Square Enix and Gemdrops announced that Star Ocean: The Second Story R update 1.1 is now available on all platforms. The update includes a plethora of new content, including a new difficulty mode and new raid enemies.
Final Weapon’s review of Star Ocean: The Second Story R notes that it’s a stellar modernization of the 1998 PS1 JRPG classic. The remake boasts updated visuals, new quality-of-life features that aim to modernize the experience, re-arranged music, and much more. Some aspects of this remake are carried over from the updated PSP version of the game, Star Ocean: Second Evolution.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R Update 1.1 Brings CHAOS
The latest update for Star Ocean: The Second Story R brings the ultra-hard difficulty level CHAOS, new equipment and items, the Ten Wise Men raid bosses, new illustrations for characters in event scenes, Character Graphics Collection, and the Ending Playback feature.
Check out the overview trailer and catch the latest details from Square Enix below:
New Content: Combat
New, super-hard difficulty: CHAOS! You won’t be able to let your guard down for even an instant in this hard mode!
CHAOS mode will be added to the game as a new difficulty level that’s harder than UNIVERSE. Enemy stats will be higher, and you’ll need even more strategy and preparation to take on these challenging battles. Train up your party and pit them against this new challenge!
A new challenge: face the Ten Wise Men as Raid Enemies!
The Ten Wise Men, Claude’s adversaries in the main story, will now appear as Raid Enemies that appear throughout the world!
As Raid Enemies, the Ten Wise Men will be even more powerful than they were in the story battles. Victory over these Raid Enemies will give you a “Jewel” that allows you to call forth the Ten Wise Men with the Assault Action system.
Additional Content: Exploration and IC
New equipment added to Item Creation!
New weapons for each party character and new armor will also be added. These new items can be obtained through Item Creation or as drops from Raid Enemies.
Additional Content: Event Scenes
New NPC illustrations added to event scenes!
Illustrations for six NPCs who appear in event scenes have been added to the game. All of these character illustrations have been newly drawn by Yukihiro Kajimoto.
New Character Graphics Collection and playback feature in the Ending Collection!
The update adds a Character Graphics Collection that allows you to look at all the character illustrations whenever you like, and a playback feature in the Ending Collection that allows you to revisit the endings you’ve achieved at any time. It goes without saying that the Character Graphics Collection features Claude, Rena and the team, but you can also view art of the Ten Wise Men and the newly added character illustrations. The Ending Collection playback feature allows you to view any of the endings you’ve unlocked from the Special option on the title screen.
Additional Content: Useful Features
New features allow you to choose how you wish to keep playing the game after completion!
Features have been added to allow you to customize your subsequent playthroughs after having completed the game.
Claude or Rena’s star will appear on the title screen, depending on what completed save files you have. You can now choose whether to reset character. Levels when carrying over a save file (items etc. will be carried over).
Lastly, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is available now on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
