Which Version of Star Ocean: Second Story Should You Play? - All Versions Reviewed & Compared 

ADDENDUM: Patch 1.10 for Star Ocean: Second Story R (3.27.24) added new content and features. Square's overview trailer of the update and patch notes w/ additional info: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eFwBI7iALhA.html Chaos Difficulty was added The Ten Wise Men are now post-game raid bosses Upon defeating them, you’ll earn new equipment, weapon customization material that's used with super weapons, and that boss as an Assault Action. -The boss fights' debuffs, equipment buffs, and assault action abilities are unique and some are pretty wild Minor characters have been given dialogue portraits. Alongside that, a Character Graphics Collection was added that lets you see every character's portrait and expressions When starting NG+, you’ll now be given an option to reset character levels, leveled arts, spells, and skills (excluding ones from items & events) The Ending Collection now lets you actually re-play the character endings The title screen (subtly) changes upon beating the game Added more Oracle hints "Adjusted Ally symbologist AI" alongside misc. bug fixes

Probably the best remake of an old classic jrpg I ever played. This is how it should be done.

It truly is mind blowing how well Gemdrops did this remake. They went ALL OUT, and it shows! Seriously SE, hold on to these people! Square, you have been killing with remakes/remasters in the last few years. Unlike certain other Japanese developers.

I hope someday they remake Chrono Trigger like this!

I was so looking forward to this video! I had no idea they changed so much under the hood for the PSP version, but honestly I still can't get over how above and beyond Gemdrops went with Second Story R.

This may be the most ideal way to make a remake of a 2D game to date. I hope they go back and do First Departure with these enhancements though I have a feeling they won't as it is a very short game, and return on investment is probably really low.

Just got Second Story R for the new OLED Steam Deck and it looks amazing. Perfect portable game.

Second Story R is amazing and any JRPG fan should pick it up. It really is a great remake. The PS1 version is still nearly perfect to me (might be nostalgia) but the remake is objectively better

this is seriously the benchmark for these old school rpg remakes to me now

I appreciate the video man. The remake of Star Ocean 2R when I first saw it was jaw dropping and now that it's been out I can't believe such a remake exists. Truly the best remake of a classic of RPG I have ever seen. I hope Square can allow Gem to redo part 1 like this but I doubt it. I hope Gem will do other classics like this in the future if Square Enix allows them to or let them handle any of the classic in their catalog since Gem put this much passion into this remake I'm sure the can do a much better job then Square Enix themselves especially those that has been released on Steam. We still waiting for FF pixel remaster to include the patches the console version received, Chrono Trigger still has issues as well as Chrono Cross etc etc.... Holy smokes this remake is such a gorgeous game I can't stop salivating.

Star Ocean: Second Story R is a fucking masterwork of a remake. Holy shit. I knew it was only a matter of time before Austin got around to it. No joke, oldheads were going through the game and found the team was clearly VERY aware of incredibly esoteric, minor things and either enhanced them or provided really thoughtful QoL improvements. This was clearly a labor of love.

I just got the Switch version for Christmas 😂 Merry Christmas everyone!

Such an impressive comparison. Great video. And Season Greetings/Happy Holidays, Austin!

You pretty much just convinced me to order the game, so thanks for that. Happy holidays btw

Star ocean 2 remake was the best version. It absolutely killed it. I played and streamed both playthroughts and specifically set out to platinum it. I'm usually not into caring for trophies.

I’m enjoying it on PS5 and the QOL improvements as nice. But I must say I kind of prefer the old PS1 pre rendered backgrounds.

Merry Christmas, thanks for the vid!

Monumental remake in R that we got compared to the First Departure R port; having played all 3 versions, the original game and PSP for me took >130 hours to finish everything in a single playthrough, while in R, it took me

Thanks for putting this together! Will be nice to have an all-in-one version differences video to point to. And yeah, absolutely blown away by the remake. I am in the group that thinks the conveniences went a little far for my taste (I likes how much you had to figure out on your own in the older versions) but that wasn’t nearly enough to sour my fun with SSR. It’s clear the team at Gemdrops really got what the game was about, top to bottom.

I'm playing through second story R as my first proper star ocean game and as a fan of tales of phantasia it's really feeling like that spiritual successor kinda vibe and while it's not the deepest story wise, it's such a fun time and all its systems work insanely well together.

Now that's a remake! I know some people dislike the new 3D backgrounds but honestly they did it the best possible way, short of making a remake that looks like SO6.

