Star Ocean: The Second Story R Reviews
All in all, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a great experience. If you have the slightest interest in sci-fi, fantasy, and action RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play it. This remake proves that old games can become new and better than ever.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R takes a beloved classic and makes it even better with visual, audio and gameplay improvements while still keeping the spirit of the original. Some of the quality of life changes can take away the sense of discovery from the original and also make it easier to break the game. Overall, though, the changes make an already great game even better while bringing it back and remaking it for a new generation. It’s the definitive version of Star Ocean: The Second Story for sure.
Star Ocean The Second Story R is an excellent remake that strikes the perfect balance between reworking the base material and preserving a proven formula. The 2.5D graphics are a feast for the eyes, the music is mesmerizing, and is facing an effective story, but that can put off at first.
Review in French | Read full review
Gemdrops revitalizes one of the best installments of the Star Ocean saga with Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a new remastering that offers a wonderful RPG experience. Square Enix should take into consideration giving more possibilities to Gemdrops because it is a studio that has the capacity to create real gems. A beautiful video game from the best era of the genre brought to the present day.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a fantastic remake of the PS1 classic, with gorgeous HD-2D visuals and a ridiculous amount of replayability.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R stands out as one of Square Enix’s most accomplished remakes. While the original game had its shortcomings, this remake effectively addresses those issues and elevates the overall experience to new heights. Gemdrops has transformed a solid RPG into an exceptional one, establishing a new benchmark for remakes in the gaming industry.
Gemdrops has created a worthy remake that is not only more accessible than the previous iterations but has made what is arguably the most definitive edition of the game to date.
Star Ocean The Second Story R is a fantastic remake with a gorgeous visual style. The specialty and item creation systems create a beautiful harmony with the gameplay to make this one of the most satisfying gaming experiences of the year.
With Star Ocean: The Second Story R, Gemdrops has worked in the round on every aspect of the original 1998 game, giving JRPG lovers an indispensable production that everyone should play at least once.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a product of its time as both a hardcore-adjacent PS1-era JRPG and as a host to several problematic romance mechanics. Its plot is exciting yet generic and is wildly insistent about how certain characters should end up together. But beyond that, you'll find a brilliant and modular character stat-building system, glorious battles, some fabulous character portrait art, and a wonderful 32-bit-inspired world for you to explore.
Star Ocean The Second Story R is a beautiful recreation of a wonderful RPG. It gives players plenty of options and multiple viewpoints to try the story out on. If you're looking for a classic-style RPG to play, I recommend this one!
Star Ocean The Second Story R left me with mixed feelings. It started with a visually impressive 3D game intro and continued with stunning 3D environments, albeit with pixelated characters and monsters, which made me wonder about the design choices. However, these visuals didn’t detract from the excellent story, engaging combat and emotional impact the game delivered.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R rejuvenates the classic JRPG with modern graphics and a dual protagonist system, offering a visually appealing and immersive narrative experience. Its enhanced combat system and quality-of-life improvements cater to both series veterans and newcomers.
With Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a JRPG classic is celebrating a glorious comeback. Thanks to its likeable characters and complex gameplay, this is a game that no fan of old-school JRPGs should miss out on.
Review in German | Read full review
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is an excellent remake that introduces plenty of new ideas whilst embracing the nostalgic charm of the game’s original release. I loved the unique visual style that blends 2D sprites and 3D environments wonderfully, the combat was more satisfying than ever thanks to its intuitive new mechanics, whilst the countless other additions such as fishing, quest markers, and voice acting go a long way in making Star Ocean: The Second Story R stand out as a VERY impressive release that deserves the attention of all RPG fans.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a fantastic remaster of a game from the golden era of JRPGs. The newly arranged music is great and the voice acting is good as well, and the improvements to the battle system from the original to this one is leaps and bounds better. The graphical choices made in this remaster is spot on with a nod to the original sprite graphics mixed in with more modern environments. Anyone looking for a classic-style JRPG to play should pick this one up.
Star Ocean The Second Story R ticks all the right boxes for a faithful remake of a beloved title from the PS1 era. Its stunning new visuals and new meaningful mechanics make it a must-play JRPG for both newcomers and fans of the original. When considering the whole package, Star Ocean The Second Story R may not be a heavy hitter like other titles from this year, but it’s definitely a charming remake that tells a compelling story JRPG fans should experience at least once.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R features the same classic story fans love combined with modern elements that make this enhanced release easily the best way to experience this beloved RPG.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the best example of how a game can become a jewel after being forgotten for years. A remake full of changes and improvements that surprises by adapting a niche JRPG and transforming it into a modern classic.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A timeless title that finally got the definitive version it deserves.