XSEED Games to publish The Last Story in North America

Today, Nintendo and XSEED Games both announced that The Last Story is finally going to arrive in North America. XSEED will publish the title, which is not entirely expected but definitely could work. While XSEED Games publishes games from a variety of genres, some of its greatest success stories (stuff like Wild Arms 4 and Shadow Hearts: From the New World, its first two releases in North America) have come from the RPG genre.

Over in Japan, Nintendo teamed with an RPG studio called Mistwalker to produce The Last Story for Wii. The game looked good and scored very well in Famitsu, then was localized for release in Europe. In North America, though, the closest we got to a release was a petition that a bunch of fans put together (under the name "Project Rainfall") to try and convince Nintendo of America that there is an audience for the game.

Months later, only after Project Rainfall and its games were all but forgotten and gamers assumed that they would have to import if they wanted to have any chance at playing the game, Nintendo finally announced that it would be releasing one of the three titles referenced in the petition: Xenoblade Chronicles. That game is coming on April 6th, with release limited to Gamestop shores and Nintendo's direct web site. Yet there has been no mention of a release for The Last Story... until now.

Today, Nintendo and XSEED Games both announced that The Last Story is finally going to arrive in North America. XSEED will publish the title, which is not entirely expected but definitely could work. While XSEED Games publishes games from a variety of genres, some of its greatest success stories (stuff like Wild Arms 4 and Shadow Hearts: From the New World, its first two releases in North America) have come from the RPG genre.

"I am very happy to be able to confirm that The Last Story will be released in North America," stated Hironobu Sakaguchi, CEO of Mistwalker. "XSEED Games has a reputation for bringing high-quality JRPGs to America, and I'm sure they will do a great job with this release too."

Hironobu Sakaguchi, in case you didn't know, is the man credited with creating the Final Fantasy series. He was in charge of that franchise during the years when it's most beloved installments were produced, and now he heads Mistwalker.

Jun Iwasaki, president of XSEED Games, showed proper respect for this latest release: "I am excited to have the opportunity to work on such a unique and ground-breaking RPG. I'm sure that North American gamers will love this title."

So, just what can you expect from The Last Story? The game follows a hero named Zael, along with a team of fellow adventurers. They go to Lazulis Island, the only region prospering as the mainland of the Empire slowly rots away. Zael and his band are searching for work and a better future. They find a job working for the ruler of the island, Count Arganan, and it seems that things are finally on the right track. There wouldn't be a game if that remained the case, though, so things naturally go very wrong.

The Last Story arrives in NOrth America in Summer 2012. XSEED Games will be updating us in the coming months, but at least now we can rest easy in the knowledge that two of the Project Rainfall three titles will be coming to North America. Now if only someone could get on top of Pandora's Tower...

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Staff article by Jason Venter (February 22, 2012) Jason Venter has been playing games for 30 years, since discovering the Apple IIe version of Mario Bros. in his elementary school days. Now he writes about them, here at HonestGamers and also at other sites that agree to pay him for his words.