Since I got a cartridge of 3 (that is, 6 in American), I've now played about three hours of it. And, as with Chrono Trigger, I'm now sitting with the questions of why other games, including ones Squeenix has made, don't take its lessons!
The party splits due to story reasons, and then a moogle comes out and you can choose which order to take the three resulting paths before, presumably, things come together again. The first of these, which involved the thief treasure hunter, sets up a scenario in which it makes sense for why he would be apart from the party and makes use of his unique skill.
Why couldn't Octopath just... do that?
