Lost Odyssey vs Final Fantasy, or: why is Square doing that?

So I just started playing Lost Odyssey, and all graphical wows aside, I gotta say it is an excellent JRPG, in the vein of the classic Final Fantasy games that got me into the genre in the first place, only with HD-era graphics. Everything was just perfect for me, it had the core gameplay from the classic JRPG (turn-based combat, realtime worldmap, even ships with a captain named Sed :D), but it combined it silky smooth runtime and gorgeous graphics. I'm just awed and I'm loving the game. Plus the story, while cheesy and bit predictable, was still well-voiced and really, it's what you'd expect from the genre anyway.

So that brings me to Final Fantasy 13, which probably won't be coming anytime soon, but I'm alreadly really upset about. Because we all know what is going to happen; Square will never turn back the clock, and make FF a turn-based game, like VII, VIII, or X were. No, they will make it like XII, a real-time Final Fantasy. Now, I've played XII, and while it was all right, it just didn't have the same magic the VII, VIII, or X had. I think part of the problem was that there was a lack of the tactical combat situations you had when you could only select one action per round, and had to make strategic decisions about what those actions would be.

Lost Odyssey has done everything right in my opinion. In the world of gaming, graphics should go forward, and Lost Odyssey has done that. But far MORE importantly is what the game does NOT do. It does NOT remove important parts of the core JRPG experience that has made it so addictive for millions of fans everywhere. There's an old saying about things that aren't broken, I wish Square knew about that one.

The sad thing is, me and anywhere from a few hundred thousand to maybe even a million gamers are going to buy FF XIII anyway. That's right, I'm getting it anyway, despite the fact that I already feel it'll be inferior to Lost Odyssey. Why? Because I've always loved the Final Fantasy series, and I'm putting out hope that just maybe they might get their spark back someday. But I guess I'm just flabbergasted at Square for not realizing that changing core gameplay features in this beloved series is a horrible idea. Lost Odyssey has clearly shown that turn based combat not only can still work, but can be incredibly deep and fun as well. Here's to hoping Square gets the memo.

I will not pass judgement over Final Fantasy XIII; despite the ridiculously high production values and the inevitable graphics wow, too little is known about the game(s) to say anything. However, I do not expect to like it, simply because Lost Odyssey is the most awesome thing ever: It is the spiritual successor of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. It offers everything that drove me into loving JRPGs; whereas FF X and every Squeenix game thereafer gradually derived from the formula in terms of innovation and appealing to the new market.

I really wanted to like FF XII, and to some extend I did - But only because I gave up on expecting to ever playing a JRPG as great as Xenogears or the psx FFs again.

LO taught me otherwise.

I don't like TRPG much, I only did it in the earlier FFs because of the scope of the story :)

I found XII to be a welcome change, if a bit clunky.

When we can sit and play both games, then we'll judge. LO so far has been really really fun. A first in a long time to where I cared for the characters.

If you don't like Final Fantasy battle system, you can look Final Fantasy Versus XIII, because it will be different than other Final Fantasy series....

"There is nothing either good or bad...
But thinking makes it so...."- William Shakespeare
________"In terms of things, there is nothing essential good or evil"

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

mistervengeance

How can you know this? Fanboy?

[QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

TerroRizing

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

[QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

Wanderer5

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

QUOTE FOAR TEH EPIC TRUTH!!

I haven't had the chance to play Lost Odyssey yet, been too busy playing Counter Strike or Call of Duty 4 with my friends. My brother loves it though and he has good taste..somewhat (he argues with me that Jericho is good, but he's just an achievement whore and has like all of them so its clouded his vision). He says its better than FFXII, so i'll have to take his word being that I never played it. I was too addicted to Socom 2 and Socom: Combined Assault.

Watching my brother play, I thought it was pretty dumb that there were no limit breaks or summons. I guess Sakaguchi didn't want it to be an identical FF clone. Will it be better than FFXIII? No. People can hate on FF all they want, but in terms of production it is the best and I expect no less from the next entry.

I have never seen a game that can really compare to how FF captures the gamer in a good story that makes you forget about how the game is player(turn based). When I first started FF Series I hate it because of the battle system but it quickly changed after you start listening to the character and story. Although I have to Say LO is a very good looking game. If I had the money to buy a XBOX it would probabaly the game i would get.Berserker1_5

Ive seen alot of games that can, lets make a short list.

