It's nice to see that you got so much out of this title. You got the story and all that down, no question. A nice vido. I wasn't too disappointed of this entry either, but, a little. I noticed that the story had a few missed opportunities to have more impact - and the game had a few glitches and poor music decisions. That may sound like nitpicking, but it was really very noticable to me. But I liked they really tried with this title - the minigame is neat, the character models are also very neat and interesting. Fantastic skyboxes as you said. When it comes to the Star Ocean series as a whole, I personally would put it on place 3. Maybe that's on part nostalgia or misremembering. But I have more fond memories To SO 3 and SO 2. #1 Star Ocean 3 #2 Star Ocean 2 #3 Star Ocean Divine Force ( altho quite close to #2 ) #4 Star Ocean 4 #5 Star Ocean 5 ( And Star Ocean 1 I haven't played, so I can't place it )
Also, near the end there's a part where I couldn't progress through the map without youtube let's play / tutorial.. : / that's a big no-no in game design. Like, I was stuck not knowing how to proceed for half an hour...
@@fumomofumosarum5893 Thanks for watching. Are you talking about the last dungeon. If so I was confused at first but Ray said to check the other portals. If he didn't I also would have been lost. I did play the game after patches so I didn't experience any glitches. I'm actually looking forward to the remake of Star Ocean 2. The demo was great.
@@Grimpachi Yes, I mean the final dungeon, haha. What a difficult to navigate place.. I think an example for a narrative "fumble" the game had was ( spoiler from here on out, if anyone is reading ) when Elena ( cool character btw ) falls into enemy hands ( and those enemies are also technologically advanced ) - she eventually returns, right? And everyone is glad. But, she's a robot - so what if the enemy had her secretly brainwashed to be a spy or traiter later in the game? Imagine the possibility for heartfelt drama! I don't mean that she has to die or anything, but maybe depending on your dialogue decisions in previous meetings, she could return as friend, or be lost forever. You know, some more player - character interaction consequences / split story. Stuff like that. I guess the writer(s) got careful with twists like that tho, since in SO4 it went terribly wrong with elf boy.
@@fumomofumosarum5893 I can't tell you how the twist with the elf in 4 really made me mad 🤣. It's not a that the idea was bad but the execution. I could be wrong but I think Ray explained androids like her are only found on his home planet and even people like the federation want to know how they work. So I guess that's why they really didn't do much but shut her down
Solid review. I felt you did go a little overboard in explaining your interpretation of the story. Which bogged down the review. Overall its a solid review. As far as internet algorithms affecting people's opinions. I disagree to certain extent. But I see where your coming from. Before the internet and algorithms we had marketing and word of mouth advertising. And those still exist today. Its just the internet brings marketing and word of mouth( normal people hyping and saying how great something is) to a world audience. Then you factor in trends. Trends have existed before the internet. And before social media sites have whats trending side bars. People are like sheep and we are social creatures. So whatever is good, that gets highly marketed, and have great word of mouth advertising. It is going to become popular or achieve some level of popularity. We also had influencers before the internet and social media. These were celebrities who endorsed or pushed products in commercials,tv shows, and movies. I,m generation X so I know and experienced at least 18 to 20 yrs of what life was like before the internet. Television,magazines, newspapers, and everyday people telling how good a product was is how products and other things became popular before the internet. Like you I never cared for the Last of Us. Sadly the Zombie post apocalyptic survival horror genre was huge at the time. Zombie genre had over a decade run in all forms entertainment. This began before 2010. This included tv shows, movies,comic books, and videogames. Zombies popularity wasnt caused by the internet. Just from good movies and other forms of entertainment. That won a large amount of people over. And with people being social told they told their friends and family. So the popularity of Zombies spread like a virus( pun intended). And since America is a capitalistic country companies picked up on the trend of Zombies being popular. And decide to milk the genre for all its worth. The people liked Zombies and zombies made money. So companies gave us more zombie related content. Marketing and word of mouth advertising hasn't changed much. Except now everything is politicized,ostracized for being too political or not political enough. Thats because the crazy weirdos are very vocal on the internet. And companies started hiring and listening to the weirdos. So the internet algorithm isnt the problem. Its the companies and shills that control the media we consume that is the problem.
