Dview: Star Ocean: The Last Hope (Xbox 360)

The Bottom Line:
Star Ocean: The Last Hope, sometimes called Star Ocean 4, is the fourth game in the series.  This is probably the second best of the three games that Tri-Ace were released on the 360.  In general term, this is probably my third favorite RPG this generation. 

What else should you know... this game comes in a spindle case and is 3 discs.  There seems to be some slighlty annoying disc swapping when you reach disc 3 and backtrack to complete quests.  i guess you could call this an epic game.  i have been playing through this recently and having problems, like freezing on the final boss fight, that i haven't had happen before.  For some reason it seems harder than i remember.  This is an action RPG with multiple difficulty settings.  Overall, it is a good game with some issues.
Grade B-

What to Expect:
* Action RPG, so some button mashing with special skills mapped to the triggers for quicker access
* Cutscenes, some kind of long
* Some strange characters, especially Wlech, 'kay
* Without spoiling too much... the whole save the universe plot
* Character Endings based off of affinity (with 2 hidden) via private actions
* A mid-story (sort of) outlook change for the main character to overcome (though not soon enough)
* Fairly deep crafting system
* A bunch of sidequests (many are orders from shops you encounter)
* Battle Trophies - 100 for each character: some grinding, some sadistic
* Camera that sometimes seems possessed, though you control it (close to wall and camera don't typically work well together)
* Traditional big bad boss structure
* Learn to blindside and get used to it. 

Achievements: 
i think that the best word to describe the achievements for Star Ocean the Last Hope is sadistic.  The types of achivements range from battle trophies (each 10%), collecting data, creating items via crafting, opening treasure chests, completing sidequests, getting character endings, a mini-game acheivement, some for the arena, a couple difficulty related ones and two for the bonus dungeons.  i haven't completed it on a more recent playthrough yet (close).  On my that other account i beat the game, but only had 510/1,000 gamerscore.