Amazing remake and amazing video to accompany it. This remake set a new bar that should be followed from now on.

Really hoping for a "Which Version of Vagrant Story Should You Play?" video! Well, I guess Square Enix has to actually DO a remaster/remake of Vagrant Story first..! 😅🙏

Thanks for this video! I loved the PSP version so much that after I finished my first playthrough, I bought the official guide off eBay and played it multiple times after that. This time, I'll wait until I get a gaming PC to buy it again.

Thanks for the detailed video. I didn’t know about the playable welch character on the psp version. As I only played ps1 and am waiting for a sale on this new one! Since I have so many games to play.

The character art looks so good. Looking forward to this one.

Which version of Dragon Quest series please!

Thank you for making this video! As someone who has played the original PS1 version and enjoyed the remake version. I was very curious as to what they changed and what remained the same. I am so happy that SO2 has returned to modern day consoles and PC!! Here is hoping more older JRPGs are treated the same way when being revived.

Thanks for the video! Made want to buy the game, now I just need to make room in my backlog 😅

Crazy, my cousin hates it lol. After watching this, I think he's just drunk off nostalgia. This is awesome!

Thanks a lot for making this well-documented video! You’ve gone above and beyond and detailed things that most other reviewers haven’t too! Nobody even talks about the old spell fusions anymore...ahh, good ole Acid Rain + Thunderstorm spell fusion for that early-game sweet 9999 damage~. As one who played the original PS1 JP release religiously back in the day, I found the remake to be absolutely mind-blowing! The Gemdrops team MUST have been hardcore fans of the original SO2 and decided to pour their entire heart into this remake because it really really shows! The latest update which added more extras was even more icing on an already perfectly baked cake! ❤ I really hope Star Ocean: The Second Story R can eventually sell millions till the end of time~!

the game QoL is really friendly for adult with limited time to play the game and also the game is really beautiful hope every jrpg company asked Gemdrop to remake their classic game (breath of fire, xenogears, chrono trigger etc) because Gemdrop really nail it

Geez man, I can’t imagine how long it takes to be this extensive on version differences. Thanks tho.

With Emulation, his videos are essential. The question is always: Are the changes made in the remake worth the money or would the original experience be fine? In this case, it appears that the new remake is the definitive version to play. That isn't always the case.

Hey but I know this is random but I found your channel again with the starbomb song and I just wanted to see what you where doing now and I’m happy what with I see

Awesome game, awesome remake. I kind of wish there was a classic toggle but kept the QoL changes for future playthrough ^^; Also kudos to covering the steam deck support.

I thought some of your final fantasy work was the best I've seen. You've outdone yourself Edit: spelling

Which version should you play? Second Story R, there's no debate there. It's such an AMAZING remake!

Jesus KHRIST I HAVE TO PICK UP SECOND STORY R!!! SOOOOOO MANY QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGES OMG!!!!! THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!

I just hope enough people notice this game and buy it to encourage them to do remakes to this quality. This is a really good remake and I have been loving it.

thanks for the video

Austin, do you have any plans to do a Which Version should you play for Lunar Silver Star Story?

I bought a switch for 2nd Story R. Man was it worth it. Put 60 hours in over the holiday... every bit as good as I remember and all the added stuff is quite tasteful. Item remaking is a grind (first play through) but leveling is really quick and not very painful. Playing through again as i had forgotten how easy it was to miss a few PAs. Oh well, gotta get those endings 😊

Rockstar and Konami please take note

The only thing I don't like from this otherwise perfect remake is it's using PSP translation, especially with how you can use JP voice now, you'll notice the original PSX naming for characters (except the censored Wise Men), skills, items, etc is more accurate.

Short answer: Play Second Story R.

I can only hope that Chrono Trigger gets a similar remake.

Remake > original > remaster

I'm a little bummed they got rid of spell fusion. It didn't do much and was hard to pull off, but it was a pretty cool idea and I wish they'd reworked it instead of scrapping it

99 ENDINGS?!

this is so good it makes me wish the first game was like this hell the 3rd as well

Best done remake to any game ever. They just added more, which is a way to do remakes in general.

Just when I thought the PSP version was pretty good, here comes Second Story R oh yeahhhhhhh!!

