Star Ocean: The First Departure

[Dissidia]

It's an enhanced remake for the 1st Star Ocean, it's going to be released on PSP. New playable characters have been confirmed as well. There will be new voice actors, animated cutscenes and extensive amounts of new, fully voiced dialogue. With seiyu (Voice Actors) such as: Mamoru Miyano {Ouran High School Host Club (Tamaki Suou), Death Note (Light Yagami) & Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Setsuna F Seiei)} Also, Houko Kuwashima is here as well { Claymore - Clare, Gundam SEED DESTINY - Stella Loussier}. Moreover, this game is getting its own special edition bundle like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, therefore, this game is definitely going to be a huge hit in Japan. Release date is set on December 27th 2007 of course. No American release date has been set so far. Import is the answer :P

Pictures of the special edition package:

http://www.psu.com/media/articles/star_ocean_psp_back.jpg
http://www.psu.com/media/articles/star_ocean_psp_case.jpg
http://www.psu.com/media/articles/star_ocean_psp_pack.jpg

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQM58Gm6IuM

Any thoughts & comments are welcomed :)

[Ymor]

I preferred continuations than remakes, SO1 and 2 already had been good games in your times, I don't see for that to make remakes(I am excluding the factor "easy money to square" lol).

[Dissidia]

Heh, well, they are making SO4 but it's still deeply in development, but these enhanced improvements in this game are very appealing to me and I'm likely to get my own copy soon :D

[Aka]

I plan on getting the Eternal Edition+a few other PSP games... I just hope I don't run out of money to save my spares for January/February releases(Disgaea 3, DMC4, Wii, Brawl).

[Dissidia]

lol, we are all hoping that :D

[Shinji103]

You didn't mention that Yukari Tamura is in it... :twitch:

*smacks Zizu with a paper fan*

[Shadow Kira01]

I bought the game today and played more than 3 hours of it..

I made a small mistake which cannot be corrected, especially the fact that I saved the game 10 minutes later thinking that I had saved before the cutscene though that wasn't the case. I told Ruddle to go south instead of north and when I quickly catch up to the town due south, Ruddle said something about getting farther from his destination and decided to give up. Does this mean that Ruddle will not meet Rumina anymore? If that's the case, what items did I miss? In SO3, the two of them sold an awesome item that enabled an inventor recruitment. What about this game?

[DragoonKain3]

I don't remember exactly what you missed, but you didn't miss anything spectacular. I'm pretty sure it was a consumable item, and it was an item that sat in my inventory unused for practically the entire game.



But ah, good memories playing this game. Owning the bosses with Redwyrm Thundersurge, Torotoise Smash/Tiger Claw, and most especially Galaxy was just plain ridiculous. XD

[Shadow Kira01]

The skill point glitch seems to be most useful. Once in awhile, I would get 100-115 SP after level up which helps a lot. Usually, you are supposed to gain the number of SP the same as your new level.

[DragoonKain3]

In all honesty, you don't need the skill point glitch. Just max the skill that reduces SP first and foremost (I believe it was called determination), and you'd have no problems with SP when tacked on with the super specialty enlightenment (of which determination is a part of anyways).

With this, you should max all your skills by end game (even the useless ones, like increase cast speed for fighter types), which is around lvl 100. If you really min/maxed, you should have all of it maxed by around lvl 80.

[Shadow Kira01]

In all honesty, you don't need the skill point glitch. Just max the skill that reduces SP first and foremost (I believe it was called determination), and you'd have no problems with SP when tacked on with the super specialty enlightenment (of which determination is a part of anyways).

With this, you should max all your skills by end game (even the useless ones, like increase cast speed for fighter types), which is around lvl 100. If you really min/maxed, you should have all of it maxed by around lvl 80.

True, but it does make it easily considering that it normally requires 2-3 levels to raise one for Determination, whereas the glitch will raise 2-3 levels in one go making all other skills 1 SP requirement. My current Determination is Lv7 and I already maxed out 2 out of the 3 cooking components because vegetables (20 fol each) are cheap and they make great healing items (35-100% heal). I rarely use magical points (MP) unless during the final arena battles due to lack of healing items.

