Star Ocean IV - The Last Hope - Gen. Discussion & Info

For a little while last week I was getting discouraged. Some things are bumming me out like the scarcity of save points. But, this game just looks so good. I'll get it, maybe not right on the first day.
 
I'm thinking of putting together a database of stuff to catalogue everything like quests, items, and stuff seeing as I have a fair amount of free time coming up. If anyone wants to help, they're more than welcome to and will be given credit on a submission basis. However I haven't really decided on the format I'm going to use... so suggestions?

Webpage - Table based webpage (Example; Won't look exactly like that though)
Excel or Document File - Google Docs/Office Live public viewable file or a .doc/.xls downloadable document/excel sheet
Forum Reply - Would be at my forum since it would likely encompass a large amount of data and this would allow it to stay compiled in one area in a clean format.
Other - I dunno?


And no, I don't plan to submit it to GameFAQs or put it into a notepad guide format. Though someone else could do it if they wished after a fair amount is compiled so long as credit is given where credit is due.
 
[quote name='silent h3ro']It's definitely going to be successful, there's no doubt about it.[/quote]

In Japan maybe....outside of Japan if you're an RPG that doesn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title, you're not selling jack.
 
I'm hoping this will be in stores Tuesday or Wednesday.

Also, I'm not familiar with all of the tech limitations, but it would be nice if you could install all the discs onto the hard drive and then always have disc 1 in the drive (to verify you have a legit copy, similar to "Play" discs from many PC games). This would completely eliminate the need for disc changing. The only arguement that I could see against this would be people with smaller hard drives. But I guess if you dont want to splurge on a bigger drive, then you are going to be getting off your ass to change discs.


woot 100th post!
 
[quote name='KingBroly']In Japan maybe....outside of Japan if you're an RPG that doesn't have "Final Fantasy" in the title, you're not selling jack.[/QUOTE]

Well Star Ocean is one of the few RPG to reach GH that is not Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Dragon Quest.
 
I know I rarely post in the 360 forum and such, but I'm beyond hyped about this game. I just love Star Ocean a lot. I'm definitely buying the game this week and absolutely can't wait to play it. I'm really itching for a sci-fi JRPG, and this fits really nicely. :D
 
[quote name='will52']I'm hoping this will be in stores Tuesday or Wednesday.
[/quote]
As always, the release day is when it ships, the next day is when it becomes available at retail. So I wouldn't bother looking until Wed, the 25th. Heck, if you're like me you'll want to save your school/work life and wait until Friday night before starting your addiction.

I'm still hoping for the official NA SO4 site to have gameplay info before I buy it.
 
Hello everyone! I'm picking up my preorder of Star Ocean: The Last Hope tomorrow. This will be the first Star Ocean game I've ever played. If Anyone has any advice or know if what past Star Ocean games I should play or not play or anything that I would help out a Star Ocean newbie like me, just reply to me. Thanks!
 
[quote name='danked']Heard stores on the east coast had some today.[/QUOTE]

Yeah it was Bizarre. Saw it in Meriden, CT Meriden Mall they had 10 copies. I didn't ask about reserves only or whatever *shrugs*. Still very odd to see a game like this in the stores on a Monday.
 
Just a heads up, SE sent my store a bunch of copies that were all missing the first disc. Check your copies before you leave the store!
 
[quote name='Scorch']Just a heads up, SE sent my store a bunch of copies that were all missing the first disc. Check your copies before you leave the store![/quote]

Wow, that is pretty insane that some copies are missing a first disc. Hopefully that is not a widespread problem.
 
Hopefully it's not a widespread problem. A friend picked his up from a Wal-Mart about an hour away and his was fine. Maybe it was just a factory slipup on a few copies.
 
[quote name='OmniscientlyMe']As always, the release day is when it ships, the next day is when it becomes available at retail. So I wouldn't bother looking until Wed, the 25th. Heck, if you're like me you'll want to save your school/work life and wait until Friday night before starting your addiction.

I'm still hoping for the official NA SO4 site to have gameplay info before I buy it.[/quote]

Yea, I guess realistically it will be in stores on Wednesday. I'm on my college reading week right now, so I was hoping for Tuesday. :lol: Ah well.
 
