While the Nintendo Switch is getting a lot of ports of 1st and 3rd party titles, it’s also getting some pretty neat exclusives. One of them arrives tomorrow in the form of Octopath Traveler, a unique 2.5 HD RPG from Square Enix. The game puts you in the role of eight different characters, ones that you can control and advance their stories on in any order that you wish. A lot of people expect the game to do well, and early reviews praise the title for just about everything it does.
In an interview with Eurogamer, producer Masashi Takahashi talked about Octopath Traveler in many aspects, including the reveal that the Switch wasn’t even fully made when they started working on the game. So, why did they go to Nintendo exclusively for this?
We already had experience with Nintendo with Bravely Default, and we’d decided to have Octopath as a worldwide experience. When we had to search for a partner for that, we had real confidence in Nintendo for that. And it’s an RPG – that means you have to play a long time, and because our target audience was adults – like us – it’s hard for us to be seated on the sofa for so long. Our lifestyle, you want to play in bed before you sleep for an hour.
The success of the Switch took everyone at the time by surprise, but it also helped cement the idea of keeping the game on the system. And with the portability aspect of the Switch, there was a personal connection that they loved.
Now, as for the future, the big question is, will there be a sequel if it does well?
“We really want the first concept we sell at full price to be 100 per cent of the game, so there won’t be any DLC in the future. As for Octopath as a series, it depends on the sales – if the players like the game it could be an opportunity, yes. But it’s still not out yet, so we’ll see!”
Octopath Traveler arrives on Nintendo Switch tomorrow.
