Star Ocean: The Second Story

"Shut it, I bet there was something you enjoyed about it too."

Introduction (Controversial Pie)

Ah, dear sweet Star Ocean, as controversial as can be.
I thought you were decent, some thought you were pee.
But despite public opinion, beseech the evil glares.
I know you meant well, but playing you's like a double dare
Cue the violins, because I do feel some, mingling pity
In this review, I'll see your few good points but also the very gritty.

Ack, poetry was always such a mishap with me. Even with the rapping sessions in front of the mirror, I never could find a rhyme. Star Ocean is one of the most offensive RPG's I've ever seen, not because of the content, which is quite bland and inoffensive but because so many people react to it like bad rash, or chicken pox (I pray men never have to suffer the way I did with that). Everyone seems to either like it, or hate it with a fulfilled passion. It is true though, the things enjoyable about this game aren't neccessarily what an RPG usually does for the gamer. For instance, the small unrelated things are the highlights. Everything else is either contrived, distorted or unoriginal and anything fresh from this game usually ends up in a big pile of cow dung.

But - for the least amount of star quality, Star Ocean is actually a little good game. It passes as a six because for what it does pull off greatly, pulls off, er, greatly. It's one of the most replayable RPG's for me, even though I'll never appreciate it for the things I do in other RPG's. It's a hard emotion to explain, a bit like constipation to your gym teacher. Yes, I like that analogy.

Enix, now teamed with Squaresoft, have definetly shamelessly looked to other RPG's for success. I'm talking by the small tiny things in the game they have either stolen or tried to make their own. For instance, the background graphics are uncannily the same engine as Final Fantasy VII, the scene where Claude pimp slaps Leon resembles the scene where Shu smacks the Hero in Suikoden II and etc. Like I said, only a paranoic and bored person moshing to anything that goes...dum, could only notice. Ahem.

The problem with Star Ocean is that it comes across as irresponsible and just too bloody argh!. You'll see why soon, and those who have played it will either agree with me or just condemn the game even further.

You gotta be jokin' incha?

Ha!. I actually thought the plot was an inside joke from Enix but, halfway through the second disc, it's not is it?. Ah well. Best try and do it justice then. You can either play Claude C. Kenni, yes that's right, son of Ronnixis or Rena Landford, a young elf eared girl. Both characters share the same journey but you'll see it in different perspectives. This presents only a touch of replayability towards the game, believe it or not.

Claude begins his adventure in the planet Millocinnia, where he is excavating with his Father's unit. After being recklessly stupid, he get's himself transported to planet Expel where he bumps into Rena and rescues her from being attacked by a gorilla, sorry, a monster. Same thing for Rena, she starts off arguing with her Mother to go to the Shingo Forest where she will be attacked by the gorilla monster (It's a compromise). See, Mothers are right.

To be frank, and harsh, the opening of The Second Story is so pitiful and boring. You basically end up exploring one village and listening to very dull dialogue when other games have you raiding tombs and blowing up reactors. It's painfully long to get started into the crunch also. Once you leave the first village of Arlia, things pick up greatly - but I'm warning you, getting past the first part of boring cutscenes and conversations is probably the hardest thing about the game.

Their story becomes interwined after they set off in a mission to destroy the Sorcery Globe, an entity sort of thing that is parading monsters in the planet. That's it really, oh yeah, they have to deal with a group of hardmen named the Ten Wise Men. Bah!. This is crap, plain crap. It would have been better for them if they had ripped the storyline off as well. Really, if it wasn't for the characters, this game would be a landmine.

The dialogue of the game is usually hampered and silly, in fact, proposterous:

Claude/Rena: OH NO!!!!!!. The treasure chest is empty!!!!. [Gargoyles drop down]

What the hell?. I mean, I don't know if was the English translation or what but for one thing - it sucks. Somebody's been smoking more than cigarettes. I really wondered about the point of this game. However, the characters are great. They have good development and indepth personalities, nothing groundbreaking but interesting all the same. I liked them. They each had style and authenticity.

Celine Jules is excellently developed. From the snobby and prissy uptight woman she appears to be, lays a more sensitive and loyal companion. Same for Leon Geeste, the bratty little pubescent brat who learns to have manners otherwise get his ass kicked. It's good, and there are characters in the game to choose from, giving different dialogue and different endings.

Oh!. We can make pancakes!!. Brew our own vodka!

Here's where Star Ocean scores some points. The battle system is unconventional, very hard to master at first but some may find it enjoyable. I did once I got to like it but I found it lacked the x factor of brilliance. But the battle system is not all to the gameplay, there is the item creation and the private actions - two features that would be to die for if it was retained in any Final Fantasy tales.

