[Multiplatform] The Last Remnant: Life at 12 frames a second is a beautiful thing.

I don't know if I trust Famitsu as an RPG review source, especially with Square. However, I am still fairly intrigued by Last Remnant. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be at all given the earlier trailers and the just recently released videos of the game in action. It looks like Square might have made a really good game, and the 40 dollar preorder on Amazon USA is extremely tempting. You don't get to see many games like this for that kind of price these days and, dare I say it, that's a fucking smart move on SQ Enix's part.

I wasn't sure what to make the mechanics explanation trailer, as it was entirely in Japanese, but it certainly left me puzzled. I'll likely end up looking into something on Gamefaqs or what not.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It's already confirmed you find the Formations later on in the game, it's just that the codes give those to you right off the bat. I'm not sure if I want to use them, in that regard, but perhaps I'll sing a different tune later.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Makes me wonder how the PC version is going to fare. Either way, I got it for 40 dollars on Amazon, so I'm actually pretty happy with the impressions so far. If I paid 60 dollars for this thing? Yeah, probably not so much.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It looks like they opted out of the "6.0 just to be safe, guys" and just stated they liked it. Not bad, Gametrailers. Now stop being gay on Gametrailers TV. "WHAT IS THE WII DOING NEXT, WHO KNOWS NINTENDO SO GROUNDBREAKING FADTIME"

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Amazon Preorder, Jimmy. Thing is, my copy JUST shipped, so the price advantage came at a delay in shipping. Still, I feel better owning this game and all its bonuses for 40 dollars than having it immediately for a full 60 dollars.

I was speaking idiomatically.

At Amazon or everywhere else? It wouldn't surprise me if it dropped everywhere else, at least not with how Infinite Undiscovery turned out price wise.

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Game's been out since September, actually.

FELIPE NO

Rush is officially my favorite youth hero (until he ruins it), because of "Sure thing, Dave!"

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Originally Posted by SuperSonic

A friend of mine bought this the other day and it looked okay. First of all, the first disc wasn't reading and the 360 told us to put in a DVD or game disc. I put the second disc in, the game started up with the intro and then told us to put in disc 1. We did, and it started working.

The graphics look okay and the battle system reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy X. I was definitely liking the music for it and the story seems rather interesting. Of course, she's a big fan of Johnny Yong Bosch so she was definitely happy to hear him as the main character. The voices in general were alright to me, though I think I heard a little Integra Hellsing in one of the characters.

Overall first impression, not bad. I'll wait for the price to go down a bit before I consider getting it, but what's really turning me off is the battle system. While it's original, I'm just not into the whole "choose your command for the entire party" and then switching to another party (if available). If I had to, I could probably get used to it.

30 Dollars at Amazon. And yes, you should get used to it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm surprised how well the story is turning out. It's pretty level and fun to watch. Rush is an idiot, but likable and the whole cast really carries itself well for what they are. Rush and David could very well be gay, though Emma's question with Rush was hilarious for what it would imply to a dirty mind.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The SaGa guys sure love their random factors. This is definitely the game where they got it to work, though sometimes a close battle is won or lost based on your luck stat. Especially if the enemy Reasses to something like Laser Breath or Eclipse. Luck being a factor in battle is specifically due to your character's "Personality" stat. The higher a stat such as Emma's Love is, the better your chances of dodging and triggering critical actions.

Formations other than Athlum's Arrow are useless until you get past the 12 Battle Units limit. It provides a decent spread and balanced attack and defense without compromising your defense. It'll win you the most battles while keeping you out of the Union Menu until it actually matters. Loki is decent, though he pales in comparison to Nora. She has access to the same skills he does, but she hits twice as hard, takes less damage, and has far more HP. Since bosses aren't immune to debuffs (just highly resistant), it's good to have both active if you want to tackle some of the harder foes early. I just got Silence Gas, so I can't say how effective it is, but Paralyze Gas along with Poison Gas is a godsend.

A thing to note is that you don't have to worry about enemy strength when it comes to enhancing your soldier's skills. You have to worry about the leader making primary actions before their subordinate units can act. I've found having multiple leaders prevents this. Units of the same level/development working together tends to help prevent one person homogenizing things, thus ensuring you can develop a balanced army. Again, you can't improve your magic if your units never get to use it. Units that never do anything but attack scraps won't develop very well in battle unless they have an established skill set or their luck kicks in and gets them a reassess/development action.

