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The PS2 is far from dead!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 31
Date: May 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've been an avid gamer since the Atari 2600 days. One thing I've noticed over those 2 and a half decades of console gaming is that almost always the best games for all of the systems come out at the end of the systems' life cycle. Look at the games the SNES had in its last year of life. Chrono Trigger anyone? And other games like Donkey Kong Country were displaying graphics that seemed inpossible for the SNES. I also remember playing a Batman game on the NES (forget the title)that came out as the NES was dying, it too had graphics that seemed impossible for the NES. One big reason this is is that by the time a system is about to be taken off the market, developers have had a lot of time to get to know the system's hardware and know all the ins and outs when developing games for it. Games have gotten more involved as years have passed, especially RPG's, so now the games that come out at the end of the newer system's life not only have the best graphics seen yet on the system, the developes have also had years to flesh out the story, combat and item systems. You'll understand this when you play the awesome Odin Sphere.

At its core, the game is an action/adventure RPG. You wander through areas going left to right and attack enemies in real time. It's a bit like the first Valkyrie Profile that came out for the PS1, but way more fine tuned. When enemies are defeated, they release spirits called Phozons that you can magically absorb into your weapon making it more powerful. All areas are set up in "Stages". When you get tot he end of a stage, Odin will drop a treasure chest from the heavens you can open to collect rewards. The cool thing here is, the faster you complete a stage, the better items the treasure chest will have. Also, the less damage you take within that stage will also grant you better items.

Speaking of items, you can get them in a variety of ways. There are vendors scattered throughout castles and battlefields, and you can also grow them. You find seeds all over the place, as well as sheep seeds and more. What you do is plant the seeds near some enemies, and defeat the enemies. Instead of absorbing into your weapong, the phozons will absorb into the seeds making a plant grow that will have various items hanging off of them depending on what seed you planted. It's a very unique concept. You can also cook in the game, and there's a fairly easy alchemy system you can use.

The story is all about Norse mythology, and the graphics that are hand painted reflect that. You have the option to play the game with English voiceovers or in the original Japanese with English subtitles. I selected the English option, and the voice acting is actually pretty good.

If you're a fan of RPG's at all, especially if you're looking for something that's different from anything else out there right now, Odin Sphere should be a game you should pick up as soon as you can. The game seems very involved, and it is, but the game also lets you select from three different difficulty levels at any time.

Surprisingly good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 36 / 44
Date: May 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For some reason, Atlus' Odin Sphere had some hype surrounding it as it makes it's way to the states on the good 'ol PS2, and it's surprisingly good too. Taking place in a children's storybook, Odin Sphere is basically a beat 'em up disguised as a beautiful looking RPG-ish game. And when I say beautiful, I mean beautiful. For a late in life PS2 game, Odin Sphere looks great. The graphics, animation, and colors are vibrant and detailed despite some glitches and stiffness, but the game also suffers from some slowdown when there is a lot of on-screen action. Not to mention that there are some annoyingly frequent load times as well. That's all pretty much it for the flaws of Odin Sphere, but the good really does outweigh the bad thanks to the game's long quest and engaging story above all else, while the game also features some great voice acting, music and sound effects, and an item system that adds a bit of depth to the gameplay. All in all, Odin Sphere really doesn't offer anything you haven't seen before, but the game is a surprisingly good and worthwhile pickup for those who aren't ready to let their PS2's ride off into the sunset just yet.

The End of the World Times Five

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 22
Date: June 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Lately, I've been really disappointed with the PS2's RPG offerings. Final Fantasy XII was the logical evolution of the graphics over gameplay mentality, a game that basically played itself. Valkyrie Profile 2 had some neat ideas but completely dropped the ball with its unbalanced difficulty and messy battle system. Almost six months after the console has become obsolete along comes Odin Sphere, the RPG swan song I've been waiting for.

