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Against some judgment, I picked this (Lost Odyssey) up for about 50% off. I've been asking about this game round these parts for a short while, and after today's purchase have played this about an hour now (I say against judgment because I'm not finding too many reviews that glow in the dark, but they are generally favorable).

Pros:

Combat system with the ring is intriguing. Reminds me of MLB2K7, which is not nec a bad thing.

THis is Final Fantasy 0 as far as I am concerned. Again, not a bad thing. Same creative team, right down to the soundtrack (which is pretty good).

Any game, and my first, that has 4 DVDs in the package must have some real scalability. THe packaging was lousy, though.

A real familiarity, since I've played the recent Eternal Sonata, FF and some other RPGs to an extent.

Serious as cancer. I'm betting the characters are more the attraction than the plot (I say this since the developers throw you into the storyline with little backdrop)

Cheap

Cons:

A bit derivative from what I can tell

Not as immersive as the tagline suggests, but I've been sucked into a game well after the first few hours

Hasn't been the greatest challenge so far, but again to be fair they may be developing the storyline and "easing" one into gameplay

A bit linear. But I suppose all the FF games are also.


So far, I'd say it is a good game. I'm hoping it becomes a great game.

I have about 10 hours in L O. I LIKE it. It is a bit of a drawn out mystery as to what and or who the big bad is in this one. There seems to be a conspiracy, and the whole thing with the lead character having flashback memories could prove interesting. I am totally stuck in an area of Infinite Undiscovery which may lead to me returning to L O, and since you are playing it, all the better we can shoot the sh!t about it. Go to gamefaqs.com and use the walk through to help you find hidden items, it could REALLY help, if I remember there is a no spoiler version to help you not miss good items. Watch out, once KrisEllie gets a whiff of us talking about this she will dive in with her 2 cents. I know she liked it, she's a big RPGer, which is great. Her advice led me to getting certain games as well as Anime series. (When you read this Kris, I got a ton of the stuff you recommended to me a while back, I just need to get around to watching them.)

im on disc three so yeah , dementia5 you might need the book as i bet you are passing all types of stuff needed to build a awesome team . also try setting the diffaculty higher . once in the game for 5 or so hours you will get hooked

No, it's not super hard. Each dungeon caps your level as well. Or well, not a literal cap, because you can still level up, but it slows down majorly. This is to prevent grinding for levels. Which is kind of annoying, but you still gain skill points at the same speed. There are a couple of areas later on that are GREAT for leveling up though, no matter what level you are. They're bonus dungeons/secret areas. And you can get all kinds of good stuff there.

The story though, oh man I LOVED the story. It doesn't seem like much now, but there's a huge conspiracy going on there, and once you figure it out, it's like WOAH. Plus I mean, it's just so sweet to watch Kaim's story with his family unfold. The characters in the game are just so great (except for the King of uh...oh I forget his name; he's all in gold; he's the king of that very first place you visit...he's kind of a pussy, and a little annoying, but there's one of those in every game really). And every scene between Ming and Jansen is just fantastic. And man, once you get Jansen and Ming and Sarah all beefed up, you're just unstoppable.

I don't think you ~really~ need a guide, except for maybe a couple of things. If you explore every nook and cranny you should find most of what you need.

Oriasten:
I'm glad you checked a lot of that out, but I've found another for you! We have the Funimation channel now, so I've been checking some stuff out, and I think you'd love a show called Beck Mongolian Chop Squad. Or just Beck will probably be enough to find it. It's about a rock band, but it's much more than that. It's about growing up, balancing real life with your dreams, friendship, music. Check it out.

Is Funimation a cable/satellite channel? If so Charter better get on the ball, that would actually convince me to watch TV, right now my digital cable box is so old and unused that the On Demand feature no longer works on it.

And I KNEW it was gonna be a big conspriacy in L O. I could smell it after all the stuff that lead up to the conspiracy of Yevon in FF X. Using machina but telling everyone else not to, thus probably invoking Sin even more ............. damn all this talk about FF X makes me wanna play it again. (Must........ focus..... on ....... new .......RPGs)

Yeah, I really wish I could tell you! Because I loved how the story played out. Let's just say there's a really good reason why none of them have their memories...and it didn't just happen on its own either. :)
If you haven't gotten to it yet, the explanation of what happened to Kaim's daughter (the little girl that jumps off the cliff in the very beginning) is really heartbreaking. Ah, I want to play it again! But I don't have a copy. :( Hoping to get my own copy for Christmas.

And yeah the Funimation channel is a cable channel. We've got it with Verizon; it's mixed in with the cartoon channels. Which is kind of silly, because most of that stuff is not meant for kids.

Looks like you have already said too much, I didn't recognize some of that plot stuff. But its ok I will find out.

Ever since I found out about Anime channels outside of Japan, I have hoped that one would reach me. All I have to go with is Cartoon Network, which as a station I dont like it, even though I am a fan of Robot Chicken and Metalocalypse. I know Canada has one, and now your telling me your area of Texas has one. Damnit ............ I know Anime has a big following everywhere, so I think a dedicated station with all carriers should be there. Show old and new, from Astro Boy (did I get the name right?) to Speed Racer, to Naruto and other newer stuff. We WILL watch it. My cousin has DirecTV HD, I am at his house now even, I went through his channels ............ nothing, and I think he has the whole package.


Dementia, how u doing on L O? I am stuck somewhere on Infinite Undiscovery so I am gonna start playing L O again.

KOE is correct, the story has gotten better and better.

And I tip my hat to the Japanese writer Kiyoshi Shigematsu who provided the backstory in the 1000 years of dreams. A really solid game, and I'm glad I purchased it.

