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Greetings at long last, my my fellow Star Ocean fans.

I do apologize for the over lengthy silence. Life has been super busy for me as of late. I work two jobs to pay my bills and to support my writing, my fandom, and my spiritual life. It's time-consuming, to say the least, but I'm getting to where some of these sacrifices are worth it. I'll be making changes, too, so I can do more for myself. I've also changed my pen name for original material one final time, and it's now Victorea Ryan Meadow. Everything else remains the same, including the cosplay giveaway for my fellow Star Ocean fans.

This has also meant I've fallen behind in discussing the latest and greatest where Star Ocean is concerned. I'm sure most of this information is going to be old news for pretty much everyone at this point, but let me not presume overly much here.

A bit of a recap. These are now the following Star Ocean games available and the systems they're available on for play.

Star Ocean: A Space Odyssey (Super Nintendo)

Star Ocean: First Departure (PlayStation Portable; re-release of Super Nintendo game)

Star Ocean: Second Story (PlayStation)

Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PlayStation Portable; re-release of Playstation game)

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (GameBoy; Japan only)

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PlayStation 2 and 4; 4 download only)

Star Ocean: The Last Hope (XBOx 360; PlayStation 3 and 4; 4 download only)

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness (PlayStation 4)

Star Ocean: Anamesis (mobile phone)

There is one other mobile phone for the Star Ocean series. I forget what it's called, but it never made it to North America. And it's now defunct in Japan, too.

I'm currently playing through all of the Star Ocean games that I can, just not all at the same time. Current flavor of the week is Star Ocean: Anamesis, which is available for those who have tablets and Android phones in North America. Tis fun, so far, in that I can summon any characters - villain, non-combatant, and hero - as my main fighting party. My character is actually me, and there are two new characters to the game, but the main fighting party is whoever I summon and choose to put into play. Currently, my fighting party consists of Stephen D. Kenny, Nel Zelpher, and Raffine. I'm waiting for more of the story to open up, more characters to be summoned, but, man, some of the summons I've gotten have made me super happy! Pavine and Stephen Kenny are just two of them! (I'm waiting to get my paws on Fayt, Edge, Crowe, and, hopefully, Luther!)

One thing I'm finding that I truly like about Star Ocean: Anamesis is I'm now getting a complete character list, including villains, that I might not have gotten before or even thought of, so, when it comes to eventually, hopefully, reinstating Ask the Star Ocean Character, I have way more to play with and can bump it up to weekly instead of monthy.

Moving forward to actual spoilers.

The game that I find myself currently contemplating a lot about is, of course, The Last Hope. The reason for this is because I look things up on the internet. You see, I'm kind of a natural disasters flick lover. It's something, one of many things I share with my mother (including the geekiness over Star Wars and Star Trek; Star Ocean is all me, though. My sister kind of likes the series, but I'm the only who will play the games as often as I try to do), and, of course, I get curious, like when the last time the New Madrid faultline acted up or how many super volcanoes exist on Earth and where they're located.

And this is what aggravates me, in part, about The Last Hope. Not only did they leave in a huge, unresolved plothole and veer in another direction, but they made a huge story-telling blunder when it came to the fallout of World War III.

Now, if you haven't played this game, there are major spoilers ahead. I'm sure by this point many fans have played this game, but, if you haven't, you are now duly warned.

The major driving force behind Star Ocean (thanks, in part, due to Star Trek's overall storyline) is that World War III has taken place, and humanity is on the verge of extinction. Man must reach to the stars. The fallout from World War III was that every country who possessed nuclear weapons used them with impunity, ie, full-on, gung-ho, let's let the missiles fly everywhere, including where major faultlines and volcanoes are . . .

If you've ever studied anything about geology and geography, you know there are certain points on Earth that you just don't want a nuclear missle to hit. Like. Ever. And the only reason for that is such places are extinction level events waiting to happen. Like humans will never be able to build underground cities in time because Earth's atmosphere will be either be destroyed or unable to support life for a given period of time, resulting in immediately. And I mainly refer to the six known super volcanoes on Earth, three of which are homed quite conveniently in the U.S. The Yellowstone Caldera is, perhaps, the most prominent, thanks to the movie 2012.

Now, either the writers didn't take into account that there are super volcanoes on the planet, or they simply didn't bother to do much research into the results of massive nuclear strikes on major population centers and wilderlands alike. They simply needed a reason to get humans into space and explore, and World War III is the likely, overused trope.

The storyteller in me is groaning over this. It's carelessness. The nuclear strikes on such a massive scale wouldn't only destroy the environment but could ultimately trigger events (like an eruption from the Yellowstone Caldera) that would make it impossible for humans to flee. There would be no time to build the underground cities.

And the fan in me is moaning over this. It sounds like I dislike The Last Hope because I keep tearing apart various story elements, and the thing is, I do love this game, but the story could be so much stronger than what it was. It's a lament for the lack in storytelling for most games, though I will admit I play so very few anymore. Till the End of Time, with its weak story points in places, at least was consistent. Poorly written, but at least consistent.

This is just me, though. I love this seris so much, that I just want it to be the best in every aspect. Maybe some day, I'll sit down and rewrite that story to make it better.

We shall see!

And I have accomplished not much of anything. LOL

Not quite true. I've been a busy woman at work and with trying to get back on track with my original fiction series, Arc of Fantasy, which, if you've followed anything I've done on facebook, either under my old pen name, Elise K. Ra'sha, or under my current pen (and yet temporary) name, Raven Ember, you know that Arc of Fantasy is heavily inspired by Star Ocean. Specifically, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. In what ways, well, I invite my fellow Star Ocean friends to view the free samples on Amazon and NOOK. (The link for Portal to Gaming can be found right here: https://www.amazon.com/Portal-Gaming-Fantasy-Turning-Reality-ebook/dp/B00MQ68JNQ - please do check it out as this book is part of a giveaway I've been running for over a year now and will continue to run for some time to come.)

Also, I've taken to playing Star Ocean: The Last Hope International as of late, and I find myself once again noticing plotholes and poorly used story devices. It makes me want to rewrite the entire game's storyline and have it flow better without the poetic waxing about being in the great star ocean and on evolution. So many things I'm noticing in this new play-through that I didn't notice the first time around, and it's like, wait a minute. That no longer makes any sense.

For example, when you get Bacchus and you speak with Welch (as Edge, of course), we see this totally clueless young man on history. An educated young man clueless when he knew quite a bit of history in regards to why humans were trying to explore outer space and mankind's forays into space. So a lot of things are no longer jivving with me on the original storyline. Plus, there is the author's notes of a fanfiction piece no longer up that The Last Hope isn't even connected to the events of the Eternal Sphere so there is this huge disconnect. And it's disheartening.

Personally, I would love to novelize all of the Star Ocean stories - the first three were done as manga - and go from there. I do need to finish Star Ocean: Second Story and get me a PSP so I can play the first game. Right this moment, however, I need to finish the projects I already have in progress before I begin anything new.

To note here, while I'm disappointed with what I'm seeing all over again with The Last Hope, I still love this game. The characters are open for development and growth. I just want to fix all of the plotholes in the story.

So, aside from all of this, what's going to be up for the Star Ocean Universe for 2018? For starters, I'm going to work on my Fayt Leingod, Captain of the Dragon Brigade cosplay as well as something for Edge Maverick. I plan to debut something by May. If I can find the right images, I want to make some plushies for myself as well, starting with Fayt Leingod and Luther Lansfeld, and I want to get started on saving up for some ball-jointed dolls. I've been wanting a Luther doll and a Fayt doll for, well, since I've started this.

