The last remnant is a bad game.

[MegaKootz]

Within the first hour you play this game you will notice that its squad based decision making for turn based rpg play is completely useless why you may ask? Well because if after the first hour of this game the words "raidlock" and " flank attack" still mean something to you then you did better than me.

How does strategy matter in this game when you are constantly (by your own doing or the enemy) in some sort of 1v1 lock. Not to mention the fact that as long as the enemy outnumbers you (always) you will never leave lock. So strategy does not play a factor at all simply because you dont ever want to leave lock as that gives the enemy a free attack on you, and this can be devistating.

Now i know what your thinking, "boy that does not sound bat at all". But it is and here is why. They have a momentum system in this game otherwise known as moral. So anytime a flank happens, or anything lock happens. The side doing the agression gets the boost. Moral boosts damage by a ton.

So what happens to your force (that is held down by a people limit), when those monsters that simply will flank you get that damage boost?

Well you are garenteed to be outnumbered and outgunned right?

Yes it means what you think it means. They hit a ton harder and with poor luck your group can easily be killed by any group that simply outnumbers you. Thus getting more turns and more locks, thus getting more moral and more damage.

If you sat all that to the side right now this game would still have problems.

Within the first hour of this game you will do a few things. First you will be inside a cave with a woman. There will be a fight, as this is part of the tutorial missions you cannot loose this fight. Then you will enter a cave with blocter and again these fights really cannot be lost.
Then you will head into the ruins, and again you will encounter a tutorial mission that cannot be lost.

After you take the group out to dolmar for some storyline fun. Time after time you notice that something happens to let you win these fights. Be it omnislash or some other super proc.
FINALLY after this scene you leave your group crying about how they cannot help you find your sister and BOOM.

This is the point where you should turn the game off because what follows after is infuriating.
First just to make you mad. go get a FULL party.. at the local pub.. make them into a union and assign a formation.

NOW YOU ARE READY TO LEVEL RIGHT????
------------------------------

This is that point in the game where you have just made the game impossible on yourself. This is the point where you should just start a new list. An hour in you discover something so backwards and without logic that it blows your mind!

(I will attempt to explain before i tell the story. Basicly the game wants you to do a few more tutorial missions. But it lets you free roam all you want. It does not tell you to do anything other than to find the pub. Now here is where things get crazy. Lets say you want to go level in the very first area you fought ,the goslin caves. In these caves can spawn a rare monster that will LITERALLY do 4k damage to everyone in your party. (If you made the mistake of grinding your levels.

Now i know what your thinking. "No worries i will just go back to the ruins and level enough to beat that boss right?

WRONG!

In the ruins the mobs have magically tuned up (because of battle rank). Along with a horrible rarespawn that will destroy your fun. You head back to dolmar or whatever because what else are you going to do. You will come across the same bridge you crossed on your way up the hill 5 minutes ago. But this time you will find a rare bird dragon mob that will hit you for 5k.

After all of that you decide to just start a new character and follow the story. You skip nearly every single mob and for some reason NOW that you are skipping mobs like crazy. Through some twisted bit of logic you are unkillable.

By this moment it has become clear to you that the very same leveling system this game impliments is the same thing that makes the game hard on you. In other words if you play this game you will get your ♥♥♥ kicked. If you skip mobs and only fight what you have to. you will destroy every boss you come across with minimal difficulty.

Getting upset at this point you google it and find out that yes in order to do well in this game completely unexplained by this game. You will want to keep your battle rank or (level) as its known in most games as low as humanly possible. (A bit of backwards logic) in order to progress easily. HOWEVER you want to get your STATS as high as possible aswell.

This is where a thing called ultimate grinding comes in. You get this one quest that spawns 20 low level mobs that respawn, and you grind them. This keeps your level down or (battle rank) down. But is also very effective in raising your stats.

If you intend to play this game normally (without exploit) you will have to balance your battle rank and stats. This sounds fine in theory but in practice it just feels like a cheap game experience.

Why play a game where you know for a fact leveling is a bad thing?


TLDR VERSION:
The leveling system in this game discourages leveling.
Rare mobs in newbie levels that hit for 10k.
Most mobs in newbie levels can outflank and kill your party easily.
Combat feels like waiting in line to watch a ton of people slap you in the face.

