- The Last Remnant for the Xbox 360 is the first role-playing game in a new series from Square Enix
- Breathtaking visuals, a mysterious storyline, and a massive battlefield provide hours of exciting gameplay
- Battles are fought between multiple friendly and enemy unions -- groups of up to five characters
- Commands change depending on the current battle situation or the distance and positions of friendly and hostile unions
- In Deadlock gameplay, the two unions must fight each other until one union has been completely destroyed
The Last Remnant for the Xbox 360 is the first role-playing game in a new series from Square Enix. This game delivers breathtaking visuals only possible on next-generation platforms, a mysterious storyline full of powerful artifacts, and a massive battlefield where you'll be surrounded by countless foes and friends alike.
Join Rush and David as they battle the Conqueror's Army and search for Irina. View larger. |
Castanea, the Conqueror, and Roeas lead the enemy's search for the Remnants View larger. |
Orders in battle are given in a command-select style. View larger. |
Morale plays a role in a unions ability to inflict damage. View larger. |
The Story Unfolds In ancient times mysterious artifacts, referred to as Remnants, were discovered all over the world. People used these objects for their awesome powers -- a choice that eventually caused a rift in the world's balance. A thousands years later, the story of The Last Remnant begins.
Rush Sykes and his sister Irina are children of scientists researching the esoteric Remnants. One day, Irina is kidnapped right before Rush's eyes. Determined to rescue his sister, Rush joins forces with David Nassau, the marquis of a small city-state called Athlum. Together they are determined to pursue the criminals and save Irina from her strange captors.
Meanwhile, the world is thrust into confusion as ruling powers bicker over dividing the Remnants' powers. Soon a mysterious man appears calling himself the Conqueror. His presences escalates tensions as everyone eagerly attempts to answer the question: Into whose hands will the power of the Remnants fall? Before he knows it, Rush becomes wrapped up in this international power struggle and realizes that he is somehow connected to the enigmatic Conqueror.
Allies and Enemies
Before her kidnapping, Rush Sykes lived a peaceful life with his 14-year-old sister, Irina Sykes. Irina is a cheerful, resilient girl who stays upbeat even during the toughest of times. Some mysterious power seems to rest within here, but she herself has no understanding of what it is or what it can do. David Nassau, the 19-year-old who rules over the state of Athlum, spends his days working towards better his homeland. Although he decides to join Rush on his quest to rescue Irina, his motives are his own. Emma Honeywell, the matriarch of the Honeywells clan, Plagus, Blocter, and Torgal round out the allies.
The man known only as the Conqueror and his minions are eager to seize the Remnants throughout the lands. His origin is shrouded in mystery, but it appears that something strange and elusive connects this villain to Rush. Enamored with the Conqueror, Roeas has declared her eternal allegiance to him and acts as the ambassador of the Conqueror's Army. Although beautiful in form and voice, Roeas is sadistic and menacing on the battlefield. Originating from a large-bodied species with pronounced fighting abilities, Castanea is Roeas right-hand-man. He rarely speaks or expresses himself, so it is difficult to decipher his thoughts -- although Roeas seems to understand him easily. In addition, the strongest fighters in the Conqueror's army are referred to as The Seven. The Seven lead their own troops and report to Roeas and Castanea.
Combat Systems: Morale, Battle Unions, and Deadlock
Battles are fought between multiple friendly and enemy unions -- groups of up to five characters who fight together. Players give commands to unions as a whole, who then carry out the actions. Orders in battle are given in a command-select style that is familiar to most role playing gamers. However, The Last Remnant commands are not delivered with standard terms, such as "Item" or "Magic." Instead, players control unions with specialized commands, such as "Slam 'em with status ailments!" or "Do area attacks from afar!" Available commands change depending on the current battle situation or the distance and positions of friendly and hostile unions.
The Last Remnant adds a Morale component to the gameplay. Players can check current morale via the gauge across the top of the screen. The higher the morale, the more damage is dealt and less damage is taken by friendly unions, and vice-versa. When friendly and enemy unions go toe-to-toe and engage in melee combat, they enter a state called Deadlock. Once in Deadlock, the two unions must fight each other until one union has been completely destroyed.