Gonna favorite it on Amazon and watch for price drops. Looking forward to see how people like it without a doubt, being a big fan of the series...
 
[quote name='RyuNinja1988']Hello everyone! I'm picking up my preorder of Star Ocean: The Last Hope tomorrow. This will be the first Star Ocean game I've ever played. If Anyone has any advice or know if what past Star Ocean games I should play or not play or anything that I would help out a Star Ocean newbie like me, just reply to me. Thanks![/quote]

Like you, I've never played any previous Star Ocean's.. I have a PSP so I've picked up Star Ocean: First Departure(which is a re-make of the first Star Ocean) and then I'll pick up Star Ocean: Second Evolution for the PSP as well, both have gotten pretty good reviews and I'm liking it so far.

I'll probably pick up Star Ocean IV after I finish the enormous backlog of game I have.
 
Anyone picked it up today yet? I'm going to call my EB soon and see if they are getting it early.
 
BB says tomrorow. The release date WAS switched to monday so it was supposed to ship monday and get in tuesday..

Gonna head to the mall EB and see if they have it :(
 
[quote name='Scorch']Just a heads up, SE sent my store a bunch of copies that were all missing the first disc. Check your copies before you leave the store![/quote]

Thankfully mine had it in the case.


[quote name='will52']Anyone picked it up today yet? I'm going to call my EB soon and see if they are getting it early.[/quote]

I have it and will give some early impressions tonight before I go to sleep if someone wants.
 
[quote name='Draekon']I have it and will give some early impressions tonight before I go to sleep if someone wants.[/quote]
Would be nice to hear what you think. I've been keeping an eye on the game and am a bit unsure. I own Star Ocean: Til the End of Time on my PS2, and thought it was a decent enough game, but I'm not sure if I'd want to play another Star Ocean after it.
 
[quote name='YodaEXE']Would be nice to hear what you think. I've been keeping an eye on the game and am a bit unsure. I own Star Ocean: Til the End of Time on my PS2, and thought it was a decent enough game, but I'm not sure if I'd want to play another Star Ocean after it.[/quote]

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time wishes it was Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

I bought my copy at a local Game Crazy yesterday and I'm only about 8 hours in, but so far it's been wonderful. The VA is pretty bad, but then again, it's a JRPG, if you've played one, you should not be surprised by it, nor should it prevent you from playing it.

The battles require like a minimum of 5 min in the battle simulator to get a hang of. Blindsiding is a wonderful mechanic, and the RUSH mode attacks are a nice addition too.

I haven't been able to get into the Item Creation very much, but Welch is pretty entertaining anyway. :p

If you thought SO 3 was decent, you'll think SO 4 is at least "good," or worth your time at the very least.

Ura-
 
[quote name='drbutchevil']Started Gamefly last night in hopes of them sending me this cause my local blockbuster rarely stocks JRPGS, worked, its on the way =D yay.[/quote]

Just checked my account and it's on the way too. Gamefly actually works out good from time to time.
 
Only one problem so far, Why is that earth girl, so annoying, and why would you intentionally make a character that annoying, thoughts of Jar-jar are coming back......
 
[quote name='Draekon']
I have it and will give some early impressions tonight before I go to sleep if someone wants.
[/quote]

Yea I also wouldn't mind to hear.

Called my Ebgames today (just outside Toronto, Ontario), and they claimed that they got none in their shipment, but will have them in tomorrow for sure. They have lied in the past though...
 
[quote name='danked']Only one problem so far, Why is that earth girl, so annoying, and why would you intentionally make a character that annoying, thoughts of Jar-jar are coming back......[/quote]

Personally I don't find her to be that annoying. So far it's rather minor on the voice acting and at least you can turn each character off individually in battle from using their voices.

Also it sucks that you can't pause cutscenes. Although when you skip them, it gives a brief text summary of what transpired during the cutscene right after skipping it.
 
I happened to stop by at my local GS during lunch and they had copies.

I'm gonna wait until a good price drop/sale before picking this up though.
 
[quote name='Draekon']Personally I don't find her to be that annoying. So far it's rather minor on the voice acting and at least you can turn each character off individually in battle from using their voices.

