STAR OCEAN SERIES FROM WORST TO BEST 

Also, for those looking for English copies of Star Ocean Blue Sphere heres the link www.etsy.com/listing/753826715/

I need to watch this now. I think I've only played through Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2) but I've been curious about the others!

Thank you SO MUCH for doing this retrospective. Somebody had to do it, and it had to be a passionate person and someone who knew their stuff. It had to be someone who truly cared and would know how to present the information not only to fans but to potential newcomers. Thank you so much.

Til the end of time was the first SO game I played and I really enjoyed it. Thought the whole (SPOILERS) VR 4th dimension twist was really mind blowing. The game just kept me interested in the story throughout, which is the main draw for me in RPGs. It dared to do something different.

Star Ocean 3 was my first game of the series and I hold it dear in my heart, because back then the intro of the game where you walk around a futuristic hotel while a beautiful song play, and then Fayt goes to that Virtual Reality room to practice fighting just blow my mind. I had never seen a futuristic jrpg before and I loved it. What makes the game even more special to me is that my first copy of the game was broken and wouldnt go past that intro part, and I had to search for months to find another copy of the game. In the end, the game was great so it was worth the trouble. I even liked the controversial ending. lol

It’d be nice if Square Enix made a physical PS4 release of the Star Ocean games ... - Star Ocean First Departure R - Star Ocean Second Evolution R - Star Ocean Til The End of Time R - Star Ocean The Last Hope R

I absolutely loved the ending in SO Till the End of Time! That stuff was wild and really blew my mind :D nice video!

till the end of time was basically my religion for a few years. I had only 3 save files i think, but i had ooohhhh maybe 900 hours on my longest played file. the others probably between 2-300. hot damn i loved that game

Fun/trash fact: Japan got a hd rerelease of second story years ago on the ps4 and we still dont have it

I agree 100%, Second Story is the best in the series. One of my favorite RPGs on the PS1 actually, I put a ton of time into it back in the day.

Keep the videos coming Reggie, really enjoying them

Great video! That ending to Till the End of Time....yeah. lol. I didn't mind it, but it was just a real "what the heck" moment. The journey throughout that game itself is still worth playing through though, and more than makes up for it even if someone isn't a fan of how it all ends. If they do come out with a new entry to the series (hopefully!), I'd love to see them keep that battle system from Integrity and Faithlessness!

Grew up with star ocean two, a phenomenal series. Great video!

SO3’s story, the most controversial twist I’ve ever seen. IMO this is the best entry in the franchise. The twist was unique for me and has cemented this as one of my top games of all time. Combat is amazing too, especially once you get all you skills and gear. Maria Traydor ftw.

Great video! I liked and subscribed. I was 14 when I played my first jrpg and it was Star Ocean the second story on Playstation 1. I was blown away by it. It's still my favorite jrpg til this day.

Wow...you’ve made me, a guy who stays away from RPGs really want to check this series out. Thanks man!

Star Ocean has always had a special spot in my heart since i first played the fan translation of the first game. Cool vid reggie!

oh yeah! Playing star ocean first departure R on the switch rn. Perfect timing on the video! I love the characters in first departure more than second evolution tbh, both are great tho!

I didn’t know how much I needed this video! Thanks for the great work!

I really appreciate how descriptive you were with what you liked and disliked, without really spoiling anything. I'm only getting into SO now with The Second Story, and thinking about where to go from there.

Nice collection. Good to see games like Blue Sphere that never made it outside of Japan. Star Ocean is one of my top RPG series, as well. Keep up the good work 😊

love your videos!! i love taste for the games in your vids! thanks for your time and effort to upload them

Always a series I wanted to check out but never got around to great video 👍

Great video man, these are the type of videos are whatI love to see (of course I'm almost 40 and grew up on Ps1 era jrpgs) but I like the fact that you rep Star Ocean, I try to do the same for series I love. My thing is this, that new Star Ocean port is cool and all but imagine if we got Super Robot Taisen OG saga EndlessFrontier on the Switch/Ps4, a modern console port of that would probably melt my brain! 🤯 love the battle system on that one, the ProjectXZone series is cool and all but my money's on the DS Robot Taisen! I wish they left out the srpg elements on ProjectXZone

Awesome, I'm just getting into star ocean great to see a look at the whole series

I'm a year late but god i love star ocean series too, i've been just having such a big nostalgia trip lately, and it's making me wanna replay SO3

Cool video Reggie. You know a game is good when you feel exactly the same way as when you first played it. I am just getting into Star Ocean. I bought the remake of the first game on Switch. What drew me to the series was how the original game on snes was crammed with extra technology to make it work. Plus when a snes game is left in Japan, its usually at the end of the snes life cycle, and its usually pretty good. A t least that was my experience with Seiken Densetsu 3. Great video, and gave me some insight to a series I overlooked.

