One Of The Most Complete RPGs Ever: Star Ocean: The 2nd Story
See Full ImageThis is specifically for all the old-school role-playing fans out there. You know who you are.
I stumbled across my collection of strategy guides today; back in the days of my RPG obsession, I would always get the guide when I bought a new game. I was a completionist to the max and because there was zero chance of getting and doing everything in those RPGs without help, I always got the guide. It was always worth it, too, so shut up. You can call it cheating if you wish, but I wasn't about to miss the impossible. Younger gamers who are only familiar with newer adventures don't really know what I'm talking about, by the way. There were always several totally obscure things in those old-school RPGs you'd never know without assistance.
Anyway, I started flipping through the guide for Star Ocean: The 2nd Story and the memories just came flooding back. See, I probably spent a good 160 hours with that one (over 100 on one play-through, as I had to do the Cave of Trials and everything else, of course), and I remember it well. The interesting part, though, is that this was not only one of the best, but one of the most complete RPGs ever made. Those of you who are unfamiliar, here are the highlights:
-- Large world map with random encounters and multiple modes of transportation, very similar to Final Fantasy.
-- An innovative real-time/turn-based hybrid combat system that was very customizable. You could really set battles to play out however you wished, and you always had full control; you could issue commands and switch control between each character in your party.
-- Multiple characters to recruit. Not nearly as many as Suikoden, but recruiting some meant missing others, and getting a few meant going very much out of your way.
-- A Private Action system that would increase or decrease the personality traits of each character in your party. In other words, if you were in town and you had certain characters in your party, a particular PA might show up, after which the romantic or friendship number between the involved characters would rise or fall.
-- The latter had a direct impact on the possible endings; there were over 80 possible endings in all.
-- Two main characters essentially meant that you could play it through twice and it would be a little different; you'd see different scenes and even have access to different characters. Considering that it was basically a 60-hour game minimum, this put the replayability through the roof.
-- Massive amount of micromanagement depth through Alchemy, Blacksmith, Cooking, and seven other skills. Each character could level up in each discipline as well, and various raw materials were always required. This is one of the biggest reasons I got the guide...crazy deep.
-- An epic, emotional story that was heavy on dialogue, character development, and exploration, and with branching and recruitment possibilities, along with a ton of extra content (yeah, before DLC) that could keep you playing for many more hours.
Now, are we really missing anything here? If we were going to construct the greatest RPG ever, wouldn't we just use this list as a blueprint? Well, I would. In all honesty, I'd say Star Ocean: The 2nd Story was right up there with the PS1 FF entries as one of the very best RPGs in history.
Related Game(s): Star Ocean: The 2nd Story
Tags: star ocean 2, star ocean second story, star ocean the 2nd story, role playing games
6/28/2012 9:08:36 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (57 posts)
LimitedVertigo
Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 10:44:00 PM
12 up, 0 down
SaiyanSempai
Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 11:08:53 PM
Great article, Ben!
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Beamboom
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 5:57:39 AM
Skyrim got a gigantic world map, well all the Bethesda games do, the Dragon Age games do, Amalur do, the Mass Effects even got a galaxy map :D
What RPG does not have a world map?
0 up, 2 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 9:35:03 AM
2 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:07:40 AM
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 6/29/2012 10:13:23 AM
3 up, 1 down
Highlander
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 1:45:19 PM
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Beamboom
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:08:49 PM
What can possibly a "world map" mean other than a map... Of the world? White Knight Chronicles had a world map too, that's a jrpg. And even if the game doesn't have a world map, what's the big f'ing deal with'em maps? :D
Sorry to hear about that lack of support, Highlander. I know how much you love that game, that must be a real slap in the face to you and all other wkc fans.
What's the problem with distributing a downloadable unlock-file to *all* your customers? What's their explanation - if any?
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Comic Shaman
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:32:16 PM
I haven't played White Knight, but let's take something like Skyrim as an example. What Skyrim has is one continuous world that you can look at a map of. And you can use the map for fast-travel, as most open-world maps allow you to do.
And that at first seems great. These worlds can seem really huge at first. Except at some point, you realize that you can run across an entire continent in under 30 minutes, and go from one climate zone to another in thirty steps, and easily run laps around a whole city. The continuous world of even a "big" game like Skyrim is a truly tiny place. Because the world shows you everything, nothing is left to the imagination... so you need to suspend a certain kind of disbelief to accept that the world is tiny.
A World Map (using caps to distinguish the classic RPG variant) makes the world seem like a much bigger place. You can't explore every nook and cranny, true... but that allows you to better maintain the illusion that you are in a world of vast spaces and infinite possibilities. Travel across the World Map is done by a kind of stylized representation of your character or vehicle. Locations become available as they are important to the story, and the implication is that there are many towns, cities, etc. in existence which are there in the world but are simply not part of your journey through it.
