Last Remnant, The

Game Info

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: March 24, 2009

Summary

Long ago, the world was filled with Remnants — mysterious artifacts from an ancient civilization. But as time passed, the powers of the Remnants began to shift the world's balance. As the rift widened between those who ruled and those who were ruled over, a new era dawned: one of countless frays brought upon the world by those enslaved by their own lust for power. A thousand years later, the journey of one young man begins... Imagine a vast, war-torn battlefield, scarred by years of conflict. Countless enemies surround the player, who is backed up by his own army. Threatened by numerous foes and saved in the nick of time by allies, players feel the true tension of a soldier on the battlefield. In The Last Remnant, as many as seventy units duke it out at once in fierce yet beautiful battles. [Square Enix]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 63 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
Honestly, all you need to look at is the USER SCORE vs the METASCORE. It's even almost obvious that most of these "professional" reviewers either do not like JRPGs in the first place, are too "hardcore" to play a console-style RPG on PC and write it off even before they try it (and yet playing the same game on console would somehow be OK.. why is that when the PC is factually better in every single way?), or just dislike the game because it isn't FF (as proven by one of the reviews). Those who complain about controls are idiots, and should get their heads out of their a**es already and realize there are these things called gamepads and controllers which the PC has been using since the dawn of time. I could use a freaking stearing wheel to play the game if I wanted to, that's the kind of flexibility only a PC could give you, and yet they still find it somehow unthinkable to just plug in a gamepad and play if the KB/M isn't comfortable enough to play the game. Seriously, if you're looking into this game, ignore the reviews and BUY IT! You will not be disappointed! Every single technical problem the game had on 360 is completely gone (there's some slight texture pop-in in scene changes as with all UE3 games, which could be fixed with a simple ini tweak), the game is well optimized, and it shows a lot of effort went into the porting of this game. There are a LOT of settings to play with, everything you'd need with the exception of AA, which is the fault of the engine itself but that can be forced. The changes and improvements go past the technical side, just look into the Last Remnant wiki to see how many changes (subtle or otherwise) have been introduced to the game itself. The game isn't without its flaws, there are some bad design decisions that were made (the whole BR thing for example), and sometimes things could feel a bit more random than they should be, and it will take you a while to figure things out and understand how the system works since not everything is completely explained in detail both in the manual and in the game. Don't expect to know the innards of the system like you would with a D&D or a TDE game. All that aside, the game is just fantastic. Anyway, great game, buy it and support it. I'd very much like to see some more JRPGs make their way to PC, and if you do too, then this is a game you should not miss.

John S gave it a10:
This game is really great and addictive! Extremely enjoyable, and just basically delivers as much as any of Square's best RPGs! I honestly don't get why everyone is bringing this game down and tearing down on it, but really, ignore the haters and buy the game. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF, especially with this being one of the few modern JRPGs on PC. Square Enix has done a great job porting this, all the technical problems found on the X360 are GONE. You have countless system options, and proper keyboard and mouse support (even though you might be more comfortable using a gamepad for this one, and seriously, any PC gamer by now should have at least a gamepad if not other types of controllers as well... REVIEWERS KEEP UP). If you have a decent machine the game will fly, with no slowdowns whatsoever. Seriously, if you want an accurate review, check out the Gamespot review. I almost fully agree with what the reviewer has to say there, but I'll rate the game a 9. I'm giving it a 10 here just to boost the average.

Luke M gave it a9:
ALl in all this is an amazing game with lots of depth and lots to do, the only game that has had me playing for 3 weeks and still not done everything in the game (the extra dungeons are tough, very tough). Don't be put off by the bad reviews if you like jrpgs, as you can see from the reviews some of the reviewers don't even like jrpgs (making a comment that it might be liked in japan kinda proves that). Also don't be put of by the "lack of transparency" that other people are saying, all the commands etc are perfectly transparent if you are sensible. If you make a jack of all trade union with one mage one physical attacker one healer etc, you will get some odd comands turning up, but use your head and mage a mages union and a tanking union and it all falls into place. Also to counter some points from Kent L's score of 2 "Your unions should really have individuals who die from their wounds rather than the whole team. That way the team is weakend and you can actually see when things are going badly." I assume he didn't actually play the game because that does happen, and you can do it to the opposing unions as well at times. The micromanagement is done by having sensible unions and the orders are actually quite obvious (and if not you can press a button which will show excatly what each unit will try to use) Lots of reviews on here are from people who don't like JRPG's and yes this game probably isn't for them, but if you do like them, this is a game you should at least try.

