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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The PS2 is far from dead!, May 25, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I've been an avid gamer since the Atari 2600 days. One thing I've noticed over those 2 and a half decades of console gaming is that almost always the best games for all of the systems come out at the end of the systems' life cycle. Look at the games the SNES had in its last year of life. Chrono Trigger anyone? And other games like Donkey Kong Country were displaying graphics that seemed inpossible for the SNES. I also remember playing a Batman game on the NES (forget the title)that came out as the NES was dying, it too had graphics that seemed impossible for the NES. One big reason this is is that by the time a system is about to be taken off the market, developers have had a lot of time to get to know the system's hardware and know all the ins and outs when developing games for it. Games have gotten more involved as years have passed, especially RPG's, so now the games that come out at the end of the newer system's life not only have the best graphics seen yet on the system, the developes have also had years to flesh out the story, combat and item systems. You'll understand this when you play the awesome Odin Sphere.
At its core, the game is an action/adventure RPG. You wander through areas going left to right and attack enemies in real time. It's a bit like the first Valkyrie Profile that came out for the PS1, but way more fine tuned. When enemies are defeated, they release spirits called Phozons that you can magically absorb into your weapon making it more powerful. All areas are set up in "Stages". When you get tot he end of a stage, Odin will drop a treasure chest from the heavens you can open to collect rewards. The cool thing here is, the faster you complete a stage, the better items the treasure chest will have. Also, the less damage you take within that stage will also grant you better items.
Speaking of items, you can get them in a variety of ways. There are vendors scattered throughout castles and battlefields, and you can also grow them. You find seeds all over the place, as well as sheep seeds and more. What you do is plant the seeds near some enemies, and defeat the enemies. Instead of absorbing into your weapong, the phozons will absorb into the seeds making a plant grow that will have various items hanging off of them depending on what seed you planted. It's a very unique concept. You can also cook in the game, and there's a fairly easy alchemy system you can use.
The story is all about Norse mythology, and the graphics that are hand painted reflect that. You have the option to play the game with English voiceovers or in the original Japanese with English subtitles. I selected the English option, and the voice acting is actually pretty good.
If you're a fan of RPG's at all, especially if you're looking for something that's different from anything else out there right now, Odin Sphere should be a game you should pick up as soon as you can. The game seems very involved, and it is, but the game also lets you select from three different difficulty levels at any time.
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35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good, May 23, 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
For some reason, Atlus' Odin Sphere had some hype surrounding it as it makes it's way to the states on the good 'ol PS2, and it's surprisingly good too. Taking place in a children's storybook, Odin Sphere is basically a beat 'em up disguised as a beautiful looking RPG-ish game. And when I say beautiful, I mean beautiful. For a late in life PS2 game, Odin Sphere looks great. The graphics, animation, and colors are vibrant and detailed despite some glitches and stiffness, but the game also suffers from some slowdown when there is a lot of on-screen action. Not to mention that there are some annoyingly frequent load times as well. That's all pretty much it for the flaws of Odin Sphere, but the good really does outweigh the bad thanks to the game's long quest and engaging story above all else, while the game also features some great voice acting, music and sound effects, and an item system that adds a bit of depth to the gameplay. All in all, Odin Sphere really doesn't offer anything you haven't seen before, but the game is a surprisingly good and worthwhile pickup for those who aren't ready to let their PS2's ride off into the sunset just yet.
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The End of the World Times Five, June 14, 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Lately, I've been really disappointed with the PS2's RPG offerings. Final Fantasy XII was the logical evolution of the graphics over gameplay mentality, a game that basically played itself. Valkyrie Profile 2 had some neat ideas but completely dropped the ball with its unbalanced difficulty and messy battle system. Almost six months after the console has become obsolete along comes Odin Sphere, the RPG swan song I've been waiting for.
The story of Odin Sphere tells the tale of a war between the Odin and his Aesir against the Vanir, the fairy people, to control a device known as the cauldron. It follows the journey of five different characters over the course of roughly the same time period as the events that herald the end of the world come to pass. Their paths all converge at the end when they take part in one last, futile battle against the beasts of the apocalypse. Even if the individual stories of the characters do lean a bit towards the melodramatic, they are excellent, interesting, and develop the characters well. All five stories fit together nicely like pieces of a puzzle.
Its story alone is enough to cover quite a few worts that gameplay has as far as I'm concerned. For one thing, Odin Sphere is a throw-back to older games in difficulty as well as its visual design. Odin Sphere is a 2D side-strolling action game primarily with RPG elements thrown in. Watching it is like a seeing a gorgeous painting come to life. It is almost mind-blowingly difficult at times. At first, the difficulty level almost had me hating this game. Odin Sphere has a terrible learning curve that has to be overcome to find the gameing goodness within. For one thing, the player must learn that mindlessly attacking will get you killed quickly. Secondly, you must learn that given the limited space in your inventory, items are meant to be used, not stockpiled. Dropped items are plentiful so you can easily find or make another one. Thirdly, the character must use the food cultivation system to gain levels and healing items. The food you grow at first doesn't heal you up very much and you are open to enemy attack should you need to consume it in the heat of battle which makes it nearly useless. A bit later on you'll gain a healing potion alchemy mix which you can synthesize at any time and at last the game becomes bearable. Also I don't think it helps that the starting character, Gwendolyn, tends to get stuck in long combo animations that leave her open to attack. I found it to be a ton of fun after I learned the ropes because, rather than being a mindless hack and slash you can just plow through, Odin Sphere requires some smart thinking and quick reflexes. I also don't think that it helps Odin Sphere's case at the beginning that the first character's story arc takes place the latest in the time line and feels like it has large gaps in it, which are actually covered in other characters' scenarios.
In the end, Odin Sphere is a wonderful game, but its only going to appeal to a select audience. If you love RPGs and hard action games, your ship has come in because this blends the best of both into one package. If not, its probably only going to make you frustrated.
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