Star Ocean: The Last Hope Comments by Simon Parkin

Quite a positive review for the score it got.
Dunno though, I'd need to try it to see if I got on with the battle system.

What is this emo sh*t?

Totally agree with this review. I bought this last friday and it's pretty weak as RPGs go. When the epic battles get started, you are left feeling that you just plain don't stand a chance. There could have been so much more to this game. I would have loved to have seen ship to ship battles and actual side quests that made a frak of difference to the story. You never feel like you are making headway and you never feel like you can make a difference. Always following in Crowe's much bigger and flashier footsteps!

Epic fail sadly....

"tri-Ace has perfectly placed the game camera just low enough to the ground and far enough away from your team to heighten the grand sense of scale of the environments."

Urm, it's the worse camera in modern gaming bar none.

Doesn't read like a 6. So it's massive and has the best ever JRPG combat system, but it's no good because everything is optional?

Yet another negative 360 review from the PlaySlaves at Eurogamer.

So another passable J-RPG arrives on the Xbox 360 to join the technically broken and dull The Last Remant and the promising but I'm-sorry-I-just-didn't-like-it-at-all Lost Odyssey. Star Ocean doesn't sound particularly good from the EG review, bar the combat system, and I've never played the previous games so I may as well give this a miss.

I'll wait for Tales of Vesperia instead I think, that looks like it could be as good as Eternal Sonata... and Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the 360. Seems like I'll eventually see some really good J-RPGs on the 360, I just have to be patient...

Game is poor, simples. Bought it Friday and it went back Saturday

Totally hate the battle system but thats just me

Tales of Vesperia seems like a better choice. Even Sacred:Fallen Angel might be better.

bought the game without the review.

so far, seems fun, better than infinite undiscovery, not as good as lost oydessy

if you think you'll enjoy jrpgs, i'd give it a go

i enjoy the battle system

like any rpg, i'm wary of snap judgments. this review, and some of the comments here, reek of them

I'm curious about what he means by high battle rate. You can avoid any battle you want. It isnt final fantasy 7, there are no random battles. You can run around any battle you want

I think the impossible has happened and I've fallen out of love with jrpgs....I don't know whether thats because they don't make good ones anymore or if its just because I only have a 360 though...
I didn't like lost odyssey or blue dragon either..

I wouldnt go as far as labelling the combat as the best ever, absolutely not, in fact it's far from it. The game has a serious issue with difficulty & balance. Voice acting is hedious and with the near total abscence of facial animations, the cut scenes are a pain to watch. I am not sure this is better looking than Mass Effect either. it's an OK RPG to be honest, far far from Tri-Ace's best.

I'm about 17 hours in and - voice acting aside - I think its a worthy followup to Star Ocean 3. The battle system is one of the best I've played. Definitely a good game for me to sink my teeth into before Tales of Vesperia arrives.

@anomagus

I agree, when I don't fancy a fight I just press X to peg it past any enemies nearby. Totally optional. Maybe later on it becomes harder to avoid but I haven't had any problems so far.

SE and Tri Ace need to get back to their roots. Focus on 1 console, go back to Playstation or Nintendo.

The 360 isnt a suitable platform for JRPGs.

Star Ocean fans are all waiting with their PS3s/PSPs/PS2s.

"we may simply be destined to spend our future not being in space."

Aren't we overly dramatic here, there' s tons of decent space games.

@ Vistrix

You may have a point but they should of just released it on all platforms, still i dont really like the game but each to their own

Japanese RPG Bullshat again... i can't understand why people buy this kind of games anymore.

They all look similar, they all look emo, plots are simplistic and annoying. You travel to a lot of places, you fight a lot of bizarre enemies just to get a childish ending after a few stupid plot twists.

Occidental RPG all the way

Whiny main character, scifi game that has you walking in forests and deserts waving swords and spells at insects... super.

From what I hear, Tales of Vesperia isn't any better. I love the JRPG genre, but damn, they need to get a grip.

I got this for £17.95 from Zavvi. Only managed an hour of it over the weekend and about 90% of that was cutscenes. Got Sacred 2 through as a rental, which I tried out first and couldn't stand. I'm hopeful about Star Ocean, but if it's not all that I reckon I could at least profit from a trade in.

