The PlayStation 1 period was brimming with JRPG gems within the Nineties. Whereas Ultimate Fantasy or Chrono Set off stole the present, different franchises offered novel concepts. Star Ocean: The Second Story R could intimidate gamers, but it surely’s an enough contribution to the ’90s JRPG legacy as famous in my assessment.
Ensign’s Log: Area Date 366
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It’s almost 20 years after the story of the unique Star Ocean, the place we’re dropped at a quasi 32-bit, HD-2D rendition (developed by Gemdrops) of the sequel. It’s the second mainline entry within the spacefaring science fantasy motion role-playing sport franchise that emerged because the brainchild of former Wolf Crew devs. This story follows twin protagonists Claude and Rena when the previous winds up on the latter’s planet, Expel, amid an rising monster disaster brought on by the mysterious Sorcery Globe.
So far as JRPGs go, it’s fairly normal, and for followers of old-school ‘Tales Of’ video games, you’ll be happy. That’s no shock given the builders had a hand in Tales of Phantasia, but it surely helps boost the battle system and hold it from feeling too just like the plethora of turn-based JRPGs of this period.
You get an assortment of recruitable allies with branching paths resulting in totally different characters in every playthrough. Every has a reasonably attention-grabbing persona, however they’re doomed to be supporting characters with out a lot bearing on the plot, save for a number of exceptions. All in all, that is fairly normal, with solely a handful of spinoff characters (Summary is basically Lucca from Chrono Set off while you meet her). In distinction, some facet characters are absolute standouts like Ashton.
However the place it feels actually spinoff is in its setting and sci-fi subgenre. The sport units such an annoying first impression as ‘weeb Star Trek‘ to the purpose of the sport reciting the “closing frontier” monologue initially. It’s not till later that it finds its footing, however you’ll be able to see the parallels, with Claude’s father an admiral of the Pangalactic Federation, a “Area Date” calendar, and a transparent reference to the Prime Directive as examples.
However I digress: I really like Star Trek, and seeing this as a playable JRPG is a promoting level, right down to you being despatched to a extra primitive planet solely to find an rising, universal-scope plot beneath the floor.
To Say You Have No Alternative is a Failure of the Creativeness
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Certainly one of Star Ocean: The Second Story R’s strengths which it retains from the originals is the liberty it provides you to construct your characters up, stat-by-stat. I needed to expertise the fruits of this within the purest type, by cranking the battle issue to ‘Universe’ from the beginning, to see how shortly I may adapt.
You stage up like in another JRPG, however you additionally acquire SP and BP permitting you to customise skills like merchandise creation and overworld interactions together with summoning touring birds who do your looking for you and enhancing expertise level yields from battle.
It’s an influence gamer’s dream, and it feels empowering when issues click on for you and also you’re capable of basically ‘soft-break’ the sport. When gamers would run into tough conditions in JRPGs, the standard go-to reply is to grind till you’re over-leveled.
Whereas this reply doesn’t change at its core for Second Story R, you’re not compelled to grind with out making the grind yield superior outcomes. To say you haven’t any alternative is a failure of the creativeness, as Jean-Luc Picard would say. Make investments your SP rigorously, chain your battles, and watch out which fight abilities you give characters. However while you’ve accomplished every part proper, and also you’re seeing a stream of abilities continuously activating mid-encounter and enemies buckle to your would possibly, this sport can really feel mighty rewarding, such as you’ve solved the puzzle to unlock limitless energy.
To Be Alive is a Accountability as Nicely as a Proper
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A lot of the plot focuses on the world of Expel as they combat again the approaching tides of monster threats. Nevertheless, as you method the top of this preliminary plot, your world is opened up and issues grow to be extra attention-grabbing, with a society so superior they wield the facility to inflict and even halt entropy. It’s fairly cool, and whereas it presents dated real-world hypotheses just like the Large Crunch, it feels plausible, and the notion of villains who would twist that to their means is intimidating.
Nevertheless, these plots have been explored earlier than, and even simply lately on the time. The principle characters preventing again towards a menacing, extremely highly effective foe posing an existential menace to their world as an idea is thrilling however generic.
What Second Story R brings to the desk is how its specific characters modify to the story, comparable to Claude strolling out from behind his father’s shadow and self-actualizing as a hero and defender of life. To be alive is a duty in addition to a proper, as Picard would say. You wish to root for these characters struggling to guard their house and, particularly in heartbreaking moments comparable to how Rena finds out about her previous.
Story-wise it doesn’t discover too many novel concepts, but it surely feels extra cerebral than quite a lot of Sq. Enix properties recently. It’s loaded with previous science fiction chestnuts like universe-spanning empires and explores narratives and themes like coming-of-age and finishing up your
It’s Doable to Commit No Errors and Nonetheless Lose
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One of many greatest points I’ve with the sport is the absurd, virtually merciless depth it could deal with gamers who aren’t prepared for battle challenges. That’s not even going into the nonsense that’s the closing boss battle’s infinite, fast chain of apocalyptic-scale spellcasting. I’m speaking about even easy issues like going into an enviornment battle, being given a handful of berries, and getting paralyzed and stunlocked into oblivion with no warning. It’s doable to commit no errors and nonetheless lose.
However to that finish, while you overcome these challenges, the excessive is tough to place into phrases. I spent 80 hours on this sport absorbing the range of talent and crafting choices, being excited by how far more enjoyable grinding is on this while you get snug with Scouting/Coaching battle-chaining. There’s so much to love when you’re a hardcore participant, however for individuals who wish to get pleasure from this for the story, informal gamers will really feel not noted of an admittedly considerably difficult system.
The Endings Are the Greatest Difficulty
So I completed a playthrough feeling empowered and like I’d solved the sport, and skilled a number of of the promised 99 endings and I used to be instantly disturbed. The friendship scores you construct up can lead to romantic relationships, and when you don’t plan or prune development for sure characters, it could create some bizarre pairings. The primary one I noticed once I beat the sport backpedaled from outright being a sexual relationship, to as an alternative being a creepy one which feels so much like grooming.
The endings are the sport’s greatest concern and instantly soured my satisfaction upon beating the sport. Think about you get your characters to bond so properly that an 18-year-old and a 12-year-old little one get collectively by chance, and no quantity of different cute pairings (Ashton and Summary was a giant win) would win me over. In truth, within the later phases of the sport, an NPC instantly mentions age variations and the way they shouldn’t cease folks from getting collectively. It’s bizarre, and creepy, and is continually current as the sport’s plot typically circles again to sure characters’ chemistry.
The Verdict
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Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a product of its time as each a hardcore-adjacent PS1-era JRPG and as a number to a number of problematic romance mechanics. Its plot is thrilling but generic and is wildly insistent about how sure characters ought to find yourself collectively. However past that, you’ll discover a good and modular character stat-building system, superb battles, some fabulous character portrait artwork, and an exquisite 32-bit-inspired world so that you can discover.
– This text was up to date on November twentieth, 2023