Sword Machine Review: Lost Odyssey

Lost Odyssey is Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s second project with his independent studio, Mistwalker, in collaboration with Microsoft as publisher, and feelplus as developer. Calling in a soundtrack from long-time composer friend, Nobuo Uematsu, character designs by Japanese manga artist Takehiko Inoue, and plot collaboration with award winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu, Lost Odyssey strives for a deeper and more mature plot, realistic graphics, and a very classic approach to turn-based battles. Though the game received what many RPG enthusiasts feel was a beating by critics, the game has been very well received by fans, especially in North America.

Story: A+
Lost Odyssey follows the story of Kaim Argonar, a man fated to live 1000 years without aging a day, but through some unknown power, has been wiped of his memories and forced into the servitude of a wizard politician. Through his journeys and various encounters with other “immortals,” Kaim slowly begins to reconstruct his and his friends’ memories.

Lost Odyssey arguably has two storylines. On one hand, the game’s main storyline focuses on Kaim’s exploits as he and his companions get caught up in the political upheaval of several countries teetering on uneasy alliances. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Kaim’s memories of 1000 years of life begin to return to him, each told through “dreams” penned by Kiyoshi Shigematsu.

The dreams are optional, and are triggered by various encounters or events throughout the game, and though they don’t directly influence much of the storyline, they are absolutely gorgeous works of literature, and some of the most emotional writing ever to grace video gaming. Every now and again, I would get a little annoyed that one would interrupt the flow of the game, but after I read one or two sentences, I forgot all my reservations, and became glued to the screen.

However, the game’s main storyline (the one that you will actually be playing) is also painstakingly written, and represents one of the most compelling examples of legitimately good storytelling. The beginning starts off a little slow, but is not overly tedious in any way, and provides for a nice introduction to a much grander, much more involving story the further you play.

And indeed, Lost Odyssey is a game that starts you off interested, but becomes nearly impossible to put down the further you go. In fact, my only real complaint about Lost Odyssey’s story is that it ends. The game is literally so good, part of me wanted to play it forever.

Visuals: A
Running on the Unreal Engine 3, Lost Odyssey looks fantastic. The character models are incredibly detailed, and even the in-game cutscenes could often pass for pre-renders. In fact, if it weren’t for the additional smoothing filters applied to the pre-rendered FMVs, there would be absolutely no difference is quality. Oh, and for the Unreal Engine haters, the game is not brown and grey. It actually achieves a very impressionistic look while retaining a strong link to reality.

In conjunction with the graphics is, of course, the art direction. I’ll admit that when I first saw Lost Odyssey announced back in 2005, its art direction didn’t do much for me. Too dark. Too gritty. Too realistic. However, the more I saw of the game, the more wrong I found that I was. Everything from costume design down to architecture screams attention to detail, and obvious effort was put into making the world of Lost Odyssey feel alive. Character designs are spot-on for their parts, and a few characters in particular (Seth, Sed, and Cooke to name a few) are some of the most individualistic designs I have seen in a long time.

Though I have no complaints about the game’s art direction, the game unfortunately has a few undeniable technical issues that prevent it from achieving a higher grade. Though long load times present in the Japanese version have been addressed in the North American (and assumedly European) version, the game does occasionally suffer from blips in framerate during battle transitions, and can occasionally lead to freezing (never happened to me, but did to a friend with an older console). In general this does not affect the flow of the gameplay (especially once you’re used to it), but needs to be mentioned regardless.

(As a note, it will be interesting to see if this problem is remedied at all by installing the game on your hard drive after the 360’s upcoming Fall update.)

Sound: A+
Lost Odyssey’s soundtrack is Nobuo Uematsu’s best work since the days of the original PlayStation. Simple as that. The soundtrack is absolutely epic throughout the entirety of the game, and there is not one track that I felt was dull or out of place. Indeed, I would easily rank Lost Odyssey’s music on par with classics like Final Fantasy VI, VII, and IX. Words, unfortunately, do not do the soundtrack justice. Just go play the game. You’ll see for yourself.