The story of Odin Sphere tells the tale of a war between the Odin and his Aesir against the Vanir, the fairy people, to control a device known as the cauldron. It follows the journey of five different characters over the course of roughly the same time period as the events that herald the end of the world come to pass. Their paths all converge at the end when they take part in one last, futile battle against the beasts of the apocalypse. Even if the individual stories of the characters do lean a bit towards the melodramatic, they are excellent, interesting, and develop the characters well. All five stories fit together nicely like pieces of a puzzle.

Its story alone is enough to cover quite a few worts that gameplay has as far as I'm concerned. For one thing, Odin Sphere is a throw-back to older games in difficulty as well as its visual design. Odin Sphere is a 2D side-strolling action game primarily with RPG elements thrown in. Watching it is like a seeing a gorgeous painting come to life. It is almost mind-blowingly difficult at times. At first, the difficulty level almost had me hating this game. Odin Sphere has a terrible learning curve that has to be overcome to find the gameing goodness within. For one thing, the player must learn that mindlessly attacking will get you killed quickly. Secondly, you must learn that given the limited space in your inventory, items are meant to be used, not stockpiled. Dropped items are plentiful so you can easily find or make another one. Thirdly, the character must use the food cultivation system to gain levels and healing items. The food you grow at first doesn't heal you up very much and you are open to enemy attack should you need to consume it in the heat of battle which makes it nearly useless. A bit later on you'll gain a healing potion alchemy mix which you can synthesize at any time and at last the game becomes bearable. Also I don't think it helps that the starting character, Gwendolyn, tends to get stuck in long combo animations that leave her open to attack. I found it to be a ton of fun after I learned the ropes because, rather than being a mindless hack and slash you can just plow through, Odin Sphere requires some smart thinking and quick reflexes. I also don't think that it helps Odin Sphere's case at the beginning that the first character's story arc takes place the latest in the time line and feels like it has large gaps in it, which are actually covered in other characters' scenarios.

In the end, Odin Sphere is a wonderful game, but its only going to appeal to a select audience. If you love RPGs and hard action games, your ship has come in because this blends the best of both into one package. If not, its probably only going to make you frustrated.

Wanting is better than having...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: June 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

When I first saw advertisements for this game, I went over to my local GameStop and immediately pre-ordered it. Fellow gamers waited with bated breath for it to come out, magazines like Play and GamePro were practically crapping themselves with anticipation, constantly running articles about how beautiful the graphics are, etc.

You know what? Now that I've actually played the game, I don't really see what all the fuss is about. Now before you all come after me with your torches and pitchforks, let me first state that it isn't bad, and in fact has many good points. The graphics, for one. The visuals are absolutely stunning. The music was also phenomenal. It was very beautiful and fit the game perfectly. The voice acting was great, and could probably be the best I've ever encountered in a game. I know all you super nerdy otaku out there will probably lynch me for this, but I really enjoyed the English voiceacting, and thought it fit the game better than the Japanese voices. I also thought the story was pretty interesting. A tad cliched perhaps, but I liked how each of the characters was affected by the events in their own way, and how they all fit in together. I thought it was cool how it was told out of chronological order as well, and you had to finish each character's story to get the full picture (kinda like Pulp Fiction.) All-in-all, Odinsphere is a feast for the senses.

Now on to the bad parts. *puts on riot gear*

The gameplay can get pretty repetitive after a while. All the characters go to the same places, fight the same enemies and bosses, etc. It got pretty tiresome after awhile. Also, the game is pretty hard. Sure, there's a difficulty setting, but I'm pretty sure it's for decorative purposes only. I'm telling you, never have I wanted to hurl my controller through the t.v. screen more than while playing this game. Money is hard to come by, health items are hard to come by...oh, since we are on the topic of health items, let me voice some concern about those godforsaken seeds you are constanly getting. See, alot of the time you have to actually grow your own health items. You plant a seed, and these sparkly orbs called phozons that are released when you defeat an enemy go into the seed and make it grow. When the seed grows to fruition, you have a nice, sparkly health item. But not only do these items restore hp, they also give you exp. The problem is, you also need those phozons yourself to perform powerful magical attacks. I found myself having to choose between magic and hp/exp. VERY irksome. Also annoying was the lag. When battling against a large group or just one particularly huge boss, the entire game slows to a crawl. It's like fighting while completely mired in molasses.

