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[SolVanderlyn]

This is one of the games that made me really excited to enter to this generation, and it mostly delivered. It is by no means free of flaws, but it is a very good modern adaptation of the classic jRPG formula.

The game's biggest cons:

-Mortals become mostly useless after you learn all of their skills. I say mostly, because you're still required to have at least one in your party due to

Spoiler

the fifth immortal being the main villain

Some of them are really interesting characters, and it's a shame that they're relegated to existing as skill fountains for the immortals.

-The short stories, which were written by a famous Japanese novelist, were a selling point for the game. And they are fantastic! But the writing for the actual game is standard jRPG fare (which is not really a con by itself - there are plenty of jRPGs with enjoyable stories) which sets it up to look not nearly as good as the short stories, by comparison. It's very clear that they are written by different people.

-It is a very linear game, only opening up towards the end. Pretty much exactly like FFX. I have no personal issue with this, but many do.

The game's biggest pros:

-This is basically what the PSX/PS2 era jRPG would have become had it survived into this generation.

-The OST is fantastic. Nobuo Uematsu's return to glory.

-The presentation is also fantastic. Great 3D models, great art design (although many will debate the character designs), and great use of camera angles and all that.

-Very interesting story and world design.

If you don't like it now, OP, it doesn't change much. The gameplay stays largely the same until you get a little more freedom towards the very end. The story does pick up, however, and it keeps its momentum until the end.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

I think we can all agree it's at least better than FFXIII.

Lol no, I really enjoyed Lost Odyssey but FF XIII impressed me much more.

 

[Devilgunman]

I really enjoyed FF XIII but Lost Odyssey impressed me much more.

There you go. I swapped your games into the right order

 

[Seanspeed]

Things do get more interesting, but I don't think you're going to suddenly become engrossed in it if you're not feeling it now. Its still just more Lost Odyssey.

I enjoyed it, though. Not great, but scratched my itch for a Final Fantasy game this gen, when Square couldn't.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

There you go. I swapped your games into the right order

Ha! No way I can have an opinion like my original post? Piss off!

 

[Arthea]

It's not boring at the least, for me that is. I couldn't stop playing when playing for the first time.
And dreams are integral part of the plot, in my opinion, very important part and music is heavenly and combat is good, and sidequests are great, unlike in most games this gen.
Well, I just can't understand how people can be bored by LO, and have no problems with all boring games we got this gen in heaps.

 

[IRQ]

I think this is the best jrpg I have played this gen. I spent like 100 hours playing it
Kinda reminds me of FF 8. Loved the combat system, Music and places.

 

[nilay]

Lost Osyssey was my favourite JRPG this gen.
The dreams were my favourite part of the game.
Some of them were so touching or moving

 

[Zukuu]

Sorry for the bump, but I just finished the first disk and the main plot is rely boring; dreams are much much more interesting. The gameplay is also getting repetitive; will it get more interesting?

if you enjoy the dreams, you'd love NieR. That game's tone is basically exactly like the dreams.

 

[TokiDoki]

I think so also. I don't think any of the FF games on PS2, particularly FF12, are touching Lost Odyssey.

The best jrpgs this gen have been Xenoblade, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Tales of Vesperia, and I also enjoyed Ni no Kuni, but apparently like none of my friends share my opinion on Ni No Kuni.

Don't think I'm leaving out Persona 3 and 4. Those were incredible, too, but I was more focusing on jrpgs on the newer systems.

FFX say no because its more touching , better gameplay , much more interesting story , more attaching characters in Yuna&Auron , better optional end game like celestial weapons and dark Aeons and much better set pieces overall .

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Endgame was very memorable. I loved exploring the world with the vehicle you get later. Lots of fun secret stuff to see and cool battles to fight. Exploration in LO was pretty good now that I think about it.

 

[kadotsu]

Worst Mistwalker game. Sub NES era battle system that breaks itself halfway through the game. Shit cast, worst recent Uematsu soundtrack, laughable loading times. But man those animated texts sure make it worth the hassle

Spoiler

not

.

