"Star Ocean," Famicon RPG staple hits U.S. shores

The original Star Ocean was only available on the Super Famicom (Japanese Nintendo gaming system). A decade later a fully revamped edition with a graphics overhaul, extra characters, and fully voiced dialogue will reach American shores Nov. 21.

Star Ocean: First Departure follows childhood friends Roddick, Millie, and Dorne as they keep their hometown safe from intruders, when a strange disease that turns people into stone spreads across the entire planet. Now the trio must travel to the past to save the present.

The best factor of this game is the exciting battle system, which features four characters moving about freely in a 3D plane. You can only control one character at a time, but you can direct others to act accordingly, via various tactics. Characters can equip special attacks and magic spells to use in battle and items can be used by opening up a simple in-battle menu.

As usual in role playing games, characters receive money, experience points, and skill points after battle. Upon learning enough skills, various abilities like cooking and writing can be learned. Utilizing this innovative item creation is vital to completing the game.

The voice acting and the score are both impressive and the graphics style of 2D sprites (drawings that move across the screen) in colorful environments is aesthetically pleasing.

Although the storyline is not particularly mind-blowing, a fast-paced battle system paired with excellent item creation makes Star Ocean: First Departure a surefire hit for RPG fans.

This game is quite possibly the best RPG to be made available for the Play Station Portable.