Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness - Review [Is it really THAT bad?] (PS4)

[@aquatrez]

So nice to see a reasonable review that acknowledges this game's strong points. I think if the game had been given a proper budget, it could've been one of the best in the series. Really hope they learned their lesson with 6!

[@OrphanCrippler1]

So far, 6 looks like trash, so probably not.

[@laststep56]

@@OrphanCrippler1 yeah it looks like another pretty graphics game with uninteresting characters. I'll watch reviews and some gameplay on launch to see if I am wrong otherwise it's a hard pass..

[@bumbayker]

@@OrphanCrippler1 Your baseless opinion is trash. Just because you don't like how it looks doesn't mean it's bad. The game hasn't even been released and you unjustly judged it already.

[@OrphanCrippler1]

@@bumbayker uhhhh, there are MULTIPLE gameplay trailers, story trailers and showcases for the game out you genius. I said LOOKS LIKE trash, as alllll their other games have been since second story. Calling my opinion baseless is beyond ignorant.

[@OrphanCrippler1]

@@laststep56 Same. If reviews turn out well, and it has Japanese voice acting, Ill pick it up. The American voices shown in trailers were laughable.

[@SinathorProductions]

I'm stunned that I found a review that is almost 1:1 as to how I feel about Star Ocean 5. I got platinum trophy in the game, and while it was probably the easiest 100% in the series, it still took quite a while. It was just such a fun game to play to completion. I like how you specifically mentioned the grind being strong in SO5! It was a lot of fun to complete all the missions and grind for xp and loot. Great review! SO6 is my most anticipated game in years, and I'll love it even if it ends up being only slightly better than SO5. But let's hope it'll be as good as SO4, or even better!

[@Evanz111]

I’ve played this game to completion 4 times now, each time trying to find a reason to love it or feel it’s underrated. There’s definitely potential here, so it’s great to see you praise those parts. But it’s just so underwhelming, and short on content. One planet, less areas, less attack skills, less equipment. I really hope the divine force is beefy and has a 40-60+ hour campaign with even more post game stuff.

[@Evanz111]

I would have LOVED to see the role system return but it seems it won’t be

[@darkflarexl]

@@Evanz111 Made me sad with this one

[@everyanybody]

i love this series a lot. i got into it back in the ps2 era with Til The End Of Time. for me, this game was pre-ordered and paid full up on day one. having waited with baited breath for it to come out, i was pretty crushed when i first played through it and beat it in ~10 hours or so. and i can understand the people who get it on sale for 10 bucks (or 5 bucks physically at a gamestop or something) these days, but my disappointment paying full price for this was immense. total letdown in so many ways.

[@snazzydrew]

SOTET is still one of my favorite RPGs to this game.

[@Evanz111]

@@snazzydrew Same here

[@Makoto03]

I remember this being the only Star Ocean game I never finished. It just bored me too much. It also had a ridiculous difficulty spike at one section. It wasn't worth putting up with it for me. Still excited for the new Star Ocean though.

[@HellFireRPGs]

You're talking about the protect Anne section, right? The desert one was brutal!

[@guardianmf5534]

I actually abandonned the game during one of those fights to protect Anne the first time around. When I picked up the game again a few years later, I went on a grinding spree right before the fight in the desert, going back to earlier zones. This was not intuitive to me, but it made those fights easier.

[@Lennis01]

@@guardianmf5534 Keeping up with the optional quests and making sure your bonus board is high throughout the game can mitigate the danger to Anne. I actually beat the game without losing her once. As a last resort, you could always put defensive roles on Anne for those instafail battles instead of doing a special grind. Certain foods can also help.

[@FiveFingerOutfit]

A disappointing game, not a trash game. I love it actually. Every game doesnt need to be massive or long as hell. Difficulty spikes people mention shouldnt even be an issue as you can switch around your roles and skills in combat to suit whatever the combat scenario is. If you dont have many roles unlocked that's the player's fault imo. Youre making things difficult for yourself, as well as not doing side quests or synthesis/item creation. Game is honestly too easy if youre not trying to fly through it, which youd have to be to complain it's too short. Ive done two playthroughs and ended around 50-70 hours, before even starting post game dungeon. Solid length to me. Like I said, it's undoubtedly disappointing in many ways. Story is meh, combat was a step down from SO4 but I love the chaotic nature personally and all party members active. In all honesty SO5 might be my favorite and I dont feel bad about it. SO4 is so corny and many party members are straight up annoying. Uncanny valley porcelain doll character models doesnt help either. SO5 has laughably cartoonish villains but they're so over the top it's funny like DBZ. Still like SO4 but 5 edges it out for me, sorry. SO3...I kinda hate. So many things about Til the End of Time I despise, too many to get into. Wanted to like it, really didnt. SO1 and 2, great games I do like a lot but what can I say, I still enjoy SO5 slightly more. The combat in 1 and 2, while still fun after so many years, is still a bit outdated and as combat is the main activity I do prefer the smoother more recent combat systems. The stories in 1 and 2 are better than SO5 but theyre not super great either. Screw everyone's hyperbole, SO5 isnt that bad and I love it. I do hope SO6 can excel though, and be good enough for SO fans to actually embrace as a solid game. It looks good from what we've seen so far.

