/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6439268]

discuss this great game. is it the best in the series?

[Anonymous No.6439286]

Was the bunny named Barney?

[Anonymous No.6439289]

In an overall shitty series? Yes.

[Anonymous No.6439312]

Star Ocean games were a mistake. An inferior and watered down version of the Tales battle system, with inferior plot and characters compared to the Tales games. The only thing the SFC game had going for it were the high quality sprites, which were thrown out for soulless animu art when the series moved to the PlayStation.

[Anonymous No.6439596]

My favorite game. 1 was incredible for the time, 3 was good but the story, cast and a lot of the added mechanics were not very good aside from the improved crafting system. I couldn't get through an hour of 4 or 5.

2 has the perfect balance between the swords and sorcery aspects and the space opera aspects. I think its one of the best written JRPGs, though admittedly translation and poor writing in general make that not a very high bar. The boss battles are memorable, the music is perfect for the situations they're in, and you get as much character story as you want through private actions, no need to sit through an extra 20 hours of dialogue if you don't care. Not only that but universe difficulty makes it tough and more enjoyable, plus makes mages more valuable if you want to avoid grinding.

[Anonymous No.6439701]

>>6439268
Yes and Ashton is best boy.

[Anonymous No.6439709]

>>6439286
Yeah.

[Anonymous No.6439942]

>>6439596
What the fuck even happens in disc 2 except let's go fight the final boss

[Anonymous No.6440221]

>>6439286
Come here Barney!
Hey Barney!
Barney come over here!

[Anonymous No.6440225]

>>6439268
I tried to play it again recently and just could not make it past the beginning. The dialogue is so stale and long and they just do not stop talking about the most mundane retarded shit.

[Anonymous No.6440228]

>>6440225
Yeah, the beginning is incredibly slow and boring. Still a great game though.

[Anonymous No.6440262]

>>6440225
Sucks to be you. I've replayed this game 50000 times.

[Anonymous No.6440275]

>>6440262
that's only slightly more than halfway to unlocking every ending

[Anonymous No.6440298]

I remember playing through the game but I don't actually remember anything about it

it's weird, it's like someone stole my memories

[Anonymous No.6440317]

>>6440262
>Sucks to be you

I think I'll live.

[Anonymous No.6440325]

>>6440298
It's honestly kind of a bland, boring, disjointed mess.

[Anonymous No.6440332]

>>6440298
im gonna need you to leave

[Anonymous No.6440791]

>>6439942
There's over a dozen boss battles, a major character death, a multitude of storyline dungeons + the secret dungeon that's very long, a town dedicated to minigames including a fighting arena to get some of the best weapons from, and a lot of story content. Disc 2 has a ton to do on it.

[Anonymous No.6440875]

It's the type of game where if you're using autistic methods to gain advantages, you'll have a lot of fun, like crafting overpowered gear on the first continent. It's also pretty fun if you throw the game on the hardest difficulty right from the get-go and try to beat all of the content. Almost every boss will be pretty challenging, and the endgame stuff in the secret dungeon is downright bullshit, but you'll refuse to walk away without victory.

[Anonymous No.6441247]

>jannies allowing frog- and wojak-posters

[Anonymous No.6441346]

Still love this game. Really pissed that there are stupid missables in private actions tho

[Anonymous No.6442020]

>>6440791
>a major character death
That's just claude's dad (who hasn't really done anything since the very start of the game) gets blowed up by a generic superweapon?

>a lot of story content
What story content? And compare it to the denseness of Disc 1 in terms of story.

[Anonymous No.6442059]

Good thread OP. One of my favourite RPG's on the Playstation. Seeing this just gave me the motivation to do a playthrough of Second Evolution that I've never played. Anything that changed drastically from this version compared to the original?

[Anonymous No.6442063]

>>6442059
No cool 3D models during item creation and no cheesy voice acting.

[Anonymous No.6442081]

>>6442063
No pear into peaches?

[Anonymous No.6442086]

>>6442081
https://youtu.be/LDdfOY9AoFM?t=775

[Anonymous No.6442570]

>>6441346
I had start over a few times after learning I completely missed the chance to get a party member

[Anonymous No.6442575]

>>6442020
Roxinis or however they spell it in English was a main character in the first game, his death is significant. Even if you haven't played SO1, Claude's whole unique side to playing him as the main character is witnessing the flashbacks and interactions with Roxinis that influence how he reacts to his situation, and his death gives context into how Earth's technology stacks against the Ten Wise Men. They use this sort of contrast against the Wise Men constantly to clearly define how much higher the stakes are from Expel.