One other idea I have that I plan on executing is Star Ocean and other geeky themed baked goodies. I'm slowly getting the materials I need, and some of this is thanks to the Nerdy Nummies baker, Rosanna Pansino. Mind you, she does more generic themed nerdy things, but that's all cool with me. If anything, I can at least do some of the item creation materials, like iron and silver as cakes. I'm actually looking forward to trying. When I do, I'll post pictures.

Finally, I want to start expanding my Star Ocean collection again. I'm hoping to make a trip to Japan sometime this year so I can do that, and I'll be poking about eBay as well. I managed to get a few things last year. Best make myself a list for this year. Baby steps, right?

I was unable to finish anything I wanted to do for the 31 Days of Halloween nor was I able to do the Month of Thanks. It's now eight days into December, and what I really want is to see some of the Star Ocean characters wearing ugly Christmas sweaters in artwork. That would be grand. Otherwise, I'm holding off on holiday themes right now. I currently work two jobs, and things are starting to balance out some. I don't even have my fifth publication ready yet, it's been that crazy between the two jobs some days. On the bright side to all of this madness, I do have all of my Star Ocean goodies in one place. My trip to Michigan to retrieve the rest of my belongings was a success in that I got what I really wanted to get. What I couldn't put into the back of my Idunna was obviously stuff I no longer needed.

I've resumed playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I love this game so much. Some of Fayt's emo moments are a little grating - like, seriously, how many times can one guy kick at the air? - but I still love him so much. I'm looking into getting myself a PS3 (so I can play The Last Hope; still waiting on word as to whether or not SO4 is going to get the same treatment as SO3; I'm kind of not thinking so, despite the game's age. Mind you, it would be nice to download it to the PS4 so I wouldn't have to worry about buying a PS3 at this point. It's just not striking me as logical to do that . . . unless they think they can get the money for it, which is entirely possible) as well as a PS4. My current musings have been not only on my spiritual and professional lives, but they've recently been on an event from The Last Hope.

Be warned. If you've not played The Last Hope at this point, but you want to and don't want any spoilers, please turn back now. What's about to occur is a rather major spoiler.

For those of us who have played The Last Hope all the way through, a good portion of my ponderings have to do with Roak, Asmodeous, and the Black Tribe. I've created this interesting (to me) hypothesis on how come, during the events of The Last Hope, no one from Roak knows the backstory to Asmodeous and why he became the entity that he did. I've also recently decided that, due to the storyteller nature of myself, that I would have actually made the whole resurrection ritual darker. A lot darker. Like the Black Tribe members aren't dead when they're tossed over the side but still breathing and aware and that, when their bodies hit the bottom of the abyss, there are creatures waiting there to feast on their flesh and carry their bodies to the other dimension where Asmodeous awaits to drink their blood that will allow the portal to open. Except he doesn't do it to all of them. He still needs one alive, and he happens to choose the girl to use as his vessel to step through the barrier so he can have a means to get through the portal before Sarah's throat is slit.

That's just me, though, and my dark tendencies with storytelling.

For those of you following the Star Ocean pages on Facebook (The Star Ocean Universe and The Star Ocean Project), I will be making some minor changes in how I conduct those pages. One will be dedicated to official merchandise while the other will be dedicated to fan projects. Both will feature cosplays and photos from conventions. If you wish to submit your cosplay photos, you can send them to me directly at thestaroceanuniverse@gmail.com or luthersfayt@gmail.com (where I will upload them to the livejournal, dreamwidth, wordpress, and blogspot sites), or you can upload them to deviantArt and submit them to the Star Ocean Universe dA club as well as the Facebook pages.

2017 is coming to a close, my friends. Seventeen more days until half of the world celebrates Christmas and 23 before the year ends. I do plan on working on more entries between now and the end of the year. I'm certainly going to try. I still want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe holiday season. If your'e going to drink, please be responsible because you are needed and loved in this life.

Today's Prompts are bobbing for apples; Night of the Werewolf; bonfire

I'm still so very far behind on getting the reboot for Ask the Star Ocean Character going. I will get it done!

In the meantime, here is the reminder for the next segment of Ask the Star Ocean Character, a special segment for my 40th birthday. The featured character is a favorite of mine, Edge Maverick. His segment will apepar on the 27th of this month, the deadline is the 25th.

Limit three questions per person (you can ask one but no more than three, if you so wish). No foul language. Leave all questions in the comments.

So now for the conversation topic, and it's a throwback for Throwback Thursday. A few years ago, I posted this to the journals.

"I do have an interesting question to pose to everyone who has played Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Why do you think Fayt goes on a family vacation with his parents when he's a college student and doesn't spend much time with them anyway?"

That is the interesting topic for the day. Why does Fayt, a college student, go on a winter vacation with his parents? (And, yes, I say winter because of the numbers involved for the date Robert and Ryoko Leingod go missing.) I do presume he's on a winter break from his college so maybe that's the reason why the vacation with his parents instead of heading to a popular college spring break destination.

Man, this realization gives me fanfiction ideas.

Of course, it could be the one time where Robert and Ryoko are able to take the time off (holidays) and want that family vacation they've always been meaning to take. Instead of being humorous, though, like National Lampoon's Vacation and European Vacation, it takes a dark and rather deadly turn.

What do my fellow Star Ocean fans think?

Yesterday's prompts are: party favors; fake vampire teeth; ghost

Today's prompts are: black; skull, apples

Today's prompts are fall colors, Halloween party, hot chocolate

Most of these are going to be rather unofficial. The only games that received birthdays were Second Story/Second Evolution and The Last Hope, and I've included bosses and NPCs into my birthday lists. If it's an NPC or from a game outside of Second Story/Second Evolution and the Last Hope, it's one I've designated. (My fellow Star Ocean fans are welcome to use mine or to come up with their own for the unofficial birthdays.)

This is in order of game release, not chronoligical (either in terms of the month or storylines for the games themselves).

Star Ocean: A Spacy Odyssey/First Departure
Ronyx J. Kenny – October 12

Star Ocean: Second Story/Second Evolution
Chisato Madison – October 21

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Albel Nox – October 30
Robert Leingod – October 24

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Steven D. Kenny – October 27
Eleyna Farrence - October 1

I'll update the list with Integrity and Faithlessness as soon as I sit myself down with a character list. I will try not to wait too long to get them on. If I have any more October babies added, I want them to be able to celebrate with the rest of us October babies.

Ask the Star Ocean Character is coming soon! Still working on it!

This is just get some conversation going amongst my fellow Star Ocean fans. So let's take a moment to talk about a favorite moment. It can be from a single game, it can be from each of the games. It's whatever anyone wants to mention. This is a spoiler zone, too, so everyone please be advised.

For me, I have a few favorites, and they jump from game to game.

From Integrity and Faithlessness, my favorite moment is after Emerson and Anne rejoin Fidel and Miki after Reilia's abduction. Emerson's feeling guilty, and he's giving Fidel permission to smack him. Fidel refuses, and Miki's like, "Fine, I'll do it".

Fidel stops her. His reasoning is this: By striking another person, all you're proving is that your hands can leave bruises, too.

That's quite profound coming from a twenty-year-old character. Given his environment, it actually does make a lot of sense that he does have that wisdom. It's in this respect, he and Fayt share similar qualities in similar situations. (Of Fayt's wisdom, his is based on how we, the players, play him out in the private actions, but he's given the option all the same.)

I haven't gotten too far into Star Ocean: The Second Story just yet so I don't have a favorite moment overall. Rena sticking with Dias in the village losing its children was awesome, and that's how I knew I love Dias. (Means I need another play-through so I can actually recruit him.)

