Angry Robot

Lost Odyssey

I still want to play this game, but I don’t understand how you can go from the above awesome amazingness with such beautiful music (music which I am still addicted to) and then use the below to entice players.

The main character’s English voice just does not match his look.

The Japanese version, in my opinion, is no better. That song half way through? Let’s gag together shall we?

But what I don’t get is why North American audiences are spared the wrath of icky melodramatic love ballads, but are then given 60’s classics to trick them instead? Why are these demos so drastically different?

I mean it’s a sexy trailer and gets you all jazzed to be part of some sort of crazy metaphysical adventure, but what the hell? Can’t a game trailer stand on its own musical merits without having to borrow from other creative realms?

Ah, I know the Gears of War thing. Yeah, I fell for that sweet shit too, but I don’t want to see a habit of game trailers that use musical hits to sell themselves. It feels cheap. Not a sexy cross-pollination.

Okay so the White Rabbit spot aside, back to the bigger uglier picture, why do I hate the offical trailers so much? I know, I know, people want to see gameplay footage and I’m all for that too but there’s seems to be so much going on in the story that to try and vomit it to the audience in two minutes or less does not a good game trailer method make. I’m just saying. I just feel that some one, some where is doing wrong by this game with this ad campaign. I just don’t like it. it just doesn’t feel right.

Anyway, if you’d like to clear your palette here’s the straight tits awesome music again.

2 comments on "Lost Odyssey"

  1. beaver says:

    So like, did someone fire the original marketing team for this game??? The original music TITS – so epic moving inspiring, Jefferson Airplane??? whatthefrell?
    its a good song no doubt but um, it has nothing whatsoever to do with this game, (or does it??? something all crazy huge and important like all along the watchtower and bsg) Me thinks that is answered with a no.

    So yeah, the love ballad, lame, the 60 tunes, make no sense, the total abandonment of a cool enthralling goodness of music that makes you crave this game…jeepers creepers, i just dont understand

    oh and thanks for the palette cleaner ending there muy muy goodness
    thanks

    peace

  2. D says:

    Seems pretty clear to me what all these trailers are trying to accomplish, but then again I do it for a living.

    The first one is basically a condensed version of the opening cinematic of the game with theme music added. But it’s too long for most uses.

    The first western trailer is male-targeted, showing action-adventure cinematics. This would be targeted at the traditional xbox audience. The second japanese one is interesting: much more romance, more actual gameplay footage obviously showcasing the aim circle thing. We might conclude more women might buy the game in Japan, and that Japanese consumers want to see some actual gameplay.

    The white rabbit one is the most interesting to me. As much as I love the game’s score, I think it’s a pretty excellent trailer. You have to consider the associations that the music brings with it: 60s, drugs, strange adventures, and the message ‘free your head’. It’s positioning the game as a mind-expanding experience, a pill you should try, something you might be missing out on. So I think it’s targeted at the mass audience, non-gamers, definitely broader than hardcore xbox shooter players, and in a way the message is larger than just this game itself.

    But by using well-known, western pop music, they avoid the mass market going ‘oh that’s too japanese’. It automatically feels more familiar to people because they’ve heard the song before. It’s weird, plus safe. Safeweird.

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