Im 62 hours into the game.
Usually at this point Im either trying like heck to finish the game just for it to be over or I am delaying for as long as possible to prepare for some real fireworks at the end. So yeah this game is so good that I'm grinding and doing the latter. Searching for spells and items that I missed and basically super-powering my characters.
It is not often at all that a game gets me to do that so really that alone says a lot. Think I got this a few weeks ago, allready put in 60+ hours and it is still fun to me.
Big Kudos in the story dept. Check for characters thoughtfully crafted and check for an engaging plot that leaves you caring about said characters and what happens to them. Check for pulse pounding, epic boss encounters. Check for amazing music crafted by an industry great that helps imerse you further. Check for awesome HD CGI.
Most of all this game gets a HUGE gameplay nod IMO. There are many subtleties on this subject GS did not seem to remark on at all. It is turn based but the difficulty funnels players into utilizing the ring crafting system and pretty much anything else to make them stronger. Because each spell and action is specifically timed in a way that is visible to the player each choice you make can be monumentally important and timing becomes paramount. This isn't simply chose attack over and over and watch it all happen. Choices and strategy matter and with this level of difficulty it is obvious why they did not use an active battle system.
Some say that the turn based system mostly lends itself to creating feelings of nostalgia but to me its far more then that. Moving to real time battle is a bad move for JRPG's in general because the feeling of tension and strategy feels all but removed. Granted I've played FF12 and KOTOR( like KOTOR lots more) and I know that those games are strategic, however, in FF12 it felt like you wind up your characters and set them in motion rather then actually being there for every tactical decision.
Another big point for gameplay is the fact that in older JRPG's it can be easy to settle on one group of character and neglect others. Two things in LO allow you to comfortably use all characters. First is the difference between mortals and immortals and this is one of the coolest things about LO because it blends free-form open class characters with static ones. I allways thought there were pros- and cons to each but this is the first time I've seen both in the same game and It was done VERY well. Mortals learn new skills of there own as they level up whereas immortals do not. However, immortals can learn skills FROM mortals. This is a good encouragement to through every character in the mix so that immortal characters become as versatile as possible. Also you want to keep leveling up those peripheral characters because my second point on this subject is that the scenario can often break you into pre-set parties where you may be forced to rely on a character that you had not developed. This reminded me of FF3( SNES) which is one of my favorites.
LO bucks the trend a little bit by omiting summons but I was VERY pleased by that. Square's use of summons became increasingly lame as the years went on. Please I don't want to watch a full length movie just because I made one character attack. In a game where you spend so many hours grinding in fights it gets old very quick watching overly lengthy attack sequences.
Overall this game feels like a natural evolution of what I loved in the past rather then a complete departure( cough cough FF).
The theme of the game is dark enough, however, it is filled with humor and joy at times too. The thousand year dreams short stories are well written and add significant back-story( which is saying a lot when several characters are over 1000 years old).
I could go on longer but I guess you were just asking if it was good. Yeah I vouch for it :P
Lost Odyssey is awesome and I hope Sakaguchi's new company takes off in a big way in the future because he deserves it.
Log in to comment