Also it sucks that you can't pause cutscenes. Although when you skip them, it gives a brief text summary of what transpired during the cutscene right after skipping it.[/quote]

Press the xbox guide button to pause in the middle of a cutscreen, but you know you can skip though some screen by pausing.

[quote name='Magus8472']Lord, 900 Battle Trophies?

Shoot me.[/quote]
O That must be why I didn't get the 10% achievement only thought there was 100
 
[quote name='danked']Press the xbox guide button to pause in the middle of a cutscreen, but you know you can skip though some screen by pausing.


O That must be why I didn't get the 10% achievement only thought there was 100[/quote]

How in the world did you get ninja blade?
 
[quote name='danked']O That must be why I didn't get the 10% achievement only thought there was 100[/QUOTE]

100 per character.
 
[quote name='Magus8472']100 per character.[/quote]

And to top it off, you must be controlling that character in battle to be able to obtain their battle trophies.
 
[quote name='Magus8472']100 per character.[/quote]

yeah went back and saw that.

[quote name='Spartan V07']How in the world did you get ninja blade?[/quote]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dw-49-en-70-37ex.html

And some info on board bonues

Blue tiles provide a 10% EXP boost at the end of each fight. You earn them from killing foes with critical hits, which is easiest to do by using Blindsides agains low-HP foes.

Yellow tiles provide a 10% increase in the amount of Fol you earn at the end of each fight. You can earn them by killing multiple enemies with a single attack.

Red tiles restore 1% of each character's Max HP and Max MP at the end of each fight. You earn them by killing a monster exclusively with Special Arts and Symbols.

Green tiles provide 1 additional Party SP at the end of each fight. You can earn one each time you're ambushed
 
Having played it for a few hours (and never having played any previous SO) I'd have to say I'm very satisfied with the purchase. Quick question for anyone else who has played a little bit.

(Don't think it's a spoiler at all, but I'll put a tag up anyway to be safe)

Where the heck is the item creation station at Exploration Base (when you first get to it). Can't find it anywhere... (I'm sure it's bloody obvious and I'm overthinking it)
 
[quote name='Suraph']Having played it for a few hours (and never having played any previous SO) I'd have to say I'm very satisfied with the purchase. Quick question for anyone else who has played a little bit.

(Don't think it's a spoiler at all, but I'll put a tag up anyway to be safe)

Where the heck is the item creation station at Exploration Base (when you first get to it). Can't find it anywhere...
[/quote]

you play pdz online? Add me,i play it too!
 
So far my impressions of the game are pretty positive. I just hope it stays that way as I continue through the game. So here's a rundown of the game thus far with my Edge being level 13.



Story is fairly basic and run of the mill so far. Although it's got me wondering on what I will exactly see next, but not to the point of an excited kid in a candy store. Of course general events are predictable all the same as any other RPG, but it shouldn't really be discouraging. Although so far it's always turned out slightly different than what I initially would predict so far.

Character depth seems to be there for the most part. Although some characters pasts seem to only be accessible through certain options you take while on a private action speaking with another character. However I'm only four party members in so far of the eight and since this is an RPG, I could easily see some temporarily leaving. More so since there are nine characters total in this game which only allows you to have eight.

Graphics thus far have been great. Reviews state some rather bland areas later on, but I don't honestly see that as an issue. However when exploring areas, you may experience a very slightly lag while turning the camera. Not really a big deal, but it may get on some peoples nerves as it happens somewhat frequently. Of course it could just be my console having the problem too.

Character animations are kinda stiff, but nowhere near as bad as games like Infinite Undiscovery if you had the enjoyment *cough* of playing. It doesn't really detract from the scenes much, so I'll let it slide. Spell animations have been great so far from the few I've seen.

The battle system is where it really gets interesting. If you've played Grandia or any of the later Tales games, going into battle is as simple as running into an enemy you visually see on the map. Back attacks happen when you get hit by the monster from behind and surprise attacks happen when you do the same to an enemy. There are a few inconsistancies though where you shouldn't get surprised but do and being able to perform a quick dash helps with surprise attacks against enemies.

