A great RPG for fans of the genre, but if you're a RPG newbie, don't expect this to make you a fan.
Lost Odyssey follow Kaim, an immortal ma, on his path to get his memories back. He meets up with many other immortals along the way, some that will help him, and some that won't. He also meets other mortals who he learns skills from( more on that later).
Lost Odyssey is not likely to wow you with its gameplay. You walk around, open chests, solve puzzles and more. Then there are the random monster encounters.
Fights occur in the same way as almost all RPGs. You select your actions, who your attacking, and watch. That's it. Lost Odyssey does, however, try to change things up a little bit. Introduced was the ring system. You equip a ring to a character, and it has a special effect on their physical attacks. These effects range from status effects, elemental effects and extra damage on certain types of foes. It can become strategic by equipping the right ring. When attacking a foe, two rings appear. One closes in on the other as you hold down the right trigger. You then let go as it gets within the inner ring and you get a rating( Bad, Good, Perfect) and more damage is awarded for a better rank.
Also new is Skill Linking, and Guard Condition. For a immortal to learn skills (magic, fighting skills etc.) he/she must link that skill with a mortal in the battle party. You earn SP at the ed of a battle, and a certain amount of SP is needed to master a skill so that character can use it. It is confusing at first, but you can learn it quickly.
Guard Condition is basically saying: "The higher you guard condition, the less damage the back row recieves". Although that can change. Once your guard condition is down, it can not be raised unless certain skills are used. So if your guard condition is 400 and an enemy does 310 damage to a unit in the front row, the GC is now 190. Even if you heal, the GC stays the same. It's innovative, improving on the rowing system.
Length? Lost Odyssesy is a whopping FOUR (!!!!) discs long. The first disc is mainly story, and isn't as interesting as the second, where you get many more characters, and you can finally start the games side quests.
Overall, Lost Odyssey is a great game with great graphics. New innovation make it fresh, but if you're not a fan of RPGs, this game won't help you change your mind.