So do you have any memories of Star Ocean: The Last Hope? How do you think it ranks in terms of the rest of the series? Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through RUclips membership by clicking the JOIN button above!
i think it ranks low with all the under aged children stuff the game has in it, and the hyper sexualization of the female characters. and edges low i.q. but thats just me XD
I know it's controversial, but this is my favorite of the series. It's cheesy as hell and has some gameplay issues (like the complete lack of fast travel options) but it's one of the only games I've ever played that *really* gave me the feeling of being a captain in a Star Trek style galaxy. I'd say it does a better job of that than most actual Star Trek games!
Star Oceans 3 and 4 are easily in my top 10 games of all time, purely for their incredible gameplay. It boggles my mind to this day how The Last Hope is considered to be a bad entry to the series.
Finally going through last hope for the first time and towards end of game, really enjoying it. I think the hate it gets is overblown and the combat is great.
I’ll be honest, this game was my least favorite. I didn’t hate it. In fact the gameplay, universe, and story is still just amazing and breathtaking. But the Main Character Edge went from being an awesome badass to a whiny child. Now to be fair I know it was necessary for Edge’s character development but it took forever and it dragged on to the point where I couldn’t take him anymore. He does grow into a stoic and wise hero but by that time it was too late. Fortunately that is one gripe I have with the SO4. The game is still awesome to play. I love replaying these games over and over.😎👍
My favorite part was where you go to the alternate earth and the military group that captures you ends up annihilating the entire planet out of greed by stealing and messing with your ships warp drive iirc, something they have zero idea how it works but of course, mess with it anyway. Maverick blames himself for it when it’s not really his fault.
I don’t know this was not mentioned, but The Last Hope remaster is also available on PS4/PS5, and also runs extremely well. Not to mention that with the addition of Second Story R, Playstation is the only way to be able to play the whole series, with all the other games currently available there
Tried PS4 version on PS5 but it has frame drops sadly. But on PC I finish the game without a single framedrop at 4k60fps everything maxed with r5600x and rtx 3070. After all bad ports with stuttering and bad optimization I really like Steam version of the game. Also didn't understand why this game is hated so much, I didn't check reviews before complete the game since I always check them after finishing the games, I'm surprised to see how much this title gets hate.
One of my favorites in the Star Ocean series! I had a lot of fun with this game! Also, Laura Bailey did fantastically as Reimi Sainoji in this game! Laura Bailey is one of my favorite VA’s!
Just started playing Star Ocean First Departure as Roddick and Star Ocean Divine Force as Raymond and both games are awesome. Only complaint i have with Divine Force is the AP is a hindrance but the story, using Duma is a blast. I will have to play The Last Hope after i beat First Departure R and Divine Force it looks hella fun.
I'm really happy that you weren't super negative about this game like everyone else, because when you get passed the small things that others can't there's a really good game here.
The battle mechanics carried me through the game, the thing that let you dodge enemy attack at the last moment amd wail on them never got old. I played with the Japanese Language on.
I rather liked this one. I always find it incredibly exciting when they touch on the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact and then it ends up going sideways xD Combat was solid too, Lymle can burn though 😂
I think my biggest issue with this game was simply tropes. I havent played 1, but 2 and 3 were quite Science Fiction on a core level. 4 felt like it gave up trying to be a sci-fi story and settled for being a dime a dozen JRPG with a Scifi aesthetic. Xenoblade X has been the only real JRPG to scratch my science fiction itch in any recent history.
Think the only thing I don't like about it is how later enemies sort of cheat through your blindside opportunities by just hitting you anyway (for the successful dodges mind you, not the ones that you'll get if the exclamation mark is still red) while your still in the animation of going around them. I get that there probably needed to be something to challenge it but I wish they had gone about it in a different way.
@megasoniczxx so you had to pay attention to the attack animations. Edge and Meracle were notorious for getting caught in the swing of some if the enemies but aramat and reimi due to how their dodges worked would avoid it altogether. And poor Bacchus just was screwed with how slow his was
I loved the planet-hopping aspect so much that it really set a standard for me for the rest of the series, only for the majority of them to take place in one planet in their respective games...
Star Ocean 4 is kind of my guilty pleasure game, but its the combat system that carries the game imo. Story is.....a bit too tropey in places and not in a good way imo. Basically you got the childhood friend, cat girl, the kid, busty elf lady, brainy bruiser, ditzy girl in glasses, the edgelord, the hero, and the guy trying to live up to his hero. One of my buddies described it best, generic anime, which I didn't realize how on the nose he was until I put it on the Japanese VAs. Star Ocean 4 could have been the best if the story was written better in general. There is a reason why 4 is probably the most divisive game in the series, you either like the story or you hate it. Also the Wandering Dungeon can basically go eff itself with how stupidly designed it was. 20 RNG Floors with no save points anywhere and a bad combination of floors or bad drops can set you back hours. You're taking 3 hours at least to finish it and that is if you're lucky, i've seen it take 5 or 6 hours.
You say The Last Hope is one of the best RPGs for the 360 & PS3 because the seventh gen of consoles was the low point of RPGs and there were relatively slim pickings. It was only by 2017 we live in the Renaissance RPGs we are now. But real talk: this was the very first SO game me & my brothers got. As a kid, I thought it was good. But as an adult, it's very middling. Either 4th or 5th place for me.
