Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (Playstation 2)
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time inherits the recurring real-time interactive combat system from the series while presenting many new elements: instead of random encounters, battles now occur when running into enemies on the main travel field or when certain pre-scripted events occur. In-battle, though, there is little change: the player now controls a party of three members, like in Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, controlling one character and assigning the tactics used by the other AI-controlled characters. The player can also switch which character they are directly controlling by pressing a single button. The Bonus Battle Gauge progressively fills and gives different types of rewards.
Enemy attacks can target either a character's health points (HP) or mental points (MP). If either of these two values reaches zero, the character is KO'd. Characters will also lose HP or MP from using battle skills or symbology, as well as a certain % from the Fury Gauge. The game also introduces the system of Major or Minor attacks, in which the potency of a skill depends on which button the move has been assigned to. There are support skills for different added effects.
Like the previous games in the series, the game contains an Item Creation feature that allows the player to create and enhance a multitude of items. A variety of trades are offered, including Cooking, Alchemy, Engineering, and Smithery. However, Item Creation must now be performed at Workshops scattered throughout towns and dungeons, where in previous games, Item Creation could be accessed anywhere. Once a player invents an item, they can file for a patent, and get money from the profits made off selling those items in various shops. The player is also able to recruit Inventors to aid in the process.
