A MUST HAVE CLASSIC RPG

As a long-standing RPG fan, I enjoyed Star Ocean The Second Story from the beginning. Character development is a huge draw for me in RPG's and Star Ocean delivers with its cast of amusing, unique, and spritely characters. The emotional attachment that characters develop for each other is actually controlled by the player during the course of the game in the innovative Private Auctions, and they ultimately affect the ending of the story (there are over 80 endings in all)! You can choose one of two characters at the beginning, Claude or Rena, both of whom meet up and continue through the adventure together. This is an older game created for the original Playstation console.

The game unfolds as standard and conservative role players do, with dungeon trolling, combing through villages for clues and treasure chests, purchasing supplies, etc. However, there are some features that make SOSS stand out. Rather than simply purchasing the various items, weapons, and armor in the game, you can create them by using alchemy, blacksmithing, cooking, and other handy skills. There are handy group spells using multiple characters and a dizzying array of items (791 all told) and skills to choose and use throughout. These are unique and immensely helpful, such as the ability to pick pockets, being able to call for assistance from your animal friends while deep in the bowels of a cave or dungeon, reproduction of valuable and otherwise hard to find items, and many, many more. But the single most compelling feature I've found is the new and innovate battle system. Disregarding the old (and largely bland and boring) turn based battle systems of the past, Star Ocean features a challenging free motion system. You can control one character during battles and have the computer control the others in your party; or you can switch back and forth between characters during a battle. You can also choose from three different combat settings based on your proficiency. The special attacks that your characters develop are awesome and give you plenty to choose from during battles. You will add characters to your party until you have maxed out at eight, and from there the real fun begins. There's even a Fun City where you can go and unwind, play some games, place a few bets, and win some awesome treasure and invaluable weaponry. One of the downsides of the game was the occasional glitch that forces you to load from the last save. This was not due to the CD I owned; I investigated and found many other gamers who had the same problem. However, the pros far outweight this problem. Just save as often as you can! I enjoyed this game so much that when it was over I immediately started a new game using the alternate character, and enjoyed it just as much as the first time around. Now it's up to you to save the universe.

PROS: Unique and addictive battle system; beautiful graphics and unique backgrounds; great soundtrack; chock full of side quests and bonus dungeons play; two discs give you plenty of action and adventure with at least 50 hours of gaming in each scenario.

CONS: Too may important encounters are left to chance and may be missed without consulting a game guide; 32 bit in execution but looks more like 16 bit; occasional glitches forces you to load from last save.

SUMMARY: Not flashy, but a solid, dependable classic RPG with unique and innovate features that any gamer should enjoy.If you are an RPG fan don't miss out on this classic! Rating: 9.5/10.

This is one of the greatest game in PSX!

At the beginning of the game, you can choose the main character which is a boy (Claude) or a girl (Rena). The story, the Private Actions, the events, and the characters will be a little bit different depends on which character you begin with. There are 12 characters in the game, you may maximize your party up to (or even less than) 8 characters which you can get automaticly or choose manually whether you want them to join or no, but basically you can only use 4 characters at a time to fight in the battles.

The story is quite interesting, half of the actor's voices are terribly over-active and the rest are a little bit better. There are 80+ (probably 86) endings in this game, which is actually too much to be seen (which means you must play the game so many times to see them all). The maximum level for each character is 255, a challenging part to be achieved. The maximum HP/MP you can get is 9999/999. You could find or create the characters' most powerful weapons and armors in this game. There is a total of 791 items in this game, which you can only found one for some of them in the whole story.

The skills that this game provide are unusual but very interesting. There are Knowledge skills, Sensibility skills, Technique skills, Combat skills, Specialty skills, Super Specialty skills, and Killer Moves. The first three skills are divided by a lot more individual skills that some of them are subject to open the Specialty and the Super Specialty skills. The Combat skills are to be used automaticly and/or manually in the battle. Killer Moves can be made by some of the characters.

There's a Pickpocketing skill that allows you to steal one random item from every NPC (non-playable character) in the game which is very interesting and fun. Reproduction skills is a skill to copy an item to save/make money, usually for HP/MP regeneration items, battle items, supportive items, and expensive items! Customize skill is to customize your weapon with an ore/gem to make a more powerful weapon and even the most powerful weapon in the game! And a lot more useful skills you can find later in the game.

Private Action (PA) is an event where you could raise or drop the Friendship Points (FP) and/or the Romantic Points (RP) between each character in your party depends on which option that you chose. Some of the PA or the options will do nothing for the FP and RP, some of them were made to raise or drop both the relationship points.

There is a Cave of Trial (CoT) which you might want to complete in order to reach the maximum level of 255 and to obtain the most powerful unique skill in the battle: 'Float'. The monsters in this CoT are hard to kill and were made to easily kill your characters, but they are worth the prize. They will pump up your character faster and you will get more useful and powerful items in order to kill the final boss, Indelacio. (Did I use too much 'powerful' word in this review? >.<)

This is true an old game, but this game would stay in your mind until you are old enough to forget to play any kind of games anymore in your life.

