Difficulty levels in The Last Hope.
The Difficulty Level (戦闘モード, Sentō Mōdo?) of a game in the Star Ocean series is a setting that determines enemy strength and limitations the player will be presented with during gameplay.
Overview[]
Difficulty levels first appeared in Star Ocean: The Second Story, though the fourth-tier setting debuted in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. The main difference between each level revolves around around the HP and MP of the enemies.
Players can choose the difficulty level to clear the game on when they first start a new game, but they cannot change it once they have started. Generally, the levels from hardest to easiest are Chaos Mode (カオスモード, Kaosu Mōdo?), followed by Universe Mode (ユニバースモード, Yunibāsu Mōdo?), Galaxy Mode (ギャラクシーモード, Gyarakushī Mōdo?), and then Earth Mode (アースモード, Āsu Mōdo?). On the first playthrough, a player's choices are limited to Earth (easy) and Galaxy (normal). The methods to unlock the other two levels depend on the game.
Appearances[]
The Second Story[]
In Star Ocean: The Second Story and its remake Second Evolution, the default difficulty is Earth Mode, while Galaxy and Universe must be unlocked.
| Enemy | HP | MP | ATK | MAG | AVD | HIT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 | -- | -- |
| Galaxy | x1.50 | x1.00 | x1.50 | x1.00 | -- | -- |
| Universe | x2.00 | x2.00 | x1.67 | x1.33 | +128 | +80 |
In The Second Story, to unlock Galaxy and Universe Modes the player must complete 45% and 55%, respectively, of their Sound Collection. In Second Evolution, the player must defeat 2000 enemies total (including bosses) in a single save file to unlock both modes. Players can keep track of how many enemies they have defeated by speaking to the fortune teller in Fun City.
Till the End of Time[]
In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, the difficulty levels are Earth, Galaxy, Universe, and as the highest difficulty, 4D Mode (ＦＤモード, Efu Dī Mōdo?). The first time playing only Earth and Galaxy are available, and Universe and 4D levels must be unlocked by collecting battle trophies, which can only be done in Galaxy level and above.
| Enemy | HP/MP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | x0.70 | Cannot collect trophies. |
| Galaxy | x1.00 | Default setting. |
| Universe | x1.50 | Unlocked with 75 battle trophies collected. |
| 4D | x1.80+ | Unlocked with 195 battle trophies collected. |
In Earth Mode, the Maze of Tribulations is a Galaxy-level challenge. There are several glitches in 4D Mode, leading some players to consider Universe Mode to be more difficult (and with Gutsy Bunny, the hardest mode). Beating the game in Universe and 4D difficulties earns the player the "Master of the Universe" and "Toughest Challenge" trophies.
The Last Hope[]
In Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Earth (easy) and Galaxy (normal) are the default settings. Beating the game on the latter setting unlocks Universe Level, and in turn, beating Universe level unlocks Chaos Level. In Galaxy Level and above, players can obtain battle trophies.
| Enemy | HP/MP | ATK | INT | GRD | Rush Gauge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | x0.70 | x0.80 | x0.80 | x0.80 | -- |
| Galaxy | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 | -- |
| Universe | x1.30 | x1.30 | x1.30 | x1.30 | Increase rate x1.5 |
| Chaos | x1.70 | x1.70 | x1.70 | x1.70 | Increase rate x2.0 |
In Universe and above, enemies' Rush Gauges increase at a faster rate, and in Chaos level only the targeting cursors for the characters disappear (making Blindsides more difficult due to not knowing who is being targeted). Completing the game yields the "Chaos Conqueror" trophy/achievement.
Integrity and Faithlessness[]
In Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, the modes available are Earth Mode, Galaxy Mode, Universe Mode, and Chaos Mode. Universe is unlocked after an initial playthrough, and completing it unlocks Chaos Mode. Battle trophies can be obtained in Galaxy level and above.
| Enemy | HP | MP | ATK | INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earth | x0.80 | x1.00 | x0.80 | x0.80 |
| Galaxy | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 | x1.00 |
| Universe | x1.50 | x1.20 | x1.20 | x1.20 |
| Chaos | x2.00 | x1.50 | x1.50 | x1.50 |
Beating the game in Universe and Chaos difficulties earns the player the "Universally Renowned" and "Survivor of Chaos" trophies, respectively.
Anamnesis[]
Reminiscent of mainline games, Star Ocean: Anamnesis has difficulty levels for event missions, although it has a different naming system. The higher the difficulty, the higher the stamina cost but the better the reward in terms of currency. Generally, the higher difficulties require Multiplayer cooperation. Event titles can be earned by beating a given boss in Misery 3 missions and above, usually if victory is achieved in less than a minute (6☆ titles) or three minutes (5☆ titles).
The difficulty scale is as follows: Easy (初級, Shokyū?) → Normal (中級, Chūkyū?) → Hard (上級, Jōkyū?) → Expert (超級, Chōkyū?) → Misery 1 (獄級, Gokukyū?) → Misery 2 (滅級, Metsukyū?) → Misery 3 (絶級, Zekkyū?). However, there also were the monthly Misery 4 (覇級, Hakyū?) events, retooling early bosses for added difficulty. In Twin Eclipse, the highest difficulty was added, God (神級, Shinkyū?), reserved only for Cave of the Seven Stars bosses Gabriel Celeste, Crosell and Ethereal Queen.
The Divine Force[]
In Star Ocean: The Divine Force, the levels are once again Earth, Galaxy, Universe, and Chaos. The first three are available by default, whereas Chaos Level is only available after completing the game on Universe. Completing the two harderst levels earn the player the achievements/trophies "Universal Master" and "Master of Chaos".
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Due to sharing its engine with Second Evolution, Star Ocean: First Departure has the Galaxy and Universe modes, but they are "dummied out" and are only accessible via hacking the game.