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Ok, So I know this game has been out since March (Feb. 24th to be exact), but I finally got my hands on it and I wanted to share with everyone my personal opinions on this amazing franchise that has been continued.
First thing you have to do, ask yourself one thing, what is the one thing SquareEnix knows how to do?? Storyline! In every Final Fantasy and Star Ocean game there is an amazing jaw dropping storyline with twists and spins that leave you begging for more! In this sense, Star Ocean: The Last Hope does not disappoint.
The game follows your main character, Edge Maverick. Yep, you heard me! Edge Maverick! Edge is a soldier who quickly finds himself being thrust into leadership and, at times, biting off more than he can chew. What was intended to be a mission of exploration quickly turns into a battle to save the universe! With every twist of the plot, you will find yourself being joined by new characters that are, at times, seem to be a little over eager to come along. Each character that does tag along does have their own distinct personality and back story. This in itself can take hours to get through. But, if you do find yourself reading and watching every cutscene, you find yourself being rewarded with some of the most amazing story telling that SquareEnix can offer.
The graphics in this game are simply stunning! The planets you visit all have their own unique look and feel to them. You will find yourself immersed in the detail that has been provided. You can see all the details and scratches on all the rocks and the ships and etc. The game will even update the cutscenes to show current weapons you have equipped on your characters! If anything else, this is a beautiful game to watch!
The battle system has deviated from the past games in the franchise. The saying, "If its not broke, dont fix it" truly does apply here. The Real-time battle system feels solid and smooth. They have added in a few new things such as the "Blind Sides" attacks. These attacks allows the player to time his movements to quickly move behind the enemy and deal even more critical damage. While at first I thought this new feature would be over powered, they found a nice balance in the game for it so that players do not have to rely on it just to win. There is still tons of Symbology to be cast and plenty of Skills to lash out with!
The audio for this game will sound amazing at times and then without notice, you will say "WTF is that???" When a cutscene that tells you that the universe is doomed to be destroyed and all of your friends and family will die... Why the hell are you playing a song that sounds like it could be in an infomercial??? Other than those rare occasions, the music is very nicely done and captivating. The only thing I would change would be the simple fact that the voice clips of everytime someone levels up are the same through the game. "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" .... dude ... SHUT UP!!!! GO take steroids or something!
The Item Crafting in this game is slightly different from the rest; however, fans will find themselves either enjoying this or hating it. In order to get new recipes for items, you have to get "Recipe Memos" or start a brainstorming session with your characters. You can divide them up in a max of 4 groups (up to 3 characters per group) and there is no correct combination. While this allows the ability to try new things and see how well your characters work together off the battlefield, I personally didnt find as much enjoyment in this as I hoped. The normal Item Synthesis is back, allowing you to combine items with weapons and armor. This I LOVED!!!
One things fans of the series (especially Til The End Of Time) came to love with the Battle Simulator. The ability to fight against your own characters was something that gave hours of fun for me and my friends! HOWEVER! This feature is not in The Last Hope. Sad, but very true. You get one chance to take part in a dual between 2 characters while playing through the story, but that is it.
Overall, this game took me 38 hours to complete! Granted, thats JUST the main storyline. There is a whole new dungeon that I have yet to play that can be accessed by loading your completed game data. So... 38 hours of good solid story and gameplay, plus additional gameplay that comes after the story is over... all for $59.99. So.... WHY NOT! Oh and did I mention the game is 3 discs long!!!! Hell yeah!!!
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Audio: 7/10
Storyline: 10/10
OVERALL: 9/10
First thing you have to do, ask yourself one thing, what is the one thing SquareEnix knows how to do?? Storyline! In every Final Fantasy and Star Ocean game there is an amazing jaw dropping storyline with twists and spins that leave you begging for more! In this sense, Star Ocean: The Last Hope does not disappoint.
The game follows your main character, Edge Maverick. Yep, you heard me! Edge Maverick! Edge is a soldier who quickly finds himself being thrust into leadership and, at times, biting off more than he can chew. What was intended to be a mission of exploration quickly turns into a battle to save the universe! With every twist of the plot, you will find yourself being joined by new characters that are, at times, seem to be a little over eager to come along. Each character that does tag along does have their own distinct personality and back story. This in itself can take hours to get through. But, if you do find yourself reading and watching every cutscene, you find yourself being rewarded with some of the most amazing story telling that SquareEnix can offer.
The graphics in this game are simply stunning! The planets you visit all have their own unique look and feel to them. You will find yourself immersed in the detail that has been provided. You can see all the details and scratches on all the rocks and the ships and etc. The game will even update the cutscenes to show current weapons you have equipped on your characters! If anything else, this is a beautiful game to watch!
The battle system has deviated from the past games in the franchise. The saying, "If its not broke, dont fix it" truly does apply here. The Real-time battle system feels solid and smooth. They have added in a few new things such as the "Blind Sides" attacks. These attacks allows the player to time his movements to quickly move behind the enemy and deal even more critical damage. While at first I thought this new feature would be over powered, they found a nice balance in the game for it so that players do not have to rely on it just to win. There is still tons of Symbology to be cast and plenty of Skills to lash out with!
The audio for this game will sound amazing at times and then without notice, you will say "WTF is that???" When a cutscene that tells you that the universe is doomed to be destroyed and all of your friends and family will die... Why the hell are you playing a song that sounds like it could be in an infomercial??? Other than those rare occasions, the music is very nicely done and captivating. The only thing I would change would be the simple fact that the voice clips of everytime someone levels up are the same through the game. "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" "I must grow stronger!" .... dude ... SHUT UP!!!! GO take steroids or something!
The Item Crafting in this game is slightly different from the rest; however, fans will find themselves either enjoying this or hating it. In order to get new recipes for items, you have to get "Recipe Memos" or start a brainstorming session with your characters. You can divide them up in a max of 4 groups (up to 3 characters per group) and there is no correct combination. While this allows the ability to try new things and see how well your characters work together off the battlefield, I personally didnt find as much enjoyment in this as I hoped. The normal Item Synthesis is back, allowing you to combine items with weapons and armor. This I LOVED!!!
One things fans of the series (especially Til The End Of Time) came to love with the Battle Simulator. The ability to fight against your own characters was something that gave hours of fun for me and my friends! HOWEVER! This feature is not in The Last Hope. Sad, but very true. You get one chance to take part in a dual between 2 characters while playing through the story, but that is it.
Overall, this game took me 38 hours to complete! Granted, thats JUST the main storyline. There is a whole new dungeon that I have yet to play that can be accessed by loading your completed game data. So... 38 hours of good solid story and gameplay, plus additional gameplay that comes after the story is over... all for $59.99. So.... WHY NOT! Oh and did I mention the game is 3 discs long!!!! Hell yeah!!!
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Audio: 7/10
Storyline: 10/10
OVERALL: 9/10
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