My heavily edited and incredibly BIASED Star Ocean 2 review. You should prolly read it.
- k thx
The Good-
For starters, I had little expectations when originally playing this
game. In fact, everything I saw about it looked pretty mediocre, and I
was still in my "I'm going to pretend the Final Fantasy series is still
good after FFVII because I'm in deep RPG denial" phase. Playing this
game made me:
A.
Literally fall in love with it. I dreamed about SO2 for months after
playing through it the first time. Which made me play a second time.
And third time. And (I kid you not) the twelfth time. I'm only sorry
I'm writing this review instead of playing it now.
B.
Hate Square's Final Fantasy VII and VIII games by comparison and
rightfully recognize Enix (no Square-Enix at this time mind you) as the
most innovative producer of RPG's since traditional RPG's were created
(by Enix, see Dragon Quest). It was later I learned that the genius of
the Tri-Ace team made this astonishing piece of videogame art possible.
Star Ocean: Second Story was my favorite videogame till Xenogears and
remains (mechanics wise) the greatest RPG ever made. Here's why:
(1) Smooth, fun battle system that makes playing the game just as enjoyable as any adventure and/or storyline elements. It is common in the world of RPG's for the story to carry the battles. In SO2, there is no question that the battles carry the story. And after all, you're playing a videogame, not watching a movie. It is my opinion that enjoyability of play is the way a game always should be judged. If the story helps gameplay and does not hinder it (see long FMV's, long talking scenes, tedious talking or confusion due to aspects of the story), then you are playing a well constructed role playing game. Here's your basis of comparison.
(2) You can literally play Star Ocean: Second Story for hours without actually progressing at all story-wise and come to the realization that you are having so much fun, you don't even care what happens next to pull you through the game. In this area, I learned that I would be well over the level recommended for each area and progressed easily through the storyline battles within the game.However, after I unlocked the harder difficulties, it became necessary to train constantly for storyline fights and I was well rewarded for my vigorous training endeavors. I made items using skills obtainted from battle that would put me at a cheap advantage in normal mode, but even things out for hard mode.
(3) There is always a ton of stuff to do on the side. You can steal, build skills, work on the hidden dungeon (The Cave of Trials), try to reach the maximum level of 255, build new aptitudes for practicing proficiencies (called talents), try to obtain all the games character voices for unlocking even more features (over 1,200 voices and good voice work recruit different characters (many characters are an either/or situation so you must play through the game multiple times with both the male and female lead characters to obtain every character and their voice interactions therein), play through over 80 times and interact between characters differently each time to unlock all of SO2's 80+ endings, increase proficiencies with every battle ability to unlock the full power of their technique and true form, and a ton more than even this. That's a lot to do people. Getting bored is nearly impossible in SO: Second Story.
Star Ocean: Second Story has an engrossing soundtrack that simulates exactlyits unique style of fantasy. Visually, it has vivid otherworldliness that is rarely seen in any game. The worlds of Star Ocean: Second Story are unique only to the game. There are no stereotypical elements to Second Story as it rewrites the rules of what an RPG should be. It has all these wonderful aspects that are each a tile in a wonderously contstructed mosaic.
And one last salad tossing of SO2: HARDEST HIDDEN BOSSES EVER. It took me over an hour of battle time to kill the easier twin of the games two hidden bosses and I have yet to kill the Iselia Queen even with a full party at max levels and best equipment, That rules! Yeah, I'm biased to Star Ocean 2, so sue me. Dip****.
The Bad-
Goodie goodie. I get to pick out any subnormal qualities to Star Ocean 2 and exploit them. Can you believe that with all this great gameplay, Second Story hasa story that could put a hyperactive 4th grader to sleep? Blah blah blah (30 minutemostly gameplay free intro) blah blah (something about a chosen one) blah blah blah "It's too dangerous for you to go!" blah blah (sorcery globe) blah blah (monsters) blah blah blah (the planet is going to explode) blah blah (prove your might) blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!
I wish Tri-Ace had made this game without any storyline whatsoever. Seriously. All this fuss over dialogue really gets me down when I want to kill things. I find myself playing the game for 10 hours at a time, all the time refusing to progress in the story. And yes we do have an annoying character, Precis Neuman. If she had tripped and died during her introduction of screaming and chasing around her robot (Bo-Bot is the only redeeming quality in her character), I don't think anyone would have noticed.And then we wouldn't have to play through the game after accidentially recruiting her as she's screaming things like "ALLY-OOP!" and "PARABORA BEEM!" throughout the remainder of battles until we get someone to replace her. But by then it's too late. We've been wounded by her (ADD child genius has a disturbing crush on the male lead character) persona beyond any sort of compensation (until the end of the game when we fight one of the coolest final bosses of any videogame we've ever played).