The Review I Always Wanted to Write: Star Ocean: The Second Story | Hazy Bit #2

Welcome to the second edition of Hazy Bit!

Hazy Bit dusts off the ol’ video game collection with retrospectives, reviews, and other nostalgic content sent directly to your inbox on the 1st and 15th of every month. If you enjoy what you’re reading, subscribe and follow me on Instagram and Threads!

This week’s retro releases:

• System Shock 2 (PC, August 11, 1999, NA)

• NFL 2K3 (PS2, Xbox, August 12, 2002, NA)

• Saiyuki: Journey to the West (PS, August 13, 2001, NA)

• Sega Genesis (August 14, 1989, NA)

• Chrono Cross (PS, August 15, 2000, NA)

• Death Jr. (PSP, August 16, 2005, NA)

• Air Fortress (NES, August 17, 1987, JP)

Check out this list on GameFAQs to see other titles released this week.

My E-rated alternative

Growing up, my mom was a stickler for ratings. I wasn’t allowed to see a PG-13 movie until I turned 13. Similarly, she wouldn’t let me play any T-rated video games until I was a full-fledged teen. I missed out on many good games as a kid because of this (love you, Mom), but the most prominent games I could only dream of playing were the PlayStation Final Fantasy titles.

While I could sneak in some sessions with 7, 8, and 9 at my friends’ houses by watching them play and even starting a new game or two, I couldn’t bring the games home with me. I needed something to get my JRPG fix. Then, one day, I came across this at my local Funkoland.

That’s a pretty cool title, I thought. Might as well try it. Looking at the back cover, I saw the same anime hair and style that had already drawn me to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! on television. Oh, cool, I’ll basically be playing an anime.

Young groovinflannel wasn’t necessarily wrong in that regard, but I got much more out of Star Ocean: The Second Story than a cookie-cutter 90s JRPG experience - I got my favorite game.

So, yeah, this review might be *slightly* biased because of the special place this game holds in my heart. That said, Star Ocean: The Second Story is still a great game to this day, but portions of it haven’t aged well and flaws I didn’t notice when I was younger are glaring with my older eyes.

The Second Story? What about the first?

The early history of the Star Ocean franchise can be a bit strange for newcomers to the series. The first Star Ocean game focuses on a disease that is turning the villagers of Kratus into stone. The events of the first game are linked to the second game by the presence of one character: Ronyx J. Kenni.

Ronyx is the father of one of Star Ocean: The Second Story’s protagonists, Claude. The exploits of Ronyx and crew are briefly mentioned in an animated cutscene that begins the events of The Second Story. The first game takes place 20 years before the start of SO: TSS.

The original Star Ocean wasn’t released in North America until Star Ocean: First Departure R came out for the PSP in 2008, and later on the PS4 and Switch. Star Ocean: The Second Story was released for the original PlayStation in Japan on July 30, 1998, followed by a May 1999 release in North America and an April 2000 release in Europe.

PlayStation’s space opera

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Let me start by saying that SO: TSS is an absolute epic of a game. It takes a good chunk of time to beat it, even without taking the time to uncover all of its secrets. I haven’t even come close to seeing everything this game has to offer and I’ve probably put somewhere around 100 hours into it throughout my lifetime.

The game starts with a choice - to play as either Claude or Rena. I usually choose Claude and that’s my recommendation for anyone trying this game for the first time. Claude’s version of the story gives a more complete view of events from start to finish. That said, choosing Rena gives you access to one of the more powerful characters in the game (more on that later), so it’s a wash depending on the experience you want.

Either way, Claude and Rena quickly meet in Shingo Forest after Claude is transported to the planet Expel, and from then on it’s go-time. If you’ve ever watched an episode of Star Trek, the Earth Federation of SO: TSS has something similar to the Prime Directive. Expel is a developing planet, meaning that advanced civilizations shouldn’t meddle in the natural growth of that planet’s people.

Claude screws this up pretty quickly by using his Phase Gun to defeat a monster attacking Rena. Seeing what she thinks is magical light shooting from Claude’s hand, Rena begins to believe he is the “Hero of Light,” a figure from Expel’s legends. Claude maintains that he is definitely not the Hero of Light, but joins Rena anyway and heads to her village, where the state of Expel is explained.

Not too long ago, a meteorite, dubbed by the Expelians as the “Sorcery Globe,” smashed into the planet. This was followed by a general shitshow - more monster attacks, more natural disasters, et cetera et cetera. Claude needs to find a way home, and Rena wants to find out more about her mysterious past, so the two agree to travel across Expel and investigate the Sorcery Globe.

