Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360, 2008)

If you are searching for a good Japanese RPG with a great story, great characters and classic, but challenging battle system, then Lost Odyssey is for you.

You are Kaim, an immortal, who lost his own memory. He lived for more than 1000 years and one of the main themes is his past, because he starts to remember everything piece by piece - and there was a reason why this happened. During your adventure you'll find some special events called "1000 Years of Dreams", when Kaim remembers old stories about his life when he visits a lot of cities, when he met loved people or important battles.

Regarding the battle system, you have two important things to learn. First of all is the ability of the immortal people, like Kaim, to link to mortal people to learn different skills. It's a very interesting system because this makes imortal people good but not perfect fighters. You need to do this mix if you want to succeed in your journey.

The second thing is the "Ring System". There are no armors or a lot of items to equip. The main items are the rings, who can add different abilities to you, such as "Water", "Earth" ou making you good against different types of animals like aerial or beasts. Actually the fun factor of this thing is that you can mix items to forge different rings, and you'll get these items during battles or in shops. So, you'll spend a lot of time to get that rare ring.

Lost Odyssey also have some kind of freedom from the classic JRPGs, when you get different vehicles to explore the world.


-- Conclusion --

Lost Odyssey delivers a solid experience, and while it's not innovative or fresh, you'll have a fun and adult journey, with well written stories and strong characters. Also, the "classic side" of JRPG presented here is a plus for a lot of people, and It's for sure the best game on the genre available for the Xbox 360 system to date.

If you like turn based JRPG'S like Final Fantasy you can stop here, place your bid and get the game. If you haven't played any games like this then basiclly you need to be a gamer that has alot of patience and not mind alot of reading to get the most enjoyment from a game, if that works for you then I would recommend this game. If you just like fast paced twitch shooters or hack and slash or find that you get frustrated easily you may want to try something else. Lost Odyssey is made by the creator of Final Fantasy. It follows the turn-based gameplay style of FF and aside from the interactive timing system that happens while attacking, It plays almost just like Final Fantasy X and alot more turn based RPG's that have been released. The thing that makes this game, and any JRPG, great is the way you progress through the game, gain new abilities/powers/gear and see the story unfold. The story is told with voice acted dialog, reading text, cutscenes and dreams (you have to read these too) It has random battles, meaning that you dont see the enemy until a battle scene is triggered while you are run along in the environment. These play out like a chess game where you take a turn based on different factors like attack speed or spell casting time and then the enemy attacks and so on. The characters specialize in a particular "job" similar to say black mage, white mage or a more melee based attack type but all characters can use magic and the main characters, who are immortal, can "link" to other characters to learn new abilities/skills/magic from them. This adds a nice way of creating your charaters the way you want them. The graphics are done very well and the game uses the unreal engine to create beautifully detailed environments and well crafted character/enemy models. Unfortunatly the characters appearence do not change much through the game because you dont get new armor. You basically just get rings, earrings and weapons. Hopefully they will add customizable armor in the next game as I think that would add alot to a game like this. The game will last around 60 hours and comes on 4 discs ( It took me 65 hrs ). Even though this game doesn't do anything really new for the genre it does provide the immersive story, polished graphics, awesome CG cutscenes, interesting characters and solid gameplay that I wanted from a game like this. Is it the best RPG I ever played ? Close. Could it have been better ? Yes. It could have used some more original ideas for the gameplay because weve seen the whole element based magic and turn based fighting thing all before and like I mentioned, I would have really liked more customization for the characters appearence, I wish the dreams were told with a cutscene style instead of just reading them and finally I really don't like the random battles. But Im glad that didnt stop me from getting this game and I suggest you don't let these things stop you from getting it. Lost Odyssey is still a great game that can stand along side all the other great games like this from the JRPG genre. Despite being more of the same I really enjoyed it, I highly recommend it and would rate it a 9.2 out of 10.

A Consol RPG that spans 4 discs and approximately 80 hours of gameplay is worth a purchase (more then an hour of gameplay per dollar).

