10 Phenomenal Games With AWFUL Stories

Square Enix's Octopath Traveler is a one-of-a-kind RPG that gets you playing eight different characters. Each one has a unique class and set of abilities, but also a hand-crafted story carrying themes and motivations relevant to them. The thing is, those narratives also act as the game's main story, with all eight feeling like vignettes in a larger mythology rather than one epic fantasy tale. 

In a game as visually and mechanically stunning as this, that doesn't quite cut the mustard. 

Some of the stories, like Primrose's mission of revenge, are pretty good. However, most of them, especially H'aanit's bland hunt for a deadly creature, are mundane at best and boring at worst. The lack of clear connection between each character is an especially noticeable fumble, as it makes the episodes feel disjointed. The stories do get tenuously linked in a post-game dungeon, but by then, it's too little, too late. 

There's certainly a charm to the game's unique narrative approach, but even the biggest Octopath Traveler fans agree that the varying story quality, repetitive structure, and lack of overarching narrative make it a chore at times. Thankfully, the sequel does a better job, so here's hoping the third perfects it.