Octopath Traveler (Zero Punctuation)

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[@TheStapleGunKid]

"Then there's Cyrus, a teacher who gets fired because of some mean girls drama and goes looking for an overdue library book or something." I love how that's not a joke or hyperbole, that's literally his actual plotline. They really must have been running out of story ideas by the time they got to him.

[@merrittanimation7721]

That character switching is probably the best animation this series has had

[@BFedie518]

2nd best. In the Monkey Island review switching floppy disks looks actually animated.

[@paullaing5921]

Can you call it a series after one game?

[@merrittanimation7721]

@@paullaing5921 I meant Zero Punctuation, not Octopath traveler.

[@hoagielamp6543]

@@BFedie518 There's another where his eyes spin around pretty much on the same level as the disk switching.

[@jennyderr1426]

I looked it up, your stuck with the 1st chosen until you finish their story.

[@ruggedlemmings9163]

The true cleverness in the title isn't just the on-the-nose explanation of eight paths...look at the names of the main characters: *O* philia *C* yrus *T* ressa *O* lberic *P* rimrose *A* lfyn *T* herion *H* aanit

[@dynostretch9215]

*spits out his drink* Oh god that's actually clever and hilarious.

[@user-nk8ft3nn8z]

Huh. That *is* clever!

[@mrman6035]

Wow

[@primordialchaos3647]

I never noticed that! Neat!

[@chrisff1989]

And if you start with Ophilia (or maybe Olberic?) and go clockwise to recruit them you'll end up spelling Octopath

[@NgoTMinh]

I love how he mentions persona 5 everytime he talks about good jrpgs

[@mushijian7839]

Well, Persona is one of the most "not like everyone else" JRPG spin off series in a good way, with a visual novell pacing. I guess it was so good, that mainline series SMT was politely exiled to portable consoles!

[@WrecklessFantasist]

@BoJo Well I mean SMT has been more associated with Nintendo while Persona has been more associated with Play Station

[@Shaymin0]

This game could have been so good if the characters played off each other during the stories. That would have given it a niche. Thus a reason to exist.

[@BrosiahTV]

"I suppose we can't all be stripper assassin's." Hahaha just great

[@sirrealgaming6913]

He's just not trying hard enough!

[@carsonc5576]

I mean TBH Primrose was BY FAR the most interesting character

[@SterlingDeklin]

Just need enough practice is all.

[@RyuLightorb]

Therion for most interesting tho

[@Schwallex]

Why "assassin's", you plum. Why not "a's'sa's'sin's", while you're at it.

[@nathanrailsback9667]

The irony is that actually, Apothecary Lad is arguably the best main character, since his higher level from not being able to switch out means he can find secrets from talking to people earlier, and because his alchemy is the best support power ever. Said support power can really, REALLY speed up those lengthy boss fights, too, so I think Yahtzee cheated himself by ignoring Alphyn.

[@brainflash1]

I'd love to see Statler and Waldorf do commentary for a WWE match Statler: By Hendson, he just got split in half! Waldorf: Good for him, Statler. Statler: Why is it good? Waldorf: Because now he can form a Tag Team with himself. *DOOOHOHOHOHOHO!*

[@robonerd125]

someone go revive jim henson so he can read this...

[@brainflash1]

The Muppets actually hosted an episode of WWE RAW a few years ago.

[@stopthattimerave]

brainflash1 IS THERE A VIDEO AVAILABLE? that sounds freakin incredible

[@franzsanders9573]

Thanks - I never knew I needed this in my life until now!

[@brainflash1]

+stopthattimerave Here's the best one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5mpn5yfqs9qbbs

[@DarkMask6667]

"The random battles tend to drag on a bit ... and no, not the fun kind of drag-on" That one made me chuckle.

[@stinger59605]

I don’t get it

[@happyspaceinvader508]

@@stinger59605what… even with the picture that pops up right at the moment he makes that joke?

[@stinger59605]

@@happyspaceinvader508 nope

[@stinger59605]

@@happyspaceinvader508 I never heard of any other use of the phrase “drag on” other then taking up time.

