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Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (346)

2010-07-05T07:10:00.002+01:00

Ernest Raviede, 35 years old adventurer and archaeologist from Tetragenes; recklessly exploring ancient ruins all over the universe in his quest for historical knowledge.

Ernest is a minor character with hardly any moment in the spotlight; he's also hard to use effectively in combat, making him a severely disappointing prize for the stuff you need to go through for recruiting him.

We don't know the exact reason why Ernest landed on Expel, but his archaeological interests surely played some part in it: the first time our friends meet him, he'd just come out of Cross Castle from an audience with the king, in which he requested his permission to explore the ruins by the Col lake. The party explored the ruins later on while following Opera, who was in turn searching for her beloved Ernest after Claude had told her where they had met him; of course Ernest had already left the place, but there were clear signs of him having been there (like a blown-up wall and marks of an illegal rifle on two large monsters). Apparently he went for the Hoffman ruins after that, but in neither case did he take any of the treasure.

Opera fell in love with Ernest, probably for his adventurous, Indiana Jones-like charm and stuff, but he doesn't seem to care much; he does care for her safety though, but that may be mainly because of the difference in age (and/or the fact that she's a woman and that she tends to follow him anywhere, even in dangerous situations). Always calm and composed, Ernest prefers to work alone, and he doesn't seem to have any interest beyond his job. His whip always at his side, he wears a white coat (looks more like a labcoat than a trench coat) and ordinary exploration clothes in the artwork: his game sprite looks a lot different, as he looks like he's wearing a night-gown or something.

This concludes the Star Ocean 2 series. There won't be any more posts about Funny Bits for a while.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (345)

2010-07-02T06:50:00.003+01:00

Leon Geeste, 12 years old prodigy in science and Heraldry; he's apparently a Felpool, the only one on Expel, but nobody seems to notice.

Showing signs of his own genius mind at a very young age, Leon is introduced by his parents, both scientists, to the world of scientific research. Supported by the King of Lacour, he's given everything he needs to put his talent into practice, but something doesn't feel right in all that: after all, Leon is but a child still, and having to do research work at such a young age, with all those royal formalities and absolute lack of kids his age to play or at the very least talk with, he had to skip his childhood entirely, with the added result of becoming an arrogant brat. Moreover, we find out that the king has him work in the military department to build a weapon of devastating power; but noone, not even Claude and his friends seem to find anything wrong with a kid helping build such a weapon, so let's just ignore that.

Meeting with Claude and going with him on a mission, Leon finally realizes his limits, and also experiences having some friends for the first time, with whom he can talk normally. He comes back changed from the trip to the Hoffman ruins, but that's not all fate has in store for the little Felpool: having to take part in the mission to invade the continent of El, the demons' preemtive strike takes them by surprise and everyone on the warship falls overboard. Leon is found by Claude on the shore of El, and they soon reunite with Rena and the other adventurers, but there's no trace of Leon's parents; the kid was about to give in to desperation, but Claude helped him regain his senses. At this point, Claude thinks it's best for Leon to tag along, and he gets involved in all the events that follow. At least he didn't have to blow up along with Expel, unlike a certain swordsman.

Under his labcoat - which drags on the ground because it's too long for him - he's dressed like any other kid his age (I think... It's hard to make some details out on the game sprites); the artwork depicts him with a parchment in his pocket, which I'd wager is just some paperwork from the castle. We don't get to see his tail here either: maybe he gets away with being a Felpool because everyone thinks those ears are fake and his parents made him hide the tail (or had it surgically removed, Sayajin-style). Leon specializes in Heraldry of the element of Water and dark arts, and it's particularly impressive (or chuckle-worthy) to see him invoke the Word of Death upon his foes (too bad it rarely even works).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (344)

2010-07-01T06:27:00.003+01:00

Opera Vectra (no reference to the car model), 20 years old, daughter of a rich and noble Tetragenes family; we don't know much about her current occupation, but her hobby is gambling.

Departed from her planet to chase after her love interest, Ernest, Opera crash-landed on Expel: she wasn't concerned about the prospect of not being able to get back as much as finding the elusive explorer. Claude and the others meet her by accident in a tavern, where she's trying to buy information with drinking contests, and after telling her what they know about Ernest, our heroes decide to go after her - Claude in particular, since he understands she's an alien on Expel and might have some means of space travelling. To the disappointment of our Earthling, Opera's ship is broken beyond repair, but Ernest should have one, so they stick together in hopes of finding him during their travels.

Opera finds Ernest right outside the Hoffman ruins, possessed by some evil spirit, and after a short scene which reveals something more about the two Tetragenes' personality and relationship, Ernest is saved (by a blast of Opera's cannon, no less) and the two are back together. Being the adventurous type he is, though, Ernest can't resist the chance of going to investigate the Sorcery Globe with the group, and Opera tags along, also to show her friends gratitude for having helped her so far.

Opera's outfit is certainly unfit for exploration (I could say the same for most of the party, to be fair), but she makes up for it with Kaleidoscope, a high precision multi-ammo rifle, which can shoot different kinds of rays depending on the disk she puts into it. The aiming goggles (yeah, the bunny ears you see in her game sprite) allow her to mark her target in any light condition and with the utmost precision, so it's very rare that she misses a shot; but it's also rare that she actually shoots, for she loves to use the rifle as a blunt weapon for some reason. Her being blonde doesn't mean she's an airhead, although she seems to like pretending to be one, possibly using this to her advantage.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (343)

2010-06-30T07:56:00.002+01:00

Precis F. Neumann, age 16, lives in the eccentric town of Linga with her father. She loves tinkering with machines in a world where hardly any of them exists.

Always cheerful and energetic, Precis decides on a whim to follow Claude and the others in their quest; whether she does this for her instantly developed crush on our male protagonist, because of her technical interest in the Sorcery Globe, or because she saw this event as a good excuse to leave town and go on an adventure is anybody's guess, but I'd say it's a combination of all of them. She doesn't really take an active part in the main story of the game, but she makes sure you won't be able to ignore her, what with her loud dialogues and wealth of Private Actions.

Even though few people could think it possible, Precis dresses even more weirdly than Rena and Celine combined: what stands out the most is her robotic equipment, with a half exoskeleton filled to the brim with accessories (including, but not limited to a huge hammer), clown shoes or something (presumably with shock absorbers), and a Sony Dual Shock controller to control all her electronic stuff. She wears some kind of work suit, and you can see her tights ripped on her knee, a sign of her clumsyness. You can't see it in the artwork, but she also carries Bobot, everyone's favourite radio-controlled car - as Claude loved to refer to it - with her anywhere she goes; or, rather, she's busy chasing after it most of the time, which suggests us it's either seriously broken or it's got a will of its own. Her game sprite widely differs from this drawing: the colours are all different and, instead of the exoskeleton, she carries a backpack.

Precis's interest in Claude probably generates, aside from physical attraction, from the fact that he showed some curiosity towards the neat stuff she works on, instead of staying away from her and from her machines like everyone on Expel does. Of course, for an Earthling machines like that are nothing special, and for Claude (who's decently knowledgeable in science subjects) it's normal to see someone working on them; however, a machine geek is still a geek, and Precis geekery, coupled with her hyperactivity, makes sure her love for Claude is one-sided (at least by default, since the player can change that).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (342)

2010-06-29T07:19:00.002+01:00

Celine Jules, 23 years old, adventurous explorer and Heraldic mage in training - one of the most outrageously dressed at that.

Her mantle and circlet floating in the air, kept up only by her incredible Heraldic power, are a testimony of Celine's skill with the arcane arts of magic; in this portrait you can spot the tattoo used in Heraldry to draw upon one's magic, right below her... I mean between her... It's too embarrassing to say aloud, but you can certainly see it for yourself.

Seemingly attracted by hidden treasures in abandoned ruins or ancient caves, Celine spots Claude and Rena in Cross: one way or another, they end up exploring Cross Cave together, and after some insistence by Claude, she decides to accompany them in their epic quest to investigate the Sorcery Globe. Very formal in her speech, proud and self-confident, Celine has some moments in the spotlight during the Mars crisis, but then she fades from the scene, only having a support role in the Tournament of Arms in Lacour and little more.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (341)

2010-06-28T06:29:00.002+01:00

Rena Lanford, last survivor of the ancient Nedian race, healer and time traveller. You can't get any better than that.

This lass has endured a sad fate. What will the eternal passing of time expect of her? After being beamed from her home planet to Expel several billion solar years into the future, Rena is adopted by a local family and raised there while being hidden her true origins (well, the fact that she was found somewhere in a forest at least). Lost her adoptive father, she learns the truth and starts thinking about her real parents and the reason why she had been abandoned. The occurrance of several 'natural' disasters all over the land, and Rena's fateful encounter with the legendary Warrior of Light who's said to bring everything back to normal is her best opportunity to start a journey to find out more about her past.

Rena has to come to terms with several things in her life, the loss of her father first and foremost, so she develops a strong character (not to mention her physical strength, but that is barely touched upon, as it's noted in a single Private Action); her mysterious healing powers, while being a source of 'diversity' in relation to other people on Expel, actually give her means to help people in need, making her more accepting of them, if not more altruistic. But fate keeps throwing hardships at them, starting from the deep disappointment she feels when Claude states he's not the Warrior of Light she had thought him to be. The revelation of the existance of outer space and aliens, and of her being one of them - from an ancient past, no less - only make it harder for our little Nedian... I'm sorry, but writing it like this makes it sound even more ridiculous tha it already is; enough with her past.

At the beginning of our story, Rena is thought to be an ordinary Expellian living in a small village and dreaming about the Warrior of Light. Her outfit is, for some reason, quite out of the ordinary, at least as elaborate as the best Heraldry masters in Mars. In the artwork depicted above, you san see her carrying a dagger, which is never seen nor mentioned anywhere else in the game. Other than that, she wears a red mantle, which she uses to defend herself, and a crescent hairpin, which she had since she was found in the forest. No trace of her pendant (i.e. the Quadratic Key), which she must have placed under her shirt.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (340)

2010-06-24T06:45:00.004+01:00

Claude C. Kenni, your typical 19-years-old and stereotypical JRPG hero. He can wield one-handed swords and knows fearsome "Ki techniques"; he's quite tough, yet he's smart enough to get good grades in school.

The way he's dressed might make him look weird, even considering he's an Earthling from 2450 A.D. (he looks quite normal when compared to his companions): he sports an Earth Federation jacket, white trousers and some weird-looking shoes, probably all part of the uniform of the Calnus crew. He likes to wear his dark t-shirt outside his trousers (looking at his game sprite, at first I thought he was wearing one of those full-body space suits), and has a red bandana.

Claude isn't as heroic as one would expect from the Warrior of Light: although very altruistic and polite, he's competitive and stubborn, somewhat possessive, and not quite self-confident. He may also sound quite stupid from time to time, but I blame the writers of this game and/or the English translators. Our hero develops his leadership qualities during the course of his adventure; the unexpected loss of his father doesn't deter him from his mission, and he also manages to make a 12 years old boy and a 16 years old girl follow him to the end through their dangerous quest for the salvation of the Universe.

All in all, Claude isn't that bad as the main hero of the game, at least he's not as whiny as the other modern JRPG heroes. His voice though...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (339)

2010-06-23T06:35:00.003+01:00

Didn't expect that from Leon...

After being 'kicked' back to Nede, our heroes... No, their adventure is already over, it's just that I'm having some fun with them. The only stuff you can do now for fun is exploring the Cave of Trials, defeating Indalecio at his full power, and fighting in the Battle Stadium. I thought it'd be a good idea to make Celine fight through the Survival mode (50 duels in a row), thinking it'd be a great way to give her battle experience quickly; it turned out pretty bad, with her gaining only a couple of levels in about 20 fights, lasting half an hour or so. Survival mode isn't good for spellcasters, as they have no decent spells against single foes (Leon's Gremlin Lair is still pretty good, but by itself it won't get you very far, and it still takes long to cast).

This concludes my playthrough of Star Ocean: the 2nd Story. I'm going to close these Funny Bits with an overview of the characters I've used for my adventure.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (338)

2010-06-22T06:34:00.004+01:00

I really can't understand Claude: why would he say that to that cute little penguin? Besides, isn't it obvious what it's saying?

As mentioned before, Vern Vern is one of the differences in this virtual Expel, and it's also your key to return to Nede once you're done with your tour. The other major difference is that the Synard is waiting for you just outside of town. Know what this means? Other than not being ripped off by the ferry toll anymore, of course. You can finally land on the fourth continent of the planet, normally completely inaccessible. What's there, you ask? The Cave of Trials, a so-called "post-game dungeon": it's an additional challenge for players who've already finished the game, where your characters can become even stronger and acquire even better equipment (it still wasn't common practice in JRPGs back then, but a bunch of Dragon Quest games had those). It's extremely advisable that you go through them before attempting to defeat limiter-off Indalecio. I won't go through that this time, because there isn't any funny stuff inside (well, there's Puffy, but that's not worth the effort necessary to reach her).

One more thing: if you have Noel and/or Chisato among your characters (which I don't, unfortunately), you can see what these two are doing during Private Actions in the towns of Expel; there isn't any particular even with them, but they have new lines of dialogue. Be sure to visit Hilton and Lacour with them, as they have their best lines there. What's that? You can't find Chisato in Hilton? Look better!

