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Feel free to message me if you have any questions or need tips on this game.
I also welcome inputs, suggestions, or anything of the like.
Let me first say that this game is mostly for old school jRPG gamers...and it is incredible...
French is my first Language since I am from Quebec, Canada.
So I might have made a few typo.
Again, I'm open if you are stuck or need tips (For instances secret spots to level up **whistles innocently**)


"Lost Odyssey is one of the best the genre has seen in years--and a game that has to be experienced."
If there is one genre that has gone underrepresented on the next-gen consoles it's Japanese RPGs. There has been surprisingly few released, and the ones that have are hardly up to the standard that most have become accustomed. One could argue their time in the spotlight, at least on the console front, is becoming less significant with each passing year—but not if Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series, has anything to say about it. Lost Odyssey is nothing if not a testament to the traditional design that the genre has been known for for years—and its no doubt the culmination of everything Sakaguchi has aspired to do over his career.

The premise of Lost Odyssey is probably one of the most interesting, although on the surface it might not seem to be the most unique sounding concept. You're put into the role of a man named Kaim Argonar, an immortal who neither ages nor dies, as he searches to find out about his forgotten past. This idea has been used before, but where Lost Odyssey differentiates itself is in its execution; there's a surprising amount of depth and care that's gone into elevating it beyond being simply another RPG cliche.

What takes it to that next level is the way in which it's presented. As opposed to making Kaim's past a shocking revelation at the end of the game that turns the character on his head, the events detailed here are brought out gradually over the course of the journey through “dream” sequences. These sequences are entirely text-based with a variety of musical tracks playing in the background to compliment the 'atmosphere' the stories are trying to convey. Penned by an award-winning novelist from Japan, and translated by Jay Rubin, these dreams detail Kaim's life over the course of 1,000 years shockingly well.

Because of how well-written they are each dream tends to elicit some type of emotional response as you're playing, and more than a few do a good job of tugging at the heartstrings. What makes these hit home so well is the decidedly normal situations that Kaim finds himself in over the course of the thousand years. It helps to bridge a connection between the player and Kaim that would otherwise be missing, and it gives him far more depth than your typical video game character. It should be noted that these are entirely optional—they're not required reading, but they certainly enhance the experience.

Lost Odyssey's focus as a whole is on the various characters, their experiences, and the journey they find themselves on than it is the actual plot—which contains plenty of political intrigue and warring nations vying for power as the world finds itself on the brink of a magic-industrial revolution. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you may not find yourself as attached to the events taking place in the world so much as the characters' personal struggles.

The graphical capabilities of the 360 also play a large role in bringing these characters to life and giving them the umph they need to be believable. The difference between a last-gen cutscene and a next-gen cutscene has never more apparent than it is here. Because of the limited capabilities on previous systems, characters have always had ridiculous exaggerated movements in order to express themselves. They would always flail their arms all over the place, or jump back or whatever; it was some really over-the-top stuff.

But here the characters' facial animations do all the expressing they need; it's made even better by the fact that the acting is synced to English voices, which eliminates those awkward moments where the dialogue has been said but the characters' mouth is still moving. There are scenes throughout the game that really make you pull back and think “that's damn impressive.” Cutscenes feel like an actual movie in their flow, partly because the content is serious without being melodramatic, but mostly due to the direction. It feels a lot different from your average RPG.

The environments, and world in general, are equally as impressive. The locales you visit are stunning, helped both by the unique art direction and capabilities of the 360. From expansive areas like an ancient temple in ruins or a small backwoods town, the game finds ways to continually impress you visually.

Unfortunately, though, there are points where you can tell the game is trying to do more than the 360 is going to allow, as you'll occasionally run across framerate drops and skips or some loading times—often before cutscenes. It's nothing that takes away from the enjoyment of the game, but the issues are definitely there and noticeable. If there's anything that stands out as a “fault” in Lost Odyssey, it's the technical part.

On the combat side of things—where RPGs live or die—Odyssey takes the best traditional staples that the genre has seen over the years and combines them together for something not necessarily new, yet still refreshing and enjoyable all the same. The battle system feels like an evolution of Final Fantasy 10 mixed with a hint of Shadow Hearts' Judgment Ring to add an element of interactivity.

Here battles are strictly turn-based—there are no ATB meters and no real-time battles—meaning that each character in your party gets one turn per round and not another until everyone, friend and enemy alike, have gotten theirs. It's very similar to what was found in Final Fantasy 10, and a system like this stresses strategy and taking the time to decide what you want to do with each turn.

