Star Ocean: The Last Hope Preview

Written by Kevin Leathers on 05 Mar 2009

RPG’s are mostly considered a niche market, but recently we’ve seen some high profile titles across all systems start to make a move toward the mainstream. Surprisingly, the Xbox 360 seems to be leading the charge – surprising because in Japan, home of the sprawling, stat-laden RPG, the system itself is a niche market. And yet, with titles such as Blue Dragon, Infinite Undiscovery and Eternal Sonata making waves across the planet, there's finally some Western love for RPG's that don’t star Link or feature the Final Fantasy moniker!

Now it seems that Square Enix and developer tri-Ace have decided to bring an old IP into the current-gen era, and with thanks to Square Enix, we were able to get a look at the next big Xbox 360 RPG – Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

From war to space

Rather than continue the game from the last PS2 adventure, The Last Hope will be winding the clock back and taking the prequel route. It will explore how some of the established elements in Star Ocean began and Yoshinori-san (the lead designer) has also said that there will be elements in The Last Hope that will connect the game with the PSP remake of the first game, Star Ocean: First Departure.

The game sets the scene by showcasing the devastating third world war which has brought the entire world to its knees as countries are destroyed one after the other. The aftermath brings humanity together as they search for new worlds to populate, leaving a battle scarred Earth far behind. The game begins as warp drive technology has been perfected and the mission to find new worlds begins.

This entire opening scene is told through a beautifully rendered CG cut-scene showing the destruction of cities and countries, followed by the shattered ruins of the world and mankind banding together to overcome itself and reach out to the stars. Square Enix and their subsidiary Visual Works are known for their extremely beautiful cut-scenes, which is more than evident in the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. They quickly set the mood and overall tone for the game in one breathtaking stroke. Time to explore the new frontier…

Getting graphic...

Once the intro was over, we were given a taster for the game proper. First impressions are very favourable – the graphics themselves are crisp and beautifully realised. The game uses an updated version of the Infinite Undiscovery engine and gets the look and feel of a science-fiction anime spot on. While some will argue that the anime look requires cel-shading to give the impression of drawn lines, it’s not needed here, trust me. The Ed will be thrilled, he’s a total aesthetic whore when it comes to games like this. (Damn right – Ed)

The character designs are nothing revolutionary, but they tick all the right boxes and there should be a character here to appeal to everyone. Visually they are impressive to look at, while the worlds they inhabit are quite fantastic. Apparently the developer was aiming for a futuristic look for the ship interiors (seems logical) but they do feel a little sterile – a little more in the way of clutter would have added to the atmosphere of real people living in these vessels, but if Star Trek can suffer OCD for cleanliness, so can Star Ocean.

Once we shift to the different world’s that can be explored, all that uniformity changes completely. The usual techie talk is used about HDR lighting and stable frame rates, but to actually see it in action is stunning. One world shown was a 1950’s America-style world, complete with deserts, cacti and a cruelly beating sun. Actually running around the level, we got to see just how detailed the world is and even look at the ship we landed in - it stretches out to give a real sense of scale.