The early parts of SO: TSS are a slow burn, but the action ramps up after a few hours. You’ll recruit a few new characters on the way to the Sorcery Globe, save a village’s children from bandits, fight in a tournament, and attempt to launch an amphibious assault on a neighboring continent. But there’s not much guidance other than, “Monsters are attacking, get to the Sorcery Globe ASAP!” That directive has to do some heavy lifting story-wise and that leaves the first half of the game feeling a little generic, at least from a narrative and setting standpoint.

That’s not a big deal to me, but it’d be impossible to write about SO: TSS without comparing it to the JRPG juggernaut of the PlayStation era: Final Fantasy VII. SO: TSS was released in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in North America - about a year and a half after the guy with the spiky blonde hair and giant sword introduced himself to the world.

I’ll keep the comparisons to a minimum, but I have to say that the first half SO: TSS’s story is simply “meh” when compared to Final Fantasy VII. The Lacour Tournament of Arms can’t compare to escaping from Shinra HQ on a motorcycle. Perhaps the most memorable thing to happen in SO: TSS is an earthquake and tsunami leveling the port city of Clik (or Kurik in later versions of the game).

However, the game’s story begins to shine in its second act. After the party makes its way to the Sorcery Globe, they finally meet the game’s true villains: the Ten Wise Men. We finally get a good explanation of what’s going on in SO: TSS from them.

The Ten Wise Men put the Sorcery Globe (which they call the “Quadratic Sphere”) on Expel, which allows them to control the movements of the planet. They plan on maneuvering Expel to crash into Energy Nede, the planet (kind of) that they were exiled from thousands of years ago. Shortly after revealing their intentions, they make good on their promise, slamming Expel into Energy Nede to return to the latter, while destroying Expel and its inhabitants.

Your party manages to survive this and now, you’ve got a whole new planet to explore! On Energy Nede, events start moving at a much faster clip, from getting a flying beast called a Synard so you can scoot around the planet, to Rena’s big revelation (which isn’t that much of a revelation). If only the first half of the game wasn’t as slow as it is, SO: TSS would have a great overall plot.

While the story as a whole is a bit lacking, the game’s characters help keep the player intrigued. There are 12 potential party members, with two of them being mandatory recruits - Claude and Rena. As for the rest, it’s up to you whether or not they join your party. Each character is unique and interesting, with a distinct style and backstory. Your total party maxes out at 8 members, meaning you’ll have to decide on 6 characters to keep with you.

You can learn more about each character through Private Actions, a gameplay mechanic that lets you speak to party members one-on-one in SO: TSS’s many towns and cities. Private Actions have the potential to affect a character’s relationship with Claude or Rena, which in turn affects which ending out of 87 that you’ll see after beating the game. My favorite characters are Ashton, a powerful swordsman who has terrible luck and gets fused with two dragons, and Bowman, a pharmacist and former scientist who displays excellent family man skills by leaving his wife to journey with Claude, Rena, and the rest of the crew.

Despite my complaints, I appreciate how ambitious this title is. Space may be a popular setting for an RPG these days, but during the PlayStation era, sci-fi RPGs were few and far between. SO: TSS fits the bill of an enjoyable sci-fi story as long as you can push through the first few hours.

Multilayered, action-packed gameplay

One area where Star Ocean: The Second Story stands out for me among all the other JRPGs for PlayStation is its gameplay, specifically in battle. The overworld, town, and dungeon exploration isn’t particularly groundbreaking, as you mostly head toward the next destination linearly. You’ll spend a lot of time mashing X to interact with NPCs and other objects. Thankfully, chests stand out in bright red against the pre-rendered backgrounds and important objects to investigate often sparkle. Both help to make exploring a little easier while dealing with random encounters.

Oof, those two words: random encounters. Yeah, SO: TSS has them in spades, as did most RPGs of this era. But this game has a leg up on those other titles thanks to its unique battle system and an extremely useful overworld map. In SO: TSS’s active-time battle system, you can take control of individual party members and move them around during combat. You can attack physically or with special skills learned through leveling up or through SO: TSS’s in-depth skill system.

In my latest playthrough, I usually controlled Claude during enemy encounters, scooting around the battlefield in my Bunny Shoes (as soon as I got a pair) and letting my teammates’ tactics be controlled by the decent enough AI. Special skills can be mapped to the shoulder buttons, making it easy to spam them and rain destruction down on your foes. This makes battles so much more fun than the standard “Press X and wait” affairs, but be careful - MP drains fast in this game. If full control over your characters isn’t your thing, the game also features an auto and semi-auto option that allows the game’s AI to take on more of the micro-managing for players.

As much as I love the battle system, it’s got some big flaws that keep it from being better. Aerial enemies are a pain in the ass to attack with your physical fighters. Fights were dragged out on more than one occasion simply because I kept whiffing on jump attacks. Fast enemies tend to make fights longer, too, thanks to your fighters having to chase them around the battlefield if they’ve locked on to attack.

