Final Fantasy originally started as a game that would supposedly mark the end of Sakaguchi's career if the game did not sell well. It sold well and was critically acclaimed, and obviously it's impact was felt as there are so many main and spinoff titles, some of which have a spinoff themselves.

The Last Story, according to almost every JRPG fan I have spoken to about it, is one of the best RPGs of this generation. The ONLY criticism that I hear from people (REAL PEOPLE, not internet people who complain about the stupidest, tiniest shit) is that the game is too short - but can be expanded if you do the sidequests.

My question is, do you hope that we'll see a sequel or some sort of continuation to this series? The fact that there was enough fan reaction to get a PAL and NA release is one thing, but the fan reviews are excellent. There are some printed critic reviews out there that say the opposite, but they're paid to actively seek out flaws in a game.

Even FF1 at the time had its fair share of critical complaints... one being the scarceness of random encounters. And look how far that franchise has gone.

I'd love for this game to see a sequel. There's a lot to love about it, from its unique take on RPG combat to the classic Sakaguchi-style story. If Mistwalker gets the opportunity, I'd like to see them give it another go.

@GrantHeaslip said:

I don't want to be a dick about this (hell, my copy is showing up whenever they stop delaying it and Amazon ships it out), but you're showing some signs of serious confirmation bias -- you've basically said that anyone complaining about it is misguided or ignorant, and concluded that it's nearly flawless as a result. I've only skimmed some reviews, but I get the sense people have more legitimate issues with the game than you're giving them credit for.

Considering fans have been singing the praises of Xenoblade (far more than The Last Story) since it came out in Europe and I've got an increasing laundry list of complaints about the game (chief of which is the mindless slog that is the last quarter of the game), I'm very skeptical about a lot of what I've heard about The Last Story as well.

It's not really confirmation bias if he's weeding out the general internet "bitch about any and everything" white noise that's so common. He's not saying that it's impossible to criticize; only that he's discounting the idiots.

And as someone that's put over 100 hours into Xenoblade and still not done with it, I can't say that it's a mindless slog at all.

@Hailinel: but the fan reaction thing... is also kinda confirmation bias, if you think about it. There was that whole big operation rainfall thing, after all. They spent their time going "OH MAN THESE GAMES SHOULD BE RELEASED HERE BECAUSE THEY'RE IMPORTANT GAMES AND THE WII NEEDS GAMES", now I know the critical and fan reaction of xenoblade is largely positive, but it's like... the critical response is alright for last story, not too positive or negative. but fans have the habit of explaining away serious problems about games (deadly premonition, anyone?)

and this evidence he's spoken of is anecdotal at best anyway; I know of at least 6-7 people that will tell you Nier is the greatest game this generation, including myself. Is it? to me and these people it is, but that's still anecdotal.

and from what I know the game's plot sounds eerily similar to resonance of fate which I assume is better because reasons

@GrantHeaslip said:

I don't want to be a dick about this (hell, my copy is showing up whenever they stop delaying it and Amazon ships it out), but you're showing some signs of serious confirmation bias -- you've basically said that anyone complaining about it is misguided or ignorant, and concluded that it's nearly flawless as a result. I've only skimmed some reviews, but I get the sense people have more legitimate issues with the game than you're giving them credit for.

Considering fans have been singing the praises of Xenoblade (far more than The Last Story) since it came out in Europe and I've got an increasing laundry list of complaints about the game (chief of which is the mindless slog that is the last quarter of the game), I'm very skeptical about a lot of what I've heard about The Last Story as well.

It's not really confirmation bias if he's weeding out the general internet "bitch about any and everything" white noise that's so common. He's not saying that it's impossible to criticize; only that he's discounting the idiots.

And as someone that's put over 100 hours into Xenoblade and still not done with it, I can't say that it's a mindless slog at all.

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel

@GrantHeaslip said:

I don't want to be a dick about this (hell, my copy is showing up whenever they stop delaying it and Amazon ships it out), but you're showing some signs of serious confirmation bias -- you've basically said that anyone complaining about it is misguided or ignorant, and concluded that it's nearly flawless as a result. I've only skimmed some reviews, but I get the sense people have more legitimate issues with the game than you're giving them credit for.

Considering fans have been singing the praises of Xenoblade (far more than The Last Story) since it came out in Europe and I've got an increasing laundry list of complaints about the game (chief of which is the mindless slog that is the last quarter of the game), I'm very skeptical about a lot of what I've heard about The Last Story as well.

