From the moment it was announced, I could not contain my excitement for Octopath Traveler from the art style to the graphics to the music. I was even into the name. I was so enamored that I bought the collector's edition.

Then it finally came out and never have I regretted a game purchase so much; not because it was awful, but it was so mediocre. Honestly, if it were awful, I might have been more okay with it, rationalizing how a game could turn out so bad with everything going for it, mourning what could have been, etc. It did everything it promised it would, I just realized that it didn't really promise much beyond an art style and being a turn based RPG with 8 main characters. The package was delivered, but it turned out to be Game Gear, not Gameboy.

I think buying that game put me off collector's editions. The package for it was very impressive, but I think I finally saw the man behind the curtain and realized that what I was buying was just a bunch of plastic and art books that I was never really going to touch anyway. The only physical bonus I cared about from that point on was Steelbooks, but I don't even buy physical games all that much anymore thanks to my Steam Deck.

Honestly, Octopath Traveler put me off blindly preordering games in general. Now I just blindly buy old games, so if they're bad, I have no one to blame but myself for not doing the research LOL

I got about 1/2 way through the game, but as soon as I hit the first boss of act 3 I just couldn't progress. He'd wipe the party every time. Walkthroughs were useless.

I'm glad I'm not the only person to dislike this game! After going through like three of the chapter 1 missions for the characters, the game felt very very samey, and on top of that, it's probably one of the only story games that I haven't finished.