About the leveling, so there is no longer the Lv255 limit? Currently, Roddick's level is 34 and I thought it would take forever to reach 255, but if its 100, then it would be much quicker. I should get to it in awhile..

[DragoonKain3]

There is the level cap of 255 AFAIK, but considering even the optional super boss can be be beaten at the 70's/80's (either through Galaxy, Redwyrm Thundersurge, or Dragon Roar spam, pick your poison), it's really useless.

[Father Hentai]

True, but it does make it easily considering that it normally requires 2-3 levels to raise one for Determination, whereas the glitch will raise 2-3 levels in one go making all other skills 1 SP requirement. My current Determination is Lv7 and I already maxed out 2 out of the 3 cooking components because vegetables (20 fol each) are cheap and they make great healing items (35-100% heal). I rarely use magical points (MP) unless during the final arena battles due to lack of healing items.

About the leveling, so there is no longer the Lv255 limit? Currently, Roddick's level is 34 and I thought it would take forever to reach 255, but if its 100, then it would be much quicker. I should get to it in awhile..

The first thing I did was pushing up his training and scouting talent. This helped to push to lvl 80 easily.

[Shadow Kira01]

What level do you have to be to beat the flying metallic dragon in the Arena's Rank A round 2 match? Maybe, it is my weak equipment (sinclair + padded armor), it did about 2300 damage on me per hit, while I am doing only 60-70 damage on it. This doesn't seem right.. My level is almost 45, thanks to the round 1 Rank A battle which yields 10000+ exp. per battle.

[DragoonKain3]

You need at least a Walloon sword, which is a rare drop from those people with orange swords IIRC or advance until you get access to silvalant. Even then it would be tough unless you have berserker ring (craft a ruby) and/or Ring of might (craft an orihalcum, was it? I forgot).

I personally fought it with better weapons like dwarven sword or air slicer from the old race ruins, though at that point you can probably customize a nice earth sword that drains hp (forgot the name), or a bit later, you can customize the temporary luxurious swords into the permanent (and awesome) dueling sword. Gotta love that dueling sword, since it's the best non-elemental weapon for Roddick.

In anycase, just dragon roar spam him. God, that skill is so cheap. XD

[Shadow Kira01]

You need at least a Walloon sword, which is a rare drop from those people with orange swords IIRC or advance until you get access to silvalant. Even then it would be tough unless you have berserker ring (craft a ruby) and/or Ring of might (craft an orihalcum, was it? I forgot).

I personally fought it with better weapons like dwarven sword or air slicer from the old race ruins, though at that point you can probably customize a nice earth sword that drains hp (forgot the name), or a bit later, you can customize the temporary luxurious swords into the permanent (and awesome) dueling sword. Gotta love that dueling sword, since it's the best non-elemental weapon for Roddick.

In anycase, just dragon roar spam him. God, that skill is so cheap. XD

How did you craft good items? Most of Roddick's skills are Lv10, yet I keep on getting tons of garbage like lame earrings, heavy rings, scrap paper, etc.. The only thing I got good on would be cooking, which rarely do I get the wilted salads (heals 50% HP) and the tasteless stews (heals 30% MP). The rotting sashimi causes poison, while the rest does nothing but sells for 1 fol each. :(

Last I tried crafting 3 sinclairs, it resulted as dull blades. I lost some green beryls, crystals, and diamonds to heavy rings. After getting Determination to 10, I got Effort to 10, then started maxing out most non-combat skills. As for my combat skills, it reached Lv5 for most of them. Still, it is entirely possible to get the paralysis status and game over. I am right outside Silvalant, hopefully they will sell the paralysis amulet, otherwise I won't be able to solo for awhile. Currently, each battle yields me about 7000 EXP and 4000 fol for Roddick and Ioshua. Not bad!! :)

[DragoonKain3]

First and foremost, IIRC all specialties has a requisite talent, like Sense of Taste for cooking. The character doing that specialty MUST have that talent, or else you fail 99% of the time. Good thing though is if you keep using a specialty, there's a random chance you'd learn the talent (and get 100 SP for your trouble as well).

