project OCTOPATH TRAVELER: the developers discuss fan feedback and changes made to the game

Today, Square-Enix uploaded a new video for project OCTOPATH TRAVELER. It features several developers, who came to discuss the fan feedback they received following the release of the demo version back in September.

They reveal that said demo has been downloaded over 1 million times, and that they received more than 45 500 responses to the survey… that’s a lot of feedback to wade through! And yet, the developers read every single message.

In this video, they’re discussing some of the changes they made, or are planning to make, in order to improve project OCTOPATH TRAVELER and offer a better gameplay experience.

If you cannot watch the video, here’s a list of the changes mentioned by the developers in the video:

Moving around

• in order to run, you no longer have to toggle between walking and running using the B button. Now, you can you simply move the stick all the way in order to run;
• players complained that the characters moved too slowly, so the developers added a “dash”: press the B button while running to run even faster;
• in order to preserve game balance, the developers made it so dashing actually increases the encounter rate (so that players cannot rush through areas and avoid fighting altogether). It’s also great for players who want to battle more!
• a fast travel option has been added.

Visibility

• various changes have been made to improve visibility, especially in dungeons;
• traversable areas now stand out more, thanks to adjustments to wall and floor colours, but also visible landmarks, and other changes;
• a radar has been added in order to point players to exits, entrances, and important destinations (it’s a feature that didn’t make it in the demo);
• settings have been added to adjust brightness, the intensity of the “2D-HD” filters, and more.

 

UI

• the developers adjusted the position of save slots, to prevent players from accidently overwriting their progress;
• more save slots have been added: there’s now 10 of them (including 1 for auto-saves);
• the size of help text has been increased;
• there will be more changes to further streamline the UI, but nothing that could be shown right now.

Event scenes

• an option to skip event scenes has been added;
• added a feature to replay event scenes you’ve already seen;
• increased the default speed of message display, and added an option to adjust it in the settings.

Battle system

• the core of the battle system remains unchanged;
• game balance was refined, so that the game offers good challenge, but does not end up overly frustrating;
• battles with 4 party members will be shown at a later date.

project OCTOPATH TRAVELER (Switch) comes out this year, worldwide.

Source: Square-Enix