Odin Sphere

Amazon.com Sales Rank: 1062

Average Customer Rating:

UPC: 730865530236

List price: ~~$19.99~~

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Reviews

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Unique, in a fantastic way, December 28, 2008

Odin Sphere is a fantastic game.

The gameplay is fast and exciting, and the storylines are epic.

Those reviewers complaining about a lack of depth in gameplay (I believe someone likened the combat to "mash mash mash") may not have experienced everything this title has to offer. The actual sword-swingin' is a little weak, but that's because it's really only a tenth of the overall gameplay. Sure, in the lower levels, you can mash an attack button and do all right. As you move on, however, you find that this tactic will result in a loading screen.

As the difficulty advances, you'll find that you need to manage attack, defense, mobility, magic, seed growth, health, food recipes, leveling up, and potions - all in real time. To make matters more interesting, many of these mechanics contrast each other.

Do you eat the apple in your inventory, thereby gaining immediate health, or do you keep it and use it later on in a larger food recipe? Do you allow the enemy crystals to be absorbed into your planted seeds, thereby growing new food items, or do you absorb them immediately to power your magic?

Quite a far cry from the easy "mash mash mash" you may see on earlier levels.

The game displays innovation in every category. Other reviewers have covered the system information (planting seeds, eating to gain health and health XP, etc). I've never played any other game like this one, and found it amazingly fun.

Pros:
* Gameplay depth
* Fast-paced
* Crisp, beautiful graphics
* Innovative potion / health / recipe system
* Tradeoffs between magic and food require planning and strategy
* Ability to retry any individual map instantly, no loading
* Ability to restart any area with current XP and items (if the area is too hard)

Cons:
* Boss fights are extremely diffcult compared to basic storyline
* Managing potions, food, and recipes can be overwhelming

A beautiful master piece, when rpgs fuse with action side scrollers., December 7, 2008

I did not know what to think of Odin Sphere. There were some good reviews and some bad reviews. Regardless if you think this is just a hack n slash disguised as an rpg you are both very right but also very wrong. I think what endeared me to the game was having the little girl pick up her black cat Socrates while plopping down in the chair with him. In a strange twist Odin Sphere starts you out as a child with a story book. All the heroes of the game are actually the characters she is reading about. See it as a similar situation as being Bastion with the never-ending story.

In a realm of fairy tales the God Odin has declared war on the fairy kingdom. He wants a cauldron to make powerful weapons but if he succeeds the world will end. Ironically enough you start out not as the hero against Odin but as Gwendolyn, one of his Valkyrie daughters who is a hapless pawn.

Actually there are 5 characters in all. There is Gwendolyn's half sister who is a red hooded witch, the dark knight Oswald that can become a shadow beast, a noble prince who has been turned into a rabbit-thing, and a cute fairy archer. All of them have their own motives as well as varied ways of attacking.

As you jump, glide, and attack you can absorb "phozons". These fuel your magic and power up the damage of your weapons for each character. While you cannot hold many items you can be clever in the way you use them. Plants for example normally require phozons to grow and you can actually bury a seed right before battle so any creatures you slay mature the plant with their dispersed life energy thus making it grow life nourishing berries. My favorite weed was one that dropped living sheep that you could bop to turn into lamb chops!

"Alchemy" is another important skill. By mixing potions you can create healing beverages or even warm elixirs that keep your core temperature up in cold environments.

Odin Sphere's story is very intricate and you get to walk in the shoes of characters that are on every side of the conflict. Each time you complete a hero's scenario another book appears for the little girl to read. Each person has a whole tome dedicated to them alone. By that point it is your choice who you want to play as.

Even if a huge boss is too hard fret not. You can always return to your base with all the experience and items you have earned and simply do the level over again. Eventually you will be strong enough to deal with a pesky dragon or traitorous general on your own terms!

