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Star Ocean: The Last Hope Official thread

Oh My God this game is too much. :lol

Major Spoilers(Seriously)
DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! ALL THOSE PEOPLE CHILDREN HOMES TOWNS CATS HORSES GONE IN AN INSTANT! EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING *shakes fists*

No professor come with us don't leave me MEOWWWWW
Okay we've just been tricked and the world is going to be destroyed. Oh hey Reimei you're naked.

Then the very next town I go to I buy a Bastard Sword. :lol

SO4 > SO3 by a wide margin.
 
Just finished Lemuris. Still having fun! Also, Scorching Star is radical. I've switched to using Lymle in battle every so often just so I could use it.

I also literally just now realized that 'fresh sage' is the revival item. Until now, I had run all the way back to town or a healing point to revive people. I'm looking for resurrection elixirs or whatever they're called in SO1 and 2. I completely forgot that they switched to 'fresh sage' in SO3. So much for series consistency. Grr. <:(
 
Just got Pickpocket and Bandit's Glove. I remember in SO2 it was best to do it during PAs when the party was scattered. My question, how does pickpocketing affect affinities for my group? I know it'll change the endings; does it count only failures or every attempt, success or not? And I assume it'll work differently when I'm on the Calnus during PA opportunities?
 
There really needs to be an indicator or something whenever you have an item you've already created.

Sure most of the time you can tell because you have zero of the particular item before you make one. But there are still many times where you'll find a few of the particular item lying in a chest or found off a enemy.

Couldn't they have added a star or something? Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. There's probably a big ole' list in the main menu I could check.
 
I just finished the 3rd planet. I finally understand the save point complaints. Considering the planet is essentially one huge dungeon, they really needed to put more save points there. I ended up playing an hour longer than I wanted to because of it.

I'm not really liking the boss fights in this game, especially since the AI is completely fucking useless in them. In the 3rd boss fight all they did was stand around in the path of the boss' area attack and occasional do a weak attack while I pretty much killed the boss and its ridiculously inflated hp mself. I really wish there were more in-depth tactics options, Vesperia did this much better.
 
the worst stretch without a save is coming guys ;)

be prepared!

the worst thing about the dungeon it happens in is that the monsters start getting hard and the puzzles are sorta irritating/require a bunch of running here and there.

make sure you have means to get your mp back up and id suggest you have all your party members with retro heal and hp boost.

its the dungeon at the start of the 2nd disc.
bunny planet
.
 
the bosses have weakspots guys...

In the third planet dungeon against Sachariel
wait until he is 'charging', and he will reveal a big glowing orb in his chest. with reimi's Crimson Squall he goes down in like 1 or 2 minutes.
 
Alright it seems the framerate hiccups in the field are definitely related to loading. Where the ship crashlands on the first planet, if you run from the save point outside to the north, you'll notice it lags right as you pass in front of the ship. If you stay on that spot, the framerate returns to normal. That means it has nothing to do with what's currently rendered on the screen, but with the data that's being processed.

I currently have the game installed on the hard drive. I'm going to give it a shot without the install and see if there's an improvement.

edit: posted a thread...

Well I just ran some tests.

I was getting pretty annoyed with the framerate stutters on the field map. Some of you may have experienced this. You'll be running and for a second or so, the framerate just takes a huge dive. It then goes back to normal. The weird thing is that it doesn't stay low even if you stay in the spot where it initially took a dive. That means it's likely loading large chunks of the level at those points where the framerate takes a dive.

One area I found where this is pretty consistant is right at the crash landing site on the first planet. If you go from the save point, and run north passed the stairs to the ship, you'll notice a nice drop in the framerate there if the game is installed.

Now, my game was installed to the hard drive when this was happening. I tested again right after having deleted the install, and voila, no more hiccups!

I'm guessing they're caching data to the HDD like Halo 3 does. This is causing hiccups in the framerate as it can't load the data fast enough at the "checkpoints" throughout the field map.

Mods, if you feel like this does not deserve it's own thread, feel free to delete it. I will post in the official thread as well. I just figured a somewhat major issue should get some attention.
 
Bacchus is to SO4 what Maria was to SO3. His DPS is insane, though he does tend to make enemies go into Rush Mode too quickly.

Irridiation+Black Hole Sphere=zomg look at the hit counter!
 
