This game was everything to me as a kid. Between this, parasite eve, and legend of legaia, I just never became happier with being a gamer. Such good memories.
This game was my life as an 8-year-old. I was homeschooled, so very sheltered. It taught me vocabulary, definitions, life, and the beginning of romance. This is by far the best jrpg of all time, and will always be very dear in my heart. I still have my save file from 1999, backed up on my PS3 and my PC for emulation via EPSXE. Thank you for such a good review. It makes me smile knowing other people got to experience this wonderful game, and that it lives on through these video essays.
To me, this game is a lot about the atmosphere - it has an amazing hypnotic feel that is actually really addictive. Anyone who has ever heard tracks like "Pure A Stream" and "Field Of Expel" will immediately understand exactly what I mean.
Exactly! Star Ocean TSS is in my opinion the greatest JRPG of all time for this reason, with games like Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger following up behind it :). I really wish we could get back to making high pixel art, per-rendered background JRPGs, especially one's with smooth real time combat! The real time combat in this game is by far my favorite in the entire genre. The most important, overlooked factor in a great video game is the WORLD and the atmosphere it elicits; the world is by far the most important, most interesting character in every video game, and a lot of games miss this concept imo.
First time I experienced the field of expel and it's theme set the tone and atmosphere for me. Everyone has Final Fantasy - - well, I have Star Ocean. It made a huge impact during my childhood.
Yeah, the first time I heard the world map theme on Expel I was immediately like "oh WOW"; it was almost too much to take in, and I had to catch my breath before I moved on, lol.
Finally someone else acknowledges how good Star Ocean is on the PS1 🙌 I remember trying it back in the day after playing Xenogears and thinking it was too complex. A few years later I gave it a second try and I got so caught up in that world. Great video 😃
It's one of the highest rated RPG's of it's generation. Other than the cut scenes, I don't recall any negative on this game. Even the cutscene critique is fair beause, come the fuck on. you have an unskipable 30 minute text scroll followed by a fifteen minute one by taking 2 steps over. I'm not exaggerating either. Love the series because of it's absolutely insane depth, but the earlier games had issues with that.
**Special items spoiler alert** So2 can become a bit OCD as every game i start saving for the bandits gloves and the seltzer or else u miss pickpocketing the best items. But then i went deeper down the rabbit hole and found there is some special glitch for the treasure chest u steal in Mars. Trying to get all the special things in the game kind of frustrates the experience. Ontop of that if u dont know how to get Opera and Ernest. So it gets a bit OCD frustrating if u want to get certain things and miss them u have to make many save slots along the way.
I scr3wed up on another thing in my current playthrough. you can steal/get skill books and your character below skill lvl 5 u can use to write skillbooks for the rest of the party. i made the mistake of getting some characters skills over lvl 5 like with biology its very sp costly even with perseverance lvl 10. so its better to give these books u steal/find to the writer of the skill. so u can maximize SP usage 😅🤯😵
Ah man, this was the second JRPG I picked up after FFVII, so many good memories. There’s a lot of fantastic games today but the leap in game play from year to year seemed so much more drastic back then.
I feel like Tri-Ace crammed as much of their ideas as possible in one game (which surprisingly turned out well). Not even other Tri-Ace games feel this huge.
My absolute favorite JRPG on the Playstation! So glad to see you cover this! The music in this game is something I always just listen to in the background and would love for a vinyl release. I do appreciate how the story is never overwhelming and at any point you can always do a private action and see those characters in the town. My least favorite move in the game is Celine using Ray in the early game. That voice line and the accompanying sound effects are burned into my brain!
Ahhh man, I love Star Ocean! I still remember playing this game for the first time as a kid... the music had this unique and wild quality that seemed unlike any I'd heard, and completely swept me away! Oddly enough, the exact same thing happened with Valkyrie Profile, which I later found out had the same composer and can hear the similarity now... but seemed unique at the time. Can't say it's my favorite on PS1 - that distinction would go to Xenogears - but SO2 is incredible and would buy in a heartbeat if it came to Steam. And would like to see the series continued properly after the somewhat disappointing SO5.
I remember buying this game off the shelf from Montgomery Wards when they were going out of business, sometime in the late 90's...wanted something after FF7, and this absolutely filled that void. Awesome art style, amazing music, ultra deep battle system and storyline.. one of the best on PS1 for sure.
I am currently playing this game again on PS1. My stepdad introduced it to me and it was his favorite game ever. He died 3 weeks ago and I wanted to play it again for him. He used to get so excited when I’d help him craft some Mithril to make the best armor and weapons. He loved the cooking competition as well. Thanks for this video. 🙂
When starting out in Star Ocean 2, the _Very First Thing_ you will always want to do, as soon as you have access to your menu, is check to see if the main character has the Dexterity talent. If they do not, _Start Over!_ Trust me on this! Picking Pockets yields many of the most powerful items in the game, most of which cannot be obtained by any other means! And, without Dex, you don't have a hope in hell of succeeding at it. You can, technically, unlock it later. But, it's the hardest talent to unlock, and you may be well-past some of those unique pick-pocketing opportunities by the time you do. Claud has a pretty high likelihood of starting the game with the Dexterity talent. Rena, not so much. But it is _Mandatory!_
I have so many fond memories of this game because I remember being a huge Final Fantasy fan as a kid, and the first time I ever met another kid my age that loved RPG's like I did showed me this among other lesser known titles at the time. Think I'm gonna get an emulator running and see how well this game holds up these days.
Me to brother. I was a huge Final fantasy fan and dragon warrior too. All I knew was turn based rpgs until my brother and I bought Star Ocean. It was different in all the good ways. How instead of everybody taking a turn, your party just split up and did there thing. Alot more realistic for its time.
It hold up amazing, i beat this game back in like 2014 and fucking loved it. MY FAVORITE GAME EVER.... and i still have beat the ps1 version many times over the PSP remake...
@@Kingslay3r Yea they nerfed Ashton to mutch but the quality of life changes are huge. Makes going back to the ps1 version difficult. I liked the voice acting as well.
Do. It. Seriously if you enjoy JRPG's, romance mechanics, action-like battles, A FREAKING OVERWORLD (I miss those) and multiple "endings" (back to that romance mechanic) then play this game. You will not regret it I promise you.
One of my absolute favorite games that I've ever played. I've played both as Claude and Rena and I have to say that I prefer Rena's campaign. Hers' is just a more emotional story that ties into the lore of both worlds (and by extension to the main antagonists) you explore and there's a part of Rena's theme that plays in so many magical places like the Shingo Forest. I know Claude has his own story that ties into his worries about facing the future, becoming an adult, his insecurities about living up to his father's legendary image and his desire to forge a new path and make a name for himself without the shadow of his father hanging over him or people expecting him to be just like his father and always comparing the two, but with the musical cues it seems to me that even the game itself is saying "This is Rena's story". I also love all the myriad things you can do in this game from the crafting to the PAs, diving into the deep lore of both Expel and Nede and just the way you get to interact with your party. You don't usually see stuff like this in games unless it's part of the story moving forward. I played this game when I was a teenager and it remains one of the deepest RPGs i've ever played that actually had me feeling for the characters and connecting with them. It's special to me, i feel like I really crossed the world of Expel with these people, had adventures with them, got to know them. This was the game that showed me just how deep and how good a game can be. Heck I got a PSX emulator just for the sole purpose of playing my original PS1 copy on my computer. Playing my other PS1 games was just a bonus but playing SO2 was why I did it.
I love your comment and that there are people who also love Star Ocean and do not forget about the game. I am always in a fight with final fantasy fans, because every time I compare it with SO, FF just sucks. The fights, the private actions, music, all the possible endings and possible party members, that you can take an impact of who falls in love with eah other, just everything is so detailled and touching, like the story of Dias and Rena, the story of Rena and her true parents, the music themes and so on. Trying to get those damn bunny shoes in the party town (don't know the english name of the town) It is so sad that this kind or rpgs aren't made anymore
I remember renting this from a video store back in the day. So happy I got to play this as a kid. Thank you for covering this game, Pam. Hopefully, you'll bring more eyes to this wonderful classic.
Rena's theme music - from the second disc where she learns the truth about her past! That music is so beautiful and sad, it fits so well. I think everyone would tear up at that moment with that music
Thanks to you, I tried this game out about a month and a half ago. This game is an absolute masterpiece, and I enjoyed every moment of it. When I played through the first hour of the game, I was instantly hooked. The settings, the characters, the story, the music, it was so captivating. I couldn't stop thinking about this game, when I didn't play it and when I had any free time, I played the game the first chance I got. The final part of the game was really tough, and I thought I would throw the controller out of frustration. But when I beat the boss, it was total bliss. I never played such a JRPG game, where I was totally invested in the game. The last time I did, was back at fall of 2002, just a month before I finished college. That game was Final Fantasy 7, and it became my absolute favorite game, on the PS1. Star Ocean: Second Story is my second favorite, coming close to dethrone Final Fantasy 7 as my most favorite JRPG game. So when I heard about the remake, I was so stoked. When I played the demo, I immediately fell in love with it. As much as I have a big heart for the PS1 version, I felt this remake made this version superior to the original. When this remake comes out on day one, I will be going for the purchase button as fast as possible. But the question is now, Which version to get? I am thinking of the Switch version, but I am not sure yet.
I adored this game when it came out, I was a teenager and I remember spending so much time trying to win the coliseum/tournament part. Talk about overwhelming though, this is a lot of JRPG.
