Star Ocean: The Last Hope

[bcruise]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Data install is around 2 GB. Seems to really help out with the load times between areas and when first loading a game - they seem very short.

(remember I'm playing for the first time when you read below - this probably isn't PS3 specific)

I'm glad there's at least a little bit of risk back in item creation - choosing whether to use party SP to build your characters skills or for recipe creating time.

Also, I don't know if I'm just out of practice or what, but the first area almost got me a few times on Galaxy level...lol. I ended up running out of blueberries and fresh sage and kinda dragged myself to that first recovery point. Part of the reason was because I kept trying to guard, which at this point seems to be utterly worthless. Nowhere near as useful as the fury guarding in TTEOT, that's for sure.

[trobinson97]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Did you play with mute on too?

Nah I sat through the English audio, but I do wish I had an option for Japanese at the time. It wasn't that bad though.

[Skyboxer]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Data install is around 2 GB. Seems to really help out with the load times between areas and when first loading a game - they seem very short.

(remember I'm playing for the first time when you read below - this probably isn't PS3 specific)

I'm glad there's at least a little bit of risk back in item creation - choosing whether to use party SP to build your characters skills or for recipe creating time.

Also, I don't know if I'm just out of practice or what, but the first area almost got me a few times on Galaxy level...lol. I ended up running out of blueberries and fresh sage and kinda dragged myself to that first recovery point. Part of the reason was because I kept trying to guard, which at this point seems to be utterly worthless. Nowhere near as useful as the fury guarding in TTEOT, that's for sure.

I think I will pick this up for the PS3. I had it (Didn't finish) for the 360. Don't know why I stopped playing it...

NEVERMIND: For some reason I didn't think it would be 59.99. Guess I'll wait a bit for a used one....

[bcruise]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

One more thing to add for now: I really like how I'm rewarded for controlling all 4 of my characters instead of just using one all the time. Battle trophies can only be earned by the character you're controlling, so to get them you have to use your other characters. In previous Star Oceans I pretty much just stuck to the main, only switching off when he/she needed healing or reviving (in most cases, the AI did a pretty good job of taking care of the rest) It makes the level grinding a little more interesting using all of your characters. I'll probably still stick with Edge though when I get ready to progress through the story, though.

[bcruise]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Guess I'm the only one playing it for the first time at this point...

Spoiler

Well, I finally got handed my first game over about 25 hours in. Tamiel - the guy trying to get Asmodeus resurrected - got me once. I didn't even know I could switch characters mid-battle until all 4 were on the ground - that's a SO first, I believe.

Loved the whole Roak sequence - gave me a serious MGS4 return to Shadow Moses vibe, although the stone bit was predictable if you played the original SO. Seriously, between bacculus and stone sickness, are there any diseases in the SO universe that don't turn people to stone? . Loved that it had a rearranged version of the first game's field and battle themes while on that planet - Motoi Sakuraba does it again!

To this point the game has been kinda easy because I overleveled at one point. But the Purgatorium showed that it's going to get quite a bit tougher, and quickly.

[injunwal]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

I am playing it on the PS3 too but I am only a couple hours in. Just did the first "boss" encounter. It has been a long time since I played a JRPG and i am liking it

[bcruise]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

Just beat it on Galaxy level last night. Completion time - 59 Hours 28 Minutes. Not a bad length for just a basic playthrough (though there was quite a bit of downtime where I was reading dictionary entries and other stuff like that)

Spoilers ahoy.

Spoiler

I beat it at level 61, which seems to be about the norm for people based on what I read here and at gamefaqs. I feel dumb for not seeing the final plot twist coming - I thought Faize was really dead. When Lym started making her comments after the first fight it hit me pretty quickly.

I really didn't need to do a whole lot of item creation to get through the game. I made some compounding prep before heading into Nox Obscurus (physical/mental stims mostly, and they saved my *** vs. Faize) and a Healing band for Sarah (combined with a regen symbol it turned her into an MP factory), but really not much more than that to beat the game. I did a bunch of quest-related IC's though, and was basically swimming in Party SP by the end. I expect that I'll need to do some weapon/armor creation (or level like mad) for the postgame stuff though.

Oh man, trophies are gonna be a pain. At least I know I'll still be able to collect battle trophies on subsequent playthroughs.

All in all, really fun game. I liked the references to previous games, such as returning to Roak, and the subtle nod that EN II has something to do with SOII (Energy Nede? I mean, fields of Courage, Wisdom, Might, and Love; Psynards, and the unmistakable battle music!). Wonder if there are any TTEOT references in the post-game...

Next up: Post-game (there's no way I would have known about the Dark Dragon, etc. if I hadn't checked gamefaqs after beating the game), and then Universe Mode!

A few questions that don't really need spoiler tags, that I couldn't find answers to in the course of the game:

Am I to assume that Chaos mode unlocks after beating Universe? Or is there more to it?

What does the "Sense" IC skill do? It's the only one that you can't improve, has no specific item category dedicated to it, and that no one excels in.

By earning a bunch of Edge's battle trophies I unlocked 2 "collection bonuses" - Extra Battle voices Set 1, and Level Cap removal. For the voices, is there anywhere you can listen to them or do they just show up during the course of battle? And as for level cap removal...what was it capped at initially? I can probably assume I can go as high as the SO standard 255 now, right?

[DakkoN]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

How is this game on PS3? Does it run well? Any noticeable differences from 360 version besides the added voice tracks and menus? I ask because it's Amazon's deal of the day and I am considering it.

[Spongedaddy]

Re: Star Ocean: The Last Hope

How is this game on PS3? Does it run well? Any noticeable differences from 360 version besides the added voice tracks and menus? I ask because it's Amazon's deal of the day and I am considering it.

I really liked playing it on the PS3. I liked it better than the 360 version. It is more the little things like the anime menus and icons + the japanese voices with subtitles. It is a bit brighter to me as well.

You can't lose with the PS3 version.