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Lost Odyssey
Developer(s)	Mistwalker, feelplus
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Designer(s)	Daisuke Fukugawa
Writer(s)	Hironobu Sakaguchi
Artist(s)	Takehiko Inoue
Composer(s)	Nobuo Uematsu
Engine	Unreal Engine 3.0
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release date(s)	JP December 6, 2007 AUS February 8, 2008 NA February 12, 2008 EU February 29, 2008
Genre(s)	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	CERO: C ESRB: Teen (T) OFLC: MA15+ OFLC: M PEGI: 16+
Media	4 DVD-DL

Lost Odyssey (ロストオデッセイ ,Rosuto Odessei^?) is a console role-playing game developed by Mistwalker and feelplus and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. The player takes control of Kaim, a man who has lived for a thousand years and who has no memory of his past. The game is set in a world nearing a "magical industrial revolution." Kaim, who has forgotten his past, struggles with the return of his memories and the pain they bring.

Lost Odyssey was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the famed Final Fantasy series. This is his third project outside of Square Enix, following ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat and Blue Dragon.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Setting 3 Characters 3.1 Playable characters 3.2 Antagonists 4 Story 5 Development 5.1 Downloadable content 6 Audio 6.1 Voice cast 7 Reception 8 Novel 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Lost Odyssey uses a traditional turn-based battle system seen in most Japanese role-playing games, similar to early Final Fantasy iterations. A world map allows the player to move the party between adjacent towns or fields on the map, while later in the game the player is given more freedom to explore the world through the use of ocean-going ships.^[1] Towns and cities provide inns for the player to recover the party's health, stores for buying and selling of equipment, and save points for the game.^[2] While exploring certain areas, the player will randomly encounter monsters to fight.

The combat system incorporates aspects of battle initiative and length of actions to determine how events resolve each turn. Item usage is instantaneous, regular melee attacks are executed on the same turn, while casting spells or using special abilities may delay the player's action for one or more turns, depending on their speed.^[3] Actions can be delayed if the user is hit by an attack. The player has the option to cancel an action on a subsequent turn if necessary.

Melee attacks include an "Aim Ring System" using equippable rings with added effects. As the character launches the attack, two concentric targeting rings appear on screen.^[4] The player must time their button release in order to make the rings intersect.^[4] An accuracy rank ("Perfect", "Good" or "Bad") indicates the potency of the effect.^[4] These include additional damage specific to certain types of monsters or their magic element, hit point or mana absorption, status ailments, or being able to steal items. Even if awarded a "Perfect", a character can still miss the attack altogether. These rings are created by synthesizing "components", and can be upgraded into more accurate, or more potent versions; advanced rings can be made by combining two or more rings at a special vendor.^[4][5]

In combat, both the player's party and enemies are arranged in two lines, front or back. Up to five party members can participate in battle at once.^[6] At the start of battle, the back line is protected by a special defensive "wall" which is based on the combined hit points of the front line.^[7] This wall reduces damage that the characters in the back experience.^[8] However, as the front line takes damage, the wall weakens, and can only be recovered through the use of certain spells or skills.^[8] When the wall is completely gone, the back row will have no damage reduction. This mechanic also applies to enemy groups.

There are two types of characters that the player controls. "Mortals" gain skills by leveling up, but can benefit from additional skills by equipping accessories.^[9] "Immortals" do not know any skills initially, but instead gain skills by "linking" with a mortal character that is currently part of the battle formation, earning skill points in battle towards complete learning of the skill.^[9][10] Immortals can also learn skills from accessories by equipping them in the same manner,^[9] much like the ability point system of Final Fantasy IX. Once a skill is learned, the player can then assign these skills to a limited number of skill slots, initially starting at three but able to be expanded via "Slot Seed" items or certain skills.^[9] Immortals also have the ability to automatically revive in battle should they lose all their hit points; however, if the entire party is downed including the immortals, the game will be over.

