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Right now, somewhere in heaven, angels are singing. The day has finally come that Final Fantasy comes to the Xbox. It’s been a long time coming, but the prayers of millions of 360 fans have been answered. After so many mediocre attempts at an RPG, we get the crème-de-la-crème. I mean, the best RPG that the Xbox 360 has is Blue Dragon. BLUE DRAGON! Xbox 360 gamers can finally enjoy one of the best Japanese role-playing franchises of all time.
This isn’t Final Fantasy though-- I could have sworn it was. While it isn’t the one and only, it is created by the people that brought us Final Fantasy all the way up to FFX, and the only way most gamers would know the difference between the two titles is the name. It’s easy for Lost Odyssey to get the “Final Fantasy knockoff” connotation, unless of course you’ve actually played the game.
Lost Odyssey aims to bring back mass-market appeal to the western turn-based RPG genre. LO takes a new and novel approach by requiring gamers to actually think about what buttons they are pressing. No longer can you “Final Fantasy” your way through this game, with an attack, spell, attack, spell, repeat. With LO you are required to think about which elements and weaknesses that each monster possesses. Knowing when to defend, heal, or cast status boosting magic is a necessity even for random encounters. Frequently you will need to change equipment mid-battle to counteract certain enemy types and bosses. These sort of strategic elements are what keeps Lost Odyssey from being your basic cookie cutter RPG.
Forgotten memories, disjointed pasts, and immortality weave a story intricate enough to keep you pushing through to the next cut scene. You are served numerous plot lines, but Lost Odyssey does a great job of keeping everything straight and never overbearing you. Each plot line is clearly laid out, and as you progress, you will start to tie up loose ends. Your generic “good vs. evil” storyline exists as in most RPG’s, but this one has their main characters struggling within themselves while also struggling against one of the larger egomaniacs you’ll ever encounter. Sidequests go perfectly within the story and environments and adds to the great atmosphere and situations you’ll be discovering in each city.
LO’s main combat system is a ring timing combat system. Hold the right trigger and release it at the right time and subsequently your attack is normal, weak, or powerful depending on your timing. By buying or earning different elements, you can create rings which give attacks unique advantages. While it is fun and keeps you concentrating on each battle, it still lacks in one area; casters have absolutely no use for the ring system. If the ring system could be used to determine spell strength, it would make them a little more useful. Also, getting Perfect timing with the ring system seems to be a tad random. I started to notice that I would get perfects a lot more consistently if I attacked a certain enemy in the row. I’m not sure if this is by design, but it can become a little frustrating at times when you feel you’ve pulled a “perfect” in a pressure situation but are only given a “good”.
Just like many Japanese RPG titles though, the story and character development is what truly stands out. This game is very story driven and you will spend time watching a lot of cut-scenes and occasionally reading some very well written narrative. Never have I been so engrossed in a story than I have with this game. You get just the right amount of back story for each character and the relationships between them are woven so well that you will get the same sort of excitement as if you were watching a great epic movie or reading your favorite novel. This emotionally charged storytelling is complimented by excellent camera work. Each action sequence is enhanced by blockbuster style directing. This makes for very exciting and intense scenes that bring a smile to your face.
Graphically Lost Odyssey doesn’t slouch. Sure, the in-game graphics aren’t going to make you say that this is the best the 360 can produce, but where it lacks in texture and polish it makes up in environments that are rich with color and atmosphere. Cut-scenes vary between in-game and CGI-style cinematics. In-game cut-scenes can occasionally have framerate hiccups while the CGI is smooth as butter and incredibly captivating. The developers do get a tad lazy though, as there are ten or less NPC models for townsfolk.
Taking its cue from the artistic direction, Lost Odysseys music is fantastic. The music was composed by none other than Nobuo Uematesu, who’s other works include Blue Dragon and of course the Final Fantasy series. That is, even though you will hear the same music over and over again, you won’t care. The music is subtle enough for it to be atmospheric and not overbearing. As fantastic as the music is, the voice acting is even better. Usually RPG’s have mediocre voice acting that makes things seem forced and out of place. The dialogue is executed, synced, and expressed phenomenally. The funeral scene alone had me choked up. And that NEVER happens to me.
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This is an RPG you can't pass up. You owe yourself a good experience after all these years of mediocre RPG's that we tried so hard to like, but never did. Lost Odyssey gives you a gaming experience few games can and delivers over 4 discs of epic content.
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