Star Ocean: The Second Story R |OT| Todos los Dias

What average score do you think Star Ocean: The Second Story R will get on Metacritic?

  • 96 - 100

    Votes: 5 11.6%

  • 91 - 95

    Votes: 2 4.7%

  • 86 - 90

    Votes: 9 20.9%

  • 81 - 85

    Votes: 21 48.8%

  • 76 - 80

    Votes: 4 9.3%

  • 71 - 76

    Votes: 2 4.7%

  • 66 - 70

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 65 or below

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
Also, if you want money for eg. the Thieve gloves. You don't even need to waste anything on Purity or sell anything. Just press start on the Challenge Mission screen. I had a few dozen completed and it netted me approx 200k, this was after Kurik.

Yeah so the challenge missions break it even further. Its not even the rewards you need to hand over to the guild, just the challenge missions you can net with Start button.

Also, with the above, I bought Rods for 80 gold, and Iron. And then customization every time. Soon enough you have 100 times done and 10x Mithril.
 
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The problem with casters used to be that they were slow and did only one move. While melee chars would get up close and sandwich stunlock bosses to oblivion. There was zero reason to use a caster. But now they've been buffed, and the mechanics have been changed. Casters are good and likely break enemies the quickest.
 
Decided im gonna get this, torn between switch and playstation. As someone who never played the franchise what should I expect?
 
I take back what I said about Opera. Healing Star seems to be adequate healing without Rena, so far at least (around level 45 on Universe)
 
Loving the discussion and tone.

I'm using scout+bodyguard and it's doing me enough favors. It's challenging enough and I don't really want to struggle that much.

I thought I'd have to use a trainer but this is great how they made it accessible.
 
Just came across this cool promotional art for the game. Wish it were in higher res though.

F-HQOVhWcAAfN-V
 
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Absolutely loving this game, I've put in about 17 hours since I got it Thursday.

The new voice acting is superb, and the new art is dope too. The addition of monsters on the battlefield is a massive step forward over the originals random encounters. The game is really fun to break with it's hundreds of different ways of doing so.

Gotta say, this is one of my top 5 games of 2023, easily.
 
LiquidMetal14 said:
Got the Sword of Marvels via the goodie bag trick.

Enemies aren't dying in 1 shot but it helps.
Click to expand...
Can you please explain more about this?



Also, I've been avoiding the thread for spoilers but looks like I finally need some help:
I'm to the final dungeon where you fight the 3 wise men at once and they're ripping me to shreds. My party is lv 78 and maybe I need better gear but I don't really see any shops selling better than what I have now. How do I beat these guys, what level do I need to be, and where should I be getting better gear?
One thing I need to manage is all of the status effects... does this game have ribbons like final fantasy that negate them all?
Oh, and my party is Rena + Claude + Celine + Ashton. Usually I can just spam Rena & Celine's final two magic attacks to destroy the enemy, along with some heals tossed in as needed but these status effects are getting to me.

Edit: nevermind. I beat them by spamming healing with Rena and spamming southern cross with Celina.
 
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Celcius said:
Can you please explain more about this?
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Goodie bag give 3 random items from prize pool. Sword of Marvel is one of the. 1200 atk 100 hit. Save scum the goodie box

We can get goodie box very early in the game making the start a breeze till we reach another planet. Looking at your post's spoiler, you won't need it anymore
 
Ok I just unlocked Assault Formation and I am LOVING this remake and all the little things they added. The best part is it is making me want to keep playing non-stop, but also replay the original game - the sign of a good remake for me because that means it is different enough to compliment the original.
 
Celcius said:
Can you please explain more about this?



Also, I've been avoiding the thread for spoilers but looks like I finally need some help:
I'm to the final dungeon where you fight the 3 wise men at once and they're ripping me to shreds. My party is lv 78 and maybe I need better gear but I don't really see any shops selling better than what I have now. How do I beat these guys, what level do I need to be, and where should I be getting better gear?
One thing I need to manage is all of the status effects... does this game have ribbons like final fantasy that negate them all?
Oh, and my party is Rena + Claude + Celine + Ashton. Usually I can just spam Rena & Celine's final two magic attacks to destroy the enemy, along with some heals tossed in as needed but these status effects are getting to me.

Edit: nevermind. I beat them by spamming healing with Rena and spamming southern cross with Celina.
Click to expand...

