Recalled from a past posting, this information is about Lost Odyssey, what I would say was the pinnacle of RPGs for the XBox 360. Granted, this is in an old format, so bear with it, please?
Game: Lost Odyssey
Released on: February 2008
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"From famed creator Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker comes a revolutionary RPG experience rich in depth, emotion, and cinematic gameplay. In an age that has harnessed the dark power of magic, you are the mysterious, immortal Kaim - on a quest to reclaim 1,000 years of lost memories. Surviving violent wars and encountering friends, lovers, and enemies, you'll discover the true meaning of both sorrow and joy."
That's an excerpt from the back of the box. Really, this game is breathtaking as one of the true RPGs for the console. Mistwalker is a company that was founded by some of the original team-members from Squaresoft that worked behind Final Fantasy. At least, that's what I think I remember reading about, but anyway... Lost Odyssey has you control the immortal known as Kaim Argonar on the battlefields of the Wohl Highlands. A massive war between Uhra and Gohtza is being waged here, and your position upon the field is that of an Uhran warrior. Of course, halfway through the large-scale war, a terrible visage breaks through the sky, wreacking havoc on both sides and leaving Kaim the sole survivor of the ordeal.
Taking control of Kaim from there has you travel the world across four discs to learn about Kaim's past and his role within the world. Along the way, you'll acquire the friendships of others that share in your plight, or in your desire to see the world change through your actions. The story is really breathtaking, and the transition from one major area to another keeps the main plot in mind every step of the way. This is how all stories should shift, and the in-game cinematics make certain scenes absolutely brillaint.
The combat system is unusual, but it brings back memories from other games. There is especially a similarity in Legend of Dragoon, where you had to press a button just as the shape got closer to the center, only in Lost Odyssey, you hold down the Right Trigger, letting a thin ring close in towards the attack ring in the center. The closer you get it to fitting snugly within the outermost part of the ring will increase your damage. This only plays for physical attacks, and anything else, such as guarding, item usage, or spell casting are challenge-free.
Although you may be able to give out orders for your entire team at the start of each turn, the order they come in is shuffled accordingly to the speed of each character. If you have a slow attacker, or if the spell you're casting takes quite a bit of concentration, then you may be near the end of the attack order. Should you attack a spellcaster, or one of your casters get attacked when chanting a spell, their command will be delayed. This can only happen one to two times, if I remember correctly, and after that, any other attacks will just deal damage rather than delay you as well.
In combat, it is better to set your physical attackers up front, leaving the more frail casters in the back. This way, a static wall is formed, greatly reducing the amount of damage that is done to the casters, as long as the wall health is kept up. The wall's health is composed of the health of all attackers in the front, and it goes down as they lose health. With that fact alone, you can't recover the wall's health by actually healing the front attackers; you have to use special abilities, such as Wall, Walla, or Wallus to recover it.
Kaim isn't the only Immortal you will come to get for your team, and other than being able to revive after a few turns of being KO in battle, they also have another ability: Skill Link. When you have mortals in your active party, the Immortals can learn any ability that the mortal has presently learned. This only goes for abilities that the mortal would learn through leveling, rather than accessories, but Immortals can learn abilities from those as well. Using Skill Points that you gain from killing creatures, you would work towards completely learning the ability. When it is fully learned, you'll gain a message at the end of battle saying who has learned what, and that will mean they no longer have to set the Skill Link to it, able to use it themselves when it is set.
The Immortals don't have a specific set of skills of their own. Instead, they rely on Skill Link from mortals and accessories to create an ensemble of attacks or spell groups to customize them for almost any situation. At first, they don't have many slots to equip a lot of skills, but by the time you get near the end of learning them all, you'll have 30 slots for each Immortal, and that will give you plenty of room to be ready for any fight.
The areas in Lost Odyssey have quite a lot of detail put into them. From the Epsilon Mountains, to Uhra and many other locations all over the world, Mistwalker really did a number in creating such stunning visuals. To add further depth into exploring every corner of a map, they've also taken to adding in little interactions with the scenery, such as kicking trash cans, or ramming trees, to find hidden items. This can be a bit tedious, if you're going for every little item and may miss something somewhere. Don't fear, though; if there is anything locatable in a temporary dungeon, the Auction House, which opens up around the 3rd Disc, will be there to sell it instead.
One of the more promising notes to this game are the memories that Kaim and some of the other Immortals reclaim throughout the progress of the game. Called "1000 Years of Dreams", it starts as soon as Kaim first rests at an inn, and from there, many different things can spark a memory to come back, such as seeing a child's smiling face, or an old man speak of his younger days. The stories all relate to the Immortal's life in the world, taking place in many different locations, but sharing one same thread: the Immortal's inability to truly age with the mortals, and yet, seeing how they love, lose, and live their short lives in the way they wish.
Four discs of entertainment is packed into the game case, and not one second of it is wasted. This is truly an epic roleplaying game, and it should not be overlooked for its low-key developer. Mistwalker was also the group behind Blue Dragon. We may see more to come from them...
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