Four hundred years after Claude and Rena saved the universe in Star Ocean 2, the time has come for a new bunch of heroes to rise and protect reality as we know it. As far as college student Fayt Leingod is concerned, however, all he’s up for is a holiday with his family- complete with plenty of time spent in the battle simulator. When their holiday is interrupted by an attack from the alien Vendeeni, however, it catapults Fayt into an adventure that will see him visit new planets and meet new allies on a quest to protect the galaxy he calls home.

Even though I started Star Ocean 3 several years ago, it wasn’t until I played and completed SO2 that I felt compelled to go back to it, in the hopes that my enhanced knowledge of the real time battle system would help me master the game. Unfortunately, even with these new skills, the game was to be a bit of a slog, for whilst it undoubtedly had glimmers of greatness, even this Director’s Cut edition just wasn’t as slick, focused and enjoyable as it could have been.

In an advanced, futuristic universe…you get stuck on a primitive planet

On the back cover of the game, Star Ocean 3 promises that you will get to explore an advanced futuristic universe- what it doesn’t tell is that you will actually spend a good portion of the game stuck on the backwater planet of Elicoor II. As we shall see, however, disappointments like this crop up throughout the game, all detracting a little from the usual enjoyable Star Ocean experience.

Taking a step backwards from its predecessor, Star Ocean 3 does away with the world map, instead presenting an adventure where you have to run across the world with little options regarding teleportation even late in the game (for example, when I realised that I was lacking in items for the final boss, I had to make my way back through several dungeons just to find a shop and a place to heal). As you might imagine, then, backtracking is often the order of the day as you force Fayt and his companions to trek across the world- a situation made even worse if you can’t remember exactly how to get to a particular town or city because it’s been so long since your last visit.

As if to add insult to injury, the game also attempts to make you care about map completion by offering up a prize every time you explore 100% of a particular area. What this means is that you have to explore every little nook and cranny, no matter how monster-infested and seemingly inaccessible, just for the satisfaction of seeing a map properly completed. Worse yet, for some maps you’ll have to wait until you have a Hammer or Ring of Disintegration to enable you to blast away any rocks or stones that block your way. Here again, however, there is a caveat, for if the rocks hit you as they blow apart (or indeed if any kind of rolling rock hits you), you’ll be sent back to the beginning of the map. And just to add extra fun to the proceedings, there’s also a part where you have to run around some sand dunes without running out of water.

As well as all the usual out of battle options such as shops, inns, cut scenes and the like, Star Ocean 3 also offers its own take on item synthesis, in the form of workshops scattered across the world. Instead of having special abilities such as Music and Cooking in the menu as one did in SO2, the characters must now visit a workshop, pay to have it upgraded and then get to work on creating an item. In order to do this, you’ll have to select a particular type of invention (Writing, Smithery, Cooking and so forth) and then spend copious amounts of money trying to come up with a good invention. The more skilled your characters are in a particular department, the more quickly they’ll succeed at creating a higher quality item, but it’s up to you to recognise when they’ve stumbled on something and hit the X button before they spend more fruitless hours working. And don’t worry too much if none of your playable characters seemed particularly gifted in an area- you can also recruit NPC inventors across the world with money and items, at which point they will work on product development for you.

In a strange mirroring of real life, once a product has been created, you can actually file a patent for it, which actually just involves estimating its quality and the amount to put on sale. No matter what the outcome or who invented it, the product will go on sale in due course, although once it runs out of stock you’ll have to wait for it to be invented again; hardly a problem when the item is a “Useless Lump”, but slightly more irritating when it’s a valuable Resurrection Elixir.

On top of all this, there is also a synthesis option to be exploited, where instead of trying to make something from scratch, you improve upon an existing item. With this ability, you can add bonuses and elemental attacks to weapons, for example, boosting your abilities in preparation for some of the tougher bosses ahead.

