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LOST ODYSSEY (X360)
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Publisher: Microsoft.
Developer: Feelplus. Released: February 2008 (Europe). Genre: JRPG. Posted 19th July 2023. By Tom Clare © 2023 |
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Following on from likeable genre throwback Blue Dragon, developer Feelplus were enlisted to realise Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s next venture, the Xbox 360-exclusive Lost Odyssey. This manifested in 2008 as a highly ambitious, four-disc role-playing game crammed with high-end FMV action sequences and a glut of huge battles.
In terms of the genre’s more recent evolution, Lost Odyssey sits neatly between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XIII. This is reflected in the level of its quality, the period of its release and the nature of its gameplay. During the first two decades of the 21st Century, nearly every major genre sought to expand its playing space, attempting to exploit open-world possibilities. By contrast, the JRPG plotted a course in the opposite direction. Square Enix’s output in particular (with a few notable exceptions) scaled back the possibilities for free-roaming exploration, instead placing a heavy burden on visual splendour and narrative grandstanding.
Gohza City is one of the last civilisations you'll visit but it's one of the most interesting
Lost Odyssey exhibits some of these teething problems. However, the experience offers more good than bad. Yes, there are times when things feels a little linear and there isn’t the magical, rewarding feeling you often found from adventuring off-piste with the nineties Final Fantasy outings. But a lot of locations feature environment-specific challenges, be it evading robot sentinels, picking the right routes through caves of poisonous gas, or tackling the myriad of switch-related puzzles you’ll have to grind through to progress through enemy bases. None of these are world-beating, but they give the player something to keep their mind busy. There’s a super high-production look to the graphics, as Lost Odyssey doesn’t shirk from delivering ambitious, sprawling cities packed with NPCs, as well as nice visual details and a fair number of hidden paths. The characters are, for the most part, well-animated and reasonably expressive, looking their best during battles.
A considerable amount of effort went into building the game’s world. Oddly, I suspect almost too much. Kaim, a quiet and brooding (though not unlikeable) lead character has lived for a thousand years and lost much of his memory. Various triggers result in him having flashback dreams, manifesting as some extremely lengthy info-dumps that act as fables. These are nicely penned but amount to hundreds of screens of text, which quickly become fatiguing and rather takes you out of the moment. The story surrounding three kingdoms on the brink of war (and a small party trying to avert it) rarely strays into new territory, but it’s diverting enough.
A considerable amount of effort went into building the game’s world. Oddly, I suspect almost too much. Kaim, a quiet and brooding (though not unlikeable) lead character has lived for a thousand years and lost much of his memory. Various triggers result in him having flashback dreams, manifesting as some extremely lengthy info-dumps that act as fables. These are nicely penned but amount to hundreds of screens of text, which quickly become fatiguing and rather takes you out of the moment. The story surrounding three kingdoms on the brink of war (and a small party trying to avert it) rarely strays into new territory, but it’s diverting enough.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly given Sakaguchi’s involvement, there are echoes of his past work strewn throughout Lost Odyssey. It evokes Final Fantasy VII in both the game’s music and its beneath-the-waves world map exploration. FFV via its expansive and customisable skill learning systems. FFVIII for its grey menus and futuristic magic-meets-industry themes. Indeed, in Gohza, Lost Odyssey has its own Esthar City: a remote, tech metropolis that’s one of the last main civilisations to discover, and worth the wait. Visually, it bears a strong resemblance to FFX, through its hyper-expressive characters and quaint mix of time-hopping fashions, which in Lost Odyssey’s case, sees Edwardian attire mingling with a recurrent beach-bohemian vibe that remains an enduringly uneasy fit amidst a tech-fantasy civilisation.
The story is clumsily articulated but bearable. As was so often the case throughout the decade, you’ll find one or two nicely delivered English voicing performances: namely Tara Strong as Seth Balmoral, and Keith Ferguson as Kaim. The latter manages to capture the remote lead’s introspective nature with some care and without seeming overdramatic. Sadly, they’re invariably coupled with a slew of over-the-top efforts and am-dram NPCs. The split-screen effects look naff, whilst Queen Ming’s magisterial manner is entirely undermined by the fact the camera spends most of the time locked on her breasts. Despite being released in 2008, the translators still saw fit to voice child characters like they were straight out of Rugrats. Quite literally, in this instance: Cooke is voiced by Kath Soucie, famed for Phil ‘n’ Lil in the cartoon. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Cooke and her brother Mack seem both slightly unhinged and at odds with the more serious, sombre arc of their narratives.
The story is clumsily articulated but bearable. As was so often the case throughout the decade, you’ll find one or two nicely delivered English voicing performances: namely Tara Strong as Seth Balmoral, and Keith Ferguson as Kaim. The latter manages to capture the remote lead’s introspective nature with some care and without seeming overdramatic. Sadly, they’re invariably coupled with a slew of over-the-top efforts and am-dram NPCs. The split-screen effects look naff, whilst Queen Ming’s magisterial manner is entirely undermined by the fact the camera spends most of the time locked on her breasts. Despite being released in 2008, the translators still saw fit to voice child characters like they were straight out of Rugrats. Quite literally, in this instance: Cooke is voiced by Kath Soucie, famed for Phil ‘n’ Lil in the cartoon. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Cooke and her brother Mack seem both slightly unhinged and at odds with the more serious, sombre arc of their narratives.
