Fast paced battles, great storyline, multiple sidequests, tons of dungeons, what more can you possibly want out of it?
From start to end and beginning of the sidequests, this game had my fingers glued to the PS2's controllers. Amazingly beautiful environments, voice acting, and music give players the feel to continue on with it and unfold more of the storyline. Although the game introduces very long scenes and events, it cancels that out with fierce battles that are very intense and action packed that has you thinking of strategies throughout the entire battle. Keeping your eyes on your health as well as the AI character's health and knowing when to attack at the same time with great force to defeat your enemies takes a lot of timing.
Battles are completely avoidable as you can see all of the enemies on the maps or dungeons lolling around. The enemies that are on the map screen tend to chase after the player or sometimes rather ignore them, but that adds more strategy by just seeing an enemy. Being able to avoid one may actually save you from a gameover when you worked hard traveling through Star Ocean's long-drawn out dungeons. With the exception of boss fights, you may want to level up before you proceed for the majority of the games difficulty comes from this games boss fights. So actually fighting random enemies every now and then can help a lot in getting your characters into shape. From the start of a battle to the end of it, you are always doing something, and you never will be able to just sit still unless of course, you have uber powered up characters against a group of mere weaklings.
Items and equipment also create the great RPG feel as it has always been, but in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time's items and equipments, you have complete control over what each item and armor can do or provide when they are used. To do so, there is an item creation system built into this game where the player can hire specific NPCs to invent items, accessories, and armor for them. Doing so allows you to spend a lot of your time just trying to improve your weapons and items by item creation. The use of Fol(Star Ocean's currency) is needed greatly to create or add better items or factors. Adding factors can change almost all attributes to any posession in the game and provide benefits. The only major bad part to the item creation is where you accidentally created something that you didn't want with an item that is very rare or have completely added a factor to some piece of equipment that you didn't want. You cannot go back afterwards and change it, so therefore, save before inventing, always.
As far as leveling goes, the characters exceed the normal RPG limits, such as going above the level of 99. The characters will be able to grow up to level 255 throughout the entire game, and is easier to obtain when the sidequests are being pursued. Although it isn't needed, only the best of the best would try to reach that level, but even that isn't hard to do, since there are equipments that allow more experience or by the use of the battle bonus gauge. To keep it simple, the battle bonus gauge is a gauge to the right side of the battle screen where it is only displayed and it rises for each attack your characters peform onto the enemy. The stronger they are, the faster your gauge increases. As soon as it reaches the max you are granted specific conditions that help you receive more items, tripled experience, double Fol, or increased chance for collecting items. These conditions are given after the battle until the bonus gauge has been broken in battle by taking a critical hit by an enemy(for player character only). After it is broken the conditions vanish until you refill the bonus battle gauge to the top again.
Battle skills. Battle skills are what can really save you during battle more than anything. With the use of the complex battle system, battle skills tend to deplete your characters health for all battle skills expend health to be used and also MP for some. These skills provide benefits for each character and the way their fighting style comes. There really is no way of saying that one skill is better than the other, it is more like the matter of people saying which one is their favorite out of them all. Some perform single hits while others peform multiple hits but they are not as strong as the single damaging attacks. Each skill brings up tactics for the player and the AI controlled characters, and tactics are very essential to battling it out with enemies. Skills are learned by simply leveling up and the skills themselves can level up by using them over and over. The more it is used, the stronger the skills will become making the effects visible during battle. Some skills learned are supportive skills that heal health just by standing there or increase your chances of pulling off a critical hit. Equipping skills to certain slots such as short range or long range give you advantage but ultimately, skills that are placed as major attacks will consume more HP than usual, so be careful there. The better the skill is, the more CP is needed to equip them. CP can go up to 15 points and allows you to equip skills that all add up to 15, so you cannot go any further than that. Just make sure you have a strategy with whatever skill you choose.
