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Must-Buy, Must-Have, Must-Play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: November 23, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Ever see this equation? Two disks + two characters + over eighty endings = one great game. Yesiree, besides the impressive numbers, Star Ocean has another charm, addictive as it is, awesome as it may be. There aren't many games out nowadays about storyline and character development, yet this one seems to be less and less like a videogame and more and more like an epic novel. Every choice you make, every turn you take, every character you invite into your party, you shape your own destiny and blaze your own trail. These characters, in terms of emotion, are no doubt about it-- Real. You develop meaningful relationships and for a moment, call me crazy, but you are that character. The game isn't without its quirks: Meaningless battles make it hard to find what you're really looking for, and even more are those annoying thought balloons that pop over character's head when they're angry, sad, surprised, or just really deep in thought. But those little flaws don't detract much from otherwise great game.

Terrific fun, great story, great music.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: May 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is wonderful. You can play as one of two people (something I really like in games), skills are actually terrifically *important*, the graphics are good (not great, but good), and the music is outstanding.

One of the best features of the game is the Private Action, where you interact one-on-one with your party members or NPCs, or both. every choice you make affects how your characters feel about each other. This is the best way I've seen of getting the role-playing back into RPGs. Some of them are just plain funny too (Ashton and barrels ... there might be reasons Gyoro and Ururun picked him ...)

The difficulty levels are well-set up too; there's not much of 'I must run around and fight random battles to survive my next dungeon'. The fight system is rather odd, but learnable.

The story and the music are the best things about the game, though. The story is well-thought out, well-written and planned - things happen for reasons, you find out what those reasons are, and you *want* to save these people. And the music ... man, the final boss music *alone* makes me want the CD ...

I finished the game, and went through to play it *again* right away. That's how good it is.

Complicated, but great fun when you learn the game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 20
Date: April 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game starts out rather slowly, with quite a bit of dialogue before you get to a fight, but that's OK with me. I like a game with a story to it, not just bashing monsters all the time. Yes, there are plenty of good fights in Star Ocean II, but you'd better read the dialogues, too, or you'll miss important clues that you will need later on.

Others have already described the technical features of the game, so I won't reinvent the wheel here. What I will say is that strategy is very important, and that's what I like best about it. There will come a time when you have all the money you need to buy every weapon in the shops -- but that won't help you if you don't plan your strategies as well. There's an astronomical number of possible combinations of weapons, jewelry, magic cards, armor, etc. and you get to choose which combinations to equip your party with. You can also set battle tactics for the group and for each character individually. You have control over which skills to level up with the skill points you earn in the battles, too. Each character has hidden talents which are only revealed when their skill points reach a certain level in that area and you have used that skill enough.

My one complaint about the game is that the translation calls the ten boss sorcerers on the planet Energy Nede "God's Ten Wise Men." I have no idea who or what "God" is in the original Japanese, but in my English vocabulary, God is the Good Guy. We started calling them "The Godfather's Ten Wiseguys" which is probably closer to the intent, since they are a bunch of nasty galactic gangsters who want to take over the universe (what else?) They even have Italian-sounding names, which suggests the Mafia more than servants of a theological entity. (In the animation, they look more like Samurai warriors.) Defeating them was a challenge -- and great fun!

Without a doubt, the best RPG I've EVER played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Perhaps my favorite RPG of all time, Star Ocean 2 has everything ANY gamer could enjoy. With an amazingly innovative battle system, Star Ocean 2 plunges you into battle where you fight and cast magic in REAL TIME combat. Also, Star Ocean 2 has amazing customization where you can MAKE your own items and the BEST weapons in the game using the game's unique weapon/item creation system. With an amazingly unique soundtrack, Star Ocean 2 ranks in my soundtrack list as one of my top three! Also, Star ocean 2 has an amazing cast of characters, all of which, save two are optional. Finally, it has the HIGHEST replay value of any game EVER!!!... You are right off the bat asked which character you would prefer to play, the dashing space explorer, Claude Kenni, or the beautiful magic user Rena Lanford. By going through this game you will go through different towns, meet different people, and the feelings of the characters will change for each other, for better or worse, and in the end, characters will split up, or possibly even get together! With over 80 different endings, you'll find yourself playing from the end of Star Ocean 2 right into your next fun filled new game! Words cannot describe my appreciation for the quality of this game, it is simply breathtaking.

