Another fantastic Xbox 360 JRPG, Kaaay!!!

by Endgamez (Guest Contributor)

©2009 Ned Kovac

Like most fans, I consider the Star Ocean series to be the spiritual successors to Tales of Phantasia; given that the series are so similar, if they mated they’d have deformed children. This is because virtually the entire design department of Phantasia left Namco to found tri-Ace and many of the design concepts of the Tales series can be found in the Star Ocean franchise.

Star Ocean:The Last Hope’s story begins in the aftermath of WWIII. Our great and illustrious leaders have basically done the expected and kicked the hell out of each other. Not content with simply trading a few punches, they kick off a nuclear exchange that quickly spans the globe and makes life kinda like Parramatta (inside Aussie joke).

Out of the ashes forms an alliance

See my ears? My staff? Now I can get Channel 31!

The most powerful nations still left standing accelerate the space program and look for new and habitable planets for the Human Race to colonise, considering real-estate values on warm, smoky craters would be decidedly low.

After blowing up some pilots, Humans finally develop a Warp drive that works and make a hero of the first guy that survives the trip. From this comes the SRF, or Space Reconnaissance Force and our main character Edge Maverick (more on that later) is an up and coming member.

The story is fairly standard RPG fare and pretty typical of the series. There’s the obligatory childhood friend/sweetheart, Reimi, who’s also pretty handy with a bow. Reimi comes complete with fanservice butt shot camera pans every time she ends a fight. Early on, they are joined by Faize, who is your power spellcaster and Lymle, who balances things with support symbology. As these things generally go, you’ll pick up other party members that will be focused on ranged, melee or symbology.

The Private Action system is back from Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time and will serve to determine which ending you see. These are triggered at various places in the game, though mostly when travelling between worlds. Private Actions are well worth seeking out, as they do add a dimension to characters that might otherwise seem a little bland.

Lord knows Lymle needs something to spice up her character. I’ve met stoners with more personality…’kaaay? Interactions can be cute, poignant and funny and can make you forget the bad voices and the fact that Edge Maverick is the most singularly stupid character name in the history of JRPGs.

Star Ocean still suffers from long, drawn out and repeated exposition and scenes can sometimes grate, in their length. Overall, I found that this is definitely not game breaking and being something of a fan of cheesy anime, was generally entertaining. The voice acting is atrocious, however and this game could really have benefited from a Japanese voice track. Be prepared to make a few concessions and you’ll have a good time.

The game spans three discs and the main story can be completed in roughly 40 hours, if you power through. However, this wouldn’t be a JRPG without a plethora of side quests and you’ll find these in abundance. These can range from simple delivery orders for almost all the shops in the game, to deeper and more involving quests that are unlocked by talking to various people in towns.

There is a coliseum to test your skills

You can battle against varied opponents and even Giant Pink Bunny Races! Bonus dungeons are included and sport their own bosses. All of these things add so much to the game, that (including multiple plays for collecting and seeing endings) the initial 40 hours can easily be turned into hundreds.

The hook, in this game, is really the combat and levelling engine. Battles are not initiated randomly. Rather, all dungeon enemies appear on screen and you will have a choice whether to run past them, or initiate the battle in a couple of different ways that may also confer an advantage at the beginning. Battles are real-time and are still conducted in a separate arena, with up to four party members participating.

You have the choice of controlling any of the four, whilst the rest are controlled by AI that has some limited options at tweaking their responses. Battle trophies are back and each character has their own set of 100(!) that will make it essential to use all of them, at some point…especially if you really want to collect them all.

Some are easy and will be awarded relatively automatically; whilst others will take some specific strategy and planning to achieve. Characters each have unique strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to choose battle parties that truly suit the situation and your own play style.

New additions to the combat engine include Blindsides, allowing you to sidestep an enemy that has targeted you and attack from behind. This results in an instant critical and the ability to follow up with some devastating combos. When not blindsiding, the same action allows you to jump and dodge out of the way.

Fulfilling certain finishing conditions adds tiles to a Bonus Board that confers rewards at the end of a fight; be they a percentage of extra XP, HP/MP/SP boosts, or more FOL (money). Battling seems to never devolve into tedious grind, simply because there always seems to be some new strategy to try, or another way to build the bonus board, or another Battle Trophy to get.

Character building is deep and complex

If micromanagement is your game, this is not just about gaining levels through XP and tracking stats. You must take an active part in levelling your skills and there are optional skill books that may be bought and also levelled up. Adding to this is a deep and complex item creation system that will allow you to upgrade and forge weapons; also allowing the combining of weapons and items to produce more powerful tools.

Characters may only equip specific items and skills, but rather than this being a limitation, it provides for focus in realising the incredible variety contained within the development of each character. Levelling up unlocks an amazing array of new skills and arts. You always feel like you are discovering something new and no two play-throughs will produce the same results.

Given the story, side quests and character building, Star Ocean will give back to casual and hardcore players exactly what they put into it. You will be able to power through the story and ignore a lot. The game will still impress. However, if you want depth, length and are prepared to be continually surprised and delighted, you’ll certainly be able to have it all.

Graphically, the game is quite a sight. The main characters are unfortunately very generic and seem to be lazily cut from just about every JRPG from Final Fantasy to Phantasy Star. Enemy and monster designs are thankfully far more varied and interesting and the environments are fantastically diverse. No two dungeons ever feel the same and the game reinforces this feeling by requiring very little backtracking.

Though not cel-shaded, Star Ocean is bright and very colourful and a glory to behold in 1080p HD. The only minor criticism may be that the textures appear overly shiny and could have benefited from a slightly flatter and grittier look. Cutscenes show no transition from the in-game engine and so add to immersion, rather than jar you away from the gameplay.

Overall, the graphics are a plus and an enormously welcome change from the drab greys and browns that seem to have become popular in HD games, of late.

In conclusion, if you’re a fan of traditional JRPGs, then this is what you’ve been waiting for. Star Ocean is deep, engaging and gloriously HD. It’s also a cut above the JRPG fare that’s been offered on the Xbox 360. If your idea of an RPG is strongly Mass Effect, or Fallout 3, this won’t rock your boat, at all. For my money, the game deserves a solid score, only losing a whole point, because I really hate the name Edge Maverick.

”9/10

©2009 Ned Kovac

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Filed under: 1st Party Titles, Console gaming, New Xbox 360 Games, OXCGN Affiliates, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 3rd party exclusives | Tagged: "Giant Pink Bunny Races", "xbox 360 review", Edge Maverick, Faize, JRPG, JRPGs, Lymle, Namco, Phantasia, Reimi, Space Reconnaissance Force, Star Ocean, star ocean: last hope, Tales of Phantasia, Tri-Ace, Ubisoft, Xbox 360