I'm 28 hours in and I'm around 68 to 75 level wise. I'm not even that far. The best thing to do is take your time with a Star Ocean game, especially since it seems like your rushing. The game gets hard if you don't take your time and don't do item creation, etc
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
Oh shit wanna talk about broken? You get 10x mithril as a reward for using Customize 100x (which is very easy to do using cheap materials). Which means you can get Aeterna (AKA eternal sphere) as soon as you finish the Lacour tournament.

qiJdArb.jpg
Click to expand...

It's unreal how easy the game is to exploit and break I thought they'd have patched up or changed a few things.

Tonight I made the Aeterna with 20% hp recovery and equipped a bloody armor I equipped the meteor ring and ring of might it's absolutely ridiculous, Claude has well over 5k attack.

I beat all the optional bosses on Nede with ease the other 3 members all died fast but Claude was untouchable, This was with training mode enabled too 🤣🤣🤣

I'm going to play a normal less exploitative playthrough after I'm done with Rena playthrough.
 
I personally like that they balance and included things the way they did. Because in a way you still have to kind of work for it and move around and grind even if you're using the scout plus bodyguard ability. Or you can choose not to use those things because you don't really know how to use the systems and don't like the menu, navigation or some weird reason.

I love what they've done to compliment the original while not taking the essence away of the story and the setting. I already said this earlier in the thread but this definitely exceeds the original for me. And that doesn't mean that I'm trying to find reasons not to like it because I love the original back then for what it was doing. But I do think the updated graphics and lack of pre-rendered backgrounds give the game a much needed layer of polish that I can confidently save makes it a lot more appealing versus looking at those old PS1 graphics.

I love that aesthetic and that was a great. Of nostalgia for me. But while there is some certain things you can, maybe micro nitpick, it's hard to deny that this is not only just a great remake, but something that has overtaken the original for me. Me. I know that some say you can go back and play the original and I think you can, but this is the definitive way to play it and the option to play it in a way which makes it easier for people if they know what they're doing is there. I think you have to respect the player's time and you can choose to play a different ways. But the bottom line is the game is fun, very engaging in terms of the systems in use, and has a really cool and deep system for learning abilities and enhancing your characters. It almost feels quite ahead of its time in those aspects.

I'm about 11 hours in right now and at Hilton. Just from running around and doing the linked battles and using the scout bodyguard abilities, I've hit about level 51 with all my characters. I think that area I just hit was quite challenging initially because it did require a good 8 to 10 hits with the enemies. That is my measurement of how difficult or how the game is scaling up. I had quite a bit of confidence before that area but since I've gotten there and I've taken the time to level up because I think it's fun in this game, I've had quite a few levels and now I found the balance for myself again like I do it a lot of RPGs. I end up stopping in between towns and always going up five to 10 levels or whatever is manageable. That's how I stay ahead of the curve and continue to earn money. I found this balance a while ago with RPGs like this instead of trying to rush through them and feeling like I'm skating by the skin of my teeth.

I'm a little bit too old for wanting to make the game a struggle for myself and really do want to enjoy games more. Which is why to an extent. I've used trainers in the past. Not too necessarily cheat through the battles but to give me extra money or something that's going to enable me to be a little bit more powerful. While still enjoying the core mechanics of the game. I feel like I'm actually not going to need a trainer for this and while I probably won't get every item and the best weapons in the game unless I feel like it, I am enjoying this immensely.
 
34 hours

Claude - LV 102
Rena - LV 102
Celine - LV 101
Opera - LV 100

Welch - LV 94
Ernest - LV 88
Precis - LV 88
Dias - LV 82

I've been grinding alot.

I use Train, Scouting, Enlightenment and Bodyguard. I've been leveling up much faster and gaining more SP and BP. Only thing is Fol decreases by 60 percent

I mostly am aiming to get all my Item Creations/Specialty LVs to MAX. When I get all of them to Level 10 like Crafting I'll start to see if I can make game breaking weapons, armor, accessories, and items right away.

I'm past the first time I meet the Ten Wise Men in that tower. I just got to that city in Energy Nede. Even though I played this game before I'm starting to remember why the story is great. Really like the concept of Energy Nede.

I just grinded outside the first town of Nede to get to Level 100

Overall fantastic Remake so far. I'm surprised and impressed. I had some issues with the OG Star Ocean 2 (OG is still great despite its flaws) but this remake fixes alot of the issues.
 
Jeez I almost forgot to make Berserk rings for my whole party.

