Back then when I used to play so many xbox 360 games, I've finished Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope TWICE, including beating both Gabriel Celeste and Ethereal Queen during my first playthrough. My second playthrough was to clean up most other trophies/quests/items I missed during my first play, unfortunately a game freeze glitch occurred when I was 6+ hours into my first Wandering Dungeon run in my second playthrough totally put me into total frustration, and since then I've never touched the 360 version : (
Well almost 1 year after, I finally decided to play the game again, this time for PS3 - Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International. I know that someday I would replay the game again, hence I've pick the game together when I bought my PS3 early last year. And it was not until recent weeks that I started playing (after platinuming Dragon Age, then stopped midway to play Resonance of Fate).
Well almost 1 year after, I finally decided to play the game again, this time for PS3 - Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International. I know that someday I would replay the game again, hence I've pick the game together when I bought my PS3 early last year. And it was not until recent weeks that I started playing (after platinuming Dragon Age, then stopped midway to play Resonance of Fate).
Title: Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International
Developers: Tri-Ace
Platform: PlayStation 3 (PS3)
Genre: role-playing games
Release date: Feb 2010
The PS3 version, in short is just the slightly enhanced port of the 360 version, with few changes that made the game slightly harder. Among the notable changes include: Japanese and English voice option; Multi language text option; option to pick classic or modern interface; option to mute character/enemy's voice (god I LOVE this feature); and several in-game changes. These includes contents and element locks of some chests, addition of new treasure chests, and changes to some item creation recipe. I cant believe the simple Sacred Spear now required Crystall Skull to create -__- And lastly, the change to some Trophies, namely the Trophies for Battle Trophies. In 360 version, we're given a Trophy for each 10% of acquired BTs, but in the PS3 version, it's one every 15%, making the total Trophies for BTs collection to 7 (15%, 30%...90%, 100%) rather than 10 (10%, 20%...90%, 100%) in the 360 version.
One notable post-game change is that now Arumat's ultimate skill, Dragon Roar is now locked in a FLAME chest rather than Light in case of all other character's ultimate skill. Which means we now must travel all the way down to Gabriel Celeste's room to get the Water Ring before we can use it... I guess Tri-Ace knew how insanely strong this skills is that they decided to change the chest to flame so that players wont use cheap tactic of spamming Dragon Roar to clear the 7SD. Well didn't matter much to me, since I was mainly using Edge, Meracle and Sarah to run through 7SD, with the 4th interchangeable between Arumat and Reimi, and Bacchus in case of farming exp/fol against the Metal Scumbag, and Myuria in case of farming magical clay.
I'm using the Japanese voice throughout my run so far, and although they sound slightly better than the English version, some of the character's voice still annoyed the heck out of me. The option to mute character's battle voice certainly helped a lot to ease my annoyance toward the voice used. Guess who did I mute? Lyme, Sarah (For god's sake her character alone is quite annoying, luckily she was very dependable healer in battle) and Edge. I find Meracle pretty annoying in the English version too, but her Japanese voice isn't that bad, especially because she sounds a lot like one of my favorite seiyuu, Kitamura Eri (although it looked like she was voiced by different person with similar voice). I just wish we could also mute Welch's voice, OH AND MAYBE ALSO BRING SO3'S WELCH.
So Bad, Yet So Good
Yes, the game is that bad. A giant ball of cliche story, terrible plot twist that comes out of nowhere (hello Alternate Earth), lousy character and voice acting (hello Lymle and Sarah), awful dialogues that made me facepalm in every cutcenes. And yet here I am, still playing it and now sunk about 120 hours total into the game. Star Ocean 3 was terribad in in the 2nd half of the game, but Star Ocean 4 was 10 times worse - the character, the voice, the story. Yet the gameplay was so addicting that it somehow managed to make up for the catastrophic story/characters. The gameplay is just THAT good, probably one of the best JRPG battle system in recent years, maybe second only to Tales's (eg Tales of Vesperia) gameplay. The quests was massive, the item creation and equipment customisation were endless, and the extra dungeons were massive, added with some of the most difficult boss battles. I definitely had a lot of fun playing the game, I mean the gameplay. I guess Tri-Ace is just not good with developing good story but rather excels with gameplay (much like eg. Valkyrie Profile, Infinite Undiscovery and Radiata Stories), which alone warrant a reason to play SO4.
