The Last Story: Out now in the other part of the world! The packaging is class!

Dashui

Grrr, this side-quest boss.

Spoiler:

The kraken - it knocks down rocks from the ceiling before you can damage the creature, and your allies always scream for you to run from the debris while they run right into it. The worst part, however, is that one of your teammates can heal the thing to full health. I can't dismiss the character, nor do I know if I can prevent him from casting it. God dammit, Lowell. You do this every time I get it down to half health. I don't know what to do. Is there a way to swap out or disable spells that I'm unaware of?

Ferquin

So does anybody know if there's a possibility of the LE goodies coming to the states?

WotanAnubis

Dashui wrote: »

Grrr, this side-quest boss.

Spoiler:

The kraken - it knocks down rocks from the ceiling before you can damage the creature, and your allies always scream for you to run from the debris while they run right into it. The worst part, however, is that one of your teammates can heal the thing to full health. I can't dismiss the character, nor do I know if I can prevent him from casting it. God dammit, Lowell. You do this every time I get it down to half health. I don't know what to do. Is there a way to swap out or disable spells that I'm unaware of?

I'm not as far as you are, but... Correct me if I'm wrong.

Spoiler:

Aren't spells just big circles on the ground that do something? Because if that's the case, you can use Zael's Gale Slash (or whatever it was called) to dispel the circle and cancel its effects before the boss is fully rehealed.

Chen

That boss is super easy, but by that time I had Anticipation which is like a super Haste for your entire party. Remember you can issue commands using up on the dpad, so you can let your team mates use other attacks or spells that are more favourable given the situation.

Bosses are super fun and varied. I look forward to the boss battle every time. And the characters are so funny. I love Lowell. Definitely a British sense of humour. Syrenne is a lovable vixen too. Mirania seems coy but she can deliver the jokes as well. T'is a merry bunch of nutters.

plufim

Man, they throw "chapters" around like they bought them on sale!

Very much enjoying the game though! Music is fantastic, and the voice acting is generally pretty good, oddly enough, some of the worst VA is right at the opening of the game (Syrenne's lines at the beginning were delivered so badly!).

Syrenne is so great though.

Spoiler:

Of course I opted to peak on her and "lisa" in the bath, hope my character is labelled a perve for the rest of the game!

dwarey

This seems like a by-the-numbers JRPG that incorporates some really thoughtful features (color customization, ability to make certain clothing items invisible, online play) that honestly should be in every JRPG at this point.

On one hand, I'm happy that someone is thinking about what can improve the genre and being more inclusive to other types of gamers (the Mass Effect/Gears of War-style fighting seems like an indication of that as well). On the other, the fact that most of what we're talking about are cosmetic features makes me wonder if this is a "Malibu Stacy with a new hat" situation.

As much as I used to love JRPGs, I've become so spoiled by Western rpgs that even Dragon Age and Mass Effect now seem too linear for my tastes. I have no desire to ever play a Final Fantasy game again, unless Square changes them so much that the name would be meaningless.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'll probably pass on this, but I'll leave open the possibility that I could change my mind.

Rotam

Not sure about this game. There's something about it that I'm not getting right now, I think I need to play more.

Xenogears of Bore

What the game really needs beyond all else is something akin to a dash button. I don't even care if it makes you any faster or not but what it should do is disable auto attack on Zael so you can more easily get out of a bad spot. I might try switching attack to a button to see if that helps any.

Xenogears of Bore

I also appreciate that the villains in this game so far are:

Spoiler:

Gannondorf and Evil Trevor Belmont.

Krathoon

This seems like a "gritty" one. Not really my cup of tea. I like my JRPGs crazy.

Xenogears of Bore

It's not gritty, but its not exactly crazy either.

Battles can be insane when you have a max party though, which doesn't happen all that often. Almost certainly because of the framerate.

SwashbucklerXX

Ferquin wrote: »

So does anybody know if there's a possibility of the LE goodies coming to the states?