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (337)

2010-06-21T07:08:00.003+01:00

I wonder why he's mad at that, though. Maybe Vern Vern has already kicked him in the face.

The old man tells Claude and the others to just close their eyes and relax; shortly after doing so, poof! Our heroes find themselves in Arlia! Thanks to this extremely sophisticated virtual reality technique, everything looks and feels real. Everything on Expel, which has been reconstructed from their memories is exactly like they remember it before going to Eluria (except some slight rockhopper penguin inside who goes 'pigya' (Evangelion reference?). This penguin, named Vern Vern (I suspect it's not a good translation of the name, but whatever), is here for a reason: if Claude tries to talk to it, you're given the option of making him say 'You silly Vern Vern' for some weird reason, and this would make the penguin so mad that it'd run around in rage, dash at Claude, and tackle him towards the game screen, thus interrupting the VR simulation. It's basically a way to return to Nede. The other difference is that now the 'lovey-dovey newlywed couple' has a son.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (336)

2010-06-18T06:21:00.002+01:00

We're talking Matrix-level virtual reality here, only without the cumbersome cable plugged into your neck. The Nedians are really something!

If you wandered around in this area you'd meet someone who tells you there's an old man who believes he has the power to 'restore the memories of the hero' or something; I don't know if it's a reference to a specific story or videogame, but you could say it's a cliché enough character in RPGs. Meeting this aptly labeled Mysterious old man before reaching the last Save Point, he simply says 'Shall I recover your past memories? It's a joke'; however, if you have the patience to return here after going all the way through Fienal, he becomes more serious about this. He says there's this fashionable technique which can create a virtual reality from one's memories, and he can do this for you on the spot, without any sort of equipment (Heraldry?). Accept his offer and... guess where you'll end up.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (335)

2010-06-17T07:24:00.003+01:00

Yeah, they shouldn't sit on the ground, at the very least to avoid obstructing passages.

Why are we back at the Battle Stadium? Our friends didn't really explore this part of Fun City yet, so here they are. There are some spectators here because there's someone fighting in the arena at almost any time. Here you can also find signs of there being Nedians who smoke... Weird, we've been everywhere on this planet and yet we couldn't see anyone smoke cigarettes; instead it seems there are at least some who regularly spend their time here.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (334)

2010-06-16T07:08:00.003+01:00

Claude: Alright *stabs her*... Oh, before you die, why me, of all people?

If you go all the way back from the last Save Point in Fienal to Central City (it's a really long walk, I hope you don't mind... No, there's no way to get out more quickly), you'll meet Filia here. You might remember her for her accurate prediction of the disaster that struck the town of Clik. Wait a minute, that was on Expel! How in the world... Well, it doesn't matter, she seems to want your help.

She abruptly says she wants you to kill her, and tries to explain this insane thought of hers by mentioning how she's linked to the Ten Wise Men. As it usually happens in these cases, you get no chance to even choose what to do, because she disappears shortly after that; all you learn is that she's the daughter of Dr. Lantis, the man that created the Tewn Wise Men. Oh, you also learn that Filia was 'programmed to be unable to get her own life'... Does it mean she's an android or something? Who cares? She left an equippable accessory behind!

This event has the effect of changing the last part of the game: the secret research data in North City (which you can only unlock with some private Actions with Chisato) would have told you explicitly, but you may also deduce by yourself that Dr. Lantis is Indalecio, turned into an android to lead the Ten Wise Men in his plan of total destruction; what you don't learn with just this scene is that he's decided to do all that because of revenge against the people who killed his daughter and covered their crime. I won't bore you with all the information you can get from the secret data, just know that obtaining it doesn't actually change anything in the story. This event with Filia, instead, causes Indalecio to absorb her consciousness and to erase the limiter factor that sealed his real power.

Fighting Indalecio with this 'limiter' erased nets you a slight variation of the ending sequence; more importantly, it makes the final battle a lot harder. And by that I mean A LOT harder! His speed increases dramatically, he can now easily cast any Heraldry spell while moving (and at that speed it's almost impossible to disrupt his chanting), he's physically stronger, and he can also petrify his opponents with his attacks. Winning this battle is no joke, even on the basic difficulty (the game has two hidden difficulty levels, and at the last one, 'Universe', he's almost unbeatable, no matter your characters' level); if you plan to fight 'Limiter-off' Indalecio, I'd suggest you try going through the Cave of Trials first. What's that, you say? Well, where should I start...?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (333)

2010-06-15T06:17:00.003+01:00

The words sound a bit corny... Also, it's not very encouraging to hear that their adventure has just begun, seeing as they've already saved the universe.

After the credit roll, with a CG video of the planets our heroes have visited (following a Synard that flies around), the game ends with this screen. It's been a long ride, but I don't want to stop just yet: there are a few extra screenshots I wanted to pick from what you could call 'the aftergame'. I think I may have already mentioned that once you reach the last Save Point in the game (which is right before the final battle with Indalecio) something changes, and since my last save was right there - of course - I wanted to show some more funny parts about it.

I'd like to mention that none of the ending sequences about the characters in the game are 'canon', at least with regards to Star Ocean Blue Sphere (the sequel to this game, for Gameboy Color), but I won't mention any further details about it.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (332)

2010-06-14T06:24:00.002+01:00

Claude didn't waste any time, did he? Well, actually it was probably Rena, what with being the last Nedian in existance and all.

The more attentive players may recognize this place: this is Ronixis's room, which Claude's flashback showed us in the Field of Intelligence. It's nice to see Claude and Rena in there... Not really, since this is just because the developers were reusing locations (if you compare the two rooms, you'll see that even the flowers in the pot look the same), but can you really blame them, with some 80 endings to manage? And some of the endings even have new locations. But enough of that...

After their extraordinary adventure, Rena decides to follow Claude to Earth, where they presumably get married; Claude takes his father's place in the Earth Federation, to his utmost satisfaction (because he actually accomplished heroic deeds that made him deserve it, instead of relying only on Commodore Kenni's fame) yet not without problems (like his father, he's now so busy with his job that he can't spend much time with Rena). Rena thought about using her unique healing powers for the good of as many people as possible, and to help in Heraldry Science research, but she now has other more important things to worry about, with her baby coming soon.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (331)

2010-06-11T08:05:00.003+01:00

Wooo! A lot better than I expected: hot Opera on Celine action! ...Ahem, sorry. It's just that I couldn't fathom Opera going all the way back to Expel (and lying about that) only to see a friend.

It appears that having these girls always fight together in battle (my formation has always been Claude, Rena, and alternating between two couples, Opera/Celine and Precis/Leon) has paid off in the end. There really is no good way to improve their relationship with Private Actions, so that was unexpected. It's also the first time I see this ending.

Opera and Celine meet again after a while, in the town of Mars (which is somewhat unusual, since Celine is always travelling, but I guess she needed some rest after saving the universe). Chatting about the latest news, their conversation quickly falls onto their respective sentimental life: after jumping a bit around the fact that both of them are still single, they agree to change the subject. It looks like Opera has finally lost her patience with Ernest; now, either she can't settle with any other man, or she's having problems getting other guys on her own planet because of her drinking habit. Celine, on the other hand, certainly has her character to blame for that; to think that she was once engaged with 'professor' Bowman Jean... And let's not forget about her short adventure with the prince of Cross. Oh well, at least Opera and Celine still have each other... Ok, I'll stop now.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (330)

2010-06-10T06:40:00.002+01:00

Yeah, battling hordes of demons, getting beamed to another unknown planet while your home planet has been destroyed, and fighting against the most powerful beings in the universe is nothing to the likes of Precis F. Neumann! I guess she's acting tough, anyway: do you remember that scene in North City?

Precis is back to her usual life, tinkering with machines together with her father. She may have acquired some advanced knowledge during her stay in Energy Nede (although I had the impression that she had been busy chasing after Bobot half the time), but she surely hasn't improved her methods.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (329)

2010-06-09T07:08:00.002+01:00

Does Leon have to wear his labcoat even when playing with his friends? He's at a serious disadvantage with it on when playing tag and Hide-and-seek.

Leon's parents are so happy to see their son coming back in triumph that they've started to care more about him as a child: so far they've had him swamped in books, always working in the lab and leading the life of an adult, but now they finally understand he would have missed the joys of careless childhood, of playing with frinds his age, and of having a loving mother and father.

All this is well and good, but isn't this a bit too late? I mean, Leon is already 12 when the game starts, and he still plays tag? I suppose on Expel they may have different habits, but I've seen no indication of that during my playthroughs.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (328)

2010-06-08T06:29:00.003+01:00

Here's the hard-boiled interstellar adventurer for you! Despite his rather unscientific methods, Ernest is actually very successful in his endeavours thanks to his broad experience; him getting possessed by an evil spirit was just bad luck... At least according to him.

We have ignored our Mr. Explorer for most of the story, so it's only fitting that we see him by himself now. Has Opera finally given up on him? We'll see... By the way, while this place looks a lot like the Millocinia cave where Claude's misadventures started, we don't know for sure it's the same place.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (327)

2010-06-07T07:47:00.002+01:00

Why are they drawn so badly here? It's the ending sequence. I know that animations are harder to do, but it's like 4 frames for each character.

The view shifts to Energy Nede seen from space. the explosions generated by the modified Crest of Annihiation soon cover the whole planet, which is destoryed in a myriad of colours, leaving nothing behind... Wait, what are those lights? Yes, it's Claude, Rena and the others, floating in space inside glowing balls of light! Ok, I know that the whole idea of Narl making Expel return by fishing it from the past was a ridiculous idea, but was this sequence really necessary?

Claude: Now! Let's return to Expel!
Rena: Yes!

They fly away, their hands touching.

The story is over, but aren't you curious to see what became of our heroes after this epic adventure? We'll find out in the next few posts.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (326)

2010-06-04T08:10:00.001+01:00

Claude: You can't expect me to get all that in such an emergency situation so I'm going to pretend that the absurd nonsense you're talking about that not even Precis would believe to be possible is actually an entirely plasible theory
Precis: Hey!

Narl and Mirage have been hiding their real plan from our heroes all along (not that the outcome is much different with respect to them): the Crest of Enchantment can't actually stop the Crest of Annihilation, so Narl took an extreme decision. All the destructive power of the final crest will be redirected to Energy Nede itself, which apparently has strong enough barriers/structure/magic/whatever to contain an explosion that would destroy the entire universe (if that makes sense to you... Not that I'd want to make any sense out of this whole game anyway).

Mirage adds that it's still possible to return everybody to Expel - everybody in the group, that is; despite Claude and Rena's bewilderment about this, Narl, Mirage and everyone else on Nede have made the conscious decision to 'sink with the ship', stating that it isn't worth for a species that has stopped evolving to keep on living. Narl entrust Rena the task of preserving the Nedian race (if you have Noel and/or Chisato in your party, this task is extended to them as well) as the last survivor(s) of their people. Not a tear, not a shiver disrupts Narl and Mirage's faces in this moment of final parting - 'That's probably because our hearts are with you' says Narl.

In a moment an intense white light fills the air...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (325)

2010-06-03T09:12:00.002+01:00

How in the world did they get up here so fast? Even if defeating Indalecio had instantly deactivated the barrier around Fienal and lowered all its defenses, it was mere seconds ago. I guess I can't really be unhappy about it though, as Rena would have forgotten about her important task.

The Crest of Annihilation has been activated! Indalecio is probably thinking that, even though he's been defeated, all is going according to keikaku (translator's note: keikaku means plan in Japanese). But Narl and Mirage suddenly appear behind our heroes and tell Rena to use the special crest they gave her. Some questions:

as already mentioned, how did they manage to get here so quickly?
where is the Crest of Annihilation exactly?
how do you place the Crest of Enchantment upon it?

I've always wondered about Heraldic Crests, and how we never really see what they really are. Even now that Rena has performed the crest 'overwriting', we only see a drawing of two circular inscriptions, one red and one blue, over the game screen. Were they inscribed on paper? Were they engraved upon a stone, or a piece of metal? I suppose these are just some of the many questions I've been asking about the game without finding a sound answer.

The Crest of Enchantment appears to work: the Crest of Annihilation is overwritten and the ground stops shaking. 'Did we do it...?' Claude wonders, but his question is immediately interrupted by the start of an even more violent quake. 'What? Why?' asks Rena, worried about the situation. Turning towards Narl and Mirage, the group is surprised at seeing them very calm and composed, even with a kind of solemn look on their faces. 'It has begun' Mirage states.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (324)

2010-06-01T06:45:00.003+01:00

Unless by 'we' he means himself and not all of the Ten Wise Men, that isn't exactly true. This scene looks so anticlimatic though: everything feels so static, there's a distinct lack of pathos.

And thus Indalecio's plans have been foiled. Our heroes stand in triumph, yet listen to the last words of their final opponent; he doesn't seem to reveal much more about his mission, except that he was created specifically for the purpose of destroying the Universe (but he doesn't say by whom). Is it really over? Suddenly the ground starts shaking...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (323)

2010-05-31T07:37:00.003+01:00

Since there's nothing really funny about the last battle, I thought I'd at least have a screenshot of it, even if it isn't funny. By the way, you can see all my characters are doing fine so far: having the Eternal Sphere and Bunny Shoes equipped, Claude is almost no match for the opponent, although he still needs help from his friends.

