Star Ocean: The Second Story R - A Good Game with a Subpar Name?

Console: Nintendo Switch (remastered version)

Time Played: 30 hours

Star Ocean: The Second Story R, as you might’ve guessed, is the second Star Ocean game, though the first game in the series was only ever released in Japan. The R in the game’s name comes from the fact that it is a remaster of the 1998 PlayStation version, complete with better graphics and gameplay improvements like a fast-travel option.

Personally, I think the naming department must’ve taken the day off when they came up with the title for this one. When calling the game simply Star Ocean II would’ve been a big improvement, you know you’ve done something wrong. Still, naming complaints aside, this science fiction-fantasy RPG is actually pretty good, and it’s easy to see how it influenced several (better) games that were released soon after that initial version of the game came out.

The story centers on an Ensign in the Earth Federation named Claude C. Kenny (some of the character names in this game are so bonkers), who, on a mission, touches a mysterious device and is then transported to a distant, less evolved world. On the alien planet, Claude teams up with Rena, an orphan with (somewhat mysterious) healing powers, to both find him a way home and investigate the “Sorcery Globe.” The Sorcery Globe is basically what they call a meteorite that crashed on the planet three months ago, after which time, monsters started to appear.

I enjoyed the first part of Star Ocean: The Second Story R, that takes place on this planet, a good bit more than the later part of the game. There isn’t so much of a central villain for this section of the adventure. It’s basically Claude and Rena fighting monsters while you build out more of your party and do quests heading from one area to another. I found it to be refreshing when compared to lots of RPGs that are so overloaded with convoluted plot, and just tons of things going on.

Unfortunately, in the second half of the game, we do get a convoluted plot, and just tons of things going on. Once we’re introduced to a villainous group called the Ten Wisemen, the game introduces about every RPG story trope you can think of. That’s not to say that this second chapter of the game is bad, it’s just so overloaded with plot that it weighs down the best part of the game – which, to me, is the fun characters.

Speaking of the characters, I really enjoyed the two protagonists, Claude and Rena. (You can choose which of the two you want to start off the story playing.) They’re basically an earlier version of Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X, a game that, like this one, was published by developer Square Enix. Claude C. Kenny is generally cooler and less annoying than Tidus’ character though. And Rena isn’t completely like Yuna since Rena has blue hair.

There are a lot of moments, especially earlier in the game, between Claude and Rena, where they both really like one another romantically, that are very cute and fun. I liked a lot of the other characters you can invite into your party, too, like a swordsman named Ashton Anchors who has two dragons fused to his back. I’d say it’s, on average, a more fun party than you’d find in a typical RPG of this sort.

The combat system does leave something to be desired. The Second Story R opts not to use turn-based combat, instead allowing players to quickly change between characters during action and to cast spells or attacks with different buttons.

Battles can turn into spamming the same attacks again and again. I think that had they chosen to use a turn-based combat system, or even a format with slower-paced attacks, the game might have felt more strategic than it currently does. There’s just a lot happening on the screen during battles at all times and it can feel messy.

The game allows for a ton of different categories that you can upgrade your characters skills in. You can improve everything from a specific character’s cooking skills to his or her art skills to music skills to things like customizing weapons. I always enjoy customizing characters in games, but it’s a little much, even for me. It can definitely be overwhelming to try to upgrade different characters in diverse ways so you can better improve your overall party. Simplifying things here would’ve worked better. More doesn’t always equal better. 

Overall, I definitely still enjoyed Star Ocean: The Second Story R. This might not be the first Switch RPG with little sprites and beautiful backgrounds that I’d recommend (See: Sea of Stars), but it’s still a fun game that’s extremely playable, even if it does drag a little bit as the story goes along.

Grade: 7.5/10