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I wouldn't buy it unless you are a very patient person...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First, I'll say that I do consider myself an avid RPG gamer. Second, I want to say that I've owned this game for about five months and I haven't played it in about 4 and a half... Usually, when I get a new RPG; I look forward to getting home from work and annoying the wife until she allows me to play the game non-stop for hours! This game, unfortunately, does not have that kind of allure. The graphics are great, the battle system is spot on... The game is just really, really tedious. You get sent on a lot of weird, boring, non-pertinent side quests whether you like it or not! FFXII was cool, because you were able to choose when you wanted to waste time on useless shenanigans, in this one you don't. I would even give the story a 4 out of five stars, but it is really lacking in something. I honestly can't put my finger on it, but the game should have been a lot better. It kind of seems nostalgic in the way it's put forth, which is cool, but it's got to be more than that to make it a great game. Hell, you might like it... I don't, though.

Proof that Japanese Role Playing Games can and should be on the 360

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First I will get what I do not like about the game out of the way. The downloadable content on XBox Live contains a dungeon that is simply a mess of problems. First off, you need to have a walkthrough explaining what to do before you go in. If you go in blindly you will fail. If the extremely tough enemies don't do you in, the boss will. There are no save points and leaving early means you must redo the whole thing from the start. The level design is easily some of the laziest I have ever seen, ditto with the achievements. The boss requires a very particular set of tactics that you won't just stubble into. The rare items you can receive in this dungeon are completely random drops, making it a frustrating exercise to gain them; sometimes spending hours killing the same difficult enemy for just one is necessary. Why the developer went with such a frustrating style regarding this dungeon I do not know. Also, the character development throughout the storyline could've used some work. And it would've been nice if new characters were at the same level as the characters you already have instead of being at a set level. And the "New Game Plus" feature, ie the ability to start the game over with your previous stats (thus avoiding the need to level your characters back up ALL OVER AGAIN) actually starts Kaim at level 50. Again, why the developer did this is anybody's guess. If it's not broken.... Kaim could've used a bit more dialogue too. And anyone who is sensitive to the female figure be warned: Two of the three adult women in the game show off some cleavage. Apart from that, however, their bodies are pretty well covered. Finally, there is a plot segment about halfway through that never truly gets resolved.

Having said that, the game is fantastic. The characters are interesting and at times funny. The game also has its sad moments too. There is a fairly good emotional arc and the ending wraps up *most* of the story rather well, the aforementioned dangling plot line notwithstanding. Achievement hounds will find lots to do here, as all of the achievements are tied directly into exploration, the many side quests or the main story line. Those who simply want to complete the main game will likely get through it fairly quickly, and those who want to explore more and find that newer, better item will have more than their fill of extra dungeons, quests, backtracking and new enemies to deal with. As it should be, the fiercest, most difficult enemies will never fight the player who stays true to the main story and never deviates. These foes await the explorer.

The level design, graphics and sounds are not mind blowing but not terrible either. The main cast could've used some more voice over, as there are many segments where the game resorts to text, but this is a minor issue. The controls are very intuitive and easy to pick up, so while they cannot be customized, there isn't much reason to do so. The system that is in place works just fine.

The "Dream Sequences" could've been integrated into the story a little better, instead some might say they're backstory, others would say episodes, still others may even say filler. Any way you cut it, you never get to see the lands described in these stories nor do they have an impact on the storyline itself. That is not to say that they're bad. While my other reviews show my general hatred for stories that are written in the present tense, the stories in the game are, mostly, interesting and focus on asking deeper questions and looking on life in general, so I am willing to ignore the fact that most are written in the present tense.

Once you're cleared the game there probably isn't much else to do so that lowers the replay value considerably, although there's already been one downloadable package for the game, so there could be more although there is nothing official as of the time of this writing (12:00 AM Sunday August 17, 2008)

I would highly recommend this game for both the casual and hardcore JRPG fan.

2 me the game is boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: July 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Way too many cut screens; the first two hours of the game are touture. The camera angles are horrible. You have to keep pressing the a button to get through all the blabbering just to get to the turn based fighting. bordem.

im so glad i rented from blockbuster. I wont give 1 star because that would be unfair. Its a great game if you like this style of RPG.

