How Star Ocean: The Second Story R modernizes a classic PlayStation adventure 25 years later

blog.playstation.com:

Hello everyone – my name is Kei Komaki, I am the producer and together with Yuichiro Kitao, Development Producer and Director we want to give fans and newcomers a deep dive into the development process of Star Ocean The Second Story R!

This brand-new remake of the classic PlayStation-era RPG launches for PS5 and PS4 on November 2, and expands the original adventure with revamped mechanics, a rearranged soundtrack with new music, and a bold new 2.5D art style.

The whole team has put their heart and soul into this epic adventure, so as the game launches, I thought I’d take you behind the scenes and explain how we approached the challenge of remaking such a beloved game.

The first thing you may be wondering is: why remake Star Ocean The Second Story at all? The simple answer is that the fans continually requested it. Even as we continued to develop new instalments in the series, such as 2022’s Star Ocean The Divine Force, fans kept asking for the return of Star Ocean The Second Story.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the game’s original release, so naturally we started thinking about what we could do to mark the occasion. At the time, I was lucky enough to meet Yuichiro Kitao from Gemdrops, Inc., who would go on to work on the development. We discussed the project, and he quickly got on board with the idea of a remake.

Actually, that’s not strictly true. Originally, we planned to bring back the game as a remaster, similar to Star Ocean First Departure R. However, our plans changed drastically when we saw a piece of concept art created by the team at Gemdrops, Inc.

This artwork featured the art style we would ultimately go with – a fusion of 2D and 3D. The graphics were new and fresh, but crucially still preserved the