What? How do you Lose an Odyssey!?

[Bahamut2000X]

So I made a whole huge long post about how epic this game was before the forums crashed and I'm far too lazy to go on about just how awesome this game is and how it easily destroys every RPG Square and most other companies have made in the past decade. So here's the condensed version.

Just got it, played most the way through, love the entire game and think this is one of the greatest RPG's ever to grace the planet and am looking forward to the supposed sequel and all future Mistwalker/Sakaguchi games.

So then, let us discuss this truly epic of a game.

[Bunny]

It is a pretty good game but doesn't really add anything new to the genre.

[Bahamut2000X]

Who cares about adding something new to the genre? People have been doing that for a decade and failed every time. What's wrong with the basics and classics? They work, their fun, and best yet they work. Why the need to fix something that isn't broken?

[Wolf Kanno]

Cause casual players and critics get bored easily. :rolleyes2

RPGs have always been traditionally a thinking/strategy game so the less thought the better. Mostly I feel its to attract new players who grew up listening to how boring and unrealistic Turn Base combat is. Its a very misunderstood genre.

[Bahamut2000X]

Cause casual players and critics get bored easily. :rolleyes2

Pffft if someone can't appreciate a good game they should go back to playing Halo.

[Wolf Kanno]

Cause casual players and critics get bored easily. :rolleyes2

Pffft if someone can't appreciate a good game they should go back to playing Halo.

I agree but the industry is a business and unfortunately, most companies keep trying to expand their fanbase rather than keep the core fanbase happy.

[Dreddz]

Who cares about adding something new to the genre?
A lot of people actually. Having played this style of role-playing game since the Megadrive I welcome any new innovation to the genre. Most games bring at least one significant change to their game but Mistwalker made hardly any for Lost Odyssey. It then has to rely on its other aspects like story, music, setting etc and I hardly think Lost Odyssey blows everything else out of the water with any of those.

There is a reason why Valkyria Chronicles is the highest rated RPG this generation. Its because its unlike anything you have played before and truly shows how to move the genre forward. Lost Odyssey is tempting everyone to stay put and stick to the basics. Mistwalker are taking the easy way out by rehashing the same concept over and over again. I'm sure people new to RPG's don't mind but I can't say I'm thrilled over Lost Odyssey.

[Fonzie]

Bought this game a couple days ago, pretty good, haven't gotten that far yet.

[LunarWeaver]

Better than some, not the best, worth a playthrough. That was about it for me.

[Depression Moon]

It's Hironobu's game was of course it's great! I want to try this game, but unfortunately it's on the 360 and I'll probably never get one of those unless I get filthy rich and I don't think the game is ever going to come onto the PS3.

[Slothy]

Who cares about adding something new to the genre?
A lot of people actually. Having played this style of role-playing game since the Megadrive I welcome any new innovation to the genre. Most games bring at least one significant change to their game but Mistwalker made hardly any for Lost Odyssey. It then has to rely on its other aspects like story, music, setting etc and I hardly think Lost Odyssey blows everything else out of the water with any of those.

There is a reason why Valkyria Chronicles is the highest rated RPG this generation. Its because its unlike anything you have played before and truly shows how to move the genre forward. Lost Odyssey is tempting everyone to stay put and stick to the basics. Mistwalker are taking the easy way out by rehashing the same concept over and over again. I'm sure people new to RPG's don't mind but I can't say I'm thrilled over Lost Odyssey.

With regards to innovation, I have to agree with Dreddz. I've been playing RPG's for some 16 odd years. If all of them stuck to the basics I'd have given up on the genre entirely by now. As it is I save my time and money for truly exceptional and original RPG's these days.

[Bahamut2000X]

While I'll agree each one changing it a bit is good, the past few years especially, have just gone over the top with game companies trying to top themselves on redefining the genre for the 24236724th time and spending so much time on changing it, they ignore the things that make an RPG an RPG, which is the story and characters. Case in point FFXII, SE spent so much time developing a new system and putting in game play they forgot a story.

Lost Odyssey actually showed you could have a good enjoyable game even if you didn't recreate the genre, by simply just going back to the basics and making a good story, great characters and actually using them and involving them in the game, and adding in some fun little scenarios to make dungeons and boss fights more then just hack and slash fests.

In my opinion their going back and just doing a game using the bare basics of what it means to be an RPG and not trying to top every game before them in redefining something, that's already pretty well defined, I think was the best thing they could have done.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I'd heard the game plays like the developers saying "We're totally not still making Final Fantasy games honest," and the standard JRPG plotlines/gameplay don't really hold much interest for me anymore considering how overdone they are, so I'll probably give this one a miss.

[Quindiana Jones]

Thousand Years of Dreams = yey etc etc old post.

Also, I like the Skill Link idea. All my characters are at roughly the same level, just because I want my immortals to be pwnage (what?). Having said that, as soon as everyone's learnt every skill they can, I'm chucking the mortals.