I have to give probs for the full EFIGS localization and inclusion of the original voicetrack, though.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Yeah, the dreams were written by a Japanese novelist, iirc.

And translated by an esteemed English professor too. They were what made the game for me.

There was one about some guy in a bar who had a stone in his hand that meant something. It was kind of a twist.

I can't remember the details, but it literally made me well up.

Great game OP. Archaic as hell, but a lovely experience IMO.

 

[Arthea]

Worst Mistwalker game. Sub NES era battle system that breaks itself halfway through the game. Shit cast, worst recent Uematsu soundtrack, laughable loading times. But man those animated texts sure make it worth the hassle

Spoiler

not

.

I have to give probs for the full EFIGS localization and inclusion of the original voicetrack, though.

you can't be serious, can you? Why would you hate a game like LO? And worst Uematsu soundtrack?! It's brilliant, basically everybody agrees on that including him. (><)
Man, you pain me.

 

[Schlomo]

I wouldn't say it gets much better. The battle system is the worst offender. You always fight groups of 5, 6 or 7 enemies all vulnerable to different kinds of magic, so every encounter takes ages (at least that was my impression). Story is OK but with some utterly ridiculous scenes and a LOT of crying.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

Yes. It gets better. This game has one of my favorite endings. Keep on playing.

Worst Mistwalker game. Sub NES era battle system that breaks itself halfway through the game. Shit cast, worst recent Uematsu soundtrack, laughable loading times. But man those animated texts sure make it worth the hassle

Spoiler

not

.

Worst Uematsu? Holy shit. This is one of his best pieces.

 

[goldenpp72]

I was one of the few who found Blue Dragon quite a bit better than LO, and the linear aspect is one of those reasons as BD is actually a large world to explore with a bunch of shit to find. LO is ok though, but by the 4th disc I was basically plodding on just to say I beat it.

 

[Yasae]

Worst Mistwalker game. Sub NES era battle system that breaks itself halfway through the game. Shit cast, worst recent Uematsu soundtrack, laughable loading times. But man those animated texts sure make it worth the hassle

Spoiler

not

.

I have to give probs for the full EFIGS localization and inclusion of the original voicetrack, though.

The game offers more than nearly any turn-based system out there and it also remains challenging throughout. Let's not make things up out of thin air.

 

[Danielsan]

Actually, no. I thought the first disc was the best part. Still a great game, but it kind of fell apart for me at the end.

 

[kadotsu]

The game offers more than nearly any turn-based system out there and it also remains challenging throughout. Let's not make things up out of thin air.

The turn based system is too slow, the immortals can be abused, the ring system is obsolete after disc one because the skills are overpowered, there is a random damage move in the game that deals way too much in expectancy value which breaks the mid game, the decision to show the turn order after you selected attacks is laughable after FFX.

The game is important though. It helps me to identify which opinions I can ignore if they complain about recent JRPGs but list LO as a paragon of the genre. Just like you can ignore mine.

 

[Shadow Ranger]

It's ok. I tend to not get so annoyed at child characters, and to be fair, the children in this don't exactly have the happiest of lives anyway. Just be warned, you will hear Phil/Lil (from Rugrats) a LOT!

Overall LO didn't click with me a lot. It was one of the main reasons I got a 360, too. I have to agree on Kaim's difference between the game and the stories. I liked dream Kaim way more! And yes, the dreams are also the best part. So well written and quite thought provoking and touching. The game's story wasn't as good and got boring every now and then.

It's not the best game but not totally horrible (loading times are though). Also got fed up when I had disc 4 issues like a lot of people. Ultimately though I'd just tell someone to read the wiki and read the dreams.

 

[Arthea]

I was one of the few who found Blue Dragon quite a bit better than LO, and the linear aspect is one of those reasons as BD is actually a large world to explore with a bunch of shit to find. LO is ok though, but by the 4th disc I was basically plodding on just to say I beat it.

