Star Ocean First Departure R | Revo Reviews
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 авг 2024
- Star Ocean was a series I've had my eye on for a while, and its first game's remake got ported to the Switch! I picked it up, and here are my thoughts!
Credit for the Super Famicom gameplay:
/ redrum868
Please consider donating to my Patreon for just $1 a month!
/ zaffrerevo
Follow me on Twitter!
/ zaffrerevo
Also join me for some fun streams on Twitch! / zaffrerevo
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:40 - Presenting Space
5:58 - A Starry Ocean's Story
12:32 - Playing in Space
21:04 - The Verdict 
Игры
For anyone wondering, don’t let this review or this game turn you away from the Star Ocean series. At its best it stands next to Tales in story and gameplay. Star Ocean The Last Hope actually having my favorite action rpg battle system ever followed by Tales of Graces and Ni No Kuni.
Exactly if you're going by his video Tales of Symphonia is the oldest game in the Tales franchise he's played. In his Tales of Graces F review he said it had the worst AI in the franchise, that's how I knowwithout a shadow of a doubt that he has never played Tales of Destiny.This may be a remaster of a remake but this game at its heart is a game from 1996. And for a self proclaimed huge fan of tail series as he is this review of Star Ocean would by his own standards make him hate the first 4 Tales games. The way of getting the hidden characters in Star Ocean is much less obtuse than it is to get the hidden characters in Tales of Destiny and Eternia. Also Eternia was the first to introduce Manual. He's complaining about how I hear spells stop the entire battle. I wonder what he thinks about Tales of Phantasia because 90% of that game has 3 mages with Cless. And unlike Star Ocean ,Tales of Phantasia every single spell stops the action. Klarth,Mint and Arche don't have physical artes either.
I love the star ocean series expect the new one.
I just started playing this game after watching this review and I can CONFIRM that there is in fact a run button.
you have to remind yourself that this game (or any retro game) are a product of its time. you cannot judge it by comparing it to fairly recent games. its like us commenting on your math skill when you were 4 yrs old and saying you cant perform derivatives/integration.
random encounters were the norm then (chrono trigger being an exemption), so does the art style. back then this game was a gem and you have to come to a mindset that retro games would have its limitation today.
but saying you hate it just because of a crap ton of random encounters is a bit much. hey, maybe kids back then enjoy this type of game because they have the time to do so
(no internet, no games popping out evey 2 weeks, less distractions, this may be the only game they have until next christmas).
You take that back about pre-rendered backgrounds or we’re gonna fight.
I hate most of reviews of this game because they are very harsh to the remake of the game. It is excellent in my eyes!
To sum up the Star Ocean series, it’s basically Tales: guilty pleasure edition, with a bit of sci-fi, and soooooooooooommme more budget.
More budget ??? Did you spend yours on drugs ???
@@sag2057 What an original roast. No, but each SO game came out within relatively short windows of a Tales game. SO4 and TOV came out around the early-mid lifespan of the seventh gen consoles. As did SO3 and TOS with 6th gen consoles. They the star ocean games tended to be more impressive from a graphical standpoint, the Tales games just LOOK better bc the art style made for better looking characters. Rather than the baby doll anime emotionless character models Star Ocean had. SO5 definitely had a lower budget than TOZ and Berseria tho lmao.
@@stevenanderson7620 yeah its definitely about the artstyle of each game
this is the video that starts your slow descent into madness
that segment at 7:00
Looooool that was exactly how star ocean faithlessness and integrity felt to me
bruh this series lol. heard good things about the second and third games but they're looking like diamonds in the rough
@@ZaffreRevolution 3rd game is really good though. Think that if you want the best the series has to offer go with 4 Last Hope. At least in my opinion.
I adored star ocean TSS so much, and had no idea this was available for switch. Thank you!
"Now it's grind time" Wow. Someone says that besides me. Well I thought about getting this game, but I think I'll pass. Thanks for the heads up.
haha you might like it! but yeah not i
Missed your vids!!!! Nice way to start the evening!!!
missed making them! thanks for being patient with me
@@ZaffreRevolution Dude. You are awesome! Don't forget that!!! High or Lows your supporters will be here for u!
