[Xbox 360] Lost Odyssey... HOLY SHIT!

[Mike Taylor]

I knew I was in for a ride when I cracked the package open and found... four, count 'em... FOUR DVDs. I haven't played a game with this many discs since Final Fantasy VII. I've only just scratched the surface of this game, but it definitely shows its Final Fantasy lineage. I think Mistwalker Studios (founded by the original FF crew) may have a winner on their hands.

Without giving too much away, you play Kaim (KHY-im), a 1000 year-old immortal swordsman who is struggling to regain his lost memories. You starting companions include Seth, a fellow immortal (a sexy female pirate) and a somewhat untrustworthy magician thief named Jansen. Before I shut the game off for the night, the three were sent to inspect a complex known as the Great Staff, owned by the government that sent the heroes. The first boss battle is with this massive, gloriously detailed griffin. I nearly defeated the critter, but our party was totally wiped out in the first battle.

I'll pass along more info as I progress with the game.

Goddamn, I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long time.

[Jamcat]

4 DVDs?! Wow! Though I bet most of the space is probably going for cut scene video.

[Plunder Down-Under]

Not totally original characters but who cares? Sounds awesome

[Ebony Phoenix]

not seen much about this game so far, will have to investigate some more now

[Jamcat]

From the reviews on Metacritic, the game seems to be a me too, wanna be clone of Final Fantasy with pretty graphics.

Guess that means cast spell, watch spell cut scene, cast spell, watch spell cut scene.

Some comments from Metacritic:

It rarely steps away from the origins of the genre – instead playing with the 'me too!' mentality of a company that desperately wants to show the world that Square Enix can be bested...

The gameplay is fun enough, but so agonizingly slow that the enjoyment of combat is seriously marred. For the most part, the story line is average and clichéd, and the dramatic moments don't entirely make up for that...

But though the grandiose soundtrack may fool you at first into mistaking this for an epic Square-esque RPG, it’s not. It’s slightly smaller-scale, and the somewhat odd (and kinda bland) character designs never really reach the iconic eye-candy levels of more accomplished J-RPGs like Final Fantasy...

It's not a true Final Fantasy clone, but at the moment, it's the best-looking late-90s FF knock-off on the market. But whatever "decent" vibe it has ends up being cut down by technical glitches to the point that it makes the epic adventure feel more like a dinky puppet show..

Ordinary suspension of disbelief simply won't cut it in the face of such overt melodrama and strained gameplay...

It’s not innovative and doesn’t take any chances, but there’s a lot of classic turn-based adventure just waiting for you in four long disks...

Once you discover the game's deeply flawed combat system and bland storyline, you'll question if it's a journey worth taking...

We have immense respect for what Lost Odyssey tries to do: be a back-to-basics JRPG with modern technological trimmings on the 360. Unfortunately, it's less a celebration of what made older RPGs great and more a crude relic of their past...

By the comments, it doesn't look like the game is all that good. Kinda typical of today's games: Fancy graphics with sucky gameplay.

[Mike Taylor]

4 DVDs?! Wow! Though I bet most of the space is probably going for cut scene video.

Hard to say, really. A lot of the cinematics are rendered in game by the game engine itself.

[LegacyTyphoon]

I'd pick this up but I haven't beaten Blue Dragon yet...or Grandia, or Persona 2, or Lunar 2...and so on and so forth...I seem to just collect RPGs and they never get finished.

[Mike Taylor]

Blue Dragon is also on my list.

[LegacyTyphoon]

Blue Dragon is also on my list.
I'm having trouble getting back into Blue Dragon. I was 10 hours in when I lost all my save data (to every game I had...) because of some kind of server error and profile corruption on XBL during Halo 3 release night (I stupidly decided to try and update my games ON Halo 3 release night...). Its a good game though.

[susfubb]

Dear Space Pirate:

I can ask my son who programs video games for a living. He's is NEVER without an opinion, lol. ~jill
PS: is this role play?

[Crazeyal]

Not as far as I know. There hasn't been a roleplay game going on in here in months.

Want to start one up?

[Mike Taylor]

Dear Space Pirate:

I can ask my son who programs video games for a living. He's is NEVER without an opinion, lol. ~jill
PS: is this role play?

Nah, it's just plain old Mike posting about a new game he bought. By all means, ask the former TTA (Teen Tech Advisor-- he ain't a teen no more) what he thinks about it.

[Plunder Down-Under]

Not as far as I know. There hasn't been a roleplay game going on in here in months.

Want to start one up?
If someone volunteers to be in charge and be a dm type figure Id be all for it, we're all a little chaotic for a free form that works well I reckon.

[sableagle]

*kicks open the tavern door with a dramatic crash*

*stands in rain for half an hour waiting for lightning to dramatically back-light him*

That wasn't my character, but someone did that. :rolleyes:

[Plunder Down-Under]

I'd do it, probably in game as well.

[Mike Taylor]

I've had to put the game on hold for a couple of days. I am at the end of disc one, though. The party has acquired two more members, but both are in the clutches of an evil spirit and have to be rescued before I can move to the next disc. There's a specific way it has to be done, too, or I'll end up killing the people I'm trying to rescue.

[Farler]

I've had to put the game on hold for a couple of days. I am at the end of disc one, though. The party has acquired two more members, but both are in the clutches of an evil spirit and have to be rescued before I can move to the next disc. There's a specific way it has to be done, too, or I'll end up killing the people I'm trying to rescue.
It's really not that specific. Im on disc 3 already.

it's funny my dad picked out the "secret" villain before he actually said anything.

This weekend is going to be all lost odyssey. Also, I really think the pirate girl looks sexy when you put a pair of glasses on her.

[Mike Taylor]

Speaking of pirates, did you check out Sed's outfit? I laughed with I saw the flames on his pants legs. They reminded me of Jen's boots.

[Farler]

Speaking of pirates, did you check out Sed's outfit? I laughed with I saw the flames on his pants legs. They reminded me of Jen's boots.

Sed is all kinds of funny. But yeah the flaming pants reninded me of the same thing.

[TNT]

Not as far as I know. There hasn't been a roleplay game going on in here in months.

Want to start one up?

What? Like writing roleplay on here? That'd be cool... Hope it's a proper one and not just randomness that we do normally though. I don't want my arms being ripped off over and over...
Ok, fine. You want something relevant to the subject? I think Lost Odyssey looks awesome. I'd own it if I had a x-box 360 which I might just buy because it seems to have proper games rather just minigames that most people are putting out on the Wii. I mean, Legend of Zelda and Metroid ROCKED but Nintendo seems to be the only one really trying to make games for gamers on the Wii.

[Detritus]

slightly off topic but....


I wanna know who sold the idea of using Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" as the soundtrack of the TV ad...!:d8o:

actually i can see how it meshes well with the imagery of the ad, but any sort of console game just doesn't fit into MY mind with the voice of Grace Slick.

ok i've said it, that's been brewing ever since i first saw the ad. i went running into the living room to see why one of my favorite songe was on TV. since i'm not a fan of this particular console game genre, i had aproximately the same reaction as i had when the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Simple man" was used to sell Busch beer.

and now back to the game comentary already in progress...

[Farler]

actually I really love that choice of song for the commercial.

and Im still shocked how well mad world worked for gears of war.

[KiaKat]

And what about Teardrop for that assassin game? Fantastic choice.

[Detritus]

Yes it works well. it works VERY well.

like i said, it's just MY brain that revolts and starts screaming "NOOOO! What have they done!" ~twitch, twitch~.

I have oooh so many, "good memories":dgrin: to which that song was in some way the background.