I remember playing this game years and years ago, i would spam that move where claude make those rocks come out of the ground, spam it over and over and that got me through the game. The more you use it, the more rocks come out, at some point there were enough rocks to cover the entire battlefield and hits everyone.
i didn't cover the whole screen but it was one of the best moves, if you followed it up with MIRROR SLICE while the enemy was recovering from TEAR INTO PIECES
I just love this game so much. I actually ended up with Opera in my party the first time I played and I didn’t have a guide. The music even more than 20 years after is still in my head and pop up from time to time just like FF7 music. And the graphics are just so beautiful. Love the 2D pre rendered graphics for the backgrounds which also remind me of FF7. The crafting was also very interesting for the time as I had never experienced such a system before at the time. I levelled to 255 the max level and got super powerful to beat the colosseum at the end of the game. However unlike FF7 I can’t bring myself to replay the game again and again. I’ve tried but I’ve never had the same feeling as back in 1999 and usually get tired after a few hours.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. Funny story, I had intended to purchase Lunar: Silver Star Story, but could only remember the "Star" in the name. Ended up buying this game and did not regret it. While I love the PSP remake, I dislike that they removed the revolving 3D items in the menus and how they physically morphed during crafting and I really disliked the removal of the virtual tour of both planets during the end credits, but at least they kept that epic end theme tune.
Ha, that is funny. At least getting the wrong game worked out. I don’t really care for the new character art during dialogue in the remake. Rena looks like she’s 9 years old.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Aw, that's another change I didn't like! But the remake does have a lot of excellent improvements (like giving Dias private actions!), so you take the good with the bad. They did censor some of the religious imagery in the remake (the cute angel sprites that come down when Rena uses her revive spell are covered in fog) and they removed the graphic scene of the murder of Dias's family, so it's an even balance of loss versus gain.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Not that funny. Here’s funny. A Canadian walked into a bar, “got any poutine”, they said. Ay? The barman said “we haven’t got any poutine buddy”, ay? “Well, ay. Thanks buddy”. Ay. Barman said “thanks friend, ay”. Just completed fractured but whole. I have no idea why those guys have a problem with Canada. Don’t even know if you say ay. Comment for the algorithm Pam. ;-)
Thank you for this! I have been catching up with this game lately - I played it to death when I was younger and I got as far as the super secret endgame dungeon before burning out a bit. I went back and beat it without the secret stuff and enjoyed the hell out of it. I really liked the fact that you could lock yourself out of multiple characters being in your party based on the paths you chose. Again, thanks for the video. It brings back really happy memories.
This is the most in depth review I have watched. Amazing job. Nobody ever covers the crafting, cooking master or bunny races, the unsung parts of the game.
Was my favorite game for most of my life. The limitations of heraldry and all that feels like different ways to challenge and approach the game. The optimal party is Opera with Healing Star at 999 proficiency (4995 HP heal for all) and a full party of killer moves users, but it's also possible to beat the whole game with any character with a healing skill solo!
Been watching a stream of SO2 and it took two streams for me to get hooked. Soundtrack, story, characters. This is the best SO of all time. Great review
Many years ago, I was homeless, living out of my car, but I had a little TV, extension cord, PlayStation, and this game. Outlets were pretty much everywhere, so I put 1000s of hours into this game, and it obviously today remains my favorite RPG on the system. Fantastic video.
I got started in RPGs with Final Fantasy, but Star Ocean the Second Story was what really cemented my love for the genre. Really awesome to see this game get some attention. Just hearing the old sound effects sent me down nostalgia lane
The battle style was awesome and I like having special moves at the press of a button, very overwhelming as a kid with all the crafting and different characters to find, or not find
Best RPG ever* This was such a quality immersive deep dive into what makes this game special. You integrated the music so well and covered a lot of the unique intangibles this timeless game provided. p.s I replayed this game in college and my roommates would hear me spam the Ripper Blast move where he yells "Tear into Pieces!".. but the audio was so muffled my roomies thought Claude was yelling "GAAARRRRY BUSEY." And of course, I was endlessly trolled with "GARY BUSEY" every time I played the game.
In terms of soundtracks of jrpgs on the PS1, this one is second only to Chrono Cross. I wish they'd port this to modern consoles. I haven't played it in little over 20 years. Also wish they'd port Chrono Cross. And both Lunar games. Great review!
Man this makes me want to go back and play this game. I played it SO many times as a kid and it leaves such a warm place in my heart. It's such a shame that no other Star Ocean has held a candle to how ambitious this game was. As an aside, I have also had so many lines from this game stuck in my head forever. Some favorites: "10 seconds." "That's somewhere around 80 points." "Tear into pieces!" "Fairy heal!" I hope you enjoy those getting stuck in your head, haha. Great video, as always!!! I love how much time and dedication you put into them without ruining the game for those who want to experience it for the first time. :)
"GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!" "I HATE YOU!" "this is a strategic escape" "I'm going to kill you" "My eyes are hazy" "RENAAAA" I use that "strategic escape" line still to this day as well as "I'm going to kill you"...
I agree with the assessment. SO: 2 was and is still my favorite JRPG to date. I still remember the hit I took when Rena's origin is revealed from the lab tapes. On the other end, the feeling of aggravation of hearing "SPICULE!" just as my party wipes was just heart-wrenching (so many hours wasted on that battle alone... so much grinding). One last thought: I always felt bad for doing it, but if you max Pickpocket and manage to buy the Thief's Glove before going to Cross Cave, you can pickpocket the old man in Mars to get the Treasure Chest item that, on a percentage, could give you the Sword of Marvels (which you won't find until disc 2 in the Field of Power) and make Claude an unstoppable force all the way through the remainder of disc 1.
I'm still not used to hearing "retro" and "Playstation 1" together in the same sentence. You're absolutely correct citing the game as retro, it's just weird to think about how long ago this actually was.
I can remember when it came out. It cost £400 here, it may as well been a million. It was well outside my price range. There was no such thing as a gaming back log in those days.
I love how you do your make up to match the games you review. The colours you used for this were just mesmerising. I can't see as well with a small phone screen but if you didn't have glitter then that would have been a missed opportunity. Also, this game looks like something I would have killed hours on. I love earlier generation JRPGs. Sadly in my country we got screwed when it came to the good games like these untill the ps2 came out. And even then they were usually censored. That's why my collection of rare obscure ps1 games were all pirated.
I put Xenogears, FF7, and Breath of Fire 3 above this game, but it is an amazing game. I definitely spent soooo many hours on crafting. My first playthrough, I missed interacting with Ashton entirely. I usually play as Rena because I really like Deis as a party member.
I still remember that time when I played this game for the firsr time and saw the first village in the game (Arlia?) - it was so colorful and beautiful that I felt like I was playing a point-and-click adventure PC game. And the BGM, wow - it was so relaxing! Honestly, I like the presentation of SO 2nd Story better than FF8 and yes, FF9! FF9 is a close 2nd to this! I hope that the current and upcoming RPGs will have this kind of "feel" again.
I had this game when I was 12 my dad bought it for me and beat it for me as well. I am currently playing it through emulation and I am not disappointed and i am having a fun time. Your enthusiasm towards this game is amazing I love it.
This was always my favourite game growing up. My older sister and I loved this game! So many awesome memories. Played through it quite a few times. All the sound effects and music in your video were so inspiring, this game really was so amazing to me. It seemed so huge, expansive and rich. I also loved the private actions and little inter-party relations. This was my first JRPG and it blew me away. I found it really raised my expectations though. After playing this I eventually played Final Fantasy 7, and I found it to suck in comparison lol.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Word, it definitely did for me. I enjoyed ff7, and the other ff games, but I soon learned that Star Ocean was the exception w/r/t JRPG's. It's nice to see it get some attention! Stellar video!
I clicked this so fast! :') I don't know what this review will hold for me, but go straight to Heaven! Edit(s): Really enjoyed the video. One of the only non-2x or 1.5x listens I've done in a while for YT vids. *Default Party* Funny you mention this. My first party, IIRC, was Rena, Claude, Celine, and Bowman. I didn't realize Ashton, Opera, or Ernest existed/were recruitable. I got none of them. I told Leon to wait for his parents, and I told Noel to take care of the animals. I felt that was the right thing (ha!). I didn't even see Chisato's ID due to my dungeon pathing, I guess. Needless to say, the game ended up having a ton of replay value for me, because my first party was so small. *Leveling up new characters* You can take characters into high-xp battles and gain massive xp (certainly 20+ levels is possible, depending on factors). There are other ways to shortcut the system as well, like with Forged Medals and Dream Bracelets (pretty sure), or you can use Extension Card to double xp in a fight. Splitting enemies should allow for more xp if you allow them to split a lot. This really amplifies the impact of the Extension Card. The problem with gaining too many levels in a fight (like a level 15 gaining 1 million xp) is that your skill points are capped at 999. If you gain so many levels that you should get 3000 skill points or whatever, getting capped at 999 is horrible. Lots to consider. And...maybe there's a skill that boosts xp? Can't remember name. Ah, yes, "Effort." *Conveniences* Yeah, not being able to port out of dungeons is different, though the dungeons in SO2 tend to be less mazey than many JRPG dungeons (no graph paper madness). Also, you get a few ways to avoid random battles in the open world (Come Here Bunny, for example) that I definitely don't see as early/often in other JRPGs. Familiar, too, is a fantastic skill, since you can get tons of good gear via your bird allies rather than needing to go back to town. There are a few others ways to avoid random battles or reduce their frequency, which is something nice that you can't take for granted in old games. *Con* You at least alluded to this, and I agree. The opening is perhaps the biggest con of the game, since it's really slow. That may not be bad the first time or if you're just chillin', but this game has immense replay value. Being unable to fast forward the beginning will be a turn off for some. Check your text speed and whatnot, friends...
I played this as a kid after my first action rpg, Tales of Destiny 2/Eternia. I picked this up just because of how similar it was and I wasn't disappointed. I've held onto my PS1 copy for nearly 20 years and revisit every now and then.
You're like my video game soul mate. I was just talking a few days ago with some people about JRPGs. I had mentioned this is my favorite JRPG of all time.
One of the greatest games I’ve ever played. This and FF9 were my Introduction to JRPG as a kid. I always loved the idea and story behind the ten wise men too.
