What I would have liked to know before considering buying this game: It has very similar game mechanics to Blue Dragon. Similar turn-based combat, similar skills system, similar annoying kicking of inanimate objects to earn items, similar extensive use of cut-scenes, and even the same monsters. That said, the improvements over Blue Dragon for me are that it is less cartoony, characters are not annoying, story seems better.… Expand

It's a Final Fantasy game, if it had Final Fantasy in the title it'd be averaging 90 instead of 80 and no-one would bat and eyelid. Story is slow but immensely gratifying. Characters are the games strongest attribute, near flawless. Combat is well polished but doesn't quite achieve turn-based perfection like FF10. Presentation/direction is great. Graphics never reach any great heights, they are hit and miss, with the misses being painfully obvious (stuttering, some animation simply not attempted, lego block fingers). Disappointing really considering what other devs were pushing out of the 360 at a similar point in time. Sound and music par for the course. Has a RUN button, and when you hold it you damn well RUN like the wind. All in all it deserves to be placed on the same pedestal as the FF games, it is of that quality, it gets the things important to a JRPG right, and the really important things really right.… Expand

By far the best role playing game on xbox 360. The battle sequence is good but could've been better. That would have to be the only downfall.

I love RPGs and have played (and liked) the majority of Final Fantasy games. However, Lost Odyssey is one of the worst RPGs I have ever played. I would hesitate to even call it an RPG; my idea of an RPG is being able to roam freely and do things in your own time. This is not a feature of Lost Odyssey. Firstly, you very rarely actually have control of any of the characters! I spent most of my time watching pointless, over-long cutscenes. If I'd wanted to watch a film, I would have watched a DVD, not played a game. When I did finally get control of a character I found the combat and general gameplay to be ok but the ridiculous cutscenes just frustrated me beyond belief. Secondly, the save points are VERY few and far-between. For example, you'll be given a save point before fighting a boss but not afterwards. So you kill a boss and then complete another half an hour of gameplay before coming across an opportunity to save which means if you die in that time (which is highly likely in this game due to the lack of refresh points/shops) you have to go through the whole boss-killing, boring cutscenes and half hour of gameplay again. Thirdly, the leveling of enemies is plain ridiculous. One minute you'll be fighting hoards of enemies who deal you tiny amounts of damage and then suddenly you'll come across a boss who wipes out your entire party in about two attacks. You then either have to spend a stupid amount of time leveling up because the other enemies are not powerful enough to allow you to level up reasonably quickly or attempt repeatedly to fight a ridiculously strong boss who wipes your party out time and time again. Its just frustrating; not fun. In my opinion Lost Odyssey wipes the fun out of RPGs. If you want a proper RPG rather than one long cutscene masquerading as one, play Oblivion, it's a true RPG which allows you to roam freely, truly interact with your environment and provides hours and hours of solid gameplay without corny, mind-numbing cutscenes inbetween.… Expand

Incredibly nostalgic! Final Fantasy VIII days relived!

I always thought that the idea of gaming was that you were meant to be involved? Here it feels as though I spend the vast majority of my time doing nothing but watching spectacularly dull CG clips of equally badly acted stereotyped characters. I may not have given this enough time but after several hours of doing very little I gave up.

An incredibly well polished JRPG, which sadly is an Xbox 360 exclusive. This game has many elements that stand out such as the dreams and the art direction. The story will quickly immerse you keep you playing for hours on end. Quite possibly the best aspect, in my opinion, is the original soundtrack. Nobuo Uematsu is a God when it comes to composing music. Definitely worth your time if you own a 360.… Expand

This game is very traditional, almost to a fault. It practically reeks of Final Fantasy 9 copying. While the immortal system is okay, the battles are so obnoxiously slow that it becomes unbearable after a while. At first, it is barely noticable, but the monotony suddenly weighs down and the slow attack and magic animations make the battles far too lengthy. Since the game has random battles, this is a serious issue and annoyance, especially when you are forced to travel around an area to solve puzzles. The level cap adds to this frustration since you have no motivation to battle enemies without the promise of a buffed party. Sure, the soundtrack, aesthetics, pacing, and most all other elements of this game are great, but this whole game is tainted by one wound that is repeatedly dug into with alcohol and dirt.… Expand

This game is awesome. Mass Effect has worse texture pop ins and load times....yet this game is bashed for it? I loved ME...but LO is just as good!

Meh, the story is ok and the characters are kinda kewl but besides some nice looking visuals it's a pretty mediocre RPG. I much more recommend Eternal Sonata... which doesn't have the huge graphics, but has is a much more engaging game.