There's one scene/quest in this game that really touched me, made me sad comparable to the sadness of watching some of the sad scenes in NieR: the very last normal quest of the game, when we're asked to deliver a letter from someone in Nox Obscurus to his wife in EnII...really touch me that it almost made me cry to be honest.
Platinum Difficulty: 9.5/10
There's one scene/quest in this game that really touched me, made me sad comparable to the sadness of watching some of the sad scenes in NieR: the very last normal quest of the game, when we're asked to deliver a letter from someone in Nox Obscurus to his wife in EnII...really touch me that it almost made me cry to be honest.
Platinum Difficulty: 9.5/10
And the Platinum...well all I can say is getting Platinum is virtually impossible for me to get. Not because it was overly difficult- it's just that it will take extremely long amount of time to get Platinum - 400-500 total hours minimum simply because of the BT Trophies.
2 most broken skill in the game: Arumat's Dragon Roar and Reimi's Savage Sparrow, closely followed by X-Claw. Edge's Raging Strike is ridiculously powerful allowing you to deal max damage easily, but as it was a 1-hit skill, the damage is always capped at 99999 no matter how strong you are. Dragon Roar meanwhile can easily go over 200k damage in total, much eclipsing Raging Strike's damage output. So did Savage Sparrow too, which was even better considering the skill homes at almost all enemies in battles. And the most stupid ultimate skill: I'd say Lymle's Trinity Blaze and Bacchus's Godslayer.
p/s: Tri-Ace made awesome job selecting voice cast for Resonance of Fate (Both English and Japanese voices), I wonder if different people were in charge to select VAs for this game and RoF.
BT proress: Edge 78%, Reimi 78%, Faize 57%, Lymle 57%, Bacchus 69%, Meracle 72%, Sarah 66%, Myuria 67%, Arumat 61%. Total 605 BTs, 67% completion.
Quite a bit before I could reach the next BT trophies at 75%, aka 675 BTs.
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Since Will had read through all previous fragment, he found so many peculiarities in this world. Aside from the fact that Kinzo is still alive, he also was introduced with a new unfamiliar character as his assistant throughout this game– Ushiromiya Lion, which in this tale is the adopted child of Natsuhi and Krauss, and the true successor of the Ushiromiya family selected personally by Kinzo. It's not even told what's the gender of Lion as Lion's appearance was rather androgenic, but later it was evident that Lion is a female. Will also noticed that some of the servants (eg Shannon) seems unfamiliar with Lion, which means he is not alone who find Lion's existence strange. Additionally, Battler didn't come to that year's family conference, while the portrait of Beatrice which was hanged at the main entrance was not accompanied by the epitaph of the gold. Lion also had no recollection of the witch's legend, or the epitaph.
Anyway, Bern already set up barriers around the area, so unless Will and Lion solved the mystery asked by Bern, they will forever be trapped in that area. Will was granted with “Theatergoing Authority” – a power that allows him to interact with the person he touched in another world. Will’s started to investigate by asking various questions from almost every family members of the Ushiromiya family, which unfortunately provided him with the information that he already know (eg Rosa’s meeting with the Kuwadorian Beatrice, and Maria’s obsession with cult and magic). His meetings with Kinzo however resulted in some of the most important backstory of Umineko – about the Kinzo’s past, his meeting with the first Beato (named Beatrice Castiglioni). Briefly, in 1944 Kinzo met Beatrice when the Italian Army submarine that she board made an emergency stop at Rokkenjima, which at that time was a military base. It was during those times that the two of them started to become affectionate toward each other. It was then revealed that the sub also carry the 10 tons of gold which belongs to the Italian army. Consumed by greed, both the Japanese and Italian officials on that island started killing each other, eventually leaving the only people who's not affected by the gold, Kinzo and Beatrice alive. Beato and Kinzo, In the end, the gold belong to Kinzo who survived the incident, who then build his fortune and brought the entire island, building 2 separate mansion for his family and Beato.
