History YMMV / OctopathTraveler

** [[spoiler: It's unanimously agreed that [[AssholeVictim Darius deserved being betrayed by his subordinates]]. However, him calling for Therion can be interpreted either him doing it much like Miguel did with Alfyn or as Darius having a [[DeathEqualsRedemption last-minute]] HeelRealization.]]
** [[spoiler: Similarly, it's unanimously agreed that [[GodOfEvil Galdera]] and [[DaddysLittleVillain Lyblac]] are monsters for what they did, but ''[[VideoGame/OctopathTravelerChampionsOfTheContinent Champions of the Continent]]'' reveals that the crime on the top of the list of accusations against Galdera, the death of his mother Orsa, was not his, but rather an accident. And with Galdera's father Finis wanting to resurrect Orsa and being willing to [[OffingTheOffspring kill some of his children to do so]], some people believe that Galdera's "betrayal" was an attempt to get back at his abusive father, only to fail due to Aelfric's interference, and that Galdera underwent SanitySlippage and MotiveDecay while sealed behind [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Gate of Finis]], as an explanation to why he is the monster he is today. That said, it is also indicated that Galdera chose to turn to evil of his own free will, so how much Finis played a role in it is up for debate]].

** [[spoiler: Similarly, it's unanimously agreed that [[GodOfEvil Galdera]] and [[DaddysLittleVillain Lyblac]] are monsters for what they did, but ''[[VideoGame/OctopathTravelerChampionsOfTheContinent Champions of the Continent]]'' reveals that the crime on the top of the list of accusations against Galdera, the death of his mother Orsa, was not his, but rather an accident. And with Galdera's father Finis wanting to ressurect Orsa and being willing to [[OffingTheOffspring kill some of his children to do so]], some people believe that Galdera's "betrayal" was an attempt to get back at his abusive father, only to fail due to Aelfric's interference, and that Galdera underwent SanitySlippage and MotiveDecay while sealed behind [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon the Gate of Finis]], as an explanation to why he is the monster he is today.]]

** Rufus and [[spoiler:Simeon]], two of the Crow Men are considered enjoyable. While Helgenish and Albus are both extremely hateable, the pair by contrast are well-liked, the former for having a level of respect for Primrose while the latter for playing her and almost getting away with it.

* LoveToHate: [[spoiler:Miguel Twinspears]], the antagonist of Alfyn's Chapter 3, only appears in one chapter, but is such a despicable individual, not to mention a challenging foe, that he ends up being one of the more memorable antagonists of the game, even overshadowing [[spoiler:the Ogre Eagle]], a non-sapient monster that's the FinalBoss of Alfyn's storyline.

** [[CantDropTheHero Whichever character you pick as your protagonist cannot be removed from the party until you complete their fourth chapter]]. While this actually solves the above problem -- just start as Therion -- it provides headaches to completionists who like to keep their whole party at roughly equal levels. Additionally, it makes level grinding harder in general because your overleveled, unremovable protagonist will drag the Average Party Level upward, although this is somewhat mitigated if you keep one or two others in your party at all times.

** [[CantDropTheHero Whichever character you pick as your protagonist cannot be removed from the party until you complete their fourth chapter]]. While this actually solves the above problem -- just start as Therion -- it provides headaches to completionists who like to keep their whole party at roughly equal levels. Additionally, it causes makes level grinding harder in general because your overleveled, unremovable protagonist will drag the Average Party Level upward, although this is somewhat mitigated if you keep one or two others in your party at all times.

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her so much emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and even accused Ophilia of being a BitchInSheepsClothing who doesn't love Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} childish]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her no end of emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and even accused Ophilia of being a BitchInSheepsClothing who doesn't love Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} childish]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her no end of emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and even accused Ophilia of being a BitchInSheepsClothing who doesn't love Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} immature]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her no end of emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and even accused Ophilia of being a BitchInSheepsClothing who doesn't love Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} childish]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: [[spoiler:When Mattias has his third BossBanter with Ophilia, he tells her that Lianna's desire to resurrect her father is more important to her than her and Ophilia's sisterhood, and that Lianna never considered Ophilia family. Ophilia counters that Lianna once helped her recover from the pain of her parents' deaths with her kindness and love. However, some players--particularly those who think Lianna is UnintentionallyUnsympathetic--believe that Mattias makes the stronger argument, even if Ophilia and Lianna are close friends; not only was Lianna willing to drug her adopted sister with a sleeping draught so that she could steal Aelfric's Lanthorn to use in a ritual to the local GodOfEvil for the mere ''chance'' to resurrect her father--which turned out to be a false hope--but after Mattias admits that the ritual's true purpose is to sacrifice his followers to said dark god in exchange for power to TakeOverTheWorld, Lianna admits that she still can't think of anything other than her desire to see her father again, leaving it [[AmbiguouslyEvil uncertain if she would have aided Mattias if he had already told her that the ritual requires sacrifices]]. Japanese culture's views on orphans like Ophilia doesn't help, either.]]