[Krelian]

As I said before, I really like this game. I do agree that RPGs need innovation, but there's nothing wrong with games that stick to a game formula that's tried and true. Why not have games of both kind? It's a win-win situation in my opinion; those who can't stand turn based old-school RPGs play games like Valkyria Chronicles, the others play games like Dragon Quest, Lost Odyssey, etc. (though I personally don't care much for Dragon Quest). Besides, 1000 years of dreams is pretty innovative to me. I don't know any other game with such a feature.

[Madame Adequate]

I want innovation in the genre as a whole, but that doesn't mean I'm averse to an old-school game that doesn't do much new, but does what it does well. I don't know if Lost Odyssey does that well, because I've not played it, but I can tell you that I consider Suikoden V to be masterful precisely because it's basically I and II with a new lick of paint.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah I don't really care much about innovation there will always be games that will try to bring it, but to me ultimately what I care about is a game being fun and artistic.

[Sephex]

I like the game, but it has unfortunately fell in the pile of "games that are on the back burner" stack. I will get back to it eventually (good thing I have a great memory for storylines).

[Karellen]

Funnily enough, it's actually the gameplay that makes me want to try this out. Hard games with 5 character battle systems don't come out of Japan very often. Reports of long cutscenes and loadtimes have kept me from rushing out and buying this though. Suikoden V suffered from the same problems and I never ended up getting more then 3 hours into it.

[Krelian]

Hard games with 5 character battle systems don't come out of Japan very often.
If you expect a hard game you will be disappointed. The beginning is the only section of the game that is challenging (except for some optional areas). If you don't flee from every battle you won't have much of a problem with the game later on. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, but it's one of the few flaws of it (to me).

[Bahamut2000X]

The game does get a little easier by about disc 3, but it still isn't a walk in the park, like many other RPG's. The 5 character party is what made me fall in love with this game, I love being able to USE my characters, rather then just having to pick the 3 strongest and booting out the characters I actually like.

I don't get the whole "Long load time" whining I keep hearing. Ya it's not the quickest loads ever, but come on their not that bad, people just want to complain if the game takes more then 3 seconds before they get to start button mashing again. People are just too impatient anymore.

As for the cut scenes, ya some are long. Their interesting though. I've never been bored watching any cut scenes in this game, unlike other RPG's which over used them and usually did nothing during them *cough FFX cough*. Really I found the cut scenes very enjoyable.

Overall I find the game enjoyable, there's a few things that irk me, but honestly nothing compared to most other RPG's I play which make me question if the people that make these games know what their doing anymore.

[Clouded Sky]

Uh oh. Bad news Matt. Mistwalker's third game has been cancelled (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/12/26/mistwalker-360-action-rpg-canned).:(

[DK]

I got it the day it came out but I still haven't beaten it, it's an alright game but it's pretty much bog-standard in all areas, nothing really stands out for me. The only thing I really like about it is the Thousand Year of Dreams. Nothing about it compels me to go back and play it, I just play it when I can be arsed. I'm currently playing Chrono Trigger on my DS and even though I've beaten that game like 11 times on the SNES I can barely put it down still.

Still kinda gutted about Cry On though.

[XxSephirothxX]

Pffft if someone can't appreciate a good game they should go back to playing Lost Odyssey.

[Bahamut2000X]

Uh oh. Bad news Matt. Mistwalker's third game has been cancelled (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/12/26/mistwalker-360-action-rpg-canned).:(

My life has now lost all meaning. :(

[Wolf Kanno]

It doesn't mean the company is going under. But it is a shame. Though I feel Mistwalker should be pushing for more multi-platform projects anyway due to how the game industry is in Japan.

[Dreddz]

Mistwalker kind of had this coming. Your not going to get industry buzz if you make games with dated mechanics. Its a damn shame that Cry On got canned, maybe that was going to be their breakthrough hit. Mistwalker never seemed like bad developers, they just needed a spark of imagination.

I hope we can see Uematsu return to Square Enix. Dunno what it was but once he left SE for Mistwalker his music went from great to bad. Not even average. Blue Dragons OST was horrible!

[Krelian]

I hope we can see Uematsu return to Square Enix. Dunno what it was but once he left SE for Mistwalker his music went from great to bad. Not even average. Blue Dragons OST was horrible!
Lost Odyssey's OST is great, though. It's anything but bad or average.

[Wolf Kanno]

Mistwalker needs someone like Hiroyuki Ito is all. Sakeguchi never really designed battle systems, but to be honest, I find that very few current RPG companies have good battle systems anyway. I think the MegaTen team has the best one on the market currently. XII's was good but needed some more testing and a few modifications but considering how much the fan base freaked out, I doubt we will ever see it again, which is a shame cause it was one of the more imaginative systems to come out of SE in years.