1.9.2010

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (TLH) International is the fourth installment in the Star Ocean role playing game (RPG) series. The developers of this game, tri-Ace, are fans of science fiction and it shows in every iteration of Star Ocean. The fourth entry is no different in this regard. Microsoft is trying to buy their way into the Japanese gaming market by luring away titles or having time sensitive exclusivity. Therefore, Xbox 360 had this game for a year before their agreement with Square Enix ran out. Nevertheless, the game sold well on the Xbox 360 in Japan where their presence is about 1/5 of Sony's. Now, PlayStation 3 owners get to enjoy it under the "International" moniker.There are several differences with this version, aside from needing only a single disc instead of three on the 360, such as different language tracks, alternate anime portraits, better balancing of items, and bug fixes.Story: Star Ocean has always had interesting, if not cliched, stories. Typically, they often involve a seemingly normal protagonist who becomes the savior of the universe. Along the way, there will be people who guide this hero and alter the course of events. Star Ocean TLH is no different and, at times, takes a slightly darker course from the previous games. You will travel to several new planets, space stations, other dimensions, and even 1957 Earth in this game.Although Star Ocean TLH is the fourth in the series, it is a prequel to the other titles. In this title, humans on Earth were not living a peaceful life, the world government often had clashes with other states. This led to electromagnetic pulse weapons being used, however, there was glitch or error in the devices and nukes were launched instead. This was the beginning of World War III and lasted only a week before what remained of humanity signed a treaty and went underground to escape the contaminated environment. Left with a barren, toxic world, humanity looked to the stars (The star ocean, as it is called in-game) and developed faster-than-light drives, fitting them to several spacecraft whose mission is to find a suitable home for humanity. The mission started off well, but then the problems began. This is where the rest of Star Ocean TLH's story picks up.In this game, you are joined by a number of companions you will adventure with throughout the game, the badly-named Edge Maverick, who is you, your childhood friend, Reimi, who is excellent with a bow, the Eldarian, Faize, who is a Spock-like character with impeccable manners, the traumatized 15-year old girl who speaks in a monotone voice and looks eight, Lymle, who also has a pet demon, the emotionless cyborg, Bacchus, who is also a rocket-launching scientist, the cat girl, Meracle, who is always hungry, the seductive sorceress, Myuria, who, as Meracle points out, has "Really big thingy's," the flightless featherfolk, Sarah, who possesses a kind heart but is ditsy and very naive, and finally, the battle-hardened solider, Arumat, who calls himself death incarnate. This is very much a motley crew of individuals who each bring their own unique perspective to the game.Star Ocean TLH's story is very interesting, it can have a very cliched moment right night to a moving one followed by humor. Indeed, there are some truly moving moments in this game where I found myself becoming misty-eyed and others where I laughed out loud. For the most part, it is a typical Japanese RPG in how it presents the story. Story progression and the final resolution of it is set and cannot be altered. However, given the large number of characters, you can change how their stories end. Throughout the game, there are a series of private actions where you can alter your relationship with your team mates, and, if you get their affection for you high enough, you can see their specific ending. These private actions form over half of each character's back story and should be viewed. Like the rest of the story, it can be moving, such as helping a character deal with the loss of another, or funny, such as walking in on Reimi in the shower or watching Faize and Lymle argue constantly.Audio/Visual: The Star Ocean franchise has usually had graphics on par with games that are launched around the same time. The art style of Star Ocean TLH is similar to that of Xenosaga I, only more colorful and, obviously, better. This is a game deeply rooted in Japanese anime, thus, the characters do not look at all like those in Xenosaga II or even Final Fantasy XIII. The characters and many of the environments look highly detailed and it is obvious that care was taken to make the game very sci-fi. However, not all is great on the graphics front, the environments, though large and detailed, are muddy or out of focus, and, I'm not sure if this is a limitation of the console or the port from the Xbox 360, but this game needs at least basic anti-aliasing as jagged edges are everywhere in confined environments. During battles, the game's graphics do shine nicely, but the character models look like anime porcelain dolls. Star Ocean TLH runs at 720p and occupies most of the game disc. This is a vast game with a long story and many interconnected towns, field screens, dungeons, and CGI cut scenes, tri-Ace may have simply run out of space putting all three Xbox 360 discs onto one Blu-Ray and have been unable to increase the graphics.In regards to audio, this game can be a bit of a mixed bag. Musically, the game follows the same path all of the other Star Ocean's did, classical music during key moments with progressive rock at others. This fits Star Ocean quite well with exciting tracks when needed and sweeping orchestral