After announcing their intent to publish The Last Story, and then staying mum on the actual date of release for months, XSEED Games has finally announced that the game will be released in North America on August 14th. Additionally, all preorders taken through Amazon, Gamestop, and in Canada, EB Games, will come with a copy of the Premium Soundtrack CD that was also included as a preorder bonus in Europe. This is in addition to the art book that was previously announced.

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

Still need to pick op a copy of Xenoblade but I need to finish Persona 3 on the old PS2 first.

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

Wait, is XSEED handling the voice talent? Or will it be a Xenoblade situation?

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

@Ace829 said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

It's safe to say that I'm definitely not.

@Hailinel said:

I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

Fucking hell, ninety? How long is this game supposed to be? I mean, there's marathon games like Skyrim, but that's a game of hundreds of stories wrapped into one. Does this game do that same sort of thing or is it just a really long and detailed story?

EDIT: Or is it more like FF12 where you can beat it in 50 but there's a hundred or so hours worth of things to do?

Damn. I doubt I'll have time to complete my new Final Fantasy collection in time for this.

@believer258 said:

@Hailinel said:

I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

Fucking hell, ninety? How long is this game supposed to be? I mean, there's marathon games like Skyrim, but that's a game of hundreds of stories wrapped into one. Does this game do that same sort of thing or is it just a really long and detailed story?

EDIT: Or is it more like FF12 where you can beat it in 50 but there's a hundred or so hours worth of things to do?

The game can be beaten in about 60-70 hours, but it can be easily double that if you do everything.

@Nonused said:

Wait, is XSEED handling the voice talent? Or will it be a Xenoblade situation?

The game will be using the European localization, as was the case for Xenoblade.

Still not entirely sure why it's taken so long to leap across the pond after all the translation is done with.

I don't have a Wii, but Xenoblade and The Last Story are some of the few games that kind of make me wish otherwise.

@Red said:

Still not entirely sure why it's taken so long to leap across the pond after all the translation is done with.

I don't have a Wii, but Xenoblade and The Last Story are some of the few games that kind of make me wish otherwise.

XSEED needed time to for the costs behind the release in addition to aspects such as certification and so on. There's a lot of preparatory work that goes into just publishing a game.

Cool. Mistwalker has yet to impress me, frankly, but I can't stop loving the Gooch.

@GrantHeaslip said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ace829 said:

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

It's safe to say that I'm definitely not.

Are you enjoying the side content, or playing it because (like me) you're pathologically incapable of not doing it? I've been finding that most of the quests are mindless and forgettable -- I think I really started to rethink my approach when I went through this ridiculous line (minor location spoilers at 30-40 hours). I'm still doing most of it, but I'm cutting myself off when I realize I'm not enjoying myself.

I'm actually enjoying it. Some of the NPCs have surprisingly enjoyable stories, for what little is put into them. And they really help provide an impetus to run out and explore the massive game world's every nook and cranny.

@Hailinel said:

@Ace829 said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

It's safe to say that I'm definitely not.

Damn my completionist tendencies! I spent like 50 hours on that game before burning out on it. Or well, it was more like I finished every frikkin' quest in the first two hub areas and once I got to the tree it was so daunting to start the process all over again that I just haven't gotten back to it.

Anyhow, The Last Story seems kinda interesting but I think I'll try to avoid picking up another long-ass-rpg-that-I-won't-finish anytime soon.

When I saw this I was actually really disappointed because Amazon was listing later this week as it's release date, and for some reason I thought they'd already officially announced that.

@Red said:

Still not entirely sure why it's taken so long to leap across the pond after all the translation is done with.

I don't have a Wii, but Xenoblade and The Last Story are some of the few games that kind of make me wish otherwise.

Dude go for it! Wii prices have plummeted. I got one on Amazon the other day for 60 dollars.

@Encephalon said:

Cool. Mistwalker has yet to impress me, frankly, but I can't stop loving the Gooch.

I wish I didn't agree with this statement! Playing through FF5 for a retrospective on my blog and I'm starting to realize that Sakaguchi taking more of a backseat role was probably the best thing that happened to the series considering the great games that followed.

@RockmanBionics said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ace829 said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

It's safe to say that I'm definitely not.