The last of the Ten Wise Men, Indalecio, is busy activating the Crest of Annihilation, in a room on the 8th floor of the Fienal stronghold that can only be accessed by going up to the 9th (and last) floor. Yeah, if you thought this place was an architectural mess, now you know it's even worse... To be fair, I guess they might have made it like a castle or a fortress on purpose, but I don't want to know how. When our heroes arrive to the room, which seems to house the Quadratic Sphere (remember the Sorcery Globe?), they're too late - or at least Indalecio says so: the crest is completed and it only needs activation. Indalecio is sure his plan will succeed because he knows the crest will be activated in any case, but he doesn't know about the Crest of Enchantment Rena is carrying with her.

Before the inevitable fight, our heroes question Indalecio about his need to destroy the Universe, for they hope to change his mind since it's so dumb an idea, to which he replies by saying that the destruction of the Universe was the sole purpose he was made for, his raison d'etre. We don't get any more than that, but let me tell you a bit of what could have happened...

There are two separate events that reveal a bit more of who the Ten Wise Men, and more specifically Indalecio, are: the first is the set of Private Actions involving Chisato which I've already mentioned, and that only gives you some more information; the second is completely independent from the first, and it only reveals part of what you can find out with Chisato, but it changes the final part of the game. You can trigger both events anyway. We'll eventually come back to that.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (322)

2010-05-28T06:34:00.003+01:00

Does this stone naturally have that yellow Q-shaped frame?

The more our heroes advance in their mission, the stranger the treasures they uncover are. Minerals they've never seen before are a good example of that: I bet neither Claude nor the Expellians knew Mythril actually existed (and Claude is certainly glad it does), although probably our friend Ernest the adventurous space archaeologist has already had the pleasure of seeing some... Oh, about him... To think that I've almost forgotten about him being in the party: I've simply stripped him of all his equipment and thrown him at the last party slot, never using him in battle. The only times I'm reminded Ernest is still with us is during cutscenes and when I'm scrolling through the characters' equipment screen.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (321)

2010-05-27T06:38:00.003+01:00

Ok, this is just another typo, but it stands out so much... We're close to the end of the game, you know that.

Cyril's plans to overthrow the leader of the Ten Wise Men failed the moment he decided not to wait for our heroes to defeat his boss first: he might have had a chance at defeating them if he had attacked them by surprise after they had won, since they'd be tired then (on second thought, no, he wouldn't have, not in my case at least). In the end, he was just another (un)wise man who fell by the hands of justice.

Battling these powerful beings one after another, our friends don't have much time to wonder about what the Ten Wise Men's reasons were for wanting to annihilate the whole universe; rule it? That, one could understand. But since we're almost at the end, someone in the party already feels in grasp of victory, loses the constant fighting tension that accumulated during the assault: it won't change their final task, that is to stop the Crest of Annihilation, but they have a right to know the reasons they're fighting against.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (320)

2010-05-26T06:53:00.002+01:00

If only these Ten Wise Men had tactics that were a tad more advanced that the typical 'wait in a room and deploy weaker fighters to face the attackers', or the slightly more refined 'gang up on the attackers, but not more than 3 at a time'. I mean, when they got the news that Marsilio & co. had been killed, wouldn't they feel like using something like that intergalactic cyclotrone cannon they used to blow up the Calnus on our emerging heroes? You know, just to be sure. After all, didn't Berle himself say 'a lion must expend all his effort to catch a rabbit'? I suppose he was the only one who thought that way...

Cyril is skilled in wind Heraldry, and as we all know, wind is the least powerful element in RPGs (excluding heart, but I doubt many RPGs count that as an element); however, he makes it hit very hard, so it's advisable to have some protection (the Anti spell if you have it, and generally a good number of HP for all your characters). Being a spellcaster, Cyril is weak in close combat, and while he likes to teleport around, if you keep pounding him, he'll stay in place most of the time.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (319)

2010-05-26T06:40:00.002+01:00

From time to time I forget whether it's known that the Ten Wise Men are androids and not real people (before the research event with Chisato anyhow), which makes this line quite funny to me.

Only two of the Ten Wise Men are now left. Leaving the floor where our heroes defeated Decus and Vesper, the party faces an imperscrutable labyrinth... By that I mean a boring maze with coloured switches that unlock the way forward or reveal treasures; there aren't even any enemies around. After this pathetic excuse for a puzzle (for some more interesting ones, you'll have to reach the after-game Cave of Trials), there are still some more floors separating the group from the room where Cyril, the second in command. This guy seems a little different from the others: sure, he's still talkative, full of himself, and quite powerful, but he seems to have some mixed feelings about the plans of his leader. I guess Cyril is more of a classical 'rule the world' villain, with traitorous traits to boot, but that doesn't really change anything in the end, since he's still our enemy.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (318)

2010-05-26T06:35:00.003+01:00

I bet you can't see the funny here. Well, there's a series of rooms that look pretty much like this one in Fienal, and in some of them there's something in the centre that blocks your character from walking through: I don't know what it is. Also, there's a door in this area that will never open, no matter what switches are pressed; it always nags me, and every time I play the game I want to know what's behind it.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (317)

2010-05-21T06:38:00.003+01:00

Claude: You're already dead!

After having disposed of the three forgettable Wise Men at the entrance of Fienal, our heroes, full of confidence, head inside the fortress. This place is a sight to behold: the interiors have all kinds of irregular decorations, from the oddly-shaped tiles on the floor to the tubes running along the walls, to the weird machines you can find here and there. Every door has a red symbol engraved on it (is it the Crest of Annihilation?), and every floor has transporters that lead only to a floor above or below. That last part makes me wonder how much of this is the Ten Wise Men's work, and how much was already there in the building.

There's a good number of robotic guards around, some of which our heroes fought on their first assault to the stronghold; there are also some flying... cartridges of sorts, that can plug into these robots to "upgrade" them, improving their speed and strength. Here and there you can also find a huge phoenix monster (no doubt some other crazy Heraldic beast) resembling Xine from Expel (a creature you can only meet in your quest to help Ashton Anchors, who we didn't bump into); it packs quite a punch, and it has a quick charge attack that easily stuns its opponents, so if you don't have the Eternal Sphere stay on your toes.

Going up from floor to floor, our friends eventually reach the fourth level, where two more of the Ten Wise Men (now down to four) await: Decus and Vesper - so they introduce themselves - seem even more full of themselves, and with some reason, as they're decidedly stronger than the three guys from before. Decus specializes in fire attacks, some of which have devastating power, and smack talk (yes, it's probably the most annoying part, generally because of his voice), while Vesper is the polar opposite, unleashing water attacks. Since it's not common to have accessories that protect against both elements at once, I'd suggest you make your party level up until Rena or Celine learn Anti, a very useful defensive spell that improves the elemental resistances of the whole party for the battle. These two only have brute force on their side, therefore you can eventually overpower them (you can oversmart them as well, if you prefer, but that would involve switching characters a lot, since it's hard to have the AI keep one of them busy).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (316)

2010-05-20T06:31:00.003+01:00

I still fail to see the link between these pink, thick-heeled boots and bunnies.

Next to the Eternal Sphere, here's another item that breaks the game; this one you can also get as soon as you're on Nede (well, you need a Synard first), but its powers are much less obvious to the ordinary adventurer. Equipping the Bunny Shoes on a character will make him/her run A LOT faster on the battlefield (emphasis on A LOT, cause I don't wanna change font size), that much you can figure out, but that this gives you an unfair advantage against most enemies isn't a given. While attack speed isn't affected, you should know by now that almost all attacks and Killer Moves require the character to line up with his/her target, in which a dramatic increase in speed helps a lot.

The extra speed from the Bunny Shoes is also useful for significantly shortening the duration of battles against weaker enemies, since now you can have a fighter quickly reach your enemies and dispatch them. Oh, and let's not forget about a very nice side-effect these shoes have: this piece of equipment is one of the few in the game that raises your character's stamina by a good amount, giving him/her the added benefit of almost never having to heal or regain MPs after a battle (if his/her base stamina is high enough, s/he'll even start regaining strength during battle). Finally, the Bunny Shoes can be useful even for spellcasters, both for the increase in stamina and for making them less vulnerable to direct attacks (although it's a waste to equip them on spellcasters, unless you've got spare pairs).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (315)

2010-05-19T06:23:00.003+01:00

Not only is there that stuff in Star Ocean 2, it's also distributed as candies to trick the children into trying them!

They say you can only win them at the Bunny Races. These Magical Drops can be really useful when you're in a pinch in battle (although I don't think they always work), because once ingested, they freeze everyone but the party on the spot for some time. I only got some because I won a race where there were no Bunny Shoes among the prizes, don't get me wrong...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (314)

2010-05-18T06:20:00.002+01:00

About what? He must have hit his head when falling to our heroes' beating, that's all they say right after the fight, and then they disappear. I smell bad translation...

It looks like the Ten Wise Men are still cocky, as they didn't block the underwater passage; some of them are actually waiting for the assault team to show up at the gates of Fienal. But this time it's three of them, attacking the group together rather than one by one. After some smack talk (and introductions), Ruprecht, Jibril and Nicolus initiate the battle.

These three guys are stronger than Marsilio and the others, but not by much; however, having all three attack at once can be a problem. Ruprecht and Jibril can teleport around the area instantly, and each of them is very dangerous: Ruprecht has a giant tuning fork for a weapon, and he can use it to create a huge wind blast in front of him, heavily damaging (or most likely killing if your party isn't over-leveled) anyone he's facing; Jibril can 'absorb' one character into some kind of black hole under his tunic (!!! I'm afraid to comment here). Nicolus is the spellcaster of the group, and he specializes in water and lightning Heraldry, so it's best to have some protection against these two elements (if Rena or Celine have already learned Anti it won't be necessary).

If you come to this battle unprepared, you may take a sound beating, but there's no need to worry: being at the entrance of Fienal, not only can you save the game right before the fight, you can also easily return to Nede and make some more preparations. Even then, a bit of strategy will get you past this fight a lot faster: you can either spread out your fighters to keep everyone busy, or you can focus of Ruprecht, who's the most dangerous (if you have the Eternal Sphere and the Bunny Shoes on Claude - like I did - you won't have any problem as long as he stays alive).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (313)

2010-05-17T07:22:00.003+01:00

I like how, despite the flaunted seriousness of the story, Narl treats time paradoxes as 'minor problems'. All science fiction novels and movies about time travelling should do the same.

The next morning... Wait, have I ever inquired about Energy Nede's day-night cycle? You know how the artificial planet has an extremely lengthy orbital period, but what about its rotation? And should we really care? After all, like it was on Expel, the game has us believe the night only comes when the party rests at an inn, and in a few other instances.

Sorry for the digression. Our heroes are rested and ready to battle: they line up to embark the Herush once again (won't they have their defenses up this time), but Narl has some additional instructions for them this time. The mayor hands Rena the Crest of Enchantment, a special Heraldic crest that, when placed over the Crest of Annihilation, will 'overwrite it and change its meaning'; before he can explain what it does in further detail, Dr. Mirage shows up and cuts it short, explaining that it'll simply avert the destruction of the universe. After Claude has expressed some concern about the doctor's wounds, which she doesn't seem to care about now, Narl adds that all preparations for their plan to bring Expel back are done, and as soon as the Ten Wise Men are defeated, they'll be able to use Fienal's energy generator immediately.

Reassured by these words, the group hops onto (into?) the Herush once again.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (312)

2010-05-14T06:46:00.003+01:00

Claude: I'm not sure I can take that as a compliment, Celine darling...

Wow, that was unexpected! Having ignored Claude's romantic relationship with the girls in the party most of the time, I figured he'd end up with Rena, or even Precis... The last Private Action he had with Celine was in North City, if I remember correctly.

Ahem! I'm sorry, please let me explain the whole thing to the unacquainted with the game.

The group reaches L'Aqua and meets up with Narl; as they're all ready for the final mission - attempt number 2 - the mayor holds a brief meeting in the conference room. He explains that while they've already defeated three of the Ten Wise Men, we will still call them 'Ten' because we're used to it... er... I mean, he explains that the others are way more powerful than those, and now that the threat our heroes pose to their plan is known to them, they may try to employ more effective tactics as well. However, all he can do is ask Claude and the others to be fully prepared for the assault, which will take place as soon as possible... Tomorrow!

Narl tells our friends to enjoy their 'last night' in L'Aqua (this time it's for real, although, game-wise, you can still go back to explore Nede some more whenever you want), which, despite being a military outpost, is still quite a charming place, with all those lush natural surroundings, and the sea shore. Tonight is a quiet, clear, starry night, the perfect moment to spend some special time with the one you love, before the final battle. Claude, despite the advice he gave to Leon, is very fond of double-timing, as he was involved with all the girls in the party (except for Opera... If only we hadn't found Ernest, she'd be... Oh, sorry), but who is the one he really loves? And does she love him back?

The real question is, though, is Celine really the one for Claude? This night doesn't establish that, but it's generally a good enough indicator of that. The pair exchanges some romantic words with one another, and we leave them close together, as the view scrolls up to the starry sky.

Not happy with how the scene played out? Don't worry! This is a game, which means you can have fun with the characters' feelings all you want, and never feel bad about it! For example, there are ways to quickly alter the romance level between characters right before this night, allowing you to view practically each and every possible combination (only between Claude and one of the girls, though, so be warned). If Claude has either a high or a low romance level with every girl (that is, if everyone is about at the same level), you can easily use the authoring skill of each character to make only one girl have a high enough level, resulting in her spending the night with Claude for sure. If that's not applicable, then it may be harder, but it's definitely possible.