So to summarize my long, rambling tirade, Odinsphere is a very beautiful game, but is severely lacking in the gameplay department. If you really want to play it, I strongly suggest you rent it first.

The Ultimate Swan Song for PS2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: May 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you are a real video game fan, and not just the type who buys an XBOX so they can play "Madden", then you owe it to yourself to play this game. In the nearly seven years the ps2 has been on the market, there has never been a more sumptuous argument for the notion that there is plenty of gaming still left to be done in two dimensions. The aesthetic detail is absolutely mind blowing; the animation: exalted. Really, still images will do this game very little justice. You have to see it in motion to appreciate it, and even then, you will wonder how the hell they pulled it off. The game play is no less sublime, offering the kind of robustness,in terms of cause and effect, that is seldom seen outside of the Street Fighter series: When you hit something in this game, you feel like you connected and your avatar has weight, presence. The story line mixes elements of Norse Mythology with marionette style stage play to interweave five equally poignant tales, all to the backdrop of some of the finest gaming music you are likely to hear until the end of the "Next Generation." You will hear naysayers gripe about load times in this game, or slowdown; listen carefully: NEITHER IS NEARLY AS MUCH A HINDRANCE AS YOU MAY HAVE BEEN CONVINCED OF! The slowdown is infrequent, and the load times, though commonplace, are snappy. There is so much more to describe, but it's better you discover the intricacies of this title for yourself; if you love games, 2D, and anything old school with a touch of the new, your game has arrived.

People who dont like this game aren't really trying

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 11
Date: June 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There are plenty of great reviews here, so I wont go into too much depth. I simply want to give you a bit more information on the negative points people seem to bring up about this game.

First, I must say I love the game. The graphics are beautiful, the bosses are larger than life, and the audio is excellent. I honestly had to make myself put the controller down on many occasions, or I would have stayed up all night playing, and missed work. :D

Now some people complain about having to plant seeds to grow health items, because the seeds use up phozons, which are the magical energy released from defeated foes. Your character also absorbs this energy to use for magic attacks. Well there is more than one way to gain phozons. One is from defeating foes, another is in the process of making potions.

There are many potions that you can make to aid you in your battles. Everything from Nitro that burns your enemies, to Health potions. Potions are created by combining items you gather, along with a base "material" flask that can be found after every battle, as long as you complete the battle with a good "grade". These base material flasks have a number value which can be increased by combining them with unused seeds and other items you no longer need. Raising the base value of a material flask means that when you finally use it to create a potion, excess phozons are released into the air. The higher the base value of the material flask, the greater the number of released phozons.

Yet another way to gain phozons is via one of the seeds you can find and plant, that grows and releases phozons. And finally, in later stages of the game you will gain a spell that allows you to release a small portion of your own stored phozons to feed the plant's growth. So you see there are many ways to gather and release phozons.

Another complaint I heard was about money and inventory. There are several merchants that sell larger bags for storing gathered items. Once you have several large bags, inventory isnt such a problem. And once you finish an area of the game, you are able to revisit it at anytime, and as often as you like, to gather more items. So once you have several large bags, it's rather simple to make a few runs into previously visited areas, gather up a lot of seeds, vegetables, material flasks, etc. and return to your home to sell them all off to a vendor. This will raise your money rapidly and is a simple task, unlike some RPGs that have you "grinding" or "farming" for hours and hours. I have to say, if people find the gathering of items in this game tedious, then they are not very familiar with RPGs.

The ability to revist areas you have already been, means that once you make your way through a couple areas, your character has leveled up and is stronger. Returning to the first area of the game means you are running through it again, but now your character is much stronger, making it easy to defeat the foes quickly, garner a high battle "grade" and be rewarded with lots of money, seeds, flasks, potions, etc. Since your character is stronger, you do not have to use magic to defeat these enemies, and can collect all of the released phozons to use in the next stage of the game where you fight more difficult foes.

