Item Creation (アイテムクリエーション, Aitemu Kuriēshon?), generally shortened to IC, is a recurring gameplay mechanic of the Star Ocean series, which allows the players to create and enhance a multitude of items. A variety of trades are offered per game.
Welch Vineyard, who first appeared in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, is deeply connected with the Item Creation system throughout the series, generally being the one who enables the player to use it.
Overview[]
The Item Creation mechanic allows for characters who know certain specialties, talents or field skills to make items or perfect them through identification, modification, reproduction, and combination. Through trial and error, the different trades available (e.g. Alchemy, Crafting, Engineering) must be individually mastered up to level 10, the reward often being the possibility of creating the best equipment pieces a given game has to offer. However, the feature has a failure rate: attempts may result in worthless items, losing materials and fol in the process.
In the original Star Ocean, The Second Story, and their remakes, Item Creation can be performed by teaching Skills of the knowledge, sense, and technical kind to characters; upon learning the required ones (often three, but sometimes just two), they may access the IC specialty. The average of these skills will determine the level of the Specialty. Talents, which may bloom during attempts, are required for a chance of success. Certain items, by just simply being in one's inventory, may increase odds of success, but such effects are non-cumulative.
Item Creation in Till the End of Time must be performed at Workshops scattered throughout towns and dungeons. 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. Although party members have the Talents to make creations of their own, the aid of Inventors is required for obtaining the best items in their specific categories. Players can choose one of two plans: Original Invention, which creates items from scratch, while Specify Plan enables refining and improving items owned. Success will depend on the combined total of the development team's Talent levels minus the Evaluation value of the intended item. Items once again may improve one's success rate.
In The Last Hope and Integrity and Faithlessness, Item Creation requires the discovery of Recipes (レシピ, Reshipi?). Items have a fixed amount of materials or "ingredients", generally ranging from two to five items in varying quantities. If the player has enough to make multiple copies, the option to make more than one will appear. Creation attempts cannot fail. In The Last Hope the recipes must be discovered via Invention Groups, whereas in the fifth entry, recipes are unlocked by increasing each Specialty's level. However, only the required raw materials are visible; the result is revealed only after trying out the recipe.
Appearances[]
Star Ocean[]
In Star Ocean, the Item Creation specialties are: Crafting, Cooking, Compounding, Appraising, Customization, Art, Writing, Alchemy, and Smithery. The remake First Departure introduces three additional ones—Survival, Replication, and Machinist—, as well as "super specialties", of which Contraband, Publication and Master Chef are for creation purposes. Smithery is retooled into the Blacksmith super specialty.
The Second Story[]
In Star Ocean: The Second Story, the Item Creation specialties are: Art, Customize, Identify, Metalwork, Authoring, Compounding, Cooking, Alchemy, Survival, Reproduction, and Machinery. Super Specialties are introduced in this entry, of which the creation-related ones are Master Chef, Publishing, Blacksmith and Reverse Side. The localized names of most specialties change in Second Evolution, but otherwise the mechanics remain the same.
Blue Sphere[]
Till the End of Time[]
In Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, players are introduced to the mechanic when they register at the Craftsman's Guild in Peterny. Welch gives a general overview of the industry, a compact communicator for new developments in the Guild, and 1000 fol in seed money to fix the Workshop across the street. The eight types of Item Creation are: Cooking, Crafting, Smithery, Engineering, Alchemy, Compounding, Writing, and Synthesis.
The Last Hope[]
In Star Ocean: The Last Hope, it can only be performed inside the SRF-003 Calnus, where it is managed by Welch. While there are thirty Recipe Memos that can be found while exploring, for the most part the player needs to create the recipes themself. This is done by making Invention Groups of up to three characters by taking into account their combined skill scores, who will come up with recipes available at the trade's current Skill Level, with the session costing 1 Party SP every six seconds.
The following skills are available: Smithery, Cooking, Alchemy, Artistry, Engineering, Crafting, Compounding, and Synthesis. Available to party members as Field Skills, each character is responsible for the progression of one particular category. Although no longer an IC skill, Duplication makes a return. Creating 100% of all possible items earns the player the "World's Biggest Welch Fan" trophy.
Integrity and Faithlessness[]
In Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, completing Welch's quests in Myiddok gives access to Specialties for Item Creation. They are learned in the following order: Compounding, Cooking, Smithery, Alchemy, Crafting, Augmentation, Engineering, Synthesis, and Authoring. Most of them involve recipes; the outliers are Synthesis, or the combination of up to six items into a suprise result, and Augmentation, which uses up items as raw materials to increase other items' stats or add new factors.
The Divine Force[]
While Item Creation in Star Ocean: The Divine Force is once again unlocked by completing Welch's quests, the process resembles the mechanic from Star Ocean and The Second Story. All party members can invest SP to level up the IC skills, but only through practice (attempts giving SP as well), characters may unlock their hidden Talents, which may be advantageous in certain skills. Support items to increase one's success rate also return. The following skills are available: Compounding, Crafting, Smithery, Engineering, Alchemy, Authoring, and Synthesis.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Although Star Ocean: Anamnesis has no Item Creation feature, the Weapon Customization feature resembles the mechanics of the recurring IC skill Synthesis.
External links[]