Star Ocean: Second Evolution

The game gives the player the choice of playing as Claude or Rena, with the journey evolving and ending differently depending on the choices one makes. There are ten other playable characters in the game, though the player can only recruit six of them to fill out their eight-member party, and some recruitment choices will make other characters no longer available. The Second Story's gameplay is broadly similar to that of most RPGs. The player goes from town to town and dungeon to dungeon, following the central story and occasionally branching off to perform side quests. Characters gain experience points from battle and level up as a result, becoming gradually stronger as time passes and more battles are fought.

Battles play in real time, during which the player has manual control over their character, as opposed to choosing options from a menu. Battles take place on a broad battlefield, over which the player's character can move without limit, allowing them to trade blows face-to-face with the enemy or circle around for a flanking attack. The other party members (up to 3 others) are controlled by the game's AI; the player may change an ally's strategy to one of six different pre-determined options (such as "Spread out and attack", "Save your Magic Points", and "Stand Still and Don't Do Anything").

D 2452), twenty years after the original game, Star Ocean. The game tells the stories of Claude C. Kenny, son of Ronyx J. Kenny, and Rena Lanford, a young girl living on the planet Expel.

Claude, having recently been commissioned as an Ensign in the Earth Federation, is given his first mission under the supervision of his father. This first mission is to survey the planet Milocinia (renamed Milokeenia in the PSP port), where a mysterious energy field appears. Finding a mysterious device on Milocinia, Claude begins to examine it close-up, despite orders to keep away from it. As he approaches, the machine activates, teleporting him to Expel.

Enix opted to use sprites for characters in order to realize an anime style of character visuals that they felt was not yet possible with polygonal models.

Star Ocean: The Second Story was a commercial success, having sold 1.094 million copies worldwide, with 724,000 copies sold in Japan alone and 370,000 copies sold overseas. It was the 13th best-selling game of 1998 in Japan. The game, however, did not sell enough copies in North America to be re-released in the Greatest Hits range.

The game received favourable reviews on release and was lauded for innovative gameplay elements not previously seen in the genre, while borrowing some of the best features of popular JRPG Final Fantasy VII. While most reviewers gave positive reviews, some considered the game only mediocre. Jeff Lundrigan, reviewing the PlayStation version of the game for Next Generation, wrote that the game has its pluses and minuses, but ultimately called it "average" in his review. Regardless, the game has garnered a cult following and enjoyed various remasters and re-releases over the years.