Weggy's Star Ocean Series Story FAQ (with a major contribution by K_19) v5.2 =============================================================================== Tables of Contents =============================================================================== [I] Introduction [II] Version History [III] Pre-Star Ocean [IV] Star Ocean: The Last Hope [V] Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey [VI] Star Ocean: The Second Story [VII] Star Ocean: Blue Sphere [VIII] Star Ocean: Till the End of Time [IX] Star Ocean: EX [X] Aprisian History [XI] Galactic Map [XII] PSP Remake Differences [XIII] Unsolved Mysteries [XIV] Other possible stories in the Star Ocean Universe [XV] Thanks [XVI] Contact [XVII] Un-Legal Note: To skip to any section, simply hit CTRL+F and input the Roman Numeral with brackets. =============================================================================== [I] Introduction =============================================================================== Welcome to the Star Ocean Series Story FAQ. Perhaps you've heard of a wonderful series of video games under the title of Star Ocean, developed by a group called tri-Ace, and published under Enix (Now SquareEnix). What you may not know, is that these games have an incredibly rich and detailed story behind them. This FAQ plans to be a guide to that story. Star Ocean takes place within our very own universe, and is thus governed by the same set of rules. Due to fantastic speculation, tirelessly dissecting the dialogues, the very helpful dictionary included with Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and The Last Hope, and a wealth of Blue Sphere info translated by K_19, we have a very good understanding of the specific circumstances that tri-Ace has woven for us, as gamers, to enjoy. This FAQ is arranged in a timeline-like format, though so many events happen during certain years it may seem like a narrative rather than a timeline. Along the way will be explanations of just how some of the things accomplished are possible - meaning, what the technology is and how it works. tri-Ace has done extensive research into this (or they're all just really smart), as most of this technology is based within theoretical astrophysics and quantum mechanics (seriously!). I realize not everyone has a Ph.D regarding these issues, so for any confusing technical terms I'll try to put it in layman's speak. To provide a slightly more seamless experience, these descriptions will be offset from the main story in the form of an indented section. For example, if I brought up Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, following it would be a section as such: Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is a consequence of the wave- particle duality of nature. This means that light can be perceived as both a particle (photon), or a wave. It simply states that one cannot be sure of both the position and momentum of a subatomic particle at any given time. If we were to measure the position, the very act of measuring it would alter the momentum, and if we measure the momentum we cannot simultaneously know the location. See, things can get complicated! Don't worry, it doesn't get much worse than that. Before beginning however, 5 simple things to remember: 1) About the dates: Standard B.C. and A.D. abbreviations will be used until the establishment of the Stardate (SD) system, then the A.D. date will be included in parenthesis. 2) No side-quests are discussed (with two exceptions), as they can be skipped and are not important to the overall story. 3) The story of the games vary slightly depending on which characters you choose. I try to account for that as much as possible, but there are so many different combinations I may miss a few things. However, none of these differences really matter in the overall story. 4) Endings are not discussed because in Star Ocean, they are not always set in stone. The exceptions are every ending but Fayt's in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, all of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and Celine's special ending with Prince Cross since Blue Sphere establishes it as canon. 5) It goes without saying, but this FAQ contains MASSIVE SPOILERS! If you do not want the stories of these games spoiled, stop reading now. =============================================================================== [II] Version History =============================================================================== Version 5.2 - 7/14/09~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greetings Star Ocean fans! Hope everyone is enjoying/has enjoyed SO4 thoroughly. Small update thanks to ovan08. He adds some neat ideas to Welch's origins, as well as providing further evidence to the Energy Nede > En II connection. Version 5.1 - 5/7/09~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More revisions, more revisions. Some helpful thoughts have been added courtesy of Skrell 999 and LordOfFenixAuir. Also added the birth dates of our band of heroes from SO4, fleshed out the endings, and threw in a bunch of other events just prior to SO4. Put the Monster House *DONE* stamp on this FAQ unless someone has something to add. (hint hint) Version 5.0 - 1/26/09~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After six long, agonizing years, the newest chapter of the Star Ocean saga is here. I have added what will likely be the first of many drafts to it's section, as well as a jaunt through 1957 A.D.. You might also note that they used the names of the towns from First Evolution in this one on Roak. So in order to keep things a little less confusing, I caved and changed all prior references to the new names. Boo on you tri-Ace. You botched the translation of your own game. To do: * Add the birth dates of all the characters * Flesh out the characters endings more * Find out when the game went from SD 10 to SD 11 * Get more information on Filia * Update the Galactic Map with SO4 info and Planet Ise Version 4.5 - 1/22/09~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More remake goodness! I decided just to lump the differences in the remake together into one section, as well as adding info on Second Evolution. Lots of other minor updates. Star Ocean 4 is right around the corner!! Version 4.0 - 11/12/08~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The remakes march on! I recently picked up a copy of the now translated Star Ocean 1. This is exciting as it is our first glimpse of this game officially translated into English. The names have been slightly changed, mostly for the worse in my opinion (Roddick? Seriously? What the hell guys!) Regardless, I decided to create a section exclusively dedicated to the SNES-PSP changes. It does not seem like there was much of anything changed in my playthrough of the japanese Second Evolution, but we'll give it another go when it comes out as well. More exciting however is the addition of the Aprisian History section. Theres a lot there, so I encourage you to take a look. Also exciting is something new I noticed at the end of First Departure. Perhaps due to a difference in AR from my Japanese playthough, Ronyx asks Ilia to marry him (literally "I need you for the rest of my life"), sort of cementing Claude as their child. Oh tri-Ace... can you please decide on what happened at the end of SO1 already? Regardless that just raises even more questions, which have been added to the unsolved mysteries section. Version 3.6 - 5/8/08~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few minor corrections here and there. I've added a new section for the Star Ocean EX anime, which has a new take on the events of SO2. A few updated things for the 2 PSP remakes as well. Version 3.5 - 4/13/08~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright, I lied. I said to be continued with Star Ocean 4. With it still in the development phase, I have somewhat satiated my hunger for Star Ocean with 2 brand new UMDs straight from Japan. Yes, it's the Star Ocean 1 and 2 remakes! No full English translation has been made as of yet, as they are both to be released in the US in the future. Going through the Japanese text however, I found a few interesting tidbits! So, information about the remakes have been added. Also, based on the new Star Ocean trailer, I saw that Earthlings apparently started with SD 0, instead of SD 1 like I assumed. Thus, my AD equivilant years were one behind, so they have been corrected. Additionally from the trailer is a date of humans' first contact, which has been added as well. Version 3.0 - 6/23/07~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, don't I feel like a fool! A friendly IM by adelinathepirate has informed me that there is in fact, a Star Ocean map from the Star Ocean 'Eternal Materials' book out there on the wonderful interwebs. More info on this can be found in the galactic map section, along with links to the images in question. Version 2.0 - 5/11/07~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here we are, slightly over a year(!) since my last update. As you may or may not have heard, there is a new Star Ocean game in the works to be announced in, at time of writing, in just a few days. This has inspired me to continue on, what is by far, the most fun FAQ I've ever written. As such, I've added a big update - by tirelessly analyzing the dictionary, I have compiled together a Galactic Map of the Star Ocean Universe! This has gone through multiple revisions, until I think, I finally got it right (Earth is in the right place now!) The position of some of these forces opens up some very interesting speculation on the political struggle in the galaxy, as well as expaining a few more things! Hop on down to the Galactic Map section for more info. Version 1.5 - 3/14/06~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I added a fair amount of information concerning the Wise Men of Star Ocean 2. In other news though, I've begun to populate Wikipedia with Star Ocean articles. So far I've begun with the planets, which a fellow Wikipedian was nice enough to create a category for. Check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Star_Ocean_planets After the planets are done, I intend to start on the characters. If you have Star Ocean knowledge to contribute, I invite you to make or edit Star Ocean articles over there. If you've never dealt with Wikipedia articles before, don't panic - it's very easy to do. I encourage anyone with a passion for Star Ocean to give it a go. Version 1.4 - 3/1/06~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's been a long time since I've updated, but theres really been nothing new. Just a small ninja-update to the SO1 section. Version 1.3 - 1/29/06~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Imperit adds a bit evidence supporting Valkyrie Profile taking place in the same universe. Version 1.2 - 1/25/06~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks again to K_19, who clarified a few things on the Blue Sphere section. Thanks to j mcdermid who corrected a minor error in Star Ocean 2. Also thanks to SkyDragnSlifer3K, who added an event I completely missed - the Torastic Religious War on Elicoor II in SD 72. And as always, a fair amount of spelling, spacing, and grammar changes. Version 1.1 - 1/16/06~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy belated new year everyone. Some feedback from Claudelv250, as well as a lot from K_19 (the man is a 4D being, I tell you) caused me to rethink, change, or add a few things. I also corrected some minor things such spelling, spacing, and grammar. Version 1.0 - 12/02/05~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a method of procrastinating from studying for my finals, I started this FAQ. About a month and a half of on and off writing, I finished it! (at 3 A.M. on 01/14) Any comments/suggestions are welcome. To do: * Double-check, confirm, or otherwise polish up Blue Sphere. * Add more science techno-babble if needed. * Add any reader-submitted content. * Take out the trash and do laundry. =============================================================================== [III] Pre-Star Ocean =============================================================================== 15,000,000,000 - 20,000,000,000 B.C.___________________________________________ -The Eternal Sphere is brought online. It is referenced as Tria, the multi- faced god/goddess of creation, which may be the name of the startup program. Pre 3,699,997,548 B.C._________________________________________________________ -Many of the planets in the Galaxy were under the rule of Nede, an extremely advanced planet with no rival. Uprisings began on 24 planets, and Dr. Lantis of Nede was charged with initiating the 10 Wise Men Program - that is, an experiment in Heraldry-Genetics to create superhumans to quell the uprising. Phase I included the close combat weapon "Zaphkiel", the long range artillery unit "Jophiel", and the point-defense combat unit "Metatron". After these 3 were completed, work began on the strategic unt "Michael" to control them. Following that, two information gathering agents named "Zadkiel" and "Camael" were deployed. They were joined by citizen re-education unit "Haniel" along with the data analyzer unit "Raphael". Finally, the agent "Lucifer" was created to oversee the other Wise Men. 3,699,997,548 B.C._____________________________________________________________ -Rebels opposing the 10 Wise Men project attacked and killed Dr. Lantis's daughter, Filia. The Nedians issued an information blackout to conceal this from Dr. Lantis until he finished the final Wise Man, "Gabriel". Dr. Lantis found out however, through the efforts of Zadkeil and Camael. An infuriated Dr. Lantis activated his labs defense mechanisms, sealing him inside. He then begins transferring his consciousness into the final unit, "Gabriel". -Dr. Lantis re-programs the Wise Men from quelling the uprising to destroy the universe. The Wise Men destroy a unit of Nedian special forces assaulting the lab, and go on to terrorize Nede. -The Nedians rally their forces and push the Wise Men back to the lab. When the Nedian Forces enter the lab, Dr. Lantis is nowhere to be found - he has trapped himself along with the other 9 Wise Men in an Eternity Space Pocket. Eternity Space is a dimension of which there is no escape without being released using a password on the outside. -Due to the actions of the 10 Wise Men, 80% of the Nedian Military was destroyed. The outlying rebel planets began a revolt, and began to close in on Nede. In order to protect themselves, the Nedians constructed Energy Nede and surrounded it with an impenetrable, Class 9 force field. The Nedians moved to this new home, completely cut off from the rest of the galaxy. Finally, they destroyed their own planet of Nede. Around 3,000,000,000 B.C.______________________________________________________ -The Morphus create the giant spacestation En II, which they use to protect the galaxy. May 13th, 699,997,565 B.C._____________________________________________________ -Rena Lanford, Nedian, is born to Reema, lead Heraldry Researcher at the Heraldy Research Center on an unnamed planet in Beta Sector, and an unnamed father. -The Nedians discover Creation Energy around this time. Quoting from the North City Library in Star Ocean 2, a Creation Energy Generation Device uses an artificially induced small-scale Big Bang to extract energy from the resulting imaginary number space. This system would provide even more energy than a Quadratic Sphere. However, it is extremely difficult to control the strain of the balance of space that results from opening a hole in the imaginary number space. Because the possibility exists that in the worst case scenario a collapse of the time/space continuum will be initiated, no one has applied this theory yet. We of course find out later it doesn't collapse the time/space continuum - hooray! This explanation however, is similiar to current experiements in Quantum Mechanics. Interesting... 699,997,563 B.C._______________________________________________________________ -Rena Lanford is sent through time from the Heraldry Weapons Laboratory to the planet Expel in the year SD 351 (2438 A.D.) 2,200,000 - 1,600,000 B.C._____________________________________________________ -Earliest known humans evolved from apes on the 3rd planet in the Sol System, given the designation "Homo Habilis" - literally "skillfull person". Roughly 48,000 B.C____________________________________________________________ -A large meteroite strikes the Earth at what will eventually be known as Arizona, United States. Barringer Crater is one of the largest and most well preserved impact craters in the world. When it hit, it would have been a fantastic yet devastating sight - with an estimated yield of 2.5 megatons of TNT, it would have dwarfed the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan. While not specifically referenced in The Last Hope, the American southwest isn't exactly overflowing with gigantic, well-preserved craters. 9000 B.C._____________________________________________________________________ -Evidence of early humans using copper to create tools and weapons Copper, atomic number 29. This reddish-colored metal was very easy to extract and forge, however it is quite weak in its pure form. All humans have small amounts of copper in their blood, which assist in digestion. High amounts of the metal are toxic. 4000 B.C.______________________________________________________________________ -The first widespread alloy, bronze, is created by humans. Bronze is a mixing of 2 metals, usually about 60% copper and 40% tin. This mixing is known as an alloy, and contains unique properties its parent metals do not. Bronze was easy to produce due to its low melting point and wide availability. It was also significantly stronger than copper. 1200 B.C.______________________________________________________________________ -First evidence of iron being used. Steel alloys were made almost immediately after, but were of extremely poor quality. Iron, atomic number 26. While iron was heavy, and sometimes hard to work with, it was bronze's closest competitor due to its widespread availability. In fact, roughly 5% of the earth's crust is made of iron. Iron is also important in the normal functioning of humans, and is present in our hemoglobin. 1000 B.C.______________________________________________________________________ -Earth is struck by a meteorite on the continent of Mu. This opens a wormhole that sends its residents to Roak, Fargett, Edifice, and maybe other places. The continent itself is either destroyed or also sucked into the wormhole. 600 - 800 A.D._________________________________________________________________ -The Chinese develop black powder, the first explosive in recorded history. A combination of sulphur, charcoal, and saltpeter, black powder burns extremely quickly. When this is confined, the air pressure will build until it overcomes the strength its container, resulting in an explosion. Likely sometime between 1587 A.D. and 1600 A.D.________________________________ -The Planetary Exploration Ship Discovery arrives at Fargett from about 500 years in the future. This gives a big jump start to the technology of the Muans stranded there. 1610 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -Modern steel was first produced on Earth. Steel is an alloy of iron and a very small (usually only 1% or 2%) amount of carbon. This carbon acts as a hardening agent, but requires a high temperature to smelt together. The hot alloy is then usually dunked into a pool of water to cool it so fast that the iron and carbon mix do not have time to separate from one another, as if it were allowed to cool in the air. The end result is an extremely strong metal still in widespread use across the galaxy today. November 21st, 1783 A.D._______________________________________________________ -The development of hot air balloons allow man to take flight. In Paris, France, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent d'Arlandes are the first humans to ever fly. 1886 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -Charles Martin Hall develops an electrolytic process to extract Aluminum cheaply and efficiently enough to use in industrial applications. Aluminum, atomic number 13. It's origins date all the way back to Roman times, however extraction methods were extremely primitive and it had very limited use. Once more valuable than gold, this metal is extremely light and durable, and without it aviation simply could not exist. 1897 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -A species of intelligent lizards, the Cardanians, develop speech. December 17th, 1903 A.D._______________________________________________________ -The Wright Brothers and their flying machine make their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on the 3rd planet in the Sol System. Even though the materials composing airplanes are heavier than air, they are able to fly simply due to differences in air pressure. By curving the top of the wing in an aerofoil shape and leaving the bottom mostly flat, the air pressure on the bottom of the wing is significantly higher than on the top, lifting the plane up into the air while causing little drag. 1914 - 1919 A.D._______________________________________________________________ -World War I occurs because of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, as well as mounting tension between European nations. 1939 - 1945 A.D._______________________________________________________________ -World War II begins when the Nazis invade Poland. July 7th, 1947 A.D. (Mirror Universe)__________________________________________ -A suspected UFO crashes near Roswell, New Mexico. All the passengers perished, save a Lesser Felpool named Meracle Chamlotte. Milla Bachtein explored the wreck with her two-year old son Kevin, who died from radiation poisoning soon thereafter. Sometime after July 7th, 1947 A.D. (Mirror Earth)______________________________ -Meracle gives an Ocarina to Klaus Bachtein, a researcher she befriends at the facility she is held. In return, Klaus gives her a pendant, which is actually an exilithium crystal. October 4th, 1957 A.D._________________________________________________________ -Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit the earth, is launched on a R-7 rocket by the Soviet Union. Earthlings are now a part of the galactic community. Rockets are vehicles that obtain thrust by expelling exhaust from some sort of reaction at extremely high speeds. While it's origins date back to ancient China, modern rocketry is possible because of the Nazi research during World War II. The end result was the V2, which was used as a launching pad (no pun intended) for sending rockets into space. October 7th, 1957 A.D. (Mirror Earth)__________________________________________ -A series of events occur involving Edge arriving on Earth in a parallel universe in the year 1957. See the Star Ocean 4 section for more details. April 12th, 1961 A.D.__________________________________________________________ -Soviet Union Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man ever to leave the Earth in his vessel, Vostok 1. July 20th, 1969 A.D.___________________________________________________________ -Neil Armstrong during the U.S. mission Apollo 11 is the first ever to land on the moon. April 19th, 1971 A.D.__________________________________________________________ -Salyut 1, the first space station ever to be built is launched by the Soviet Union. It remains in orbit for 175 days. 1995 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -Anti-matter is successfully produced in the form of anti-hydrogen at the CERN Laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland. November 20th, 1998 A.D._______________________________________________________ -The Russians launch the first component of the International Space Station, "Zarya". November 2nd, 2000 A.D.________________________________________________________ -The joint US/Russian crew of Expedition 1 become the first to occupy the International Space Station, establishing a permenant human presence in space. 2021 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -Planet Aeos is discovered in the Sirius system 2064 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -World War III takes place. Weapons of Mass Destruction are widely deployed, devestating the Earth's environment. Survivors are forced to live underground, as the surface is irradiated and uninhabitable. Humanity makes efforts to find a new home in space. May 5th, 2065 A.D._____________________________________________________________ -Bacchus Dexley, Morphus, is born to unknown parents on the Space Station En II. 2065 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -The Greater United Nations is formed on planet Earth. The Greater U.N. then establishes the USTA (Universal Science and Technology Administration) to support space exploration to find a new home for Earthlings. April 24th, 2071 A.D.__________________________________________________________ -Arumat Thanatos, Eldarian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Eldar. 2074 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -The USTA makes first contact with an extraterrestrial specials known as the Eldar. This is kept secret from the public. November 5th, 2075 A.D.________________________________________________________ -Myuria Tionysus, Morphus, is born to unknown parents on the Space Station En II. July 30th, 2077 A.D.