Star Ocean: The 2nd Story R Switch Review

I love a good RPG, and very much enjoy the Final Fantasy series, as well as the subliminal 2.5D Octopath Traveller series that managed to bring the 16-bit SNES era feel to gamers, by combining 2D-16 Bit Sprites, with impressive Pixel Art 3D rendered worlds and outstanding spell effects. Star Ocean: The Second Story, originally debuted on the Playstation 1 in the year 2000, and despite being the 13th best-selling title in Japan of that particular year, and a remake on PSP in 2008, the game didn’t seem to make waves in the Western market from a sales perspective despite receiving critical praise. So is it 3rd time’s a charm for The Second Story? Grab your blaster, fasten your seatbelt, and prepare for Hyperspace as we explore the game.

The Second Story follows Claude C Kenny, as he’s mysteriously transported while on a mission to the planet of Expel. He’s quickly joined by Rena, a young woman with mysterious healing powers, and after a concise and captivating introduction, you are set on a journey to investigate the “Sorcery Globe.” I won’t really say much more about the story from here, as I genuinely found it to be intriguing, and hope you find it as captivating as I did. I find the first act of most RPGs tends to be heavy on exposition as well as trying best to integrate the game mechanics, however, Star Ocean doesn’t wait too long to unleash you onto the world, and the story (while sometimes having tried and true tropes) manages to establish mystery, while also being concise as to not lose the players attention. The story is also driven by stellar voice acting and character dialogue that creates wholesome and heartfelt interactions between party members, and important denizens of the world of Star Ocean.

The game is presented with beautiful 16-bit sprites interacting with a gorgeously detailed 3D world. Some enemy encounters may see you fight the same motley crew of baddies, but you are often treated to a boss battle or unique interaction that mixes things up. Another great feature is beautifully drawn HD portraits of main characters that pop up during dialogue, further portraying emotions among characters. The world, its towns, and environments are also beautifully detailed with gorgeous sun shafts breaking through trees, rivers running lazily through towns, or the sun lighting the bustling capital cities. It’s clear a lot of love and attention has gone into this remake, and I constantly found myself putting my headphones on and being totally absorbed in this brilliantly crafted world.

While the overworld operates much like a traditional JRPG, Star Ocean differs in the sense you can round up and stack enemies to engage in a multi-battle, taking on enemy encounters one after another for an XP boost. Enemies are shown on the overworld as clouds of smoke of differing colours that indicate difficulty and can be avoided altogether by running past them or using the handy fast travel feature that I, unfortunately, forgot about until the 10-hour mark. Combat is handled in real-time, tapping A to hit enemies, or using a well-timed dodge by pressing B. The new feature in this iteration of Star Ocean is the “Break” system used in the Octopath series, which adds some depth and strategy to the game. Breaking bosses can earn you some respite, chain-stunning enemies in epic fashion, allowing you to pull off some larger damage numbers and hopefully thin out the herd.

The depth of the combat system goes even further by allowing you to earn and summon “out of party” characters from previous Star Ocean games that help assist in combat. These summonses can be assigned to the D-pad, and have specifically timed cooldowns that come in handy during big encounters. Since I haven’t played a Star Ocean game before, the nostalgia is lost on me, but fans of the series will be sure to enjoy these cameos and new allies. Another aspect of battle is building up Battle Bonuses which goes up in stages to offer bonuses in combat. If you are back attacked or have break inflicted, you lose this bonus, so keep your wits about you and spells at the ready to keep enjoying these bonuses.

You can further enhance your combat abilities by utilizing the IC & Specializations mechanic. You can use earned battle points to strengthen combat moves or status effects, but more interestingly, you can learn and improve professions that offer combat bonuses while giving you access to new cooking recipes, alchemy, blacksmithing, and much much more. Each profession brings something new to the party, whether it be a low-tier job like customization, or a combination of jobs to unlock a tier 3 job like smithing, allowing you to deck your party out in some new gear, turn off or ramp up world map encounters, or work together to haggle prices. The professions and IC Specializations are complex in nature, but easy to get the hang of thanks to guild missions, that provide you with materials you need to craft specific items, as well as prompting the player with handy hints of what tier 1 jobs combine to make a tier 2 job and so on. The game also has achievements that tick over from time to time providing you with additional currency and items to help you on your way.

There’s a lot to do in Star Ocean The 2nd Story R, and none of it ever seems to drag on or be overly complicated. I think that’s in large part due to the pacing of the game, never really holding anything back, but also not bombarding the player with dialogue box after dialogue box of tutorials. There are multiple endings and secret characters you can recruit should you meet the requirements, and I know I will tackle a second playthrough as Rena to experience a different version of events with a different party makeup when I get some spare time. It’s clear that a lot of love and attention went into this remake, staying close to the source material but making some great quality-of-life improvements such as being able to auto-equip better gear when you find it, instead of trawling through your inventory trying to find what works best.

Star Ocean The 2nd Story R is a beautiful adventure with many trials and tribulations as you attempt to uncover the mystery surrounding the Sorcerer’s Globe. Its fast-paced and well-implemented combat system means no encounter is a bore and the intricate specialisation system will have you tinkering and improving your party for hours on end. The party dynamics and well-written characters will make you laugh and smile, and the rich world built around them will captivate your imagination. Star Ocean The 2nd Story R is a masterclass on how to do a remake, and I highly recommend it for long-term fans and newcomers alike.

So What’s it like?

Star Ocean The 2nd Story R is like Final Fantasy crossed with Octopath Traveller.