Great Game, For a Time

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Lost Odyssey is an exciting addition to any persons collection. It is, indeed, a great game. The graphics are fine. The story is intriguing and holds some depth. The gameplay itself is a welcome change to Blue Dragon, and other such similar games. But, after you hit the second disc, it starts to get too repetitive to be satisfying the whole time you play it. The story just isn't that gripping. Of course, keep in mind, that repetitiveness comes with the territory of a turn based rpg. If you really enjoy the genre, you will really enjoy the game. All in all, well worth a try, I enjoyed it very much.

Gimmicky, Cliched, and Fantastic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game has its share of cliche. The dialogue is sometimes very stiff, and your character, Kaim, is pretty disconnected during the first half of the game. The game tries to make his seem more caring...but when he opens up it seems strange and awkward. But perhaps being an immortal does that to people.

Anyways, what sets this game aside from other games, and I won't call this an RPG, since you have very little choice in anything...are the stories. The unlockable memories. They are deep and immersive, and they make you care. I won't lie, more than once they had me in tears. The man who wrote them can really paint with words. The stories are beautiful. I read someone else's review of that and scoffed. It's a video game...yeah. It is.

The story spans 4 discs, and it's long. I think I'm over 60 hours of gameplay now. It's my first time through, so it's probably not actually that long, but it had a long learning curve for me. I still haven't beat it. Some of the battles are so frustrating they make you want to pull your hair out.

Overall, a good game. Don't pass it up.

An immersive experience (spoilers)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Lost Odyssey was everything I had heard it would be. More than just the average RPG, Lost Odyssey gives you a intricate storyline, dazzling cinematics and above average voice acting. At times the struggles and heartaches that the characters were experiencing gave me goose bumps and made me teary-eyed. :P The skill link system of upgrading your "skilless" immortal members was unique and made the game more interesting since it forced you to keep at least one "mortal" member in your group at all times to continue expanding your immortal's abililties to make the best party combination possible. I won't say the melee combat animation was dull but compared to some of the awesome spell animations (including one called "Annihilation" where in the middle of the fight the game takes on a cinematic view as you call a giant meteor crashing onto the field, instant killing anything capable of it) the melee just couldn't measure up. The free-roam portion was very fun to me. Fully unlocked you have a large "cruise" ship that can go just about anywhere and also houses your smaller "jetboat" type ship that is submersible and can also take to the air for an unlimited amount of time. I forget the number, but there are several optional bosses (each having to do with a certain character's past or just focusing on them in general) and results in some very nice upgrades to prepare you for the final confrontation. The most challenging part of the entire game, in my opinion, was where you had to protect the ocean city of Numara from 4 rampaging Arthrosaurus' (giant, bipedal, fire-spewing, dinosaur-like monsters). It's set up like a type of minigame. The point is to keep the 4 Arthrosaurus' from reaching the walls of Numara. They each steadily progress shoreward from a decent distance out in the ocean. Even while you are engaged with one in a fight the others are still progressing. It took me 3 tries to figure out a method to kill them fast enough, and I was still only barely able to catch the last one before it reached the border. The most fun part of the game, in my opinion, was the spells ... so many awesome spell animations with great sound effects to go along with them, made it really feel like you were dishing out some monumental damage. All in all I give Lost Odyssey a 5 out of 5 and recommend it to anyone that loves RPGs, a good story and some awesome action.

The best game since Vagrant Story

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

My favorites games are Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, VII, Xenogears and Vagrant Story. If you shared my taste in games, you're going to enjoy this one.
Great Story and the main character (kaim) is one of the best main character I've ever played.

Impressions

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: May 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It had been awhile since I'd dug into a traditional Final Fantasy type turn-based RPG. The last was FF XII, which was an experience right up there at the top of the scale for video games. Naturally, then, I had high hopes for this "next-gen" game from the minds of the FF crew.