The game's magic system is based on four classes of magic: Black, consisting primarily of elemental attacks and negative status effects; White, mainly for healing and protection, Spirit, for stat changes, status ailments and non-elemental magic, and Composite, which can combine two spells, once learned, into multi-target or multi-function spells.^[11] To cast spells, the player must first find spells to fill the spell book, and then must have characters that have learned the appropriate magic skill of the right level to cast that spell.^[6]

[edit] Setting

Lost Odyssey is set in a world in which a "Magic-Industrial Revolution" is taking place.^[12] While magic energy existed in all living creatures beforehand, it suddenly became far more powerful thirty years before the beginning of the game.^[12] Because of this, it has affected society greatly,^[12] with devices called "Magic Engines" harnessing this power for lighting, automobiles, communication, and robots, among other uses. While previously only a select few could wield magic, many magicians gained the ability. However, such progress has also caused two nations; the kingdom of Gohtza, and the Republic of Uhra, recently changed from a monarchical society;^[13] to develop new and more powerful weapons of mass destruction.^[12] Uhra is building Grand Staff, a gigantic magic engine, while the heavily industrialized Gohtza actively pursued magic research of their own.^[13] A third nation, the Free Ocean State of Numara, has remained isolated and neutral, though it is falling into disarray due to a general attempting to stage a coup d'etat.^[13] Uhra, at war with Khent, a nation of beastmen, sends its forces to the Highlands of Wohl for a decisive battle at the start of the game.^[12]

[edit] Characters

All of the immortals have lived for a millenium. They were sent on a mission from a parallel universe using the Tower of Mirrors as a gateway, voluntarily erasing the memories of their past lives in order to become fully human. All of them had their memories sealed within them by Gongora before the start of the game. While the immortals in the game are free to conceive children, their offspring do not possess eternal life; Sed (Seth's son) and Lirum (Sarah and Kaim's daughter) are mortals.

[edit] Playable characters

• Kaim Argonar

Kaim is a Lieutenant in the Uhran army. Normally quiet and kept to himself, Kaim tries to maintain a nonchalant and serious attitude, but there are clues to reveal a caring, loving individual underneath. Kaim recollects his forgotten memories in the form of dreams; these memories are called A Thousand Years of Dreams in-game. Occasionally, Kaim recollects things outside of dreams, often signaled by glass breaking across the screen. He is currently married to Sarah Sisulart; had a daughter, the late Lirum Argonar; and has two grandchildren, Cooke and Mack.

• Seth Balmore

A former good-hearted pirate and explorer, Seth also ended up in the Uhran army. She is tough and speaks coarsely. Her appearance is distinguishable by her blue hair. In two dreams, she recollects spending many centuries with the sapient winged beast Aniera, before Gongora turns it against her son, Sed, and forces her to kill it. Sed is also a pirate, and despite having aged physically beyond her, he still lovingly refers to her as "Momma". She fights using swords, with quick, one-handed attacks.

• Ming Numara

Also known as The Thousand-Year Queen for the length of her reign, Ming is the founder, and reigning queen, of the Free Ocean State of Numara. She speaks with a regal accent, laden with formalities. Even though she maintains the façade of a weak damsel-in-distress, she is an able sorceress. Having witnessed the intricacies of politics for centuries, she is able to thwart any attempts to challenge her power. Having stayed in Numara for her entire lifetime, she suffers from loneliness.

• Sarah Sisulart

Kaim's wife, Sarah, is a quiet person, renowned for her sorcery. After witnessing Lirum's apparent death, she spiraled into depression, returned to their home near Tosca Village and took on the visage of an old woman. Sarah is brought back to reality upon meeting her own grandchildren, after her disguise is lifted by Kaim's group. She has studied many pieces of literature, and is the group's primary source for information unrelated to the ocean.

• Jansen Friedh

A womanizer prone to drinking, Jansen is hired by Gongora to keep an eye on Kaim and Seth on their initial mission to check on Grand Staff. After discovering that Gongora is only using him, he sincerely joins the team's mission to bring down Gongora. He is constantly fighting with Seth. Over the course of the story, he falls in love with Ming and marries her, becoming the King of Numara. He specializes in black magic, but also knows a limited amount of white magic.

• Cooke

Lirum's daughter, and the granddaughter of Kaim and Sarah. She is a bit of a tomboy, and generally assumes the role of Mack's boss. She excels in white magic, and supporting her peers. She also wishes to be Seth's apprentice, and become a female pirate.

• Mack

Lirum's son, and Kaim and Sarah's grandson, Mack has a meek personality, but wishes to be strong like Kaim. He is childish and mischievous in nature, but there are moments of maturity that flare out of his playful behavior. There are traces of a deep genuine strength inside him. Along with his melee attacking skills, Mack becomes imbued with spirit magic after being possessed by the spirits of the Eastern Tribe in the Crimson Forest.

