"Star Ocean: The Last Hope" is the latest chapter of one of the franchises more traditional RPG from Square-Enix, very successful in Japan under the brand prompted Microsoft to move some strings to ensure uniqueness of the game Xbox 360 as a further step to try to win the Japanese players, who have never seen much grace in the islands of the company.

For better or for worse, the bet seems to be very safe. The game is a typical eastern RPG that makes the joy of nip?nicos decades, without much boldness, which may discourage those who have tired of the formulas contained. The fans, however, will find many qualities and surprises in the ambitious narrative.

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The story of "Star Ocean: The Last Hope" is called the "prequel", ie what is happening even before the very first Star Ocean, "released in 1996 for the Japanese Super NES. Here we witness the unfolding of events that support some basic ideas of the series, such as space travel, and also witnessed the common features of games in the franchise, as the creation of items and real-time battles - elements also seen in the saga "Tales of "on Namco, not by chance was created from a split in the original team.

The route passes rapidly through events that lead to the 3rd World War, forcing humanity to seek shelter in space, in the year 2087. Rest then, standing in the adventure heroes, Edge and Reimi, people coming in head first official mission to prospect for habitable planets. Like any good RPG style, players are friendly and naive to have a hard time and gradually become deeper and magnetic - even though the design to commit excesses view them as pictures of fluffy animals, including some with voices very annoying doll.

Of course, play important roles, tragedies and upheavals await the player throughout the adventure, while maintaining attention. The beginning, as other examples of the genre, is not the most exciting and need some patience to get into the rhythm of events. Within hours, however, it is possible to let it absorb the grandeur of the usual facts.

Real time

As I said, "Star Ocean: The Last Hope" has real-time combat, like the series "Tales of", unlike the more traditional fighting system in shifts. Here you can see the enemies, avoiding the annoying random clashes. You control one character while the computer takes care of others and their attention is divided by many variables, such as normal hits, elusive, large combos and special. There are also some unique features such as the blindside attack - counterattack stylish with the right to slow - and a kind of feedback that provides special bonuses after each fight - if the player manages to fill its various requirements, such as using always the same stroke, for example.

Of course I could not miss an experience system, which ensures the evolution of their group and individual characters. It is possible to develop new techniques, increase your attributes by a system of fighting styles called BEAT, and also create items, weapons and accessories.

This last feature is very strong in the series, asking players to collect the various materials to meet the revenue, which benefit from here called Recipe Creation Conference - where the characters meet to discuss such formulas, with results varying according to characteristics.

Like any game Square-Enix, Star Ocean: The Last Hope "always tries to fill the eyes of the player with long video sequences, events great and vibrant visuals. It is a whimsical production, which features detailed graphics and colorful, but that does not put anything new to the table. It seems that lacked inspiration, especially in the design too much, a little childish that even the most tense moments of the game and calls for common archetypes in the genre - one player less visually attentive might confuse heroes with those of any other competitor launched in recent years.