I couldn't hang with the writing and the level design. The writing's been talked about, but the level design...

The level design is bad. Like... really bad. It's all linear paths with the occasional tiny branch off to a chest with... consumables. I legitimately don't think random encounters work when the level design is this bad and the resources are replenished so generously.

I was complaining about it to a friend who linked me this article on JRPG level design and I agree tenfold. It's written for Bravely Default vs Etrian Odyssey, but given that the same team that did BD made Octopath and they haven't changed their approach to level design, it completely applies.

I wanted to love it because the battle system is great, but I bounced off somewhere around 10-15 hours and can't bring myself to fire it up again.