Albert Odyssey: Wayback Wednesday Vol. 28, Part 1

Albert Odyssey is an RPG for the Sega Saturn developed by Sun Soft and published in North America by the well-known Working Designs in 1997. This is a game that shows a ton of promise but does nothing particularly well.

The story centers around Pike, who had a very tragic upbringing. We see a horrific scene to start the game, and although it happens in the first few minutes, I won’t ruin it. Needless to say, poor Pike was just an infant, and you can’t help but feel terrible for him.

The awful occurrences continue even as a young teen, and the game opens with Pike trying to find a solution to a new issue plaguing his village. Pike travels with a wise-cracking but intelligent sword. A fairly unique sidekick to the protagonist, and I only recall seeing a sentient, talking sword one other time in Tales of Destiny for the PS1.

As Pike travels around looking to fix his own problem, he uncovers an evil much larger, and of course, at this point we enter RPG cliche territory where he must save the world and prevent a group of evil adversaries from messing up the globe. The world of Albert Odyssey is filled with different races of creatures, and one of the antagonist's goals is to turn all races against each other.

Two of the most prominent races, other than humans, featured in this game are the Birdmen and Beastmen. There is a conflict between the two around the midway point in the game, and although it struck me as interesting at first, in the end, it felt like this plot point was only glossed over, superficially covered, and ended abruptly. So much more could have been done with this. Albert Odyssey even has a fake-out ending midway through before thrusting you into about ten more hours of action. I was ready to feel disappointed but happy when I realized there was still more because that is one of the worst feelings a gamer can have: to be left wanting more.

Those familiar with the well-known Working Designs’ localizations (Lunar: SSSC and Lunar: EB) will immediately feel at home with the humor in Albert Odyssey. This is one of their best translations as it is funny, but not over the top as the Lunar games can sometimes be. Usually, you are given two choices for responses at key moments in the game. The first is usually more level-headed and the second is often ridiculous. In fact, towards the end of the game, there was a moment that legitimately made me laugh out loud, and video games rarely have that impact on me. The second choice, outlandish as usual, was a response with not-so-subtle sexual innuendo. The retort Kris gives to Pike, the main character, is legendary but is unlikely to be seen by the masses, even hardcore RPG enthusiasts, as the Sega Saturn quickly fell by the wayside in most gaming corners shortly after release, and Albert Odyssey is an uncommon release even when the topic of the Saturn comes up. It is unclear what, if any, impact your responses have on the game, beyond adding a little flexibility to the story, which is always nice.

If Albert Odyssey looks like a really beautiful SNES game, rather than a Sega Saturn game, that is because this was initially supposed to be on the SNES and midway through development, switched to the Saturn. So even upon release, this looked dated compared to other Saturn and PS1 games. Still, towns look amazing and include a lot of detail that gives off a lived-in type of feel. There are just little things you can find inside the house of a common NPC or the actions of store clerks or bar patrons as they chug another drink. The visual style of the game is appealing with plenty of varied, bright colors.

Dungeons look somewhat bland upon first glance but also include little touches of detail to make them interesting enough to explore. Now, graphics are the last thing I tend to look at in a role-playing game, but my favorite aspect of this category, at least in RPGs, is enemy sprites. I love to look at large, imposing baddies and admire the artwork required to make them grotesque and massive, but in Albert Odyssey, quite frankly, enemy sprites are lame. Even the large majority of the bosses are small, sometimes even smaller than the heroes, and do not give off the impression they are even remotely formidable. Thankfully, at least the last boss looks decent, but still, it pales in comparison to other endgame foes.

Thankfully, the music picks up the slack. Not just in boss battles, where the track does everything in its power to create a critical, dangerous situation despite the feeble-looking enemies. But town music is excellent, and Harpy Forest is also notable for its gentle, lush orchestration. As you enter the world map for the first time, the sense of a grand adventure about to unfold hits you. Entering your first cave, the music fills your ears with mystery and subtle foreboding undertones. There are dozens of tracks overall, and there isn’t a stinker in the bunch.

The sound effects are passable, although a few get annoying quickly, such as the noise the Birdman party member makes when getting hit and the laugh of one of the main evil characters, which are both grating right away.

The game has an odd difficulty spike towards the end, to the point where it feels somewhat unnatural. It is easy until you get to the point where you need to enter four towers: West, East, North, and South. The bosses in these towers are tough, and each boss will easily take most gamers 30–45 minutes to beat. Not a huge dilemma until you realize one slip-up could negate 30+ minutes of effort. These bosses hit hard, so be prepared! I was able to get past these four towers and four bosses unscathed and on my first try, but I can identify the difficulty this part of the game presents as being unequal compared to the rest of the game, and a few times I was within inches of a game over. It was unexpected compared to everything that came before, and a huge leap in challenge.

But this part of the game pushed me, and I was happy to finally have the opportunity to use my arsenal of spells, even though the variety is limited. Another oddity of this game is I don’t think I have ever seen an RPG with a larger gap in time between the death blow and the enemy actually disappearing (dying). In other words, put the finishing strike on an enemy and it feels like at least a few seconds pass before they actually scream or moan and disappear. It was quite awkward.

Overall, this is a short game and should take anywhere from 20–25 hours with ending levels in the mid-50s to low 60s with limited grinding required. This is unlikely to leave a lasting impact on most gamers, aside from some humorous banter and the fact that it is one of the few worthwhile role-playing games released in North America for the Sega Saturn. Although nothing special, it is a shame this series did not continue much longer after this title (the franchise only had a lifespan of about five years), as it had the makings of a solid series had it continued.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 1: Final Fantasy 7 and Chrono Trigger.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 2: Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Wayback Wednesday Volume 3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

Wayback Wednesday Volume 4: Secret of Mana and Wild Arms

Wayback Wednesday Volume 5: Illusion of Gaia and Grandia

Wayback Wednesday Volume 6: Breath of Fire 3 and X-Men Legends

Wayback Wednesday Volume 7: Star Ocean: The Second Story and Super Mario RPG

Wayback Wednesday Volume 8: Demon's Crest and Dragon Quest VI

Wayback Wednesday Volume 9: Suikoden I and Jeanne d'Arc

Wayback Wednesday Volume 10: Ranking the first 6 Final Fantasy games

Wayback Wednesday Volume 11: Earthbound and Valkyrie Profile

Wayback Wednesday Volume 12: Legend of Legaia and Secret of Evermore