Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17165 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sony
• Platform: PlayStation

Customer Reviews

Star Ocean - The Second Story
Star Ocean is definitely an interesting game with over 80 endings depending on your actions and characters emotions within the game. Battle includes traditional turn based and semi-auto which means you can "program" your party characters to fight for you whilst you concentrate on controlling one character. However, unlike some turnbased games, characters do not wait for their turn to dish out the damage, they do it as soon as you imput the order which makes it more real-time than turn based. You also get a choice of two characters to play as; Claude Kenni (son of Ronixis Kenni from the original Star Ocean game)and Rena Lanford. There are many characters to find in the game, some become unavailable when others are recuited and certain ones can only be found depending on whose story line you choose. There is also "Item Creation" which allows you to create various potions, weapons and other equipment from raw materials. Master Chef is one of these abilities, it allows you to "cook" food items from ingredients which can be used to heal characters. The game also includes "private actions"; meaning as you enter a village or town you have the option of going in as a group or on your own. The events that take place during a "private action" help determine the endings you receive. Actions are usually multiple choice, each with a different outcome. Your characters talk in battle, and whilst this may seem to just add to the game, "collecting" the voices allow you to unlock different difficulty ratings. There is also a bonus dungeon which is rather difficult to find. The level-up structure is similar to other RPGs in that you gain exp, but rather than level 100 being the limit, you can go as high as level 250. The game spans two discs and over 40 hours of gameplay. The storyline has a few twists in it too. The graphics are quite cutesy, nothing like your final fantasy games, but a bit like Grandia. Overall, it's a good game and having your main character insulting the other characters in personal action options (not necessary, but a fun part of the game) can be entertaining. It has a wide range of magic spells and devestating attacks for you to unleash on your enemies, which are helped by purchasing skills at a "Skill Guild". I think it's worth playing over again just to find different characters and endings.

Many say one of the greatest rpg's on the psx...... i agree!
Two possible starting characters and over 80 endings!! To say more would spoil the innovation within this milestone of a game. Join up with many characters and teach skills needed for the battle system, which in itself is probably one of this games greatest assets. Giant replay level as well as so many little cookies you'll need quite a sweet tooth!

Innovative
Yes, I know, I'm easy to please (see Grandia) even though I believe that Guardian's Crusade should be obliterated from the face of the planet.Star Ocean is quite a sexy looking little number (again manga type sprites) which utilizes a real time battle system, sampled speech, a (small) amount of FMV for the eye-candy fans and an end of game boss that can actually be unbeatable. As we speak, I'm still trying to kill him and IT'S NOT HAPPENING! Ahem. For those whove played games with similar battle AI's, will note that these guys are actually intelligent. Furthermore, relationships between characters can alter their individual battle tactics. For instance, if Claude is set o "Protect Friends only" and his relationship with Rena is good, he will end up protecting her more than others. I'm prbably running out of space here so I'll mention a couple of the important features: -Item creation feature (create the most powerful weopons in the game) -Multiple endings (over 65) -Character interaction is well scripted (but can drag sometimes) -Find the last boss too easy? He can be made even harder -Bonus rock hard dungeon -2 extra levels of difficulty -Gyoro and Ururun are cute! (yes, I'm seeking psychiactric help)