A step in the right direction

Simply put, if you're not a fan of turn-based RPG's, steer clear of Lost Odyssey. It's definitely not the best RPG to jump into and play. The difficulty level can be extremely frustrating, and its plot leaves much to be desired. But if you're a fan of traditional Japanese roleplaying games, give it a chance and you'll find a huge amount of depth and many hours of gameplay. Kaim and his cohorts aren't the most interesting bunch of characters you'll ever meet, and the cliche of "powerful heroes with a forgotten past" is inexcusable. Some glimmer of great writing can be seen through the tales of the 1000 years, but these are actual text based stories in a medium that has become very visual. Personally, I don't mind sitting through pages of text for some great stories, but I can see how it would turn others off. Though the game is massive (over 35+ hours of gameplay if you take some time and do a few sidequests or exploration), the plot quality doesn't match up to gameplay quantity. Cliches abound. Overpowered little children? Check. Out of place song smack-dab in the middle of the game? Check. Annoying fetch quests? Check, check, check. The antagonist is revealed within the first few minutes of gameplay and remains uninteresting throughout the game's entirety. You never once feel the urge to stop this guy or to save this world, which translates to a yawn-fest of ridiculous magnitude. So why did I give this game such a relatively high score? It's tough to fault Lost Odyssey on a technical level. The graphics are good, and some cutscenes are incredible. The voice actors do a solid job, albeit with an uninspired script. The gameplay is rock solid, minus a minor gripe about the occasional frequency of random battles. With the exception of the above-mentioned song number halfway through the game, the music is downright amazing. If you're hungering for a lengthy JRPG on a modern console, give Lost Odyssey a try. I look forward to seeing what Mistwalker will do in the future.