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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Are reviewers playing the same game I am? (The Last Remnant rant)

SlumsofOhio on 07 December 2008

@Docede
I agree to an extent. But why should I play through 10 hours of suck to see 2 hours of little slowdown?

Slowdowns were a pain in the ass and framerate issues occur once in a while. The VA's in this game are terrible, not to mention the graphics are horrible for a current gen game. I never thought that smoke shown in a cinematic could slow the game down to a crawl. I actually enjoyed the installation process more than the game.

Maybe the game has some good parts, but poor VA's + terrible graphics + framerate issues + average (at best) battle system= poor JRPG. Let's hope some of you 360 owners have a PS2 for Persona 4. Save your money, don't buy The Last Remnant.



                                   

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mrstickball on 07 December 2008

Slums - what VAs and graphics are you comparing TLR to?



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

outlawauron on 07 December 2008
mrstickball said:

Ok. So I splurged for Christmas, and got in on buying The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery for a little under $50 USD after shipping. Both games have been ravaged by critics, with TLR getting the worst of it - and a 64 metacritic average.

I started playing Infinite Undiscovery about 3 days ago - and I'm around 7hrs in (to Fayel, by the way). After playing it, I found myself agreeing with most of the consensus reviews - the game is haplessely mediocre, and a hair better than Enchanted Arms.

So I held off on playing TLR for a few days, worried that playing TLR may be a very deflating experience.

Boy, was I wrong. I've been playing it for about 5 hours nonstop, and I must say that I'm angered immensely by how incompotent the reviewers have been with the game..From what I've played of the game.

I just don't get how I can play every single JRPG made for the X360 outside of the Atlus SRPG offerings, and agree, in ranking, on most titles (although I feel most titles deserved a few points higher like LO, ToV and BD), and then find TLR at the polar opposite of what the game actually contains.

The game hits everything a SRPG should - ultra-tactical battles, classes, group formations, as well as lots of good Turn-based elements - the story isn't the best ever, but given how the game mechanics are done (think Lost Odyssey-style traveling), they're pretty great thus far.

There are bad points - loading times are pretty atrocious without the HDD install (I'm playing without the install, btw), and there is a bit of slowdown in battle (as opposed to the frame removal-fest that is Infinite Undiscovery). But the fact is, the game is just as polished as Lost Odyssey ever was, which was pretty decent (but not perfect) for a UE3-developed title.

I'll be doing the official review for VGC once I've completed the game, but as it stands - 5hrs in, I just don't see how the heck the reviewers were playing the same game I am. It stands, on it's own, up to Tales of Vesperia, Blue Dragon, and Lost Odyssey - and is absolutely head & shoulders above Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, PSU, Kingdom Under Fire: CoD, and  Enchanted Arms.

I'd advise everyone that enjoys strategic RPGs like Ogre Battle or Final Fantasy Tactics to buy this game, and quick. I'd love to see someone that's played both Valkyria Chronicles and TLR to step up and talk about the experiences, because outside of the loading/lag issues, TLR looks like an 8.3-8.5 to me (with a large dock on graphical issues).

I'm looking for a place to rent because I don't want to grab it yet if the game will be improved with the PC or PS3 port.



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Rath on 07 December 2008

Reviews are subjective and based on experiences.

Obviously you had a good experience with the game while most reviewers did not, perhaps the issues in the game didn't really annoy you but really irked the reviewers.

Point is - the reviewers are not wrong, yet neither are you.



candy2500 on 07 December 2008

i just read the reviews for a general overview of what the game is about and mostly read other gamer impressions to get a good feel for how good the title is.



Yep, i'm a girl

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numonex on 07 December 2008

Those two games: TLR and IU are both mediocre games going by the reviews and people's opinions who have played those games on the forums.
I personally would not waste my time with JRPGs unless they get average review scores of over 75%.



Cueil on 08 December 2008

IU doesn't really get started untill you reach the point where the opening cinematics happen... something big happens and things start to get interesting. I really like the game in 2-3 hour doses. I think they could have used some help from Cliff B. to add some more WTF moments, but I'd give the game a 7.9... better than average, but not really good enough to get to the 8 mark... that and the main character is a giant pussy who really would rather run then fight and you have some pretty funny moments.



 
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Munkeh111 on 08 December 2008
Cueil said:
IU doesn't really get started untill you reach the point where the opening cinematics happen... something big happens and things start to get interesting. I really like the game in 2-3 hour doses. I think they could have used some help from Cliff B. to add some more WTF moments, but I'd give the game a 7.9... better than average, but not really good enough to get to the 8 mark... that and the main character is a giant pussy who really would rather run then fight and you have some pretty funny moments.

I just wasn't that fond of the combat system. I still haven't finished it, though I am in the final dungeon of the game, I probably need to do some levelling up. The game just needs more save points, you should always be able to save after bosses!



BengaBenga on 08 December 2008

I think I'll hold out on this one. Maybe later. Will start Lost Odyssee soon and will buy Blue Dragon.
Next year is full of JRPGs fortunatelly, with SO4 and Tales of Vesperia on 360 and at least 5 Wii ones (Arc Rise, Kizuna, Valhalla Knights, Muramasa, Symphonia 2). And there are at least 5 great DS JRPGs as well (Chrono Trigger!, Suikoden!!).

As it stands now I'll probably buy at least 10 JRPGs next year, so I don't think I'll miss TLR that much.



Darc Requiem on 08 December 2008

@Mr Stickball

My roommate owns Valkyria Chronicles and I own The Last Remnant. I'm pretty deep on VC, Chapter 13 presently. Valkyria Chronicles is the better game. That isn't a knock on the The Last Remnant. VC doesn't have any technical or frame rate issues and from my experience the story is better. They are two wildly different takes on the SRPG genre. I like them both but VC is a 9.5/10 game to for me. So far, I'd give TLR and 8/10. I think ToV and LO are better games than TLR, but I think TLR is better than Enchanted Arms, Eternal Sonata, Infinite Undiscovery, and Blue Dragon.

VC's battle system is turn based and real time at the same time. A soon as you select your character to move, the game become real time and it even has a nice cover mechanic. With the exception of the first Selvaria encounter, the game has no battles that you can't win on the first try with good strategy. VC is kind of hard to describe, playing it is really the best way to get a feel for it. Despite is unique cell shaded style the game is far more mature than you'd think. It handles the issue of war and discrimination with a surprising level of seriousness. The closest 360 game I can think to VC as far as mood would be ToV but that still isn't a good match.

TLR's battle system is the deeper of the two. I still find myself figuring out new quirks each time I play. TLR with all the optional side quests is the longer of the two games. I've been nearly as much time into TLR as I have VC and I've barely scratched the surface. The initial narrative of TLR just isn't as compelling VC. So far, I do find the Remnants interesting and I ultimately do want to know why Irina was taken. That said, the characters just lack the dept and personality of those in VC. In VC, every unit has a story, background, and unique quirks. The units in TLR are generic outside of the generals and leaders.

I've been running through ToS2 on my Wii and just finished that game. So I'll be getting back to TLR, IU, and VC this week. After having Emil as a lead character, Capell won't be near as annoying as before. I'll appreciate Rush even more and Welkin will do the impossible and become even more awesome.