[@NemesisTomato]

Star Ocean 5 is definitely a weird one. I love that you can have (and use) your whole party in battle, but I actually didn't like the copy-paste combat controls from Star Ocean 3. Fidel was just Fayt, but much more tolerable. I feel like Star Ocean 5 had some brilliant ideas, just executed poorly. I like how you pointed out the grind as a positive thing. The game is just fun to play. Unfortunately, there's a lot that brings it down. It's a frustrating experience because it could have been SO GOOD.

[@Lennis01]

The grinding is only good to a point. There were many instances where I completed a quest, only to unlock another quest that sends me back to the same area I was just at to battle mostly the same enemies. When the game world is this small, the otherwise modestly fun grind quickly turns into a chore. It got to the point that I was rolling my eyes every time the board offered a new quest. This is coming from someone who has been playing JRPGs for over 30 years. That shouldn't happen. The biggest letdown by far was the story, and it got worse the further into the game you went. There was a real opportunity to dive into the underlying motive of the bad guys; that the Pangalactic Federation wasn't the benevolent force everyone seemed to think it was on the surface, but this idea was completely buried by a stereotypical megalomaniac who liked to experiment on children. The story's one saving grace was that Anne also seemed to think the Federation wasn't on a virtuous path. Her unhappy expression during the ending was perhaps a bit of foreshadowing of what's going to happen in Star Ocean 6. Integrity and Faithlessness really needed to expand on this idea and thus explain the odd choice of name.

[@alecbuxton5515]

Welch maybe slightly annoying but is also at the same time a funny npc because in my opinion a star ocean game just Wouldn't be a star ocean game Without at least a cameo appearance from Welch

[@MakoTenseii]

This was my first star ocean game and I loved it. Its still a game thats near and dear for me so whenever I hear people slander it I just dont see the issues everyone else sees

[@mythiel507]

Thats cool. Better to have nothing to compare it with.

[@vDorgengoa]

3:05 love the MGS sound effect lol

[@foxfirecasting3702]

I think my biggest issue with the game was that they went from super long FMV in the previous game to next to none in this one. The space fight scenes where you are basically watching things on a monitor instead of a cool video of the ACTUAL SPACE FIGHT was a disappointment.

[@get_lucky6402]

Star ocean till the end of time was my first and is my favorite star ocean game: I just loved getting lost in it

[@shadowsimarchitect9679]

I like how your party members actually follow you around.

[@DavidWoodMusic]

Did you record the audio in a racket ball court?

[@GavinVengeance]

I liked it a lot, even though the ending was EXTREMELY anticlimactic in my playthrough because the last boss glitched and wouldn't change phases, so I had to restart the fight 4 times before I could finally get through it.

[@HellFireRPGs]

Damn! That would have been frustrating!

[@XenoSamurai]

Same thing happened to me! God it was annoying

[@skyeguy7914]

I feel like I&F possibly took a lot of inpspiration from other games with similar aesthetics like the xenoblade series, and tried to push to incorporate something closer to those experiences. I feel it also might be trying to grant an experience that would be more welcoming to people who have never played the previous games. I’m currently playing it for myself now, alongside The first departure R, and have found it to be quite enjoyable so far. I don’t have a good baseline for how it compares to the series as a whole, but it hasn’t exactly been an unpleasant experience in a vacuum. Give or take how awkward the dialogue scenes can be, and how uncomfortable the camera is with the way it jostles around at closer zoom settings. While I understand the disappointment in only really mainly exploring one planet specifically, that could also be seen as a return to form of sorts considering the first game mainly takes place on planet Roak (or the roak of 300 years ago technically) All in all, I feel like it’s kind of the FFXII or FFXIII of the star ocean series. A game that’s perfectly fine in a vacuum, but heavily hated by the existing fanbase.

[@fizz576]

The two things I really liked about this game is the seamless combat and the more streamlined PAs still easily my least favorite game in the series.

[@BrockShake]

This is an excellent review. Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is not the best Star Ocean, but neither is it the worst. When I first played SO5, I, like many, was disappointed. However, tempered expectations helped me appreciate the game more during a second playthrough. It helps to think of this game as more of a Star Ocean side story or something like that. Instead of a full-blown entry like we had become accustomed to, SO5 feels more like a very large DLC type of game. That said, it probably almost did kill the series. I know I had spent the years since 2016 occasionally searching for Star Ocean news only to find nothing. So, one can imagine my excitement when The Divine Force news dropped. Long story short: if you have not played SO5, give it a chance. If you do not like it, give it a second chance, because that is what it took for me to appreciate the game.

[@khfreak5531]

I played through this game and it’s actually very short for a jrpg. Of which a lot of the Japanese fans complained about. I also didn’t find the difficulty spike as hard as everyone makes it out to be. In comparison to Star Ocean 3, the difficulty spike after you get through the first arc is insanely difficult in that one. But in this game when it suddenly got harder, I just had to actually pay attention to the mechanics and use them. I leveled up my characters enough to where I could change their AI behavior and have them do what I wanted automatically. Had my healer in the back with the tank guarding her whenever an enemy got close. Then I messed around with other ideas like having the mage unleash fury in the back. Then I’d just be the main attacker, getting constantly buffed and healed. It was pure cheese at that point.

[@GiantEnemyKebab]

I finished this game when it first came out and I can't remember a single thing about the story or a single characters name :/ Hopefully Star Ocean 6 is back to form

[@Taikaru]

The lack of cutscenes really killed it for me... I'm about story first, and delivering a lackluster one on top of poor delivery is just a death knell. I'm also a PC gamer these days (when I have time to game at all) and don't believe this one ever came to Steam or I might've picked it up. That said, I am GREATLY enjoying SO6 which seems a return to form, so I'm very glad the series didn't die and seems to have gotten more budget this time.

