Eh, I thought IU is better than Star Ocean 4.

can't compare an action-rpg with a semi-rpg (that's right, the transition between place and battle makes star ocean belong to another genre that infinite undiscovery.

i still have some questions :

1) noone actually told me exactly how much of hdd space was needed for both each disc and the 3 discs combined.

2) stricly story-lenght speaking, meaning not counting sidequests time, are the discs equivalent in lenght? i mean, if you would spend 30 hours on the story, would you actually play 10 hours on each discs or is there some lenght difference between the discs?  i'd be a shame if disc 1 would last 5 hours, disc 2 would last 10 and disc 3 would last as much as the other 2 combine, story time of course.

They are in the same genre. Both are action based RPGs.

And I told about the discs. Disc 3 is exactly 5.8 and I think Disc 2 is ~5.9 GB.

And it seems that Disc 1 is the longest and they get short as you go along. Disc 1 took me 25 hours. Disc 2 15 hours, and I'm Disc 3 now.

ok

I should clarify on what I said about putting your 360 on 720 resolution for Star Ocean. There are many many many users out there complaining about freezing during Star Ocean 4. I was one of the unlucky ones. The game freezes for me randomly during the animation after battles. It also freezes if I'm down to my last living character in a nasty boss battle--when I try to add that person into the battle the game would freeze. (Basically, this translates to: if you lose a boss battle, the game locks up.) This was happening to me so much on discs 2 and 3 that I almost completely quit the game. Then I found out on these very forums that putting your 360 on 720 resolution will stop the freezing--after I did that, the game never locked up again. And you will see no visual difference because that is Star Ocean 4's native resolution anyway. I would say play it at 1080 at first, and if it starts locking up on you, put your 360 down to 720.

As far as the end boss having a "kill everybody in one shot" move, he doesn't as long as you're powered up enough. My characters were all at about level 85 when I beat him. He fights really hard, but he's totally beatable. It just takes awhile and you have to use lots of ranged attacks. My strategy (SPOILER ALERT):

--Have Edge fully powered up in the ATK skill
--Use a powered up Lymle and Reimi for ranged magic/bow attacks
--Play as Meracle to manage healing potions, bombs, power up items and also to get in and do some absolutely devastating attacks when the moments present themselves. Have lots of physical and mental potions stocked up as well as items that will heal the whole party at once. (such as Perfect Berries)

Basically if you use that strategy, all you have to really concentrate on is keeping everyone alive, which again, I used Meracle for.

Addressing the disc length issue, disc one felt longer to me (I think I spent 14 hours on it, and about 10 on each of the others). It's important to note, however, that disc three has some bonus dungeons, so it probably has the most length, but this is not main story length.

Addressing the freezing issue, my game only froze twice during the whole 48-ish hours I have put into it, and I ran my game at 1080p the whole time. I also played every disc from the harddrive, so if it is a problem mostly associated with reading from the disc, then I think installing them is the best solution.

as adajio said, is the freezing issue there when you play the game on 1080 while the console read the disc or even with installation, the problem still occurs in that resolution no matter what?

because if it is a problem of resolution, i tried to changed my resolution from 1080i to 720p (do the freezes make difference between 1080p and 1080i ? ) and my console just put it back to 1080i without me asking for it, so if it only concerns 1080p or 1080 resolutions but only while discs will be read, installation can solve the problem, right?

i suppose the best would be to install and put in 720 p. lol.

thanks to you too.

Thanks to all and to your answers, i finally made my final choice about that game (which was already quite done before the questions but my choice was confirmed by that)

I preordered this :

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Ocean-Last-Limited-Collectors/dp/B00284ANW6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1241448744&sr=8-2

"Star Ocean: The Last Hope – Limited Collector's Edition contains:

• Limited edition Star Ocean: The Last Hope Box: Unique 'digistack' packaging with dual gatefold, inside a special collector’s sleeve.

• Star Ocean Soundtrack Compilation CD: The STAR OCEAN Sound Best Collection showcases key themes from across the series that are specially chosen by the game creators and series fans.

• Five Star Ocean: The Last Hope Character Cards: Collectable prints of lead characters from the game, using rare artwork not officially released in Europe and other PAL countries.

• Brady Games Official Miniguide: 32 page game guide printed in full colour, with extra character artwork, descriptions and walkthrough information - to help you on your journey through the universe.

• Three Star Ocean: The Last Hope Game Discs: Expansive galactic adventuring goes across three game discs, accompanied by full colour play manual.  " 

i preordered it on a uk site thinking it will help me to spend less money than on a french site (price was 52 pounds (55 euros) instead of 70 euros in france) but i did not foresee that they add "VAT", which put the game to 70 euros... why can't English (both american and british) sites speaks in "all taxes included price"...  well, with the shipping cost, a French game would have cost 80 euros, but still... making a 10 euros saving when i was thinking making a 30 euros saving... what a little disapointement. (and to think i will play the game in french and the guide will be in english lol, i could translate or begin the game twice lol) 

As for the soundtrack, i would have thought that it was a star ocean 4 soundtrack, instead it's a "all star ocean soundtrack"... can't be bad if they put "cutting edge of notion" (battle theme) from star ocean 3 in.

And to think they actually say "the collector edition contains the game", seriously what kind of a moron would think the contrary?

Well, it is released the 5th of june, amazon.co.uk told me it will arrive in my hands between 9 and 11 of june.

Thats what I'm gonna order the limited edition one

£54.99 seems kinda high but its still cheaper then Wii Fit or RE5 collectors edition which both cost $89.99US without taxes (which is roughly £60).