[@crayoneater6034]

Dog turds in gravel sounds lovely actually Yhatzee, don't be so cynical

[@rextheraccoon5156]

Tim Hajj Telling Yahtzee to not be so cynical. That’s like telling Michael Huber of Easy Allies (formerly GameTrailers) to not be so optimistic, it’s a bit of a lost cause.

[@bladezocallaghan265]

Come of it u fucking altar boy

[@crayoneater6034]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH7Kn2Ccjb-Fn68

[@RacingSnails64]

lovely broken teeth

[@fairiesandlillies3471]

Tim Hajj wow Thats to aqurate

[@zidanetribal1406]

I think Yahtzee would really like Final Fantasy IX. Every character has a specific class, invokes classic era of Final Fantasy, and the story is surprisingly still relevant.

[@murlocknight1427]

As someone who picked Apothecary Lad first, that description is spot-on. …at least he makes an okay tank?? I guess??

[@mesutramsey3620]

Alfynn is arguably top 2 best character to start with. Dude is tanky can heal, cleanse, debuff and dish out good damage. Concoct is absolutely fantastic.

[@fluorideinthechat7606]

Therion’s arguably either second best or the best one to start with since he has a health drain attack that deals great damage, an SP drain attack that deals great damage, stealing things from people and enemies (and before the townsfolk get uppity start save scumming), attack and defense debuffs so you deal more while they deal less. Did I mention his great speed that ties into his final skill, making it an AOE nuke, and high evasion? And the bastard purple chests you need to make a second run through the dungeon for are pretty much neutered with him as the lead.

[@murlocknight1427]

Yep, agree with your points, but their music is fantastic!

[@Deathclaw-lh5tl]

2:44 - I could watch that all day. Preferably with a slot machine sound effect.

[@DoctorLazers]

This is actually one of your funniest videos. I love this game, but literally every joke you said was something that passed through my mind while playing or that I joked about with my friends who also played the game.

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

Yes but does it have burly/tight men of varying ages traveling across the map in a convertible while posing in black leather? No? THEN GOOD DAY SIR!

[@TheMaestro116]

Low Energy Videos Nor does it have a buff dude capable of suplexing a train. 0/10

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

Ill cry for the lost abs, pecks and bulges at a appropriate time. Meanwhile I am bank rolling a new Final Fantasy15/Skyrim mod that lets you kill dragons as a Dragonborn man-crush who loves noodles....like REALLY loves noodles...

[@Runexn]

Holy shit. Is that a jojo reference?

[@errolhusaberg3791]

IS THAT A MOTHERFUCKING JO- shit someone already said it

[@lowenergyvideos4658]

No and that makes me.....sad... Sad I cannot be apart of your mutant body lifter cult of mandom.... Also fucking relieved because Jojo is weird AF!

[@lucidlullaby894]

“Don’t pick apothecary lad first” Amputation, cheap revive and Concoct Boost says otherwise

[@clockworkmaple8793]

Alfyn is the best starting character. He heals whatever ails your other baby members, but isn’t a slouch for melee or magic. Versatile.

[@mclainboyd5514]

Don’t forget soul

[@frostyblade8842]

@@clockworkmaple8793 my thoughts exactly Alfyn is amazing and makes the most sense to be party leader canonically since he wants to help as many people as posssible and travel to all the towns and villages, and is nice enough that no one can turn down his help. The fact he's also an incredible healer and very handy with an axe help too

[@StarbitO]

i wanna hold hands with apothecary lad :)

[@ShroudedWolf51]

Useful combat character != good writing

[@DeltaWave_]

The part about the bosses taking ages is so true, even if you’re overleveled

[@5Detective]

You're one of the most consistent KZbinrs.

[@SPM0717]

He's not a KZbinr. He works for The Escapist, who upload the videos to their own website and then to this channel.

[@5Detective]

Kind of semantics, since everyone but him is gone on this channel. It's basically The Yahtzee channel now. I don't know how much he gets paid by Escapist, but I hope it's good.

[@Cirac1]

It's enough that he owns a video game bar and has been able to fund a pursuit in writing... That's gotta count for something.

[@Axle..]

Cirac1 The Mana Bar closed down a few years ago.

[@Cirac1]

Axle Steel thats a bummer! I've not been to Brisbane in years.

