It's been a long time since I've made a blog, and as my last one was about Star Ocean: The Last Hope, so shall this blog be as well.

This story on Kotaku, informs us that the US release date for the highly anticipated release of Star Ocean: The Last Hope has been moved....in the good way. It's now set to release on February 27th, a week before it's initial March 3rd release date. Granted, it's not much of a move, but a week can seem like an eternity when a game you've been anticipating for, oh let's say, two years is finally close to being released. This is awesome news in two ways: This game is closer to being released, and there's a bigger gap between this and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2's release. It should be mentioned that only the US release date has been changed.

I'm a little worried that, with the game's release so close, I might be attaining over-inflated expectations of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, as was my problem with Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I mean, I enjoyed it, but even so, I feel my expectations led me to not enjoy it as much as I could have. Then again, SO3 seems to receive quite a bit of flak, which I can understand I suppose. The story wasn't all that strong, but then again, neither was Star Ocean: The Second Story's ....story....

As the game get's closer, though, I find myself anticipating the Bonus Dungeon more than the actual main game. Weird, I know, but it was the same with Inifinite Undiscovery. The thought of being able to go through another tri-Ace bonus dungeon was what got me through IU's pretty craptacular main scenario. My fondest memories of playing through Star Ocean: The Second Story were mostly in the Cave of Trials.

Another thing I wonder about are the Achievements for Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Till the End of Time had a battle trophy system for completing different objectives, and there were 300 in all. While that's a lot of shit to complete, it made the game a bit more entertaining. It was nice hearing the little chime and seeing the trophi----.....well, I guess anyone who has a 360 knows what it's like. Still, I'm not aware of any limitations when it comes to the maximum number of achievements a game can have, but it'd be interesting and hilarious to see if there are 300 achievements in The Last Hope. Achievement whores would probably loathe this game were that the case.

Looking forward to hearing more news about Star Ocean: The Last Hope as it's release draws ever closer.


P.S.: ([SPOILER:] Having Faina be the Ethereal Queen in IU's Seraphic Gate was genius[/SPOILER])

P.P.S.: Also, Happy New Year.