LTTP: Lost Odyssey

I’ve been rather busy lately with numerous crap, but I plan to get back into writing and I’m going to start right now (It’s also probably a good idea to actually post my writings, rather than leave them to be read by no one in my notebook/HDD). “LTTP” will be little features about games that I missed, thus the name: “Late to the Party”. Lost Odyssey shall be my first “LTTP” game and I must say that I’m rather surprised with how I feel about the game so far.

I’ve never really gotten into the jRPG genre throughout my gaming existence, but it’s something I’ve been meaning to change in recent years. Lost Odyssey always looked like it would probably be a decent game, but the way they handled the story and “dreams” sounded terrible. Reading text in a video game in order to fledge out a story is not something that sounded desirable to me. It was the main aspect that kept me from giving Lost Odyssey a chance initially, but having played almost five hours so far; I can honestly say that I was wrong to doubt the reasons for this design choice.

I have really enjoyed what I’ve played so far and that includes the dream sequences. Having experienced three different dreams so far, it’s my opinion that the only good way to deliver these stories is through written text and not some cut-scene or voice-over. These stories are so well written and I honestly can’t see how a cut-scene (or anything else) could have done these stories justice. It helps that the text is delivered in a cinematic-like way that makes everything flow nicely, rather than just having a block of text that you scroll through for ten minutes. This cinematic touch is subtle, but it really makes all the difference and makes this design choice work.

There is more to the game than just these dream sequences and so far those have been up to par as well. The battle system is simple, but it’s effective and gets the job done. The visuals are well done and aren’t too over-the-top for my tastes. The music has been fantastic so far and I may actually seek out the OST if the score stays at this level. I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of Lost Odyssey, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve played so far and I’m looking forward to dropping many more hours into the game. This concludes part one of “LTTP: Lost Odyssey” and I hope you enjoyed it enough to come back for part two. Sausage out.