Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

I am a Star Ocean fan. I liked all the past games and find them only to get better. This game was no exception.
If you know what to expect from the series, then you will not be disappointed either. Much like in Star Ocean Til the End of Time (PS2), the story moves a bit slow at the beginning and it takes a while to assemble your entire cast of characters. (Like 20 to 30 hrs) But thats ok, like I said, If you know how this series is, you wont be surprised. In fact, its got that nice Star Ocean "classic" feel to it. :)
The battle system is much like the previous games as well. Its got a real time action battle system. Like in Tales of Vesperia (360) You control one of the 4 people in your team. You can use whoever you want. And every character has there own traits and combats differently. I found that the AI controlled characters that werent being contolled held there own very nicely. The battles are fast and fun. One of the added features is the ability to blindside an enemy. You hold down B while targeted by an enemy and quickly choose a direction then your character does a slow-mo maneuver behind the enemy giving you some critical hits. Its very fun, and very helpful in tough situations.
Enough about the battles, the Story. Well, thats probably the one thing id knock it on points for. It doesnt start out very good, so its hard to wanna keep going. This happened in previous Star Ocean games, so I knew if I held out and got farther that it would get better. And it does. It really does.
SO, to sum up (I dont like writing long reviews). This game has all the components that the previous Star Ocean games had, Private actions, cool item creation, actiony battles, a very unique cast of characters, a good story if you have the time, lots of endings and over 100 hrs of gameplay time. If you liked all that before. I suggest you pick up this game.