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Lost Odyssey (Xbox360) blowout in Famitsu (Demo Impressions Pg 6 / Post 278)
- Thread starter RaijinFY
- Start date
nelsonroyale
Member
duckroll said:
do you think they will do away with random battles? They better not bring them back for the next ff as well....By far one of the worst aspects of jrpgs
peace
Doom_Bringer
Banned
Next gen graphics and 1990 gameplay don't mix. The battle system is totally horrendous. They should have made this an action rpg
Doom_Bringer
Banned
duckroll said:
what does that have gotta do with Lost Odyssey? Stay on topic please
Hurricane_Chris
DDK
duckroll said:
samebedwithlittlesisteredition?
Labombadog
Member
Im glad that it is turned based. Im not a big fan of real time rpg's. Unless they are done right like SO2.
Wow, I just finished the Lost Odyssey demo. It took about 35 mins or so in total, and I explored every corner and every bit of the demo available. Overall it's a pretty disappointing experience that shows some SERIOUS flaws in the development of Lost Odyssey.
Everyone has seen the first 10 minutes of the demo, so I won't go over that again. It's the same thing and easily the most impressive part of the entire demo. The seamless switch from FMV to realtime is impressive and the models are nice and detailed. The actual combat animation leaves much to be desired and the fire effects are really pretty bad, but those are not problems that cannot be fixed.
After the battle is when the problems start. Firstly there is quite a bit of loading. Basically every new area requires loading and the areas are pretty small. What's worse is that there's loading before and after each random encounter, and it really breaks up the pacing. Another problem is that whenever you get to a new area, the ground is a blurry mess for 2-3 seconds before the detailed textures pop-in. That's pretty disgusting even if this is a free demo of a presumably early build.
Another problem that will be encountered is that the fields themselves are pretty badly designed. They reek of PS1 era RPGs with pre-rendered backgrounds where you have no idea which areas are really accessible or just plain art. With no way to rotate the camera and some questionable art decisions, the first two areas has you running around in 30fps with no v-sync and framerate dips at times (which is really distracting) while poking at every corner to visible object trying out if you can move in that direction or interact with said object. It's really quite annoying and not much fun at all.
While most of the environment look somewhat good, the good parts are all in the art designs and the tech seems to fail at every turn possible. Poor effects, underwhelming natural environments and objects, etc. When you eventually get to the camp to hitch a ride, the cutscenes that use multiple camera angles on the same screen are laughable at best. To make things worse, not only were the scenes laughable but they caused more framerate drops. Pathetic.
The entire ride to the capital city shows off some of the poorest vehicle motion scenes I've seen in next-generation. The wheels of the vehicles spin, but the entire model seems to be floating over the ground as opposed to actually moving on it. Compare this with any launch Xbox360 game and you'll find something better there.
Eventually you get to the city and explore several small indoor areas before getting onto the monorail to end the demo with a rather impressive FMV of the entire city panning out. You can interact with several objects while in the "city" (it's not really the city proper, but the monorail station leading into the city itself which isn't in the demo) to find gold and other items like most other RPGs. If you try to leave the station area you get a message that you cannot access the World Map in the demo, so I guess the game uses a World Map... maybe.
Overall it's a real disappointment even if you're expecting a mediocre demo. MS should never have asked Mistwalker to put out a product this unfinished and if they're willing to put it out, it's fair to judge it based on what is presented. I'll give the graphics a B, the music an A- and the gameplay a C at this point. For what MS is trying to hype up as one of their major titles of 2007, having B-level graphics is so hilarious. Sorry MS, maybe you should have put out a Blue Dragon demo instead.
Everyone has seen the first 10 minutes of the demo, so I won't go over that again. It's the same thing and easily the most impressive part of the entire demo. The seamless switch from FMV to realtime is impressive and the models are nice and detailed. The actual combat animation leaves much to be desired and the fire effects are really pretty bad, but those are not problems that cannot be fixed.
After the battle is when the problems start. Firstly there is quite a bit of loading. Basically every new area requires loading and the areas are pretty small. What's worse is that there's loading before and after each random encounter, and it really breaks up the pacing. Another problem is that whenever you get to a new area, the ground is a blurry mess for 2-3 seconds before the detailed textures pop-in. That's pretty disgusting even if this is a free demo of a presumably early build.
Another problem that will be encountered is that the fields themselves are pretty badly designed. They reek of PS1 era RPGs with pre-rendered backgrounds where you have no idea which areas are really accessible or just plain art. With no way to rotate the camera and some questionable art decisions, the first two areas has you running around in 30fps with no v-sync and framerate dips at times (which is really distracting) while poking at every corner to visible object trying out if you can move in that direction or interact with said object. It's really quite annoying and not much fun at all.
