Odin sphere is full of romance, drama, action, full of beauty and incredible music, this game is truly a masterpiece.
Genre: RPG-Adventure
Developer: Atlus
System: Playstation 2
Total Score: 90
Value Score: 9.0
Story: 10
• Probably one of the best Storylines in a RPG, you play as a five different characters, each with their own part in one big storyline. Story is very dramatic, containing a lot of romance, drama, and yes a lot of Tragedy. Pretty much what you would expect in a game about medieval times. The atmosphere in the game also reflects on many norse myths of betrayal and love. This game's storyline will make you love and hate alike many of the main characters for whatever their role is. The game progresses through books for each character, you first have the first 5 basic books representing each character, than you get the last book in the storyline, than one more book for the ending. I would definitely recommend you to play this game regardless of what people say about the gameplay or graphics, the storyline deserves 5 out of 5 stars.
Characters: 9
• You go on to playing the game with 5 main characters, you cant choose which character to go play as, as your forced to playing as a certain character than going to the next one. Regardless, the character designs in this game is amazing, each of the main characters and their supporting characters each have a unique design, some of the characters' designs might not seem like they would fit in a norse mythology atmosphere , but give you more of a modern type fantasy anime feeling. The way the characters have been placed in their roles were perfect.
GamePlay: 7
• A lot of people complained about this game's linear and repetitive gameplay system, but than again, a lot of games are "repetitive" in their own way, cant expect each game to be played in different ways. Anyways, this game will bring you nostalgic memories about the 1990s, if you were into those Beat-em-up Action genre games like Streets of Rage or Final Fight, you will love this game. The game system retains its RPG feel as you have a "Psypher Level" which is your attack power and skill level, and you have a HP level. You gain experience for your psypher level by absorbing phozons and eating food increases your experience, pretty simple and basic. Pretty much other than that, this game is pretty much a spam item, button mashing hack and Slash. Note also, that inventory clean up is a major thing as your inventory is limited in the beginning, you can increase it later, but about 40-50% of the overall game play will make you involve in organizing your inventory which can be tedious, but I found it to be enjoyable. There are some annoying lag during some battles in the NA version. But regardless of that one small factor, the gameplay is fairly enjoyable.
Graphics: 10
• Probably next best thing about this game other than its fantastic storyline is the graphics, truly if you wanted a "Perfect" looking 2D game in the 1990s, and was disappointed in finding any, 2007 brought you what you wanted than. This game's graphics are gorgeous, despite it being a 2D game, the graphics are breath taking. Just watching the opening scene is incredible, each character, environment stage, item , etc have been well drawn, its pretty much like what you would expect to see in one of those fairy tale books, if your looking for something that defines flashy and Fantasy related, this game definitely delivers that feeling.
Sound: 10
• The voice acting in this game is incredible, the way the actors did the voices for their characters simply perfect, no voice sounds awkward on whatever character that speaks, along with that, the music does not override the volume of the voices either, which is another plus, because usually in a RPG game, a lot of games have the problem where the voices might get blocked out by certain music. The voice actors especially the ones who did the voice for Odin and Gwendolyn were fantastic.
Music: 10
• If you loved the music from Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII, than you will love the music to this game, the same composer made the music for this game as well. Along with that, some other composers have made music for this game. The music is very dramatic and has that fantasy medieval ring to it. The battle themes are well done, the opening theme and the main theme songs are gorgeous to hear to. The music you hear near the end of the game is incredible, one song that I recommend everyone to hear, at least on youtube is "Rise to Action and Invasion" of the Odin Sphere OST, really wonderful piece of music.
Length: 9
• If you are expecting a game that will take you so many hours, don't expect this to be it, this game is average for a RPG in this time and age. At first it doesn't seem like it's a very long game, but the storyline makes it feel like it is long, along with all the levels and stages you have to go through, makes you take your time to carefully plan and move ahead through the storyline. The length is pretty average, but should give you a decent amount of play time. Even though it is technically a short game, it just doesn't feel like it, replay value makes a big role in the scoring (more explained in Replay Value).
Replay Value: 7
• The game doesn't have much replay value compared to what you expect from usual RPGs like Star Ocean, Chrono series. Pretty much, the replay value of this game is the same as a Final Fantasy game you can say. You can go back to the character's storylines and play their storylines again, but you will retain all items and level ups. There is also a option where you can view cut scenes in the game in any order you want to which is a plus of course since the storyline in this game is fantastic. Though near the end of the game, the game may force you to go back to the character's storylines to collect items or to even power them up before they face the last bosses for each respected characters (which is why the game's length will be longer than what you would expected). Another plus in Replay value is that there are multiple endings, depending on which character you used in what situation in the last book. Not as fancy as Star Ocean or the Tales series, but hey, at least it does have some replay value storyline wise.
Player Value: 8
• Gorgeous graphics, incredible music and storyline, basic gameplay, if your into hack and slash type of games, or adventure beat-em-ups, than this game is for you. For the hardcore RPG player, this game might not be as much of a RPG as secret of mana or Star ocean, but it will give you that old nostalgic feeling of games you played in the past. In my opinion, a truly good masterpiece that should not be missed out by anyone who likes Norse mythology and RPG players alike. If you want Fantasy, romance, drama, betrayal, and all other aspects of a good mythological storyline, than this game is for you.