Board 8 > I might finally try to beat Star Ocean: The Second Story [potential playthrough]

(+) Yeah! (+)

The year is 1999. Young SephG is discovering the first true obsession of his life: JRPGs. He stumbles across a game that looks to sate his craving between releases of Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire games. It is Star Ocean: The Second Story. He plays said game nonstop for months. Recruits characters, masters the chef minigame with dozens of hours devoted to just cooking. Makes it to the second planet. Then the worst happens. He accidentally deletes his save file. Hyperventilation. Misery. Despair. The game remains shelved for 15 years.

Well, the second time I attempted a playthrough was a few years ago... I had long grappled with how to reconcile recruiting all of the playable characters, and decided I was going to do a Claude playthrough and a Rena playthrough, ensuring that I wouldn't miss anyone. But I fucked that up about 10 hours into the game and haven't touched it since.

So alas, I may finally just beat the game once with one playthrough and one party (screw the rest!). But I'll rely on board 8 to help me figure out a few things before starting:

1. Is it okay to play the PSX version or am I seriously missing out by not playing Second Evolution? Does the PSP version really "fix" anything, or does the polish negatively impact the charm of the original?

2. What is the ideal party if I am playing through as Claude for my one and only time?

3. How can I ensure that I breeze through the game? I always found it quite challenging for a JRPG, but I remember hearing that there is a weapon or sidequest I can do early on that pretty much allows the player to crush everyone for most of the game.

4. Should I just play Red Dead Redemption instead?

@ninkendo
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HarrietTubgirl posted...

4. Should I just play Red Dead Redemption instead?

yes
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GranzonEx posted...

HarrietTubgirl posted...

4. Should I just play Red Dead Redemption instead?

yes

ok
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the psp version has a new translation, new voice acting, and new portraits which are displayed when characters talk. Though while the new translation say refers to the Wise Men by their actual angel names iirc instead of the "censored" ones in the psx versions, it tends to use wacky exotic spellings for more straightforward place names items etc. like other squenix localization efforts like Tactics Ogre.

gameplay wise I don't think there's much difference besides there now being a three hit base attack combo, and welch from star ocean 3 as a playable character. probably doesn't crash as often too.

as far as party members go it's like

Ashton vs. Opera (and Ernest)
Precis vs. Bowman
Leon (Claude side) vs. Dias (Rena side)

and you can only pick 8 out of 12 (13 with welch) characters.

dias is probably better due to mages sucking due to long spell animations and lack of hits, others it's kind whichever one you prefer really. no one really likes ernest besides opportunities to pickpocket battle suits but I hear that you have to keep him if you follow opera's side quest long enough to get him or they'll both leave together or something. IDK. Ashton gets a special attack from the postgame dungeon but it's kind of a novelty and not too useful, and with opera and precis you have to use engineering to get certain killer moves but they're super obnoxiously rare to even get so I'd suggest don't bother with trying to get those kms really

what you're thinking of is probably during the tournament, you side with the poor old blacksmith who wants you to show off his sword over the other weapons shops (there's a few events that kind of nudges you along that route unless you just pick the first shop you see). then go back after being eliminated by dias to get his sword, and keep it until the second half of the game where you can get the materials to modify it twice into one of the best weapons in the game (there's some in the postgame dungeon that are statistically better, but this one has kind of a splash damage effect that hits more times)
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How can you play as a SO3 character? I thought the game was just a game?
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Up
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Welch's ending in First Departure kind of implies that this version of welch is an eternal sphere player, since she says something about going into the future to see how the characters' kids turn out (that is, Claude)
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Ok so I'm not missing anything by playing TSS instead?
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So is there a "best" ending I should be striving for a la Chrono Trigger, or are they more open-ended?
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I forgot how fucking gorgeous this OST is
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Endings are based on character interactions and how long you use them and stuff like that - IIRC beating the secret dungeon and unlocking the final boss don't even affect the ending. There is a lot of missable stuff though, almost to the point I'd recommend looking up an FAQ for it.
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So how do I ensure that I destroy everything easily in the beginning of the game? I do not have the patience to die over and over.
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yup
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There's a few things you can do, which will require a lot of saving and loading. Also keep in mind I haven't played in a long time so I might be fuzzy on some of the names / details.

-Hopefully your Claude has the Dexterity and Originality talents, since you'll need them both to customize the Eternal Sphere. I think last time I played I actually restarted the game until he at least had Dexterity, since you'll also need it for pickpocketing. They can both be unlocked via item creation, but IIRC it can get expensive, and it's a lot easier to do later once you have the Orchestra ability.

-Before you start leveling any skills up, have everyone max out their perseverance skill. This saves a ton of SP in the long run.

-Level up your Playfulness skill. This will give you enough money to buy the thief's glove, which lets you pickpocket NPCs.

-You can pickpocket an NPC in Mars Village for a treasure box item. This gives you 3 random items, one of which can be a Marvel Sword. Save and load until you get it. This can technically be done early, but it'll take you a while to get the skills/money for it.

-Work on getting Claude's Customize skill up to about 8. You'll need it to make his Eternal Sphere.

-Whoever has the most spare SP, have them level up the Radar skill a few times until you have 2 Mythril. I'd save and load here until you get these.

-You'll need to get the Sharp Edge right after the tournament. It is missable, but I don't remember the exact sequence of events here, so you'll have to look that up unless someone else can answer.

-Once you have the Sharp Edge, the 2 Mythril, Claude's Customize is skill high enough, and you have his talents, you can try to make the Eternal Sphere.

-If you recruit Ernest you can pickpocket a couple of battle suits from him. Also if you're playing as Claude you can pickpocket one when he goes back to his ship towards the end of disc 1.

That's everything I can think of.
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also the ultimate cheat is probably bloody armor but I don't think you can get it until disc 2.
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Grapple M1 posted...

-You'll need to get the Sharp Edge right after the tournament. It is missable, but I don't remember the exact sequence of events here, so you'll have to look that up unless someone else can answer.

You need to get to the finals, then go to the old man's house on the western side of Lacour and he'll give it to you.
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Also, Rainbow Diamonds up your item creation levels by 1 if you equip them, and it stacks if you have two of them. You can use that to get Customize to level 10, because those last few levels cost a ton.
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Bump?
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