• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Last Story |OT| Now confirmed worldwide

Oxx

Member
I really enjoyed Chapter 11. Things are starting to pick-up.

The boss at the end of the chapter left me a bit confused, but I managed to get my way through it.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Got this last night from 365Game. Dolphin is having a pain trying to run it. Esp. in cutscenes and towns. Any suggestions?

Specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Phenom II x4 965 oc 3.8 Ghz
ATI HD Radeon 5770 series 1GB
12 GB RAM
 

Oxx

Member
Got this last night from 365Game. Dolphin is having a pain trying to run it. Esp. in cutscenes and towns. Any suggestions?

Specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
AMD Phenom II x4 965 oc 3.8 Ghz
ATI HD Radeon 5770 series 1GB
12 GB RAM

Sounds a lot like how it runs on a Wii. Maybe the slowdown and hitches are part of the game... lol
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Sounds a lot like how it runs on a Wii. Maybe the slowdown and hitches are part of the game... lol

I did check briefly and it was smoother on Wii. I know the Wii version also has slowdown but so long as I can get my Dolphin play to match I'll be okay with it. ^^;
 

thefro

Member
I really enjoyed Chapter 11. Things are starting to pick-up.

The boss at the end of the chapter left me a bit confused, but I managed to get my way through it.

It's basically an extended tutorial until Chapter 16 or so as they gradually give you more stuff that you can do.
 
I'm...I'm baffled that you were annoyed by things like big monsters that you come back to later. I never once grunted "ugh" at them, ha ha ha.

You couldn't beat them first time through. And it's not like in, say, Wizardry 7 where you could wander into an area with serious monsters but where you did have some minimal chance to succeed. They're there and completely unbeatable, just to give you a fake sense of openness.

But, no, the combat is no less repetitive than any other JRPG that has it's own restricted mechanic in place. Thing is each character had their own place and style in battle that was unique to them and they alone. It wasn't Double Dragon, yo.

I agree. XB's battle system is much *more* repetitive than others, in addition to also being boring and meaningless. The worst thing about it is that your success is almost completely determined by your level and almost nothing else. It's not "just" another JRPG combat system - it's a not exactly very good JRPG combat system badly combined with bad MMO combat. The only strategy is indeed in how you make up your party (so that you can beat a battle at one or two levels lower than what you're supposed to be). But of course other games also have this level of strategy in addition to a few other layers :-/
 
GameSpot review (9.0)

The Last Story is a fantastic game; one that pushes the JRPG genre forward in ways that are innovative yet still complementary to the tradition of the genre. Its rich narrative straddles the line between emotionally affecting and breathtakingly action packed; its thrilling battle system is a unique, modern take on everything that has come before. And its visuals are some of the best ever seen on the Wii, pushing the system to its limits with its beautifully detailed environments and dazzling special effects (even if there's a little frame rate stutter during more complex scenes).

And that's not to mention the music from legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu, with its majestic melodies complementing the action in a way that is truly sublime. But its biggest success lies with the characters themselves, their diverse personalities and formidable ambitions forever pushing you along their journey from rags to riches. You want to be there with them; to guide them through their darkest of hours; to share in their happiest of moments. You will care. That alone makes The Last Story worth the price of admission and a captivating experience that everyone should play, JRPG fan or not.
 

Oxx

Member
I'm surprised that reviews seem to be giving the technical issues a pass.

They're not game ruining, but they're always a distraction.
 
The Limited Edition packaging is so gorgeous; it's probably one of the most visually-appealing cases I've ever owned. Just a shame that, even though I've had the thing since Monday, I've yet to open it because I want to platinum Uncharted: Golden Abyss beforehand. I don't like multi-tasking and prefer to finish one game before moving onto another, so I've got The Last Story sitting on my shelf looking all pretty and stuff and it's driving me mad!

I've read some of the reviews out and I'm really excited anyway; sounds like just the sort of thing I'd lap up.
 

