Review: Lost Odyssey

By Dimorphic 

Microsoft is an American company. The Xbox 360 is an American made console. The 360 has spread successfully to most corners of the globe but the one place it is yet to fully immerse itself in is Japan. The reason being that the Japanese like Japanese things. Companies like Microsoft, outsiders, generally have a hard time breaking into the market that is built from personal and business relationships. Another reason is because of the lack of Japanese-type games on the console. We’ve seen the release of Blue Dragon and Devil May Cry 4, but there has yet to be a game that really captivates the Japanese gaming tradition on the 360. Enter Lost Odyssey.

Lost Odyssey is a traditional JRPG is every sense of the word. Developed by Mistwalker Studios, which was founded by legendary game developer Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of the Final Fantasy series, Lost Odyssey is a four disk epic journey that will take you for the ride of your life.

The story centers around Kaim Argonar an, immortal, and other immortals that he meets on his journey. Kaim has lost his memories, 1000 years of wondering the Earth has seen him witness many deaths and births, many tragedies and triumphs and many events. However, he can now only remember fragments of these things and as such he sells himself as a mercenary to three waring nations; Uhra, Numara and Gohtza.

Epic is a word that I will frequently return to in describing Lost Odyssey because the game simply is that. You begin the game proper in the midst of a huge conflict in the Wohl Highlands, this time on the side of the Uhran military fighting Gohtzan forces. During the battle a giant meteor falls from the sky, destroying everything underneath it, everything except Kaim. A meteor of that size is not a regular occurrence, even in a land that exists with magic energy, and the beginning of your quest starts with the question, where did the meteor come from, and who is responsible?

The opening CGI cutscene has a feel of the opening of the Lord of the Rings movies in its scope and scale. The graphics here show a trend for the entire game, they are beautiful and the art design is inspired. Throughout the game the story is told in three forms, CGI cutscenes and in-game cutscenes as well as a unique addition to a video game, dream sequences that take the form of text. The in-game cutscenes are unique in the fact that they are show from different angles and with inserts on the screen of points of interest, like character expressions or scenery. The dream sequences are however very deap. You’ll encounter them when something in the game world coincides with something from Kaim’s past. The stories are written by professional Japanese writers and are in-depth and add a lot to the story. Reading may be a foreign concept in a video game in this day and age but it never feels like a chore.

Looking past the innovative story telling techniques is the gameplay and it is JRPG right down to the fine details. The combat in the game is turn based, and the battle (apart from boss fights) are random, just like the Final Fantasy titles. You can have up to five people in your ‘active’ party, with any others you have with you not in the fight. You can select your party outside of battle, and in battle you can set the formation that those party members will be in. Setting the formation is a crucial thing because another new feature of Lost Odyssey is the ‘wall system’ where by members put at the back of the formation are protected from damage (not totally however) while your ‘guard power’ is up. The guard power is determined from the HP of the members of the party that are at the front. This brings a new element of strategy into fights. For example if you have four party members, two of them are proficient in melee combat and the others are spellcasters, you’d put the magic users at the back of your formation to protect them in the battle. You ‘guard power’ however can be drained by taking damage to the front of your formation, allowing the enemy to do more damage to the other party members. It’s an innovative system and a new take on combat in a JRPG. This system is also in use for the enemies you encounter so sound strategy is needed to win some of the harder battles.

Another addition to the traditional JRPG fighting mechanic is the ring system. You can create rings with items you find on your quest, or by buying them in stores. Rings add features to your melee attacks, such as aqua damage or poison. When you have a ring equipped attacking an enemy with a melee will bring up two rings on the screen, you have to pull the right trigger to start the sequence and the second ring will close onto the first one, when the large ring closes over the top of the first one pull the right trigger again and if timed right you can do a ‘perfect’ attack which deals greater damage to the enemy. 

The fighting styles you can use are pretty standard, melee magic and spirit attacks are what you have to choose from. Though you can take it a few steps further with magic and learn different types such as white magic (deals in healing and protecting your party), black magic (deals mostly with hurting your enemies) and composite magic (deals with doing damage to the entire opposite party). Some magic attacks can take a number of turns depending on how powerful the attack is, and they all cost magic power to use. You replenish this power the same way you do health, with potions and items.

In another attempt to add to the genre, Mistwalker has changed the level up system slightly in Lost Odyssey. Normal ‘mortal’ characters level up as is and learn new skills, but for an immortal to learn a new skill they have to link with a mortal. To do this you simply select the immortal you want to skill up and the mortal who has the skill you want and ’skill link’. With the next level up you will learn the skill that you linked from. Mortals skill up by gaining XP from battles, where by XP will only increase an immortals level, skill points, or SP are what is needed to learn a linked skill, which you also gain from battles.

Micromanagement in LO is another traditional element to the genre. The amount of loot, items and components found in the game world is staggering and they are all useful. From creative new rings out of components to equipping amulets and weapons there are hundreds of combinations to choose from and it will keep even the most hardened JRPG fan busy.

I touched on the graphics earlier but they really are a marvel to behold. The Unreal Engine has been tweaked and used in some magnificent ways by Mistwalker, with the scenery and characters all looking fantastic. The animation is fluid and streamlined and the lighting is also top notch. However there are some framerate drops and some screen tearing in battles, but nothing too troublesome. The load times also become a little annoying, but with no screen lasting more than seven seconds its forgivable.

The sound is also top notch, with vintage JRPG elements tweaked for a new twist on the music. Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has lent his expertise to the project with the music ranging from soft travelling music to the epic theme song to frantic up-beat battle music. Not only is the music wonderful to listen too, but the voice acting is also quite good. Kaim is a deep and serious character and his voice reflects that with Jasen (a mortal party member) being the joking and happy-go-lucky type and a voice to match. It’s all very believable. The sound effects also are quite nice, with battle sounds such as swords clashing or large spells being cast all seamlessly adding to the experience.

If there is one bad point to the game, it is that some of the puzzles are quite annoying. Having to open certain gates with certain consoles to continue through a map is boring and the games fixed camera view is also a down point. You can manipulate the camera somewhat with the right thumbstick and zoom in with the right trigger, but I’ve come accustomed to Oblivion and Mass Effect where you have total control over what you are looking at. I know that most JRPGs use this system but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Other than that Lost Odyssey is a masterpiece. Like Final Fantasy before it Lost Odyseey will captivate anyone who plays it. The story integrates well with the gameplay and the characters are lovable (some of them, I won’t spoil anything here). The score is epic as is the size of the game, with 35-40 hours needed to beat the main quest alone. Epic is what I used to describe the game earlier and epic it is. Microsoft may have hit gold in trying to crack the Japanese market with Lost Odyssey, as well as creating a JRPG that western gamers will love as well.

Visuals: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Sound: 9./10
Longevity: 9/10

Overall: 8.5/10