The best of the old marries something new in this new installment of the Star Ocean series!
User Rating: 9.3 | Star Ocean: Till the End of Time PS2
For those who have played Star Ocean, the real time combat system returns fully intact in TTEOT; however, those who are loyal will notice the differences instantly. For starters, it's completely 3D. Unlike the Second Story, your attacks now enter the third realm, and require that your master a whole new style of combat. Expect to miss a lot when you first start the game, the enemies move around quite a bit. Not only this, TTEOT does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are really starting from the bottom when you begin, you earn up 1xp and only a handful of Fol per battle. When the game tells you that you rely on its new special bonus system to train up your characters, they aren't kidding. The game is built for widescreen and surround sound systems, so if you have any of these, please exploit them to make your gaming experience full and rich. Yet, if you do not have Surround Sound, you may find yourself tweaking through the game's sound options to find something comfortable for you. If you haven't played the game yet, then you can't possibly know how overpowering the music can be on the normal television speakers. Most of the time, it overrides a lot of the good voice acting the game offers. But if you have a Surround Sound, worry not, this game is simply brilliant in the right set up. The games graphics are rich and detailed, it's on par with Final Fantasy X, and even surpasses it when it comes to the games environmental details. Like the Second Story, you are once more thrust into a medieval type of world, but this time, your main character has an awesome excuse for wielding a sword - It turns out he's a huge RPG fan, and plays them just as much as any hardcore gamer would. A slight bonus is his RPGs require him to do some physical activity, and lord KNOWS we all need some of that. :)
