820°

The Xbox 360 Delivers A February 'Final Fantasy' Clone That's Fun To… Read?

MTV Multiplayer writes:

Back when I was playing "Final Fantasy X" and not completely loving it, it did not occur to me that one way the developers could have made the game better would have been to include text-based short stories that I could read on my TV.

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Iron Man 25953d ago

Lost Oddysey will be just as bad as Blue Dragon and Two Worlds on the Xbox 360

Mr_Kuwabara5953d ago

If you mean sale-wise then yes but Lost Odyssey has had a lot of positive feedback so it does look like a great JRPG. And even though I doubt that it'll dominate the charts, at least peeps that like this genre will have a great title to play.

I don't have a 360 though, I would've bought it if I had one or if it would've showed up on the PS3 but oh well....

wageslave5953d ago (Edited 5953d ago )

Blue Dragon was terrific - famitsu gave it 37/40.

And, how can Sakaguchi 'clone' his own game?

Edit:
4 disagrees? Really. What colour is the sky in your fantasy-land?

consolewar5953d ago

of course IMHO, but kind of easy tho.

mikeslemonade5953d ago

To make reading a selling point in the game is pure laziness. If we wanted to read a lot we would have bought a book. I guess this what you have to do with the 360 since it has to fit the game into dvd9s.

PittzBlitz20035953d ago

As far as I can tell, that has always been the intention of an RPG; an interactive book for the most part. They aren't intended to be fast action, run and gun games set in a world with no meaning. They are designed to be captivating stories, set in worlds with history, character, and a context. Now how many actually do this is successfully is debatable, but the whole making the player read is lazy approach sounds a little, well "lazy" on your part.

GunShotEddy5953d ago

I saw the headline and had to click it for the same reason. How can the creator of Final Fantasy clone his own game? He created FF. And Blue Dragon is/was great. *Except for that blasted battle song - "This is the beginning", lol*

mikeslemonade5952d ago (Edited 5952d ago )

Why don't you try reading my comment more than once or you're too lazy? How am the lazy one? Okay I said to make a game to have A LOT of reading(most RPGs don't have A LOT of reading) is pure laziness especially in this day in age. I didn't pay $60 to read something on my HDTV that I could have written. That would piss me off. RPGs are supposed to evolve just like any other genre. Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata proved that by being just good games nothing more.

marinelife95952d ago

I guess they were saving disc space and voice actor salaries.

Or maybe it turns out pretty cool like in Folklore.

witchking5952d ago

When I saw the initial trailers for Lost Odyssey, it looked pretty good. But since then I've seen more of the gameplay (turn-based, yuck) and more of the details around the story... and frankly, I'm just not all that excited about JRPGs any longer... at least not this one. Blue Dragon went into the same pile; my kids wanted it for Christmas so they got it, but I lost interest in it. It's looking like Mistwalker is a middling development house, and not the superpower that MSFT wanted it to become.

fusionboxer5952d ago

If you think hard, i mean real hard, Sakaguchi isn't soley responsible for the entire final fantasy series. It was a combination of ideas from many people within his team and at square. Alot like how Inafune stated that clover leaving capcom wouldn't be a huge blow to the company because the same people who worked on Okami and some of the other clover studios projects were still around.

Also similar to David Jaffe not working on the second god of war, but it still being amazing because the same staff was still there.

Anyway this "cloning" is why blue dragon wasn't as appealing as it could have been because it didn't really feel like a new experience. Sure it had some great cliched characters and amazing visuals, but it lacked in that sense of wonder and amazement i took out of the previous creations this man has done.

At this point we really need innovation. Of course we'll have the die hards that want things to always stay the same, but without innovation we wouldn't have seen FFVII, FFX, Kingdom Hearts, or even FF Tactics. Instead of Sakaguchi trying to take a tried and true formula and bring it into the next gen i'd like something new. That is why i believe he simply is "cloning" his past works. And he's not exempt from that title because he's the creator, but because he's seemingly reusing old formulas.