What's with the authoring skill screwing with people's hearts, you ask? Well, if a character produces a book, by means of his/her Writing Specialty (and a fountain pen, aren't we the refined writers?), and makes another character read it (once read, the book is discarded for some reason, so always make extras), it will alter the relationship level between the author and the reader. More specifically, one of the books a character can make will alter friendship, while the other (they're randomly chosen, but this one is more rare) will affect romance; in any case, the relationship level will always reach a fixed level (technically, it's an 8 out of 12). Make romance books as needed to have a romantic relationship above the rest, and you're done.

Yes, I did that with every girl (didn't bother with every man in the Rena story), because it's easier than manipulating the game ending (having to win the last fight and all). Unless I've screwed up somewhere, the scene with Claude and Rena is the most platonic one, possibly even the most cliché (after all, it's the one you're most likely to watch). None of these show anything beyond a kiss on the cheek (I'll let you guess who the girl is in that case), and I bet it's the same for Rena.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (311)

2010-05-13T06:44:00.002+01:00

Claude: How are you gentlemen!
Funny how they look surprised to see our heroes; maybe they thought they had been killed by the Ten Wise Men, or maybe it's just that they've spent so much time in Fun City having a good time, that they can't believe they're showing themselves like that without making excuses.

Claude, Rena and the others all gather outside of Fun City; telling each other that now the final battle is approaching, everybody resumes a serious attitude, some a gloomy face because still feeling insecure about their victory, some in higher spirits for their success in repelling the Ten Wise Men's attack. The Synard flies our friends to L'Aqua, where Narl is supposedly waiting for them... I hope we didn't make him wait too long.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (310)

2010-05-12T06:53:00.002+01:00

This is one of the funniest outcomes you can have: Precis and Leon insulting each other. They're both kids at heart...

Claude and Leon decide on a 'confession spot' for the little Felpool: the Cooking Master room is unoccupied at the moment, and there's nobody around, so it's a perfect quiet spot. Leon literally zooms there, excited as a kid can be, and entrusts Claude with the task to choose the girl for him and bring here there. Our hero is a bit entertained by the idea, but he's also a bit concerned that Leon might have a breakdown in case of rejection, so he thinks about who to choose for a minute. In the end, he goes for Precis, thinking that she's the closest to a kid's mindset, and may understand Leon's behavior better (however worried he may be at her being too rash).

Claude finds Precis still looking at stuff at the souvenir shop; he asks her if she could come with him someplace. The girl is quick to figure out that this is a love cofession, although, to her disappointment, it's not Claude's, he promptly clarifies. She agrees to go with him nonetheless, and once in the Cooking Master pavilion, Claude has to decide on the approach: Leon is hiding behind a seat, waiting for his signal, so he has to choose whether to explain things to Precis first or to let Leon take the initiative. Thinking that Leon probably couldn't handle it by himself, Claude tells Precis about the kid's feelings.

Surprised as she is, Precis somehow jokes about it, thinking Leon might become her assistant in her machine experiments. The little scientist, hearing this, apparently can't take this offense, and comes out of his hiding place: the two start quarrelling, and Claude's at a loss on what to do, except enjoy the show for a bit maybe.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (309)

2010-05-11T08:55:00.003+01:00

Oh, it looks like there's some romantic development going on behind our backs...

Well, that was a surprise! I guess you have some competition now, eh Claude?

...well, somebody should tell Leon that when 'it' happens, it doesn't mean you're in love.

This is one of the funniest Private Action scenes you can witness: basically Leon says he's fallen in love with all the girls in your party (if I had recruited Chisato as well, he'd be in love with 5 girls altogether!), and Claude offers to help him confess, but since he's against two-timing, he says he'll only bring one to him (you're no fun, Claude). It's up to you to decide who to bring, but you can always save outside of Fun City and reload the game to see all the possible matchings (yes, I did all of them... Yes, I'm sick). Next time I'll show you one possible outcome, but I'd like to add something now: for some reason, this Private Action can only be triggered if Leon has participated in the Cooking Master cook-off at least once (you don't have to win). Does anyone know why?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (308)

2010-05-10T07:06:00.002+01:00

To be frank, Opera, if the main attractions of Fun City are a battle arena, betting on races, and cook-offs, I'd say nobody's too old for that.

Opera's futile attempt at bringing back some dignity to the group only serves to remind our heroes that they should be going; they agree on having one last 'ride', and then it's onwards to L'Aqua. Opera and Ernest decide to relax at the hotel, Rena and Precis are off to make some last-minute purchases, and Celine opts for the bunny races (she seems to like those bunnies). Claude doesn't have anything interesting to do, so he enters the bar to have something to drink, and he's surprised to see Leon inside. The little Felpool, seeing the concerned look of his 'big brother', tells Claude he's just drinking orange juice. They start talking a bit, and it seems Leon has something on his mind...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (307)

2010-05-07T07:02:00.002+01:00

Don't you usually say 'fan girl' instead?

Claude didn't really notice how similar the Battle Stadium on Nede is to the arena in Lacour (lazy developers!) until now, and that brings back memories to him, good and bad ones. He wanders around the arena thinking about his adventure, and how he's changed during his travels (not much, after all); absorbed in thought, he unexpectedly finds himself in the comics shop, which is just above the stadium.

Claude doesn't seem to be into comics much (maybe they're not as common on Earth in 2440 AD), but it'd be weird for him to just walk out now, so he decides to look around. There's quite the crowd in here, and Claude notices a girl intent on leafing through an art book. 'Funny' he thinks 'That character has the same name as the dog I had when I was little... Probably just a coincidence'.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (306)

2010-05-06T07:01:00.002+01:00

That character's name sounds very interesting...

...but this one has him beat! He's truly hopeless, and an eclectic (or simply way too superstitious for comfort); it's also funny how some religions have carried over from Earth to Nede (or could it have been the other way round?).

After that meeting with Rena, with her dismissing him with a good laugh (if a bit forced, he thinks), Claude resumes his solitary stroll: he has no desire to return to the races, sick of the Bunny Shoes hunt as he is, and there's only one attraction left for him in Fun city. The Battle Stadium is always open to fighters who want to put themselves to the test, and there's a variety of battle modes one can choose from. Being alone, Claude may choose to take on ranked Duel Battles, or opt for the extremely tough Survival Battle, the latter having him endure 50 battles in a row, with only a bunch of support items to aid him. The prizes are good, but not great: a top-rank Duel Battle yields a very good weapon for the participating character, while the Survival Battle nets you a Fortune accessory. 'Fortune' will cause random items to magically appear in your inventory at fixed intervals; you may get something good, but an annoying text box telling you which item you got pops up every time. The real prize for Survival Battle is the huge amount of experience you get, even if you lose! Unfortunately it's only good for fighter characters, since spellcasters usually have a very hard time defending themselves in the tougher battles.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (305)

2010-05-05T07:05:00.003+01:00

Here's when Rena finally found out how dumb Claude is.

Claude doesn't seem to get any good prize at the races (except for a bottle of Seltzer... I hear it's getting more and more valuable), and he's bored to death; he thinks maybe some distraction is in order. Let's see... There's the Cooking Master, but Claude can't cook, and there's no match to watch right now. The shops... He's already taken a look there. The comic store? Naw, not interested. What about seeing a fortune teller? What do you know, it might even give him something to think about.

Claude approaches the fortune tellers' pavilion, but he notices that there's someone else other than the usual group of girls: it's Rena! At first Claude thinks he probably shouldn't pry, but the same thing happened with Celine back on Expel, so it can't be a bad thing; he quietly steps closer, trying to hear. To his surprise, Rena's asked the fortune teller specialized in romance readings, specifically about her compatibility with him; she's told that things are looking good, but also that she should take more initiative (Rena always gets the same reading, because for this event to occur Claude needs a high relationship level with her). Interesting.

Unfortunately, Claude is listening so intently to the reading that he doesn't realize Rena is done, and when she turns around she sees him, looks a bit embarrassed, and asks him how long he's been there. At this point you have three options, one of which making Claude admit to have heard everything and add that he's happy about it. The result is more or less what's shown on the screenshot above (Rena also says 'What a cliché!' while laughing... I have no idea what she meant by that).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (304)

2010-05-04T07:08:00.003+01:00

Why are the results of the bunny races always truly AMAZING? The real challenge isn't guessing the winners, but enduring the sportscasters' dialogue. By the way, that drawing in the center of the track... Are those bunnies kissing? I suppose it'd look cute, if it weren't for the fact that these giant bunnies aren't cute at all.

The track in the races is a boring oval, which the bunnies have to loop twice in order to win; the race ends after the first two bunnies cross the finish line, determining the winning ticket and the prize. A sportscaster and a commentator introduce us to each race: apparently there are four or five different races/leagues, but that only affects the introductory dialogue, as the prizes and bunnies are entirely random. Yeah, every racing bunny has specific attributes, such as speed, stamina, and intelligence, and the commentator can offer you some insight on these before the race (you can skip that though).

Since we're here to get the Bunny Shoes (what else would we be here for? The races are boring and repetitive, and the other prizes are merely of great value, not that useful), we'll ignore the commentator's bunny overview, and the tipster outside of the track (who offers a probable winning combination for a price); our objective is choose whichever winning pair nets us the shoes, if any. Unfortunately, if the Bunny Shoes aren't among the prizes, you can't take your bet back, and you have to sit through the race anyway, so you'd better choose a good prize, such as a Seltzer or Magical Drops. The only remotely enjoyable activity you can have at the races is watching a bunny charge into the others, tackling them; yes, it's that much fun.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (303)

2010-05-03T07:19:00.002+01:00

Why does Claude worry about this bunny having an attention deficit disorder (or an addiction to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, whatever's the case), when he should be worried that a bunny is here, selling betting tickets for the races?

As mentioned before, the Bunny Races aren't that fun, but you can get some very nice prizes if you win your bets. The items you get for a winning ticket are random, and they range from an ordinary Blueberry, to a Seltzer, to the exceedingly rare Bunny Shoes. Yes, you can get Bunny Shoes even right here, by stealing them from the overly enthusiastic bunny that's selling the tickets, but stealing is wrong! That, and you can only steal once from him, while you can get as many as you like in the races; and I think there are only two or three Bunny Shoes around.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (302)

2010-04-30T07:30:00.002+01:00

I didn't get the pun at first, but 'tipster's dogma' seems a bit forced, don't you think? I guess the translators either had a hard time carrying over a Japanese pun, or they were just bored at this point.

Another highlight (if you can call it that) of Fun City entertainment is the Bunny Races: as that giant bunny in Central City advertised, not only do these bunnies exist on Nede as well, they're used in racing events, and everyone can bet. Like the Chocobo Races in Final Fantasy VII, you have to guess the winner and runner up, in the correct order; unlike them, you can't participate in a race as a jockey, because these bunnies have none. It's weird, they're kind of like chicken races, even though you'd think Chocobos would be more suited for that.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (301)

2010-04-29T07:20:00.003+01:00

This is another overly dramatic scene, where Marianna, still alive but severely wounded, wants to 'test' Claude in combat to see if he's ready to face the Ten Wise Men...

Claude makes his best to make the scene sound as corny as possible. I bet if he simply said that he'd already beaten Marsilio easily, Marianna wouldn't have been so persistent.

Claude is still feeling some pressure about the battles our heroes going to fight: after all, he's the main fighter, and he needs to whack the enemy and protect the spellcasters behind, so he decides to go to the Battle Stadium by himself to see how well he can fight alone. On the way, though, he meets Marianna (remember her? The leader of the Nede Defense Force who covered the group's retreat from Fienal, that eveyone left for dead). Astonished at finding her alive, though badly wounded, Claude cannot believe his eyes, but he's even more surprised when she tells him to fight her. I think the two screenshots here do a good job at summarizing the scene, so we shall fast-forward to the Fun City inn: Marianna couldn't fight after all, as she fainted on the spot, and Claude brought her in a hotel room, because apparently there's no first aid facilities or personnel in Fun City (you'd think they should have those in the Battle Stadium... Weird Nedians).

This scene was a bit long-drawn, but the 'reward' for going through it is nice enough: Marianna is lying on the bed, conscious but still in severe pain, as they couldn't find a doctor yet, but she finds the strength to hand Claude a couple of battle accessories, one of which is extremely useful. The Slayer's Ring (the name alone makes enemies quiver in fear) makes a character's weapon hit 3 times in a single attack (although only the first hit is at full power), making it a deadly combination with the Eternal Sphere, as it pretty much guarantees that your enemy will be stunned by Claude's attack; you'll have to give up one accessory slot for it though, I had to unequip the Berserk Ring (considering Claude now goes berserk if any of his friends falls in battle, it's not much of a loss).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (300)

2010-04-28T07:02:00.002+01:00

Is it just me, or does 'master of eats' sound terrible? Is there a pun I'm missing?

