The Last Story (Wii - 1st completion)
The last physical Nintendo Wii game that I have in my current collection, I thought I would finish the console off with the aptly named The Last Story. I can now finally retire my Wii that I had since October 2007: over thirty physical games and ten WiiWare and Virtual Console games I have played and reviewed in just over 15 years! I don't remember when I bought The Last Story, but I'm sure I purchased it at Willow Video here in Langley. One of the three games that was a part of "Operation Rainfall" in 2011, The Last Story was concieved by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and the company he founded a year after leaving Square Enix in 2003, called Mistwalker. He even got his old friend from their Final Fantasy days, Nobuo Uematsu, to compose the music! Nintendo published the game in various regions except in North America, which was handled by Xseed Games. "Operation Rainfall" was a success as it not only brought The Last Story to us here, but also Xenoblade Chronicles (my 2015 review here), and Pandora's Tower. The game is exclusive to the Wii and has not been re-released or remastered since. I beat it last night in 34 hours and 22 minutes of gametime with my main character at level 69 and I think my other characters at level 63, with all main and side chapters completed.
The Last Story is set on Lazulis Island, a vast seaborne fortress ruled by Count Arganan and allied to an unnamed human empire in the midst of crisis as the land decays and dies. Dagran, a mercenary, travels to Lazulis in search of employment with the mercenary band he leads: Zael, Syrenne, Yurick, Lowell and Mirania. During the journey, Zael, who dreams of becoming a knight, encounters a mysterious force and is branded on the hand, granting him magical power. While on an errand in town, Zael runs into a woman named Lisa and helps her escape from city guards. Employed as guards to Count Arganan for the wedding of his niece, Lady Calista, to Lord Jirall, Zael encounters Calista and recognizes her as "Lisa". The group also meet General Asthar and his protegee Therius when Syrenne picks a fight with Therius. After Calista explains to Zael in private that hers is an arranged marriage, Lazulis is attacked by the Gurak, a race once banished from Lazulis by humans and now united under their ruler Zangurak. To avoid being killed by the ensuing cannon fire, Zael, Dagran, and Calista stow away on a Gurak ship and eventually take it over. The group are returned to Lazulis by the island's knights. On Lazulis, the mercenaries are accused of aiding the Gurak by the knight Jirall, who is trying to cover up his cowardly behavior during the attack by having anyone who witnessed it imprisoned. Dagran persuades Arganan to release them after showing him Zael's mark, which is revealed to be a mystical "Mark of the Outsider" given to one destined to save Lazulis.
To see the first hour of gameplay, go here or below:
Click to view
Graphics/Art-8
+ Like Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story really pushes the Wii's graphical power with detailed environments and lots of on-screen action. Some good FMV too.
+ Great art direction with good environments and character models. Your distinct weapon and armor are shown on each character when they are equipped, plus you can customize the colours of your equipment too (provided you find the dyes for them.)
- The framerate goes down a lot of the time when there are lots of people or enemies on screen. The game generally runs at 30 fps or below. The textures are low-resolution to help mitigate the framerate, but it can hurt the game's look. You can really hear the Wii's disc drive constantly loading data!
Sound/Music-9
+ Probably one of Nobuo Uematsu's better works outside Final Fantasy, the game's soundtrack is quite nice. Good sound effects too.
+ The English dubbing was done in the UK -similar to Xenoblade Chronicles- when it was published in Europe and I'm thankful it wasn't re-dubbed when published in North America. The voice acting and dialogue are done very well for the most part.
Music Samples: The full OST playlist on YouTube is here.
Control-8
+ You can choose between the WiiMote and Nunchuk or Classic Controller. I found that using the WiiMote and Nunchuk worked best for me compared to the Classic Controller. Thankfully, no motion controls!
- It can take awhile to get used to the controls in battles.
- Controls can get wonky when you hide against walls and structures, especially when trying to perform powerful slash attacks.
Gameplay-8
+ The Last Story is an action role-playing game (ARPG) incorporating elements of tactical and stealth gameplay. You control the main protagonist Zael for the majority of the game from a fixed third-person view. The game's main hub is a public house on Lazulis Island, which also houses a save point. Lazulis City is the main setting for most of the game, which provides you with access to side quests, shops, and areas to collect items when not engaged in the main story.
+ In addition to environments within missions such as ruins and forests where enemies are encountered and fought, there is an arena where you can improve the party and their combat abilities. If the party is victorious, the party can pick up money and items from non-playable characters betting on the fight.
