Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Tri-Ace/Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/PS5.
Official Site: N/A
Developer/publisher: Tri-Ace/Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/PS5.
Official Site: N/A
Release date: 2022-10-27.
Never did I expect there to be another main-line star ocean game after SO5...
but here we are and honestly it makes be so happy.
Not even 4 hours in and... sigh this make really remember why I love RPG's
this game really made me nostalgic for the old days cuz this it has the vibes
well at the very least I was off to a good start!😄 regardless of what was to come.
Sadly I did not like the OP that much, it was pretty much a mashup of scenes
from the game with some screamo rock music which definitely was not to my tastes.😓
I played the PS4 ver on normal difficulty and it was just the right amount of balance, no annoyance
of the plot made me consider lowering it this time! I am mostly positive with this game
but I have a few gripes.
Pro's
- Charming cast of characters and lot's of shipping fuel between some chara's.
- Story pacing was good and when the going gets good it keeps going.
- Slight graphic dip but smooth gameplay in battles thanks to FPS mode.
- Replay value; two different side + 1 optional character and endings for each side.
Con's
- While trying to fast travel, the message of being able to miss dialogue is unnecessary.
- Private actions despite not that missable should be more easier to spot as they are a
boon to be better able to understand the chara's. Sad to see its easy to miss.
- If you played many a rpg it might not do much new.
This game has you pick sides much like Star Ocean 2 so you can play with
Laeticia or Raymond's POV. Most of the game is the same but there are moments that differ
and even unique party member that join depending on whatever side which is nice.
There's mostly some POV differences and certain angles being unique to each side.
Story wise I won't be posting much in terms of spoilers but the pacing's alright
you slowly get to know characters and the world they live in.
The story was a slowburn, but it was kind of nice? I didn't think it was terrible or anything...
well not everything can happen like a magician snaps a finger and viola! Basically the outline
is like Ray's ship gets attacked and his escape pod crashes on an underdeveloped planet.
Laeticia and Albaird find him and decide to help him out find his comrades.
Some stuff happens along the way which they have to deal with too
and its a underdeveloped planet yet there is some folk trying to mess around.
This game in quite similar to older games isn't it? The story does end up peaking at some point and I liked that part a lot... it really shows
just how much everyone has come to trust one another! I could tell it was leading up to the finale
and it did really well or atleast tried to keep its momentum till the end.
I didn't really like the stuff before the final boss who is kind of like a cockroach at that point
but it fits with what the story was trying to do. There's a post game available as well
for those who really love the combat and character speciific endings.
Good thing is viewing PA's is not required for those and just spam aphrodite tears
on whoever you'd like to see the ending of and beat mr: final boss .
TL;DR for people who don't want to read the whole post:
Honestly I enjoyed this game for the most part, it didn't try to hard with its story
and the cast ended up being better when we got to know them more.
Star Ocean has always been fantasy meets sci-fi and this game did it pretty well!
Combat was fun even tho I didn't fully understand it, at times in boss fights it felt impossible
to get more AP except if you did a well-timed dodge still it was great that bosses were susceptible
to status ailments like freeze! They could definitely touch this game up with some QoL features
like better being able to tell if there are new PA's in the towns plus getting rid of the message
when trying to fast travel literally anywhere. There were some moments during the story
where I was like huh I wonder what happened on their side and there's a character
unique to each side that definitely adds replay value as well as endings. I can definitely understand
why J.J doesn't have an ending with Laeticia or Theo with Ray... if anything I can see
Ray asking Theo out for a drink.😅 but J.J and Laeticia uh... no compatibility detected.
It was a pretty good game with a fun battle system and decent AI that I don't need to babysit
yet the AI still had its moments of dropping its brain but you'll get used to it.
This game isn't perfect but its good at what it tried, a brand new story set in the star ocean universe
that doesn't force you to play other entries to understand its plot. Its a nice scifi adventure
that let's you explore an underdeveloped planet while uncovering a greater plot going on.
There may be a treat for fans who've followed the series so its mostly a win-win situation...
Unfortunately this game does not boldy go where no rpg has gone before
and it doesn't need to! it was still an interesting journey but if it was any longer
i'd probably get really annoyed. So take that as you will.
