Product Description

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth entry in the futuristic space opera RPG series, the long-awaited continuation of the celebrated science fiction and fantasy RPG series. This prequel set during the aftermath of World War III combines sci-fi and fantasy elements spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean universe. Exhilarating combat expands upon the franchise's famous real-time battle system, introducing amazing graphics and next-gen visual effects.

• A prequel that combines sci-fi and fantasy elements, spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean universe.
• Exhilarating combat expands upon the series' famous real-time battle system, including the amazing graphics and visual effects only possible on the Xbox 360.
• Features breathtaking CG movies by Visual Works, the cutting-edge studio whose previous work includes cut scenes for the acclaimed Final Fantasy RPG series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #409 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Square Enix
• Released on: 2009-06-05
• Platform: Xbox 360
• Format: Unknown format
• Dimensions: .42 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the latest release in the celebrated science fiction and fantasy Star Ocean RPG series. This prequel set during the aftermath of Earth's fictional World War III combines sci-fi and fantasy elements spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean Universe. Exhilarating combat expands upon the franchise's famous real-time battle system, introducing amazing graphics and next-generation visual effects brought to life on the Xbox 360 gaming system.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Players: Offline: 1 Other: HDTV 1080p.

Crystal clear graphics. View larger.

Compelling combat. View larger.

Classic RPG functionality. View larger.

Story
A.D 2064...Planet Earth was on the brink of destruction as clashes between the World Republic Federation and the various nations that opposed it sparked the outbreak of World War III. Weapons of mass destruction, deployed with complete impunity razed the land in the blink of an eye. The dire situation forced the two opposing factions to negotiate a cease-fire and an agreement was quickly reached, but although the war may have ended, its effects remained. With the deteriorating environment, Earth's population was drastically reduced and those who survived lived a confined existence trapped in underground cities. Eventually countries joined together to form the Greater United Nations and turned their eyes skyward, to space. With the establishment of the USTA, the Universal Science and Technology Administration, man began to seek new worlds beyond the stars.

AD 2087...The first year of the spacedate (SD) calendar. Thanks to the success of Professor Trillas Bachstein's warp drive experiments, mankind's dream of a spacebourne existence has inched closer to reality and the USTA secretly began to implement its SRF project, the Space Reconnaissance Force. Now it is SD 0010, and the first official SRF mission and your adventure has begun.

Characters
Players of Star Ocean: The Last Hope will meet and interact with a wealth of characters from different parts of the galaxy, each with their own history and weapons of choice. Just a few of the more prominent characters to familiarize yourself with include:

	Edge Maverick Although generally possessing good judgment, this young Earthling commander of the maiden deep space voyage of the SRF ship the Calnus, can be reckless. His signature weapon is the sword.
	Faize Sheifa Beleth A young Eldarian committed to etiquette and logic, and capable of astounding feats of engineering, Faize is always honorable of those possessing abilities he lacks. His signature weapon is the rapier.
	Reimi Saionji The kind and levelheaded navigator of the Calnus, Reimi was born in an aristocratic Saionji family and has a shared history with Edge back on Earth. Her signature weapon is the bow.
	Lymle Lemuri Phi Orphaned on her home planet of Lemrick long ago, Lymle is mischievous, but friendly and inexplicably retains the appearance of a young girl. Her signature weapon is the wand.

Gameplay and Combat
Although Edge Maverick is the main character in Star Ocean: The Last Hope, players will of course experience gameplay action in the form of a number of different characters and utilize the signature attacks assigned to each. The game features a real-time combat system which allows for up to four party members to remain active in battle at a time. Improvements to the game's combat system include 'Rush Mode,' where players can switch out active members of their combat groups for reserve members in real-time; 'Sight In/Sight Out' which allows for timed evasive and counter moves against enemies; and the BEAT (Battle Enhancement Attribute Type) system, through which players can change a character's fighting style at will. Other actions players will master through gameplay include piloting of the spaceship Calnus, a first in the Star Ocean series; item creation in the form of weapons, healing items and accessories; and Private Actions (PAs), a cause and effect relationship between character in-game actions and the acquisition of new abilities and scenarios. Through the increased flexibility mastery of all these skills provides, players should be able to more easily increase their team and individual team member's combat experience and status, and so unlock more advanced combat styles and linked combinations.

Key Game Features:

• Series prequel - Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a prequel in the classic series, combining sci-fi and fantasy elements, spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean universe.
• Exciting Battles - Exhilarating combat expands upon the franchise's famous real-time battle system, including the amazing graphics and visual effects only possible on Xbox 360.
• Compelling Scenes - The game features breathtaking CG movies by Visual Works, the cutting-edge studio whose previous work includes cutscenes for the acclaimed Final Fantasy RPG series.

