One of my favorite games, seriously. Although, Odin Sphere needs a player with an open mind.
Odin sphere in its most basic form is running around in circular areas beating the enemies into oblivion. As repetitive as it may sound, the gameplay boils down to this simple formula: preparation (leveling up HP by eating at restaruants, if you have access and item management and shopping), scene explaining why you're going to the are you're going to, fight through various stages until you reach the chapter boss, another scene, the boss, ending scene of chapter. That is played out 7 times per 5 books. There are 2 more books after the 5 initial ones, but they play slightly differently, 6 being 5 consecutive boss fights (scenes before and after each one) and 7 being scenes and the credits. There are 3 difficulties to choose from initially (the fourth being unlocked much much later in the game) so you can have a relatively easier time running through the world of Erion, or you can take the challenge of Hard mode (and later Heroic).
This game is the prettiest, most elegantly designed visual masterpiece I have seen in the gaming industry, so far. Every sprite is hand drawn and animated to the epitome of design. The areas are colorful and capture the essence of the mood it is looking for. The characters' sprites whether they be the protagonists, the antagonists, or the grunt extras are all equally as perfect as the scenery. Truly, Odin Sphere is a work of art and is a blessing to the eyes to behold.
The musical score was excellently composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. The music is very well done, srly. Though, the victory song does get annoying, because of how many times it will be heard, granted it's the worst (without a doubt) track on the whole score. The American release of the game featured both the US and Japanese voice actors. Every character is well voiced and highly believable on the Japanese track, while most of the American VA's are. More accurately, the American voice actors did about a par job, but there were some stand out well done voices (Cornelius, Ingway specifically).
For some reason, it seems that RPGs (as everyone knows are noted for their length) have been dwindling, notably in clear times. These days it seems that an average one can be cleared in 25 - 30 hours, when focusing on the story alone. Odin Sphere has enough content in the story to fill that time slot and then some more. Granted you take things a little bit slower and on hard mode (like I did) you can clear it in 50~ hours. However, there is a downside to Odin Sphere's content and that is the lack of side-quests. The only thing to that effect in Odin Sphere is getting the 7th star in your save data (each star is gained from clearing a book, while the 7th is merely uncovering the entire story board).
Unfortunately, everyone complains about this part of Odin Sphere, and I shall join the group. I, personally, am unaware whether it is a processor issue or if it is actual coding, but during gameplay when there are extremely large amount of enemies the frame rate drops to holy hell. One of the many areas that your characters visit in their quest is the netherworld, Endelphia. In there, the frame rate seems to drop to that level almost all the time, even if there are only 3 or 4 enemies on screen. However, I like to think that the frame rate dropping is the price to pay for such a magnificent story that unravels in your travels.
Off the box and totally true: "Lose yourself in this intricately spun tale worthy of a place in the canon of classic literature."