Japanese RPGs are becoming harder and harder to find - and with good reason. The RPG genre has moved past many of the traditional eastern mechanics found in JRPGs for no reason other than tradition. Lost Odyssey forces the player to seek out save points, features a horribly clichéd plot, and more often than not victory is decided by level instead of tactics. Despite these shortcomings, though, Lost Odyssey is a game that grabs you and doesn't let go. There's always one more dream to find or one more perfect rating to achieve in a string of battles. Lost Odyssey has a few warts and clings to a few tired genre conventions, but other parts of Kaim's adventure are so gripping that you'll overlook the hackneyed plot and lack of turn information available to the player.

Mechanically, Lost Odyssey does nothing that hasn't already been done before. Combat is a purely turn-based affair, fire beats earth, and your casters go in the back row. We've been doing this for years, and we've pretty well mastered the concepts by now, but Lost Odyssey makes it fun again by adding a small arcade element to melee attacks. Equip a ring, squeeze the right trigger, and release it at just the right time to score a critical hit. It's a little thing, but it makes the combat feel more involved. The ring system also keeps you from having to unequip your best sword because that boss absorbs water. All you need to lose is the ring because in Lost Odyssey all weapons are just vehicles for the attack stat. All bonuses, elemental or otherwise, are imbued on the character by his or her ring.

Where combat falls short, however, is in presenting turn order information to the player. The tutorial goes out of its way to tell the player that turn order is important and that killing an opponent before he can act is a much better strategy than - say, attacking Goon A, then Goon B, and finally Goon C because they may well take action in the reverse order. What the battle screen doesn't do is tell you whose turn falls when until you've already selected all of your party's actions. Square got this right seven years ago in Final Fantasy X, and Namco got it right two years later with Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht. Somebody over at Mistwalker dropped the ball here, and Lost Odyssey's battle system suffers for it.

Characters are broken up into two categories: mortals and immortals. Unsurprisingly, immortals cannot die. They can fall in combat, but they'll automatically revive after three turns if the player doesn't intervene. Another, and more significant, difference between mortals and immortals is the way they learn skills. Mortals learn skills by leveling up while immortals learn skills via the skill link system. In order for an immortal to learn a skill a mortal must already know it and the immortal must be linked with the mortal. When both characters are present during combat the immortal will gain skill points (SP) toward learning the linked skill. Once a skill is learned it can be equipped into one of the immortal's skill slots. Each immortal can learn one skill at a time, but multiple immortals can be linked to the same mortal. It's an interesting system, and it forces the player to strategize as there isn't time for every immortal to learn every skill without a whole lot of SP grinding. The link system also serves to stop the player from ignoring mortal characters as immortals can't learn a linked skill unless their mortal partner is also taking part in combat.

Graphically and aurally Lost Odyssey is amazing. The Unreal 3 engine is put through its paces here and never misses a step. Character models are large and detailed, voice work is top notch, and level design is excellent. In a world where most dungeons can be navigated by walking along the right-hand wall Lost Odyssey's highly vertical locales and puzzle-based dungeons are a welcome sight.

What really sets Lost Odyssey apart from other RPGs, however, is one specific side quest: 1,000 years of dreams. Early in the story it is revealed that although immortal, Kaim is suffering from the most clichéd of all RPG afflictions - amnesia. Throughout his travels Kaim's memories will resurface and a text-only dream sequence will begin. These dreams are 100% optional, but they make Lost Odyssey something really special. The first dream is unlocked through the story, and from then on most are unlocked by talking to the people met in various cities. And they're all worth finding. Kaim's memories are sad, touching, and deep - a welcome change from the slapstick offered by games like Enchanted Arms and the fishing minigame of Final Fantasy XII. 1,000 years of dreams features some great writing - some of the best in the genre. These are the stories you really want to hear. Just make sure you're not already a bit depressed; Kaim's memories aren't generally happy.

In a move that shows just how limited the Xbox 360's DVD-9 format is, Lost Odyssey is spread out over four discs. And to make matters worse three of them rest on one spindle while the fourth sits in a paper sleeve above the instruction manual. What takes up so much room, you ask? Cutscenes. Lots and lots of cutscenes. None are as long as Xenosaga's average cutscene, but you'll be watching a lot of FMV. The scenes presented are gorgeous, but if you'd rather play than watch than Lost Odyssey probably isn't for you.

Hironobu Sakaguchi created many of the genre conventions that define the Japanese RPG so it should come as no surprise the much of Lost Odyssey smacks of "been there and done that." The main story is forgettable, the lack of combat information is disappointing, and the cutscenes are numerous. But through it all I was having fun in battle and looked forward to finding each additional heart-wrenching memory.

Mar 21, 2008 | 2 comments
Justin Last