Star Ocean: Till the end of Time
Jay loses himself in a deep RPG sea...
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There is a huge contingent of gamers out there who will swipe up anything with the Square Enix moniker on it, no matter how horrible the product, even if it has the words UNLIMITED SAGA on it. Call 'em fanboys but at least they're passionate about their company. Now the latest game has rolled off the Square Enix production line and it's quite a deviation from what most have come to known the company for. Nearly two years after the merger was announced, gamers are finally starting to see the second half of the deal come into fruition and it begins with one of Enix's lesser known, but well crafted franchises.
Never mind the fact that the release date has been stalled multiple times and that the North American version is actually a port of the Japanese director's cut. The big question everyone wants to ask is, was the tortuous wait worth it? For the most part, it was. Star Ocean 3 boasts one of the more innovative battle systems in the console RPG realm. Fans of the tri-Ace development team in particular will love the additions made to the battle system, as well as the simplifications with item invention and skill development. What prevents this game from rising to the top of the pack of PS2 titles is the ridiculously generic storyline and disc loading issues that helped delay the title's release. Nevertheless, the title remains strong.
Star Ocean is a sci-fi RPG that takes place well into the future. Interplanetary travel has been revolutionized and entire planets are devoted to vacationers. This is convenient because it just so happens that our main character will be vacationing on one of those planets when an event changes his life. While Fayt and his family are relaxing on the shores of Hyda IV the planet is attacked by an unknown enemy. As the vacationers flee Fayt's father hints that he may know the cause of the attack but is separated from his family before he can reveal his thoughts. Fayt and his childhood friend, Sophia, are rescued and placed upon a transport ship where they are able to rest off their worries, but before they can call it a night that ship is also attacked and the two become separated. As they flee they're sent in different directions and Fayt is left to fend for himself as he searches for his loved ones. Of course these sort of things never go quite as planned and before it's all over, you'll travel all across the galaxy as you embark on a massive quest.
As the game's namesake implies you will be doing a little time travelling as well, but not in the most orthodox manner. Instead of physically warping between time periods the game takes place in one set time. The "time travel" actually occurs when your characters travel to different planets in varying stages of development. Early on you crash land on a planet that has developed to the equivalency of 15th century Earth. Laws have been instilled to ensure that further evolved planets don't interfere with the development of lesser ones. This is done by preventing the use of technology and objects that wouldn't normally be available at the stage of development. This was an amazingly brilliant move on the part of the developers. Other games place artificial limits on what the player has access to, here the game instils a more practical one that's understandable to all parties.
Throughout the course of the game you often find yourself in the role of the reluctant hero. When your craft crashes into the middle of a medieval town your first priority is to escape and search for your parents, but that's before you get imprisoned. Soon afterwards a spy from a neighbouring town will come and free you on the condition that you help them win their ongoing war. This is how Star Ocean's structure generally pans out from the start, placing you in situations that don't necessarily have anything to do with your quest, but may play a crucial role in the balance of the universe.
In addition to Fayt you'll take control of several characters throughout the course of your adventure. They all have their own reasons for fighting alongside Fayt and you'll soon grow to love them. Being the smart-ass that I am I immediately fell in love with Cliff, the wise-cracking sidekick with the boyish good looks. He adds plenty of much-needed comic relief, his comments about a predominantly female kingdom in particular.
I've always been a huge fan of RPGs but I played them mostly for the plot development and secondly for the storyline. It's not that I can't bear to read 50 million lines of text, it's just that most RPGs suffer from poor character development. Luckily Star Ocean is able to avoid this pitfall by providing gamers with characters that they can relate and empathize with. When the vacationing protagonist, Fayt, would rather stay in the hotel and play video games instead of going to the beach with his friend you can sheepishly say, "Yeah. I've been there before. That's me." Furthermore, the characters have genuine feelings and they behave as we would expect them to in real life. This is a huge positive for the game because it's amazingly storyline heavy. To put into perspective you'll go more than an hour before you get into your first fight. Most of the key dialogue is spoken but the secondary dialogue, such as the boxes that pop up when you speak to villagers, appears as written text.