That being said, the battles do move at a nice pace and never give off that feeling of dragging on longer than they should. This is helped out by the fact that the encounter rate is very low. The idea here is that each battle you enter will be meaningful, which essentially means that you'll be gaining levels or skills every couple of fights.

That is further balanced out with the introduction of a level cap, not too unlike the Suikoden games. Each area you visit will only let you reach a certain level before you start gaining 1 EXP per battle (it takes 100 EXP to gain a new level) regardless of how many you fight. Not to worry, though, because the level caps are set high enough that you'll never be underleveled when it comes time to face a boss, but at the same time you'll never be so high that you can forgo strategy in favor of pure power.

And this is what makes the battle system so great: the use of strategy. A common criticism of RPGs is that they're too easy and enemies / bosses rarely make you struggle. That's fixed with Lost Odyssey, as even random encounters can kill you if you're not careful; with bosses, it won't be uncommon to die multiple times to some of them. This isn't to say that Odyssey is super difficult, but it will pose a challenge at many points. But each time you die, you'll always think “I know I could have done something better” or “Let's try a different approach to this fight.”

Complimenting the combat is the skill / ring system. The Skill Link system is sort of like a new meets old: the 'mortal' characters in your party learn skills by gaining levels whereas the 'immortal' characters are more customizable and can learn skills by 'linking up' with the mortals—or through accessories. It may sound like the immortal characters would end up being overpowered, but there are only a limited number of 'slots' allotted for skills per character, so things tend to balance out.

With Rings comes the interactive element of Lost Odyssey. Each character can equip a ring, which has certain attributes that will increase their battle prowess. For example, there may be a ring that raises your damage and your chance of getting a critical hit—but while in battle, you have to correctly time the hit to take advantage of those extra attributes. When you perform a physical attack, you hold down the R button and a ring will show up on the screen; during this brief time, another larger ring will close in on the smaller one, and at the moment the two overlap you let go of the R button.

Depending on how close you got to matching them up determines what happens with the attack. If you were dead on, you'll get a message saying 'Perfect,' and the ring attributes will be added to your attack; if you were close, the message will be 'Good,' and you may or may not get the attribute added; if you were way off, it'll be 'Bad' and you'll do less damage and get nothing from the ring. It's very intuitive and it doesn't take too long to get to the timing down so that you're hitting Perfects most of the time.

There's one small criticism I do have for the battle system, though, and that's how the turn order is displayed. I'm not sure why the decision was made to only show how the turn would play out after you've chosen all of your attacks, but it is here. It would have been nice to be able to see how your attack affected the turn order—casting spells takes longer than doing a physical, but knowing how long would allow you to judge whether or not it would be worth it. Final Fantasy 10 did something similar to this letting the player see multiple turns ahead. This doesn't affect much of anything, but it's something I thought it could have been handled better.

As a whole, the combat system may not be anything new and innovative, but it has a layer of polish that puts it a step above other RPGs that have used some of the same concepts. And while Lost Odyssey may be a very story- and character-driven experience, there's plenty of chance to test out the depth and limits of the system against the number of optional bosses—ones that tend to be a good deal harder than the storyline bosses.

In fact, the optional quests in the game are some of the best I've run across. This is primarily due to the rewards of the sidequests being more than worth your while. Instead of getting items or equipment that serve no real purpose after you've taken out the final boss, Odyssey gives you equipment, spells and various other goods that will come in use against enemies in some of the superdungeons well after you've completed the main storyline. Barring those, there is a battle arena which tests your ability to perform under handicapped conditions, such as being unable to use magic or skills and only allowing two party members to participate. There's a lot to do in Lost Odyssey separate of the story.

Rounding out the package is Nobuo Uematsu returning to form. It's been a while since he's put together a full soundtrack, but his work here is exceptional. Many tracks are reminiscent of his work from Final Fantasy, but the unique sounding tracks, used mostly during the Thousand Years of Dreams sections, are some of his best. They really help set the mood and atmosphere for the game. Game soundtrack usually aren't too big of a deal for me, but Odyssey stands as some of his best stuff to date.

Despite how glowing this review has been there are no doubt some 'technical' issues that could be lower this by a point. But if I look at this game purely from the experience it delivers—and I do—the extremely well-balanced and polished battle system, and the amazing cast of characters, this is undoubtedly a 10. There are some minor issues here and there, but if you're a fan of traditional RPGs this is an absolute must-play. Mistwalker has managed to accomplish something Square has been at a loss for ever since their merger with Enix. “Final Fantasy killer” may be going too far, but if you ask me, Lost Odyssey has outdone any game from the series by a longshot—this isn't to be missed.