Ok so I just started getting into this game and am only about 8 hours in but I'm in love with this game. The character design is a little less than what I'd call ideal but this is the game I wanted Final Fantasy XIII to be. Is there any news on a future for this series? I couldn't find anything. But the music, combat, story, and even the comedy are very well done. I'm even ok with the kid party members. And I never thought I'd say that aout kids in an RPG with older characters.

Don't expect anything else from this franchise. This is a pretty great game though. Remember to read all the dreams, they're easily the best part of the game.

I recently started it myself and I'm about 4 hours in. It's pretty cool except I'm not a fan of the random battles.

But those dream things are pretty awesome. Also I'm impressed by the English voice acting. I started playing it in Japanese but switched to English halfway cause that drunken idiot is more tolerable in English than Japanese. Also I think the immortal chick sounds better as well.

Ugh, reminds me I still need to finish this game. I lost interest somewhere on the last disk, but it is definately a good game.

Yep, I honestly fell in love with the game right at the beginning when the cutscene segued into the tutorial. It was awesome. And the music is some of Uematsu's best work, period. The kid party members work because the rest of the cast is so serious and mature (Well, except for Jansen but Jansen is fucking awesome).

Some fans consider Lost Odyssey to be the real Final Fantasy XIII because it's more like any Final Fantasy then XI, XII and XIII were. I love XIII and haven't played XII so I have a bit of a clash with that though, but there is no denying this game follows conventions of FFVI, V, IX, IV... etc.

Basically, stellar game all around and one of the best on the 360.

I agree with what you say about some of the character designs, but only for maybe 3 characters. The others look pretty badass, especially Kaim and one of the last characters you get.

its very good game, has long length and it took me a while to figure out that the immortals in your party revive themselves in 2 turns after they die

never finished it, but i remember the dreams were extremely well-written. i think i got fed up with all the random encounters/longish battles. maybe i'll finish it one day...

Don't forget, it's one of the games that still has an airship! Short of the Tales games I can't think of another game recently that had one.

Best JRPG this gen.

It's been a while since I've played an RPG with random battles and I don't mind it in this one. I've been going back and fourth with this and Xenoblade Chronicles and couldn't be happier with games right now. It definitely makes me forget about my disdain for Mass Effect 3's ending haha

@Mesoian: Sad to hear there wont be a sequel.

@xyzygy: And the main problem I have with the characters is their hair. Seth's is just weird to me and Kaim's one little strand across his face just bugs the hell out of me, and I want to cut Mack's little sprouts on his head. Everything about Jansen is amazing though.

And having the twins from the Rugrats voicing Cooke gives this game major bonus points.

@jozzy said:

Ugh, reminds me I still need to finish this game. I lost interest somewhere on the last disk, but it is definately a good game.

Same with me, I plowed through the game up until the 4th disk, then I found out you basically needed to do some grinding because of a bunch of boss fights that were going to come up. I took a break and never went back. I'd like to finish it though, or maybe play through again.

I still think Jansen is one of the best characters in recent memory. Also, pro tip: don't skip the text only memories. They are well done.

Played this game for a couple of hours than stopped. Dunno why. Haven't gone back since.

I fell off shortly after starting. That "first city lull" that is in so many RPGs does me in more often or not. I didn't play through Mass Effect until almost three years after release (on my fourth attempt) because of the lull at the Citadel. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind bumming around RPG towns chatting up the locals but I run into trouble when the game drops me there before getting me interested in the world, story or characters.
 
I hope to pop in Lost Odyssey again some day and work through it because often when I can get past that hump I can get really into it.

Lost Odyssey is easily my favorite JRPG since FFIX. The writing and characters are just so much better than pretty much any other JRPG this gen. Poor writing will turn me off of a JRPG faster than anything.

I've played through the first disk and enjoyed it but then got distracted by something else. One of my co-workers keeps reminding me he enjoyed the entire game (it regularly comes up in JRPG discussions) so I've been meaning to go back.

