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[Nolan.]

is the game on 2 DVDs are 4? because if its 4, why there are no holes in the center for the remaining 2 DVDs. unless 2 on top of each other?

if so, then sucks. :/

It is 4, also they are on the other side.

 

[nelsonroyale]

for some reason the guy with the golden armour reminds me of ussop from One Piece...

the cover is pretty cool

Actually, I really want to play this....this + mass effect means the 360 is so far the rpg system of choice...there are games Im looking forward to more, but right now this is definitely the case

 

[Quazar]

for some reason the guy with the golden armour reminds me of ussop from One Piece...

the cover is pretty cool

Actually, I really want to play this....this + mass effect means the 360 is so far the rpg system of choice...there are games Im looking forward to more, but right now this is definitely the case

We've been waiting for you.

Anyways hope to see impressions later! Time for work.

 

[Captain N]

I know people have said it has English voices, but has it been determined if there's English text as well?

 

[Blimblim]

I know people have said it has English voices, but has it been determined if there's English text as well?

No english text.

 

[u_neek]

The voice acting is actually pretty awesome and the graphics look nice. Hope the story will be good.

 

[Blimblim]

Yeah so far I'm really surprised by the English voice acting. A few days ago I was wondering I'd be able to play with the English voices because they are usually much inferior to the Japanese ones, but now that I've seen both versions I think I actually prefer the English voices. And that's a first.
My only fear is for the 2 kids voices.

 

[AlteredBeast]

So any lines for this game or anything? I hope this game eclipses Blue Dragon's sales so that these excellent Japanese producers keep making games for the 360.

 

[u_neek]

My only fear is for the 2 kids voices.

As long as they don't use Tails' voice actor - God, I hate that guy (or whatever it is).

Thanks for the vids Blim, they made me anticipate the game even more

 

[Lebron]

My only fear is for the 2 kids voices.

They didn't sound too bad to me. They sounded like normal annoying kids:lol

 

[jj984jj]

:lol @ the last 10 minutes.

How come no impressions have been posted yet though?

 

[FFChris]

:lol @ the last 10 minutes.

How come no impressions have been posted yet though?

The only guy here who has it said he doesn't want to post impressions yet as he has hardly played any of it.

I'm sure they'll come soon enough though.

 

[Blimblim]

So any lines for this game or anything? I hope this game eclipses Blue Dragon's sales so that these excellent Japanese producers keep making games for the 360.

I doubt there were any lines for this game. It would do decently I guess, but in the end I'm quite sure it will sell worse than Blue Dragon in Japan.
But it should do much better in the US.

 

[FateBreaker]

I doubt there were any lines for this game. It would do decently I guess, but in the end I'm quite sure it will sell worse than Blue Dragon in Japan.
But it should do much better in the US.

it better.

 

[Lebron]

How come no impressions have been posted yet though?

These aren't my impressions, someone(Sepiroth6 to be exact) posted it over at Gamersyde which they got from another forum. Anywhoo

I'm about 9 hours down the road - yes, it all I have done today - and am enjoying it. Did it shatter the very earth upon which I stand? Not at all, but such a highly polished experience with obviously massive production values doesn't come along every day, and that's something to remember.

So, the bare bones. The lip sync issue sucks, the cutscenes look odd in Japanese but I tried the English voices briefly and then quickly switched back. If I go through again (fingers crossed for a New Game + that doesn't have to be downloaded) then I'll play with English voices second time. This isn't a concern for those of you who only want to play the game in English, anyway, and it will be nice for you guys to have it lip synced properly.

Super story heavy, too. You start the game at level 10, and after all day played I am now only level 18 (although more on that below). Often you simply move across a room or enter a new location and another cutscene starts. It took three hours before I even really got to see the battle system properly, and it is only really now that I'm starting to the potential in it. I've still only got three characters. Story and Japanese script and voice acting are top notch, however, (and whatever you think of the story of BD, the second two of these were fantastic in BD, so here's hoping you get a decent translation of them).