Now you could say, with some justification, that the old World Map was created because technology imposed limitations on how much of the world could be mapped out. Fact is, sometimes limitations are the driving force behind creativity.
As big and open as a game like Red Dead Redemption or Skyrim seems to be, these worlds always feel smaller to me than the worlds from the old Final Fantasy Games, Star Ocean, or Xenogears.
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Highlander
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:35:29 PM
D3 were terrible communicating with gamers that bought the game, in short they barely communicated with the exception of I think two articles on the PS blog one about the game launch and one about the guild system. Other than that, nothing except cryptic remarks through a facebook page. Level 5 has said *nothing* on the topic. It leaves a lot of JRPG fans feeling abandoned, or poorly treated. Many of the folks I know in WKC2 are very reluctant to consider buying Ni No Kuni. I won't, and I was really looking forward to it. Not any more.
The resolution to this is as simple as what you said though push an unlock file through the game server and unlock everything on the game disc. It would cost them nothing. They apparently have no interest in offering it through the PS Store. Why not regain some goodwill through a gesture to the PS3 JRPG community?
Honestly, it's really pathetic of both L5 and D3/Namco. But given Namco's somewhat spotty record with JRPGs for the PS3, I am hardly surprised.
1 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:58:10 PM
@Comic that was a good explanation. I would emphasize that the world map has a different set of rules than the classically traversible map so you have more variety of gameplay. The classic world map was how old Final Fantasy games gave us airships and the lack of a world map is how (since the PS2 days) we just have a menu of locations to choose from. It's the difference between a "world" and an "area" to play in.
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Highlander
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 5:14:33 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 6:41:15 PM
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Beamboom
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 1:06:41 AM
@World & Shaman:
The world map you guys describe there, with the actual, explorable parts being just segments of the total map, is really very common also outside the jrpg genre. Far more common than the Bethesda style continuous all accessible open world map of Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
World, you've played the Bioware RPGs: The Dragon Age games are very much like that? Even within the cities, it's not one big city ala GTA, it's a city map with locations ala "at the dock", "outside the mansion" and so forth. DA:O even got random attacks while travelling on the world map.
And it's the same in Mass Effect too. just paths within a larger area are actually explorable, there's never a fully open map. You can't explore entire planets, of course (although that'd be awesome).
So then I understand what is meant by "world map". It simply meant what I thought it meant. :D
Highlander:
But have they explained *why* it was not meant for consumers outside Japan? It would just be so interesting to hear how a commercial company came to that conclusion. What the reason could possibly be.
Just to get an insight into how they were reasoning.
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Underdog15
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 9:21:33 AM
You don't run around on it, find things, use various modes of transportation on it that you control, and it isn't a 3D world you run around on.
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 9:41:44 AM
1 up, 1 down
Beamboom
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 10:02:47 AM
If I am *explained* it then I might actually understand. But so far what I've been described is a plain old map.
It's ok if you don't want to explain anything, no-one is forcing you, but you don't need to be so snobbish about it?
@Underdog: Thank you! You are right, what I think of are maps that you could hold up in front of you.
So the map itself is interactive, much like a playing level in itself? Well then! Then I actually - *gasp* - might understand what you guys talk about, and also why you miss it.
I thought it was kinda strange with all this talk about a "world map" if all we were talking about were a basic map to fast travel from one location to another. :D
Last edited by Beamboom on 6/30/2012 11:23:28 AM
1 up, 1 down
LimitedVertigo
Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 10:43:28 PM
Reply
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Mystearica
Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 11:04:47 PM
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kraygen
Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 11:15:47 PM
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Highlander
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 1:58:13 PM
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MrAnonymity
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 1:47:26 AM
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This is the article I've been waiting for. Star Ocean: The Second Story is the first RPG I ever beat from start to finish. I probably knew about the game for at least a whole year before I even got a chance to play it. In fact, the advertisement for it was, even by today's standards, one of the best I had ever seen. The ad in question was in a Wizard magazine - just inside the cover, to be exact - and the first thing to catch my eye was a form on the right to either stop mail delivery or forward it or something. On the left detailed a game I absolutely had to play, highlighting "the ability to create your own items in the field" and "characters that fly into anger over a fallen comrade." Drawing attention to the form on the right was a line saying something to the effect of going on a journey that will take a while. (I have searched tirelessly for the ad, but cannot find it ANYWHERE!)
As I stated, it was sometime after having seen said ad that I actually played the game and when I did... I was hooked. Everything about the game - for me - was a mind-blowing experience. Characters, battle system, 2D-on-3D graphics, item creation... the list went on. I love me some Final Fantasy... but that series is second to Star Ocean in my book.
That being said... Great article, Ben!
