History YMMV / OctopathTravelerChampionsOfTheContinent

* LowTierLetdown: Largo, who is arguably the toughest Arena champion to defeat, ends up having a JackOfAllTrades kit that [[MasterOfNone doesn't excel at anything]]. His abilities cannot hit any more than three times and rely heavily on inflicting StatusEffects on the enemy, which may be immune to said effects. All of this makes him woefully underpowered when compared to other Merchants like Cecily, Leon, etc. His mediocre nature would be tolerable as a normal unit, but being an Arena Champion means that you do so much work to get him, only to be useless and not helpful, making getting him more tedious than helpful and more of a BraggingRightsReward than a truly useful party member.

* DesignatedEvil: During the "Bestower of Power" and "Bestower of All" stories, Alaune argues in favor of sparing and arresting Tatloch over executing her, citing that killing her would "[[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim make them no different]]" than Pardis, who would kill anyone he defeated. The scene where Alaune prepares to execute Tatloch is even framed the same as when Pardis killed Elrica to hammer home the parallels between Alaune and Pardis. However, Pardis was a warmonger who instigated war for selfish gain, and used his agents to manipulate events so he could "justify" his war, and killed his daughter for going against his tyranny, which is completely different from executing the leader of an invading army who refused peace, made it clear she was going to invade and kill anyone in her way, and had selfish goals not unlike Pardis. As much of a CruelMercy as sparing her and arresting her is, claiming that executing Tatloch (who is generally as cruel and evil as Pardis was) would be as evil as Pardis' actions makes it feel like the game is sticking too closely to a moral, even when accounting for Alaune disliking conflict, especially when Solon gives a pragmatic reason for it later that makes sparing Tatloch more justified (namely that killing her would enrage the G'rohans and reignite the war while Orsterra was still recovering).

* UnexpectedCharacter: A ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' event was not unexpected given its HD-2D remake and it being one of the inspirations for the original ''Octopath Traveler'' in the first game, and it being represented by Oersted and Streibough, as well as [[spoiler:Oersted as Odio]], was also a safe bet. What wasn't a safe bet was [[spoiler:''Streibough'' as Odio]], a concept that was never more than a theory based on ambiguities in the Middle Ages chapter's story.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Herminia is quite attractive [[spoiler: although only in her base form, since her OneWingedAngel form has some FanDisservice]].
** Tatloch has a very {{Stripperiffic}} outfit and the second-biggest bust of all Octopath villainesses (second only to [[FatBitch Mother]] from ''Octopath Traveler II'').
** [[spoiler: Unlike the other villains, Ceraphina is very attractive in her OneWingedAngel form.]]
** [[spoiler: This game establishes Lyblac, the BigBad of [[VideoGame/OctopathTraveler the original game]], as this.]]
** [[spoiler: While she's only a villain because she CameBackWrong, Elrica is also very attractive.]]
** [[spoiler: Cigna in the promotional artwork for Chapter 6 of Bestower of All, where she looks like she's Sazantos's harem girl.]]

* DesignatedEvil: During the "Bestower of Power" and "Bestower of All" stories, Alaune argues in favor of sparing and arresting Tatloch over executing her, citing that killing her would "[[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim make them no different]]" than Pardis, who would kill anyone he defeated. The scenes are even framed as the same to hammer home the idea that killing Tatloch would, "make her no different from her father". However, Pardis was a warmonger who instigated war for selfish gain, and used his agents to manipulate events so he could "justify" his war, which is completely different from executing the leader of an invading army who refused peace, made it clear she was going to invade and kill anyone in her way, and had selfish goals. As much of a CruelMercy as sparing her and arresting her is, claiming that executing Tatloch (who is generally as cruel and evil as Pardis was) would be as evil as Pardis' actions comes across as very shallow and flimsy, even when accounting for Alaune disliking conflict, especially when Solon gives a pragmatic reason for it later that makes sparing Tatloch more justified (namely that killing her would enrage the G'rohans and reignite the war while Orsterra was still recovering).

* RealismInducedHorror: Part of why Auguste is popular (aside from EvilIsCool) is how mundane yet still horrifically real he is as a threat. He isn't some major political figure or a super natural being: He's essentially a serial killer cult leader, who uses his fame and success to win people over, then either kill them for his own sadistic pleasure, or break them into serving him blindly, all while essentially torturing them in different ways. This kind of behavior is something that can happen in the real world, and even has, with people making cults of personality, or using their fame to ruin people's lives for their sick pleasure. In a game with literal monsters and magic, Auguste's evil is not just the most like something that can happen outside of the game, but it does so without relying on any magical means to do so.

