Star Ocean: Second Evolution - Sony PSP

Orighially had this with a PSP 2000 which I sold. I recently purchased a new Japan import PSP 3000 and this game. The game brings back memories as I never got to complete the game when I had it originally. I love the SO games as they are chock full of things to do. The graphics are not super flashy eye candy like modern games but it works, the story is also good, It's an excellent choice for any fan of the SO series.

I am a major Star Ocean Fan so ive been getting every star ocean game possible and when I saw the price on this game I just had to buy it. Once it got here it was in perfect condition no scratches or anything and great seller packaging to keep it safe. Shipped fast and no problems at all with it A+++++ defiantly advise buying from this seller

I ordered when it was 14.87 also the product qualified for free shipping but didn't go over 25 so shipping was $4.??Anyways, great game. So many outcomes and skills and omg so much to do it's crazy, I remember the game on the ps1 part of two-disc set and just never finished the game but now it's remade and JUST SO AWESOME. It was also new, not used. I'm not even to the new characters yet :O! Best of the star ocean franchise made better to be the best ultra best awesome <3

so far this game is great! i was always a fan of square enix in the way they tell a storry and animation. however i never was a huge fan of turnbase rpg combat.this kinda reminds me of dragon age origins for the console. not sure if you get a harder level after the game is completed once but s far it has been maybe a bit too easy.

I played Star Ocean: The Second Story for the PS1 way back when I was ten or so. It was my first RPG experience and will always have a special place in my heart no matter how fancy-schmancy current games are (and I love eye-candy as much as anyone). So when I heard about a port for the PSP I couldn't resist. It also gave me a chance to reevaluate this game through the eyes of a more experienced me as opposed to the nostalgic memories as a 10 year old.Storywise, the plot isn't incredibly compelling. The connections and reasons between going from place to place are pretty contrived. The real reason I chug through the story is the characters. I have met just about every character and they all have something unique and interesting to learn about(except maybe Noel, but more on that later).Heck, one's an unlucky dragon-slayer with a pair of dragons possessing him. Another's a journalist with a stun gun and mad martial arts skills. It's the interactions with the different characters you recruit that kept the game going as opposed to the "what's going on? Oh, we need to save the world" thing.gameplaywise, it's pretty good, although it obviously lacks the prettiness and strategic depth of newer Star Ocean releases. Fights are real time, you only actively control 1 character at a time and only 4 of your characters are on the field. those that you aren't actively controlling are controlled by a fairly competent AI. I never had any problems with the Ally AI.In playing through, I'm realizing just how much mashing of the X button I do. The triple hitting (a new gameplay mechanic that let's you do three regular melee hits in quick succession) makes the game seem a bit easy. It also places an even greater amount of reliance on fighters rather than mages. Fighters learn special abilities as you level up but most of them are either useless or only as good as regular attacks. Mages have offensive, support or healing spells, depending on the character. The offensive mages are useful in the early game but as mentioned previously, they will tend to get overshadowed by fighters during the mid to late game. The only mage you will consistently use is Rena (healer) because she can eventually heal or revive the whole party at once. The only other healer is Noel but by the time you get him he will be way worse than Rena and his offensive abilities are laughable compared to the offensive mages.So ,yeah, character balance is a bit of an issue. But as unbalanced as it is, I still love to fight the battles and mess around controlling the different characters and seeing what they can do. I have yet to get to the end of this version, but hopefully the fights will eventually be more difficult then the stuff I'm dealing with now.when you're not fighting, you can learn skills to do item creation( make weapons/armor, jewelry or food), summon birds that will bring you items (always handy in a dungeon), pickpocket, and a bunch of other things. You can also do Private Actions in the towns to see how the character interact and are always fun to watch.graphics are essentially the same as the PS1 which isn't really a complaint as it still looks good to me. My only complaint is the new character pop-ups that show up in the bottom corners whenever a particular character speaks. Half the fun for me when I was playing the original was that I could imagine how those sprites on the screen really looked like or what their facial expressions would be. The character pop-ups kinda stole that pleasure by using a fixed set of images per character (minor characters only get one image) to try to match the emotion of their dialogue. Sometimes the expression doesn't quite match the tone of the script, which throws me off a little. But whatever, it's really not that big a deal and probably won't bother anyone not me, but I do wish there was an option to turn off the character pop-ups.Sound is pretty much identical to the original. The original had a great soundtrack and I'm glad they kept it. The new addition to this version is the voice-acting. I think they did a pretty good job for most characters and the characters can, for the most part, convey the emotions from the script well enough for me to suspend my disbelief. While, again, I miss being able to imagine what they sounded like, the voice-acting is good enough that I don't really mind the change.Overall, fighting is unbalanced and on the easy side but still fun to play through and seeing what all your recruits can do. SKills and Private actions give you some fun distractions to tinker with. Overall plot is pretty generic. characters are a blast to follow throughout the story. graphics and sound are the same as the orginal with some new additions that I think most will enjoy. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes JRPG's with an emphasis on character development and item creation or wants a new battle system to try out. It's also not a bad way for those not familiar with JRPG's to get into the genre as I did.

