By Gophn

INTRODUCTION

Square-Enix’s The Last Remnant is a new single player RPG (role playing game) that was just released on the PC (Windows). It was originally released for the Xbox 360 in late 2008, but this is not just a port (the same exact game, but on another system). This game has been improved and tweaked for better graphics and performance.

In the age of MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role playing games), people find that they can endlessly play and develop their characters while feeling that something is missing… namely the narration and uniqueness of an offline RPG. It is rare that a Japanese single-player RPG with such a famed developer/publisher like Square-Enix to release a game for the PC since their bread and butter had always been console systems.

I have been a fan of Square for a long time since their days in the NES (Nintendo) & SNES (Super Nintendo) to their most recent games. Final Fantasy has always been the largest and most well-known franchise for Square, but they have released some of the most popular games and mini-series like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Kingdom Hearts, etc.

I found this game to be up to par in graphics evolution (from game to game), having amazing music scores, and an innovative fighting/battle system that seems quite epic at times. However, there are a few downfalls such as the overall design/look of the game since it feels too generic at times, the plot is kind of lacking, and other minor annoyances that I will elaborate on in a moment.

Title Screen and Scenes… gotta love that music.

GAMEPLAY

Right when you start the game, you feel that the game was made for a console. I say this because (1) it technically was, (2) a controller pad [recommend a Xbox 360 pad] would definitely be more efficient in navigating the menus and battle system, and (3) the mouse/keyboard may work if you get used to it, but at certain moments you feel that a controller would make it feel better. The controls for the game are quite customizable, so a controller might not be needed if you properly map some keys out for your keyboard/mouse. The gameplay for those that have played Final Fantasy XI Online (for PC) is about the same in mouse controls and movement.

When the game started, I felt that the game was going to be grand… and no doubt, time consuming. You progress through the game like any other single player RPG where little tips and hints are given to you as the game persists. So the learning curve of the game would be fine for a veteran of RPGs and a beginner as well. This is a turn-based RPG, meaning that you get time to decide the next move in between rounds during a battle; and this is also a “no random encounter” RPG, so you should not run into enemies that are invisible. The main difficulty in this game would be to wrap your head around the union, their formations, the epic battle system, and some details of the plot. I will go over the basics of the game, which are not so “basic” if you are a new person to RPGs.

Well isn’t that a nice place to visit… less the monsters.

Firstly, you must know about the party system since you are literally controlling up to 18 characters at a given time… that’s a lot of things to keep track of in a heated battle. Its very similar to those that play MMORPGs and go questing to fight some secret or special bosses that take a huge number of players/parties to help in the battle. So yeah… just like that, but all by yourself. However, it’s not as difficult as it sounds since you are really only giving commands to a “union” rather than each single character. A party will consist of up to 6 unions. A “union” consists of up to 5 different characters with different specialties that you choose, one of which is designated as a the leader of the union. When you start the game, you are limited to only 3 unions and 9 members. As you progress into the game, you will get to increase the number of max unions and max recruitable members. When I say recruit, I literally mean just that. To recruit in the game you just need to go talk to a NPC (non-player character) soldier, go the guild, and/or gain recruits when doing certain quests.

As for leveling up, most RPGs have an experience gauge and leveling up system, but in The Last Remnant you do not really level up. As you progress through many many battles, your party (which are your set unions) will gain new abilities, increased stats, and finally “Battle Rank” up. The “Battle Rank” is somewhat of a mystery to most people, but I think its just the numerical value of how strong your party has gotten; also, it seems that the higher your BR is, the weaker the bosses become, as well as the higher morale that you get when the battle starts. Some think that as your BR increases, the monsters get stronger (similar to that of some other RPGs like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)… I tested this and found it to not be true. Therefore, increasing your BR is a good thing.

In this massive party/union system, one would initially worry about the inventory and equipment for so many characters, but the only character’s equipment you have to deal with is for the main one. The rest of the characters in your party will upgrade their own equipment as you win battles, which is when one or more characters would ask to have some of the drops/spoils to put towards their upgrades. It helps to make the game more efficient for dealing with upgrading equips and weapons for everyone… instead of having to micro-manage… and we all know “micro-management does not work.” You will find that even though you only have to deal with one character’s equips, the components to upgrade weapons or armors are hard to find in the beginning to the middle of the game… so be frugal.

OMG, is that 18 characters on your party… time to have some fun.