Great game. Innovates combat ever so slightly with both Ring systems [Timing, and Equipment]. Characters are interesting, funny and deep. Dream sequences are EXTREMELY well done. The SPRINT button could be one of the best additions into a JRPG of all-time!! Story is grandiose and enthralling. Graphics are breath-taking, the art direction is superb and the production values are extremely high. I have seen ABSOLUTELY NO issues with loading. Loads in and out of battles average 2-3 seconds. Loads in between indoors and outdoors or map segments normally top out at 2-5 seconds. I have yet to experience any significant frame rate drops. And definitely have NOT experienced anything that is game-breaking from a technical standpoint. Game might not actually be a 10, but is easily a 9. I rated it a 10 because of how it seems like the reviewers are either playing old code, or are just making stuff up regarding the technical issues in the game.… Expand

Amazing JRPG... starts off slow, but the other 40-50 hours are great.

First JRPG I've been able to get into in a long time. Loving it so far, with a great story. The Dreams are the best part.

If you are a fan of classic console RPGs (like me) this game is a dream come true. I have played console RPGs for over 20 years now ever since Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the NES. This game has elements of many classic console RPGs, but of the games I've played it's probably the most like Final Fantasy 7 (a classic example of a JRPG). Think of it as FF7 on steroids. The graphics, sounds, storyline, cutscenes are all simply amazing and the game is very long. In terms of recent games I enjoyed Oblivion and Mass Effect but would not compare this game to those. Those games have slightly more polished gameplay mechanics (I would give them a 9.5 or 10) but are hard to compare because they are very different types of games. Lost Odyssey is a JRPG, plain and simple and does not try to be anything else. This game does not lack polish by any means, but there are several frustrating factors, all of which have been mentioned by others. The battles should load faster and have shorter "intro" times. The camera angles are strange at timesand a better system would make the game more enjoyable. It would also be nice if the game gave you the option to save before long cutscenes as the game sometimes locks you in a for a long time without a save point. These are all criticisms... but this is still a truly great game, by far the best JRPG on the 360. I have no regrets about investing my time into purchasing the game and look forward to its sequels.… Expand

Its an amazing game.It has a great story,and characters.It is deep in it's traditional roots, but I don't know why people think it is a bad thing.The music is excellent,and the game play is also real good with the aim-ring system giving a little interactivity in the turn based battles...Overall excellent game which shouldn't be overlooked!

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, this is one of the best games this generation and that wont be changing anytime soon. Any person that gives this game a negative review I very much doubt has actually played it. The game may have a traditional appearance, but it brings a number of subtle, yet drastic innovations to the table that combine to give Lost Odyssey one of the strongest turn based battle systems ever. The game is a posterboy for quality in pretty much every respect. From impressive art direction, to incredible English voice acting ,animation quality and a strong writing this game is a winner on all counts. The story is to put it simply impressive and really does a great job of touching on real human relationships. You really connect with the game's various strong characters. I look at the game from the viewpoint that this has always been what Final Fantasy has been hoping to achieve from a story standpoint, but never did. There are moments in this game that will bring tears to your eyes and make you feel what it is like to experience loss. This is not a game to be missed. The options for which you are given to customize your various characters is one of the most addicting experiences experiences in my many years of playing jrpgs. It really does feel like World of Warcraft level customization in a Japanese Role Playing Game. Everyone needs to buy this game. Support the game because a sequel is on the way.… Expand

Great game and story. It may have turn based JRPG game mechanics that some criticize, but this is a perfect example of how you don't need super-duper-new tricked out controls and gamestyles to make a good storyline and game.

Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. That already determines : nice gameplay, strong story and music that gives me goosebumps. That's what i already knew before i bought the game. And like many people say, the only reason why this game doesn't deserve a 10 is because of the technical letdowns ( unstable framerate and load lag ). but if you are a open minded gamer.. and you don't throw the controller away because you're stuck at the beginning in Uhra.. you'll have a great time with Lost Odyssey and everybody who gives this game under 5.. go fuck yourself .. this game is in my top 10 (J)RPG's ( along with FF, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Oblivion, Fable, Diablo etc.)… Expand

This game is a total con, in movie terms, this would be a like a sequal with none of the original cast. A quick buck. Girlfriend and I are 10 hours in to this game (and very much enjoy RPG's normall) and we still completely hate every char, the bad guy, the plot, the limitations of roaming around, we are still on our 2nd weapon and using same spells as start of the game. Bosses are all either hard or impossible, as random attacks that nearly kill everyone might happen twice in a row or not at all. Only fun we are having with this game is constant mocking, such as "oh look, a badly drawn Poster that looks nothing like the ones around it, wonder if you can peel it backwards and find 100g or a new pair of earings. Cos thats where i stash my money and jewlery, begind a poster!". The game has no organic way of rewarding you with new spells or abilities, so instead you find them. For example, cast poison, guess where we found that? in a badly drawn urn in a forest, or maybe my memory fails me, maybe it was by ramming a tree with our shoulder which made it fall out of the tree. Not that a wise magician taught us it, no no, valuable items like Paralize immune headbands trypically are found in ramable trees. Our fave part of the game is the fact that Kaim is not just immortal, but a serial thief. He will happily go in to his Grandchildrens house and rip posters off walls or steal money from badly drawn gold chests (cos kids have those ofc). Maybe the people who designed the levels hired the guys from Acme (see road runner) to add the lootable items to the game, but certainly isn't hard to spot when a item has something you can steal or kick to find a lootable item. anyway, my life is too short to tell you all the reasons this game sucks, but take it from a RPG guy and his open minded GF, this game is all sorts of terrible. You will hate the plot, which you figure out about 2 hours before you are told about it, you will be given a powerpoint presentation complete with crazy animated text when you remember something (which btw, you remember in such great detail it will take 10 mins to account), fights are a pain in the ass. oh sod it, i can't go on, please for the love of god borrow it off some sap of a friend who has it and give it no more than 5 hours, as the following 5 hours will suck just as much and not improve at all.… Expand

