super famicom game reviews: Star Ocean Super Famicom

Description

A young boy named Ratix lives in the town Clatos on a planet with medieval culture, together with his best friends Dorn and Milly. They belong to respectable families of warriors and healers, and excel in battles kills. One day, a letter from a neighbor town arrives. A strange disease has plagued the town and its inhabitants plead the healers of Clatos to help them. Milly's father decides to go, but he himself catches the disease. The young adventurers must save Milly's father and other people at all costs. But in the beginning of their journey, they discover a crashed space ship with people who belong to a much more advanced civilization. People from two different worlds must work together to solve the grand mystery...

Regional record

Of the four games in the series, two have been released outside Japan. Star Ocean: The Second Story was the first game to be published in the USA, by Sony Computer Entertainment America. However, the localization (translation) for Star Ocean: The Second Story was translated rather literally, without correcting for cultural differences, which made some people complain that it detracted from the game's experience. The game is also frequently cited, along with Resident Evil, as a shining example of the power of bad voice acting.

With the most recent installment -- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time -- Square Enix hoped to attract more gamers, especially in the United States, where the franchise has not been very popular. The Director's Cut 2 Disc version of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time has been released in North America, with more playable characters, more games and additional storyline tangents. As of July 2005, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is a part of Sony's Greatest Hits line, indicating that the game had done reasonably well in North America.