Xenoblade and The Last Story in the US?

[quote name='Twilight Sparkle']Last Story confirmed for NA. It's the last thing he talks about.

Also, Europe's getting a Pandora's Tower limited edition steel-book case with artbook.[/QUOTE]

Considering how word about The Last Story being released in the US got out just minutes after all of us had our CEs ship (which seems a bit too convenient to be a coincidence), I'm now going to be hesitant to import Pandora's Tower (CE or not) right away, which was a day one purchase for me.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Considering how word about The Last Story being released in the US got out just minutes after all of us had our CEs ship (which seems a bit too convenient to be a coincidence), I'm now going to be hesitant to import Pandora's Tower (CE or not) right away, which was a day one purchase for me.[/QUOTE]

The timing of it completely sucks, but it was the risk you ran in importing it. Just think of it this way: you might be done with it by the time the rest of us gets it.
 
Of course, they announce it the very day after my PAL copy shipped. :wall:

Of course, I will still be playing and finishing it several months before it even comes out in America. If it ends up being good, I'll double dip because Xseed are my homeboys.
 
Yes!!!!!!!!! The Wii lives on. I'm really excited about playing this and Xenoblade. Hopefully Last Story isn't exclusive to Gamestop.

Come on Pandora's Tower!!!
 
[quote name='maigoyume']In for both, in related news gamestop is offering an artbook for xenoblade preorders. Extra incentive :)[/QUOTE]

Available when released or when placing pre-order?
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007CSF3GO/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Sorry for the mobile link but amazon has it up for preorder. Didn't see the link posted before.
 
I figured I'd post this here too.

[quote name='Vinny']I just got mine from HMV. The shipping box was this really weird... box but it was very strong. The item was in near mint shape (the flap is kinda crushed).

[IMG-C=7639]26645[/IMG-C]

Man, the steelbook is fucking incredible (which I hadn't covered it up in the picture, LOL). It's probably the nicest steelbook I've ever seen (granted, I only own a few but still). They give you a regular case (with a reversible insert- same picture as the "Experience" box) too. The artbook is... really disappointing. It's small and really thin too. And there's the really thick multi-language manual that's not shown, which I wish was an artbook instead.[/QUOTE]

I unfortunately won't get to play it until Spring Break due to exams and other work.:whistle2:(
 
Yeah, but I won't get to play it for at least a week and a half.:whistle2:(

And I don't know how I should play it. Dolphin Emulator or on the Wii...:whistle2:k
 
wife just called me up can't wait to get home and play. Can we play this online together? Would be cool to team up with some of you guys.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Yeah, but I won't get to play it for at least a week and a half.:whistle2:(

And I don't know how I should play it. Dolphin Emulator or on the Wii...:whistle2:k[/QUOTE]

Send me your copy then and I'll have it back to you in time. :lol:

Hopefully my copy gets here soon.
 
[quote name='bjstucker']wife just called me up can't wait to get home and play. Can we play this online together? Would be cool to team up with some of you guys.[/QUOTE]

Man, now I really don't know if I should play this on the Wii or Dolphin Emulator.:whistle2:k

[quote name='Dead of Knight']Send me your copy then and I'll have it back to you in time. :lol:

Hopefully my copy gets here soon.[/QUOTE]

Considering how much time you spent in Xenoblade, I don't know if I believe that...:rofl:
 
No matter, Vinny, for my very own copy arrived today. 365games.co.uk pulled through, getting it to me in less than a week, as opposed to Zavvi taking 3 weeks for Xenoblade. I will be giving them my business for Pandora's Tower and any other PAL games I buy in the future.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Man, now I really don't know if I should play this on the Wii or Dolphin Emulator.:whistle2:k [/QUOTE]
You're not planning to play online?
 
I heard Dolphin has problems running this game, btw. Doesn't run as well as Xenoblade.

Still near the beginning, I will reserve impressions until later.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I heard Dolphin has problems running this game, btw. Doesn't run as well as Xenoblade.

Still near the beginning, I will reserve impressions until later.[/QUOTE]

Does matter anymore since I can't even rip the disc... nor can I DL a copy since all the good filehosting sites were shutdown or blocked US access. I don't wanna risk a torrent either.

I guess shitty, blurry graphics it is.:whistle2:/
 
Yeah, I fired it up and tested out the first dungeon... the graphics are actually pretty clean, outside of some textures, and the animation is surprisingly smooth. I didn't notice any framerate issues but it was the first dungeon so I guess that's not too surprising.
 
The Last Story is an odd one but I'm enjoying it far more than I thought I would.

