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The ins and outs, the pros and cons

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Better than final fantasy (in my opinion)
Pros:
The characters are attractive and personable,I characters are annoying then you don't care about them , but in this game you can sympathise with every single character and some parts of the story are actually very sad.
The graphics are sensational, in some parts they can be a bit mediochre but in the towns and cities and inside homes and shops the attention to detail is very impressive.
The battles are a refrehing change to random turn based combat, you can engage in the fights and learn new skills, levelling up was always a drag in final fantasy, but in this game, it couldn't be more fun!
Cutscenes can be boring but if you soak up the humour in the dialouge and pay attention to the history of the story it can be extremley interesting, try giving the characters voices and reading the subtitles aloud instead of turning the voices on, it can be fun if you just engage and enjoy...
The story itself is in depth and very intracate..personally i love it, all the characters somehow tie into one another.You can even feel for the more minor characters early in the game such as Ameena and she creates a big impact on the story despite her insignificance, all of the random people in the villages say something of rellavence to the story, it's huge and extremley detailed and most of all, it makes you want to find out more and more and more!
Multiple endings
The fact alone that desicions you make can change the fate of the characters is enough to make you want to play to the end to find out what happens, a wicked feature.
The world
It spans across different planest all scattered with towns, cities, plains, desserts, fields, forests, dungeons and caves, with so may places to explore and so many different places to explore, Star ocean dosen't get boring.

Cons:
The battles start really overly easy and all of a sudden get pretty hard which comes as quite a shock, this isn't very good
Many of the caves and dungeons can be long and confusing, and you find yourself suffering from 'tomanyplacestogoneosis'
Just as things calm down and you want to buy some more blackberries a sudden chaange in the storyline occurs and you are summmoned to some skanky cave or something..ggrrr
The music feels innapropriate at times, I mean, annoying rock music in a long and confusing cellar...how damn irratating!!

I adore this game and it would have 5 stars if it wasn't becuase of it being a bit to hard...
It's easier and more fun than any final fantasy game on the ps2, I wold also suggest Kingdom hearts for the younger gamer as it is easier than most rpgs.

Buy it.

fun for the whole family

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was a gift for my brother and I have yet to hear a complaint.

Very Impressive!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game goes right up there with my favorites. (actually in the number 2 spot!) The world imagined for this game is very impressive, and I enjoyed every minute of playing this game. Highly reccomended!

Fantastic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

So my friend suggested this game to me, and in fact brought it over to show me the gameplay, etc. About two hours in, I was salivating in anticipation of buying my own copy. This is a great game.

It starts off in a sort of typical sci-fi, future-of-space-travel story. Derived from this, when you land on planets of lower technological levels than yours, you must take on the planet's inhabitants' culture. Think "Prime Directive", from Star Trek. No messing up native people with your weird technology. What this means for the game is you occassionally end up using swords, even though guns exist. The game takes a turn away from the fantasy, however, to delve into the realm of existentialism; interesting territory. Really, the storyline is nice and twisty, intriguing to the last.

The characters are very nicely designed- though some of the voice actors will irritate the snot outta you. And how you play the game influences which characters you can get in your party, and who you can use in the Item Creating Shops. Ah, Item Creation... not a necessary thing to master, but certainly fun. And rewarding; you can create many different items like weapons, armour, food, and the like.

The battle system is most enjoyable; it may be my favourite system altogether. In the normal screen, enemies are visible units; you can chose to fight them or avoid them. When you touch an enemy, you go to the battle screen, where you, your allies, and your enemies can move freely about during battle. You can button-mash and kill lower-level monsters, but for others you might need to use Symbology- Star Ocean 3's answer to magic. When you pull up the action menu, battle freezes, which is good because it really sucks when you're trying to set up a spell and some ugly wretch starts mauling you. You can also set up special moves on certain buttons.

It's really kinda neat how pretty much EVERYTHING you do in this game influences later events; there are many endings, which depend on who you have in your final party, and the relationships between those characters. Choices you make throughout the game change the affection levels of the characters, and thus the ending.

This game has a high replay value, because of the numerous endings, and the wealth of side-quests. In fact, the game doesn't even end after you defeat the final boss; there is a 'secret' dungeon you can play afterwards, which is nicely challenging and ends in a fantastic battle (read: cool boss).

So... I'd give this game a hearty 10/10

Great Interesting Story and Long Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a really nice RPG. It has a neat, never done story line which kept me guessing and had nice cut scenes. The game is also two disks and is very long. You wont blow through this game in a week and you get attached to the characters. Overall a nice Final Fantasy genre type of game.

Best. Battle. System. Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love this game. It has one of the most innovative battle systems I've ever seen, and I've played a lot of RPG's. The story is also quite involving and breaks the 4th wall most excellently.

...you can't knock them for trying I guess...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Star ocean...always trying to be as good as Final Fantasy. They tried and they definetely beat FF12. But this is NOT a final fantasy experience.

What you may notice is that the battle system isn't random. Now this non-random thing is pretty debatable because think of it this way: when it's random every now and then you would have to engage in battle no questions asked. In this game you have bump into your opponents before facing them, however most of the time the enemies are put into positions where it's impossible to get past them so it would make no difference whether or not it was random or noticable.

The battle system within the battles tries to be revolutionary by letting you move the characters close to the enemies and pressing buttons to use commands that you want. Although better than the gambit system in FF12 the only thing that's different to the ATB system is that you have to walk up to the enemies. Not revolutionary but a slight and unnoticable improvement.

The characters have their stories to tell but at points this could be irritating. The cutscenes are very very very very very very long. Some can be up to two hours and can be very tedious as they don't seem to have the RPG cutscene charm as much as other RPG games. But the characters are...intersting however you may never use some of the characters.

