Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Score: 83% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Tri-Ace Media: DVD/3 Players: 1 Genre: RPG/ Real-Time Strategy
Graphics & Sound: Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the latest in a long list of Star Ocean games. I will tell you that this is the first Star Ocean game that I've played. I know you're wondering how that's possible, but it is. So if you're expecting a comparison to the previous games, you're not going to get it here. But you will get a new look at the latest game in this series. It never ceases to amaze me how life-like some of the full motion videos are in games today. You really need to watch through the opening title video at least once because it is simply amazing! You'll also get to see it at the beginning of a new game with an explanation of everything that is going on. As beautiful as the cut scenes are, they are way too long. I felt like I was watching a movie more than I was playing a game at times. To make it worse, you can't pause them (unless you just pull up the dashboard). So if you get a phone call or some other distraction at the beginning, you'll miss everything that happens in that scene. The voice acting in The Last Hope is very well done. I never once cringed at a bad accent or misused language. I know that the scripts have been getting better in recent years, but I'm still impressed when a game gets it all correct.
Gameplay: Star Ocean: The Last Hope is set in a post-apocalyptic situation. Thanks to wars on Earth, the human race needs to find another planet to move to if they ever want to be able to rebuild. The trick is to find one that isn't already inhabited. They think they have found the perfect place. The unmanned missions showed that it is perfect for sustaining human life and free of major predators. Given all this information, it is decided that a manned mission should be sent to make sure that this is the place. The hero of this story is Edge. At the age of 20, he is on this mission as a volunteer. With him from pretty much the beginning is Reimi. She's a friend of his from home. She's very skilled at archery, so while Edge is the frontline battle guy, Reimi shoots enemies from a distance. There are more party members that you will pick up as you progress in the game. Each will have their own particular skill, so you'll need to learn how to best use each character to the biggest advantage. Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a true real-time strategy RPG. You have at least one character in your party at all times. You can control all party members during battle, switching between them in real time. This turns out to be quite handy a good deal of the time. Just like all RPG's, you need to wander around areas talking to everyone you can find. There's always the main quest that you're on, but some of the characters can provide side quests as well. Plus they can be very helpful in figuring out where to go next. What I found really fun about your wandering is that before long, you're able to use a ship to fly between planets. So in The Last Hope, you get to explore more than one planet even. I knew there had to be a reason that the game takes up 3 discs!
Difficulty: When you start Star Ocean: The Last Hope, you'll see four difficulty levels. You can only choose between the lowest two levels first. You'll have to earn the two most difficult levels by proving you deserve to play in them. Like all RPG's, part of the difficulty in Star Ocean: The Last Hope is all up to you. If you run straight through the game avoiding all enemies, then your level won't be as high as it should be, so the game will be more difficult. There are some other things that do make it more difficult than a normal hack n' slash or even most RPG's. The fighting mechanisms are quite complex. Just about every single button on the controller can be used in battle. You really can't just mash random buttons and hope for the best on the higher levels. On Earth difficulty (the easiest), you can play most of the game as a hack n' slash though, just using your basic attack to kill everything. After the intro, the game will take you to the battle simulator where you can learn how to control your character. It does take a decent amount of time to get used to the controls if you've never played it before (trust me!). The battle simulator is a really good place to do that. Learning the controls will definitely make the game easier! The one other thing I found difficult was a lack of save points. I found myself having to run all the way back to a previous point because there never seemed to be one where and when I needed it. Since there's no "world map" for you to save on, I would personally have liked a few more points.
Game Mechanics: As I just mentioned, the mechanics of Star Ocean: The Last Hope can be quite complex. But if you go through the tutorial, you'll get the hang of them pretty quickly. There are way too many controls for me to go through them here, so I'm just going to recommend that you use the tutorial! The one thing that was weird to me was guarding. You don't have to do anything to guard, just stand still and if your GRD is high enough, the character will automatically guard. I really don't like leaving guarding to chance like that, so I just attacked all the time and avoiding trying to guard. Running around the areas isn't easy. It's hard to maneuver your characters to be standing just where you want them, which made talking to people and searching for materials and items difficult at times. Luckily in battles, the characters move just fine so it doesn't hurt your ability to fight well. On the whole, I have had fun playing Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I do wish the cut scenes had been broken up a little more and that you could pause them correctly. It isn't the world's most addictive game. It's not one that I think about playing all day at work, but it is fun overall. I might even recommend that you rent it first to see if you think it is worth buying, but I do think that you'll enjoy it.
-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl
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