Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4935 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2004-10-01
• Platform: PlayStation2

Manufacturer's Description
Enjoy Square Enix's new role-playing game, an epic sci-fi odyssey overflowing with adventure, exploration and frenetic battles.

Planet Hyda IV, year 772 of the S.D. Calendar. For four hundred peaceful years, humans and aliens have co-existed. The influence of the Pangalactic Federation, which rules the planet, has continued to grow. But this peaceful planet has suddenly come under attack from an unknown space superpower.

Play as Fayt Leingod and his friend Sophia Esteed, who are brutally separated from Fayt's parents and forced to flee from the planet. Begin an emotional odyssey into the unknown to find their loved ones.

80 breathtaking hours of gameplay are set in a dynamic sci-fi universe with an open ended plot including many side quests and sub-events. Numerous difficulty levels add yet another challenge, providing incredible replay value and catering to all gamers, from beginners to hard-core players. Outstanding graphics, an original dynamic battle system and a ton of extra features add up to make this a must-have for RPG fans.

Customer Reviews

My thoughts upon completion!
I finally finished till the end of time last night (62hours!!) and I have to say I was incredibly impressed! I would give it 4.5 stars, but Amazon don't allow that. This is a great game, but no game is perfect!

To begin, I loved the story. The plot is slow to show it's true outcomings, and there are so many twists and turns. I wont spoil anything by revealing details, but for me it was a little different to most rpg fare and all the better for it. This kind of game experience needs story more than most, and in this area I was hugely impressed. The characters are all decent enough. A fairly common bunch of Japanese inspired personalities, but they all remain likeable!

The graphics in the game are good, but these days, the old PS2 is showing its age. It's definately up there with PS2 Final Fantasy's though, especially during the highly impressive CGI scenes. The musical score, however, is fantastic! I was really impressed with how well the tempo of the music matched on screen action (apart from one boss battle that actually had a rap song playing in the background! RPG + RAP = Wrong!!).

One of the highlights of the game, and this is a huge plus considering how much time you will spend doing it, are the battles. Battles play out in real time; you take control of one character and are free to attack as you would be in a beat-em up. You can also set up different moves to each button as you learn new skills and swap character at any time should you need a healer etc... This is a much more fun and imersive method than standard turn based fare and means low level characters CAN beat high level enemies if you are good enough, of which I approve greatly! Battles also feature a bar to the side of the screen wich slowly fills up as you score hits, and shoots up when you strike with a combo. Once it is full, you get rewards such as experience multipliers, wich makes leveling up much less of a torture. The battle gauge only breaks if the lead player gets knocked over, so this makes level up battles incredibly tense and tactical!

The previous Star Ocean game, 'Second Story' on PS1, was hugely overlooked upon release in Europe, hence its huge collectability (and high price! - it's worth every penny though!). I only hope more gamers take a chance on the third in the series. It truly is a great example of the genre. I can't recommend it highly enough to everyone who likes a good story and has the patience to invest time into a game, not just RPG nuts like my sad old self!

Star Ocean
There are a few points that the other reviews don't cover which I felt needed to be said. While this is a great game and absolutely massive (100+ hours, minimum, to cover everything)the character graphics and voice acting can leave something to be desired. Especially, for those of us spoilt by the beautiful Final Fantasy (FF) games. The battle system is hugely enjoyable, closer to Kingdom Hearts than FF and the story line is passable if not wholly imaginative.
Overall, a good solid RPG that doesn't break boundaries but fits nicely into the between ground of gamers just looking for fun and those who enjoy more depth, appealling to both. Well worth buying but be prepared to skip some of those annoying voices!!

A superb sequel to a true classic.
SO3 is far above most other cliche ridden RPG's, and also provides many unique features that make it highly recommended. There is the fantastic real time battles that have great depth and many moves for your characters to learn. This is very refreshing when most RPG's are content to put dull turn based combat as the fighting mode of choice.

The graphics are stunning and are much like FFX except they focus less on realism than on an anime style. There is support for widescreen and progressive scan which make the graphics very sharp and impressive looking.

Uniquely there is also a high level of challenge in the game, which is sadly lacking from most other RPG's that can be completed in your sleep. There are 4 modes of difficulty, as well as extra dungeons, and some very hard boss fights. Fans of the series will be pleased to see the return of the immensely strong angel Gabriel Celesta, as well as many other appearances from the previous game as well as Valkyrie profile.

Battle trophies are a large part of the game and you can collect up to 300 of them. Getting certain percentages of them open up bonuses such as alternate costumes and higher modes of difficulty. Many Japanese gamers have spent upward of 400 hours getting everything from the game. The translation is far better than the awful job done on SO2, and the voice acting is solid and can be switched off if you prefer.

Music perfectly sets the mood of the game, and there are some great tracks especially for the end battle. Add in the ability to create hundreds of item, customisation, many secrets, private actions, great characters and memorable boss fights and it's clear that this stands above any RPG released this year.