Most of the time, this long game is an exciting take on the usual JRPG formula
Much has been said about the overall performance problems of this game, but if you have the option to install the game on your harddrive (approx. 12-14 GB) most of the fps stutter or drops will disappear, although you will still see a fair amount of texture pop-in, as is the case of many unreal (2.5?) engine games not optimized properly. I had the game installed on my Xbox360 harddrive, and will review the game based on the fully installed version - if you don't install games on your Xbox360 or you don't have the option to do so, you can easily detract 0.5-1 point of my score, depending on your tolerance to poor performing games or lack thereof.
With that out of the way, let's get to the actual review.
The Last Remnant is all about a boy called Rush Sykes. In the beginning of the game his sister is abducted by strange creatures, and although Rush cannot prevent them from taking her before they disappear, he quickly dispatches with the kill squad sent after him, apparently by the means of some powerful force unleashed by his talisman.
Soon after her abduction he finds himself on the side of Lord David, a young regent of the state Athlum, who promises to help Sykes with his search for his sister. Lord David is capable of wielding the power of a remnant, and it turns out quite a few of these remnants are scatterede throughout the land. The mysterious Wagram seems to intercept you from time as does the silent Conqueror, and before you know it a great war is brewing. From there the story takes many twists and turns, some of the twists are more or less expected, but the story is intruiging enough to motivate you to see what's going to happen next. Compared to Final Fantasy XIII, a more recent game from the same company, the story is much more compelling - less irritating, and knows when to take a back seat to the actual gameplay.
From a gameplay perspective, the game does have a few exceptions to the usual JRPG statbased formula. First and foremost the inclusion of quicktime events during battle, makes them a lot more engaging. Depending on how fast you are, the effectiveness of your units will vary greatly. If you seem to perform too poorly the quictime events can be turned off, but that will take some of the intensity out of the battles.
The strategic part of the battles is a lot deeper than it initially seems, as in the beginning it seems like all you are doing is picking the nearest enemy and taking them out on by one. But later on a few more layers to the system become apparent, and by that point you'll have a bit more control over your actions.
Unfortunately you do not have complete control over which skills your units will use. You can only pick an area of expertise (represented by questions by the leaders of your units outside combat) but not pick the exact skill in combat. This makes some of the longer fights, and especially some of the boss battles, somewhat dependent on luck, though not entirely so. But considering the length of some of the boss fights, you'll wish you had more control.
The game also have a few problems pointing you in the right direction - the lack of a precise quest log, especially for the main story quests, means that if you miss, or forget (which can happen if take a long pause from the game, which I'll recommend you do once in a while) a specific conversation, a lot of time can be used backtracking or finding the point from which you can go forward. This is especially true because the game gives you much freedom - if you want to go to a previously explored area to battle monsters, you are free to do so (and will even get some rewards for it from time to time) - but usually when you give players a lot of freedom in this type of game, an equally efficient quest log is usually needed. In this game, however, the quest log only shows the status of optional quests. It doesn't help, that even if you follow the dialogue, at times you are given very few clues where to continue. This is not a major issue, however, as exploration is a major part of the game. But a nuisance none the less. Apart from some of the longer battles at the end of the game, you are able to save almost anywhere, which is something other JRPGs could learn from. Even Square Enix own.
Going back to the graphics of this game, they are beautiful and the art direction seem to hit the mark with an european inspired overall style. The look of the towering remnants, which you'll often see in the background of the major cities in-game, is awe-inspiring. But at the same time the frequent texture pop-in break the immersion, and reminds you in very crude way, that this is, after all, a computer game. Compared to the great Mass Effect 2, that use the same engine, the very existance of these texture pop-in signify, that Square Enix had very little experience with the Unreal engine - and perhaps more importantly - that it may have been a stopgap engine 'till Square Enix Final Fantasy engine (Crystal tools) was finished. Hard to say, but the end result is a game that hardly performs as well as it looks. But it is far from unplayable, and over the course of the game (if you install it to the harddrive) little more than a minor issue.
So what is "The Last Remnant"? What is the final verdict?
It's a good story, which isn't as intrusive to the gameplay as many other Square Enix games. It has nice graphics, but those pose a problem as well, as mentioned before. The combat is fresh and immersive with the added quicktime events, but at times also dependent on luck - a factor I'm not too thrilled about in RPGs. There is a lot of exploration and non-linear roaming if that is your style, but there's also few pointers in the right direction when lost.
All in all, a game I will recommend for those looking for a good JRPG, that is almost the opposite of what FF XIII stood for (for me a good thing), but the drawbacks can be a showstopper for some people. Personally I find the game entertaining, challenging and fresh. But if the same people were to make another game, more than a few things could be improved.