[360] Lost Odyssey

Hetz · Post by **Hetz** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:00 am

Anyone else looking forward to this one? It comes out next week and it got a great review at Gametrailers.com

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/30356.html

I have been really looking forward to a next gen Final Fantasy type game and this one looks to be a winner!

Goonch · Post by **Goonch** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:21 am

I am looking forward to it, not that I need another game in my arsenal.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:37 am

IGN gave it an 8.2, but considering the reviewer seemed anti-JRPG from the get-go, I thought that was pretty good. The long and short from what I've read is that if you like JRPGs, this is a very traditional but next-gen (artistically) JRPG that you'll enjoy. If you don't like JRPGs, then you'll find it derivative, frustrating, and cliche.

The only nitpicks I'm genuinely concerned about are the loading times, which are supposed to be pretty long. I've also read some frustration with tough AI that likes to kick you when you're down, but after playing through easy games like Blue Dragon, I think I'll enjoy the added challenge.

I have been utterly dying for a new RPG after beating Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, and Mass Effect in fairly quick succession, so my anticipation level for this is off the charts.

PR_GMR · Post by **PR_GMR** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:45 pm

Gamespy: 2.5/5 stars

Sorry.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:35 pm

PR_GMR wrote:Gamespy: 2.5/5 stars

Sorry.

FWIW, the same things that Gamespy said were terrible (story, characters, and VO work) were highly praised in the Gametrailers review.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:38 pm

I kind of trust Gamespy more than Gametrailers on this one.

That said, JRPG stories tend to be very cliche, but so long as it's well executed it could still be worth playing.

It's a rental at least, I know I'll be renting it and if the characters hook me, I'll buy since JRPGs have a lot of game hours. But, I hope this isn't another Enchant Arms.

skystride · Post by **skystride** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:42 pm

I really enjoyed Enchanted Arms. The 2.5 score depresses me though. I haven't read the review but even an average game probably wouldn't get that low a score.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:21 pm

I'll wait for some more scores before declaring defeat. We've got two good scores versus one bad one, three good scores if you count IGN AU's 8.0 review.

Methinks this is another Blue Dragon, basically. A highly anticipated JRPG with a Final Fantasy pedigree which winds up being decidedly mediocre compared to the Final Fantasy series.

Misguided · Post by **Misguided** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:33 pm

Turtle wrote:But, I hope this isn't another Enchant Arms.

Hah. I wish. Lost Odyssey can't hold a candle to Enchanted Arms in my book, unfortunately.

At one time I was really looking forward to Lost Odyssey, but the combat looks so dull, just like Blue Dragon.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because I grew up playing stuff like Wizardry, where the combat was no more sophisticated than what you get in a game like this, and I think it comes down to a combination of the uninspired combat, number of random fights, and, perhaps most importantly, the length of the animations. At least in the old school game I grew up playing, you didn't have all these fancy animations. Don't get me wrong, the eye candy is cool and all, but over and over it really bogs down the experience, I think.

I will say that LO has a nifty art style and the story looks like it could be intriguing, but I don't think I can suffer through it.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:34 pm

Misguided wrote:
Turtle wrote:But, I hope this isn't another Enchant Arms.
Hah. I wish. Lost Odyssey can't hold a candle to Enchanted Arms in my book, unfortunately.

Based on impressions, or have you actually played it?

While Enchanted Arms had a somewhat interesting battle mechanic, everything else about it was utterly generic and bland. Depending on which review you read, LO at least looks like it tries to make an interesting setting and story. I'd much prefer an old-school (or boring, whichever you prefer) combat system with a decent story to a game that can't keep me interested for 30 seconds outside of combat.

Misguided · Post by **Misguided** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:28 pm

Skinypupy wrote:I'd much prefer an old-school (or boring, whichever you prefer) combat system with a decent story to a game that can't keep me interested for 30 seconds outside of combat.

That's where we differ, then. I adored the combat system in Enchanted Arms (finished it...very rare for me), and while I wanted to like Blue Dragon, I just couldn't get into the combat after having played EA. Lost Odyssey looks to be very similar combat-wise (to BD) so I'm going to have to pass. As I said, though, it looks great artistically.

I happened to like the story in EA too, and there was some funny dialogue, but it was certainly nothing earth-shattering. I could certainly see where it left some folks cold.

EddieA · Post by **EddieA** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:21 am

FWIW, Gamespy's Blue Dragon review complained about the same issues as Lost Odyssey, yet gave it a 4/5, saying the issues wouldn't matter to fans of the genre

Personally, I can't wait. I love the ornate art style, the story (both in-game and the text short stories) sounds great, the music I've heard is amazing, and it'll be nice to have an RPG that's actually challenging for a change.

Kehama · Post by **Kehama** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:36 am

I think I'm developing a weird rpg predisposition. Unless the characters in game actually reflect the new weapons and armor I've acquired my interest tends to be fleeting. I can just never stand it when I'm level 50 and am wielding the "Badazmodius, sword of the god Mofo, forged in the fiery pits of Batu" and on the screen my guy is wielding the same sword he was killing rats with at level 2. So does anyone know which side of the fence LO falls on? Standard outfits or custom adornment based on equipment?