Now that Will had finished asking everyone, he’s ready to solve all the mystery of the death of Beatrice. This Beatrice actually refer to the 3rd Beato – the witch Beato of 1986, and not the Italian Beato, or the Kuwadorian Beato. Will explained that there are 2 culprit involved in the death of Beato – the human who can create and kill Beato (the living cat in the box), and the human who can kill the entire concept of Beato (the dead cat in the box). And to her surprise, the dead cat is Lion herself. Will deduce that Lion is the alternate persona of Beatrice, because way she didn't even know about the legend of the witch. Basically, Lion is the same exact child that fell over the cliff on the incident 19 years ago, caused by Natsuhi's rejection toward the baby. In this extraordinarily rare fragment, somehow Natsuhi accepted the baby and the baby went on to live to be the present Ushiromiya Lion. It was also mentioned that Lion is actually the child of Kinzo and the Kuwadorian Beatrice, which can only mean one thing - due to her sheer resemblance toward her mother Beatrice Costiglioni, Kinzo committed the forbidden sin of impregnating his own daughter - the Kuwadorian Beatrice, and resulted in the baby that is Ushiromiya Lion. That explains the strong affection that Kinzo had toward Lion. And hence, Lion's existence virtually wipe the necessity of having the legend of the witch Beatrice, because Kinzo already had something important to him, which is Lion. Nevertheless, Kinzo deeply regretted his mistake and vow to atone for his sin by making Lion a proper Ushiromiya Head, or in other fragment, apologize with all his heart to the revived Beatrice before having his last breath.
With the mystery behind Lion's existence unraveled, it's time for Will to expose all the secret and truth behind the mysterious murder of Rokkenjima on 1986. For that, he asked the "culprit" to come forward and reveal the motives - the "why dunnit" aspect of the mystery. The motive, the reason why the culprit had to commit a game-like crime on Oct 5th 1986, putting even her own fate on the line. Another new character was introduced to personify the culprit - Clair vauxof Bernard. Clair then told a tale of her life which reveals the events from her early days to the moment when she solved the epitaph of the gold and become a true witch, which eventually leads to the motive of the mass murders. Her tale was told in 9 chapters in total.
Her tale began when she was chosen to become a servant at the Ushiromiya house at the very young age of 6 – although in actual she was 9 years old. The servant, known as Yasu, was the exact same baby that fell off the cliff 19 years ago. Somehow she miraculously survived albeit with grave injuries. Genji, fearing the worst possible future if Kinzo would commit the same sin again, decided to lie about the baby being dead. This whole tale of course would not happen if the baby did not fell off the cliff. Due to her young age, she still was lacking the necessary skills to do the regular work, so she often only helped other servant, while also completing her school. The fact that she became a servant at such a young age made other regular servants feeling uncomfortable, and for that reason, she was often scolded for her clumsiness and the way she often forgot to put her things. Until one day when she met and made a friend with a witch who often hides things she lost, named Beatrice (though in fact, she was Gaap in the appearance). Since the witch often pranks her, Yasu asked Kumasawa for an advice to avoid losing things. The charm she learnt from Kumasawa (string attachment and “omochikaeri” charm) drastically changed her as the witch often unable to hide her stuff anymore. At the same time, Yasu also developed interest for mystery novels.
Some years later, an incident totally changed her life. One day, she was introduced with the wonder of magic by Gaap, which totally charmed her and made her changed her way of life. That night, she told her roommate, Shannon (who is her ideal servant and was very close to her) that she want to quit as a servant and become a witch. And in that instant, she become a witch, erasing her memory from Shannon. And from that onward, Yasu become Beatrice, while the old Beatrice become Gaap. Beatrice feel content with what she had as a witch so far, but she still lacked something, as thought by Shannon – love.
