The Last Story (24th February)

[James McGeachie]

Yeah, although some of the screens in the scans do seem very promising, magazine scans are often VERY misleading in terms of visual quality.

 

Often people think "bigger pics will look much better" but the opposite ends up being true. Larger pictures can easily expose a game's visual flaws, especially on Wii, e.g. bad aliasing, lower than expected texture resolution, etc.

 

Some of the environments seem to have a nice level of detail in the screens, but some of the character models look as though they might be exposed as pretty low-poly in bigger shots.

[Dante]

Jump Magazine scan:

[Dante]

New scans from Famitsu

 

 

A Few New Details on The Last Story

 

Jump shared the names for The Last Story's hero and heroine earlier in the week. For further specifics, we turn to Famitsu, which has a sweet two page spread on the game in this week's issue.

 

First off, the official romanizations of the character's names. The hero is listed as "Elza," not the more masculine sounding "Erza" that some had speculated. The heroine is listed as Kanan.

 

The magazine provides just a few details on the hero. Elza lost his family in his childhood and has since continued to fight as a mercenary in order to make a living. He has the dream of becoming a knight.

 

You'll recall that in the world of The Last Story, there are two types of soldiers, mercenaries and knights. The former are looked down upon while the latter are respected.

 

Details on Kanan are even less forthcoming. Aside from her name, Kanan is still a mysterious character, writes the magazine. Based off her dress, the magazine speculates that she's of high class.

 

It looks like you'll take control of Elza as a member of a mercenary group that has come to Ruri Island seeking work. You'll take on a variety of missions with your fellow mercenaries, although you only control Elza, with the CPU controlling your party members. Screens show three party members running alongside Elza through fields of play.

 

The magazine has something we'd previously not seen from The Last Story: in-game battle scenes with status displays. The battle screen looks pretty clean, with information about Elza and his party members shown in the upper left.

 

The screens show between three and four battle members aside from Elza. They have such names as "Quark" and "Jackal." Are these actual NPC characters, and do the numbers shown in the screens mean your party can extend up to five? We'll have to wait for further details.

 

The magazine also shares a few new details on the "Gathering" system. As previously detailed, this skill, usable only by Elza, can force the enemies to turn their sights away from allies and on to Elza.

 

When Elza casts Gathering, a blue light emerges from his right arm. The enemies turn their attention on Elza and may even come over and surround him.

 

One use for Gathering is to allow your allies to cast magic. When your fellow party members cast magic, a counter appears over their head. Once this counter reaches zero, they cast the spell. Using Gathering, you can draw the enemy attention away from the spell casting ally until the spell has been successfully cast. If you don't do this, the enemies will turn their attention to the person casting the spell.

 

Incidentally, Elza doesn't have the Gathering ability from the start of the game. He gains the ability following an event during an early mission in a cave on Ruri Island. It seems that figuring out the identity of the mysterious power that comes to rest within Elza will be a part of the story of The Last Story.

 

There are a bunch of must-see screens and some gorgeous artwork in the Famitsu article (Mistwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi recently Tweeted that he is particularly fond of the new character art). With Xenoblade's release about a week away, Nintendo will hopefully begin opening up on The Last Story to the online world shortly.

[Dante]

New scan:

[Dante]

The Last Story Resurfaces

With Xenoblade now out, it looks like Nintendo's attentions have at last made their expected turn to The Last Story. Does this mean an actual official site complete with details and media?

 

Not quite! Nintendo has instead chosen to continue with the blog updates at the site's column section. You'll recall that this is how the game was promoted for a couple of months before all went silent in April. Well, the posts are back again, and they're just as vague as ever!

 

Today's post is titled "Companions." Along with some artwork showing the game's hero and heroine surrounded by characters who will presumably play a major role in the game, the director and producer, still unnamed (although the general consensus is that the producer is Mistwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi), discuss the game's party aspects.

 

 

Writes the director, "The feel and reverberation when you've played this game is probably the sense of 'companion.' After having seen everything through repeated test play, this is what always remains in the end."

 

The reason the game gives you this feeling, the director believes, is because of the connections it shows with your companions not just as part of the story, but even in other areas of the game.

