An ode to terrible voice acting at it's best.
10 years ago, I was a short fat kid with a burning passion and acne. That Passion? None other than Star Ocean: The Second Story. That acne? Erysipelas.
1999 was a time when the PS1 was wrapped in a sort of RPG limbo, with both great and terrible (cough, Shadow Madness, cough) being released left and right. Amidst the ocean of titles, 1 game in particular caught my attention, Ironically enough entitled Star Ocean. I decided to buy it and try it, and much to my surprise I had found something I couldn't have expected...
An hour and a half long introduction sequence. Yawn.
Anywho, on to the actual review, I'm talking too much.
GRAPHICS: [5/10] [3 stars]
I'm not going to lie. The in-game graphics would have looked good had they have been meant for the SNES, but sadly not for the PS1 during such a late stage in it's development cycle. The character portraits are well drawn Anime portraits, but sadly are only seen on the characters status screen. There are about 3 cut scenes total in the game, though none of them feature any of the characters, but rather catastophic story events. But this games offers something much better than pretty cut scenes and in-game graphics, so I forgive it.
STORY: [9/10] [5 stars]
The game follows the exploits of Claude/Crawd Kenny, an Ensign in the Earth Federation. Through a series of misfortunes, Claude ends up on the underdeveloped planet Expel where he meets up with a "native"girl named Lena/Rena. They embark on an adventure to discover a way for Claude to contact his superiors and get the hell off of Expel. Lot's of wacky memorable characters are met along the way, and the story takes several plot turns in extreme directions, eventually having the player travel to different planets and escape near death a couple of hundred times. Well paced and filled with suspense, the story is definately a strong point in the game.
The characters are memorable, and their back stories can be explored better with the aid of the Private Actions system, which allows you to interact with your own team members throughout the games towns.
GAMEPLAY: [10/10] [5 stars]
Ah, the gameplay. Truly the make or break mark of a good game. Star Ocean 2 has to be my favorite RPG due to this factor alone. the Battle system is fast and frantic, involving a real-time battle engine which allows the player the ability to move as he wishes in full 3-D. Attacks can be chained together along with special techniques, items, or spells, allowing for powerful combos if executed with good timing. Outside of battle exists the Item Creation system, which allows players the ability to make new weapons through blacksmithing, cook healing items, brew potions, forge checks for money, and much more. All of this is influenced by the item creating characters personal skills and personality, so you'll find yourself trying out different people to see who's best for each particular job.
VOICE ACTING: [-10/10] [5 negative stars]
This game has the worst voice acting ever. Period.
But for some odd reason, I love it anyways.
REPLAY VALUE: [10/10] [5 stars]
Star Ocean: The Second Story boasts 80 different endings, though most of the ending's diffenerences are minimal at best. The real replay value lies in the fact that while there are 12 playable characters total, you can only have 8 characters per game. And with the characters being as quirky as they are, you'll find yourself eager to learn more about them through private actions or just to try them out in battle.
OVERALL SCORE: [10/ 10] [5 stars]
What can I say, gameplay and a great storyline are that important to me. Star Ocean: The Second Story is just too damn addictive to put down, and I still find myself playing it 10 years after it's original release, which is really a testement to the importance of gameplay versus graphics.
Final Fantasy 8 was released around the same time as this game, and while I certainly enjoyed it and it's incredibly breathtaking (for the time) graphics, I only played through it twice. I've beaten Star Ocean: The Second Story around 8(!) times. Nuff said.
I <3 this game, and so would you, so try it out if you ever see it in stores (or you could pick up the slightly-inferior-yet-still-awesome PSP version). You won't regret it.
