| The Last Story | |
|---|---|
 European cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Mistwalker AQ Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Hironobu Sakaguchi |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Designer(s) |
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| Artist(s) | Kimihiko Fujisaka |
| Writer(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Nobuo Uematsu |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Last Story[a] is an action role-playing game developed by Mistwalker and AQ Interactive and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in Japan in January 2011, Europe in February 2012 and North America by Xseed Games in August 2012. The Last Story takes place upon the island fortress of Lazulis, in a world that is slowly being drained of life by an unknown force. The story focuses on a group of mercenaries looking for work on Lazulis; one of their number, Zael, dreams of becoming a knight. After receiving the mystical "Mark of the Outsider", Zael becomes involved with a noblewoman named Calista in an ongoing war between humans and the beast-like Gurak. During gameplay, the player controls Zael as he and the mercenary group to which he belongs undertake missions on Lazulis. Zael can command the rest of the mercenary squad during missions, and fights in battles that involve action, tactical and stealth elements. Multiple online multiplayer modes were also present.
The game was directed and co-written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final Fantasy, who had the initial idea for the title after seeing the mixed responses to Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Together with designer Takuya Matsumoto, Sakaguchi decided to make a game that would be different from his previous work and most other role-playing games. Development took between three and four years according to different sources. Its story was originally based in science fiction, but at Nintendo's insistence it was changed to be primarily based around fantasy. Among the staff were regular Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, and illustrator Kimihiko Fujisaka. It was originally going to be exclusive to Japan, and later its North American release was in doubt after being announced for release in Europe and Australia. During this time, a fan campaign called Operation Rainfall drew considerable attention to the title. The title was a commercial success, and received generally positive reviews worldwide: while the gameplay generally met with praise, opinions varied on the story and graphics.
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