 

There will be conversations with your AI-controlled comrades during the "intervals" in the game's realtime battles, and it seems that the conversations may be tied in with the game's skill system. The game will also have "trivial" conversations when you're on the move.

 

"There exists drama even in battle," finishes up the director.

 

The producer writes that your comrades in The Last Story talk a lot. This is true not just during standard conversion scenes and event scenes, but also during battle and when on the move. "You'll hear conversations amongst your comrades in all sorts of situations."

 

Many of these conversations are the kind of things that one might ignore. However, in time, they'll stay with you and help to show the characters' personalities and relationships.

 

"Players are surrounded in their comrades' conversations," finishes the producer. Because of this, he expects that when players end up alone, they'll realize the warmth of being surrounded by friends.

 

There are seven blanck slots at the site for additional blog entries. It looks like the teases will continue for a while, but let's hope Nintendo will balance the posts with some solid gameplay and story details.

[Ganepark32]

First trailer with lots of gameplay:

 

 

Looks like it's all in game footage and looks very nice. And very strange for a JRPG. Not what you would expect really.

[D_prOdigy]

Hoe. Lee. Crap.

[LostOverThere]

Hi,

 

I'll take 1 copy of The Last Story, and 1 pair of new pants, thanks.

[Nolan]

Cover mechanics...interesting.

[Burny]

Action in a JRPG. Interesting.

 

Ok seriously, I'm enjoying the gameplay mechanics of western RPGs far more than those of JRPGs. But Xenoblade an Last Story have me really excited, because they both seem to bring something new to the table. Especially the combat seems unusually dynamic for JRPGs.

 

However, I really don't get why everyone seems to be jizzing in their pants so much lately, especially on joystiq.com's comment section. Even if the trailer really rocks.

 

The music gives the trailer a very epic touch. I'm surprised it's so dark and so grayish/brownish. Gears of Fantasy? ^^

Edited July 8, 2010 by Burny

[Cube]

A non-turn/menu-based-JRPG....interesting.

[Dante]

The battle footage looked amazing.

[Dante]

new scan:

[Burny]

Ah, the joys of high fantasy. That girl's armor rivals a full plate in terms of protection, I'd say.

 

Edit: Another pair of new pants for LostOverThere? :p

Edited July 30, 2010 by Burny

[Retro_Link]

Urgh, why so brown and grey!

 

Not one for me this one.

[Burny]

...says the man with with links mug from an artwork of the most brownish and grayish Zelda game to date (aside from Link's Awakening) as an avatar.

[Dante]

New scans:

 

Info:

Weekly Shounen Jump brought The Last Story back into the spotlight last week with a preview introducing us to the game's supporting cast. Famitsu has a closer look at the characters this week, along with some new gameplay details.

 

Previously, Nintendo shared details on hero Elza and heroine Kanan. In Jump and now Famitsu, we've gotten a look at three additional cast members.

 

Here's a look at the three, with screen grabs from the trailer Nintendo shared a couple of weeks back.

 

Quark

 

Leader of Elza's mercenary group. He's earned the trust of his peers not just because of his skill in combat, but also because he's the one who does negotiations with potential employers. He's like an older brother to Elza. The two have been traveling together since their youth.

 

Seiren

 

She's the moodmaker of the mercenary group. She fights with twin blades. While she drinks a lot and has a foul mouth, she's really considerate of her allies. A squad leader, she enjoys fighting and will jump to the front lines of combat.

 

The screenshot I've included below shows Seiren wearing what appears to be an overcoat. Her actual costume is a lot more revealing, showing a good amount of her upper body, while also managing covering up her legs and lower arms in what looks like thick armor. How anyone would fight like that, I don't know, but it does look pretty neat.

 

Yuris

 

The cool magician. Yuris is a young male character who makes use of fire magic in combat. He's the youngest member of the mercenary group, but is also the most skilled. He doesn't speak much, and is unsociable. He treats mercenary work as just a means of survival.

 

The gameplay details this week concern the game's combat system. As detailed in the various blog posts at the official site, The Last Story's combat system mixes real time and command elements. You move around in real time, but you can freeze time to input commands.

 

Famitsu says that the battle system will allow for a good amount of player choice. You can attack enemies not just head on, but through various other means as well.