*lowkey was really considering playing this and is now walking away with a better appreciation for Last Hope*
lmao you could probably still enjoy this game! but i didn't. like, at all lol
As a fan of both Tales and Star Ocean, I completely understand where you're coming from and wholly respect your opinions of it. First Departure never made much of an impression on me, and I certainly wouldn't have recommended it to you first whatsoever. I'm sorry that, of all things, was where you started. SO3 has a ridiculously good battle system and the skills/item creation make much more sense, and SO4 (while not well-received by SO fans) seems like something you'd vastly prefer. Second Evolution is phenomenal imo, but I don't think you would like it. Overall, I hope you have a better experience in the future, should any others come to Switch, but I appreciate you being honest instead of faking enthusiasm over this series.
I hope you can find some enjoyment in the series Zaffre. P.s. nice review dude!
Waiting on your second story r review:)
This game does truly lack, but I would recommend other star oceans, that isn't this one, particularly Star Ocean till the end of time. The entire series isn't this bad.
i'll definitely give other games a shot if they come to switch then, but i dunno if i wanna go out of my way for the games anymore haha. glad to hear it's better from here tho
@@ZaffreRevolution Till the end of time is one of my top games of all times, This game, however, looks like they had limited budget only enough to make a 1-2 hour game, and then purposely stretched it to fill time. Throw all of the long animations, the crazy slow walk speeds, etc. Which that kind of thing is HORRORABLE in today's market when there are tons of games out there, and not enough time to play them all.
That all said in their defence, people would have complained if the game was too different from the original, but they should had gone farther in the art, movies, and walk speed, and probably several other area's while still holding much to the original. Just some usability things.
@@ZaffreRevolution If you do play another SO game, play the third one. I remember 4 being fun to play, but the characters are hella cliche. It's very... anime. While you obviously like anime style games, you also seem like me and value a cohesive cast with likable and interesting personalities. 4 just doesn't have it (Faize is one of the better characters and... well... ) I don't remember the story much, but story isn't a make or break thing for me the way characters are. Pretty sure I'm the only person in existence who loves Welch from 4, and that's only because Laura Bailey made her sound so cute. If you are a sensible person who thinks she's annoying, then you will dread synthesizing bc she talks constantly while you work.
Anyway, 3 is great! Guarding still isn't an option, but you actually explore space! The plot twist of that game was completely unexpected the first time I played. You're rewarded for exploring (although it might feel like punishment at first because the item you earn cuts your movement speed significantly. But then you just sell it for ridiculous amounts of money and you're good) You basically feel like a god at the end of the game. Then you take your new found god powers and do all the hours worth of post game content!
It's really unfair for you to compare it to much modern rpg. Much can be said the same for the older tales series like phantasia and eternia. The battle system always sucks with star ocean I know but one of the main attraction for me on that series were the crafting system, if you can exploit the crafting system the game won't be much of a grind.
17:41 Oh that's what Semi-auto is.
Okay knowing this now is gonna very helpful.
even though you didn’t like this game, i HIGHLY RECOMMEND trying out Star Ocean Till The End of Time. it seems like exactly what you’re asking while also refining some of the issues you had with this game.
I took that all the way into the post-game, all the way to Freya. I couldn't beat her. With her seemingly insta-kill with Ether Strike.
Interesting to see this come up. I have only ever played one Star Ocean myself and that was Star Ocean 4, the one that takes place before the other games from what I understand. The plot is fairly meh, but I did like half of the cast, mainly the ones that actually had significance to the story (wow, the first game was like that too huh? Oddly all party members in SO4 are mandatory), and from a technical standpoint, it's actually great. Definitely looks sharp. :) It does visit the planet Roak and tie in with this game briefly. You'll hear familiar music there too. You might particularly enjoy it right on the heels of this one.
