Topic: Mistwalker's "The Last Story" out in NA via XSEED!

[broodwars]

After watching the trailer for this game and witnessing the sheer beauty of it, I am convinced that anything is now possible on the wii if the developer is willing to put up the effort. It seems like wii games are getting better and such games as this one, Monster Hunter 3 and SMG 2 help prove my point.

Meh, I don't know.  I never thought Monster Hunter 3 looked particularly good, either, outside some of the monster models.  To me, very little good comes of trying to pull off a more "realistic" style on Wii like you could on the HD consoles.  The Wii's just too weak to make it look good (for that matter, so was the GameCube) 9 times out of 10, freak accidents like Resident Evil 4 nonwithstanding.  Stylization is the way to go on Wii, which is why SMG 2 looks so good.

[Sarail]

I really like the gritty look to the game's graphics, though. I think that adds a bit to the "cover" ability in the game. Hopefully the battles will have a bit of intensity to them.

I also hope Sakaguchi evolves this series and keeps it on Nintendo's consoles... let it be OUR Final Fantasy, if you will. It can only get stronger in doing so.

[Caliban]

Awesome trailer. I'm definitely interested in trying out the gameplay mechanics for myself.

[Kytim89]

I really like the gritty look to the game's graphics, though. I think that adds a bit to the "cover" ability in the game. Hopefully the battles will have a bit of intensity to them.

I also hope Sakaguchi evolves this series and keeps it on Nintendo's consoles... let it be OUR Final Fantasy, if you will. It can only get stronger in doing so.

I agree with this staement, but I hope they never run the series into the ground with all kinds of nonsense. Is this game a day one purchase for all of? In my case, it definently is a day one purchase.

[Sarail]

Absolutely day one for me.

[Pale]

After watching the trailer for this game and witnessing the sheer beauty of it, I am convinced that anything is now possible on the wii if the developer is willing to put up the effort. It seems like wii games are getting better and such games as this one, Monster Hunter 3 and SMG 2 help prove my point.

Said like a true Wii-Only owner.

[Kytim89]

After watching the trailer for this game and witnessing the sheer beauty of it, I am convinced that anything is now possible on the wii if the developer is willing to put up the effort. It seems like wii games are getting better and such games as this one, Monster Hunter 3 and SMG 2 help prove my point.

Said like a true Wii-Only owner.

I own a PS2 and every day I ask myself why I do not have a PS3, but for some reason I am very impressed by the wii. I am just saying that such games as The Last Story and various others are signs that the wii is evolving into something much better.

[Sarail]

Certain Wii games can definitely look good, sure. But I can't fathom how anything can get better looking than SMG2 on this system... stylized or not.

Don't get me wrong, The Last Story looks great for a Wii game.  But I don't think developers can tap too much more into our little white (and now black) system that could.

Nintendo needs to get on the ball and start letting us know that something bigger and better, as far as a new console goes, is coming.


EDIT:  With that said...  I love my PS3. And I know you do, too, Pale.

[Pale]

After watching the trailer for this game and witnessing the sheer beauty of it, I am convinced that anything is now possible on the wii if the developer is willing to put up the effort. It seems like wii games are getting better and such games as this one, Monster Hunter 3 and SMG 2 help prove my point.

Said like a true Wii-Only owner.

I own a PS2 and every day I ask myself why I do not have a PS3, but for some reason I am very impressed by the wii. I am just saying that such games as The Last Story and various others are signs that the wii is evolving into something much better.

There is something drastically different between saying you are impressed with Wii graphics and saying "anything is now possible."

There's nothing wrong with only owning a Wii (of current gen).  It's just a fact that if you do own one of the HD consoles and are looking for an RPG, you can most likely find an (at least) equally as good game that looks infinitely better graphically.

That's why I doubt I'll be picking this game up any time soon (possibly ever).

[broodwars]

There's nothing wrong with only owning a Wii (of current gen).  It's just a fact that if you do own one of the HD consoles and are looking for an RPG, you can most likely find an (at least) equally as good game that looks infinitely better graphically.

