Thinking about starting Star Ocean.

Which one is a good starter?

The remakes for 1 and 2 are both solid.

I've read that you should play them in this order
1 > 2 > 3 > 6

I also read that 4 and 5 should be skipped.

1 and 2 for sure.

2 is the most popular by far even today. The remakes of star ocean 1 (everything aside from the super nintendo original basically) all lifted star ocean 2's gameplay and item creation systems, so if you played this game then you would get a sample of what you would be in for with part 2.

Its completely fine starting with part 2 (basically how the vast majority of us star ocean fans overseas had to do it since part 1 didn't get localized until it's PSP first departure release came out), but at this point its probably preferable if you simply started with star ocean 1. Star ocean 2 is a direct sequel with *very minor/straight up at star ocean 2's intro spoilers here, but putting it behind bar just in case* one male main character being the son of 2 of star ocean 1's party members.

I'm going to go against the grain and say that star ocean 4 is not a bad game at all. It's plot does get silly yeah (the MC is named edge maverick so of course its going to have cheese in it, lol), but overall it was a fine experience. Funny enough this is one of the very few star ocean games where you are actually properly traveling throughout space and going to different planets, and so it has a lot of appeal for me just for this fact alone. (Usually how the story plays out for any given star ocean game is *again very minor plot details here for various star oceans* that you get stranded on a certain planet for the vast majority of the game ).

Star ocean 3 is a very fun game to actually play, but it's item creation system (its a inventor system for this release in particular) to me isn't as good as the actual item creation you will see in every other star ocean game. This entry is the one with the controversial plot twist, so I personally wouldn't play this entry first if you are a series newbie.

IMO start with star ocean 1 (its a short and sweet experience. Its the shortest out of all the star ocean games). Star ocean 1, then play star ocean 2 second.

From here you can either stick to game release order and play star ocean 3, or for now skip over it to play star ocean 4. (Star ocean 4 in the star ocean timeline is actually first chronological-wise).

Star ocean 5 is the one that most fans would say is the weakest in the entire series. This one only ever released on the PS4 (or the PS3 in japan-only). It did do this really interesting thing where all your party members is always following you around and fighting in battles at once, so eventually you will have 7 characters running around with explosions all over the place, but yeah the story was very eh here.

Then there is star ocean 6/the divine force. You can either play this one directly after 4 and pretend part 5 does not exist, or you can just save it for last after having played all the previous games first.

all i know w/ 5 is it's apparently fairly short kinda linear and doesn't even go into space .. u know the whole "star ocean" thing the series is named after

as for the rest of the 1s i played i basically agree w/ the post above mine while 4's story was alright (outside of a very....specific part) and i didn't care for the final boss's motivations it's gameplay is quite enjoyable and in regards to 3 i'm indifferent on the big thing ppl hated w/ it's story

The first 3 are a loose Trilogy.
So start with 1,2 then 3.

3 was my #1 game for about a decade till Tactics Ogre

4 has a lot of problems. I never played 5 or 6 since I dont own a Sony console.

Divinehero posted...

the post above mine while 4's story was alright (outside of a very....specific part)

Naw, it was complete garbage pretty much the second that it started. It leads on simple bad writing with stuff like the whole "the MC switches to a sword because these specific bugs are immune to it and doesn't switch back because the writers wanted him to have a sword the whole time" and ends on "Lol, best hope you didn't like basic continuity from about 30 minutes ago."

1+2 remakes and 3 while has flaws i still enjoyed it but man it needs a remake cuz it's rough around the edges as for the others....pass

Besides 6, which I haven't looked much into and keep putting off, 4 is the only one I haven't played all of the way through, as the characters and voice acting were so bad to me that I didn't want to go through it. I had my younger brother play it for me instead, and while the combat looked good (and he thought it was great), I thought the story and characters were bottom of the barrel.

Then again, I also thought 5 was decent, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I'd probably rank the ones I've played as such:

2 > 1 (Remake) > 3 > 5

Anyway, in regards to the actual point of this topic, I'd say the remakes (either the PSP versions or the latest ones that are on current consoles) of either 1 or 2 are the best starting points.

I'd say play Star Ocean 2.

It has a lot of QoL improvements, the Remake of the first one is shorter, but you'll miss out on certain characters and side quests unless you follow a guide.

Play 1 and 2 and just be done.

i really need something to just zone out to and get lost in. maybe this would be good.

maybe ff5 would also be good. or chrono cross. or legend of the dragoon. fuck it ill just shitpost.

Start with the second one its amazing