Lost Odysee Screens

[Serenity Painted Death]

IMO I think this game is a landmark. It's the first time that I've seen a transition from CG to gameplay without a noticeable drop in fidelity. Obviously there will be a difference, but what really stood out for me was the lighting looked the same. Or similar enough. Couldn't see something like that on PS2

That's more indicative of the quality of the CG.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I thought the realtime stuff was really nice, I especially like how you can see the battle raging in the background the whole time. It would be nice if they added more variety to the enemy soldier animations, but if you look at last generation turn based games, and then look at what is going on in these battles, it's totally a generational leap.

The real highlight is the battle with the siege machine, did you make it that far in the trailer?

As for BD, I'm not sure what videos you watched, but there are ones that feature 5 or 10 minutes of straight gameplay, and it looks really smooth.

I think fundamentally the problem was with trailer views rather than gameplay, but what I can find of LO and BD gameplay footage is Massive Downloads.

Did you know what LO was in game type before it started? If I knew it was turn based perhaps it wouldn't have come as quite a shock. I just thought it so odd, this character tearing through the enemy in this complex warzone and then when the player takes over, politely having the enemy line up so he can chop them in a orderly fashion. It'd be like watching Motorstorm start with footage of it's manic driving, and then cut to the game where you're in the pits changing tyres

 

[Rolf N]

How did everyone else feel? From all that action based, mixed up, dynamic combat, with the hero slicing and dicing, to suddenly being dropped into a turn-based combat that wasn't even showing the real combat, didn't you feel someone had accelerated you to 150 MPH in 15 seconds and then suddenly applied the brakes to take around a almost straight track at 30?

Yes, it was very unbalanced. They tried, but the transition is still too harsh, the combat doesn't look dynamic enough in comparison to the intro flick. They made the hero this tranquil super-cool guy who seems almost disgusted to have to get his ass moving towards the "boring" enemy. Not a bad idea, but it's still quite a stretch.

The CG part was really crazy good stuff with all the Power Ranger speed tricks and whatnot, and I can appreciate that but in the end it is just there to set the mood, and in that respect it doesn't help the game shine, exactly because of that contrast. IMO if the opening CG were toned down to something more reasonable the combat would stop looking so bad.

Btw I can't help but think this is a replica of the opening sequence of Final Fantasy X where the evil critters rain into the city and you are thrust into combat, quickly mow down a few rows of them, and then fight a mini-boss ... before the world as you know it ends. For some reason that feels really tense and dynamic, even though it's basically the same thing, minus the over-the-top crazy clash of armies around you, plus a companion.

The enemies in that sequence aren't necessarily more of a threat than in LO but they certainly look more alive and kickin'. Sooo much in a JRPG is about presentation if you think about it ....


It's really hard to judge this game, there's far too little material out there. I'd like to have a montage with segments of many different battles and as little prerendered CG as possible. I know some of those games start slow, or have really stupid segments, so it's important to have a wider overview over what's going on.
For all I care Lost Oddysey could be the greatest game ever, I'm just not seeing anything in that video that could make me believe.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

That's more indicative of the quality of the CG.

Lost Odyssey's CG is as good as anything else out there from Blur through Blizzard to Square.

 

[one]

I really don't like that, and I think it's mostly a Japanese thing (are SE entirely to blame?).

I guess that's Sakaguchi thing, the Final Fantasy Spirits Within movie fame I don't know how Microsoft ordered him, probably "please develop authentic JRPG" or something like that, but it may be too old school even for Japanese gamers' tastes that consume things like FF12 today.

 

[czekon]

Yes.


How did everyone else feel? From all that action based, mixed up, dynamic combat, with the hero slicing and dicing, to suddenly being dropped into a turn-based combat that wasn't even showing the real combat, didn't you feel someone had accelerated you to 150 MPH in 15 seconds and then suddenly applied the brakes to take around a almost straight track at 30? I was expecting the guy to go through some fantastic HS/GOW (the original PS2 GOW and not the XB360 GOW!) style realtime gameplay.

Note to self - never check out trailers! Wait for gameplay vids!

yep 100% agree

 

[scooby_dooby]

I think fundamentally the problem was with trailer views rather than gameplay, but what I can find of LO and BD gameplay footage is Massive Downloads.