Oh, and was it FFX that changed just your weapons? That I can at least live with even though it was a bit discouraging to me to have all these leaps and bounds in character power but still see them wearing the cotton shirt and pants from Act I.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:26 pm

UGO posted a fairly positive reviewthis morning. Some of the same complaints as the others, but more encouraging about the overall feel.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:08 pm

Nice, that UGO review makes it sound right up my alley. I don't mind the turn-based combat/random encounters/high difficulty at all - in fact, after the ease of Blue Dragon/Eternal Sonata, I'm actually looking forward to the challenge.

I cut my RPG teeth on old NES titles like Dragon Warrior and the early Final Fantasy games. Back when you had random encounters every two steps and had to grind to get past most bosses. I don't think my love for those games has ever really left. Instead of seeing old-school JRPG gameplay mechanics as a flaw, I see them as a delightful return to my early gaming years.

Hetz · Post by **Hetz** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:44 am

Eurogamer gives it an 8/10....not bad from them!

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=92553

Arkon · Post by **Arkon** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:46 am

I am likely going to be picking this up some time this week.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:28 pm

I happen to have $30 in Best Buy Reward coupons, so this will be a no-brainer purchase for me tomorrow. I'll try to get some impressions in late tomorrow night.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:13 pm

this line from the eurogamer review made me chuckle:

Characters enter battle with earnest catchphrases like 'only the strong survive', and leave it only after punching the air to celebrate success.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:18 pm

More reviews trickling in:

Team Xbox: 8.3

Woth Playing: 7.5

1 Up: 8.0

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:40 pm

YellowKing wrote:More reviews trickling in:

Team Xbox: 8.3

Woth Playing: 7.5

1 Up: 8.0

That's just about where I figured it would end up, somewhere in the 75-80% range. It'd be tough for a straight turn-based RPG to fare much higher in today's market.

I think that knowing what to expect with the game will help quite a bit. Especially with issues like the slow pacing, basic combat, load times, and technical issues. Those things typically don't bother me much, so I anticipate that I'll enjoy LO quite a bit.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:50 pm

It's generally getting better scores than both Blue Dragon and Enchanted Arms, so I take that as a good sign. Despite both of those games being heavily criticized for their mediocrity, I had a fantastic time with both of them.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:07 pm

YellowKing wrote:It's generally getting better scores than both Blue Dragon and Enchanted Arms, so I take that as a good sign. Despite both of those games being heavily criticized for their mediocrity, I had a fantastic time with both of them.

i never played Blue Dragon, but i will say that i went out on a limb to pick up Enchanted Arms and enjoyed it quite a bit. the combat system in eA had a few unique aspects that made it more interesting for me than the typical JRPG, even if the story wasn't anything original. i'm very much on the fence about Lost Odyssey right now...

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:03 pm

I think one of the problems nowadays is that with the success of the Final Fantasy franchise, every JRPG is measured not on its own merits, but how it stacks up to Final Fantasy. I think it's a bit unfair.

And now that even Final Fantasy has eschewed turn-based combat for a more hybrid real-time/phase-based hybrid model, I just see traditional turn-based JRPGs sinking into Oblivion (pun definitely intended).

EddieA · Post by **EddieA** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:51 pm

YellowKing wrote:And now that even Final Fantasy has eschewed turn-based combat for a more hybrid real-time/phase-based hybrid model, I just see traditional turn-based JRPGs sinking into Oblivion (pun definitely intended).

I think that turn-based RPGs will always have a place. There have been a ton in the past few years - Dragon Quest 8, the Atelier Iris/Ar Tonelico games, Persona 3, Wild ARMs 5, Suikoden 5, Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms, etc. There may not be a huge fanbase for the genre, but the fans are loyal, and that's enough to ensure their future.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:53 pm

I stopped by my local BB and picked this up today. Just like any other release day visit, it was nowhere to be found and they have to send someone back into the werehouse to dig it out for us. Sheesh.

Hopefully, I will actually have some time to play this soon. Dang work.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:58 pm

My 360 finally died approximately 5 minutes after starting the game. So it looks like it'll be another month before I get to play.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:31 pm

So... Lost Odyssey is a 360 killer?

Perhaps I'll wait to see if it gathers in any other souls before I tempt fate myself.

Seriously, though, that sucks. My condolences.

EddieA · Post by **EddieA** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:05 pm

I only played the game for about 40 minutes, but the introductory sequence was awesome. It starts off with some great CGI scenes of a huge battle, and then makes an impressively seamless transition to actual gameplay, then back to more great CGI. The graphics look great, even on my SDTV, and what little I've heard of the voice acting sounds solid. It's a very epic beginning, especially when you see the main character surveying the destruction of the battlefield while the great theme music plays quietly in the background. The battle loads took about 10 seconds, and I didn't encounter any frame rate drops in my short time with it. You can also see the influence of the Shadow Hearts developers in the NPC names (like "Worried About The Battle Malos", etc. just like in the SH games) I plan to play more later tonight.

