The, err, Great Star Ocean?

[Red Mage Coffman]

I LOVE Star Ocean. Think its a great series that deserves more recognition. But... I have this problem. Star Ocean, the original, is my favorite. The remake for the PSP is great. I like the Second Story, don't get me wrong. But... the story is complete garbage. It was good up until, oh, I dunno, Lacuer. Can I get some feedback here? I also hate Claude. Just saying.

[noshowmillk]

Claude's voice sounds stupid but he apparently is a good fighter. :colbert:

[black orb]

>>> Their mistake was make sequels and prequels of the game.
maybe if the games were not related like FF, SO would have been a success..:luca:

[Mirage]

I'd say the series sold well enough to be called a success. If a game requires more than 4 installments in a series in order to be a success, there aren't exactly a lot of successful games in the world.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

You don't have to keep claude in your fighting party. I thought SO2's plot was OK- you think the tournament ruined the plot? You are pretty early, stick with it you might like it more.

[Red Mage Coffman]

No, I thought it was okay. And I finished Star Ocean 2. The story just failed me. I think the idea of keeping the games apart might've been awesome. I mean, I love the characters. And I loved the plot up to Lacuer. After the tournament it started going down hill though. So many things caught my eye. Like, why did the army of monsters attack Lacuer and not Krosse? Krosse was easier to get to, and Lacuer was halfway across the world. Are the monsters stupid? It never again touches on the stones that corrupt people and make them dicks. I thought that was a pretty cool thing, could have really developed into something. But after the bandits in the forest, it is never touched upon again. It just really bugged me. Then again I man a critic.

Oh, and Claude is easily the best fighter in that game. Put enough points into combat skills and he is virtually unstoppable. my team and I smashed Gabriel with ease. Took me a minute to kill him, he didn't even get a punch in. Thanks to Claudes epic Mirror Blade :D

[Dr. rydrum2112]

pretty cool forum on the SO series
Star Ocean Universe (http://s1.zetaboards.com/Star_Ocean_Universe/index/)

You should post your thoughts in there, get some discussion going.

The part of the plot I didn't like was after meeting the ten wisemen, that should've been hinted at earlier. Although I have only done Claude's side so maybe that is hinted at in the other.

[Ultima Shadow]

If you think SO2 had a bad story, don't even bother touching SO4. It will completely demolish your faith in humanity. No word can describe how terribly bad the plot and character design in that game was.

...the gameplay was okay though. But SO3 still had better gameplay.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

If you think SO2 had a bad story, don't even bother touching SO4. It will completely demolish your faith in humanity. No word can describe how terribly bad the plot and character design in that game was.

...the gameplay was okay though. But SO3 still had better gameplay.

SO4's plot wasn't that bad, no worse than most RPGs.

[Ultima Shadow]

The first couple of hours, when you actually thought the game was about finding new planets that humans could live on, were not all that bad. But the rest of it? Much, much worse than any other RPG I can remember playing to the end. And the cast was quite possibly THE worst cast ever. Every single character except Faize was nothing but annoying during basically every single scene. And every single cutscene was more cheesy than a microwaved cheese factory.

...so yes, it was most certainly worse than most RPGs, unless every other RPG I've ever played doesn't fall in the "most RPGs" category for whatever reason. :p

[Dr. rydrum2112]

faize was the most annoying character after lymle and her voice. But you are welcome to your own opinion.

[Ultima Shadow]

Well, I actually did find Faize annoying during a majority of the scenes too. But unlike the other characters, he didn't annoy me during all of them. I will agree that Lymle was the number 1 most annoying character though. She is probably the most annoying character I've ever seen in a video game ever.

[Red Mage Coffman]

I loved Faize. Edge was typical, Reimi was that one character, you know what I mean, Lymle was... Dare I say loli? Nah, jusy annoying and very odd. Kinda cute, but still. The android guy was pretty dumb. Thought he was so bland it hurt. I never played past getting him. And I don't think I ever will.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

I loved Faize. Edge was typical, Reimi was that one character, you know what I mean, Lymle was... Dare I say loli? Nah, jusy annoying and very odd. Kinda cute, but still. The android guy was pretty dumb. Thought he was so bland it hurt. I never played past getting him. And I don't think I ever will.

