Star Ocean: The Last Hope is the first of the Star Ocean franchise that I ever played. I was completely sucked into playing, and beat the game within a couple weeks. It is very, very addicting, I will say.
But let's do pros and cons.
Pros:
The interplanetary exploration theme is fascinating. You can travel to the different worlds of Aeos, Lemuris, EN II, Roak, Earth, and Cardinon. There may be a few more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.
The plot is very interesting (and kinda all over the place).
I particularly enjoyed the shop areas and side missions. There are numerous shop areas scattered all over all the planets, and I really like the consumer-service type aspects of RP games. And the side missions allow you to gain items, abilities, open up new areas, etc. Really fun!
There's more things I like about it, but I'll save time and not list them all.
Cons:
Character development isn't too well-done, and some of the characters get annoying after a while (particularly Edge and Lymle).
Gameplay, while for the most part is pretty decent, is a bit frustrating at times. For example, whenever you come in contact with a monster, you are immediately transported to an alternate location and forced to fight the battle. It can be annoying, especially when you are trying to get to a certain place. Another example is that the worlds are so large that getting from point A to point B can be exhausting. But then, the planets are large, expansive, and fun to explore, so that's a pro as well.
The storyline towards the end of the game gets really stupid. They add in this thing called "The Missing Procedure." I'm not even gonna try to explain what it is, but it's kinda stupid in my opinion.
A few of the characters' battle gameplay are, I don't know...uncomfortable? My best characters were Arumat and Meracle, and sometimes Reimi. All the rest were awkward are hard to fight with.
Now, take note that this game is really, REALLY long. I don't know how many hours of gameplay there are, but it's spread out over three discs, that's how long it is. And with the planets being so large, little bits here and there, side missions, there so much you could miss.
When I played this through, I was just playing to beat it. To get to the final boss battle and see how it all ends. Because of that, there were many extras in the game that I missed. Plus a few non-essential cutscenes that you really have to look hard for if you want to see them. Someday I'll take the time to replay this game and get all the extra bits.
Overall, it's a great game. It has it's flaws, yeah, and it's a bit frustrating at times, but then aren't all videogames? I say give it a go. Just bring along lotsa coffee.