Comments
I think the story line is awesome. I have about 38 hours of gameplay and I have not even got to disc 2. The voices are kinda cheap.
You sould make the game more like kingdom hearts expectly the battle system, instead of making it like F*&^ing final fanticy the game would be better like that, and also it would be more interesting and chelling i beat the game in one day(playing all the way through)
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it have to disagree, the SO battle system is its unique trade mark, and i love it completely. i wish more RPG's would use it. And Kingdom Hearts was such and over-rated game... i personally hated the game, one thing u never do is mix supreme game creators with young childrens entertainers...Disney and Square shouldve never done that, but i guess whatever makes money...lol, but ya...SO is a great game...im not too far in it yet, but it has lived up to its name and i am very pleased.
I've been playing Star Ocean for days(I haven't beaten the game because I'm doing some extras). I just can't put it down. It is the best RPG I've ever played, because i've been able to beat 5 Final Fantasy and other Square games in 2 weeks per per game. I really like the Gemity Arena Battle and 2 player mode. The thing i don't under stand is the price. It has been out for months and it costs $52.99(without tax).I give it a 10 out of ten.
I have been playing SO for a couple of hours now i have found it very hard to get into. As im a fully dedicated final fantasy fan i was hoping the game would be like the FF system. Unfortunatlly it wase'nt but in return i was blessed with a better battle system. SO is an unbelivable game, confusing at parts but a great game.
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bealtifull
Cool game.
Cool game. i give it a 9 out of 10.
Amazing storyline, grafix, and gameplay
I give a 10 out of 10
Ive been playin for about a week and im already on the second disc, great game though!!
Can you tell me where to go, I just beat the lesser eye or to make things simpiler I am in the shrine of kaddan for the second time. I got the sacred orb and after that they told me to wait. I went through the cut scene in the throne room. Can you help.
how do you get to the disinagration menu
how to get pass the dragon doors
I'm not far in the game, but it's great so far! The story line is very... different... in my option. (I don't play many games...) The only thing I wanna know ahead is, why does Fayt have the weird glowy thing come out of his head before you fight Norton and whats with the kidnap thing done by Cliff?! Hee. Guess I better get playing more. Games great! Second Fav next to KH.
How do u get to use the 2 player mode in this game? I cant find it and i really want to play using 2 players! Please help
i like the game, it's just i can't get sertain parts i'm so list at the moment. then their are parts i just have to kick myself for not getting in the first place lol
i like the game, it's just i can't get sertain parts i'm so list at the moment. then their are parts i just have to kick myself for not getting in the first place lol
we cant get 2 player working any idea
I think that this game is good but im actually stuck in the underground passage in castle aquaria, i need help. write it down somewhere in this page.
You are doing better than me. I can't even find the damn Orb. Can you tell me where you were when you got it??
how do u get a high attack i just beat the game and i only have an attack of 2300 and thats with cliff, im also at level 63, if that helps
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can jou rename main character?
How do u get to use the 2 player mode in this game? I cant find it and i really want to play using 2 players! Please help
how do you use 2 players?
its a cool game but i cant get past the cave where u have to get the sacred orb i resived the hammer but i cant use it and every doorway is blocked and i cant use the hammer im stuck big time
83%!? Were we even playing the same game? It astonishes me how a game as flawed as Star Ocean 3 has managed to get past so many professional reviewers. Every aspect of this game is abhorrent; soul-sucking dungeons; tantrum-inducingly frustrating combat; cumbersome, lumbering plot; nonexistant characterisation and godawful minigames. I give it a 3/10 for the passable voice acting and graphics. Beyond that, just painful.
did anyone ever figure out how to use the 2 player feature I know this post is old but I still want to know
howwwwwww do u play 2 plaayerrrr i want knowwwwwwwwwwww
zrambo i hope your house explodes and you burn for hateing kingdom hearts!!!
How can u play 2 players in the story mode??
How the heck do you play 2 player in story mode???????