The turn-based RPG secret sauce is that "you have time to engage on your own terms", Octopath Traveler 0's director tells me, which makes them perfect for "a wider age range"

Laurana points to the moon in the sky in Octopath Traveler 0, cropped for a header image.

As the year nears its end, I've been really enjoying playing Octopath Traveler 0, and relaxing into its freeform approach as I poke and prod at many quest threads, meet new characters, and get to grips with the battle system. With large enemies on the left, and a hefty party of up to eight heroes on the right, it scratches the old school itch (all while the boost-system allows me to feel like I'm breaking it apart just enough to shift the tide in my favor in tricky, almost puzzle-like boss encounters).

Octopath Traveler 0, and the rest of the series, carries forward the legacy of Square Enix's classics in this regard. The battle set-ups are just like the classic pixel-based Final Fantasy games, and even the somewhat episodic nature of questlines is reminiscent of Final Fantasy 6 and Live-A-Live. It's no surprise then that the developers reveal to us their affections for those iconic JRPGs.