XSEED's Twitter Feed wrote:

Re: an LE - We're still in the process of planning what we can do for the North American release and nothing has been finalized yet.

WotanAnubis

plufim wrote: »

Syrenne is so great though.

Spoiler:

Of course I opted to peak on her and "lisa" in the bath, hope my character is labelled a perve for the rest of the game!

Hah.

Spoiler:

I, being a perfect gentleman, didn't peek. And so got to listen to... well...

You know when someone said earlier that Syrenne might be a lesbian?

Yeah. I guess there's some small basis for that. Kind of.

Zephiran

WotanAnubis wrote: »

plufim wrote: »

Syrenne is so great though.

Spoiler:

Of course I opted to peak on her and "lisa" in the bath, hope my character is labelled a perve for the rest of the game!

Hah.

Spoiler:

I, being a perfect gentleman, didn't peek. And so got to listen to... well...

You know when someone said earlier that Syrenne might be a lesbian?

Yeah. I guess there's some small basis for that. Kind of.

Bad Romance.

Chen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqAHs8nzVc#t=7m30s

Ferquin

SwashbucklerXX wrote: »

XSEED's Twitter Feed wrote:

Re: an LE - We're still in the process of planning what we can do for the North American release and nothing has been finalized yet.

Yay! I'll do a happy dance! Maybe that will help.

Xenogears of Bore

So the last game I played before TLS was Tales of the Abyss, which also has diffusing magical circles and a very sheltered noble person. TLS dropped the ball on not having a puntable mascot character.

Chen

Ha! There's a battle theme that sounds an awful lot like FFVII's Those Who Fight Further. Oh, you cheeky Uematsu. Too bad it's only used once.

Xenogears of Bore

The arena opening also has a few bars of that song they play a lot during FF IX, such as the staged swordfight at the beginning.

Chen

Also, holy balls, the final boss is impossibly hard. Not to mention tedious. I went at it for an hour and I still died in the end. You can't see it, but I am putting on my rageface.

Xenogears of Bore

This game has awesome joke weapons and the online is surprisingly fun. Pretty lag free considering I'm playing with mainly people across the pond too!

Klyka

Holy shit this game is even more British than Xenoblade! How is this possible???

Xenogears of Bore

Yeah, it definitely has more loose women and drinking, so definitely more British then Xenoblade.

Chen

Klyka wrote: »

Holy shit this game is even more British than Xenoblade! How is this possible???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOhfHCtYH4#t=3m30s

Death Cab For Albie

Anyone else constantly get the mental image of Morgan Freeman as the narrator? I know the voices aren't THAT similar, but it's all I can hear.

Brainiac 8

So far, what is the average play time to run through the main game? Twenty, Thirty, Forty hours?

Chen

Twenty-six hours in and I'm at the last hurdle. I think I only missed one sidequest. So thirty hours tops if you're generous. More if you're one who likes to play dress up all the time.

Maz-

30 hours for a JRPG really isn't all that much.
Hm, I think I might be giving this one a pass for now, mostly due to my financial situation and the fact that I don't have all that much time right now.

Guess I'll be getting it in a few months when it's hopefully a little cheaper.

Chen

Beaten it. I can confirm that it isn't as well-rounded as Xenoblade. It has its moments, but it was also sometimes frustrating to deal with some of the design decisions. For example attacking when you you don't want to, not being able to pick up items after combat because of a cutscene trigger, not being able to upgrade gear in the final area, camera issues, currency issues, sidequests not mattering, giant enemy crabs that heal faster than you can damage, and so on. Not to mention the framerate moving like molasses.

For what it is, it's very enjoyable. The characters are memorable and one of the reasons you want to keep playing. Lowell and Syrenne have terrific lines and the villains are actually villains. The main protagonist is a bit daft though. The bosses are great fun with the exception of the final boss. That was an exercise in tedium. It was so bad that I grinded so I could get it over with as quickly as possible. It might sound that it's a bad game, but it really isn't. It just could have been so much greater. Maybe my standards are too high.

