is a 2D fantasy action RPG video game. Developed by Vanillaware and localized and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2 in 2007, it tells the interlocking stories of five different protagonists. Odin Sphere is considered a spiritual successor to an Atlus game titled Princess Crown.^[1] Square Enix released the game in Europe on March 14, 2008.

Odin Sphere has five stories. The protagonist of each story is connected to the royalty of each of five warring nations in the world of Erion. Each of these protagonists wields a Psypher, a weapon with a large crystal capable of absorbing Phozons, energy sparks released when something (such as an enemy) is slain. These five stories overlap and interconnect, and indeed the protagonist of one story may be the antagonist of another.

Gameplay

Odin Sphere is divided into several chapters, during which the story of one of the five playable characters progressively unfolds. Within the acts of each chapter, the player can obtain information relating to the upcoming "mission", as well as buying and selling goods prior to setting off for the next destination. There is an overarching chronological story that is split among the five characters, with their individual stories intersecting at places (for example, early on within Gwendolyn's progression, Gwendolyn will fight Velvet, an event duplicated in Velvet's story progression). As a result, the player will slowly experience the entire sequence of events from each characters' limited point of view. Only one character story is available at the start, but as the player completes those stories, the "books" for other characters unlock one at a time.

Within each destination is a series of smaller boards or levels connected in a bidirectional graph; these levels include regular combat levels, shop levels, and minor and major boss levels. Regular combat levels are marked with a 1 to 5 star rating indicating their difficulty, allowing the player to opt to avoid a path if it's too difficult at their current ability level. In contrast, shop levels contain no enemies, but instead feature a travelling salesman ready to buy and sell goods. The player is usually required to defeat at least one minor boss to reach the major boss, which when defeated, causes the story to advance.

In each regular combat or minor boss level, if the player has not yet completed that level, they will need to defeat all the foes in order to leave that level. The player will receive a fixed level reward for this, as well as additional rewards for outstanding performance. Once this is completed, exits to other nodes on the area map will be open for travel. If a player revisits a completed level, they can directly travel to an exit, or wait to fight foes that appear.

Levels are represented in 2D, but with the left and right edges joined so as to form a continuous circle; the player can continue to run in one direction and will return to the starting point after some seconds of travel. A radar map, similar to the one in Defender, shows the position of the player, enemies, and objects on the level, while a smaller map shows the location of the exits from the level. Combat is similar to many 2D fighting games, though includes a "power bar" representing how many consecutive actions the player has performed without pausing. Should the power bar empty, the player must wait a few moments for the power bar to refill while the character stands vulnerable in an exhausted state; however, a player can also refill the power bar by voluntarily stopping all action for a short period of time.

Gwendolyn's prelude

Psypher Weapons and Phozons

Each character has a weapon called a "Psypher" made of crystals from the Netherworld, which can be used to absorb "Phozons" from defeated foes and other sources. As the weapons absorb more Phozons they will increase in power, doing more damage and providing new magic for the player to use. Magic requires consumption of a certain number of Phozons, though does not detract from the Psypher level.

Alchemy

The player can combine two items to generate a new item, following specific alchemy recipes learned during gameplay. Most of these items require a "Material" bottle which the alchemy result is stored into. Material bottles can be improved in level by alchemizing two of them together to get a material bottle valued at the multiplicative product of the two original bottles (for example, Material 2 alchemized with Material 3 will give a Material 6 bottle). Certain alchemy recipes require a Material bottle of a certain level. Material bottles release Phozons when made into an alchemy recipe, with higher material levels yielding higher amounts.

Plants, Food and Cooking

The player has the ability to plant various types of seeds at any location within a level. In order to grow, most plants require a fixed number of Phozons, automatically absorbing them from defeated foes. Once fully developed, they provide fruit and other items that the player can pick up and use, after which the plant withers and disappears. Fruit (and any other food), when eaten, provides experience towards increases in hit points. Food items and other ingredients can also be combined when visiting the "Pooka Village" cafe and restaurant to make delicacies which grant larger amounts of experience and additional hit point bonuses.

Plot

World Map

Setting

Odin Sphere is framed as a series of books being read by a little girl named Alice, as she sits in a library located in her attic (accompanied by her cat, Socrates). Each book is the story of one of the five protagonists.

Ragnanival, the realm of the Demon Lord Odin, has invaded the forested realm of Ringford, home of Elfaria and her fairy subjects. Odin seeks the Crystallization Cauldron, which can create Psypher crystals. The battleground for this war is a blasted wasteland between the two countries. This blasted wasteland was once the prosperous nation of Valentine. All that remains of the devastated land of Valentine now are the Pookas, cursed humans in the shape of anthropomorphic rabbits, their currency, and the magically-endowed children of the late King Valentine.

Cautiously neutral in this conflict between Ragnanival and Ringford are the city-state of Titania, under the rule of a doddering old king, and the volcanic nation of Volkenon, ruled by Volcano King Onyx. Behind the scenes plot the Three Wise Men, a circle of deceitful wizards, and Queen Odette of Endelphia, who patrols her netherworld home for interlopers.

Story

Gwendolyn

The protaganist of the first story, The Valkyrie, is the valkyrie Gwendolyn (voiced by Mia Bradly in English and Ayako Kawasumi in Japanese), the younger daughter of the Demon Lord Odin. When her elder sister Griselda is killed in battle, she inherits her sister's crystal-headed Psypher spear. Gwendolyn ends up caught up in her father's plot to gain control of the Crystallization Cauldron, and is sent away, to trick the fairies and their agent, the Shadow Knight Oswald. She ends up trapped between her commitment to bring the ring that controls the cauldron to her father and her feelings for Oswald, symbolized by that same ring. The story concludes with Gwendolyn saving Oswald from the underworld after Queen Odette reclaims him for an unspecified debt, while defying her father's demand for the Cauldron ring.

