Octopath Traveler has been out for a little over a week now, and I’m sure that a lot of people have delved deep into it by now. Fortunately for us consumers, it is a massive game with a lot going on, but that also makes it easy to overlook or forget some of the finer details at times. Here are a few tips that I’ve come to realize over my 40 hour adventure thus far that may be obvious to some, but may help others as well.

Things You Might Not Know / Realize

Accuracy and Evasion Matter

This might sound really dumb, but in many RPGs I have played over the years that have included an accuracy and/or evasion stat, they end up having little to no use in practice. Both of these stats are quite useful in Octopath Traveler, however.

Evasion can sometimes be the difference between taking a mortal attack or avoiding it entirely, while accuracy is incredibly useful against enemies with high evasion (including those dang Caits), and work wonders with multi-hit melee abilities like Thousand Spears and Rain of Arrows. While I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to heavily invest into either stat all the time, they both have their uses for sure.

Weapon Selection

Octopath Traveler does an adequate job of introducing you to its various systems throughout the game. But there’s one tiny (but crucial) tip that either I glossed over entirely, or it wasn’t presented in the natural flow of things at all, that being how weapons affect the damage output of your abilities.

For melee-based skills, it is pretty obvious it only takes in your base stats, accessories, equipped support skills, and of course the weapon tied to the skill. Magical abilities, however, are dealt with in a slightly different fashion. Base stats, accessories, and equipped support skills factor in once again, but only the equipped weapon with the highest elemental attack stat will be used for the magic attack. This means that you can opt to having a single, high elemental attack weapon on each magic user while favoring those with a higher physical attack for your other weapon slots.

This tidbit is mentioned in the “Traveling Tips” section under Tutorials in your menu, but I don’t recall ever seeing it pop up naturally over the course of my adventure (could be wrong though).

Healing Efficiency

This is another tip taken from the same “Traveling Tips” section mentioned above. If you are like me and assumed the healing efficiency for the Cleric Spells were probably tied to the elemental attack stat (despite not being an attack, but going by how it typically works in other games), you’d be wrong.

In fact, it derives its potency from the elemental defense stat instead. I actually prefer this because it gives you more options for utilizing the Cleric secondary job rather than having to always pin it on a mage character for the best efficiency. You’ll probably have a decent amount of elemental defense on any character, which may not be the case in regards to elemental attack.

Take Advantage of Buffs / Debuffs

Again, another system that can be hit-or-miss in some RPGs. Buffs and (especially) debuffs are always nice in theory, but have limited use if the game makes the bosses and/or more difficult enemies immune to them (this happens more than you would think).

In Octopath, I have yet to face an enemy where debuffs didn’t work. Reducing their armor and/or the damage they can deal can make a huge difference in the time and effort needed to down some of the more difficult encounters, so make sure to utilize it whenever possible.

Revisit Past Towns

It is common to visit towns in RPGs and complete its initial main/side content, and move on without ever having a reason to go back to it. That is not the case with Octopath Traveler, and completionists in particular will want to be sure to revisit a lot of older towns often.

The reason for this is due to the fact that additional side quests like to pop up after you’ve completed certain story sections in each town. In addition, some of the NPCs involved in them like to make appearances in other locations after their initial quest lines are complete, offering another piece of side content to partake in. Rewards from side quests are generally well worth it, so you’re never at a disadvantage when seeking these things out.

Things You Probably Already Know (But Some May Not)

Mix It Up

Try to equip a variety of weapons across your characters, even if those weapons aren’t necessarily the the best stat-wise in your inventory. Because of the Break system, every weapon and damaging spell has a use, so it is always a good idea to be able to reach in and grab whatever you need for the situation at hand. On the flip side, having duplicate weapon and/or spell types is very useful in some situations too. When in doubt, gauge the types of enemies in a given area and adjust accordingly, seeing as it’s easy to do that on the fly.

As a quick note, I’d recommend having at least one person capable of the Warrior’s Thousand Spear ability and the Hunter’s Rain of Arrows ability, because these can make quick work of the armor on those susceptible to those weapon types (and works wonders on breaking bosses, especially).

Secondary Jobs

For every main job in the game, there is an equal copy available for use in the secondary job slot. These are easy to find if you explore each map in its entirety, so I wouldn’t recommend looking them up unless you just can’t wait for some reason. Their locations tend to be in the ring of chapter 2-3 areas, so be on the lookout for each of them as you get past those initial character chapters. There are also a few advanced jobs out there, but I’ll let you find those on your own.

Steal Everything

Therion’s path action is awesome, as it allows you to steal a ton of useful things from NPCs. Although you’ll find it difficult to steal more coveted things in the beginning, your chances of thievery will improve over time. Worst case, you can go for those pieces that have a low chance of success about five times before your reputation in the town is affected.

The good thing is that this is not permanent, and only requires paying the barkeep in town a hefty sum to spread good word about you again. Because of that, steal all of the things.

When You Can’t Steal, Buy

While it might be easy to dismiss Tressa’s path action as nothing more than a waste of time and money (given Therion’s ability to get things for free), keep in mind that many of the rarer items and equipment have incredibly low chances to be stolen. In those cases, I’ve found Tressa’s ability to be wonderful, especially when her haggling discount goes off and saves you a boatload of cash.

But why should I care if I don’t use Therion and/or Tressa? Well, that’s the beauty of being able to swap out party members in town. You could make the rounds with both party members in each new town before swapping them out to your preferred characters. You definitely do not want to ignore the items available through their path actions.

Use All Path Actions Really

This kind of goes without saying, but could save some people that have become frustrated with side quests especially and may not be using path actions to their fullest extent. Basically, the majority of the side quests can only be completed by using path actions in some way, so be sure to use them whenever possible.

Were you aware of all of these bits of information? How are you enjoying Octopath Traveler? What are some tips you can add for the benefit of others?