With Friends Like These...Star Ocean: The Last Hope

So it's like this. Skyrim comes out in two days. I have it pre-ordered, and am getting a little antsy. I had thought I'd be finished with Yakuza 4 by now, but at 28 hours in and only 15% done, well, unless I can somehow elongate time, it ain't happenin'. So to quell my gaming addiction, I've been going back and completing decks in Magic: The Gathering: Duel of The Planeswalkers. I can just jump in, scratch the itch, and jump out. So that's when J.D. Goodness loans me Star Ocean: The Last Hope. I simply can't have a game unopened in my house. I have to take a look at it. I have to see what wonders it doth hold. So I put it in, and to my jaundiced eye, it looked terrible. Another bunch of androgynous tweens running around, some terrible voice work, and an OHMYGOD overarching story with cosmic stuff thrown in. Bah, I said. It looked like someone tried to make a video game out of Thunderbirds without paying Gerry Anderson's estate royalty fees. But then JD points out it got good reviews. From who? I wondered. And what parents' basement did they email them from? JD tells me. And these are names I recognize. Justin Haywald, for one. So....damn it all. Skyrim comes out in two days, and I HAVE to go back and look at this game. I have no choice. I cannot lie on my deathbed and think, "If only I'd played Star Ocean, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't feel this desolate."