It's not really confirmation bias if he's weeding out the general internet "bitch about any and everything" white noise that's so common. He's not saying that it's impossible to criticize; only that he's discounting the idiots.

And as someone that's put over 100 hours into Xenoblade and still not done with it, I can't say that it's a mindless slog at all.

But you also love Dynasty Warriors and your tolerance for "mindless slog" is much, much, much higher than for normal people.

They're not the same sort of game at all. That's a ridiculous assumption to make.

@Animasta: Uh, I'm just stating what I've heard and seen. I've watched tons of fan made video reviews, talked to many people who have the game, and everyone has complete praise. I don't listen to reviews because they are paid for what they do - to search for flaws. Fans of a game are the opposite. They pay money for a game that they can enjoy - if fan reaction is great, that's what I look for over a reviewer. I feel like I can relate to a regular gamer more than a reviewer, especially in the JRPG genre. Hence why I brought them up.

Fact is, a lot of people who love RPGs adore this game. And I like that because I love RPGs. So I will most likely adore this game.

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel An alcoholic's tolerance doesn't change if he's drinking beer or liquor.

And that's an even worse analogy. Comparing video game tastes with alcoholism? Get the fuck out, you clown.

@Hailinel An alcoholic's tolerance doesn't change if he's drinking beer or liquor.

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel An alcoholic's tolerance doesn't change if he's drinking beer or liquor.

And that's an even worse analogy. Comparing video game tastes with alcoholism? Get the fuck out, you clown.

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel An alcoholic's tolerance doesn't change if he's drinking beer or liquor.

And that's an even worse analogy. Comparing video game tastes with alcoholism? Get the fuck out, you clown.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the joystick today.

You're the one who's being antagonistic with ad hominem attacks on Hailinel unprovoked.

Attacks? I don't see how I've attacked anyone. Just offered a simple, honest observation.

I'm in the camp who feels the praise the game is being lavished with is a little phony. Xenoblade was truly a really great game and I can see why people were so excited for it, I'd definitely be interested in playing a sequel to it.. but Last Story wasn't so good. I wouldn't go as far as to call it bad, but it's not particularly interesting and fan feedback has definitely not been great, unless you're literally ignoring every negative opinion about the game.

(Pandora's Tower isn't very good either).

considering the effort it took to even get released here, I really doubt it.

It would have move some pretty huge numbers to get a sequel. I think it will do ok, but not amazing.

@xyzygy: Sakaguchi said it's not in the cards right now but at the same time he and his devs mentioned way too often that with the Wii U's tablet, they think it will add a lot of opportunity for strategic stuff. And since The Last Story's combat was completely built around that, I think that they're going to take another stab at the mechanics they came up with for this game and do another - maybe with a new IP attached.

It sold pretty well in Japan. So they might get a sequel

i feel like the 'a lot' of fans is actually probably like a few thousand people outside of japan. But who knows xbox live has awesome thing telling you how many people played a certain game in a certain period of time. Wii has fucking friend codes

Last Story XIII-2

@Hailinel said:

@Enigma777 said:

@Hailinel An alcoholic's tolerance doesn't change if he's drinking beer or liquor.

And that's an even worse analogy. Comparing video game tastes with alcoholism? Get the fuck out, you clown.

Gotta agree with Hailinel here Enigma... that is a HORRIBLE comparison.

Also, playing now. It is pretty damn great. However, even I think this could have been done on practically ANY system out there and better though. It doesn't even use motion controls! I really love the combat of this game, it is like... a awesome version of FF12 combined with Drakengard sorta stuff... which, awesomely, these characters were designed by the guy who made the characters in Drakengard! FUCK YEAH!!!

I have to say, I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying the combat. It seemed simple to start but after doing 5 runs in the arena and unlocking some new mechanics (and turning off auto-attack, annoying to get stuck attacking guys I don't want to focus on) I'm seeing hints of real brilliance.

I don't think a sequel is likely, unfortunately.

@xyzygy said:

[...] The ONLY criticism that I hear from people (REAL PEOPLE, not internet people who complain about the stupidest, tiniest shit) is that the game is too short [...]

[... ] There are some printed critic reviews out there that say the opposite, but they're paid to actively seek out flaws in a game. [...]

