I'm looking for validation on a possible party combination for a Claude playthrough.

Party of:

• Claude
• Rena
• Opera
• Bowman
• Welch
• Leon
• Ernest
• Chisato

I don't think I can due to Welch's requirements, but I am getting mixed results when I look this up on my own.

I want to buy Star Ocean First Departure and The Second Story but wanted to see what versions you guys went with and ultimately what versions should I go with? I have a PS5 and a switch 2 (love handheld mode) but trying to get the game physically (hoping they are actually on the disc/cart. Any big differences in frame rate and graphics?

What versions did you guys buy?

Just got 5 "Fanfic ;)" items

is there anything to do with them besides selling them?

EDIT: lmao, the game literally saw me make this topic and gave it to me immediately after

She has it in her list of talents greyed out.

https://i.imgur.com/sGHA8ko.png

I've bounced back and forth between Orchestra and Performing a song with Celine (a song she has a 60% chance of succeeding, and so she fails quite a bit)

it's been dozens and dozens of times at this point. Other talents unlocked very quickly, including Rhythm Sense. Is there some trick to this? Can Celine unlock it if she has it in her list of talents, or is there some other requirement?

I know it costs nothing to fail, but it's just annoying to sometimes have to call for it like several times in a row with bad luck, even at 65% chance

any way to make it 100%? Any accessories or skills or anything?

I've got the Masterwork rod, and my whole party is at fishing level 7. How EXACTLY do I get it to spawn? I just got to Lacuer. Do I need to advance further in the story first?

while navigating through the posts of gamefaqs I saw plenty of posts of VeghEsther about broken equipment, grinding skills till 999 and so on... and it brought and smile to my face.

I'm rather new in the SO games, and I knew him mostly of the FF posts. It's charming seeing his posts on other games.

NOTE!! This is a half serious, half-joking post - I am only sort of kidding, but not really, but also am. 

What do we know about Nel’s dad, anyway? 

• We know he had a illustrious career as Crimson Blade before going MIA,
• We know he was partnered with Adray,
• We know he was nicknamed “General of the Mist”(related trivia: the names of Nel's and Albel's fathers, Glou and Nevelle, are paralleled: Nevelle's name in the Japanese game is "Nebel,” which is Japanese for the German word "mist" (nebel), and Glou’s name in the Japanese game is "Grau," which is the German word for "ash-grey." Nevelle's body literally "disappears" (goes MIA), never to be found again (a la mist), and Glou... well... turns to ash....)
• We know he wore big cavalier hats and liked to ride a horse,
• We know he left behind a widow named named Reisel Zelpher, Nel's mom (the sadistic game devs in Eternal Materials confirmed Reisel is 1) alive and 2) the inaccessible house in northeastern part of Aquios is Nel's family home and her mother currently resides there alone) 
• We know that, despite Woltar having killed countless men in his life, Nevelle left such an indelible impression on him that Woltar decided to keep a portrait shrineof Nevelle in his personal manor in Kirlsa, directly over his bed (an official guidebook states that "it is unclear where Woltar acquired this portrait, but perhaps it is a sign of respect toward an opponent he once fought in a one-on-one duel. While it feels a bit questionable to hang a portrait of an enemy opponent in your home, this gesture serves as a testament to Woltar's good character.")
• We know that his soul probably resides in the Blades of Ryusen.

But what was Nevelle actually like? Given Nel and Clair were explicitly designed as foils, and given Nel’s fetish for no-nonsense workaholism, we can perhaps infer that Nevelle was everything Adray is not - not boisterous, not rule defying, not a big-bellied macho guy, etc… This makes sense strategically; it behooves Aquaria to round out/balance the Crimson Blade by pairing two operatives who have contrasting personalities together.

So, maybe he was a carbon copy of Nel, except Nel is a man wearing a huge feathered hat. But that’s kinda boring, and plus, Clair and Adray could not be more dissimilar. So in search of answers, I combed through the official SO3 supplemental material where Nevelle is actually depicted (the 4komas and Supercomic Gekijohs) and uncovered a suspiciously consistent pattern across 1,600+ pages of material: alcohol.  

