While I hate to ruin the Super Smash Bros Brawl board with a topic unrelated to it, I figured I'd give this title some attention.
For lack of a better introductory reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Odyssey
After the embarrassment Mistwalker produced in Blue Dragon I didn't exactly have astronomical expectations for this game, but reading a great deal about Lost Odyssey after it's Japanese release I was confident it would be an improvement over it's predecessor.
Having now played it, that couldn't be more true.
The main strength of the game definitely lies in the plot and how it is told. I think the FMV:Combat ratio is actually even more FMV heavy than it was in Xenosaga 1, but the plot itself is interesting enough(especially after you get a few hours in) that you won't want to grind mobs anyway. As a player you fairly sometimes get stranded in 10-20 minutes of cutscene without any real gameplay in the middle, so if that's not for you this game likely won't be either, but interesting combat and gameplay have never been a strength of non-MMO RPGs, and as far as an engaging story and interesting characters this is about as good as I've seen it get.
Plotwise, things start out a little cliche with your immortal, slightly effeminate, amnesiac protagonist introducing the current war in a mostly unlosable FMV/Combat system introduction combination, but things go up from there. In the next hour or so the events of the beginning of the game are set up and you are introduced to three future party members among other characters(two of whom join almost immediately). The interaction of the two new characters kinda hit me hard because even though it's pretty typical RPG babble the interaction between them is a lot more believable and they tend to be a lot more interesting and lovable than most RPG casts. Throughout the game the effects of what's happening in the game seem to have a greater impact on the cast than I am used to seeing... in general it is a pretty engaging group.
As far as combat goes even though you don't spend too much time in it the system is solid. It's a step back into fairly traditional turn based JRPG combat, although there are a few neat innovations with the ring system(which is kind of a more difficult version of Squall from FF8's gunblade trigger in combat, as well as something that determines your attack damage/element) and some neat features in combat that don't stand out too much like the fact there's actually a spell pushback system to avoid casters getting absolutely pummeled but somehow still concentrating enough to cast high level magic every round.
This is also probably the best voice acted RPG I have played, which is both important and surprising considering the excessive amount of dialog in the game. The voice actors are all pretty experienced (the party contains Basch from FF12, Mei Ling from MGS, Rikku from FFX, and Knuckles from Sonic Adventure among others) and in addition to that are generally better than they were in their previous roles. While I hate to lump music in with voice acting the game is really good as far as sound goes in general, but I guess with good ol' Nobuo Uematsu composing it's expected as much. I feel this soundtrack is some of his best work and the BGM is usually dead on with the feel of the area(or rather, in creating the feel of the area) but that's something everyone should get their own opinion on.
Speaking of other people's opinions - did anyone else pick it up? Or have you guys at least heard of it? While I'm not near done with it yet, thus far this has been the best RPG that's come out at least since FFX imo, it's worth looking into!
EDIT: GameInformer's review is up http://gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/01C1078E-686D-4860-AF34-047F685AC157.htm, might be slightly more readable than my rant above
For lack of a better introductory reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Odyssey
After the embarrassment Mistwalker produced in Blue Dragon I didn't exactly have astronomical expectations for this game, but reading a great deal about Lost Odyssey after it's Japanese release I was confident it would be an improvement over it's predecessor.
Having now played it, that couldn't be more true.
The main strength of the game definitely lies in the plot and how it is told. I think the FMV:Combat ratio is actually even more FMV heavy than it was in Xenosaga 1, but the plot itself is interesting enough(especially after you get a few hours in) that you won't want to grind mobs anyway. As a player you fairly sometimes get stranded in 10-20 minutes of cutscene without any real gameplay in the middle, so if that's not for you this game likely won't be either, but interesting combat and gameplay have never been a strength of non-MMO RPGs, and as far as an engaging story and interesting characters this is about as good as I've seen it get.
Plotwise, things start out a little cliche with your immortal, slightly effeminate, amnesiac protagonist introducing the current war in a mostly unlosable FMV/Combat system introduction combination, but things go up from there. In the next hour or so the events of the beginning of the game are set up and you are introduced to three future party members among other characters(two of whom join almost immediately). The interaction of the two new characters kinda hit me hard because even though it's pretty typical RPG babble the interaction between them is a lot more believable and they tend to be a lot more interesting and lovable than most RPG casts. Throughout the game the effects of what's happening in the game seem to have a greater impact on the cast than I am used to seeing... in general it is a pretty engaging group.
As far as combat goes even though you don't spend too much time in it the system is solid. It's a step back into fairly traditional turn based JRPG combat, although there are a few neat innovations with the ring system(which is kind of a more difficult version of Squall from FF8's gunblade trigger in combat, as well as something that determines your attack damage/element) and some neat features in combat that don't stand out too much like the fact there's actually a spell pushback system to avoid casters getting absolutely pummeled but somehow still concentrating enough to cast high level magic every round.
This is also probably the best voice acted RPG I have played, which is both important and surprising considering the excessive amount of dialog in the game. The voice actors are all pretty experienced (the party contains Basch from FF12, Mei Ling from MGS, Rikku from FFX, and Knuckles from Sonic Adventure among others) and in addition to that are generally better than they were in their previous roles. While I hate to lump music in with voice acting the game is really good as far as sound goes in general, but I guess with good ol' Nobuo Uematsu composing it's expected as much. I feel this soundtrack is some of his best work and the BGM is usually dead on with the feel of the area(or rather, in creating the feel of the area) but that's something everyone should get their own opinion on.
Speaking of other people's opinions - did anyone else pick it up? Or have you guys at least heard of it? While I'm not near done with it yet, thus far this has been the best RPG that's come out at least since FFX imo, it's worth looking into!
EDIT: GameInformer's review is up http://gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/01C1078E-686D-4860-AF34-047F685AC157.htm, might be slightly more readable than my rant above