music at pivotal moments. This blend gives the game a distinct science fiction feel, some of the music even sounds like it belongs in Star Trek. This is all probably due to the abilities of Motoi Sakuraba who wrote the tracks to every Star Ocean. As for the voice acting, it is also mixed in terms of quality. Unlike Final Fantasy XII, which used theatre actors for voices, Star Ocean TLH used anime actors. This leads to average voiceovers, as a whole, but there are some standout characters. Reimi is perhaps the best voiced of the cast and is performed by Laura Bailey who voiced Serah in Final Fantasy XIII. One of the more infamous voices is that of Lymle. Because of the trauma she experienced, she sounds, and looks, unless you unlock one of the game's endings, emotionless. At first this was annoying, but as I listened to her, the monotone nature of the voice leads to several emotional moments where she tries to summon emotion but just can't, unable to overcome the mental block, making the scene more impactful. I strongly suggest anyone who plays this game and finds the voices, at the very least, tolerable, to go into the settings and turn off battle voices as they say the same things constantly. Alternatively, since this is the international version, you can listen to the Japanese audio tracks. While playing the game, you will notice the lip-syncing is off. The movies were not redone from Japanese and still retain their Japanese lip movements.Gameplay: All of the Star Ocean games are large with plenty to do, this one is no different. There are a great number of quests, shop item creation orders, races, and gladiator matches. Most of the quests are typical "Take this there" or "Kill this" but there are some more involved quests that require puzzle solving or going to the ends of map to complete. There are also 100 or more item creation or delivery quests you receive from shops. These either involve venturing out into the field to hunt down hard-to-find items or going back to your ship to use the item creation system to fashion an item.In Star Ocean TLH, item creation is often the only means to get the game's best equipment and to complete many of the quests. The previous Star Ocean did not have a deep item creation system and it was often unnecessary to use it. However, in this installment, the item creation system is a little better. Before you can make an item, you must either research to or find a "Recipe Memo." Researching can be an interesting ordeal, you place one to three of your team mates in a group and tell them to go and research. As they research, they use party skill points (SP) to come up with new items. Since each character has a specialization and certain positive or negative stats, certain items require the use of specific characters to unlock them. Once you do this, you simply gather the needed materials and build the item. Shops can have some needlessly infuriating orders. You have an inventory limit of 20 per item and if an order requires seven items but the recipe requires five items during item creation, you have to go back to your ship several times with your inventory maxed out to create the item and go back out to buy or hunt down more ingredients to complete the order. Thankfully, with few exceptions, none of the shop order quests are time sensitive and you can wait until the end of the game when it becomes easier to travel to all planets for those particularly troublesome items. In Star Ocean TLH, there are hundreds of possible recipes spanning a number of fields.Star Ocean TLH is an RPG with some interesting options for character development. Each character has special arts, symbols (Magic), and other abilities that increase stats or allow for special actions to be taken on the field. You, naturally, level up, but you also gain skill points (SP) for each character to level them up. There is also party-wide SP which comes from quests or harvesting materials which is used for item creation or to help level up a critical skill when a party member has run out of their own SP. Almost all skills require the use of SP to level up. Battle skills also require SP and provide valuable bonuses to stats or abilities such as auto-heal, often reaching extremely high levels when fully leveled up. However, to keep a character from becoming overly powerful, you can only have two active battle skills at any given time. There is also the BEAT system which grants stat bonuses based on an overall play style for a character. One BEAT is more defensive and grants stat bonuses and abilities to defense whereas the other goes towards offensive stats. The defensive BEAT (B) also affects the rush gauge. The rush gauge fills as you either take or cause damage. If it reaches full capacity, you can enter rush mode where certain attributes are increased. If you activate rush mode while in the vicinity of another character and press the trigger button, you enter a quick time event. If you complete this perfectly, you can cause a tremendous amount of damage in a very short amount of time since standard special arts and symbols with both characters are drastically increased in power. Each of the two BEATS have 20 levels and there is a third BEAT which uses both BEATs simultaneously but cannot level up either while active.Star Ocean has always had an innovative battle system, it is similar to Grandia's battle system only fully real time. Battles themselves do not take place on the field screen and you can avoid enemies, once you come in contact, you are taken to an arena where you fight. You are able to field up to four characters at a given time and one remains under the direct control of the player. This