Sakaguchi makes The Last Story for Nintendo Wii, Japan Exclusive and Localization: My Thoughts

Final Fantasy is a very well known series around the world and has a million of fans. It was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was with Square until 2004, when he moved onto a company named Mistwalker that he founded in 2001. Ever since then he has made quite a few other RPG games such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. His latest work is The Last Story for the Nintendo Wii, an RPG game announced early last year and was just released in January of 2011 in Japan. There is no word yet on if it will be released outside of Japan, but a lot of people actually want it to. So, for my final blog in my game design class, I will give my thoughts on the game based off of what I have seen and heard online.

From what I have seen from the game play, it looks like a strategy action RPG. When you go into battle you control your own character, but you can also control the strategies of your teammates. The player can even use the environment during battle, from hiding behind objects to sneak up on enemies or to even do some specific attacks. When you are not in battle, you would normally be traveling around the town to buy weapons and armor, as well as going through the cut scenes from the story. I actually think this sounds pretty cool and it looks like it would be a game that people, especially RPG fans, would like to play. The battle system seems to require a lot of strategy, especially when there a ton of different enemies, and I think that it could actually get the player more involved in the battle.

In terms of graphics and presentation, it would be one of the best looking Wii games I have seen so far. I would put it alongside the likes of the Mario Galaxy series, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and the upcoming Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. It actually looks like a lot of effort was put into the game, which a lot of 3rd party companies need to start doing when it comes to creating Wii games. The art style seems like the basic Final Fantasy style, a sort of anime design that is normally seen from Japan and from what I have noticed, the environments seem to have been really well done at well, with quite a bit of detail. I can’t really say much else on this subject since it would be more of me repeating myself, but I think it was pretty well done. Could it have been a little better, sure, but I think it is good.

I don’t have much knowledge on the sound of the game, because I have only barely heard any of the music from it and only have heard a couple lines of dialogue from the characters, which are also in Japanese, which leads me to not know what they are talking about. However, it does seem like you could switch on some English subtitles from what I have seen as well as some of the writing actually being in English. But beside the point, the music I have heard actually sounded quite good. It is your standard style of music you would hear in an RPG and was well put together. And even though I don’t know Japanese, the voice acting sounds pretty well done and from what I have heard online, a ton of it was packed into the game.

Just like the music, the story is another thing I really don’t know much about as well. After reading a little bit online, the game seems to take place at a place known as Ruli Island. The main character of the game is known as Elza and he has traveled there alongside his mercenary group looking for work. So, I would assume the basic gist of the game is going on missions to help out the people of the town and defeat this Gurg race, an enemy of mankind as what the Internet has said. I can’t really give my thoughts on this, since I haven’t actually played it to see for myself, but could possibly be a cool story. I am guessing you would have to experience it yourself to actually have an understanding of what your opinion could be.

Also included in this game is a multiplayer mode, where you can go online and battle other players, assuming that you will probably use your powered up characters from your main story file. From the videos I have seen on YouTube, the multiplayer part of the game seems to be pretty well done and looks just like the combat from the main game. I didn’t exactly see any slowdowns or lag either, so that looks good as well. The thing is that I don’t know how good the online is overall since I have not played it but other people online who have at least had the chance actually say it was pretty fun and well put together.

In the end, The Last Story looks to be a great RPG game for the Wii and shows just what a Wii game can be like when a ton of effort is put into it. It looks fun and that is why it is one game I would actually look forward to playing, so I would love for it to come out of Japan. And it also fills the need for RPG games on the Wii. Not saying that the Wii doesn’t have any RPGs or anything, because it does in the likes of Arc Rise Fantasia and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the Crystal Bearers, but I actually think it needs more. And if The Last Story can be localized for America and Europe, alongside the likes of Earth Seeker and Xenoblade, as well as the future Dragon Quest X that is coming out, RPGs could make it big on the Wii and become popular, just like any other Nintendo console. So get on with it Nintendo, and you too 3rd parties, because Nintendo fans want their RPGs.