I'm one of the weirdos that like the first Star Ocean more than the second, but yeah. From an objective standpoint the second is totally better. It's basically Star Ocean +
I never did get to First Departure. I take it I should rectify that mistake post-haste?
Yeah, I really liked it. Compared to SO2, it's a lot shorter and also a lot easier. But it's still fun. I played through it twice in a row, for the characters.
The only 360 JRPG that I have right now is Lost Odyssey. I'm on the 2nd disc and so far I like it. As others already mentioned, it's aimed more towards old school RPG fans but it does have some refurbishments like the ring system and the immortal skill learning system. The story is interesting and I like the characters so far especially the mortal spell caster Jansen since he cracks me up. If you're into reading short stories then you'll definitely be interested in it (I don't really care for the short stories myself).
I've tried out the demo for Tales of Vesperia and I can't say much about it since the demo didn't show much of anything and I'm sure the actual game is way better.
Bottom line: I recommend picking up Lost Odyssey. I can't say much of anything about other 360 JRPGs since I have yet to actually play them.
The demo for ToV is actively terrible. I don't get why JRPG developers think it'd be a good idea to throw you into a random area of their heavily story-driven game then tell you jack fucking shit about how the game is played.
I will be what we in the Land of the Lost call a "douche" here and say that, as fun as Tales of Vesperia is, I could not for the life of me get really into it. Something struck me as mediocre...not necessarily the story or the combat but something. I've had it for months and just don't feel like playing past the harbour.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
HaydenDerk on
We all know Oblivion was better than Morrowind, right?....RIGHT!?
The demo for ToV is actively terrible. I don't get why JRPG developers think it'd be a good idea to throw you into a random area of their heavily story-driven game then tell you jack fucking shit about how the game is played.
Looking at you, too, Lost Odyssey PC demo.
Blue Dragon also did that.
Bartholamue on
Steam- SteveBartz Xbox Live- SteveBartz PSN Name- SteveBartz
I will be what we in the Land of the Lost call a "douche" here and say that, as fun as Tales of Vesperia is, I could not for the life of me get really into it. Something struck me as mediocre...not necessarily the story or the combat but something. I've had it for months and just don't feel like playing past the harbour.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
What difficulty are you playing on? Because unless youre a fan of old school rpgs like I am, Blue dragon is probably not compelling enough on its own on the normal difficulty. You can download the hardmode dlc for free, which will make the combat a bit more interesting/fun.
AJRSome guy who wrestlesNorwichRegistered Userregular
edited August 2009
I enjoyed Lost Odyssey for the first few hours, but then they threw in those kids, and it never really picked back up again (outside of a few fun little segments here and there). The story is just kind of inane and silly, and I liked a few characters, but the rest were either bland or annoying. Even the battle system felt pretty bland after a while.
It just felt like such a mediocre game. Not particularly bad, not particularly good, just average in every way.
I will be what we in the Land of the Lost call a "douche" here and say that, as fun as Tales of Vesperia is, I could not for the life of me get really into it. Something struck me as mediocre...not necessarily the story or the combat but something. I've had it for months and just don't feel like playing past the harbour.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
Blue Dragon is an old-school RPG for this generation. If you didn't like grinding, random battles, etc... Then just stop playing so I don't have to see a thread made about how terrible the game is.
I have not played Tales of Vesperia but Star Ocean cannot be better than it. I was having a laugh at the storyline (& and some " personal actions") in SO, but I don't think the developers intended that. Towards the end it went completely crazy and inane, I think the writers used drugs of some sort because it was that dumb. Main character is a dumb-ass to the very end, and the rest well only a few will not annoy the living hell out of you.
Battle system has some minor depth, but all enemies can be defeated by doing (the same) skill combos after the enemy has done an attack and is recovering (or blindside, but that doesn't work on some enemies). There is blocking, you do it by doing literally nothing at all and hope you grid (block-stat) is higher than the enemies hit-stat, and thats it. The AI for characters you do not control is almost completely broken, my main-fighter healed more than pure healing characters or mages (and even then he did it seldom).