Enemy monsters roam the land where they can be avoided or engaged at will. When battle is initiated, the scene changes to a specialized battle map where friend and foe can fight it out. Horizontal lined icons labeled A, B, C, etc. represent the on-field battle unions. Players choose which hostile union they wish to attack on this screen. The Last Remnant offers a wide variety of commands that focus on dealing damage or executing defensive maneuvers. Knowing which commands are most suitable for each situation is the key to winning battles.
The Last Remnant delivers breathtaking visuals, a mysterious storyline full of powerful artifacts, and a massive battlefield.
| Good Game Somewhat Boring | 2010-08-18 | 3 / 5 |
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This is a decent game with a interesting storyline and great graphics. Sadly the game is flawed in my opinion by boring gameplay, and some tough bosses. I have not currently beat the game (stuck on the boss Gates of Hell)so this is my review so far. The case looks nice very shinny! the game has 2 discs, a manual, and a poster.
Graphics 5/5
This game has amazing graphics that beat most games that are out there today. The cut scenes in the game are amazing! Each city has its own amazing look, along with the surroundings of other environments.
Music 4/5
The music in the game is pretty good, there are some nice battle music, and boss music. I personaly dont like the intro music to the game and the loud sound when you click to load your game.
Gameplay 1/5
The gameplay is what makes this game drag on and seem boring. Throughout most of the game you are either traveling via the map, talking to people, or battling. The battles are insanely laggy even at times with the game downloaded to your hard drive. In this game your team is composed of units which attack together (usually 3-5 units with up to 5 people in each unit). If your units HPs drops to 0 your whole unit will be wiped out regardless if any of the members are still alive when the units HP reaches 0. The combat system is composed of a few options. You dont get to specifically choose which spells/abilities you get to use which is a bummer. Basic battle commands are "Attack!" "Attack with mystic arts!" "Attack with combat arts!" "Keep your HP up!" ect. At times before you attack during battle there will be a chance to press either the A"B"Y"X"RT" button at the right time which will move your next unit members attack up to the next turn or if you are being attacked it will cause a counter attack. When this happens the weapons move in slow motion and looks pretty awesome, each time you perfectly hit the correct button you will get to try it again for the following member until the last member releases a special attack.
While battling your units HP may become low but the option to heal doesnt show up for that turn. You can also have another unit assist in healing but usually your unit will be attacked and killed before they get a chance to be healed by the assisting unit. You can custimize your units positions via the union board which are supposed to increase attack/magic but seem to have little or no effect. It is somewhat unclear on what the best positions to use are.
Upgrading/Battle Rank 3/5
the upgrading in the town is simple enough. There are various vendors that sell weapons and items in the game and you will generally use them to buy new weapons. You can also upgrade your weapons and have new items craft for you once you have collected the materials. I have not currently crafted any items because I did not have the materials or the item was lower quality than what I had. Instead of leveling up your characters in this game you have a battle rank that goes up. Its confusing to know when you will rank up. You also learn new spells at the end of a battle but it is unclear when you will learn a new spell. You can upgrade only Rush's equipment and each weapon has its own unique look from what ive noticed so far. The rest of your members weapons upgrade throughout the game automatically.
Map 4/5
The maps are easy to use most of the time and you usually dont get lost. The maps usually follow a simple path and dont allow much exploration. For cities its easy to know where your going. The world map is big and each town is labeled along with other places you can explore. At times you may feel overwelmed by all the places you can explore because each place can take up to an hour with battle to fully explore. Side quests are found at the pubs in each city.
