Nearly a year after the release of Star Ocean: The Last Hope on the Xbox 360, along comes the PS3 version with a fancy new International suffix to boot. The PS3 version doesn’t offer any huge changes but it does offer up new audio tracks in the form of Japanese voice acting. Anyone who’s suffered the English dub available in the Xbox 360 version will greatly appreciate this. But just how has Star Ocean: The Last Hope aged? It’s a mixed bag of fun but with a harsh old fashioned JRPG exterior making it unwieldy for those used to the newer, friendlier RPGs that are now on the scene. Think of Star Ocean: The Last Hope as Final Fantasy XIII’s antithesis in terms of accessibility.
The Star Ocean series has always been unashamedly Japanese with very little sign of diluting the cultural effects in order to be more popular in the West. This is both a blessing and a curse with The Last Hope. The characters are quaintly Japanese in nature so it’s great to see that finally players can hear the Japanese voice acting. Despite my lack of understanding I could still appreciate the emotion conveyed through the original voice acting. It matches with the mannerisms of the characters so much more effectively than witnessed in the Xbox 360 version and really adds to the story of the game. Having said that, players need to have an appreciation of Japanese storytelling and anime to really get it otherwise it’ll just seem irritating and overly long.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope sticks to the conventional JRPG structure quite rigidly. You’ll spend most of the time exploring towns which inevitably lead onto a large dungeon then to a different town and so forth. While the towns and cut scenes tend to look quite impressive in places with some great science fiction elements, the dungeons and much of the world map just look rather bland and uninspiring. Unfortunate considering many of the dungeons will take a good few hours to traverse. While The Last Hope may give the impression of freedom, inevitably you’re just as trapped as you were in Final Fantasy XIII; it’s just less obviously done. There are at least numerous side quests and other distractions on offer such as item creation and recipe crafting, making the game considerably longer than just the main quest.
The combat system is the shining light of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, maintaining an exciting pace at all times. It’s a real time based system making it a somewhat frantic affair. Fortunately the game does a good job of introducing players to the various elements so it’s never intimidating. Series old timers will be pleased to see that everything works as before and I found myself easily accustomed to the new features on offer after avidly playing Star Ocean 2 years ago. Basic attack combos are easily formulated with a few quick taps of the B button but there’s some much needed strategy added to proceedings in the form of Blindside attacks and the Bonus Board. Blindside allows players to counter attack a foe by quickly getting behind their line of sight and launching a pre-emptive attack. The Bonus board fills to the side of the screen throughout each battle. It offers various bonuses such as experience bonuses or even finishing a battle on full health, depending how well the battle is going. It relies upon players fulfilling certain requirements and immensely satisfying to watch fill up.
The problem is that far too much of the game feels rather repetitive. Experience grinding is practically essential to progress in this game with even Normal difficulty level being a challenge. The necessity in experience grinding just gets a little dull after a while and restricts players from enjoying the storyline, far too often you have to stop progressing just to gain some necessary levels. The game’s boss battles are also unbalanced. There’s one unforgiving boss that is near impossible if you’re using a certain combination of characters, yet if you use different ones it’s ridiculously easy. It makes sense that team decisions should affect the game to an extent but to the point that it’s near impossible seems blatantly unfair. The allocation of save points is also far too stingy meaning it can take a couple of hours between save points. After playing the likes of Final Fantasy XIII with its many save points and Mass Effect 2 with its ability to save anywhere, Star Ocean’s method of dealing with saving feels outdated and unwelcome.
It’s not all bad as Star Ocean: The Last Hope is enjoyable at times. It’s just uninspiring. If you already enjoy the Japanese RPG genre you’ll find some enjoyment despite its numerous flaws. However if you need to be wooed though you’d best stay clear and stick to more approachable RPGs. While Star Ocean: The Last Hope isn’t hard to learn, it’s not exactly easy to love. Its dungeons are a little too drab and the story takes far too long to get going. A year has passed since its original inception and it’s clearly taken its toll. The real advantage that The Last Hope has is that the PS3 is in dire need of more JRPGs and when the only recent competition is the disappointing White Knight Chronicles and the divisive Final Fantasy XIII, I can’t blame anyone for giving this a try. It’s respectable enough; it’s just lacking imagination and real spark.
VideogameUK verdict: 6/10
