Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

The Star Ocean series of games has always been a fan favorite of science fiction and role playing games. Influenced by the original Star Trek TV series the Star Ocean games have been always strong in story and this Star Ocean is no different. This game is a prequel to the first game but sadly is the last Star Ocean at least according to Tri-Ace and if that is so they are leaving the series on a definite high note.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope takes place 10 years after the discovery of advanced space flight and after the near destruction of Earth and the human race during World War III. You play Edge, the leader of a small group of adventurers who are exploring the universe for the first time. Some very impressive story telling with fun gameplay make this one of the best role playing titles to come out of Square Enix in years.


The Star Ocean series has never been your typical gameplay based Japanese Role Playing Game. Instead of the traditional turn based games we have seen for the last couple of decades and gives us an action based combat system which is extremely easy to pick up and enjoy. The combat is fairly straight forward with you just hitting the attack button and the odd button usage for using different special attacks and abilities. Some of these special attacks and abilities are incredible looking and mix up the combat in a fun and dynamic way.

If you like collecting all the different pieces of the puzzle, then this is the game for you because there are so many different collectables in this game you can spend dozens of hours just finding them all. Some of these collections include finding out detailed bits of information on ships, monsters, combat, weapons and more. Some of these are extremely helpful to you such as the monster jewels you will acquire by learning everything about a certain monster then putting everything into a jewel. These jewels can help you by providing bonuses to aid you in your adventure.

One of the long running and interesting aspects to the Star Ocean series is building new items and again you can do that in The Last Hope. These items are very important to the final game and do aid you in your adventures. Weapons and armor can be crafted and if you are lucky these will keep you one step ahead of the enemies you will face.

There is no multiplayer in the game and of course a game like this does not need it. The single player side of thing is strong and amazing in many ways with plenty to do and one of the best games to replay over again once you complete it. Something I am on my 2nd time through and over the last several days realize it feels like a better game the second time around.


Shockingly Star Ocean: The Last Hope does not suffer from the same frame rate problems as the last couple of Square Enix Role Playing Games and while those frame rate issues never made those games unplayable, when you are playing a pure action role playing title like Star Ocean, a drop in frame rate can and will end up making things go wrong when you are fighting some big bad boss.

The entire Star Ocean look is this bright and clean Star Trek inspired mash of big eyes, overly stereo typical characters for a JRPG but it completely works for once and does not become a total visual bore fest. But that could have to do with how well the entire game is put together from the graphics and audio to the story and overall gameplay.


Square Enix almost always has great music and sound effects but often their use of voice actors ranges from the talented to the comical and annoying. Luckily Square Enix went with hiring almost all talented voice actors this time around and only seemed to deal with one really annoying character voice actor. She is someone you will not deal with that often so the way she acts, like a ferret on speed, is manageable and not so annoying you will want to chuck your controller at the screen.

The music is rich and powerful when it needs to be and at other times is subtle to the point you might not even notice it. This is very nice as it seems many of the RPG’s we have seen in the last year have been on one side (great music which fits the game and setting) or the other side (horrible music which makes your ears bleed). The same goes with the sound effects which amazingly are not generic and are in fact original sounding for the most part which goes to prove that we have not heard it all when it comes to video game sounds.


Replay value in a Japanese Role Playing Game? Yes there is and this is the type of game where you can replay the game several times and see multiple character endings and see how the game changes as you approach different situations with different people in your group. While the first planet is fairly straight forward from the second planet on you will have many options on how to make the game your own.

I have played every single Square Enix RPG over the last several years and I have to say this is by far their best game story wise and while there is a few small issues with disc swapping and if you are not paying attention you will have to back track, this is one incredible game to play and is a must own for all RPG fans. The game is also easy enough for RPG newbie’s to pick up and learn without being scared by complex battle system, or not knowing the previous games in the series. This is Star Ocean 0 and after this many gamers will want to play Star Ocean 1, 2 and 3.

6 days ago :: (XBLA) Sacred Citadel
1 week ago :: Injustice: Gods Among Us
1 week ago :: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
2 weeks ago :: BioShock Infinite
4 weeks ago :: Gears of War Judgment
1 month ago :: (Kinect) The Hip Hop Dance Experience
1 month ago :: Tomb Raider
1 month ago :: Crysis 3
2 months ago :: DmC Devil May Cry
2 months ago :: (XBLA) Serious Sam Double D XXL