The short stories scattered throughout are simply put, amazing. Really, really nicely written. No exposition, no events that we will come back to later, just a total of 30 (I've seen about 8 so far) incidents in the life of a man who has lived for 1000 years. It feels kind of cheap creating such a rich character in Kaim through these (his in-game persona is little more than cool, quiet, moody ROG stereotype A) but the stories are beautifully done. The text appears in interesting ways, floating onto the screen, with key words appearing and key phrases remaining after the other text fades, and they have music and backgrounds that change according to what is happening. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy these (and each is quite long) but they are wonderful. My wife asks to be called into the room when I reach a new one ^-^

Combat appears super-by-the-book to start with, but there are some nice twists. The circle which appears on the screen is all about performing special attacks. First you need to find items (generally either picked up or got from monsters in battle) to make "Rings" which can then be equipped in addition to your weapon. These Rings give your attacks abilities like "Poision" etc. When your character attacks you hold down the right trigger and the second larger ring starts to shrink in around the smaller one. Let go of the trigger when the two rings meet and the effect of whatever Ring you have equipped is triggered.

Seeing as you are free to change your Rings when your turn comes around, you essentially have a stock of special attacks that you can pick and choose from depending on the next enemy you want to attack.

The wall system seems nice too - characters in the back are basically dead if attacked once the wall is gone - and the Skill Linking system (rather than getting skills from leveling up, Immortal characters have to link with a non-immortal to learn their skills) is nice too, although right now the points required to learn each skill are so low it is easy to just have them all.

Fixed skills for the human characters and severe variance in player stats also mean something lacking in most recent RPGS - truely unique characters. Rather than the "jack of trades" bunch games like BD and more recent FF games have seen, in which toward the end of the game everyone can do everything and all be exactly the same if you like, here (non-Immortal, at least) is walking a set path, and from their fixed pool of skills you then pick and choose which to give to your Immortals. I'm looking forward to this system flowering once I get more characters.

Also, EXP seems to be tightly controlled. You always seem to need only 100 for the next level, but I quickly noticed that after a couple of battles in the same place the enemies basically stop giving you EXP altogether, or only 1 or 2 points. Doing 50 battles to get one more level is pointless, and this "level cap" system means bosses should retain their difficulty.

Indeed, overall, the game is quite tough, the bosses in pariticular. As the game progresses this may loosen, but seeing as power / unintentionally over levelling due to exploring does not seem possible this time out hopefully bosses will prove a challenge right up until the end. Regular monsters have done for me a few times because of the classic "I don't need to heal my half dead characters until they are nearly dead" RPG mentality - the strength of the Wall is determined by total HP of the front rank characters when the battle starts, so the closer to max HP you keep your party at all times, the better.

So, to sum up - and for those who skipped to the end - quality around every corner, lovely music, lovely visuals, and a very adult, serious story with a seemingly simple but actually nice and deep combat system to play around with. I've cleared my schedule to enjoy this one in a concentrated burst so I'm sure I'll be back around here soon ^-^

 

[AndriaSang]

The English voices are great.

The rest of the game... well, I'm not liking it one bit after five hours of play.

Someone's gotta give Sakaguchi a development team that knows how to work with the 360 hardware, as Lost Odyssey is downright ugly.

 

[The Innocent X]

I must get round to finishing blue dragon before I pick this up. I just can't play JRPGs in long bursts. Bah, why am I kidding myself, I`m still playing crackdown, that's how far behind the times I am.

Someone's gotta give Sakaguchi a development team that knows how to work with the 360 hardware, as Lost Odyssey is downright ugly.

Eh? Blue Dragon is beautiful, so no problems with the dev team, maybe the direction.

 

[Darkman M]

The English voices are great.

The rest of the game... well, I'm not liking it one bit after five hours of play.

Someone's gotta give Sakaguchi a development team that knows how to work with the 360 hardware, as Lost Odyssey is downright ugly.

from the videos we have seen graphically is looks great.

 

[jj984jj]

Hmm, so the circle in battles are to activate the effects of the ring equipped? I'm guessing it takes up a turn to change though, right? That kinda sucks... but I guess it's secondary to the skill system. I'm liking that you can't just grind to gain levels though!

Thanks for posting that Lebron.

 

[FateBreaker]

The English voices are great.

The rest of the game... well, I'm not liking it one bit after five hours of play.

Someone's gotta give Sakaguchi a development team that knows how to work with the 360 hardware, as Lost Odyssey is downright ugly.

what aren't you liking? You have to understand that some people think it's the cool thing to do to totally degrade Sakaguchi and give out, oh I don't know, false impressions and reviews. So in order for us to give a damn about what you have to say, please clarify.

