Lost Odyssey Review: Japanese Version (10 out of 10) ...

March 24, 2007 ... Review by Chad

Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360 is a game that most people either love or hate.If you’re a fan of any of the Final Fantasy games, this should be an easy purchase. If you like Western RPGs however, this may not be such an easy recommendation. The game should have the Final Fantasy name attached to it to be honest, because it plays almost exactly like one, and a lot of the great minds behind the FF series like Sakaguchi and Uematsu decided to lend their expertise to this massive four-disc title.

The game is powered by the Unreal engine, and has some breathtaking visuals. Some of them are so breathtaking in fact that the Xbox 360 hiccups and sometimes runs at a snail’s pace. It’s all quite tolerable though, as this isn’t a first-person-shooter, where the difference between a few frames-per-second can be the difference between success or failure. Just like any other would-be FF game, Lost Odyssey also has some great pre-rendered cutscenes that are the very definition of eye-candy. After watching the opening scene, you’ll know exactly what I mean. However, there are some character models that just don’t look right. Most of the main characters look almost life-like (Sed, Kaim), but then there are some that look as though they could have used some more polish (Mack, Tolten). As a whole though, the graphics great and eclipse any JRPG before it.

One of the things that I heard about this game before I really got into it was that the random encounter rate was awfully high. Keep in mind that I played the Japanese release that came out in December of 2007, so things may have changed in the North American release. I’m going to go against the flow though and say that the random encounter rate was just right… with one thing withstanding. I remember specifically in Final Fantasy VIII there were some items or spells that you’d pick up along the way that could either half your random encounter rate, or nullify them entirely. Along the later parts of the game, this is something that really could have come in handy, especially during side-quests. Save points are also few and far between in the game, and I feel that they could have used a one-time save (usable at any time) that you could only load up once just in case you had to be somewhere at a certain time and needed to go immediately. It’s a shame that Mistwalker didn’t put these things into this otherwise splendid game.

The battles are actually a lot of fun though, so even if you do get into one-too-many encounters, you’ll probably enjoy the fighting. And if not, running away is always a possibility. The fighting system in Lost Odyssey is something that not enough reviewers have been praising. The ring system allows for gunblade-style attack timings with the right trigger, and the Guard Condition (GC) system allows for some excellent strategy during battles. GC is basically a defensive wall that your front row of characters has in relation to their HP as they begin a battle. The higher your GC is, the more you can shelter your back row characters (who would mostly be your casters). The flipside to this though, is that the enemy also has a GC meter at their disposal, and it can be downright frustrating to figure out how to drop it in time to get to that character hanging in the back before they can pull off a devastating spell. This all makes for a great challenge; one that I’m surprised is so often overlooked.

Speaking of battles, the game doesn’t require you to do any level-grinding whatsoever. At the end of the game you have the option to do so, but of course you’re already at the end of the game and you can just go finish the game if you’d like. For those who want more of a challenge, there are optional bosses, and the backyard battles, all of which are an absolute blast to play. There are also no battles on the world map, since the world map doesn’t have you walking from town to town. A map simply pops up, and you pick where you want to go. I can’t praise the world map system in this game enough, as it saves you countless hours of drudging thorough boring areas trying to get from point A to point B. In Lost Odyssey, you simply choose where you would like to go, and it loads it very quickly.

The game’s soundtrack is masterful. Nobuo Uematsu has created art yet again and put together a soundtrack that goes with this game as well as chocolate goes with peanut butter. This is much better work that the score he created for Blue Dragon. The music during Kaim’s dreams and the battle music in particular come to mind as absolute genius.

And finally, the thing that brings this game together and makes is worth playing is the story. The game centers around Kaim Argonar, a man coming back from the battlefield with no memory of who he is, or why he can’t die. Kaim’s past and character are revealed through dream novellas written by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, one of Japan’s premier authors. The dreams are so well-written, that they’re sold separately in hardcover form at your neighborhood bookstore, should you live in Japan. With plot twists abound, the game never lets up from start to finish. The final two hours of the game in particular are breathtaking, and enough to bring a man to tears. The same can be said for Kaim’s dreams though, as this game will absolutely make you feel for the game’s characters like you never thought you would.

If you have any interest in Japanese RPGs whatsoever, you owe it to yourself to pick up this gem. I’ve played very few RPGs that can match up to this masterpiece. This is the best game I’ve played on the Xbox 360 yet.

10/10

Best Qualities – Story. Fantastic battles. Musical score. Kaim’s dreams. This is basically the next-gen Final Fantasy game you’ve been waiting for.

Worst Qualities – Frame-rate issues are extremely common. The Japanese version froze on me about a dozen times. Save system is archaic.

Achievement Information – Just playing though the game itself will net you nearly 700 achievement points. The rest are challenges that are reasonably tough. In my 100 hour run, I obtained 900 of 1000 possible points.

Completion Time – 50 hours. I personally doubled that, but I felt the need to complete just about every side-quest the game offers.

Lost Odyssey At A Glance
	10	The Good	Story. Fantastic battles. Musical score. Kaim’s dreams. This is basically the next-gen Final Fantasy game you’ve been waiting for.
		The Bad	Frame-rate issues are extremely common. The Japanese version froze on me about a dozen times. Save system is archaic.
	A Sure Thing	The Verdict	If you have any interest in Japanese RPGs whatsoever, you owe it to yourself to pick up this gem.

 

Click Here to Leave Comments