Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (260)

Here's the extremely disappointing truth: see that large landmass on the left side of the map? That part wasn't accessible via the Synard because it was outside the energy barrier. Now that we're beyond that, we can't reach it either, because we couldn't carry the Synard with us, and walking there isn't possible. That area will never be accessible to us.

After riding the Herush to the port located right in front of Fienal (what? No CG video of the trip? No animation at all? Lame!), the attack squad readies for combat. Something feels off, though: in the whole area around the town there isn't a single enemy. That's enough to get us worried; I wonder what's up, but we can't go back now, can we?

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You know, I understand that it would have been hard for the developers to make a jump animation for every single character that hops onto the Herush, but then why make this pointless and boring scene at all? Just skip it!

Claude, Rena, Narl and the others meet up with Marianna and the squad who will assist them in the mission (what's with their uniforms anyway? Heraldry catalysts?). Our friends get to see the Herush, a fearsome shark-like creature floating about the wharf; they aren't scared by its looks (they've seen worse demons already), but rather by the thought of how it is employed to go underwater. Will they have to jump into its mouth? Actually, it's never shown or explained in the game. I guess this Herush creates a sort of air bubble around itself, so that its passengers can just sit on its back; this hypothesis is corroborated by the fact that everyone hops onto its back before leaving.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (258)

The Nedians' fascination with Heraldic beasts reaches new disturbing levels.

After the mayor has finished explaining some details about the mission, a woman enters the room from the teleporter: she introduces herself as Marianna, commander of the Nedian military forces against the Ten Wise Men. She's just come to communicate that their preparations for the mission are now complete (remember how on Energy Nede there don't seem to be any kind of telephone device); therefore, Narl decides to lead the group through the teleporter, bringing them to L'Aqua, the military post where the mission will start.

In brief, Narl explains that, because Fienal is (the only town of Nede) beyond the energy barrier surrounding the planet, they cannot attack by air. The only possibility to get through unnoticed (since they think the Ten Wise Men aren't keeping an eye on them) is to travel deep underwater, where the barrier doesn't reach. 'We'll need a submarine then' you might be thinking. Troglodyte! Here on Nede we only have the latest and finest vehicles available: for your underwater needs you might want to use a Herush. Yes, it's another genetically modified Heraldic beast like the Synard, only this time we won't need to go through that painful (for the beast) inputting process again, since others will be driving it for us.

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Oh, please! Now you're just messing with us! What's this space-time shift shield system (or SSSS) anyway? Are you saying you're gonna pick up a whole planet from the past and put it into the present to skip its destruction? Whatever...

Narl is about to detail the plan that will lead our heroes to face the Ten Wise Men in Fienal, when Precis interrupts him to ask a question (game-wise, it could be any other Expellian to ask that, it's random): she's wondering if she could contact her father on Expel, since he might be worried about her being away for so long. Claude, Opera and Ernest already knew what became of Expel, but didn't tell the others yet, for one reason or another; now Narl thinks it's time to tell them the sad truth.

Do not think of Narl as being too harsh (or unwise, saying this just before a crucial mission): while he knows revealing Expel's destruction to our unaware friends might deprive them of any motivation to go on with the plan, he apparently has an ace up his sleeve. Nedians certainly have the most advanced knowledge in the universe, for Narl claims they're able to alter time and space to bring Expel back (don't ask too many details on how they can do that, it wouldn't make sense).

Hearing this news, Precis and the others are somewhat relieved that there's still hope for them to see their families again; however, now they've become more worried and nervous than ever, for the existence of Expel depends entirely on their success in defeating the Ten Wise Men. How, you may ask? It's simple: Narl claims that their 'space-time shift shield system' needs a huge amount of energy to work its magic and save Expel, but one of the generators that can power it is in Fienal, and it's needed to get enough energy for such a task. In short, unless they defeat the Ten Wise Men in Fienal, they cannot have Expel back. If you ask me, this is just a lame plot device; but I also believe that after playing Star Ocean 3 all this could make sense (to be fair, anything would after that).

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No, it won't, trust me. Narl is so short-sighted that he can't foresee two simple things: our heroes are still no match for the Ten Wise Men , and it's not certain that a defeat would mean the end. There are some hints about this not being the final battle scattered about the whole sequence, for instance the absolute lack of solemnity.

Back from their stroll about the Fields, the group is now ready for the next mission. Unexpectedly, Narl states that our heroes have become much stronger, certainly stronger than anyone on Nede (well, made a good number ov level-ups during our battles, but that's rarely taken into account in JRPG stories); I'm sure this has something to do with them overcoming their fears and all that jazz. Regardless, the plan is now to storm into Fienal, the city where the Ten Wise Men have taken siege.

