Star Ocean: The Second Story

[Debitt]

I just picked the game back up, and...wow. I can't believe I forgot how good or how immensely huge and complex this game was.

So I was wondering, to all you who've played the game: what endings have you gotten? What items have you used to customize weapons? what's the best item you've pickpocketed? And of course, the ever present question, who's your favorite party member? (Disclaimer: Kokoro Daisuke is not responsible for any maulings that may occur when the response of "Claude" is issued to the last question)

[Nate]

Yes, it was a good game, wasn't it?

Somehow though, I just can't bring myself to play through it again. I don't know why. Maybe because it consumes MASSIVE amounts of time.

What's the best item I've pickpocketed? Hmm...I think it's a charm you pickpocket from Filia that gives you random items while you walk around. It's pretty good. Of course, you can only pickpocket from her during that one PM...before the city...well, you know. That means you have to earn 40,000 Fol at the beginning of the game. No sweat.

My favorite character? Hmm...three way tie between Ashton, Precis, and Leon.

The endings I got were the default endings, more or less. I ended up getting Claude and Rena living on Expel (sigh...) and Ashton and Precis. I wanted Claude and Precis!

As far as item creation, I never was very good at it. Like I was never able to create the super-ultra-mega weapons for Precis, or the Killer Moves she's supposed to be able to create through Engineering.

I DID beat the angel chick at the bottom of the Cave of Trials though...hooray for me! But, I can't beat the powered-up version of the final boss. I beat him regularly just fine, but after you do that one PM in that town and release Filia, he becomes SUPER hard and I can't beat him anymore...

[Chichiri]

I created the Eternal Sphere and some of the best weapons with crafting, but that's because I knew what I was doing, since it was my second playthrough.

My favorite character is without a doubt Ashton. He's pretty freakin awesome. If you have a party with Ashton, Dias, Claude, and Rena, you can be fairly unbeatable if you play your cards right.

As far as the overall feel of this game: It was fun, but really annoying at times because the battles could be cheap. The translation was a little dodgy at times and I felt like I was playing a kid's game. The music was kinda crappy for the most part, I didn't particularly LOVE any tunes but some weren't so bad.

[Debitt]

I agree, the tranlsations were....uggh... x_x; It's pretty obvious they wanted to be done with the game and have it out on shelves as quickly as possible (they being the translation people), because when a Japanese 1 student like myself can pick out problems (yes, I'm at that bad as to compare screenshots) you know it's pretty shoddy. But translation and yes, crappy music aside (okay, well it isn't so much crappy as it is repetitive), I love the game.

I have yet to customize anything of any value whatsoever, but that's mainly because the first time I went through the game, I didn't realize a character's talents affected their ability to use specials. Silly me. >_>; Hopefully this time through I'll be able to get something good since now I know what's going on there. I was also unaware of the possibilities of Fun City...x_x; ah well.

My favorite character easily has to be Ashton. *fangirl squealing ensues* He came off as a bit of a jerk at first, but I really warmed up to him (and I found out about his barrel obsession. xD; ) quickly. Not to mention that I'd be sunk in a more difficult battle without him. In a close second would be Leon, not only because he's a cute little boy genius with kitty ears (cut me a break, I'm a teenage girl), but if I have him and Celine in a party together, I can chain spells and kick some serious butt. >D

[Nate]

I have yet to customize anything of any value whatsoever, but that's mainly because the first time I went through the game, I didn't realize a character's talents affected their ability to use specials. Silly me. >_>]
My brother couldn't figure out why he was always failing to pickpocket items. I told him that Claude needed the "Dexterity" talent or he was destined to fail pretty much even if his PP level was 10. He asked how he could get it, and I told him, "Start a new game." He didn't like that response.

In a close second would be Leon, not only because he's a cute little boy genius with kitty ears (cut me a break, I'm a teenage girl), but if I have him and Celine in a party together, I can chain spells and kick some serious butt. >D

I didn't even know you could chain spells until I read it on the net. Still haven't ever done it though.

Leon is described in his character profile as a "Fellpool," not an Expellian for his race. But the game never says what a Fellpool IS, exactly. I found that odd...especially since Leon seems to be the ONLY one on Expel with ears like that.

And...what the heck is up with Ashton's barrel obsession anyway? Couldn't figure that one out for the life of me...

[Debitt]

Leon is described in his character profile as a "Fellpool," not an Expellian for his race. But the game never says what a Fellpool IS, exactly. I found that odd...especially since Leon seems to be the ONLY one on Expel with ears like that.

xD; That seriously confused me, too. So I did some digging and managed to come up with...not much. >_>; Well, for one, Leon is adopted...which would explain why his parents don't have the cool ears. And apparently a fair share of the characters from the original Star Ocean were Fellpools as well, from the planet Roak.