Making a return appearance are the infamous Private Actions of the Star Ocean series- although this time they are not explicitly labelled as such, they follow the same principle of having your party split up when you enter a town so that Fayt can interact with them and build up a relationship with the other playable characters. As always, this affects the scenes you see in the ending; build up your relationships enough, and various characters will have a scene with Fayt- otherwise he just gets left alone.

Battle: Cutting Edge of Notion, aka “We must run away like cowards”

In case you’re wondering, “Cutting Edge of Notion” is the name of the track played in normal battles, to which I have fitted the lyrics “We must run away like cowards”, for reasons which I will expand upon later.

Instead of random encounters, this time around enemies appear on the map- get too close and they will make a beeline for you. If the enemy attacks you from behind, you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage, but naturally the opposite hold true if you sneak up on your foes.

As is customary for the Star Ocean series, the game throws menu and turn-based combat out of the window for a faster-paced and more engaging real time combat system. In battle you’ll have one player controlled character (switch who you control with L1 and R1) and two AI-controlled allies set out in a formation that can be changed in the menu (there are different formations to facilitate all out attack, rapid escapes, etc), with the object obviously being to run around the battlefield taking the enemy forces down. It’s a system that worked well in Star Ocean 2, but in typical “third game syndrome”, there have been a lot of tweaks and additions that both enhance and complicate game play.

In the old days, it was good enough to spam the buttons for your favourite attacks, but a new governing force in the world of SO3 now makes that impossible- the Fury bar. Fury is the game’s equivalent of stamina, depleting every time you take an action and refilling if you stand still for a second or two. If your Fury is at 0%, you can’t do anything except run around; conversely, if it is at 100%, you are completely protected from weak attacks by a barrier (a strong attack will break it, however). This barrier is known as the “Anti Attack Aura”, and although you’ll start with a standard one that just knocks back the enemy when they strike you, over the course of the game you can learn different AAAs that will protect you from attacks in various directions. Be warned, though- the Fury and AAA system applies to enemies as well, although in all except the hardest difficulty mode you can see the enemy’s fury and tailor your attacks accordingly. Additionally, later in the game your characters will learn the Berserk ability, which decreases Fury at the expense of a character’s defence.

In the old days, characters each had a basic attack and up to two special skills that could be triggered with the shoulder buttons, but again SO3 has chosen to mix things up by introducing the concept of range. Each playable character now has weak and strong attacks for long and short range, as well as the ability to set a special skill for each possibility. Skills are triggered by holding down Circle or X at short or long range, and if you enter the command for one skill whilst performing another, you can activate the “Cancel Bonus” effect, which progressively increases the damage done up to 300% of the norm when you chain attacks together in this way.

In order to use said skills in battle, you’ll not only have to level up enough to learn them, but you’ll also have to set them in the menu (along with up to two support skills that take effect automatically), but here again a caveat comes into play. Each skill costs a certain number of Capacity Points to set, and with a maximum of 15 CP available, it is impossible to just kit out a character with all of their deadliest skills- you must either choose a wide range of weaker skills, or one or two real killers. Bear in mind that unlike most special skills, these abilities won’t just drain your MP in battle- HP and of course Fury can also be expended.

Whilst in the menu, you’ll also notice that as well as setting up skills and Anti Attack Auras, you have the option to spend skill points accumulated from levelling up on enhancing your HP, MP, Attack and Defence. It’s important not to neglect this function, as the bonuses it offers are far greater than the minuscule increases gained at level up. Using this system, I was able to grant Cliff, a physical fighter, with a high amount of MP, whilst Sohpia’s lack of HP was entirely remedied- in fact, she ended up with HP in 10,000s (as per usual, the level limit is 255 and the usual 9999/999 HP/MP limits do not apply).

Naturally, it isn’t all about attacking, however- the usual options of magic and items are also on offer here. This time around, magic is known as Symbology, and whilst some characters can learn it automatically as they level up, others need to equip support skills that let them use it. Conveniently enough, you can also switch Symbology skills on and off in the menu, which should prevent AI-controlled characters from wasting all their MP on useless abilities in the heat of battle. Be warned, however, when it comes to actually casting Symbology, it takes time for both ally and enemy to charge their skill, which means that it can be cancelled with a well-placed attack- useful for stopping an enemy unleashing a killer move, but hardly welcome when they interrupt your much-needed healing spell.

