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It might seem strange for me to start with one of my least favorite characters as opposed to starting with one of my most favorite characters . . . there is a method to my madness.
I'll be starting with the basics with each character study. The basics are what most people will find in the game manuals and strategy guides as well as some of the basic information from the games. It'll then be followed up with my take on the character in question.
Name: Reimi Saionji
Age: 19
Hair color: brown
Eye color: brown
Height: N/A
Weight: N/A
Rank: First Officer
Birthdate: March 28
Weapon: Bow
Quote: I believe in you, Edge.
( From the Game Manual )
From me: I agree and disagree with Reimie being level-headed. She definitely has her moments where she is the calm, cool and collected one, but her age gets the better of her in other situations.
For example:( Cut for spoilers )
That's just one of a few examples that I can think of where Reimi isn't very level-headed. Yes, she's nineteen years old, but, if she's as intelligent as the game's strategy guide claims, she wouldn't need to ask "What happened here?" when it was quite obvious as to what happened. :)
( From the strategy guide )
From me: Reimi is the mother hen of the group but without the experience of raising children herself. The player first gets a brief glimpse of this in the opening scenes with Edge in how she conducts herself and chastises him for not attending the departure ceremony, but it becomes very apparent after Lymle joins the party. I won't necessarily say it's a bad thing, but it's something that can become annoying after a while. I understand that when a person is dealing with someone who's about five years of age or at least looks like she's five years of age, s/he is going to modify the way s/he talks to that child. I'm sure Reimi doesn't realize that, in some ways, she's talking down to Lymle, but hen again, she probably doesn't realize that Lymle is fifteen and not five.
One thing I've noticed about Reimi is how she likes to declare Edge as being a pervert, and I'm not talking about in the private actions. (For private actions, I go out of my way to PO Reimi, but that's because I don't like her. In order to get her ending, though, I'm going to have to play nice with her on the next play-through, which I hope to start soon as there's another topic I'd like to address.) The first instance is after the dragon newt is defeated in Alanaire Citadel, and the original way they reached the top is no longer accessible to them. On the outside of the citadel are some hanging materials. I want to call it canvas, but I don't believe that's the accurate term . . . it is strong enough to hold weight so . . . Anyway, Reimi points out the hanging material, no one can see another way down, and Edge volunteers to go down first.
Immediately, Reimi is objecting. She says no repeatedly, calls him a pervert (which is leaving him confused as well as Faize and Lymle), and declares she's going down first. (Which one could argue is an act of insubordination on the First Officer's part.)
The other in-game moment is on the alternate Earth when they're locked in the same room as an unconscious Reimi by Milla Bachtein. Reimi, for some reason, is naked. Why she's naked, it's never said, but she is and she's unconscious. When she comes to, she sits up, the blankets falling, and then she realizes she's nude and Edge is staring, dumbfounded. Okay, that moment isn't exactly good for Edge, but I don't blame him, either, for looking at a woman's bared boobs.
That particular scene truly bothers me. I know Reimi is intelligent. I know she's kind. I won't dispute those facts because they are evident throughout the game. What I don't understand (aside from it being a ploy on the game designers' parts) is how come she didn't realize upon waking that she was naked? There is a world of difference in the feel of the textiles used in her uniform and cotton-blend sheets. Plus, she's only covered from underneath her arms to about her ankles.
Now, it could be argued "Well, she was drugged. Milla even admitted as much." Yes. Milla drugged Reimi. She did admit as much so it's a given. However, I only buy that argument so far. Speaking as a woman, I know the difference between how my clothes feel on me and when I'm naked under a sheet and some blankets. Drugged or not, I'm going to realize whether or not I have my clothes on upon waking, and, if I'm naked, I'm certainly not going to sit up so the blankets fall off me with people in the room.
The rest of the "pervert" remarks are found in the private actions, where Reimi's jealousy over the other women on the Calnus becomes apparent. Of course, triggering those private actions are up to the player.
There is one other flaw I've found in Reimi's character, and it seems to be a bit of a popular theme in anime in general. Girl has crush on guy. Guy is somewhat clueless to girl's crush so either doesn't reciprocate or doesn't know how to reciprocate. Guy is attractive and has other girls talking to him, increasing the jealousy of the girl (who also is supposed to be the heroine of the story, the hero's counterpart), and so said girl throws fit and storms off or calls guy a pervert and smacks him for being googly-eyed over the other women. If guy and girl are dating, I can understand the jealousy to a certain extent, but if guy and girl aren't dating, I don't understand it at all.