allows the player to select which one to play, though they may jump between characters at any given time, based on their play style. Personally, I preferred Reimi since she uses a bow from the distance and rarely comes under attack unless she takes direct offensive action. The other characters are all under the control of the AI and their actions are set by tactics you choose. These tactics aren't very specific, but you can change them during battle and turn off any symbols or skills you don't want used. Although the battles are in real time, you can access the battle menu at any time to use items, launch certain attacks, adjust tactics or BEAT's, swap out characters, or add and remove equipment. In battle, you can also chain special arts and symbols together to trigger them immediately after initial use and increase their damage potential. Star Ocean TLH uses something called the blindside, which, if performed correctly, causes the character to avoid damage, swing behind the enemy, and attack them from the rear, often granting a critical hit. Using a blindside does have its risks, not all enemies are vulnerable to them and some will attack you with a critical hit if you attempt to use it. Some characters can do blindsides better than others. Another unique feature of this game is the bonus board. If you defeat an enemy in a certain way, you get a colored gem added to the board. This gem grants special post-battle bonuses such as restoring a certain amount hit points or increasing experience. It is possible to double the amount of experience you receive from battle using the board. The board will carry over from battle to battle unless you load a saved game. However, if an enemy scores a critical hit against the player-controlled character, the board breaks. This leads to an interesting risk/reward system in battle, do you perform the blindside or perform the lengthy and very damaging symbol and risk an enemy critical hit, or do you find a safer location or alter your tactics to better keep the bonus board intact? The battle system is quite fun and I was never bored with it.Misc.: I enjoy science fiction and I also enjoy Japanese RPG's. You can imagine my joy when Xenosaga came out. Star Ocean Till the End of Time was also released and I liked it, but I believed that Xenosaga was the best with the way it blended sci-fi and RPG's together. Then, the six-part Xenosaga got cut to three and the game's developer came under the direct control of Nintendo cutting all hope I had for a high definition follow-up to my beloved Xenosaga. I then went back to Star Ocean and was excited to see Star Ocean TLH coming to a modern console... the one I did not have nor wanted to buy. Several months following release on the Microsoft console, I was overjoyed to see it returning to a Sony system. Although I was disappointed to see it on the Xbox 360 first, I do believe the PlayStation 3 received the best version of the game given the audio and increased capacity of the Blu-Ray disc.Star Ocean TLH is a game you can enjoy if you already like Japanese RPG's. If you do not like that particular genre, stay away from this game at it is very much part of it. This game is compared very frequently to the newly released Final Fantasy XIII and it is easy to see why. Star Ocean TLH doesn't have all of the polish FF XIII has and can stumble in places, but it is also a much longer game. Critics who did not like FF XIII because of the shortened game and lack of towns, will find many of those issues resolved since there is plenty to do in this game. For me, I had my main battle party (Reimi, Edge, Myuria/Sarah, Arumat) at level 60 and completed 60 to 70 percent of the quests clocking in at 64 hours. Still, this game does not have the name recognition of the Final Fantasy franchise and given the demographics of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners in Japan and North America, I doubt it will be anywhere near as successful as most of the titles in the other franchise. It will still sell reasonably well with already over one million sold in all territories, but with the ridiculous year-long exclusivity on the 360 and gamers moving on to other, newer games on the PS3, I believe that sales of this game will not be as high as they could have been if this title had been released simultaneously on both systems worldwide.As for the trophies, only the most dedicated, extreme completionists, or gamers with obsessive compulsive disorders, should even try to obtain the platinum trophy for this game. The trophies take completion to a whole new level. For example, you must complete every single quest in the game, some of which vanish permanently due to unfortunate events. You must also complete the game three times at progressively harder difficulty levels. The most insanely difficult one involves obtaining 100% of the in-game battle trophies. These are awarded as you complete certain battle objectives, such as "Land five critical hits in a row," or "Defeat 30,000 enemies," but some are very specific, such as "Deal 1,111 points of damage." Each character has their own battle trophies, about 100, and they can only be obtained while you are directly in control of that character. In short, you must have limitless patience if you want to even bother with getting the platinum. There are also no gold trophies for this game. Overall, I suggest Star Ocean The Last Hope International to gamers who enjoy long Japanese RPG's. With its fun battle system, a multitude of quests, and customization options, this is a very well-rounded game for most RPG fans, but the Japanese quirkiness and occasional rough edges may put off some gamers.

