Star Ocean’s Beloved 1998 RPG Keeps Finding New Homes, Now on Switch 2

Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of those PlayStation RPGs people have quietly kept a candle burning for since 1998. tri-Ace’s action-RPG, with its real-time battles and its web of Private Actions and branching endings, aged into a genuine classic, and the 2023 remake, The Second Story R, treated it with real care. This week that remake picked up a native Switch 2 version, out now for $49.99.

The remake is the reason it keeps earning new ports. It rebuilds the game in a 2.5D style, 2D pixel characters moving through detailed 3D scenes, and it is loaded with the kind of options that tell you the people making it actually loved the original. You can switch between the original and a rearranged soundtrack, play with Japanese or English voice, and even swap the Japanese track between the original cast and the cast from the PSP version, Second Evolution. Fast travel and cleaned-up menus for the skill and item-creation systems round off the modern touches. The story is the one longtime fans know by heart: Claude, a Federation officer, gets stranded on an underdeveloped planet, meets a local girl named Rena, and the two are pulled into an old prophecy. You pick which of them to begin as, and that choice changes whose eyes you see the story through and who joins you.

One honest note before you buy it a second time. Square Enix has confirmed there is no upgrade path and no save transfer from the Switch 1 version, so if you already own it there, the Switch 2 edition is a fresh $49.99 purchase rather than a free bump. Whether the sharper resolution is worth a re-buy is a personal call.

If you are new to it, the timing is good. Square Enix is running summer discounts across the series, with The Divine Force at 60 percent off and the Last Hope remaster at 70, and on July 28 both The Second Story R and The Divine Force arrive on GOG for the first time, discounted through August 9. However you get in, the 1998 game underneath is worth the trip.