Star Ocean

I love Star Ocean 3. I like the music, most the characters are cool espically Maria and it has good cut scenes. Most of all the story hooked me early and often so it was hard for me to stop until I beat it. The Moonbase cut scene is one of my fav cut scenes in any game.

One thing that bugs me to no end on this is they didnt do a very good job on adding the voices. Lots of times they arent nearly loud enough, and are often illegible because the music overpowers them. AND FARLEEN'S VOICE DROVE ME MAD!!!!!!

I only played SO3 a couple of times. I liked the second one, but I never beat it. I got up to the boss of the game, and even with my characters at level 90 something each, he slaughters me.

The best part of SO3 is the fighting system. The storyline may not make everybody all cheesy, happy, sad, emotional like FFVIII or FFX though. If you are looking for a cheesy chick flick type of storyline, then go back to those FF games. It depends if you are an RPG player who likes to plays see what happens next in the story, or an RPG player who likes to have fun while actually playing the game.

Battling in SO3 is very involved unlike FF where I can basically fall asleep while battling. The combo system is SO3 is very unlike any RPG I have ever played. The game is very enjoyable once the player learns how to cancel basic attacks into special attacks, into more special attacks, and into your party members' special attacks. I remember when I had a 150 hit combo on an enemy. When you get the right items and create the right items, you can basically turn Fayt and Sophia into god-like characters, like Tina was in FF6, where you take 0 damage. It plays more like an action RPG than a turn based RPG.

In FFX, I found myself falling asleep while battling in the game. The story was okay, although it did have some cliches and borrowed some motifs and themes from other books I have read. If you have played a lot of FF games, the battle system is tiresome. It feels like I played the game already. I have played FF4, FF5, FF6, FF7, FF8, FF9, and FF10 by the way.

Plus, in FFX, seemingly all you do is follow the red dot on the map, see some event happen, fight the same dead guy a thousand times, then play that god-awful turn-based underwater polo game (that you have to play to get special items and weapons for characters). Tidus was a cliche and generic, semi-rebellious teenager who is so weak mentally, that he lets his father dominate his thoughts. Then for the rest of the game, he keeps whining and moaning about how he hates his father. Even near the final boss, he still says he hates his father. Annoying!!! The only character that kept me from stop playing that game was Yuna. The sidequests, very limited at best, were not fun at all. Turn-base underwater polo and dodging lightning 200 consecutive times is not a fun game. Without any real sidequests, FF X quickly became too linear!

Admittingly, the plot twist in SO3 made me think wtf?!!, well not as bad as the crummy The Matrix Trilogy stuff. The ending was not that great either borrowing cliche ideas from a philosopher. At least the sidequests were very fun and numerous. What game lets you fight Lenneth and Freya from VP?

Now the new FF12 seems to have borrowed a storyline from FF6. An Empire, a women from the Empire is with the opposing Rebel side: it sounds like Tina and Lock. I like the FF series for the most part, but I kind of hope that they bring more fresh air to the series, especially the gameplay.