Lost Odyssey

Dunketh · 13-07-2009, 18:57

What's everyone's thoughts on this then? Is it one of/the best jRPG the 360 has to offer?

Streeteh I notice you have been playing it a lot, how are you liking it?

I think next month I will be ready to start a jRPG and be in a position to give it some time so I'm thinking about getting LO.

Also anything I should know before going in head first? Any tips?

Cheers!

PS: Odyssey is a hard word to spell

Streeteh · 13-07-2009, 19:21

It's great imo, very much a 'traditional' JRPG, it's clearly taken huge amounts of inspiration from the combat mechanics present in Final Fantasy games up until 10 (which is when they started messing with, and ruining the combat). I'll try and give a mini review but please keep in mind i am a very negative reviewer; i always focus on the bad points.

The graphics are sublime and some of the cutscenes are very well made, most notable of which is the introduction during which my jaw hit the ground at least a couple of times. The combat is as stated previously very similar to final fantasy games, it's well thought through and has some nice twists to keep things a little more interesting. One such example is a minigame each time you use a physical attack, the best way to describe it would be to imagine the Gears of War reloading mechanic, but the accuracy of your timing affects the strength of the attack. There are a few flaws in the combat though, some enemies and bosses have incredibly high difficulty spikes, especially near the beginning of the game where one of my characters would always die in one hit from a boss, there was nowhere to grind to get stronger as each area has a maximum level where characters cease levelling up so i just had to grin and bare it. Also it's a little clunky at times, some animations are longer than they should be and slow down the pace of the game, there's a good 5 second wait between a battle beginning and the point where you can input commands. I know that doesn't sound like much but sometimes random battles will occur nearly one after the other in dungeons so it feels like an eternity, especially when you've been exploring said dungeon for over an hour without a save point. Installing the game is a must btw as this halves the loading times when entering battle, i imagine my opinion of the game wouldn't be anywhere near as favourable if i was unable to install the game. Jumping back to save points quickly, they are sometimes way too spaced out, i've found myself playing for nearly two hours without ever seeing one unless i force myself to backtrack to the beginning of a dungeon.

In terms of storyline it feels very much like a below average Final Fantasy game, it's better than 12, but not as good as 7-10. Most of the characters are cold and uninteresting, especially Kaime (the main character) who has about as much charisma as a plank of wood and about as many lines of dialogue as Drew Barrymore did in Scream. Jansen is the only shining light of personality for me, he's the comic relief character but there's still plenty of depth to him and his comic moments aren't actually that bad in comparison to some other JRPGs (i'm looking at you Quina!). The plot plods along and only towards the end of the 3rd disk do things start to become interesting. It's still better than most games, but for a JRPG i feel it could have been better, characters haven't been explored enough, plot elements haven't been explained as in depth as i'd like, it's functional but nothing mind blowing. I'm yet to actually finish it yet however, this storyline review is based on the first 3 disks but tbh the first 2 could have been summed up in 30 mins, not 20 hours.

At present i'd rate it 8/10, it's very good and the second best JRPG i've played this generation, just falling short of Valkyria Chronicles.

Dunketh · 13-07-2009, 19:27

Sounds good mate, I'm definitely interested in this game.

NokkonWud · 13-07-2009, 20:53

I think you'll fall in love with Vesperia Streeteh.
I would have played it more this week but I've been staying at a mates and have misplaced my CD wallet

.

Streeteh · 13-07-2009, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by NokkonWud

I think you'll fall in love with Vesperia Streeteh.
I would have played it more this week but I've been staying at a mates and have misplaced my CD wallet

.

Vesperia sounds much more like my sort of JRPG, far more concentration on character development and less on global politics and all that boring ****e that LO and FFXII seem to get too hung up on. Nearly bought it for the 360 but i'm holding off for the PS3 release i think, apparently it's going to have a couple of extra optional dungeons and some segments of the voice work redone. Also i'm praying they stick the original Japanese voices on there too for good measure.

