My first impression of Star Ocean, and I imagine that this applies to most newcomers, was the fact that there was a noticeable absence of actual stars. When the game begins, it carries all the trappings of a typical RPG, with younger protagonists living inside a small town with not a whole lot going on. The three heroes you're introduced to are guards of sort for the town, but there's really not much there to guard. They dream of a bigger life, with more adventure, and soon enough they get their wish.

One of the neighboring towns is stricken with a strange disease, one that turns the citizens into stone, and it's not long before the heroes end up investigating the disturbance for themselves. This serves as the starting point for the actual adventure, wherein they meet a group of aliens that resemble them (minus tails), who are actually space travelers, and soon our heroes role in the grand scheme of things is unraveled. This is the point where the story really picks up, and for me at least, the game really starts to sell itself, at least story wise. I wouldn't say it's the best plot I've seen in a JRPG, but considering how long ago the original Star Ocean came out, it's a pretty solid set-up. It borrows a bit from famous sci-fi shows and movies, and if you're familiar with them you'll probably pick up on the ideas that the game runs with, but for the most part the entire thing feels pretty original once you get past the basic set-up in the beginning.

Actually, the whole game feels a lot like this. The beginning, as is often the case with JRPG's, is pretty slow. You get a basic feel for combat, which is all real-time stuff, and a general idea of how to equip, use items, interact with town folk, and all the basics. However, the game doesn't really open up until you hit space, and not only in story, but in the amount of things you can do and the skills and abilities your group will start to learn. However, the amount of time it takes to get to this point is actually pretty minimal, so even if you're not a fan of something like Kingdom Hearts 2, where it took a few hours to get to anything resembling actual gameplay, you'll find that after about an hour or so you'll be inside the game proper with Star Ocean: First Departure.

Visually, the game is pretty much on par with what we saw in Star Ocean: The Second Story on PS1. The characters are all sprite based, 2-D, and actually pretty large in battle and interior sections. There's an overworld much like in early JRPG titles, instead of one hub and a number of warp points like most games have nowadays. Battles are random encounters, and when the game switches to the battle screen you'll have your line-up of characters on the right and the enemies on the left. You can control one character while the AI does the rest of the work, and everything occurs in real time. You can move as much as you want, swing your weapon as much as you want, and use skills, magic, etc. It's easy to tell that this is Tri-Ace title from the combat alone, and it's interesting to see these early steps and how they compare with their more recent releases like Infinite Undiscovery and Valkyrie Profile 2.

The music is absolutely fantastic, and it's easily one of my new favorite soundtracks on the PSP. I'm not sure if it's been completely retooled or how it stacks up to what was on the SNES, but it's a great soundtrack regardless. Also, voice acting has been introduced into this remake, and for the most part it's actually pretty decent. Not the best, but it's not annoying or anything you'll want to switch off after a few minutes either.

All together, Star Ocean: The First Departure is a great remake of a title that we've never had released here, and it's a welcome addition to anyone's PSP RPG library. Definitely worth picking up, and I look forward to the release of a Star Ocean that I've actually played with The Second Departure in the future. If you're looking to get a bit of an old school RPG fix, this game should satisfy that need for a fair amount of time.