#44
YoY: -5 My Rating: 9.0
There were very few games that ever made me even consider getting an Xbox 360. I had a PS3 at the time, and just about every game that I was interested in came out on it anyway, so I had no need for a 360. I didn't care about Halo, Gears of War, or Fable. However, that generation was missing one thing: a great Final Fantasy game. Except we did get one, just under a different name and on a console I didn't own. Lost Odyssey was just about the only game I really felt sorry for missing during this period of time, and that remained the case until a decade later. My then-girlfriend, and current wife, bought herself an Xbox 360, and I figured I might as well try and find a copy of Lost Odyssey now, and eventually I did, for 5 euros. One of the best 5 euros I've ever spent.
There's a lot I loved about Lost Odyssey. The setting is quite unique, a world that is just emerging into a new world of technology following something of an industrial revolution, albeit one powered by new forms of magic, the characters are very well-written and each have their own clear personalities and goals, the story is admittedly a bit cliched, but includes enough twists and turns to always keep the player guessing, and the music by Nobuo Uematsu is excellent. Yet, rather oddly, perhaps the best part of the whole game are these short written stories the player can unlock over the course of the game that recount various events from the past, mainly related to the main character Kaim. While they aren't necessarily any masterpieces of literature, they are expertly crafted and emotionally resonant short stories that left a lasting impression on me, some of them hitting me quite hard as well. I still remember many of them vividly, even though it's been years since I played the game.
