I have fond memories of my time with the Star Ocean series. I've played all four games, and each one has been a treat. As someone who likes JRPGs but doesn't play them as often anymore, I can't recommend these games enough!
Star Ocean
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a JRPG for the PS3. It's arguably the best Star Ocean title, though you could argue that about any of them. It's a great game, and it has an interesting story with some fun characters.
Star Ocean Till the End of Time (the best)
Star Ocean Till the End of Time is the best game in the series. It has all of the best things that make a good game: a great story, great combat, great soundtrack, etc. It's not only a great Star Ocean game but also an amazingly good JRPG in general.
It's hard to find many faults with ToE; I guess if you want one thing improved it would be its graphics (which are still pretty good). Even though its graphics aren't as cutting edge as other games on this list like Xenogears or Final Fantasy 7, they're still pretty decent for their time and don't take away from your overall experience.
Star Ocean The Last Hope
Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a great game, but it's not for everyone. For starters, the combat system is a bit clunky and uses an overworld map with random encounters. You'll also be navigating through dungeons like you used to in the older games of this type. And while there are plenty of cutscenes, they're all fully voiced—so if you don't like reading during gameplay or don't speak Japanese (the original version was released in Japan only), then this might not be for you either.
On the other hand, if you love JRPGs that give you lots of freedom to explore and battle enemies in different ways with different characters at your side (and maybe even some romance thrown in), then Star Ocean The Last Hope may have everything you're looking for!
Star Ocean Blue Sphere
Star Ocean: Blue Sphere is a tactical RPG on the Super Nintendo. While not as well known as some of Star Ocean's other titles, it does deserve more attention than it's gotten.
The game begins with a young man named Roddick and his friend Sophia meeting up with their friends Seazas and Nanami at the beach one day. Unfortunately, the day turns out to be anything but normal when monsters appear out of nowhere and start attacking people! It’s up to you and your group of heroes-in-training (who are all level 1) to defend themselves and save mankind from these evil forces!
This isn't your typical dungeon crawler because there are no random encounters—you can see enemies in advance so you can plan accordingly before fighting them (or run away). You also get experience points for each battle won which increases character stats like strength or agility; however there aren't any levels so don't expect any real grinding here—battles are pretty easy overall unless you're trying for a perfect completion run without using any continues (which will require grinding).
Star Ocean The Second Story
Star Ocean: The Second Story is the second game in the Star Ocean series, following after its predecessor. The first game was released on the original PlayStation and was localized for North America under the name "Star Ocean." After that, Enix released a sequel to their classic RPG on the PlayStation 2 called Star Ocean: Second Story, which was also localized as "Star Ocean: Blue Sphere." This entry in the franchise features more character customization than any other game in its series and it's worth noting that both entries were only released in Japan until recently, when Square Enix decided to localize both games for Western audiences on PS4 and PC platforms.
Star ocean is a tri-ace JRPG series and you should be buying it.
Star Ocean is a JRPG series. It's also a tri-ace game. If you're not familiar with tri-ace, think Valkyrie Profile and that should help explain why the series deserves more attention.
Star Ocean is not just underrated among its peers but it's also in the shadow of other JRPGs like Persona, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse which are all better games than Star Ocean V: Integrity and Faithlessness (which we'll get to shortly). Why? Well because they have deeper stories, more likable characters, better combat systems and they're generally more ambitious than Star Ocean.
Hopefully, we’ve given you a good idea of what Star Ocean is. If you’re looking for an RPG to play, try Star Ocean Till the End of Time or The Last Hope. They’re both great games that offer many hours of gameplay with wonderful characters and an engaging story. If you want something more casual but still solid then Blue Sphere or Second Story are good options as well!