[@thatchris1626]

i fear for your dog

[@MrSplic3r]

chris lowis poor Pepper

[@dawnwayfinder]

I fear for the extinguisher.

[@Floppy0dragon]

It took me weeks, but I have finally finished my chronological binge of all the zero punctuation videos so far. Now I need to find something else to do with my life.

[@nick_tl_ouma7167]

I really like this game, and actually found this review funny and refreshing. I love hearing people pointing flaws in some of my favourite games, hell, that's why I subscribed to this channel in the first place.

[@Tabryne]

@@peddazz2365 Could you go into detail a bit more? : )

[@franzsanders9573]

I'm fine with people criticizing my favorite games, as long as they do it in good faith. For example, I appreciate Yahtzee's criticisms of DDLC because he presents them in an intelligent and funny manner.

[@jaredbowman7764]

Damn, you talk like a real person!

[@drakemarsaly6644]

TheGrandRevo indeed I trust him 100% to shit on every game, and i wouldn't have it any other way

[@weirdunclebob]

Have you seen Jim F. Sterling's review of it? He liked it, too, and gave it an honest review pointing out it's limitations and flaws while praising it's virtues. Or something like that. My two favourite game reviewers Yahtzee and Jim. Both crack me up no end. :D

[@vazak11]

Neat review, eight major stories does seem like a lot to balance.

[@CDbiggen]

I haven't laughed like that in ages. Please never stop making these.

[@Katana314]

Even though I adore the game, I'm actually pretty impressed that Yahtzee's overall opinion was centered somewhere on "Meh." I was genuinely expecting him to hate it, since by my own admission the writing barely has one layer, and the RPG combat loses some complexity and fun, and I know Yahtzee tends to be quite critical of bad writing.

[@nightmareofkaitos]

Octopath traveller is awesome. Olberic is my favourite thus far that's the warrior who's blade is unbending. Cyrus, his story is just pain.

[@Dusty--]

"And not the fun kind of drag-on" That was a fine ass piece of writing. I even cracked a smile.

[@chriskoloski32]

I love this game still to this day. Wonderful music too

[@AvatarDesTopfes]

I can't remember ever loosing my shit so hard as at the Stattler&Waldorf joke.

[@Twinrehz]

For what it's worth, the game does get interesting later. For me it was around the 20h mark, when I'd finally gathered up the entire gang of 8 characters and began seeing more interesting enemy variety and ways to attack and find out their weaknesses without the insipid trial and error. Then things got *REALLY* hairy when I started working my way through the various third chapters of the characters, with one boss in particular going "hey have you figured out debuffs yet, because if you haven't, NOW IS THE TIME TO LEARN!". Oh and I unlocked the whole "jobs" system that the game's been rather annoyingly coy about up until that point. If you want to try out the game, here's a tip that I didn't get until it was too late: pick 4 characters and just stick with them. Maybe do some research on them, because they all have their perks and downsides, you don't want to end up with both the thief and the warrior in the same party, as they're both heavily melee focused and you'll be left struggling when you need to take care of elemental weaknesses. Once you unlock jobs this is somewhat mitigated, but it's easier with a more balanced party. (And you'll probably want to pick up the mage regardless, as he's as far as I can tell, the strongest DPS in the early and middle stages of the game).

[@Joshua_Shadow_Manriguez]

So it's a standard Turn Based RPG. They're all virtually the same, battles drag on forever and any tweaks are extremely minor at most, yet they get fancy names like "Action Turn Based" depending on what little thing is added.

[@HORRIOR1]

8 paths but not a single one of them from the view point of the villain. What wasted potential…

[@billqiu4692]

I mean each path kind of has their own personal/respective villain(s), so it might be even more clunky to try and tie them all together from one view point.

[@ChiChoo29]

They're not good guys, but they're still just protagonists not at odds with anyone in the party

[@TheReZisTLust]

Thieves are villians to those who they steal from.

[@ctpp64]

What are you even talking about

[@vVAstrAVv]

HORRIOR the only good villain is primroses anyways And there is a hidden dungeon that has lore dumps around some of the different villains

[@fs9096]

I think Octopath Traveler might be like, the bad version of Legend of Legacy? It's an Atlus (of course it is) RPG about a group of ragtag adventurers finding their destiny on an island where you pick from a group of protagonists who then recruit two of the other characters. The difference is that the story is written around the specific 3 adventurers from the group you get so it's able to maintain like, some coherence?

