Sep 30, 2011 7:08 PM
Desktop Cleanup: Aion's Final (Lost) Odyssey
(Note: end of game rambling. Spoilers ahoy!)
When my uncle offered me a 360, free of charge, after he'd repaired one only for the previous owner to have purchased a new machine during the repairs, the first - and only - title I got excited over was Lost Odyssey. I recalled mentions of the Shadow Hearts staff, as well as the God of Final Fantasy, and for the first time since beating Persona 4 I wanted to play a game again. Throw-in a plot with a non-teenage lead (immortality FTW!), realistic proportions, a colour palette more fitting for an adult tale, and good old fashioned turn-based combat and that was that--off to buy it online, I went. And it only cost me £8, new. (Better yet, I never had to boil my fourth disc!!!!)
After FINALLY finishing it, with 30/36-42 achievements and 75 hours put in, many of my early assumptions have long been proved wrong. For one thing, its simplistic, paper-thin plot was its weakest aspect. For two, the stoic lead's change from emotionless servant to emotionless person, alongside Sarah's empty shell of a character, left me completely unsatisfied. I'd go as far to say that, if not for Jansen's lovable idiot routine and Gongora's c***ish smirking, the plot lacking any meat - coming down to an evil man wanting power and heroes attempting to stop him - and the characters not developing, or acting like those with 1,000 years of life experiences, might well have made me hate it.
The first two discs were non-events. After a breathless slaughtering opening, the amount of time wasted on Kaim simply being transported from A to B was a clear warning of the atrocious pacing to come. Kaim gets sent to investigate an originally named magical power source, gets kidnapped, and then the remainder of the first two and something discs got spent on the cast going back to where they started. There were a few contrived meetings along the way - such as Sarah, inexplicably, taking the form of a nutty old woman and Lirum JUST HAPPENING TO DIE as Kaim reached Numara - but the story just had nowhere near enough content to support its length.
Things did take a turn for the better on the third disc as all hell broke loose and everyone got separated - the story FINALLY getting some much needed direction - but after that it went back to the same old. I'm truly thankful for Gongora's eyebrows and mustache, 'cause it was only his face being SO punch-worthy that prevented my eyes rolling as the climatic, endgame exchange went like this!
Gongora: I want to use unlimited power to rule the world as a God!
Team Good: NO! WE CAN'T ALLOW THAT!!!! POWER IS EVIIIIIL!!!!
It reminded me of the quality writing present in Revenge of the Sith as Anakin explained to Obi-wan just why he'd started glaring evilly at others.
The ultimate irony of LO is that its out of place, novel-esque 'dream sequences' were the highlight of it: a game with high-definition visuals. Not only were the mini-chapter dream entries clearly written by someone different than the writer(s) of the game (someone with actual writing talent) proper due to at least one glaring inconsistency, the complete lack of effort to get the story to work alongside the gameplay is a major negative. Putting a wall of text into a game, instead of using pretty, moving pictures, is like showing a film consisting of text at the cinema. Not good.
I'd pay good money to buy a novel, with each of the emotional yet low-key dreams included. The uninspiring actual plot of the game, though? No chance!
You might think I'm moaning for the sake of moaning, but the difference between the two Kaim's was staggering because of no attempt having been made to link the two. All I got from the moving version of Kaim was that he disliked smiling and hated crying. But the Kaim in the dreams was a thinker; always reading others and weighting his responses, as well as helping them. He could've been one of the greatest leads ever, but...
Before I stop moaning about my story/characterization issues, it's worth noting a few key plot holes which one could drive a truck through:
1: You can't kill an immortal, so it's smart to make the four other immortals in existence hate you and then wait for them to regain their memories.
To look at and listen to, Gongora's a wonderful villain. His condescending, arrogant aura made me love him from the get-go--as soon as he started smirking, in fact.. But he was a f***ing moron.
