Star Ocean: The Second Story

Star Ocean: The Second Story is part of the Star Ocean series, which of Enix sold and tri-Ace developed. The PlayStation game was released on July 30, 1998 in Japan and on August 6, 1999 in the United States . It was published in Germany on April 12, 2000 .

Some elements of the Star Ocean series were taken from the science fiction series Star Trek . These include the warp drive , the federation concept and a form of the Supreme Directive that prohibits interference in less developed civilizations .

The game is about a strange, spherical meteorite that hits the peaceful planet "Expel" and turns people and animals into monsters . Since then the object has been called "the witch's ball". It is the player's task to find out the secret of the witch's ball with a selected main character and to save Expel.

Game content

Features

The second part of Star Ocean is similar to the first part in many ways. Proven features have been expanded, for example there are more skills and abilities and more results that can arise from these skills.

Among other things, the emotion system has been expanded to include some features. For example, if a character is killed during a fight, a fight the other participant who was particularly good friend of the fallen, in Rage fall and is stronger than usual for some time.

In this part there are the two different main characters Claude C. Kenni and Rena Lanford that the player can choose between. The game begins with the selected character. Depending on which main character was chosen, certain supporting characters can be added to the adventure team. Other supporting characters, however, are omitted. The total number of playable characters has been set at eight. If the maximum number of participants is reached, no more characters can be recruited .

A feature in Star Ocean that has been retained because of its popularity : The Second Story are the so-called "individual actions", in which the player breaks up his group in front of a city and has to search for the individual characters in the town. If he speaks to them, mini-events can be activated or, with correct answers and comments, relationships between the characters can be created and promoted or worsened. This influences the end of the game, which is characterized by so-called character endings - each character has its own private future, the design of which depends on the relationship efforts of the player. Since there are officially 87 different character endings, the possibilities for variation in the relationship structures are enormous.

Combat system

In Star Ocean: The Second Story , the player moves through different areas (so-called dungeons ), in which he can encounter monsters, whereupon fights break out. Normally, the characters ready for battle appear on the right and the monsters on the left. The player can determine beforehand in the control menu whether he wants to fight in real time mode or on a round basis. He can also determine which formation his figures should take at the start of the fight.

There are two basic forms of attack in this game: The armed attack, in which, for example, swords or brass knuckles are used. The weapon users can also learn various special attacks and use them in combat. The second form of attack is magic , a distinction being made here between heraldry and free magic. "Heraldry" is understood in Star Ocean as the tattooing of magical coats of arms on the skin of specially trained people who can then conjure up different spells. The various spells are divided into element-based attack spells , healing spells and state spells . When two characters cast a spell at the same time, they can either merge or cancel one another. This is also the case when opponent and friend cast magic at the same time.

When a combatant suffers by enemy attacks damage, he loses life (short HP , of Engl. Health points ). If the HP account balance drops to zero, the character is incapable of fighting, if the HP of all combatants drops to zero, the game is over. Exceptions are special battles that the player must lose in order to advance. Special attacks and spells consume turn magic points (short MP , from the English. Magic points ). If the MP account balance reaches zero, neither magic nor a special attack can be carried out.

Points and skills system

The point system of Star Ocean: The Second Story corresponds to most common role-playing games, so the player receives EXP (experience points), FP (skill points) and FOL (money) for each character . A special feature of the Star Ocean series are the skill points, which have to be allocated to the corresponding accounts so that the character can learn certain specialties , for example “ writing ”, “ individual ” and “ alchemy ”. The special skills then increase with the accumulated points. All characters have the same special skills, but each character starts with a limited number and each with different skills. In addition, certain skills and specialties depend on talents that can be learned . For example, characters without the “Blessing Mannas” talent cannot practice alchemy, while characters without the “Animal Love” talent cannot summon a pet.

The next level of skills that can be learned is the so-called super specialties, e.g. B. “Master chef” (various edible dishes are prepared), “Orchestra” ( music is played together ) and “Here, Bunny” (a big rabbit is called, which the player steers through open terrain instead of the main character, which leads to fights avoided). These specialties can only be carried out in the group menu and are activated when at least three characters are tied in terms of points in a skill. Super specialties cannot be used for individual campaigns.

Voice output

Another special feature of Star Ocean: The Second Story is the voice output during the fight and the closing sequence. The voices of the individual characters are spoken by different voice actors . There is an English and a Japanese language version. As a special feature, Star Ocean 2 offers a voice collection , in which the player can individually listen to the characters' voices that have been saved during the course of the game.

action

Star Ocean: The Second Story is supposed to start twenty years after the first part and is, so to speak, a sequel . The overall story is divided into several backgrounds.

