The ideal place to start exploring Star Ocean is The Second Story R.
With a history spanning over two decades, a wide selection of titles, and a devoted global fan base, the Star Ocean series has an extensive following. Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a reimagining of The Second Story with stunning 2.5D graphics, fresh combat systems, and a completely reworked soundtrack, is about to release. But what new features do these additional features bring to the game, and is this a decent introduction for novice players?
We thus got the chance to talk with Yuichiro Kitao, the development producer and director of Star Ocean: The Second Story R, Yukinori Masuda, the graphic director, and Kei Komaki, the producer, to find out more about the innovative concepts they brought to the game and the breathtaking 2.5D design. They also told me which Star Ocean game, in the event that I like The Second Story R, I should play next.
My fascination with Star Ocean has never faded, but I haven't played any of the games in the series yet. Part of my hesitation isn't knowing where to begin, so I asked the team whether I should start with The Second tale R or if I should play another game to get the whole tale. "If you're new to the series, it's completely okay for you to start playing with The Second Story," Yuichiro Kitao told me straight away. Indeed, if you're unfamiliar with the Star Ocean series, I'd say that we would suggest starting with this game.
That's like listening to music to my ears, and Kitao further sweetens the pot with, "Having said that, we've made a lot of tweaks to make it feel fresh to those players as well." If you've played any other Star Ocean games or even this game in its original form on the PS1 or PSP, that's also great news. I'm eager to start this series since it's a great starting point for both new and seasoned fans, but now that I know it's a good one, I can't help but think about a few other parts of the remake.
Based on what I've seen, the game has a dual protagonist system that lets you tell the tale as either Rena, the girl, or Claude, the little boy. Does this imply, however, that I must replay the game twice to see the whole plot? Or is this more like the Pokémon game's "are you a boy or girl?" question? Kitao informs me about this. "You will gain a deeper understanding of the narrative and the characters' emotions at any given point by listening to it twice." "If you play it twice, you'll get to know things in a little bit more depth, but you don't have to," he says.
For those of you who prefer one protagonist to the other, this is handy, but I can see myself going through the game more than twice in order to complete the plot and unlock all of the possible endings. I asked Kitao what precisely current gamers may anticipate from this remake since I couldn't let you devoted fans miss out on the juicy facts. "I believe that The Second Story R has a lot to offer fans of JRPGs in general or the Star Ocean series in particular."
I can't speak to the difficulty of the original game, but I'm always up for an extra challenge. He goes on, "In terms of battles, the difficulty has been tweaked a little bit, so they're quite challenging, there's a lot of action gameplay elements that we've brought into it that the player has at their disposal." Additionally, Kitao informed me that all of the fight animations and effects have been "completely redone to be at modern standards." There is a ton of stuff to actually kind of explore and play with in the fights, like the assault action, bonus gauges, and break system, among many other pretty interesting features.
Does the game lose any of its flair or its unique qualities in the process, though? According to Kitao, the original is highly valued. It's an excellent game. Even if you play it in the present era, it's still a fantastic experience. Therefore, we really didn't want to take away from it in any anyway. We gave the question of what kinds of features were appropriate to include careful thought. There are undoubtedly difficulties involved with this; it's important to keep your current fan base happy, and it seems the club knows this. "There have been instances where we've tried something and then determined that it's not adding the desired outcome, so let's take that back," Kitao said.
Many contemporary remakes, in my view, go too far and sometimes take away from the aspects that fans like. However, in this case, it seems like The Second Story R is a labor of love, with the crew giving careful thought to each new component. The assault attack system is one of the things we did create. It allows party members who aren't in your main party to join the fight and lend a hand by throwing one or two attacks. You know, ultimately, role-playing games are about embarking on an adventure with your group. We thus really wanted to include them in the game more deeply, more centrally into the combat, Kitao said.
Small adjustments that improve the fighting system and let you bond deeper with your group are really appreciated, and I hope to see more beloved classics redone with the same level of care and affection (Final Fantasy 9 remake, I'm looking at you).
The Second Story R seems to achieve exactly that. I'm a huge fan of old JRPGs and I particularly value distinct graphical styles and settings that, even if they don't appear photorealistic, still manage to captivate the audience. "As a player, it almost feels like you yourself have become a little sprite, a little pixel in this world running around and exploring things from that perspective, which I think is something that's really unique in terms of the graphic style of this game and something that people can enjoy," says Kitao, expressing his distinct viewpoint on the game's universe.
"We have this contrast between the more photorealistic backgrounds and the pixel sprites of the characters," Yukinori Masuda then interrupts. Additionally, we aimed to evoke nostalgia with the character pixel sprites.
"We haven't blurred them, they're quite sharp, to have the pixel sprites stand out and capture that sort of retro nostalgic feeling," he says. However, they could have been making too big of a statement. Through the use of lighting and shadows cast by other items falling on the figures, we were able to establish more of a balance by employing shading, giving them a more 3D sense while yet being 2D pixels. One of the trickier problems, in my opinion, was striking a balance between those modifications and the overall style of the work.
I've always been aware of Star Ocean's aesthetic, even though I've never played any of the games myself. I love how the games manage to strike a lovely mix between gorgeous fantasy-style settings and aspects with a futuristic space theme. I was curious to learn how these components were advanced into 2.5D, given their stunning design.
"I believe you've probably seen a good deal of the game's more sort of fantasy-inspired backgrounds and environments up to this point." Masuda declares, However, there will be an increase in locations that are kind of space-related. You'll probably notice that these regions seem more realistic and detailed now than they did in the original. Therefore, by expanding on that concept, we have attempted to strike a balance between the science fiction and fantasy parts."
We've discussed the detailed setting, the colorful pixelated characters, and the novel fighting systems. However, a brand-new soundtrack has to go with it, right? In addition to a new voice track, the music has also been rearranged. But don't worry if you're a purist—Kitao informed me that The original music and the revised soundtrack are both included in this game. Both the audio track and the game may be switched between at any moment by the player.
He also discussed the additions he thinks this new music makes to the game. He said that the song had a fuller tone because of the live orchestration."Sakuraba went back in and really looked at matching the time, the music, and everything when it came to the event sequences. and made some general tweaks to give it that last touch of refinement. [...] The new soundtrack is excellent, in my opinion."
The staff seems to be very excited about this project, and everything they do seems to fit together into a beautiful, tidy little package. I can't wait to explore the Star Ocean world for the first time. After my first taste, however, I can't help but feel like I'll need more and fear that I'll be stuck again and not know where to continue from The Second Story R. So, I asked the person who knows best, "What Star Ocean game should I play next?" to get the straight answer.
The crew laughed a little at this, but Kitao quickly intervened, telling me to merely play Second Story R once more! "The dual protagonist system was already stated. I would thus suggest doing another playing of Star Ocean if players are eager to continue after finishing their initial game! They cannot be easily divided into fantasy and science fiction heroes. However, their approaches to seeing the world vary, and they make distinct findings about the plot and the characters.
Well, all well, but what comes next?We'd love for folks to consider picking up the most recent Star Ocean series chapter, Star Ocean 6, for example, if they've played both tales and they still want more, which is fantastic.
Speaking with the crew made it very evident that The Second Story R was a labor of love, and I really hope that everyone out there who, like me, has not yet experienced this universe will do so at some point. Many thanks for your time, Yuichiro Kitao, Yukinori Masuda, and Kei Komaki! Best of luck with the launch!
Check out our guides on the best Final Fantasy games, Genshin Impact codes, and Honkai Star Rail codes for a deeper look at the top JRPGs available.