Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Farewell

Unfortunately, today is the day I have to give Star Ocean 4 back to the Library.  For those of you who don't know about this wonderful system, in Finland, the libraries carry video games!  You can check them out for 1 week at a time and if you want to keep it longer you can recheck it out for up to 3 weeks.  I find this to be amazing as I have very little funds and I wish to keep up with my hobby.

Its been an interesting experience and I hope that someday, if you all have time, you borrow it from a friend, or buy it used or new or whatever you do to get the game, and play it.  I wonder what my next game to play will be?  Since I have so many already, it is quite a difficult choice.  I think next time, I will choose a game for a different system.  I will talk to you all soon when I have made my decision!

Star Ocean 4; The Last Hope - Bonus Board

Something I found very useful throughout the course of the game is a little thing called the Bonus Board.  The Bonus Board is something you can see in the right side of your screen when you get into a Battle.  It has 14 crystal shaped spots on it.  There are 4 different colored "Crystals" in the Bonus Board, Yellow, Pink, Blue, and Green.  To get these colors first you have to perform a specific task inside of Battle.

For Yellow, you need to defeat 2 Enemies at the same time. After doing so you will receive one Crystal which gives the bonus of Extra Fol at the end of the Battle.  For the Pink Crystal, you need to defeat an Enemy with only Skill Attacks, and you will receive an HP and MP recovery at the end of the Battle.  For the Blue, all you need to do is defeat an Enemy with a Critical Hit.  Blue gives 10% extra EXP at the end of the Battle.

For Green you need to have an Ambush happen, to do this, you have to have 2 consecutive Battles without the Battle ending.  This can be done by having 2 separate Monsters chase you on the Overworld Map.  When they are really close to each other, run into them and it should cause an Ambush.  Green Crystals give 1 SP each at the end of the Battle, and are useful for when you are trying to raise your Party's Skills.

You can stack any of these Crystals for added Bonuses.  Be careful though, as you will lose the Bonuses if you turn off your game, or if you happen to receive a Critical Hit from an Enemy. Fortunately, if you get the Critical Hit from the Enemy you won't lose All of the Bonuses, but they can be significantly lessened.  Also, this can happen when you are Countered while performing a Blindside Attack, so be wary!

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Battle

This time I am going to discuss Battle.  Since you cannot go through this game and not get into one, this is a big part of the game itself.  To start off, on the world map you will see a Monster, and depending on how you make contact with that Monster is how you will start your Battle.  If you manage to run up behind the Monster, you will start a Pre-emptive attack.  This means that you will have a chance to attack the Enemy Monsters before they can attack you.  You start the Battle with about 5 seconds to hit the Enemy before they start coming after you.  If you run into the Monster face to face, the Battle will start normally, and both Teams will be able to attack at the same time.  If you have the misfortune of the Monster running up behind you, then the Battle will start up as a Surprise attack.  This means that the Monsters will start off trying to hit you and you have to wait a little bit before you can react.  In general it is always best to try and get Pre-emptive attacks on the Enemy because it starts the Battle in your favor.

When the Battle begins you have control over one of the Characters, and you can switch between Characters by pressing the R1 and L1 buttons.  You can run around by using the Directional Pad on the controller.  If you press the Square button when your Rush gauge is full, you will enter Rush Mode.  In Rush Mode, you will not get phased by attacks, and you will have a higher chance of performing Critical Hits.  Also occasionally you can survive a fatal attack when in Rush Mode.

If you press the X button you will perform a normal attack.  If you press X multiple times you can do a combo, combos usually are around 3-4 hits and you can change what kind of combos you do by holding the Directional Pad and  pressing the X button.  If you hold down the Circle button, you will start charging your Rush Gauge.  If you hold it down too long though, you will be dazed for a little while leaving yourself open for attack.  You can hold down the Circle button and press any direction on the Directional pad to do a Dodge.  Dodging is useful when you are being targeted by lots of Enemies and you need to get away from them.  When you are charging your Rush Gauge, and a Monster is targeting you, you will see a kind of Triangular Target on your character.  When you dodge during that time you will perform a Blindside Attack.  A Blindside Attack causes the Enemy to be temporarily confused and allows for a high chance of Critical Hits.

When you press the Triangle button, you will open up a Menu, that has 7 different options. Tactics, Change Members, Escape, Items, Symbology, Skills, and Setup. Tactics allows you to switch a Character's attack style when not being controlled by you.  Change Members lets you switch between Characters that are in standby.  Escape is for when you wish to Escape from Battle if things are going badly for you.  Items opens up your Item menu, letting you choose which Item you wish to use during Battle, after using an Item there is a small cooldown time where you have to wait before you can use another Item.  Symbology opens up the menu for all your Magic skills that your Character has.  If you select one your Character will start to cast it automatically, or in some cases after you choose a target to cast it on.  Skills opens a menu for your Character's Skills. Finally, Setup allows you to change your current equipped Skills with other Skills, this is handy if none of your Magic attacks are affecting the Enemy.  Also you can equip certain Skills to the R2 and L2 buttons for faster use.