Ian P gave it a2:
I am baffled by all the high scores this game is recieving. Are there so few JRPGs on the pc that gamers are happy with this detestable example. As a rule I love JRPGs and games by square enix are usually a pretty good bet, however something has gone horribly wrong in the making of this game. The problem lies in the battle system. Instead of controllling individual characters who you give specific commmands to, you instead control teams (known as unions) who you give vague actions to. At the start of each term you are given a seemingly random selection of commands, such as use magic, attack and use special attacks, to choose from. These command options are supposedly situational and linked to whoever you have as leader but they just feel completely arbitary. In a number of occasions I have recieved a game over simply because the game never gave me the option of healing (despite my characters being injured). Even if you get the command you actually want to use there is no guarantee that your team will end up using it as characters are prone to switching commands as the situation (which you have no further input into after your initial selection) evolves. Also, unlike traditional JRPGs, there is no notion of elemental weakness. While you can use either magic or physical attacks, there is no way of telling which will be more effective. Most times you end up just using the attack that has the highest AP cost and hoping for the best. The same applies to all the different weapon types and stances, there is no explaination of what they actually do or why you should use them. Initiating battles is a strange hybrid of the MMORPG system. Enemies are visible on the world map and to fight them you have to run near to them and ping (for want of a better word) them with the space bar. If the enemy runs into you without you pinging them they get a massive combat advantage over you. While the game encourages you to fight multiple groups of enemies at the same time, you often find yourself running back and forwards trying to lure a lone enemy away from the pack. The game does away with the classic notion of levelling and experience points. As you fight enemies your stats seem to randomly increase and characters gain more skills. There is a fourth stat that is named differently for each character (eg love, bravery etc) but no one seems to know what it does. As with many aspects of this game, things are just not explained properly. The learning curve is so steep as to be vertical. As for equipment you can only alter the main character Rush's gear. Everyone else in your party randomly levels up their gear as they go along. Characters in your party ask for components (which are dropped as loot for winning a battle) to improve their gear. However, annoyingly, they will only take the components from a battle and not from your inventory. For example if a character needs copper and despite you having twenty pieces in your posession you still have to go battle enemies that drop it if you want them to improve their weapon. For me personally this takes all the fun out of saving up and buying your team new equipment, which was often a large part of a JPRG. The premise of the last remnant is an interesting one so it's a shame that the story is so bland and straightforward. The graphics are ok, but even on a pretty decent pc the load time on some of the textures is epic. You can be halfway through a cut scene and textures are still popping up. The voice acting and sound are fine. It's a shame this game turned out the way it did. I really wanted to like it but the terrible game design conspired against me. If I can prevent even one person from wasting their money on this poor excuse for a JRPG then I'll be a happy man.

Wanderer gave it an8:
First I have to mention that I have not played the game to the end at the moment (somewhat at the half way), so keep this in mind when reading my thoughs about this game. Anyway, The Last Renmnant is a game that is one of the few jrpg games out for the PC. This makes the game somewhat special even though it has a traditional jrpg setting, like the hopeless main character. If you can tolerate the jrpg cliches that the game has, then you have a great game to enjoy, both in story and in play mechanics. Combat has its own flow and way that needs a bit of practise and experimental. This provides an interesting feel for the game (which is a good thing) and may cause the player to feel a certain level of suggests when a boss is defeated. Graphics and the story clips are beautiful although require a good computer to run smoothly (and without sudden surprises). It should be noted that even if the demo works in your computer, it doesn't mean that the game will. So make sure, you have what it takes to play this game. The game does have a few negative sides though (mainly on the instructions as the games provides only a few notes on things). Facts like battle rank are very poorly explained which may cause a total stop in the story progress as this thing affects the games difficulty. Also, the game has multiple sidequests that are missable because the story doesn't take you everywhere. My recommendation is that players should read more info from the games wikia pages so that the difficulty does not ruin the experience and if you can have the need to find everything that you want in the game. Overall though, this game is a gem and fans of the jrpg genre should at least consider trying it out so that more jrpg games might see daylight on the PC. For others, the game provides a good rpg experience and if interested, I recommend trying out the demo to get a feel for the combat system.

Ted C gave it a9:
I spent several hours looking for a new game, and finally picked The Last Remnant. I am glad I did. Quick warning: Check out the game's website to download their benchmark prog before you buy this game - the graphics are insanely beautiful! The game play mechanics takes a few hours to get used to - you will probably want to read the manual - but this game is a great RPG. I don't know what the negative critics' or users' problems were with the game - this is the first JRPG I have played, and it is a great game. Just takes a little to get used to, but it is something different and worth playing.

Peter W gave it a9:
A Final Fantasy Style game from Square-Enix... complicated to understand at the beginning with a deep story (old school RPG) but fascinating till the end of the game.

Read more user comments >