Name: Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a remake with a capital R and plans to satisfy fans spanning three decades - Worldtimetodays
Brand: worldtimetodays.com
SKU: worldtimetodays-com-3
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a remake with a capital R and plans to satisfy fans spanning three decades - Worldtimetodays

preview

As far as product names go, Star Ocean: The Second Story R buries the lede. The “R” stands for “Remake” – and if I were behind the marketing of this title, I would really emphasize that this is a complete remake. For example, R could stand for “Remaster” – it isn’t. This is a full-fledged remake with a capital R.Manage cookie settings A slightly bad name is, of course, par for the course for Square Enix RPGs – and the remake of Star Ocean 2 can also be seen as a typical Square experience in many ways. It’s the company doing what it does best: creating a strictly traditional RPG with an incredible visual flair and ambition that helps exceed and minimize design flaws.Essentially, it has the energy of a Golden Age Square title. That makes sense, as the original game’s release in 1998 puts the company right in the middle of the company’s explosive PS1 heyday. When playing Second Story you feel a strong reverence for the original versions of the game (versions, plural; it was remastered for the PSP in 2008) and it is this reverential attitude towards the past that makes this remake feel very special.Here is a concrete example. In The Second Story R’s menus, each character is represented with a portrait, as is RPG tradition. But with the press of a button you can switch between three different portrait styles, allowing you to see the different artistic interpretations of Star Ocean 2’s characters from 1998, 2008 and today. It’s a small nod, but while most remakes present the new materials and remove the old, this game strives to preserve all the eras. It is a testament to the development philosophy.“It’s not just limited to the illustrations, but it’s really our approach to the game as a whole,” says Kei Komaki, the game’s producer at Square Enix, when asked about the portraits. “We wanted to appreciate players of the original PlayStation 1 game from 1998 and also the PSP version from the 2000s by incorporating these materials and elements from both other versions, as well as alongside the updated versions for the remake.”“We’re trying to show that we have that respect for the players from the previous games and how they remember the game.”Respect hits the nail on the head; This remake literally exudes that. And yet it is also not afraid to take risks. The biggest change concerns the graphics, which are faithful to the original and at the same time very different.Notably, the earlier versions of Star Ocean 2 featured pre-rendered CG backgrounds, as was the case with most Square games of its time. Hand-drawn 2D sprites were overlaid on these CG backgrounds, while the battles featured rudimentary 3D backgrounds. For the remake, the team decided to keep the sprites but ditched the computer graphics in favor of depicting the world entirely in real time.“What I really wanted was to recreate and capture the same feelings and emotions that people would have had if they had played the original PS1 version or the PSP version,” explains remake director Yuichiro Kitao.“My approach was to think: Imagine myself as a little 2D sprite, a little character in the game. What would these places look like to me? What would it feel like to explore the dungeons, the fields and the castles? So that was really the approach we took in creating art. I went away and asked the art team to capture the feeling of being a little pixel character in this game and experience it for themselves.”So the logic was to convey a greater sense of scale. More can be achieved with real-time wallpapers. There may be more movement in the background itself and even the odd dynamic camera movement. The backgrounds also take on a generally more realistic feel – which creates challenges when combined with the gorgeous nature of the unvarnished, hard-edged pixel art characters.The idea of ​​mixing beautiful real-time 3D backgrounds with 2D sprites from the ’90s was deliberately intended to offer something “new and fresh,” says art director Yukinori Masuda. While Square Enix has already experimented with this in its “HD 2D” titles such as Octopath Traveler, The Second Story R differs significantly from Star Ocean due to the nature of the backgrounds and action-oriented combat. But by creating this fresh look that is quite appealing, the developers posed a challenge for themselves.“Because we wanted to give the sprites a certain nostalgia, the pixels stood out a little too much because we just inserted them directly. They didn’t necessarily feel like they were part of that world,” Masuda admits.“But instead of blurring them, we kept the pixels sharp and then added that depth through lighting, shaders and shadows. This made them feel like they were in this world while maintaining the classic look. So, yeah – that was the way we approached the fusion, the fusion of the two different art styles.”Nostalgia is a damn good drug – and for iconic niche game franchises like Star Ocean, it’s an incredibly tricky subject for developers. Several factors play a role. Classic car fans have to be happy – with the added complication of remembering two different versions depending on the season. But as always, there is also a desire to find a new audience – so that the Star Ocean series grows.When talking to the developers, it is clear that Star Ocean, for example, is not Final Fantasy. This space-based sci-fi RPG has always stood out from many of Square’s other titles. When this game was new, it was one of the few action-oriented games in the publisher’s offerings. In many ways, Star Ocean was always ahead of its time – which gives this remake potential. With fresh but familiar graphics and slightly tweaked and improved RPG action, everything about this game is designed for broader appeal.“I think there’s an appetite these days, especially in Europe, for ’90s RPGs, what you might call ‘retro RPGs.'” I’m not necessarily sure Second Story R really fits into that category falls, but there is this trend and willingness to play such games,” Komaki muses.“While we want people to approach the theme and feel nostalgic and enjoy the game from that perspective, it is also a new game that we are releasing. And so we hope that we can also reach a lot of new players and new people. And if we have fans who approach the game from a sort of nostalgic perspective and then realize that they really enjoy the game, hopefully they’ll tell their friends and other people and maybe it’ll gain some traction from there. “Star Ocean: The Second Story R releases this week for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 and PC.

As far as product names go, Star Ocean: The Second Story R buries the lede. The “R” stands for “Remake” – and if I were behind the marketing of this title, I would really emphasize that this is a complete remake. For example, R could stand for “Remaster” – it isn’t. This is a full-fledged remake with a capital R.Manage cookie settings A slightly bad name is, of course, par for the course for Square Enix RPGs – and the remake of Star Ocean 2 can also be seen as a typical Square experience in many ways. It’s the company doing what it does best: creating a strictly traditional RPG with an...

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a remake with a capital R and plans to satisfy fans spanning three decades - Worldtimetodays

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS