![]() ![]() The graphics in Odin Sphere Leifthrasir aren’t just gorgeous. Butterflies flutter, distant castles loom, aging ruins stand as decaying monuments of past glorious ages, noxious gases in poisonous underworld swamps drift dangerously close and fiery pits of lava crack the surface into a thousand glowing rivulets that all but exude actual heat. Forests are differing shades of green and orange and red, with beams of sunlight occasionally breaking through the canopy overhead. For a game with such dark and sometimes depressing narrative aspects, the display pops with a crisp and lavish plethora of visual stimuli. If they are small people entering a large world, their steps are dainty and light, shoulders sunken and wardrobe not at all adequate to protect them from the harsh realities they will face.Īnd everything is so colorful and vivid here. If they’re melancholy, their heads hang, their eyelids sag and their movements are languid and regretful. If a person is supposed to be a burly warrior they fill half the screen, widely grinning with a verve that borders on bloodlust. If you know anything about Vanillaware’s art direction, it veers more towards highly-exaggerated presentations of characters and concepts. Faeries, dwarves, the Netherworld, dragons… This one has it all, folks.Īnd yet, it would be unfair to the material if I said that it’s a run-of-the-mill fantasy story because its presentation is so vivid and distinct that while it is a genre offering, it’s such a stylized presentation, one in which Vanillaware established a perfect balance between their love for the material and their desire to portray its common elements in grand caricature. Tolkien’s masterwork The Lord of the Rings). This is more of a heroic fantasy story with many of the tropes that form the backbone of that genre (also derived from Norse mythology by way of J.R.R. ![]() ![]() I think it’s fair to say that this game is conceptually tied to some of the tenets and themes of Norse mythology, especially the grim and fatalistic tone, but they are not by any means an exact adaptation. There’s a pretty complex story contained herein, with multiple playable characters crossing paths and interacting in ways that help to build a mythic chain of events which leads to something incredible. In case you were wondering, now you know.Īs for what it has to do with this game, well… that’s complicated. They survive the cataclysm and emerge (eventually) to repopulate the earth in the wake of the devastating conflict. ![]() Among them are a man and a woman named Leif and Leifthrasir. It’s fated to happen and can’t be avoided. You probably know that Ragnarok is the end of the Norse gods the final battle where pretty much everyone kills everyone and everything else and most of the nine realms are wiped out. So, what exactly is Odin Sphere Leifthrasir? What, you may ask, is a Leifthrasir supposed to be, anyway? A little Norse mythology lesson for you. It meant I got to experience the game in 2016 with improved visuals, a slightly better-contoured controller more suited to my hands and the social media pulpit to pound it into the summer games lists of everyone that loves good, classic niche gaming. Honestly, there’s a part of me that’s glad I missed out on this one the first time around. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir exceeded my expectations and pressed upon me nearly insurmountable guilt over not having played the PS2 version. From Princess Crown to GrimGrimoire to Odin Sphere to Dragon’s Crown, this is a company that has managed to find that creative sweet spot through the combination of developer brilliance and creative expression. Vanillaware has been pushing boundaries since forever, and their footprint, while off the beaten path of commercial viability, has always been strong, deep and enduring. It’s more a case of recognizing just how far ahead of its time Odin Sphere was. Looking at the graphics, animation, music and, most importantly, the gameplay, this isn’t so much a case of Odin Sphere’s core mechanical and aesthetic concepts passing muster in this increasingly cynical age of aggregates and numerical scoring systems. So, if I never played the PS2 version, how can I possibly assert that the ten-year-old Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, a brilliant HD remake for the PS3, PS4 and PSVita, is still engaging in this day and age? Well, I’ve been around in this hobby for a long time and sometimes, you just know these things. But since you probably want an actual reason, I’ll oblige. I was probably playing Resident Evil for the 48,730,578 th time. Don’t ask me what kept me away from Vanillaware’s 2D brawling genius back then, because I couldn’t tell you. As I said in my Early Impressions piece I never played it because, well… I was really busy. I never played the original build of Odin Sphere for PS2, released way back in the days of yore (or May 2007). The phrase ‘still holds up’ applies here. PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita ![]()
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