61 hours and 5 minutes, a status ailment mistake, and software lock up later and I have seen the end of Lost Odyssey (X360). Mistwalker's JRPG is most certainly a JRPG in the style of those on the SNES and Playstation. This four disc epic is full of load screens and deliberate pacing that sometimes makes it a chore to play. It is worth to bear as there are some touching story moments.

An early example of the game's faults and triumphs is a funeral. The game made a mini-game out of a funeral. Preceding this mini-game is a boring collection quests that is just busy work. The funeral mini-game seems silly at first, but then you have the mourners coming up one by one expressing their condolences. When the final farewells have passed, what seemed like a silly thing at first becomes something that is emotionally moving. However, it doesn't excuse the beginning busy work of collecting flowers and branches.

The emotional moments continue to thrive, not in the game's main story but in "A Thousand Years of Dreams." The game's short story segments unlock as you happen on specific NPC or environment triggers. The text is accompanied by some animation, sound, and music. It is odd to read large blocks of text on a television screen, but the game makes up for it with nice writing that may cause a few tears to fall.

As for the game's main story, battle system, environment, etc., they work well and have their moments. The story never reaches the heights of emotions that are found in "A Thousand Years of Dreams." The battle system is standard turn-based fare that is amusing with its ability to stack various immunities and damage absorbs.

While the stand out for this game is the decidedly non-game "A Thousand Year of Dreams" short stories, it is still a solid & enjoyable JRPG. However, this style of game has shown its age and I don't think I can bear to play something with this style and pacing again.