A movement called Operation Rainfall was responsible for the worldwide release of three Japanese games; the revered Xenoblade Chronicles, sleeper hit Pandora's Tower and The Last Story. Often overlooked as Xenoblade's little brother, The Last Story is an action-RPG by the creator of the Final Fantasy series - alongside the composer of FF1. Don't let the "RPG" in the title fool you; this is no traditional RPG. Combat is an intuitive real-time system with cover mechanics, ducking and rolling with none of the turn-based mechanics from Final Fantasy games prior to FF12. The game revolves around the protagonist Zael, who - alongside his band of mercenaries - quickly becomes enveloped in a much bigger problem than monster cleanup - saving the land, to be precise.
STORY
The title tells you that this game has its story at the very core of the game. Zael, Dagran, Syrenne, Mirania, Lowell and Yurick compose the 6-man squad that stays with you throughout the plot. While clearing out the opening dungeon, Syrenne gets critically wounded. Zael, with a mix of anger and sorrow, has an outburst and cries out about losing the people close to him - and his outburst is heard by a mysterious power, which grants him "The Outsider". It transpires that Zael is, deep down, full of sorrow after a tragic childhood - just like this mysterious power - and going forward, he can use the power of The Outsider to divert enemy attention and fire towards himself to assist his teammates. This is one of the main mechanics of the game and while you're using this power - "Gathering", specifically - your teammates' magic also conjures twice as fast. It's very beneficial, but you can get in real trouble if you become surrounded, and balancing its use is key.
Just under an hour in, you are introduced to a new, very important character: Lisa. Lisa has run away from home - which turns out to be a castle with her noble family - where she is kept inside all day, much to her frustration. Her initial naivety and character is perhaps a bit cliché (which you could extend to most of the ragtag team, with the amusing exception of Syrenne) but is nonetheless very satisfying to see two innocent, pure-of-heart characters interact. This sort of interaction is, in itself, a nice break from the platitudes of most similar games, which tend to swerve and veer around the concept of romance awkwardly until the end. It often results in some heartfelt scenes where you feel a genuine emotional connection with Zael and Lisa - again, a nice change of pace from either awkward avoidance or forced romance.
This engaging "connection" extends to the rest of the cast, too, though not romantically (unless you're one to fantasise). I was going to single out one of the characters for regularly dropping cutting jokes and remarks, but really, they all have their moments and the oscillating relationships between characters result in often surprisingly funny moments of cheeky jabs and natural banter - conveyed through what is also surprisingly good British voice acting. It gives the game a bit of character compared to the often Americanised characters and while there will always be those unsatisfied with anything but the original Japanese voice acting, the voice acting was generally praised and the characters were often highlighted as a key part of the game's personality. Zael's occasionally childlike innocence, Dagran's cool and collected leadership, Syrenne's alcoholic antics, Yurick's strong and silent nature with occasional wisecracks, Lowell's smartass comments and flirts and Mirania's special relationship with nature all come together to give the cast moments of bona fide hilarity for the player. In short, The Last Story's assorted team provide genuinely funny moments with their unique chemistry, and the story - while perhaps hinging on a few unoriginal tropes from time to time - does a good job of driving the player forward.
Gameplay
The gameplay in The Last Story is really quite unique. It blends a Gears of War style cover mechanic - which rewards leaping out at unsuspecting enemies with surprise attacks - with gameplay straight out of a sword-fighting action game, without almost any of the superfluous RPG features, and it is definitely more frenetic than traditional turn-based RPGs. As the game progresses, you get the ability to stop combat to issue orders to your crew, be it offensive or support magic from Yurick, Lowell or Mirania or charging into action with Dagran and Syrenne. The cast varies and the special abilities developed later on does add some satisfaction to using Command Mode to activate them. The game, by default, attacks automatically once you walk up to an enemy, and while this sounds like it takes getting used to - it does - it becomes second nature after a little while, and the game still gives you the option to manually attack in any case.
The game is quite easy, to be frank. The game rarely forces you down to one or two lives, but on that note - you have five lives before a game over, which refill automatically at the end of a battle as well as your HP. There are certainly flashes of challenge when you are forced to use a smaller squad of maybe two or three people, but for the most part, you will rarely see a game over screen. That doesn't mean it's unenjoyable, though; the game is often very satisfying. On a related note to gameplay, the game is very linear and if massive worlds with complete freedom are a big deal for you, then you won't appreciate The Last Story. The environments are well crafted, but often you are just travelling from area to area within Lazulis town and castle. You only go outside of the town for a total of a few hours on a ship and then onto the Gurak homeland. It's not a bad linear structure, but it is definitely linear. The sidequests are usually quite barebones, though there are occasionally optional chapters which are worth playing. If this bothers you, it will probably be a recurring criticism of this game, but it is worth stressing that the locations you travel through are related to the plot and never feel like you shouldn't be there.