The Last Hope is a bit more difficult. While I love the game, it was too short compared to Till the End of Time, and Edge waxes poetic about evolution a little too much.

The best moment, for me, is when Faize lets go of Edge's hand, and Edge follows. He knows he can't get to the transporter symbol in time, and the lives of his crew outweigh his.

Finally, I come to Till the End of Time. Oh my goodness. Aside from being my favorite game out of the whole series (meaning I will have a lot of favorite moments), I have to say my most absolute favorites are tied between the Ethereal Blast scene and Fayt realizing that, even as everything he knows and love is being supposedly wiped from existence, his faith in his survival, his entire universe's survival depends on him, and his faith in his life is stronger than what Luther could have convinced him otherwise.

(Post game, because I keep getting the solo endings, is in the third post game dungeon, where everyone battles against the Luther/Fayt duo fighting team. Oh, that is so awesome!)

So, my friends, I've named off my favorite moments. What are yours?

Today's inspiration prompts are as follows:

orange

spirits walking

zombies

A conversation prompt will soon follow. Reimi's segment of Ask the Star Ocean Character will appear later today.

Day 1 of the 31 Days of Halloween

I know it's late, but I'm figuring better late than never.

Here are the first three writing/drawing prompts for the 31 Days of Halloween for anyone interested.

pumpkin spice latte

black spiders

falling leaves

Anyone interested is encouraged to run with the prompt that s/he finds the most interesting. The first full prompt list can be found here: https://inuliana.deviantart.com/art/31-Days-of-Halloween-Prompt-List-637235868

The only actual deadline for any of the prompts is the end of this month. I hope to have my own offerings available soon!

Happy First of October, everyone!

This should have been up yesterday. I have the questions written down. It's going to be some rather basic inquiries (favorites and things of that nature) along with some hard hitters. My current block, as of right this moment, is how to proceed. I want this to be fun and engaging for everyone to read, and I'm not fond of the styles I'd used before. In terms of writing styles, I'm not fond of present tense stories, first person, or second person. If pulled off well, they can be quite entertaining. (This is also part of why, once I get this segment posted, I'll be writing up the next one well in advance of the actual date.)

I will get Reimi's segment posted.

In the meantime, have a great rest of the weekend, my friends! I turn 40 tomorrow!! Woohoo!! (And I'll be updating the Star Ocean birthdays list, too! We have a new game that needs to be added!)

In regards to the Ask the Star Ocean Character segments, for the pages on Facebook, links to Livejournal, Dreamwidth, Wordpress, and Blogspot will be provided so the segment isn't taking up the entire page. For deviantArt, the segments will be posted directly into the community archives instead of as a journal entry.

Tomorrow is the reboot for the Ask the Star Ocean character series. While I didn't get any questions for Reimi and the deadline has come and gone, I'm not entirely worried. I've been trying to reboot this for a few years with little to no success, but I have enough material of my own to make things interesting.

What I'm planning on doing is getting the segment ready ahead of time so it can be posted immediately on the day of the segment. This helps me out in the long run in that all I have to do is add any questions asked by my fellow Star Ocean fans.

I was thinking of taking October off from the segment. I have a lot going on - my 40th birthday is this Sunday and I'm celebrating that, seeking a second and third job, impending trip to Michigan that's going to take up some time and money, and my fifth publication coming out in November - but, if I write out the segment in advance on a day I have off, well, there's no reason for me to skip.

Since October is my birth month, I'm going to do a special segment of Ask the Star Ocean Character featuring one of my favorite characters, Edge Maverick. This segment will appear on Friday, October 27th, and the deadline for all inquiries will be midnight on Wednesday, October 25th. Remember to limit the questions to three (meaning, you can ask more than one if you so wish). There will be weekly reminders for this.

The Upcoming Holiday Season

Yes, my fellow Star Ocean friends, that time of year is almost upon us. The holidays! I'd like to do another 31 Days of Halloween festival. I need to finish last year's, so that will be my goal for this year. (A few extra entries may be added on for posterity.) For anyone interested, I will be posting three prompts daily to choose from. Fanfiction, fan art, and cosplay photos are accepted for this. Facebook users, please let me know if you wish to submit your fanfiction stories to the journals, and I will be happy to host them in the actual blogs themselves. Please submit to the group if you're on deviantArt and/or to the Star Ocean Fans community on fanfiction.net, https://www.fanfiction.net/community/Star-Ocean-Fans/98992/. I have actually searched Archive Of Our Own for creating a community, and I'm not currently seeing how it's possible, but if you're there and you're posting fanfiction for the 31 Days of Halloween Festival, drop the link to the group page. Just remember to keep everything on the PG13/work safe side. For fan art and cosplay photos, there will be an album upon the first piece posted to Facebook (the deviantArt group already has galleries for fan art and cosplay photos).

The festival (yes, I'm calling it a festival) is non-mandatory. Participation is encouraged but not required. I'm not calling it a challenge because, well, October is three days away, and I would like to give more advance notice than that for a challenge.

For November, I'm looking at doing what I'll be calling Thirty Days of Thanks. It seems to be a thing on Facebook for everyone in the U.S. to do, post one thing on the daily that they're grateful to have, be it a person, some event, or even something a little on the silly side, like chocolate chip cookies. It is centered on the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving as a way to remember all of the good things, the good people we have in our lives. Personally, when I do this, I want to try it from the points of view from various characters that I've encountered in the Star Ocean universe. I will also post prompts for those who are interested in doing this as well. Like with the 31 Days of Halloween, this is encouraged but not mandated. November 1st is also the first day of NaNoWriMo, and if anyone's participating in that, I certainly don't want to distract you from it by making it a "challenge".

Those interested can do as I'm doing, if they so like, or they can utilize the prompts posted.

Finally, we come to December and the major bulk of the holiday season. I will be posting three prompts daily for writers, cosplayers, and artists alike, all themed for the various holidays that fall in the month of December. This will be called the 31 Days of Celebration and will undoubtedly see some of the same prompts from the 31 Days of Halloween (hey, I like sugar cookies! It's going to be unofficially official sugar cookie season!) because, hey, cookies and candy.

Works do not need to be pairing-centered. Single characters, friendships, all are welcome.

Posting Fanfiction, Fan Art, and Cosplay Photos

This is just going to be an FYI for my fellow Star Ocean fans. I would love to share your Star Ocean goodies with the rest of the community. I really, really would. However, unless you specifically submit things to me (fanfiction, fan art, cosplay photos, collection photos, and so on), I will not post anything I have not done myself directly or have not commissioned to the journals. I will share fanfiction links for stories I like, I will even discuss the stories I like, but I will not copy and paste a story, snag a photo, or a piece of art to post to the site without permission. Not at this point, not any longer. I realize I have done this in the past, mainly due to excitement at finding a piece that's either hilarious or just brilliantly done. If I commission someone for art, I will share with the artist knowing in advance that I will be posting to my journals. I give credit where credit is due. (I have the artistic talent of a fourth grader that's somewhat okay at drawing stick figures - I really have not buckled down to focus on drawing.)

To note here: deviantArt could very well be the exception to this rule in that all I'll be doing is adding the deviation to the Star Ocean Universe community, minus commissions. (Mainly because, chances are, if I've commissioned someone, they're on dA as well, and the works will appear at their discretion on those sites, not at mine.)

