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Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - Gamespot review

W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
7.9

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/starocean3/review.html

"Star Ocean's universe is an appealing one, but it doesn't come without some minor caveats. Those who get the most enjoyment out of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time will be those who enjoy a little of both worlds--a real-time, responsive, progressive type of battle system right alongside deep dungeon crawls, sometimes restrictive item quantities, and lots of character leveling."
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Hah, from that quick summary, I'd almost think it was talking about a real time Dragon Warrior.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Well, you ARE limited by how much you can carry around in the pre-Bag DWs, and even in the post-Bag DW titles, you're still very, very limited in what you can carry into a fight.
 
C

Catchpenny

Member
As expected, such activity will often result in your getting severely tenderized by the next boss you come across, but actually, the difficulty of the enemies rises quite steeply fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

I give this sentence a 7.9
 
D

dog$

Hates quality gaming
Mejilan said:
Well, you ARE limited by how much you can carry around in the pre-Bag DWs, and even in the post-Bag DW titles, you're still very, very limited in what you can carry into a fight.
Click to expand...

Oh. You people are talking about items per character. I was gonna say, the sack never filled up in DQ6 or 7 on me...

Anyways, less about indirect DW bashing and more about how 7.9 is an appropriate SO3 score.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
dog$ said:
Oh. You people are talking about items per character. I was gonna say, the sack never filled up in DQ6 or 7 on me...

Anyways, less about indirect DW bashing and more about how 7.9 is an appropriate SO3 score.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. IMHO, how much you can carry into a battle is more important that how much you can lug around whilst exploring. I always wished the Final Fantasy games would distinguish between the two situations like that.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Damn, those screencaps they took are truly awful. They seem to be capped from composite output...

One thing that I do appreciate is 480p and 16:9 support (while still pushing 60 fps). I honestly can't think of another JRPG with both of those features...
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Yes, it did. One of the best combat systems ever devised, and a fantabulous soundtrack too.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I've enjoyed all of the Grandia games quite a bit.

It's a shame Grandia Xtreme had such a throw-away plot, though. The actual game was better than either of the prequels...

I'd love to see an actual Grandia 3.
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
The third (numbered) titles in the Grandia and Lunar series are amongst my most anticpated games... should they prove to NOT be vaporware.
 
G

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
You people have to remember, Bethany M reviewed this game. She's as reliable as you farting a big wet juicy one out of your ass and determining what number it sounds like so you can score the game that number. Come to think of it, that's probably how she came up with final score :D
 
Alex

Alex

Member
The original Grandia was absolutely fantastic. Grandia 2 was an utter pile, and Grandia X? Also fantastic. Wheee!

That said, screw Lunar 3, and I sadly doubt we'll ever see a Grandia 3. :(

PS: Why on Earth would you name your child "Bethany"?
 
A

AssMan

Banned
So I've been hearing a lot of positive things about TOS's combat system. Where do you rank Tales of Symphonia's battle system from last generation to now in an rpg?


P.S. Some of you guys played FF12 at E3......how was the real time battle system compared to real time rpgs out now, like TOS, and SO3?
 
M

Mejilan

Running off of Custom Firmware
Bethany's a solid name, imho. Beth, however, is not. Dogma pwns.

ToS has the best battle system in an RPG since the Grandias and Wizardry PS2, imho.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Where do you rank Tales of Symphonia's battle system from last generation to now in an rpg?
Click to expand...

Uhh, it plays a whole lot like Tales of Eternia, Tales of Destiny, and all other previous Tales titles. ToS does not represent any kind of revolution or change in RPGs. It is very much grounded in old concepts, but it is polished up nicely. Of course, that doesn't mean the battle system isn't top notch...
 
Alex

Alex

Member
I don't care for Smith's films barring the Clerks animated bit.

But, either way, the name Bethany is horrible. I always thought Beth was short for Elizabeth? Elizabethany? Elizabethstephany? What the hell prompted this conversation and how can it be halted!?
 
Alex

Alex

Member
Symphonia combat = Eternia combat.

It's just smoother, and with an added a multi-line feature. Tales should remain in 3D. Rebirth is bullshit.

It's an old battle system, and although it's not personally my favorite, and they still refuse to fix some of my issues with it, it's a damn good one.

Symphonia was good, would've been absolutely great in my mind if it didn't, sorry for the constant bitching for once, but it drove me nuts: fall to pieces in the second half.

Eternia was probably better in the end, yeah, but Symphonia's localization was sooo much better, and the game was pretty and polished.

Wheeeee. I'd also swap the meatier dungeon experience in Eternia for the puzzle dungeons that made the second half of Symphonia playable. The first halves dungeons were so simplistic and short, they were more an annoyance than fun.

They should remake Tales of Destiny (1, and only 1) using Symphonias polish, up-to-date extras and localization quality and Eternia's subsystems and content load.
 