When it comes to using items, again you will have to plan things a little more carefully than usual; for whilst items do take effect immediately, you can’t use another item straightaway. This restriction can be annoying when healing your party via items, although given that you can only carry up to 20 of each item, perhaps it’s just as well that you can’t use them up too fast.

Also available in battle are “tactical skills” such as the ability to activate and deactivate Berserk or scan the enemy’s HP, although, like items you have to wait between uses. It is also possible to change the tactics used by AI-controlled characters both in and out of battle, although often enough the AI seems content to have both characters run off to the far side of the field, leaving you to fight alone against the enemy.

As if all this wasn’t enough to take in, there’s one more important thing to not about SO3, and that is that unlike most games, reaching 0 MP means that your character gets KO’ed (don’t worry, you’ll never be allowed to cast a spell that takes either your HP or MP down to zero). This is undoubtedly something that will cause annoyance at first- not only because it limits tendencies to spam the enemy with magic whilst also allowing them to MP kill you, but because of its sheer unfamiliarity. Much as it can be a pain, however, if you learn to employ it correctly, MP killing can be a tool as useful to you as to the enemy- if they have massive HP, try using an MP draining ability to kill them that much faster.

With all this to keep track of, it’s no wonder that the SO3 battle system takes a bit more getting used to than that of SO2- and this time you probably won’t be able to clear the game just by spamming the attack and special skill buttons. This would all be fair enough, but the game will also punish you for not taking advantage of the item creation and synthesis systems properly- if you can’t be bothered to undertake the trouble of making uber-weapons and accessories for your team, even simple battles quickly become too tough to be enjoyable. With an absence of heal points and long dungeons to travel through, battle quickly becomes a lengthy chore, to the point where it is just easier to run away all the time and just focus on boss battles with the occasional bout of levelling up where needed.

At this point, you may be wondering if there’s any sort of reward for putting yourself through all this, and as it turns out, there is. On all but the easiest difficulty level, the game offers you the option to collect Battle Trophies, awards given out for everything from the simplicity of running away a certain number of times to the fiendishly difficult task of defeating practically every boss in the game under one minute and without your controlled character taking damage. The rewards for collecting Battle Trophies include unlocking harder difficulty levels (of dubious merit), alternate skins for playable characters and even a special versus battle mode.

Playable characters

Of the ten playable characters available in the Director’s Cut edition of the game, you can recruit eight in any one play through. Fayt, Sophia, Cliff, Maria, Adray and Mirage will all join automatically during the course of the game, but whilst they are all playable at various points in the story, only two of Roger, Peppita, Nel and Albel can become full-time members of your party.

