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[MegaKungFuRadio]

I'm straight out off finishing Fallout 3 I wonder how its gonna feel like jumping right into this ...Japanese RPG..

In my experience it's quite jarring. In my case it was going from Mass Effect to Blue Dragon. One made me turn off captions to feel even more engaged in the game, the other made me wish I chose Japanese language track to add another layer of abstraction between me and the absurdity that was spewing out of my speakers. I later learned that I could have changed the voice track at the title menu, but I only checked the pause menu ><

Once I got past that and into the meat of Blue Dragon, I was happy to have a much deeper customization/leveling system and more strategic battles. Mass Effect battles didn't get satisfying for me until the Insanity difficulty level. The problem with that is, even at Hard, your AI teammates start getting insta-gibbed without constant babysitting and are practically useless after you blow your opening cooldowns. Fallout 3 maybe be a bigger leap as its combat is essentially a bad shooter with VATS, but Star Ocean is also a more active in battle than Blue Dragon, so it's probably a wash.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

Perhaps he did, but what you said above should at least earn you a spot on the podium.

I give bonus points for being succinct. Most people won't read what I wrote. Hell I probably wouldn't have read what I wrote.

 

[Error]

gameinformer score is real, btw.

- Shaky start and long introduction. They said it doesn't pick up until around 3 hours, but when it does, it feels like you're pulling out of a train wreck.
- First combat scenario doesn't show up until 20 to 30 minutes in.
- There's a "pervert claim". So I'm guessing one of the female characters is going to start labeling someone a pervert. (Edge...)
- Some drama out of the story, but still has a fun side to it.
- They love the battle system.
- AI's good.
- The voices sometimes don't match the mouth.

Concept: A prequel story that details mankind's departure from Earth.

Graphics: Sharp texturing and colorful worlds sadly set for choppy animations.

Sound: Decent voice work is joined by a highly cliched and fairly irritating score.

Playability: Combat is easy to handle and loaded with depth. Field movement is far too sensitive, which causes problems in tight areas.

Entertainment: It never quite reaches the highs of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but this is a nice addition to the series.

Replay Value: Moderate

7.25/10

 

[TChirath]

Doesn't sound bad at all. (Btw, I'm also surprised they only gave DQ5 7/7.5).

 

[Error]

Doesn't sound bad at all. (Btw, I'm also surprised they only gave DQ5 7/7.5).

Are you? they gave DQ4 a 7, too.

this is GI, after all.

 

[rainking187]

Entertainment: It never quite reaches the highs of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but this is a nice addition to the series.

Wow, epic fail confirmed? Till the End of Time was dull as shit.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Good for you. Except you won't only be seeing them in battle screens. They'll be everywhere.

 

[Kauza]

a highly cliched and fairly irritating score

Interesting claim...

Though, do we know who is doing the music? I don't remember a lot of the music from SO3, but I don't remember it being very good, and it obviously wasn't so memorable.

 

[Error]

Sakuraba.

 

[Amon37]

the CGI portraits are that big of a deal? Really? Really?:lol

Thisisneogafdude.gif

 

[Mejilan]

Oh fuck. The "highs" of SO3? :lol

 

[Freyjadour]

gameinformer score is real, btw.

7.25/10

I'd like to read the whole article, but I'm not very surprised honestly. Seems like the average "nitpick JRPGs to justify a 7-ish score" business.

After years and years of JRPGs however, I'm AM still surprised people get irritated about not getting into a battle for the first 20 minutes. If I recall, SO3 had a VERY slow start with little to no battles for a good hour.

 

[Mejilan]

Yeah, SO3's hotel scene was tortuous. But it certainly didn't take a full hour.

 

[Error]

for comparison's sake these are the lastest jrpg reviews on GI

Infinite Undiscovery - 8
Tales of Vesperia - 7.25
The Last Remnant - 7
Dragon Quest IV - 7
Dragon Quest V - 7
Chrono Trigger - 9

 

[Freyjadour]

Yeah, SO3's hotel scene was tortuous. But it certainly didn't take a full hour.

The gameplay really didn't start until the forest area though, did it?

 

[Mejilan]

Well, there was the combat simulator/tutorial area that introduces you to combat. But those weren't real battles. Evacuating the hotel did have the first real fights in the game. Sadly, they were few in number. The forest is where things finally start for real. Counting the evacuation, but not the combat simulator, you can easily get to combat within half an hour. Less if you know what you're doing and beeline straight for the Private Actions.

