Star Ocean: The Last Hope

"Full of cliches but still satisfying."

Let's skip the introduction and get right down to the meat, shall we?

Graphics: The graphics here are amazing, better than most 360 games I've played. Certain areas look like you're playing on the PS3 instead of the older and clunkier 360. The battle animations are fluid and detailed, though sometimes a bit annoyingly so when a big flashy spell animation covers up something you need to see. The FMV sequences are better done than gameplay, like always, but the difference is barely noticeable, so the graphical immersion is kept more or less intact unless you're looking at the game through a magnifying glass. Also, while a minor complaint, some of the text in the game is extremely small, and even sitting two to three feet from my TV, it was difficult to read sometimes. This was especially apparently in the tutorial section when a random button symbol would come up and I couldn't tell what button it was for. 9/10

Gameplay: The combat system is extremely fun. It's easy to get into and the more difficult techniques are hard to master but rewarding when you pull them off. The Bonus Board system is particularly interesting; if you're good you can keep it filled for hours, but one wrong move against the wrong type of enemy and it's completely wiped. The Rush system is a little finicky to use sometimes with the fast and frantic combat but isn't restrictively hard; the Blindside system has the same problem since you have to basically stand still not doing anything for about 2-3 seconds to use it, but if it didn't have this requirement, it'd be pretty overpowered. Overworld movement however is a pain in the rear; you're either too fast to move on TOP of the save point or harvest spot instead of zipping right passed it or you're moving achingly slow so you can pinpoint that chest or shiny spot. And directional movement and camera position don't always get along so you don't quite go the direction you wanted to. 8/10

Sound: While the sound effects are good, they're nothing to write home about. The music is supposed to be extremely nostalgic for old SO players, but not being one, I didn't notice it; otherwise, the music is good, not super amazing, but good. Sound effects are solid and well done. Spells have a decent "oomph" to them and you can really feel the melee hits and their satisfying "thud". The voice acting, however, is absolutely painful. The lip-synching is extremely bad much of the time and the voice actors are not only cliche but not very good. The worst I've seen at my point in the game is the character of Lymle; I understand the whole 'trauma induced deadpan' thing but it's pushed so hard it goes over the edge and comes out the other side. If God awful voice acting turns you off to a game, definitely play with the sound off, you won't be missing much. If you want to hear the music and sound effects, I highly recommend you turn the voices all the way down so you can get to the decent music and sound effects without the mind-numbing voice acting. 5/10

Story and characters: The story is intriguing and doesn't require you to know anything about the SO universe to understand everything, a huge plus since I've never played a SO game before. However, the JRPG cliches are abundant. There's the cat-girl character, the character who looks like five years old but is actually fifteen because a "childhood trauma stopped her from growing", the main character is a stalwart but reckless young 20something dude with blonde hair, there's the token sassy but gentle female co-lead....I can go on. Some of them aren't very bad or noticeable and don't break flow very much and others are punching you in the face with their unoriginal writing and breaking the wine glass of Immersion over your head. And not to rag on the Lymle character mentioned above and in the Sound section but she has these weird moments of schizophrenic indecision between her deadpan child personality and completely random, nonsensical bits of adult speech patterns or mannerisms, especially in the Private Action sections. Nothing about the character makes me want to learn more about them or even like them; other token RPG characters in SO4 serve their purpose better, I like seeing what they have to say and I want to learn more about them. The Lymle character just reeks of thinly-veiled lolicon fan service and extremely poorly written dialogue. 6/10

Overall: While the graphics, story, and mechanics create an addictive and unique experience, the /awful/ voice acting and JRPG cliches detract from the experience somewhat and usually ruins the immersion. If you play without sound on and enjoy the cliches, this is probably the perfect RPG experience for you. For the rest of us, though, it's an awesome game that could have been made better had there been better production values in the voice-acting department (both technically and with the actors they hired), more deviation from typical RPG character, and slightly better overworld controls. It's not bad by any means, just don't expect to be swallowed up into the game and not allowed out until you finish it; you'll be very aware you're playing a game, albeit a very good game. 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/09

Game Release: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (US, 02/23/09)