NOW PLAYING – Star Ocean Last Hope International
With all the excitement
over Ni No Kuni, I wanted to write about my experience with another great JRPG
– Star Ocean Last Hope International, a non-Final Fantasy offering from
Square-Enix. Although it was released
back in 2010, I only recently picked it up when I saw it for a good price at
GameStop.
I’m currently on my second playthrough,
and I’m still thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. The first time, I was entranced by the
storyline. Although a bit generic, the premise
of taking off into space and discovering new worlds hooked me pretty
quickly. And while the evil force behind
the scenes has a pretty standard villainous desire, the specifics behind it are
intriguing. The main characters have a good amount of depth and the
interactions between them are both entertaining and poignant.
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| The cast of Star Ocean Last Hope. |
Thankfully, if you played
the game before, you can skip through the sometimes lengthy cut scenes and get
right to the action. The real-time
battle system is well designed and uses some interesting mechanics. Blindsiding is probably one of the most
unique features, allowing you to dash behind your enemy and attack for critical
damage. Chain combos – the execution of
multiple characters’ special techniques – are awesome to behold and extremely
damaging. The Bonus Board – a meter of
sorts that is filled by performing different feats in battle – provides bonuses
when you conquer your foes in the form of extra experience, Fol (the money of
Star Ocean), SP (used to build up your characters’ skills), or partial
restoration of HP and MP.
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| Little girl Lymle can kick some major butt! |
Each character has their
own weapon types, special techniques, symbols (i.e. magic spells), and field
skills (things like Harvesting and Mining that allow you to access different
resource points, or Crafting and Alchemy that assist in Item Creation), giving
each one a pretty unique playstyle and role.
The game itself is pretty
lengthy, and there’s a lot to see and do.
Item Creation gives you access to additional items and equipment for
your party, granted you “invent” the proper recipes and have the right
materials. Synthesis gives you more
customization options, allowing you to fuse materials to your weapons and armor
to make them stronger and grant additional abilities. An extensive Collection is available that
keeps track of all kinds of game data. Particularly important is your monster
data, which you can actually use to create unique artifacts from Monster Gems.
There are a few secrets to
be found too, including special endings for each character that may or may not
appear depending on your choices throughout the game, and hidden dungeons and
bosses that only appear on your second playthrough (hence why I’m going through
it again). There are even difficulty
levels that can be selected when starting a new file for those who want more of
a challenge throughout the experience.
As for as JRPGs go, Star
Ocean’s overall structure is pretty familiar, but the well designed battle
system and long list of things to do has kept me coming back for more. My one complaint? Like many classic JRPGs, saving can only be
done at specific save points, and this game does a particularly poor job at
placement, sometimes forcing you to play through segments that may take hours
until you get to the next one. And yes,
I’ve been about an hour into a dungeon when my game froze. On several occasions. GRRR…
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| Ominous, isn't it? |
Other than that, if you
love JRPGs, be sure to check out Star Ocean.
Have you played this great game, too?
What’s most memorable to you about it?
