LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

Once again Frontier, the team behind the LostWinds series, have pulled off a masterpiece.

Over recent weeks I have been gaming quite a lot, mainly playing FIFA 10 online through the xBox 360, but last week I stumbled across an article about the imminent release of LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, the second part in the story of young Toku and Enril the Wind Spirit’s adventure. This sparked me in to wanting to go back and complete the original game, something I had failed to do because I got stuck at about 70% of the way through and never returned to finish. So on Friday night whilst in the pub, giving the better half my complete attention of course, I decided to start my failed adventure again, the following evening. This particular Saturday night was scheduled to be gaming night because the better half had arranged a works night out and my new goal was to complete LostWinds.

After dropping her off at the pub to meet her friends I dashed home, grabbed my snacks and drinks and settled down to begin my adventure anew. Despite the fact I had encountered most of the jaw dropping moments the game has to offer before, I was still blown away the effortless interaction between the two characters and the charming puzzles set in the most amazingly stylised scenery. The charm of this game is that it is so simple  and yet so fulfilling in terms of story, visuals and a sense of achievement. One particular moment mesmerised me as I played, this was of course the final ‘boss’ encounter. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but the thought that has gone in to it was outstanding and yet the solution is so simple and almost ‘routine’ after hours of game play, however it wasn’t without its difficulties. The reward for the completion of this puzzle wasn’t only the fact that you complete the game, but you also save someone from evil and gain a new friend. I completed the game in just shy of 4 hours and felt truly enlightened for having done so. Admittedly I did turn to a guide to avoid getting stuck where I had before, but this only served to mess things up further because the directions it contained where wrong, so my lesson has been learnt.

Fresh from the original adventure and still with that warm cuddly feeling in my chest I downloaded the sequel. 20 minutes later I was at the introduction screen and the magical music that features throughout the games was playing … then suddenly the dreaded iPhone ring-tone began to play … I had my orders to go pick the better half up and she was in a slightly less than lady like state. Disappointedly I prised the remote from my hand a powered down the Wii, I was soooooo close!!!

It wasn’t until Monday evening that I finally got to sit down and play Winter of the Melodias. I turned off my phone, turned on the Wii and at last made it past the opening screen. As the game starts you are greeted by a familiar scene – Toku is asleep in a stupid place and fall to the ground with a bump. His guardian, Deo, is there and shortly after arrives the renowned adventurer Notéa to break the bad news and the foundation to your next adventure. I wont ruin the plot beause learning it is an integral parts of the games experience, but its nothing to unfamiliar. Person close to you in trouble, go to dangerous place and save them. This begins the best introduction to a game I have ever experienced, its begins by your new friend Magmok, ancient Guardian of Mistralis, taking you to the place you need to be, as thanks for saving him in the final encounter of the previous game. As you proceed up the mountainous terrain Magmok climbs with you and helps you in areas where you cannot get through unaided. As you ascend the basic controls are introduced for those who are unfamiliar with the first game. By the time you reach the top your are familiar with the basics and ready for an adventure.

I have only played a further half an hour in to the game before I had to go back to the real world, but needless to say I can already see massive improvement to the game, yet it still feels the same and offers the same amazing experience. A clever touch I really enjoyed is that when you begin you are not dressed for the environment, meaning that you have to stay close to beacons in order to keep warm, this adds a new dimension and pressure to the early stages and really makes you think. The increased variety of enemies is also very clever, after encouraging you to use them in clearing an obstacle or to defeat other enemies , an example of this is when you reach a thorny blockade, you can use the enemies that are ‘on-fire’ to destroy the thorns before using vortex to make a snow ball and dousing them out. These clever touches add depth and this is what make Winter of the Melodias so much more rewarding than the original – not to mention the map which actually helps you make sense of what you are achieving.

I genuinely recommend to anyone looking for a good adventure game to give this a try, its only £7 and worth every penny in my opinion. You can’t help but be charmed and feel a sense of achievement.

Update (15/10/2009): I’ve just finished the game after an intense 4 hours. So I thought I’d post a tip for those struggling with the final fight (spoiler alert)… that purple blob he throws at you is the only thing you can hurt him with.