Zornica

Banned
I agree. XB's battle system is much *more* repetitive than others, in addition to also being boring and meaningless. The worst thing about it is that your success is almost completely determined by your level and almost nothing else. It's not "just" another JRPG combat system - it's a not exactly very good JRPG combat system badly combined with bad MMO combat. The only strategy is indeed in how you make up your party (so that you can beat a battle at one or two levels lower than what you're supposed to be). But of course other games also have this level of strategy in addition to a few other layers :-/

you are so wrong on so many aspects. It sounds like you weren't willing to put some effort and time into your equipment and espacially your gems. It's not surprising that you and your party got destroyed. XB's battle system is very deep and flexible if you got what it takes, asproven here. Killing high lvl monsters isn't a matter of lvl, it's just pure skill and know-how.

sorry for OT

OT: still waiting for my tls limited from sendit. at least they gave me a 12,50€ refund.
 

Oxx

Member
If people thought that Xenoblade was 'Too British', the localisation for TLS will make their brains explode.

If anything, the game has even more quotable lines than Xeno, but as they aren't repeated every few seconds I can't really recall many.
 
you are so wrong on so many aspects. It sounds like you weren't willing to put some effort and time into your equipment and espacially your gems. It's not surprising that you and your party got destroyed. XB's battle system is very deep and flexible if you got what it takes, asproven here. Killing high lvl monsters isn't a matter of lvl, it's just pure skill and know-how.

sorry for OT

OT: still waiting for my tls limited from sendit. at least they gave me a 12,50€ refund.

This "you're just not good at it" stuff is silly. I know the game pretty well since I played it a lot, I actually took a week off to play it when it released as I was looking forward to it so much. My party wasn't ever "destroyed". Of course I have no doubt that if I'd played it for a hundred more hours or so, I could have become good enough, but as the actual game lead me through it in the first eighty or so hours, even completing all the sidequests (that I could find of course), my experience was what I described (and not just mine). That with enough play you can become good enough in the game for this to change is not exactly something that changes my own experience retroactively.

And in general: don't ever use arguments that boil down to "you're just crap at it" (not that I never did this). You'll eat crow more often than not - simply because you don't know anything about the person you're talking to and what they did with the game. I spent loads of time on gems and customisation, I like that in all JRPGs, and I actually *like* grinding - but XB just got too repetitive for me. It's not a bad game at all, it's just not nearly as good as people make it out to be. I probably expected way too much though (something as sprawling as FF12 (which I mostly got) with a nice silly Xeno-story (which I didn't, the story was way too sane compared to what I expected) but with even better combat (doh)). I think the rather poor JRPG output this gen makes it look better than it actually is :-/ It's a good game but it doesn't live up to the top PS2 stuff.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
It is as good as people make it out to be though. Going by your logic that is. They also speak from experience, like you. You just disagree with most, you don't get to override anyone else's thoughts to bring the one truth about the game's quality which is simply in the eye of the beholder...

As for the combat specifics, if it's indeed possible to beat higher level enemies with better strategies and preparation then of course the fact can't be the complete opposite, ie that it's not possible at all and so requires grinding. People missing the alternative solutions to grinding doesn't negate that.
 
13 hours in, chapter 26, I absolutely love it. No slow moments, I didn't get bored even once.

If you play it expecting a rival to Xenoblade, a classical RPG or a fantasy themed TPS, you'll be very disappointed. If you want to play a good game, then the game keeps on delivering.

Music is awesome (and the music in the infiltration sequence is so reminiscent of Metal Gear I actually believed it was some kind of cover lol), the battles are fun (I like how every fighting character present actually engage in the fight instead of limiting the party to 3 or 4 people) and the story is interesting.

Graphically speaking some of the areas really owe to the overall design, and you can feel the Wii is having trouble during certain battles.

The game really feels like the Wii's swan song.

Also Lisa is my Waifu.
 
It is as good as people make it out to be though. Going by your logic that is. They also speak from experience, like you. You just disagree with most, you don't get to override anyone else's thoughts to bring the one truth about the game's quality which is simply in the eye of the beholder...

