Game Theory: You Have NO Choice! (Octopath Traveler CotC)

“What ever your heart desires”
Matpat: “Can it solve FNAF’s timeline?”

Damn, I've never heard of this game so I'm just here nodding like:
"Ah, yes Herminia and Auguste, my buddies. I think I saw them at the local barbecue last week."

I'd like Matpat to do a theory or two on some older games. Imagine him dealing with the brain twisting madness that is the Marathon series.

I'm glad Octopath Traveler is finally getting the recognition it should have

Can't wait for the rings to become a secret or true final boss, where the rings merge to become a beast and all of the characters team up to destroy the rings

Octopath had a really interesting story, really. The final boss was stupidly difficult, but it was nice that it required you to actually use every aspect of the super in-depth combat

I love that with all of MatPat’s videos, even if it’s sponsored, he seems genuinely passionate about the game

Honestly this could be an anime if someone creative got their hands on this game and watched the theories to make it have a twist like you’re summoned then turns out theyre evil idk

This was a very interesting Theory as a fan of the series my only question is does this game have a secret final boss that is ridiculously overpowered and requires precise strategies unlike the rest of the game

Definitely a super interesting theory. The only key point that I think was missed is the ritual to purify the rings; meaning the reason that the rings made Tytos, Herminia, and Auguste go berserk is because the rings are corrupted, or rather become corrupted. The ritual to purify them is successful…but then we see what happened to Pathos and Apathia (the Ring Maidens)…
The more interesting thing to perhaps look into is the Tower of Remembrance. If you defeat all of the elite enemies in a particular region, you’ll unlock a boss within that particular “bonfire” inside the tower. If you defeat that extra boss, you unlock some lore about HOW Auguste, Herminia, and Tytos came across the rings…
…they were given to them by a shadowed figure. Sound a bit familiar? A “shadowed figure” also gave our character their ring.
Maybe they’re the same person. Just my thoughts.

6:11 they did lead the town and survive. you said it yourself, a year passed between master of wealth and bestower of wealth. they weren't exactly defenseless without our help, either. in the battle that ensues at the start of the bestower of wealth prologue, there are eleven enemies shown in the cutscene, and all but one of them are dead in the next. you only take out three in the battle. i'm sure they handled themselves pretty well over that year.

3:08 "Any truly traditional RPG deserves itself a traditional Game Theory Episode. So today, I am here to tell you that classic Game Theory thesis we love so well: the hero is..."
Me: "Ness?"

As someone who played the original Octopath Traveler: Yes, MatPat, the 13th god WAS indeed that bad (not to mention a secret boss you need a strategy guide to beat)
Seriously, tho, please look at the original game.

wealth, fame, and power. MatPat king of theorists obtained this, and with everything else the web had to offer

Hey, I think Cube Escape could be an interesting game to cover. It's an escape room - type game with 9 levels and some pretty deep lore

I was waiting for one of your videos, I really love watching them. They are the best, keep it up!!!

Can we actually have a theory on the original Octopath? Between all the grinding and the different stories, it was hard to put everything together and it was a fantastic game.

It would be pretty interesting to see a theroy on Gahldera (13th god), as he has a major role in the postgame of the original octopus that and works as the plot device that pulls the right character paths together.

Man I cried when Velnorte died. Velnorte and Rinyuu are my favorite characters I wish I could have them as party members.

Tbh square Enix makes game look soo beautiful like every game I play by them looks amazing 👏 they care about how the game looks and the gameplay 👌 perfect

Ever thought about covering the original Octopath Traveler? It's a great switch game that never got the attention it deserved

'Winning was easy. Governing's harder' Thank you for feeding my Hamilton obsession.

I need to suggest a game that has some of the darkest lore I know and I really feel like a theory can be made out of it. The game is called is called Into The Radius. It's a VR game and it's got some really cool features and hidden lore that is found while exploring throughout the game.

honestly, given the surge in RPGs that we've seen in recent years, I'd love to see more videos like these on said RPGs

I’m surprised Matpat’s heart desire wasn’t solve the entire FNAF lore.

If you play original Octopath Traveler, you will learn later that "Galdera", the 13th God are the evil one.
It has massive spoilers, since the original one story also tied to this prequel game.
And some characters appeared or mentioned at original are appeared at CoTC.

