Is this game good?

[AVtechNICK]

So, I never played any Star Ocean game before and I heard a lot of... umm... mixed opinions about this game in particular. People praised the combat system a lot but criticized story, characters and their design a lot.

So, is this game "Tales of" kind of solid or "Neptunia" kind of solid?

[askasys]

Absolutely like "Tales of".
The story is criticized because it's sci-fi, and not everyone likes the genre. There is an immense lore on the background, and if you play also the other Star Ocean after this you will it love a lot.
The graphic design of The Last Hope is opinionabile, but it's still enjoyable.

[Metadragon]

Its good. And worth playing. That said its probably the "worst" in the main Star Ocean series. Star Ocean is to Science Fiction as Tales is to Fantasy. though if you want to be technical its more Science Fantasy (yes thats a legit genre and its awesome.)

Its WAY better than Neptunia.

[Davoodinator]

while we are waiting we should all head over to the discord

https://discord.gg/7bMZpKf

[Andar]

This game is great, I'd personally rate it as the second best in the series with the SO:2 being at the top.

The first game has a PSP remake, prior to that it didn't have an official release in the west. It's a so-so game but worth playing if you really get into the series. The third game has ups and downs, it's very slow to start and has a twist mid way through that went down like a bag of hammers with the fanbase. The fifth game is likely the worst in the series overall, much like the first game it's worth playing if you really enjoy the series but average at best and pretty short to boot.

The Last Hope has a bit of a history with some due to the voice acting and one or two plot points, the character designs were disliked by many also. It's worth noting that the games Japanese voice acting is much better than the English, but when the game initially released (on the 360) the option to use subtitles + Japanese audio wasn't available, it was added in the later PS3 release. I'd argue that most people have poor memories of the game due to this, as I doubt many ran out to buy the PS3 version after the 360 port -- and for many the better framerate provided by the Xbox was more important than the superior VA and lack of (highly irritating, the amount that was required with the 360 was unreal) disc swapping.

I will say that out of all the games, The Last Hope easily has the best battle system. It's worth playing the game just for that, I think I spent more hours doing arena fights than I did doing story missions.

[Davoodinator]

Originally posted by Drannth:

This game is great, I'd personally rate it as the second best in the series with the SO:2 being at the top.

The first game has a PSP remake, prior to that it didn't have an official release in the west. It's a so-so game but worth playing if you really get into the series. The third game has ups and downs, it's very slow to start and has a twist mid way through that went down like a bag of hammers with the fanbase. The fifth game is likely the worst in the series overall, much like the first game it's worth playing if you really enjoy the series but average at best and pretty short to boot.

The Last Hope has a bit of a history with some due to the voice acting and one or two plot points, the character designs were disliked by many also. It's worth noting that the game Japanese voice acting is much better than the English, but when the game initially released (on the 360) the option to use subtitles + Japanese audio wasn't available, it was added in the later PS3 release. I'd argue that most people have poor memories of the game due to this, as I doubt many ran out to buy the PS3 version after the 360 port -- and for many the better framerate provided by the Xbox was more important than the superior VA and lack of (highly irritating, the amount that was required with the 360 was unreal) disc swapping.

I will say that out of all the games, The Last Hope easily has the best battle system. It's worth playing the game just for that, I think I spent more hours doing arena fights than I did doing story missions.

the battles really rewarded skill

that ashley (sp?) fight was just the best challenge pre-post-game and great prepper for post game. doing it with diff chars was just awesome.

TL:DR : i agree with the quote regarding SO4

[Saviliana]

Think that SO series is a Sci-Fi version of Tales Of series, with all the Star Trek and Dr.Who stuff in it. And you will get in the right mind.,.

[Charllize]

Best Star Ocean for me. I like every SO, but this one little more:)

[archita]

I love SO 4 for art design of characters ( Reimi ! ) , the visual art of different cultures of worlds, the fascinating time paradox and dilemma of clash of different grades of civilization, the deep human side of Maverick.

the bad thing is not good camera, low quality of quest texts ( not the quests, but the texts not many clear often ) and few savepoints especially in long dungeon sessions.

[LordDeimosIV]

I played back on the Xbox 360. The story is painfully average, borderline boring. The characters were okay, nothing amazing to be honest.The combat is great and it was the only reason I managed to slog through the game.

I did play this after completing Lost Odyssey, The Last Remnant, Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon and Infinite Undiscovery on the 360, all of which were way better than this, with the possible exception of Infinite Undiscovery, so I went into it with high expectations. That might have contributed to my disappointment. Last gen had so many good jrpgs.

[pozertron]

Whoever critisizes the story and praises the 3rd game in the same post, automatically invalidates his/her opinion on the matter. It's just that simple. SO4's story is OK but SO3's story is a slap in the face to all of SO fans.

[Bob]

whatever you do, dont play with the English dub, i tried so hard to play it on the X360 but i simply couldnt continue due to the utter horrendous voice over, anything the game tried to do was just cancelled out by borderline comedic VA.

[E|E]

Originally posted by DeiTy93:

whatever you do, dont play with the English dub, i tried so hard to play it on the X360 but i simply couldnt continue due to the utter horrendous voice over, anything the game tried to do was just cancelled out by borderline comedic VA.

dont be a meanie KAY??????????? the eng VA is amazing KAY?????????? KAY????// KAY????????/

[LordDeimosIV]

Originally posted by Kyle Katarn:

Originally posted by DeiTy93:

whatever you do, dont play with the English dub, i tried so hard to play it on the X360 but i simply couldnt continue due to the utter horrendous voice over, anything the game tried to do was just cancelled out by borderline comedic VA.

dont be a meanie KAY??????????? the eng VA is amazing KAY?????????? KAY????// KAY????????/

Lymle...Her voice and attitude made her doll-face extra creepy. I mean all the characters faces looked like dolls but Lymle just creeped me the hell out lol. Now that i think of it, the English dub probably made the game seem worse than it actually was.

[mroczna_sarna]

You have JP VA as an option, kay? Game is very good, smooth battle system, addictive crafting, I spent over 800 hours on this game before, and I'm gladly spend another 800. Roak in SO4 is awesome.

[Metadragon]

Originally posted by LordDeimosIV:

Last gen had so many good jrpgs.

This gen has a lot of good ones. But it depends on what you mean by generation. Console generations are pretty irrelevant on PC and Steam. It also depends what you mean by RPG. Divinity is an RPG just the same as Final Fantasy XV is or Fallout 4 or Stardew Valley or The Witcher.