The Last Remnant (Xbox 360, 2008)

Now if your looking to buy this game its because you are skeptical of the reviews it has been given. To sum it all up you were right to question the press;this game deserves a rating well above the press average. IGN specially, slammed this TLR because of the technical flaws of the unreal engine, claiming it had horrible frame rate issues as well as texture delay even going as far as saying square-enix was just unfamiliar with the engine. As i recall Mass Effect had horrible texture pop-in issues as well as significant load times, so does Gears of war. How come they received a 9.5 while the Last remnant was given a miserable 5.8?
The visuals in this game are beautiful and the screenshots really do not do the game justice. The character design is amazing and the towns are very creative. The dialogue although cheesy and cliche at times is very well performed but really, its a JRPG, name one that doesn't come with a rediculous phrase or two.
The Cast is very memorable and will have you caring for each throughout the lengthy story.
The gameplay is where this game really shines. Although it has your regular turn-based RPG characteristics it manages to stand out by adding some very fresh ideas along with great design choices. You take control to several "unions" which are made up of up to 5 different "units", or single characters, which gives a real epic feel to every battle. A very cool detail of this game is that instead of having motionless characters as you select you course of action, they are battling out( without actually doing any damage) which really gives it a cinematic feel.
My advice is to ignore the reviews and, at the very least, rent this game. IT really deserves way more credit that its been given. Personally i cant even fathom how TLR got anything less than an 8. The technical issues do not even hinder the experience one bit, it is still a massive beautiful game that any TRUE RPG fan should check out.

"Epic Battles = Epic Game!"

The Last Remnant is the latest RPG from Square Enix. It's hook was the ability to have huge battles between two opposing armies. And they did that right. The battles can get BIG. 15 party members vs. 20-something monsters? No problem. That's within the first few hours, and it only gets bigger from there.

Story:The Last Remnant's story is a bit cliche, but it gets the job done. Brother and sister Rush and Irina Sykes get a letter (actually, a hologram) from their Mom and Dad telling them to come live in the town of Elysion. Mom and Dad (who work at the Academy) have been researching Remnants for a while now, and haven't had time to come home. Just as the letter ends, Rush and Irina are attacked, and Irina is kidnapped! Rush is bound and determined to find her, no matter what the cost!

...Yeah, like I said. Cliche, BUT there are a few twists along the way, making it enjoyable.

Gameplay: This is where I was hooked. Don't let the instruction manual scare you, gameplay is easy to understand. Characters are placed in groups called Unions, and each union combines it's HP, AP, strength, defense, and all stats into one. Just think of a union as one character.

So, you set up your unions into formations (battle stances that give certain bonuses), and go fight some monsters. Battles look complicated, but it's not. The first screen shows you your union status, enemy unions, and commands. The commands are general orders, such as "Attack using Combat Arts! (special moves)," or "Keep your HP up!" that require AP (Action Points) to use.
Depending on which order you give your union, the characters will act accordingly. For example, tell a Union to Attack using Combat Arts, and some characters will use a special moves, while others will attack normally. Don't worry, though, the AI isn't stupid. If you tell them to heal themselves, they will (so long as you have the items if you use Item Arts).

But wait, I'm not done yet! You can gain the advantage of every battle using strategy. If an ally union attacks an enemy union, they're engaged in a Deadlock - that is, they must fight to the death. While a Deadlock can be broken, it is NOT recommended. Anyway, if union A and B are in a Deadlock, and union C joins in to attack A, then a "Flank Attack" occurs, and union C does extra damage. This sounds complicated, but an hour of gameplay and you'll have it down!

And now, critical triggers. At random times throughout the battle, whether you're attacking or dodging/blocking, the action will slow down and a button will appear on screen. Press the button as soon as it lights up, and you'll do extra damage or counterattack (depending on the situation). If you can't get the timing down, don't worry - you can set it to auto to make it easier.

Be careful, though: This game is hard. Not impossibly hard, but make sure you take your time. Else, you'll be seeing that "Game over" screen a lot.

Take all of that and put it into every battle and you have one very exciting (and epic) game!

Sound: The sound is very good. Getting hit by a sword SOUNDS like getting hit by a sword. And if an attack is supposed to hurt, it sounds like it'll hurt! The sound is very well done.

As for the music, WONDERFUL. The music pumps you up for battles, and fits the mood of the moment. I can't wait to start a battle, just so I can hear that awesome music! And the longer a battle goes, the more the music pumps up!

The voice acting is...okay. It's not stellar, but

The last remnant is one of those game that really tries to be great and falls just short of its mark. While the idea behind the game is great some flaws take away a little too much from the game to where it feels like they rushed this game out. Here are some good points and bad points that I've noticed while playing.

Story?
It's thin, very very thin. I'm hoping it'll get better since I haven't yet finished the game but insofar you get tidbits and lots of loose ends that just hang out there. Information is obtained out of thin air and the plot moves sluggishly. The character voice overs are done well but the dialogue is stretched almost to breaking point with awkward silences between sentences like "OK".

Graphics
Beautiful. The artwork in this game is stunning and full. Unfortunately the engine can't keep up and so after loads or area transitions details take up to 5 seconds to fill in which gives the feeling of being a little buggy. Character artwork is also beautiful and well drawn.

Mechanics
Characters mouths move when dialogue is being written on the screen, not too big a deal but it is noticeable. Beyond that the mechanics work well. I've had no trouble becoming accustomed to the buttons and the battle system is very easy to get the hang of. Already it feels like second nature.

Battle system
Besides slow transitions between attacks which can be attributed to the same engine flaw that hurts the graphics the battle system is indeed unique and adds a lot to the game. You have teams of units that you can put together yourself and attack different groups of enemies at once making you feel like a general on a battlefield. The critical strike timers jump on you out of the blue but once you learn to notice them are very lenient. Union status during battle is confusing at first but due to the constant tips during loading screens they are memorized easily.

Other Highlights
The ability to save anywhere is a huge plus, your entire team fully recovers after each battle so my recommendation would be to save after every battle in case you're overwhelmed accidentally.

Overall the Last Remnant feels good during battles but it feels like that's what the game was made for. Besides the battle system the other components feel thrown together so that the game could be released. I'll definitely finish the game but in terms of repeatability... well with two discs of material I don't think I could take the story more than once.

This is a pretty good game. I wouldn't say excellent, but pretty good. grinding may get tedious, and leveling up is a bit different than your average RPG. I would say it's more like leveling up skills and what not. There are also battle ranking to level up, which I think is more of the leveling up portion as oppose to the skills, hp, and etc. If I were to describe it, its more like hmm... say Dynasty Warrior meets Final Fantasy 13??? Man, I suck at describing, lets just say they are trying to do a lot in this game, hence the lag it gets lol. I say its pretty laggy and sometimes attacks can be random. It's always best to try and play this game to get a feel for it. I really don't think its popular amongst people that are into final fantasy type games and i guess its pretty strategy type playing where you have to know what you are getting yourself into. If you ever played online games like Atlantica, I think it's more or so like that game than anything else but action wise, randomed attacking as a whole.
Basically, you gotta play it to understand what I mean, it isn't as complicating as I am making it seem. I like it, and it was a new feel than your regular rpg in my opinion. That's all.

I was looking for a game to hold me over until the next Final Fantasy series came out. The Last Remnant seemed like a good deal.... but the graphics look like plastic, the world is barren, the characters are un-sympathetic, the story is weak, and the battle system is under developed and very frustrating. In other words, TLR is not Final Fantasy. Disappointing that Square Enix developed it too. TLR has online rpg elements. It came off as a solid idea, but they just didn't back it up in gameplay.