New Lost Odyssey screens and concept art have me excited

Mistwalker and Microsoft Game Studios are nary a month away from releasing Lost Odyssey in North America and the admittedly mixed impressions are starting to pour in. Some are better than others, but the general consensus seems to be that Hironobu Sakaguchi knows how to make Final Fantasy, and that’s what you’ll get, albeit on the Xbox 360. It’s a good thing I love Final Fantasy.

In his defense, ASH looks promising, and his earlier career features  a handful of games that wildly diverge from the Final Fantasy formula (you guys remember Vagrant Story, right?). Either way, as a diehard fan, I’m prepared to look past some of the Gooch’s creative shortcomings. He’s allowed to use RPG clichés — he created them.

I’m a total sucker for jRPGs and concept art, and this latest batch has done little to stifle my anticipation for Lost Odyssey. The character models and the environments are all incredibly detailed, even though the massive gallery after the jump doesn’t do it much justice. It’s a lot prettier in motion, trust me. The gallery shows a wide variety of landscapes and architecture, ranging from desolate, barren environments to lush, elaborate technological cities. I presume that this architectural diversity represents the industrial revolution upon which the storyline is centered and the changes that Kaim experiences during his 1,000-year life.

I adore concept art, and while Kaim’s character isn’t my favorite, some of the other characters look really interesting. Mack (the little girl in green), Cooke (the girl in pink), and Gongora (the tank in the sweet-as-balls plate armor) look particularly realized, and I can only hope that their actual character development receives the same amount of attention to detail as their costumes. If some of their outfits look familiar, it’s because Lost Odyssey‘s costume designer also worked on Final Fantasy XII.

Lost Odyssey will be released in a month, and I know that I and some of my fellow Destructoid compatriots are bubbly with anticipation — are you? Furthermore, does this new art seal the deal for any of you on-the-fencers?