Odin Sphere

Another significant portion of my life is my Playstation (PS) 2. So it's only right that I blog about some games I've finished playing on my trusty unit.


I still remember the generosity of my friend Kah Jun who lent me his PS1 whilst we were back in secondary school to play Final Fantasy VII and VIII. I am forever in your debt my friend! That got me really hooked. The one fine day, I decided to get a PS2 unit for myself.


So in no particular order, here is my 2¢ on Odin Sphere, a beautifully crafted Action RPG from Atlus. I should mention I have a soft spot for fantasy genre RPGs.

It's been a long time since I touched an RPG with a side scrolling platform feel. I thought it may feel dated and obsolete. Odin Sphere overcomes this with some of the most gorgeous 2D artwork I've ever seen. Every environment is lovingly detailed, sometimes I just walk through the maps slowly to take a look at it all.

You take control of several heroes in the game, all of which give you a gameplay of the same storyline from different points of view. There will be times you co-operate and also battle against the other heroes. Another cool feature is the game has a in-game video timeline tool which allows you to play back all the videos you've seen in the game. So Hero B Event 1 may occur just after Hero A's Event 2. And after you've finished playing all heroes, you can watch the events occur in proper time sequence.

Another big part of this game is alchemy. You'll be finding lots of ingredients around the Odin Sphere world. Some popup from the ground (no kidding!), some can be ground, and if you mix the correct combination of ingredients, you can create new ones. This include useful potions, and food. In fact, there are kitchens and cafes in the game you can visit.

You can find little recipe scrolls throughout the game, and if you bring the chef the ingredients, they can make lovely food for you. Food is great to restore your health and gain exeperience. That's right, eating steak tartare and roasted lamb can give you experience points.

I love the ending battles of the games too. It has a grand finality feeling to it. Although a lot of it felt really tragic, in the end... a lot of the complex RPG storylines are like that. It's not all doom and gloom though... there are some happy moments too.

The music can get a little cutesy at times, especially during meal times. The voice acting is quite decent though.

Everyone should give Odin Sphere a try. I enjoyed it immensely and believe that if you're willing to give it a chance, you will be pleasantly surprised and richly rewarded.

Verdict:

Gameplay: ****
Music: *****
Graphics: *****