This is a (mostly) open forum. Yaoi, yuri, het pairings are welcome, and this goes for the alien/human pairings as well. Underaged pairings, however, are taboo. Absolutely ZERO romantic/sexual Albel/Roger (yes, I've seen that), Albel/Peppita, or even Lezard/Melt. Roger/Peppita, and so on and so forth. Romantic pairings, for this particular community, must be 18 or older. Mind you, I will cut some leeway for certain characters at certain ages, but, in the case of Albel and Roger or even Nel and Roger as a pairing, where one is in his/her twenties and the other is listed as twelve, the answer is no. Sexual situations can be alluded to but not described in great detail, nudity is not allowed (for fan art) so if you wish to submit something, those are my rules. Borderline R is personally okay with me (I write borderline R myself).

Stories can be submitted to me at luthersfayt@gmail.com or thestaroceanuniverse@gmail.com. I do read over stories (I love reading) to make sure they are properly edited and the like.

Beyond that . . . well, Reimi appears tomorrow! Until then!

A reminder for Ask the Star Ocean Character:

I'm trying to reboot the interactive series. The first character to be interviewed all over again is Reimi Saionji from The Last Hope. The segment will re-appear next Friday. Anyone interested in asking her anything, please feel to do so in the comments. Limit three per person, and keep it nice/clean. The deadline for questions to be submitted is September 27th at midnight U.S. central time.

I really do want to explore a bit more about Fayt's character and the revelation he might be one of the first pansexual characters Tri-Ace and Square Enix have created. Not to say other main characters aren't pansexual. Cloud from Final Fantasy VII comes to mind as well, but Fayt strikes me as the one being the most comfortable in his skin about who he's attracted to throughout the game. I mentioned a year or so ago that there are few characters throughout the game who actually gain Fayt's attention to the point where he's thinking about them after he's met them (this being Mirage, Nel, and Albel. Sophia is a given, but his worry over her is very understandable given that they've known each other from very young ages).

Anyway, I got to thinking about something else in regards to the female characters of Star Ocean throughout the entire series. Mind you, I still haven't played the first two games, either at all or all the way through at this point, but there is something quite formulaic going on with the female cast members.

There are very few close range fighters amongst the women characters.

In fact, I daresay there's maybe one female character per game that is a close range fighter. Ilia from the very first Star Ocean game is a fisticuffs fighter, if her little bio from the game manual is anything to go by. I'm not entirely sure on the second game - I'm guessing so for those of you who have played, please chime in on this - but I believe Precis is the only close range combat fighter in the game. Again, I could be wrong. My current play-through I've recruited Ashton, and he's not a well-liked character by other characters you haven't met yet.

Getting into the games that I have played and therefore do know, it becomes clearer that it is about one female character per game. Till the End of Time has Mirage but also might be the only exception to the one female close range fighter per game. The only symbology she learns is whenever you get the tomes that teach Common Attack Symbols and Common Support Symbols, if you so choose to do that with her. Otherwise, she is straight up fisticuffs on par with Cliff. Nel Zelpher and Peppita Rosetti are the other two that are close range fighters. Nel uses daggers, which can be short range or long range for attacks, and symbology. Peppita basically uses her acrobat skills. The difference amongst the three is you have a choice on whether or not to recruit Nel and Peppita to the party. Mirage becomes automatic after Styx. Other than that, well, Maria and Sophia are actual distance fighters. Their classifications in the whole questing party puts them at a great disadvantage after a certain point in a tight combat situation. (Sophia is basically classified as a mage, and, because we're going with classic Dungeons and Dragons style gaming with our video game RPGs, Sophia is unable to handle any type of weapon beyond a staff. She also has lower hit points compared to other players and thus makes her an easy kill if you have her out and are not paying a lot of attention to what it is she's doing. For some reason, Adray is the only one who gets to break the rule of a mages not being allowed to wield swords, going more Lord of the Rings style in that Gandalf carried a sword with no penalty. I digress.)

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time seemingly breaks the rule for close range female combat fighters, but The Last Hope and Integrity and Faithlessness resume it. Meracle Chamlotte and Anne are the only close range fighters of the female persuasion. The rest - Reimi, Lymle, Myuria, Sarah, Miki, and Fiore - they can fight close range, but, again due to their classifications, they're long range fighters.

This is kind of disheartening for me because, well, I love sword fighters. That is the truth. I love sword fighters. And to realize a series I love doesn't have the option for a female sword fighter is . . . boring and, well, not up to date with the types of warriors a person can play. Even in the old days of table top gaming, women/female characters could be sword fighters. After all, there are a wide range of blades out there that a woman can wield.

Maybe the game writers for Star Ocean will finally take the hint that the writers for Final Fantasy did when they went into production for Final Fantasy XIII. Female lead, female sword fighter, and no need for a love interest.

Those are just my thoughts, though.

I feel confident enough to say that the majority, if not all viewers and readers of this blog, are gamers. I feel even more confident in making the claim that we find characters to love beyond what other people would consider normal. I chalk it up to our ability to idenity with the character that we like the most. Of course, identifying with a character isn't always the reason why we love those characters. There are other factors involved, and everything from this point about connecting with the female leads I've encountered in my Star Ocean gaming experience (Rena, Maria and Sophia, Reimi, and Miki) is coming from my own personal observations.

Trust me, as a woman, this is actually rather hard for me to do, identify with the majority of Star Ocean's female leads. Hard to do, but, at the same time, not impossible. It does become a matter of personal reflection and character analysis, and, when it comes down to it, I am going to blame bad, cliched writing on the part of the gaming writers because they're going with what they know, what they deem acceptable, and so on and so forth (based on things I have been told so I'm rather guilty of listening to hearsay . . . if anyone who has been to Japan and studied Japanese culture more in-depth than what I've been able to do, feel free to chime in and lend me your thoughts).

This is also actually a bit of a rant because the gaming writers have gotten stuck into a bit of a rut. One, we have genetically modified individuals in at least three of five games. THREE of five (because I'm not counting Blue Sphere or the cell phone apps that are in Japan only and, if you're lucky, you've gotten it here in the U.S., too) games where one or more (often) character has been genetically modified against his or her own will. Those who have done so willingly (Arumat, Miki, Fiore) are on a very short list. We can't seem to break away from genetically modifying individuals.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say four of five games, and we have individuals modified (because SO2's Ashton is now coming to mind as I write this). I am going to attribute this to Final Fantasy VII's insane popularity for this.

Anyway, moving forward with the rant about the gaming writers' rut. The whole genetic modification thing could go across several entries, tragic backgrounds (parents dying to protect their children or a child) but this isn't about genetic modification or the tragic "Daddy was killed in front of me" backdrop. It's about connecting with the established female leads in the games that I have played.

I haven't gotten very far into Star Ocean: Second Story. I'm rather hooked on replaying Star Ocean: Till the End of Tim. Here is one thing I've noticed about these two games.

Rena, Maria, and Sophia do not treat the male leads (Claude and Fayt) like they're totally incompetent of going off to some location without them. In fact, Sophia has no choice in where she ends up at the start of the game because the goal was to separate her from Fayt and to have that reveal about her powers be even more of a punch to the gut (plus, if you want the Defeat Luther at Level One trophy, you kind of need Sophia to be not there at the beginning - but that's also a battle trophy thing).

Maria doesn't even act like Fayt is incompetent. Clueless (because, yes, Fayt is adorably clueless on a few things - note, I find his cluelessness to be on the adorable side - others might not) but not incompetent. By the time they connect on Elicoor II, Fayt has already endured a great deal, and for her to do so would be a very gross insult to everything he's endured.