If Uematsu’s soundtrack is his best in a long time, the English voice acting is the best JRPG voice acting EVER. Each character’s voice is perfect for their character, and each manages a truly brilliant performance that never sounds forced or cheesy. The game was built based on the English cast, so the lip synching is spot on.

In addition, the game contains voice tracks for Japanese, French, Spanish, and a few other languages, should you be so inclined. Though I’m not sure this amount of different casts was necessary, it is definitely a testament to the effort put in by the publisher and developer alike.

The only thing that prevents Lost Odyssey’s score from taking the coveted ‘S’ rank here is (surprisingly) the Japanese voice work, which feels mostly dull and forced, and is among some of the worst voice work I have ever heard in an RPG. Ouch. However, the game was meant to be played in English, and unless you have some kind of strange vendetta against the English language, the poor quality of the Japanese track should never be an issue anyway.

Gameplay: B+
Make no mistake, Lost Odyssey plays like an old school RPG. Battles are (mostly) random and completely turn-based. Magic-users are good at magic and fighters are good with swords. Townspeople will randomly roam around town giving you repeatable information. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. For an RPG fan who really got hooked during the 16-bit era, Lost Odyssey feels almost like playing Super Nintendo RPGs again, and even brings with it a sense of nostalgia to a brand new game.

This is not to say that Lost Odyssey is without innovations. The ring system adds an action-timing mechanic to battles, allowing your characters to add effects to their attacks (elemental, monster-slaying, status effects, and so on) if the Left Trigger is released at the right time. During difficult fights (and you will definitely have difficult fights), using these rings becomes essential to your victory, and having an ample supply of rings at all times is critical (you can switch your characters’ equipment at any time during battle, so you don’t need to worry if you have the wrong ring on).

Additionally, your eventual 9 party members are classified either as “mortals” or “immortals.” Your mortals build their skills very traditionally, learning new moves and abilities as their skill levels increase. Your immortals, however, do not natively learn skills on their own, but must “link” with a mortal’s skills in order to learn them. Your immortals may also learn skills from accessories (like a poison resistance from a poison guard). These skills may then be set to various skill slots so that they can take effect in battle.

Playing straight through the story will probably take you about 50 hours, but Lost Odyssey is far from a game to speed run through, and most players will inevitably work on at least some of the side quests (like slaying the Blue Dragon) or mini-games. The game is not excessively difficult, but is far from a walk in the park either, with some of the bosses offering even the tactically minded a real run for their

