If I Skip All The Extra Story Stuff, Which Game is Better? Lost Odyssey/Blue Dragon?

[TheFreshPrince]

I'm looking to get a new RPG for 360. I'm not interested in all the extra reading/story stuff, so I will be skipping 1000 Years of Dreams, etc. Based on gameplay, battle mechanics, and overall fun, is Lost Odyssey or Blue Dragon a better choice? Also, how long do you think each game will be if I skip all the extra story stuff? Will it cut off a significant portion of playthrough time, or not really?

Thanks!

[LilPaintballer]

i was considering getting these exact games aswell, i was leaning towards blue dragon because i heard its idenical to dragon quest VIII

[HotShotX]

I can't speak for Lost Odyssey, but Blue Dragon will feature about 25-30 hours of gameplay on your first run through, though I'm not sure if you can skip cutscenes the first time. If you go for 1000/1000, that number jumps to 90+ hours, but a lot of it is grinding.

Thankfully, the game has an ability that lets you auto-kill enemies (much like the instant kill in EarthBound) if you're strong enough. Battlewise, I liked it, as you got to customize your shadow in a lot of different ways, though by the time you max them all out they could have the same abilities.

Battles aren't random, and you can avoid them if you choose, which is nice. The game is a turn-based RPG, and probably it's best selling point, it's cheaper than Lost Odyssey, and still very much a decent game. Try the demo.

~HotShotX

[Draekon]

I can't really recommend either if you're going to be skipping the best parts of both games in my opinion as the stories aren't half bad in either of the two. Particularly the dream sequences in Lost Odyssey (I skip a few if they're basically back to back and come back and read them later). Between the two, Lost Odyssey is a better game (So far at least. I should be close to disk 4) but that's the whole package and not just part of the game.

Gameplay wise, they're pretty similar as they're both made by Mistwalker. Lost Odyssey does suffer from some frame skipping and a little bit longer load times (Had only a couple long battle loads). Blue Dragon has an old school world map that you can walk around on. The easier of the two would definitely have to be Blue Dragon but I'm finding Lost Odyssey pretty easy myself after the first boss.

Achievement wise, Blue Dragon probably takes more effort but I honestly can't say with certainty as I haven't finished Lost Odyssey. Battles in Lost Odyssey are also random (with a few exceptions) whereas Blue Dragon the battles can be avoided or insta-killed with a skill you can learn.

Now just length wise through the main story, Lost Odyssey is probably longer. I've clocked a little over 30 hours and nearing the final disk. Explored as much as possible and talked to everyone to try and not miss out on side stuff. I did the same in Blue Dragon (with those damned "nothings") and I think I was finishing the game around 40 hours. I did level grinding with my shadows and killed the optional bosses in that game which took a bit of time.

[bostonfrontier]

What's the point of playing these ames if you're going to skip the story? Might as well get an action game like gears of war then.

[hohez]

LO is drastically better than BD imo. Blue Dragons story is very basic and light hearted, and i had a terrible time even caring enough about the story to make myself finish the game.

The gameplay in Blue Dragon is about as basic as you can get. I know they were trying to be old school, but theres old school with tons of polish(DQ8) and then there's old school that borders on tedium(BD). The battles in Lost odyssey have overall been more challenging, and faster/exciting due to the ring system.

LO is very dark, and has a crazy amount of character developement. The music and voice overs are also better in Odyssey.

Something else to consider, and it may be small to some, but it's something I was disappointed with, in Blue Dragon

LO - all weapons look differently, and even a lot of the accessories show up on characters, even during story scenes. BD - no weapons period, it's all skill based.

Blue Dragon is not identical to DQ8. They are similar sure, but DQ8 is overall a much better package. I know it sounds like I'm bashing Blue Dragon, but I'm not meaning to. I 1000/1000 that game within the last month, so it's fresh in my mind to compare to LO which I am playing right now.

[MSUHitman]

I would say LO is better than Blue Dragon simply because the game feels a bit more polished and it rewards you with achievements more evenly vs. Blue Dragon and you won't have many achievement points until the 4th disk, and you have to grind so much for them, whereas LO you get acheivements after each disk and after each side quest mission (which are all in disk 4.)

I would rate the JRPG's on 360: LO > ES > BD

[mike.m]

i was considering getting these exact games aswell, i was leaning towards blue dragon because i heard its idenical to dragon quest VIII

Ugh, I might have to pass on Blue Dragon then. I hated Dragon Quest VIII

[io]

Blue Dragon is *not* like DQ VIII - though if you hated DQ VIII I wouldn't suggest you play any JRPGs ;).

I really liked Blue Dragon and I'm enjoying LO so far (just finished disc 1 tonight). I'd say I got WELL over 30 hours out of Blue Dragon though, even before I started grinding at the end for the achievements (which I haven't finished yet). I'd put BD at more like 50 or so just for the main story. Most of the achievement grinding can be done after the end (and of course is completely optional).

I like the visible enemies in BD and most of all the full camera control - the fixed angles in LO are driving me a bit crazy. The random encounter rate isn't too high though, so that part is more tolerable than it is in some games.

I like the graphics/art style/battle systems in both games though. So far it seems there was way more to do with the battles in BD than in LO - I've pretty much maxed out what I can customize with my chars here at the end of disc 1. I know I have more to open up but right now my immortals have learned all the skills the mortals have so there isn't much to customize while the shadow system in Blue Dragon provides a lot of options.

Anyway - I'd suggest you get both of course, but as someone else said, Blue Dragon has the advantage of being cheaper at the moment. Perhaps by the time you beat that you'll find a deal on LO.

[Chase]

What's the point of playing these ames if you're going to skip the story? Might as well get an action game like gears of war then.


Precisely what I had on my mind. What the heck is the point of playing role-playing games if you wish to skip a fundamental element of the game? For gamerscore? If so, that's just sad.

[akilshohen]

I think he might be talking about side quests.