Cornelius

The following story, The Pooka Prince, is that of Prince Cornelius of Titania (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in English and Daisuke Namikawa in Japanese). Cornelius is in love with the homeless princess Velvet, a fact of which his father disapproves. En route to a secret rendezvous with Velvet, Cornelius is ambushed, transformed into a Pooka, and banished to the Underworld. There, he encounters a mysterious spirit, who gives him a crystal-bladed Psypher sword that the spirit describes as his birthright. Along with a helpful damned soul, Cornelius escapes the Underworld, and searches for a way to break his curse. During the journey, he finds that the curse was laid by Velvet's capricious brother Ingway, discovers that his father's advisor is one of the treacherous Three Wise Men, and learns the disgraceful circumstances of his grandfather's death.

Mercedes

The third story, Fairy Land, is about Princess Mercedes of Ringford (voiced by Jennifer Sekiguchi in English and Mamiko Noto in Japanese). When her mother is killed in battle by the Demon Lord Odin, she inherits a crossbow Psypher with a crystal that fires magical bolts, as well as a nation she is ill-prepared to lead. She must deal with an uprising led by her elder cousin Melvin, rescue one of the only living blacksmiths who can forge Psyphers, then lead her nation in battle against Odin himself.

Oswald

Shadow Knight Oswald (voiced by Derek Stephen Prince in English and Susumu Chiba in Japanese), orphaned human agent of the Ringford fairies, is the protagonist of the fourth story, The Black Sword. He wields a crystal-tipped Psypher sword, and is renowned as a dragon slayer. Abandoned at a young age, he was taken in by the nephew of the fairy queen, Melvin. Oswald lives to serve his adoptive father and carries out the orders and duties assigned to him with reckless abandon wielding his blade with an unrivaled skill known throughout all the kingdoms.

Velvet

The fifth story, Fate, is that of Princess Velvet (voiced by Michelle Ruff in English and Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese), one of the two uncursed survivors of the ruined kingdom of Valentine, destroyed by an incident with the Crystallization Cauldron. She wields a Psypher chain with a crystal weight at each end. She is later revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of Valentine's Princess and Odin, making her Gwendolyn's half-sister. For this, she despises Odin, believing that her mother was seduced by him. Velvet's goal in her story is to piece together the prophecies and prevent Armageddon. She is is in love with Cornelius despite her brother's protests.

Sixth book

Upon completing all fives books, the player gains access to the sixth book, Armageddon. This book tells the beginning of the doomsday described in the prophecies, and consists primarily of battles between protagonists and major enemies. In order for the game to have a "happy ending", the player must correctly pit each hero against the proper adversary, based on clues from the prophecies.

Seventh book

The seventh book, Wheel of Fate, focuses on the protagonists who survived the Armageddon, revealing the closing scenes of the game.

Development

Joystiq interviewed Atlus' project lead for Odin Sphere, Bill Alexander, who spoke about the localization process. Concerning the general localization philosophy, Alexander noted, "Early on, we were told by our parent company that the game had a Shakespearean feel to it. One of the things we wanted to do was maintain that feel".^[2] Technical hurdles which made the process more difficult included that fact that the Japanese and North American release dates were so close together, as well as issues with text layout and formatting. Alexander revealed, "Aside from fitting the text inside the word bubbles, which in Odin Spheres case had to be individually resized, we also had to worry about word bubble placement on the screen and the timing of the messages".^[2] After the release of the game, RPGFan interviewed George "Jouji" Kamitani, the president of Vanillaware about both Odin Sphere and another Vanillaware game, GrimGrimoire. Regarding the critical success of both titles, Kamitani commented, "In spite of the technological progress in the golden age of 3D, the evolution of 2D game graphics is stagnating. These two titles are about aiming to be at the forefront of this evolution".^[3] When asked about the possibility of a sequel or a new Princess Crown game, Kamitani responded, "The stories of Odin Sphere and Princess Crown are complete. Hence, I'm not thinking about a straight-forward sequel."^[3] Kamitami also provided artwork for the title, about which Alexander raved in a separate interview, "Mr. Kamitani has raised the bar so high you may not see a better looking game come out on the PS2".^[4] Soundtrack composition was handled by Hitoshi Sakimoto, known for his work on Final Fantasy XII.^[5]

Reception

Prior to the release of Odin Sphere, pre-order sales numbers in Japan exceeded Atlus' expectations. Bill Alexander of Atlus indicated, concerning North American pre-orders, "They are good, and getting better. Buzz is really building around this game".^[4]

Following its debut, Odin Sphere received an overall positive reception with an average critic score of 82% at Game Rankings.^[6] Play Magazine (US) awarded it a perfect score, praising its 2D graphics, detailed storyline, and unique combat system as the high points of the game.^[7] The IGN review also praised the game highly, highlighting the game balance and colorful visuals, and summarizing, "Simply put, this 40+ hour adventure, with multiple difficulty levels and extremely deep gameplay mechanics is one of the best RPGs to come out on the PS2 in a while".^[8]

However, Odin Sphere has been criticized concerning the occurrence of slowdown when there are many enemies or objects on screen at once; GameSpot described this as "uneven performance".^[9] This criticism was partially addressed in the European release with greatly reduced loading times and an "optimized for 50hz display mode".^[10]

References

External links

• Official ''Odin Sphere'' European website
• Official ''Odin Sphere'' North America website
• Official ''Odin Sphere'' Japanese website
• ''Odin Sphere'' Wikia

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