Star Ocean 3

[DuskShark]

I'm somewhat a new fan of Star Ocean and I was considering getting SO3. How does it stack up with the rest? I played the SFC Star Ocean. I didn't really like the remakes and SO2 PS1 bored me. I'm also considering getting SO4.

EDIT: SO1 PSP remake grew on me but I STILL don't like SO2.

[SlicerSV]

You will get VERY mixed opinions on SO3.  My own opinion follows.

Gameplay wise, it's battle system is leaps and bounds more intuitive than so2 or so1, but it has some major annoyances, like the whole pressure sensitivity crap...

Story wise, it's about the same quality as the entire rest of the series, engaging, interesting story, but only mediocre characterization.

The side quests in this game are mostly very annoying, but they almost all have rewards that more than make up for the annoyance.

It was actually my first SO that I beat completely, SO1 I kinda got bored with about half-way through because of the battle system, SO2 I didn't get a new copy of until after I beat SO3, my original broke before I was even halfway through, so my opinion probably bears some marks from being my "first one finished"...

In short, with how cheap this game can be gotten these days, it will be worth the purchase.

[Kevassa]

SO3 in my opinion was a lot more balanced than the SOs before it.
I felt both games before were way too easy at some points and suddenly you get extremely cheap enemies that can OHKO you (or lock you in a combo that kills you).
SO3 enemy AI sucks, though, so it makes it really easy for players when you find out how to exploit it.

[DuskShark]

SO3 enemy AI sucks, though, so it makes it really easy for players when you find out how to exploit it.

How bad is the AI? Does SO3 have NewGame+?

[Kevassa]

How bad is the AI? Does SO3 have NewGame+?

How bad? Doing the same predictable stuff or not moving for a time-like
It does

[DuskShark]

No kidding? NewGame+ available?

[SlicerSV]

Yes, it has NewGame+, in fact, NewGame+ is required in order to get several secrets unlocked. No kidding, lol.

He is correct that the enemy AI is terrible for most of the game...  I found though, my own opinion probably, that it vastly improves at a particular point in the game that I can't reveal without spoiling some of the story.  If you don't care about things being spoiled, highlight the following to reveal it...  After the Executioners show up and your party goes to the Lunar Base, at some point while on this base, you come across a Proclaimer.  This enemy type has a MUCH smarter AI than anyone you've encountered up to this point, and it's a definite type of things to come.  After you're done at the Lunar Base, and pretty much the rest of the game, although most enemy's aren't as smart as Proclaimer's, they're all smarter than they were before...  This is close to the end of the game though.  Oh, and the final boss is -no- pushover, he'll be quite the challenge, although the optional post-game bosses are going to be harder, obviously, he's not one of those bosses where it's uber hard to get to him, but once there, you open up a can of whup ass.  Final dungeon's reasonably hard, and let's just say when I finally beat the final boss I was quite excited.

Go get the game man, I can assure you, your friends will be wondering what happened to you until you see the ending credits roll ;-) (smilie images on this board are absolute crap btw)

[DuskShark]

Yes, it has NewGame+, in fact, NewGame+ is required in order to get several secrets unlocked. No kidding, lol.

SOLD!

[Kevassa]

One thing that bothered me a lot about the game were the dialogues of the sub characters in the last half of the game.
They were so... lacking
It was just like Final fantasy 6

[DuskShark]

Character development died later?

[SlicerSV]

Character development died later?

Later? Well... I suppose it got even WORSE later... but...

but only mediocre characterization.

As I said previously, characterization (aka character development) is only mediocre in this game at all.  I've seen much worse.  I've also seen way better.  Mediocre characterization is, I find, par for the course in tri-Ace games though.

At least it's not generally horrid, like some games I've played (gives Final Fantasy the evil look).  Admit it, every single FF character has either been an 'insert-hero traits here' (in the older games) or a random assortment of stereotypes.  I mean, look at Cloud from FF7, he's definitely your stereotypical emo teen.  Or, for the most recent example I've bothered playing, FFX-II, look at Paine, she's pretty much a stereotypical Goth Chick...  Yeah... not a fan of FF characterization here...  (all the characters in all the FF games suffer from the disease, btw, I'm just only giving 2 examples.)

[pedrocasilva]

I hated SO3, to the extent I'm not touching SO4 with a stick for as long as it seems SO3.5. (I'll still buy it one day just for the collectors edition though, like I do with Final Fantasy stinkers like FFX)

Not a bad game per see on a piece by piece basis, graphics weren't bad, production values were decent and the battle system wasn't broken (although IMO wasn't great either) but it all comes together in a bad soap opera package that makes me ashamed to play it. Plus, it lacked character.



But like said... you'll get mixed feedback, so there's always the other side of the fence in this.

[Destrudo]

Why is everyone hating on SO3 

It was actually one of my favs, it was even good enough for someone to undub it

Honestly FF wasn't that bad of a series. but come on, every star ocean game I've played owns FF in every concept.