Do You Remember Star Ocean: The Second Story?
Posted by Kevin "K-Tuck" Tucker on July 9th, 2009
Do you remember Star Ocean: The Second Story? That game was awesome. Star Ocean 2, released in the prime of 32-bit Japanese-style role-playing games, conformed to almost all of the conventional role-playing standards, but included a few key changes that made the game something above and beyond the standard fare of its time. Touting an intense item creation system, polished graphics, an interesting plot, and over 80 endings, the hype around Star Ocean: The Second Story was huge. Luckily, the game had the goods to back up the excitement.
Following up on their Super Famicom title Star Ocean, Enix set off to make their unique concepts bigger and better on the PlayStation. Filled with subtle graphical touches like birds flying overhead and wavy reflections on the surface of water, Star Ocean 2 kept many familiar 2D elements of its predecessor and pushed the others to an unseen degree.
Star Ocean 2 was one of the best looking non-Final Fantasy RPGs on the PlayStation. Utilizing sharp sprites over massive and colorful pre-rendered backgrounds, SO2 had polish to spare. The (relatively) alien locale allowed developers to showcase both humble and otherwordly areas filled with unusual flora and fauna. Crisp interiors shots showcased a serious attention to detail, and bold full-motion video added appeal and intensity to some crucial scenes.
Players starting the game were given the option to choose between two protagonists, Claude and Rena, and the story would take place from either of those characters’ perspectives (though their viewpoints were ultimately similar). Once united on the planet Expel, the party learned of a meteorite that landed recently, causing all kinds disruptive behavior from the planet and the beings that dwell on it. Digging deeper, the team uncovered a massive plot to not only destroy the planet of Expel, but the whole of the universe.
Enix’s unique battle system from the previous iteration returned in a more arena-like fashion, allowing the player to run around targeting enemies in real-time while programmable AI with offensive and defensive options were available for the remaining players in the party. Also available to all player characters were special moves that were learned over time, with which players could attack opponents through ranged and shaped damage.
Before entering towns, players had the option to split up the party to view individual actions dubbed Private Events, which allowed side-stories to unfold and also affected in-game relationships between characters. These events told individual character backstories, engaged side-quests, and ultimately affected which ending the player would be given.
Some of the many skills in Star Ocean: The Second Story allowed for the creation of various items. Recipes could lead to food, writing techniques to novels, composition skills to music, and so on. Most of the objects created some kind of a tangible bonus in-game, from food working as a healing item to books and music being sold for money. Multiple party members that excelled at the same skills could even group their techniques together for the more efficient crafting of goods.
Star Ocean 2 was an awesome game for many more reasons than the above listed, but the aforementioned mechanics were not only unique to role-playing games in general, but more specifically to Enix’s special proprietary blend. I enjoyed SO2 to a full extent, putting in weeks of my own time to see all of the events unfold (as well as get every possible skill and power-up). A truly exceptional title, fans of role-playing games (and particularly action RPGs) that missed out on this title in 1999 owe it to themselves to give this classic gem a look.
Do You Remember is an ongoing effort at Spawn Kill to showcase some of the great and often forgotten titles in gaming history. Be sure to check back every Thursday for the newest edition of Do You Remember.
Tags: PSX, Retro, Star Ocean
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