Star Ocean Second Story R Review

Star Ocean Second Story R

Release: November 2, 2023
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Gemdrops
Genre: Action, Adventure, Genres, Nintendo Switch Categories, Role-playing, Switch Reviews, Video
PEGI: 12
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Star Ocean Second Story R is an massive jrpg remake of a game from the Playstation 1. Now its on the Nintendo Switch with all new graphics and a new soundtrack. Is Star Ocean Second R worth checking out on the Nintendo Switch? Here’s our review.

In Star Ocean Second Story R, Claude C. Kenny is part a starship crew on a mission to explore space. When they find a mysterious object, Claude ignores all advice and touches the thing. He ends up on another planet, away from his crew and all alone. Quickly he meets Rena and it isn’t too long before they venture off an epic adventure. The story is pretty interesting and its gets better and better as it progresses. All of the characters are interesting and unique too. The story will keep you engaged and so will the gameplay.

At its heart, Star Ocean Second Story R is still an old school jrpg. The game still feels like a Playstation 1 rpg in a very good way. The game is massive, with hours upon hours of gameplay, a new plus option, and multiple endings! There are lots of different characters you choose from to recruit to your group and each of them are unique with their own powers. Tons of weapons and items can be found. Oh and one of the best things is the menu special abilities.

In Second Story, you can level up your characters with points you earn from battles and not only improve their combat abilities but also the menu abilities. The menu abilities range from cooking to alchemy to blacksmithing and even creating illegal items! There are out of menu abilities you can learn too like fishing and bunny calling. Its so very neat.

So is the battle system in this game! Star Ocean Second Story is a jrpg but the combat feels more like an action game with some menu options. It still goes to a second screen like a turn-based rpg but when you get into battle you’re in control of Claude or whoever in the group you want to be. The computer handles your other party members unless you give them commands or take control of them. Battles seem pretty easy at first but this game has some really hard battles and you’ll be seeing the Game Over screen even easy mode! There are some pretty complex dungeon puzzles in this game too. Star Ocean can be a hard game, but if you love jrpgs, this is a game you won’t want to miss. Not only is the gameplay fantastic though, the graphics are just as spectacular.

Star Ocean Second Story R has wonderful graphics. It looks a bit like an HD-2D game, expect even cooler because the world is so three dimensional. Everything from the towns and dungeons you visit to the overworld looks amazing. There is, however, some environmental pop-in of trees on the world map and some occasional jittering when you run into objects, but overall, the game runs really well on the Switch.

Meanwhile, the voice acting is pretty good overall, though there are occasionally voices that are not so great. Its impressive that there’s so much voice acting in this game though. The music and sound effects are good too. Star Ocean is just a great game.

If you love old school rpgs, then you’re going to be in for a treat with Star Ocean Second Story R. It doesn’t matter if you’ve played the game before or not. This is a game that fans of the rpg genre can’t afford to miss. Star Ocean Second Story R is one of the best rpgs to be released this year and thats saying a lot. There have been so many excellent rpgs brought out this year. We highly recommend Star Ocean Second Story R to rpg fans, especially veterans. This is a tough game but it is well worth checking out.

Thanks to Square Enix for providing a digital code for review. Star Ocean Second Story R is now available for the Nintendo Switch via retail and the eshop!

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