Star Ocean 2 ... i probably got 800 hours if not more on this game. Replayed it so many times... I even finished it just with the two main players alone just for the heck of it. Such a complete game. The only thing missing thing i wish it had was a skip button for events.
I love this game! Memorable characters, great music, artstyle. My main gripes are the awful random powerspikes and the fact that mages are completely worthless and a waste of time. The casting times just take forever. Other than that I have to say that it's incredible, it just evokes massive nostalgic goosebumps for me, I constantly come back to it. Happy to hear that it still has a following. Thanks for this great review!
Magic does seem to lose out to physical attacks as soon as you're able to make weapons with sprinkles of stardust 😂. With that said, early to mid-game, magic is pretty OP. Get Lunar Light and Southern Cross for Celine early and you're gonna just melt through early game enemies like nothing. The magic buffs are always useful as well.
@@sharebear421 There's literally no reason to choose a mage over a fighter, except for the early game. From mid-late game they just make way more damage plus they also stun-lock enemies which is essential against many of the harder bosses.
You can use art on a magical canvas to create "Spring". Full HP/MP restore like a tent, except doesn't require a save point. You should be able to reproduce these as much as you want.
The 2nd disc being more dungeon-heavy is actually a brilliant design choice since the customisation options significantly open up by this point in the game. By the time you get to North City, most, if not all item creation options become accessible, giving your party a large boost in power.
While true, there are some unique and interesting customized weapons that are useless late game but really hard to make early game, and unless you are playing the Universe difficulty (which itself is hard to unlock), the planning and patience required to make them early game aren't worth the payoff. Same with Call Bunny super specialty. Useless by they time you are likely to unlock it
Hardest fight in this game is the secret boss Iseria Queen the only way to summon her is with the flute song. when your max level she's even more overpowered and will annihilate you with every status effect known to man and do massive aoe damage. Well that's all I can remember from her I can't remember if I ever beat her back in the day. Fun fact her name changed in later Tri-Ace games to Ethereal Queen
This was THE sole game that really captivated me when I received it for my birthday when I was 7, (I'm 30 now) and continues to be my ALL time favorite game because of all the incredible aspects this game had, music, art style, little details like 3D items, spell fusion based on element, and all of the numerous endings and Private Actions through the game, not to mention all of the skills to learn and item creation to experiment with! They simply don't make games like this anymore! I hope the new Star Ocean coming out has even a shred of the charm this game has! Also to note for newer folks playing SO2, if the enemy mages start spinning around the map, hit triangle and wait 10 seconds, time still counts down in the menu for them so when you unpause they will have stopped spinning around the map!
@@Cannotbetamed1 I discovered that completely on accident while I was stretching one day. I hit pause and I noticed the mage's animation changed after like 10 seconds and she was stationary again
Absolutely love so2 and still have a copy of it to this day. I can replay it over and over and never get bored of it. It was the first game that got me into rpgs. Borrowed it as a kid and fell in love.
I'll never forget grind out the bandits glove before Klick gets flooded by the Earthquake. You can pick pocket a low chance item that will give you a random item based off how many steps you take. Trial of Challenges after you beat the game and you can fly on Expel. So many great memories.
ACKSHULALLY! The town in which the Doomsayer is in is still destroyed by the flood. It's a unique item you can only get by grinding a Bandit's Glove and enough skill points to get the item off the steal. It's almost like your first 8 game hours have to be dedicated to getting the Bandit's Glove. @@Minchken
@@haywoodjablome7822 Yeah, that game has a lot of shit that took me a couple of years to even know about. Skills, RP, PA events, party specific side quests. I remember my first time playing I missed out on ashton by not talking to the right people at the right time. That game had a fuck ton of content, I'm shocked it only took 2 discs to fill all of it in.
Dude, I know! I played the absolute shit out of this game on ps1. You don't even want to know the grind you have to undertake to Beat Diaz as Claude in the Tournament, it's one of the hardest grinds and it doesn't even give you anything but a line of dialog you cannot get anywhere else that completes Diaz' voice lines for the Gabriel portrait unlock. I found everything. 100% Cave of Trials. Unlocked every ending game shark free. I even replayed SO1, and 2 via emulator on deployments, though not as in depth. I think I've prestige this game. Pretty stoked for the remake. @@Minchken
@@haywoodjablome7822 Christ, that must have took a long time. I'm stoked about the new remake too. I'll have to get a PS5 just for that game, I've seen demos and it looks amazing. It would be so amazing if they were able to get the Second story voice actors to come back for out of combat dialogue.
This game had a devious feature with its multiple endings and with its end boss. I accidentally unlocked the hardest version of Ignacio after only playing through a few times.
star ocean second story was legit a terrific jrpg... the only issue was the "bug" that cause freezing every now and then.. i still feel that some games, like xenosaga, are vastly superior as an overall product, but parts of the game are WAY ahead of its time.. 1) skit just like tales of :) (private actions) 2) crafting system was INCREDIBLE 3) "general purpose" skills were terrific! 4) party members was medium to memorable (ashton) 5) combat skill system "level up" was fucking nuts, with some skills changing not only in terms of aspect (bigger energey wave, changing colors, etc) but also adding additional property (faster travel time, adding stuns//secondary effect or for a few selected skill they change a LOT) just a funtastic game all around!
Easily one of the most underrated JRPGs of all time. It's amazing, I have the fondest memories playing this game after school as a kid, and it still holds up REALLY well today (I fire up a playthrough every few years). I was a dumb kid so crafting was really weird to me lol, it was nice to revisit that as an adult years later and getting it completely. And the end of Disk 1 is EASILY one of the bests twists ever. You think you're a hot shot that's gonna save the world and you end up seeing the true big bads. The Ten Wise men are SO GODDAMN COOL. Few games have captured the helplessness of that part.
It's also the best Star Ocean when it comes to party variety, with only First Departure coming in second in that department. You have so many choices for team builds that multiple playthroughs are a fact of life with the game, something later entries in the series have lost sight of by cutting the options down to the point that all the cast members now join by plot. End of Time still had ally choices, just very few of them, but Last Hope basically took it away completely (having the choice of swapping Faize out for Arumat on subsequent runs doesn't count as it's just silly). And I don't think I need to mention what Integrity and Faithlessness did. Sadly, Divine Force is going to be repeating this yet again since the entire playable cast was shown in the recent trailer traveling with the two protagonists. The Second Story also struck the right amount of balance mixing science fiction and fantasy themes without overdoing it. In addition, Claude, Rena, and all their allies were a lot more memorable for their distinct personalities and quirks than most of the later characters in the series. Ashton is a guy with two dragons fused to his back and he has an amusing barrel fetish you can't help but chuckle at. Precis fights with a Playstation controller and has hilarious Killer Moves. Chisato is what Lois Lane wants to be when hunting for great news stories and she can call her planet's defense force for a missile drop anytime she wants. I love this cast so much. Even characters with more grounded backstories like Dias are likable.
Star Ocean 2 was the first game i played on PS1. As a Japanese tri-Ace fan, I'm really glad to found this video. Now I'm looking forward to see "Star Ocean: Blue Sphere" review.
oh man - loved this one when I was in high school. it felt so customizable compared to other RPG's of the time - between all the different outcomes & endings, and with the skills you would choose to develop. was pretty popular in the small midwestern US town i grew up in among the RPG fans. I tried playing the PS2 sequel but I wasn't crazy about it - but I'll always have a soft spot for this one, and the especially the "iron chef" minigame in the middle of the quest
Yeah, I tried 3 and 4 as well, but they didn't hook me. I should probably try the 1st at some point (maybe the remake), but it's possible that SO2 is truly the champ of the series.
@@bowmanencore i beat all of them and SO2 is the best by far the best. Its in a league of its own. The remake of the 1st game is pretty good though, its built in the exact same engine as SO2. But its a much shorter game with just an ok story. The highlight is really just getting to play in SO2's battle engine with different characters. 3 started good but its too disconnected from the rest of the games narratively and they tried way too hard with the plot twist. The switch to 3D also came to a heavy cost in term of gameplay depth. 4 builds on everything 3 did and improved it... except on characterisation which is where the game falls flat. Most party member are just bland and the few that stands out do so for all the wrong reasons. SO5 : fuck this.
Very good review! Star Ocean 2 was also my favorite PS1 jrpg. I played it so much back in the day and your reminisces brought me back to my own experiences with this master piece of a game.
Until you get to cave of trials and find out he sucks in there Claude 100% maxed ripper blast ftw or maxed mirror slice against mobs that don't block all the time
It's being remade as Star Ocean: The Second Story R, developed by Gemdrops. It'll be released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam on November 2, 2023.
Perfect timing! I just found my old save files and starting playing again. Looks like I left off right before the field of power but I'm still remembering how to fight and craft, so much fun! :D
As much as I love Xenogears and final fantasy vii and a bunch of other ps1 Jrpgs….I remember I couldn’t put this game down. I played this during summer vacation and binged the whole game in like a week. So many great memories.
Love the video, very well done and I totally agree with all the points you made. Big Star Ocean fan. The first and second game really wants you to plan out which party you want by the end. Japan was really big on strategy guides and companion guides which help in this regard. This really was simplified by the PS2 game and on thankfully.
This needs to be put onto consoles digital stores. The first game is on Switch, now we need this one. And the sound effects while crafting really are satisfying. This game really does have a certain atmosphere that I really enjoyed. This and Dragon Warrior 7 might actually be my favorite RPGs on the PS1.
This is one of my favorite RPG games! Even today it has a great story and I like the many changes in this game. Like the action turned based battle system.
This game absolutely killed it, after playing ff7 then zelda 64 then ff8, Lunar the graphics, story, propulsion of events, ambience with game building was all top notch, I'd really have to applaud this video for its clarity on the impact of the game, how magnificent it was in respects that very few jprg's could ever be and none with those kind of light hearted graphics, surely a quintessential example of wht jrpg's were suppose to be, but with a beautifully melded western influence. The combat was so ahead of its time and perfect.