 

The focus system in action, as shown in the recent trailer.

 

Central to the battle system is a move whose Japanese name translates to "Focus." This is basically like locking your sights on things. In The Last Story, you can place your focus on objects and enemies. When an object or enemy is in focus, you can make use of Elza's bow gun for distant attacks, and also issue commands to your allies.

 

Famitsu introduces two examples of the focus system at work:

 

Place Your Focus on an Enemy

 

Your basic attack method in The Last Story is Elza's sword. However, you can place your focus on a distant enemy to have Elza use his bowgun to take the enemy out from afar. Enemies that are placed in focus will reveal their special abilities and weak points.

 

Famitsu suggests using this system to snipe out the healers from groups of enemies. After identifying which enemies are healers, you can sneak up to the enemy by sticking closely to walls or boulders. When you get close enough, turn your focus on the enemy. The game will switch to a behind-the-should view, allowing you to take out the enemy.

 

The behind-the-shoulder view displays a targeting reticle, but Famitsu doesn't say if you'll be able to directly point using the Wiimote (this was suggested in the trailer, though -- see below).

 

Place Your Focus on an Object

 

The focus system can reveal its real destructive power when you put your sights on objects. In one particular case introduced in the magazine, you can see a group of enemy archers on a bridge in the distance. The archers could end up delivering long range attacks. Turn your focus to the bridge, and you'll have a couple of options. You can make Elza use his bowgun to attack the archers. Or you can tell Yuris to cast powerful magic at the bridge. Go with the magic and the bridge collapses, killing the enemies.

 

Another example involves making a boulder fall atop a large group of enemies. You'll want to look around at your surroundings to see if you can use things.

[Dante]

Art:

[LostOverThere]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOAR SCREENS!!!!111111one

Edited August 6, 2010 by LostOverThere

[Dante]

Iwata ask: The Last Story vol.1

 

Hironobu Sakaguchi Directing The Last Story

Final Fantasy creator in the director's seat for the first time in 18 years.

 

Nintendo has been posting a series of development blogs for The Last Story over the past few months. These columns have been penned by unnamed people listed as only "director" and "producer."

 

We found out today the reason for all the secrecy. It turns out that the game's director is Mistwalker CEO and Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi himself.

 

As detailed at an Iwata Asks column that Nintendo posted today, this is the first time Sakaguchi has been in the director's seat in 18 years.

 

Although Sakaguchi has been heavily associated with many of his recent projects, notably Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, Sakaguchi says in the Iwata Asks column that the last game he fully directed was Final Fantasy V. There was a "gray period" where he would "direct half" a game, though. This gray period includes games like Final Fantasy VI.

 

According to Sakaguchi, The Last Story is the fifth game he's directed.

 

The Iwata Asks column does not say who the game's producer is. Most of the development blog entries included passages from both a producer and director, so it's presumable that the producer is different from Sakaguchi.

 

Edited August 17, 2010 by Dante

[Dante]

Iwata Asks: The Last Story

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata usually asks his staff about their games just ahead of release. Not for The Last Story, though. The Mistwalker RPG doesn't even have a release date, but Nintendo has already posted the first in a series of Iwata Asks columns for the game.

 

Fittingly, the person in the hot seat is Mistwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi. As detailed here earlier, the column reveals Sakaguchi to be The Last Story's director. This marks the Final Fantasy creator's first project as director since Final Fantasy V.

 

Typical for an Iwata Asks columns, this one began with some jokes between Iwata and Sakaguchi. Iwata joked that he was filled with deep emotion about meeting Sakaguchi for the interview. The reason for this is that he gets the feeling that many people throughout the world feel that Sakaguchi is distant from Nintendo. Sakaguchi responded that he gets the same feeling.

 

While Iwata admits that there was a point in the past where Sakaguchi may have been distant from Nintendo (he managed to say this without mentioning Final Fantasy VII), he currently does not feel this distance in the least bit. He pointed out that Sakaguchi appeared beside him back in 2005 for the announcement of the Nintendo-published and Mistwalker-developed ASH.

