A mysterious disease breaks out on the planet Roak turning all it infects to stone, three friends Ratix, Milly, and Dorne search for a cure only to discover that Dorne has also been infected. In a desperate attempt to save their friend and village they climb to the top of Mt. Metox to find an special herb that may cure those infected. Only to be visited by a flash of light followed by mysterious strangers, offering to help cure the people on their planet if they’re prepared to come with them and promise to never return to their planet again. They accept the offer and are then teleported to a spaceship where the strangers introduce themselves as Captain Ronixis and his science officer Iria . After discovering the disease was released on the planet by a group hoping to use roakians blood as a weapon and that the diseases host was a demon king who died 300 years ago. Ronixis decides to make a last ditch effort to use a forbidden time gate to travel back and get a sample of the disease from its host.

          This loved classic finally gets the attention it deserves, finally remade for PSP featuring all its old characters and a few new ones. With its bizarre plot that mixes science fiction with a medieval fantasy world only to change it back to a futuristic adventure no wonder the game was originally called a space odyssey. First Departure has gotten a complete overhaul modeled after its originals sequel Star Ocean: The Second Story and will feature a similar battle system and item creation as well as a world map.

          Though the real time battle engine is basically the same as SO2 a few additions were made. Instead of attacking once you can chain together a three hit combo, spells can be put into killer move slots, and the battle screen features a mini map to show where allies and enemies are on the battlefield. All these upgrades sound great unfortunately mage characters will again be shunned from parties. Offensive spells are close to useless again, the only use for mages will be healing and the occasional buff. Its sad that some of our favorite characters have to be bench warmers, they could have at least made spells real time but spells are still the same. Stop battle, pretty effects, some abysmal damage, rinse, lather, and repeat. At least spells are an eye pleaser and shorter time sinks then their archetypes however this news still left me a bit frustrated.

          This is an example of the made over battle system, strangely enough Ratix may be renamed Roddick in the translation as seen in this picture.

          The one thing I hope isn’t copied from SO2 is the voice acting, no one can forget how terrible our lovable SO2 heroes sounded as they battled through various baddies. While First Departure is getting the star treatment in Japan with great and memorable voice actors most notably being Mamoru Miyano known by anime fans as Light Yagami from Death Note as Ratix, what kind of attention will be given to the voice acting over here? It will be an important decision to the feel of the game as cut scenes and dialague are fully voiced over instead of just in battle.

          All new private actions were added to further explore all our heroes personalities. We'll get a few good laughs and some nice items out of these events I’m sure. Two new characters were added, one is significant and enhances the story, and the other acts as comic relief. Enter Eris and Welch to the First Departure universe. Eris will further our understanding of both Joshua and Marvel’s backstory as well as fleshing it out to enhance the story past the originals, which is slightly changed, while giving your party a powerful healer. Welch will act as our hormonally challenged time traveler that joins the adventure without much explanation.

          Well at least we can be thankful that unlike the original Star Ocean, First Departure will see its anticipated NA release on October 21st.