Star Ocean: First Departure R |OT|

ULTROS!

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.

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Developer and Publisher
Square Enix

Release Date
Star Ocean
Super Famicom JP: July 19, 1996

Star Ocean: First Departure
PlayStation Portable JP: December 27, 2007
NA: October 21, 2008
PAL: October 24, 2008

Star Ocean: First Departure R
PlayStation 4 & Switch
WW: December 5, 2019

Gameplay
Star Ocean is a role-playing video game that is played from a top-down perspective. The player navigates a character throughout the game world, exploring towns and dungeons and interacting with non-player characters. Unlike the original game, the PlayStation Portable remake includes a world map for the player to navigate.

Synopsis
The story involves three friends who, while searching for the cure to a new disease, come into contact with a space-faring federation that is locked in a war with another galactic power. Using advanced technologies and time travel, the group attempts to uncover the cause of the war and to find a cure for their planet.

Screenshots

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Trailer


Credits
Wikipedia​
 
This and the sequel were among the best on the series! It all ended with Till the End of Times.

Still, the series has a lovey place on my heart! They could go with a reboot!
 
We need more RPGs with this kind of low-poly environments + low res unfiltered textures + sprite characters style, like Grandia, and Xenogears and Trails in the Sky fc/sc/3rd and whatever else, now that the Ys series has sadly moved on never to return.

That's the style low-budget games like Setsuna or wannabe retro games like Octopath Traveler should have gone for instead. So beautiful when done right :(

Zealot is a cool different take on that so it's not like everything with the style has to be JRPG either, WRPGs could use it, or anything!
 
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I forgot this was coming out. Going to grab it on the Switch. I loved the second one on the original PS back in the day. I've never played the first one.
 
Wow just entered the thread randomly to see what it's about. Looks absolutely awesome and as a guy who grew up with secret of mana and old rpgs like that I've never heard of this game.

interested now. And thank you for the OT 🙏
 
Star Ocean was like the Arc the Lad. Everything else was Lunar. Haha I always wanted to get into the series, but I never got caught up in it. I had The Second Story and Last Hope. The Last Hope burned some bridges and I always wanted to stay in the early years of Star Ocean. I'm glad this came over. I never wanted to tackle importing it on PSP due to the lengthy language barrier. Then I never got around to getting it when it was localized. It was probably the exposure to Lunar, Grandia, Suikoden and other various JRPGs. Star Ocean was one of those "I'll get around to it at some point" type of game(s). I kinda wish I had more interest invested in it. It looks real good.
 
An OT for this!? Ultros cannot be contained. What a maverick!

Watch this man. He may use a salad fork for dinner. He is an enigma. Unpredictable.
 
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Virex said:
Any reason to get this if you own and played the shit out of it on PSP?
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Probably not, there's sharper image quality, new character art, a rerecorded Japanese track, and some balance changes, but if you've already demolished the PSP version I don't see too much reason to return.

As someone who only emulated a poorly translated SNES version of the game, I've been enjoying it so far.

The text is disgustingly pixelated and hard to read though (At least on Switch handheld.) They really should have cleaned that up in this release.
 
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Shifty1897 said:
Probably not, there's sharper image quality, new character art, a rerecorded Japanese track, and some balance changes, but if you've already demolished the PSP version I don't see too much reason to return.

As someone who only emulated a poorly translated SNES version of the game, I've been enjoying it so far.

The text is disgustingly pixelated and hard to read though (At least on Switch handheld.) They really should have cleaned that up in this release.
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Thank for the feedback. Appreciate it.
 
I just got trolled by Welch I told her not to join my party and she still joined lol, dammit I think I just got locked from getting better characters than her.

In any case playing this game feels so refreshing I had forgotten the sheer amount of Private Actions and how non linear it was.
 
Will have to snag this when I've cleared out some of my Switch jrpg backlog (DQXI S, Atelier Thicc, Xenoblade 2 DLC, FFX-2). Only played Star Ocean 2 and 3 but they were fun games at the time. Good OT.
 
This is the PSP game, right? Am I big JRPG fan, but strangely I've never played a Star Ocean game.
 
Vawn said:
This is the PSP game, right? Am I big JRPG fan, but strangely I've never played a Star Ocean game.
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The original game played kinda like Tales of Phantasia (2D world), this remake plays exactly like Star Ocean 2 on the PSone.

if you're a big JRPG fan especially back in the PSone era, this is a must get.
 
Whoa whoa whoa this new character art is so much better.

Now do the same remaster for 2nd Story + new character portraits. Fix the mistake that was Second Evolution's Rena.
 
Hope this does well, it looks fantastic. I'm holding out to see if they announce a PC port, but if not I'll pick it up on Switch.
 
Vawn said:
This is the PSP game, right? Am I big JRPG fan, but strangely I've never played a Star Ocean game.
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It's a breezy playthrough, and a lot of fun. The star (ocean) of the series is 2, though. If they give 2 the same remake treatment that 1 got here, then I can't recommend it enough.
 
