Part IV: Wrapping it Up
How does Star Ocean: First Departure weigh in, then? What do I think of it? What do I think others might think of it? Is my bias in its favor giving me unrealistic expectations? The answers to all of these (except the last, as I can't possibly be a fair judge of that) are below.
Personally, I loved SO: First Departure. It was a return to a formula that I loved to bits with its technical sequel, and it gave me the ability to appreciate the origins of said technical sequel's plot points and character developments. Occasional irritations popped up, but I forgave them just because I have a love affair with the game's predecessor that borders on fetishistic (as mentioned before several times). And because the same issues also tend to plague SO2, of course.
But outside of my rose-tinted love affair, what will others think? That's harder to sum up. The issues I forgive are sometimes pretty egregious (such as the occasionally obtuse plot points; I know a gamer with less inherent patience for the game would have given up on the game at a few of them). And I know that the irritations which plague the game are near-constant. I recognize that Star Ocean is not for everyone. It's a game that requires a good deal of forgiveness, and a game that rewards you in strange ways, even for an RPG. Overall, I suspect that die-hard RPG fans will at least be willing to give it a try, but that those outide of the RPG fanbase will almost certainly find the game's flaws to be damning and make it highly (if not totally) inaccessible.
I don't think it's fair to give games some arbitrary score, so what follows is a brief sumamry of the game's strong and weak points in various categories; I leave it to you, the reader, to decide if those strong points are strong enough or weak points weak enough to justify your opinion of the game, whatever it may be. Plus, in the case of Star Ocean, I would be such an unfairly forgiving judge that the numbers would be horribly skewed in the game's favor.
Presentation: Star Ocean presents itself in the style of most RPGs. It's a style that involves a lot of traveling, a lot of combat, and a lot of story scenes, with a noticeable transition between all of these things.
Visuals: Usually the visuals are pretty sharp, though there are a few issues with environments being almost comically static at times. The 3D is right on par with most PS1 RPGs.
Audio: The music is all in orchestral style, with lots of dramatic instrumentation. The sound effects are, for lack of a better term, generically fitting for an RPG.
Learning Curve: For the most part, it's not too steep and not very long. Star Ocean is not a game that takes long to get the hang of.
Challenge: Pretty much up to you, though you might not even realize it. It can be very difficult if you rush through and/or ignore Item Creation, and a total cakewalk if you abuse Item Creation.
Replay Value: There is some in that there's a vast cast of recruitable characters (of which 4 are mandatory and you can only keep 8 total per playthrough), but the difficulty of not knowing how to recruit them without lots of exploration and/or a guide might hamper that lure a bit.
Fun Factor: Now this is just impossible for me to judge fairly. There's a lot of ways to play Star Ocean, and while I personally enjoy the style I play, I can't be sure that others will. Still, if you enjoy action RPGs to some degree, you should be able to find some fun in Star Ocean.
Overall: While not a game for those who dislike RPGs, and not likely to cause any sort of RPGaming epiphany, Star Ocean manages to be interesting pretty much however you approach it. Its flaws are many and often not too big (if very consistently present), so there is the potential there for the experience to drag down on you. But its features can also shine through for particularly determined players and turn it into a very fun experience indeed. It really boils down to whether you think it's worth it or not to put up with the game's shortcomings.
Sky Render - Sanity is for the weak.