Rena, I actually admire her for the same reasons. She doesn't treat Claude like he's incompetent. If anything, she's been the one to take off with Claude going, I hope she's all right.

Reimi and Miki . . . Oh my goodness. Edge and Fidel can't do anything without them? They're too reckless? They'll do something stupid? That tends to sum up a lot of people's adventures in life. "You won't believe the stupid thing I just did!" aspect of storytelling is what makes us laugh at one point or another or has someone wondering, what is wrong with you? . . . and leading into another interesting conversation.

To note on something here. This is not a stamp of approval for doing things you know are stupid, ie running a red light and so on. What irritates me about Reimi and Miki is they're already in dangerous situations, Edge and Fidel are given tasks by those they answer to, which is what they are supposed to do in those types of situations, and they're still treated like they can't do it alone. In the case of Miki, she literally goes all dramatic, drops to her knees in a form of a temper tantrum, in order to get Fidel to relent in his decision to leave her behind. And these are two characters who like to act like they're more mature than the male characters. This tends to be, for me, the reasons why I dislike the female leads, preferring the secondary female characters like Nel, Mirage, Myuria, Sarah, Anne, and Fiore.

Now, whether or not it's cool for females to do this in Japan is rather irrelevant. I've noticed a changing attitude amongst people in the United States, Canada, and Europe where female characters are concerned. Characters like Reimi and Miki, yeah, they grow but they still fill a stereotyped female role, and it's annoying. (There is more to the annoyance of having a crush on your childhood friend aspect, too, that's been going on in the Star Ocean series, but that also comes from personal experiences in my real life, and have no forebearance on my ability to at least try and connect with the female leads.) Why can't, for once, we get the female lead who isn't interested in the male lead as a husband? The behavior I see on display with the female leads, specifically Reimi and Miki, tends to border on narcisstic and abusive. How many times did Reimi slap Edge because he did something that made her cry? Or because she wasn't paying enough attention to her surroundings (alternate Earth, anyone)? Why not, for once, have that female lead that isn't so prudish and has zero interest in becoming someone's wife? Someone really needs to ask that question of the writers! (I may just do it.)

Anyway, now with the ranting out of the way, it's time for me to scale back and look at the more admirable traits of the Star Ocean female leads I'm familiar with.

Again, I do love Rena because she doesn't really need Claude. She has no interest in him as a husband, or so the story starts out. How it ends, I don't know just yet (okay, maybe I do, but that doesn't mean I've played it out just yet), and she's not afraid to stand up to Claude. She's not afraid to let him go on his own. She may not like the new lady hanging around, but she doesn't treat Claude like he's a pervert and can't be left alone with her. (That's so far, from my gaming experience.)

That takes care of Star Ocean: The Second Story. I know it isn't much, but chances are, none of these are going to be extremely long. I'm sure everyone knows by now, I'm not fond of the female leads in these games.

I think out of everyone right now, the one I can really get behind is Sophia, and I can thank a really old SO3 fanfiction for that, a story in which Luther is disguising himself as an Eternal Sphere resident in order to monitor Fayt, Sophia, and Maria as they grow up. The story itself is centered on Sophia some, how, if he had to choose who to save of the three children, Luther had chosen Sophia because of her powers of Connection. And that power is more than just being a bridge between two realms. It's also her ability to have great empathy for those around her. It's because of her increased empathy to others that this author picked up on that makes her less annoying. And, when I get right down to it, I do have to look at her age, at where she's at in her life, and, so, yeah. As annoying as it is for us who have to hear her say, "That's not nice!" after a bad guy beats her up some, it's also . . . realistic. She's 17, a high school student, never been in combat before the whole Vendeeni thing, and truly does expect, on a naive 17-year-old level, everyone to be nice. She has a naivete that not many of us possess anymore because our experiences in life have been very different from her fictional world.

I can relate to Maria's impatience with others. If they're wallowing for an extraordinary amount of time that I deem is beyond reasonable, I admit. I get irritated. She had to grow up fast, and, so did I, after a certain point in my life. (Not due to parental death but divorce and because my mom needed to work in order to support me and my brother. Being the oldest, I was expected to be the responsible one and to make sure that things got done.)

Reimi is a bit harder, but she can be relatable in the sense that she hates her own body. And I feel like a lot of women hate their own bodies (myself included) because of everything we see on what is deemed to be "ideal" for what women are to look like. She is an intelligent young woman - she studied botany as part of her training for the SRF and USTA; she obviously got good marks to handle working on a space ship for space exploration. I'm not going to deny she's an intelligent young woman, determined and all that. That's where I'm going to leave it with Reimi as everything else portrayed about her casts not only her in a negative light but all women, and I'm quite honestly tired of those tropes.

Finally, Miki . . . I find her desire to protect Relia (and, by default, Feria) to be her most admirable trait. She does defy, if you look at her planetary society, some social norms. Yes, it's typical that she knows how to cook and do laundry, be a mother type, but she is the only female character from her village to run to the village's defenses when the rest are all guys. And it took some courage for her to get her first symbol etched onto her body. I don't know how it's done with the symbology for Faykreedians, but getting a tattoo hurts. And I'm presuming it's like a tattoo. I have a tattoo. And I'm scared to death of needles. If she is, too, it took guts. That's all I'm saying.

So there we have it on the female leads. I do understand other people will find other traits about the female leads to like, more than what I mentioned in this entry, but please remember that these female characters are not amongst my favorites. They will probably never be amongst my favorites because they do display annoying and alarming behavior, at least in my personal opinion.

As always, people are welcome to chime in with their thoughts on these characters. Just remember to not get carried away with why you dislike them. There are others who do like them and more so than other fan favorites, like Albel and Faize.

Finally, I have some ideas for some fanfiction to write. One is stemming from a desire to put Fayt and Faize in the same room and letting them talk symbology and the like. It's probably going to be a chaptered piece, mainly because it's going to look into the history of Asmodeus. Just the thought of putting Fayt (from the year 772 S.D.) into the same room as Faize (from the year 10 S.D.) led to an interesting revelation (of course, my own theory) on Asmodeus and how Faize nearly became the archfiend of Roak. It's an idea I'm jotting down for future reference.

The other idea is more of a one-shot offer, a look at Fayt wanting to be normal. Again, I'm jotting down the idea, mainly because I do find Fayt to be an interesting character to, well, torment. (I'm a writer. I'm sure it's in my job description somewhere.)

And that's it for today. With me going through on Star Ocean: Till the End of Time again, I've had some time to consider Fayt's character and how the endings are set up based on Private Actions, answers, and the like. This will be a topic for another day, too, but I wonder, I wonder, I wonder . . .

Is Fayt one of the first pansexual characters in modern gaming history? I'll be exploring that thought soon enough!

Tossing this out there real quick. I am looking for logo artwork for the Star Ocean Universe for the facebook pages and for the deviantart group. It is a goal of mine to get like a min Star Ocean convention going for fans. I still have a lot to find out in regards to hosting a convention, but it is on my dream wish to do list. (I mainly want to see SO artists, crafty peoples, and cosplayers in one place. Who can blame me?)

So, here we go with the State of the (Star Ocean Universe) Union update.

I've currently played and beaten three out of five games. Star Ocean 2's first play-through has stalled just a wee bit, Star Ocean 3 on the PS4 has stalled (system wants to update, and the PS4 belongs to my stepdad), and Star Oceans 4 and 5 need another go-round in the play-through department.

