Famitsu reviews Lost Odyssey, plus impressions from Groo

[Himu]

Lost Odyssey got a 36/40 in Famitsu. Pretty good considering this is Famitsu.

This is what they had to say:

- battle tempo is extremely agreeable
- boss fights are tough but if you polish your tactics, they are fun
- Kaim's existence in the story is, according to Shigematsu's writing, very deep and well crafted. A virtuous story, as Sakaguchi also said
- event scenes progress with beautiful graphics, impressive
- battles have a noticeable effect on your characters, which develop in an enjoyable way
- it's a good RPG for adults to play and take lots of time playing through
- scenario is very "bitter"
- 4 DVDs with amazing video and beautiful music
- it's a shame about frequent loading and the poor lip-syncing

(everything is lip-synced to the English voicework, unfortunately)

Here are impressions from a Lost Odyssey conference yesterday in Japan.

This is what I think about Lost Odyssey, from what I've seen so far:

In a lot of respects it's FFVIII in HD.
Sakaguchi is taking his FF vision and trying to make it "real" like FFVIII, with more realistic looking characters. I don't think there's anything wrong with the character models, but the animation is clearly not great, and there are issues with camera and potentially issues with frame rate. None of these things are what make an RPG for me though. An RPG is playable if it has good characters, system and story, and this looks like it has potential in all three departments.

The idea of a main character (two, actually) that live for 1000 years, and live through the loss of so many friends, family, etc. is really intriguing to me. I can't wait to see how it's played out. The music has a very serious tone - none of the music played in the Lost Odyssey part of the concert (7 songs) was uplifting or poppy like the Blue Dragon stuff.

Certainly if you're a JRPG fan, I would see no reason to dislike this game specifically, apart from platform, perhaps. Personally, because of the slow and painful death of the Japanese industry over the past few years, I've gotten into a lot more western games, and I can appreciate that the animation and stuff looks a bit cack in comparison to recent western releases, but as a JRPG, it looks fine.

I'm going to write a bit more about the actual event for Blimblim later, but for now that's how I feel about the game itself. I'm looking forward to it lots because of the story and music, basically. I'll probably play through this before Mass Effect anyways.

All impressions and translations (of the famitsu review) go to groo at gaf.

[MrAngryFace]

I dunno, I used to think 'pretty good from famitsu' but they've become pretty slack in the past few years which makes me suspect backroom transactions. In any case ill wait for impressions from japabores

[demi]

8!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[MCD]

36 you mean.

and Groo, i love you  

[MCD]

8!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So much for the FF killer.

it's over, Sakaguchi am doomed.

[MrAngryFace]

Probably needed some dialogue trees

[MCD]

Probably needed some dialogue trees

and a GRAW battle system.

that should give it 9+ easily by western reviewers.

[Himu]

New screenshot:



Holy shit, FFVII flashbacks.

[MrAngryFace]

The story probably doesnt have a twist at the end where youre the bad guy and all your friends are actually aspects of your fractured mind

Not actually the end of Mass Defect, I made it up, so dont sweat it lol

[Himu]

LO got a 36/40? sorry my bad.

[MCD]

Actually MAF.

i have this feeling that the main character here (Kaim) is behind it all, and he forgot it due to amnesia.

i hope am wrong here because this sounds terrible lol.

[The Sceneman]

wtf who cares, No More Heores got 9988 or some shit

spoiler (click to show/hide)

kidding, lost odyssey is gonna sizzle

[close]

[MrAngryFace]

I dunno the people who did beat Mass Defect seemed pretty blown away by the story, and chances are most of them went through KOTOR, which means they wouldnt fall for the same thing twice.

[Beezy]

When does Lost Odyssey come out in the US again?

[Himu]

february

[MCD]

Dec 6 in Japan, Feb 12 in US/EU.

[Vizzys]

I wish to be in Lost Odyssey

[Smooth Groove]

Actually, Famitsu is not very dependable for reviews.  They admitted to Milky from 1up that they overscore games from people that they're friends with.  It's just the way that Japanese culture is.  Reviewers just have to save face for people they know. 

[Himu]

who said famitsu was dependable

[Smooth Groove]

8!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So much for the FF killer.

it's over, Sakaguchi am doomed.

Where's the 8 from?  36/40 = 90%.  If there's a 8 from famitsu, that means someone else gave it a 10.  A 10 seems unlikely for a non FF or DQ game. 

[Vizzys]

it was 9/8/8/8 from what I read

so 33/40

I may have misread

[MCD]

It's 33/40 from Famitsu Xbox 360 and 36/40 from Weekly Famitsu.

[Vizzys]

who is more reliable

[demi]

8!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So much for the FF killer.

it's over, Sakaguchi am doomed.

Where's the 8 from?  36/40 = 90%.  If there's a 8 from famitsu, that means someone else gave it a 10.  A 10 seems unlikely for a non FF or DQ game. 

