Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant and the Decline of the JRPG

Let me start with a comment you'll probably all agree with me on: this console generation is a lousy time to be a JRPG fan, if the review scores are to be believed.

First, right out of the gate, the only promised titles are FFXIII (years and years off), and Enchanted Arms, which turned out to be sub-par and had the worst, most offensive character archetype in the history of video games (thanks, Makoto). The years ticked by and the releases finally began to trickle out of the studios - mostly for Xbox 360 (much to the chagrin of Sony fanboys who bought the PS3 believing it to be THE JRPG system of this gen - which it should have been - but its slow start cost Sony dearly), and slowly increasing in quality. Following Enchanted Arms, there was Blue Dragon, then Lost Odyssey, then a couple of oddball strategy RPG hybrids from Atlus (PS2 ports from Japan), then Tales of Vesperia, then Infinite Undiscovery, and now Last Remnant...with the promise of Star Ocean and possibly Final Fantasy XIII (FINALLY) next year.

But something happened along the way...the games came out, but really didn't get any better, if the critics were to be believed. Blue Dragon scored subpar reviews, Lost Odyssey did marginally better, Tales did okay, and Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant got hit _HARD_. Most of the complaints for all the JRPGs up until Infinite Undiscovery had to do with "more of the same". Apparently, the US-developed Space Marine or WWII games can get away with "more but prettier" content, but Japanese games get absolutely crucified in reviews for doing essentially the exact...same...thing.

Now it should come as no surprise that the two most "revolutionary" RPGs to hit the next-gen consoles so far, Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant, were also heavily criticized, but for completely different reasons. In Infinite Undiscovery's case, it was an (admittedly) minigame-glutted first 10 hours which, if you are an achievement completionist, would be one of the worst gaming experiences of your life.... make no mistake. The stealth "can't get hit" minigame. The castle siege. The ANNOYING villager rescue. The prisoner rescue where the enemies kill the prisoners before you can save them. The ridiculously cliche plot...UP TO A POINT.

Somehow I get the impression that the reviewers got fed up and never played past the first 10 hours, because the plot takes off at the end of the first disc and doesn't let up until the end of the game...and the gameplay gets better. The minigames fade away and what's left is pure FFXII style exploration and combat bliss - with an element of danger because your party members can turn on you with little warning during battles (can't explain why - plot spoilarzzz). There are a few "groaner" plot twists, the kind you tick off on a checklist, and the areas admittedly could have used a bit more polish. Overall, I'd say it certainly didn't deserve the bashing it got from the mainstream press, although it was admittedly a B-effort from a farmed-out team. Not Square-Enix caliber.

In Last Remnant's case, well, let's investigate...

I've spent the past few days digging into both Last Remnant on 360 and Tales of Symphonia: Knights of Ratato...errr, Dawn of the New World on the Wii.

As far as graphics are concerned, Last Remnant is absolutely gorgeous. It's built on UNREAL and shows that the engine can do more than display various shades of brown, red, and grey. Square-Enix vistas are brilliantly brought to life. My only concern is that the towns I've explored so far kind of blend into each other - similar archetecture and thematic elements, and all very reminiscent of FFXII's Rabanastre. Dungeons are rendered gorgeously.

The battle system is revolutionary. You control groups of units rather than single units, and get to choose actions from a predetermined pallet for each group. The camera swings wildly about the arena while the battles are taking place, as you can comandeer upwards of 20 different units simultaneously in the psuedo turn-based skirmishes. The battles require a different kind of strategy since you're not exactly sure what commands the game will give you on any given turn (this is the biggest problem with the new system), and you may be left without the ability to heal on a turn where you need it. That said, this was a very nice first attempt at trying something a little new and different - something that could be perfected with a little polish.

So why did the reviews blast it? They weren't comfortable with the new battle system, and were put off by minor technical issues. They didn't like the loading times or the fact that there was framerate stutter on occasions, and dropped the score (in some cases, such as Gamespot, quite significantly - 6.5) . Normally this wouldn't bother me, as I noticed those issues at first as well and was admittedly put off...until I installed the game to the HDD and watched those issues disappear. No more long loading times, and framerate stutters became much less common. They failed to mention this fact. Somehow I get the suspicion the mainstream press is being overcritical of the JRPG if they manage to overlook Fable II's many flaws and award it a 10, but yet give something like Last Remnant a 6.5.

Granted, the Last Remnant is far from the "second coming" of the JRPG, but it takes a good many steps in the right direction.

So much so, in fact, that I have my sneaking suspicions that those looking forward to a gameplay revolution in FFXIII may be shocked at how similar the two games end up. Let's compare: the dramatic, sweeping camera angles, complex HUD that doesn't appear to actually do much, and a lot of action sequences that you don't control (in Last Remnant's case)...but honestly, do you really expect you'll be controlling Lightning most of the time during battles? It's going to be a gussied-up, polished, and slimmed down version of Last Remnant's take on battles, but with less characters - mark my words. In my opinion, that's both a good thing and a bad thing. The American mainstream press will dump hate on it, just as it has done with Last Remnant. But those of us looking for evolution in the genre won't care one bit.