Fayt, Cliff, Sophia, Peppitta, Nell, Albel, everyone in SO3 shaped a lot of my tastes on video games, music, and mechanics in games. I STILL LISTEN to 'Pert Girl on a Sandy Beach', 'Lakes and Marshes with Doubt', 'Starless Wavelets', 'Fly By Contact', and 'Cutting Edge of Notion' on a DAILY basis. And dont even get me STARTED on 'A Little Bird Who Forgot How to Fly'. Like, there's SO MUCH about SO3 that, in my eyes, embody a "Perfect Videogame." CGI, characters, world, story, combat, EVERYTHING.

I completely agree, the dialogue and story still hold up really well. The art cancels in combat was really cool. If I'm honest most people or very casual games probably found the battle system to tough, its a shame most people get put off game with a bit of a learning curve. If there is 2 similar games say competing for popularity, its usually the easier game that makes more sale.

Yes!! Although I started on SO2, it was between trying FF6, Morrowing and SO3 when I really got in to gaming. I remember taking a week off work when SO4 released, and playing from start to finish with one of my buddies watching the whole time. I love seeing other people that are part of the SO fandom

Also one of the very few games I actually liked the crafting system

And the remake delivered in every single way. I would highly reccomend if you don't have it already

@@twizms7362 Agreed, but there a few things to avoid if you want the full experience. The Bodyguard and Scout skills completely break the game. Waltzing through the levels having your allies powerlevelling you probably sounded good on paper, but in practice… I was at max level before I even got close to the bottom of the secret dungeon.

SO 3 gets a lot of shit for no reason,is probably the bets game in series. SO 2 is overrated but is probably the 2nd best or for many the best one after all combat is not everything. Is too bad the series has never been able to reach the peaks for 2 and 3.

@@raulrojas9253 so2 is not overrated at all. It came out on psone in the 90s and had voice acting, crafting, 80+ endings, and real time combat and had a wide variety of characters.

@@raulrojas9253 4 and 5 both get alot of shit. I always ask detractors of last hope and faithless to give me LEGIT reasons why they call it a bad game but i enver get any. I only ever get emotional Reponses or subjective things like humor or voice acting being "bad". Even the worst star ocean game is still a good game. My only legit critique of 5 was it was too short. And 4 is my second favorite jrpg of all time

​@@jonathansoko1085 haven't played 5. 4 has good gameplay but God oh God is it cheesy. Not only that but its method of story telling is also much more linear and restrictive than that of the first 3 games. The killing point was that little girl character though, listening to her speak made me lose my mind.

@@xxJing The first 3 star ocean games are linear. cmon dude.

Never met anyone more wrong. SO3 made all other SO stories meaningless.

@@Noplayster13 that's your opinion, doesn't mean we are wrong for liking SO3. The company bowing to everyone else made the rest of the games meaningless instead of sticking to their world lore they made in SO3, simulation or not. None of the other games went as in depth as SO3 ever could. In my opinion all other Star Ocean games are lacking and they still reference SO3 in the newest game. But fell short of actually continuing when they could have because of the wall your type of players put up on them, they can't even attempt to put a spin on things anymore and the stories just end now. There could have been so much more to the newest game, but the second it ended, I was extremely disappointed. So no, SO3 didn't make the rest of the games meaningless, it was the community that didn't understand and shunned themes ahead of their time.

@@nickwar6555 ‘So no, it wasn’t SO3 that made the other games meaningless.’ -you didn’t put forth any actual argument for why it didn’t make them meaningless. It did make them meaningless. I stand by that. How would you feel about SO3 if the next game came out and it specifically said that, canonically, ALL other games in the series were ‘all just a dream’ that their main character had one night after eating too much pizza? That every other game was utterly meaningless and only THIS game’s story actually happened? That would be the kind of bold, risk-taking storytelling that you are craving, right? Oh, and then at the end of THAT game, it could be revealed that even that story was just the dream of… like a homeless guy in Tokyo or something, doesn’t matter. Edit: Besides, the subsequent games did stick with the dogshit ‘it’s all a video game’ storyline since they all have Welch Vineland in them.

@@Noplayster13 are not all games the dreams of their creators. Creators take risks with their passion projects. I never disagreed that it made the other games meaningless. But on the other hand, it's far better writing then just some guy having a dream after eating pizza. But at the same time, when a community almost conpletely rejects the idea and subsequently all following games can't pull from the previous. It ruins the entire series from then on. It's like watching the lord of the rings and all of a sudden the film director takes out the rings all together because the most fans hated the idea of it. Now it's just a film on waring races. Do any of the final fantasy stories connect to one another? Yet there are chokabos and mogals in all of them. It's called having an ip and the creative variant of which you use that ip. Just because star ocean does the same with certain aspects. Not all the games have to be linked the same story. Games evolve with the feedback the creators receive. I will always think so3 is a great game. Regardless of the hatred it receives. If you want a cookie cut story. Then go play the others and leave the small community that loves so3 alone. If you feel so3 ruined the series then don't play it or consider it non cannon. But that would be your opinion. Not literally everyone's opinion. You can see the rest of the comments here loved or hated the same. Just because something is controversial, doesn't mean you have to pay attention to it and antagonize those that like it.

