Why Star Ocean 4 Is A Terrible Game Part 3

 This part follows up from Part 2 to explain some things that make the writing bad in more detail.

All warnings since Part 1 still apply

1. The Muah being plot relevant at all is lore breaking

The mere fact a lot of key plot twists hinge on the Muah is a massive canon breaker in and of itself. The Muah were part of the big series reveal in SO1 and SO2 that humanity, via their common ancestors the Muah, inadvertently seeded many of the races they would later encounter.

Further, the fact anymore more than scattered records of their existence were available in SO4 is canon-breaking. The whole point to them being a "lost civilization" is that their continent Mu (an archaic term for Atlantis) and the Muah themselves were essentially yeeted across time and space, leaving nothing but apocryphal records of themselves behind, which matches how Atlantis is portrayed IRL, which is what they were based on.

However, in blatant defiance of canon backed up by SO1 and SO2 and even SO3, SO4 decides to ignore their established canon and claims not only were ruins of theirs discovered, humanity also discovered symbology without knowing it from said ruins.

Given this all takes place 300 years before humanity should have had the first reasonable inkling symbology was a thing (this is a key plot point of SO1), this really defies series canon.

To be fair, just their mention alone is not canon breaking. When the Cardinaon leader brings them up, it's not inconceivable they were filled in on the basics due to their contact with the Grigori, and this alone would be a nice call-forward to Star Ocean 1.

Anything beyond this is where they step over the line and break prior canon to crowbar them into a story that is only harmed by their inclusion.

Unfortunately, a huge portion of SO4 hinges on breaking this canon from the prior games.

2. Symbology is somewhat less lore-breaking, but still a pretty bad breach of canon.

Simply put, symbology SHOULD NOT EXIST in this game, at least not under that name.

For one thing, it's Star Ocean's version of magic, and canonically, the Pangalactic Federation only really became aware of it in Star Ocean 1. The fact it existed prior to that is not unrealistic, though it wasn't until post-Star Ocean 1 that the Pangalactic Federation integrated it into their tech and made it an official discipline.

The problem with it in Star Ocean 4 is that they, first of all, used the name "symbology" for it, and second, made it a key backstory element like the Muah. These both break canon so badly it's not funny and makes the discovery of both in Star Ocean 1 look idiotic because it was supposed to be a big deal when both were discovered in Star Ocean 1. SO4 didn't care to keep either vague in the slightest for the sake of plausible deniability to avoid too severe a canon break, they just make it a commonplace element no one really questions despite the fact it's three hundred years too early for humanity to be well acquainted with it.

Sure, you can have it exist in some form, but tying it to both the main characters via the Muah (another canon breaking piece of writing) and making both explicit plot elements that break later canon is just pushing it too far. Star Ocean 1 made it so only one human character got ahold of it, and then they had to learn it the hard way. Star Ocean 4 drops in on your main male character for no real reason except to crowbar it into the game. Sure, they gave symbology to the previous protagonist in some form, but that had a perfectly logical reason for it that didn't defy prior established canon.

3. The Grigori will soon make no sense

The Grigori are initially introduced as a force of evolution gone horribly wrong, granting great power and knowledge, but with the price of mutating the minds and bodies of those they uplift. This made decent sense, and early on, this motive suffices to both give a good prequel reason for why the Pangalactic Federation would later develop the Underdeveloped Planet Presevation Pact (UP3) for later games and provided a good foil to the heroes, who quickly realize handing out advanced knowledge to lesser races like candy is unwise.

Problem is, the writers will quickly add on what amounts to a self-destructive sci-fi take on a death cult motive to the Grigori and will soon write themselves into a corner where they have to invent some way to stop them since they lack a clear "leader" to stop to end their threat.

I'll belay more for further parts, but honesty, they were a pretty decent villain concept that was horrifically derailed into something stupid.

Part 4 will cover more information about the plot so I can detail some more canon breakage and generally asinine writing.