Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Japanese language Version)

Well, here's a RPG that actually gets it right this generation. Some gamers have recently been complaining about great RPGs being too linear and prefer the RPGs such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. However, this game has a great combat system that is much deeper than Mass Effect or Dragon Age. It plays almost like an action game comparable to Chaos Legion or Legend of Zelda. The animation is very smooth and convincing. And the story gets points for originality. You see, Mass Effect feels too much like Star Trek. but Star Ocean doesn't feel like Star Trek.

The best thing about this game is that it is not voiced by some geek off the street, unlike some RPGs delivered by another game company.

Buy the game and when it is delivered
repeat after me....SHOCKMASTER!

One of the few rpg that has LOOOONG boss battles. To top the amazing battle system off is the stellar grahpics. Also, with I believe around 900 BTs, it will take a while to finish this game 100%.

Fantastic idea. Newspaper reads:
Humanity Sc&*ws Itself; Looks to the Stars
Unfortunately, even though actually events are interesting everything has a bit too much Star Ocean sparkle. E.g. Bug slaughtered marines look kinda cute...
Also, despite amazing graphics and able voice acting the avatars are lifeless mannequins. No facial expression even in cut scenes is a tad creepy.

As expected a game from tri-Ace, the game graphics is nice. The character model is nicely built. The only problem i found in the game is the camera position, it is a bit too close to the character. Overall the game is great.

This is the first Star Ocean game I tried, and it certainly is fun. Everything about the gameplay itself is pretty good: graphics, music, sound effect, voice acting (Japanese ver.), delivery and development of story, etc. The only thing I don't like so much about this game is the battle trophy and its related achievements. There are I believe a total of 900 different battle trophies you may earn throughout the gameplay, and most of them are very repetitive and tedious (like win a battle with 1HP/2HP/3HP/4HP/5HP left, in which the hard part is not about winning the battle, instead it's about getting exactly 5HP left for the specific character). In order to earn a full achievement list for this game, you'll have to earn every single one of the trophies. So if you are a perfectionist about achievements, be prepared to spend hours of tedious grinding if you decide to add this game to your collection.