Last Remnant

Last Remnant

English-speaking role-playing game fans are used to being made to wait for months, sometimes even years, before getting to play the latest Japanese releases while their lines of dialogue are painstakingly translated into English. Square Enix, the company who basically invented the JRPG with games such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest is looking to buck that trend with Last Remnant. Released simultaneously around the globe everyone gets to experience it at the same time, whatever language they speak. It marks a shift in the company’s focus as they seek to closer embrace a global audience, something Last Remnant also attempts to do in its Western-friendly character designs and reworked game mechanics.

The game follows the story of Rush Sykes, a young man who’s trying to track down his kidnapped sister, Irina. In his search Rush falls in with the marquis of Athlum, the incongruously named Dave, and his entourage of warriors. Together the group hunts for Irina while, all about them the clouds of war gather. The quest plods along across the game’s two discs at a slow pace, a feeling that’s exacerbated by the long dungeons and copious battles that link the dramatic cut scenes, but given time, this is a story that will draw you in.

Because Last Remnant is a new IP the developer’s not been tied to any particular form or format, instead building a fresh framework from the ground up. While the game certainly follows the general template of JRPGS, whereby you travel from location to location, fighting battles, levelling up characters, buying new equipment and watching cutscenes, this freedom has allowed the developer to create an all new battle system.

During fights you control ‘unions’, squadrons made up of a few characters, rather than single units. You can control up to five unions each one consisting of up to five members meaning that battles are on a grand scale. Players must take into consideration their unions’ position on the battlefield too as making poor decisions can leave your flanks open to attack. Commands are chosen from a drop-down menu, the options of which are context-sensitive depending on how well your union is performing, how much life they have and so on. Occasionally, when attacking or defending the game will ask you to make a button input, which, if successfully met will increase the damage you deal.

The number of union leaders and soldiers as well as their formation on the battlefield is up to you and it will take quite a few hours before you start to settle into the slightly fussy complexities of the system. A few frame-rate and texture pop-in issues aside, the game’s main problem is the emphasis on fighting over the other areas that usually go into a JRPG. The neat touches and good ideas are spoiled by the need for copious grinding and the dull, uninspiring dungeons make exploration a chore rather than a journey of discovery. The result is a game that demonstrates innovation and takes risks but which fails to deliver an exciting enough experience, something that will hopefully be addressed if it performs well enough to receive a sequel.

3 out of 5