The Last Story preview

Last Story preview Sometimes when a game is released in Japan, maybe a few months before its European release, we import a copy to get an early idea of what to expect when it hits our shores. For some titles (Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Sin and Punishment: Successor Of The Skies, for example) this is a fairly painless process as the differences between the native and localised versions are negligible at most.

For a typical JRPG jaunt, however, the Japanese dialogue is usually so cryptic that even finishing the first couple of dungeons is often an achievement in itself. Surprisingly, this isn't the case with The Last Story.

The Last Story begins as a group of intrepid mercenary adventurers journey into an underground labyrinth in search of plunder. The game then puts us in the buckled boots of Elza, a young swordsman who's as adept at hitting goblins with his blade as he is at using a crossbow to pierce an ogre's eye, presumably re-classifying him as a Cyclops under mythological law.

After Elza and his team blunder into an burial chamber full of undead skeleton warriors, the search for treasure rapidly turns into a fight for survival, and it's here that The Last Story introduces its most novel mechanic.

Hunter Gatherer

After watching a cut-scene where one of his comrades is struck down in the heat of battle, Elza inadvertently disturbs an ancient artefact in his despair and is then invested with the power of Gathering.

This handy ability enables him to resurrect his fallen comrades, which perks him no end, as well as to draw the rabid attention of every enemy on the battlefield. You can then use this skill to lure the skeleton warriors away from your more vulnerable mages, while you and the other melee specialists team up to crack some dusty old skulls.

Rather than selecting an attack command from a menu or swapping between light and heavy attack buttons on the fly, The Last Story simply asks that you walk up to an enemy so that Elza can strike automatically. All you have to worry about is the block and dodge buttons that let you avoid damage when a heavy plate of tempered steel is hurtling towards your face.

The spells system, which lets your casters conjure up circles of elemental magic, also adds additional layers of strategy, as it can be combined with Elza's Wind dash ability to inflict a variety of status effects - ranging from spell negating Silence to block-nullifying Guard Break.

Tall Tale

As the game progresses away from the opening dungeon, Elza and his five companions set up base camp in nearby Ruli - a city that acts as a central hub as you work your way through the 40-odd chapters that include a handful of side-quests. But at its heart, The Last Story comes across as a fairly linear adventure with a focus on longwinded cut-scenes and action orientated combat that breaks away from the traditional JRPG mould.

You can even make Elza duck behind cover - à la Gears Of War - while lining up head shots and stealthy tranquiliser takedowns in real time with his trusty crossbow.

The story itself covers a wide range of themes, including a typically twee romance between Elza and love interest Kanan, the ruler of Ruli's niece; a bitter rivalry with a jealous and somewhat deranged suitor; a war over two halves of a mystical meteorite that involves the nation of Ruli and a race of humanoid creatures that look like rejects from the Tolkien bestiary and conflicting ideologies that threaten to tear the mercenary group apart. Special mention also goes to the evocative surroundings that include everything from military bases and thieves' hideouts, to mystical forests and haunted mansions - all conveyed in a mesh of anime and fantasy that pushes the Wii hard.

Our lasting impression of The Last Story is how enjoyable it is to play without comprehension of the finer plot details, because even though whole chapters can be lost to dialogue gauntlets - with only a stern expression or cheeky smile giving any contextual clue for non-Japanese speakers - the vibrancy of the world and the evolving grace of the combat system make this a JRPG that's less of a padded grind-a-thon and more of a focused journey.

While it remains to be seen whether or not the story can survive the localisation process, from what we've experienced so far, this should be a quest worth savouring.