[@orangefox6881]

I loved the game, this game did something that I always wanted to see in a JRPG. You can have everybody in the party on the field fighting bad guys, and it's my first Star Ocean game I've ever played.

[@dreamcatforgotten8435]

You should definitely consider playing Star Ocean 3 whenever you get the chance!

[@MyNameisRevenant]

Granted it is a refreshing mechanic to see, it is just a shame that everytime it is implemented is in a game that is mediocre at best. Not that the battle system is mediocre on itself, but an unfortunate coincidence nothenless.

[@andyreichert499]

I finished this, but nearly completely forgot most of it. I keep hoping that Tri-Ace will find away to hire a good writer as they have a lot of the other aspects down.

[@Falroth]

Your experience with SO5 sounds similar to my experience with FF13; you were able to enjoy it because you went in knowing how much it is hated by the masses

[@RaidenKaiser]

I wouldnt say the game was atrocious as it was just incomplete the story felt rushed and there was alot of filler with the story feeling too short, the game needed more development time for content and im hoping the next star ocean is given the time thats needed not to repeat that mistake.

[@ErdingerLi]

I completely forgot about the story two weeks after finishing it... Whereas the story of TTEOT is still seared into my brain almost 20 years later.. Although I do find the chaotic gang fights kind of enjoyable, really disliked it not having any actual cutscene at all though

[@CBZero]

That controller drift was the best, I mean worst part.

[@baconatorrodriguez4651]

This game made me stop wanting to try new JRPGs. I've barely found enjoyment in games since and I'm hoping confronting this game via videos will help me feel again.

[@jonathansoko1085]

My second favorite in the series behind Last Hope. Although im playing part 6 tonight and ive got a feeling i am going to really like it. To this day i dont get why people dislike 5 so thats why im here. When it was new, i didnt look at reviews, i actually still dont so usually if people hate a game that im liking or vice versa, i tend to have no clue and am ignorant. All these years i thought people liked 5 like i did, since im a big fan of the series. After completion, it was short, too short. 20 hours is fine for many genres, but a 20 hour j/rpg is a tough pill to swallow after you paid AAA pricing, so that i understand. But i felt it was worth it. I havent played it in years though, i built a pc years ago and grew up a bit and quit limiting myself with consoles so i really hope they port 5 to pc so i can get into it again. last hope and thje new part 6 are on pc so i dont get why? If its a sony thing, well sony ports almost all of its exlusives to pc these days, so idk. The soundtrack hate is another stupid critique. I would udnerstand it if the entire thing was just reused. BUT there are like 70 tracks ingame, thats more than most games, and over half are new compositions and the reused ones sound better than ever and are classic. I cant believe people cried over inclusion of classic tracks. This is why i dont watch hate videos about games or comics because peopels complaints are often stupid. Long live Integrity and Faithlessness

[@dankdilly]

I liked it a lot personally but didn't ever finish the extra endgame stuff. Idk why it was considered bad by a lot lol. I mained Miki the most but most of the characters were cool

[@germainetaylor1757]

Star ocean 2 and 3 are my favorites.

[@blackprobegt2000]

I actually enjoyed this game a lot however it's still my least favorite which does not mean I hate it I just noticed when I got to the post game area SO tradition with the strongest enemies are I got bored at that point and didnt finish it. First time ever in a SO game that I lost the interest

[@ithydoodles]

I'm just a little annoyed that it isn't on pc. Especially when 4 and the newest one are.

[@kiddextersgodlyadventure129]

Havent played it yet, but every review of it is about 99% critism and all the reviews complain about the same things. was nice to hear some praise and appreciation for a change. What no one has mentioned is that since roughly 40% of the music tracks are from other games and almost all the battle skills and monster models are reused from SO3 or 4, it looks as if the game is half-hearted and lazy. SO6 looks like its trying to be its own thing, which is exciting

[@astralwyrm3787]

They also ripped parts of the terrain from SO4. I remember noticing a whole chunk of roak in there. It wouldn't have bothered me had they used it as a part of the plot given the origins of the SO universe but it is never acknowledged within the narrative.

[@Lennis01]

@@astralwyrm3787 Wow. I'm usually pretty observant, but I never noticed THAT. What part of the game had Roak copy-pasted?

[@astralwyrm3787]

@@Lennis01 It's been forever since I played so5. But there is this forked mountain path in so4 on the way from the ship. It has a pathway that rises out of the ground and ends in a drop. I remember vividly when I came across it having dejavu. It's like THE most used pathway in any so4 gamefile going back and forth between the ship and the city. I'm not sure I'm going to have a look around SO5's game world. It might be in minos coast as the opening into minos coast is already very similar to the coast in roak. (If you enter from Myiddok) It's also a similar landscape. edit: Yes I think it is the coast of minos. You can even see it if you compare the maps and look at the fork I'm talking about.

[@malucifer]

I stunlocked the final boss from full health to 0...how did they miss that lol?

[@Lennis01]

Having just finished the game tonight, I'm pretty sure that fight was scripted to not attack you in the final phase for narrative purposes. Be thankful. Some people reported the final boss bugging out during the phase transition, making the battle unwinnable.

