Star Ocean!

No, I'm not talking about Star Ocean III: 'Till the End of Time, which is probably the first game in the series that many of you have played, nor am I talking about The Last Hope which was just released for the PS3 and 360.

I'm talking about Star Ocean I and II for the PSP. Those games are simply amazing and it makes me depressed that the only traditional RPGs coming out nowadays are either ports of older games to newer consoles, or remakes of older games onto newer consoles. So, we have Star Ocean, and a whole slew of massively multiplayer online games.

If you've played the original or the ported/remakes of Star Ocean I or II, then give a shout out here.

I have the PlayStation version of the second game, but I've never gotten around to playing it. I bought a few years ago during one of my RPG crazes. I should really give it a try sometime.

Unlike most RPG series, each Star Ocean game is related to one another. The relations aren't subtle, either. For example, Claude's (the main character) father in Star Ocean II is one of the playable characters from the first Star Ocean, which took place about 20 years before the second game.

Star Ocean had one of the greatest whine-fests I've ever seen when First Departure hit the PSP. Make the translation inconsistent with Star Ocean 3 and 4? Fans won't complain. Tack an extra E onto Dorn's name so it's Dorne? Sure why not? Yuri Lowenthal's the main character in another RPG?

...Bad example. (For the record, he's also Cecil in Final Fantasy IV DS, Minato Arisato in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, and The Courier in Fallout: New Vegas. Oh, and the Prince of Persia.)

The big big complaint that got the Internet a whining: You have a healer. Her full name is Mildred. Don't you dare spell the familiar diminutive Millie instead of Milly, which the SNES fan translation uses. This was serious business.

Anyone who badmouths an official translation for differing from a fan translation deserves a very hard, bone-shattering smack.

I've played quite a bit of SO2 on the PS1 but I could never get hooked. Shame at that, I love sci-Fi a million times more than medieval fantasy. I have yet to try SO3.

So4, I recently bought on a whim, I played through it twice in a row. I am completely, totally in love with it. To me, it is what Phantasy Star should have become.

Star Ocean is one of the best games in the world!
The Last Hope was the first one I got, then Second Evolution and then First Departure.

What can I say about them? I played TLH to death (10 consecutive playthroughs!). The only problems I had were that Edge was a *&%# idiot and Reimi was TOO PERFECT!
... Anyway, I'll leave that aside now out of fear of making a flame war. I did not mean any offense to anyone who likes Edge.

Second Evolution was really fun and addictive. It's characters are wonderful and it's music is likely the best I've ever heard!

First Departure literally made me fall in love. There was one character there, her name is Mavelle Froesson (Marvel Frozen in the SNES version). She is my ideal! If I'm not at Fringes of Algo, it's likely because I'm too busy playing that game on my PSP. I love how that game actually is rather realistic and you have such perfect freedom there.
In the most extreme case, one of the main characters can actually die if you don't make the right choices in a certain dungeon. That can make the game really dark.

I love Star Ocean, no other game has ever made me feel like I do when I play it... well, except for maybe Phantasy Star IV.

STAR OCEAN is so great ! I haven't "really" played all the games of this fantastic franchise but I've enjoyed all the time I've played with them !
I've tried all of them (except Blue Sphere ?) and all are great games ! But the most important for me about this serie is the MUSIC : SAKURABA Motoi is the greatest composer of all times in Video Games !!

I have played only the first one on PSP, and I quite liked it. I have all the others, but I just haven't had the time to play them because I have many unplayed PSP games and I want to play them in order.

tilinelson2 wrote:

I have played only the first one on PSP, and I quite liked it. I have all the others, but I just haven't had the time to play them because I have many unplayed PSP games and I want to play them in order.

Oh whew, you couldn't have had a better start off with the series! The second one is also great

The first game needs more love, IMO...