How Star Ocean II: The Retelling R updates a beloved PlayStation quest. After 25 years

Hi there, everyone. My name is Kei Komaki, and I am the producer. In collaboration with Yuichiro Kitao, the development producer and director, we want to provide both fans and newbies with an in-depth look at Star Ocean The Second Story R’s development process!

November 2 is the release date for this brand-new remake of the beloved PlayStation-era role-playing game, which builds on the original story with updated gameplay, a reworked soundtrack with fresh music, and a striking new 2.5D graphic style.

I thought I’d take you behind the scenes and explain how we addressed the task of rebuilding such a famous game, because the entire team has poured their heart and energy into this epic journey, in honour of the game’s premiere.

Remastering gets underway

You might first ask why Star Ocean: The Second Story is being remade at all. The straightforward explanation is that the supporters kept asking for it.

Fans persisted in requesting the return of Star Ocean The Second Story even while we worked on new installments of the series, such 2022’s Star Ocean The Divine Force.

Since the game’s original release was 25 years ago this year, we naturally began to consider ways to commemorate the event.

I had the good fortune to meet Yuichiro Kitao of Gemdrops, Inc. at that time, who would later contribute to the development. We talked about the proposal, and he was immediately in favour of a remake.

Well, that’s not quite accurate. Our first goal was to remaster the game and release it like Star Ocean First Departure R.

But when we viewed a concept drawing made by the Gemdrops, Inc. team, our ideas were completely altered.

This piece of art demonstrated the combination of 2D and 3D art that we would eventually choose. Crucially, although being redesigned and updated, the images managed to maintain the mood that the original pixel art had created.

However, it could still portray the world in a way that would be authentic to the vivid picture of adventure that every player had when they played the original game!

Making 2.5D Gemdrops, or Kitao: These new images are the result of a great deal of work on our part.

Our goal was to strike a balance between the kinds of graphics that are trendy now and something that would bring back memories for fans of the original PlayStation version.

But that wasn’t our only objective; we also considered what it would have been like to really be one of the pixel art characters and how the realistic 3D environment would have seemed from their point of view. Then, in these 3D worlds, we attempted to make that come to life.

A Star Ocean for beginners and enthusiasts

When we really began production, we had two main goals in mind: we wanted to make Star Ocean The Second Story R a contemporary role-playing game that would appeal to new players,

while simultaneously going back and preserving all the elements that made the original game so adored.

In order to honour the memories of the players who have supported the game from its original PlayStation release to the present, we have included a tonne of dialogue and gameplay features that will enable you to get to know these incredible characters better than before.

However, it was also crucial to make sure that players who hadn’t seen the original game could still appreciate it as a novel and contemporary experience.

For instance, we redesigned the battle system to make the initial fighting seem flashier and more thrilling.

We also included characteristics that modern consumers would anticipate, such fast travel and other amenities that improve quality of life.

I think we were successful in making a game that would delight both seasoned players and those who are exploring Star Ocean for the first time by keeping these ideas in mind when we were developing it!

Adding glitz to battle

We intended to make the battles in the original game more engaging for both returning players and newcomers, rather than entirely reimagining the combat system for Star Ocean The Second Story R.

We increased the combat’s general pace as our initial action. That involved more than simply speeding things up; we also made pace adjustments.

Kitao: We also unveiled new mechanisms, such as Assault Action and Break. While the Assault Action feature enables you to command a character who is not in your current party to launch an attack and join a combination, the shatter function allows you to stack assaults to shatter opponent shields and stun them.

With the addition of these elements, the player may engage in more strategic engagements and feels more like they are battling with a large number of comrades.

Even characters from previous Star Ocean games—some of which are first-time pixel artists—can be added.

We decided to include these characters as a gift for fans of previous Star Ocean games, as we know that many of the gamers will have played those titles. You may anticipate amazing things from their manoeuvres in combat!

 

Final reflections

Every member of the crew was curious to hear what people thought of the art style when we originally announced Star Ocean The Second Story R, and we were more curious to hear what they thought when they played the demo.

I’m extremely appreciative and happy that so many people have shown their excitement for our game via their wonderful responses.

On November 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story R will be accessible on PS5 and PS4. We sincerely hope that if you play it,

it will be the type of game that sticks in your memory and that you tell others about this Star Ocean experience that our fans helped us develop.