Is a bit low in IMO.

I own this game. I enjoy it quite a lot. Those who are bashing the IGN review for the score are idiots. Period.

I personally feel that the game is probably a 7.5 or maybe even an 8 but that doesn't make the IGN review wrong in any way.

I think the game does deserve a high 7 or low 8 score but I've only put about 5 hours so far..

It started of really badly but after the first few hours it gets better!

The game could used some more polishing, but it's fun. My son playing Vesperia while I am playing this, Tales is definitely better and more polish.

Someone said this game is probably test run for Star Ocean 4, they are probably right. It seems there are a lot of "let throw this in and see how it work out" in this game.

If you like JRPG it's fun and so far story is interesting, battle is fun but cumbersome with so many button push and crappy camera. I got this game for $20.00 using reward points so for that price it's not bad, don't know if I would pay $60.00 for this.

I've got to mention that the game really does get a lot better and much more polished when you get past the five hour mark. The absolute worst sections of the game are presented right up front, definitely leaving a poor first impression.

My impressions from the IGN review that IU sounded like Rogue Galaxy were spot on, especially on the second disc now.

What I'd like to know is.... why is this game two discs? There's almost no CG past the opening cinema that plays before you start the game. And the voice work is also quite limited. With how short the game is, I can't understand why it's on two discs.

Dev - From my understanding, IU is just a few MB over the DVD limit. One DVD is 4GB, and the 2nd DVD is around 6GB.

IU isn't using the extra disk space.  LO was a 4 disk game because of the amount of cutscenes in the game.

@mysticD

That must be what tri-Ace are going.  They are adding elements that work in IU into SO4 and disgard the gameplay elements that don't work.

That's what I've heard as well, Riachu.

It seems they are taking the Namco route: Producing a proof-of-concept game (Eternal Sonata) before the meatier, more polished game comes out (Tales of Vesperia).

And if Vesperia is any indication of where Star Ocean 4 will be heading, it may be the best Star Ocean yet.

SO4 is getting rid of many of the gamers' complaints towards previous games in the series(in particular, SO3) so being the best game in the SO series is inevitable. Also, Tri-Ace have their better staff members working on SO4. All of that stuff about IU's gameplay concepts being thought up by them over a decade ago was probably a big fat lie they used to hype up the game.

BTW, how is ToV more polished than ES because I have never heard anthing about loading times or frame rate issues in ES(though I can see where the meatier part comes from)?