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Oreochan from Pennsylvania Since: Dec, 1969
#1: Jan 4th 2012 at 12:15:13 PM

Courtesy link

I seriously can't believe we don't have thread for this yet. But it's here no. I've only played Star Ocean 1 though and so far it's one of my favorite JRPGs.

edited 4th Jan '12 12:19:26 PM by Oreochan

"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
Spirit Pretty flower from America Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Hooked on a feeling
Pretty flower
#2: Jan 4th 2012 at 12:16:20 PM

I've only played 4. Pretty good.

#IceBearForPresident
lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#3: Jan 4th 2012 at 12:19:30 PM

I was wondering how come we had no thread on this.

Played the whole series other than Blue Sphere. Although the plot is usually straightforward, the gameplay is great. And soooooo much clear data content. It's a lot of fun.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
metaphysician Since: Oct, 2010
#4: Jan 4th 2012 at 12:46:06 PM

Star Ocean 2 was one of my favorite PS 1 games. Sadly, it was followed by 3, which I absolutely hate. Between the majority of the game being utterly irrelevant for the main plot, and the badly done Gainax Ending. . .

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com
lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#5: Jan 4th 2012 at 1:39:38 PM

Maaan, 3 gets too much hate.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
DRCEQ Since: Oct, 2009
#6: Jan 4th 2012 at 4:53:44 PM

Star Ocean The Last Hope is my favorite, though I've only played 3 and 4 anyway. It's the last RPG I've played, actually. Just haven't picked up any others since then. I was able to get my copy of the game autographed by Travis Willingham, Carrie Savage, and Kyle Hebert too.

COMET IMPACT! SEE YA!! *99999 damage*

edited 6th Jan '12 10:19:01 AM by DRCEQ

Barrylocke Reaching the Future, the hard way from Thracia Since: Aug, 2009
Reaching the Future, the hard way
#7: Jan 4th 2012 at 5:29:26 PM

I've played 2 and 3. I like to compare 2 to Tales Of Eternia since Star Ocean and Tales had the same origins. The music in 2 is great, but the plot and everything else is pretty standard. The battle system is fun, but nowhere near Tales of Eternia fun.

3 is much more fun than 2 combat wise. I'm a decent ways in but not crazy far (Roger just joined the party and I've had Maria for a little while now). I think I prefer it to 3, since the story is slightly better, and the combat is much better. Plus 3 makes good use of the Rock Organ, with my favorite normal battle theme in the series.

Overall I prefer the Tales series, but I'll admit that Motoi Sakuraba did much better work with Star Ocean, (and Valkyrie Profile) than he did with Tales.

edited 4th Jan '12 5:30:26 PM by Barrylocke

Taking a break from FE1, for the FE8 draft instead
Raso Cure Candy Since: Jul, 2009
Cure Candy
#8: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:13:49 AM

I am a huge fan of the series, the only one I havent played is one (its on my list to get though.)

Out of all of them I think 4 is my fav although it plays so many Anime tropes and stereotypes strait as an arrow its not even funny but that is part of its charm. (however Edge's Heroic BSoD is something that is very different from most.)

Welch in it has to be the funniest character of the series, just seeing the scenes where she gets introduced to the other characters is classic. As well as her playing Meganekko for all its worth.

Three would be my second fav for sure very high brow on the second disk that is very meaningful.

edited 6th Jan '12 7:18:56 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!
lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#9: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:24:14 AM

I disliked Welch in 4, but find her amazing everywhere else. Her P As in the first game were hilarious.

For all the hate on 3, I really liked it.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
TroperRoxas ... from Scotland Since: May, 2010
...
#10: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:24:39 AM

I've only played the first game on SNES. Buggy as hell, but it's quite fun. I'll need to see if I can borrow the 4th game from a friend at some point.

rrw Since: Jun, 2010
#11: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:33:10 AM

one of my first game when i have PS 1

still remember i stuck at disk one T.T

Raso Cure Candy Since: Jul, 2009
Cure Candy
#12: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:46:59 AM

For all the hate on 3, I really liked it.

Completely with you there.

I for one thought the twist was really good and made ya think.

The only thing I didnt like about it I think was Map Completion.

edited 6th Jan '12 8:24:14 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!
DRCEQ Since: Oct, 2009
#13: Jan 6th 2012 at 10:21:31 AM

I don't hate the 3rd game. Yeah, the Plot Twist was really REALLY bad, but I didn't hate the game. I enjoyed it's settings, characters, and voice actors. It wasn't a perfect game, but still enjoyable.

lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#14: Jan 6th 2012 at 11:02:22 AM

I didn't mind the Plot Twist. They could have handled it better, but eh.

