Lost Odyssey Review (Xbox 360, Xbox Series X)
A game by the creator of the Final Fantasy series.
~by Manhalt (May 2025)
Trailer: Lost Odyssey
Introduction
A traditional JRPG with a mature story from Hironobu Sakaguchi. If that name sounds familiar, he is the creator of the final fantasy series and continues creating games with his development studio Mistwalker. Square gave him the boot after the disaster that was Final Fantasy Spirits Within. I still think to this day that Final Fantasy lost something when he left and they never really found it since then. Yoshi P is a good start though but let’s forget the distant past and focus on the not so distant past. Microsoft really wanted to push the 360 into the Japanese gaming market so they went out and contracted a decent amount of JRPGs. Mistwalker developed two for the 360, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. This review is on the former and what I think is the spiritual successor to the Final Fantasy games at the time of release.
Lost Odyssey’s story is about an immortal named Kaim whose memories are lost but is a mercenary serving a kingdom. Early in the game, he learns he is being used as a pawn by the Kingdom Uhra. His memories start to slowly come back as he adventuring takes him across the world and he learns he isn’t the only immortal. All the immortals have something in common though, they lost their memory. The story takes a more emotional path the most JRPGs that focus on young teenagers saving the world and I enjoy it for that. While unlocking memories of Kaim’s lifetime, you read short stories with music to accompany them. These stories get into suicide, lost of family, loved ones growing apart, and all a manner of more mature topics. I found myself eager to read them when I unlocked them and felt they really added to the story of Kaim. The game really pressed you with the fact that he has lived over a 1000 years.
Gameplay
I mentioned it above but the game sticks to the JRPG formula and doesn’t attempt to make anything more. I enjoy turn based combat but I can see how it is a turn off for most folks who enjoy more action oriented combat. The game does try to keep your attention by introducing a ring combat which allows the attack to focus while attacking and if you match the focus ring to the static ring, you do more damage, status effects, and etc. It depends on the equipped ring of the character and the weaknesses of the enemies. It is a nice change of pace but doesn’t add enough to make it feel more actiony.
Hironobu Sakaguchi didn’t attempt anything new with the combat because he wanted to focus more on the story and the story not being a traditional JRPG story so with that in mind, the combat took a backseat and suffered.
Gameplay Grade: B
Visuals
The time the game came out, the visuals were decent. And even going back to play through it now, it doesn’t hurt the experience of the game. But the areas you explore and the world itself all feel unique and it gives the impression that you really are on an adventure across the world. It is a magic steampunk setting with technology advancing based on magic and it does play a key role in the story as well. The polygons can be a little jagged even as a backwards compatible title. The only improvement is in frames so you’ll still get to enjoy it in its native resolution of 720 which feels dated today.
Visual Grade: B
Story (Spoilers)
I’ve mentioned earlier that Sakaguchi focused on the story with this game rather than the JRPG mechanics and it shows. The overall story has a much more mature theme around the immortal Kaim. Kaim has lived a thousand years and has experienced several lifetimes, where he became part of other families and learned to constantly lose those he loved. Throughout his life, he was a mercenary and met many people and you discover his adventures through short stories that unlock when a similar event triggers it. Kaim doesn’t have his memory and the game starts with a meteor landing on him in the battlefield. He awakes and makes his way back to the empire that has hired him, Uhra.
His adventure continues when he teams up with another immortal Seth and a mage, Jansen. The Uhra sent you out to investigate Grand Staff, the magical apparatus used to call the meteor down. The Grand Staff is in operation by Uhra but Gongora used it without the Uhra’s council’s permission, thus the investigation and Gongora being removed from the council and under house arrest.
This is where the story starts and takes you all over the captivating world. Gongora becomes the thread puller of the story and is really stirring issues up in the world to move Uhra to war. He manages to remove the council and put royalty back into power. Kaim finds other immortals with their memory lost, and Gongora having a hand in it all.
You see how Gongora removed Kaim’s memory by killing Kaim’s daughter in front of Kaim and his wife, Sarah, another immortal. It turns out that his daughter is alive and lived her life, including having two kids of her own. Kaim rediscovers this but only too late as she is sick and dying. This is where the story slows as you help bury your long lost daughter with your grandchildren who you just met. It is a tough sequence of events and you really feel for Kaim and the children. This happens in the first quarter of the game and I think it sets up the player on how the story will unfold for the rest of the game. Not only is the overall story engaging but the player characters all have unique personalities. Jansen, the mage, is probably my favorite. He comes off as a goofball but is really there for the team. He starts off spying on Kaim and Seth for Gongora but decides to betray Gongora and work with them as the game goes on. His arc and love story are also really touching and will make you smile
Story Grade: A
Overall Grade: A+