This game has a bad rap. And it's undeserved.
Background: this was originally released on the Xbox 360 as an exclusive. After thatThis game has a bad rap. And it's undeserved.
Background: this was originally released on the Xbox 360 as an exclusive. After that expired, the International version was released on PS3. The 360's main issue was the disc swapping that was necessary between planets - a throwback to Final Fantasy VII on the PS1. PS3 version fixed that but introduced other issues. Largely though it was the easier overall experience.
If you never played this game, it is (canon) the fourth Star Ocean game, having nothing to do with the previous except Captain Kenny who has a partial cameo from older games. It's the first Star Ocean to really focus on space exploration and visiting new planets. The remaster (not a remake, mind you), doesn't change the underlying story. It's a great game, but temper your expectations.
Many of the complaints from people online are people preferring the third Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, because of the battle engine. In my opinion that's all it had going for it; the story was terrible, the graphics laughable, the music forgettable. Also, people complain about Lymle, a childlike character, and Edge's English voice actor. Neither are worth skipping the game over. Lymle's a kid...who acts like a kid. Edge's English VA isn't great, but certainly not the worst (I'm looking at you, Tidus). Turn on Japanese if it bothers you.
What made this game great was really 4 things:
- The remaster graphics are EXCELLENT. Everything's much cleaner, easier to see, draw distance, performance, etc. Especially on a PS4 Pro.
- The music was always good.
- The Private Actions in this one far surpass any of the other Star Oceans by far. Just Reimi/Meracle/Edge alone will have you cracking up, and Welch is a star by herself, but watching Lymle fail to kick her is awesome. Meracle and Reimi are basically the anti-feminists, especially Meracle, who has absolutely no problem flirting.
- Planetary exploration is what made Mass Effect 1 better than the rest, and it's on full display here. Some of it is "rails-ish" but in general, it's an absolute treat.
So why an 8 and not a 10? Well, they didn't address the excessive bloom lighting that's been there since the beginning. It's annoying, because you can't fully enjoy the graphical beauty. Also, they nerfed the effectiveness of some of the characters; used to be that controlling Reimi alone with her special attacks would allow you to breeze through the game; she was significantly overpowered. Now she's still strong but not a tank like she used to be. Why change this? Let the player choose whether to use certain overpowered characters or not if they want their challenge ramped.
Games like Disgaea, a game severely lacking anime cutscenes, have gotten people to this "I just wanna fight" and "I want obscene difficulty" mentality. If you don't care about story in a game, this game isn't for you, but if you want to feel like you're playing a book, complete with cutscenes (like the GOOD old days), great graphics, and characters, be sure to give this a try. It's well worth the $20 or so. More so than Integrity & Faithlessness BY FAR.… Expand
