Great game for fans, even greater for newcomers, and an overall great addition to the series.

User Rating: 9.2 | Star Ocean: Till the End of Time PS2
By Keledron | Review Date:
The Star Ocean series has always attempted to tie together the durable strings of sci-fi and fantasy into one genre, and once again, I believe the series has succeeded. Star Ocean: Till The End of Time takes the features that fans of the first two games enjoyed (private actions, item creation, multiple endings, and a great epic tale) and builds upon them even more, yet still provides enough new content to make SO3: TTEOT stand apart from its predecessors. One of my long time favorites to the series (and many other fans as well) was the aspects of Item Creation. This was easily what had set the Star Ocean series apart from all of the others out there, making it different from Final Fantasy, and the many other console RPGs on the market. While some fans of the series did not recieve the invention system as well as one would think, newcomers to the series will find this to be an incredibly addictive feature to the game. I'm not going to go into detail on the process, as other reviewers (including Gamespot themselves) have done this already and I'd rather not beat the topic to death. Suffice to say it is one of the most fun aspects of the game. The next feature that was carried over from the series (but will definitely be a new experience for those unfamilar with Star Ocean) is the Real Time combat system. At times this system can seem confusing, and especially punishing to the unprepared, but with a decent amount of practice and a feel for how the characters act together, you'll catch on in no time, and soon realize how much more exciting this can make your combat experience. After all, one of the biggest complaints with the Final Fantasy series from a majority of people who dislike it is the turn based combat style. Star Ocean: TTEOT provides a sense of urgency and realism to the field of battle, to the point that no one enemy should be taken lightly, hence you don't end up with the FF complaint of "You hit me, ok, now stand still, I hit you." You definitely require more reflexes and strategic thinking to be successful in many of the boss battles in SO: TTEOT. Epic tales have always been a staple to this series. Everything from battles of warring Kingdoms, to showdowns with evil characters seeking immortality. SO:TTEOT is no different in this respect, and builds one of the most memorable stories yet. The characters are very well done, and this is not just in the graphical sense. All the playable characters have a great sense of personality, and each of them are rather complex. Fayt Leingod is probably one of the best protagonists (in my opinion) since Cloud Strife. His supporting cast possess equally gripping roles that will get you attached to each and every one of them... (ok ok, EXCEPT possibly Roger, but even he has a couple of surprising twists to make you appreciate the thought in his being a part of the big story.) You'll be surprised at some of the thought that goes behind your characters decision, their inner conflicts. While most RPGs barely scratch this surface and create extremely predictable characters, you'll be surprised and delighted at the "fresh look" at how characters should be. Now, how does SO: TTEOT stack up aesthetically? Graphically the game is very well done. While the graphics may not be considered "cutting edge", they're still integrated beautifully to make the world (well, worlds) that much more immersive and believable. The introduction cinematic was absolutely breathtaking! Don't be surprised if you find yourself watching it more than once, it's seriously that good. Sound was something that took this reviewer by surprise. The music is superb, (and the soundtrack is definitely worth buying,) and while the sound effects themselves may be a bit sub par, the voice acting more than makes up for this slight shortcoming. This is not something you would usually hear about most games today that have been brought over from Japan and translated. In most of these cases, the voice acting is usually atrocious and better left off as it actually can detract from the emotions the designers were trying to convey. SO:TTEOT really blew me away here. The voice actors for each of the characters were superb. You'll even hear a few familiar voices from several different Anime series and movies (Cowboy Bebop to name one); Square Enix really went to great lengths to make their characters sound great. Even the usual minnie-mouse-esqe voice for some of the younger female roles in the game are done in a very believable and enjoyable fashion. For the first time in a long time, the voice acting really does add to the overall experience, and you won't be spending minutes just trying to push the annoying voices out of your head. In summary, this is an absolute must buy for fans and non-fans alike. SO:TTEOT embraces some classic RPG principles, and develops some of its own as well. The game can easily be considered epic, with its huge dungeons, difficulty, definite sense of urgency, and amazingly spun story. RPG fans should not be without this title. Games on the scale of SO:TTEOT come about in rare occurances. RPG fans, and fans of other genres that would like to try something a little different, will seriously sell themselves short by passing up this title, as it is definitely a worthy addition to any video game fan's library.

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