Star Ocean 4 The Last Hope: An Ode to Sci-Fi Fans EverywhereThe reputation this game has is a complicated one, I knew that going in but some how that didnt stop me. I had heard some people praise it, heard some people regard it lower than dirt, but as a fan of this series since the PS1 days, my curiosity just couldnt resist. Also, I was hyped for this game when I saw initial trailers and information about it back in the late 2000s. I liked how you could switch between planets on a whim, go back and forth at your leisure, it was first for the series and that always appealed to me, yet some how this game got put into the closet for a long time. It wasnt until I was unable to get my hands on the series latest release, Star Ocean 5 Integrity and Faithlessness that I decided I should go back and finally put the previous entry in and that was not a mistake.
I think the first real topic that needs to be addressed about this game is its ability to constantly pay homage to the Sci-Fi genre and many different franchises and IPs that came before and after it. The biggest comparison is obviously going to be Star Trek, as the series in general is heavily influenced by it, but this game by far takes it to a whole other level for the series, and by god is this awesome. You will also see aspects of Star Wars, Alien franchise, 2001 A Space Odyssey, other game series like Xenosaga, I would even say there is some Gundam references as well and im sure many others I cant think of or am not aware of. This game is oozing with references, terminology, and familiar words and visuals that help drive its points home with ease, as far as the actual translation goes, they knocked it out of the park with this game. This aspect of the game drew me in and kept me engaged even just to see the references, which I noticed alot.
The battle system is pretty standard if you have played Star Ocean 3 (just with out the dying from having your MP reach 0
). Battle difficulty is varied, I would say its more on the medium side slightly tilting towards easy, its a nice balance for a JRPG that are notorious for being easy and this game will make you sweat a few times trying to get through some of the boss battles, but as star ocean series usually is, level grinding reaps all the rewards. As far as battles go, I found this game to be very grindy, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The action battle system is alot similar to Star Ocean 3 as well, but having played Star Ocean First Departue as the last Star Ocean game I played, I felt it also was very similar to that battle system as well, its just a very refined version of the classic Star Ocean battle system we all know. The character variety in this game is awesome in terms of battle, there are 9 different characters you get to play with each with their own fun way to battle. Also the magic casters in this game are some of the most powerful I have ever seen in a JRPG (there is an equipable HP boost skill that when maxed out puts one of the mages HP on the same level and beyond of the tank class character which made my eyes pop).
World exploration is also very similar to many JRPGs, and that may be one of the weakest aspects to the game design itself, if you even consider that a weak aspect in the first place. You have areas and a map with location indicators and while some of the areas are pretty big this design aspect really isnt anything we havent seen before but gets the job done well enough.
Visuals vary in quality depending on where you are and whats going on, the battle animations and characters look absolutely great though. Also the worlds presented and general art design and character models do the trick, characters feeling like they belong in a Star Ocean game, it has its own feel that is pretty easily recognizable and they are presented here which is a good thing.
I thought the Dungeon design in this game was pretty darn good, and as this game and the Star Ocean series in general can get pretty Dungeony, its stayed true to that and may be the best in the series in terms of dungeon, difficulty and balance of dungeon set ups. Some dungeons are long, some are shorter, they all seem to have some differing aspects to them switch up the usual running through boring corridors to get to the next destination. Hell some of these dungeons even get a bit tricky and a bit trolly, the final dungeon for example has an area you almost think was an area you went in before only to find new monsters and chests in different spots and doors in different places, I found alot of aspects where game did something like this and it is little morsels like that that drive the game forward.
Now lets get to the Story and Characters. With out spoiling anything, the story is actually pretty good for a Sci-Fi story line (and its a VERY Sci-Fi storyline btw which gets extra points from me because of it). The characters are hit or miss, they vary from usual anime/game tropes, to a few unique characters and some indifferent to original ones, the english voice acting is equally varied and generally probably could have been of better quality. That being said it still didnt stop me from loving the crap out of Faize, Bacchus, Edge (the main character, especially in the latter half of the game), and Myuria (even though shes the Trope Rogue Female on a mission character arch type... also shes really hot
).
The menu system and equip and skill level system is well done, you will be spending plenty of time in the menu tuning party members and figuring out their best equipible items and skill setups. There are many different types of points you earn in battle that go towards leveling various ares of your characters stats and abilities, it was lots of fun watching the results of doing this and its very well balanced and as always with Star Ocean, rewards grinding levels.
Onto to items and item creation, Star Ocean may have some of the best and deep item creation there is. The item creation system (and the quirky female character that helps will keep you in stitches laughing for most of the cut scenes shes in) consists of recipes, creating recipes, and item creation itself, some of your characters have different aspects of item creation to contribute to discovering new recipes and also crafting them, once grouped with other party members when you go into the creating system will bring different results of items you can create, leveling up these aspect via points unlocks more powerful items as well. Items are cool and have plenty of variety and do many different things like any good JRPG should have.
Quests in this game are a bit hit or miss as well. You have some fetch quests, some story quests, some completely useless and not even worth doing quests, and some really worth while and fun quests and you have to figure out which ones are actually worth doing (basically seeing if the reward i worth the trouble). And there are ALOT of side quests you can do. This game does not lack in optional content and if you want to see all the endings and private actions that add a bit more to the often mysterious story and characters, its worth going through the important ones.
I want to commend Tri-Ace and the Star Ocean team for really trying to buck the norm with this game, this game is full of variety and little changes through out that keep it fresh and interesting from what you thought you knew before. From game design aspect, level design, boss battles, there is alot of variety through out that keep this game solid. I feel like you really get out how much you put in to this game in all aspects, some of the gripes I have seen some people talk about really come down to the way you choose to play this game, there are many ways to go about battles and it can either be a bore fest if you dont wanna put the effort in or it can be very rewarding if you switch up the way you play. I Just think games that are made like this often get under looked and under appreciated, when really they are designed to let the player choose instead of forcing them into a certain way of play, which to me is a really big positive.
I think I understand why this game is so hit or miss with alot of people, if you arent in to the extremely Sci-Fi filled story, characters, and world, I could see how this game would be forgetable and hard to get into in the first place. But when you are a Sci-Fi buff on the level that I am, you can plainly see the good Sci-Fi aspects rested upon solid JRPG ground work, game design, and battle system. I enjoyed this game so much that even while I almost decided to not continuing playing it (there were times when months separated game sessions for various reasons, many out of my control), the story and characters and just wanting to see what going to happen next and what other references may pop up kept me coming back until the end.
This game is not for everyone, but for the Sci-Fi fans out there this one is a real treat. I reccomend this highly for fans of Science Fiction, but also JRPG fans that are looking for a good grind out fest with plenty of dungeon crawling and an interesting enough story. And if youre a fan of all these aspects like I am it really hits a certain chord and is highly enjoyable despite some short comings. This game gets AG's stamp of approval and recommendation!