Tales of Vesperia, Ninokuni (now coming to America!), and Valkyria Chronicles look infinitely better than this game on the HD consoles.  And that's just tying a hand behind my back and sticking with Cel Shaded titles.  Even the art style of Lost Odyssey looks better than this.

[Caliban]

*facepalm* Seriously.

[Mop it up]

General Gaming is this way. Leave this topic to those who will enjoy this game.

[broodwars]

In case no one's noticed yet, the staff have posted a better quality version of that trailer, which you can see here.  It looks like Destructoid had a very dark and blury version of that video, as this one's significantly brighter and clearer (though still darker than I'd like).

[Pale]

General Gaming is this way. Leave this topic to those who will enjoy this game.

No fences, but discussing one's opinion about the graphics of a game definitely belongs in this thread.

[Adrock]

I'm impressed.

[Mop it up]

General Gaming is this way. Leave this topic to those who will enjoy this game.

No fences, but discussing one's opinion about the graphics of a game definitely belongs in this thread.

It was more a pre-emptive suggestion, because I know what kind of firestorm can happen when someone makes a comment such as "every game is better on an HD system." That's a discussion for General Gaming, I think.

[Mannypon]

I don't know, I'm loving the trailer.  As a big fan of Lost Odyssey, I actually think this looks better graphically as I found alot of the characters and locations to look quite generic to me in Lost Odyssey.  I loved the writing, especially those individual stories written by an author.  Those short stories really added a lot of atmosphere to the game and the main character. 
 
Back to this game though, I do love the look of the game but I do agree with everyone that's complaining that it's too dark and grimy.  Based on the initial artwork they showed, I was expecting something more colorful, aking to an anime.  This seems to be going for a much more realistic look which works but doesn't meet the expectations set by the inital art pieces. 

[Kytim89]

I have to wonder what kind of impact such a game as the Last Story will have on RPGs for the wii. It seems like there has been a drought of RPGs for the wii and I have a feeling that this game will be the official king of its genre on the wii, unless Dragon Quest 10 dethrones it when it finally comes out.
 
I was going to create a new topic centered around all the RPGs coming out for the wii either soon, or some time next year and what it means for the industry and for Nintendo's consoles. Basically, I wanted to test my theory that we could be entering anew golden age of RPGs for Nintendo's consoles akin to the SNES era.
 
The reason why I brought this up is that during that era we saw many ground breaking franchises emerge, or evolve. I can not think of two franchises that set the stage than Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. These two games even to this day are still regarded as the best RPGs of all time. However, how long has it been since we had a truelly original role playing game that shook the foundations of the industry? This is a debatable topic, but I have the sense that the genre has been on a steady declince ever since. Here is my thesis: Will The Last Story be another popular RPG like FF6, or will it be a mediocre title.
 
I just have a good feeling that some truelly original and groundbreaking RPGs will come about on the wii in the months and years. What makes this so important, atleast to me, is that it just seems like a good time to be an RPG fan.
 
This is where my diatribe get the most interesting. You see, I know that Dragon Quest 10 is going to be a wii exclusive(or 3DS port?), but what does all of these new series mean for the Final Fantasy franchise? It means two things, First, Square-Enix might just ignore these other series and continue with a buisness as usual stuff. Second, they could make Final Fantasy 15 a wii exclusive. But Square-Enix probably does not give a **** about these other series. Honestly, I do not want to see anything Crystal Chronicles related from them on a Nintendo product for a very long time.
 
One might think that I am insane for suggesting that Final Fantasy 15 should be a wii exclusive, or that it is my usual nonsense about how certain games need to be on certain systems. No. I just feel like the return of a true Final Fantasy game to a Nintendo system is long over due. The HD consoles have had their fill with FF 13 and soon to be 14. They have the various spin off titles and what not to keep them buisy. What about us, the Nintendo fans? Is this a pipe dream? Most likely yes, but a man can have his dream.
 
A lot of Final Fantasy fans, including myself, are saying that the series needs to return to its roots and I could not agree more with this sentiment. Square-Enix, give us a Final Fantasy 9-esque installment on the wii. What better place to return to its roots than on the system that it first emerged?
 