I still maintain that this game is not nearly as praiseworthy as some insist. Also after nearly fourty hours into this game i must insist. If your game requires a TURBO button just to make the combat tolerable. Then you are doing something wrong.

[Boddy]

You are seriously complaining that you can't die in the tutorial?
There is also no need to grind or a balance anything.
Just finish as many side quest as possible and you are fine.
Auto saving also exist for a reason,use it.
I also have probelems to belive that anyone would make the rare mob mistake more then once.

[Zloth]

Originally posted by Randy Marsh:

how does strategy matter in this game when you are constantly (by your own doing or the enemy) in some sort of 1v1 lock..

Well ganging up on enemies is the most obvious answer. Also, groups that are already engaged with enemies get the first turns in battle so, if you need another squad raised/healed fast, breaking off is a great way to do it.

not to mention the fact that as long as the enemy outnumbers you (always) you will never leave lock.. so strategy does not play a factor at all.. simply because you dont ever want to leave lock as that gives the enemy a free attack on you..

Always? The second battle you control is Rush and Emmy vs. a single critter. 2v1. And there are quite a few reasons you might want to disengage and give the enemy a CHANCE at a free hit on you. (If you've got a multi-lock and only one squad breaks off then that chance is 0.)

well that does not sound so bad you must be saying.. oh it is.. and here is why.. they have a momentum system in this game otherwise known as moral.. so anytime a flank happens.. or anything lock happens.. the side doing the agression gets the boost.. moral boosts damage by a ton..

Yeah, it's called strategy.

so what happens to your force (that is held down by a people limit) when those monsters that simply will flank you.. unavoidable.. get that boost.. they do more damage..

Not unavoidable, actually. Those aren't the only things that affect morale. Not by a longshot.

well you are garenteed to be outnumbered right?..

Wrong.

yes it means what you think it means.. they hit a ton harder and with poor luck your group can easily be killed by any group that simply outnumbers you.. THUS getting more turns and more locks. thus getting more moral.. and more damage...

OK, so you're mad because the game supposedly doesn't have strategy so you want more strategy... but you also don't like that the game gives the advantage to the side with the superior numbers. A high strategy game where numbers don't count!?

this is that point in the game where you just made the game impossible on yourself.. this is the point where you should just start a new list.. an hour in.. you made the worst mistake of all. you wanted to go explore.. and level...

(i will explain before i tell the story. Basicly. the game wants you to do a few more tutorial missions.. but it lets you free roam all you want.. it does not tell you to do anything other than find the pub. now here is where things get crazy.. lets say you want to go level in the very first place you fought.. the caves.. in the tut missions.. well in these caves can spawn a rare monster that will LITERALLY do 4k damage to everyone in your party.

no worries i will just go back to the ruins and level enough to beat that boss right? WRONG.. in the ruins the mobs have magically tuned up.. and there is a rarespawn there aswell that will ONE SHOT YOU..

Wait a minute, didn't you just say you wanted to EXPLORE and level? Yet there you go right back into the same places you were before!? So much for exploration. I think you wanted to just level up. You wanted to pull the standard JRPG exploit of levelling into the stratosphere off the starting monsters so the rest of the game will be a pushover for you. Your doom is at hand...

HECK.. this game is awsome.. rare spawns all around right? WRONG.. but you head back to dolmar or whatever cause what else are you going to do.... and again in that area you will come across the same bridge you crossed on your way up the hill 5 minutes ago.. but again you will find.. at your battle rank of one. a rare bird dragon mob that will hit you for 5k...

Well, let's see... how about AVOIDING it? You can see the monsters a mile away and avoid them pretty easily. This can also be used to pick how many enemies you'll be facing in most of your battles.

so you decide to just follow the story.. and you progress just fine.. but the combat is cheesy.. however you never see those rare spawns again.. so you decide to start a new list.. and from the first second you can.. you will find mobs you can kill and grind them..

you grind and grind and grind..you grind to battlerank 21 before the end of the tutorial missions.. you got this game on lock right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!.. EVERYTHING.. NOW ... ONE ... SHOTS ... YOU..... because you leveled your battle rank..