At 2:23 …. That Markiplier? Lmao

I love the limited 3d in this game, it’s so charming!

15:09 Game Theory Theory: MatPat has the Divine Ring of FNAF and it forces him to keep reading the books and making more videos on the series

Meta stuff is really big in the team that makes Octopath. Like I said: look into the Bravely Default series. I 100% believe in the "The ring is controlling your choices" theory just because it is very very on brand.

Thank you for introducing me to Octopath Traveler! I am absolutely in love with the game and already put 24 hours into it! Right now I am playing the original but love it all the same. Great story, characters, design, just everything!

I remember buying Octopath traveler on steam and loving it immediately… maybe I’ll finish it someday.

mat pat should make a theory about the lore of splatoon. especially since the 3rd game comes out soon

ive only heard about octopath traveller in passing and my only impression of it was that it looked aesthetically pleasing so to see a theory from you and hear about it, it sounds interesting!

I love that mark was in the beginning as the all powerful

"The hero is the villain _acually_"
Ngl that sounded so fun i had to hear it again and say ir with ya XD

Can you please make a theory for the first OCTOPATH traveller, I loved the first game and after 100% completing the game I was still somewhat co fused on the story.

Imagine MatPat doing a theory on mobile Octopath without playing the main game

MatPat doing a video about this gem of a game is… just… MARVELOUS !

“Wealth, Fame, Power. The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, Gold Roger.

The irony of Google Play being the sponsor for a video titled, "You Have NO Choice" just kills me.

1:03 an adventure waiting in my pocket as long as I’m watching on a mobile device?
*tries to shove iPad into my pocket
I don’t think so :P

This takes “you don wear it, it wears you” to a whole another lvl

This is an amazing video ! You should do more like this !!!

I just finished running 1.8 miles and seeing this makes me happy

I actually think the "Ring is the true bbeg" is the intended lore. It mirrors the original Octopath Traveler in your actions throughout the game actually makes it possible to summon and fight the secret super-boss.

That was a really fun video Matpat! Really like seeing you analyze the lore of jrpg's!

Was pleasantly surprised to see a game theory on this game. And an interesting one too!

Just because a god of absolute justice established a world order of domination and submission, doesn't mean the one they found so abhorrent as to lock away forever isn't an evil chaos god out to destroy all existence.
The enemy of one extreme is likely another and should not be your friend, MatPat.

Hardcore Theater kids, ARE real life boss fights. We have the cutscenes to prove it.

heres an idea
What if the ring the main character gets at the star of the game is supposed to represent greed? it kinda makes sense, given the fact that the goal of the game is to obtain said rings.

No way, I love OCTOPATH Traveller, this is insane that you’re doing a video on it

Finally, Octopath Traveler getting the attention and love it deserves!

I've been wondering... if all of the ringbearers can transform into a monster with the power of their respective rings... does the main traveller character also has that ability?... as MatPat said, how are we different? The only thing we notice is that all rings except ours glows red instead of blue...

Wealth, fame, power, gol d Rodger had this and everything else the world had to offer

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A GAME THEORY ON OCTOPATH TRAVELER IN GENERAL
THIS IS AMAZING

Love the editing skills

I’m surprised you mage a video on this I got this game recently LOL IMA WATCH LATER BECAUSE IM BUSY THOUGH

Hermidia is so pretty and such a sad back story I find it cool if the rings were the final secret boss and your team is all the ring owners

I played the og octopaths game and loved it I didn’t know they had a mobile game, definitely going to go play that now! Thank you for making this always enjoy your videos your attention to detail is amazing!

Funny how MatPat intros have more dedicated art and animation than the actual game they’re theorizing about

6:39 AH AH THATS A HAMILTON HE DID A HAMILTON

I didn't really play that game since it's a mobile game, but I did play the first Octopath Traveler game which is the sequel of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. As far as I know, the first Octopath Traveler game has Ophelia the Cleric, Cyrus the Scholar, Tressa the Merchant, Olberic the Knight, Primrose the Dancer, Alfyn the Apothecary, Therion the Thief, and H'aanit the Hunter. In Octopath Traveler 2, you get Ochette the Hunter, Castti the Apothecary, Throne the Thief, Osvald the Scholar, Partitio the Merchant, Temenos the Cleric, and Hikari the Warrior. In Octopath 2, they replaced the Knight job with the Warrior job but they both function the same way.

