Not to be confused with a movie of a similar name, Star Ocean: The Last Hope (SO: TLH) is the latest installment of Tri-Ace’s science fiction themed, Star Ocean RPG series, in a genre begging for more space exploration, epic space warfare and cat-eared aliens— okay, maybe not on the cat-eared aliens. As Edge Maverick, a member of the SRF, you are tasked to discover new habitable worlds for humanity. Does SO: TLH reveal new frontiers or end up warping into deep space?
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| Engage! |
STORY
SO: TLH’s narrative embraces all the conventions that make sci-fi great; including its clichés—and there are plenty of clichés. Exploring the galaxy for habitable planets because World War III scorched the Earth with WMDs? Check. Hostile alien bugs? Check. Mysterious alien forces out to destroy the universe? Check, check. A cast involving a child prodigy and her pet demon dog, a hulking cyborg, a cat-girl and a scantily clad sorceress? …cheee—wait a minute, wha?
And that is the problem with SO: TLH’s story: its anime clichés clashing with the sci-fi. Meracle the cat-girl alone almost breaks the proverbial spaceship’s back. Add in the monotone child Lymle and the clueless, angelic Sarah Jerand, and the ship just explodes. Even the game makes fun of itself on this point. Other characters like the cyborg Bacchus, the Symbologist (SO’s magic users) Myuria and the Eldarian youth Faize and warrior Arumat are all paired with interesting backgrounds despite looks, but are one-dimensional for most of the game.
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| Our heroes ladies and gents! ...*twitch, twitch* |
To SO: TLH’s credit, even characters like Lymle (who is guaranteed to be disliked for most of the game) do gain a semblance of personality and a layer of complexity. Character motivations are even re-explored and reinvented in the course of the game. Exceptions consist of the no-amount-of-character-development-can-save-Meracle and mind-in-the-clouds-Sarah. Additional kudos to SO: TLH for keeping the theme of space exploration front and center, even when the predictable “save the universe from mysterious alien beings” plot emerges.
SO: TLH surprisingly delves into the consequences of planetary colonization and moral issues that arise from sharing advanced technology with underdeveloped civilizations. Rather than existing for plot convenience, these highly interesting moral quandaries do drive the game’s narrative. Any impact on you, however, does occasionally get lost with SO: TLH’s ill-placed anime-styled humor and sporadic bad writing (i.e. pseudo-science exposition or any line out of Meracle’s mouth).
DESIGN & GAMEPLAY
Series veterans that are familiar with the SO formula are in for a few surprises with SO: TLH. For a significant first in the series, you will get access to your very own spaceship, the Calnus. The Calnus operates as a hub: it provides transportation to the major destinations in the game and acts as a stage for Private Actions and Item Creation. And to sweeten the deal, the Calnus’ recreational room can be decorated with jukeboxes, item vendors, and other crafted or found items.
Private Actions are character-driven events initiated by the player and comprises the bulk of the Calnus crew’s interaction and development. Unique to SO: TLH is the roommate system: it allows you to assign roommates with different members of the crew to discover new relationships and events as the game progresses. Besides being crucial for unlocking hidden character endings, Private Actions are scenes that run the gamut of good storytelling: secrets are revealed, animosities and romances are explored, shower scenes run amuck and there is… Welch.
Another innovation to an established mechanic comes in the form of an inventor/invention system for Item Creation. Characters can be pooled together into groups of three to invent new items in any of the crafting categories they specialize in. Any issues with Item Creation stem solely from material gathering, which consists of grinding enemies for drops or harvesting resource nodes on the field till your head pops [cue the boos and tomatoes here]. At the very least, there are diverse worlds and dungeons to grind aforementioned materials if so desired.
Unlike previous SO games, instead of one or two worlds to explore, SO: TLH has divided exploration and dungeon segments for four planetary locales. Foregoing the overworld approach like SO: TLH’s predecessor (Star Ocean: Till the End of Time), the SO worlds are instead expressed by immense fields that characters can traverse in order to reach local towns or dungeons. Adventurous players are awarded with resource nodes, treasure chests littered across the landscape and even environmental puzzles leading to more rewards.
Dungeons, too, are designed to be explored and revisited. Examples consist of a planet-sized mothership, complete with patrol robots and giant mechanized suits; old cathedrals with an underground temple for the occult and futuristic castles that defy the laws of time and space. The problem is almost all of these dungeons are long and end up being a struggle against tedium. Start getting used to the map screen; it will be the player equivalent of a hitchhiker’s towel in terms of acquiring treasure chests and not being hopelessly lost. Throw in light to moderate puzzle solving alongside a legion of enemies and dungeon running can be two-plus hour affairs.