SO a huge crafting system, which at most times is useless because you must run back to the same place every time you want to make something. Also you are almost always stuck in one area without being able to get materials from other areas.
Did I mention you can only carry 20 items of any single type and you have 8 characters to outfit? Yah great fun. In the end you can travel to earlier areas freely but they split first areas and last areas to disc two AND disc three respectively, so if you are serious about crafting you will be disc-swapping.
As people have said, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are good purchases if you want to play a JRPG (although if you are in europe LO will most likely have a miss-printed disc 4).
I will be what we in the Land of the Lost call a "douche" here and say that, as fun as Tales of Vesperia is, I could not for the life of me get really into it. Something struck me as mediocre...not necessarily the story or the combat but something. I've had it for months and just don't feel like playing past the harbour.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
Blue Dragon is an old-school RPG for this generation. If you didn't like grinding, random battles, etc... Then just stop playing so I don't have to see a thread made about how terrible the game is.
I tried to like Blue Dragon but I just couldnt get into it. I had to turn on Japanese voices to even get past the first area as the main characters english voice and dialogue is just annoying as hell.
I will be what we in the Land of the Lost call a "douche" here and say that, as fun as Tales of Vesperia is, I could not for the life of me get really into it. Something struck me as mediocre...not necessarily the story or the combat but something. I've had it for months and just don't feel like playing past the harbour.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
Blue Dragon is an old-school RPG for this generation. If you didn't like grinding, random battles, etc... Then just stop playing so I don't have to see a thread made about how terrible the game is.
I tried to like Blue Dragon but I just couldnt get into it. I had to turn on Japanese voices to even get past the first area as the main characters english voice and dialogue is just annoying as hell.
Yeah I was okay with everyone except MaruMaru, but he doesn't talk too often throughout the game so I made it through it.
I enjoyed Lost Odyssey for the first few hours, but then they threw in those kids, and it never really picked back up again (outside of a few fun little segments here and there). The story is just kind of inane and silly, and I liked a few characters, but the rest were either bland or annoying. Even the battle system felt pretty bland after a while.
It just felt like such a mediocre game. Not particularly bad, not particularly good, just average in every way.
The kids aren't that bad, especially compared to most kids in JRPG's. Hell, by that standard they're dynamic as fuck. The only thing I had a hard time with and found a bit jarring was the story and dialogue seemed to be written by two entirely different people or teams. "Team A" was charged with Operation Heart-Strings, and wrote the flashback short stories, and the parts of the game that dealt with the history of the Immortals.
Team "B" however was tasked with making Kakanas and Jansen both sound like high ranking officials in the Douchebag Army, and writing a lot of the game's early dialogue. "With all due respect, sir, after the destruction on the battlefield, it's hard to believe anyone could've survived that." (Cue Kaim tough guy indifferent look... wait a few beats...) "Then don't believe it."
-Kaim bounces back and forth with emotion too. One second he has the emotional depth of Vin Diesel and then a second later makes you want to gouge out your heart just in order to be able to feel anything but incredible sadness. Fuck you Team A. I just got some dust in my eyes. That's all.
If someone creates a miracle foolproof medicine that is a cure for the common cold, cancer and loneliness but it has the minor side effects of explosive diarrhea, uncontrollable bleeding from the eyes and murder-fugues, that's not a total 'resounding' success.
I enjoyed Lost Odyssey for the first few hours, but then they threw in those kids, and it never really picked back up again (outside of a few fun little segments here and there). The story is just kind of inane and silly, and I liked a few characters, but the rest were either bland or annoying. Even the battle system felt pretty bland after a while.
It just felt like such a mediocre game. Not particularly bad, not particularly good, just average in every way.
The kids aren't that bad, especially compared to most kids in JRPG's. Hell, by that standard they're dynamic as fuck. The only thing I had a hard time with and found a bit jarring was the story and dialogue seemed to be written by two entirely different people or teams. "Team A" was charged with Operation Heart-Strings, and wrote the flashback short stories, and the parts of the game that dealt with the history of the Immortals.