Gameplay wise I actually think it's ahead of its time, with one of the few battle mechanics I've EVER seen that allowed me to actually ENJOY fighting enemies that weren't very good fighters. Blindside, especially with some of the later skills you get for it, allows you to have fun even against dumb opponents. But what really makes it ahead of its time is that the BEAT rank skill system in the game basically lets you choose which extra gameplay mechanic (Rush Mode or Blindsides) you want to buff. The Rush Mode line is more arcade-y, stats-boosting, random crits etc. whereas the Blindside lets you focus on a skill-based method of getting critical hits. I've had discussions with other Tales fans where I got the feeling not everyone is like me, wanting the gameplay to be more and more action-y, preferring the more RPG elements. This system would be PERFECT as a way to bridge that gap. Give people a skill tree that make things feel more like an action game and another that makes things feel more like a technical RPG.
Other things I liked included switching characters in battle actually being done through the pause menu, and when you do, it actually moves the camera TO THEM before you unpause, so you can see where they are and what they're doing. If they're in a bad spot or they're stuck in a casting animation, you can change your mind without losing time. You can also switch characters into battle that aren't in the party, so you can plan on using more than 4 party members and you're not dead until all of your members are out for the count.
Even though the story wasn't great, I didn't mind it. It had plenty of charm to me. I like that the main couple actually interact romantically for freakin' once instead of teasing the whole game. Their dynamic is also more mature than it seems at first glance. Some awkward bits here and there aside, it's not just 'hot-headed, immature dude + his cool-headed smart girlfriend.' The main character is actually canonically very smart and sometimes he's more mature than she is. If you do try playing it I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I personally find it hard not to want to replay it yet again from time to time, especially in the Summer which is when I first got it.
EDIT: Oh yeah, there's definitely no random encounters in SO4 either. :)
Star Ocean is underrated. As is Y's. Tales of Arise is THE best Tales experience I've EVER had.
With that being said, there have been a MASSIVE amount of Tales releases over the years...a lot of which have just NOT been good.
You have to remember that Star Ocean has had VERY LITTLE actual, original releases, in comparison.
SO: Second Story is a masterpiece and anyone who HASN'T played it...is missing out.
I see exactly where you're coming from and I can greatly relate. I was about 1 chapter away from finishing the game, had at least 4 characters at level 70-80, and I too was annoyed by the random encounters and the spell casting animations, I did a lot of character switching for that reason.
I... actually really like this game, but I can also see why you feel the way you do.
Then again, I came into it with my expectations tempered, and this was basically remade in a PSone game's engine. I'm a HUGE fan of prerendered backgrounds, and I really love the way the backgrounds look in the game, and the world map is a bit rough, but it's also nostalgic. Well, for me, at least.
Also, I'm sure there are like 80 other comments that say this, but you can hold ZR to double your walking speed, but I don't think anything in the game tells you that.
EDIT: Also, pretty much every game in the series is a huge leap over this, even the PSone sequel. And they do have some space exploration, too.
Star Ocean 2 is much better and more polished! :)
Judging from your opinion on the battle system,I can conclude that you wouldn't enjoy classic 2D Tales so much since those games have almost the same problem,even though it's less on Tales
That being said,maybe you need to start from 3D SO
Yooooo. Basically an old timer gamer here. Last console I played is PSP lol. Atm I'm playing Seiken Densetsu 3 on SNES, which I always avoided cause I was a die hard turn based rpg fan and started playing them in mid 90's. French Canadian, mom and dad couldn't speak English and pretty much over 3/4 of kids at my school didn't know English at all. As we were still in an English province, all releases were US. French games, I never imagined possible in my youth XD. I pretty much learned English from RPGs. First game was Breath Of Fire 1. Seven year old or so. I managed to beat the game without changing gears. Hello grinding I suppose? The translation is awful with very limited story but, i didn't understand a thing so whatever lol. I managed it man Haha. Bro and sis played and step dad, who knew next to nothing of English, was the one who played first and introduced us. So yeah. Discovered Tales Of games at around 10yo and holy shit. Now I'm rediscovering since I was a teen all the RPGs this world offers XD. And didn't see a need for ps3 and ps4 and I rarely game now. But last night I've run into one of your Tales Of Vesperia videos and man I could talk about Tales Of Destiny 1 and Tales Of Eternia just the way you talk about TOV.
PS. Your narration is the best I've ever heard on RUclips, ever. And I've been on RUclips forever XD.
