Sights & Sounds
- I loved the visual contrast of the faithfully blurry sprites with the sharp 3D backgrounds and environments. The game just wouldn't have felt right if they messed with the look of the character sprites. That said, the newly added character portraits are still a nice addition
- The visual aesthetic is bursting with charm, even if it isn't technically very impressive looking. Give that it's a remake of a game first released in 1998, it would be a little bit of a silly expectation in the first place
- I haven't played this game since years started beginning with the number "2", so I had forgotten how great the soundtrack is. Maybe it's just restored well, but it really is great. For those seeking an even greater degree of nostalgia, it's completely possible to enable the old BG music
- The voice acting is like every bad anime dub you've ever seen. It was bad in the PS1 version, too, so they've managed to recapture that magic as well. For me, it adds to the charm, but I can imagine a lot of people wanting to strangle some of the characters
Story & Vibes
- Look, it's a JRPG, so I'm not going to sit here and try to convince anyone that the story is any good. It's just not. It's full of macguffin hunting and brimming with hackneyed anime nonsense. But it is a fun sci-fi/fantasy mess of an epic to see through. It isn't good, but it's at least entertaining
- Gripes aside, the game is full of fun stuff to mess around with. Beyond the usual RPG task of talking to every NPC you encounter, you can also switch to "private actions" in any town to see what your party members are up to. The little interactions that arise from these are some of the best parts of the game
- Speaking of party members, all of them are visually well-designed and have their own charm. Except Welch. She crashed the party in the worst way possible
Playability & Replayability
- Outside of combat, this plays like just about every RPG made between 1987 and 2000. You walk around a map, go into towns, do some quests, and eventually beat a big bad guy who's trying to do something objectionable
- Combat, though, is a treat. Instead of random battles, Star Ocean 2 has an active battle system that allows you to run around a small arena and duke it out with your foes. Although it usually devolves into mashing out combos and throwing in the occasional special move or spell, it's still satisfying in a weird way
- What adds to the combat systems appeal is the ABSOLUTELY BROKEN crafting and skills system. It's unbalanced and silly in the most enjoyable way possible. I applaud the devs for not fixing any of it, because it allows you to do absolutely bonkers damage and craft the strongest weapons in the game when you're only like 60% of the way through the plot. I love it
- People who played the PS1 original (I can't comment on the PSP remake) will be thrilled by all of the quality of life improvements. Some of my favorites include fast travel from anywhere, getting rid of random battles, the ability to enter private action mode at any time in town, faster crafting, autorun, and pausable cutscenes. This should be the blueprint for every remake. The devs really did players a lot of favors with this extremely welcome additions
- As for a replay, I absolutely need to. I did this playthrough as Claude, but still need to do a Rena playthrough. Star Ocean 2 has 13 recruitable characters but only 8 party slots, meaning that I need to go back and make some different decisions
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Star Ocean: The Second Story is still my favorite PS1 game, so I had some trepidations going in. But what I wound up playing was not only a wonderful dose of all those great childhood memories, but a boatload of enhancements and conveniences that made this experience a major improvement over the original. It may not be able to transport me back to being a 12 year old with my sister telling me how to recruit Chisato with the GameFAQ guide she printed at school, but it was at least able to stir up those happy memories.
- If you're worried about having not played the first Star Ocean game, don't. I've still never played it. This game stands on its own without needing the prequel to explain anything
- No bugs, no crashes, no hiccups, and no notes. This is what an excellent remake looks like
- Ran absolutely flawlessly on the Steam Deck from star to finish
Final Verdict
- 9/10. I know that nostalgia really boosts my rating, but there's still a lot here for newcomers who just want to play a really fun JRPG. It's easy to tell that this was (re)made with a lot of love and respect for the original title. Just a solid all-around experience and a new gold standard for remakes of older games
- I loved the visual contrast of the faithfully blurry sprites with the sharp 3D backgrounds and environments. The game just wouldn't have felt right if they messed with the look of the character sprites. That said, the newly added character portraits are still a nice addition
- The visual aesthetic is bursting with charm, even if it isn't technically very impressive looking. Give that it's a remake of a game first released in 1998, it would be a little bit of a silly expectation in the first place
- I haven't played this game since years started beginning with the number "2", so I had forgotten how great the soundtrack is. Maybe it's just restored well, but it really is great. For those seeking an even greater degree of nostalgia, it's completely possible to enable the old BG music
- The voice acting is like every bad anime dub you've ever seen. It was bad in the PS1 version, too, so they've managed to recapture that magic as well. For me, it adds to the charm, but I can imagine a lot of people wanting to strangle some of the characters
Story & Vibes
- Look, it's a JRPG, so I'm not going to sit here and try to convince anyone that the story is any good. It's just not. It's full of macguffin hunting and brimming with hackneyed anime nonsense. But it is a fun sci-fi/fantasy mess of an epic to see through. It isn't good, but it's at least entertaining
- Gripes aside, the game is full of fun stuff to mess around with. Beyond the usual RPG task of talking to every NPC you encounter, you can also switch to "private actions" in any town to see what your party members are up to. The little interactions that arise from these are some of the best parts of the game
- Speaking of party members, all of them are visually well-designed and have their own charm. Except Welch. She crashed the party in the worst way possible
Playability & Replayability
- Outside of combat, this plays like just about every RPG made between 1987 and 2000. You walk around a map, go into towns, do some quests, and eventually beat a big bad guy who's trying to do something objectionable
- Combat, though, is a treat. Instead of random battles, Star Ocean 2 has an active battle system that allows you to run around a small arena and duke it out with your foes. Although it usually devolves into mashing out combos and throwing in the occasional special move or spell, it's still satisfying in a weird way
- What adds to the combat systems appeal is the ABSOLUTELY BROKEN crafting and skills system. It's unbalanced and silly in the most enjoyable way possible. I applaud the devs for not fixing any of it, because it allows you to do absolutely bonkers damage and craft the strongest weapons in the game when you're only like 60% of the way through the plot. I love it
- People who played the PS1 original (I can't comment on the PSP remake) will be thrilled by all of the quality of life improvements. Some of my favorites include fast travel from anywhere, getting rid of random battles, the ability to enter private action mode at any time in town, faster crafting, autorun, and pausable cutscenes. This should be the blueprint for every remake. The devs really did players a lot of favors with this extremely welcome additions
- As for a replay, I absolutely need to. I did this playthrough as Claude, but still need to do a Rena playthrough. Star Ocean 2 has 13 recruitable characters but only 8 party slots, meaning that I need to go back and make some different decisions
Overall Impressions & Performance
- Star Ocean: The Second Story is still my favorite PS1 game, so I had some trepidations going in. But what I wound up playing was not only a wonderful dose of all those great childhood memories, but a boatload of enhancements and conveniences that made this experience a major improvement over the original. It may not be able to transport me back to being a 12 year old with my sister telling me how to recruit Chisato with the GameFAQ guide she printed at school, but it was at least able to stir up those happy memories.
- If you're worried about having not played the first Star Ocean game, don't. I've still never played it. This game stands on its own without needing the prequel to explain anything
- No bugs, no crashes, no hiccups, and no notes. This is what an excellent remake looks like
- Ran absolutely flawlessly on the Steam Deck from star to finish
Final Verdict
- 9/10. I know that nostalgia really boosts my rating, but there's still a lot here for newcomers who just want to play a really fun JRPG. It's easy to tell that this was (re)made with a lot of love and respect for the original title. Just a solid all-around experience and a new gold standard for remakes of older games