You need the items that increase their success rate, like the Kitchen Knife in the town you get Ronix back. There's the hidden merchant in Silvalant as well, who sells the more important ones (like the one that increases customization, for example).

Alternatively, have someone with Sense of Design and Dexterity use Machinery over and over and over again. Sooner or later, you'd have all the items that increase specialty skills success rate.

Most importantly, you need to use music. IIRC, one of the violin music GREATLY increases the chance of succeeding. Alternatively, you can use Orchestra, but that one's shorter, so if you're trying to mass produce anything, it's much less effecient. And it's simple... you just have to use the specialty skill after the music starts but before the music ends to get the benefit.

With all that, you should succeed 90% of the time. Really useful for alchemy, since if you're gonna be using item creation a lot, you're gonna need a lot of special gems.

[Shadow Kira01]

First and foremost, IIRC all specialties has a requisite talent, like Sense of Taste for cooking. The character doing that specialty MUST have that talent, or else you fail 99% of the time. Good thing though is if you keep using a specialty, there's a random chance you'd learn the talent (and get 100 SP for your trouble as well).

You need the items that increase their success rate, like the Kitchen Knife in the town you get Ronix back. There's the hidden merchant in Silvalant as well, who sells the more important ones (like the one that increases customization, for example).

Alternatively, have someone with Sense of Design and Dexterity use Machinery over and over and over again. Sooner or later, you'd have all the items that increase specialty skills success rate.

Most importantly, you need to use music. IIRC, one of the violin music GREATLY increases the chance of succeeding. Alternatively, you can use Orchestra, but that one's shorter, so if you're trying to mass produce anything, it's much less effecient. And it's simple... you just have to use the specialty skill after the music starts but before the music ends to get the benefit.

With all that, you should succeed 90% of the time. Really useful for alchemy, since if you're gonna be using item creation a lot, you're gonna need a lot of special gems.

Oh.. No wonder why I had a failing rate of 99%.

The special items I got are: Lezard Flask, Keen Kitchen Knife, Magic Camera, Harmonica, and Book of Prophecy 1, 3, 5, 6, as well as 3 useless copies of New Book of Prophecy.

And Roddick's talents learned throughout the game are: Originality, Taste, Nimble Fingers, Composition, Love of Animals, Animal Instinct, and 4 empty slots. Is there any way to fill up those 4 empty slots using books? Funny thing is that I got most of the skills with maxed levels, yet my equipments and items are mostly useless.

I found this part to be rather interesting. The Oracle skill gives you messages from Tria (Tri-Ace???), the Gods of Creation whenever you offer a prayer:

"You don't need the Oracle specialty to complete the game."

"Affection Levels can be raised through PA scenes, as well as by winning major battles together."

"Super Specialties didn't exist in the first version."

"Thanks a lot for playing!"

"As a bonus, we've hidden a secret dungeon somewhere in the game. Have you found it yet?"

"Picking too many pockets will lower your friends' Affection Level towards you."

"Some accessories may break during battle."

"There's a hidden parameter in the game called the Affection Level."

"Using the Contraband specialty too often will lower the Affection Levels between party members."

"This game is a remake of the Star Ocean game that came out in Japan on July 19, 1996."

"The storyline changes based on the characters who join your party and the places you visit."

"CYUSS and ASHLAY can never be in your party at the same time."

"Reading lots of books can help you save on Skill Points."

"Try returning to towns you've already visited. You might be able to watch some new PA scenes."

"Take a good look at every item. Some have uses that aren't obvious at first."

"Have you found the secret characters? Hint: there are two of them!"

"This version lets characters deliver up to 3 attacks in a row."

"If IOSHUA is in your party, then MAVELLE will definitely join you."

"You should replicate valuable items before you use them."

Tri-Ace is definitely something. These tips actually come in handy throughout the game. :)

[Amray]

It is this remake of Star Ocean: The First Departure that made this story finally make its place and first appearance in the United Kingdom. This game was never actually released in the UK officially which made it extremely rare to get a hold of and is also the reason why its sales exceeded to over £70, for the original Playstation version, when it was found on sales over the internet.

I downloaded a trailer onto my PSP and it looks quite decent. I am definitely considering purchasing this game. The only restriction that I have is all of the other games and DVD's that I want even more.