T

T-1000_Model3

Banned
Grandia and Lunar 3 will only happen when SEGA decides to unveil their new gaming console. :)

Or when maybe Vic Ireland can come up with enough cash to convince Working Designs to develope and allow them a 10 year translation time window.
 
F

ferricide

Member
Mejilan said:
Yes, it did. One of the best combat systems ever devised, and a fantabulous soundtrack too.
Click to expand...
i knew Someone had to like iwadare's music.

yech.

7 for gameplay = overrated

9 for tilt ... overrated. fuck tilt! tilt is how reviewers compensate for gamespot's wacky cumulative scoring system.
 
Korranator

Korranator

Member
Grandia 2 was an utter pile......
Click to expand...
I thought I was the only one on this forum that felt that way.

Symphonia was good, would've been absolutely great in my mind if it didn't, sorry for the constant bitching for once, but it drove me nuts: fall to pieces in the second half.
Click to expand...
It was fun at first but I didn't even make it that far. About 12 hours in was enough for me.
 
Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Member
I thought it was a big release, but not THAT big.

If this game got an ad, certainly Tales of Symphonia deserved one too.
 
J

johnjohnson

Member
never seen such a boring video review as the one for Star Ocean on Gamespot. The game seemed fun though, is in preorder and will hopefully be shipped tomorrow.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
"That said, screw Lunar 3, and I sadly doubt we'll ever see a Grandia 3. :("

I think they might be in the same line as Naka and NiGHTS when it comes to Lunar 3. Thinking that they can't top the first 2 so they aren't even going to bother with a 3rd. I don't think they have any problem making more Grandia's though.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
efralope said:
I thought it was a big release, but not THAT big.

If this game got an ad, certainly Tales of Symphonia deserved one too.
Click to expand...
It's Square Enix. Square has always advertised on Raw for just about anything they ever release.

And it is big for Square. In fact, it's possibly their biggest release of the year. I mean, what else have they released this year? PS2 FF XI, Drakengard....anything else? They have an FF XI expansion coming, but Star Ocean is pretty much their flagship RPG for the year.
 
Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Member
Square's only "big" (as in blockbuster potential) release this year IMO is Kingdom Hearts GBA, the system has a great RPG track record, and the GBA is as popular as ever (although Pokemon will provide some competition).

Chain of Memories can easily do 500,000 the way I see it by Christmas is enough word gets around... that might be overestimating, but the potential is definitely there...
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Star Ocean 3 is going to do really well. Did anyone catch the ad for it during RAW? Really slick and gets your attention fast. FMV spliced with gameplay and done very much like a FF game.
 
D

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
Oh, shit I didn't know there was a commercial for this game... too bad I grew out of wrestling when I was 15 so I didn't catch it on RAW :p Hopefully I'll catch it, soon. I think I remember there being a commercial for SO2 actually.

Oh yeah, to the guy going on about Fable... SO3 has a longer than 9 hour quest =P
 
C

cvkpaladin

Member
Yeah, but they still made another remake of Lunar: SS for the GBA (which sucked from what I heard - didn't play it). So, whether it be Lunar or Grandia, I want another RPG from them stat. Actually, whatever happened to GameArts anyways? Didn't they get bought out or something? Oh, and about SO3, I liked SO2 (even though it had the worst VA ever in a game), so I'll prolly end up buying the game. But the big SquareEnix RPG I'm currently looking forward to though is FF12. Hopefully they don't fuck it up. :)
 
D

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
cvkpaladin said:
Yeah, but they still made another remake of Lunar: SS for the GBA (which sucked from what I heard - didn't play it). So, whether it be Lunar or Grandia, I want another RPG from them stat. Actually, whatever happened to GameArts anyways? Didn't they get bought out or something? Oh, and about SO3, I liked SO2 (even though it had the worst VA ever in a game), so I'll prolly end up buying the game. But the big SquareEnix RPG I'm currently looking forward to though is FF12. Hopefully they don't fuck it up. :)
Click to expand...

I think GameArts is working on an online RPG with some Korean company... I'm waiting for a Grandia 3 or a Lunar 3, though...
 
Alex

Alex

Member
Grandia II was close to the worst sequel ever made. It had absoluely nothing on the original.

Iwadare > you. Best battle theme composer ever.

GameArts, I'd assume, is basicly dead, or so it'd seem, so quiet. I don't know though, Enix I believe aquired some stake in them, then after the merger, maybe they just faded away? It's been awhile.

The last games from them as far as I know were Lunar GBA, which, yes, did suck, it was a dumbed down, totally unnessicary release. And Grandia X, which had it's flaws, but was ultimately a very, very good game. One of the best RPG's this gen no problem.
 
B

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
I really need to give Grandia Xtreme another shot. Before snagging ToS, I had a nice little Grandia 1 renaissance inspired by Shouta's replay posting. I have to compliment how well the game still holds up over 7 years later...

On topic of SO3, the official guide is MASSIVE. Nearing 300 pages of text, graphs, charts, and tables, this game is a biggie.
 
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