I'll be blunt, if the series dies with this game then atleast I am glad that it ended up
being like some of the older titles while giving it a nice fast paced battle system
and all the playable's having their own unique movesets.
will just set one up for disappointment! even if they don't it can still be good.
IMO this game wasn't terrible but its not perfect either.
I don't have any tips except for the following:
I recommend trying to play as albaird if the melee's feel too weird, he is around almost always
on Laeticia's side and is pretty busted in trying to make his bimbo spells stronger
thus being able to melt most enemies and being able to revive any AI that get hit too much.
Determined princess skill will make lvling up a breeze.
My last advice is to ignore the fast travel dialogue and act as if the message isn't there
and to just have fun exploring the games contents!
No plot spoilers in this post but like always there will be more babbles
with some random screenshots of moments that I liked.
Character wise, it did take a while for me to fully get to know everyone
but they grew on me slowly! to me rpg's are all about the chara's and story
and exploring a world so this game didn't disappoint that much in that regard.
Private actions are amust though! I will definitely recommend to go out
and try to find them in various towns before going to the capital.
are the biggest offenders in the game.😂
I liked Albaird even if he can be a bit... annoying, he is nice to play as and definitely
saved my butt against the 2nd boss with his spells while feeding everyone blueberries
because we did not have a healer yet. Over the course of the game, he really shows
just how devoted he is to the princess and it becomes less annoying and more endearing.
Laeticia is so cute! yet refined... all in all she was alright I liked how headstrong she is.
Nina feels a bit cutesy compared to Laeticia but I liked her determination
and her healing/buffs were amazing, she was definitely always in my party!
Raymond is... I don't dislike him but he's not a bad guy at all, just couldn't
get a grasp on his personality and seemed to fall into the background early on
but at the peak of the story he really showed just how good of a leader he is. I was shocked!
he definitely ended up being a cool protagonist to compliment the cool heroine Laeticia.
Nina was perhaps the only character that in the early hours was properly introduced yet
still a valid asset to the team all the others didn't seem to get much development till later.
 |
| Based Ray is based. |
Theo was just a friend to Albaird and a cousin to Laeticia maybe even a siscon?! going so far
as still using their childhood nicknames, aside that he wasn't that interesting to me.😅
Midas is a bit boring at first, but he has his reasons. I so ship him with Makya.
If not for her i'd just think he was a stuck-up old coot... the interactions with her saved his entire character for me. Oh and then there's Elena, the fembot... she's an android
and Ray's childhood friend. Some of her PA's are hilarious but it seems I missed a few.
 |
| I actually want to know... |
There's one more member Marielle but she joined too late and I had a hard time finding her PA's
so the attachment was minimal so the only thing that saved it was her history as a Kenny.
Honestly all of the chara's have a reason to tag along + have unique playstyles...
sadly due to the amount I never felt like putting some of them in my party
and my go to team was basically Laeticia, Albaird, Elena and Nina.
 |
| Random screen I took somewhere in the middle of the game... |
I definitely recommend as to whenever characters are speaking during your travels
to stop and listen sometimes characters do drop a bit of lore.
Occassionally there's some good banter but its far and between... finding private actions
is a pain and wish they were more upfront like there's new ones available. Good thing is
they don't appear to be gone immediately if you exit a town too quickly so they'll still be there.
Sadly I really disliked how the game doesn't want you to fast travel, no matter which
location you seem to pick there's always a message but you miss dialogue!
which just triggers my OCD and its misleading when in fact it is only travel dialogue
plus the fact that it will repeat when you go through the area to reach your destination anyway.
 |
| Definitely had to lower the brightness by 10% or so.... |
Gameplay... well I think it is like any other star ocean? they've always been kinda mashy
but they can at times get technical for lack of better word. All the characters got a unique
play style and it may be fun to experiment till you find someone to roll with.
This installment it is very fast paced though, DUMA really adds a flavor and spices it up
unfortunately I never understood it fully but thanks to Albaird most bosses were no big deal.
The world is vibrant but areas are kinda big and thanks to DUMA you can go traverse greater
distances at a speedy pace and see it from many different spots with a fluff of platforming.
