The Last Story (Nintendo Wii)
User Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): August 14, 2012
- Release Date (EU): February 24, 2012
- Release Date (JP): January 27, 2011
- Publisher: Nintendo, Xseed Games
- Developer: Mistwalker
- Genres: Action, RPG
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Review Approach:
I went into this not being much of an RPG fan, to be honest. I saw some gameplay, glanced at reviews and I thought it would be worth a try. No experience with Final Fantasy, so I can't compare this to Sakaguchi's other RPGs.
Is "The Last Story" a fitting final farewell for the Wii?
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 Final Fantasy. Don't let the "RPG" in the title fool you; this is no traditional RPG. Combat is an intuitive real-time system with covering, ducking and rolling with none of the turn-based mechanics from most Final Fantasy games. The game revolves around the protagonist Zael, who, alongside his band of mercenaries, quickly becomes involved in a much bigger problem than monster cleanup - saving their land.
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 it 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.
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 Americanised characters that international releases usually get, and while there will always be those unsatisfied with anything but the original Japanese voices, the voice acting was generally praised and the characters were often highlighted as a key part of The Last Story's identity. Zael's occasionally childlike innocence, Dagran's cool and collected leadership, Syrenne's alcoholic antics, Yurick's strong and silent nature with irregular wisecracks, Lowell's smartass comments and flirts and Mirania's semi-feral upbringing and 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.
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 superfluous RPG features, and it is much more frenetic than traditional RPGs. As you progress, you get the ability to pause combat to issue orders to your crew, be it 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 towards an enemy, and while this sounds like it takes getting used to (it does) it becomes second nature after a while, and you still have the option to manually attack by changing your settings in case you're still struggling.
The Last Story is quite easy, to be frank. You are rarely forced down to one or two lives, and 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 gameplay is often very satisfying. The game is very linear and if massive worlds with complete freedom are your "thing", then you may not enjoy 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 around 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.
The visual direction of The Last Story is well thought-out and fits with the story it 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 at the start. 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 Last Story looks striking for a Wii game - and while there is certainly slowdown, performance usually holds strong. Textures are a mixed bag, with some being very high resolution (Dolphin dumped many 1024x1024 textures, the highest the Wii supports) and some are simply muddy, 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 artwork to truly shine, but it is perfectly fine enjoyed on a real Wii 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 the team win 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 change throughout the conflict.
Save for the final few hours, The Last Story is meticulously designed and offers a solidly designed package. However, some aspects fall short. Sidequests, save for the few side-chapters on offer, are uninteresting and unrewarding; scripted events in the main story sometimes need to trigger to allow you to progress, sometimes without indication on how to trigger them, and the ending seems to defeat what the game stood for up until that point. It's these few problems that prevent The Last Story from being truly special. 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, but some diehard RPG fans might be disappointed. There is at least additional replay value to be gained through "New Game+" and 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 unless you schedule an event with a few people.
The sound design is easily some of the best I have ever seen in a video game. Some parts of the game have a tendency to re-use the same few tracks, but where the sound design really shines is in the cutscenes. Soft chimes play in the background of tender scenes, and the Stargazer's Tower scene (pictured above) is one of, if not the best example of sound design in any video game I've seen. Lisa walks up the steps humming the game's main melody, and after every line the orchestra trickles in more and more with subtle harp plucks and a string buildup, and once she has finished, the camera pans around Zael and Lisa as the orchestra comes in with a full force chorus of the theme - and all the two characters do is smile. It is a mesmerising moment that is sure to give you goosebumps. Then the orchestra cuts out without skipping a beat, and Lisa begins to hum the theme again as a xylophone gently harmonises in the background.
As someone who studies music, it's really difficult to express how well done this scene was done, but even non-musical people I've talked to have said "Wow, that's just like a movie" - and it's one of the best scenes I've seen in any game. (If you're curious, the scene can be watched here - I've timestamped the part described)
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 becomes seriously 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 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 it 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.
