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[Teknoman]

Ugh.

I REALLY want to be excited about this game (it is the Gooch after all) but I'm finding it to be extremely difficult. Why did his last game have to clash with my tastes so much

This really is going to be his last game?

 

[cosmicblizzard]

This really is going to be his last game?

No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.

 

[Eteric Rice]

No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.

I think he said he'd just be taking a break. He also said he wanted to try World of Warcraft.

God, these impressions make me WANT it so bad. Holy shit.

 

[Shirokun]

Gah! I was hoping I could wait until I finished Xenoblade before importing this, but the videos, impressions, and awesome soundtrack have me hyped beyond belief!

 

[Unknown Soldier]

No idea. He's talked about it but apparently every single mention has been a mistranslation. We do know he'll probably at least be taking a break after this unless it does ridiculous numbers.

If it bombs, there probably won't be many publishers willing to work with Mistwalker anymore. That's why I want to support this but I'm not really sure how I feel about buying a game I probably won't like just to prevent one of my favorite designers from leaving the industry.

If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.

 

[Bel Marduk]

If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.

Or he could just continue making awesome games for years to come...

 

[Shirokun]

If there's anybody who deserves a long sabbatical or even a peaceful retirement, it's the FATHER OF FINAL FANTASY. Sakaguchi's legacy is eternally secure at this point, he should just retire and do something else he enjoys.

The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.

 

[Diffense]

The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.

Yeah, why would he?

People in creative fields in which they're challenged to be inventive often keep perfecting their craft each day.
Painters, composers, photographers, they usually keep going until their last breath and even then there's often work they had planned but couldn't complete.
It's a life journey, not a 'job' the way flipping burgers is.

I think a key goal for every human is to discover that thing they would do without pay and find a way to get paid for it!
When you find it, there's no need to stop.

 

[nemesun]

The pure passion he seems to have for this title would lead me to believe that he enjoys nothing better than creating games. The guy has the power and resources to bring his imagination to life. I can't imagine it's something that anyone in his position would give up readily.

I concur.

 

[thefro]

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/12/28/last_story_qa/

In past posts at his development blog, Sakaguchi made some comments suggesting that The Last Story could be his last game. He was only speaking figuratively -- that is, he's working on the game as if it's his last game. However, there may be some truth to the comments. Said Sakaguchi during the Q&A, "If the game is received poorly, perhaps my sense does not match with the times. In that case, while I won't go as far as 'I won't ever make games again,' it would be meaningless to make games for a while. With that feeling, I've given my all."

He's planning on taking a small break (probably a couple months as opposed to several years) and playing World of Warcraft either way.

 

[mehdi_san]

Big FML moment, because I missed the delivery this afternoon, and I'm gonna have to wait til Monday. What am I supposed to do for 2 days???

 

[Mailenstein]

Big FML moment, because I missed the delivery this afternoon, and I'm gonna have to wait til Monday. What am I supposed to do for 2 days???

Wow, that really sucks, mate. The game is awesome, really. But then again, anticipation is awesome too .

 

[Suairyu]

This is the game Sakaguchi was acting like he invented HDR lighting technology for, right? That interview was a good read.

Hopefully one day I'll be able to play the game myself and experience this great technology innovation.

 

[mehdi_san]

Wow, that really sucks, mate. The game is awesome, really. But then again, anticipation is awesome too .

There's nothing worse than getting a new game on a MONDAY morning (

 

[Mithos]

This is the game Sakaguchi was acting like he invented HDR lighting technology for, right?

No this is the game that Sakaguchi said also despite being on Wii could do HDR lightning if you actually have programming skills.

 

[Mailenstein]

There's nothing worse than getting a new game on a MONDAY morning (

I know, but at least it's not a year away anymore. We finally have it .

 

[Suairyu]

No this is the game that Sakaguchi said also despite being on Wii could do HDR lightning if you actually have programming skills.

Shadow Of The Colossus did HDR lighting through clever programming tricks; I don't think platform has anything to do with it.

Regardless, want!

 

[Mithos]

Shadow Of The Colossus did HDR lighting through clever programming tricks; I don't think platform has anything to do with it.

Regardless, want!

I'll take your word for it, but what I meant was developers don't add HDR to Wii games unless they program it themselves, because its not a ready function (guessing) in the dev-kit software, like when they do PS360 it's most likely just a drop-down menu for HDR functions and then some tweaking-job to optimize.


And agree, I do WANT too!

 

[kiryogi]

FACK. NYC had some issues....

Due to heavy snow in New York City last night, no import shipments made it in today and UPS has canceled all deliveries and pickups in our area since the roads are still slushy and bad. Despite the snow and slush on the roads today, normal UPS/Postal deliveries and shipments should resume by tomorrow afternoon.

I was really wondering why I didn't see a delivery confirmation email from NCSX today. D:

 

[Mailenstein]

Just played some co-op rounds online. First few attempts we were a party of three and four members, so we lost real quick... But with a complete party, and the right characters (Yuris) it was so much fun. Killed KRAKEN first and then COCOON.

So.awesome.


