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. RPG Fan
    Aug 27, 2012
    73
    At the end of the day, The Last Story is a decent RPG, but nothing to be excited about. A dull story and uninteresting characters mar a unique combat system and solid gameplay.
  2. GamesRadar+
    Aug 21, 2012
    70
    The Last Story is by no means a perfect game. However, the good here far outweighs the game's shortcomings, and, unlike RPGs that are bloated with fetch quests and tiring level-grinding, everything here is absolutely in service of the game's story.
  3. EGM
    Aug 14, 2012
    70
    While The Last Story is a solid offering from Japanese RPG legend Hironobu Sakaguchi, the boilerplate storytelling, familiar tropes, and lack of meaningful exploration make it feel like it could have been so much more.
  5. DarkStation
    Mar 16, 2012
    70
    By the end it can be hard to care, even if the plot is far more interesting. Couple the mediocre story with the less than fulfilling gameplay, and you have an experience that drags to begin with in both story and gameplay, discouraging you from progressing, but once it picks up pace it is far more enjoyable and worth the trudge.
  6. Eurogamer Spain
    Feb 24, 2012
    70
    Mistwalker has made a great effort to add new ideas, but the game falls short of its own ambitions.
  7. Eurogamer
    Feb 23, 2012
    70
    It's a familiar mix of wonder and frustration, and it's eclipsed by Monolith's more intoxicating vision of the JRPG's future. The end result is a tale that's worth hearing out, but hard to hold dear.
  8. G4 TV
    Aug 22, 2012
    60
    A mixed bag. Those who don't mind some badly written jRPG tropes will find quite a bit to love in combat, but the game is generally too linear and plodding to earn anything above the praise of "decent."
  9. Game Informer
    Aug 14, 2012
    60
    The Last Story is the latest project from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, and industry luminary Nobuo Uematsu composed the soundtrack. Previous collaborations involving these two legends have resulted in titles like Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, and Blue Dragon. I had high hopes for this Wii-exclusive RPG. Given its pedigree, I never imagined that it would fail to meet the low bar set by dozens of middling entries in the genre.
  10. Gameblog.fr
    Feb 23, 2012
    60
    Technically outdated on a aging Wii console, The Last Story ends up being quite linear... and too short. Online games and the New Game + feature won't really make up for it, despite the artificial extension of its life span. Hopefully, the voice acting is good, and combat is quite satisfying. And there's always this Sakaguchi's touch... which is always nice to have... The last game of the genre on the Wii?
  11. GameCritics
    Aug 28, 2012
    50
    The Last Story feels like a JRPG that took incomplete notes as it tried to learn from Western design. The simplistic implementation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) combat motifs makes battles boring or frustrating. The character customizability, though wonderful, is purely cosmetic, never really extending into the play or storytelling. Worst of all, the gameplay and story might as well be two ships passing in the night. While Zael confronts the game's real antagonists in cutscenes, the player simply sits on the sidelines. In games, that's the last way you should try to tell a story. Ra
  12. Gamer.no
    Mar 14, 2012
    50
    Look past the industry veterans standing behind it, and The Last Story fails to garner any sense of wonder. The new gameplay and combat mechanics are a refreshing addition to the genre, but doesn't hold up under much scrutiny. Clichéd characters and trite storytelling grind the experience down to a mediocre one.

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

All reviews »
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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