Right now, my biggest complaint is on Star Ocean 5, and my lack of understanding of the characters (this includes the hero, Fidel Camuze). Of course, I have a tendency to burn through a first play-through (on any game, really) to get to the ending. I try to take my time and rediscover/discover what I didn't the first time around. I mean, I've played Star Ocean 3 how many times now? LOL

With all of that said, and I know I keep saying this, too, (but I never get around to it), I am rebooting the Ask the Star Ocean Character series. With what I've currently played, I'll be revising the order of character that get featured. Participation in the series - yes, I invited my fellow Star Ocean fans to join in on the fun here - is not required. I understand that, if someone hasn't played 5 yet and I get to a character like Miki Sauvester, said fan isn't going to know what to ask. (That's for those who haven't played the game in question.)

Since it's been a while on the whole Ask the Star Ocean Character, I'll go over the rules then announce who I'm rebooting the series with.

1 - Keep all lines of questioning clean. This means refrain from cussing, sexual innuendo, death wishes/threats, and so on. The overall goal of Ask the Star Ocean Character is to get a feel for the character and to learn more. As I'm the one immersing myself into the character's point of view, if I'm immersing myself into Reimi or Cliff or even an NPC like Deputy Director Shimada, I am not going to be appreciative or even responsive to someone who is being blatantly disrespectful. (Note: If I'm Albel, I may just return the favor and insult the querent back, which may not be appreciated by the querent upon seeing the response.) While we may not like certain characters like Reimi Saionji or even Sophia Esteed and Miki Sauvester (my personal least favorite characters), there are others out there who do love these characters, and I respect that greatly. I would want someone to treat my favorite characters with respect when it comes time for me to see them on a page. I will return that favor to those who like the characters I find annoying.

The other side to this is everything about these pages are open. The last thing I want is for some underaged individual to bypass Mom and Dad's secruity on the computer, see this exchange, get caught seeing the exchange, and the end result being my pages being shut down because a line of questioning went into Not Safe For Work territory. As the administrator/governor of the blogs, dA group, and facebook pages, I do reserve the right to answer any and all questions at my discretion, to delete lines of questioning I feel are inappropriate, and so on. I would expect other people running similar pages and similar activities to do the same thing.

Final note on this rule: I will be posting the entries to archive sites like fanfiction.net, archiveofourown.org, and as a deviation on deviantart.

2 - Limit the number of questions to three per person. This used to be one question per person, but, after the first go-round with Reimi and only one other participant, I felt it prudent to expand it to three.

3 - Questions can be submitted via comment, private message, or email. My email addresses are thestaroceanuniverse@gmail.com and luthersfayt@gmail.com

4 - The deadline for each character is by midnight the Wednesday before the segment is to appear. For example, if I announce Reimi Saionji (again) as the first runner-up for the segment and that her segment will appear on September 29th, then everyone who wishes to ask her a question or three has until midnight, September 27th to get their questions submitted.

5 - Requests for Specific Characters
Honestly, I am not taking them. Not because I don't want to delve into the deeps of a fan favorite (I'm looking at you, Albel Nox), but rather I want to say the ones I deem to be fan favorites (and my own personal favorites) for towards the end. So, yes, I will get to Albel Nox at some point or another, but it will be after I get through my list. (So write your questions for your favorite characters down and submit them when I announce that character's segment is coming up.)

6 - Have fun!
This is meant for some good, lighthearted fun in the grand scheme of things. Participation is encouraged but not required. Questions can be as light or as serious as you, the potential querent, want them to be.

With all of this said, I am announcing the reboot of the Ask the Star Ocean Character. In case you missed it in the deadline rule, it's Reimi Saionji from Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Given I am also quite busy with real life, the Ask the Star Ocean Characters will be done once a month, at the end of the month. I'm gearing up for a major publication release (the third book in my Arc of Fantasy series) in November, I do have a full time job, plus I am working on a variety of fanfiction and original material projects. This is one of many that I will be investing time into because, well, I do love Star Ocean quite a lot, and it is the inspiration behind my Arc of Fantasy series.

The deadline for all questions to be submitted is on Wednesday, September 27th, 2017, by midnight central time. I will not be capping the number of questions answered in total. I plan on answering any and all questions sent Reimi's way. On Thursday, September 28th, 2017, I will announce the next character in the segment. Given October is my birth month, i may just treat myself to either announcing Fayt or Luther. We shall see.

That's the final note on the Ask the Star Ocean Character of this entry. Moving forward.

As I noted with the Ask the Star Ocean Character segment being interactive with my fellow Star Ocean fans, this whole endeavor is meant to be quite interactive with my fellow fans. I see us as a community of individuals who share the same love of a series. We're no different than the Star Wars or Star Trek or even the Game of Thrones communities that exist out there. By all means, share your favorite moments. Share why and how a beloved character is for you. For the livejournal, blogspot, wordpress, and dreamwidth blogs, email those moments to me - again, my email addresses are thestaroceanuniverse@gmail.com and luthersfayt@gmail.com - and I will post them to the blogs. For dA users, send them to me in a note, and I will highlight that in the blog there. For facebook, post directly to the pages. Share pictures of your crafts and cosplays, no matter how old they are. Share your fanfiction and your art. Just remember to keep everything work-safe and to be respectful of your fellow fans.

We're all fans of Star Ocean for a reason. We still stick with the series for a variety of reasons. We might be a small community, but that's also quite all right. It's an awesome fandom either way.

Have a good Monday!

Summary: The Creator has been defeated, and the Eternal Sphere is relatively still in one piece, except in the places where it isn’t. Albel journeys with the crew of The Diplo to find out the fate of one of their own, Fayt Leingod, said to have disappeared in the Arcturus system or somewhere close to it.
Pairing: Albel x Fayt
Characters: Blair Lansfeld, Maria Traydor, Mirage Koas, Cliff Fittir, Albel Nox, Fayt Leingod, Azazer, Berial, Adray Lasbard, Claire Lasbard, Tynave, Farleen, Nel Zelpher, Ryoko Leingod
Rating: PG13, borderline R
Rated for: Albel
Written for: Zenphoenixa
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and I do not profit financially from writing this story.
Author’s Notes: I’d originally contacted Zen about doing some original art for me on my paperbacks, but, given real life situations, she had to decline. (Completely understandable, too! No worries, Zen!) All she asked for in return if she had said yes was an Albel/Fayt one-shot. As I was originally an AlFay gal before finding Luther/Fayt material, this is actually not that hard to oblige! My challenge is to leave out Luther. Because. I love Luther, and I inherently pair him and Fayt together as much as possible.
Oh, and she’s getting a chaptered piece, too! Hope you enjoy, love! Consider the first chapter the giftfic in response to the Fayt vs Luther comic page you did for me! <3 you! I would say sorry that I don’t do crack!fic but yeah. #sorry #notsorry
Finally, there will be a slight blast from the SO4 past! Just a small one, though.
______________________________________________________________________________

His heart’s rate sped up with every passing second he dangled over the side. Small scrapes and cuts covered his face along with dirt, blood, and sweat. Parts of his suit were torn open, revealing more superficial injuries. His fingers ached from holding on to the rocks keeping him from plummeting to certain death, but even that hold was becoming more and more precarious.

( Read more... )
Albel’s eyes flew open. For a moment, he lay still, numb and confused, before a scream tore itself from his throat. He bolted forward, gasping for air. He held his right hand over his racing heart. Frantic, he searched his surroundings, relieved to be somewhat safe in his bed on The Diplo. No dirt hit him in the face. No wind rushed past him. Yet he recalled nothing of his dream that even indicated he’d been falling.

‘What . . .’ He shook his head. ‘Nothing. Nothing at all. Why?’