___________________________________________________________ -Edge Maverick, Human, is born to Arnold Maverick and an unknown mother on the planet Earth. March 28th, 2078 A.D.__________________________________________________________ -Reimi Saionji, Human is born to unknown parents on the planet Earth. September 15th, 2078 A.D.______________________________________________________ -Sarah Jerand, Feathfolk, is born to unknown parents on the planet Roak. February 3rd, 2079 A.D.________________________________________________________ -Faize Sheifa Beleth, Eldarian, is born to unknown surrogate parents and raised at a government facility on the planet Eldar. March 16th, 2081 A.D. (Mirror Universe)________________________________________ -Meracle Chamlotte, Lesser Felpool, is born to unknown parents on the mirror planet Roak. June 20th, 2082 A.D.___________________________________________________________ -Lymle Lemuri Phi, Lemurisian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Lemuris. 2082 A.D.______________________________________________________________________ -Edge's father, Arnold Maverick, is killed by a bio-enhance Muan. Edge takes up the sword to defend himself, which leads to his affinity for the weapon. March 7th, SD 0 (2086 A.D.)____________________________________________________ -Professor Trillas Bachtein develops subspace warp technology with the secret assistance of the Eldar. A member of the USTA, Stephen "Lightspeed" Kenny, becomes the first human to ever travel faster than the speed of light. Our universe has a sort of galactic speed limit, in that when an object approaches the speed of light, it gains mass and thus requires more energy to accelerate. This is an infinite process, thus preventing us from ever breaking the speed of light. This is expressed in the famous equation E=mc2, that is energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. In order to circumvent this, Subspace technology wraps the ship in layers of subspace. This subspace is a sort of galactic shortcut, a hole in spacetime. So even though the ship is going slower than the speed of light, it can still cross vast distances very quickly. Sometime after SD 0 (2086 A.D.)________________________________________________ -The Planetary Exploration Ship Discovery is launched. For reasons unknown, it was sucked back in time and arrived at the Planet Fargett sometime around 1587 A.D. -The USTA sends out unmanned exploration ships to nearby planets to find a suitable replacement for the dying Earth. The Discovery may have been one of these. SD 1 (2087 A.D.)_______________________________________________________________ -Lymle accidently creates a symbol that opens up a portal to the demon realm, pulling her into it. March 7th, SD 4 (2090 A.D.)____________________________________________________ -The Stardate method of dating is officially established by the Terran Government on the four year anniversary of the development of subspace technology. SD 7 (2093 A.D.)_______________________________________________________________ -Cerberus takes pity on Lymle and extracts her from the demon realm, and acts as her guardian henceforth. SD 8 (2094 A.D.)_______________________________________________________________ -The SRF-003 Calnus is completed and deployed to the Moonbase on Luna. SD 9 (2095 A.D.)_______________________________________________________________ -The USTA SFSX-1005X Warship is deployed at their third spacebase factory. =============================================================================== [IV] Star Ocean: The Last Hope =============================================================================== SD 10 (2096 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -A ceremony marking the first SRF mission is carried out by USTA Deputy Director Shimada at the Moonbase on Luna. -Edge Maverick, a crewman aboard the SRF-003 Calnus, is blowing off the ceremony by remaining onboard. Reimi Saionji meets up with him shortly after the ceremony. -While Reimi takes her post on the ship, Edge tries out the Battle Simulator and meets up with her shortly thereafter. -Meanwhile, Stephen "Lightspeed" Kenny arrives on the Moonbase to meet Director Shimada. -Edge and Reimi take their positions. Edge meets Welch Vineyard, their support liason on Earth. After briefly speaking with Crowe, Captain Grafton comes aboard, and the ships SRF-001 to SRF-005 launch towards the planet Aeos. -Along the way, a mysterious, meteor-like object passes through the Calnus's warp field, and promptly disappears. It disrupts it enough to cause the Captain to order an Emergency Warp Out. -The Calnus warps out above Aeos. It is out of control however, and crash- lands on the surface. -Sensors on the Calnus indicate the Balena, the Dentdelion, and the Eremia (SRF-002, 004, and 005, respectively) have also crash-landed on the planet. The Calnus rendezvouses with the crews of the nearby Dentdelion and Balena. -Edge and crew disembark to inspect the damage to the ship. They are attacked by a pair of native bug-like creatures. The crew tries to protect themselves with their railguns, but they have no effect. As a last resort, Edge draws a sword, which he uses to defeat them. -Oboard, attempts at contacting the further away Eremia have failed. The Captain orders Edge to travel on foot to the Eremia to see if they are alright. -Captain Grafton contacts SRF Headquarters to report that the report indicated no advanced lifeforms, and his crew is dying. Shimada seems rather unsympthatic, but eventually promises to send "them" to assist. Graftron realizes he is referring to the Eldar that the USTA secretly made contact with in 2074 A.D.. Edge and Reimi overhear the conversation, but like the rest of Earthlings, do not know who "they" are. -Reimi insists to come along with Edge. Edge initially refuses, but eventually relents and has her come along. -Travelling across the planet, they eventually arrive at the ruined 005. A half-dead crewman warns them of a meteor they found on the coast. They brought it aboard for research, and a monster attack the crew. The crewman says he intentionally destroyed the ship to try and kill it. The crewmember then dies. -Edge and Reimi see a ship land. Out hops an Eldarian, Faize Sheifa Beleth. He says he was sent by Captain Grafton. Before he can finish explaining however, the monster, Armaros, attacks the three of them. -Edge, Reimi, and Faize defeat Armaros. -Edge collects a stone left behind from Armaros. Faize then introduces himself and officially joins the party. Faize offers a ride back in his Sol, but Edge decides he wants to scout the area a bit more, so they walk back to the Calnus. -The three return to the Calnus to give their report, where they find an Eldar field base. Faize explains these are modular bases that can be set up very rapidly on planets. In the base, they meet the Eldar Commander Gaghan. Captain Grafton tells Edge to get some rest after his ordeal. -After resting, the three meet back with Gaghan and Grafton. They both agree the three of you should form a team and continue the SRF's mission. Grafton shows Edge to the newly repaired and upgraded Calnus. Grafton needs to remain on Aeos to oversee the exploration there, and appoints Edge Captain of the new Calnus. -Using the Calnus's sensors, Faize finds nearby habitable planet - Lemuris. -Upon landing on Lemuris, they stop in the nearby town of Triom. They are recognized as gods, which they deny. They meet the elder of the town, Ghimdo. Ghimdo tells them he has a disease called Bacculus, which turns the body to stone. A young symbologist, Lymle Lemuri Phi, shows up. Faize is very surprised to see symbology on another planet, let alone from such a young girl. Lymle wants to go north to the Alanaire Citadel to visit a smybologist known as The Oracle and retrieve a symbol she belives can heal everyone. Edge agrees to go with Lymle to the north, as part of the SRFs mission is to eliminate threats to colonization. -They travel into the snowy mountains and find the Alanaire Citadel. They fight to the top and defeat a Dragon Newt, which causes the roof to collapse, killing The Oracle. Lymle points out however, there may still be hope - another Symbologist from Woodley Village named Lutea has come here in the past and obtained it. She signed her name, as is customary. The four depart to Woodley. -Upon arriving there, they meet the symbologist Lutea. She says it is true she obtained the symbol, however it had no effect on the disease because she did not know the source of the disease. Out of ideas, the party decided to go back to Ghimdo for information. Lutea gives them a symbol stone to hold the knowledge of the disease when they find it. Lutea also instructs that the path back to Triom is blocked by a magical illusion, and tells them to retrieve a Phiaie Orchid. -The crew retrieves a Faerie Orchid to allow them to see past the illusion, and returns to Troim. -Ghimdo says he does not know what the source of the disease might be. He does say however, that the disease began a few months ago when another Celestial Ship landed in the Rinoa Valley. It was about that same time the monsters began to appear. Edge and Reimi decides to check it out. Ghimdo gives them the Fire Ring to help. -Stepping outside, Edge wonders if the other ship could be the Aquile. Reimi says thats impossible, since it landed a couple of months ago. Faize corrects them - due to space and time being related, it is possible it is Crowe's ship. Edge wonders if the Eremia arrived a significant amount of time before the Calnus did on Aeos. -Finding the ship, they see it is certainly not the Aquile. The party boards the Celestial Ship to try and stop the source of the disease. -Onboard, they find a console that shows them the bridge was overran by mutated members of their own crew. The crew being killed, the ship crashed onto the planet. Faize identifies them as Cardianon. -The four reach the heart of the ship and see a large floating diamond. They realize its made out of the same material as the meteor on Aeos. The Symbol Stone reacts and breaks. A wave of energy eminates from the diamond, and transforms the dead commander into a Grigori, Barachiel. -Edge and the others defeat Barachiel. The object shatters, and the Cardianon across the planet turn to stone. Faize believes that they failed. -Upon returning to Triom, they find that Ghimdo has succumbed to the disease and is now turned into stone. Lutea arrives and tells that a mysterious light appeared around the patients, and with a loud howl they all turned completely to stone. (See unsolved mysteries section for more thoughts regarding this) Edge laments his failure, but Lutea comforts him by saying at the very least no more will be infected. Faize suggests their new mission be to track down the source of these strange objects. Knowing their time has come to leave the planet, they ask Lymle if she wants to join - she accepts. -Back onboard, Faize uses the data retrieved from the Cardianon ship to see that they were planning an invasion of the planet. Among the data, an image of the Aquila is found. They set a course for the Cardianon homeworld, Arcturus VIII. -Reimi celebrates her 20th birthday during the flight, putting the date at March 28th, SD 10. -Arriving at Cardianon, they find a giant spaceship in their path. A tractor beam pulls the ship into a hangar deck. -The crew disembarks with their hands raised, hoping for a peaceful resolution. As the door opens they are immediately fired upon, and they crew defends themselves. -Meanwhile, a mysterious woman looks on from the catwalks... -Faize accesses a terminal along the way. The terminal indicates the Cardianon have been invading underdeveloped planets for some time. They also find the mysterious diamond shaped object listed in the databank, but can only read the filename - "Epiphanies of Guidance". More information might be located in the Central Isolation Chamber, so our heroes head there. -Suddenly, the crew is transported into a holding cell. The Cardianon Leader tells them that Crowe was here and tore their ship a new one. He also identifies Edge and Reimi as having Muan blood, which confuses the hell out of everyone except Reimi, who says nothing. All seems lost when Bacchus D-79 busts through the wall. -Navigating through the ship, Bacchus tells the gang about how he is Morphus - a race of people who have taken it upon themselves to protect the galaxy. By pure chance, he received Crowe's distress signal. Bacchus was on his way to the Cardianon mothership to destroy the Grigori there, or as they call it, "The Epiphanies of Guidance". These Epiphanies or Grigori, he explains, rapidly accelerated the Cardianons evolution to the enraged form they are now. In fact, 200 some years ago, they just developed speech. Once Crowe learned of his mission, he wanted to help. The duo attacked the ship, but were eventually captured. Bacchus caused a diversion to allow Crowe to escape, who promised to return to En II, the home of the Morphus, to report on the situation. That is when Bacchus came across Edge. -Edge pledges to join Bacchus in his cause. They reach the Central Isolation Chamber, and with a single shot from a warhead, Bacchus destroys the Grigori. -The Cardianon Leader from earlier shows up. Edge pleads with him to stand down, but he counters by saying the Epiphanies have made them gods. Edge corrects him, but he is beyond help. The remains of the Final Epiphany swarm around him, and turn him into Sahariel. -Edge and the others kill Sahariel, which depresses Edge. As they are walking towards the reactor to shut it down, the Cardianon Leader throws a grenade - Bacchus dives on it to save everyone. He survives, but is injured and has trouble walking. Faize and Edge help the incapacitated Bacchus out of the room. -In the next area, they access a console and deactivate the reactor of the ship. Unfortunately, the backup system comes online - and whats worse, a countdown to warp is initiated as an emergency procedure. Bacchus says the destination is to uncharted space, which makes the probability of returning almost nil. Bacchus volunteers to stay since he will only slow the group down before getting back to the ship. Edge vehemently refuses to allow Bacchus to sacrifice himself. Himself and the rest of the group begin to drag Bacchus behind them. -Everyone makes double time through the Emergency Bypass as the bulkheads are closing. Again they run into the mysterious woman from earlier, who stops the final door from closing with a lightning symbol. She comments that Edge is not the red-headed man, and walks away. -The Calnus escapes just as the Cardianon Mothership enters warp. Everyone is relieved the final Grigori is gone and will no longer infect anyone else. -The Calnus escapes, and heads towards En II. Along the way, they are sucked into a black hole, emerging near a planet amazingly similiar to Earth. October 7th, 1957 A.D. (Mirror Earth)__________________________________________ -Edge and crew arrive from the year SD 10 in our timeline on an Earth in an alternate dimension. -Edge and Reimi are confused as to why the Earth is not desolate and bathed in radiation. Scans show the air is safe to breathe, so all but Lymle and Reimi exit. -The crew enters an old gas station. They see a copy of TIME Magazine (Named "Chime Magazine" here), and Bacchus intercepts radio transmissions referring to Sputnik 1 being launched by the "Reds" a few days ago. Edge deduces they are in 1957. Bacchus and Faize have theories of Time Regression as to how they arrived, but neither has a answer on how they got here or how to return. -Exiting the gas station, they see the Calnus surrounded by soldiers. A man approaches them named Klaus Bachtein. Klaus claims he is a friend, and will explain everything at his home a short distance away. -Edge, Faize, and Bacchus decide to trust Klaus and follow him to his home. They find Lymle there. -Everyone learns that Reimi has been captured. Klaus offers his services to save Reimi from the base by pretending he is bringing everyone else into the base as prisoners. Klaus then tells the crew about how he used to be a scientist at a facility nearby, built underneath a large crater. (Wiki Barringer Crater if you're interested - it's almost certainly the one he's talking about) There, they conduct experiments on various lifeforms, and have in their possession an extraterrestrial. Klaus quit out of spite, as he does not like the idea of a "breakthrough handed to him on a plate" - that the Earth is too immature for the technology. He says the extraterrestrial is a young girl named Meracle, who looks like a cat. Klaus begs for you to take her back home, and Edge agrees. -Klaus leads the crew to the secret base entrance and gains access by saying he has changed his mind and wants to work again. Bacchus activates his Stealth mode to hold on to the party's weapons. They enter the facility. -While being escorted by guards to a holding cell, Klaus says he will deactivate the door locks so they can escape and find Reimi. Edge, Faize, and Lymle are put into a cell. Bacchus secretly enters of his own accord. -Making good on his word, the door locks are opened. This opens the doors throughout the entire facility however, and all the test subjects are roaming free. Bacchus de-cloaks and gives everyone their weapons. -Meanwhile, the soldiers find Klaus and beat him for opening the doors. He pulls out Meracles Ocarina as they leave to recapture the test subjects. -The party slices and dices their way through the facility, until they run into Mercale Chamlotte, about to be attacked by the Genomic Beast. They defeat the beast and save Mercale, who then joins them. -Edge, Mercale, and the rest locate the Calnus. Before they can board, they are stopped by Milla Bachtein - Klaus' ex-wife. She says that she has been studying their ship, and is interested in its energy source, the exilithium crystal. She goes on to explain that they are rapidly running out of energy, and need a solution. Edge speculates that she is referring to nuclear energy, which she confirms. However, both know that this source of energy would far surpass nuclear, and will be 100% clean. Edge believes he is still in his timeline, and wishes to create a future where nuclear weapons never existed, where World War III did not leave the planet a wasteland. He agrees to give up the exilithium crystal if Milia promises to stop her experiments, and to keep the Earth clean. -Edge agrees to hand over the exilithium crystal for them to study. Milla offers to lead them to where Reimi is staying. -The group enters a room and does indeed see Reimi. However, Milla betrays them and seals the door behind, trapping them. From their vantage point, they see Milla load the crystal into their anti-matter reactor named "Kevin" after their deceased son. Bacchus says if it activates, it will almost certainly destroy the planet. -All seems lost until Klaus opens the door. Everyone escapes as the reactor is brought online. It is now beyond stopping, so everyone agrees they have to immediately escape. Meracle begs Klaus to come with them, but he refuses. -Klaus embraces an insane Milla standing in front of the reactor as the anti- matter reaction begins to spread. They both are enveloped and killed by it. -Everyone arrives back at the Calnus, but Meracle stops on the umbilical bridge. Unaware of what is happening, she wants to stay as Klaus is her only friend in the world. Edge disagrees, and says they are all her friends now. A convinced Mercale runs towards the Calnus as the bridge gives way. She leaps and does not quite make it, but Edge leaps out of the ship to catch her. Edge in turn is caught by everyone else. -The ship is brought online and they try to escape. Unfortunately, the anti- matter reaction is producing a strong artificial gravity. The Calnus does not have enough power without it's exilithium crystal to escape. When all seems lost, Meracle ignorantly offers her pendant as a replacement. A bewildered Faize recognizes it IS an exilithium crystal. It is loaded into the ship and they escape. -The mirror Earth collapses in on itself, and is destroyed. Oops. -Sensors on the Calnus indicate they are back in their original universe. SD 10 (2096 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -Returning from Earth, the Calnus is attacked by a Phantom Ship. Arumat of the Eldarian 13th Division conveniently arrives and fights them off. -Bacchus suggests they land somewhere to calibrate the energy matrix for new crystal, as well as to inspect the ship for damage. They choose a nearby planet named Roak. -The crew waits for the order from Edge to proceed, but he has an emotional breakdown from the destruction of the mirror Earth. Reimi assumes command as Captain, and orders the ship to Roak. -Bacchus adapts his cloaking technology to the Calnus to conceal it. They land on Roak on the Astral continent. -Departing the ship, Bacchus again keeps himself concealed to avoid suspicion. -Passing through the mountains on their way to Tatroi, they are passed by a Roakian riding on a giant bunny. Meracle sees it as dinner, while Lymle sees it as a new playmate. Everyone else is puzzled. Meanwhile, Reimi appears to have some trouble walking. -Edge and the others arrive at Tatroi. Upon entering, they pass some mysterious figures covered in robes but think little of it. Reimi again has some difficulties walking. -Travelling down the main street, they hear a rather subdued scream from a side alley. Running over, they find a Featherfolk woman who has been captured by bandits. Edge promptly kicks all of their asses. He feels horrible as his conscious forces him to help someone in need, but is mad at himself for interferring in the affairs of another planet. -The woman introduces herself as Sarah Jerand, a Featherfolk. She seems to recognize Edge and Reimi from the statues at the Purgatorium - statues of the Muah. Faize remembers the Cardianon referring to Edge and Reimi as Muah. Reimi again seems uncomfortable talking about it. They decide to reluctantly investigate this Purgatorium. Sarah volunteers her help as thanks for rescuing her. Edge tells her to take a hike. Sarah points out that you need a bunny to cross the desert to the Purgatorium, and suggest you speak to the nomads outside. She then leaves. -The group travels outside to meet the group of nomads, "The Openers", or Black Tribe. They speak to the Elder who they cannot understand. One of the nomads offers assistance - the same girl that passed them earlier. Unfortunately she has no spare bunnies. She suggests they catch a field bunny, and shows the group hers by using a symbol. Faize is impressed by the symbol, which he identifies as transferrence. She gives the party bunny reins to assist. Faize asks if he can be taught the symbol, but she says that is for tribe members only. She extends to him an invitation to join. Faize says he will give it some thought. Finally, she gives a cape to Faize. The cape, she says, will make them less noticable to the bunnies. Lymle thinks it looks awful on him. -As they go to capture a bunny, Reimi falls victim to the stone sickness. They carry her back to the inn in Tatroi. -Meanwhile, Sarah is having a re-occuring dream one room over of Tatroi ablaze and overrun with mosnters. She wakes up to Reimi's cries. Edge fears the disease is bacculus. Bacchus corrects him, as it is actually stone sickness, a disease endemic to Roak. He says there is a remedy, which Sarah confirms they can get from the King of Astral. -The party travels with Sarah up the canal to Astral Castle Town. She introduces her race as Featherfolk, but comments she cannot fly like everyone else. She also recommends that Edge and the others visit her friend in Tropp, Eleyna Farrence. Meracle seems to know of her as The Holy Mother Eleyna, but no one else has heard that term before. -Sarah and the others arrive. Reimi is put in an inn, and Sarah comments on how the stone sickness on Reimi had an extremely short incubation period, and also has extremely slowly developing symptoms. Regardless, they go and request the remedy from the King. -The King complies but says it will take some time to prepare. Sarah asks if anything strange has been happening lately in the Kingdom. The king says that a new group called the Church of Sydonai has arisen, wearing robes from head to toe. They worship the Archfiend, Asmodeus, but none of their actions are illegal. Coincidently, many more people this year are catching the stone sickness, and rough seas have led to a shortage of raw materials. He recommends everyone rest in the guest quarters until the rememdy is prepared. -Standing on the balcony, Edge sees a man with a large tattoo on his back run though the courtyard. He dismisses it as nothing important. -They meet with the King to check on the status of the remedy. The King tells them a bandit with a large tattoo of an eagle stole the remedy along with all the raw ingredients the Kingdom had. Supplies have been scarce as of late, so he fears many of his people will now succumb to it. -Edge realizes it was the bandit he saw running and did not act to stop, which just does loads for his self-esteem at this point. Edge vows to capture the bandit. -The party eventually tracks the bandit down to the arena in Tatroi. As part of a law in the Kingdom, gladiators who defeat ten opponents will be pardoned for any crimes. Desperate to not let that happen, Edge enters as the tenth opponent and defeats the Black Eagle. -The Black Eagle returns the rememdy and the ingredients, and reveals he was hired by for someone