STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R Reviews

The OG game has such a special place in my heart, and whatever lofty expectations I had for a remake, this FAR exceeded them. Post-game content, crafting and Chaos difficulty Raid Gabriel were highlights and about everything I really look forward to in my JRPG's. That said, it is far from perfect and the writing still feels like 1998 jrpg to it's core. It's been 10+ years since I've played even the psp version and I was struck by how bare bones it feels. I especially have grown to dislike it's handling of alternate endings and private actions when the entire cast and story seem to outright ignore any of the decisions I've made as a player. Why implement an affection system if Rena and Claude are gonna be hard shipped by anyone and everyone I come across, despite them have literally 0 affection points toward each other in game? It renders the alternate endings feeling incredibly out of place. 8/10 - Squeenix PLEASE, give us Star Ocean 3 on Steam and my life is yours

If you like stories and dialogue seemingly written by middle schoolers for mentally cringe pre-teens, then this is a good buy... at half price. I vaguely remembered playing this game as a kid, but stopped early. I now see why, as an adult. This game is and never was made for someone like me, but it does have some good in it. Combat is good. Main story is interest... for the first half. Plenty of character to venture with, if you can stomach the interactions. Dialogue is middlingly cringe inducing. Graphics are not worth the full price. Music isn't trying to win any awards. 6/10 experience. Get it cheap, if you REALLY want it.

God awful writing and not so great VA for english. But by god this game is gorgeous.

Amazing story, great VA, visual upgrades are stunning. they may the game easy in a good way. i'm still in post game and have not started my Claude route.

This was one of those games where after I finished the story I was left with a void of just wanting more of it. Well fortunately there is a lot more to do in the game and I will be but the core story is completed. I randomly decided to purchase this game when I saw it on sale and I had been interested in trying the star ocean series for a long time. I had little to no expectations but this game is now on the top of my list as one of my favorite JRPGs ever. From the story, the characters, the gameplay, how much there is to do, and the villains (I like to call them space god hand because they remind me of the god hand from berserk) it's amazing. I played on Universe difficulty, one below the hardest which is chaos, and it provided a really good challenge as well. And not the artificial kind either. It felt difficult but fair. I logged 53 hours before completing my first run with Claude, which was also me doing a lot of extra stuff too though. So now I got another playthrough to do with Rena and also to attempt Chaos difficulty. Also the other endings which there are 99 of but uh, I'll probably just knock out 15 for the achievement and call it idk lol. When I looked into the star ocean series I saw this one was almost unanimously considered the best across the fanbase and I can certainly see why. Anyways for the price point I absolutely recommend this game. You get so much content and such a great story with great gameplay at a value you just don't get with games often. It is absolutely worth it. Especially if you're a fan of JRPGs I would say playing this game is a must. ============================================= EDIT GAMEPLAY: I wanted to add this into the review since I didn't delve too deep into it. I was mostly just keeping it simple to why I enjoyed the game so others thinking about trying out the series could take it into account. However, I saw some reviews that are really inaccurate about the gameplay. "Just mash B and you win." just isn't a fair representation of the gameplay unless you're playing on the easiest difficulty and not using any of the many mechanics this game has that many JRPG's, even modern ones, just do not provide. The game has a complex system of tactics, strategies, and formations etc that are all utilized to get the most damage and damage reduction possible to win battles especially against later dungeons and some of the endgame and post game bosses which is super important to learn if you're playing on Universe difficulty or higher. Below that yes it can be a mash B button and win simulator I suppose. Was why I changed the difficulty myself very early on. Chaos was too difficult for me as I was still learning the game and its many systems. But Universe was just right for learning but still having a challenge. It also has an elaborate crafting system and alchemy for creating better gear should you need to. This, in my Chaos playthrough, has become extremely important as getting good equipment to get me through some fights just by finding it early game hasn't been enough. Compounding (A system for creating healing items and MP restorative items etc) and even cooking have also been extremely vital for being able to progress in chaos mode. It was good and helpful in Universe too but it is completely necessary on Chaos. TLDR: So my point is yes. If you lower the difficulty as much as you can it's going to be really easy and a mash B and win game but for people that don't know anything about the game. There is a lot more to it than just pressing a single button.

This was awesome. I just beat this game, although I couldn't beat any of the big RAID bosses and didn't bother trying to figure them out, so there is a bit of unfinished stuff for me. That said, this was great! Such a cool world and amazing game, visually, and fun to play for the most part. Fighting starts off too easy but eventually gets to be evenly matched with some overpowered things as well, but is repetitive, although not in a bad way at all. I am going to watch the anime next, there is actually a full 24 episode or whatever anime of this game. I really enjoyed this for the most part, but my favorite Star Ocean game is still the Xbox 360 one, I think it's called The Last Hope, it was so cool. I love this universe.

SOOOOOO MANY BUGS FIXED!!! they have basically fixed all the bugs in the game and made it entirely possible to max out skills and combat skills making the game so much more playable and fun, highly recommend if you like grinding endlessly to let off steam.

I played the original way back in the day. I haven't touched it again until this remake. The remake is quite well done. That said, the game is still showing its age in departments past the visuals. The story, VA, and characters are charming. However, don't expect anything past being very simple. There are times when the game can make me laugh with its charm, but there are more times when the writing is just way too simple and bland. I say that, but I can still feel the passion that went behind the original creation process. There is love and care here which I can appreciate. The battle system is fun and you can certainly do neat things with the crafting systems, items, formations, team comps, etc. I played the game primarily on UNIVERSE mode. Not sure I'll bother to play the post game content though. Overall a blast from the past that has enough flaws that I would say be weary of picking up if you don't already know what you are getting into.

This is how truly a remake of an old school JRPG should be done this was an absolutely incredible remake of one of the greatest action JRPGs ever made. 10/10 I absolutely loved this game.

This is how all old school remakes should be done. I had an absolute amazing time playing this game!