Star Ocean: The Second Story R Review

This is a spoiler-free Star Ocean: The Second Story R review, only covering minor early game details.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a full remake that comes 25 years after the original was released on the Playstation. Billed as a blend between sci-fi and fantasy, Star Ocean 2’s remake sends us across the galaxy with a range of new features promising to spice up the experience in an attempt to satisfy old fans whilst also enticing some new ones.

Such upgrades involve thoroughly spruced-up graphics, new voice acting and overhauled maps, all supplementing an enhanced battle system with brand new mechanics. Most of these alterations undoubtedly improve the experience, but there are still far too many unmistakable signs of age that hold the game back.

Starting a new game presents a choice between two main protagonists. Players must select either Claude C.Kenny or Rena Lanford. Claude is the son of a space Admiral, struggling to follow in his father’s monumental footsteps. Rena, meanwhile, is straight out of the good old list of RPG clichés – a young girl with strange powers and a mystical, gleaming pendant.

The duo cross paths when Claude is suddenly teleported to Rena’s home planet of Expel during a routine recon mission. Despite being prohibited from interfering with such an underdeveloped planet, Claude’s advanced technology leads Rena to believe him the hero of light, destined to save her world from the calamitous influence of an evil and mysterious tool known as the Sorcery Globe.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R definitely leaves a strong first impression with vibrant visuals that are lightyears from from the original. The locations all translate superbly into full 3D, becoming all the more immersive as a result. It’s also nice to get back onto a good old-fashioned world map that really looks the part after its considerable modernisation. It’s wonderful to revolve the camera and experience the considerable depth that has been added to the world of Expel, along with a grand rearranged soundtrack that usually hits the mark.

The character models, however, remain as 2D sprites in a bid to capture some nostalgia and blend it with its modern sheen. For me, this move doesn’t pay off. The characters actually look out of place on the otherwise exquisite 3D maps, and it makes for a jarring visual contrast that doesn’t work. The sprites work in 2D-HD efforts like Octopath Traveler, but their limits get found out in rotating 3D environments. I would have loved to see the character models revamped into something like a Tales of Vesperia or Symphonia’s cel-shading, but it was not to be.

Turning to the gameplay itself, Star Ocean: The Second Story R has a frenetic, action-based battle system. Characters can be switched around on the fly to utilise the varying abilities and battle styles they possess. Such switching soon becomes necessary because the AI is absolutely hideous. Any character you do not control will either die within seconds when an enemy’s aggro switches to them, or blast through their entire reserve of MP just as quickly, meaning my most common reason to switch over character control was to simply get them out of the way.

There are a few different strategy options, but none of them give a solid balance between attacking effectively whilst reasonably protecting themselves from the danger. You’re left with a rather all-or-nothing approach of either telling them to completely conserve their MP, or accept the fact they are soon going to be entirely depleted or KO’d.

When actually controlling the characters, the battles are a mashy affair which is… kinda fun, sometimes. Along with their standard health, enemies have shield bars that can be whittled down to inflict a ‘break’, incapacitating them temporarily whilst reducing their defence. Timing a backstep correctly will warp your character behind a foe and deal some bonus break damage, but mistiming it can devastatingly cause your own character to be stunned, often resulting in their own swift death.

Although there is some satisfaction to be found by butchering the countless enemies (which you can combine into battle chains for increased rewards), the battle system is another area that feels a bit off. Very few skirmishes lead to a healthy contest, and the vast majority will be over in a matter of seconds. Either you will obliterate the opposition, or you will get comprehensively destroyed yourself if you are underleveled or underskilled. I can live with this in bog-standard battles, but even most of the boss battles follow this pattern, mostly resulting in an anti-climactic letdown.

Outside of battle, Star Ocean: The Second Story R forces you into its many menu screens to repeatedly utilise its growth system. Each character receives Skill Points (SP) from battle, which are assigned to a huge plethora of different skills to assist your party in some admittedly inventive ways. These range from fishing, to crafting and upgrading equipment, to being able to call an animal to bring you items during a dungeon exploration.

