[OutOfTheCube]

I love Octopath's battle system. I really enjoy seeing the turn order and being able to strategize my moves ahead based on the enemy weaknesses / maximizing all my abilities. Building up to having every enemy on Break and hitting them with a devastating level 4 attack is very satisfying. So many RPGs nowadays think everything has to be action oriented and pushing you to act fast but I much prefer a slower, more tactical style system where you're trying to set up combos and take advantage. Also, the bosses are susceptible to debuffs! Yay!

I am early on in the story (done chapter 1 for 5/8 characters, about 7 hours in) so hard to give much review there, some character's stories are more compelling than others though. The art style is great (some of the pixel work on the large boss characters is ridiculously good) and the soundtrack is fantastic. It's totally scratching every JRPG itch I have been feeling recently, highly recommended.

As far as objectives, there are always story points pushing you forward and not a lot of sidequests/exploration, which is fine. It's very different from Valkyria Chronicles or XCOM which have a lot of action/strategic movement, but that's not necessarily bad. The strategy comes from maximizing your abilities within your turns and limiting your enemies by exploiting their weaknesses at the right time. It is really fun but in a different way. I think it'd be worth a try, though some of the boss fights might be pretty tough for a new JRPG player.