Lost Odyssey was described as Hironobu Sakaguchi's masterpiece and now that it's here is it safe to say that it is? Yes it is within certain bounds.
Lost Odyssey is somewhat of a mixed bag. While the story is certainly a masterpiece is every way the game is riddled with little technical glitches. However I will say this before we go on that those little problems should not stop you from playing the game as the positives more then make up for the negatives.
As many may know Lost Odyssey is the epic story of a man named Kaim Argonar. What do I mean by epic? 4 disc's and a incredible story thats what. The game starts at the Wohl Highlands during a war and by the end of the battle everyone is dead. Everyone except Kaim who is a Immortal and can not die and has lived for 1000 years. However Kaim doesn't remember much about who he is, where he comes from, or why he is here. Over the course of the game Kaim will slowly begin to regain his memories and discover why it is that he is immortal and why he is here. The story is full of Heart ache, Political intrigue, War, Murder, Love and there is even a bit of comedy here and there to. The great thing about Lost Odyssey is that it nails all of the emotions. This game will make you cry and if it doesn't you may not have a soul.
The real treat in Lost Odyssey is A Thousand Years of Dreams. When ever Kaim remembers something about his past it comes to him in the form of a dream which are presented as short stories. These stories all of which were written along with the entire game by acclaimed and award winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu. These stories recall a specific event from Kaim's past and they are the most emotional stories you are likely to read in a long long time. Some tell of a lost loved one, some tell of a war that Kaim fought, while others are about the differences in the way people think in different parts of the world. Each will move you in some way shape or form and thats not a easy thing to do when each of them had to be translated.
The game play in Lost Odyssey is your classic turn based combat and I mean classic. The game goes back to the roots of Final Fantasy the series that Sakaguchi-san created all those years ago. While admittedly a bit slow by todays standards the game never feels dull. The reason behind this is that Lost Odyssey is turn based combat perfected. By midway through the game you will have 5 members active per battle and you will have various spells and abilities to choose from. Black Magic, White Magic, Spirit Magic and Composite Magic. Immortals do not learn skills and spells on their own like mortals do so you need to link a Immortal to a skill one of the mortals has to learn it. Immortals can also learn abilities by equipping items with skills attached to them. This system in essence allows you to customize your Immortals to perform how you like. The combat also incorporates a ring system. The ring systems allows you to enhance your attacks if your timing is good. Basically 2 rings appear on screen and you need to time it so they over lap for a bonus such as damage of a drain effect. Another nifty thing present in battles is that Immortals being just that can't really die. Sure they can get knocked out but leave them be and after a few turns they will get up on their own. Take caution though as if everyone in your party is reduced to 0 HP Immortal or not it will be game over.
So with all these nice things to say what is wrong with the game? Well game has frame rate stutters quite often even in areas where not a lot is happening. There is also a bit a screen tear every now and then but it doesn't happen to often. The graphics are also a mixed bag. The game uses the Unreal Engine 3. Some areas look absolutely stunning but for every area that looks stunning there are a few that look horrid. You can tell that the Unreal engine couldn't fully realize the artistic direction the game was meant to have but they did the best they could with what they had. Load times are also a bit to long and often. Also the game has somewhat of a slow start. The game won't really seem like anything special until the events that occur towards the end of the first disc about 7 hrs into the game. These events are what makes it almost impossible to not finish the game.
But like I said all the negatives should not stop you from playing Lost Odyssey. Had the game been kept in development for another month or 2 so they could iron out the bugs and frame rate issues the game could have been better. All the issues are superficial and should not stop you from experiencing one of the best stories gaming has seen in a long time.
How Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 continues the legacy of Japanese RPGs that halted with Lost Odyssey on Xbox 360.
I bought an XB360 to play this game. I also played other gems like Blue Dragon, Gears of War, and ES: Oblivion but Lost Odyssey was the precursor and one of the best jRPGs ever.
I would definitely buy that. They remake and remaster a bunch of stuff we don't need/want but they let the really good stuff sit on the shelf collecting dust.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would like to see the revival of Xbox's Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey Crimson Skies, and more.
What these games need are remasters and to modern platforms. They're all unfortunately stuck on the 360.
They are available on series x as well. But would be nice to get them out even wider.
Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and FFXIII Trilogy is actually the only reason I still have my Series X.
Because Phil and team seem to enjoy going to websites and forums to see what fans are discussing and wanting, to earn good faith points with post like this while they continue to offer the bare minimum.
Remastered and remake games are lame... A gigantic "we don't know how to evolve original thoughts" from dev teams cashing in on old ip.... Make new stuff or gtfo.
no remasters and remakes provide those games to new audiences and improve the look/gameplay
Then…remaster / remake them
🤷🏻♂️
After renewed interest you can get Mistwalker to do a sequel to Lost Odyssey
It’s quite hard to believe, but Lost Odyssey turns fifteen years old today. A curious product of the time, it has arguably only got better with age - and not just because of what it is, but also what it represents.
The short stories that Kaim collects/remembers are truly emotional. I remember one in particular made my eyes water.
If you've never played this, try to hunt down an original copy, or emulate it. This game was a gem.
I wish there was a remaster. This and Last Story. Sad these games were released on the...wrong platforms...
Considering all the early tech issues Unreal Engine 3 had combined with Japanese developers working with a foreign language engine Lost Odyssey on the PS3 would have been a tech disaster if it had used UE3.
Lost Odyssey's long load times and framerate drops are evidence of just how hard it was working with early builds of UE3, it's a miracle Lost Odyssey turned out as well as it did.
In a perfect world Lost Odyssey would have launched on the PS3 but I doubt Sony or anyone else would have funded the project if Microsoft didn't.
It wouldve sold better thats for sure and maybe dude wouldnt be doing mobile games now
Good review although a little higher than I expected yeah and you are right, Graphics are definitely a mix bag some area look so good that you say WoW and others are meh.
The main reason I ended scoring the game higher then some may think it deserves was because of "A Thousand Years of Dreams" I really loved each of the stories and they are all very touching in some way and I hadn't seen that before. The combat yes is my opinion I have been a Turn based combat fan for awhile and I just liked what Lost Odyssey brought to the table. I loved the ring system it reminded me a bit of Shadow Hearts. Which if I'm not mistaken Lost Odyssey had former members who were involved with Shadow Hearts.