[@Morgil27]

I love his examples of good and bad jRPGs @ 0:45. I couldn't agree more with both of them.

[@JaceOKami]

the drug dealer is the best healer and supporter in the game, why wouldn't you want to use him 24/7?

[@Pdhelliot]

Muh party wide Heal More as Ophelia though! Alfyn #1, he a good boy.

[@benmcnally9935]

@@Pdhelliot take Alfyn and multiclass with cleric

[@edwinatwell7423]

Because muh assassin waifu

[@TheChiramu]

Alfyn the Apothecary is one of the best characters, give him that mighty armulet and he deals a lot of damage with his Amputation. Not to mention, Empoison is one of the best debuffs for bosses too. His innate ability Concoct also makes him a lot better than the secondary class apothecary.

[@masteromicron1107]

"So whatever you do don't pick Apothecary lad first." Oops

[@WraxTV]

So I haven't played this game, but just based on how Yatz explained the set up, it reminds me a lot of Samurai Shodown RPG. That game just had six main characters instead of eight, with a ton of non-main characters who can join you, and depending on the main character you pick you might not be able to have other main characters join up with you.

[@VenseyNess]

If yhatzee says a game is worth playing, even just for killing time, it means it's a great game.

[@MrMetalforever5]

Your critiques are on point as always, your excellency.

[@Masteroftheweb]

Had to come here to see the video... on their site you just get a 45 second reminded of how awesome the escapist used to be...

[@valtack7824]

tbh im liking octopath traveler so far

[@DrIzaakjohnson]

Currently listening to your new book! Great so far and loved all your other books!

[@VRAlgamer]

"Selle de canidé sur son lit de minéraux, assortie d'une fraîche émulsion de bile" There, now it costs 80€ at a fancy restaurant.

[@MTdaBlacking]

"Mes compliments au chef! Ces selles sont délicieux!"

[@hootie017]

I absolutely loved this game until about halfway through Chapter 5 and then just decided I was done. I still give it a 8/10, but when there's 8 endings - after about 4 or 5 of them, I felt that was enough.

[@happyspaceinvader508]

There’s a Chapter 5??? I couldn’t get to the end of Chapter 1. On my 5th party member, the bosses just became insurmountable. I suppose this is because I’m not spending enough time grinding through minor battles… because I don;’t find that fun.

[@tzisorey]

"We can't all be stripper assassins" THAT'S A LIE AND YOU KNOW IT, YAHTZEE! ;)

[@newbiesama]

wow..just realised this game3 is already 3 years old....

[@alithanar8]

Octopath? Made me think that the Chaos gods of Warhammer came up with a new title of the eightfold path to corruption...

[@DefendingTheGame]

"Over dressed Lemmings" ha ha, best episode in a little while :)

[@frostyblade8842]

2:50 I'll try not to be offended by that Yahtz as Alfyn is one of the best characters in game and is also my favourite character

[@39Chevy]

4:34 Damn Boglins.

[@stephenbergin889]

That Chris Eubank joke got me good!

[@terderrer]

with his disdain for jrpgs i found this surprisingly... fair and accurate.

[@jujumana]

The only review I need for all of the games I've never heard of.

[@uberhuber7903]

Alfyn wanted to be like the apothecary who saved him

[@TheGurumash]

I essentially heard, "It's good though could be much better" which I agree on the cutscene and Traveler Banter crap, more interaction between the characters would've been nice. Also the "We can't all be stripper assassins" bit is very appropriate since Alfyn (Apothecary Lad) does have the least engaging intro chapter, at least he's a "Good boi" whom I expect we'll see fanfiction written about by the usual Fujo girls that have him and Cyrus/Therion doing something Risqué or should I say Risgay.

[@doodlebugfour7070]

Don't forget Olberic, not even he is safe from the Fujoshis. XD

[@franzsanders9573]

I do sympathize with the writers to an extent, though, as I feel they might've worried that created specific interactions in the cutscenes might've messed with what the player had imprinted onto that character (Sorry if that sentence doesn't make that much sense, I'm _really_ tired right now).

