#faybel

OK, I’m officially gonna start listing my Top 10 Video Games of All Time now and I’m starting off with the only game from my original Top 5 that has survived the cut: Star Ocean Till the End of Time

Now I should mention something real quickly and it’s the following: I’ve played this game MULTIPLE TIMES, cleared the story at least 3-4 times, and only one of those clears was done without the use of an Action Replay… I know that’s rather sad but the first time I got to the Moon Base, without using it, that god damn Reclaimer FUCKED ME UP SO HARD that I ended up resorting to using the, “Max EXP” cheat on the entire party.

When they released the HD Remaster of the game on the PS4, I knew that I would have to play smarter (no Action Replay will do that to you), once I got that far and I was actually able to beat her on the first try somehow…I think. ANYWAYS, what I’m trying to say is that this game is one of my three favorite JRPGs from the PS2 (one of those is in my Top 5 right now) and no matter how many times I boot the game up and start from the beginning I have a blast. The story is awesome, the graphics hold up surprisingly well in the HD Remaster (at least IMO), combat is fun and challenging at times, and the cast of characters is phenomenal (hell, my top Star Ocean OTP is from this game and they are SO CUTE AND FLUFFY AO;SDGHASOLGJAPO;STGIJLAGPO…it’s Fayt x Albel/FayBel in case your wondering). I even think the big plot twist is awesome, given how it re-frames the ENTIRE series, even with the games that got released after it. I know one of the people who work on the series said that The Last Hope takes place in an alternate timeline, but I call bullshit on that.

That’s cause if we factor in the information that the Universe as Edge and the party know it is actually a giant MMOesque creation, we can come to the logical conclusion that the Missing Procedure is a bug or virus of some kind in the Eternal Sphere that had the potential to crash the entire system. As for the impact it has on Integrity and Faithlessness, along with The Divine Force, that is a conversation for another day.

I also like how in order to get enough Battle Trophies to unlock all of the bonus content, you actually have to play through the story multiple times with different party configurations when it comes to the optional characters. You’ve got Nel, Rodger, Albel and Peppita and which ever characters you don’t pick end up becoming bosses in the Urssa Cave Temple, and you get Battle Trophies for defeating the different configurations.

I only really have two complaints to talk about but both are pretty minor for me. The first one is the lack of a “Synopsis” section in the Info part of the Camp Menu, someplace where you can look up what’s happened so far and easily figure out where to go next. If you’re like me and you’ve taken a long break from the story, chances are you won’t remember what the current objective is the only way to figure that out is to run around like a chicken with your head cut off hoping for a cutscene to trigger…which sometimes can lead into a Boss Fight that you might be under prepared for. Thankfully they added that into the next game and this is no longer an issue but it’s still a pain in the ass to have this happen.

The other complaint is the MASSIVE difficulty spike at some points in the game. The only places I can think of when this happens is when you stop the Vendeeni from getting the Sacred Orb, the start of the second disc (or the equivilant part in the HD Remaster), and when you reach a certain level in the post-game part of Sphere 211. If you have any party members that are under-leveled, the enemies here will FUCK THEM UP. But even with properly leveled characters, one wrong move will wipe them from the battle.

And that’s all I have for gripes with this game, nothing really game breaking, and once you get a grip on the tougher enemies in the main story, it becomes a breeze to get past them and move on with the plot. Great gameplay, good cast of characters, music by the BADASS Motoi Sakuraba and a theme song from the Japanese Artist renown not just for being the first J-R&B star, but also sung the Japanese National Anthem at the Tokyo Games Opening Ceremony, MISIA. Her song, “A Little Bird Who Forgot How to Fly” is GORGEOUS and I almost ball my eyes out during the ending credits every time when it starts playing.

SO for my score of Star Ocean Till the End of Time, I’m going to follow in the steps of X-Play, use their scoring system and give this JRPG a 5/5.

Lastly for my Honorable Mentions today, I’m highlighting:

Forza Horizon 3 - the racing game that got my into not only the Forza franchise in general, but also introduced me to the music of CHVRCHΞS. Even the the next Horizon game wasn’t able to top this one for me, no matter how good it was.

Tales of Xillia/Xillia 2 - I’m doing a two for one deal this time only cause I feel like you can’t talk about one game without mentioning the other. Both games are awesome, both have their merits and flaws (not many of them to be honest though) and both have my favorite theme songs in the franchise from the Queen of J-Pop, Ayumi Hamasaki.

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