There have been a whole lot of iterations on the traditional turn-based JRPG battle system over time. Truthfully, I problem anybody to depend. A few of them age with grace, and others present indicators of damage. The Final Remnant positively falls nearer to the latter.
Sadly, I did not play The Final Remnant when it initially launched after being advised it was a mediocre JRPG. Now I can take a look at the Remaster years later by means of completely recent eyes, freed from the bias I had as an adolescent. And I do not hate The Final Remnant. The truth is, I actually fairly prefer it, regardless of some apparent points.
The story follows Rush, our protagonist, who retains foolishly dashing into battles. Rush and his sister reside quiet lives, however their mother and father are essential scientists working within the metropolis. The mother and father name for the siblings to come back reside with them, and naturally, evil antagonists get entangled and Rush’s sister will get kidnapped, as a result of she’s particular or no matter.
From right here Rush embarks on a stereotypically epic quest the place he should collect allies, acquire power, improve his weapons, tackle menial facet quests, just about all the pieces. This can be a JRPG, and goes by means of the standard JRPG motions.
Rush rapidly meets the Marquis of Athlum, David, whom he takes a liking too, a trusts slightly bit too rapidly. Once more, typical JRPG fare, nothing too stunning right here.
Tides of battle
The place The Final Remnant deviates is within the battle system. You primarily tackle a small military, and provides them linear directions for them to behave upon. It is odd, as a result of though the choices you obtain are sometimes easy directions, the positioning of your group and the enemies can drastically have an effect on the result of the battle.
So, you may select the choice to assault, however that’ll doubtless make you progress nearer. Utilizing magic arts can find yourself the identical approach too. However, if one other formation is in impasse with an enemy, you get choices like ‘help allies from a distance.’ When your group is low on well being, you may get the choices to assist, a few of which break impasse in fight, a few of which do not.
If you do not know what a impasse is, don’t be concerned about it an excessive amount of, the tutorial explains all of that. However that is a part of the issue. The way in which the battles play out is not instantly clear, and it makes use of esoteric phrases which might be complicated to anybody who skips previous the tutorial home windows – and who can blame them.
However the battle system works, when you perceive, and it is respectable sufficient. I do not wish to reward it an excessive amount of, I’ve performed dozens of battle methods I desire, nevertheless it works. It is absolutely practical, and obeys a constant logic, whereas remaining pretty distinctive from the video games I’ve performed.
Plus, this remaster offers you the choice to double the battle pace. Wonderful for grinding by means of ranges, however disastrous for the QTEs. QTEs can assist you throughout battle, however in case you double the battle pace, you shorten your window to hit them. It’s extremely irritating – QTEs ought to all the time function at regular pace, even when it requires slowing the battle for a second.
Worlds of bore
Exterior of battle, it is a fairly uninspired world. There isn’t any actual overworld, only a world map which you’ll choose dungeons or cities from. Cities are segmented and require load screens between every, and truthfully, they do not look nice. This can be a 360 recreation initially, however arguably seems nearly as good as, or worse than, the PS2’s Remaining Fantasy XII. Once more, nothing right here is fallacious per se, simply underwhelming.
On a happier word, I would heard points relating to framerate and loading screens plagued the unique recreation, and from my expertise, this remaster is way smoother in each regards, and whereas battles may load a tiny bit sooner for my tastes, I by no means discovered it annoying or notably egregious.
Effectively, this all reads like a listing of complaints, however once more, I really fairly like The Final Remnant – however I’m completely okay with generic JRPGs. I recognise that, exterior of a bizarre battle system, there’s nothing that actually makes The Final Remnant distinctive, however all the pieces it does, it does properly sufficient.
The story is trite, nevertheless it was simply participating sufficient to maintain me taking part in. The battles weren’t wonderful, however the potential to hurry up the continuing made it much more palatable. This recreation is, for a JRPG fan, fully inoffensive. And I believe that is okay.