another ocean of stars
Aug. 11th, 2026 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mikogalateaI started playing Star Ocean 2 R pretty much right after finishing my SO1 R playthrough -- literally hours later on the same day, in fact -- and as of a little earlier today I've just beaten my first playthrough of that! This time it's my very first time beating SO2 in general, as I never finished my playthrough of the PSP version despite getting very close to the end.
I had a great time! For this playthrough I went with Claude's story and recruited Celine, Ashton, Welch, Precis, Leon and Chisato -- just like the PSP run I never finished before.
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The remake's fantastic. The environments look absolutely gorgeous, the music has great remixes from the original composer himself, battles are even more fun than before, doing away with random encounters in favour of a more SO3-like approach to battling generic enemies cuts down on a lot of annoyance, the quality-of-life additions like fast travel and being able to see what events and PAs are where and which ones have a time limit are much appreciated, and item creation is massively improved. It really feels like the best way to play this game, to the point where I don't think I could ever go back to the PSP version. (Heck, SO1 R is going to feel difficult to go back to after this!)
It's also nice to revisit all these characters, especially with this version having Japanese voice options, which is part of why I picked the same route and recruitable characters as in my old PSP run. In particular, I've come to like Ashton a million times more this time round. I used to hate his dub voice in the PSP version, to the point where it flat-out ruined the character for me even though I really wanted to like him. (I still used him in my main battle party regardless, though.) This time, on the other hand, playing with Japanese voices meant Ashton had a voice that actually fit him and gave him the pathetic energy he's meant to have, so now he's become one of my favourites.And okay, another reason why I picked Claude's route again for my first playthrough of R is because there was a certain PA between him and Ashton that I really wanted to see again...
My other favourites are Chisato and Rena, both of whom are characters I remembered liking before. I do really want to start a second playthrough with Rena's story soon, though -- not just to do things like finally meet Opera and have Dias as a permanent party member and recruit everyone else I didn't pick up before, but also to see the story from Rena's point of view and hopefully let her have more interiority. That scene revealing her true origins was so good, tearjerking though it was, and I'm sure it'll hit even harder if I saw the scene and everything leading up to it from Rena's side. ♥
Speaking of Rena, one thing about this game I'm not such a fan of (and never have been) is that it shoves the Claude/Rena ship down the player's throat from literally the word "go" and never lets up. Seriously, they started travelling together after having met just days ago and NPCs immediately acted like Claude is totally Rena's new boyfriend and she totally wants to shag him. It got annoying fast, and got even more annoying in scenes where Claude acted borderline entitled to being the most important guy in Rena's life despite them not even having known each other for that long; I actually made a point of sabotaging their affection levels with books made with the Publication talent when they got too high, because I did not want them to end up together! (Fortunately I got my wish on that front; Claude ended up with Ashton like I wanted, Rena got with Chisato, and I also got Leon and Precis together while Celine and Welch had solo endings. I'm pretty happy with those results, especially for this being my first time beating the game.)
Another part of the game I wasn't so fond of was the Forest of Symbols segment, which just felt disproportionately difficult and frustrating, especially with those bloody Witchettes who came in relatively big groups and whose spells could pretty much instantly kill if they hit, which they often did... I wonder if that part of the game is less irritating on Rena's side? At least on her side I'd have a frippin' healer!
As for one of my old complaints about SO2, namely that its plot revolved so much around Claude and Rena that the other characters felt like irrelevant extras that mostly existed to fill up party slots... I didn't feel that so much this time round, though it is pretty noticeable when going around the Fields in the late game. It might also be a case of which optional characters I recruited; Ashton has nothing to do with the main plot at all, for example, and Welch certainly isn't relevant considering she didn't even exist in the game's original PSX release!
I still enjoyed the game, though. It was especially satisfying to finally beat Michael and Haniel, as that was the boss fight I got stuck on in the PSP version. (It's also a part where I'm particularly grateful for the improved item creation, as one of my struggles that had me dropping the game before was trying to get Rena to craft anti-petrification accessories.) They were still really tough even with being able to prepare for them well this time, and the following battles with Lucifer and Gabriel were tougher still even after I'd gotten hilariously overleveled from the Field of Might, but that just makes me even happier to have finally beaten this game. ♥
I used to consider SO2 my least favourite out of the Star Ocean games I've played, and to be honest, I still think it's put on an overly high pedestal (though I admit a lot of that feeling's driven by frustration at fans acting like it's the most perfect game ever while dunking on the rest of the series); now this version exists, however, I think I can bump it up to at least tying with SO4, perhaps surpassing it, though it's hard to say exactly when it's been so long since I last touched SO4. On the other hand, I still consider SO3 and SO1 to be my favourites. It'll be interesting to see where SO5 and SO6 will end up landing for me when I eventually get round to playing those...
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I don't think it'll be very long at all before I start my second playthrough of this game with Rena's story.
