Star Ocean/Headscratchers

• Star Ocean 2 -- NOONE comments on the presense of a Fellpool (Leon) on Expel. Maybe Expellians really don't notice funny-looking people once they've been around awhile (Noone comments on Rena's ears either... But then, they _do_ notice Opera and Edward's third eyes, and of course Ashton's dragons...) but how does Claude not suspect it? Then again, maybe he's so busy getting used to a fantasy world he doesn't notice, but that doesn't answer the question of WHAT THE HECK IS A FELLPOOL DOING ON EXPEL?
  • Well, I'm glad Mr. Noone cared to comment, at least.
  • The series handwaves it as Fellpool mastering space travel after the first game and spreading across the galaxy.
  • Actually, in an encyclopedia entry in SO3, it's stated that Expellians periodically have 'throwback' children to their older DNA - Leon is an example of this. In 'modern' times in SO3, it's required that Expellians have DNA tests done to ensure this won't happen again.
    • This is actually a bit troublesome. Is there any evidence that being a Fellpool is detrimental to an individuals health? It's understandandable to screen against illnesses, but screening against the odd fellpool showing up seems like screening against redheads, or something.
  • Which also makes no sense, since the Fellpool evolved on another planet. Practically everything can be handwaved however, by shoddy design at Sphere.
    • It also retranslates it as not being Fellpool, but Felidian or something. Fellpool are another race of those.
  • Humans, or so like humans that they don't really bother calling them something different, exist on a lot of planets in the Star Ocean verse. Same thing with a lot of other types of creatures, like feather folk and so on. Expel was just a planet that had a wide variety of sentient species that developed on it, and they hybridized with each other. Sometimes a person is born with traits that call back to the past through a quirk of genetics. Interesting side note: Occasionally an Expellian is born with slightly pointed ears and a natural ability for Symbology. If you played Star Ocean 2 you know who that particular bit of genetics is descended from.
    • The player even gets to talk to such an Expellian in the third game's opening sequence. Aside from the long ears, he has Noel's face and he's shown healing people.
• In the original Star Ocean, Healing Magic/Heraldry/Symbology (depending on the translation for the term you like) is treated as perfectly normal. In Star Ocean 2, it's stated not to exist, and Rena is considered strange for being able to use healing abilities. This could've just been chalked up to differences between Roak and Expel... until Star Ocean 3, where it's established that Magic/Heraldry/Symbology works by manipulating the source code of the universe, and thus should work the same everywhere.
  • Theoretically, this could fall under different groups being able to exploit this "bug" to a greater or lesser degree -- Expellians just drew the Short Straw compared to Humans, Nedeans, and the races of Roak and something about their code doesn't let them use the particular bug exploit that allows Symbology/Heraldry/Magic to be used for healing. This is somewhat plausible, but ultimately amounts to a bit of a Hand Wave, though.
  • Simple, the expellians never discovered the necessary symbol.
  • It should also be noted that the first two games were never made with the third's plot twist in mind.

• Having only played only a good length of Star Oceans 2 and 3, I must ask this: Why is the series considered Science fiction when in reality you only seem to end up on generic fantasy worlds? Isn't the whole point of a science fiction setting to get away from magical powers and whatnot?
  • It's 'sci-fi' along the same lines as Phantasy Star (NOT Online), Final Fantasy VII & VII, etc. They like to still have their magic and the like, really.
    • Especially since it'd be a rather dull RPG that places emphasis on party with just tank, ranged fighter, melee fighter, Medic, Combat Medic, melee, ranged, gunner, machine gunner etc.
  • They "fix" this with the fourth game, which is predominantly about space travel (and, apparently, ripping off Star Trek: Enterprise. Of course a lot of the planets are still predominantly fantasy-ish like Roak and Expel, but you spend a considerably larger amount of time in the actual Star Ocean)
  • It's actually explained in 1st game why there are characters coming up against a 25th-century-monstrosity wielding swords, symbology, and staves...because Revorse was genetically modified to be immune to modern weaponry like energy-based weaponry, and honestly what would be the point behind making him immune to Ilia's fists, Ronyx's arrows, or Roddick's Sword? Nobody uses 'em anymore, they're more or less useless when enemies have guns and they aren't usually balanced by "making them weak but with high-accuracy and range" like most RPGs do. (Even KOTOR is guilty of this.)
  • You know, the idea of "Under-developed planets" actually would be a realistic situation in a sci-fi world...and not just under-deveoped in that amoeba are roaming the planets (Even though the majority probably would still be ruled by Amoebic lifeforms)

• The ending to the fourth game. This Troper was incredibly disappointed to learn that by "multiple endings" the game means you just unlock solo endings for every character.
  • That's how it's always been.
    • Nope. There's always been variation in addition to solo endings. Also, the other games gave you those solo endings by default and not as a reward for maxing out affection.