[Shadow Kira01]

At Silverlant, I am having a problem..

How to make the Philosopher's Stone? I had this same problem while playing SO3 awhile back, it took me several hours before I succeeded. In this case, however.. I am not sure which character to use, but the only ones that have the crafting skill right now would be Roddick (Lv9 Alchemy, Lv9 Orchestra) and Ioshua (Lv8 Alchemy, Lv6 Orchestra). I also have all the required skills to Lv10, but after crafting 40 pieces of Iron, I got many heavy rings, quite a few lame earrings, 2-3 pieces of weighty rings (doubles light damage), a hefty earring, and 2-3 pieces of anti-poison amulets, as well as many pieces of ugly accessory that resembles the mandrake. Luckily, I didn't saved game, so I only wasted an hour of doing so rather than 6000 fol.

It is this remake of Star Ocean: The First Departure that made this story finally make its place and first appearance in the United Kingdom. This game was never actually released in the UK officially which made it extremely rare to get a hold of and is also the reason why its sales exceeded to over £70, for the original Playstation version, when it was found on sales over the internet.

I downloaded a trailer onto my PSP and it looks quite decent. I am definitely considering purchasing this game. The only restriction that I have is all of the other games and DVD's that I want even more.

Actually, this is not a remake of Star Ocean: First Departure, but that the game itself is named as such, while that it is the remake of Star Ocean (snes).

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/588691_4539_front.jpg

They have renamed all the characters and improved it so much that it is very similar to SO3.

[Amray]

Actually, this is not a remake of Star Ocean: First Departure, but that the game itself is named as such, while that it is the remake of Star Ocean (snes).

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/1/588691_4539_front.jpg

They have renamed all the characters and improved it so much that it is very similar to SO3.

Oh, I see. In any case it is the first time it has been placed in UK stores. The only Star Ocean that was released her, officially and greatly, was in fact Star Ocean 3. When it came out, and during the build-up of before it was released, it was one of the most spoke of games here. It proved very popular and now it is very unlikely that one will find it in an average shop in town. It is a rare game now unless purchased on the internet and even that resource is quite limited to use now, with regards to this game.

[DragoonKain3]

To make philosopher's stone, you need one of the flasks that increases alchemy success rate. There's the one buyable either in Silvalant's hidden merchant or in the town Ronyx joins your party, forgot where. There's a better flask that's made by machinery.

Also, Blessing of Mana is a prereq talent, thus only spellcasters and Mavelle can do it properly.

Finally, same rules applies... which means abuse orchestra, or preferably music, to make lots and lots of stones. You can even turn in a tidy profit by making lots of Philosopher's stones, and using Group Identify to further increase your sale prices.

[Shadow Kira01]

After playing another 2-3 hours, I managed to recruit Welch which wasn't very difficult and Erys which was very difficult. I wasted nearly 2 hours just to recruit her. I couldn't find the Old Ruins and had wandered in wrong directions a few times. Apparently, it wasn't indicated on the world map and even the entrance was nowhere near suspicious either.

Welch is a time traveller, it seems. Erys is actually Mavelle. Mavelle is actually Erys' replacement vessel (originally an Old Race) she used to seek revenge against the Crimson Shield since her original appearance as the Featherfolk girl Erys was rather suspicious. Surprisingly, after maxing out her crafting abilities, she seems to be nowhere near as good as Mavelle though they are actually the same individual.

To make philosopher's stone, you need one of the flasks that increases alchemy success rate. There's the one buyable either in Silvalant's hidden merchant or in the town Ronyx joins your party, forgot where. There's a better flask that's made by machinery.

Also, Blessing of Mana is a prereq talent, thus only spellcasters and Mavelle can do it properly.

Finally, same rules applies... which means abuse orchestra, or preferably music, to make lots and lots of stones. You can even turn in a tidy profit by making lots of Philosopher's stones, and using Group Identify to further increase your sale prices.