By the way, great impressions up there. I'm mainly waiting for Bebpo and ducky, though.

 

[pakopakopako]

Watching Blimblim videos, body expression (animation) is really really good.

 

[Kyoufu]

The EXP system they have in place where enemies will give 1-2 xp instead of a fixed number is excellent and I wish more RPGs had it. I get a little annoyed of over-levelling sometimes.

Great impressions so far. Sounds like its alot better than I had expected.

 

[Diablos54]

Ah man, Jansen or however you spell it is fucking awesome, and it's only been less than an hour so far. :lol

 

[maskrider]

Can this game be played in short bursts ?

How is the story so far ? Interesting ? Slow paced ? I am all for story for RPGs.

 

[Takuhi]

Ah man, Jansen or however you spell it is fucking awesome, and it's only been less than an hour so far. :lol

Someone PLEASE tell me Jansen's English voice actor's name! I know that voice from somewhere, and it is driving me batshit insane.

 

[MCD]

Someone PLEASE tell me Jansen's English voice actor's name! I know that voice from somewhere, and it is driving me batshit insane.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8829631&postcount=426

Jansen: Michael McGaharn

 

[Skilletor]

I'd like the xp cap even more if there weren't random battles. Not like you can choose NOT to fight once you've reached that limit.

How are skills learned with the immortal linkage?

 

[Tiktaalik]

Hmmm seems designed to have a constant difficulty and you can't grind. Interesting.

 

[Kildace]

Great looking videos, Blim, as always.

How come every game with bald space marines use the fact that UE3 can't do decent hair as an excuse, when Lost Odyssey can manage if not amazing, at least very decent hair and facial hair?

 

[Haklong]

Ah man, Jansen or however you spell it is fucking awesome, and it's only been less than an hour so far. :lol

I haven't played the game yet but from what I've seen in all of the videos he seems great. His voice actor does a great job.

 

[Takuhi]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8829631&postcount=426

Jansen: Michael McGaharn

Bless you, sir.

Jansen = Knuckles from Sonic, huh?

That would NOT have been my first guess.

 

[Blimblim]

Can this game be played in short bursts ?

How is the story so far ? Interesting ? Slow paced ? I am all for story for RPGs.

Can't comment on how the game can be played yet since I don't have the game, but LO is *very* story heavy and it seems like it's actually interesting too.
We'll know more when people have actually finished the game of course

 

[mjc]

Do any of you guys know where I can find Inoue's art online for this game? Like just a couple screenshots worth or so?

 

[duckroll]

Can this game be played in short bursts ?

How is the story so far ? Interesting ? Slow paced ? I am all for story for RPGs.

I still don't have the game yet, I hate delays. Once I get it I'll put a good 10 hours into it and report back.

 

[hooijdonk17]

How well has this game been received in Japan? Any sales-age info yet? Any impressions from J-Gaffers as to what the weird folk think of it?

 

[AndriaSang]

If you want Inoue art, you should check out the new issue of Switch magazine. They have 10 pages with excerpts from the Lost Odyssey book surrounded by Inoue pencil art.

 

[Fuu]

If you want Inoue art, you should check out the new issue of Switch magazine. They have 10 pages with excerpts from the Lost Odyssey book surrounded by Inoue pencil art.

*drools*

 

[antiloop]

Can't grind in it?

But heavy emphasis on story is the way I like it so that part sounds good.

 

[h3ro]

DJ mizuhara, is the framerate and tearing as bad as it looks in that fourth video? I really hope that there was some problem in the video transfer or something... some of those parts look really rough...

The music in this game sounds GREAT though... can't wait to pickup the OST.. Uematsu still has it!

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

DJ mizuhara, is the framerate and tearing as bad as it looks in that fourth video? I really hope that there was some problem in the video transfer or something... some of those parts look really rough...

The music in this game sounds GREAT though... can't wait to pickup the OST.. Uematsu still has it!

DJ said he was having some trouble with his 360 (RROD imminent?), so we can hope that it's simply his console... Oh, just to be sure there are sequences where the game purposely slows for dramatic effect or whatever...

