Despite being around since the 16-bit era, the “Star Ocean” series never reached the heights of Japanese RPGs like “Final Fantasy” and “Dragon Quest.” With the recent boom that the genre is experiencing, Square Enix decided to release a remake of the second game in the series. “Star Ocean The Second Story R” does a great job of modernizing an underrated gem while also showing why the franchise deserves more recognition.
The story follows the young son of a military officer, Claude C. Kenny, and a local of an underdeveloped planet named Rena. After accidentally being transported to the planet Expel, Claude’s search for a way home puts him and Rena on the path to saving the planet from its growing disasters.
While the story starts strong, it does suffer from slow pacing in the first half. A lot of the first dozen or so hours are full of RPG tropes to lead the characters from one end of Expel to the other with only a vague objective moving them forward.
The first thing players will notice about the game is how beautiful it is. The game uses the same “HD-2D” art style that was used for “Octopath Traveler,” which combines pixelated sprites with highly detailed, colorful backgrounds. It also uses character portraits that have a painted look to them, and with all those elements combined, it makes for a game world that is gorgeous while staying true to its retro roots.
The presentation is pushed further with great voice acting that makes the world more immersive and the story more engaging.
The gameplay uses a real-time battle system with special techniques that are combined with combo attacks. Battles are usually short, but fast-paced, and while the game is pretty easy most of the time, some boss battles bring spikes in difficulty.
What really makes combat fun is how can combine different characters’ abilities to make insane combos that wipe out groups of enemies. Since the game has so many different ways to craft items and increase your parties’ power, it’s easy to become overpowered, so players who get a grasp on the games’ various systems might want to play on a level above the normal difficulty.
Another unique thing about the game is its approach to building up your party. The game’s main story and sidequests will make Claude and Rena cross paths with different characters, but it’s up to the player if they’re recruited or not. Since there are only six additional slots for party members, and recruiting some characters will exclude others from joining, there’s no way to see everyone’s story in just one playthrough.
This adds a lot of replay value to the game, especially since Claude and Rena have their own, slightly different, campaign paths depending on which is chosen to be the main protagonist.
“Star Ocean The Second Story R” has a classical feel to it that is enhanced by its amazing visuals and quality-of-life upgrades. While its crafting and upgrade systems can be overwhelming, they are optional, so someone who wants to ignore them can still complete the game without issues. The main problem is with the game’s slow plot pacing, but once the first major twist happens, the story picks up a lot of steam. Thus, this gem earns four-and-a-half stars out of five.