** The Warrior Tower is considered the hardest of the class locked towers and some players hate having to do it. This is because the Warrior Tower has each fight include an enemy that acts as a shield for the boss you fight, whose sole job is to prevent you from breaking the bosses shield unless you break their shield first. The issue is that the shield enemy is only weak to elemental attacks, and Warriors are usually a MagicallyIneptFighter with barely any elemental attacks, resulting in it being harder than the other Towers because you have to rely on elemental attacks to progress, even if Warriors are not designed to use them as effectively as other classes. It doesn't help that you can't kill the shield enemy, and a lot of Warriors have random target attacks, causing further annoyances.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Unlike in the original ''Octopath'', Speed only determines when in the turn order a character acts, not when they get to make a choice and act. On paper this is meant to likely account for the larger roster (4 characters vs 4 front and backline), but the result is that a player cannot react to the enemies actions, and can end up losing a fight because there wasn't a way to guess the enemies next move. For example: Having your party tailor made to attack a bosses weakness, only for it to do something like seal off weaknesses, or use a buff that counters attacking said weakness, causing a snowball effect where the player is punished for actions they took without having any idea was a bad call.

* EvilIsCool: Auguste is a MadArtist SerialKiller who does many horrible things, but his sheer LargeHam, flair for the dramatics, and his over the top yet fun personality, makes him a fun villain to watch on screen, helped greatly by his constant shouting of [[{{Catchphrase}} "Marvelous!"]]. The fact he's the only ArcVillain to not have any greater connections to the general narrative compared to the other villains means he gets extra points for being unique.

** Shelby, despite not being a starter character in the English version, is popular not because of any reason stemming from her Traveler Story, but because of having an entire playthrough where she's TheChosenOne. This gave her quite the following, with her fans sometimes coming with headcanons like her favorite allies being Bargello and his mafia (it helps that her influence is Wealth) or that she's Vanessa Hysel's sister (again, it helps that Shelby's influence is Wealth, which Vanessa obsesses over). Heck, go to forums where fans of [=FeatherGamer555=] are, and they say that Shelby is TheChosenOne, period.

** MORBIDUS!!!!![[note]]This is said loudly by Peredir during his Traveler Story whenever he runs into his ArchEnemy. It's funny since Morbidus survives several fights with Peredir, leading one to think WhyWontYouDie (Morbidus finally does die during the final chapter of Peredir's story due to being a worshipper of Galdera).[[/note]]

* LowTierLetdown: Largo, who is arguably the toughest Arena champion to defeat, ends up having a JackOfAllTrades kit that [[MasterOfNone doesn't excel at anything]]. His abilities cannot hit any more than three times and rely heavily on inflicting StatusEffects on the enemy, which may be immune to said effects. All of this makes him woefully underpowered when compared to other Merchants like Cecily, Leon, etc. His mediocre nature would be tolerable as a normal unit, but being an Arena Champion means that you do so much work to get him, only to be useless and not helpful, making getting him more tedious than helpful.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: The game has a wide assortment of villains and evil characters, but probably the most hated character amongst the community (aside from perhaps [[HateSink Pardis]]) is Fiore's mom, largely because she's an [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]] who treats Fiore like TheLoad and ends up a KarmaHoudini after she [[KickTheDog lures her daughter to be murdered]] to [[EvilPaysBetter pay off her own debts]]. Looking up discussions of the Traveler Stories often yields people being upset she didn't get some kind of punishment for how terrible of a person she is, to the point that, in a poll held for the global community, she beat other major antagonists for the title of "Best Villain".
* LowTierLetdown: Being a gacha title, some characters are inevitably going to be weak compared to others. However, some 5-star characters really suffer from being underpowered.
** Largo, who is arguably the toughest Arena champion to defeat, ends up having a JackOfAllTrades kit that [[MasterOfNone doesn't excel at anything]]. His abilities cannot hit any more than three times and rely heavily on inflicting StatusEffects on the enemy, which may be immune to said effects. All of this makes him woefully underpowered when compared to other Merchants like Cecily, Leon, etc.

* FanficFuel: You can, in a sense, bring plenty of people who die in the game BackFromTheDead with your Divine Ring. As of this writing, this includes [[spoiler:Elrica, Rinyuu, Sonia, Sazantos, Signa and the first three Ringbearers you face (Herminia, Tytos and Auguste)]]. Now, this doesn't affect the story at all, that's just a gameplay mechanic; but it still would be interesting to see [[spoiler:[[CatharsisFactor Sonia freeing herself from Herminia's clutches, Elrica returning for a rematch against Pardis]] or, if you sympathize with them, [[TheAtoner the evil Ringbearers trying to redeem themselves]]]].

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: The game has a wide assortment of villains and evil characters, but probably the most hated character amongst the community is Fiore's mom, largely because she's an [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]] who treats Fiore like TheLoad and ends up a KarmaHoudini after she [[KickTheDog lures her daughter to be murdered]] to [[EvilPaysBetter pay off her own debts]]. Looking up discussions of the Traveler Stories often yields people being upset she didn't get some kind of punishment for how terrible of a person she is, to the point that, in a poll held for the global community, she beat other major antagonists for the title of "Best Villain".