• Fayt Leingod: as the main character, you’ll be seeing a lot of Fayt, and in typical fashion he’s a swordsman and good all-rounder. Easy to play as, Fayt has many useful multi-hit skills such as Side Kick, Dimension Door, Air Raid and Blade of Fury (the latter of which is strong but hard to chain with anything), as well as the MP-reducing Aerial. He can also imbue his blade with various elemental and MP-damaging properties, which, if used wisely, can bring down enemies even more rapidly.
• Sophia Esteed: although she appears right at the start, Sophia does not become properly playable again until Disc 2, whereupon you discover that she is a measly Level One. Nonetheless, it is worth taking the time to level her up, since she is a solid mage and powerful healer.
• Cliff Fittir: A powerhouse attacker, Cliff is a solid physical fighter who will come in handy right from the moment he joins the party. With his powerful fist skills, he can quickly dispatch the enemy, although he does have to get up close to do it.
• Nel Zelpher: Although swifter and weaker than Fayt, Nel makes another good all-rounder for the team, skilled in both fast attack skills and various different types of magic. I relied on her throughout disc one, but thanks to accidentally recruiting Peppita, I couldn’t bring her back on board in disc two.
• Maria Traydor: Although she seemed weak and pointless when she first join, I’ve actually grown to greatly like using Maria, not only because she’s well represented in both short and long range attacks, but because there’s a unique satisfaction in sniping the enemy from afar by chaining Scatter Beam and Aiming Device. If, like me, you managed to mess up getting Nel, then you’ll probably be relying a lot on Maria.
• Albel Nox: The typical HARD GAY anti-hero, Albel is the swift swordsman that everyone wants on their party- until they realise that he’s a weaker choice than Fayt, Cliff or Nel. I do quite like to have him on my party, but when the going gets tough, he tends to get KO’ed.
• Roger S Huxley: The typical juvenile pervert, Roger can be used in disc one even if you choose not to permanently recruit him, but he’s always miles behind the other characters and hardly worth spending time on.
• Adray Lasbard: A warrior who can also use magic, Adray can be temporarily used in disc one but returns permanently in disc two, by which point you’re loathe to bother levelling him up when you’ve already got a decent party.
• Mirage Koas: I have to admit that I’ve never actually used Mirage; she’s a fist fighter like Cliff, but by the time she joined in disc two, it hardly seemed worth bringing her out.
• Peppita Rossetti: I hate Peppita, and it’s not just because of her irritating personality- it’s because my accidental recruiting of her meant that I couldn’t get Nel back in disc two. She also joins the party at Level One, making her perfectly suited for sitting on the bench and never being asked to take part in battle.

Story

Star Ocean 3’s story is one that has sparked no small amount of controversy, laden as it is with a revelation that affects not only this game and its characters, but the entire Star Ocean series. Needless to say, the twist did not sit easy with me either, and indeed, although the creator seemed to consider it the ultimate expression of the Star Ocean universe, overall the story just seems a bit lacking.

Although the universe and its characters certainly seem like an interesting place, the trouble with the story is that never seems to see anything through. What starts as fleeing from the Vendeeni (a largely pointless and undeveloped enemy, it must be said) turns into an extended episode about the conflict on the planet Elicoor II, before going back to space for more Vendeeni woes before they get put aside in favour of the ‘twist’ part of the storyline. Admittedly it’s not as rushed and unfinished as its predecessor, but there’s still the feeling of the writers being unable to settle on one storyline and thus trying to include three.

Audiovisual

Although 3D games are always doomed to be overshadowed by the latest and greatest titles, Star Ocean 3 is at least solid enough when it comes to characters and backgrounds, although it could have done with some kind of world map or at least easier navigation across maps and dungeons. The original character designs range from the attractive to the generic, with Fayt, Sophia, Nel and Maria standing out above the rest.

As far as music goes, SO3 offers a solid selection of themes that complement the game well without ever being the kind of thing that most people would want to listen to its own- as usual, the battle and boss themes are catchy, but the rest is largely forgettable. As far as voice-acting goes, the English dub is a bit cringe-worthy, but as there’s no Japanese alternative, it has to be endured.

Final Thoughts

Despite being given more time and attention in the development phase than Star Ocean 2, SO3 loses a lot of the fun that made its predecessor so memorable; whilst it certainly is a solid game, a lot of the time basic battle becomes so tedious that you just want to get yourself through it as quickly as possible. Those looking for a battle system that’s more complex than the norm will no doubt lap it up, but when it comes to the addictive pick-up and play factor, this instalment in the series is sadly lacking.

ADV turning Blu?
With the death of Geneon leaving everyone paranoid, further unwelcome news has come with the news that ADV are working through some “short term challenges” which led to certain titles being removed from their site. In the aftermath of these events, ADV seem to have deflected queries by claiming that they are preparing to embrace Blu-ray for their anime releases, but exactly what we’ll be getting from them in the future and in what format remains unclear.
Financial correspondent Mr Tibbs: Anime licensing companies are going to have tread carefully in the near future, because as we saw with Geneon, the wrong business decisions can be costly. Fansubs will always be cited as a problem, but equally damaging is the fact that fans are no longer willing to fork out on single DVDs when they can save cash and shelf space with boxsets- watching four episodes every two months or so not only damages the momentum of a series, but is hardly preferable if you’ve already seen that series via fansub.

