Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

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Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

Game general and emulation properties:
ESRB rating: T (Blood, Violence)
PEGI rating: 12+ (Violence)
OFLC rating: G (Low Level Animated Violence)
Widescreen supported natively
Progressive scan supported
CPU intensive game
Supports up to two local players
Languages supported:
English: SLES-82028 & SLES-82029 & SLUS-20488 & SLUS-20891 & SLUS-20488GH & SLUS-20891GH
Japanese: SLPM-65209 & SLPM-66478 & SLPM-66479 & SLPM-65438 & SLPM-65439 & SCPS-55019
Region NTSC-U:
Serial numbers: SLUS-20488 (Disc 1)
SLUS-20891 (Disc 2)
SLUS-20488GH (Greatest Hits, Disc 1)
SLUS-20891GH (Greatest Hits, Disc 2)
Release date: August 31, 2004
2005 (Greatest Hits)
CRCs: 23A97857
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: Playable
Mac Status: ?
Region PAL:
Serial numbers: SLES-82028 (Disc 1)
SLES-82029 (Disc 2)
Release date: September 30, 2004 (Australia)
October 1, 2004
CRCs: E04EA200
Windows Status: ?
Linux Status: ?
Mac Status: ?
Region NTSC-J/C/K:
Serial numbers: SLPM-65209 (Limited Edition)
SCPS-55019
SLPM-65438 (Director's Cut, Disc 1)
SLPM-65439 (Director's Cut, Disc 2)
SLPM-66478 (Director's Cut, Ultimate Hits, Disc 1)
SLPM-66479 (Director's Cut, Ultimate Hits, Disc 2)
SCAJ-20070 (Director's Cut)
Release date: February 27, 2003
January 22, 2004 (Director's Cut)
July 20, 2006 (Director's Cut, Ultimate Hits)
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: ?
Mac Status: ?

Developer(s): Tri-Ace
Publisher(s): Enix Corporation
Genre: RPG
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: GameRankings81/100, Metacritic80/100
Game description: The third game in the Star Ocean series, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is set 400 years after the events of Star Ocean: The Second Story. Fayt Leingod, an ordinary college student, is vacationing on a resort planet which suddenly gets attacked by aliens. A few escapes later, his escape pod crash lands on an undeveloped planet, he gets rescued by a member of a resistance group named Quark, they crash on another undeveloped planet, and they get caught up in local politics. The repercussions of the alien attack, and the reasons for it, are going to catch up with Fayt again...


Test configurations on Windows:


Environment Configurations Comments Tester
Region OS CPU/GPU Revision Graphics Sound/Pad
NTSC-U(?) ?
  • Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.40 GHz
  • GIGABYTE GeForce GTS 450 OC
0.9.9 (r5127) GSdx (r5125)
  • SPU2-X (r5112)
  • LilyPad (r5112)
I have used savestates everywhere, in battles, outside of battles, in menus and during animation scenes and CG. The game did not once get stuck or crash! And it worked in full FPS and above! Dhillel
NTSC-U Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (SP1)
  • Intel Core i5-4670K @ 3.40 GHz
  • AMD Radeon HD 7850 @ 1 GB
1.3.0 (svn r5932) GSdx SSE4 (r5932)

<spoiler show="Settings" hide="Hide">

  • Renderer: Direct3D11 (Hardware)
  • Custom Resolution: 2560x1440
  • Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
  • Shader Configuration:
    • FXAA: Enabled
    • Shadeboost: Enabled

</spoiler>

  • SPU2-X (r5893)
  • LilyPad (r5822)
Runs great and remains stable at 60 FPS while playing in a custom 2560x1440 resolution. I've had no issues playing this game. The only problematic area was due to a controller issue, which is the Barr Mountains area where you had to play the Dragon Flute. This was already a horrendous area even on the actual PS2, but using the workaround mentioned in 'Known Issues' found below, I was able to pass this area just fine. Ryudo
NTSC-U Windows 10 Home x64 (V1809)
  • Intel Core i7-8700K @ 4.70 GHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB GDDR5
1.5.0 (dev-2717) GSdx avx2

<spoiler show="Settings" hide="Hide">

  • Renderer: OpenGL (Hardware)
  • Allow 8-Bit Textures: Yes
  • Large Framebuffer: Yes
  • Resolution: 4x Native
  • Anisotropic Filtering: 16x
  • Mipmapping: Basic
  • CRC Hack Level: Partial (OpenGL)
  • Shader Configuration:
    • FXAA: Enabled

</spoiler>

  • SPU2-X 2.0.0
  • LilyPad 0.12.1
Runs Very well up to & including 4K. No crashes after only a few hours of playing non-stop. Large framebuffer works well for cards with large VRAM (4GB+) a few warnings in the log about low VRAM came and went without crashing, usually during cutscenes with heavy effects. Noticed the Auto setting for Interlacing introduces blurriness in the overall image. Set to Bob tff for a much clearer, crisp fullscreen image. Yokrei
NTSC-U Windows 10
  • Intel Core i7-4790 @ 3.6 GHz
  • AMD Radeon RX 570
1.7.0 (dev 1154)