One hint for the player: at this point a certain game sequence will start, and while you'll be able to save your game just outside of Fienal, you the Synard won't be accessible until the sequence ends. You'll be confined to the surrounding of Fienal and L'Aqua, the military base where you'll start the mission. Keep this in mind, for once you've talked to Narl there's no turning back.

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Each character has his/her own animation when they're brought back to life by Rena's Raise Dead spell: they all have the character's 'soul' (more like an angel) descend on the body in a cone of light, but Precis's animation has her smiling and waving her hands as she goes down, which makes it the best one.

After our heroes have got the Jewel of Love, they work their way back (as usual) to the exit of the Field; unfortunately the enemies don't want to give up, and still attack them in hordes. Luckily Rena's just learned a new spell, Raise Dead, which brings a fallen character back up with half their HP restored: this is more effective than a Resurrection Bottle, although it takes time to cast.

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See, even Claude admits this vision makes no sense at all.

The vision goes on by showing a sequence of dialogues between Claude and his father: taken with weird camera angles, the scene has an angry Claude shouting at the back of Ronixis, all this on a black background. Claude basically complains about his father not considering him, to which the commodore replies (at least I think HE does, it could be someone else, even Claude himself) along the lines of 'Is it really like that?'.

Taken by despair, Claude plugs his ears and kneels down, while the vision ends by transforming the black background into a shot of Arlia. About this last image, I'm not sure if it depends on which Claude's best relationship is, or if it's Arlia because that's where his journey began. However, this is probably the strangest scene in the whole game (there are worse JRPGs in that regard): the rest of the game is just bad dialogue (or bad translation, I don't know).

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Claude: Oh, my bad. I thought you were another person.

Our friends are a bit disheartened: although they've beaten Lover, kept everyone safe and preserved the Rune Codes, they now know the Ten Wise Men are aware of their movements. Claude and Rena are also concerned about what Lover said regarding her having already killed the guardian of the Field of Love; much to their surprise, though, they're again greeted by another flash of light and a vision, after which they finally obtain the Jewel of Love.

But the vision Claude (and Rena, as far as I remember) has this time is different from the previous ones, in that it's not simply a scene from the past (or present): he finds himself lying in a dark, empty space, unable to move, apparently in pain. The faint silhouette of someone then appears before him, emitting small light sparks. By looking at the screenshot you can immediately tell it's Rena, but in the real game there's not enough contrast to tell right away; of course who it is that appears isn't always her, it depends on who has the highest level of romance with Claude at the moment. Even if you don't recognize the figure, you can certainly guess who it is by the way she talks.

Before I forget, there's a thing that I wanted to mention about the dialogue between (in this case) Claude and Rena after beating Lover: their lines are absolutely generic and overly dramatic. How is that news, you ask? Well, game-wise, this is obviously one of the cases where the developers didn't bother differentiating the dialogue, so this sounds like a general 'I'm glad you're safe' dialogue between Claude and his 'best freind'; which sounds especially awkward when Rena's the friend, because Claude saved her twice in the past, yet they talk like that now. Actually, I think this would sound off even with anyone else, because it's so impersonal.

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...And that's the answer I was looking for. It's good that at least she admits it herself, although she doesn't seem very convinced.

The Ten Wise Men must be quite overconfident to send such a pathetic opponent at our heroes: if it weren't for the two golem monsters (the same kind they already fought in the Hoffman Ruins... So it was their doing back there!) with her, it would have been a very short battle. After her defeat, Lover realizes her own foolishness. You can pity her if you want, since she herself told you she had no idea what Claude and the others were doing in these Fields; her only fault was being on the wrong side (her excessive confidence as well).

After fading to nothingness like all the other bad guys who die (at least we don't have to worry about burying the corpse), our friends are relieved to be safe and sound.

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Why, oh why?! You had what you wanted, and yet you would do such a foolish move.

Claude hands over the Rune Codes to Lover (they might not even need them anymore after all, since this is the last Field, but they're also a high-security key, so who knows what they'll use them for), who unexpectedly (really?) declares to kill them. Funnily enough, if the hostage was in your battle party, s/he will take part in the battle against Lover; why bother taking a hostage if you're going to use force anyway?

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I hate hostage negotiations, they always end up badly.

