This game is beautiful. Let's Play Odin Sphere

“Good work, Gwendolyn...”

“That man...”
“I was right to tempt Oswald...”

Excuse me?



“He and I formed a pact: I would give you to him if he could slay the dragon Wagner.”

“Obviously, he succeeded.”
“The ring is a prize from that battle...”

“With your latest actions, you have atoned for your past transgressions ”

Odin, you're an asshole.

“Welcome back, my child.”
“Your honor has been restored.”

(The Shadow Knight... Oswald...)
(He fought the dragon... for me...)



Gwendolyn starts to leave.

“Gwendolyn...”



End of Chapter 4.

Bonus Art

Oswald. ;_; I feel really bad for him in this part of the game, even though we don't know anything about his reasons yet. Just... way to ruin everything, Gwendolyn's Daddy Issues.

I think the Valkyrie marriage thing is actually that the Valkyrie's husband is chosen for her and he's given the means to wake her.

Oswald ;A; Such a cutie. They're both such cuties.

Yeah, I had a crush for Oswald pretty soon while playing this game, he's so cute and gentle ç___ç

So, looking at Gwendolyn's character design in both outfits, I can't figure out if her wings are part of her body, or part of her armor. And if they're part of her armor, how does she glide?

Apparently design notes confirm that they're part of her armor, and also magic.

Oh, they're magic. Well that just explains everything.

Is it just me, or is she nonchalantly rowing a bird across the sky?

(This is not a complaint; I rather like it.)

And so we have returned to this castle.

“You're so irresponsible!”
“You didn't say where you went. I was nervous.”

“If anything happened to you, he'd be very distressed.”

Not you?

Let's see what Myris has to say.



Myris laughs.

“It seems like he's the only thing on your mind lately.”

“N-Not at all...”

“But he does seem to be rather late...”

Our Pooka vendor has a new surprise for us.



We can finally visit the Pooka village.
The Pooka village contains of a Café and a Restaurant, both which are extremely useful in leveling up your health-bar.



The vendor also sells this charm, extremely useful for where we're going next. As you can see however, I don't have nearly enough money to buy it.
So let's visit the Pooka Village instead.




Music:


This looks so cozy.

The left exit is the Restaurant, the right exit is the Café and the middle one will take us back to the hub-world. There's also a vendor here that sells special ingredients that can be hard to find otherwise. As long as we have a recipe and the ingredients, we can order a meal at either place. However, you can only pay with the Valentinian coins, so you usually want to avoid spending those on other things when possible.

As soon as we enter this place, we get a new recipe and the ingredients required.



So why not enter the restaurant and try it out.


Music for the Restaurant and Café:


I love this place.

Once again, not possible to see through screenshots, but I believe there's currently over 15 things moving in this background. Every single pot or pan that's hanging from the ceiling is swaying back and forth, the fire moves, the antennas of the lobster moves, and so on.



As you can see, eating a cooked meal will give you a lot more experience than eating the ingredients raw.
Whenever you get a new recipe it will be added to the menu as soon as you enter the restaurant/café.



Each type of meal has it's own sprite, so it can be interesting to order different things to see what they look like.
Also, every character you play has a different eating animation. Gwendolyn eats neatly and wipes her mouth after every meal.

Over to the Café.



This decor feels a bit too busy for my taste. I prefer the restaurant.



Sadly, we don't have the ingredients for the one recipe we currently possess.
We'll have to return another time.

Time to head out to the next area.

We start with Gwendolyn talking to Brom about Oswald.



“He went to the Fire Kingdom to fulfill a promise he made to the king there.”

“He's been gone for some time now...”
“Something may have happened.”

(To fulfill a promise...?)

(What is happening in the Fire Kingdom?)
(My heart aches with each passing day...)

(I cannot bear it... I cannot wait like this.)

Yes, let's investigate.

Gwendolyn runs out.

We return a little bit later to see her arriving in what looks like the inside of a volcano.

Edit: The following scene now has a video

*Click here to watch it*



Ok, I can get not wanting to wear much clothes when living in a volcano, but that does not look comfortable...

The white haired woman kneels.



Gwendolyn nods and continues moving forward.



Gwendolyn bows.

“It has been a while, Your Majesty...”

“You are as beautiful as ever.”
“'Tis always a pleasure to welcome you to our kingdom.”

“This way, please. Allow us to entertain you.”

Onyx turns around.

“Your Majesty...”
“I have come here seeking answers.”

“I have heard that my husband, Oswald, has come to this land.”

“Are you aware of this?”



I'm seriously rolling my eyes at you right now, Onyx.

“He is certainly here.”
“He is fighting for me.”

