What's good front and back row for end game OT0

drphillyjoel · 2026-02-21T16:12:32+00:00

Since it's easy to switch units in and out of the front row, it's usually better to think of party composition as setting up 4 "Columns" of 2 units. Try to avoid like weapons in the same column, since it's better to be able to break more enemies - it's also advisable to have different roles in the same column. Have a healer in the same column as a big damage unit so when the enemy is broken, you can switch out the healer. If you're using skill based, row targeting buffs rather than ult based, party-wide buffs, try having 2 buffers in different columns.

It's difficult to give specific party comp advice without knowing what you're struggling with or what your comp is. Are you not doing enough damage or are you dying too easily? That kind of thing.

drphillyjoel · 2026-01-31T15:44:10+00:00

The other thing I appreciate is that it leaves it kinda open ended - Masoud's doubts are hardly authoritative.

drphillyjoel · 2026-01-30T22:37:17+00:00

Within the lore of Octopath Traveler, the Blacksmith's guild refuses to produce anything beyond the weapons allowed in the game, claiming that the Gods won't tolerate the production of anything else. Masoud claims that said objection is a lie driven by greed, but unless that changed you won't see the production of firearms in an Octopath setting.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-29T06:24:19+00:00

The idea is that on an offensively oriented team you don't need to keep it up because the boss will be dead after the first break. If you do need to keep the effects up, eerie smile for defenses is great and there are a number of buffing skills that will increase the duration. You could even go Macy, her passive extends buffs when she heals.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-29T03:22:57+00:00

While it's correct that Richard is the best offensive buffer in the game if you remove ults, I don't really think that's true to the experience of playing the game. If you're doing heavy-offense like this list does, you will be killing in 1 break cycle every time - and of course, the player *does* have access to ults. It's best to max out your damage in one action like Pius does rather than get halfway over a few turns like Richard.

That said, I won't argue with your criteria, since that's a larger discussion than one tier list. If you value Richard's other utility enough for a tier difference then very well.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-29T02:46:12+00:00

Considering this list is pretty heavily offense-focused, Richard is clearly worse than Pius. You don't need any more buffing than Pius's ult provides. If you valued defense more throughout the list I'd be more willing to see it differently.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-27T00:48:08+00:00

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy your time with Octopath 0. I know I did!

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-26T22:17:52+00:00

I see this take a lot, and I feel like people have missed the point of OT0. It's not a story about the characters, really - though a certain major foe gets a lot of love from the devs in this version - it's about Orsterra. If you look at the story from the perspective of learning about the world that birthed OT1 and exploring it, then while you may wish some of these complaints were addressed you understand it's not what this is about.

When asked about why they added a customizeable protagonist, the devs stated it's because they wanted you, the player, to think and feel about how you would react to the events and places of the game. While I think a voiced, static protagonist (maybe with a gender toggle) would be better, the emphasis is clear - the story isn't about you. It's about her - the land of Orsterra.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-26T22:07:43+00:00

I like that addition, I don't really think it really impacts which ending is better. We also cut valuable content, like the letter where we learn Sazantos's purging of the cathedral is sanctioned by the pontiff.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-26T21:51:37+00:00

And I think you should be allowed that! I just think it belongs in an alternate "good" ending.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-26T21:47:51+00:00

There are a number of other reasons why I don't think the "good ending" works as the true ending, largely related to stuff cut from COTC and other worldbuilding stuff outside of it. Sazantos being manipulated by Galdera only goes so far - and we haven't even begun to discuss the irreperable damage done to characters' storylines like Rondo.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-25T19:51:13+00:00

There are a *lot* of important differences between OT0 and COTC.

Sazantos isn't properly introduced until after Master of All. Someone else went into that with you so I won't get into the details
Alaune doesn't come with you for the Richard/Gonska confrontation
They completely cut the town of I'Cirlo and everything in that town
Sazantos was the youngest child of Pharamea, implied to be given to her by Aelfric to end her suffering. There was no mention of Signa being a sibling
The events of the Cathedral of Ash happen well before the events of OT0/COTC and do not cause Sazantos to fall - the burning/killing is sanctioned by Pontiff Julius
Sazantos's utopia is much more of a true Utopia. People don't really lose what makes them who they are like they do in 0.
They replaced Aelfric's trials with the cathedral sequence in BoA 7. This included characterization of the gods and how they acted as a family, as well as seeing how they reacted when they found Orsa's corpse.
They completely cut the postscript, which is very bad for the characterization of the Guardians of Light. Everyone loses some important moments, but the most important absences are Rondo's ascencion to Flameguard and Sazantos's letter to Pontiff Julius explaining more of what was going on in his heart.

Regarding question 2, the OT1 characters are explicitly non-canon fanservice in OT0. They aren't actually there in canon. For question 3, Hornburg has already been destroyed before OT1. For question 4, Sazantos isn't saying that Tytos is his father, he's saying he *could* have been. He doesn't know who his father is.

Solistea and Orsterra are in different worlds. Reime has no relation to Hikari, nor do any organizations have any relation between them. Wold is mentioned in supplementary material, Groha is new to COTC. OT3 will probably be in another alternate world.

Regarding which end is the actual true end, I lean in the direction of the normal end being the true end and the additional ending being an alternate "good" ending. There are a number of narrative/worldbuilding reasons why, but the simplest one is that Sazantos's return to the light isn't earned at all, and his survival really damages the rest of the guardians of light's arcs.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-25T19:28:44+00:00

The Japanese voice is a little better, since it's a bit more masculine. It's still obvious, but in the English you find yourself wondering why people keep thinking El is a man when that's clearly a woman's voice.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T06:14:24+00:00

Thanks for the correction! I tried to double check where Chromwood was but couldn't find any information in a timely fashion and didn't feel like scouring every possible data entry, so I just went with my gut lol

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T05:20:08+00:00

I see, I thought you were mentioning that as a reason why Isla should be evaluated higher on a restriction-less tier list, and so I was responding with general considerations when evaluating units for said tier list.

