Star Ocean 3

So I hear Roger is a great character to use. Plus he's voiced by Mona Marshall who is awesome at making little brats lovable. (see: Wolfram) As such I want to try and put him in my party.

The problem is that he's weak as shit. He's at level 10 which is absolute garbage compared to Fayt, Cliff and Nel. Maria wasn't quite as bad but she still sucked so I just don't use her. Plus she doesn't strike me as very likable or interesting but whatever.

So my question is, before heading for Mosel, is there any non-spending long hours grinding weak monsters solution to making him not suck?

So this was my first foray into the SO series. I've been hearing about these games from my fellow JRPG enthusiasts for years but I finally decided to give 'em a try.

So what were my thoughts on the game? ....that's a tough one to nail down. First I suppose I should mention that I played the game on Earth (Easy) difficulty. I've never played an Action RPG and I had no idea if I'd be any good at it so I decided to be a pussy.

I rather liked the hectic and fast-paced combat for the most part. The major problem I had with it was MP 0 is instant KO. I just don't get that. Why would your MP going to zero make you die? It's just super irritating since the one healing spell in the game only recovers HP so I needed to have a bunch of MP restorative items + the accessory that slowly regens your MP in order to stay alive.

I also had some real problems with the AI freaking out. Like if I set Cliff to Focus Your Attack or whatever he'd just run off in the wrong diection and not attack any of the enemies.

Even with all this I did enjoy battles a lot. No, the things about the gameplay that infuriated me are....

1. STOP. THE. FUCKING. BACKTRACKING.

What the hell is this, Resident Evil? I'm used to maybe returning to dungeons for optional shit but who's bright idea was it to make you go through a dungeon then go all the way back out again? How about traveling through the stupid ass dragon mountain dungeon only to be told you had to go all the way back to the Aqueducts to get Glowstone?

Then there's the Aprisforsaken Shrine of Kaddan. I can only assume the level designer was obscenely proud with his creation which was why they made you go through it four fucking times. I mean it was a nice dungeon, cool music and layout and stuff, but come on. It's like they were trying to abort any attempt at atmosphere.

And the other problem.... 2. Underleveled Party Members

What the fuck. I was at like Level 40 when I finally got control of Peppita and Sophia again. They were Level 1. I spent hours grinding them up to decent levels. I eventually just gave up on Sophia and settled for my preferred party of Cliff, Nel and Peppita. Oh yeah and can't forget them giving you Mirage to control. Why? Who knows. She was pathetically underleveled too.

So with gameplay out of the way, onto the plot.

Yes I kinda had the plot twist spoiled for me. I actually misunderstood it however and figured the video game simulation was all in Fayt's head, not that Fayt himself was a video game character

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first disc of Star Ocean 3 honestly bored me to tears for the most part. Oh there were some good parts but mostly it was just a very typical "there's an Evil Empire of Evil so better stop them" which doesn't exactly enthrall me.

No, the game only really started to pick up when they left Elichoor. The stuff with the Creator, Executioner and 4D Space was easily the highlight of the game as far as the story goes. It's actually a pretty fascinating concept that I enjoyed mulling over. You had the giant, angelic Executioners serving "The Creator" and it all just invokes a very impressive and mystical image. People even contemplate just giving into the will of this Supreme Being.

Then you learn The Creator is just some dude. Letting him kill you be like submitting to the divine rule of Bill Gates.

Anywho, this game's plot isn't anything to write home about and it's not exactly helped by the presentation. The huge gaps of dead space were really unsettling, as were some of the faces.

I also found the sudden turn of Airyglyph from deadly foe to ally very jarring. I get the impression they were trying to pass off most of the kingdom's cruel actions to Vox but the fact is that the king still had say-so in all the deaths that occurred . Having him and the queen just be old chums is very peculiar.

Whatever problems the overall plot had, I liked about half of the cast. Fayt was unremarkable but that's not a bad thing since a lot of JRPG hereos are remarkable in how awful they are. Cliff was voiced by Dave Wittenberg doing the most awesome "I AM A MAN" voice ever and I just really loved his character in general. Hope he got with Mirage. In addition to him there was Peppita, voiced by Sherry Lynn AKA Sasami AKA MOMO. That was a very pleasant surprise for me when I first ran into her at the start of the game. Shame you wouldn't see her again for like 25+ hours....

I think the real standout character however is Nel. Wendee Lee did an amazing job voicing her but in terms of actual character, I just really liked her personality. She was a strong, polite and tough soldier who did everything possible for her country. Nevertheless she had a softer sidea which you saw with Clair. I just wish the game had focused more on her reactions to going into space. I also wish the game had gone more into detail about her faith after all this. Does she still believe in Apris? I was seriously wondering that ever since the reveal.

I get the feeling Maria was supposed to be the female lead but fuck her. When she came into my party she was absolute garbage and I didn't feel like leveling her up. What's more, she seemed like a total bitch in most cutscenes. I was honestly expecting her to end up trying to kill Fayt's dad.

Roger and the others were just kinda there. I don't care if Albel is voiced by Crispin Freeman, they pushed him on me for some really shitty dungeon and that's it. his character did not itnerest me at all.

Oh and finally the composer of this game, Sakuraba, was introduced to me via Baten Kaitos. That game had a much better soundtrack but SO 3 still had several gems.

My favorites:

Rust Color This song is just so beautiful while also being equally somber. this song should have played more often. As such I mainly remember hearing it in just one town.

Battle Theme While it's no "True Mirror", very few normal battles songs are that awesome. Even still, this is a badass song and I never got tired of hearing it.

Aquatic Garden Surferio Ya know I never actually beat this dungeon. I wandered into it a couple times by mistake and that's it. The music however is frickin' amazing and probably my favorite dungeon theme in the game.

Final Boss Theme This might be one instance where SO beats out BK. I think I like this final boss theme more. Luther kinda interested me and I wish we had seen more of him. But man was that boss fight tough. Thank God I played it on Easy or I probably would have never beaten the game.

So my overall opinion of SO 3 is that it was fun but man did it have a whole lot of nothing combined with a whole lot of irritating and pointless shit. I did like the game in spite of all its flaws though and I will probably play it again.

Given the stuff you liked, I would suggest checking out Star Ocean 2. Its pretty much a better game than SO 3 in every way, save graphics. In particular, it has *much* better pacing, and the stuff in the first half of the game is actually *relevant* post-reveal.

We already have a thread.