Lost Odyssey

[mackemansj1]

Its a bit good this aint it, im some what of a jprg newbie only really getting into them this gen with enchated arm and blue dragon but this game feels on untold levels above those two. The story,the world, the characters etc are all a step above those two. You can tell its made with unreal 3 it has that softness about it at times only like 6 hours into the first disc but loving it the gfx are really nice at times the first beach section looked fantastic. Well glad this was region free i might not have bought it when it hits here later this month with devil may cry etc out so it saved me missing out on a great game.

[SteveH]

Quick question for anyone playing Asian version. Does the box still show NTSC/J on it? Mine has arrived from Playasia but I don't want to unseal it if they have sent the wrong one. The case has mix of jap and english. Cheers

[Rudderless]

Quick question for anyone playing Asian version. Does the box still show NTSC/J on it? Mine has arrived from Playasia but I don't want to unseal it if they have sent the wrong one. The case has mix of jap and english. Cheers

Yep, that's the one. Assuming the blurb on the back of the box starts with two lines from Cotton Eye Joe.

[GViper]

Why is my postman always late! MikeP, was your cheapo mail?

[SteveH]

Lol...yes, cheers Hero.

Yeah gviper, cheapo jiffy bag postage to avoid customs

[Bleeders]

Anyone else still waiting for this to come through pikey mail from PA?

[Sigourney Beaver]

Anyone else still waiting for this to come through pikey mail from PA?

Me

It's 5-10 days so by rights it could take til Friday

[Ferine]

Well, I'm a sucker for talk of good writing. I just ordered a copy off eBay: was £31 and the stock is in the UK, so hopefully it should only take a few days.

This might sound odd, but I've been itching to play a 'proper' RPG since playing Mass Effect. Although I can't say I'm particularly excited by the prospect of random-sodding-battles.

[Bleeders]

Me

It's 5-10 days so by rights it could take til Friday

Fingers crossed we get it before it then.

[Guest]

There is no nice limited edition of this at all is there? I think I will have to get this once I polish off Eternal Sonata.

[Rudderless]

There is no nice limited edition of this at all is there? I think I will have to get this once I polish off Eternal Sonata.

I'm hoping so too.

Yep, that's right - even though I already own the game, I'm hoping for a special limited edition version so I can spend more money on it.

It's that good.

I'm up to Disk 3 now, and totally hooked. It's just glorious.

[Super Lurker]

Ordered this from play-asia, can't wait. English and a whole month before its out here? Wicked!

[Siri]

There is no nice limited edition of this at all is there? I think I will have to get this once I polish off Eternal Sonata.

Colour me easily impressed, but I quite like the standard NTSC-J package that came through the post! It's a nice, chunky double-thick DVD Case in the usual 360 clear green, and the cover art's backing has a nice foil-like sheen to it.

Pity that the discs are not in spectacular condition - they have that warped, water-logged effect to them, and now I'm paranoid that I'm going to get to a point that doesn't load

Started it though for about 40 mins worth - Considering that I'm going into the game blind apart from the Tech demo that was shown at the last E3, It's already made a positive impression with the idea of Target rings and the like.

[the_buddha_of_gaming]

What other JRPGs are due out on the 360? Seems like it's had one good one (Eternal Sonata), one great one (Blue Dragon) and this, all in the space of six months. Is there anything else to keep the momentum going?

[Raff]

There's Infinite Undiscovery (tri-Ace/Squeenix) and The Last Remnant (Squeenix). And possibly a 'Tales of' game for what it's worth...

[squirtle]

So how come the Japanese version of this is PAL compatible? What's that all about?

[Mr. Gerbik]

There's Infinite Undiscovery (tri-Ace/Squeenix) and The Last Remnant (Squeenix). And possibly a 'Tales of' game for what it's worth...

There's also Cry On. I don't know anything about it, but it's from Mistwalker and it's a jrpg.

Who would've guessed that the xbox360 would be the platform of choice for next-gen jrpgs, eh? (at least until FFXIII comes out)

[SteveH]

So how come the Japanese version of this is PAL compatible? What's that all about?

