GamesRadar+ Verdict
Pros
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Extensive specialty system
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Great mix of fantasy and sci-fi
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Tons of options for developing characters
Cons
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Mostly horrible voice acting
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Battles can get too button-mashy
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Character art looks generic
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The story begins as a plague that turns its victims into stone sweeps the land of Roak, and a young boy named Roddick and his local team of do-gooders set about finding a cure. While picking medicinal herbs on a local mountain, they're confronted by two space travelers who tell them that an aggressive force is laying siege to their rural planet with some kind of biological agent. To make matters worse, the germy pox comes from an ancient demon that hasn’t existed for over 300 years, and an antidote can't be synthesized without its blood. Luckily, the spacemen know the location of a mysterious time portal, which takes them all back to a time called the Demonic Wars, where they embark on a quest across the continent to find the source of the illness.
With auto- or semi-auto-targeting and AI controlling all but one character, the real-time battles can be mindlessly button-mashy, but not in an altogether bad way. In addition to jamming on the X button to attack, you can also choose two magic attacks that deplete MP, one on the left shoulder button and one on the right. Magic attacks can be short or long range, so equipping yourself with one of each adds a little extra strategy.
The story itself is pretty typical, but the juxtaposition between futuristic/sci-fi atmosphere and the typical rural fantasy-RPG setting adds a lot of flair to what would otherwise be generic. As long as you don’t mind the shallow real-time battles, Star Ocean: First Departure holds up amazingly well.
Oct 20, 2008