Team "B" however was tasked with making Kakanas and Jansen both sound like high ranking officials in the Douchebag Army, and writing a lot of the game's early dialogue. "With all due respect, sir, after the destruction on the battlefield, it's hard to believe anyone could've survived that." (Cue Kaim tough guy indifferent look... wait a few beats...) "Then don't believe it."
-Kaim bounces back and forth with emotion too. One second he has the emotional depth of Vin Diesel and then a second later makes you want to gouge out your heart just in order to be able to feel anything but incredible sadness. Fuck you Team A. I just got some dust in my eyes. That's all.
I'm a heartless bastard. After getting nearly all of those stories, I started to skip them because they were all sad and none pertinent to the story as it were. I so, so, SO enjoyed the combat harkening back to old school FF style games though. I was disappointed that there wasn't more to explore in the world though. The optional bosses were incredibly easy if you had advanced your characters anywhere near getting all of their abilities.
Also give Trusty Bell/Rusty Trombone/Eternal Sonata a try. Just based on premise.
Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are somewhere between ok and terribad. In fact that's about how my opinion on them changes. SO4 is soul crushingly bad, as are the rest of them.
Also give Trusty Bell/Rusty Trombone/Eternal Sonata a try. Just based on premise.
I would have to agree with you there. It doesn't take that long to beat (24 hours, even more with the optional dungeon), and although some scenes drag out, it never gets boring or frustrating.
Bartholamue on
Steam- SteveBartz Xbox Live- SteveBartz PSN Name- SteveBartz
I dunno, I found that forty minute death scene for a character that's been in your party for half an hour that includes flashbacks to earlier in the death scene both boring and frustrating.
I'm sorry, I have Tales and Lost Odyssey and Enchanted Arms and Eternal Sonata... and outside of the amazing dream sequences of Lost Odyssey absolutely nothing will match the sheer fun Blue Dragon was.
My wife has about 100 hours and I have about 60 hours on that game.
We still talk about that game it's so amazing fun.
The skill trees, the ability to search for nothings, fighting the damn king poo.
The boss song.
Don't get me wrong star ocean was a good game. however when put next to Vesperia, Vesperia wins hands down.
Star Ocean Pros and cons:
+A ton of extra things to do after the game is over
+looks amazing
-the characters take this game from an A+ down to a C-. It is like they did not even try! The main guy will make you want to cry more than he does in the game, (this is a lot.) A robot who "is new to human emotion", a Dante look alike, Moe, cat girl and girl with boobs the size of a van, with a dash of TERRIBLE story line/voice acting/"can't skip this bad cut scene oh god shut the hell up i wanna remember the good but this is so annoying"
ToVesperia pros and cons:
+It is everything you want in an RPG, don't let the looks fool you!, amazing voice acting, decent story line and the combat system is very good.
+2 player! My husband and I tore this game up, some of the most fun we have had with a video game in a while.
-if you want to get as many "unlockable" as you can... there are a ton of ways to miss out on one or two in the beginning of the game and not be able to get them unless you start over.
Oh, and one more + Yuri is probably the coolest videogame character i have seen in a loooong time. Also, you can play as Repede, a battle dog that down not bite people, no, he CUTS PEOPLE UP WITH A FUCKING SWORD.
Oh PS: he smokes a pipe as well.
Bottom line: play both, just Vesperia before star ocean
I dunno, I found that forty minute death scene for a character that's been in your party for half an hour that includes flashbacks to earlier in the death scene both boring and frustrating.
I have heard about it, but I have never seen it. Is there a video of it anywhere?
I think you missed the point. 8.0 is good, so I was considering picking the game up. Only after sifting through the comments here on the game was I able to make the decision not to pick it up. I trust everyone here more than I do IGN reviews.
Edit: What AshtonDragon said.
Ah sorry. I'm just so used to people saying "OLOL IT GOT LESS THAN A 90 SO IT OBVIOUSLY SUCKS" around here. :P Carry on.
This isn't even a comparison. Vesperia is so much better than Star Ocean this should not even be a decision.
