This game is very neat and has a lot of interesting ideas, but it has some problems. The gameplay shifts between braindead and annoying. All you really do is mash and grinding can solve any wall you hit.

The skill system is really unique, being able to train people to fulfil roles outside of combat. I do think there are tons of nitpicks you could get into with it. For example, if you get someone with the customization skill, they can only customise the weapon they use, which can be really annoying, especially when your party is mostly using different weapon types. Meaning, you would need to give multiple people the customization skill to get party-wide value out of it.

I love and also despise the limited party gimmick, I think it's a cool idea to personalise your experience and encourage replays. But it's the worst feeling when you see a new character that you think looks cool but you have a full party, so you're screwed. (BTW my party was Roddick, Milie, Ilia, Ronyx, Cyuss, Ioshua, Mavelle, and Pericci)

Private actions are, again, a cool idea that could have been executed better. The issue is that it is handled in a very inconvenient way. You can only view one of the unquie party interactions per activation of a private action, meaning that you have to repeatedly go in and out of the town repeatedly to see them all. Also, when you are in a private action, you cannot rest at an inn or leave a town via ship, nor can you regroup the party without leaving a town.

The story is fairly bare bones; you never feel the presence of an antagonist, and there are no recurring villains, which is disappointing. What carries the game is the characters you have in your party, because this game has limited party slots, which makes seeing party members interact interesting because you are seeing something you couldn't see if you made a different choice. I do wish there was more character development, as Ronyx and Ilia are the only ones I consider fully fleshed out, at least in my party.

I do wish this game had more sci-fi stuff because with a name like Star Ocean and the first couple hours, I expected more. But in truth, Star Ocean is almost pure fantasy for 90% of it.

Reviewed on Oct 11, 2022


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