Yes, because the only valid opinion is of course that the game is great. Anyone who disagrees is not real. They're just "internet people" with invalid opinions.

I hope the game gets a sequel, I mean, if there are nuts like you out there that will defend this game with such blind zeal then it has to be doing something right.

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

I'd like to see Mistwalker move on and do something more appealing to me at least. Though I don't care for Lost Oddessy or this so I guess I'm not a fan of their work so far.

TLS is good game with an excellent battle system, but I prefer Xenoblade though. I wish both games had come out in HD, it's difficult not to want that. Xenoblade could have been incredible if not held back by technical restrictions, Last Story also. I hope they both see sequels because they both have good foundations to build upon. I can see TLS's battle system working very well on WiiU.

What I want is to have it on a different platform. I could do with another decent JRPG. Why Wii? WHY?!!!! Still, just curious, in theory, could this game be played with a regular controller? What is the gameplay like?

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

TLS is good game with an excellent battle system, but I prefer Xenoblade though. I wish both games had come out in HD, it's difficult not to want that. Xenoblade could have been incredible if not held back by technical restrictions, Last Story also. I hope they both see sequels because they both have good foundations to build upon. I can see TLS's battle system working very well on WiiU.

Xenoblade was an incredible technical achievement. The only thing that's problematic are the god awful character models and especially the faces. That MonolithSoft pulled off a huge world with wide open areas, instant fast travel everywhere with zero load times within the same zone and very very short load times between the major zones AND remembering loot drops across the entire world for the complete run of the game, accessible within seconds via fast travel and topping that off with pretty sharp visuals considering the platform, NPCs with daily routines and dynamic weather with additional visual effects attached to it ... on a friggin' Wii! Without barely any bugs or glitches at all! That is ridiculously impressive.

Though obviously everyone would've preferred the game with some more visual effects in there and in HD resolution. And yes, I totally agree that the Wii U and The Last Story's battle system are basically meant for each other. Some guys from Mistwalker even said as much. I hope Nintendo sees that, too and pushes them to do another game build off of that base formula.

@Galiant said:

@xyzygy said:

[...] The ONLY criticism that I hear from people (REAL PEOPLE, not internet people who complain about the stupidest, tiniest shit) is that the game is too short [...]

[... ] There are some printed critic reviews out there that say the opposite, but they're paid to actively seek out flaws in a game. [...]

Yes, because the only valid opinion is of course that the game is great. Anyone who disagrees is not real. They're just "internet people" with invalid opinions.

I hope the game gets a sequel, I mean, if there are nuts like you out there that will defend this game with such blind zeal then it has to be doing something right.

I did not say at all that they only valid opinion is that it's great. I'm saying don't blindly listen to what reviewers and forum posts say because a huge majority of people just like to complain about the tiniest, most irrelevant nonsense. I'm not referring to this game, I'm referring to anything. The internet grants anonymity. People take advantage of that.

These "real people" I'm talking about are fellow friends who love JRPGs and who have the game, as well as online videos of RPG lovers vlogging about the game. They all unanimously love it. I'm just stating something that I have been told and noticed from these people. Nowhere in my post did I say that the only valid opinion is that the game is great. I just PERSONALLY haven't heard anyone say anything else but praise (except for the length, which I mentioned) and that I don't listen to online reviews and forum posts.

I'm sure there are some negative vlogs of the game out there, but I'm just saying I personally haven't seen any yet. The positive reactions seem to vastly outweigh the negatives.

@xyzygy said:

Even FF1 at the time had its fair share of critical complaints... one being the scarceness of random encounters.

You did not play the same FF1 than I did.

I have not played the Last Story, so my opinion on the game may be misinformed, but everything I have seen of the game (gameplay videos and whatnot) has told me to stay away from it. The combat, system, characters; everything looks to me like a poor's man JRPG.

It may seem like a super positive reaction to people like us who pay attention to the enthusiast press, but this was a game that barely made it here, in limited release, and it's critical reception was mixed. I doubt it will make enough money to warrant a sequel, not that I think it's reception in the west really matters to Mistwalker anyways. I bet it sold more in Japan than it will in Pal or America. It's especially irrelevant since Sakaguchi has likely already been on his next project since before this game even made it to the west. The studio seems more interested in telling singular stories than it does in creating a franchise, and I'm totally okay with that.

