Beat PSP version. I started with the SNES version a year or 2 ago but it did not work properly on my PSP. I played it for a couple hours or so on PC but never stuck with it. It had been on my mind since then and I recently learned about the PSP remake. I have already mastered SO 2 and 3 back in the day so there was nothing new to me in this game. I knew that the time travel gimmick was not really time travel, and it was interesting to see where the series began. I struggled for a while upon reaching the past with no weapons or armor at all. I missed the part about Cyuss giving a sword and joining the team, so Rod and Ilia bare fisted their way to the next town only to not be allowed in. I wondered if I had to use crafting to make weapons to progress the story so I did mess around with that for a bit, only making some crappy jewelry. He did get a hefty skill point bonus for becoming nimble fingered. Eventually I found the proper cutscene to progress the story. This happened a couple other times as well; missing a story trigger and trying to progress in the next town to no avail.

I had to check a walkthrough at the purgatorium because I had no idea where the secret entrance was. It did not even occur to me to exit the dungeon and look around on the world map. Speaking of which, movement on the overworld was obnoxiously slow. I had Rod max out scouting and I set it to avoid enemies for the entire game. By the time I got Ioshua I was focusing on maxing determination and effort. I set Iosh to training mode as he was behind the other 3, and made him the character I controlled; reminded me of playing Rena in 2. I mostly hung back and let the AI fight while throwing out the occasional nuke or heal. I did find that I could fight much better than the AI as it seemed unable to do the basic 3 hit combo, nor move out of the way of attacks. It was good enough for most battles though. I got each character as far as I could in the arena, and then finally reunited with Millie and Rony. I did try them in the arena a bit, and I let Rony take a spot on the main team when Ilia died, but they were significantly under leveled and I was happy with my core team. Iosh had an excellent balance of nukes and heals, while the 3 warriors kicked ass. Millie had status cures and buffs but minimal offense. I could see her being better for some fights, like bosses and status causing enemies. Or just leave her in reserve with an emerald/faerie ring as a heal bot, like I did. Rony was straight up black mage with a decent bow attack, but why would I give up a healer?

I did the optional ice cave where Mavelle died. I never did try her out but she was the hottest girl by far. Oh well it was a cool scene. The boss there was tough and I had to switch control of the characters frequently to make sure Rod and Cyuss were on opposite sides, and move them away from the big attack. I left Ilia dead because it was difficult enough to manage the 3. Lots of back tracking, private actions, and arena fighting later and I found Pericci the cat girl, and the silly bunny mount that made overworld travel less tedious. Up until this point I had been ignoring the crafting system. I hate crafting. Just like in 2 and 3, it was way too complicated, wasted way too much time, and had way too much randomness. I did some writing of books to raise skill levels but that was a waste of time given how ridiculously easy it was to level up in the secret end game dungeon. Ilia did machinist and I got some useful tools from that. I experimented with making accessories as Rod and got some cool items; 3 rings of might that gave massive attack boost but weakness to magic, chains of might for more attack power, rings of shield for huge reduction in damage (too bad they broke but I used them to beat A rank arena), and a ring that healed all spell damage. Then I did blacksmithing for the best armor in the game, and customized some weapons; only Ilia got an upgrade. Iosh did too during the secret dungeon. I did music, compounding, and alchemy. I made enough philosopher's stones to become filthy rich, using group appraising and Cinderella glass to buy all instruments and 3 tri emblems. I could not kill the optional super boss though.

So I went past the point of no return and beat the final boss at around level 75. Everyone was using training mode after getting all that sweet gear. The final boss was not difficult but Cyuss and Ilia died a bunch of times from his nukes; being weak to magic was bad. Rod and Iosh were immune though. In retrospect I should have switched some gear around for light magic immunity. Then I did the secret dungeon. It was not difficult as long as everyone spammed their best attacks and I kept their mana up. They were gaining 2 to 3 level ups per battle! I got the ultimate weapons, strongest spell for Iosh, and a bunch of stuff I did not need before wrecking the boss. Then the very last thing I did was kill the optional super boss Gabrielle. It was a tough fight that took like a dozen resurrection items and only 3 people were standing at the end. By this time they were all level 126 with 9999 hp and more skill points than could be used. The 3 warriors maxed out their special arts and I had them each set up with a ranged attack (air slash, spirit blast, palm of destruction etc), and a heavy damage like omega double slash. Not sure what endings I got but it felt natural. There was a duel with Cyuss, Ilia acted like she wished she could be Millie and get Rod, Phia and Cyuss had a positive scene, Iosh had one by himself lamenting his sister and the cat was also by herself lamenting.

