Lost Odyssey E3 2005 Impressions

It would be an understatement to call Lost Odyssey one of the most anticipated games for the Xbox 360. Considering the original Xbox's relative dearth of strong role-playing games, it's pretty exciting to know that some of the creators of the original Final Fantasy games are on board with Microsoft and are developing an RPG for the system. We recently got a glance at the game in motion and are pleased to report that it's looking quite nice.

Unfortunately, few gameplay details were revealed in the video that Microsoft released, but a good amount of teaser text hinted at some of the characters and conflicts that form the core of the game. The game apparently features a character named Kaim Argonar, who, for unexplained reasons, cannot die and has been living for 1,000 years. It's hard to get a feel for his personality in the brief amount of video that focuses on him, but the text that flows around the images seems to hint that he's filled with melancholy because of his longevity. It reads: "A man who has lived a thousand years...an eternity...dreams that reveal memories of 1000 years...the tears of a man who cannot die."

After our glimpse of the central character, the video goes on to reveal some of the other players in the story, including a comely, as-yet-unnamed female walking through a field of flowers. The short video concludes with more of the backstory of the game; like the later Final Fantasies, it appears that the central conflict will revolve around the interplay of magic and technology. This isn't your typical archfantasy RPG; like in FFVII and FFVIII, there are cities that shine with high-tech gadgets and skyscrapers, but it appears that wars still involve massive sword-wielding armies, as one of the scenes features a few hundred soldiers hacking and slashing their way through a huge battlefield. There's also a dragon, of all things, looking mightily similar to the Bahamut summons of FFX and FFVII.

One of the centerpieces of the tale seems to be a magical staff that appears in some of the scenes. The teaser text also included the line "The mystical staff and magical power that changed history....the mystical industrial revolution; magical power - first enhanced, then beyond control." It would appear that this staff is the genesis of the technological renaissance in the land of Lost Odyssey, and if RPG conventions are to be relied upon, it will also probably be a key part of the game's storyline.

If you're interested in seeing Lost Odyssey for yourself, click on the video link on this page. GameSpot will have plenty more details on the game as they become available.