Star Ocean: The Last Hope

"Star Ocean 4: Maybe too much hope."

And now we come down to the supposed last title in the famous Star Ocean series. Developed by Tri-Ace and published by Square-Enix, the fourth and final installment of the series sees it's way to the Xbox 360 exclusively. Well, that sounds odd. Let me repeat that. The fourth and final installment of the Star Ocean series sees it's way to the Xbox 360 exclusively. Now I'm not anti-console in the least, but fans of the series might not take kindly to a Microsoft exclusive release, especially over in Japan where the series is ever more famous. Nevertheless, this epic title is exclusive only on a Microsoft console, and boy, is it one hell of a ride (in a good and bad way).

Story:

Star Ocean 4 is a prequel to the first Star Ocean (lucky you if you played it on the SNES, as it only saw release in Japan. Go pick up the PSP release now!). Mankind is just setting it's foot into space travel. Earth has been ravaged almost entirely by World War 3 which ended in 2064 AD, and the current date now is Star Date 10. For all you non-star ocean players, Star Date 1 marks the date of the first successful time warp experiment in 2087 AD, which would make the game time at around 2097 AD.

Earth has formed the USTA (Universal Space and Technology Administration) to search for new home planets in the great Star Ocean, and secretly the SRF is developed under it's wing. The star of this saga is Edge Maverick, your typical blond hair 20 year old protagonist who stars as captain of the Calnus, the vessel you will be using on your SRF missions. Right alongside him is his childhood friend Reimi Saionji, another volunteer who acts as the co-pilot on this journey. Basically she is his support character - and even though it isn't explicitly shown in the story that they are love interests, it is pretty obvious.

The story pretty much is as cliche as you can get. Read the back of the box, and you will get pretty much all you need as far as expectations go. Explore the galaxy, meet allies and enemies in extraterrestrials, and face a threat that will decimate everything. There is a plot twist in the end, but it isn't as surprising as the last Star Ocean title. In fact, I pretty much expected as such when I got to it. The only issue is the plot holes involved with this twist, but I will let that slide since I don't want to spoil the game.

On the other hand, some of the story seems like it would not even be needed in the title at all. For example, there comes a point where Edge does something pretty bad and is all depressed about it for a significant amount of time (even though in the end, this bad deed is pretty insignificant as far as the rest of the story is concerned). If Tri-Ace just disregarded this entire segment leading up to this deed, and leaving out the depressed Edge segments, then it would -- in my mind -- probably have been better off. Maybe even adding other content to the mix. The point is, it just didn't make sense in my mind to have this segment in the game. It seems like it was forced into the mix just so the protagonist can have a fall, and pick himself pack up from it (another cliche design).

Story Score - 7/10


Characterization:

You will meet 7 other companions in your vast journey throughout the star ocean. And boy, what a group of people they are.

First off, is Faize Sheifa Beleth (Faize). He is one of the few decent characters in your group, and his voice work is pretty well done. His story throughout the game is also a pretty interesting one, and provides a decent support role for Edge and Reimi, and strives to his hardest to follow Edge's leadership skills. He is a more logical individual, and kind of reminds me of Spock, minus the lack of emotion.

Next, we have Lymle Lemuri Phi (Lymle). I don't know what it is, but I absolutely loathed this little girl. Supposedly 15 years old, she is portrayed in voice and on-screen as a 6 year old, and completes almost every sentence with the word "'Kay?". And with the amount of voice work she uses, it happens far too much for my taste. Secondly, some of the situations she is in (usually on the Calnus) suggest sexual innuendos by the way the other characters act around her, even though it is what a 6 year old would do. Her age and backstory as to why she is 15 and appears to be 6 seems kind of thrown into the in-game dictionary and manual, and not presented at all in-game. Which, leads me to believe it was thrown in to appease to the western culture.

