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| From the creator of the legendary Final Fantasy comes the next generation of Role Playing Games: the epic Lost Odyssey™.
Spanning 4 discs Lost Odyssey is the second Role Playing Game that Mistwalker has developed for Microsoft. The Whole game is centred on a 1000 year old immortal called Kaim. He can’t remember any of his past, doesn’t no what his purpose in life is and doesn’t know where he is going to end up. The world of Uhra is now on the verge of a mystical industrial revolution where the mortals have gained dark and terrifying powers.
The game begins with massive battle scene between Gohtza and Uhra, the kind that would make Lord of the Rings end fight seem very small in comparison. With it going straight into this battle it is not clear who is who, but when you enter the first battle mode it all becomes clear. In the first couple of videos you get to see Kaim in action showing the different attacks he can do.
The battle mode is how you fight with the enemies that you encounter. Now if this was just a fighting game you would try and hit as many buttons as possible in a certain sequence, this on the other hand throws you into a turn based battle system that I believe is the same as the Final Fantasy Games. At this early stage of the game I didn’t really know what I was doing and was just pressing and hoping that it hit one of the offending soldiers.
Completing these early battles shows you a cut scene that explains what happened next. The planet is struck with a meteor shower and manages to wipe out most living things apart from Kaim.
The next scene is where you take full control of Kaim. On the left hand side of the screen you will notice there is a small map showing the route that you must follow, the map also shows save points and objects of interest.
On following the paths you will notice that the ‘A’ button flashes up in the bottom right hand corner this tells you that you can perform an action with the object near to you. This could be opening a chest to retrieve an item, kicking a large pot to see what is inside, or even pushing things out of the way. You can also use this function to talk to the people that are near to you, this is helpful to find out information about the large areas that you visit. These hidden extras seem pointless at first but further on in the game they will become useful in the many battle scenes that you will encounter and also in the features that you can use.
The features are best explained in the many tutorials that pop up when you collect an object for the first time. They explain everything in fine detail from creating spell, to the construction of the many rings you can make. These of course can only be constructed if you have collected the right ingredients. There are several rings that you can construct each one having their own unique ability. The bruiser ring (one of the first objects that you will pick up), increases the power of your characters attack.
Several more cut scenes and battles later you reach the end of the trail. Here you meet some Uhra soldiers all packing up and ready to leave the area. You are asked to join them on their journey to the magical city of Uhra.
You are dropped off at the great gate to the city and take the mono-rail to the centre during which a video is played explaining the history of magic and the magical revolution
Once you reach the city you have to watch several cut scenes that try to explain the plot of the game. It is all centred on a magical but in complete building called the Grand Staff. The council of the City of Uhra have blamed the building for the meteor shower earlier in the game. The communications with the project site have stopped and the general in charge of construction has now been placed under house arrest.
The council find out that you are an immortal they then decide to send you to the construction site to find out what has happened.
When that is all finished you are then left to roam around the city. Like most of these types of games you have to visit certain parts of the city in a certain order. Visiting the inn revealed the first of many flashbacks that Kaim has. Not really knowing what to do next I found myself trying to find objects in the most bizarre places. Kicking pots again, opening chests and even finding coins behind posters (why?), all added to the weird places to hide things.
I wandered around the city for what seemed like ages and then in one of the many CGI videos, you are ordered to begin your quest, but you have to take 2 companions with you. The first one is a woman called Seth, now you find out that she survived the same meteor shower as you did and is immortal as well. The second is a person is called Jansen, Jansen is a mortal and has the ability to cast spell in battles.
Starting this quest a huge map appears and you have to select which way you would like to go. I chose to go to the mountains of Ipsilon. Having selected this path the 3 of us appeared on yet another video, but when this finished there was only the one character left, Kaim. The only time you get to see the others is when the battles appear. I found this very odd.
The path to the great staff seems to be full of various cut scenes that tells you a little bit more about what is happening to the world around your character. The flashbacks he gets also helps him remember his past.
To aid you along the way you can learn the ability to cast spells with a feature called skill link. This feature is used to learn the different spells of the mortal Jansen. When the skill link is complete you can then cast the same spells. These come into their own when you reach your first big boss. Grilgan is the first big boss of the game and using the various spells I found out that the flare spell worked better. Using Jansen to cast the spell and Kaim and Seth to heal the injured party, I soon overcome the boss and continued the mission.
Following the path through the mountains you seem to be involved with a lot of random battles and some cut scenes that just appear and slow the game play down. A video followed by a small movement through the map, then a battle followed by another video. It all seems to be slowing it down too much for it to be enjoyable.
This is by far the biggest game that I have ever played; the scenery alone looks as though it has had all the money in the gaming industry thrown at it. The flowing movement of all the characters to detail that has gone into the surrounds on every level makes the game look good, even if it’s only on my 19” monitor.
Yes there is a lot to be explained in this massive game, but the stop-start feeling of it is getting frustrating. The battle scenes are more enjoyable when you understand the way to deal with the different enemies. You could be wasting a water spell on a boss that could only be defeated with the flare spell.
This is the first RPG that I have played and some people might think this would be an unfair review, but I went into it with an open mind. Where the graphics stunned me, the game was let down by the huge amount of information that you need in order to progress through the game.
Of the years people have been screaming that the Final Fantasy games were brilliant this is certain not my choice of game.
Value for money this game is going to keep you entertained for months but i would hate to think how many videos that involves watching...
Good replacement for Final Fantasy ?? i'll let you decide
I may be shit, but i'm enjoying myself !!!
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 18:03:32
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| Good review mad  i agree, this game looks totally amazing, it is also very time consuming (found myself waiting to get to a save point though had to wait through 50min of video and fighting(thats the first time you reach grand staff). the storyline itself is also really compelling, i nearly had a tear myself the first time Kaim meets a certain person  I was a big fan of the Final Fantasy games though was dubious to go back to turn based rpg at first after game like oblivion and mass effect but im glad i did, little things like skill linking and ring assembly stand it out from the Final fantasy series. Basically if you liked the Final Fantasy series im sure you would love this, to me it is just bigger and better with a better story line
 Games: Orange Box, Rainbow Six 2, COD 4, PES 2008, Guitar Hero 2, Bully, Frontlines |
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