Well, doesn't seem like there's much activity here...either everyone's too busy playing the game to post (I know I have been) or not a whole lot of people bought it. D:
Since I'm assuming most 360 users haven't played a jRPG, I figure there's going to be quite a few people "on the fence" so to speak...so I've taken it upon myself to write a small review of sorts. I haven't completely finished the game, but I have gotten fairly far (~4 hours in to the third disc) and feel that I have a good idea of what the game's like.
For starters, let me just state something. I'm not going to be giving this game an X/10 score, I will merely be stating my opinion on the game and you can form your own answer to the question of "will I like it?". Now that that's out of the way, on to the review itself:
Graphics
Lost Odyssey is built on the Unreal Engine 3, which if you haven't heard of or seen, you're probably living under a rock. As with most UE3 games I've played, there are masterfully detailed, expansive, beautiful environments in this game that range from an oceanside city to a frozen canyon to a magical-industrial city. The effects on the magic attacks are entertaining to watch and just as detailed as the environments. Character clothes and armor all have unique looks with realistic mannerisms. Unfortunately though, this game suffers from the same plague as most other UE3 games...close ups. This only really becomes an issue during a few of the cut scenes, but there are certain textures that will make you shudder a bit. It's just a minor problem, but I know how visual-philic some of y'all are here.
Sounds and Music
Can't go wrong with Nobuo Uematsu. Assuming you haven't played a jRPG, you've probably never heard the name, but knowing he's been behind a large majority of the Final Fantasy games' music should be enough to give you an idea of his reputation. There's emotionally charged orchestral pieces that help further the mood of each individual scene in the game, and help give you that "on the edge of your seat" feeling when you're in an intense boss battle or an epic moment in the story. The English voice acting is actually very good, and there are several other dubs provided (I haven't tested any of the other ones, so I'll stop there, but for those wondering, the English dub is the original [i.e. lips sync to it]).
Gameplay
Of course, the most important part of any game is its gameplay. As far as the jRPG specifics go, there's admittedly not
too much original stuff, but what little there is, it is
very well done. For the basic gameplay mechanics, there's your standard areas you walk around, look for items, fight the occasional random battle, boss, etc. The world map (outside of special modes of travel) is basically a list of locations to go to, with the next objective type places marked with a "!" inside of a blue circle. To be perfectly honest, there are moments in the game where an unattentive player may become lost...when you're in a town, don't expect someone to clearly say "lol chek out da trane stashun". This isn't to say you'll be aimlessly wandering around, but if you don't play jRPGs often (it gives you a 6th sense in every jRPG you play after a while) and don't really pay attention to the dialog much, you may have to talk to NPCs to get a clue as to where to go.
With that said, let me mention that this game
really encourages exploring every nook and cranny of every zone. There's loads of hidden collectible items that can benefit you, weapons, accessories, spells and rings (more on those later) that aren't available in shops (temporarily or permanently). As with other jRPGs, a good deal of the NPCs don't have much to say, but there are some that will give you information on a side quest or take a key item you found with seemingly no purpose (for instance, you pick up crystals in a forest at one point that an artist in one of the towns needs to inspire him, but other than that they have no use).
The battle system is absolutely amazing. It's one of the most in depth and enjoyable experiences I've had in any jRPG I've played. You get four immortal characters and a number of mortal characters (before anyone says it, no that is not a spoiler, it's in the manual). The mortal characters in this game are much like other games, in that they gain skills and abilities simply from leveling up. As common sense would have you believe, the immortal characters are marginally better than the mortals, but there's a catch...they can only learn abilities by "linking" to mortals, or learning from equipping an accessory. It really makes you play in a tactical manner when choosing your party, because there's no run off experience (members outside of your party gain 0 experience per battle/will not level up). You can choose a party of immortals (+1 mortal, max party size is 5) and play off of accessories and one character's skills, or you can play a party of mostly mortals and focus on just a few immortals at a time to make them extremely powerful. Then comes actually choosing what skills to equip. Your immortal characters start with 3 ability slots (along with the one supplied by your accessory [each accessory provides a specific ability], and whatever skill you have linked with a mortal currently) which can be increased by an item you find throughout the game. So do you give your magic caster all three types of magic, or just one/two with a status resisting ability? Maybe you want to give them HP or Defense Up? Or maybe you wanna give them 13 slots and make them near invincible. There's tons of ways to play each individual character and it allows you to think about the best way to tackle each boss if you happen to die while facing them. I could write a whole review on just the mechanics of battle, there's simply too much to fit in this little post, and besides, you'll learn the minor details of battle in game. ;p
Plot
No spoilers here, so it'll be relatively short. Just know that this is a Japanese game and there's going to be lots of the clich