• Sed

Seth's son, Sed is a famous pirate who has aged beyond his mother. Despite being in his sixties, he refers to Seth as "Momma", much to the surprise of Tolten. He is the captain of the Nautilus, and has a small crew lost across the world, with a base in the far north. He fights using magic rifles, the only character that uses ranged weapons in the game. Sed is also a capable mechanic, seemingly able to repair almost any broken device he comes across. His leg was severed by Aniera under Gongora's manipulation.

• Tolten

The King of Uhra, Tolten initially holds the position of Crown Prince in name only, as the Uhran monarchy abdicated the throne upon the death of his father, Zypha. Due to Gongora's manipulations, however, Tolten is persuaded to retake the throne after the death of the Republic's Chairman. Soon afterwards, Gongora declares that Tolten had died and assumes the throne for himself, leaving Tolten to join up with Kaim's group to liberate his country. Tolten is refined, educated, and studied in the art of combat, though lacking in real-world experience. He wishes to be strong and brave like Sed, and takes active steps toward achieving this goal toward the end of the story.

[edit] Antagonists

• Gongora

The primary antagonist in the story, Gongora was Uhra's magic advisor. Like Kaim, Gongora is also immortal, came from another world, and has lived for 1000 years. Thirty years prior to the story's commencement, Gongora had wiped the memories of the other immortals in the world with deceit. At the story's beginning, he was head of Uhra's Grand Staff project, in charge of building the largest magic engine in existence. Eventually, after a careful, underhanded scheme, he eliminated the entire Uhran council (including murdering the Chairman, Roxian), restoring the country to a monarchy with Tolten at the helm. After declaring Tolten dead (through a fictional plot by Gohtza), Gongora took the throne. Immediately after taking the throne, he moved to Grand Staff to control it, following his plans to rise to his goal of being a god. Kaim and company defeated him, and sent him back with Seth to the immortal world, both unable to return due to the destruction of the Tower of Mirrors.

• Kakanas

The general in the Numaran Army, Kakanas is tired of Queen Ming's strict isolationist, pacifist policies. As such, he plots to become King and re-militarize the nation, in fear (both founded and unfounded) of the nations of Uhra and Gohtza. He is extremely paranoid and believes that all of the other nations are sending spies to get information on him and Numara. Though a strong general, Kakanas is considered by many to be quite stupid. To atone for his sins, Maya, Ming's lady in waiting places him on the construction committee, to rebuild the palace that he had attempted to destroy.

[edit] Story

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The game starts on a full-scale battle between Uhran and Khent forces, with Kaim assisting the Urhan forces, when a large meteor drops from the sky and wipes out both armies. Kaim, one of the few survivors, returns to the Uhran council to learn they believe Gongora's Magic Staff project - a giant tower aimed to collect and focus magical energy - is responsible for the destruction. The council orders Kaim to investigate. Gongora, worried that Kaim may regain his memories, hires Jansen to follow along, keeping track of the party using a Spy Eye embedded in Jansen's pupil. Seth joins the two as they travel to the Staff. The trio is captured by Numaran forces before they can enter, and are taken aboard the White Boa, a giant ocean liner. Inside, the three manage to escape their cell, and stumble upon Queen Ming, who Jansen is immediately smitten for. After trying to escape, the three are recaptured and held until they return to Numara, but Queen Ming allows them their freedom as representatives of the Uhran government.

Exploring the outskirts of Numara, they come across Lirum, Kaim's daughter, on her deathbed. Though pleased to see her father again, she dies shortly thereafter, and Kaim takes in her children, Cooke and Mack, per her wishes. After the funeral, Mack runs off into the Crimson Forest, which is forbidden by the Queen to enter, to find a way to speak to his departed mother. Kaim, Cooke, and the others go off into the forest as well, finding Mack being possessed by a monster. Mack gains magic powers upon being rescued from the monster. The party returns to Numara to find that Gongora has manipulated King Tolten of Uhra to denounce the republic and recreate the old monarchy. The group attempts to plead with the Queen for help. Kakanas, the Queen's advisor, uses the opportunity to try to usurp the throne in order to establish a militia state, and Queen Ming is forced to flee with the others on an experimental speed boat.

Unable to return to Uhra due to difficult waters, the party makes their way to Gohtza, but learn their path is blocked due to a seal in the Black Cave. They also learn that a sorceress in a nearby mansion, Kaim's former home, is key to breaking the seal. When the sorceress, revealed to be Sarah, is found, she attempts to destroy herself, still in deep despair over losing her daughter. Cooke and Mack break her spell by singing Lirum's lullaby. Through the Black Cave, the team arrives in the city of Saman, under a strange spell caused by an experiemental version of Grand Staff. Sailing there, the party battles Gongora, but are defeated and left for dead. The team escapes the Staff before it collapses.

