He Frag, She Frag

I guess it has been quite a few days since I last posted. Sorry for the wait, guys. You’d think a stay at home mother would have nothing better to do than to blog all day, but that’s where you are wrong, my friend!

First off is some news, and I want say RIP to Gary Gygax. You will be sorely missed.

Yesterday we picked up Lost Odyssey in favor over Army of Two mainly because I’d been anxiously awaiting a JRPG for the 360. Currently I am about 4 hours into the game and have hopeful expectations for where it can go from here. I must say, it’s been a pleasurable experience so far. I think this game is where the Final Fantasy series should have gone after Final Fantasy VIII. Saying thus, it might leave you wondering, “Just what the hell do you mean?”. Indeed, I said this to Mike and he had a similar reaction.

We had a discussion wherein I basically told him of the atrocities following Final Fantasy VIII. Was that a bit harsh? Mayhap, but my point still remains: instead of going a more adult route, Square Enix decided to do something….well, different; and by different I mean horrible. I am not a fan of numbers 9 and 10. The characters in both games were horrendously static and wooden. I never played number 11 simply because it was a MMO, and I despise having to pay more for something that I won’t be able to play regularly. Number 12, well, I guess I outgrew my love of the series by the time that one came along.

I won’t go into more detail, as the point of this entry is about the game at hand. Perhaps another time.

Moving on, I’ve read some player reviews. Most are good, though some are bad. Badly written, badly misspelled and very, very bad grammar, if any at all. The common theme seems to be that those who do not like the genre of JRPG’s do not like Lost Odyssey. I find this amusing in that some people can just be stupid enough to not know what they’re getting into. I have no sympathy for you if you buy a game simply because you want something else to play or you saw a cool ad for it and the graphics looked “awsum1″. The main complaints so far have been fairly trivial: too many cut scenes, turn based fights, linear storyline, ridiculous looking characters, a non-innovative game.

I chuckle to myself at these reviewers. Every flaw that they have so carefully pointed out is simply what makes up a JRPG. There is nothing innovative about the genre. In fact, every game within that genre has been recycled for the last 20 years. Just because it’s on the 360 does not mean it’s going to be groundbreaking! I cannot stress that enough.

That being said, I find the game enjoyable. Like any songs I love to listen to repeatedly, I can play recycled games into oblivion. It’s just what I do. Mike doesn’t agree, but then, he doesn’t have to play either. The turn based system they have is fairly refreshing. They tweaked it enough that it’s a bit different without having to relearn everything.

The graphics are beautiful and the voice acting is surprisingly well done. The characters are all stereotypical Japanese characters. The main character, Kaim, is the icy stoic figure as only main characters can be. He is an immortal and has lived for a thousand years, but has no memories of anything. Throughout the game you will come across his memories that you recount. They are all textual based and can become a bit tedious after a while. The random battles are surprisingly not as annoying as other previous JRPG’s. You can actually walk 10 steps without encountering a monster! There are only fixed save points, which is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Lost Odyssey is a good game, but not a great one. It sucks me in just enough, but it doesn’t blow my mind. Nor did I expect it to. I say if you’re a fan of JRPG’s and/or the Final Fantasy series, pick it up. It can be an enjoyable experience, if you let it be.

UPDATE: Played for a while tonight and I just want to say that my biggest frustration with this game right now is the boss fights and lack of encountering items.  The boss fights do not need to be so freaking hard! Also, couldn’t there have been more places to buy items? I’m half-way through Disc 1 and there’s only been one place to buy things! Pain in my ass.