[@TheGurumash]

While that would be a concern at any other developer, Square Enix has always been about "Their Story" rather than the player's story. Square's story writing has generally followed an orchestrated tone, and some are liked(4/7), some loved(6/9/10), some despised(13) and some indifferent(5/8). Plus it's harder to imprint on characters that are archetypal of their classes and also voiced. Don't get it twisted though, I like this game a lot, but few games release as perfections of their genre and many can be improved upon in some way.

[@TheGurumash]

@Franz Sanders Also what you said made sense, so congrats on being coherent while really tired, genuinely hard to do as far as people who comment on anything in the internet.

[@tomjackal5708]

there's like, no rule 34 of this game yet. troubling honestly

[@Libluini]

I was already at level 14 halfway through party member No. 4's first chapter. Mainly because I equip and unequip a certain skill based on how bloodthirsty I'm feeling at any given moment.

[@andregon4366]

Everyone talks about FF6 as a comparison with Octopath Traveler, and here I am thinking of Dragon Quest 4.

[@twoeleven7840]

A game so forgettable that I thought this was a new video until youtube informed me that not only was it not new, but I had already watched it

[@JamesDavy2009]

Statler: "I think that number raises a pertinent question." Waldorf: "What's that?" Statler: "Why did they do it?"

[@LordDeathwing17]

JamesDavy2009 W: What was that? S: It’s called “The Medium Sketch.” W: The Medium Sketch? S: Yeah, it wasn’t rare, and it certainly wasn’t well done!!!

[@orangeapples]

I love the game and yeah. Yahtzee isn’t wrong. The reason I love the game is the combat and world building, but I also like pretending that how this came about was someone was clearing out a filing cabinet at SquareEnix and found 8 character stories they liked, but knew weren’t enough for their own game. The game is all about side characters and side quests that are loosely loosely related. It’s a game where the world’s chosen hero didn’t show up so it is up to this 8 person traveling troupe to stumble into the main plot as they go about their own business.

[@AFlyingTaco1]

I enjoy this game greatly, and yet agree entirely with the points Yahtzee makes here.

[@Binks129]

I liked apothecary lad as my main.... he’s very clutch for breaking armor with his concoct ability. He’s support, attack, tank and utility all in one.

[@blakexi3731]

Yeah, I admit I picked Alfyn (apothecary lad) as my main, but I didn't regret it. Sure he heals, but unlike the priestess, the physical attack damage was pretty high and he can inflict various status effects by mixing and throwing concoctions. Also I really cheesed his skill that basically recovers SP with a physical attack, so never had to worry about having enough SP to heal after that point.

[@adamjennings8133]

"Can't all be stripper assassin's" Sounds like a bet

[@Akalos1]

He nails how bad the suspension of disbelief is

[@brainflash1]

Hey, can anyone still watch these episodes on the Escapist? I keep getting redirected to a promotional video for the Escapist KZbin channel that is so out of date it still includes Top Five with Lisa Foiles.

[@brendonjohnson676]

Yeah, I watched it like a week ago on there and honestly it's more shorter and different than the YT version

[@brainflash1]

Well the KZbin version always cuts out the end credits gag.

[@fictionarch]

I checked the new video then the old octopath one and both just show that ad your talking about

[@garrettreed2809]

Same thing for me, I already watched the Octopath critique last week too...

[@lucidity1353]

I can't find this week's video smh.

[@YukihyoShiraki]

Like how scyther in jp is literally "Slash" only in a japanese accent.

[@SterlingDeklin]

The fact that Yahtzee could sum up the entirety of all the stories in one sentence each says something about their quality.

[@cadencesparkle169]

He's summing up their calls to adventure, not their entire stories.

[@SterlingDeklin]

In the long run, same difference.

[@33corsaire]

I mean the apothecary is a staple on my party but ok…

[@geektopia666]

I know it's a bit late and this is probably already explained 100 times in the comments. But before going between places, it actually does tell you at the bottom-left of the screen, the recommended level of the next area you are about to enter. Sure not on the main map, but still there. :) Love you.