Anyway LO looks to be great due to the story itself. I've played and enjoyed many games that had boring repetitive game play, but an engrossing story to keep me involved. The text thing is a little scary though...Kind of makes me think of the saying "show don't tell".

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 5952d ago
Spike475953d ago

it's just that xbox360 owners don't buy and refuse to buy RPGS in the states.

MS should stick to FPS devs since that's what they're crowd buys.

Lost odyssey should've been on the ps3 aswell.

maybe then it would've done very well in japan.

toughNAME5953d ago

I'm pretty sure Mass Effect sold over a million copies

...in less than 3 weeks

mintaro5953d ago

true, it did exceptionally well, but i think that many people in the states had played it as a shoot first think later game, as with most shooters (although it is rpg first and formost, than a shooter)

wageslave5953d ago (Edited 5953d ago )

Im pretty sure Oblivion sold very well, and got 5 DLC packs that sold so well that the developer gave the last one for free, along with a Thank-you to the fans.

How are the Oblivion sales on PS3 going I wonder....

Edit;
For lack of a better source mind you, but here goes from vgchartz:
1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bethesda 5,343 7.20 0.61m
2 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 2k Games 7,338 7.91 2.34m

So, almost 4:1 Xbox 360 to PS3.

AngryTypingGuy5953d ago

Mass Effect and Oblivion are two phenomenal games. They are western RPG's. Western RPG's will do better on the 360 than eastern RPG's with turn based fighting.

I love M.E. and Oblivion, but don't think that I could ever get into Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey.

InMyOpinion5952d ago

The sales numbers speak for the 360, the fanboys speak for the PS3...

witchking5952d ago

I think you're right in terms of JRPGs. Americans seem more excited by western RPGs (KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc.). Those sell well.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5952d ago
toughNAME5953d ago

"it's just that xbox360 owners don't buy and refuse to buy RPGS "

HarryEtTubMan5953d ago

haha Xbox 360 has no good games coming out in 2008 hahahahahha

Rice5953d ago

really mean, the 360 does have games in 08, but its the fact that the PS3 has GREAT games coming out that it makes 360 games dont look as good.

texism5952d ago

Ninja Gaiden 2 looks like it might be alright /endsarcasm

felman875953d ago

Am I the only one who liked blue dragon?

GIJeff5953d ago (Edited 5953d ago )

now shut up.

awww just a friendly joke. :(

wageslave5953d ago

I played it through twice, loved it both times.

You're not alone at all. The game got good reviews and sold relatively well... Your not alone at all.

On n4g, every Xbox 360 game is terrible you see... dont believe thier BS.

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210°

Lost Odyssey Is Still One Of The Best Xbox RPGs Ever

17 years later, it still stands out.

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shinoff218379d ago

I liked blue dragon more. Lost odyssey is the shit though.

jznrpg79d ago

Two of the few games I still own for Xbox360 . I have Magna Carta 2 , Last Remnant but also have the PS4 version so I may have got rid of it and I have the DS version of Blue Dragon. I think and a few others but I forget what they are since I don’t dust them off. that’s about it.

shinoff218378d ago (Edited 78d ago )

Another one I still havent got to try is infinite undiscovery. I read it was pretty linear but I usually fk with tri ace(star oceans are great).

Really my only issue with lost odyssey was the level cap they hit you with throughout the game. I enjoy just relaxing and doing some grinding every once in awhile. Could've atleast given the option. Other then that. Excellent game.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The 360 imo had atleast half or more that Gen of being the better jrpg system. I bought one earlier then I normally would have for some, and Alan wake. Japanese devs really got in their feelings that Gen and dropped the ball(thanks Phil phish, cocky ass ign, etc)

darthv7278d ago

You'd be better off playing Lost Odyssey on an XBO or Series X as no disc swapping and it looks and plays much better. Same with Blue Dragon. I still keep my 360 hooked up for games not on the bc list. for everything else, I use the series x now. Just last night I installed arkham origins as there is no 8th gen version like asylum/city.

