Odin Sphere for the PlayStation 2 is a gorgeous 2D masterpiece of an action role-playing game with a big slowdown problem. The high-definition remake, due out this month for the PlayStation 3, 4 and Vita, does away with the game’s one glaring flaw.
I’ve been playing an awful lot of Atlus and Vanillaware’s Odin Sphere Leifthrasir over the past week, clocking in around 28 hours despite attending an anime convention over the weekend and being blessed with two ridiculous children. Having played through the original back in 2007, I was not expecting to be so hooked by the remake, but it just runs so damn well. See for yourself.
All the beauty and charm of the original remains intact. The deep crafting and cooking system, the interwoven stories, the satisfying and varied combat system — it’s all here, only bigger and smoother than ever. It’s like they took a classic car and retrofitted it with a souped-up modern engine.
If you played and loved Odin Sphere back on the PlayStation 2, definitely check out the high definition version. If you didn’t play Odin Sphere back on the PlayStation 2, that’s an unfortunate oversight that’s easily remedied this month.
Comments
11 responses to “Odin Sphere’s HD Remake Runs Like A Dream”
I think I played the original at one of the “History of Video Games” event at Federation Square.
Love vanillaware games, Loved Odins sphere, Dragons crown and looking forward to there next game, 13 Sentinels
was lucky enough to picked up a second hand copy of ebay real cheap a few years back
…so what was the flaw?
From what i can make out, a framerate problem was the flaw
For us? There was none. Squenix fixed it when they published the EU release. The NA and JP ones had some godawful slowdown in a few years. Would hit less than 10 fps.
So how was the gameplay and design? I heard from early players that the game was simplified and made a whole lot easier, losing much of its strategic value and turning it into another beat em up.
looks beautiful as most vanillaware games do but I personally found the gameplay pretty boring. Oh and I am talking about the original. For me all style, no substance. Have even gone back and tried playing it a few times since then, still the same.
From the looks of this, they’ve swapped out the old series of circular ring areas one after the other for a proper branching map for each area reminiscent of Muramasa, and have added a bunch of extra attack skills, more loot, potion crafting (I don’t remember potions at all from the original?) and a few other things, but it’s still the same plot and beautiful art, and I think they were saying at one point there would be a ‘classic’ mode where it plays like the original game as well?
This was the very last game I played on the ps2. It’s a peach
Never got to play it, so looking forward to getting it on the Vita (seems like the best system in regards to my life style).