Chrono Trigger

Vagrant Story

Chrono Cross

Xenogears

Shadow Hearts

Dragon Quest

Persona

[QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

Wanderer5

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

It really does though. People can talk crap about Final Fantasy all they want but it really comes down to this:

FFVI (ok no review score but it's the best)
FFVII 9.5
FFVIII 9.5
FFIX 8.5
FFX 9.3
FFXI 8.0
FFXII 9.0


What other JRPG franchise could you say has lasted this long and consistently put out titles of this quality?

I haven't had the chance to play Lost Odyssey yet, been too busy playing Counter Strike or Call of Duty 4 with my friends. My brother loves it though and he has good taste..somewhat (he argues with me that Jericho is good, but he's just an achievement whore and has like all of them so its clouded his vision). He says its better than FFXII, so i'll have to take his word being that I never played it. I was too addicted to Socom 2 and Socom: Combined Assault.

Watching my brother play, I thought it was pretty dumb that there were no limit breaks or summons. I guess Sakaguchi didn't want it to be an identical FF clone. Will it be better than FFXIII? No. People can hate on FF all they want, but in terms of production it is the best and I expect no less from the next entry.

xH4VOK

It might be better, Final Fantasy XIII might not even be any good. Lost Odyssey is more like Shadow Hearts 4 than a Final Fantasy game...

[QUOTE="Wanderer5"][QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

DireToad

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

It really does though. People can talk crap about Final Fantasy all they want but it really comes down to this:

FFVI (ok no review score but it's the best)
FFVII 9.5
FFVIII 9.5
FFIX 8.5
FFX 9.3
FFXI 8.0
FFXII 9.0


What other JRPG franchise could you say has lasted this long and consistently put out titles of this quality?

The Chrono series, only two games but both perfect 10.

[QUOTE="DireToad"][QUOTE="Wanderer5"][QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

TerroRizing

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

It really does though. People can talk crap about Final Fantasy all they want but it really comes down to this:

FFVI (ok no review score but it's the best)
FFVII 9.5
FFVIII 9.5
FFIX 8.5
FFX 9.3
FFXI 8.0
FFXII 9.0


What other JRPG franchise could you say has lasted this long and consistently put out titles of this quality?

The Chrono series, only two games but both perfect 10.

[QUOTE="Wanderer5"][QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

DireToad

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

It really does though. People can talk crap about Final Fantasy all they want but it really comes down to this:

FFVI (ok no review score but it's the best)
FFVII 9.5
FFVIII 9.5
FFIX 8.5
FFX 9.3
FFXI 8.0
FFXII 9.0


What other JRPG franchise could you say has lasted this long and consistently put out titles of this quality?

Who cares Chrono cross is a 10 and I am pretty sure if they review Chrono Trigger it would be a 9.5-10 so there

(plz do not take this post seriously)

[QUOTE="xH4VOK"]

I haven't had the chance to play Lost Odyssey yet, been too busy playing Counter Strike or Call of Duty 4 with my friends. My brother loves it though and he has good taste..somewhat (he argues with me that Jericho is good, but he's just an achievement whore and has like all of them so its clouded his vision). He says its better than FFXII, so i'll have to take his word being that I never played it. I was too addicted to Socom 2 and Socom: Combined Assault.

Watching my brother play, I thought it was pretty dumb that there were no limit breaks or summons. I guess Sakaguchi didn't want it to be an identical FF clone. Will it be better than FFXIII? No. People can hate on FF all they want, but in terms of production it is the best and I expect no less from the next entry.

TerroRizing

It might be better, Final Fantasy XIII might not even be any good. Lost Odyssey is more like Shadow Hearts 4 than a Final Fantasy game...

Noooooooooooooooo!!!! Shadow Hearts 4?!?! Take that back! lol. But I'm seriously disappointed that the SH devs are behind this and not a shadow hearts sequel as good as Lost odyssey really is.

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

mistervengeance

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

[QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

xsubtownerx

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

FFXIII > LO.Chutebox

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

DireToad

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

Because I like LO? I didn't know that made me a fanboy.

[QUOTE="DireToad"][QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

xsubtownerx

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

Because I like LO? I didn't know that made me a fanboy.

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="DireToad"][QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

DireToad

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

Because I like LO? I didn't know that made me a fanboy.

Oh give me a break. I'm not falling for that again. You should check out gametrailers reviews on JRPG games. They be number one for that genre. :)

[QUOTE="DireToad"][QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="DireToad"][QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

xsubtownerx

Typical fanboy opinion. The only way FFXIII can be better than any 360 RPG is if they make all the cut scenes CGI. FFXII was garbage. I'm sorry. Pure garbage. You should try LO before you make such a statement.

Because I like LO? I didn't know that made me a fanboy.

