Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (49)

For a long time I had wondered how Celine could shout like that with her hands on her mouth. Then I realized she doesn't actually shout: just look at the punctuation! Then a new question arose: how do you say that aloud?

Claude is making a big show slaying evil oversized simians, and all the spectators are surprised by this strong warrior that literally came out of nowhere and has already given other well-known fighters a run for their money. In between fights, you may also notice a girl hanging around in the spectator area, who tells Claude: "I watched you fight. Mind if I fall in love with you?". Yeah, he's already gotten pretty popular: too bad nobody remembers his name.

In this screenshot you can see a couple of Tournament sponsors in the lower corners: the one on the left corner is Edda, the sponsor I chose this time, and she specializes in rare artifacts. Don't let her looks fool you (oh right, she's totally identical to Ketil's mother!), her lust for sweaty bodies and bloody swords is unparalleled on Expel. Why did I choose her as a sponsor again? ...I honestly can't remember.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (48)

Um, is this a Tournament contestant? I guess he doesn't shave very often... What?! It's a monkey?! Then why is it fighting in the Tournament? ... ok, so what if the rules allow that, how could it sign in in the first place?
It's not only this, even the next opponent is a kind of monster, resembling what Alen Tax had turned into in the Salva mine. Lacour is crazy, I tell you...

Rena couldn't make it in time to watch Claude fight, but she congratulates with him nonetheless; Claude then sees Dias enter the Arena and easily beat his first adversary. Rena briefly explains that some people hid Dias's weapon to let him out of the Tournament: it turns out they were careless enough to get drunk at the tavern shortly afterwards, only to be beaten to a pulp by Dias and Rena. It appears Mr. Flac got his hands on 'Sharpness', a weapon forged by famed swordsmith Jamgee (Grandpa Jamgee for his friends), thanks to Rena and Suphia, Jamgee's granddaughter: you can go through the whole thing if you play with Rena instead of Claude.

You know what, forget about the argument between Claude and Rena: it just settles out eventually, especially if you manage to get Claude into the finals of the Tournament, but I lost interest in it already, and it keeps my attention away from my main objective, that is recruiting all the female party members of of the game. Claude needs to win two more fights before he can fight against Dias in the finals, only to lose miserably and delay our journey to El even more (remember? It's the continent where the Sorcery Globe had landed. What's that, you ask? I frankly don't care anymore).

I'm taking a break for Easter, I have no more screenshots to show and I probably won't be able to play the game for a while.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (47)

Aside from the actual mistake in wording, this line stood out because it reminded me of Earthbound (a JRPG for the SNES that came out in 1995): I recall there was some character (or maybe it was a dog... what?) saying something similar, like "You're amazing! You talk to everyone!". Regardless of the possibility that it's a reference, it's quite funny, and also spot on because of the sheer number of people you can talk to in the Arena (this is just one of 6 screens).

Rena has just run away, but Claude has no time to lose, for his first duel draws near: he is quickly summoned to the entrance of the Arena, where you can make a last-minute check of your items (it's not really that useful, but you might have forgotten which support items you have for the battle). Entering the Arena, you listen to the announcer introducing the contestants, then the battle starts... oh, sorry, I'm so used to the term 'battle' that I use it for any kind of fight in the game (which is quite a common habit, almost jargon, since most JRPGs have a specific game view for fights).

Claude's first opponent is some knight in green armour and an unmemorable name, like all the other participants bar Dias; I think that if you lose this duel, you still have one more chance, but I've never tried. He's quite slow at attacking, so you shouldn't waste your MP and use regular sword slashes to get an easy win. One note: in the Rena version you can't control Claude directly (which is what made me lose to a fight once). After the fight, Claude wonders if Rena has watched him fight, so he heads to the spectators area to make sure... but not before talking to everyone! (I'm something else!).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (46)

Oh boy, here's where Claude snapped. Sure, Rena shouldn't have been quiet about what had happened between Dias and her, but because there was no scene about her returning to the inn the day before, I guess Claude didn't ask her either. Anyway, "artificially complicated" seems a good fit for this part of the story to me: I mean. really... ?

