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The Last Story (Japan) |OT| The Gooch's Final (?) Fantasy

T

Teknoman

Member
cosmicblizzard said:
Ugh.

I REALLY want to be excited about this game (it is the Gooch after all) but I'm finding it to be extremely difficult. Why did his last game have to clash with my tastes so much :(
Click to expand...

This really is going to be his last game?
 
C

Crash Station

Member
Teknoman said:
This really is going to be his last game?
Click to expand...

No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.
 
Eteric Rice

Eteric Rice

Member
cosmicblizzard said:
No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.
Click to expand...

I think he said he'd just be taking a break. He also said he wanted to try World of Warcraft.

God, these impressions make me WANT it so bad. Holy shit.
 
S

Shirokun

Member
Gah! I was hoping I could wait until I finished Xenoblade before importing this, but the videos, impressions, and awesome soundtrack have me hyped beyond belief!
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
cosmicblizzard said:
No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.
Click to expand...

If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.
 
B

Bel Marduk

Banned
Unknown Soldier said:
If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.
Click to expand...

Or he could just continue making awesome games for years to come...
 
S

Shirokun

Member
Unknown Soldier said:
If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.
Click to expand...

The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.
 
D

Diffense

Member
Shirokun said:
The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.
Click to expand...

Yeah, why would he?

People in creative fields in which they're challenged to be inventive often keep perfecting their craft each day.
Painters, composers, photographers, they usually keep going until their last breath and even then there's often work they had planned but couldn't complete.
It's a life journey, not a 'job' the way flipping burgers is.

I think a key goal for every human is to discover that thing they would do without pay and find a way to get paid for it!
When you find it, there's no need to stop.
 
N

nemesun

Member
Shirokun said:
The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.
Click to expand...
I concur.
 
T

thefro

Member
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/12/28/last_story_qa/

In past posts at his development blog, Sakaguchi made some comments suggesting that The Last Story could be his last game. He was only speaking figuratively -- that is, he's working on the game as if it's his last game. However, there may be some truth to the comments. Said Sakaguchi during the Q&A, "If the game is received poorly, perhaps my sense does not match with the times. In that case, while I won't go as far as 'I won't ever make games again,' it would be meaningless to make games for a while. With that feeling, I've given my all."
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He's planning on taking a small break (probably a couple months as opposed to several years) and playing World of Warcraft either way.
 
M

mehdi_san

Member
Big FML moment, because I missed the delivery this afternoon, and I'm gonna have to wait til Monday. What am I supposed to do for 2 days???
 
M

Mailenstein

Member
mehdi_san said:
Big FML moment, because I missed the delivery this afternoon, and I'm gonna have to wait til Monday. What am I supposed to do for 2 days???
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Wow, that really sucks, mate. The game is awesome, really. But then again, anticipation is awesome too ;).
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
This is the game Sakaguchi was acting like he invented HDR lighting technology for, right? That interview was a good read.

Hopefully one day I'll be able to play the game myself and experience this great technology innovation.
 
Mithos

Mithos

Member
Suairyu said:
This is the game Sakaguchi was acting like he invented HDR lighting technology for, right?
Click to expand...

No this is the game that Sakaguchi said also despite being on Wii could do HDR lightning if you actually have programming skills.
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Mithos said:
No this is the game that Sakaguchi said also despite being on Wii could do HDR lightning if you actually have programming skills.
Click to expand...
Shadow Of The Colossus did HDR lighting through clever programming tricks; I don't think platform has anything to do with it.

Regardless, want!
 
Mithos

Mithos

Member
Suairyu said:
Shadow Of The Colossus did HDR lighting through clever programming tricks; I don't think platform has anything to do with it.

Regardless, want!
Click to expand...

I'll take your word for it, but what I meant was developers don't add HDR to Wii games unless they program it themselves, because its not a ready function (guessing) in the dev-kit software, like when they do PS360 it's most likely just a drop-down menu for HDR functions and then some tweaking-job to optimize.


And agree, I do WANT too!
 
K

kiryogi

Banned
FACK. NYC had some issues....

Due to heavy snow in New York City last night, no import shipments made it in today and UPS has canceled all deliveries and pickups in our area since the roads are still slushy and bad. Despite the snow and slush on the roads today, normal UPS/Postal deliveries and shipments should resume by tomorrow afternoon.
Click to expand...

I was really wondering why I didn't see a delivery confirmation email from NCSX today. D:
 
M

Mailenstein

Member
Just played some co-op rounds online. First few attempts we were a party of three and four members, so we lost real quick... But with a complete party, and the right characters (Yuris) it was so much fun. Killed KRAKEN first and then COCOON.

So.awesome.


P.S. I was playing VS mode too and it's kinda fun, but just not that interesting for me.