>What story content? And compare it to the denseness of Disc 1 in terms of story
Disc 1 only feels denser because its almost entirely linear, aside from changes in where you go when based on character acquisition. It feels like you don't remember the game at all, which puts all the weight of the conversation on my side.

[Anonymous No.6442586]

>>6442575
Ronyx' character appears so little in SO2 his connection with his SO1 self is completely pointless. They don't even do anything with the parallel between Claude and his journeys. He literally might as well be just some general federation commander. When his primary role in the game is to be cannon fodder for "wow the final boss has a super weapon/powers", that's pretty fucking weak. Moreso that he just gets magicked back into existence at the end...without even really showing it.

And I'll keep repeating this until the end of time: SO2's writing is so sloppy, it forgot to resolve the major plot point of Disc 1 until a wiki entry in SO3.

[Anonymous No.6442620]

>>6442586
If you don't think the multiple references to the first game were enough, and you drew no parallels between Claude and Ronixis across Claude's playthrough, I don't know what to tell you. What major plot point are you referring to? The fact that you point to any writing from 3 as a resolution or positive has me skeptical that its unresolved.

[Anonymous No.6442646]

>>6442620
>drew no parallels between Claude and Ronixis across Claude's playthrough
How did the story take advantage of the parallels in between Claude and Ronixis?

>What major plot point are you referring to?
The Sorcery Globe pumping out monsters. That's the whole major crisis in disc 1, and it's not resolved at the end of SO2, but only in SO3 by an encyclopedia entry saying "btw Precis fixed it later after the plot"

[Anonymous No.6442672]

>>6442646
The opening cutscene discusses the first game, the starting sequence for Claude does briefly as do multiple flashbacks to the ship, multiple PAs talk about Ronixis describing the events of the first game to Claude and what it means to Claude to have to live up to his legacy.

So the reason you feel the writing in SO2 is so sloppy is because you feel an explanation is warranted for the party dealing with the Sorcery Globe after defeating the planet destroying manufactured entities that created it in the first place? Why would you need an explanation for that? Use common sense.

[Anonymous No.6442698]

>>6442672
>The opening cutscene discusses the first game, the starting sequence for Claude does briefly as do multiple flashbacks to the ship, multiple PAs talk about Ronixis describing the events of the first game to Claude and what it means to Claude to have to live up to his legacy.
The establishes the parallels. Does it do anything with the parallels? Other than the initial 30 minutes, does Claude ever act in a way that shows that he's oppressed by the shadow of his father in the main story? (side note: no, because the optional nature of the PA systems actively hampers in-story character development, which is a broader problem with the Star Ocean series)

>So the reason you feel the writing in SO2 is so sloppy is because you feel an explanation is warranted for the party dealing with the Sorcery Globe after defeating the planet destroying manufactured entities that created it in the first place? Why would you need an explanation for that?
Because even after destroying the entities the Sorcery Globe is STILL on the planet fucking things up. When you spend the whole first HALF of the game trying to solve a problem, just because there's a bigger problem to be solved in the second half doesn't mean the first problem goes away.

[Anonymous No.6442709]

>>6439268
i wish we got Precis' nippon voiceclips. No lolicon, brah.
https://youtu.be/dr7-nZhkYzo

[Anonymous No.6442718]

>>6439312
>inferior plot and characters compared to the Tales games
Tales plot was boring. and Tale battle system was a lie, it was really equipment > skills or any tactical choices.

[Anonymous No.6442723]

>>6442698
>Story only counts when I say it counts
>I can't possibly understand how they could've destroyed the Sorcery Globe without it being spoonfed to me in an end game paragraph

Were you pissed that Super Mario Bros didn't end with a cutscene of him backtracking and killing every enemy he passed over on the way? I mean Bowser's dead, but there's still koopas in the Mushroom Kingdom!

[Anonymous No.6443000]

>>6439268
This was one of my first rpg's I played on PS1, the combat is good and I liked the sci fi theme. Motoi Sakuraba ost is also really good.I didn't get into the crafting and skills stuff until way later into the game but I was really impressed with how many things there were to do in this game.

How different are the 80+ endings? I assume it has to do with who you recruited and what private events you did throughout. I can't even remember what ending I got.

[Anonymous No.6443249]

>>6443000
>How different are the 80+ endings?

Not even remotely. It's basically all just variants of Character X's ending with Character Y slotted into the same spot.