NokkonWud · 13-07-2009, 23:02

They may do, but the voice work is actually really good and has made me laugh out loud a few times... in a good way. I wouldn't worry too much about optional dungeons, if that's the case they will come to 360.

Haly · 13-07-2009, 23:10

Lost Odyssey is my favourite JRPG of this generation. Unfortunately the competition isn't great yet, but LO is still very good imo.
Kaim is lacking a bit in personality but I adored the Thousand Dreams segments in it. I know some people complained there was too much reading but I loved it. Yes it's a glorified powerpoint presentation but the story telling was sublime if you ask me. Some of them really did bring me to tears.
It was great to have battles that required true strategy too, it might have been a bit difficult in places but I've found too many JRPGs in the past quite unchallenging.

Streeteh · 13-07-2009, 23:20

I agree that the dream sequences are fantastic, i actually find them far more memorable than the storyline of the game! Anyone who says they're pointless/annoying should really give them another try as some of the stories are just beautiful, if somewhat depressing (the one about Kaim when he worked at the docks watching two of his friends fall in love, get married, but then drift apart and eventually results in the woman committing suicide was heart breaking) They're beautifully written but that actually causes problems for me; in the dreams Kaim is an interesting character with believable motivations and emotions, whereas in the actual game he is devoid of any form of personality. I guess maybe it was a tool to get across how important his memories were but it was a bad decision in my eyes as this ruined any chance of feeling compassion for him. Surely he would at least regain some of his emotions as the game progressed and more of his memories returned?

Oh and the battles are very tactical now (end of disk 3), basically from the point you get cooke onwards it's great, it's just before then i often relied purely on blind luck to get me through some of the tougher boss battles. Jansen spent more time dead than he did alive, i remember in the wyvern battle on top of the mountain i just plain stopped reviving him, i had no means to restore my Guard Points (i hadn't got any items to teach the skill at that point in the story) and because you were unable to heal him in the same turn you revived him the enemy would often use an AOE attack and wipe him out as soon as he was revived. That actually reminds me of another major criticism of the battle system, why can you not heal a party member in the same turn that you revive him/her but AOE attacks still damage them? It basically means when a party member goes down getting them back up again is a complete gamble. At least now i can restore GP by guarding so i have some form of tactical means to overcome weak characters in my line up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NokkonWud

They may do, but the voice work is actually really good and has made me laugh out loud a few times... in a good way. I wouldn't worry too much about optional dungeons, if that's the case they will come to 360.

I figure i may as well hold on, i've got plenty of old, cheap games to play at present having only just got a 360. Once the PS3 version is out i'll be able to figure out whether the extras are anything substantial, if they aren't then the 360 version will be much cheaper by then so i'll end up saving a few quid anyway.

Haly · 13-07-2009, 23:25

I know what you mean with Kaim. He is very devoid of emotion compared to the stories, bit strange. I suppose maybe you could argue he was suppressing all emotions because of the problems of getting too close to people in the past, but that's a very long shot and I doubt that was the case

Dunketh · 14-07-2009, 10:27

I've narrowed it down to one of these three to get stuck into first

Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia or Fable II

I know Fable II isn't a jRPG, but it will still cost me many hours no doubt :P

13-07-2009, 18:57	#1
Dunketh Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 178	Lost Odyssey What's everyone's thoughts on this then? Is it one of/the best jRPG the 360 has to offer? Streeteh I notice you have been playing it a lot, how are you liking it? I think next month I will be ready to start a jRPG and be in a position to give it some time so I'm thinking about getting LO. Also anything I should know before going in head first? Any tips? Cheers! PS: Odyssey is a hard word to spell

