Gamespot score:7.9(good)
my score:7.5
(+)Pros:-Story starts off strong,-battles are simple yet effectively fun,-incredibly long adventure spread out across 2 discs,- some cool characters,- pretty good graphics for a PS2 game which was released during 2004
(-)cons:-Fayt kinda pisses you off as a main character,-pretty damn hardcore grinding,- story starts to drag and get boring after awhile,but it still rises back up towards the end.
gameplay time:40-50 hours(long)
Star ocean 3, the fantom of all star ocean games. This is probably the star ocean game out of the series to make that huge "step" to become a well reknowned series. While this is true, and tri-ace did a good job making star ocean:till the end of time, but its nothing more than a simple RPG game with a little bit of a fun battle system and an above average story, which sinks after you pass a certain mark. Though I am genrally a person who favours RPGs, I have to say that this is greatly overated (execpt by gamespot), it received lots of 8s and 9s, but I really dont see this getting over an 8.....maybe its just self opinion.
Star ocean 3's story takes place on the premises of earth, where we see or main character fayt and his childhood friends sophia enjoying thier time on a vacation. After abit of fun and games, our heroes have thier vacation ruined when a space organization known as the vendini start to attack thier resort, forcing them, along with all the residents to evacuate in escape pods. While successful in his escape, fayt is sent to a foreign planet with almost 0 technology, there he is forced to survive and after a turn of events he runs into a visitor that is not from that foreign world itself. He introduces himself as cliff, and together he brings fayt into an unknown world filled with an ordeal that he may never surpass alone, his fighting skills are put to the test, and he will discover what he truly is as he searches for a way to locate or contact sophia and his parents despite all this chaos.
Star ocean 3 sports some serious good looks, for a PS2 game. To top it off it has a bunch of cool and wacky characters, such as roger the fox kid or the crazy cool albel nox. Along with all these it has an easy to learn battle system that you will learn to like very quickly, due to flashy moves and over the top action. Whats more is that the main adventure alone is 2 discs long and lasts for no less than 40 hours, and if you do the side stuff it can go as far as above 50 hours. Star ocean 3 is what any RPG should have, a good story, a long gameplay experiene, a good battle system, and tons of extra content, its too bad its being held down by a few issues.
The battle system is star ocean 3 may seem complicated with so many different terms and attack types, but its actually really simple. In battle you pick 3 characters to enter battle, and can only control 1, but you can switch between all 3 anytime you wish. As usual skills and shit require MP, some even require HP. An interesting fact in this game is that if your MP hits 0, you die. Neat, that will teach those skill spammers a lesson. Anyway, each character has thier own specific move set and tier own fury gauge. Fury attacks hit alot harder but they take abit off the gauge every time you use them, and when your fury gauge hits 0% you become fatigued and cannot attack for a set amount of time. Along with all that, there are 3 range classes, long, mid and short, all of 3 are as simple as they sound. Each character should have thier own share of the 3 kinds of skills, but its better to build a team consisting of equality within the attack types. While to monsters in star ocean 3 may be seemingly powerful,especialy at later levels, optimizing strategy and other tactics to beat them make the experience all the more joyful, other than just hit and running.
Now while star ocean 3 sports a good story, especially at the start and towards the end, the middle dulls quite abit due to dragging and unnessacary moments. Many a time where the suspense of a cut scene is killing you and you wish to know what is going to happen next, you are sent on a petty mission to gather ores or locate someone's precious item. Seriously, if they didnt drag the game would be so much better. And, also an issue in this game is the grind. Seriously, its pretty bad. Monsters give crap EXP, and you have to kill tons of them to gain a level. Its a pain really. Finally, you are playing as a wuss. I mean it, fayt is so stupid, close to vaan in terms of stupidity, his character as a protoganist is totally unlikable. He freaks out over the smallest thing, and its kinda dumb that you never see him really acting as a "leader" or "main character".
Happy gaming.
