Review: Lost Odyssey

I didn't pick up Lost Odyssey immediately when it was released - I waited for a while due to the sheer number of XBox 360 titles that had been released around the same sort of time. Eventually I got round to starting, and finally I've completed it.

Lost Odyssey is an RPG with turn-based combat by the creators of the award-winning Final Fantasy series. Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to play any of that series so did not know what to expect, or have anything with the same style to compare it to. I've played almost every RPG that Bioware have made to date, and really enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect - so expected to compare it to those and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I was wrong - it's not really anything like those games, this one stands alone (well not including the FF series anyway).

So, starting the game you get introduced to a "boss" battle immediately, but it's one where you can't actually lose so it gives you chance to get used to the turn-based style of combat. As the story unfolds it soon becomes clear that you're one of a few immortals, and one of two who survived the battle at the start of the game. The story unfolds as you're sent on a fact finding mission to see if the Grand Staff construction is to blame along with Seth (the other immortal), and Jensen.

To familiarise myself with how this compares to Final Fantasy, I decided to watch the Final Fantasy Retrospective on GameTrailers.com which explained nicely the history of the series, and the differences between each game in the series. By the time the developers got round to Lost Odyssey they've refined the combat system further. Originally in Final Fantasy, skills were learnt through objects rather than the character levelling up in the traditional sense. What happens here is that as characters win battles they gain experience and eventually level up - when this happens they gain more health and mana, but do not gain skills. Skill slots can be increased through items found in the game, and new skills are learnt by using items such as "Treasure Goggles" in battle. In addition to this, immortal's can learn their skills using the new "Skill Link" - which lets them learn skills from mortals that they are in formation with during combat. To increase attack damage there is a variety of weapons available, and a ring system that allows you to build rings to cause more damage with your weapon. For example, with enough magma in your inventory you can construct a Fire ring, and when equipped it will cause slight fire damage from a good or perfect hit.

The later Final Fantasy games had their mini-games such as cards that were either part of the storyline that had to be completed, or were optional elements that could be played as a distraction. In Lost Odyssey there are memories that you can remember through various points in the game and these form the "Thousand years of Dreams" which is a written story. Some of these stories are a little boring and I got fed up with reading them after a while, so decided to skip through most of them and read them after completing the game. Another feature followed from Final Fantasy to this one is the concept of having a ship that eventually gets converted so you go under water and through the sky in it - although you don't gain access this to much later in the game.


The story of the game is also very well written by award-winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu. As you play through the game you gradually get to learn more about Kaim's past as he does and by the end of the fourth disc you care about the character's fate. In fact, you'll feel kind of sorry for him by the end of the first disc - but I won't go in to any detail there.

In addition to the great story is a great soundtrack done by Nobuo Uematsu. It was so good in fact that I've now ordered the two disc soundtrack so I can listen to it whenever I want (definitely will be putting it on my iPod too).

The visuals of the game, especially the cut scenes are very well put together with every last detail being carefully planned out which really does put the Unreal Engine 3 to good use. It's not all special effects though, I know it sounds cheesy but I think in the case of Lost Odyssey they really do help the storyline especially during the cinematic moments.

Okay now onto the gameplay - there are several points which are quite slow such as when you're wandering around Numara. After a while the random encounters in the field get annoying when they start happening every few steps, and a few of the earlier bosses feel a little too hard for your character's level at that time - but persistence and luck gets you through it.

Rating: 4/5