Mistwalker's The Last Story and Xenoblade

[metallicorphan]

The Last Story and Pandora's Tower getting European release

Kotaku

The games some American Wii owners have been pleading with Nintendo to release in the United States are finally being translated to English and released... in Europe.

In a body blow as devastating to American Wii loyalists as the one the floored King Hippo, Nintendo of Europe announced today that they'll follow up the European August release of role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles with 2012 releases of action game Pandora's Tower and acclaimed (from-the-father-of-Final-Fantasy) RPG The Last Story.

All three games were made and released in Japan. All three are thought to be pretty good. All three have not been released in America, despite fan pleas, petitions and a letter-writing campaign that involved sending meat to Nintendo of America headquarters.

Nintendo of America, You Are Really Smart (Or Mean!) Through the summer, Nintendo of America has responded to questions about releasing those games in the States where Wii games have run dry with a few variations on the "no plans"/"nothing to announce" answer. They've disappointed the unknown number of people who would actually buy these games.

Nintendo of America has long kept games off American soil for fear they wouldn't sell. Perhaps their abacus and crystal ball are correct again and too few people would buy these games. In that case, Nintendo of America is being wise here, recognizing that these games just aren't good enough or cool enough for people outside of Japan, Europe and sometimes Australia. Nintendo of Europe might simply be a batch of fools or a crew that caters to an audience with different tastes.

On the other hand, if Nintendo of Europe is releasing them, that means they're being translated into English. That means all NoA has to do is toss them in a few boxes, truck them out to a bunch of GameStops, buy a few banner ads, and — voila! — they get some inexpensive hits! Or they risk making Nintendo fans fume, and surely Nintendo of America doesn't like to make Nintendo fans fume.

A spokesperson for Nintendo of America told Kotaku today that there is "no change in the status of those two games", The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, for America.

My fellow Americans, don't fret. Perhaps we'll get the Wii U earlier in 2012 than those lousy Europeans. If you're super-hardcore and super-angry, you might want to figure out how to get European Wii discs to play in an American Wii.

[EddieA]

Not that Nintendo has never done anything stupid before, but they can't possibly be dumb enough to not release these in the US.  Can they?

[CeeKay]

Wii had to give up something to keep backward compatibility.

[USMC Kato]

Those crazy Europeans better buy the hell out of two RPG's, so maybe nintendo will decide to release here in the U.S.

[Scraper]

The Last Story is finally officially coming to North America this summer

[Kagath]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

[Scraper]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

I think Xenoblade s exclusive to Gamestop. It comes out in April. I preordered it just to make sure I get a copy since it seems like the release won't be huge.

[Kagath]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

I think Xenoblade s exclusive to Gamestop. It comes out in April. I preordered it just to make sure I get a copy since it seems like the release won't be huge.

I think I will be doing that as well next time I am in the area. Thanks

[jersoc]

oh god, so excited that last story is coming.

[EddieA]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

Nintendo just announced the release date - April 6.  You can buy it from Gamestop or directly from Nintendo's website.

[CeeKay]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

Nintendo just announced the release date - April 6.  You can buy it from Gamestop or directly from Nintendo's website.

I may have to pre-order it as a belated birthday gift for my fiancee.  showed her the videos and she really liked what she saw.

of course that means I'll have to share the TV now....

[EddieA]

Apparently, Nintendo really wants people to order from Gamestop and not from Nintendo directly.  Not only do you not get the preorder artbook if you order from Nintendo, there's also this message at the Xenoblade order page.

We expect to begin shipping by the end of April 2012. A confirmation email will be sent when your order ships.

[Eel Snave]

Started playing The Last Story yesterday. It's safe to call it an action-RPG, and I'm about 1/2 hr in so far. The combat is a little confusing, but there's some stealth involved in it too, which makes it interesting.

[Kagath]

When is Chronicles released again? Store exclusive or something?

Nintendo just announced the release date - April 6.  You can buy it from Gamestop or directly from Nintendo's website.

I have to remember to get this preordered real soon. As much as I hate that idea I don't want to have to pay a premium later.