@@nickwar6555 Unfortunately, you’re kind of contradicting and undermining your overall point here. ‘The fans hated SO3, so all the following games can’t pull from it, it *ruins* the entire series.’ -Contradicts- ‘Not all games have to be linked to the same story. It’s called having an IP and the creative variants’ This one undermines your point: ‘If you don’t like the game, just don’t play it or think of it as non canon.’ -Just do the same with the games you don’t like. Why are you shitting on games that people like? That’s just your opinion of those games. You criticizing those games is “antagonizing” people who liked them, right? Right? Leave the people who like them alone! *calls the rest of the games cookie cutter.* -I hate to break it to you, but the majority of the fans think those stories were significantly better. *and that’s just your opinion.* -I’d love to enjoy those games, but SO3 went out of it’s way to *ruin* them. I think it would be nice if, in the remake of SO2 that’s coming out, SO3 was straight up retconned. Like Claude goes into a simulation on Energy Nede and the simulation shows bits of the story of SO3. Then he comes out and the technician tells him to not worry, that it was just a simulation and wasn’t real. I think that would be hilarious and be a very welcome addition. Literally no one would complain that SO3 was just ‘all a dream’ed.

I get the feeling that you would have hated SO3 had you played its predecessors first. Just like everyone who played and loved those stories, the revelation that the series canonically takes place in a mmorpg and that the characters are just npcs programmed to think they are real people… well, it shatters tension since no threat is really real, no one can really ‘die’ since they’re not alive to begin with, everything just feels flat. I’ll bet the writers of SO1 & 2 wanted to murder the writers of SO3 for ruining the stories that they told.

@@Noplayster13 Have to hard disagree with you on that point. The characters finding out the setting was part of a simulation meant to entertain the citizens of another dimension is a very interesting dilemma to present them with and also injects a bit of existential dread into the story. JRPG stories are no strangers to pondering on the nature of existence and people finding meaning in their lives in the face of hard truths, and this 'twist' checks that box in a unique way that hardly any other JRPGs have attempted. It does not diminish the danger/threat that the characters have faced, because even if they are NPCs in the eyes of the higher dimensional beings they could still die and cease to exist within their own world. Hell, the final threat they face is the very idea that they and their whole universe would be killed/deleted. That is standard endgame level RPG finale right there.

@@chinaman8888 SO3 would be fine as it’s own, stand-alone game. But having it retcon the previous games into an in universe video game world makes the sacrifices and tragedies of those games feel cheap in retrospect. I’m playing the remake of 2 and millions of people die in tragic, and sometimes very personal ways there. It’s unfortunate that I can’t help but be reminded that they’re not even real people in their own universe. There’s nothing quite as immersion breaking as watching Welch, the 4D being canonically playing this *video game,* pretend to console the (fake) child Leon when he’s weeping over his parents dying. Why the hell would she roleplay something so fucking dark? And if she can just wave her hand and change the game world (she’s a ‘creator’) why would she let him suffer like that? Oh and she lets the 10 wisemen kill Claude’s father right in front of him. …and does nothing to prevent it. So not even *she* thinks these people are real enough to empathize with them.

Ive been dying for another star ocean game to quench that thirst left behind by SOTET years ago. It was the first game that really changed my idea about what endgame content could truely be and I couldn't believe that 300 hours later I was out of content after Freya!! I think that this 25th anniversary game might just surprise us :)

Its my childhood too =D

The twist is people's main issue. I enjoyed it because it's a perfectly sci-fi and philosophical twist, but it's also quite nihilistic. That nihilistic aspect is what turns so many people off. It implicitly makes people feel like the entire game and the last two games were pointless as they were canonically just events that took place in a video game.

dont see many people saying they had a problem with so3 the game lost its soul after 3 they took to many elements out of the game that made it what it was the crafting the stealing the way you used your specials the story line and how you gathered teammates private actions

The voice acting was really the only thing that turned me off to SO3 otherwise I loved it and I love the fact that is had a dictonary with all of the pseudo science

​@@xxJingNot only the first two games but each of the sequels.

Here is a turn off: out of mp = faint. Stupidest thing ever. Although it didn’t happen often, it was enough to make people quit early on

I agree. If you played the first 2 games I can see how you might not like the sotet story twist, but if you come into the franchise playing sotet, the concept is truely amazing hands down. Plus that Freya fight!