@creepylizard - I know exactly what you mean.

I enjoyed Blue Dragon but although I reached the last boss fight I never actually finished the game. Dunno why really. I even enjoyed Enchanted Arms and completed it albeit only with the "bad" ending and in spite of my hatred for random battles too. Quite an achievement to tell the truth! Eternal Sonata was genuinely terrific though, the first truly great RPG on the 360 IMO, I found it emotionally involving, it had an interesting story, the characters were charming and the combat system rocked. It didn't have random battles either. 10/10! :)

Since then though I've seen one average J-RPG after another, I bought Lost Odyssey and didn't like it as it took far too long to get going and I hated the main character. Didn't bother with Infinite Undiscovery because of the poor reviews, bought The Last Remnant, instantly regretted it because it was so broken and boring so traded it in a week later. And now we have Star Ocean, a game that sounded very promising but doesn't look to have delivered.

Does the Xbox 360 just get all the PS3 RPG cast-offs or something?

Seeing as Mass Effect has already been mentioned in the review, I would say that Rogue Galaxy has been 2nd best foray into the space fearing genre for me.

I was kinda interested in this, but the lack of frequent saves (as does the 6/10) puts me off somewhat. I'm not going to have time to play this anyway, what with Prototype out this weekend.

Might pick it up when it's a fiver :)

What is it with Squeenix this generation? They just can't seem to hit their stride.

(I appreciate this was developed by tri-Ace, but this is a general comment about Square Enix and their output).

@anomagnus

Keep avoiding battles and I guarantee that your game will end when you encounter the red SRF ship near the end of disk 2. It's a multiple chain battle with the enemy firing guns at you and getting stgronger each round. If you are below level 40 when you get there. There is very little chance you'll ever win that battle.

I think that's what the reviewer meant by high combat rate. The battles may be optional but, you'll need to actively hunt creatures to level up for the later battles. It get's brutal towards the end!

"I think the impossible has happened and I've fallen out of love with jrpgs....I don't know whether thats because they don't make good ones anymore or if its just because I only have a 360 though... "

It is because JRPGs have never been really good.

I can take a dodgy story if the battle system is at all fun to play about with. Don't suppose they've left the Japanese language track in this? I heard they replaced all the nice 2D artwork with limited 3D renders, so I'm not all that hopeful for them.

WTF? This game is great RPG. 6/10? This is insane. What are You Simon? Some PS3 fanboy?

Sounds like 'Till The End Of Time which was actually painful to drag myself through. That game made me hate RPGs so I have no love for anything with the Star Ocean label. This sounds just as inspired as that PS2 game.

No, really, this is just insane. SO 4 is so great game. But, well, Simon is declared PS3 fanboy..so...

@Hunam
Urm, it's the worse camera in modern gaming bar none.

You obviously haven't played Ninja Gaiden 2. ;)

@Postumo
Japanese RPG Bullshat again... i can't understand why people buy this kind of games anymore.

People like different things. I'm not surprised that this may be confusing to you.

@anomagnus
bought the game without the review.

so far, seems fun, better than infinite undiscovery, not as good as lost oydessy

if you think you'll enjoy jrpgs, i'd give it a go

i enjoy the battle system

Now I agree fully with this review especially the comparison to Infinite Undiscovery and Lost Odyssey. :)

I bought it, I'm enjoying it. This is one of the harsher reviews of the game I've seen (harsher scores that is, it doesn't really read all that harshly).

@Darren
And now we have Star Ocean, a game that sounded very promising but doesn't look to have delivered.

Meh. There are sites other than EG who rated it a whole lot better. Remember: this review is just one guys opinion.

So... 360 is not the platform for jrpgs, what's this gen platform for jrpgs then?

And Vistrix (well, I know your agenda but still...), why do you thing SO4 played on a PS3 would be any diferent? I mean 0's would turn to 1's and vice-versa? I don't understand really...

I like this so far, id give it 7 or8 but im only 8 hours into the game, my only gripe so far being that sometimes battles happen a bit too often and there arent enuf save points.

i like the setting more than lost odysee and the combat, but the story is a bit silly so far. but it seems pretty solid.