I've never had an issue with #3's twist, especially in regards to the other games. That weird desert planet that has a time travel/teleportation portal just straight up doesn't make sense without that twist. A planet that's entire purpose is a level select menu.

This order is pretty much spot on how I'd have the Star Ocean games on my list. I enjoyed them all but I'll always love The Second Story the most. I just loved the setting of the story and the cast of characters. I also really enjoyed Till the End of Time despite it's very polarizing twist near the end of the game. It took me by surprise at first but I still think it's a solid game regardless. I hope that Sqaure Enix will continue with new Star Ocean games going forward as well. Only time will tell I guess. Great video as always man!👍

I like your sprite in that SMB2 style intro sequence.

Star Ocean: The Second Story is always going to be the one... the story, side quests, and party members are just sooo unique... you cant beat it... great vid!

I actually love Integrity and Faithlessness, the combat system is the most fun IMO.

I was just about to search this, and here you are 👌🏻

I've just discovered your channel through some of your videos on the gba games, you seem to not only know a lot about games but to be sincerely passionnate, I've tried the GBColor game of this series you make me want to discover the rest thx and sorry if the way I'm phrasing it is weird my english is bad

Till the end of time was my first SO game and I absolutely LOVED IT!!! Now I’m playing First departure R on the PSN network and working my way up. Can’t wait!!!

It's good to see someone who doesn't actually hate on SO5 lol. I had a lot of fun with that one and enjoyed the story as well.

As a new viewer to your channel I'm really enjoying it. Keep up the good work.

Great video! Star Ocean 2 was my favorite game for a while. When I was in the army, I would play it while on barracks cq duty at night. lol

I'm still waiting for Star Ocean: First Departure R to get a physical release on Switch, and I really hope it gets one, even a limited one from Limited Run Games or Super Rare Games or someone.

Man, this brings back a lot of memories. I started with Second Story, then Till The End of Time. We had such great games back then

Of the ones I've played : 4. Integrity and Faithlessness 3. First Departure 2 (1). Till the End of Time * 1 (2). Second Story * *depends on the day

More of this Reggie. Your love for RPGs really shine in this format. Do Ys next fam!

I've been holding The Last Hope on my EBay Watchlist for over 2 years. I guess I should buy it.

Been playing First Departure on PS4, perfect timing for this video

I never played any games from the series and some years back, I've seen the series and wanted to get into it but never did. Right now on the PSN, all the games, except SO2, are on sale and I was looking into picking them up. Looked up to see if I should and your video convinced me. I think I'm just gonna get all 4 games. Shame SO2 isn't available on PS4 or Switch, since those are the 2 consoles I play on. Great video!

I am subscribed to a Lot of RU-vid channels! And specially the game ones are amongest my favorites! Love ALL of them! But If I have to choose one buddy to hunt down for rarities and such I'd probably choose dear buddy Radical Reggie here! He is such a Nice guy! Thanks for the recomendation! God bless you always brother!!

You sound like you're smiling through out this whole video and that's awesome!

Thank you so much for making this video. I have never played the Star Ocean series before. I think I'll play The Last Hope first : )

I just started the departure r and IM OBSESSED!!!! I nvr knew it was a series this gm in so good omgggg

I love this series! The PS1 version got me into rpgs. Thanks for making this!

Man I loved your list. I played 5 and i judged it really harshly but i was just thinking the other day that i should give SO5 another shot. Now i have to.

Good news, a new Star Ocean game was announced today.

I really need to replay The Second Story,definitely one of my favorites.The Last Hope would probably be my fav after that.

I’m just now really getting into Star Ocean. I have played till the end of time on ps2, currently playing first departure r on switch. I really enjoy it, and probably become one of my favorite RPG series besides the Tales games

This year looking forward to new star ocean the divine force, looks amazing.