Read the first post

[Ichirou]

the japanese wouldn't know a good game even if it spunked in their face.

there - i said it.

on second thoughts - if it did spuz on their faces, it would probably get 11's across the board!

Three words.

Loli. Rape. Sims.

[Smooth Groove]

It's 33/40 from Famitsu Xbox 360 and 36/40 from Weekly Famitsu.

Platform specific mags are supposed to give higher scores for exclusives.  Dumbass japs. 

[MCD]

who is more reliable

I'd say Weekly, but both are well..."Famitsu" so it doesn't matter.

[TVC15]

I dunno the people who did beat Mass Defect seemed pretty blown away by the story, and chances are most of them went through KOTOR, which means they wouldnt fall for the same thing twice.

Mass Errect's story is straight up space opera, so while there will be twists, I am not expecting the main draw of the story to be the twist.  That said, I bet this, the first game of three, will end with something of a twist.

[Smooth Groove]

I'm going to side with TVC's Mass Effect impressions over MAF's.  Or at least I hope that TVC's right. 

[MrAngryFace]

I havent played nearly as much as most, my issues with the game are like 90% technical

[bork]

I'm going to side with TVC's Mass Effect impressions over MAF's.  Or at least I hope that TVC's right. 

It's more like everyone's impressions over MAFs, in this case. 

[bork]

Oh, dcharlie's messed up too.  Too much cold medicine.   

[Cormacaroni]

hmmm, LO is about the only AAA 360 title i'm on the fence about this year. I can't quite put my finger on why. I looooved Blue Dragon, and Inoue is one of the few manga artists I like. It'll be the first J RPG i've played since BD and in theory should be a welcome aperitif after all this awesome Western action stuff we've had lately. But it just doesn't capture my imagination in any way so far. The battles look simplistic in the extreme and the overall vibe is one of ponderous pomposity. Plus I've heard from one of the devs that Sakaguchi was disappointingly hands-off throughout development, which doesn't really inspire confidence. Groo - get me hyped!

[Himu]

ummmm LO comes out in february

[Cormacaroni]

ummmm LO comes out in february

Dec. 6 in Japan, no? or did i remember that wrong

[MCD]

ummmm LO comes out in february

Dec. 6 in Japan, no? or did i remember that wrong

Yup.

hopefully the Japanese or Asian version will be region free for folks who can't wait.

personally, i don't have time for this now.

[Cormacaroni]

ummmm LO comes out in february

Dec. 6 in Japan, no? or did i remember that wrong

Yup.

hopefully the Japanese or Asian version will be region free for folks who can't wait.

personally, i don't have time for this now.

quite. in fact, if you DO have time for this right now, you're probably bebpo

[bork]

Is the Japanese version going to have English text too, or just voice?

[MCD]

I doubt it will have English text but i am sure the Asian version will have it.

quite. in fact, if you DO have time for this right now, you're probably bebpo

don't know if this is a good or bad thing but i actually wish i have more free time like him.

[Himu]

the amazing thing is that bebpo is in law school

[Cormacaroni]

Is the Japanese version going to have English text too, or just voice?

judging from Blue Dragon...no.

[MCD]

the amazing thing is that bebpo is in law school

for real?

well that's amazing.

[MCD]

Is the Japanese version going to have English text too, or just voice?

judging from Blue Dragon...no.

Though you have to remember, LO localization is already done, it's just a matter of adding it or not.

[MCD]

Good news!
I just bought Famitsu 360 and that other thread was entirely bollocks, apparently.

Famitsu Xbox 360 reviews:

Lost Odyssey 10898

WTF IS HAPPENING

lol, anyway good news.

[bork]

The real WTF is why Groo is posting there and not here too.   :'(

[Himu]

tsk tsk groo

[MCD]

Too important to post on EB for free.

[Cormacaroni]

Disinformation on an X360 game! what a shock!

The sony higher uppers are obviously shit scared

Why would they be scared, with their killer line-up of J-RPGs on the system. I mean, they have Folklore, and I hear they're getting a port of Eternal Sonata soon!

[The Sceneman]

haha, 'Killer'

flawless victory

[Van Cruncheon]

Actually MAF.

i have this feeling that the main character here (Kaim) is behind it all, and he forgot it due to amnesia.

i hope am wrong here because this sounds terrible lol.

that would be the plot of the much better

spoiler (click to show/hide)

planescape torment

[close]

[MCD]

Forgive my ignorance, i don't play PC games.

that i think about it, it's a good plot/twist, but i don't think many will like it nowadays.

i don't mind personally, love this kind of twists.

[Van Cruncheon]

you played bg2, didn't you? play torment or i will fucking knife you and leave you in a gutter

[MCD]

Baldur's Gate 2?

nope, never played any of Bioware games, not a PC fan.

yeah, i suck balls, i know 

[Himu]

I'm not a big pc gamer and i love those games. try em out.

[MCD]

I will put them on the list.

right now, my gaming schedule is crowded.

360