I received Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time as a consolation present whilst eagerly awaiting the arrival of Final Fantasy 12 which is due to be released in the Uk on 1st March 2005. At first, when I looked at the attractively illustrated box, I could see screen stills of the game in action, ... Read review
Advantages: Interesting concept and gameplay Disadvantages: Characters tend to freeze up in battle
I received Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time as a consolation present whilst eagerly awaiting the arrival of Final Fantasy 12 which is due to be released in the Uk on 1st March 2005. At first, when I looked at the attractively illustrated box, I could see screen stills of the game in action, which looked a lot like the screens you would expect to see in a Final Fantasy game. I ripped open the package and stuffed it into the PS2, unable to contain ... ...on a turn system. Star Ocean does not have this facet, instead relying on the intense fighting stance of time-based attacks. This means that the lower your characted is in levels, the slower he/she is going to be when fighting against something that may just be a few levels above you.
There are no magics and no potions that will increase the speed of a person in battle, although they obviously level up as the game progresses (and there ... more
I received Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time as a consolation present whilst eagerly awaiting the arrival of Final Fantasy 12 which is due to be released in the Uk on 1st March 2005. At first, when I looked at the attractively illustrated box, I could see screen stills of the game in action, which looked a lot like the screens you would expect to see in a Final Fantasy game. I ripped open the package and stuffed it into the PS2, unable to contain my excitement. Within the first 10 minutes of attempted gameplay, I had gotten bored with the controls and shelved it.
However, in true warrior style, I decided that if a solar system needed saving - I was the only one man enough to get the whole job done. Needless to say, I slipped it back in the PS2 and continued on my merry way. (No matter what he says, I played this game for my own enjoyment and not just to stop my partner from playing it before me).
The blue-haired Fayt Leingod is the main character of the game, who, together with his cousin (I forget her name), become separated from Fayt's scientist parents, and are alone in a world that is spiralling out of control. They intend to search for Fayt's parents, but, inevitably, there are numerous setbacks on the way.
I am used to using the arrow keys on my PS2 pad to control my characters and I hate having to use the analogue for anything. I hate shoot 'em ups, and couldnt play games like goldeneye or onimusha purely because my motor skills do not appear to allow me to play these games whilst still running about. If I am gonna shoot or fight anyone, I need to be standing stock-still with a little time to think !!
I love the Final Fantasy Series because their gameplay is based on a turn system. Star Ocean does not have this facet, instead relying on the intense fighting stance of time-based attacks. This means that the lower your characted is in levels, the slower he/she is going to be when fighting against something that may just be a few levels above you.
There are no magics and no potions that will increase the speed of a person in battle, although they obviously level up as the game progresses (and there are magics and items to use for other things, which i will explain later). When you run about in the world map screens, you must use the analogue stick. After some serious time spent wobbling old blue hair, it still didn't make the slightest bit of difference as far as my co-ordination went.
The magics used are very slow, and some imitate the legendary Aeons/Summons/GFs of previous Final Fantasy games. Adray can summon "Tidal Wave", a huge fish with tsunamic properties, and can summon "Eefreet", the demon of fire (sounds very like FF's Ifrit if you ask me). Other psuedo-summons include a bat-like demon and a huge hand. Because battles are fought in real-time, you dont ever get the chance to perform anything magically challenging. Nine times out of ten, you have been thumped before you've even thought about casting. Due to the fact the computer plays the other 2 people in your party on your behalf, it is possible to set them up to specifically heal or attack, which can help a little. The only problem with this is that you are rendered incapacitated when either your HP (health points) or MP (mental points) are knocked to zero. Even with full health, a character can be MP-killed. This means that all characters must be levelled up equally in order that they all may survive the next set of battles.
The storyline is very slow and it's very boring. There is the option to skip scenes, and, I have to admit that sometimes they were so droll that I skipped them just to get the nonsense over and done with so I could keep fighting. The CGI's are nothing spectacular, and the in game scenes are difficult to view purely because you have to keep your eye on so many things in-battle. The final scenes with Blair and "The Architect" are pitiful, as are the battles. There aren't enough options to save, so you end up going through the same sequences time and time again, which is very irritating.
