Star Ocean - SNES Review

Tri-Ace and Enix have merged together to create a masterpiece known as Star Ocean.  Star Ocean is a role playing game that is set in a futuristic world beyond space and time.  However most of the game is set on Roax, a planet populated by creatures with tails similar to those of monkeys.  You as Ratix and two other teenagers find themselves embarking on an adventure to save the citizens of Roak from a petrifying disease. As they try to find a cure for the disease, the story gets much more involved as characters from a seemingly parallel universe team up with people who suddenly transport themselves on their planet; and what seems as only an adventure to save the village transpires into much, much more.

The game's visuals are a master piece. The game is mostly dark, but it has an air about it that makes it whole. Visually it is again another anime-ish title with the faces.  Although not colorful in presentation the battles are very fast paced.  The graphics are similar to that of Tales of Phantasia.  The colors are mostly of dark blue and brown surrounding most of the game. Apparently this is not what makes the game great. Sure the graphics could have been worked on, but as a two dimensional game, the cartoonish look is good.

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What makes down for the graphics, makes up in game play and battles are no exception. Actually speaking of which you gain levels as you fight more monsters and skills randomly appear as you keep fighting monsters as well. In the arsenal of special attacks and normal attacks you can do are the "L" button for short and long range attacks and "R" button for short and long ranged attacks. You can set specials to a certain button in the camp menu outside of battle if you ever want to use it in battle.  Battles are very fast paced and can be the difference between life and death sometimes. Usually in other action rpgs, you can usually directly move your character without having to use a cursor.  In this game the cursor is used heavily and you cannot move Ratix without it.  The battle system persuades you that if you want to lock on to something you have to hit A and choose an enemy to attack, then attack the same enemy in an enclosed space of land.  If you want to move around or guard yourself; and yes this can be a pain because you have to activate the move icon with y and then move and tap a again to move ratix or your other party member to your destination at will. You can also guard against attacks if you click the cursor on yourself, but I wouldn't count on it because it's irrelevant and the enemy would do damage to you anyways. You can always sneak up to an enemy for a short ranged special though and tap L or R to unleash whatever action you want to use in battle.  Again though battles are fast paced and all in real time except when you are selecting an item in battle.  Attacks and such happen actively always.  

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Buffing your characters up is very nice in this game and sort of works like final fantasy 9's magic stone system.  You can upgrade your skill levels in the game by using skill points. You have to also keep in mind that you need the money to buy these skill points so that you can aquire different skills to learn and they seperate by type.  Knowledge skills are used basically for creation of items or to know how to cook,smith, use instruments or use alchemy. These skills are probably the easiest to learn since they don't require combat skills which I will get to later. Sense Skills are mainly for support that give you extra power or techniques that focus on status and gut feeling.  Last but not least Combat Skills Give you a wide variety of ways to fight and you can utilize these skills out of battle to possibly make you stronger.  Those are the mainly Skills you can upgrade when you get more skill points.  And the higher the level of the skill the more potent it is.  So now enough about skills. In battles where you have HP and MP, certain characters can be told how to act in battle; so that you can win fights more easier. When you can endure for so long without lots of casualities, you can risk going from point A to point B without having to worry about getting a game over. Tactics include giving the ally the advantage, not using TP in battle, heal the character, or show no mercy. With a good sense though, I know you'll know how to play well. This game is really good. Somewhat flawed though, I wouldn't recommend playing it on zsnes becuase it freezes sometimes.  I would use snes9x or bsnes for that. is it god's will or the irony of fate and Mankind has gone where no man has gone before. People say the universe is a star ocean, so let's let it stay that way.  It's at least an 8 out of 10.