The second thing to know is the most interesting, the innovative turn-based battle system, which can only be put into one word…. EPIC. I think it is innovative because its like putting a MMORPG into the control of a single player… seriously. Even though its turn-based, you must assess the situation (such as the number of enemy unions and the proximity to your unions). During the turns in which each character can act, this battle system gives you the chance to bypass the enemies’ turn in which damage is dealt with “Critical Trigger.” This is very useful for battles where the enemies can deal some serious damage, but you will get Critical Trigger pop-ups to hit a specific key that is displayed on screen with a bit of timing… it will chain to your next character with the next trigger and continue until a final strong attack is dealt or if you fail the trigger chain. The next thing to factor in during a battle is to watch the “morale” meter on the top of the screen… the more blue, the better. The “morale” will mainly affect the damage dealt and damage taken during the battle… let’s keep that morale up team.

Critical Triggers will be key to quickly deal some serious damage.

During the battle, you must realize that your success will be mainly based on how you build your unions and the commands that you choose each union to do. When you start playing, you will notice some large words pop-up when you initiate a battle like “Deadlock”, “Flank Attack”, “Interception”, etc. You must understand what the purpose of these terms mean which are pretty much determining the outcome of the battle. A “Deadlock” (or “Multi-Deadlock” for bosses) is simple to understand since it mainly means that one union (or up to three for bosses) has initiated the battle with a single enemy union… in MMO terms its like “Tanking.” Then, (if your party pulls it off) you have the stronger and morale booster attacks: (1) “Flank Attack” which is when the enemy has already been deadlocked and your next union joins in as well, (2) “Rear Assault” happens after the enemy is flanked twice, then (3) the “Massive Strike” is when all of the above has been initiated on the single enemy union (or boss) and any of your additional unions will generate massive damage. Simple, right?

Time for this team to tank.

You will find out quickly that this game is all about questing and grinding (fighting lots of monsters to level up), since that is the best way for you to rank up, as well as gain valuable loot. To find quests, all you need to do is to go the local pub/bar or other parts in town and look for an (!) on people’s heads. Also, it is extremely difficult to move on to the main storyline if your party is not strong and/or large enough. So be prepared to grind… luckily you can set the battles to Turbo mode and set the Critical Triggers to auto-mode (even if its not 100% successful). If you are grinding monsters that do not have much of a chance to beat you, the Turbo/Auto modes are very useful. Happy hunting.

Slow motion slashes are the coolest thing to watch.

STORY / PLOT

TLR’s (The Last Remnant) story is interesting. Right when the game starts, you are in the thick of things… a déjà vu moment for epic war scenes (like in the Lord of the Rings). You are an 18 year old named Rush Sykes; your younger 14 year old sister Irina is taken right in front of your eyes… what is a young man to do but to go head first into an adventure of a lifetime that leads to you having to save the world. The plot of this game revolves around powerful and mysterious objects/artifacts called “Remnants.” These Remnants come in all different shapes and sizes, as well as having a background story for each one. You will find that these ancient artifacts are one of the most interesting parts of the main storyline since wars have been both fought over and won because of a Remnant. In the world of TLR, it feels very much like a westernized, medieval RPG since there are distinct races with oddly similar, yet different costume designs… no real distinctions between the characters in the game except for the main ones that have to do with the story. The game does have narration and cut scenes… kind of. The well known and polished Square-Enix FMVs (pre-recorded full motion video) cut scenes have, for some reason or another, been excluded from this title.  Instead we get to experience both normal pre-rendered video of the normal game graphics and our own computer’s ability to render these scenes with sometimes annoying voice dubs… which I will elaborate on in the music/sound section of this.

Opening CG scene… pretty but not polished.

The pace of the story is a bit slow in my opinion, but some might not mind it. I think the is storyline is interesting if you pay attention to some of the subtle details. The story actually seems to move forward at a steady pace as you start the game, but kind of falls apart soon after. I do not want to give any spoilers about the story, but let’s say that the climax comes earlier than one would expect… kind of. The story is not as polished as some of the other great Square titles, but is very promising… too bad it was not improved for the PC version. You will find that the game has more to do with the battles that you get into (either through quests or if you just feel like grinding) rather than the main storyline itself. As for the quests, you pretty much just get warped to the location when you accept a quest and then you will have to just go through some discovery and battle to inevitably have a boss fight, which would then warp you back to where you accepted the quest in the first place.

