"The" Last Story?

Every good video game player should be at least familiar with Mistwalker. The company was formed back in 2004 by Sakaguchi Hironobu, the creator of the Final Fantasy Series. Many had high hopes and expectations when their first project was announced, Blue Dragon. Sakaguchi, was joined by Composer Uematsu Nobuo and by Artist Toriyama Akira in a collaboration that previously brought about the SNES Classic Chrono Trigger. I had been waiting for the game so long and had so much anticipation but could barely get through Disc one of three. Overall, Blue Dragon was met with mediocre scores and reviews but did bring some life to the Xbox 360 in Japan. I've seen quite a few copies sitting on the shelves used for about 900 Yen.

But enough about Blue Dragon. Let's talk their other games. ASH: Archaic Sealed Heart. Blue Dragon Plus. Away Shuffle Dungeon. Play any of those? Mostly forgettable as far as I've heard. Maybe I'm wrong. Their other title Lost Odyssey, I did hear some good things about that. The story is supposed to have some real depth and the characters are led interesting situations. But again mostly the game was over looked.

I didn't bring up Mistwalker to trash them. I wanted to point out a situation, one that I think people may not realize the severity of. When the Creator of Final Fantasy makes a Company/Game, you take notice. People took notice. Mistwalker had a couple tries to figure things out and capture people's attention. Mostly their efforts haven't lived up to potential. I came across their next two games recently, a iPhone and a Wii Game. For some of us, the red flags are going to go up. This could be a business decision. They're abandoning high cost development for "safer" waters. It's a logical conclusion to come to. Both those platforms aren't exactly a haven for core game players, especially the Wii has been disappointing so that brings up rise for concern.

The point I think people should take from Mistwalker and these announcements is that this will be a true effort. Not to say that previous ones were not, but I think especially in this situation, Mistwalker's back in against the wall. One of the problems I see in the Company structure is that they outsource their game development. Mistwalker is a small company and when you look at their past history, all their games were Co-Developed by another studio. Those on the list: Artoon, Racjin, Brownie Brown, and Feel Plus. A few of those studios are known for minor successes. Blinx, Yoshi's Island DS and Mother 3 are among games created by those studios. But then again, so are Ju-On: The Grudge and Vampire Rain.

The Last Story is their current project. This time, they have teamed up directly with Nintendo to create and I quote "a new form of RPG by choosing the universal theme of human emotion". Their are a couple ways to see this. I want to believe that this will be a revolutionary RPG. That this game will change thing for the future and will put Mistwalker on the map. The human emotion idea seems interesting and is doable hearing about their past efforts with Lost Odyssey. But is that a revolutionary enough of an idea? Will the game play be the same old traditional JRPG turn based system we've seen so many times out of Japan, a country known for following tradition and culture. If content and subject matter are what is going to be the revolution, I personally think it's a tough sell, but then again the game should be directed towards the masses. There are tons here who buy the traditional Dragon Quest every year, so introducing something ultra progressive many not be the best course of action. Who knows how this will all turn out? I can say that I'm interested in how this will turn out. A pairing with Nintendo and a new RPG for the Wii. There's a lot to be disappointed about but that also does mean there could be a huge success. Will it be for me? Will it be my type of game?

What got me interested in The Last Story? Someone from Square-Enix called the game's title typical of Sakaguchi. Also I heard comparisons about the name "The Last Story" and how it may be trying to garner people attention in Japan because of it's familiarity to the name "Final Fantasy." For me personally, I've got this weird vibe. That Mistwalker's on the tight rope and that this could literally be their Last Story. Maybe I'm just being dramatic so I guess we'll just have to see how it all turns out.

Check out the Official Site there's not much there but at least listen to the music,
David

Also, Nintendo did work with Mistwalker before through their subsidiary Brownie Brown. But again, that was a subsidiary collaboration.