Sire

Congrats on finishing the game! Response in the spoiler

Still not showing up. I guess if you are hosting it from "google something" it may have to do with privacy settings. Try hosting it on imgur or something and use a link for that? That is what I do for my screenshots.

The purple ones? I'm pretty sure only Therion can open them due to his innate talent (like how Tressa gets money by walking around and how Cyrus can discover weaknesses before battle). So yeah, if he's not in the party, you'll have to backtrack and remember where all the unopened purple chests are. I don't have Therion in my main party, so I'll have to go back at some point to unlock those chests...

From my own experience and what I have briefly seen on Youtube, there seem to be a max of 1 travel banter per character in a chapter (7 interactions total). So, if you miss the window for a character, I guess it is gone completely for that chapter. Future chapters should not be affected. If you want, a certain Youtuber have already made a compilation of the Travel Banters of each character's storyline. Here is the link for Cyrus chapter 2.

Overall, I am rather unenthusiastic about the news. Walhart and the Askr Refines are the highlight for me. The other Awakening characters are nice to see even though they are not favorites of mine. While I appreciate the attempt at support conversations, making a bond event surrounding it seems like a poor idea. It is something I'll need to experience before forming a concrete opinion on it. Otherwise, I'll probably just get my fill of the text from datamines and the like...

Regarding the new JP stuff... Bryn's animation update looks amazing, although I don't know what her animations originally looked like.

I have Arash leveled to 60. I meant that I was holding off giving him a grail until I get a Kaleidoscope. I do plan on raising him with his skills regardless, but at the moment I tend to use my maxed out Nobu as an AoE Archer for harder content. Right now my current daily farming team is Tamamo Cat (NP2 + Imaginary Element) + Kiyohime (MLB Halloween Princess) + Support Waver and it does well. I just clear out the first wave with normal attacks and NP the 2nd and 3rd. Tamamo Mae and Herc are in the backlines to gain Bond Points, with the last slot being filler. I already use the Mystic Code NP Charge on TamaCat, and support Waver uses his 30% gain on Kiyo. This is why I say I would like a Kaleidoscope (for Arash) so I can just NP each wave instead of the last two.

Welp, the 1/2 AP is nearing its completion. Considering that many of my characters are blocked by materials, I guess I'll go ahead and post my progress report! Completed: Artoria Lily, Robin Hood, Cu FSN, Cu Prototype, Kintoki Rider, Irisviel In Progress: Bedivere (60/60), EMIYA (60/60), Nursery Rhyme (46/50), Kerry (70/70), Carmilla (50/50), Nightingale (70/80) I decided to hold off on spending grails for the time being. I do not have a Kaleidoscope for Arash and Herc will likely only be used for extremely hard fights once he reaches Bond 10. I also stockpiled some Assassin embers for Summer Scáthach but now I have an excess of Lancer embers as I don't feel like leveling the other Servants. I may trying rolling in the first part of the summer banner to see if Summer Tamamo or Summer Kiyohime decide to come to my Chaldea, but most of my efforts are focused on Summer Artoria.

I guess if you mean "focus on offense and heal incoming damage" is the strat to go, then at its core I suppose Octopath is this way. However, what sets Octopath apart is the whole "Brave" and "Break" system. If you are familiar with Bravely Default, the Brave system works in a similar way (each turn the player gains a Brave Point that can be used to power up abilities and grant extra attacks). The Break system is for enemies, making the player use certain weapons or magic types to break through their defenses until they are broken. Broken enemies are stunned for a turn and take more damage. An important thing about the stun is that it interrupts the enemy action, so if they were preparing for a big attack, breaking them will stop them temporarily. Most Normal battles can be easily cleared with AoE attacks, while boss battles rely more on strategy due to their higher HP pools, minions, and some gimmicks. I find the main difficulty to be the chapter transitions as the party will normally need better equipment to fight stronger enemies. Once the party is equipped, battles become a breeze with boss battles presenting the main challenge. I recommend to try the demo if you haven't yet to familiarize yourself with the combat system.

I am now about 18 hours in. Currently I'm focusing on my main party (Olberic, Tressa, Cyrus, and Ophelia), so poor Alfyn will have to wait to be recruited. I managed to clear chapter 2 of their storylines save for Ophelia. My current objective is running around to get all the subclasses as the flexibility (and the stat boosts) are helpful for Chapter 2 content. I must admit though, not having Therion along to open up the purple chests is a bit frustrating, but I am set on my main party. My main difficulty is facing enemies and bosses that use magical attacks as my party gets wrecked by them. Also, when jumping into new areas, the difficulty spike without better equipment is definitely noticeable. In addition, navigation can sometimes be a pain. While areas tend to be linear with some branching paths to loot or dungeons, finding all the secrets can be difficult. Learning how to read the mini-map properly and focusing on the finer details of the world map helps, but I wish there was a more detailed mini-map for each area. So far I am enjoying the game and love the main story as well as the small party interactions, but the encounter rate is starting to get to me. In lower level areas my party wipes the floor with enemies, but sometimes all I want to do is get to Point A from Point B and not bother with anything else. The only reason I try to fight some of these battles is to try and find a Cait and gamble with the Dancer skill Bewildering Grace for x100 EXP or JP.

Regarding the character interactions, from what I've played they are nothing major. They seem to start from the Chapter 2 storylines of each character and the interaction revolves around the current "story character" and another member of your party reacting to current events. This interaction is brief, optional, and has no effect on the storyline, but I find it better than no interaction at all. As these things are optional, there is no proper voiceovers. For a specific example (Cyrus)...

Considering that the previous topic is about a month old and is about the demo, I guess I'll just make a new one. How is everyone doing thus far for Octopath Traveler? Right now I'm taking a break from finishing the rest of of my Chapter One storylines (Primrose and Alfyn) to grab a subclass or two for my main party (Olberic -> Apothecary, Tressa -> Thief, Cyrus -> ???, and Ophelia -> Dancer). I also managed to get Olberic an awesome sword from his Chapter 2 area which allows him to mow down enemies easily. Anything he can't cut down, Cyrus roasts with his magic. I'm tempted to just jump into Chapter 2 of my main party and just go through their storylines, then go back to do the other ones with a different party. Olberic will likely remain since I think he is locked as he is my starter, but at least he may be able to carry the weaker party members.

Link: Octopath Traveler: Final Battle (Putting this as a link so people who do not wish to be spoiled on the song title or the music itself can skip it.) * * * * * * * * * *

Welp, going off of this link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av20500727/ It is three hours long and does not seem to have proper subtitles. Google Translate and some familiarity with Camelot may help a bit. It's gonna be rough, but I may end up trying to watch the entire thing out of curiosity... * * * * * EDIT * * * * * Remember to stock up on Assassin Embers for Summer Scáthach! If you want, one can also stockpile some Archer Embers for Kuro (Chloe von Einzbern) from the Prism Causeway event that follows soon after. * * * * * EDIT 2 * * * * * Welp, I just got bottle-necked by ascensions materials for Nightingale (Seed of Yggdrasil), Bedivere (Great Knight Medal), and Kerry (Blood Tearstone). So much for maxing out me servant levels when I'm out of mats...