One of my most favorite franchises in
gaming is Star Ocean from Square-Enix. Till the End of Time for the
PlayStation 2 holds my personal record for most hours spent playing
in a single playthrough...ahem...345 hours and 32 minutes. Of course
the version I got was the Director's Cut so there was extra content
plus a brand new (and not tacked on) fighting game that you had to
find in one of the added locations. I wasn't old enough to really
know about the series back when it first was introduced to the gaming
masses back on the Super Nintendo or the original PlayStation. While
I grew up around those platforms I just didn't really know about Star
Ocean. My focus was on Final Fantasy, Tekken, Suikoden and Crash
Bandicoot.
However, I did pick up both remakes for
the PlayStation Portable (The First Departure and The Second
Evolution).
Anyway, this article is about Star
Ocean and my new foray into The Last Hope -INTERNATIONAL- for the
PlayStation 3. Following epic RPG's like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and
Mass Effect 3 I believe I have another massive RPG to tide me over in
the short-term. If The Last Hope is anything like Till the End of
Time though...I won't be playing another game (outside of EverQuest
2) for a very long time and I'm okay with that.
For those who don't know Star Ocean;
and with only four main titles in the span of twenty-ish years I'm
sure there are more than a few. Star Ocean is like Final Fantasy, but
in space and dealing with sci-fi that is beyond what is being used in
the mainstream eye. Maybe a closer connection could be drawn between
.Hack. Anyway, traveling the stars, pushing the boundaries of what
people know about human-kind and even the very foundations of
religion are questioned in incredibly logical means. This doesn't
just try to make controversy, it tries to think outside the box and
look at the issues that human-kind have been dealing with.
Nothing takes place in this franchise
without extreme thought going behind everything that happens. Every
game is centered around sci-fi fantasy and has a very convoluted
story being told. An expansive cast of characters accompanies every
game that sports very expressive emotions and history. If that wasn't
enough to win RPG fans over, there is also an enriched battle system
that makes combat real-time for up to three to four playable
characters (depending on the game you are playing, such as Second
Story has four characters that fight at a time. Whereas Till the End
of Time has only three)
I haven't had a bad experience playing
any of the Star Ocean games and I hope that International won't
disappoint either. It is very possible that The Last Hope is the last
game in the Star Ocean series seeing how Square-Enix hasn't said
anything about it since the PS3 release of The Last Hope back in
February 2010. For me personally I'm disappointed in that, but I also
understand that gaming is becoming expensive to, not only play, but
to develop and Star Ocean didn't set the world on fire with its
sales. From a business stand point you must move to projects that
have a better chance of turning big install bases and generating
mounds of profit.
Hopefully, Square-Enix will be a
“re-boot” of sorts in the cards sometime in the future and give
it another shot with a new generation of gamers.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on The Last Hope once you play/finish it. I have been curious to check it out myself.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying the game. Feels very familiar, but at the same time new. My schedule has been slammed more so this passed week than before. I finally have the equipment I need to bring fresh content to my own site. So look for something very, very soon.
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