For any of you interested, I just threw up a preview of Star Ocean: The Last Hope at GameInformer.com. The game started a bit slow, but I was pretty smitten with the battle system once I got a hang of it. If I can ignore the sometimes appalling voice acting, I think I may pick this game up. I just have to see if I can convince myself to take on an RPG when I could play several other titles in the same amount of time. Check out the post after the jump!

“RPGs are inherently a double-edged sword. In tough economic times they unquestionably give you the most bang for your buck – keeping a completionist busy for months at a time. On the flip side, role-playing titles are demanding and time-consuming, leaving some gamers who want to keep up with the steady slew of critically acclaimed releases avoiding them.

Realizing that playing most RPGs is nothing short of an epic undertaking, we acknowledge that a handful of hours aren’t enough to judge a games merit. However, it is enough time to get a feel for the basic plot, characters and mechanics found within an expansive title. This is exactly what we set out to do this week when taking on Tri-Ace’s Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Read on for our impressions and to learn what you can expect on launch day.

Boasting the name Square-Enix means several things, the most obvious being that the consumer is in for a visual buffet. In this regard Star Ocean doesn’t disappoint, beginning the game with a stellar opening scene that is a bit intimidating in scope. For those of you familiar with Star Ocean lore, The Last Hope’s premise is already known to you. For the rest of us out there who may not have ventured into Star Ocean territory before, the basic plot is as follows. In the year 2064 A.D. Earth was at a crossroads. Two dominant factions waged war against each other, leaving the planet and all its inhabitants crippled by worldwide nuclear fallout. The inconceivable damage forced the factions to call a ceasefire, but the ramifications were irreversible. Humankind was crippled.”

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