Life is peaceful in the medieval town of Clatos. Ratix, together with his best friends Milly and Dorn they have a fulfilling life coming from a heritage of warriors and healers. But, things never stay peaceful. When a strange disease plagues the neigbouring town, they rush to help only to find out that everyone has turned to stone! Upon trying to find the cure, they meet some strange people from an entire different civilization and time! They're teleported to the space ship to work together in a massive adventure spanning both time and space!

Star Ocean is the first in a long running series that feature real-time battle much like games like Tales of Phantasia. The game also feature synthesized speech, something tri-Ace was known to incorporate into their games, making them stand miles above other SNES titles of the time.