Octopath Traveler paved the way for Japanese role-playing games, with its flashy HD-2D style and branching storytelling. This trail took the franchise to mobile phones and tablets, as Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent brings the story of Orsterra to mobile devices in a new prequel story.
This new mobile Octopath Traveler is launching today, July 27, on iOS and Android devices. To find out more, we spoke with three key members of the development team: Global Producer Hirohito Suzuki, Composer Yasunori Nishiki, and Screenwriter Kakunoshin Futsuzawa about the franchise’s move to mobile.
We talked about the free game mechanics, the proliferation of the HD-2D art style, the differences in the combat system, and more. We also touched on whether characters or locations from the original game could impact this new game, and what players can expect from the three branching stories as they play.
This interview was conducted by email.
GameSpot: Why was mobile the platform of choice for a return to Octopath Traveler? What does the platform offer for this experience that consoles/PC don’t?
Hirohito Suzuki: Hello, this is Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent producer Hirohito Suzuki. Thank you for!
The team’s mission is to bring Octopath Traveler to as many people as possible. To this end, we have decided to release this game as a free download for mobile devices, which has become the platform with the largest player base.
That said, our focus is on delivering the same type of experience as a console or PC game with a mobile device and not what the mobile platform provides for that experience that consoles/PC don’t. . As such, unlike a typical mobile game, there are no social elements, nor do we intend to have limited time events for the most part.
Hope you enjoy our title Octopath Traveler which can be played on mobile device.
The combat system of this game doubles the number of heroes on the screen at the same time. What prompted the decision to increase the number of player heroes and how did this choice affect the combat system?
Suzuki: The motivation behind this was due to the large number of characters, and I wanted to give them a moment to shine together.
What’s unique about this title’s battle is that players will use front- or rear-positioned characters. BP will accumulate for all eight party members, so players can enjoy a faster battle than the first game.
In addition, certain abilities activate depending on whether your character is placed in the front or in the rear, which also allows for strategic battles.
What types of free items will be included in Champions of the Continent? How will they affect the player experience?
Suzuki: The basic gameplay of the title is free. We’ve adjusted it so players can skip the first ending of the main story, which is around 60 hours of content, for free as well.
Which characters join a player’s roster will largely be down to luck, but it would make me happy if players could enjoy the process of determining how best to use the characters at their disposal.
Explain how in-app purchases have been implemented. How important are microtransactions to Champions of the Continent and what types of purchases can players make?
Suzuki: Basically, players can perform a summon from a sweater and unlock characters if they want. In this game, character abilities may provide an advantage when progressing through the main story and battle content, but these are not necessarily required. However, if you want to deepen the storyline of a favorite character, you will need to obtain that character to play on it.
How difficult did you find it to design a “free-to-play” ecosystem without making it too dependent on the use of real currencies? Do you think you have struck the right balance in this regard?
Suzuki: As mentioned earlier, the goal of the game is to bring Octopath Traveler to as many people as possible. The adjustments we made therefore allow the base game to be free for everyone. For this reason, unlike typical mobile games, we made sure that perspectives such as ecosystems or business models did not influence game systems too much.
This decision was very difficult to make as a producer, but my goal is for people to first play this title for free and fall in love with the game, and then based on that they can choose to make a purchase out of a desire to collect their favorite character.
The game’s art style has evolved into an RPG subgenre in its own right, with Live A Live and the Dragon Quest III remaster as notable examples on the way. Are there any other games in Square Enix’s library that you’d like to see get HD/2D treatment?
Suzuki: This is strictly my personal opinion, but I would love to see some of the pixel art Final Fantasy titles done in HD-2D. Octopath Traveler was heavily influenced by them, so I think they would come out great.
However, as a creator myself, I would also like to think about creating new games in the HD-2D style and not just focus on remakes.
How does your composition process change when working with a mobile title? Are there any limitations you found in writing music for this game, or is the process the same as the previous game?
Yasunori Nishiki: I think it can be said that music production for recent mobile games has almost no difference or limitation compared to that of console games. However, some implementations that may be CPU-intensive on a device, such as interactive music or long high-fidelity music tracks/music file formats, may cause download capacity issues and may be somewhat affected by limitations.
Of course, if a mobile game is meant to offer a different gaming experience than its console counterpart, the way music is created has to change to keep up; however, our concept for this game was to provide our players with a gaming experience that didn’t pale in comparison to a console game. As a result, I made sure to retain the feeling of the first game for the music as well.
The previous game’s soundtrack was widely praised when the game launched. Do you find any kind of pressure trying to recreate that success for this game, or do you approach it as a separate challenge?
Nishiki: The first title described the story of eight protagonists and each of their journeys and so the music was created to focus on this aspect. For this game, the story revolves around evil but attractive villains; as such, the music is created with them at the center.
Of course, I felt a kind of pressure that I can’t disappoint those who enjoyed the first game so much, but I also remember being excited about how I can present these fascinating villains with music .
I was actually able to integrate various musical genres that I didn’t use in the first game, so it was a great opportunity to experiment.
Also, since it’s a live-service title, I wrote music at the beginning without knowing how the story would end, so that was pretty exciting too (laughs).
How does Champions of the Continent fit into the overall Octopath Traveler story? We know it’s a prequel, but how far in time do we go?
Kakunoshin Futsuzawa: This game takes place a few years before the events of the first game. The same towns and characters will also be referenced. People who play an Octopath Traveler game for the first time can still enjoy this game without any problems, but “travelers” who experienced the first game can enjoy the journey a little more deeply.
How, if at all, will the characters from the original game – be they the playable heroes or the NPCs – factor into this story? Will we see any familiar faces on our travels?
Futsuzawa: Sometimes characters can appear as friends or sometimes they can stand in the way of your journey. I’m afraid I can’t go into detail, but many of the characters from the first game are sure to make an appearance, so I hope you can’t wait to see them again!
So far the story revolves around three characters in Herminia, Tytos and Augustus. Will we see these three stories intertwine, and if so to what extent?
Futsuzawa: These three are the “ultimate evil”, so to speak. The story is set in the vast land of Orsterra, but considering the absolute evil – and three of them, there’s no way these three aren’t somehow connected. other.
The Octopath Traveler series involves stories from many different people, so I pay close attention to these characters, their stories, and how they connect to each other. That’s all I can share for now, however, I’d like you to take the journey into the world of Octopath Traveler and experience how the stories are a bit different and darker than the first game .
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