“Fighting?”

“Yes. Against a dragon that is terrorizing our country.”

Another dragon...

“Some say that this dragon is Leventhan,
the one mentioned in the prophecies concerning the world's end.”

“Our fire and our swords have had no effect on this newborn dragon.”



“But since I have heard no news, I assumed it was useless as well.”

And you haven't bothered to check?

“Why Oswald...?”

“You may not know this...”
“But King Odin had already promised your hand... to me.”

Goddammit, Odin.

“It would've helped unify both our countries.”

“But your father went back on his word...”
“And instead, gave you to that tortured soul.”



“He vowed to fight for his life on my behalf whenever I asked.”

That does not sound like a good deal.

“Oswald did this for me...?”

“He may die...”
“He may even already be dead...”

Thank you for those deeply comforting words, Onyx. You're a big help.

“I can void our agreement and save him...”
“If you will be my bride.”

Onyx walks closer.



Great, now you're being creepy...

Gwendolyn backs away from Onyx.

“Inferno King, you're no different than the men back home...”

“I am not an object!”


“What!?”

Onyx seems genuinely shocked at this. He does a “how can this be” hand-gesture and everything.
It's actually rather amusing.

Gwendolyn leaves.

“Get her, Vulcans!”
“Capture her, but don't harm her.”

Good luck with that.

The women surrounding Onyx catch on fire.



The Vulcans chase after Gwendolyn.

Music for this area:


So.. for some reason my emulator hated this area. The frame-rate went way down and I have no idea why. Especially since another area later on didn't have any lag at all, and that one always lagged on the ps2.
Therefore, I may not have as many nor as good screen-shots this time, hopefully it'll work anyway.

Now, just like on the mountain the extreme environment will constantly harm you. In order to prevent this you need to create a potion. Unless you're rich and bought the charm for sale.


The Habaneristo is the last mandragora in the game, and it's most common here, in the volcano.
It's a bit different than the other ones because of one reason.



It breathes fire on you.
So kill it fast.



The first enemy you encounter are these flying fire-balls. Unlike the snowflakes, these are much more aggressive, and being on fire will generally hurt you more than being frozen, so take care not to get hit.



Another couple of new enemies you encounter in this area are these.
The Bombs mostly bounce around, they're easy enough to kill. They will explode when their health-bar turns red however, so watch out.
The lizards can either spit fire or hit you with their tails. They're not very hard either.



And for the mini-bosses, we get to fight Vulcans.
These clearly didn't get the “don't harm” part in Onyx order, because they will do their best to murder you.
Most of their attacks will set you on fire, so be careful. They can use their sword for a spinning attack, or slam it in the ground for massive damage. Sometimes they will also summon a bunch of fire-balls and keep these around their body for protection.



Whenever they get defeated they shriek and turn to ash.

And we get another recipe.



This is a special recipe, because we will be able to bring the finished meal with us in our backpacks.


Music for shop-stages in this area:


The Goblin vendor has a new Bangle for me. The sun pendant below will give you a 20 % health boost.



The last enemy are these green lizards. They take longer to kill, and will spit green fire that sticks to the ground.



And we get another potions recipe. Because of the high material number needed for this, I rarely use it.

We also get another a new recipe for the restaurant.



And a new potion.



This creates a cloud that will curse the majority of those that enters it. The curse will kill anyone (except bosses) in a few seconds and there's no cure.
This can be really useful for mobs, but it's really easy to get hit yourself, and then you die.
We've also leveled up enough for a new power.



This is my favorite Phozon-power. It will be crucial later on in the end-game.

And one more recipe.



And that's the last for now. Let's move on to the boss.

The scene opens with Oswald fighting a baby dragon.



Look, how cute the little dragon is with his little crown.
Although, why does the dragon have a crown?

Oswald manages to knock the dragon to the ground, but collapses soon after.



“This is useless...”
“It seems the Queen of the Dead has reduced my sword's power.”

“My body is like lead...”

“To be defeated by a newborn dragon like this...”

“This doesn't look good...”

Suddenly Gwendolyn appears.



“Why are... you here...?”

Gwendolyn runs away to follow the dragon.

“I... I can't make it...”
“I can't go on...”

Oswald loses his consciousness as the screen fades out.



The Baby Dragon Leventhan is by far the easiest boss we've fought. Which makes the fact that Oswald apparently been fighting him for however long, without defeating it a bit embarrassing.

As you can see above, Leventhan will sometime shoot a laser-beam of fire. It's easy to avoid, but if you do get hit, odds are you'll die, so don't do that.

