This game is a prequel of sorts detailing man's first trips into the vast star ocean. Played the third game, but not the first two and this one is about the same as the third one, though very very wordy. I am the type of role playing gamer that loves story over game play, but even I have to admit some of the cut scenes in this one were like watching an entire movie. The story has a young man named Edge Maverick and childhood friend Reimi on a ship making its inaugural flight into space, their goal to find a planet to inhabit as Earth has been decimated by wars. Well the first flight does not go to well as they soon find themselves crashed on a planet and numerous ships launched alongside theirs missing including that of Edge's and Reimi's friend Crowe. On the planet they uncover a few mysterious happenings and soon come into contact with a race of people called Eldarians who help out Edge and everyone by establishing a base on this new found planet and soon they are accompanied by one of these people named Faize. This is just the tip of the iceberg as our young hero ends up captain of his own ship and meeting a whole lot of other people as he meets a young strange girl named Lymia, a scientific type cyborg named Bacchus, a cat girl named Meracle, a winged girl named Sarah, another girl out for revenge named Myuria. They end up having to uncover these strange objects known as Grigori that seem to have unnatural effects on all life around them and soon end up on the trail of mysterious ships that seem to have no other purpose than to destroy. The game was rather fun, the characters funny and rather good and the fighting was a bit like the third Star Ocean, however, now one only need monitor their health rather than their health plus like magic or something in the third. You can get rather powerful in this one as it does not have the all to familiar 9999 cap for hit points and other stats as most role playing games do. The game is more story oriented than fight oriented, to a very high degree as even I, a person who enjoys story over fighting got kind of annoyed at some of the longer lasting cut scenes. The problem being they were not fast paced enough, to much Edge looking dire and making speeches. You do travel to a whole slew of planets in this one, unlike the third where the majority of the action took place on one planet, here there is a planet where a lot has to be done, but it does not comprise over 50 percent of the game or greater like the planet from the third one did. A lot more space travel this time around. All in all rather good, and I will play the first two games now as I have them for the PSP and hope they will be as entertaining as this one, with perhaps a few less cut scenes.
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glanesb20 July 2009I have seen and read so many mixed reviews on this. One day I was watching a news report from a Japanese mall. There were people lined up literally for blocks and blocks just waiting to get there hands on this game. I said.....OK...
It is not a perfect RPG but WOW.....this game does a wonderful job in taking you away from it all. YES, the characters can be cutesy and annoying ( 'KAY' ) but hey guys......it does the job. With much innuendo and brilliant graphics..it is well worth the price!! Especially with the choices out there now for a good RPG. The wait for FF13 has been very grueling but this piece has definitely taken up the time with grace and enjoyment. Memorable and I am wanting more!!! I say "Great Job" -
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the first of the Star Ocean franchise that I ever played. I was completely sucked into playing, and beat the game within a couple weeks. It is very, very addicting, I will say.
But let's do pros and cons.
Pros:
The interplanetary exploration theme is fascinating. You can travel to the different worlds of Aeos, Lemuris, EN II, Roak, Earth, and Cardinon. There may be a few more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.
The plot is very interesting (and kinda all over the place).
I particularly enjoyed the shop areas and side missions. There are numerous shop areas scattered all over all the planets, and I really like the consumer-service type aspects of RP games. And the side missions allow you to gain items, abilities, open up new areas, etc. Really fun!
There's more things I like about it, but I'll save time and not list them all.
Cons:
Character development isn't too well-done, and some of the characters get annoying after a while (particularly Edge and Lymle).
Gameplay, while for the most part is pretty decent, is a bit frustrating at times. For example, whenever you come in contact with a monster, you are immediately transported to an alternate location and forced to fight the battle. It can be annoying, especially when you are trying to get to a certain place. Another example is that the worlds are so large that getting from point A to point B can be exhausting. But then, the planets are large, expansive, and fun to explore, so that's a pro as well.
The storyline towards the end of the game gets really stupid. They add in this thing called "The Missing Procedure." I'm not even gonna try to explain what it is, but it's kinda stupid in my opinion.
A few of the characters' battle gameplay are, I don't know...uncomfortable? My best characters were Arumat and Meracle, and sometimes Reimi. All the rest were awkward are hard to fight with.
Now, take note that this game is really, REALLY long. I don't know how many hours of gameplay there are, but it's spread out over three discs, that's how long it is. And with the planets being so large, little bits here and there, side missions, there so much you could miss.
When I played this through, I was just playing to beat it. To get to the final boss battle and see how it all ends. Because of that, there were many extras in the game that I missed. Plus a few non-essential cutscenes that you really have to look hard for if you want to see them. Someday I'll take the time to replay this game and get all the extra bits.
Overall, it's a great game. It has it's flaws, yeah, and it's a bit frustrating at times, but then aren't all videogames? I say give it a go. Just bring along lotsa coffee. -
finalfantasywillneverend25 April 2019This game has brought me too much shock, It seems like I am in the game . The game is very difficult , It took me a lot of energy and time to finish it , But the story of the game is very good . Traveling in the sea of stars , romantic and full of fantasy , I like the strong and brave reimi , No matter how difficult the journey , she will always be with Edge. I hope that one day , I can also be with someone I love forever , traveling in the sea of stars . I want to say thank you to this game , brought me a fantastic trip , Star Ocean is the best game .