DGR : Lost Odyssey

[Zersy]

I understand this is a short review of a long game and I could go on for thousands of words on the subject - but that would have been boring, so I took the most relevant sections out of my original draft

I am not a JRPG (Japanese Role-playing game) fan by any means. I have long since avoided turn-based combat, in fact the only turn based game I have ever got close to finishing was Pokémon ? I guess that counts as a JRPG. Yet there was something about Lost Odyssey that truly makes it a standout game in an expanding market ? the RPG section on the Xbox 360.

The 360 has seen a reasonable selection of Role-Playing games, such as Mass Effect, Fall out 3 and Fable 2, but a strong selection of Western games does not mean the same is true of the Japanese equivalent ? despite getting a number of games from Square-Enix, such as Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant no game has really out shone any Western game.

Lost Odyssey comes from Mistwalker studios ? a small studio with some powerful names ? the game was ?overlooked? by Hironobu Sakaguchi the farther of the Final Fantasy series. The game is very similar to that of many very traditional JRPG?s with a few interesting mechanics that help it appeal to a Western audience.


First of all, I feel compelled to explain that you will certainly get your moneys worth from this game, it spans 4 disks each containing on average 13 hours each. Although certain parts of the story feel almost too fleshed out and long winded in order to meet this massive goal it?s a suitably epic tale ? one of love, death and tragedy.

The game focuses on the adventures of Kaim, an immortal ? someone who cannot die ? who has lost his memories that he slowly remembers and re-discovers throughout the course of the game. He is joined on a seemingly easy task by main characters Seth and Jansen. Of course the task goes belly-up and eventually you?ll find 9 characters in your party ? each with their own clever back-story, skills and attacks.

One thing that really stands out with Lost Odyssey is the sheer volume of information given to the player. This is shown through cut-scenes, text-based interactions with the town?s people and separate text-based screens. The cut-scenes are very well detailed with a high production value; the game uses the Unreal engine which offers some fantastic facial expressions, but without the optional installation to your hard drive the loading times are rather excessive, occasionally clocking 12 seconds before entering combat. The other form of communication is the text based memories of which there are around 20. Each memory is long and detailed, reading like a short story with suitable music. They, as well as read well, offer the players a more in-depth back-story to most characters; although this feature will not appeal to everyone ? if you dislike non-essential dialogue Lost Odyssey is not the game for you.

The games music is the real stand-out. Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the music is fantastic ? it sets an epic tone that matches the story and feelings of the characters perfectly.


The battle system is, as previously mentioned, turn-based, with a few interesting additions. Perhaps the most obvious of which is the ring system ? there are a large number of items that can be picked up throughout your long journey that can be forged into various rings. These rings give certain attributes, such as an increase in the chance of a ?perfect? hit ? which leads me nicely to the second action these rings perform ? they offer some form of user interaction in the combat. The player can hold down the Right trigger and if timed right can gain extra damage via a ?perfect? hit. It keeps things interesting during the many random encounters and large scale boss fights the game throws at you.

The micro-management is increased as various characters need to learn skills to improve in battle ? Mortals learn skills through traditional leveling up, but immortals use a ?skill-link? system. This allows them to link to a mortals skill and through combat experience learn that trait. This skill can then be applied in one of 3 spaces. The system works well and forces players to use all characters to create a balanced party.

The melee system uses the ring system, but characters have another way of attacking ? through magic. This is a very well-crafted system, with 4 separate magic styles. The spells are based on the traditional element style (Wind, Fire, Water and Earth), with a few extras thrown in, such as Shadow and White magic. White magic can be used to protect or heal your squad, but at a price (usually these spells last more than one turn). Spirit magic is another type, which generally improves your squad as opposed to attacking your opponents ? there is a good deal of variety.

There is also an formation tactic - effectively there are two rows characters stand in, front or back. The players at the front of the formation take most of the damage, soaking up any the back may receive if they are attacked. As the front are weakened the formation falls until the back characters are just as vulnerable as those at the front. It is a great system that adds tactics to the game, instead of just attacking the main boss over and over you are forced to defeat his minions to lower their formation guard.


Combat looks spectacular; there are a wide variety of enemies, each with unique animations and attacks. There are a number of large scale boss battles that take certain strategies and spells to win, but even so it is not a simple case of ?use this attack to constantly win? many bosses have tricks and spells to counter your attacks. These could range from, say, simply running away, to regrouping enemies ? no boss battle is the same.

