The game tells the story about Kaim, an immortal who’d lived in a thousand years but yet has no memory of his past. During the game several characters (some also immortals) join him in his journey to reveal their memories and discover who they are. Their world is ruled by another immortal with evil intentions of taking over the world (of course). As our heroes are trying to take him down, the story behind our immortals is revealed.

Digital drawing of mine; some of Lost Odyssey’s main characters

After completing the game at a total of 98 hours of playtime, I’m still a little baffled over the complexity of the game, great graphics and designs, good gameplay and especially good storyline. I may not be an expert on games nor have I played a lot of (typically japanese) role-playing games, but I’m very satisfied with Lost Odyssey which has earned its place in my top favourite games.

Among other things I was pleased with the game design. You are not forced to follow the main storyline at all times; you have hundreds of side-quests and a world free to explore on your own. In addition you have several types of different treasure hunts and minigames. Video clips (often humorous) are triggered when you progress in the game and they often tell you what you should do next. One aspect I especially enjoyed, was the “One Thousand Dreams”, where you can trigger memories in form of dreams. The dreams are beautifully presented with text (some falling down) on a pale background and beautiful background music. The stories are written by the awarded japanese writer Kiyoshi Shigematsu, and ever one of the 1000 stories leaves you with watery eyes. Seriously.

Screenshot from a battle in Lost Odyssey

The game does however have its irritating moments. Such as random fights that just. won’t. stop. coming. The random battles seem to multiply and jump right at you especially when you’re just there to get something, or are lost and trying to get out of there. Fortunately there is an option to flee the battle. The battles usually don’t take long, it depends on what level your characters and the enemies are. As expected, bosses and semi-bosses have tricks up their sleeves. But there was one battle, a boss in Backyard (one of the minigames/sidequests), that actually lasted 2 1/2 hours straight before he finally died. Yes, one battle, two hours and a half of game-time!

Screenshot featuring the main character Kaim.

Nevertheless, take your time to explore every aspect in the game. I was especially amazed by the looks and design of everything, such as cities, objects and buildings. The Pipots (bunny-like creatures living in urns) made me just go aaaw. But I had to snortlaugh at e.g. some of the design of the character’s clothes which were, (in my opinion) horrible. Or maybe I’m just not used to japanese designs^^.

Good guides and walkthroughs

As all great complex games, some guidance and help along the way may be useful. The site twobrothersandasister.com’s pages about Lost Odyssey proved to be useful – especially for us who like to explore and complete the game to the fullest. If you’re stuck or don’t know what to do or where to go next, lost-odyssey.net provides a good walkthrough throughout the whole game. If you just need an overview of the areas to explore, this world map may be just what you needed.

So you’ve completed Lost Odyssey, now what?

Just when I started to notice the small, black hole Lost Odyssey left me in my heart, I tumbled over the Xbox360 game Blue Dragon (released aug 2007) made by the same people who created Lost Odyssey. Sadly, the story is very different as it’s aimed for children, only the game design is similar to Lost Odyssey. I guess I just have to wait for Fable 2.