Star Ocean, like Tales of Phantasia, arrived too late on the Super Nintendo (SNES) for it to recieve a translation. Just as the system was about to be usurped by the Nintendo64, the SNES saw a wave of high quality RPGs hit it that pushed the aging console as far as it would go. Star Ocean is one of those games.
PLOT: Star Ocean tells the story of Ratix Farrence, a young Fellpool living in the town of Clatos on the underdeveloped planet of Roak. He is part of a group called the Clatos Brigade, a small organization of fighters who defend the town from thieves and robbers. Ratix himself is a swordsman, as is his friend Dorn Marto—who is also a member of the Brigade. One day, a strange disease that spreads by touch begins turning people in the northern city of Cool to stone. The town healer and father of Milly Kiliet—one of Ratix's best friends who also secretly loves him—goes to Cool to try and use his Crest Magic (Heraldry/Symbology) to defeat the disease, but ends up becoming infected himself. When this news comes to Milly, Ratix, and Dorn, they set off for Mt. Metox north of Cool to recover the Metox herb, a legendary herb said to cure any ailment. With this, they hope to cure the disease and save Milly's father. When they reach the summit where the herb grows, a mysterious light bursts from the ground and two people wearing odd clothes appear before them; a man with blue hair and a woman with blonde hair. The man introduces himself as Ronixis J. Kenni, captain of the Earth Federation starship Calnus. From there they learn that the disease was sent to the planet by the Resonians, a civilization that the Earth Federation has been at war with. However, it is a mystery as to why Resonia would even launch such a biological attack on an underdeveloped world. What could possibly be gained by it?
It was soon revealed though that Roakian blood could block out the visible light spectrum of the human eye and that Resonia had used their blood to process a special, invisible material. The sort of material that would give them a massive advantage in the war. However, instead of fighting with it they send emissaries to the Federation HQ and reveal that they were being forced into war by a shadowy, powerful third party with a disgust for the Federation called "Fargett".
The group then discovers that the virus originates from a monster on Roak itself -- Asmodeus, the King of the Demon World [Daemonium]. Asmodeus however died 300 years prior to the spreading of the disease. Despite the possible court martial that could be dealt to them, Ronixis decides to go to the Planet Stream (or Styx) to use the mysterious Time Gate to travel back in time and recover a sample of blood from Asmodeus. Upon getting there, the Gate accepts them and they enter into the opened time warp. However, Iria Silvestoli -- the blonde woman from the Calnus -- trips prior to getting into the Gate and Ratix helps her back up.
After the trip through time, Ratix and Iria find themselves on an entirely different continent to the one Ronixis and Milly wound up on...
GRAPHICS: Graphically this game is wonderful, pushing the SNES to the limit with a mixture of bold powerful colours and a clever shading pallette that manages to bring the world to life. With the addition of larger than average sprites containing more detail and various in-game effects that add shadows, reflections in pools (as seen in Tales of Phantasia) and facial expressions. Most characters have a half-dozen unique poses in addition the the standard ones that help characterise them, and the NPCs manage to be different from each other whilst also keeping the same sense of community. In battle the graphics are just as good, with even larger sprites running around. Enemy design isn't amazing but manages to pull a few surprises out of the hat, and simple re-coloured enemies only make a few appearances later in the game.
SOUND: The music is relatively lively and manages to portray the difference between the space-aged worlds and fantasy planets well by use of different melodies. However the game really shines when it comes to sound with excellent effects for most cases and actual voice sampling in the opening scenes. Very few games for the SNES had voice work on them, and this raises the care and attention on the game to another level.
OVERALL: 90% A little short on the overall play time, at only 10 hours to complete, but a good game non-the-less. An interesting system is the private events that occur at each town you come to. You can choose to enter as a party or to split up and explore seperatly, allowing for one on one conversations with other characters to get to know them better, and in some cases find romance. The game also plays particularly well in as much as for the first ten or fifteen minutes (opening cenematic not counting) you really could be fooled into believing that you're playing a fantasy rpg, right up to the moment that two space adventurers beam down in the middle of a fight and take you aboard their starship. Translated by fans online, this game can be played on import or through emulation if you're into it.
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