Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir - PlayStation 4
Completed May 18th
I briefly mentioned in my last blog post that I had began playing Odin Sphere Remastered at the end of April because I had decided to retire another Vanillaware game called Dragons Crown Pro, which I was just not really enjoying. I mentioned that I was enjoying Odin Sphere much more than Dragons Crown Pro.
Odin Sphere is a remaster of a PlayStation 2 game and it offers some quality of life updates, but as a bonus which the developer have also included the original version (with updated HD graphics) for those that prefer the original or those that are curious to see how the original played out.
So I am playing an updated PlayStation 2 game that is on a PlayStation 4 disc and I am playing the game on my PlayStation 5 - that is a lot of PlayStation generations!!!
Across the game you play as five characters all with their own moves and stories that form a part of the grand overall story. I found the 3rd character to feel a little out of place (as far as gameplay goes and not story) as her combat was a little different where you could float in the air and fire projectiles - this felt out of place and not quite as fun as the combat of the other characters.
You can choose whether to listen to the characters of the story in Japanese language or in English. As the game was developed in Japan I choose to have English subtitles with Japanese dialogue rather than English speech.
Each characters story took me around 6 - 7 hours to complete and there is a final segment where you control all characters a in succession of final boss battles. There is a correct order of characters to choose in the final battle for the proper ending, but you can also experiment with different variations for some extra alternate scenes and if you play out all the sequences then you can also unlock an epilogue scene.
Interestingly, Leifthrasir has an option to play an HD version of the original PlayStation 2 version of Odin Sphere. I only played a little of the original version after completing the enhanced Leifthrasir version.
I am quite surprised that there are noticeable differences in the original PlayStation 2 version that, in my opinion, have made Odin Sphere a better game. The Pow bar in the new version is used for special moves and depletes the more special moves that are used. In the original version the Pow bar indicates stamina. It seems overall that the original PlayStation 2 version slows a number of mechanics, such as the combat system.
It is quite interesting to see just how many mechanics are different in the new version - it is 2 Odin Sphere games in 1 and I appreciate having the option to play both versions in HD.
Overall the game was a little repetitive in places, but I highly enjoyed my time with the title.
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