Replaying Star Ocean is not only rewarding, but the game's inclusion of Private Events allows the cast to end up far more developed than the average party for the era– even if they aren't the most compelling group in the world. The original Star Ocean is very much worth revisiting today.Īs unique and engaging as the original Star Ocean's combat is, it's hard to deny that The Second Story's isn't just downright better.
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While the story is a bit lacking, a plot that centers around a pandemic rings more poignantly these days and the general premise remains unique even in the context of the series.īeyond being a technological marvel for the Super Famicom, Star Ocean is home to an incredibly unique battle system that mixes real-time combat with a light mix of strategy (comparatively, The Second Story onwards would opt for mostly pure action.) Notably, only four party members are mandatory, giving players free four slots to fill with four of the games' many optional party members. Developed by staff members who had worked on Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean elevates its predecessor's presentation and arguably ends up a better RPG in the process. Speaking of, it's worth discussing the RPG that started it all. The end result is still a fantastic RPG worth playing (especially its newest re-release, First Departure R,) but playing The First Departure is not analogous to playing Star Ocean (1996.) Really, it's not that The First Departure is a worse game or a bad remake– it isn't either of those things– it's that dressing up the first Star Ocean as the second misses what made the original special. The First Departure does not look bad whatsoever, but when compared to one of the best looking games on the SNES, it just doesn't compare. More importantly, Star Ocean's visuals and audio were designed with the Super Famicom in mind. RELATED: 10 Most Underrated RPGs Of 2019 (& Their Metacritic Score) The Second Story's core combat is fantastic and lends itself nicely to The First Evolution, but the original Star Ocean had a rather unique battle scheme. The Last Hope is also home to some of the best post-game in the series, but the story really is that bad.Ī remake of the original Star Ocean using Star Ocean: The Second Story's gameplay engine, The First Departure is an excellent modernization of its source material– but it's not necessarily better. The main party is bland in terms of characterization, but they're extremely fun to control– protagonist Edge Maverick, especially. Best of all, the core combat is the absolute best Star Ocean has seen. Dungeons are wonderfully layered and make use of memorable setpieces the music is fantastic, and the visuals still hold up. Terrible character development and one of the worst depictions of depression in gaming hold The Last Hope's narrative back, but the actual gameplay is some of the series' absolute best. What few ambitious moments the game does have are handled so poorly in execution, it's hard not to want to skip every cutscene after a certain point. The Last Hope is far safer with its plot, has a fairly generic cast to go along with it, and features some of the most aggressively bland storytelling in the franchise. Star Ocean: The Last Hope's story is very clearly a response to Till the End of Time's ultimately controversial narrative. Quite frankly, the Star Ocean franchise was better off on a silent hiatus after The Last Hope. Complete with a painfully dry story, and Integrity and Faithlessness has almost nothing going for it.
If anything, all this insistence on real time does is prevent the core combat from living up to previous entries. It's an ambitious project for sure, but Integrity and Faithlessness does not use its gimmick well. This philosophy is also applied to cutscene direction, with Integrity and Faithlessness opting to make everything happen in real-time. Everyone fights at once, and battles no longer take place in dedicated arenas but in the overworld– so as to keep the gameplay constantly flowing. No longer to players even need to think about their party.
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For starters, Integrity and Faithlessness continues The Last Hope's trend of a static party (something that flies in the face of how the series approaches party composition,) but with one big change: everyone fights. The fifth mainline entry in the series, Star Ocean: I&F makes a number of notable changes that end up depriving it of Star Ocean's charm. Until Integrity and Faithlessness, that is. Even at its absolute worst, Star Ocean managed to pull through thanks to incredibly tight gameplay.
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