If the title has not already lend you a clue, I love RPG's (Role Playing Games), For me they are the best genre in gaming. Story is the main focus as well as truly spending time and building up your characters through a series of battles and challenges that seem to mirror real-life. I guess that is one of the reason why I love them so much, you actually have to work for your reward and victory in the game. A lot of times the challenges of the characters and their stories even seem to emulate our own minus the fantasy worlds and outlandish battles.

I have a lot of RPG's that I love, and this time I am going to share five that I five which are some of my favorites. The games I could play over and over and always seem to find something new to explore or think about. In these games grinding is not a chore but an honor, and the characters are not just visuals on a screen but moving art which show a wide range of emotions. This is an ode to my five favorite RPG's.

Odin Sphere

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Odin Sphere's Opening Theme by Hitoshi Sakimoto

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This one is a blend of action and role-playing which has it's fair share of battles that are fast paced and furious as you hack and slash your way to victory. But that is only a small portion of the fun of it all. On one side of the spectrum you have a game which satiates your need to bludgeon things to a fine dust and on the other hand you have a deep customization system which emphasizes not endless battles but food requirements to level up.

That is right, I said food. In Odin Sphere you level up by eating certain foods that you personally grow yourself on the field. The plants grow anything from something as simple and usual as grapes to a plant that actually grows sheep! All items have their curative as well as stat boosting properties.

“The possibilities are endless in item customization in Odin Sphere
that this facet alone makes it a
joy to play.”

One of the most fun aspects of the game is that if certain foodstuffs are collected along with their respective recipes, you can take them to a restaurant which will make you a dish that is rich in experience points. These recipes can be found as you beat enemies, alongside the alchemy system which by combining one item with something that is called material creates an item that can be used in battle. This leads to such helpful items such as napalm and an item that can turn your enemy into a frog. The possibilities are endless in item customization in Odin Sphere that this facet alone makes it a joy to play.

The battle system is typical hack and slash action-role playing game, but it never presents itself in a dull way, also the enemies are challenging but not cheap. This makes Odin Sphere a rewarding game with some great side-scrolling action. What holds the game together as well as truly give it it's role playing badge of honor is the story.

Mostly drawing from Western mythology riddled with fairies, dwarfs, dragons, talking animals and other typical fantasy fare, Odin Sphere is more along the lines of a Shakespearean play than it is, say, a World of Warcraft game. Odin Sphere follows five different characters all with their own distinct personalities and struggles that intertwine within the overall story that revolves around a dangerous prophecy. Betrayal, forbidden love, and all-out war are just some of the story lines that are packed in the tale of Odin Sphere.

To move the story along gracefully, the art of Odin Sphere is superb with exquisite two dimensional art that is as fantastical as the story that it tells. Every Character is rendered and boss fights literally take up the whole screen evoking a lager-than-life ambiance. The music is also grand in it's own right with epic musical scores as well as whimsical waltz-like works, every musical piece fits perfectly with the overall scope of Odin Sphere.

The game can be found on it's distributors website, Atlus.com for a mere twenty dollars. It is worth every penny and I highly recommend picking this gem up.

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