Star Ocean Series

[Zeromus_X]

Mirage: SO1 did have optional characters, using the same system as SO2. ("Can I join? But even if you refuse, there'll be another person you can get.") Cius-> Ashlay Ashton-> Opera/Ernest, etc.

DP: I don't believe there actually is...well, unless somebody knows.

[Mirage]

I was talking about a choice between two main characters now.

[Dreddz]

Play SS first, I wouldnt bother with SO3.

[Reine]

Personally. I like SO3 the most.

Anyway, the first is rather excellent, and there are a crazy amount of characters you can choose from, almost all of them seem to be optional. The difficulty isnt as hard as the second and third games, but thats just what ive heard, im stuck on this mountain atm.

The second is awesome, one of the better RPGs you can get, imo. Very difficult and challenging, with fun combat, and the bonus dungeon is excellent. There are also two higher difficulties to unlock, as well as a music test (Great feature in any game, should be standard on all games) However, I found it not as fun to play as SO3. It mostly consisted of pressing L1, R1 and the occasional X if your playing as a fighter, and opening the menu and spamming the best spel if your a mage.

SO3, was my first one in the series that i had played (I had watched a lot of SO2 at my mates house, and was totally awed by watching him fight Indalecio Limiter Off (I had never seen such a powerful boss before), and upon seeing this game in the shops, I mainly bought it to piss off mymate xD As hed been wanting it ever since hearing of its existence. I thought it was a wonderful game for the most part, although Elicoor 2 does get tedious. The music isnt that awesome (What were you expecting, FF quality?) but its not bad either, and the story as enough to keep me interested, and I must be the only one who wasnt annoyed at the plot twist later on. Just like the first two games, you never really know who the final boss is gonna be, as theres no set villain for most of the way through all three games. The battle system in SO3 was superb,imo, probably the best real time battle system ive ever played, its way up there with Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Eternia. It also has the awesome Vs. Mode, which is a 2 player fighting gme where you have the game characters beating each other up, its awesome

The sound and music collections in SO1, voice clip collections in SO2 and Battle Trophies in SO3 are quite awesome, and the effort required to get em all is rather mad, but the things you unlock are worth it, imo

There isnt too much of a link between the games, aside from all being in the same universe, and in SO3 thees an awesome Dictionry that tells so much info about the history of the game world (If you look carefully theres references to other SO games in there) If only the FF games and other games had such dictionaries..

All in all, this series is one of my favourite series, trust tri-Ace to deliver when it comes to gameplay!

[Zeromus_X]

I love how the SO3 dictionary hints at the stories of the first three games in the Dictionary. xD

Roak Entry- SO1
Expel Entry- SO2
Edifice Entry- SO: BS

[ValkyrieWing]

Personally, though I did enjoy TTEOT, Second story was just mush more entertaining for me. Besides, Ashton is AMAZING