Some of this is reasonably enjoyable at first, but the skill system becomes overkill before long, to the point that I was absolutely sick of opening the menu. The initial conundrums of how to assign your limited SP is soon a case of mindlessly learning the same skills for everyone. SP is later given out so charitably from the (very) basic guild missions and linked-up battles that they no longer feel like a commodity. Delving into the skill system is not really optional, because it’s basically impossible to progress without investing heavily in the various character attributes in order to earn the stat bonuses that accompany them.

In fact, it’s as if Star Ocean: The Second Story R is trying to make you break the game. If you don’t exploit all of these mechanics, enemies will make short work of you. When you inevitably use them, you’ll go back to destroying them immediately. Even on the hardest difficulty, there is virtually no middle ground. After the first five hours or so, I genuinely can’t recall a single battle that felt like a satisfying challenge. Any battles that do cause problems can be retried instantly (which is truly for the best given how fast they are over), and if you just mash the ‘break-focused’ skills you will get the job done in the end.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is also found lacking in its narrative, where the wrinkles of age are more prevalent than ever. The main plot is filled with exposition and hand-wavy contrivances. Your party is sent from pillar to post in response to sudden pieces of bad luck or one-off problems that have coincided with their arrival. This may be true of many other RPGs, but few feature as egregiously lazy writing – especially in recent years, which I would argue is the apt comparison given the modern release date… and modern price tag.

Most of the characters are likeable enough when they get a chance to do something, but they all remain hugely underdeveloped. This includes the main two protagonists, whose arcs get a bit more flesh around the bones compared to others, but still feel like a massively missed opportunity. The juxtaposed nature of Claude and Rena’s background certainly has its potential, but there simply isn’t enough dialogue beyond the opening hours to expand on it.

Time and time again, huge events, cataclysmic calamities and earth-shattering revelations regularly pass by with little more than a small passing comment – and sometimes no comment whatsoever. Star Ocean: The Second Story R is not the only game guilty of this, but it’s definitely the worst offender I’ve ever come across. There are umpteen chances to expand the characters, but the story generally hurtles straight towards the next fetch quest, with the exception of a small handful of meaningful conversations.

There is a passable effort at some optional relationship development in the form of Private Actions, which can boost the affinity levels each character has with one another. Essentially, your chosen protagonist can separately meet up with other party members in certain locations, where optional scenes can impact their bonds – positively and negatively. The majority of these interactions are surface-level, but some are fairly entertaining and interesting.

It’s also nice to see that character pairs can have bonds independently of your protagonist, and the huge possible combination of different bond levels will impact the ending – which has a massive range of possibilities. The Private Actions system doesn’t exactly plug the holes in the plot and character writing elsewhere, but it’s better than nothing.

If the playable party are underdeveloped, this is nothing compared to the main band of villains, who have all the depth of evil-looking cardboard cut outs. There is absolutely nothing to latch onto; no emotional connection to anyone; no motivations that challenge the convictions of the heroes; no personality to inspire a longing to defeat them. Facing them feels like little more than a box-ticking exercise. I kept waiting for something to jump out and make me care, but it simply never did.

The upshot of my many grievances is that I probably enjoyed Star Ocean 2 R for about 10 hours, until the novelty of exploring a new world had completely wore off. The remainder of my 40-hour playthrough of Claude’s route was mostly spent wondering what all the fuss is about, because it has undeniably gone down brilliantly with the fans.

Sometimes, perhaps you’ve just got to hold your hands up, say you had a go and accept that it just wasn’t for you. I didn’t play the original 25 years ago – if I had, my feelings may well be different. Instead of feeling a sense of understanding and fulfillment, I’m left with a sense of bemusement, like I’m seriously missing something. As far as I’m concerned, Star Ocean 2 should have been left well alone.

Score: 5/10

Star Ocean: The Second Story R may appease nostalgic fans of the original, but there is little to satisfy newer players. Despite it’s modern facelift, fatal signs of age remain in its plot and characters. The revamped battle system also loses its novelty quickly, becoming a brief and unsatisfying affair, whilst depending far too much on dull menu tinkering that feels more like admin work than gameplay.