Star Ocean: Second Story R - Is the remake successful in capturing the nostalgia?

In the world of JRPGs, one of the most acclaimed franchises is Star Ocean. After being around for decades with a massive list of mainline titles, the IP has somewhat of a legendary status in the JRP community. As a tribute to the long history of the game, the second game in the series is coming back with a modern remake named Star Ocean: Second Story R.

Star Ocean: Second Story was initially released in 1998. It was the sequel to the very first game in the series, released in 1996. The upcoming remake promises to stay true to the original while improving the game with modern mechanics. But will they succeed in capturing the nostalgia? Let’s take a look.

Fans of the original game have praised the new visuals as a huge improvement, with the sprites in a 3D world with a third-person fixed camera being particularly well-received. The new visuals are being deemed ‘perfect’ by the community, as this new style blends the old aesthetics with modern graphics.

The development team behind the remake has stated that they hope to preserve the aspects of the original game that made it so beloved while modernizing other aspects of the experience. This includes using original sprites, re-hauling the original music, and more.

The original game had some very innovative and unique features, such as innovative turn-based combat, voice collection, and much more. It would be very interesting to see how the developers at Square Enix translate these features into a modern setting.

The demo of the remake has been described as “absolutely beautiful” by numerous user posts on Reddit. The game’s new 2.5D art style has been praised for fusing beautiful pixel art with 3D environments. Nonetheless, how much of the beloved story will be changed in the modern remake is yet to be seen. The game is set to release on 1 November 2023.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R features eight playable characters, four of whom are returning characters from the original game and four are new characters. The returning characters are Claude C. Kenny, Rena Lanford, Celine Jules, and Ashton Anchors. The new characters are Dias Flac, Precis F. Neumann, Bowman Jean, and Leon D.S. Gehste.

Each character has their own unique abilities and playstyle, and players can choose which characters to include in their party. The game also features private actions and optional conversations between characters that can affect their relationships and the story.

The story events and development are mostly identical between the original game and the remake. Except only a few occasions where the two are separate and do not see the same events. The unique conversations with other characters and private actions are present in both versions of the game.

The recruitable party members, gameplay abilities, and playstyle are also the same in both versions of the game. Therefore, the main difference between the characters in Star Ocean: The Second Story and Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the visual upgrade and new features added to the remake.

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Feature image source: Nintendo

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