I think it's also worth mentioning how Octopath's successor game "Triangle Strategy" refered to Aelfric as a devastating weapon that could be crafted
Apparently at it's full extent, it could grant someone god-like power

But no one is gonna lie. Octopath has one of the best writting ever since 2002

Wealth. Fame. Power.
One Man attained everything this world had to offer, the king of pirates, *Gold Roger.*

5:40 since octopath is my recent obsession. No.
One was nothing but a playwright who got what he wanted in the end and no one suspected him of decades long murders in the first place.
And the other was faught by a band of vigilantes, NOT MAFIA, that brought stability afterwards by not having a central town leader. The story isnt done yet but he's giving the villains wayyy too much credit.

For every game I'm interested: "This app isn't available on Google Play in your region"
I need that ring

1:51 "Legendary"
Ah the limits of a sponsor. I at least hope he's aware of how legendarily... shifty they are

One last thing the best option would be power because you can be a boxer and win every match to get wealthy and fame would come

A detail that needs to be pointed out.
The rings the three big bads owned were given to them by the bigger bad, Galdera's daughter Lyblac. The game makes it clear she gave the rings to them for the express purpose of corrupting them. The theory teased at the end wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact Lyblac is undeniably evil, something Werner, the destroyer of Hornburg, the town where the Gate of Finis, behind which Galdera was sealed, makes it clear in his diary. Quote:
"She was beautiful-there can be no doubt of that. But did I desire her, even for a moment? No. For within that attractive trapping was evil-pure evil, intent on bringing humanity to ruin. If a man dared touch any part of it, his own flesh would rot and fall away. She was a lethal poison. She was a witch. And so I cut myself off from her entirely and did not look back."
End quote. So there you have it: if a villain claims that the big bad is the big bad, then the big bad is the big bad. And yes, I am aware that the diary said that Lyblac had Olberic, one of the eight protagonists of the forest game and the last Knight of Hornburg to bring him down, but that doesn't make sense because for eight years Olberic thought Werner's scapegoat Erhardt was the destroyer of Hornburg, which, again, was part of Lyblac's plan. What's more likely is that Aelfric was the one who had Olberic strike down Werner by having him meet the other seven main protagonists of the first game, including, won't you know it, a member of the Order of the Sacred Flame. This hints to me that, while Hornburg's fall was masterminded by Lyblac, Werner's fall was masterminded by Aelfric. And if that's not enough proof, keep in mind how Lyblac also tried to corrupt Kit and Lianna, the former a descendant of a champion of Aelfric's, the latter another member of the Order of the Sacred Flame, and succeeded with Mattias, the big bad of Ophilia's story, Ophilia being the Order of the Sacred Flame member Olberic met. And Mattias himself was implied to be yet another member of the Order once, until a cataclysm happened, cataclysm for which Mattias blamed Aelfric. It's exactly the "The Hero Is The Villain" theory that Lyblac used to corrupt Mattias, Lianna and Kit, and Werner knew it.
What Aelfric strikes me more as from this theory is a Knight Templar. He knows there's a darkness in this world, and he's willing to do anything to ensure said darkness won't end up releasing Galdera. That's why he established the Order of the Sacred Flame and gave it complete control over the society. That's why he had the order give his ring to the chosen one. That's why he chose Ophilia as the Flamebearer instead of Lianna. He knew Lianna was emotionally unstable due to her father dying and that Ophilia would go to the length of trying to do the kindling, a journey a member of the Order does once every 20 years, in Lianna's place. He knew Mattias, who betrayed Aelfric, was the reason Lianna's father was dying. What he didn't know was that Mattias killed Lianna's father specifically to make Lianna emotionally unstable so Lyblac could corrupt her. Now, Lyblac failed to corrupt Lianna, since Ophilia made Lianna snap out of it and killed Mattias, but if Aelfric didn't set up Ophilia as the Flamebearer, Lianna likely wouldn't have snapped out of it and turned out like Mattias.
So there you have it; the reason why you should always take the "The Hero Is The Villain" theory with a grain of salt. Chances are, whoever came up with that theory is an antichrist up to unleash a God of evil on the world.
But hey! That's just a theory! A Game Theory! Thanks for reading!

If a divine ring comes your way, question everything. I wonder if there's a way to avoid the ring or stop its control. I mean there has to be as long as one understands how something functions

I remember being addicted to the Switch game a couple years ago, so I got excited when you guys randomly made a video about it. Can’t wait to play this new game.