Sega Saturn is a pretty cool system, but you really didn't miss much when it first came out. My cousin got one for his birthday and we were SUPER hyped. Then after we got bored of Virtua Figher and Virtua Cop we tried finding games to rent, but rental places only carried the same handful of games (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 or MK Trilogy, Die Hard Arcade, some racing games and few others...) A lot of the best games were either fairly uncommon/unknown at the time, came out later in the Saturn's short life, or didn't even get released in America. My cousin ended up selling his Saturn to buy a PS1 and we had a lot more fun with that, it wasn't until many years later that I even realized how many more games existed for Sega Saturn. Shining Force 3 is a really cool tactical JRPG I would have loved back then when I was playing Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya on Game Gear.
I played this initially on the PS3, and then replayed it last year on the PS4. I’m very grateful for the Japanese language inclusion. It’s my favorite of the Star Ocean series, though I haven’t played the most recent entry yet. I really enjoyed the combat system, the graphics, and the music. I wish the post-game content weren’t so grindy, and I really wish Tri-Ace would hire a really writer. They have some good ideas, but dialog, execution, and story cohesion could be so much better.
this game was the reason i bought a 360 in 2009. until then i still played the game cube. only in 2011 i bought a ps3 when it was on sale and the 120GB harddrive on my 360 was full :D
A really great remaster of Star Ocean: The Second Story is also available on Steam. I wish Square Enix made a habit of putting that amount of love and care into their other Steam remasters. As for 1, 3, and 5, you can emulate them. I recently found out 5 had a PS3 release in Japan and there's a fan translated version you can run on RPCS3, but it requires just the right settings to run, and even then, it'll just be fine, not great. But, you CAN get all six of them on PC, and I did. Playing First Departure on a PSP emulator RN.
It was ok. I played the 2 and 3 and felt this one was polished enough but didn’t keep my interest. I’m looking forward to replaying 2 hd remake. Thanks for reviewing this series
Meracle. Need I say more? Her funny antics are reason enough to play this game. I played 2nd story when it dropped on PS1 & often considered it the best of the series. After replaying them I think this is the pinnacle of Star Ocean games & my personal favorite. There's no excuse for there not being a port of 2nd Story on modern consoles in the West. It's funny how First Departure is easy to come by, but maybe they're making up for it not even getting a release here in the 90s.
Is Meracle the 'kay girl? I'm amazed that anyone liked her. As soon as she started talking, I was hoping "please don't be my next party member. please don't be my next party member" lol She is freaking annoying, personally
I loved to use the blindsigh Feature. Because if the 100% crit Feature. With that you could grind the bonus xp from the bonus Board so easy. levling was never an Problem. Also the hd remaster is on PS-Plus available . So evebody with an plus Account can get ut fir free.
Honestly wish I could've stuck with this one. The section early on with the snowy planet was like it ground to an absolute halt, and then the Earth-based section everything started to feel just totally untethered. I know "too absurd" is a weird complaint for Star Ocean, but there it is. I don't even mind Edge, and Reimi is great. Combat feels pretty good but those dungeons DRAG.
Xygor Friday! It's a good day when uploads hit! Last hope was one of those RPGs from Square that really drew attention to the bon flagship franchises of Square Enix. It's also one that helped me introduce and share memories with tons of friends as the plot unfolded. All around great game, and I highly suggest it!
My first Star Ocean, I sold my Xbox before I could finish it, but I bought the remaster so it's in my backlog. It is my favorite game in the series, because it was my first one, the many different planets, and like you said that it had more sci-fi elements tha the other games.
I originally purchased the last hope on xbox 360 when it came out. I got as far as recruiting Faize before i stopped playing ( yes i got a huge way through the game 😅) i recently downloaded it on PS5 and have been really enjoying it. I just attempted the final boss and ran out of items which lead to a game over 🤣🤣 time to grind. This game is much much better than i was expecting. That said Star Ocean 2 will still be my favourite
This and faithfulness I barely played. Didn’t like the story and most characters. Divine force, till the end of time were enjoyable. Now playing the second story remake and man thats a masterpiece. Best in the series is second story according to many fans
The last Hope is a masterpiece. The "hate" It got back then Is completely unjustified. The last Hope and Till the end of Time are easily the 2 best Star Ocean games and easily 2 of the best rpg with that active combat style.
Even runs fine with a old potato pc , gt 730 , 4gb ram and atlon x 3 3,2ghz at 720p medium settings and the game runs at 60 all the time , (pc is 2010)
It had a really epic space battle which got me a lil emotional but after beating the game I thought this was the worst story and voice acting of all time. (Probably not) but yea
I always wanted to play this game but i lost track of it years ago, I played Star Ocean until the 3rd one, I'll look it up on steam when i get the chance
huh? weird for most of my life the consensus about SO 4 is that is very mid. Not the worst but not the best either, kind of weird someone actually praising it.
