After years when just releasing an RPG on Xbox was enough to see the devoted genre fans promise to cleave the pointy ears off their first born with a rubber halberd just for a glimpse of a random battle, now - suddenly - there's some competition. And judging by their E3 performances it could be Lost Odyssey that loses out.
While the in-game graphics slap your optic nerve like a discount dominatrix, our latest look at the second child of Sakaguchi's seasoned loins didn't reduce anyone to pools of geek-goo.
Lost property However stunning the reel shown on stage at Microsoft's conference looked, however many people hooted at the latest demo, it did little to dispel the same worries that appeared since we first got hands-on. It wasn't that there wasn't much to show.
Indeed, for the first time we discovered that our hero, the 1000-year old Kaim, doesn't always have to be in the party; at set times the elderly mullethead will be dragged off leaving you with other immortals; blue-haired magician Seth, Tolten, a golden knight, and Sed who packs heat, plus wrinkles.
Or that story gets in the way. Plot seems to play less of a role than some of Sakaguchi's previous million character chunt-erings. Instead Kaim's story of love's lost will be told in a separate mix of storyboard and sound titled 'A Thousand Years of Dreams'.
And with the flashbacks made optional, the game's pacing is nippier than Blue Dragon with moves flying in, timed button-presses used to target attacks and the magical effects being reigned in to last seconds rather than longer than the Hundred Years War. The interactive backdrops were also on show with a battle below a crane which shed its explosive load onto the foe below - foes that seem to range from immense dinosaurs and impressive steel beasts, to crappy little cute things.
No. It's some of the other stuff. Like, the action constantly being stopped and started again It's not ponderous as much as annoying. And the new vocals demoed for the first time at E3 seemingly being recorded by people with all the sexual dynamism of a night watchman on a trading estate.
And while duff voice acting is pretty standard in Japanese RPGs, there might be too many other, niggly areas in which Lost Odyssey is exactly that: standard fare through and through.
Look guys, this game tops my most wanted list because i love jap rpg's and if it's the same as many rpg's before it then fantastic. Beautiful graphics, hours of gameplay, bonkers story etc, perfect, just bring it on man!
If its anything like Blue Dragon then this is going to be an amazing game. Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata and LO are really going to push the 360 in a different direction.
good graphics - check skippable cutscenes - check no long animations like blue dragon - check destructible environments - check customisable party - check decent story - check
voice acting being bad well we're used to it by now and stop start action remind me which rpg has non-stop action
I thought I wrote "Sounds like CVG has already written this game off". I aint written it off, I aint even played it yet. Why you so quick to have a dig?
I thought I wrote "Sounds like CVG has already written this game off". I aint written it off, I aint even played it yet. Why you so quick to have a dig?
because right after you said that part you said that you HAD high hopes for it
if indeed you havent writen off this game,like C and VG have,shouldnt that be 'i HAVE high hopes',and if you still have high hopes then you must think that it STILL looks beter than Blue Dragon,unless something other than this mini review/whatever has changed your mind
i was just replying to how you posted(and i wasnt that quick to have a dig,there were a few hours inbetween,lol)
did you mean it like this? 'Sounds like CVG has already written this game off, shame, I haVE high hopes for this as it lookS better then blue dragon'
thats it wudragon the 360 needs at least some ok rpg's the same was with the old xbox. microsoft really need to pull there finger out of there first peron shooter bottom and make an rpg that is at least on pare with the final fantasy clic. pnut
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