Star Ocean 4: May cause siezures
 

Well, Tri-Ace recently released Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and thinking about the mind-numbing amounts of time I sunk into Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, I decided I had no choice but to get it and play it.

The game seems to make about as much sense as last time, A bunch of crazy JRPG action-figures running through space and blowing up other civilization's mail boxes when they aren't looking because its funny.

This game compensates for its randomness, however, with some interesting characters and one a very, very good RPG battle system. The mind-screwing amounts of content are good too. Overall, the plot has been extremely random (and I mean just a few notches below "Dr. McNinja" random) but its fun to play and it looks pretty. Then there are the crazy characters. First and foremost is the main character, a galactic hero and role model to us all: Mr Bacchus.

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/1...d_79_large.jpg
(EDIT: If it looks like Bacchus is crying in this picture, its because it makes him sad to know that nothing else in the universe will every be nearly as awesome as him)

Mr. Bacchus is without a doubt the most awesome character ever to grace this series. Between his big-ass arm cannon, his big-ass electro-hand attack, and his big-ass ass-mounted rocket launcher, whats not to like?

On the other hand, sadly, there are some weaker characters in the game, such as this "Edge Maverick" kid that people keep telling me about. I will have to acknowledge, at the time being, that a character named "Edge Maverick" does appear from time to time in the background of this game, but I try really, really, really, really hard to just ignore his as much as possible. I don't know why it is that I hate him so much. Is it the fact that his name is a fancy way of saying "Sword Rebel"? Or perhaps that he looks exactly like Fayt Leingod with different colored hair and eyes. (See spoiler for comparison)

http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/so3/art-001.jpghttp://www.nekomagic.com/figure_news..._ocean4_09.jpg

You can't see it in the picture, but he also wears his sword the same way Fayt does.

I think perhaps the thing that I hate most about Edge Maverick is that he pretends to be the main character for about 30% of the first disk despite the fact that the REAL main character of the game is Mr. Bacchus with his big-ass arm cannon gun thingy.

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/...245120-000.jpg

Long story short: Star Ocean 4 is just as awesome as Star Ocean 3 except that the graphics are like 50% more likely to cause seizures, the plot has gotten twice as crazy, and there's a snot-nosed emo-brat trying to take the spotlight from the REAL main character.

DISCUSS!

EDIT: The Cardianon dragon boss is really, really hard.

So is the voice acting decent, or pretty bad? I keep hearing that the guy who did the game originally wanted to make an ero game, but Squeenix told him fuck no, so he put some stuff reminiscent of dating sims into parts of the gameplay. Is this true, exaggerated, or complete bullshit? Anything else good or bad about it?

Star Ocean 3 had "Relationship points."

So, I assume that's what they're talking about.

Actually, they're talking about stuff like this taken out of context, but I have no idea what the context is so I just have go what?

http://i39.tinypic.com/b833fb.jpg

Star Ocean 4 is prone to the same random JRPG craziness that ALL random crazy JRPG's are. There are some female characters that are scantily clad or have very large breastes, but they don't seem to take it any farther than final fantasy does on a regular basis. Furthermore, in Star Ocean 3 (I haven't checked if they're there in Star Ocean 4), all characters have "Relationship points", which is a hidden stat that acts throughout the game and changes between characters as you participate in certain events. The concept is that if you act in ways that should make a certain character like you more, then they DO like you more and there is a chance that certain events later in the game may happen differently. Furthermore, every character's ending will be different depending on who had the most relationship points with that character. Its not like the Sims, though, where you just talk to someone and then you can get laid. Relationship points existed between all characters, and seemed to represent something more platonic than romantic. I've gotten most of the way through the first of 3 disks and the only thing even close to sexually explicit that has happened is the part where a 5 year old girl accidentally kissed an alien while trying to jump out and surprise him.

To be honest, I haven't gotten to the part of the game that that particular screenshot comes from, but the picture doesn't surprise me at all given the character in it. That person is a hologram AI thingy put into a ship called the Calnus. She is very... hyper and perky, to say the least. In fact, if I had to say anything in the game was ero-ish, it wouldn't be that part but the part where a cat-chick joins your party. And even then its not like the Cat-Woman kind of Cat-Chick. Mostly she's just a chick with a tail and cat ears that kind of acts like a cat. Y'know, just like there is in every random crazy JRPG. Ever.


So no, you don't need to worry about any stupid ero crap made to appeal to the pubescing 13-year-old demographic. The voice acting seems to be well enough, at least better than most anime I've seen. There is one character in the beginning who has an odd mustache and has a voice that doesn't seem to suit him well, but he is not a member of your party, nor does he go with you through your crazy-space-mailbox-exploding adventures, so you only see him for a short time in the beginning.

But enough of these questions, and more Bacchus worshipping.

Did I mention that Mr. Bacchus is like Chuch Norris, Captain Falcon, and Robocop rolled into one? 'Cuz he is.

I still refuse to believe that person you're showing us is the main character. He doesn't look like a slightly effeminate teenage male at all. I bet he dies or something and you play the rest of the game as that one guy you didn't like.

To be honest, the one guy I don't like IS the main character. I'm just trying to ignore it because he is a Fayt Ripoff and his name is Edge Maverick. I mean, really, Edge Maverick.

You get Mr. Bacchus about 8 hours in though, and he is clearly so superior that he couldn't be anything BUT the main character.

I thought you were being serious. To be honest, I was hoping you were being serious. Bacchus is just so far removed from standard JRPG hero it would have been awesome.

What? Not both? I'm out.

Is this game for 360 or PS3 cause mr bacchus makes me want this game BADLY!