Odin Sphere

Developer – Vanillaware

PS2

Once upon a time, games like Final Fantasy and Super Mario Brothers were just hatchlings in the big bad world of gaming. I wonder, back when these legends were taking there first steps while the world watched, if anybody was able to tell what they were really seeing, if anybody truly had any idea what kind of event was transpiring right in front of them, or if it took time and hindsight to see these games for what they truly were – a near perfect piece of art.

I wonder if I am looking at the same thing when I play Odin Sphere.

There are so many ways in which this game succeeds that this review is impossible to write with any justice being done. If you can take anything away from this review, I pray that it is this – buy this game. Buy it new if you can, and show the suits that this kind of elegance can survive in the piranha filled waters of capitalist video game entertainment. If you can, and you do, I promise you will want to tell people about it – you will want to be part of this exciting adventure that Vanillaware has so lovingly crafted.

Everything you see in this entire game is 2D, not a single computer generated polygon in there, and the careful craft that was used to build the world and the characters within it is evident in every movement, every sprawling stage, and every hand drawn cut scene.

Odin Sphere is what happens when pure art meets the new age, and the progeny is gorgeous. It’s not possible to review this game without mentioning the visuals, and by mentioning, I mean climbing to the top of your abode and shouting out into the heavens – this game is the prettiest game – EVER. Any pictures you might see do not and cannot do this game justice – find a video if you can. EVERYTHING on the screen moves. Through the many layered backgrounds to the characters themselves, everything is constantly in a state of movement, and the screen just swims with the beauty of it. The characters are made with such intricate loving care, and when one stops to talk with another character, and you can see the characters just standing there, breathing – it is awesome. They appear to be alive, much more so that 99% of the best 3D out there.

The gameplay is action RPG in style, on a side scrolling 2D stage. Each character (there are five playable) has a variety of moves and each has a quite unique feel to them. Like a good Street Fighter game, the different characters actually PLAY differently, through feel and theme, which helps differentiate them as well as keeping the gameplay fresh when playing through another character.

This isn’t a game where you simply slay monsters, gain xp and level up, oh no, there are systems to everything. You do not simply kill and gain strength; instead you may specifically use the energy from slain enemies to enhance your weapon and thus gain offensive strength and access to new super moves. Or, and this is where the games subtle genius truly shines – you may use those energies (called Phozons within the game) to grow plants from planted seeds you get from enemies. Different plants grow different fruits, and these can be crassly used to increase your HP, and thus your defensive capabilities. But once you start getting into the seemingly shallow systems, you start to realize the immense depth to them – the fruits can be used along other ingredients to make different dishes, and increase your HP by large amounts. The fruits can bear seeds of their own, creating a cyclic system, seeds can be fed to chickens, which can grow and lay more eggs, and then give you chicken meat, which then leaves bones, which can be used to make potions……it just goes on and on. I have never seen anything have such simplicity, while having so much depth. It is just beautiful.

Another very important factor in the game is the making of potions, and like all the other pieces and parts, this little system has depth of its own, and works in tandem with the other systems. Like an antique clock, all of the intricate pieces of this fine machine work together with a quiet elegance. While running around the stages, you will come across vegetables that can then be used with the base ingredient of all the potions in various quantities to make up to 26 different potions. And do not be fooled, the potions in this game are NOT a filler or an afterthought or a time sink – they are the difference between an hour of fighting a boss, screaming at the screen – and gracefully beating his ass. The variety of the potions is just right, making it feel that there are always new potions to find, while being small enough that they are manageable and can all be unique and powerful.

The guys and gals at Vanillaware have really done an excellent job of creating a game that can appeal to two very different types of gamers. If you are a twitchy, action/fighting game sort of player, you can get through much of the game on that skill alone – and you will have to delve into the game’s systems of leveling very infrequently. But likewise, if you are more of a thinking man’s gamer, going the route of traditional RPG by building up your character and managing your inventory, well then you can progress through the game by that method. Either one will work, and each one will bring a different feel to the game as a whole.

The difficulty of the game can be frustrating at times, especially some of the boss encounters, but the learning curve is just right, and often you will find that all you needed to beat that boss was that one specific potion, or to just learn that one attack pattern. After all the violence directed at my TV was done, I found the difficulty to be just right – challenging, and at times frustrating, but in the end fair. When I had finally slain a boss, I felt as though I had earned it.

The game is also gentle with you when you fail, you may continue to replay the section of the stage that you died in, without losing any items or anything, and you can always leave the stage, and gather a few key ingredients to make the potion that might make everything easier. You get better too, as evidenced by the separate play times listed for each character. My first character took me 13.5 hours to beat her game with. The second was 8 hours. The third was 7, and the fourth and fifth were both right around 6 hours. This says a lot about the game – the fact that even though you are starting at level 0 with each new character, you are getting better at the fighting and using the systems to your advantage – and it shows.

The story is top notch stuff, and 99% of the voice acting is Hollywood caliber. You can also set it to be voiced in the original Japanese dialog with English subtitles, which brings a nice ambiance to the game as well.

Now, as much as I would like to leave out any negative comment about this game, I feel a duty to the developer to point out a few tiny things. Slow down. That’s right, SLOW DOWN. I was hoping we had seen the last of this nasty critter when the N64 was laid to rest, but alas, it is alive and well in this game. Now, it doesn’t happen often, and when it does it isn’t bad enough to cause a death or unwarranted damage, but it IS annoying when it comes around. That said, the game is beautiful enough to completely ignore the occasional slow motion boss fight, and I found that most of the time, I didn’t even notice it – so engrossed was I with the spectacle on my screen.

Another little qualm was that when you beat the game with all five characters, there is a special chapter that you get to play through afterwards. It is truly amazing, with some incredible boss fights and great story endings and whatnot – wrapping up the whole package of Odin Sphere very nicely. One of the nice things is that when you begin this last area, you have to play with all five characters, and you get to use them as they were – with all of their levels and gear intact. You can even go back to their respective games and continue playing them, to build up their strength for the final battles. Well, when you choose to go back and play them some more, you have to start at the beginning of their games. This is really counterproductive because many of the key things you need to build up your strength aren’t found until later levels. To get to them, you will have to play for another 3-4 hours for each character. This was something that could have been changed.

All in all, pound for pound, this is one of the greatest games I have ever played, and I anticipate that years from now, much like when I think back on the old Final Fantasies and Shining Forces, I will still remember Odin Sphere with fondness. This game made me feel like a kid again, which is a special kind of magic I thought lost to us. I thank you, Vanillaware, for reminding me why I fell in love with this industry in the first place.

Score = 98%

Subjective Score = 98%