Our heroes are at the reception desk of the arena, and Claude has just gotten his hands on the equipment for the battle (I went with Edda's rare weapons this time, I know it's not the best choice but whatever), when Dias suddenly shows up and asks whether his weapon was ready. Maybe a bit upset by the negative answer he is given, Dias bitterly states he's going to check the weapon shop he was sponsored by, and walks away ignoring the others, only to be stopped by a concerned Rena, who accidentally reveals she was involved with his sponsorship. Then the scene above happens: Claude gets pissed off beyond reason and acts even more horrible than in Mars village (I wonder why Rena still sticks with him at this point... oh, right, being saved twice, Sword of Light etc.). Rena feels hurt by Claude's words, then chases after Dias.

Claude is left without any sympathy from his friend(s): in this case it's just Celine, who remarks he doesn't know how deep a girl's feelings can be hurt (but she doesn't seem that hurt about it later on, she really is a strong girl - and she can cook as well!), but the player may have one or two more party members who may comment in her place. One party member, Ashton Anchors, I purposefully missed (so I can get another one), the other one I'll get later, although I hope delaying it so much won't make me miss her as well.

A bit off topic: I saw a few videos of the PSP remake of the game, and Rena does really look like a child. At this point I don't know if I'm more concerned about the possible loss of character for such a 'strong' woman, or about the Claude x Rena ending where (*spoilers*) she gets pregnant (*spoilers*). I think I'll have a look at that.

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Wait wait wait! Noone told me this Tournament was about fighting to the death! I'm outta here!
Wow, that's pretty brutal. I missed this line in my past playthroughs, so it hit me this time. I don't think Claude'll be facing him, luckily enough.

On our way to the arena, you can encounter many people who might not want your autograph. Despite there being a lot of replicated sprites, like the ones shown above, there's actually a fair amount of variety, and even some unique sprites for some unimportant NPCs. Unfortunately the arena looks pretty empty in comparison, but you can't expect that much from a console of that time, especially if you consider that the spectator section can be freely entered and you can talk with almost everybody. Anyway, they could have shown at least the announcer for the battles, if not the king's seat. Screens will be provided later on, because the battle arena is a recurring location in many JRPGs (possibly starting with Final Fantasy VI in 1994, but I'm not sure it was the first).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (44)

Claude: "Yes, I are entered, but I can not write, sorry" *backs away* "Freaky green-haired bum..."
If you go to the reception of the Tournament Arena, you'll also find a couple of girls who ask an autograph... not to Claude, to the one behind him.

The day of the Tournament of Arms at Last! Lacour is even more crowded than it was yesterday, and Claude, Rena and Celine must make their way through a torrent of people to get to the Arena in the castle; well, not really a torrent, rather an unusually large amount of NPCs for an RPG of that time.

Since there isn't much to say here, I'll just put it here: it wasn't until I had watched Star Ocean EX (a cartoon based on this game) that I learned the right way to pronounce Rena, that is "Réna" (short close e). The English version of the game makes the characters say it as "Reena", and I think this was left unchanged in the PSP remake. It doesn't bother me too much though, I've played JRPGs with way worse adaption issues.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (43)

Ok, Celine may be smarter than Claude most of the time, but sometimes she fails to show it properly. Darling.

Rena isn't helping by just endlessly walking back and forth in the room until evening, so she decides to go out for a walk. Besides, there's only two beds here, so she might as well try and find Dias, so they could share his room and leave Claude and Celine having fu... I mean, enough room and a bed each. Nothing really happens afterwards in the Claude version of the story (no, Claude's romance level with Celine doesn't affect this part), and it'll be a new day very soon. If you're playing the Rena version instead, you'll experience a short "subquest" about which Claude will only learn later and with much less details. Having already played both versions multiple times, I may be biased in judging the story from Claude's point of view: first-time Claude players may find this part a bit confusing and badly-handled instead.