Star Ocean: The Last Hope - Reception

Reception

Famitsu awarded the game a total of 34/40, composed of a 9/9/8/8 score.

Overall, the game was far better received than Square Enix's other next-gen console RPGs such as Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant, both of which had mixed reviews from critics. IGN awarded the game a score of 8.0. In its review, IGN stated that despite the rough pacing in the storyline that could be told in a much more engaging manner, tri-Ace and Square Enix's latest RPG holds together quite well with action-packed gameplay. One of the small annoyances encountered during the game is the disc-swapping, which requires players to switch discs if they need to travel between planets later in the game. The review also feels that the Japanese voice track should have been included as an option in the North American version, as the English voice track and lip-syncing are horrendous. IGN gave The Last Hope International an 8.5, applauding the inclusion of the Japanese voices, and the original anime portraits. X-Play gave The Last Hope 4 out of 5, stating that the story is epic, engaging and well-paced from start to finish, and combat is frantic, complex and smooth. X-Play criticized the game for having bad voice acting, and objectives that aren't always clear to lead the player. TeamXbox awarded the game with a score of 8.5, praising the balanced and addictive combat which allows the player to bring both strategy and gaming skill to the fray. The Official Xbox Magazine gives a score of 8.5, citing the addictive mix of combat, quests and storyline as a plus, but criticizes the long stretch of cutscenes and a lack of save points around.

The game has sold 166,027 copies in its first four days on the Japanese market placing it in third place behind Blue Dragon and Tales of Vesperia for sales of Xbox 360 games in Japan. 24,584 Xbox 360 units were also sold during the week of February 16, 2009. The Last Hope has since become the best-selling Xbox 360 game in Japan, with 208,438 units. As of May 31, 2009, the game has sold 450,000 copies worldwide.

GameZone's Steven Hopper gave The Last Hope International an 8.5/10, saying "With the inclusion of the Japanese voice track, this is the definitive version of The Last Hope, and a worthy purchase for Japanese-RPG fans. While the core game hasn’t changed from the original 360 version and there are a couple frustrating issues, this is definitely a solid RPG and a good investment of time."

PixlBit gave The Last Hope International a 4/5 stating, "If you own a PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and are looking for the definitive version of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, look no further. The PlayStation 3 version has no disc swapping, while the Xbox 360 version spans 3 discs, and it also features Japanese voice-overs. Finally, the game features a variety of other small enhancements that improve the overall experience in the PlayStation 3 version."

1UP gave The Last Hope a letter grade of B- and The Last Hope International a letter grade of B stating about The Last Hope International: "The PS3 version of Star Ocean 4, while coming out a year after its 360 counterpart, at least brings a few highly desirable additions. For one, you can listen to all the game's dialogue in Japanese -- a feature more games should include (It even made me want to play through the game without the voiceacting turned off completely!). And you can swap the game's menus to a brighter, more anime-inspired look. If, like me, you thought the 360's 3D character portraits looked out of place, it's nice to switch over to the original Japanese art."