Role-Playing Games for Moms: Lost Odyssey
Gaming Moms Should Wait for More Time to Play Microsoft's JRPG
Feb 14, 2009
Gamers, especially RPG fans, will not want to miss out on Lost Odyssey. The incredibly rich graphics and story will make most, if not all, RPG fans happy. That goes for gaming moms as well. However, gaming moms should take into consideration that this game isn't that conducive for gamers who can't devote at least ninety minutes of gameplay at a time, such as moms with young babies.
It's best for gaming moms to wait until their child is at least sleeping through the night before attempting this role-playing game, and then schedule game time after the child has gone down for the night.
Quick Overview of Lost Odyssey Gameplay and the Thousand Years of Dreams
Lost Odyssey embodies the typical turn-based gameplay found in most role-playing games. To liven it up a little bit, the game presents a unique style of combat to keep players participating in attacks. Characters can wear rings that will affect damage induced from combat, such as giving weapons elemental powers or a heightened ability to damage beast-type enemies. If a ring-bearing character is set to attack during combat, players will have to line up two rings as the character rushes towards the enemy. A perfect alignment causes more damage, and a failed alignment does nothing.
Two of the main characters are immortals (but that doesn't mean players can't get a Game Over screen) and are more suited for physical combat than anything else -- which makes sense, as they're immortal. However, they have the unique ability to learn skills from mortals in the party and accessories they equip.
For example, if they link with Jansen, the comical magic-caster, they can learn his Steal skill. If they wear Apprentice Earrings, they learn both Black and White magic. They learn these skills during battle, and once they learn them, they can equip the skills and never need to wear the skill-inducing accessory ever again.
One of the largest components of the game revolves around the dreams of one of the immortals. The main character, Kaim, has lost his memories of the last thousand years of his life. Certain things will trigger a memory in the form of a dream, and then the player will sit back and enjoyo one of Kaim's memories in short-story format.
It's one of the most unique aspects of the game and is also the primary reason why the game is laid out on four discs. If a player wants to read a dream again, all found dreams can be replayed from the game's title screen or the main menu.
Kaim Doesn't Need Tutorials or the Ability to Save
Lost Odyssey has two distinct features that will most likely deter moms from playing: lack of at-hand tutorials and set save points. Like most role-playing games, Lost Odyssey has set save points throughout the game world, and the player cannot save her game outside these points. There are plenty of these points scattered through out each area, but if the player is in an enemy-filled area, she may have several battles to fight before she can reach the save point.
Since the game is turn-based, each battle takes about minute, sometimes longer if the enemies are especially tough. If a gamer mom stumbles upon a dream, that could keep her from the point another five minutes. If she has to fight a boss and both a long cut-scene and a dream await her after the battle -- yes, this does happen and often -- she may not be able to save for over an hour. So if a mom is thinking of playing this game while her child naps, she better hope that her child sleeps for at least an hour and she's able to plan out her saving.
The game does have tutorials and in-game instruction, but once Kaim has learned these techniques, the game will never teach them to him again. The only way to remember how to play is to play. If a gaming mom isn't able to play for days or weeks at a time and she needs help remembering how to use the rings or link skills, the game's instruction manual will be her best friend. If she doesn't mind keeping the manual on hand, this may not be that big of a deal.
Gaming Moms Should Still Get Lost in the Odyssey
Gamer moms shouldn't let these problems keep them from enjoying one of the best role-playing games for the Xbox 360. They just need to wait until they can find time to play the game with little to no interruptions and be able to find this precious free time often.
The best recommendation is after the little ones go down for the night, when they're able to sleep through the night. Then when the game enraptures moms to play every night for a couple of hours, they won't have to worry too much about needing that extra sleep for nighttime feedings. They will find that the game is more than worth the wait and more than worth the number of hours of gameplay it contains.
 |