However, I realize tha my dream will never come to fruition, but I do realize that we may have the closet thing to a true Final Fantasy game for wii already in the pipeline and that Game is the Last Story. So, in a way, Last Story is Final Fantasy 15 in some sense.

In a way, The Last Story and Final Fantasy are half-brothers. Similar in many ways, but different in others.

Sakaguchi(Father) + Square-Enix(mother) = Final Fantasy

 Sakaguchi(Father) + Mistwalker(mother) = The Last Story
 
I just have to wonder if these franchise are arriving too late because the wii's life cycle might be ending soon, or are we just at the midpoint of that cycle and will continue to see not only these franchise grow and evolve, but newer as well.

[Mannypon]

I wish SE took FF back to its roots.  I've grown tired of all the scifi approach they've taken.  As for the Wii's rpgs, I'm looking foward to all of them as of right now.  My only concern is weather or not these games will see a US release.  I would asume Xenoblade will eventually get a release outside Japan as it was shown off last year at E3 but I'm a little scared that nothing was shown this year at e3.  Nothing has been confirmed, as far as releases are concerned, with Last Story.  We only know its coming out this year in Japan.  I'll be purchasing Arc Rise Fantasia later this month as its looking similar to rpgs of old but I hope it sells well enough to encourage Nintendo, or others, to bring over Xenoblade and Last Story.

[broodwars]

Personally, I'm sick of medieval fantasy RPGs.  They were seemingly 99% of all the RPGs released up until the Playstation era, and they still seem to be the preferred brand of MMOs.  I've played those kind of RPGs for more than a decade, and I'm tired of them.  Besides, they're all just ripping off J.R.R. Tolkien anyway, and usually don't go far beyond that.  I'll be quite content if Medieval Fantasy went on hiatus for about 10 years or so until it can become "new" again.  Until then, I like seeing RPGs explore these other genres: sci-fi (Final Fantasy), contemporary (Shin Megami Tensei), western (Wild Arms), slightly more modern fantasy (the Tales series), etc.
 
And personally, after Bioware essentially publicly came out and threw down the smack on Square-Enix for Final Fantasy XIII, I'd like to see Square-Enix make the ultimate JRPG response to Mass Effect.   : : :

[Kytim89]

Back when I was on the Bioware forum I had a heart warming disscussion about Bioware and Square-Enix clashing over RPG supremacy. I talked about how Square-Enix is the apex predator of the RPG genre, but it seems like they are slowly falling from grace. The once great king of JRPG and some cases even western RPGs is being replaced by Bioware.
 
Strangely I see Bioware emerging as the RPG apex predator, if they have not done it already. However, in order to achieve this title Bioware needs to develop for every system, including the wii. Yes, Bioware has expressed interest in developing for the wii, but they are probably interested in the HD consoles for the time being.
 
With all these JRPG emerging on the wii, I would be very interested to how a western RPG company like Bioware could pull of on something like the wii. This is why Last Story might be a hybrid of western and JRPG. Something to appeal to both sides and generate money.
 
 

[Stogi]

^

This post is so bad, I think it gave me cancer.

[Adrock]

I have to wonder what kind of impact such a game as the Last Story will have on RPGs for the wii.

None. At best, we get a solid RPG. That suits me just fine. I expect nothing more. If you think it will make a difference and suddenly bring about some renaissance for RPGs on the Wii, you probably also believe that putting your baby teeth under your pillow will yield rewards from a magical fairy the following morning. Nintendo's next console is probably coming next year. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo told Square Enix this and asked them to move development of Dragon Quest X to the successor of the Wii. It'd make a nice launch game. Unlikely, but a girl can dream.....

[noname2200]

Hmm.  I'm not feeling it, to be honest.  I'm more excited for Xenoblade than this game, and I'm not sure why.

Edit: To clarify, I'm not sure why I'm not feeling this game; I know why I'm excited for Xenoblade.

[Kytim89]

I am keeping a watchful eye on Xenoblade. However, I am equally interested in Last Story and Dragon Quest 10. I want to see the final score for Last Story before I make my final decision. I am very interested in this title, but I have to see if all this prettiness surrounding the game is worth it or not.