Well, I assume I'm getting close to the end of the first disc, with the little emotional meltdown on the Calnus and everything, and is it just me, or was that scene totally Bizarro (may spoil another game from a few years back, read at your own risk)
Tales of the Abyss
? Seriously:

"Guys I fucked up really bad :("
"Nah don't worry about it"
"No, dude, I killed a whole goddamn planet, maybe billions of people"
"Whatever, not our dimension, it's cool"

I imagine that scene was supposed to have some emotional gravity or whatever, but I just couldn't stop laughing at how gigantic of a prick everybody is about it.


That aside, though, this game is fucking awesome.
 
Ok yeah aside from the minor technical issues, this game is friggin' awesome! :D

I've had a full EXP bonus board for a good 50 fights now. :lol I'm level 8 just outside of the first cave on Aeos. If this keeps up I think I'll be a tad overleveled. :D
 
I feel like I'm pretty overleveled, so I've actually tried to avoid getting blue gems for a while. I sure love the pink gems, though -- they let me go a little wilder in battle, and it's more fun that way. The yellow ones are the best, of course... I'm just no good at getting them.
 
Blue - Kill an enemy with criticals.
Pink - Kill an enemy entirely with special arts.
Yellow - Kill multiple enemies at the same time.
Green - Engage an ambush (linked encounter with two or more enemies on the field).
 
SO much fun. I wish I could play this more as I'm still on the first planet getting ready to leave (it seems). Beat the first boss and am right in front of the ship and am LVL 9 with at least 13k fol. I really want to play this more but having KZ2 at the same time has slowed my pace. I can already tell this one will fell just right like SO2 did.

Minor complaints, the lighting is overly done I think. I end up squinting quite a bit. Framerate takes a little hit as most have reported but nothing annoying. Never happens during critical fights or actual exploration so this is easy to ignore.

Thank you Aeana for posting the gem guide. I had forgotten. I love that they put that in. It's made the grinding much more rewarding for earning stuff.
 
MCD said:
Hearing Lyme talk makes me wanna stab my dick

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
Who seriously thought having her say "'kay" at the end of every other sentence would be a good localization decision?

When she's not saying that word, I don't mind her that much.
 
I just watched the gametrailers review... and wow, there's no japanese track? :(

Is the game still worth getting, though? DOES THE GAMEPLAY OUTWEIGHT THE HORRIBLE DUB is what I'm asking.
 
Lyme is up there with the worst jRPG characters of all time, resting in hell next to Marumaro. If I was developing this game and had to localize a character like her, I would probably quit (but not before I rage deleted every piece of data on her atrocious design).

It would be terrible if it wasn't for the fact that Welch is worse, and is Satan's earthly form clearly.
 
Mr. Wonderful said:
Who seriously thought having her say "'kay" at the end of every other sentence would be a good localization decision?

When she's not saying that word, I don't mind her that much.

she does exactly the same thing in japanese saying "no yo" after absolutely everything.
 
Amir0x said:
Lyme is up there with the worst jRPG characters of all time, resting in hell next to Marumaro. If I was developing this game and had to localize a character like her, I would probably quit (but not before I rage deleted every piece of data on her atrocious design).

It would be terrible if it wasn't for the fact that Welch is worse, and is Satan's earthly form clearly.

Whhhaatt!! what was wrong with Marumaro..!
 
Amir0x said:
Lyme is up there with the worst jRPG characters of all time, resting in hell next to Marumaro. If I was developing this game and had to localize a character like her, I would probably quit (but not before I rage deleted every piece of data on her atrocious design).

It would be terrible if it wasn't for the fact that Welch is worse, and is Satan's earthly form clearly.
:lol

EDIT: Yeah, Lymle is basically the same as her Japanese counterpart. All of the characters are, for better and for worse.
 
Coxswain said:
Well, I assume I'm getting close to the end of the first disc, with the little emotional meltdown on the Calnus and everything, and is it just me, or was that scene totally Bizarro (may spoil another game from a few years back, read at your own risk)
Tales of the Abyss
? Seriously:

"Guys I fucked up really bad :("
"Nah don't worry about it"
"No, dude, I killed a whole goddamn planet, maybe billions of people"
"Whatever, not our dimension, it's cool"

I imagine that scene was supposed to have some emotional gravity or whatever, but I just couldn't stop laughing at how gigantic of a prick everybody is about it.