You can choose to buy your items and weapons from a store, or you can choose to make them in workshops. You can choose from various abilities, including crafting, smithery, cooking, compounding, alchemym which enable you to create anything from japanese food to durian stun bombs. Of course, you have to be at a high level with high intelligence and bags and bags of money to make anything worthwhile. The food is a godsend sometimes, and the best offensive weapon is your durian stun bomb that not only renders ANY enemy incapable for 30 seconds, and also decreases their defence and magic defence by 30%. They cost about 4000 each, and you can only carry 20. The next best offensive is a grab-bag stun bomb and it packs a punch too. You can make some tablets that provide up to 120 seconds invincibility in battle (with the drawback that you cannot attack - only heal your party), and you can make tablets that get you 30% off shop prices, which is good when you need to buy something a little more expensive.
I gathered enough money to buy the elusive santa boots for around 6million, "fol" and bought 4 tri-emblems (defence power) for about 12million, and also purchased the grab-bag for around 9million. With the tablets, the figures drop considerably. However, i must say that I found the santa boots and the grab-bag terrible value for "money". By equipping the boots or the bag and spending a night in a hotel, you are gifted with items whilst you sleep. For the princely sum of 15million, you can feast on food that will reduce your HP to 1, fight with weapons you could have made literally thousands of with your millions, and craft amulets that wouldn't protect you from a grannie's fart. Not worth spending the time fighting to get the money, even if you get triple exp and triple "fol".
One of the best things about this game is the plethora of optional dungeons and additional levels for your battling pleasure. One floor boasts 211 floors of monster madness to keep you battling it out for days, and another secret dungeon, once completed, gives way to one of the best CGI moments of the game between Fayt Leingod and Cliff Fittir when they destroy what lurks inside the urrssa lava caves after the game has been completed and the secret gates are opened. Another good aspect of this game is the ability to change their costumes after you reach around level 100. Cliff changes from being a white dude with blonde hair and a grey tracksuit, to being a silver haired dark guy with a blue tracksuit. Fayt loses his trademark blue barnet and matching blue outfit and again goes for a matching brown hair and jacket combination with some snazzy cargo pants. After you've seen the same character a thousand times, sometimes it's nice to have a change of clothes. God knows they must get sweaty out there on the field for months at a time with no changes of outfits!!
It took me about 6 weeks in total to rip seven bails of Hell out of absolutely everything in the game (and there are some hard monsters in there, believe you me). Even after I put it down, I still found myself thinking that this was a pretty poor consolation for a Final Fantasy game. It's probably not fair to pit Star Ocean against the legacy of Final Fantasy, but when you display so many characteristics of a major RPG adventure in your game, you are more than likely to be likened to them.
On it's own, Star Ocean makes for a decent game, with enough to keep you stimulated and interested. Unfortunately it didn't quite make up for the dramatic loss I suffered when Squaresoft pushed back the release date of FF12 to 1st March 2005, but it was a fairly reasonable substitute. Let's suffice ot to say I played the game from start to finish and managed to work through my controller problems to be victorious in the end.
I did save the galaxy after all !!
Star Ocean retails at approximately 39.99 from most good stockists.
Advantages: Very pretty, nice battle-system and solid gameplay, amusing at times, some great innovations, lasts for ages Disadvantages: Characters and storyline could have been better, a little long-winded with too much backtracking, bland lanscape design, voice-dubbing, not the best RPG from the Square-Enix stable
...paces quite as rigorously as Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time (ST: TET). Five months and over 105 hours of playing time fortunately haven't gone completely to waste now that I've finally got around to writing about it, and so without further delay, here are my findings…
Life for Star Ocean began back in the mid-nineties on the SNES, before making an appearance on the PSOne in the guise of Star Ocean: The Second Story which, incidentally, is one ... ...franchises, and to an extent Star Ocean aims to combine some of the strongest elements from each.
