Lost Odyssey is a JRPG that started as a collaboration between Final Fantasy grandfather Hironobu Sakaguchi’s independent studio Mistwalker and Microsoft for the Xbox 360. With a script written by Sakaguchi himself, it’s a by-the-numbers entry in the genre but with an inspired idea to insert a collection of short stories penned by best-selling author Kiyoshi Shigematsu. It makes for a brilliant, compelling synthesis early on that sadly can’t keep the magic flowing.
Lost Odyssey has been called an “unofficial Final Fantasy” by series fans, and indeed, those who have played Final Fantasy X will feel comfortable right away. There are many visual and gameplay similarities, and Nobuo Uematsu is here again to compose the soundtrack. Tara Strong, the voice actor for Rikku, is also here in a similar role as legendary pirate Seth. Combat is fully turn-based, and it has a great visual presentation, even today.
Where the game diverges from the long-running series (and the genre at large) is its mature story. Death is a constant companion for Kaim, our main character, and through him, Shigematsu’s A Thousand Years of Dreams delve into politics, war, sociology, unbridled greed and selfless acts of service, among other topics. It’s an excellent way to take a cliché–the amnesiac protagonist–and bend it into compelling, emotional interludes. As expected, however, that part of the story resolves, and the player is faced with the fact that there has to be a game here, too.
I would have come away with a better impression of the game if there was an exceptional JRPG at this game’s core–a reasonable expectation given the game’s pedigree–but Lost Odyssey didn’t get that. Aside from a couple of boss encounters with questionable difficulty tuning, it’s never outright bad, but it does lean on a lot of old ideas. Sakaguchi’s game scenario manages to connect well with Shigematsu’s themes for the game’s first third or so. Inevitably, it descends into the usual contrived JRPG scenarios, including a villain that did so much mustache twirling, he could power a small wind farm with his nefarious plotting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the genre and I’m always down for some warmed-over cliché soup. But the contrast in writing quality here between author and game scenarist (both as accomplished in their fields as they are) becomes all too apparent.
Lost Odyssey came out at a time when JRPGs were on the decline, and to this day it’s still exiled on the Xbox 360, not a prime destination for the genre. There wasn’t enough here to change any minds on that front either, so I’m not surprised nothing further came of the property. Being an emotional experience with some really touching moments, I’m glad I finally picked this up, even if I’ll never go back to it.
Any thoughts on Lost Odyssey? Or other games that ran out of gas for you?
I loved Lost Odyssey at the time but, at the same time, it’s probably one of worst JRPG I have ever played when you only consider the beginning. The game is so slow to start, and sometimes a bit too difficult (especially because it does not let you grind, which is very annoying at the beginning because you have not many options).
Besides that, It has a lot to share, with a touching story, very interesting reflections about immortality and harsh/intense moments. The gameplay is good as well, proposing its own mechanics and bosses that forces you to use them.
It’s not easy to recommend because it’s one of those games where you have to play many hours to get in.
I never finished it for exactly the reasons you stated. I had too many other games to play that I couldn’t spend time on one that wasn’t top notch. If they came out with a remaster of it and put it up on PC I’d certainly give it another shot, but I doubt it will happen, especially with Gamepass for PC having 360 games emulated in it already and no sign of Lost Odyssey.
With there being so many remasters and remakes coming out the past few years, not hearing a peep on this game lately is why I decided to finally pick it up. Doesn’t seem likely to make it onto PC.
What a fantastic write-up! The Xbox 360 was my first console, before that I used to be a PC-exclusives gamer. At the time the Xbox 360 was mostly known for shooters so I was surprised to learn that there had been a push to put some JRPGs on the platform. Eventually I got my hands on an X360 Version of Lost Odyssey, having heard that it is a much more accomplished title than some others that came out on X360 (like Blue Dragon). I agree with many of your points. But what delighted me personally was the visual design of the game. It was derivative, yeah, but it had such a great aesthetic that I still fondly remember the cutscenes. I love that JRPG era.
I personally loved it. For me it was the last good Final Fantasy, but none of the Final Fantasy games past VI never really clicked for me except IX. So take that into consideration with my opinion.
Man, you all remember Lost Odyssey way better than I do!
to this day it’s still exiled on the Xbox 360, not a prime destination for the genre
It’s still ‘exiled’ on not-a-prime-destination-for-the-genre, but it does also run on modern Xbox systems thanks to backward compatibility - with vastly reduced load times and a solid 30fps frame rate.
