God bless JRPG developers. Without them, videogames’ sole vision of humanity’s future in space would be filled with space marines and overly serious alien races sporting dense vocabularies. But with them, well, it’s a completely different star-smocked universe populated by giant pink bunnies, shortcake-baking brunettes (among other dismayingly well-endowed extraterrestrials), and plenty of intergalactic goodwill in the face of multi-tentacled dungeon bosses.

Now that’s a future we could all live with.

But tri-Ace’s whimsical space epic Star Ocean: The Last Hope isn’t completely tethered to its cutesy wackness — beneath all those fruity layers of anime-style melodrama is a twisty-turny tale and an addictive formula for RPG gameplay. And it all stems from TLH’s initial premise: Humanity has basically sucked the life out of Earth through mega-wars and pollution, forcing our species to scramble beneath the planet’s surface. But it’s become increasingly unbearable, and with space travel a recent practical solution, you suit up as newbie space cowboy Edge Maverick to head into the inky reaches of the galaxy and scout inhabitable planets for your peeps.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. Finding a new home for humans eventually spills over into run-ins with asinine Earth-bound bureaucracy, spooky hive-minded meanies, and galaxy-wide threats that push you through all 50-plus hours of Last Hope’s far-flung journey. So, thank god for a good battle system. Last Hope favors the fast with a real-time combat system that keeps your adventure clipping by at a speedy pace. No turn-based chumpery here, folks — instead, you’ll manually control your character (any of the game’s eight party members are on-the-fl y controllable during battle, depending on which ones are in the active four-person combat) to move around the battlefield and strike with regular attacks, spiffy special, stackable attacks, and/or something called “Blindsides.”

Truth be told, we didn’t even know what Blindsides did until about halfway through the game. And then we discovered that they were ESSENTIAL for getting through the rest of it. Pulling one off involves good timing when you’re being targeted by an enemy — do it right, and you’ll slo-mo shuffle to your adversary’s vulnerable backside for some critical hit-level whacking. In some boss fights, executing Blindsides is the key to surviving. And they don’t even feel jazz-hand-y or gimmicky. They add an interesting dynamic by forcing you to actually do the opposite of what your gut tells you to do during combat — stop, look your enemy in the eye, and wait for them to fully target you before acting. Ballsy stuff, especially when you have only two healing berries left.

But something else kept tugging at us during our run-through: Despite different settings, there’s something very Infinite Undiscovery about Last Hope. In a good way.

tri-Ace’s first 360 RPG laid down some interesting groundwork with its real-time combat, trademark item-creation system, and occasionally breathtaking character graphics, but Infinite Undiscovery ultimately stumbled under its own weight and lack of polish. Last Hope, on the other hand, takes all of those elements and ratchets up the level of TLC. Character models are lovingly detailed, especially during in-game cutscenes. Item creation is much more sophisticated and allows “teams” to invent recipes for items, weapons, and more. Side quests are numerous and better implemented. And the story feels weighty and well-thought-out. Yet Last Hope contains many of the same themes as Infinite Undiscovery, so if you’re a returning visitor to tri-Ace’s dimension, don’t be surprised if it’s all pleasantly familiar.

Of course, improved doesn’t mean all the rough edges have been smoothed over. Last Hope’s universe still seems a little small. More planets, more dungeons, and more towns might be overkill, but no one’s ever complained about too much to do. Voice-acting? Better, but it still sports a noticeable limp. The sheer number of side quests is awesome, but they lack specific guidance. (“Uh, where do I get those items from again? Anyone? Help?”) The camera feels a little too far out on the field map and too limited all around. And Last Hope’s most egregious sin? Long stretches of cutscenes, dungeons, and fighting without save points. Seriously, we played the last three hours of the game without being able to save. We really do love you, Star Ocean, but at one o’clock in the morning, we just want to save our game and go to bed.

Can we forgive the game this trespass? Oh god, we’re such pushovers… but definitely, yes. Last Hope is just engrossing, enjoyable, and ridiculously charming enough for us to skip a little beauty sleep. And despite our grumbling, once the game ended, we still longed to linger a little while more in Star Ocean’s satisfyingly fluffy, bunny-filled universe.

On Xbox 360

+ Addicting mix of battling, questing, and storyline.

+ Satisfying number of extras, goodies, and secrets.

- Needs more save points and more direction in side quests.

? Was that the first intergalactic fist-bump in a JRPG? Ugh.

8.5