I suppose it’s an okay game. A lot of the plot is barebones and padded out but the Private Actions make up for it for fun character interactions. The combat is ultimately simple but there’s a surprising amount of depth with item crafting and creation skills. However, the severe lack of quality of life and bloated optional characters really prevents SO1 from being truly enjoyable.
First of all, I adore the overall graphics and looks. With First Departure using the SO2 engine with new portrait art from Katsumi Enami (who has done artwork for SO4 and the Trails series as examples) and new Japanese voice acting from the original cast back in 1996. The overall aesthetic for SO1 feels like an in-between from an upscaled PS1 game and a modern 2D indie game. Even if the new character portraits based on the original SNES game do not match with the First Departure sprites and anime cutscenes.
SO1 starts off very promising, the first hour or 2 features the four main characters, Roddick, Millie, Ronyx, and Illa traveling back in time 300 years to slay a demon lord. In order to obtain a cure for a spreading pandemic on the planet of Roak. Unfortunately, that main focus quickly begins to lose a lot of focus and will be at the backburner for a while in favor of introducing optional characters and the main characters resolving problems self-contained in the past. The last 15% of the game picks up a ton of momentum again with the plot. But sadly, everything else in between felt like padded filler that had little to do with the original goal and mainly revolved around the optional characters. Even if some of their stories were quite decent.
The Private Action talk mechanic is arguably the best part of the game and gave the character more personality and depth than anything the main plot could have managed to do. Every Time you’re in a town, you will be given the opportunity to let the party branch out and do their own thing. During this time, you can engage in conversations (if certain conditions are met) that reveal more information about the characters and the relationship will develop even further. The PAs are usually very fun and lighthearted and because of this. While I personally didn’t get too attached with anybody, ultimately every single character (from what I had) is very likable (Even if I feel like Welch only exists just to annoy the characters).
However, SO1 suffers a very “too many cooks in the kitchen” issue due to the number of optional characters you can recruit but the limited amount of space you have for recruitments. While this may be a pro to some, it’s unappealing to others due to the requirements of multiple playthroughs to recruit every character and see their lines. Not to mention, the optional characters barely exist in the main plot, even Millie hardly gets any lines during main plot events and she is supposed to be a main character. Optional characters can have a shining moment in the main plot depending on the character and their situation. But the majority of the time just features everyone in silence while Roynx, Roddick, and Illa do the majority of the talking. Creating an awkward feeling that everyone else is physically there but sits in silence. Personally, sometimes I wonder if the game would have better focus and interaction if optional characters just didn’t exist and instead have a predetermined party of the main four, Ashley, Ioshua, Mavelle, and Erys.
Combat overall functions fine as an action RPG with melee and symbology (the series’ magic system) spells. While it can get very button mashy with just only 2 buttons for special arts. It works with its simplicity. Although the escape mechanic leaves a lot to desire due to its slowness. However, the real shining gem in the gameplay is the skill and item creation. Every time you level up a character, they get skill points that can be spent on skills to improve combat. Such as reduced spell casting time or increased movement speed, or skills to improve stats and skills that can help form item creation abilities and specialties. With item creation skills such as crafting, customization, and alchemy, the possibilities for upgrading armor and weapons as well as creating different items opens up. The characters can also learn specialties for different gameplay functions such as getting more skill points, writing books to increase affection levels, and increasing enemy encounter rates.
While SO1 is at its best gameplay-wise with item creation, the game suffers a lot from the overall quality of life. I do understand this is a game from 1996 that was later remade in 2007, but I believe Square Enix could have done more to update First Departure in the remastered version. From constant enemy encounters every 15 seconds if you’re not at a town and ultimately becoming half of the game’s length, to the inability of saving the game at any time, to tons of backtracking all across the world map for the main plot and Private Actions events, to confusing and maze-like town and dungeon layouts with no maps. On top of SO1’s failure of explaining how any of how the game works or any clear indication on where you need to go next, it’s next to impossible to complete SO1 without a guide. Because of how poorly designed SO1 is, it ultimately became a chore to play through the game near the end because constant enemies just get in the way of what you want to do next. Half of these issues would be resolved if Square Enix put in more effort into the remastered version such as more detailed maps at all times, reduced enemy encounters, and an indicator telling the party where to go next to progress the story. Even if not everything could be resolved, unlike SO1 was completely remade once again.
Star Ocean First Departure could be a very solid game with likable, written-out characters, a focused story with a strong start and finish, and an in-depth item creation system. However, the game’s consistent need to be bloated and padded out with underdeveloped optional characters, filtered main plot events, and a lack of quality of life ultimately hurt the game a lot. If First Departure was just half of the length, not much would be left out at all considering you spent more time fighting over and over again than doing anything meaningful that added to the characters and plot. If you want to see how Star Ocean began as a series or want to play every game in the series, then I think a single playthrough might be okay. However, I honestly have a hard time recommending this game to anyone, let alone recommending to play it multiple times. First Departure just may be the most average game I have ever played in my life.