It was somewhere in 1980, 6 years untill the Rokkenjima murders. The scene then switched, showing Shannon having a chat with “someone”, talking about mystery novel. It was a teenager’s chat, but eventually ended as what Shannon thought was a love confession, along with a certain promise made by that “someone”, saying that he will return with a white horse to take Shannon away on the next year. It was this incident that triggers the great misfortune on 1986. And that "someone" is none other than….Battler.
That year too, Battler’s “mother” Asumu died, and Battler got very upset that Rudolf immediately remarried to Kyrie, as if disrespecting his deceased mother. For that, Battler decided to forsake the Ushiromiya family and live with his grandparent of her mother side. Due to this incident, Battler did not attend the family conference for the next 6 years, completely forgotten about the promise he made with Shannon. One year after another, Shannon kept on waiting for Battler to the point that she suffers dearly from her love sickness. Added to her pain, Beatrice aka Yasu kept on saying that Battler would come back to Rokkenjima someday, giving a false hope to Shannon. Until 3 years later, on 1983, when Battler wrote each of the cousin letters, but completely forgotten to write one for Shannon. Her final strand of hope finally crushed when in one of the letter, Battler said he didn’t plan to return to Rokkenjima…For all these years, Shannon has been a living dreamer, creating illusion that is the promise made with Battler that she misunderstood as a confession.
Hence, Battler’s sin is not that he forgot the promise he made, it’s just that he simply didn’t remember making that promise. She’s unable to hate Battler, since he didn’t even break his promise, and this really hurt her feeling, because as long as she love Battler, her pain will always continue. Beato who feel guilty for giving Shannon false hope, decided to release Shannon from her pain, and hold Shannon’s bud of love to herself so that she can learn one aspect she lacks – love. And for that, she will also be the maiden in love with Battler and wait for his return to Rokkenjima in place of Shannon…
A year later, another miracle occurred as Beatrice somehow managed to solve the difficult riddle of the epitaph of the gold. It all started when Kinzo ordered the portrait of Beatrice to be hanged at the main entrance, along with the epitaph. Beato decided to try solving the riddle. It was indeed a very difficult riddle, which took her days to find clue and answers. That eventually led her to the Golden Land – the underground VIP room unlocked after she solve the riddles, along with the 10 tons of gold inside the room. Genji then came to congratulate her, saying how miraculous was it that the one who solved the puzzle is none other than Beatrice – Kinzo’s descendant herself. That brought her to Kinzo study, where Kinzo announced that she would become the new Head, and then deeply apologized to her for his past mistake (incest), and ask for her forgiveness. With that, Kinzo has no more regret in life, and passed away soon after. Nevertheless, Beato didn’t want to be the new Head as she already got what she want – learning about who she is. For that reason, she wish to remain her usual self, while Krauss becoming the new head. After all, her heart still was missing a piece – the return of Battler…
As a last resort, Beatrice finally decided to abandon everything and leave everyting to the choice of the roulette of fate, and the roulette chose the specific date – those days in 1986 as the day where absolutely no one could escape if the epitaph was not solved again. And with that, Clair/Yasu/Beatrice’s confession is over. Before she gave her final farewell, she want to entrust her final moment to Will – so that he could solve all the mystery behind the crimes in her games, as the last rite of her burial. And with that, Beatrice/Clair/Yasu’s tale had finally ended, all her riddles had ben “solved”, leaving her with no regret. Inside her coffin, there was the game tale written by Battler, which was probably the happiest possible tale for Beato – full with love and happy tale, most fitting tale to put in her coffin.
The funeral is over, and Bern released the barrier. With that, the core story of Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru: Requiem of the Golden Witch ended, and the funeral at the chapel Is adjourned…