As for the move to Blu-ray, once again care must be taken- the gap between DVD and hi-def formats isn’t as great as the DVD/VHS divide and so far only those with plenty of disposable income are going to want to invest in the newest toys. PS3 owners will make an attractive market, but most people are still content with DVD.
Claude says: In my time, we can fit hundreds of episodes on a single mini data drive.

Shigofumi, true tears licensed
Bandai Visual have so far made a name for themselves with their highly priced and content-poor releases and now two more titles have been picked up by them just weeks after they started airing in Japan- Shigofumi and true tears. Unfortunately, the plan is to spread these short 12-13 episode series across seven DVDs in a mirror of the Japanese releases, with each DVD retailing at either $29.99 (1 episode discs) or $39.99 (2 episode discs). The DVDs are to start being released in May, and will not contain an English dub.
Claude says: Hmm, I’d have to fight a lot of monsters to save up for those discs- I think I’ll spend my money on health-restoring items instead.

Hunter X Hunter to resume serialisation…again
The March 3^rd issue of Shounen Jump will apparently see the Hunter X Hunter manga resume serialisation once again, with the 25^th collected volume of the manga set to be released on the next day. There is no news on how long the manga will run before another hiatus.
Claude says: In my time, the HxH manga still hasn’t ended…

Manga ending serialisation
Several manga have recently ended or are coming to an end over the coming weeks; the titles in question include Blue Drop ~Tenshi no Bokura~, Wild Life, Sola, Towards the Terra ~Aoki Kōbō no Kiss~ and Ai Kora. For more information, see here.
Claude says: I don’t really have time for reading manga, busy as I am saving the world.

Star Ocean: First Departure
For those keeping abreast of the RPG world, the chance to watch some recently uploaded videos of the PSP remake of the original Star Ocean should not pass unnoticed. Although it’s difficult to really gauge game play from these short videos, the game has certainly had a graphical overhaul, with the addition of voice acting and animated cut scenes polishing it up further.
Claude says: Just wait until the remake of my game is ready!

Although I firmly hope that I can find time for it, there may not be a Tuesday Rumble next week, since on the 30^th I should be travelling over a hundred miles from home for an interview (if only my laptop had a working battery so I could use it on the way).

Death Note A-K
First there was L, then we discovered that L had been training two potential successors- Mello (M) and Near (N). As some might have wondered, however, did anything come before L, or did the dynasty randomly start in the middle of the alphabet? Fortunately, for everyone who has ever wondered what came before L, a new series, Death Note A-K, is finally here to fill in the blanks. This 77 volume series tells the story of the first great detective, A, and his successors, all the way up to L’s mentor K. Each of them has a dull and routine fascinating tale to tell; each of which has absolutely nothing to do with the titular Death Note, instead owing more to the overused crime drama. Learn about C foiled a great jewellery heist, or peruse H’s daring solution to a hostage situation- it’s all ready and waiting for you within the pages of Death Note A-K! Look forward to it!

Star Ocean 2 Expansion Pack 1
Star Ocean 2 was a good game, but nonetheless it did feel a little rushed towards the end. In Star Ocean 2 Expansion Pack 1, the game finally gets all the additions it needs to not just be a great game, but to achieve the heights of ‘best game ever’.

• Dias is now a useful character, just as his bishie design dictates he should be.
• Giveaway and the port on the first continent now have side quests that give them a purpose. The existence of Noel’s second house is explained.
• Fienal is a more interesting final boss location which is completely devoted to Indalecio. The other Wise Men (particularly Cyril) now get their own arcs.
• Expel and Energy Nede are not the only two accessible worlds.
• More skills are available, whilst characters do not possess skills that are useless to them (e.g. non-magic users cannot level up magic skills like Motormouth).
• The familiar ability now allows the calling of animals other than birds; for example, one can summon a dog or wolf to fight alongside the party in battle.
• A bonus disc, Star Ocean B-Side, enables one to play as the Wise Men and attempt to destroy the universe.