Protagonists

The 17-year-old ensign Claude C. Kenny travels with his father, Federation Admiral Ronnixis R. Kenny , in the star cruiser "Calnus" through space , where the research team is exploring an uninhabited planet called "Milocinia". When a certain region cannot be captured with the scanners , Ronixis beams down with Claude and some scientists and discovers a gigantic dome protruding into the landscape. After the entrance is found, the inside of the building, which looks like there was a powerful explosion, is examined. All that remains is an unknown device that activates immediately when Claude touches it, contrary to his father's warnings. Claude is forcibly beamed away and wakes up a little later in a strange forest.

At the same time, 16-year-old Rena Lanford lives with her mother Westa in the small village of “Arlia” near a forest called “Shingo Forest”. The village is located on the planet "Expel", whose technology is to be set at the beginning of the 19th century . There are three major continents : “Cross”, “Lacour” and “El”, each ruled by kingdoms of the same name . A few months ago, a spherical object fell from the sky on the continent of El, which the residents of the capital "Eluria" initially mistook for a meteorite. But when monsters appear around the point of impact and people and animals also become monsters and the population discovers a connection with the strange "meteorite", panic spreads and all contact with the neighboring kingdoms is broken off. However, the monsters are becoming more numerous and powerful and are now threatening Lacour. During this time, Rena wants to explore the Shingo forest, despite warnings from her mother, where she is harassed by a monster. As she tries to escape, she falls, but is surprisingly rescued by a blonde teenager who uses a gun that Rena has never seen before.

Main antagonists

3.7 billion years ago, the inhabitants of the futuristic planet Nede ruled over 70% of the entire galaxy . Their rule was dictatorial and was led with an iron fist. When major rebellions broke out on 24 planets using the latest Nedian weapon technology, the Nedian government decided to create ten biological weapons in the form of young men with overly powerful heraldic powers to defeat the rebels. The project was called "The Ten Wise Men of God". The genius scientist Dr. Emanuel Lantis . But when there was an attack on the laboratory in which Dr. Lantis worked, his daughter Filia was murdered. When the Nedian government tried to cover up the incident, Dr. Lanti's revenge and manipulated the already completed sages. He changed their order from “Defend Nede” to “Destroy the universe” and then committed suicide. Shortly before, he adapted his last creation to his own appearance and endowed it with his negative memories and feelings. Then he locked the Ten Wise Men in a spherical machine in which time stands still. The government of Sweden concluded that there was no stopping the rebellions. As a result, an artificial planet was created, which was surrounded by an extremely strong energy field, and the home planet was destroyed. The time machine with the Ten Wise Men in it was abandoned in space and the entire incident was struck from the Nedian history books.

The player fights against these ten wise men of God . These are led by Indalecio , the genetic copy of Dr. Lantis. For the first time, the Ten Wise Men appear on the Tower of Eluria , where they destroy Expel with the help of the witch's ball and teleport the heroes to Nede. Finally, in Fienal , the Ten Wise Men must be defeated one after the other. If the player is successful, he can watch a closing sequence and the various character endings.

Remake

For the PlayStation Portable (PSP for short) a new edition was developed under the title Star Ocean: Second Evolution , which largely corresponds to the original version , but has been re-synchronized and given an additional, playable character ( Welch Wynard ). The dialogues were also set to music.

Adaptations

The game was adapted by Mayumi Azuma as a manga series of the same name , which was published from 1999 to 2001 in Enix 'manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan . The chapters have also been summarized in seven edited volumes. It tells the story of the game of the same name from the point of view of both main characters.

Studio Deen adapted it in 2001 as the anime series Star Ocean EX .

Star Ocean: Second Evolution was also adapted from a manga. This time by Moroe Yoshida from 2008 to 2009 in Dengeki Maō magazine , the chapters being summarized in three anthologies.

Remarks

↑ In SO 2 offshoots and in the game manual, the object is called untranslated "Sorcery Globe". In the game, however, the term was translated and the witch's ball is also called the "witchcraft stone" there.

literature

Elizabeth Hollinger, James Ratkos: Star Ocean: The Second Story: Prima's Official Strategy Guide: The Second Story - Strategy Guide . Prima Games 1999, ISBN 0-7615-2128-3
Mayumi Azuma: Star Ocean: The Second Story Second Treasure Art Book . Enix, Tokyo 1999. ISBN 978-4-7575-0497-4

Web links

[1] In SO 2 offshoots and in the game manual, the object is called untranslated "Sorcery Globe". In the game, however, the term was translated and the witch's ball is also called the "witchcraft stone" there.