Lost Odyssey: Catch All

momgamer wrote:

Do we have a spoiler-ific thread yet?

Are there enough of us playing to call for one?

Does anyone know how many of the little text novellas there are in the game?

I was already sold on LO, but after watching a couple of these text sequences on YouTube I quickly realized that this is the most compelling facet of the game for me thus far (corny as it sounds). The production on these things is just freaking outstanding and the writing is excellent. I love the sound effects that sync with the creative text fill-ins and the backgrounds are cool as all get out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfuSy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPhG8...

Am I crazy for being completely geeked for these things?

Okay. I truly understand what's going on now. Lost Odyssey is where cutscenes go when they die.

I'm not sure what to think of this game yet. Some parts had me laughing my ass off and others left me half asleep (typical RPG stuff really). I was planning to play all night but, for whatever reason, I cannot beat the first boss. There was a save point there but the game wouldn't let me use it. The last one I used was way back. I saw the save point, there was a cutscene and then I was attacked. There are freaking save points EVERYWHERE and they couldn't bother to let me use one after ALL those cutscenes and before a boss fight?! *face palm*

Must be one of those days. Perhaps I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Aaron D. wrote:

Am I crazy for being completely geeked for these things?

When it keeps interrupting the game, you won't be. They seem to come at random and that's not something I'm too fond of. Especially that one time I was bombarded with cutscenes and when I was finally able to continue, a few feet later I'm sucked into a novella. I hope that isn't common.

But I do agree with you, the writing is excellent. The first one really gave me some perspective on the main character.

Aaron D. wrote:

Am I crazy for being completely geeked for these things?

I only made it to the first one before Luna requested that I let her use the Xbox, but I was rather impressed at what I saw/read and I too am looking forward to seeing more of them.

Mystic Violet wrote:

I got a surprise too when the automated Gamestop woman called me today.

Gamestop Recording wrote:

Hi. This is an important message from Gamestop. Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi.........

*three minutes later*

Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi......... Hi, this is Aeris... from GAMESTOP... calling to let you know that LOST ODYSSEY will be arriving TOMORROW MORNING..."

No words can describe how frightened I was.

Be thankful they don't have GLaDOS call.

Ulairi wrote:

plus my second disc was scratched and the 4th disc comes in a paper sleeve. Not happy with the release of it.

Yeah, they could've done a lot better in the packaging. Like, oh, I dunno, just using the same packaging the used for the international versions. The American version, that just looks tacky.

dhelor wrote:
Ulairi wrote:

plus my second disc was scratched and the 4th disc comes in a paper sleeve. Not happy with the release of it.

Yeah, they could've done a lot better in the packaging. Like, oh, I dunno, just using the same packaging the used for the international versions. The American version, that just looks tacky.

Fully agreed. Didn't Halo 2 and 3 have problems with some of their discs being scratched because of them being stacked on top of each other on the single peg? Now we have to deal with 3 discs on a single cheap plastic holder, PLUS the fourth disc in a paper sleeve. Thank God I didn't buy this game used since it'd be near impossible to get it in complete shape soon, let alone all the discs perfect.

What happened to the old PS1 dual cases? Those were good times.

Mystic Violet wrote:

When it keeps interrupting the game, you won't be. They seem to come at random and that's not something I'm too fond of. Especially that one time I was bombarded with cutscenes and when I was finally able to continue, a few feet later I'm sucked into a novella. I hope that isn't common.

But I do agree with you, the writing is excellent. The first one really gave me some perspective on the main character.

The good news (from what I've read) is that you can skip right past them as soon as they boot up and every one you unlock is stored in a log book that you can view later at your leisure.

Oh, did anyone get the pre-order bonus from Gamestop?

Luna picked the game up for me and they forgot to give it to her, so I was wondering if it was worth my time to go over there after work and bug them about it.

This one may move to the top of the "Father's Day Game" list. No rush since it's single player. Man, it's hard to resist you enablers.

If I wasn't such a stubborn bastard I'd go out and buy it, but I'm sticking by my self-imposed challenge.

I've made it to the first real boss, about 3 hours in. The art is the game's biggest strength, it's very Square and very beautiful. Playstation Final Fantasies had terrible aliasing problems that turned things into a pixelated mess. In Lost Odyssey everything is sharp and bright, and you can soak in the details in costumes and environments. There are nice touches like intense weather effects, a more subtle use of depth of field than Blue Dragon, and very beautiful lighting. I haven't noticed a single technical problem - no texture pop-in, no dropped framerates, nothing.

