The Last Remnant

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

In the world of the Last Remnant there are magical items called Remnants which are rare, mystical and magical artifacts of varying shapes and sizes that most of the world wants to control. You are Rush, son of a famous remnant researcher who is in search of his sister and wants to solve the mystery of who is causing all of this trouble. Using a interesting combat system where you can control a party of up to 25 people. Across several groups and engage in massive battles with over 70 enemies you will search the world and discover that everything is not a simple fate of Good versus Evil.

How much you will enjoy the Last Remnant will be determined on your ability to overlook the constant graphic issues which plague the game. From texture draw in issues to a constant fluctuation of the frame rate this will bring down your enjoyment of the game if you are a gamer who hates them. Installing the game does help with the issues but with both discs your standard 20 gig HDD will not be enough space.


The Last Remnant is your standard Japanese role playing game but with a twist because instead of using one single party, called unions in the game, you can use multiple unions by hiring a leader and recruiting people to fight with you in your unions. Then during combat you select what each union will do, from general attacking, attacking with magic, combat arts, and defending against multiple groups of enemies which in some of the massive battles can easily hit above 70 enemies. These battles are long and difficult but very rewarding if you fight in the larger fights and it is worth while to quickly learn your limits before engaging more then one or two groups in fights.

I was very surprised that the game does not have an auto save system and relies on you to save. Luckily you can save anywhere you wish, but I lost three hours of game time because of this and my own lack of paying attention, which is a major pain. So remember to save often, because there will be times an easy battle can easily turn for the worse and you will end up being wiped out.

The Last Remnant contains no random encounters as you can see all enemies before you engage them, so you can avoid them if you want to or even choose if you will engage more then one group of monsters in one battle. This is nice because the random battles we experience in most Japanese role playing games are getting very old. While no random encounters are a nice touch, button mini-games in the middle of your epic battles is not welcome. During some fights you will have to pull a trigger or hit one of the buttons on the controller at a key moment for doing extra damage to the enemy, this worked fine in the Lost Odyssey but with different keys to hit it becomes a chore.

The use of morale in role playing games is not a new feature and the Last Remnant uses morale the same as most other games. As you fight and are damage or do damage the overall morale between both sides is adjusted. If you morale is low you will do less damage and receive more damage if your morale is high the opposite is true. In the Last Remnant morale seemed to be more important then other games so this is something to watch during the big fights as you may have to adjust your tactics.

Questing is nice and simple in the game with many quests automatically transporting you to and from the location as needed so there is no need to do much traveling, but what traveling you do see is obviously inspired by Final Fantasy XI (MMORPG) with nice wide open areas. If you become lost or confused it is easy to travel to your home base and then find out where you need to go, this is helpful if you take a few days off from playing the game.


Graphically, the Last Remnant is a beautiful game running off of Epic Games Unreal Engine 3. What is most surprising is that this game has the same graphic issues other early Unreal Engine games have with slow texture rendering and frame rate issues but it seems to have more of them when other newer Unreal Engine powered titles almost never have a single issue.

The art style of the game looks like a Final Fantasy game with some new creatures and effects thrown in for good measure. This is not a bad thing though since the games graphics are of the highest quality in character design, animation and texturing. The level design is not very impressive with an old school RPG feel to it but each cave, dungeon and town has a wonderful look with its own personality to it.


Square Enix always has great audio in their games, with stirring and emotional musical scores, wonderful sound effects and most of the time the voice over work is some of the best. This is the same with the Last Remnant game, as it has great music for the general game as well as music for the battles which seems to change at just the right time. The sound effects are of the highest quality we have come to known from Square Enix and I was happy that they were not the normal sound effects we have heard from their last couple of Xbox 360 role playing games.

I was however disappointed with the amount of voice over work in the game with it being almost non-existent compared to other role playing titles. Key cut-scenes are voiced, but the rest of the game is pure text and after games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect have given us most if not all of the game fully voiced, having a game from what is supposed to be one of the best Japanese development houses fail in this regard is very sad. What voice work there was, is very good, with only a few characters being annoying. Sadly the most annoying character is the lead character, Rush, who comes across as a immature child with an annoying voice.

The game is very linear, even though it feels like it offers some fun and open gaming freedom. The only real freedom you will have in the end is from how you set up your unions and approach battles and even then the freedom is limited. This is nice long game and if you want a lot of bang for your buck this is a worthy choice for an experienced role playing gamer.


If you enjoy role playing games, especially Japanese role playing games, the Last Remnant is a must buy. One of my favorite Square Enix role playing titles in years with much potential and hopefully a patch will fix the few noticeable graphic issues.

Installing the Game – If you use the NXE (New Xbox Experience) you will have a choice to install the game and in the end this is possibly the best choice if you have enough hard drive space. When the game is installed the frame rate issues and texture issues almost all disappear which is nice, but it almost seems like the game was made to be installed. If you play the game normally, it is not too bad, but you will have to overlook the graphic issues to find the game enjoyable.

1 week ago :: (XBLA) Sacred Citadel
1 week ago :: Injustice: Gods Among Us
1 week ago :: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
2 weeks ago :: BioShock Infinite
4 weeks ago :: Gears of War Judgment
1 month ago :: (Kinect) The Hip Hop Dance Experience
1 month ago :: Tomb Raider
1 month ago :: Crysis 3
2 months ago :: DmC Devil May Cry
2 months ago :: (XBLA) Serious Sam Double D XXL