P.S. I was playing VS mode too and it's kinda fun, but just not that interesting for me.


EDIT:
It may be just me, but when looking at some character faces in TLS, Susumu Matsushita and specific Akira Toriyama (the ones with a big chin) character designs pop up in my head. Strange...

 

[Robobandit]

Just played the opening 15 minutes or so..

Are you folks playing with the classic controller or the nunchuck and wii remote?

I'm tempted to try the classic controller.. anyone used both?

 

[Desi]

Yeah, why would he?
It's a life journey, not a 'job' the way flipping burgers is.

I think a key goal for every human is to discover that thing they would do without pay and find a way to get paid for it!
When you find it, there's no need to stop.

Helmut Lang raises chickens...Hedi Silmane became a photographer. What if the Gooch really rather make movies...

 

[Mailenstein]

Just played the opening 15 minutes or so..

Are you folks playing with the classic controller or the nunchuck and wii remote?

I'm tempted to try the classic controller.. anyone used both?

Usually I rather choose CC than the wiimote if I can, but in this case... it just feels right imho.

 

[Haunted]

So ok, some impressions.

I dunno if it's because the gooch has been in America too long or what, but you can really tell this is a JRPG made from someone on the outside looking in. Little things like, instead of the game starting out with cutscene after cutscene, it starts you off right in the middle of a dungeon. Imagine that! Letting the gamer play the damn game!

Other things like having the PC's talk to each other all the time during dungeons instead of burying them in optional skits (Hey Tales I'm lookin' at you) really help flesh out the characters and make playing the game more fun, not to mention it makes battles much more dynamic.

You can tell a lot of love was put in to this game. Every encounter was hand crafted and is unique. No random battles (so far) and no hearing the same 10 or so attack call-outs over and over. Every battle has a different strategy. Love it!

My favorite encounter so far had me and Quark sitting outside this room where a guy and his gang of thieves were hanging out. Quark says to me, "Elza you stay here, we'll go around and attack from the other side. Don't move till I give the sign" So I stay there and wait. Then, I hear Quark go "Ok get ready to attack in 3... 2... GO!" and I see him bust through the other side as I'm running in through my side, we sandwich the enemies and take em out. It was so cool. The whole dungeon (The raid on this thief's hangout) really felt more than just an RPG dungeon and more like we were really in there with a purpose. Something you just don't get in RPGs.

Anywho, it's late so forgive me if my impressions are all over the place. To me the game is really something special. Nintendo has to be localizing this. They HAVE to be.

Fucking Nintendo, man.

Fucking Nintendo.

This really is going to be his last game?

Just like MGS4 was Kojima's last game. Don't listen to him.

 

[Mailenstein]

Just finished chapter 10 and started playing chapter 11

Spoiler

"Gurg's Warship"

.
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome!

 

[Shalashaska161]

Fucking Nintendo, man.

Fucking Nintendo.




Just like MGS4 was Kojima's last game. Don't listen to him.

Don't you mean MGS2? I don't see the Gooch leaving the industry for too long even if he does take a break.

 

[slaughterking]

OK I see a lot of people talking about streams, I wanna say a couple of things before I get to my impressions.

This game is not importer friendly, it is fuuuuuuuuuull of voice and it's not just meaningless chatter. I liken it to when I got burning rangers back in high school. I had no idea what to do and I was bored as shit. This was because I didn't know that they were giving me directions. The characters in Last Story are fairly constantly forming strategy on the fly and telling you to do things.

If you see videos of people running around like a chicken with their head cut off it means they are missing orders or they haven't gotten used to the combat yet. And it does take some getting used to!

So ok, some impressions.

I dunno if it's because the gooch has been in America too long or what, but you can really tell this is a JRPG made from someone on the outside looking in. Little things like, instead of the game starting out with cutscene after cutscene, it starts you off right in the middle of a dungeon. Imagine that! Letting the gamer play the damn game!

Other things like having the PC's talk to each other all the time during dungeons instead of burying them in optional skits (Hey Tales I'm lookin' at you) really help flesh out the characters and make playing the game more fun, not to mention it makes battles much more dynamic.

You can tell a lot of love was put in to this game. Every encounter was hand crafted and is unique. No random battles (so far) and no hearing the same 10 or so attack call-outs over and over. Every battle has a different strategy. Love it!

My favorite encounter so far had me and Quark sitting outside this room where a guy and his gang of thieves were hanging out. Quark says to me, "Elza you stay here, we'll go around and attack from the other side. Don't move till I give the sign" So I stay there and wait. Then, I hear Quark go "Ok get ready to attack in 3... 2... GO!" and I see him bust through the other side as I'm running in through my side, we sandwich the enemies and take em out. It was so cool. The whole dungeon (The raid on this thief's hangout) really felt more than just an RPG dungeon and more like we were really in there with a purpose. Something you just don't get in RPGs.

Anywho, it's late so forgive me if my impressions are all over the place. To me the game is really something special. Nintendo has to be localizing this. They HAVE to be.

Sounds really cool. I want this.

 

[Haunted]

Xenoblade and The Last Story have been so tremendously well received by jGAF, it breaks my heart.