+ In battle, you control Zael alone, with the rest of the party being controlled by the game's AI and directed by your commands. Parties are composed of up to six characters, each with five "lives", with them automatically reviving after a certain time if Zael cannot revive them manually. The attack directions of both party characters and enemies are represented by lines connecting the different characters. Combat plays out in real-time, with attacks either happening automatically when a character is within range or manually. Actions such as dodging and movement are done manually. Blocking and actions such as vaulting over low obstacles are performed by holding the B button. Zael can also move to take cover behind objects, which allows them to break an enemy's line of sight on them or creep along walls. During combat, a character's Tension gauge will fill, enabling the performance of special moves: these can vary from dealing damage to enemies across a wide area to reviving unconscious allies.
+ A skill unique to Zael is Gathering: when activated, all enemies within an area will focus their attention on him, allowing other team members to act without interruption. As the game progresses, Zael can issue commands to the other team members, with the perspective switching to a top-down view for this action. In addition to standard combat, you can switch to a behind-the-shoulder perspective for manually firing Zael's crossbow, which can launch a variety of ammunition at enemies and objects. Enemies in Zael's sights will have their weaknesses and abilities revealed. In battle, destructible objects in the environment can be used by the party to defeat enemies; these objects regenerate after a time rather than remaining destroyed. Magic cast by certain characters with that ability leave the casting area temporarily imbued with a spell's elemental properties creating a magic circle. These circles can cause elemental damage or effects to enemies within the area, or they can imbue the weapons of characters who walk into the circle with said element. Eventually, Zael will learn the ability to "diffuse" magic circles which will spread the spell's effect which varies depending on the element.
+ In addition to the single-player campaign, players could access to online multiplayer through the game's main menu. The multiplayer featured two modes: a competitive mode where players could face each other in various stages, and a co-op mode where a team of players could face bosses from the single-player campaign. For the competitive match, the player had to choose from multiple allied and enemy characters, and all boons granted by equipment or experience levels were removed to level the playing field. Teams of up to six players could be formed for team matches. Players could gain or lose points when they defeated or were defeated by an opponent, and defeated enemies respawned in the battlefield. When all opponents have been defeated, all players were awarded with items and equipment that carried over into the single-player campaign: those who performed the best received higher-quality equipment and "titles" to distinguish them from other players. The co-op battles allowed players to carry over their equipment and character levels from single-player, with the available characters being restricted to Zael's mercenary group. Defeating a boss earned players items themed around it. In both modes, players could communicate using a stock of scripted responses both taken from the single-player campaign and specially created for multiplayer. The online multiplayer feature can no longer be utilized due to dropped support from Nintendo in 2014.
+ Being able to use the game's map from the main menu to warp to where you need to go or back to a monster-infested area is a definite time saver. The main caveat is that you have to manually go into the next environment as the map will only display the sections you can warp to in which you are currently in. For example: if you are in the town section of Lazulis, you can warp anywhere in town and far away areas too; but you cannot warp into the castle areas. You need to warp to the entrance, enter the castle, and then you can warp to any available section of the castle.
+ In most levels you go through for the first time, there are red seals on the ground. If you have Zael activate Gathering on it, you will trigger a battle. It's a great way to grind for a little bit and get some extra money and items. It is completely optional and not necessary to spend a lot of time on (in fact, once your characters have "caught up", they will gain levels at a much slower rate). If you revisit the level, the red seal will be gone.
+ You can upgrade weapons and equipment by payment and use of materials you find. All weapons and equipment have a maximum limit for upgrades. Some rare weapons need to be appraised and others need their curse unlifted before you can use them.
- Your party members can get in your way sometimes, blocking you.
Fun/Story/Misc-8
+ The game has a learning curb but it isn't unfair. Once I got the hang of things, it became more fun to play given that things aren't too much of a slog.
+ The story was pretty basic and easy to follow along. The characters were okay with a little depth to them. Sadly, no bearish characters outside of Zangurak (above).
+ Finishing the game opens New Game +. Your levels, money, weapons and equipment, non-story items, etc. are carried over.
Total: 41/50 (Grade Level: B)
The Last Story website is still here and contains some good information. The Gametrailers.com video review is here and the Wikipedia article is here. Now that the Wii is retired, I'll concentrate on WiiU games in the near future.
Next Game: Suikoden II (PSN - PSone)
Currently playing: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons & Oracle of Ages (3DS Virtual Console - GBC)