When Leventhan has had enough of you hitting it, he will either fly or be knocked to the ground and try to bodyslam you. Just jump over him, he's tiny.
He will then stumble and proceed to sit still for a while as if annoyed over the fact that he didn't hit anything.



This is when you attack him. If you're lucky, this will knock him down once again.



Leventhan may also do this huge fire-attack. Stay behind him for safety as this runs a high risk of killing you.
But as I said, he's really easy.

Gwendolyn returns to the unconscious Oswald.



“They must be attended to immediately.”



Onyx arrives on the scene.



“To be able to defeat the dragon from the prophesies... “
“You intrigue me even more.”

“Oswald has fought for you, and the dragon has been defeated.”

“We are returning to the castle.”

Onyx makes an angry gesture.

"Why...?"
"Why him?"

“That man has been selected by the Queen of the Dead...”

“He will eventually die as her servant.”
“His very existence is torment.”

“Leave that doomed soul, and take my hand.”



Gwendolyn, you are awesome.

“If you do not want your life extinguished, get out of my sight!”

Onyx laughs.

“How intense...”
“Just like a flame...”

“I shall pay my respects to such intensity and back down for now.”

“The promise has been kept.”
“Let us leave it at that.”



...Onyx, that is a really bad pick-up line.

Onyx leaves as the screen fades out.

End of Chapter 5.

Bonus Art.

Just one of the many and various reasons that I love Gwendolyn! I really can't hold it against Oswald that she just showed him up vs. Leventhan because, in all fairness to Oswald, Gwendolyn is freaking badass.

And of course Odin continues to be a crappy, crappy father.

...I really hope your emulator doesn't choke and die when we get to Odette. The loving detail with which the game devs animated her jiggling always makes my console slow to a crawl.

No problems so far. That was the part I mentioned that surprisingly didn't lag at all. Which is weird as it's always made my console slow down too.
Oh well, hopefully it was just a strange glitch that won't show up again. :)

Oh man the Pooka Kitchen. I abuse the shit out of that. No seriously. On my save game, Gwendolyn has 3528 health right now. And Onyx. Bby you are sizzling.

...I'm not sorry.

Wait, what? Most of the recipe on the menù (specially in the restaurant) are written in italian, and I don't remember it was the case when I played the game in italian O__o Oh well.
I always found a bit amusing this restaurant and café thing, I wish I could eat so many cakes and don't gain any weight like the characters.

hooo this game seems very nice, the art is cute, Gwendolyn is not a whiny heroin, Oswald is not a macho, music is great, and I'd love to eat in an bunny people's trattoria.
(vulcans.. that in particular made me smile..)
Is there a port for psp or whatever, or only available on ps2?

It's available on the PSN network for ps3 if you live in the US. Otherwise it's sadly only available on the ps2.

What's the difference between the Restaurant and the Cafe, except for the decor?

Different recipes? That's the only difference I remember.

Not very much. The Restaurant has more "dinner-like" food, while the Café has desserts and smaller foodstuff. In other words, just like in real life.
The Restaurant's food also tends to give you more experience and cost more money, probably because it's more "actual" food.

So, yeah. It's pretty much what Joie De Combat said.

Haaaa dammit, I'm in France actually.
And have not a ps3 either. and I don't plan to buy PSwhatervernumber
(Ironically, for once, the game is available in french, lots of game are not translated, and translation is only on PS2) :/
I think I'l have to wait an hypothetic port .
thanks for answering alice, and !happy new year everyone

As you can see, Oswald has now taken up place in the bed. It seems he's still unconsious.

”Oswald is safe... What a relief...”

”Yes indeed...”

Talking to Brom reveals that he seems to be upset with Gwendolyn again.



“Don't go anywhere without telling me ever again.”

“But in any event, I too am happy to hear of Oswald's return.”

Anyway, after a short stop to the Pooka village for some more leveling up, it's time to move on.



Brom turns around to face Gwendolyn.

“Has Oswald's condition changed?”

“He is resting at the moment.”

That didn't really answer the question.

“I see...”

Brom returns to looking out over the balcony.
Gwendolyn moves closer.

“May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“I have heard rumors suggesting that Oswald has some kind of connection to the Queen of Death.”

“Well... Hmm...”



Oh hey, he's awake.
Also, I can see we have another wonderful parent.

“You need to rest.”

“And just as he wished, I acquired the cursed power of the Shadow Knight.”

“But in compensation for this contract, the Halja lurk about everywhere.”

Halja are this world's Messengers of death/Reapers/Shinigami. They work for the Queen of the Netherworld.

“They are waiting for the moment my power fades.”

“How terrible...”

“As long as I have the Belderiver, the Halja fear me and stay away.”

“But this power continues to be my curse...”