“He was always stocked with liquor”

Nevelle actually isn’t depicted much across the official 4komas/Supercomics. But he does show up a handful of times, sometimes in speaking roles, and the depictions where he's actually speaking/doing something (and not just appearing as a static portrait) exclusively pair him with liquor or associate him with some sort of drinking habit. 

Before someone says “but these are just spin off cartoons” - yes, you are correct, but they are officially licensed Tri-Ace/Square Enix products which display an astonishing fidelity to SO3’s characterization/lore but more importantly, replicate even the most obscure details without fail (e.g., Belzeber's nepo baby grudge against Luther, Evia not wanting his daughter to turn out like Welch, Rigel hailing from nobility, Iraiza’s supernatural beauty, etc.) The writer behind SO3's official novelization revealed that Tri-Ace gave him secret plot/characterization information to help him with his writing.

Case 1:

Case 2:

In fact, most of the alcohol-related 4komas/Gekijohs exclusively revolve around Nevelle or Nel. In probably one of the funniest gags in the entire Gekijoh release (Vol 67), Nel tells the party that she “loses all her inhibitions” whenever she drinks, and is portrayed as a belligerent drunk so terrifyingly monstrous that Fayt and Maria enlist the help of Farleen and Tynave to sober her up. Farleen + Tynave unfurl a giant poster of Aquaria XXVII in front of Nel, Nel freaks out and frantically hides empty bottles behind her back as she insists that she hasn’t been drinking, etc. (Nel is also associated with alcohol in her Oni Nel variant, and as she drinks she says some truly eyebrow raising victory lines):

Make of this what you will, even if its only good for fun headcanoning purposes. I have my eyes on you, Zelphers

I am playing Star Ocean the second story R for the first time (actually, it is first SO game ever for me) and enjoying it quite a lot.

I've just seen Celine's PA story with Clyde, and I've chosen for Rena to encourage Celine to go after Clyde (because I'm a sucker for love stories). I have to admit, the whole situation was quite hilarious.

I can't believe Celine decided to (sort of) accept Clyde's proposal after all that drama lol. And that Rena also thought it was happy ending for both.

But what amused me the most was that Clyde look near identical to Claude (who Rena will probably end up with, as it's the "canon" romance) and they both have same voice actor (at least the Japanese VO, not sure about English VO). I recall that Celine called both Clyde and Claude cute when she first saw them. Knowing that Rena will start develop feelings for Claude eventually, I find it hilarious that Rena is acting as a matchmaker for Celine and Clyde. Also, I can't believe neither Celine nor Rena made a comment about how strikingly similar Clyde and Claude look. Hell, Claude could have said something when they walked past the portrait of Clyde in the castle as well.

I thought Clyde and Claude are related but I did some digging and found out they aren't related at all. Kinda feels like a bad joke from devs lol.

Anyway, enjoying the game - about 3 hours in currently. Hope I will enjoy it to the end!

I just bought my first ever star ocean game and for some reason there is a 16gb update file. It's not a big deal to me because it won't take long to install but I got curious and looked at the digital version description and it stated the game size was 32gb.

That tells me roughly only 15gb of the game was actually stored on the disc. That does not make sense to me whatsoever because ps5 discs can store up to 100gb. Can anyone tell me why games do this?

What is considered the "hardest" boss in your opinion (annoying can be considered hard btw) I am dying too know

Im at sphere 211 first visit from the story on 4D difficulty. HUGE WALL for me i havnt had a problem with this this far i have all characters level 50 except sophia and pepitta level 44 the regular monster solder kicking my ass i didnt have a whole lot of trouble on styx but i dont understand i cant go back to do more item creation either as im locked in i guess and i overwrit that save i have 2 oricalcum weapons for albel and cliff and sophia has an exp 100% laser weapon with 3*500 attack boost spam thunder flare i got 13000 health expept Sophia and peppita have 11000 any tips

I'm actually finishing all the postgame content of my favorite game of all time for the first time in my life, and I've finally reached Freya. She seems... impossible.

I'm on Galaxy difficulty (plan to replay on higher settings in the future) and only took four tries for Lenneth and a single try to beat Ethereal Queen, but I just can't make any headway on Freya.