Next is Bacchus D-79 (Bacchus). He kind of reminds me of Buzz Lightyear. Or even Mega Man. From the "Planet" of EN II, Bacchus is pretty much the cliche android character. He is the most logical out of them all, and has a pretty monotonous voice, which is expected. If you have played Xenosaga and remember Ziggurat (without the wish to become human), then you will pretty much understand the character of Bacchus.

Ahhh, Meracle Chamlotte (Meracle). Another character I want to strangle. Part cat and part human, Meracle seems to be thrown in for 12 year old comic relief. The voice work is horrendous for her, it's almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard. Visually she looks like a 12 year old, but is supposed to be 16. And, in one scene, sexual implications when Reimi walks in on Edge and her, and furiously goes into a rage. It just seemed...a little out of place, in my opinion.

And we get to Myuria Tionysus (Myuria). One of the better characters in your group, voice work is excellent, and her story is one of the better ones out of all the characters. Visually, she appears to be more sexually designed, but if you can look past that, the character and her remarks seem to outweigh her visual appeal.

Sarah Jerand (Sarah) is yet ANOTHER character I want to strangle. She is literally angelic visually -- Basically a human with wings -- but she cannot fly. Honestly she is the most dimwitted character I have seen. Say you watch your average sitcom with the very nice but dimwit mom in the mix, that is Sarah in a nutshell. Voice work is horrendous as well, it's cringing to the ears.

And finally, Arumat P. Thanatos (Arumat). One of the better characters, your typical badass cliche thrown into the mix. Character design is very well done, visually and story-wise. Arumat has literally been through hell and back, and his voice and design show this very well. Overall though, he just seems out of place compared to the rest of the party.

Regarding Edge and Reimi - Edge is ok, but when it gets to the depressive/whiny state I mentioned earlier, it just ruins his character. Voice work is ok, but some of it seems out of place at times. Reimi overall is a good character as well. If you have played Star Ocean 3, then you will get the same kind of idea of what type of characters these two are as you would with Sophia and Fayt.

And those are the characters that will be joining you on your journey, with only a few of them even worth mentioning. I must say, Tri-Ace has really let me down this time. This is one of those few games where you wish that characters you meet along the journey were in your party, such as Crowe (Edge's long time rival/friend), the Oracle you meet on Roak, or even Welch (yes, Welch is back, star ocean fans). IMO, Welch probably provided the best comic relief out of the entire game, and her voice work was absolutely excellent.

Overall, terrible characterization overall, with only a few actually worth mentioning.

Characterization Score - 5/10

Graphics

Visually, this game is a sight to behold. Based on an expanded engine from Infinite Undiscovery, you will find few other RPG's that match or surpass this game at the moment. From excellent character modeling (the character's eyes are probably the best I've ever seen), to detailed environments throughout, you will be visually pleased by what is shown here. Seeing the glaring sun over the large oceans of Roak is a sight to behold (with the addition of whales swimming in the background to add effect). Battles are 60 FPS, which are a plus, but on the field it seems to fluctuate around 30 FPS, with hints of slowdown after initial load or moving the camera around at some points. But regardless of that, it is still playable. The only regrets I have are the majority of dungeons, as they seem to lack any sort of visual flare - The exception being probably the last story dungeon, as without of doubt this dungeon is an amazing visual masterpiece. Besides the gameplay (which I will get to later), just getting to this dungeon is reason enough to trudge through the rest of the game and story.

Overall, very well done, Tri-Ace.

Graphics Score - 9/10

Gameplay

Ahhh, we get to my favorite part. The gameplay of Star Ocean 4. If you have ever played a Star Ocean game before, then you will know what to expect. If not, then read on.

Basically gameplay is split between towns, field, and battle. In towns you will experience no enemies, but like pretty much every RPG it is a place to recover and do other things such as shop. The field is where you will run around on planets to get to other towns/points of interests, and is consisted of overworlds or dungeons. The field also contains enemies that walk around on map, and depending on how you touch these enemies, it will initiate a battle. Touch it face to face, and it's a normal battle, run into it from behind, and it's a preemptive battle with the enemies facing away from you. If the enemy runs into you from behind, it's a surprise attack and your backs will be facing the enemies. Preemptive is the best way to fight, but personally I didn't struggle as much at all if otherwise. Lastly there is an Ambush, which happens rarely except when forced. Basically you need to have more than 1 enemy targeting you on field before the battle, and they need to be close by. Immediately after you complete the first battle, you will be ambushed and forced to fight the second group. As I said, rare to get unless you try to force it, or the game forces you.

