The Last Remnant

Time to amp up the intensity of the JRPG!

Review by: Dave Kozicki

There are some things that just belong together, like bikinis and the beach, or beer and beef jerky on a hot Summer’s day, or closer to home, Square Enix and turn based RPGs. There’s no developer, bar none, that has a richer or prouder history, or deeper pedigree. Many in their position would be happy to rest on their laurels and churn out mediocre stock, but not our buddies at Enix. They’re not happy until they’ve flipped the script and turned the genre on its head. That’s just what they’ve done with The Last Remnant, by injecting something we never thought we’d see in the stop-start world of the JRPG, and that’s a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Now lets be clear, this is not your average JRPG. Even as you wait for the game to load, you’ll feel it. The accompanying music is not the usual Enix score, with a solid mesh of classic Final Fantasy inspired tunes, a dash of Hollywood Blockbuster to it and a hearty rock edge. This theme carries on through to your protagonist, Rush Sykes. Shattering the convention, he’s not a blond, whiney little cretin, but dark haired with more than a little moxie, which instantly gives it a different feel. In addition to his sassy attitude, his clothing is particularly street, and his impetuous nature and American accent (in a sea of UK voice-overs) is a thinly veiled attempt to connect with its intended audience (the US) and help them relate to our hero.

In general, characters look Shenmue inspired, with designs drawing from the entire Enix JRPG catalogue, giving off the feeling of something somehow familiar yet brand spanking new at the same time. The story is no surprise. Rush’s sister has been kidnapped, and it’s up to him, a Lord and his Generals, and various mercenaries you pick up on the way, to rescue the damsel, control the “last” remnant (a mystical object of immense power), defeat the bad guy and save the day. You know, same old, same old.

It kicks off with a refreshing twist, by thrusting you straight into the fray without the usual lengthy exposition that is part and parcel with the genre. Thankfully, you can skip through any cut scene if you want to just get straight to it. On the whole, the voice acting is quite well done, with our only complaint that the pacing and delivery is just a little slow. Battles follow the classic JRPG turn based patterns with a few key new bells and whistles.

Each character in your party is labelled a “unit”. By combining several units, you create a “union”, with collective strength, HP, AP, so you’re fighting as a group rather than alone. You can use different tactics when approaching enemy unions. You line up your moves for each unit and sit back and enjoy the show. As units advance on each other’s positions, they, reach a deadlock (when advancing at the same time), outflank (dealing extra damage), engage or flee. Morale significantly comes into play here, with the winning side drawing strength as the battle ensues, and the loser experiencing weakened defences and less effective attacks. After each skirmish concludes your party automatically heals back to maximum health keeping the action hard and fast, and never too taxing on your inventory.

In the first few hours, you’d be forgiven for thinking the attack structure is a little rudimentary. It may lack the depth of Enix’s flagship Final Fantasy as far as having a multitude of spells or weapons at your disposal, or picking and choosing which new abilities to acquire via a Sphere Grid, but that’s not what The Last Remnant is all about. Offensive manoeuvres are quite simple with regular attacks; combat attacks or mystical attacks available. The specifics depend on the type of weapon you’re wielding. It’s more about tactics and strategy, and building each unit and union under your command into the awesomest fighting force ever conceived.

Early battles have you taking a back seat whilst your allies, Lord David and his four battle-hardened Generals, do most of the damage. At times, you’ll be incapacitated, while the Generals mop up and save the day, which is a little unsettling at first. It’s not until you start branching out and tackling quests on your own, that the brilliance of the battle system is unearthed. Guilds are located in every major city, and have a number of surly individuals whom you can recruit as union leaders to your cause. Each guild has different warriors, so it pays to check it out fairly regularly (about 5-10 hours in, you can fill your ranks with soldiers supplied by Lord David to fill your unions up, and unleash a significantly more powerful fighting force).

By seeking out individuals in pubs, you’ll open new quests and side missions apart from the main storyline. Consider these bonus training grounds to get accustomed to the battle system, and level up your union and its abilities. Enemies are visible when you’re travelling through each district. You can either slink past them, or choose to initiate an assault by hitting the right trigger on approach, which gives you an animation similar to the “broken glass” of the FF series, or alternately, you can utilise the timeshift function.

