Totilo: Lost Odyssey is a slow-paced, well-written game

by Scott Jon Siegel { Jan 16th 2008 at 9:14AM }

MTV's Stephen Totilo describes himself as a guy "who played Fire Emblem with the battle animations turned off." This is just so we're clear on his impressions of a pre-release build of 360 epic RPG Lost Odyssey. According to Totilo, it's a slow-moving game which suffers from long load-times, but benefits from its "Thousand-Year Dream" sequences, well-written short stories which appear as on-screen text throughout the game.

That's right. Like the recent Harvey Birdman game, you'll definitely need the ability to read to play through Mistwalker's epic tale (gamers read, right?). For Totilo, it's these text sequences that set Lost Odyssey apart from the Final Fantasy series, to which he draws many comparisons.

Ultimately, however, it seems Lost Odyssey will require a lot of patience, with the first non-tutorial fighting sequence not occurring until two hours in to the game. We'll have to see come February 12 whether gamers have the attention span for the four-disc, 50-hour adventure.

[Via X3F]

Tags: lost-odyssey, lostodyssey, mistwalker, stories, writing

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

ThornedVenom @ Jan 16th 2008 9:23AM

What is this game about? All I know from reading the article is that it was a 360 RPG.

But are they promising anything new? What are the essential themes? What are the players expecting? Are people hyped for this game? Who developed it?

Sorry for feeling a bit lost concerning this subject matter, but Lost Odyssey never struck me before.

ThornedVenom @ Jan 16th 2008 9:24AM

that it IS* a 360 RPG

Sorry for that, it's late/early here.

Rubix42 @ Jan 16th 2008 9:32AM

Basically, it is just a 360 JRPG, made by some top JRPG talent in Japan.

Story is about a man who has lived 1,000 yrs, but does not remember his life. Flashbacks ensue. Seems like pretty standard JRPG stuff, and they are working the story angle to move the game.

I'm buying it.

ViagraFiend @ Jan 16th 2008 10:01AM

Its so refreshing to see a long story driven game developed and released amidst all of the gore crazy alien shooters that we've seen recently. Definite buy.

Gehodra @ Jan 16th 2008 1:53PM

Its geared towards Western audiences though. I dunno if that negates its "JRPG" status.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jan 16th 2008 3:41PM

it's definitely not geared towards western audiences, or if it is they failed miserably because that's about as japanese as an RPG can get.

Gehodra @ Jan 16th 2008 8:35PM

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3157756

*shrug*

Make with it what you will, I don't remember where I first heard about the western thing though...

pyro.danny @ Jan 16th 2008 9:27AM

The first non-tutorial battle is two hours into the game?

That's a bold thing to attempt. I know I try to skip the first 30-second tutorial battle.

dan stabbingworth @ Jan 16th 2008 9:37AM

Remember in FF6 how you break into the Narshe cave and start fighting right away? And in FF7 how you jump off a train and start kicking ass? FF8 with it's beach invasion? That's how you start a game.

Over 50 hours of gameplay, I have to figure you can weave in slow/boring stuff in the middle. Grab my attention at the beginning. Hardcore gamers (this game's audience) do not want two hour tutorials.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Jan 16th 2008 10:33AM

Lol then stay away from Fire Emblem for the Ds. The whole first part of the game is a tutorial.

shivr @ Jan 16th 2008 10:40AM

Theres a fire emblem for the DS? want...

baby sea tuna @ Jan 16th 2008 9:32AM

Fuck reading, two-hour tutorials, fuck Japan, fuck this game. What else ya got?

ark_v2 @ Jan 16th 2008 9:35AM

Well, RPGs are for people who like to think and enjoy a good and deep story; not for you I guess.

Captain Obvious @ Jan 16th 2008 10:19AM

@ark_v2 - "Well, RPGs are for people who like to think and enjoy a good and deep story; not for you I guess."

I said the same thing. But then I realized that the only reason I play RPGs is because I lacked the skill to play other genres. Since that realization, I've made the effort to play the "twitch" games; I'm still not very good at them.

It is much more rewarding to be a game based on your skill, rather than your ability to level up based on randomly generated rolls. And I've never seen stories more engrossing in any RPG than those found in Bioshock, The Orange Box, or Call of Duty 4. RPGs stories get too bloated.

/end rant

KiraXD @ Jan 16th 2008 1:12PM

@captain
its a different type of skill to play (good) RPG's.
sure its not twitch (unless its an action rpg with no wait between actions) but it takes alot of skill and actual thinking to defeat mobs. you dont just throw out a fireII on every mob, boss, or npc you see... you have to actually use youre brain... OH NOES!

Leobebes @ Jan 16th 2008 1:31PM

"It is much more rewarding to be a game based on your skill, rather than your ability to level up based on randomly generated rolls."

