I don't remember a damn thing about SO4, at least with SO3 I remember the twist as annoying as it was. *shrug*
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I like the combat, it just doesn't work the way you'd expect based on newer games of other action rpg series. You have to adapt to the game's mechanics. The bosses can be real HP sponges though.
I think it's worth getting to Roak before you put the game down because that's where the game really opens up mechanically and becomes a pretty good SO game. Before that, it's just stretches of dungeons that go on for a long time. I liked the twist that happens before Roak, but there are definitely some cheesy elements to it. There's a lot in the game that would work but the execution ruins it.
You kinda have to give Tri-Ace some credit on tech. They made this game during the "HD towns are hard" era. And it still does hold up pretty well visually. At least, the HD version. The originals were plagued with bad framerate while exploring some areas. The first planet's maps are butt ugly though.
Looking to the new entry, at least SO 6's characters look way less fetishy. This was a big annoyance with this game (and somewhat with SO5).
I think it's worth getting to Roak before you put the game down because that's where the game really opens up mechanically and becomes a pretty good SO game. Before that, it's just stretches of dungeons that go on for a long time. I liked the twist that happens before Roak, but there are definitely some cheesy elements to it. There's a lot in the game that would work but the execution ruins it.
You kinda have to give Tri-Ace some credit on tech. They made this game during the "HD towns are hard" era. And it still does hold up pretty well visually. At least, the HD version. The originals were plagued with bad framerate while exploring some areas. The first planet's maps are butt ugly though.
Looking to the new entry, at least SO 6's characters look way less fetishy. This was a big annoyance with this game (and somewhat with SO5).
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Good gameplay, environments etc. Terrible writing and characters. Game is still good enough to play though.
Also the SO3 twist is great, because no one saw that shit coming it's so ridiculous.
Also the SO3 twist is great, because no one saw that shit coming it's so ridiculous.
Sakuraba absolutely loves going in on these lol
I'm gonna lump in SO3's too, because a proper run of the game has you hearing it A LOT and it's still good.
Drums, bass, and organ are having a great time.
OP
OP
My friend and I do this but with Discord. Like, "I just beat XYZ and I've gotta rant about how shit this part was!" lol
That is an awesome feature that feels weird to take out. I think it's part of why I kept playing longer than I meant to because it was fun filling it up and going on a combat tear.
I honestly think it's the biggest reason I didn't like 5 as much, because despite the character designs in 5, it's overall a more complete game with decent dialogue, story and characters, and yet the combat lacked the depth that you got with the options that were made available to you thanks to the bonus board.
Yeah, the bonus board was awesome. I always tried to curate it so that I would have a bunch of the green ones that gave you more AP, and then a decent amount of HP and MP recovery ones. I'd rage whenever my bonus board got ruined due to my recklessness lmao
Hey wait, was this the Star Ocean that rewarded you for uncovering the overworld maps 100%? I remember struggling with paralyzing OCD back then, I could not continue playing it due to those haze nudging bits. As for the characters, I can't remember a single one of them, which probably means they made zero impression.
I thought SO4 was an awesome game that got shat on for having some awful characters. The environments were large and fun to explore, it felt like a fully featured, 'complete' RPG in a time when lots of RPGs were hitting budget constraints and ended up extremely gutted (i.e. FF13 and its linear corridors and lack of towns, and SO5).
The game felt much closer to SO2 (the series favorite and one of my all time favorite games) than 3 did - it brought back such things like the extremely flexible skills/item creation system from 2, the fighting felt more tactile than 3 (and all of its strange systems like MP death) had some interesting ideas unfortunately executed poorly (traveling back to 50's Earth was an awesome idea, though under utilized), and there's such a dearth of space opera RPGs (ironic since it's a setting that seems like it would be perfect for the genre).
The game felt much closer to SO2 (the series favorite and one of my all time favorite games) than 3 did - it brought back such things like the extremely flexible skills/item creation system from 2, the fighting felt more tactile than 3 (and all of its strange systems like MP death) had some interesting ideas unfortunately executed poorly (traveling back to 50's Earth was an awesome idea, though under utilized), and there's such a dearth of space opera RPGs (ironic since it's a setting that seems like it would be perfect for the genre).
It's amazing to me that I played through a large chunk of this game and remember barely any of it.
That's one thing I keep in mind whenever I think of trying out SO5 - the games are largely forgettable.
That's one thing I keep in mind whenever I think of trying out SO5 - the games are largely forgettable.
I remember quiting at the end of the game. I didn't want to grind to make the final boss(s?) easier. I had had enough.
I beat it by playing as one of the girls (I think it was Myuria?) and I just spammed healing and buffs for the entire battle while the CPU characters did all the damage.
It was pretty easy, but I think it took around 40 minutes or so lol
I enjoyed what I played gameplay-wise, but yeah the characters were awful. Stopped at the last world because my 360 stopped reading discs and it's so long ago that I probably wouldn't mind buying it on PC and starting all over again. But I want other games to play first.
I think that was the case, the time of the battle. It was years ago, so it's a little hard to remember exactly. I just know the "twist" and boss fight had my eyes rolling so far back I might have gotten whiplash. I was just done, lol.
Yeah, I think Faize (or however you spell his name) was my least favorite character in the game. Even before the twist, I didn't care much for him. After the twist, I was ready to leave his ass to die lol
It's kind of ridiculous how well this game still holds up visually. Like, I feel as if I'll stumble upon this thread somehow in 2026, remember that I posted this, and still agree.
You're actually right, but I couldn't resist lol.
LOL
Yes, well... some of it holds up questionably...