It's hard to choose between Star Ocean 2, 3 and 4 for me. It's like they listened to feedback and fixed everything wrong with the previous title. I even bought the PSP "Evolution" remakes of the first two games and at this point was one of my favorite JRPG franchises. Sadly, that all went to shit when Star Ocean 5 dropped. I absolutely hated it. I haven't played 6 yet, but I'm sure I will, eventually. But the excitement for the new game is gone, ngl
I tried to get through this game twice, honest attempts. But oh my lord. I could not handle the protagonist's crying, shouting and legit temper tantrums. I wanted to throw him off the ship and finish the game without him. I just couldn't bear it and ended up quitting each time around when you get the big pink bunnies (bleh). And that " 'kay? " girl ... what the hell were they thinking? Why do we always have to have a character or two with nonsense speach habbits? The combat was fun. I really really really wanted to like this game, but the writing is awful. Maybe if it wasn't voice acted it would have been ok. I swear, voiced dialog is the worst thing to happen to jRPGs. Maybe I'll try this game again. It's refreshing to see that others enjoyed it.
What i found hilarious is how everyone switched up after star ocean 5. Like everyone shat on the last hooe for years but the moment 5 dripped everyone suddenly started singing 4's praises
That applies to so many games it's not even funny. Everybody hates the newest entry in every fighting game Franchise until the next one comes out. And don't forget sonic unleashed actually got lower Review scores then Sonic 06.
This is the first Star Ocean game i played and to this day the only one I've ever bought. A friend bought me one of the newer games a couple of years ago and i just could not play it. It sucked so bad. I loved the combat and exploration in Last Hope but boy do i ever hate the characters and voice acting. I'd be so happy playing the game and then a cutscene would play and I would just want to burn my xbox with the disc inside it. The cringe dialogue made it bad but the voice acting, especially for the little girl, made me want to die. I love anime and can deal with most bad anime tropes but the level of pain this story dished out in the form of the worst of the worst tropes just made me not want to play it at all.
Much better than the divine force which i literally just completed. The story is unraveled in a more compelling way, especially when you were playing alongside the final boss the whole time. Graphics and gameplay on the ps3 way more stable and better than the divine force on a ps4. Even tho the temper tantrum Edge threw made me want to vomit it isnt far from the truth of what a child would do and how they would react when in error so i got over it. The worlds, tho sparse, were pretty good, straight forward. I feel TLH needed more time like on Lemurus there was a bridge the elder burned down. I felt that was going to be more content that was cut for the sake of deadline and budget. Divine force really didnt have a major plot twist other than duma and scorpium potentially being the enemy then showing that it was a breakaway faction. That did not matter. What hurt this title was how lazy the story felt. Like, things happened, made sense kinda cool but meh. You know the gregory and the main entity on the other side of nox was a real bad guy. It was developed real well especially when the full atk nox took place, Faiz manifesting the Dragon and then Crow sacrificing himself to beat the Dragon. It was really well done. I see lotta ppl saying the divine force is the best in the series, i wonder if they even played the second story. I remember just repeatedly going all the way down to the bottom of the cave of trials to where i beat the iseria wishing she was still there. Just reminiscing on the battle that took place there. Or fighting the final boss with the music and the sounds the boss made gave the feeling of dread esp since they destroyed Clauds fathers ship. Divine force now is just a watered down version of these. Lola, and the two meat heads with her with their sob story, even Boldor, it didnt cut it. But i am glad tho ppl do enjoy the divine force and i hope it gives them a good budget for the next installment.
I played this one the Xbox, i think i abused the battle system too much, the last boss before the final dungeon took forever and then when i fought the first random enemy i could NOT defeat them, also there was no where to grind, so i never finished it😮
I don't think I got more than 3 or 4 hours into this game. I just found the story to be unengaging and the dungeons never-ending with one random encounter after another. I just gave up.
OMG it was in the backlog for a while but I finally checked it out the other day.. Im not very familiar with the series tbh It comes off as a Tales like with heavy emphasis on the sci fi genre.. Although i slightly prefer fantasy/medieval this is the next best thing.. I just gotta figure out how I died on the first boss hahaha That usually doesn’t ever happen to me..
I wasn't a big fan of the noisy texture for the environment and the silicone doll looking graphics for the character models, the visuals of this game really put me off from the get go, shame because I never really got a chance to get into the gameplay. The game is just sitting there on my game shelf, I always tell myself I'd get back to it, but then I never do.
Yes combat is great but one fight the god damn beach fight is the most annoying battle ever I mean woah it is just a huge smack down if you under leveled and the chaining machine gun fire mixed with the spread machine gun fire is a game quitting battle
In another note i am glad you didnt play the x360 version too much , i mean i have that game and runs great and all but have a big issue , the second disc and the third disc have a chance to freeze in any point of the adventure, dungeon , battle not cinematic at least , is just freeze and the only way is reset the xbox , it was frustrating because dungeons are loong and the save point arr very far , the last dungeon i love it but man i was crossing the finger always for not get a freeze , even you can get a freeze in the final fight , and yes i check was not my xbox fault , is the game . The dub of this is bad but i am not a native english so didnt carr too much , but i sad there no jap dub for the xbox360 i guess for the size of the game , the story is fine i like the plot and the characters too , music is weird for me but i like it , grapich i read a lot of people hate the visual of this game and i dont get it for me i was great love the entire visual od the game and a lot is just in game cinematic , impresive engine , love the particle effect and the smooth 60 fps in combat , this was is near perfection for me , and neever gonna undertood why a lot of people didnt like , a lot people say the dub is cringe and all of that , but meh is a jrpg all are cringe lmao , and i a fanatic of this genre , good game 9.5/10 to me
I didn't know about the Xbox 360 freezing issues, that must have been ridiculously frustrating. Thanks for all your thoughts on the game otherwise as well!
