The Last Story

 Wii
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 61 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 61
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 61
  3. Negative: 1 out of 61
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  1. Destructoid
    Aug 14, 2012
    40
    If The Last Story is the Wii's swan song, it is a miserable dirge, full of regret and remorse.

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Wii Game of 2012
3
#3 Most Discussed Wii Game of 2012
3
#3 Most Shared Wii Game of 2012

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 239 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 196 out of 239
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 239
  3. Negative: 15 out of 239
  1. ovoon7
    Jan 8, 2014
    10
    I wrote a review of this game August 14th when it was released, and while my score doesn't differ, my opinion does.

    I hadn't completed the    I wrote a review of this game August 14th when it was released, and while my score doesn't differ, my opinion does.

    I hadn't completed the game when I wrote the review, but when I finally did, I realized just how much I loved this game and will remember it for years to come. The Last Story and Lost Odyssey really show Mistwalker's talent, and I hope they come out with something new soon.    … Full Review »
  2. zeldass
    Aug 14, 2012
    10
    What an amazing game. it is worth every penny. it is one of the best j rpgs of all time and i think its close to xenoblade. had a great story.What an amazing game. it is worth every penny. it is one of the best j rpgs of all time and i think its close to xenoblade. had a great story. i did not finish the game yet but so far its been a great experience. good graphics for the wii and had great gameplay… Full Review »
  3. Shinjiro
    Aug 14, 2012
    5
    The Last Story - A game from RPG mastermind Hironobu Sakaguchi. Sounds good, right? Sadly, "The Last Story" is the exact opposite - A gameThe Last Story - A game from RPG mastermind Hironobu Sakaguchi. Sounds good, right? Sadly, "The Last Story" is the exact opposite - A game with horrible gameplay and an underwhelming story where only the characters shine... And only at very few, certain moments of the game and without doing sidequests, this 15 hour game has not much time to show you those moments anyway.

    The main character of the game is Elza (Zeal in the PAL and NTSC/US version), who's part of Quarks (Dagran) mercenaries and always dreams about becoming a knight, since mercenaries are looked down to in the world of The Last Story (among other things).

    After the first battle in the game, you probably hope and expect that the gameplay offers more... WAY more, correct? Sadly, besides positioning yourself before the battle, how you start it (killing the enemies healer, using your crossbow or sword or destroying a pillar or bridge), there's not much to control in the battle. Do you expect to get to control the whole party, use lots of skills and items, among other BASIC aspects of the genre? That with 7 mercenaries and a party out of up to 6 characters that you can at least CHOOSE which character you want to control? Yes? Well, to bad, there's NOTHING like that. No items, the amount of skills and the amount of strategy is a joke. Yes, you read right. That's pretty much your WHOLE strategy. In every single battle. If you expected lots of strategy because you're playing an RPG, you'll get disappointed. Gameplay-wise, The Last Story resembles more an Hack'n'Slay.

    During battle, when your bar is full, you can give your party orders. But not even then you have much of a "choice". Every character has ONE skill (left), ONE special attack (up) and 2 other commands. At least something, right? Again: No. With the exception of Manamia (Mirania) and Kanan (Calista), the special attacks are THE SAME as their normal skills, just stronger. For example: Jackal (Lowell): He uses ice magic and if it's diffused, the enemies slip on it. His special attack? A stronger ice attack. That's it. Manamia can resurrect (giving your characters an additional life) and Kanan can create a barrier. The often ridiculously bad AI sometimes forces you to use the command option as often as possible, especially if you fight enemies which get healed by ice magic and Jackal / Lowell ONLY uses his magic. (To name an example)

    The story is below-average at the very best. It's obvious when playing that Mistwalker tried to make something more original, but the execution is done VERY badly. Thankfully(?), you don't have to endure it for a longer amount of time since the story (without doing sidequests) is only 15 hours long - Less than 1/3 of what you expect from an AVERAGE RPG. But even WITH sidequests... which are few, don't take long and aren't much fun anyway, you'll be VERY lucky to hit the 20 hour mark.

    Upgrading is a joke. The armor differs between a "heavy" type with more defense, but less magic defense, a "balanced" type with the same amount of defense and magic defense and a "light" type, which offers more magic defense, but less physical one. And their boni often only differs WHEN you get it (e.g. at +6 or +7).

    The online mode offers boss fights and PvP. Whereas the 1st one is rather challenging at first, it gets boring and annoying REALLY fast, since most people (IF you find someone online) prefer to use their physical attackers (like Elza). And having a party out of 6 different Elzas results in a very quick Game Over. Why? Simple: If just a single player loses all his/her lives, you have 30 seconds to finish the battle. If you didn't, your whole party loses. No drops, no anything. Having the option to yell stuff like "Someone diffuse that magic!" doesn't help since nobody listens to it anyway.
    PvP works different, but it's even less fun. The balance in PvP is non-existent. You either enter a map where magic users can and WILL one-shot you EVERY SINGLE TIME or a map where they have no chance at all. Also, if you don't "dodge" magic or hide behind a boulder or wall, you CAN'T survive magic. Even dodging or hiding results in high damage.

    Long story short: The Last Story gameplay is below-average at the very best, the story is way too short and the story-telling isn't very good either. The characters themselves are pretty good (Besides Elza), but since the focus is on him ALONE, you'll barely experience anything interesting about your other party members anyway. The soundtrack isn't bad, but you expect WAY more from Uematsu. The world is tiny, brown and doesn't offer much anyway. The online mode is just plain bad and the replay-value is practically zero, so if you're planning on purchasing it, don't expect anything better than a short, mediocre game.    … Full Review »
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