Nintendo The Last Story

[Linnaete]

Nintendo opened an official site for the recently unearthed "The Last Story" today. A new name for Cosmic Walker? Definitely not!
The Last Walker is actually a new Wii RPG that's being developed by Blue Dragon developer Mistwalker.

In the past entries at the Mistwalker official blog, CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi has alluded to an upcoming game unveil. This is presumably that very game.
While the official site is in a teaser state, Nintendo shared a few additional details during an investors meeting earlier today. The Last Story will have a story with the theme of the universal feelings held by people. It's being co-developed by Mistwalker and Nintendo with the aim of creating a new form of RPG.
As revealed earlier in the day, The Last Story is set for release some time this year. The official site promises a developer blog to begin in March.

Source: Andriasang

I will do some updating on this thread. The

symbol will indicate new/updated bits of news.

 

[Fusionist]

For a second I was wondering why you're posting Mistwalker news in the Square-Enix news section, but then I remembered Sakuguchi's with Mistwalker xD

I recently bought a Wii for my mom, but I could probably look into some games for myself too. A RPG made by the FF creator should be epic ^^

 

[Rey]

OMG AWESOME this is the next rpg Sakauchi will be doing! Awesome. I loved Lost Odyssey and I would really love to see what Sakaguchi has in store for the last story. The title is already awesome and encouraging me to get it. Plz update this thread with news of the game Olivia if you can that would be awesome!

 

[Sir Kenneth]

This is seriously some of the best news I've read in a long time! The selection of RPGs for the Wii is more or less non-existent, but with this, Dragon Quest X, and Monado/Xenoblade, the Wii is shaping up to be a pretty good choice when it comes to JRPGs!

What excites me most about this though, is that Nintendo will actually be working with Mistwalker on this. I wasn't particularly fond of either Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey and I always thought that the shortcomings of those games was largely because Mistwalker outsourced the actual development to development teams that just weren't up to the task. Nintendo however, should be more than capable of delivering the quality that feelplus and Artoon couldn't.

Gotta love the title too. It's pretty much the closest thing you can come to calling it Final Fantasy without actually calling it Final Fantasy

 

[Linnaete]

For a second I was wondering why you're posting Mistwalker news in the Square-Enix news section, but then I remembered Sakuguchi's with Mistwalker xD

Actually, it's not in the news section at all! xD

I considered putting this in the news section at first, but technically Square Enix isn't really involved in this. Sakaguchi is in charge of his own company independent from SE so he's not connected with them anymore. So I put it here as it's the next best place to put it.

Plz update this thread with news of the game Olivia if you can that would be awesome!

Will do, Adri! =D

Gotta love the title too. It's pretty much the closest thing you can come to calling it Final Fantasy without actually calling it Final Fantasy

That's exactly what I thought as well when I first saw the name and the logo. It's like Sakaguchi wanted the game to be as close to Final Fantasy as possible without Wada having to sue him to death. Hopefully this game will have many distinguishing features to keep it different from Final Fantasy.

The logo I must say, also looks so much like a Final Fantasy logo, with the art behind the letters, a similar looking font and the underlining as well.

 

[DeadFantasy]

The tittle has a mysterious feel to it and I'm very eager to hear more about this game! The blue Dragon and the Last Odyssey were fairly good games so I can't wait to see what lies in store for the Last Story. ^^ I'm sure Sakaguchi has something brilliant planned and it'll be on the Wii which is getting more popular with all the games coming out on it! Deff can't wait to hear more! =) And as .Swift has said, the Logo is very similar to Final Fantasy and it looks interesting! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for this game >.>

 

[Linnaete]

The Last Story's Theme Is........

As promised, I will do my best to update on this thread! I dug up something from the gaming blog Siliconera:

According to Nintendo’s conference, “the universal theme of human emotion” is a cornerstone for The Last Story. Nintendo says The Last Story will be new style of RPG.

Mistwalker confirmed The Last Story was the game Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi was blogging about for months. Right now, he’s working on balancing the battle system.

Nintendo plans to release The Last Story this year. Perhaps, sooner rather than later since Sakaguchi says, “production is near the final phase.”