I love your content, but the battle footage you used for this video and SO: Til the End of Time is kind of weak. Star Ocean games are all about the ABILITIES, yet you hardly ever showcase them and how they enhance the experience. All Faize did the entire video was his basic attack, over and over and over and over.
The 1st 4 Star Oceans are excellent. Especially 2, 3 and 4. 3 of my all time favourites. 5 and 6 were very disappointing to me though. People seem to like 6 better but i think it sucks just as bad probably.
Right now, she's in the old Damian personality which is absolutely grating and unlikable. So if that's the case, she might get written better as time goes on. If she doesn't, she's going into the Poochie category with an annoying shallow dud like Punchline and other forced 'modern' characters. I don't know, I'm getting a haughty valley girl tone from Trinity's dialogue in this intro.
@@Xygor I think I agree too. Though I didn't even make it trough the first part of the game. I miss talking to random npcs, the areas look blander than in the other games and I'm already sick of the minigame, but I like the callbacks to older entries with the figurines.
Great mechnics, fun story but the characters killed this game for me. Lymle, Sarah and Meracle were just so annoying I couldn't take them seriously, they dragged the whole thing down
never played a star ocean game, a good RPG isn't about mindless battles however. the story, ,characters and out of battle stuff as just as if not more important. sadly this video didn't concey much of that at all. are there no towns to visit and interact with the people there?
There are towns as for world maps...I can think of less than 10 games since the HD era started that have world maps. Arc Rise Fantasia, Ni No Kuni 1 and 2,Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Hearts R and Tales of Innocence R...did I miss any?
lol notice how this reviewer doesnt talk about the pedo stuff thats in the game. or how edge has the i.q of a potato and kills billions of people. or how everyone agrees this game was the worst of the whole entire series XD funny how he forgot all that important stuff.
My all time favorite game. I enjoy the kitsch English voices. I've gone and picked up all regional copies of this from around the world, including press review copies, and the Square Enix Produced Pachinko Machine from 2018. That thing is amazing. ruclips.net/user/shortsqqOXYxay-Jk
So do you have any memories of Star Ocean: The Last Hope? How do you think it ranks in terms of the rest of the series?
Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through RUclips membership by clicking the JOIN button above!
i think it ranks low with all the under aged children stuff the game has in it, and the hyper sexualization of the female characters. and edges low i.q. but thats just me XD
I know it's controversial, but this is my favorite of the series. It's cheesy as hell and has some gameplay issues (like the complete lack of fast travel options) but it's one of the only games I've ever played that *really* gave me the feeling of being a captain in a Star Trek style galaxy. I'd say it does a better job of that than most actual Star Trek games!
Thanks for the daring take on it!
'Kay.
i think it took a lot of inspiration from mass effect, and i loved it
Was ok. Star Ocean 2 was best
@solidwisdom8749 it a was 'Kay.
The 4k HD Remaster is also on PS4(playable on PS5). It also goes on sale regularly on PSN like on steam
Didn't realize it was also on PS4/PS5!
Star Oceans 3 and 4 are easily in my top 10 games of all time, purely for their incredible gameplay. It boggles my mind to this day how The Last Hope is considered to be a bad entry to the series.
They not all that great but good
Finally going through last hope for the first time and towards end of game, really enjoying it. I think the hate it gets is overblown and the combat is great.
I’ll be honest, this game was my least favorite. I didn’t hate it. In fact the gameplay, universe, and story is still just amazing and breathtaking. But the Main Character Edge went from being an awesome badass to a whiny child. Now to be fair I know it was necessary for Edge’s character development but it took forever and it dragged on to the point where I couldn’t take him anymore. He does grow into a stoic and wise hero but by that time it was too late. Fortunately that is one gripe I have with the SO4. The game is still awesome to play. I love replaying these games over and over.😎👍
My favorite part was where you go to the alternate earth and the military group that captures you ends up annihilating the entire planet out of greed by stealing and messing with your ships warp drive iirc, something they have zero idea how it works but of course, mess with it anyway.
Maverick blames himself for it when it’s not really his fault.
I don’t know this was not mentioned, but The Last Hope remaster is also available on PS4/PS5, and also runs extremely well. Not to mention that with the addition of Second Story R, Playstation is the only way to be able to play the whole series, with all the other games currently available there
I didn't realize it when I recorded this...thanks for letting me know!
Unfortunately the pc version has serious issues I haven't been able to fix
They're all included now if you have ps+ as well. Except the Second Story remake
Tried PS4 version on PS5 but it has frame drops sadly.
But on PC I finish the game without a single framedrop at 4k60fps everything maxed with r5600x and rtx 3070.
After all bad ports with stuttering and bad optimization I really like Steam version of the game. Also didn't understand why this game is hated so much, I didn't check reviews before complete the game since I always check them after finishing the games, I'm surprised to see how much this title gets hate.
One of my favorites in the Star Ocean series! I had a lot of fun with this game! Also, Laura Bailey did fantastically as Reimi Sainoji in this game! Laura Bailey is one of my favorite VA’s!
Glad you liked it, thanks for sharing your memories from it!
@@Xygor: Happy to do so
Thank you! Very informative. Was thinking to dive in this series which i never did… And i heard this is the first game to start .. And now i will
Glad you liked it, give it a try!