I had no idea Octopath Traveler had a mobile game, I thought this was going to be a theory on the main game, I'm okay with this too, I'm glad to hear it's not a game you can't play without spending 100s of $, that's why I never touch Mobile games, that and it's kind of hard to play games on a phone.

6:58 angi grape

I've just thought about the idea of Game Theory doing a video on Hunt: Showdown. Maybe looking into the Corruption and the Sculptor and seeing if any of the legendary hunters are being used by the Sculptor like the Night Seer and his cult or the Sinners cult, or even something to do with the AHA or any of the boss monsters, the gunplay, some of the consumables like hive bomb or concertina bombs, etc. They could even look into the event Serpent's Moon that's going on right now.
I'd just really love a video on Hunt: Showdown from one of my favorite channels. I feel like there's possibly something they could find there in that game that would get their theorist minds going.

2:46 the blonde girl in the red dress represents FNaF theories. Always by his side no matter what

JRPGs are so underrated in today’s generation. I’m so glad it was given a spotlight once more 🙌

Fascinating. Very cool to see a fantasy story like this that uses the convention of 'magic wish-bringing device that's corrupted'; it's in some of my favourite games.

i never fought you would have done a theory about octopath traveller but this is great

“What ever you’re heart desires “
Matpat :”can it solve FNAF’s timeline “

... our ring looks bigger more powerful and reminds me of... something...
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"... not to mention 3 warring factions, seeking power to put them on level or at better odds than the other. Rings that granted wealth, power, and longevity given to each ruler among the 3 factions, given to the leaders, of which... would they not be the most famous of their species? So yeah I'd buy your theory, Octopath Traveler we're basically Sauron from the Hobbit and LOTR books/movies.
Edit:... I made this 1/2 way through the video, that the ring is pushing you along controlling your will... yep this is basically Lord of the Rings/Hobbit.

I have big flashback to Lord of the Ring. The longer you have the ring,the more corupted you becoming.

I just started playing it and I absolutely love it. It's a style I've never seen before

No joke my deepest desire is to have the worlds biggest and best cat sanctuary.
Kitties are gods and deserve to be treated as such.

*_I've been playing Octopath ever since it's release; and I've had so much fun so far, giving me old RPG vibes... Thanks for reviewing this game MatPat!_*

I like how matpat sponsors an app we all use everyday

MatPat's never gonna see this, but I would absolutely LOVE to see a theory on ULTRAKILL's lore. It features a lot of mystery especially based upon the disappearance of God. I'd love to see his take on this story and possibly even see him theorize on what's next.

I mean the game literally states that the rings give you power but what you do with that power is up to you. They don't inherently corrupt. So the basis of your theory doesn't really work.

While watching this, one thing kept ringing in my head, pounding ever harder like a drum, one thing, the Dark Lord's testament: "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

The Cleric from Octopath Traveler 2 had a very interesting line : "Doubt is what I do".
I think our dear Matpat may very well be onto something.

The first minute was my favorite of the entire video Lol

Very great theory! And thinking at the rings, they each have desires in the rings. What is the rings desire? My theory about that is the blue ring is control.

I also grew up playing JRPGs, and I'm so happy you made a video about this, thank you, I've always been wanting to see these on JRPGs, I'd love to know your favorite games of the genre

Ok random and unrelated, but I just got an ad for a app called "adoptive mind" before this video, almost thought that was the theory intro-
But that got me thinking, what if it does have some lore? Talking math monsters? Sounds about right to me. I dont actually know if it does but would it be halarious if it did. Also there are apperaintly pets in there, but that elephant sure looks like it's been held hostage and just witnessed its mom die-
Edit:- ok well, just watched the ep1 ad, I mean definitely a stretch but what if there life depended on math? Yea.. probably not-

Your theory is mind blowing it is amazing.
I have a request: if possible can you make a theory on the lore of warframe.

I have never heard a more awesome nod to Tolkien and I might check it out

Fantastic video! Not only was it extremely interesting and entertaining, I got to know about the game through it! So, thanks a lot.

Btw matpat you should play and make a theory on the game series The Room, it's super fun and SUPER mysterious , just right for you!

I still think you would like looking into "Game for Anna" / "Darkness under my bed".