Indeed. Star Ocean was just terrible - from the characters, story, to even the level design. I don't believe there was a single character I liked. Most of them I loathed, save two I could only feel neutral toward. I would not recommend it at all. It's also one of the only JRPGs or games I can count where I kept shouting at my television for characters to shut the fuck up. Usually I just sigh when a character annoys me, but not for Star Ocean: The Last Hope.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
I dunno, I found that forty minute death scene for a character that's been in your party for half an hour that includes flashbacks to earlier in the death scene both boring and frustrating.
I have heard about it, but I have never seen it. Is there a video of it anywhere?
Commentary free version so you get the AWESOME voice acting too (...) but it cuts off. The death scene goes on another 30-50 seconds after that.
And, I know 'forty minutes' was an exaggeration, but the fact that this scene lasts longer than the lady's been in your party? Not so much. She is with you for one very short dungeon.
The best part of it is you can do a sidequest in the extra dungeon to revive her. Her reaction to that? "Oh, hey guys. Let's go."
I dunno, I found that forty minute death scene for a character that's been in your party for half an hour that includes flashbacks to earlier in the death scene both boring and frustrating.
I have heard about it, but I have never seen it. Is there a video of it anywhere?
Commentary free version so you get the AWESOME voice acting too (...) but it cuts off. The death scene goes on another 30-50 seconds after that.
And, I know 'forty minutes' was an exaggeration, but the fact that this scene lasts longer than the lady's been in your party? Not so much. She is with you for one very short dungeon.
The best part of it is you can do a sidequest in the extra dungeon to revive her. Her reaction to that? "Oh, hey guys. Let's go."
On the plus side you can skip it with Start+A. Why more games do not let you do this I have no idea.
Posts
The second game is better than the first. If you enjoyed the first one, you will love the second.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Yeah, I really liked it. Compared to SO2, it's a lot shorter and also a lot easier. But it's still fun. I played through it twice in a row, for the characters.
I've tried out the demo for Tales of Vesperia and I can't say much about it since the demo didn't show much of anything and I'm sure the actual game is way better.
Bottom line: I recommend picking up Lost Odyssey. I can't say much of anything about other 360 JRPGs since I have yet to actually play them.
Looking at you, too, Lost Odyssey PC demo.
Lost Odyssey, on the other hand, was fucking incredible. I loved that it had the Immortals because, well, I really don't see anything like that in many other games and it was interesting to see how they balanced out "Game Over" and "Certain Characters Cannot Die" in such a way that I didn't feel ripped off.
Also, Blue Dragon is annoying me even thirty minutes into it. I'll really need convincing to keep playing.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
What difficulty are you playing on? Because unless youre a fan of old school rpgs like I am, Blue dragon is probably not compelling enough on its own on the normal difficulty. You can download the hardmode dlc for free, which will make the combat a bit more interesting/fun.
The Pipe Vault|Twitter|Steam|Backloggery|3DS:1332-7703-1083
It just felt like such a mediocre game. Not particularly bad, not particularly good, just average in every way.
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Blue Dragon is an old-school RPG for this generation. If you didn't like grinding, random battles, etc... Then just stop playing so I don't have to see a thread made about how terrible the game is.
Battle system has some minor depth, but all enemies can be defeated by doing (the same) skill combos after the enemy has done an attack and is recovering (or blindside, but that doesn't work on some enemies). There is blocking, you do it by doing literally nothing at all and hope you grid (block-stat) is higher than the enemies hit-stat, and thats it. The AI for characters you do not control is almost completely broken, my main-fighter healed more than pure healing characters or mages (and even then he did it seldom).
SO a huge crafting system, which at most times is useless because you must run back to the same place every time you want to make something. Also you are almost always stuck in one area without being able to get materials from other areas.
Did I mention you can only carry 20 items of any single type and you have 8 characters to outfit? Yah great fun. In the end you can travel to earlier areas freely but they split first areas and last areas to disc two AND disc three respectively, so if you are serious about crafting you will be disc-swapping.
As people have said, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are good purchases if you want to play a JRPG (although if you are in europe LO will most likely have a miss-printed disc 4).
I tried to like Blue Dragon but I just couldnt get into it. I had to turn on Japanese voices to even get past the first area as the main characters english voice and dialogue is just annoying as hell.