As for the packaging, the fourth disc goes on the spindle with others. I assume they put it in a plastic sleeve so that it wouldn't come off the spindle during shipping. Cheap, but at least they learned their lesson from the Halo 3 CE problems.

Jeff Jones · Post by **Jeff Jones** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:28 pm

YellowKing wrote:My 360 finally died approximately 5 minutes after starting the game. So it looks like it'll be another month before I get to play.

I think if, er, when it happens to me, I'll just go out and buy a 2nd one, and then just rotate them out when they die.

vizionblind · Post by **vizionblind** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:38 pm

it's good. Gamespy is wrong

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:30 pm

vizionblind wrote:it's good. Gamespy is wrong

This.

Will post more impressions later, but here's the short take. If you're looking for a game that will completely revolutionize JRPG's, this isn't it. However, if you want an solid, old-school RPG with an intriguing story and purty graphics, LO fits the bill extremely well. And after 5 hours, I have yet to run into any of the massive load times or framerate issues the review bitches about.

EddieA · Post by **EddieA** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:53 am

From Gamespot,

According to Microsoft, last-minute tweaks improve the loading times in the retail discs anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds.

I really don't get this. The game has been in development for a few years, and they wait until the last couple of weeks before its release to fix one of its major problems?

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:22 am

Skinypupy wrote:
vizionblind wrote:it's good. Gamespy is wrong
This.

Will post more impressions later, but here's the short take. If you're looking for a game that will completely revolutionize JRPG's, this isn't it. However, if you want an solid, old-school RPG with an intriguing story and purty graphics, LO fits the bill extremely well. And after 5 hours, I have yet to run into any of the massive load times or framerate issues the review bitches about.

+1

Tim Frederick · Post by **Tim Frederick** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:21 pm

I'm a bit into the second disc and I'm having a great time (definitely better than Blue Dragon). Graphics are great, story is good so far, and there are no really annoying characters. Even the funny character is actually fairly funny. Random battles are driving me nuts in my current location (which is just the nature of random battles) but otherwise the battles are fun if not overly new... And I haven't had any extensive load time problems.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:31 am

Have only had a chance to play a couple of hours (borrowed a friend's 360 while mine is in the shop).

So far it's exactly what I wanted it to be - a traditional JRPG with next-gen production values. Yes, it's a Final Fantasy clone, and no, it probably doesn't reach FF's lofty heights in terms of story/gameplay, but it's fun nonetheless. Due to the more mature tone, I can tell already that it's going to be better than Blue Dragon and Enchanted Arms (both games which I still enjoyed). So I have high hopes.

I like the battle ring system, but haven't gone far enough into combat to know how difficult/annoying it's going to be.

I think the short story sequences are exceptionally well done. I was envisioning having to sit there and scroll through large blocks of generic text over and over, but instead the stories are presented in a very stylish manner. There are sound effects, music, text effects (such as one sentence talking about the ocean rolling on to the screen in a wave motion), etc.

The cut scenes are by and large well done too, utilizing a lot of split-screen effects and the like. I'd have to say even I, a guy who doesn't mind cutscenes and text, was a bit worried about the amount this game has. However, if they're all presented as artistically as they've been so far, then they'll have no problem keeping my interest.

Very happy with it so far.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:00 am

Read a review recently that touched on a couple of gameplay dislikes that I must unfortunately agree with.

1. Little character differentiation. Perhaps this will change as I progress through the game but right now with the ease and quickness of skill linking, all of my characters have the exact same skills. While there is some differentiation in skill effectiveness (my "natural" mage does more damage with the same spell than my hero), I was a bit disappointed that there isn't more specialization.

2. Round-based spell casting times. The more powerful spells tend to take longer to cast, but unfortunately this makes using them difficult. It's sometimes hard to justify using one big spell that takes 3 rounds to cast (and may take longer if your mage is hit and interrupted), than to just do close to the same damage by popping off an instant spell every round.

On a personal note, I've noticed little monster variety within regions. While monsters definitely change from region to region, within the same region you'll like run into the same handful of creature types in the same formations over and over.

Maybe these will get better over time, but for now I can definitely see why the reviewer was annoyed.

Those are nitpicks though; I'm still having a lot of fun with the game, and if you love JRPGs I can't think of any reason you wouldn't enjoy this. However, I did want to point out those flaws for those on the fence who have only heard good things.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:29 am

Found something... interesting. If you arrive at a save point beaten up, after saving quit to the system menu and then reload the save. Everyone will be fully healed.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:12 am

Yeah, I noticed that too Monkey - nice little exploit.

Also, I found a bug. Choosing "Load Last Save" from the Continue screen does not actually load your last save; just whatever save is in Slot 1. So in other words it's pretty much worthless. Just choose Load and hand-pick the appropriate save game.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:52 am

MonkeyFinger wrote:Found something... interesting. If you arrive at a save point beaten up, after saving quit to the system menu and then reload the save. Everyone will be fully healed.

That actually bugs the crap outta me. If they're going to make it so save points restore all your HP/MP, then just restore them right away. Don't make me exit out of the damn game to do it.