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[gunstarhero]

Played about 3 hours of demo sometime last year and loved the Phantasy Star (namely 2) vibes i was getting from the setting. Combat seemed intriguing enough, and I got the feeling there's more systems at play here. Anyway - finally got around to picking it up today.

Anything to know before jumping in? No spoilers obviously, but any advice? Things to look out for or avoid?

Thanks in advance!

 

[kremiso]

how a remake should be made imo, completed one time with Claude and liked a lot

maybe easier than the original, really nothing to avoid to me;
perhaps some dungeons could be tough, but there is a general working way to approach them that you also will learn after a while, and after that everything will go great

you can proceed just with Rena or take friends with you, well one choice is better for sure

 

[jshackles]

One thing to know: there are two different "routes", depending on your choice of main character. Not all the playable party members can be recruited by one character or the other - some are exclusive to the main character you choose.

Also note that the game can be easily broken / cheesed. If you find something that seems too powerful or too good to be true, that's just part of the experience. If you want to intentionally break the game, there are tons of guides online.

Otherwise, have fun. Game is incredible.

 

[bender]

One thing to know: there are two different "routes", depending on your choice of main character. Not all the playable party members can be recruited by one character or the other - some are exclusive to the main character you choose.

Also note that the game can be easily broken / cheesed. If you find something that seems too powerful or too good to be true, that's just part of the experience. If you want to intentionally break the game, there are tons of guides online.

Otherwise, have fun. Game is incredible.

 

[gunstarhero]

One thing to know: there are two different "routes", depending on your choice of main character. Not all the playable party members can be recruited by one character or the other - some are exclusive to the main character you choose.

Also note that the game can be easily broken / cheesed. If you find something that seems too powerful or too good to be true, that's just part of the experience. If you want to intentionally break the game, there are tons of guides online.

Otherwise, have fun. Game is incredible.

In your opinion, which is the better character/route to select?

 

[jshackles]

In your opinion, which is the better character/route to select?

I liked Clyde's route better personally, as Rena's story (to me) felt like a side-story to Clyde's. Sometimes, literally waiting around for Clyde to finish his business and get on with the story.

But that could just be because I played his first!

 

[bender]

I liked Clyde's route better personally, as Rena's story (to me) felt like a side-story to Clyde's. Sometimes, literally waiting around for Clyde to finish his business and get on with the story.

But that could just be because I played his first!

Who can recruit the best robot party member?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Mages suck and are a waste of space in your active party. They are good to keep in reserve to call in a spell though.

The god tier characters are Opera, Ernest, Precis, and Welch. Dias and Claude are pretty decent too.

There are a million ways to break the game and become super OP. That's part of the fun.

You have some choices of who to recruit. Recruiting some characters locks you out of others. You might want to check out a recruitment guide to make sure you get the ones you want.

 

[Brigandier]

It's a great game and is exactly how you do a remaster/remake.

Now do Xenogears!!!

 

[Shifty1897]

I just recently beat the remake, it's just as good as the original. It's a slow start just like the original game, but it really picks up speed after the first few hours. The quality of life enhancements here are wonderful, item creation is a lot of fun, always max out determination first then do whatever else. Customization is a great ability for Claude to get super powered swords early. Check your fast travel map after every story beat and it will tell you if there's a new quest or event in each town. If you get Opera, machinery is a good skill for her to max out. Recruiting some characters locks you out of others, and you can only recruit the first 8 characters you find. PS5 version is great, Switch version is 30 fps and is mostly fine except for a slight load time after every battle. Still holds up as one of the best JRPGs ever made. Enjoy!

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Great game, enjoy!

Hope Xenogears gets the same treatment as I've never played it and it's hard to play in Europe.

 

[Labadal]

Grab the Steal ability ASAP.

 

[drganon]

Game is great except for one boss near the end that is kind of bullshit.

 

[Toots]

It was on sale for 30 bucks (i think) on PSN store last weekend, i was on the fence and finally chose dragon's dogma dark arisen (the 4$ pricetag helped me make up my mind).
Well i'll get it next time.
Hope you'll have a blast OP.

 

[mèx]

I have also picked it up recently, haven't started it yet though.

We need more "short" JRPGs. 30-40 hours is a good length to tell a good story while having a combat system that doesn't get boring.

 

[Spukc]

this thread made me read about this game..
i played the OG snes fan translation years ago on my sd2snes
it's also on sale now on the switch for 30.

is it better then the first one? and Tales of Phantasia (also fan translated on snes)

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

this thread made me read about this game..
i played the OG snes fan translation years ago on my sd2snes
it's also on sale now on the switch for 30.

is it better then the first one? and Tales of Phantasia (also fan translated on snes)

It's much better than the first one and Tales of Phantasia IMO.

The SO1 remake (First Departure R) is also pretty good.

 

[cireza]

People who made this game have perfectly understood the goal of a video-game : having fun.

Most enjoyable JRPG I played in a long time. Godlike soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba.

 

[Shifty1897]

this thread made me read about this game..
i played the OG snes fan translation years ago on my sd2snes
it's also on sale now on the switch for 30.

is it better then the first one? and Tales of Phantasia (also fan translated on snes)

The fan translated SNES game was the first Star Ocean. This is a remake of the second game, which came out on PS1 and did come out in the US (and Europe?) in 1998.

The Second Story is widely considered the best in the series, and I do think it's better than Tales of Phantasia. See my post above, the first three hours are a little slow, give it a chance to get going and be sure to explore the item crafting and skill system. Most of the fun with this game is discovering ways to completely break it.

 

[Spukc]

The fan translated SNES game was the first Star Ocean. This is a remake of the second game, which came out on PS1 and did come out in the US (and Europe?) in 1998.

The Second Story is widely considered the best in the series, and I do think it's better than Tales of Phantasia. See my post above, the first three hours are a little slow, give it a chance to get going and be sure to explore the item crafting and skill system. Most of the fun with this game is discovering ways to completely break it.

Aye i know i was more like asking if the second one is better. I like breaking games so i currently downloading the demo on my switch and ps5.

not sure on what console to get it, as i honestly prefer portability

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

People who made this game have perfectly understood the goal of a video-game : having fun.

Most enjoyable JRPG I played in a long time. Godlike soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba.

It's almost the perfect remake. It feels like they understood exactly what made the original so good and made sure to carry that forward.

If I had to nitpick, the few things I didn't like:
- some of the dungeons lost all of their character. Especially the Hoffman Ruins, it was so weird and mysterious in the original but they turned it into some ugly puzzle dungeon

- imbalanced characters, there's still a really clear tier list where some are straight up better than others. Mages are improved but still suck. Noel is still garbage. Although I am glad to see Ernest go to from worst to best lol, finally some justice

- I miss how your moves gradually got more powerful the more you used them in the original

 

[StereoVsn]

It's a great remake and (IMO) makes a good game even better. Just dive in OP, and have fun.

SO2 R is probably my favorite remake so far, on par with DQ3 or maybe even better.