Star Ocean 4 - the second journey

Another week filled with another game. This week I decided to replay Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope (though in between I played Bayonetta for a day lol), but with proper use of guide and walkthrough, aiming to get everything I missed during my first playthrough last March. Well, not quite everything because I still have a long way to go if I were to aim for complete Battle Throphies, which would be virtually impossible for me to get =_=

Nevertheless I manage to complete the main game after a week, and so far unlocked 9 more Achievements, including 3 hidden endings I missed in my first play, bringing my score for SO4 to 680G.

-Monster Master 30 - Collected 100% of all monster data.
-Aspiring Architect 20 - Created 40% of all possible items.
-Skilled Battler 10 - Obtained 40% of all battle trophies.
-Potential Postman 20 - Completed 60% of all quests.
-Creative Craftsman 20 - Created 60% of all possible items.
-Ship Savant 20 - Collected 100% of all spaceship data.
-Meracle's Ending 10 - Viewed Meracle's ending sequence.
-Crowe's Ending 10 - Viewed Crowe's ending sequence.
-Faize's Ending 10 - Viewed Faize's ending sequence.

Still a long way for full 1000G, but then I'm not really aiming for full score. My next aim is just to complete the quests, weapon data and full item creation, which means I need to clear the Seven Stars Cave and the Wondering Dungeon, beating Gabriel Celeste and Ethereal Queen several times for their feathers. And if possible, I'd like to complete the bunny race achievements too. The Battle Trophies achievement is a total pain in the arse to get, while playing on Universe and galaxy would probably consume even more time, so I'd put those on hold.


Some thoughts that appeared in my mind while replaying this game:

• Lym is a complete waste of character slot. Combat-wise, she lacks supportive spells for a mage. That and her outrageous voice... She's only useful for her treasure sense and to some extent, Magic Ring charging.
• I feel that Faize is too weak, physically. His replacement Arumat overpowered him in all aspects. Which made me wonder why would people want to keep him in the party, except for doing his battle trophies.
• Sometimes I kept on thinking (imagining if you would) on what those guys on another Earth actually do when they "interrogate" Reimi lol
• Reimi > Myuria >>>>>>>>>> Meracle = Sarah > Lyme. Well although Myuria has boobs, I just prefer Reimi for her...well everything suppose :3
• The guy who did the camera angle sure is fishy, especially when the battle ends with Reimi or Myuria doing the final blow. You know what I mean ;p
• It feel weird when the game try to crack a joke when Edge is a serious-type guy. It just doesn't feel that funny. Which is why I feel SO3>SO4.
• Reimi's final Private Action >>>>>>> Her ending. period. But seriously Edge could be more romantic with his kiss, it lacks feeling :(
• Arumat is total badass. Quoting from someone on gf boards; "He doesn't have a personality or anything so it's pretty hard to hate him. He rarely speaks and doesn't have any annoying mannerisms, so you don't despise him like many of the other characters. His voice actor is decently good. His combat moves are flashy, effective, and he wields the coolest weapon. And he replaces the worst party member. Nothing to criticize." Which I totally agree.
• Edge is one of the worst main protagonist in jrpg history. Being an emo douche is one problem, he simply is too stupid and has uninteresting personality.
• SO4 has one of the worst storytelling and voice acting among all Tri-Ace games. Seriously if I could change the plot, first thing first I would change Edge into someone with better personality (heck even Luke fon Fabre would looks better), remove Lymle, Bacchus, Sarah and Meracle alltogether and change into something like those in SO3 (Nel, Cliff, Maria etc). Seriously The characters in SO4 sucks, except maybe Reimi and Arumat. Even Welch is so friggin annoying, the Welch in previous SO series are better off replacing her.