Besides, there were tons of things to do in that game, for just a plot twist to ruin your enjoyment of it.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Jamdat369 Does What You Don't from Terca Lumireis Since: Sep, 2011
Does What You Don't
#15: Jan 6th 2012 at 2:48:15 PM

I've only played The Last Hope but never finished due to a bug. At I hope its a bug and not just me sucking. Part of the way through the boss fight where you have to beat a bunch of copy soldiers I start to do only one damage no matter what attack I use. But anyway,how is the rest f the series?

"All worlds begin in darkness and all so end. The heart is no different."-Ansem
Swish Long Live the King Since: Jan, 2001
Long Live the King
#16: Jan 6th 2012 at 5:59:48 PM

[up]That's not a bug... You're either under-leveled, or you didn't use the item creation system...

It's more likely the latter, as I never liked the item creation systems in the first three, so didn't even touch the fourth one(which is much better), and had the exact same problem.

The good news: If my diagnosis is correct, you don't really have to restart. You just have to create better weapons/armor and go to town.

I enjoyed 2's story, and 3's combat system... But the Last Hope is my favorite because I actually enjoyed the game as a whole, rather than just bits and pieces of it...

Jamdat369 Does What You Don't from Terca Lumireis Since: Sep, 2011
Does What You Don't
#17: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:28:15 PM

[up]Thanks. Now I'll be able to continue the amazing story. Speaking of the story I love how episodic it is. Each world feels like it could be a game all its own.

"All worlds begin in darkness and all so end. The heart is no different."-Ansem
Barrylocke Reaching the Future, the hard way from Thracia Since: Aug, 2009
Reaching the Future, the hard way
#18: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:42:57 PM

I need to keep playing into SO 3 so I can see what the infamous Plot Twist actually is. I have a hunch, but its not a strong one.

Taking a break from FE1, for the FE8 draft instead
metaphysician Since: Oct, 2010
#19: Jan 6th 2012 at 7:50:45 PM

Honestly, the Plot Twist isn't what ruins it for me, in retrospect. Its that the middle two thirds of the game, while a perfectly reasonable fantasy adventure plot, have virtually no relevance to the actual plot of the game. Its just. . . meaningless. The writers were trying to do what prior games did, but forgot to spend effort tying the primitive world adventure into the larger setting.

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com
DRCEQ Since: Oct, 2009
#20: Jan 6th 2012 at 8:00:32 PM

The only thing I hate about The Last Hope is that it's a 3 disc game, and you have to switch discs back and forth just to travel between certain planets at the end game. Some of them are crucial for item synthesis, and because of how the story plays out, the only place you can create items requires you to switch back the disc again after you've collected all your items.

It's a tedious process that probably could have been avoided if they had bothered to use the 360's harddrive so that the game's STORY was spread out over the 3 discs, but not the LOCATIONS.

lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#21: Jan 7th 2012 at 1:37:21 AM

Hmmm...I have the PS 3 version, so only one disc. Thankfully.

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
DRCEQ Since: Oct, 2009
lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#23: Jan 7th 2012 at 4:07:17 PM

Ah, aren't Updated Rereleases great?

edited 7th Jan '12 4:07:32 PM by lu127

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Raso Cure Candy Since: Jul, 2009
Cure Candy
#24: Jan 8th 2012 at 1:59:49 AM

I didn't have that big of a problem with it.

My big problem was unlocking extended leveling from 200-255 on everyone.... Battle trophies sucked.

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!
Desertopa Not Actually Indie Since: Jan, 2001
Not Actually Indie
#25: Jan 8th 2012 at 5:28:44 AM

I didn't hate SO 3, but I was extremely disappointed by it. There were plenty of improvements from the previous game (voice acting, graphics, better dialogue writing, etc.) but it did away with pretty much everything that was cool about the previous games (private actions, a complex and interesting out-of-combat skill system, Relationship Values between all the characters, etc.) Not to mention that while I found the dialogue writing better, the characters themselves were largely unlikeable compared to the previous games. And that's aside from the terrible plot twist, and most of the game being irrelevant to the main plot (both the previous games spend large amounts of time stranded on an underdeveloped planet, but at least those tie into the plot.)

I still haven't played the fourth. The third didn't exactly leave me clamoring for more, and so far everything I've heard about it suggests that it doesn't really return to any of the elements I found appealing about the first two games.

...eventually, we will reach a maximum entropy state where nobody has their own socks or underwear, or knows who to ask to get them back.

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