Overall rating from me: 9 out of 10 ^-^ (It's worth your time, believe me!)

Great RPG

Star Ocean: The Second Story is the 32-bit follow-up to Enix's original Super Famicom title, Star Ocean, a game that was released in the dying days of the system and did not receive the success it was due. A departure from the first game, Second Story, like most RPGs, offers you a fresh set of characters to play as. At the start of the game you select one of two characters: Crawd or Rena, and where the story begins depends on whom you choose. Your choice only affects the direction of the storyline, since the two of you ultimately meet up anyway and progress together through the game. As the story advances, you'll meet up with other key characters, whom you can also add to your party. Marking Enix's first major RPG undertaking in the next-generation wars, Star Ocean: Second Story is a decidedly conservative attempt to refine rather than reinvent, and it shows.
Second Story is 16-bit in nature but 32-bit in execution and is a conservative step forward in RPG gaming, coming across like a combination of Grandia and Saga Frontier. The backgrounds in the game are prerendered, like Saga Frontier, while the characters are sprite-based. Unlike in Saga Frontier, the citizens of Star Ocean blend well with their environments. Little touches like seeing your reflection on smooth surfaces like water, or seeing your characters darken whenever they walk through a shady area are very cool. Other details, like birds flying across the screen, are also very realistic and must be seen to be fully appreciated. Although tri-Ace is the developer responsible for the creation of Star Ocean: SS, it should be noted that the company was assisted in this project by Japanese CG house Links. Links may not sound familiar, but its works speak for itself. The company was responsible for much of the CG rendering in Final Fantasy VII and for creating the CG intros in all three Shining Force III games. Links' assistance is evident in Star Ocean's gorgeous opening movie, as well in the prerendered backgrounds which are easily on a par with FFVII and Parasite Eve. Although the game plays like an old-school RPG, it certainly doesn't look like one.

A must have title for anyone!

Star Ocean 2: The Second Story picks up where Star Ocean for the SuperFamicom (Japanese Super Nintendo) left off. You follow the journey of Claude or Rena through an amazing 2-disc adventure that begins as an investigation of a meteor but soon it turns into a cross-dimensional, intergallactic, save the world fight to the finish! This title is made by the legendary ENIX, now Square-Enix. It features real time polygonal combat with cute, old school sprites. The innovative Item Creation allows for an insane amount of customization and variety of items to use in the game, according to the characters you pick, how you fight, and how much digging you do into the world of Star Ocean 2, effects what endings out of 86 you can get at the end of your journey. (Typically you get 3-5 endings in one playthrough.) The soundtrack to this game is amazing! You will remember everything in this game for years to come. However, this game doesn't go without its bad points. There are some tiny glitches and the voice acting is considered by some as annoying (however, I didn't mind it much). This game can be unique to collectors if they know that Star Ocean: the Second Story actually had 2 printings. The first set of discs are rarer and include a "shiny" or "glossy" appearence, while the others are of duller appearence. Overall, if you own a Playstation of any kind, you must own this game. Trust me, you will never regret it!

Another Underrated RPG

I love the Star Ocean series. The Second Story was the first one I've played, and I immediately fell in love with the detailed sprites, the voice clips (which are collected into one big picture), and most importantly, the ability to choose your main character. When you're a ten-year-old video-gaming-girl in the making, it's something special when a female character leads the story. Especially one with blue hair and elven ears.

Before Squaresoft merged with Enix, your dime a dozen RPG could usually be found with the title "Final Fantasy" slapped onto it. The PSX titles Final Fantasy VII through IX seemed to receive quite a bit of attention, and these games seemed to be the only RPG most people knew: "Oh, yeah -- that one with the spiky-haired guy, right?" Poor Star Ocean was underappreciated, to say the least. With its 80+ endings, eight total recruitable characters, beautiful soundtrack, stunning 2D graphics, a battle system where one can actually move around, a creation system (honestly, any game where making your favorite food heal you like an elixir is all right with me) -- oh, and not to mention, the lack of a spiky-haired hero -- Star Ocean has so much to offer the average RPG gamer might expect.

Perhaps I just dislike 3D graphics. I don't wow over the PS3's supposedly intense HD clarity, nor did I enjoy getting stuck against a 3D rock while I was trying to play Final Fantasy X. I like Star Ocean because it has a good mix of 2D and 3D graphics, much like the Ragnarok Online system. The replay value for me is also very high: I mean, 80+ endings? That's intense. And I'll admit it: I really do like it because of how cute the sprites are. Sure, Final Fantasy has chocobos, but you get to ride on giant bunnies for transportation with the right set of skills in Star Ocean.

Alas, I feel that this game didn't get enough attention; I don't think I ever recall seeing it in the "greatest hits" pile back then. I'm not sure what the price tag looks like now, but needless to say, you won't find this title for the PSX at Game Stop anymore. The PSP, however, is another story...