Star Ocean 2 Remake : How Good Is It?
53Star Ocean 2 or Second Story was an absolute classic on the original Playstation and was released during an age when RPGs were in their golden age : It's graphics were beautiful then, but with this remake they have decided to go full 3D backgrounds with sprite based characters and effects. I got to play the Star Ocean 2 Remake and as one of the best in the series, I approached this one hoping for the best but prepared for the worst, and today we're going to talk about what system is the best way to get Star Ocean 2 and if this remake is worthy to the original and if it's good enough to attract new fans, or is this a lazy remake that will fail to impress?
I sat down and experienced Star Ocean 2 Remake in hopes that one of the great RPGs would blow me away all over again : And immediately I loved the graphics, the mix between the sprites and wonderfully rendered 3D meshed EXTREMELY well. There are times where you almost get a Paper Mario feel, where you can tell the sprites are flat, but those times are usually when the camera is moving too much, during cutscenes or something like that, and it didn't bother me : This is absolutely gorgeous sprite work full of animations and character, and the fact that the sprites are so large, it really tugged at my JRPG heartstrings the entire time. The game looks great on any platform : The Switch is going to get a very slight hit just due to hardware, but it looks fine no matter the platform. In my opinion, the graphics are going to sell this game to the old school fans : It's faithful to the original and it actually feels like Star Ocean 2 was always meant to look like this with the original vision, they just didn't have the technology to do it at the time.
The next thing I noticed was the voice acting : For the English it uses the Playstation Portable voice acting, and it's servicable, sometimes it's kind of bad, but other times it's good enough : Here's the deal : if you watch anime or you play JRPGs, it's not going to blow your socks off, but it's not going to ruin the experience either. There is also an option to go with the original Japanese voice actors or the Japanese Playstation Portable voice actors.
As far as the story goes, it is the original story : So it's great, it hooks you right from the beginning with interesting concepts and introduces you to the characters in heartwarming ways that grows an attachment to them quickly, there is plenty to love here : Everybody is going to love the story of Star Ocean 2 : It's one of the best in the series for sure.
The music has been re-arranged and it is spot on beautiful, with the kind of late 90s vibes I love in a good JRPG : Between the sprite based characters fusing with the 3D backgrounds and this killer soundtrack, prepare to experience JRPGs in all their glory during their golden age : This Star Ocean 2 Remake doesn't disappoint
Now let's talk about the gameplay : Moving around the world, interacting, combat is all extremely smooth and glorious : It's everything you want from a JRPG : Simple in design but can get complex as you level up and attain more abilities : Star Ocean 2 Remake capitalizes on what made the original release feel so fun to play : And now running at 60 frames per second on Playstation 5 and keeping up at 30 frames on the Switch, it feels excellent : The Playstation 5 and PC versions are going to be the kings here due to hardware : and the combat is action based just like all of the Star Ocean series allowing you to switch between party members at will and crushing the enemies for that juicy XP. The UI is clean and it all just feels extremely great.
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