[@malucifer]

@@Lennis01 Nah, I just watched a few videos of it attacking normally from other youtubers. I'm telling you mine was legit stun locked. Maybe they didnt assume someone would have all 6 units with stun wailing on the boss at once and didn't reduce stun duration or increase stun resistance. either way, the dropped the ball on that. And I'm not just talking about the final phase, The entire fight i stunned the fuck out of him much more than i should have been able to do to a final boss. Sotet 3 didn't have that issue, neither did SO4

[@concertguy7212]

I wanted to play this game but the wonky camera when walking up stairs or any elevation change makes me physically sick and I’ve never had that vertigo feeling playing a game before

[@Lennis01]

Having to constantly right-stick correct the camera was an annoyance. One of the clearest signs that a game was rushed.

[@andysauruss]

I recently finished this game too! I really enjoyed it but I wanted more especially with the story feeling weak and lacking. There was a lot of great things with the exploration and the roles was a nice addition. I worry a little with SO6, removing MP and Rushes. Hopefully the new system is good.

[@squand3r]

The main problem with SO5 is the same as with Tales of Zestiria - both games feel like shallow compromise-installments to cater/exploit existing fans. Budgets were obviously small and there is a clear lack of passion and devotion when those games were developped.

[@Cool750Boy]

Man, you have like one of the best voices ever and thank you for covering these Star Ocean games! Can’t wait to give some more of these a try! ☺️

[@HellFireRPGs]

Awwww, thanks for the kind words :)

[@Leoo117]

I completely enjoyed this game. It was so much fun. I thought the conversations were all captivating and fun to listen to. The chaotic gameplay was phenomenal, and learning how to manage everyone in the battle with lots of switching was a super fun experience. I enjoyed the story and the challenging difficulties. The only thing I didn't like was how they reused some super moves from star ocean 3. They looked cool, and I still like them, but brand new moves for new characters would have been preferable. Reusing those moves and animations just felt like a low effort thing to do. Granted, they were still fun to use.

[@MyNameisRevenant]

I am not an videogame expert, but in terms of gameplay, think that when you have a game that has a over 6+ character rooster participating in battle, you may want to avoid putting too much gigantic visual effects to your attacks, especially melee characters, as those can blind the player. Secondly, toggle the option to turn on/off damage numbers, or make them smaller. Applying this allows you to have more control over your characters and the battlefield.

[@TalesOfHunter]

I LOVED this game. It was a 9/10

[@HellFireRPGs]

Nice! Go to see there are some fans out there.

[@chikasuryani]

9/10 ?? For me 4,5/10 The worst entire star ocean series ever

[@TalesOfHunter]

@@chikasuryani I’m sorry for your pain and misery ❤️ wishing you healing!

[@Evanz111]

What’s your favourite other game in the series..?

[@TalesOfHunter]

@@Evanz111 def Star Ocean 2 PSP. One of my favorite games of all time!

[@VinnyOsterne2011]

I’ve finished this game at some point but don’t remember a single detail about the story or its chars…

[@ilhamardanta4737]

The combat and artstyle is next level for me.

[@dannysimion]

Thanks for the review. So many negative review of this game obscured whatever positive light I could find of it. You are a good critic in giving both bad and the good qualities. At least now I can dive into this game without trepidation that im gonna find any redeeming quality into it. Thanks Hell Fire.

[@EdreesesPieces]

LMAO, Land Ocean. I've never heard that one. That's really good! Nice video HellFire! I agree with you on this one. However I didn't "hate it" like others..I also thought it was somewhat decent, and enjoyable enough to play in stretches. The game has some cool ideas, like seamless battles, all character battles, party banter...the AI system is neat too. Laughed so hard at the controller having natural drift moment.

[@HellFireRPGs]

Thanks mate! I'm ordering a new controller now so this doesn't happen again. 👀

[@EdreesesPieces]

@@HellFireRPGs something tells me every controller will cause this type of drift...

[@soulechelon2643]

Huge Star Ocean since the Second Story, so when this popped up I was happy to give it a go. However I agree with everything stated here. It sadly didn't catch me as well as the older games did. I'm hoping it'll be ported to PC. I feel like bringing it over before Star Ocean 6 (since that's coming to PC as well) would bring back renewed interest in the franchise even if 5 wasn't the most accepted out of the series. If it does get ported, I can see modders changing a few things to be a bit more enjoyable. I'd certainly buy it again myself really. Hell, they should port ALL of the Star Ocean games while they're at it. That would be awesome and it's a damn good time to do it.

[@WattSCar7597]

What i remember about this game is the horrible camera. I hate that it keeps rotating in battle and i hate how it keeps changing angles when the terrain changes lol i cant play cause of the headache

[@KinzuNight]

Star Ocean 5 should have focused more on graphics. Then it would have been praised like Tales of Arise despite the repetitive combat, shallow scope, and nonsensical story.

[@odingaming723]

you know I've been watching your reviews videos of this series many times (your welcome) and there are many wrong things about it...for example on star ocean 3 you complain about the lack of information for the items, but all you had to do was to click a bottom to see it, and here you complain about the bonus gauge saying that if you use the ultimate attack you lose the bonus when is the complete opposite, if you use the ultimate attack you get all the bonus and if you don't you get a small %, for example if you fill it for gold at 5, that means 500%, if you don't use it you get a little extra gold every fight but if you do use it you get the 500%, another example and an exploit we use is on long boss fights will fill it up many times and use it since it stacks for massive amounts of xp, I got to the point that once I got over 10000% extra xp... but I also didn't knew many of the things on my first playtrough, I'll like to see a more accurate reviews on the future for this series so I recommend that you play the games again and actually experience them as how they are not just rush them and thats it...