<span>Lost Odyssey is Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s second project with his independent studio, Mistwalker, in collaboration with Microsoft as publisher, and feelplus as developer. Calling in a soundtrack from long-time composer friend, Nobuo Uematsu, character designs by Japanese manga artist Takehiko Inoue, and plot collaboration with award winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu, Lost Odyssey strives for a deeper and more mature plot, realistic graphics, and a very classic approach to turn-based battles. Though the game received what many RPG enthusiasts feel was a beating by critics, the game has been very well received by fans, especially in North America.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Story: A+</span> <span>Lost Odyssey follows the story of Kaim Argonar, a man fated to live 1000 years without aging a day, but through some unknown power, has been wiped of his memories and forced into the servitude of a wizard politician. Through his journeys and various encounters with other “immortals,” Kaim slowly begins to reconstruct his and his friends’ memories.</span> <span>Lost Odyssey arguably has two storylines. On one hand, the game’s main storyline focuses on Kaim’s exploits as he and his companions get caught up in the political upheaval of several countries teetering on uneasy alliances. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Kaim’s memories of 1000 years of life begin to return to him, each told through “dreams” penned by Kiyoshi Shigematsu.</span> <span>The dreams are optional, and are triggered by various encounters or events throughout the game, and though they don’t directly influence much of the storyline, they are absolutely gorgeous works of literature, and some of the most emotional writing ever to grace video gaming. Every now and again, I would get a little annoyed that one would interrupt the flow of the game, but after I read one or two sentences, I forgot all my reservations, and became glued to the screen.</span> <span>However, the game’s main storyline (the one that you will actually be playing) is also painstakingly written, and represents one of the most compelling examples of legitimately good storytelling. The beginning starts off a little slow, but is not overly tedious in any way, and provides for a nice introduction to a much grander, much more involving story the further you play.</span> <span>And indeed, Lost Odyssey is a game that starts you off interested, but becomes nearly impossible to put down the further you go. In fact, my only real complaint about Lost Odyssey’s story is that it ends. The game is literally so good, part of me wanted to play it forever.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Visuals: A</span> <span>Running on the Unreal Engine 3, Lost Odyssey looks fantastic. The character models are incredibly detailed, and even the in-game cutscenes could often pass for pre-renders. In fact, if it weren’t for the additional smoothing filters applied to the pre-rendered FMVs, there would be absolutely no difference is quality. Oh, and for the Unreal Engine haters, the game is not brown and grey. It actually achieves a very impressionistic look while retaining a strong link to reality.</span> <span>In conjunction with the graphics is, of course, the art direction. I’ll admit that when I first saw Lost Odyssey announced back in 2005, its art direction didn’t do much for me. Too dark. Too gritty. Too realistic. However, the more I saw of the game, the more wrong I found that I was. Everything from costume design down to architecture screams attention to detail, and obvious effort was put into making the world of Lost Odyssey feel alive. Character designs are spot-on for their parts, and a few characters in particular (Seth, Sed, and Cooke to name a few) are some of the most individualistic designs I have seen in a long time.</span> <span>Though I have no complaints about the game’s art direction, the game unfortunately has a few undeniable technical issues that prevent it from achieving a higher grade. Though long load times present in the Japanese version have been addressed in the North American (and assumedly European) version, the game does occasionally suffer from blips in framerate during battle transitions, and can occasionally lead to freezing (never happened to me, but did to a friend with an older console). In general this does not affect the flow of the gameplay (especially once you’re used to it), but needs to be mentioned regardless.</span> <span>(As a note, it will be interesting to see if this problem is remedied at all by installing the game on your hard drive after the 360’s upcoming Fall update.)</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Sound: A+</span> <span>Lost Odyssey’s soundtrack is Nobuo Uematsu’s best work since the days of the original PlayStation. Simple as that. The soundtrack is absolutely epic throughout the entirety of the game, and there is not one track that I felt was dull or out of place. Indeed, I would easily rank Lost Odyssey’s music on par with classics like Final Fantasy VI, VII, and IX. Words, unfortunately, do not do the soundtrack justice. Just go play the game. You’ll see for yourself.</span> <span>If Uematsu’s soundtrack is his best in a long time, the English voice acting is the best JRPG voice acting EVER. Each character’s voice is perfect for their character, and each manages a truly brilliant performance that never sounds forced or cheesy. The game was built based on the English cast, so the lip synching is spot on.</span> <span>In addition, the game contains voice tracks for Japanese, French, Spanish, and a few other languages, should you be so inclined. Though I’m not sure this amount of different casts was necessary, it is definitely a testament to the effort put in by the publisher and developer alike.