The Last Story Sakaguchi's last game? Localization?

[granville]

The new RPG The Last Story has been in the works for Nintendo Wii for quite a while. The first gameplay was finally shown off last week and it has been revealed to be a unique action RPG with a very epic scope. It's being produced by longtime Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and it's clear that the classic Final Fantasy series is the primary inspiration for the game, even down to the similar game names.

It was revealed via a by Mistwalker that the game's international fate would be announced by the end of the year. Now although there's no confirmation about a release outside of Japan, the fact that they are teasing us seems to indicate that they have a localization planned. I wouldn't think they'd do that to their customers if they planned on keeping it Japan only. For those interested, they had actually said that we'd find out about any plans for a release by the end of this month, it was revealed to be a typo and here are the exact words-

“You will find out (if it’s for JPN or US release) by the end of this YEAR” [/p]
In other news, Sakaguchi is hard at work with the game. So much that it could actually be his last game sadly. His comments about this-

“Me and my team poured 120% of our energy into this title. I am completely pouring everything into this one, there is a strong feeling this may be my last work.“ [/p]
Sad news if this is true, Sakaguchi is legendary in the gaming industry. Kind of funny though how one of his first games created was called Final Fantasy (which became anything but final) and his final game could share a similar title but actually be his last... If he must quit the industry, let us hope The Last Story ends up being all they hope to make it into. It looks like a spectacular epic RPG. At the very least, they're aiming to release Last Story in Japan by the end of the year. Hopefully, Mistwalker isn't just teasing us.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/07/10/well-...nd-of-the-year/
http://www.siliconera.com/2010/07/13/will-...his-last-title/

 

[Helix94]

Sad if he leaves but how weird would that be if Last Story became a long-running series like Final Fantasy?

 

[Okami Wolfen]

So THAT's the reason behind the name?

This is a good way for him to go out, rather than him creating mediocre games until he dies.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

too many Wii Pirates are making the Wii Dev scene one to avoid

 

[L_kira]

It's really saddening what happened to him during his stay on Square. He absorbed all the blame on the epic failure that is FF: Spirits Within. Ever since then, EVERY effing FF game sucks really hard(FFX-2, FFXII, especially this one -> FFXIII)..IMO though. FFX was the last one he handled..prior to the merger of Square and Enix.

If this really is your last game, Sir Sakaguchi, I wish you all the best and hope to leave us gamers a satisfying aftertaste of your pre-retirement..although rest assured that you have already established your name in the RPG industry as a game dev giant.