Lover threatens to take Rena's life if Claude doesn't hand her over the Rune Codes; naturally, Rena says the canonical 'Don't listen to her', while Claude reluctantly choses to give up the precious item in exchange of her safety. It's worth explaining that, while this time it's Rena that has been taken hostage, it may have been some other charatcer, depending on the relationship levels Claude currently has with his friends: I think Lover cleverly picks the character with the highest friendship level in your group (although I'm pretty sure Claude wouldn't let any of his companions die).

In a normal playthrough, Rena is the character who's most likely to be the protagonist of relationship-influenced scenes such as this one, and for two reasons: the first is that her relationship levels with Claude start out quite high (what with the Warrior of Light story and him saving her life twice), while the second is that she'll most likely be in your battle party all the time (relationship level raises every 100 battles fought together), thanks to her healing powers. Kind of like what happens with Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, for those who've played it. Of course, if you're playing with Rena the situation is exactly specular.

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You mean 'womanservant', right? What a coincidence, though, that her name is Lover... you know, we're in the Field of Love... Oh, forget it! I'm short on ideas today.

So the Field of Love is that floating island in the centre of Energy Nede, possibly kept in the air by the supreme power of love itself (how romantic!). For once, you can see a nice introduction sequence to the Field: the Synard slowly flies towards a landing area (you can hear her soft wingbeat), lightly descends on the ground producing a small little shockwave, then Claude jumps off with a leap higher than the Synard (nice animation, I must say).

Facing the gate to the Field of Love, our group faces an energy barrier, which mysteriously dissolves once they get close; if you had come earlier to this place, the barrier would have stayed, but I'm not sure what the game requirements are for it to open up (likely the completion of the other 3 Fields). The way is open now, but Claude wonders whether they should 'use' the Rune Codes as usual (how does Claude 'use' them anyway? The other times the codes acted on their own). Somehow activating the Rune Codes, an eerie light and then a flash appear, teleporting our heroes right into the Field (couldn't they just walk in?).

The Field of Love is quite straight-forward, although packed with many strong enemies; right at the start you face a huge banner with an arrow indicating to the left, therefore you have to turn right first, in typical JRPG fashion, in order to collect a treasure. Well, at least they don't make you waste time, but still, you get back out on foot as usual, so you could have checked the other way on your way back. After a couple of pointless rotating platforms, our friends get to the final room.

Expecting the team is the spirit of the fountain, who invites them to come closer. But suddenly one of your characters gets captured and held hostage, while the mysterious woman reveals her true identity: Lover, a servant of the Ten Wise Men. Now, this actually seems like a very good plan! I mean, Narl has always been so mysterious about these Fields, so Claude and the others could never know what to expect; aside from guessing that Lover acted differently from the other guardians (who knows, it could have been because this is the Field of Love), there's no way they could have foreseen it was a trap.

There is something funny about this, however: Lover is quite weak when compared to the other guardians, which makes me wonder how she could have killed the real guardian here. But enough for today, this is an interesting part which deserves more posts.

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Leave it to Precis when it comes to awkward questions.

A small detour, nothing important: our group landed in North City to ask how they can refuel their Synard (well, not really). Next stop is the Field of Love; I wonder what kind of challenges await us.

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Claude: Rena, why are you grinning?

In Armlock they have a huge variety of weapons in store, but... I don't know, I can't help but feel puzzled when the most advanced civilization in the whole universe still has to worry about hand-to-hand combat. They actually sell these weapons, they're not just for display. Claude even started the adventure with a Phase Gun! Sure, its power was drained quickly and it still hasn't recharged, but Nede's got to have more efficient generators. Now Claude seems to be happy swinging his star-spitting sword, and occasionally using his flashy Killer Moves learned from nowhere, instead of safely incinerating his enemies from a distance... It's not cowardice, it's common sense!

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A granny that says it's 'QUITE an unusual place'? It could mean anything...

After yet another vision (well, Rena said she only heard a voice), our heroes get their hands on the Jewel of Courage. Once out of the cavern, they realize they need a break from all that battling, so they decide to streer their Synard towards one of the towns they haven't visited yet.

There's this large piece of land near the barrier, in the southeastern part of Energy Nede, where you can find a large amusement park called Fun City: the name and the music you can hear from outside sound promising, but our friends realize it wouldn't be right to play around while there's an emergency like that (plus, the entrance fee isn't cheap). Therefore the group opts for the town nearby, Armlock.