Nostalgic, i played this on the ps1 and now playing the updated Port on the Psp now its basically the same game with minor tweaks but i recommend this because its much more difficult to get the classic ps1 version. Psp version has updated character graphic designs and new voice acting like i said minor tweaks

I was hoping to get into this game this weekend. Boy was i excited to see it was already "gotten into"!

When I got the disc I played it and it would load soooo slow and it would freeze.. I got so annoyed and took the disc out and noticed it was dirty and had a lot of scratches. I took my shirt and misted the cd a bit and cleaned it up. It doesn't take forever to load dialogs or in between screens but it'll still buffer sometimes. This wasn't what I expected.

in lots of ways I prefer the original Second Story on the PS2 but this has the advantage of being portable and not full of weirdly translated English. Decus' lines were *way* better than Michaels but at least I get to see his pretty face.

I picked up Star Ocean: Second Evolution because I played the original Star Ocean: Second Story for PS1 way back in the day. It remains one of my favorite titles for the sheer flexibility of item creation, team creation, world exploration, and other things to do. The PSP counterpart has some obvious improvements. I love some of the more refined character designs, but certain depictions, like Allen's in the beginning, don't match the sprite very well, and many of the minor characters have no emotional expression which, again, in Allen's case, can interrupt the mood of the scene (such as when he is attacking Rena's mother during Rena's kidnapping arc and Rena's mother continues to smile despite screaming). The expressions definitely improve the storytelling when they are present, though! And so does the voice acting. I'm a little upset that the original game script was changed and that some of the dialogue that stuck with me all these years isn't present in this new rendition, but it's still excellent, overall. My other beef (which is less a beef and more a disappointment) is that the squishy aspect of item creation is gone! I quite liked that, it was cute! But they sort of make up for that with much better item designs. The overall challenge of the game is still present, which I love, and so I'm looking forward to finishing this game...again! For anyone who likes compelling story, chances for personal interactions with characters, variation in endings, variation in activities to participate in throughout the game, beautiful music and art, cute sprites, combat systems that put you right into the mix but also allow you to switch between characters and choose actions as well as allows you to have characters act on their own while you focus on one character, then this game is for you. It has something for everyone!

I've collected all the Star Ocean games as I am a big fan of the series. This release is an enhanced remaster version of the PlayStation version Star Ocean: The Second Story, which was one of my favourite PS1 games ever. This release features new content. There are many new skills as well as the combat system being slightly changed. There's a new playable character, Welch Vineyard as well as 13 new endings added to many possible endings already from the original. The artwork and graphics have improved as well as new cutscenes, which I loved. Would definitely recommend this game.

Absolutely love this game, that being said.. i can't stand the voice overs in this game and the fact you can't turn them off is the worst move possible.