I love the art style, the interesting 3D version of a 2D game is so cool and they added this unique depth of field that makes the game feel like you are looking at it almost through a snow globe. The combat is nostalgic yet doesn't feel completely derivative. There are also a few genuinely interesting characters (Olberic and Primrose really stood out to me) and the voice acting is good across the board which was a genuine surprise. Boss fights are challenging and require good team composition and strategy though sometimes border on overly long and tedious instead of difficult but some people like super long boss fights so your mileage may vary.

The problem for me with Octopath Traveler is that every character has their own seemingly isolated questline with relatively small stakes. There is no overarching narrative forcing the characters to team up, rather they just choose to travel together for some reason. This might be perfectly fine for some people but to me it's a real crime to write a JRPG and not include interpersonal conflict and story arcs that challenge and develop teammates bonds with each other - This is what makes stories like FFVII and FFX so memorable and it's just not here at all in this game and I don't really understand why. The archetypes are all there, it had so much potential but I guess going with the modular chapter design where you can pick up any party members story at any time as you see fit made having an overarching plot and interpersonal character development difficult. As I'm sure you can tell, this juice was not worth the squeeze in my opinion and actually hamstrung what could have been an amazing classic JRPG.