Poll: So, Lost Odyessy blew my mind.

[LarenzoAOG]

So I've been playing it for about 3 hours now, and for all intents and purposes I should hate it, very slow paced, too much running around, overly long cutscenes, shitty turn based combat, you know, all the standard reasons people diskike JRPGs.

But this game did something that I never thought a video game could do, and that is make me forget I was playing a video game.

Now I've played so many good games, but their was always this sense that I was just moving pawns on a chess board, with a reason to do it and a clear end to it but I was always very aware that it was completly artificial, I don't get that feeling while playin Lost Odyessy, especially during the the Thousand Years of Dreams sequences, the last one I came upon was the one about the people who walked against the wind, it took about five minutes to read it and at the end it cut back the the game and I thought to myself "Holy shit I forgot about the part where I had to press buttons,".

So what about the good people of the Escapist, what did you think about the game, and more specifically the Dream sequences? I thought they were all fucking brilliant, very ingaging, and very deep, they even made me get a little intospective at times.

 

[Syphous]

I got to the third disc and stopped playing. Just lost interest.

 

[FinalHeart95]

It's a great game. My favorite JRPG this generation so far.

Just a note, read the dreams you get. I know it seems tedious, but it's so worth it. The stories themselves are great and they add so much to the character.

 

[Phlakes]

My roommate bought it and I was REALLY looking forward to playing it, but then he sold it. I've actually been thinking about getting it myself.

 

[CitySquirrel]

I loved this game. I have not finished it because I am ridiculous, but I have almost finished it twice. I was just thinking about it today, actually. The characters were all so great... it is touching... there are so many things to love about it.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

My roommate bought it and I was REALLY looking forward to playing it, but then he sold it. I've actually been thinking about getting it myself.

You ought to slap the shit out of your room mate, I HATE JRPGs and Lost Odyessy is now sitting firmy in my top 5 favorite games.

 

[Andronicus]

The Thousand Years of Dreams are the best part of the game. If they make a game that was just a whole bunch of those stories, I would preorder it in a flash.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Its a great game, one of the best JRPGs of the current generation and, in my opinion, what FFXIII should have been. And I also liked the 1000 Years of Dreams, though I was disappointed that they sort of stop happening after a while. Around 3/4ths of them are in the first and second disk, after that they become very rare.

Also, after a while the sheer overwhelming negativity of them became almost funny. They were very well written, but for a few of them the writers REALLY had to stretch on trying to get a suitably unhappy ending, and it ends up being pretty narmy.

The one about the boy who wants to leave his island comes to mind. In it, a boy living on a small island paradise is sitting with Kaim watching the far-off explosions of a battle. He's never left his island, so he thinks the explosions are just pretty lights, and he sits in awe of them, watching every night. He wants to leave the island and travel to the mainland, like every other youth on the island, because he thinks its the wonderful place of magic and opportunity. But Kaim knows the truth; the mainland is constantly at war, and the people from the boy's island are treated as second-class citizens. If he leaves, he will likely spend the rest of his life in a ghetto, or be conscripted to die in the war he loves watching. But Kaim also knows the boy can't stay, because eventually the island will be caught in the war and destroyed. He finds himself mourning the fate the boy will have to eventually face, and tells him to look inward, to his home and family for happiness, rather than being too eager to grow up and leave everything behind.

This in itself is great, a really moving story. However, it keeps going. During the night, the island is bombed and everyone dies, except Kaim (of course). Thats it. Its a pointlessly dark ending, that takes the poignant lesson from the first part of the story and completely mires it in unnecessary tragedy. And unfortunately, its not the only story that does it.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Xbox JRPG's are the bain (bane?) of my existence. Theres so many good exclusive ones that I want (including Lost Odyessy), but I dont have an Xbox 360. It doesnt even make sense, Japan hates Xbox 360, why would they release most of its good current gen JRPGs on it?

 

[CitySquirrel]

snip

I remember that story... it hits hard, but man does it fit with the game.

 

[Worgen]

its a really good game, there are just a few annoyances that kept me from finishing it, I hated the kids but other then that, its one of the more engrossing rpgs out there

 

[Ordinaryundone]

I remember that story... it hits hard, but man does it fit with the game.