Honestly it's the most important RPG of all time imo. It really made the real time action strategy, item creation and the multiple endings feature a staple in the rpg genre. All of the characters were perfect and the game really highlighted what a rpg should and can be. It will forever be my favorite rpg of all time next to final fantasy 12, rogue Galaxy etc.
Overall this is the best Star Ocean game I have ever played, I bought it for the PS1 and still love the game today. I played as Claude first time around and left Leon behind on my first playthrough. The Rena playthrough is the most interesting, as you can recruit Dias, it's just like recruiting Sephiroth just because you choose to play as Aerith instead of Cloud in FF7.... Too bad Star Ocean 1 wasn't as complex as the second story.
I haven't played this in about 2 decade but I still remember quite a bit of it. Especially the combat quips. "Dead Triangle!" This game could definitely use a remaster on the Switch. Also, earning mad money from book royalties? If only that was true in real life. You're lucky to get a few pennies after the first print. I guess I just need to put more points into that skill.
Funny story I originally went to buy the first Star Ocean for my PSP and when I got home and opened it up, inside was part 2. At first I was like I'm going back, then after a little game play I decided to keep it. Haven't played this game in years and watching this makes me wanna pull out my PSP and play again. I didn't know this was an original Playstation release. Just discovered your channel, it's way cool.
It was such a great game, I have a lot of memories form my first gameplay, I didn't have a memory card but even so play for almost 2 hours. The music was great too, it is very hearth warming. i played the PSP remake too but they change the art style for a new one and it looks kinda weird.
Awesome video! SO2 has always been my favorite JRPG. I remember renting this game at Blockbuster when it first came out and my little mind was blown. Thank you for making this! Rena, Claude, Dias, and Ashton. Dream team for the win!
I remember starting this game over and over to make sure that the main character started out with the Dexterity natural skill so that I could steal the Trickster for massive riches
Awesome game, I remember I bought it only for the name (I was very into heavy metal, sounded like one of those cheesy titles for iron maiden lol) and boy am I glad I did, it turned out into one of my favorite series of games, countless hours of gaming, so much replay value, glad to see it gets coverage
That is why it is also one of the most rarest games on the list of PlayStation,I am a 33 year old metal head gamer and a die hard jrpg/rpg gamer fan,and this game I have downloaded on my psx emulator on my phone and I have played the first one on Snes and also till the end of time on PS2,but this will always be the most best out of all the series hands down
@@Cannotbetamed1 True,but to true rpg gamers as ourselves,it is a rare treasure, and my apologies,it is not on the list,my mistake,but it is a rare gem, meaning that it is unacknowledged and forgotten
I remember getting to this place that seemed like the final boss, u go up and up these stairs and you can't beat the boss cuz you have to fuse your weapons with some magic ore or something, I don't think I ever beat that boss
I renamed Ashton Anchors as Rusty Anchors because I knew someone named Rusty Anchors in Florida 36 years ago. I also renamed Claude Kenni as Josh Kenni because I know a Josh Kenny in Austin.
I walked into my buddy's bedroom, and he was playing "some random FFVII ripoff." Little did I know I would find it to be one of the deepest, most robust JRPGs I would ever play!
I wouldn't call it my favourite on PSX - that honour has to go to FFIX with an honourable mention to Xenogears - but I have a soft spot in my heart for SO2. When I first played this game as a child I fell in love with it. The side quests, the crafting system, the combat and my lord the soundtrack, the whole experience blew me away. I think the protagonist selection was a neat touch, but it's almost a shame some very plot-heavy scenes are character exclusive. Speaking of exclusive characters, I was so disappointed to learn that Dias only joins for Rena! So the majority of subsequent playthroughs I ended up picking her lol. I did everything in that game, Cave of Trials, Gabrie Celeste, Ethereal Queen, Unlimited Indalecio, you name it. To this day, SO2 along with the original Valkyrie Profile are my favourite of Sakuraba's soundtracks. And if I think about it, my favourite tri-Ace titles too.
#2 in my RPG top 10. When I played this game it was so different. The polygonal action combat was great and there was so much to do in the game! I got many years of game play out of it. I bought this game at a pawn shop with my brother. He bought Star Ocean 2 and I bought The legend of Zelda, Ocarina of time. I think we made the best game purchases of all time.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Tales of Symphonia, for the GameCube. I really enjoyed the graphics, story, and the characters. Honesty at the time I completed Star Ocean 3, but I didn't like it. When I played through Tales of Symphonia, I felt like it was a better Star Ocean 3 then Star Ocean 3 was, minus the free roam in combat. It's really hard to choose a top 10, there are so many great RPGs out there.
This is a game that I have a huge amount of knowledge about but it's not necessarily because I've played the game myself because I haven't but my wife has played this game quite extensively and I've been around to watch her play it quite extensively. One of the reasons why I haven't personally played the game myself is the game is incredibly daunting to me and my completionist tendencies due to the game having 80+ endings, one of the most difficult jrpg bosses in all of jrpg history, and an audio portrait that is incredibly difficult to complete. My wife absolutely adores this game and I did watch her max her characters out in order to defeat the final boss in his most difficult form. It makes me wonder Pam - with all the times that you have personally played the game have you attempted the final boss with his limiter off. I'm sure your already aware of this, but there is anime (Star Ocean EX) that covers up to the end of the first disc of this game that is actually quite enjoyable and even though video game to anime adaptations don't necessarily have the greatest reputation this is actually one of the better ones and it's actually worth checking out if you have the free time to do so, it's just too bad they couldn't cover the rest of the story but something is certainly better than nothing.
Do you turn his limiter off by doing the secret dungeon? By the end of the game I’m pretty dungeon’d (and don’t want to make the run out from the final save point) out so I never tried it.
@@Cannotbetamed1 you turn his limiter off by doing a specific private wction.. There have been occassions where people have done the private action completely by accident and unlock the most difficult form of indalecio and there is not much they can do because to even stand a chance against him you need all your party members at max level which is level 255. My wife managed to do it but it took quite a bit of time and preparation but since you love the game so much pam it may be something worth trying if your interested as a personal challenge to yourself.
This game was everything to me as a kid. Between this, parasite eve, and legend of legaia, I just never became happier with being a gamer. Such good memories.
I love Parasite Eve too
Parasite Eve 1and 2... Both were awesome... 1 was better though as far as gameplay... PE2 I think had a better story and graphics...
I also loved legend of dragoon
Amazing times. Btw. Star Ocean The Second Story R freaking rocks. Play eeeeet!
Legend of Legaia was such a gem! That battle system was so cool for its time! Combos and absorbing certain enemies to summon.
So good! ❤
This game was my life as an 8-year-old. I was homeschooled, so very sheltered. It taught me vocabulary, definitions, life, and the beginning of romance. This is by far the best jrpg of all time, and will always be very dear in my heart. I still have my save file from 1999, backed up on my PS3 and my PC for emulation via EPSXE.
Thank you for such a good review. It makes me smile knowing other people got to experience this wonderful game, and that it lives on through these video essays.
I 100% feel that. I was homeschooled from 5th grade and on and Star Ocean Second Story and Final Fantasy Tactics were treasures.
Is anyone hear because of the announcement of StarOcean: The Second Story R? I'm super excited. This was a major rpg of my youth.
To me, this game is a lot about the atmosphere - it has an amazing hypnotic feel that is actually really addictive. Anyone who has ever heard tracks like "Pure A Stream" and "Field Of Expel" will immediately understand exactly what I mean.
Exactly! Star Ocean TSS is in my opinion the greatest JRPG of all time for this reason, with games like Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger following up behind it :). I really wish we could get back to making high pixel art, per-rendered background JRPGs, especially one's with smooth real time combat! The real time combat in this game is by far my favorite in the entire genre.
The most important, overlooked factor in a great video game is the WORLD and the atmosphere it elicits; the world is by far the most important, most interesting character in every video game, and a lot of games miss this concept imo.
First time I experienced the field of expel and it's theme set the tone and atmosphere for me. Everyone has Final Fantasy - - well, I have Star Ocean. It made a huge impact during my childhood.
Yeah, the first time I heard the world map theme on Expel I was immediately like "oh WOW";
it was almost too much to take in, and I had to catch my breath before I moved on, lol.
Finally someone else acknowledges how good Star Ocean is on the PS1 🙌 I remember trying it back in the day after playing Xenogears and thinking it was too complex. A few years later I gave it a second try and I got so caught up in that world. Great video 😃
It's one of the highest rated RPG's of it's generation. Other than the cut scenes, I don't recall any negative on this game. Even the cutscene critique is fair beause, come the fuck on. you have an unskipable 30 minute text scroll followed by a fifteen minute one by taking 2 steps over. I'm not exaggerating either. Love the series because of it's absolutely insane depth, but the earlier games had issues with that.
**Special items spoiler alert**
So2 can become a bit OCD as every game i start saving for the bandits gloves and the seltzer or else u miss pickpocketing the best items. But then i went deeper down the rabbit hole and found there is some special glitch for the treasure chest u steal in Mars. Trying to get all the special things in the game kind of frustrates the experience. Ontop of that if u dont know how to get Opera and Ernest. So it gets a bit OCD frustrating if u want to get certain things and miss them u have to make many save slots along the way.
I scr3wed up on another thing in my current playthrough. you can steal/get skill books and your character below skill lvl 5 u can use to write skillbooks for the rest of the party. i made the mistake of getting some characters skills over lvl 5 like with biology its very sp costly even with perseverance lvl 10. so its better to give these books u steal/find to the writer of the skill. so u can maximize SP usage 😅🤯😵
I'm pretty sure A LOT of people acknowledge Star Ocean being good on the PS1.....
second try for star ocean the second story there's a bit of irony there I think lol
You had me at Star Ocean. A series that doesn’t get much love or mention these days.