Enjoy!

It’s a fine twist… as long as you have never played any of the other games. Then you’d likely loathe it.

Thanks dude, seriously appreciate that!

Haha, that was the point of these games though! Replayability. Gotta get all those 89 endings! lol

Only the strongest of wills walk into Blue Sphere and live to tell the tale

Twist ruins SO2 and 1. Claude and Rena are NPCs in universe. *facepalm*

It changed the emotional and story stakes for almost the entirety of the rest of the fanbase. That twist was fine in isolation, but it destroys the stakes, characters, and story of all the other games since you know that nothing that happens is an actual threat (dev just reboots the game), none of the characters are real or can actually die (dev just reboots them), and all of the scenarios are likely contrived and created by the gamedevs. It robs the story of all dramatic tension, robs all characters of their free will since they’re just programmed to be how they are. What a genuinely emptyheaded decision to kill every story or character arc in your franchise. Imagine if you’d written SO1 or 2 and some imbecile decided to take your characters and story and say that canonically “it was all a dream.”

@@Noplayster13tell me you played so3 with your ass withouth telling me so. dude, it doesnt change ANYTHING, the whole fcking point of so3 is to tell that the so universe, even tough is a game, evolved to the point of ACTUAL sentience, its not just "devs do this, devs do that, hur dur, nothing matters, its all programed mu du hur dur", if THIS is what you take out of the story, then you are as bad as luther because you cant get trough your empety head that those "characters" became their own living beings.

@@Kebin13 Prove it. Prove anything that you just said with actual dialog from that game.

@@Noplayster13 oh geez willy, i dunno, maybe the fckin part where you start raiding the company hq? it literally what luther's sister says, and that all the cientists and devs that sided with her agree that the star ocean "game" should be left alone, and thats why they are helping you? or how after the final fight with luther thats literally what happens, the star ocean game date is kinda of saved in a place outside of anyone's reach so that the universe can keep growing and developing whitouth people like luther trying to play god again with what is basically a sentient ai that started to grow its own universe? look, you already proved my point, you didnt even play the game, now if you are SO GODDAMN LAZY that you cant even look up a few cutscenes and dialogues, thats not my fault.

@@Kebin13 Dude, calm your emotions. Why are you having a mental breakdown? Of course I’ve played the game. Try thinking first before you post next time. Ok, so some of the devs think that the AIs have developed sentience while others (like Welsh and Luther) think that they haven’t. However, no argument is ever given by the pro-sentience devs for why they believe this. In fact, the question is avoided altogether (because of bad writing). The AIs have been programmed to value self preservation specifically by Luther and the other devs, which explains why they invade the company HQ. I’m not sure why you think that proves anything. Besides, none of what happens during the events of SO3 has any bearing on SO2 or SO1 being robbed of their narrative stakes, so I’m not sure why you brought up the game being put in a museum or whatever. SO2 and 1 occurred during the time when the game devs were actively controlling things. Welch’s presence (she’s a dev) and her ability to get the AIs to break the 4th wall are proof that they are actively interfering with the events there. It’s all a silly game with no real stakes to her, so why should I take it seriously? There was no threat of the wisemen destroying the universe because Welch can just wave her hand and eliminate the threat if the game gets too hard.

Tri ace is a pretty smart company; they've backfunded The Divine Force with the money from their mobile game. If they want to make SO7 they can do that again lol I am painfully excited

@@Super_Hambone I hope there are many more SOs to follow. If they make another mobile SO, they gotta market it more, because i didn't know about the one we had until it was too late to play it.

@@Super_Hambone I was super disappointed when Anamnesis was shut down. I loved that game. It was way higher quality in terms of everything than a mobile game had any right to be.

That is called "cuteness poisoning". In both senses!

Hey, Welch is definitely one of the characters to have an interest in. She's got a lot of talk surrounding her as to what her exact deal is, especially in light of the info bomb dropped in SO3.

Agreed! SO3 has a special place in my heart.

FF12 and Star Ocean 3 was the best

SO3 was a very tasty, very beautiful poisoned eclair. It feels amazing to play, and kills your love for the rest of the games which actually took their own stories and characters seriously. If SO3 was a standalone game with no connection to any other story, I would love it. Because it does ruin SO2, I loathe it.

FF and SO are super different beasts, beautiful and important for different reasons. I got other videos on the topic, specifically a new retrospective on the first title. If you're intrigued by what you see totally give it a shot!

Yeah, the achievements were extreme in The Last Hope. I thank God every day for not making me a 100% completionist 🙏🙏

@@Super_Hambone lmao

I totally agree! The big twist is definitely something that can be better appreciated with time. Great to hear you're enjoying the series!

