Cult '90s JRPG Star Ocean: The Second Story R arrives on PC today
Love that 2.5D style
"Star Ocean" is a fantastic name, evoking a sense of adventure, 16-bit blue skies, the majesty of space. "The Second Story R" is a terrible subtitle, evoking WhatsApp messages where I accidentally press 'send' too soon. Combined they produce Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a beautiful-seeming 2.5D remake of a Square Enix PlayStation JRPG. It's out on Steam now and there's a demo.
You play Star Ocean: The Second Story R as either Claude or Rena, with different companions able to join your party based on who you choose. How you handle your relationships also then feeds into the available endings of the game. Combat is in real-time with a "break" mechanic and the ability to order your allies to perform attacks, and there are skill and crafting systems for cooking, art and metacraft, among others.
Like this year's other Squeenix remake Live A Live, Second Story R mixes 2D sprite characters with real-time 3D backdrops, and the effect is quite lovely. It also includes expanded voice acting featuring the original cast, a refined battle system, re-arranged music, and fast travel.
Second Story was first released in Japan in 1998 for the PSone, heading west the following year. It's the sequel to the original Star Ocean from 1996, although it's a separate story with no need to have played one before the other. There was a previous remaster of the game, too, called Second Evolution, which was only released in Japan for PlayStation devices, certain elements of which have been folded into Second Story R.
The Second Story R demo has been available since September and features a playable section from early in the game, with some features limited and save files that have a three hour time limit. You can carry your progress over into the full game if you do decide to take the plunge, though.
You can grab Star Ocean: The Second Story R from Steam, where it costs £40/$50.