Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a Remake with a capital R with a plan to please three decades' worth of fans

As product names go, Star Ocean: The Second Story R buries the lede. That ‘R’ stands for ‘Remake’ - and if I were behind the marketing of this title, I’d really want to emphasize that this is a full-blown, ground-up do-over. Like, R could stand for 'remaster' - this ain’t that. This is a full-fat Remake, with a capital R.

A slightly-bad name is sort of par for the course for Square Enix RPGs, of course - and Star Ocean 2’s do-over can be regarded as a quintessential Square experience in several other ways, too. It’s the company doing what it does best: making a staunchly traditional role-playing game, with an incredible visual flair, with ambitions that help to outstrip and minimize design flaws.

Basically, it has the energy of a golden-age Square title. Which makes sense, as the original game’s 1998 release puts it slap bang in the middle of the company’s explosive PS1 heyday. Playing Second Story, you can sense an intense reverence for the original versions of the game (versions, plural; it was remastered for PSP in 2008)m and it’s that worshipful attitude towards the past that makes this a particularly special-feeling remake.

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