to steal it. -The Captain of the Astral Knights, Lias Warren, arrives. Edge tells Lias of The Black Eagle working for someone. Lias is impressed Edge got that much out of him. He praises Edge as a hero, and the colliseum roars in approval. -The group administers the antitode to Reimi. A crest on the back of her neck activates and the remedy takes effect almost immediately, which surprises Sarah. -Reimi then tells everyone the explanation. When the Earth was irradiated, scientiests looked for a way to allow humans to survive the harsh environment. They began "Project Hope". Project Hope took the DNA from an advanced race that used to live on Earth, the Muah. The scientists used this DNA to engineer super humans called The Seeds of Hope. Reimi says she is one of those Seeds of Hope, along with Crowe and Edge. When their bodies are under stress or emotion, their crest activates and grants them supernatural abilities. Reimi's disease was so unusual because her body was adapting to the disease, ensuring her survival. -Edge and Reimi have one of their moments, where she encourages Edge to feel better about himself. -Outside, Edge is approached by three bandits. They saw Edge fight in the colleseum, and believe his sword to be the key to his power. Before they all attack, they are zapped by electricity. The mysterious girl from the Cardianon ship appears, and introduces herself as Myria Tionysus. She is looking for Crowe, and vows to kill him when she finds him. Myuria accuses Crowe of killing her beloved, which Edge says is impossible. -Back in the inn, they find Sarah has disappeared - abducted in the middle of the night by the marauders from earlier. Edge says they must go save her. -Outside of Tatroi, The Openers appear to be missing. Faize suggests coming back at a later time. -After an extremely lengthy delay, Edge catches a bunny. -Using the bunny, Edge and the others cross the desert and enter the Purgatorium. Just inside, they see one of Sarah's feathers. They cannot find any way to enter the heart of the temple, so Meracle suggests they go to Tropp to ask Lady Eleyna. -The group arrives at Tropp to overhear a man named Tamiel from the Church of Sydonai speaking of the resurrection of Asmodeus, the Archfiend. He says that people should devote their life to him, and upon resurrection, the world and everyone on it will be consumed in fire. THEN, and only then, will people be granted eternal salvation. People suddenly don't seem all that interested. The man leaves. Edge wonders if they were responsible for the bandit who stole the stone sickness cure. -Everyone enters Eleyna's house, but she is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, they look outside, and see the house is on fire! -Just before a huge rafter falls on top of everyone, a symbol appears and the group is transported out of the house. -Our heroes appear alone in a cave. They are greeted by a woman identifying herself as Eleyna Farrence. She says that she knew the house was going to be set on fire, and our heroes would be there - so she prepared the symbol in advance. -Eleyna tells Bacchus to de-cloak himself, saying she knew he was there all along. She takes everyone except Bacchus inside her room. -Just outside the cave, three bandits from the Church of Sydonai are milling about. Myuria calls down some lightning and fries them, complaining that Giotto always gives her the hard jobs. -Eleyna seems to know everything about Edge and the rest through her Auguries, visions of the future she has. For example, she knows they are not from this world. She tells Edge and the rest that eventually the Archfiend will be resurrected, but it is too soon. When that time comes, another group of warriors will rise to defeat him. (Of course we know that to be her descendant, Roddick) To resurrect Asmodeus however, requires a sacrifice of holy blood. Sarah's blood, being a Featherfolk, will fulfill that demand. -Edge wonders what will happen if they fail. Eleyna channels an Augury, which is physically demanding of her. She does say that if they do fail, the world will be destroyed. Edge is again upset he will be involved with the fate of another planet. Eleyna passes out and is put into bed. -Edge is still reluctant to help, especially because they don't know how to get inside. Faize is demanding faster action, even if they have to blast the place to rubble. He eventually relents, and they wait until morning for Eleyna to wake up. Eleyna gives them a keycard to get inside. Faize comments that such high technology is impossible on this planet. Eleyna says she was given this card by a Muah. -Eleyna gives the group one more piece of advice before leaving. She tells Edge to buck up, because he is just one person. If he destroys a world, that world was already marching the path to destruction. -Finally leaving the cave, Edge once again runs into Myuria. She introduces herself as Morphus, and recognizes Bacchus' name. She reminds everyone she wants to kill Crowe for killing her beloved, Lucien. Edge invites her to join, as their goal is to find Crowe also. Reimi objects, but Edge says he will convince her that Crowe is not at fault. Myuria agrees. -Our heroes travel to the Purgatorium to rescue Sarah. Along the way, they learn that the Church of Sydonai have killed The Openers as a sacrifice to Asmodeus. In addition, Sarah's sacrifice is close at hand. An infuriated Faize attacks and kills the cultists. -The party reaches the end of the Purgatorium. Tamiel admits to have hired the Black Eagle to interrupt the distribution of the remedy. Edge is angered by his insane ramblings, and his Wonder-Twi... err, Muan powers activate. -Everyone attacks and defeats Tamiel and his minions. -While Sarah is being rescued, Faize notices a tiara that that fell off the platform - the same tiara the girl from The Openers. His eyes turn red, indicating he is supressing strong emotions at the sight of it. He tells everyone there was nothing down there... not that anyone was asking. Edge notices Tamiel died very similar to a Grigori. -Outside, Sarah runs off to tell Eleyna the ressurection of Asmodeus was averted. Edge gets a message from Welch telling them to return to the Calnus immediately. -Back on the Calnus, Welch tells Edge he has new orders from Earth - to return to Aeos. USTA and Eldar Comms are down between Aeos, so the USTA wants to know whats going on. -The Calnus launches, but Sarah is onboard! Lymle and Meracle are thrilled. Sarah tells everyone about her dream of Asmodeus destroying Roak, and that Eleyna said she is destined to meet the team and travel with them. She asks if she can come along. Edge doesn't really have a choice now, so he accepts. -Arriving on Aeos, the group sees that the Eldarian base has been destroyed! -Overhead, a black ship similiar in appaerance to the Calnus flies overhead. Myuria said that it looks like a Phantom Ship. Not even Bacchus know anything about these Phantoms, so she goes on to explain - the Phantoms are a group that appear from out of nowhere, and spread destruction wherever they go. They are part of an ongoing investigation by the Morphus. Everyone ventures off toward direction the ship flew, to the southern coast. -Approaching a clearing on the coast, Edge and the others are ambushed by Phantom Soldiers - looking like SRF members! Wave after wave of soldiers attack, when suddenly the main cannon on the Phantom ship begins to power up. -When all hope is lost, an energy blast rains from the sky and disables the cannon. The same energy blasts cuts the majority of the remaining soldiers to ribbons and lands pinpoint shots on the phantom ship, causing it to retreat. -Up above, we see Crowe holding an energy cannon while riding on an Eldarian Sol. Out of ammo, he drops the energy cannon and leaps to the ground. -He is joined shortly by Arumat Thanatos, an Eldarian warrior. The two brandish their weapons and effortlessly defeat the remaining Phantoms. -Just as Crowe starts to catch up with Edge and Reimi, Myuria threatens Crowe for taking Lucien's life. Crowe produces an audio recording of Lucien's last message, received by the Aquile. Lucien's ship was attacked by the Cardanians. The Aquile tried to help, but was too late. Lucien placed an unconscious Myuria in the final escape pod. She woke up to see the ship explode, mistakingly believing the Aquile had destroyed it. With Crowe's innocence established, Myuria backs down. -Everyone is then filled in on the fate of Eldar. Phantoms had caused their star to become a Red Giant much earlier than expected. They were forced to flee the planet on large refugee ships. They were then attacked by the Phantoms imitating SRF ships. Only a small fraction of the Eldar population escaped. Faize is visibly shaken. -Crowe receives a transmission from orbit that the Aquile and Refugee Fleet is under attack! Crowe runs back to the Sol to help. Edge promises to defeat the Grigori on Aeos. Faize asks Crowe if he can come along, to help protect his brethern, to which he agrees. Finally, Arumat joins Edge and the others to stop the Grigori. -Edge, Arumat, and the others fight to the bottom of the Miga Insect Warren and defeat Armaros Manifest. -Meanwhile, back in orbit, the Eldarian fleet is once again sustaining heavy losses. The Aquile is horribly outmatched, and badly damaged. Faize is overcome by seeing his people slaughtered, and hops into his Sol to try and help. A giant energy beam heads towards the cockpit. Faize's eyes turn the same red color they did at the Purgatorium - his and Crowe's fate is unknown. -Back on Aeos, Edge and the others finally make their way towards En II. -Along the way, the Calnus is attacked by Phantom Ships. It's looking bad when Commander Kenny shows up in a new Earth ship and fights them off. Stephen fills the party in that relations between Earth and Eldar are not going well. The ships that destroyed most of the fleet, and the race of Eldarians, appeared to be SRF ships. Seeing as how the Earth is so dependent on Eldarian technology and not wanting to lose their support, the USTA lied by denying that the SRF ever existed. Stephen is here to transport the crew of the Calnus back to his ship, and destroy it, thus making the lie become true and winning their trust. Edge tells Stephen how the Grigori are going to destroy the universe, and they have to stop them. Stephen realizes what Edge is doing, and quietly lets them go on their way. Stephen wonders how he will report this. His First Officer reminds him their orders were to destroy the remaining SRF ships. Since the SRF is no more, they didn't see -any- SRF ships on this mission. -During the flight, Edge celebrates his 21st birthday, putting the date at July 30th, SD 10. -Upon arriving at En II, Edge is concerned that Crowe has not made it yet. Bacchus asks En II to upgrade the Calnus' capabilities as they did the Aquile, to which Edge agrees. Bacchus suggests that they meet "Ex", the leader of En II. -Arriving in Ex's chamber, they meet Giotto. Giotto explains that he is Ex's representative. Ex is turn, is simply a conscious, or the will of the Morphus. Ex warns that the universe is headed for destruction. -Ex warns of a force called the Unknown Will. The Unknown Will is from outside the universe, and hopes to change it. It is referred to as the Missing Procedure. The Missing Procedure lives off the life energy it absorbs from the lifeforms of our universe. It in turn has given birth to the Grigori, which it uses to accelerate the evolutionary process of species, and thus obtain more life energy. As we have seen, this rapid evolution has adverse consequences. The Grigori themselves are from sector Upsilon, the home of the Missing Procedure. They have the power to alter the molecular structures of life. -Edge says he wishes to help stop the Missing Procedure. Before Ex can explain the plan for stopping it, the meeting is interrupted. A messenger informs Giotto that a Grigori has infiltrated En II's Sacred Sanctuary. Edge volunteers to defeat it. If it succeeds in overtaking the sanctuary, En II would be disabled. -Our heroes travel through the road to the sanctuary, and encounter Kokabiel. It lets out a wave of energy that disables everyone but Reimi. Her Muan crest activated, everyone stands up and attacks to defeat Kokabiel. -Back at Centropolis, Edge and Reimi discuss all they've been through, and Reimi promises to stay by his side. -Returning to Giotto, they are filled in on the plan. The Calnus and the forces from En II will launch a daring assault of Nox Obscurus. Upon reaching one of the poles, a transporter will be installed. This will allow a constant flow of reinforcements from En II. -The Calnus and the En II navy depart towards Nox Obscurus. They face a never- ending assault of Phantom ships. It's looking pretty bad when... -Stephen Kenny arrives along with the Eldarians. They noticed Nox Obscurus approaching Earth, and have put aside their differences to help. They clear the way for Calnus to proceed towards the planet. -Suddenly, a giant dragon emerges from Nox Obscurus, called Jormungandr. It fires an Energy beam that destroys nearly half of the coalition fleet. Another shot flies near the Moonbase, and the energy tears it to pieces along with Director Shimada. -Things are again looking pretty bad when Crowe and a badly damaged Aquile show up. Crowe says he will fly near Jormungandr and reverse his warp engines, creating a black hole. Edge begs him to stop, but he does so anyway. -With Crowe's death, the Calnus flies on. It is under extremely heavy fire, and it shields give out. Suddenly, the scribbles Lymle have been drawing over the ship activate to form a symbological barrier around the ship. They finally make a rough landing on the surface. -The transporter link with En II is established, and our crew sets off towards the core. -Our heroes find the core of Nox Obscurus, but it is protected by a strong energy field manifested in a fierce whirlwind. Mercale notices a unique smell coming from over yonder. Without any options, they pursue the smell. They find a wing of the Aquile planted in the ground, shielding the path from the whirlwind. Bacchus says Meracle must have smelt the core. -Passing through the Palace of Creation, the group reaches the Grigori providing the energy source of the Missing Procedure and Nox Obscurus, The Apostle of Creation. Lymle seems shocked at the appearance of the Apostle. -The Apostle explains that this universe is flawed, and beyond salvation. Only then, will all life be able to thrive and be given an equal chance. The Missing Procedure is a means to carry that out. -Edge and the others attack and defeat The Apostle of Creation. -The Apostle of Creation reveals himself to be Faize! Lymle recognized him because he was wearing the cloak he received from the Black Tribe nomads on Roak. -Faize reminisces back to the time when the energy blast was about to consume his Sol. This light showed him the power of the Missing Procedure - a universe where all life evolved equally, free from pain and sorrow. -The Apostle tells Edge to never use the name "Faize" again. Showing a picture of Earth, he threatens to wipe out all on it so it will remain beautiful. He then banishes everyone to an alternatate dimension with no apparent means of escape. -All seems completely lost when Edge's Muan seal activates and notices a bright light up ahead. None of the others can see it, but they march on anyway. -Our heroes travel towards the light, potentially encountering Grigori they have faced in the past. -On the brink of death, Edge makes it to the now very faint light. It extinguishes itself in front of em. The Apostle tells Edge their universe is already destroyed, and he should give up. Edge refuses to believe that and the idea of a forced evolution universe. -Suddenly the light comes back, which Edge now recognizes as the power of life. It brings all our heroes back to Nox Obscurus. -Edge tells Faize about the light. He again gets mad that he used the name Faize, so this just causes everyone one to repeat it more - neener neener! -Seems that pushed Faize over the edge - infuriated, he draws power from Nox Obscurus, transforming him into Satanail. -Edge, Reimi, Lymle, Bacchus, Meracle, Myuria, Sarah, and Arumat attack and defeat Satanail. -After defeating Satanail, we see Faize back to his old self. And of course, Satanail seems to be a load-bearing boss. The ground begins to crumble and shake underneath them as the Palace of Creation breaks apart. A fissure divides Edge from the others. Giotto arrives using a transfer symbol, which is now possible because the tie between Nox Obscurus and the Missing Procedure is severed. Edge is too far away to be saved. Reimi jumps off the platform to go after him, but Sarah begins to fly and grabs her mid-air. They hold Reimi back as they are transported out. -Edge meanwhile, is laying on the edge of one of the pieces, holding onto Faize. Realizing Faize is just holding Edge back, he lets go and falls into the darkness. Moments later, the platform Edge is on crumbles and falls into the darkness as well. -Somehow, Edge survives and finds Faize's Sol. He flies back to Stephen Kenny's ship for a reunion with Reimi and the others. -Now that things have been forgiven between the Eldarians and Earthlings, Earth is coorperating in the Eldarians emmigration efforts. -Giotto, Stephen, and Commander Gaghan talk about starting a technological exchange between themselves and other planets. Edge is against the idea, saying that would force evolution - and they would be no different than the Missing Procedure. -Edge convinces everyone to evolve at their own pace. Giotto says he will return to En II, and continue its mission to remain a hidden force in protecting the galaxy. The Eldar say they will abandon all technology when they move to Lemuris as to not influence their civilization. SD 12 (2098 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -The Terran Alliance established on the 3rd planet of the Sol System (Earth) in order to unite all the newfound planets and species. This organization rapidly grew, as more planets were discovered, and the Terran Alliance eventually changed their name to the Pangalactic Federation. In order not to interfere with still-developing planets, the Underdeveloped Planet Protection Act (UP3) is passed. -Commander "Lightspeed" Kenny is promoted to president of the USTA. -Lymle returns to Lemuris to see Lutea. Later she is teaching a new generation of symbologists the craft. She then goes back to Triom to visit Ghimdo's statue, and has a vision of Faize there. -Bacchus meets his wife Freesia back on En II, and the two head to their home. Bacchus apologies for being disloyal all this time. -Meracle goes back to this universe's version of Roak to go live with Eleyna. Later she storms off after having a spat with Eleyna for calling her an alleycat. Eleyna tempts her with food, and she relents. On the ledge, we see an artist painting a picture of the two, entitling it "Eleyna and the Feline Gourmand". -Sarah also returns to Roak, to the Featherfolk Enclave, trying to learn how to fly. Later she is pursued by two hungry Lesser Felpools shouting cries of "Chicken!" She jumps off a river bank to escape her pursuers, finally learning to fly. -Myuria places flowers at Lucien's grave on En II, and seems to have finally come to peace with his death. She thanks Edge and Crowe for allowing her to get over her despair. -Arumat joins his fellow Eldarian refugees to live on Lemuris. He is having difficulty adjusting to a life of peace, and gets in a Sol to leaves. Later he is seen on a desert planet, proctecting a crew of Earthlings. -Edge and Reimi are appointed to Interplanetary Transport Captain and First Officer, respectively. They are then introduced to Trillas Bachtein, who Stephen reveals built our warp technology with help with the Eldar. He also built the ship Edge and Reimi will be assigned to, the new Calnus. They then depart on their next mission. -Receiving an augury, Eleyna walks along the beach to find Crowe. She comments that he is quite handsome, and that their offspring will be grateful for that. He likely stays on Roak, and is the descendant of Ratix and responsible for giving the beam sword to Lias. Between SD 12 (2098 A.D.) and SD 114 (2200 A.D.)_______________________________ -The Planet Styx is discovered, and with it an OPA is found in the form of a sentient Time Gate. The Federation severely limits all access to this planet until the technology is better understood. An OPA, or out-of-place-artifact, is an object inconsistent with the technological level of the area. Not every OPA is extraordinary, and often times they are mislabeled due to the ignorance of the alien culture on the part of the discoverers. Notable OPAs throughout Star Ocean include the Time Gate on Planet Styx in Star Ocean 1 and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, the inner sanctum of the Purgatorium in Star Ocean 1, the facility on the Planet Milokeenia in Star Ocean: The Second Story, the Sorcery Globe in Star Ocean: The Second Story, and the Orb of Apris in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. SD 25 (2111 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -Cyuss Warren, Highlander, is born to Lias Warren and an unknown mother on the Planet Roak. -Ioshua Jerand, Featherfolk, is born to unknown parents on the Planet Roak. SD 46 (2132 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -A virus that turns its victims to stone was engineered on the Planet Roak. The virus would remain dormant for 300 years. Viruses are microscopic parasites that replicate themselves. Since they do not have the means to replicate themselves on their own, they infect host organisms and use them as a tool to increase their numbers. The host usually reacts to this invasion in adverse ways. Just how the virus unleashed on Roak turned its victims to stone is unknown, but it would have to change the atomic structure of its host at an extremely rapid rate. -Most of the events of Star Ocean 1 take place after our heroes travel back in time from SD 346 (2431 A.D.). See Star Ocean 1 section for more info. SD 72 (2158 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -The Torastic Religious War starts on Elicoor II when Greeton invades Aquor. -Elicoorians are taught Runology (Symbology/Heraldry). See "Aprisian History" section for more details. Runology is an art of tapping into the natural elements by using various symbols, or runes. There are 6 runes, representing the elements of light, dark, fire, water, wind, and earth. In Aprisian Myth, these are bestowed upon the Holy Mother by the Emissary of Apris. In reality this doesn't seem likely, since 4D Beings started to get mighty angry when the inhabitants of the Eternal Sphere learned symbology. SD 114 (2200 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Professor J.D. Wormer publishes his famous paper on the space-time discontinuity effect. It addresses the grandfather paradox of time travel, which postulates what would happen if a time traveler traveled back in time and killed his own grandfather. He would then cease to exist, but then how would it be possible for him to ever go back in time and kill his grandfather? It also proposes another scenario. What if Time Traveler A goes back in time 3 seconds? After 3 seconds have passed, Traveler A1 and A2 will meet. If A2 goes back in time as history has planned, there is no problem. But then, what will happen if traveler A1 somehow bars A2 from going back in time? Travelers will be infinitely duplicated, and the amount of mass in space will fall to zero, reverting all dimensions to nothingness. Wormer warns then, that even a single speck of dust could have a catastrophic effect on the universe. SD 168 (2254 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Planet Edifice is devastated by a tsunami, killing many and wiping out their culture. Technically this occurs every 200 years, but this is the only one that matters story-wise. SD 207 (2293 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Transporter Technology is developed. It works by desintegrating an object at one location, and sends an exact replica to the desired location to be rebuilt at the quantum level. While initially believed Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle would prevent this, it has somehow been compensated for. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is a consequence of the wave- particle duality of nature. (Meaning light can be perceived as both a particle, that is a photon, or a wave) It simply states that one cannot be sure of both the position and momentum of a subatomic particle at any given time. If we were to measure the position, the very act of measuring it would alter the momentum, and if we measure the momentum we cannot simultaneously know the location. SD 308 (2394 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Ronyx J. Kenny, Human, is born to unknown parents on the planet Earth. SD 323 (2409 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Ilia Silvestri, Human, is born to unknown parents on the planet Earth. SD 327 (2413 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Roddick Farrence, Felpool and descendant of Eleyna Farrence, is born to a resident of Kratus Village on planet Roak. -Dorne Murtough, Felpool, is born to unknown parents on the planet Roak. SD 328 (2414 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Millie Chilette, Felpool, is born to a healer in Kratus village known as Martoth and an unknown mother. August 31st, SD 331 (2415 A.D.)