Arriving in the city of Gohzta, Kaim and Sarah meet secretly with its King, an old friend of theirs, who asks if they would help to participate in negotiations with King Tolten aboard a secured train. Kaim and Sarah offer to help and bring along Queen Ming, which the King agrees to. However, Kaim and Sarah are forced to follow Cooke and Mack, who board a different train after being told by a woman that they could find the spirit of their mother in the Aurora. This leaves Jansen and Seth to guard the proceedings, during which it is revealed that Gohzta is also trying to create a Grand Staff. Gongora, who has watched the talks through a Spy Eye in Tolten's pupil, uses the Grand Staff to flash freeze the entire kingdom of Gohtza to stop their Grand Staff project. The party aboard the train act quickly to prevent themselves from being frozen: Seth manages to grab onto Tolten before he teleports safely back to Uhra, while Jansen and Ming manage to escape with their combined magical power. The King of Gohtza freezes to death. Kaim and Sarah reach the train bound for the Aurora that Cooke and Mack are on as it is being frozen, but are forced to derail part of the train that the children are on after a vicious magical attack by Gongora. After witnessing the train with Kaim and Sarah crash, Cooke and Mack wander through freezing temperatures to find shelter, but are overcome by the cold and collapse. Jansen and Ming find they have fallen in love for each other, and later find Cooke and Mack unconscious, rescuing them, while trying to find the other party members. Jansen, Ming, and the children soon find a refugee camp and the crashed train. They rescue Kaim and Sarah after destroying the Ice Magic Beast, who froze them, in the Burning Cave. Meanwhile, Tolten and Seth, back in Uhra, learn that Gongora has declared Tolten dead and taken over the kingdom. An attack by the remaining Gohztan forces ensues, during which Gongora summons giant beasts with the Grand Staff to lay waste to the attackers. Seth and Tolten use the distraction created by the chaos to rescue Sed, Seth's son and a well-renown pirate, and escape in his pirate ship. They return to Gohtza and reunite with the others. The immortals fully recover their memory, and realize that they are in one of several worlds under observation of an alien race which they themselves are part of; for every year that passes in the alien's world, a millennium passes in this world, giving Kaim and the others their apparent immortality.

Due to the power of the Grand Staff, the party finds that the only way to approach it is to get through the hypercurrents, requiring an artifcat from the Eastern Ruins. They also have to get through the ice floes, requiring the White Boa. The group returns to Numara, saving the city from further beasts summoned by Gongora and putting down Kakanas' uprising, restoring Queen Ming to her rightful place. The group takes the White Boa to the Staff and are able to work their way through the tower-like structure, but not before Gongora reactivates it, flying the rest of the tower towards the Hall of Mirrors, a tower that only the Grand Staff can reach. The immortals realize that Gongora's plan is to kill them, then destroy the connection between the two worlds using Grand Staff's power, making himself invincible. The party faces Gongora a final time, with the mortals using their combined power to create a barrier to hold back Gongora's full strength to allow the immortals to defeat him. However, the barrier begins to feed off the power from the Mirrors, trapping the mortals inside and exposing them to the fatal time effects of the alien world. As Gongora recovers, Seth grabs him and drags him to the Mirrors, instructing Kaim to break the Mirrors to prevent Gongora or herself from returning. The mortals are freed, and the rest of the party is able to escape before the Hall of Mirrors implodes. At the game's conclusion, peace falls upon the kingdoms, allowing Kaim and Sarah to raise Cooke and Mack in peace, while Ming and Jansen are married, all realizing that Seth will be able to observe their happy endings.