It is a good deal the combat system is so balanced and interesting as you will be fighting a large number of enemies. The game also offers a wide variety of puzzles, side-tasks and other interesting ways to play (for example during the second disk you pilot a boat across a large scale of water). All- whilst keeping these tasks related to the story.

Enviroments are varied and often colorful with unique art design to each area. You never get bored because new area mechanics are thrown at you when you use the very common map. In which you view Kaim from a birds eye view, guiding him through towns, ice mountains, magical environments and caves. The option to zoom in at any time is a nice touch and adds shows the level of detail that has gone into crafting this game - my only complaint about the map view is the fact certain areas are hard to navigate, but for once - a fixed camera works.

As stated previously, the story does seem to drag on slightly, but you won?t notice because it is one of the best I have ever played. The characters are easy to like, all with rich, well-defined back stories ? but the inter-personal conversations and life-like actions between characters certainly stand- out, making Lost Odyssey?s story a class above your average JRPG.

I certainly recommend you buy this game, especially if you?re a fan of RPG?s. If you like Final Fantasy ? buy this ? it was created by former Square-Enix employees. If you dislike reading, story-lines or turn-based combat I would still ask you to try Lost Odyssey ? but its stubbornness to tradition might not change your mind.

i thought you said this was going to be a short reveiw ?

 

[D_987]

i thought you said this was going to be a short reveiw ?

Seriously...you quoted THE WHOLE REVIEW! Don't, its really difficult to view peoples opinions if you do that - I strongly suggest you edit the above post.

And by my standard 800 words is short - anything under that, in my opinion, isn't really a review if its about an AAA title. I have missed a wide variety of infomation about the game for the sake of length and you actually claim that its long...

 

[Zersy]

i thought you said this was going to be a short reveiw ?

Seriously...you quoted THE WHOLE REVIEW! Don't, its really difficult to view peoples opinions if you do that - I strongly suggest you edit the above post.

And by my standard 800 words is short - anything under that, in my opinion, isn't really a review if its about an AAA title. I have missed a wide variety of infomation about the game for the sake of length and you actually claim that its long...

Hmm

if you put it that way i guess it is actually a short reveiw

 

[sneak_copter]

The other awesome feature I kinda enjoyed was the multitude of languages you could actually play in...all with seemingly decent voice actors from the few I tried before settling on Japanese or German. Great game, great review.

I have some kind of wierd fetish for listening to games in a different language.....

 

[D_987]

The other awesome feature I kinda enjoyed was the multitude of languages you could actually play in...all with seemingly decent voice actors from the few I tried before settling on Japanese or German. Great game, great review.

I have some kind of wierd fetish for listening to games in a different language.....

The English version is excellent, particularly in the case of Seth and Jasen (who was apparently voiced by the guy who voiced Tails in the Sonic games but don't quote me on that).

 

[D_987]

Last bump.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

One particular innovation that the reviewer may not be aware of...

All of Lost Odyssey's boss battles are "puzzle" or "gimmick" bosses, who require more strategy than just find a weakpoint/good attack combo and hammer away. This is an underused element in JRPG's that I was personally really glad to see put in so much focus for this game.

 

[D_987]

One particular innovation that the reviewer may not be aware of...

All of Lost Odyssey's boss battles are "puzzle" or "gimmick" bosses, who require more strategy than just find a weakpoint/good attack combo and hammer away. This is an underused element in JRPG's that I was personally really glad to see put in so much focus for this game.

I think thats in the review already =p

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I think thats in the review already =p

I didn't see it,

If it is in there, sorry, it just struck me as something a longtime JRPG player like myself found innovative, but it's an innovation that only really crops up in JRPG's because of the turn based style.

 

[Brokkr]

Nice review. I really liked this game, but I never did get around to finishing it, mainly because of not having enough time. I have always wanted to go back and finish it though.

 

[GloatingSwine]

The English version is excellent, particularly in the case of Seth and Jasen (who was apparently voiced by the guy who voiced Tails in the Sonic games but don't quote me on that).

Seth was voiced by Tara Strong. Which is basically cheating, because she's in everything, ever.

