The Last Remnant (Review)

The Last Remnant (Overview)

Salutations fellow gamers of the world! (or the few that manage to find this blog. I'm not complaining either way. Happy to see anyone). I'm here with another exciting game review. Today's game is "The Last Remnant", and this game was originally released for the Xbox 360 back in 2008 and then for PC soon after. It was an underrated gem that not many (and an awesome game that was part of my childhood). The game had a unique and memorable combat system and a pretty cool story. Folks who played the game however either didn't understand the story or just didn't like the story because the game was met with mediocre reviews when it first released. So it surprises me that Square Enix decided to remaster and release the game for PS4 and quite recently, the Nintendo Switch. I'm very much happy with this, and I want to give this game the attention it deserves.

Story and Characters

This game has probably one of the best introductions I've seen because it doesn't miss a beat to show you what you're getting into. You play as Rush Sykes, a warrior from a small island. You're in search of your sister when you are suddenly caught in a war between nations. Thing's get out of hand pretty fast, and Rush unknowingly uses a latent power hidden within him. One thing leads to another, and Rush finds himself in the eyes of David Nassau- the ruler of the nation of Athlum. David offers to help Rush find his sister, and the story plays out from there.

Pretty cool right? The rest of the story is also pretty interesting and features unique characters and species. You have the four generals of Athlum for example who are all creative in their own right. Like British speaking Emma Honeywell, or the loyal four-armed cat man Torgal. There are also many other side characters you can recruit that have their own personalities and skills they add to combat.

The story does miss a beat in some sections, and Rush is debatably a generic protagonist that doesn't offer much in personality so I imagined that it won't resonate with everyone. Still, the story is subjective so I leave you to be the judge of that.

Gameplay and Features

(Gameplay Guide by PlayStation)

Typically I would go over the gameplay which is the bread and butter of the game. It's a bit hard to explain, however, but PlayStation was very kind to offer an awesome gameplay guide for newcomers so I included it here to give it a watch.

I'll instead talk about how this combat system is like to play which admittedly is a bit tricky to get into at first. Once you get the hang of it though. It's just...awesome. Commanding units, utilizing formations, raising morale, battling armies and monsters with an army of your own and using cool looking combat skills. It makes combat so much fun, and way different from any other RPG game and this game should be played just for the gameplay alone.

It's not all perfect, however. Due to the way the battle is structured, grinding can either be a chore or a nightmare. Some bosses become very hard to beat unless you're leveled accordingly. I should mention that one of the draws of the game is the ever expansive roster. You can recruit over a dozen different characters for your party either from the guild or from sidequests. Like I mentioned before, each character is very unique and even come with their own voice lines. However, this isn't a game where you can be creative. You can get by doing what you want for the most part, but there'll be some bosses where you'll be forced to min-max and play at top performance. I for one used Emma and Torgal for most of my playthrough because they were just better to use than other units.

Art and Music

(Last Remanet-OST Sword Sparks. Uploaded by Sefirosu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQXIhUhIg1U)

This being a Square Enix game and composed and drawn by the same folks who worked on games like Final Fantasy and Brave Fencer- Expect the soundtrack and art to be rocking. Which it certainly does. Especially in combat. You simply feel invigorated while in battle. It feels like you can do anything. Outside of battle, the score is also nice and very suitable for exploration.

Graphics wise, the remastered edition looks way better then it did years ago. Did it age well? That depends on how you look at it, but it certainly looks better. Especially the PS4 version. The Switch version runs surprisingly smooth, but graphics take a slight downhaul but that is to to be expected sometimes. There are some weird texture pop-ins from time to time, but not nearly as much as it was way back in the day.

Additional Content

Once upon a time, there was DLC for this game but now it's all included in the base version of the game which is a very nice addition. 

If you're looking for an additional challenge. The Last Remnant offers a new game plus mode which features a new dungeon, and the true final boss.

Does the remastered edition offer anything new? Unfortunately, it doesn't, but the game still has a lot to offer either way.

Conclusion

This game isn't for everyone, I admit. There are a few things holding it back. That doesn't mean this game should be skipped. The Last Remnant has a style that very few RPGs have these days and it should be commended for that. It ain't perfect, but it's still pretty fun if you can ignore its flaws. I urge everyone to at least it gives it a try. Sitting at a sweet 20$ in the Nintendo e-shop and PSN store. There's no reason to at least check it out.

This here concludes my review on the Last Remnant. Comment on what you think of the game and what else I should review next. I'll see you guys in the coming days. Ciao!

(All images, music, and gameplay are owned by Square Enix. I don't own anything in this review other than the words on the screen. Please support the official release)