________________________________________________ -Ernest Raviede, Tetrageniot, is born to unknown parents on the planet Tetragenes. December 30th, SD 339 (2425 A.D.)______________________________________________ -Bowman Jean, Expellian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Expel. August 5th, SD 341 (2427 A.D.)_________________________________________________ -Dias Flac, Expellian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Expel. SD 342 (2428 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -War between the Earth Federation and the Lesonians erupts. February 16th, SD 342 (2428 A.D.)______________________________________________ -Noel Chandler, Nedian, is born to unknown parents on the planetoid Energy Nede. August 24th, SD 343 (2429 A.D.)________________________________________________ -Opera Vectra, Tetrageniot, is born to unknown parents on the planet Tetragenes. September 18th, SD 343 (2429 A.D.)_____________________________________________ -Celine Jules, Expellian, is born to Eglas and Labe Jules on the planet Expel. October 22nd, SD 344 (2430 A.D.)_______________________________________________ -Chisato Madison, Nedian, is born to unknown parents on the planetoid Energy Nede. September 28th, SD 346 (2432 A.D.)_____________________________________________ -Ashton Anchors, Expellian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Expel. =============================================================================== [V] Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey =============================================================================== SD 346 (2432 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Planet Ise at Mark 301.209 in Sector Gamma is destroyed by some third party under the guise of the Lesonians. A Federation Research Explorer is witness to this act. -Half a year later, this same third party fires a biological weapon at Roak, triggering the once dormant virus engineered there 300 years ago. -Roddick and Dorne fight off a gang of bandits attacking Kratus village. -The Elder of Kratus receives a letter from the neighboring village of Coule that a virus is spreading that is rapidly turning people to stone. Martoth travels to Coule to investigate. -Dorne receives a letter two days later from Martoth warning that the disease cannot be cured, and that the village of Coule is done for. -Roddick, Dorne and Millie travel to Coule to meet Martoth. Martoth berates the party for coming, and they return to Kratus. -Roddick, Dorne and Millie scale the dangerous Mt. Metorx in order to retrieve a herb that they believe could save Martoth. Along the way Dorne reveals he has contracted the virus from the carrier pigeon from Coule. -Roddick, Dorne, and Millie are greeted by Ilia and Ronyx at the summit. They ask the three to come back with them to their ship, the Calnus, to analyze Dorne and hopefully devise a cure. Dorne accepts, and the others follow. -The doctor of the Calnus reveals that the disease is parasitic, and not currently curable. However if the host was found and a blood sample taken, a serum could be devised. He also reveals that the body is perfectly preserved after being turned to stone, so there is no immediate timetable. -Felworms are sighted in the transporter room, hatched from eggs they left on Roddick, Millie, and Dorne. Since Federation Phasers are ineffective, Roddick and Millie fight them. Roddick is wounded, and bleeds on one of them. The Felworm disappears from the sight of Ilia and Ronyx only. It is later revealed that the blood of Roakians absorb all light wavelengths between 240nm and 780nm. The light we see is actually just a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Violet colored light has wavelengths beginning at around 380nm. As the wavelengths get larger, the color changes from one to another, ending with red at around 740nm. The Roakian blood then would absorb all visible light, as well as a small amount of infrared and ultraviolet. -The doctor reveals the difference in Roakian blood to Human blood. Specifically, the hemoglobin of Roakian blood is primarily composed of copper with unknown elements. Ilia speculates that the Roakians are being harvested to create some sort of weapon. Sensors on the Calnus confirm 20 million statues or no longer on the planet. -Dorne begins to succumb to the disease. He and the rest are transported back to Roak. He gives Millie his sister's music box before "dying" in his bed. The remaining members return to the Calnus. -Roddick and Millie observe a ship approaching the Calnus before sensors detected it. It uncloaks and claims to be a Lesonian vessel come to negotiate. The group reveals that the mysterious third party is responsible for the planet's Ise and Roak, and they were coerced into starting this conflict against their will. They also reveal that retrieving the host would be impossible, as it was 300 years ago. -The Calnus returns to Earth to learn the Pangalactic Federation has abandoned the Roak rescue mission. Ronyx and Ilia risk court-martial and life imprisonment by traveling to the Planet Styx with Roddick and Millie. -The sentient time gate on Planet Styx accepts the team's goodwill, and opens a portal to the planet Roak in SD 46 (2132 A.D.) SD 46 (2132 A.D.)______________________________________________________________ -Ilia and Roddick arrive on Roak, south of Kratus on the Muah continent. Ronyx and Millie's location is unknown at present. -Roddick and Ilia travel to the village of Haute (later known as Coule). They meet up with a swordsman named Cyuss Warren, and the 3 accept a job from a shopkeeper known as Badam to deliver a package to the town of Portmith in exchange for a pass to allow entrance to the city. -The party delivers the package, returns to Haute, then travels back to Portmith. Cyuss may or may not leave at this point. -Roddick and Ilia want to travel to the Astral Continent, but pirates are blockading the port. Roddick and Ilia defeat the pirates and travel to Astral. In the pirate cave they save a Lesser Felpool, Pericci. -The party arrives in the port town of Autanim, then travels south to Tatroi. It is possible to recruit Ashlay, a swordsman, at this point. Ashlay will praise Roddick's skill in the Edarl style of swordfighting, to which Roddick responds he was taught by his father. (Thanks skrell 999) -Roddick and Ilia travel to Astral Castle Town. -The Captain of the Astral Knights, Phia Melle, is observed killing 2 soldiers. -The party spends the night at a man named Lias Warren's house (Cyuss's father). Depending on whether you have Cyuss or Ashlay, Phia is observed by your party attempting to kill Lias Warren. The party chases after Phia only to discover she is an impostor. She is defeated. -The party returns to the castle and is thanked by the King and the real Phia Melle. It's said that Lias's injuries are not life-threatening. The King then suggests you travel to the Purgatorim, as there is an object there known as the Eye of Truth that will let you see whatever you want, and thus show where Millie and Ronyx are. -The crew arrives at the Purgatorim. Outside they meet a Featherfolk named Ioshua Jerand who is searching for his sister. He says that his parents were murdered his was sister abducted, and he was left for dead. Since everyone has similar interests, Ioshua joins the team. -The inner sanctum is reached, and 3 spirits appear. They say that the Eye of Truth is nothing more than a myth, but may still be able to help you. They identify Roddick and Ilia of not being of this world due to their incorrect time signature. This surprises everyone and confuses the heck out of Ioshua and whomever else you have. The 3 spirits show you a vision of Ronyx and Millie in a place Ashlay/Cyuss identifies as the country of Van. -The party leaves the temple. Ioshua may or may not leave you here. -While heading towards Tropp, a spaceship lands outside of Kratus village. The party goes to check it out. The "3rd party" has arrived. -Roddick, Ilia, and crew return to the port of Tropp and sail to Eckdart. They meet Millie here, who tells them Ronyx is just south, in the town of Ionis. (Although it is possible to not meet Millie until Silvalant, I'm including it here for simplicity.) -The party travels south to Ionis. At the entrance they see Ronyx and Mavelle Froesson, a women Ronyx and Millie met in their travels. Mavelle is arguing with a man known as the Crimson Shield, who she claims killed her parents and brother (Hmm...). The Crimson Shield says it is a case of mistaken identity and leaves. -All the reunited members celebrate in a bar. Mavelle steps outside for a moment. Depending on your party composition, you learn that Mavelle's body is not her true one... rather, she traded her old body for this one to become more powerful. Ronyx is understandably disturbed by this. Ashlay says he once fought along the Crimson Shield. He also reveals that he turned evil after going on a mission to retrieve a mirror for the King of Van that turned out to be cursed. -Ilia says that they need to find the host of the virus, who is identified as the demon king Asmodeus. Since the King of Van has been fighting against the demon world for some time, they travel to Van Castle Town. -The King puts the party through a trial to see if they have any chance of defeating the demons. The party succeeds. -The King then reveals that is impossible to enter the demon world on this side. Rather, portals can only be opened from the demon world to Roak. The party insists there must be some other way. The King elaborates that a portal was opened once by the original Muah a long time ago, and they are responsible for the link that still exists today. They accomplished it by creating a special treasure called the Eye of Truth. He also reveals the original Muah were not babies, rather they sprung forth as full-grown adults. Finally, the King says that the Muah left different bits of information with each of the other kingdoms of the world, and tells the party to visit other countries for more information. He gives you the emblem of Van and his blessing. -Ronyx reveals that he was taught magic (also known as Symbology, Runology, and Heraldry) by Millie. Ronyx regrets he did not learn it sooner, as it may have been able to save his wife who died several years ago. Ilia says that is unlikely, as it was unable to cure the disease on Roak. -It is possible to recruit both T'Nique, a lycanthrope, and Pericci, the Lesser Felpool you saved earlier, at this point. -The party travels north to the ice country of Silvalant. They pass a village named Dulus along the way, and learn the entrance to the demon world is nearby. -The crew arrives at Silvalant castle town, in which all the residents are in a state of quarantine because of the war. The party meets with the King. -The King reveals that the entrance to the demon world is on a small island to the south. He gives you the emblem of Silvalant, a key to access some ancient Silvalant ruins, and access to the port. -Roddick and crew travel to the Silvalant ruins to the east. In the inner- most sanctum, they meet a girl encased in ice Ioshua identifies as his sister Eris. Mavelle warns everyone to stay back, or she will fight everyone. Ioshua is obviously not too pleased by this, and an argument erupts. An angry Mavelle disappears in a bright flash of light with Eris, never to be seen again. For those of you confused on what happened, Mavelle is in fact Ioshua's sister Eris. Eris discovered and used the Muan Soul-Transfer device, and transferred her soul to a Muah, Mavelle, in order to acheive revenge on the Crimson Shield. In order to save Ioshua the heartache of finding his sister "dead", she takes her old body and runs. (While technically a side-quest, I am including this here as it is important to the story. Thanks K_19.) -The party travels to Muah castle. The King also puts the party through a trial, to dispose of the monsters in their treasure room. Roddick and crew succeed. The king thanks you, and gives you the emblem of Muah. -The group travels to Astral castle. The King gives you the emblem of Astral and tells you some cryptic passages that have been passed down through the generations. -The group travels back to the Purgatorim. They meet the spirits and show them the 4 emblems. The spirits wonder if they are the ones the ancient Muans predicted would come. They are transported into the inner sanctum. The inside is very high-tech with computers and machines, obviously far beyond anything the Roakians are capable of. -The party reaches the bottom. Using the phrases the King of Astral gives you and the hint provided there, the password to open the final door is "Earth"! Ilia and Ronyx are understandably shaken by this turn of events. Inside is a holographic projection of the planet Earth. Ilia notices a large continent in the Pacific Ocean, and that it could be the legendary continent of Mu that supposedly existed a long time ago. It is said the civilization was very advanced, but was destroyed by a meteorite. A hologram of a person appears who explains that he and his fellow Muah were somehow transported to this planet while the meteorite hit. Ilia recalls incidents in the Federation where people sometimes were transported short distances by space-time vortexes, but nothing nearly this far. The hologram reveals that the Eye of Truth's purpose was to open a wormhole to allow the Muah to return to Earth. Something went wrong however, and it opened a gate to the demon world instead. The party retrieves the Eye of Truth and returns to Silvalant. A wormhole is literally, a hole in space. If you imagine space as a round object, traveling from one side to the other would require you to travel around the circumference of the object. If it were possible to simply drill a hole through the middle, your travel time would be significantly less. -The King thanks them for their efforts, and to enter the demon world at the small island to the south. At that time, a demon runs in and warns that you are too late, as a massive weapon has been developed. There is a rumbling, and its revealed the entire village of Dulus was destroyed. The party leaves right away to the demon world before the weapon can be used again. -The party arrives at the demon world to be greeted by the Crimson Shield. He attacks and is defeated by your party. If Mavelle is with you, Ronyx points out she has finally achieved her revenge. If Ashlay is with you, he feels remorse for defeating an old comrade. The Crimson Shield says not to feel bad, and to hurry for Astral. He warns that while the crew was distracted, his evil shadow attacked in order to secure "the bladeless sword". The party uses the Eye of Truth to travel immediately to Astral, and defeats the Crimson Shield's shadow. They retrieve "the bladeless sword" from Lias, and Ilia reveals it is actually a force sword (read: lightsaber) much like they have in the Federation, but it's very old. New weapon in tow, Roddick and the group travel back to the demon world and enter Asmodeus's stronghold. -The party enters Asmodeus's stronghold, which is some sort of biological research laboratory. They reach a computer which Ilia tries to hack into, but it sets of an alarm and Asmodeus appears. His henchmen attack the group, and Asmodeus runs away. -The party chases Asmodeus. Suddenly 2 men appear, detain Asmodeus and take a blood sample. Noticing Roddick and crew, they quickly leave. Ilia says that must have been the 3rd party who originally they killed Asmodeus. In order not to change history or potentially create a time paradox, (yeah, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night Ilia) the party kills Asmodeus and takes a blood sample for their own use. -Roddick and everyone return to the King of Van, who praises their efforts, and thanks them for restoring peace to Roak. -Roddick, Ronyx, Ilia, and Millie travel back to the future via a gate in northeast Silvalant. (likely the one Ronyx and Millie came out of) They take the blood sample with them. SD 346 (2432 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -A serum is produced and a cure is administered to everyone affected by the virus. Dorne is revived. -Ronyx and Ilia return to Federation Space. -Admiral Beize of the Federation reveals to Ronyx that a ship from the planet Fargett appeared in Federation space out of a wormhole and demanded the Federation surrender. It was learned that on Fargett, a superhuman named Jie Revorse is the mysterious third party who is plotting against Earth. He has established a dictatorship, but there is a lot of opposition on Fargett. The Admiral authorizes Ronyx to put down this uprising, and permits him to use the Time Gate. -Ronyx and Ilia return to Roak to retrieve Roddick and Millie. The four once again use the time gate to recruit their friends from Roak's past. -The party takes the wormhole to Planet Fargett and beams down to the surface. They are captured by Jie's soldiers. -Ivana, leader of the resistance movement on Fargett, rescues them. She reveals that planet Fargett has few natural resources, so they studied genetic engineering as well as wormhole technology to survive and seek out resources. Jie Revorse is the only successful product of this genetic research, and has gone mad. -Ronyx, Roddick, and everyone else travel to the top of Jie's tower. Jie reveals that not all the Muans were sent to Roak, that some were also sent here to Fargett - so they all share a common ancestor. If Mavelle is with you, Jie recognizes her as a Muan. -The party defeats Jie Revorse. -The Roakians from the past travel home. Ronyx and Ilia drop Roddick and Millie back on planet Roak, and say their goodbyes. Star Ocean 1 ends. -Ronyx and Ilia return to the Federation. For their efforts to put down the Jie Revorse uprising, and introducing the new technology of Symbology to the Federation, Ronyx is promoted to the rank of Admiral. =============================================================================== [VI] Star Ocean: The Second Story =============================================================================== January 23rd, SD 347 (2433 A.D.)_______________________________________________ -Claude C. Kenny, Human, is born to Ronyx J. Kenny and Ilia Silvestri. February 29th, SD 350 (2436 A.D.)______________________________________________ -Precis Neumann, Expelian, is born to Dr. Graft Neumann and an unknown mother on the planet Expel. SD 351 (2437 A.D.) (roughly)___________________________________________________ -Rena arrives in Shingo forest on the planet Expel from the year 699,997,563 B.C.. She is adopted by a woman living in the nearby village of Arlia named Westa and by an unnamed father. November 25th, SD 354 (2440 A.D.)______________________________________________ -Leon Geeste, Felpool, is born to Florence and Murdoch Geeste, two researchers at Lacour Castle on the planet Expel. Roughly sometime in between SD 355 (2440 A.D.) and SD 360 (2445 A.D.)__________ -Dias's parents and his sister Cecille are killed by bandits in Shingo Forest. The grief-stricken Dias leaves Arlia to hone his skills as a swordsman. SD 360 (2446 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Due to their expanding influence, the Earth Federation changes their name to the Pangalactic Federation. SD 362 (2448 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -War again erupts between the Lesonians and the Federation. SD 366 (2452 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Sorcery Globe descends onto the planet Expel, 4th planet of the Arcura System. The object lands near the town of Eluria on the continent of El. It emits some sort of energy that begins to transform animals and people on the planet into demons. -Approximately 3 months later, the Federation ship Calnus, commanded by Admiral Ronyx J. Kenny and accompanied by his son, Claude C. Kenny, arrive at the planet Milokeenia to investigate strange energy readings detected in the area. -Ronyx, Claude, and other crew members take a shuttle down to the planet to investigate. Ronyx gives Claude his phase gun. -A large, destroyed dome is detected with strange energy readings. A science officer concludes an explosion happened from within. -Claude, despite warnings from his father, investigates a device within the dome. It opens up a trans-warp portal, and sends Claude to Shingo Forest on the planet Expel. -Claude sees Rena Lanford being attacked by a monster in Shingo Forest. He accidentally breaks the UP3 by using the phase gun to defeat it. -Rena believes Claude is the legendary warrior who wields a sword of light, and wears alien ramients who will come to save the planet. Claude denies this. -Westa, Rena's adopted mother, cooks Claude a huge meal as thanks for saving Rena. That evening, Arlia's mayor Regis informs Claude about the Sorcery Globe. Claude again denies he is the warrior. -The next day, Rena is kidnapped by her childhood friend Alen-Tax and taken to his mansion in the nearby town of Salva. There, she is taken into a chapel erected in a mine, to be forced to marry Alen-Tax. -Claude travels to Salva and rescues Rena before the marriage can take place. Claude destroys a mysterious stone that was making Alen-Tax evil. Alen-Tax returns to normal. -Claude and Rena return to Arlia. -Claude recognizes the Sorcery Globe as an OPA, and realizes it may hold information about returning home. He offers to investigate the Sorcery Globe, but again denies being the warrior. -Regis privately tells Claude Rena is not Westa's child, and they have no idea where she comes from. She also possesses a strange healing power that no one else on the planet possesses. -Rena tells Claude she secretly knew this all along, and that the only key to her origins are a necklace she's always had. She accepts an invitation to travel with Claude. -Claude and Rena travel to Cross Castle. They receive an audience with the King, who reveals more information about the Sorcery Globe. He also gives them a passport to proceed to El and travel money. -Claude and Rena meet Celine outside of the castle. Celine convinces Claude and Rena to help her investigate Cross Cave, which she "claims" is rumored to hold information about the Sorcery Globe. -The party retrieves a tome nobody can read. Celine suggests they take it to the Elder of her home village of Mars to see if he can decipher it. Celine may or may not leave the party at this time. -Returning to Cross, Celine begins a romance with Prince Chris. (this is optional in-game, but Blue Sphere's intro for Celine states it as fact.) It is also possible to begin a quest to recruit Opera. -The Elder of Mars says that he cannot decipher it, and suggests trying the town of Linga on the Lacour continent, as it is home to many linguistics scholars. -The party travels to the port town of Clik. Before they can leave for El, a tidal wave destroys the entire town. -The party leaves for the town of Helre to travel to the Lacour continent, and then travel from there to El. -Claude and Rena stop off at Mars for supplies. They learn that bandits have abducted the children of the village, and are holding them hostage for the Ancient Book of Seals, which holds powerful Symbology (known as Heraldry on this planet). Dias is traveling through, and is hired by the town to save them. Claude and Rena have a falling out when Claude refuses to let Dias join their team. Claude and Celine leave for the hideout. Rena and Dias leave for the hideout in the Heraldry Forest separately. (thanks j mcdermid) -Dias and Rena learn the kidnapping was a distraction to invade the village and steal the Book of Seals. They defeat the leader. -Simultaneously, Claude (and Celine) defeat a strong monster cooperating with the bandits. Dias praises Claude's swordsmanship and leaves. -At this point, it is possible for the party to recruit Ashton, an Expellian swordsman. -Reunited, the party travels to Helre and sails to the town of Hilton, on the Lacour continent. -Upon staying at the inn in Hilton, Claude will go outside in the middle of the night to try and see if his transmitter works - it does not. Rena oversees him do this. -Claude and Rena travel to Lacour, and wish to have an audience with the King. It is impossible as he is busy preparing for the Lacour Tournament of Arms. The receptionist suggests if Claude were to win, he would be able to have an audience. -Rena and Claude travel to Linga, and learn of a scholar named Keith who may be able to translated the book they received in Cross Cave. He refuses to see them. -Desperate, Claude and Rena turn to Keith's friend, Bowman to see if he can arrange a meeting. Bowman puts them through a test to retrieve a rare herb from the nearby Sanctuary of Linga. They succeed. -Bowman arranges a meeting with Keith. Keith says he will need time to decipher the tome, and to return later. Bowman or a hyperactive, machine- freak girl named Precis can join the party at this time. -It is possible to recruit Opera, a Tetregeniot searching for her lover, Ernest. -The group travels to Lacour castle. Claude enters the Lacour Tournament of Arms and loses to Dias in the final round. Nevertheless, Claude receives an audience with the King, who says they are working on a weapon known as the Lacour Hope to defeat the demons. -The party meets the child genius Leon, who is in charge of designing the Lacour Hope. Before departing to El, the group decides to help Leon finish it. -Claude, Rena, and Leon travel to the Hoffman Ruins to retrieve energy stones needed for the Lacour Hope. Rena's necklace resonates near these stones. If Opera is with you, you