Odin Sphere
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| Odin Sphere | |
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 Each of Odin Sphere's protagonists are featured on the cover. Starting below "Odin" and going clockwise, they are the valkyrie Gwendolyn, Shadow Knight Oswald, orphaned princess Velvet (in the background in red), fairy princess Mercedes, Alice (front center fore), the rabbit-shaped cursed prince Cornelius and prince Ingway. |
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| Developer(s) | Atlus Vanillaware |
| Publisher(s) | Atlus EU Square Enix |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date | JP May 17, 2007 |
| Genre(s) | Action RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T |
Odin Sphere (オーディンスフィア Ōdin Sufia?) 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 called Princess Crown. Square Enix released the game in Europe on March 14, 2008.
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[edit] Plot
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) dies. These five stories overlap and interconnect, and indeed the protagonist of one story may be the antagonist of another.
[edit] Setting
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. One day, mysterious disaster devastated Valentine. All that remains of Valentine 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.
[edit] Characters and story
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Odin Sphere is framed as a series of books being read by a little girl named Alice, as she goes through library in her attic (accompanied by her cat, Socrates). Each book is the story of one of the five protagonists.
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 reclaimed him for an unspecified debt, and Gwendolyn defying her father's demand for the Cauldron ring.
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 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, which 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. Along the way, 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.
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.
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. He was abandoned at a young age and 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.
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. She wields a Psypher chain with a crystal weight at each end. After the country was destroyed due to an incident with the Crystallization Cauldron (which is revealed to be a relic of their country). 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.
The sixth story, Armageddon, is about the Armageddon and the prophecies. The story starts with King Valentine escorting Leventhan, the last dragon into the cauldron as he activates it even without the Ring of Titrel.
In the Netherworld, King Gallon, the former king of Titania and Grandfather of Cornelius, is now the new ruler in the netherworld. He crosses the border between the netherworld and Erion to bring forth destruction. Ingway who had just transformed into Darkova is still affecting his body, came across Beldor who is now a corpse who came from the netherworld. In the Fire Kingdom, Inferno King Onyx also prepares for an assault, despite the fact written in the prophecies that they will be stopped by the World Tree. Believing that this was just a myth and were just useless talk from senile mages, they decided to prove it by burning the forests of Erion starting with Ringford, home of princess Mercedes. Meanwhile in Ragnanival, the descendants of King Gallon have started invading the Kingdom. All of King Odin's troops were annihilated, but Odin still continues to fight even without his Balor. In the middle of the fight, Griselda's Ghost appeared before him. King Odin feels ashamed and depressed for not being fatherly to Griselda when she was alive. A Halja took King Odin's life when he was distracted feeling sorry for Griselda.
In the Old Castle Terrace, Gwendolyn can see Erion falling apart. She is worried for Oswald who left to look for more information. Griselda's ghost appears before Gwendolyn telling her to not forget about her role and to knock down the crown. The old castle was about to be invaded by Gallon's troops but Gwendolyn refuses to follow Brom, Myris and a pooka, wanting to wait for Oswald. Gwendolyn told them that if they are to meet, it would be on top of Horn Mountain. She then goes to look for Oswald.
Cornelius encounters a six-eyed beast (Darkova) and recognized that it was Ingway who is being controlled by Beldor. Following the footsteps of Cornelius' father, he successfully defeated Darkova with his psypher. After the battle, the six-eyed beast reverted into Ingway who was fatally wounded. Velvet rushes towards Cornelius who is unconscious.
As for Oswald, he encounters King Gallon who is in the form of a rotting Darkova. The prophecies state that only Titanian Royalty bloodline can defeat King Gallon, but Oswald still manages to defeat King Gallon. King Gallon then asks who is Oswald's father. Oswald replied that it was a man named Edgar who abandoned him when he was a child. King Gallon reveals that Edgar is also his son thus making Oswald a Titanian royalty. Gallon told him that he had Edgar killed secretly for loving a village girl. Oswald then realizes that he wasn't really abandoned.
In Ringford, the forest was completely burned by King Onyx and his descendants destroying Queen Mercedes' kingdom. Mercedes cries as she found Ingway's dead body lying on the ground. Onyx saw Mercedes and was feeling confident now knowing that there really wasn't any World Tree after all since they burned the entire forest. Mercedes confronts Onyx with her Rimblam. King Onyx turns into the Reincarnation of Fire and Mercedes manages to defeat him. Mercedes was deeply wounded and was dying, she reveals her true name as Yggdrasil as her body begins to disappear. Onyx was shocked to hear this knowing that Yggdrasil means World Tree. Onyx realizes that the prophecies were true after all, his body turning to ash.
Velvet arrives at the Cauldron. She manages to close the eye of the Cauldron but it has already absorbed a huge number of Phozons. King Valentine then commands Leventhan to emerge from the Cauldron. Leventhan now appears to be a Gigantic Dragon which encircles around Erion.
Gwendolyn arrives and sees Horn Mountain collapsing, guilt overcoming her for telling Brom and Myris to meet her there. She came upon Leventhan and didn't know what to do. Gwendolyn then remembers Griselda's words to her to knock down the crown. She saw a crown wedged upon Leventhan's huge horns, signaling Gwendolyn to target it. The story ends with Gwendolyn managing to defeat Leventhan but her wings were destroyed, making her fall from the sky.
Back to the Attic, Alice finished reading the book and she finds a coin in it, thinking it was one of those coins the pookas are collecting. Her mother calls for her. After Alice leaves a portal opens. Emerging from it is Cornelius who took the coin and Velvet (now a pooka) leaving another book behind.
The 7th book, Wheel of Fate, focuses on the protagonists who survived the Armageddon.
The book starts with Oswald catching Gwendolyn from below and saw Velvet and Cornelius beside the Cauldron. Oswald takes Gwendolyn there and fell unconscious alongside Gwendolyn. Velvet saw them and is surprised to see the ring of Titrel on Gwendolyn's finger, thinking that it was fate that brought them there. Velvet had an idea to use their psyphers to restore the damage the Cauldron dealt. Velvet then took the ring and offered their psyphers to the Cauldron, commanding the Cauldron to restore the damage. Velvet then was turned into a pooka.
Gwendolyn and Oswald wakes up from the wasteland formerly know as Erion. Oswald suddenly saw changes in the land where moss, plants and rivers started to pop up from the barren land. As the prophecies say, only 2 would survive from Armageddon. Gwendolyn and Oswald would now be the rulers of the new world.
Back to the 2 pookas Cornelius and Velvet. They managed to collect all the coins of Valentine after thousands of years. They called upon Valentine to grant them a single wish. Cornelius asks Velvet if she wants to be turned back into human or stay being a pooka, having an immortal life. Velvet responds that it would be better to live a human life than be cursed forever. The story ends with Velvet and Cornelius being turned back into humans, holding each other.
The end of the credits also show a picture of a huge tree with Mercedes' crossbow between its roots, implying that she might have been reborn as the World Tree, possibly helping to restore the world after its destruction.
The final scene of the game (played after the credits) is set in Titania between Belial's death and Armageddon. It's shows the traveling salesman talking to a traveler who can be neither seen nor heard by the player. He's suppose to be in front of the salesman - just like the player. During their dialogue, all five playable characters make a short appearance. The salesman gives the traveler a coin in exchange for an item (probably the same coin Alice will find later). After finding out that the traveler is a writer, he asks him about the name of the book he's writing. Then the screen turns black, and the name appears in white letters: Odin Sphere.
[edit] Gameplay
Odin Sphere is divided into several chapters, during which the story of one of the five playable characters progressively unfolds. Within each chapter, the player can obtain information relating to the upcoming "mission" and buy and sell goods prior to setting off to the next destination. There is an overarching chronological story that is split among the 5 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 within the story 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. The two minor boss encounters will be indicated by a blue "B", while the major boss is denoted with a red "B". Defeating the major boss will advance the story to the next chapter. A shop level will instead feature a salesman ready to sell and buy goods.
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, including using less time to complete the level, and taking minimal damage. 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 as a large 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 refill the power bar faster by stopping actions for a short period of time while still retaining control of the character.
There are three additional aspects to Odin Sphere's gameplay:
- 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 within the inventory to generate a new item, following specific alchemy recipes learned through 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 seeds in the current level. Most plant seeds require a fixed number of Phozons to grow (automatically pulling them from defeated foes), and once ripe, they will provide fruit and other items that the player can pick up and use, after which the plant withers and disappears. Food, when eaten, provides experience towards increases in hit points. Food can also be combined through cooking at the "Pooka Village" cafe and restaurant to make better dishes which grant larger amounts of experience and additional hit point bonuses. In addition, there are eggs that can be dropped, hatched, and fed seeds to grow chickens that either can be used to gain more eggs, or can be killed to create meat.
[edit] Game features
- Fully voice-acted dialog with English and Japanese bilingual options for the North American and European release.
- Hand-drawn artwork and animations
- Cooking and alchemy system that can be used to create attack and recovery items
[edit] Reception
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Odin Sphere received a positive reception with an average critic score of 83% at Game Rankings. Play Magazine (the U.S. version) gave it a perfect score, praising its 2D graphics, detailed storyline, and unique combat system as the high points of the game. However the game has been criticized negatively concerning the occurrence of slowdown during various points in the game where there are many enemies or objects on screen at once. This criticism was fixed in the European release with greatly reduced loading times and rare slow down.