Thing is, I've played TOD1, TOE, and Tales Of Phantasia... and Tales of Legendia..... Soooooo. After I've watched your vids and listened to you just yelling how much you love Vesperia, I've planned on buying a PS3 and PS4 and play all the available English versions of Tales Of on those consoles. I'll buy TOV on XBOX 360 (First time ever I'm happy my daughter has a xbox) and then I'm lost about which to play in what order. I'm confused in which is available or not in English too. And all that blah blah for this...
Think you could suggest me a game plan? :D hope you read this and excited about/expecting a reply :D. Matt
Have you played either of the newer Atelier Ryza games? (Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout or Lost Legends and the Secret Fairy) Been wanting to try them but you're my go to JRPG reviewer, I've enjoyed every JRPG you've recomended especially Tales of Bersaria/Zesteria
in the original if i am not mistaken, there was no world map… no?
Yeah you’re right. The original had zones between towns, no overworld at all.
I played Star Ocean 1 on a SNES emulator years ago and pretty much had the same experience when it came to battles and level design. I then gave it another go when the PSP remake came out and was amazed that while the graphics had been completely redone to look like Star Ocean 2, the level design, the battle system and even the lackluster story (which was apparently cut down on the original SNES game) remained almost exactly the same. I am flabbergasted to see that they just ported that game, made some new character portraits and called it a day. Star Ocean 2 has a lot of similar problems to this game but there were a few things that were better: there's much less need for grind, they incorporate the optional characters into the story way better And the main plot has much more of a sci-fi element than this game had.
does anyone know if this series gets better?
Yes.
At Star Ocean 3 and Star Ocean 4 The Last Hope with battle systems being different from each other and the 4th game to be the only game ever to allow you to continue to play the game after your first 4 members die.
this game remembers me so hard at grandia 🧐
I tried it out on sale. But i wish i watched this video prior. This one was hard to play as a newcomer, and you pointed out all the reasons why
Funny, in the second game back when I played it for the PS1, I also didn't know about the skills until near the end of the game, but for me it was at the final dungeon where the bosses there are killing before I reached the final boss. But for you in this game: this is definitely a huge case of a newer generation gamer not liking an older generation game, especially since it's battle system is more of an improvement of the second game's battle system (You don't have 2 moves you have 4 moves, 2 for short range and 2 more for long range and I think you can set them anywhere despite the fact that some moves are better at long range and some are better at short).
Anyway, since you're not playing the Tales series in any particular order, I suggest you would do the same with this series and skip straight to Star Ocean (4): The Last Hope as i believe it has the best unique battle system in the entire series, with it's rush/blindside system where you dodge at the last second to get behind an enemy and deal a huge amount of damage from it. You can chain Limit Breaks together like in Tales of Berseria, there's a bonus board system that works like the Kudos system in Gunvolt where you can get bonus Exp, money, and items (or was it SP?) which will break if an enemy scores a critical hit on your controlled character among other special conditions that will cause it to break, such as your controlled character dying for example. And for the best feature that is sorely needed in ALL JRPGs *switching out your entire team should the first 4 fall in battle.* I don't think I've seen the "swap out your party members in mid battle" mechanic EVER to be used like this in any other game, because most of time, as I'm sure you have played, when 4 members of your party die battle, that's it, that's game over. I think Star Ocean the Last Hope is the only game to DEFY this limitation and actually give a bit more of a motivation to keep your entire party.
I think you would definitely enjoy this game the most out of all other Star Ocean games, for the battle system. The 5th Star Ocean game is the first game I think I've ever seen where EVERYBODY fights, you've read that right, all 8 main characters fight in the game, no switching whatsoever (outside of who you're controlling), so the battle get really chaotic. Star Ocean 3 is the first introduce the Bonus meter aspect of the series, however, it's also one of the few games I know, I think, where if you run out of MP, you die. The good news the same goes for enemies, so you can craft your weapons or make skills that will make you damage the MP of your enemies. But yeah, I don't think this game is beginner friendly and unlike the 4th game, you stuck on random planets where as in the 4th one you do travel to different planets as this is the most important part of the game in the first place and I think it's the only game in the series where you can travel freely to other planets rather than be stuck in one or a couple because of plot reasons and only be able to return to them when you reach the final dungeon.