That means I should switch Millie into reserve and Mavelle back into the party, do lots of grinding and max out the skills. Apparently, Roddick doesn't have the Blessing of Mana. I got the Lezard Flask and my machinery level is very low, like Lv4 or so. For Orchestra, I only got Battle Blues which increases random encounters. For some reason, the Harmonica didn't respond for like 30+ times and I quitted. I guess I will have to work on that as well.. Thanks for the info! :)

[mari_ryo]

I know this thread kinda dropped but im having difficulty fighting the darkeyes despite following the FAQ. I equipped Roddick with air slicer and my party is at lvl 120 because im too mad and obsessed with leveling. However it took me more than 15 mins and yet I still can't kill those two irritating darkeyes. Is there something wrong or what? I tried restarting and it still doesn't works.

[geass user]

dammit i miss my star ocean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if only i knew there was another way to astral city i wouldn't have changed it for final fantasy echoes of time! curse my sister for making me promise not to use the walk through any more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now i have to do the house chores all over again to gain money for it.

another reason why i gave up my star ocean first departure:

my stupid psp cant read my freaking memory stick anymore so that makes it very hard considering the bosses i run into and if i make mistakes and go on a high lv place and get caught in an impossible to win moment.
damn it all! im going to build a time machine that carries your soul only to that specific time where u want to be

[Shadow Kira01]

I know this thread kinda dropped but im having difficulty fighting the darkeyes despite following the FAQ. I equipped Roddick with air slicer and my party is at lvl 120 because im too mad and obsessed with leveling. However it took me more than 15 mins and yet I still can't kill those two irritating darkeyes. Is there something wrong or what? I tried restarting and it still doesn't works.

What are your party members? I am much lower level than you, mainly because I bought the sequel Second Evolution just a day after I reached the final planet and I ended up starting the game which means that I haven't played this game for over a month or possibly two but still I think I know how to defeat the Dark Eyes. I never followed the faq because printing it would cost me 2-3 packs of ink cartridges which is like around 100 bucks.. Anyways, here is my current settings..

My current main team is:

Roddick Lv87
Weapon = Silvance
Skill = Spirit Strike (very effective, especially in the Battle Arena)
Equipment = Mithril Set

Ioshua Lv67
Weapon = Rod of the Feather
Skill = Star Flare, Noah, Fohn Wind (all three are effective against anybody with the exception of Gabriel)
Accessory = tri-Emblem

Erys Lv68
Weapon = Rod of the Feather
Accessory = Faerie Ring

and the fourth character I pick randomly depending on the situation: Welch Lv58, Ilia Lv52, or Millie Lv51.

....

Generally, as long as you have Ioshua in your party and make sure he has the tri-Emblem and you are pretty much safe because he attacks continously to the point that I don't even do anything in battles. In the JP version, Ioshua is voiced by Fukuyama Jun and which is the reason why I picked Ioshua in my party rather than Marvel but it turned out that Ioshua is the strongest wizard in the entire team. I haven't lost a single battle except against Gabriel who can only be summoned through the use of orchestra. I can't even put a single scratch on that guy, even after multiple tries.

I am assuming that Dark Eyes is much weaker than Gabriel and to consider that you are at Lv120, which is much higher than my level at Lv87. I doubt you will have any problem against it. The battle should be over in minutes.

[DragoonKain3]

I don't think there's anything in the game that can stand up to Dragon Roar spam (just keep pressing the button as fast as possible), as long as your weapon is good enough (dueling sword is best). Even Gabby is toast just through Dragon Roar spam provided she doesn't kill you on your way in getting in range... either she's frozen in block lock, or you put her in stunlock through damage. If you manage to sneak up behind her, it's an auto win.

Or if you have Redwyrm Thundersurge already, even better, as long as they don't resist fire (of which you do, you just Dragon Roar to death). Or if you got Cyuss instead of Ashlay, then Dragon Surge launches them in the air for as long as your recovery period, so you can cheese them as well with that.

If you're using Mavelle, Galaxy practically wtfpwns every boss in the game if they get caught in the nova.

Really, there's a lot of broken techs in the game. At lvl 120, you should breeze even the optional dungeon, so I dunno why the eyes are giving you a hard time...

[gunshottrigun]

I haven't picked this up yet, but I plan on it soon. It seems like an enjoyable game. :)