EDIT:
It may be just me, but when looking at some character faces in TLS, Susumu Matsushita and specific Akira Toriyama (the ones with a big chin) character designs pop up in my head. Strange...
 
R

Robobandit

Member
Just played the opening 15 minutes or so..

Are you folks playing with the classic controller or the nunchuck and wii remote?

I'm tempted to try the classic controller.. anyone used both?
 
D

Desi

Member
Diffense said:
Yeah, why would he?
It's a life journey, not a 'job' the way flipping burgers is.

I think a key goal for every human is to discover that thing they would do without pay and find a way to get paid for it!
When you find it, there's no need to stop.
Click to expand...
Helmut Lang raises chickens...Hedi Silmane became a photographer. What if the Gooch really rather make movies...
 
M

Mailenstein

Member
Robobandit said:
Just played the opening 15 minutes or so..

Are you folks playing with the classic controller or the nunchuck and wii remote?

I'm tempted to try the classic controller.. anyone used both?
Click to expand...
Usually I rather choose CC than the wiimote if I can, but in this case... it just feels right imho.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
sprsk said:
So ok, some impressions.

I dunno if it's because the gooch has been in America too long or what, but you can really tell this is a JRPG made from someone on the outside looking in. Little things like, instead of the game starting out with cutscene after cutscene, it starts you off right in the middle of a dungeon. Imagine that! Letting the gamer play the damn game!

Other things like having the PC's talk to each other all the time during dungeons instead of burying them in optional skits (Hey Tales I'm lookin' at you) really help flesh out the characters and make playing the game more fun, not to mention it makes battles much more dynamic.

You can tell a lot of love was put in to this game. Every encounter was hand crafted and is unique. No random battles (so far) and no hearing the same 10 or so attack call-outs over and over. Every battle has a different strategy. Love it!

My favorite encounter so far had me and Quark sitting outside this room where a guy and his gang of thieves were hanging out. Quark says to me, "Elza you stay here, we'll go around and attack from the other side. Don't move till I give the sign" So I stay there and wait. Then, I hear Quark go "Ok get ready to attack in 3... 2... GO!" and I see him bust through the other side as I'm running in through my side, we sandwich the enemies and take em out. It was so cool. The whole dungeon (The raid on this thief's hangout) really felt more than just an RPG dungeon and more like we were really in there with a purpose. Something you just don't get in RPGs.

Anywho, it's late so forgive me if my impressions are all over the place. To me the game is really something special. Nintendo has to be localizing this. They HAVE to be.
Click to expand...
Fucking Nintendo, man.

Fucking Nintendo.



Teknoman said:
This really is going to be his last game?
Click to expand...
Just like MGS4 was Kojima's last game. Don't listen to him.
 
S

Shalashaska161

Member
Haunted said:
Fucking Nintendo, man.

Fucking Nintendo.




Just like MGS4 was Kojima's last game. Don't listen to him.
Click to expand...

Don't you mean MGS2? I don't see the Gooch leaving the industry for too long even if he does take a break.
 
S

slaughterking

Member
sprsk said:
OK I see a lot of people talking about streams, I wanna say a couple of things before I get to my impressions.

This game is not importer friendly, it is fuuuuuuuuuull of voice and it's not just meaningless chatter. I liken it to when I got burning rangers back in high school. I had no idea what to do and I was bored as shit. This was because I didn't know that they were giving me directions. The characters in Last Story are fairly constantly forming strategy on the fly and telling you to do things.

If you see videos of people running around like a chicken with their head cut off it means they are missing orders or they haven't gotten used to the combat yet. And it does take some getting used to!

So ok, some impressions.

I dunno if it's because the gooch has been in America too long or what, but you can really tell this is a JRPG made from someone on the outside looking in. Little things like, instead of the game starting out with cutscene after cutscene, it starts you off right in the middle of a dungeon. Imagine that! Letting the gamer play the damn game!

Other things like having the PC's talk to each other all the time during dungeons instead of burying them in optional skits (Hey Tales I'm lookin' at you) really help flesh out the characters and make playing the game more fun, not to mention it makes battles much more dynamic.

You can tell a lot of love was put in to this game. Every encounter was hand crafted and is unique. No random battles (so far) and no hearing the same 10 or so attack call-outs over and over. Every battle has a different strategy. Love it!

My favorite encounter so far had me and Quark sitting outside this room where a guy and his gang of thieves were hanging out. Quark says to me, "Elza you stay here, we'll go around and attack from the other side. Don't move till I give the sign" So I stay there and wait. Then, I hear Quark go "Ok get ready to attack in 3... 2... GO!" and I see him bust through the other side as I'm running in through my side, we sandwich the enemies and take em out. It was so cool. The whole dungeon (The raid on this thief's hangout) really felt more than just an RPG dungeon and more like we were really in there with a purpose. Something you just don't get in RPGs.