In essence, though, Reimi is not an evil character. She does treat the others in the team with kindness, reserving the smacking for Edge (probably because Sarah is just too innocent in how she sees things and Myuria would smack her back). In terms of personality, she's a little like the pink fluff of Sophia Esteed mixed with emo-ness of Maria. The internal angst seems so unnecessary to me, but it's how the game designers wrote her so . . . I just find her annoying. When I get the chance, I remove her from my fighting party, keeping her levels up because she does come quite handy in certain boss battles. I don't necessarily see where she's hard on herself, other than when it comes to food, but maybe others see it.
Overall, Reimi is a character that a person will either like or dislike. That is entirely up to the player. For this player, she's just one that, if I didn't have to keep her leveled up for certain battles, I wouldn't bother with her at all. Her ability to fight disease is both a bane and a boon. You realize this later in the game. It's also because of this ability that the truth comes out about her, Edge, and Crowe.
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Game Review:
Star Ocean game: The Last Hope
Rating: Four and a half stars out of Five
I'm just going to keep my review of this game rather brief. It's actually the kind of game a person can beat in about thirty hours of play, including the side quests and store deliveries.
The Story: The Last Hope takes place in the year 10 S.D., a time in the series history when the Earth is in great danger. The environment is deteriorating at a rapid rate, so much so, the human population has taken to living in underground cities. Mankind's only hope for survival is to head into space.
Enter the Space Reconnaissance Force, or SRF. This history is narrated by none other than the hero of the game as he waits for the right time to make his entrance at the departure ceremony.
Among the members of the SRF are our hero, Edge Maverick, and his childhood friend, Reimi Saionji. Despite being the hero of the game, at the inaugural launch of five exploration craft into space, Edge isn't in a leadership position. His best friend and greatest rival, Crowe F. Almedio, is a Captain, which frustrates our hero to no end.
From this point, the game starts. All five ships launch, the destination being an uninhabited planet called Aeos. After a few more events taking place (such as meeting Faize and learning of the Eldarian race), Edge receives a battlefield promotion, and thus is given command of the ship, the Calnus.
With the Calnus, players are able to embark on an intergalactic journey, which eventually becomes a mission to save not only Earth, but the entire universe.
Plot: To save the universe is a rather ho-hum device in order to drive a story. Yet it wouldn't be a Star Ocean game if the entire universe wasn't in peril. I could be wrong on First Departure, since that seems to be focused mostly on Roak (which you get to see in The Last Hope as well), but I'll know more once I've played the game. Still, saving the universe, while ho-hum, can be quite spectacular if in the hands of the right people, and it doesn't feel like quite a cliche for The Last Hope. With two new planets to explore that may or may not appear in First Departure or Second Evolution, it's kind of hard to be bored with the saving the universe them.
There is one other plot device utilized in The Last Hope that I find to be a bit boring and rather cliched for the Star Ocean universe, and that's the genetic altering of select characters in order to enhance the game. It feels like, "Serioulsy? You couldn't come up with some other plot device?" Mind you, Edge, Reimi and Crowe (who remains unattainable) are the ones given these special properties, but, when compared to the likes of Fayt, Maria, and Sophia, the powers for those belonging to the Seeds of Hope don't seem all that spectacular. It's just an ability to overcome an adverse situation of some kind or another. It'd be interesting to see these six characters in a face-off of sorts.
Graphics: I love what was done in terms of creating these new worlds of Aeos and Lemuris and Roak. Everything looks similar yet foreign and beautiful at the same time.
Characters: Very few characters in this game truly annoy me. Most of the characters reach some semblance of growth throughout the game, which is something I like. Characters that don't grow are generally boring and annoying.
Battle: Battles aren't all that different from Till the End of Time, neither of which are turn-based RPGs. You fight the battles as you would in a real life situation, which can make it difficult in keeping certain characters alive sometimes. However, unlike Till the End of Time, should the entire battle party die, you can pull out another member to revive the dead. It's only when all eight party members are dead that you hit Game Over. Tis nice, especially when you're up against a really difficult boss.
Overall: I give this game four and a half stars out of five, and it will remain as one of my top RPGs to play over and over again.
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Title: Letting Go When the Desire to Hold On is Strong
World: Till the End of Time
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Character death
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean or the characters contained within this story. The rights belong respectively to Square Enix and Tri-Ace. I do not profit financially from writing this story.
Summary: A Leingod says goodbye.
Next up: A potential inconsistency in the game of The Last Hope.
