u/EveningAbility9956

Octopath Traveler 0 is my favorite game that's been released in a while but, after a while... the game kinda starts to feel easy. I could so a solo run with only the MC but, where's the theater in that? A solopath run is hard, sure... but it's been done before. What I'm doing isn't exactly "harder" per se but, still should prove to be an interesting challenge all the same. What are the rules? They're kinda simple... going off of AMP_Kenryu's "Rate the Traveler" results, I'm only allowing myself to use the lowest-rated character for each of the eight "main" jobs. These characters, in no particular order are...

Espeere

Ophelia (it feels so wrong having her here...)

Dancer MC (what I personally consider MC's worst job)

Phenn

Tressa

Xerc

Celus

Viator

Now, for the rest of the rules... in battle, MC MUST be a dancer, they can unlock other jobs for skill masteries but, that's it. Similarly, other characters besides the eight listed above can be recruited and learn skills for masteries but, they cannot participate in any battles. Lastly, at no point can the party out-level a story boss or the "recommend level" for story quests (Master/Bestower of Wealth/Power/Fame/All and Kindlers of the Flame.) These are the rules for the run if you want to do this for yourself, if you're having trouble with keeping your level in check, place the eerie statue in Wishvale. It can be found in Nomos's house on Wishvale Trail.

Magic has always been something I enjoyed as a concept... I mean, really? Who wouldn't want to throw fireballs, shoot lightning, turn things to ice at a mere touch, or heal any would and cure any sickness? While we as a species will probably never be able to do any of that without technology, we can still kinda live out that little fantasy in video games and in Octopath Traveler (or really any RPG set in a medieval era,) it's quite easily fulfilled with Clerics, who can heal and, the focus of my little rant, Scholars, who blast monsters and ne'er-do-wells alike with arcane power! Generally speaking, the scholars of Octopath 0 are pretty good! Reliable aoe, they can hit weaknesses pretty easy, and it's almost hilarious how easy it is to max out elemental attack, the scholar's favored stat. Be that as it may, there's still somethings left to be desired so, bare with me as I go over how I'd rebalance the spell slingers of Orsterra. Just as a side-note and a bit of a disclaimer, I'll only be talking about Alexia, Xerc, and Cyrus for this, we clear? Alright...

Alexia

Alexia is the very first scholar you recruit and... she's REALLY good for when you get her! Unless you yourself chose to be a scholar, you're probably going to be sorely lacking in any kind of aoe damage and while you CAN get some elemental attack masteries this early... the lot of them are just going to be a piddly little single-target, single-hit skill. And then Alexia comes in and smites just about everything with the power of lightning and darkness for a while, looses steam for a bit, and then unlocks her ult which lets her nuke everything again. So... how would I change this? Well, for starters we can replace on of her support skills... and I'm thinking of changing her first or second, Conserve Magic and +50 elemental defense respectively into something just a little better. Alexia's big problem and nail in her proverbial coffin is that she lacks any support skills that in some way, increase her damage. Xerc and Cyrus both have a +50 elemental attack and another support that in some way, ties back into their personalities. Alexia already has the latter in Incidental Analysis but... she lacks the former. So here's what I'm thinking: replace Conserve Magic or with a skill that increases the potency of her elemental attacks by... say 15-25% when every weak point has been exposed. With this, she'll still be hitting decently big numbers with an easy enough condition to reach especially after Incidental Analysis has been unlocked.

Xerc

Xerc... this guy got shafted in almost EVERY way with his only silver lining that he came pre-boxed in his proverbial coffin, especially if you've already gotten Cyrus. And you know... the weirdest part isn't the fact that Xerc is just bad... he's really not! On paper, his kit is a pretty solid one. He has ice and wind magic, both common weaknesses before the final dungeon, he's got Sweep for the odd staff/tome weakness, and Stroke of Genius is... it's not nothing, I suppose but, I digress. Xerc's skillset isn't a bad one, it's just screwed over by his recruitment time and technical stuff so, here's how I'd rebalance him. Starting off, swap his recruitment time with Alexia's or just have him come earlier, maybe as soon Master of Wealth, Power, or Fame have been completed. This'll give his niche of increasing the power of soulstones more value during a point in the game where soulstones are still doing okay damage. Second, have is ult become affected by Soulstone Expertise, Elemental Expertise (I think this one works actually? Correct me if I'm wrong,) and Price of Power. This way, Xerc isn't getting fundamentally changed and coming in a point of the game where he'd make the absolute biggest impact he could... or at least a bigger one than he did in the game.

Cyrus

Now, listen... not much really has to be changed for Cyrus. He comes late into the game, sure but... he's without question, the best spell-slinger in the game so, him coming late is kind of warranted. He has +50 elemental attack, Recant works with just about everything you'd want it to, and skills like Elemental Expertise and Price of Power work without much of a hitch for him. The only thing I can think of that could be changed is one of his support skills, Vim and Vigor. What Vim and Vigor does is restore HP every turn and... it's not bad for what it is but, on Cyrus, who is most assuredly NOT a tank? It does feel kinda wasted on him... replacing it with a flat boost to his SP or with Second Wind which restores his SP every turn would make him a perfect character for what he's trying to do.

Anyway, that's enough of my yammering. Do y'all agree or no?