Just started playing Star Ocean First Departure as Roddick and Star Ocean Divine Force as Raymond and both games are awesome. Only complaint i have with Divine Force is the AP is a hindrance but the story, using Duma is a blast. I will have to play The Last Hope after i beat First Departure R and Divine Force it looks hella fun.
I'm really happy that you weren't super negative about this game like everyone else, because when you get passed the small things that others can't there's a really good game here.
The battle mechanics carried me through the game, the thing that let you dodge enemy attack at the last moment amd wail on them never got old. I played with the Japanese Language on.
The Japanese audio with English subtitles is probably a good way to play!
I rather liked this one. I always find it incredibly exciting when they touch on the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact and then it ends up going sideways xD
Combat was solid too, Lymle can burn though 😂
Glad you enjoyed it!
I think my biggest issue with this game was simply tropes. I havent played 1, but 2 and 3 were quite Science Fiction on a core level. 4 felt like it gave up trying to be a sci-fi story and settled for being a dime a dozen JRPG with a Scifi aesthetic.
Xenoblade X has been the only real JRPG to scratch my science fiction itch in any recent history.
XENOBLADE X MENTIONED
I fee like SO4 is what star ocean could be, blending the syfi and fantasy elements the best in the franchise.
Right on! That's how I think of it, anyway.
Watched this while installing the game. Not quite as excited as Star Ocean: Till the End of Time though... because there's no "Lady Nel".
The combat is just the real star of this game , what absolute masterpiece of combat best in the series
I really liked the combat in it too!
Think the only thing I don't like about it is how later enemies sort of cheat through your blindside opportunities by just hitting you anyway (for the successful dodges mind you, not the ones that you'll get if the exclamation mark is still red) while your still in the animation of going around them. I get that there probably needed to be something to challenge it but I wish they had gone about it in a different way.
Yes last hope definitely has the best combat!
@megasoniczxx so you had to pay attention to the attack animations. Edge and Meracle were notorious for getting caught in the swing of some if the enemies but aramat and reimi due to how their dodges worked would avoid it altogether. And poor Bacchus just was screwed with how slow his was
Absolutely my favorite in the entire series.
Glad you like this one!
Second story is the GOAT
I like the original best!
I loved the planet-hopping aspect so much that it really set a standard for me for the rest of the series, only for the majority of them to take place in one planet in their respective games...
I LOVE this game and once I got Bacchus' Termination it was bonus board exploit the rest of the adventure!
Bacchus was such a fun character!
Was my first entry to the series, and obviously my personal favourite, have like 2000 Hours lol, cool to see a newer video being made about it still.
Star Ocean 4 is kind of my guilty pleasure game, but its the combat system that carries the game imo. Story is.....a bit too tropey in places and not in a good way imo. Basically you got the childhood friend, cat girl, the kid, busty elf lady, brainy bruiser, ditzy girl in glasses, the edgelord, the hero, and the guy trying to live up to his hero. One of my buddies described it best, generic anime, which I didn't realize how on the nose he was until I put it on the Japanese VAs. Star Ocean 4 could have been the best if the story was written better in general. There is a reason why 4 is probably the most divisive game in the series, you either like the story or you hate it.
Also the Wandering Dungeon can basically go eff itself with how stupidly designed it was. 20 RNG Floors with no save points anywhere and a bad combination of floors or bad drops can set you back hours. You're taking 3 hours at least to finish it and that is if you're lucky, i've seen it take 5 or 6 hours.
You say The Last Hope is one of the best RPGs for the 360 & PS3 because the seventh gen of consoles was the low point of RPGs and there were relatively slim pickings. It was only by 2017 we live in the Renaissance RPGs we are now. But real talk: this was the very first SO game me & my brothers got. As a kid, I thought it was good. But as an adult, it's very middling. Either 4th or 5th place for me.
Fair enough, thanks for your thoughts on it!
Sega Saturn is a pretty cool system, but you really didn't miss much when it first came out. My cousin got one for his birthday and we were SUPER hyped. Then after we got bored of Virtua Figher and Virtua Cop we tried finding games to rent, but rental places only carried the same handful of games (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 or MK Trilogy, Die Hard Arcade, some racing games and few others...) A lot of the best games were either fairly uncommon/unknown at the time, came out later in the Saturn's short life, or didn't even get released in America. My cousin ended up selling his Saturn to buy a PS1 and we had a lot more fun with that, it wasn't until many years later that I even realized how many more games existed for Sega Saturn. Shining Force 3 is a really cool tactical JRPG I would have loved back then when I was playing Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya on Game Gear.
Out of 3 4 and 5 this is my favorite Star Ocean by far. Going to different planets was great.
I played this initially on the PS3, and then replayed it last year on the PS4. I’m very grateful for the Japanese language inclusion. It’s my favorite of the Star Ocean series, though I haven’t played the most recent entry yet. I really enjoyed the combat system, the graphics, and the music. I wish the post-game content weren’t so grindy, and I really wish Tri-Ace would hire a really writer. They have some good ideas, but dialog, execution, and story cohesion could be so much better.
this game was the reason i bought a 360 in 2009. until then i still played the game cube. only in 2011 i bought a ps3 when it was on sale and the 120GB harddrive on my 360 was full :D
I almost bought the Xbox 360 for it!
A really great remaster of Star Ocean: The Second Story is also available on Steam. I wish Square Enix made a habit of putting that amount of love and care into their other Steam remasters.