• If the Star Ocean universe is just a MMORPG for the 4D players, how can all the PCs stay in character so seamlessly that the sentinent NPCs don't suspect anything?
  • They probably keep all out of character dialogue to a separate chat feature which the NPCs don't have access to
    • The game world is still strangely devoid of trolls, griefers, lamers, and newbies, though.
      • Nah. Jerks, lunatics, power-mad people... there is no end to the possible inadequately prepared PCs. Remember, in as truly immersive and complete an MMO as the Star Ocean 'verse, someone who wasn't good enough would probably be locked up in a loony bin or arrested by police.
        • I wonder if Jie Revorse may have been a player.
      • Or maintenance of something so vast is incredibly expensive, so nobody who's going to shell out as much as it costs is going to waste the experience with poor behavior, lest they be thrown out.
      • It's also possible that the players you control (Edge, Claude, Roddick, and Fayt...well, maybe not Fayt) are themselves PCs. If you think about it in a meta-sort of way, you're the player, they're the player character. To really break your brain, assume that everyone you meet in the game is a PC and doesn't know it, since the MMO features like OOC chat and such are beyond their ability to perceive.
  • There is only one player. Welch. Everyone else is playing WoW.
    • Welch could potentially have her private server.
  • No, I got a better question to ask...how come the characters can travel through time? For that matter, how would that actually work in an MMOG that's simulating it all? Do they wind up segregated in an instance that takes place during when the universe "Restores" to a certain point?
    • Our conception of time, and that of the denizens of the Eternal Sphere is that of 3-dimensional beings who are only aware of the fourth dimension (time) by its affect on the world around us looking at the works of beings who exist in four dimensions entirely. Trying to understand how time flow works there is like a stick figure on paper trying to understand depth.
  • It was always my impression that you aren't a 4D PC, but that you were actually playing one of the actual denizens of the Eternal Sphere Artificial Universe. Then again, the first two games were slightly altered to fit the third's revelation, and even then it's still almost played as you being an ES NPC living their actual virtual lives rather than a player. I will admit that Welch's interactions do bring up the argument of you being a player, somewhat; she could be just more in touch with the actual form of the universe, as in not a mere game, as well.. Though Till The End of Time did imply that that universe exists seperate and Eternal Sphere is more or less interacting with it, not exactly causing it's existence.
• Why is it that Fayt's escape pod goes to a completely different location than the others when it's said they fly towards the nearest planet? And if Fayt was so important, why does Cliff's escape plan involve getting him captured and tortured by a medieval society while Mirage goes for help? Wouldn't letting Fayt go with Mirage have made more sense? Why even leave the ship in the first place, anyway? I doubt a ship designed for interstellar travel that can soak up at least a little damage from alien weapons is going to fall to a pickaxe or whatever they were going to use. And if they did somehow possess the technology to force open the hatch, wouldn't have been better to wait until then when simply waiting them out for a while would no longer be an option?
  • Things were pretty chaotic when the Helre was attacked. The pods may have been forced to enter gravitic warp before narrowing in on the nearest planet. They had to leave the ship because most of it's facilities where wrecked; Communications and possibly the replicators too. Still can't figure out why Cliff thought it was a good idea to have Fayt get taken captive with him instead of leaving him with Mirage where it was safe though. Maybe he was worried Fayt would make a pass at Mirage and she would take him out?

• Okay, so the first game. How come there's only like, one Lycanthrope? Where do the rest live? And how come they look more or less like the Muans/Moorians?

• The fourth game. Myuria. Why, exactly, is a recent widow dressing like a streetwalker?
  • People have had stranger reactions to grief. Besides, Myuria's an alien. How do we know those aren't the traditional mourning clothes of Morphus women.
  • They are, except the other Morphus women wear more clothes beneath the outfit. Why Myuria wears less I don't know.
  • Judging by what the other Morphus women wear as normal clothes Myuria isn't so out of place. It's like the difference between a t-shirt and jeans and a tank top and and shorts.
• I never liked the way Dr. Lantis was handled in Star Ocean 2. He was basically treated like an afterthought and that didn't change in the remake This goes for the Wise Men too as they were treated like cardboard cutouts. Jie Revorse and even Asmodean are treated in a similar manner in Star Ocean. However, it's the treatment of Dr. Lantis that has always bugged me the most and probably will for quite some time. I honestly think that there could have been a lot done with him at least, but NOOO.
  • I agree to an extent, but at the same time... it's hard to do much with Dr. Lantis, considering that he's been dead for a very long time in the game. All we get about him is from the various versions of Nede's history, and from what tiny bits we can glean from Gabriel(/Indalecio) and Phillia. And yes, those two are supposed to be personality-copies of Lantis and his daughter, respectively, but we don't know how faithful those copies are, or how much they might've had to be changed to be able to be implanted in the bodies of what are essentially Heraldic supermen, or even how much Lantis's personality could've changed after years of wandering the galaxy searching for a way to take revenge. It would have been nice if the game had shown some flashbacks or something, though - maybe acted out portions of the Secret Files instead of having them just be words on a screen.

• Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX) - one of the first pieces of information that we get from Noel is that he used to be a partisan of the Ten Wise Men. Aside from the fact that it's very odd for someone to say that to a group of total strangers ("Hi, random strangers in my house! I used to support my planet's greatest enemies! How are you today?") the game never offers any clarification; it never even brings it up again. What does it mean? How can he be a supporter of people he never would've had the opportunity to meet, since they had only recently returned to Nede - especially considering that the Wise Men's entire agenda was to destroy Nede, with no real political justification given? Does the PSP localization shed any light on this?

• Star Ocean: The Second Story (PSX): One of Opera's quotes to start combatis, , "I'll turn you into a beehive!" What does it mean? Is this a common idiom in Japan, or just a weird turn of phrase from the translators?
  • Probably a creative way of saying she'll shoot them full of holes.

• Till the End of Time's communicator is REALLY bizarre. 1: The Symbology and Runology are the EXACT SAME THING and it can't translate the term? If it can't translate technical terms and just used as is then it has the problem of the suffix being the same despite the independent languages. 2:How is Nel eavesdropping supposed to work? It can't be making everyone in an area understand eachother, because then Fayt could understand the elf girl because of Norton (if he doesn't have one it raises two separate issues in speaking whatever language Federation speaks and having no way to issue the demands he is said to make) and Cliff's.