@@Super_Hambone I understand why some people were not so keen on it at first since it completely changes how you view this universe however it also explains a lot of things like welch, symbology, superbosses, etc. This plot twist was also based on a popular theory and is an understandable choice as a plot point since the story takes place in the far future. In the end, it doesn't matter if they are living in a simulation since what happens there is real to them so it's not like everything before was pointless.

I have a video releasing on it in a day or two! Subscribe so I don't have to make you.

Yeah man you totally should

Just make sure to get the peep halves.

Finally, someone with true taste

@@Super_Hambone It had me when it opened with a fucking Hard Rock and Roll song. I feel like people who don't like Star Ocean don't really get the series. One of my least favorite criticisms for Star Ocean: The Last Hope is that you can't take the story seriously, with character names like Edge Maverick. To that I say: His name, is _Edge Maverick._ What made you think you were _supposed_ to take this game seriously? Yeah it has its serious moments (such as _that_ moment for Edge...) but ultimately, it's video game Star Trek. Just shut up, enjoy the scantily clad mages, lose yourself to the story and have fun.

On a good day it's 3, on an off day it's 2. If you're feeling wacky, perchance some 4

@@Super_Hambone 3 ruins 2. I loathe 3 for doing that to the rest of the series. It’s the functional equivalent of saying, “1 and 2 were all a dream”. *facepalm*

Top tier JRPG

Objectively incorrect. SO3 is a fine game… if it wasn’t a part of a larger series for its twist to ruin. Unfortunately, it ruined the whole series.

5 has its merits but is definitely weaker than previous entries. 4 is great, i'll here NOTHING against it. Ever. Nothing. 6 is great too

OH SHIT U RIGHT, I COMPLETE FORGOT ABOUT DISGAEA OOPS

i feel you, for me it was worse because i was a huge SO fan, i played the first one in emulation and the second was as soon as it lauched in the ps1, loved both. And i loved 3 until the twist... and then i stopped playing, i didn´t rage quit or anything, just that everything felt so poitless that i lost interest in the franchise, SO 1 and 2 became pointless, every new game after that also felt pointless, because everything leads to the end of 3 everything you do in those games have no real consequence.

Isn't Gabrielle Celeste in all the games aswell? 🤔 maybe puffy aswell

80 mini endings is a better way to put it, however thats still incredibly impressive.

The storyline, the pseudo-realtime combat system and the density of....everything. Seriously: that game is a massive time sink, and is filled with alot of subplots, secrets, extra characters and exploration. I wouldn't want to replay it on a TV because the graphics would maybe be a bit too jagged nowadays, yet I would absolutely play an emulation on a small phone screen(with screen space anti-aliasing enabled), or an HD form if they remake it in HD.

Do you mean the things that will change or you can do after spending your skill points? It is for item creation, playing music to make the item creation more successful, to fight a secret boss but your musical skill must be level 10, make your character stronger, extra skills that you can use in fights, regenerating more hit points after the fight also your magical points but this is a different skill, to get the secret skill your character can unlock for example Celine's stronger magic attack, each character have their stronger magic AND IT HAS MORE TO OFFER THAN WHAT I TOLD YOU HERE! You will get skill points as your characters level up. The limit skill points your character can keep is 999. So if you level up and your character have 999 skill points it will not get more skills points pass 999 going up to 1,097. So as you level up always keep an eye on each of your characters skill points for this not to happen to you because it is a waste that your character will not receive more skill points, a waste of your time, energy and hard work in leveling up. Spend your skill points with a plan. I forgot, I said item creation. Each character will have a weapon and armor that you cannot buy in any store. This weapon and armor will be their STRONGEST AND THE BEST YOU CAN GET IN THE GAME!

Level 255 is the limit level. Let me add, your skills and magic have a proficiency level. This means the number of times you used that skill or magic. The number of proficiency is only up to 999. Each time you use that skill a hundred times and another hundred times, the skill will do more damage. For example from 0 then you reach up to 100 times or more using that skill, that skill will become stronger. If that skill for example is Claude's shooting star, Claud'es level is at 37 then his shooting star does 129 damage if this skill you are using has 0 proficiency. Then once you keep using shooting star reaching a hundred times from 0 you used it up to 109 times, Claude's only at level 37, his Shooting star will do more damage from 129 damage to 171 damage and Claude is only at level 37. The same to healing magic, use it more the more hit points it will give you. Your skill will become at its strongest at Proficiency 999, this is the limit! It all applies to any magic and physical attack skills your character have, healing, buff or attack magic will benefit from this. DO YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE TO DO THIS TO ALL OF YOUR CHARACTERS?

@@awakenedsoul2638 thanks for the tips ! Yeah sounds like a lot, but I'll try to use these tips in my next play through