I played First Departure, 2nd Story/2nd Evolution and Till The End Of Time, the only thing that escaped my grasp was the 4th installment which is a shame but I still hope to play it in the near future.
1. Battle System! The battle system for all the Star Ocean games were fast paced and the faster you reacted to your enemy, the better you were, like getting off a quick recovery spell or a speedy resurrection bottle from your inventory, every single decision you make is vital for winning. Sure you can just give AI scripts for battle tactics for every character but sometimes the AI isn't doing the commands that you would give, so in order to fix that, you had to switch characters in the midst of battle sometimes and give them a manual command, like what I said earlier, everything depends on you!
2. Killer Moves/Spells! The best thing about the special moves that this series has is that when you use a Killer Move or a Spell for a specific number of times, the attack becomes more stronger or it has added effects and every single move is unique to the other! Some attacks add more hits whilst some become faster or stronger and the animation also changes with it giving you the feeling of your characters growing obviously stronger than before!
Note: One of my favorite moves the game has is Bowman's Explosive Pills in Star Ocean 2nd Evolution. It starts with 2 seed explosions and after getting enough proficiency (the number of times used), it becomes four and the speed where he does this skill is ridiculously fast so spamming the heck out of this skill just obliterates monsters and bosses alike. The only downfall for the skill is that it's fire element but to me it never bothered me anyways.
3. Lovable Characters! What's important for JRPG's? Characters of course! Each character is unique and interacts with different reactions to other party members. They all have a background that states who they are, why they fight for and why they must fight, they're not generic soldiers that you could just send out to battle but they were characters that were vulnerable to emotions and each one of them always had an impact on what ending you could have (the Star Ocean series always had multiple endings that depended on the party members PA value).
4. Story! As the story unfolds, so does their character development, the deep emotional attachments that the characters give to its players is what JRPG's are made for. Character development is what JRPG's should be! They must give life to the characters as if they were real persons. Sometimes the story goes so deep that even we the players feel the happiness and demise of the characters as if we were them! This is the simple sentimental value that JRPG's give to us gamers, it leaves a good lasting mark on every one of us. We all know that feeling of emptiness when a party member leaves or for worse, dies.
I've only listed four things that the previous games had, and we all wish that these traits are all included in the newest installment. The game is set to be released in 2016, there is still a lot of time for development and if they hit all the right mark on where to focus, then this game will be one of those JRPG games where the wait is worth it all! Thank you Square-Enix and Tri-Ace!