 

[L0st Id3ntity]

*waiting for the 6th video*

 

[golem]

the graphics look alright.. but after mass effect, you realize how much further others need to go to catch up. jensen is hilarious though

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Impressions sound severely awesome.

 

[reriel]

no impressions yet ?

anyway, more from the same user posted by lebron :

It is a hardcore Fantasy / Sci-Fi story with adult characters. The story is only really starting to get going (and whom I presume is the the main villian is super easily telegraphed from the start, although it is all built around that), and I was worried it would suffer under the weight of four (count them) characters who has all lost their memories (most beaten to death cliche in gaming, esp RPGS - and I've been thrown in a jail cell already, before you ask) but the novel sections alone are worth the price of admission story wise. They do a fantastic job of using both events and metaphor to describe what it would be like to live for 1000 years and, though they feel a little like cheating as I said before, give Kaim dimentions impossible in any RPG not using this technique.

One of my faves is one in which Kaim returns every year to a village in which a tragedy occured long ago, seeing how the memorial for that day (which also holds a special meaning for him) changes from one of sorrow for the dead to one of celebration of recovery over a hundred or more years.

Yeah, the Ring Recipes appear in your list as soon as you find the key ingrediant and can be made on the spot. And yes, you can make multiple ones to have equipped on more than one character at once, but once you have made one you never lose it unless you use it in a recipe for another ring. You can't even sell or delete them.


One thing about the second boss - no spoilers but there is a big OMG moment halfway through the battle. I can't think of many RPGs that go so hardcore so quickly and then asks you to do it with no power levelling.

 

[harSon]

I'm really impressed with the English voice overs, they appear to be some of the best I've heard in a Japanese RPG.

At this point, I'm not so sure that I'd even mind if this game was filled with cut scenes. If the story is as fleshed out as these videos and impressions make it out to be then I think it will be perfectly fine.

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

I'm sorry, but anyone saying the english VA is good needs to pull the cotton out of their ears and take another listen. It's really bad. I've heard worse, granted, but the VA is just bad... no two ways about. Hopefully, it improves a great deal after the 50 minute mark and I end up being wrong on the grand scale of things.

 

[Kildace]

Woah. These impressions make the game sound great. I never expected Lost Odyssey to advance the RPG genre, I just wanted it to be a game with traditionnal JRPG gameplay, great graphics and an awesome story. Looks like it's going to exceed my expectations, I hope other impressions don't kill the hype, there's a reason it didn't get all 10s in Famitsu :\

I'm sorry, but anyone saying the english VA is good needs to pull the cotton out of their ears and take another listen. It's really bad. I've heard worse, granted, but the VA is just bad... no two ways about. Hopefully, it improves a great deal after the 50 minute mark and I end up being wrong on the grand scale of things.

I disagree, it's hardly bad. Some parts are not so great but overall it's quite convincing and doesn't kill the immersion like in Blue Dragon. I watch almost everything subtitled but this + the lipsyncing are probably going to make me play the game in English, I think I'll be bothered by the horrible lip sync more than by the VA.

 

[harSon]

I'm sorry, but anyone saying the english VA is good needs to pull the cotton out of their ears and take another listen. It's really bad. I've heard worse, granted, but the VA is just bad... no two ways about. Hopefully, it improves a great deal after the 50 minute mark and I end up being wrong on the grand scale of things.

I'd have to disagree, while it is obviously not the best voice work out there. It is definitely quite good as far as Japanese to English conversions are concerned. My biggest gripe with most english voice work for Japanese games is that much of the emotion is lost during the conversion, this game IMO (from what I've seen) does a fair job at maintaining emotion throughout the dialog.

 

[scarybore]

The video with Jansen drunk was great, he alone makes me want to buy the game and I'm not a huge JRPG fan. The voice acting in the videos seemed alright, though I wasn't very keen on the female voices, so while I was planning to change to Japanese voices immediately, I think I will give the English voices a chance. Music is really nice too, but we knew that already.

 

[RBH]

I'm sorry, but anyone saying the english VA is good needs to pull the cotton out of their ears and take another listen. It's really bad. I've heard worse, granted, but the VA is just bad... no two ways about. Hopefully, it improves a great deal after the 50 minute mark and I end up being wrong on the grand scale of things.

Don't agree at all, honestly.

I think they've done a pretty nice job with the English VA. Specifically, the voices of the main characters seem to fit well.