Star Ocean: First Departure

[Gorvi]

I just popped it in for a few minutes last night, but I'll be putting in some substantial time with it today. So far, well, the intro is very nice. Anyone else playing it?

[frederec]

My wife is playing it, and I'm wishing I was playing it. My PSP is all about P2:Innocent Sin right now. She's described First Departure as very similar in style to Second Story, but prettier. She's complained occasionally about some odd story elements, but she's been really enjoying it. One annoyance is you apparently can't turn off the in-battle voices. They aren't as painful as the ones in Second Story, but they are very repetitive and will overlap in battle, having three or so attacks called out at once.

[EWolfmanD]

I got an hour or two into it the other night, but I think I'm going to work on finishing Time Hollow before putting too much time into it. I'll probably end up playing it some more today though. I liked what I've played so far. I never got a chance to play the first two Star Oceans, so I'm glad I get the chance to check them out finally.

[Gorvi]

I got about an hour in on my lunch break. Yeah, this very much feels like SO2, right down to some of the sound effects and little music samples. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those are the same. I haven't gotten any skills yet, but the battle system seems to be exactly the same as well, which is a good thing. I love the way the game looks, it's like a very high res PS1 game.

[Kelegacy]

I'm thinking I need to ask for a PSP for Xmas. My girlfriends parents want to know what I want. This might be a tad too expensive, but they did buy us a Wii last year.

I really want to play this game, since I did play a lot of the original fan-translation, and I LOVED SO2 to no end.

[rein]

Quick question. How is the game on a portable system? If I remember right, the Star Ocean series is pretty involved. Is it portable friendly?

[violent]

Every single PSP game should be available as a download on day 1. That'd be great.

[Gorvi]

Quick question. How is the game on a portable system? If I remember right, the Star Ocean series is pretty involved. Is it portable friendly?
Just as much as most other RPGs. You can save on the world map at any time, but you can only save in dungeons at save points. I stopped worrying about this with the PSP and DS, though, simply because they have the wonderful sleep mode. Most of the time I have the PSP in sleep mode anyway, it's actually more of a rare thing for me to shut it off.

[Mr. Murphy]

I really want to play this game, since I did play a lot of the original fan-translation, and I LOVED SO2 to no end.


Ditto for me, and I don't have a PSP either. I have some very fond memories of an entire summer playing that game. The bonus dungeon at the end, the added difficulty levels... I still consider SO2 to be the hardest RPG I've ever played.

I beat it on Galaxy. It took... a long time.

[OrangePulp]

I'm somewhere around 10, 12 hours in. It isn't quite SO2, but I'm enjoying it a lot more than when I tried to play the original SNES (with translation). Voice acting sucks, and there's no way to avoid it other than muting all sound (which I don't like to do, because the game has good music). Can't even rip it out of the iso and rebuild it, because all the game data is encrypted inside SO1pack.bin.

Item creation is as powerful as ever, which I'm actually a fan of. Right now, I'm trying to find a town that sells both conductors batons and iron, but I don't think one exists, at least as far as I've gotten in the game.

[Chris_D]

I did really enjoy the crap out of SO2 on the PS1 back in the day but I think the mechanics of this RPG are going to be too archaic for me to get into. I'll wait for a real SO portable sequel on the PSP or of course the 360 game.

[Gorvi]

I finally got a chance to really dig into the game in the past few days. I just spent my entire lunch break dicking around in the arena doing battles, which was quite a bit of fun. I forgot how addictive it was in SO2 building up skill points and learning new skills, but now that's totally coming back to me. Good times.

[Heretic Machine]

I'm gonna try to check this out once I get my PSP. There is another one coming in January, in-case you weren't aware: Star Ocean: Second Evolution (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/home/939440.html).

[Gorvi]

I'm gonna try to check this out once I get my PSP. There is another one coming in January, in-case you weren't aware: Star Ocean: Second Evolution (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/home/939440.html).
Yep, that's a remake/port of the PS2 Star Ocean: The Second Story. That will be very nice to have.

[Purple Santa]

I'm thinking I need to ask for a PSP for Xmas. My girlfriends parents want to know what I want. This might be a tad too expensive, but they did buy us a Wii last year.


You are going to give them a grandchild. I'm sure they show you gratitude with anything you want :). Besides, if you can lived with a used phatty, they aren't that expensive. I had two lying around until a few months ago...stolen...otherwise I would of gladly sent you one.
Just as much as most other RPGs. You can save on the world map at any time, but you can only save in dungeons at save points. I stopped worrying about this with the PSP and DS, though, simply because they have the wonderful sleep mode. Most of the time I have the PSP in sleep mode anyway, it's actually more of a rare thing for me to shut it off.
I love sleep mode on my PSP! I wish my consoles would do that...and not having to worry it would explode...i'm adding this to my January Gamefly list...by then i'll have time to play this...