Thanks for watching. I think the major difference is before we weren't overran with influence. Because most use at least a phone everyday. We are constantly being lead by the algorithm. Before rather or not a person felt compelled to try to push their influence on me in person was rare. Celebrity influence back then was a thing but it was certain people into it. Now again cause without even wanting to see it they push it in your face. Ultimately some people will subconsciously get wrapped up in it. That wasn't as common when you had to purposely search for these things. It wasn't until I got on social media in my twenties did I even know what half these people did. I didn't ask to see it either. It's just in everyone's face now. I keep my social media to gaming and art. Yet Twitter pushes whatever they want to no matter what I want. So basically that's why I feel this is a lot different than word of mouth like the past.
@@Grimpachi We were just as overrun with influence in the 90,s. My generation cried and moan of how commerciallized everything was in the 90,s. The 90,s were highly politicized and plagued with social awareness ( ie being woke)as well. It was in some of our music and movies. Thank god we didn't have social media to blow everything out of proportion back then. When you get older and into your 20,s to 30 you began to see the world how it is.
Whilst Star Ocean's story might not be the that bad, the game is quite bad. First, the character design is borderline offensive, especially in the female department. Second, lots of recycled boss fights. Third, the combat system can be quite clunky. In long fights you can easily get no AP and then it becomes a chore. Fourth, underwhelming ultimate moves. Fifth, story exposition dumbs full of characters standing at each other. It's just a game that didn't get the proper funding. They released it to exploit the brand name hoping in some revenue. Next time, they should give proper budget and fix pretty much everything. Instead of going for this, I would recommend Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars(which I'm currently playing)
I like the presentation but yeah it's not high budget. The AP situation I never had an issue with cause they tell you to blind side to get more. Plus it carries over to other fights as long as you don't lose a block. So for most fights I always had a full bar. Not sure what was offensive about the female characters. Thanks for watching by the way. Haven't seen you before welcome to the channel
Star Ocean isnt an underdog series. Its just a second tier JRPG franchise at its best. And a 3rd tier at its worst. Star OceanThe Last Hope was just ok. While the previous 2 Star Ocean games (Star Ocean 2 and Star Ocean 3) were great. And were loved by players and critics alike. The Star Ocean after the Last Hope was even worse than the Last Hope. Squareenix and Tri ace produced 2 mediocre Star Ocean games after they produced 2 Star Oceans that are considered to be all time great JRPG,s. Star Ocean the Divine Force is the return of what made Star Ocean a well known JRPG franchise. They went back to crafting a basic story with likable characters. And added enough tweaks to Star Oceans already great gameplay. The game is not too short or too long. Divine Force has enough challenge to where the game is just fun to play.
I say it's an underdog because despite its greatness it will not be put in the same conversation as more popular names. The worst FF will get more attention than the greatest Star Ocean. If you get what I'm saying
@@Grimpachi I get what your saying. Its just my definition( and most well known to most people) of underdog is someone who is in last place or is unknown and overcome the odds to being the best. Star Ocean dropped its underdog status with Star Ocean 2. And built a reputable legacy with Star Ocean 3. Once it established a name and recognition for its franchise then its no longer considered an underdog. Just a competitor in the very over saturated genre of JRPG,s. Star Ocean like many other good JRPG,s franchises just get lost in the shuffle over time due to other good to great JRPG,s being released the last 6 to 7 yrs. Sadly Star Ocean is very old school in its storylines and character archetypes. While games like Persona 5 have pushed the genre forward. What Star Ocean excels at is its game play. And its only JRPG rival and competitor is the Tales Of franchise of JRPG,s. In terms of being a more action based JRPG,s Star Ocean franchise as it is right now is not very high on the list for many younger generation JRPG gamers. But thats due to the series only having 6 games. That gets a new release on average almost every 10 yrs. SquareEnix just puts enough resources and production values to where the game is not a Triple A title. But a B title at its best. And even despite that Star Ocean almost has Iconic status as a JRPG franchise. And thats just based off of 2 games in the series. So the series is not an underdog. Its just the JRPG genre is highly competitive. And has a lot of good titles outside of Final Fantasy.
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