I unlocked the Vanguard formation earlier and that's probably the one formation I've found worth switching to. I just completed Pagus' quest easily because of it, and it wasn't as hard as that damned Ankylo Dragon thing which I beat thanks to double paralysis and two units with Revival Tinctures.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Blocter is awesome, he gets access to the first revival spell before anyone else in the game other than possibly Pagus. I just started branching out on formations and it is definitely the way to go once you're at a certain level of development. I just didn't have the patience for the hit in defense I was getting against certain units while in larger linked battles. Now I've hit a point where I can probably take the hit that "Flank Attacks" were giving me earlier, and Vanguard is much better for my spell casters than Arrow of Athlum ever was. Your approach has the most benefit, though I was happy just to have a better survival rate given my play style.

Have you had Synergy kick in for your spell casting units? It's a hell of a way to turn a battle around, as the damage can occasionally match attacks like Omnistrike and Ex Machina/Gae Bolg. Pagus and the magic casting union I put him in learned a Synergy spell, though I can't remember the name off the top of my head, I'd draw a guess as to it being called "Blackout" or something. I'll get it from the menu when I'm not in battle.

For spell improvement, I don't think it applies for physical attacks the same way, you can look at your character after they cast a spell to see if they're close to improving. You've probably already seen a white aura emit from your units as they perform spells. That's the sign you're at least close to an upgrade.

The only thing that mattered to me (so far) regarding info from a strategy guide was knowing if I could miss something on the first disc. Apparently you can screw your reward in the quest involving the Crimson Shards over by beating it before collecting all Nine. Word is that Hell's Gate is the point of no return on disc 1, so I'm keeping that in mind as I go along. Experimenting in this game has been very fun, and while I'm sure there's a science, I agree with you that this game is best done "from the hip" and in the player's own style the first time around.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Honestly, I had no expectations coming in other than genuine intrigue. It was 30 dollars on Amazon and I really liked how it looked. I know Shin mentioned earlier that the presentation is standard JRPG fare, but if you're into this sort of presentation (the music, the story) you could do worse than Last Remnant. I like the dynamic music, because while the tracks alone are terrible, they work wonders while in game. Again, if you're into this sort of thing. Rush is goofy and likable, and probably gay, and I'm usually interested in the things I do while playing. I had this love/hate relationship for Persona 3 because I HATED social links, but this game I enjoy doing everything that's available. It's nice that that's there to appreciate.

Thing is, I pick the game up on and off between playing HD Remix, so my progress has been fairly slow. If anything, that's one thing I'll say about the game. You can sometimes play for a good hour or so and not really make any significant progress as far as overall completion is concerned, but it's just damn fun to play. If you're tired, you can also set Trigger Actions to Auto, which is a plus for folks who just want to get shit done without having to factor in nailing trigger actions (IE: Why can't I just hit the button and finish already?).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Man, fuck Validus. Aside from having been christened something from the Disney school of naming, this damn bird managed to keep me on the ropes the entire battle thanks to Curse. Usually if you send one unit in to intercept a bird's first round of casting nothing but this bastard of a status debuff, you're good to go. Ol' Birdo decided that it needed to have words with Rush, my guest, and Loki's unions. If there's anything I don't hate more it's getting hit with this spell. It's been an uphill battle and I still don't know if I'm gonna pull off the victory.

The "Synergy" spell is indeed called Blackout. I get about 4000-5000 damage per cast. I'm at Battle Rank 56 at the moment, though I just got finished meeting a certain NPC and his entire brigade of monsters. I made it a point to get here since this is when you have better access to leaders/soldiers in my opinion. It's made doing quests a lot smoother, though I'm happy the game has given me the impression of scaling to match my level. I've only done a few quests where it was an in and out scenario. A lot of times there's at least one monster who just will not go down.

I've had a few battles where I've lost because I couldn't pull off a defensive critical action, the thought of setting it to auto pretty much goes off nonstop when this happens, but I think part of the fun is the risk involved. Plus, nailing Critical Triggers one after the other is damned satisfying.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yeah, not having the ability to save Union configurations was probably a contributing factor to my using Arrow of Athlum early on. I opt to avoid the tedium of being in the menu and messing with Unions rather than try to optimize every single encounter.