1.2.2011

There are not a tremendous number of options when it comes to RPGs on modern consoles. In my opinion, Star Ocean is the best one available on PS3, and perhaps XBOX 360 as well. If you've played previous Star Ocean titles, then buy this one right now. If you've never played one more, just know that you will buying an action packed RPG that blends fantasy and sci-fi seamlessly and beautifully.The worlds and environments are incredibly designed. The landscapes are beautiful, each planet has its own unique style and atmosphere. The monster design is great, and bosses are menacing. Spell effects are varied and fun to watch, but since battles are real time they do not break the flow of the game.The voiceover work is done well,but not amazing, and often mouth animations are out of sync with the audio. But overall the game is aesthetically pleasing.But since this is an RPG, the most important elements are the story and characters. There is a good number of characters, each with their distinct personalities and conflicts. You interact with them between major game phases through "private actions", which are brief cutscenes that expound upon a character's story and relationship with the main character. By exploring all of these actions you will unlock bonus ending cutscenes.Overall the character design is great. There are plenty of struggles and conflicts that bring life to each of them. On top of that, they all individually add to the overall story and plot. No character is just thrown in out of nowhere. By including them all in the overall story it gives them more life.The story itself is well done. For the most part everything is explained and concluded. There are very few random "wtf" moments. Since it's sci-fi and takes place in space and on alien worlds, there is a refreshing sense that it is not just another recycled "save the princess story".On top of the main story, there are many sidequests and collection tasks given to you by shop keepers. These all award you money, experience, and party skill points that are used to boost your skill levels.The gameplay is very fun. There is a fairly extensive crafting system and a basic gathering system. You can take advantage of these to create truly powerful weapons, but you can also ignore it altogether.Battles happen in real time. You directly control one character at a time but can switch who you control with the press of a button. Some battles require you to skillfully take advantage of the blindside system, which allows you to dodge attacks and gain a tactical advantage over enemies. There is also a combo system that causes you to do more damage as you string attacks together.One criticism I have is with the sometimes unpredictable AI of characters you aren't directly controlling. For instance, your entire party may be on the verge of dying but your characters with healing spells will ignore the fact and keep attacking enemies. Often, you need to directly control healers to get through moments of high damage.For the most part though, fighting never seems to get old. Also, as you fight monsters you gain knowledge of them, which can later be used to convert monster stones into items you can equip. These collections of information will be fun for any perfectionists that must 100% complete any game.In the end, Star Ocean is a wonderfully made RPG that mixes traditional elements with modern technology, blends sci-fi and fantasy, to deliver a 70+ hour masterpiece.[...] this is a steal. Buy this game right now.