[edit] Development

Lost Odyssey's "Thousand Years of Dreams" were penned by an award-winning Japanese short story writer, Kiyoshi Shigematsu, who worked directly with the game's producer Hironobu Sakaguchi on Kaim's backstory, while Sakaguchi alone wrote the game's main story.^[14] The memory sequences were translated into English by Jay Rubin, a respected Harvard professor who also translated the works of novelist Haruki Murakami.^[14] While Rubin originally objected to what he perceived as "adding to the world's supply of senseless violence," he relented after viewing the material and being "shocked" at its pacifist message and "vivid imagery".^[14]

Japanese mangaka Takehiko Inoue headed the game's artistic team, while famed game composer Nobuo Uematsu was recruited to create a more contemporary soundtrack.^{[citation needed]} Mistwalker developed the title with cooperation with Feelplus, a subsidiary of Microsoft created specifically to aid Mistwalker.^[15] Feelplus is made up of around 40 former Nautilus/Sacnoth developers, most famous for the cult favorite Shadow Hearts RPG series. (Sacnoth was officially announced as being dissolved in 2007.)^[16] Former Square employees at Microsoft are also involved.

The president of Feelplus, Ray Nakazato, commended Shigematsu for "really good" storytelling, and the character and creature production staff for creating high-quality content without any delays.^[15] Game design progressed smoothly due to the team's experience with the genre.^[15] However, he also felt that there were several things that could have been done better during development. Starting development with a large staff caused aspects to be changed upon release of the Xbox 360.^[15] The three separate teams that created battle, adventure, and cut scene components ran into "various issues" while combining their work, causing him to consider "seamless" development for any later projects.^[15] Little-used parts of the environment were given an extensive level of detail, resulting in a waste of money and time, and concept art was given the same extensive level of attention.^[15] Off-the-shelf motion capture was used in some cutscenes, while coreographed motion capture was used in others, resulting in "inconsistent" quality.^[15]

The game ships on four dual layer DVDs, more than any Xbox 360 game to date.^{[citation needed]} It was the first RPG developed using the Unreal Engine 3.0, a decision that allowed development before the 360 was even released, but hindered the Japanese development team due to the engine's instability and the difficulty of reading the requisite manuals.^[15] This caused technical setbacks such as long loading times.^[15]

A playable demo of the game was shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2006, and was made available with the November issue of Famitsu.

On July 11, 2007, an English trailer of Lost Odyssey was shown at E3 2007.

According to Peter Moore and Microsoft's E3 press event Lost Odyssey was to be in stores worldwide for the 2007 holiday season, although it was actually released in February 2008 in both the US and Europe.

On November 19, 2007, at a special Blue Dragon/Lost Odyssey concert held in Shibuya, Tokyo, it was announced that the game had gone gold and was ready for its Japanese release date of December 6, 2007. According to a special bloggers event at which selected people were invited to play demos of the game from the very beginning, it was confirmed that English/Japanese voices were selectable in the Japanese version.

An issue regarding the packaging has led to several complaints from consumers. Since the game could not fit onto a standard DVD, it requires four discs. In Japan and Australia, the solution was to use an oversized case with two disc trays to store the discs. In the United States and PAL territories, however, the first three discs were held on a single 3-disc spindle inside the main game case. The fourth disc came packaged in a paper sleeve. The concern is that the method used for the American and European versions could result in scratched discs.^[17]

[edit] Downloadable content

On April 25, 2008 the first American content pack for Lost Odyssey was available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 200 Microsoft points, the Japanese one was released earlier this year and included a new dream (available for those who preordered the game): "Samii the Storyteller", and the accessory "Master's secret script".

It is possible, however, for American Xbox 360 users to download the Japanese content pack for free onto their American versions of the game to access it.

In the newly released content pack, the "Triple Bonus Pack", another dream, titled "An Old Soldier's legacy", was included, as well as the "Killer Machine" ring. Another feature, the memory lamp, which enables the viewing of all previously seen cinematic cutscenes throughout the entire game, is located in the Nautilus and is only accessible in Disc 4.

On May 25, 2008 another content pack, called "Dungeon Pack: Seeker of the Deep!" was made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 Microsoft points. It included a new dungeon, "Experimental Staff Remains", which is only reachable using the Nautilus in Disc 4. It contains unique items and monsters that can only be found in this new dungeon. It also adds another six Achievements with a total of 100 Gamer Points.

[edit] Audio

Nobuo Uematsu scored the game.

[edit] Voice cast

It is uncertain which version should be considered the original. The game was developed in Japan, the story and dialogues were originally written in Japanese and, additionally, it was released in Japan first, yet all the lip-sync was done using the English version as reference. Nevertheless, the Japanese cast is the first to appear during the closing credits.