 

[MegaKungFuRadio]

I'd like to read the whole article, but I'm not very surprised honestly. Seems like the average "nitpick JRPGs to justify a 7-ish score" business.

After years and years of JRPGs however, I'm AM still surprised people get irritated about not getting into a battle for the first 20 minutes. If I recall, SO3 had a VERY slow start with little to no battles for a good hour.

Probably because we're getting to the point where most people started with FF7 which gave you a short dungeon before launching into its intro. Also, other games seemed to have learned to grab player early. Lost Odyssey probably started with you literally in combat for that reason. Tales of Vesperia was less than 30 minutes to the first battle. Persona 4 was particularly bad, though, as the first 3-4 hours was essentially a cutscene that required you there to advance the text. Thing is though, while this sort of thing may keep me from playing a game I rented, it's not something I would mark a game down for either.

 

[zeelman]

Game Informer has always disliked JRPGs, so this doesn't surprise me.

 

[RPGCrazied]

I still can't wrap my head around how they gave IU an 8, and this a 7.25.

IU is better? uhh.. i liked the game, but still.. something is wrong with that.

 

[Error]

Oh yeah, forgot to write that they liked the story. (They just didn't like the beginning) They said there are many mysteries in the game, and it gives you enough time to think about and formulate your guesses before it actually tells you.

from the same dude that posted the stuff i quoted about the review. I don't care about the story honestly.

 

[TheExodu5]

I prefer the North American menu interface and the CGI portraits. Anime just doesn't seem to fit with SO. Also, that menu is totally not Star Ocean...it's too much like Persona. The North American one has a busy background though, so it's not all good.

 

[zeelman]

I prefer the North American menu interface and the CGI portraits. Anime just doesn't seem to fit with SO. Also, that menu is totally not Star Ocean...it's too much like Persona. The North American one has a busy background though, so it's not all good.

I prefer the menus from the old Star Ocean games. They were easy to use and easy on my eyes. The new ones look too busy. I'll probably get used to it quickly, though.

 

[TheExodu5]

I prefer the menus from the old Star Ocean games. They were easy to use and easy on my eyes. The new ones look too busy. I'll probably get used to it quickly, though.

Yeah that's the main problem. It seems pretty identical to those, but with a busy background.

As one of those people who actually like the PS2 Star Ocean (story retardation aside - but that's par the course for jRPGs), I'm actually fully aboard the hype train for this Xbox 360 RPG.

Bring it on. Nice to see it doesn't seem to be cutting corners, since it seems to be a pretty decently sized game as well.

SO3 is one of the best games on the PS2. <3

SO4 made me buy a 360.

 

[Mejilan]

Can't be worse than the SO3 menus. It took way too many button presses to equip or drop goodies.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

- AI's good.

Hallelujah!

 

[Nemo]

Man, fuck Europe. First ToV, which everyone was jizzing about and now this.

Ah well, still got LO to do anyway.

 

[hidepsyence]

Why, why we european always have to wait ;_;

 

[Flyguy]

Why, why we european always have to wait ;_;

I think the most logical reason is the way you dress.

 

[FateBreaker]

Does anyone remember GI SHITTING on the SO3 music score? I think they called it one of the worst music scores ever, and a disgrace to Square. Funny, I thought it was Sakuraba's best work ever.

So this SO4 comment doesn't surprise me.

 

[ocadman]

Still think it looks more like a next-gen Phantasy Star Online than anything else

Wish it was more like the pre-PSO Phantasy Stars. I guess this'll have to do.

 

[truly101]

for comparison's sake these are the lastest jrpg reviews on GI

Infinite Undiscovery - 8
Tales of Vesperia - 7.25
The Last Remnant - 7
Dragon Quest IV - 7
Dragon Quest V - 7
Chrono Trigger - 9

A 7 means never having to say you're sorry, especially if you don't play it the whole way through

 

[Mejilan]

SO3 easily had the worst music Sakuraba ever composed, IMHO. I'll take boring and generic Tales over the shitsmears he gave us in SO3.

That said, SO3 also had some amazing songs. But fuck, exploring huge dungeons to horrible and infinitely looping guitar riffs is painful.

