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Already released on the Xbox 360 for several months, The Last Remnant has been decided by most to be average. Good, not great – some fantastic ideas executed well in some areas, badly well in others, and overall a game worth a try, but nothing to shout about.Being the same game at its core, it’d be unrealistic to expect TLR for PC to break out of this definition much. It does break out of it a little, though, which is very satisfying. Let’s get the obvious out of the way: If you’ve played The Last Remnant on Xbox 360, you’ll know the game is plagued by too-long loading times, constant texture and even model pop-in, slowdown and general bad performance across the board.
The Last Remnant tries to do some unique things in the Japanese RPG genre but not all of them succeed creating a game you’ll either love or hate based on how you like to play the genre. The game was released for the Xbox 360 in November 2008 with a Windows release early in 2009 and subsequently remastered for PlayStation 4. The games development and publishing was handled by Square Enix.
We were playing TLR on a PC that hits and surpasses the recommended specifications, and the game certainly benefits from it. While it still had occasional issues, the game was finally as smooth and polished graphically as it deserved to be on the Xbox 360, and this allows you to concentrate on how fun and interesting the huge multi-party battle fighting mechanic is rather than how much the slowdown sucks.So it runs and looks better; a huge improvement. The graphics are, as ever, fairly standard for the Unreal Engine and this generation, with nice detailing on the models and battlefields.
Again, not earth shattering, but nothing to be sniffed at.The gameplay in the PC version of The Last Remnant is largely unchanged, though. This is no bad thing, though. Battles take place between different parties, like many RPGs, but parties actually act and attack as one large formation, with shared health and ability points. In truth attacking as a unit isn’t too different to attacking as a single character in other RPGs, but some interesting stuff comes from this mechanic – if the unit leader is killed, the unit cannot act, and each unit has a morale gauge which has a direct effect on what abilities and skills they can use as well as the basic value of their attacks and magic.Special abilities will require spending ability points, which slowly regenerates each turn. AP abilities are very valuable in TLR, and learning when to use them will be a vital part of enjoying the gameplay and coming up with interesting, powerful battle strategies. Once a unit and an enemy unit engage in ‘deadlock’, they will fight to the death.On any given battlefield you will likely have control of more than one unit.
Here strategy RPG elements come into play – for example one unit may be fighting the enemy and losing badly. If the weak unit can break the deadlock and escape, you can bring another unit up at the rear and perform a flank attack on the enemy, allowing the stronger unit to surprise attack and take them down. The same thing can of course happen to your own precious units, so you have to keep an eye on the wider battlefield as well as individual health and situations. Sometimes, AI-controlled allies will also enter the battle and you will be given objectives to help them – or they will help you. Battle commands are the norm for RPGs, just with different names – magic, melee, item use, and special attacks and abilities, many of which are unique to specific story characters.Each style of attack is divided down into several ‘arts’. There’s sword art, for example, but there’s also ‘arts’ for different types of weapons.
This is reminiscent of the job system from other RPGs, and characters can change their weapon to access different arts. The longer an art is used the more proficient a character will become with it, and it will also unlock other, related arts for use. Arts even affect the use of items.Outside of battle, the level system is intact with arts now providing a slight twist on the idea.
Loot is grabbed from battle, and can be sold or synthesised into better weapons. Weapon and armour that you synthesize can only be used on Rush, the main character, but loot can also be given to your units to allow them to upgrade their equipment. A traditional overworld is absent from The Last Remnant, instead opting for the world map system where you click on where you want to go. I’m not a fan of this, and would rather for a mix of the two systems, as seen in Lost Odyssey. Exploration in dungeons is rewarded as ever with treasure and loot which can be used in the usual way.Throughout the game you earn the ability to have more units under your command, and you must hire leaders and choose formations for the units to go in. Building your units correctly is probably even more important than the abilities of equipment of Rush and will decide your fate in many battles.All this sounds quite simple, but it really isn’t.
TLR is the type of game where you get out of it what you put in; and to get maximum enjoyment out of the game, you have to put quite a lot of time in. The game is lengthy and the story is interesting, which is good news as many of the cutscenes are very, very long. Thankfully, I found the story interesting enough (admittedly only on my first playthrough on 360) to resist skipping. In the end though it may not matter; if you truly become interested in the battle system, the story will take a back seat to your battle preparations.
