Lost Odyssey is a classic JRPG that doesn't deliver anything special, but it's still a nice experience.
Lost Odyssey follows the long, long journey of Kaim Argonar, an immortal being who has lived for over 1000 years. Kaim has lost his memories, but as you progress through the game his dreams come back to him and he begins to remember certain events little by little. Along with other immortals and mortals, he ultimately travels to put a stop the maniacal Gongora, another immortal with immense magical powers hell bent on taking over the world. With dinosaurs apparently… Anyway, you'll meet other immortals and find out that they have all been brought to the current world the game takes place in to achieve some sort of goal. Naturally Gongora did something to erase all their memories, and that's why you need to stop him and his band of Arthosaurus monsters. As the game progressed, I grew to like Gongora more and more. Sure he's crazy and out to gain unstoppable power, but I just thought he was an interesting guy. His character was well done, even if he uses dinosaurs to do his evil biddings. Moving on though, you'll also travel with other mortals who are necessary for learning skills and such.
The battle system of Lost Odyssey is a classic turn-based affair with nothing really special. The 4 elements are there and exploiting weaknesses is the key to victory. You know the drill. There is the ring feature though, and it at least adds a little flair to the combat. These rings can be equipped on a character and they contain added affects. After selecting that character to perform a physical attack, you'll see the character rush toward an enemy and a circle (or "ring") will appear on the screen. You must hold down the Right Trigger and release it as the circle approaches the middle. It's basically a target system. If you get a Good or Perfect, then the ring's added effects will take place and you can do more damage. It's not that exciting, but it can help in battle if you do land a Perfect since it causes a significant amount of damage. There are also formations to consider. You can have a front and back row, and the front row features a defensive wall if you will. As your front row characters take more damage, this wall's HP will diminish as well. The purpose of the wall is to protect the back row, which will most likely feature your mages. As long as the wall has a decent amount of HP, then the back row will take less damage. If the wall is shattered, then the back row is susceptible to normal damage. The ring and wall defense system add a little something to the basic turn-based combat, but it's nothing groundbreaking. The battle system is definitely good though. The random battles can be a pain, but the encounters are not too frequent. That's good and bad though. If you want to rush through an area, then you can expect not to be tested very often. But if you actually want to level, you can walk around for a long time and have no battles. They could have balanced it out a bit more in my opinion.
Learning skills is another fun feature of Lost Odyssey. Equipping accessories on your characters can give them special skills. Only immortals though can learn those skills permanently. Each accessory has a skill and a certain amount of Skill Points (SP) attached to it. An immortal will gain SP in battle and after a while can learn that attached skill permanently. You can then assign it to a skill slot and the immortal will learn it permanently. Mortals can only have access to the skill if they have the accessory attached at all times. Once you un-equip the item, then they no longer have access to that skill. Mortals are useful though because immortals can only learn battle skills from them. Immortals have a Skill Link feature that allows them to link to a mortal and learn one of their skills. Each linked skill has SP as well, and once enough has been obtained, the immortal can use it permanently. Linked Skills can only be learned though if both the immortal and mortal are participating in battles together. This can be a bit frustrating because their will be characters you never want to use, but are forced to because they have a skill you might want. Speaking of useless characters, let's delve into the flaws of LO.
My biggest complaint with Lost Odyssey were the horrible characters, most notably the snot-faced child duo of Cooke and Mack. They are quite possibly the most annoying child characters ever created. They never shut up, have horrible voices, cause all the trouble in the game, and are completely useless. I hate them. The other characters are perfectly fine, but I probably would have enjoyed Lost Odyssey a lot more if those two were never in the game. Pacing issues are also a problem in Lost Odyssey, especially on the third disc. You'll spend that entire disc in a split party. It just sucks when you're playing as 4 mages at a time (including those 2 sniveling little children) and pretty much have to rely on only magic attacks. You just go back and forth between different character parties and it can get a little frustrating. Luckily it seems that the third disc is the shortest of the 4, so you can probably rush through it if you want to. The Dream System can also be a little tedious at times. Basically they are dreams (in nothing but text form) that Kaim and a couple others characters can unlock during the course of the game. They are certainly good reads at first and can be quite interesting, but they can grow tiresome after a while. They are just long pauses in the actual game. You'll just want to skip them after a time, especially when you're close to beating the game. You can always access the dreams at the main screen or at an inn if you feel the need to read over one you skipped. The leveling system is also a little off. Each level requires 100 points and as you level the same enemies will provide less and less points. Points do not carry over either. So if you need 1 point to level and say gain 20 in battle, you'll only receive that 1 point and nothing will carry over. I don't know if I'm just stupid, but I never noticed how many points you got after a battle. You just kind of have to figure it out on your own. I guess it somewhat makes sense because characters will gain a different amount of points based on their level. The game is also a tad linear in terms of areas and there is no world map feature. You basically select what area/city you want to go on the overworld screen, and you instantly teleported there. Not much room for exploration. Despite an overall solid story, it can be very corny at times (*cough* dinosaurs *cough*) and you're left shaking you head. The ending also doesn't feel complete and kind of leaves you hanging in one area. It just makes the ending a bit lacking.
The music in Lost Odyssey is pretty good. The melodies during dreams and the battle music are all pleasing to the ear. It's not epic music, but it's a nice soundtrack that fits the game well. The graphics are also fairly solid. The cutscenes are well done and the in-game visuals are nice as well. There are some interesting character models minus those two little brats. Overall, Lost Odyssey features some nice music and visuals.
Lost Odyssey is not a breath-taking adventure, but it certainly merits a play through if you own a 360. It's got a classic feel to it with a couple added features that make the game interesting. It's not a terribly long game at around 40 hours, but you can probably stretch it to 50+ if you level grind and do some side quests. I clocked in at 49 hours, but I skipped a lot of the side quests and optional dungeons. I believe there is DLC available as well, but I'm not sure what it contains exactly. There is a New Game + feature if you ever want to give the game another go. Despite the many complaints I had with the game, I felt the pros outweighed the cons. The story can be a bit cheesy at times and the ending is lackluster, but Lost Odyssey is a nice game worthy of a play through. If only Gongora's dinosaur minions would have eaten Cooke and Mack…
RATING: 8/10