So I'm not alone in this thought. (Beware of spoilers for SO4 and a Tales game)

I mean, you're absolutely right in noting Luke's situation as the complete opposite. "Master Van did it! Them! Them! Them!" "Fuck you, Luke. We're ditching you." In Edge's case, I kinda felt bad for him, because nobody in their right mind should just brush off the fact that he was pretty much responsible for the death of 4 billion people while every one else was like "lol buck up Edge". And Reimi absolutely irritated me when she was like "I rule the captain as unfit to lead!" when it's so easy for everybody to be optimistic when they were not the one that made the decision. In this case, I could completely understand why Edge was reeling behind it for so long.

Not a major issue, but scenarios like this one really do irritate me more than they probably should.
 
I've essentially given up on stories in JRPGs, so it sounds like I might actually enjoy SO4's for the wrong reasons. I enjoyed ES' and TLR's precisely for how horrible they actually were. Marumaru was my favorite character in BD!

I... I need therapy.
 
i liked marumaro, he was obnoxious sure but he had charm.

lymle doesnt.

welch is irritating and i dont like the way shes been eroticized.

actually playing this game makes me wonder about how the character designer thinks of women, most of the female characters come across as someones fantasies.
 
Crap, I can't believe this is still happening, in 2009!!

The text is so small on my SD television, and it's a little blurry.

After I was done with the battle simulator (which was like torture), I thought I'd give it some more time, maybe I'd get used it.

But no, that was not to be. I guess I won't be playing this again for a while. :/
 
Aeana said:
Blue - Kill an enemy with criticals.
Pink - Kill an enemy entirely with special arts.
Yellow - Kill multiple enemies at the same time.
Green - Engage an ambush (linked encounter with two or more enemies on the field).

Thanks for this. Didn't remember reading this on the manual. i just had blue gems :lol

I wanna start playing again but the sparce save points scare me.
 
Welch is not as bad as Lymle because her delivery and voice acting is well done for what she is and with that quirky music in the background...Lymle's voice actress is awful in the delivery so that doesn't help the annoying "kay" gimmick they tried to implement...it completly fails...to someone who asked if the rest of the game compensates for the few bad voice acting(didn't meet Meracles(sp?),the cat like girl yet),only Lymle is bad so far so yes it's still worth it.The game is awesome so far(second planet)...my only other gripe like many said is the lack of save points in dugeon,I had to play 1 hour longer then i kinda intended yesterday because i couldn't save and not telling you how many items you have already when you want to buy or sell stuff.
 
Wow the synthesis system can make the game so broken. Pretty much all effects are stackable and you can even transfer ALL the effects of equipment between each other.

Spoiler at planet 4:
Just opened the colloseum and with a nice synthesized weapon/armor, everything up to almost rank 10 dies within 1 or 2 chain combos.

Berzerk lvl 10 + Blind side + AAA + Stampede Slash + Rising Blade + Cyclone Blade + Mystic Cross + Aura Spark = death for most combatants without being able to counter in between.
 
offtopic:

Jinko said:
Whhhaatt!! what was wrong with Marumaro..!

MARUMARO DOES DANCE OF FRIENDSHIP
MARUMARO DOES DANCE OF HAPPY
MARUMARO TALKS LOUDLY AND IS OBNOXIOUS BUT IT IS JUST HIS TRADEMARK SIDEKICK SCHTICK THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE CUTE AND ENDEARING BUT IS JUST HORRIBLE AND THE ESSENCE OF SHITTY WRITING

Fuck MaruMaro, I seriously almost quit at the point I met him he was so bad.

/offtopic:

Gig said:
Crap, I can't believe this is still happening, in 2009!!

The text is so small on my SD television, and it's a little blurry.

After I was done with the battle simulator (which was like torture), I thought I'd give it some more time, maybe I'd get used it.

But no, that was not to be. I guess I won't be playing this again for a while. :/

Playing HD RPGs on SDTV is a huge pain, I don't think I could do it.

Anyway my second favorite thing in Star Ocean 4 besides Blindsiding is the Bonus Board. It is so fucking addicting to try to get 150% exp bonus on it, and then when you're pulling in that huge exp when some little bugger gets in a lucky critical and takes away half of it you're like "FUCK ME NOOOO!" :lol
 
Gig said:
Crap, I can't believe this is still happening, in 2009!!