[@rdraken]

I kinda liked it. The main issue I get with the series is the auto lock on systems. I played A New Hope right before I&F and not going to lie... Hope felt atrocious with the lock on system. It kept changing at the worst times... I also swapped it to manual and it didn't change anything. I&F on the other hand has a lock on system that actually works. It also has a feature I constantly ask for in RPG games: All party members are active in combat. Not saying it is perfect, but it is better than it gets credit for.

[@d_shuffles]

The game made me motion sick, I couldnt get past the opening with how the camera moves in step with the characters.

[@kesayo]

I actually enjoyed this game. I don’t really understand the hate.

[@Officialchristophermorris]

Extremely Short Story, 5% of CGI Cutscenses, Super Small Map (meaning the game only takes place on 1 Planet), Reusing Alot of Music & Combat Animations from the Previous Games, even the Private Actions and Ending are Super Short😒 What's Unique about being a 4 & especially 3's Clone (but worse)? Okay Game, but me personally I rather stick with 2 & 3 (that actually has their own Style)💯

[@1jidion]

my only gripe about this game was that there were too many instafail battles, i remember one fight against a bunch of machines in a place where they experiment on people, and you had to beat all the machines under a certain time, i could never do it

[@Kushrada]

My issues with it is I am always expecting more but end up vastly disappointed in most cases. The Space battle with Kenny for instance, I don't remember it specifically but I remember Kenny at the helm hatching a really impressive strategy, which I also think was a war crime to over come an enemy ship that had them cornered. After the several minutes of dialogue I expected the cut scene to play out the sequence. It did not, occurred off screen. Was waiting to explore other planets, didn't happen. The "Space" levels were pretty much the same map copied and pasted with the exact same enemy variant types every time. My favorite character who was also my best character in battle was repeatedly ripped from my party to open doors. I didn't care about the kid, the romance endings I worked towards half way into the game failed and defaulted to my sister. Battles with all party members became clusterF#cks where I either could afk most of the time or solo res the entire team as teammates spammed skills 15 feet away from any enemy. The random portals to fight monsters in the church started out as this mystery that I waited to advance into its own storyline...it never did. I played the entire game, watched every character event but I still couldn't explain the plot if I needed to. The battle sound effects overlapping during battle while that same character and multiple other characters are all speaking at the same time made me miss so much the the story, entire swaths of characters died and I wasn't aware at the moment because combat was a hot mess of noise. I found out character status from the bestiary and lore entries. I did everything to try and engage with the game to enjoy it, doing all dungeons, side quest and reading notes when I could but didn't take to it like 3 or 4. Which isn't to say there's nothing of value with the game, the vista's and graphics were nice, some character models and designs were great. The music was serviceable. I feel if it wasn't a Star Ocean game, and anything else I wouldn't be so hard on it but I cant understand how so many lacking areas made it to release.

[@Beray02]

Maybe worse in the series but that's not necessarily saying much as the series as a whole is great. I actually really like this game, I can also see where it disappointed people but at the same time I don't understand people's surprise that there is a 6th one, this game was no where near bad enough to kill the franchise. I'm looking forward to the new one and have thought about multiple times picking this back up and going for the completion.

[@Beray02]

Oh and is it just my memory or does the franchise as a whole kind of lack a lot of the "star" aspect. This one definitely had the least exploration of other planets but I feel like the series as a whole often sticks you to just a couple of locations as the overall story seems to be similar in each game of primitive person meets space police, the space police mess something up or some kind of mystery to solve and need to fix it to avoid failing the prime directive.

[@jeremytichai9782]

I remember playing this during the lockdown was switching between final fantasy VII remake and this.. it was a fun game except it was a bit annoying and some point but overall was fun.. 7.5/10 for me

[@thejonbrownshow8470]

My first exposure as it's currently on sale tho i don't think it's for me, but it's a interesting looking series, the screenshots on the psn store makes it look like a discount dragon quest lol

[@Roger3eme]

I think it would've been a bit more ok, if there was a bit more side quests or something to compensate for the super short story.

[@riyuphoenix4533]

Couldn't agree more, like I understand every generation of new games, will be abit shorter due to better graphics and things taking longer to make. But yeah this game was so lacking in side content and main story content.

[@Karnage420698238]

different strokes for different folks while i dont really remember anything about it other than welsh (during the time i played it i was super into any character melissa fahn voiced thanks to neptune lol) i take that as a good thing seeing as i tend to really only remember the bad things above the good just means there really wasnt anything bad that stood out to me enough but it also means it wasnt good enough for me remember lol i dont have the hate boner everyone else seems to have for it though what i dont get is the love for 2 i just finished second story r (renas story maze and arena) and i honestly dont see whats so great about it i personally found first departure to be the superior game in almost every way outside locking a character slot for faster overworld traversal that only opens up close to the end of the game lol second story r is gonna be another game i completely forget about in a few years just like 5 while i will always remember my time with first departure in that it was final fantasy v levels of near perfection not as good as final fantasy iv but better than pretty much every other jrpg out there lol

[@finalfayth9165]

you did not talk about seraphic gate !!! well star ocant 4 is my favorite too the best combat system ever in an action rpg + the most perfect and technical . you should try playing eserapphic gate the secret donjon...tri-ace alwyas make a secret donjon in their games .

[@HellFireRPGs]

Yeah, I'm not too keen playing post game this time around. I know Star Ocean is great with their Post Game content, but don't usually play on after I see credits roll.