Speaking of DUMA, the little critter definitely grew on me as well and he was.
 |
| Why do we have hands? to hold, pet, give money and cherish DUMA. |
Lvling up was also no problem at all and if you fight too much you may even out level those
who have yet to join... so uh go get em I guess? There's also no shortage of fol or money, thanks to skills or effects on accessories to increase gain of it.
I thought treasure chests and random items were handled really well
and better than say trials of mana, sometimes money an accessory or gear.
There's crafting too which could perhaps break the game... but having played SO3
this is nothing new! hahah laser wpn's + oricalcum go BRR and disc 2 be a breeze.
The game isn't that difficult and sometimes a boss may be a bit more difficult than the last
like that blue bird for example, gave me a little more trouble than usual.
The AI was for the most part pretty good too and if someone died you can just revive
and the main healer of the game did a terrific job too if you use her in your party.
I'm thankful that I don't have to babysit them like in a certain other game I recently played.
Graphics wise... the models look great! and I don't dislike the area design
in fact I loved the towns and fields but it can look a little washed out?
IDK if it was because I played on a PS4 slim on FPS mode, though I did try graphics mode
which might have looked a little better! the larcasse region looked like piss though
idk if it was because of the brightness being too high cuz it is supposed to be a pretty area.
I ended up dropped the brightness to low 40s and it did wonders! While I was at it
I also made sure the view/camera wasn't on the characters ass all the time and put it at 100.
Still I was able to enjoy the game and such even if it could have looked a little better
Honestly the world design is nice especially the towns! it makes me nostalgic for older rpgs!
except them forcing you to walk through areas so much. In Arise it didn't bother me
cuz most of them were compact but here in SO6 they're pretty big, if there was
no waymarker for the story i'd definitely get lost.
Welch is also back to teach us all about how to make items and gear
atleast her scenes were funny and this time she is some tsundere oujou-sama.😂😂😂
Sadly its an RNG fest and one may or may not need a guide to figure out how to make things
if you don't want to find it out yourself, you can use a bunch of iron,gold, silk/whatever
and the character may make something of it or absolutely nothing but a pile of vile goo.😂
Sure you could make some really OP accessory thanks to a random factor but idk...
it seems kinda lazy of it not being something like put these materials together and then you'll
have a nice armor! viola no rng. But instead its pray to rngjesus and hope its something nice.
Good news most of the weapons and armor you'll need to get through the game are just available
from shops! so seems this system will gets its most use on higher difficulties due to rare traits etc.
There's plenty optional content like a minion minigame and side quests which appear to be mostly
voiced as well. The only downside to side quests is that they're hard to keep track of.
Most are fetch quests but some were funny, imagine eating curry at an inn
only for the bees to come after your arse. That poor merchant!😂😂😂
Sure you can see how much quests you got accepted but it kinda felt buried for it was accessed
via the map menu, the map also wasn't useful to give directions for sub quests.
Most games nowadays even have markers for sub quests so this was a step back...
as well as not being able to tell if a town still had a PA with characters so its searching
for a needle in a haystack. Sigh they definitely could have done better.
Speaking of the map it auto-filled and it is good for a quick look of the area you're in
also thank god for fast travel because having to fly through zones can get tiresome.
Still its all pretty standard for a star ocean game and the lvl cap is more than 100
plus there being an optional dungeon available. By lvl 80 most chara's all had learned their skills
and some even had excess SP making me wonder why the skill tree was a thing!
well all that left over SP is supposed to be used to upgrade your abilities.
 |
| I ship it... |
I ended up liking this entry as much as 1/2 and 4... sorry I did not like 3 or 5 as much!
Never did understand the hate for SO4... too anime or tropey? eh it was alright.
I can sort of understand the dislike of 5 cuz a prequel to the game that literally ends the series
but not even adding that much to it is kinda bad. SO3 always gets a lot of praise and I'll admit
the plot twist was whack still I think if many people tried to play it in this day and age they'll rage quit.
Either cuz of the annoying mining cart minigame or cuz the shrine of kaddan tested them...
and how necessary it is to abuse item creation to even get a fair chance in disc 2.
Good news is, SO6 has none or barely any of that annoyance and is more or less
in line with SO1 and SO2. *Don't think you had to abuse IC in SO4 either.*
If you want me to rank the endings at Laeticia's side in terms of enjoyment it'd be like this.