One of the most addictive parts of the game is the inventing system. Although simple this system allows you to invent, place patents, and become the top inventer as you watch your items being sold in the shop. However you need to pay alot of your money.

Buy this game if you're an RPG fan...if not you should buy something else.......God of War anyone?

Instant Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the best RPG games that I have played. Story line is execellent and unlike alot of games what you do in it well affect it at some point (mainly the endings). Character development is decent, similar is some aspects to "Legen of Dragoon" in that each character has their own set of abilities while at the same similar to the "materia" in "Final Fantasy VII" except that when mastered they keep it. It has what you'd expect in any RPG for characters one who's powerful, fast, spell caster, range fighter, and another who you can choose how you want it. It takes a little over 60 hours to beat depending on how complete you are. Graphics are good, playing it on PS3 does enhance them someone what and the game has a 5.1 surround sound option that truly uses the surround sound (example something coming over head would move from the back speakers to the front speakers). Also for those who find the game play to easy or to hard there is 4 levels of gameplay easy, normal, hard, very hard (in the game they are called "earth", "galaxy", "universe", and another that I won't spoil for those who have never played.

A must buy for any RPG collector

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Whether you're looking for hundreds of the best battles you'll experience in any RPG on the market or to fight for only what's necessary, the options are entirely yours. For some of us, however, the RPG that took almost a generation to arrive proves that it's indeed good enough to last us Till the End of Time.

Excellent game with some flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Personally, this game tops one of my favorites. This is the first game in the series that I played, and I was motivated to play it after exploring a prequel being made. I found the story to seem solid and the battle system to be adequate, so onward I went to find the game and play it.

Starting out, I found that for being on the PS2, it had rather good graphics. Most of the characters were well designed and their costumes looked very good. However, the amount of costumes were rather limited. Additionally I could easily pick out which characters were more developed in terms of graphics. For example, Fayt, the protagonist who is with his friend and parents on a vacation planet of Hydra IV, had a well-developed round face, hair that moved as he moved, and an overall had a nice look. Very early in the game you meet a group of circus performers and one is dubbed 'Ursus the Strong.' Looking at his design, you can see some not-so-great alignment in his costume and he has a somewhat mediocre look.

As with many JRPGS (Japanese Role Playing Games), story, dialogue, and characters are important. Starting with story, I must say that at the beginning, its simplistic nature was actually enjoyable although not original. However, as the game progressed, a major plot twist occurs and throws the game into a different direction and creates a very original atmosphere. Although I overall liked the story, the plot twist that happens makes the characters seem insignificant and the train of though can be confusing. However, most terms used in the game can be accessed by a very optional and helpful dictionary that outlines all the terms used in the game, whether it be a planet, race, or concept.

Moving on, we get to the dialogue. Be warned that this game has a lot of dialogue. Normally, that is a very good thing as it sinks the players into the game more. However, the dialogue could have been executed better. The voice acting was very good, but the pauses in-between conversations sound very awkward and out of place. If you like dialogue and story above actual playing, this game will give you its fair share, as almost every area has scripted dialogue.

As with every RPG, there is a great deal of design put on the characters. Fayt Leingod, the protagonist, is an Earth-born male college student who likes to play games (let's connect with the audience). He is a well-intended character who cannot refuse to help someone in need and will go out of his way to help them. The other characters all have background information that is revealed later in the game. Each character has their own unique personality; you have the good-willed, the happy-go-lucky, the hopeless, the annoying, the pessimistic, the reclusive, and the blunt. The wide variety of characters is sure to provide enjoyment for all to experience. Each character can in the end, according to a liking/affection level, be paired with Fayt in order to experience different endings.

Now, for those who want action, there definitively is enough of it. The real-time battle system is a different step from my adored Final Fantasy series. Characters have more control on countering, evading, and attacking. While you control one character, the AI controls your others. You can freely switch between each character and use them to your needs. Every character has a strong point and weak point, some times you might need a ranger, and sometimes you need a healer, or you might need someone to just melee. Either way, it can be accomplished here.

Star Ocean also removes "random encounters" that PLAGUED many other RPG's. Now you can see your enemies before you engage them. Strategically planning, you can avoid annoying situations which could not have happened in games like Final Fantasy or Lost Odyssey. Yet, like every game, there is a major flaw in the battle system, at least to me. Unlike traditional RPG's, mana, or MP, in this game can kill you if your character runs completely out of mana. In most games, your character can continue using physical attacks or regenerate mana. Unfortunately for Star Ocean, this is not an option. No HP or MP equals death.

Moving on we explore a wonder called 'inventions.' This is a unique feature which allows the players to create new items and even patent them and make money off them. Additionally, they can synthesize add-ons to their current weapon to make it that much more powerful. The different skills range from Cooking, Writing, Alchemy, Smithing, and more.

And so we reach the music. I am a fan of classical music and this game sure has enough instrumental music to satisfy me. The music ties in with the environment around it, i.e. fast-paced-music in battles, slow and eerie music in scary situations, and so on.

Combining all these factors makes a very enjoyable game. Sure, it has its flaws, but I ask for a game that does not. In the end, it is opinion, and it is my opinion that this is a enjoyable game. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes RPG's and a good story. Although it does not get a five from me, it is quite possible on my top three list on favorite games. I am dead excited for a sequel (but not a prequel).

Pros:
+Story
+Characters
+Battles
+No random encounters
+Inventions
+Music
+Voice acting

Cons:
-Weak dialogue transitions
-MP damage will result in death
-Some repetition
-Noticeable difference between well-developed and under-developed characters

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