Lost Odyssey

"Wait this isn't Final Fantasy!"

Mistwalker Studio's Blue Dragon was a JRPG similar to Dragon Quest it had Mistwalker Studios (Final Fantasy creator's company) working with Artoon (Sonic the Hedegehogs's creator's company), Akira Toriyama (Creator of Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest artist), and Nobuo Uematsu (composer of Final Fantasy Soundtracks up to X.

Lost Odyssey follows the same formula only with some name swaps. Lost Odyssey is a JRPG similar to Final Fantasy it has Mistwalker Studios working along side Feelplus Inc (A group of people who helped create the Shadow Hearts RPG series, Takehiko Inoue (artist best know for his Slaw Dunk manga), and again Nobuo Uematsu. The overall game is quite similar to Final Fantasy X in that it is a very linear RPG with a very tight cinematic flow. Don't get to hyped though yes Final Fantasy X was a grand game yes but Lost Odyssey's over all quality is very uneven. But don't worry it's not a terrible game nope it's good just don't come expecting Final Fantasy X all over again or rather don't expect this game to meet the quality of any Final Fantasy game. But go on read the review for further understanding it's still a must play game after all.


When I first heard about this game and how it was about an Immortal who lived a 1000 years I expected some grand epic journey through his life while you do get this in a way it never actually takes place with in the game. The game begins with Kaim a immortal who has lived a 1000 years who has amnesia (gasp!) fighting a huge battle with funny looking suits of armor. After surviving a mysterious meteor crash he makes his way to a kingdom there he meets another immortal along with the game's clown and all 3 are tasked with a mission and thus the story begins this all happens over the course of 4 to 5 hours. Being a Japanese RPG slow starts are to be expected so no big whoop but it does drag some so much that some may give up on the game before it even gets started. Thankfully things pick up when they do it's great such has the end of disc 3. But overall the story suffers from not having any real plot twist that leave a real impact on you. The cut-scenes feel like a step back for the JRPG genre the animation can be awkward, stiff and full of slow down. By the way I'm comparing the cut-scenes to Final Fantasy X a game that is over 6 years old now. It's still no where near and I mean no where near the worst cut-scenes ever because they do look good even though overall don't look much better and at times worse than FFX.

Beyond the in-game story every so often you'll come across a place that brings back a lost memory of Kaim's. The game then goes into book mode in which you read short stories accompanied by fitting music with still changing backgrounds. It sounds bad but it works well and turns Kaim into a real person it's basically what I wanted from the game after first hearing about a 1000 year old immortal. There very well written probably because a real novelist wrote them and a well respect translator of novels translated the stories. So yeah there is some fine literature hidden here. You can read them on the spot or wait till you visit a inn and read them at your leisure. So if you don't want them interrupting the game then just wait to read them later. No doubt the short stories are the highlight of the games story. Which is a little depressing when you think about it, this could of just been a book right…? But don't worry the gameplay is good stuff and well worth your time.




The game uses pre-set camera angles similar to Final Fantasy X. Though you thankfully have some control over it you can zoom in with the L trigger and sway the camera around a little (not turn it or move it) just sway it. This gives the game a highly cinematic feel but at the cost of some confusion and getting stuck on edges. It's a nice change up after playing so many games with 3rd person cameras now days but at the same time I feel it restricts many areas and turns them into very pretty hallways. But the pre-set agles and environment layouts are an improvement compared to FFX which really was made up of hallways. Wither you like it or not it benefits by giving the game a highly cinematic atmosphere and a tighter flow with it's story.

Moving about the environment thankfully doesn't feel like your character is sliding across the ground like FFX and for people with little patient can use a hyper run by holding X down it's harder to steer Kaim but it gets you from point A to B really fast. Even with out this hyper run Kaim still feels hard to accurately control he has a slow little build up before he starts to move even with hyper run. Just getting in front of an object to examine it takes practice and mixed with the fixed angles and highly detailed environments Kaim well be getting stuck on parts of the environment all to often. Another issue is poorly place and spaced save spots while thankfully the game has checkpoints before each boss it's a shame that some times after a hour romp through a dungeon, a boss, and many story scenes you still can't find a save point to take a break or to avoid losing your progress due to an unfortunate power outage.

If you think random encounters is so 1997 then you may want to sit down for this one…Random encounters are in this game but for me the worst part about them is waiting to be shifted into a battle field it disconnects everything some how Blue Dragon got away with this maybe it's Lost Odyssey load times but it feels more jarring than ever to get blasted into a battlefield now while watching the camera pan around for 10 seconds before you can take your first turn. Thankfully random battles pop up much less than any RPG I played with random fights. It's nice but mixed with Hyper Run it can be easy to run into a boss under leveled early on. Don't worry though the game has level caps meaning that once you stop getting exp from enemies in the area then you know no matter what there is a way to beat the boss although you still may have to learn the right skills. In a way this is nice and different yet it makes a already linier game just a little more linier. Thankfully like most JRPGs things open up a lot more late in the game.

The actual battle system is pretty traditional here. But there are two aspects that make it unique from say Dragon Quest. The first is the wall system which is basically your front row characters making a damage barrier for the back row using HP. This is pretty cool but in the end it just comes down to the classic front row characters take more damage.

