It would be a fine thing if this game was simply an HD update to the original
Odin Sphere; it would be just fine. After all, even during it’s era, it was a breath of fresh air. A gorgeous, side-scrolling beat-em-up with RPG elements such as potion-making, food, and leveling was rare for its time, but
Odin Sphere was one of the best of its small niche - possibly the best in the category ever.
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, however, is a significant overhaul and improvement to that game in many ways. In the updated version, called Refined Mode, a lot of aggravating features of the original game have been removed or replaced. And there are some exciting new skills and abilities to learn that make things even more interesting. It feels like the best version of
Odin Sphere - the version we were meant to have all along. Understandably, some may prefer the original, for reasons I’ll explore later. But never fear, the original version, called Classic Mode, is included in this game as well!
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir does not deviate from its source material in the story department. You start out as Gwendolyn, a Valkyrie and the daughter of Odin. She loses her sister in a terrible battle and receives her spear as a final gift. But what haunts her more is the fact that her father shows little emotional connection to the death of one of his daughters, and even less affection for his surviving daughter. Her inner battle between love and duty is a constant weight on her shoulders. Meanwhile, her father is absorbed in a war that will pull in the entire world, and risks the repeat of a great disaster.
Gwendolyn’s story is one of 5 in the game. You will also play as Oswald the shadow knight, Cornelius the cursed prince, Mercedes the fairy princess, and Velvet, a mysterious survivor of the now destroyed kingdom of Valentine. Their stories intertwine, so one character may go into the past of another character’s story. One character’s story may affect the outcome of another. It’s a linear game, but this interweaving of storylines keeps things interesting and makes you want to go back to play another character’s story to see how different it feels when you have new pieces of story provided by another character that can fill in the gaps.
Don’t get too hung up on the game’s Norse references. This is not a retelling of the story of Ragnarok or the gods of Norse mythology. Odin Sphere is a game that borrows a lot of names and loose references to the relationships or duties of those gods, but it picks and chooses and makes something completely new. It also throws in a lot of medieval themes, a bit of magic, and cursed bunnies. Just go with it, trust me.
With the interweaving stories, each character goes through many of the same areas and fights the same bosses and enemies as many of the other characters. However, their fighting styles, stories, and abilities make each playthrough feel different. For example, two characters may eventually fight the same boss, but they will have to use such different tactics that the fight will feel different. And their personal motivations for why they are involved in the fight may make the fight feel totally different for other reasons.
A very odd thing about this game is how little the enhanced features are being advertised. The new Refined Mode takes a lot of the aggravation out of the game, while still leaving in much of the challenge. For example, you can now release Phozons onto the battlefield, whereas in the original game, you could only store them or allow a plant to absorb them. That sentence probably meant a whole lot of nothing to someone who’s never played this game, but the short story is, now you can focus on battles instead of babysitting the Phozons that each fallen enemy releases. Another new feature is the traveling restaurant. Before, you’d have to save up ingredients and wait until you could go to a restaurant to offload said ingredients. You’d still have to pay money for each dish as well. Now, the paid dishes are separated from the ingredient-needing dishes. In the traveling restaurant, you can trade ingredients for food, making precious space in your bag as you are battling your way through a level and gaining XP in the process. When you go into the full restaurants, you can let loose and pay for food, not worrying about ingredients or recipes. Oh, and now you have item boxes. Wow, how a game changes when it gives you a place to store all your crap.
Oh, and there’s no "fatigue" meter, or Power meter in the Refined Mode either. The original game was a routine of "fight, rest, fight," while the Refined Mode doesn’t place such severe restrictions on fighting. You can simply keep fighting until you need to heal. This is a pretty big convenience, and a welcome one, in my opinion. However, it’s totally understandable how this would make the game feel too easy for some.
