New Square RPG Unveiled - The Last Remnant

1up is reporting on content from Game Informer magazine from this month, talking about Square's next big non-Final Fantasy RPG. Entitled The Last Remnant, it sounds like an interesting blend of the old and the new. While the action will stick with traditional turn-based mechanics, several elements reflect the changing landscape of the games industry. Square/Enix intends to release the game worldwide, localizing the game to an English audience as the game is created. Additionally, the game will have two selectable protagonists: one is to be a traditional heroic Square character, and the other more of an anti-hero for the American market. "The Last Remnant's been designed on Unreal Engine 3, and we should see the first official media come from [Square/Enix's announcement party] on May 12 and 13. Going with Epic's technology isn't too surprising considering the company's emphasizing the focus on Western gamers ... We don't know much about combat, but it's turn-based, more action-oriented and has a cinematic flair."

Comments

traditional heroic Square character

[earnest murderer]

traditional heroic Square character, and the other more of an anti-hero for the American market
Read as...
disaffected youth with spiky hair, and the other a disaffected youth with long hair

I enjoy these games as much as anyone else, but as their name implies their character development is about as flat as my display.

Re:traditional heroic Square character

[C0rinthian]

Nah, the americanized anti-hero will be 'buff' to the point of anatomic impossibility, scarred, tattooed, and posess trendy yet intimidating facial hair. He will also posess a brash personality and mysterious past.

Rediculous body armor is also a possibility, as are very, very large guns.

Re:Hmm

[Rycross]

Blue Dragon was done by Mistwalker Studios. Sakaguchi, who designed Final Fantasy, left Square and formed his own studio.

The strategy makes sense.

[RyanFenton]

It makes sense that when making an Unreal engine game (which implies an "anything-but-Nintendo systems" release), they'd start the design with a highly western-friendly set of themes, based on the fact that non-Nintendo consoles just don't seem competitive right now in Japan. I doubt we'll be seeing Planescape: Torment or anything, but it'll be interesting to see if they can make an interesting title when learning such new sets of technology (likely training a lot of developers for the future with this project), and attempting to cater to a somewhat alien audience.

I don't know what it is, but a lot of their non-Final Fantasy games have seemed sort of, well, disingenuous or empty in similar circumstances, even if still good in some ways. Here's hoping it's not a Brave Fencer Musashi.

Looking back, I think you can probably guess what the game is going to be like by looking at the title - Final Fantasy is not going to end. Musashi is going to be an unfocused, unhistorical romp. Last Remnant, therefore, is going to involve drowning in remnants.

Ryan Fenton

Re:The strategy makes sense.

[LordVader717]

The same goes for the Final Fantasy VII and VIII games that were released on PC. The way all these games played made it seem like "hey, if you want play real games, buy a Playstation"
It made me save to "Slot 1" and "Slot 2" on my PC.

The Trend

[Applekid]

Judging from the success of the Final Fantasy series...

The title "The Last Remnant" implies the game will not have a sequel, therefore it will do great and there will be a continuing string of sequels made for next 20 years.

I kind of wish they'd pay more love to the Chrono series and the Final Fantasy Tactics line instead of coming up with new franchises that they'll only half-heartedly support.

Re:Need more cofee

[earnest murderer]

Come on, it's a tragic story of how the aristocratic management raises dryer rates while lowering the temperature to get more money out of their customers. Eventually you'll discover the purpose isn't just to make more dough, but to fund their super secret Laundro-Bot that will subjugate the entire human race before summoning METEOR to rain bloody vengance upon their competitors! Mostly because the owner was jilted by a girl that worked across town at another Wash & Dry. You will eventually prevail over the mad manager, but it will be too late to stop Laundro-Bot.

All of this because long ago the owner was jilted by a girl that worked across town at another Wash & Dry. A woman who turns out to be... YOUR MOM!

There will be a side quest involving a giant chicken and a homeless man with his own rocket.

Huh?

[BDew]

I'm no MBA, but this:

"They may still get the sales, but sales have been proven to be a false indicator of market sucess, (halo and madden do well every iteration and neither are particularly excellent)."

makes NO sense what-so-ever. What other indicator of market success is there? Are people making money without selling things?

Re:Need more cofee

[Dutch Gun]

Don't forget the oh-so-subtle undertones in the story about how humans-are-not-living-in-harmony-with-nature and/or weilding-a-power-too-awesome-for-us-and-may-destro y-us-all.