But that's just it, the overwhelmingly negative ending doesn't fit at all. One of LO's themes is that "Life is what you make it". All of the immortals have to live with the fact they've lived 1000 years and have seen so much death and sadness, but they don't give up because there is always something to keep you going. Kaim and Sarah have their grandchildren, Ming has her country and (eventually) Jansen, Seth has her son and her love of adventure. At any time they could have just given up, went to Gongora and said "You know what? Having 1000 years of memories sucks. Make me forget again" and gone back to wandering through life without a care. But they don't. Every character eventually has to come to grips with the idea that life isn't easy, but if they are strong and stay the course. Its an uplifting theme.

The story about the boy on the island is the same way. From Kaim's perspective, the boy is doomed either way to sadness, because Kaim is unable to think outside of the present thanks to his memory-loss. But the boy is happy, and still approaches the world with a sense of wonder and awe that can shield him from the bad things in the world, so long as he nurtures it and doesn't let it go the way Kaim has. That's why Kaim chooses to give the boy advice and tries to save him, rather than just saying "Yeah, well, good luck with that" and abandoning the boy to his fate.

But the ending destroys that message, in favor of a clear cut "It doesn't matter what you do, sometimes life just shits on you and you lose", which is completely at odds with the moral of the story. No one in the Lost Odyssey story just "loses". They all have lost (well, 'cept Jansen), but despite set-backs they don't let life just roll them over.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I voted the top choice because when I did play it (two years ago), it was. The environments and gameplay are so bright and beautiful, but the characters and story are so deep and tragic and real, for lack of a better word. The way the characters respond and interact with one other is actually relatable, which is often lacking in JRPGs full of 12 year olds. I wish I could say more but I definitely don't want to ruin anything.

I really can't think of a JRPG that I've enjoyed more on this generation of consoles.

 

[aPod]

Lost Odyssey changed my mind about JRPGS. I would not touch them with a ten foot poll, excluding Pokemon, and since then I've really gotten into them. It led me to try Blue Dragon out, that led me to Tales of Vesperia, and now i'm even enjoying FFXIII (which i guess isn't good according to a lot of guys but i really like it).

My only gripe now is the fact that there are always kids in the main cast and they always feel so, well why. Why are you here son? Go home let the adults save the world. I just don't use them and problem solved i guess.

 

[Fenring]

Xbox JRPG's are the bain (bane?) of my existence. Theres so many good exclusive ones that I want (including Lost Odyessy), but I dont have an Xbox 360. It doesnt even make sense, Japan hates Xbox 360, why would they release most of its good current gen JRPGs on it?

Because Microsoft is a smart company. They found good studios and payed them to make an exclusive game that appeals to an untapped audience. Sadly, it didn't work, but that's why.

 

[Valiard]

yeah but the game is pure genius i mean how many games of that nature come with more than just the Japanese voice overs? or the fact that all the set pieces drive the story...granted the kids are annoying and the mom just dying at the drop of a hat like that is kinda lame...

 

[MurderousToaster]

I got to one of the first bosses (that weird, big snake thing), looked at the fact that I'd have to grind the low-level mobs near it for about a half hour to beat it and progress and ejected the disk, never to play it again.

 

[OniaPL]

I found Lost Odyssey to be horrible. The non-combat story sequences take hours, and arent that interesting as they repeat all the horrible cliches JRPG's usually have. It is a completely mushy game, that I thought it could as well be a saturday morning cartoon.

And when you get tot the combat:
-There are really no cool abilities, in my opinion
-The ring system is very boring, you just have to check what type the enemy is and then use a ring that gives you a damage boost. Damage boost! Could have been a little more innovative, as paralysis, poison etc. effects aren't really useful. Also like in most RPG's, in the long bosss fights when, for example, "Seal" would help, they are always immune to those status effects.
-It gets repetitive really fast.

Only part I liked about in the game was the cutscene where the main character meets his daughter.

 

[warm slurm]

It's definitely the best JRPG this generation, that's for sure. Blows FFXIII out of the water. The writing is excellent - at least for a JRPG - and the TYOD stories are fantastic. The characters are well-rounded and I think the music is some of Nobuo's best work yet.

<youtube=jSYw7BNIWs4>

<youtube=scsODgElS9U>

 

[The Wykydtron]

Didn't it have a really lol wat level up system? I could never figure it out so i got owned by that army on the first disc, gave up and sold it. The menu just pissed me off, shame though the story looked kinda good from what i could tell.