Short Parody: Higurashi
Keiichi: I wonder who’s behind it all.

Takano: Gwakaka, I shall kill everyone! Er, I mean, I am not suspicious at all.

Takano stabs Tomitake just as everyone looks away, and then puts on an innocent expression as she exaggeratedly hides the knife behind her back.

Mion: It really is a mystery.

Takano: Why don’t you all just die so that I can be the main character?

Satoko: What was that, Takano-san?

Takano: Er, I said, “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to meet the main characters.”

Takano trips a passing generic, causing him to fall and break his neck.

Shion: Who cares about that, let’s just visit the fun-fun torture chamber.

Rika: I know who it is. Here’s a clue- she’s an older woman with blonde hair.

Everyone turns to Takano, who is busy strangling Irie. She quickly stops when she realises everyone is looking.

Takano: Hello, everyone- it’s a nice day, isn’t it?

Rena: I still can’t get it- can you give us another clue, Rika?

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin 6
Daisuke realises that no one can comprehend the love he and Gin share.

Maybe some Bow would show the level of their commitment.

Daisuke uses advanced persuasion techniques in an attempt to get the Bow.

Generic Rifle just isn’t enough these days.

Perhaps HARD GAY master Hidetoshi can help.

Grandpa explains how difficult it is to get the Villagers to try HARD GAY.

Daisuke decides the time has come to get his own Bow instead of always handling that of others.

“Foolish boy, you are too young for HARD GAY.”

“It’s too late, for I have already been trained in the ways of HARD GAY.”

“I was holding onto something- I don’t usually call it a promise, though.”

HARD GAY feels so right.

Weekly Awards…

Quote of the Week: “I love cats. Cats have vital nutrients that we need.” courtesy of Vampire Princess Miyu TV.

Fruit of the Week: The evil apple empire is still expanding its influence with an appearance in Koi Kaze, but SaiMono introduces a fresh new contender in the form of the grape.

Mushroom of the Week: What is it with anime and strange mushrooms? In the past we’ve seen them in Mai-Otome and SaiMono, but now one makes an appearance in Nodame Cantabile. As if that weren’t suspicious enough, Anton has been doing a good trade in sweet potatoes, a key component of Sunrise’s beloved sweet potato dango…

HARD GAY Corner: Final Fantasy VII
From an early age, Cloud set his sights on becoming a HARD GAY man, but when he tried to enter the inner circle, they told him that his ‘equipment’ was simply too small. Unwilling to recall such humiliation, Cloud chose to cover up his past, and took the first opportunity to dispatch his well-endowed friend Zack and take over his life.

Now equipped with a massive ‘sword’, Cloud began the next phase of his search- the quest for a HARD GAY partner. Unfortunately, it was not to be an easy task; not only did women start chasing after him, but the male selection consisted of the likes of Barret (too rough in bed, and still hung up on his old lover Dyne) and Cid (a man who prefers machines to real men). With this in mind, Cloud set sights on the most HARD GAY man of his world- Sephiroth. With blade work that was second to none, Sephiroth was infamous for his intense HARD GAY- so much so, in fact, that few of his lovers ever survived their encounters.

For many months, Cloud chased Sephiroth to the ends of the earth, but each time they met, Sephiroth deemed that he was not yet HARD GAY enough to be worthy of his idol’s bed. Nonetheless, Sephiroth gave Cloud plenty of practise, and even killed off the troublesome Aeris so that she could not come between them. Finally, once Cloud had met his maximum potential, Sephiroth promised to wait for him at the North Crater, where they went on to have an explosive HARD GAY encounter that ended up killing Sephiroth himself. Although it meant the end of his life, Sephiroth was heard to exclaim in his dying words that he was happy to have finally found a partner who could satisfy his needs.

