I have played Til the End of Time, The Last Hope, and I am currently playing Second Evolution!
Note: I *think* that the two PSP games are remakes of the original two games, but I'll add them to the poll anyway
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I have played Til the End of Time, The Last Hope, and I am currently playing Second Evolution!
Note: I *think* that the two PSP games are remakes of the original two games, but I'll add them to the poll anyway
I've only really played SO2 and SO3. Just listening to the VA work for SO4 was enough to turn me away from it and while I would love to check out Blue Sphere, it's not a high priority. I do own the remakes of the first two games on the PSP but they are on hold until I clear out a few more games in my backlog.
I've only played SO3. At some point I do intend to play SO2 as well, but I don't have the patience for JRPGs at the moment.
Technically, I have played the SNES SO1 but it was for like 5 minutes. Same with the PSP remake, except maybe half an hour. I decided to play through SO2 before starting on the first game for some reason, because I heard it was better from a reliable source. I got somewhat far in SO2 on the PS1, but I didn't finish, and then I recently started from scratch on the PSP version of that.
Then I've also finished SO3 and 4, of course. Not on all difficulty modes, though.
Finished both SO3 and 4. They were pretty good. :D I have First Departure and Second Evolution on the PSP, and I played a lot of The Second Story on the PS1, but I was bad at it. xD I tried to emulate the first one on SNES, but I could never get it working for some reason.
Briefly played the Second Story. Hated it. :P
From what I understand, the PSP versions were sufficiently different enough that it's worth them having their own options. I've played those as well as 3 and 4. SO3 is one of my favorite games of all time, and my favorite soundtrack of all time period.
I haven't played any of them nor do I have an interest at present.
you weirdo :(
I've played Til the End of Time and the two PSP remakes. I haven't heard a single good thing about The Last Hope, so I haven't bothered.
I really like The Last Hope!
I've played First Departure, Second Evolution, Till the End of Time and The Last Hope. Awesome games, although micro-managing character relationships to make sure my favourites ended up together, and that I skipped characters I didn't want, was a bit of a nightmare at times. Although TLH felt a bit bereft without that element...and without playable Welch. Lack of playable Crowe in the International version upset me greatly at the time, too.
Choosing between Ashton Anchors and Opera Vectra in Second Evolution was one of the hardest choices I've ever made in a JRPG, too...I went with Opera in the end, because no matter how cool a guy with two dragons sticking out of his shoulders is, Healing Star is a game-breaker if you spend about five hours levelling it up so that it fully heals you with one use. Awesome for post-game bosses <3
Still, I love this series! Even if I do despair at ever getting the platinum trophy for the fourth. I want Star Ocean 5. Now.
I have 3 and "4". I started a thread for The Last Hope but nobody is interested.
I played a little bit of The Last Hope but I can't really say I enjoyed it. It was my first ever Star Ocean game but I found it to be a bit boring and didn't get very far in to it. Maybe it would be different if I played it for longer but I'm simply judging on first impressions.
Yep. Till the End of Time and The Last Hope. Didn't finish either of them.
JRPGs are too long for my short attention span.
what's star ocean
I've played 'Till the End of Time' and 'The Last Hope'.
Got to the end of TTEOT but couldn't complete it due to lack of resources and was unable to heal myself. I know, rookie mistake. Shame as I was enjoying it.
Played The Last Hope.. but couldn't stand the characters, so gave up and moved on.
I played Till the End of Time and I smurfING HATED IT.
SHUT UP ALREADY ABOUT "BAD VOICE-ACTING IN SO4" Just shut the hell up. The voice-acting is immeasurably worse in SO3. Nobody in that game could act worth a damn which is a good sign of its awfulness because it had Crispin Freeman, Dave Wittenberg, Lia Sargent, Sherry Lynn and many others. But it was just a piss poor, completely irredeemable piece of garbage that not even Alexander O. Smith on localization and all these great VAs could help it. It sapped the life out of them as surely as it did me.