While most of the environment look somewhat good, the good parts are all in the art designs and the tech seems to fail at every turn possible. Poor effects, underwhelming natural environments and objects, etc. When you eventually get to the camp to hitch a ride, the cutscenes that use multiple camera angles on the same screen are laughable at best. To make things worse, not only were the scenes laughable but they caused more framerate drops. Pathetic.
The entire ride to the capital city shows off some of the poorest vehicle motion scenes I've seen in next-generation. The wheels of the vehicles spin, but the entire model seems to be floating over the ground as opposed to actually moving on it. Compare this with any launch Xbox360 game and you'll find something better there.
Eventually you get to the city and explore several small indoor areas before getting onto the monorail to end the demo with a rather impressive FMV of the entire city panning out. You can interact with several objects while in the "city" (it's not really the city proper, but the monorail station leading into the city itself which isn't in the demo) to find gold and other items like most other RPGs. If you try to leave the station area you get a message that you cannot access the World Map in the demo, so I guess the game uses a World Map... maybe.
Overall it's a real disappointment even if you're expecting a mediocre demo. MS should never have asked Mistwalker to put out a product this unfinished and if they're willing to put it out, it's fair to judge it based on what is presented. I'll give the graphics a B, the music an A- and the gameplay a C at this point. For what MS is trying to hype up as one of their major titles of 2007, having B-level graphics is so hilarious. Sorry MS, maybe you should have put out a Blue Dragon demo instead.
a Master Ninja
Member
Thank God the game is a year away. I hope Mistwalker listens to the no doubt similar feedback they'll get from the few Japanese gamers with 360s.
FateBreaker
Member
But .... the music's good?!
How is the actual battle system? Basic, poopy?
Yeah, why the hell did they not release a Blue Dragon demo. Hmm.
edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx0aDB-dm9Q ohhhh shiiii, the music is great. I'm loving that town theme. anyway - the graphics look alright for "beginning stages".
How is the actual battle system? Basic, poopy?
Yeah, why the hell did they not release a Blue Dragon demo. Hmm.
edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx0aDB-dm9Q ohhhh shiiii, the music is great. I'm loving that town theme. anyway - the graphics look alright for "beginning stages".
The music's mostly very good, I'm deducting points for the totally unsuitable and cheesy victory theme after battles. The music has a grand and symphonic feel to it, but the cheesy victory theme is like really oldschool FF victory themes and ****ing cheesy. Otherwise it's really classy stuff.
The gameplay isn't worth talking about, you can play FF1 for 5 minutes and it's the same thing. In the demo you get spells from rubble around the field, and the battles consist of ATTACK, MAGIC, ITEM and GUARD. You regain HP when you guard, but even if you die you get up again with 94 HP, since you're IMMORTAL. Lame.
The gameplay isn't worth talking about, you can play FF1 for 5 minutes and it's the same thing. In the demo you get spells from rubble around the field, and the battles consist of ATTACK, MAGIC, ITEM and GUARD. You regain HP when you guard, but even if you die you get up again with 94 HP, since you're IMMORTAL. Lame.
FateBreaker
Member
duckroll said:
oh dear.
well, ... a lot can happen in another year.
?Hm. This really is too bad. Even watching videos it's pretty underwhelming. No wonder they cut off the TGS stage demo after the exciting part.
Hopefully it still has much work to be done. Isn't this supposed to be a 20million budget game? Certainly doesn't look like it so far...
What are they doing with all the money?
Hopefully it still has much work to be done. Isn't this supposed to be a 20million budget game? Certainly doesn't look like it so far...
What are they doing with all the money?
Well I'm pretty sure the final game will look and move really good, in fact the demo for all its problems really shows some potential in the graphics department. The main problem here seems to be the game design itself, like the way you explore the environments. From what I've read here and I've been told it's like we went back almost 10 years in the past in terms of interactivity.Hunahan said:
I sure hope we don't have another 99 Nights on our hands with this game...
This is a 40 million dollar budget game minimum and all the posts here are as if this was a final version instead of alpha which it realy is.Hunahan said:
Every other word i see on this forum about the game is that it is shit,the disrespect the 100+ man team is receiving and especialy the gaming legend Hironobu Sakaguchi is truly sad.
Thank god i am not a developer on mistwalker because after seeing for what people i am developing for(neogaf forum) i would reconsider working 12 hours a day for 3 years and instead of it i should play games and insult the game developers over the internet.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
yeah, somebody better tell them so they can, you know..
fix it.
fix it.
FateBreaker
Member
irenicus6 said:
...?
ok.
Maybe Lost Odyssey will be an amazing game when it's released, maybe it will even be the best RPG of this generation, or the best RPG ever. But they (be it Mistwalker or MS) decided to show that game the hundreds of thousands of gamers in that sorry state, and thus we are totally entitled our critics. If they can't accept that people didn't like what they saw, then they shouldn't have released the demo in the first place.irenicus6 said:
If we were basing everything on a demo shown at a games show then it would be an entirely different matter. But this is available in the biggest gaming magazine in Japan, this is public, and this is something someone out there thought was a good demonstration of their game. It's their loss.
