19 BaD days remain....

I know I said I would play an hour of a game and give my impressions but in the case of this game I wound up playing several over the last few days.

Octopath Traveler.

I played the demo when it came out last year but wound up buying the game and not playing it until last week. 

So I started from scratch. Somewhere in that first hour I almost quit. I was bored. Too much blah blah blah and not enough combat. Then somewhere after that first hour it clicked and I got into it.

I like building up my first traveler (in my case the Hunter) and then moving on to another town to pick up another traveler and help them through their chapter 1. 

Yes I had to grind up my hunter notches unknown to mankind but that made the sages chapter 1 much easier because she had a tank with her.

Then both of them ran into the Scholar and helped make his chapter 1 easier.

Right now we've just met the merchant and have set out on her quest.

There are interesting mechanics to all the travelers. The hunter for instance can challenge NPCs to a fight. even simple villagers are not spared. The NPCs have different difficulty levels and you really have to watch that. If your traveler gets their ass handed to them their reputation in the town will suffer. the good news is that you can pay the bartender to restore your rep. Good old trustworthy bartenders, my love for you will never die

The hunter can also capture the critters she fights Pokemon style. She can only use them a certain number of times before they bugger off but they bring new powers to the table for a while.

The sage has the guide ability. She can find a villager when guiding them they can be used in battle but only so many times before they bugger off. Each villager brings different combat or support abilities for you to use.

The scholar can interrogate villagers and get valuable information.

The merchant's ability is that she can buy stuff from villagers. That skill has been boring as shit so far but I haven't finished her chapter 1 yet so we'll see.

What I've liked: The varied combat styles and powers of each traveler and the fact that you are free to explore the map. Stories are sometimes amusing and/or touching.

What I haven't liked: it's a very dark game (literally) and sometime it's hard to see available paths.on the map. The Fact that you are free to explore the map also means you are not restricted from wandering into areas where the enemies are way more powerful than you and you get to die without taking a turn and start from your last save point.

OK, 1 down, 19 to go. Go BaD or go home!

Don't look back but I think we're being followed.