Snagged it for the Switch, but it too will have to wait behind other games at the moment. Mainly BotW which I finally beat my first Divine Beast, Atelier Ryza and Pokémon oh and Astral Chain. Damn it so little time!

I agree about Star Ocean 2, what a game. It had so much depth, I remember discovering recruit-able and potentially miss-able characters and getting OCD. My sister took over from there. When I found item crafting I was all "wHAAAAAT!?" Hadn't seen anything like that at the time. I recall cutting my teeth on SO2 and Valkyrie Profile, I had to use tactics and grind more than other Jrpgs. I'd love to see 2 get redone. I also need to buy the Grandia Remasters someday.
 
Picked this up for the Switch as I'm almost done with Atelier Ryza. Definitely looking forward to diving in.
 
Dontspeakforme said:
Just the superior new character portraits are different and there's new Japanese VA. English VA is the same as PSP.
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Fixed that for you.

The OG PSP art was hideous. I hope SO2: Second Evolution R adds in new art (or even the Akiman art) coz I can't stand loli Rena. Oh and add in a remake of Star Ocean 2: Blue Sphere. :D
 
ULTROS! said:
Fixed that for you.

The OG PSP art was hideous. I hope SO2: Second Evolution R adds in new art (or even the Akiman art) coz I can't stand loli Rena. Oh and add in a remake of Star Ocean 2: Blue Sphere. :D
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Was Blue Sphere ever released outside of Japan? It was a game that interested me back when I first heard about it years ago but I remember it never got localized.
 
I played through the opening sequence (bandit raid on the town). Loving the art and voice acting so far, as well as the "old school RPG" feel.

Why the hell is the opening cutscene so badly cropped though? First thought was "I hope the whole game isn't like this!" which thankfully it's not. Are all the cutscenes like this? I assume it's just they didn't want to uprezz the PSP cutscenes, right?
 
jshackles said:
I played through the opening sequence (bandit raid on the town). Loving the art and voice acting so far, as well as the "old school RPG" feel.

Why the hell is the opening cutscene so badly cropped though? First thought was "I hope the whole game isn't like this!" which thankfully it's not. Are all the cutscenes like this? I assume it's just they didn't want to uprezz the PSP cutscenes, right?
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Not sure why the movie that plays right before the game menu is cropped, makes no sense.

Besides that one, ALL of the cutscenes I've seen (like 4 so far) are from the PSP game and they aren't cropped.
 
For new players, this game is relatively short: like 18-25 hours short. Even SO2 is longer than this game!
 
Is there any specific talents I should make sure are on Roddick?

Is it recommended to have more talents at the beginning or to learn them later? I know there is a bonus for learning new talents.
 
Just finished this. Pretty good overall! Lots of little issues, but it definitely had that SO2 feeling. Almost like an SO2 lite or something.

Really, really hope they bring that one over too.

Edit: and I kind of want to go back and check out the SNES original, since it (obviously) must be way, way different.
 
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I've come across a weird glitch (Switch version) where the encounter rate gets higher and higher as I play. I get to a point where literally every 2 steps in anywhere that has random encounters (World Map and Dungeons) will trigger a battle. Changing the scouting skill to avoid enemies has no effect. The only way to get rid of it that I've found is to save, close the app, and reopen it. Once I do that the encounter rate goes back to normal. The glitch may be related to me throwing the game into sleep mode instead of actually closing the app, which I do a lot.
 
I can't believe I missed this! Loved SO3 so much back in the day. I remember completing the fantranslation of SO1 and liked it well enough. Hopefully they remaster 2 -heard that one was incredible but never got the chance to play it.
 
Didn't realize this came out. Always been curious about the first game. The series went to shit with the third game, but the PS1 game was pretty cool... so, hoping it's a lot more like that. Guess I'll get it on PS4.
 
Chacranajxy said:
Didn't realize this came out. Always been curious about the first game. The series went to shit with the third game, but the PS1 game was pretty cool... so, hoping it's a lot more like that. Guess I'll get it on PS4.
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This game plays like a lite version of SO2, it uses the same engine of SO2 so the game really looks like SO2. So if you love SO2, you might love this, although it's not as big as SO2 (then again, it's a remake of an already ambitious SNES game).
 
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I'm torn about who should learn appraise and alchemy

also the game is kinda hard
 
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10000 said:
I'm torn about who should learn appraise and alchemy

also the game is kinda hard
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Get customize ASAP and start save scumming to forge the best weapons. Once you get to the dungeon that provides the luxurious weapons, get some damascus and start customizing till you get Dueling Sword.
 
ULTROS! said:
Get customize ASAP and start save scumming to forge the best weapons. Once you get to the dungeon that provides the luxurious weapons, get some damascus and start customizing till you get Dueling Sword.
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thank you, noted

by the way i# determination skill (that lower cost) worth raising?
 
10000 said:
thank you, noted

by the way i# determination skill (that lower cost) worth raising?
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Yes, that one is very useful. But I'm fine sticking it to Level 5-6. Kinda pricey if I max it all the way.
 
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