OST spotlight: Utawarerumono Game OST
My desire for this OST arose from just one track- the opening theme, “A Song Given Voice”. From the moment I heard it on the anime trailer, I fell in love with the song, a melodic wind and percussion piece that perfectly captures the action and fantasy that should be in True Uta. In comparison, the rest of the OST is a mix of slow lullabies, standard battle music and that cheerfully repetitive style of track that seems obligatory for visual novels; even though it isn’t great, it is oddly catchy.

Mini-rant: Stop stealing the spotlight, you spiky-haired moron!
It is every boy’s dream to become the destined spiky-haired who saved the world (and quite possibly the dream of many men who would be too embarrassed to admit it), but unfortunately that fact comes with a price- we end up with an excess of such destined heroes in both anime and games. Whilst irksome, the presence of such characters could be endured if not for one thing- the fact that the more interesting supporting characters always get sidelined.

Let’s start with female characters; much as they make a certain breed of viewer insecure, I love to see strong female characters (preferably ones who aren’t putting up a front until they can fall into the arms of a REAL MAN) in anime, but when it comes to shounen series, they are almost nonexistent. The likes of Rukia and Tokiko seem promising enough, but within a handful of episodes, the male character has not only surpassed their years of training a few days, but has proven himself to always know better than his female companion. Whilst she ends up as a fairly puny weakling who always makes the wrong decision, Spiky-Hair need only grab his oversized blade and protect his fair maiden from all but the most generic of villains.

It isn’t just women who suffer, however; rival males are equally likely to fall to this curse. They may initially be more powerful than the hero, but unlike him, they do not have the unlimited potential that makes him factors of ten stronger than they can ever hope to become. They have more interesting personalities and better character designs, but no matter how hard they try, the powers of destiny and friendship will never be on their side.

Brainless and predictable as it often is, I can’t help wanting to watch shounen series sometimes (provided they aren’t some 300+ episode ‘lets run the story into the ground until no one cares’ series), but the prominence of Spiky-Hair is a fact that is always bound to ruin my experience. Crude as it is, I would enjoy Busou Renkin much more if Tokiko could hold her own alongside Kazuki; after all, isn’t a blue haired girl with a Valkyrie Skirt far more appealing than Generic Hero #89251 and his lance?

In Your Reflection

This week’s head to head is between two semi-bishie teachers- Isaac Cavendish of Meine Liebe, and Kanazawa from La Corda d’Oro. Both are laid back smokers who are divorced from the main bishie group, but nonetheless they each have an important role to play in the ‘plot’ of their respective series.

Fashion Police

Having been inspired by Hazel’s post on the new and old bishies of Angelique, I’ve decided it’s about time some other poorly attired anime characters were placed under scrutiny for their dubious tastes in clothing. First up is Shounen Onmyouji’s Guren.

Guren, whatever you were thinking when you chose this outfit, we can only despair that you weren’t thinking something else. Despite having sufficient material to cover his body, Guren has chosen to pointlessly attach it all to his waist, leaving his chest, upper legs and feet exposed- don’t bother with gloves and greaves until you’ve got the basics covered! His taste in accessories is also suspect; I can live with the headband since it performs a vital function and is reasonably unobtrusive, but the necklace looks like chunks of wood all connected together, and the floating white scarf defies all purpose.

Fashion Sense: F

Amusing Search Terms

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“needing a bathroom” anime episode: How tasteful.

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Amusing Spam

“Is that old dresser an antique? How much is it worth? Find out now.”

“i love antiques too!”

Over the last few years, I’ve found myself becoming increasingly disillusioned with gaming. I had reached the stage where I was collecting games just for the sake of having them, and either put them straight in the cupboard or played them routinely and dutifully as if they were little more than a tedious chore. In the end, the outcome was inevitable- I packed up my consoles and did not look at them for months. As far as I was concerned, the gaming era was over.