Finally someone who gets it, and who is humble enough to point out the major distinction between genres! You are a special person to recognize this. Unfortunately if you go over to Kotaku and spout this your head will be on a platter. JRPG's are the least skillfull of all genres, I know it pains many to say this but its true. It requires more skill to play a twitch game than to navigate through scripted battles, now does this make the JRPG genre an inferior genre, no. One is an interactive movie and other genres represent a pure form of gaming. Yet you have JRPG die hards saying the FPS genre is full of meatheads and uncultured ADD troglodytes. Yet if you put a die hard JRPG fan in front of Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4 they probably would get their butts handed to them in a second because it requires a level of honed skill to master a competitive FPS whereas any person with any type of video game experience can play an JRPG and know the ins and outs of combat in a matter of minutes. I am not trying to put down the JRPG genre by any means because it does offer a unique experience but the G in JRPG is misleading.

Also what if someone is tired of Anime, or Manga and wants to play a Japanese RPG with a different style of animation? They can't its impossible and Squeenix and other Japanese developers need to recognize this, look at Lost Odyssey's character design, at least they are trying.

Gunner McGrath @ Jan 16th 2008 9:33AM

This is the kind of thing that turned me off to Final Fantasy X. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd pop one in. If I wanted to read, I'd read a book. I'm picking up the controller to PLAY a GAME.

shivr @ Jan 16th 2008 10:42AM

but think of the synergy!

Johnny Hundo @ Jan 16th 2008 12:25PM

I am happily playing FFX for the first time (thank you BC PS3!) - just defeated Seymore on Mt Gagazet last night. I think it's a great game - however not twitchy - and yes lots of opportunities to get up and make some popcorn during the FMV cut scenes.

But really for me it's all about a change of pace - I love the shooters and I love the RPGs but they are like chocolate and coffee too much and you get sick.

Tridus @ Jan 16th 2008 9:40AM

"the first non-tutorial fighting sequence not occurring until two hours in to the game"

Oh god, not this again. Believe it or not, some people actually want to PLAY the game.

Story is important to an RPG, but the G on the end stands for game. The developers seem to have lost sight of that.

PhrawzT @ Jan 16th 2008 9:44AM

If they are able to create a believeable, entruiging world then I would pick this up. Seems like the idea is to escape into an alternate world, which could be an awesome game, if done right.

Nate @ Jan 16th 2008 9:52AM

I hope this comes to the PS3. I love me some JRPG, and with a hard drive install option and blu-ray, we'd skip the long load times and constant disc swapping. (4 discs! crazy...)

NATO_Duke @ Jan 16th 2008 10:00AM

Oh please give it a rest.

KushielsScion007 @ Jan 16th 2008 10:05AM

I agree...

And please stop bitching about load times...whether its 15 seconds or 1 minute its NOT the end of the world. Surely you've got more patience than that of a 2 year old.

Gunner McGrath @ Jan 16th 2008 10:51AM

To the guy above me.. I don't have a PS3 but I can certainly say for a game like this that is supposed to be an immersive experience, long load times certainly would be a pain. I mean as it is you're already "playing" the game for 2 hours before you actually PLAY. So what's worse than WATCHING your video game? WAITING to watch it.

creid @ Jan 16th 2008 11:22AM

Lol @ the idea that swapping discs every 12.5 game-hours is "constantly swapping discs." Also, the PS3 is not immune to load times.

Jonah Falcon @ Jan 16th 2008 11:48AM

Actually, the PS3 is far more susceptible to load times, because the Blu-Ray drive is slo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w. In order to get better load times, a lot of games have content REPEATED several times on the disc. That's why Microsoft opted out of including a HD-DVD drive to play games - they went with the faster disc.

maylon @ Jan 16th 2008 12:30PM

That is so not relevant to the topic, please go hang yourself.

James @ Jan 16th 2008 9:54AM

So it was moans galore for TP and it's text, Mass Effect and this game seemingly are good with long bits of text.

Very interesting.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jan 16th 2008 3:47PM

every word of dialogue in mass effect is spoken and skippable. Most of lost odyssey's text is not spoken from what i heard, which imo is totally unacceptable in a modern RPG.

James @ Jan 16th 2008 3:55PM

I'd just say good story and gameplay are what's important in a modern RPG.

By your standards I wonder if you're equating FFX-2 to Lost Odyssey LAWL.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jan 16th 2008 3:57PM

well no, at least not yet cause i haven't played odyssey. I'm hoping that i dont have to ever compare it to the abomination that was FF 10-2

KushielsScion007 @ Jan 16th 2008 10:00AM

I'm interested in this game...

As for the 2 hours it sounds like a lot but then again that means 48 hours of pure gaming afterwards.

Hopefully it sells well.

capt_carl @ Jan 16th 2008 10:02AM

Fifty hours? Pfft, I just finished SMT: Persona 3 which took 113 hours. I think I can handle most any RPG now. :D

SoulBlade @ Jan 16th 2008 10:04AM

"Ultimately, however, it seems Lost Odyssey will require a lot of patience, with the first non-tutorial fighting sequence not occurring until two hours in to the game."