</span> <span>The only thing that prevents Lost Odyssey’s score from taking the coveted ‘S’ rank here is (surprisingly) the Japanese voice work, which feels mostly dull and forced, and is among some of the worst voice work I have ever heard in an RPG. Ouch. However, the game was meant to be played in English, and unless you have some kind of strange vendetta against the English language, the poor quality of the Japanese track should never be an issue anyway.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Gameplay: B+</span> <span>Make no mistake, Lost Odyssey plays like an old school RPG. Battles are (mostly) random and completely turn-based. Magic-users are good at magic and fighters are good with swords. Townspeople will randomly roam around town giving you repeatable information. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. For an RPG fan who really got hooked during the 16-bit era, Lost Odyssey feels almost like playing Super Nintendo RPGs again, and even brings with it a sense of nostalgia to a brand new game.</span> <span>This is not to say that Lost Odyssey is without innovations. The ring system adds an action-timing mechanic to battles, allowing your characters to add effects to their attacks (elemental, monster-slaying, status effects, and so on) if the Left Trigger is released at the right time. During difficult fights (and you will definitely have difficult fights), using these rings becomes essential to your victory, and having an ample supply of rings at all times is critical (you can switch your characters’ equipment at any time during battle, so you don’t need to worry if you have the wrong ring on).</span> <span>Additionally, your eventual 9 party members are classified either as “mortals” or “immortals.” Your mortals build their skills very traditionally, learning new moves and abilities as their skill levels increase. Your immortals, however, do not natively learn skills on their own, but must “link” with a mortal’s skills in order to learn them. Your immortals may also learn skills from accessories (like a poison resistance from a poison guard). These skills may then be set to various skill slots so that they can take effect in battle.</span> <span>Playing straight through the story will probably take you 40 or 50 hours, but Lost Odyssey is far from a game to speed run through, and most players will inevitably work on at least some of the side quests (like slaying the Blue Dragon). The game is not excessively difficult, but is far from a walk in the park either, with some of the bosses offering even the tactically minded a real run for their money, and at least a couple of game over screens. Overall, I spent nearly 90 hours on the game in one playthrough, and even then didn’t finish off all of the extra content.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; ">Overall: A+</span> <span>I have one major complaint about Lost Odyssey: it ends. The experience was so blissful for me, that I actually dreaded getting to another disc, as it meant that I was just that much closer to it being over. I quite literally plead with the game to give me “one more dungeon before the next disc.”</span> <span>In terms of “legitimate” concerns with Lost Odyssey (though I consider the above quite legitimate) are its random battles and minor technical issues. However, neither of these is enough to detract from the amount of polish the game exudes.</span> <span>Lost Odyssey is a true masterpiece of RPGaming. Everything from the story to the soundtrack, from the art direction to the battle system, is swimming in quality. The game truly offers something for everyone, whether you are a hardcore RPG fan, birthed in the fires of text-based games on your Commodore 64, or a casual fan who likes the odd RPG every now and again. Lost Odyssey is not only the best 7th generation RPG on the market right now, but perhaps the best turn-based RPG in a very long time, and is a solid recommendation to anyone with any kind of love for the genre at all. Check out our <a href="http://swordmachine.blogspot.com/2008/06/sword-machine-review-criteria.html">review criteria</a> and <a href="http://swordmachine.blogspot.com/2008/06/sword-machine-scoring-breakdown.html">scoring breakdown</a> for more information. </span>money, and at least a couple of game over screens. Overall, I spent nearly 90 hours on the game in one playthrough, and even then didn’t finish off all of the extra content.

Overall: A+
I have one major complaint about Lost Odyssey: it ends. The experience was so blissful for me, that I actually dreaded getting to another disc, as it meant that I was just that much closer to it being over. I quite literally plead with the game to give me “one more dungeon before the next disc.”

In terms of “legitimate” concerns with Lost Odyssey (though I consider the above quite legitimate) are its random battles and minor technical issues. However, neither of these is enough to detract from the amount of polish the game exudes.

Lost Odyssey is a true masterpiece of RPGaming. Everything from the story to the soundtrack, from the art direction to the battle system, is swimming in quality. The game truly offers something for everyone, whether you are a hardcore RPG fan, birthed in the fires of text-based games on your Commodore 64, or a casual fan who likes the odd RPG every now and again. Lost Odyssey is not only the best 7th generation RPG on the market right now, but perhaps the best turn-based RPG in a very long time, and is a solid recommendation to anyone with any kind of love for the genre at all.

Check out our review criteria and scoring breakdown for more information.