I played this game on my girlfriends X-Box 360 for along time got up to level 65, disc 4 before the final battle, I got my OWN Xbox 360 and had to restart, Thats how great of a game this is, for all you cryers about Turn-Based, you just don't like it because it's too "simple" and it doesn't blow people up, it's called strategy not just let's finish the game to finish the game and say ok time to go spend more of Daddies money... play the game for what it is.… Expand

Terribly disappointing game. Will NEVER touch Final Fantasy.

The first decent next gen traditional RPG to hit consoles. Blue Dragon was OK, but this game is for adults.

slightly better than ffx less random battles and the main character is not quite as much of a whiney girl !

If it

Absolutely gorgeous! The visuals are stunning, with a grand and elaborate storyline. The sidequests have even better storylines than the main quest. Not the best voice acting, but could be overseen. Doesn't bring much new to the JRPG genre, but does the old style very well.

The revival of Final Fantasy. Brilliant, funny, well written. The only problem is the framerate that drops ocassionaly.

This game appears to be polarising the gaming populace more than any other 360 game in recent memory. On one side of the fence sits all the review sites with their 7s and on the other...a whole throng of gamers proclaiming this the much awaited FF killer. Well...it isn't. LO is a throwback to the traditions of the genre and sticks to the tried and true methods established through 2 decades of turn-based RPG gaming convention. It takes existing gameplay mechanics and polishes it up for a familiar and seamless JRPG experience. Top it off with a gracefully written story complete with engaging characters and this might seem like a killer app for the struggling Japanese 360 market. However...issues do crop up. The most noticeable is the framerate. For no discernible rhyme or reason, the game has a tendency to chug during the course of the game. You don't even have to in the midst of a heated battle with multiple enemies on-screen...it just crops up unexpectedly. The next issue has been beaten to death by all the other comments and reviewers...namely, the loading times. Personally, I have yet to encounter an exceedingly long instance of loading. What I have experienced, however, is a ridiculous STRING of loading screens which pops the gamer into one cut-scene after the other. This just seems like a case of poor technical execution. All in all...LO fills a niche.… Expand

Seeing as the majority of these reviews were based on what I assume to be impressions from approximately the end of the first disc (of four), as was stated to be the case in 1UP's review more-or-less via The 1UP Show, I think my review will stand as fact also, considering I am at the same stage of progress in this game. Anyways, what I have found so far is that the story, though granted several cliches from traditional RPG fare, is quite good once you get to the end of the first disc, and the dream/short-story sequences are well done. The cinematic work (camera, emoting, effects, etc.) are not given nearly the proper amount of praise they deserve. In fact, I believe in one of those reviews, the reviewer stated that the camerawork was 'amateur'... See, this is what happens when you get a game that's stretched out across 4 discs in length, and yet reviewers feel fit to shove it into their schedules in a small time-frame and then base ithe quality of the game off of what one might consider little more than an extended preview. The exact same thing happened with Assassin's Creed, and it got hammered for being tedious when it's not a game to be rushed through like some stupid sports sim or shooter that you can beat in less than a day. Again, anyways, Lost Odyssey is awesome. The innovative Ring system, the Immortal and Mortal character types, the bosses (who are a good bit tougher than regular RPG fare), the creature designs and diversity (no new skins slapped on old guys here, so far), the battle system which is turn-based and awesome because of it, etc. Everything in this game is awesome, and the only reason I took off 1 from the score would be the technical issues (relatively lengthy load times, some odd Unreal Engine 3 stuff, etc.), the somewhat slow build-up in story, and the difficulty of the boss characters (especially the first real one). I believe one of the 1UP guys (perhaps the reviewer) said that Lost Odyssey is the 360's answer to Final Fantasy X. I would have to agree, and considering that FFXII is a very different beast aside from storyline and FFXI was an MMO, Lost Odyssey is competing directly with the last real Final Fantasy (i.e. turn-based goodness with characters who aren't transvestites). This is an old-school FF-style JRPG on the 360. This is the very first time I have seen this, and the first time it's been executed so well. If you love JRPGs, GET THIS GAME. Seriously.… Expand