Octopath Traveler: Champions Of The Continent Brings The Beloved JRPG To A New Realm

gamespot.com:

Octopath Traveler has blazed a trail for Japanese role-playing games, with its flashy HD-2D style and branching storytelling. That trail has led the franchise to cell 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 launches today, July 27, on both iOS and Android devices. To learn more, we spoke with three key members of the development team: global producer Hirohito Suzuki, composer Yasunori Nishiki, and scenario writer Kakunoshin Futsuzawa about the franchise's move to mobile.

We spoke about free-to-play mechanics, the HD-2D art style's proliferation, the differences in the battle system, and more. We also touched on if characters or locations from the original game might impact this new game, and what players can expect from the three branching stories as they play.

This interview was conducted via 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 do not?

Hirohito Suzuki: Hello, this is Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent Producer Hirohito Suzuki. Thanks for having me!

The team's mission is to deliver Octopath Traveler to as many people as possible. To this end, we decided to release this game as a free download for mobile devices, which has grown into the platform with the largest player base.

That said, our goal is to deliver the same kind of experience as a console or PC game with a mobile device and not about what the mobile platform offers for this experience that consoles/PC do not. As such, unlike a typical mobile game, there are no social elements, nor do we intend on