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- Combines sci-fi and fantasy elements, spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the STAR OCEAN universe
- Item creation and Private Actions, two hallmarks of the STAR OCEAN franchise, also make their return, allowing for players to enjoy upgraded versions of both systems
- Exhilarating combat expands upon the franchise’s dynamic real-time battle system, now featuring amazing graphics through Blu-ray Disc
- Up to four characters can take part in battles simultaneously and party members can be switched mid-battle
- New Blindside battle system fuses evasion and offense, enabling players to confuse and ambush enemies by quickly moving out of their line of sight when targeted
Product Description
The year is A.D. 2087. In the aftermath of World War III, Earth has been ravaged and the population decimated by a deteriorating environment. The countries that survived have joined together to form the Greater Unified Nations and turned their eyes skyward…to space. Edge Maverick and his childhood friend Reimi Saionji are chosen as pioneer members of the Space Reconnaissance Force, which was created to seek out new worlds beyond the stars. Their ship, the Caln… More >>
Star Ocean: The Last Hope International
03/23/2010 at 3:58 pm
the additions to the game are not worth the $60 price tag, they could of at least knocked $10 off. everything that people hated when it was on the 360 version, most of which still exist on the ps3 version. some issues were fixed but nothing a patch for the 360 version couldn’t have had fixed. everything they did, they could of done for the 360 version by releasing a patch.
this is just square-enix trying to milk people for every dollar they can by releasing another failure of a game.
Rating: 2 / 5
03/23/2010 at 4:56 pm
So this game actually only deserves four stars…but since I know some other moron will post the obligatory “Dis here game iz alredy on teh three-six-zeeero” and give the game a low score I bumped it up to five stars. That should cancel out exactly one dipstick.
On to the game!
Beautiful game. COMES WITH A FREE $(*@)(%! MOVIE!! Holy ‘effing mother of Gargonzola the game takes thirty friggen minutes to get going. I know it’s supposed to be an epic tale of survival and exploration but I MADE A SANDWICH in the time it took for the game to start. Sure, people joke and say, “…man, I could have gotten up and made a sandwich in that length of time.” Yeah, well, not only did I MAKE the sandwich, I ate the damn thing too. Beautiful movie…but when it came time to move my guy around I looked at the controller with slight distrust. “Hmmm…” Lo and behold the damn game was ready for me to play it! Battle tutorial! AWESOME! Ohh…nice and then I can explore the ship and then…AW F$$%! ANOTHER damn cutscene.
When we FINALLY have control for REAL, the camera is fluid, the controls are accurate (except when I “sprint”. I don’t know who stuck a N0S bottle up the main character’s butt to make him zip forward like that but it’s slightly retarded. At least make the damn sprint last longer. I have to keep having my guy make grunting noises like he’s plowing the remnants of Thanksgiving dinner through his colon. *sigh*
Combat is very nifty. Again, nothing groundbreaking but this is an RPG for frick’s sake, what did you expect? There’s a little battle bonus board that you can add to by meeting special conditions in battle. A bonus battle feature where you can sneak around behind the enemy…the name of which escapes me at the moment. DIFFICULTY SETTINGS!!! Very very cool. It’s one thing to have a difficult RPG…it’s another to have to get your guys to level 27 before you can fight the first boss. The Japanese are all sadistic, I think. You get used to whacking all this little stuff and THEN comes captain octopus that absolutely spanks your monkey until bananas come out of your ears. So frustrating…and this game avoids those frustrations with an easy button.
The voices…ugh. The obligatory cute asian-looking girl with perky…er…attitudes and tight pants is entertaining for the first five minutes. Then you want to go and grab that stick with a hand on it from the concorde grape-jelly character who runs the item making machine and strangle her with it. The main character dude says the same…damn…thing…every…friggen…battle. You can switch them over to the Japanese voices and laugh at them for awhile…but then it starts to feel like you’re in an airport and you’ve gotta switch back.
Menu can be changed from modern to classic. Modern being what I have heard was available on the 360 and classic being a bright anime/cartooney style. I prefer the anime style personally.
In the end, if you didn’t try this on the 360 then I say give it a go. I LOVE RPGs and this one has already provided me with hours of pleasure. Seriously, don’t be afraid to buy the game. It’s pretty damn good.
