Lost Odyssey Review by: EvilAlu - 9.6/10
Inside The OdysseyDescription - Lost Odyssey is an RPG style game for the Xbox 360, released in December of 2007. The game was developed by Mistwalker and Freeplus, and published by Microsoft Game Studios. And produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Plot - As the player you take control of Kaim Argonar, an immortal who has lived for a thousand years, and has no memory of his seemingly long past. The game is set in an era that is nearing a magical industrial revolution, and as you travel thru the game, you must watch as Kaim struggles to regain his lost memories, and cope with the pain they bring him. On your journey you will meet other immortals, that will join you in your quest. And slowly discover that your meeting them was no mere coincidence, together you journey to regain the memories that have been lost, and stop the evil Gongora trying to keep them locked away. Thou magic energy existed in living creatures, it suddenly became much more powerful thirty years before the start of the game. And because of this, the effect it has had on society is great, with the use of devices known as "Magic Engines" harnessing this power for things such as lighting, communication, vehicles and even robots. This has also allowed people who were unable to wield magic to do so. With this progress in magic, it has allowed two nations to develop new and powerful weapons, The kingdom of Gohtza and the republic of Uhra.
Story - The story starts out with a giant meteor crashing down, and devastating forces from both the Uhra and Khent nations. Almost immediately you are thrown in to a fight, so you are forced to work out the controls rather quick, thankfully they aren't to much trouble to get a hold of. Eventually Kaim will be joined by Seth Balmore and Jansen Friedh, you are asked by the council of Uhra to investigate the Grandstaff, a giant magic engine that Uhra has been building. Together with your new companions you must discover the cause of the disturbance there, but upon arriving you are you are captured by enemy scouts who take you to Numara. Once there you meet queen Ming Numara, another immortal who has lost her memories, the Queen will allow you and your group to wander around freely in Numara, this allows you to meet Cook and Mack, Kaim's grandchildren. They will also join your group, after the death of their mother. The story is up there in terms of being something great, and as you
develop deeper in to the game, you will be surprised by some rather well
thought out twists in the story line. While playing you can relate to
how the characters might be feeling, which in turn pulls you deeper in
to the game. For any true RPG lover, this story should both entice you
and intrigue you, as well as satisfying every aspect a good story should
provide to the player.
Gameplay - This is something about the game I enjoyed a lot. Like other games of this nature, visiting different towns, cities and various other locations you can come across in the game. What makes Lost Odyssey so amazing is the scale of the locations, apart from the odd small town you come to, every location is well thought out and offers the chance for exploration. Among other things, the text flashbacks in the game are well written out and take hold of you emotionally. Spells and skills are easily developed, which makes gameplay smoother. And weapon and amour switch outs can be done effortlessly in the menu. Lost Odyessy also allows you to attach a number of accessories to help improve your characters, the more you develop the more slots you can obtain.
Combat - The combat in Lost Odyssey can be tricky at times, but only if you are aiming to do the best possible damage you can achieve with the character you are using. As in other turn based games, you select what attacks you want your characters to use, your support characters will attack with no issues. However when using the character you are playing with attacks, a battle ring will appear on screen as you charge the enemy. If you time this correctly you deal out more damage, if not the attack will be standard strength. This isn't really a big deal, as you can still get through the game should you get a perfect hit or not. This would be the only bad aspect about the combat in my opinion, other than that the flow is smooth and efficient. Like in most games of this nature, keeping magic users like Ming and Jansen at the back works in your favor, while placing heavy hitters like Kaim and Seth at the front provide cover for the characters with lower defense. The selection system for using skills and magic is easily implemented during battle, and the player should have no problems mastering it after a few start up battles.
Graphics - The graphics in Lost Odyssey in a word are stunning. Every detail was taken in to account, from how rocks look to full facial movement. But you will see the true beauty of the graphics when entering a big location such as Khent, the detail put in to the city layouts was very impressive, and at times make you stop playing just to take in the scenery. There may be slight imperfections with the graphics here and there, but they are hardly noticeable unless you actually try to look for them. As a whole the graphics should leave the player fully satisfied.
Sound - The sound in this game was good, but I wouldn't call it great. The voice acting was really good in some characters, but in others it just didn't fit for me, and that is a big loss to the sound side of things. The sound track to the game was pretty, and fit each scene well, in both the battles and different locations. Despite the sound not being what I think could be, they could have made it better in places, it didn't ruin the it. It was and still is a very enjoyable experience.
Depth - Lost Odyssey certainly reaches expectations when it comes to depth. But for a four disk game, I was expecting it to be slightly longer. Needless to say the main story will provide you with 52 hours plus of gameplay which isn't that bad. For players who want the extra side missions and items, it will increase your play time to 71 hours plus,. And for the hardcore players that enjoy 100% beating a game, you will get a total play time of 97 plus hours. This should keep any gamer busy for a while.
Addictiveness - This game can be extremely addictive at times, pulling you in and making you want more. But there are moments in the game, where it can leave you in a slight state of boredom. As you are required to level up to gain strength, the protracted battle intros can sometimes get grating. And there are some non-battle elements that can be pointless or frustrating, this can effect you as the player and make it not as addictive. But apart from that the game holds more addictive aspects to it than less.
Difficulty - In places the game has its moments of difficulty, some enemies you encounter can be very tough to beat. And if you are looking for certain enemies it can sometimes take a long time to find them, which means fighting a lot of battles in-between your searching. Boss battles hold a decent challenge, and wont leave you sitting by wishing it was more exciting. As long as you level up your characters at regular intervals, the game wont be to difficult. But like any game there are tough spots, and in some cases a timed event that if you aren't prepared for can give you a hard time.
Over All - To sum up Lost Odyssey, it is a great game for story that can make you feel for the characters. It has graphics that will leave you in a state of wonder at times. And the flow of the game in general is impressive. As Lost Odyssey came from the same creators as the well acclaimed Final Fantasy series, I would urge any RPG fan to give this game a try. Chances are you will be more impressed than disappointed. For that reason I score this game a 9.6.
Graphics
10 Sound
8 Addictive
9 Depth
9 Story
10 Difficulty
8
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