4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Immensely Helpful Resource for your First Departure, December 20, 2008
This review is from: STAR OCEAN: First Departure Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) (Paperback)
Bradygames has had a shaky history with their strategy guides lately. Their guides for console games seem to be less detailed and missing a ton of information. On the other hand, their handheld guides have been pretty useful. Star Ocean: First Departure is no exception. It's a well done guide filled with a ton of information. If you need to master Star Ocean: First Departure, this guide will actually help you do it.
The guide begins by introducing you to all the characters. The section itself is actually somewhat dry, but it gives you the information you need such as their techs and spells. It might have been better if the authors had given us a few tactics on how to use each character effectively, but since Star Ocean isn't very hard to grasp, it's something that we can let slide.
After this the guide gets into the gameplay aspects of the game. Star Ocean is a surprisingly complex game, it's very nice to have all this information at your fingertips. If you've been playing JRPGs for years, however, none of these tactics are really going to be new to you. On the other hand, there are a couple of other things here that it explains which are useful to Star Ocean players. The base affections chart is very useful as is the hidden talents table. There's also a lot of good battle tactics displayed through the basics as well as a breakdown of scenario branching.
After this, we get into the walkthrough. Each area shows the maps. On each map are the location of items scattered throughout each town or dungeon. There's also enemy data listed at the start of each area. The text outlined in the walkthrough is incredibly helpful for getting you through things. It gives a mini-profile of each new character as they're introduced. There are also a good deal of crystal clear screenshots with some interesting captions below them, many of which give you more interesting tips. There are also boss strategies, but they're not quite as good as the rest of the walkthrough itself.
There are also a lot of different kinds of tips and tricks outlined as you go through. The guide never hesitates to let you know when it's a good idea to do some customization, level grinding or to give you forewarning of upcoming events. There should be no reason you're unprepared for any situation with this guide by your side.
Of special note also, is the flowchart that also comes before each and every area. Star Ocean has a branching story with optional characters scattered throughout. The guide does a very good job of pointing when and where you can get all of them, while also letting the gamer know that you can't get all the characters. The flowchart is incredibly helpful. If there were any real problem with the walkthrough it would be that it has no overall world map. There is a new section of the world map whenever you get to a new region but if you need it you'll have to flip back to it. It's really not that big a deal, however as Star Ocean, despite the amount of backtracking, is a fairly straightforward game.
When we are done with the immensely helpful walkthrough we get into the sidequests. This section begins by tell you every private action. Where it occurs and the conditions you need to meet to get it to occur. This is probably one of the more useful portions of the guide as it tells you how to build up affection points as well. There's also a lot of good stuff on the battle arena as well and the hidden dungeon.
The items and equipment data is also very useful. It's standard to have these tables in an RPG guide book, of course. The breakdown is about the same as it is in the game. Beyond that, however, the skills and specialties section is very useful. There's a good breakdown on some of the best specialties such as customization and music. After that we get to the final section, the enemy data. An all inclusive bestiary. It's very detailed and useful.
In the end, if you need help through the First Departure this is the perfect guide. It has an immensely detailed walkthrough and helpful tips for just about everything. If you need something to get you by, don't hesitate to use this strategy guide.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Decent guide for a great game. (YAY FIRST REVIEW!!!), November 22, 2008
This review is from: STAR OCEAN: First Departure Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) (Paperback)
Good solid guide with some flaws and drawbacks. The in-game maps are very useful, item locations are good, boss strategies, weapon and armor locations, bestiary, so it's got it all. Why did I give it three stars? The layout. I mean the guide itself is very straight-forward, but sometimes you may spend 10 minutes trying to find one page, or a specific section. The table of contents serves well, although it doesn't seem to involve everything. This guide is good, and its much better then checking GameFAQs every 10 seconds, and with this game you will need a guide for sure. If you have the game, get this guide, it's solid, and with some patience it is usable. Bradygames is a good company, much better then the idiots over at Prima. :) Anyway, this is the only guide around, so it's this or constant internet checking, and trust someone who's far in this game, you WILL need a guide. Unless you want to spend hours looking for one town or the exact location you're supposed to go. Plus it's very useful to have a character guide, helps you determine who to use. Hope this review helps!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great guide, January 23, 2009
This review is from: STAR OCEAN: First Departure Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) (Paperback)
This guide is Helpful in some ways and useless in others. I got to the Labyrinth of Trials and got stuck at the area where you select the doors with the moons. I went and got a guide from GameFAQ but the info on that section was un helpful as it is in this guide. that is when i had to do a little more research. Otherwise this guide is quite useful for statistics and as a MAP guide. well worth the money!
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