Kevin's Watch

I need to get an XBOX so I can play the true successors to FF, the Mistwalker games Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.

I don't know if I would call Lost Odyssey a successor to Final Fantasy. The RPG it brings to mind most for me is Legend of Dragoon. I can't really articulate why, and it's more than just the timing element of combat sequences. Something about the monster and world design, immortals with mysterious pasts I think. There's also a jungle in Legend of Dragoon (where you fight the green dragon) that feels almost identical to a jungle in Lost Odyssey. The oceanside dungeons also remind me of a couple places in legend of dragoon. I actually saw someone claim that some of the people who made Legend of Dragoon worked on Shadow Hearts and that some of those who worked on Shadow Hearts worked on Lost Odyssey, thus the connection is strengthened by tenuous, secondhand evidence. Not that any of this is a bad thing. While legend of dragoon's characterization and overall plot where kind of dull, the world was visually stunning and pretty interesting to explore.

The main story hasn't been too engaging so far. However, the main character is an immortal who's forgotten his own past, but can remember fragments of it through a kind of deja vu (though of experiences he has presumably had before). The stories that are revealed in his dreams ARE really well written and interesting, though they are almost always completely unrelated to the larger plot.

Actually, it does have a bit of FFX in it in that each boss battle (especially early on) seems to revolve around a particular kind of gimic that makes the mechanics of the boss different from the rest of the game. But although it was made by mistwalker, I don't think you'll find it to feel that much like earlier FF games - again, I could be wrong. I've also heard Blue Dragon is more like Dragon Quest - again, this is not a bad thing, as Dragon Quest is a great RPG series.

I haven't finished it myself though. Only about 1/2 way through the game.

I would agree that most of Square Enix's material seems to be kinda meh. I really liked XII actually, but otherwise it seems like a lot of their best work recently is ports of their older games. One can only hope that Front Mission Evolved is a worth successor to that somewhat overshadowed mech series that - going by Front Mission 3 and 4, and what I've heard about japan only front mission 5 - may be the best thing SE has to offer.

EDIT-Given that it's a console game, Front Mission 5 being japan only may be the most disappointing japan-only release I'm aware of.

Holsety wrote:

I need to get an XBOX so I can play the true successors to FF, the Mistwalker games Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.

I don't know if I would call Lost Odyssey a successor to Final Fantasy. The RPG it brings to mind most for me is Legend of Dragoon. I can't really articulate why, and it's more than just the timing element of combat sequences. Something about the monster and world design, immortals with mysterious pasts I think. There's also a jungle in Legend of Dragoon (where you fight the green dragon) that feels almost identical to a jungle in Lost Odyssey. The oceanside dungeons also remind me of a couple places in legend of dragoon. I actually saw someone claim that some of the people who made Legend of Dragoon worked on Shadow Hearts and that some of those who worked on Shadow Hearts worked on Lost Odyssey, thus the connection is strengthened by tenuous, secondhand evidence. Not that any of this is a bad thing. While legend of dragoon's characterization and overall plot where kind of dull, the world was visually stunning and pretty interesting to explore.

The main story hasn't been too engaging so far. However, the main character is an immortal who's forgotten his own past, but can remember fragments of it through a kind of deja vu (though of experiences he has presumably had before). The stories that are revealed in his dreams ARE really well written and interesting, though they are almost always completely unrelated to the larger plot.

Actually, it does have a bit of FFX in it in that each boss battle (especially early on) seems to revolve around a particular kind of gimic that makes the mechanics of the boss different from the rest of the game. But although it was made by mistwalker, I don't think you'll find it to feel that much like earlier FF games - again, I could be wrong. I've also heard Blue Dragon is more like Dragon Quest - again, this is not a bad thing, as Dragon Quest is a great RPG series.

I haven't finished it myself though. Only about 1/2 way through the game.

I would agree that most of Square Enix's material seems to be kinda meh. I really liked XII actually, but otherwise it seems like a lot of their best work recently is ports of their older games. One can only hope that Front Mission Evolved is a worth successor to that somewhat overshadowed mech series that - going by Front Mission 3 and 4, and what I've heard about japan only front mission 5 - may be the best thing SE has to offer.

EDIT-Given that it's a console game, Front Mission 5 being japan only may be the most disappointing japan-only release I'm aware of.

Oh man. Lost Odyssey. The first half the game was pretty entertaining. Somewhere during the second half the writers quit and hired a 12 year to finish writing the story, whereupon he took a huge shit and never looked back. I literally finished that game only because it gave me 125 gamerpoints just for finishing the game. I promptly traded it in the next day.

Picked up Dragon Age today (PC version) because we upgraded our video card to something awesome. Whooo for tax returns!

I also like to think the "we" in that post is some multiple personality lurking in my subconscious and not my husband.

Finally worked out how to get 250 damage hit lol use Mana Crush on a Blood Mage works a treat finally got my Platinum trophy

I played it for the first time last night, and ended up playing 6 hours straight. Holy hell, I am addicted.

It's like Neverwinter Nights on steroids, and that game has taken years away from my life.

Queeaqueg wrote:Finally worked out how to get 250 damage hit lol use Mana Crush on a Blood Mage works a treat finally got my Platinum trophy

It's either that or the arrow of slaying skill with your rogue or warrior.

Alistair has not been putting out. Seriously. Wtf.