It's actually the Asian version rather than the Japanese version that is PAL compatible. And in a rather nice twist for a change, it isn't NTSC compatible. Yes, we get to play a game before the U.S

[Monkeyboy]

I like the cover for the Asian version...

[Blamsft1]

Great character design from Takehiko Inoue. Kaim looks just as good if not better than some of his characters from Vagabond.

[fatoy.japa]

EDIT- Also no stuttering or frame rate problems in mine so far. As usual I think IGN are talking out of their arse I think

I'm diving into full duplicity-mode and agreeing wholeheartedly with the your point about the music and overall loveliness, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to 'do a Meh' (which is a phrase I never thought I'd utter) and disagree with the above.

The stuttering and frame-rate issues don't do an awful lot to break the immersion, but they're both noticeable enough and oddly-timed enough to be a bit irritating. The issues tend to rear their head when, I can only assume, the engine switches to more detailed character models for closeups or goes all 24 and decides to split the screen, and the framerate in half. I really hate to pick at little niggles in something this pretty, but when they tend to accompany stiff animation, characters running at full pelt into walls and some occasional odd moments where the lighting doesn't load it's actually quite hard to ignore. This is the only game I can ever remember wishing had more cutscenes since they make you far more amenable to buying Kaim as a tragic, balletic adventurer rather than the surly, awkward marionette that some of their game-engine counterparts paint him as.

All that said, the aforementioned Dream brought a lump to my throat, the combat seems great and the storyline genuinely interesting. I'd be willing to ascribe a lot of my preoccupation with the little issues to the fact that I haven't been able to properly immerse myself in the amazing-looking world but, objectively speaking, IGN weren't entirely wrong.

As for the dreams, it should give everyone an indication of how powerfully conveyed (as well as written) they are that everyone in the apartment with me ended up reading the few I've discovered from start to finish with no prior idea of the storyline simply because they 'looked and sounded cool'. I don't know if they're going to develop sequentially, but I need to backtrack and find the one I've missed either way.

Quite why I've decided to bring a little bit of negativity into this thread is beyond me, I'm afraid, but it's certainly there - however subtly - to bring. Yes, it's all wonderfully traditional but, in some places, for the wrong reasons. Hopefully I'll be retracting all of this stream-of-conciousness nonsense when I'm able to form a more comprehensive opinion.

[Rudderless]

This is the only game I can ever remember wishing had more cutscenes since they make you far more amenable to buying Kaim as a tragic, balletic adventurer rather than the surly, awkward marionette that some of their game-engine counterparts paint him as.

Yeah, I know what you mean. When he's running around he looks fine, in the CGI scenes he looks fine, but the close-ups done in the game engine just don't convince.

Indeed, the writing in the stories does at times threaten to overshadow the main plot, though that has enough interesting ideas to keep things moving nicely. And more than one very sad moment of its own, too.

IGN weren't entirely wrong.

It's not nearly as bad as they make out, though. It stutters occasionally, and never when the scenes are in full flow. I've noticed it once or twice, but it's not that jarring.

Yes, it's all wonderfully traditional but, in some places, for the wrong reasons.

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's hardly perfect. But when it's good, it's very, very good.

[fatoy.japa]

Oh yeah, absolutely. It's hardly perfect. But when it's good, it's very, very good.

I'm definitely inclined to go with this assessment. I feel rather bad about picking holes in what I've seen so far since, when it's all flowing together, the niggles fade into pretty opaque insignificance.

I'll tell you something else - coming from Mass Effect, the interface in LO is like moving from a child's drawing to the Dewey Decimal system.

[Uzi]

I was one of the first to play Mass Effect and not notice the draw in so much until various people and websites banged on about it Fatoy. Then my eyes kept a deliberate look out and it become all too obvious.

IGN have trained their eyes to look for every single annoyance, imperfection etc when a games running whereas I tend to just lose myself in it and unless the stuttering or slow down is so bad that I physically pop out of my bubble and notice it, my eye just accepts it as "game side effects". I don't expect them to constantly in a perfect framerate from title to credits so thats why my eye is perhaps more forgiving. I understand its their job, but IGN are more nitpicking wankers than anything who probably wear a monacle when looking for tech issues (weren't they the ones complaining about mario galaxy's normal bitmapping or something?) when the actual important parts of their reviews like gameplay etc are always too lenient or misguided.