Arumat is one of the coolest characters to ever control in battle- you got to play till you get him. He made the game for me.

[Ultima Shadow]

I personally thought Arumat was so "over-the-top wannabe badass" that it just made him look stupid. He was effective in battle, but way too try-hard in the actual story. And so, it was impossible for me to take anything he ever said seriously. Especially his "I'm death himself" lines were just kinda painful to hear over and over again.

[Mirage]

SO4 was a wart on Tri-ace's butt. It is a terrible game with a terrible story with terrible characters and a battle system that was all right, but still a significant downgrade from SO3.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

ff13's plot was just as bad in my opinion, at least SO4 had an awesome character to control in battle.

Who cares about cut scenes- the stomp on the enemy when they are down was a great idea.

[Red Mage Coffman]

Well, Claude is good. Still kinda hate him. I dunno, I liked Ronyx so much, and he gives birth to.... Claude. Kinda like Jecht giving birth to Tidus. Sad, huh?

[Dr. rydrum2112]

Well, Claude is good. Still kinda hate him. I dunno, I liked Ronyx so much, and he gives birth to.... Claude. Kinda like Jecht giving birth to Tidus. Sad, huh?

lol.


My favorite cast is in SO3. (currently playing SO1 so I haven't met everyone yet). SO2 has Celine who I thought was a good smart ass/is funny.

[Ultima Shadow]

ff13's plot was just as bad in my opinion, at least SO4 had an awesome character to control in battle.

Who cares about cut scenes- the stomp on the enemy when they are down was a great idea.
I actually never bothered with FF13, but one terrible plot doesn't justify another, and I keep hearing that FF13's story just so happens to suck as well. And from the little I've seen of it, I have to say it certainly seems to be below what I'd consider average. :p

And "who cares about cut scenes"? Well... uh... anyone who cares at all about the story and the characters in a game, I guess? Though yes, gameplay is just as important as plot... and the only thing SO4 has going for it. In general, I think Tri-Ace's games are more about gameplay than plot.

Still... that doesn't take away the importance of the plot, however. Especially since the characters and plot can greatly influence the gameplay experience depending on how well they are done. For example... in some really good RPGs, I have trouble choosing my battle-party because I love more of the characters available than I can use at a time. In SO4, I had trouble choosing a battle-party because I pretty much hated all the characters so much that I didn't want to use anyone. I always use the characters I like the most in games rather than the most efficient ones. And in SO4, it became more of a question of "who do I dislike the least" rather than "who do I like the most. Thus, even the gameplay was crippled by the bad character designs. :p

...but I'll try to stop bashing SO4 now. I'll try.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

ff13's plot was just as bad in my opinion, at least SO4 had an awesome character to control in battle.

Who cares about cut scenes- the stomp on the enemy when they are down was a great idea.
I actually never bothered with FF13, but one terrible plot doesn't justify another, and I keep hearing that FF13's story just so happens to suck as well. And from the little I've seen of it, I have to say it certainly seems to be below what I'd consider average. :p

And "who cares about cut scenes"? Well... uh... anyone who cares at all about the story and the characters in a game, I guess? Though yes, gameplay is just as important as plot... and the only thing SO4 has going for it. In general, I think Tri-Ace's games are more about gameplay than plot.

Still... that doesn't take away the importance of the plot, however. Especially since the characters and plot can greatly influence the gameplay experience depending on how well they are done. For example... in some really good RPGs, I have trouble choosing my battle-party because I love more of the characters available than I can use at a time. In SO4, I had trouble choosing a battle-party because I pretty much hated all the characters so much that I didn't want to use anyone. I always use the characters I like the most in games rather than the most efficient ones. And in SO4, it became more of a question of "who do I dislike the least" rather than "who do I like the most. Thus, even the gameplay was crippled by the bad character designs. :p

...but I'll try to stop bashing SO4 now. I'll try.

clearly you missed my entire point.

