# Star Ocean: The Last Hope **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 25, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326 "2009-02-25T04:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/1 "2009-02-25T04:52:52Z")
So, anyone got it? I’m considering picking it up with my next paycheck and was wondering what people thought, and how it compares to other available RPGs (specifically JRPGs, obviously). The last Star Ocean game I played was the second one, and that was years and years ago, so I don’t remember the series much beyond it beign ridiculous in every way, like you could play instruments and have your party play orchestra music which gave them effects for limited periods of time, and have them cook and such, and there were like 80 endings or something ridiculous. How’s the battle system, the story, etc? Do you recommend a purchase? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/2 "2009-02-25T05:09:01Z")
I would curious likewise. I liked Star Ocean… but the 3rd one nearly led me to light my disc on fire and chuck it out the window. It was like a parody of all J-RPG’s. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/3 "2009-02-25T14:41:47Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I would curious likewise. I liked Star Ocean… but the 3rd one nearly led me to light my disc on fire and chuck it out the window. It was like a parody of all J-RPG’s. I don’t follow you at all. You can like or not like the “plot twist” as you see fit, but I certainly don’t see how actually trying to do something different makes it a parody of JRPGs. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/4 "2009-02-25T17:52:23Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > I don’t follow you at all. You can like or not like the “plot twist” as you see fit, but I certainly don’t see how actually trying to do something different makes it a parody of JRPGs. It was the specific twist. [spoiler]I’m playing a video game, but it’s a video game within a video game. But I’m in the videogame. Except I’m not. Surprise[spoiler] It was badly done, badly revealed, and badly used. It’s an interesting concept… to build the game around. Given how badly Gemity was designed, however, it’s clear to me they started a big plot and then had to actually finish the story, and had no idea how to do it. More to the point, the inane sidequests got incredibly stupid. Especially the racing “minigame”. Crafting also got pretty stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/5 "2009-02-25T19:48:26Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > It was the specific twist. > > [spoiler]I’m playing a video game, but it’s a video game within a video game. But I’m in the videogame. Except I’m not. Surprise[spoiler] > > It was badly done, badly revealed, and badly used. It’s an interesting concept… to build the game around. Given how badly Gemity was designed, however, it’s clear to me they started a big plot and then had to actually finish the story, and had no idea how to do it. That’s nice, but how does any of that make it a parody of a JRPG? > [@](#): > > More to the point, the inane sidequests got incredibly stupid. Especially the racing “minigame”. Crafting also got pretty stupid. Boy, I don’t even -remember- a racing minigame. But yeah, the crafting system was poorly implemented, but I’ve certainly seen worse. In big name titles too. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/6 "2009-02-25T20:59:57Z")
I’m interested in SO4 but I’ll have to convince that it’s miles away from the travesty that is SO3 in order to consider playing it. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/7 "2009-02-25T21:09:57Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > That’s nice, but how does any of that make it a parody of a JRPG? I don’t think this is what **smiling bandit** was getting at, but I just remembered that one thing in SO3 that seems like it could be a parody of JRPGs is the main character’s name. We’re used to some pretty out-there, silly sounding names (Cloud Strife, Ashley Riot, and all that), but this just took it too far. I mean, the main character’s name is Fayt Leingod. Fayt…Leingod. As one reviewer on GameFAQs put it, why not Max Hero or John Saviorman? I realize it’s a pretty minor thing, but it’s really a perfect name to use if you wanted to parody a JRPG. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/8 "2009-02-25T21:31:31Z")
> [@Commander\_Keen](#): > > I’m interested in SO4 but I’ll have to convince that it’s miles away from the travesty that is SO3 in order to consider playing it. The Hero’s name is “Edge Maverick”. You be the judge. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/9 "2009-02-25T21:42:52Z")
> [@Commander\_Keen](#): > > I realize it’s a pretty minor thing, but it’s really a perfect name to use if you wanted to parody a JRPG. That’s one thing. In fact, eveybody’s name sounded as if it were out of a really, really bad fantasy novel. Fayt. Cliff. Arbel **Nox**. It just got… weird. The minigames were almost required and they were pretty bad. The buunny racing was designed to do _nothing_ but waste time and money, but you had to in order to get some good stuff. The crafting was really stupid: just a meaningless save.load until you finally get the non-crappy stuff. The plot meanders everywhere, and just drops whole threads to send you onto some other meandering plotline. The big “twist” raises a grotesque number of unanswered questions, but then _ignores_ them. The entire game had me running around after goals I didn’t understand with people I didn’t trust with background events I didn’t care about. The battle system is basically a cruddy version of the Tales system. I believe Star Ocean actually did it first, but Tales did it better. Much better. Plus, the constant battling/reload/rebattling to unlock acheivements to unlock costumes is… really obnoxious. It’s like somebody took all the elements of JRPG’s and distilled the most annoying aspects fo them down. It has almost every good thing I might want… but makes them all _suck_. And, it is the only PS2 game I have ever had which locked up on me. Which it did a couple times. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/10 "2009-02-25T22:19:51Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > That’s one thing. In fact, eveybody’s name sounded as if it were out of a really, really bad fantasy novel. Fayt. Cliff. Arbel **Nox**. It just got… weird. What’s wrong with ‘Cliff’? o.o But the hilarious thing is that a lot of the names were even -worse- in Japanese. > [@](#): > > The minigames were almost required and they were pretty bad. The buunny racing was designed to do _nothing_ but waste time and money, but you had to in order to get some good stuff. The crafting was really stupid: just a meaningless save.load until you finally get the non-crappy stuff. I -still- can’t remember the bunny racing game. o.o And crafting was lame, but if you had a [FAQ](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuideDangIt) it was pretty painless. > [@](#): > > And, it is the only PS2 game I have ever had which locked up on me. Which it did a couple times. Wacky. I’ve actually -never- had trouble with -any- PS2 games, including SO3 and Tales of the Abyss (which, I admit, had a better battle system by far) which many people claim is ‘buggy’. Aside: SO3 would’ve been about a billion times better with coop multiplayer for battles. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/11 "2009-02-25T22:36:28Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > What’s wrong with ‘Cliff’? o.o But the hilarious thing is that a lot of the names were even -worse- in Japanese. Let me put it this way. Cliff is a huge, blond-haired American-like strongman. I’ve seen less blatant character-naming in 1950’s flicks, which is what that seemed to come out of. > [@](#): > > I -still- can’t remember the bunny racing game. o.o And crafting was lame, but if you had a [FAQ](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuideDangIt) it was pretty painless. You get to Gemity, and in order to get the best stuff for the best crafting people, you need to get and item or two only aquirable by Bunny Racing. Bunny Racing explicitly tells you it doesn’t matter what bunny you pick, and there is nothing you can do to change the odds, and you win a tiny amount if you win at all… for all of its long… long, long, long… long, long, tedious… bunny racing sequence. I sat there for almost five minutes one time, waiting for the bunnies to finish. And then won nothing. Then I thought, Why am doing this? They invented a minigame with less interactivity than flipping coins, which takes oodles of time, and is required if I want to do what I want to do. No, I thought. No, I am not going to play by your arbitrary and incredibly stupid laws. I can beat the crap out of anyone, and I don’t have an autofire controller to cheat the races with. I am quitting. You suck. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-ocean-the-last-hope/487326/12 "2009-02-25T23:30:02Z")
so…uh… anyone play Star Ocean: The Last Hope yet…?