Interview: Preparing Star Ocean The Second Story R for New Platforms

Star Ocean The Second Story, despite being a sequel, marked the first exposure to a series that blended sci-fi sensibilities and fantasy elements to the world. To get a better idea of what the process of preparing Star Ocean The Second Story R looked like for new audiences and platforms, Siliconera spoke to Square Enix Producer Kei Komaki and Gemdrops Development Producer and Director Yuichiro Kitao about the game.

Jenni Lada: How did the Star Ocean The Second Story R project get started?

Kei Komaki: This title was made in parallel with the development of Star Ocean: The Divine Force, to align with the 25th anniversary of Star Ocean The Second Story.

Star Ocean The Second Story R was initially planned as a remaster, but the direction of the project changed after meeting with the development team from Gemdrops and seeing a certain piece of illustration. The illustration had a unique characteristic where it had the nostalgic 2D pixel art and a modern 3D environment coexisting with one another. We believed that this had the potential to portray the visuals that players back in the day envisioned in their mind, so after witnessing this illustration, the project kicked off anew as a remake title. 

Star Ocean The Second Story R will be on more platforms, compared to First Departure R. What led to the increased range? Did this make the production process more difficult?

Komaki: Star Ocean 2 has been a particularly popular title from the series, and we’ve received a lot of requests for a remake since before the development of this project. Our priority and focus are to create an environment that allows a wide array of audiences, which includes original fans and also the JRPG fans that are newcomers to the series, to experience this title.

In regard to the multi-platform aspect, Gemdrops, which handled the development for this title, were well versed with the game engine so we were able to fine tune elements such as the visuals, effects, audios and how the battle feels, to achieve near identical experiences across multiple platforms. We were also able to roll out the demos with almost no difference between platforms, so we believe that players will get to fully understand the appeal of this game through the platform of their choice.

What kinds of assets and original development content did you have available when preparing Star Ocean The Second Story R?
Yuichiro Kitao: Since the materials that we had for the past title was from 25 years ago, they were not in a complete state and only contained fragments of information. Because of this, we had to compile the relevant documents and materials as we played through the original PS1 release and the PSP release. At the same time, we also analyzed the materials from the original release and repurposed contents. There were few existing designs and concept art to begin with, so a considerable amount was newly created or made upon referencing information digested from our playthroughs of the Star Ocean titles. 

What led to pursuing this design direction for the overworld area and town’s updated graphics?
Kitao: Taking the memories and experiences that have been cultivated within the minds of those that played the PS1 version and the PSP version, and reproducing them in a modern style, was the general concept for this title. However, the goal wasn’t to take a purely realistic approach, but to retain the memories and experiences from that time and merge them with modern technologies. This is how we achieved this title’s fusion of pixel art characters and 3D backgrounds that apply a special shader. 

The Assault Action and Break abilities are new to Star Ocean The Second Story R. What led to both being implemented in-game?

Kitao: The battles from the original release were already considered plenty enjoyable back then, but in bringing it to the modern era, we did want to improve the pace a bit for certain areas and introduce strategic elements tailored for the modern players in a way that didn’t hinder the system from the original release. As a result, we were able to develop mechanics such as “Assault Actions” and “Breaks.”

Another goal with the Assault Action system was to further establish this title as a character driven game by making players feel that they’re fighting alongside with even more party members and reinforcing that “feel”. Thanks to Square Enix’s support, we were also able to collaborate with past STAR OCEAN titles and had its protagonists make guest appearances, so we believe that the fans of the series will be happy with this system. 

How did you work on balancing to ensure the new battle mechanics didn’t break the combat system?

Kitao: Essentially, it boils down to just repeating the test play and adjustments over and over again. In addition to that, to ensure that we weren’t bound to the mechanics and parameters from past releases, we rebuilt the graphics, codes, and parameters from scratch.

Additionally, the “enjoyment” felt and gained from the battles in the previous releases were something that the game designers and engineers sensed directly from their own experiences, so I’d say those feelings contributed to the development for this title when we adjusted the finer details.

There’s new Japanese voice acting for Star Ocean The Second Story R characters in this release. How difficult was it to get voice actors back for these performances?

Komaki: Reaching out to the cast members that provided the Japanese voicework for the PS1 version was not a challenge in itself. All of them are still actively voice acting, and they were all very excited to reprise their roles and deliver their performances to fans again. 

The problem was that the volume of the story was just enormous. Yuji Ueda and Aya Hisakawa – who voiced the protagonists Claude and Rena and have voiced other popular characters in anime like Brock from Pokémon and Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon, respectively – had a large number of dialogues. Although we didn’t have to record every day, it took about 3 months in total to record all of their lines.

Now that the Star Ocean series is seeing a resurgence in popularity, what sorts of projects based on the property would you like to see next?

Komaki: There isn’t a particular project that we can talk about right now, but during the MCM Comic Con, I did have a conversation with Gemdrops’ Yuichiro Kitao in the waiting room and talked about how we were both interested in working on a new project together. We’re also aware that there are vast sagas in the Star Ocean series that are yet to be told, so please do play Star Ocean The Second Story R and share your thoughts and feedback with Square Enix. That voice will surely lead to potential opportunities that bring about a new hero to the galaxy.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is on the Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC. The game can also immediately be found on the PlayStation and PSP worldwide and the PS3, PS4, and Vita in Japan.