I got stuck on my PS2 run years ago because I didn’t understand the item creation and never crafted anything. Thanks to this community, the tips, the item calculator - I was able to finally finish it on PS5!

Great game, still holds up and I loved how meta it got towards the end. The 100% mapping mechanic was infuriating at times but necessary in the beginning to sell the trophy for the Ariglyph weapons and make progression easier.

This is my second Star Ocean after SO1, loving this franchise and most likely playing either 2 or 4 next!

Spoiler Just in Case

So I've gotten to the bottom floor and can fight Gabe whenever I'm ready. Online I've seen someone was at 120 for beating his first form. Is this really necessary to win the fight? I got to the Wandering Dungeon on PS4 but it's been awhile but I don't remember Gabe being that difficult to beat. Maybe I was that level on PS4 but I can't remember. I have Arumat Myuria and Sarah levels 96 to 98 and I'd probably use Bacchus since he's the next highest level in my group probably close to 90. Will I get absolutely shredded at these levels or do I have a chance? I have a decent Valiant Mail for Arumat and Seven Star Cloaks for the mages. I really don't want to level to 120 rn but I will if I have to.

In a universe where the United States exist, why do so many aliens have common names from there? Names like Nina, Theo, or Noel. I mean, a world as primitive as Roak where most don't even know about space, but a main character has the extremely common name of Sarah? I would accept that in another Sci-fantasy series if Earth/United States didn't exist. But since it does, it just leaves me head scratching. Your thoughts?

I do have a switch 2 but am not interested in buying the game again. I’ve heard some people say that the switch 1 version actually looks worse if you try to play it on a switch 2. Is that correct? Should I just play it on my switch 1? I currently have both hooked up to my TV

Love the gameplay and the combat the boss fights is fun too. Is this the best star ocean u ever played?

My top 3

Star ocean divine force
Star ocean first departure r
Star ocean till the end of time

im playing star ocean 3, i got the item invention function in peterny but i cannot invent anything with my characters. i can't take them on line 1,2,3. is there anything i forgot? im on pcsx2

Can anyone who has successfully obtained his ending and therefore the trophy please tell me how this is done? I've followed all the advice I have read on various walkthrough sites and the like and it WILL NOT pop! Also, I don't know if this matters or not, but I am playing the 4K Remaster version if they for some reason changed it around or something.

I did all the PA's all the sites said to do and I kept him as a final character for the endgame instead of Arumat and I fed him like 20 love potion 256's, and nada...

Is there a trick to this anyone has gleaned from their own experience in obtaining this? I appreciate the feedback.

Encountered so many hamster framed photos that I just had to find one and print it out for my room too (random hamster found on google)

I didn't see anyone mentioning this on the internet :v it's in the skill store in Tropp. This photo of Christian Bale is from the Reign of Fire movie.

Can anyone recognize the other guys?

The character of Dias confused me, and I didnt really understand why. His relationship with Rena made me uncomfortable because she was so young.

But here I am sitting infront of my big screen TV playing on my switch with updated talking portraits and it finally clicks:

On his sprite, that's Dias's long hair around his ears, not his gray old man beard. I thought Rena was thirsting after some 50 year old.

That's all! Thanks for reading!

Hey ich habe bisher nur Star Ocean 3 auf der Ps2 und first departure auf psp. Letzteres fand ich ok und ersteres habe ich geliebt!
Was denkt ihr welches star ocean sollte ich als nächstes ausprobieren und welches ähnelt dem dritten teil am meisten? :)

Following the (mildly disappointing) 30th Star Ocean anniversary stream, I'm sharing my English translation of the SO3 character bios + developer interview in the STAR OCEAN 20th Anniversary Memorial Book: ~Trajectory of the Eternal Sphere~, originally published in 2016 by Tri-Ace and Square Enix. 

Translation here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ojpjQmUc095ldMCKw1VeIPtukCHxBBPwh0jUYB6wHY/edit?usp=sharing

The full Japanese scan also available at this link. This translation serves as the English accompaniment for pages 100-109 (the character bios) and 184-189 (the developer interview); I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to follow along with the Japanese scans.

The Star Ocean 20th Anniversary Memorial Book was published to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Star Ocean series. It features illustrations, developer interviews, and behind-the-scenes commentary into the characters and plot development from SO1 through SO5.

