The Star Ocean series

Come here to talk about the Star Ocean games: the original, blue sphere, Second story and Til the End of Time. And what you want in Star Ocean IV.

I am nearing the end of Till the End of Time, and really want The Second Story. There were a few things about the game that really, really, really bothered me though, much as I love it to death.

Characters: why make so many? I mean, for more then half the game, you are stuck with Nel, Cliff and Fayt, and the others don't start joining till you reach the 40 hour mark (permantly I mean, star ocean has an annoying habit: characters join you for like, 10 minutes, then join you 40 hours later. Mirage doesn't join you until you are scampering off to the last two dungeons. Which seems pointless.) I don't understand this. The way the characters jump in, then jump out again dosn't really add to the plot. I think on the contrary, the game would have been more interesting if Sophia and Peppita crash landed with Fayt (would have made it easier too), Mirage joined you and Cliff, Roger didn't leave you in Duggus Forest, ect. ect. There were so many oppertunities to add new characters, but they didn't. By the time Maria joined, I was thoroughly sick of Fayt, Cliff and Nel. I think Nel ought to be the heroine, she spends more time with you then Sophia does.

I. hate. Elicor.
Why does so much of the game have to be set there?
Star Ocean is meant to be a sci-fi game, so why set almost all of it on a medieval planet? We just got off Vanguard, I don't want to see another one! The whole Airyglyph/Aquaria conflict was really not that interesting to begin with, and they stretched that until it BROKE. It's amazing how they can say "a sci fi universe", when there are like five sci fi locations you can visit. I really wanted to visit the New York and Paris they show in the opening intro!

Races
Why make so many races? Most of them have one or two distinguishing feature, (if any), and you don't even meet most of them, let alone play as one. We don't see even one Felinefolk, so why make two kinds? Most of them are just different kinds of humans, which seems a bit stupid to me. The only playable character who dosn't look human is Roger. But I don't see why it would have killed them to make a Featherfolk or Felinefolk character.

Sorry, sorry, I had to get that out. Star Ocean is still my favorite game on PS2, believe it or not. I can't wait to get Second Story!

I own Star Ocean: The Second Story. The game was great, but the voice acting really gets on my nerves. I got to the second disk untill I lost my memory card. I'll probably go back to it someday...

Originally Posted by Feline Witch

I. hate. Elicor.
Why does so much of the game have to be set there?
Star Ocean is meant to be a sci-fi game, so why set almost all of it on a medieval planet? We just got off Vanguard, I don't want to see another one! The whole Airyglyph/Aquaria conflict was really not that interesting to begin with, and they stretched that until it BROKE. It's amazing how they can say "a sci fi universe", when there are like five sci fi locations you can visit. I really wanted to visit the New York and Paris they show in the opening intro!

The whole Star Ocean series is like that. Little bit of space in the beginning->Most of the game, on a "Undeveloped Planet"->The space/plant melded together for a final battle.

Honestly, the series is great. It isn't one of my favorites, but the battle system and invention system is pure genious. The Private Events are pretty great too, albiet, not in Till the End of Time.

I got about 3/4 way through the original Star Ocean before I lost my data. It's too bad, but I'm not going to cry about it. I've been about 10 hours into The Second Story for about a year at least now. I don't know if I'll ever finish it. It just never grabbed me.

I have the same story as Mr. Wonderful, actually. Well, as for progress, I'm less sure of but I beleive I found myself in a snow based area and that was about it(that's not a spoiler, is it?). Anyways, I suppose I enjoyed it. The interface is nearly indentical to Tales Phantasia(except, perhaps from the battle engine prespective) and I liked it a little, even if got a tad repetitive for me at times. The engine kind of fails me at the moment, but it gives us something more fresh than the standard turn based games(and the ATB gauge as well). The game was tedious at times, but for the most part, it was pretty fun.

Originally Posted by Frost Guardian

I have the same story as Mr. Wonderful, actually. Well, as for progress, I'm less sure of but I beleive I found myself in a snow based area and that was about it(that's not a spoiler, is it?). Anyways, I suppose I enjoyed it. The interface is nearly indentical to Tales Phantasia(except, perhaps from the battle engine prespective) and I liked it a little, even if got a tad repetitive for me at times. The engine kind of fails me at the moment, but it gives us something more fresh than the standard turn based games(and the ATB gauge as well). The game was tedious at times, but for the most part, it was pretty fun.

Yes. The world and graphics in general were pretty much Phantasia's with more texture added to them.

I was at Slyvarent looking for...Relics, I believe. All I know is that backtracking through the whole game to find the things was going to be a heckuva lot of tediousness without faster means of traveling other than walking. (For those who don't know: The game doesn't have a world map. It's connected ala Till the End of Time, but in 2.5 persective.

My awesome memory fails me once again, but wasn't there a means of transport that was faster than walking and let you bypass any enimies at the same time? I think it was some type of monster, was it? Anyways, some questions out of curiosity for you guys. In the original Star Ocean, did ya pick Ashlee or Cius? And your secret character(I beleieve that the slots didn't allow for all the characters to be in a party during a single run) or just the general party setup? I beleive I had Ratix, Iria(sp?), Cius, Ronnix, Fear, Marvel, Joshua, Milly, and the ...cat girl. Well, from what I can remember.

Oh, so you spend most of the game on underdeveloped planets? That's a shame. I think the game would be better if you hopped from lots of different planets (all in different degrees of civilization, from places like Earth to places like Elicoor). Maybe they could be small planets like Vanguard, or maybe the size of Aquaria or Airyglyph.

What characters do you use in the games? I only have End of Time, and I like using Sophia, Roger and Peppita. They are around level 80 now.

I wonder why they dropped so many elements. They should have kept light and dark, at least. I still think Void and Vaccum are pretty much the same thing, as are Light and Star. I wish they had made the spells more interesting, not all the water spells had to feature ice, and all the wind spells be lightning.

I really hope they haven't given up on this series! If they made it look as flashy as Final Fantasy (which is made by the same company, they could say: from the company that bought you Final Fantasy........it would make it sell more, even if Enix made it before the merging) it would definitly sell more, if the spell effects were as good as Crystal Chronicles and X or X-2.

I hope they make another Star Ocean game, it's become my favorite RPG on PS2. Until then, I'll wait until Phantasy Star Universe.

The first time I played Star Ocean the second story, I loved it. All the character choices, all the seperate story lines, all of the powerful weapons. But above all, I am absolutely overcome by the dual hero system. Over all, Renas story was better because Dias Flac is and will always be the coolest character in that game.