Yeah it's funny how we did not see anything of Blue Dragon until 3 months before the release date, and on the other side we already have a playable demo of Lost Odyssey months if not a year before the release date.RaijinFY said:Anyway, I thought Sakaguchi said he wouldnt show his games until they are ready?
I know Blue Dragon's PR is 100% handled by Mistwalker. I wonder if in Lost Odyssey's case it's MS Japan.
I'll just chirp in my two-cents here. As most of you following Mistwalker on GAF know, I have been one of the harsher critics, especially of Blue Dragon. I have said many times that if Blue Dragon was really ready for this year and it looked good dispite all the lack of media, that I would be impressed. I *am* really impressed by Blue Dragon at this point and I can't wait to play it in a month. How Lost Odyssey's unveiling turned out is a whole different matter though, just buckets of disappointment all round.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
/me hears Shanes name being whispered by the wind
WOOOOSHHHAAANNNEEE WOOOSHHH
:lol
Just sounds real early. MS really has a knack for rushing their own developers to put out really early demos to the masses. You would think it would stop at some point, but nope, it happens over and over and over again.
WOOOOSHHHAAANNNEEE WOOOSHHH
:lol
Just sounds real early. MS really has a knack for rushing their own developers to put out really early demos to the masses. You would think it would stop at some point, but nope, it happens over and over and over again.
DeadlySchnauzer
Member
wtf I feel like i'm taking crazy pills?? I dont see how people are being so harsh on the demo (admittedly i've only seen the videos).
It looks like most other jRPG's to me... people complaining about the combat and interactivity, go play any of the final fantasy games and compare. Its the *same* freakin thing.
What i do see is some awesome art direction and pretty darn nice technology in a very jRPGish style game. So whats wrong with that?
It looks like most other jRPG's to me... people complaining about the combat and interactivity, go play any of the final fantasy games and compare. Its the *same* freakin thing.
What i do see is some awesome art direction and pretty darn nice technology in a very jRPGish style game. So whats wrong with that?
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
DeadlySchnauzer said:
*goes and players FFXII
wait waht
nelsonroyale
Member
DeadlySchnauzer said:
what a load of trash........the game is early but going by the demo expectations should be kept low until something interesting is seen....the style is nice....but apart from that, what was shown wasn't just a jrpg, it looked like a jrpg from the nes days, gameplay wise....its ridiculous they showcase a game just to show the premise and some nice graphics.....if you play ffxii....you'll things are changing...and need to be changed....random battles is just ridiculous...anyway, this game was hyped, thats why its getting attention, people were saying how they were tired of ff and sakaguchi was getting a chance to flex his creative muscles...
anyway, I still have some interest, but just because inoue is involved...and Im enjoying vagabond
peace
FateBreaker
Member
duckroll said:
yeah, I hear your impressions. I'm glad you're impressed by Blue Dragon -- I'm really hoping that turns out awesome.
I'm sad to hear the bad impressions for you, but I'm going to keep hope. For all we know, a year ago Blue Dragon could've looked like crap. Give it some time -- I'm sure Sakaguchi wouldn't send out a bad game, considering his life probably depends on it. :lol
MrSardonic
The nerdiest nerd of all the nerds in nerdland
what's the summary of this thread?
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
MrSardonic said:
OMG LOST ODYSSEY IS AWESOME
*Insert Duckroll and comments about Lost Odyssey Japan Demo
HYPE LOSING CRITICAL MASS
The impressions you made were made by a mentaly retarted person because there is no other explanation,because who else would spend this much time insulting the game while knowing it has a year left of development.This wasnt the review bulid which you still dont understand and i know this demo has a lot of rough areas(i have the demo) but constructive critics can help the developers not this is shit that is shit...duckroll said:
FateBreaker
Member
irenicus6 said:
while you're on your tangent, could you tell me what was your "point" up there?
irenicus6 said:
I certainly never said it was shit, and I'm not sure how I disrespected the team responsible. I'm just being honest when I say that beyond the (amazing) intro sequence, the demo appeared from video fairly underwhelming.
As far as Sakaguchi or Mistwalker, Blue Dragon is looking mind-bogglingly good to me, personally, so I don't think that there is anything lacking in their personal ability to craft a top-tier title. I bear no malace or ill-will towards the teams.
I actually love "traditional" turn-based, random battle RPGs (I'm really not feeling the "big change" that FFXII is supposed to bring, personally) so that has nothing to do with it. But when I see a triple-take car sequence and text-based camera-locked town interaction, it certainly feels to me a bit corner-cutting. If these are things they intend to polish up later, then hell, I'll just repeat my earlier comment and say hopefully much work still has to be done, and by that I mean: hopefully this game will improve into what we all want it to be, because that intro sequence sets the pace for one of the most amazing RPGs to ever be created. I'd hate to see the rest of the game not deliver on that promise.