Where as other villains kill those dearest to heroes in order to fight to the death, Mr. Eyebrows thought it would help him avoid conflict. After 1,000 years, he wasn't able to do what some random pirates in the Aneria (sp?) dream did and lock/hide the other immortals away, out of sight? He couldn't think of trapping them at the bottom of the sea; forcing them to die over and over until the end of time?
.....
2: We age at different speeds: this means we regenerate and can even survive meteors.
How does coming from a world where time flows differently allow for revival when killed? i no compute
For ALL of my moaning, there is one truth: I DID enjoy LO. Its movie ending - much like its opening - was satisfying in a way few things are. There was an emotional main character 'death' (meaning, no forced happy ever afters!); Jansen returned to to form at his wedding, requiring his beloved to nudge him along and shut him up with a kiss; and everything was tied-up neatly. But, as I enjoyed watching the finale unravel, I couldn't help but wonder how great it could have been, had everything else matched the standards of the intro and ending...
In a short: a lengthy JRPG, with a more adult graphical style, world map which can be explored via sea & air, and turn-based combat is a-ok with me. But, seriously: don't just insert a jumbled mess without the required amount of content to fit alongside the gameplay. AND DON'T MAKE ME GUESS WHO WILL HAVE THE NEXT TURN IN BATTLES; ONLY SHOWING THE TURN-ORDER *AFTER* SELECTING ATTACKS, FFS!!!!
That is all. 7.5/10. I'm SURE FFXIII will not make me hate life and think LO is 10/10 worthy. Almost positive. And there's always Star Ocean 4. The 360 is just full of JRPGs, after all!
PS: How do ya'll rank the... fine collection of JRPGs on the 360?
When my uncle offered me a 360, free of charge, after he'd repaired one only for the previous owner to have purchased a new machine during the repairs, the first - and only - title I got excited over was Lost Odyssey. I recalled mentions of the Shadow Hearts staff, as well as the God of Final Fantasy, and for the first time since beating Persona 4 I wanted to play a game again. Throw-in a plot with a non-teenage lead (immortality FTW!), realistic proportions, a colour palette more fitting for an adult tale, and good old fashioned turn-based combat and that was that--off to buy it online, I went. And it only cost me £8, new. (Better yet, I never had to boil my fourth disc!!!!)
After FINALLY finishing it, with 30/36-42 achievements and 75 hours put in, many of my early assumptions have long been proved wrong. For one thing, its simplistic, paper-thin plot was its weakest aspect. For two, the stoic lead's change from emotionless servant to emotionless person, alongside Sarah's empty shell of a character, left me completely unsatisfied. I'd go as far to say that, if not for Jansen's lovable idiot routine and Gongora's c***ish smirking, the plot lacking any meat - coming down to an evil man wanting power and heroes attempting to stop him - and the characters not developing, or acting like those with 1,000 years of life experiences, might well have made me hate it.
The first two discs were non-events. After a breathless slaughtering opening, the amount of time wasted on Kaim simply being transported from A to B was a clear warning of the atrocious pacing to come. Kaim gets sent to investigate an originally named magical power source, gets kidnapped, and then the remainder of the first two and something discs got spent on the cast going back to where they started. There were a few contrived meetings along the way - such as Sarah, inexplicably, taking the form of a nutty old woman and Lirum JUST HAPPENING TO DIE as Kaim reached Numara - but the story just had nowhere near enough content to support its length.
Things did take a turn for the better on the third disc as all hell broke loose and everyone got separated - the story FINALLY getting some much needed direction - but after that it went back to the same old. I'm truly thankful for Gongora's eyebrows and mustache, 'cause it was only his face being SO punch-worthy that prevented my eyes rolling as the climatic, endgame exchange went like this!
Gongora: I want to use unlimited power to rule the world as a God!
Team Good: NO! WE CAN'T ALLOW THAT!!!! POWER IS EVIIIIIL!!!!
It reminded me of the quality writing present in Revenge of the Sith as Anakin explained to Obi-wan just why he'd started glaring evilly at others.
