Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

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Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is the third game in the Star Ocean series released by Square Enix on the PlayStation 2 in 2003/2004 in US and Europe, respectively. The game takes place in Galatic Year 772 SD (Space Date) The game revolves around Fayt Leingod, an average Earth college student. While taking a vacation on the planet Hyda IV, he is separated from his family, when the planet comes under a vicious surprise attack. When the planet is attacked, the people are evacuated to a underground Evacuation Facility underneath the surface of Hyda IV while they wait to be transported to Remote Station #6. The Pangalatic Federation transport ship, the Helre, transports the refugees to Remote Station #6. The Helre use gravitic warp to escape the battle field. When the gravitic warp field collaspes the Helre is attacked by Vendeeni, the same ones who attacked Hyda IV. Fayt is separated from his childhood friend, Sophia, at this point.

[edit] Real Time Combat

One of the features that sets Star Ocean 3 apart from many other RPGs, is the intuitive combat system. Inspired by the less-popular Star Ocean 2, the traditional menu-driven, turn-based combat is thrown away and a real-time system is introduced. Every character in your fighting party can move around the map freely, and attack at whatever point. The player can choose which character to control, and can apply script rules to AI-controlled players, which define how they should act in combat.

[edit] Item creation

Star Ocean 3 features an in-depth item creation process which allows players to create and improve their own weapons and items. There are many skills in the game which aid in the process including Alchemy, Cooking, Smithing, Synthesis, Crafting and various others. Each item requires various proficiencies in these skills, and materials that may only be found in certain dungeons in the world. When a player has created a weapon or item they are extremely proud of, they can file for a patent and get money from the profits made when these items are sold in shops.

[edit] Characters

Fayt Leingod: The main character of Star Ocean III, Fayt is a seemingly-normal college student from Earth. His father, Robert Leingod, is a famous authority on Symbological Genetics [a highly controversial scientific field] and does much of his work on the orbital colony of Moonbase. Fayt is somewhat lazy when it comes to his college work and takes every opportunity during his vacation to Hyda IV, a famous resort planet, to ignore that work. He does this mostly by playing games. Specifically, combat simulation holographic games. But when Hyda IV is attacked and Fayt is lost on an underdeveloped planet, the combat "games" prove themselves to have been good practice with his weapon of choice—the sword.

Sophia Esteed: Fayt's childhood friend, Sophia was born on the orbital colony Moonbase and then moved to Earth. She's a fairly odd girl, at least for the era SO3 takes place in, for she enjoys cooking, cleaning, and basic things traditionally considered "feminine". Despite this, she is rather strong-minded—when danger of physical pain isn't involved—and while she's no genius, she is a skilled student of Healing Symbology. This becomes useful after the mysterious invasion of Hyda IV…

Cliff Fittir: Born on Klaus III, Cliff is a member of the anti-Federation Organization Quark, which acts as an intermediary rather than a terrorist group as often depicted by the Federation government. He is incredibly strong, with stamina that far outpaces that of Earthlings—this is because Klaus III has gravity that is stronger than Earth's along with the fact that the atmosphere there is composed with higher levels of Nitrogen and less Oxygen. Though on the outside he may seem like a brash, brawn-oriented man, it's really more of a ploy than anything. His intelligence of military tactics and diplomatic dealings is very high, and are quite obvious if he wants them to appear so. He tracks down Fayt on Vanguard III, but why would a Quark member care about him?

Nel Zelpher: An agent of the Aquarian Kingdom on the Underdeveloped Planet of Elicoor II, she helps Fayt and Cliff escape from an Airyglyph prison after they crashlanded in a town. However, she forces them to promise to one condition—they will fork over some of their technology to her in order for the war to shift in Aquaria's favor. She is a skilled warrior both in hand-to-hand combat with a dagger and with Runology, the Elicoorans' name for Symbology.