The Last Story (Amazon Ed.)

So starting up my blog again doesn't mean I only put up one-sided rants - it also means pictures! Of stuff I buy ... which fortunately seems to be of no shortage.

My pre-order of The Last Story, arrived last week. Looks fancy enough, but has a CD soundtrack shrink wrapped on front of the box. I appreciate that and all, but like, WTF. At least have the consideration to shrink wrap it onto the back so that I can at least enjoy the artwork lest I decide not to open the darn thing.

And while it looks like a book shape, I'm pretty sure the brown part slides out as a tray that contains the game, and an artbook, and whatever else they included in it. The aforementioned CD contains tracks composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the guy who did all the famous Final Fantasy music.

What makes this game special? Never mind that it's a JRPG on the Wii, a purchase I've been trying to justify to myself for the past few years. It's directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original designer and creator of the Final Fantasy series and one of my all-time favorites, Chrono Trigger. The Last Story is supposed his first design + directing project since Final Fantasy V.

Now that I've name dropped that whale, I hope this one lives up to its pedigree. It helps that it gets a coveted 90 from Gamespot, one of the few commercial reviewers I can consistently trust. It's supposed to be an action RPG with a cover system. I like RPGs, and I like cover systems. I also hear some analogies with Zelda. I do not like Zelda.

But given the hype and given that I hear this game is relatively short, 25 hours or so for a regular play through, 35 hours for a complete one, I'm thoroughly looking forward to playing this game ... sometime in the next two years?