[Gratch]

This is a first.  I have Chronicles pre-ordered and paid in full, but don't even own the console it's being released for.   

[CeeKay]

Started playing The Last Story yesterday. It's safe to call it an action-RPG, and I'm about 1/2 hr in so far. The combat is a little confusing, but there's some stealth involved in it too, which makes it interesting.

* CeeKay pokes Eel with a sharp stick

so.... any more impressions?

[Eel Snave]

You know what? I haven't really played it much. I fell back into Skyrim on my computer and totally forgot about The Last Story. 

[CeeKay]

just got an email from Amazon that there is a new ship date for Last Story:  July 13, 2012.

[metallicorphan]

just got an email from Amazon that there is a new ship date for Last Story:  July 13, 2012.

is it not out for you guys yet?

when i am back in work(how long is a piece of string),i plan on getting a Wii again for 4 games,The Last Story,Pandora's Tower,Xenoblade Chronicals and Skyward Sword...maybe i could borrow a friends Wii

[EddieA]

IGN has news that all launch copies of The Last Story will include a 44-page artbook

[CeeKay]

dammit, now Amazon is saying July 31st ship date.

[CeeKay]

dammit, now Amazon is saying July 31st ship date.

and now they're saying August 14th.  the same day as Sleeping Dogs is supposedly due.

[USMC Kato]

This is probably the "Last" wii title I'm going to buy

[EddieA]

XSeed announced today that August 14 is the official release date.  Also, if you preorder at Amazon or Gamestop, you'll get a 7-track soundtrack CD.

[Gratch]

This is probably the "Last" wii title I'm going to buy

If it makes you feel any better, I will have purchased a Wii to essentially play only two games...one of which I ended up sort of meh about (Xenoblade) and one that remains to be seen (last story).

 

[Autistic Angel]

Game Informer has posted a new Test Chamber for The Last Story.  It's a little weird in that Joe Juba is forbidden from discussing his opinion on the game and chooses to load up a New Game+ in which he can one-shot every enemy he encounters, but I still learned things about the cover-based combat, team commands, and which fruit works best for defeating the final boss.

-Autistic Angel

[skystride]

This is probably the "Last" wii title I'm going to buy

If it makes you feel any better, I will have purchased a Wii to essentially play only two games...one of which I ended up sort of meh about (Xenoblade) and one that remains to be seen (last story).

 

Meh on Xenoblade WTF?!  This game has completely what I expect from JRPGs in the future.

[Gratch]

This is probably the "Last" wii title I'm going to buy

If it makes you feel any better, I will have purchased a Wii to essentially play only two games...one of which I ended up sort of meh about (Xenoblade) and one that remains to be seen (last story).

 

Meh on Xenoblade WTF?!  This game has completely what I expect from JRPGs in the future.

I liked it in general, but it was just way too big and unfocused for my liking.  The plot and characters simply got buried under all the "stuff" that it required you to do, to the point that I felt completely disconnected from anything that was going on.  I would always end up exploring yet another massive map, but I could never tell you why I was there, what I was looking for, and how it connected to the overall plot.  That sort of stuff is important to me.  I'm sure that those who simply enjoy the exploration aspects of a game were probably in heaven with it.  Thought it suffered from a massive case of "side quest overload".  Suppose I could have ignored them, but the OCD gamer in me wouldn't allow it.  

It was a good game, but not a great one imho.

[CeeKay]

Thought it suffered from a massive case of "side quest overload".

same here.  I need to get back to it but I'm dreading looking at how many side quests I still had left.

[The Grue]

Thought it suffered from a massive case of "side quest overload".

same here.  I need to get back to it but I'm dreading looking at how many side quests I still had left.

You could always just not do them.  And you and Gratch don't give me that "I have OCD stuff."  If it's not fun, I would think that should ooutweigh any OCD you might have.  I had the same thing in an Assassin's Creed game where I couldn't resist doing side stuff, but then I realized that I was never going to finish the game and I wasn't having that much fun doing the side stuff and so I moved on.

