Welcome back to The Game Collection! Today’s video is brought to you today by the supporters of the show over on Patreon, and subscribers on Twitch. Everyone got together and created a list of games they wanted to see a review of, no game was off the table. And then they voted decided which of those games I would review next. The competition was fierce, and included games like Golden Sun, the Tales series, and dozens of others but in the end, one game slowly but steadily rose through the ranks. One game was chosen above all the others. And now, finally, after spending dozens of hours playing through it, I can see exactly why it was chosen. And now it’s time to dig into it! I am SuperDerek, and this is Star Ocean: The Second Story!
Star Ocean: The Second Story was the first Star Ocean game to come to the United States and was, in fact, the way a great many people first experienced this epic series. However as the name would imply this is actually the second entry in the series. Second Story is a follow up the Super Famicom release of Star Ocean, which wasn’t officially localized and published in the west until its PSP re-release: Star Ocean: First Departure… But that’s a story for another day.
The series has an interesting pedigree, with many of its creators having worked on Tales of Phantasia prior. When several team members split from Wolfteam, they formed their own development studio, Tri-Ace, and have been making Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile games ever since. Because of this, you can see the influences in the game as it plays out in a mixture of action RPG and menu-based battle mechanics. However, as the name might imply, this game isn’t exactly your run-of-the-mill medieval fantasy.
The game opens with presenting the player with a choice, you may choose which protagonist the game will follow throughout its duration. This blind choice will affect a few things down the road, such as recruitable characters, which bits of the story the player will be privy to, and the like. The choice is between Claude and Rena, two characters who at a glance are worlds apart. Because Rena has healing magic, I opted for her story. But it didn’t take long before the two were united.
While visiting a forest near her home town, Rena is attacked by a beast! Seemingly from nowhere, Claude intervenes, “sword” flashing. To Rena, he’s a vision of the foretold hero, destined to save the world from calamity. And as luck would have it, there just so happens to be a calamity afflicting the world in the form of the Sorcery Globe, which fell from the sky and is causing all sorts of problems. Claude, oblivious to this apparent destiny and not wanting to be rude and also not really having anywhere else to go, follows Rena into town.
Glossing over many of the smaller details, Claude and Rena end up going on an adventure to investigate the sorcery globe. A task that draws the unsuspecting Claude and Rena into a conflict far more immense than anyone could have imagined.
The whole concept of a foretold hero of light coming to save the world during its time of need is a story as old and tired as storytelling itself. Star Ocean the Second Story turns the trope on its ear though by mixing in a science-fantasy bend and a small dash of “Dances with Wolves”. And with a name like “Star Ocean,” and this amazing cinematic, I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler to say that this game does in fact get quite sci-fi. And when it does, the Second Story truly starts to shine.
Along the way you have the ability to recruit a bunch of characters to join you. There are 12 total playable characters, but only 8 slots in your party including Claude and Rena. Recruiting some characters may prevent you from being able to recruit others, and some characters are completely missable if you aren’t thorough. The game wants you to, no, demands that you to explore it thoroughly if you want to see everything. And it will take several playthroughs to do it. The characters you recruit, the answers you respond to questions with, and the actions you take throughout the game’s duration will determine which combination of endings you will be presented by the end of the game, resulting in something to the tune of a whopping 80 possible endings. That’s right. 80. The Second Story is a massively ambitious game, and it shows in details like this.
I guess what I’m getting at is that if someone ever asks you if there was one JRPG you had to play for the rest of your life, what would it be, you probably wouldn’t ever run out of things to learn and do in The Second Story.
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