Battles are all realtime, with majority of your control given to a single character at a time. Basically consists of one button for attack, and two other buttons for special abilities, which could be Symbols (Star Ocean's form of "Magic") or Special Arts, which are character specific attacks. Some characters qualify for only symbol use, others for only arts, and some for both. Symbols and Arts require SP to upgrade, which you get from battle and other events, besides XP. That is pretty much the basics of Star Ocean battles.

For Star Ocean 4, there are a few new features. First, there is rush mode, where you build up your Rush gauge over time from attacking or being attacked, and hitting the rush button depletes said gauge. Depending on timing, if you hit a special ability button almost immediately after hitting the Rush button, you will go into Rush mode, where you will be able to, along with the entire party, execute consecutive special attacks against a single enemy unhindered, with a few timely button presses. If you get the timing off initially, you will not be able to go into Rush Mode, instead for the time being until the gauge depletes, you will not be thrown off balance (which happens alot without it), and your crit rate will increase as well.

Secondly, there are blindsides. New to Star Ocean is the jump ability, which is very useful to avoid different attacks. If you hold and time the jump button at a specific point when you are in short range of an enemy, you will automatically jump behind the enemy and get access to a 100% crit rate for a short amount of time. VERY useful (and almost seems gamebreaking, to be honest) to avoid damage and deal twice as much as well. It is important to master this, as some bosses/enemies almost require the use of the technique to succeed.

Also, we have the BEAT (Battle Exalted Action Type) system. If you can get past the strange name, it pretty much gives your characters an edge towards offense, defense, or neutral. These consist of levels, and depending on which you set to for each character, it will raise in level (Up to level 20) as experience is gained. BEAT.S (Strike) is offense, and along with raising offensive stats, it is tailored more towards getting the most out of blindsides. BEAT.B (Burst) is defense, and along with raising defensive stats, it is tailored more towards getting the most out of the Rush system. BEAT.N (Neutral) is just a stat boost depending on what levels you have in the other BEAT's. It isn't as effective early on, but is mildly effective after getting 20 in each. Yet, if you decide to level your characters up quite a bit, you will find less reason to stick with BEAT.N. It isn't as useful as the others in my opinion.

And we get to the battle bonus board, on the right side of the screen you will notice 14 slots for different colored "jewels". Do something special during battle, and they will fill up. Blue - 10% extra XP, acquired if you crit an enemy while finishing them off. Yellow - 10% extra Fol (the currency in Star Ocean), acquired if you kill two enemies at once. Pink - Heal 1% HP/MP after battle, must defeat an enemy with only special attacks. Green - Get 1 extra SP after battle, must be ambushed once. You can fill up to 14 slots with these jewels, but the catch is as follows: If an enemy crits you (and only the character you are controlling), then you lose everything. BUT, grouping jewels only reduces it by half, so it is definitely in your best interest to focus on one color instead of multiple.

Also new to the series is collection nodes. Throughout the field, you will find numerous glowing spots in the environment, either on the ground or on rock walls. These are there for certain characters to collect various materials depending on node, either mining or harvesting. Reimi and Bacchus are your collectors (harvester and miner, to be exact) - but unfortunately, you will be passing quite a few mining nodes before you even get a hold of Bacchus.