Cooking Master is one of the main attractions of Fun City; it's a cook-off contest, and anyone can participate, provided they know how to cook (i.e. you need the Cooking specialty skill at least at level 1). The confrontation is one-on-one, between one of the characters in your party and a randomly selected competitor among the apprentices of Yarma, the master gourmet and judge of the contest. The goal is to make as many good dishes as possible within a time limit, gathering ingredients from a randomly chosen pool (meat, fish, fruit, etc.), and if you manage to win, the prize is a Yarma Cooking Set (some rare cooking ingredients).

Yeah, it's really as fun as it sound, which is not much... The prizes are hardly worth it, unless you're aiming to make every single kind of food in the game, in which case it's one of the best ways to obtain rare ingredients. It also takes a long time to make each dish during the contest, so it's quite boring.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (299)

2010-04-27T07:01:00.002+01:00

I don't think this one needs any comments. This character's name is so long it takes up more than half of the dialogue box; and he isn't even the only one like that.

Claude had a change of heart: they should have gone to see Narl, sure, but he being in L'Aqua means another assault to Fienal has already been planned. But he and his friends have just fought three of the former Ten Wise Men, and that's after a week of intensive training. It's only fair that they finally get to use their N.F.I.D. for real, to have some genuine fun in Fun City. I know, the clock is ticking, and those evildoers might have already started their preparations to use the Crest of Annihilation, but the game doesn't seem to care: you could spend days in Fun City and it'd be alright, so why not relax for a bit?

Fun city has some nice attractions other than the battle arena, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Gold Saucer. Other than the ordinary hotel, bar, souvenir shop and info point, it's got a race track you can bet on, and a cook-off attraction. Another side area, which you can see in the screenshot, is a room where you can find some fortune tellers. The one on the left is busy looking cool with the ladies; the middle one will give you readings about your adventure, that is, some statistics about your game (number of treasures found, enemies fought, etc.); the third one specializes in romantic fortunes only. The latter is very useful if you want to know your current level of romantic relationships with the other characters in your party; in Claude's case, you can see how he's faring with the girls in the party. This is the only way that isn't a story event to tell exactly how you're doing relationship-wise, too bad there's no way to know about any character other than Claude, or friendship levels either.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (298)

2010-04-26T07:28:00.002+01:00

It may not sound weird when read like that, but Dr. Mirage's dialogue is really disconnected here; it's a mix between lecturing and explaining our friends here what happened.

Not much to say here. It seems like even Dr. Mirage isn't privy to what mayor Narl is planning (or at least she doesn't show that) so, now that everything has settled down, our heroes leave the doctor (wounded as she is, she'll need some time to recover) to go meet Narl and learn what they must do next. As they exit Armlock, though, they meet another messenger, who tells them to go straight to L'Aqua, where the mayor is waiting for them. It appears things are now moving faster, and the real final mission is approaching.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (297)

2010-04-23T07:07:00.003+01:00

Frankly, I don't understand her comment. We occasionally went around killing people, especially those pesky thieves on Expel (unless they weren't killed, you can never tell in this game); the rest were mainly animals or demons.

Berle is dfeated like the others (no need for me to comment on the battle this time), and Dr. Mirage thanks our heroes her own way, as you can see in the screenshot. She said she pretended to be dead after being hit by the Wise Man, hoping he'd leave; she's got a strong yet mysterious personality, too bad the game doesn't explore her character more (it's pretty much the same for anyone on Nede).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (296)

2010-04-22T06:48:00.002+01:00

I'll let you know, Mr. Berle, that the only life they took of their own initiative was the Synard's, the rest was self-defense. [By the way, if the player were given a choice to kill enemies or keep them alive, I'd certainly opt for the latter as often as possible] You, on the other hand, have always taken the initiative, and for unspecified reasons other than the ridiculously generic objective of conquering the universe. Therefore, don't you dare to compare our friends to yourself! There, I said it! I must say that Berle's remark was quite pointless...

...but Claude's comeback is even worse.

The Synard flies off towards Armlock - a short flight, I know - and leaves Claude and the others in front of Mirage's lab; they notice a crowd has gathered near it, and fear the worst. Asking the townspeople, they realize Berle has only just arrived, but as Claude steps towards the entrance of the lab, he sees Dr. Mirage flying out of the door, violently kicked out by Berle, who comes out to 'greet' our heroes. Fortunately the doctor seems to be still alive... It's payback time! However, Berle, although surprised at their arrival, apparently tries to make them feel guilty about the situation: after all, you can just look at the battle counter in your game menu to see how many battles you've fought and won so far, and that's a good indicator of how many enemies fell to your attacks. Sure, it was all for survival (or to save other people), and most of them were demons you couldn't possibly reason with, but the sheer number may take you aback once you think about it. But that's neither the place nor the time to reflect upon that, and Claude seems to share this sentiment (him being blinded by rage is probably the main reason, though): it's time to fight!

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (295)

2010-04-21T06:54:00.003+01:00

Yeah, blowing people up by shooting them with light beams would be such a cool way to entertain people... Really, the other attractions in Fun City are nowhere as flashy as Shigeo's rampage, so how could she think that? Unless they've done something like that in the past near the Arena, and they've been hiding it from me... It could be fun...

Running to the exit of Fun City, our friends pass by a number of people (more or less) panicking about the situation. They also meet a surprised ticket inspector, to whom they explain the situation, begging him (or her? I honestly can't tell when they're attired like that; see the person in the lower left corner of the screenshot for example) to refer the situation to Narl; this is because by now they've learned that Nede's information network sucks (that, or it has been seriously hampered by the Ten Wise Men's advent).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (294)

2010-04-20T06:57:00.004+01:00

I swear I didn't know Dr. Mirage was a woman until I watched this scene.

Now our heroes feel more confident about their powers. However, Berle is still at large, and nowhere to be seen, but Celine suddenly remembers something he said before leaving. They realize Berle was after Dr. Mirage, and rush out of Fun City to get to Armlock as fast as possible.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (293)

2010-04-19T07:09:00.003+01:00

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, maybe it'll work then.

Shigeo shows up, craving for more destrucion, but he's surprised by seeing our heroes still safe and sound in front of him; he's so puzzled he can't rationally explain how they're still alive. I'd say Shigeo isn't to blame, if you consider how ridiculous and irrational Void Matter is, but the impenetrable barrier surrounding all the Ten Wise Men (now Eight) is laughing matter itself. You reap what you sow, they say...

Anyway, Claude is particularly motivated for this fight, because the ruthlessness of the Ten Wise Men, that caused his father's death (and many people's just now), has instilled in him a strong spirit of vengeance. Shigeo can call forth plasma beams from the sky, but Claude is fast enough to avoid all of them and run towards him: the Warrior of Light doesn't waste any time and immediately starts attacking, leaving Shigeo with no room to breathe. Shortly thereafter, the fiend is reduced to mere scraps (was he an android robot or something?) and spouts his last, senseless words of irrevocable incredulity towards the power of his adversary, only to explode seconds later.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (292)

2010-04-16T06:37:00.003+01:00

Don't just stand there! People are getting hit by high-speed beams that make them explode! Do something!

After their greetings, the Ten Wise Men get into action: Berle decides to 'follow that woman' (whoever that is), Shigeo wants to go on a rampage and kill any Nedian in sight, and Marsilio starts fighting our heroes. Now I know what you're thinking, four on one isn't fair, but it was Marsilio who picked the fight.

So, after the lion has been beaten to death by the rabbit... I mean, after Marsilio's defeat, which was quick and without too many frills (he, like all the Ten Wise Men, explodes with sparkles flying in all directions), our heroes, despite being stupefied at their own victory, decide not to waste time and chase after the other two fiends, before they do something bad. It appears they're too late, though, as they witness a horrible scene: light beams flying around from nowhere, people running away in fear, other people getting hit by those beams and exploding before their eyes. It's certainly the work of that accursed Shigeo.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (291)

2010-04-15T07:10:00.003+01:00

They could have adapted this sentence better... Dumping the ancient saying entirely would have been great, as it doesn't even fit the situation too well.

Marsilio steps forward, still fully confident that he can take care of our heroes by himself; but this time there won't be a barrier to nullify all the damage done to him. Marsilio is probably the easiest to beat among the Ten Wise Men, because his attacks are few and easy to dodge. Would he have been a threat, had he teamed up with the other two? Probably... Berle still has that annoying Meta Barrier, which is still impenetrable even with the Void Matter, and taking care of two powerful fighters like him and Marsilio is hard, because you'll have to rely on at least another fighter in your group beside Claude. And let's not forget about Shigeo: you haven't seen him fight yet, but he's the bastard who tried to shoot Rena back on Expel (Claude took a beam shot for her), which means long range attacks from him. It's very fortunate that Marsilio took that saying to the letter, being the lone-fighter lion instead of leading a pack of three wolves.

Marsilio draws his huge sword (not shown, maybe for decency) and slashes the virtual Berle our heroes were training against, destroying it in a single hit. This means two things: the calculations the Nedians have made to create the simulation underestimated the power of the Ten Wise Men, and Berle may now be pissed at Marsilio for destroying his virtual image (that might be the reason he leaves him to fight alone, heh).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (290)

2010-04-14T07:21:00.001+01:00

I think this guy may have mixed up his introduction with a taunt. By the way, the 'all-caps' talk Shigeo does shouldn't mean he's shouting, rather he's making a 'robotic' voice; I can't help but imagine him shouting though...

After handing our friends her precious weapons, Dr. Mirage 'zooms' away, saying she has an essay to write (now even she's getting mysterious). Since they haven't heard anything from Narl yet, Claude thinks they should keep training with the virtual TWM simulator, which they do for about a week more. After that, the player is given the option to try some simulated battles him/herself (to get some experience, since it's impossible to leave before the next event...), rest, or go see Narl to see what they should do next. Choosing the last option will make Claude propose they fight the last training battle, but before they start, to everyone's surprise, three of the Ten Wise Men show up.

It seems the Ten Wise Men could see through Narl's secrecy, but they're too late, because now they have to face the blade of the Sacred Tear... er... I mean, the resonating power of the Void Matter, as well as a highly-trained team of fighters! Before taking action, the fiends take some time to smack-talk: Berle and Marsilio, who our heroes have already fought (and lost to), brag about their being tired of waiting for them and show their eagerness to kill them for good this time; the newly-introduced Shigeo (or should I say SHIGEO) isn't a 'man' of many words, yet condensed in his short sentences is all the scorn he feels for any living thing beside the Ten Wise Men.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (289)

2010-04-13T08:03:00.001+01:00

No, I don't buy it. What does that do exactly, turn all their weapons into antimatter? I can't believe they took the trouble of explaining (well, sort of) how the Sacred Tear works, but then throw in this plot device (because that's what Void Matter is, it's even a 'key item') with no clear explanation... Actually, maybe this is just a small adjustment they had to do for the game: seeing as Star Ocean 2 comes from a novel, maybe in the original story Claude was supposed to use the Sacred Tear and face the Ten Wise Men by himself, while the Void Matter would allow the player to use everyone's weapons against them (I haven't read the novel though, so I don't know for sure).

Dr. Mirage has actually overworked herself - even though she says she had a blast anyway - because she's got two more things to give our heroes: the Fallen Hope, a magic gauntlet for Rena that halves her MP consumption rate, and, more importantly, Void Matter. Even though there's no rational explanation for that, Void Matter will make any weapon effective against the Ten Wise Men; this means that everyone in the group will be able to fight them, and it also means Claude gets to keep his Eternal Sphere for the battle. It might be an absurd item, but it sure is convenient!

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (288)

2010-04-12T07:25:00.001+01:00

Claude: Weeee!! A toy sword! It's just what I wanted! Thanks Dr. Mirage!

Alright, this weapon looks a bit flashy, but it's no toy; I wouldn't exactly feel safe handing a planet destroyer like that to a kid (or to Claude, for that matter, but at least he does know how to use a sword). The sword you see here is certainly more powerful than most swords in the game: noteworthy exceptions are the Eternal Sphere and the Levantine. The Sacred Tear (probably called that because it can tear worlds apart in a mess of [un]holy destruction) has also the added bonus of halving the consumption of Claude's MP.

The Eternal Sphere is still much better than the Sacred Tear (or it wouldn't be a secret weapon), but it seems Claude needs this in order to defeat the Ten Wise Men... But Dr. Mirage said 'First', didn't she? Does that mean she's got more stuff to give us?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (287)

2010-04-09T07:41:00.002+01:00

Maybe it's barely noticeable on an emulator, but this green-haired guy here looks weird, like his colours looking out of place; he feels a bit creepy to me.

Fun City is fun, but Narl has something on his mind for our heroes. I've already mentioned there's a battle arena in here... Well, it would appear that they booked it for an indefinite time to host a virtual simulator of the Ten Wise Men, in order to provide a training ground for our brave warriors. The game spares us the show, though, as the scene fades to black, and narration jumps forth about 3 days, when Dr. Mirage kindly pays them a visit...

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (286)

2010-04-08T07:34:00.001+01:00

What does NFID stand for? Somebody please fill me in.

Before the group leaves Dr. Mirage to her job, she says she's got a present for them by Narl: a free pass to Fun City! Claude and the others (well, except the kids... You know, Leon and Precis) seem rather puzzled by this gift, because, conscious as they are about their mission, they feel it wouldn't be right for them to be enjoying themselves. Dr.Mirage however says, that they wouldn't exactly have fun there; apparently the mayor of Central City has some plans in store for them (and he's beeing as secretive as usual about them).

