Fourteen hours into Star Ocean: The Last Hope, I think I can declare that Edge Maverick is the most pathetically naive main character of any Japanese RPG I’ve played. I’ve played a lot of them, but if there is one that features an idiot of greater magnitude, my memory fails me.

Apart from that, the game is somewhat enjoyable. Edge and his merry band of sycophantic invertebrates have some appealing characteristics and the story and setting remain engaging.

Actually, do you know what Star Ocean reminds me of? It reminds me of the book Angels & Demons. I read all the way through Angels & Demons despite thinking it was the most ludicrously contrived piece of crap I’d ever read, and while I don’t feel nearly that level of antipathy towards Star Ocean (perhaps because the latter has a cute half-naked loli catgirl and the book does not), I still have to suppress myself from rolling my eyes during each cutscene. I will play on and see if any of the characters grow a backbone and some testicles.