Also, it reminds me how much I miss Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The spellcasting is so static and boring in this game, totally the opposite of FF:CC. I'm hoping we'll get a proper one on the Wii U at some point considering it has a tablet and all.

Zephyr_Fate

Zilla360 wrote: »

Ugh, the voice acting is soooo bad. Not really digging the combat yet either.

The voice acting is bad? It's easily better than Xenoblade's, and fits better.

Chen

Also, they actually bothered to lip sync the voices which is commendable. I dunno, the VA sounds perfectly natural to me. Could be worse.

Xenogears of Bore

Yeah no, the VAing in Xenoblade is better and has both language tracks to scratch that weeaboo itch.

Chen

You like Riki's English VA so your opinion is void.

Seriously though, the VA is excellent. Jirall's is especially well done. You think you hate him now, but oh boy.

Rotam

Death Cab For Albie wrote: »

Anyone else constantly get the mental image of Morgan Freeman as the narrator? I know the voices aren't THAT similar, but it's all I can hear.

I'm not liking the narrator, I just want him to shut the hell up most of the time.

Dashui

Chen wrote: »

Beaten it. I can confirm that it isn't as well-rounded as Xenoblade. It has its moments, but it was also sometimes frustrating to deal with some of the design decisions. For example attacking when you you don't want to, not being able to pick up items after combat because of a cutscene trigger, not being able to upgrade gear in the final area, camera issues, currency issues, sidequests not mattering, giant enemy crabs that heal faster than you can damage, and so on. Not to mention the framerate moving like molasses.

For what it is, it's very enjoyable. The characters are memorable and one of the reasons you want to keep playing. Lowell and Syrenne have terrific lines and the villains are actually villains. The main protagonist is a bit daft though. The bosses are great fun with the exception of the final boss. That was an exercise in tedium. It was so bad that I grinded so I could get it over with as quickly as possible. It might sound that it's a bad game, but it really isn't. It just could have been so much greater. Maybe my standards are too high.

Also, it reminds me how much I miss Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The spellcasting is so static and boring in this game, totally the opposite of FF:CC. I'm hoping we'll get a proper one on the Wii U at some point considering it has a tablet and all.

I would have liked a better interface in regards to the map and quests. I wouldn't mind if people had a damn arrow over there head so I knew if they had a quest instead of randomly talking to strangers, too.

Zephyr_Fate wrote: »

Zilla360 wrote: »

Ugh, the voice acting is soooo bad. Not really digging the combat yet either.

The voice acting is bad? It's easily better than Xenoblade's, and fits better.

For the most part I thought the voice acting was fine, except for Zael and possibly Agarth. Zael is terribly flat.

Xenogears of Bore

Zael is a bit flat. I like the VA, I just think Xenoblade is a lot better.

Dashui

I kind of wish this game was Lowell and Syrenne adventuring. My goodness, their banter is fantastic.

Zephiran

Dashui wrote: »

I kind of wish this game was Lowell and Syrenne adventuring. My goodness, their banter is fantastic.

Right now I'd like to post that film noiré - inspired concept art of Lowell and Mirania that they drew up way back when the game was supposed to be taking place in a completely different time period.

But I can't fucking find it.

vamen

Oh man this is a bummer. I'd heard about Last Story but I had no idea it was Mistwalker. Their swan song eh? That makes me sad. I know it was unlikely but I reallllly wanted a Lost Odyssey 2. I loved that game so much =(

Looking forward to this coming stateside.

Zephiran

Well it's not really their last game, it's more like it's the Wii's last game before being passing into obscurity (unless you count Dragon Quest X and Pandora's Tower in the West). Last single-player focused Wii JRPG, probably, but not their last game. The Gooch is already working on a bunch of iOS titles using what he learned about game development from making TLS.

Sadly, there probably won't be another Lost Odyssey, no...