[Multiplatform] The Last Remnant: Life at 12 frames a second is a beautiful thing.

Yes, it's actually a non-FF/DQ game from Square. Who woulda thought.

Quote:

The Last Remnant

Spring 2008 - Next Generation Consoles - 1 Player RPG

One thousand years ago humanity came into contact with Remnants. These magical fragments of a bygone era were once used to promote peace across the world. Soon, as the rift grew between those who ruled and those who obeyed, the remnants ceased being instruments of balance, and instead became paths to immeasurable power. Where once there had been peace, only bloodshed remained.

- Released simultaneously in U.S. and Japan

-Two prominent characters each created to appeal to a specific territory. Rush Sykes will appeal to JP gamers, and "The Conqueror" for Western Audiences. Game won't force you to choose which character you play.

- Remnants vary in size and can take the form of machines, beasts, and weapons.

- 4 races revealed: Mitra (humans), Yama (Large fish-like beings), Qsiti (small humanoid lizards), Sovanni (four armed cat like creatures)

- Battle System will not be passive and will include QTEs in certain instances. Fights still take place in a turn based frame work.

- This is the first UE3 game SE will be releasing. Graphics look great so no worries there.

- Directed by Hiroshi Takai

Square Enix knows role playing games. In the video game industry, rarely is a single company so closely tied to the identity of an entire genre. The company is responsible for two of the biggest RPG franchises in the world, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and people have been playing these series since the 8-Bit era. RPG fans know Square Enix as the name to turn to for grand adventures, unforgettable characters, and jaw-dropping moments remembered for years. Recently, Square Enix has devoted considerable energy to iterating on its past successes, but that doesn't mean the company isn't moving forward. Next year gamers will be treated to "The Last Remnant", an all new title that incorporates all the rich locations and thrilling combat an RPG fan could hope for, along with a handful of unexpected details that will help define the direction of the genre this generation.

In addition to marking the beginning of a new franchise for SE, TLR represents a significant deviation from the way RPGs have traditionally been presented to a North American audience. Since most role playing titles are created by Japanese developers, they are released in Japan first, and then find their way to American gamers after a delay for localization (which took 7 months for FFXII for example). With TLR, this process will change; the game will be released simultaneously in the U.S. and Japan. "From the conceptual stage of this project, we kept a global market in mind, placing a special emphasis on the North American market" says director Hiroshi Takai.

One of the Results of this emphasis is the fact that the game has two prominent characters, each created to appeal to a specific territory. The Japanese audience is most likely to connect with Rush Sykes, an energetic and idealistic 18 year old swordsman. On the other hand, American gamers will probably be more drawn to the dark and mysterious figure only referred to as The Conqueror. Older and battle hardened, The Conqueror is unlike Rush in almost every way. Despite this clear distinction, TLR does not force players to choose one character or the other. While interesting in its attempt to reach out to American gamers with The Conqueror, the game will be exactly the same on both shores, with Rush set up as the primary protagonist.

"Rush is the main character of this game," Takai clarifies. "He was designed with the traditional SE RPG style in mind, but the players' impression of him will likely change once they advance in the game. You can expect a lot of plot twists involving him." Even though Rush drives the tail at first, he has an unknown connection to The Conqueror that slowly draws that character into a more prominent position as the tale unfolds. "The Conqueror is a type of dark hero which is a first for a SE RPG," Takai admits. "As you can see from his costume, tainted red by blood (it was originally white), the cruelty that he holds within will have a great effect on the overall story.

-GAF, taken from Game Informer.

It sounds good, but I'm open for any and all next-gen RPGs on the horizon.

The fact that it's by Square-Enix is pretty much enough to put me off it. I'm interested in RPGs, and I will admit that Square-Enix are among the most technically acomplished RPG developers, but I'm more than happy to play less polished games if the story and characters are interesting. That's something that (for me) Square Enix just haven't delivered at all, since the PS1.

This sounds very interesting. Got any links to pictures of the game?

No pictures yet. The magazine isn't out yet, so I don't know if there even are pics, or they just aren't available.

Originally Posted by Soluzar

The fact that it's by Square-Enix is pretty much enough to put me off it. I'm interested in RPGs, and I will admit that Square-Enix are among the most technically acomplished RPG developers, but I'm more than happy to play less polished games if the story and characters are interesting. That's something that (for me) Square Enix just haven't delivered at all, since the PS1.

I agree and I'll chime in...I'm skeptical how they can have the "same" game with two totally opposite main characters. I mean, aren't NPC's going to respond differently and whatnot?

Sounds cool (and different) at first glance, but 3 seconds later, it sounds like a totally lame idea.

Ditto the Skepticism, though I am surprised they're actually trying something new.

Still, I like to know what happened with Chrono, they instead went ahead with a new Mana and look how well that turned out...

Though making something completly new might make them realise what it takes to make a great game...