“That was a close call back there. I must thank you.”



“What did you discuss with Onyx?”

“I apologize for not obeying your command to stay here.”

Don't apologize.

“But... I was so worried and concerned about you...”
“I could not sit idly by.”



Gwendolyn blushes.

”I... I...”
“Um...”

A voice interrupts her.



A Valkyrie comes flying in.



“I have something to report.”

“Ragnival suffered a crushing defeat from the Vanir, under their new queen.”

The Fairies have a new queen?

“They have seized the area around the Cauldron.”

“That can't be...!”
“How is the King?! Is the King alright?”

“King Odin has been wounded by Arcane Bolts and has returned to the castle.”

“But, his injuries are severe, and he is in no shape to do battle.”

Well, boohoo...

“The enemy will surely take this opportunity to invade the castle.”

“The precious ring he received from Your Highness has been taken away.”



Crap, we're busted.



Goddammit, Odin, I will blame you for this.

Oswald backs away.

“Ugh...”

He grabs his chest.

“This was all a part of the Demon Lord's scheme.”
“So, I was used as a puppet...”

Oswald leaves.

“Wait a moment... I really...”

“Ahh...”

“Your Highness, for now, please return to the Kingdom and assist King Odin.”

No.

“...”

“I cannot return to my father...”

“But... I will serve my responsibility as the King's daughter and fight.”

“Please inform the King of my intentions.”

The Valkyrie nods and leaves.

The screen turns dark.

When we return, Gwendolyn has changed clothes.
Just as she's about to leave, the Bird appears once again.

“If I can retrieve that ring, the entire war will change.”

“Are you doing this for your father?”

“...”

“Or... for him?”

The Bird disappears.

“I never imagined losing someone could be so terrifying...”



Gwendolyn leaves.


Music for this area:


So instead of going to Odin's side, we'll be going to the fairies home world in order to take back the ring. As you can see, the fairies live in a large forest/tree.



So, seeing as we're fighting the fairies once again, the enemies in this area's the same ones that Gwendolyn fought in her first chapter. Fairy Knights, fairies, unicorn knights and so on.



Enemies do tend to arrive in slightly larger groups in this area though, which can be rather annoying.
Thankfully this area's full with carroteers.



Which means you'll have no problem with replenishing health, thanks to potions.

And speaking of, from now on all new texts/potions/recipes will be collected at the end of every update, before any extra art. Any prophesies however, will still be shown in the regular update.
This is because of the repetition of area's that's going to occur soon. This means that the only new content will be text/recipes, and I don't want a wall of those in the middle of an update.

Let me know if you have any opinions on this.



I love how this area looks. It's so pretty.


Music for shop-stages in this area:


The Ruewort seed is the most phozon-heavy seed in the game. Seeing as it's only used in a few of the more advance food-dishes, I've never found much use for it.



The mini-boss fight in the area gets a bit harder by the billion fairy-knights that keeps bothering me.
Sadly, it's not possible to clear out the knights and then attack the unicorn, new ones will arrive before you're able to do much damage.

And after that, it's time for the boss.

The scene opens on Gwendolyn entering the Fairies' Castle.



“It's Odin's Witch.”
“Let's ask what brings her here.”

When did Gwendolyn turn into a witch?

Gwendolyn kneels.

“Your Highness...”
“Please allow me to introduce myself.”

“My name is Gwendolyn. I am King Odin's daughter.”

“I have been exiled from my country, but circumstances forced me to come here.”

“I have but one request.”

“The Ring Titrel...”
“It was given to me as a gift.”
“It is extremely precious to me.”



You know, it would be really nice if this actually worked...

“You barged in here to ask that? What cheek!”
“Do you really expect us to hand the ring that controls the Cauldron over to you?”

No, but it was worth a try.

“We cannot give you the ring.”

“This ring is a spoil of war from the Demon Lord.”
“I am it's rightful owner now.”



Gwendolyn prepares to battle as the screen darkens.



So now we're fighting Mercedes, the new Fairy Queen. She will spend most of her time flying around and shooting at you with her crossbow.

She's not a particularly strong boss, her attacks all do medium damage, and her defense isn't very good.
Occasionally, she will have to land on the ground to reload, this makes her vulnerable. Take advantage of that.
Mercedes can also heal in the middle of battle by eating what looks like napples.


The other enemies in this fight are mostly annoying, and relatively easy to ignore.
Overall, she shouldn't give you too much trouble.

We return to Brom and Myris, searching for Oswald outside the castle.



“I told him to get some rest...”

Myris spots something in the distance.

“Oh, Brom... I see him...”

“Ah, so there he is...”