And people bitch about Zelda games starting out slow.

Captain Obvious @ Jan 16th 2008 10:20AM

"more rewarding to beat a game"

Co @ Jan 16th 2008 10:37AM

"it seems Lost Odyssey will require a lot of patience, with the first non-tutorial fighting sequence not occurring until two hours in to the game."

The line needs to be drawn somewhere. They must not be worried about pulling in huge sales.

Don't give me the "Final Fantasy" argument either. That recently crap of a series sells off of namesake and namesake alone.

umm....hello??? @ Jan 16th 2008 10:44AM

I'm getting this game. I like stories--not too wild about a 2-hour tutorial, but as long as it allows you to skip summoning/casting spells (which is what made FFVII so freaking long---how many times do you have to watch the KnightsOfTheRound spell??!!). 4-disc 50-hour game?? Totally there. It's what an RPG SHOULD be.

@Nate
umm...the PS3 BDROM drive is slower reading than 360's DVD drive...you'd be looking at LONGER loading times on the PS3. besides, the PS3 will get FFXIII. do yourself a favor--don't be a fanboy--get all the systems.

Co @ Jan 16th 2008 11:00AM

" do yourself a favor--don't be a fanboy--get all the systems."

Yea let me get right on that easy task. Let's see....only $1053 to boot? Sign me up!

Dahk @ Jan 16th 2008 11:01AM

Think he means that some games (like upcoming DMC4) have the option of installing to the harddrive. People have calculated that load times diminish to about a third of the 360's load time for that game so its pretty awesome for PS3 owners.

Also, to put it simply (cuz I'm not that deeply technical myself), the DVD drive has a variable read time depending on where the data is stored on the DVD, while Blu-ray contains a constant speed. So the fact that the 360 has faster read times is a bit blurred.

Vidikron (FU) @ Jan 16th 2008 11:11AM

Actually, the BR drive reads at a constant rate across that disc that isn't much slower than the average speed of the 360's drive. DVD drives read faster at one edge of the disc and slower at the other, some parts of the disc are actually read slower than BR discs in the PS3. I think it should be obvious by now that load times are often dependent upon developers decisions. That why you have games like this and Mass Effect that have bad load times on the supposedly faster reading 360. There are games on the PS3 that load slowly and games that have no discernable or short load times.

Nate @ Jan 16th 2008 11:30AM

As I mentioned, the install to hard drive is what would speed it up for us. Yes, blu-ray's transfer speed on a 2x reader, like the one in the PS3, is slower than 12x DVD reader in the 360. But many games still have no loading times. Uncharted is a huge game with a ton of data to get off the disc - it doesn't even do an install, and it still has no load times.

As for getting all the systems - I patently don't want a wii. About the only game I want for it is Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

I'll get a 360 when there's a compelling reason to do so, and when I don't have to wonder how long it'll be until it breaks. Right now there's very little to draw me to the 360. The market is flooded with FPS's, and what does the 360 offer besides that? Not much.

I am a fanboy, but not a rabid one. I like Live and wish the PSN had more of those features. I think the 360 has some great games, there just aren't enough of them that are unique enough to get me to pay an extra $450 to get them.

xFenixKnightx @ Jan 16th 2008 11:38AM

@Nate

"I'll get a 360 when there's a compelling reason to do so"

Wow thats the first time Ive ever heard that. Its always the other way around. Hmmm...wierd.

*Hears the twilight zone music*

Nate @ Jan 16th 2008 2:20PM

@Fenix -

I know it sounds odd. But with a lot of the best games being multiplatform, and several of the non-PS3 games being available on PC... the 360 exclusive list just doesn't draw me in. Halo 3? Good game, but I'm not lacking in FPS's. Gears? See Halo 3. Uhh... Forza? Got enough driving games. Mass Effect? Ok, there's one that I would really like to be able to play.... and that's about it.

So... from the position of someone who already has a PS3 and has to justify $350 for a 360 pro, $50 for Live, and then $30-ish for a wifi adapter (I'm not spending $100 on the official 360 one... what a total ripoff!)... $430 as an entry fee just so I can play Mass Effect? I can't justify it.

shivr @ Jan 16th 2008 10:44AM

Seems like the kind of game I'd like to... watch someone else play :)

xFenixKnightx @ Jan 16th 2008 11:33AM

50hrs??? Thanks, but no thanks!

Anti-Idiot League @ Jan 16th 2008 11:57AM

I'm so happy this isn't taking the moronic "Appeal to morons who like Dragon Quest" approach that Blue Dragon took, and failed at (Why would anyone want to be like that archaic piece of shit? To appeal to people stuck in 1992? Pffft).

This will ultimately determine if MistWalker is actually capable of anything good. I hope it is good. I want it....
and the more story, the better.

I just wish games that weren't RPG's would have stories that were involved and deep. Those are more fun to play, but nothing really quite beats an extremely awesome story :(