Originally Posted by creb
They're both flawed games, so it's difficult to say which one you'd enjoy more.
Here's my take on both, as someone who's played every FF game as they were released (verse someone who's younger and caught up with them at a later date), as well as all the Star Ocean games. For the record, my favorite FF games are 7, 8, 9, 12, 6, and 4. I am middle of the road with 5 and 10-2, and think 10 and 13 (and 13-2) are absolute shit. I'd rather put chili sauce in my eyes than play 1-3. If I had to include the two MMOs, I really enjoyed XI from a story point of view, but hated it from a game mechanics point of view (except loved the job system), and think 14 was just an utter and abject failure in pretty much every possible way. I also think Tactics, and Type-0 are the only two FF-offshoots/side games worthy of being considered great, or even playable.
I'm also a big fan of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but find the rest of the games in the series to be middle of the road. I love JRPGs, and think it's stupid at the call for them to "evolve". It's like saying shooters need to "evolve", something no paid reviewer says ever.
I say these things to put my opinions on the two games you are asking about into perspective.
Final Fantasy 13
Anorexic female characters (except Fang, who would likely be up there as one of the coolest/best FF females ever, except...oh god...the mullet), though I admit they do mirror the body-image of super-thin Japanese girls who don't seem to have any body fat, so it's possible I'm being a bit harsh throwing the word "anorexic" around. Annoying child character in Hope. No world map, no towns, no real exploration to speak of, no real point in money or shops, and a battle system that's no more difficult than any previous FF games, while drastically increasing the chances of early arthritis. The story was also...just out there. Down at the level of the story for the FF: Spirits Within movie bad. But, aesthetics aside, the graphics were largely top notch. It's also probably the shortest main-line FF game ever made. Scratch that. It is the shortest main-line FF game ever made.
There is one sequel out, though despite having Lightning plastered everywhere in the promotional pictures, you actually play as her sister and a boy who looks like he belongs in Kingdom Hearts. I thought that game was pretty horrible as well, though I enjoyed the (intentional or not), rocker-hippie baddie for the laughs, if nothing else.
There is one more FF 13 game coming out that's a sequel to the sequel, and this time it appears you will actually playing Lightning. Not a whole lot is known, but it appears-so far-to look to be an infinitely better game than the first two. I suppose we'll have to see.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope International
It has actual combat that fits the button mashing you do. In fact, while the Tales series and Star Ocean series have the same root in their combat system, I find the Star Ocean version to be far superior. Assuming you generally enjoy JRPG stories, you should enjoy Star Ocean's. There may be some characters that make you want to dig your brain out through your nose with. Remember when I said something about Hope? There's an even more annoying little kid in Star Ocean, and a girl with wings that is more annoying than both. Plus a guy who probably secretly wants to be a girl. Between the two games, Star Ocean's characters are more goodie-goodie than FF 13's, and that's saying something if you've ever heard Snow give a speech. For me, the goodie-goodieness in Last Hope was borderline nauseating, but the gameplay was far superior to FF XIII.
You said you didn't particularly enjoy Till the End of Time, and if you didn't, then I doubt you're going to enjoy The Last Hope. The games share many similarities, though one stark difference is how nearly pointless crafting had become in The Last Hope, vs Till the End of Time.
By that comment of yours alone, I'd recommend you pick up FF 13, as it's entirely possible you'll enjoy it, while I think the chances are much less that you'll enjoy Last Hope.
For the record, I considered both games to be awful. As far as I'm concerned, the best JRPGs of this generation of consoles (in English) are: Lost Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles, Vesperia, and Last Story (probably rate Xenoblade and Lost Odyssey on the great list, and the others as enjoyable). I did recently play Valkyria Chronicles as so many had been telling me it was this lost gem, but it was just so bad. In a strange reversal, I thought the anime was infinitely superior.
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