Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Genre: Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Star Ocean: The Second Story is the second game in the Star Ocean series, and the first title in the series to release outside of Japan. Originally released in North America in 1999 on the original PlayStation, the game received a PlayStation Portable remaster in 2009 called Star Ocean: The Second Evolution. Then, in 2023, the game was given the full remake treatment (much like its predecessor), with a release on PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this game. Those who follow eShopperReviews (or who clicked on the link in the prior paragraph) will know that I was not at all fond of the first Star Ocean game. I felt that the graphics looked archaic, the story was poorly-written, and the combat was clunky and often unresponsive. At the same time, The Second Story is widely seen by fans of the Star Ocean franchise as the pinnacle of the series, and Square Enix and developer Gemdrops seem to have made it a point to make this a much more comprehensive remake than the first game got. Would this make the difference?

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The Second Story’s Story

Much as with the first game, Star Ocean: The Second Story is an Action-RPG that combines sci-fi and fantasy elements, with The Second Story taking place 20 years after the prior game and following a few new main characters. In this game, players given the choice to see the game’s story from the perspective of Claude, a spacefaring member of Earth Federation military force teleported against his will by a strange device he discovered, or Rena, a young girl with magical powers living on the planet Expel who yearns to find out about her mysterious past. When Claude shows up on Expel and saves Rena from an attacking monster, Rena and other locals see him as a prophesied hero. Meanwhile, Claude is seeking a way to get home and decides that the so-called “sorcery globe” causing problems on Expel may help him discover a way to do so.

While the two characters’ stories are closely tied to each other, each has a slightly different perspective on the game’s events, as well as their own internal dialogue, giving this game extra replay value. In addition, this game brings back the first game’s dating game-esque “relationship system” where characters’ relationships with each other can alter the course of the game’s story, and each playthrough will only allow access to some of the game’s playable characters, with all of this culminating in supposedly *87* endings… though as I understand it, the overall arc of the story remains the same regardless, and surely some of these endings must only differ slightly from each other (or so I have to assume. I’m certainly not playing through this game 86 times to report on this).

While the story’s premise and the great potential for players to influence it is quite nice, the quality of the story’s writing is itself… well, a bit quaint. To be clear, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this game’s writing is bad, but it definitely has a somewhat clunky quality that seems indicative of this game’s origins as a game that was first released on the original PlayStation.

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”Barrel… Colorful barrel”

The Second Story R reuses the voice acting that was added to the game in its Second Evolution remaster. Given the quality of the writing, the voice actors for the game’s leads do the best they can with the material, though some supporting characters feature voicework that isn’t quite as good. Still, overall, what’s here is roughly on par with, if not better than, the quality of the writing. If you’re one of the “subs are better than dubs!” sorta’ people, this game also includes the Japanese voiceovers from the Second Evolution remaster, as well as a new Japanese voice track created for this game (no new English voice recordings, though).

Thus far, pretty much everything I’ve said pertains to content from the prior games, but the first major area where Star Ocean: The Second Story R really sets itself apart is it’s presentation. In short, this game is absolutely gorgeous. This isn’t technically an “HD-2D” game like Octopath Traveler or Live A Live, but it seems to have many of the same qualities of those games.

This remake features 2D pixel art characters walking in fully-3D locales, and these 3D visuals have been rendered using lots of wonderful detail, beautiful water effects, and some gorgeous lighting and shadow effects, with the lighting and shadow affecting the characters as well, making these 2D elements look like they’re right at home in this 3D world. I should note that the Nintendo Switch version of the game has a bit of pop-in, and lowers the framerate from the 60FPS of other versions to 30FPS, but neither of these minor compromises does much to dull the beauty this game has on offer.

What’s more, this release features a completely remade soundtrack that gives the game’s music the full orchestral treatment, though players who prefer can play with the original soundtrack if they like. All in all, if this game’s presentation was the only improvement here, this would already be the definitive version of the game.

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“True genius always gets recognition eventually.”

The graphics are not the only thing improved here. There are tons of small quality of life improvements, new combat mechanics, new tutorial elements, additional save points, a new mini-map, a new fast-travel feature, visible enemy encounters (as opposed to random encounters)… suffice it to say, Gemdrops has gone above and beyond in trying to improve upon the original game.

Okay, but for someone like me, who hated the remake of the prior game in the series, do I think that The Second Story R is at its core a better game?

Absolutely, unquestionably yes. The comparison between the two is like night and day.

The combat in this game flows better than in the first game, and its mechanics are more gradually-introduced. More importantly, I don’t have any of the issues I had with that game wresting control from me – in fact, quite the opposite, I felt like The Second Story R tries at all time to ensure I am in full control, though of course by default during combat teammates are AI-controlled according to one of a few different selectable strategies (anything from “full assault” to “conserve MP” to “just stand there and do nothing”). However, the combat mechanics here are the real star, with this game having a timed dodge system and a shield break system that both add a great element of skill to combat.

In addition, this game offers a new crafting system and plenty of great options for upgrading your characters over time, with a deep skill system. There’s a sizable world map to explore, with the series’ signature “private actions” that offer fun little side-story segments for those who are interested.

So with all of its presentation and gameplay improvements, is Star Ocean: The Second Story R a truly great Action-RPG by today’s standards? Mostly, yes, though it isn’t without its flaws. Beyond the issues I already noted with the story, the game’s pacing can be a bit slow at times, and combat can be pretty chaotic. However, for the most part this game is an absolute triumph of a remake that takes a solid Action-RPG from the PlayStation era and transforms it into a great game that RPG fans today would do well to get ahold of.

tl;dr – Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a remake of a classic PlayStation One Action-RPG that not only gives the game a truly gorgeous makeover, but also fills the game with improvements and QoL enhancements. The result is a game that is excellent by today’s standards, though a few elements like the game’s story definitely still seem a tad dated. Overall, this is definitely a game that RPG fans will want to pick up.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Port/Remake, Best Graphical Style

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