Real Cuties Game Blog- Lost Odyssey, OVERVIEW
Ok so ‘Lost Odyssey’ was a huge megaton game and I realise that a lot of my reviews were plot heavy rather than any kind of analytical. And since I’ve just finished ‘Resident Evil 5′ and am already planning that review, I decided I’d better offer up the promised overview of ‘Lost Odyssey’ sharpish and get on to something new.
The Good
Ok so I loved a lot of the things about ‘Lost Odyssey’. The plot had its moments of wtf-ery but overall was a decent enough story line. Thats my plot comments done.
The ring fighting system was really interesting. I’m not a fan of the button masher RPGs like ‘Fable 2′. My hands are tiny and I get tired easily. But then JRPGs normally fall into the trap of asigning a spell and watching them go. So the ring system was a nice way to combine letting you seet up the different moves and spells but then also mean you got to take part in the fighting rather than just leave it to random chance. Took a bit of getting used to, but once you do you wonder why more games don’t try innovative stuff like that.
The scale of the world was awesome. A lot of thought had been put into the design of it all. Even the sections in the snow were all unique looking.
It didn’t fall into quick time events too often. Yes there were a couple and at the time I moaned about it, but they were relitavely easy in comparison to some games (you’ll see what I mean when I review ‘Resident Evil 5′). And they alwasy seemed to have a purpose (eg boosting the ship or dodging) so I didn’t mind them because of that.
The side quests were a nice little addition. Even if you followed the main story line all the way through you did get to experience extra boss battle if you stumbled into the right places. I like games that give you the option to keep playing them without having to go through the main quest again, and ‘Lost Oddysey’ does that really well. (Saying that I do need to go level up hugely before my next big fight, which will be annoying!)
I really love how the accessories you put on them in the game actually appear in the cut scenes- it sold the game to me when Kaim was being all moody and manly wearing cat ears!
The Bad
Ok, I know that rumble pads were made for a reason. And sometimes the little jolt through your fingers helps with immersion. But not when you use it all the frickin’ time! I resorted to using it as a neck massager in the longer cut scenes (never realised how well shaped the XBox controllers are- they really hit the spot!).
When you’re going to fully animate a cut scene, why bother not recording the sound? You have to read it anyway…
The dreams. I liked them, but I can’t see the appeal of enforced reading for most gamers. The target audience generally want action. The dreams just scream girlfriend friendly, and although its nice that they think of us, give us some credit! Just do a short animation- hell theres enough cut scenes in the rest of it!
There’re some truely cringe worth dialogue pieces. Pretty much any time Jansen opened his mouth for the first disc I wanted to smack him. And it only gets worse with the motive ‘oh woe for our pawents have died’ scenes with the two kids. It’s sad yes, but move on already…
The Ugly
Ugly?! Yeah right. Its a JRPG- everyone is gorgeous!
Right I promise to play real games, but also shorter games. No more five part reviews. Until Arkham Asylum anyway.
Oh here you go- enjoy the cosplay
