Let's talk about Octopath Traveler!

[Trumpet Thief]

I hear the story starts to fall apart once you get everyone together and that some characters are written fantastically and some are barely written at all. That you get companions with questionable morals working with goody-two-shoes, but its never addressed in a believable way? Now, granted, I'm basing this on others' experiences, but I'm also extremely picky and if any of this is remotely true I have a feeling that I would burn out pretty quick on the game.

This is a fair criticism - I was expecting there to be more party interaction but there's barely any. Whenever you start someone's chapter it pretends like the character is alone. It bothered me at first but I love the game regardless.

Seconding this. Party dynamics in an RPG are very key for me. I could tell the game was made with a lot of love and polish, but it really did feel like each character story was self-contained, with the rest of the party showing up just for battles. Made it really easy for me to fall out of the experience very quickly, whereas other recent SE outings like Bravely Default / Bravely Second were carried for me by the cast dynamics.