The text is so small on my SD television, and it's a little blurry.

After I was done with the battle simulator (which was like torture), I thought I'd give it some more time, maybe I'd get used it.

But no, that was not to be. I guess I won't be playing this again for a while. :/

I've gotten used to it, but I think the contrast is harder on the eyes than just the blurry text. Blurry white text on bright blue backgrounds..ugh.
 
TChirath said:
Wow the synthesis system can make the game so broken. Pretty much all effects are stackable and you can even transfer ALL the effects of equipment between each other.

Spoiler at planet 4:
Just opened the colloseum and with a nice synthesized weapon/armor, everything up to almost rank 10 dies within 1 or 2 chain combos.

Berzerk lvl 10 + Blind side + AAA + Stampede Slash + Rising Blade + Cyclone Blade + Mystic Cross + Aura Spark = death for most combatants without being able to counter in between.

This is what most Star Oceans are like. In SO2, you could completely break the game within the first 2 hours. I just love that tri-Ace gives you the ability to break the game if you want and yet, even with this powerful equipment the end/post game stuff is still challenging.
 
Played for another hour last night (I'm so far behind everyone else) but I'm already prepared to rescind my thoughts on setting up ambushes. It can still be a pain, especially to link up more than two, but a little patience seems to be going a long way, even on the first planet. I imagine that it will only get easier later on.
 
Kauza said:
Played for another hour last night (I'm so far behind everyone else) but I'm already prepared to rescind my thoughts on setting up ambushes. It can still be a pain, especially to link up more than two, but a little patience seems to be going a long way, even on the first planet. I imagine that it will only get easier later on.

It seems enemies have a set distance they can go, which makes setting up ambushes a pain if you try with any encounter you find on the map.

You'll have to find monsters that can move a good distance between each other's movement range. I saw one on the second planet that I could've gotten three with.
 
I hate Harpies and their devious bonus board breaking c-c-combo ability and just out of reach flying. My steadfast refusal to switch to anyone but Edge has foiled me once again!

I am pretty overleveled though, I think. Lvl 23 at the bottom of the
ship on the second planet
.
 
If you guys are OCD like me about playtime I just realized you can stop the time counter by bringing up the dashboard :lol
 
Is there a glitch that makes people forget skills? I taught Scan to Faize, and after I hit the second planet, he doesn't know it anymore?

Also, it drives me crazy when I'm trying to spin around to the back of a smaller enemy and end up running backwards into their back, which makes it a Surprised! encounter instead.
 
Relix said:
If you guys are OCD like me about playtime I just realized you can stop the time counter by bringing up the dashboard :lol

No it freezes the picture but the timer keeps going :(

Has anyone managed to find the 3rd cryptography yet ?
 
mujun said:
she does exactly the same thing in japanese saying "no yo" after absolutely everything.
Well they should have just had her mouth air rather than needlessly say "'kay?" every five minutes.

And people who have asked about pick-pocketing and party affinity, here is the section from the official guide on the subject:

Guide said:
"...you can't justify pickpocketing to your party. Whenever you attempt to pickpocket, there is a chance that one or more of your allies may notice, and their affinity for you will drop. ...Suffice it to say that if you pickpocket a lot, it makes it difficult to get each character's special ending scene at the end of the game. However, you can pick a few pockets without serious consequence."
So I'm guessing that there is no way other than moderation to not affect party affinity.
 
Mr. Wonderful said:
So I'm guessing that there is no way other than moderation to not affect party affinity.

or when certain party members leave your group, i'm assuming, they won't notice you pickpocketed...unless your party members snitch on you when they rejoin? :P
 
Damn I'm pissed. My game froze after a battle... it is just sitting there, doing nothing. Last time I saved was like an hour ago because the damn area I'm in has no save points, area after area with no save points. DAMNIT ALL TO HELL!
 
bah, I may just have to go out and buy the damn strategy guide. There's just way too much stuff in this, and I can't be bothered to hunt all the info down. Game is so, so addicting.


also,
down in the dumps grieving
Edge is pissing me off. Even more so then Lymle, which is pretty amazing.
 
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