Damn my completionist tendencies! I spent like 50 hours on that game before burning out on it. Or well, it was more like I finished every frikkin' quest in the first two hub areas and once I got to the tree it was so daunting to start the process all over again that I just haven't gotten back to it.

Anyhow, The Last Story seems kinda interesting but I think I'll try to avoid picking up another long-ass-rpg-that-I-won't-finish anytime soon.

The Last Story isn't that long, from what I've heard. It supposedly takes most people around 40 hours to finish.

And I'd say that regarding Xenoblade's sidequests, the best thing to do is just pace yourself. Once I get tired of doing nothing but quests and leveling, I just move on, and by that point, my party is usually at least an even match with the enemies I'm fighting in the next major area.

@Hailinel said:

@RockmanBionics said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ace829 said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

I've gotta hurry up and finish Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm only ninety hours in so far with no end in sight.

NINTEY!? I'm only forty in. Christ! Although I am at the (presumably) first fight against "totally not the archer guy from Vandal Hearts".

I think you could get through the game in 60 hours if you ignore all the side-quests.

It's safe to say that I'm definitely not.

Damn my completionist tendencies! I spent like 50 hours on that game before burning out on it. Or well, it was more like I finished every frikkin' quest in the first two hub areas and once I got to the tree it was so daunting to start the process all over again that I just haven't gotten back to it.

Anyhow, The Last Story seems kinda interesting but I think I'll try to avoid picking up another long-ass-rpg-that-I-won't-finish anytime soon.

The Last Story isn't that long, from what I've heard. It supposedly takes most people around 40 hours to finish.

And I'd say that regarding Xenoblade's sidequests, the best thing to do is just pace yourself. Once I get tired of doing nothing but quests and leveling, I just move on, and by that point, my party is usually at least an even match with the enemies I'm fighting in the next major area.

Yeah, I was completely focused on sidequests until I got to the Fallen Arm, at which point I became so utterly burned out by the game that I switched on Ocarina, maxed out my levels and rushed to the end.

@Hailinel: I usually take quite a bit longer to finish games than what the average times are reported as (an example with Persona 4 being reported as a 60~ hour game and it taking me a bit over 100), you telling me it takes 40 hours tells me it would be a 60+ venture for me. Then again, hm...

As for Xenoblade I've been overleveled to the point where most enemies are grayed out since leaving the first area, that hasn't been a problem. I like doing some of the sidequests and I like just exploring and leveling in general but it got to be a little much. If I ever got back into it I'll try to be more discerning about the quests I'll do and such.

@Hailinel said:

The Last Story isn't that long, from what I've heard. It supposedly takes most people around 40 hours to finish.

And I'd say that regarding Xenoblade's sidequests, the best thing to do is just pace yourself. Once I get tired of doing nothing but quests and leveling, I just move on, and by that point, my party is usually at least an even match with the enemies I'm fighting in the next major area.

So wait is it really grindy? Like if you ignored the sidequests would you have to grind like crazy to move on?

@Hunter5024 said:

@Hailinel said:

The Last Story isn't that long, from what I've heard. It supposedly takes most people around 40 hours to finish.

And I'd say that regarding Xenoblade's sidequests, the best thing to do is just pace yourself. Once I get tired of doing nothing but quests and leveling, I just move on, and by that point, my party is usually at least an even match with the enemies I'm fighting in the next major area.

So wait is it really grindy? Like if you ignored the sidequests would you have to grind like crazy to move on?

Not that I've experienced. Enemies give out plenty of EXP. It's just that quests are a good way to get EXP and money boosts.

@Hailinel said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@Hailinel said:

The Last Story isn't that long, from what I've heard. It supposedly takes most people around 40 hours to finish.

And I'd say that regarding Xenoblade's sidequests, the best thing to do is just pace yourself. Once I get tired of doing nothing but quests and leveling, I just move on, and by that point, my party is usually at least an even match with the enemies I'm fighting in the next major area.

So wait is it really grindy? Like if you ignored the sidequests would you have to grind like crazy to move on?

Not that I've experienced. Enemies give out plenty of EXP. It's just that quests are a good way to get EXP and money boosts.

Okay thanks! Good to know cause that can be kind of a dealbreaker when you have as little time to play as me.