If you stand still facing a Monster you have a chance of Blocking their attack, and the same works for them as well.  After defeating all of the Monsters a status screen will come up and you will receive some Fol and Experience.  Beware, you can lose the Battle if all your Characters run out of HP, or if they all become Paralyzed.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Bunny Racing

Today's subject will be about Bunny Racing.  Bunny Races are located in the Colosseum, after entering, go left or right and you will see a staircase.  After going down the stairs look to your right to see a woman standing next to a Big Pink Bunny.  Talk to her, and take on the Quest that she gives to you.  After finishing it, she lets you have the Bunny, which after talking to it, allows you to give it a name.  I named my Bunny "Hops."

Anyway after naming the Bunny, you can talk to it again and a menu will pop up containing its Status, as well as the option to feed it some pie.  The pies you are allowed to feed it are, Speed Pie, Acceleration Pie, Stamina Pie, and Miracle Pie.  My Bunny started off with Speed 15, Accel. 18, and Stamina 32.  After feeding it a Stamina Pie it's Stamina raised to 35.  I am going to assume that if you use the other pies they will raise the stat that they are named after, and that Miracle Pie will raise all or some of the stats.

To participate in a Race, you must have at least 5 Fight Coins, which can be won from the Arena, which is located on the floor above.  There are 3 Classes to race in, Class 5, which takes 5 Fight Coins to participate, Class 20, which takes 20 Fight Coins, and Class 100, which takes 100. Each Race goes up in difficulty as you enter the higher Classes.  There are 5 Bunnies participating in the Race, including yours.

During a Race, you can Coach your Bunny by telling it what to do.  You can have it Jump, which causes the other Bunnies to temporarily stop running, and you can Dash, which makes your Bunny get a boost of speed.  Dashing and Jumping cause your Stamina meter, which is located in the top left corner of the screen, to lower.  If you run low on energy, just let your Bunny run for a little while and the Stamina will refill a little bit at a time.

After placing 1st or 2nd in a Race, you receive Fight Coins as a Prize.  The amount is based on which Race you entered, and you get more than what you had to pay.  Getting 1st obviously pays more than 2nd, and anything lower than that receives nothing.  Races are 3 Laps around a figure 8 shaped track.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Monster Data

In this game there are 154 different monsters you can encounter.  After fighting any monster their information is placed into a bestiary called "Monster List" that is located via "Collections" in the Menu.  In the Monster List, you can see what monsters you have battled, how many times you defeated that monster, what items you can get from it, where you can find it, what type of monster it is, and how much Exp and Fol it will give.  This is very useful if you are trying to find a particular monster that you need to get some Battle Trophies or an item that you need.

Along with that information, you also can see "% Analyzed".  This goes up when you fight the monster a few times, and when you get it to 100% you can do something special to it.  Any monster in this game when at 100% can be "Transformed" into a special item.  Each item's abilities are affected by what type of Monster Data you decide to use.  To use this feature you need an item called  a Monster Jewel.  When you select the Transfer option for the Monster Data, you get a menu that shows what type of item it will create.  When you choose to create the item it becomes a wearable accessory.  Hope this helps!

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Battle Trophies

Today I wish to discuss something that is both fun and aggravating at the same time.  Something known as Battle Trophies.  You should already know by now that the game has Trophies you can earn by completing certain tasks, just like all the other games for Xbox360 which get Achievements, and the games that were made after 2009 for Playstation 3.  Well this game has Trophies inside the game called Battle Trophies.  These Battle Trophies work virtually the same way, in battle if you perform certain tasks you are rewarded.  There are a total of 100 Battle Trophies for each character in the game.

There is a point to collecting all of them, when you complete a certain percentage of these tasks you unlock things on the game.  All of the rewards are the same for each character, but the tasks are different.  At 30% you unlock Additional Battle Voices Set 1, at 50% you get a Level Cap Increase, at 75% you get Additional Battle Voices Set 2, and at 100% you get More CP.  Also I would like to add that if you are going to be going through secret dungeons, then it is imperative that you at least get 50% of the Battle Trophies for each character, for the Level Cap Increase is vital in gaining strength.

Naturally, you want to get 100% because you will get all of the rewards and More CP means that you will gain more points when you level up so you can max out your skills faster.  I find this to be a useful tool in the game, because it gives you something to work towards, especially when you will have to battle so many enemies throughout it's entirety.  I also find this to probably be the MOST annoying thing about this game.  If you want to get the Trophy, you have to complete all the character's Battle Trophies 100%.  This wouldn't be so bad, if some of them weren't based on luck. For example, Edge has a Battle Trophy where the requirement is to "Recover HP to the Exact Maximum Capacity."

