XBOX 360 Wire

Lost Odyssey Impressions

Gave it three hours last night, got myself into the Ipsilon Mountains and had to sleep. If JRPGs are your style, this game is your next-gen holy grail. 4Dvds means a good amount of CG video and an Epic storyline, the Unreal engine means it has the technical legs to keep pace, although it may stumble here and there.

I was surprised with the loading screens, not because they are long (frequent, but bearable), but because they are bland, black screen just doesn’t do it for me (especially considering the rest of the presentation). The music is high-caliber Japanese, grandiose during the battles, and some of the ambient tunes that play while you walk around really do a good job of accenting the visuals as opposed to overwhelming the gamer. Did I mention the visuals?? This game is a serious graphical contender, high levels of polish can be seen throughout, from realistic facial animations to sprawling outdoor environments, Lost Odyssey makes for a showpiece on the Xbox 360.

Gameplay is classic “JRPG” turn based random battles, with different strategies applicable to certain enemies, and different party formations adding depth to the formula. I’m from the old school. The Super old school if you will, where save points were few and we had to walk uphill both ways to get experience. This game is looking like 90 hours of my life I may not want back.

PS - The few “1000 Year Dream” text segments I was privy to in the few hours I had last night were presented quite well and were an excellent read. Going back into the game after the reading gives the story some deep roots - expect a full review sometime next year when I finish the game.

Posted by Erick - February 28th, 2008 -