Positives:
Great graphics (in-game and cut scenes)
Good storyline
Pretty ez to navigate the maps
Story flows nicely not too many sidequests
Each weapon rush uses is unique looking
Cool slowmotion battle trigger with ABXYRT buttons
Negatives:
You will constantly be flanked and attacked by monsters than can easily wipe you out
Battle is usually laggy and boring
unclear when to level and learn new spells
confusing unit positioning
unable to heal units who need health at times
some of the characters voices are annoying + poor dialogue
The boss im at is what made me decide to stop playing because it does not follow the battle rules of the game and can attack extra turns. The boss also deals enough damage to 2 shot one of your units, and when they die he can ressurect them and use them to fight you. |
| NOT a RPG!! | 2010-08-10 | 3 / 5 |
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while this game is called a JRPG by many I have to say that I am disappointed to say the least. When I first played this I had no guide and no expectations of grandeur. I did expect that it was an rpg and when I ran into trouble I would go back and painstakingly grind my stats up and tada! I would make it though the troublesome spots. However, for a battle system as complex and intricate as this game made, I would never have guessed that they did not want you to use it. You get penalized for fighting weak things (your battle rank (BR) which is supposed to be a measure of your ???? something ??? hurts you when fighting bosses) as a reference amount i had spent a while leveling, Built up a BR to 47 and thought I was sitting pretty with a 1.8k hp value, and pumping out 7000 dmg per round. to go online and check what was going on I was reading about people with the same BR with 5.6K hp and doing 50K dmg per round. This made me realize why LEVELING systems work better, mainly because you don't have this kind of variability.
So I went online looked at what was going on and found out how to make it though do something counter-intuitive for all RPG's Don't Fight anything unless it is unavoidable. I can live with that and now that I have made it further then I did before and in far less time I realize the implications of this stupidity, the main forces for my "unions" are not the leaders, as they are weak as hell, but instead the soldiers that you hire, and have no control over upgrading weapons means you need to know the components it takes for each weapon, which is not listed on the weapon stats no, there are no customization of what skills they will or will not use, as it turns out they are just fodder. This leads into the next problem, this game LACKS CONTROL over what ability your people use, you want to use spells, oh well, too bad, not on your option list because the game hates you. You don't need to heal, well you have that option. You do need to heal, and you will get trashed because the only way is to kill your union and hope the option comes up to raise them from a different union.
all said and done, you will come to realize fast enough that this is a strategy based game that uses dice rolls to determine everything and you can either get blessed by the dice or ruined by the dice, some skill is involved, but the skill is luck. something you cant improve on as you get better at the game, so your stuck with a flawed system and a flawed delivery.
Do consider this game as the pc version has much more control over what goes on in the game, and does not punish you as much against the bosses when you mistakenly get a high BR.
pro's
-If you seek punishment when playing a game this will dish it out in satisfying quantities.
-If you want a story where the most interesting character is not the main one this is also the game for you.
-If you don't mind graphical flaws and like the technical aspects of the game
-If you want to burn though the story line as fast as possible this game is for you
cons
-if you don't want any of the pro's I listed.
-No feeling of control, in fable i could use whatever spell I wanted and level any other spell that was available and the general experience for using however you want to top it off.
-the combat system with BR system is flawed to the extent where it is pathetic.
-punishment for the sake of making the game "hard", this game not about your personal skill but instead random chance.
if you read this review and still buy the game I highly recommend you check out the wikia site for all the technical details of this game. without them you will be at a loss for why your seemingly being destroyed for no real reason and where to find all the odd components that people are asking you for. |
| worth more | 2010-07-07 | 5 / 5 |
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| The game is fun, and well worth the current price. Its long enough, and enjoyable enough for any rpg fan. I would honestly consider it better than Lost Odyssey. Square Enix has yet to dissapoint me. |
| Enjoyed thoroughly. | 2010-06-04 | 5 / 5 |
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| I really enjoyed this game. The battle system was fun, and I really liked the characters, especially Emma. I thought some of these characters were unique for the RPG genre, which is far too often repetitive and formulaic. Many of the party members were optional; they engaged me and kept me interested in the game. Adjusting to the battle system was a bit arduous, but once I was comfortable with the system, I liked the battles a lot. |
| The Last Remnant | 2010-05-03 | 3 / 5 |
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I'm going to keep this short by saying that although not my favorite rpg its still a solid game.
1. Battle system is fun but takes some time to get used to and lots of things to play around with that can make or break your unions.
2. Story is just ok with moments that make you get real excited about playing the game.
3. I would say if you love rpgs and are looking for something new give this a shot and for the price you will getting you money's worth. |
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