Lost Odyssey

Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Halo 2, Test Drive Unlimited, you name it, we play it.

Moderator: Global Moderators

Lost Odyssey

PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:57 pm

User avatar
Anubis
Site Admin
Posts: 4291
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: The Unholy Realm
Contact:
(Writing from a relative's computer whilst mine is packed into several boxes, so please excuse the abruptness of this ;) )

I've read bits and pieces about Lost Odyssey, some calling it a wonderful RPG whilst some saying its deeply flawed. I'm not expecting a Mass Effect from it (indeed who would?), but the game looks intriguing. I'm wondering if anyone has got round to trying it yet and could pass on their thoughts?

Slow loads I do not really mind, and I am an ardent fan of Final Fantasy type games (which this looks to be), but I can't be sure. Really, I'd like to try it first - but I'm not entirely certain whether or not there is a Live demo up (again, 360 is in a box) and opinions of a larger section of the game often count for more than 10 minutes of playtime anyway :)

Anyone fancy throwing out a few thoughts, should you have played it?
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:10 am

User avatar
Anubis
Site Admin
Posts: 4291
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: The Unholy Realm
Contact:
I ordered this, throwing caution to the wind. Read a lot of good things, and at the worst I will just be playing a JPPG again - which will be nice even if I end up disliking the story.

I'll drop thoughts when I get a chance to play it.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:55 am

Inquisitor
Posts: 3411
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:46 am
Location: SSX
Contact:
No real interest, let me know if its any good.
No signature

PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:15 pm

User avatar
Kon
Posts: 1525
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 8:56 pm
Location: USA
Contact:
I heard it had some ridiculous 20-something hours of cut scenes. That, plus the fact that I'm not a huge FF fan, really put me off.
"We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution."

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:33 am

User avatar
Anubis
Site Admin
Posts: 4291
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: The Unholy Realm
Contact:
Ok, so its taken me forever to get round to playing this properly, but now I am done with GTA4 I've gone back to it with avengence. I'm a couple of hours into Disk 3 now and the game has gotten frankly awesome.

It has taken nearly two disks to hit epic level, but in retrospect it was necessary to set the whole thing up. I was under the impression that the game was an above average JRPG, not fantastic but still a lot of fun for a fan, then I hit the end of Disk 2 (Experimental Staff and the fallout from that on Disk 3 relating to Gohtza for anyone who has played) and the whole game hit epic level. It suckered me in completely. I was made me expect one thing then the game threw something else entirely, putting everything and everyone it had established over the story so far into turrmoil.

I was waiting for the usual Final Fantasy approach to these type of things: Setup the characters and plot, and setup the villain with the evil plan that you have to stop at the end of the game before they can take over/destroy/rule the world. Whilst the game had done that well, it hadn't really impressed upon me the seriousness of the evil plan or what it could mean for the game world, aside from within the opening cutscene (and even then it was explained away as potentially a fluke). Then the game kicked that approach to the side and had matters spiral out of the character's control, and the villain execute his evil plot - the extent of which had been neither revealed nor was expected by me.

In many ways it reminds me of BSG at this point. It spent nearly two whole disks setting up plots and subplots, establishing the characters and the various factions within the game, then does something completely unexpected and epic at a critical point within the story. Throwing everything into turmoil as it does so, and leaving a lot of characters in very hard places. It's very very clever and absolutely fantastic to utilise as a storyline tool, adding a new dimension to the often predictability of these sorts of games.

The game also makes use of both ingame and pre-rendered cutscenes, the latter of which has been a point of contention of late within some parts of the RPG community. Frankly, this game proves that contention wrong. Ingame cutscenes work well throughout the majority of the game, but I can state with absolute certainty that they would not have been good enough to properly utilise at the point in the game I have just passed - they can't be big enough, pretty enough, or indeed 'epic' enough.

Overall, I would definately recommend this game. If you're an FF fan, you will certainly enjoy it, and I think that most RPG fans would enjoy it too. It is a little slow to get going, and can at points make you feel that it is less of a game than it actually is. But when it gets going it really gets going, and will certainly take you on a ride when it does. I won't be putting this game down now until I'm done with it.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:25 am

User avatar
M.Steiner
Posts: 6114
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:57 pm
Location: UK
Contact:
Good thing that there sounds to be some good alternatives to FF on the 360 already, and to come. I love the FF series as you know so i was quite disappointed that the XIII games were still exclusive to the PS3 (same with MGS4 :/), when it's the 360 i plan on getting since there's more games for it that i'm likely to play.

Have you had to progress quite far into the game before you've gotten to the really good stuff though Anny? Disk3 sounds quite a way in that's all?. Then again if the game is still fun & worth playing up until that point i don't suppose it matters if it's a necessary setup up like you say.
I shall have to make sure this is one of the first games i get when i get a 360 hopefully within the next few months, along with GTA4 & ME. :)
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:26 pm

User avatar
Anubis
Site Admin
Posts: 4291
Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:13 pm
Location: The Unholy Realm
Contact:
SSX-MS wrote:Have you had to progress quite far into the game before you've gotten to the really good stuff though Anny? Disk3 sounds quite a way in that's all?. Then again if the game is still fun & worth playing up until that point i don't suppose it matters if it's a necessary setup up like you say.
I shall have to make sure this is one of the first games i get when i get a 360 hopefully within the next few months, along with GTA4 & ME. :)
To an extent. It is all 'good' and you do get involved with the story and empathise with the characters as they struggle to regain their memory. I enjoyed it all, but the game did not feel 'fantastic' on the same level that stuff like Dollet and the Galbadia Assassination did for FF8.

Don't take that as a fault though. I was doing so, but as I say I can now see that building up like that was necessary. It gives you a few facts at a time, slowly realising what is going on, makes you care about the characters, and then takes a massive twist that throws it into the awesome range. If you didn't care about the characters and the world when the twist hit, it wouldn't be half as good.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying 'it's pretty poor until this point'. That's not true at all, I'm just saying that that point in the game is where the game starts to shine brightest.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

Return to “Xbox Live”