Lost Odyssey

"Nostalgia Abound..."

In Lost Odyssey you are Kaim, a thousand year old mercenary who has survived countless battles due to his mysterious ability which allots him an eternal life. Interestingly enough, while this ability is every amateur villain's ultimate aspiration, Kaim's position is rather neurotic and indifferent, traveling from battlefield to battlefield as though looking for something that can kill him. This is the attitude the game takes on everything. Rather than changing what works, it decides to make what works less conventional.

When the game starts, you begin in the middle of a major conflict in the Highlands of Urha, and it is all at once evident that this is the best looking RPG to date. As you begin to control Kaim both in and out of battle you might stop several times in awe of the incredible detail on his face and flowing hair, or standing on a beautiful mountain top gazing far into the distant odyssey before you. This is a wonderful thing in itself, because it made me want to explore the game more, rather than just advance the story which I hadn't felt an urge to do since Dragon Quest VIII. This introduces another quirk which greatly enhances the gameplay--- A Thousand Years of Dreams.

So your walking around a city, talking to the good townsfolk and looking for evil doers, when suddenly the game zooms in on a seemingly meaningless bit of conversation. After the blackout, the game reverts to a novel like presentation with sounds and music to go along---“You have unlocked a dream deep within your heart.” While on your journey, Kaim will find himself nostalgic several times, triggered by certain images, or by the local scenery. This is where the story begins to shine. In terms of character development, this far outdoes the limited scripting that Kaim partakes throughout the game. The stories, while indirectly explaining Kaim's character, have great depth and add a different feel to a familiar texture. They are a pleasant diversion from the main storyline, however towards the end you might uncover three to four dreams in one city which can become bewildering as they are easily 5-10 minutes worth of reading depending on your speed. Nevertheless, I found this to be my favorite feature of the game. The stories often are so symbolic and expansive that they are in fashion of some of the world's great short stories. Although not for everyone, if you do have an appreciation of fine story telling, this feature will surely spark your imagination. Honestly, I found myself reflecting on my life after finishing a few of them. I would highly urge everyone to read between the lines and see the inner beauty of these stories.

The combat is of the typical turn based design, however the immortals in your group can learn abilities from the mortal members as well as from the equipment they wear via Skill Link. This is done utilizing Skill Points or SP which is received after every battle. The allocation of skill points is very important since typical status effects are detrimental to an unprepared party. Lets just say that poison in this game can easily take you out. This allows for a different degree of strategy, as most games allow you to leave your least favorite characters to bench warm and/or make cookies. However, Lost Odyssey awards players who unlock every playable character's skill sets in the form of an achievement and less…death. To account for this, the game allows five member parties as opposed to the typical number of three.

In light of the storyline, immortals do not die in battle. Rather, they lose consciousness and revive automatically after about three turns with limited health. However this does not curb the difficulty since up nine enemies with impressive A.I. will surely pick on the weakened members, as well taking on the healthy ones.. Another feature has front line party members HP contribute to a depleting communal Guard Condition or GC. This allows you to further protect the back row, but becomes less efficient as the enemies wail away at your meat shields. You can also equip rings which have a cool zoom in timer effect called the Aim Ring system. When you choose to attack with your character, two rings will appear in the middle of the screen with one getting smaller as you charge towards the enemy. The object is to hit the trigger when the big ring fits into the smaller ring. It plays out similar to the gun blade trigger in FFVIII.

Aside from all of this, the game boasts some extreme load times when entering any new area, and occasionally a frame-rate breakdown when entering into battles. Also, the story begins to drag a bit around the middle of the second disc, and into the third, but picks up again thereafter. As a matter of fact, at times I found myself not ever aware of the reason I was walking through some random dark chasm, yet the level design itself made up for this and provided its own form of motivation. Thankfully, it all comes together and makes more sense on the fourth disc when you truly begin to gain an appreciation for and insight into the antagonist's pseudo-Richard III villainy. The game also offers plenty of side quest action, urging players to max out characters and collect all of the dreams which too yield achievements.

All in all, while I believe many within the RPG community wished this game to blaze new trails, what is delivered is a unique experience nonetheless. Lost Odyssey does not claim to present the most original tale, rather it expands on the game play experience in general, and the whole idea of how to tell a story. It delivers a tried and true idealism with little flaw, while experimenting with new ideas which will likely be seen in future next-gen RPGs. You will find yourself possibly comparing this game to a Final Fantasy title, but still you will not call it a knock off. With the delivery of brilliant small touches such as dreams and the presence of only minor blemishes, this game delights in a cinematic way that is definitely worth its weight in gold.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/08

Game Release: Lost Odyssey (US, 02/12/08)