Episode 5: The Last Remnant — Let's Kick Some A!

The Last Remnant

Platform: Xbox 360 (this is the version we played), PC

Release Date: November 20, 2008 (Japan, North America, Europe)

Difficulty: Moderate

Amazon Price: $44.99 new for Xbox 360 (yikes!), $11.95 for PC, $9.99 on Steam  

Podcast: Download, iTunes, Listen on PodOmatic

Lightning's Review

  

Is it a dramatic scene…or sexual tension?

The Good

• An addictive battle system that forces you to focus on strategy rather than mere button mashing. Managing character rosters, formations, battle commands…it’s all here, and some mastery of it is required for a successful playthrough.

• A complex customization system that allows you to create or upgrade your characters’ weapons and accessories. Most of the components needed are obtained through winning battles, exploring dungeons, and completing optional quests.

• A varied quest system that is in many ways superior to that of Final Fantasy XII. Instead of just hunting down monsters, you get more variety, albeit through fetch quests, treasure hunting, and acting as bodyguard. A few even show some glimpses of character development for your party members.

The Bad

• Massive load times and slowdown in the Xbox 360 version. Usually load times and slow frame rates don’t bother me, but this was noticeable.

• The story is lacking – there is not only very little of it, but it also fails to answer some screamingly obvious questions that you will have at the end of the game. Sometimes the cutscenes felt reduced to mechanisms that would allow you to merely move on and fight more battles.

The Ugly

• Some very interesting (but hilarious) NPC interactions. One of them tells a Baby Got Back joke. Yes, you read that correctly.
• The thought of what some of the fanfiction for this game might be like.
• Jokes about Lord David’s Gae Bolg. But maybe that was just us.

The master will not approve without Torgal in the party!

The lowdown: An RPG with a very solid and unique combat system, although with that attention to the story accordingly suffered. Think unique combat system + a souped-up version of Final Fantasy XII’s mark system + a more complex version of Final Fantasy IX’s synthesis system + Mystic Quest’s story (yes, you read that correctly) = The Last Remnant. If you like dungeon crawlers and have an Xbox 360, go for it! I would recommend the Steam version, however, since it’s cheaper, tends to have better reviews, and has some upgrades that the Xbox version does not. 

         Podcast Credits: 

         J. Arthur Keenes Band—"Videogame Theme." Creative Commons.

         The Last Remnant Soundtrack