Rating: 5 / 5
03/23/2010 at 5:51 pm
…I’m forced to average the two. I commiserate with another reviewer about the “This was on the X-Box, so it’s worse here by definition!” reviews, but I can’t co-sign on grade inflation.
And honestly, while this game has a lot going for it, it’s flaws can be severe. The average player probably wouldn’t notice (i.e. the one that plays the game one time through), but I would guess that most people buying this game are hardcore (and the developers believe the same – look at all of the postgame extras, and the ridiculous PSN trophies associated to the game).
So anyway:
The Good:
- I really like the battle system in this game. There is one major flaw (targetting), but all in all, I’ve enjoyed fighting (which is good for a game of this length). The “blindside” and “rush combo” systems are magnificent, IMHO. The characters clearly have different personalities on the battle field (including the fighters – Faize’s rapier combos act much different than Edge’s, e.g.).
- The story. While the cutscenes are a major pain (they are too long, and poorly written), I’m a sucker for a space exploration story. No, this isn’t “Mass Effect 2,” but I think the plot synthesizes much of what is good about various Japanese sci-fi animes (ridiculous science, absurd character interactions, a universe-threatening enemy, etc.)
- The extras. Tri-Ace has ALWAYS given the player more for completing a game, and this is no different. A huge battle arena, two long and rewarding post-game dungeons, billions of battle trophies to test your skills and patience (OK – there are only 900, but it will feel like billions by the end). SO:TLH delivers. However, there is one major flaw here, as I will state below.
The Bad:
-Battle targeting is atrocious. The computer NEVER fixes on the proper target; your character will often run the length of the battlefield to attack another enemy, instead of the one in front of him. In order to change targeting, you have to use the start button (who in the world thought of that?)…but this is a pain in the heat of battle against an enemy such as, say, Kokubei (who has about 10 other small enemies constantly circling her). Ugh.
- Where are the save points? It takes FOREVER to get to one! I’ve heard that autosaving doesn’t work in JRPGs (with citations of other 360 RPGs as evidence). I don’t buy it. There HAS to be something better, and if we ARE fixing ourselves to this archaic system, at LEAST make it reasonable. At time, you will find yourself going an hour or more between save points in dungeons. At the end of the game, adding together the cutscene time, the credit time, and the battles, it took over 2 hours before I could save my game! That’s ridiculous.
Also, when you finally do save, the game asks you, “Do you want to keep saving?” The default answer is “YES” the first time this question is asked. What the heck? I guess even the game realizes that saving is a luxury that you never want to end.
- While battle trophies carry over to different playthroughs, battle trophy progress does not. What are you thinking, Tri-Ace? So, if I kill 29,999 enemies with Edge in one playthrough, and don’t get the trophy, I STILL have to kill 30000 in the next playthrough. All I can say is, if you care about these things, keep your old save files intact.
- The cutscenes. They are WAAAAAY too long. Now, I’m not a fan of cutscenes in general, but when the writing is as bad as it is for these, it’s particularly atrocious. In fact, I would suggest just skipping them entirely (the game is nice enough to provide you a synopsis of any scene you skip, and the synopsis is both short AND well-written).
The unforgivable:
- Missable trophies. OK – I can accept that some games should have PSN trophies that require work. But this is ridiculous. For example, there is one trophy for completing all the quests in the game (and there are hundreds, plural, by the way). The catch? Near the beginning of the game, some quests simply…disappear. Forever. There is nothing telling you that this might happen, but it can. Later on, other quests disappear. Forever. So, what do you do? YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE ENTIRE GAME AGAIN. Clearly, this is implemented solely to sell strategy guides. There are other egregious examples (what, I can’t make every item in the game because one of my party members left permanently?), but you get the point. Everything about the trophies is meant to anger you. I kid thee not.
Anyway, there you have it. If you are going to play through once, I would rate this from 4 to 5 stars. It’s pretty fun. But if you are like so many others that requires that platinum trophy, expect lots and lots of frustration. Happy gaming!
Rating: 3 / 5
03/23/2010 at 8:20 pm
The game play in the game is OK. Fans of the Final Fantasy series will the find the battle modes familiar.
Rating: 4 / 5
03/23/2010 at 10:11 pm
The battle system is pretty entertaining and original, it’s more action oriented than classic turn based, I personally like more FFVII style old school but this is one of the few titles that have caught my attention and that I have liked and enjoyed the most.
Rating: 4 / 5