[Anonymous No.6444838]

>>6439312
Star Ocean 2 was superior in its era.
The main issue is that they stuck their thumbs up their ass while Tales continued to produce content, so Tales looks a lot better as a series.

[Anonymous No.6444972]

I honestly don't remember why I even picked this game up as a kid to begin with
I got into JRPGS because of FFVII. I skipped FFVIII because I didn't like the demo in Brave Fencer Musashi. I wanted to get Lunar but the store we went to at the time was selling it for a retarded price so I got Star Ocean instead. Still don't know why I picked it, but man I had tons of fun.

[Anonymous No.6445003]

>>6444972
Ashton's dragons, the real time and over 80 endings part hook me in but I stayed for the cheesy battle dub, skill system, and wanting to see how more powerful my killer moves could get.

[Anonymous No.6446469]

>>6442723
It's more the equivalent of you defeating Necro by Kuja and Garland but still alive and around fucking shit up, and the ending makes no reference to this whatsoever.

Disc 1 escalated to a fucking war against the monsters, and Disc 2 completely forgot about it.

[Anonymous No.6446474]

>>6439268
I LOVE STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY

MY FAVORITE PS1 JRPG

*dabs into pieces*

[Anonymous No.6446519]

>>6440332
>anime poster asking anyone else to leave

[Anonymous No.6446521]

>>6441247
Complaining about 4chans moderation policies is a bannable offense Discord astroturfer

[Anonymous No.6446536]

>>6442698
>Because even after destroying the entities the Sorcery Globe is STILL on the planet fucking things up. When you spend the whole first HALF of the game trying to solve a problem, just because there's a bigger problem to be solved in the second half doesn't mean the first problem goes away.

Hmmm, the bonus dungeon should have been a fight to the heart of the sorcery globe where you slowly learn if its nature and fight progressively harder enemies to shut it down.

[Anonymous No.6447224]

>>6446469
Even adjusting that first sentence to be legible, it's moronic. Its an immovable rock that takes no time to deal with by that point in the story, you can't compare it to a sentient villain. No one forgot about it in disc 2, the planet Expel was fucking blown up until the very end and the globe wasn't an issue. It still isn't an issue at the end of the game, you're literally capable of piercing a planetary core at that point, the glowing boulder that shits out low strength creatures on Expel is of virtually no concern. The writers and programmers didn't need to spend time and money on this because 99.9% of their playerbase isn't retarded enough to get confused by this, and we're talking about JRPG fans here so Jesus Christ man, I don't even know what to tell you.

[Anonymous No.6447231]

>>6446521
Suck dick harder.

[Anonymous No.6447608]

I started playing Blue Sphere last night
I like it better than Second Story
3>BS>2>5>1>>>>>>>>>4

[Anonymous No.6448323]

>>6446536
The Sorcery Globe is very tiny, you couldn't fit a dungeon into it. What you see in the intro is the Globe surrounded by energy and such, you see the full sphere at the end of disc 1 behind Indalecio and the other Wise Men. You could maybe fit a McDonalds in it. Plus you already know the nature of the Sorcery Globe in full if you just play the game and read the text.

[Anonymous No.6448783]

>>6447224
>No one forgot about it in disc 2, the planet Expel was fucking blown up until the very end and the globe wasn't an issue.
So why wasn't it mentioned it the ending at all then?

>The writers and programmers didn't need to spend time and money on this because 99.9% of their playerbase isn't retarded enough to get confused by this, and we're talking about JRPG fans here so Jesus Christ man, I don't even know what to tell you.
There's no confusion. They dropped a plot point and didn't return to it, that's all there is. The fact that you can't understand why it's bad that the game forgot to resolve the major plot point of the entire first disc, then it makes sense why you think disc 2 has good story.

>Its an immovable rock that takes no time to deal with by that point in the story
It took them 4-5 years to develop the technology to clean it up after the end of the game.

[Anonymous No.6448819]

>>6448783
You're too mentally damaged for JRPGs somehow, I'm sorry.

[Anonymous No.6448884]

I love SO2 but I still think 3 is the best game in the series and it ain't even close. I feel bad for anyone who didn't get to play 3 without being spoiled.

[Anonymous No.6448947]

>>6448819
Sorry your favorite game has some flaws and isn't perfect.

[Anonymous No.6448961]

>>6448947
It has plenty of flaws, for example magic is basically useless in the base difficulty, the animations last way too long and a lot of the crafting is redundant.

You being too retarded to comprehend writing that your average 8 year old can understand isn't a flaw with the game, its just you being too retarded. You've been answered repeatedly and you just keep restating the same questions.