Design
The visual direction of The Last Story is well thought-out and fits with the story the game is trying to tell. If the colour and lighting were slightly different, Lazulis Island would be beautiful, but the island is caked with a burning glare which, while offering its own aesthetic, does reinforce the fact that Lazulis is no haven. While the game gives you a lot of control over your clothes as you advance, the mercenary band's clothing is appropriately unimpressive. Dagran and Syrenne don a tattered hunter suit that looks like a ripped bib, Lowell's most defining piece of clothing is his scarf, Yurick is wearing a short blue jacket with a plain undercoat and Zael and Mirania wear a pretty insipid all-black outfit with dashes of gold. It is perfectly representative of their social status; they are down in the lower ranks of society, working as frowned-upon mercenaries to get by. When they get their job for guard duty in Lazulis castle in the opening hour or two, they stand out as lower class than the knights. Needless to say, the game looks very good for Wii - and while there are moments of slowdown, the game is usually fine in terms of performance. Textures are a mixed bag, with some being very high resolution (one sky from memory was a combination of two 1024x1024 textures, the highest the Wii supports) and some are simply muddy looking, high resolution or not. The game received some flak on release for its visuals and performance, but it did its best to get the most out of the Wii - which was aging hardware by launch, let alone 2011. Dolphin allows the game to truly shine, but it is perfectly fine enjoyed on a CRT TV as well.
This is drifting into story territory, but it is important to mention: Dagran swears he will make knights of his team, and Zael truly believes him. As events unfold, Zael and co. win noble Count Arganan's favour and rise up the ranks, but the game makes a point; even by accepting the system and doing as you are told, you are feeding the system and validating it. Zael and his team are indirectly causing misery for the lower class he came from. The tragedy is that Zael is too inexperienced and young to realise this; he does what he has to in order to rise up the ranks and make a living. But as his power, The Outsider, makes clear with its growing intensity, he cannot continue to rise inside the system while being the "Outsider" and while retaining moral integrity. The plot, at least for almost all of the game, makes an effort to form a convincing argument against the power system, corruption, greed-driven conflict and divisions in society and politics. The island deteriorates due to human intervention and conflict causes the game's design to alter radically and irreversibly; food and other goods fluctuate in value, allowing cunning players to profit from necessity in a turbulent war economy. Familiar environments are scarred by war, and even characters evolve throughout the conflict.
The game, save for the final few hours, is meticulously designed and what the game does offer is a solidly designed package. However, some aspects fall short. Sidequests, save for the few side-chapters, are uninteresting and unrewarding; scripted events sometimes need to trigger to allow you to progress, sometimes without indication on how to trigger them, and as I have hinted at, the game's ending seems to defeat what the game stood for up to that point. It's these few problems that prevent The Last Story from being a truly special game. For me, these were made all the more frustrating because I was loving this game and could not get enough of it, and I wanted to overlook these flaws but my second playthrough only made me pay more attention to them. The game is only 20-25 hours long, for an average playthrough; which is a nice change from traditional RPGs which required a massive commitment closer to 200 hours than 20, but some diehard RPG fans might be disappointed in the length. There is at least additional replay value to be gained through the online mode, which offers co-op and versus multiplayer for up to 6 players -- and while this still works thanks to Wiimmfi and other revived services, you'll be hard pressed to find many players as I found for myself. (I'm working on it!)
CONCLUSION:
STORY - 8/10: Potential to be very unique and special, but the game scraps everything it stands for in order to meet the status quo and give a satisfying ending
GAMEPLAY - 9.5/10: Exceptional - very enjoyable, unique and a refreshing change of pace
DESIGN: 9.5/10: A game helmed by the creator of Final Fantasy could hardly fail to deliver in terms of design, and it is one of Sakaguchi's most intricate works yet, despite its short length and strict linearity
OVERALL: 9/10 - Amazing
The Last Story has its fair share of problems and unfortunately, these problems are big enough to warrant a meaningful deduction from the final score. However, if you are willing to overlook these flaws, what you will find beneath the scratched surface is a special game. It is a game that, despite its problems, offers rewarding gameplay and characters that create engaging bonds which come together to form an experience that is, even with its problems, a great experience. If you have forgotten about your Wii or your Wii U, or even have the game in your backlog backed up for Dolphin, it is worth dusting out your old system for one Last Story.