Did you know what LO was in game type before it started? If I knew it was turn based perhaps it wouldn't have come as quite a shock. I just thought it so odd, this character tearing through the enemy in this complex warzone and then when the player takes over, politely having the enemy line up so he can chop them in a orderly fashion. It'd be like watching Motorstorm start with footage of it's manic driving, and then cut to the game where you're in the pits changing tyres

But consider they gave the main character one move. Of course it can't compare to the cool combo's he pulled off in the CG, however if he had an arsenal of dirrent moves, spells, abilities etc, it would probably be way better. The guy does the same "slash" move every single time, obviously it's not gonna be so impressive!

I dunno, I think for a turn based game it's as good as I've ever seen. Easily.

 

[silhouette]

I guess LO should be only judged for its graphics/animation quality as Sakaguchi already said that most important part of the game elements are missing in this demo.. So, we should wait and see how it will shape during next year. In gfx department, it already got A from almost everyone so they are fine there.

Btw, there is an interview with Peter Moore in gametrailers. He mentioned that Japan gamers have different mindset than western players. He said Japans love games that they can develop strategy before the action and westerns loves real-time action. Both BD and LO are for Japanese players, so it is not suprising that many of us in this board find both games quiet slow.

However, I do like to pause the game quiet a lot when I play Baldur's Gate, so I guess I will also like JRPGs to some degree as well (I have never played one).

 

[Sankari]

I dunno, I think for a turn based game it's as good as I've ever seen. Easily.

How come? Sure there is more going on in the background than most turn based RPG's in battles but when you look at the soldiers in the background, all they do is just stay there and watch (if I recall correctly, need to rewatch the demo later today) which isn't anything impressive. The battle has nothing new when comparing it to Final Fantasy for example. (NOT to say its something that is a bad thing, because I love Final fantasies) but if I understood your comment correctly this is above every turn based RPG out there in your opinion. I might have understood it wrong though.

 

[Dr. Nick]

I'm guessing they should have used a super powered character with all of his spells and attacks availible instead of what might be a level 1 character. For a game that won't be on the market for a while I would say they did a good job.

 

[-=P3tRaN=-]

the japanese overlay menus on the playable demo must have an indication on the hero's level.
can somebody confirm that its level 1?
I seem to have read it somewhere else anyway..

but why use a higher level character on the demo anyway? its the start of the story..

 

[scooby_dooby]

How come? Sure there is more going on in the background than most turn based RPG's in battles but when you look at the soldiers in the background, all they do is just stay there and watch (if I recall correctly, need to rewatch the demo later today) which isn't anything impressive. The battle has nothing new when comparing it to Final Fantasy for example. (NOT to say its something that is a bad thing, because I love Final fantasies) but if I understood your comment correctly this is above every turn based RPG out there in your opinion. I might have understood it wrong though.

I'm mainly referring to all the stuff going on in the background, the camera angles etc. The combat itself is very oldschool.

 

[valioso]

but why use a higher level character on the demo anyway? its the start of the story..

to make sure people will not die during the demo.. ?

 

[valioso]

I'm guessing they should have used a super powered character with all of his spells and attacks availible instead of what might be a level 1 character. For a game that won't be on the market for a while I would say they did a good job.

From what I read the character was souped up... but the combat was not complete for the demo it was at its most basic...

 

[-=P3tRaN=-]

to make sure people will not die during the demo.. ?

I see you have not studied your homework. the hero cannot die for 1.000 years. I really doubt the demo was that long.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I see you have not studied your homework. the hero cannot die for 1.000 years. I really doubt the demo was that long.

but the main character is supposed to awaken after the battle, not in it. So, I think he's right.

 

[Hardknock]

New screen shot:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/hardknock/1173223097.jpg

 

[Nesh]

Is that real time? It looks marvelous

 

[rounin]

Screen shot at 1280x987

 

[Hardknock]

screenshots are taken at many resolutions depending on what they are trying to do. This is obviously a promotional shot, but appears to be using the in-game engine. This doesn't look good enought to be CG IMO... Also we've seen real-time video with the same fidelity....

Could be wrong though