Although you play an Immortal that can die... and you get an achievement for reading stories that are not only predictible, but also have no tie-in with the world you explore... and the fact that the only way I could play with the sound on was in the japansese voice acting... this was a fairly good game.

Sure I have my gripes, but it's the type of last gen RPG that falls right in with FF10, yet adds so much more to explore and experience. The indepth storyline is interesting, however, the story didn't really present itself until the second disc. In the meantime, you are left to play the game without a clue of what's going on. I do think that might have been the intended result, so I can't mark that against the game.

All in all, this game offers those of us who still want to play a classic JRPG without being pulled into the stupidity that is Enchanted Arms... For new players to the genre it offers new features and reintroduces the RPG in all its glory.

4/5, but it's a high 4.

Gameplay: 8.0
The game is extremely old-school, from the challenge level to the combat system, meaning that it’s not for everyone. Also, the game has some pacing issues, with substantial load times breaking up the game. However, the ring system is well done, and the story elements will keep your interest.

Graphics: 8.5
The Unreal Engine 3 is used quite nicely here, letting the world be fully realized in tremendous detail. The only downfall is the spotty framerate.

Sound: 9.0
Although there are a couple hammy voice actors in the bunch, most of them sound great and the score is excellent.

Difficulty: Hard

Concept: 8.5
While the gameplay is perhaps a little too traditional and old-school for most mainstream gamers, the story and art design are tops.

Overall: 8.5
Lost Odyssey is as old-school as Mistwalker’s previous Xbox 360 effort, albeit a lot more difficult and requires a lot more level grinding. Plus, the pacing issues will undoubtedly frustrate gamers wanting to keep the game moving. Still, there is a lot to love in Lost Odyssey, thanks to the top-rate production values and story.

Short review: Wonderful game.

A little more: it's like many of the great JRPG's of yore, but with a little breath of fresh air. The hero isn't the stereotypical prettyboy spiky-haired kid we're so used to. Kaim is as moody as they come, but this time for a very good reason. When you're a millennia-old mercenary, you have every right to be cranky.

Story: Halfway through, and so far it's pretty good. The main story is told through a mix of gameplay and animated sequences (both pre-rendered shorts, and the majority remainder real-time graphics). The "dreams" you uncover throughout the game are each literary masterpieces within themselves, 10-page miniature novels penned by a famous Japanese writer Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Also, the story overall can be very emotional and touching - I shed tears during many parts along the way.

Gameplay: A bit run-of-the-mill JRPG, which isn't bad. If you want a tied-and-true JRPG with random battles, HP and MP meters, turn-based menu-driven battles, and talking to lots of townsfolk and hunting dungeons for treasure chests, this is your bag. I love it, but if you wanted something more 21st century, you may be disappointed.

Music: Wonderful. By legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame, he does not disappoint. It's not quite as memorable as FF7 so far, but everything is appropriate. Battle theme doesn't become monotonous after your 200th battle, or your 1000th one. Strings, percussion, and brass all mix well.

Characters: Here's where I'm really liking it. The characters so far are lovely. They seem very human and well thought out. While Kaim may be a humbug at the start, he mellows out. The surrounding characters that join your party definitely help fill the void, especially Jansen.

Art/graphics: The art department really went overboard in this game. Graphics are pretty and all, but I'll focus on the art side. Architecture is amazing, and there's great attention to detail. The worlds and interior rooms feel very lush and lively. Not everything is perfect - water fountains seem fake with poor water flow effects, and some textures are jaggy. But overall, it's well-designed.

Voice: Some of you are picky on voice actors. Well, good news, you can switch to other voices, and not just original Japanese. German, French and Italian are also available. Why not Spanish? I don't know... And in my opinion, the English voice actors are pretty damn good, so I felt no need to switch. But someday I'll replay with original Japanese voices.

Overall, I love this game. BUT that's because I love classic JRPG's. If you want something new, try something like Mass Effect or perhaps Fallout 3. But for the Final Fantasy goons out there, try this and see why I'm quickly considering this the "real" FFXII. Or at least my FFXI replacement.