Ray / Albaird > Theo > Elena > Nina > Marielle > Makya > Midas.
Sadly the old coot was the least interesting to me, Elena's was funny and Theo had some
extra closure for him and huehue I kinda ship him with Letty too I guess?
but not as much as with Ray or Albaird.
Final Thoughts!
and it is nice to have a rpg that is a stand-alone despite being part of a long-running series.
When I was about 20 hours in, despite some gripes I thought it was pretty good! despite
some gripes with the brightness lvls and graphics not looking as good as it should cuz fps mode.
At that point most characters grew on me and I saw enough of them, even like Midas
who's kind of whatever I ended up liking more when I saw him with Makya. So shippable!
Speaking of shipping... I like Laeticia and Albaird buut I'd ship her with Ray and the game
was pushing this as well! Ray even has some potential with Elena... even tho
she could be his mom too... uhoh momcon?! Sadly I can't really see much chemistry
for the leads with the other characters and like I said I can see Makya and Midas happening.
Characters have plenty of charm, if you're willing to go out of your way to see PA's you'll
probably won't be disappointed, tho i'll admit while some were fun others were a bit bland.Not all chara's may be likeable right from the start but who says you have to like someone straight up?
This game ended up being a nice 30ish hour rpg which means its not too short nor too long, I swear
they were already stretching it a little in the final dungeon so I was glad it ended when it did.
The endings were definitely a treat for me to see! its a little open
ended but has the right amount of closure for some of the chara's and
leaves you thinking hmm what if Letty did get together with Ray.
Sadly this game is a little rough around the edges and the combat may not be for everyone
the ps4 version was okay at best but i'm grateful I can even play it, thank god for fps mode!
The environments could be a little better too but I liked the world/chara design.
Story may be a slow burn but it was interesting to see where it was going
but to an avid rpg player it may not do much new.
It did feel very old school/traditional and more in line with SO1/2.
The two sides/protag's was done nicely too, I do want to play the other side
cuz there are moments like I wonder what is going on on their side. Which is nice
to have a second playthrough with another perspective. There were also two optional chara's
unique to each side so this game really has the replay value.
Nowadays games don't have much replay value, look at blue reflection 2! nothing much new
except for something at the end... no thank you! i'll take SO6's approach in a heartbeat.
This game however could use some QoL updates cuz no subquest markers on the map made
questing a pain! it also wasn't easy to see if there were new PA's available for chara's in the towns.
Finally why didn't they get rid of useless message of being able to miss travel dialogue
when trying to fast travel anywhere? said dialogue in the zone just repeats untill you advance the story.
Anyway...
I think I can definitely recommend this game, if you want a nice sci-fi fantasy rpg while
not having to worry if its directly connected to anything. I actually really liked how stand-alone
this entry is, especially after having just finished games that were more related to other works.
Still it does have a treat for long term fans of the series mostly due to the board minigame
which has figures from other entries that you collect and use in it. Plus Kenny.........
its just sad that it is so easy to miss PA's and miss what little fun interactions there were.
Maybe its for the better this series went back to its roots somewhat instead of ending
with SO5 which I personally call a funeral rite to the end of time.
I still think this was a good game to explore a world of and get to know its cast
while watching a plot slowly unfold! I did get sad at some point...
mostly because this game really reminds me of older games I played
and despite some minor gripes which mostly relates to how this cannot balance
both graphic and FPS on PS4, its clear that while it could be better the developers
were passionate in making it. This is enough for me to say, go give it a try
especially those that loved SO1 and SO2 as it really is in a similar vein, there may not be whole
ass multiple planets like SO4 but honestly when I look at the series as a whole that game
is the odd one out. Maybe there are people that did not enjoy this game but I had a good time!
opinions on games we play may differ in the end and we all can't always agree , as it may
be one of the better games this year for me it this could also be someones worst purchase.
Enough rambling! i've said more than enough and don't want to repeat myself...
8/10
I enjoyed SO6 but it could be a lot better, more polished.
What's next? i'll probably go do another route in cupid parasite as its really my backburner game!
and so far has been enjoyable to go back to. Monochrome mobius is right around the corner
but idk... it may be my last game of the year and if not i'm not in a rush to play it.
I could also just play Raymond's side instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment