It’s apparent from Lost Odyssey’s opening that Hironobu Sakaguchi subscribes to the view that first impressions are important. It begins with a furious battle between the forces of Khent and Uhra – where flashing blades pierce armour like it was tin foil, and enormous robots stomp the faces of soldiers into the dirt. Amidst all this mayhem, the iconic figure of Kaim Argonar enters the fray, his wiry, athletic frame pirouetting between enemies as he slices them to ribbons. Just as you’ve finished peeling your jaw from the carpet at the astonishing graphics, incredibly the cut-scene segues into a playable section with no loss of quality. You’re tasked with taking on what remains of the Khent army – swathes of enemy troops and mechanoid foes – single-handedly with a menu that prompts you simply to ‘Attack’. A jab of the A-button and Kaim sprints towards the nearest assailant as the low-slung camera does a fair imitation of Gears Of War’s ‘roadie run’ judder.

Sure, it’s a bit of a misnomer – from there on out, your scraps won’t look quite as impressive, nor will the transitions be as silky smooth – but as an attention-grabber, this will superglue your balls to the sofa, and ready you for the kind of epic adventure we weren’t sure they made any more. In many ways Lost Odyssey feels like a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy VII – it’s big, it’s bold, it’s emotional, and it’s the kind of game that serious genre fans will be talking about for years to come.

But – and it’s a big but – some people are really going to hate this. Anyone brought up on a diet of Western role-players with their tendency for real-time combat or variations thereof, will find the meatand- potatoes, menu-driven, swordsand- spells battling here annoys the living daylights out of them. And that’s before we get to – uh-oh – the random encounters. A guarantee: some of you will have just shook your head and started to turn the page. But wait! It’s not all bad news. Because it’s Lost Odyssey’s variations on those well-worn themes that make it more palatable than most hardcore grindfests. For starters, you’ll be able to wander around for quite some time before the screen freezes (with a loud sound effect that makes us jump more than we’d like to admit) and battle commences. Each scrap is more than just a one-turn deal – these enemies are hardy foes which take some considerable beating, and there’s tangible rewards for each and every fight – from cold, hard cash to various elements used to assemble equippable rings.

These rings are an important part of the combat – not only do they provide a variety of effects to your attacks or defensive moves, but they add an interesting real-time spin to melee strikes. As your avatar darts towards their target, a large ring descends rapidly upon a smaller one. Hold the R trigger as you run and let go as the circles meet and perfect timing will give you the full effect of the ring’s power, with a ‘good’ rating providing a lesser boost. Mess it up and you’ll just pull off a normal attack. There are no such timing worries when it comes to offensive magic, though you’ll have to pay attention to casting speed and enemy types. With spiritual hexes and the later composite spells adding complexity, there’s a pleasing diversity of approaches to battle, and you can customise your five-strong team to the nth degree. Skills are learnt by mortals and can be passed on by the ‘skill link’ mechanic to the immortals in your group – by their very nature they can’t actually die, but you can still see the Game Over screen if you let their HP drop to zero.

If all this sounds a bit heavy going to any newcomers to the genre, then rest easy – new elements are introduced with simple, helpful tutorials which can be skipped for anyone who’s generally familiar with the basics. And if the nature of an RPG that’s essentially a long meditation on mortality seems too much like hard work, then you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s surprisingly funny – how many JRPGs have a drunken womaniser as their main magic support character?

With large towns full of people to chat to and mini-games to play, an ambitious, expansive plotline with its fair share of emotional moments – one sequence on the first disc will jerk tears from all but the stoniesthearted gamers – several memorable characters, and a wealth of gorgeous locations, Lost Odyssey totally justifies Microsoft’s investment in Mistwalker. Its hiccups – frame-rate drops in cutscenes, the world’s most useless map, a two-dungeon quality dip on disc two – are insignificant trifles in the face of its standout moments. It might not be for you, and that’s fine – we don’t expect everyone to love it. But at times – as Uematsu’s gorgeous score swells, and you’re struggling to speak past the lump in your throat – this is something very special indeed.

Chris Schilling