Fury is another important factor to pay attention to in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time. Fury is a battle factor but as you should know, it relates to stamina. As the battle starts you are given 100% fury to freely do whatever you please, although if you are ambushed then you will start off with 0%. Running in battle consumes fury by 1% and performing attacks differ from minor and major. There are also skills that will allow you to reduce fury consumption as the game proceeds. Continuosly attack the enemy until fury is completely gone will leave your character out in the open for enemies to attack, for you cannot attack any further or defend either. To replenish a character's fury, all you simply have to do is stand still until time brings it back, but that only ranges from 1 to 4 seconds to reach 100% again.
Death in battle is pretty obvious as it happens in almost all RPGs. But in Star Ocean, death can be brought by three different ways. 1) Certain Status effects such as petrification. 2) The loss of all HP. 3) The loss of all MP.
Yes, in this games battle system, the loss of all MP can wipe out your characters with ease and so, more strategy is needed. This MP kill also pertains to enemies as well.
Attacking in battle is pretty simple by pressing either the X button or the O button. X unleashes minor attacks which are attacks that are fast but rather weak. These kind of attacks are useful for interrupting enemies while they perform a major attack. O unleashes major attacks that are strong but absolutely slow, allowing enemies minor attacks to stop your characters in place. That isn't the only means of battle, by pressing X or O at long range will change the way characters attack as well as how they perform combos. Switching the controlled character is pretty simple as all it takes is simply pressing the shoulder buttons to channel through each of the three characters that take place in battle.
Finally, there is the guarding of the battle system. To guard attacks, position your character in a spot and let the fury reach 100%, when the fury is 100% your character is already guarding, but keep this in mind that the guard can only fend off minor attacks. When a major attack is coming at you while you are guarding, your guard will be broken and you will recieve damage and most likely, a critical hit. Timing is the key to success in the battle system. The AI does a pretty well job at figuring out your fury so don't expect them to attack you mindlessly with minor attacks repeatedly. That about wraps up the great battling system this game holds and also one of the hearts this game lets out. Now for the introduction of the story.
Fayt Leingod is a 19 year old college student on a vacation with his parents and a childhood friend, Sophia Esteed. The place of their vacation setting is on a planet called Hyda IV, a beach resort for all tourists. As the beginning starts out, you watch events that aren't all that too long, but much talking, let's just be happy that the voice acting is enough to keep you awake. Though, most of it isn't that boring to listen to anyways, you soon get control of Fayt and begin searching out the hotel with Sophia by your side. There are events here and there to find out but some of it you can miss while the others are part of the story. But doing these events changese the affection ratings Fayt recieves from each character througout the game which can deeply change your ending you receive. Not too long after Fayt and Sophia's holographic gaming experience, Hyda IV is invaded by an unknown force bringing all residents lives in danger. While you scramble to escape and search for Fayt's parents, you end up at the evacuation center. To our surprise, his parents already ran for their lives and meet up with you at the evacuation center. With brief events, the first few battles are introduced and you continue on without Fayt's parents. Fayt is transported to the Confederation's transports ship and awaits with Sophia for more help. Peppita, is another character that you meet but you meet her on the Hyda IV already by wandering into her room, by accident or just taking a walk, as Fayt claims anyways. Not too long after that, the ships are being pursued by the enemy ships from Vendeen, another kind of people from their own sector. Fayt and Sophia are forced to evacuate into escape pods and become seperated from each other. When Fayt awakens, he is on an underdeveloped planet, with no technology of his sort, and so, to keep the law in motive, Fayt creates a sword for his weapon from his escape pod. As Fayt looks towards the sky, he figures that the best thing to do is search for some sort of civilization. Thus begins the journey and great adventure of Star Ocean: Till The End of Time.
I hope you all enjoy this game and understand my review to it's fullest, but more importantly thank this game and its creators, publishers, and of course, the heart of the game itself. I've enjoyed this so much that I have to say this is my favorite all time PS2 RPG. Thank you and enjoy!