Beyond that, it's all action based on an open environment once you've established a battle. You have the basic A button to attack and perform your basic combo. Then you have your trigger buttons which you can assign a characters skill to and when you switch to another character, it will switch to their skills to use. Also you have an ability you can perform in battle called blindside, which you have to charge and then tap a direction when an enemy is targeting you and it's graphically shown around your character. If you tap in a direction that's too far away from the enemy, he'll just lose you as a target and you'll not perform the blindside. Finally you have rush which can only be obtained during battle and will reset after every battle. It's an ability that you activate which will allow your character to become immune to knockdown and stun for a short duration. It also has a secondary use which will allow you to obtain large combos with ease, but I've yet to pull it off on anything outside of the battle simulator.

Battling at first seemed easy, but I took it as too easy and toyed around with my first couple battles and ended up getting raped because of it. Since then I've learned to properly fight in battles and haven't really had a problem what so ever. Which ultimately led me to having 140% exp bonus per battle and overleveling by the time I hit the first boss. So I breezed through him only losing half of the controlling characters health through the long battle.

You also have board bonuses which danked mentioned before. They're gained through defeating enemies in certain ways in battle and will carry over to the next battle with the exception of green tiles which are obtained through ambushes from an enemy. Which is basically having multiple enemies on the map next to each other an engaging one, which the second enemy should join in after you defeat the first. You have up to 14 total bonus board tiles at any one time and lose them if you're not careful. I'm not entirely sure how you lose them, but when you do it tends to cause half of the board to fall out at random. Unless you only have a couple, then they're all gone.

The skill system so far is a little different than Star Ocean 1 & 2. Unfortunately I don't remember the specifics of 3, so I can't really compare it to that. Though in the first two you would go to shops and learn stuff like 1-3 and get a group of skills. So far I've found and bought skill books from shopkeepers. Also not every skill is usable on every character, which makes them rather unique. For example, Reimi is the only one who can harvest and Edge is the only one who can smith. Oh and I almost forgot, passive skills must be equipped to gain the effects of them and you're limited on the slots you can use. Each skill can be leveled up using the characters SP they gain from leveling or the party SP which I think is gained from battle and opening chests, completing quests, etc.

Another thing is the BEAT (Battle Enhancement Attribute Type) system. There are three settings you can choose from on each character. Those are strike, neutral, and burst. Of those three you can only level strike and burst, which will level from experience gained in battle. They give characters stat bonuses based on the level of the BEAT you have equipped. However neutral is a little different as it doesn't have a level like the other two. Instead it takes the stats of the other two as bonuses. So you're gaining stats of a Level X Burst and Strike. The only downside to this is that it doesn't level and you don't gain specific bonuses that burst and strike get such as "Increase blindside damage" and "Rush gauge increase up."

Oh and character AI seems to be fairly competant so far. However I am sad that I still don't have a character with a healing symbology (spell) yet. How dare they make me use items. (EDIT: Speak of the devil, the very next battle I learn Healing...)

EDIT: Forgot another neat thing. They have these things called Monster Jewels that you first obtain after you leave the first planet. When you fight enemies, you get a set % of knowledge about them. Once it reaches 100%, you can use a Monster Jewel on that monster and turn it into an accessory which will gain stats based on the monster you put into the gem. Kindof neat.


So in short...
Story: Ok so far
Battle system: Great so far (Although I think I saw an enemy blindside me when I blindsided him once...)
Everything else TBD. (Ain't far enough yet.)
 
I just beat the first boss, The battle system is deep yet very fun, bonus board is a great idea and seamless in the game, solid 8/10 so far....
 
I'm really enjoying the little things in the battle system, like the bonus board, battle trophies, blindside, Monster Jewels, etc. story seems fairly good so far. just a very fun RPG.

[quote name='chubbyninja1319']So far it's sounding good.......dammit....I have too many games to play right now!! :)[/quote]
I know my girl friend just reminded my the RE5 will be out soon, probably just have to beat it quick and jump back to Star Ocean.
 
(Rant) WTF why do all the latest RGP have to have a 5 year old kid as a character, its was retard in Lost Odyssey and Infinite undiscovery, Why god why, It just plain dumb please never again.(/Rant)
 
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