[Ultima Shadow]

I did? Would you care to explain the entire point that I missed then? =O

[Roogle]

One of the points of the Star Ocean series that I do not enjoy is the fact that you can only recruit a given amount of characters in one save file. This style of game design leads to all of the secondary characters being seen by the game as optional, diminishing the dialogue after a certain point in the game because scenes have to be written with the idea of not all characters being there. That means that they can never do anything too impressive graphically unless they make versions for every single party combination there can be. I could go on about it forever, but I liked this series when I was younger and could never figure out what was wrong with it exactly until I pinpointed it to this problem.

[Ultima Shadow]

One of the points of the Star Ocean series that I do not enjoy is the fact that you can only recruit a given amount of characters in one save file. This style of game design leads to all of the secondary characters being seen by the game as optional, diminishing the dialogue after a certain point in the game because scenes have to be written with the idea of not all characters being there. That means that they can never do anything too impressive graphically unless they make versions for every single party combination there can be. I could go on about it forever, but I liked this series when I was younger and could never figure out what was wrong with it exactly until I pinpointed it to this problem.
Now that you mention it, that actually is one big flaw that all the Star Ocean games except 4 shared (though sadly, 4 was that one game where it didn't really matter much anyway).

[Dr. rydrum2112]

One of the points of the Star Ocean series that I do not enjoy is the fact that you can only recruit a given amount of characters in one save file. This style of game design leads to all of the secondary characters being seen by the game as optional, diminishing the dialogue after a certain point in the game because scenes have to be written with the idea of not all characters being there. That means that they can never do anything too impressive graphically unless they make versions for every single party combination there can be. I could go on about it forever, but I liked this series when I was younger and could never figure out what was wrong with it exactly until I pinpointed it to this problem.

optional- right. That is the point of optional characters, you don't have to get them.

and they didn't do anything to impressive graphically because it was ps1 and there was no voice acting scenes anyway. All of the dialogue is unique depending upon who is in your party not sure how that diminishes anything. Every time you play it with a different cast you get a "new" scene- just increase replay value. I don't think anything was written around the fact that some characters were absent but written with whoever was included can present their view on what was going on.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

I did? Would you care to explain the entire point that I missed then? =O

exaggeration for effect (hyperbole). I was highlighting what I was talking about, in battle the gameplay part, by exaggeratedly trivializing the cut scenes. I don't know what to tell you if you missed that.

[Ultima Shadow]

exaggeration for effect (hyperbole). I was highlighting what I was talking about, in battle the gameplay part, by exaggeratedly trivializing the cut scenes. I don't know what to tell you if you missed that.
Ah, gottcha. Since internet lacks sarcasm-detectors and the likes, you never know. And I actually thought you were serious about that statement. My bad. :p

[Dr. rydrum2112]

exaggeration for effect (hyperbole). I was highlighting what I was talking about, in battle the gameplay part, by exaggeratedly trivializing the cut scenes. I don't know what to tell you if you missed that.
Ah, gottcha. Since internet lacks sarcasm-detectors and the likes, you never know. And I actually thought you were serious about that statement. My bad. :p

1- You don't have to apologize to me. 2- I didn't mean my last sentence to sound as dickish as it does, in my mind it originally read like "I don't know WHAT to tell you, (pause) if you missed that)" emphasis on the first part - but rereading it now, it sounds more like "I don't know what to tell you, IF YOU MISSED THAT."

[Ultima Shadow]

No worries, didn't take it like that. Though I do appreciate the consideration of clearing that up as well. :p

[*Laurelindo*]

Claude's voice sounds stupid but he apparently is a good fighter. :colbert:Just wait until you hear his Japanese voice (http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=youtube+claude+voice+japanese&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDoQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOJ6SWNk_ip0&ei=ONq5UOuHIqmG4gT4PQ&usg=AFQjCNEjLmuYO9njJgatLdnRiRN9Em1vjA), he sounds extremely pissed off there, even by Japanese over-acting standards.
Try screaming like a complete maniac and that's actually pretty close to what he sounds like there.

[Red Mage Coffman]

I have one thing to say about his voice acting in the remake....

DAMN