Loved this on the PSP, Second Evolution too. Enjoyed Til the end of time and Last Hope a lot, I had a good time with them. I haven't played Integrity and Faithlessness yet despite actually getting it shortly after release, haven't heard much good about that one.
I've started Tales of Hearts R on vita and liking it. Just got Tales of Vesperia to add to my backlog of other Tales of games (Graces f, Xillia 1 and 2, Berseria), hoping to work through them soon.
Haha I remember when I was little and I was playing older games and got lost on what I was supposed to do.
(I’m only 4 minutes in so far but) you really need to try the other Star Ocean games! Star Ocean 3 is my favourite game of all time. And I used to enjoy the Tales games because they reminded me of Star Ocean, so I’m like you but in reverse. SO3 will blow your mind with what happens in the story, I’d avoid all spoilers if possible, and the gameplay is the best in the series!
Oh and I agree with your opinions. This remake was the last game in the series for me to play and I was excited for it, but I was really disappointed despite the game being my favourite franchise. You’re very correct in saying that just because it was good then doesn’t mean it’s good now.
Really nice review Zaffre! I don't have a lot of experience with Star Ocean, just like an hour of Last Hope on PS3, but I can definitely agree with you on some of these points from a more general game design standpoint, especially random encounters.
bruh i could make a whole video about random encounters
@@ZaffreRevolution not if I make one first! (I say, knowing that I probably won't actually make a video about random encounters any time soon)
I came here only to write the last comment and I'm happy it's a Star Ocean review. As I was typing my never ending msg I couldn't help myself but to hear you really disliked the game. I can totally understand. But as an old geezer, I was introduced to Star Ocean and Tales Of Destiny 1 at the same time. They were equally awesome. I played Second Story several times before I made a decent playthrough. This game has so much to offer, including an epic story line, nice character development through private actions which probably inspired or was inspired by Tales Of. The character building system is just so fucking awesome. To me Second Story was and still is part of Tales Of series and recommend it to anyone that could enjoy TOD1. I think it was even better.. still unsure. Annnd for second departure, you mostly point out that as a rerelease it should have been improved. That game was the reason I went on PSP. Was I disappointed? Fucking right. But not cause of the graphics or gameplay, but cause I see that game as candy for the fans of Star Ocean second story. I never saw it as a sequel, but as an extension of the game. Good marketing move? I doubt. Fans were probably happy but newer players didn't seem to enjoy enough to give interest to the original. I felt like a kid again playing it and I had the very same feeling of when I sat in front of the TV playing my first time through second story. I was disappointed cause it seemed like it was rushed. Lacked depth and couldn't actually enjoy the improvements of the skills system and talents and great item customization. But it still got me back into yet another play through of Second story. So please give Second Story a try but remember it's a jrpg, it's still farrrrrrrr better than second story. Peace
Finally finished it. Not sure if I want to wait for the inevitable second game remake, or get the psp version of the second game
Just watched the video. I don't know, maybe I'm convincing myself that I like it. I just thought I sucked in the battles
@@foreverfizz8 just cause he hates it doesn't mean you're wrong for liking it
Its so funny how true it is that you could've missed so much character development of the Optional characters without completing the "Hidden Side Quests" exclusive for those characters, There for they made Star ocean 5 with non of that optional character missing bull crap.
Hope he gives the others a fair shake
Just got into the SO series too recently. If your looking for better story I heard SO2 and SO3 (Though SO3 is the most controversial due to one plot point), for better gameplay SO5 and SO4 are seen as the best. SO5 and SO4 are seen as very lacking in other fields (especially 5). Honestly the SO series needs a whole makeover.
LMFAO it's like a crisp tech demo
As a man who loves ps1 rpgs, this looks amazing, not terrible.
Trust your instinct.
Well I never played this one so idk but I do like second story. As for the star ocean...its a title I mean final fantasy is a title. You should try grandia games
i got the first two on the switch! looking to review them this year
Yeah I would just play this on the side to kill time.
