Lost Odyssey Review (X360) PG1

Lost Odyssey is without question the Xbox 360’s answer to Final Fantasy. If it was called “Final Fantasy XIII”, I don’t think anyone would have questioned its place in that series. But it isn’t Final Fantasy. And it isn’t from SqueEnix. It is a brand new franchise exclusive to the Xbox 360. And it is darn good. Not exactly groundbreaking, mind you, but still very enjoyable. Find out all about it right here in our full review.

Story

From the opening scene where your character, Kaim, survives a huge disaster while everyone around him dies, Lost Odyssey will hook you and not let you go until its conclusion. Kaim is an immortal, and he, just like the other immortals he meets throughout the quest, has lost his memories from the past 1000 years. Recovering these memories is the core of Lost Odyssey’s storytelling, and even though the outer shell of the overall story is generic and predictable, the core thread of connecting the immortals’ memories to the current events of the world is absolutely fascinating and makes up for it. You unlock these memories in sequences that are called “A Thousand Years of Dreams”, which are text-based stories that tell you about Kaim’s past. Reading mini-novellas in the middle of a game might not sound interesting, but they are accompanied by amazing music and sound effects and great visual cues that really tie everything together. They are also very well written and surprisingly emotionally heavy, which really connects you to the characters in a way that most other RPGs fail miserably.

In addition to your party of amnesiac immortals, you also have a number of human characters that join you. They don’t add as much as story is concerned, but they more than make up for it with how the skill system works.

Skill System

The skill system in Lost Odyssey is very interesting, and is one of the few ways that Lost Odyssey really sets itself apart from other J-RPGs. Human characters level up and earn new skills just like in any RPG. But the immortals have to learn skills from the human characters. To do this you have to “skill link” with a human and select a skill you want the immortal to learn. As you battle enemies, you not only earn EXP, but you also earn SP, which goes towards learning skills. Each immortal also has a limited number of skill slots, which means that you can’t use every skill you learn. In this way, Lost Odyssey is very satisfying because it allows you to customize your characters and turn them into black mages, white mages, tanks, or whatever else. Characters do have different ratings for each attribute, and some are more suited to certain skill types than others, but you aren’t forced to follow any of it.

The other customizable aspect of LO is that you collect materials to build rings throughout your travels. These rings do things like give you elemental enchantments, increase your attributes, and even let you use skills you haven’t learned yet. This introduces a micromanagement aspect to the game where each new area and, more specifically, each new boss, usually requires a different ring type and making sure everyone is properly equipped is important.

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