The last complaint I saw was about the game slowing down when there is a lot of action on screen. I only noticed this in the final battle. It did slow down while I was fighting and there were many enemies on screen, as well as the HUGE boss. (My 62" TV really makes these GiNoRmOuS! lol) But this slow down really does not affect the player that I could see. You slow down, so do the enemies. It actually helped me because I could see what was going on and make decisions as to how to attack, when to retreat, time magic attacks to do the most damage to the most enemies at one time. I really didnt find it to be a negative and it in no way affected my opinion of the game.

This game is very unique in it's handling of combat, magic, and items and I simply love it. I have just about had my fill of all of these games that have beautiful 3D cut scenes, and horrible gameplay. Atlus has made a truely wonderful game in Odin Sphere.

Beautifully Clumsy and Overrated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: February 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

While I give this game points for the absolutely beautiful -and unique- graphics, I just can't bear to slug my way through the entire game.

Let's take a moment to talk about the game's most distinguished merit: Graphics. Now, just because the graphics are my favourite part of this game doesn't mean that you should expect the most "advanced" visuals. What is great about what you will see is that you probably haven't seen anything quite like it.

Sure, you've played sidescrollers and seen Japanese-style cartoon characters but screenshots just don't tell the whole story here. The characters have a motion that somehow allows a 2D cartoon character to come alive. Beyond that, there is just an enormous amount of detail poured into the environments that you just don't see in other 2D realms.

That said, there are just a number of flaws that bring this would-be giant to its knees. I'll only focus on the most important: Gameplay. Be prepared to be frustrated. When you first start out, you will be puzzled by seemingly unresponsive button presses. As you play you will learn that presses just don't register while the character is carrying out the current action. What this amounts to is slowly and carefully timing your buttons with the animations, which is incredibly counter intuitive and clumsy- especially when you have five to ten bad guys bum-rushing you at high speed. Your natural tendency is to mash away, which will ultimately result in your demise.

In the end, this game may be worth the bargain price, but only as a whimsical (and short) diversion for those dry spells between major new releases.

Summary:
Beautiful art meets clumsy controls

Pros:
-Absolutely wonderful art and animations
-Unique concept of combining action and RPG elements (albeit not masterfully executed)

Cons:
-Frustratingly clumsy controls
-Repetitive level design

Overrated

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 12
Date: January 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

"Odin Sphere" has garnered a LOT of acclaim. Indeed, it's graphical design has made for a unique game, as the colorful 2-D images come to life like no other I (or anyone else, judging by the stellar reviews) have ever seen. The game has a deep story.

Unfortunately, it's not very fun to play. Moreover, it is incredibly difficult. Now, difficulty isn't a bad thing in a game, but this one really takes the cake in that regard. Some bosses are absolutely murderous, forcing the player to power up incessantly (both to increase strength as well as garner funds for powerful items). Moreover, running back and forth on a 2-D plain, slashing at enemies attacking in the air and on the ground, isn't exactly an original idea.

I don't want to spoil any of the story, as it was strong and often helped an otherwise poor offering. But all in all, I would wait for this game to hit the twenty dollar bin. At fifty bucks, it just doesn't deliver.

now for my review....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: August 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

okay.. i'll give a full detailed review without trying to give away any spoilers for people who might buy it....

