Star Ocean Till the End of Time is a game that once was filled with fond memories doesn’t really stand the test of time. The game definitely shows its age and while some games do stand the test of time, I felt this one really didn’t.
The graphics are pretty good. I liked the anime aesthetic even if the characters looked a little odd at times, it’s not a bad visual style and it really hits the ‘Star Trek meets anime’ vibe going for it. The environments look nice and are expansive. The cutscenes are a treat and look very good. I do like the visuals and for its time and even today do look nice.
The story is good. It’s not too earth-shattering and it tells a few stories at once. While the main plot is interesting on its own with the protagonist being from an advanced society that has achieved space travel and colonization to the worlds you visit. The settings of the worlds are pretty much the same up until the 75% mark of the game but it is an interesting concept, in how an advanced society has to be careful not to meddle in the affairs of a less developed one. The lore on the two worlds that you visit before the conclusion is pretty much nothing short of engrossing. The story is probably the reason anyone should complete this game. The story has many twists and turns, including a very controversial one.
Since I won’t spoil it, it is very divisive and has divided fans up until this day. Was I bothered by it? Not really, I thought it was a great concept but even still some will hate it and while some plot twists are known for their ingeniousness, this one arguably is what prevented the series from doing a sequel that takes place after this game and is something Square Enix one day will have to revisit and decide if they want to keep it in place or retcon it. I can’t see a winning situation for them regarding this. I say if you do decide to play this and complete it, keep an open mind. It may cause you to hate the game and shut it off, or it may engross you. It’s one of those things.
The voice acting was pretty grating and I turned it off within five minutes. The game has text bubbles and it makes it easy to follow if you prefer to just read everyone’s dialog as the older RPG’s had done in the past. There is a small pacing problem with this, sometimes since the game was made with voice acting in mind, after you clear a text box there will be a delay, since it has to sync with the character's voice. Not a huge issue but it’d be nice if there was a way to skip the delay but there isn’t. It’s not all the time but it is noticeable.
The music, on the other hand, is enjoyable. It has a very catchy battle theme and boss themes. The music really complements the game. Since it’s a long game it would’ve been nice for a bit more variety but I liked it.
So far I’ve been kind with the review, making it seem like a positive experience. The music, visuals, and story are nice and enjoyable. What made it feel cumbersome and really what caused me to give what should be a 9/10 down to a 7. The gameplay. I like action RPGs. I love them actually but this combat isn’t really something I could enjoy too much. For one it’s weirdly paced. It has the appearance of a button masher but in reality, it’s not. The attacks sometimes don’t hit and you almost have to be dead accurate to make an attack. There is also a mechanic where a fury gage is filled up. If the enemy has max, you have to use a heavy attack to break it. Not a bad idea but sometimes if you’re not paying attention, it can be frustrating because then sometimes the attack doesn’t work and then you’re stunned for a few moments.
When an enemy is knocked down, you can’t really attack them which I found to be a concept that isn’t in any other action RPG. Now I know this game is over 10 years old so I’ll forgive it for being a product of the time but it’s just something I didn’t enjoy. It made battles longer then they had to be with these two annoying concepts. I would’ve liked for them to not be there.
There is a skill system that you can use, similar to Tales of games but I prefer how those were handled. Sometimes I accidentally do a skill I don’t want to do.
The other major issue is the design of the game. Some towns require you to pretty much talk to certain individuals and while this isn’t a big deal, it almost means you either have to use a walkthrough or talk to everyone just to uncover what you're supposed to do next. It doesn’t give you any real hints and if you forget what you have to do? Walk through time. It’s cumbersome and it would’ve benefited from some kind of hint system, or at least streamline the process.
Dungeons are long, almost too long. A lot of the time they feel very much inflated and the game is long enough, it didn’t really need 2-3 hour dungeons to over-inflate it more. A lot of the time the dungeons feel like they made one floor and decided to copy and paste it more times than necessary. It makes getting through them a grind and they end up looking very similar.
All and all is it a bad game? Not at all. The story, music, characters, and art are all great. The gameplay shows its age. If you can tolerate cumbersome combat and dungeon design, it is worth playing to completion. It’s also long and will easily take you over 40 hours to beat it.
Also, I played this on the PS4. It does have random crashes. Keep that in mind. It might be worth tracking down a PS2 version if you can find it reasonably priced.