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Ignore the storytelling though, because Lost Odyssey’s combat is excellent. An in-depth turn-based formula will please fans of Sakaguchi’s earlier works and the system is unveiled in grand style thanks to an epic battlefield encounter at the beginning of the game. Cleverly, it draws a tactical focus towards magic and skill delays: the more powerful the spell, the longer it takes to execute and the more likely the AI will have their turns first. This adds a nice bit of intrigue and it’s something you’ll need to keep an eye on throughout the game, especially during boss fights.
The game’s skill-learning system is an absolute triumph. ‘Immortal’ characters can learn skills by linking with mortals in the party, who specialise in black, white and spirit magics as well as skills and buffs. Additionally, Immortals can learn skills from accessories. These include all manner of status ailment wards, new moves, elemental magic protection and even double turns. Once a given character has accumulated the necessary SP, they can designate some of their learned skills in slots. These start at just three per character, but can expand to several dozen, meaning the player can pack a huge number of boons. This process feels highly rewarding and will delight those who like to plan and tweak before boss fights. It also revolutionises the value of accessories in an RPG. Normally, a majority are easily passed over, but with unique skills to be learned, finding a new accessory, at any point, feels exciting.
The game’s skill-learning system is an absolute triumph. ‘Immortal’ characters can learn skills by linking with mortals in the party, who specialise in black, white and spirit magics as well as skills and buffs. Additionally, Immortals can learn skills from accessories. These include all manner of status ailment wards, new moves, elemental magic protection and even double turns. Once a given character has accumulated the necessary SP, they can designate some of their learned skills in slots. These start at just three per character, but can expand to several dozen, meaning the player can pack a huge number of boons. This process feels highly rewarding and will delight those who like to plan and tweak before boss fights. It also revolutionises the value of accessories in an RPG. Normally, a majority are easily passed over, but with unique skills to be learned, finding a new accessory, at any point, feels exciting.
As well as information, there are often useful items to be gleaned from public areas
Despite a rocky beginning, the game eventually finds its spark, igniting a sense of adventure as you roam around the world map, seeking to discover new places. The first disc can feel like a bit of a slog because the bosses are very difficult, something that isn’t helped by a flawed levelling system. Essentially, when the game feels you’ve reached an appropriate level, adding even one more to your party members can take a huge amount of time and effort, sometimes 30-50 battles. This sets the tone for some attritional grinds, not least because fights typically waste around 15 seconds before they allow the player to make inputs. In regularly pitting the party against large swarms of enemies, the player is made to sit through five or six opponents repeating the same attacks at the start of a fight, which will test anyone’s patience. It’s also odd that there’s no option to buy new weaponry until the second disc. Although it can seem a touch leisurely at times, the battle system is a really successful arm of the game. Combat remains challenging throughout, but it becomes more playable after you’ve cleared the first dozen hours or so.
Lost Odyssey’s four discs lasted me 12, 12, 10 and 20 hours respectively, meaning there’s a robust, 50-hour adventure to content yourself with. Granted, a significant portion of this was slogging through battles, but there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful by the time Disc 2 rolls around. You get to explore more of the world, giving things a far greater sense of freedom. Disc 3 is great because, for its entirety, it follows an action-packed back-and-forth between all of the party’s characters who have been split up across different parts of the world. The final disc mimics Final Fantasy VII’s approach of making the whole world (including five or six new locations) available, alongside a raft of new side quests that allow characters to pursue their final weapons or spells, before heading for the final showdown.
Lost Odyssey’s four discs lasted me 12, 12, 10 and 20 hours respectively, meaning there’s a robust, 50-hour adventure to content yourself with. Granted, a significant portion of this was slogging through battles, but there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful by the time Disc 2 rolls around. You get to explore more of the world, giving things a far greater sense of freedom. Disc 3 is great because, for its entirety, it follows an action-packed back-and-forth between all of the party’s characters who have been split up across different parts of the world. The final disc mimics Final Fantasy VII’s approach of making the whole world (including five or six new locations) available, alongside a raft of new side quests that allow characters to pursue their final weapons or spells, before heading for the final showdown.
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Lost Odyssey is ultimately a decent JRPG. Aspects of its design are dated and there are issues with pacing, storytelling and the difficulty of its early bosses. There’s no question, it moves at a rather indulgent pace and there are points where you’ll have to seriously knuckle down to move things forward. Nevertheless, fans of the genre will appreciate its at-times lavish presentation, a superbly realised battle system and the game’s commitment to world-building. It’s clear Sakaguchi wanted to create a next-generation epic and though Lost Odyssey doesn’t stack up favourably next to his best work, those who enjoy a deep, involving adventure will find one here.
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VERDICT
"Despite a rocky beginning, Lost Odyssey eventually finds its spark. A game that's propelled by a rewarding skill-learning mechanic and an excellent combat system. Attritional at times, but ideal for those after an involved RPG." OVERALL: 6/10 |
MORE ROLE-PLAYING GAMES FROM HIRONOBU SAKAGUCHI REVIEWED
Final Fantasy VII (1997, PlayStation)
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Final Fantasy VIII (1999, PlayStation)
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