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CelestialWing's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
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| [February 9, 2008 02:37:17 AM]
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GAMEPLAY (2)
Since I always start off this section with Story/Character Development, I'll just do it again...SO3's story is generally quite good, but not really stellar or anything in RPG terms. At the beginning of the second disc (yes, there are two DVDs for this game, not dual-layered though) there is a story "twist" which many people seem to dislike...however, it made me think about game worlds in general more, so I thought it was quite fine. The story varies in slow and fast sections, but generally keeps you well interested enough. Fortunately, it is not the only part of the game that keeps you into it.
The character development is just a small notch above the story. Although most of the characters are a bit stereotypical, they do each develop and gain there own charm and depth. Also, the English voice acting is good enough to help bring out the characters, and the character's mannerisms and motions are well animated. Also, you have to choose 2 out of 4 optional characters at some point, yet all four (despite being optional) are well developed and you wish you could take them all. Private actions (which I will discuss in design) also help develop individual characters in situations outside of the main storyline.
Now, all that isn't even like a fourth of what the game really has to offer...Although much of the rest opens up a good way into the game (kind of a shame), if you like the game enough to get that far, you have a bundle of great side-stuff to start doing soon, and continuing with the story only opens up more options. First comes Item Creation (once again, more in design) and more freedom in exploring, complete with optional dungeons and hard areas you aren't supposed to be in yet (but can brave for fun, curiosity, loot, challenging fights for lots of experience etc.). Quite a bit later you reach the "city of mini-games" as I like to call it (I believe there is one in every Star Ocean...at least the one in SO2 was called "Fun City"- so appropriate) which is not as expansive in variety as the one in SO2 (aka. Star Ocean: The Second Story), but is still a giant ball of side-stuff to do. Then, much later, like after you "beat" the game aka. finish the story, there are more crazy hard optional dungeons to do after that. Let's not get into the other difficulty levels and replays for different optional characters even, you probably could play this game until the end of time, but one full play-through doing everything you want to do will probably be more than enough (that's what I'm trying to finish doing in the future anyway). So, let's move on to...
DESIGN
First of all has to be Item Creation; this is a hallmark of the Star Ocean series and one of its best and most innovative strengths (even today, long after the first Star Ocean, its systems stand unique and well-polished in the crowd). SO3's Item Creation (IC) system is very different from SO2's however. Although it seems a little harder to grasp since for most types of IC you only select the price instead of materials like in SO2, prices do (usually) uniquely correspond to one item and writing these down allows you to control what you make to the same extent as in SO2. I will leave the details for the game to explain, but I wish to point out the many new awesome additions to IC that SO3 added to make up for its increased learning curve/difficulty to grasp. First of all, although SO3 has lost the amazing skill/talent system in SO2, there is newfound fun in recruiting NPC inventors and competing with ones you haven't recruited to "patent" creations. Also, it is super-neat that items invented show up in shops for sale after a while, and will run out until someone makes more on the "market". It is great that you begin receiving "royalties" for items you have patented on the market at regular intervals outside of town as well (so you can't run around town forever getting money), but also there is the tension that an unrecruited inventor will patent a good item before you (you want to patent good items since you get discounts buying them from shops as well as the "royalties") outside of town. This item creation "race" creates even more incentive to work hard on item creation. Plus, recruiting NPC creators through different ways is always satisfying as you work toward your imminent monopoly...bwahaha! Also, one can spend hours and hours fiddling with the "factors" on their weapons (like randomly shooting fireballs, or automatic MP recovery) to create specialized weapons for whatever purpose. The only reason I can think of that this was not also allowed for armor and accessories also is because it would be way too powerful with even more than 8 slots of factors to customize (and you can put defensive factors on your weapon as well, anything on an accessory or armor you can also put on your weapon, so the thing is to put factors you do not already have on your best armor/accessory or factors that work well with the ones on your other equipment). The sheer amount and types of items you can create is great as always, Star Ocean has always had the most variety and number of items in any RPG series I've played. Although some of the more fun types/items from SO2 are missing (like "forged contract" and "bounced check"), SO3 makes up for it in a better designed item list/sorting system, which is very important for a game with so many possible items...the system in SO2 could get annoying at times. That all said, the game's difficulty starts increasing near the end of disc 1 and onto disc 2, and although you can always get by with store bought items, the game kind of pushes you to do some IC...but then again it's so great once you get into it, so whatever.