Rod: Aurora blade, reflecting plate (or sylvan mail for petrification immunity), mithril shield, dueling helm, mithril greaves, good luck charm, ring of might.

He started with originality, design sense and composition.

Cyuss: his special, reflecting plate (or sylvan mail), dueling helm, mithril greaves, ring of might, chain of might.

Listening and animal instinct

Ilia: Kaiser knuckles, dueling suit, dream crown, king fu shoes, ring of might, archangels bracelet.

Nimble fingers, design sense, composition, rhythm sense and listening

Iosh: mind healer, robe of deception, dream crown, elven slippers, faerie ring. And his stupid unequipable ring.

Nimble fingers and design sense.

Rony, Pericci and Phia were level 40, Millie only 34. They had no interesting talents other than taste for cooking, but I never needed that.

This game was very impressive for a SNES game. Not quite up there with Chrono Trigger, FF6 and Tales of Phantasia, and of course not as good as Star Ocean 2. The characters were great and the story was good; felt like it could have been a Star Trek movie. The battle system was more enjoyable than the standard turn based menu affair, and the different character options helped replayability. The main flaws were excessive complexity, mainly with the crafting and specialty systems, and exploration. The world map was too tedious to explore with the slow movement speed, and there was almost nothing to find anyway. Some of the dungeons bordered on requiring a map and had too many samey looking rooms. And I wish I could turn off the battle voices! I might be inclined to play again at some point to try out different characters.

8.8/10

I'm 20 hours in and at level 50 so time for an update! I can see how folks are apathetic about this title, but I'm not having a bad time. Stupid difficulty jumps in a few places require grinding, which I don't mind, but come on, I shouldn't have an almost instant wipe in fights going to the next sequential destination. I'd much prefer a difficulty curve than huge difficulty stairs.

I'm not sure why this is a thing in these remakes - the sprite work and field maps could be better, but the towns and scenery are very nice. The short scene at the drawbridge going into Silvarant, with the mountains in the background, red-leaved trees, and subtle bird calls, is a super pretty moment.

Music is... there. Sakuraba is perfectly fine at writing perfectly fine music, though completely forgetable. He's had a few bangers over the years, but I still think his best work was Shining the Holy Ark. I'm curious to see how he'll do on Suikoden 6 Eiyuden Chronicle.

I have a couple issues I'd improve upon.

1. Travel feels really slow a lot of the time.
2. Difficulty jumps in battles, stupid AI in battles (teammates seem very eager to get themselves killed, but not do much in the way of accurately targeting enemies and avoiding them)
3. Bloated "extras." Super not good for my OCD. I want to be THE BEST and min max and all that jazz, and there's just too much to keep track of. I think I've grinded (ground?) enough of this for now that I have a good handle on it, but between dozens of consumables, craftable items, group skills, specialties, individual skills, levels for all of these, combinations of skills, it's a loooot to keep track of, and almost impossible to understand without a guide.

I didn't know this when I started, but to play with all the characters and see everything, you have to do at least 3 play-throughs. My current run has a convenient spot where I can splinter off into two parties in different saves. One will wind up with Phia and Welch, one will keep Mavelle and get Pericci. Then I'm going to do it one more time to get the others - so choosing Ashlay, getting Erys, and then picking T'nique. But as I typed this, I might have 7 people when I'm able to get T'nique which means I can't... which means I'd have to do a fourth play through. Probably not gonna do that.

Snagged the platinum trophy, finally. Fun game, definitely lived up to Star Ocean: The Second Story which I originally played back in 2000 (sheesh!). If you take the game at face value, having originally been an SNES title and all, there's a lot to appreciate but there are still some things one can nitpick over.

Being unable to warp from one town to another makes for a LOT of boring backtracking. The same goes for caves/dungeons. Unless you're lucky enough to get a cutscene that warps you outside, you'll have to retrace your steps all the way back up. Granted, the game would be incredibly short without them but it makes the game feel monotonous and battles start to feel like a chore, simply because of the relatively high encounter rate (even after choosing to avoid battles) and the amount of time it takes to walk from point A to point B. Truly some archaic elements even by 1996 standards.

Battles are fun but don't require a lot of effort once you figure out which skills to spam ad nauseum. It's much too easy to have ridiculously overpowered equipment fairly early on thanks to the Customize, Alchemy, and Replication skills along with some good ol' fashioned save scumming.

I found the characters to be likable and they all have fun dialogue when checking out Private Actions in each town. The ending felt a bit rushed, like they had planned something more but had to meet a deadline. This made the last boss feel pretty anticlimactic but the multiple endings themselves were satisfying enough to make up for it. Now I just wish they'd localize Second Evolution on PS4, what the hell is the hold up?