The Last Story

Did You Know?

• The game was originally going to be exclusive to Japan, and its North American release was in doubt after being announced for Europe and Australia.
• A fan campaign called Operation Rainfall drew considerable attention to the title.
• The European localization was handled by Nintendo of Europe using the same team that had done Xenoblade Chronicles, with British voice actors.

Synopsis

The Last Story is set on Lazulis Island, a seaborne fortress ruled by Count Arganan and allied to an unnamed human empire in crisis as the land decays. Mercenary leader Dagran travels to Lazulis with his band: Zael, Syrenne, Yurick, Lowell, and Mirania. Zael, who dreams of becoming a knight, encounters a mysterious force and receives a magical brand on his hand. While on an errand, Zael helps a woman named Lisa escape city guards.

The group is employed as guards for the wedding of Count Arganan's niece, Lady Calista, to Lord Jirall; Zael recognizes Calista as Lisa. Calista reveals to Zael that hers is an arranged marriage. Lazulis is attacked by the Gurak, a race once banished by humans and now united under Zangurak. To avoid cannon fire, Zael, Dagran, and Calista stow away on a Gurak ship and take it over.

The group is returned to Lazulis by the island's knights, but Jirall accuses them of aiding the Gurak to cover his cowardice. Dagran persuades Arganan to release them after showing Zael's mark, revealed as the mystical Mark of the Outsider given to one destined to save Lazulis.

Development

The initial concepts for The Last Story came to Hironobu Sakaguchi after his departure from Square in 2003. After working at his studio Mistwalker, Sakaguchi realized his style was out of tune with gaming trends. He elaborated that the game was born from reflecting on design mistakes in Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, which kept traditional gameplay despite story innovation. Sakaguchi drew up a design document and met Takuya Matsumoto, a designer from AQ Interactive who had worked on Blue Dragon.

They shared views on what held their games back and collaborated to create something new. Sakaguchi told IGN that development took three years, with the first year devoted to trial-and-error on the battle system. Matsumoto reported a four-year development time to Gamasutra. Team leads attended E3 each year and were assured their game was in step with trends.

Production was a collaboration between Mistwalker, AQ Interactive, and Nintendo, and was Sakaguchi's first work as director since Final Fantasy V. The game was in final development by April 2010 and was complete by December that year.

Reception

The game's story received generally positive reactions from critics, though some criticized a lack of originality in the RPG genre. Famitsu called it very classical RPG. Eurogamer's Martin Robinson found the characters the most appealing part, a view shared by 1UP.com's Francesco Dagostino, who cited Syrenne's portrayal. GameSpot's Mark Walton praised the story's epic scale.

IGN's Keza MacDonald said it presented good story and characters within familiar themes. Edge found the story fairly traditional despite a strong cast and emotional power. Computer and Video Games' Matthew Castle praised side-mission character development but called the main narrative tedious. GameTrailers noted familiar plotlines but praised character development.

Game Informer's Joe Juba was critical, finding the story overly predictable and characters shallow. G4's Jason Wishnov criticized characters as one-note despite convincing camaraderie and well-written dialogue, and the plot as formulaic despite late-game twists. Official Nintendo Magazine's Simon Parkin found characters likable despite a predictable story. Nintendo Power praised Zael and Calista's romance.

RPGamer's Alex Fuller said the story was great despite cliches. Multiple critics praised the British-voiced localization.