Board 8 > Star Ocean 3 beated [Summer of Star Ocean]

(+) Yeah! (+)

This is my third or fourth time beating this game, but my first time playing it with broken weapons using the crafting system.

First of all, DAMN SO3 has what could possibly be the best collective cast in gaming. No one is really obnoxious or doesn't belong in the party (you can make an argument for Roger, but he doesn't NEED to be in the party) All the characters have depth, and they all have their own interpretations and original thoughts to the situations at hand. Compared to 4, where it seemed like the plot needed to be reexplained to every in game character multiple times (Which to be fair, the plot from 4 didn't actually make sense) In SO3 there's Peppita, a (completely optional) character who's naivet works as a character in world who needs to have things slowed down for her and explained clearly, she's never really annoying about this, and the reexplanations are always concise. In SO4 there would be times when Edge wouldn't get it, then Meracle wouldn't get it, and then, Serra wouldn't get it.

As a side note, being able to change the character's races was also a pretty cool touch, I'd like to see that come back in future SO games but also have the changes show in cutscenes. I think my biggest pet peeve in jrpgs is showing a vast world of fantasy characters that look interesting and having the main party consist of what is pretty much only white humans.

I remember loving Star Ocean 3's battle system while I was playing 4 but damn is it dated and not fun. Even with weapons that could kill bosses in two shots the battles felt like they just dragged on. Also it has the standard star ocean experience of experience points being awarded somewhat randomly. Taking out a boss who dies in one side kick? 100,000 exp. Taking out two randoms with more HP and more devastating attacks? 1300 exp.

Character rankings

Nel>Cliff>Maria>Fayt>Roger>Mirage>Peppita>Albel>Adray>Sofia

Sofia is the only character who falls below the likable line, but I gotta give her props for essentially being walked over by everyone in the game and taking it like a champ.

Below this is Star Ocean 3's twist ,I recommend not reading it if you haven't played yet. I also recommend you play this game while it's still playable! It's dated now but not groundbreakingly so.

So the twist is super interesting because it has no bearing on anything and almost immediately retcons itself. "Star ocean's universe was created by 4d beings" ok so what does that mean "nothing really. OPAs are like encryption keys" ok so like does the universe run the risk of being unplugged or something? "no because it was deleted in the 4d universe and nothing really happened" ok cool. Also the extent to which the sphere was used for in the 4d universe is SO poorly explained. People talk about creating characters in the universe, leveling up, and fighting bosses, but the game also explicitly says its not a video game, and that typical 4d users can't interact with the people in the game. So anyway that was weird.
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I love star ocean 3 to bits, but one of the best casts ever?



You gotta play better games if you think that's true
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I had trouble thinking of a better cast off the top of my head (I quickly ran through the ff cast list) but after more consideration, Skies of Arcadia is better.
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the twist probably makes a lot more sense nowadays in light of the hundreds of thousands of isekai series

clearly it was too ahead of its time.
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SO3's cast is pretty good. I'm pretty eh on the minor supporting cast like Adray, Roger, and Peppita (and Sophia as mentioned, you'd think she'd be important but she's not, really!) but the core Fayt/Cliff/Nel is really great, and that counts for a lot.
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it's a solid cast that is best described as being inoffensive
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star ocean 3 is awesome !!
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Weakupedia posted...

it's a solid cast that is best described as being inoffensive

yeah, this

maria/cliff/nel are pretty darn good to great

the rest are tolerable to bland and cliche or annoying
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Summer of Star Ocean 2012 ran so long it went until January 2013
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The thing I remember most about this game (besides the twist) is that I hated party AI and started having a lot more fun when I started soloing things. Probably didn't have any idea what I was doing though. Fat, Cliff, Nel, and Maria were all pretty cool too.

Also, Nel's one coworker has the worst voice I've ever heard.
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KamikazePotato posted...

The thing I remember most about this game (besides the twist) is that I hated party AI and started having a lot more fun when I started soloing things. Probably didn't have any idea what I was doing though. Fat, Cliff, Nel, and Maria were all pretty cool too.

Also, Nel's one coworker has the worst voice I've ever heard.

I think Farleen? The only reason I remember that name is cuz her acting was SOOOOO bad.
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fayt is so unremarkable though, what is there to like?

like, he's not bad. just...bland?

which i guess by jrpg standards is like, pretty good. still though
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Fayt in a vacuum is boring but since Cliff and Nel both have some edge to them (in different ways) he bounces off of them well.

Game's boring until Cliff joins, though, no argument there.
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Yeah Fayt's wet blanket personality bounces well off of Cliff and Nel really well. Lots of JRPG main characters are wet blankets, but having a cast that balances it out and plays off of it, and a plot that shows the main character coming out of his shell to reflect his companions is SUPER rare. Don't forget Maria is pretty cool too. The rest of the cast isn't incredible but they're all pretty cool in their own way and fun to play as, usually you're lucky to have even one character you like in a JRPG party.

Anyway if you can think of a better cast I encourage you to post it! I'll tear it down with my terrible opinions!
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SantaRPidgey posted...

Yeah Fayt's wet blanket personality bounces well off of Cliff and Nel really well. Lots of JRPG main characters are wet blankets, but having a cast that balances it out and plays off of it, and a plot that shows the main character coming out of his shell to reflect his companions is SUPER rare. Don't forget Maria is pretty cool too. The rest of the cast isn't incredible but they're all pretty cool in their own way and fun to play as, usually you're lucky to have even one character you like in a JRPG party.

Anyway if you can think of a better cast I encourage you to post it! I'll tear it down with my terrible opinions!

ffx
ffxii
xenosaga
xenoblade 2
shadow hearts 2
trails in the sky
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tales of vesperia
persona 4
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Weakupedia posted...

ffx
ffxii

Is there a good character in either of these?
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