STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY R

Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of my all-time favorite RPGs. I’ve beaten the PS1 version countless times, so I had very high expectations for the remake—and honestly, I’m quite pleased with it, especially given Square Enix’s recent track record. Compared to the original, I still prefer the PS1 version, but both are great games. The updated graphics are gorgeous, and the quality-of-life improvements are a huge welcome for veteran players. That said, the towns and cities feel noticeably smaller in the remake, which bothered me a bit. I also strongly prefer the original soundtrack—the remastered arrangements just don’t hit the same for me. Most of the new voice acting is solid, but Claude’s new voice is a letdown; his deeper tone in the original felt much more fitting, while the remake’s is a little too high-pitched for my taste. My biggest complaint is the enemy HP bloat. Enemies are massive HP sponges now, and even when you have a clear level or equipment advantage, fights drag on way longer than necessary because you’re just mashing the attack button forever. Overall, if you’re a fan of the PS1 classic, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this updated version with all its modern conveniences and extras. That said, at the end of the day, the original still reigns supreme for me.

重製後背景精緻但人物保持像素 玩起來很有舊時代的感覺 各種IC技能跟戰鬥技能自由點選 老式的JRPG總是會鑽研很多特殊的成長系統 這也是新遊戲所體會不到的 一開始覺得複雜 但學會後就很有意思

The script is lifted from the charisma void that is the PSP version. So instead of the original PSX dialogue thats so badly translated it actually becomes charming, in this version its just bad

能顺利打完就算好rpg，但不推荐一时兴起玩这个。 美术音乐都不错。 老游戏，剧情老派，不太符合现在的口味。队友存在入队冲突这点坏文明。 战斗太太太太难了，调了galaxy难度100级进的最终boss都还是能吃瘪，纹章术没有连招，拉满了还是会被打断吃大亏，敌人纹章术没法闪，队友更是我完美闪避路上的绊脚石，只要有队友在打就看不清出招闪避。。。99个结局这谁集的完啊！

I picked this up to whet my appetite before the inevitable SO3 re-release. I tried this on PS1 back in the day, wasn't impressed with the combat back then but hey, maybe my tastes evolved right? Now that I'm older I can definitely appreciate the myriad systems and how this game served as inspiration for PS2 rpgs. But the gameplay does not hold up. The criticism that the game is a button masher only holds if you're playing on a low difficulty. If you're playing on Galaxy and you think the game is a button masher, you're undergoing self-imposed punishment. That said, the combat faces different problems at higher difficulties. One particularly bad example I think exhibits most of the flaws. I have a character set to healing, so she hides in corners of the battlefield and is very rarely targeted (already bad design). One combat she was chased by a mobile enemy, but her mobility skill kicked in so the enemy chased her without catching her. Unfortunately, said enemy also doesn't stagger and moved fast enough to avoid most basic attacks. You also can not preposition to my knowledge, leading to a bizarre cat and mouse chase that lasted several minutes. There's just so little interactivity in this combat. Players don't have a lot of agency and there aren't a lot of challenges to overcome other than having the biggest numbers and the most combat items to abuse. The dodge system suffers multiple problems, and there's nothing else to interact with. I'm leaving a positive review because I had fun with the game, but by the time you get to Nede all these problems compound for some impressively unfun gameplay. I couldn't push through until the end, let alone the post-game where Star Ocean games normally shine.

个人接触的第一款《星之海洋》系列作品，虽然没了解过原作，但重制版的游玩体验非常好，是很纯正的充满爱与勇气的冒险故事。故事背景宏大，关系到整个宇宙，但涉及的星球倒是不多；人物个性鲜明，不同角色之间都有丰富的互动剧情，好感系统更是自由，男女主基本上跟任何可入队角色都能确定关系，结局更是多达99种。一周目大概30h左右，剧情演出很优秀，音乐和美术也都是加分项，只要是喜欢JRPG的朋友来体验一下决定没错。

Great Remake of the PS1 classic. Game keeps almost all the elements from the original gameplay and streamlines them. The quests and Private Actions are now much easier to track now same with companions affection. The battles are still just as hard as the original version from PS1 and you can still get the infamous difficulty spike if you so choose. Major upside to this version, no loading times and you don't have to swap a disc half way through. I run into a lag spike or two while playing, but it was negligible and typically clears up rather quickly (I don't recall a lag spike lasting more than 5 or 6 seconds). The game also adds a lot more voice acting for the main story parts and Private Actions, so that's nice. Stuff I wish they did for this remake: I wish they touched up the character sprites just a bit more, but that's just a minor nitpick. Wish they also had the sound test like the original that you could unlock. (there is a sound test, but it's just a generic, lackluster one) There is a New Game+ feature, but it's almost not worth it. Even if you change scenarios it carries over EVERYTHING from your previous playthrough. (Why is that bad?) That means your character affection stats also get carried over and you'll have to grind items in the game's crafting to change them. Also it raises the difficulty and that spike will hit hard latter in game, just FYI on that. Over all I'd give this game a passing score of 75/100. It's a good remake, but could have used just a bit more polish