I think the problem with JRPGs today is that they all feel they have to deliver an 80-hour quest and forget that modern games take so much more time and effort to develop. So they tend to play it safe and generic, and the graphics turn out quite average.

The best JRPGs I have played recently have either been for the PS2 (Persona series) or the DS (The World Ends with You, Etrian Odyssey). These games have much smaller teams and budgets, but they have a vision that drive the genre forward. They can afford to go nuts and make mistakes. If you remember FFVII, it was a big-budget game for its time, but it just had so many insane ideas and wonderful little details. It's like the JRPG developers have forgotten that, perhaps in attempt to cater to Western audiences.

But what they forget is that the Japanese quirkiness is what we love about these games, not emo attitude and spiky hairstyles alone.

I remember seeing in interview with the developers of FFXIII at E3, where the journo asks if we will get an option to use the Jap soundtrack with subtitles in the localized versions, and the developer was genuinely surprised to hear that some Westen fans prefer Japanese dialogue. I am amazed that this can be surprising for them, and it just goes to show that they may not know what it is we actually want.

Perhaps this business is getting too big for its own good.

You know it's a bad JRPG when JinTypeNoir doesn't like it, so I was actually expecting the score to be LOWER.

@ Darren: "Does the Xbox 360 just get all the PS3 RPG cast-offs or something?"
What fo you mean, I think I'm particulary well informed about every game out there and I haven't heard of any permium rpgs for the PS3. Can you share with us? What are those titles?

Lost Oddessey is easily the best JRPG for bloody ages. It would help the genre stop feeling so old if they learnt the lessons and did something different with the plots.

Typical JRPG plot:

Excitable high school student (who has lost at least one parent, normally both) home is attacked by huge evil organisation that is after special magic item which has either been in Excitable high school student's (Ehss) possesion all his life or is found during the attack. It turns out this special magic item when used with other special magic items can destroy the world so Ehss sets out to discover the other special magic items before the big evil organisation can get them with his friends supposed to be funny but actually annoying guy and strong willed female childhood friend and possible love interest.

Whilst visiting dark scary forest, ancient mayan like ruins, honourable beast tribe, artic wastes, giant sci-fi metropolis with cool transport, desert, winding mountain path, castle, prison and underwater research facility Ehss makes friends with stern older warrior man, depressed pretty woman, excitable tomboy girl, intelligent animal that can speak, strage experiment, person who later turns out to be royalty, former bad guy, children who really aren't old enough to leave village but want to fight monsters, priestess and warrior chick.

Once they have all (or all but one) of the special magic items, big evil organisation will either steal them all or do something else which means all your work was wasted and big evil organisation will shortly destroy the world. Ehss then visits all the places he couldn't before in his latest vehicle (which can fly, before he was stuck with a big boat, smaller boat and land thing) despite time being of the essence. They then enter big bad organisation's power base where they fight big bad evil guy, who becomes more powerful everytime you think you've killed him. However giant monster which is most powerful being in universe (aside from random monster in random place which you can seek out to destroy) comes to destroy everything anyway. In the end it looses.

Ehss who is now so powerful he can cause metorites to land on foes with a simple thought and summon fallen gods to help him and is going steady with a girl of almost equal power (and possibly royalty) then goes back home and back to school.

Disgaea 3, Demon's Souls and Valkyria Chronicles enough for you?

How about the upcoming extended PS3 edition of Tales of Vesperia. Or the PS3 Yakuza games if they're ever released in English.

All decent games... Unlike some I could mention

I'm getting to disagree more and more with Eurogamer's reviews.... and I play videogames since the 8-bit era.... weird

@miiiguel Its more about the developers experience, not focusing on 5 different platforms, not being forced into developing for a totally different platform. Its a combination of things thats gained the 360s reputation forr generic low grade JRPGs.

SE & Tri Ace are ruined if they continue like this.

Are you trying to sell me a PS3 Cappy? How sweet... :)
Maybe we can still be friends (fear, baby!).

Anyway, I thought those games weren't jrpgs - and aren't you tired of "what about next year...". I won't tell you about LO, it's a secret, and I'm pretty bad at sharing.