As for 1, 3, and 5, you can emulate them. I recently found out 5 had a PS3 release in Japan and there's a fan translated version you can run on RPCS3, but it requires just the right settings to run, and even then, it'll just be fine, not great. But, you CAN get all six of them on PC, and I did. Playing First Departure on a PSP emulator RN.
It was ok. I played the 2 and 3 and felt this one was polished enough but didn’t keep my interest.
I’m looking forward to replaying 2 hd remake.
Thanks for reviewing this series
Meracle. Need I say more? Her funny antics are reason enough to play this game. I played 2nd story when it dropped on PS1 & often considered it the best of the series. After replaying them I think this is the pinnacle of Star Ocean games & my personal favorite. There's no excuse for there not being a port of 2nd Story on modern consoles in the West. It's funny how First Departure is easy to come by, but maybe they're making up for it not even getting a release here in the 90s.
Is Meracle the 'kay girl? I'm amazed that anyone liked her. As soon as she started talking, I was hoping "please don't be my next party member. please don't be my next party member" lol She is freaking annoying, personally
Hell naw, Meracle was the cat girl they found stowed away who thought Serah was 'chicken' because of her angel wings & was obsessed with eating her xD
@@underworlddreams9511 Oh phew! Go get em tiger
I loved to use the blindsigh Feature. Because if the 100% crit Feature. With that you could grind the bonus xp from the bonus Board so easy. levling was never an Problem.
Also the hd remaster is on PS-Plus available . So evebody with an plus Account can get ut fir free.
Honestly wish I could've stuck with this one. The section early on with the snowy planet was like it ground to an absolute halt, and then the Earth-based section everything started to feel just totally untethered. I know "too absurd" is a weird complaint for Star Ocean, but there it is. I don't even mind Edge, and Reimi is great. Combat feels pretty good but those dungeons DRAG.
Thanks for your thoughts on it - that's a good point about the dungeons.
So do you have any memories of Star Ocean: The Last Hope? How do you think it ranks in terms of the rest of the series?
Nappy time with Edgy
Xygor Friday! It's a good day when uploads hit! Last hope was one of those RPGs from Square that really drew attention to the bon flagship franchises of Square Enix. It's also one that helped me introduce and share memories with tons of friends as the plot unfolded. All around great game, and I highly suggest it!
Thanks, glad you look forward to Fridays foir this reason! Many more to come!
"My favorite was Phaze".... oh boy.
I want to play it again, but when I want to play on my current device (windows 11), it says Aska Initiation Failed.
Does anyone know the solution?
My first Star Ocean, I sold my Xbox before I could finish it, but I bought the remaster so it's in my backlog. It is my favorite game in the series, because it was my first one, the many different planets, and like you said that it had more sci-fi elements tha the other games.
Great, glad you liked it so much that it's your favorite in the series!
@@Xygor Might change Star Ocean The Second Story R, the only one I never tried.
Thanks for the video and pointing out the possibility of picking it up at a discount from Steam, especially now the Steam Sale is ongoing 👍
No problem! Summer Steam sales are awesome!
What’s the name of the game near the beginning with the tanks and grenades? It reminds me of an arcade game called mercs
Shock Troopers
@@SongokuJidai thank you very much
I originally purchased the last hope on xbox 360 when it came out. I got as far as recruiting Faize before i stopped playing ( yes i got a huge way through the game 😅) i recently downloaded it on PS5 and have been really enjoying it. I just attempted the final boss and ran out of items which lead to a game over 🤣🤣 time to grind. This game is much much better than i was expecting. That said Star Ocean 2 will still be my favourite
This and faithfulness I barely played. Didn’t like the story and most characters. Divine force, till the end of time were enjoyable. Now playing the second story remake and man thats a masterpiece. Best in the series is second story according to many fans
Entomology need Faize in fight to get special drop? or leave him at Reserve member slot still get special drop?
The last Hope is a masterpiece. The "hate" It got back then Is completely unjustified. The last Hope and Till the end of Time are easily the 2 best Star Ocean games and easily 2 of the best rpg with that active combat style.
for steam deck player..even this star ocean game not steam deck verified,but this game run smoothly on steam deck 60 fps
Excellent! Same with the GPD Win 4!
Even runs fine with a old potato pc , gt 730 , 4gb ram and atlon x 3 3,2ghz at 720p medium settings and the game runs at 60 all the time , (pc is 2010)
Fantastic review, it was exactly what I was looking for. Informative, fun to listen to, great to watch and it made me buy the game. Thank you!
In my top 5 games of all time. I'm one day hoping for the perfect scifi jrpg and this is damn near close.
Glad you like it so much!
Congratulations
It had a really epic space battle which got me a lil emotional but after beating the game I thought this was the worst story and voice acting of all time. (Probably not) but yea
I always wanted to play this game but i lost track of it years ago, I played Star Ocean until the 3rd one, I'll look it up on steam when i get the chance
I cant remap buttons and my controller wont work most the time with the steam version, did you have this issue? Any work around?
C'mon guys. Let's demand a new remake of the remake.
THERE ARE DOZENS OF US! DOZENS!!!
I owned this on ps3 and loved it. Glad it was on steam for 5 dollars. Bought it and played it like old times. Glad I did not have to boot up my ps3.
huh? weird for most of my life the consensus about SO 4 is that is very mid.
