RuminInLove | Star Ocean: The Last Hope #40 - FINALE/FINAL BOSS - A Misunderstood Game / Finale Thoughts & Defense @RuminInLove | Uploaded August 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Theory: Amina was a bad omen. The cloak she gave Faize was cursed and so was the pendant in her hair.

Want to see Faize ending on a second playthrough?? Be sure to SMASH that lik- I'm just kidding lmao I'll do a Faize ending video if I feel like it, like's and engagement don't factor into this channel's decisions (though they are appreciated).

Cons:

-Saving takes 30 SECONDS!!! You're going to save around 60 times over the course of the game, which means you'll spend 30 whole minutes saving!

-Can be hard to lock on to the enemy you want.

-I hate to snobbishly list this as a "con" but some of the characters and private actions are unbearable. Meracle has a terrible character design with a terrible personality. Myuria is overlookable (I guess) since she's about as sexualized as Arumat, but her design doesn't even match her personality and the giggle physics in this game are incredibly over-the-top. Did Sarah, of all people, need such uncanny giggle physics? At least give Arumat giggle physics as well (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Myuria is shown wearing a much cooler outfit in a flashback, that would have been much preferred over her final design. Then there's Welch. I like her design and the dance she does when you create items, and I suppose I also appreciate the enthusiasm from the VA, but I'm glad all her scenes are skippable (unlike some other cringy scenes).

Pros:

-Great exploration, visuals, combat, and a visually interesting menu that's a huge stylized step up from the previous games.

-Crafting is more streamlined. As long as you have the right skills to boost drop rate, you can should be able to craft without much RNG or trouble.

-A much needed sprint button is appreciated.

-A great story, as much of a hot take as this is. I do like a lot of the characters. Edge, Reimi, Faize, Lymle, Bacchus, Crowe, and Arumat and all good in my book. Say what you want about Sarah, but she has one of the only genuinely funny scenes in the game (the nightmare scene). I also like how she saved Reimi at the end, that was a good pay off for her mentioning she can't fly in every cutscene like a broken record. And screw it, I even sorta like Myuria, I just think her design is hArDcOrE cRiNgE, dUdE!... And then there's Faize, who is one of my favorite characters in all of Star Ocean. The plot itself has many interesting beats and adds many ways to theorize and discuss Star Ocean lore. Some of my favorite cutscenes in the series are in this game. The music plays at perfect times making the cutscenes atmospheric and each story beat impactful.

-Great customization. Being able to customize the ship with furniture is a nice touch, and you can even turn off the blindside animation if you wish.

-A great, imo, bonus board system. You can level up reaaally quickly in this game, much quicker than you could in the previous games. Some enemies in the final dungeon give 40,000 exp by default, and with the proper bonus board you're looking at well over 100,000 per battle.

-Great soundtrack, as per usual.

-Able to swap out active and reserve party members during battle. A simple thing that is easy to overlook, but is much appreciated.

-So far, this feels like the most balanced Star Ocean game. Every character can do something ridiculous and over powered.

The Last Hope playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlwskU9UwXjyu-SXaP_DnDv-e5A2RYfdz

ALL Star Ocean games playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlwskU9UwXjy1GVrI-Q-ydGyk4CYFeGCA

#starocean #squareenix #rpg Star Ocean: The Last Hope [#40] - FINALE - A Misunderstood Game / Finale Thoughts, Review & Defense

Let's Play Stats:

Time taken to get to final boss IRL: 33 hours

Time taken to get to final boss in LP: 21 hours, 46 minutes, 44 seconds / Around 12 hours cut from IRL time

Game finished IRL when episode 16 published.