can run into Ernest here and recruit him as well. -The Lacour Hope is completed, and transported to the front lines. The weapon is used and destroys a large wave of monsters. A powerful Demon known as Shin shows up and defeats the party. Dias may or may not join here. -After recovering, the Lacour Hope is loaded onto a ship and sails to El. Along the way the ship is attacked by Shin, who deflects the shot from the Lacour Hope with some sort of shield. He then destroys the Lacour Hope. The party abandons ship, and awakes on the continent of El. -Everyone reunites at a small village of refugees on the continent. Claude and Rena receive a mysterious keycard from a man staying there that picked up while fleeing Eluria. Leon may or may not join here. -Meanwhile, onboard the Calnus, they receive a distress call from Federation ID 00298 - Claude's. They Calnus departs for Expel at maximum warp. -The keycard opens the gate to the town of Eluria, which has been transformed to the demons home base. -About midway up the tower, Claude's transmitter suddenly receives a transmission from the Calnus. It says that he will shortly be beamed up. Claude begs his friends to wait for him, and they are all shocked as he disappears in a beam of light. -Onboard the Calnus, Claude berates Ronyx for beaming him up without authorization, as he violated the UP3. Ronyx says it was unavoidable, as the Calnus has detected that Expel is about to collide with a high-energy body (Energy Nede). Claude is infuriated, and demands he be beamed back down, as he is determined to fight against the Sorcery Globe. Ronyx refuses. -Claude eventually persuades Ronyx to beam him down just for a moment so he can say goodbye to his comrades, appealing to the way Ronyx fought alongside Roddick and the others in SO1. Ronyx agrees, and beams down Claude. -Claude re-unites with everyone after about 2 hours. Rena bursts into tears, and yells at Claude for making them wait so long, and leaving so suddenly. Claude comforts Rena, and they decide to proceed. Claude leaves his transmitter on the ground. Rena reminds Claude he forgot it. Claude then comments that he "No longer has any need for it." The transmitter is beamed up by itself. Ronyx is devestated. -The party scales the tower, finally defeat Shin, and encounter the 10 Wise Men. They reveal that they sent the Sorcery Globe to alter Expel's orbit and have it crash into Energy Nede. They plan to use the energy of the impact to travel to Energy Nede. (I assume the collision will disrupt the shielding around Energy Nede, allowing them to enter it.) It is said Expel was chosen simply because it had the closest orbit to Energy Nede. However, the stones they found in the Hoffman Ruins, like the ones on Rena's necklace, sped up the process considerably. These stones can be converted to Quadratic Keys, and can be used to unleash an enormous amount of energy from Quadratic Spheres (like the Sorcery Globe). Rena learns then that she is Nedian. They also identify Claude as an Earthling and Opera/Ernest as Tetregeniot, much to the surprise and confusion of everyone else. Moments before impact the group is attacked and easily defeated by them. -The party awakes in an area Rena identifies as the Outer Wall Paradise. Rena wonders if everyone back on Expel is alright. Claude says nothing for fear of upsetting everyone. They are beckoned by a mysterious voice. -The group finds the source of the voice, a strange object. They step inside. -The object was a teleporter, and transports them to Central City. There they meet the mayor of Central City on Energy Nede, Narl. Narl tells the party that the Nedians' power has weakened over these billions of years, and that they are the last hope of defeating the 10 Wise Men. He then tells them the story of the 10 Wise Men's uprising so long ago, and the history of the Nedians and Energy Nede. They also learn that they were brought here to Energy Nede by a mysterious force, and that the Wise Men have captured a city of Energy Nede, Fienal. -Narl instructs you to travel to North City to obtain a Synard, a Heraldric Beast that can be used to transport the party around Energy Nede. -Claude, Rena and crew travel to North City. The Synards there are artificial, so the owners data must be inputted before they will obey. When entering Claude's data (a non-Nedian), the Synard goes berserk and has to be killed. The Director of the institute sends you through a teleporter to the Nedian Preserve. -The party meets Noel, the director of the reserve. He says there is one wild Synard remaining in the cave to the south. -Noel, Claude, and Rena defeat the Synard in battle, and it swears its loyalty to them. Noel may or may not join at this time. -Returning to Central City, Narl instructs the party to journey to the Fields of Power, Love, Intelligence, and Courage to merge the powers of Nede with their own. The key to accessing them are the Rune Codes, which Narl gives you. -The party overcomes the challenges in the Fields of Power, Love, Intelligence, and Courage. -The group reports back to Narl, who says the forcefield surrounding Fienal cannot be penetrated by air. However, it does not extend to the ocean's floor, and a Heraldric beast called a Herush can be used to travel underneath it. From the Star Ocean 3 Dictionary, "A shield system that utilizes powerful radiation to form layers of gravitons in any desired location. This system uses the phenomenon whereby energy that is continuously fed into a certain closed space creates matter and gravitons to be formed, in order to create an antigravity field as well as a physical force field." It is likely the force field protecting Fienal worked in the same manner. -A researcher named Marianna, Narl, and the party travel to L'Aqua to board a Herush, and travel to Fienal. -Everyone is greeted by the 10 Wise Men. Anticipating their arrival, the Wise Men have prepared an antimatter cannon. They show an image of the Calnus, which has been looking for Claude. The 10 Wise Men destroy the Calnus, killing Ronyx and everyone on board. -An enraged Claude attacks, yet is still easily defeated. Marianna sacrifices herself so the others can escape. It is later revealed that she survived, but was seriously wounded. -Narl reveals that the crest the Wise Men possessed at Fienal is the Crest of Annhilation, a heraldric method which creates an infinite point of mass, causing the universe to collapse into itself like a giant black hole. A party member will ask about contacting someone back on Expel. Claude and Narl know the truth, which Narl reveals. He says that not all is lost however - if all the cities of Energy Nede focuses their powers, they may be able to bring Expel back to this space-time continuum. Without Fienal however, it is impossible. Narl realizes that they need more powerful weapons to defeat the Wise Men. He begins devising a way to defeat the Crest of Annihilation, and sends the party to the town of Armlock. -In Armlock, Narl shows the party through a transporter that leads to the now destroyed Heraldry Weapons Laboratory. -Narl accesses the mainframe to collect data on how to create an antimatter (specifically, antiproton) weapon. Rena learns that an accident occurred here, leading to its destruction. Her mother and father, researchers at the lab, put the young Rena in a space-time transporter, despite the great risk involved. -Narl and the rest take the data back to Dr. Mirage, a scientist in Armlock. -Dr. Mirage analyzes the data, and determines that anti-matter could be stabilized to form a weapon if LEA metal was acquired. The party is sent to a cavern home to the Barkers, a lifeform composed of this LEA metal. Antimatter is just that - the opposite of matter. When matter and antimatter come into contact with each other, they both annihilate themselves violently. Once just a theory, antihydrogen was successfully produced in 1995 A.D.. However, the energy needed to produce it far outweighed the energy it emitted, so it was impractical to use as an energy source until it was refined centuries later. The LEA metal then, is likely neither typical matter nor antimatter, or at least projects an extremely powerful, natural magnetic field. This could serve as a barrier between the weapon and the world, to prevent it from instantly annihilating itself. -A large Barker is defeated, and a very pure form of the LEA metal is returned to Dr. Mirage. Dr. Mirage then gives the group a NFID, which is a pass for entry into Fun City. There the group will test their strength against simulations of the Wise Men. -Dr. Mirage comes to Fun City during their training and gives the party the antimatter weapons. -During the simulations, the real Wise Men attack. Zaphkiel and Jophiel are defeated at Fun City. Metatron is defeated at Armlock. -A PA can be initiated here between Ernest and Precis where Precis gets an idea for a device that eliminates the mutating radiation given off by the Energy Stones on Expel. This gives credence that she is the creator of the Neumann Purifier. -Narl gives Rena the Crest of Enchantment, which will re-write the Crest of Annihilation and change its meaning. -A Herush is taken back to Fienal. The party scales the tower, and defeats 6 of the Wise Men along the way - Zadkiel, Camael, Raphael, Michael, Haniel, and Lucifer. -The party finds and defeats Gabriel. Upon his death, the Crest of Annihilation was activated. Rena invokes the Crest of Enchantment, but wonders why it did not stop it. Narl reveals that the Crest of Enchantment could not stop the Crest of Annihiliation, rather is just re-directs all of its energy into the only place in the Universe that could contain it - Energy Nede. Just before this happens, the power of Fienal is combined with the power of the other cities in Energy Nede, and Expel is brought back to this continuum. The group is transported there, and Energy Nede is destroyed. SD 367 (2453 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Dias, Ashton, Noel, Bowman, Chisato, and Celine remain on Expel. Celine begins a romance with the Prince of Cross. Opera and Ernest travel the galaxy to find new ruins to explore. Precis and Leon travel to Earth to study robotics and science, as well as to assist in the research of the new discipline of Heraldry. Rena also moves to Earth to study medicine. Finally, Claude is promoted to Lieutenant, and he and Rena take on a mission on behalf of the Federation. -Due to the pollution given off by the Sorcery Globe, the Blue Dolphin race on Expel evolved (mutated) the ability to live on land. =============================================================================== [VII] Star Ocean: Blue Sphere =============================================================================== SD 368 (2454 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Bowman and Nineh give birth to a daughter on Expel. -Searching for ancients ruins to study, Opera and Ernest crash land on the planet Edifice. They send out a distress call to Precis. -Precis gathers Leon and everyone still living on Expel. They head off to Edifice, where they too crash due to some unseen force. -Claude and Rena are unavailable due to their duties with the Federation. They soon learn however, their mission involves investigating a being known as Akuma, who has been destroying and rebuilding the civilization of a planet for some time. That planet is... Edifice! Claude and Rena depart to meet up with their comrades. -Precis and crew depart the ship to explore. They come across a boy named Lent from the nearby Scout Village. Lent shows the party to his grandfather's house. -Lent's grandfather tells the group of Mile Dungeon to the north, which is rumored to hold some sort of artifact called The Gift. Thinking this may lead them to Ernest or Opera, the party decides to check it out. -The party does not find Ernest or the "the gift". They do however, obtain bombs which they used to unblock the east exit of Scout Village and continue their quest. -Outside, the group meets Radol (Ruddle!), a traveling merchant who claims he saw a 3-eyed man heading to Aba city. -Precis and the others arrive at Aba city and meet the king. They learn there are more ruins beneath Aba city, known as Leviabor. Again thinking Ernest is there, they ask permission to enter. The king agrees under the condition that the party goes to Garp Dungeon and defeat a bothersome dragon to prove their worth. -Precis and crew go to Garp, defeat the dragon, and return to Aba. -They receive permission to enter the ruins from the king. Before they can however, they get into an argument with a woman outside who is a member of the resistance movement against the king. A soldier arrives, and thinking everyone is a member of the rebels, throws them into jail. -With the help of sympathizers, the party escapes. -Back in Aba city, they finally meet Ernest! Ernest does not know why he and Opera crashed either, so they decide to go to his ship and find out why. -Ernest and company travel to Slave Village. Showing their authorization from the king to the guard, they proceed to the crash site at Agit, which happens to be home to the resistance movement. -Climbing to the top of the trees, the group retrieves the energy crystal from Ernest's ship. They find that nothing was wrong with the ship after all. -Heading back, they learn that Aba's army is attacking Agit and Slave Village. They defeat the army and save the leaders of the resistance, Elius and Marcus. -Ernest recommends the group go and retrieve Opera, who is working in the laboratory at Knott. -Passing through the Underground Passage, Nusa Beach, Bunny City, and a desert, Ernest and the others finally reach Knott. -They meet Opera in the laboratory, along with a young girl named Rival that Opera saved from a monster. -Opera asks the party to retrieve the Parentia Stone from the ruins underneath the laboratory. The party agrees. -The group successfully retrieves the Parentia Stone and returns it to Opera. -Rival begins to explain a little about herself, but asks the group to return to Bunny City and tell everyone they have the Parentia Stone, as well as to obtain some info. -The party travels to Bunny City and does so. Then a messenger informs them that Knott is under attack! -The group returns to Knott, defeats the monster invasion, and save Rival and Opera. -Rival then tells the whole story of Planet Edifice. Edifice was once an extremely advanced planet, but one day Akuma appeared and destroyed the planet except for a small number of survivors and some ruins. The people rebuilt, but it was again destroyed. This process continually has repeated itself, the most recent destruction being in SD 168. Rival wishes to put a stop to this, and asks the crew to come with her to the city of Lung, which is rumored to hold the secret behind Edifice's cycle of destruction. Everyone agrees to help. -In order to get to Lung, Rival and the others must pass through the land of the dead known as Scream, as well as scale Sunerupentesu tower. (ha! EAT THAT English translators!) They pass these trials and arrive at Lung. -Rival and the team meet Jima, leader of Lung and one of the few survivors of the tsunami 200 years ago, and thus is a seal to a place known as Grand Knott. After a brief talk about Edifice before the disaster, he elaborates on Akuma. He says that Akuma is not a single being, rather it is born to a human every 200 years. He says that he sent the monsters to attack Knott, in order to prevent Rival from obtaining the Parentia stone - this entire time, she has manipulated the party. Rival? But she... -Suddenly, Akuma manifests itself within Rival! She kills Jima, and breaks the seal on Grand Knott, the large object sitting above the city of Knott. Rival then takes the Parentia stone with her and runs away. -Meanwhile, Claude and Rena arrive at Edifice. The same strange force pulls their ship into the planet. -At a loss for what to do next, a being calling himself Lohse arrives. He reveals he is an Edifan, the underwater race of the planet. He says that he was sent by Jima to guide everyone come and meet his leader at the underwater ship called Aqua City. The party agrees. -Lohse sacrifices himself and transforms into a trinket to allow the party to breathe underwater. -Everyone travels through the Underground Combs and arrives at Aqua City. -They meet the king of Aqua City, Bie. Bie pleads with the party to stop Akuma from destroying the planet again. Bie asks the party to rescue the other 2 kings of Aqua to obtain their guidance and power. The 3 of them can also allow the party to enter Grand Knott. Our heroes agree. -King Laum and King Nero are saved. -During this time, Rival has returned to Knott and boarded Grand Knott using the Parentia stone. All of a sudden, Grand Knott begins to fly! It travels to Aba City, and completely destroys it with a laser! It then "docks" with the Leviabor ruins. -The party rushes to Leviabor ruins to stop it before it can take off again. -Along the way, they meet Rena, who tells everyone Claude is sick in Bunny village. In order to cure him, Rena and the others travel to the Knott laboratory with a herb found in the Underground Combs. A scientist of Knott named Simone makes an antidote, and Claude is cured. (This is technically a sidequest, but Claude is such an important character story-wise it's almost a crime to leave him hanging.) -The party fights through the Leviabor ruins and defeats Rival... NOT! It turns out they defeated a clone of Rival. The real one shows up and smites you with power extracted from the Leviabor ruins. Before she can deliver the final blow, the 3 Kings of Aqua teleport you out. -Rival disengages from the ruins, and flies all the way up to a space station orbiting the planet. (How did anyone NOT notice that?!) Apparently the ruins are "recharging points" for the Grand Knott, which is why they are always spared from destruction. The Kings of Aqua say it is only a matter of time before Edifice is once again destroyed. -Bie tells the party there is only one remaining way to save the planet - by using the space elevator known as Ex-Trokia (again, how did anyone NOT notice that?!), they can travel up to the space station. -Ashton, Precis, Dias, Noel, Chisato, Ernest, Opera, Leon, Bowman, Rena, Claude, and Celine prepare for the final assault. They fight their way up Ex-Trokia and make it to the space station. -On the space station they run across Cosmo City, a city of robotic guardians. -Everyone finally infiltrates Grand Knott and finds Rival. -Rival tells the group she is being controlled by a computer known as Mother Edifice. This computer "protects" the planet of Edifice by wiping it clean when it's technology advances too far, in order for the inhabitants to not live through the grief of destroying each other, as a result of misusing that technology. Akuma is simply how Mother Edifice works through a being in order to re-unite the Grand Knott with the space station. The ones responsible for Mother Edifice are... the Muah! They were sent to Edifice as well, after the disaster on Earth. -In order to save Edifice, the party defeats Rival. Before dying, she tells everyone she was responsible for their ships crashing on Edifice. Even though she was being controlled by Akuma, deep down she wanted to end the cycle, and used her power to pull ships from outer space - in hopes of finding the prophesied heroes who could save the planet. -Our brave heroes destroy Mother Edifice. This ends the cycle of death once and for all, as well the stories of these characters. SD 371 (2457 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Dr. Precis Neumann develops a device known as a Neumann Purifier to remove the effects of the Sorcery Globe from the Planet Expel. It does this by removing the Symbological particles from Energy Stones that are a cause of the pollution. This phenomenon is known as Kurtz Absorption. -Expel joins the Pangalactic Federation. SD 396 (2482 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Federation begins mining the energy stones on Expel as a source of power for Creation Energy. SD 446 (2532 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Roak enters an alliance with Earth. SD 450 (2536 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Roak joins the Pangalactic Federation. SD 452 (2538 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Greeton's Torastic Religious War ends with destruction of the Kingdom of Aquor on Elicoor II. From the ashes rise the seperate kingdoms of Aquaria and Airyglyph, as well as the Sanmite Republic. See "Aprisian History" section for more info. SD 537 (2632 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Gravitic Warp is invented by Dr. Krupp. By using high amounts of gravity to compress space in front of the vessel, it can travel large distances extremely quickly. SD 652 (2638 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Federation makes contact with the Klausians. SD 704 (2790 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The first practical applications of Creation Energy appear. This is due to the technology discovered by the Calnus on the planet Milokeenia in SD 366 (2452 A.D.). SD 710 (2796 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Pangalactic Federation makes first contact with the Aldian Empire. Their Imperialistic attitude causes a war between them and the Federation to almost immediately erupt. -The Pangalactic Federation makes first contact with the Planet and Nation of Vandeen. Unlike the Aldians, they remain neutral. SD 714 (2800 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Adray Lasbard, Elicoorian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Elicoor II. SD 732 (2818 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -An accident involving a Creation Cannon on the battleship Tilgrem caused a massive explosion that annihilated the ship and a neighboring planet. This led to strict regulations regarding creation energy. SD 736 (2822 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Cliff Fittir, Klausian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Klaus III. SD 745 (2831 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Mirage Koas, Klausian, is born to unknown parents on the planet Klaus IV. SD 748 (2834 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Albel Nox, Elicoorian, is born to Glou Nox and an unknown mother on the planet Elicoor II. SD 749 (2835 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Nel Zelpher, Elicoorian, is born to Nevelle Zelpher and an unknown mother on the planet Elicoor II. SD 752 (2838 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -The Federation starts their study of the Planet Styx and the time gate there. SD 753 (2839 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Fayt Leingod, Human, is born to Robert and Ryoko Leingod on the planet Earth. -Maria Traydor (adopted name), Human, is born to unknown parents on the planet Earth. She is adopted by Jessie and Richard Traydor sometime afterwards. SD 755 (2841 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Sophia Esteed, Human, is born to Clive and Kyoko Esteed on the planet Earth. SD 758 (2844 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Peppita Rossetti, Velbaysian, is born to Elayne Rossetti and an unknown father. SD 760 (2846 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Roger S. Huxley, Menodix, is born to Forte G. Huxley and Aznor T. Huxley on the Planet Elicoor II. SD 763 (2849 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Albel fails his Accession of Flame Ceremony, and Glou Nox dies shielding his son from the flames with his body. Albel loses his left arm in this incident. SD 765 (2851 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Federation Stations #16, #17, and #18 are attacked by the Aldian Empire. #17 is completely destroyed, #16 and #18 are seriously damaged. =============================================================================== [VIII] Star Ocean: Till the End of Time =============================================================================== SD 772 (2858 A.D.)