And speaking of materials, Item Creation is back, with Welch leading the way. You gain recipes by grouping three members together into a group (4 groups total) and using party SP to invent recipes depending on their specific crafting level (which is a special ability that you use SP to raise). Depending on what characters are in your group, different recipes will be invented. Also added to the mix is Synthesis, which allows you to add abilities to items in many different ways, such as adding poison resistance, attack+, or even increasing XP gained (which, almost an hours time can net you 800+% XP depending on bonus board....which can be considered game breaking since you get the ability around mid-disc 2). It isn't as robust as Star Ocean 3, but it is a nice facet to the game, nevertheless - and, like Star Ocean 3, if you know what you are doing, you can make extremely amazing stuff.

Also added to the mix are Private Actions, which depending on the events in between trips to different regions, and who you talk to, will net you different abilities in battle, and specific character endings. My first play through gave me Bacchus', Reimi's, Myuria's, and Sarah's endings - to be honest though, I had no idea how I got those, so for more specifics you might want to read a guide to figure out how to get all.

There are many other things to witness, such as extra dungeons, an arena tournament, bunny races (yes, bunnies), and numerous side quests as well as fetch quests. Level Cap is 200, but can be raised to 255 by earning battle trophies in battle (which are sort of like battle achievements...some are really easy, others are extremely difficult).

Overall - when all is said and done, the gameplay is stellar at best, with a plethora of things to do. Getting 100% will take upwards of 100 hours, and if you run into this game with having gameplay specifically in mind, you will be more than satisfied. Albeit not as robust in some areas as Star Ocean 3, it succeeds in others.

Gameplay Score - 10/10

Audio

This game has a great soundtrack, despite a few throw aways such as the "comedic" track with some of the bad characters in your party. When this starts playing, I would suggest taking a restroom/snack break, as you will most likely be inundated with not only terrible music, but terrible voice work. Despite that, some of the other tracks are extremely good, adding a sense of excitement or emotion when needed.

The sounds are pretty good as well, nothing to complain here. Only thing I would change would be the sprinting sound, as if you have to sprint for quite a distance, you will be hearing this nonstop.

And finally, the voice work. We have excellent, average, and horrendous all thrown into the mix, which pretty much throws that rating to around average. It seems like some of the best voice work comes out of non-party members, though, which is a crying shame.

Overall, most of the music is amazing, but the voices pretty much kill the rating.

Audio Score - 7/10

Presentation

Finally, we get to presentation. If you got this far in the review, you have pretty much got the general idea of the entire game.

Star Ocean 4 is released on 3 discs and packed with upwards of 30-40 hours of straight story playthrough, with possibly over 100 for the completionist. The bad part about this design though is that if you want to visit an area from a previous disc, you need to change to that disc. IMO, this is a horrid design, but it's really only apparent if you strive for the completionist route. Secondly, I do not understand the reason behind multiple discs, as FMV is few and far between - unless I am mistaken, most of the FMV is towards the beginning, and towards the end - and not even that long to boot. This game could have easily been done probably on 2 discs. Here's hoping for at least a PS3 directors cut release, but it doesn't look too good for that option.

Menus and controls are pretty intuitive, no real reason to complain about these. They get the job done, and there is little to no hand strain with extended play times.

Cutscenes run rampant throughout the game, upwards of 30-40 minutes. Seems like alot, but for such a dismal cliche story, it might be too much in my opinion. When my controller turns off and pauses the scene midway through (numerous times, I might add), then it is an issue for me. Luckily, you can skip these if you want.

Load times are there, but installing to the HDD pretty much is recommended with this game. And with the disc swapping, I would recommend at least installing discs 2 and 3 with the amount you will be swapping with those.

Overall, it is decently presented barring the disc and cutscene issue. It could be better though.

Presentation Score - 7/10

Overall

Well, supposedly this is the last Star Ocean game, but I probably doubt it. This game is absolutely amazing if you can get past the story, some characters, and voices. I would put this title right on par with Star Ocean 3 (but not Star Ocean 2, as that is GOD), even though it doesn't do some things as well, it's other merits carry it forward despite it. I would recommend definitely for the gameplay. As the title states, I may have hoped too much out of this title, but it is definitely worth playing.

Overall Score: 8.4/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/09

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