The horrendous translation does more damage than just blur the finer details of the story, it makes every line seem like a joke and really destroys the overall serious tone. A proper translation would see more points here, but I can only work with what I've given. In the future, if a translation is this abysmal, the game will be skipped. Exploring was still quite enjoyable and I appreciated the addition of first-person dungeons in addition to the standard overhead view. Though finding text was nearly pointless, at least there were a good number of cutscenes to gawk at.
It's all about character options in LA; I was actually a bit surprised by how many. Controlled stat growth, magic, special abilities, equipment, and consumables all give one a plethora of choices, although there is some redundancy. I would have liked to seen more of a difference between the different parties as well, in regard to available spells and abilities. The biggest innovation here was the on-demand item creation system. No more waiting until the "next town" and then just upgrading to equipment that just happens to be slightly more powerful. Right from the start, one has a choice to purchase basic weapons/armour or save up for a bit ticket item. Although the metamorphosis of demons didn't really change the character too much, it was still cool to see what kind of abominations would arise from the demons getting their freak on. Having the parties switch based on a timer was another sweet innovation, although LA dropped the ball having the third party function so much differently from the other two.
Party-based combat is always nice to have and the way that it's tied to increasing character stats behooves the player to be mindful in all battles. Demons that can't augment their attack or defense with equipment have to be given special consideration as to their role in combat. The biggest drawback is the ease of developing characters too far ahead of the curve, making battles incredibly boring. There really should have been a point where weak foes stopped increasing stats.
The enemy robots and "bio-creatures" were both imaginative and numerous in design, and the translation's complete hack job on their names actually made them seem even more alien and incomprehensible. While they were able to inflict just the two standard status effects (sleep and poison), more impressively they actually had some semblance of artificial intelligence. Rather than just attack at random all the time, they would often gang up on a single character, a devastating tactic when they had a full eight members. At least, it would have been devastating if they didn't miss 100% of the time.
Lots of nicely done cutscenes and a very creative bestiary keep the peepers stimulated whilst enduring the eternal grinding. The bosses could have been larger and more detailed — it's not like there was a background or something taking up room. The first-person dungeons likewise lacked any real distinguishing features; the occasional door being the only landmark worth noting. The tunes were nothing too special on their own, but they did seem appropriate to the setting, at least to my ears.
The robust economy does an excellent job keeping the parties poor; it would have taken even more grinding for me to purchase the best equipment for everybody. Knowing the cost of all the equipment also makes for additional considerations when purchasing. I initially purchased the cheapest equipment early, because the characters actually needed it then. I then planned to upgrade only if it seemed the characters needed it. Of course, that never happened, which brings me to my final point.
As much as I enjoyed many of the aspects of Last Armageddon, it ultimately fails by making it way too easy to become overpowered. A game with absolutely no challenge isn't something I enjoy at all — it really makes the game feel like a chore. However, once one knows what to do and avoids the grinding time sinks, I think LA would become quite playable as long as the parties are pushed as hard as possible. In a somewhat ironic way, the challenge would come from not letting the characters get too powerful. Since the translation is partially to blame for the grinding, I'll be a little lenient here and not just smash a zero into the score, as tempting as that is. However, I'm still holding LA completely responsible for the potential month-long wait for the sylvan team — that shit's mad dumb.
FINAL RANKING
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