It is hands down one of the worst games I ever played. It should be buried with all those ET cartridges. The fact people still compliment it to this day is nothing more than the deluded fantasies of morons who played it over a decade ago and so their feeble minds have forgotten how just plain terrible everything was.
The Last Hope was better. It's true, it's damn true.
Guy Who Can't Write #1: I got a great idea! There's this game called Star Ocean so let's strand the gamers on a crappy cliche fantasy planet for a whole disk!
Guy Who Can't Write #2: Brilliant! And when they finally do get off the planet, let's have everything they worked for all those hours be rendered pointless by introducing new villains completely out of nowhere.
Guy Who Can't Write #3: ...w-what if we actually had some sort of space travel mechanic in our game...? let the players visit different worlds and stuff?
That guy was ignored until the fourth game. Guys 1 and 2 are the ""minds" behind the crime against humanity that was Till the End of Time.
SO4 doesn't have to be well-written. It just has to understand the basics of storytelling, such as your Beginning gets to your Middle which gets to your End. These fundamentals seemed lost on the creative team behind SO3. It's two different friggin' games jammed in one. Nothing has anything to do with each other and everything you do is a waste of time.
Just think - rather than accomplishing absolutely nothing on the first Disk of SO3, you could have been working at a soup kitchen or having sex or writing angry posts on the Internet. All these activities are more worthwhile than playing SO3. You are DYING as you play this game. Your lifespan is slipping away while you chugged down this bile.
Man I'm sleepy and crabby. But it's all facts. SO3 was just not good in any way whatsoever.
It's okay man, it's okay. Deep breath :bored:. It's in the past now.
I really want to make a joke about Till The End of Time and the whole being in the past thing, but I wont.
It's fine, Forsaken Lover. Even you are allowed to be wrong every now and then.
You guys have never enjoyed this pleasure for 600 hours.
There is only one flaw and that is too many scenes with empty facial expression.
I hate to break it to you Forsaken Lover but Star Ocean has never had good voice acting nor has storytelling been one of its selling points. ;)
This thread inspired me to finallky start playing First Departure and the above stays true. :wcanoe:
But nobody talks about how bad the voice-acting was in SO3. It's all just whining about SO4. Always whining about SO4....
And the voice-acting really wasn't that bad in SO4. It was decidedly average.
No, the VA work in SO4 is pretty bad, the video you listed is proof of that; but the reason no one talks about SO3's VA is because a) it was utterly forgettable, and b) most people would prefer to forget about SO3.
Hahahaha, you are a lucky man to be ignorant of how truly beloved SO3 is by its fanboys. I've been hearing praise for Till the End of Time most of my years on the web. It's why I played it in the first place.
Only to discover everything positive said about it was a pack of lies.
And you are dissing Travis Willingham? He's Roy Mustang! He was also Bacchus and he is great. That scene I posted is hilarious.
And while i can take her or leave it, Laura Bailey can be pretty great too.
The gameplay is why i like SO3, not the voice acting. I found the voice acting to be "ok" for its genre and time.
Most of my corner of the web will agree that SO2 was the only good one and even then, no one is going to be making gushing threads about how wonderful and well thought out its plot was. :D
Laura Bailey is hit or miss and it really comes down to who the VA director is.
Even as a fan of the game, I can't find a lot of gushing threads about how wonderful the plot was.
But that's the double standard. SO4 is constantly bashed for the voice-acting and unlikable characters and bad plot.
Nobody ever mentions that Sophie is a terrifying abomination and has less personality than frickin' Rosa, a character made ten years before SO3 was created. Or that Fayt is whiny as hell - Steve Staley is just not a good VA in anything with the odd exception like 08th MS Team or Advent Children.
Also FATE LINEGOD is a thousand times worse than Edge Maverick in terms of bad names.
Plus the SO4 characters actually had development. Crazy i know, since none of SO3's party ever develops or changes at all.
Yes, the gameplay is what people love about SO3. But they ignore everything else. They won't ignore everything else for 4.
