Review: Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Released: 5th June (UK) (Out Now)
Platforms: XBOX360, PS3(Star Ocean: The Last Hope International)
FINAL OPINION: GREAT JRPG
Now I’m not an expert on the Star Ocean series in fact this is the first Star Ocean game I’ve ever played. Thankfully it doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of the Star Ocean series or played any of the previous instalments. This is simply because in terms of the story Star Ocean: The Last Hope takes place chronologically before the previous four games, effectively making it a prequel to the entire series.
Earth has been devastated by the events of World War 3 rendering it in a state of disrepair and those who have survived only hope is to look to space in order to find a new home. The plot isn’t too bad at the same time it’s nothing truly new. Gamers will take control of the main protagonist Edge Maverick who is given the task by the SRF or Space Reconnaissance Force of exploring space to find and determine if there are any other planets that can be inhabited. Edge isn’t alone he is joined by his childhood friend and love interest Reimi. In addition as the story progresses Edge will be joined by other characters from different planets most of them looking like the just walked out of an anime convention such as giant robot man Bacchus, cat girl Meracle, and large bosom Myuria just to name a few. Unfortunately the last hope is plagued with cut-scenes that sometimes drag on longer then they need to. Furthermore for some reason the cut scenes can’t be paused, however oddly enough pushing the Xbox guide button does cause the cut scenes to pause.
Each planet will have exploring some pretty large areas mixed with the usual JRPG character interaction and combat. Dungeons themselves contain simple and gentle puzzles and I have to say that some dungeons seem to go on longer then they need to broken up sometimes with the odd cut scene chunked in every now and then. Some players may also find it bothersome that the game is light on save points making it hard to save frequently. One rare quirk that players will discover later in the game is that the in order to go back to a planet you visited earlier (maybe to complete a side quest) you’ll be required to insert one of the previous disks which may ruin the experience for some players. Compared to most other JRPGs currently available on Xbox 360, The Last Hope has a much more sci-fi oriented look and feel to it. The game will have players travelling from one planet to another and each one looks just as good as the one before. Each planet has a unique look to their environments and each environment has some fantastic looking scenes. The game should be highly praised for the effort put in, although it’s not all fantastic for some reason the anime style characters come off looking like Thunder Bird dolls and there isn’t much to their facial expressions either. There are also some frame rate drops during battles when there is alot happening on screen but nothing that spoils your time with the game.
While you’re exploring the large beautiful landscapes you’ll have access to rather odd quick dash manoeuvre that helps crossing the landscape quicker. However repeatedly pressing the X button just to perform a quick dash gets tiresome it would’ve been nicer to simply hold the X button. I have to say that one of the strongest and most fun features of The Last Hope is its combat system from its simple, easy to use controls and in-depth battle system. There are no random encounters, enemies freely roam the field screen which effectively gives players the choice to either avoid or engage the enemy. Combat can be initiated by simply touching an enemy; on the other hand the nature of the encounter can change depending on how you touch the enemy. Touching an enemy from behind will initiate a pre-emptive attack which renders the enemy defenceless for a period of time. Surprise attacks are initiated if an enemy touches you from behind allowing the enemy to surround you and have their rush gauges partially charged. Lastly ambushes are encountered if you touch an enemy with another enemy nearby, meaning you will have to fight one wave of enemies after another depending on how many enemies were nearby when the encounter was first initiated. Battles themselves take place on a separate screen using a real-time battle system. Movement is handled with the left analogue stick; while the right stick handles the camera which can be rotated a full 360 degrees. Guarding from enemy attacks is handled by simply standing still; although this depends on the enemies HIT and your characters GRD parameters. Pressing the A button allows you to perform regular attacks while LT and RT are used for chain combos which can be learned as your characters level up. The press of the B button and tilting the left stick in any direction allows your character to jump in that direction. Lastly the RB and LB buttons allow you to easily switch between characters during combat. You can also press the Y button which effectively will halt the action and give you access to other attacks; such as the ability to use items and also the ability to switch active characters with non-active characters. 