Anywho, it's late so forgive me if my impressions are all over the place. To me the game is really something special. Nintendo has to be localizing this. They HAVE to be.
Click to expand...

Sounds really cool. I want this. :(
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Xenoblade and The Last Story have been so tremendously well received by jGAF, it breaks my heart.


These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.
 
G

george_us

Member
sprsk said:
Pants shittingly good impressions
Click to expand...
If Nintendo does localize this then it would single-handily cause me to re-buy a Wii.

Every gameplay vid I've seen of it looks amazing.

squall23 said:
Mass Effect 2 with swords and magic with a bit of Monster Hunter thrown in.
Click to expand...
FUUUUUUUUUU
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Haunted said:
Xenoblade and The Last Story have been so tremendously well received by jGAF, it breaks my heart.


These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.
Click to expand...
Except Reginleiv doesn't suck either. Quite the contrary, in fact. Luckily, you don't need to understand any Japanese to play (and enjoy) it, though.
 
S

Shirokun

Member
Haunted said:
These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.
Click to expand...

Except that despite some rough edges, Reginleiv is actually pretty damn fun. That's right, Nintendo wants you to writhe in agony.
 
ReyVGM

ReyVGM

Member
I love Ruli City. I love big towns where you can get lost in if you so choose. Kinda sad that when you enter a store you just get a menu screen and not an actual store (like Final Fantasy 1), but that's okay I guess.
 
Y

Yaweee

Member
BlazingDarkness said:
FFXII?
Click to expand...

FFXII had an opening movie, so it was 6~7 minutes before you actually got to control somebody.

Everything about this game seems great:

- Short tutorials!
- Competently directed cutscenes!
- Awesome music!
- Never too long without giving control back to the player!

Not really a fan of the character designs (namely their faces), but everything else looks great. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. Nintendo is too slow with their RPG localizations =(
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
Yaweee said:
FFXII had an opening movie, so it was 6~7 minutes before you actually got to control somebody.
Click to expand...
Oh, this includes opening cinematic? Weird that The Last Story doesn't have one then, I'll have to watch the 1 hour video later tonight
 
Y

Yaweee

Member
BlazingDarkness said:
Oh, this includes opening cinematic? Weird that The Last Story doesn't have one then, I'll have to watch the 1 hour video later tonight
Click to expand...

In the video, they hit "New Game" at 0:50, and they're controlling the character and looking at the movement tutorial display by 1:25. There's just a very brief run-by and dialogue with the in-game graphics before the camera moves in to place and you're in control. Then it switches back and forth between differently party members, interspersed with short flashbacks.

There's a 10 second load time after selecting "New Game", but the title screen is actually the area the game immediately starts at
 
Y

Yaweee

Member
farnham said:
man

tales of graces - best tales in ages combatsystemwise
xenoblade - best jrpg in ages
this - also best jrpg since xenoblade


and we dont get them

well i bought them all in japanese but whatever
Click to expand...

Sounds like Graces is coming to NA, and both Xenoblade and Last Story are too new to saw "we don't get them".

Nintendo takes a really, really long time with their RPG localizations, generally, so don't give up hope yet.

Turn around times for Nintendo RPG localizations:
- Glory of Heracles: 18 months
- DQ9: 12 months
- BKO: 7 months onto a dead system
- Most FE and Pokemon games: 6~9 months

So, nothing really out of the ordinary yet, except maybe Xenoblade which is still on the release schedule but with no date. As for Last Story, keep in mind that every Mistwalker game except ASH has been released in North America.
 
R

Rpgmonkey

Member
Hmm, I like the game's presentation a lot.

It seems like it breaks things up into little bits using a mix of cutscenes, gameplay, and banter while traveling, instead of a "chunk of story->chunk of gameplay->chunk of story" structure.
 
C

Cosmonaut X

Member
Yaweee said:
So, nothing really out of the ordinary yet, except maybe Xenoblade which is still on the release schedule but with no date. As for Last Story, keep in mind that every Mistwalker game except ASH has been released in North America.
Click to expand...

...and ASH is the only Mistwalker game published by Nintendo!
 
Y

Yaweee

Member
Cosmonaut X said:
...and ASH is the only Mistwalker game published by Nintendo!
Click to expand...

All signs pointed to that game being boring shit, or at least that's my impression from its OT and reviews I've read elsewhere. Videos make it look like the battles are freakishly slow.

Bebpo said:
Wait, Ethelred are you implying there are worse srpgs out there than ASH? (excluding FFTA which was excluded in the reviewer's statement). IF games sure, but we don't even count those as real games, and outside IF games I can't think of a single srpg that has been weaker than ASH.
Click to expand...
 
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