The Last Story

[wildbil52]

Sorry I'm late to the party on this.  Just started the game, reached chapter 3.

[Crabmaster2000]

Nice to have you on board Bil!! When I started this I thought you and Duke were possibly going to be the only participants

I'll jump on Skype around 6:30 then and keep an eye out for either of you guys.

[Fleach]

Just fired up the game. Doesn't seem like Crabmaster or Techwizard are playing.

Bil, how are you liking the game so far?

[wildbil52]

Too early to say definitively but my first impressions are:

Visually, the game doesn't look great.  That's to be expected with the Wii but these visuals seem more on par with PS2.  Xenoblade Chronicles is even worse and that game is great so it's not a dealbreaker.

The pacing at the beginning of the game is bad.  Throwing you into a meaningless dungeon and swapping the character you are playing as is confusing and disorienting.  Also, I don't like how someone in your party is ALWAYS TALKING.  The game would have had a much cleaner start if the game began at the beginning of Chapter 3, you know, when they show the title screen for the first time.  I got much better character exposition speaking to the characters in my party at the bar than I did in that starting dungeon and all of that info could have been conveyed later.

I tend to see a game for what it ISN'T as opposed to what it IS when I haven't played very much of it.  Once I get into the groove of the game and settle in, I see the forest for the trees, and I will have a much more balanced view of the game as a whole.  Even thought my first impressions sound negative, I am exited to play more now that I am in a town, can explore, and the real game is beginning.

[techwizard]

sorry fleach i completely forgot about doing this tonight. i'm going to be busy the rest of tonight so maybe tomorrow.

[Fleach]

No worries Tech. I don't know if I'll be able to do tomorrow but I'll certainly join the Skype chat.

Crabby and I just finished playing and we discovered the secret to actually getting somewhere in the co-op battles. We joined random battles with higher ranking players and kinda leeched off them getting the reputation points at the end of it all.

Bil, why are you canning The Last Story? Sure it's not the best RPG out there, but it's pretty good. I guess you're a little biased because you played Xenoblade first. But I do agree that the first handful of chapters are very slow and the being thrown right into a dungeon isn't the best way to start a game.

[wildbil52]

I'm not canning it, I'm just saying that in my first hour of play I wasn't blown away.  I can be overly critical because I tend to over analyze every aspect of a game.  It's the reason why I never wrote a review for a game I didn't finish first.

I like and trust the designer and I am excited to play the meat of the game, I just think the beginning was weak.

[Crabmaster2000]

I'm the opposite when I start playing a game like this Bil. Its all rose colored glasses unless something pretty significant jars me back into reality (like the combat in FFXII ). I get pretty immersed into it with little effort on the games part.

Sorry we missed out on you Techwizard. Like Fleach said we were able to slay some beasts tonight!!!! We both made it to the 5th or 6th rank so things are getting much more manageable. I think if we had 4-5 party members at that rank we could actually take down some of the co-op bosses. The death matches were ok too, but both were really helped by the fact that I was Skyping with Fleach. It would have been a pretty thin experience otherwise me thinks. If we can get Techwizard and Bil involved (or anyone else interested) and everyone on Skype at once I bet it would be a blast.

Sunday is a no go for me. My sister is up for a surprise visit so I've got dinner/evening plans for the night. I'm fairly open on Monday so far as well as evenings on Thursday-Saturday right now.

[Silent Scythe]

I'm not canning it, I'm just saying that in my first hour of play I wasn't blown away.  I can be overly critical because I tend to over analyze every aspect of a game.  It's the reason why I never wrote a review for a game I didn't finish first.

I like and trust the designer and I am excited to play the meat of the game, I just think the beginning was weak.

I'm looking forward to seeing your opinion as you complete more chapters. Keep us updated!

[Fleach]

I'm the opposite when I start playing a game like this Bil. Its all rose colored glasses unless something pretty significant jars me back into reality (like the combat in FFXII ). I get pretty immersed into it with little effort on the games part.

I'm the same. RPGs are special to me so I'm pretty enamored by the game unless something disrupts the experience.

Sorry we missed out on you Techwizard. Like Fleach said we were able to slay some beasts tonight!!!! We both made it to the 5th or 6th rank so things are getting much more manageable. I think if we had 4-5 party members at that rank we could actually take down some of the co-op bosses. The death matches were ok too, but both were really helped by the fact that I was Skyping with Fleach. It would have been a pretty thin experience otherwise me thinks. If we can get Techwizard and Bil involved (or anyone else interested) and everyone on Skype at once I bet it would be a blast.

Sunday is a no go for me. My sister is up for a surprise visit so I've got dinner/evening plans for the night. I'm fairly open on Monday so far as well as evenings on Thursday-Saturday right now.

Late next week is good for me too.

[wildbil52]

Is everyone using classic/pro controllers?

[techwizard]

i'm glad you guys found a way to rank up better! now maybe we can actually start doing something with those co-op bosses. i'm not sure about late next week...saturday would probably work, i'll try to remember it this time . monday is also good for me if you want to do some then crabmaster, it'll give me a chance to catch up in rank.

@bil i agree the beginning was kind of weak, and the graphics throughout the game were...ok. the FMV cutscenes looked great, and certain areas looked pretty good in-game, but overall they were lackluster. some points were pretty glitchy too, like a certain part in town where for me the textures would always disappear if you went down the alleyway from a certain direction.

that being said, the gameplay, story, and music are all great and they more than make up for it. the story starts to pick up after the first 10 chapters or so, so just keep with it for a bit and you'll probably like it more. also i played through the whole game with wii-mote/nunchuk, they worked fine for me.

[Fleach]

Is anyone going to be playing online tonight?

[techwizard]

i will!

[Crabmaster2000]

Sorry guys. My family is pretty sick so everyone is home and we are having a family day.

@bil - I've used the classic controller the whole time. Feels really good.