I just bought star ocean last hope for my 360. I got back into gaming because of that console but I was hooked on gears and FIFA. Once this generation came out I’ve built quite the PS4 collection. I look over at my 360 games and no rpgs! So I’m trying to fix that now. Never played a star ocean but I’m looking forward to it once I have some free time.

Great video !

Star Ocean for the PS1 remains my absolute favorite so far. Simply because it was my first and just brings back some awesome gaming memories for me. I haven't played all of them though, so I have to try some of the other ones.

Lucky you...it was announced a new one today! hahaha :D Great video man! I just played the second one...and it was awesome! That was like, decades ago HAHAH Divine Force! Too bad now I feel like I need to buy the other ones!

Playing Star Ocean First Departure R and so far I am really liking it. It's my first Star Ocean game.

I loved the ending in star ocean till the end of time.

Ratings are on point! Completely agree!

Ive been feeling like jumping into an rpg, good timing

I ordered a japanese copy of The Last Hope International (PS3). Never played a game from this series before. Excited!

I've only played two SO titles - Second Story (PS1) and First Departure (PSP). But I gotta say, that Second Story one, despite being in PS1, I can still say that it's by far one of the top JRPGs even to this day. During that time I was in love with the FF franchise (FF Origins to FFVIII, haven't got the chance to play IX back then in PS1) but I was surprised at how good Second Story was. It really baffled me, and I was so immersed into it. I also loved the music btw, it really helped giving the game that specific space-opera kind of vibe which was something I haven't seen in FF that time that's why I was so mesmerized by it. I can't even remember how many times I've played 2nd Story during those fun times haha. And yeah there was First Departure. It was a nice addition, but sadly it didn't have the greatness that I saw in 2nd Story before. But I still enjoyed it for what it is. Now I'm actually thinking of getting PCSX2 just for the sole purpose of playing Til The End of Time (sadly my PS2 died early during those times when it was released) because I remember I also saw a game review of it before and it said it was amazing. So the curiousity has been always there...

I played til the end of time so much growing up, then my friend mentioned it and I didn’t realize that there were more star ocean games… I also didn’t realize characters had multiple endings. Another one comes out this year apparently too

Yoooooo Reggie! Super dope video big homie.

Until the end of time is the only one I've completed but still remains one of my favorite storyline in any form of media. May attempt a play through of the last hope soon.

Love till the end of time, the last hope, and the second story/second evolution. Can't wait for the divine force coming this year. I wish they could've made the game longer.

Cool painting

The star ocean series is underrated in my opinion, good video Reggie

I love the star ocean you show at 8:03, I have it on PS4 xD I love it

Amazing! Thanks!

The first Star Ocean on SFC helped me learn how to read katakana (Grandia on Saturn is helping me now learn the rest of Japanese). I remember getting to Asmodeus and that fight turned out to be the most one-sided big boss fight I ever had. The fighters had him pinned down and I think it might have lasted a couple of minutes. Now that I have an English repro, one of these years I'll see if I can do that again.

Personally star ocean 3's battle system is my favorite. 1. There's the "counter" mechanic that peppita and albel have that was dumbed-down in 4 and 5. 2. Fireworks 3. No guard, 4 had this but not 5 4. Mp tanking, Maria was a god at this 5. Parries, a Sophia build using her Blood Scylla skill with around 2k agi is fun as hell 6. Cancel bonus, 4 had this as a skill you had to learn

I really liked your Mario intro.

Huh, this is the second list I've seen where Star Ocean 5 wasn't at absolute rock bottom. Surprising