[@Lennis01]

Successful post-game content has to rely on more than just grind. I put over a hundred hours into the post-game content of Star Ocean 3, and it was partly due to that repetitive experience that I wasn't compelled to do the same in SO4 or SO5. Persona 5 Royal stands supreme in how you do post-game content in an RPG. It continues the story with real narrative stakes and allows you to further invest in characters you have grown to love.

[@metalnat27]

lol The review cracked me up HAHAHA!!!! I bought the game about one year in a half ago.....actually....more than 2 years by now! I still have not played it yet though lol. I plan to do so regardless however! And when I do, I know part of me will like it a lot still because of the 7 characters being able to fight at the exact same time simontaniously lol. I always loved these kind of features in JRPG games! P.S I still love your review Haha!

[@MugenLord]

Its awesome to see other people cover this game, I gave my opinion of it on my channel as well. All I can say its definitely the weakest of the series but had some cool ideas in terms of actually having all your party members on the battlefield at once. I wish my JRPGs take that approach, but its definitely a beginners JRPG for sure.

[@darkflarexl]

I honestly thought this one had the best character design. SO6 looks a bit weird in a some cases, especially the main character. I feel like they made the graphics more hd but forgot to add character shadows. Raymond's hair doesn't cast a shadow on his face which makes him look very plastic. Still the game looks like it will be a lotta fun! every trailer looks better and better.

[@dawnrigel4255]

I went back to play Maze of Tribulations because I was wondering that same thing. TLDR, it's good and fun, but needed more budget and time really. But screw the Maze of Tribulations for having no actual map lmfao. I loved the 6 member battles, but thought they could have done better encounters. I feel like the enemies were surprised to see us attacking with all our members out lol.

[@computron100]

This is my first SO game in the series. Its fun but I must ask since I'm still getting used to it , how do I get more spell books? By doing side quest? Or will I automatically get more as I level?

[@Lennis01]

You get spell books mostly from completing sidequests, though you can also craft them through the Authoring skill if you have the materials.

[@casekocsk]

Is there any good reason why the dev choose mmo style presentation for SO5? PSO and Hack series is a no brain, since they are emulating mmo games (though they still have cutscenes). FFXII emulate mmo style even further (which I never like) but again, they still have cutscenes... So why? Why SO5 use mmo style presentation and doesn't use cutscenes? My assumption for now is because either the dev doesn't have enough budget or they rush the game (or both).

[@sag2057]

I have one question : how’s the postgame ?

[@sebastien953]

To me, SO5 felt like a game developed on a budget with its relatively small scale world and all the reused assets from previous games (music). But I enjoyed playing it. Actually I am kind of surprised some consider it as the black sheep of the series. I always thought the worst was SO4. I think SO3 is the best in the series, so I enjoyed a lot finding a game which went back into that direction with its battle system. Even though, I must admit 6 playable characters is a bit too much.

[@Chelaxim]

Square Enix: OH no! Final Fantasy XV,Kingdom Hearts III,Nier Automata and Dragon Quest XI aren't ready! We have to put out SOMETHING this financial quarter!

[@Medax43]

Personaly i liked this star ocean by its simplicity. A good game.

[@lordjosh9000]

I think the hate is un founded. SO5 has a pleasant art style and the gameplay is solid. The systems provide depth, satisfying progress, and customization on par with The Second Story. I was surprised at how short/small the game and world are, but size and time don't make a good game. It only takes 15 hours to complete Chrono Trigger. The outfits aren't out there for SO either. Celine wears a shower curtain and Edge has mismatched asymmetrical armor that makes zero since. The characters and story are forgettable. I don't remember the plot at all and only remember Fiddel's name. But that stuff is less than secondary for me. The important parts of a video game are controls, gameplay, and fun factor, and SO5 checks all those boxes twice. I give it a solid 8/10. It is an enjoyably quick Action JRPG romp.

[@CVReal]

It felt super low effort

[@TheDastard]

It almost felt like a project that got started as a mobile game, & only later got moved to consoles after realizing it was too large to function on mobile.

[@SpinDlsc]

Still haven't played this entry, but I'd be willing to pick it up if it ever came to PC with some improvements. I'm only cautiously optimistic about the 6th entry at best. It still looks like there could be a bit more polish on the character models animations. I'll wait for independent reviews before I decide whether I want to buy it.

[@pikabo3300]

I expected the worst, but i actually end up really liking it Ofc it has many flaws, but so does other games, i think some people expect to much and get dissapointed real fast, Which i completely understand I had the same experience with tales of zestiria Back to star ocean 5: I didn't really like to have 7 party memebers in a fight, it can be chaotic sometimes Protect anne was a little frustrating but beated it by being a little over leveled and was literally screaming Only issue i had is that i took a break and continued after it... But i had no idea where to go, Im also not someone who likes to look up stuff for spoilers, so i will just start over again (rip protect anne) My personal opinion on it might be a 6.5-7.5/10 But it was also the first one that i played from the series I liked the areas, or atleast most of them, didn't really like the desert, I wonder why The cast was not as bad as i expected from other reviews, i kinda liked them, or atleast i loved the green haired mage The game started really good and the beginning was my favorite part.. Story plot goes a little to fast, or i had the feeling that the game just throws with the good story parts I have mixed feelings about the combat system but liked it most of the time

[@foreal7712]

It was bad. The battlefield is cluttered, non memorable characters, no cutscenes during talking sections broke emersion, staying on 1 planet, and babysitting the little kid was annoying

[@KingOfBlades]

I think the game is average. The story is nothing to write home about but it was still interesting enough to keep me playing during my 25 hour playthrough. The gameplay while a step down from SO4 is still solid and fun. The biggest thing holding this game back is the obviously low budget and the fact this game was sold for $60 when it's clearly a $40 kinda game.

