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Square Enix’s latest gacha game is Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, which is styled after the Nintendo Switch games but offers all the free-to-play mechanics most gamers hate. That’s right; Square is wise to take advantage of Okopath Traveler’s popularity to bring a financially dishonest gacha game to mobile that offers a familiar blend of his popular HD-2D art style. I thought. A perfectly sound business strategy when developing and launching a free-to-play mobile game that gives you an idea of ​​exactly what Square Enix thinks of its fans.

Seeing Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent finally close pre-registration and launch globally, update your hands-on with the game’s beta as the game is officially available to everyone. I decided to report my findings. I’m still unimpressed with Square’s latest cash grab after seeing so few changes since the beta. Let’s dig into why.

The gameplay video above (recorded at 1080p/30fps) details the first hour of Octopus Traveler: Champions of the Continental Closed Beta, full release, poor performance and all. increase. Basically, I play the first chapter. Since this is a gacha game, his first hour exists as a very long tutorial, with boys, boys, Square throwing tons of text boxes to explain how the game works. It’s annoying, unnecessary, and shows a lack of design skills in revealing mechanics through play rather than endless text boxes. I hate being lazy.

Much like OG Octopath on console, Champions of the Continent’s turn-based battles utilize a break system where enemies have weaknesses to certain weapons and magic. Exploiting these weaknesses to destroy an enemy will stun them and open up an opportunity to unleash a powerful attack. Once you make sure you can save the number of attacks you have at hand (similar to the original Octopus), balancing breaks with the number of moves you can save is key to success.

Octopus Traveler: Continental Spritework Champion

As you can see in the video, the HD-2D graphics known from the original Octopus are only mimicked in Octopus Traveler: Continental Champions as the characters are simple 2D sprites. The backgrounds are still 3D, with pixel art on top of them, but the character doesn’t mesh well with his 3D world, so it doesn’t look as good as it does in the mainline games. Thankfully, much of the original music is back, and it’s a killer soundtrack, certainly the high point.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent graphics settings

Gaming performance is where things go wrong first. The closed beta I tested a few months ago had poor performance and was stuck at 30 FPS. The full release is the same regardless of which graphics option you choose. For a game that offers simple (but certainly fun) graphics, this is another area where Square’s laziness shines through.

Octopus Traveler: Continental Monetization Champion

Now I have bad news. Like all gacha games, Champions of the Continent contains many of the terrible systems the genre is known for. Sure, Square dressed up the game with lengthy story sections, but the first Grindwall was revealed relatively quickly. This is the most accessible means of unlocking new characters. So, by definition, games are paid.

Octopus Traveler Champions of the Continental gameplay screen

That’s right, what you see in my beta gameplay video above is perfectly representative of Octopus Traveler: Champions of the Continental, now out in the West. , almost nothing improved. This is very disappointing, but certainly in line with the developer’s track record. Still, there might be some story beats worth experiencing. So while it does provide a handy guide for those looking to get around the game’s cheating systems, the grind gameplay is unappealing, especially once you hit the initial grind wall, these obstacles can be skillfully crafted. Because you cannot escape. Ultimately, this is a problem with many free-to-play games, so it should come as no surprise that a capable franchise could be dragged through the mud to allow Square to make a quick buck. It’s a real shame to see.