Oh give me a break. I'm not falling for that again. You should check out gametrailers reviews on JRPG games. They be number one for that genre. :)

Honestly I like to see the reviews of many sources.

[QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

TerroRizing

How can you know this? Fanboy?

look at the games squaresoft/square enix has pushed out in the past, especially the main final fantasy series, a mostly AAA series.

here are some..

final fantasy 12- 9.0

final fantasy 12 DS- 8.5 (RTS)

final fantasy 11( ps2)- 8.0(MMO)

final fantasy x- 9.3

final fantasy 7- 9.5

final fantasy 8 -9.5

final fantasy 9-8.5

as you can see the devs at squaresoft/square enix are very proficient at making RPGs

however, for some reason, whenever a jrpg is made for the 360, even if it's made by the FF devs, it turns out bad.

now i'm not saying that these are bad solely because they're on the 360, but there's a coincidence here.

lost odyseey- 7.5(i know they might change the review but at most that brings it up to an 8.0)

(ff devs)

eternal sonata- 8.5

blue dragon -6.0(ff devs)

encahnted arms- 7.1

while some of these games aren't too bad, you have to admit the 360's track record with rpg's isnt that good.

there could be a couple causes for this, perhaps in making a game for the 360 the devs try to make an rpg that would please a more worldly audience instead of just doing whatever they want as in the FF series.

[QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

mistervengeance

How can you know this? Fanboy?

look at the games squaresoft/square enix has pushed out in the past, especially the main final fantasy series, a mostly AAA series.

here are some..

final fantasy 12- 9.0

final fantasy 12 DS- 8.5 (RTS)

final fantasy 11( ps2)- 8.0(MMO)

final fantasy x- 9.3

final fantasy 7- 9.5

final fantasy 8 -9.5

final fantasy 9-8.5

as you can see the devs at squaresoft/square enix are very proficient at making RPGs

however, for some reason, whenever a jrpg is made for the 360, even if it's made by the FF devs, it turns out bad.

now i'm not saying that these are bad solely because they're on the 360, but there's a coincidence here.

lost odyseey- 7.5(i know they might change the review but at most that brings it up to an 8.0)

(ff devs)

eternal sonata- 8.5

blue dragon -6.0(ff devs)

encahnted arms- 7.1

while some of these games aren't too bad, you have to admit the 360's track record with rpg's isnt that good.

there could be a couple causes for this, perhaps in making a game for the 360 the devs try to make an rpg that would please a more worldly audience instead of just doing whatever they want as in the FF series.

You shouldnt base your opinion solely on Gamespot review scores, especially for JRPGs. Most people know Final Fantasy games are going to be rated highly whether they deserve it or not.

Most people know Final Fantasy games are going to be rated highly whether they deserve it or not.

TerroRizing

You shouldnt base your opinion solely on Gamespot review scores, especially for JRPGs. Most people know Final Fantasy games are going to be rated highly whether they deserve it or not. TerroRizing

Everyone has an excuse for when games get rated high.

Why is it when a game is rated poorly, almost everyone can agree that its because it was a poorly made game but when its rated good everyone throws excuses around.

Did any of you ever stop to think that maybe, the game is just great and that maybe you just don't happen to like it? Its always how they were rated high because of the series name, brand recognition, the devs have always produced great games so even with the "bad" ones they are given the benefit of the doubt.

FF gets rated high because it's a great series. If the ratings went off of series name FFIX would've gotten AAA and FFXI would've gotten AAA, but they didn't. I won't even bother arguing this though, because the cool kids always love to hate on whats great at the time so it'll never get through.

Which is why Lost Odyssey got mixed reviews. It shows that the game didn't really want to try anything really new and felt too traditional. The changes that Final Fantasy bring are welcomed by most and shunned by few. And talking about traditional FFs, you forgot to mention FFIX, the best in the series IMO, the game itself was a tribute to traditional FFs.exiledsnake

there were some good changes. it just felt right. combat was great and everything.

[QUOTE="Wanderer5"][QUOTE="TerroRizing"][QUOTE="mistervengeance"]

final fantasy 12 controlled very nicely

i am really stoked for 13, and already know it will be better than any rpg on the 360.

exiledsnake

How can you know this? Fanboy?

Because teh Final Fantasy beats all.:P

QUOTE FOAR TEH EPIC TRUTH!!

chrono trigger anyone?

FFXIII will be far better than LO. Lemmings will never ever see an exclusive AAA rpg. :lol:AvIdGaMeR444

you'd better hope that it sells well because if it doesn't then square said it'll be multi-plat..