I am currently playing Star Ocean on the PSP and really enjoying it. I had a brush with it back in the PS1 days, but never had more than a few hours to invest at the time. Now, I am probably getting near the halfway point and the game just doesn’t let go of your interest. The story is fairly basic, but there are certain levels of complexity and enough wonder of things that it feels very deep.

One thing I have noticed about this game is that tutorials are very much optional. You talk to people who offer advice, and you take it or leave. I am the kind of player who would rather learn by hurling myself against a brick wall than being stuck in a never ending tutorial on how its played. I really don’t think I have done everything possible in Civilization 2 yet, so every now and then I pick up where I left off in the manual and conquer the world again with my new found discoveries. This is in contrast to games like FF8, which is a great game, but the replay value is almost 0 when you dread the miserably long tutorial at the beginning.

With the freedom to take things on when I feel like it, I find that games are much more enjoyable in the long run. In Star Ocean I am just now starting to get into the little skill distractions such as weapon customizations and cooking. While each one is basically a recipe in a slot machine, the clever dialog really makes it enjoyable once or twice to loose. Enix seemed to be a king in this area, as Dragon Quest 4 would present you with some fun alternatives at certain points in the game. In a long RPG it is nice to get a break every now and then to tinker with things.