[@benjamin7826]

This game smokes lots of beers

[@seb24789]

Glad he liked it.

[@lovaszaron3138]

Statler and Waldorf would have made this game better. Because they would have heckled it to heck and back! Dohohohoho!

[@Bantorain93R]

I HAVE NEVER HIT A ZERO PUNCTUATION REVIEW SO QUICKLY

[@Davissgd]

finally man, i was craving for my dose, yesterday i began to watch all escapist videos again for like 9th time

[@knightmarin]

I Picked thief boy as my first party member... stealing is fun :)

[@Goat0423]

To me this is just “The game that shoves itself into directs but never comes out, until it does.”

[@jalontf2]

13-year-old me rears up and curses you Yahtzee whenever you dunk on FF7! Nevertheless your tone smoother than a winning pool shot against astonished kindergarteners while smoking a cig calms me down again.

[@yuridhjeeyn9034]

0:24 if you where to translate the title to german i would be Acht-Wege-WANDERER Acht-Wege-VERFÜHRUNG is german for: Eight-Way-SEDUCTION EDIT: or Eight-Way-TEMPTATION

[@icy1007]

Octopath Traveler is fantastic.

[@basseman4239]

sure it can be kind o grindy in some cases usually not that bad, there even exist a "enemy" that gives you lots of x and everything usually goes up several levels. It´s this cat with a short name like caith or such, but you must stun it or kill it in one shot or it will just flee.

[@henrikvarga5053]

Oh goody what a lovely game.... Also another lovely video by Yahtz

[@SamHeaton264]

The Eubank joke killed me off right out of the gate. Outstanding:

[@reubenfromow4854]

The statler and Waldor joke made me chuckle

[@ralgore]

It's more to the name "Octopath" isn't it ? Think the name consists of the first letter of every character's name.

[@Tauposaurus]

Oh. My. God.

[@levianderson8822]

@@Tauposaurus it does

[@MapleLeafAce]

Actually when they decided to keep the Octopath title they renamed all the characters. It was never actually meant to be called Octopath Traveller at launch.

[@JustinY.]

So basically it has the depth of a crumby shonen battle manga

[@TheNightwing80]

Fuck. Off.

[@felixxu9900]

Why do people even reply if you know he never does?

[@RyuLightorb]

Not really he over simplified a lot of it

[@mrjack901]

You're a plague!

[@TheKeksmuzh]

So are the dog turds in gravel supposed to be crumby, or....oh you meant crummy. Nevermind then?

[@JohnDWJ]

4:36. The Final Fantasy VI (III) box smites the skeleton Halloween fucking BOGLIN! We have strayed from saucy commentary into surrealist art!

[@kpr2]

*shlorp!* Almost drowned in my coffee at that bit of text-based "foley".

[@MI2Dragon86]

RIP Barry Chuckle.

[@comment142]

Yahtzee 100% abuses his dog.

[@Gnarrrl]

Should be "Acht-Wege-Reisender" ... you translated "Octopath seduction"

[@ExecTails]

That was probably intentional, wouldn't have been funny to us German speaking viewers otherwise^^

[@ArgoIo]

More like "eight-way seduction".

[@0LoneTech]

Now that title does pique some curiosity.

[@Last555555555]

knowing Yahtzee, he knows what he did.

[@MrOmegatronic]

Yes, because sexual humour is something these videos _never_ do. The guy clearly abhors it, even! ;3

[@nobodyuknow2490]

4:48 Hmmm... My lawyer's office name is "Dewey, Cheetum, & Howe"...

[@sdothark]

*"Your excellence..."*

[@DocDrowsy]

Oh boy here we go

[@rrearleii]

Nice foot in the grill. That was one weird Netflix documentary.

[@jobodumb]

If you increase the video speed to 1.5x the intro sounds like a metal song

[@seymourglass26]

That ending though, woof.

[@PikaLink91]

Yahtzees description of the main characters reminded me of BrainScratchComms playthrough the FFXV Duscae demo, where Lewis accuately described the protagonists as: Anime Guy With Glasses, Bad Cloud Cosplayer, Sasuke Uchiha, and Big Muscular Guy With Sword. I will leave it up to you to determine who is who.