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Star Ocean: The Second Story (スターオーシャン セカンドストーリー, Sutā Ōshan
Sekando Sutōrī?) is the second game in the Star Ocean video game series. It takes place twenty years after the original game, Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey, which has never been commercially released in English. The game gives the player the choice of playing as Rena or Claude, with the journey evolving and ending differently depending
on the choice one makes.
Released in the United States translated to English, it gained a cult following. The English version of the game also changed the names of the main antagonists, who in the original were named after angels,
with names such as Gabriel (changed to Indalecio), Metatron (changed to Berle), and Lucifer (changed to Cyril). A PlayStation Portable remake was recently announced prior to the 2007 Square Enix Party event.
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Gameplay
Following from Star Ocean, Star Ocean: The Second Story contains an item creation system. The characters can
buy skills in towns, use SP (Skill Points) gained via levels, and improve their skills. A combination of skills will reveal
an ability; for example, combining the skills Whistling and Love of Animals yields the ability Familiar. The only way to gain
the strongest weapons in the game is through item creation. Additionally, almost every skill results in a stat boost; Biology
raises your HP, while Mental Science boosts MP. The distribution of SP makes for a deep character customization system.
Inactive characters do not level up; to keep unused characters strong, players must endure several hours of
level-grinding.
Plot
Setting
The universe of Star Ocean holds many similarities to that of Star Trek. Most aliens look like humans, although more so in Ocean than in Trek. The Earth Federation is the central human
government and works very similarly, albeit likely more controlling than the United Federation of Planets.
Roughly the first half of the plot of Star Ocean 2 takes place on the planet Expel, an underdeveloped planet
on the verge of its industrial age. On Expel kings still rule over great kingdoms, swords and sorcery dominate the battlefield,
and sailing ships are still made from wood. According to a Federation law, named the UP3 (Underdeveloped Planet Preservation
Pact) in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, a planet with such a level of civilization may not be directly contacted under any but the most dire circumstances
-- and even then, contact must be minimal and secretive. This law is reminiscent of Star Trek's Prime Directive.
Story
Star Ocean: The Second Story tells the stories of Claude C. Kenni, son of Ronixis J. Kenni, and Rena Lanford, a young girl living on the Planet Expel. Claude, having recently been commissioned as an Ensign in the Earth Federation, is given his first mission
under the supervision of his father. This first mission is to survey the planet Milocinia, where a mysterious energy field
appears. Once they arrive, they find an alien ruin, filled with mostly broken machinery. Finding a mysterious device in the
center of it, Claude begins to examine it close-up, despite orders to keep away from it. Upon getting close to it, the machine
activates, teleporting him to Expel.
At approximately the same time, Rena is resting in a forest just outside her village, Arlia. While there,
she is assaulted by a monster. Suddenly, Claude teleports into the area, and, seeing Rena being attacked, rushes in to save
her, wielding an advanced energy weapon (the Phase Gun that his father gave to him). Upon seeing how she is rescued, Rena
decides that Claude is the Hero of Light, spoken of in legends on Expel: he has arrived to an Expel in great danger, he wields
a "Sword of Light" and is dressed in "alien raiments." She takes him back to her village, Arlia, for corroboration.
Soon afterwards, the town elder explains to Claude what exactly is going on: Three months ago, a meteorite
crashed into Expel. Almost immediately afterwards, monsters began appearing, and natural disasters occurred with increasing
frequency and intensity. Believing that these events were related, the people of Expel called the meteorite the "Sorcery Globe".
Hoping that the Sorcery Globe may be the key to finding his way home, Claude agrees to investigate it. Rena, still believing
that Claude is the Hero of Light, joins up with Claude in the investigation.
Their journey takes them across all three continents of Expel, and eventually they meet the ten wise men and
are somehow transported to Energy Nede.
One of the things about the game that was hyped were its multiple endings. The exact number is often said
to be 87, though it's really 86 with two having minor differences. There is one ending for each character alone and one for
each possible pair of characters. If two characters could be recruited together, they can have an ending together. For example,
an ending involving Bowman and Precis does not exist as you cannot have both recruited. There are also secret endings involving
characters outside of the party. This adds a certain element of replay value to the game; to see all the character endings,
it would be necessary to play through the game nine times or more and would require a vast amount of time and effort since
the game is quite long not to mention taking the time to get the characters paired up correctly.
Legacy
There is a pair of extra boss characters found in the Cave of Trials who are called Gabrie Celesta and Iselia
Queen. Gabrie and Iselia appear in most tri-Ace games and both are angels ("Celestials" in Star Ocean 3) in physical form
unlike the wise men, except Lucifer (Cyril) and Gabriel (Indalecio) with limiter on.
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