Actually, no. Exploiting the game by levelling up like that will screw you over in the long run but you haven't gotten to the long run yet. I expect you're getting blasted largely because you don't know what you're doing. Maybe you didn't bother because you expected your exploit to work?

getting upset at this point you google it and find out that in order to do well in this game... unexplained by this game... you will want to keep your battle rank or (level) as its known in most games.. as low as possible.. (a bit of backwards logic) in order to progress easily.. HOWEVER.. you want to get your STATS... as high as possible aswell..

this is where a thing called ultimate grinding comes in.. you get this one quest that spawns 20 low level mobs that respawn.. and you grind them.. keeping your level down or (battle rank) down.. but getting your stats up..

Ah, so having found out that your standard exploit isn't going to work, you've gone out and found an exploit that will work. You know, you could just pay attention to the tutorials and try playing the game normally.

If you intend to play this game normally you will have to balance your battle rank and stats.

this game is infuriating in the sense of everything i have just explained and more..

you have to play a balance game in order to properly level and progress. yet they never explain that to you..

A "balanced" game consists of not grinding and doing some of the sidequests. That's it. The rest is a matter of figuring out what characters to put in what squads, which squads to send against which enemy squads, and other tactical moves.

they never explain that your level causes they enemy level to rise equally.. and that if you grind your effectively making the game impossible.

Not impossible at all. What you're mostly doing is making it hard on yourself when you recruit characters after you grind your level up.

so the ones who exploit the br sytem and keep their battle ranks down will enjoy the game.. those who think its a big piece of backwards logic dookie.. will avoid it like the plauge. i for one am uninstalling .

I've never exploited the BR system. I've one the game twice and I've defeated every option DLC monster except the White Conqueror - and that's largely because I've kept myself from using several of the best characters in the game in my latest play-through. Of course, I actually paid attention and attempted to learn how to play the game.

TLDR
The OP tried to grind his way to victory and found out it didn't work. He looked up an exploit that would work but I guess he didn't like it. So he blamed the developers for his own lack of skills and spewed out this "review" to the boards.

[Seveers]

Game is easy early level, requires strategy from eagles nest and beyond :>

[lirmont]

There is a link on the library page for the game called "Manual".

Pages you might find helpful (re: this game doesn't explain important things):

• On page 10 of the PDF (page 17 of the manual), it explains how to target enemies in order to check what they are before deciding to attack them.
  
• On page 12 of the PDF (page 21 of the manual), it explains how your unit capacity increases.
  
• On page 14 of the PDF (page 24 of the manual), it explains what certain equipment combinations Rush is meant to use (and what they block/enhance).
  
• On page 18 of the PDF (page 32 of the manual), it explains morale (note: morale is not just a damage modifier).
  
• On page 19 of the PDF (page 35 of the manual), it explains deadlock.
  
• On page 21 of the PDF (page 38 of the manual), it explains BR's effect.

[Moon Punisher]

Well OP , what you think is a bad game and what i think clearly is not the same.

I think this game is really fun , good old RPG fun.

[Napkin Bapkin Japkin]

is that why you got 32 hours in on the game, and you just now complain about it?

[MegaKootz]

Originally posted by XxWARLORD-TDGxX:

is that why you got 32 hours in on the game, and you just now complain about it?:dswilson:

That would be because I am no fool. These people on these forums are not fools. They are insisting that it is me. That I am missing something within the game itself.

So i chose to endure the game and play through normally, In order to better develop an opinion on it. I will continue to do so until i have concluded without a doubt that this game is somthing i have no intrest in.

As it stands right now i am still not impressed with the combat system (anything that needs a fast forward button should have been made more fun to play). but the game is getting alot better than it was.

I still do not agree with how the game does not tell you about anything battle rank related.
i still do not agree with how the game sprinkles god mode bosses all over.
I dont like the fact that many players have had to tweak ini setting to make the texture popin on the game bearable.


there are many things and more that i do not like about this game. do i feel its a decent game? yes in my eyes it has worked that far. but it is NOTHING.. close to what people claim.

The combat many tlr players are so proud of is still seeming to me to be a good concept.. but boringly executed..when you play this combat it just irritates you how good it COULD have been.. at least for me it does.

but the game is slowly getting better

the story was always engaging and the graphics(after tweaks) look incredible for the age.

I still openly challenge anyone to take a cell phone video of them nailing all the qte attack events.. they are so random you never get a moment to relax..

