Star Ocean 5 Update

I've always got a bit of a soft spot for Star Ocean. It was my Tales game before I knew of Tales games. Both Star Oceans 3 and 4 were really good in a lot of ways, despite one or two major blemishes on each.

So yeah, I'm interested in how they take things story wise of course; the character designs seem to be more... exaggerated than ever which concerns me a little. But the seamless battle system with a big party looks cool! It's pretty much a given that I'll pick it up at some point.

Too bad that's all broken down by having 7 characters in battle at once.

Oh god, those models and textures and everything. It looks like Infinite Undiscovery. I'm having horrible flashbacks lol I hope the end product is better than that game

Star Ocean 3 is one of my favourite games of all time....this isn't really getting me as hyped, though. Maybe it's because for a PS3/PS4 game it looks far from technically amazing?

i don't care that it looks last gen, I just want something with good triace gameplay.

I am 3 Star Oceans behind before I get up to this one but I plan to start SO2 soon. And maybe I skip SO4?

I loved SO4 but a lot of people hated it so it's up to you really

you'll lose nothing by skipping 4

You'll gain everything by skipping 4

I can't see Del being like "Oh no, this game was so bad it ruined the entire series for me". I would almost suggest looking up some YouTube video of "Edge Maverick's Worst Moments in SO4". But that would probably spoil one particular plot element. Even though that element is dropped later on, it's a pretty central element to end out the first half of the game. It's also where I got tired of him and gave up on the game. But up until then the combat was fairly fun, and I was alright with most of the characters. Nothing spectacular, fairly average RPG trope archetypes, but that's to be expected for an RPG up to that era. And one of the very few sci-fi JRPGs, it'd be a shame to miss if you like that sort of thing, and turns out the game wouldn't have bothered you. It's probably extremely cheap these days, and there's a "International" version of the game for PS3, which I guess is like a director's cut? Or maybe I'm thinking of Eternal Sonata... I got them around the same time. Either way, I'd say it's probably worth checking out, even though I think it's a terrible game personally, I don't think it properly represents the series, so it won't ruin any enjoyment derived from the other games. And there's the possibility you'll like it. I'd say grab it on the cheap, go in with an open mind, if it sticks, awesome, if not, don't feel obligated to plow through for the sake of the series

My gaming time comes in small windows so I have to be picky with what I play. So I'll probably have better things to do than try SO4 based on the reaction in this thread, though I appreciate your comments. Hell, it will probably be years since I get to SO3 since it's a PS2 game and I'm too lazy to dig my PS2 out of a box and hook it up. Maybe Sony will someday wake up and have a streaming PS2 service on PS4 so that I can hand them my money.

You could always emulate the game.

And they've already started running PS2 games through an emulator on PS4 now. With some luck, maybe we'll get SO3 there.

Is it not available on PS Now streaming rental service? They tout that thing as having practically everything..

If there's one game I wouldn't want to ever stream, it's SO3.

Been too damn long since there's been a new SO game. I'm pretty excited to give this a try if/when I have the chance!

Also everyone needs to play 4 because looooool paedophilia undertones (nothing 'under' about it). I did genuinely like the fact that at least one person in the game realizes that (SPOILER)destroying an alternate Earth is still destroying a smurfing planet so they are really broken up and upset about it for awhile rather than just being "lol idc about other timelines" like most people in fiction.

In regard to that spoiler, I will never hold that against that game. I do appreciate that, however, the way it was executed was atrocious. (SPOILER)The captain, the leader, the person who is supposed to hold a team together is written to act like a mopey emo 13 year old. I've seen captains break, and I've seen it done way better than that. It's just Japan's infuriating and incessant issue with melodrama and not being able to tell the difference, or to create, real actual palpable drama. A good counter-example that springs to mind is Picard in First Contact, when confronted with the idea of destroying his ship. He snaps, he throws a hissy fit, he yells, and he smashes stuff. And it is portrayed a million times better. Its understandable, it's relatable, its dramatic. He's acting like a man, coming to terms with things, not like a 13 year old struggling to grasp things. He is in charge, and lives are in his hands, and he visibly calculates and justifies his decisions, and their shortcomings

Edge didn't do that. He whined and complained for upwards of 10 straight hours, and while his crew was empathetic, they (like any sane person) decided he was taking it too far, for too long, and was obviously making himself unfit for duty, and so they removed him from duty. And he still whined and complained and moped and kept to himself for hours. If they had explored that, portrayed it like an actual human, like someone in charge, struggling with something. Something believable, and relatable. Something I could empathize with. I would have loved that part of the game

Fei, in Xenogears, had to struggle with a destruction he accidentally caused. And he was whiny and emo about it as well. But it was portrayed so much better. It was so much more relatable. It was so much easier to empathize with. And it was also a game that was almost 10 years older. It was on a system 2 generations previous

Edge Maverick is inexcusable. I put 20 - 30 or more hours into that game, and now I can't finish it, because he freaking ruined it

Edit: I always end up ranting when this topic comes up xD I guess he literally offends my sensibilities

That's because he's offensive and the game is terrible.

Star Ocean The Last Hope is a good game but if you want amazing writing and characters, you shouldn't be playing any Star Ocean game.

(SPOILER) Vyk, you chose literally the worst counter-example in history In what world is throwing a hissy fit the mature response? Picard smashing trout is not effective storytelling. Most ST fans I know HATE Movie Picard because he's so radically different from his TV self.

Edge is upset because BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE DEAD. BECAUSE OF HIM. Anybody who just "gets over it" is a smurfing psychopath. Edge comes from an Earth that is red hot after nuclear war and humanity is all but extinct. He thought he could fix things, avert this horrible fate but all he did was make things even worse.

He takes his responsibilities as a leader seriously, unlike most JRPG protagonists. So when he smurfs up and gets a lot of people killed, he understandably starts thinking "maybe I'm not a good leader."


It could have been handled better, certainly. No one is gonna call SO4 a masterpiece of storytelling. But Edge's reaction is perfectly sensible and smashing teacups would not make it better.


In conclusion


If SO5 does not acknowledge that only creepy otaku losers play SO games like this game did, I will be disappointed.

Sounds like someone is projecting.

I do not deny I am a creepy otaku loser but of the two SO games I've played,they were both rife with blatant fanservice. If that in any way offends your sensibilities, you wouldn't be playing these games.

I can assure you, all their "we won't make this game like SO4, we swear!" crap will not apply to dialing back the gratuitous boob and butt shots. They're on the PS4 now. You have any idea what kind of amazing jiggle physics they can utilize?

Also I love that the one game in the series that actually lived up to its name is the one they are like "nope, we won't ever do that again." I mean, it's not like I played the Star Ocean games to explore the star ocean or anything. That just be silly.