Now don’t get me wrong a number of battles during my play through could be handle by simply pounding the A button and the occasional press of either the RT or LT buttons, however dig a little deeper and you’ll find there’s a lot more to discover. One of the first things you’ll learn is the blindside manoeuvre which allows the gamers character to slip behind the enemy and pull off a number of critical hits. Another interesting feature to The Last Hopes combat system is the bonus board. The bonus board is made up of a number of tiles that can be stacked and carried over into each battle until the players active character dies or takes a critical hit. There are four different coloured tiles that can be attained depending on which requirement is met during battle. Green tiles give extra SP, blue tiles give 10% extra EXP, yellow tiles give 10% extra fol (the games currency) and pink tiles restore small amounts of MP and HP at the end of battle. In order to earn each tile a battle requirement must be met such as defeating an enemy with a critical finish to earn a blue tile. The bonus board adds to the gameplay and can make the players experience through the game a bit easier. If you’re in the mood for some power levelling or need to save up some fol or SP then it’s worth investing some time into earning their respected tiles. There is also the Rush mode mechanic which once activated grants you a number of bonuses such as increased movement and attack speed also the ability to launch chain combos together with your allies.
Speaking of your allies the computer does a very good job of handling them. Throughout the game I wasn’t worried about the other AI controlled team mates; they attacked aggressively and healed when they needed to. You can set how they behave during battle whether you want them to conserve MP, all out attack, or just stay back just to name a few options. Players can also choose a preferred fighting style for each of their team members. This is known as the BEAT system (Battle Enhancement Attribute Type) and there are three types to choose from which focus on different areas of combat. BEAT S is an offensive battle style; BEAT B is a defensive battle style while BEAT N is neutral battle style. Each BEAT apart from BEAT N has a rank and will increase over time alongside a players normal levelling up.
There’s no online or offline co-op but was anyone really expecting one, furthermore currently there is no DLC. Most of the games longevity mostly benefits the collection/completion nut gamer as there are a tonne of side quests to complete most of which are simply fetch quests offering many rewards, extra dungeons once the games complete, in game battle trophies, monster data collection, recipes and items to create. The game also has private actions story segments and endings depending on which characters like each other. If you’re looking to do all that then you’re looking at a tonne of hour’s worth of play, if not then around 30 to 40+ plus hours.
The music heard within the Star Ocean: The Last Hope is composed by Motoi Sakuraba. Sakuraba has also worked on the music for the previous Star Ocean games and other tri-Ace developed games such as Infinite Undiscovery. The music is good quality and comforting, however the same can’t be said for the audio voice work. The English lip-sync can be noticeably off at times and some character voices players may find a little annoying. Unfortunately those gamers that like their Japanese audio voice work are out of luck as it’s not included.
I wouldn’t consider Star Ocean the last to be the best JRPG but it is a lot of fun to play. There are a couple of things that spoiled my experience such as the longer then needed cut scenes and overly long dungeons. Apart from that the combat is fantastic, each planets environment are huge and look fantastic and the game offers plenty of hour’s worth of things to-do outside of the main story. If you are a JRPG fan, love real time combat then you should look to pick this up if you haven’t already, furthermore the game is also differently ideal for collection/completion nuts.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope Breakdown
GAMEPLAY
The combat is fun, has a tonne of depth and there’s plenty of it, in addition the bonus board feature is a plus. Furthermore controls are easy to get use to and feel just right.
GRAPHICS & PRESENTATION
Locations are visually stunning with some very nice variety in the locations you’ll come across. Larger than life dungeons mixed with longer then needed or just not needed cut scenes. Bit more work was needed to make the story experience more appealing.
LONGEVITY
Plenty of combat, masses of exploration, plenty of side questing, extra boss fights, multiple difficulties and loads more; however there is no sign of DLC.
AUDIO
The soundtrack is decent but the English voice acting while not a major issue could been better.
FINAL OPINION: GREAT JRPG
Author: Hall0606
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