I bought another R for switch.
Not played it yet.
Ah man, this was the second JRPG I picked up after FFVII, so many good memories. There’s a lot of fantastic games today but the leap in game play from year to year seemed so much more drastic back then.
I feel like Tri-Ace crammed as much of their ideas as possible in one game (which surprisingly turned out well).
Not even other Tri-Ace games feel this huge.
SO till the end of time says hi.
@@raulrojas9253 It's ambitious, but I think SO2 is still the better game.
SO2 is the benchmark which I use to judge other RPG's.
Yeah, the producer and team were incredible in an age where if you released a broken game it was broken forever.
@@ComeOnBunnyThat's a pretty high bar, I know how you feel though.
My absolute favorite JRPG on the Playstation! So glad to see you cover this! The music in this game is something I always just listen to in the background and would love for a vinyl release.
I do appreciate how the story is never overwhelming and at any point you can always do a private action and see those characters in the town.
My least favorite move in the game is Celine using Ray in the early game. That voice line and the accompanying sound effects are burned into my brain!
My least favourite thing is Rena trying to cast offensive spells.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I couldn’t agree more! Her whole job is healing and when she tries they are never as good as any of the others!
Rena! Stop using Tractor Beam on the flying enemies. 😡
@@Cannotbetamed1 for sure! Now I need to replay this game just so I can tell at Rena! 🤣🤣
Nice to know I'm not the only one who adores Star Ocean 2. PS1 best JRPG system easily for me.
Ahhh man, I love Star Ocean! I still remember playing this game for the first time as a kid... the music had this unique and wild quality that seemed unlike any I'd heard, and completely swept me away! Oddly enough, the exact same thing happened with Valkyrie Profile, which I later found out had the same composer and can hear the similarity now... but seemed unique at the time. Can't say it's my favorite on PS1 - that distinction would go to Xenogears - but SO2 is incredible and would buy in a heartbeat if it came to Steam. And would like to see the series continued properly after the somewhat disappointing SO5.
Another though... from my vague memories it feels like I only dabbled in crafting, so sounds like I missed a lot. Hope I can dive in again some day!
I remember buying this game off the shelf from Montgomery Wards when they were going out of business, sometime in the late 90's...wanted something after FF7, and this absolutely filled that void. Awesome art style, amazing music, ultra deep battle system and storyline.. one of the best on PS1 for sure.
I got mine from my local "Fred Meyer's " in around 1999 :)
Random pawn shop for me lol
@@TheLucidChiba Ditto! Good times!
I'm so glad I'm not the only person who puts Star Ocean the second story so high. It's tied with Grandia as my favorite ps1 jrpg.
I am currently playing this game again on PS1.
My stepdad introduced it to me and it was his favorite game ever.
He died 3 weeks ago and I wanted to play it again for him.
He used to get so excited when I’d help him craft some Mithril to make the best armor and weapons. He loved the cooking competition as well. Thanks for this video. 🙂
I'm so sorry to hear about your stepdad. I hope you get a chance to play it again and relive some of those good memories of him.
When starting out in Star Ocean 2, the _Very First Thing_ you will always want to do, as soon as you have access to your menu, is check to see if the main character has the Dexterity talent. If they do not, _Start Over!_ Trust me on this! Picking Pockets yields many of the most powerful items in the game, most of which cannot be obtained by any other means! And, without Dex, you don't have a hope in hell of succeeding at it. You can, technically, unlock it later. But, it's the hardest talent to unlock, and you may be well-past some of those unique pick-pocketing opportunities by the time you do. Claud has a pretty high likelihood of starting the game with the Dexterity talent. Rena, not so much. But it is _Mandatory!_
And grab a SO2 Pick-pocketing guide online. That will be a _Huge_ help to you too! _GL!!!_
It should also be noted that in the PSP version of the game, the "Dexterity" Talent was renamed to "Nimble Fingers".
Disagree. It doesn't matter that much
@@Kougeru yep, skills replace everything you could get anyway
Also the speed boots at mini games later
I have so many fond memories of this game because I remember being a huge Final Fantasy fan as a kid, and the first time I ever met another kid my age that loved RPG's like I did showed me this among other lesser known titles at the time. Think I'm gonna get an emulator running and see how well this game holds up these days.
Me to brother. I was a huge Final fantasy fan and dragon warrior too. All I knew was turn based rpgs until my brother and I bought Star Ocean. It was different in all the good ways. How instead of everybody taking a turn, your party just split up and did there thing. Alot more realistic for its time.
the psp version is really nice
It hold up amazing, i beat this game back in like 2014 and fucking loved it. MY FAVORITE GAME EVER.... and i still have beat the ps1 version many times over the PSP remake...
@@Kingslay3r Yea they nerfed Ashton to mutch but the quality of life changes are huge. Makes going back to the ps1 version difficult. I liked the voice acting as well.
Never played this game when I was a kid, now I feel like trying it out as I keep hearing great comments about it. Excellent video Pam!!
Thank you! Hope you give it a try
Do it :D
@@MattCayen Will do my friend 😊👍
You poor soul.
Do. It. Seriously if you enjoy JRPG's, romance mechanics, action-like battles, A FREAKING OVERWORLD (I miss those) and multiple "endings" (back to that romance mechanic) then play this game. You will not regret it I promise you.
One of my absolute favorite games that I've ever played. I've played both as Claude and Rena and I have to say that I prefer Rena's campaign. Hers' is just a more emotional story that ties into the lore of both worlds (and by extension to the main antagonists) you explore and there's a part of Rena's theme that plays in so many magical places like the Shingo Forest.
I know Claude has his own story that ties into his worries about facing the future, becoming an adult, his insecurities about living up to his father's legendary image and his desire to forge a new path and make a name for himself without the shadow of his father hanging over him or people expecting him to be just like his father and always comparing the two, but with the musical cues it seems to me that even the game itself is saying "This is Rena's story".
I also love all the myriad things you can do in this game from the crafting to the PAs, diving into the deep lore of both Expel and Nede and just the way you get to interact with your party. You don't usually see stuff like this in games unless it's part of the story moving forward.
I played this game when I was a teenager and it remains one of the deepest RPGs i've ever played that actually had me feeling for the characters and connecting with them. It's special to me, i feel like I really crossed the world of Expel with these people, had adventures with them, got to know them. This was the game that showed me just how deep and how good a game can be.
Heck I got a PSX emulator just for the sole purpose of playing my original PS1 copy on my computer. Playing my other PS1 games was just a bonus but playing SO2 was why I did it.
I also prefer Rena’s path. The story overall does seem more personal to her.
I love your comment and that there are people who also love Star Ocean and do not forget about the game. I am always in a fight with final fantasy fans, because every time I compare it with SO, FF just sucks. The fights, the private actions, music, all the possible endings and possible party members, that you can take an impact of who falls in love with eah other, just everything is so detailled and touching, like the story of Dias and Rena, the story of Rena and her true parents, the music themes and so on. Trying to get those damn bunny shoes in the party town (don't know the english name of the town)
It is so sad that this kind or rpgs aren't made anymore
I dunno guys, it's just got a lot less sci-fi in it.
How does nobody mention the best 2 words in the language: Dias Flac. Me sad 😔
@@jcaseyjones2829 It gets more sci-fi on Disk 2. Since Rena technically is from a race of Sci-fi beings.
I remember renting this from a video store back in the day. So happy I got to play this as a kid. Thank you for covering this game, Pam. Hopefully, you'll bring more eyes to this wonderful classic.
Rena's theme music - from the second disc where she learns the truth about her past! That music is so beautiful and sad, it fits so well. I think everyone would tear up at that moment with that music
It's lovely
Thanks to you, I tried this game out about a month and a half ago. This game is an absolute masterpiece, and I enjoyed every moment of it. When I played through the first hour of the game, I was instantly hooked. The settings, the characters, the story, the music, it was so captivating. I couldn't stop thinking about this game, when I didn't play it and when I had any free time, I played the game the first chance I got. The final part of the game was really tough, and I thought I would throw the controller out of frustration. But when I beat the boss, it was total bliss. I never played such a JRPG game, where I was totally invested in the game. The last time I did, was back at fall of 2002, just a month before I finished college. That game was Final Fantasy 7, and it became my absolute favorite game, on the PS1. Star Ocean: Second Story is my second favorite, coming close to dethrone Final Fantasy 7 as my most favorite JRPG game. So when I heard about the remake, I was so stoked. When I played the demo, I immediately fell in love with it. As much as I have a big heart for the PS1 version, I felt this remake made this version superior to the original. When this remake comes out on day one, I will be going for the purchase button as fast as possible. But the question is now, Which version to get? I am thinking of the Switch version, but I am not sure yet.
I adored this game when it came out, I was a teenager and I remember spending so much time trying to win the coliseum/tournament part. Talk about overwhelming though, this is a lot of JRPG.
Right? I'll never forget the moment I hit level 100. ABOVE 99? ARE YOU KIDDING?
Claude: "Tear into PIECES!"
This still rings in my head sometimes after more than 20 years
Haha, mine too.
I remember playing this game years and years ago, i would spam that move where claude make those rocks come out of the ground, spam it over and over and that got me through the game. The more you use it, the more rocks come out, at some point there were enough rocks to cover the entire battlefield and hits everyone.
i didn't cover the whole screen but it was one of the best moves, if you followed it up with MIRROR SLICE while the enemy was recovering from TEAR INTO PIECES
I just love this game so much. I actually ended up with Opera in my party the first time I played and I didn’t have a guide. The music even more than 20 years after is still in my head and pop up from time to time just like FF7 music. And the graphics are just so beautiful. Love the 2D pre rendered graphics for the backgrounds which also remind me of FF7. The crafting was also very interesting for the time as I had never experienced such a system before at the time. I levelled to 255 the max level and got super powerful to beat the colosseum at the end of the game. However unlike FF7 I can’t bring myself to replay the game again and again. I’ve tried but I’ve never had the same feeling as back in 1999 and usually get tired after a few hours.
