pretty well with this group as well as any other challenges leading up to it.
And those are my thoughts. Hopefully, this helps those picking up the game or in the middle of the game. Let me hear your thoughts on the characters and the party you created. Safe travels everyone, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.