The second is the ring system by equipping rings on characters you can gives bonus to your physical attacks bonus like, Damage up, Poison, element damage, and such. You can equip these rings and swap them while in battle which provides a decent layer of strategy. Like using a boss's weakness against him for a little damage boost. Though it's not that easy see, when you click attack your character starts running toward the baddie you'll notice a ring in the center of the screen. You have to hold down the R Trigger which brings up a bigger ring which narrows down into the smaller ring if you don't time it to where the ring doesn't touch the smaller one the effect well not work. On the other hand if you perfectly line up the rings you get a prefect meaning the effect will always work. This is the main gimmick that carries the battle system and unfortunately after the 2nd real boss fight it comes down to just using damage up rings till disc 4. The other thing is that you'll be using magic A LOT here and that means you won't be using the one real unique thing about the battle system which is a darn shame. The game also makes use of turn order icons which tells turn order which is nice and all but strangely your only allow to see it during a turn action meaning you have to memorize it each time. The other thing that starts to reveal itself in the later half of the game is how slow paced each and every battle is and by the end of the game you'll end up hating each random battle not because there challenging but because there so slow, each battles 10 or so seconds of load time doesn't help either. But don't worry if you love old school turn based RPGs the battles will keep you playing through out.

Each JRPG usually makes use with some form of new leveling and skill system. Lost is Odyssey is no different. With in the game there are mortals and immortals the difference between the two is immortals once killed come back to life after 2 turns while Mortals are much weaker and have to be revive with a item or spell. Mortals each have unique skills or rather each is set with a different job class. Thing is immortals are blank slates they have no skills to learn. Well that sucks right well not really Immortals can just learn skills from the mortals. You do this by linking to a mortal's skill and having that mortal in battle to gather SP. Immortals are the key players of course since they can learn all the skills in the game and become…well gods. There are also skills immortals can learn from accessories this means you'll be swapping out accessories and linking to new mortal skills constantly in the game which can grow tiring but enjoyable to any one who enjoys a lot of maintenance. It's a nice system but personally I find it to be pretty shallow compared to many of the JRPGs released with in the past 14 plus years. But at the very least it well take you while to learn every skill in the game.


One other issue I have to mention before moving on is the game's difficulty balance. The game starts hard. While the normal battles are easy the first 2 real boss fights well totally destroy you. One might expect things to only get more challenging but they don't after the 2nd real boss things get easier and easier. Don't worry it's by no means a cake walk especially if you ignore getting most of the skills. Thankfully a few semi- challenging encounters wait later but it's nothing compared to what the first 2 bosses prepared you for. Most JRPGs are not super challenging but difficulty isn't really the issue here it's just that the first two bosses make you better than the rest of the game.

Looking at this game it's obviously that Mistwalker's intention was to make a Final Fantasy. Stunning graphics and Final Fantasy go hand in hand so one would expect lots of eye candy from Lost Odyssey right? Well you do get a little of that but over all where left with a game with an inconsistent graphic qualities. All of the character models and enemies look great but the highlight graphically is some of the games beautifully detailed backgrounds. Unfortunately that doesn't carry over into the cut-scenes. While technically better then say Final Fantasy X cut-scenes just feel dated…even dated for a Playstation 2 game. Faces are decently modeled except for Jansen's creepy face. But they seem to lack the subtle details and polish of Final Fantasy X and especially FFXII's faces. Even the animation is sub par with a lot of arm flailing or no body movement at all. The game even uses some dated water effects that where hot during the gamecube launch but seem strange now. But the only real huge issue here is the amount of slow down with in the game. Yes graphically it's a mixed bag but like I said before during gameplay it all looks amazing.

JRPGs get a bad rap for character designs unfortunately Lost Odyssey is no exception most of the blame can be put on the horrid outfits. I thought the game would have benefit from having a manga artist here to avoid the cliché gawky characters but nope. Thankfully the monster designs are brilliant and brought to life perfectly, major kudos to the people behind all aspects of the monsters!

Wow! Yeah one word sums up the soundtrack but I'll go into detail more. No doubt in my mind this is the best part of the game. With out Nobuo Umatesu grand score the game would have lost most of it's impact. His scores are what bring about the emotion you feel during each cut-scene and more. This is probably his best overall work has well although Final fantasy IX's nostalgia filled soundtrack is hard to beat. What else is there to say about the soundtrack it's prefect! Has far has voice acting goes the game's English track is a step above FFX but a step below FFXII or Kingdom Hearts 2. There's a few strangely casted characters but overall they all deliver well. Also you can switch to the Japanese voice track if you're bothered by the English actors or just love Japanese. Sound effects seem like your average affair nothing amazing but it all sounds about right.

If judged has the next Final Fantasy this game is a bit of a failure. Thankfully if your smart and consider this Mistwalker's first big budget RPG then you'll see the game for what it is a promising start and a pretty damn fine traditional JRPG. I'd highly recommend the game to Final Fantasy fans and JPRGs fans it's worth your time and money. Alright Mistwalker bring on your next bug budget RPG!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/09

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