That being said, there were still a number of titles that I was curious about, and thus it seemed inevitable that in due time, I would again feel the need to pick up a controller and try them out. Nonetheless, “due time” remained continually some way in the future- until I discovered the joys of PSX emulation. Now I could easily play games (at 2.5x normal speed) without ever leaving the comfort of my PC- a small difference, perhaps, but one that would prove vital in ensuring that the so-called ‘second gaming era’ would get off to a good start.

Anyway, enough preamble; the meat of this article was always meant to be dedicated not to my life, but to the game which began the new era- Star Ocean 2, creatively subtitled “The Second Story”. The tale of Rena, an inhabitant of the planet Expel, and Claude, an Earthling who crash-lands near Rena’s village, SO2 is a surprisingly addictive slice of RPG enjoyment, due in no small part to the Star Ocean series’ real time combat system.

Much as I love RPGs, I have to admit that fighting by selecting menu options all the time can get a little stale, making the real time system a breath of fresh air; instead of standing around glowering at the enemy and occasionally attacking, you can actually get in there and fight. Of course, it can get a little manic sometimes, with groups of random enemies often more likely to destroy your party than a boss would, but despite my long-held aversion to real time battles and outright hatred of certain types of enemy and status effects, for the most part it is a fast-paced and fun experience.

Of course, no RPG would be complete without a wealth of levelling up and equipment options, and Star Ocean 2 is no exception. As well as being able to break the customary level 99 barrier and experience the dubious novelty of two and a half times the work just to reach level 255, the game enables your characters to learn a wealth of support skills, from parrying enemy attacks and customising weapons to playing musical instruments and calling a giant rabbit. Admittedly, the usefulness of some of these abilities is highly questionable, but they are still interesting to try out.

Unfortunately, as enjoyable as it is to actually play, Star Ocean 2’s story is one of its weaker points. Although the various plot holes can be filled somewhat by certain sidequests, the game feels extremely rushed in place, with a sense that certain locations or portions of the story were intended to have more to them than was actually the case. The existence of two points of view to play from (Claude and Rena), some lengthy side quests and numerous ‘Private Events’ in which you can chat to party members and affect the game’s ending all add to the replay value, but it cannot be denied that a basic play-through from start to finish need take no more than twenty hours- relatively short for a two disc game.

Character-wise, Star Ocean 2 offers a relatively wide range of playable characters, of which you can recruit up to eight depending on the missions you select and the path you take through the game. Unfortunately, there is a vast gap between the stronger and weaker characters in this game- some are nigh essential for the ultimate party, but others have absolutely no worth no matter what style of play you prefer. Mages are particularly disappointing- although they are useful at the start, later on even the strongest spells cannot match up to a properly equipped melee character. Personality-wise, however, all the characters are fairly bland- quite possibly a fault of the laughably wooden English translation.

Visually, the game uses a pseudo 3D style, combining sprites with 3D backgrounds; the visuals are hardly up to the standard of modern games, but they still have a certain nostalgic charm. The music is reasonably solid, although it is hard to appraise it when it is playing at least twice as fast as it should.

Final Thoughts
An addictive and enjoyable experience, Star Ocean 2 proved to be the perfect game with which to commence the second gaming era. Unfortunately, such a game also carries a price- I now need to stop playing it so that I can get on with all the other things I’m supposed to be doing.

Extra: playing a game at 2.5x speed
Although the game did seem a little faster than it should be when I first started playing, it was only in its latter stages that I realised just how much faster it was. Under normal conditions, the game should run at 60 frames per second, but depending on what other processes my computer was running, and what the game itself was doing, it was instead running at anything up to 210 frames per second (most commonly in the 120-150 region). Having adapted to this new regime, I found the game irritatingly slow when it was limited to running at normal speed- much as 1x speed was useful for pulling off moves against certain tricky bosses, for the most part, it was now easier for me to play in the unlimited regime, even if it meant that the game sometimes became so fast that I barely knew what I was doing (in one battle I was convinced I was controlling Claude until I realised somewhere towards the end that I had actually been controlling Ashton all along).