Not all of the Battle Trophies are so difficult though, and you will probably fill out most of them by just going through the game and battling.  In total, there are 9 Characters in the game, so be prepared for a long and grueling process if you are aiming to get them all.

Some of the Battle Trophies are hidden, so you have to try and figure out how to do them and what they are.  Each Character's Trophies are based on their skills, so some of the Battle Trophies are easy to guess.  Overall I do think that Battle Trophies are a useful addition to the game, and if you want to get the Platinum Trophy, you must complete them all.  Have fun!

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Arena

I have been working my way up in the arena for a while now.  For those of you who don't know how the arena works, you can enter into either a Solo, Team, or Survival Tournament.

Solo Tournaments are where you choose a single character and fight one enemy at a time.  Each character has a separate ranking starting at 103 and goes all the way to 1.  You are able to challenge enemies that are 3 ranks above you, which will raise your rank faster. In the Team Tournament, you fight using your whole Team of Allies and the ranking works the same way, except instead of each person having a separate rank, the whole team now has one.  Adversely, you have to fight a lot more enemies and this can prove to be more of a challenge if you don't level up your characters.  Finally, in the Survival Tournament you fight using your Team, and it goes on for 10 Rounds, after winning each round you are offered the option to back out and take what you have earned.  If you continue you double what you have earned so far and keep fighting, if you lose you don't receive any Fight Coins, but if you fight all 10 rounds you are rewarded with a nice amount of coins.

Also before each Tournament you are allowed to Select a Type of Item set you wish to bring with you, there is an Offensive Set, Curative Set, and a Strategic Set.  Each set has different items based on what type you chose.  Offensive Set contains attack items, Curative contains Healing Items and Strategic Set has more stat boosting items.  The amount of items you can use differs for each Tournament, but they contain the same items.

If you want to survive during Solo Tournaments, I suggest you learn how to use the Blindside feature, because it is needed for some of the enemies later on.  I will also add that when you Blindside an enemy you have a far higher chance to score a Critical Hit on them than when you are in Rush Mode.  Be warned, some enemies come with the ability to Counter a Blindside attempt. You have to watch out for when the Target on you is Red, do not perform the Blindside.  Instead, wait for it to be either Yellow, or Flashing Colors. Unfortunately you can be hit out of a Blindside, if the enemy is performing an area attack or if the enemy is too far away from you.  One thing that can Counter a Blindside Counter, is being able to perform another Blindside Attack.

You gain this ability by leveling up your BEAT: S (strike).  There are 3 different types of BEAT that you can equip your character with during the game, those are Strike, Burst and Neutral.  Strike and Burst level up throughout the game from battling and they raise some stats depending on how high leveled you have them. At rank 20 Strike raises your ATK +100, INT +100 and HIT +78. Strike gives you some nice abilities for Blindside Attack like being able to perform 2 Blindside Attacks and Increased Damage to Blindsided Enemies.Neutral does not rank up at all, nor does it give any extra abilities, but offers some nice stat boosts such as, Max Hp +20%, ATK +100, INT +100, DEF +100, HIT +78, and GRD +78.  Burst offers Max HP +20%, DEF +100, and GRD +78, but along with that you receive an Increased Chance for Critical Hits during Rush Mode, and MP Cost -25%.

After you win any of the Tournament Battles, you receive EXP and FOL just like any ordinary battle, along with Fight Coins which amount is determined by what rank of enemy you fight.  Fight Coins are used to trade for weapons and armors at the counter on the right in the Colosseum. One great thing about the Colosseum is that if you lose during a match, the game is not over, you just lose the match and have to heal your character.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Secret Dungeon #1

Well, I just wandered into the first secret dungeon, and guess what?  I got massacred by the first monster I tried to fight.  Guess this is going to be a lot harder than I thought.  Better start grinding on exp and materials...
Thankfully since this isn't part of the main story I don't need to bump my original score for the game down.  I forgot how hard these games really are.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope

Today, I reached the end of Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International for the Playstation 3.  It took me about 110 hours to do that and I think it was well worth the time.  Overall the game gives me a good feeling, offering great graphics, beautiful landscapes, interesting character designs, good music, a semi-decent story line, and awesome battles.  In the beginning the story was pretty good, it kept me wanting to know more, and it made sense.  Near the end of the game though, I started to feel a little lost because of the piles of events that were happening all at once.  Also, near the end it started to get pretty depressing.  I felt that the characters were mostly developed fairly well.  Though I think it would be nice to have a little bit better voice acting.  The movements of the characters were really good, they almost seemed like humans.  My favorite character had to be Edge, though Faize was a close second.  I have to add that there were outrageously long cutscenes that made me feel bored and uninterested.  There are still things left for me to do on it now, like doing some extra dungeons and finishing missions etc.  Overall, I would give this game a 7/10.