[harle]

Has anyone played this game recently? I am deciding on whether to buy this or Crisis Core and cannot make up my mind. The reviews for Crisis Core are better than SO, but I was a HUGE Star Ocean: The Second Story fan. The reviews say that the game is boring up until the last few hours, but it looks and sound great.

[Xerxes]

Yep, that's a remake/port of the PS2 Star Ocean: The Second Story. That will be very nice to have.

Any plans for the third coming to psp?

[Gorvi]

Has anyone played this game recently? I am deciding on whether to buy this or Crisis Core and cannot make up my mind. The reviews for Crisis Core are better than SO, but I was a HUGE Star Ocean: The Second Story fan. The reviews say that the game is boring up until the last few hours, but it looks and sound great.
That's kinda tough. If you were in any way a fan of FFVII (even just enjoyed it), the story alone in Crisis Core is worth it. The combat isn't the deepest thing in the world, but it's fun. It's not really you're typical world traveling RPG, but what's there is really tight, and again, Zack's story is very much worth playing through.

SO is good, but the story..... not so much. The gameplay and character progression keep me coming back, though, I just really don't care about what's going on. There's hidden stuff to find, which is good, and optional characters to unlock, like in SO2, so there's that for replay value. All the crafting from SO2 is in there too, if that was something you enjoyed.

Both games seem to be around the 20-30 hour mark, depending on how much you get into the side quests. It's hard to really suggest one over the other, but it's probably just best to say that if you were more into FFVII, go with CC, but if you were more into SO2, go with SO.
Any plans for the third coming to psp?
I'd say that's pretty doubtful, but hell, if they could port SO3 to that engine and fix the combat issues, I know I'd be happy. :)

[harle]

That's kinda tough. If you were in any way a fan of FFVII (even just enjoyed it), the story alone in Crisis Core is worth it. The combat isn't the deepest thing in the world, but it's fun. It's not really you're typical world traveling RPG, but what's there is really tight, and again, Zack's story is very much worth playing through.

SO is good, but the story..... not so much. The gameplay and character progression keep me coming back, though, I just really don't care about what's going on. There's hidden stuff to find, which is good, and optional characters to unlock, like in SO2, so there's that for replay value. All the crafting from SO2 is in there too, if that was something you enjoyed.

Both games seem to be around the 20-30 hour mark, depending on how much you get into the side quests. It's hard to really suggest one over the other, but it's probably just best to say that if you were more into FFVII, go with CC, but if you were more into SO2, go with SO.

I'd say that's pretty doubtful, but hell, if they could port SO3 to that engine and fix the combat issues, I know I'd be happy. :)I have never actually beat FFVII. I have started it three times but have only ever gotten to the second disc. I just could never get into it.

SO2 is one of my favorite games of all time which is primarily why I want to give SO1 a try. The reviews label it as boring, though. I might just get it anyways. I have a $25 fred meyers gift card and $11 in rewards rebates, so I will only pay $3.99 for it. :)

[Xerxes]

Friday to Monday, Amazon be there. :)
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - $14.95 (Reg. $29.99)
and the other best looking PSP game
God of War Chains of Olympus - $19.95 (Reg. $39.99)

I haven't played an SO game yet, but FF VII:CC has some cinematics that make Advent Children look bad. The fighting doesn't really escalate. I know a lot of us became over powered by what, level 30. The story is a little drawn out but compelling in the end. If you are a completionist, there are a TON of side missions. You'll be dying to quit and finish the damn story after a while. This is part of the reason why people became to strong for the campaign.

[harle]

Whyyyyyy did you tell me about this Xerxes. I have already spent too much on games lately...

It looks like I will get Crisis Core in the near future. :)

Edit: X has been added!

[Xerxes]

Whyyyyyy did you tell me about this Xerxes. I have already spent too much on games lately...

It looks like I will get Crisis Core in the near future. :)

Misery loves company. I haven't bought many new games since summer. Today I just blew about $150+. And my itch isn't totally over. Damn CAG website. :(

[Gorvi]

Solved it. Great game all around (art style, music, character progression) except for the plot, so that drags it down a bit. I'm glad they brought it out, though, as it's one of those games that never got a US release that I'd always been curious about.

The game is rather short, my total time was probably just over 22 hours. I didn't do much in the way of sidequests, though I did spend quite a bit of time going through the arena challenges.