Back at the tail-end of the Wii's run as the hottest console ticket in town, so around about 2011 to be precise, there were a few special RPGs that released in rather quick succession to give Nintendo's magic box a surprisingly exciting last hurrah.
Indeed, casting my mind back now — and unaided by AI, I'll have you know — I seem to remember something called 'Operation Rainfall', which was a fan-side campaign to have three outstanding RPGs brought over to the West; Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower, and The Last Story.
Watch on YouTubeSubscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube842k
We can argue all day about how much effect this campaign actually had in the end (as far as I recall, Xenoblade was already on the way), but it was exciting times for sure, and rallying behind the release of this trio of titles had us all chomping at the bit to get stuck into 'em.
But were they — and more specifically, was The Last Story — actually any good? Well, I think we all know the answer to that is a resounding 'yes', so let's not bother with the pantomime build-up and just get on with saying Happy 15th Birthday to you, The Last Story, you absolute belter!
Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who you may know as the father of the little known 'Final Fantasy' franchise of 'video games' (never heard of them), The Last Story is somewhat poignant, before we even begin on the game itself, in being Sakaguchi's return to directing duties following a personally painful period that culminated in his departure from Square.
Having got himself deeply involved in the creation of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which tanked at the box office and cost Square dearly, the RPG maestro distanced himself from the industry for years before returning with a new studio. Mistwalker went on to bring us the excellent Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon (which wasn't quite so great) before releasing The Last Story itself, Sakaguchi's final full-on console game before spinning off into mobile-first fare.
Back when The Last Story released, former NL editor Tom Whitehead gave it an 8/10, saying that it took a fresh approach for the time, and for the most part, this freshness comes down to real-time combat that's semi-automated in its approach. Please, don't recoil in horror, though, as there's so much going on here that, in practice, those automated attacks are a blessing.
Assuming the role of Zael, a mercenary and gang leader on the island of Lazilus, you act as a sort of field marshal or point guard-type figure during party combat, one who directs the flow of battle by assigning tasks, attacks, manoeuvres and so on to party members via your crossbow target. You still have direct control over Zael, and you can even assign attacks to a button if you want, but there's so much going on, especially in bigger battles, that automated feels right, once you get used to it.
The game has a nice take on a Gears-style cover system built in, and when it's all working well, it feels as much like a full-on action game as it does an RPG (hence all the frame rate stutters at times). Missions do well in giving you exploration opportunities before funnelling you towards big, inescapable boss scraps and cinematic moments. It's the sort of thing you can blow through in about 20 hours, or spend 50 hoovering everything up.
Whilst there's no doubt it definitely takes some getting used to, and the real struggle is in the first few hours before fights really open up, stick with this one and its winning formula shines through, giving you something different to grapple with on the combat front and something different nestled at the heart of a strong story.
I won't ruin that part here, because I genuinely want you to go play it, but if you loved the unique vibe of the likes of The Lost Odyssey, you'll get that same sort of feeling from this one. It's magical and beguiling in a strange, eerie, and delicate sort of way.
The Last Story nails its look and its atmosphere hard, and while it may not be the most impressive thing to behold overall (and especially in today's economy), it's also a weirdly timelessly stylised thing that still manages to bewitch. It helps, too, in this regard, that the soundtrack by none other than Nobuo Uematsu is a corker.
Even now, 15 years down the line from its Japanese launch (the English-localised version came out the following year), booting into the game for the first time in at least a decade, I find that it still holds up in terms of this uncanny atmosphere and in its capacity to captivate. Indeed, although the performance issues and stutters that held it back from a better score from Tom at launch are very notable these days, this is still something I'll happily sit down and get totally lost in all over again.
Now, enough cake and celebrating. Where's my Switch 2 remake with 120fps combat and motion controls?
Played The Last Story? Got any opinions on it as it celebrates its 15th birthday? Let us know in the comments.