The Last Story

The Last Story is a sweeping JRPG that manages to feel fresh and original while sticking to its traditional fantasy roots. It does so by taking away many of the restraints that bog down similar stories. If you’ve ever been frustrated by your inability to step over a fence or a cross a stream, get ready for the true freedom of this game.

The Last Story centers around Zael, the controllable character you will be in charge of most of the game. Zael and his friends are an eclectic group of mercenaries for hire that end up taking on a bit more than they can handle. The storyline is one of the strongest parts of the game, and it’s well worth buying just to enjoy the storyline itself.

Freedom of complexity

It’s no surprise that in a title directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the same person who directed Final Fantasy, the result is something special. This game is as much about resource management as it is about fighting and questing. You need money, weapons, and other things to be able to progress in the game. The good news is, if you don’t want to bother with figuring out what weapon works best, you can allow the game to auto-manage this portion of the game. If you have every played Xenoblade Chronicles this game is similar in a lot of ways, but much shorter and with regrettably simpler graphics.

Rich variety in gameplay

If you hate the same boring grind fighting the same boring characters, The Last Story is once again refreshing here in that you’ll be doing many different things during your adventures. One moment you might be riding the back of a beast, the next you’ll be battling one.

The battle system is also extremely well thought out, and you can even use it in multi-player using either a co-op option or Deathmatch, as well as the main solo play. Although this is a surprising and fun addition to the game, it’s clear the multiplayer wasn’t as well thought out as the rest of the game.

Co-op only allows you to fight bosses together, but only bosses. Deathmatch is based off your character in the solo game, and lets you bring in items from that game. What it fails to do is screen for ability or level, with the result that there’s very little balance to the battles.

Some technical issues

One major drawback to this game is that here and there the wii is unable to read from the CD fast enough, and it can cause issues with gameplay. This includes things like lag in the voiceover, or scenes cutting off entirely. This can be disappointing, especially if you were enjoying the cut scene or it contained critical information.

Pros:

• Perfect weekend game
• Genre bending jRPG
• Multiplayer available

Cons:

• Some technical issues