Star Ocean is a series of science fantasy action and role-playing video games created by the Japanese company tri-Ace and released by Square Enix, which was previously known as Enix.
Development
Star Ocean is one of the first real-time role-playing games that lets players change how the story ends based on their choices and actions. This is mainly done through a system called "private actions," which affects how the main character interacts with others. The original Star Ocean, released in 1996 by Enix and made by tri-Ace, included a "private actions" system. In this system, the player's decisions influence the main character's relationship points with other characters. These points then change the story, creating different paths and many possible endings. The 1999 sequel, Star Ocean: The Second Story, expanded this idea, offering up to 86 different endings, with hundreds of possible combinations. This set a new standard for how many outcomes a video game could have. Inspired by dating sim games, the system used friendship and relationship points for each character. Players could choose to pair characters in romantic relationships or friendships. These choices not only changed the story but also how characters acted during battles.
The developers at tri-Ace, who enjoy science fiction and space travel, designed the Star Ocean series with a sci-fi setting. They were influenced by Star Trek for the game's visuals and themes. While the first game had more fantasy elements to attract a wide audience, later games focused more on sci-fi. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time was called tri-Ace's "ultimate vision" of the Star Ocean world by its producer, Yoshinori Yamagishi. The long time gap between Star Ocean: The Second Story and Till the End of Time in the game's timeline was because the series focused on building the fictional world rather than following characters. In Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, producer Shuichi Kobayashi said one of the game's main themes was the idea of first contact between different societies and planets.
Games
The first game in the series was called Star Ocean. It came out on July 19, 1996, for the Super Famicom and was only available in Japan. However, fans translated it into English using a method called ROM hacking by a group named DeJap Translations. The game can now be played using emulation. This game introduced key features of the series, such as a futuristic setting, real-time battles, item creation, and private actions. It takes place in the year 346 SD and follows Roddick Farrence as he searches for a cure to a sickness on his planet with help from two Earthlings. An improved version called Star Ocean: First Departure was released for the PlayStation Portable on December 27, 2007, in Japan, and later in North America and Europe in October 2008. This version used the engine from Star Ocean 2, included prerendered backgrounds and 3D battlefields, and added new character art, animated cut-scenes, and fully voiced dialogue. It also introduced new playable characters.
Star Ocean: The Second Story was released for the PlayStation on July 30, 1998, in Japan, May 31, 1999, in North America, and April 12, 2000, in Europe. It kept the features of the first game but added prerendered backgrounds, full-motion videos, and 3D battlefields. The story takes place in 366 SD and follows a new group of characters, including Claude C. Kenny, the son of Ronyx J. Kenny from the first game, and Rena Lanford. Together, they investigate the Sorcery Globe, which has landed on Planet Expel and caused disasters. An improved version called Star Ocean: Second Evolution was released for the PlayStation Portable on April 2, 2008, in Japan, January 20, 2009, in North America, and the following month in Australia and Europe. This version included fully voiced dialogue, new playable characters, and new artwork and animated cut-scenes from Production I.G.
Star Ocean: Blue Sphere is a direct sequel to The Second Story and was released for the Game Boy Color on June 28, 2001, in Japan. A North American version was planned but canceled. This game adapted the series for handheld devices, changing some features like interactive item creation, auto private actions, 2D side-scrolling battles, Field Actions, and removing random battles. It takes place in 368 SD, two years after The Second Story, and brings back all twelve main characters to solve the mystery of Planet Edifice, which destroys civilizations every 200 years. In 2008, a Japanese-only remake for mobile devices was released with new graphics, controls, and a revised battle system.
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2003. A director’s cut with bonus dungeons, new playable characters, a versus mode, and updated gameplay was released in 2004 and later brought to North America and Europe the same year. This game is the first fully 3D entry in the series and includes fully voiced dialogue. It keeps most features from earlier games but adds new elements like the fury and bonus battle gauge, the ability to patent items created during item creation, and recruiting inventors to make items for the player. The story takes place nearly 400 years after Blue Sphere, in 772 SD. The main character, Fayt Leingod, is pursued by Vendeeni forces across space after being separated from his family during an alien attack on a resort planet.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope was released for the Xbox 360 in February 2009 in Japan and North America, and in June 2009 in Australia and Europe. It was also released for the PlayStation 3 worldwide in February 2010. This game is a prequel to the series, showing the aftermath of World War III as humanity searches for a new home. The main character is Edge Maverick, who is joined by his childhood friend, Reimi Saionji.
Star Ocean: Material Trader is a free-to-play card and item creation RPG developed by Hippos Lab and published by Square Enix for the GREE mobile phone network in 2013. The service was discontinued in February 2014, and the game was later removed from the platform.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 in 2016. The story takes place between The Second Story and Till the End of Time, in 537 SD.
Star Ocean: Anamnesis was a free-to-play role-playing game with 3D characters and environments. Players could battle enemies in real-time with up to four players. It was released in Japan on December 7, 2016, and later worldwide for Android and iOS in July 2018. Both the global and Japanese versions were discontinued in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam on October 27, 2022. The game features two protagonists and a story that changes based on player choices. Akira Yasuda, known as Akiman, returned as the character designer from Integrity and Faithlessness and Anamnesis.
Of the seven games in the series, six were released outside Japan. Star Ocean: The Second Story was the first game published in the United States by Sony Computer Entertainment America.
With the release of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time for the PlayStation 2, Square Enix aimed to attract more players, especially in the United States, where the franchise had not been very popular. A Director’s Cut version of Till the End of Time was released in North America with additional playable characters, games, and storylines. By July 2005, Till the End of Time was included in Sony’s Greatest Hits line, showing its success in North America.
