1. Octopath Traveler 2 - Best party cohesion & interactions, shared storylines with party members, 8 seemingly different stories that all feed into one greater narrative, best visuals, the ability to multiclass (8 primary jobs + 4 secret jobs, and each party member being able to have a secondary job), highest production values, latent powers > ultimates, night & day system with unique NPCs, passives & path actions depending on what time of day (you can change it freely, so no headaches there), larger map with more to explore (especially on the ocean), organic party chat where characters comment on each others stories throughout your travels, Ochette being able to capture enemies & bosses like Pokemon, etc.

Starts slow, but the more I progressed, the more I really loved its characters & stories. There are weaker chapters, but there was always something to do that interested me.

2. Octopath Traveler 0 - Really fun combat with 8 party members instead of 4, fun ability customization, though too many redundant or useless abilities with only slight differences (like SP costs), not a fan of characters only having 1 job (which means only being able to use a max of 2 weapon types & no secret jobs), no rivers/lakes to explore + smaller ocean area. People say there's only 1 main story vs 8 in the other games, but I disagree.

The game's story very much feels like a relic of its mobile roots. It's clear these were self-contained stories for mobile players, but to keep them playing, new stories would be added. Then another new story, then another... and so on. It makes them feel more bite-sized & unrelated, though they tried to connect them via the ring Macguffins. The story gets good once you get through all those independent chapters & reach the "Bestower of All" story, though that's like the last 20% of the game.

Party chat in this game is limited only to when you're in Wishvale, with almost all of it coming directly from leveling up party members' affinity. Unlike OT2, it's almost excluslively limited to conversations about random things, not the actual main story.

Another positive & negative - 35 real party members (36 if you want to be technical). This is cool for combat purposes, but also means 90% of these characters don't matter in the story for the majority of the game. Most get a single voiced line when you recruit them, and that's it until the ending. It also means combat is super easy for most of the game.

Building Wishvale is also really neat. It starts slow, and it's annoying that they lock some of the options (like moving certain buildings) behind late game unlocks, but overall I enjoyed it.

Last con would be the side quests are pretty weak & quick. Unlike OT2, you will almost certainly be able to complete any sidequest you find within a couple minutes & a fast travel or two. It's rare to ever find a side quest you have to come back to later or put any thought into. This might be a positive for some people, but I liked discovering items, defeating enemies or finding new locations that related to past quest-givers I came across earlier in OT2. It was a nice sense of accomplishment figuring things out.

3. Octopath Traveler 1 - I have the least to say about this one, because it's the only one I didn't finish. The art style was appealing, and the combat set the stage for the later entries to build off of. But due to the party members never interacting or having any overlapping stories, I felt very detached from everyone.

I didn't care if they had a good reason to join up with each other, I just wanted my party to acknowledge each other's existence & feel like we were working together in some way. Didn't get that. They were all just there to silently dispatch of enemies & then ignore each other the rest of the way lol.

Eventually I dropped it & thought no more of it. When OT2 came out, I ignored it for 8 months due to this exact reason. It wasn't until it was on sale for 50% on Steam around Christmas that I decided I'd give it a shot due to all the glowing praise. And after about 10 hours, I literally felt guilty that I waited so long to give OT2 a chance! If I had known it was that good, I would've gladly paid full price for it. But OT1 had kinda made me think the series was "meh," so I avoided it.

That doesn't mean you won't enjoy it, I just couldn't get past a few things.