He scowled and shoved his blankets off of him, fighting them a little where they’d tangled around his ankles. With a growl, he stalked to where he bathed – showered; he needed to remember that term; only people on luxury spaceships got to bathe, or so Maria told him when he’d insisted upon joining Quark – and fed into his frustrations.

Nightmares were a normal part of his nightly routine. Still he detested them, viewed them as a sign of his inherent weakness, and he had plenty of bad memories to fuel his dreams for years to come.

‘Never had this much of a problem with Leingod around,’ he groused to himself. ‘Why didn’t he join the wench and her crew after defeating the Creator? Would make my life so much simpler.’

According to some, because Fayt never told anyone, not even Albel, why he chose to return to his home planet, the young blue-haired man did so because both his parents were dead, and Fayt needed to make arrangements of some kind. In similar customs on Elicoor II, the children of the deceased were responsible for seeing to funeral preparations and handling estate affairs. As his parents’ only child, Fayt couldn’t shirk those responsibilities, and Albel would have mocked him if he had. And, also according to the same people and to Fayt himself, the Leingods had accumulated a great deal of wealth and fame for their research.

Still, that had been months ago, and the lack of word from Fayt left everyone on The Diplo on edge. Maria constantly hounded the Pangalactic Federation on the young man’s whereabouts, though she never relayed what they told her to anyone, not even Cliff and Mirage. With Fayt’s powers, the young captain grew more convinced the Federation had tucked Fayt away somewhere, were conducting experiments on him, and were planning on using his powers to eliminate their enemies.

Though he belonged to Quark, Albel found her musings and fears to be rather ridiculous and unfounded. The Pangalactic Federation had always known about Fayt’s powers and could have used them at any given time, with or without the dead professors’ permission.

He stripped his clothing off and turned the water to scalding. Albel hissed as he stepped under the water, which did wonders to ease the knots in his neck and shoulders.

‘Perhaps he’s taking the time to mourn their losses,’ Albel mused. ‘The Gods only know that wench never allowed him the chance. Yet, why does it seem like we should have heard from him by now? Is it because he belongs to a different political group than these maggots? I don’t understand. And why am I even thinking about Fayt? It isn’t like I haven’t dealt with my nightmares on my own before . . . yet I wasn’t having a nightmare. I don’t even remember what I was dreaming about.’

Albel allowed the water to roll over him. He closed his eyes.

Truth was, he missed Fayt. He missed Fayt more than he thought he would, and a nagging guilt insisted he shouldn’t have joined up with Quark, should have followed Fayt to Earth instead. Yet, he (and Nel, Claire, Tynave, Farleen, and Adray) had not, though they had been welcomed to do so when Fayt and Sophia decided they were going home.

‘Maybe I should just ask that wench to take me to the nearest Federation outpost,’ he groused, shutting the water off. His hair clung to his back and shoulders, annoying him even further. ‘At least someone there might tell me what’s happened to Fayt.’

In truth, Fayt was the only one out of the whole war that Albel respected. Well, Fayt and Mirage. Both had this ability to give him, Albel, this look in particular that said, ‘Keep it up, and I’ll knock more than just your teeth out’, and Albel found himself more than a little frightened by those looks, especially when the two gave him said look at the same time. Fayt, he respected for the obvious reason the young man could destroy an entire battleship if one angered him enough. Mirage? Well, let’s just say Albel learned to not mess with her after Cliff had tried to demonstrate to everyone on why one didn’t mess with Klausian women. To see a woman her size drop a man as big as that buffoon onto his head after holding him on her shoulder for close to a minute? Albel knew then he liked his skull intact.

He dried himself off and dressed, still grumbling to himself as he did.

“Yo.”

Albel resisted the urge to toss a dagger at the buffoon’s throat. Killer reflexes were hard to contain. Instead, he glared and hissed, “What are you doing in here? I thought I told you I’d kill you if you entered in here again without my permission.”

“Normally, I’d take you at your word,” Cliff said. He sat in one of the chairs closest to the door. His normally jovial expression wasn’t there. Albel blinked. This was the buffoon serious.

“What is it?” he asked, tempering his voice a little and his urge to kill the man.

“Two things,” came the reply, and Cliff held up two fingers. “One, we’re heading to the Arcturus system. It seems there’s a bit of a conflict going on between the Federation and two different new species, one called the Cardianon and the other called the Morphus. Both, from what we’re hearing in the scuttlebutt, are highly advanced civilizations yet the Federation is claiming that the one has attacked them and tried to steal their tech as well. We’re going to investigate and to mediate.”

“And what’s the other?”

“It’s about Fayt.” Here, Cliff paused and fidgeted. “We heard from his mother, Ryoko. Seems she’s still alive, which is a good thing for Fayt. He at least has one parent left.”

“And? What did she have to say?”

“It isn’t good. Seems he disappeared around the same time the Morphus and the Cardianon started their squabble with the Federation.”

“Did Maria tell you this?”

“No.” The buffoon shook his head. “Though Maria was present, Ryoko specifically requested to talk to me and to Mirage. Apparently, Fayt told her he was going to help with an expedition of some kind in the Arcturus system, that he needed a little more time to process everything he’d learned and experienced, but, if she didn’t hear back from him within a certain amount of time, she was to contact me, you, and Mirage directly. She took a chance, Ryoko did, we’re sure, and we didn’t have time to get you. Anyway, she hasn’t heard from him in far longer than just a few weeks. In fact, the research team had been reduced to two survivors, and they’d arrived to Earth twelve hours before.”

“So what are we doing then? Investigating and mediating? Or looking for Fayt?”

“Maria, Lieber, Steeg, and Lancar will be investigating and mediating,” the buffoon answered, standing up. “You, me, and Mirage? We’ll be looking for Fayt.”

“All right then.” Albel nodded, flexing his right hand. “How long before we get there?”

“Another day. Maria set the course two hours before Ryoko contacted us. I just thought you should know since Fayt had asked that you be informed.”

* * *

Azazer ducked behind a tree just as a laser blast whizzed by him, nicking the flesh of his upper arm. Silently, he cursed under his breath. He dared to peek from around the tree at his attackers.

How he ended up stuck in the Eternal Sphere, he didn’t know. The last thing he recalled was walking up in Sphere 211’s hospital area, nursing injuries from the errant data from the Eternal Sphere and marveling at their capabilities, specifically their leader’s abilities.

‘What was his name again?’ he mused. He searched for the creatures hunting him. ‘Or did I never learn it? How odd. Perhaps I should have. He was rather . . . exquisite in appearance. Almost like the Owner himself.’

Azazer almost laughed at himself. A life and death situation – the graze to his arm brought into stark reality his situation and the fact he could very be killed by these creatures – and he marveled over an AI and his appearance.

‘Such a fool I am. No matter. Perhaps I will find him here, again, in the Eternal Sphere. After all, I probably am a God all the same.’

Another blast flew past him, several meters away from his face, the lizard creature chasing after him being rather lousy with its mechanical device. Azazer ducked behind the tree again and closed his eyes.

‘A weapon. I need a weapon. Think. I would prefer a blaster, but that would keep me out of true killing range of this confounded beast. Think. What would the Owner prefer? What did that AI have?

“Inferior being!” the lizard creature shouted. “Come out now, and I will make your death less painful. It is the will of the Gods!”

“I am a God,” Azazer muttered, frustrated. “A sword? That’s what the AI had. Then that’s what I shall use since I can’t remember what the Owner preferred.”

He tried to call up the computer to replicate him a weapon and fast. Nothing beeped at him. His right hand remained empty.