I had a great time! For this playthrough I went with Claude's story and recruited Celine, Ashton, Welch, Precis, Leon and Chisato -- just like the PSP run I never finished before.
-
The remake's fantastic. The environments look absolutely gorgeous, the music has great remixes from the original composer himself, battles are even more fun than before, doing away with random encounters in favour of a more SO3-like approach to battling generic enemies cuts down on a lot of annoyance, the quality-of-life additions like fast travel and being able to see what events and PAs are where and which ones have a time limit are much appreciated, and item creation is massively improved. It really feels like the best way to play this game, to the point where I don't think I could ever go back to the PSP version. (Heck, SO1 R is going to feel difficult to go back to after this!)
It's also nice to revisit all these characters, especially with this version having Japanese voice options, which is part of why I picked the same route and recruitable characters as in my old PSP run. In particular, I've come to like Ashton a million times more this time round. I used to hate his dub voice in the PSP version, to the point where it flat-out ruined the character for me even though I really wanted to like him. (I still used him in my main battle party regardless, though.) This time, on the other hand, playing with Japanese voices meant Ashton had a voice that actually fit him and gave him the pathetic energy he's meant to have, so now he's become one of my favourites.
My other favourites are Chisato and Rena, both of whom are characters I remembered liking before. I do really want to start a second playthrough with Rena's story soon, though -- not just to do things like finally meet Opera and have Dias as a permanent party member and recruit everyone else I didn't pick up before, but also to see the story from Rena's point of view and hopefully let her have more interiority. That scene revealing her true origins was so good, tearjerking though it was, and I'm sure it'll hit even harder if I saw the scene and everything leading up to it from Rena's side. ♥
Speaking of Rena, one thing about this game I'm not such a fan of (and never have been) is that it shoves the Claude/Rena ship down the player's throat from literally the word "go" and never lets up. Seriously, they started travelling together after having met just days ago and NPCs immediately acted like Claude is totally Rena's new boyfriend and she totally wants to shag him. It got annoying fast, and got even more annoying in scenes where Claude acted borderline entitled to being the most important guy in Rena's life despite them not even having known each other for that long; I actually made a point of sabotaging their affection levels with books made with the Publication talent when they got too high, because I did not want them to end up together! (Fortunately I got my wish on that front; Claude ended up with Ashton like I wanted, Rena got with Chisato, and I also got Leon and Precis together while Celine and Welch had solo endings. I'm pretty happy with those results, especially for this being my first time beating the game.)
Another part of the game I wasn't so fond of was the Forest of Symbols segment, which just felt disproportionately difficult and frustrating, especially with those bloody Witchettes who came in relatively big groups and whose spells could pretty much instantly kill if they hit, which they often did... I wonder if that part of the game is less irritating on Rena's side? At least on her side I'd have a frippin' healer!
As for one of my old complaints about SO2, namely that its plot revolved so much around Claude and Rena that the other characters felt like irrelevant extras that mostly existed to fill up party slots... I didn't feel that so much this time round, though it is pretty noticeable when going around the Fields in the late game. It might also be a case of which optional characters I recruited; Ashton has nothing to do with the main plot at all, for example, and Welch certainly isn't relevant considering she didn't even exist in the game's original PSX release!
I still enjoyed the game, though. It was especially satisfying to finally beat Michael and Haniel, as that was the boss fight I got stuck on in the PSP version. (It's also a part where I'm particularly grateful for the improved item creation, as one of my struggles that had me dropping the game before was trying to get Rena to craft anti-petrification accessories.) They were still really tough even with being able to prepare for them well this time, and the following battles with Lucifer and Gabriel were tougher still even after I'd gotten hilariously overleveled from the Field of Might, but that just makes me even happier to have finally beaten this game. ♥
I used to consider SO2 my least favourite out of the Star Ocean games I've played, and to be honest, I still think it's put on an overly high pedestal (though I admit a lot of that feeling's driven by frustration at fans acting like it's the most perfect game ever while dunking on the rest of the series); now this version exists, however, I think I can bump it up to at least tying with SO4, perhaps surpassing it, though it's hard to say exactly when it's been so long since I last touched SO4. On the other hand, I still consider SO3 and SO1 to be my favourites. It'll be interesting to see where SO5 and SO6 will end up landing for me when I eventually get round to playing those...
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I don't think it'll be very long at all before I start my second playthrough of this game with Rena's story.
no subject
Date: 2026-08-11 09:51 pm (UTC)Glad you got the endings you wanted!
no subject
Date: 2026-08-11 10:28 pm (UTC)Me too. Claude/Ashton was the only one I was deliberately gunning for, while Rena/Chisato mostly happened because they were the other characters in my main battle party and built up affection that way. Still, the latter was very pleasantly surprising, not to mention quite poignant considering the actual ending of the game.
no subject
Date: 2026-08-11 10:44 pm (UTC)