At first I was baffled as to why someone would use the automatic setting for combat but now that the game is layering on more and more systems I can definitely understand why it's there as an option. (perhaps not something which should have been set as the default option for Western audiences but whatever that's localization)

I'm enjoying the little things like how when a quest is ready to be set-out upon or when one has been completed you'll basically have someone ask you if you're ready to leave and when you agree it generally warps you to where you need to be next. (also fast-travel)

The combat slowly turns into all things for all people which makes it hard to explain to others: it's action-y and mash-y if you want, you can stop everything and issue orders, there's stealth and sniping, there's environmental elements in-play as well and so on and so forth.

Mistwalker has taken a lot of elements from different styles of RPGs and melded them together pretty damned well as far as I'm concerned and, overall, The Last Story does a good job of keeping what I still enjoy about JRPGs while managing to integrate some more user-friendly Western RPG ideas.

Light/early spoilers but I'll tag them anyhow: Just on the story beats it'll go from the completely saw-it-coming-from-a-mile-away stuff like
Lisa being the noble which everyone is talking about getting married
to the more RPG plot-defying stuff like
yeah the big bad guy kidnaps the girl but no she isn't helpless and no he doesn't get away with her
.

It's still lighthearted and fluffy and even predictable and eye-roll inducing at times like most JRPGs but my ~30 year old self is really enjoying the game and my ~15 year old self would have absolutely flipped over it.:applause:

edit: Oh and perhaps I'm just crazy per usual but is anyone else getting a Vagrant Story vibe from The Last Story? I can't really pin-down what it is and it's kinda this wishy-washy intangible feeling that I'm probably misinterpreting but they feel similar despite being so utterly different.
 
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[quote name='Vinny']Yeah, I fired it up and tested out the first dungeon... the graphics are actually pretty clean, outside of some textures, and the animation is surprisingly smooth. I didn't notice any framerate issues but it was the first dungeon so I guess that's not too surprising.[/QUOTE]

The worst is in the cutscenes. You haven't seen anything yet.
[quote name='Fell Open Ian']
edit: Oh and perhaps I'm just crazy per usual but is anyone else getting a Vagrant Story vibe from The Last Story? I can't really pin-down what it is and it's kinda this wishy-washy intangible feeling that I'm probably misinterpreting but they feel similar despite being so utterly different.[/QUOTE]

Dagran has ass-chaps like Ashley. That might be something.

This game really is an odd one. Haven't really liked it so far but I'm willing to give it more of a chance.
 
I still have a ton of work to do for next week but I figured that I probably wouldn't be able to concentrate so why not play this game some more. I made it to the first town... and so far, I want to say that I like the game but it definitely hasn't drawn me in like Xenoblade.

One of my biggest quirks is doing that Z-thing... to find items, locate special events, etc. It's just seems unnecessary, especially during combat when you're getting attacked from all sides. More annoying is trying to read hints during boss fights without getting hit by a massive attack.

I do like that there's already some established history with the party, rather than the traditional find a new ally, more story introduced. I also like that battles do involve some strategy and micro-management.
 
Yeah, so I went from planning on not playing this for a week to putting 6 hours into it. It's a really good game. I love the battles with a bunch of enemies and teammates in them.

I just hate the slowdown.
 
I guess we'll agree to disagree, Vinny. I think the game is pretty terrible. I'm having more fun heckling it with my husband than actually playing it. I'll finish it though, considering I'm more than halfway through and it's fun to laugh at it, so I am getting some enjoyment out of it.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I guess we'll agree to disagree, Vinny. I think the game is pretty terrible. I'm having more fun heckling it with my husband than actually playing it. I'll finish it though, considering I'm more than halfway through and it's fun to laugh at it, so I am getting some enjoyment out of it.[/QUOTE]

I'm guessing that's because of the cliched story, awkward character interactions and cheesy emotional displays?

That stuff hasn't bothered me all that much... maybe because I haven't seen it in such a long time that I'm actually letting it pass. But like I said, I'm enjoy the game more for the combat than anything. The visual style is also pretty nice (but fucking slowdown!!).
 
[quote name='blueweltall']Is the slow down because of the Dolphin emulator or the actual disc game?[/QUOTE]

I'm playing it on the Wii and there's noticeable slowdown, like it drops 10-15 fps during some scenes/moments. Nothing that ruins the game (Muramasa) though.

Most games that struggle on DE is because there aren't processors that are fast enough since it is a emulator. On an i7 960 (which is a $250 processor), it falls as low as 20 fps (from 30 average) at 2.6GHz. Until we see processors that can hit ~5GHz (which is unlikely since it's all about multi-core performance now), DE won't be able to handle most games without slowdown or heavy tweaking (which people like us probably don't have to skill to do). Xenoblade was an exception in that it was more audio heavy so the game was playable for the most part but suffered many audio issues.
 
[quote name='blueweltall']Is the slow down because of the Dolphin emulator or the actual disc game?[/QUOTE]

No, the actual game. This is by far the worst slowdown I've ever seen in a JRPG. It's unacceptably bad. It's in battles, it's in cutscenes, it's when you're fucking around town, it's everywhere.
 