And this was my exact point about the silly "you're just bad at the game" crap. I also said in several posts that maybe my expectations were just way too high. Anyway, there's a pretty high chance that I'll like the game much more once I replay it...this exact same thing happened with FF12 too. Anyway, I was disappointed in the game. Unlike with TLS which I like a lot (but my expectations about it were mostly nonexistent).

As for the combat specifics, if it's indeed possible to beat higher level enemies with better strategies and preparation then of course the fact can't be the complete opposite, ie that it's not possible at all and so requires grinding. People missing the alternative solutions to grinding doesn't negate that.

Hehe I think grinding is quite meaningless in the game :) You're usually levelled up enough to be able to handle anything the story/side missions throw at you without many problems but you can't grind yourself up to, say, level 80 at the beginning of the game (or even halfway through) to beat the super monsters. (Honestly, I'd probably have no problem if it was possible to grind my way to beating high level monsters early on.) From the OT, I think a few people agree with me, and this was a pretty widespread problem, not just mine (also, it's pretty easy to show youtubes of top players to show that it's possible to play the game differently, but it doesn't mean that most people can find those things out - and of course you can find awesome high level play videos for games that are generally considered quite bad too). Xenoblade is just not as good as I expected (although honestly, I expected something like the second coming).

Anyway, sorry about the OT. TLS is awesome.

Edit: and we talked so much about Xenoblade that I think I'll replay it once I finish TLS, before Graces comes out :-D
 

Oxx

Member
Like with Xenoblade, I do occasionally let the game sit on the title/menu screens for a bit and enjoy the music.
 
Just got mine today. Perfect condition from HMV. Austin, Texas, shipped 2/22 I believe, so just about a week to get here. Obviously you get what you pay for in terms of speed and packaging as compared to Zavvi/theHut. Fantastic LE set from top to bottom.
If anybody in Euro GAF (or who has a Club Nintendo account for Europe) would like my Pin # to register the game, first to PM gets it. I guess anybody in this thread already has the game, but I am not really sure where else to post it.
 

Yuterald

Member
Just got mine today. Perfect condition from HMV. Austin, Texas, shipped 2/22 I believe, so just about a week to get here. Obviously you get what you pay for in terms of speed and packaging as compared to Zavvi/theHut. Fantastic LE set from top to bottom.
If anybody in Euro GAF (or who has a Club Nintendo account for Europe) would like my Pin # to register the game, first to PM gets it. I guess anybody in this thread already has the game, but I am not really sure where else to post it.

Oh, nice! I ordered mine from HMV too. I live in PA so hopefully I'll get mine by the end of the day or tomorrow. Was it shipped in a standard box?
 
Oh, nice! I ordered mine from HMV too. I live in PA so hopefully I'll get mine by the end of the day or tomorrow. Was it shipped in a standard box?

Big cardboard box, well larger than the LE. It is in vacuum sealed plastic that is attached to the back of the box. So there is a lot of empty space in the box, but the plastic holds it in place so it isn't sliding all over the place.

Yay, fellow Austinite! (i live up north austin).

I'm just north of the UT Campus. My tenure is unfortunately going to be ending at the end of this summer, though.
 

jRPG

Member
I'm really enjoying the game so far. I find the VA more bearable than in Xenoblade (I ended up switching to the Japanese voices in Xenoblade), the British voices seem to really suit The Last Story more, especially when you hit the tavern, it provides an earthy quality to the world, whereas they felt strangely out of place in Xenoblade. Although I'm not a fan of Zael's VA. The narrator seems bewilderingly pointless at the moment, I'm hoping there will be some kind of reason behind it later.

I'm loving Syrenne, such a great character. The type of person I'd destest in real life, but realised so well, hugely cliched, but perfectly served to deliver some amazing lines, along with some amazing clunkers that you can happily forgive.

The battle system seems really fun so far, it seems to keep expanding just as I get the hang of something, which is perfect. Those little red marks on the floor where you can summon enemies are quite interesting, do they eventually run out? I kept summoning lots of waves, and occassionally I'd get a tougher wave, but it seemed to be random. I was wondering if you could drain this circle and get a reward for defeating all the waves, but at the same time I didn't want to level up too much and make things stupidly easy. Does anyone have any idea?
 

