Hiya everybody – my title is Kei Komaki, I’m the producer and along with Yuichiro Kitao, Growth Producer and Director we wish to give followers and newcomers a deep dive into the event strategy of Star Ocean The Second Story R!

This brand-new remake of the basic PlayStation-era RPG launches for PS5 and PS4 on November 2, and expands the unique journey with revamped mechanics, a rearranged soundtrack with new music, and a daring new 2.5D artwork fashion.

The entire staff has put their coronary heart and soul into this epic journey, in order the sport launches, I believed I’d take you behind the scenes and clarify how we approached the problem of remaking such a beloved recreation.

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The remaster takes off

The very first thing you might be questioning is: why remake Star Ocean The Second Story in any respect? The straightforward reply is that the followers regularly requested it. At the same time as we continued to develop new instalments within the collection, comparable to 2022’s Star Ocean The Divine Drive, followers stored asking for the return of Star Ocean The Second Story.

This 12 months is the twenty fifth anniversary of the sport’s unique launch, so naturally we began occupied with what we might do to mark the event. On the time, I used to be fortunate sufficient to fulfill Yuichiro Kitao from Gemdrops, Inc., who would go on to work on the event. We mentioned the mission, and he rapidly received on board with the thought of a remake.

Truly, that’s not strictly true. Initially, we deliberate to carry again the sport as a remaster, just like Star Ocean First Departure R. Nonetheless, our plans modified drastically after we noticed a chunk of idea artwork created by the staff at Gemdrops, Inc.

This paintings featured the artwork fashion we’d in the end go along with – a fusion of 2D and 3D. The graphics had been new and recent, however crucially nonetheless preserved the ambiance created by the unique pixel artwork. On the identical time, it might nonetheless current the world in a manner that may be trustworthy to what every participant imagined of their minds after they performed the unique model – a real world of journey!

Creating 2.5D

Kitao (Gemdrops): We put plenty of effort into creating these new visuals. We aimed for a midpoint between one thing that may encourage recollections in followers who performed the unique PlayStation model, and the sort of visuals common immediately.

That wasn’t the one aim we had although – we considered what it might be wish to be one of many pixel artwork characters ourselves, and what the world would have regarded like from that perspective as a sensible 3D world. We then tried to carry that to life in these 3D environments.

A Star Ocean for followers and first-timers

As we began growth correct, we had two key factors in thoughts: we needed to revisit and protect every part that made the unique recreation so beloved, but additionally create Star Ocean The Second Story R as a contemporary RPG that new gamers would take pleasure in.

A giant a part of making a remake is to respect the recollections of these followers who supported the sport from its launch on the unique PlayStation to now – and to that finish, we added a lot of conversations and gameplay methods that mean you can get to know these superb characters on a deeper stage than ever earlier than.

But it surely was additionally vital to make sure that avid gamers who haven’t performed the unique might benefit from the recreation as a recent and modern-feeling expertise. For instance, we recreated the battle system, remodeling the unique fight right into a flashier, extra exhilarating expertise. We additionally added options that folks immediately anticipate, comparable to Quick Journey and different high quality of life options.

By preserving these ideas in thoughts throughout growth, I imagine we efficiently created a recreation that’s equally fulfilling to followers and people coming to Star Ocean for the very first time!

Making fight sparkle

We didn’t wish to fully reinvent the fight system for Star Ocean The Second Story R – we needed to evolve the unique recreation’s battles into one thing that was equally fulfilling for present followers and new gamers.

The very first thing we did was to extend the general velocity of fight. That didn’t simply imply making it sooner – we adjusted it to have higher pacing as properly.

Kitao: We additionally launched new methods like Break and Assault Motion. The Break function permits you to layer assaults collectively to interrupt enemy shields and stun them, whereas Assault Motion lets you immediate a personality not in your energetic get together to launch an assault and be a part of a combo.

The addition of those mechanics permits the participant to take pleasure in extra strategic battles, whereas additionally giving them a higher sense that they’re preventing alongside a large solid of allies.

You’ll be able to even usher in characters from different Star Ocean video games, a few of which have been created in pixel type for the primary time. We all know that plenty of gamers may have skilled different Star Ocean video games, so we needed to have these characters seem as a deal with for these followers. You’ll be able to anticipate nice issues from their strikes in battle!

The mechanics in Star Ocean The Second Story R had been applied to encourage gamers to persistently take into consideration how greatest to combat with the intention to flip a battle to their benefit. We give gamers plenty of choices.

Last ideas

Once we first introduced Star Ocean The Second Story R, everybody on the staff was to see what individuals would say after they noticed the artwork fashion, and we had been notably to see suggestions after they performed the demo. So, I’m very proud and grateful that so many individuals have responded positively and stated they’re trying ahead to this recreation.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is offered on PS5 and PS4 on November 2. If you happen to play it, we hope it’s the sort of recreation that may keep in your recollections – and that you just unfold the phrase and let different individuals learn about this Star Ocean journey that our followers have helped us create!