All of this exploration is at the cost of backtracking. And there is a whole lot of backtracking. Include a MMO-styled side-quest system (i.e. accept a “quest” from a NPC, perform the task, return to NPC for a reward) coupled with buying materials for Item Creation (or grinding certain enemy drops for said crafting), and it just aggravates the backtracking problem. And it is not until near the end of the game that you get access to teleportation points that grant quick access to notable locations. However, it should be noted that most of the backtracking is for optional content. Regardless, there are better diversions, like the game’s primary feature: its real time battles.
Besides its sci-fi themes, the SO series is notable for its action based combat, and in SO: TLH it makes a return in its definitive incarnation. Battles are initiated (or avoided) by engaging enemies on the field versus random encounters. Once in combat, you control one of four characters (that you can switch at will with the press of a button) while the rest are manned by the AI. Characters can roam the battlefield and link weapon strikes into combos, use Special Arts or cast Symbology spells. Throw in Cancel Bonuses that increase damage modifiers by combo’ing Special Arts or Symbology back to back of each other and watch as the amount of hits (and damage) reach ridiculous (and fun) levels. Additional features only enhance combat to be one of the most in-depth experiences next to Namco Bandai’s Tales series.
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| Rawr! |
Exclusive to SO: TLH is a new combat mechanic called “Blindsides.” Blindsides launch the character into a stunning animation sequence where he or she dodges or parries an incoming enemy attack and maneuvers behind them, bypassing defenses and counterattacking. Blindside spammers beware, as certain enemies and bosses can counter Blindsides rather brutally. And do not forget the extensive character customization that lets you design your own brand of battlefield mayhem.
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| I'm going in! ...gah! It cannot be unseen! |
Characters are specialized into melee, ranged and ranged-caster types. Each character can be assigned up to three Special Arts or spells per trigger button and have their own upgradable skill sets. Additionally, each character can be assigned a “BEAT.” BEATs are organized into S(trike), B(urst) and N(eutral) types that each emphasize certain combat mechanics like Blindsides and also give status boosts or add attributes to character attacks. And finally, if there was not enough awesome in the combat already, there is the Bonus Board.
The Bonus Board is a reward for skillful playing when certain conditions in battle are met (i.e. killing a group of enemies at once, surviving an ambush, etc.). A board on the right side of the screen gets filled with bonuses like extra experience points or restoring a set percentage of HP and MP after a battle. It’s almost like a mini-game of its own, to meet the criteria to stack the board with the bonuses you want. These bonuses can stack up to a 140% increase in any one bonus and can be mixed and matched. The Bonus Board significantly lowers the amount of level or money grinding RPGs can be infamous for.
Combat is not without its minor issues and annoyances, however. In the 360 version, characters are locked onto the nearest target. There is no method to change targets short of killing the current one or moving to the other side of the battlefield. It’s extremely irritating when there are bosses with adds or giant enemies accompanied by smaller ones. Secondly, while AI-controlled party members can be competent, they lack priority customization or AI-options befitting their role. There are vague options like “Fight Freestyle” or “Stay out of the Way.” Healers usually end up spamming offensive spells and only heal when characters are on the verge of death or ignore status ailments completely. Either players are forced to micromanage their characters or they have to turn off abilities to get characters to do what they want. Aside from these issues, SO: TLH’s combat is the compelling reason to play.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
For a sci-fi game about galactic exploration you would think Tri-Ace would take advantage of the setting and litter the planets with many exotic and alien environments as they can. Sadly, this is not the case except for the last planet in the game; until then a prehistoric jungle is as exotic as it gets. That is not to say that SO: TLH is lacking in the graphical department. For a game released prior to Square-Enix’s graphical masterpiece, Final Fantasy XIII, the environmental vistas in SO: TLH are like high-definition recordings of real landscapes. Disappointingly, however, futuristic settings like the Moonbase are plagued with the invasion of the generic. Space battles and combat cutscenes that are meant to be epic also unfortunately suffer with pixelated graphics.
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| Admire the view, no rush! |
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| EAT HER! EAT HER!! |
Series composer Motoi Sakuraba returns once more to pen the score, but his musical touch present in Star Ocean: The Second Story and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is absent in SO: TLH. Most of the music is either generic orchestral pieces or arrangements of previous tracks. The few original tracks that exist are forgettable and the tracks blend together with no recognizable rhyme or themes. SO: TLH’s not Sakuraba’s best, but the soundtrack is appropriate for what it does.
And start being acquainted with the character mute settings. Barely half of the cast of SO: TLH’s voices border on passable to decent. The rest of the voice acting is horrific and you will wish sound never existed. Japanese developers and localization crews should take note that a dual audio track with Japanese voices is sorely missing and desired.
THE VERDICT
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is never going to be confused for Star Wars nor be in the rank of RPG greats this console generation like Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey or Tales of Vesperia. However, Tri-Ace certainly showed its mettle with its addictive, exhilarating combat and stories of planetary exploration. SO: TLH can take up to 40 hours to complete and easily 60 or more for completionists. The Last Hope is at least worth a rental on GameFly or a purchase if renting is not an option considering how cheap it runs on the market ($20 new on Amazon.com).