Next, I have always wanted to rant about battle trophies...Why? Cause SO3 had them before Xbox Live Achievements, AND they are better. Why are they better? Cause getting lots of them actually does something other than boosting a semi-meaningless gamer score (due to vast disparities in how difficult it is to get points in different Xbox games). Getting lots of battle trophies unlocks new character costumes, new difficulty levels (unfortunately you have to start a new game for these, presumably so you can't get lots of levels on Earth(Easy) mode and then switch to 4D(Super-Hard) mode to make 4D mode easier), and best of all(IMO) a sound test mode! (I love most of the music in the game, though what was Sakuraba thinking with that one rap-like boss track, didn't fit at all and made me lose a little faith in him...). There are 300 trophies of all sorts: some will happen automatically with continued play like "Kill 100 types of enemies", others require skill/preparation like "Defeat X boss in under 1 minute" or "Defeat X boss without taking damage" (this only applies to the character you are controlling, since you usually can't help it if AI controlled members take damage), others really require skill/preparation like "get a 500 hit combo", and some (my least favorite) just require persistence, luck, or single-sighted pursuit of that goal like "Kill X super-hard optional boss in 4D difficulty with only Charge" or "deal exactly 777 damage" or "Kill X boss at level 1"(the worst...sort of). But either way, most nice stuff can be unlocked with the easier trophies, and the harder ones are more just for the proof of that accomplishment. These add great side-goals to pursue for dedicated players while rewarding them with actual stuff. The trophies viewer even has a (bad) snapshot of the moment the trophy was gotten and its description. This is just another way this game was innovative for its time and it is way better than the sound clip collection system in SO2, which was based on luck way too much.
Alright, now we get to private actions, which deserve praise and criticism. Unlike in SO2, where you could decide to initiate private actions outside a town (which means your party members split up an do their own thing inside a town - hence the name), in SO3 they happen automatically. Also, unlike in SO2, you cannot pair up any two characters in the ending, you only affect your own pairing...then again, this was hard to do in SO2 anyway. Anyway, the prevailing problem of these gets a little worse in SO3. This problem is the extreme difficulty in knowing what each response/event will do to each character's opinion of you or your opinion of them. Even weirder in SO3 is that many more PAs affect characters not even involved in the scene, almost as though your responses form what kind of person you are, and other characters judge based on that; this does however, prevent the player from being a hypocrite to get the best opinion from every character...a good moral lesson I guess. Also in SO3, mistakes cannot be fixed by fighting many battles together, PAs are the only factors in determining relationships...also more unforgiving. Also, some PAs are hard to avoid/easy to miss or do not have a part where you choose a response, so you may not think it is a PA, yet still affect relationships just by seeing them. Others are just an exchange of text; one rule that is generally true is: if Fayt(who you control in town) talks outside of a story cutscene, it is probably a private action. Overall, a summary is that the player does not have enough control over the ending pairing since it takes a lot of work to figure out what is going on at all...that said, PAs are excellent in terms of providing character development that is specialized and outside the story.
Next, the Dictionary deserves a small mention, although it is not as good as say, the databases in Xenosaga Episode I or III. It is simply good for a game to have a separate information source that fleshes out the world and chronicles terms, people, and places in the world that may or may not be a major part of the main story. It allows the rich vision of the writers/creators/developers, which may not have been completely expressed in the final product, to be brought out somewhere. It makes a great spare time read, and there are some entries that you can miss getting in this game, so thoroughness in finding everything in the game gives you more about the game! I just always love little extras like these...
Last, but not least, the battle system itself deserves special mention for being fast, fun, and frenetic, yet still requiring skill and strategy - an ideal goal for an action RPG. Core to this is the HP, MP, and Fury (Guts in the JP Version...hehe, this is Star Ocean classic) consumption systems. The details are for the game to explain, but simply summarized, there is always a trade-off between safety and damage capability. Any offensive action (such as normal attacks) or movement uses fury, and you lose your 100% fury shield that protects against weak attacks; if you run out of fury, you need to stand still to recover - this prevents mashing and encourages balancing offense and defense. Battle Skills use HP and Magic uses MP, both are more effective than normal attacks most of the time, but run out of either HP or MP and you are knocked out. Many people disliked this 0 MP=knockout, but it makes sense: if you're extremely fatigued physically or mentally, you are likely to lose consciousness. Also, with an "MP Damage" system, there are now two ways to kill your enemies as well as two ways you need to protect yourself - it actually makes mages hardier in some ways and allows you to target an enemy's weak point of the two. There is also the Rock-Paper-Scissors-like relationship between weak attacks, strong attacks, and the fury shield combined with sidesteps and running to dodge. Plus, there is chaining battle skills/magic (for dedicated mage characters) which allows damage bonuses (this is central for doing high-damage)...well, you can imagine the results of all these aspects combined. The magic in SO3 was finally balanced well after being too strong in SO1 (from what I heard) and too weak in SO2 (Although is still a little weaker in SO3 than battle skills, but dedicated mages can use it to good effect). Another thing is the fact that you can control any character in battle and each character has very different capabilities...in normal attacks, battle skills, magic, stats, even basic stuff like running speed, sidestep speed/distance, speed of item use, and knockdown recovery time. Each character has a very different feel and set of strategies/strengths/weaknesses on the battlefield, and if you get bored of one character, I highly suggest you try mastering another - it's harder, and more fun, than you think.
