{"id":632,"date":"2022-06-01T00:20:05","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engadget.vip\/?p=632"},"modified":"2022-06-01T00:20:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T00:20:05","slug":"octopath-traveler-pc-technical-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/?p=632","title":{"rendered":"Octopath Traveler PC technical review"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Octopath Traveler<\/i> coming to PC was one of those rare announcements that outright surprised me. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t think it\u2019d happen at some point \u2013 sooner or later, we appear to get everything \u2013 but it\u2019s a Switch exclusive which hadn\u2019t even been ported to the other consoles. And, less than a year after its launch, we\u2019re told it\u2019s coming to PC.<\/p>\n

Not that I\u2019m complaining. I didn\u2019t pick this up on Switch, thinking that this particular JRPG wasn\u2019t really my sort of thing (and you can find out whether I was right or wrong in our review), so a PC release suited me just fine. But only, of course, if it turned out to be a good<\/i> PC release. A bare-bones PC port locked at low resolutions and demanding a gamepad doesn\u2019t help anyone.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there are problems I haven\u2019t experienced, either because of my playstyle or my hardware. However: it\u2019s a good PC release.<\/p>\n

\"Octopath<\/p>\n

But Octopath <\/em>can have you inadvertently create lawyers, so that might be a mark against it.<\/p>\n

No computer leveling required
\n<\/b><\/h2>\n

Minimum<\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Processor: AMD FX-4350 \/ Intel Core i3-3210<\/li>\n
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM<\/li>\n
  • Graphics: Radeon R7 260X (2GB VRAM) \/ GeForce GTX 750 (2GB VRAM)<\/li>\n
  • Notes: Expected performance of 30-ish FPS at 1280\u00d7720, with graphics preset to Low.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Recommended:<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 \/ Intel Core i5-6400<\/li>\n
    • Memory: 6 GB RAM<\/li>\n
    • Graphics: Radeon RX 470 (4GB VRAM) \/ GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB VRAM)<\/li>\n
    • Notes: Expected performance of 60 FPS at 1920\u00d71080, with graphics preset to Very High.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Writer\u2019s Specs:<\/b><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Processor: Intel Core i7-3820<\/li>\n
      • Memory: 16 GB RAM<\/li>\n
      • Graphics: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Nice as it looks, it\u2019s only really the Unreal Engine effects that I can see causing much strain on your hardware.<\/p>\n

        I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve sneezed<\/i> computers that can run Octopath Traveler<\/i>, so it\u2019s no real surprise that, in terms of framerate, it runs absolutely flawlessly on my machine. For my part, I was running it in Borderless Windowed mode at 2560\u00d71440. Supposedly, Octopath<\/i> is capable of running at 4K, though that\u2019s not officially supported and it\u2019s not something I can test.<\/p>\n

        And yes, as the \u201crecommended\u201d specs note above, it\u2019s locked to 60 FPS. If I\u2019m reading random scraps of information on the internet correctly, all of this is a pretty big step above the Switch version. The Switch release of\u00a0Octopath Traveler<\/em> was apparently locked at 30 FPS (with some intermittent frame-pacing issues) with a maximum 720p resolution. So yes, we\u2019ve got some advancements here.<\/p>\n

        Not that the greater resolution necessarily makes a huge difference when it comes to a game with this sort of art style. But we\u2019ll get to that. Also, the game has a tiny install footprint of about 3.5 GB, which I\u2019m noting simply because of how tiny that really is.<\/p>\n

        Not quite an Octopath of options<\/h2>\n

        Considering the pedigree, there are a surprising number of options in Octopath Traveler<\/i>. Some are to be expected for a JRPG (message speed, remember battle cursor position). Others, like the graphics options, are a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath \"Octopath \"Octopath \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Not that there are too many of them \u2013 and they certainly don\u2019t cover all the bases I\u2019d like \u2013 but hey, they\u2019re present. Most of these have very definite impacts when you\u2019re looking for them, but again, the very stylistic visuals of the game mean that it looks good regardless of settings. Indeed, I\u2019d argue that on most computers, turning off a lot of these options will be a stylistic choice rather than performance.<\/p>\n

        The most obvious of the lot is corner shadows, basically adding vignetting to the sides of the screen:<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Corner shadows on.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Corner shadows off.<\/p>\n

        That aside, let\u2019s do the usual and have a look at some comparisons between Octopath Traveler<\/i>\u2018s highest and lowest settings.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        The above shot, with details on lowest.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Highest.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Lowest.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Highest.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Lowest. Disregard the missing characters; going into the options menu places them behind the lead character.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Highest.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        Lowest.<\/p>\n