Odin Sphere is a very good game. It is so so pretty with the graphics. Its 2D with some 3D effects to it..it really is beautiful.. especially with the super-huge bosses that you fight....

the game is actually set in story books. you play as 5 different characters and their stories all connect with one another. you play one character at a time, and cannot choose what order you want to play them in...

the story is different from most rpgs.. it is very dark in some parts..and quite serious too. there is zero humor in it. really. and a lot of the story is built around prophecies and such that effect the way the charas in the game live...

the style of the game is very different from other rpgs....there are not a lot of cutscenes... the only cut scenes that you really see are: at the beginning of a charas story, before you go to a new level, and before and after you fight a boss, and then after you finish the charas story.

the gameplay. ... it is somewhat repetitive, but that's not really a bad thing. each level is set up like a web that leads to a big boss fight. you end up fighting sub-bosses as well. there is no such thing as sidequesting in the game, or doing things to go collect important things(well kinda.) but its not like your final fantasy games, or other rpgs games with common traits...
you basically go to a level, and fight your way to the boss, yet each stage is different from the other as far as difficulty, and how many monsters show up. now.. this may bore people, but the fighting isn't as easy as button smashing and just hacking away at the enemies...

the game is actually..pretty hard. xD... you can't just beat the monsters to a bloody pulp with your weapon. you have elemental-type attacks you can use against them, and using items is a HUGE part of the game. you use alchemy to create all sorts of things, weapons, healing items, protector type items, etc..you really rely on items a lot. you can also grow things like fruit, chickens, and lamb. for healing purposes. but you can only grow them in battle...or there are a couple other methods to make the stuff grow. and sometimes when fighting, if you are not careful, you can get K'OD immediately. some monsters can nail you with a single attack that will strike you dead, even if you have a high HP/full health. and sometimes you can get overwhelmed by enemies and have to back off. to be successful in battle you really have to strategize and be smart cos its so easy to get killed instantly if you don't watch yourself.

now i said there was so such thing as sidequesting, but there is one thing that is kinda like that. you can cook. at one point in each charas story you gain access to this little village with two restaurants(one for pastries and one for other food) where you can bring some ingredients and the cooks make meals for you that gives you lots of EXP which raises your HP level. you find recepies when you go to different levels. and you can end up collecting quite a lot of dishes.. o_O

the downsides to the game.. there are several i found bothersome, but it didn't stop me form playing the game, you just get used to it.

-the game could be really laggy, and loading times could be really long.
-in battles, such as boss battles and especially in final boss battles, everything would suddenly go in slow motion but only on your part. which was EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING cos you became more open to getting attacked.
-the instant KO's from monsters with just one hit. i mean really...
-the repetitiveness of the levels. there are really only 9 levels you go to in the entire game. and each character goes thru almost all of them. its kinda repetitive, i mean, its kinda different with each chara, the purpose they are there for, but the scenery, monsters, and bosses are the same of course, so you may end up fighting the same boss 5 times. xB

the really good things about it:
-entertaining gameplay despite the repetitiveness
-beautiful beautiful graphics
-good gameplay for a side-scrolling style of play
-the way the charas stories connected was nice, after you played a charas story, things from the previous characters story, made more sense..and the more you played, you could put all the pieces together, and realize how characters actions in their story effects/effected another chara..
-being able to change the audio to Japanese. :) the voice overs weren't bad for all the characters, but i played the whole thing in Japanese.
-the music is nice, the same music is used for each sub-boss and boss you fight, but its fine.

but yeah, i found it to be a very entertaining game to play, i recommend it to anyone..!

Disappointing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 19
Date: August 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

More than anything else, this game is a disappointment and part of that is due to everyone ranting about how perfect this game is (or how great it is despite its flaws). This game is about as redundant as it gets.

Gameplay boils around to this: mash the attack button to fight the enemies and hope that none of them ignore being hit and hit you back, eat food to increase your health while also trying to have enough food to heal you, kick and flail as you desperately try to get money (of which there is little) and then fight an obnoxious boss who basically just spams moves that stun and do extreme damage.

There is a difference between hard games and obnoxious, this game jumps very deeply into the obnoxious category.

Sure, the game looks pretty and the art design is to be praised, but that cant be all there is to a game. Amusingly enough, this game has some pretty good voice actors but even that cant help a bland story. Speaking of, the story in this game is stuck between wanting to be a childrens story and then trying to appeal to a more adult audience. It really just kind of flounders around not really getting anywhere interesting.

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