For Defensive Triggers, what tends to throw me off is the randomizing of the button required for a successful execution. Not only are animations for attacks easily recognized over time, as already said, but the buttons for Offensive Triggers are predesignated to the equipped weapon.

Swords - A Button

Rods - B Button

Spears - Y Button

Hammers - X Button

Axes - Right Trigger

Spells default to the weapon you're using, of course. What sucks is that you'll be used to hitting A for your Offensive Triggers and then, sure enough, a Defensive Trigger kicks in and you press A instead of B or some such. I find that Defensive Triggers tend to yield crappy rewards, especially if you don't get a direct damage counter or you stun the opponent and no one else attacks that enemy's union/that round of battle ends. I did set Triggers to Auto last night as a test and Triggers will occasionally miss even when set to Automatic. I didn't test the failure rate, it only failed once on a Defensive Trigger, so it's not a deal breaker if you insist on something closer to 100% accuracy. It beats being human.

FELIPE NO

A word of warning, the final boss of Disc 1 pretty much comes out of nowhere. My best, non-spoiler advice for anyone who wants to avoid this is to turn back if you pick up a "Defender" two handed sword in a treasure chest. Also, Shin, how did you find the special guild in Athlum? All I've heard is that Violet has something to do with it and I'm completely stumped other than that.

Also, to anyone who cares about the story enough to talk about it, I had a flashback to Beerfest after the last story mission I played:

Spoiler:

I liked Emma a lot as a character... so why they decided to make it obvious they're going to kill her, do so, and then replace her with a far more annoying sounding look alike, is beyond me. Wagrum and his boss also strike as typical Saturday morning cartoon villains, just to round out the disappointments. The story is pretty typical, but those are things I really don't care to see in my RPGs. I get that it's simple, but some things shouldn't be THAT simple.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I liked the hat :/

Spoiler:

I think what I'm most irritated by is that Emma looked battle hardened. Her design was decent, with the scars and the worn age. Her daughter sounds annoying as shit and doesn't have any of that look to her that says "I'm not a typical female in a typical JRPG." The skirt kills me, since her mother had one but also had like stockings or some such underneath. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

I'm rounding out character quests on Disc 1. It turns out that they're Battle Rank and Time unlocked. I used Caedmon for a decent chunk of time and he finally spoke to me in Balterosa(sp?) to unlock part 1 of his leader specific quest. I'm probably going to keep him since he has high magic and strength, with some amazingly powerful evocations for someone who's supposed to be an all-rounder. Plus, dual wielding halberds > 4 Swords.

Also, a good piece of information I found, stat growth is apparently preset for many Union Leaders and Units. The Battle Chain plays a heavy factor in developing your party members. So not getting ambushed and fighting as many enemies as possible before leaving an area is vital for getting those stat boosts/skill upgrades.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Did you get all of those quests one after another, russ? I've only gotten part 1 and if I could get an idea of how long it takes to get the next 2, that'd be great.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

They just have to be in your reserves, but having them as active members helps a bit, Shin.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Holy fuck, the Japanese guide for this game is 992 pages long. The Bradygames guide is apparently 301 pages and, obviously, nowhere near as comprehensive. I'm nowhere near my 360 to play the game, but I left off at BR 72 on Disc 1 with 41 Quests Completed. I'm not going to get the 42nd quest since I agreed with Roberto during his quests, but I guess the consolation is that I get him as a Party Leader if I so desire.

992 pages, jesus christ.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Do not reload your save as opposed to entering Blackdale and walking to Dominator's spawn location and then physically exiting if he doesn't appear. You have to do that over and over. I know of no other way to increase its spawn rate, as it took me about 45 minutes of entering and exiting to get the damn thing to show up. If you do get it to spawn, you can actually make it reappear by going 2 zones away from its area location and then coming back. Do not exit the dungeon if you're trying to get this to happen, obviously.

As for Curse, there's an accessory called the Wishing Coin you'll want. Its effect is debuff length - 2, that's about the best chance you've got if you actually want to survive Curse.

I was speaking idiomatically.