Lost Odyssey, First Impressions.

So, as many of you probably know, I am a huge fan and a strong critic of Japanese RPG games. I love them, but at the same time I feel that they need to live up to certain expectations regarding storyline, character development, and gameplay. In my opinion a true JRPG can not be without turn based fighting. Call me crazy, but that is my opinion. Anyways, that was just some food for thought before reading. On to my first impressions of the latest JRPG to hit American shores:

I picked up this game yesterday as I have been waiting for a good JRPG for a while. First of all, let me start by saying that my initial impressions are very good. The game is BEAUTIFUL, despite some awkward character positioning at times. The graphics are top-notch and the facial expressions add a lot to the game. I am very impressed with what Mystwalker has given to us, especially after their first game Blue Dragon, which had arguably very kid-ish graphics.

The storyline is also shaping up very nice with multiple nations, a war, and all that good stuff that makes epic RPGs awesome. Seriously, the opening cut-scene is one of the best I have ever seen, better than even Final Fantasy VII’s opening cutscene (which is still one of my favorite by the way). For those curious about the storyline I urge you to read the review over at IGN. It will give you a bit of information. I won’t be spoiling anything here. I will say one thing though: prepare for a world much like Final Fantasy VI, and VII where everything is infused with a “magic” like substance for energy.There is no world map *tear*, which sucks. I have always been a huge fan of being able to travel freely across the world and explore around a bit, especially when you get your first airship. Oh well, it’s not a deal breaker. The way you move from place to place is via a list and map where you get to highlight and select where you want to go, then it automatically travels you there. While I was hoping for a world map to explore and enjoy, this alternative method is fairly nice as well.

The characters are very well developed. When you first meet a particular character, that shall remain nameless at this time, your first thoughts are going to be “my god, this guy is annoying,” and he is. But his character does get fleshed out and you’ll begin to understand him more, as such, he will not be as annoying as before.

While on the topic of characters I think this would be a good time to go over the “dreams” you’ll be encountering at random periods of time. Every once in a while when you stumble upon something that triggers a memory in our main character, Kaim you’ll get the option to relive this dream. These are completely optional by the way. Anyways, these dreams are stories that you get to read. They are masterfully written and an excellent dose of storyline for the world. Some of you may find them a chore, but others, like myself, have found them to be one of the best parts of the game. From what I can tell, reading them or skipping them has no adverse affect on the world/storyline, but I highly recommend reading at least the first one. They are very good.

Back to the game, it’s very traditional. Random battles are back, along with turn based fighting. To a lot of the newer fans of RPGs this will probably seem like an ancient form of gaming. To those of us who played Dragon Warrior 1 on the NES this is going to feel traditional. I love random battles, and I love turn based fighting. Quick note: the radom battles are actually spaced out a bit far from each other. I have gone 5+ minutes before witout getting into a fight. It’s almost too spaced apart.

Finally, this game is hard. I mean H-A-R-D. I have not played an RPG this difficult in a long time. To put it in perspective, I had no trouble with Final Fantasy VII, VIII, or IX. I beat nearly all of the U.S. released Dragon Quests/Warriors, and Blue Dragon was a cake-walk. I have even played/beat all of the Tales series of RPGs fairly easily. No, this game is harder than all of them in my opinion. Don’t expect to have your hand held through the first few hours of the game. The first boss I fought (a giant bird/gryphon) I died 4 times on before nailing down a nice strategy on beating him. Those of you looking for something difficult, this game is for you.

Well that’s it for now. I am still on the first disc and only about 6 hours into what is said to be 40-50 hour long game. There are 4 discs so hopefully that will be some indication as to the length of the game. Blue Dragon was 3 discs long and I beat that one at about 40 hours, so here’s hoping.

If you have any particular questions about the game leave em in the comments below and I’ll try to answer them as best as I can. Thanks for reading!