<spoiler show="Settings" hide="Hide">

  • Speedhacks: preset 3

</spoiler>

GSdx32-AVX2 1.2.0 (default 1.7)

<spoiler show="Settings" hide="Hide">

  • Software rendering mode

</spoiler>

  • Default (core 1.7)
Light slowdown occasionally. This game used to stutter due to MTVU GIF console spam, it has been fixed in recent dev builds by removing console messages. Nyahello


Trivia

  • Original names: スターオーシャン3 ティルジエンドオブタイム (SLPM-65209), スターオーシャン3 ティルジエンドオブタイム ディレクターズカット (SLPM-65438)
  • Also known as Star Ocean: Till the End of Time Director's Cut (JP), Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time (JP)
  • The original NTSC-J version has an ingame bug that could cause the game freeze. NTSC-U version is same as Star Ocean 3 director's cut which has the bug fixed and some additional in game stuff.
  • An "undub" patch was released by fans which applies to the US-NTSC version (Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time). Basically it replaces all of the dubbed voices with the original Japanese voices. The latest version of the undub patch fixes nearly all spoken game text, compared to an earlier version which still contained portions of the English dub. Please be careful when setting the game cutscene setting to Automatic with this patch. There are significant differences in the length between the Japanese and English scripts leading to lines that drag out either shorter or longer than it takes to read the text in English. Also, you're on your own when it comes to dialogues in CGI cutscenes.
  • This game has a unique save file for Battle Trophy Data. When you want to back up your BT data, you will have to copy the entire Memory Card file (Labeled Mcd001.ps2) by default. There is some sort of checksum inside the Save File/Game itself that corresponds with the actual Memory Card. This makes it impossible to back up just the BT file itself. Every time you try to copy it to a new Memory Card it will result in a corruption message when you try to continue from that particular BT file. You can load it up to unlock costumes for example, but you won't be able to get any NEW trophies on that file. If you want to continue getting trophies, you will either have to use your original Memory Card file that came with the BT file, or you will have to start a brand new BT data file on the new card.
    • Battle Trophy Data Update: The save file restriction can be bypassed using the Memory Card Folder system. Simply convert your memory card to a folder and you can then overwrite the BT data files with whichever you want. You will not get the usual 'corrupted' error when trying to load these files.
  • There is a section in the dungeons of Barr Mountains that requires you to "play tunes" by pressing the circle button to activate a tune. The game has 4 tunes mapped to the button, differentiated by tap/hold and light/hard pressure. However, most gamepads and keyboards only send a fixed pressure, therefore if you attempt playing tunes normally you will always get the hard tap/hold tunes. To get around this an additional button needs to be mapped to circle as well but configured to deliver "light" pressure. This is done by opening the Controllers plugin configuration and setting a unused or rarely used input(like the button set to select or L2) and (re)mapping it to the circle button, and setting the sensitivity to 0.500 or thereabouts. In-game use that button to deliver "light" tap/hold tunes while the regular circle button can be used normally to deliver "hard" tap/hold tunes.


Known Issues

Wrong bloom effect on upscaled resolution

  • Status: Active
  • Type: Minor
  • Description: A bloom effect misplacement issue occurs when running the game at a higher than native resolution. It's difficult to spot since the game doesn't have many locations that use bloom effect. A place to observe this is Arkives (Disc 2, late game).
  • Workaround: There's no known solution.

Fixed Issues

Abnormal high GPU usage

  • Status: Fixed
  • Type: Serious
  • Description: Game has massive slowdown in Hardware mode.
  • Workaround: his has been resolved in recent v1.5.0 git builds. For OpenGL renderer keep Blending Accuracy to at least Basic level. CRC hack level should be left on Automatic.

Stuttering during cutscenes and loading battle (new)

  • Status: Fixed
  • Type: Minor
  • Description: In DX11 Hardware mode, game will stutter on loading cutscenes. When going into battle, game will also stutter. Voiced dialog scenes feel "sluggish".
  • Workaround: Switch to DX9 Hardware mode in GS plugin. Game runs perfectly. Very smooth and responsive. *Issue is resolved in version 1.5.0.

Vertical lines when going through doors

  • Status: Fixed
  • Type: Minor
  • Description: There are upscaling artifacts when going through other areas like doors.
  • Workaround: PCSX2 1.6.0 build. Go to Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings > HW Hacks, and set Round Sprite to Half. PCSX2 1.7.0+ build Config > Graphics settings > HW Hacks, and set Round Sprite to Half.

Gameplay Screenshots


Public compatibility forum links