Oxx

Member
Are the summon enemy portals just a cheap way of gaining levels and money quickly?

Seems effective. It's hard to resist going through each one a few times and level up.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Are the summon enemy portals just a cheap way of gaining levels and money quickly?

Seems effective. It's hard to resist going through each one a few times and level up.

They exist for grinding. I used them quite a bit when I was playing through the game.
 

Oxx

Member
That seems curiously artificial in a game that is effectively grounded and prescribed, but it's entirely optional so I can't really complain.
 

Gambit

Member
I think it's a great system. Every idea that takes away from the usual grind of RPGs is welcome. Same as it was with Xenoblade.

Speaking of which...that thread was a lot more active. I hope the people who got their games now will joins us soon.
 
Actually I enjoy the Last Story a lot more than Xenoblade. It's just more to my tastes, as it focuses more on tight characters and has a much much better pace than Xenoblade.

But I must really say, both Xenoblade and Last Story have been Revelations for me. From the amazing World and Vistas of Xenoblade, it's modern take on traversal and day night cycles to the streamlined combat, to the great characterizations with promiscuos characters like Syrenne who is actually believable instead of a Nerd fantasy bimbo who has her tits hanging out while showing no personality of her own and interesting mix of genres in The Last Story, these are two games that renewed my interest in RPGs made in Japan.

Mind you I hated most JRPGs after Skies of Arcadia, I absolutely despise FFX and only went back on with DQIX and these two.

Also, Last Story has the Prank Banana, so it allready wins the title of game of the year for me.
 

Oxx

Member
The character's motivations are a lot more grounded in reality than most JRPGs. All they want is to get drunk, get laid, and get better jobs.

I really like the bawdiness.
 
The character's motivations are a lot more grounded in reality than most JRPGs. All they want is to get drunk, get laid, and get better jobs.

I really like the bawdiness.

Zael is still too sanctimonious for my tastes (main reason I absolutely hated most of the xenoblade cast)
Hell I was pissed I couldn't get smashed and join Syrenne and Lisa in a bath.

Now that would be a JRPG I could get behind. ... wait that sounded dirty.
 
That explains that then. Wonder why it doesn't have Japanese VA but such ridiculous slowdowns then.
Well think of it like this. If the Japanese version is DVD-9 as well then there might not have been enough space on the disc to have two sets of audio.

Without knowing how full the game is (I've still not had time to insert it :( ) I can't make any guesses though. Maybe also cost-cutting came into play.

Xenoblade was a full DVD-5 in Japan and DVD-9 elsewhere (though the DVD-9 has plenty of space, the additional voice acting takes up I think around 1.5 gigabytes).
 
Got round to starting my PAL copy earlier today. I played the Japanese version when it came out and can't remember everything about it (aside from loving it) but my early thoughts:

- Was there this much slowdown/stuttering in the JP version? :/
- Don't remember the right stick being a little problematic, especially during battle.
- Music is still fantastic.
- Liza sounds too old with her English VA :p
- Overall the voice acting is good - really suits the characters for the most part.
- It's quite a bit easier having it in a language I understand! I remember the ship boss early on giving me grief in the JP version. Knowing what to do makes it so much more enjoyable!
 
Holy shit, I got my LE import copy from HMV already! Compared to Zavvi, HMV's service is a godsend.

What's the best build for playing this in Dolphin? Is there any way to avoid the crashing issues that people were talking about in the Dolphin thread?
 

Ydahs

Member
Holy shit, I got my LE import copy from HMV already! Compared to Zavvi, HMV's service is a godsend.

What's the best build for playing this in Dolphin? Is there any way to avoid the crashing issues that people were talking about in the Dolphin thread?

I actually just received my copy from TheHut/Zavvi today. Surprisingly took only 9 days to deliver to Australia from the UK as opposed to nearly a month for Xenoblade.

Can't wait to try it out :)
 
Top Bottom