9.7.2012

I bought this item thru Amazon for 24.20 dollars, and the first time I wasnt sure about it, but I saw it was developed by Tri-Ace, and after my good experience with Resonance of fate I gave it an opportunity and I dont regret it!Graphics - The graphics are very well done, the environment graphics from the planets you visit are so nice and sometimes you will see gorgeous landscapes. but if you get the camera to zoom in so much, you can see the textures look so ugly, this happens very often when private actions are active or when you open the door to go inside a store or an INN etc etc.Sound - The music by Motoi Sakuraba is very good, I really like his songs.Battle system - this is an AJRPG (Action Japanese Role Playing)that means it is not turn based, you will need Skill Points to advance the level of your skills and apply them as Battle Skills, Field Skills, Chain Combos and Symbols, so I really recommend to do the side quests to gather SP if you wanna be strong. over all the battle system is so addictive and fun but in the beginning it will be a little frustating cuz you have to do it according with somekind of rythm and on the right timing.Story - the story is not amazing but is not bad, its just "OK" you will have 9 characters, 4 men and 5 women (female power huh?) CHOOSE THE JAPANESE VOICE ACTING NO MATTER WHAT! cuz english voice actors just dont cut it, the characters are so anime-like so the appropiated voices are the japanese ones, if i had an xbox I wouldnt have bought the non-international version, cuz really it will be a pain for your ears if you dont put the right voice acting. even with the japanese voice active, some characters could be annoying so you are warned!! but in general they are good character casting. the bad point is that the cutscenes are so incredible slow! and can be get very boring, so I recommend to skip it and read the short summary it follows.Private Actions - You are WARNED of this as well, it has some ridiculous PA that even with the japanese voices we western people just dont cut it! but there many nice PA that according how you activate them it will trigger the 9 final endings it has.Content and Trophies - anyways the trophies from this game are so brutal (in the PS3 trophy website are Brutal category many of them) so if you are going for the trophies you will spend around 400 + hours YES! 400 + hours, it is bcuz it has much content, many items to create, many treasures to explore, two final bonus dungeons so i recommend to play it on terra difficulty which is the easier one, so that you can get the trophies for Ethereal Queen and Gabriel Celeste easier. also in the two bonus dungeons there are more treasures and you need them for the treasure trophy.PS3 CONTENT!- JAPANESE VOICES & ENGLISH VOICES- MULTILINGUAL TEXT INCLUDING, Japanese, Spanish, German, English and other three I dont remember- Its only 1 Disc and you dont need to swap for the side quests like in the XBOX360- Option to switch between Classic Menu/Avatars or Modern Menu/Avatars, the classic menu features the Anime avatars and the modern the CGI avatars. i prefer the modern style.