Not the worst but not the best either, kind of weird someone actually praising it.
Edge Maverick?! Hahahahaha never change jrpg protagonist names, never change 😂
Exactly!
Such a great game! I am calling it a spiritual successor to FF7 !! So many great design elements that keep unfolding all the way through the game.
where are you playing this while doing a review? ps4 or ps5?
Steam remastered version
weirdly youtube unsubbed me from your channel, just resubscribed again.
Thank you!
Just played this today for the first time its amazing
Yeah, it's pretty solid! Hope you like it the whole way through.
@@Xygor yeah I'm really liking it hopefully I will complete it, I'm going to enjoy every moment
It's hard to choose between Star Ocean 2, 3 and 4 for me. It's like they listened to feedback and fixed everything wrong with the previous title. I even bought the PSP "Evolution" remakes of the first two games and at this point was one of my favorite JRPG franchises. Sadly, that all went to shit when Star Ocean 5 dropped. I absolutely hated it. I haven't played 6 yet, but I'm sure I will, eventually. But the excitement for the new game is gone, ngl
Fair enough, I haven’t yet played 5 or 6, but I love the old ones!
Once i switched the audio from english to Japanese. The cutscenes were more enjoyable. I can’t do JRPGs in English dubbed.
I tried to get through this game twice, honest attempts. But oh my lord. I could not handle the protagonist's crying, shouting and legit temper tantrums. I wanted to throw him off the ship and finish the game without him. I just couldn't bear it and ended up quitting each time around when you get the big pink bunnies (bleh).
And that " 'kay? " girl ... what the hell were they thinking? Why do we always have to have a character or two with nonsense speach habbits?
The combat was fun. I really really really wanted to like this game, but the writing is awful. Maybe if it wasn't voice acted it would have been ok. I swear, voiced dialog is the worst thing to happen to jRPGs.
Maybe I'll try this game again. It's refreshing to see that others enjoyed it.
What i found hilarious is how everyone switched up after star ocean 5.
Like everyone shat on the last hooe for years but the moment 5 dripped everyone suddenly started singing 4's praises
That applies to so many games it's not even funny. Everybody hates the newest entry in every fighting game Franchise until the next one comes out. And don't forget sonic unleashed actually got lower Review scores then Sonic 06.
The last hope is still a shit game even though it's better than 5
This is the first Star Ocean game i played and to this day the only one I've ever bought. A friend bought me one of the newer games a couple of years ago and i just could not play it. It sucked so bad. I loved the combat and exploration in Last Hope but boy do i ever hate the characters and voice acting. I'd be so happy playing the game and then a cutscene would play and I would just want to burn my xbox with the disc inside it. The cringe dialogue made it bad but the voice acting, especially for the little girl, made me want to die. I love anime and can deal with most bad anime tropes but the level of pain this story dished out in the form of the worst of the worst tropes just made me not want to play it at all.
Much better than the divine force which i literally just completed. The story is unraveled in a more compelling way, especially when you were playing alongside the final boss the whole time. Graphics and gameplay on the ps3 way more stable and better than the divine force on a ps4. Even tho the temper tantrum Edge threw made me want to vomit it isnt far from the truth of what a child would do and how they would react when in error so i got over it. The worlds, tho sparse, were pretty good, straight forward. I feel TLH needed more time like on Lemurus there was a bridge the elder burned down. I felt that was going to be more content that was cut for the sake of deadline and budget. Divine force really didnt have a major plot twist other than duma and scorpium potentially being the enemy then showing that it was a breakaway faction. That did not matter. What hurt this title was how lazy the story felt. Like, things happened, made sense kinda cool but meh. You know the gregory and the main entity on the other side of nox was a real bad guy. It was developed real well especially when the full atk nox took place, Faiz manifesting the Dragon and then Crow sacrificing himself to beat the Dragon. It was really well done. I see lotta ppl saying the divine force is the best in the series, i wonder if they even played the second story. I remember just repeatedly going all the way down to the bottom of the cave of trials to where i beat the iseria wishing she was still there. Just reminiscing on the battle that took place there. Or fighting the final boss with the music and the sounds the boss made gave the feeling of dread esp since they destroyed Clauds fathers ship. Divine force now is just a watered down version of these. Lola, and the two meat heads with her with their sob story, even Boldor, it didnt cut it. But i am glad tho ppl do enjoy the divine force and i hope it gives them a good budget for the next installment.
I agree that it's way better than Divine Force!
geez both dragon force and albert odyssey. that was my child hood
I played this one the Xbox, i think i abused the battle system too much, the last boss before the final dungeon took forever and then when i fought the first random enemy i could NOT defeat them, also there was no where to grind, so i never finished it😮
I don't think I got more than 3 or 4 hours into this game. I just found the story to be unengaging and the dungeons never-ending with one random encounter after another. I just gave up.
OMG it was in the backlog for a while but I finally checked it out the other day.. Im not very familiar with the series tbh It comes off as a Tales like with heavy emphasis on the sci fi genre.. Although i slightly prefer fantasy/medieval this is the next best thing.. I just gotta figure out how I died on the first boss hahaha That usually doesn’t ever happen to me..
Glad you’ve given it a try!
I LOVE the bold character design of the lads.
Link follows this tradition, though his face is not as feminine as his body.
I really wanted to like this game, but the English dub is awful. Lymle's voice actor makes me want to gouge my eardrums out with a spoon.