3 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:13:02 AM
Final Fantasy used to do it with every new installment. :)
But I'm glad you loved SO2 as much as I did.
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CrusaderForever
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 1:52:35 AM
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There are many moving parts to a games direction. The people making the beautiful graphics aren't in charge of the story or gameplay or control. Many developers are suffering from creative block. A new idea is needed now more than ever. We have the power and soon will have even more power to strive for realism. There is nothing wrong with that and we should embrace it! What we need is for all parts to come together now and in the not to distant future.
It's great to look back and having history educates the future. Someone, a developer with some say needs to look back at what made games great. They need to make a game for the right reasons and how much money it will make is not the right reason. Do you think ThatGameCompany worries about how much money Journey was going to make? NO! They made a game based on what they believed in. They had a vision and it was to create something, to bring life to an idea they had. I applaud them. The Activisions and EAs are lost, adrift. Ubisoft isn't yet....
Some day it will happen. We are seeing signs but haven't been knocked off our feet in a long time by a truly outstanding 10 of a RPG. Hopefully the developers can find what they are missing. Maybe ThatGameCompany has already influenced a developer yet unseen. It's to bad money is our only true God.
Last edited by CrusaderForever on 6/29/2012 1:54:14 AM
3 up, 0 down
Ultimadream
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 2:17:20 AM
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as for this game, the only thing that really puts me off is the multiple endings, I don't want to play through an RPG only to get a rubbish ending, it also makes the majority feel unauthentic, I would want to strive for the one true ending (Like in X-2 - try doing that without a guide...) - But it is definitely a game I'd like to try out, does the PSP port capture the spirit of the original?
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 9:36:06 AM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:08:30 AM
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xenris
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:32:08 AM
Do you think SO4 is easier? I haven't played it because I heard the save system is horrendous. What say you?
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 11:20:30 AM
SO4 was much easier, the battles were more reasonably spaced (instead of every 4 seconds) and I have no clue what anyone could have wrong with the saving system. It's the same old JRPG style as always where you find a save point and save. If you're way out in the field it might be a journey to get to one but that's part of the fun.
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Comic Shaman
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:18:47 PM
Regarding the multiple endings, I don't think there were any "rubbish" endings to Star Ocean 2. It was more a matter of the way that different characters interacted during the game which dictated who did what after the story ended.
To me, it made the ending experience much more personal. I didn't have the patience to play through again and again to get all the combinations (did anybody? I mean... 80 possibilities. Yow), so I can see how that might feel incomplete to some people. Still, I remember Star Ocean as having one of the better multiple-ending implementations... much more so than many of the games today that make "player choice" such a selling point.
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xenris
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:19:08 PM
I just remember hearing that SO4s save points were disgustingly spread out. But if its not that bad then I will be alright. I got spoiled by Xenoblades save anywhere feature.
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 4:01:12 PM
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Ludakriss
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:57:54 AM
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You must understand, I never played this game, Ben. But I do like any game that would be discribed as what you have in this article.
Does that mean I'm basically getting an emulator of PS1 and gettin some Star Ocean on?
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Rogueagent01
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 4:08:09 AM
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MrAnonymity
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 4:34:04 AM
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Rogueagent01
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 4:03:30 AM
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Hey Ben have you ever watched the Star Ocean EX anime? It is based off of the game and is really, REALLY close to the game. The only drawback is they did not finish the Anime. So many things in the Anime will remind you of the decisions you made in the game.
I loved how you had the old woman in the one port city that if you talked to her you were able to get the ridiculously hard difficulty, but you had to do it when you met her since the city was destroyed once you left. The Cave Of Trials...ahh that was magnificent. I loved the level(I believe it was the 5th) where everything was blacked out, I thought my TV broke when I first got in there. I put probably around 1,000 hours into that game easily, what with the multiple playthroughs and the 256 level cap. The Iron Chef cooking contest was so fun too, especially trying to get all your characters to win it. Those end bosses on the truely hard difficulty were still some of the best boss fights to this day, what was it the Ten Wise Men, or was it Twelve? I tried to beat them around level 100 and got my a** whooped, man that game was great.
Your damn right that this game could and should be the base blueprint for any RPG made. Obviously I don't want the exact same game, but there are countless concepts that developers should take from this game.
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 9:38:01 AM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:09:09 AM
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:11:28 AM
Pretty sure he was close to Lv. 180 when I did.
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Comic Shaman
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:09:31 PM
Loved the game, and thanks for the flashback article, Ben. Now I'm hungry.
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Rogueagent01
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 6:53:01 PM
Wow...I forgot about the Arena, those were still some of the toughest fights I can remember in gaming(if you weren't over leveled). Like Shaman said a lot of the game is fuzzy now and yet I still know why I love it as much as I do.
