Old-school, just the way we like it.. right?
- Story
The story was quite tricky to pick up in the first few hours, but once you get near the end of the first disc, it actually makes sense for what your journey will truely behold.
What was interesting about the story, is that the history of the four immortal characters are "optional", meaning that you don't have to necessarily read the whole thing about their pasts etc. It's a good thing for some people, because you will eventually learn about those characters anyway as the story progresses.
Overall, the story is an adventure that kept me motivated through the whole game. It has it's exciting and sad moments, which grabbed me by the throat quite a few times. Where the Final Fantasy series usually have it in the end, Lost Odyssey does it most of the time.
In the end, everything was pretty much clear with a minimum of loose ends.
Rating: 8/10
- Graphics
I wouldn't have expected less from a game that uses the Unreal Engine 3, but they actually added that up a notch. Sometimes a bit too much that certain high level spells or moments in the game, it asks a bit too much for the 360 to handle it smoothly.
It's not that much of a problem though, since it only happens in certain tense moments of violence.. and beauty.
Part from that, the atmosphere in cities and dungeons are stunning. The enrichment of colors and atmosphere they've used are so diverse, that every time you enter a new area, it always looks different from the other. It makes exploring the world of Lost Odyssey alot more interesting.
A little quirk here are the loading times. Switching between maps takes between 5 to 20 seconds.
The transition from exploring to combat can be a little slow aswell. Instead of loading bars they kill it by showing off the battle area in different views and angles while they stream the data. This doesn't happen every time, only when you enter a new area.
Rating 8.5/10
- Sound
Heh. Was i suprised of how well the voice acting was done when i switched it from Japanese to English. Actually, it WAS better then Japanese, since i usually couldn't follow what they were saying with subtitles on.
Anyway.. The music is none other then Nobuo Uematsu himself. I admired his music from the FF series. The scores here in Lost Odyssey are a little different, as they are more atmospheric and symphonic then most FF games. It really fits the game however. Quiet places get an upbeat whenever something bad is going to happen, and you can pretty much feel the tense rising.
The sound effects are great aswell. Sometimes i would just turn the volume to the max just to be swallowed into the game, especially with boss battles.
Ruaagh!
Rating: 9/10
- Gameplay
People told me and say that classic rpg's are pretty much dead. I for one and probably other people aswell, still appreciate this kind of classic rpg more then the new types of rpg's they're making nowadays.
The turn-based system, combined with the Ring System makes it a bit of something in between. The amount of damage you can inflict physically isn't really depending on your luck, but on your timing. Skill learning, accessoires along with the Ring Assembly, the customisation is deep and gives you quite a bit of freedom as of how to develop the main characters.
The treasure hunting also gives it some classy feeling. The rewards you will get by exploring encourages players to see more of the world instead of just simply running through everything.
Rating 7.5/10
- Difficulty
There were times where i pretty much strolled through the game without a sweat. Other times i really had to be careful with what i should do next. However, as i've explained before, hunting for treasures is rewarding and mostly gets you through places where you get stuck due to some boss or enemy pulverizing your party.
Overall the difficulty was just right.
Rating 7.5/10
- Replay Value
This is something i had my doubts of. When i beated the game the first time, i wasn't really in the mood of playing the game a second time any time soon. Now that it's been like 1 year since the last time, i've been able to pick it up and play it more slowly, just to find out more of LO's lore.
Ofcourse, when you've beated the game, there is a replay option. To start over with all the immortals at lvl 50. It didn't really appeal to me however. I wanted challenge, so i'm gonna start the game and try something different. Not make it more easier.
Rating 7/10
-- Overall --
I've been enjoying this game till the end. With a good 60-70 hour playthrough the first time, and a high probability of a sequel coming up.. i think this going to be my new kind of Final Fantasy.
SquareEnix kind of ruined it for me with FF12 - 13. If they plan on carrying the old style to Lost Odyssey though, i'll be glad to make a switch here.