The mammoth adventure centres around 19 year-old Fait Leingod, identifiable (like many RPG characters) by his flamboyant blue hair and who, as the story begins, is enjoying a family holiday with his scientist father Robert and best pal Sophia. Things go a little pear-shaped from here on in however - the world he is staying on, Hyda IV, is suddenly attacked, ...
tom1clare 03.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
Advantages: Great Storyline and game music. Disadvantages: Some annoying voice actors.
...Created by Square Enix
Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time is the third installment in the Star ocean series although I don't think you need to play the first two to understand what's happening. The hero of the game is Fayt Leingod, a young college student who is on vacation with his parents and childhood friend Sophia. The twist? This is a thousand years into the future and their vacation is on a different planet. A battleship attacks the planet and ... ...The main storyline in Star Ocean 3 takes a while to appear, through out the first disk you're just going about different planets saving the day until the Final Boss's minions come down to reveal the games story, although it takes a while to let itself known the storyline is quite original and manages to make itself entirely believable.
There are ten playable characters, you're stuck with Fayt for the whole game but different events will give you ...
Mistybrook 15.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
Advantages: Great story, no random battles, good extras and side quests Disadvantages: Some bad voice actors, hardcore RPG fans might not like the battle system
...do.
___________
|Directors Cut|
I Star Ocean: Till the End of time they have included the Directors Cut Extras from the second Japanese version. They include new characters, enemies and areas including a new optional dungeon. The best of all though has to be the inclusion of a multiplayer option (see below). These features of course only help make this game be even better.
_________
|Multiplayer|
This is technically a new game all to itself ... ...battle game so its nothing special and interestingly enough came about because the programmers found a glitch in the code that caused the characters to attack each other. You can have one on one matches or one on one on one matches. 1 player can even fight the computer so its quite well done. You can even fight in any area you have visited before. It’s a good little mini-game but don’t be fooled by the box that says “for 1-2 players” as you have ...
Wolfboy 05.04.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
Advantages: Battle system Disadvantages: Lack of convincing facial expressions
Star Ocean is a classic sci-fi game with everything from a gripping storyline to worthwhile graphics, and appears to be set well into the future, though with some elements from the past thrown in. What I was most impressed by was the battle system used. You have characters that are free to run around a fairly small area and use a single button press to attack. This usually makes the battle intense and is a level above even FFXII. Skills can also ... ...and graphics, this alone makes Star Ocean a game worth playing.
The game begins a little slowly when you are controlling the main character, Fayt Leingod, and his friend Sophia Esteed. All you really do is run around a hotel until it is attacked. Even after this it takes a while for the pace of the game to pick up. One of the most annoying issues in this game is having to complete certain actions, such as talking to certain people, before the storyline ...
stevencozens34 28.04.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
Advantages: Sci-Fi RPG | Square-Enix | Story | Battle System | Characters Disadvantages: Difficult In Places
...epic sci-fi RPG game called Star Ocean till the ends of time. Star Ocean is similar to Final Fantasy and is created by Square-Enix and Ubisoft. Them two combined have made one of the best RPG's I have ever played for a long time. Star Ocean is set in the future, yet you spend most of the game on under-developed planets (planets that are set in the past).
Characters
*********
Fayt Leingod
Sex: Male
Age: 19
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 148 Lbs
Race: ... ...I give this game 5 star * * * * *, as I love it, and keep playing it, even though I get annoyed at it now and then, I still keep playing as the story keeps dragging me back.
THIS GAME IS
A great RPG
Brilliant
Graphically Superb
THIS GAME IS NOT
Final Fantasy
Boring
Too Difficult
RATING: 12+
MANUFACTURER: Square-Enix and Ubisoft
YEAR: 2004
PLAYERS: 1 (with unlock able 2 player)
Thanks for Reading!
DBZKing ...
DBZKing 25.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2)
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