Articles

By Nonny
Published: Apr. 29, 2008 9:08 PM

As with any turn-based RPG the combat system is the bread and butter of the action within the game. Going straight to its traditional roots the system employed here in Lost Odyssey is what you’d expect from any game in this genre and very much old school, with the odd bit of new ideas mixed in with varying success. On your turn you can attack, defend, use magic or items… nothing new there. Likewise the weaponry used is as basic as anything you’ve seen and the magic on offer is either elemental (so the generic earth, wind, fire, water type rock, paper, scissors scenario) combined black/white magic for good or evil purposes. Hardly mind blowing by any means but a mainstay of the genre and hence a necessity for keeping with tradition for traditions sake. Where it moves away a little from the norm is in the way it uses the immortal and mortal party members and its ring system.

When constructing your selected party in Lost Odyssey it pays to mix up your immortals for one simple reason. While mortal human team members gain skills as they level up in the game, immortals can only learn skills from their mortal team members through skill linking. Provided a skill is linked and the party members are active during combat the skill will gradually be learned based on the skill points required until such a point that the immortal can then utilise that skill directly. Therefore given that immortals are well, immortal they are far more powerful in combat than their human counterparts, particularly as they also resurrect after a few turns but having human members present affords you the ability to learn skills you’ll most certainly need for later battles. Much like any RPG, here in lies the depth that fans love to get their teeth into. In addition to this Lost Odyssey sports a rather novel ring-building system to bolster accessories with powers. By vanquishing enemies or scouring the terrain for hidden items you can earn components with which to enhance rings that your party can wear. These are numerous and highly engrossing ranging from offering increased attack/defend ratings to resistance from certain elemental attacks, immunity from black magic such as poison or sleep inducing magic and so forth. These rings can be switch during combat for maximum effects and continually upgraded the more components you find until they hit their strength limits.

If that wasn’t enough when rings are equipped it changes the attack to a somewhat limited interactive experience called the aim ring. When attacking on your turn an onscreen reticule appears and shrinks towards a central ring when you hold in the left trigger. Release the attack at the perfect timing for maximum damage with an onscreen prompt confirming your prowess. Though it never changes the game formula from its turn-based roots it does add some action-orientated flavour to the mix and it proves to be simplistic but hugely entertaining, particularly near the end of the game where nailing a perfect hit really adds on the damage achieved.

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