Review: The Last Remnant

Game: The Last Remnant
Developer: Square-Enix
Publisher: Square-Enix
MSRP: $39.99
NA Release Date: 11/20/2008
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360
Also Available On: PC

The Last Remnant is, for all intents and purposes, an experiment by Square-Enix to appeal to both the Eastern and Western markets. I don't think that experiment in itself was successful, because the game plays just like a typical JRPG, albeit with some modifications to the standard formula.

The game follows Rush Sykes in a quest to find his sister, Irina. She has unintentionally become mixed up with some bad, power-hungry men because of a hidden power she holds within her. Rush sets off to find her and meets a group of high-ranking people from the country of Athlam - Marquis David Nassau and his four generals. David promises to help Rush find his sister, because there seems to be more at stake here than the life of one person. And, from that point, your adventure begins.

The story, broken down into its basic parts, is fairly cliché, yet manages to feel somewhat fresh and different at the same time. The characters are vastly different from each other - both in design and in personality. Also, they don't follow the typical JRPG archetypes. For example, in the early part of the game, the only female controllable - and I use that term loosely - by the player is Emma, a 41-year-old general. She's fully clothed, has battle scars and is rather stern. Yet through it all, she's endearing in a way that isn't forced on the player by the script or a character cliché. The other generals and David himself are equally as likable, yet all with their little personality quirks. Lastly, Rush himself doesn't act like a typical JRPG hero - he's no Cloud or Edge. He's not emo, he doesn't feel like he's going to fly off the hook at any given moment and his voice acting is downright excellent. In fact, all the voice acting is top notch, which kind of makes you wonder what happened to games like Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean: The Last Hope (granted, not developed by Squeenix like this title, but they still should have a lot of pull when it comes to that stuff).

I started with the characters because that initially is what drew me to the game and the story. But the visual presentation is outstanding, as well. The game just looks darn good. The art direction reminds me a bit of both Final Fantasy X and XII, but that's not a bad thing. The environments are varied, although a bit more confined than other recent JRPGs. The presentation during battle is energizing and the ability to control the camera lets you explore every inch of the detailed environments.

What makes or breaks most RPGs is the battle system, and TLR is solid in that department. Once you wrap your head around what the game is trying to do, it isn't really that different from your typical turn-based RPG. In a stretch, you could say it’s a combination of a strategy RPG and a turn-based RPG. It carries some features of a strategy RPG in that you are allowed to build your own groups, put together your own mix of NPCs (and, therefore, abilities), level them up and form a strong fighting force pretty much the way you want it. Yet, during actual battle it handles much like any other turn-based game in the genre.

In fact, I don't think its as innovative as Square-Enix has claimed in the battle system department. However, I've always been a believer that lack of innovation doesn't mean a bad game by any means. You form Unions, which are made up of individual party members. Each Union has a leader and you give each Union its own command instead of issuing commands to each individual member of that Union. What each individual character (including Rush) does with that command is ultimately up to the AI. However, based on your command they do go in a certain direction with their attacks or support. As an example, you can tell one Union to use Combat Arts, and it'll be at the AI's prerogative which particular ones to use based on the weapon each individual in that union has equipped and the skills they have at their disposal. Like I mentioned, this is even true of your main character. You really don't control any individuals, you just give Unions basic attack commands to carry out in whichever way the AI feels will benefit you most.

Its not as complicated as it seems. If you think of each Union as an individual party member, the entire battle system suddenly becomes easier to understand for fans of turn-based RPGs. In that respect, it really isn't that different from those other RPGs, the structure of your attack party is really the only difference. Enemy units are the same way. Each enemy you see on the field screen represents one or more enemy Unions.

What the game fails to do is explain all this in an easy to digest manner, so the learning curve is fairly high. Combine this with the fact that, in the first couple dungeons, you don't get more than a handful of enemy units to attack, and it does take a while to get everything down pat.

There are a myriad of other things that pique my interest about this game, the more I play. As just a couple examples, I love the fact that your party members - even other Union leaders - ask your advice for directing their combat techniques. Should I lean more toward combat or mystic artes? That's your decision, on top of building Unions to suit the situation and your personal tastes. Along these lines, characters also ask for item drops and items from your inventory that you may not be using, and they use these items behind the scenes to improve their gear and performance in battle. A very nice, unique touch to the game.

Now, onto the not so good. Yes, I have to mention that this game is littered with technical troubles - the frame rate drops frequently, texture popping is worse than other games on the 360 and the bit hitter - loading screens. OMG the loading screens that will not end! That is my biggest issue with the game - not the texture or frame rate issues. The loading screens are literally everywhere. You will see a loading screen under all of the following conditions - and more: switching zones within a city, going to/from the city or world map screens, going from exterior to interior locations and vice versa, before each battle, before each boss fight, after each battle, after each boss fight, between cut scenes. They literally never end - you are seeing a lengthy loading screen every time you turn around.

Something else, beyond all this - the achievements aren't that hot. As far as I can tell, there are no progression-based achievements. All the game's achievements rely on repeating actions ("Win XX Battles", "Activate Timeshift XX Times", etc.) or optional content (side quests, optional bosses, etc.). I prefer more progression-based achievements so you know you'll at least get a certain amount of points if you just complete the game, without going through any extra hassle to track down where and when you can trigger them. That being said, its likely many of these achievements will still come naturally during the course of the game.

However, in spite of all the technical issues (most of which I understand are fixed with the PC version - which leads me to wonder why the 360 version hasn't been patched yet), the game is incredibly deep and very satisfying. It would be a shame to pass it up because of its problems, because the battle system and story definitely are a sight to behold.

Score: 8.0 (out of 10)