Pro tip: you can make them by crafting Ruby with Claude. They give you permanent berserk status which doubles your attack power. (Berserk status normally happens when a party member w/high friendship level dies and you get enraged)
 
Don't sleep on Bunny Call ability. Makes traversal so easy + there are some places you can't reach without it. Just found a Mithril on a beach by the Hoffman Ruins
 
Just finished it and it was a blast. There are so many ways to break the game and it was so great to do. From copying broken equipment and items, save scumming, stealing, etc.

This is one of the best way to revisit those classic, keep the original essence with some modern quality of life improvements.

Love the new portraits while main characters are talking, those are beautiful.

I'm so hoping they do the HD 2D treatment to Xenogears and some other ps1 era JRPGs because it would be an awesome experience.
 
Oh lol, I was afraid they'd cut the pickpocketing in Marze foe ONE...Fuck it they made it easier. All you need is character with lvl 4 art, and cash. Levelling Rena, Claude and Celine's Purity to get 300k. Go to Krosse, buy Magic Clay from the item vendor and craft strange stuff. Reload until you get a Goodie Box.
 
F0rneus said:
Oh lol, I was afraid they'd cut the pickpocketing in Marze foe ONE...Fuck it they made it easier. All you need is character with lvl 4 art, and cash. Levelling Rena, Claude and Celine's Purity to get 300k. Go to Krosse, buy Magic Clay from the item vendor and craft strange stuff. Reload until you get a Goodie Box.
Click to expand...

The challenge reward for using Customize 100x gives you 10 Mithrils, meaning you can easily get Aeterna sword (aka eternal sphere) as soon as you finish the Lacour arms tournament. Kinda makes the Sword of Marvels exploit obsolete IMO (unless you're using Dias).
 
Quick question from a Star Ocean newbie. I'm still early early in the game and was wondering about Private Action mode.

Is there a general rule of thumb when to use it? Like should I use it at every new town or everytime a new character joins? Can you miss out on certain events PA moments? I almost forgot it even existed and started freaking out if I missed some stuff.
 
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Gambit2483 said:
Quick question from a Star Ocean newbie. I'm still early early in the game and was wondering about Private Action mode.

Is there a general rule of thumb when to use it? Like should I use it at every new town or everytime a new character joins? Can you miss out on certain events PA moments? I almost forgot it even existed and started freaking out if I missed some stuff.
Click to expand...
Some of them are timed. They made it easy to track though. Just bring up the fast travel menu (up on d-pad) and it'll show a PA icon next to towns that have a PA available. The icon has a little hourglass on it if it's timed.
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
The challenge reward for using Customize 100x gives you 10 Mithrils, meaning you can easily get Aeterna sword (aka eternal sphere) as soon as you finish the Lacour arms tournament. Kinda makes the Sword of Marvels exploit obsolete IMO (unless you're using Dias).
Click to expand...
Fucking neat. Took me a bit cause of RNG but I got

Two Swords of Marvels
Sorcerer's Knuckles
Silver Rod
Atomic Punch
Alpha Clip
Spark Whip

Maybe I'll try to get an Oriental Blade for Dias

Edit: Oriental Blade = Got
 
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DonkeyPunchJr said:
Some of them are timed. They made it easy to track though. Just bring up the fast travel menu (up on d-pad) and it'll show a PA icon next to towns that have a PA available. The icon has a little hourglass on it if it's timed.
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Thanks! So I did a Private mode moment and I think I lost some friendship points 😕

Can you actually lose friendship points by doing the PA events??
 
Just finished the game. Possibly my GOTY. Now I can see why this one is such a fan favorite. Gemdrops did an amazing job on this game and it's extremely polished. Like others have mentioned, now I REALLY want Xenogears to get this treatment too. It was amazing how well they made the 2D and 3D fit together. The art was fantastic like many others have called out as well and the music was very well done too.

Also, is STAR OCEAN First Departure R any good? I see that it's not on steam but the ps4 version is on sale for $6.29: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA16913_00-000STAROCEAN1FDR
Did it get the same treatment as this game or is it just a port of the original psp remaster?
 
Celcius said:
Just finished the game. Possibly my GOTY. Now I can see why this one is such a fan favorite. Gemdrops did an amazing job on this game and it's extremely polished. Like others have mentioned, now I REALLY want Xenogears to get this treatment too. It was amazing how well they made the 2D and 3D fit together. The art was fantastic like many others have called out as well and the music was very well done too.