_____________________________________________________________ -Sophia, Fayt, and Fayt's parents are vacationing on the planet Hyda IV when it is attacked by the Vandeeni. -Sophia, Fayt, and Fayt's parents try to escape to an emergency shelter, but Robert and Ryoko Leingod are captured by the Vandeeni. -Sophia and Fayt continue to the shelter, and meet Peppita Rossetti along the way. -The party leaves the shelter for the Federation Transport ship Helre. -The Helre is attacked and destroyed by the Vandeeni. The 3 escape in escape pods, but Sophia's is captured. -Fayt lands on Vanguard III, and stumbles upon the town of Whipple. He is taken in by 2 residents, Niklas and Meena. -Fayt volunteers to fix Meena's broken music box as payment. He travels back to his escape pod to use the replicator, but notices it has been pillaged. -Fayt returns, and finds Niklas has been abducted by Norton, a man who has been extorting the town. -Fayt travels to the Ruins of Coffir, Norton's hideout, to save Niklas. He learns Norton is an offworlder and fugitive. -Cliff shows up and helps Fayt defeat Norton. Cliff tells Fayt he is a member of the Anti-Federation movement Quark, and he is to take Fayt to meet his leader. -Fayt travels with Cliff back to his ship, the Eagle, piloted by Mirage. -The Eagle is attacked, and crash lands on the planet Elicoor II, in the city of Airyglyph. -Fayt and Cliff give themselves up to the Airyglyphians. Mirage stays on board to sneak out at a later time. -Fayt and Cliff are rescued from jail by a women from the enemy nation of Aquios, named Nel. Nel knows of their advanced technology, and believes they are from the Kingdom of Greeton, who possess superior technology to Aquios. Nel says she saved them so they could develop a weapon for Aquaria. -The 3 escape through the catacombs of Airyglyph. They board a wagon along with 2 agents of Nel's, Tynave and Farleen. The wagon crashes, and Tynave and Farleen are captured. The remaining three escape to Kirlsa. -Instead of taking the main road to the Aquarian town of Arias, they sneak through the Kirlsa mines and take a mountain path to Arias. -Cliff and Fayt meet Clair, Adray's daughter. They agree to build a weapon, thinking it will end the war faster. -In the middle of the night, Nel sneaks away to rescue Tynave and Farleen from the Kirlsa Training facility. -Fayt and Cliff follow. They rescue Nel, then rescue Tynave and Farleen. They then defeat Shelby, second in command of the Black Brigade to Albel. -The 3 travel to Arias, where Tynave and Farleen remain. Cliff, Fayt, and Nel move on to the town of Peterney. -It is possible to join the Craftsman's Guild and start item creation at this point by talking to Welch Vineyard. -Fayt meets a woman named Ameena Leffeld, who looks identical to Sophia. Fayt then learns Ameena traveled to the dangerous Duggus Forest to pick flowers, which is now the hideout of the vicious Moonshadow Clan. -The group travels to Duggus Forest, and rescues Ameena. The group may also save and recruit Roger along the way. -With Ameena safe, the party moves on to Aquaria. -Cliff, Fayt, and Nel meet lead researcher Elena Frahm and her assistant Dion Landers at Aquaria's runological weapons department. They determine the weapon would be more effective if the wire was made of copper, but the only mine is under Airyglyph control. Fayt, Cliff, and Nel decide to infiltrate the mine to acquire some. -The group travels to the Bequerel mine and takes some copper. They defeat Demitrio of the Airyglyph Dragon Brigade, and drive away Albel of the Black Brigade. -Fayt, Cliff, and Nel travel back to Aquaria. It's learned that Airyglyph is beginning to attack. All available weapons are moved to the front line at Arias. -The party defeats Duke Vox, leader of the Dragon Brigade. This victory is short-lived though, as a Vandeeni ship appears. -Fayt goes into super-angel-like-being-flip-out-mode and destroys the Vandeeni battleship. -The group returns to Aquaria. Ameena meets Dion, and unfortunately they both perish from their injuries. -Maria, the leader of Quark arrives. She explains Fayt destroyed the ship with his power of Destruction, the result of his father's symbological-genetic research. It is unpredictable, however. Maria holds a similar power, Alteration. -The party learns the Vandeeni have returned infiltrated the sacred Shrine of Kaddan to steal the Orb of Apris. Fayt, Cliff, Nel, and Maria enter the shrine and stop them. -The King of Airyglyph wants to talk of peace. The party agrees to escort to Queen to the Ruins of Mossel for negotiations. -The group is ambushed by Airyglyph radicals along the way. They are defeated, and the group reaches the meeting site. -It's explained to both nations the Vandeeni are only interested in Fayt and Maria. Their escape ship, the Diplo, cannot approach however due to the presence of another group of Vandeeni Battleships. They decide to provide a distraction by using the newly completed Thunder Arrow, the runological weapon Fayt and Cliff retrieved copper for. It's range is limited however, so it will need to be fired from the air. The Airyglyphian dragons are not strong enough to carry such a load though. The King of Airyglyph asks you to retrieve Albel from Airyglyph, and try to make a contract with the great dragon Crosell. -The party retrieves Albel, and they travel through the Mountains of Barr and to the Urssa Lava Caves. The path to Crosell's lair is blocked, but fortunately the group meets an engineer named Vanilla who will offer to make them a Ring of Disintegration to destroy the barrier. A glowstone will be needed however. -The group travels to the Airyglyph Acqueducts, acquires a glowstone, and returns to Vanilla. -The party receives the ring and defeats Crosell, who swears his loyalty. -Everyone returns to Aquaria, where the Thunder Arrow is mounted on Crosell. They begin their attack on the Vandeeni. Suddenly, a mysterious beam of energy destroys two of the Vandeeni battleships! This is later revealed to be the Executioners. Regardless, the group moves to the Diplo and leave the planet. They are intercepted by Commodore Wittcomb in the Federation Battleship Aquaelie. -Bizwig then arrives in the Vandeeni ship Dasvanu, carrying Robert Leingod and Sophia. They agree to meet at the Kirlsa Training Facility on Elicoor II to trade them for Fayt. -Biwig betrays the party, and comes with soldiers and a transport jammer. -Before Robert can tell Fayt and Maria why he performed forbidden research on them, he is killed by a Vandeeni Disruptor Rifle. The Aquaelie destroys the Dasvanu. (Seriously, thats four Vandeeni Battleships destroyed on this backwater planet. They should probably call it a day). The party then defeats Biwig. From the Star Ocean 3 Dictionary, "A personal weapon used by the Vendeeni that vaporizes its target in an instant with a high-powered laser." Fortunately, the beam that killed Robert was not so wide that he was instantly vaporized. -The party transfers to the Aquaelie. They learn of a new enemy, the Executioners, who have nearly destroyed the Alidan empire, and devastated the Federation. Fayt and Maria ask to go to Moonbase in the Sol System to visit Dr. Leingod's lab, to see if they can learn more about their power and possibly how to control it. Commander Wittcomb agrees to honor this request. -Sophia, Fayt, Maria, and the rest meet Peppita on Moonbase. They find Dr. Leingod's lab, and find that these new opponents are gods who are out to destroy all of humanity for intruding on symbology, the territory of the gods. Robert, learning this years ago on the planet Styx, decided to experiment on Fayt, Maria, and Sophia to create a counter to this. The end result is Fayt's power of Destruction, Maria's power of Alteration, and Sophia's power of Connection. -Commander Wittcomb agrees to transport them to Styx, to use their powers to enter the realm of the Executioners and destroy them. -The party takes the transport Calnus down to Styx when the Aquaelie is attacked by Executioners. The Aquaelie is destroyed. -The group uses their powers to enter the realm of the gods, known as 4D space. They exit in the middle of a suburban city, and meet a child named Flad Garrand. -They learn that they, and the entire world of Star Ocean, is nothing more than a simulator called the Eternal Sphere. The way Flad describes it, it sounds like it is a sort of personal reality show where you assume the role of a character. This world is Known as the Eternal Sphere, and it is run by the massive Sphere Corporation. The Milky Way has been slated for deletion, as it is ridden with bugs. The Executioners are simply programs designed to delete the buggy areas. -In order to try and stop this deletion, the party travels to the Sphere Corporation. -They are greeted by Azazer. He tries to defeat the party but fails. -The party meets Blair Lansfeld, an employee of Sphere who is opposed to the deletion. She gives the group an Uninstaller in order to delete the Executioners. It must be activated within the Eternal Sphere, however. -The party is attacked by Belzeber and Berial, henchman of the president of Sphere, Luther Lansfeld. They are defeated, and the party returns to the Eternal Sphere. -They activate the uninstaller, and the Executioners are deleted. However, more powerful beings known as Convictors appear. Blair suggests to meet Luther, and negotiate with him. In order to enter his realm however, an object is required. The party learns it's the Orb of Apris. -The Diplo arrives, and picks up the crew. They return to Elicoor II, which is now covered with Convictors. -Mirage joins the party. -They retrieve the Orb. Blair contacts them, and tells them the entrance to Luther's realm is at the Mosel Ruins. -Adray (re)joins the party. -The party travels to the Mosel Ruins, and passes through the Firewall Luther has erected. They fight to the top of Luther's Spiral Tower. Luther refuses to cancel the deletion process. -Fayt, Cliff, Sophia, Mirage, Adray, and the others attack and defeat Luther. -Despite their best efforts, Luther deletes the Eternal Sphere. He is unable however, to delete the individual character data. Thus since everyone in the universe retains their perception of the Eternal Sphere, nothing has changed. -Mirage travels back to Klaus IV to visit her "ill" father. -Adray remains in Aquaria to conduct military training for the Shield Legion. Meanwhile, he's looking for a guy to marry Clair off to... -Peppita returns to the Rosetti Troupe, and is allowed to star in her own act. -Roger returns to Surferio and continues to go on "manly adventures" with his friends. -Albel and an investigation team is charged with exploring a dungeon underneath castle Airyglyph. Albel meets the King of the Dead, Romero, who has killed the investigation team. Romero threatens to kill Albel. Their fate is unknown. -Nel returns to Aquaria, and is given a task to investigate corrupt merchants in Peterney by the Queen. Nel decides to undertake the mission herself, but is instead ordered to entrust it to one of her subordinates, and to take time off. Nel reluctantly agrees. Upon leaving, Nel passes Elena Frahm, who hints that she is in fact, a 4D being. -With Quark disbanded, Cliff works as a diplomat. He was last seen traveling to the Genesis system to negotiate the formation of a new Federation. -Before Maria leaves the Diplo to live out her life, Lieber attempts to finally confess his love to her. The actual confession is unseen, but Maria hints that he does in her ending with Fayt. -Sophia is on the transport Hornet, bound for Roak and Kratus (remember Kratus?) Spaceport #3 to visit Fayt's parents. Onboard Sophia meets Ruddle and Rumina, who have a chat about the war. ...to be continued? =============================================================================== [IX] Star Ocean: EX =============================================================================== You may be asking yourself, "Wait, there's a Star Ocean game I don't know about?" Nah, not really. Star Ocean: EX is an anime based on the events of Star Ocean: The Second Story. It follows the game fairly closely, but for the sake of completeness, I have outlined the most noticable changes here. * Yuki (the girl who runs the jam store in Salva), is a supporting character, accompanying Claude to Alen-Tax's mansion. She will appear several times throughout the series. * Three bumbling brothers who seem to always be on the wrong side of the tracks make frequent appearances. While in the beginning they seem to butt heads with our heroes with their petty crimes and shady acquaintances, they eventually come to help them save the world. * Claude's phase gun is damaged during the battle with Alen-Tax, not while trying to open the door. * A plot point is created where Claude's communicator reacted to the energy on Milokeenia, and again when fighting near the stone that corrupted Alen-Tax. Claude suspects the Sorcery Globe was the source of this stone, and since it emits that same energy, may hold a clue for leaving the planet. * Celine references the ancient Kyuu civilization of Expel putting their spirits into the statues at Cross Cave. Unfortunately, this is never expanded upon. * Claude learns Kuuhazan (Air Slash) by fighting, and losing to Dias after meeting him in Mars. * Celine has a paralyzing fear of bugs, and Ashton has a umm... well, an unhealthy fascination with barrels. * Gyoro and Ururun are not in the Salva Drift, rather in just a cave in the countryside. They were blamed for killing livestock, but it turns out that it was a swarm of large insects. The insects were corrupted by the same type of stone that Alen-Tax had. * The Mountain Palace (named Kuruko in the anime), is actually within the Lasguss (Lasgas) mountains. A shrine carries them near the summit to meet Xine. * The goblet to hold the tear of the Mountain King is never collected - only the tear itself. * The ships in Herle refuse to leave because of a ghost ship, the C Barelisu. 70 years ago, there was a mutiny aboard and a young shipmate stole a jewel from onboard. In has last breath, he gives this jewel to Dias to return. It is returned, and the ship's soul is finally put to rest. * Meanwhile, this provides an excellent cover for a group of pirates looting the area. It turns out however, they are controlled by a giant sea creature, who in turn is controlled by the Sorcery Globe. The stone controlling the creature is broken, allowing our group of heroes to secure the harbor and continue the journey. (thank you pointless filler episode!) * Clik is never mentioned or visited. The group decides to go to Lacour based on the behest from the King of Cross. No ship from Cross will travel to El because of fear of the Sorcery Globe. * Hilton is also never mentioned or visited. Linga is simply made a port town, and the group sails directly there from Herle. * In more geographic madness, the sick girl Eleanor is in Linga instead of Herle. She is also a good friend of Precis. * Metox is located in the Sanctuary of Linga, rather than the Lasguss (Lasgas) mountains. * Precis runs off to the Sanctuary of Linga on her own, and retrieves Metox. The party chases after her, defeating a dryad corrupted by the Sorcery Globe. * Precis's Bobot goes on a bit of a rampage through Linga. Hilarity ensues. * Instead of being given the sword, Gamgee's sword (Ouma) is stolen by our three favorite thieves for another weapon shop. They hire Dias to wield Ouma. * Claude's sword that he recieved from Regis is named Kouma, Gamgee's Son's finest work. * Ashton also enters the Tournament of Arms. He is defeated by a giant in the first round when Gyoro and Ururun have an argument. Ururun uses a spell called Ice Cloud Rage which causes both opponents to be tossed out of the ring, disqualifying them. * New characters are introduced, General Bisk and General Gaizel of Lacour. It is later revealed they are monsters under the influence of the Sorcery Globe. Many other monsters have infiltrated Lacour, and imprisoned Leon. Celine and Ashton rescue him. * Claude has a flashback to his first teacher of swordsmanship, Gashu. This might explain Claude's skill with a blade. * The tournament is interrupted before a winner is declared. Gaizel transforms and attacks Dias and Claude during their match. * Leon's parents, Florence and Murdoch, are never seen nor mentioned. * The Hoffman ruins are located near a river to the north of Lacour instead of on an island. * Our heroes escort the Lacour Hope to the Front Line. Many carrier pigeons were sent with no reply, so Claude and the others go on ahead to see why. Leon shows up with the Lacour Hope a few episodes later, in just the nick of time to defend from the monster assault. * The fortress at the Lacour Front Line is named Heinz Fortress, and is much more grand than it appears in the game. The soldiers there were being entertained by the one and only Yuki when our heroes arrive. * Dias has gone ahead to El as a scout. He returns to the front line, horribly injured due to a curse. Rena is unable to heal him. * The Commander of the fortress, Harvest, is much different. A rather untrusting fellow, and throws everyone in jail under suspicion of being a monster. Later he sells everyone out to Shin, who promptly kills him. *NOTE* From this point on, the story differs significantly from the game. It seems they tried to take the whole "Crest of Annihilation" story from Energy Nede and compress it into Expel. What results is a strange hybrid of discs 1 and 2, with a bunch of unique stuff thrown in. This might be because the show was not greenlighted for another season, and they wanted to wrap things up. The story was finished however, in the form of drama CDs. Anyway, you've been warned - here we go. * Shin is defeated in the forest outside Heniz Fortress by a Hou Kou Ha from Dias instead of at Eluria Tower. Consequently, the ship carrying the Lacour Hope is destroyed by a tsunami instead of Shin. * Astonishingly, the Lacour Hope survives in this version. It is broken, but Leon and the others eventually fix it. However, the Heraldric Spell Converter needs replacement parts, and our heroes had to travel to the city of machines, Smith to get said parts. * While the crew is gone, monsters and robots attack (yes there are robots in this version). The robots steal the Energy Stone powering the Lacour Hope. Leon and our favorite three bumbling thieves fight valiantly. Opera runs after the robots and disappears, but Ernest shows up in the nick of time. * Turns out there were no parts at Smith - whoops! Claude offers his phase gun and communicator to use for parts. However, Precis shows up in her Bobot along with Bowman, and they scrap it instead. * Meanwhile, Leon overhears Claude's communicator send out a transmission for him, but Claude is unable to get any response when he tries to reply. * Leon says the damage to Claude's phase gun was minor, and repairs it for Claude. * Some light (as opposed to NONE) is shed on the runes recovered from Cross Cave. The runes have a prophecy of the Sorcery Globe falling to Expel. However, no hero is mentioned. Bowman speculates the story of the Hero of Light is just a fabrication to give people hope. * The prophecy itself states that when the Black Moon of the Sorcery Globe appears, it will bear the Crest of Annihilation. Within 7 days, all living things on the planet will die, and within another 7, all the stars will die. Must be one of them slow acting Crest of Annihilations. * The crew travels through a sewer of Eluria to the Sorcery Globe's underground. They learn the Sorcery Globe is a sort of parasitic plant, sucking the life energy from the planet. Not like Final Fantasy VII or anything. * The crew is attacked by a hovering, robot monster. When all seems lost, Ernest shows up in his ship and blasts it to pieces. Our heroes return to where the Lacour Hope is being repaired. * The Lacour Hope is put onto Ernest's ship and transported to the front line. Energy from the Sorcery Globe forces them to land. Leon, using the weaker Energy Stone from Bobot, begins to recite the firing incantation. * A robot army appears to stop the Lacour Hope. Everyone fights to hold them off so the Lacour Hope can be fired. * Sadly everyone dies a horrible death - kidding! The Lacour hope is fired at the Sorcery globe, and the robot army is destroyed (mostly). When the smoke clears however, from the organic remains of the Sorcery Globe comes a metal structure. It rises into the sky, and the Black Moon appears. The Lacour Hope is inoperable. * The Sorcery Globe begins spewing lightning, severing the ground asunder. Claude, Rena, Celine and Ashton are seperated from the others. They beg the others to escape, which they do. A bolt of lightning destroys one of the engine cowlings however, and everyone else only manage to get a short distance away before crashing along a beach. * The party retreats to a cave, where Claude is contacted again by the Calnus. Ronyx found him by detecting the high energy source, the Sorcery Globe (not Energy Nede this time!). Claude is told the Sorcery Globe is a spaceship launched from Star System N56 to sap energy from the planet, for an unknown reason. Claude, like in the game, refuses to return despite his father warning him of the futile effort. * On an interesting side note, we learn that Expel has a moon occording to a display on the Calnus. * Opera and Ernest return and save the four on hover bikes. They retreat back towards the tower. * Ernest reviewed the translated runes a bit more, and points out a section saying at the top of the tower is the controller of the Sorcery Globe, a demon. (literally Akuma, which translates to Devil like in Blue Sphere. It is used as an improper noun here however, as opposed to Blue Sphere where it is a proper noun.) Claude, Rena, Ashton, and Celine take the hover bikes and speed off towards the tower. * They are attacked and knocked off the bikes. Surrounded, things are looking grim until a somewhat recovered Dias appears and makes quick work of the robots. Dias also gives Claude a feather of Xine, which allows him to generate a magical barrier at will. * Eluria Tower is much more... ethereal. There is little to no solid structure on the inside. * Ashton and Celine stay behind to fend off the monsters while Claude and Rena proceed. * The three brothers read another section of the prophecy that says the holy light will save everyone from the Sorcery Globe. They take that to mean the Lacour Hope, which means they failed. * Leon and Precis manage to fix Ernest's ship. They take off in order to... promptly crash it into the base of the Sorcery Globe. However, the vibrations knock over some robots who were about to fire on Claude. The ship is destroyed immediately thereafter by the enemies outside. * Claude and Rena are guided by a mysterious woman throughout the tower. Rena is told by Gabriel (Indalecio) that she is Nedian, and should stop fighting. Claude and Rena have one of "their moments", and Rena is convinced she should go on. * Meanwhile, earthquakes and other sorts of natural disasters begin all over the planet. * Gabriel shows Claude the device that brought him from Milokeenia. He explains that the Sorcery Globe was responsible for that planets destruction as well. The Sorcery Globe is a system to sap a plants life force, and transport it elsewhere so that they (the Wise Men), can survive. * Gabriel also tells Rena she is a shrine maiden - someone sent to Expel to find the hero and eventually bring the hero before him. * Claude is put through his paces by being put in various illusions by Gabriel, which of course he overcomes. * Gabriel transforms into a giant eye. He attacks, and Claude defends with the feather of Xine... except it overcomes the barrier, and breaks his sword. Claude throws the hilt containing the feather at Gabriel's eye, who finds that less than appealing. An infuriated Gabrial attacks again, but Rena steps in front of it! She receives a deadly blow that shatters her pendant. * Things are looking pretty bad for Rena when... the Holy Light appears! It has manifested in the form of that woman who guided them here. Rena is healed. * Dias, Celine, and Ashton arrive and attack Gabriel. While he's stunned, Claude deals the fatal blow with his phase gun. The gun sprouts angel's wings as the holy power is added to the shot. * Outside, the Sorcery Globe is destroyed. But the Black Moon remains! It vows to destroy the planet regardless. As the ground starts to break apart, Xine appears and stops time. * Gyoro and Ururun warn Xine is shortening his lifespan considerably by using so much power. Xine says he does not care, and only wishes to do his part to save the planet. * The holy light woman appears with a Milokeenian teleporter. She says in order to save the planet, take the teleporter to the enemy base and stop them once and for all. Everyone agrees to help Claude defend the planet, and the series ends. =============================================================================== [X] Aprisian History =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aprisian History? What the hell are you talking about? Well, if you take a good look at the books scattered around Elicoor II, as well as the dictionary entries, you can get quite a feel as to how the Religion of Apris operates. In addition to having mythology like other religions, the Theocracy of Aquaria also has detailed records of the history of the continent of Gaitt. I have included the full text here, for you to browse at your leisure. I decided to not put all the details in the timeline for several reasons. For one it's too lengthy, and I feel such a random, large amount of information would detract from the importance of the main stories of the games. In addition, I don't think everything is 100% factual, as its based in myth and legend. Finally Aquaria's account is less than kind to Airyglyph, so theres a lot of bias here that I think distorts the truth. Although Apris's creation story may be the most accurate of all since it actually refers to the 4D Beings themselves, granted amongst much metaphor and modern interpretation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creation Story ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In the distant past, when even the sands of time did not flow, it is said that the world was divided into the promised Land of Aden and the Land of Eldia, where those of unfledged souls flock. Aden was protected by the divine powers of the ten deities, and the people there lived in peace and happiness. But in Eldia, where the powers of the ten deities could not reach, the negative emotions of anger, hatred, suffering, envy, jealousy, scorn and lust filled the land." "One day, out of idle curiosity, the seraph Faria, who was born in Eldia but raised in Aden, sowed the seeds of a strife between the demon Luqifer and the deva Lance. The seeds soaked up the red water Faria gave them, and in a blink of an eye they sprouted and grew so big that they covered all of Eldia. In time, the small strife turned into a fierce hared, precipitating a massive war that ultimately involved the people of Aden, too." "By the end of the fierce war between the gods, the two lands of Aden and Eldia had been ravaged by searing white flames that stretched all the way to the heavens. Countless gods and people lost their lives and those that survived had nowhere to which they could return... Frightened by the result of their actions, the gods gave rise to a new Promised Land known as Enalneed, guided the survivors there, and then vanished from this world. And so it said the Age of the Ancients ended." "The world became a void where there was no light, no wind, nor even sound. And yet, after a time immeasurable to man, new life sprouted. From the blazing Land of Aden rose the Father God, Apris, clothed in a crimson robe, and from the frozen Land of Eldia rose the beautiful triplet goddesses Irisa, Erinia, and Palmira." "Over a period of 1024 years, the Father God, Apris, together with the three Moon Goddesses, created a new land of hope and the many living things there. Once they finished creating all life, Apris threw his own body into a blazing fire, transforming his very soul into a great mass of flames that rose into the heavens. Thus he became embodied in the Sun so he could watch over the world for all eternity. The triplet goddesses Irisa, Erinia, and Palmira also sought to protect the world together with their husband, Apris. As they rose into the heavens, the ever curious Irisa kept looking back at the world they had created, and so it was that she ended up being seperated from the other two Moon Goddesses circling our world." Summed up: Faria is a jerk, Apris gets all the ladies, and theres another world out there called Enalneed with some interesting dudes. Could this be a reference to Nede or Energy Nede? One final interesting note - 1024 years? Seems like a rather arbitrary number, until you realize that 1024 is the highest number than can be expressed with 10 binary digits. Hence 1024 bytes in a kilobyte. So it seems the scriptures of Apris were very much influenced by the Eternal Sphere. