Star Ocean: The Second Story R is one of those games I ended up getting pretty much entirely because of Fedi recommendations. Given how critical this place tends to be of new games, especially new JRPGs, it was quite notable to see a recent release be highly praised by multiple people here. Of course, this game isn’t exactly *new* (it is indeed the second remake of The Second Story), but it was released in late 2023, and for me it was certainly a new experience, not having played a single Star Ocean game before.
Interestingly, Second Story R feels remarkably fresh and modern even allowing for the various enhancements and additions you’d expect to see in a remake: It boasts quite the big, open overworld that rewards exploration with treasure chests, quality fishing spots and even superbosses, and the game allows you to visit a bunch of towns well before they become story-relevant. Hell, there’s even at least one completely optional town, as well as a well-hidden shop to uncover in the overworld.
Moreover, you got yourself a fun real-time combat system instead of turn-based combat system number 6 gorillion, one boasting plenty of neat ideas (like a high-risk high-reward dodging system) and pretty much all the party combat options you could ask for (like switching between characters in the middle of battle, giving your party members instructions, deciding which spells your mages cast etc). I do kinda feel the combat system actually lends itself better to 1v1 fights than the kind of 4 party characters VS half a dozen enemies that you’ll eventually find yourself involved in, given just how chaotic the latter becomes. Also, without much of a cooldown on your regular Arts and MP rarely being a major limitation, Art Spam becomes a bit *too* effective in most fights, even on Hard mode. That said, combat in Second Story R is still way more fun and interesting than your standard turn-based system.
One aspect of Star Ocean TSSR that DOESN’T feel all that modern is the presentation. While Squeenix didn’t go with their typical HD-2D graphics (which I make no bones about utterly despising), they did opt for a “2.5D” look, namely pixel characters in 3D environments. Now, I *do* very much prefer this style to HD-2D, since you actually do get to enjoy some genuinely good-looking, even somewhat impressive vistas, and can make use of some actual draw distance to convey a proper sense of scale, including when exploring the overworld. You also do get some really cool, good-looking cutscenes over the course of the adventure.
On the other hand, plopping old-school pixel characters into detailed 3D environments can feel pretty immersion-breaking at times, and the pixel characters’ lack of detail and expressiveness really let them down during certain key emotional scenes – especially since the English language voice acting can’t really pick up the slack, overall being pretty weak - a step below what you have in something like Xenoblade 2, itself a game with very uneven and flawed voice work. On the whole I do still very much prefer 2.5D to HD-2D, since the former at least offers the potential of far more interesting and impressive sights, but I would easily have preferred fully 3D graphics, and do find all these retro-pandering art styles very tiresome.
The music however is consistently excellent, as is par for the course with classic JRPGs. You got an overall lovely soundtrack with some standout powerful, emotional songs that genuinely enhance and enrich your gaming experience. Perhaps less expected is the fact that Second Story R has remastered the original soundtrack *while still including the entire original soundtrack along with the redone songs*. Obviously, this is the best of both worlds, giving you a really nice update to the classic soundtrack, while you also retain the option to stick with the original. Arguably this SHOULD be the industry standard when it comes to remakes and remasters, but obviously that’s often not how these things work, so exemplary remakes should be brought attention to and properly praised.