You will be hanging in places like this a lot to get new quests.

GRAPHICS

This is one of the strengths of this game for sure. Using the ever robust Unreal Engine 3, The Last Remnant is a very beautiful game to behold for the PC… granted that you have a decent computer with at least a mid-range videocard. Many other famous game titles have used the same graphics engine, such as Bioshock, Mass Effect, Gears of War, etc. I love the idea that Square-Enix would use a robust and solid graphics engine like the UE3 because it would help them develop and port games to the PC (from consoles) much more seamlessly… as compared to having to re-write or re-develop the graphics engine to make it work for the PC (like in the previous Square titles that were released for the PC). This game is all about eye-candy since the scenery, the landscapes, the cities, etc. are all beautifully designed and well executed. Even in the battles, you will find that the graphics are quite nice. The annoying part of this game also has to do with the graphics since the pre-rendered CG cut scenes that we expect in a Square title is replaced with scenes that your system either has to render or looks like that… meaning that if your system is not able to enable all of the eye-candy (detailed textures, lighting, etc.), some of your cut scenes will not look as nice as someone else’s system that can enable those graphical features. Also, there is a minor issue with texture popping… which is when you go to a new location, you find textures of the environment are blurry and then pop into clarity. This is not a huge issue, but it could have easily been resolved by setting the game to pre-cache the textures before entering a nearby location.

The “Gae Bolg” Remnant’s devastating attack.

SOUND & MUSIC

Another strength for this game is the amazing sound quality and epic musical scores. I have to note that I did not like the English dubs in this game since it is felt very cheesy and not well executed… therefore, I recommend to turn on the subtitles/captions and switch the voices to Japanese. Then the game and speech feels much more realistic and less annoying. I have to say that the music really made me feel that this game is a Square-Enix title since you can feel the atmosphere while you are watching some of the cut scenes or when you are visiting some cities. Definitely worth it to just pick up the soundtrack, which is what I have been doing for almost every Square game since the mid-1990s. My favorite music is videogame music and their remixes/rearrangements/etc.

This town must have some serious littering laws.

REPLAYABILITY

This game does have a lot of content and side quests to keep you playing. But after you top out your Battle Rank and get the best gear, this game might become too easy for you. As for replaying the game from the beginning, I do not think that I will do it unless if I really screwed up the builds for my unions and want to redo it from scratch so that the game would be easier from the beginning. The world map and the large and detailed locations will definitely kill some time to go through thoroughly.

The zoomed out World Map makes the world seem more vast.

PERFORMANCE

I am playing this on a current budget gaming computer (quad-core, 2GB of RAM, Nvidia 8800 GTS) and the graphics/resolution are maxed out. The game played quite well on my three year old gaming notebook with medium settings. Since this game is using an Unreal Engine, you can be sure that it will utilize all of the hardware that your system has to offer… meaning that it will play comfortably with a gaming computer that is 3-4 years old. Gotta love these games that do not require the latest and greatest hardware in order to enjoy the game’s eye-candy and playability.

Its very useful to use the “Time Shift” to increase chain battles.

CONCLUSION

Even though this game did have a number of drawbacks with the unpolished storyline and the minor annoyances with the voice dubs, I feel that this game is enjoyable… as long as you read the manual or a FAQ first. The battle system is both interesting and somewhat cumbersome when a battle can drag for a long length of time, luckily its turn-based. For those that are MMORPG players, this game will feel very similar to that in a single-player environment. For those old school RPG gamers, this game still follows the linear storyline with side quests that will help you gain new recruits and drops. I might not want to recommend this game to a RPG newbie… it might just overwhelm them and kill the genre for them, but if they are interested.. go for it. The graphics and sound in this game is very high quality and very enjoyable… especially for those long quests and drawnout battles with the special bosses.

Definitely worth it to try this game out just for the intriguing and mind-blowing turn-based battle system.

Positives

• Amazing and innovative turn-based battle system
• Great graphics… except for the texture popping
• Great sound (and soundtrack)
• Good performance for older systems
• Japanese voice dubs are good (remember to turn on subtitles)
• Challenging for RPG gamers
• Having a party of 18 characters… sweet.

Negatives

• Storyline/plot is a bit lacking … compared to the other great Square titles
• No polished FMV cut scenes
• Annoying English voice dubs
• Could be too overwhelming for a RPG newcomer

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