The original on SFC was a game I drooled over when I saw it in Nintendo Power. Thanks to an internet friend who had contacts in Japan, I received a copy of my own. I fell in love, even though the language barrier made it a bit difficult to play through. But the graphics and music were so beautiful, and the combat was fast and frantic. I later played the English fan translation, though have yet to play First Departure/R. There's a bit too much backtracking, and it feels like the story could be expanded on, but it's still a great game. Star Ocean 2 is an absolute masterpiece, so ahead of its time... The Item Creation system was unlike anything I've ever seen, I remember trying to forge cash and getting a bounced check that would drain my money... being able to pickpocket your own party members... the "Iron Chef" style cooking contest... the incredibly challenging optional dungeon. There was just such a ridiculous amount of content and secrets. 3 was the game that sold me on a PS2, but I could not come to terms with the changes to the battle system, changes to Item Creation, and the neutering of Private Actions. MP Death was one of the most obnoxious things I've ever seen in an RPG. I also didn't like the terrible AI and camera in battle, nor did the twist go over very well for me. Was one of the most disappointing games in the franchise up till 5. While a lot of people complained about the goofy characterization in 4, I thought the game got the series back on track a bit. It felt more like 2, with an even more refined combat system, intuitive item creation mechanics, and even more great bonus dungeons. If you can get over some of the characterizations like "nappy time" Lymle, or EDGE MAVERICK making a really stupid decision and dooming the alternate world, then there's a lot of fun to be had. One of the better 360/PS3 RPGs. Unfortunately, I was super hyped that a new SO game was announced, but 5 was a disaster. 7 characters in combat at one time was just too much, and combat frequently devolved into screen-filling particle effects and button mashing. The cinemas were also neutered, and the whole world felt small and uninspiring. Not the grand epics of 2, 4, and to a lesser extent 3.

SO3 ending held up. I think it makes more sense today than it did back then. I replayed in on PS4 a few years back.

I played and loved The Lat Hope on 360, just finished the Switch port of First Departure and enjoyed it as well. I need 2-3 on Switch now!

Till the end of time ending was amazing..

It’s returning

I've never played any of the Star Ocean at all. But I am going to try out the remex on the Switch, then maybe trying out the other S. O. game's later down the road.

I agreed with everything you said. Yes. Second story is a true gem of a game.

I saw a couple star ocean blue sphere copy being sold on bonanza with the ds case instead of the original gbc paper box case. Does anyone know if the one being sold in ds case are legit and not bootleg

Star Ocean has been dear to my heart since The Second Story! I can still remember the ending of Till The End of Time making me very upset at the laziness after such a big story had been laid out in the previous titles.

This is how I'd rank them as well! I've played the original second story so many times and I'm just now playing through second evolution for the first time and while I love it and I'm super nostalgic, it makes me realize how much greater the game could be with a full blown remake. I'm just thinking what the game would look like in 4k, with fully 3d character models and an over the shoulder camera angle. Unlike a lot of older rpg's like FF7 or KOTOR, they wouldn't even really need to touch the battle system other than updating some animations and making it a bit more fluid as it's still pretty good by today's standards. However I'd love to see enemies in the field instead of random encounters and have a seamless transition into combat and 4 party members on the field at the same time even outside of combat, with additional dialogue while traveling to ingratiate you too them even more... would be a dream come true for me. I'm kind of hoping the reason we haven't seen it released on switch & ps4/5 is because it's something they might be interested in doing, but if that was the case we probably wouldn't see it until a while after SO6.

I also got the FishyFace Copy of Blue Sphere. Bought a SP for it so i can play. Havent gotten around to it yet, but i also love this Series and would like to get more. I am currently playing Integrity now then i will play Last Hope afterwards. Till the end of Time i remember getting on my Birthday and immediately popping into my PS2. Second Story though i need to rebuy, let a fried borrow it and i never got the first Disc back. Still got the second one though.

Yo I really like the art it’s your own thing

like the Mario 2 intro. you should just have that :)

Reggie....Could there possibly be a Worst to Best of the Tales Series in the future ?

Star Ocean the second story is easily one of the best games I have ever played. It’s a masterpiece in my opinion.

My first and only Star Ocean I've played is Integrity and Faithlessness on PS4. I picked it up about a month ago and I am really enjoying it, which is funny cuz most fans of the series point to that one as one of the worst and I just don't get it, though obviously I haven't played the others. But I love the combat and the world is very nice looking. Idk I like it

Hey if you enjoy the star ocean series you should check out the Phantasy star series. Gameplay is very different but story is similar.

Good news reggie there is a new star ocean

New Star Ocean soon. Star Ocean is one of my favorite JRPG series, I'm always happy to see other people like the franchise too. I think it is an underrated series that easily gets overlooked!

Star Ocean Second Story is one of the most underrated JRPGS out there. I've long since lost my original PS1 version but thankfully I still have Second Evolution in pristine condition.

There is a bunch of Star Ocean on the PSN, i would like to try them, but I don’t know where to start.

I really hope they bring these to steam. I know we got the last hope on there

I only had 6 characters at the end of my first run of Star Ocean 2. Loved the game so much that my 13 year old self played through it at least 4 more times.