Anyway, sorry that was so long. This game just had so many Design qualities I wanted to talk about - that was probably the main focus of this entire game log. Anyway, with so many interesting design qualities, I demand this game by put on the classics list...NAO!...J/K.
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| [February 8, 2008 10:55:50 PM]
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NOTE
Again,(the last time, I promise!...I think) a note by the blogger: It seems like I'm going back in time with each Gamelog I've done; in a way, I am, but other games are also in-between >_>. As with my other RPG logs, I have been playing this for a while and am still playing it. Also, the starting date for this game is probably way off...I am pretty sure I started a good while before my estimate. I developed a bad habit of not finishing my current RPG before I started another one in the last few years, and now I'm trying to finish them all...Anyway, I've gotten further in this than FF XII and definitely want to "finish" it (since I'm not sure you can define "finish" for this game sometimes-hehe, the name fits). Again, I am sure of my ability to remember my impressions and experiences from even the beginning of the game, since I am still in the middle of it. I will once again split my entries based on memories of my initial impressions of the game and then later developments while playing the game.
SUMMARY
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is the third in the main Star Ocean line of action RPGs created by tri-Ace (it is often abbreviated as SO3, SO:TtEoT, or SO3:TTEOT, etc. I will call it SO3 from now on, since that it the shortest). Like some other RPG series, it is set in the same universe as the other Star Oceans, but far enough removed that you can easily play it alone and only miss some references/similarities to the other games. You play Fayt, a seemingly normal human living in the futuristic, sci-fi universe of the game; he is simply vacationing on a resort planet with his parents and childhood friend Sophia. Of course, something like a hostile alien race has to attack and change the course of his life...maybe not for the better, but for the more exciting at least.
GAMEPLAY
The game boot-up sequence for this game is one of my favorites, and arguably more inspiring than say, the FF XII's opening even. Sakuraba's "The Dawn of Wisdom" is such an appropriate track for it too, in melody and name. Too bad the actual game doesn't start in as glorious a fashion as FF XII. SO3 starts off fairly slow, even for an RPG, but at least the ramp-up pace never drops like in FF XII (Okay, enough comparing now, I know - Sorry, FF XII was the last Gamelog I wrote).
One good aspect about the lead-in to the game is the ability to skip all the battle tutorials; of course, I do not recommend this unless you have played before/read the manual thoroughly since it is very important to get down the basics of the fast battle system. Also, make sure you make a Battle Trophies file or import your previous game's in the Battle Tutorial area: this is your only chance to do so (Battle Trophies explained in design later). Most other tutorials are also skip-able, and you can also mess around with options in the config. menu, including one to skip cutscenes (For replays or game overs maybe). A small bit of user friendly design here...
Anyways, after a bit of just moving and talking (during which you experience the game's new automatic Private Action system - just Star Ocean's fancy term for interactions with other main characters, ones with response choices...WARNING! these affect the ending, more in design), stuff happens and you are thrust into your dangerous adventure. Despite the awesome sci-fi opening sequence, much of this game takes place in a more fantasy-like setting in true Star Ocean style. Even for me, who expected this from a Star Ocean game, this was a little disappointing after the opening scene completely wowed me. Either way, as long as you like fantasy as well, this game makes up for it more than enough ways.
Near the beginning, you are quite limited and can pretty much only continue with the story. However, the story is pretty interesting and the sheer fun of getting into the battle system and learning new battle skills to experiment with/practice with makes it easy to continue on. After you get more than one party member, not only does this open up more character interaction/development, but combat becomes even more fun since you can switch the character you're manually controlling with the press of a button. At other times, members you're not controlling are handled by AI. Now, the AI in this game in funky - first of all you can "level" it up with skill points by upping the "Attack" and "Defense" levels out of your four "status" skills, this does seem to increase the AI's smarts, but also affects how aggressive/defensive it is based on the balance of the two. Also, there are AI patterns you can set for each ally and you can set which spells the AI is allowed to cast in battle (all spells will still be available in manual control, and battle skills are always limited by slots and CP regardless). Lastly, just from my experience, whenever you change an ally's battle skill set, it is best to control them manually and use the skills as you want the AI to use them...and the AI seems to pick up your preferences a bit somehow...very cool.
The only small side jobs you can do near the beginning are completing maps (some have areas you can't reach, so if you're stuck on a percentage less than 97%, it probably isn't doable then); if you explore/see 99% of a map (luckily the game isn't anal enough to make it 100%) you get random bunny statues that you can sell after the first (it is good to keep one for the bonus it gives) for large chunks of cash, which is hard to come by early in the game. Other than that, the story, battles, and playing around with new characters are likely to keep you going until you reach the parts where the game starts really opening up...
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CelestialWing's Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Wednesday 31 May, 2006
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