While not the greatest RPG out there, Lost Odyssey is certainly worth the time and effort
Suddenly, the earth beneath the fighters trembles. But it's no ordinary earthquake. Up in the sky, a meteor comes crashing down, with Kaim near the epicenter. All are killed it would seem. However, as Uhran soldiers search for survivors, Kaim steps out, completely unscathed. He's brought back to Uhra, and our journey begins.
Gameplay:
The most notable part of Lost Odyssey's gameplay is the Ring System. It's a system that uses rings to affect the characters' attack strength.
There are 3 levels of the Ring system, being Bad, Good, and Perfect. As you can no doubt tell, Bad is the weakest of the attacks, with Good being normal and Perfect being strongest (and dealing the most damage).
The system works in holding the right trigger as the character's attack begins, and releasing it just as the shrinking outer ring matches the ring surrounding the enemy. It seems more confusing that it actually is. It boils down to good timing is all.
I was anticipating something similar to The Legend of Dragoon's ring system when I first heard of it, but it is much different (and actually much easier).
Another key point in Lost Odyssey's gameplay lies with the Skills. Mortals learn their own skills as they gain levels, while the Immortals learn their skills by linking to the Mortal characters or equipping certain accessories. This essentially allows for the Immortal characters to do anything in the game, however it doesn't mean they will be so good at the skills they learn (they may not have strong magical ability, which means while they can use a certain spell, it would be weak).
Speaking of ability (or rather, stats), the characters in Lost Odyssey all have a set of different statistics, ranging from Physical Attack, to Magical Defense. Each stat gets a "grade" so to speak, from A (the stat is very high and therefore powerful) to H (the stat is low, and pathetically weak). Some characters tend to have great stats on one end, but terrible stats on the other, while some other characters have well-rounded stats. To have a good party is to strike a balance between the statistics in the party.
Story:
The story of Lost Odyssey revolves around the Immortals, a group of humans who, for some reason they are unaware of, are unable to die, no matter the situation. Granted they "die" in battle during the game, they will revive only 3 turns later, requiring no revival medicines or magics. Kaim, Seth, Ming, Sarah, and main villain Gongora are the only Immortals involved.
The first four (the good guys) are unable to remember much of their pasts, which have gone on for over 1,000 years. Throughout the game, they encounter certain situations or events that trigger a memory, referred to as "Dreams" in the game. They are quite lengthy, which is a real downside, but they let you in on who the characters are as people, their personalities if you will. That is, if you don't mind the long read (they are just word memories, which is rather dull).
Gongora is the only Immortal who has retained his memories, which he uses to his advantage to gain the upper hand on our heroes. Unlike most villains of the RPG genre, he uses and manipulates the characters constantly to get where he needs to be. He uses magic, and a titanic structure by the name of Grand Staff (which harnesses magical energy) to create a world for him to reign over (as with most RPGs right?).
Graphics:
While I haven't played this game on an HDTV yet, I can safely say it has some impressive graphics. The cutscenes are graphical masterpieces, and that's saying a lot for being played on a traditional television.
The battle opening scenes, while overly drawn out, show the magnificent backgrounds and settings for the battles, and seem to be a way of boasting the graphical power of the game and the X-box 360.
In short, a great RPG for those who are avid fans of the genre. I look forward to future Mistwalker titles thanks to this game, and I'm sure I won't be disappointed.