 

Iwata asked Sakaguchi to describe his feeling when starting up work on The Last Story. Sakaguchi explained that after leaving Square in 2003, he took a break. He eventually started up work again, but while working on a number of projects, he felt that he was "riding on the wrong wave" -- that is, he felt that he was riding a wave different from the wave he should be riding. The Last Story project started right as he came to this realization.

 

△A glimpse at The Last Story's battle system, which promises to blend real time and menu elements.

 

Sakaguchi's feeling when starting The Last Story was one of gratitude. He was, first off, glad to be able to make something of such a large scale.

 

Additionally, The Last Story gave him a chance to take some new challenges. These challenges arose because of the different development formulas he's been taking with the game when compared to his past work. Much of the remainder of this first Iwata Asks column discussed this particular area.

 

Sakaguchi had some unease during the development of The Last Story. In addition to having to move away from the development formulas he'd gotten used to in his past projects, he felt that his role as director on The Last Story would bring him closer to the project and would thus reveal more of himself as a creator. He had great unease about whether or not gamers would accept him.

 

Despite the unease, Sakaguchi has also been enjoying himself. The reason for this is that he has the feeling that he's playing around and trying out new things. Iwata actually stepped in to explain this feeling, noting that if you do your work according to a formula, you won't feel uneasy, but at the same time, the work becomes routine, so you won't get excited. However, if you try out a new formula, although you can't help but feel uneasy, you'll also be excited.

 

Regarding Sakaguchi's return to a more hands-on role as director, Iwata noted that Shigeru Miyamoto will sometimes make a similar switch and will later express enjoyment with the process. Sakaguchi agrees with Miyamoto in this area, saying that sinking his teeth into development gives him the uniquely nice feeling of being able to get rid of unessentials and concentrate on work directly related to the game. Being directly involved in the development process also allows him to see things he normally might not see.

 

Sakaguchi also feels that another advantage of being directly involved in development is that his excitement may be transferred over to players. He believes that the reason he and his staff at Square were able to make the original Final Fantasy into what it became was because they were all excited as they made the game.

 

Towards the end of this first interview, Iwata at long last began getting into specifics about The Last Story's development process. The first things that Sakaguchi decided upon for The Last Story's development was its story and world view. The emphasis on story is unchanged from the past 25 years of development work, Sakaguchi said.

 

Iwata noted that over time, it's become possible to do more and more in terms of story and world view. Sakaguchi agreed that there were limitations in visuals and audio back at the time of the original Famicom. However, because of these restrictions, he was forced to begin the game by thinking how he would tell the story. With all the technological advancements now, he can tell the stories without trouble, but he feels that things may have gone too far -- you end up showing too much.

 

Because of this, Sakaguchi felt that the time was right to do an about-face, or a "reset." He took a look back at the origins of games and considered what what it means to tell a story in a game. The first thing he did for The Last Story was to think at length about this area.

Sakaguchi's considerations about the origins of games concerned not just The Last Story's story parts, but its gameplay systems as well. He spent a lot of time working on fundamental problems, conducting a large number of gameplay tests during the game's R&D phase. He feels that the solutions he came up with are not extensions of current methods.

 

Wanting to express the world and story with a new style, he ended up devoting his full strength to the project. This is the origin of the name "The Last Story."

 

Explained Sakaguchi, "It was the same during the time of Final Fantasy, but I always give my all and develop with the feeling that 'it would be fine if this were the end.' However, this time, that feeling is particularly strong."

 

Responded Iwata, "It's like you're putting in so much that even if it were your last project, you would have no regrets."

 

"Yes," said Sakguchi, laughing. "Because if I were to fail, I'd be told to retire."

[ShadowV7]

More I hear of this, that far more impatient I get. I think it's best to just avoid this completely now

[James McGeachie]

I really hope RPG fan interest in this game picks up. I dislike the idea that something like Final Fantasy Versus XIII probably still has more interest at the moment.

 

No one seems particularly interested even that Hironobu Sakaguchi is directing it himself personally, which is pretty damn awesome to me.

[Emerald Emblem]

Well, let me just say this...

 

 

...Depending when it comes out, day 1 purchase.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Emerald Emblem

[killer kirby]

It's the first game Hironobu Sakaguchi has directed since Final Fantasy V