Some video games reach the player through action, some artistry, and some characters. There are some games that connect with the player through raw emotion. Of all the JRPGs I've played, Lost Odyssey is the only that evoked sadness and feeling for the characters, even incidental ones. Through the memories of the main character Kaim, an immortal, we as the player see the fragility and beauty of the short life humans live.
Many reviewers you'll see on various reviewing websites like to announce the death of the Japanese styled Turn Based RPG (JRPG on a general basis). However this is simply not the case. Read any forums, talk to any fans and the newest generation of JRPGs (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Persona 3/4, and to an extent Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant) and you'll almost always get a fairly positive reaction. That's because they are indeed fun. For some reason people tend to believe that Western styled real time moral choice RPGs (WRPGs) can 'fix' RPGs. Check this if you're interested in their arguments. I believe Lost Odyssey is the answer to this. Is it perfect? No. But it is one of the most meaningful gaming experiences I've had in a long time.
Graphics
First off is graphics. Wow is this game pretty. Even though the game suffers from pushing the player through a usual group of settings (woods, castles, sewers... which I don't really mind, but some people do), everything is very attractive. The models themselves are really attractive, with each character having their own little details. Probably my favorite looking character is Sed. Just look him up online somewhere, the simple detail in his face is remarkable.
In terms of settings, the Lost Odyssey is very detailed. I'm a big fan of the magical 'mist' that surrounds the magic machines that pepper the world. The enemies are varied and the bosses are mostly impressive (though the final boss does fail to impress. He's barely bigger than your characters). The frame rate can be a problem, and towards the end of the game I did have quite a bit of freezing during random battles before the actual fighting began. Again, I don't mind much but this is kind of an annoyance from a technical standpoint.
I mean, you see that in the opening scene of the game. How is that not awesome?
Sound
With Nobuo Uematsu (from Final Fantasy fame) as the lead composer, why wouldn't the sound be good? I'm a huge fan of the music in this game, and it had me whistling along towards the end. Of special note is the World Map theme and the Boss Music. I think I was desensitized to the normal battle music, and the 'Arena' song was pretty cool, but since you hear the World Map and Boss themes all the time, I have to admit I have a special place in my heart for them.
Sound effects do their job. However, I was a big fan of the voice acting. Jansen, while annoying, couldn't have done better for his character. Several times there would be no subtitle, and he would put little "woah" or "Hey, look out"s here and there. It was a nice touch. Every one else was fairly serviceable, with no... painful scenes like the laughing scene in Final Fantasy X. I liked the VA in that game but... geez.
Gameplay
Lost Odyssey is a turn based random battle RPG. If you don't like those, you probably won't like this one. For people who like their battles deliberate and turn based, this one does the trick. Battles typically don't show up too often, giving you plenty of time to run around between them. However, the areas you run around in aren't very... open. Like old-school RPGs, you are typically railroaded through each area with only a few branching paths if you're interested in picking up items. Otherwise it's point-a to point-b through most of the game. Towards the end this changes up, giving some fairly puzzle oriented areas, including one I just didn't go through (the Temple of Enlightenment is for hardcore people only, and while I'm a dedicated gamer, I'm not THAT hardcore).
The battles are not too tough, though if you don't pay attention to the enemy type you can make it a lot harder for yourself. Here's where an interesting part of the game comes in: Ring creation. See you can equip your character with rings that give them various abilities such as fire damage, or extra damage against beasts. With the items you find in chests and off enemies you can build new and more powerful rings. Also you can change them in battle, so if you're okay with taking that extra time, you can make sure your characters are ready for any challenge. Boss battle ratchet up the difficulty significantly, with me losing against the first boss pretty handily at least twice. However if you have the right abilities and you level up right, you can plow right through your opponents no problem. The final boss was cake for me.
The aforementioned abilities are an awesome addition. You see, as your mortal characters level up, they learn new abilities like magic or physical attacks. However, your immortals (four in all) do not. Instead they learn abilities through interaction with the mortals. This translates into receiving SP from battles while 'linked' with mortal characters. Say you want Queen Ming to learn level 6 black magic? Link her with Jansen and fight a bunch. Eventually she'll learn level 6 black magic that you can equip on her at any time. The same with any of the other immortals. They also learn abilities through accessories, and by the end of the game all of my immortals had "Nullify All Elements" and "Resist Ailments" which pretty much meant the final boss was a pansy compared to me.
Side quests don't really show up until the fourth disc, and if you want each character's best weapon you need to do them. I did them because I'm OCD about not having them (except for Mack... I had to beat the Temple of Enlightenment to get his. He's useless at the end anyway...). Its up to you if you care, but its integral to getting the "Treasure Hunter" achievement, which involves getting every item in the game.
Story
Since this is an RPG, I need to talk about the story. While the main story itself fails to be terribly interesting, there are some key points the game hits to keep it memorable for me. First is the characters.
The characters in this story are:
From left to right: Mack, Cooke, Sarah, Kaim, Seth, Sed, Jansen, Ming, Tolten, and Gongora.
Of them Sarah, Kaim, Seth, and Ming are immortals. Gongora is also an immortal, but he's the bad guy so he doesn't count. Something that matters a great deal to me in terms of characters is charm. If the story sucks (I guess it kinda does) but the characters are interesting, I'll play through it. This is the case here. Like I said, Jansen is annoying, but fun. Kaim is mostly mean but is a big softy around his grandchildren Cooke and Mack. His wife Sarah is sweet and Cooke and Mack are cute at best, annoying at worst. Ming is very noble, and works well in conjunction with Jansen, while Seth and Sed (mother and son respectively) are probably the most fun. Tolten is a good character in battle, but man is he a wuss... However, all the characters work well in respect to each other.
The second point of the story I enjoyed are Kaim, Seth, and Ming's dreams. Through the story you can unlock several dreams that are missing memories of the immortals. These stories are the most emotional, well-written pieces of literature I've ever read in a video game. Several times I got choked up, and one story about an old woman who's mind reverted to that of a child made me up and cry. I'll admit it, I cried. But... that's the cool part. However, they are all text which is something you should remember. Nobody's going to read them to you, so if you don't like reading... tough.
However, not everything is so peachy. The game fails in explaining each of their characters well. Three of the five immortals are well done. What happened to Sarah and Gongora? Sarah doesn't get a dream at all, and stands around being demurely attractive, while Gongora is the "muwahahaha!" villain. While I like Sarah a great deal, it is a great disservice to the character that she was so ignored. Also, we get a good bit of past... or at least a little past of everyone except Jansen. How old is he? Where's he from? Did he grow up in Uhra? As one of the three main-main characters, I don't know a thing about him. Unacceptable. Lastly, the nature, purpose, and world of the immortals is not sufficiently explained, if at all. It's really important towards the end, as to why they came to the world... but they never tell us. I was really disappointed.
Verdict
Do you like Japanese styled RPGs? Then play Lost Odyssey. Seriously though, this game does have flaws, but the characters and dreams make up for the deficiencies of the main story and the sometimes boring and easy random battles. The rings and abilities are perfect for the collection-crazy player, and the boss battles are challenging enough for the strategic minded. However, with some lack in character development and some serious gaps in the main story, the game is held back. I'd certainly recommend this game by the sheer virtue that I completed it. That doesn't happen all that often, so take that how you will. Lost Odyssey is an emotional, personal game that deserves your time.
B-
