Giving up the Lost Odyssey...

I think my taste in games has changed. When I was younger and JRPG turn based action was the rage, I'd have sunk so many hours into Lost Odyssey that I would have likely burned out my 360. Now a days... I dunno. I do enjoy a properly laid out RPG as much as anyone, but I find Lost Odyssey a very slow game.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've sunk some time into this title. Probably 40 hours or more, although I'd say the last 10 were forced because I felt compelled to. The game is gorgeous. The world is compelling. The story, as well, is compelling and interesting. But the combat is soooo slow and uninteresting, and the load times for literally EVERYTHING are so painful and dragged out, I'd estimate a good 10 hours of the 40 I've played were watching the stats of characters on load screens. Good lord.

Now I cannot be TOO hard, this game IS a first generation title that when it was designed, I imagine the 360 hardware was far harder to develop for. When it first came out, load screens were the norm and accepted. Now, while I'm not an anxious gamer by any means, a well laid out plot is worth waiting for, this is a bit much.

One of the things that I don't like either is adding in puzzles that are ridiculous and are in place JUST TO HAVE A PUZZLE THERE and TO LENGTHEN THE GAME. Lost Odyssey is filled with these. The last straw for me being some temple on disk 4 where you ride these little platforms around a maze all the while dodging random encounters. So every time an encounter hits, you wait for the battle to load (as many as 45 to 60 seconds pass waiting), fight the battle, wait for the main game screen to load again, then start again. Gah. Then you have to figure out the puzzle again. Meanwhile, if this WEREN'T a stupid puzzle, the gaps that you ride these little platforms are so small that you could simply JUMP them, wait, even SKIP over them. But no. It's a stupid, needless puzzle. Gah. Again.

So as for "next game played" from my last list, it isn't going to be Lost Odyssey obviously. This title goes back to it's owner. :( I did however pick up Wolverine again. It is getting a wee bit repetitive going back and forth from Alkali Lake and Mexico, same 5 baddies. It's still really fun to slap 'em around and chop 'em to bits though. Should have a third trader by Saturday, as Bayonetta turned out to be finished last night! Funky ending, a little over the top. Then again, everything in this title is a little over the top, so I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.

Back tomorrow with more on Wolverine.

C