Star Ocean: The Second Story (PlayStation, 1999)

As a long-standing RPG fan, I enjoyed Star Ocean The Second Story from the beginning. Character development is a huge draw for me in RPG's and Star Ocean delivers with its cast of amusing, unique, and spritely characters. The emotional attachment that characters develop for each other is actually controlled by the player during the course of the game in the innovative Private Auctions, and they ultimately affect the ending of the story (there are over 80 endings in all)! You can choose one of two characters at the beginning, Claude or Rena, both of whom meet up and continue through the adventure together. This is an older game created for the original Playstation console.

The game unfolds as standard and conservative role players do, with dungeon trolling, combing through villages for clues and treasure chests, purchasing supplies, etc. However, there are some features that make SOSS stand out. Rather than simply purchasing the various items, weapons, and armor in the game, you can create them by using alchemy, blacksmithing, cooking, and other handy skills. There are handy group spells using multiple characters and a dizzying array of items (791 all told) and skills to choose and use throughout. These are unique and immensely helpful, such as the ability to pick pockets, being able to call for assistance from your animal friends while deep in the bowels of a cave or dungeon, reproduction of valuable and otherwise hard to find items, and many, many more. But the single most compelling feature I've found is the new and innovate battle system. Disregarding the old (and largely bland and boring) turn based battle systems of the past, Star Ocean features a challenging free motion system. You can control one character during battles and have the computer control the others in your party; or you can switch back and forth between characters during a battle. You can also choose from three different combat settings based on your proficiency. The special attacks that your characters develop are awesome and give you plenty to choose from during battles. You will add characters to your party until you have maxed out at eight, and from there the real fun begins. There's even a Fun City where you can go and unwind, play some games, place a few bets, and win some awesome treasure and invaluable weaponry. One of the downsides of the game was the occasional glitch that forces you to load from the last save. This was not due to the CD I owned; I investigated and found many other gamers who had the same problem. However, the pros far outweight this problem. Just save as often as you can! I enjoyed this game so much that when it was over I immediately started a new game using the alternate character, and enjoyed it just as much as the first time around. Now it's up to you to save the universe.

PROS: Unique and addictive battle system; beautiful graphics and unique backgrounds; great soundtrack; chock full of side quests and bonus dungeons play; two discs give you plenty of action and adventure with at least 50 hours of gaming in each scenario.

CONS: Too may important encounters are left to chance and may be missed without consulting a game guide; 32 bit in execution but looks more like 16 bit; occasional glitches forces you to load from last save.

SUMMARY: Not flashy, but a solid, dependable classic RPG with unique and innovate features that any gamer should enjoy.If you are an RPG fan don't miss out on this classic! Rating: 9.5/10.