        When you look at them side-by-side, differences are pretty noticeable (disregarding corner shadows). Shadows are more pronounced; there\u2019s more bloom; there\u2019s significantly better lighting in dungeons. When you\u2019re not<\/i> looking at direct comparisons, it\u2019s a lot harder to spot differences. At one point I forgot to put my settings back on high after taking a low-detail screenshot and didn\u2019t notice until the next time I went into the menus.<\/p>\n

        Truthfully, a lot of the graphical stuff in\u00a0Octopath Traveler<\/em> will come down to preference. If you want things a bit brighter and you want the combat effects \u2013 particles, flashing lights, massive amounts of illumination \u2013 to be a little bit less over-the-top, then you\u2019re not going to get a noticeably worse-looking experience. You\u2019re still getting a 3D world with old-school 2D textures and sprites overlaid on top of it, and there\u2019s only so much modern post-processing effects can do to change that. But for better or worse, there\u2019s no way to turn off the depth of field which blurs the near-side of the screen.<\/p>\n

        So Octopath <\/em>runs fine and it looks fine (I\u2019d personally argue it looks bloody lovely, but hey, I have a preference for the style). But how does it control?<\/p>\n

        Eight hands not required
        \n<\/b><\/h2>\n

        Uh, it controls pretty well, actually. Barring a brief dalliance with the gamepad just to make sure it worked, I\u2019ve played exclusively with the mouse and keyboard, and I\u2019ve been tempted to switch entirely to the keyboard. This may be because I\u2019ve played quite a lot of old-school JRPGs entirely with the keyboard, though, so I\u2019m more used to it than most.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        I know it looks bad, but factor in the mouse and\u2026<\/p>\n

        However, mouse and keyboard functions pretty well as long as you\u2019ve got a fair few buttons on the mouse. With the mouse wheel and two side-buttons, pretty much every option I need is available either within easy reach of WASD or on the mouse itself.<\/p>\n

        There are two issues with the mouse, though. The first is that while you can rebind the given mouse options to any button, you can\u2019t assign new<\/i> options to the mouse. I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d want to, but I can\u2019t, say, assign Next Page and Previous Page to the side buttons because there are no Next Page\/Previous Page options in the mouse menu.<\/p>\n

        \"Octopath<\/p>\n

        As far as I can tell, there\u2019s no way to add extra buttons to this menu. I may be stupid, however.<\/p>\n

        The other problem is the mouse wheel. This is a very minor niggle, but scrolling the mouse wheel in a menu does not cycle through the options in that menu. It cycles through the submenus<\/i>. As an example, if I\u2019m looking at one character\u2019s gear and I decide I want to change their shield, the mouse wheel will not scroll down to that slot. It will instead scroll through the list of characters. It\u2019s\u2026 slightly annoying, and I\u2019d guess it\u2019s an artifact of the mouse wheel being used as a direct analog of the shoulder buttons. In a similar vein, there\u2019s no actual mouse cursor support. You\u2019ll be going through the menus by tapping buttons rather than clicking on things directly.<\/p>\n

        But otherwise, playing\u00a0Octopath Traveler<\/em> without a gamepad is simple enough. The camera is in a fixed position, so there\u2019s no issue there. It\u2019s basically all digital buttons, and most of the stuff that\u2019s away from WASD \u2013 the path actions, backspace as cancel, and the like \u2013 are all bound to the mouse anyway. The mouse wheel even functions to power up or down the boost function in combat, which removes one of the other irritants. About the only complaint is that the game will always default to showing you the keyboard prompts in-game if you\u2019re using mouse and keyboard, so some experimentation may be required. Even then, it\u2019s all simple and workable.<\/p>\n

        When it comes to ports like this, I\u2019m always wary of giving a firm thumbs up, if only because there\u2019s stuff I\u2019m sure I haven\u2019t encountered. I haven\u2019t tested at 4K, tried it on an AMD card, or attempted to find weirdness like Dragon Quest<\/i>-style horse spinning. I honestly haven\u2019t hit any<\/i> problems of note, barring maybe having to adjust the audio balance because the voices were too quiet. But being that I can only base this on my own experience: Octopath Traveler<\/i> has a more than serviceable PC port which seems to fix a bunch of the Switch version\u2019s minor technical issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Octopath Traveler coming to PC was one of those rare announcements that outright surprised me. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t think it\u2019d happen at some point \u2013 sooner or later, we appear to get everything \u2013 but it\u2019s a Switch exclusive which hadn\u2019t even been ported to the other consoles. And, less than a year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[810,811,39],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engadget.vip\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}