We haven't been to Fun City yet, but that's because I'm a cheapskate: you need to pay an entrance fee for all the characters in your group. Fun City is an entire town devoted to the entertainment of Nedians, a large amusement park containing various attractions. My guess is that it was inspired by the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII, seeing as there's even a race track (no, not with Chocobos, sorry); all in all, most of the stuff you can do in here doesn't compare to the Gold Saucer, but the Battle Arena deserves a special mention for having variety in battle modes and many good prizes.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (285)

2010-04-07T07:30:00.001+01:00

Claude doesn't feel too convinced about this yet, but who can blame him? Dr. Mirage seems like a technologically advanced blacksmith! I wonder if she uses a hammer to put the antimatter in place... Oh, and that sword certainly isn't the most powerful weapon, we already have that; sure, the Eternal Spere still cannot penetrate the Ten Wise Men's defenses, but there's a way around that, courtesy of Dr. Mirage herself.

So there's this huge Barker taking up half of the last room in the cave, and it's, like, just staying there, taking hits from our heroes, who crave for its metal. This monster is peaceful, but if he loses its temper (like, for example, when you hit it too much), you're toast! That's 'cause his only attack (suitably called 'Lost patience') totally destroys everything around it. Ok, you can survive that alright, but it hurts. A lot. Better use a really cheap tactic: having the awesomeness that is the Eternal Sphere, hitting it with its sparkles is very likely to stun it most of the time, making it unable to react. Hammering it down is then a complete joke. Don't have the Eternal Sphere? Hah, sucks to be you! Give Rena some pills, 'cause she's gonna need'em for keeping the others healthy after the Barker's attacks.

...Uh, well. The group defeats the huge Barker and, somehow, retrieves a large chunk of LEA metal (it's not shown, nor is it explained how they take it) from its carcass. At this point the other Barkers cower in fear, and stop attacking our friends, knowing they can't overtake them anymore. After looting the treasures in the cave, Claude and the others get back to Dr. Mirage with the metal. Mission accomplished! Now what? Oh, she needs just about 3 days to make that antimatter sword? We can wait.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (284)

2010-04-06T08:49:00.003+01:00

I'm pretty sure this is a misspelling of Athelas, the Kingfoil herb of Middle-Earth lore in the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. Intentional mistake or not?

In the game you often come into possession of various kinds of herbs, all of which have small recovery powers. At the very beginning of your adventure, Rena says herbs are 'an absolute necessity for travelling', but I can't really see how... Alright, I admit that I use Rena's healing powers a lot, and any Expellian adventurer without her personal Nedian healer would have to heavily rely on healing items, but even then, the main items you usually take to restore your health and mind are berries and syrups, not herbs. You also need potions to revive your friends or remove their status ailments (poison, paralysis, petrification), but you can buy all of those for reasonable prices.

The point the developers were probably trying to make is that you should use the Compounding Specialty skill to make your own healing items: that is, by combining 2 of your herbs, you can always obtain a healing (or support) item that is way more effective than the herbs when used by themselves. If you bother learning and upgrading the Specialty skill with one of your characters, you may obtain healing items more cheaply than by just buying them. The problems with this are: Compounding may still fail (making you lose both herbs), you need to know which herb combinations give you the items you want, you have to sit through the Item Creation animation. In my humble opinion, I'd rather defeat some more random enemies to get the additional Fol for buying healing items directly; after all, they're always available as soon as you need it (for instance, Cure Paralysis is available as soon as there are enemies which can paralyze you).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (283)

2010-04-05T08:02:00.001+01:00

I don't get this line... This is the only thing Claude says before fighting the giant Barker. I'm guessing translation mistake.

Getting deeper and deeper in the cave, weird-looking yellow circles start appearing on the walls: it's almost as if they're eyes staring at our friends in fear... Wait a second, they are eyes! The Barkers are made of LEA mineral, aren't they? So some of them are inside the cave walls; you can even make out some details, like their claws. They're defending their home, trying to scare people away, but they're not afraid of fighting.

Most of the enemies you find in this cave are those sphinx-like beasts, like the ones our heroes encountered in the mine under the Hoffman ruins (apparently the Barkers live in lots of planets... I wonder if those were being controlled by the Ten Wise Men, since the game doesn't tell). By now they shouldn't be a problem, but they tend to cast Star Flare quite often, which can be a problem if you don't have resistance to Star Heraldry; ideally, you should make one of your characters cast a quick spell now and then to stun them (casting Forget with Celine doesn't help much), but that could be boring, and there are lots of them to fight.

One suggestion: once you're in the cave, just run northwards, ignoring any treasure or sideway you may see, and try to reach the room with the huge Barker as soon as possible. That's because, once you defeat the most powerful of the Barkers, the others will refrain from attacking you again, and you'll be free to explore the rest of the cave easily (technically speaking, no random encounters!), and get all the treasure. Not that there's great stuff in there, but some weapons might be useful.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (282)

2010-04-02T07:11:00.001+01:00

Maybe it can't be seen very well in this screenshot, but the machine Precis is looking at is sprinkling water in small fountains; also, I can't capture sound in a screenshot, but what she's hearing would be a series of random noises, like beeps, bleeps, blowing pistons, and a horse neigh... Yeah, you read that right, no need to do that twice.

Our heroes should be going to the Mihne Cave as soon as possible, but it seems Precis has gone missing. Claude guesses that, after seeing the equipment in Dr. Mirage's lab, she couldn't help but tinker with all the machines; hoping she won't cause any damage, Claude hurries back to the lab, and finds the doctor busy studying the plans, while Precis is in the back.

You can see Preics pushing some buttons and stuff on a machine, and apparently she manages to make it work, but she's to taken away by her activity that she doesn't notice Claude behind her. As Claude, you now have some dialogue options to try and get her attention: your choice will affect Claude and Precis's relationship a little. In one case, Claude explains what the machine is used for (what? He knows that? Have there been intergalactic standards for particle refining since Nede's isolation?), and she expresses her surprise about his knowledge.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (281)

2010-04-01T07:49:00.002+01:00

It's not just a generic key to Mihne Cave, it's THE key!

As Precis has already brilliantly noted, our friends need to kill Barkers to get their hands on the LEA metal, which will allow Dr. Mirage to make the weapons they need to face the Ten Wise Men. But the kind doctor observes that it's not enough to perform a genocide of the smaller Barkers (the poor innocent creatures), as they wouldn't be able to collect enough materials: they need to kill the biggest Barkers they find because, the stronger the Barker, the purer the LEA metal they're made of (please don't ask why).

These weird creatures are confined in the Mihne Cave, a small natural cave on an island to the south. Narl hands Claude the key they need to enter the securely locked cave.

Side note: someone might inquire why Dr. Mirage wouldn't pose any questions about making such a powerful weapon, not to mention actually using it (since in Armlock they're only allowed to create them just for show). The answer is that, to the hesitation of the doctor, Narl replied with mentioning the Crest of Annihilation. While he still doesn't go into specifics about this fearsome crest of grave significance, it's obvious that Dr. Mirage is one of the very few who know about its secret existence.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (280)

2010-03-31T08:57:00.001+01:00

Precis: You want us to kill every single species on the brink of extinction in this planet, you know?

If you thought the design of this weapon was stupid, wait until you see what you need to do to have it made (after all, what is a powerful weapon without a long quest to obtain it?). You have to retrieve some LEA metal, which is apparently a natural magnet which will keep the antimatter in place in the sword; this metal is only found on all Nede in a small cavern, where the Barkers, a species native of another planet, live peacefully. The LEA metal is actually what these Barkers are made of, and some of them could be even stronger that the Ten Wise Men (albeit without a barrier of invincibility on them).

Now, was it stupid enough for you?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (279)

2010-03-30T07:02:00.002+01:00

Claude: But it's still physically impossible
Mirage: Magical magnetic field
Claude: Oh, okay

Dr. Mirage briefly explains what the design plans are about: despite its looks, it's not a simple sword... It's an antimatter sword! She says it'll be able to penetrate the barrier or whatever surrounding the Ten Wise Men's bodies, allowing our heroes to actually damage them in battle.

Unsurprisingly, to the mention of antimatter, Rena replies with an 'Aunty who?', which summarizes pretty well the thoughts of all Expellians in the group. Claude, being the smart-as... I mean, having some knowledge of subatomic particles, promptly shares his doubts about their ability to maintain antimatter in a fixed region of space (namely, the blade of the sword) without it being annihilated with the surrounding matter (namely, air). Dr. Mirage's reply shows the apparent superiority of Nedian technology.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (278)

2010-03-29T09:33:00.003+01:00

Dr. Mirage refers to that weapon displayed on the screen, which looks like a sword. Now... I know it's customary in JRPGs to have extremely powerful swords (I partly blame Star Wars), but would you feel comfortable having someone carry around a sword that can blow away a small planet? Imagine the scene...

Claude * looking at his new sword *: Wow! This looks fantastic! ...What's written on the back? ...Whoops! * sword accidentally falls from his hands * Oh no! * sword touches the ground * * Energy Nede is blown away *

Dr. Mirage is already browsing the contents of the atomic disk Narl gave her; she sounds excited by what she's found, but... Er, you see... Isn't that just a sword? That would be the weapon to use against the Ten Wise Men?! Come on, they have a huge interstellar cannon at their disposal, and you expect our heroes to face them in close combat!? An before you say anything: no, the fact that Heraldry and space-time teleporters exist in this game does nothing to justify this. I know 'it's a game', but at least try to have a little credibility. Did I mention I didn't like Star Ocean 2 because of its plot?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (277)

2010-03-26T06:46:00.001Z

What in the world is an atomic disk? And by the way, if we take the name literally, either this disk is infinitesimally small (how did Narl carry it around like that?), or it should be impossible to split it further (how do you analyze something like that?).

Rena appreciated Claude's support a lot, especially since she knows he must be hurting about his father's death; in fact, Claude tries to hide his pain in public, but you can see him shed a tear when he sends Rena ahead to the ruined lab. They get back to the central room and Rena excuses herself for running off.

Meanwhile, Narl has obtained the data he was looking for: weapon design plans. Since he knows an expert who lives right here in Armlock, they immediately go back in town to meet her. Dr. Mirage is a blue-haired woman with extremely bushy eyebrows and a great talent for weapon-making: in her small lab she can make all sorts of chemical and quantic experiments in a very short time. Narl asks introduces the group ans asks her to check the contents of the 'atomic disk' he used to store the data from the lab (wonders of Nedian technology: backwards hardware compatibility of 700-million-years-old technology!).

Now that I think about it, though, I've been assuming that by 'year' both Expellians and Nedians mean Earth year. For Expel, I can only suppose its orbit is more or less about the same as Earth's, but what about Energy Nede, which has a period of 7 thousand solar years? I'd better not overthink this, I'm sure it wouldn't be healthy.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (276)

2010-03-25T06:39:00.001Z

Is it just me, or does their sitting pose look strange? Especially Rena's.

Claude rushes out of the ruined lab chasing Rena, and finds her in the woods outside after a little searching. He listens to her trying to come to terms with her past, and then all of a sudden she asks him 'Do you think my mother loved me?', still having doubts about her mother's feelings for her. Claude's mother is also a researcher (in Heraldry Science... I know it sounds funny), and she was often so busy with her job, so in a way he can relate to Rena's situation: he says his mother couldn't give up her research, but she also never neglected her son, and he's sure it was the same for Rena's mother.

At this point Rena finally bursts into tears, and Claude offers her his shoulder. While crying, she mentions that this place looks like the Shingo forest, which may be the reason she loved that place so much. The camera then scrolls upwards, showing light rays penetrating the forest, while a touching variation of the Shingo forest music plays. When the view comes back down, we find Claude and Rena sitting on the ground.

Something of note here is that Claude never mentions her mother's name; we don't even get to hear it (or see her) in one of the endings, where Claude comes back to Earth and sees her waiting for him at the spaceport. There could be a reason in that the first Star Ocean left some things open, and it's not explicitly shown who Ronixis, Claude's father, will marry. However, seeing Claude's appearance, as well as some of his fighting techniques, Star Ocean players could surely tell Iria Silvestri is his mother.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (275)

2010-03-24T07:09:00.003Z

Somehow I can't understand this dialogue. Either they were trying to make Rena sound confused, or they tried confusing players like me.

How would you feel if, after searching for your mother, who left you when you were little, you found out that she had passed away 700 million years ago? How would you feel, aside from really, really old? Hard to say, no? I'm sure Rena doesn't know how to react to that either, at least not right away. That's why she suddenly runs away. Claude, after a bit of hesitation, chases after her.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (274)

2010-03-23T07:28:00.004Z

It's not really a funny bit, but I was wondering: would Rena's mother be still alive if she had somehow survived the explosion? Sure, the incident happened millions of years ago, but, having talked to some Nedians, one can assume their lifespan is largely different from that of ordinary humans. Who knows how old Narl really is... But yeah, living millions of years is too much of a stretch.

Minutes before the explosion, Reema calls for her daughter: she has decided to try and save her by using an experiemental space-time teleportation device. This device wasn't designed for living matter, and it was too small to contain a person, but her daughter Rena would probably fit in, and in this desperate situation it's certainly the best option for the little child. After a short but heartfelt mother and daughter moment, in which Reema gives Rena a shiny pendant as a goodbye present, the registration ends, but not before Reema turns to the camera and says an alphanumeric code for some secret, and apparently dangerous, information.