5.1.2014

This game is the latest in a long line of Star Ocean games. Fortunately, you don't need to play any of the older games to understand this one (I've never played the older ones, and I was able to follow the story fine). The game is a turn-based RPG with a few twists.The game takes place in a sci-fi setting, after earth has been ruined by World War III. You are part of a crew tasked with exploring other planets in order to find a suitable new home for humanity to colonize. So there is plenty of sci-fi elements in the game, like starships, travelling between several planets, and advanced weaponry. On the other hand, several of the planets you explore are quite primitive or even completely wild.So the game mixes sci-fi with some more traditional RPG settings, like jungles and little villages.The combat is turn-based, in a manner of speaking. You can freely move your characters around the combat field when you enter a battle. You can attack with one button and then use combos or magical abilities that you have mapped to other buttons. I say it is turn based because there is some delay between your movements. For example, after a combo of attacks, your character can't immediately enter another. It takes a moment, which usually allows an enemy to recover. So while your movement and attacks are fairly free, there is a certain rhythm to combat that can't be interrupted. There are no random battles in the game, as you can see all the enemies moving around on the map. This lets you avoid fights, if you want to.The game has great graphics. Everything is bright and colorful. There is excellent detail in environments, enemies, and character designs. The game has a much more round, anime-inspired look than a game like Final Fantasy XIII, which had more realistic character designs. Still, I enjoy these stylized graphics just as much. They give the characters a cheerful demeanor. The game's environments are enormous. Each planet has several huge areas to explore, sometimes with several dungeons that can be just as large. There is plenty of reason to explore every inch, as you can find treasures and resources. Resources are used to craft items in the game.The game's sound is pretty good. I wouldn't say that there are a lot of stand-out songs, but none of them are bad. They serve their purpose well enough, setting the tone and giving you something pleasant to listen to. But I doubt that many people will remember a lot of the music. The character voices are good enough, too. Some lines of dialogue are delivered a bit awkwardly, though I feel that this was more of an issue with translation. Certain things the characters say just don't sound like something a native English speaker would ever piece together.Overall, I greatly recommend this game to all fans of RPGs. With a neat sci-fi story, massive environments to explore, and a challenging battle system, there is plenty to dig into here. Be aware that parts of the game can actually be very difficult, although you can choose your difficulty setting to make it easier.

27.4.2010

So, this game will seem very familiar for those of you who played Star Ocean: Til the End of Time. This is hopefully informative for those of you on the fence, and will help give a normal review without comments raving about minor details.What's fun?- Lengthy RPG, plenty of time to spend on this title, which is both on a positive and negative.- Ability to switch Battle voices on/off, AND switch to Japanese.- Load times are SHORT. I do like this in a game. The game doesn't load too often, and if when it does it is a very short wait time.- Different character endings, like the previous Star Ocean titles.- Fun free-roaming combat system,new blindside system and rush system add more to combat.- Decent enough story when compared to other RPG's available.- The ability to switch who you play as! On the fly as well, you can swap the leader mid-battle and control someone else for a change in gameplay. Don't like to slash up in someone's face? Then pick another character and go have some fun.What's boring?- This title is obviously dated, and with it already a port from the XBOX360, don't expect the graphics to wow you at all. The open areas have pretty boring textures, and modeling/cutscenes are reminiscent of a PS2 game.- As mentioned above, be prepared to invest some serious time into this game. If you're a trophy type of player, expect an absurd amount of hours to actually get the platinum.- The music in this game is lacking when it comes to battles. I love hearing the same song for every battle that I encounter. (Which is quite frequent in this title)- The A.I. is not very unique, or smart. Think of Boomer from Socom, now give him a couple characters to control in an RPG and you have your A.I. Often times it almost looks as if they get bored and want you to do something, so they stop moving.- Save points are far and few between, unless you do the spastic sprint by all the enemies. But in doing so, you make the bosses very hard.- Boss difficulty does NOT scale well with the enemies you face leading up to the boss. They're challenging like in the past, but due to the combat system seem to be more challenging than they should be.If you're in the market for a RPG, and weren't satisfied with FFXIII, then pick this title up. The story is decent, nothing that will be praised for years to come, but interesting enough. The biggest hurdle that I encountered with this game was the first few hours. It starts off very slow, a couple cutscenes, quick battle simulator, then talking, walking around lost, then magically you battle things. The combat system is enough to keep you playing, between a bonus board to stack battle bonuses, and new combat toys to play with and create more challenge, it's a refreshing game to play through. Throw in hours of bonus content for beating the game, and FOUR difficulty settings, you will have plenty of gameplay, and a RPG that is actually challenging..