I think I have bought a handful of games since then hoping one could recreate the cooking competition, but sadly none have come close:( It was really hard to beat the competition with all the characters since some of them did not have the cooking talent, that is what made it so fun for me. And just running up to the pile of food and grabbing as much as you could without wasting to much time, boy that was balanced to perfection.
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telly
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 9:47:51 AM
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I have my old Chrono Cross game sitting on my living room shelf, in the "to play" pile of games. I want to start one so bad, but debating whether I should just download it off of PSN so I can play it on my PSP too. I'm feeling nostalgic for the great PS1 JRPGs these days, that's for sure.
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 10:09:48 AM
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Not that it will change anything these days, but at least SOME people understand.
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 11:21:49 AM
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Highlander
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 2:18:34 PM
It's the fact that JRPGs stories could be so very epic, and yet at the same time examine the minutia of side story, a peripheral character, events not related directly to the progress of the story. There was always an urgency in the story, yet the game system would allow you to explore and go back to do things before proceeding to the next objective.
I don't really have the words today, it's been a very long week, but the work whimsy comes to mind. There is a sense of whimsy that pervades JRPGs fro the art style to the characters and story. Somehow despite dealing with potentially world shattering issues, there remains a lighter air, a whimsy, among the characters.
In some ways I think that reflects a very Japanese trait. If you look at Japan, it's an Island nation that is continually under threat from Volcanic eruption, massive storm systems, huge earthquakes and Tsunami. People there hold their heads high and carry on despite the tragedies of life. They continue to have a positive outlook and move on. Perhaps it's also the Shinto or Buddhist philosophies that are interwoven into Japanese culture?
All I know is that there is a mood, or 'feel' to JRPGs that is simply not present in RPGs from the west. Even when western Developers ape the style of the JRPG, they do not quite make it because their art, story and characters are lacking that essence.
I also don't know how you explain to gamers that think RPGs have to be open world games where the story is driven by the player and is not predetermined. How do you explain a genre that features much heavier and structured story and characters to people who think that RPGs should have unstructured stories and custom characters? There is a culture gap there that I don't know how to bridge.
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Beamboom
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 1:08:45 AM
They'll never be old-school like the real RPG fans.
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Underdog15
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 9:25:51 AM
At least while the jRPG fans crave the days of old, they can still appreciate other games we get now that are excellent. The uninitiated can't even appreciate anything outside their comfort zone!
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Beamboom
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 10:12:00 AM
(you're kidding, right? I see no hate or ignorance from anyone at all here on this page?)
Last edited by Beamboom on 6/30/2012 10:42:20 AM
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Excelsior1
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 1:59:00 PM
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Star Ocean the second story was the first JRPG I ever beat. A lot of great memories. Claude arrives on the planet right around the same time a meteor crashed into a the planet and monsters started appearing. He's called the hero of light probably because he has a phase gun and saves Rena. I distinctly remember Rena going off on her own at one point. :( Wait! I thought she liked me. Anyways, she manages to get herself kidnapped and we were reunited when I rescued her. :)
Another memory that stands out is watching the planet get destroyed. Somehow by defeating the Ten Wise Men it restores the planet. If I remember correctly the Ten Whise Men were once exiled so they created some kind of energy field to try escape from their exile. That field destroys the planet and if they had escaped the intended to destroy the universe.
I put hundreds of hours into this very deep game. Ashton was a great character and very powerful. Anyways, I loved this game even more than FF7, FF8, and Legend of the Dragoon and those JRPG's were no slouches obviously. Great story, production values, and musical score. Lots of games had world maps but what made Star Ocean really stand out was the crafting system and awesome battle system. I would rate Star Ocean the scond story as my third favorite JRPG. FF10 is favorite followed by The Lost Odyssey.
Great article Ben that brought up a lot of great memories. This was great JRPG to single out for an article.
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sirbob6
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:22:20 PM
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...have mercy on my soul, I like the game, I promise
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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 4:03:01 PM
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Beamboom
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 6:58:57 AM
I'm curious about the same. I think it would be a new record around here. Would almost be fun to watch. :D
Last edited by Beamboom on 6/30/2012 6:59:26 AM
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Underdog15
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 9:28:43 AM
Just like today's most popular games have haters, yesterday's most popular games (FF7 in this instance) also have lots of haters. And just like today's haters, yesteryear's haters secretly loved it, too.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 6/30/2012 9:29:15 AM
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Beamboom
Sunday, July 01, 2012 @ 8:36:20 AM
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Warrior Poet
Friday, June 29, 2012 @ 3:31:40 PM
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saintaqua
Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 9:35:33 PM
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stevev363
Monday, July 02, 2012 @ 5:06:55 PM
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WorldEndsWithMe
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Thursday, June 28, 2012 @ 9:48:38 PM