Welcome to our review of Star Ocean First Departure R, the remake that is out now on Playstation 4.
Space Date: 346.
From a power yet undiscovered, a new generation will be born. Our tale begins on the primitive planet of Roak where Roddick lives in the peaceful and uneventful town of Kratus. As a member of the village’s local “Defence Force” tasked with the protection of Kratus, Roddick learns of a mysterious disease that has broken out in the neighboring town. Those infected turn to stone, but continue to live on in a petrified state.
Roddick, along with his two friends Millie and Dorne, make their way to the neighboring town. Informed of a cure for the sickness, they head to Mt. Metorx where a healing herb is rumored to grow. When they reach the summit, the party encounter Ronyx and Ilia, who appear before them in a pillar of light. Thus, the story of STAR OCEAN begins…
Star Ocean is a big franchise and is all about space travel and a real-time battle system. A system you will either love or hate if you are into RPGs. I love this approach because it is more than just turn-based action, you get to go into the fight yourself and manually do the attacking rather than click an option on a menu.
When you hit the random encounter, you start off by facing the enemies. Then you actually physically move towards them and start fighting. In true RPG fashion though, you can still cast spells and heal your team from afar. I loved this more personal approach in fighting though I must say I was often held back by the number of random encounters.
Between the first and second village, the equivalent of around 30 seconds of speed walking, I got hit with 4 random fights. The speed walking was nice as it nullifies some of the time lost while walking the world map.
As this entry is a remake, it needs to be said that it looks a little weird on my big TV. The sprites are quite big and I would even go as far as to say that it did take me a few hours to really get used to it. Not that it looks horrible or anything, it just feels weird to see the characters in that 16-bit style and then the redone backgrounds that feel a lot crisper. It won’t influence your gameplay, I just figured I should mention this. It also made me wonder if TVs have not become too big for these remakes…?
Storywise, this game is of the action RPG genre, so expect to spend at least 20 hours on it if the original on PSP can serve as the reference. That speed walking mechanic might shave off a little of that time. The main issue you may have, as I encountered this too, is the lack of guidance. I got stuck in a village at one point and had no clue at all what to do. The guy in the past village told me to go there, but I got stuck. Thankfully I was able to find a PSP guide that served me well…
With everything said and done, I do wonder if this game would not shine more brightly on a mobile device (Vita/Switch) rather than my huge TV. I would more easily get in some time on the go rather than at home. Just my two cents. It really does not take from the fun I had in any way, just wondering if the game would not be more suited elsewhere…
In conclusion, I did have a lot of fun playing Star Ocean First Departure R, had some frustrating times and some really fun ones. This is what represents the RPG genre for me, the good and the bad. Star Ocean First Departure R brings a classic back to the current-gen.
