Star Ocean: Second Evolution can be excused for its generic heritage and typical adventuring subplot. JRPG’s, after all, thrive on their atmosphere: look at Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger. But this is where the game falls flat. Everywhere you go is populated by swathes of docile individuals, and even the antagonists are just as polite as they are evil. There’s no sense of immediacy or threat, and the narrative features occasional flashes of excellence mixed in with a sense of JRPG-by-numbers: there are parts where it feels as if you’re flushing out a dungeon for the sake of it.

It also takes a ridiculous amount of time to pick up the pace. The first four hours of the game are almost entirely conversation. Too much of the game is spent wading through dialogue. The story ebbs and flows at a snail’s pace, and any attempt at naturalistic speech is ruined by the fact that you have to press X to advance conversation: the implications of having to do this are obvious whenever one character says something that requires a quick response. The dialogue is also presented slowly, in a rather poor font, and is impossible to skip unless you go into the options menu and fiddle with the settings.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution is, however, saved by its aforementioned excellent bits. If the player can muster up enough determination to keep going when the game throws them another lull, their feelings towards it all slowly shift and transmute into nothing short of loving endearment. The skill system is so flagrantly open to abuse that you can’t help but adore it and the freedom and immediacy of the battles means that, whilst simplistic, they never feel like a chore. The game, at its peak, is one of the best JRPG experiences money can buy.

What it lacks, however, is consistency. There are times when it feels schizophrenic. The excellent qualities of the game are always at war with its meandering, trifling aspects. It’s too long and too overwhelming a game to play in occasional short bursts, instead demanding that you devote yourself solely to it over the course of a couple of weeks. For that kind of investment, you won’t be getting particularly good returns. But when Star Ocean: Second Evolution works, it’s fantastic.

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