I'm using a party of Mirage, Nel, and Maria (go women!), all around level 170. They all have their Sphere weapons synthed to have +1000atk, four boots of prowess, no HP damage 30% of the time, and -3 fury use -- I left the last slot on each of them blank in case I need to add something. Mirage has the Valkyrie Garb, the other two have fully refined dragon leather. Mirage has a Blazing Pendant refined to give healing from all elements and a Tri-Emblem; Nel has a Tri-Emblem and Victory Trophy; Maria has a Tri-Emblem and Bunny Shoes.

I have a ton of stun bombs and all the healing items I could need. I have a feeling the trick to this fight is just timing my stun bombs and resurrection elixirs to keep Ether Strike from ever going off, but she just kills me too fast. Do I just need to grind up to max level? Should I try the Convert Damage strat and add MP regen to my weapons? Any other advice that might help? Thanks!

Do you think we will ever get a new one?

I was debating on social media and this question came up.

Completed the regular game then did the extra dungeon and the harder final boss. I beat most of the raid bosses, except that one, you know the one. The game was a blast! And since I hadn't really played it since launch, the story was pretty fresh for me. I enjoyed it from Rena's perspective and the end of chapter one had me surprised! They killed billions of innocent people! I didn't know older games hit like that. I know it kind of works out, but at the time, I was itching to keep going to find out what happens next.

I played Rena's story and had the thought to do new game + on claudes story, but the first hour didn't really hold my interest. So I'm thinking to jump into SO3 on my ps5 pro and come back to it...I also kind of want to play through the xenosaga games on my PS2... Any thoughts or suggestions? Also, I know there are dozens of endings, but are there any top tier ones I should shoot for? Anyway, Maybe I start both and see what holds my attention better. I played SO3 at launch but it's been a couple decades and out side of the twist, I don't remember much about it. I rented xenosaga once from blockbuster, but only had it for a weekend. I don't remember anything about it.

Hello! I am new to Star Ocean and am going to start with Second Story R. I have been watching some videos online with beginner guides. I would like to hear some community ideas for me to have an enjoyable start. Thanks!!

I should probably start with saying I loved this game back 2004. And I still hold this game as a contender for one of the best JRPG ever made.

Replaying the first 6h reminded me why I loved it then. It does not hold your hand. Git gud or get wrecked. And MP kill is such a fun concept

Also Mel is imo such a great character. And it's a shame her character ends in theory with Elicoor II finished.

But MAN I forgot how poorly the audio was in this game.

I think the voice actors are fine in this game. It's one the campier side. But nowhere near the PS era.

But the port on PS5 is either terrible OR I just forgot how bad it was.

Is there anything you guys like or hate with this game?

Besides the twist of course.

Several play through into this game and I'm short one fish. Every area I've been to says "complete". I got the one in the moat around Phynal, the two at the secret shop island, the one by Arlia and Ultimate Gabriel, the ones in the Hoffman Ruins, and several in various containers throughout both worlds. Is there one you're supposed to buy, pickpocket, hidden chest, or something?

How many people, once they learn pickpocketing, pickpocket relentlessly and nondiscriminatory? I know it makes your team less affectionate towards you but I still go crazy and pickpocket everybody. And not all of the games have private actions. Does anybody really not pick pockets in lieu of love?

Found this while browsing I did pick up because I could tell everything was included in the box judging by the heft of it

What I mean is, in Star Trek, we have the Preservers. They were a race that entered the galactic stage before everyone else...and found the universe lonely, and boring. As a result, they seeded DNA to worlds all over the galaxy, which explains why there are so many bipedal species in Trek (and why they're able to often reproduce, despite deep biological differences).

Star Ocean, however, seems to take the planetary similarities to a whole new level. It isn't just that all these planets have bipeds (Roak, Energy Nede, Faykreed, and Earth just to name a few). The fauna are identical from planet to planet. The dual-horned tortoises, the adephaga, the scumbags, and even flying creatures like the Psynard look ALMOST IDENTICAL (with graphical upgrades) across planets that are nowhere near each other in the Star Ocean Universe.

Is this just a function of the 4D of it all? Is it a limitation of the universe's construction as revealed in TtEoT? Because that would be a really lame (and simplistic) explanation when so much of thie universe seems diverse and well-thought out (at least, insofar as the connections between games goes).