The Last Remnant

[Seik]

You have indirect control of movement in how you charge after enemy groups or choose to hold back. This is actually important when you face multi-deadlock enemies with area attacks. Putting your unions too close to one another there is bad, bad news.

About half the strategy is in how you construct your unions, and the other half is managing your AP while trying to develop your better skills. More you use one skill, the more likely it'll level up. Leveled skills cost the same AP, but do much more damage. Also, certain attacks are more effective against certain enemy types, like a wind attack isn't so great against bird enemies. When you can build unions, try to focus them in certain directions, like a magic group and a physical attack group, but make sure every group has at least one healer, with the more the better.

Good tips which I'm sure will come in handy later.

[Seik]

Really, really digging this game the more I get into it. I can see why some people won't like it though. The battle system makes 100% sense to me now, but it took several hours of battling to get the hang of it. They more or less just throw you in the battles with only a pretty crappy tutorial to offer any direction or advice. But when you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun, and making up unions and trying different characters is a lot of fun. The story is getting progressively interesting too.

One question though...I still just have the first two battle formations to choose from. I've picked up items that say they allow me to use other formations, but I can't seem to use them, and no new formations appear. How do I get new battle formations?

[B-Ri]

how in the hell do you recruit soldiers? so far i can recruit leaders, but im already maxed out and i have a meager crew of 3. wtffffff

[alan_fatima]

A soldier in the town square of athlum. You know, the area with the big assed sword sticking out of the ground.

[AaronChance]

how in the hell do you recruit soldiers? so far i can recruit leaders, but im already maxed out and i have a meager crew of 3. wtffffff

You have to progress a little more in the main story before you can recruit soldiers. Certain things only unlock after certain points in the story. If you want everything available, you could play right up until shit goes crazy, but DON'T enter the aquaducts. That leads to disc two, and apparently two side quests go invalid for just going in there.

There are over 40 side quests on disk 1 btw, and a number of towns that are only found by listening to people with the white speech bubbles.

[Seik]

Has anyone beaten this game yet?

I thought the entire first disc was genuinely good, and even though the last bosses on that disc were tough as hell, they were pretty satisfying to beat. Plus, the first disc had a nice story arc that came to a pretty nice conclusion. I enjoyed it.

Then I started disc 2. Holy shit, the game got fucking hard. Without spoiling too much, I'm now at a part where I have to beat six moderately hard "normal" fights in a row, before fighting a boss, and then another boss. I beat the six normal fights (took a little over an hour), and then I beat the boss (took about 45 minutes). Then I thought I was done and I was going to relax and watch a cut scene - and another boss popped up to fight. So I started fighting him but died. No save points anywhere. I had to start waaaaay back at the first of the six fights. Fuck you game. No thank you. I quit.

Just putting a goddamn save point between boss battles would make this game sooo much less frustrating - and it would have the added benefit of actually having me complete it! WTF Square? This game is actually streamlined really well, and feels like a modern jRPG should, AND it even lets you save anywhere you want on the map - but then it won't give you a chance to save between a set of hour long boss battles? C'mon.

[B-Ri]

So WTF am i supposed to do next?

im waiting for everyone to arrive for the congress meeting, running around town, and nothings triggering the next event, nor a clue to what to do next. I already went through the southwest trail to Balterossa, did two quests there but still wondering wtf is taking Elysion so long to continue. I already went to the academy, the temple, and the ark, nothing!

[Melf]

Just putting a goddamn save point between boss battles would make this game sooo much less frustrating - and it would have the added benefit of actually having me complete it! WTF Square? This game is actually streamlined really well, and feels like a modern jRPG should, AND it even lets you save anywhere you want on the map - but then it won't give you a chance to save between a set of hour long boss battles? C'mon.

They pulled this same shit with Infinite Undiscovery near the end, and it REALLY pissed me off. The bullshit, archaic game design that Japanese developers refuse to give up is completely turning me off to the genre, and I'm not surprised that Western developers have left them in the dust. Wake up and join the 21st century the fuck already. God...

[Finch]

HAY MELF. DO YOU LIKE JAPANESE ROLE PLAYING GAMES OR ARE THEY BEHIND WHAT WESTERN DEVELOPERS HAVE PRODUCED?

[alan_fatima]

Bri, more than likely you either need to go to the temple in Elysion to enter the Catacombs or you need to go into the uhmm...sky lift remnant-thing...area. That one is in the same area near the academy and the place the jerk guards won't let you pass.