Just keep grinding till I'm really op then beat the game.
Too many encounters? I guess the game really didn't give you SPACE...quite literally since y'know, you don't go to space
The fact that this game is always on sale tempts me but knowing it doesn't go to Space is really a deal breaker. Like why call yourself STAR Ocean FIRST DEPARTURE. Like I want to go to a sea of stars adventure! lol
I played this game until my PSP died and would love to see this game get the FF7 remake treatment.
This gives me golden sun vibes in sprites.
Gameplay is tales
And music is Mario tennis...wait.
Also man this is lazy.
nice review Zaffre, glad to see you back! and yeah I agree with a lot of what you said in this review, really I think the only standout aspects of this game is item creation, the skill system and how replayable the game is. But like you said everything is so archaic and nearly random it leads to it feeling less rewarding than it should have been. Plus the story and characters were very meh but I do give the game sort of a break for that since it is SFC game. I do hear though Star Ocean 2 improves the writing and characters which is nice. Honestly though being a Tales fan and looking at Star Ocean as a series, I feel like if anything it comes off as Tri-Ace just trying to make a more experimental Tales game but without the same consistency. Since both this game and the rest of the series look like interesting but very rough games.
glad to be back man. you pretty much nailed it, so much of this game feels unsatisfying due to inconsistent results from already grindy mechanics. it's just a game that doesn't reward you enough, not to mention the battle system is just ass haha. really makes you appreciate the consistency and thought the tales games received, but i hear the series gets a bit better. hopefully.
Never liked Star Ocean 1 too much. Star Ocean 2 was alright, I liked it better than the first game.
Now, Star Ocean 3 is fucking amazing in my opinion. I still replay it once year or two.
I swear I've never seen a positive review for this game lol
I'm a little low-key disappointed that this isn't that fun or enjoyable; having really enjoyed Dragon Quest (especially 11 S for Switch!), Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, I thought that a major remake in one of their bigger series would hopefully better than this. Alas, ce la vie; at least we still have stuff like Tales and KH for our ARPG fixes :)
yeah there are better games on the market for sure. i'm sure it's still possible to enjoy this game, but your boy was not impressed
@@ZaffreRevolution agreed. I mean in a year where we got DQ XI S, P5R (In japan), KH 3, FE and Vesperia, it's hard to turn to something that's so frustrating and backwards by contrast. Or so I'd imagine. 😅
It's a real shame when a review like this turns people away from an actually great game. A real shame. Even worse if they shrug off the entire series over it.
Apparently you've never played the old school Tales games, which are just like this, yet you love the 3d entries. You became interested in Star Ocean because of their similarities and development connection, yet you go all the way back to the first game? And judge it as if it were brand new?
If you cant appreciate an old school jrpg with its simplicity for what it is, then I dunno man. That's too bad. There're tons of things you couldve done and exploited pretty easily to mitigate the grind. Pretty cool features actually. But no. You quit.
And that's honestly fine, that's your prerogative.
Just sucks you turned people away because of it.
Anyone who grew up with 90s jrpgs should be able to see a game worth playing here, or even someone younger who has the ability to go back and appreciate older games and not conclude they suck because they lack modern mechanics. Most of you new folks are spoiled as fuck.
His expectations were WAY too high, this is a SNES game at heart and he expected Tales of Vesperia type gameplay and whatnot. He obviously didn't bother learning the mechanics of the game, especially how to use the Skill system to his advantage, he could have minigated all of that stuff he complained about if his expectations were right and if he actually cared and acceptes how the game operates.
*Me*
There are literally trillions of planets out there to explore in the universe. I can't wait to go explore a bunch of them!
*The game *
Best I can do is one.
Thanks for preventing me from wasting my time with this game!
lol i aim to please
I do think, from what I've heard that the first one is the only one locked to one planet.
Play the 4th one, there's at least 3-4 planets (and a couple of spaceships) to explore on that one.
