A master class in story telling from the talented minds at Mistwalker Studios.
Story: 10/10
You play a Kaim, an immortal who lost his memory and is currently acting as a mercenary. In attempts to reclaim him lost memory, he soon discovers his true purpose.
While the premise is indeed cliche, the journey itself is a very moving one that'll easily suck you in. One thing I absolutely loved about this game was the inclusion of "dreams." As you progress through the game, you'll come across little side events (like a simple conversation between two people) that'll trigger a memory within Kaim. These memories are strictly text based but are delivered in a stunning manner and although I wasn't able to find every memory, of the 30 something memories I found, EVERY single one was well written and very interesting, that alone is reason enough to seek out these memories.
Visuals: 9/10
Before this game, I had been playing many western RPGs up to this point (over a year ago) and Lost Odyssey quickly reminded me of one reason why I love JRPGs, the visuals in this game are stunning and breathtaking. My favorite city to visit was Numara, a vibrant bustling island nation. Character models were well animated and each character has their own personality that sets them apart.
My ONLY gripe with the visuals are the character models. Half of the characters look fine but Kaim himself looks extremely bland. Also the siblings who join your party, one being a boy is dressed like a girl, something that irritated the hell out of me especially since he wasn't girly nor did he fight like one.
Sound: 10/10
Music is almost always a no brainer when it comes to JRPGs, perfectly accompanying the amazing visuals.
Voice is acting is well done, another thing that MistWalker Studios seems to have down. While Kaim is bland looking, his voice actor does a marvelous job of portraying the tortured soul that Kaim is.
Gameplay: 9/10
Lost Odyssey uses a turn based battle system with a unique twist. When rings are equipped, these can be activated when performing a normal attack. While attacking, you have to press A at the right moment (indicated by a marker on the enemy) to activate the ring. Rings have a numerous amount of uses, from strengthening attacks, adding elemental attributes, stealing, status effects and play a huge role in battles so it's imperative that you take the time to make use of the ring system. Unlike most JRPGs, you actually fight with 5 people in a party, instead of the usual 3 or 4.
Another very interesting and unique feature to the formula is how Kaim and the other immortals learn abilities. Immortals cannot learn their own abilities, they instead need to be linked to mortals and learn their abilities. Each mortal that joins your party has a specific set of skills that are vital for your immortals to learn. Of your mortals, you have a black mage, white mage, spirit user (spirit magic is non elemental magic along with buffs), warrior skills, and the last immortal that joins you has "special skills" that you'll immediately want to make use of. This setup is pretty awesome and encourages you to use every character in your party. Of course, this puts a heavy emphasis on the immortals especially later in the game when your immortals have basically learned all of the skills they need, making the mortals more of a burden rather than an asset. Be prepared because while the battle system is rather traditional, the game is rather difficult and you will lose easily if you don't prepare your party accordingly.
I love the fact that this game allows you to run REALLY fast, which makes traversing the huge environments less of a pain. The dungeons in the game do present you with puzzles that you must solve. Also there are items pretty much scattered everywhere and not in just your traditional chests. Any part of the environment that you can interact with (like trash cans), you can find an item.
The main thing I didn't care for is the tired random encounters, something that I'm glad is no longer practiced in JRPGs.
Value: 10/10
This game is freaking long, of the 3 Mistwalker games I've played, I've spent more time on this game than the other two combined (Blue Dragon - 50 hours, The Last Story - 30 hours) which was nearly 90 hours. Of course when the game is done, there isn't much else to do outside of collecting everything, but a game that should run the average gamer around 70 hours, this game is easily worth it.
Overall: 9.5/10
Lost Odyssey is easily one of my favorite RPGs this generation and one of the best stories I've experienced in a long time. The tale of Kaim and his fellow immortals and deep and touching, the memories of his that you uncover are all masterfully written. The combat system, while very traditional, has some unique touches and can get very challenging. The environments are huge and stunning and the overall game is just an absolute joy to play.