[skystride]

Most of the side quests don't offer much in terms of rewards or story.  If you feel it's too grindy, you really should skip them.

I'm loving the features you typically don't see in a JRPG like save anywhere, wide open world, not losing progress when you die, really fun combat system, insta travel etc.   Seems like they asked themselves, what are the things we hate the most about JRPGs and then designed the game to handle these issues.

[Gratch]

Thought it suffered from a massive case of "side quest overload".

same here.  I need to get back to it but I'm dreading looking at how many side quests I still had left.

You could always just not do them.  And you and Gratch don't give me that "I have OCD stuff."  If it's not fun, I would think that should ooutweigh any OCD you might have.  I had the same thing in an Assassin's Creed game where I couldn't resist doing side stuff, but then I realized that I was never going to finish the game and I wasn't having that much fun doing the side stuff and so I moved on.

If that were the only issue, I'd agree...as much as it's against my nature.  Unfortunately, the larger issue for me was the incredibly dull story and characters.  Much like Dragon's Dogma, I enjoyed most of the the individual RPG elements (i.e. combat, skill system, crafting, etc.), but the lack of a larger framework to put all the activity in context simply caused me to become disinterested.  After 40+ hours, I found myself trying to recall why I was doing all this stuff...and honestly couldn't remember.   My desire to continue grinding pretty much disappeared at that point.

[CeeKay]

Thought it suffered from a massive case of "side quest overload".

same here.  I need to get back to it but I'm dreading looking at how many side quests I still had left.

You could always just not do them.  And you and Gratch don't give me that "I have OCD stuff."  If it's not fun, I would think that should ooutweigh any OCD you might have.  I had the same thing in an Assassin's Creed game where I couldn't resist doing side stuff, but then I realized that I was never going to finish the game and I wasn't having that much fun doing the side stuff and so I moved on.

it's more the need to do them for XP so I don't end up banging my head against the wall during a boss fight.

[farley2k]

Kokatu seems to love Last Story

You might be tempted to ignore this one. It's for Wii. You probably haven't touched yours in a while. Maybe it's in the closet, collecting dust with your Ninja Turtle action figures. Maybe you still haven't finished Xenoblade (it's hella long). Maybe you're playing Darksiders II or Papo & Yo or waiting on the new Mario game. Maybe you were just going to let this one pass by.

Don't. The Last Story is one of the best role-playing games you can get on a console today—and one of the best I've played in years.

[skystride]

That's really high praise.  I'm still working on XBC.  55 hours in and still hooked.

[CeeKay]

anyone actually get a copy?  I've been hearing that it's a Friday release now.  Amazon is showing 'Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks' but it isn't listed as a pre-order anymore.

[Gratch]

Kokatu seems to love Last Story

You might be tempted to ignore this one. It's for Wii. You probably haven't touched yours in a while. Maybe it's in the closet, collecting dust with your Ninja Turtle action figures. Maybe you still haven't finished Xenoblade (it's hella long). Maybe you're playing Darksiders II or Papo & Yo or waiting on the new Mario game. Maybe you were just going to let this one pass by.

Don't. The Last Story is one of the best role-playing games you can get on a console today—and one of the best I've played in years.

This one seems to be a bit polarizing, but reviews have been generally positive.  Looking forward to giving it a spin.

anyone actually get a copy?  I've been hearing that it's a Friday release now.  Amazon is showing 'Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks' but it isn't listed as a pre-order anymore.

Gamestop.com still listing it as a pre-order as well, but doesn't have a release date.  Odd.

[EddieA]

There's been a last-minute shipping problem.  XSeed is saying the game should be in stores Thursday, although many Gamestops are saying Friday.

[MonkeyFinger]

anyone actually get a copy?  I've been hearing that it's a Friday release now.  Amazon is showing 'Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks' but it isn't listed as a pre-order anymore.

The Prime version does show that now but my pre-order is saying "Shipping soon" with an expected delivery date of Friday, so... yay!

[Eel Snave]

I restarted Xenoblade Chronicles. Don't ask me why. I'm just a masochist, I guess.