Increasing stats is pretty easy. For example just by eating a lot it raises your overall health and absorbing enough phozons will make your weapon stronger.

The character sprites and graphics have a lot of personality and detail. Remember how crono trigger and secret of mana looked on the SNES at the zenith of its' perfection? Well multiply that glory by 2 and you get the picture.

The music and voice acting also deserve praise and set the mood perfectly for each emotional scenario.

Your found maps are easy to read so going from one place to another without getting lost is easy.

The only bone to pick with Odin sphere is when there are many enemies on screen at once it lags to a crawl. In the end however that is not enough to bring it down at all.

In the end you would be hard pressed not to find something to like about Odin Sphere unless you detest all things cute and anime. It has that nostalgic spark found only in the fairy tales of our youth and there is enough item farming mini games and monster bashing to keep rpg lovers and action lovers equally happy!

Pros

+Gorgeous 2D graphics

+ Glorious hack n slash action

+ Addictive game play

+Great music and voice acting

+Well told story from the perspective of 5 unique characters

Cons

-Lags when too much is going on at once.

- In trying to please both Rpg fans and action fans it may fall short in both aspects thus failing to make either group entirely happy.

Geat Game, Horrible Lag....., November 3, 2008

This game had some of the best voice acting on any platform, the graphics are very good even for the PS2, gameplay had the right idea along with the story.
The "BIG" thing that holds this game down is the major slowdown during battles. This really irritates me along with many others that witnessed this themselves.
When you are up against many enemies at once its like the game suddenly went into slow motion. You are dragging beating all your enemies untill the screen is all clear of them.
This game would have been a 5star for me if it was not for this.
Game's like this would make a lot more money and have many more fan's if developers took the time to fix things like this. Even if they have a deadline to release their games.
"The more effort you put into it, the more you will get out of it"

a mislabeled hack'n'slash that should've been an animated film instead., October 25, 2008

This is a damn charming game. If you're looking for a style of animation strongly reminiscent of Yozhik v tumane's trademark animation techniques, I highly recommend this game to you. This game oozes with beauty.

Recommendations stop there. Simply having an inventory and interesting story doesn't make a game an "RPG". This is a hack'n'slash game. If that's your thing, cool. It's not mine, though. I find repetitive and shallow gameplay to be a bad thing.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. I played an hour into it and let someone else take over, so I could merely savor the sweet, sweet beauty and awe this game offers. Download some videos of it or something. It's really quite a thing to behold.

Expected more storyline, October 23, 2008

From the advertising and hype one would think this game had a bit more storyline.
Very (big emphasis on very) loosely based on the Norse mythology of Odin and his Valkyries, the game would have been a lot better with more storyline and a better weapons and potions system. After completing "stages" the game advances and you see flat 2d renderings of a rather brainless story.

It's not that the artwork isn't pretty enough in and of itself, it is nicely drawn and has a nice glow but as is typical of a side scrolling game it is flat and Odin and some of the creatures are a bit ridiculous.

Aesthetics aside the potion making portion is fun, however it gets frustrating very fast because of all the items and recipes needed and your item bags get too full to pick up what you need. As a true RPG fan I like to save some potions for later use but with this system it is nearly impossible.
The game also tells you to use your attacks and potions "Strategically" but when your enemies have strong attacks all you can do is jump and slash and hope you don't get hit while recharging your power. It is also difficult to level up or get money to buy things because your points do not come from defeating monsters, they come from items and how fast and how well you finish each stage (which determines the items and money you get afterward.) You also can't make potions in the middle of battle or collect more photons (attack power) after you clear a stage (until you come back) so here is where a larger inventory would be handy. Be prepared to loose a lot of frustrating battles!

Even Tales of Legendia had a better storyline (albeit it dragged on too long) but if you don't care about the depth of gameplay a normal RPG has or mind the flat side scroll it is an ok game to have in your PS2 inventory. Overall I rate it as below average.


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							January 8, 2009


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