Equipping new gear takes little time, and elemental alignments are displayed, but special bonuses and the meanings behind the many numbers they display are not explained. The game features hundreds of items, and the menus can become cluttered in no time.
So many submenus exist that sorting through items can take some time. The main menu is fairly simple, but the submenus can be annoying to navigate through. Outside of battles, players can customize their characters. The simplicity of the battle system results in one-button controls that remove most influence from the player. During this period of time, the characters will typically be open to whatever attacks the enemy swarms can throw at the party. In order to change targets, characters will need to run around like idiots until they are in range of the desired foe. Worst of all, the lack of targeting removes most tactics. In dangerous situations, attacking characters will continue their assault, even if they should be focused on healing. While in attack mode, the player cannot go into the battle menu and select skills or items. Pressing the attack button during an enemy offensive can allow blocking, but since blocking and attacking are accomplished via the same button it is unreliable. Upon landing the first blow, players can repeatedly press attack to build up a small combo. Once the attack button is pressed, players lose control as their character blindly runs face first towards the nearest enemy to attack.
Actual combat boils down to smacking the attack button until the enemy disintegrates. After using an item, a small icon appears in the bottom left corner of the screen that means no more items can be used. The battle menu also features the escape command and the item menu.
The battle menu allows access to each character's special abilities, and two offensive abilities can be assigned to the R and L button outside of battle to allow for shortcuts in battle. The AI characters will follow their setting with relative efficiency. The remaining party members are controlled by AI settings, which are assigned out of battle and can be changed during battle. The player chooses one of the four party members to control and can change control on the fly with the battle menu. Movement is 3D, but the stoic camera preserves the 2D details of the sprites. Each random encounter loads up a little rectangular arena for the heroes and monsters to do battle upon. Star Ocean: First Departure features a pseudo-3D action-RPG battle system.
Star ocean first departure r metacritic portable#
Remade on the PSP, Star Ocean: First Departure brings the story of Roddick and Ronyx to portable systems across the world. However, the media blitz leading up to the release of Star Ocean: The Last Hope finally gave Western players a way to legally experience the original entry in English. Even after the success of its two sequels in the west, the original title remained a Japan-only game.
Unfortunately, Star Ocean missed out on a Western release. The game pushed the Super Famicom to its limits, using high quality visuals and sound files. The original Star Ocean hit Japan in 1996 during the final days of the Super Famicom era. + Excellent cast with considerable replay value. Star Ocean: First Departure - Staff Review
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