Also, is STAR OCEAN First Departure R any good? I see that it's not on steam but the ps4 version is on sale for $6.29: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA16913_00-000STAROCEAN1FDR
Did it get the same treatment as this game or is it just a port of the original psp remaster?
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Star Ocean First Departure R is fantastic but didn't get the same treatment as the second game. It's a port of the original PSP Remaster

I'm planning on doing Post-Game and 💯 percenting everything so I've enjoying the hell out of this game
 
Celcius said:
Just finished the game. Possibly my GOTY. Now I can see why this one is such a fan favorite. Gemdrops did an amazing job on this game and it's extremely polished. Like others have mentioned, now I REALLY want Xenogears to get this treatment too. It was amazing how well they made the 2D and 3D fit together. The art was fantastic like many others have called out as well and the music was very well done too.

Also, is STAR OCEAN First Departure R any good? I see that it's not on steam but the ps4 version is on sale for $6.29: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0082-CUSA16913_00-000STAROCEAN1FDR
Did it get the same treatment as this game or is it just a port of the original psp remaster?
Click to expand...
I love First Departure R, well worth playing. It's an enhanced port of the PSP version. They rebalanced the difficulty (sorely needed as the PSP one was pathetically easy) + new character art and soundtrack (don't remember if that was in the PSP version or not.. anyway you can switch between them at any time).

Highly recommended if you want more old school Star Ocean. One thing I love is it's only ~20 hours long so it never overstays its welcome. You'll probably want to replay it to try different choices and recruit different characters.
 
Just got the Aeterna Sword. Have 3 goodie boxes too. May try to get more. Money is starting to stack up. Feel good about my progress. lvl 58 on all characters with 11:30 hours.
 
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt said:
Oh nice I will try it out now than
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As long as customize is at a good level (8 or up, don't quote me though), you should be able to get the sword from the blacksmith after the tournament. If you have a good level on the skill it should be a 50% chance. You get another sword before getting the Aeterna sword (Blade of Ninos). After you craft that then you can use the level 10 on upgrade in customization (I used orichalcum) to make the Aeterna.
 
Just finished it on Claude's side, what a good Remake, so many good changes, hopefully even Tri-Ace takes ideas from this and applies them to future SO games I really liked the shield stuff mechanics also SE needs to give their 90s RPGs to this dev and the guys that remade Trials of Mana, funny that their best remakes weren't made in-house.

Time for the Rena playthrough.
 
Torn on whether to get this on ps5 or pc for my legion go. Anyone have both and notice any difference's? Or opinions? I'm not looking to mod etc
 
Dorfdad said:
Torn on whether to get this on ps5 or pc for my legion go. Anyone have both and notice any difference's? Or opinions? I'm not looking to mod etc
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hows the legion go?

The PS5 version is 4k60 and has trophies, the PC version is also good as far as im aware so it comes down to preference.
 
LiquidMetal14 said:
As long as customize is at a good level (8 or up, don't quote me though), you should be able to get the sword from the blacksmith after the tournament. If you have a good level on the skill it should be a 50% chance. You get another sword before getting the Aeterna sword (Blade of Ninos). After you craft that then you can use the level 10 on upgrade in customization (I used orichalcum) to make the Aeterna.
Click to expand...

Thanks man I made the sword

One of my issues with the story is that none of the cast who are from Expel show any shock/surprise at how technological advanced Energy Nede is. It just is a strange story decision when Rena never been to another planet especially one that more advanced than Expel
 
Sleepwalker said:
hows the legion go?

The PS5 version is 4k60 and has trophies, the PC version is also good as far as im aware so it comes down to preference.
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Love it! The screen is huge and it feels great! I have an ally and deck and this is my favorite!! It does have some issues and older drivers currently but I'll give them some time to fix them I can work around that for the most part!
 
KàIRóS said:
Just finished it on Claude's side, what a good Remake, so many good changes, hopefully even Tri-Ace takes ideas from this and applies them to future SO games I really liked the shield stuff mechanics also SE needs to give their 90s RPGs to this dev and the guys that remade Trials of Mana, funny that their best remakes weren't made in-house.

Time for the Rena playthrough.
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This remake puts the likes of Chrono Cross to shame. Imagine that game being overhauled like this. Or FFVIII, Vagrant Story etc.

This is arguably the best PSX JRPG remake out there. If games like Octopath and Sea of Stars manage to sell, this game should do so too. In my opinion its better than both of them.
 
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Man, can't get over how much I'm enjoying this.

Think of games like

Xenogears
Grandia
Suikoden
Breath of Fire
Saga Frontier

I'm doing some side stuff now like recruiting Opera and stuff. It's been so long that I can't remember the story so I'm staying away from too many spoilers.

This is going to get a solid score from me.
 
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