These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.

 

[george_us]

Pants shittingly good impressions

If Nintendo does localize this then it would single-handily cause me to re-buy a Wii.

Every gameplay vid I've seen of it looks amazing.

Mass Effect 2 with swords and magic with a bit of Monster Hunter thrown in.

FUUUUUUUUUU

 

[wsippel]

Xenoblade and The Last Story have been so tremendously well received by jGAF, it breaks my heart.


These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.

Except Reginleiv doesn't suck either. Quite the contrary, in fact. Luckily, you don't need to understand any Japanese to play (and enjoy) it, though.

 

[Cow Mengde]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

 

[Shirokun]

These should suck like Reginleiv to make it hurt less.

Except that despite some rough edges, Reginleiv is actually pretty damn fun. That's right, Nintendo wants you to writhe in agony.

 

[ReyVGM]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

Jizz in my pants from watching that.

 

[Notorious_Roy]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

Looks great! The desciption on Youtube is funny btw:

"Right now "The Last Story" is only availavle in Japanese version. Maybe we will get a localised version in 2011 (Nintendo and Mistwalke are searching for a Translation Team)"

 

[ReyVGM]

I love Ruli City. I love big towns where you can get lost in if you so choose. Kinda sad that when you enter a store you just get a menu screen and not an actual store (like Final Fantasy 1), but that's okay I guess.

 

[Yaweee]

What? Battles and free control within the first minute? This isn't a JRPG. I've been lied to.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

What? Battles and free control within the first minute? This isn't a JRPG. I've been lied to.

FFXII?

 

[Yaweee]

FFXII?

FFXII had an opening movie, so it was 6~7 minutes before you actually got to control somebody.

Everything about this game seems great:

- Short tutorials!
- Competently directed cutscenes!
- Awesome music!
- Never too long without giving control back to the player!

Not really a fan of the character designs (namely their faces), but everything else looks great. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. Nintendo is too slow with their RPG localizations =(

 

[BlazingDarkness]

FFXII had an opening movie, so it was 6~7 minutes before you actually got to control somebody.

Oh, this includes opening cinematic? Weird that The Last Story doesn't have one then, I'll have to watch the 1 hour video later tonight

 

[Sadist]

Damn that sounds cool. Hey Nintendo, yooohoooo... please bring this to the west

 

[Yaweee]

Oh, this includes opening cinematic? Weird that The Last Story doesn't have one then, I'll have to watch the 1 hour video later tonight

In the video, they hit "New Game" at 0:50, and they're controlling the character and looking at the movement tutorial display by 1:25. There's just a very brief run-by and dialogue with the in-game graphics before the camera moves in to place and you're in control. Then it switches back and forth between differently party members, interspersed with short flashbacks.

There's a 10 second load time after selecting "New Game", but the title screen is actually the area the game immediately starts at

 

[Effect]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

I hope someone manages to put up the entire game. I think that's the only way those of us outside of Japan are going to see the game. Rather play I'll take the next best thing even if I can't follow the story.

 

[Yaweee]

man

tales of graces - best tales in ages combatsystemwise
xenoblade - best jrpg in ages
this - also best jrpg since xenoblade


and we dont get them

well i bought them all in japanese but whatever

Sounds like Graces is coming to NA, and both Xenoblade and Last Story are too new to saw "we don't get them".

Nintendo takes a really, really long time with their RPG localizations, generally, so don't give up hope yet.

Turn around times for Nintendo RPG localizations:
- Glory of Heracles: 18 months
- DQ9: 12 months
- BKO: 7 months onto a dead system
- Most FE and Pokemon games: 6~9 months

So, nothing really out of the ordinary yet, except maybe Xenoblade which is still on the release schedule but with no date. As for Last Story, keep in mind that every Mistwalker game except ASH has been released in North America.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Hmm, I like the game's presentation a lot.

It seems like it breaks things up into little bits using a mix of cutscenes, gameplay, and banter while traveling, instead of a "chunk of story->chunk of gameplay->chunk of story" structure.

 

[Vinci]

Nintendo had best bring this one over. It sounds like a winner.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

I would not mind watching the whole game now spoilers be damned

 

[Cosmonaut X]

So, nothing really out of the ordinary yet, except maybe Xenoblade which is still on the release schedule but with no date. As for Last Story, keep in mind that every Mistwalker game except ASH has been released in North America.

...and ASH is the only Mistwalker game published by Nintendo!

 

[Laguna]

The first hour of the game is on youtube for everyone to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPPVGP8Mgg

Really, awesome gameplay vid. It will be released in the west for sure.

 

[Yaweee]

...and ASH is the only Mistwalker game published by Nintendo!

All signs pointed to that game being boring shit, or at least that's my impression from its OT and reviews I've read elsewhere. Videos make it look like the battles are freakishly slow.

Wait, Ethelred are you implying there are worse srpgs out there than ASH? (excluding FFTA which was excluded in the reviewer's statement). IF games sure, but we don't even count those as real games, and outside IF games I can't think of a single srpg that has been weaker than ASH.

 

[ReyVGM]

(deleted)