Who to Start With in Octopath Traveler

Octopath Traveler features 8 separate characters and storylines for those characters. This page tells you everything you need to know to choose your first character.

While you can add any of the 8 to your party as you meet them, the first one you choose to begin your journey with is locked into your party until you complete their story. This is four chapters in, which will probably take about eight hours to complete a single story – not including the time spent bouncing between other character’s story quests. Choose wisely!

Don’t worry, every character’s backstory and beginning section of their journey is playable as you make your way through Osterra.

Here is a description of each character, with our top choice of who to pick first at the bottom of this section. Click on a character’s name to learn more.

Each one begins their journey at a different location on the map before venturing into the wider world. All are viable, so read each character’s biography and choose the one most compelling to you. And remember some of the other character’s traits as well. It may compel you to decide which of them to go add to your team first.

That being said, no matter what character you choose to use at the start of Octopath Traveler, the game eases you into battles with that protagonist. Most early enemies are weak to the strengths of the corresponding character in the nearby city. This gives no character any competitive early game advantage over another, so choose whichever character’s story is most compelling to you.

Enemies on the field also scale with how many characters you add to your party. Early in the game, you will see far fewer enemies than when you have a 4 person party.