I love having bc on xbox one/series hardware.

shinoff218378d ago

Darth

When I bought the the Xbox one off a couple worker. That was the first thing indid. Bought blue dragon and lost odyssey. Been waiting to catch infinite undiscovery on sale but I forget to check.

I used to own the 360 versions but I bought these digital. I'd like to track down the 360 ones again but no huge deal. I was actually playing through lost odyssey waiting for starfield to drop.

RaidenBlack78d ago

Is Lost Odyssey coming to PS, too?

cthulhucultist79d ago

The game was indeed amazing. Great characters, gameplay and story!

But the dream sequences penned by Shigematsu were sublime.

I still remember many of these stories and I have integrated in the past in my D&D campaign many years ago.

RpgSama79d ago

I'm not going to lie, I cried on more than on a couple of them

Dabigsiebowski79d ago

Microsoft should have just kept pumping money into these guys. Same with a lot of the other studios... the blundered hard.

Lost Odysee deserved a franchise even though development wasn't smooth

Michiel198979d ago

Am I the only one who doesn't wanna see every good game get sequel after sequel? It was a great game, but sometimes it's better to just make a one off and then create a new universe. Sadly that costs a lot more money and publishers don't wanna risk it, but I would definitely prefer it

shinoff218378d ago

I'm fine with sequels in jrpgs, even in the vain of ff sequels, all new stories and characters. It does get old in other genres though sometimes. For the most part I just game by game basis it all.

FinalFantasyFanatic78d ago

They could have done it like Final Fantasy, kept the title name and just start with a new world/characters, it's not like the creator isn't familar with that.

Concertoine78d ago

Idk, Japan never bit for Xbox despite their best efforts around this era. Mistwalker never exploded either, despite future partnerships with Nintendo whichhad a much better chance at success

BrainSyphoned79d ago

It's not like it has had any competition since 2007. Would really like to own the short stories from it in book form.

PapaBop78d ago

360 had some amazing JRPGs in it's early days, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia off the top of my head were all amazing games.

jznrpg79d ago (Edited 79d ago )

The problem with most MS games on 360 was they didn’t make the games they paid for them and that makes you less money in the long run and isn’t something you can continue to do especially with declining sales of consoles. MS should have been starting and growing studios from the beginning but they went for paid games and it leaves them without the knowledge and culture of making games.

shinoff218378d ago

Good points. Never thought of that like that back then.

Sgt_Slaughter78d ago

Not to mention killing the Japanese market that had all sorts of crazy and fun releases up until 2009-2010. They could have gained momentum on Nintendo and kept that going into the Xbox One era, but decided to "unify" efforts and that all but ended their presents in the country. Now, PS4's outsell the Xbox Series S three years into the new system's life cycle, and the 2/3DS at one point was doing the same.

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70°

Fifteen years on, Lost Odyssey is a perfect swansong for the formula Hironobu Sakaguchi perfected

It’s quite hard to believe, but Lost Odyssey turns fifteen years old today. A curious product of the time, it has arguably only got better with age - and not just because of what it is, but also what it represents.

andy85513d ago

Jeez doesn't seem 15 years. Very fond memories of this

FortWaba513d ago

The short stories that Kaim collects/remembers are truly emotional. I remember one in particular made my eyes water.

If you've never played this, try to hunt down an original copy, or emulate it. This game was a gem.

GoodGuy09513d ago

I wish there was a remaster. This and Last Story. Sad these games were released on the...wrong platforms...

kingnick512d ago

Considering all the early tech issues Unreal Engine 3 had combined with Japanese developers working with a foreign language engine Lost Odyssey on the PS3 would have been a tech disaster if it had used UE3.

Lost Odyssey's long load times and framerate drops are evidence of just how hard it was working with early builds of UE3, it's a miracle Lost Odyssey turned out as well as it did.

In a perfect world Lost Odyssey would have launched on the PS3 but I doubt Sony or anyone else would have funded the project if Microsoft didn't.

shinoff2183512d ago

It wouldve sold better thats for sure and maybe dude wouldnt be doing mobile games now

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828d ago
Jiub828d ago

Legend of Dragoon was amazing