22.2.2010

Star Ocean has been a long running franchise that many RPG fans appreciate; this being said how is the game overall?-Xbox360 vs. PS3-Notable differences on the PS3 version:+ Do not need to disc swap, since everything is on one disc.+ Includes Japanese vocals as an option.+ Able to switch between menu layout Classic (Original JP Menus with the Animated dialog boxes) and the CG (NA/EU version of the menu, which was all done in CG, but lost the Anime feel and the portrait on dialog boxes).+ Includes additional characters.-I never played Star Ocean how does this fare with the storyline?-Star Ocean: The Last Hope (aka Star Ocean 4) Has very minor relevance within the other three Star Ocean games,each game are not direct sequels so each game is independent of each other and you will not be missing anything at all if you haven't played the previous ones.-How does the battle fare?-Just like all other Star Ocean, you control the leader of the party and able to set the other 3 on auto while having the ability to switch between each character.-Difficulty and depth of the game?-The game itself can be challenging, since some of the bosses are rather difficult, I believe this is a good thing just because a lot of RPGs these day are just dumb downed. The depth of the game is amazing, also unlike other RPGs there are tons of character interactions and details required to achieve specific endings for the game. Yes this RPG requires you to grind a bit for levels and skills, but people tend to complain about this aspect of the game; honestly I think RPG gamers have been spoiled over the years. Back in the days when players spent hours and hours unlocking secret weapons of leveling for boss fights since they were too hard, I find that enjoyable instead speed running through the game not requiring to grind or skills. So if you like a challenging RPG, this would be a good bet (Nothing as challenging as Demon Souls of course).-Length of game?-If you try to accomplish all the side quests and not speed through the game. The game itself can easily be 80+ hours long.-Graphics-The game is done very well with nice visual background.-Should I get this or White Knight Chronicles?-Both game plays completely different, WKC would have a bigger replay value since majority of the game is online based versus SO is strictly offline. Both games are JRPG based, but some would argue that WKC does not have a great storyline and big character roster list, so if you are looking for a decent character roster and a well developed storyline I would go for SO.-Conclusion-Overall I would say that SO4 is a great game, just like the other SO games in the series. If you enjoy playing the other SO in the series I am sure you will enjoy this. Unfortunately PS3 does not have big list of RPG titles, but if you enjoy RPGs then this would be the game to buy.

15.11.2011

I got this title really late becuz I played the Star Ocean series on the PSP, and I do not enjoy them so that I did not check this title out until lately when I was waiting for Skyrim release, and WOW! This game is simply amazing...AMAZING!!Reasons for you to must own this title:1. It's made by Tri-Ace, who made the famous Valkyrie Profile series, and the Resonance Of Fate (gun x RPG, only Tri-Ace can come up with this kinda crazy ideas LOL)2. Very decent story line for a Galaxy Exporation type of Sci-Fic! It actually reminds me of Star Trek kinda vast universe view, and the story is quite serious and people die along the way during this seeking-for-better planet journey.3.

19.5.2020

Update on bottom July 9th 2020Well bcoz of covid i ended up buying a ps3 so buying this game was only natural since i played the hell out of The Second Story on my ps1. The Last Hope so far is great. Some hints of Valkyrie Profile in it. Graphics r great. The story is very interesting. Battle system is A1. I havent done any item creation and what not as yet. The bosses r super hard and i havent beaten the game as yet.Cons of this game tho;The main character Edge really got on my nerve after he did smthn and threw a big hissy fit like a lil bitch. Man that will ruin the fun of this game for anyone when they reach that point.You cannot save anywhere you want on the world map like in the old ps1

21.5.2014

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International is a worthy addition to the Star Ocean series.This is the 4th main game in the series, and is in fact a prequel to the rest of the games. Don't feel as if you have to play the 3 games before it to understand the story though. That being said, if you are a fan of the series, there is a ton of great references to the older games, namely Star Ocean 1 (First Departure).The battle system is back in full force, in all it's shiny Star Ocean glory. Fast paced, fun, action packed. I honestly had no complaints about how the game played. Combat feels fluid, you're able to pull combos off easily once you figure out the system and it's workings.The music is incredible.

