Are reviewers playing the same game I am? (The Last Remnant rant)

[mrstickball]

Riachu said:

mrstickball said:
Poor Konichiwa lives in a bad area to not get Tales of Vesperia.

I'd argue that if you didn't like BD or LO, you'd most likely enjoy ToV.

Each X360 JRPG falls inside of one category or another (ranked in quality):

Action JRPG:
Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, Phantasy Star Universe, Kingdom Under Fire: CoD

Turn Based JRPG:
Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms (eM, IMO is a hybrid between a TB and SRPG)

Strategy JRPG:
The Last Remnant, Spectral Force 3, Zoids Assault, Operation: Darkness

The Last Remnant is more turn based than strategy.  The battle system is turn based but with unions instead of individual characters.

TLR does seem interesting but I will hold out to see if the PS3 or PC versions get more polish.

 

No, trust me, it's far more strategic than any other X360 JRPG.

I'll give you a good example of a battle in The Last Remnant (even an early battle):

You chain together 2 enemy parties (in a similar way you would with Blue Dragon). There are 6 enemy unions with 20 characters, total. Some are cannon fodder, some are tanks, some are mages.

You join the battle with your troops - 15 characters in 3 unions (or groups, we'll call them).

The key to success in The Last Remnant isn't anything outside of proper formations for your unions, union synergy, lets call it (the fact you have a smartly-built party ala Ogre Battle with tanks/attackers out in front, and healers/mages in the back), as well as your tactical engagement.

Why? Because unlike a turn based game, the game demands actual party strategy - Rather than group up on 1 party at a time, it could spell disaster. If you target a group that is far away, an enemy union may intercept that party, and start in by hauling off and killing the entire 5 party members before attacking. Once. The game demands proper intercept tactics, flanking maneuvers, and strategy inside each Deadlock (or battle where your union is in a fight to the death with another union).

Again, good example (spoilers abound):

Early-ish in the game, you get to fight a boss with a total of 2 unions - 5 characters each against 6 enemy unions - 5 of the unions are the cronies, and 1 is the big boss. If you went for the boss, you'd be toast as the cronies would flank your units, giving them a quick death. Focus on one at a time, and it's the same issue, because of enemy interceptions/flanking maneuvers.

So you have to use proper formations and strategy to beat the boss. In the bosses case, if you split up your Unions by using heavy damage skills/magics, you can mow down the first 2 enemy unions without taking a single hit, and by the time the still-remaining enemy unions have a chance to attack, you have enough HP to bear the brunt of the attack. By the time I got to the final boss, I killed him in 1 turn because my attack was so vicious - I initiated a flanking attack for around 2,000 dmg to finish him off. And that was at Battle Rank 3 (equivilent of Level 3 in a normal RPG - your individual characters progress in an Oblivion-style leveling system, while global traits increase with Battle Ranks).