like a star, like a firefly

It's been a little over two weeks now since I actually did it, but I finally beat Tales of Vesperia! \o/

I'm so happy to have finished this game at long last. I've had such a fun time with it, even if I did miss out on some stuff thanks to the game being infamous for having a lot of easily-missable sidequests and whatnot. There were a good amount of missables I did get to see, though!

Now I just want to write some manner of ficlet for Rita/Estelle before I fully move on to a different game, because that's my OTP by far. I have a decent enough idea for it, but I need to get my writing muse into gear so I can actually do it...

As for what game I want to go for next, I might replay Star Ocean 1 through the R version on the Switch. Yes, yes, I talked about potentially getting right back into the SO series about a year ago and ended up not doing it at the time, but this time I've actually been thinking about Ioshua and Erys again after all these years, and there's no motivator for replaying a game quite like having feelings about favourite characters. Whether I replay it now or end up shelving it for another time again, at least it's a relatively short game -- which, if I do start the replay sooner rather than later, would make it possible for me to finish a playthrough before The Hundred Line releases near the end of next month.

Speaking of upcoming games, a new Nintendo Direct just got announced for tomorrow, which is a bit of a surprise to me considering we're getting the Switch 2 Direct next week. Makes me wonder what they'll announce now, near the end of the first Switch's life... No, I do not have clown makeup on, unlike a good chunk of the rest of the Fire Emblem fandom. I'll laugh if we actually do get the much-rumoured Genealogy remake after all this time, but I'm not betting on it at all.

I just found out there's a Star Ocean 6 coming out next year.

... I wish I had a PS4.

Star Ocean 3 > Star Ocean 1 > Star Ocean 4 > Star Ocean 2

(SO5 isn't included because I don't have a PS4 and therefore haven't played it.)

Yes, you're seeing that right -- I ranked the fandom-darling SO2 lowest. That's not to say I dislike it, though! I think they're all great games! I just think SO2 gets put on too big a pedestal at times, so it feels to me like people forget that it has flaws of its own (main case in point to me: the way the plot revolves so much around Claude and Rena that the other playable characters feel like a bunch of irrelevant extras who are mostly there to fill up party slots). The fact that its stans can get pretty nasty about the other installments, especially SO3, doesn't help either.

Speaking of SO3, I think the fact that it was the first game in the series I played is a big part of why I rate it the highest; I guess it's the same kind of "first one I played wins" bias that I'm sure a lot of SO2 fans have. The game may have had its issues, especially in terms of the plot, but I got so utterly attached to it that I still feel a lot of nostalgia for it even now -- and it's been about 12 years since I was really into it. (It's scary to think that it's been that long!) That nostalgia's what inspired me to write this post out of the blue, actually.

As for SO1, something about the game and its characters just really endeared themselves to me, I guess; I wish it wasn't so ignored by the wider fandom. Because I enjoyed this game as much as I did, I loved getting to revisit Roak in SO4.

Truth be told, I still haven't actually finished SO2 or SO4, and because I've got other games on the go right now, I can't see myself doing so anytime soon either. Still, I'm nearly at the end of my first playthrough with Claude in SO2 and got pretty far in SO4, so I feel like I can make reasonable judgements as to how I rank them compared to the other games.