...now you'd think that the answer ends there. x_x; But it doesn't. Most of the characters in the original game that are described as a "fellpool" look just like an Expelian...except for one girl (I forget her name) who has cat ears and is called a Lesser Fellpool. So I'm assuming when they made SOEX, they got lazy and didn't add the "Lesser" into Leon's character bio. Not that that explains what the heck a Fellpool is any more or any less, but hey...xD;

[Kisa]

Ah great game! I loved it!
My fav char are Ashton, Precis, Rena, Dias. Ashton the best though ^^ (and of course Gyaro and Ururun ^_-)

[Debitt]

I liked Dias in the anime, but he really came across as overly arrogant in the game. =/ Which kinda disappointed me. x3 Oh well, Ashton's still better by far!

I think Ashton got voted best character in a poll that Enix took in Japan. Looks like he's the overwhelming fan favorite. (Claude took 2nd, Rena 3rd, and Leon 4th. Muaha!)

[Kisa]

YAY Ashton!
I think this was the best game I ever played, hands down.... ^_^

[Chichiri]

I liked the game and all, but best game ever?

Story was good, but not epic.

Gameplay could be very frusterating at times, leading to some cheap enemies.

Music tried too hard to have like an angel-like melody. The music wasn't too memorable and just didn't really feel right or sound right at some places.

Localization was so-so. They could have translated some things better and the voice acting was fairly bad. I had enough of "Umm... Rena?" and "Claude? Umm..." by the end of disc 1.

Overall it was an average game with some highlights that did bring it above mediocrity. The item synthesis and skill points was something neat and new (besides SO1). If I had to give it a rating, i'd give it an 85%. Fix up the music and the dialogue, and you have a pretty good game.

[Tommy]

I want to play it. i saw the terribly horrible graphics and my question is: How many disks does it contain for the pS1?

[MasterDias]

Star Ocean: The Second Story has two disks.

[Debitt]

O_o Incredibly horrible? >.> Not horrible, but the sprites were indeed old school reminiscent (I liked them), and the 3D was just a tad worse than FF7. O.o

[Htom Sirveaux]

I just started it not long ago. I know I'm already still playing FFVI, VII, IX and X, as well as Chrono Cross. But I found it super-cheap and had to pick it up. You know how RPGs grow on you.
Anyway, I like it so far except for just a few things:
1. The voice samples during battle can get a bit annoying, all they do for me is tell me how much MP my magic-based characters are using up when I'm not in control of them (in this way it's sorta like Kingdom Hearts).
2. A little Engrish here and there, but it's actually kinda funny (Claude increased! Rena 2 increased!).
3. This is really a minor thing but it kept on nagging at my mind. The NPCs go on and on about earthquakes, yet when you tell them you're from Earth they say "'Urth'? What's 'Urth'? Never heard of 'Urth' before."
4. I keep thinking "Claude looks like he's wearing a women's one-piece bathing suit. I try to convince myself otherwise, but it's right there, taunting me.

Nitpicking aside, it really is a great game. If Squaresoft had to make a corporate merger with someone, I'm glad it was Enix.

[Spiritsword]

Ahh, I just beat Gabrie (and got lambasted by Iselia) so I'm in an excited mood about Star Ocean right now.

I haven't done much with customization. I still don't entirely understand all the ins and outs of the game.

My favorite character is Precis! Actually, I like Claude as a NPC in my party because some of his moves inflict a lot of damage and he has pretty good striking speed. My party I'm building up is Rena, Precis, Claude and Opera (good for attacking from longer range). I've actually never had Ashton in my party...I missed almost everyone the first playthrough, and opted for Opera the next time through.

I love the old school graphics. That's what I'm into. I personally prefer depth of gameplay to top-notch graphics, as long as the graphics are decent, and Star Ocean's are fine with me. Substance over style (applies to almost everything in my life).

[Tommy]

So does this have the same battle system as So3?

[Tommy]

Oh and do they sell this game in the English language?

[Debitt]

Yes, this game is sold in the English language. =/ That's why most people here have played it. In fact, I got my copy from WalMart.

[Tommy]

So1 isn`t in English.....

[Debitt]

Nope. Never was, probably never will be.

[Tommy]

Another question is, how can a game with graphics like So2 have real-timw battle sytstem. Is it better than So3 becuase i thought So3 was ok but somewhere in the middle of Disk 2 I really started to like it alot. Or maybe it was the beginning of Disk 2. It was the Moonbase.

[Debitt]

You'd be surprised. Go look up screenshots if you're THAT skeptical about the graphics' effect on the game play. I noticed relatively few differences.

[Tommy]

Alright, just got this game today. Can`t wait to pop it into my PS2.