Another gripe I have is that, far too often, I found myself getting trapped between two enemies and just being hammered on. Yeah, yeah, positioning is the name of the game with SO: TSS, but if a character manages to get sandwiched and, God forbid, stunned too, you can pretty much guarantee you’ll be throwing a Resurrection Bottle their way.

Outside of battles, SO: TSS has a few other gameplay features that keep things interesting outside of the normal JRPG fare. The first is the previously mentioned skill system that has your party members learning everything from cooking to parrying enemy attacks. Skills are either related to crafting or combat, and sets of skills can be purchased from Skill Guilds located in the towns and cities of Expel and Energy Nede.

It’s an absolute blast to explore the depths of the skill system, other than having to navigate through menu after menu when leveling up skills, creating new items, or identifying unknown items. I remember being confused back in the day when trying to use skills that produce items - you don’t access those skills from the skill menu, but in a separate menu within the item/inventory menu. Experimenting with skills and seeing what you can craft is loads of fun; navigating an overloaded UI isn’t.

2D and 3D collide

The fifth generation of consoles was a continuation of the transition in video games from 2D graphics to full 3D worlds and experiences. In Star Ocean: The Second Story, 2D and 3D graphics coexist, making for a unique look that sets the game apart from other JRPGs on PlayStation.

This effect is most noticeable on the overworld map and in combat. The 3D textures haven’t aged well and weren’t particularly great, even when the game was released, but the world is brought to life by being able to sweep the camera around the 2D sprite of Claude or Rena while traversing from town to town, allowing you to gain a sense of just how big Expel and Energy Nede are. In combat, the camera stays in a fixed position, but the battlefield is rendered in 3D. It legitimately feels as if an anime was thrust into a world with a Z-axis.

Once you enter a town, the backgrounds transition to gorgeously detailed, pre-rendered set pieces that give each location a distinct feel and personality. Each shop and house feels different too, showcasing the effort the developers put into making a more detailed world.

Star Ocean: The Second Story may not push the PlayStation to its graphical limits, but it strikes a wonderful balance between a 2D and 3D world that makes for a fascinating setting.

A sweeping sci-fi and fantasy soundtrack

Star Ocean: The Second Story’s music is as varied as the 2D and 3D visual combination. The soundtrack was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who by that time had already helped compose the soundtrack for Tales of Phantasia, and has since gone on to compose the soundtracks for the Mario Tennis series, the Mario Golf series, and the Golden Sun series, just to name a few. His progressive-rock leanings make their way into Star Ocean: The Second Story’s soundtrack, but the music of this game spans multiple genres and styles.

The game sets the stage with the mysterious “Silent the Universe” in the opening cutscene. Small towns like Arlia are filled with the ethereal sounds of flute and stringed instruments of songs like “Pure a Stream” and “Weathercock.” “Shower of Blossoms” is a majestic, march-like tune that fills the air of Cross, the first major city in the game. “Field of Expel” perfectly encapsulates a feeling of adventure as you travel to your next destination on the world map.

All of the previously mentioned tracks are great, but they honestly pale in comparison to Sakuraba’s bass-and-precussion-heavy combat themes. “Stab the Sword,” the most prevalent song in battle, is an absolute banger with its driving rock bass line. Likewise, the boss battle track “Dynamite” gets your blood pumping and instantly raises the stakes of already difficult battles.

I’m a firm believer that a soundtrack can make or break a game, and Star Ocean: The Second Story easily has one of the best soundtracks of the PlayStation era.

Is Star Ocean: The Second Story worth playing now?

I’ll keep it simple for Hazy Bit’s first review: yes, it is.

For me, the best RPG of the PlayStation era is a toss-up between Final Fantasy IX and Star Ocean: The Second Story. While Final Fantasy IX is a masterclass in storytelling and turn-based combat, I love Star Ocean: The Second Story for its action-RPG leanings, the unique blend of sci-fi and fantasy, and the large cast of interesting characters. And with 87 possible endings, SO: TSS features replayability that FFIX can’t match.

By the time this issue of Hazy Bit hits your inbox, Star Ocean: The Second Story R will be available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC, making playing this fantastic title easier than ever. The remake looks amazing and I’ll be reviewing it in an upcoming issue.

If you want to play the original, loose copies can be found on eBay for less than $40, while a complete copy may run you between $50 to $80. You can find the current prices and eBay listings on Price Charting.

That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed my review of Star Ocean: The Second Story. If you did, don’t forget to like the post, drop a comment, and subscribe if you feel so inclined. If you didn’t, drop a comment telling me how wrong I am! I love talking games with readers.

Next week, I get ready for the 2024 NFL season by playing arguably the best football video game ever made: NFL 2K5.