Exceeded Everything I Thought It Was Going To Be...
I originally chose 'Resonance Of Fate' over this based purely on thier trailers. I'm glad I did, I enjoyed Resonance more, but when I finally bought The Last Hope, I really wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. I'd played the latest one on the PSP, and after the first battle I literally didn't touch it again. I think just the battle mechanics or something pissed me off to no end within a minute, so I literally thought this was just an RPG to kill some time with before a new game comes out. Oh! Oh, but I was wrong. So terribly mistaken. From the get go the story had me raising an intrigued eyebrow. Earth dead, last chance for mankind, taking our ships out for a ride to **** up("Save") space...maybe a Kinder suprise for the trip =) ...
At times--no denying--the story just becomes some ball of sheer confusion, but thankfully it usually gets straightened out again for you, or turns out it wasn't too important and you won't really miss anything. It's a bit of a dodgy game to be playing--with the storyline, I mean--because it does risk some people just losing it alltogether, and this isn't the game you can jump in at halway through, even if it's not the story you care about, it'll be...
The battle system; what the **** you guys? I've been playing RPGs all my life and I still didn't totally understand it all until sevral hours into the game. Once you know it, it's like second nature, you're like; 'Oh, of course, of course.' but cramming it all into a 15 minute session at the very beginning and then leaving you to it didn't end up for the best...at least for me. Suppose it could all be just me =/ But, despite my lack of memory, battles can legitimatley get all kinds of ghetto-style reals. Everything tends to happen so fast you literally are driven off your RPG instincts. We all have one; debuff enemies and go sick, bail from enemies that might pose a decent threat, enhance yourself first, or just go sick and hope for the all clear at the end. I can't recall a system that required quite so much attention during combat, and I like that! Keeps you from--oh, Demon's Souls! You have to pay more attention in that game...there you go. Anyways, they're exciting once you know how it all works, otherwise it can become very one-sided, very quickly...
Gamespot says the voices suck, I'm not too sure on everyone elses opinion, but I didn't really have any problem with them. Some of the voices were really good; Lymle, Faize. And some--not naming names--sound like you're listening to the audio cut from Japanese porn...*ahem*she has wings. And the once who played Meracle should stick to Shin Chan...I would've kicked that cat in real life...and I love animals. They never make you cringe or anything, and they don't really effect the game, but I think for some characters: they could have made better casting choices...
None of that is to say the characters are't unique. Most of them turn out to be really interesting, and it really adds to the story experience. The fact that you can rename them too was nice, you don't see that in a lot of RPGs anymore...well, I don't. You will end up picking more then one favourite. And even the ones you don't like, you usually at the very least grow accustomed to thier face--if not--liking them a lot more then you originally had...
The scenery is beautiful. It's nothing that would make you **** yourself, but when the light catches some places right, you do kind of go back and alter the camera to exhale peacefully at it again, hehe. It's a very big world out there, too. My first playthrough took me hours to get through each world, as in far too many hours. Of course, this was not understanding the 'Bonus Board' in battle, so having, and then keeping an exp multiplier was very rare. Playing it back, they are still massive, but they're not so long that you'd just give up after a while, aside from maybe the quicksand cave later in the game *shakes fist*. There are only 4 worlds you can freely explore toward the end of the game, but there's a few that you only visit once, and from what I remember, none of these worlds were recyled from one another, in a sense that you won't come across the same layout, the paint palletes for grass etc., yeah, sure, but everything is still constructed(The meshes) individually. They don't re-use the same cave with a few alterations, they make an entire new one, when I suppose they didn't have to. Every company SHOULD, but it's up to them if they do or not...
****, how ****ing long is this review. I need to stop doing this. I'll end it here; the story will definatley live beyond your expectations, it's got so much depth, a lot of "moments" and you do want to see it through to the end, I think you'll be glad you did. It's worth it's money, and then some, with all of the extra sidequests and places to explore. If you're someone thinking of buying this game, take the damn risk, it's going to be worth it...