Agreed. The exploit involving stealing a chest from an npc in Mars Town is legendary.
Yep save outside and steal chest save game and reroll until you pull that marvel sword
@@tylerjensen7894 Preach.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. Funny story, I had intended to purchase Lunar: Silver Star Story, but could only remember the "Star" in the name. Ended up buying this game and did not regret it. While I love the PSP remake, I dislike that they removed the revolving 3D items in the menus and how they physically morphed during crafting and I really disliked the removal of the virtual tour of both planets during the end credits, but at least they kept that epic end theme tune.
Ha, that is funny. At least getting the wrong game worked out. I don’t really care for the new character art during dialogue in the remake. Rena looks like she’s 9 years old.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Aw, that's another change I didn't like! But the remake does have a lot of excellent improvements (like giving Dias private actions!), so you take the good with the bad. They did censor some of the religious imagery in the remake (the cute angel sprites that come down when Rena uses her revive spell are covered in fog) and they removed the graphic scene of the murder of Dias's family, so it's an even balance of loss versus gain.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Not that funny.
Here’s funny.
A Canadian walked into a bar, “got any poutine”, they said. Ay?
The barman said “we haven’t got any poutine buddy”, ay?
“Well, ay. Thanks buddy”. Ay.
Barman said “thanks friend, ay”.
Just completed fractured but whole. I have no idea why those guys have a problem with Canada. Don’t even know if you say ay.
Comment for the algorithm Pam.
;-)
It’s eh :p
@@Cannotbetamed1 Well, I’ll take your word for it.
If I asked a Canadian in real life I’d probably get beaten up.
Great video. The remake of Star Ocean 2 comes out this week. Excited to play that.
Thank you for this! I have been catching up with this game lately - I played it to death when I was younger and I got as far as the super secret endgame dungeon before burning out a bit. I went back and beat it without the secret stuff and enjoyed the hell out of it. I really liked the fact that you could lock yourself out of multiple characters being in your party based on the paths you chose. Again, thanks for the video. It brings back really happy memories.
Glad you liked it
This is the most in depth review I have watched. Amazing job. Nobody ever covers the crafting, cooking master or bunny races, the unsung parts of the game.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Was my favorite game for most of my life. The limitations of heraldry and all that feels like different ways to challenge and approach the game.
The optimal party is Opera with Healing Star at 999 proficiency (4995 HP heal for all) and a full party of killer moves users, but it's also possible to beat the whole game with any character with a healing skill solo!
Been watching a stream of SO2 and it took two streams for me to get hooked. Soundtrack, story, characters. This is the best SO of all time. Great review
Many years ago, I was homeless, living out of my car, but I had a little TV, extension cord, PlayStation, and this game. Outlets were pretty much everywhere, so I put 1000s of hours into this game, and it obviously today remains my favorite RPG on the system. Fantastic video.
Thank you
I got started in RPGs with Final Fantasy, but Star Ocean the Second Story was what really cemented my love for the genre. Really awesome to see this game get some attention. Just hearing the old sound effects sent me down nostalgia lane
The battle style was awesome and I like having special moves at the press of a button, very overwhelming as a kid with all the crafting and different characters to find, or not find
Best RPG ever*
This was such a quality immersive deep dive into what makes this game special. You integrated the music so well and covered a lot of the unique intangibles this timeless game provided.
p.s I replayed this game in college and my roommates would hear me spam the Ripper Blast move where he yells "Tear into Pieces!".. but the audio was so muffled my roomies thought Claude was yelling "GAAARRRRY BUSEY." And of course, I was endlessly trolled with "GARY BUSEY" every time I played the game.
lol
Lady’s man😅
In terms of soundtracks of jrpgs on the PS1, this one is second only to Chrono Cross. I wish they'd port this to modern consoles. I haven't played it in little over 20 years. Also wish they'd port Chrono Cross. And both Lunar games. Great review!
god lunar i feel old
@@hellsing2137 Same. I was a senior in high school when I played the PS1 version and now it's older than I was then.
Thank you! I really wish more ps1 JRPGs would be playable on modern systems too.
I have Star Ocean Second Story and both Lunar games sitting on my shelf unplayed. Guess I should probably get to those at some point.
@@Cannotbetamed1 th-cam.com/video/QEes2DC_cw4/w-d-xo.html
Cult of the Lamb is soooooo cuuuute devolver is killing it!
Man this makes me want to go back and play this game. I played it SO many times as a kid and it leaves such a warm place in my heart. It's such a shame that no other Star Ocean has held a candle to how ambitious this game was. As an aside, I have also had so many lines from this game stuck in my head forever. Some favorites:
"10 seconds."
"That's somewhere around 80 points."
"Tear into pieces!"
"Fairy heal!"
I hope you enjoy those getting stuck in your head, haha. Great video, as always!!! I love how much time and dedication you put into them without ruining the game for those who want to experience it for the first time. :)
"GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!"
"I HATE YOU!"
"this is a strategic escape"
"I'm going to kill you"
"My eyes are hazy"
"RENAAAA"
I use that "strategic escape" line still to this day as well as "I'm going to kill you"...
I agree with the assessment. SO: 2 was and is still my favorite JRPG to date. I still remember the hit I took when Rena's origin is revealed from the lab tapes. On the other end, the feeling of aggravation of hearing "SPICULE!" just as my party wipes was just heart-wrenching (so many hours wasted on that battle alone... so much grinding).
One last thought: I always felt bad for doing it, but if you max Pickpocket and manage to buy the Thief's Glove before going to Cross Cave, you can pickpocket the old man in Mars to get the Treasure Chest item that, on a percentage, could give you the Sword of Marvels (which you won't find until disc 2 in the Field of Power) and make Claude an unstoppable force all the way through the remainder of disc 1.
I'm still not used to hearing "retro" and "Playstation 1" together in the same sentence. You're absolutely correct citing the game as retro, it's just weird to think about how long ago this actually was.
I can remember when it came out.
It cost £400 here, it may as well been a million. It was well outside my price range.
There was no such thing as a gaming back log in those days.
I love how you do your make up to match the games you review. The colours you used for this were just mesmerising. I can't see as well with a small phone screen but if you didn't have glitter then that would have been a missed opportunity.
Also, this game looks like something I would have killed hours on. I love earlier generation JRPGs. Sadly in my country we got screwed when it came to the good games like these untill the ps2 came out. And even then they were usually censored. That's why my collection of rare obscure ps1 games were all pirated.
I put Xenogears, FF7, and Breath of Fire 3 above this game, but it is an amazing game. I definitely spent soooo many hours on crafting. My first playthrough, I missed interacting with Ashton entirely. I usually play as Rena because I really like Deis as a party member.
I still remember that time when I played this game for the firsr time and saw the first village in the game (Arlia?) - it was so colorful and beautiful that I felt like I was playing a point-and-click adventure PC game. And the BGM, wow - it was so relaxing! Honestly, I like the presentation of SO 2nd Story better than FF8 and yes, FF9! FF9 is a close 2nd to this!
I hope that the current and upcoming RPGs will have this kind of "feel" again.
This video seems very relevant since Second Story R just got announced.
I had this game when I was 12 my dad bought it for me and beat it for me as well. I am currently playing it through emulation and I am not disappointed and i am having a fun time. Your enthusiasm towards this game is amazing I love it.
This was always my favourite game growing up. My older sister and I loved this game! So many awesome memories. Played through it quite a few times.
All the sound effects and music in your video were so inspiring, this game really was so amazing to me. It seemed so huge, expansive and rich. I also loved the private actions and little inter-party relations. This was my first JRPG and it blew me away. I found it really raised my expectations though. After playing this I eventually played Final Fantasy 7, and I found it to suck in comparison lol.
It's true, it does raise expectations. The systems are so interesting and deep and the action combat makes basic turn-based seem really dull.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Word, it definitely did for me. I enjoyed ff7, and the other ff games, but I soon learned that Star Ocean was the exception w/r/t JRPG's. It's nice to see it get some attention! Stellar video!
I clicked this so fast! :') I don't know what this review will hold for me, but go straight to Heaven!
Edit(s):
Really enjoyed the video. One of the only non-2x or 1.5x listens I've done in a while for YT vids.
*Default Party*
Funny you mention this. My first party, IIRC, was Rena, Claude, Celine, and Bowman. I didn't realize Ashton, Opera, or Ernest existed/were recruitable. I got none of them. I told Leon to wait for his parents, and I told Noel to take care of the animals. I felt that was the right thing (ha!). I didn't even see Chisato's ID due to my dungeon pathing, I guess. Needless to say, the game ended up having a ton of replay value for me, because my first party was so small.
*Leveling up new characters*
You can take characters into high-xp battles and gain massive xp (certainly 20+ levels is possible, depending on factors). There are other ways to shortcut the system as well, like with Forged Medals and Dream Bracelets (pretty sure), or you can use Extension Card to double xp in a fight. Splitting enemies should allow for more xp if you allow them to split a lot. This really amplifies the impact of the Extension Card. The problem with gaining too many levels in a fight (like a level 15 gaining 1 million xp) is that your skill points are capped at 999. If you gain so many levels that you should get 3000 skill points or whatever, getting capped at 999 is horrible. Lots to consider. And...maybe there's a skill that boosts xp? Can't remember name. Ah, yes, "Effort."
