Sunday, March 6, 2011

Random Screenshot 11: Lost Odyssey


Lost Odyssey (Xbox 360) Mistwalker 2008

Good J-RPGs are few and far between on the current gen systems. I would love to play a good Final Fantasy, but all hope seems lost on that front. In 2008, fans of J-RPGs were given one solid Final Fantasy-like game from Mistwalker, which is comprised of a few notable ex-Squaresoft employees like Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy. The story revolves around a group of immortals trying to find a way back to their home world. The graphics are outstanding and the music is solid RPG fare. I loved the fighting system, it was very old school, but rewarding.  However, the game becomes pretty broken once you get a skill called Gamble, because it does massive damage most of the time and it is easy to spam in every battle. Besides that little problem, the game never quite reaches the greatness of the J-RPG classics like Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 7, but I don't think it really tries to do that. Lost Odyssey seems to be more about giving players a competent and playable role-playing experience, which is more than I can say for most of Square-Enix's current gen games. Lost Odyssey is very long (I spent about 40+ hours on my first play through) and it can be found pretty cheaply these days; if you loved the 16-bit J-RPG era then don't pass this one up.  

No comments: