So after struggling with Lost Odyssey for over a year, I've finally beaten it. Its a very good game, but I only found the storyline to be above average. The characters were cool, but pretty dull at the same time as well (minus Jansan, he was full of win). The 1000 Years Of Dreams were AMAZING though (my favorite ones were Bright Rain, The Village Closest To Heaven and Hanna's Departure).

But getting back to what I was saying, what was so great about LO's storyline to you guys? I didn't find it so great at all. I didn't feel like it was very emotional (except for Lirum's death), it didn't really have any surprises or good plot twists (I love good plot twists in my stories though, it may not be the same for you guys), the characters never really had any good or deep interactions (Kaim & Serah are freaking married yet they have barely even talked to one another for a majority of the game) and the character development wasn't really that good to me either (except for Jansan, he had some pretty good character developement).

So I would like to ask you guys once more, what was so great about Lost Odyssey's storyline? Did I miss something? Is there some deeper meaning behind it that I didn't catch on to? Many people have told me that LO had a very deep and emotional storyline, but I didn't find it to be that in the least. I feel like I've been lied to.

Explaining what I found deep or endearing isn't going to change things for you. It's a matter of what you find valuable in storytelling.

Kaim's development is actually pretty blatant in his move from emotionless mercenary to alternatively doting and raging family man, and I could say the same for other characters (Seth in particular), but Kaim is most clearly characterized by the Dreams, and therein he is probably the best-characterized individual the medium has had in several years.

But, no. It's not that you don't get it. It's that you have all the things arrayed in front of you and don't find them compelling. That's all.

yeah what Khuutra said you just dont find it compelling as others. I for one loved it.

Well, I think that everyone took it as a body of work of both the story and 1000 Years of Dreams. You said yourself that they were amazing. Add the storyline in, and it became a pretty great package.

Not Mass Effect/Deadly Premonition level, but a good one for a JRPG.

I'm glad someone else is playing this right now. I just started disc 4. So far I love this game. Before this game I thought I was losing my desire for JRPGs because I never really cared for FFX and XII. After playing LO I realized that what was missing for me in other games was strong characters that I actually cared about and good storytelling.

So in answer to your question, I don't think LO's story is anything special, but they just seem to tell it in an interesting way and make it possible to empathize with the characters (something I think SE has forgotten to do, but hopefully XIII proves me wrong).

Plus the 1000 years of dreams are some incredibly well told short-stories.

The dream sequences were written by a Japanese short story writer, and it really shows. Those for me are one of the best parts of the game.

If you put it that way then yes, I can understand how people can think the storyline is great if you mix in the Dreams with it. To me though, I find the Dreams and the main storyline to be completely seperate things instead of one package.

I felt FFXIII succeeded in that. The characters in FFXIII are the strongest in the whole series to me. The relationship between them as well as their interactions and development was fantastic IMO. You might not feel the same way though.

You're right, you definitely need to take everything as a package in terms of story. The 1000 years was such a great way of building the back story for the main character. I have never enjoyed reading so much in a video game. My only problem with them is that they were not always spaced out the best (ie. sometimes you would get 3 or 4 in a row and then not any for a while...I know you can skip them and read them later, but it I would prefer not to).

the way i see it was that the 1000 years dreams and the main storyline go hand and hand. you cant take one away from the other since the two makes the whole package. the dream stories explains the characters and their backgrounds and how they came to be (obviously it isn't all Kaim if you played through the game).