As the English-speaking world’s first true introduction to the Star Ocean saga nearly 10 years ago, Star Ocean: Second Story quickly became a fan favorite for those who picked it up during the PS1 era. With an engrossing story, a duo of main characters, and an action-packed battle system, it quickly became a cult classic worthy of a proper PSP re-release years down the road. Even though its lack of extras probably won’t convert fence-sitters that didn’t care much for it the first time around, Star Ocean: Second Evolution remains an admirably solid RPG with phenomenal replayability that will stand the test of time.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution begins with the young Claude C. Kenny mysteriously transported to a foreign, bucolic land. Before he can even get his bearings, Claude must rush to the defense of young lady named Rena who was ambushed in her once-peaceful glen. After many thanks, Rena is taken aback by Claude’s resemblance to the “legendary hero” and convinces him to set off with her in search of the Sorcery Globe; a mysterious foreign object that appears to be the root of all evil. Along the way, the duo learn much about themselves and the mysterious nature of the universe; the latter of which ends up being far more precarious than they ever could have imagined.

As a sort of action-RPG hybrid, Star Ocean treads that fine line between “exciting” and “button-mashingly tedious.” For those who haven’t played another Star Ocean game (or perhaps a title out of the Tales series), battle takes place on an open plane where everyone fights at once. You directly control one character (which is easily switched) while the others fight on autopilot, resulting in a hectic hodgepodge of violence that can be a bit tricky to get a grasp of at first. Even though it often boils down to mashing “X” until your foes have fallen, a handful of tougher battles call for a bit more strategy.

One of the biggest shortcomings of this title’s PSP predecessor was its laughable difficulty, and thankfully Second Evolution doesn’t suffer from the same fate. Even if you’re helplessly over-leveled, many of the boss battles (and a few random encounters, as well) pack a serious punch and require you to juggle multiple characters to come out on top. Managing status effects while simultaneously healing, attacking, and casting is a tricky affair, but thankfully the stock AI actually does a pretty good job of doing the dirty work for you.

As we mentioned in our earlier preview of the game, Second Evolution is nearly identical to First Departure in terms of menu design, skill sets, and specialties. As your characters level up, they earn skill points (SP) to level up specific skills ranging from “Knife” to “Item Knowledge” that combine to form Specialties and Super Specialties that can create new items (among other things) along the way. While it certainly helps to have a specific task delegated to each character and picked out beforehand, levels and skill points flow relatively freely and allow for a bit of trial-and-error experimentation along the way.