Its a wonder that I actually played this game all the way through, considering it has so many classic RPG mechanics that I tend to despise, along with a pretty disappointing story, and somewhat bland characters.
From what little I knew about Star Ocean going into this game, I was expecting a sci-fi cross fantasy adventure, but what I got was a vanilla fantasy adventure with a dash of sci-fi at the beginning and end of the game. Only two party members actually come from the sci-fi side of things, and both wield basic fantasy weapons. The story is just a basic "go and beat the demon king" with extra twists toward the beginning and end involving time travel and advanced technology. Was really hoping for some deeper interactions between characters from different planets and some unique characters arcs, but none of them really get the time they need to feel unique. The whole pick your own party thing seems like a great strength for this game's replay value, but I feel it hurts the story more than it helps gameplay wise.
Battles are very straightforward and don't really require much of the player. Most of the challenge comes from properly equipping your party, and positioning on the battlefield. For such a basic battle system, it stinks that random encounters are constant everywhere except towns.
This game also has so many little systems to learn through the main Skill system. The game wants you to constantly experiment with these systems since so many of the good pieces of equipment come from crafting, smithing, etc. But then barely explains any of it, and makes all success rates extremely low unless you are good at a couple other systems, have a lucky item, play a certain song, etc. Just found these systems more cumbersome and picky than fun and encouraging.
All that being said, there were enough enjoyable portions to this game that made it worth getting through. For one, I really appreciated the PS1 style graphics, with expressive spritework and nostalgic pre-rendered backgrounds. Also, despite the combat being simple, it got me through the game without feeling tired of it. The ability to change characters at any point was appreciated, and encouraged me to try out new characters as I got them.
From what little I knew about Star Ocean going into this game, I was expecting a sci-fi cross fantasy adventure, but what I got was a vanilla fantasy adventure with a dash of sci-fi at the beginning and end of the game. Only two party members actually come from the sci-fi side of things, and both wield basic fantasy weapons. The story is just a basic "go and beat the demon king" with extra twists toward the beginning and end involving time travel and advanced technology. Was really hoping for some deeper interactions between characters from different planets and some unique characters arcs, but none of them really get the time they need to feel unique. The whole pick your own party thing seems like a great strength for this game's replay value, but I feel it hurts the story more than it helps gameplay wise.
Battles are very straightforward and don't really require much of the player. Most of the challenge comes from properly equipping your party, and positioning on the battlefield. For such a basic battle system, it stinks that random encounters are constant everywhere except towns.
This game also has so many little systems to learn through the main Skill system. The game wants you to constantly experiment with these systems since so many of the good pieces of equipment come from crafting, smithing, etc. But then barely explains any of it, and makes all success rates extremely low unless you are good at a couple other systems, have a lucky item, play a certain song, etc. Just found these systems more cumbersome and picky than fun and encouraging.
All that being said, there were enough enjoyable portions to this game that made it worth getting through. For one, I really appreciated the PS1 style graphics, with expressive spritework and nostalgic pre-rendered backgrounds. Also, despite the combat being simple, it got me through the game without feeling tired of it. The ability to change characters at any point was appreciated, and encouraged me to try out new characters as I got them.