Star Ocean First Departure R is a great RPG that needed a bit more love on the presentation side of things. It certainly deserved it.
Oh, my. Some old school turn-based/action RPG-ing hits the PlayStation 4 with Star Ocean First Departure R, which launched to the public this past week. Having played some more recent versions of Star Ocean, and absolutely feeling like it was a weird Final Fantasy knock-off, I appreciated seeing the origin of the series in action in an HD remake fashion. At least on the inside (yeah, that sounded weird — oh, well).
Starting with the HD remake, I know it’s easy for companies to throw ‘HD Remake/Remaster’ onto an older game and get away with it. I’ve seen a few games in the past tote that line, such as Shenmue I/II, but still maintain the textures that came with it on an older system it was born on. Essentially, you get brighter textures and a 16:9 experience, which technically qualifies as an ‘HD Remake’, but you get the ‘years ago it looked this way’ presentation with it, as in none of it was improved. What I’m getting at is that when you see the term ‘HD Remake/Remaster, take it with a grain of salt.
With the HD Remake/Remaster term in mind, Star Ocean First Departure R totes that moniker and delivers in the above categories just like you would expect. The game fits on the screen perfectly, it is brighter, but it does have some severe issues with graininess in the art (The art was originally grainy on the PlayStation Portable, which was a considerable improvement over the Super Famicom version — although I would have liked to play the SF version). The PSP’s version of the game didn’t give you the finer details of that graininess, rather it just looked like more realistic art on a tiny screen. It actually looked good, kind of in the same vein as locations in Super Mario RPG. When you blow a picture up from PSP to PS4, without working on the art to clean it up, the resolution absolutely just tanks. It’s just not fun to look at when you’re trying to focus on the game. That doesn’t mean the game is bad, but the graphics are definitely a distraction. I found myself incredibly fascinated with how the art was put together because you could see all the pieces that made up the locations and land, which isn’t where you want to be when you’re playing an RPG on a modern-day console. The shift from 2D isometric to 3D when traveling outside of towns and kingdoms certainly helped, but it still looked very blocky and not what I would assume a remake/remaster should be. It looked like a PlayStation 1 RPG, which belongs in the 90s.
Beyond the visuals, though, the game itself is fast and furious fun.
Star Ocean First Departure R has a complicated backend, where you get to do a lot of mixes and match with materials, magic, and equipment. It has that standard RPG structure intact that was certainly well-known for its day and age but complicates it (in a good way) with skills and such. The game certainly gives you a bevy of ways to create and craft your character as the game’s adventure progresses. In 1996, that’s an impressive structure in a time period where RPGs were in constant flux and trying to find their own way to do things. There were only certain structures leading up to this point — either the Zelda route, where things were pick up and go, or a Final Fantasy/Phantasy Star router, where you can choose magic and weapons. There wasn’t a lot of variety in the RPG genre. What Star Ocean First Departure R did back in the 90s is honestly something to behold, even for 2019. This structure helped lay the groundwork for future games of this type and set new options/standards for how RPGs were constructed. It’s impressive to know that you got more than you bargained for, which means that you are more engrossed than expected.
As for the actual adventure, it’s long and turn-based in a sense. You still traverse a barren land and are snatched up by random encounters. It shows its old school ways through this method and it’s a structure that I’m honestly comfortable with and enjoy. I was raised on Phantasy Star, which did the same thing, and it tugs at my nostalgic heartstrings a bit. Does that mean everyone will enjoy it? Probably not, but it stays true to what it was back in the day and it works for the most part.
In addition to the encounters, the game also has a bit of a weird turn-based/action element to it. It seems to combine a sprinkle of turn-based RPG, but as soon as the fighting gets going you’re in an action scenario. Again, this was unique for this time period and it’s impressive to see a taste of the RPG future with this game. Not to sound like a broken record, but it’s ahead of its time.
Anyway, for me, the sin of this game is the ‘HD Remake/Remaster’ remark. Clearly, there is a great RPG here and plenty of character building to do through brief grinding, but the visuals just stand out like a sore thumb that it’s tough to watch for a long period of time. I think that if Square had thrown a bit more money into this remake, graphics were updated, and the visuals just improved, then ‘wow’ you have an RPG worth savoring through the years right now. I’m not talking a Final Fantasy VII remake that’s coming out in the spring, but rather just something that smooths out the PSP kinks.
As it stands, Star Ocean First Departure R is a great RPG that needed a bit more love on the presentation side of things. It certainly deserved it.
