*Spoilers for the Star Ocean Series*
Unlike all the other Star Ocean games which are a sci-fi/Fantasy hybrid with themes around technology affecting underdeveloped worlds, Star Ocean The Second Story is more of an isekai that just happens to have one of the characters being from outer space. Unlike the other games, Second Story doesn’t explore much in regards to sci-fi concepts, sure Rena’s backstory is kind of a Sci-Fi concept but at the same time it kinda isn’t because it doesn’t really influence anything. I mean it’s not like Rena is a synthetic lifeform or anything like Relia is in 5, she’s just a humanoid from another race who can heal people and that is moreso a fantasy concept than sci-fi. Claude’s side is just full on isekai, you don’t even get to go to a world that feels super technologically advanced, Energy Nede feels like a modern day setting but with teleporters and symbological knowledge, sure they are highly gifted symbologists and are advanced in the arts of symbology but technology… not so much. Seemingly everything that is advanced that shows up in Energy Nede is or could very well be considered to be tied to Symbology, which makes it more of a magical world than a futuristic world.
Enjoy it while it lasts, Laser Guns are banned after this part.
Everything in Star Ocean 2 feels like your typical Isekai anime, lots of getting sidetracked with events not tied directly to the main goal, lots of mystical aspects and fantastical stuff to separate the “other world” from the “normal world”. The bad guys come across as being extremely powerful and highly intimidating but they aren’t really expanded on save for a bit of lore in the nede section detailing things but even when you find out who they are, you realize that the villains don’t really matter all that much, they’re just kinda there. The purpose of them is just to provide an opposing force for the “heroes” to fight because otherwise, the whole game would have been a slice of life isekai with no real threat, it would just be “man gets stuck on a planet and… I dunno, settles there?”
“What a quaint little village, would be nice to settle down here with my new blue goblin girlfriend that I just met 2 seconds ago… but I have to save the world from a bunch of nobodies because I’m the hero of light.” How isn’t this an Isekai???
Then you have games like Star Ocean 6 which does a similar thing with Raymond but it doesn’t feel like an isekai at all and doesn’t present itself as such, Raymond ends up on an underdeveloped planet sure but he treats it like it is tuesday. He’s more concerned with other things like the federation and his crew, he is able to communicate with his brother and is guarenteed a lift back home on the Aldous but he gets caught up in something that actually ties in with sci-fi meddling so he plays a major role using his knowledge of technology as a means of fighting back against the threat. It feels like there’s less of a feeling of wanderlust that comes from entering a new world than there is in Star Ocean 2 as you’re getting straight to business. Claude on the other hand is going on an adventure with his pals to explore the El continent, there’s no immediate stakes like Raymond, where his crew could be in danger and the interferance from the Vyr could cause even more trouble.
Even the other Star Ocean games don’t feel like an Isekai, the first game has you going to the past to acquire a serum, the third game has you dealing with numerous technological threats as well as some crazy stuff near the end, Star Ocean 4 introduces the whole idea of providing underdeveloped worlds with new technology, Blue Sphere has you traveling through ancient technologically advanced ruins that have been colonized by more underdeveloped settlers who are being affected by the technology around them. Star Ocean 5 deals with technology turning your peaceful world upside down.
Pretty sure using firearms is cheating.
But Second Story is just your typical isekai, like you take away all the setting prior to Claude getting warped out of Milokeenia and that’s pretty much what it is, it’s every Isekai anime you’ve seen before. Now that isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing, people do enjoy Isekai after all, it just makes Second Story stand out as being the most conventional storyline and therefore the odd one out of the series. You don’t even get to explore a space ship if you pick Rena, only very briefly with Claude and your airship is just some fantastical creature that flies around as opposed to say a shuttle. It’s as if Second Story was deliberately trying to eliminate all traits of science fiction from the story, finding more fantastical alternatives to the point that it doesn’t really feel like a Sci-Fi RPG at all. One of my friends who tried the game expecting a science fiction setting was disappointed by this and I had to explain to him that Star Ocean 2 doesn’t really have much Sci-Fi in it and that it’s just an isekai but when you see it for what it truly is, an isekai, it’s not so bad. I just think that it’s kinda easy for people to be misled by Star Ocean 2’s lack of Sci-fi because it truly is the odd one out.
Every story needs a hero.
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