Amazon.com Product 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.
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Star Ocean: The Last Hope
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Crystal clear graphics.
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Compelling combat.
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Classic RPG functionality.
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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.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(59 customer reviews) 34 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Star Ocean: Last Hope Review,
February 27, 2009 S. Posey (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
= Fun: This review is from: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Video Game)
Having never played a Star Ocean game before, I was a little iffy about picking this one up. I didn't know if it would be another Final Fantasy clone or really stand out amongst the masses of JRPG games that have been hitting the 360 lately. After checking out some pretty decent reviews, I decided to take the leap and pick up the game on a whim.
From the start of the game, I got the feeling that the combat would be a lot like Tales of Vesperia. This is a good thing, as I loved every minute of Tales and for a game to bring up memories of a favorite is definitely a plus. The combat is similar, but not exactly the same. Where Tales used a lot of one button (maybe 2 button) presses to take down most enemies, Star Ocean at least involves a little more strategy. You can whip yourself around bad guys when they least expect it (blindside move) and attack from their rear, issue orders, etc. There's a lot going on in combat, but it's not hard to manage. There are a lot of tools at...Read more
30 of 35 people found the following review helpful
One thing or another...,
May 15, 2009 Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
= Fun: This review is from: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Video Game)
It's been a long time since I wrote a review, but after 300 hours of gameplay, I thought I would make a few points. Star Ocean is a game that, with slightly better writing and development could have been one of the best games of the decade. But it consistenly falls short.
Let's take a bit of a look.
The game is graphically beautiful. Full appreciation is due to the artists and animators. Not just for wandering around the vast multiworld universe that is the setting for the game, but fight animation is also lovingly detailed. Everything is great except for facial expressions. The characters are usually deadpan, and Reimi has a distant stare that is positively chilling.
The story is intricate. Edge and Reimi start out on Earth's attempt to find a colonizable world in order to save the human race from the ruin of a war torn planet. They meet a number of different alien races enlist characters (you wind up playing 4 out of a set of eight...Read more
84 of 107 people found the following review helpful
Seems like some people need to get their TVs replaced.,
March 2, 2009 M.D.C. "The Franchise" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
= Fun: Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Video Game)
"Terrible graphics!!!"
That's what stands out when I read all of these reviews. I find nobody that thinks these are great graphics. Hmm. I'll get back to this.
Anyway, Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the fourth of the series. Its roots are in space and time travel, and often takes place on faraway planets, though its protagonist is generally from Earth. The first Star Ocean (Blue Sphere) never came stateside; instead, we got Star Ocean: The Second Story. During a time when the first PlayStation was hurting for role-playing games, this was a breath of fresh air. It introduced concepts that were new to gamers but taken for granted since: synthesis, cooking, and customization. In truth, The Second Story was really a 100+ hour game if you wanted to accomplish all there was to do.
What The Second Story also brought to the table was challenge. Other games were hard, but TSS is known even to this day as having one of the worst final bosses in RPG gaming...Read more
