The Last Remnant - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

Mitra, yama, qsiti, sovani... 
These four races exist in one world. 
A world filled with Remnants — mysterious artifacts from an ancient era. 
Who created the Remnant? How long ago? And for what purpose? 
With these questions left unanswered, the Remnants became beneficial tools used for the good of civilization. 
The world was at peace...or so it seemed. Who was to know such darkness lay in wait? 
The powers of the Remnants slowly began to change the world's balance. 
A rift slowly formed between those who ruled and those who obeyed. 
This was the dawning of a new era — an era of countless frays that would be brought upon the world by those enslaved by their own lust for power. 
A thousand years later, the journey of one young man begins. 
Featuring an enthralling story, countless characters and an intricate battle system, Square Enix brings the RPG experience known as The Last Remnant to the PC. 
Discover new strategies in the improved battle system. 

Previous Play Time

0 hours 

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

Many years ago (I think it was 2010), I saw a memorable commercial on late-night television. It was for a fantasy rpg, but it used Jefferson Airplanes's "White Rabbit" for its soundtrack. I remember thinking it was pretty cool, but not being in the market for a new game at the time. Fast forward to the summer sale of 2014, when I'm in the middle of an irresponsible shopping binge, and what should I see . . . but a completely different game of the same genre with a somewhat (but not really) similar sounding name. I buy it, and then try and look up the commercial that stuck with me for all these years, only to find, about three or four days after I made my purchase, that the game I was thinking of was Lost Odyssey and not The Last Remnant. 

This may well be the nadir of my shopping addiction. At least, I can hope so.

Expectations and Prior Experience

When I was a teenager, Square rpgs were the thing. I played the hell out of the SNES Final Fantasies and Secret of Mana, and, to a lesser extent, various PS1-era games like FFIX and Chrono Cross. However, it's been a long time since I've played this kind of game. The last one I finished was Final Fantasy XII on the PS2, and while I enjoyed myself, I was somewhat alienated by the strange character designs and incomprehensible plot.

My big worry, going into this, is that I won't be able to understand what the hell is going on. It'd be really embarrassing trying to write about one of these new-school Square plots and getting a bunch of details wrong. On the other hand, this genre is very familiar to me, and so long as the mechanics are relatively engaging (grind enemies, numbers go up is all I really expect from a jrpg, but if it lets me choose which numbers go up, I'll probably like it quite a bit), I don't really see how it can go wrong.

What I'm expecting most is that this game is going to take a really long time to finish. RPGs are not, traditionally speaking, a short genre, and unlike, say, the Bethesda titles, Square's RPGs have always focused on telling a single particular story where stuff going on to the side is typically short and inessential, so there's likely to be no chance of rushing the main quest to get the game technically "done." It's the end or bust for me (though that doesn't preclude me simply giving up 20 hours in, but I'd prefer to avoid that if possible).