Product Description
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth entry in the long-awaited continuation of the celebrated science fiction and fantasy RPG series. This prequel set during the aftermath of World War III combines sci-fi and fantasy elements spanning multiple planets and the vastness of space itself to recount the origins of the Star Ocean Universe. Exhilarating combat expands upon the franchise's famous real-time battle system, introducing amazing graphics and next-generation visual effects.

Customer Reviews

worth the buy
story 4/5
graphics - HD 4/5, normal TV's - 3/5
voice acting 2/5
battle system 4/5

STORY

first off I'm gonna say that this is a big improvement story wise compared to the last star ocean game (3 - till the end of time), as the previous one got confusing towards the end of the game and alot of areas had to be revisited in order to advance the story - which got boring. In this one you only have to backtrack if you want some chests you couldn't open before, or some optional quests. The story is compelling as well as not being overly complicated, although the voice acting is terrible at times, and kind of ruins the moment during some of the game story(there's a scene at the end that will make you cringe). but there is an option in the menu to turn them off if this would bother you. :P

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are nice - lush environments and the characters look good - although the robotic mouth moments can be weird, i guess its the best they can do with current technology lol.
People who use non digital/HD TV's might have a bit of trouble reading the texts and noticing the difference between black and white, as i did. although this is normal on most new 360 games - but these games are designed for HD so not much you can do. the game again, looks good on a HD TV.

BATTLE SYSTEM

I liked the system they used in this game,although its pretty much the same as previous games in the series, in this one you can hold down b and do a blind slide attack, which makes the character slide behind the enemy and always do a critical strike. one major let-down for the battle system, is that very little customisation is allowed as to how the other characters act. this is pretty annoying as if you want a character to concentrate on healing symbology, all you can select is "attack with full force!" and don't do anything, ETC. So you either have to hope to god they use healing symbology, or do it manually through the menu. Since this is a SquareEnix game, you would have thought they would have used something like the gambit system they used in FF12. SO OVERALL in terms of the fights, you don't get to decide much. which is disappointing. i have still given this area a high grade because despite this, it is enjoyable because of the well developed controllable aspect of the fight.

OVERVIEW

Despite its faults, the game was really good. IMO a worthy 50-60 hours of my time spent. I'm just glad there's finally a new game out that goes for longer than 1hour *cough* the Wii * cough*. Some of the areas in the game are also rather large - so investing in a guide might be a good idea if you have trouble keeping track of where your going. I bought the official guide and it also gives handy tips on the item creation that's available in the game.

ALSO after you finish this, go buy Tales of Vesperia, awesome RPG.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Star Ocean has always been a series overlooked by western gamers - particularly with standout titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest around and stealing the spotlight. However, Star Ocean has always managed to just about do enough to keep itself going with its particular audience. First off, this is a game developed by Tri-Ace (Infinite Undiscovery, Valkyrie Profile), and as most veteran RPG players know, they are a company swimming in Japanese tradition - whether it's the clichéd anime style characters, or the typical "end of the world" scenario as you play your way through a seemingly endless journey to save the world - or in this case, find a new world for humanity to start all over again. It's easy to point out from the outset that The Last Hope has been rather hyped up by publisher Square Enix - perhaps they really do see this as Star Ocean's LAST HOPE at hitting the nail on the head.

It is instantly obvious that the game has been given a rather robust budget, noting the beautiful FMV sequences and, for the most part, stunning in game visuals. The story takes place in the year SD 10 (Space Date), after World War 3 rendered Earth useless and unable to support human life to the full - and so humanity moves to the stars to start a new life. Unfortunately, this concept doesn't develop enough to keep the player engaged. You will find yourself moving from planet to planet for reasons clouded in mystery at times, which starts to grate with the games slow pace. The story doesn't seem to have enough depth (not even up to Infinite Undiscovery standard), and if it weren't for the lively, memorable cast of characters, this game would be a big nono for most RPG players. You play as Edge Maverick, a strong minded young individual who works alongside Childhood friend Reimi Saionji as a part of the Space Reconnaissance Force (SRF). It is your job as part of the SRF project to search habitable planets in the great star ocean to find a new home for humanity to start anew.

Although you play as Edge Maverick you will gain control of a number of characters who all have their own individual talents and skills, whether they're in the battle or outside on the field. Each character has both field skills and battle skills that can be used for battling and field searching for items on the different planets. For example, Reimi has the ability to harvest certain areas where she can find hidden items buried in the ground. The areas that you can harvest are highlighted by glowing hotspots on the field, and depending on how far you have developed her technique she can find special items that can be used to heal, combine with other items to make new items, or even combined to create OTHER weapons and armour using Edge's personal skill of Smithery. The same applies to each of the different characters as they can all combine each individual skill to create really impressive items that are of better quality and much cheaper than the stores riddles throughout the universe. This has been a welcome inclusion into the Star Ocean series since its original release, but they have done it to perfection this time around. Many of the items you will need to create can only be found on specific planets, so you will need to travel from planet to planet (when you gain control of your space ship) to create the next weapon, armour, spell, etc.

