On the other hand, Mack and Cooke are acted with the usual hyperactive hamming that child characters so often fall victim to.

The English voice acting isn't bad, and Jansen, Ming, and Kaim are particularly well voiced. In particular, the atmospheric strains played during unlocked memories are wonderfully moody and match the text perfectly. Some of the soundtrack is predictable, like the Final Fantasy-tinged battle music, although that’s not too surprising when you consider that the score was created by longtime FF composer Nobuo Uematsu. Thankfully, the game is an aural delight, and it owes a lot to its pretty soundtrack. You will also experience some loading times between areas and before cutscenes, and while they are semi-frequent, they aren’t excessively long.Īim rings add subtle but noticeable effects to the flow of battle. The framerate is inconsistent, and the game hitches noticeably during gameplay and cutscenes, even during onscreen events that wouldn’t seem to tax the Unreal 3 engine, such as the map overview that occurs prior to region transitions. On the technical side, the game isn’t quite as strong. The depth-of-field blurring that stuck out in Blue Dragon is used more subtly and to greater effect here, particularly during the game's most dramatic scenes. Lost Odyssey's art design clicks, from Kaim's lazy strand of hair to detailed enemy-character models. On your journey you'll certainly see your share of clichéd caves and forests, but there are plenty of beautiful vistas to behold: rocky seaside cliffs, looming castles swarming with mysterious spirits, and portside towns with colorful cobbled streets. This yarn takes place in a fully realized fantasy world in the midst of revolution both political and magical. Yet Lost Odyssey's concluding hours, as predictable as they are, make you feel, and that alone makes this a saga worth experiencing. The main story doesn't often reach those same heights, and a good number of the game's countless cutscenes ramble aimlessly and end up feeling like filler. It makes for a good amount of reading, but if you skip past these memories, you will miss the game's most touching and heartfelt moments. Kaim and his immortal companions unlock memories during the course of the game, and they are presented in simple but effective sequences in which the memory is recounted via stylized text, accompanied by pretty static images and subtle music cues. No, it's about self-discovery and the timelessness of the relationships we develop. In fact, the main story follows a more or less predictable path, pitting you against a villain you spend half the game knowing very little about. Lost Odyssey is about its characters, not about its plot. It's a serious tale, but comic relief is plentiful, and most of it comes from inadvertent spy Jansen, a flamboyant ladies' man who manages to be both annoying and irresistibly charming. Lady pirate Seth, kind queen Ming, the noble Tolten, and several others provide ample companionship, and their lives intersect in some surprising-and not so surprising-ways. But he doesn't struggle alone, and Lost Odyssey doesn't neglect the rest of its fascinating cast. The game takes its time with his character development, but as information slowly unfolds, it's hard not to empathize with his internal struggles. It's hard to get a handle on Kaim at first he's the strong, silent type, the prototypical moping hero with a soulful scowl and a deep well of unfathomable secrets.

Kaim, along with several other characters in Lost Odyssey, is immortal, though the origin of his immortality is left purposefully unclear at the outset of the game. Jansen is the perfect foil to Kaim's constant seriousness. Yet while it may borrow liberally from the genre's older gems, Lost Odyssey is a game worth playing, most notably for its fascinating story and its brooding protagonist, Kaim. Yes, there are times when it feels like more of a relic than it does a true next-generation game, particularly in light of the tweaks made by other modern Japanese RPGs such as Persona 3 and Eternal Sonata. However, in the case of the developer's newest effort, that isn't always a bad thing. Lost Odyssey doesn't push any role-playing game boundaries, though that won't come as a shock to anyone familiar with Mistwalker's previous game, Blue Dragon.

Lost odyssey