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CG rating |
The Bad
- Interesting and emotional storyline
- Great graphics
- Two different types of characters
- Excellent musical score
- A few innovations to the combat system
- The framerate sometimes drops significantly
- The loading screens can become annoying
- A few design related issues for some areas
Review
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Although consoles don’t have a reputation for hosting complicated games, in the avalanche of FPS, sports and action titles, some RPG’s manage to delight Xbox 360 owners, who crave for something slightly different. Some good RPGs were released, like Mass Effect and Oblivion, but some of us continued to look enviously towards the PlayStation 3 owners, who are waiting for Final Fantasy XIII - the most pure and innovative JRPG series of all time.
Due to the fact that Blue Dragon – his first Xbox 360 title - didn’t succeed in satisfying the JRPGs aficionados particular demands, the founder of Mystwalker studios and creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, started the Lost Odyssey project, exclusively for Xbox 360. I personally was looking forward to playing this game, being mostly disappointed by the games released thus far, only because I’m pretty picky when it comes to the DVDs that run on my console.
The first games disc (from a total of four) sends you directly on the battlefield, where the main character, Kaim Argonar, is tearing up enemy forces like there’s no tomorrow. This doesn't last long though, because a natural catastrophe takes place, with the only survivor being, not surprisingly, our hero. It seems that Kaim is immortal, he's 1000 years old, but doesn't remember anything about his past. In this regard, his story can be compared up to a certain point with that of the Nameless One from Planescape Torment.
The first thing I was fascinated by was the musical score, signed by the famous Nobuo Uematsu. Repetitive only when you visit the same locations over and over again, the music is definitely one of the game's biggest upsides. True, an RPG should attract with its storyline, and Lost Odyssey hits home here as well. The story is magnificent, as it has all of the needed ingredients to make an interesting and captivating adventure, keeping you in front of you TV/screen for hours on end. You’ll be witness to intrigues, turnover situations, silly or melancholic moments… everything an RPG fan would find appealing. Ironically though, despite its strong start and continuity, the story becomes tedious towards the end of the game. At the beginning, lots of possibilities are opened up due to Kaim's immortality, but as the end of the game approaches, it's noticeable that the producers ran out of ideas, and the game looses some of its appeal and doesn't quite thrill you like it did in the beginning. I'm actually pretty convinced that most of you won't have the same opinion as I do, because the story's feeling depends on your personality; I probably was too impressed of its beginning and expected more in the end.
Even though it doesn’t brake any new ground, the graphics are beautiful and the Unreal 3 engine is pushed to its limits. The characters are very well made, the attention to details can be easily observed, but the most impressive graphic elements are found in battle, represented by magic and enemies, as the fights are a visual delight even for the less passionate players.
As far as the combat-system goes, the Japanese tradition is still kept, as the fights take place sequentially; no real-time element is present, like in Eternal Sonata for example. First, each character is selected successively and the player decides what he wants to do: attack, magic, skill, item or defense. The action order is clearly established, but depends on some factors: defense is always first, followed by item, attack and skill/magic use. Items can be mana or healing potions and battle elixirs, that enhance your combat abilities and so on. Due to the fact that potions have priority in front of healing-magic, it is recommended to use potions during battles and magic outside them. Skills represent each character's abilities, which can be learned (by Immortals) or gained as they level up (Mortals).
Due to the fact that Blue Dragon – his first Xbox 360 title - didn’t succeed in satisfying the JRPGs aficionados particular demands, the founder of Mystwalker studios and creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, started the Lost Odyssey project, exclusively for Xbox 360. I personally was looking forward to playing this game, being mostly disappointed by the games released thus far, only because I’m pretty picky when it comes to the DVDs that run on my console.
The first games disc (from a total of four) sends you directly on the battlefield, where the main character, Kaim Argonar, is tearing up enemy forces like there’s no tomorrow. This doesn't last long though, because a natural catastrophe takes place, with the only survivor being, not surprisingly, our hero. It seems that Kaim is immortal, he's 1000 years old, but doesn't remember anything about his past. In this regard, his story can be compared up to a certain point with that of the Nameless One from Planescape Torment.
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The first thing I was fascinated by was the musical score, signed by the famous Nobuo Uematsu. Repetitive only when you visit the same locations over and over again, the music is definitely one of the game's biggest upsides. True, an RPG should attract with its storyline, and Lost Odyssey hits home here as well. The story is magnificent, as it has all of the needed ingredients to make an interesting and captivating adventure, keeping you in front of you TV/screen for hours on end. You’ll be witness to intrigues, turnover situations, silly or melancholic moments… everything an RPG fan would find appealing. Ironically though, despite its strong start and continuity, the story becomes tedious towards the end of the game. At the beginning, lots of possibilities are opened up due to Kaim's immortality, but as the end of the game approaches, it's noticeable that the producers ran out of ideas, and the game looses some of its appeal and doesn't quite thrill you like it did in the beginning. I'm actually pretty convinced that most of you won't have the same opinion as I do, because the story's feeling depends on your personality; I probably was too impressed of its beginning and expected more in the end.
Even though it doesn’t brake any new ground, the graphics are beautiful and the Unreal 3 engine is pushed to its limits. The characters are very well made, the attention to details can be easily observed, but the most impressive graphic elements are found in battle, represented by magic and enemies, as the fights are a visual delight even for the less passionate players.
As far as the combat-system goes, the Japanese tradition is still kept, as the fights take place sequentially; no real-time element is present, like in Eternal Sonata for example. First, each character is selected successively and the player decides what he wants to do: attack, magic, skill, item or defense. The action order is clearly established, but depends on some factors: defense is always first, followed by item, attack and skill/magic use. Items can be mana or healing potions and battle elixirs, that enhance your combat abilities and so on. Due to the fact that potions have priority in front of healing-magic, it is recommended to use potions during battles and magic outside them. Skills represent each character's abilities, which can be learned (by Immortals) or gained as they level up (Mortals).
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Results: How do you like to buy your games?
Total: 2364 votes
| Ambele, depinde de preţ | |
 | 26% |
| Games should be bought? | |
 | 26% |
| Retail (Box) | |
 | 26% |
| Digital | |
 | 22% |
Total: 2364 votes
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