Source:Siliconera

 

[Sir Kenneth]

That's exactly what I thought as well when I first saw the name and the logo. It's like Sakaguchi wanted the game to be as close to Final Fantasy as possible without Wada having to sue him to death. Hopefully this game will have many distinguishing features to keep it different from Final Fantasy.

The logo I must say, also looks so much like a Final Fantasy logo, with the art behind the letters, a similar looking font and the underlining as well.

I'm on the fence as to what to expect from this game really. I want it to be able to stand on its own without the Final Fantasy comparison, but at the same time I feel that Final Fantasy has lost its way after Sakaguchi left Square and if The Last Story could be the Final Fantasy that Square no longer seem capable of making, I'd be a happy camper. Hopefully Sakaguchi can find some way to deliver both

I also hope that Uematsu will be doing the music.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

The Last Story will be new style of RPG.

Every time we hear the "new style of RPG" line, we end up disappointed and annoyed by changes that shouldn't be made the the core game play of an RPG.

Hopefully, this one doesn't disappoint.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

So this was the AAA title he was rambling on about for ages All being said though I'll be staying clear of it, I can't see it being anything more than a mediocre game by a mediocre and overrated developer. It would have made more sense if he made it multiplatform where there'd be a solid RPG fanbase, since from all reports, the Wii is steadily going downhill now anyway.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

So this was the AAA title he was rambling on about for ages All being said though I'll be staying clear of it, I can't see it being anything more than a mediocre game by a mediocre and overrated developer. It would have made more sense if he made it multiplatform where there'd be a solid RPG fanbase, since from all reports, the Wii is steadily going downhill now anyway.

Seeing as the 2 Mistwalker games for the 360 weren't really anything to write home about (in my opinion atleast) I can understand people being sceptical. There's a big difference between making a game with Nintendo and making a game with feelplus or Artoon though.

 

[Linnaete]

Well Ryan has a point there that Mistwalker (and Level 5 incidentally) isn't necessarily that great of a developer to begin with and is rather an overrated name. They have Blue Dragon (which from my understanding, was mediocre) and Lost Odyssey (better, but still wasn't breathtaking). I honestly expected more from Sakaguchi, but:

1) The Xbox 360 plan was seriously flawed

2) Times have changed. The west have little interest in traditional turned based battling now than in the late 1990s.

But I am willing to give Sakaguchi a chance here to shine. I know based on his blog that he's been working exceptionally hard on the game (although when it says "original game" that sounds ironic because the name and logo is so much like Final Fantasy).

How well this will sell on the Wii will be interesting though......

 

[Rey]

Lost Odyssey was epic and This looks more Final Fantasy Like. Seeing this on the WII is rather Interesting because the WII only has a few good games. The official website theme reminds me of FF alot. So yes I cant wait till characters and such start getting revealed. Oh and Yes Olivia the WII sales arent that great for some games but im sure this being an RPG it will be looked forward too. So tHE wii has Arc Rise Fantasia, Xenoblade and now Last story which is awesome. Im so hyped for 2010 games!!!!

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

1) The Xbox 360 plan was seriously flawed

This seems to be a large problem with Japanese developers in general from what I've seen, I don't see why they're even developing for the 360 still when it's obviously not working and SE were the latest company to prove that. Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon (Mistwalker) all had fairly miserable sales in Japan and western shores and Star Ocean: The Last Hope, The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery all had miserable sales at home in Japan and abroad as well. Come to think of it, when you look at how bad the 360 is for Japanese developers, the Wii may prove to be more fitting for them.

 

[Linnaete]

Sakaguchi Focused on The Last Story.........and lego

A slight update in Sakaguchi's blog.


Mistwalker CEO Hironobu Sakaguchi is a big shot producer, so it's likely that he handles multiple projects at once. At present, however, his focus is on one project in particular: The Last Story.
In his latest post at the Mistwalker blog, Sakaguchi said of the recently announced Wii RPG, "At present, I'm focused on this one game. It's my only project."