Armlock is a small town, with an old-fashioned look (it reminds Celine of Cross Town); like the name suggests, their specialty is making weapons, although the Nedians haven't used them at all for a long time. However, it's also a nice tranquil place to relax: Opera immediately finds herself a seat at the tavern, with Ernest joining her this time. Claude is also there, having a chat with other people, and he learns of a strange place named 'Fake Gallery': this place is located on an island near Giveaway, and it seels some unique items (at rather hefty prices), among which is the Magical Rasp (with it you can get better equipment from the Blacksmith Super Specialty).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (245)

I don't understand. Ronixis should have worried about Claude if he thought he was reckless, not brave; and our Commodore certainly knows his son IS kinda reckless, especially after that incident on Millocinia. By the way, Claude wasn't being brave when he decided to go back on Expel, and it certainly was less for bravery and more for sheer luck that he and his friends were spared the fate of the other Expellians. This stuff about courage sure is important (if a bit cliché), but in this context it just sound dumb.

Of course our heroes cannot be intimidated by an enemy they've already beaten before, so they easily beat it, yet they once again face the empty altar (where did the Warrior Statue go?). But suddenly a bright light engulfs the group: these visions wouldn't take them by surprise anymore if they didn't start with a different special effect each time. Claude now sees the bridge of Calnus, his father's spaceship, where Ronixis is talking about him and how brave he was. We don't know if our Warrior of Light realizes that what he's watching is the present, not the past like for the other visions; but the player certainly understands that.

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Read: we couldn't think of a new enemy for you to face, so here's a rehash of the guardian of the Field of Power.

So our heroes find the Warrior Statue (after countless battles against vicious monsters), bet back to the.... hmmm... elevator/teleporter thing, place the statue on the empty altar of some sort, and wait. Suddenly, a robotic guardian, not unlike the one they fought in the previous Field, comes crashing down breaking the ceiling. After Leon has recovered from the panic attack, the android briefly explains why they must fight, and then the battle begins. This guardian is exactly identical to the previous one too: same power, same attacks, same weaknesses. The only thing that may change your strategy a bit is the fact that you aren't fighting on a semi-broken bridge anymore, which could mean running around is now easier, both for you and for the enemy.

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It's not really funny, but there's this spell that shows a scene in outer space every time you cast it: down there is Energy Nede, but if you cast it while on Expel, there's that planet instead (and maybe some other small differences). Nice touch.

Once Celine reaches Level 49, she can cast the powerful spell Southern Cross: it looks like the famous constellation is attracted to the ground, resulting in a rainbow-coloured shower of destruction. If Celine's proficiency with the spell is high enough, the number of 'stars' falling to the ground doubles (where do they get them from?). It's a handy spell but it has a couple of downsides:

• its casting animation is really long: pan to space, each of the five stars twinkle in sequence, then they start falling down; back on the ground, some dramatic camera angles, then the explosions (I think the only spell that takes longer to hit is Meteor Swarm, or maybe also Gremlin Lair when there are many targets)
• it seems to be one of Celine's favorite spells, because she tends to cast it very frequently (it may be because there are few enemies with resistance to Star-elemental Heraldry)

If you're annoyed by that, I suggest you to disable the spell; Celine will probably fall back to casting Lunar Light, which is almost as powerful but takes less to cast.

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When there are obstacles in the way, the camera turns to weird angles: in this case Claude and Precis are behind the fallen pillar, but here they look like they're lying on the ground.

Watch out when you cast destructive spells, you might damage the battlefield! Like, ancient, long-standing pillars may come crashing down (I don't think they can harm anyone though, which is strange). This isn't the only place where things like this happen: to spice up some battles a little, things like rolling barrels, running mine carts, or falling stalactites appear on the field, either randomly, or whenever a large spell is cast by battler. Most of the time these are just disruptive elements which lightly damage your party or your enemies. These kinds of 'traps' are an interesting concept, which would have made battles more interesting if they had been properly implemented; unfortunately, they're nothing to care about, just a small distraction.

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Very helpful, indeed! Even after 'solving' the mystery of this cave, I couldn't understand what this hint referred to; except maybe it could just be a motto or something, since this is the Field of Courage.

This place is weirder than the Field of Intelligence: it's a sort of labyrinth, not very large, but packed full of monsters, so that random battles will occur at about every four or five steps. The room to the left of this one loops around and doesn't seem to have any secret behind it (at least neither I nor the authors of the guides I've read found anything about it). There's an empty altar that you can reach by means of an 'elevator' to the right of the entrance, but nothing happens if you just stand there. You'll have to take the 'Warrior Statue' (some bust I can't make out the features of), located in the far left corner of the cavern, and bring it back here.