The Last Remnant

"A Solid Effort With a Few Small Problems"

Graphics - 7.5/10

Last Remnant is, and will probably always be known for, a problematic game in the visuals category. When you first boot up the game, you'll be greeted with a fairly short (as far as RPGs go) intro wherein you are introduced to Rush Sykes, main protagonist of Last Remnant. Here, you witness (and partake in) a rather large battle between two forces (one of which you will quickly become acquainted with). It is here that the problems with Last Remnant's visuals are at their most apparent. During this battle, there are many many models on screen at once. There are many huge attacks. There is also a rather large amount of slowdown and texture pop-in, as well as a few medium-length loading screens.

At this point, you might be groaning. Another total letdown huh? Don't be so quick to judge!

See, with this Fall's update to our trusty Xbox 360, we now have the ability to install games to our hard drives. This is most definitely a good thing because it takes those previous problems and boils them down to a completely manageable annoyance. Sure, walking around a town, you might notice that it takes the textures a second or two to load fully. And sure, in battles with an extreme amount of characters, you may notice a bit of slowdown but a slideshow it is not. That earlier massive battle now becomes probably the worst offender in the game and it really only travels upwards from there.

Last Remnant's art direction is definitely very well done. Large cities are covered in colorful people of varying species. Creatures pop out at you with their vast variety and sometimes sheer size. The world of Last Remnant is definitely a colorful place to be.

Animations for characters can sometimes be a little odd. Take for example, Rush's running animation. Slightly short steps, maybe a little too much arm motion? Perhaps. Not a deal breaker in any case. Battle animations are usually up to par.

Text is clean, though it may be a bit small for those who are still playing on older SDTV's. I am personally on a 27" SDTV, and I really don't have too many problems reading text.


Sound: 9/10

Music is most definitely a shining point in Last Remnant. From driving guitars to slow, ominous sounds, the music quality within the game is quite high. Some gamers may know the composer for this game, Tsuyoshi Sekito, as having done Brave Fencer Musashi back on the PSX. While his tradition of excellence continues here, it must be said that it's definitely of a different style than that game. Clearly someone Square should look into using more often.

The voice acting in Last Remnant is on the good side. We get Johnny Yong Bosch as lead Rush Sykes and while that voice actor might be in a few too many roles these days for my own tastes, he does a pretty good job bringing the character to the English-speaking audience. The others are largely competent with at least a few standouts such as Emma, the Conqueror (whose voice you may recognize as that of Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z) and Pagus, who way of talking is probably the only way I could imagine a talking frog man as being.


Gameplay - 8/10

In Last Remnant, you have Unions. Unions are made up of a max of five characters. You assign up to five characters to a Union and select a formation for those characters to stand in, which affects their overall effectiveness in battle. You may have up to five Unions (though I never had that many).

To initiate battle, you utilize Time Shift, wherein the player presses the right bumper to slow down time. At this point, the player maneuvers Rush near as many enemies as the player wishes and then hits the right trigger to start battle. Basically, this means the player may make battles as hard or as easy as they wish. Why make it hard at all you may ask? Quite simple. The more enemies you link into the encounter, the better the loot! This is much like another recent Square game, The World Ends With You, and it works quite nicely here.

In battle, you are given general control over your characters, though not exact control. See, rather than have you enter commands for every single soldier on the battlefield, you instead issue general commands such as "Use Mystic Arts!" or "Heal them!" Now, at the top of the screen, we have the Morale Bar, which dictates what sort of commands you may issue. The better you do, the more you kill enemies, the higher the bar goes for you. Do poorly, and you'll take more damage and just do worse in general. Now, the player may check at any time to see what each of these commands entails. Basically, if you select "Use Mystic Arts!" and you have characters in that Union that can use them, they will, so long as you have the AP to do so (AP is a stat each character has and AP is regenerated each turn, depending on your stats). It's largely just a quick way to command so many characters. Sometimes, commands you would like to use (varying Combat Arts or Mystic Arts or some type of healing) might not show up and it's really only this point that draws concern from me. It's really mostly a minor point on contention though.

To start with, you will only have one Union with which to fight, but quickly you will gain more characters and the ability to form more Unions and it is at this point that overall strategy inherent in this battle system is shown. Depending on position within the battlefield, you may find yourself commanding your characters to attack an enemy group behind them, to get another group to perhaps come at them, allowing another of your own groups to get the drop on them, resulting in a pincer attack the next turn. There are all sorts of possible outcomes here and it's really quite fun to see it all unfold.

In town, characters may visit shops, talk to townsfolk, go to the Guild to report tasks they have completed (such as having killed Rare Monsters, somewhat in the same vein as Final Fantasy XII's hunt quests), find new recruits at said Guild, as well as find side quests to do at the Pub. There is a very large amount of content in this game and it will take an average player probably somewhere around 60 hours to really get into it all.

After battle, monsters may possibly be captured, which allows the player to disassemble them for parts/loot, which in turn allows you to customize or create new weaponry.


Story - 8/10

While the story in Last Remnant starts off with a bang, it slows down a bit for the first act. After introducing the player to its main characters in such a fast-paced manner, we get to slow down and have some face time with our group of heroes and it is in these moments that the characters shine. Rush is a very simple guy and he shows it, but he also develops quite a bit along the way. Encounters with the enigmatic Conqueror are exciting and there is all manner of vile villainy afoot for the player to watch unfold. Later encounters explode and really push the player forward with excitement, though a few details seem to be overlooked by the end (though maybe I just needed to pay more attention haha).

That said, it's still a fairly standard plot, though it can be told quite well here. An enjoyable accompaniment to the gameplay at the very least.


Overall - 8/10

While some parts of the game may not be for others, and while there may be some small flaws with the game that are easier for some to overlook than others, the Last Remnant remains a very solid effort by Square in my eyes. In the end, the avid RPG player can find a lot to like and a lot of game to back it all up. Certainly a good choice for this 2008 holiday season.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/08

Game Release: The Last Remnant (US, 11/20/08)