3.5.2011

This game is a peach. Any Star Ocean fans will love it. At times, the conversations can get a bit lenghty. However, the battles are awesome. I look forward to playing universe mode after finishing it on Galaxy.The characters took some getting used to, especially Lymle. Although she's adorable, she finishes nearly every sentence with "'kay?", even when it's completely out of context. The lead character, Edge Maverick, is the average protagonist/hero figure. At times he's a childish sissy, but at other times, he is straight BA. I like him. And the other characters are decent too.Like I mentioned, the battles are awesome, and the bosses are a real challenge.

9.2.2011

If you're like me and you have already played the XBOX360 version, you're not really getting anything in terms of content. There's no additional enemies or additional dungeons, or even extra items or weaponry. The only differences I saw and agree with from previous reviews of the PS3 version are:1. An optional anime layout (vs. the default CG layout) of avatars and menu background.2. Japanese audio dialogue (vs. the default English)3. Item synthesis has been altered. (Perhaps to make it difficult for players to become too powerful too quickly)4. 1 disc instead of 3 (When you reach Disc 3 of the XBOX version,

10.3.2011

Star Ocean International is an exciting game for those who enjoy having a group of diverse players helping to does evil in different worlds. Like most the games the object to find and destroy the evil from which it was created.Things I enjoyed from this game:-The graphics are incredible! From oceans, to land. From Buildings, to monsters. The graphics are exquisite in my opinion when traveling around from place to place.-Characters: You meet a lot of interesting characters each with their own story to tell. Every one of them are helpful in some way. Each one has the same and different special attacks and symbology they can use in battle which will defiantly change the tide of battle.-PA's (Private Actions)

23.1.2015

Uh... Well what do I even say about SO:TLH? Well more importantly, should you buy this? Let's see.Do you love JRPGs?Do you like your JRPGs to be in their native language, subbed?Do you like FUN gameplay?Do you enjoy getting EVERY achievement no matter how many/difficult/time-consuming they may be?If you answer yes to ALL of these, get it. Usually it's about $18, despite what I HATE about this game, I mean come on. The gameplay alone was worth it and just gave it that extra star, because otherwise it'd be a 3-star game for me. The gameplay's fun as I've said, and honestly the story wasn't really what I expected it be. I figured it was just about the MC being the typical "I NEED TO BECOME STRONGER TO DEFEAT MY RIVAL OH NO KNOW NOW I'M THE CHOSEN ONE",

18.1.2016

ShippingThe game came in a thin opaque plastic. I was amazed that the game case did not have a single crack on in. I was expecting it to arrive early, but it did not, fairly because I just paid for the basic delivery.GameThe game was very fun. For me it was like an MMO but minus the online and multiplayer aspect. The story was very good and the ending was very satisfying. There were times that I felt like watching a Japanese cartoon/anime from playing.The characters were very lovable and have broad personalities.The gameplay was quite challenging and fun. There were times that it felt very repetitive but the variety of opponents and their difficulty made it very enjoyable.

27.4.2012

This is a fun game. Graphics and sound are spot on. Gameplay is very smooth.This game is not short. It has a HUGE number of battles to fight. It can get a little repetitive at times, but then many JRPG's are this way.There are a lot of items to make/craft. Some of the components drop randomly so just keep trying! At first I wondered why there were so many healing and restorative items to craft. Well, later in the game, battles are a wee bit harder. The Inventory allows for only 20 items of a given typs. While healing berries are fine early on, around mid-game you need more restorative items than just 20. So, start crafting early, and get those components as well!The only thing I found annoying were some of the voice actresses.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (PS3) - Reviews

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