It depends on who you talk to but in rounds on the interweb, I don't think I've ever seen anyone praise SO3 for its plot or characters and while most will point out SO4's problems in plot and characters I don't see too many criticize the gameplay (the real reason we play SO) and frankly most people don't say many good things about the earlier installments either in terms of plot or characters. Technically your beef about SO3 making the first disc pointless applies to SO2 as well.
I never played SO2 but does SO2 randomly switch from a stupid medieval fantasy war to "you are in an MMO"? I can't think of anything more disjointed than SO3's plot.
No, it does a better job of keeping both arcs connected but basically you go from medieval fantasy to a world that is filled with super advanced civilization of fatalist who are trying to stop some super android criminals from completing a algortihm that can end existence. It doesn't really help that a few plot threads in the first arc are never tied up because of the shift. Hell there is one quest in the game that is kind of a huge plot hole cause it never went anywhere. On the other hand, Rena finally gets some character development in the second disc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover
I think part of the reason why people are pissed about SO4 is that its a prequel and doesn't resolve/retcon the "Star Ocean has been one giant MMO for fourth dimensional beings" plot twist that largely negates the meaning in all of the games. I don't know too many SO3 fans willing to defend the story or characters, of anything I was under the impression that most SO fans agree that SO3 was a franchise killer and SO4 did little to help rectify that sentiment.
I've been playing The Last Remnant this weekend, and it gives me a huge Star Ocean 3/4 vibe. It seems like so much of the game is inspired by and/or derivative of those two games. Down to the protagonist's god-awful name ("Rush Sykes").
I can't say anything about his appearance in SO, but Crispin Freeman is a smurfing fantastic voice actor. :colbert:
I played first depature, but it bored the smurf out of me so I never finished.
I didn't mind Last Hope. The VA's were not very good, though eh. I've heard worse. I actually loved Sarah's VA though. :love:
Star Ocean 2 is the only great Star Ocean game if you ask me.
1 is decent.
3 and 4 both suck for different reasons. 3 having the worst plot twist of all time, and 4 just being in a constant state of mediocrity.
I keep telling people Sarah's voice perfectly fit her character but no one listens to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoCracker
Every Star Ocean game is amazing, 'kay?
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...0/713/rbhj.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by metagloria
I played Second Story and have a big place in my heart for it, and I played Till The End of Time and didn't like it nearly as much. It was okay but it lacked what I loved about Second Story.
I have been meaning to play the first one since I was a kid and saw it in, I believe, an EGM magazine. I remember reading about it and thinking it sounded so cool and then it never made it over here. Now it's possible but I just haven't done it.
I haven't played any. Are they fun?
If you like action RPGs, then yes, they have some of the best combat in the genre. The soundtracks by Sakuraba are also excellent.
Also, what I really liked about Second Story is the way it handled skills. It was a little bit different than most games. It was neat being able to put points into things like cooking and whistling and whatever hell else it had in its skill "trees." The only other Star Ocean game I played didn't really have it the same way and I was pretty disappointed.
Check out the PSP remake of Star Ocean 1 then, cause they basically took SO2's system, hell the PSP remake is basically SO1 remade to be like SO2.Quote:
Originally Posted by deepdoop
And ironically a lot of people who loved SO2 hate the PSP remake of SO2.
I think they're just nostalgia fanboys though. Those people who think SO2 was the only decent thing to come out of the franchise and everything else is just stupid crap and that SO4 is creepy. Then they go run over some hookers in GTA and get paid for it because, ya know, that's American and not Japanese therefore it isn't creepy.
EXCELLENT.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Man
Most excellent.
SO2 is the only great game in the franchise. The remake isn't bad though. It just has a worse art style, and cuts out the scene where Dias' sister is murdered.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover
SO1 is a good game.
SO3 would have been good, but it contains the worst plot twist ever.
SO4 is the very definition of mediocrity. It never hits the highs or lows of SO3.
I don't recall SO3 having any highs.
You recall incorrectly.
It may have been hard to pick out the "highs" considering the entire game was one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover
*shakes head sadly*
It's that kind of talk that made me try the game in the first place. I lost valuable hours of my life thanks to this false advertising.