All this is the same as the Xbox 360 version, which isn’t exactly a good thing. While interesting ideas are presented, many aren’t executed well, putting a massive damper on the flashes of genius that are well-done.The controls on the PC leave a lot to be desired, and the recommended specifications of the PC version even suggest you use an Xbox 360 control pad for PC. Allow us to second that recommendation, as this game is certainly not designed for use with a keyboard and mouse and is clunky at best when playing with one. This isn’t an ideal situation for a PC owner, but this game is a console port.
Square Enix certainly should’ve spent more time optimizing PC controls, though.The music in this game is wonderful, composed by Tsuyoshi Sekito of the Black Mages taking composing duties and coming up with some fantastic melodies that are hummable and rank up there with the best work of his band-mate Nobuo Uematsu. The voice acting and writing is uneven, something of a theme for recent Square Enix voice localizations. Some characters and scenes are fantastically acted, and others will leave you cringing. The Last Remnant is a reasonably competent RPG, combining elements from both the standard turn-based and strategy sub-genres and making a new, interesting beast from them.
It’s deep if you have the time to invest in it and provides a challenge throughout. With the graphical issues from the Xbox 360 version largely absent this version is far superior despite the cringe worthy voice acting and some leftover technical issues.The biggest crime of TLR sadly lies in the gameplay, which suffers terribly due to its experimental, genre-combining nature. In some places it feels like a revolution, while in others it feels like a mess of unfinished ideas.The Last Remnant is a fun game in spite of its flaws, and is worth playing just to see some of the interesting ideas which may well inspire ideas for future RPGs. But when it comes down to it, it's only just above average.
Begins behind main protagonist, Rush Sykes. Rush is a typical main character: He questions everything, he has issues with how the world works, and he wants to save someone. That someone is his sister, Irena, for whom he is searching as the introduction rolls in.
Rush is given very little of the limelight as the focus of the story ultimately moves away from his rescue attempts and focuses more on the political scene that has taken over the realm. While the events in Rush’s life are generally uninteresting, the overall premise and fiction within the world is quite palpable.
After more than a decade of being absent from PlayStation platforms, The Last Remnant finally appears in its definitive form on PS4. A traditional, yet non-traditional, RPGIn a general sense, the realm is in a back-and-forth in regards to Remnant users.
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A Remnant is a mysterious power only certain individuals can wield. This causes division within the populous, as expected, and great conflicts sprout up along the way in result. This is the meat and potatoes of.
Most zones are generally quite empty and linear, mostly directing Rush from one end to the other for narrative beats. This favors the overall game formula, as the product as a whole offers minimal direction in the early hours. The narrative has its ups and downs, and it showcases quite intriguing villains. In this way, The Last Remnant has similarities to Final Fantasy XII. However, combat is really where it’s at in this game.Engagements are turn-based, allowing for ample time to assess the battlefield.
Decisions are not simply an approach and attack either. These are war zones, and tactics are crucial to success. You can flank opponents, and you can be flanked. You can intercept flanking opponents, and opponents can intercept your flank.
Performance affects an overall morale bar, and damage output increases as morale swings in your favor. Conversely, damage output decreases as you lose morale.
Success is every bit dependent on stats and armor as well as thoughtful tactics. Deep and nuanced tactical combat sits at the core of The Last Remnant. Tactical combat works so well in The Last RemnantAllies you assist along the way can be hired for combat. From there, you assign them to unions, what the game calls battle regimens or teams.
You can establish their formations, customize and create their gear, and adjust each unit’s position within their respective union. The game does a great job indicating how each choice affects stats, which enables exploration with settings and units. However, the game offers very little in regards to instruction here, which is the status quo for most of the game. Considering this is a nine-year-old game, chances are that you either already know the ins and outs of this game or you haven’t heard of it before. I was somewhere in between, as I never had the means of playing The Last Remnant in its original PC and 360 formats. I did, however, do a lot of investigating over the years, so I had some know-how.With this in mind, learning on my own yielded more excitement when I successfully won an engagement.
Countering large groups of unions took a great deal of trial and error, but the act of learning the hard way ultimately paid dividends in the long run. Even though combat moves rather quickly, many engagements go on for fifteen- to twenty-minute stretches, so losing has a lot of weight to it. All in all, the learning curve here is far from egregious, but The Last Remnant may turn away those looking for a pushover RPG.The Last Remnant is both flawed and uniqueOverall, The Last Remnant has its own appeal. Combat is refreshing and engaging, and the fiction and world-building hold a great deal of potential.
The game does less than the bare minimum to explain how things work within it. However, with time and effort, The Last Remnant Remastered has a unique quality all its own that all RPG fans should experience.
It has been a long wait for yours truly, but I’m glad it’s finally here, even with its faults.
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