Star Ocean storys...

[Carmilla]

Are the Star Ocean games connected or in series? If i get Til the End of Time will i be lost?
Or are the games 'stand alone' like the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games?

[Zeromus_X]

All the games are in the same timeline.

Star Ocean 2 takes place like 20 (relatively shortly) years after Star Ocean. Star Ocean 3 takes place a whopping 400 years after Star Ocean 3. I think Blue Sphere takes place a few years after 2. However, none of the stories are explicitly connected, really.

You don't need to play the games in any order to enjoy them, but you'll develop more nostalgia and enjoy the references in Star Ocean 3 more (like the 'Tale of Sulfur Dioxide' )

[LunarWeaver]

I played Star Ocean 3 without playing any previous SO games and I had no problems at all.

[Darkwing Bahamut]

Star Ocean Till the End of Time is the only SO game I played. It wasn't that good so I didn't bother with any of the previous games.

[ValkyrieWing]

Star Ocean 2 was an AMAZING game, with a beautifully involved story.

,...and as for nostalgia, I about died when I played VP the first time and fought the bonus dungeon people.

[Mirage]

Sulfur Dioxide = SO2 :D

[The Knights of the Round]

ok stupid question probably but is so 3 and so till the end of time directors cut or w/e the same games bassically??

[Zeromus_X]

If you own a version that's in English, it will have all the additions of the Director's Cut, really. In Japan, the first Star Ocean 3 was extremely buggy and unstable, so they created the 'Director's Cut' version in Japan with tons of new added features (two new playable characters, two new bonus dungeons and more bosses, additional PAs, items, the VS. Fighting Mini-Game, the Cancel Bonus combo system, and many other cool stuffs).

All other outside versions (in English, anyway, that I know for sure of) have all the Director's Cut additions.

Those bastards made Ether Strike a major attack.

[ValkyrieWing]

Nibelung Valesti wasn't exactly a walk in the park. ^___^

[tidus_rox]

I dont like Star Ocean till the end of time... I really want to give it another chance but never gotten around to it. I have also been wondering if they were connected but now i know there not lol so thanks!

[Roogle]

Star Ocean and Star Ocean: The Second Story are connected more closely than Star Ocean: The Second Story and Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time.

The third game of the Star Ocean trilogy only contains lore from the previous games and no direct story elements, but if you're ever looking for some nice, older games to play, you should look into the previous Star Ocean games. They're pretty nice, but it seems like they used to have higher hopes for what they could do in gameplay when they started; for example, in the first Star Ocean, you could switch party members in the middle of battle, but this option was lost in the second game.

[Reine]

The stories are relatively linked, but entirely seperate.

In SO2, at the start of Claude's story, it gives a small bit of info on the happenings of SO1, as Claude's father Ronixis, is a playable character in the first game, and one of the major characters too.

In SO3, in the dictionary it lists things from all the previous games right at the start of the game, and you can find tiny references to them in odd places, usually in a random bookcase (EG, a tale involving Asmodeus, who was in SO1, or something about "Ten Wise Sages", an obvious allusion to the Ten Wise Men of SO2)

The dictionary doesnt spoil the stories of the previous game seither, just explains a few things about the worlds and races of the past games

[Zeromus_X]

Well, it does reveal some elements, but only in a history-book-esque way.

Yep, the 'Ten Sages of God' were what they were originally called. I'm so glad they kept the original names for them.
(SPOILER)
Also, Iria has the same penchant for 'counting points' after battle that Claude has, suggesting further that she's his mother.

[Reine]

heh, I obviously cant understand japanese so I never noticed the Iria thing

as for this sulfer dioxide thing, is it per chance the book in that writers house in Aquios? I read Lucio which is somewhat similar to Indalecio, but the other names, plus the actions, didnt seem like the ten wise men to me..

[Zeromus_X]

I really don't remember what house it was in, but I think it was Aquios. I do think the names were somewhat different from the original names, but they're close enough considering how drastically censored they were for the outside releases of Star Ocean 2.

Remember Lucifer (Cyril)'s master plan speech to Claude and co. when you confront him in Fienal Tower? One of the books describes this scene. That was a great scene.

Edit: FYI, and so I actually remember them all:

In the Japanese version of the game, the Ten Wise Men were all named after Judeo-Christian angels, as follows:

* Berle: Metatron
* Shigeo: Jophiel
* Marsilio: Zaphkiel
* Ruprecht: Zadkiel
* Nicolus: Camael
* Jibril: Raphael
* Vesper: Haniel
* Decus: Michael
* Cyril: Lucifer
* Indalecio: Gabriel

Jibril is actually the Arabic name for the archangel Gabriel.

Their original name was "The Ten Sages of God". There is a reference to them in a book found in Star Ocean 3 which refers to them by their original Japanese names.