Otherwise LO reminds me strongly of Final Fantasy X. No overworld, random encounters, turn-based battles, goofy characters. The game sticks extremely close to the Final Fantasy formula, almost too close. There isn't a whole lot of originality here beyond the artwork and the idea of immortals. Personalities are a little too obvious (you'll spot the villain immediately) so a bit of the mystery is drained from the story. You can already see the big-evil-behind-the-little-evil thing building up. There is supposed to be a big moment in the beginning that draws you into the story, I guess I haven't seen it yet. Jansen is easily my favorite character, he's like a walking commentary on the whole genre.

In all, it's shaping up to be an 8.0, 8.5 game, a little stale even for JRPG fans but highly polished. If you are in the mood for Final Fantasy then get it.

Oh, and here's the lowdown on combat.

First, the basics stick closely to the Final Fantasy formula. There is "white magic" (healing and such) and "black magic", and everything is based on your standard elements - wind, earth, fire, water, etc. You have old favorites like "steal" and all that.

The big addition is the Ring System. You see this in the videos as a ring that shots towards an enemy. If you let go of the right trigger at the right moment, you do more damage. This is tied to an inventory system where different rings have different effects. You can swap out rings on the fly and make new rings from various materials you collect in the game.

Otherwise, you've got 5 characters in battle (although I'm currently just using 3) and a front/back offense/defense system. That is pretty much the sweet spot for generic turn-based combat.

The skill system for immortals is nice. You link immortals to skills known by immortal characters, and slowly learn them. You can also learn skills from accessories. This gives immortals something of a job system, you can customize their progression and make them into whatever you want. It's the best part of the combat system.

And that's it. The ring and skill system are mostly inventory/menu management, pretty standard for JRPGs.

I agree with SoulDaddy's impressions. I enjoy the fact that it's not trying to do a whole lot new, I like playing JRPG because they are mellow and allow me to sit back and enjoy the world/characters.

Jansen is cool, but his "Yeah, well I don't tire in bed!" line about an hour in made me cringe something awful.

I'm with you all. I'm about four hours in, but I took my time so I might not be as far story-wise.

Spoiler wrote:

[color=white]I'm at the first construction base once you get out of the mountains.[/color]

The pacing is slow and easy. If you're looking for frenetic battle action, you aren't going to find it at the beginning of this game. I like the combat system very much. At first it's infuriatingly slow, but be patient with it. As you learn skills and customize your characters you gain tactical options and things start to move. The rings add a bit of immediacy that keeps you from just taking the first attack and mashing your way through the fights.

The story so far has me intrigued. You really aren't sure who is the bad guy and who isn't yet. In fact, I think we have at least three. Whoohoo for some depth. And the memories really add something. I've found three so far and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

The characters are an interesting take on the Buttkicking Diversity Training Poster that usually forms the roster for these games. Jansen is cringe-worthy, but also cool because we finally have a mage who isn't a wimp or a halfnekkid girl. Hopefully once we get past the intial settling in of the characters he'll grow up a bit or grow on me. Olympic-level skirt chaser isn't my favorite character stereotype. Seth drives me a bit nuts, but I think she's supposed to. Hopefully Kaim will engage and remove the ramrod from wherever he's storing it.

Having all the language options is great. Since the kids were watching I did it in English last night. Tonight I'm going to run in Japanese, but the English voices are not too horrific. I accidentally played it for a while in Italian because I fail at menus and that went pretty well. It might be an option for those who are annoyed by the English voices but are also annoyed by the Japanese. The vocal kinesthetics are a much closer match for English.

Yeah, after watching the first council scene in English I got a bit concerned with the voices, and switched to Japanese for the second scene. The Japanese language patterns meshed a bit better with the character animations, but I found that I was reading too far ahead of the dialogue and thus I wasn't seeing the expressions match with the words, so I'm going to give the English voices another chance tonight. Hopefully I'll get to play a bit longer this evening and I'll be able to get a better feel for how the English voice work quality is overall.

I'm reading this thread and basically waiting for a couple of you who share my general enjoyment of jrpg's to finish the game and be able to tell me if it holds up well through to completion (though I don't want too much in the way of spoilers). I want to be excited for it without ultimately being let down, so I'm actually not all that jazzed for it yet.

Managed to pick up a copy on the way home, and so far am getting what I was expecting.

That is until just a minute ago. About an hour and a half in, I've hit the first memory text story thing. I cried. Now I know deep down that I'm just a bit sap, but I can't remember the last time a little story like this has hit me so hard.