@ Vistrix, come on man... you're not that simple are you. You're telling me a piece of software esoterecally turns bad because it runs on a platform you don't like for some reason ? Please tell me you don't believe that.

Bah humbug. Wanted this to be good.

Could Eurogamer please run an article on JRPG's for beginners and maybe suggest the best to try? Or can the JRPG fans help me out here?

I have never played a final fantasy (i know, I know) but have played AND completed Golden Sun 1 and 2 on the GBA and played *cough* pokemon.

I mention pokemon because of the random battles..

Are they really all involving small kids running round with very drawn out conversations about nothing followed by random fights, and some basic adventure problem solving? Does this define the 'JRPG' genre? (or is that like naively saying 'all FPS are like Doom' ?) Or are there JRPG's with fantastic dark adult stories, sweeping (not trite) storylines, and very strategic use of spells, weapons, items ?

Please note I really really enjoyed both Golden Suns but if all the other JRPGs are going to be pretty much the same thing than pass for me.

I'd be interested to try but all the reviews for the most recent ones have not sold me into trying them. Anyone care to enlighten me?

@miiiguel I love the platform (not as a JRPG platform obviously), cant stand the company though! : ) You totally misunderstood me however.

So you think its a total coincidence that JRPGs have been made very poorly only on the 360?

The PSOne era was incredible for JRPGs, it was still amazing on the PS2 (less quantity however)...and then this generation?


Its funny how the majority of JRPGs (or a game with JRPG elements) on the PS3 or PSP thats been released (there are a few!) has received some awesome reviews.

@miiiguel

God forbid. Stay faithful to your 360.

Yes all of those games are RPGs, two SRPGs and an ARPG. Most importantly they are what you asked for, premium titles. Available not next year or tomorrow, but now.

In terms of quality the 360 really doesn't have much to offer when it comes to this type of game.

6 != negative

Always love when people bash JRPG's in threads like this, go back to your generic shooter x thread then. What the fuck are you people doing here anyway.

Oh and Lost Odyssey kicks every RPG's ass this gen, so there. (although I'm just starting Demon's Souls and that's awesome too)

It just me or does EG aim to have the more negitive look at games these days? I own every JRPG on the system that EG have 'meh'ed at yes they aren't WoW or FF with uber pritty flashly summons but I'VE thought them to be quite good, besides ES that was just a despressing story line.

Yes SO's voice acting is not FF quality, yes the lipsyncing is horrible I've give you that - but critising the game becuase it didn't force you to do anything so you can get to the end? Kinda says 'I'm not a RPG fan', the optional stuff is manitory to do even IF it is optional even the oh so great FFVII's best stuff was side quest based.

Sorry but anyone these days just goes soley off the one review of a game to deside to buy it or not probly has very little in their collection, even heavly slated games by one reviewer may be a great game to someone else

Star Ocean sounds fantastic, and yet another Eurogamer review to completely disregard. I genuinely think they just don't like JRPG's.

I love games where you can lose hours and hours tracking down treasure hunt items and crafting items, collecting monsters and doing silly little sidequests.

It makes me laugh to see people who complete a game in 8 hours and then whine that it's too short as they are missing out on the nuances that make a game special. It's almost like they don't really want to play through the game, just have it finished so they can say they finished it.

Regardless of this review I was going to buy the game anyway, based on the fact it's from the Infinite Undiscovery team. IU was a joy to play from start to finish with it's flowing combat, endearing cast and complelling storylines, and I'd rate it next to Lost Odyssey as standing head-an-shoulders above any other JRPG offerings this gen.

I've had magnitudes more quality RPG gaming on the 360 than on all my other consoles combined, and more great WRPGs and JRPGs are on their way like Vesperia, FFXIII, Sacred 2, Mass effect 2 and Dragon age on the horizon.

It truly is a great time to be an RPG fan.

Always love when people bash JRPG's in threads like this, go back to your generic shooter x thread then. What the fuck are you people doing here anyway.

I love it when they make a "generic plot summary" which not only doesn't actually describe most JRPGs as much as they think, but also ends up being a summary of the quest narrative archetype, which the vast majority of games follow.

I also like how something is now "emo" if it's remotely emotional or introspective, and that this is a BAD THING.