Realest review I heard of this game
This is the first game in the series. I know you know this but I'm saying it just so you know ya know. It appears that you needed reminders of this all throughout this review. It doesn't suck. You suck... at it. That being said the game clearly has a design philosophy that is more archaic and in line with 80's style rpgs. It does have a number of design flaws when looking at it as an action RPG as this was released a bit of time after Tales of Symphonia which was one of the first of its kind. Less so if you look at it like a traditional turn based rpg. I guess you could say it was a shame they didn't remake it fully but I'd rather get a port than get a somehow even worse remake than the original. At least its faithful to the original experience.
I’m not too far into the game but... hot damn it’s not as fun as the later games. I won’t say I don’t find this fun but like I’m not seeing how people think this and SO2 are the best Star Ocean games. The combat isn’t as fun as SO3 and 4, hell I think even SO5 has more fun combat... and THAT game sucks real bad. SO5 is like my guilty pleasure though, so it could be the guilt speaking...
Blocking/guarding is a huge problem across the series lol. Dodging has never been too hard but they always have these weird guarding mechanics.
Where these games shine is in SO3 and 4 with Cancel combos (and in SO4, Blindsides). It’s incredibly satisfying to spam multi hit skills that chain into another, and so on and so forth to multiply your damage. Item creation... caaaaannn be kinda fun and rewarding, but it can also be hella painful. Of course it relies on rare drops/harvesting so... the grindiness never fully stops in post game. They introduce a bonus board/guage mechanic in SO3 where you can do things like boost EXP, post-battle healing, fol dropped, etc. and it gets broken or reset by receiving critical hits from an enemy, the character you control dying, or loading a save file resets it. It’s good for grinding, and can be kinda addicting seeing how long you can go without breaking it.
Honestly this opinion might change when I play more of SO2, but none of these games’ stories impressed me. SO3 and 4 introduce more planets to explore, which is real cool, but the context of how we arrive there isn’t always great. I think the main theme of the plot in these games is the effects of modern technology on underdeveloped planets. The title of the series is usually pretty misleading.
Sorry for the long ass wall of text, but honestly I get the most enjoyment out of this series from combat (SO3 and beyond that is), the music (SO1 and 5 are kinda meh), sometimes exploration, and the hella corny voice acting. If you enjoy really wack cutscenes, dialogue, and voice acting, all of these games are great for ironic entertainment.
I’d honestly say you should try out Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope on PS4 or PC if you wanna try the series out again. The story and characters are... real weird, but it’s a prequel to the whole series, and imo it has the best battle system of the series. Gameplay wise I think it actually kinda matches up with Tales. Music also slaps pretty hard. And the voice acting is super corny, which I love.
Anyway sorry for the super huge wall of text. One last thing before I go: you can actually speed up movement by holding down the right trigger. Roddick runs like twice as fast on the field and in towns and dungeons. Not that you should necessarily go back to the game, but just saying. Anyway if anyone reads this all... thanks.
Oof
The sprite work, the character designs and the look of the battle system had me intrigued but
yup this one's a hard pass
I played Tales of Phantasia on the GBA (and even that isn't as bad as what this sounded like) so I think I've had my fill
yeah... this one's rough. might be cool to play it just to play it and i'm glad i have another jrpg somewhat under my belt but...yeah lol
Ah thats a shame since I was kinda interested in this game but what you said about the grinding, the high encounter rate and a few other stuff you mention it's a good thing I didn't decide to buy it.
yeah it's got a lot of archaic design choices that weren't the moves in my eyes. i wouldn't recommend it haha
Base on ur review and other people comments. We can safetly agree this game is a hot mess but give the other game a chance....whenever it comes on the switch for me at least
Review Star Ocean Second Story r or die
I hate to break it to you, but, this is one of the better games in the series. Star Ocean 2 suffers from a lot of the same issues (although it is a better game overall), despite what fans might lead you to believe Star Ocean 3 is a COMPLETE dumpster fire in both its story and gameplay, Star Ocean 4 has good combat and I would recommend it but only if you're willing to put up with the terrible writing and Star Ocean 5 is a re-tread of SO3's combat with an almost equally bad story. In SO5's defense, the combat is a lot better than the combat in SO3, however it's not nearly as good as the combat of SO4 and the rest of SO5 still feels very rushed with you re-tread the same environments to a disgusting degree.