STORY
The title tells you that this game has its story at the very core of the game. Zael, Dagran, Syrenne, Mirania, Lowell and Yurick compose the 6-man squad that stays with you throughout the plot. While clearing out the opening dungeon, Syrenne gets critically wounded. Zael, with a mix of anger and sorrow, has an outburst and cries out about losing the people close to him - and his outburst is heard by a mysterious power, which grants him "The Outsider". It transpires that Zael is, deep down, full of sorrow after a tragic childhood - just like this mysterious power - and going forward, he can use the power of The Outsider to divert enemy attention and fire towards himself to assist his teammates. This is one of the main mechanics of the game and while you're using this power - "Gathering", specifically - your teammates' magic also conjures twice as fast. It's very beneficial, but you can get in real trouble if you become surrounded, and balancing its use is key.
Just under an hour in, you are introduced to a new, very important character: Lisa. Lisa has run away from home - which turns out to be a castle with her noble family - where she is kept inside all day, much to her frustration. Her initial naivety and character is perhaps a bit cliché (which you could extend to most of the ragtag team, with the amusing exception of Syrenne) but is nonetheless very satisfying to see two innocent, pure-of-heart characters interact. This sort of interaction is, in itself, a nice break from the platitudes of most similar games, which tend to swerve and veer around the concept of romance awkwardly until the end. It often results in some heartfelt scenes where you feel a genuine emotional connection with Zael and Lisa - again, a nice change of pace from either awkward avoidance or forced romance.
This engaging "connection" extends to the rest of the cast, too, though not romantically (unless you're one to fantasise). I was going to single out one of the characters for regularly dropping cutting jokes and remarks, but really, they all have their moments and the oscillating relationships between characters result in often surprisingly funny moments of cheeky jabs and natural banter - conveyed through what is also surprisingly good British voice acting. It gives the game a bit of character compared to the often Americanised characters and while there will always be those unsatisfied with anything but the original Japanese voice acting, the voice acting was generally praised and the characters were often highlighted as a key part of the game's personality. Zael's occasionally childlike innocence, Dagran's cool and collected leadership, Syrenne's alcoholic antics, Yurick's strong and silent nature with occasional wisecracks, Lowell's smartass comments and flirts and Mirania's special relationship with nature all come together to give the cast moments of bona fide hilarity for the player. In short, The Last Story's assorted team provide genuinely funny moments with their unique chemistry, and the story - while perhaps hinging on a few unoriginal tropes from time to time - does a good job of driving the player forward.
Gameplay
The gameplay in The Last Story is really quite unique. It blends a Gears of War style cover mechanic - which rewards leaping out at unsuspecting enemies with surprise attacks - with gameplay straight out of a sword-fighting action game, without almost any of the superfluous RPG features, and it is definitely more frenetic than traditional turn-based RPGs. As the game progresses, you get the ability to stop combat to issue orders to your crew, be it offensive or support magic from Yurick, Lowell or Mirania or charging into action with Dagran and Syrenne. The cast varies and the special abilities developed later on does add some satisfaction to using Command Mode to activate them. The game, by default, attacks automatically once you walk up to an enemy, and while this sounds like it takes getting used to - it does - it becomes second nature after a little while, and the game still gives you the option to manually attack in any case.
The game is quite easy, to be frank. The game rarely forces you down to one or two lives, but on that note - you have five lives before a game over, which refill automatically at the end of a battle as well as your HP. There are certainly flashes of challenge when you are forced to use a smaller squad of maybe two or three people, but for the most part, you will rarely see a game over screen. That doesn't mean it's unenjoyable, though; the game is often very satisfying. On a related note to gameplay, the game is very linear and if massive worlds with complete freedom are a big deal for you, then you won't appreciate The Last Story. The environments are well crafted, but often you are just travelling from area to area within Lazulis town and castle. You only go outside of the town for a total of a few hours on a ship and then onto the Gurak homeland. It's not a bad linear structure, but it is definitely linear. The sidequests are usually quite barebones, though there are occasionally optional chapters which are worth playing. If this bothers you, it will probably be a recurring criticism of this game, but it is worth stressing that the locations you travel through are related to the plot and never feel like you shouldn't be there.