 

[Drkirby]

So soon. Well, so much for me getting to play the other Star Ocean games before this comes out. I'll just hold out on the series for a bit, finish up the FE series, and wait for this and Star Ocean 1 to hit the clearance bin at Sears or Target.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

for comparison's sake these are the lastest jrpg reviews on GI

Infinite Undiscovery - 8
Tales of Vesperia - 7.25
The Last Remnant - 7
Dragon Quest IV - 7
Dragon Quest V - 7
Chrono Trigger - 9

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

ToV and SO4 keep getting (basically) the same scores, lol.

 

[starsky]

Great job on the OP, Error.

It's sad that most Western magazines don't really care much about JRPG, it's like they can't really connect with the Japanese look and feel of these games and thus don't give it a fair chance. It doesn't really matter to me personally, but I hope it doesn't deter people to try giving this game a chance.

 

[A Human Becoming]

I really hope it's better then Star Ocean 3. That was such a let down after Star Ocean 2.

Hopefully there aren't pacing issues like in 3. I also hope the combat clicks with me more.

 

[g23]

Is the story in this game mature enough to hold my interest? I mean I haven't played a JRPG since Suikoden II.

I heard the story is about mankind leaving earth to find a new home. Does this mean we will get some Battlestar Galacticaesque political drama on that scale? :lol

 

[Solideliquid]

Is the story in this game mature enough to hold my interest? I mean I haven't played a JRPG since Suikoden II.

I heard the story is about mankind leaving earth to find a new home. Does this mean we will get some Battlestar Galacticaesque political drama on that scale? :lol

Answer him. My purchase depends on it.

 

[Narcosis]

Is the story in this game mature enough to hold my interest? I mean I haven't played a JRPG since Suikoden II.

I heard the story is about mankind leaving earth to find a new home. Does this mean we will get some Battlestar Galacticaesque political drama on that scale? :lol

If you had ever played SO3 and then followed that up by seeing the cast of SO4 which includes your token anime catgirl and loli/potential magical girl, I think Battlestar galactica would be about the last thing to ever pop into your mind.

 

[Error]

this is star ocean, i don't think the story will be anything special.

 

[mjc]

Somehow that GI score doesn't surprise me.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Man, I feel marketed to. The NA boxart and the CG profiles both look like improvements to me.

I think I'm gonna try and play through SO3 before this hits.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Is the story in this game mature enough to hold my interest? I mean I haven't played a JRPG since Suikoden II.

I heard the story is about mankind leaving earth to find a new home. Does this mean we will get some Battlestar Galacticaesque political drama on that scale? :lol

I wouldn't go into this (or any other Star Ocean game if you ask me) expecting great writing and a lot of maturity...

 

[Wallach]

I'm glad Tri-Ace decided to modify the portraits and menus for the NA version. The anime portraits aren't bad or anything, but they don't make a lot of sense looking at the rest of the game. I haven't seen any other instance of hand-drawn art in the game anywhere like that aside from those portraits. The menu looks like a straight upgrade though, I'm very pleased.

Day one for me, though it'll be a bit slow as I've got some other stuff on my plate still (particularly Fallout 3).

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

The story is shit btw.
Something about the planets, a great evil, and a huge-breasted elf questioning your manhood.

GI gave DQIV & DQV 7s? Their opinion sucks IMO.
Oh wait they gave Chrono Trigger a 9. Well now they're opinion has been upgraded to sucks shit from a straw.

 

[Lebron]

The story is shit btw.
Something about the planets, a great evil, and a huge-breasted elf questioning your manhood.

GI gave DQIV & DQV 7s? Their opinion sucks IMO.

that's probably about as mature as it's going to get


I wonder if they mentioned anything about the ME style planet exploration in the GI review?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

All I'm hoping for is that the PAs are easier to trigger or at least the game tells you when some are available.
I went through the entirety of SO3 without setting off a single PA. I guess this is fine though cause I hated Fayt and wished a tree would fall on him while another tree stole his wallet.

 

[Splash Wave]

Is the story in this game mature enough to hold my interest? I mean I haven't played a JRPG since Suikoden II.

I heard the story is about mankind leaving earth to find a new home. Does this mean we will get some Battlestar Galacticaesque political drama on that scale? :lol

Mine too, possibly.

I can't really picture myself playing a JRPG on a non-handheld these days, but this looks like the most interesting of the next-gen JRPGs excluding FFXIII.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

...Is the English official site ever going to update?

It's been the same for a while now I think.

 

[klee123]

It's a pity that the English version will be using CG portraits for the art. The 2D anime style art is so much better.


P-A's price for the Asian Japanese version is really tempting.