The ultimate irony of LO is that its out of place, novel-esque 'dream sequences' were the highlight of it: a game with high-definition visuals. Not only were the mini-chapter dream entries clearly written by someone different than the writer(s) of the game (someone with actual writing talent) proper due to at least one glaring inconsistency, the complete lack of effort to get the story to work alongside the gameplay is a major negative. Putting a wall of text into a game, instead of using pretty, moving pictures, is like showing a film consisting of text at the cinema. Not good.
I'd pay good money to buy a novel, with each of the emotional yet low-key dreams included. The uninspiring actual plot of the game, though? No chance!
You might think I'm moaning for the sake of moaning, but the difference between the two Kaim's was staggering because of no attempt having been made to link the two. All I got from the moving version of Kaim was that he disliked smiling and hated crying. But the Kaim in the dreams was a thinker; always reading others and weighting his responses, as well as helping them. He could've been one of the greatest leads ever, but...
Before I stop moaning about my story/characterization issues, it's worth noting a few key plot holes which one could drive a truck through:
1: You can't kill an immortal, so it's smart to make the four other immortals in existence hate you and then wait for them to regain their memories.
To look at and listen to, Gongora's a wonderful villain. His condescending, arrogant aura made me love him from the get-go--as soon as he started smirking, in fact.. But he was a f***ing moron.
Where as other villains kill those dearest to heroes in order to fight to the death, Mr. Eyebrows thought it would help him avoid conflict. After 1,000 years, he wasn't able to do what some random pirates in the Aneria (sp?) dream did and lock/hide the other immortals away, out of sight? He couldn't think of trapping them at the bottom of the sea; forcing them to die over and over until the end of time?
.....
2: We age at different speeds: this means we regenerate and can even survive meteors.
How does coming from a world where time flows differently allow for revival when killed? i no compute
For ALL of my moaning, there is one truth: I DID enjoy LO. Its movie ending - much like its opening - was satisfying in a way few things are. There was an emotional main character 'death' (meaning, no forced happy ever afters!); Jansen returned to to form at his wedding, requiring his beloved to nudge him along and shut him up with a kiss; and everything was tied-up neatly. But, as I enjoyed watching the finale unravel, I couldn't help but wonder how great it could have been, had everything else matched the standards of the intro and ending...
In a short: a lengthy JRPG, with a more adult graphical style, world map which can be explored via sea & air, and turn-based combat is a-ok with me. But, seriously: don't just insert a jumbled mess without the required amount of content to fit alongside the gameplay. AND DON'T MAKE ME GUESS WHO WILL HAVE THE NEXT TURN IN BATTLES; ONLY SHOWING THE TURN-ORDER *AFTER* SELECTING ATTACKS, FFS!!!!
That is all. 7.5/10. I'm SURE FFXIII will not make me hate life and think LO is 10/10 worthy. Almost positive. And there's always Star Ocean 4. The 360 is just full of JRPGs, after all!
PS: How do ya'll rank the... fine collection of JRPGs on the 360?
Posted by
AironicallyHuman
| Sep 30, 2011 7:08 PM |
2 comments
 |
RazzleDazzle | Oct 14, 2011 8:34 AM
I really hope you didn't play this game with the awful Japanese voice cast. Also this is what you do since you're in Yurop. Sell your 360 and buy a Wii. Xenoblade, The Last Story AND Pandora's Tower? What more do you NEED? Oh, right. 360 JRPGs, uh... Nevermind. |
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alteredcourse | Oct 1, 2011 12:31 PM
Blimey, that's a blast from the past. What other gems await to be unearthed from your desktop?As much as I enjoyed Lost Odyssey, I can't disagree with any of your moanings. Well, except the plot holes, which I failed to noticed as I kind of tuned out the plot early in the piece. It always bugged me how the best part of two discs were spent on the characters going back to square one, not to mention the numerous implausible coincidences along the way. Just happening to bump into your long-lost daughter (on her deathbed, no less), grandchildren AND sweetheart? Surrrrrrrre. |