Lost Odyssey
I picked up Lost Odyssey about a week ago, and I have to admit, I’ve been more than pleasantly surprised with the amount of enjoyment I’m getting out of it. I wasn't sure what to think at first, as it is only putting up scores in the mid-70s on MetaCrititc, which isn’t usually a good indicator. But, after finishing Mass Effect I found myself still very much in the mood for good, story-driven gameplay, so I decided to give it a shot.I’m about 11 hours into the game, and judging on the fact that I just finished disk 1 of 4, I’ll estimate that I’m only about a quarter of the way through it. So, keep in mind that whatever opinions I have, they are based on that much exposure. The game might go completely to hell from here, and I just don’t know it yet. That being said, I like what I’ve played so far very much – so much in fact that I find the reviews the game is getting a little bit bewildering… I have some theories as to why we are seeing the scores that we are, and I’ll touch on them as I go.
At its core, Lost Odyssey is a Japanese-style RPG very much in the vein of Final Fantasy X – not surprising considering that the game’s developer, Mistwalker was founded by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series. The game follows all of the conventions of a solid, old-school J-RPG: a turn based battle system with an emphasis on special class skill and leveraging elemental strengths and weaknesses, a large cast of characters that grows as you move through the game, and a deep, plot full of politics and intrigue that drives the game along. For me, this was fantastic, because I haven’t particularly been a fan of the shift to the real-time combat systems we’ve seen in the more recent j-RPGs, still preferring the tried and true turn-based combat and all of the rock-paper-scissors gameplay inherent to it. At the same time, my guess is that the game is losing point in reviews for not doing enough “innovation” inside the genre. Too bad really, because what Mistwalker did create is very well executed for what it is trying to be.
You play the role of an immortal mercenary named Kaim, who has served on battlefields for the highest bidder for over 1,000 years. As the story opens, Kaim has almost no memory of his past, leaving his history, and much of his recent circumstances, a mystery. While a little cliché, it works well as a plot device, allowing you to enter the game’s lush world content with the feeling that you don’t understand everything going on around you because you’re not supposed to yet. As the game plays out, small things slowly trigger Kaim’s memories, which come back to him a little at a time.
Those memories are played out as short stories – literally written prose that that fades in artistically over muted backgrounds while thematically appropriate music plays. Many of them can actually be quite lengthy, some upwards of twenty “screens” worth of text. These “memories” are superbly written (by award-winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigenatsu), and I found myself engrossed while reading them. They are emotionally charged, giving you a connection with Kaim and his plight: You feel the suffering that must come with living for 1,000 years, watching those you love die off around you while you never age. They serve to transform Kaim from a dark, brooding protagonist to a truly tragic hero. Still, I imagine that this was a second point that cost Lost Odyssey points in their review scores, and it’s my guess that it will have a very polarizing effect: you will either love it or absolutely hate it.
Those memories are played out as short stories – literally written prose that that fades in artistically over muted backgrounds while thematically appropriate music plays. Many of them can actually be quite lengthy, some upwards of twenty “screens” worth of text. These “memories” are superbly written (by award-winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigenatsu), and I found myself engrossed while reading them. They are emotionally charged, giving you a connection with Kaim and his plight: You feel the suffering that must come with living for 1,000 years, watching those you love die off around you while you never age. They serve to transform Kaim from a dark, brooding protagonist to a truly tragic hero. Still, I imagine that this was a second point that cost Lost Odyssey points in their review scores, and it’s my guess that it will have a very polarizing effect: you will either love it or absolutely hate it.
Graphically, the game looks great. Built on Unreal Engine technology, the world is well detailed, with the kind of striking panoramas we have all come to expect from the genre. The game world is in the middle of an industrial-magical revolution, and “magic engines” are the foundation of technology in the world. It gives the game an everpresent mystical steam-punk flavor that I find really cool.I wasn’t too sure how I felt about the character designs at first, but they began to grow on me almost immediately, thanks to their expressive animations and the excellent voice acting. The characters are distinctively Asian-flavored, both in dress and facial features, and have a more “mature” bent to them than past J-RPGs. It is definitely nice to play a leading character that isn’t either effeminate, pre-pubescent or has spiky blonde hair (or in the case of FFX and FFXII, all three.)
As you can tell, I really like the game at this point. I’m a little disappointed at the lukewarm reception it’s getting, but at least it seems to be selling well. If you’ve been on the fence about picking it up, I’d say it’s definitely worth the play time, and there is enough solid gameplay there that you will definitely get your money out of it, especially if you are a fan of the older-style turned based combat systems.
Labels: consoles, RPGs, video games, XBOX
