Sakaguchi’s surprise: Lost Odyssey details

So the Blue Dragon meeting wasn’t just about Blue Dragon, Sakaguchi-san showed a couple of clips on his other RPG, Lost Odyssey. The first clip gave an idea about the game’s vision where Kaim is riding a cable car in a futuristic (dare I say Final Fantasy like) world. Short blurbs give a better idea of the game’s setting which takes place after a “magical industrial revolution” where magic has changed life for the better, but it is also used for war. The camera pans out and there is a view of an enormous city with a large building in the center with smoke coming out from the top. Kaim gets off of the train and stares at an armored guard.

The next clip was a demo of how the Unreal Engine is used in the game. It is a real time cutscene with Kaim standing solemnly against a wall and a female character asking why they are waiting. All of the sudden a drunken man burst out of the doors with three blonde women by his side. While Lost Odyssey is a serious game, they decided to show this scene to demonstrate that there is comic relief in the title. The biggest surprise from the scene was that all of the voices were in English. Microsoft is planning to release Lost Odyssey simultaneously (read: Japan, Europe and North America at the same time!) this holiday season.

Afterwards we were given some details about the combat system. It’s turn based, but it was compared to a MMORPG where you have a front and a rear guard. The front guard acts as “tank” characters and the rear guard is for mages and other damage dealers.

I can’t help but think that Lost Odyssey is to Final Fantasy as Blue Dragon is to Dragon Quest. Microsoft is jumping the gun with Lost Odyssey and they might capture a group of gamers eagerly awaiting Final Fantasy XIII, which still doesn’t have a solid release date. Here’s another interesting tidbit Chris Kohler over from Game | Life asked Sakaguchi-san if he could only do one style for the rest of his life either Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey which would he choose? Sakaguchi-san picked Lost Odyssey.

Up next is an RPG panel where Sakaguchi-san will be joined by Peter Molyneux and some of the team from Mass Effect. Coverage on that panel, coming up in a little bit (providing I find a place to charge my laptop….)