Timeshift lets you move faster for a short period of time, like a sprint button. After hitting the right bumper, the screen flashes with a neon green tinge launching an effect similar to when you boost in Burnout. Any enemies in range have an orange highlight to them. The right trigger lets loose a mother of pearl infused energy wave that allows you to get the drop on any opponents and engage them in groups as you see fit, or press nothing and speed by them none the wiser. Fight or flight, it’s the classic risk versus reward trade-off.

Planning is absolutely essential, with each union using a multitude of formations that unlock as you progress through the game. Some work more successfully against specific opponents, like the Arrow inspired formation, where bruisers are at the tip, providing powerful offence and cover, and magic users cast spells, protected at the rear. Different combinations work better, depending on the relative strengths and weaknesses of those under your command, so chop and change for maximum effect.

During battles you’ll come across a Trigger Chance, where you’ll be prompted to press a button before or mid-attack. On the offensive, if successful, you’ll do critical damage, but more importantly, the next unit’s attack is imbued with Critical Offence allowing it to operate faster than usual and deal a greater level of damage. It also works in defence, with a block becoming a dodge. It really keeps you on your toes and gives you something you don’t really expect, a rush of adrenaline in a turn based format. At any given moment you can amp up your attacks, or turn a block into a powerful counter, switching both momentum and morale in your favour.

It’s an extremely clever mechanic and gives each battle a new sense of intensity. You can chain these attacks together for more devastating joint strikes, and as you do, the button timing gets faster and furiouser, so you’ll need some nimble fingers. It gets more than a little addictive. Pulling off a Trigger Chance on attack allows your team-mates to jump the cue in the attack column to deal serious damage, and with practice you’ll be cutting adversaries to ribbons in quick succession.

There’s an undeniable cinematic feel with the camera flinging itself between characters at a crucial strike or defensive moment, or slowing down with a sepia tone during a Trigger Chance. As you develop your leaders and recruits, you’ll find yourself commanding up to a half a dozen unions, each with around five warriors. That’s about thirty bloodthirsty individuals under your command!! There’s also a strong lean toward strategising for larger scale and boss battles. As the combat isn’t your traditional turn based affair, positioning is vital, as is healing because if your union goes down, it’s game over. Double and even triple teaming the enemy is advisable as flanking gives you a distinct advantage, and gives your enemies more targets to hit, dispersing the damage across units.

Some of these encounters are downright ridiculous, in the good way. You’re looking at nearly an hour to take down a fierce dragon around 10-15 hours into it, and that’s just a single battle! I had twenty warriors going hell for leather, and still didn’t take him out first time around. The funny thing was, sure, I was frustrated at the loss, but was simply chomping at the bit to get back into the fray and rethink my strategy. Should I have held back longer and set the field? Healed more? Gone for an all out blitzkrieg instead? The possibilities to restructure your tactics and opt for another tack are all at your disposal and surprisingly deep.

There’s so much I dug about this game, I could barely squeeze it into this review, but here are some highlights. The more you use a weapon or art, the more damage it deals and the more proficient you get with it, so you’ll gain stronger attacks or more powerful spells, practice makes perfect after all. Also, the more units you take on and take out consecutively, the greater the loot and rewards. There are rare beasties, like Imps, that are nearly impossible to figure out. Sometimes they go down in seconds, other times, they call in the cavalry again and again until you’re up against 20 or 30 of them, helpless to do anything. But one of my favourite little touches by far was watching my crew pilfer items won at the end of each skirmish. Now before you crack it at them, they don’t just do it for the heck of it. They’ll use specific items to create more powerful weapons or bolster their current equipment, so as you develop, so do they! 
 
I can’t deny it, I’ve succumbed to The Last Remnant’s charms. The gameplay is refreshing and addictive, the strategic elements have you constantly assessing the situation and working the angles, and it has a decidedly non-Japanese, JRPG feel to it. Slick, fun, intelligent and rewarding, let’s hope this is the direction turn based affairs take in the future.

Verdict:
Though a little slow at the start, this is a most unusual, and satisfying experience. It gives the JRPG a brand new bag, and proves that Square Enix is more than happy to recreate and innovate, rather than add suffixes to it’s titles and little else. Bravo!