First of all, I adore the overall graphics and looks. With First Departure using the SO2 engine with new portrait art from Katsumi Enami (who has done artwork for SO4 and the Trails series as examples) and new Japanese voice acting from the original cast back in 1996. The overall aesthetic for SO1 feels like an in-between from an upscaled PS1 game and a modern 2D indie game. Even if the new character portraits based on the original SNES game do not match with the First Departure sprites and anime cutscenes.
SO1 starts off very promising, the first hour or 2 features the four main characters, Roddick, Millie, Ronyx, and Illa traveling back in time 300 years to slay a demon lord. In order to obtain a cure for a spreading pandemic on the planet of Roak. Unfortunately, that main focus quickly begins to lose a lot of focus and will be at the backburner for a while in favor of introducing optional characters and the main characters resolving problems self-contained in the past. The last 15% of the game picks up a ton of momentum again with the plot. But sadly, everything else in between felt like padded filler that had little to do with the original goal and mainly revolved around the optional characters. Even if some of their stories were quite decent.
The Private Action talk mechanic is arguably the best part of the game and gave the character more personality and depth than anything the main plot could have managed to do. Every Time you’re in a town, you will be given the opportunity to let the party branch out and do their own thing. During this time, you can engage in conversations (if certain conditions are met) that reveal more information about the characters and the relationship will develop even further. The PAs are usually very fun and lighthearted and because of this. While I personally didn’t get too attached with anybody, ultimately every single character (from what I had) is very likable (Even if I feel like Welch only exists just to annoy the characters).
However, SO1 suffers a very “too many cooks in the kitchen” issue due to the number of optional characters you can recruit but the limited amount of space you have for recruitments. While this may be a pro to some, it’s unappealing to others due to the requirements of multiple playthroughs to recruit every character and see their lines. Not to mention, the optional characters barely exist in the main plot, even Millie hardly gets any lines during main plot events and she is supposed to be a main character. Optional characters can have a shining moment in the main plot depending on the character and their situation. But the majority of the time just features everyone in silence while Roynx, Roddick, and Illa do the majority of the talking. Creating an awkward feeling that everyone else is physically there but sits in silence. Personally, sometimes I wonder if the game would have better focus and interaction if optional characters just didn’t exist and instead have a predetermined party of the main four, Ashley, Ioshua, Mavelle, and Erys.
Combat overall functions fine as an action RPG with melee and symbology (the series’ magic system) spells. While it can get very button mashy with just only 2 buttons for special arts. It works with its simplicity. Although the escape mechanic leaves a lot to desire due to its slowness. However, the real shining gem in the gameplay is the skill and item creation. Every time you level up a character, they get skill points that can be spent on skills to improve combat. Such as reduced spell casting time or increased movement speed, or skills to improve stats and skills that can help form item creation abilities and specialties. With item creation skills such as crafting, customization, and alchemy, the possibilities for upgrading armor and weapons as well as creating different items opens up. The characters can also learn specialties for different gameplay functions such as getting more skill points, writing books to increase affection levels, and increasing enemy encounter rates.
While SO1 is at its best gameplay-wise with item creation, the game suffers a lot from the overall quality of life. I do understand this is a game from 1996 that was later remade in 2007, but I believe Square Enix could have done more to update First Departure in the remastered version. From constant enemy encounters every 15 seconds if you’re not at a town and ultimately becoming half of the game’s length, to the inability of saving the game at any time, to tons of backtracking all across the world map for the main plot and Private Actions events, to confusing and maze-like town and dungeon layouts with no maps. On top of SO1’s failure of explaining how any of how the game works or any clear indication on where you need to go next, it’s next to impossible to complete SO1 without a guide. Because of how poorly designed SO1 is, it ultimately became a chore to play through the game near the end because constant enemies just get in the way of what you want to do next. Half of these issues would be resolved if Square Enix put in more effort into the remastered version such as more detailed maps at all times, reduced enemy encounters, and an indicator telling the party where to go next to progress the story. Even if not everything could be resolved, unlike SO1 was completely remade once again.
Star Ocean First Departure could be a very solid game with likable, written-out characters, a focused story with a strong start and finish, and an in-depth item creation system. However, the game’s consistent need to be bloated and padded out with underdeveloped optional characters, filtered main plot events, and a lack of quality of life ultimately hurt the game a lot. If First Departure was just half of the length, not much would be left out at all considering you spent more time fighting over and over again than doing anything meaningful that added to the characters and plot. If you want to see how Star Ocean began as a series or want to play every game in the series, then I think a single playthrough might be okay. However, I honestly have a hard time recommending this game to anyone, let alone recommending to play it multiple times. First Departure just may be the most average game I have ever played in my life.
Goya
2 years ago