Lost Odyssey "Almost, but not quite"
- Time Spent: 40 to 50 Hours
Well after finally getting my hands on this game I was blown away, it's probably the most enjoyable RPG I've played since Final Fantasy 8. The graphics are amazing, the music is pretty good, the story is awesome and the game play mechanics have that great old school feel to it.
The main problem with the game is the same thing that makes it look good is what also hold it back. While the graphics are impressive you will be seeing several loading screens that last anywhere from 10-20 seconds.
While the music is top notch in a way, it also brings to many styles of music to the table which equals disliked track that gets overly played. Going from calm vocal or midi style music to classic rpg style to hardcore techno, it's something for everyone to like and also things people will hate.
The story and characters stand out the best to me in this game, and kept me wanting more and more. But this great story line is sort of brought to a screeching halt after the first CD and it kinda seems like everything in disc 2 and 3 are basically things to drag the game length, then it picks back up in disc 4. While there is a good story in between the disc it's not as epic and fleshed out like Disc 1 and 4 are. The other problem with the story is the way they do characters past development with constant dream sequences of page after page of information of the past. I would of rather liked them show these back story's as cut scenes or game play segments instead of cramming 5-15 minutes of walls of text down your throat.
The game play has a great classic feel to it and the style between immortals and mortal characters bring something sorta new to the table.While the mortals all have seperate ability's and purpose, the Immortales basically sit back and learn moves from the Mortals. The bad part about this is Mortals seem uninnovative besides having the ability to self ressurect themselves, you in the end abusing the mortal characters which are unique for spells/abilitys, then you kick them off of your team until you need to rob another move from them.
Overall the game is a great package and a lot of old school role playing game fans will enjoy the feel of this game, it's very interesting and well polished.