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gods and Goddesses: A Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Offset from the mythology are what we know about the gods in 4D Space. Apris__________________________________________________________________________ * Ruler of the Gods * His wives are Irisa, Erinia, and Palmira * Embodiment of the Sun * His words become the Emissary of Apris * His heart takes the form of the Holy Mother * Blair is responsible for the 'Apris' Project of the Eternal Sphere, effectively tying him to her. May be named for the one of the 3 predecessors who quit before her Irisa__________________________________________________________________________ * Sibling of Erinia and Palmira, of which she is the eldest * Wife of Apris * Embodied in the moon of the same name, which is the largest in size * The Goddess of the Moon and Storms * Presides over Sky and Dance * Mother of Elena, Solon * 4D name Irisa Pahm * Original Developer of Eternal Sphere responsible for World Configuration * Currently retired Erinia_________________________________________________________________________ * Sibling of Irisa and Palmira, of which she is the middle * Wife of Apris * Embodied in the moon of the same name, which is the middle in size * The Goddess of the Moon and Thunder * Presides over Storms and War * Mother of Dirna, Folstar NO 4D INFO AVAILABLE - where is she?! Palmira________________________________________________________________________ * Sibling of Irisa and Erinia, of which she is the youngest * Wife of Apris * Embodied in the moon of the same name, which is the smallest in size * The Goddess of the Moon and Rain * Presides over Water and Beauty * Mother of Oreas, Aire, Shar, Leira * 4D name Palmira Armes * Original Developer of the Eternal Sphere responsible for Graphics * Currently retired Emissary of Apris______________________________________________________________ * The embodiment of the words of Apris * The main god worshipped in the Church of Apris * No 4D equivilant that I can find Elena__________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Irisa * Goddess of Light * Has wings of pure white * Presides over Courage and Authority * Keeper of all singers who inspire heroes and all flying creatures * LIKELY 4D name the Elena Frahm at Castle Aquaria * It is uncomfirmed, though strongly hinted at Elena is a 4D Being trapped in the Eternal Sphere Oreas__________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Palmira * God of Darkness * Is Hideous * Presides over Night and Sleep * 4D Name Oreas Rumac * Graphic Artist in charge of Dungeon Layouts Solon__________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Irisa * God of the Clouds * Fastest of all Gods * Changes forms as he journeys throughout the land * Guardian of the Spirits, and jointly the World with Dirna * Presides over Freedom and Peace * 4D name Solon Solute * Graphic Artist and Programmer * Has an on-again, off-again relationship with Dirna Dirna__________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Erinia * Goddess of Fire * Carries a blazing bow * Is Selfish * Guardian of Dragons, and jointly the World with Solon * Presides of Knowledge and the Hunt * 4D name Dirna Hamilton * Battle Effects Processor and Assistant Programmer * Has an on-again, off-again relationship with Solon. Aire___________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Palmira * God of the Land * Carries a battleaxe * Largest of all deities * Phiasome-looking yet gentle * Guardian of all who roam the land * Presides of Mountains and Valor * 4D name Aire Duxis * Manages the Eternal Sphere's parameters Shar___________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Palmira (ingame Erinia and Palmira - must be a misprint) * Twin of Leira * Goddess of Water * Carries a sword which she uses to interrupt winter * Guardian of all who live in water * Presides over Spring and Tears * 4D name Shar Zeit * In charge of Scenario Settings and Process Management Leira__________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Palmira (ingame Erinia and Palmira - must be a misprint) * Twin of Shar * Goddess of Time * Carries a wand to entwine time around * Guardian of Faeries * Presides over Sorrow and Growth * 4D name Leira Zeit * Programmer of Flag Process Management and System Components Folstar________________________________________________________________________ * Child of Apris and Erinia * God of the Underworld * Very Cruel * Unwanted Child * Carries a sword which he reaps souls with * Guardian of the Dead * Presides over Winter and Phia * 4D name Folstar Rood * Programmer fired from Sphere Co. for his horrible programming and work ethic. Can be found wandering around Arkives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sacred Treasures ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sacred Orb_________________________________________________________________ A crystal sphere of pure runological force. It was bestowed upon Sirvia by the Emissary of Apris. It has the power to produce an endless amount of water, and is responsible for submerging all of Surferio. It is currently housed in the Shrine of Kaddan, and later learn that it is the key to enter Luther's lair. The Sword of the Crimson Scourge_______________________________________________ A sword of immense power. It was bestowed upon Aquaria I by the Emissary of Apris. It is a sentient sword who chooses who can wield it. It is said when wielded by one it has accepted as its master, it can cleave the sky in two. It currently is in possession of Airyglyph, after being brought there by Edyglyph when she fled Aquor. It is wielded by Glou Nox, then later by his son Albel. It does not seem to have a role in 4D space, or it is never mentioned. The Sacred Tablet of the Ten Precepts__________________________________________ A stone tablet which records the laws set by the gods. It was bestowed upon Ronaldo by the Goddess Elena at the Shrine of Kaddan. See below for the contents. It is presumably still possessed by Aquaria, as no mention has been made otherwise. It does not seem to have a role in 4D space, or it is never mentioned. The Living Eyes of the Holy Mother_____________________________________________ Bestowed upon the Holy Mother at birth by Apris. These eyes are insribed with runes that allow the Holy Mother to see the flow of runological force directly. It takes such vision to gain mastery of the sacred treasures. Unless you're awesome like Glou or Albel, apparently. It does not seem to have a role in 4D space, or it is never mentioned. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ten Precepts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Thou shalt walk thine own road, provided thou dost not violate the following precepts. 2) Thou shall not steal, maim, nor kill. 3) Thou shall practice moderation, not indulgence. 4) Thou shall cherish thy fellow man, and value the souls of all living creatures, for they are equal. 5) Thou shall work hard and fulfill thy duties, for indolence is the death of the soul. 6) Thou shall not cause needless strife, for pain begets anger, and anger begets suffering. 7) Thou shall abandon desire and broaden thy knowledge. Act upon truth, not illusions. 8) Thou shall judge fairly. It is a sin to do otherwise. 9) Thou shall punish criminals according to their crimes, for those who go unpunished will commit them again. 10) Thou shall never punish the innocent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Gaitt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Seven hundred years ago, Aquaria I, the first Holy Mother, established a small, nameless kingdom in the northern reaches of central Gaitt. Is is said while she and her people, worshippers of the primeval gods, fled to this land to escape the divine plagues, they were protected by the Wing of Time, one of the wings left behind by the seraph Faria." "One day, a small dispute arose between the fledgling kingdom and its neighbor. The dispute spread rapidly to nearby lands, which were vying for control of the central part of the continent. Within a generation, it had grown into the Torastic Religious War, a great war involving seven neighboring lands. Led by the divine guidance of Apris, the Sun God, the small, namless kingdom won the war, made peace with four of the neighboring lands, and then merged them into a single kingdom. This is said to be the origin of the Ancient Kingdom of Aquor, which would later give rise to the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria." "During the Torastic Religious War, Apris, the Sun God, answered Aquaria I's sincere prayers for peace by sending the Emissary of Apris. The Emissary presented the Queen with a magic sword and the knowledge of runes. Aquaria I was thus chosen by Apris to be the Holy Mother, and she used her two newly granted powers to fight toward ending the war. This enabled the nameless kingdom to win the war and reestablish peace throughout the land. When Aquaria I became the first rule of the Ancient Kingdom of Aquor, she expressed her gratitude to Apris by establishing the Church of Apris as their official religion and vowing to worship Apris as the Father God for all eternity." "Three hundred twenty years ago, the emerging Kingdom of Greeton in eastern Gaitt invaded Aquor with 600 mechamen under the control of the Snake of Valeria, the 3rd generation Mech Master, and the kingdom's Iron, Steel, Copper, and Silver combat battalions. Even back then, Greeton was known as a technological superpower, and their steel mechamen were extremely powerful. The Ancient Kingdom of Aquor lost most of its territory within half a year. Completely overwhelmed by Greeton's power, reigning queen Edyglyph took the legendary sword Crimson Scourge, her infant son, and a few of her followers and fled into the night, abandoning her kingdom, her people, and her gods. Without its queen, Aquor soon fell to the invading hoards of Greeton. So it was one woman's betrayal that cased the utter destruction of the once flourishing Kingdom of Aquor within a mere year of Greeton's invasion." "When Surferio, the capital of the Ancient Kingdom of Aquor, fell to the Kingdom of Greeton, Edyglyph the Traitor and her closest followers fled toward the Airyglyph region. Most however, were caught by Greeton's forces, and only a very few made it to the land of Airglyph alive. Perhaps it was divine retribution against the traitors who betrayed their god, their kingdom, and their people." "Twenty years into Greeton's domination of the Aquios region, one young lady rose up against the tyranny of the Snake of Valeria, the Mech Master who ruled the conquered land for his kingdom. Her name was Crestia Dyne. she would later be crowned Sirvia I and become known to future generations as Sirvia, the Liberator. Crestia, aided by her brother, Ronaldo, engaged in a protracted war with the far more powerful forces of the Kingdom of Greeton, until one fateful day." "The bitter struggle against the Mechanized Corps controlled by the Snake of Valeria continued beyond all hope. One day, Crestia single-handedly slipped through the enemy's defenses into the land of Surferio. She stood defiantly before the accursed Mech Master and raised to the heavens the Sacred Orb, which she had received from the Emissary of Apris upon visiting the Shrine of Kaddan. Thereupon, the very earth fractured and out rushed a massive torrent of water, inundating the surrounding land and sweeping away the Mechanized Corps. And so it was that the corrupted city of Surferio was submerged in a single night by the gods' wrath. After losing their Mechanized Corps, the backbone of their military might, the remaining enemy forces were driven all the way back to the continent of Greeton by the Runological Unit led by Crestia's brother, Ronaldo." "Crestia, the savior of our kingdom, learned through a divine revelation from Elena, Goddess of Light, that she was a scion of the royal family of Aquor, the kingdom that had been annihilated by Greeton. Backed by strong popular support of the people, Crestia founded the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria. Thereupon, she was crowned Sirvia I and her brother, Ronaldo, was appointed Royal Minister. The two siblings ruled the kingdom for many long years." "After Crestia, the Holy Mother, was crowned Sirvia I, the Sacred Orb was returned to Kaddan by her brother, Ronaldo. It is said that Ronaldo was thereupon blessed by the goddess Elena and received a stone tablet engraved with the ten divine precepts that all worshipers of Apris must obey." =============================================================================== [XI] Galactic Map =============================================================================== The map has been revised, thanks to adelinathepirate. She has pointed me to another Star Ocean map, from the 'Eternal Materials' book. While although very similar to my old one, has a few key differences. I felt the images were busy and difficult to read, so I modified my old map, as well as added territory markers. That map can be found at: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/weggy/somap-1-1.gif The originals can be found at: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/weggy/SO3EM_Map_Textless.jpg AND http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/weggy/SO3EM_Map_Text.jpg AND http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/weggy/territory_map.jpg These maps however, contradict the dictionary in 2 locations. First is Remote Station #6. Remote Station #6 is said, by the Dictionary, to be located _ON_ the borderline between Gamma and Lambda. Why they stuck it in the heart of Gamma, I don't know. Also is the Kappa sector. The dictionary states that the Federation controls only half of it, yet this map shows them controlling all of it. Hmm... Remote Station #8 is another interesting phenomenon. Why is it sitting on the edge of the galaxy? The overlay of the Milky Way would seem to imply that there are stars, and thus planets. So why has it, along with the other edges of the galaxy, been given a sector designation? Arakh is also quite interesting because it is so far out from the galactic core - it's a wonder its star, Estoch and itself did not become a rogue system! Arakh's distance of 7.6 AUs would put it at about halfway inbetween Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system. It would seem Arakh is even more unique, in that modern astronomy suggests that most planets at that distance from their stars are gas giants. Arakh however, also has frozen Nitrogen - which occurs at below 63 degrees Kelvin. Jupiter's average temperature is 152 degrees Kelvin and Saturn's 143 degrees Kelvin. This would indicate that Estoch is a very small star. In fact, it's barely within the range of size needed to be a star for nuclear fusion to occur. A truly unique planet indeed. Now if you recall Maria having her flashback to when her adopted parents died, the transport ship Radish was destroyed by Aldians whilst they were fleeing to Arakh. Why in the world were they going there? Is it a good hiding place? We've barely scratched the surface though! There's still a lot of territory out there, and the war with the Aldians has just begun. What will Star Ocean 4 hold in store for us? A huge thanks to adalinathepirate for her contributions to this section! =============================================================================== [XII] PSP Remake Differences =============================================================================== Ah, the PSP. Thanks to it, our wonderful friends at tri-Ace decided to remake the first two Star Ocean titles for our viewing pleasure. Both series have been re-done with a brand spanking new translation. While SO2 was of course translated prior for the PSX, it was hastily done, and is frequently cited as a prime example of bad voice acting. Thankfully that has been corrected, and now the voices are a vast improvement over what we had. Even more significant is the translation of SO1. This game has never had an official English translation, so it's nice to see how things have changed in the past 13 or so years. And finally, since this is an FAQ focuses on the story of the game, I focus only on those changes which matter to the plot. It's beyond the scope of this FAQ to point out that theres now FMVs, updated graphics, etc... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Ocean: First Departure ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where do I begin? Of course, many of us have known Star Ocean prior due to DeJap's translation patch for the SNES ROM. While Dejap's translation is fairly accurate, this lets us see how things were carried across cultures, as well as giving us a bit more insight into certain events. Long story short I hate the official translation as I think they were not very faithful to the script, and they really butchered the names. What's in a name?______________________________________________________________ Probably the most immediate and largest difference in the English version are the names. Locations and characters have been renamed for really no reason except to confuse and frustrate. For christ sakes, the Japanese trailer even has their English names - and the skills were already translated in the PSX version of SO2! Anyway, enough ranting. Ratix Farrence = Roddick Farrence Milly Killiet = Millie Chilette Dorn Malto = Dorne Murtough Ilia Silvestoli = Ilia Silvestri Ronixis J Kenni = Ronyx J. Kenny Cius Warren = Cyuss Warren Fear Mell = Phia Melle Joshua Jerrand = Ioshua Jerand (Seriously? Joshua was no good!?) Ashlay Barnbelt = Ashlay Berndbelt Marvel Frozen = Mavelle Froesson Tinek Arukena = T'Nique Arcana Perisie = Pericci Maltos Killiet = Martoth Chilette Ryas Warren = Lias Warren Clatos = Kratus Cool = Coule Clato = Kraat Hot = Haute Portmis = Portmith Otanim = Autanim Astral Castle Town = Astral City Tatoroy = Tatroi Ecdart = Eckdart Van Castle Town = Van City (at least in dialogue. For some reason the title upon entering town is Van y Ille City) Sylvalant Castle Town = Sylvalant City Moore = Muan Sylvalant = Silvalant Moorians = Muah Resonia = Lesonia Stream = Styx Velcant = Velkhent Mount Metox = Mount Metorx Parj Temple = Purgatorium (sounds nasty!) The Realm of the Gods__________________________________________________________ Prior references to magic have been removed and instead replaced with Symbology in order to keep in line with canon. Sweet Delicious Murder_________________________________________________________ After defeating the Bandits, the Elder of Kratus (now called the Captain), rewards you with some Blueberries and some Twice-Cooked Pork, which is said to be Roddick's favorite food. (also a change) You Leave Me Breathless________________________________________________________ visiting the Calnus airlock now starts a brief conversation where Ilia talks about the vacuum of space and the quick death one would receive if that door was not there. Always so cheerful! Budget Cuts____________________________________________________________________ The Holodeck on the Calnus has been removed and replaced with a lounge. In the SNES version, they would let you explore a section of road between Kratus and Cool. With the addition of an overworld system, this makes it somewhat obsolete. Set Phasers to... non-existant?________________________________________________ The Felworm attack on the Calnus now occurs at the elevator rather than in the transporter room. In the SNES version the transporter operator tries to use a phaser on them with no effect. Demonic Knowledge______________________________________________________________ In SO1, during the meeting with representatives from Lesonia on Earth, Roddick identifies the host they are speaking of as Asmodeus. In the SNES version, you did not learn the identity of him until much later. Who's the Boss?________________________________________________________________ After the time gate grants the request to travel back in time, Ronyx comments that they must leave their weapons, communicators, etc. or they will be repelled from the gate. In the SNES version, the gate itself commands our heroes to leave them. How does Ronyx know this? Has the Federation tried to use the gate before? PA-Okay________________________________________________________________________ With few exceptions, all of the PAs in the game have been changed. And of course, the addition of two new characters adds a lot more options as well. Actually, special note on the PAs. They are very... strange. As opposed to the SNES version, very few of PSP ones have choices that can adjust AR ratings. They are instead interesting skits the characters perform. Also, our noble band of heroes have been replaced by a bunch of social rejects. Welch constantly has erotic dreams about Roddick, T'Nique reveals he's bi-sexual, Pericci talks about being raped by pirates, and two Astral soldiers have a massochistic lust for Phia. For serious. Damn You El-Nino!______________________________________________________________ Astral is no longer a barren desert, just a grassland with some rocky plains. Swallowing His Pride___________________________________________________________ Cyuss will now accompany the group to Astral Castle Town. In the SNES version, he more or less refused to set foot in it. Haaave Mercy!__________________________________________________________________ The Inner Purgatorim has changed quite a bit. Whereas it used to be brutally hard dungeon, in the PSP version they chopped off the half of it shortly after you get the Blue Key Card - greatly reducing its difficulty. More importantly however, is the passcode to open the door. In the SNES version, it was a clever play on words to make you spell out E-A-R-T-H. In the PSP version, they just make you place the emblems in a console. The order is determined by the weather of the continent. (e.g., Land of Falling Leaves = Van and so on) The ol' Switcheroo_____________________________________________________________ The scene where our heroes meet Asmodeus has changed slightly. The party fights Asmodeus BEFORE the 3rd Party arrives. After he is defeated, they beam in and take Millie hostage. While Millie is taken hostage, they safely take the sample, rough up Millie and Roddick a little bit, then leave. Forgetting Fargett_____________________________________________________________ While briefly mentioned in the timeline, the planet Fargett is completely different. For one, some of your companions are captured when you are ambushed on arrival. Ivana throws a bomb, which lets the others escape. The remaining people appear at the resistance base on Fargett. Roddick and the others travel west to a prison, whereupon everyone else is rescued. Ivana then tells them that Fargettians are also Muah sent to another planet. The group then travels north To Wadagupe (the capital) and into a ruined laboratory. Here our heroes learn a bit more about Jie's backstory. Asmodeus was the first superhuman created by Fargett, but he opened a wormhole to the demon world and fled. The Fargettians were not able to adequately create another superhuman, so they went to Asmodeus to steal his DNA. The group then takes an underground tunnel to the base of the tower. Revorse Tower itself is completely different from its SNES counterpart, and has an interesting reference to the ship Discovery (see 1587 A.D. for info on that). Access to the Oracle Rooms and The Seven Star Ruins are actually located in the basement of Revorse Tower. