Game: Lost Odyssey
Genre: Role-Playing Game
Platform: Xbox 360



The Xbox 360 is a fantastic console with no shortage of quality titles to choose from. However, for RPG fans, the 360 sometimes falls a little short. Lost Odyssey, the latest title from Mistwalker studios (of Blue Dragon fame), attempts to fill that gaping void. Designed by acclaimed producer Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is responsible for giving us the beloved Final Fantasy series, and utilizing the Unreal Engine, it seems like this game has enough power behind it to be something special.

 


While Blue Dragon could have been described as “Role-Playing Games 101”, Lost Odyssey is more like “RPG Greatest Hits.” Love it or hate it, Lost Odyssey is basically assembled like an RPG from the 1990s with modern-day graphics and gameplay. I’m sure there are a few that may want to criticize this fact, but my opinion is this: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I didn’t have a problem with them in the first few generations of console RPGS, so why would I suddenly not care for it?

Many of the common trademarks found in Japanese RPGs are present here. Random, turn-based battles? Check. Glowing, spherical save points? Check. Androgynous male lead with a top that doesn’t quite make it all the way down to his pants? You got it. But just because the song remains the same doesn’t mean this game doesn’t stand out and isn’t worth playing.

The story follows Kaim, a thousand-year-old immortal with a bad case of amnesia. Along the way, he finds some other immortals and discovers that they’ve known each other from the start, as well as getting some mortal friends to join the party. All of the immortals have had their memories erased by the power-mad Gongora, an extremely powerful sorcerer who, naturally, wants to take over the entire world. As their memories return, Kaim and his friends realize that it’s up to them to stop him.



The first thing you’ll notice about this game is how jaw-droppingly gorgeous the graphics are. I’m pretty sure it’s the best-looking RPG I’ve ever seen. The last time I remember being this blown away by a game’s look is back when the Final Fantasies started dropping on the PS1. (For those too young to remember and are looking back at those choppy graphics now and saying “Huh?”, let me assure you that it was a really big deal at the time).

Following an opening scene depicting a brutal battle across a war-torn land, you launch into your first fight. You may not know it, though, because it looks like you’re still in a cut scene. Gameplay and cinema blend seamlessly in Lost Odyssey, in a way I’ve never seen before. After seeing how amazing the game looked, I started to understand why the game is four discs long.

Looks aren’t everything, however, and I tend to judge a game by far more than how pretty it is. Despite the credits of Lost Odyssey being a who’s-who of historic RPG makers, I still wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it. RPGs can be a bit of a gamble—it’s a 40-to-100 hour commitment most of the time, and if you’re not completely into it, you’re in for a lot of tediousness.



Despite the characters employing some notable RPG clichés, they’re still likeable, and each of them has a little something extra that makes him or her unique. For example, Kaim at first seems like the typical male lead, unfeeling and devoid of emotions, but you soon find out that this is not at all the case; he just appears that way because of all the death and destruction he has witness over a millennium. The voice acting is surprisingly natural, although it can get a little repetitive when characters repeat the same phrases at the beginning and end of battles.

The battle system is what I really loved about this game. Let it be known that I love turn-based battles, and I love the strategy that accompanies them. Instead of just wildly hacking and slashing, turn-based fighting forces the player to carefully plan each and every move. What makes the fighting in Lost Odyssey different is the difference between mortals and immortals. Mortals learn new skills naturally as they level up, and each mortal learns a different set of skills. Immortals can only learn new skills by being linked to a mortal in their party and gaining experience points.

What this means is that once you have to start making five-character parties out of the nine players you have available, it’s a really delicate balance to make sure everyone levels up evenly. For example, Jansen is a black magic user, while Cooke learns white magic as she levels up. If these characters are not ever used, no one will be able to use advanced attack or healing spells, which would obviously make things unnecessarily difficult.

The story, while not mind-blowing, is solid nonetheless, and will keep compelling you to move forward in order to find out more. There are a lot of cut-scenes and a good amount of dialogue, but not so much that you feel removed from the action. The only time things really stop is when Kaim uncovers a memory, which is then revealed through a well-written short story. That’s right; you have to read. Of course, if this bothers you, you can just skip it. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this aspect at first, but as the game went on, I came to enjoy the little vignettes that clued me in to parts of Kaim’s past. The soundtrack is also quite good, although I must note that it sounded a little too familiar. At certain points, if I closed my eyes, it sounded like I was playing any one of the Final Fantasy games. This isn’t surprising given that the game’s composer, Nobuo Uematsu, also composed the soundtracks to every Final Fantasy game ever made, among others.


As good as it is, Lost Odyssey isn’t without its flaws. While it didn’t have the technical issues that Blue Dragon did (constant slowdown being the most notable), there were a few framerate hiccups, and battle load times could be a few seconds long from time to time. The only parts that seriously bothered me were minigames that were either pointless or frustratingly difficult. One such part of the game had characters gathering flowers and torches for a funeral, and then lighting the torches. There was no need for it, and it was distracting from an otherwise touching and sad part of the game. Another forces you to take down a handful of tough bosses in a very short amount of time, which is ridiculous since all of the particularly damaging moves take a bit of time to perform.

There are also some levels in which it is easy to get confused and turned around, which is when random battles go from challenging to annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I normally have no problems with the random battles. However, when I’ve run around in a circle for the tenth time and still have no idea where I’m supposed to be going, I don’t like getting slowed down by yet another fight.

No, Lost Odyssey does not reinvent the RPG genre in any way. What it does do is takes everything that works from the classic formula and adds in a little something of its own. Most of the time, this works really well, and ultimately, this game is a great achievement. Sure, the game has some problems, but overall playing it has been a wonderful and addictive experience. JRPG haters will just find more things to complain about here, but for fans of the genre, this is the 360 game you’ve been waiting for.



Related Articles:

Lost Odyssey DLC on the Way?

Blue Dragon – Xbox 360

Blue Dragon 2 to be MMORPG?