[quote name='johnmirra']Its funny to see the shift from how bad we all wanted this game to the bashing for some slowdown.[/QUOTE]

The slowdown is the least of its problems....
 
[quote name='Josh5890']So Last Story looks like a dud huh? The reviews were good so I was getting excited for it.[/QUOTE]

I think this might be one of those titles you either like or don't.

DoK is definitely in the don't like camp, I'm in the like camp. As I said before, the game its flaws (cliched story, cheese moments, awkward moments, slowdown) but I really do like the battle system and visual style of the game.

So far, I'd say it's in the 8/10 range for me which falls in line with Metacritic. I went into this game (like most games) with zero expectations/little knowledge though so that might have had something to do with it.

Xenoblade is definitely the better RPG though (I know TLS won't surpass it even though I'm only half-way through)... too bad it won't see as widespread a release as this.
 
The framerate issues are still present when ripped to a HDD but they aren't as severe.

The combat in Xenoblade Chronicles was too close to the standard-fare MMO clicking on hotbars style for me. That's obviously an oversimplification but after so many years of playing MMOs that style of combat is wholly boring to me. (to be fair I only played maybe 10 hours of Xenoblade Chronicles but that was because the combat bored me...I'll go back to it as I know it's good...just need some time-off from hotbars)

MMO combat is still very much limited by latency issues but I guess that that's an entirely different conversation.
 
Do we know if there was a slow down issue in the Japanese release? Is there hope that it was just a bad localization, and maybe Xseed's release will be better?
 
Slowdown exists in both the Japanese and European releases, and will exist in the NA release. Xseed isn't going to tweak the code since that would cost them a lot of money on what's already a perceived risk. And even if they wanted to, I doubt it would matter since it's more likely due to the Wii's limitations more than anything.

I'm beginning to wonder why so many of you are talking about the slowdown though... it's not that bad. Of course, that might be because I'm running it off of a HDD.
 
[quote name='Vinny']
I'm beginning to wonder why so many of you are talking about the slowdown though... it's not that bad. Of course, that might be because I'm running it off of a HDD.[/QUOTE]

I'm running it on the Wii and off the disc and it is REALLY. fuckING. BAD. You should give it a try.

How far are you, btw, Vinny? I'm at chapter
34
. 20 hours or so on the clock, not too far from the end... I've left the game on for a couple hours while doing household shit too.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I'm running it on the Wii and off the disc and it is REALLY. fuckING. BAD. You should give it a try.

How far are you, btw, Vinny? I'm at chapter
34
. 20 hours or so on the clock, not too far from the end... I've left the game on for a couple hours while doing household shit too.[/QUOTE]

I'll have to try that then. It might help if you have a spare external HDD or a USB drive with enough room on it to rip the disc to but since you're almost done, I guess it's pointless. Incidentally, if you hate the game that much, you could probably sell the CE for minimal loss on eBay.

I finished chapter 22 I think,
the haunted house
. I'm actually kinda glad the game supposedly takes about 20 hours. I might not be able to put off Mass Effect 3 until summer as I originally planned to...
 
I bought the regular edition. I am a CAG, you know. I'll be offering it up in this here thread once I am done with it. Should be by the end of this weekend, just in time for Yakuza OF THE END (and Tales of Graces f, :lol:).

Edit: On Chapter
37
now. There was a part in the last chapter that I probably would have quit the game over if I weren't so far in. Some of the design decisions they made are plain nonsensical.
 
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Oh, well hopefully you find someone to buy. And I completely forgot about Yakuza and Graces F. fuck... this feels like the Xmas season again, except I'm extra broke now.
 
I'd definitely rip the disc to a HDD if that's at all possible as the framerate issues are very much minimized. (I'd categorize them as the exception rather than the rule in fact)

Also many Wii's have a notoriously bad time with dual-layered discs to the tune of the older/more used the Wii the harder time it has with reading DVD9s. If it sounds like a Dreamcast then it's time to get a USB loader and a HDD.

I have a launch unit so every damn game gets ripped as soon as it arrives.:razz:
 
It's the dual-layered discs which give people the most trouble and since most Wii games are on single-layered discs that's probably why.

Even with the few dual-layered games it can be anything from audio skips to disc errors (usually during the layer change) or just plain not reading the disc as a Wii game at all. And all of those can become progressively worse as the drive ages and the laser strength/calibration degrades.

The big one which really started it all was Super Smash Bros. Brawl and if you remember Nintendo issued an update around then and was replacing disc drives as well. (I *think* for free)

edit: I'm trying to dig-up a comprehensive list of all dual-layered games so that you can test and you can use a standard cleaning kit but I'd definitely test first before spending any money. SSBB, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid: Other M, oh Xenoblade (duh), and that's all I can think of off the top of my head.
 
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