A New Year, and Goodbye Star Ocean 4

The New Year has just descended, and with it, new possibilities and games. Before I move on to new ordeals, I'd like to take this moment to say farewell to a great RPG: Star Ocean - The Last Hope International.

After over 6 months since obtaining the last battle trophy, I've finally secured enough platinum trophies to make this one my 100th, and on December 25th, to boot. It was fun while it lasted, and I'm being completely serious.

While this game may be one of the most feared games among trophy hunters, I really think anyone who likes JRPGs should try this one out. Great music that kept me entertained throughout the 450ish hours it took to platinum it, and really only had one subpar track (Roak's battle music). Tracks like 'Blood On The Keys' (regular battle theme), 'Don't Be A Hero' (phantom battle theme), 'Stab The Sword Of Justice' (EN II battle theme), and 'The Incarnation of Devil' (secret boss battle theme) never got old, and kept me entertained throughout the journey.

If you find yourself complaining about the grind being boring, try screwing around a bit. It's got "International" in its name for a reason. Try changing the language settings. Who knows, you might learn some new words. Since there's so many ways to tackle the dreaded battle trophies, try finding ways to decrease the time you spend paying attention to the game. For instance, when going for the infamous 30,000 kills, I used a method that didn't require me to look at the screen at all, so I could have gone to a different room from my TV monitor, and still would be able to grind the kills no problem.

Only thing I'm not too fond of are the voices, which were muted after the first 100 hours. This might have been beneficial, as people complain about the game freezing. Strangely enough, I hadn't encountered any freezes ever since the first phantom battle on Universe difficulty (froze twice on that one battle). Bottom line: got freezing problems? Turn off the battle voices.

Overall, it's been a fun ride, and I wouldn't mind doing it again. Definitely not the worst grind I've done (that dubious distinction goes to Mugen Souls). Sadly, too many unplayed games await me, and thus, it's time for me to delete the game data and move on. I'll still be listening to the OST every now and then to remember the times I spent with this lovely gem.