ANd Seth... well, she's eight miles of good road.

Seth! She's a total badass. I don't think her son takes after her much, though. Good in combat, but I kind of wanted to smack him a few times.

This game is really shaping up to be a favorite. I can't think of any other example of a video game that has as much heart and substance as to include so many emotional elements, and at the level it has so far. Most notably I speak of the passage of a major character... complete with funeral (an interactive one at that) and a cut scene that would make even the most cynical being stop and pause. I may go so far as to say this is the most "sensitive" game I've ever played, although I understand that Final Fantasy has its moments (same creator; I am not surprised).

This is a predominantly melancholy game, so I can't say it's for everyone. It also has a real goth feel, which might explain my predilections to the storyline. Although getting strong reviews, no one seems to be chirping about Game of the Year. What else could they be looking for? Oh that's right... another shooter.

I actually look forward to Jenson's quips now, at times a little comic relief is just what the doctor ordered. I must admit, I didn't know what I was getting into at first. Always thinking it was a clever game, it's actually a lot more than that. And four discs promises a lot more material to come.

Off to the Crimson Forest...

Still my favorite rpg is parasite eve

You're going to really enjoy him later, when you pick up Ming. He's only his real self around her, so you'll get to see another side to him. Their interactions are some of my favorite in the game.

Well, I'm onto the second disk (of four), and thanks for all the achievement points XBox!

This game continues to deliver, although I would have thought the first disk to have lasted longer than it did, e.g. I've spent more time on Eternal Sonata and am just over half way through (on one disk).

But I am nit picking. I have "rescued" the queen, and who knows where we're heading after that. The Crimson Forest was mighty good. If I had enough foresight, I would have saved multiple files to go back and play that part again... it was so haunting.

You can go back later. Just like in the Final Fantasy games, you can go back to anywhere later. You'll pick up a boat and a sort of hybrid air ship later on and you can go where ever you want (including hunting down some bonus dungeons).

Also, I think one of the reasons there's so many discs is because the game comes with about 4-5 different languages.

Let's not forget the FMV's, the most disc space hogging stuff in RPGs. Not that I am complaining, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am nearing completion of Rock Band 2 ............. I just might have to go back to L O just to have something to talk to you guys about hehe.

Well, you can talk to me about Infinite Undiscovery, and how half-assed a game it is. ^_^
It's decent, and I like the characters and the story...but Square really disappointed me with this one. It feels like they had way too much on their plate (making Last Remnant, IU, Star Ocean, 3 Kingdom Hearts games, 3 Final Fantasy XIII games, etc; I mean I know they're a big company, but geez....). I almost hope I'm right, and that it means Last Remnant will blow me away.
I'm enjoying IU, but it's far from brilliance.

I have seen the screens and read the summary on EBGames on Last Remnant, it looks really good and the battle set up sounds really different. I think we need an RPG specific thread so we can just run off about any and all RPGs we might be playing at the moment. Tonight I plan on knocking out a LOT of Rock Band 2 sets. I only have four more cities to finish and then it will be time for the endless set list. Once I am done with Rock Band 2, I am off to at least ONE of my Xbox360 RPGs .......... I'm tempted to play Fallout 3, but I might just plow back into Lost Odyssey so I can get out of the prison area and move on.

I renamed this thread because after all, it has transcended Lost Odyssey in terms of content.

I'm heading to the biggest New England comic convention in a short while, so I'll keep posting what goodies I pickup germane to all things RPG.

Since the last post, I DID pickup some winners for cheap, about $20 for the lot:

Champions of Norrath
Star Ocean: The Beginning of Time
Rogue Galaxy

Having played the first 20 minutes for flavor, they are all first rate (and entirely different from one other).

Also picked up a nice collector's ed Lost Planet and Prey... these are shooters, but are pretty impressive. So many games! Thanksgiving break will be welcome in our household... I'll keep posting.

ps: LOST ODYSSEY - I'm in my old mansion... spooky stuff. Avg party level about 30. This is a really great game that continues to deliver.

pss: KOE, have you ever played Gygax' Dangerous Journeys?

I think I will be playing some L O today/night, not QUITE done with RB2 but feeling some over kill with it. I will have Last Remnant within a week, from what I see it is going to be a really unusual game. Its getting sub par reviews though. EBGames' website had 2 customer reviews, one gave it a 9, one gave it a 1 for an average of 5. Game Informer magazine gave it a 7. It's M rated, and there seems to be a multi party aspect to it. It also sounds like its a "play along movie" game like I have heard Xenosaga feels like. Either way, it's a Square game, so I am interested. When I get it I will play the first hour or so and do a review both here and in the review thread.

And yes Dementia, so many games ............ so little time.

UPDATE

Good GOD what a sad game! I played L O all day yesterday (it is Monday the 24th now). I got out of the prison area, met the Queen, went on my merry way and then ...... I come across Kaim's daughter, lying on her death bed, with 2 kids at her side, and we have to set up a funeral. I must say the funeral tradition was very nice, very Paganesque. But damn, I was bawling through the whole thing. I wanted to be killing monsters and leveling up and unraveling more of the story but instead I got a soap opera. I will be playing more today, it looks like L O is my game till its done, then I can move on to Infinite Undiscovery, which I am looking forward to. Then it will be off to either Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, Last Remnant, or Blue Dragon. And let's not forget I still have Oblivion GOTY for PS3, and Fallout 3.

No, I have not. Not sure I've heard of it, either.


On Last Remnant:
I've read the reviews too, and a 7 is still worth playing, it's just not fantastic. I'm still getting the feeling that Square really dropped the ball on both IU and LR. They both could have and should have been brilliant; all the elements are there. They're just not polished.