PRESS X...Y...A... B...Z... L1...R1..L5..... not seriously but you get my point.. the qte in this game are obnoxiously quick to pass and can have you push one of (i think) six buttons..

HOWEVER the above problem MIGHT.. be because i am running the game at around 120fps... i know in some games that speeds things up a bit.. but it looks like crap locking it to 30 fps..

So maybe i will test that out and get back to you..

but long story short yes i put 32 hours in and hope to get 100.. before i finish my opinion on this game. becuase i want to give a full HONEST.. review..

I wont let my leetism make me needlessly praise this game simply because i want to look skilled or like some type of strategist.... unlike some people obviously...

[Zloth]

1. Those aren't bad QTE's. You can miss them all day and do just fine. Hitting them enhances your attack and hitting a bunch in a row can turn the last person's normal attack into a special attack but they aren't needed. In fact, I will sometimes purposefully fail them to help keep a target alive a bit longer.

2. You can turn them off in the options. (And change the prompts to keyboard prompts, too.)

HOWEVER the above problem MIGHT.. be because i am running the game at around 120fps... i know in some games that speeds things up a bit.. but it looks like crap locking it to 30 fps.

Nope, framerate doesn't matter. Could you have the Turbo option turned on?

[crichskins]

It sounds like you have not learned the game mechanics yet. Without reading the manual or looking online its not very intuative (actually some of it is the opposite of what you would expect). That being said I have enjoyed it, if you still are having trouble see if you can get some help on the forum or read the wiki for the game.

[ExiaRS]

Games should be intuitive. I like grinding, it's JPGR after all, but no.
I played 50 hours and found out that grinding is the worst possible thing you can do.
Then I read wiki for days and gave up. I don't want to play everything again.

I payed game 0,9 $, so it's not everything bad.

All in all, I mostly agree with OP.

[lirmont]

For other people who encounter this negative and angry review, would you mind providing what fight you gave up on? Thanks.

[MegaKootz]

Originally posted by lirmont:

For other people who encounter this negative and angry review, would you mind providing what fight you gave up on? Thanks.

you must have missed the part where i said i am still playing. Actually where i am headed now. So please read the entire review it does have some good points. I dont recomend skimming.

also keep in mind many people are like me. they have 40 or so hours in and they would still give this game a 5 or 6 of 10.

I still feel this game has many problems. I dont know if that will change. But like i said the in the review i will play it to the end and then decide an overall score for the game from start to finish.

However at THIS MOMENT... it would be foolish not to point out to potental new players how backwards this game sometimes can be.

And eventually players are going to have to open their minds to the thought that a new player can have a problem with a game. Call it bad from a new player perspective. Then go on to finish it later and change the opinion. This is called having a "new players" perspective. and it has a ton of impact on the quality of a game.

But as it stands this game to me still feels the same way i describe in my first post. No longer difficult as the second you actually ignore some mobs and keep your battlerank down you begin to destroy all fights you are forced into (backwards logic)

[lirmont]

It wasn't directed at you. It was directed at the person who posted directly before the question. I thoroughly read your review before I posted the page numbers of the manual you got as part of your purchase that explain alot of what you expressed frustration at the game for not explaining. Sorry for the confusion.

I'd like the person who agreed with your initial review to post where they've given up for reference of a similar experience. Was it halfway through? Was it after beating the game but not the side quests? Was it at the first boss? Since the person stated that they think the worst possible thing they could do is grinding, I wanted to know how far they'd gotten. In my opinion, the worst possible thing you can do is to ignore the side quests (because it limits you to a very narrow set of abilities on Rush), but I'd like to know where they were in the game to better understand what it is that made them think grinding is the worst possible thing they could do.

[ExiaRS]

Originally posted by lirmont:

For other people who encounter this negative and angry review, would you mind providing what fight you gave up on? Thanks.

What fight? You joke, right?

When you found out that grinding is VERY BAD IDEA, you already sunk 40+ hours, and now you can't beat anybody because of stupid ranking.

Developers took out one of the most prominent thing from JPRG - grinding.

[Boddy]

Originally posted by ExiaRS ガンダム:

When you found out that grinding is VERY BAD IDEA, you already sunk 40+ hours, and now you can't beat anybody because of stupid ranking.

Yeah,it's not like your stats and arts increase when you fight monster...