Customer Reviews

Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was about a year late to the party with this one. I had just finished clearing Final Fantasy XIII and was looking for another RPG to sink some time into. I read some good things about this and decided to give it a go. Aside from the awesome intro movie, it started out slow, but after a few hours I really started to enjoy myself. This is classic JRPG style with "next gen" polish. If you like exploring maps, bumping into an enemy and it cuts to a fight - this is definitely for you. Not only that, the fights are very hands-on. You can switch between characters while you fight, using their skills as appropriate for the situation, and the AI will back you up with your other guys (and you can configure how they will battle from one of several AI settings). So far - and I almost unlocked all the characters now - there's been very little to slow the pace. There are TONS of side quests and trophies to unlock. The characters are cute and nice to look at. There's a good variety of enemies - you won't see the same kind for very long. You can level up your abilities and battle skills, find and equip any number of awesome weapons, armor and accessories. There's chests to loot (don't miss picking up the Treasure Sense ability!), decent cut-scenes, and I'm always looking forward to see what happens next. The International version comes with both English and Japanese voice.. I'm playing through with Japanese and subtitles for my first run to get a solid feel for the characters, and then I'll play on a harder difficulty with English. This will surely become one of your favorite JRPGs in the collection. Highly recommended.

Most games nowadays have the notion of just trying to look pretty and leave the gameplay behind (FFXIII anyone?). Not this game. If you enjoyed older Star Ocean games like Till the End of Time, then you will certainly enjoy this game as well. It is basically Till the End of Time on the PS3/X360 - fun and intense combat system, comical characters and a lackluster story with its own funny moments. The game also has very good pace, slowly teaching you the basics while testing you at the same time. The user interface is also very well done. The voice acting is terrible just like the previous games, but thankfully the Japanese audio is available to bail this one out. This is the definition of a JRPG, something that next-gen consoles have been missing dearly. It has all the elements of a generic RPG - items, weapons/armors, towns, sidequests, leveling up, gain new skills, etc. Again, what makes this game very fun is its battle system. You will not find a more intense, challenging and fun combat system as this one. If you liked Star Ocean games and Final Fantasy games, give this one a try. And obviously if you're into CoD-type games or Uncharted, this is a hard knock for you, but this game is also a good choice for people interested in trying out the JRPG genre.

+ One of the best, if not the best, combat systems in RPGs
+ Incredible amount of content will make you come back for more even after beating the game
+ Japanese voice acting is great
+ The pacing is very well done
+ Some fanservice is present for those who are curious :P

- Lackluster story with some pointless dialogues
- Some characters can be annoying
- English voice acting is horrid

The game's characters and storyline are great. Environments are beautiful. As well, it's great how the Star Ocean games don't feel like every RPG you've ever played. A breath of fresh air into a genre that's anything but fresh.

This is my favourite installment in the Star Ocean series. There's very little I have to say against this game. It's fun, engaging, and has a fantastic storyline as well as enough to give you hours of extra gameplay.

I love Japanese Role-Playing Games, I appreciate HD visuals and an expansive world, Space is the coolest setting a game can have. Unfortunately After 4-6 hours I've lost nearly all interest in playing any further.

I'm going to focus on the plot's opening so heads up!

StarOcean begins with you and your young friends on a rushed departure from earth with an immense weight on your shoulders. Human civilization has succumbed to an entirely possible fate: a global nuclear exchange. Through a hinted "special encounter", humankind has cobbled together technology capable of interplanetary travel. You are to seek out habitable planets and report on any alien life-forms, our race needs a new planet and quick. So the game starts out with this great and unusual Star-Trek/Anime vibe and you really don't know what to expect! Naturally you get separated and crash-land on an unknown planet. Upon trying to evaluate your situation it becomes immediately apparent this planet is inhabited! by giant space insects!! It's cool, they are alien looking and entirely believable. You can only hurt them with physical melee weapons which provides a decent excuse for using swords in a 21st century setting. Fast forward a bit and your party encounters another type of alien, but this one isn't indigenous and is clearly quite intelligent. Here is the first of what becomes the ruining factor of the game: despite being alien and otherworldly this creature is almost exactly the same as a human with only pointy ears to differentiate. Clearly this is an Elf, the same fantasy cliche elf you'd find in Lord of the Rings. Okay, whatever we are over it! maybe the back story will eventually reveal our species once coexisted or something once upon a time. Now you find yourself having established a reliable outpost and can move on to a new planet! You arrive in a field with grass... but its desolate and the random enemies are weird enough to not worry about too much. Then, as you crest a hill a rooftop appears... getting a bit closer you see an entire village with incredibly conventional wood houses, stone paths and a nice well in the middle. You casually greet the residents who look like nice homely folk (entirely human) and find the village elder who has been afflicted with a turn-to-stone curse. WHAT THE HECK? weren't we just exploring space? charting the unknown? (You get my point by now I'd imagine). The story utterly falls apart at the second planet and dramatically shifts from Star-Trek to the same medieval+magic setting JRPG we have all played a million times. Without a doubt there would be more space exploration and maybe even some unique worlds but seriously... No game can be highly story driven and pull that immense level of crap. Without even touching on the random battles, repetitive battles, and "Uncanny Valley" style characters, I must insist you skip Star Ocean: The Last Hope. This game had me absolutely loving the setup and plot until the fake props fell over revealing a stage behind them.