Design
The visual direction of The Last Story is well thought-out and fits with the story the game is trying to tell. If the colour and lighting were slightly different, Lazulis Island would be beautiful, but the island is caked with a burning glare which, while offering its own aesthetic, does reinforce the fact that Lazulis is no haven. While the game gives you a lot of control over your clothes as you advance, the mercenary band's clothing is appropriately unimpressive. Dagran and Syrenne don a tattered hunter suit that looks like a ripped bib, Lowell's most defining piece of clothing is his scarf, Yurick is wearing a short blue jacket with a plain undercoat and Zael and Mirania wear a pretty insipid all-black outfit with dashes of gold. It is perfectly representative of their social status; they are down in the lower ranks of society, working as frowned-upon mercenaries to get by. When they get their job for guard duty in Lazulis castle in the opening hour or two, they stand out as lower class than the knights. Needless to say, the game looks very good for Wii - and while there are moments of slowdown, the game is usually fine in terms of performance. Textures are a mixed bag, with some being very high resolution (one sky from memory was a combination of two 1024x1024 textures, the highest the Wii supports) and some are simply muddy looking, high resolution or not. The game received some flak on release for its visuals and performance, but it did its best to get the most out of the Wii - which was aging hardware by launch, let alone 2011. Dolphin allows the game to truly shine, but it is perfectly fine enjoyed on a CRT TV as well.
This is drifting into story territory, but it is important to mention: Dagran swears he will make knights of his team, and Zael truly believes him. As events unfold, Zael and co. win noble Count Arganan's favour and rise up the ranks, but the game makes a point; even by accepting the system and doing as you are told, you are feeding the system and validating it. Zael and his team are indirectly causing misery for the lower class he came from. The tragedy is that Zael is too inexperienced and young to realise this; he does what he has to in order to rise up the ranks and make a living. But as his power, The Outsider, makes clear with its growing intensity, he cannot continue to rise inside the system while being the "Outsider" and while retaining moral integrity. The plot, at least for almost all of the game, makes an effort to form a convincing argument against the power system, corruption, greed-driven conflict and divisions in society and politics. The island deteriorates due to human intervention and conflict causes the game's design to alter radically and irreversibly; food and other goods fluctuate in value, allowing cunning players to profit from necessity in a turbulent war economy. Familiar environments are scarred by war, and even characters evolve throughout the conflict.
The game, save for the final few hours, is meticulously designed and what the game does offer is a solidly designed package. However, some aspects fall short. Sidequests, save for the few side-chapters, are uninteresting and unrewarding; scripted events sometimes need to trigger to allow you to progress, sometimes without indication on how to trigger them, and as I have hinted at, the game's ending seems to defeat what the game stood for up to that point. It's these few problems that prevent The Last Story from being a truly special game. For me, these were made all the more frustrating because I was loving this game and could not get enough of it, and I wanted to overlook these flaws but my second playthrough only made me pay more attention to them. The game is only 20-25 hours long, for an average playthrough; which is a nice change from traditional RPGs which required a massive commitment closer to 200 hours than 20, but some diehard RPG fans might be disappointed in the length. There is at least additional replay value to be gained through the online mode, which offers co-op and versus multiplayer for up to 6 players -- and while this still works thanks to Wiimmfi and other revived services, you'll be hard pressed to find many players as I found for myself. (I'm working on it!)
CONCLUSION:
STORY - 8/10: Potential to be very unique and special, but the game scraps everything it stands for in order to meet the status quo and give a satisfying ending
GAMEPLAY - 9.5/10: Exceptional - very enjoyable, unique and a refreshing change of pace
DESIGN: 9.5/10: A game helmed by the creator of Final Fantasy could hardly fail to deliver in terms of design, and it is one of Sakaguchi's most intricate works yet, despite its short length and strict linearity
OVERALL: 9/10 - Amazing
The Last Story has its fair share of problems and unfortunately, these problems are big enough to warrant a meaningful deduction from the final score. However, if you are willing to overlook these flaws, what you will find beneath the scratched surface is a special game. It is a game that, despite its problems, offers rewarding gameplay and characters that create engaging bonds which come together to form an experience that is, even with its problems, a great experience. If you have forgotten about your Wii or your Wii U, or even have the game in your backlog backed up for Dolphin, it is worth dusting out your old system for one Last Story.