“Dammit all,” he cursed, glancing around wildly. “I can’t stay here and let this thing kill me!”

A glimmer in the dirt to his left, and in the path of fire, caught Azazer’s attention. The hilt of a sword, or possibly what remained of a sword, jutted up from the ground. He gazed at it for a long second or two, his thoughts cold and calculating.

‘Here goes nothing.’

He drew in a deep breath and made a dash for the weapon . . .

I currently have Star Ocean: Till the End of Time sitting in my PS2 when Star Ocean: Second Story deserves at least one play-through from me, if not two or three, based on the different ways to recruit characters. As I chose Claude for my first play-through, I cannot Dias Flac, and he's turning out to be one of my favorite characters from the game (based on the interactions I've had with him). I'm also loving Ashton, but I will have to not allow my pity for him to guide me so I can at least get to know other characters.

Part of my problem with the second Star Ocean game is that I feel like I've played it before . . . in Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997, and I didn't get to play it for many years after the fact until like . . . 2009 or thereabouts. (My brother loaned me his copy of FF7 so I could play, and, man, was I ever excited over it!)

I haven't gotten very far in Second Story right this moment, but, based on everything I've learned so far in the game, a lot of the elements are extremely similar to Final Fantasy VII. Extremely. An object falling from the sky, causing trouble. The angst-filled hero . . . Comparing Second Story with Till the End of Time, story-wise, Till the End of Time, story-wise, can actually stand by itself because it isn't relying on copying FF7's success or storyline.

Of course, Star Ocean does cash in on some of the success of the Final Fantasy franchise. The stories of each game are actually very independent of each other so playing Game 5 is not reliant on playing Games 3 and 4. So that particular aspect is quite refreshing (especially since, until Sony released the games on the PSP, no one in the U.S. had ever played the first game, and I played Till the End of Time first over Second Story and The Last Hope went in another direction entirely).

And, in speaking of The Last Hope, I want to bring this up as a conversation topic, to get everyone's input on this.

A while back, on facebook, I shared a link to a story that crossed both games. The story has long since vanished from Archive of Our Own (which is a bummer - I did want to read how that was going to play out), but, in their author's notes, the writers mentioned that The Last Hope actually took place outside of the Eternal Sphere and thus had no connections whatsoever to any of the previous Star Ocean games. They said it because that's what the Perfect Guide for The Last Hope had mentioned.

Now, I do want to get my hands on the Perfect Guide (simply because it is Star Ocean and every bit of information helps in maintaining these blogs and pages), but, at the same time, I have a hard time believing this, if only because of how the game plays out. Everything that happens in The Last Hope has an effect on what happens in the games that follow. In fact, because OF The Last Hope, I put forth the theory that the entire gaming platform of the Eternal Sphere was that of one massive MMORPG where 4-D beings could play at any given point in history and place in the Eternal Sphere.

So how would this be possible, the events of The Last Hope being outside the events of the entire Eternal Sphere? While maintaining that the Eternal Sphere is this massive, multi-timeline, multi-planet MMORPG, The Last Hope could fall outside of the Eternal Sphere for this particular reason: It's a reboot of the gaming system. A pilot program, if you will.

Mind you, there is nothing in the game itself that suggests it's outside the events of Games 1-3 and 5. The UP3 is there, or at least its conception. The beginnings of the Pangalactic Federation are there. The last name of Kenny is there (which, if everyone remembers, Kenny is the prominent name throughout the whole series and at least gets honorable mention in Game 3's dictionary).

That is my theory on how The Last Hope can exist outside the Eternal Sphere. It doesn't necessarily explain Welch's appearance in every. Single. Game. But it is something.

By the way, guys, those of you who are claiming that Welch is a 4-D being and that's how come she's in every. Single. Game. I BELIEVE YOU. I really do. That particular theory lends to my theory of the Eternal Sphere being the MMORPG on that massive scale.

Lend me your thoughts on the MMORPG theory and where The Last Hope stands in the comments, guys. I would love to hear from you on that.

Some cosplay notes: My green coat for the Fayt Leingod cosplay variant needs some repair. One of the buttons came off, no biggie, really, and I need to find some braiding that won't fall off. I now have some styrofoam balls and paints to try and recreate Fiore's weapons from Integrity and Faithlessness for the Fayt cosplay. Fayt can use symbology some so why not, plus they're going to be easier "weapons" to carry at cons and in public than, say, swords (though I plan on creating a sword for the cosplay, too).

I'll get pictures up as soon as I have things completed.

Finally, well, I want to attempt yet again to revive the Ask the Star Ocean Character segments to this blog. I actually had fun doing those. I'll post tomorrow the rules I've set forth. Know that I will start over again, and I'll be starting with Reimi Saionji.

That's all for now! I have a book to write!

So wonderful, wonderful news out there, my fellow Star Ocean fans! Till the End of Time is now available for purchase in the Sony store. You can then download it for the Playstation 4.

The news heard round the world earlier this year is true.

Some of you already know this. In fact, because you've already purchased the game, and I follow you on social media. it's how I know the game is available for the PS4.

In terms of story, I realize this game is not the greatest. When compared to the likes of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the story is a bit weak, but then that's also the game's charm. It holds the potential for so much to be filled in by the player, and the wide array of playable characters gives a little bit of something for everyone. Mind you, I'm still not overly fond of characters like Maria and Sophia - they do experience the least amount of growth and development, in my opinion - but they hold a great deal of potential in the hands of the right writers.

This game is one of my biggest inspirations, not just for my Arc of Fantasy series but for another novel I started for NaNoWriMo many years back. I'm still writing Star Ocean fanfiction. I own a copy of nearly every game (sans Blue Sphere for the Gameboy and The Last Hope for the XBox 360; yes, I own the original SNES Star Ocean: A Space Odyssey in the original Japanese; no, I haven't played it yet. I don't know how to read the kanji) for this series. I've had my fair share of disappointments in the ones I've played. I mean, if you get onto youtube and find all of the cutscenes, the longest ones are for Till the End of Time (at nearly ten hours), followed by The Last Hope (which I've found done in segments). Integrity and Faithlessness is a mere four and a half hours. While the game play is updated, it could have been so much more than what it was.

That's just me, though, and I do plan on addressing what I'd like to see in future games, you know, if I could become a gaming story writer for the series. Yes, I would revisit Till the End of Time and The Last Hope, for sure. I'd even revisit Integrity and Faithlessness, and I'd come up with a few new things as well.

I will be at Tokyo in Tulsa in a couple of weeks. I have exhibition space for my original works, and I do plan on trying to generate more interest in the Star Ocean community. So wish me luck!

<3 to you guys for being so awesome!

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July 2018

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Page Summary

At last! An update! And a spoiler alert.
One Month into 2018
Happy Holidays! Spoiler Alerts
Day 6 of the 31 Days of Halloween
Ask the Star Ocean Character/Conversation Topic
Days 4 and 5 of the 31 Days of Halloween
Day 3 of the 31 Days of Halloween
Star Ocean Birthdays - October
Conversation Topic - Talking About Favorite Star Ocean Moments
Day 2 of the 31 Days of Halloween
Day 1 of the 31 Days of Halloween
Ask the Star Ocean Character - Minor postponement
Ask the Star Ocean Character and the Upcoming Holiday Season
Ask the Star Ocean Character Reminder
Second Look at the Female Cast of Star Ocean
Connecting With Star Ocean's Female Leads/Fanfiction Thoughts
State of the (Star Ocean Universe) Union
Gift story for Zenphoenixa. An Albel/Fayt story
I Need to Get My Game ON
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time - Oh, how we love thee!

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