He likened development of the game to raising a lone daughter, although he later noted that the game is actually like a child who's receiving the love of the entire development staff. "It will be raised strongly, beautifully, and gently," said Sakaguchi.
While The Last Story is Sakaguchi's only game project, he does still find time for hobbies. In the blog post, you'll see his latest lego creation. He put the ship together while waiting for the required documents to download.

The download process apparently takes an hour due to the slow internet speeds in Hawaii. It looks like Sakaguchi is away from Japan at present.


Source: Andriasang

 

[Sir Kenneth]

The download process apparently takes an hour due to the slow internet speeds in Hawaii. It looks like Sakaguchi is away from Japan at present.


Source: Andriasang

Sounds like that writer is a bit out of touch. Mistwalker is located in Hawaii and Sakaguchi has been living there for the last 10 years or so. Square Pictures was located in Hawaii because of Sakaguchi

 

[Linnaete]

Sakaguchi Wants Last Story to Bloom Like a Flower

(This isn't really much of an update, but it does tell you a bit about Sakaguchi himself. Have fun reading!)

Hironobu Sakaguchi's last two posts at the Mistwalker blog have been about, respectively, his obsession with sound equipment and flowers.

He managed to get through the post about sound equipment without mentioning The Last Story. You should still read the post anyway, in case you were worried about The Gooch's financial situation.

The other post, titled Camellia, is about how one of Sakaguchi's camellias bloomed one day. This apparently surprised him, as his flower arranging teacher had told him that this particular camellia would definitely not open.

Writes Sakaguchi: "I don't really do fortune-telling and I am not superstitious, but at this moment I thought 'I want The Last Story to bloom like this as well.'"

He's not concerned about the recently announced Wii RPG, though. "It’s almost complete and has my full satisfaction," writes Sakaguchi.

Source: Andriasang
​

 

[Rey]

Is he planning to make the world beautiful with flowers? Whats so interesting about A camelia? The title The Last Story however does interest me but if this is gonna be flower world I just hope they put good characters. At least make it something like wow. Thanks Olivia for this! Im still liking this game. Lets see what Sakaguchi can do.

 

[Linnaete]

A Tidbit on Last Story's Development

(I wasn't completely sure what he was on about either, Adri )

Now that it’s been announced, Hironobu Sakaguchi has been blogging about The Last Story… a lot.

Sakaguchi’s most recent blog details an e-mail discussion about the battle system with a “Mr. M.” “We started to talk about the moment of ‘stillness’ in the battle near the final stage of the game. Starting from the growth of the magic and also about the U.I. operation. I’d like to incorporate an elaborated element, but I don’t want to slow down the tempo of the game… We discussed it quite intensely. I’m not sure if this is the right word, but it was ‘fun’,” Sakaguchi wrote after musing about a cloud that looks like a dragon.

Cryptic, but the post hints that magic is part of character development. And who is this “Mr. M?” Unfortunately, the Japanese version doesn’t offer anymore clues like a kanji character or even a hiragana syllable.

Mistwalker and Nintendo haven’t announced the development studio either. Artoon, Brownie Brown, Feelplus, Racjin, and Tri-crescendo worked on past Mistwalker projects.

Source: Siliconera

 

[Linnaete]

Nintendo: It's 'too early' to talk about The Last Story for the West

This article was from the 26th, so a couple of days ago. I only found it now though:

Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway has gone on record with Wired stating that it's "too early to say" if Mistwalker's latest RPG The Last Story will make its way West or not.

Asked about the potential for Xenoblade and The Last Story to get localized for the West, Cammie refused to be drawn on the possibility of the two heading West. "It’s too early to say whether we’re going to bring those here; we just found out about them when Mr. Iwata announced them at the conference (in Japan)."

When asked by RPG Site if they'd be present at E3 2010 earlier this year Mistwalker took down our contact details and told us they'd be in touch. Interesting...

Mistwalker are a game studio helmed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. They've previously put out titles like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, and Lost Odyssey is still the best-selling Japanese RPG in the West this generation - a title that is set to be bested next month - but by another series Sakaguchi created.

Our guess? It's coming West, and will be announced at E3. We'll be at the show to bring you the latest if it is, so stick with us.

Source: RPG Site