STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R Reviews

Solid remake of an old classic. Nice crisp graphics with some new age tech integrated and audio is great as well. An even better deal if you nab it on sale but probably worth full price too.

The quality of life updates were really well implemented! Looks amazing, no nostalgia glasses required!

This is the best example of a great JRPG. The QOLs added to the game has made it modern without losing its core gameplay. I know this is far-fetched wish but someday I hope they get the chance to remake Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth OR (this is an even more far-fetched wish) they remake the Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria in 2DHD. Note: I'm unable to play any other JPRGs as this has gotten me accustomed to a very high standard of a JRPG.

Even though this game is a remake it does an excellent job of roping you in about the characters. I had never played this game before but I was instantly curious how these two worlds would eventually interact. There is a bit of grinding to be done in this game but it's not at all boring, at least not to me. I'm only halfway through the game but I can't put it down. The graphics are beautiful and the music is catchy. The leveling up process is different than I'm used to, but once I figured it out it wasn't that hard. I definitely recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a good JRPG.

This game checks all my boxes I want for a jrpg. It has a lot of things the modern final fantasies don't have. I bought the game at a discount but it would have been worth the full price.

At the start I find this game an engaging action RPG, we have a variety of characters, a relatively large crafting system, a variety of active skills, and of course the pixel graphic is pretty cute too. While the combat system comes a little bit tedious as you tend to chase the enemy around the screen lacking movement option, the real downfall of this game imo is the absolute unbalance between characters and skill. There are HUGE viability gap between different characters and even the skills of them. One skill it would deal tons of damage, have extremely fast animation time and cost only a little bit of mana, another you'll be stuck in place for a few seconds and not deal nearly enough damage (almost all magic, unfortunately). And one character could be completely overpowers another due to them having access to those overpowered DPS skills. As far as I can tell the developers do nothing to make it a more balanced game, and for a party based JRPG, the absurd level of unbalance is just not something to be tolerated.

A great game that lives up to the original on the PSX. The buffs to casters makes them relevant, the changes to the item crafting takes away the tedium of trying to get very rare items crafted, the challenges offer a fun way to collect new things, and the fishing while basic is fun too.

I have never played a Star Ocean game before and when i saw the trailers for Second Story R ,i thought this game looks gorgeous,the pixel characters and 3D background piqued my interest. I usually play turn based JRPG games but have really enjoyed this even though it its action based.

Great game, lets of customization, lots of farming, lots of nice items, and secrets :)

[h1] TL;DR - A great remake for an underrated classic. [/h1] I've played the PSP version of Star Ocean 2 and I genuinely had roller coaster ride's worth of fun despite there being a lot of old game jankiness (bad balancing, convoluted mechanics, etc). [h2] Here's some of the most important improvements: [/h2] -The remake addresses a lot of the most glaring old game jank (bad balancing, unskippable cutscenes, etc) without compromising on its core identity as an underrated classic JRPG. -Visually, the game is beautiful. The original pixel art characters in a beautiful 3D world takes the best out of both the classic and modern visuals. -The UI is clean and easy to navigate. [h2] What makes Star Ocean 2 really great is its cast of characters and its unique take on combat: [/h2] - There are many charming recruitable characters and all of them can build dynamic relationships with each other. There are LOTS of different endings for each character depending on the relationships that they build. - The combat is a unique blend of action RPG and classic turn-based JRPG. [h2] There are still going to be some things that are going to divide some people though: [/h2] - The dialogue can sometimes sound like characters are talking to a brick wall and not to a real person. A "feature" of many JRPGs which for many people can either be a turn off or be part of the game's charm. - The story. I don't want to spoil anything, but the main plotline is going to turn some people off. It's a VERY classic JRPG story and contains quite a few tropes. - The game heavily encourages you to craft items and form strategies if you want to win battles, especially against most bosses and the harder difficulties. The action rpg combat mechanics are basic and will only carry you so far to victory.