![]() The stately Japanese voice acting removes a lot of the normal barriers to taking an RPG melodrama seriously, and the story itself achieves the human pathos that mythology is supposed to embody. ![]() I suppose next one might assume it’s the story cinematics. It does make the world feel evocative, which inevitably encases the play experience-as pedestrian as it is-in a warm and magical glow. The art is a big part of the aesthetic experience of this game. I’m sure most will assume art is the decisive factor the sublime 2D art of Odin Sphere. So how can I not hate Odin Sphere, which takes Norse mythology and makes it about whacking monsters and mixing potions? I was disappointed with Kingdom Hearts when a non-gamer friend lamented that its rich fictional universe was expressed strictly in terms of opening treasure boxes and hitting people. ![]() There’s no worse offender of this than Odin Sphere. In my old age I have become a critic of game conventions that constrain imagination and keep designers from better exploring the worlds they create, thus preventing games from reaching a wider audience. I’m normally driven crazy by the tired conventions stat-porn RPG’s indulge in. These games seem designed for those with a fetish for complex systems and a low interest level in narrative. But there is another strain of Japanese RPG, like Disgaea or Final Fantasy Tactics, where character advancement and combat are much bigger parts of the game than story or exploration. These are RPG’s where exploration, story, combat, and character advancement exist in roughly equal proportions. I usually play mainstream RPG’s like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, or Genso Suikoden. But once in a while a game comes along, does all these things, doesn’t innovate at all, and I love it. I feel I have better ways to spend my time than doing the same actions over and over and over again, just so I can unlock a new cinematic with the same cloying melodrama.
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