Yeah I was okay with everyone except MaruMaru, but he doesn't talk too often throughout the game so I made it through it.
The kids aren't that bad, especially compared to most kids in JRPG's. Hell, by that standard they're dynamic as fuck. The only thing I had a hard time with and found a bit jarring was the story and dialogue seemed to be written by two entirely different people or teams. "Team A" was charged with Operation Heart-Strings, and wrote the flashback short stories, and the parts of the game that dealt with the history of the Immortals.
Team "B" however was tasked with making Kakanas and Jansen both sound like high ranking officials in the Douchebag Army, and writing a lot of the game's early dialogue. "With all due respect, sir, after the destruction on the battlefield, it's hard to believe anyone could've survived that." (Cue Kaim tough guy indifferent look... wait a few beats...) "Then don't believe it."
-Kaim bounces back and forth with emotion too. One second he has the emotional depth of Vin Diesel and then a second later makes you want to gouge out your heart just in order to be able to feel anything but incredible sadness. Fuck you Team A. I just got some dust in my eyes. That's all.
White FC: 0218 0574 8285
I'm a heartless bastard. After getting nearly all of those stories, I started to skip them because they were all sad and none pertinent to the story as it were. I so, so, SO enjoyed the combat harkening back to old school FF style games though. I was disappointed that there wasn't more to explore in the world though. The optional bosses were incredibly easy if you had advanced your characters anywhere near getting all of their abilities.
Also give Trusty Bell/Rusty Trombone/Eternal Sonata a try. Just based on premise.
Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are somewhere between ok and terribad. In fact that's about how my opinion on them changes. SO4 is soul crushingly bad, as are the rest of them.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
My wife has about 100 hours and I have about 60 hours on that game.
We still talk about that game it's so amazing fun.
The skill trees, the ability to search for nothings, fighting the damn king poo.
The boss song.
Seriously, other then the amazingly disappointing
.
Don't get me wrong star ocean was a good game. however when put next to Vesperia, Vesperia wins hands down.
Star Ocean Pros and cons:
+A ton of extra things to do after the game is over
+looks amazing
-the characters take this game from an A+ down to a C-. It is like they did not even try! The main guy will make you want to cry more than he does in the game, (this is a lot.) A robot who "is new to human emotion", a Dante look alike, Moe, cat girl and girl with boobs the size of a van, with a dash of TERRIBLE story line/voice acting/"can't skip this bad cut scene oh god shut the hell up i wanna remember the good but this is so annoying"
ToVesperia pros and cons:
+It is everything you want in an RPG, don't let the looks fool you!, amazing voice acting, decent story line and the combat system is very good.
+2 player! My husband and I tore this game up, some of the most fun we have had with a video game in a while.
-if you want to get as many "unlockable" as you can... there are a ton of ways to miss out on one or two in the beginning of the game and not be able to get them unless you start over.
Oh, and one more + Yuri is probably the coolest videogame character i have seen in a loooong time. Also, you can play as Repede, a battle dog that down not bite people, no, he CUTS PEOPLE UP WITH A FUCKING SWORD.
Oh PS: he smokes a pipe as well.
Bottom line: play both, just Vesperia before star ocean
I have heard about it, but I have never seen it. Is there a video of it anywhere?
When the elves showed up, it was all good.
Indeed. Star Ocean was just terrible - from the characters, story, to even the level design. I don't believe there was a single character I liked. Most of them I loathed, save two I could only feel neutral toward. I would not recommend it at all. It's also one of the only JRPGs or games I can count where I kept shouting at my television for characters to shut the fuck up. Usually I just sigh when a character annoys me, but not for Star Ocean: The Last Hope.
Commentary free version so you get the AWESOME voice acting too (...) but it cuts off. The death scene goes on another 30-50 seconds after that.
And, I know 'forty minutes' was an exaggeration, but the fact that this scene lasts longer than the lady's been in your party? Not so much. She is with you for one very short dungeon.
The best part of it is you can do a sidequest in the extra dungeon to revive her. Her reaction to that? "Oh, hey guys. Let's go."
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
On the plus side you can skip it with Start+A. Why more games do not let you do this I have no idea.