^I agree. It wasn't very good, but neither was 4. :p
I liked it and I didn't mind the plot twist either.
It might not have been the best twist in the history of fiction, but it didn't really bother me.
Just raged about SO4 the other day in another thread due to Edge Maverick irritating the hell out of me for so long during his "character development" I completely gave up on the game after like 15-20 hours in. Totally not worth the headache. And from what you people are saying, I should just stay the hell away from SO3
Legend has it that there was a team of people who made Tales of Phantasia, and that they all differed in how they wanted to progress the series, and a good portion of the team left to make the tales game they preferred. They formed Tri-Ace and made Star Ocean
I should be glad they left the Tales team. The Tales series is obviously far superior. Sad that I'm using SO4 as a barometer, as I hate that game so much now I can't imagine the series being any worse, but obviously it is. And people only play it for the gameplay? Seriously? That seems brain numbing. If you want an action RPG, play Tales? I didn't think SO4's battle system was really all that entertaining. Lacking turn-based combat made it more bearable than most JRPGs, but that's little consolation for trudging through terrible plot with terrible characters
And other games in the series are worse. Dear god.. x_x;
Despite some of the opinions in this thread SO4 seems to be the most disliked entry in the series by the fanbase. You probably should have started with one of the other ones. Probably SO2.
I remember renting SO2 as a youngster, but I don't remember anything about it. It might be telling, it might not be. I don't remember hating it. I think I played Beyond the Beyond around then. And Alundra. And Wild Arms. I remember liking and hating with them. But SO2 brings back nothing. It's kinda weird. Maybe I should give it another try to see how Tales could have been. For 2 entries
Tales is not known for its writing either.
I've met plenty of people who said Tales of Graces had a worse plot than SO4.
Also Sakuraba stopped trying about a decade ago as far as Tales music goes. Prevailing theory is Namco just orders him to rewrite teh same music over and over again which is why each Tales game OST gets worse and worse.
Till the End of Time and The Last Hope but didn't finish them. Well my save file for The Last Hope was lost because I was installing a new HDD on my PS3 and they had that stupid save file block so it never got transferred over. I wasn't in the mood to start all over.
I'll never try to pretend Tales has stellar writing but I did find it tons more enjoyable. But beyond that their characters do tend to develop better than anything I saw in Star Ocean Four. And even for anyone who would argue that's not good enough people are saying the other star ocean games had zero character development. So I guess Tales would win by default against those. Also no stellar music but it's usually interesting and relaxing. Xillia has been a lot of comfy lounge and jazz music. I wouldn't purchase the soundtrack but I really like it. So it's not incompetent or anything at least. Then again I don't remember hating The Last Hopes music. Don't honestly remember the music at all though lol. Either way as far as subpar action role playing games from Japan I'll stick to tales. I've played other tri ace games and tri criscendo and didn't enjoy any of it very much. I think the companies are just not for me
I have a collectors edition box of one someone sold at GS when I worked there. I had always wanted to play it but never had it and was like "GOLD MINE" when the traded it in. I snatched that up so quick. And then it's been sitting on my shelf cause my ps2 broke.
Considering the content of SO4 I don't find it surprising that the one guy in this thread who really likes that game has a bunny girl with bouncing boobs in his signature
Mitsuo Iwao, who directed SO4, once said he had a legitimate desire to make hentai games. SO1-3 were directed by a guy named Yoshiharu Gotanda, who once said that SO3 should have been the last one. He's a programmer, science nerd and massive Star Trek fan.
Make of that what you will
I think FL is not so much sticking up for SO4 to say it's a good game but rather saying it's not as bad as SO3, and people should play SO3 before saying SO4 is the worst in the series or whatever
I like S04 :(
SO4 was hardly a great game - it just wasn't as bad as a lot of people say. It's fun, has some nice graphics, a good soundtrack and it's just generally kooky and unapologetically Anime.
On the flipside, I heard endless praise for SO3 and it just makes no sense to me. If I could play nothing except The Last Hope until I died, it still be better than ever having to go near Till the End of Time again.