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Ocean: Second Evolution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second Story got a much more subtle adjustment for it's PSP debut. The gameplay did not get a makeover like First Evolution did. Instead we have a port with a wealth of new dialogue thanks to a re-done script. It is similiar to the PSX version, but with a less literal translation. There are western expressions, turns of phrase, etc.. They were a bit more kind of the names of characters, but once again places have new, silly names. What's in a name again?________________________________________________________ Keeping with the tradition of name changing for absolutely no reas... ah frak it here we go again. Claude C. Kenny = Claude C. Kenny Gyoro = Creepy Ururun = Weepy (I really wish I was joking here) Leon D.H. Geeste = Leon D.H. Gehste Cross = Krosse Mars = Marze Helre = Harley Clik = Kurik Lacour = Lacuer El = Ell Central City = Centropolis Giveaway = Princebridge Fienal = Phynal Alen-Tax = Allen Tucks Labe Jules = Raveh Jules Eglas Jules = Egras Jules Nineh = Ninay Xine = Zinae Barney = Bunny Bobot = Robby Florence Geeste = Florith Gehste Murdoch Geeste = Murdock Gehste Shin = Cynne Narl = Nall Synard = Psynard Reema Lanford = Rhima Lanford Dr. Reyfus = Dr. Leifath Indalecio = Gabriel Cyril = Lucifer Vesper = Haniel Decus = Michael Jibril = Raphael Nicolus = Camael Ruprecht = Zadkiel Berle = Metatron Shigeo = Jophiel Marsilio = Zaphkiel Barkers = Barchians Shingo Forest = Sacred Forest Heraldry Forest = Forest of Symbols Lacour Tournament of Arms = Lecuer Armory Contest Outer Wall Paradise = Outer Gardens Field of Wisdom = Field of Intelligence Field of Might = Field of Power Cave of Red Crystal = Cave of Crimson Crystals Mineh Cavern = Minae Cave Cave of Trials = Maze of Tribulations Crest of Annihilation = Symbol of Annihilation Crest of Enchantment = Symbol of Divinity More Realms of the Gods________________________________________________________ Just like First Departure, all references to Heraldry have been removed and replaced with Symbology to keep in line with canon. =============================================================================== [XIII] Unsolved Mysteries =============================================================================== Beam Me Back Down!_____________________________________________________________ The first unsolved mystery of the series is actually a subtle hint that most would not notice. In SO4, a disease which turns its victim to stone called Bacculus is spreading across the Planet Lemuris. An extremely similar but curable disease is prevelant on the Planet Roak as well. At the end of the events on Lemuris, Lutea gives a subtle clue worth noting. When the victims die, they let out a howl and are surrounded by a beam of light. We'll come back to that. If you remember in SO1, a "third party" under the guise of the Lesonians unleashed a disease onto the planet which also turned its victims to stone. They then harvested these statues for use in their weapons. See the similarities? The people on Lemuris also could have been harvested. The difference though, is that the people on Roak just disappeared, where the "corpse" is left on Lemuris. But look at Ghimdo's statue in Triom - it looks nothing like him! They could be replacing their victims with a decoy. In fact on Roak, Reimi contracts their version of the disease. Edge actually confuses it for Bacculus, but is correct. This disease is very curable. Could this third party have introduced the Bacculus to Roak as the disease we know in SO1? If so, who is it, and why did they leave decoys on Lemuris? Eternal Sphere Madness_________________________________________________________ Knowing what we do know about the Eternal Sphere, how in the world is it possible that the mirror Earth Edge visits in 1957 possible? InM3mOrYoF from the forums ponders: "does this mean that there are multiple "Eternal Spheres" running at the same time and that Black Holes link the Eternal Spheres together?" A probable explanation. My thought is that the Eternal Sphere has multiple "servers", realms, shards, what have you, and that Edge somehow crossed over to a different one. Any speculation is welcomed. Meraculous Circumstances_______________________________________________________ Meracle is a particular mysterious character throughout the game. Is she from Roak? Is it from our Roak or a mirror Roak? In either case, how did she wind up on a spaceship headed towards Earth? What of the other crewmembers on that ship? How does she know Eleyna under drastically different circumstances than the others? Dating Innacuracies____________________________________________________________ At the end of the Star Ocean: The Last Hope, when the UP3 is being formed and the Federation created, it says the event takes place "1 year later". This occurs however, in SD 12. We know for sure that Star Ocean: The Last Hope begins in SD 10. So that means that at some point through SO4, the date passes from SD 10 to SD 11. Now as to when this happens, I'm not sure. The last hint at a date we get is July 30th, SD 10 - which occurs during the "real" flight to En II. The only explanation I have is that when Edge fell into the black hole of Nox Obscurus at the end of SO4, he experienced a time dilation - what was just a moment for him could have been a year for on outside observer. But then, how did he show back up at Commander Kenny's ship, and why was everyone waiting for him? I'm afraid this one is still kind of an enigma, or possibly the "One year later" was a typo. Not as Clumsy or as Random as a Blaster________________________________________ Towards the end of Star Ocean 1, our heroes get a laser/force sword from Lias to defeat Asmodeus. Ilia remarkes it is of Federation origin, but is quite old. The only possible explanation is that Edge left it with Lias when he visited in SD 10, but we never see that actual event take place. If not Edge then who? ********UPDATE******** Skrell 999 points out that at the end of SO4, during Crowe's ending, he wakes up on Roak with Eleyna, and that they will have lots of children. This makes Crowe Roddick's ancestor, as well as explaining how there are Force Swords on Roak. Now why did Crowe give them to Lias? En who?________________________________________________________________________ Not so much of an unsolved mystery, but rather a coincidental observation. We know virtually nothing of En II and its past, but we do know a few interesting facts. *Its people look amazingly similiar to Nedians *They are both very adept at symbological sciences *En II = Energy Nede II? *They both possess Synards *It's crystals in the Sanctuary share the name of the 4 different fields on Energy Nede (thanks ovan08!) *Was established in the same early era of the galaxy that Energy Nede was created in See what I mean? It's never been stated explicitly, but En II may be another Energy Nede. I mean, it is a spacestation - there is no native life there, yet they felt compelled to take a Heraldric beast, the Synard, along for the ride? What are the chances of an identical species evolving on completely different planets in the galaxy? What are the chances of more than one extremely advanced race developing seperately in the galaxy that did not get caught up in the struggle of the Wise Men? The verdict is still out on this one. But I welcome any evidence to support this theory. More Dating Innacuracies_______________________________________________________ Star Ocean took place in SD 346 right? Well, thats what canon has always led us to believe, and the PSP trailer states specifically its SD 346. But there are two places that contradict this. The first is in the opening cinematic of Star Ocean: The Second Story. The narrator states that the battle against Jie Revorse took place in SD 345. Hmmm... very interesting. The only conceivable way for this to happen would be that when returning from ancient Roak to modern Roak, they were sent to SD 345. But if that were the case, no Roakians would be infected at the time. Not to mention, that this would create a huge time paradox. If they did arrive early, and somehow nipped this disease in the bud, Dorne would have never contracted it, and all of Star Ocean 1 would have never taken place. If Star Ocean 1 never took place, how could everyone have traveled back in time only to return to SD 345 in the first place? I'm going to have to say the SD 345 statement was an oversight on tri-Ace's part, or a translation error - as it simply does not make any sense. And to their credit, they seemed to have backpedaled from that, since the trailer for Second Evolution gives a date of SD 366. The other interesting piece of information comes from Claude's birthday, January SD 367. We know Star Ocean 1 begins six months after the destruction of planet Ise, which itself was in SD 346. Thus we can discard all dates before June 1st, SD 346. But Ronyx does not open up and confess his love to Ilia until after the events of the game. Considering a conception period of 9 months, Ilia and Ronyx had to have done the nasty sometime around April. This is before the events of Star Ocean 1 even take place. I'm not saying its impossible for Ronyx and Ilia to get jiggy with it beforehand, but judging by Ilia's surprise at Ronyx's confession this was news to her. This is all speculation regardless - we still don't know for sure if Ilia is Claude's mother, but they seem to so strongly hint at it in First Departure it seems that it is the case. I'm hesitant to overlook both of these as mere oversights. But the veridct is still out on that. Muah Marines - Muah!___________________________________________________________ Seriously, what the heck happened to the Muah? Ilia's details at the Purgatorim are sketchy at best. Did an unusually large space-time vortex just swallow them up as she hypothesizes, for no apparent reason? Is the meteor story fact or fiction? If it is fact, how could a meteor instigate such an event? How did they get sent to Roak, Fargett, and Edifice? Is it safe to assume there are scattered Muah on other planets as well? No - I am Your Father!_________________________________________________________ Well, we know of Roddick's mother, sort of. She just appears to be some random NPC in Kratus village. She never provides any sort of real assistance to the party. In fact, if there wasn't that event with Roddick waking up in bed after the bandit attack, most would probably never see her. What's her story, and what of Roddick's father? ********UPDATE******** While still Roddicks's old man is MIA, they at least acknowledge he exists in the PSP version. When Roddick levels up, he will sometimes say, "Otosan - Mite kure!", which basically means, "Father, watch me!" They translate this in the English version as "I hope you're watching, father!" Perhaps Roddick's father was also a swordsman? ********UPDATE 2****** Skrell 999 provides some more insight regarding Roddick's father. When you recruit Ashlay in First Departure, Ashlay praises Roddick's skill with the sword. Roddick says he was taught the basics by his father. Ashlay compliments him further, saying he has taken the basics and adapted it to meet his own needs on the battlefield. EIGHTY-EIGHT MILES PER HOUR!___________________________________________________ How did the Time Gate send our heroes back in time during Star Ocean 1? Did it somehow restore a backup of the Eternal Sphere at that point, and then judging by the changes they made, re-calculate the state of the current Eternal Sphere? Lord Of Fenix Fauir speculates the following: The eternal sphere is just like an operating system... when any historical event transpires(good or bad) the OS makes an 'update' to the systems operation. Well, just like a regular OS, the eternal sphere doesn't know how the updates will effect it, so it creates a restore point. Thus the time gate send them back by 'rebooting' from the restore point, then after the changes are made in the 'past' (or past restore point) the OS caculates new 'updates' and the 'future' is thus effected. Is the Eternal Sphere like an operating system? Or is it a completely different kind of program beyond our understanding? The Unknown Kingdom____________________________________________________________ In Star Ocean 1, at the far eastern edge of Silvalant, there is the wall of a large castle. When approaching it, the characters comment that there is some sort of ancient city, but the entrance is blocked. There is no other comment spoken from any character, NPC or otherwise regarding this city. In the PSP version, the kingdom has been replaced with a bluff, and this is where the Time Gate returns you to the future. This just brings up even more questions. What is this place? Why is it never mentioned? Why even have a path from Silvalant that basically, dead ends? Perhaps it was intended to be another Silvalantian city, but was never completed due to time constraints. But then, in the PSP version, how did everyone know thats where the Time Gate was summoned? Perhaps thats where Ronyx and Millie were dropped off, and they made their way towards Van from there. That's just a guess on my part though. She'll Make Point Five Past Light Speed________________________________________ So why was Claude transported to Expel? We know virtually nothing about Milokeenia, let alone why/how they had such a long range teleportation device. Claude arrived at such an oppurtune time, was there some sort of third party that sent him there? Were the Milokeenians trying to reach Expel themselves to prevent the tragedy of the Sorcery Globe? WTB Flood Insurance PST________________________________________________________ The tidal wave that destroys Klik is mysteriously well timed - just as Claude and Rena were to depart to El. Of course if they went their so close to the beginning of the game, they probably would have gotten their ass beat, but I digress. Still, are the Wise Men able to create such large forces of nature at will? Are they able to constantly monitor the world's affairs? If so, why didn't they destroy Lacour with a tidal wave or something else? Or is the entire thing just a one in a million coincidence? Shrouded in Mystery____________________________________________________________ The writings recovered from Cross Cave in Star Ocean 2 have yet to be explained. They are such a focal point to the story early on, and once they are given to Keith, they are promptly discarded and disappear. No word is ever given on their contents, even if you return to Linga at the very end of the game - Keith still says he needs more time. To tri-Ace's credit, they use them as a focal point in Star Ocean EX. The writings contain the prophecy of how the Sorcery Globe will destroy the planet in the final moments. While convenient for the anime and its very different ending, that doesn't work so well for the game. If it predicts the Wise Men using the Sorcery Globe, how could anyone have written that and how did it get into Cross Cave? How did the Wise Men Escape the Eternity Space?________________________________ I turn this over to K_19, who posted this very interesting theory: "I'd say add "How the hell did the Ten Wise Men escape the Eternity Space?" to the unsolved mysteries section since... well... it really IS unsolved mysteries. xD It's never mentioned when and how they escaped. However, I speculate that it may be... Berial! Check out his dictionary entry: "Berial sometimes directly interferes in the Eternal Sphere in order to prevent stagnation of the game universe. According to reports, he has created characters with powerful parameters, switched the homelands of certain people, and removed bugs in a certain time control loop program." Again, it's just a speculation, but that entry just had me thinking." Well, sealing away the 10 most powerful people in the universe would make it a bit more "stagnant". I agree with K_19 however, and I think he's really on to something here. If Fayt yells "GM abuse!" we'll know for sure. ********UPDATE******** While not exactly solved, there is some new light on the subject. On Second Evolution, there is a book in the Giveaway Library that says this: "The power within an active Eternity Field can only be switched off from the outside by inputting the deactivation password that was set up during activation." So it is apparently possible to escape Eternity Space with some help on the outside and knowledge of the password. But who did this, and how did they get the necessary information? What mysterious woman?_________________________________________________________ If you bother to do the Ruddle and Rumina quest in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and then visit them towards the end of the game in Aquios, Rumina says that a mysterious lady showed up and sold them the weapons and armor they have. She also says that they were given instructions to sell it to you and only you. Could this have been Blair? Grape Scott!___________________________________________________________________ (Hooray for horrible Back to the Future puns!) Welch has continued to be an enigma throughout the series. She has the ability to exist throughout time, and tends to put herself into key situations in history by joining or working closely with your party. The natural conclusion is that she is a 4D being, which is certainly a viable one. Perhaps she is a sort of time travelling historian? Welch also makes an appearance in Star Ocean 4, again putting her at a critical juncture in history. This makes every game but Blue Sphere Welch has poked her nose in. Then the question is, why not Blue Sphere? ovan08 adds that she may as well be a 4D being - Star Ocean 3 provides this interesting tidbit: ovan08: hmm...did you notice the notice you're given when you start to go into the Eternal Sphere for the first time from the 4D terminal? Don't they say that people playing in "Any time period on Sol III" should relocate? That suggests that 4D beings have access to all time periods at once Touche! Amazing how we can pick up new information even years after the game is released! =============================================================================== [XIV] Other Possible Stories in the Star Ocean Universe =============================================================================== Valkyrie Profile_______________________________________________________________ You may have heard of a Playstation game by tri-Ace known as Valkyrie Profile. I'd say its likely Valkyrie Profile does exist within the Star Ocean universe. At the end of Star Ocean 3, Cliff receives a letter from the planet Midgard, where Valkyrie Profile takes place. And though not really in the main story, Lenneth and Freya make an appearance in Star Ocean 3. Just how did they get to Elicoor II and 4D Space? Impirit also points that when you talk to Maria in Arias before fighting Crosell, she mentions "Bloodbane of Planet Midgard", who was an endgame boss. How the plot thickens! The "Tales of" Series__________________________________________________________ tri-Ace, formerly known as WOLF Team created a RPG on the SNES known as Tales of Phantasia. This game is set on the planet Aselia around the year 4300. While this likely does not directly convert to the Stardate or B.C., A.D. system, they too use forces of Magic and Mana, which are remarkably similar to Symbology. They even go so far as to make a Magi-tek weapon out of it, amazingly similar to the Kingdom's of Aquaria's weapons in SD 772. Could it be that the Tales of series plays out on some Underdeveloped planet? K_19 seems to concur, and has this to say about the subject: "ToP actually has a lot of SO series similarities... way too many to be coincidental. Not just the mana and the magi-tek cannons, but also because of the whole "advanced technology from the past" thing (the abyss of thor/Muans), and even the "Mother Computers"!! (Oz and Mother Edifice)... now you know where they possibly could have gotten the idea of "Mother Edifice" in Blue Sphere... xD Even the gameplay stuff are extremely similar; Demon Fang/Air Slash, and Twin Slash/ Tiger blade, for example. And there are waaay too many spells that are common in the two series, just like Fireball/bolt, wind blade, eruption, explosion, meteor swarm/storm, extinction, etc. There are also even some similar names in towns and things such as Silvalant/ Sylvarant, Iselia (queen), etc. And I'm quite confident that Cless was the inspirations of both Roddick and Claude's character designs. Heh. =p" Agreed on all fronts. They are similar. Of course now Namco-Bandai has their own Tales team that has taken the series in its own direction, but a lot of similarities remain. Star Trek______________________________________________________________________ Ready for the ultimate geekiness, and the biggest stretch so far? Star Trek is amazingly similar to Star Ocean in many respects. The Prime Directive is very similar to the UP3. Phaser, warp, and transporter technology is widespread and works in the same way. They both have a unity of planets under a federation. Even the time when Star Ocean and Star Trek take place line up in an eerily similar way. Though I wouldn't count this being canon unless theres a Vulcan entry in the next Star Ocean's dictionary. =============================================================================== [XV] Thanks =============================================================================== When I began this FAQ, I really didn't know what I Was getting in to. I quickly found this project blossomed far beyond what I expected. Along the way however, some amazing people and tri-Ace fanatics have really come together to help me chronicle these great stories, and bring some (up until now) unknown information to English speaking audiences. I want to thank all of you very, very much for granting me this oppurtunity. -A big, big thanks to K_19. The information on Star Ocean: Blue Sphere would not be possible without him. -Another big thanks to adalinathepirate, who provided me with a lot of source material for the galactic map. -Thanks to www.simoom.net, a Japanese Star Ocean fansite for their timeline, which I pulled a few facts from as well as double-checking my own. -Another thanks to K_19 for translating said timeline =p -Thanks to Claudelv250 for providing his valuable feedback. -Thanks to Ian Kelly for his Star Ocean FAQ, which I used for cross- referencing. -Thanks to Vanrei for his Star Ocean: Second Story FAQ, which I used for cross- referencing. -Thanks to Aussie2B for her Star Ocean: Blue Sphere FAQ, which I also used for cross-referencing. -Thanks to Alex and Demonkaze for their Star Ocean: Till the End of Time FAQs, which I ALSO used for cross-referencing. -Thanks to OKong for his Star Ocean: Till the End of Time Game Script FAQ. It saved me from running back to the top of Spiral Tower and defeating Luther a few times to see all the characters' endings. -A big thanks to Rashidi's Dictionary FAQ. This is probably the largest time- saver I had, as hitting CTRL+F and typing in what you want is a LOT faster than consulting the game. -Thanks to ovan08 for his insights on 4D time travel and En II. -Thanks to skrell 999 for info on Roddick's father. -Thanks to j mcdermid for correcting a minor error. -Thanks to SkyDragnSlifer3K for adding the Torastic Religious War entry. -Thanks to Impirit for an entry about Valkyrie Profile. -Thanks to InM3mOrYoF for his thoughts on mirror Earth. -Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the science techno-babble. -Thanks to Enix/SquareEnix for publishing these great games. -Thanks to tri-Ace and WOLF Team, for making high-quality and very under appreciated RPGs. -Thanks to CJayC and GameFAQs for being a treasure-trove of information for all gamers. -Thanks to all you other FAQ writers out there, for helping your fellow gamers through thick and thin. -Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you found it as interesting as I did. =============================================================================== [XVI] Contact =============================================================================== In the past, I used to provide my e-mail address for people to contact me. Then I began to get TONS of viruses and spam. Then I tried disguising my e-mail address so spambots couldn't harvest it. Unfortunately, I still got tons of spam and viruses from people who ARE TOO STUPID TO KNOW THEY'RE SENDING VIRUSES TO EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET! So, no e-mail address anymore. If you want to contact me to make suggestions, recommend corrections, share theories, or just talk about Star Ocean in general drop me a line on AIM, S/N Cyan3511. If I'm away, feel free to leave me a message. I'll get back to you shortly, and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience. =============================================================================== [XVII] Legal =============================================================================== This FAQ was originated on www.gamefaqs.com. You will always find the most up-to-date version there. As with all my FAQs, I believe it to be public domain. Please post this on your website, edit, alter, or do what you will with it. Crediting me is entirely optional. Although it isn't necessary to contact me, I would like you to so I can check out your website! I only ask that you do not use/sell this FAQ for personal profit. Thank you. -Fin-