The Last Story

[jrhodes]

That's pretty much what I was talking about when I called it clunky. It can be frustrating when you're surrounded or trying to move in battle when there's an enemy nearby. It could probably do with an enemy lock-on like Xenoblade had.

[Skummy]

If you're not already at the scene where you talk to Lisa while looking at the stars - when you get there, and you get the choice between "Talk To Her" and "Touch Her", select Touch Her twice in a row, for the absolute highlight of the game so far.

[jrhodes]

If you're not already at the scene where you talk to Lisa while looking at the stars - when you get there, and you get the choice between "Talk To Her" and "Touch Her", select Touch Her twice in a row, for the absolute highlight of the game so far.

Damn it, I'm already passed that part and I went the chivalrous route.

However I did try and peak in on Lisa and Syrenne when they were taking a bath together.

[Skummy]

If you're not already at the scene where you talk to Lisa while looking at the stars - when you get there, and you get the choice between "Talk To Her" and "Touch Her", select Touch Her twice in a row, for the absolute highlight of the game so far.

Damn it, I'm already passed that part and I went the chivalrous route.

However I did try and peak in on Lisa and Syrenne when they were taking a bath together.

Haha, likewise. Inspired by Lowell, of course. Syrenne is such a fantastically one-dimensional character, I'm really hoping she doesn't have some grand revelation and become all sickly sweet, or turn out to have some dark secret she's repressing. I want her to continue to be exactly as she is, forever.

Spoiler on what happens if you "Touch" Lisa;

First time, you awkwardly go to put your arm around, she turns around, and Zael does his awkward fumbling "I wasn't doing anything!" thing, she makes fun of him.

If you do it again, she ducks down before Zael puts his arm on her, and he trips over him and falls off the cliff. Fade out, cut to the narrator saying "Zael fell off the cliff. And then hurried back and stood behind Lisa as if nothing had happened."

[jrhodes]

There's a touch of Zidane and Garnet/Dagger about

Zael and Lisa/Callista

isn't there?

[Skummy]

I am now up to Chapter 33, and I bloody love this game. The story is conventional enough, but fantastically plotted, to the extent that I genuinely don't know what's going to happen next, and I'm excited to find out. The characters are fairly standard Final Fantasy style tropes, but perfectly executed...and it's just an all-round fantastic game. There's barely a thing I don't like about it. Even the stuff I'd normally find cheesy and terrible in any other RPG just seems to work perfectly.

Seriously can't recommend this enough if you haven't played it already. It's definitely got an air of Final Fantasy about it in places, but it's fresh and new enough to stand out in its own right, not just "new game from Final Fantasy guys". And it's better than any Final Fantasy game has been in years - certainly since IX, and arguably since VII.

[jrhodes]

I worked out fairly early on what I'm guessing is going to be a big plot twist and it's kind of put me off playing. It concerns Dagran.

He's going to turn on the party isn't he?

It was telegraphed pretty badly.

[Nick Adams]

Dammit, I wish the Wii in the house wasn't my dad's...

[Skummy]

I worked out fairly early on what I'm guessing is going to be a big plot twist and it's kind of put me off playing. It concerns Dagran.

He's going to turn on the party isn't he?

It was telegraphed pretty badly.

Spoiler on the spoiler:

Kind of. But not really. Not so far, anyway. I've been expecting it all along, but it's actually a lot better written than I'd assumed, in that he's explained his motivations...and they make sense, but he's not turned on us completely yet.

On the flipside, though, there are other characters I expected to turn out to be evil, but who weren't at all.

Also, General whatshisname is a straight-up bad-ass. And the Captain, in Lazulis Castle's military quarters, is the best minor character in anything for a long time, just for his ridiculous voice. SHABBY CLOTHES!

[Skummy]

Pretty much finished this now - just in the epilogue. A little annoyed as I never got round to beating the Cave Cougars in Lazulis City, which I'd really hoped I'd get chance to do now; maybe there is a way to get back to them, but it doesn't look like it. There's still a couple of mini-quest things to do at the end, though, which is nice. The Gurak monster trainer in the Arena is a hilarious touch, too. I love all the little jokes and things scattered throughout the game; even the characters' bickering during battles is brilliant, just does such a good job of making them more believable and likeable. Syrenne is pretty much the best - the only downside is that Zael is kind of bland, but the main character should be a bit of a blank slate, really.

The ending was odd, but the last couple of chapters were just intense. So much stuff going on, so many loose ends getting tied up, fantastic stuff. I keep saying it, but the character development really is miles ahead of most RPGs.

I messed around on the online multiplayer for the first time, too. It's extremely basic, but nice enough. Could be fun to play around with it more, and especially if I start playing it with people I know rather than groups of Level 50 randoms.

I was mostly playing as Syrenne, but you can choose between loads of characters you don't ever get to control in single-player mode, so I did a couple of deathmatches as Lord Jirall, which was fun.

I'll probably leave it a couple of months and then go back and do New Game Plus, probably after I've started on Xenoblades. Love this game.