Character	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Kaim Argonar	Etsushi Toyokawa	Keith Ferguson
Seth Balmore	Seika Kuze	Tara Strong
Sarah Sisulart	Takako Uehara	Kim Mai Guest
Ming Numara	Kaoru Okunuki	Salli Saffioti
Jansen Friedh	Kosuke Toyohara	Michael McGaharn
Cooke	YUKO (FLIP-FLAP)	Kath Soucie
Mack	AIKO (FLIP-FLAP)	Nika Futterman
Tolten	Ryō Horikawa	Chad Brannon
Sed	Yōsuke Akimoto	Michael Bell
Gongora	Haruhiko Jō	Jesse Corti
Kakanas	Kōji Ishii	David Lodge
King Gohtza	Chikao Ōtsuka	Peter Reneday
Lirum	Sumi Shimamoto	Shelly Callahan
Roxian	Makoto Terada	Richard Green
Maia	Natsumi Sakuma	Melodee Spevack

[edit] Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 79%[19] Metacritic 78 out of 100[18]
Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B+[10] Edge 7 out of 10[7] Famitsu 36 out of 40[20] Game Informer 8.5 out of 10[21] GameSpot 7.5 out of 10[22] GameSpy 2.5 out of 5[23] GameTrailers 8.8 out of 10[24] IGN 8.2 out of 10[25] Official Xbox Magazine 7.5 out of 10 [26] X-Play 3 out of 5[27]

Lost Odyssey reportedly sold 40,000 copies in Japan on its first day at retail, around 50% of the shipment. As of February 17, 2008, the game has sold 104,417 copies in Japan according to Famitsu numbers.^[28] The game has done much better in the West; according to NPD numbers Lost Odyssey debuted at #7, selling 203,000 in its debut month of February in North America.^[29]

Famitsu awarded the game a score of a 36/40, with all four critics each giving the game a 9.^[20] This was one point less than the 37/40 score Mistwalker's debut RPG, Blue Dragon. As with Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey received somewhat mixed, although generally favorable, scores from Western critics.

The issue many took with Lost Odyssey was its deliberately old-school gameplay mechanics, particularly the traditional combat system, which several critics found to be dull and dated, as well as the game's use of random battles, which were further deemed an issue by their purportedly lengthy load times.^[27] Xbox Focus gave the game a 4/5 rating, declaring its story as profound, but taking an issue with the camera control and the odd character design. Unlike other critics, however, Xbox Focus's Alex Yusupov deemed the combat and random battles as exhilarating, and that "it's better to take a tried and true technique and make it better than introduce a completely new idea that could possibly screw up an entire game."^[30] RPGFan stated that the story and gameplay were both "overused, uninspired, and stilted", but that the memory sequences, penned by Kiyoshi Shigematsu, were "some of the richest, most emotionally charged storytelling seen in any RPG to date".^[31]

Critics were divided on the story, with some, like GameSpy, calling the plot and characters, "shamelessly derivative."^[23] GamePro magazine agreed, declaring that the main story was not particularly compelling, although it noted that many subplots carried plenty of emotional weight.^[32] On the other hand, Game Informer magazine deemed the story line as being "one of the most compelling tales ever told on the Xbox 360," and praised the "cool combat system."^[21] GameSpot praised Lost Odyssey's "fascinating cast," and character development, and also called the combat system "solid."^[22] GameTrailers said, "what sets Lost Odyssey apart is a deeply moving story that places an emotional focal point on its characters."^[24] IGN found that the ring-building system, immortals, and skill system added a fresh feel to the game's otherwise traditional combat,^[25] and 1UP.com praised the "timed button press" aspect of the battles, saying it makes them "more engaging than you'd think."^[10]

Despite critics' differing opinions in other areas, the game's graphics and high production values have received universal acclaim, although load times and framerate issues were also universally pointed out.^{[21][23][32][22]} However, it transpired that the copy that some reviewers received apparently had longer loading times than those of the retail version. GameSpot amended their review on February 19, 2008 to reflect this, but did not change their original score.^[22]

[edit] Novel

On November 21, 2007 a book of short stories based on the main character of Kaim was released in Japan called He Who Journeys Eternity: Lost Odyssey: A Thousand Years of Dreams (永遠を旅する者 ロストオデッセイ 千年の夢 ,Eien o tabisuru mono Rosuto Odessei sennen no yume^?). It is penned by Kiyoshi Shigematsu and features 31 of 33 stories found in the "A Thousand Years of Dreams" sequences throughout the game itself.^[33]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lost Odyssey

• Official Lost Odyssey website (Japanese)
• Lost Odyssey at Xbox.com
• Lost Odyssey Wiki