Did you like Star Ocean 2? It was one of those rare games that I liked despite having flaws that would normally make me not like a game, such as being very grindy and having poor dialogue. Do you think Suikoden 2 is better than SO 2, if you played that?
@@jodiespetraven8990 I like SO2, heck I like SO1 even if I agreed with a lot of the reviews complaints,
I never played any of the Suikoden games.
Yeah, Star Ocean 4 had very good gameplay. I like it better than some of the Tales games in that regard. I think if they hadn't flipped out and backpedaled, they could have developed it into a very unique and defining gameplay style for the series. The story may have been very meh, but not enough for me to stop playing it. Graphically it was very good.
What did you dislike so much about Star Ocean 3’s gameplay?
@@Evanz111 Have you played it recently? The controls are extremely clunky, you have to use the d-pad to dodge which sucks, holding down circle or X to use special attacks can sometimes lead to the character not doing what you wanted them to do, the rush meter limiting what you do and dictating how you block is needlessly complicated and running out of MP somehow leading to death is just stupid. There's probably more but those are the big ones I can remember right now. I used to love the combat of SO3 when it first came out, but over the years, whenever I tried to return to it, the flaws become more and more apparent to me and now the game is just not fun for me anymore.
At 14:26 is when this guy fully lost me. He talks about all of these other RPG’s but then completely rips this game apart. 70% of JRPG titles, especially ones back then had random encounters. I bet he hates all FF games also.
I was intrigued to check it out, but now that I know that this entire game is PLAGUED with all the shit I really hate in RPGs, gonna avoid it like the plague. Great video and thanks for saving me money lmao
SO2>SO3>SO1>SO4>SO5
Talk about expecting too much from a 90s game
Youre spoiled.
Definitely feel like you had way to high “modern day rpg” expectations for an old game. A lot of story elements get “Fixed” in the next games.
And looks like you are too much of a cranky old "back in my day we didn't have all of these newfangled ease of life features and we liked it" codger.
We are adults. With adult jobs that eat up adult time. We don't have the time in our day to watch 40 hours of unskippable cutscenes and slow walking speed. If a "remaster" of a game doesn't add all of these and more then it has no business calling itself a remaster.
Bunkhead you’re probably older than me lol just seems to me like you’re a whinny bitch that probably can’t handle old school stuff lol
Damn, I had no interest in this game and now it's even less
Hope the rest of the series is better
Spoiler alert: it's not.
Integrity and Faithlessness, the most recent *NEW* game, is pretty much the same as this one in almost all ways. Traversal is still hella slow, no fast travel until almost the end of the game, you can still equip only 2 artes, still no block/defend option, the supers still grind the game to a halt.
Actually, most of those issues mentioned above weren't really problem in 4. 5 was a massive attempt to backpedal. You do get more artes in 4. There's another gameplay action that I used all the time instead of blocking and I never saw any party members' attacks stopping the gameplay.
I can't say much about the rest, but the 4th entry, The Last Hope, is one of my favorite JRPGs. It has its flaws, but I still love it. It's a bit on the cheap side, so give it a shot!
Thanks, now I know that I do not want this game.
To me Star Ocean felt OK-ish, and is the true definition of laziness, and is well known for not explaining anything in game. But the small, simple trip felt nice, even if it was collapsing by all the negatives you could encounter throughout the game. The game looks like Tales, but when you play it, it's definitely not Tales. SO2 fixes slightly some battle issues and the characters are more lovable, but don't expect huge improvements on that one.
I've tried 3 different Star Ocean's game, this included. With each one I had the exact same thought: this is a clunky, frustrating, and poor quality Tales of game!
which ones?
Meh...
I don't know.
Tales games are kinda shit as well.
Its not ugly but the map sucks
Spoiler alert: The rest of the series isn't any better, if anything SO2's story tries too hard and falls flat on its face, with one of the dumbest twists I've ever seen in a video game. Well, only matched by the infamously bad twist in SO3 that ruins the entirely (actually decent) game. And SO4's reputation precedes it, I imagine. Though if you can stomach the shitty characters there it can be fun to play. And well, SO5 is SO5. I don't need to say anything that hasn't been said already.