[Anonymous No.6448973]

>>6448961
>You being too retarded to comprehend writing that your average 8 year old can understand isn't a flaw with the game, its just you being too retarded. You've been answered repeatedly and you just keep restating the same questions.
You've just been resorting to insults when you have nothing to add.

I said the major plot point from disc 1 is not resolved in the game
You ask "what plot point?"
I point out specifically what it is
Your response is "it doesn't matter and you're retarded if you think it matters"

So tell me, which part of my claim was false:
>1. The sorcery globe fucking up Expel is the major plot point in disc 1
>2. The sorcery globe fucking up Expel is not resolved by the end of the game

And remember that SO3 confirms that the globe continued fucking up Expel for the next 5 years after the end of the game.

[Anonymous No.6449004]

>>6448973
The second point, as I've stated repeatedly and answered. Play the goddamn game. You clearly played through it once a decade ago and are going by 3's garbage writing to fill in the blanks. Using the game that everyone memes about because the writing is so garbage that they literally took the 'life is a simulation' route is idiotic. Its the RE4 of Star Ocean.

[Anonymous No.6449008]

>>6449004
So where in the ending was the Sorcery Globe resolved?

>The second point, as I've stated repeatedly and answered.
Your repeated answer has been "it wasn't and it doesn't matter, also you are retarded for daring to ask this".

[Anonymous No.6449048]

>>6449008
There's literally multiple endings which state the Globe was dealt with. Again, stop arguing over a game you either hardly remember or didn't play at all and go play it, or google it. Or were you looking for me to spoonfeed you to the point of typing out the dialogue for the endings? Even if it was completely absent from the endings, only people at a new low of stupid don't understand the cause and effect.

[Anonymous No.6449049]

>>6449048
Give me evidence of one.

[Anonymous No.6449062]

>>6449049
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=star+ocean+2+endings

[Anonymous No.6449067]

>>6449062
>can't even name one

[Anonymous No.6449072]

>>6449067
First link on that page makes you eat shit multiple times. Stop being a brainlet and bitching about story in a game you don't know the story of.

[Anonymous No.6449441]

>>6449072
>First link on that page
I'm not siding with Mr. Won'tbelievetheobvious here, but Google results are not the same for everybody, mate. Saying 'the first link' on a Google search means nothing to another.

[Anonymous No.6449574]

You know a plot point that seemed dropped? The prophecy tablet that you take to get translated by Bowmans’ colleague, you only find out what it says if you get one specific ending (if Bowman winds up alone) so 99% of players never had that resolved.

[Anonymous No.6450678]

>>6449441
That's fair. I've had to spoonfed him enough that if he bitches about not being able to figure out page 1 of a google search I wouldn't be surprised.

>>6449574
Yeah the Cross Cave writings were intended to be expanded upon in the plot, but it was one of the things they ran out of time on. Like you said it does have resolution in one of Bowman's endings (And Bowman is a champ, always worth having in the party), but even if it didn't it served its purpose in giving the party an early goal before they had a clear idea of how to deal with the Sorcery Globe, and is a logical path to pursue along the way.

[Anonymous No.6450720]

>>6442646
>The Sorcery Globe pumping out monsters. That's the whole major crisis in disc 1, and it's not resolved at the end of SO2
Even tho SO2 is my favourite PSX RPG, already back in the day I felt that abrupt change of goal was pure bullshit. Disc 1 is great and keeps you very engaged on Expel's story. It really needed some resolution.

[Anonymous No.6450795]

>>6450720
Broken English samefagging is the easiest samefagging to identify. You're a brainlet, we get it, you don't need to create multiple brainlet personalities to reinforce an opinion.

[Anonymous No.6451914]

PEAR INTO PEACHES

[Anonymous No.6451960]

I like all Star Oceans. I wonder if they ever got sued by Paramount for stealing half the Star Trek lingo.

[Anonymous No.6452893]

>>6451914
IM DELIGHTED

[Anonymous No.6452946]

Apparently there's an undub of Second Story (not SE, I have the undub for that) but to this day I've never been able to locate it, does it actually exist or is it just a myth?

I'm also pissed the undub for Valkyrie Profile PS1 was shitcanned, I wanna play these games in glorious RGB without the hammy VAs shitting them up.

[Anonymous No.6453730]

>>6452946
I've never heard of it myself. My copy is so worn out that on one of the discs the voices get switched frequently in battle, just randomly. Its good for a chuckle.