@xyzygy said:

Final Fantasy originally started as a game that would supposedly mark the end of Sakaguchi's career if the game did not sell well. It sold well and was critically acclaimed, and obviously it's impact was felt as there are so many main and spinoff titles, some of which have a spinoff themselves.

The Last Story, according to almost every JRPG fan I have spoken to about it, is one of the best RPGs of this generation. The ONLY criticism that I hear from people (REAL PEOPLE, not internet people who complain about the stupidest, tiniest shit) is that the game is too short - but can be expanded if you do the sidequests.

My question is, do you hope that we'll see a sequel or some sort of continuation to this series? The fact that there was enough fan reaction to get a PAL and NA release is one thing, but the fan reviews are excellent. There are some printed critic reviews out there that say the opposite, but they're paid to actively seek out flaws in a game.

Even FF1 at the time had its fair share of critical complaints... one being the scarceness of random encounters. And look how far that franchise has gone.

Not on the topic of a sequel exactly, but in the interest of spreading the Last Story good vibes: I'm seven hours in and so far have been pretty floored by how great the game is. And yeah, between this and Xenoblade, what a great and unexpected way to have my Wii on for a crazy amount of hours in 2012.

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

Also people should understand that if it made money in Japan, that's really all that's needed for a sequel.

Also people should understand that if it made money in Japan, that's really all that's needed for a sequel.

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

Yeah, but clearly not a cash-in for Nintendo since they were so reluctant to do it. If they were able to make any meaningful money off of the games, I don't think anyone would have had to twist their arm to get the release.

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

Yeah, but clearly not a cash-in for Nintendo since they were so reluctant to do it. If they were able to make any meaningful money off of the games, I don't think anyone would have had to twist their arm to get the release.

Nintendo had nothing to do with these titles. They didn't publish or develop them.

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

Yeah, but clearly not a cash-in for Nintendo since they were so reluctant to do it. If they were able to make any meaningful money off of the games, I don't think anyone would have had to twist their arm to get the release.

Nintendo had nothing to do with these titles. They didn't publish or develop them.

Uh, what?

Both Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story were published by Nintendo in Japan, and Xenoblade Chronicles was developed by a Nintendo-owned studio.

@Hailinel said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

Yeah, but clearly not a cash-in for Nintendo since they were so reluctant to do it. If they were able to make any meaningful money off of the games, I don't think anyone would have had to twist their arm to get the release.

Nintendo had nothing to do with these titles. They didn't publish or develop them.

Uh, what?

Both Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story were published by Nintendo in Japan, and Xenoblade Chronicles was developed by a Nintendo-owned studio.

Was it? Huh. I didn't realize. I still don't see sequels making business sense.

@JasonR86 said:

@Hailinel said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

@evanbower said:

@JasonR86 said:

I really doubt it. It took a massive effort just for the game to be released here and it was released on a dying console. This and Xenoblade were just quick cash-ins with very little risk. The quality of the games and the fan reaction is likely irrelevant. It will come down to a business decision and I just don't see how they could make money making a sequel.

This post is riddled with contradictions! It took massive effort to get the game released, but it was a cash in? It's a cash in, but you don't see how it will make money so there wont be a sequel? WHO!?

The massive effort was by the fans. All the publisher did was released the European versions with a few modifications. Thus, quick cash-ins by the publisher and massive effort by fans to get them released over here. Those fans are a relatively small minority. An even smaller number of them will likely buy the products. When games live and die by how many copies are sold and when everyone is competing with COD (even Japanese publishers) that market will likely not support sequels to JRPGs that required a massive effort by a relatively small number of fans to even be released in North America. Therefore, there won't be any sequels.

Yeah, but clearly not a cash-in for Nintendo since they were so reluctant to do it. If they were able to make any meaningful money off of the games, I don't think anyone would have had to twist their arm to get the release.

Nintendo had nothing to do with these titles. They didn't publish or develop them.

Uh, what?

Both Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story were published by Nintendo in Japan, and Xenoblade Chronicles was developed by a Nintendo-owned studio.

Was it? Huh. I didn't realize. I still don't see sequels making business sense.

Yeah. Nintendo bought Monolithsoft from Namco. They also co-produced The Last Story with Mistwalker, and they also funded development of Pandora's Tower. All three games are Nintendo titles. That's why North Americans felt so burned by their exclusion from this market; Nintendo was sitting on three brand-new, original IPs that NOA refused to even acknowledge without being prodded. XSEED had to ask Nintendo for permission to publish The Last Story.

