I am currently playing through the Star Ocean series. I beat Second Story many years back, when the PS1 was in its heyday, but had neglected the series since then. With the recent announcement of Star Ocean: The Divine Force, I decided the time had finally come to play through 'Till the End of Time, The Last Hope, and Integrity and Faithlessness to get caught up with the series and the underlying lore of its universe.
To avoid spoilers for those who haven't played these games, I'll just say that 'Till the End of Time has a rather... interesting plot twist that casts the entire series in a strange light that generates controversy to the present day. I also found Star Ocean 3, as it's otherwise known, to be remarkably unfriendly to the player in the way the game is structured. Most aspects of the game, outside of the excellent combat, seem almost tailor made to frustrate the player and waste his or her time. There are no quick travel options from region to region, and the crafting system is an RNG nightmare that practically demands a strategy guide to make any meaningful progress. As a whole package, I liked the game more than I disliked it, but 230 hours of investment made me painfully aware of the PS2 game's shortcomings and questionable design choices.
The Last Hope really upped the presentation values, as you would expect from a PS3 generation game, and the combat was perhaps even better than in Star Ocean 3. I also liked the fact that TLH was more grounded in science fiction, and didn't just rehash the spaceman crash lands on primitive world and saves the day trope. Unfortunately, avoiding that trope didn't prevent the game from taking other tropes into overdrive and creating some truly cringe-inducing moments with its colorful cast of characters. More than once I questioned how the MC ever became a military officer after the way he dealt with a certain mid-game crisis, to say nothing about how the game's main healer (which you get very late in the story) is written to be as air-headed as possible. I like lighthearted moments as well as the next guy, but this girl is little more than a trope on two legs, she is so dumb. The story was a bit hit and miss, starting strong, straying into some existential issues in the mid-game that are never adequately explained, and then evolving into almost predictable metaphysical preaching at a blistering pace near the game's end. The ending itself is pretty strong, but I felt the whole narrative to be a bit disjointed. The Last Hope is a decent enough game, but not something I would consider top-tier among JRPGs. I spent roughly a hundred hours on it.
Integrity and Faithlessness (PS4) is considered by many to be the worst game in the Star Ocean series, and I was always curious as to why it got such bad word of mouth among fans. Having just started the game, being about fifteen hours in, I'm kind of getting an inkling. The combat feels like it has taken a step down from the often glorious carnage we saw in The Last Hope, and you generally feel less formidable than the previous casts of characters. More ominously, the story starts slow, and the characters are presented in a less cinematic way than in the previous two games. Though it's still early, I'm much less emotionally invested in this group of characters than I was with the previous group at the same point of the story. Never a good sign. I'm also wary of the crafting system. You can increase your skill easily enough, but you never seem to be able to find the materials you need to make even low-level equipment, let alone things that make you feel like you have gear suitable to your level. You gain levels fast in this game, and that is because enemies seem to scale to your level of strength, sometimes banishing a particular enemy you need for material drops in favor of something that can last more than five seconds against you. Maybe the overall experience will get better, but the early signs are not promising.
Anyone else have an opinion on the Star Ocean series of games?