I appreciate your thoughts regardless! Thanks for watching.
I wasn't a big fan of the noisy texture for the environment and the silicone doll looking graphics for the character models, the visuals of this game really put me off from the get go, shame because I never really got a chance to get into the gameplay. The game is just sitting there on my game shelf, I always tell myself I'd get back to it, but then I never do.
Fair enough, thanks for chiming in with your thoughts on it!
I love star ocean and this one is a really good one. But the platinum was a nightmare.
I'll give it this, Last Hope at least used it's Sci-Fi setting......at all.
True!
Yes combat is great but one fight the god damn beach fight is the most annoying battle ever I mean woah it is just a huge smack down if you under leveled and the chaining machine gun fire mixed with the spread machine gun fire is a game quitting battle
So no comment on Lymle here? xD
In another note i am glad you didnt play the x360 version too much , i mean i have that game and runs great and all but have a big issue , the second disc and the third disc have a chance to freeze in any point of the adventure, dungeon , battle not cinematic at least , is just freeze and the only way is reset the xbox , it was frustrating because dungeons are loong and the save point arr very far , the last dungeon i love it but man i was crossing the finger always for not get a freeze , even you can get a freeze in the final fight , and yes i check was not my xbox fault , is the game .
The dub of this is bad but i am not a native english so didnt carr too much , but i sad there no jap dub for the xbox360 i guess for the size of the game , the story is fine i like the plot and the characters too , music is weird for me but i like it , grapich i read a lot of people hate the visual of this game and i dont get it for me i was great love the entire visual od the game and a lot is just in game cinematic , impresive engine , love the particle effect and the smooth 60 fps in combat , this was is near perfection for me , and neever gonna undertood why a lot of people didnt like , a lot people say the dub is cringe and all of that , but meh is a jrpg all are cringe lmao , and i a fanatic of this genre , good game 9.5/10 to me
I didn't know about the Xbox 360 freezing issues, that must have been ridiculously frustrating. Thanks for all your thoughts on the game otherwise as well!
Wanna play this again but in a couple of days FF7 Rebirth arrive and that will be the game that let other games collect dust, later
What the game is most infamous for is it's terribad english dub.
after 3; this was so dissapointing
I agree.
I loved this game.
It was pretty solid, wasn't it?
All star oceans are (haven't played integrity and faithlessness yet though)
I love your content, but the battle footage you used for this video and SO: Til the End of Time is kind of weak. Star Ocean games are all about the ABILITIES, yet you hardly ever showcase them and how they enhance the experience. All Faize did the entire video was his basic attack, over and over and over and over.
The 1st 4 Star Oceans are excellent. Especially 2, 3 and 4. 3 of my all time favourites. 5 and 6 were very disappointing to me though. People seem to like 6 better but i think it sucks just as bad probably.
Thanks for your thoughts! 1 and 2 are my favorites!
@@Xygor i'm Really looking forward to the upcoming remake of 2. It looks really good.
Nappy time kay?
Right now, she's in the old Damian personality which is absolutely grating and unlikable. So if that's the case, she might get written better as time goes on. If she doesn't, she's going into the Poochie category with an annoying shallow dud like Punchline and other forced 'modern' characters. I don't know, I'm getting a haughty valley girl tone from Trinity's dialogue in this intro.
DRAGON ROAR
Right!
This was the last good Star Ocean game. I wish Squeenix would have allowed this franchise to keep thriving.
I think I agree! But I haven't really played The Divine Force yet.
@@Xygor I think I agree too. Though I didn't even make it trough the first part of the game. I miss talking to random npcs, the areas look blander than in the other games and I'm already sick of the minigame, but I like the callbacks to older entries with the figurines.
The last hope was horrible. The protag boy was a gah damn crybaby.
Great mechnics, fun story but the characters killed this game for me. Lymle, Sarah and Meracle were just so annoying I couldn't take them seriously, they dragged the whole thing down
Lymle was for sure especially!
@@Xygor I really wanted to like Sarah, but she was so clueless. I was hoping for another Erys
game that killed star ocean
never played a star ocean game, a good RPG isn't about mindless battles however. the story, ,characters and out of battle stuff as just as if not more important.
sadly this video didn't concey much of that at all. are there no towns to visit and interact with the people there?
Eeeeeeddgeeeeey
Oh yeah!
Yeesh. I can only assume there are no towns or world maps in this game, as none were shown. Just cutscenes and battles. What is this, Xenosaga Ep. 1?!
There are towns as for world maps...I can think of less than 10 games since the HD era started that have world maps.
Arc Rise Fantasia, Ni No Kuni 1 and 2,Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Hearts R and Tales of Innocence R...did I miss any?
@Chelaxim So the game has towns but they weren't shown ever in this 9min video of the game? Damn. Not the best channel, I guess.
Star Ocean 4 is a fun game 'kay?
I thought so too!
lol notice how this reviewer doesnt talk about the pedo stuff thats in the game. or how edge has the i.q of a potato and kills billions of people. or how everyone agrees this game was the worst of the whole entire series XD funny how he forgot all that important stuff.
My all time favorite game. I enjoy the kitsch English voices. I've gone and picked up all regional copies of this from around the world, including press review copies, and the Square Enix Produced Pachinko Machine from 2018. That thing is amazing. ruclips.net/user/shortsqqOXYxay-Jk