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 Americanised characters that international releases usually get, and while there will always be those unsatisfied with anything but the original Japanese voices, the voice acting was generally praised and the characters were often highlighted as a key part of The Last Story's identity. Zael's occasionally childlike innocence, Dagran's cool and collected leadership, Syrenne's alcoholic antics, Yurick's strong and silent nature with irregular wisecracks, Lowell's smartass comments and flirts and Mirania's semi-feral upbringing and 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.
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 superfluous RPG features, and it is much more frenetic than traditional RPGs. As you progress, you get the ability to pause combat to issue orders to your crew, be it 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 towards an enemy, and while this sounds like it takes getting used to (it does) it becomes second nature after a while, and you still have the option to manually attack by changing your settings in case you're still struggling.
The Last Story is quite easy, to be frank. You are rarely forced down to one or two lives, and 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 gameplay is often very satisfying. The game is very linear and if massive worlds with complete freedom are your "thing", then you may not enjoy 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 around 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.
The visual direction of The Last Story is well thought-out and fits with the story it 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 at the start. 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 Last Story looks striking for a Wii game - and while there is certainly slowdown, performance usually holds strong. Textures are a mixed bag, with some being very high resolution (Dolphin dumped many 1024x1024 textures, the highest the Wii supports) and some are simply muddy, 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 artwork to truly shine, but it is perfectly fine enjoyed on a real Wii 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 the team win 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 change throughout the conflict.
Save for the final few hours, The Last Story is meticulously designed and offers a solidly designed package. However, some aspects fall short. Sidequests, save for the few side-chapters on offer, are uninteresting and unrewarding; scripted events in the main story sometimes need to trigger to allow you to progress, sometimes without indication on how to trigger them, and the ending seems to defeat what the game stood for up until that point. It's these few problems that prevent The Last Story from being truly special. 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, but some diehard RPG fans might be disappointed. There is at least additional replay value to be gained through "New Game+" and 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 unless you schedule an event with a few people.
The sound design is easily some of the best I have ever seen in a video game. Some parts of the game have a tendency to re-use the same few tracks, but where the sound design really shines is in the cutscenes. Soft chimes play in the background of tender scenes, and the Stargazer's Tower scene (pictured above) is one of, if not the best example of sound design in any video game I've seen. Lisa walks up the steps humming the game's main melody, and after every line the orchestra trickles in more and more with subtle harp plucks and a string buildup, and once she has finished, the camera pans around Zael and Lisa as the orchestra comes in with a full force chorus of the theme - and all the two characters do is smile. It is a mesmerising moment that is sure to give you goosebumps. Then the orchestra cuts out without skipping a beat, and Lisa begins to hum the theme again as a xylophone gently harmonises in the background.
As someone who studies music, it's really difficult to express how well done this scene was done, but even non-musical people I've talked to have said "Wow, that's just like a movie" - and it's one of the best scenes I've seen in any game. (If you're curious, the scene can be watched here - I've timestamped the part described)
All in all, The Last Story is a difficult one to place. It has a lot going for it; sound, characters, visuals and gameplay are all top notch. It could very well have been one of the most highly praised games on the Wii - dare I say, of its generation - but its few glaring flaws hold back what is otherwise a phenomenal package. In any case, The Last Story has its problems, but they shouldn't deter you from enjoying its soaring highs and everything the game has to offer.
Verdict
What I Liked ...
- Excellent gameplay
- Outstanding sound production and design
- Great characters and chemistry
- Good visuals for the Wii
What I Didn't Like ...
- Story fails to complete its course
- Uninteresting side quests
- Linear and short
10
Gameplay
I rounded this up from 9.5/10 in my original blog post, but the gameplay in The Last Story is fantastic. It is some of the best action-RPG gameplay you'll ever experience and for whatever reason, it has yet to be properly emulated by any game before or since.
9
Presentation
Despite tough competition from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, The Last Story musters what it can out of the Wii for what is a generally compelling presentation for the system. The aesthetics are all intentional and tie into the plot, which is welcome.
8
Lasting Appeal
The game is very short, at 20 hours per playthrough, but they do their best to add replay value thanks to "New Game+" and an interesting online mode which offers co-op bosses, thousands of voice lines for your multiplayer pleasure and 6-player deathmatch.
9
out of 10