This brings us to battle skills. Battle skills can be purchased as scrolls from stores around the different planets, and can be read by certain characters throughout the game to teach them new skills for battle. These can include summons, such as the legendary Cerberus, to fire spells, wind spells, and even healing spells. Again, not all skills can be taught to the same characters, so each of the characters you encounter throughout the game will have their own unique skills and battle style.

The battle system is the real treat here. For the first time in a Japanese style RPG, players will ACTUALLY look forward to their next battle due to its incredible depth and tactical necessity. Each character has different styles of attack, such as ranged using a bow, to short using a sword, and you move freely around the battle field using the left analogue stick. You can switch players easily by using the left and right bumper, and the rest of the character will take control themselves as the battle takes place. Simply, you use the A button to use your standard attack and can press it timely to get a series of attacks to produce a combo. But where you really need to develop your skills is using the "blindside" technique and building up your bonus board. Blindsiding an enemy entails defending yourself using the B button until the enemy is just about to attack. If you time this right and quickly flick the left analogue stick you will move out of the way and quickly run behind the enemy to get a critical attack from behind. Doing this successfully is on of the most important parts of the game as it gives you added bonuses which are added to your bonus board. Different ways of killing add different tiles to your board. For example, killing an enemy with a critical attack using the blindside technique will give you a blue tile which gives you an extra 10% experience at the end of the battle. You gain different tiles depending on the different circumstances, from increasing money to Skill points, and it's a really fun and rewarding way to make battles seem much less arduous. Overall you can develop a huge number of these tiles and as you build them up you will be getting more than double the overall EXP at the end of battles (Or money, etc, depending on the tiles you gave garnered). If you can master the blindside technique and get the bonus board to it's full potential, there's no need to grind levels at all, as you will be gaining levels at an incredible pace.

Battles are NOT random, and enemies can be seen on the map. Coming into contact with them will get the battle started and you will be put onto a battle map. If you don't want to do any battling at that moment in time you can quickly run pass them using Edge's Sprint technique - which is nice because it means you won't have to get all wound up as you travel from place to place. The worlds are incredibly detailed, each with its own terrain and life support, and its own history. The depth may not be up to the historical standard of Mass Effect, but the game itself is a lot bigger - with overall gameplay time coming between 50-60 hours. There are numerous side quests, shop orders and deliveries that can be done on the side of your main journey to gain extra exp, money and Xbox achievements, and the hidden affinities between characters make up with LOTS of different endings. There are certain scenarios that you can find and make different decisions which affect the different relationships between characters which inevitably change the ending of the game quite drastically. This coupled with room placement, where you can put different people in different rooms together to get other hidden affinities you may just find certain love interests bloom and friendships developed further than they would otherwise. It all adds up to a lot of replay value on a game that is already of incredible value for money.

This is game which you will love if you already love Japanese style RPG's. The voice acting, on the whole is quite good - much better than Infinite Undiscovery, but still there is the odd character which makes you go "DOH!" and with no Japanese voice option available, some people may get a little frustrated, particularly if you prefer playing in it's native form. The graphics on the whole are excellent. The worlds are incredibly detailed, and the lighting and facial expressions are absolutely wonderful. But then, on occasions, particularly the parts in space, the graphics quality drops quite low, but this is too be expected coming from a game that is ram packed full of content spanning over 3 discs.

This game comes highly recommended for people who have a love for Japanese RPGs, but recommended as a "try it and see what you think first" for everyone else. If only the story had been deeper and more engaging, this could well have been an excellent game. That said, it's definitely not "bad", and people will get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It is a slow burner, but give it a chance and you may find yourself open to a hidden affinity with this game which you never thought possible...

A breif review from a first time Star Ocean player
Ive never played a star ocean game before, and I usualy prefer the turn based combat RPG's. But with a lack of turn based RPG's in recent history i throught id give this game a try.

20 odd hours in and im enjoying it. Its not perfect, but its definatly entertaining. The graphics are something to marvel at. Its a real treat for any RPG gamer who has been gaming since before PS1 days, and literaly do drop you jaw at times. The the battle gameplay is fun, sometimes frustrating, but hasnt stopped me from progressing the story as of yet. Gameplay in terms of explring towns, talking to people is spot on. Its what youd expect, some people just have a simple sentace to say to you regarding something thats happening in their lives, others wil give you a quest to help them with something etc etc, its what you expect, but coupled with the nice look of this game makes it entertaining.

There have been a few things i wasnt too happy with, its not always informative enough on what you should do next. A few times i found myself just ploughing on through somewhere, not entirely sure if it was where i was supposed to be going. One time i was stuck in an area, and only after speaking to a person id spoken to 3 times allready (and they just said the same thing) they triggered a scene that let me proress. apart from that and the occasinal annoyance of battle, its a game worth playing!