** Simeon, who is set up as the LoveInterest of Primrose after he's introduced. [[spoiler:One camp believes that Simeon is a one-dimensional CardCarryingVillain whose reveal as the mastermind of Primrose's story [[ObviousJudas is easy to guess]], way too hastily set up to be genuinely shocking, and too over-the-top to take seriously. Another camp believes that he's an [[LaughablyEvil enjoyably hammy]] [[PracticallyJoker Joker-esque]] villain who creates a memorable final stage and an interesting scenario.]] A third group of fans argue that while his role in Primrose's story is interesting and could've made for a compelling scenario, the lack of setup with Simeon [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter wasted his potential]] (that said, [[AllThereInTheManual the official guidebook provides more insight into Simeon's backstory]]).

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her no end of emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and even accused Ophilia of not loving Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} childish]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].

** "Lone Traveler" requires completing one traveler's story alone. Unsurprisingly, it has the fifth completion rate of all achievements- after the OneHundredPercentCompletion achievement and the achievements for getting every item, finding every enemy's weakness and collecting every treasure chest.

** Ophilia. On one hand, some players like and relate to her because her [[NiceGirl kind, loving personality]] and story revolving around grief makes her a source of many [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments emotional]] [[TearJerker moments]]. She's also liked for being a BadassAdorable who is [[GoodIsNotSoft willing to fight against cultists]] for what she believes in. However, others think she is a bland character because she goes through the stages of grief from losing her biological family in her backstory, resulting in her helping others develop instead of developing further herself. Her detractors tend to point to Alfyn as an example of a NiceGuy who goes through a character arc in the present. It doesn't help that her Chapter 2 is considered to be the weakest chapter in the entire game by a significant portion of the playerbase, due to being mostly {{Filler}} with only its CentralTheme being relevant to the rest of her route.

** "Strategist" requires finding every enemy's weakness. This can be quite a pain for bosses who change their weaknesses after being broken, as well as for Caits, which run away very quickly.

** Cyrus, Chapter 4: [[spoiler:Lucia, a scholar who seeks immortality at any cost]]. The boss begins with a whopping '''30''' break points, although this is reduced to 15 after the first break and 8 after the second. The boss hits hard with a variety of strong physical and elemental attacks, which can potentially one-shot [[SquishyWizard Cyrus]] if he's underleveled. After the boss's first break, it gains access to an attack that can damage your MP, which can be rather problematic, since it switches to elemental weaknesses after its first break (although it has a mix of physical and elemental weaknesses after the second break).

*** [[spoiler:Taking advantage of Erhardt’s bitter hatred for King Alfred’s neglect to save the people of his village to convince the soon-to-be knight to help him commit regicide and bring the entire kingdom of Hornburg to ruin. All to gain the power beyond the Gate of Finis.]]

* RonTheDeathEater: Some of [[spoiler:Lianna]]'s haters engage in this, emphasizing their negative qualities and downplaying if not ignoring their positive ones. [[spoiler:She did agree to go along with Mattias' evil plan in the hopes of resurrecting her father, but due to grief clouding her judgment, and once she comes to her senses, she becomes TheAtoner. Additionally, while Lianna was willing to drug Ophilia to steal the ember, she also broke her out of the cell, not wanting Ophilia to come to harm. Lastly, while she may have viewed Ophilia as less than a full member of the family, she was still the one who first reached out to Ophilia when Ophilia's grief caused her to be closed off from her adoptive family, and she insists that Ophilia is family to her.]]

** Ophilia's adoptive sister, Lianna, became disliked by quite a few players over the course of the former's story. [[spoiler:While it's understandable that the death of her father, Archbishop Josef, would cause her no end of emotional pain, the fact that she believed [[DarkMessiah Mattias]] when he told her that he could resurrect Josef, was willing to betray Ophilia and steal Aelfric's Lanthorn from her to use in a dark ritual to the local GodOfEvil, and accused Ophilia of not loving Josef as much as she does when Ophilia protested her actions, caused said players to believe that she is too [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter naïve]] and [[{{Womanchild}} childish]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]]]. However, other players [[spoiler:believe that [[AntiVillain her actions are understandable]] because she has never gone through the pain of losing a loved one before[[note]]Lianna's mother is never seen, even in flashbacks when she and Ophilia are children. Presumably, her mother died when she was too young to remember her[[/note]], and point out that she willingly bonded with Ophilia and helped her recover from her parents' deaths when she was adopted, as well as becoming TheAtoner after Mattias' defeat]].