In May 1999,Star Ocean: The Second Storyintroduced US markets to the Sci-Fi JRPG series for the first time. Premiering on the original PlayStation,The Second Storyfeatured a large cast of characters, a unique private action system for building relationships, and real-time JRPG combat. Now, over twenty years later,Square Enixand Gemdrops are introducing a new generation of gamers to the title with the remake,Star Ocean: The Second Story R.
Game Rant recently spoke with producer and developer Yuichiro Kitao, art director Yukinori Masuda, and theStar Ocean: The Second Story Rdevelopment team about everything that is changing and being preserved in the forthcoming remake.The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Q: What aspects of the originalStar Ocean: The Second Storyare you hoping to preserve in the remake? What aspects of the experience are you hoping to modernize?
Kitao:What we wanted to preserve was the fun and memories that players enjoyed in the original game. We also wanted to preserve the story from the original installment as well. We wanted to keep the story as-is. But to achieve that and preserve these elements, wefocused on the visualsof the game.
As you already know, the characters for thisremake titleare all in 2D pixel art. But if we were to bring over the graphics from the PS1 title as-is, it would just be a port and not a remake. In order to counter that, we applied new shaders—we added shadows and light to certain elements of these characters and the environments—to provide immersion for the players, so they can feel like they are actually playing as these 2D characters and living in the 3D world of the game.
Adding on top of that, we wanted to deliver a new experience with the 3D background. We weren’t looking to achieve a very high-end 3D environment, because we wanted to prioritize and maintain the importance of the visuals that were left in the memories of the players who played the original title. We wanted these worlds to have a fantasy element—we wanted to keep the aesthetic as-is—while developing a 3D environment that can give players a new gameplay experience.
Q: Will you be adding any new mechanical systems or quality-of-life features toSOSSR?
Kitao: We vastly improved the tempo andplay speed of the game. The battles are very modernized—they are a lot smoother than our older titles. The tempo will be faster and smoother.
In terms of new systems,fast-travelwill be introduced. That will allow players to explore and explore various areas of the game quickly and conveniently. That being said, players might miss things if they use fast-travel too much, so we will leave it up to the player as to how much they want to use that system.
In terms ofquality-of-life adjustments, players can now switch the Private Action mode on or off whenever and wherever they want. If they are in a town, exploring, you’re able to switch into Private Action mode and leave it again very quickly and easily.
And to add a little more to the aspects of thebattle system, we didn’t only make things faster. We added a lot of new effects and elements to the game. If you take a look at the symbology attacks—the magic attacks in the game—they look really flashy, but they don’t hinder the speed of the game. There are also new systems for the battle as well. For example, Assault Action is a feature that allows the reserve party members to join in battle and perform combos at any given time.
Q: Are you making any changes to the game’s Private Action system, or adding any new scenes between characters?
Kitao: We didn’t make too many adjustments to the content for the scenes included in the Private Action system. It is mostly going to stay the same. However, we did add quite a few newcharacter moments. When you are traveling in the field, characters will communicate with each other, which offers a deeper dive into these characters. They will have conversations on their own and point out things in the field.
Development Team: To add a little more context, there won’t be any new Private Action scenes, per se, but what was important for us to consider was that the scenes in the original scenario were included in the game. The Private Action system was tremendous—there were a lot of these scenes and story moments in this game. We wanted to respect the source material and keep everything as-is.
Again, that being said—and this ties into the modernization aspects that were discussed earlier—we implemented a fast-travel feature. And now players will be aware of where they can go to discover these scenes and enjoy the drama of these characters. We wanted to ensure players aren’t ‘wasting’ any time as they are playing, so they can maximize the fun they are having with the game.
Q: How did the team decide to doa 2.5D art style forSOSSR, and how does the game benefit from this change?
Masuda: To talk about how the 2.5D art style came to be, Director Kitao-san asked me to preserve the characters’ pixel art from the original title. So that’s the general direction I went with. And when we looked at the photorealistic backgrounds from the original game, we decided to take them a step further and make them even more photorealistic. So we took the2D pixel artcharacters and dropped them into these photo-real 3D environments.
We wanted the pixel characters to stand out in the environment, so we made sure that they had sharper visuals instead of duller ones. We then applied appropriate shadings that helped them look realistic within the environment. By doing this, we were able to develop a visual experience that deliverednostalgia for the older players, but also a new and refreshing experience for the newer players as well.
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Q: What was the process of updating the game’s sprites like? Are any character designs being changed, or merely updated to accommodate the new graphical style?
Masuda: The process of updating the new pixel art or bringing these new sprites to the remake was—as discussed earlier—we wanted the original older players toenjoy the nostalgiaassociated with these characters. So we didn’t want to implement significant changes to these characters. On the base level, they are very similar to the original title. That being said, we did make some minor adjustments to the sprites because when put together, some the characters felt slightly ‘off.’ For certain characters, we applied shadows and different lighting on their outlines. But in terms of design, there haven’t been any significant changes.
Q: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?
Kitao: I believe the original game for the PlayStation was released in the North American regions about 25 years ago. With this remake title, we sincerely hope we get a wide range of different audiences. People who haven’t played the original, or who are playingStar Ocean 2for the first time. People who have recently gotten into theStar Oceanseries with more recent titles, such asStar Ocean 5orStar Ocean 6. We hope all these players get to enjoyThe Second Story R. It does utilize a pixel art style in a more unique way than other retro RPGs. The battles are very quick and smooth, and the story is based on the science-fiction genre and is very exciting.
Again, we wish to see both the newer users and older users coming together to play and enjoy this game experience. We hope the players who enjoyed the original title can revisit this game and see these areas and towns and cities re-illustrated in the remake and feel like they are revisiting a town they lived in 25 years ago.
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Star Ocean the Second Story Ris coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Switch on Jun 28, 2025.
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