Well, I beat the game last night. I saw the Dagran thing coming since the beginning of the game. It wasn't a shock really. The fight with him was pretty cool. The first two forms were no problem. Zael was almost 10 levels over him, so it went quicker than the text could keep up. The 3rd form was difficult. My teammates weren't particularly helpful. I was very thankful for the Revive spell though. I got like, 5 bonus 1-ups throughout the battle from using that. I got nervous when Dagran "died" in a weird spot where I couldn't really get high enough to deliver the final blow. I found it awkward that the game could essentially keep going after that final battle. Then I talk to Lowell, and the game is over. I wish the game was more cut and dry in the sense that it said, "hey! if you do this, this is the end!" It made me miss a few quests that came after the final battle. I had to reload the game after the credits.

I'm content with the game, considering it will be the last game I ever play on my Wii. But I don't think it was better than Xenoblade.

Congrats@TheOldManFromZelda!

I have not beaten Xenoblade yet but both games have there strengths and weaknesses.. Xeno has the sheer scope of it's world going for it - and The Last Story has a more focused quest... I like them both very much.

As for after the fight, I found it neat that I could explore the world after the climatic battle. Not many games do that, and it was nice to see the town trying to rebuild itself. You were able to tie up loose ends (into a knot so to speak) with the other quests (I hope you found them) and further enjoy the world post battle. Funny that I didn't stumble onto the ending until after the other quests were done - I think the message was that whenever you are ready, Lowell wants to talk to you. I don't know, something made me think that seeing Lowell would close up everything. Hey..have you had the dual with Therius yet? If yes, fight him again (if not...fight him twice)- more juicy tidbits of what the General was truly like follows.

@Smerd

I have not done that second thing, but I had a feeling that meeting him at the castle would prompt something like that!

NinSage and I will be trying out the online co-op this Wednesday evening, would anyone like to join us?

I just started playing this game tonight! I know I'm late to the party, but better late than never right? I've only put about an hour in so far, which I understand is way too early to form any sort of opinion on the game as a whole. So far the combat has been really dull, although I'm expecting that will open up significantly more as I move on. So, did the majority of you guys stick with Auto combat or switch to Manual? I don't like the idea of my damage output being reduced on Manual, but I just feel like I'm not really doing that much on Auto... What did you guys go with?

Gorgeous cut scenes so far. Walking into the first big town and seeing the view of the castle was really something. I also enjoyed the interactions with the characters in the bar. Everyone seemed really flat at the beginning, without even so much as an introduction, but I can start to see the seeds of character development start to be cultivated. Looking forward to delving into it more!

Bout 12 hours into this and it's good but not great. First off, there are way too many cutscenes, though I appreciate that most can be fast-forwarded. It feels like I'm barely even in control, there is just too much cinematic to this game. The frame rate dips don't bother me much though they are quite noticeable. What bothers me is the mindlessness of the action, and the somewhat broken camera. It's rare that battles require strategy, since you can die and revive up to 5 times per battle, you might as well just go in guns-a-blazing.

On the plus side,the story's interesting, the voice acting and graphics are good, the RPG elements are satisfying, and the gameplay is solid enough. I'm trying to play through this quickly, to finish before I get the Wii U. Anybody can tell me how much time I have left? I just finished the five trials of Asthar

@anon_mastermind

It's about a 30 hr quest - but rushing through it won't make you enjoy it any more.. I found that rushing it guns blazing so to speak during battles only took you so far. I had more fun being strategic and using the environment to kill off more then one enemy at a time.

@WindWaker99

Manual... Manual all the way. There is less to do during battle overall then in Xenoblade so using the Auto setting for The Last Story feels like you are just there for the ride. Damage output is reduced a little to prevent button mashing in manual mode but that shouldn't hold you back. Try attacking, then planning an attack (when you learn how to do that), then duck..then attack again. If you keep moving around, each of your attacks will be close to full strength.

@anon_mastermind

You will need all 5 of your lives later in the game. There are some much tougher battles ahead.

@TheOldManFromZelda

You forgot to say that it's also dangerous to go alone and to offer him a new sword..

@anon_mastermind This is how many chapters are in the game: 44.

@WindWaker99 @Smerd Yeah, I also did Manual, switched to it before I even started the first battle. Don't worry about the reduced damage, since you can attack faster, you can actually cause more damage if you're efficient enough. It's also easier to run around the battlefield if you need to do things like retreat or give orders, as then your guy won't be attacking when you're trying to move away.

Well now, I didn't even know there was an option for "manual". Why the heck is automatic the default?

@anon_mastermind

Holy crap man - don't you ever play with a games control settings? 12hrs in - I feel a bit sorry for ya. Oh well.. you have more then enough game to make up for it..

Switch to manual mode and the camera issues will be way less frequent. Having more control makes a heck of a difference.

I just fired this game up. Maybe I'm missing something but my character practically does all by himself. I just walk up to the enemy and he starts wailing on it. I think I'm still in the tutorial stage...

@Tranquilo

Hey... just a heads up - read a couple of posts before yours.. you may be in automatic mode. Play with the controls a bit and switch to "manual" before you go insane.

So...

I switched to manual and played a bit more. The controls are stiff, but that might just be the classic controller pro working its magic. With that said, the game is starting to grow on me. Although having just played Uncharted, even the characters in Other M would have seem rela...

The dialogue seems well written so far and there is not the usual amount of angst found on JRPGs.

For what it's worth, I like the story in the game, but the gameplay is another story. The camera does whatever the hell it wants. Even when using the classic controller I'm always righting to relocate the damn thing. When battling enemies, everything is so crowded and half the time I don't even know what's going on. I just go and whack the nearest enemy, maybe roll away, rinse, repeat. I'm also having a hard time seeing wtf is going on, but that might be my TV, I need a new one anyway.

Does anyone even care anymore?

I care, I just don't have any advice.

I care too...

I don't remember fighting with the camera as much as you are reporting. There were only a couple of spots in the game where I got a bit claustraphobic - I always tried to take out enimies as far away as possible - even searching the environment to see if I can shoot it/destroy it to help take out lots of enemies. That way when you were forced inside an area, you didn't have as many enemies to fight.

Study the tutorials - they give you new fighting techniques that help vary the battles you have and give you more space to handle enemies. I find that if I lock onto a character, the camera usually takes care of itself....

I actually fixed the camera. I fiddled with the options menu and found a setting that works for me. For some reason though, now it seems that the camera sits close to the character. I don't know how the hell that happened. It was fine before and I didn't mess with the settings to create that effect.

With that said, this game seems to be falling into a lot of the tropes of JRPG storytelling. Still, it is better than the average game story, RPG or otherwise, imo. Baby steps I suppose.

Also, I wonder why they decided to "choose" what to say if there is only one answer that will advance the storyline anyway. Also, is it me, or does every other character seem to have the same haircut? Maybe a minor gripe but I think it is worth noting.