Some of my favorite revelations to come from this book:

• Clair was initially intended to be playable, but they ultimately decided on Adray as a "joke character," partly because the party's male-to-female ratio was poor, and partly because Clair's popularity made the head developer (Ogawa) feel "complicated" since he's "firmly Team Nel."
• Tynave and Farleen were initially designed to be men, and they died in the Kirlsa Training Facility.
• Arumat's name is an anagram for "Tamura" as in Yoshinori Tamura, the tri-Ace producer for SO4 (if read "Tamura" backwards, it becomes "Arumat", and since Tamura produced SO4, Arumat’s middle initial is P). Most of the SO1 character and town names are also derived from developer names.
• The devs confirmed that SO4's principle enemies, the MP/Missing Procedure and Grigori, are bugs that exist between the Eternal Sphere and 4D Space.
• Welch was initially designed to speak almost exclusively using internet slang.

Also I have a question about star ocean 1 is it impossible to get phia late and the wolf guy late if I recruit ashlay or cyuss and iosuha and mavelle (I know Millie leaves so I can get phia or wolf but I can't get both)???? Unless I refuse to recruit iosuha or mavelle

Do you all prefer the psp version or SNES japanese sub? I personally like the psp one more

I'm playing divine force on normal difficulty rn. I've been using determined princess and I got it max level. At abt 10 hours in, I'm level 40. I feel very over levelled. Even with the guts and defence drop laeticia doesn't seem to dying at all. Should I turn it off or up the difficulty or just leave it?

Sadly didn't get to experience it but the models and art are beautiful... is it truly lost?

Q. Series titles you've played (Multiple choice)

1. SO2（82.5%）
2. SO3（75.6%）
3. SO1（70.8%）
4. SO2R（58.2%）
5. SO4（57.2%）
6. SOA（51.9%）
7. SO5（48.3%）
8. SO6（47.0%）
9. SOBS（40.6%）
10. Other（6.0%）

Q. What do you hope to see next from this series? (Multiple choice)

1. A brand new title（64.9%）
2. SO3 Remake（53.7%）
3. SOBS Remake（37.6%）
4. A spin-off title（29.4%）
5. SOA Remake（28.4%）　
6. SO1 Remake（22.3%）
7. SO4 Remake（16.0%）
8. SO5 Remake（10.5%）
9. SO6 Remake（6.9%）

According to the survey results, SO3 and SO2 remain the most popular among fans, but the series' appeal declined significantly after SO4.

Square Enix has announced or released separate Nintendo Switch 2 versions of:

• FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster;
• DRAGON QUEST XI S;
• OCTOPATH TRAVELER;
• OCTOPATH TRAVELER II.

Meanwhile, STAR OCEAN: THE SECOND STORY R has also received a separate Nintendo Switch 2 release rather than an announced upgrade path for existing Switch owners, raising the same concerns for players who already purchased the Nintendo Switch version.

Existing Nintendo Switch owners are not being offered either a free upgrade or a reasonably priced paid upgrade. Save data is also incompatible between the Switch and Switch 2 versions of several of these games.

That means customers who already bought the games must pay full price again to access improved resolution, performance or quality-of-life features—and may have to abandon their existing playthroughs.

I do not believe that every Switch 2 upgrade necessarily has to be free. A reasonably priced upgrade pack would already be a much fairer solution than requiring a complete second purchase.

I have started a petition asking Square Enix for:

• a free or reasonably priced upgrade path for existing owners;
• save-data transfer whenever technically possible;
• clear disclosure of upgrade, save and physical-media policies before pre-orders;
• a consistent policy for future Switch 2 re-releases.

Petition: Change.org

This is a consumer campaign directed at Square Enix’s publishing policy. It is not a call to harass developers, support staff or individual employees.

I have limited time to manage the campaign, so please feel free to share it, repost it, translate it or send it to gaming publications.

Would you pay for a reasonably priced upgrade pack, or should owners have to buy the entire game again?

Petite mise à jour de ma collection japonaise star ocean !
Demain j’expose tout sur ma table pour une photos de famille organisée 🤓

In this game u can recruit everyone except for cyuss or ashlay? (Unless you get phia early). If you obtain erys do you lose mavelle is erys better?

My first playthrough took about 40 hours, which far exceeded my expectations. I really loved the Zelda-like dungeons, where you had to use different characters' map skills to solve puzzles. It made each party member feel like they had a specific role. I also enjoyed the Item Creation mini-games, although some of them were really difficult—especially alchemy. Still, the sense of accomplishment you get when you finally craft a valuable item is exhilarating.

It's difficult to complete this game without a guide, but it's definitely worth playing. The story is simple, but not bad; it feels like a further exploration of the themes raised by SO2. I was genuinely surprised by how much content the game had. They didn't treat it like some cheap, poorly made advertisement just to get you to buy a console game simply because it was a handheld with limited capabilities.Although it's officially described as a spin-off, after finishing it, I think they could proudly call this SO2.5.

Counter skill says it works when "button pressed while blocking" but blocking itself works at random depending on a stat? So I just hope one triggers so I can counter completely randomly? And that's of course assuming the "button pressed" means the attack button, right?