So Narl got what he was looking for, a secret code for accessing the hidden archives of the lab. However, this search also revealed a shocking truth. I wonder how Rena feels right now.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (273)

2010-03-22T06:59:00.003Z

Either you choose to turn your brain off and ignore all this science fiction jargon, or you can't help but feel sorry for the eventual people who happen to be on the space-time continuum the explosion will be phase-shifted to.

Our friends explore the abandoned lab for a while, and they finally find Narl in the innermost room, busy tinkering with some huge machine. The mayor has apparently unlocked the database of the lab containing al the video recordings they made (this is why Nedians are awesome: how many databases last so long?); he thinks they might find some hint to the location of some weapon designs in them, so he plays the last one.

What you see here is a screenshot of the recording made just before the great explosion (which happened for unclear reasons) that destroyed the lab. Talking is the blue-haired scientist Reema: she seems to have resigned herself to death. She's confident the explosion will only affect the lab because of the weird containment area they built around it: this way, only the people who caused the explosion will perish, and the rest will be safe from harm. There's only one problem, though: her little daughter is in the lab as well (did she always bring her there, or was that a special day? We'll never know).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (272)

2010-03-19T06:42:00.003Z

I find it surprising that in an abandoned laboratory like this there's a broken machine that still emits sparks; considering the extremely long time it's been like this, it should have burnt or something.

After spending some time in North City, our heroes fly off to Armlock, where Narl is waiting for them: he's unlocked a sealed gate which conceals a mysterious transporter to 'a certain location'. The mayor's being secretive about the whole thing, as usual (you'd think he could trust you fully by now... or maybe it's just his laziness), but this time our friends won't have to wait too long for an answer.

The transporter takes everyone to a lush forest. While Narl goes ahead to prepare things (a picnic?), the group waits for a bit to look around. Rena feels like she's been here before: could this place have something to do with her Nedian past? Regardless, Claude decides they should follow Narl soon enough. Walking for a bit, they come up to the ruins of what appears to be a research laboratory (or at least that's probably what Claude thinks it is, everyone else might have a different picture in their heads).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (271)

2010-03-18T06:47:00.003Z

I don't know what's funnier, Precis knowing she looks silly most of the time, or her having 'moments'.

In this hypotetical scenario, Claude doesn't take Precis's thoughts too seriously. There's a variety of ways Claude can screw up and make Precis mad, and they usually cause her to spin around a lot (like she always does, only much faster). In one case, Precis becomes so furious she even kicks Bobot to a wall when it calls for her; in another, Claude becomes so confused about the situation (figuring out how girls think is not his forte) that he himself starts spinning.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (270)

2010-03-17T09:47:00.001Z

Claude: There's no need to be worried, Precis. After all, your father's already dead; it's just a matter of seeing if we can manage to resurrect him. (If this sounds wrong to you, know that you're not alone)

Our heroes decide to take a small break to think about the current situation. Expel is gone, together with Rena, Celine, Leon and Precis's loved ones, and while there seems to be a way to get them back (no matter how ridiculous it sounds), it involves defeating the Ten Wise Men, probably the most powerful people in the universe. It's hard not to worry about it, and yet...

Everyone's taking their time in North City, maybe hoping the tranquil atmosphere of the town will help to calm their agitated minds. However, Claude can't help but notice Precis is merrily chasing her Bobot around, as she always does: surprised at her cheery mood, he starts talking with her. She tells Claude that just moping around will get nothing done, and she's trying to be cheerful to keep the group's morale up, even in the difficult situation they're in. But even our little machinery expert has to admit her uneasiness... How does Claude react to that? It's up to you to decide!

In-game, this is a Private Action event, quite unique in the number of choices. Depending on how you want Claude's relationship with Precis to develop, you can choose your dialogue options to have either funny scenes or somewhat romantic ones; this is a good chance if you want Claude to end up with Precis in the ending scenes, but you might also want to see Precis's reactions to Claude's rude behaviour. In any case, you can just save your game progress just outside town, pick a set of choices, then reload your save and repeat with different choices. Which is what I did this time: I'll show you the scenes I thought were the funniest.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (269)

2010-03-16T06:43:00.002Z

By moon, do you mean Nede's satellite or Earth's Moon? In the former case, why is it called Moonite? Or, in the latter case, what in the world would a moon rock be doing on Nede?

Collecting and identifying minerals is fun and all, but it's a waste of time, considering something like alchemy exists. Why bother searching for rare rocks, when you can simply turn iron into whatever material you want? Naturally, you would need a friend who has 'the blessing of Manna' (i.e. an innate talent which only spellcasters have, and which cannot be learned through practice) and is proficient enough in this 'science'. Being in possession of a Leezard Flask is also important, if you want to make the rarest minerals.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (268)

2010-03-15T06:28:00.002Z

Ok, I'm sorry, but either due to my mistake in game save management, or because of an emulator glitch, I never actually got that woman's ID card in the Synard's cave, therefore she didn't show up in Central City. The walkthroughs I read don't seem to mention that you need to pick up the card and use it before a certain event, but it appears you can't meet with her anymore if you do that anytime after the event in Fienal (or possibly after the completion of the four Fields).

What does this all mean?

I won't be able to fill up my eighth party slot, so I'm stuck with a party of 7 characters
I won't have access to any of the Private Actions and events with this character, including the research on the Ten Wise Men
She won't be an available choice for Leon's Private Action in Fun City (more on that in a later post), which is a pity, since that could have been a nice Funny Bit
It's now worthless for me to 'go back' to Expel from Nede, since the only reason I'd do that would have been a small Funny Bit with this character

Her name is Chisato Madison, reporter for the Nede Chronicle: hot-blooded and passionate about her job, she's an expert in martial arts (she could follow our heroes in the Synard cave after all), but strangely she's also pretty clumsy (you could probably tell already). A lot of her battle quotes refer either to journalism or movie direction. Other than martial arts, in battle she also uses machinery of sorts, and she can also call the aerial defense force (it's weird, but it works on Expel as well) to bomb-raid the enemy.

Why would she have chosen to follow our group? But of course, as per Claude's proposal, she could have kept covering them for the news without the need to stalk them, while proving herself useful in combat. That's all you need to know about Chisato; I won't be able to even see her again.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (267)

2010-03-12T07:00:00.003Z

Woah, some big words there, Narl!

Narl makes our friends know that he already has something in mind regarding their weapons, but he also has something less reassuring to say: while in Fienal, he noticed that a certain Crest (remember? They're inscriptions used to invoke magic) had been inscribed by the Ten Wise Men. Basically, it appears that invoking that Crest would cause the destruction of the entire universe... Yeah, I wouldn't buy that either, but since nothing Narl has said so far has made much sense - and yet it was true - we have to trust him. I don't think that Crest even has a name, but are we sure it works? After all, nobody must have managed to invoke it yet, or else we wouldn't be here now.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (266)

2010-03-11T07:03:00.001Z

Claude: No way! I don't buy that! What's wrong with my trusty sword?

Our heroes have to fall back and retreat if they want to survive, but how? ...Well the game doesn't make a good job at making the player feel in a pincer, but that's where you are. Suddenly, Marianna (do you remember her? She's the leader of the Nedian forces, and one of the most impersonal characters you've met yet) puts herself between the group and Marsilio, offering to keep him busy while they try to run away. Claude and the others don't want her to sacrifice herself, but they have no choice: Narl commands a retreat, and everyone who's still standing goes back to L'Aqua, and then Central City.

Now, the game obviously wants you to somehow get attached to the character of Marianna, so that you can feel the importance of her sacrifice. However, Claude only meets her once (or twice, if you've visited L'Aqua before the mission takes place), and her dialogue is really minimal; how can you introduce a character like that, make her sacrifice herself for the party, and hope that it may have some significance to the player? You could just have had a random faceless soldier do the same, and it would at least have been less melodramatic. [There's a certain event later that... No, forget it, it's even dumber]

Back in Central City, after a night of tormented sleep, our heroes feel really depressed for their failure. Claude is also sad about the death of his father, and frustrated by his own weakness that prevented him to save the Calnus, or even to get revenge; but he doesn't show that much to his friends. Narl, instead, while still agitated (can you tell by his sprite or words? I sure can't), seems to still have some hope. He thinks that, despite their failure, they 'put up a good fight'. Well, it's good that there's Narl to tell us that, because dealing absolutely no damage to Marsilio couldn't really indicate anything like that.

The mayor then suggests that our heroes don't have 'suitable weapons' to fight the Ten Wise Men: does that mean we finally get back to use phase guns or something like that?! No, I guess not, since Opera had them and still failed (it would have helped a bit if she used her Kaleidoscope as a gun and not a club, but whatever). So let's hear what the next plan is.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (265)

2010-03-10T15:14:00.002Z

Claude: Neither have yours, Precis!

Blinded by rage, Claude swears to kill all of the Ten Wise Men (wasn't that the plan anyway?) and avenge his father's death. One of them, however, simply brushes him off by simply saying 'My, at least he's spirited!', and then Marsilio, another one of the Ten Wise Men, shows up and offers to take care of the situation; the others agree and disappear.

The squad is ready to attack, but Marsilio summons robotic guards which quickly attack our heroes first; they're no match for Claude and the others, but Marsilio keeps calling for more, and the Nedian soldiers are slowly losing. Claude then decides to attack Marsilio directly, but then the horrible truth is revealed: like Berle, Marsilio is completely immune to any attack that the party can pull out! The squad is decimated, and our friends are at a loss on what to do.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (264)

2010-03-09T06:39:00.001Z

Is this all Claude can do? Beg on his knees? I wouldn't blame him for that if he tried something else first and failed, as saying 'please' often works wonders (imagine what you could accomplish with a 'PLEASE').

The leader of the Ten Wise Men, after the first successful hit, orders to progressively increase the cannon's power, while Claude and the others witness the destruction that ensues on the screen, powerless and dumbfounded by their incapacity to stop this madness.

After the second beam, the Calnus's shields reduced to below one third of their power, commodore Kenni realizes the overwhelming force of the mysterious attack, and, in a desperate attempt, orders a counterattack: by using the directions the two beams came from, he calculates the coordinates they came from, and commands to fire their main cannon, hoping to hit the enemy. In all probability they do hit the target (it's not shown, however), but as we already know Energy Nede is surrounded by a very strong barrier, so the counterattack has no effect.

Finally, the Ten Wise Men order an even more powerful attack, which penetrates the shields and destroys the spaceship. This is the end of the glorious Calnus, of its crew, and of the legendary hero Ronixis J. Kenni.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (263)

2010-03-08T07:55:00.001Z

Naw, it could just be the Large Hadron Collider (or just any other cyclotron) executing some experiments...

The Calnus crew is just proceeding their survey around the Arctura system, unaware of the danger they're in. Commodore Kenni is still deeply in sorrow for the loss of his son, because he doesn't know about the miracle (or ridiculous plot device, take your pick) by which he survived. But when the Ten Wise Men ready their weapon, and it gets detected by the crew, Ronixis doesn't forget his duty, and manages to get his act together to command the spaceship and lead it in its defensive maneuvers.

The man with red hair, who seems to be the leader of the Ten Wise Men, commanded to fire the first shot of their antimatter cannon at low power, yet it's still powerful enough to take away one third of the Calnus's shield power. The commodore could do nothing but broadcast a peace request in all languages (obviously unanswered) and redirect all power to the rear shields; the beam came out so suddenly and from so far away that even identifying the attacker would be impossible.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (262)

2010-03-05T06:47:00.002Z

Either Claude has a speech impediment I didn't know about, or Calnus is an objectively hard name to pronounce, or both.

It seems that the Ten Wise Men wanted the Nedians to know of their plans before taking action: they state that they've just completed a weapon powerful enough to destroy a small planet (relax, it's not the Death Star, it's just an antimatter cannon capable of outclassing a Supernova in destructive power). It seems that their intentions are far from good, yet none of our heroes makes a move to attack; maybe it's just not honourable to take the initiative unless the enemy has already made some move, or maybe the attack squad has already realized that they don't stand a chance with a direct attack.

Being pretty full of themselves, the Ten Wise Men decide to show off the power of their newly made weapon, by using some kind of camera that points to outer space. The target they chose for this test is already in place, but, to Claude's surprise and dread, it's not a small planet. Displayed onto a huge screen on the front wall of the Fienal stronghold is the Calnus, the Earth Federation ship Claude was on before his adventure started, and the one his father is in command of. Unfortunately, it seems that Commodore Kenni had yet to veer away from the Arctura system (where Expel orbited), and the Calnus has now become a potential obstacle to the Ten Wise Men's plans, since they could warn the Federation. However, those fiends seem very confident in their military power, so I suppose the fate of the Calnus and its crew is already sealed.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (261)

2010-03-04T07:44:00.002Z

Claude: Hey, no fair! I want that wind effect too!
Having just one character in the game with hair being moved by the wind is a thing some JRPGs have (it's usually the protagonist, because making extra animations for everyone would take too long), but in this case there's an explanation (sort of, although it's only revealed when you face that man in battle, and you might have lost interest by then).

Narl could also notice that something was wrong with Fienal, but even he realized too late that it was a trap... Well, how is it a trap when it only consists of suddenly appearing in front of the group and just talking (a lot)? They didn't even surround our heroes.

