Star Ocean: The Second Story

"One game that you must have in your collection."

When I first received Star Ocean: The Second Story as a birthday gift from my aunt I said thank you, but with an unconvincing, fake smile. I wasn't much into RPG's at the time and I had never even heard of this game. But I figured I might as well give it a try, and I thank my aunt every time I see her for giving me such an excellent game.

The game starts off by giving you a choice, one of many that you will have to make throughout the game. The first of your choices is which story you would like to partake in. Either that of Claude Kenni, who wishes for nothing more than to not follow in the footsteps of his father. Or you can choose to play as Rena Lanford, the young but brave girl that travels into the Shingo Forest against her mothers will. Each of the stories are unique but they both tie together as the story progresses. I recommend playing the game through one time for each episode, but that's just me.

Along your journey as either Claude or Rena you meet with other characters. When you do you have the choice of letting them join your party. See, I told you there were a lot of choices in this game. In most instances the optionable character will ask to join your party after completing a certain task. The people you choose to be in your party can have an effect on the outcome of the game. For example if you decide to befriend the fighter Ashton Anchors that means that you cannot recruit Opera Vectra and her counter part Ernest Raviede. You can have a total of 8 characters but only 4 can participate in battle at a single time.

The battle system is very simple, yet it can get tricky in some instances. You can set each of your characters to use their Special Attacks, Magic, Items, or just physical attacks. Also, settings for how frequently your character uses Special Attacks or Magics can also be set. There are three different modes for battle but they aren't altogether different. They are more like settings for how simple or complex you want the battles to be. You can have full control, not as much control, or practically no control at all.

Your players can learn a variety of different skills and abilities. These skills can be used to gain experience faster, grow stronger and many other nifty things. To level up your skills you first must get skill points. You acquire skill points every time you gain a level with your character. You must spend your skill points wisely because there are 69 different skills that you can learn. Most skills are paired with others so that when you learn two or three skills then you learn one Ability. There are 25 abilities total and these are the things that you use to create new weapons, armor, tools, and a bunch of other things.

Using your Abilities to create a whole magnitude of new and different items sounds like a whole lot of fun right? Wrong. Before even starting on your quest you are randomly given attributes which means that sometimes you get the shaft and your character doesn't know how to forge a weapon if his/her life depended on it. So this means that you have to keep starting the game over until you get desirable attributes. Even when you do get good stats, making the weapon that you want to make sometimes seems impossible. But, I guess that is the point, to make it challenging, Other than this aspect I loved the game.

Another thing that effects the outcome of the game is friendship/emotional levels between characters. Sometimes during the game, while talking to another character in your party, you are given different choices. Some of the choices may make you sound like a bad guy or some might make you look like a sweetheart. Depending on your decision your emotional level with that character may go up or down. This all effects the ending of your game.

The graphics are just about average, nothing too special. That is, until you see the CGI movies, and there are plenty of them. Unlike other games, the CGI's actually add to the story and all of them are a good length. Overall they are very well done. As for in game graphics, those aren't as astonishing as the movies but they get the job done. The cities in the game look great, very detailed and they are for the most part big, giving you a lot to explore.

There are quite a few side quests and mini-games in this game. For example, there is a place called Fun City where you can spend as long as you want just playing games. Some of the side quests can be fun but some are essential to getting certain items or weapons. And something that could be counted as a side quest would be to reach the maximum level a character can, which is level 255. Plan on spending most of your time on this game trying to accomplish that feat if you'd like.

The music in the game is not bad, but could have been a lot better. The character's battle cries might make you cry, because they are just that bad. However, usually the voice-acting fits in with the situation, such as someone yelling ''That was easy!'' after a quick battle. Lastly, the music in towns and in the world map is good and thankfully isn't as annoying as most of the voice acting.

The replay value of this game is great, you can play it over and over again. One time through with Claude, once with Rena, once getting this character, once without using that character, and so on and so forth. This game is very much worth your money, and you will enjoy countless hours of bliss gaming.

Pros
Fun battle system
Great CGI's
Good story
Emotional/friendship levels customize the game
A good challenge

Cons
Creating weapons/armor/items can be tedious
Horrible voice acting

Overall- Yes you must buy this game. It will last you a long time and you will not soon forget it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/03, Updated 06/22/03