First things first:
Months ago, I voiced my concerns here about a certain mural in Lacuer City depicting a hot woman in sexy armor.
I can now confirm that the mural DOES still exist in in the game, armor unaltered...but for some reason, the woman was chibified. Not sure what to think here, but if anything, it fits the rest of the characters' art styles outside of their portraits. I find this acceptable.
Secondly, on another win, I showed a scene from the PSP version where Claude ogles some in-game fanart, and that it would be woke to remove this scene.
I can now confirm that this scene is UNALTERED!
It's likely because the English voice files are exactly the same as the PSP version--they're even the same audio recordings, not new ones with the same cast. But the fact remains! And if you hate dubs, there's not one, but TWO Japanese audio tracks--one from the PSP version, the other completely new, made just for this remake...though the voice of Bowman, Keiji Fujiwara, died of cancer in 2020 and obviously had to be replaced on the new track. His lines remain on the Second Evolution audio track, however.
I'm having an absolute blast with this remake so far. So many tiny little details left in, additions that truly add to the game, modern conveniences like fast travel, no more random encounters...this game comes across like an absolute labor of love, and I always respect those.
It's almost criminal that I'm not hearing more about this game aside from niche circles--and that goes all the way back to the remake's announcement on that Nintendo Direct. I felt like I was the only one excited for it...since the PS1 original, warts and all, is one of my favorite video games of all time.
Maybe it helps that it wasn't developed by Square Enix themselves, but by Gemdrops, who I've never heard of before. What do we know about them?
TL;DR: I wholeheartedly endorse this remake. It supersedes the original in every way. You all need to play it...though it would help if you played Star Ocean: First Departure R first, it's not completely necessary.
Yes, I'm gushing. What of it? There's enough negativity in the world.
Its been like 20 years since I played it, but the characters are unlikable for most of the opening, the entire crafting system was horrifically awful, and the graphics/color palette are painful to look at for long periods of time. I also remembering something about the combat being busted, but again its been 20 years.
The twist is letting the game off too easy, because it just boils it down to "you just don't like it because its too smart for you!" when there is plenty more than that dragging it down.
Most of which wouldn't have been out of place for a PS2 JRPG, but when you choose to be a sequel to a game you need to at least break even with what it did a whole console generation ago if you can't improve on it.