Fantasy Role Playing Game: The Last Story Released For Wii

Lost in the shuffle of all the big news from Gamescom 2012 this week was the release of the Wii RPG, The Last Story. The game was designed by Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and it made its North American debut with excellent reviews on August 14, 2012. The game also features a musical score by Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu.

The Last Story is a third-person action role-playing game with stealth and strategy elements. The game’s publisher, Xseed Games, offered this introduction to The Last Story:

“While the mainland of the Empire faces both conflict and the slow creep of the dying land, there is one region that continues to prosper: Lazulis Island. The key to the island’s defenses is a battery of mighty guns which exude strange magic that seems to draw monsters in.”

“The young mercenary Zael, along with a band of fellow adventurers, comes to the island in hopes of finding more work. Their new employer is none other than the ruler of the land himself, Count Arganan. If they can meet the count’s expectations, there is some hope that their unstable mercenary existence could become a thing of the past. For Zael and his companions, who dream of a stable life as knights, this job represents a chance they may never have again.”

While The Last Story contains all the usual elements found in an RPG, it endeavors to refine and perfect them. The game focuses on the characters and encourages players to put their energy into their alter-ego’s development as they journey through the The Lost Story.

The battle system is similar to the combat in action RPGS. Battles in The Last Story are fun and frantic, but, once you get used to the game’s fighting style, you will breeze through the real time battles without much difficulty. The game even offers a coop, online multiplayer mode for those players who want to test their skill against other gamers.

What makes The Last Story so compelling and different is that the game is also built around a love story. The hero is attracted to a love interest early in the game, and, throughout The Last Story’s 44 chapters, he must overcome many obstacles to achieve a blissful reunion with his true love at the end of the game.

Kotaku editor, Jason Schreier, urges gamers not to pass up The Last Story, saying simply, “The Last Story is one of the best RPGs I’ve played in years.”

GameSpot reviewer, Mark Walton, was equally impressed, stating that The Last Story is “a fantastic game; one that pushes the JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) genre forward in ways that are innovative yet still complementary to the tradition of the genre.”

So drag that Wii out of moth balls, clean it up, and get started playing another gem from Hironobu Sakaguchi. After all, gamers have waited 20 years for another game from the creator of Final Fantasy, and the last one was one of the best selling games in history. Fighting enemies, while falling in love, was never so much fun.