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Hey everybody – my identify is Kei Komaki, I’m the producer and along with Yuichiro Kitao, Growth Producer and Director we wish to give followers and newcomers a deep dive into the event means of Star Ocean The Second Story R!
This brand-new remake of the basic PlayStation-era RPG launches for PS5 and PS4 on November 2, and expands the unique journey with revamped mechanics, a rearranged soundtrack with new music, and a daring new 2.5D artwork type.
The entire crew has put their coronary heart and soul into this epic journey, in order the sport launches, I believed I’d take you behind the scenes and clarify how we approached the problem of remaking such a beloved sport.
The remaster takes off
The very first thing chances are you’ll be questioning is: why remake Star Ocean The Second Story in any respect? The easy reply is that the followers frequently requested it. At the same time as we continued to develop new instalments within the collection, equivalent to 2022’s Star Ocean The Divine Pressure, followers saved asking for the return of Star Ocean The Second Story.
This yr is the twenty fifth anniversary of the sport’s authentic launch, so naturally we began fascinated by what we may do to mark the event. On the time, I used to be fortunate sufficient to satisfy Yuichiro Kitao from Gemdrops, Inc., who would go on to work on the event. We mentioned the undertaking, and he rapidly obtained on board with the thought of a remake.
Really, that’s not strictly true. Initially, we deliberate to deliver again the sport as a remaster, much like Star Ocean First Departure R. Nonetheless, our plans modified drastically after we noticed a bit of idea artwork created by the crew at Gemdrops, Inc.
This art work featured the artwork type we might finally go together with – a fusion of 2D and 3D. The graphics had been new and contemporary, however crucially nonetheless preserved the ambiance created by the unique pixel artwork. On the similar time, it may nonetheless current the world in a manner that might be trustworthy to what every participant imagined of their minds once they performed the unique model – a real world of journey!
Creating 2.5D
Kitao (Gemdrops): We put lots of effort into creating these new visuals. We aimed for a midpoint between one thing that might encourage reminiscences in followers who performed the unique PlayStation model, and the type of visuals standard at present.
That wasn’t the one purpose we had although – we considered what it might be prefer to be one of many pixel artwork characters ourselves, and what the world would have regarded like from that perspective as a sensible 3D world. We then tried to deliver that to life in these 3D environments.
A Star Ocean for followers and first-timers
As we began growth correct, we had two key factors in thoughts: we wished to revisit and protect all the things that made the unique sport so beloved, but additionally create Star Ocean The Second Story R as a contemporary RPG that new gamers would get pleasure from.
An enormous a part of making a remake is to respect the reminiscences of these followers who supported the sport from its launch on the unique PlayStation to now – and to that finish, we added a lot of conversations and gameplay methods that let you get to know these wonderful characters on a deeper degree than ever earlier than.
But it surely was additionally necessary to make sure that avid gamers who haven’t performed the unique may benefit from the sport as a contemporary and modern-feeling expertise. For instance, we recreated the battle system, reworking the unique fight right into a flashier, extra exhilarating expertise. We additionally added options that individuals at present anticipate, equivalent to Quick Journey and different high quality of life options.
By preserving these ideas in thoughts throughout growth, I imagine we efficiently created a sport that’s equally pleasurable to followers and people coming to Star Ocean for the very first time!
Making fight sparkle
We didn’t wish to fully reinvent the fight system for Star Ocean The Second Story R – we wished to evolve the unique sport’s battles into one thing that was equally pleasurable for current followers and new gamers.
The very first thing we did was to extend the general pace of fight. That didn’t simply imply making it sooner – we adjusted it to have higher pacing as nicely.
Kitao: We additionally launched new methods like Break and Assault Motion. The Break function permits you to layer assaults collectively to interrupt enemy shields and stun them, whereas Assault Motion lets you immediate a personality not in your energetic get together to launch an assault and be a part of a combo.
The addition of those mechanics permits the participant to get pleasure from extra strategic battles, whereas additionally giving them a larger sense that they’re preventing alongside a large solid of allies.
You may even herald characters from different Star Ocean video games, a few of which have been created in pixel kind for the primary time. We all know that lots of gamers can have skilled different Star Ocean video games, so we wished to have these characters seem as a deal with for these followers. You may anticipate nice issues from their strikes in battle!
The mechanics in Star Ocean The Second Story R had been carried out to encourage gamers to persistently take into consideration how finest to battle with a purpose to flip a battle to their benefit. We give gamers lots of choices.
Ultimate ideas
Once we first introduced Star Ocean The Second Story R, everybody on the crew was to see what individuals would say once they noticed the artwork type, and we had been notably to see suggestions once they performed the demo. So, I’m very proud and grateful that so many individuals have responded positively and mentioned they’re trying ahead to this sport.
Star Ocean The Second Story R is on the market on PS5 and PS4 on November 2. Should you play it, we hope it’s the type of sport that may keep in your reminiscences – and that you simply unfold the phrase and let different individuals learn about this Star Ocean journey that our followers have helped us create!
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