13-07-2009, 19:21	#2
Streeteh Vodka Martini Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Kingston Posts: 862	It's great imo, very much a 'traditional' JRPG, it's clearly taken huge amounts of inspiration from the combat mechanics present in Final Fantasy games up until 10 (which is when they started messing with, and ruining the combat). I'll try and give a mini review but please keep in mind i am a very negative reviewer; i always focus on the bad points. The graphics are sublime and some of the cutscenes are very well made, most notable of which is the introduction during which my jaw hit the ground at least a couple of times. The combat is as stated previously very similar to final fantasy games, it's well thought through and has some nice twists to keep things a little more interesting. One such example is a minigame each time you use a physical attack, the best way to describe it would be to imagine the Gears of War reloading mechanic, but the accuracy of your timing affects the strength of the attack. There are a few flaws in the combat though, some enemies and bosses have incredibly high difficulty spikes, especially near the beginning of the game where one of my characters would always die in one hit from a boss, there was nowhere to grind to get stronger as each area has a maximum level where characters cease levelling up so i just had to grin and bare it. Also it's a little clunky at times, some animations are longer than they should be and slow down the pace of the game, there's a good 5 second wait between a battle beginning and the point where you can input commands. I know that doesn't sound like much but sometimes random battles will occur nearly one after the other in dungeons so it feels like an eternity, especially when you've been exploring said dungeon for over an hour without a save point. Installing the game is a must btw as this halves the loading times when entering battle, i imagine my opinion of the game wouldn't be anywhere near as favourable if i was unable to install the game. Jumping back to save points quickly, they are sometimes way too spaced out, i've found myself playing for nearly two hours without ever seeing one unless i force myself to backtrack to the beginning of a dungeon. In terms of storyline it feels very much like a below average Final Fantasy game, it's better than 12, but not as good as 7-10. Most of the characters are cold and uninteresting, especially Kaime (the main character) who has about as much charisma as a plank of wood and about as many lines of dialogue as Drew Barrymore did in Scream. Jansen is the only shining light of personality for me, he's the comic relief character but there's still plenty of depth to him and his comic moments aren't actually that bad in comparison to some other JRPGs (i'm looking at you Quina!). The plot plods along and only towards the end of the 3rd disk do things start to become interesting. It's still better than most games, but for a JRPG i feel it could have been better, characters haven't been explored enough, plot elements haven't been explained as in depth as i'd like, it's functional but nothing mind blowing. I'm yet to actually finish it yet however, this storyline review is based on the first 3 disks but tbh the first 2 could have been summed up in 30 mins, not 20 hours. At present i'd rate it 8/10, it's very good and the second best JRPG i've played this generation, just falling short of Valkyria Chronicles. __________________ PSN & Live! ID: Streeteh

13-07-2009, 20:53	#4
NokkonWud BD Recruitment Officer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Smogville Posts: 3,880	I think you'll fall in love with Vesperia Streeteh. I would have played it more this week but I've been staying at a mates and have misplaced my CD wallet . __________________

13-07-2009, 23:02	#6
NokkonWud BD Recruitment Officer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Smogville Posts: 3,880	They may do, but the voice work is actually really good and has made me laugh out loud a few times... in a good way. I wouldn't worry too much about optional dungeons, if that's the case they will come to 360. __________________

13-07-2009, 23:10	#7
Haly Do you want to hide in my box? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 14,941	Lost Odyssey is my favourite JRPG of this generation. Unfortunately the competition isn't great yet, but LO is still very good imo. Kaim is lacking a bit in personality but I adored the Thousand Dreams segments in it. I know some people complained there was too much reading but I loved it. Yes it's a glorified powerpoint presentation but the story telling was sublime if you ask me. Some of them really did bring me to tears. It was great to have battles that required true strategy too, it might have been a bit difficult in places but I've found too many JRPGs in the past quite unchallenging. __________________ Halycopter

13-07-2009, 19:27	#3
Dunketh Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 178	Sounds good mate, I'm definitely interested in this game.

13-07-2009, 23:25	#9
Haly Do you want to hide in my box? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 14,941	I know what you mean with Kaim. He is very devoid of emotion compared to the stories, bit strange. I suppose maybe you could argue he was suppressing all emotions because of the problems of getting too close to people in the past, but that's a very long shot and I doubt that was the case __________________ Halycopter

14-07-2009, 10:27	#10
Dunketh Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 178	I've narrowed it down to one of these three to get stuck into first Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia or Fable II I know Fable II isn't a jRPG, but it will still cost me many hours no doubt :P

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