After really enjoying Octopath Traveler II as my introduction to the series, I decided to head back and check out the first entry to meet the original travelers and experience the stories and ideas that helped define the core of Octopath.
From the get-go, I was able to experience so much of what made me fall in love with Octopath Traveler II: the signature HD-2D art style, a unique and memorable cast of travelers, the beautiful soundtrack by Yasunori Nishiki, and of course, the incredibly crunchy and satisfying Break & Boost combat system. Having already played OT2 definitely helped me to appreciate the combat even more, as I was able to jump straight into experimenting with both new and familiar job combinations and strategies.
I particularly enjoyed Ophilia's story, and found her to be an amazing choice for my starting traveler and the character to build my party around throughout the journey. This became even more fun once I started unlocking the secret jobs and turned her into a Starseer. Speaking of the secret jobs, I absolutely loved the boss fights required to unlock them. These fights felt like fantastic tests of what I had learned about the Octopath combat system, and their absence was something I didn't realize I missed in OT2. The secret jobs themselves also feel incredibly powerful and rewarding to unlock, arguably even more so than their OT2 counterparts.
However, as I neared the end of my journey and began clearing the travelers' final chapters, I gradually came to miss all the tiny but ever-so-thoughtful additions that OT2 brought to the formula. There's no double speed option for battles, the travelers feel more isolated from one another without Crossed Paths and OT2's travel banter replay system, and the lack of Latent Powers made characters using the same job combinations feel too mechanically similar to one another. The absence of OT2's day/night cycle and the increased path action possibilities that came with it also makes the world feel a little less dynamic.
None of these issues individually hurt the experience very much, but together they leave OT1 feeling like it's missing that last bit of sauce that made its sequel such a remarkable game for me. If I could go back and play the series for the first time again, I'd probably start with OT1 then move on to OT2, simply because it would allow me to experience all the refinements as additions rather than notice their absence going backwards.
Even so, the world of Octopath Traveler 1 is still a wonderfully charming and magical JRPG adventure, and playing the original has only solidified my love for the series as a whole. Whether you start here or with its sequel, PLAY OCTOPATH!!! This series has become a true gem of the JRPG genre for me, and I can't recommend it enough.
As for Steam Deck performance, the game ran flawlessly aside from a single crash that may have been related to the game not automatically setting itself to the Steam Deck's native resolution. I'm not entirely sure what caused it, but after adjusting the resolution I had a crash-free experience the rest of my journey.
