[360, PS3] Star Ocean: The Last Hope

[ban25]

IGN Review:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/955/955258p1.html

MetaCritic:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/staroceanthelasthope

GameTrailers:
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/5934.html

Looks exciting! Anyone else picking this up?

 

[DrJay24]

I've only read the Game Informer review and it did not sound good. Really slow beginning which only pays off after many hours. The graphics also look pretty bad.

 

[Sankari]

I'm looking forward to this one. Heard the battle system kicks ass. But stupid region lock so lets wait a bit europe?

 

[Xenus]

Star Ocean games have always been known for starting out slow and having a kickass battle system. Sadly it being Xbox360 only likely means I'll need to buy a both consoles neither of which I can afford at the moment.

 

[ban25]

I played it for a few hours last night. The game is lacking some polish in its presentation, and the first 15 minutes of introduction are filled with awkward dialog and a peculiar lack of music. However, the game picks up pace soon after and before long, you're in the battle system.

The combat is fast paced and fun and its deep, with enough variety to keep things fresh.

The are also has several collecting minigames -- ship schematics, battle trophies, monster data, etc.

Definitely a lot of fun. The trick now will be to balance this while trying to finish off the rest of Tales of Vesperia.

 

[Sankari]

I heard a troubling thing about the game, there will be alot of disc swapping. Especially getting things done will involve backtracking and you need to change discs for planets.

Hopefully this won't be the case for the PAL version.

 

[Freak'n Big Panda]

where's the ps3 version

 

[Xenus]

Depends if it's a timed exclusive but nothing has been mentioned so I'm not sure if it ever will come. I want a PS3 but this, Tales of Vesperia, and Blue Dragon might cause me to get a 360 eventually hopefully when all the hardware issues are a thing of the past.

 

[obonicus]

Namco porting Eternal Sonata to PS3 suggests that we may see Vesperia for PS3. I wouldn't hold my breath on SO4, though.

 

[ban25]

I heard a troubling thing about the game, there will be alot of disc swapping. Especially getting things done will involve backtracking and you need to change discs for planets.

Hopefully this won't be the case for the PAL version.

Having played many PS1 RPGs, I'd say that's an exaggeration. The game is on 3 discs, but you logically will only need to swap when backtracking late game, and even then, I imagine it should be fairly infrequent.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Every multi-disc RPG i have ever played has had the whole world fit on the final disk, so that you are only swapping discs as the story progresses. This game requires disc swapping based on location i believe wich is a whole different story. End-game of an RPG usually has you flying all over the place, which is going to be a real pain.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Luckily my 120GB harddrive has plenty of room for full game installs, so I won't have those problems It is really nice feature.

 

[Sankari]

Installing the game to HDD won't change a thing, because it still requires for the specific disc to be inside when requiring specific data. Like it was said previously, it asks for a disc based on location, so you will have to change discs alot from what I have heard. Could be a bit annoying for completionists.

I'll still get the game, however I think this is beyond retarded decision though.

to quote a player in another forum.

ok...this is sheer and utter ********

20/item inventory limitation
need 48 items from a town located on disc 2 for crafting
crafting (unless i'm missing something) can only be done on ship which is on disc 3
within about 30min, i've swapped discs 6 times

Ofcourse, backtracking isn't needed from what I heard for storyline. However, I think people play JRPG for the extra stuff you can do in them.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Installing the game to HDD won't change a thing, because it still requires for the specific disc to be inside when requiring specific data.

What do you mean? If I install all the discs, then I have the whole game on my HDD and there won't be any more disc swapping after that.

 

[Gerry]

What do you mean? If I install all the discs, then I have the whole game on my HDD and there won't be any more disc swapping after that.

You are still required to have the correct disk in the DVD drive whilst playing. If you're playing content from disk 2 then you need that disk in the drive.

Not sure why it's implemented that way, but that seems to be the way it is.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

You are still required to have the correct disk in the DVD drive whilst playing. If you're playing content from disk 2 then you need that disk in the drive.

Not sure why it's implemented that way, but that seems to be the way it is.

Really? I haven't heard that before. I think I read somewhere during the fall update that, it's enough to have just one of the discs in the drive during the whole game... Man that really sucks ass...

 

[Sankari]

You are still required to have the correct disk in the DVD drive whilst playing. If you're playing content from disk 2 then you need that disk in the drive.

Not sure why it's implemented that way, but that seems to be the way it is.

I'm pretty sure it was implemented that way so sales wouldn't be affected by it. I mean if a friend A buys the game, friend B comes along and borrows it just to install it on his HDD, then gives it back, friend B got the game to himself without buying it and not requiring the disc. Atleast this is why I think that is. If you thought why Star ocean implements it that way, I have no clue.

People have tried installing the game to HDD to get rid of this disc swapping but it still requires disc 2 inside if you are trying to access disc 2 content. IMO its a huge design flaw to require a disc for specific content. In the end if you do the side quests, you will be in for alot of disc swapping. I did not hate it in the old school final fantasies in PS1 when you reached a specific point and had to change discs.

 

[Gerry]

I'm pretty sure it was implemented that way so sales wouldn't be affected by it. I mean if a friend A buys the game, friend B comes along and borrows it just to install it on his HDD, then gives it back, friend B got the game to himself without buying it and not requiring the disc. Atleast this is why I think that is. If you thought why Star ocean implements it that way, I have no clue.

People have tried installing the game to HDD to get rid of this disc swapping but it still requires disc 2 inside if you are trying to access disc 2 content. IMO its a huge design flaw to require a disc for specific content. In the end if you do the side quests, you will be in for alot of disc swapping. I did not hate it in the old school final fantasies in PS1 when you reached a specific point and had to change discs.

Oh I realise why they implemented the requirement to keep the disk in the drive in order to play the game, I was just uncertain as to why they implemented it in the manner they did for multi-disk games.

I'd have thought the requirement to only have disk 1 in the drive would have been the better way to implement it. Perhaps there was a technical reason not to do it this way. Who knows.

 

[obonicus]

Oh I realise why they implemented the requirement to keep the disk in the drive in order to play the game, I was just uncertain as to why they implemented it in the manner they did for multi-disk games.

I'd have thought the requirement to only have disk 1 in the drive would have been the better way to implement it. Perhaps there was a technical reason not to do it this way. Who knows.

Well, that's what he means, I think. You have 4 discs, you have 4 friends install the game to HD, give each one a disc and everyone plays the game at the same time.

 

[TrungGap]

Well, that's what he means, I think. You have 4 discs, you have 4 friends install the game to HD, give each one a disc and everyone plays the game at the same time.

If that's true, than would be a bad design. They could have made it requires the 1st disc only.