Skip to main content

On forming an opinion on a game...

So today I got a bit more immersed in Lost Odyssey than ever before. As we've posted previously, it's my wife that's playing the game. That's because I was spending some quality time playing Virtua Fighter 5 and improving my online fighting skills with Jacky. In the future I'm going to post some of my 'ownage!' videos of VF5 online play on this blog, just for kicks :D

I guess I needed a change of pace. Every so often I glance over my shoulder while surfing and my wife's playing Lost Odyssey. Some moments really made me go 'Wow!' even if I wasn't strictly watching her progress (most of the posts here about the game are based on her impressions).

So this morning I got even deeper into disc 1. Just a thought that occurred to me: When people form their opinion on a game, what should have more weight? Technical merits or the 'big picture'? With Lost Odyssey you could spend time mulling over the occasional jaggy or two, or imperfect lighting in some areas (and spectacular lighting in others). What I don't understand is there are some review sites which base a large part of their scoring system on these technical problems. For me, I've changed my standard a bit....if a technical problem in a game is so distracting from appreciating the overall product, that's the time when a game deserves to get panned for technical glitches. Lost Odyssey gets the occasional graphical glitch but for some reason it hasn't bothered me much. Call it a lack of a standard to compare against, call it whichever way you want....it just doesn't bother me. The game does a great job of immersing you in its own little world.

I guess my overall positive opinion of the game is helped by the fact that the second boss killed me twice today, and I had to actually try to figure out what I was doing wrong. This is the first time, in a LONG time, that a turn based RPG had me in a conundrum....what was I doing wrong? My wife was watching on the sidelines and she was surprised that I was having trouble.

Eventually I guess I started asking the right questions. What's this GC bar up here? Turns out that I wasn't watching that bar. It's related to your party's overall 'defense' rating, and if that starts going down, Jansen (or anyone in your party in the back row) starts dying, really, really fast! I found out that I had to acquire a skill for recharging GC. It doesn't go up during combat automatically, you have to bring it up using the DEFEND command. Imagine that....I had to use the DEFEND option in a turn based game? Wow, there's innovation already in Lost Odyssey. That's because that option was always in Final Fantasy games but it never, ever gets used. Usually the only command you needed in FF was "SUMMON". That should keep you alive for 3/4ths of any Final Fantasy game until you reach the 2nd-to-the-last boss, which is always harder than the final, final boss (with the exception of Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7).

Another thing I was doing wrong was I didn't have the Anti-paralysis skill. The giant white worm boss unleashes this magical attack that not only damages your party but also paralyzes everyone. This would make the turns after that practically useless because you couldn't do anything against the boss other than heal yourself and try to make it to the next round.

Man, Lost Odyssey's tough.

I like it.

So in short, this incoherent post is just meant to say that---and this doesn't just apply to Lost Odyssey but to most games these days---it's far better to appreciate a game for what it is than to mull over the occassional graphical glitch or two. There's no point in trying to justify your Xbox 360 console purchase by this point in the machine's life cycle by scrutinizing the exclusive games like that. I think there's more merit to appreciating the big picture, to seeing what a game has to offer over what it can't do better than the others.

Unfortunately this postive attitude toward video games isn't going to get me that much mileage in terms of site hits, though. This morning I watched an episode of "Bonus Round" on Gametrailers and one of the panelists on the show said that being extremely negative about a game almost always gets you more site hits, which in turn makes you more Google Adsense money, and generally makes you a more popular guy on the Internet.

Well, I like being a bit different....
Maybe I'll post more on this subject later....a guy's gotta eat, you know.

Popular posts from this blog

More on PS3 Hardware Failures: AICN's Moriarty Hit By BDL

Earlier I posted about how the PS3 is no less susceptible to hardware problems. The issue was dubbed the 'BDL' (Blu-Ray Disc Laser problem) over on Pinoyxbox by the multi-console users in the community. You'd find a lot more information about this by searching for error 80010514 and 80029906. That said, I saw this post on AICN from Moriarty ....apparently he also got hit by the BDL problem. He had the console repaired by Sony, and when he got his replacement, he was hit by another problem: he encountered an issue while updating his PS3, causing his system to get bricked. So now he's had two broken PS3s in a row, and the system has lost his recommendation as a blu-ray player system of choice for consumers: "Regarding Moriarty’s Awesome Non-Stop Blu-Ray Coverage... Or Lack Thereof! Dear Sony... Y’know, some days it doesn’t pay to be a movie fan. I’ve done tons of DVD coverage over the years here at AICN, and it’s funny... I’ve heard some people actually say, “But yo

Gamers based in the Philippines: How to get in Xbox Live

NOTE: This article has recently been updated (as of August 12, 2006). Singapore no longer lets you input '00000' as your zip code. Please see below for alternate zip codes. So you're a Filipino living in the Philippines with a brand-spanking new Xbox 360. You've heard about all the wonderful stories on Xbox Live. You happen to have a pretty good broadband connection. One day, you try out the Xbox Live sign-up options on your 360, and you find out to your dismay that your country is NOT listed. What do you do? Now, you can probably enjoy your 360 without live at all, but I have to tell you: YOU ARE MISSING OUT. As Peter Moore said in the recent MS Press Conference: "Having your 360 connected to Xbox Live is as vital as having your computer connected to the Internet". He is so damned right. I've been playing on Xbox Live for almost a year now (both on my original Xbox and the Xbox 360). Essentially I found out all of this with a little bit of research, a lit

Lost Odyssey Theme Song - "What You Are" by Sheena Easton

I've uploaded the theme song for Lost Odyssey in YouTube. Check out the video below: At first, I wasn't so into the song but when I heard it in full it grows on you. The song is actually quite beautiful. It was sung by Sheena Easton. With the lyrics from Hironobu Sakaguchi and the composition by Nobuo Uematsu. Very moving song, specially once you understand the lyrics. Below are the lyrics for the song "What You Are" by Sheena Easton When you touch me It feels just like a dream With the warmth that's in your eyes When you look at me I hear your voice beside me It whispers to me I can't hide how it makes me feel The shyness you see I may never Understand how deep it goes But I know how I feel What I hold deep in my heart There's just no way to stop this It's hopeless but true I feel this love More than anything So what more can I do You know I thought I would be much stronger than I am But then I feel the boldness that's inside my heart Just melt aw