Somebody help, I need an intervention! :)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Seems that not everyone shares my opinion, but I have to say that this is the most addictive game I've ever played. One of the reviewers before me had called it "immersive". I couldn't find a better description. Star Ocean: the 2nd story has a very unique skills and item creation system. This is a huge part of the game, and is easy to learn but difficult to master. Basically, if you are patient enough to experiment with different things and don't mind stopping to experiment (because this will take up quite a bit of time) instead of just rushing through the game, you will probably enjoy it. That been said, you can still enjoy the game without putting too much time into item creations, you just won't be playing it to its full extent. This is what I did my first time through. I have just beaten it for the second time, and have had more fun than the first time, because this time I tried to experiment with everything. Private Actions (where you separate from the group and talk to other members) are not necessary in the game, but they influence the outcome, and I personally found them fun. There are 86 different endings.... I don't think I'll be able to play enough times to get all of them, but still, this makes for a great replay value. Voice acting and translation could have been done better, and the emoticons are annoying... Other than that, I have no complaints. This is a game that really made me "immerse" in it fully and feel what my characters were feeling... Just for that experience, it's worth the price. :) By the way, I forgot who asked, but if you still haven't found the answer, the "float" skill can be found in the bonus dungeon. Good luck!

PAGC (People Against Graphic Complainers)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: August 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This was One of my FAVORITE RPG's Ever. Many of the reviews said that the graphics were bland and gave low ratings because of it. I have a few reasons against that.

1.Soft colors are alot easier on the eyes.

2.Look at Legend of Mana. WOW

3.It might not be as crisp as Final Fantasy VIII but what should be looked at is the fun and the storyline

Challenging and entertaining - tremendously good fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is undoubtedly one of the best RPG's I have ever played. Your choices are almost limitless - you choose the main character, which characters to include in your party (some are not compatible with others, and some you can only get playing as a certain character), how to assign your skill points, and what specialties to develop in each character. The skills that the characters can build are varied and useful. A character might learn cooking, metal working, weapon customization, alchemy, photography, music, painting, writing - it's all up to you. And the results of these skills affect the gameplay. For instance, a character good at cooking can create a dish that will restore HP or MP to whoever consumes it, while a character skilled in alchemy can turn a rock into a precious gem that can be used to customize an ordinary weapon into something spectacular.

You also affect the final outcome by which characters you place together in battle and how you choose to have them interact while not in battle. There are so many choices, and so many ways to affect the game, that its possibilities are staggering.

As the game is so multi-faceted, I do recommend the strategy guide. Knowing which characters are compatible with others, what foods are needed to cook specific dishes, which good weapons can be customized into great ones, etc. can help you make good decisions.

I think most RPG fans would find this game to be outstanding in its field.

Just buy it!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the best out there!!!

Graphics: Really nice 3D backgrounds and cute li'l 2D people!

Battle System: Really cool! You have a few choices that have to do with how you fight the battle, you choose each character's strategy and the battle formation, you can control any character you want, attack your enemies in three different ways- by casting one of numerous destructive spells, using a "killer move", wich is a strong physical attack that uses up MP, like magic, or just run up to your enemies and slap 'em silly with whatever weapon your character has at their disposal. Oh, yeah, and you can also use a few items to win battles.

Enemies: Not extremely hard to beat if your characters are at reasonable levels.

Music: VERY good.

Special Features: The PA (Private Action) system is very original. If you press square when you're near a town, your group will split up and you can talk to the members of the party (and sometimes the villagers will ask for your help or say different things to you). How you respond effects your character's romantic/friendship values with the other characters, and sometimes wins you an item or two or some money. At the end of the game, your characters will be paired up according to their romantic/friendship values with each other.

Other than that, it's really funny, somewhat romantic, and has an interesting storyline with a variety of characters!

Near perfect non-Square RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Being few lucky one to play Star Ocean for Super Famicom, I was very excited to play Star Ocean 2 for good reasons. The original was one of best game for SNES/SFC (as good as FF3/6), and this one is charming as well. The background is well drawn, and 2D based characters didn't hurt the visual either.

The battle system is revised version of the first one. For fans of Final Fantasy series may dismiss it as simple button masher, but the beauty of this system appears when you face the boss. Since there aren't any overpowering summons, tactical thinking is critical. You can take total control of one character and shift the battle in any way you like (I heavily use Rena for healing and protect Celine).

Translation is not so bad. It has some mishap which makes some section sound downright silly, but overall translation is well done if not brilliant. Voice acting is well... I wish there was option to turn it off. Luckily I got used to it by 15th hour, but Precis' voice is horrible.

The story is compelling. While this one uses similar "Advanced civilization (Human) meets undeveloped one", it is for good. Storyline is very solid, and characters are very attactive to grab your attention. This game gives very different feeling than Final Fantasy series and it certainly won't hurt to experience.

Overall, Star Ocean 2 brings best of new and old-school RPG. I just can't wait to play Star Ocean 3, and hope to see Blue Sphere in US. (I reset the machine many times just to listen the opening theme)

This game was truly enjoyable

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I must say that this game is one of the most interesting and fun games I've ever played. I loved the Private Actions that affected the ending of the game. The PA's were little side plots that you can watch your characters do. The interactions would vary depending on which characters you had chosen (Some characters you can only get if you are a certain main character, others you can get one character, but if you select them, you can't get another. It can be pretty confusing, but it's fun.) I really loved this game, and would reccomend it to any RPG fan.

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