*Conveniences*
Yeah, not being able to port out of dungeons is different, though the dungeons in SO2 tend to be less mazey than many JRPG dungeons (no graph paper madness). Also, you get a few ways to avoid random battles in the open world (Come Here Bunny, for example) that I definitely don't see as early/often in other JRPGs. Familiar, too, is a fantastic skill, since you can get tons of good gear via your bird allies rather than needing to go back to town. There are a few others ways to avoid random battles or reduce their frequency, which is something nice that you can't take for granted in old games.
*Con*
You at least alluded to this, and I agree. The opening is perhaps the biggest con of the game, since it's really slow. That may not be bad the first time or if you're just chillin', but this game has immense replay value. Being unable to fast forward the beginning will be a turn off for some. Check your text speed and whatnot, friends...
I played this as a kid after my first action rpg, Tales of Destiny 2/Eternia. I picked this up just because of how similar it was and I wasn't disappointed. I've held onto my PS1 copy for nearly 20 years and revisit every now and then.
These videos and playlists are the only thing keeping me sane out here. Keep 'em coming.
This era if JRPG's and RPG's will never be topped! Wish someone would put out something new in this style!
You're like my video game soul mate. I was just talking a few days ago with some people about JRPGs. I had mentioned this is my favorite JRPG of all time.
One of the greatest games I’ve ever played. This and FF9 were my Introduction to JRPG as a kid. I always loved the idea and story behind the ten wise men too.
Star Ocean 2 ... i probably got 800 hours if not more on this game. Replayed it so many times... I even finished it just with the two main players alone just for the heck of it. Such a complete game. The only thing missing thing i wish it had was a skip button for events.
Sound like me with FF7 & FF tactics, I only played star ocean once with each character but I couldn't beat it 20 years ago
I love this game! Memorable characters, great music, artstyle. My main gripes are the awful random powerspikes and the fact that mages are completely worthless and a waste of time. The casting times just take forever. Other than that I have to say that it's incredible, it just evokes massive nostalgic goosebumps for me, I constantly come back to it. Happy to hear that it still has a following. Thanks for this great review!
No problem, glad you liked it
Magic is OP af what are you talking about lol the only downside is waiting for the animation to play out
Magic does seem to lose out to physical attacks as soon as you're able to make weapons with sprinkles of stardust 😂. With that said, early to mid-game, magic is pretty OP. Get Lunar Light and Southern Cross for Celine early and you're gonna just melt through early game enemies like nothing. The magic buffs are always useful as well.
@@sharebear421 There's literally no reason to choose a mage over a fighter, except for the early game. From mid-late game they just make way more damage plus they also stun-lock enemies which is essential against many of the harder bosses.
You can use art on a magical canvas to create "Spring". Full HP/MP restore like a tent, except doesn't require a save point. You should be able to reproduce these as much as you want.
The 2nd disc being more dungeon-heavy is actually a brilliant design choice since the customisation options significantly open up by this point in the game. By the time you get to North City, most, if not all item creation options become accessible, giving your party a large boost in power.
While true, there are some unique and interesting customized weapons that are useless late game but really hard to make early game, and unless you are playing the Universe difficulty (which itself is hard to unlock), the planning and patience required to make them early game aren't worth the payoff. Same with Call Bunny super specialty. Useless by they time you are likely to unlock it
Hardest fight in this game is the secret boss Iseria Queen the only way to summon her is with the flute song. when your max level she's even more overpowered and will annihilate you with every status effect known to man and do massive aoe damage. Well that's all I can remember from her I can't remember if I ever beat her back in the day. Fun fact her name changed in later Tri-Ace games to Ethereal Queen
This game looks amazing, I was busy playing FF7-9 at the time, I've played a handful of PS1 JRPGs and miss that era so much...
star ocean is more better than ff7
@@pekonarukami9984 That's debatable, but I'll have to agree with you on that statement.
This was THE sole game that really captivated me when I received it for my birthday when I was 7, (I'm 30 now) and continues to be my ALL time favorite game because of all the incredible aspects this game had, music, art style, little details like 3D items, spell fusion based on element, and all of the numerous endings and Private Actions through the game, not to mention all of the skills to learn and item creation to experiment with! They simply don't make games like this anymore! I hope the new Star Ocean coming out has even a shred of the charm this game has! Also to note for newer folks playing SO2, if the enemy mages start spinning around the map, hit triangle and wait 10 seconds, time still counts down in the menu for them so when you unpause they will have stopped spinning around the map!
I had no idea, good tip!
@@Cannotbetamed1 I discovered that completely on accident while I was stretching one day. I hit pause and I noticed the mage's animation changed after like 10 seconds and she was stationary again
Absolutely love so2 and still have a copy of it to this day. I can replay it over and over and never get bored of it.
It was the first game that got me into rpgs. Borrowed it as a kid and fell in love.
I'll never forget grind out the bandits glove before Klick gets flooded by the Earthquake. You can pick pocket a low chance item that will give you a random item based off how many steps you take. Trial of Challenges after you beat the game and you can fly on Expel. So many great memories.
Actually you can go back to Expel after you defeat Cyril; who is the second to last boss.
ACKSHULALLY!
The town in which the Doomsayer is in is still destroyed by the flood. It's a unique item you can only get by grinding a Bandit's Glove and enough skill points to get the item off the steal. It's almost like your first 8 game hours have to be dedicated to getting the Bandit's Glove. @@Minchken
@@haywoodjablome7822 Yeah, that game has a lot of shit that took me a couple of years to even know about. Skills, RP, PA events, party specific side quests. I remember my first time playing I missed out on ashton by not talking to the right people at the right time. That game had a fuck ton of content, I'm shocked it only took 2 discs to fill all of it in.
Dude, I know! I played the absolute shit out of this game on ps1. You don't even want to know the grind you have to undertake to Beat Diaz as Claude in the Tournament, it's one of the hardest grinds and it doesn't even give you anything but a line of dialog you cannot get anywhere else that completes Diaz' voice lines for the Gabriel portrait unlock. I found everything. 100% Cave of Trials. Unlocked every ending game shark free. I even replayed SO1, and 2 via emulator on deployments, though not as in depth. I think I've prestige this game. Pretty stoked for the remake. @@Minchken
@@haywoodjablome7822 Christ, that must have took a long time. I'm stoked about the new remake too. I'll have to get a PS5 just for that game, I've seen demos and it looks amazing. It would be so amazing if they were able to get the Second story voice actors to come back for out of combat dialogue.
This game had a devious feature with its multiple endings and with its end boss. I accidentally unlocked the hardest version of Ignacio after only playing through a few times.
That's some accident, as you actually have to do a lot to achieve it
@@Knightphall You have to do so much right that I honestly don't believe anyone unlocked it on accident.
star ocean second story was legit a terrific jrpg... the only issue was the "bug" that cause freezing every now and then..
i still feel that some games, like xenosaga, are vastly superior as an overall product, but parts of the game are WAY ahead of its time..
1) skit just like tales of :) (private actions)
2) crafting system was INCREDIBLE
3) "general purpose" skills were terrific!
4) party members was medium to memorable (ashton)
5) combat skill system "level up" was fucking nuts, with some skills changing not only in terms of aspect (bigger energey wave, changing colors, etc) but also adding additional property (faster travel time, adding stuns//secondary effect or for a few selected skill they change a LOT)
just a funtastic game all around!
I love this game so much !! I don't have a single favorite JRPG, but this is 1 of my top 5. ^-^
Easily one of the most underrated JRPGs of all time. It's amazing, I have the fondest memories playing this game after school as a kid, and it still holds up REALLY well today (I fire up a playthrough every few years).
I was a dumb kid so crafting was really weird to me lol, it was nice to revisit that as an adult years later and getting it completely.
And the end of Disk 1 is EASILY one of the bests twists ever. You think you're a hot shot that's gonna save the world and you end up seeing the true big bads. The Ten Wise men are SO GODDAMN COOL. Few games have captured the helplessness of that part.
It's also the best Star Ocean when it comes to party variety, with only First Departure coming in second in that department. You have so many choices for team builds that multiple playthroughs are a fact of life with the game, something later entries in the series have lost sight of by cutting the options down to the point that all the cast members now join by plot. End of Time still had ally choices, just very few of them, but Last Hope basically took it away completely (having the choice of swapping Faize out for Arumat on subsequent runs doesn't count as it's just silly). And I don't think I need to mention what Integrity and Faithlessness did. Sadly, Divine Force is going to be repeating this yet again since the entire playable cast was shown in the recent trailer traveling with the two protagonists.
The Second Story also struck the right amount of balance mixing science fiction and fantasy themes without overdoing it. In addition, Claude, Rena, and all their allies were a lot more memorable for their distinct personalities and quirks than most of the later characters in the series. Ashton is a guy with two dragons fused to his back and he has an amusing barrel fetish you can't help but chuckle at. Precis fights with a Playstation controller and has hilarious Killer Moves. Chisato is what Lois Lane wants to be when hunting for great news stories and she can call her planet's defense force for a missile drop anytime she wants. I love this cast so much. Even characters with more grounded backstories like Dias are likable.
Star Ocean 2 was the first game i played on PS1.
As a Japanese tri-Ace fan, I'm really glad to found this video.
Now I'm looking forward to see "Star Ocean: Blue Sphere" review.
oh man - loved this one when I was in high school. it felt so customizable compared to other RPG's of the time - between all the different outcomes & endings, and with the skills you would choose to develop. was pretty popular in the small midwestern US town i grew up in among the RPG fans. I tried playing the PS2 sequel but I wasn't crazy about it - but I'll always have a soft spot for this one, and the especially the "iron chef" minigame in the middle of the quest
Yeah, I tried 3 and 4 as well, but they didn't hook me. I should probably try the 1st at some point (maybe the remake), but it's possible that SO2 is truly the champ of the series.
@@bowmanencore i beat all of them and SO2 is the best by far the best. Its in a league of its own.
The remake of the 1st game is pretty good though, its built in the exact same engine as SO2. But its a much shorter game with just an ok story. The highlight is really just getting to play in SO2's battle engine with different characters.
