It's a shame really that we Europeans had to wait for an extra six months for Star Ocean: The Last Hope, the latest installment in the Star Ocean franchise developed by tri-Ace, and published in by Square Enix like we're used to.

Better late than never we say, as we take a closer look to gameplay, characters, story, environments, and all that which you should know before plunging heads first into the store to buy this game.

You should know that no matter the effort, due to limited time I spent on the project, I was only able to play a fraction of the huge universe Star Ocean has to offer. Still, I think it's enough to form an opinion and to let you know what you should expect from it.

Story says that even though the Third World War ended in 2064, its repercussions were so severe that humanity had to focus its attention to space, in order to find a new home. The newly formed Space Reconnaissance Force, or, in short SRF was in charge with ship development and space exploration. The big breakthrough came in 2087, with the discovery of space warp, a faster than light way to travel across long distances. This wormhole was named because of its looks the Star Ocean.

The beginning of space exploration age caused a general reboot in how we mark time, and thus year 2087 AD became space year 0001, or 0001 SD.

Our game takes place ten years after this major event, and thus is a prequel to the original Star Ocean.

But, fear not, it still features a lot of its trademark elements like lush and powerful colored graphics, a complex real-time battle system even if the game is a complete RPG in every way, midi-like instruments music, and anime looking characters.

That doesn't say much however for the newcomers to the Star Ocean universe. The "starter kit" for a Star Ocean newbie should inform her that this particular RPG is an interesting mixture between Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with much heavier anime influences than your average Final Fantasy. So this kind of reads "not for everybody". But if you do like it, and especially for a Final Fantasy fan chances are you will, Star Ocean can offer an everlasting experience, hundreds of gameplay hours, a lot of customizable and evolving RPG characters, and a meaningful experience in general.

The main hero in this story is Edge Maverick, and he is accompanied from the beginning by Reimi Saionji. Of course, the characters repertoire expands further as you progress through the game, and you can actually play with four characters in your party further on. You can also switch characters live and replace them with the ones that aren't in that party and are "sitting on the bench".

Given the complexity of the game it is a relief to find out that you can only control one character at a time, and the computer AI takes care of the rest. Still, the computer is pretty efficient in using abilities and you'll only be annoyed a little because he spends a bit too much mana or resources on trivial fights.