So is this a 360/PS3 game then I take it? Pretty sweet.

I dunno . . . . They're talking about using marketing demographics as the main inspiration for the game's lead characters as if it's something we should be excited about. Besides, isn't that what most RPGs do? Usually we get at least six different marketing stereotypes, though.

That's it -- this game will be the worst thing to have ever existed, without a doubt. I will probably buy it if it has a decent story and not too many action elements.

This all prob stemmed from the fact that Vaan looked girly in FF12, so they feel the need to remedy that and reaasure people or something.

I swear if Nomura leaves, its the end of Square untill I see some competance in their game making or marketting in games OTHER than Nomura's works. The more I think about the two main characters the more contrived it sounds.

Pics. http://www.jeux-france.com/news20119...t-remnant.html

Well so far it LOOKS good, but then again I expect no less from Square in terms of visual eye candy. Thanks kainlightwind!

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

I swear if Nomura leaves, its the end of Square untill I see some competance in their game making or marketting in games OTHER than Nomura's works. The more I think about the two main characters the more contrived it sounds.

I strongly disagree, Nomura is getting way too much credit, based on rather crappy stuff like KHII (which was a lot of fun, but be honest, the story, pacing and balance was crap) and even worse, Advent Children. He put off a lot of people with his projects, and I honestly don't have high expectations for his next projects. Besides, there are some SE games that he has nothing to do with and still turned out to be great, most recently Dawn of Mana for example. There are capable teams at SE, but they just seem to want to focus on the wrong things.

From what I heard Dawn of Mana wasn't that great, at least from importers. And there's a lack of 2 player which I believe was in almost every Mana game.

And yeah, the pacing was crap in KH2,(though Final Mix fixed a number of problems I had with the new scenes) but I don't think the story was crap. The difficulty was too easy, but now that I got Final Mix, I went back to proud anyway cause critical is torture. And like you said, at least its fun. FF12 was very dull to me, and aside from KH there wasn't any recent Square release that was really solid , (aside from Enix games like VP2).

And then before this was announced, all I see in Squares upcoming lists is a whole bunch of FFs, and FF1 and 2 were being re released over and over and over again.

Advent Children is a mix bag, there was no way to tell a a story that measures up the original in less than 2 hours, but the CG and animation is sleek. Yet the pacing still had issues. But overall I was more entertained than FF12.

Its all our own opinion, But looking at the insame succeess of KH, you have to admit that losing Nomura will have a pretty big impact.

I played Dawn of Mana and I enjoyed it, but than again, Mana games have always pleased me (I'm a sucker for pretty looking games).

Agreed, Nomura has a huge impact on the company, but that doesn't mean that he's the only good thing going on at SE. I also agree that SE is really going a bit overboard with milking everything FF-related and the endless re-releases, but what else would you do with your most successful franchise? FFXII was a huge succes, and Revenant Wings also looks to become a big hit (at least with the promotion and that damn prelude tune playing on every corner in Osaka). Maybe I'm just a bit biased since I've never really been a fan of Nomura and his art, but I still think people worship him a bit too much for all his flaws.

I wouldn't say I worship him, seeing as I did point out flaws that I didn't like. But he seems to be the only one that's creating solid products and no major hiccups. FF12 was a very troubled production from various sources. Whatever trouble they had with KH was probably minimal enough to not cause a big fuss over.

Resi Evil, MGS, Silent Hill and alot of other franchises are successful, but I don't see their upcoming lists with 20 ish titles all under the same franchise and name.

And while its refreshing to finally see something new and original, the whole seperate demographic main characters just sounds so bleh, like they're trying to hard to PROVE something.

"We CAN make awesome MAIN characters that are as manly and cool like Solid Snake!!

.......................

REALLY! We swear!"

And who likes try hards and wannabes?

All I ask is for Square to not sound incompetant with their game concepts. I mean first is the mikling of the 10 or more FFs, and now its a "we're trying to be pleasing to both very different demographics" strategy.

I'm not saying its easy, but its also not impossible to create ONE character that appears to BOTH demographics. You just need hard work and TALENT Square! Making two characters seem like the lazy and cowards way out of creating one that is well developed enough to be memorable.

I like how their global marketing strategy includes Japan and America and leaves out Europe. This'll probably sneak out 7 months later here, if at all coz, you know, we only play football games and Tomb Raider in Europe.

At least they're trying something new although just from looking at the screenshots one wonders how much innovation there's actually going to be in there. For now at least, something like Mass Effect looks like a much more exciting proposition.

Looks like Final Fantasy, Nomura is a joke, I'm holding out any actual judgment until we see story notes.

I was already annoyed from reading that they assumed Americans would like "The Conqueror" while Japanese would prefer Rush Sykes. They could have easily made one or the other recruitable at some point afterwards and each character would have a fanbase regardless.