The majority of Lost Odyssey's voice cast are people who voice western cartoons, which is why it's a cut above games that use anime dub voice actors (Square started off voice acting this way with Final Fantasy, but they've been backsliding and cutting costs on other franchises). Most of the Japanese cast are actually film, TV, and stage actors, rather than the usual brace of anime voice actors, Kaim's Japanese voice actor is actually a reasonably famous actor with a couple of awards under his belt for films.

 

[Fightgarr]

Well done review. I actually really like many turn-based games and JRPGs however I found that, even after beating LO I still didn't think it was a good game. I found the story had holes that shouldn't have been there and I didn't care about any of the characters. Others seem to have gotten a different experience though so maybe I missed out on something.

 

[D_987]

Well done review. I actually really like many turn-based games and JRPGs however I found that, even after beating LO I still didn't think it was a good game. I found the story had holes that shouldn't have been there and I didn't care about any of the characters. Others seem to have gotten a different experience though so maybe I missed out on something.

What holes did the story have? (spoiler tag).

 

[GloatingSwine]

I don't recall any major violations of common sense in the story of Lost Odyssey. Most things happened because Gongora had spent at least half a century, possibly more, arranging for them to do so.

 

[Fightgarr]

Well done review. I actually really like many turn-based games and JRPGs however I found that, even after beating LO I still didn't think it was a good game. I found the story had holes that shouldn't have been there and I didn't care about any of the characters. Others seem to have gotten a different experience though so maybe I missed out on something.

What holes did the story have? (spoiler tag).

Spoiler

Now I don't remember the plot so well but from what I remember I felt that there was a gaping plot whole regarding the immortals' reasons for being in this world and "the sickness" (aka emotion). I don't remember the plot so well but I do remember coming out of that game feeling like it had holes that could have been filled with some better writing.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Spoiler

Now I don't remember the plot so well but from what I remember I felt that there was a gaping plot whole regarding the immortals' reasons for being in this world and "the sickness" (aka emotion). I don't remember the plot so well but I do remember coming out of that game feeling like it had holes that could have been filled with some better writing.

Spoiler

That seems to be misunderstanding the concept of a plot hole. Something which is consistent but unexplained (The immortals are pandimensional/incorporeal beings who don't normally experience emotion but began to when they were embodied on the world of the game, and that magic itself is the effect of their presence on the world and what keeps them immortal) isn't a plot hole because they and the world act in a manner consistent with it. A plot hole is when something is presented which is inconsistent with the plot or world presented thus far, and does not consist of deliberately pulling back the veil to reveal that the world so far is somehow illusory.

 

[Fightgarr]

Spoiler

Now I don't remember the plot so well but from what I remember I felt that there was a gaping plot whole regarding the immortals' reasons for being in this world and "the sickness" (aka emotion). I don't remember the plot so well but I do remember coming out of that game feeling like it had holes that could have been filled with some better writing.

Spoiler

That seems to be misunderstanding the concept of a plot hole. Something which is consistent but unexplained (The immortals are pandimensional/incorporeal beings who don't normally experience emotion but began to when they were embodied on the world of the game, and that magic itself is the effect of their presence on the world and what keeps them immortal) isn't a plot hole because they and the world act in a manner consistent with it. A plot hole is when something is presented which is inconsistent with the plot or world presented thus far, and does not consist of deliberately pulling back the veil to reveal that the world so far is somehow illusory.

I'm glad that you and encyclopedic language were able to defend the game to me together. I still feel that the game was poorly written and the characters were unlikeable.

 

[D_987]

I'm glad that you and encyclopedic language were able to defend the game to me together. I still feel that the game was poorly written and the characters were unlikeable.

How so, I felt the exact opposite - did you watch all the cut-scenes and read all the memories etc...?

 

[Fightgarr]

I'm glad that you and encyclopedic language were able to defend the game to me together. I still feel that the game was poorly written and the characters were unlikeable.

How so, I felt the exact opposite - did you watch all the cut-scenes and read all the memories etc...?

I did indeed. I thought the dreams were well written but some could've been more concise and I found watching the cut-scenes painful even if I watched them all.

 

[D_987]

I'm glad that you and encyclopedic language were able to defend the game to me together. I still feel that the game was poorly written and the characters were unlikeable.

How so, I felt the exact opposite - did you watch all the cut-scenes and read all the memories etc...?

I did indeed. I thought the dreams were well written but some could've been more concise and I found watching the cut-scenes painful even if I watched them all.

I guess its just a matter of taste.