In short, a couple of the Ten Wise Men appear out of nowhere to 'greet' the attack squad. They still decline to give their names (the only one kind enough to introduce himself so far was Berle), but at least it would seem they were waiting for the group for some reason. Is it a welcome party? Somehow I doubt so.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (260)

2010-02-25T07:03:00.002Z

Here's the extremely disappointing truth: see that large landmass on the left side of the map? That part wasn't accessible via the Synard because it was outside the energy barrier. Now that we're beyond that, we can't reach it either, because we couldn't carry the Synard with us, and walking there isn't possible. That area will never be accessible to us.

After riding the Herush to the port located right in front of Fienal (what? No CG video of the trip? No animation at all? Lame!), the attack squad readies for combat. Something feels off, though: in the whole area around the town there isn't a single enemy. That's enough to get us worried; I wonder what's up, but we can't go back now, can we?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (259)

2010-02-25T06:48:00.003Z

You know, I understand that it would have been hard for the developers to make a jump animation for every single character that hops onto the Herush, but then why make this pointless and boring scene at all? Just skip it!

Claude, Rena, Narl and the others meet up with Marianna and the squad who will assist them in the mission (what's with their uniforms anyway? Heraldry catalysts?). Our friends get to see the Herush, a fearsome shark-like creature floating about the wharf; they aren't scared by its looks (they've seen worse demons already), but rather by the thought of how it is employed to go underwater. Will they have to jump into its mouth? Actually, it's never shown or explained in the game. I guess this Herush creates a sort of air bubble around itself, so that its passengers can just sit on its back; this hypothesis is corroborated by the fact that everyone hops onto its back before leaving.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (258)

2010-02-24T06:39:00.002Z

The Nedians' fascination with Heraldic beasts reaches new disturbing levels.

After the mayor has finished explaining some details about the mission, a woman enters the room from the teleporter: she introduces herself as Marianna, commander of the Nedian military forces against the Ten Wise Men. She's just come to communicate that their preparations for the mission are now complete (remember how on Energy Nede there don't seem to be any kind of telephone device); therefore, Narl decides to lead the group through the teleporter, bringing them to L'Aqua, the military post where the mission will start.

In brief, Narl explains that, because Fienal is (the only town of Nede) beyond the energy barrier surrounding the planet, they cannot attack by air. The only possibility to get through unnoticed (since they think the Ten Wise Men aren't keeping an eye on them) is to travel deep underwater, where the barrier doesn't reach. 'We'll need a submarine then' you might be thinking. Troglodyte! Here on Nede we only have the latest and finest vehicles available: for your underwater needs you might want to use a Herush. Yes, it's another genetically modified Heraldic beast like the Synard, only this time we won't need to go through that painful (for the beast) inputting process again, since others will be driving it for us.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (257)

2010-02-23T06:45:00.002Z

Oh, please! Now you're just messing with us! What's this space-time shift shield system (or SSSS) anyway? Are you saying you're gonna pick up a whole planet from the past and put it into the present to skip its destruction? Whatever...

Narl is about to detail the plan that will lead our heroes to face the Ten Wise Men in Fienal, when Precis interrupts him to ask a question (game-wise, it could be any other Expellian to ask that, it's random): she's wondering if she could contact her father on Expel, since he might be worried about her being away for so long. Claude, Opera and Ernest already knew what became of Expel, but didn't tell the others yet, for one reason or another; now Narl thinks it's time to tell them the sad truth.

Do not think of Narl as being too harsh (or unwise, saying this just before a crucial mission): while he knows revealing Expel's destruction to our unaware friends might deprive them of any motivation to go on with the plan, he apparently has an ace up his sleeve. Nedians certainly have the most advanced knowledge in the universe, for Narl claims they're able to alter time and space to bring Expel back (don't ask too many details on how they can do that, it wouldn't make sense).

Hearing this news, Precis and the others are somewhat relieved that there's still hope for them to see their families again; however, now they've become more worried and nervous than ever, for the existence of Expel depends entirely on their success in defeating the Ten Wise Men. How, you may ask? It's simple: Narl claims that their 'space-time shift shield system' needs a huge amount of energy to work its magic and save Expel, but one of the generators that can power it is in Fienal, and it's needed to get enough energy for such a task. In short, unless they defeat the Ten Wise Men in Fienal, they cannot have Expel back. If you ask me, this is just a lame plot device; but I also believe that after playing Star Ocean 3 all this could make sense (to be fair, anything would after that).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (256)

2010-02-22T06:47:00.002Z

No, it won't, trust me. Narl is so short-sighted that he can't foresee two simple things: our heroes are still no match for the Ten Wise Men , and it's not certain that a defeat would mean the end. There are some hints about this not being the final battle scattered about the whole sequence, for instance the absolute lack of solemnity.

Back from their stroll about the Fields, the group is now ready for the next mission. Unexpectedly, Narl states that our heroes have become much stronger, certainly stronger than anyone on Nede (well, made a good number ov level-ups during our battles, but that's rarely taken into account in JRPG stories); I'm sure this has something to do with them overcoming their fears and all that jazz. Regardless, the plan is now to storm into Fienal, the city where the Ten Wise Men have taken siege.

One hint for the player: at this point a certain game sequence will start, and while you'll be able to save your game just outside of Fienal, you the Synard won't be accessible until the sequence ends. You'll be confined to the surrounding of Fienal and L'Aqua, the military base where you'll start the mission. Keep this in mind, for once you've talked to Narl there's no turning back.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (255)

2010-02-19T07:52:00.002Z

Each character has his/her own animation when they're brought back to life by Rena's Raise Dead spell: they all have the character's 'soul' (more like an angel) descend on the body in a cone of light, but Precis's animation has her smiling and waving her hands as she goes down, which makes it the best one.

After our heroes have got the Jewel of Love, they work their way back (as usual) to the exit of the Field; unfortunately the enemies don't want to give up, and still attack them in hordes. Luckily Rena's just learned a new spell, Raise Dead, which brings a fallen character back up with half their HP restored: this is more effective than a Resurrection Bottle, although it takes time to cast.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (254)

2010-02-18T07:19:00.002Z

See, even Claude admits this vision makes no sense at all.

The vision goes on by showing a sequence of dialogues between Claude and his father: taken with weird camera angles, the scene has an angry Claude shouting at the back of Ronixis, all this on a black background. Claude basically complains about his father not considering him, to which the commodore replies (at least I think HE does, it could be someone else, even Claude himself) along the lines of 'Is it really like that?'.

Taken by despair, Claude plugs his ears and kneels down, while the vision ends by transforming the black background into a shot of Arlia. About this last image, I'm not sure if it depends on which Claude's best relationship is, or if it's Arlia because that's where his journey began. However, this is probably the strangest scene in the whole game (there are worse JRPGs in that regard): the rest of the game is just bad dialogue (or bad translation, I don't know).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (253)

2010-02-17T06:52:00.003Z

Claude: Oh, my bad. I thought you were another person.

Our friends are a bit disheartened: although they've beaten Lover, kept everyone safe and preserved the Rune Codes, they now know the Ten Wise Men are aware of their movements. Claude and Rena are also concerned about what Lover said regarding her having already killed the guardian of the Field of Love; much to their surprise, though, they're again greeted by another flash of light and a vision, after which they finally obtain the Jewel of Love.

But the vision Claude (and Rena, as far as I remember) has this time is different from the previous ones, in that it's not simply a scene from the past (or present): he finds himself lying in a dark, empty space, unable to move, apparently in pain. The faint silhouette of someone then appears before him, emitting small light sparks. By looking at the screenshot you can immediately tell it's Rena, but in the real game there's not enough contrast to tell right away; of course who it is that appears isn't always her, it depends on who has the highest level of romance with Claude at the moment. Even if you don't recognize the figure, you can certainly guess who it is by the way she talks.

Before I forget, there's a thing that I wanted to mention about the dialogue between (in this case) Claude and Rena after beating Lover: their lines are absolutely generic and overly dramatic. How is that news, you ask? Well, game-wise, this is obviously one of the cases where the developers didn't bother differentiating the dialogue, so this sounds like a general 'I'm glad you're safe' dialogue between Claude and his 'best freind'; which sounds especially awkward when Rena's the friend, because Claude saved her twice in the past, yet they talk like that now. Actually, I think this would sound off even with anyone else, because it's so impersonal.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (252)

2010-02-16T07:00:00.002Z

...And that's the answer I was looking for. It's good that at least she admits it herself, although she doesn't seem very convinced.

The Ten Wise Men must be quite overconfident to send such a pathetic opponent at our heroes: if it weren't for the two golem monsters (the same kind they already fought in the Hoffman Ruins... So it was their doing back there!) with her, it would have been a very short battle. After her defeat, Lover realizes her own foolishness. You can pity her if you want, since she herself told you she had no idea what Claude and the others were doing in these Fields; her only fault was being on the wrong side (her excessive confidence as well).

After fading to nothingness like all the other bad guys who die (at least we don't have to worry about burying the corpse), our friends are relieved to be safe and sound.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (251)

2010-02-15T06:59:00.003Z

Why, oh why?! You had what you wanted, and yet you would do such a foolish move.

Claude hands over the Rune Codes to Lover (they might not even need them anymore after all, since this is the last Field, but they're also a high-security key, so who knows what they'll use them for), who unexpectedly (really?) declares to kill them. Funnily enough, if the hostage was in your battle party, s/he will take part in the battle against Lover; why bother taking a hostage if you're going to use force anyway?

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (250)

2010-02-12T06:48:00.003Z

I hate hostage negotiations, they always end up badly.

Lover threatens to take Rena's life if Claude doesn't hand her over the Rune Codes; naturally, Rena says the canonical 'Don't listen to her', while Claude reluctantly choses to give up the precious item in exchange of her safety. It's worth explaining that, while this time it's Rena that has been taken hostage, it may have been some other charatcer, depending on the relationship levels Claude currently has with his friends: I think Lover cleverly picks the character with the highest friendship level in your group (although I'm pretty sure Claude wouldn't let any of his companions die).

In a normal playthrough, Rena is the character who's most likely to be the protagonist of relationship-influenced scenes such as this one, and for two reasons: the first is that her relationship levels with Claude start out quite high (what with the Warrior of Light story and him saving her life twice), while the second is that she'll most likely be in your battle party all the time (relationship level raises every 100 battles fought together), thanks to her healing powers. Kind of like what happens with Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, for those who've played it. Of course, if you're playing with Rena the situation is exactly specular.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (249)

2010-02-11T06:37:00.002Z

You mean 'womanservant', right? What a coincidence, though, that her name is Lover... you know, we're in the Field of Love... Oh, forget it! I'm short on ideas today.

So the Field of Love is that floating island in the centre of Energy Nede, possibly kept in the air by the supreme power of love itself (how romantic!). For once, you can see a nice introduction sequence to the Field: the Synard slowly flies towards a landing area (you can hear her soft wingbeat), lightly descends on the ground producing a small little shockwave, then Claude jumps off with a leap higher than the Synard (nice animation, I must say).

Facing the gate to the Field of Love, our group faces an energy barrier, which mysteriously dissolves once they get close; if you had come earlier to this place, the barrier would have stayed, but I'm not sure what the game requirements are for it to open up (likely the completion of the other 3 Fields). The way is open now, but Claude wonders whether they should 'use' the Rune Codes as usual (how does Claude 'use' them anyway? The other times the codes acted on their own). Somehow activating the Rune Codes, an eerie light and then a flash appear, teleporting our heroes right into the Field (couldn't they just walk in?).

The Field of Love is quite straight-forward, although packed with many strong enemies; right at the start you face a huge banner with an arrow indicating to the left, therefore you have to turn right first, in typical JRPG fashion, in order to collect a treasure. Well, at least they don't make you waste time, but still, you get back out on foot as usual, so you could have checked the other way on your way back. After a couple of pointless rotating platforms, our friends get to the final room.

Expecting the team is the spirit of the fountain, who invites them to come closer. But suddenly one of your characters gets captured and held hostage, while the mysterious woman reveals her true identity: Lover, a servant of the Ten Wise Men. Now, this actually seems like a very good plan! I mean, Narl has always been so mysterious about these Fields, so Claude and the others could never know what to expect; aside from guessing that Lover acted differently from the other guardians (who knows, it could have been because this is the Field of Love), there's no way they could have foreseen it was a trap.

There is something funny about this, however: Lover is quite weak when compared to the other guardians, which makes me wonder how she could have killed the real guardian here. But enough for today, this is an interesting part which deserves more posts.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (248)

2010-02-10T07:03:00.002Z

Leave it to Precis when it comes to awkward questions.

A small detour, nothing important: our group landed in North City to ask how they can refuel their Synard (well, not really). Next stop is the Field of Love; I wonder what kind of challenges await us.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (247)

2010-02-09T10:28:00.003Z

Claude: Rena, why are you grinning?

In Armlock they have a huge variety of weapons in store, but... I don't know, I can't help but feel puzzled when the most advanced civilization in the whole universe still has to worry about hand-to-hand combat. They actually sell these weapons, they're not just for display. Claude even started the adventure with a Phase Gun! Sure, its power was drained quickly and it still hasn't recharged, but Nede's got to have more efficient generators. Now Claude seems to be happy swinging his star-spitting sword, and occasionally using his flashy Killer Moves learned from nowhere, instead of safely incinerating his enemies from a distance... It's not cowardice, it's common sense!