Post
3/4
Even so, some flaws and limitations do persist. For starters, beyond the game’s somewhat short length the scope of the story feels very limited due to the relatively tiny cast of notable characters. See, Star Ocean TSSR features two main heroes (Claude and Rena, with you determining at the beginning who the protagonist is going to be), as well as almost a dozen optional party characters – however, due to said party characters being optional, the actual role they play in the main story is generally negligible at best. Claude and Rena get plenty of development and go through satisfying character arcs, but their traveling companions at most get a sidequest, and often not even that. They *do* get plenty of smaller, unique Private Action scenes (you can split up your party at any town, reverting back to only controlling your Protagonist character and sometimes getting unique scenes and dialogue that flesh out party characters), and some of them are indeed very endearing personalities with great designs, but the lack of story relevance hold both them AND the story back. It could certainly be worse (this isn’t Dragon Quest IX we’re dealing with here), but it still contributes to making the adventure feel “small” in a very real sense.
Another issue is with the villains. For 60% of the game, your only villains are a handful of throwaway generic jerks who don’t even get unique portraits, and who quite frankly wouldn’t deserve them. Then you suddenly get introduced to TEN major villains all at once, all of them intimidating and incredibly powerful, boasting top-notch designs and at least somewhat unique personalities. These guys definitely provide the story with quite a shot in the arm and are a very welcome addition, however, they get introduced so late in the game that none of them end up being properly developed out, not even the final boss.
That said, the story campaign still ends up being pretty satisfying overall, with the final stretch of the game nicely building up excitement for the decisive battle with an excellent final dungeon, as well as tying up various loose story ends about as well as you could reasonably hope. Moreover, The Second Story is practically BEGGING for a second playthrough; not only do you get unique story scenes for Claude and Rena depending on who you choose as your Protagonist, the sheer number of recruitable party members, combined with the limited party slots (your total party maxes out at 8) and Claude and Rena both getting an Exclusive party member means that you can end up with 5 brand new party members on your second playthrough – and yes, these guys are actually for the most part quite distinct in terms of how they play in battle! Hell, you can even do what I did, and go with the remastered soundtrack for your first playthrough, and the classic soundtrack for the second one, just to make the experience feel even more fresh.
Quite frankly, I found my second playthrough MORE enjoyable than my first – I understood and made far better use of the game’s many unique mechanics this time around, enabling me to play on Hard instead of Normal without major issues, and I also was able to plan ahead and unlock far more secrets. I didn’t *fully* swap out my old party tho – I again recruited the adorable gadgeteer genius girl Precis, but due to playing as Claude instead of Rena, I actually still got access to A LOT of new optional scenes and dialogue involving her. Note also that Private Action conversations with party members often give you different dialogue options that can have a significant impact on the direction of the conversation. Basically, even with if you don’t change out your party members OR your protagonist, you can still see plenty of new sides to your party – it should be noted that like Fire Emblem, Star Ocean: TSSR boasts unique character endings, as well as paired endings, and that there are a total of 99 unique ones. For the sake of reference, after 2 playthroughs I had unlocked just 10 of them! Oh, and there’s New Game + too, which does offer some unique perks, and while I rarely find NG+ playthroughs very compelling, it’s obviously a nice option to have. While probably deeply upsetting from ultra-autistic completionists, it should make Star Ocean TSSR a nice game to replay from time to time, since you’re pretty much guaranteed to squeeze SOME fresh content out of it.
Just a quick note though, if you know for sure that you WON’T be replaying the game, pick Claude as your main character – he has both more and more interesting exclusive scenes than Rena in the story, and a certain mini-tournament arc is really fucking lame with Rena as the protag. Claude overall feels like the “true” main character, while Rena is pretty obvious deutoragonist material.
4/4
Finally, let me address where this game falls on my Based Morality Scale, which actually makes for surprisingly cheerful reading in Current Year. Due to this being a remake of a 25 year old game, with the original script still intact, you inadvertently end up with some wonderfully countercultural and wholesome writing, making this game easily a +1, and I’d even go as far as handing out a +2 when looking at the sheer amount of things it does right.
This is a game where men are allowed to be men, and women get to be women – where concepts like being “a real man” or “a proper lady” aren’t taboo, but openly acknowledged as legitimate. “Gender neutral writing” is nowhere to be seen – you even see female characters worrying about putting on weight and it being played for laughs, not as an opportunity to decry Muh Unrealistic Beauty Standards. Hell, even the infamous “Now I can never be a bride!” line that wokealizers have declared Jihad against makes it into this game, albeit rephrased – no worries though, because female characters dreaming about getting married is the topic of multiple Private Action scenes!
There are almost too many Based little moments to count – there’s the early-game Priest character being a wholly positive presence (indeed, pretty much all the Old White Male authority figures are portrayed favorably), Celine the hot mage advocating for corporal punishment of misbehaving children, a belief in heaven seeming pretty widespread even among the more “sci-fi” characters, a hyper-advanced civilization’s abolition of the death penalty leading to some major future headaches, at least one character ending delighting Shinzo Abe – so much good stuff! And lest I forget, I counted a grand total of Zero nigger characters, which is the same number of singular theys that I recall coming across.
Obviously, all of this feels remarkably refreshing – like finally getting to breathe in clean mountain air after a lifetime spent in a smog-filled Chinese city – as well as very surprising, seeing how a pure +2 JRPG should pretty much be a physical impossibility these days. Any modern, text-heavy game seems almost GUARANTEED to be at least somewhat compromised by trannylator bullshit, and that’s before getting into the JRPG genre’s long-standing tendency towards gay anti-racist, anti-religion messages (Final Fantasy X being an obvious example), or even more recently, feminism (see Persona 5). Star Ocean: The Second Story R might just be the most *genuinely* wholesome JRPG I’ve ever played, and since the rest the of game on the whole is pretty great as well, it becomes extremely easy to recommend.