Don't get me wrong, I like BD but that's no LO. BD has great world, class and encounter system and is very fun game to play, only it's a tad childish, practically all characters being kids, and Marumaro annoys the hell out of me.
I like idea with nothings a lot too (><)

The turn based system is to slow, the immortals can be abused, there is an ring system is obsolete after disc one because the skills are overpowered, there is a random damage move in the game that deals way too much in expectancy value which breaks the mid game, the decision to show the turn order after you selected attacks is laughable after FFX.

The game is important though. It helps me to identify which opinions I can ignore if they complain about recent JRPGs but list LO as a paragon of the genre. Just like you can ignore mine.

Dunno about paragon of the genre, don't really care, but it is the best JRPG this gen. Your complaints make no sense, as ring system is not obsolete after disk one, which skills are overpowered? The game has very good balance as it doesn't let you overlevel and you can't learn skills and magic fast as you have "to link" with person you learn from. Nothing breaks middle game, the random damage move what? If you talk about damage based on HP skills, these might break the end of game, but certainly not the middle. And what FFX has to do with this at all?

 

[jb1234]

Worst Uematsu? Holy shit. This is one of his best pieces.

And this, one of my favorite Uematsu battle themes. I can see Blue Dragon's music being criticized (even though it has its moments) but Lost Odyssey's was pretty solid.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

And this, one of my favorite Uematsu battle themes. I can see Blue Dragon's music being criticized (even though it has its moments) but Lost Odyssey's was pretty solid.

That's damn good too. LO's battle music did what all battle music should strive to do---get me pumped to fight.

 

[kadotsu]

Dunno about paragon of the genre, don't really care, but it is the best JRPG this gen. Your complaints make no sense, as ring system is not obsolete after disk one, which skills are overpowered? The game has very good balance as it doesn't let you overlevel and you can't learn skills and magic fast as you have "to link" with person you learn from. Nothing breaks middle game, the random damage move what? If you talk about damage based on HP skills, these might break the end of game, but certainly not the middle. And what FFX has to do with this at all?

Gamble is the random move.
Power Hit deals more damage than any attack with level 3 rings. So does combo. MP is never a problem.
The turn order is important if you want to chain attacks FFX always shows you the turn order because of that. It can also inflict penalties on turn order for using powerful moves, LO can't because it doesn't use any form of ATB. But it taunts you with the turn order UI after you've selected all moves for your turn (silly me not memorizing all 5 character speed stats).

I'm glad you enjoyed it but for me it is just perfunctory.

 

[RpgN]

Yes. It gets better. This game has one of my favorite endings. Keep on playing.



Worst Uematsu? Holy shit. This is one of his best pieces.

That's damn good too. LO's battle music did what all battle music should strive to do---get me pumped to fight.

Those two are pretty great but I personally felt the soundtrack as a whole wasn't as strong. There are many tracks that were easy to forget or didn't have catchy melodies like past Final Fantasy games. I remember being disappointed with this back then. The best is absolutely fantastic but there isn't enough in there. I feel that The Last Story has a better OST as a whole.

 

[Diablos54]

Very solid RPG, really enjoyed it, but doesn't really touch the better ones from last gen/this gen. Prefer FF XII, Xenoblade, Blue Dragon and a few others. Well worth a play though, the short stories are excellent, the battle system has it moments, and the music is great. Characters aren't much to write home about though (Apart from Jansen!), the use of UE3 is very evident, and it's pretty easy (Apart from the first real boss, that one took awhile...)

 

[RPGCrazied]

Love this game. So sad my old 360 broke and I could no longer play it. I'm getting a new 360 slim within the next week to play this and all the other jRPG exclusives the 360 got over again. Magna Carta 2, Blue Dragon were very good too. Don't forget Tales of Vesperia!

The only thing I wish the game had was voice acting for the dreams. Some of those are quite long, and just reading them gets tiresome.

I say stick with it, its a really amazing game. I want a sequel. Also, this game is the only game so far that has made me cry.