Also did no one here play InFamous 1? Myuria is Sasha! Sasha is love. I wish that lady was in more things.
It's inferior to SO3 in the segment that matters the most in those games, the gameplay. Also, I find the music from SO3 to be much better. I don't think there is a single SO4 track that i enjoy as much as I enjoy several dozen SO3 tracks.
>>> I didnt know about the different directors. SO4 didnt look any different from the other SO games in my opinion..Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibril
and I really hope Tri-Ace stop doing SO games..
i love star ocean, and i have a very, very soft spot for tri-ace. but TLH was an absolute trash story, and the mechanics were all flash which was really weird for a SO game. i'm so use to having to kinda semi-break a game first.
My most vivid memory of Star Ocean (I played 2, 3 and 4 before I'd tried a single Tales Of game) was the bit just after you go onto the planet where that angel-woman Sarah lives. She speaks to you in her horrible, horrible high pitched squeal of a voice and you solve whatever disaster is befalling her planet whilst secretly hoping the bandits will get her, and then you leave. And the best bit is, you leave her behind! You're like "BYE SARAH" and you get in your Spaceship and fly away, and I was the happiest person in all the land.
And then, during the next cutscene, I remember just seeing the tip of an angel wing come into camera shot. I cried in despair and dived for the remote to mute the game before the camera cut to Sarah and she told us how she'd snuck on board because she hates the human race and wants us all to shatter us like wine glasses with her voice or whatever it was I imagined she was saying when it was muted.
Man, that was traumatic. The other weird thing about 4 was green-haired dude Faize and his weird relationship with token loli Lymle. That was creepy.
Till the End of Time is the best Star Ocean game in my view, even if I couldn't stand the protagonist.
Sarah was horrible.
lymle's dialogue was the bane of my existence, kay? but her cerberus was too strong, kay?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
It's been 5 years, I don't think you have much to worry aboutQuote:
Originally Posted by black orb
In the grand scheme of things, they didn't make very many anyway. They kept getting side-tracked to make other original IPs. Sadly, I never really enjoyed any of those either. Or Tri-Crescendo games... Not sure what it is about that pedigree, but it just doesn't jive with me. Unknowingly I recently found out I've tried a lot of the games from both companies and never realized it
Lymle is the best, 'kay?
Played most of them except First Departure. Liked most of them except 4, really love SO2.
The plot twist in 3 is amazing. (SPOILER)I still love how mad people get about the fact that their video game turns out to be a video game
4 though, ugh, I'm sure anyone who plays that goes on pedo watchlists due to Lymle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MILF
this is a really good point
yeah it is actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by The ManQuote:
Originally Posted by MILF
this is a really good point
The plot twist is existential. It's a modern take on an age-old sci-fi trope. It also fits perfectly in line with what Star Ocean is striving to be which is anime Star Trek. It's out of left field if you're expecting a traditional JRPG story and much less so if you're expecting a science fiction story.
The twist is fine.
It's everything else that blows about SO3.
I want a detailed analysis of every aspect of SO3 and why it sucks on my desk by next Monday.
Here's a complete list of reasons why Star Ocean 3 sucks:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibril
1. No, you suck.
It's on Page 1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibril
Man I've been playing through Star Ocean First Departure (remake of SO1 with SO2 redesign) and just wow... I'm kind of surprised this game got sequels. It's pretty boring so far, and it's starting to make me think I should give SO2 another playthrough because me thinks I have given that game a bit too much credit due to nostalgia.
That's actually pretty amusing to me, as First Departure is likely my favorite entry in the series. XD
The power of different tastes. :)
That's a lot of words without actually saying anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forsaken LoverIt's on Page 1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jibril
The words "detailed" and "analysis" imply some level of insight into game design
(if you don't want to do this I'll do it for you)
I think pointing out how the entire first disk of SO3 is a boring, tedious, troutty waste of time that has nothing to do with the second disk is a decent enough analysis of why that game is horrible.