@GrantHeaslip said:

@DeF said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

TLS is good game with an excellent battle system, but I prefer Xenoblade though. I wish both games had come out in HD, it's difficult not to want that. Xenoblade could have been incredible if not held back by technical restrictions, Last Story also. I hope they both see sequels because they both have good foundations to build upon. I can see TLS's battle system working very well on WiiU.

Xenoblade was an incredible technical achievement. The only thing that's problematic are the god awful character models and especially the faces. That MonolithSoft pulled off a huge world with wide open areas, instant fast travel everywhere with zero load times within the same zone and very very short load times between the major zones AND remembering loot drops across the entire world for the complete run of the game, accessible within seconds via fast travel and topping that off with pretty sharp visuals considering the platform, NPCs with daily routines and dynamic weather with additional visual effects attached to it ... on a friggin' Wii! Without barely any bugs or glitches at all! That is ridiculously impressive.

Though obviously everyone would've preferred the game with some more visual effects in there and in HD resolution. And yes, I totally agree that the Wii U and The Last Story's battle system are basically meant for each other. Some guys from Mistwalker even said as much. I hope Nintendo sees that, too and pushes them to do another game build off of that base formula.

Xenoblade still would have been better on another system though. The game's got its share of technical and graphical issues: the interface load times (especially for the inventory and quest screens) are painful, it's got some blurry bad-by-N64-standards textures, the framerate has a tendency to drop in combat, and there are certain zones in the game that just look muddy and generally bland. It's an impressive technical achievement that they obviously deserve credit for, but that's mostly irrelevant to judging the game on its own merits.

Aye, only to add that if you read Iwata Asks on Xenoblade it's pretty clear they had to reduce on their aims significantly.

Lets be clear, the games facial animation is shambolic, overtly indicated emotions ruined scenes. It was hard to ignore how bad it looked in contrast to how good environments were, most of the time.

@GrantHeaslip said:

@DeF said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

TLS is good game with an excellent battle system, but I prefer Xenoblade though. I wish both games had come out in HD, it's difficult not to want that. Xenoblade could have been incredible if not held back by technical restrictions, Last Story also. I hope they both see sequels because they both have good foundations to build upon. I can see TLS's battle system working very well on WiiU.

Xenoblade was an incredible technical achievement. The only thing that's problematic are the god awful character models and especially the faces. That MonolithSoft pulled off a huge world with wide open areas, instant fast travel everywhere with zero load times within the same zone and very very short load times between the major zones AND remembering loot drops across the entire world for the complete run of the game, accessible within seconds via fast travel and topping that off with pretty sharp visuals considering the platform, NPCs with daily routines and dynamic weather with additional visual effects attached to it ... on a friggin' Wii! Without barely any bugs or glitches at all! That is ridiculously impressive.

Though obviously everyone would've preferred the game with some more visual effects in there and in HD resolution. And yes, I totally agree that the Wii U and The Last Story's battle system are basically meant for each other. Some guys from Mistwalker even said as much. I hope Nintendo sees that, too and pushes them to do another game build off of that base formula.

Xenoblade still would have been better on another system though. The game's got its share of technical and graphical issues: the interface load times (especially for the inventory and quest screens) are painful, it's got some blurry bad-by-N64-standards textures, the framerate has a tendency to drop in combat, and there are certain zones in the game that just look muddy and generally bland. It's an impressive technical achievement that they obviously deserve credit for, but that's mostly irrelevant to judging the game on its own merits.

I don't remember having most of those technical issues you're talking about. Very few textures were N64 bad, framerate was always completely stable, and the zones that looked muddy were probably the ones that were supposed to look muddy because you're inside a giant thousands-year-old rusted mechanical thing. I think that what the game has achieved in other areas, and there are many things, completely overshadow any of these very small gripes of which I didn't even take note of during my ~120 hours with the game.

But.. what are they going to name it?

The Last Story 2?

Seriously, The Last Story?

Sequel to the Last Story?

@niamahai said:

But.. what are they going to name it?

The Last Story 2?

Seriously, The Last Story?

Sequel to the Last Story?

You should look into that Final Fantasy series.

@niamahai said:

But.. what are they going to name it?

The Last Story 2?

Seriously, The Last Story?

Sequel to the Last Story?

probably, The Last Chapter of The Last Story.