In 2008, Square Enix released an enhanced remake of the original Star Ocean for the PlayStation Portable called Star Ocean: First Departure. In 2009, an enhanced version of The Second Story for the PlayStation Portable called Star Ocean: Second Evolution was released.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope was released in North America just one week after its Japanese release on the Xbox 360. An improved version called Star Ocean: The Last Hope International Edition was later released as a PlayStation
Common elements
The characters in the series were created to look like action figures. A feature that would change the characters’ appearance when they switched equipment was planned but not used because there were too many characters to design. In the later game Star Ocean: The Last Hope, the characters’ looks did change to match the weapons they used.
A common gameplay element is that some story choices and endings are hard to find. Players do not always know about "affection points," which affect these choices. This has made some players upset because they feel they missed options, while others enjoy the chance to replay the game and discover new paths.
Star Ocean games include many ways to use items. Party members can make new tools or improve old ones by crafting, such as metalworking, alchemy, writing, painting, and cooking. The best items and equipment are usually only made through crafting. Other items can be sold for money or used for other purposes, like books that teach skills or food that helps manage inventory limits.
Star Ocean games are famous for their real-time battles, which were among the first of their kind on consoles. Battles happen on a separate screen, and all characters move freely in three dimensions. They can dodge enemies, chase them, and use spells or attacks even when being attacked. In earlier games, magicians used spells, while fighters used special physical attacks called "Killer Moves." These abilities are learned after reaching certain levels or completing specific tasks and require health or magic points to use. In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, all characters can use spells and battle skills.
Music
The first Star Ocean game was composed by Motoi Sakuraba. The music included sounds from instruments like flutes and recorded battle cries during combat. Sakuraba composed and arranged the music for Star Ocean and First Departure. Critics praised his use of progressive rock style and noted his creative musical choices in the original Star Ocean and First Departure soundtracks. Some songs from Star Ocean: The Second Story were added to the First Departure album, including both well-known and less familiar tracks. Some musical pieces were not included in the original First Departure album but were added in the remake. The First Departure remake included the theme song "Heart," performed by the Japanese group Asunaro. This song played during the game's opening and ending scenes and was part of the 2008 official soundtrack. For the First Departure R version, the theme was replaced with "Atarashī Ippo" ("The First Step") by Yauchi Keiko of Shadow of Laffandor.
Motoi Sakuraba also composed the music for Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, created on a PC-9801 computer. Composing for the Game Boy Color was difficult due to limited sound quality and number of channels. The battle theme "Hand to Hand" was one of Sakuraba's favorite tracks, as he worked to capture the excitement of battle despite the hardware's limitations. Sakuraba composed the music for Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which was released in four parts. A limited edition of Volume 1 included a box to hold all four albums. When the game was revised into the Director's Cut, Sakuraba added new music and released an album with these pieces. The song "The Small Bird That Forgot How to Fly," performed by JPop singer Misia, was used for the game's ending credits.
Sakuraba also composed the music for Star Ocean: The Last Hope, which was released in two parts: the Original Soundtrack, a 3-CD set with 71 tracks, and a Arrange Soundtrack with remixes of the original music. The original soundtrack included a DVD with an interview with Sakuraba, footage of his workshop, and videos of him performing original music. Sakuraba continued as the main composer for the series, including a "synth-rock" soundtrack for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. As with other games in the series, Star Ocean: Anamnesis was also composed by Motoi Sakuraba.
Manga and anime
Mayumi Azuma created an unfinished manga series based on Star Ocean: The Second Story, which later became an unfinished anime series called Star Ocean EX. The anime was released in the United States by Geneon Entertainment. The series includes 26 episodes that cover events from the first disc of the PlayStation game. After the anime ended, drama CDs were used to continue the story.
Reception
By 2013, the game series had sold more than 4.2 million copies. In a 2009 review, Nintendo Life praised the technical quality of Star Ocean, calling it "one of the best-looking Super Nintendo games ever created" and noting that the soundtrack "never ceases to amaze." Famitsu reviewed Star Ocean: The First Departure, a remake of the original game, and said the animation and characters were well done, and the story was "charming." However, they noted that players could only save their progress at certain points, such as the world map, which they felt was too large and had a limited field of view. Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of the most popular games in the series. Most reviewers gave positive feedback, but some called the game only average. Jeff Lundrigan, reviewing the PlayStation version for Next Generation, wrote that the game had both strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately described it as "average." Star Ocean: Blue Sphere became popular in Japan because of its story and gameplay systems. This led tri-Ace to remake the game for mobile devices, which included redrawn graphics and a remastered soundtrack.
Initially, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time received mixed reactions in Japan. Some parts of the game were reported to have technical issues, and the game did not work properly on older PlayStation 2 models. Enix blamed Sony, as the game used features from updated libraries that were not compatible with older systems. Star Ocean: The Last Hope was reviewed by IGN, which said that while the story's pacing was uneven, the game's action-packed gameplay helped it remain enjoyable. One issue players faced was the need to switch discs when traveling between planets later in the game.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness was noted by IGN for having graphics that ranged from very high quality to low quality, similar to the game Minecraft. The review also mentioned that the game had no cutscenes, which reduced the emotional impact of the acting. However, the game's score and characters were praised. Star Ocean: Anamnesis was described by Kotaku as "exploitative but charming," with praise for its use of nostalgia but criticism for its "bland" free-to-play format.