Oh and when stuff does actually happen (story)...Its as interesting as those classic RPGs of years ago on the PS1\PS2 (no blue dragon bullshit!)

haha have you fought the optional bosses?? >.>

and TC you need to get learn the anti poison thing... for Seth and Kaim.. I can't remember if jansen has it or whether its a ring.. but once both learn it.. equip the skill...

I love the game....but the reason for many of the reviews being average is because of the gripes many have stated above. For some its the best RPG out this gen so far, for others....well....not so much.

They are expanding on the trilogy, so perhaps some of the problems listed will be addressed and polished in the 2nd....we shall wait and see. I enjoyed the games challenge. It was one of the first that my buddies didnt just level grind to 99 and totally smash every single boss in the game mid-way through and on.

Your complaints will mostly go unnoticed, since this is a JRPG we're talking about. Any time someone makes a complaint about any other aspect of the game - even if every other aspect of the game is boring as hell - thousands of people on the Internet will swarm about you, chanting, "But... the story! The STORY!!"

And then, my friend, all is lost.

lost odyssey is the best rpg this gen, as far as i am concerned. the story was well written and the dreams also were well written and nicely put together. the battle system was a nice touch as well. the bonus dungeon u download has the toughest boss in the game, also the boss in the backyard arena is the 2nd toughest boss. the ending cutscene was very nice and its one of the very few rpg's that came up with a original idea for the main story and also one of the few that touched on adult themes like death and how some ppl deal with it. i cant wait for a sequel , it will be a instant buy for me. i found that the best places to levup in are when u arrive on disk 4 to go to the gongora's secret cave u can levup their till lev 55, then go to the temple of enlightment where u can pass lev80 if u want too. so check out those places if u wana levup to a good lev.

I had a lot of trouble identifying with Kaim as well, though by the end, I can say I enjoyed the story. As with any good JRPG the sidequests (pipot, backyard and the crazy amount of customization in learned skills for the immortals) kept me hooked.

Having played Enchanted Arm, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata and currently Tales, I'd say LO was my favorite by a fair amount, though that is IMO only. Also, I am not very far in Tales so reserve the right to change my mind.

To your questions though, I do think that many of the bosses and to certain extent some of the more powerful enemies need a sound strategy to beat. If you beat the final boss in the backyard though, expect the end game boss to be a cake walk...I don't remember the name of the boss at the backyard, but he had some pretty devastating moves.

I have trouble I'm believing I'm going to like these characters than, say, the characters in FFVI.

And there was no strategy to that fight, that's why I was losing.  I was use to good games like FFIVDS where I actually had to think my way through the battle.  The only thing that kept me from spamming the action button and playing on the internet were the rings.

Did you read my opening post?  I said Iwas going to at the very least finish the first disc and overcome the *many* flaws.

Every RPG I've played and liked hasn't had the boring bits you're talking about.  Those boring bits are usually the sing of a bad game. 

Oh, and no offense but the fact that you actually mention FFX-2 makes me lose all respect for any of your opinions on RPGS.

Your about 15 min. into a 50 hour game and your already complaining? He doesnt stay Emo! He has the biggest charachter change in gamming history! Beat the game and then give your opinion. It starts to get real good by end of disk 1. If your only at the bird, your at most 30 min. into the game.

The bird is 2-3 hours into the game (or at least it was for me because I didn't zip through it as quickly as possible).

Also, and I had the same problem with FFXII, I should have to play the game for 10 or more hours for it to get good.  Why should I suffer through 10 hours of bad game so I can finally beat the first disc and then finally get to the good stuff?  You actually think that sounds like a good idea?

the only boss I had any troulbe at all with was the wormlike Boss with flickering adds.