Octopath Traveler is celebrating its fourth anniversary, and it’s worth remembering

destructoid.com:

The fourth Octopath Traveler anniversary is upon us, seeing as the original release was back on July 13, 2018.

Square Enix is celebrating with a tweet, reminding us of the four-year anniversary, and providing a “commemorative illustration” of the crew from a member of producer Tomoya Asano’s team: Tatsuaki Urushihara. They also remind folks that Live a Live is coming out later this month. So while we haven’t gotten a direct sequel yet in the west (a mobile prequel called Champions of the Continent came out in 2020 in Japan, and is coming soon elsewhere), it’s impacted many other projects since its launch, and has shifted Square Enix’s priorities as a whole.

Octopath Traveler can be considered a bird of a feather with several other modern pushes for JRPGs within the company. One of the bigger waves involved Bravely Default, which came roaring in during 2012, and reminded people that yes, there is an audience for the genre still. There was another wave in 2016 with I Am Setsuna, which ushered in the creation of Tokyo RPG Factory, and led to Lost Sphear, and Oninaki.

The legacy of Octopath itself (amid this Octopath Traveler anniversary) is directly responsible for the existence of Triangle Strategy, as well as numerous other games in that same style. Square Enix even cited Octopath Traveler‘s aesthetic choice as an influence and drive to bring Live a Live back in the form of a remake.

オクトパストラベラー4周年！

感謝の気持ちを込めまして。記念イラストは、浅野チームアーティストの漆原さんより。

7月22日には、HD-2Dで生まれ変わったライブアライブも発売を迎えます！これからの動きも、ぜひチェックしていただけるとうれしいです！どうぞよろしくお願い致します。 pic.twitter.com/swB9n18Hkv

— オクトパストラベラー公式 (@OCTOPATH_PR) July 13, 2022