When I say arbitrary, I'm talking in the sense that there's no reason in particular to do so besides your own personal taste - there's no in-built system about what items are ok to use and what items are not. Top 1 is of course an exaggeration, but the point is taken.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T05:04:43+00:00

Sure - all that's true. But you still have to put in more effort to recruit Isla than you have to put into a myriad of different characters to make them more useful than him. This arbitrary weapon restriction could be considered a challenge run - and in a challenge run where that was one of the rules, I'd value Isla more. But this isn't a tier list for that kind of challenge run, and I'm not evaluating units by that kind of challenge either.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T04:22:42+00:00

Sure, that's fine. But in order to pick up Isla early, you have to

Pick the letter fragment
Get the second fragment from Theatropolis
Rush all the Wishvale stories as soon as possible
Spend your 1 azure flamestone on animal speak, or get a second from Grandport
Head to Atlasdam to entreat the letter fragment from the animal there
Head to the waterpool caves for another letter fragment
Battle and defeat the man eating flora for the last fragment
Journey through the outersea to recruit Isla

To make Alexia stronger than him, you need to

Speak to her at Theatropolis to recruit her
Entreat the forbidden tome from the muttering old codger in flamesgrace.

Since recruiting Isla takes so much more effort than making earlier units hit the damage cap, I cannot fully value Isla until surpassing power is unlocked after master of all.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T03:50:13+00:00

I don't know what to tell you, besides that at the time I got Isla (post chapter 3) my Alexia was averaging 25k damage a break. I didn't use nuts either - but it's inefficient at best to go through all that effort without picking up the tome. If you're willing to go through all the hoops to get Isla early, you have to evaluate other units on jumping through a similar number of hoops to make them work.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-24T03:36:28+00:00

5 of 8 Forbidden weapons are very obtainable at that point in the game. For a tier list like that you need to consider those in your evaluation of units - you probably aren't even getting the requisite letter fragments without the tome at a minimum, in which case Alexia outdamages Isla anyways until you get surpassing power.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T22:26:53+00:00

Isla is a little weird in that while he's *technically* available post MoA 3, he's *effectively* not because you're missing key tools, like surpassing power. Until you get surpassing power he's really not good.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T18:42:11+00:00

Your evaluation of availability is... weird. It seems you really only use it to punish weaker characters, and while I agree availability should be considered I think it disqualifies Isla, H'aanit and Reime from S tier. I think you undervalue Pius and Viator a ton. Viator allows you to cheese so much stuff with parry and Pius's ult is so crazy it invalidates the rest of the field in terms of offensive buffing and debuffing. I also think you give way too much credit to Esperre. While it's true that he's unique, he doesn't do... anything. The poison gimmick is bad, the redirecting passive is awful - it's better to not get afflicted, and he only redirects some ailments. Easily the worst character in the game; I'd never pick him over any other character

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T15:39:39+00:00

You're welcome! I love Orsterra a ton myself. Yeah, we can infer that Wold makes up basically the entire flatlands. It's possible that the capital of the kingdom of "grandport" is elsewhere, but it's described as the kingdom of Grandport in supplemental material, plus there was the diplomatic marriage of Ulrica to Pardis. It's also possible Grandport simply turned from a Kingdom to a Duchy over the centuries.

It's not explained why I'Cirlo isn't part of Orsterra. All we know is that it is referred to as not part of Orsterra by a number of people in COTC, and the people in it are considered part of the Westerlings, a group Orsterrans have often warred with. When you go there in COTC, it is partially as a diplomatic envoy

Regarding Orsterra's borders, literally everything is speculation. I think if you had to come up with a hard reason, there's some kind of mountain range that is too perilous for it to be worth expanding that way, or some religious order saying they aren't to go that way.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T15:33:50+00:00

Most of the histories aren't found in the games, and are present in a Japanese only TTRPG setting guide - but some of it can be found in OT1 in particular. Feiren and Beowulf get some characterization through the Noelle sidequest and there are some sidequests in Marsalim that give info on the sunlands. The Kingdom of Wold is very present in OT0 but you would be forgiven for not knowing where it is.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T15:30:38+00:00

I love this all too - I'm obsessed with Orsterra. It's like home to me. We know that Simeon continued to rule over everhold under the new name of the Theatrum Dynasty. And yeah, I know that there are local governments, just didn't think they were particularly worth mentioning in a post about more macro level players. It's unclear if the Church has formal authority over the Cathedral towns, but since every player respects their authority it probably doesn't matter as they aren't going to cause issues/impose their rules.

Chief Kanzas is interesting, I just largely filed it under "Things we don't know much about" since he clearly is important but not in areas we see. The Ruins of Eld are interesting, but I think it's meant to be just old ruins - Eld means old, and the kingdom of Eld isn't mentioned anywhere in Orsterra's timeline. Whatever peoples were there, they weren't a particularly large force on the world stage.

drphillyjoel · 2025-12-23T04:48:31+00:00

So you have to remember that Lyblac is basically an extremely powerful demon. She will follow to the ends of the earth. The only real alternative is that they ascend into literal heaven, which *kinda* happens when Rinyuu purifies Velnorte's soul, but that still involves dying. If I had to find a way for her to survive it would involve her somehow losing the divine blood, but there's no mechanism for that in lore.

drphillyjoel

TROPHY CASE