[@Nautinthislifetime]

I bought both this one and Star Ocean First Departure R today on the PS store. I started with this one and so far, I am liking it. But the conversations are......lacking! I'm playing first departure right now and there are parts that are mentioned in Last Hope....I had to look up the chronology to see which order the games go in!

[@Xorital]

This was actually one of my favorite ones and never understood the hate. I played through it 3 times

[@Officialchristophermorris]

It just wasn't Unique enough... it just felt like a 3 & 4 Clone (Reusing Previous Elements)... it's still playable, but the Hate was pretty reasonable tbh tho

[@gamerprince-tl5hg]

You're pretty fast. It wasn't too long ago that you uploaded the Star Ocean 4 review. Did you play this one from beginning to end since the previous review was uploaded?

[@HellFireRPGs]

Nah, I started this one about a week before the previous review was out. Still only took about 25-30 hours.

[@jakeryan2805]

Wasnt this series at one point like a direct competitor to the Tales of games? i.e. Tri ace did star ocean, and Bandai did Tales. What went wrong? The Tales series has been killing it, and i think Berseria, and Arise both sold well and got good reviews. Star ocean on the other hand seems lost in what it wants to do.

[@Lennis01]

I think the issue, in part, is that the Star Ocean games all take place in the same continuity. Normally this would be a strength, but because of the exceedingly odd plot twist of Star Ocean 3, it is all but impossible to do a direct sequel of that game. The developers have to go back to the past to find new stories to tell, essentially retconning some of what came before.

[@AvalosTokyo]

Anyone with the patience to play this disaster for a full review, and the balls to say it's not that bad, definitely gets a like and follow from me.

[@AvalosTokyo]

5:44 God the menu icons and text font look like Windows 98 in a bad way. That f@cking text with the note pad lines OMG. Literally the pretty visuals carried this game. Not sure why it's the only Star Ocean entry were you can do that camera angle looking at the women's panties. The main girl Miki I think had to get covered up from the original design. It's like, the devs new this game was such trash from the shit budget they got that they could not take it seriously. Star Ocean 6 does not let you move the camera in that angle and doesn't have that "fan service" for the female character's outfits. They respected 6 and took it more seriously, just as the previous entries. Sure, the towns look decent but the walking between towns is barren and empty. Roak in SO4 had so much detain including some snake gifs on the grown. SO5 was 1999 empty 3D landscapes until you got to the towns. The main thing that made it unplayable when I tried it was the battle system. Everything about it sucks, in particular the bullshit blue and red light that blocks the view completely. Complete disrespect for the player's limited time in a world full of peak entertainment. Not sure why Square Enix forced it to be released when they could have used that budget and time for a quality game.

[@AvalosTokyo]

@HellFireRPGs 2 years later, if you weren't a KZbinr and getting some type of return from this playthrough, if you gained nothing but the actual gameplay hours, would you chose to play this game? If so, why? I really love Sci Fi RPGs and there aren't many, so I really want to play it but it's so hard to get past the first ambush fight. So if yes, you would play this game and spend your time on it if you had no KZbin channel, in restrostpect 2 years later, why? What could you say to inspire another try for me, or would you in all honesty not waste your time? Dead ass don't lie.

[@duckie_king7975]

Why do all these reviews whenever they dont like something in a game it's automatically a bad game wth. I guess they cant enjoy ant game unless this mechanic or whatever is not in the game. Game broken huh

[@duckie_king7975]

This game looks soo good what's wrong with people knit pickin at the most random stuff

[@nezkeys79]

Its not a bad game at all. Loved the roles (but it's AI system is nowhere near as good as gambits from FF12 which is something more deserving of the phrase "near perfect"). 5 generally has many gameplay QoL enhancements to just about everything like an actual guard button with no fatigue(imagine being able to perma charge blindsides without getting fatigued), but some things are worse than in 4 sadly even if they are just minor things. 5 is one of the best in the series imo. IC in 5 is probably the best because it lets you do it anywhere and isnt random (except for synthesis). 4s downfall was locking IC to the Calnus but it's actual IC system is great too. I mean compared to 3s IC even synthesis from 5 is better than that garbage It annoys me when people say that it only takes place on one planet. All the other games except 4 take place on one planet for 90% of the game. First Departure has a tiny section at the end on a different planet but its literally just one dungeon (not including the SSC cause thats in every game). SO3 has a walking simulator at the start, then a planet that has 1 dungeon (and no longer than the second planet in FD), then some small sections once you get to 4D space. The majority of the game takes place on one planet. PAs are the best in 5 by far. Easy to complete in the towns and the banter ones when running are great. In FD the PAs were implemented awfully. Not sure how you could say anything bad about PAs in 5 BTW all games end up with "spam the OP move" because nobody wants to waste time planning a strategy when they can one hit stuff 5 was my first and is a great game and sits in 2nd for me behind 4 which is just awesome and near perfect as a videogame in general not just star ocean. I went on to play 1 after 5 and enjoyed it. Then i played 3 which i hate for multiple reasons before finally finishing with 4. I can't play 2 until they release it on psn but since I enjoyed First Departure I know I'll enjoy it.

