Lost Odyssey

THE BAD:
- Load times can be a little on the lenghty side.

SUMMARY:
Lost Odyssey is the story of a man that has lived for 1000 years. Whilst that idea is certainly one to entertain, Kaim Argonar has not exactly had the best past 1000 years. Watching those you love grow old and die, whilst you continue to live on can be no easy task - especially when you've lost those memories.

Join the protagonist of the story, Kaim Argonar, as he quests across the world in a bid to remember what his real purpose is. Along the way, meet other immortals and mortals that will assist with telling the tale of the world and the creation of magic.

Only 30 years ago, magic suddenly began to flourish at an incredible rate, in a world that had formerly known of no such thing. With the advent of magic, technology could advance far beyond what was normally possible to a point where major countries war over resources and land that will further enable them to extend their power.

The story is pieced together artfully in such a way that leaves the player not knowing what is going to happen next. Not only this, but with the direction of Sakaguchi, the player is thrust into a world full of emotion wrenching events which are exhibited by beautiful cutscenes and graphical displays that completely flesh out the world as a whole.

Accompanied by the great musical prowess of Uematsu, the game was slated to be a success from the start. With such tracks as 'Dark Saint' which celebrate the rise of Gongora and his acolytes, to the moody and nostalgic pieces such as 'Demon's Invasion' to the actual main theme of the game. There are a few vocal tracks about for those that like to hear a voice accompanying the melodic pieces.

The recycled battle system with a touch of Sacnoth's ring trigger adds an edge of strategy that will allow more damage when the right trigger is pressed and then released in succession with the alignment of rings on the screen. Turn-based in style, a player must issue commands to the party members ala Final Fantasy style in which they will then take their turns to attack. However, there is a system in place that determines attack order based on a character's proficiency with a certain task. For example, a physical attack on someone with an A rating, generally will always attack first as opposed to someone that has an attack rating of E. Casting spells pans out in a similar way, however some spells require a charge time which means, in effect, that the player will need to be very strategic in the decisions that are made. There are abilities that can cut down the casting time of spells, but the polar opposite is being attacks by an enemy, which will increase casting time. This can also work in the favour of the player as by attacking an enemy that is in the midst of casting a spell, can quite often place that enemy's turn into the next round.

Immortal characters can be customised whatever way you like, where mortal characters learn their skills as they level up. Do not distress though, for by Skill Linking, an Immortal can gain the mortal's skills by fighting in the same battles with them and gaining SP toward the said skills that the Immortal wishes to learn.

Along the way, Kaim will run into events that trigger his memory and allows the player to experience a prose that portrays certain situations from Kaim's past. These can quite often draw forth tears from the reader due to the way they are put together, along with the accompanying music.

For anoyone who wants to go back to the nostalgic times of great RPG's (Pre-PS2 era), then this game is a must play.

THE BAD:
Graphical hiccups are present throughout the game and are hard to block out of your head after 45 hours of gameplay.

SUMMARY:
Game Play:

Being a turn based JRPG, the gameplay for Lost Odyssey comes straight down to the battles.

The battle system is intuitive, simple, but also leaves a lot of room for strategy. Players take up to 5 characters in their party into a battle. Players can spend their turns attacking, using skills, casting a variety of spells, defending, or attempting to flee which is your garden variety of abilities.

The Ring Building System will keep you in the battle and the visual effects are pretty.

Lastly, bosses are always challenging to fight yet do not necessitate grinding. Bosses can be defeated by equipping the right items, using the right techniques, or just gaining an idea of how they operate after a few deaths. Lost Odyssey presents a challenging difficulty level that encourages gamers to think and strategize.

This is all backed up by an incredible amount of content and solid field gameplay. Mistwalker has several solid puzzles while out in the field and tends to give multiple types of them rather than rehashing the same old tired trick over and over.

Graphics:

Lost Odyssey's graphics are top notch in appearance but the game suffers from fairly frequent lag spurts. It really seems that it's trying to do too much and it collapses under its weight. However, I couldn't imagine the game looking any other way and these hitches don't interfere with actual gameplay.

The power of the graphics seems to cause some loading issues however these are mostly exaggerated by professional reviewers. Loading usually takes a few seconds an area with some large cutscenes numbering around 30 seconds.

Overall the graphics are staggering. Mistwalker takes you to mountain tops, quaint villages, frozen wastelands, technologically advanced cities, decaying ruins, and many other locales.

Music:

The music shines in this game. All of it is orchestrated and fits well with the game. Mistwalker really understands how to use music to set the mood and does it well albeit a few times. Scores vary from a more classical sound to techno so you get a good spectrum of sound.

Plot:

The game is extremely plot driven and doesn't suffer for it. The plot is for the most part good. It does suffer from some generic aspects but it is compelling. It has a few plot twists and nothing ever feels like the writers decided to randomly fill a plot hole with garbage. The flow of plot is solid and feels believable.

Characters are well defined and their relationships with each other are fleshed out. Though some aspects could have been better, the plot was enjoyable and will take you throughout an interesting world.

Overall:

Lost Odyssey kept me busy for about 50 hours with most of the side quests completed. This is coming from someone who has a lot of experience in gaming and for you fellow old school gamers looking for a JRPG, Lost Odyssey will satisfy your needs.

Though it could be refined some more, Lost Odyssey is a well built RPG that I have no regrets in buying. It's a good game for people who like the genre. For others, it's likely a questionable buy so check out some videos and get a good idea of what the game is like before you buy it.

It might not be a shining example of the genre but it's a good play and if anything, makes me look forward to Mistwalker's next epic which will hopefully have more polished graphics management and an even better plot.