To describe the battle system is sort of complicated. You can have four members in a party which you'll manually control one, and watch the others automatically. You can give them commands however, by flicking through their names but unless you give each character a manual position, you can only really control one. There are only two types of fighters, warriors and mages. Warriors use special moves that can be attained by the higher the level, same for spells. Fighting enemies are done by manually attacking them by pressing a button. You can also move a character around in the battlefield, which grabs some strategy. I found this an okay specimen, but it didn't boost anything about the game.

When you level up, you also acquire skill points. You buy skills at shops such as cooking and alchemy which you use the points to level up the skills to which you can have more success creating items. You can cook, make jewellery, write books, create music and items by doing this. I loved this aspect, it was fun and it outstretched the battles. You also can have battle skills as well with this.

The exploration is dull but the towns are great because you get a feature called private action. This is when your characters enter the town separately, where you can activate scenarios concerning a relationship development from the main character around the supporting ones. You determine your endings this way. Each scenario will give you a dialogue option - each having their effects in the relationship. For instance, if you want Claude to irritate Rena, he can do so and even steal Opera from Ernest, shall we say. I liked this, it gave more replay value despite the poor challenge being -

Very poor, wait, I just said that right?. I know this is a mixed opinion so for others, this could be a minor flaw. But after getting to grips with the more difficult controls, I found everything to be a simple walk in the park. The only problem you'll encounter is the flaw that sometimes enemies can wipe out your party in a hit, even though you're stronger than them. But if you have Celine's powerful spells and Claude and Dias in a team, then even the more advanced battles become repetitive. And they even included a colloseum for extra fun. Pah.

Then again, I liked the uninvolved gameplay, I found it something that Star Ocean could pull off first rate and that it's something other RPG's should definetly have. So expect average battles but very fun innovation outside them.

For the final time, does my bum look big in this?!

The graphics sell themselves of nothing big, nothing small. The character designs seem to be lacklustre compared to the Final Fantasy VIIesque backgrounds. This isn't a bad thing, but it does absolutely nothing for Star Ocean's appeal and it's own feel around the game.

As for the character designs by thmselves, there are some pretty nifty artwork. They shift from mellow anime to pokemon. Not too bad. I liked Celine Jules's creative drawings. She has tatoos covered all over her body but hides them with a stylish.....shower curtain. Really, it suits her. Opera Vectra is another, a sort of Jessica Rabbit at a funeral character. Oh, she has three eyes too. Ashton Anchors is also fresh, with his mage looks wielded with two dragons on his back - simply speaking, the character designs are great except for Dias Flac - a good Sephiroth with blue hair.

The FMV is not impressive as in "OH MY GOD!!" but they are subtlety appeasing. It would have been better if there were more FMV involving the characters, or even if the FMV was more of a Grandia or Breath Of Fire IV format. But as far as technique goes, it isn't critically disappointing but just lacking if you compare them.

Aha, the backgrounds. Well, we have a slight boom of a problem here. The backgrounds are sophisticated and rich but they either spoil the characters, or the characters spoil them. They are just not compatible. It would seem that the background graphics could almost be embarrased to have the characters on them. The thing is that the characters are brighter and the pixel 2D doesn't help either. It's not a huge deal, but very carelessly done. Could do better.

Right....anyone for tea?

Now we do have a boom boom of a problem. There is no two way about it, the sound sucks. In quality. It's just plain dull, I can only pray the composer was either off their head or they weren't getting paid. The music is so annoying you'll probably be using mute. It sounds like my composition in my music exams. And let me tell you, my inventions sucked. Think a continous sound of a ringing door bell with the occasional "doo dum". The mood and image the music sets off is as if you're playing a game where either you and the character is on ecstacy. And that's a bad thing I'm afraid.

There is no definitive voice acting but battle cries. For instance, one personal favourite was "10 seconds" from Dias. They add spice and flavour to the game but nothing exciting. Just as well, the voices are quite in the catergory of shut up or I'll smash your windows. Bleh, it's rotten.

I like the game, I play it a lot. But it has flaws

If a meaningful RPG isn't, ha ha, meaningful for you, then by all means buy this game. It's for sure you'll be having more fun doing private actions and the item creations. I nearly gave up on the game by the time I got to Fun City, which is ironically the opposite meaning. Star Ocean has lot's of replayability for people who actually enjoy it for what it has to offer, and that is an RPG which seems to have more focus on the characters rather than the epic storyline and gameplay. It's alternative.

You could rent this if it was in the shops, which I very much doubt. So just buy, it'll be cheaper nowadays anyway. And if you are easily annoyed, just switch your concentration to the characters instead of the storyline. Problem solved.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/04, Updated 07/30/04