Basically I gurantee you that if you don't look for it, you won't see it as much.

Maybe I'm far too forgiving, or my 360 is magic, but I really don't notice these things as much as everyone else.

[Sigourney Beaver]

I was one of the first to play Mass Effect and not notice the draw in so much until various people and websites banged on about it Fatoy. Then my eyes kept a deliberate look out and it become all too obvious.

IGN have trained their eyes to look for every single annoyance, imperfection etc when a games running whereas I tend to just lose myself in it and unless the stuttering or slow down is so bad that I physically pop out of my bubble and notice it, my eye just accepts it as "game side effects". I don't expect them to constantly in a perfect framerate from title to credits so thats why my eye is perhaps more forgiving. I understand its their job, but IGN are more nitpicking wankers than anything who probably wear a monacle when looking for tech issues (weren't they the ones complaining about mario galaxy's normal bitmapping or something?) when the actual important parts of their reviews like gameplay etc are always too lenient or misguided.

Basically I gurantee you that if you don't look for it, you won't see it as much.

o/\o

IGN's reviews are becoming tiresome for this reason, and I find they go over the top with their criticisms of games generally. If I buy a game they review I can see what they're on about but the issues rarely seem as bad as they make out.

[fatoy.japa]

I don't think there's an awful lot wrong with Mass Effect either (excluding the one snowy planet you actually can't drive on owing to the framerate) and, hopefully, I managed to vaguely articulate that I don't think there's an awful lot wrong, technically, with Lost Odyssey either.

I agree that quite a few critics tend to put that sort of mechanical competence over the further-reaching qualities of, well, the game itself; but there's a difference between not noticing something and it not being there. That you can train yourself to not look for these things is just as valid an avenue as teaching yourself to see them and, as per AV reviews and such there's probably a place for both perspectives in the spectrum of reviewing videogames.

The fact that it's becoming a mainstream cop-out for bad reviewing is lamentable, but I honestly think it's a little better to have a buffer between the folk who, justifiably, care about the experience more than anything else and those for whom technical issues are a game-breaking deal.

Oh, I don't even know if that makes sense, and hopefully I'm not lumping myself in with the wrong crowd. Uzi's the last person I'd choose to disagree with normally.

[Uzi]

It's ok Fatoy, you'll always be welcome in my crowd.

[fatoy.japa]

I'll consider that official sponsorship of my secret campaign trail to the Mod folder.

[Siri]

Hmm, from what I have played this evening, I can see the technical flaws, but I'm past caring, and for one reason only:

Jansen. Single-handedly trumps all of the characters I've seen so far!

Who needs all this sorrowful bollocks when your main Healer is the sort of person who turns up for missions completely bladdered with whores draped all over him? AMAZING SCENES.

And on a more sober note, the Thousand Years of Dreams stories are lovely, lovely enough to put me off grinding and instead retreat to the nearest Inn. And what's not to love about Gears of War's roadie run being in a JRPG battle system?

[SteveH]

I get very rare stutters as some scenes start out, but they are tiny stutters and last a split second. It seems once everything is loaded in, it's fine. And I can be a picky bastard about these things. In fact now I have the orginal disc and am playing it in my nearly new 360 I can honestly say I have barely notcied it at all. I would hazard a guess that some DVD drives might not be loading up the scenes as quickly as is needed.

I don't get the little dig at the "running against walls" gripe to be honest. I can't imagine how irritating it would be if the character had an animation for when you walk into walls. This is an RPG and I like to comb every part of a room looking for items on shelves, bookcases, hidden in pots......you get my drift. If the guy broke from the usual walking or running animation to do some stumble or correct his stance every time I bumped into furniture, I think it would drive me insane. In fact I know it would.

I'm loving the music as well. It's great to hear instruments or the odd riff that sounds almost FF-like.