Odin Sphere

Written by Jason Young  on June 26, 2007

Review: Now available at a local eBay Seller near you!!!

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As the last set of sixth generation games continue to hit the shelves for the old-aged PlayStation 2, many gamers believed that there wouldn't be much to look forward to after Sony's masterpiece God of War II. With Dawn of Mana underachieving and the push to market the PlayStation 3, many people believed that the PlayStation 2 RPG market was dead. Then came Odin Sphere, a game deemed by many people as the last gem for the PS2.

Developed by Vanillaware as the spiritual successor to the 1997 Sega Saturn game Princess Crown, Odin Sphere tells the tale of five brave warriors who are caught up in a war between the demons and fairies in the world of Erion. One of the main drawing points of the game is the use of the drama book story lines that reveals how each of the characters' fates are entangled with each other and how the war looks through their point-of view.

Since trying to keep track of all the happenings in the game can lead to a confusing task, the developers were smart enough to include an outline which essentially tells what each of the other character's were doing at different points of the game. Not only does this serve as an aide for the player in terms of who was doing what when, it helps to build the entire world and setting of Odin Sphere.

Story aside, the gameplay of Odin Sphere is more along the lines of a 2D-action game than your typical JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game). While most of the attacks are assigned to a single button, different combinations can be pulled off depending on which direction you're holding the directional buttons in. Although the game can feel close to being a button-masher at times thanks to the massive amounts of enemies (not to mention lag) the inclusion of the Сpower' bar system prevents this. Mash like crazy and you'll be a sitting duck for your enemies as you recover your attack strength. Hence, most of the game is a case of hit-and-run style attacks while attempting to recharge your power bar. Aside from the button-mashing, each of the five characters has their own unique style of attacks and none of them play the same. For example, Mercedes uses a crossbow to attack while Oswald uses a shadow form that seems to be straight out of the pages of Kingdom Hearts.



Each of the stages in the game are divided into a number of circular destinations which are divided into mid-bosses, shops, regular combat levels, and the area boss. As players progress through the battles, they're rewarded with various items depending on what grade/rank they get during battle. These ranks are added up through the time it took you to complete the battle, taking minimal damage, and carryover points. When the player completes one destination, another opens up. Once that's done the player has the option to revisit areas or stay in their current one and wait for enemies to show up. Sadly, the entire world of Erion consists of the same areas and destinations for each of the characters, so you'll be fighting in the same areas for a large portion of the time leading to a bit of repetition. The game's customizable difficulty settings allows each player to experience the game at their own pace, as well as letting you switch on the fly in case you were having any trouble with any particular areas in the game.

More so, every character's weapon is made up of a crystal known as a Сpsypher' which could be recharged through defeating an enemy and absorbing phozons. As the weapons continue to absorb phozons, their strength increases and allows new skills to become available for each character.

Besides the fighting system, the game's alchemy system allows players to mix their own potions which produces anything from a napalm-style grenade to healing potions. Although most of the recipes are found through the game's prize system, the ingredients are found in almost every level. Every time the player mixes something however, the items are lost as well as the material bottle after use.

In addition to the use of alchemy, various plants and food can be found and used throughout the game to help the character gain strength, hp, and for recovery. Like the psypher weapons, seeds will only grow once they absorb a specific number of phozons. Will the player level up their weapons or will they let plants grow in order to level up their hp and produce recovery items? The choice is theirs.

One of the most noticeable things about the game is the breathtaking hand-drawn graphics that are used throughout the game. Simply put, you've never seen anything like this on the system. Every inch of the game has been drawn with tender care and it shows. The bosses seem like huge detailed behemoths and the levels are spectacular. Unfortunately, the game's strongest point ends up being it's weakest too as the game almost lags to a stand-still at times when huge waves of enemies come charging at you on-screen.

Audibly, the game's epic soundtrack is scored nicely by Final Fantasy Tactics composer Hiroshi Sakimoto. Although none of the tracks in particular stands-out as being memorable, it still provides a nice ambiance to the game. Just don't expect to hear anything that you haven't heard from a Sakimoto game before. The game's voice-acting comes through just as well via the famous voice actors used in the game. For those of you who can't stomach the thought of listening to an American dub however, Atlus included the Japanese audio track as an added bonus.