The Only thing I miss is the Tear into pieces was super bummed when it wasn't in the recent remake

so many changes, they went crazy still like some of the older design though, even random encounter, this is probably the best work around without removing it completely which is good but always remember the original is still a playable game

I would like to state that there is still a pre-requisite for writing books as you need to at least have level 1 in the skill to be able to make the book for it.

celine character portrait alone make it worth to play the R version

I'll buy it next year physically

Pls do a comparison of the Dragon Quest games

I only just tried the demo that was available. It looks interesting but I hate the bad writing so far at the start (Krosse castle to the cave is where I stopped). But man I was unaware at how much improvement was made by Gemdrop. That's astounding.

7:00 Me when I finish a game or show and I really loved it.

the Challenge Missions are the Records of Eminence from ff11

I recently tried to play the remake of Star Ocean 1 on Switch and I really couldn't be bothered to play more than a few hours of it. This game looks totally crazy, they really ramped up everything for this one. I wish the 2D Tales games could get something like this.

Just out of curiosity played the Switch version on my phone by emulation and it is amazing how beautiful it is.

Star Ocean 2nd Story R is definitely the best of all. Also, you can play on chaos mode now. However, it did make easy for us to play even on universe mode till now they provide more challenge Chaos Mode.

I still can't believe when I was a teenager, I bought an original mint condition copy of the PSX version at a pawn shop back in 2000-2001.

Ugh. I only recently got started on XBC3 (85+ hours) after waiting so long and I have too many games to play, but now I want to start on Second Story R (I never beat the original or PSP release).

The digital rereleases of the psp version are online in Japanese and are Japanese account only

This isnt a biggie for me, since I prefer the new character portraits in R, but why are you only able to view the older ones in the status screen?

christmas ocean!!!

I take it the PS4 and PS5 versions are identical? No performance differences other than the loading times being instantaneous on PS5?

Have the original, psp something and Switch version. Saying that though I do not like the way certain character's pixel art looks in the newer version, example Claude's hair seems very white.

6:57 oh dear...the PSP voices...ahaha

i loved the R the most i had fun with the ps1 back in the day i got the psp version never finished it got half way then when R came out i put 100 hour on my steam deck lol

Definitely the remake and PC version is the best, no contest.

Don't know if you take suggestions in the comments, but imma do it either way lol. Would love to a see a dragon quest series!

this remake is a dream come true!!! i cant believe this is actually real!! even more mindblowing than the FF VII remake!!

Is the switch version of 2nd R worth it? Seems like you get alot more out of the ps5 version.

Ah TOSE, the mercenary of game dev

is welch some meta character since she wasnt in the original?

Which platform is best for Second Story R? I’ve got PS5 or Xbox Series X with OLED TV, OG Steamdeck, and OG Switch.

Him: this game is heavy on mechanics 5 year old me: using claude go spam the skill where he jumps up and hit the enemy on their head

I wish they would have given Celine more private actions. That's one thing that pissed me off in the PS1 version. I watched the anime and I know she had still a bit of time with Claude in it, but the game even set up events that never happened that should have. Like when she gives you a necklace and then says you can return the favor later maybe. Although it seems like raising relationship points maybe easier than the 90's version.

I'd say they went behind anything I was expecting. I have replayed the original several times, the PSP one other several times, and yet I'm replaying 2R several times.

The psp version soundtrack sounds like they were made with the same software where sonic soundtrack was made on. Ps1 version sounds like a good orchestra songs

I wish they did this for the first game. That one seemed more of a port.

I never played this game but remake looks like real work is put into it. I wish Final Fantasy 6 was given this much love.

my god. if I didn't watch this video I didn't know that animation cutscene is no more in Remake.

xenogear next pls ! i cope

i don’t like the battle effects of the remake, it’s so hard to see what the hell is going on in the late game when the entire screen is covered sometimes. but that’s my only nitpick otherwise it’s perfect.

Would Trace Memory/Another Code be interesting enough for this channel?

After playing R I don't think I could ever go back to the previous versions.

Does this remake really caters for SSD usage? Did saw the SSD caption in mid, as if this game requires heavy load processing.

Where the PS4 SE remaster version?

I didn't even know you could get this on Vita?

Damn, no anime cutscenes in the remake is a bummer

😍😍😍😍 the only one I didn’t play is psp

Wow no cutscenes ? No can do im playing the Ps1 or PsP version

never been a fan of the 3 time strike system they changed since the PSP.

Not sure why most unity engine games got pretty rough load times on switch which is better on others Especially eiyuden hundred heroes which the switch version is not very good in performance And also the fps limiter in game is broken from my experience with unity games its just follower your monitor rate and need a limiter for it But star ocean 2 R is still pretty good despise they change quite alot from the ps1 version