I turned out to be a little disappointed, though. Lost Odyssey has none of the polish that made FF XII what it was. Voice acting is surprisingly mediocre, the world is not as fleshed out (although it is still better than most RPGs, a la Final Fantasy), and the combat system is somewhat archaic. Much closer to FF X than FF XII. Why the creators should choose to abandon what was such a winning system is beyond me.

In truth, there is nothing at all next-gen about this game, excepting only graphics. They're very impressive, and beg the player to zoom the camera to take a closer look (which is always rewarded with high-res models).

But there is good to this game. The premise, which pits immortality against mortality, and illustrates the "blessing" of mortality (an ability to pursue specific goals and dreams within a finite amount of time - something this current culture kind of needs to hear) is intriguing, and the flagship character's struggle with this is meaningful. The dreams also, while possibly too much for some players, can be touching. This game tries to tug at the heartstrings and makes a theme of human nature, and at its best it does that well, making it powerful enough to remember. Unfortunately it doesn't always do so well, and some aspects are surprisingly unrefined.

This is a game which needed more work, pure and simple. Is it a meaningful piece of work? Definitely. Is it a little disappointing? Yes - unless your gaming standards are not very high. If Final Fantasy XII had not risen to shine over and above this game in almost every aspect, it could rest comfortably with my recommendation. As it is... play it, but adjust your expectations.

Thought I was going to love this game, but it wasn't meant to be.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: May 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a game I was very much looking forward to and was practically certain I would love based on the information and user reviews. I'm all about the story and the dream sequences sounded awesome, and the plot got great reviews from many people and sounded interesting. Also, I'm a fan of old school rpg's and even looked forward to the random battles and turn based combat. Unfortunately, this game just didn't do it for me and I have pretty much lost all interest in it.

By far the biggest disappointment for me is in the story. At first it really grabbed me and seemed intriguing, but unfortunately it lost most of it's mystery and intrigue quickly as major plot points and villains are revealed way too early in the game, leaving it pretty bland and cliche afterwards. I also found many scenes that were clearly intended to capture emotions forced, contrived, and just over the top, leaving me watching the screen with a sense of detachment from the characters. The dream sequences were also disappointing. While they are indeed well written and interesting to read, there is no real connection between these dreams and the game world, creating once again a sense of detachment. Also, the dream sequences frequently go into the same contrived and over the top attempts at emotion provocation, similar to the cutscenes. For me the story is where it's at with an rpg, and this one just doesn't do it for me.

I found the battle system to be ok, but that's probably because I like the old school style. I could easily see people not liking it based on it's simplicity, but it is what it is, and does the job. So in this regard the game is fine.

Music and sound left a lot to be desired in my opinion. None of the musical scores really clicked with me much, and the voice acting was so-so. One of the problems I also had was the continual reuse of the same music during the dream sequences, and how the tracks were always used during the same type of emotional setting during the sequence. After about 5 dream sequences you can almost know what's going on with the dream just by the music. To a certain extent there does of course need to be music to accompany a story, but the problem I am getting at is that after 10 dream sequences using the same set of musical tracks, it just gets predictable and grating.

Graphics are top notch, there is no denying that, the game is beautiful and the characters are gorgeous. Another point that I will bring up is that exploring cities can be pretty fun, with the multitude of hidden items and such.

This game has it's positives and negatives, but unfortunately for me the negatives outweigh the positives. I very much wanted to love this game, and expected to, but reality is what it is. Many people seem to enjoy the game, however, so if you're reading this review I wouldn't avoid the game simply on my opinions. Perhaps the game will connect with you, but for me it just wasn't meant to be.

Lost Odyssey lost the fun factor

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 14
Date: May 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It takes to long for the game to get off of the round, I think there needed to be more voice acting when roaming around the town " And the normal voice acting during the cut seens sucks, the things they say and how they say them seems cheesy a lot of the times", the dreams that you read through are fun to read but mean nothing in the story line of the game you don't even have to read them they give you no upper hand for events to come just good reading. During most of the game which I haven't finished because I keep falling asleep during the boring game play between the crappy cut seens is just that boring there is no spice in this game the story line is good but the game play just takes away from the excitement of what is going to happen next.

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