Star Ocean: The Second Story

"If you think youv'e seen it all you haven't"

One I first saw screenshots of Star Ocean: The Second Story I thought it was going to be another turn based RPG where you just press attack over and over, but I was wrong. The biggest difference of SO2 and other RPG's that the battle system is fought in real time, where instead of picking through menus you actually control your character like in an action game. This could either be a good difference, or a bad difference. Up to four characters fight enemies in random battles. You can control only one at a time and the others are controlled by AI. With hand to hand fighters you run up to the enemy and must of the time press X to attack over and over. This might seem like button mashing but there is strategy involved. For example, say an enemy is walking towards your healer you can come up behind it and hit it with out it being able to guard against your attack. Sometimes using MP you can do a killer move which is a speical move that you can set to the L1 and R1 buttons. These moves also have some strategy because you should use the right killer moves for the right situation. To use items, cast spells, ect you press the triangle button to call up a menu which pauses the action to pick what you want to do and then resume the action. While controlling your character you can switch who you are contolling at any time, but it isn't very convenient. In other RPG's I rarely use the AI because it never does what I won't it to do. But in SO2 you can change the tactics to do general things, like for magic users you could pick use magic til all MP is gone, or conserve MP, or to not do anything at all, and some other choices. You also don't have to worry about the AI wasting all your items which is what annoys me most about RPG AI. The thing I like about the AI and real time battle system is that the battles are fast paced and rarely get boring. In some RPG's I find my self running away from battles because the battles are so boring. The only reason I ever run away from battles in SO2 is because I'm about to die or I'm trying to concerve for a boss. When you gain levels in SO2 you will get skill points. You can apply these points to certain skills that will either give you a talent or raise your statistics. To get new talents you have to apply skill point to a few skills that when you have the right ones you will gain a talent. The talents usally let you creat new items from raw materials (like blacksmith, metalwork, ect.) and creat items. The effectivness of the talents are effected by how much skill points you apply to the skills. This may be confusing but it makes sence after awhile.

SO2 is a very non-linear game where choices can affect the outcome of the game and characters have emotions that can change depending on those choices. The emotions of the characters change through private actions. Right before you enter a town you can choose to do a private action. The characters in your party seperate and then you can interact with them in the game causing different thing to happen and affecting their emotions. There is two main charters you can choose at the beginning of the game each which also affects what happens during the game. There are also many other character that you can choose for them to join you and some you will have to do certain things during private actions to get them to join you. These reasons are why the game has over 80 endings. So if you think youv'e seen it all you probley haven't which enhances or actually gives this game replay value. Another thing that enhances SO2's replay value is Voice Collection. On the main menu there is your voice collections of what all the characters say during battles. To get a lot of voices you will have to play more than once because you won't be able to get all the characters on the first time. When you get a certain number of voices you will be able to unlock harder diffuculty modes which even further enhances the replay value.

Star Ocean: The Second Story is a great game which will keep you playing for hours. The graphics, music, dialouge aren't anything to eww and ahh over but they aren't bad. The battle system is a nice change from turn based combat. The skill system and item creation adds a lot of custimization to the game. The best point of the game is its depth and non-linearety. If you looking for a good RPG to tide you over until FF8 this is it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99