[@Marks_journey]

As someone who loves these games so much It’s one of the only games I’ve purchased more then once…. This one was the worst. I loved getting into a fight but the “I have to stop the sheath my sword” every time took me right out of it and made me not want to fight. It’s small but I hated to. Also I’ve put well over 1000 hours into these games (all of star ocean as a whole) and this game I beat once and called it good. Wonderful video. I hope you are excited for the next one to come out, I know I am. I just hope it’s better then this one was.

[@k4yser]

I played this game last year, back to back with last hope remaster and even though it felt like the weaker title, I still got some enjoyment out of it. In no way was this an awful game for me. If you are starved for an jrpgs and you get this heavily discounted, then it will be worth it. Btw, young girls are dressed way skimoier these days than fiora.

[@HellFireRPGs]

Look, I tried to be a respectable person, but my controller, man.....

[@Lennis01]

I'd like to see someone try to cosplay Fiora without a wardrobe malfunction.

[@ZerosGameInn]

Star Ocean

[@neillaw]

Hated this game, I expected the length and cinematics to at least match the previous game (masterpiece) it just seems like they gave it a tenth of the budget and ruined a great series...

[@omensoffate]

Lol so4 was not a masterpiece

[@gaspump]

While SO5 was disappointing a lot of that is explained by lack of budget and time constraints leading to a more limited experience than was originally planned for, but I wouldn't call it outright bad. Unfinished seems more appropriate. The real hot take is that SO3 is the worst because the dumpster fire ending trashed the entire Space Date timeline and no games can come out that take place chronologically after it. Hence 4 going back to SD1 and 5 being stuck awkwardly in the middle for pretty much no other reason than to bring Ronyx into it. Note that the upcoming Divine Force isn't labeled, at least anywhere that I've seen, as "Star Ocean 6" and I think they're rebooting the series. I have zero proof; it's just a gut feeling. Personally SO2 is my favorite just barely ahead of SO4. While you (rightly) make fun of Lymle saying "Kay" constantly that is the result of a sub-par translation trying to find some way to emulate the kind of tropey anime cutesy vocal tic like ending every sentence with "-desu" which doesn't really work. Fortunately the remaster has JP audio so you can just switch on over to that. Thanks for reading my cool blog post. Good reviews, I've enjoyed the Star Ocean Sessions!

[@Lennis01]

Star Ocean 6 is supposed to take place some time after Star Ocean 5, but before Star Ocean 3. Nothing I've heard suggests it is a reboot of the series.

[@asiflash]

I love every Star Ocean Game. I mostly like the voice acting during the fights and the crafting skills. Story is also OK and to be honest exept SO3 i don't remember any Storyline from the previous games. Star Ocean is made for Battle ;-)

[@KillaGamer001]

Battle, invincibility, contant damage, short range

[@XenoSamurai]

I just recently beat the game and I wanted to like it cause I love the series so much (Yes even A New Hope) but it wasn't good, the world was boring, the camera made me sick, the auto character switch was annoying and would sometimes auto escape me from battle, the lack of cutscenes made the story boring and the ending was terrible. The only thing I liked was the characters, I feel they deserved better and I liked the private actions (even though I hated the constant zoning to get the next one) cause you got to know the characters more and they were all I loved about the game. Also it was really lazy to reuse so much music from SO3 and SO4, the SO5 soundtrack had no identity of it's own. I really hope SO6 will be good!

[@Lennis01]

I mostly agree with your sentiments. I felt there were a few music tracks exclusive to this game that were memorable, though. Perhaps memorable enough to reuse them in a future game.

[@XenoSamurai]

@@Lennis01 Yes the few original tracks it had were good but there just wasn't enough.

[@BrotherNo]

My only prob was Miki she looks weird,awkward compared to everyone else. The whole thing with Welch was completely lackluster. The atmosphere and interaction with characters just seems impersonal.

[@hmmmm6157]

I dont remember much about the combat, but the story is just incredibly bad. Lol. Meeting a random little girl on a crashed alien ship, and them decided to go across the galaxy to save her from being kidnapped lol wtf, its so cliche and annoying, the girl wasnt even cute

[@calvinmatthews1527]

A very clear & concise review. Sure, this game has it's bright spots but that still doesn't let it get away with being thoroughly mediocre. I&F could've been at least decent if it wasn't rushed, but it was and soon became infamous for how disappointing it is. What makes it even worse is that it sold poorly in JAPAN! Not even 200k for both PS3 & PS4, that is super-depressing.

[@Lennis01]

With sales figures like that, Tri-Ace probably would have folded if it weren't a part of the mammoth Square-Enix. Of course, Square-Enix's minimal investment into this game was the main reason it did poorly in the first place.

[@Rutawind]

The way those "cutscenes" were pushed as some kind of innovative feature was bullshit. Nothing but laziness

[@catman8990]

The saddest part about star ocean 5 was fidels father (daril) died 😞

[@Lennis01]

And it didn't have to happen. It felt arbitrary and weak.

[@Framesforgames]

This review was definitely made on the toilet!

[@godsplayingfield]

personally, i feel,like the role system should become a permanent feature of the series, i absolutely adore it and LOVED breaking the fck out of it. Fidel with berserker and deadman walking (bonus points for aggro increasing roles too) is stupid. combined with Miki being as far from battle as possible with pure healing roles means ultimate damage. love it

[@KadarianLord]

i really liked 5, and couldnt get into 4 no matter how many tries i made. enjoyed the first three