I had something in my eyes when I got to that moment, too. Weird coincidence.

momgamer wrote:

I had something in my eyes when I got to that moment, too. Weird coincidence. ;)

Indeed, the story was powerful.

<-- not because of the game's story, but the fact that I still don't have my copy.

Crying for a different reason now: Got to the first big boss and am getting crushed. Am I missing something here? It's nice of the game to let me go right back to the spot before the battle, and even skip the talky part before the battle, but I've died about four times now, and the only solution I can come up with is to run around and level up before trying again. :\

edit: A couple quick levels and a bit of luck later, I took the sucker down. Barely. I guess it's good it wasn't exactly trivial. Hard to find a balance in difficulty in these types of games.

I'm like a recovering alcoholic. I finally think I'm over this whole JRPG thing, and then this comes along and I'm thinking "I love those little stories" and "It might be nice to enjoy something paced a bit slower"

So I call EB.

SHAWN: Do you have any copies of Lost Odyssey in?

EB DOUCHE: One or two, yeah.

SHAWN: Can you hold one for me? Be there in less than an hour.

DOUCHE: Sorry, we don't hold new games anymore unless you pre-ordered.

SHAWN: ... no problem.

Policy is policy, it's not his fault of course. It's obvious that EB/Gamestop holds new titles in contempt and isn't even willing to risk having ONE copy not being purchased if someone doesn't make it to the store. I'll go to my local Blockbuster before I deal with that at this point. If they could get away with selling used games only and not deal with selling new stuff, I bet they would.

Anyways, I'm saved from another JRPG I doubt I'd finish. FOR NOW. We'll see what happens when I wrap up Devil May Cry 4.

The pre-order content gets you an extra dream and an item. I really enjoy the dreams, they are well written and moving. Has anyone been getting them "out of order" I actually want to find every dream and see how it fleshes out the story. I'm glad I can read them instead of having more cut scenes with voice acting. This way, we are Kaim's inner monologue.

I am really enjoying the game. It reminds me of FVIII with FFX gameplay. I prefered FVIII story to X's and love this game so far.

I feel like I'm playing a different game than the rest of you. I think the voices are great. A hell of a lot better than the poorly dubbed anime voices I'm used to.

The problem is that you all have been listening to Japanese voices with English subtitles for so long, you can't stand the sound of English anymore.

LupusUmbrus wrote:

Crying for a different reason now: Got to the first big boss and am getting crushed. Am I missing something here?

You'll need to level before every boss I bet. Same thing happened to me for the first boss. I leveled up a bit and that seemed to work. I am now on the second boss and got my ass handed to me AGAIN. I know the reason why and it's definitely because I'm too weak. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

Certis wrote:

"It might be nice to enjoy something paced a bit slower"

That's the whole reason I still play JRPGs. Once in a while, I want to play a game that doesn't require super fast reflexes and endless button mashing. JRPGs are relaxing for me.

You'll need to level before every boss I bet. Same thing happened to me for the first boss. I leveled up a bit and that seemed to work. I am now on the second boss and got my ass handed to me AGAIN. I know the reason why and it's definitely because I'm too weak. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

The baddies are supposed to scale to your level...

I'm about eight hours in now and the storyline has gotten me completely hooked. There's a holy crap moment and a complete tear jerker that hits you at the same time. I have to agree that this is a very slow moving rpg. If you have a short attention span, this game is definitely not for you.

The cutscenes are simply gorgeous. This is what next gen rpgs should look like. Seeing this makes me realize how bad Mass Effects graphics truly were. Enough typing, back to the game.

Ulairi wrote:

The baddies are supposed to scale to your level...

Doesn't seem that way at all. I shouldn't be able to one-shot enemies after leveling up if that is the case.

certis wrote:

Anyways, I'm saved from another JRPG I doubt I'd finish. FOR NOW. We'll see what happens when I wrap up Devil May Cry 4.

Oh you'll be playing it eventually. It's good. The load times are not bad at all. The plot so far is cliched but not overly so. It's just a really well refined JRPG. Some of the reviews I have read have bashed the game for being what it is. It's a turn based RPG with a old school battle system and a complex, slow moving story. If that description doesn't make you want to stick your head in the oven, go get it. It's easily the best traditional RPG on the system, maybe the best of the last few years that doesn't start with "Dragon" or "Final".

Damn goodjer enablers! I thought I was done with JRPGs long ago, but this one sounds too good. I will be picking up a copy on my way home after work.