Star Ocean: The Last Hope International

[Mirage]

I cringe, do you respect me?

[RedPouch]

For some reason the Star Ocean series always attracts me despite my not having anything but terrible times playing it. I think it's just the premise that has me hopeful for each entry.

This is what keeps happening to me too. For whatever reason I just keep going back to the newest Star Ocean game, even though they get worse and worse each time.

The verdict: Legendarily and inexcusably bad. I have no respect for any individual who can sit through these cutscenes without cringing the entire time.

Seriously. And did you happen to watch Edge's freak-out scene? It was god-awful.

(SPOILER)YouTube - Star Ocean 4-Escape from Alternate Earth Just in case you haven't. My brother and I were just cracking up when this part came up. After that we were scared to death because we realized that Meracle was going to be a permanent addition to the party.

[Mercen-X]

Someone once mentioned that Final Fantasy X's Tidus looked like Meg Ryan. Personally, I find Edge to resemble Ellen Degenerous, if a bit younger.

[RedPouch]

I really don't see the resemblance. Edge looks too male. It's a softer look for male, somewhat of a "pretty boy", but still clearly male. His hair is also a deeper gold. His hairstyle might look vaguely like Ellen's from a distance, but I'd hardly call it a resemblance. Edge's looks reminds me of a couple people, but Ellen Degeneres isn't one of them.

[Ultima Shadow]

Late response, but do you feel that they repeated far too many elements of SO3? I think most of this was meant to be "hats off" to some SO3 themes, but they reused SO many [three people being genetically altered for the future of mankind, etc.] that I'm not quite sure what to think about what they were trying to go for. The only difference here is that there seems to be extremely weak elaboration on the mechanics of how these "seeds of hope" actually work, and how it actually ties into the story. Based on this weak elaboration, I'd say that their attempt to recycle said theme backfired, to the point where it just looks silly and unoriginal.

I usually don't have a problem with recurring elements and unoriginal ideas... as long as they can still remain solid in their own right. A good story doesn't always need to be 100% original. However... like you said, it seems they just tried to take a theme from SO3 and put it in there without even thinking it trough. Basically, they made every recurring theme worse than they originally were... and mostly felt like they were put in "just for the heck of it", rather than having any actual meaning to them. I didn't disslike the very first part of SO4's story: about the earth being impossible to live on as a cause of a 3rd world war and so on. But from that point onwards, SO4's story just took a wild ride downhill until it eventually was nothing but plain horrible.

...still, even if they didn't reuse any of SO3's themes, I doubt it would have turned out much better. In the end, the key to making an interesting story is to have some interesting characters in it. That's where SO4 failed the most. Almost every single character made me want to throw up.

Man, Tri-Ace really seems to be having trouble with constructing a good story and good characters for Star Ocean games.

I actually liked many of the characters in SO3, and SO2 too. They were never "the best ever" or anything like that, but they certainly weren't bad either (save a few exceptions). SO4 is the first title in the series in which you can actually call the majority of the cast horrible. (Well, I haven't actually played SO1 yet, so I can only speak for SO2 and SO3).

Too bad the same VA also did Welch and completely destroyed her. Well i guess the destroying part is also the fault of the writers. She was really cute in SO3 but now she's just a stupid rubber-haired thing.

Ah yes. Welch. That is quite possibly my ABSOLUTE hate-character in SO4. Every single time I saw her... I got the urge to kill, scream in agony and tear my eyes out. Why couldn't they just keep the old Welch? =(



Also, I personally consider SO4 to be the first SO game in the downhill curve. I love SO3. Even though it didn't have the best story or characters ever, they were still likable. And as far as gameplay goes, SO3 shines supreme. Honestly... the SO series has never been an RPG series that you should play for the story only. The gameplay bit has always been the best part of the SO series, and SO3 had one of the best battlesystems ever developed for an RPG.

[Flying Arrow]

Seriously. And did you happen to watch Edge's freak-out scene? It was god-awful.

(SPOILER)YouTube - Star Ocean 4-Escape from Alternate Earth Just in case you haven't. My brother and I were just cracking up when this part came up. After that we were scared to death because we realized that Meracle was going to be a permanent addition to the party.

Absolutely wretched. Any urge I had to try this game is gone. If anyone ever saw or overheard me playing this, I'd have to kill them just limit my embarrassment.

There's bad and then there's Star Ocean bad.