* FanficFuel: You can, in a sense, bring plenty of people who die in the game BackFromTheDead with your Divine Ring. As of this writing, this includes Elrica, Rinyuu, Sonia, Sazantos, Signa and the first three Ringbearers you face (Herminia, Tytos and Auguste). Now, this doesn't affect the story at all, that's just a gameplay mechanic; but it still would be interesting to see [[CatharsisFactor Sonia freeing herself from Herminia's clutches, Elrica returning for a rematch against Pardis]] or, if you sympathize with them, [[TheAtoner the evil Ringbearers trying to redeem themselves]].

* TheScrappy: Sail, the protagonist of the ''Solistia Side Story'' arc, is seen by some as an uninteresting and somewhat generic protagonist who some refer to as "a discount Hikari", seemingly possessed by a dark side in the same way Hikari is in ''Octopath Traveler II''. His story so far has also been rather slow-paced, which hasn't helped to endear him to fans of the franchise.

** The Warrior Tower is considered the hardest of the class locked towers and some players hate having to do it. This is because the Warrior Tower has each fight include an enemy that acts as a shield for the boss you fight, whose sole job is to prevent you from breaking the bosses shield unless you break their shield first. The issue is that the shield enemy is only weak to elemental attacks, and Warriors are usually a MagicallyIneptFighter with barely any elemental attacks, which makes he harder than the other towers because you can't just rely on sword skills to progress, but instead you need to make sure to have characters with elemental attacks, even if they are not designed to use them. It doesn't help that you can't kill the shield enemy, as it takes almost no damage, and a lot of Warriors have random target attacks, making it the hardest of the towers to complete.

** FeatherGamer555, infamous for making an entire playthrough with Shelby as TheChosenOne, gives this treatment to Oskha, having a headcanon where he survives and has a HeelFaceTurn and a case of BecomingTheMask (the mask being Tiziano). This is despite the fact Oskha was responsible for Herminia's rise to Power (Herminia's ring was originally a heirloom belonging to the Huseynov family, until a homeless Oskha gave it to Herminia, and he knew Herminia's greed would end up destroying her).

** Shelby, despite not being a starter character in the English version, is popular not because of any reason stemming from her Traveler Story, but because of having an entire playthrough where she's TheChosenOne. This gave her quite the following, with her fans sometimes coming with headcanons like her favorite allies being Bargello and his mafia (it helps that her influence is Wealth) or that she's Vanessa Hysel's sister (again, it helps that Shelby's influence is Wealth, which Vanessa obsesses over). Heck, go to forums where fans of FeatherGamer555 are, and they say that Shelby is TheChosenOne, period.

** FeatherGamer555, infamous for making an entire playthrough with Shelby as TheChosenOne, gives this treatment to Oskha, having a headcanon where he survives and has a HeelFaceTurn and a case of BecomingTheMask (the mask being Tiziano). This is despite the fact Oskha was responsible for Herminia's rise to Power (Herminia's ring was originally a heirloom belonging to the Huseynov family, until a homeless Oskha gave it to Herminia).

** FeatherGamer555, infamous for making an entire playthrough with Shelby as TheChosenOne, gives this treatment to Oskha, having a headcanon where he survives and has a HeelFaceTurn and a case of BecomingTheMask (the mask being Tiziano). This is despite the fact Oskha was responsible for Herminia's rise to Power (Herminia's ring was originally a heirloom belonging to the Huseynov family).

** Shelby, despite not being a starter character in the English version, is popular not because of any reason stemming from her Traveler Story, but because of having an entire playthrough where she's TheChosenOne. This gave her quite the following, with her fans sometimes coming with headcanons like her favorite allies being Bargello and his mafia (it helps that her influence is Wealth) or that she's Vanessa Hysel's sister (again, it helps that Shelby's influence is Wealth, which Vanessa obsesses over).

* FanficFuel: You can, in a sense, bring plenty of people who die in the game BackFromTheDead with your Divine Ring. Now, this doesn't affect the story at all, that's just a gameplay mechanic; but it still would be interesting to see [[CatharsisFactor Sonia freeing herself from Herminia's clutches, Elrica returning for a rematch against Pardis]] or, if you sympathize with them, [[TheAtoner the evil Ringbearers trying to redeem themselves]].

* DesignatedEvil: During the "Bestower of Power" and "Bestower of All" stories, Alaune argues in favor of sparing and arresting Tatloch over executing her, citing that killing her would "[[IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim make them no different]]" than Pardis, who would kill anyone he defeated. The scenes are even framed as the same to hammer home the idea that killing Tatloch would, "make her no different from her father". However, Pardis was a warmonger who instigated war for selfish gain, and used his agents to manipulate events so he could "justify" his war, which is completely different from executing the leader of an invading army who refused peace, made it clear she was going to invade and kill anyone in her way, and had selfish goals. As much of a CruelMercy as sparing her and arresting her is, claiming that executing Tatloch (who is generally as cruel and evil as Pardis was) would be as evil as Pardis' actions comes across as very shallow and flimsy, even when accounting for Alaune disliking conflict, especially when Solon gives a pragmatic reason for it later that makes sparing Tatloch more justified.