3 started good but its too disconnected from the rest of the games narratively and they tried way too hard with the plot twist. The switch to 3D also came to a heavy cost in term of gameplay depth.
4 builds on everything 3 did and improved it... except on characterisation which is where the game falls flat. Most party member are just bland and the few that stands out do so for all the wrong reasons.
SO5 : fuck this.
Very good review! Star Ocean 2 was also my favorite PS1 jrpg. I played it so much back in the day and your reminisces brought me back to my own experiences with this master piece of a game.
Love this game so much! One of the few JRPGs that make us feel like we really live inside the world. Dias Flac and Chisato Madison are really cool.
Dias, oh yeah.
I always loved Dias as a teenager. It’s been a while since I did a play through with him.
Air slash, air slash, air slash. Dias was so overpowered, it was great.
Until you get to cave of trials and find out he sucks in there Claude 100% maxed ripper blast ftw or maxed mirror slice against mobs that don't block all the time
It's being remade as Star Ocean: The Second Story R, developed by Gemdrops. It'll be released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam on November 2, 2023.
Perfect timing! I just found my old save files and starting playing again. Looks like I left off right before the field of power but I'm still remembering how to fight and craft, so much fun! :D
As much as I love Xenogears and final fantasy vii and a bunch of other ps1 Jrpgs….I remember I couldn’t put this game down. I played this during summer vacation and binged the whole game in like a week. So many great memories.
I played a demo of Xenogears but never played the full thing.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I can't recommend Xenogears enough. Unbelievably good in my opinion.
Love the video, very well done and I totally agree with all the points you made. Big Star Ocean fan. The first and second game really wants you to plan out which party you want by the end. Japan was really big on strategy guides and companion guides which help in this regard. This really was simplified by the PS2 game and on thankfully.
This needs to be put onto consoles digital stores. The first game is on Switch, now we need this one.
And the sound effects while crafting really are satisfying. This game really does have a certain atmosphere that I really enjoyed. This and Dragon Warrior 7 might actually be my favorite RPGs on the PS1.
This is one of my favorite RPG games! Even today it has a great story and I like the many changes in this game. Like the action turned based battle system.
This game absolutely killed it, after playing ff7 then zelda 64 then ff8, Lunar the graphics, story, propulsion of events, ambience with game building was all top notch, I'd really have to applaud this video for its clarity on the impact of the game, how magnificent it was in respects that very few jprg's could ever be and none with those kind of light hearted graphics, surely a quintessential example of wht jrpg's were suppose to be, but with a beautifully melded western influence. The combat was so ahead of its time and perfect.
Yes, the combat is such a nice departure from turn-based.
Now a Remake is out! Star Ocean: Second Story R
1000% agree this is the best ps1 era JRPG. It's criminally underrated.
Honestly it's the most important RPG of all time imo. It really made the real time action strategy, item creation and the multiple endings feature a staple in the rpg genre. All of the characters were perfect and the game really highlighted what a rpg should and can be. It will forever be my favorite rpg of all time next to final fantasy 12, rogue Galaxy etc.
Overall this is the best Star Ocean game I have ever played, I bought it for the PS1 and still love the game today. I played as Claude first time around and left Leon behind on my first playthrough. The Rena playthrough is the most interesting, as you can recruit Dias, it's just like recruiting Sephiroth just because you choose to play as Aerith instead of Cloud in FF7.... Too bad Star Ocean 1 wasn't as complex as the second story.
The recent remake announcement for Nintendo Switch brought me here.
I haven't played this in about 2 decade but I still remember quite a bit of it. Especially the combat quips. "Dead Triangle!" This game could definitely use a remaster on the Switch.
Also, earning mad money from book royalties? If only that was true in real life. You're lucky to get a few pennies after the first print. I guess I just need to put more points into that skill.
I've found some really good RPGs on game boy advance lately. Never heard of this game. Looks awesome good graphics.
Mario and Luigi Super star saga, plus Zelda Minish cap.
A bit obvious ones but, may as well suggest them just in case.
Funny story I originally went to buy the first Star Ocean for my PSP and when I got home and opened it up, inside was part 2. At first I was like I'm going back, then after a little game play I decided to keep it. Haven't played this game in years and watching this makes me wanna pull out my PSP and play again. I didn't know this was an original Playstation release. Just discovered your channel, it's way cool.
Welcome to the channel
It was such a great game, I have a lot of memories form my first gameplay, I didn't have a memory card but even so play for almost 2 hours. The music was great too, it is very hearth warming. i played the PSP remake too but they change the art style for a new one and it looks kinda weird.
Awesome video! SO2 has always been my favorite JRPG. I remember renting this game at Blockbuster when it first came out and my little mind was blown. Thank you for making this!
Rena, Claude, Dias, and Ashton. Dream team for the win!
Thanks!
Guess you got to make an second video of this with the remake coming this year xD
I remember starting this game over and over to make sure that the main character started out with the Dexterity natural skill so that I could steal the Trickster for massive riches
Awesome game, I remember I bought it only for the name (I was very into heavy metal, sounded like one of those cheesy titles for iron maiden lol) and boy am I glad I did, it turned out into one of my favorite series of games, countless hours of gaming, so much replay value, glad to see it gets coverage
That is why it is also one of the most rarest games on the list of PlayStation,I am a 33 year old metal head gamer and a die hard jrpg/rpg gamer fan,and this game I have downloaded on my psx emulator on my phone and I have played the first one on Snes and also till the end of time on PS2,but this will always be the most best out of all the series hands down
It’s amazing, but it’s not at all rare.
@@Cannotbetamed1 True,but to true rpg gamers as ourselves,it is a rare treasure, and my apologies,it is not on the list,my mistake,but it is a rare gem, meaning that it is unacknowledged and forgotten
I have so many fond memories of the game. Never beat it though
Me too. Haven't played it since the PS1 era. I'm curious to hear Pam's thoughts on the game.
I've finished it a few times, but I've started it many more times.
I remember getting to this place that seemed like the final boss, u go up and up these stairs and you can't beat the boss cuz you have to fuse your weapons with some magic ore or something, I don't think I ever beat that boss
I renamed Ashton Anchors as Rusty Anchors because I knew someone named Rusty Anchors in Florida 36 years ago. I also renamed Claude Kenni as Josh Kenni because I know a Josh Kenny in Austin.
I walked into my buddy's bedroom, and he was playing "some random FFVII ripoff." Little did I know I would find it to be one of the deepest, most robust JRPGs I would ever play!
I wouldn't call it my favourite on PSX - that honour has to go to FFIX with an honourable mention to Xenogears - but I have a soft spot in my heart for SO2. When I first played this game as a child I fell in love with it. The side quests, the crafting system, the combat and my lord the soundtrack, the whole experience blew me away. I think the protagonist selection was a neat touch, but it's almost a shame some very plot-heavy scenes are character exclusive. Speaking of exclusive characters, I was so disappointed to learn that Dias only joins for Rena! So the majority of subsequent playthroughs I ended up picking her lol. I did everything in that game, Cave of Trials, Gabrie Celeste, Ethereal Queen, Unlimited Indalecio, you name it.
To this day, SO2 along with the original Valkyrie Profile are my favourite of Sakuraba's soundtracks. And if I think about it, my favourite tri-Ace titles too.
Underrated RPG. Dias one of the coolest characters ever.
When I was ~15, I was his biggest fan. :D
10 Seconds
#2 in my RPG top 10. When I played this game it was so different. The polygonal action combat was great and there was so much to do in the game! I got many years of game play out of it. I bought this game at a pawn shop with my brother. He bought Star Ocean 2 and I bought The legend of Zelda, Ocarina of time. I think we made the best game purchases of all time.
What is your #1?
@@Cannotbetamed1 Tales of Symphonia, for the GameCube. I really enjoyed the graphics, story, and the characters. Honesty at the time I completed Star Ocean 3, but I didn't like it. When I played through Tales of Symphonia, I felt like it was a better Star Ocean 3 then Star Ocean 3 was, minus the free roam in combat.
It's really hard to choose a top 10, there are so many great RPGs out there.
i wouldn't say "no" to a Xenogears remaster.
Man that game started out so good, too bad they couldn't have finished it the way they planned
Even not finish it is the better JRPG ever for me.
This is a game that I have a huge amount of knowledge about but it's not necessarily because I've played the game myself because I haven't but my wife has played this game quite extensively and I've been around to watch her play it quite extensively. One of the reasons why I haven't personally played the game myself is the game is incredibly daunting to me and my completionist tendencies due to the game having 80+ endings, one of the most difficult jrpg bosses in all of jrpg history, and an audio portrait that is incredibly difficult to complete.
My wife absolutely adores this game and I did watch her max her characters out in order to defeat the final boss in his most difficult form. It makes me wonder Pam - with all the times that you have personally played the game have you attempted the final boss with his limiter off. I'm sure your already aware of this, but there is anime (Star Ocean EX) that covers up to the end of the first disc of this game that is actually quite enjoyable and even though video game to anime adaptations don't necessarily have the greatest reputation this is actually one of the better ones and it's actually worth checking out if you have the free time to do so, it's just too bad they couldn't cover the rest of the story but something is certainly better than nothing.
Do you turn his limiter off by doing the secret dungeon? By the end of the game I’m pretty dungeon’d (and don’t want to make the run out from the final save point) out so I never tried it.
@@Cannotbetamed1 you turn his limiter off by doing a specific private wction.. There have been occassions where people have done the private action completely by accident and unlock the most difficult form of indalecio and there is not much they can do because to even stand a chance against him you need all your party members at max level which is level 255. My wife managed to do it but it took quite a bit of time and preparation but since you love the game so much pam it may be something worth trying if your interested as a personal challenge to yourself.
Whos excited for the remake
Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. Near and dear to my heart. The song Moderate is the theme for when I'm relaxing at home.