The Last Story (Wii) Review

The Wii has been the go-to console for proper Japanese RPGs this generation. Final Fantasy XIII was a colossal disappointment when it was intended to be one of the biggest titles for the genre. The best thing about the Wii is that while it is a less powerful system, games are easier to produce and of course, much less expensive to produce. The Last Story is a prime example of focusing on gameplay and underlying mechanics, rather than graphics, to produce a truly unique and mesmerising experience. Make no mistake, this is one of the games that the Operation Rainfall folks have been fighting over and I can safely say that the battle is well worth the rewards.

The Last Story has a brilliantly executed story with some genuinely interesting characters, but the main character is weirdly enough the least interesting. His name is Zael, and he is mercenary who wants to find fame and fortune alongside his fellow crew on Lazulis Island, where mercenaries are feared (and of course, hated) by its inhabitants. Zael has higher aspirations, though, and wants to be a knight and thus be more respected. He meets Calista, a princess wanting something more from her life than being cooped up in her castle. Together they uncover a plot that threatens the world.

Okay, so the story is incredibly clichéd but the whole reason I love it so much is because of the game’s rather stellar ending. It really provides a great ending to the game’s experience, and dare I say it, you’ll probably want more once the credits roll. The reason for this is because the characters are all so well written and you’ll most certainly enjoy how they interact with one another. The game’s sound design also helps bring the characters to life, though be warned that there is no Japanese voice option if you’re one of “those” people.

They are a merry bunch….just don’t look at them the wrong way

Despite this, the English voice work is absolutely superb but the main character does sound a bit tired at times, which is disappointing. Thankfully this is greatly outweighed by the interesting characters in the cast who aren’t Zael, including the rather memorable Syrenne who is a tomboy with a loud and foul mouth. The music is epic, orchestral and a perfect complement to the game’s action too.

The Last Story confuses me visually. On one hand, the game is beautifully designed, but on the other hand it really lacks colour at times. Nonetheless, the areas are beautifully rendered and quite large, so many players will find a lot of fun in exploring them. The main hub city itself, Lazulis City, is particularly well detailed with many of the smaller attention to detail being paid particular care to. There were times when I would see merchants in shops actually waving their arms at me to come and shop at their store, or children running and playing on the streets. You really get the vibe that the game world is vibrant and alive and that’s what really adds to the game’s atmosphere. The only thing I can really fault The Last Story for is that during some particularly hectic battles, it’s quite common to see some frame rate drops which is pretty distracting.

The Last Story feels like this perfect merger of eastern and western gameplay styles to create something that quite frankly feels like a perfect blend of east and west. As such, the game is divided into chapters some of which some have multiple quests, some have one quest, and quests may sprawl across several chapters. The chapter structures are a bit confusing because some chapters may be literally walking from point A to point B, but otherwise take quite a while to complete. The best thing about Last Story is that it knows exactly what it wants to do; providing an incredibly focused and distinct experience rather than an all-encompassing, yet seemingly empty one.

Older women may disapprove of Zael, but we don’t.

The battle system of The Last Story is a rather well put together mix of strategic-orientated battle and action-orientated battle. There’s no waiting for your turns here, as Zael can utilise either his sword or his cross bow. The sword can be controlled manually (meaning you’ll hit more but at lower damage) or the game can auto attack for you, while the crossbow is perfectly suited to interrupting distant spell casters or taking our hard to reach weak points. Zael can also unlock new techniques including some really cool and awesome over-the-top movies including wall running.

There’s also an emphasis on stealth and drawing attention from enemies in order to deal extra damage. Zael can cover against all kinds of obstacles in order to sneak around enemies and do critical damage. This system works well and it’s easy to enter and exit cover. The idea of “attention” from enemies is indicated through the use of beams – which show which enemies are focusing on which characters. Zael can use a technique called “gathering” which allows him to distract enemies and allow his team members to attack weak points or ready spells. Gather also allows you to revive fallen party members (albeit a limited number of times). When gathering, Zael also recovers health every time he attacks, this is a nice kind of risk/reward system. While it doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of variety, as Zael only possesses a sword and crossbow, both of these tools are perfectly balanced against the enemies you’ll encounter and it’s amazing to see how two simple weapons have so many applications on the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield, things can get pretty hectic at times as there will almost always be up to six party members at once. Thanks to the “beam” and “attention” system, it becomes quite easy to manage who is attacking who and protect members of your party if need be. Thankfully, while this sounds like you’ll be babysitting your team mates, you won’t actually be as the combat AI is pretty well programmed. There are times when you’ll have to actually think about who is trying to do what and make things easier, but I found it quite hard to find a way to hate the characters I had to battle with as they were just so competent. The game encourages this kind of synergy; one particular ability named Gale emphasises this aspect of the combat. When an ally casts a spell, it will leave behind a circle / glyph. If Zael casts Gale inside this circle, depending on the element your teammate cast, it may have a different effect such as healing or breaking defences or even preventing the enemy from healing. It’s a great system that really encourages you to play around with your team members and pay attention to what they’re up to in order to get maximum results.

Some people enjoy being the centre of attention. Zael is one of those people.

In sticking with The Last Story’s rather streamlined approach to the genre, leveling is incredibly simplified, as is the statistical nature of the game. This means you won’t be spending a lot of time micromanaging your statistics or equipment, and allows the players to focus on the meat and bones of the game rather than getting bogged down. Those who are into their detailed RPGs may hate this move (I know I did) but at the same time it makes the game a lot more accessible and to be honest it’s nice not having to worry about these things. Leveling is also bound to areas, which means that leveling up in certain areas subsequently reduces the experience you receive. This encourages players to move on rather than hang around and grind though there are specific glyphs that summon more enemies optionally for players to grind. Once again, it takes a bit of choice away from the player but at the same time it makes it more accessible.

The way the game handles your inventory is interesting as well. As the game is rather linear there is no opportunity to return to most areas, and as such you will find yourself scrounging for rare items quite regularly. When you do find weapons or armour though, things are a little bit odd. Armour itself is all the same in terms of cost, but each of them has different effects on the player. Weapons can be upgraded using materials, with some of them unlocking unique powers as you upgrade them through their tiers. There’s also a lot of cool customisation; you can dye your armour and hair to make Zael whoever you want him to be.

Being an RPG, you would expect The Last Story to have a huge amount of side quests. Sadly, this isn’t the case and as such the game will definitely have reached its conclusion by the end of twenty hours. The game isn’t really all that difficult either. I died a few times during boss battles (especially the last one), but otherwise many players will just breeze through the proceedings. The inclusion of multiplayer is also quite unexpected for a game like this and allows you and your other peers to tackle certain bosses co-operatively or competitively. Thankfully in the twenty matches we played, we didn’t experience much lag. Overall the game definitely feels like a complete and well-rounded package, but for quite probably the first time ever, I wish that a harder difficulty level was included.

Killing things with friends has never been more fun!

The Last Story is an incredibly well put together RPG that manages to marry everything that makes both western and Japanese RPGs great. Similarly, it provides a very focused and concentrated journey for the player to get through and doesn’t attempt to bog itself down by offering a large and empty landscape just because it’s an RPG. If this is the future of the genre, I couldn’t quite say how I would feel, but with a bit more fine tuning to make the game a bit more difficult and extending the length just a tad with some more optional content, then I’m all in. The more people who play this, the better; this might be the Japanese RPG that wins over the haters of the genre.