“But...”
“'Tis even more painful to be imprisoned by someone for whom you feel nothing.”

“Gwendolyn...”

“I had the slightest glimmer of hope in my heart...”

Suddenly a reaper-like creature shows up behind him.



You might want to check behind you, Oswald.

“It's a... a messenger of death!”

“Oswald!”

Brom starts running towards Oswald and the Halja.

“What's wrong, Oswald?”
“Your sword is close...”
“If you do not reach for it, my scythe shall claim you.”

“You have no hope nor power...”
“You are a shell of a man, filled with despair.”

“Now, come...”
“You belong to my Queen, for all eternity.”



The screen turns red as the Halja strikes.

We return to Gwendolyn on her way home.



“Oswald...”

Suddenly Myris shows up.



“Where is Oswald?”

Myris starts to cry.

“Ah...”

“Gwendolyn,
Please listen to me...”



The screen turns dark.

End of Chapter 6.

Next time, we wrap up Gwendolyn's story with the epilogue.

Text and Recipes received in this chapter.

Bonus Art.

Oswald. ;_;

Dammit, Gwendolyn. You couldn't take five minutes to chase him down and explain things before rushing off to do battle?

Of course this is really all Odin's fault. And he's still a better father than Oswald's dad. (Who is #3 on the list of top three worst parents in the world, for those of us keeping score.)

Crappy parenting gets more people killed in this game...

As ways to heighten conflict go, at least it's better than everyone just inexplicably not telling each other things!

Oswald is even more good looking in those casual clothes :3

"Someone for whom you feel nothing"... OSWALD. SHE STORMED THE FIRE KINGDOM FOR YOU. ALONE. AND FACED A DRAGON THAT ALMOST KILLED YOU. ALONE. FOR YOU. What part of that is feeling nothing? I know Oswald is like, clinically depressed and has self-worth issues but this part always bugged me because she proved she felt something for him literally right before this. If she "felt nothing" then she would have let you die you moron. Proud warrior woman Oswald. Nice or not she wouldn't shy away from letting someone she hated die.

Let's finish this.

But first, we have to talk with Myris.

”Ever since then,”
”Oswald's been depressed and hasn't
touched his food...”

This sentence always manages to confuse me. I think it's the present tense that does it.

“When you woke up, he was so elated...”

“But to be stolen by a Halja...”



):

We just have to get one thing from the vendor before moving out.



This is very necessary for where we'll be going next.

The screen opens on Gwendolyn about to leave.



“A place the living cannot go.”
“'Tis impossible for you to rescue him.”

“...No.”
“I know of one person who is able to make this possible...”

Oh, great...

“Who...?”

“...”

“The Demon Lord... Odin...”

Gwendolyn leaves.

We return with her entering Odin's castle.



“I have heard of your exploits.”

“Assaulting the enemy with just one spear...”

“Retrieving the ring from those cunning and shrewd lasses...”

“As long as we have the power to control the Cauldron, their plans will go awry.”

“You are the most wonderful daughter in the cosmos.”
“You are as precious as that ring.”

Of course you like her now that you think she's here to help you. Ugh.

“...”

“Now, present your king with the treasures of victory.”

She's exiled, you're not her king anymore.



“The reason I have come today is to inquire about how to enter the Netherworld.”

“What foolishness is this? Give me the ring.”

If you wanted the ring so much, you should have fought the dragon for it yourself.

“You should know, Father, since you travel there to collect crystals.”

“Will you please hear my request?”
“Please, Father...”

“A daughter that has been banished...
wishes to make a deal with her father,
the king of the nation!?”

Oh I see, so now she's exiled again...

Odin punches the wall.

Really showing your maturity there, Odin.

“...”

“Very well. In exchange for the ring,
I shall escort you to the Netherworld's border.”

“Father...”



Enough with the ring, already.

Gwendolyn shakes her head.

“...No.”

“Not until I make it back from the Netherworld...”

The screen fades out.


Music for this area:




Now most Netherworld enemies can be summoned up by one world. Annoying.
These skeletons are the basic ones. Besides hitting you if you get close, they can spit some greenish slime that looks like jellyfish. At certain points in their health-bar they will also collapse for a second. They will then get back up really quick, injuring anyone in the vicinity while doing so.



This is actually not an enemy, but in every stage there's these skeletons with candles. They constantly move around the stage and actually serve a purpose other than decoration. The light from the candles will force any ghost-creatures to materialize, so fighting around these is a good idea.



Sometimes this happens when you enter a stage.
Here's where the use of the potion Shine comes in. Without the potion, you will only have this little light around yourself, and any light from the skeletons with candles. In order for the entire stage to light up, you have to use Shine.