I think you can look to Microsoft phasing out the 360 Hardware in Japan as an answer to the future of the series though. It was the flagship product for Microsoft's big push into Japan and it didn't work (104,417 copies in Japan, 348,000 in North America) and Mistwalker moved on to the DS and the Wii. I think even if Microsoft is willing to do another big push into Japan next generation, Lost Odyssey didn't sell enough for them to try the franchise again.

Yeah Lost Odyssey stands out as one of the best Jrpgs of this gen. I enjoyed it a lot and love the atmosphere of the game. I really want to go back and play it again someday. Probably when I don't have so many games on the go.

just how rare is this game now?

Blue Dragon was the abomination that took a lot of attention away from Lost Odyssey, which is a damn shame. Also Jensen for life

I honestly couldn't get into it. I think I got stuck on a boss on the first disc. I keep meaning to go back to it, because there's a small segment of people who seem to absolutely love it.

I stopped playing on the part where you have to sneak out of prison. Man was that tedious.

@CaptainCharisma: have you experienced Mack's face smacking yet? You can take him out of the party but some game sequences require you to play with him in your group which is infuriating.

@DirtyEagles said:

@CaptainCharisma: have you experienced Mack's face smacking yet? You can take him out of the party but some game sequences require you to play with him in your group which is infuriating.

I'm about to go save him from the Crimson Forest. So I haven't been given enough time to get tired of him yet. I just really enjoyed Mack and Cooke's scene with the guards and Cooke's voice.

I loved everything about Lost Odyssey! It's practically the only JRPG I've invested so much time and truly, thoroughly enjoyed that's not Persona.

Great until around about the start of Disc 4, where *spoilers* the ridiculousness of the whole thing reaches a critical mass and you can no longer ignore how ridiculous this game is.

Loved the story vignettes though, they're wizard.

I loved this game, played it right after FFXIII on a friends recommendation...loved every second of it. Proper, old-school JRPG with some interesting new ideas, beautiful music and graphics, an amazing story, and some really epic writing for the dream sequences. Took the stink of FFXIII clean off me, and it really is one of the best games I've ever played.

Seriously, it's the reason I support Sakaguchi games, it's the reason I bought Last Story and Blue Dragon...it was that good, it restored my faith in the genre, and I'm a bitter bastard at the best of times.

@DirtyEagles said:

@CaptainCharisma: have you experienced Mack's face smacking yet? You can take him out of the party but some game sequences require you to play with him in your group which is infuriating.

Holy crap recently got him and get what you mean now. He slaps himself so many times and makes that noise. Your warning has turned it into something to laugh at though. So hurray?

Great game, often unfortunately over looked.

I thought that game was a complete piece of shit (maybe not that bad, but it pissed me off). I thought the characters were completely annoying and I could not have cared less about them, the overall story was dull and practically not there, and some of the bosses were just fucking stupid. Maybe I just sucked at that game, but some of the bosses were ridiculous unless you were grinding or something. I broke a controller and eventually stopped playing when I had to fight a boss with all magic characters that was immune to magic. It was fucking bull shit, and it was shitty enough that it made me stop playing.

I will say I actually thought those weird side story things that you find pretty cool, and I really really wanted to like the universe and the whole story about the fact that this guy is immortal, but the actual shit that is happening in the story was soooooo boring and unoriginal.

Also, if didnt like this game would I hate Blue Dragon?

I enjoyed this game a lot. The dreams and the characters are really well done. The dreams were the most motivating aspect of it for me. The story started off well but it got pretty stupid once the big reveal happened around disc four or three. I also liked how you could give your characters any skill that you wanted. I've never seen that level of character customization in jrpgs before or since. It made leveling, something I live in all rpgs a lot of fun.

I had some serious problems with Lost Odyssey, but I can see where your enjoyment comes from. The Last Story is probably the next game you'll want to play, as it's made by the same team.