Lost Odyssey

THE GOOD:
- In depth characters that the player can relate to.
- Masterfully written compositions of short prose worked into the 1000 Years of Dreams that invoke emotion with each read.
- Realistic characters and scenery to immerse the player in the environment.
- Recycled story and character concepts that work.

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.