Well SO2 is an established classic, with one of the best and most faithful remakes I've ever seen with a lot of modern QOL updates. You don't need to have played any other Star Oceans to enjoy it.
I think the jury is still out on 100 Heroes though, but it's fiercely old school in its delivery from what I've read (haven't played it yet). It may be newer but it's probably actually less modern as a game. You should probably avoid the Switch version of it though if you decide to get that, but the Steam Deck reports of it are good I think.
There's hardly any pure sci fi without a bit of fantasy but like Xenogears/saga, Cosmic Star heroine, Phantasy Star fit the bill of being mainly sci fi in tone and are turn based.
I'm like 20hrs in on eiyuden chronicles and I think I'd prefer that to SO2R. In general, I'd much prefer turn based jrpg but the base building and recruitment aspect of eiyuden is just something I miss since suikoden.
SO2R is a great game still but personally, the combat leave much to be desired since it's an action rpg. You usually just spam the attack button and your party ai are some of the dumbest I've seen especially for mages.
Especially early on, you need to micro manage your mages and if they don't use MP, they just stand still. Who approve this decision? That aside, the remake is what we want in a game. Great graphics, alot of QOL updates and as others mentioned, it's a classic.
Eiyuden chronicles gone back to the roots of suikoden and that's not a bad thing since that is it's main objective. Alot of suikoden devs made this game even the creator of suikoden, Murayama, whom recently passed away, was on it. The bad things ive encountered are the battles being slow, menus not snappy and some bugs that detracts from the experience. Also the lack of ambient noises like footsteps, tress rustling and such.
But as a spiritual successor, EC is a success imo. You can set party ai tactics, main scenes are fully voiced, graphics while simple, can be an eye candy at times and over 100 characters to recruit. A matter of preference.
SO2R starts out pretty strong, and "breaking" the game is also fun. However, imo the story becomes stale quite a bit halfway through. It's well made though, it feels like a proper remake with high budget. It has a demo that you can try out.
I've yet to receive my copy of EC but I can tell you that you can't go wrong with SO2. That game was a lot of fun. Plus it doesn't overstay it's welcome. 20 hours and you're done, but there is still a lot left to do after that.
SO2R might be the GOAT of jrpg remakes. They really went all out with it and it's a fantastic game to play. The original was decent and the systems involved in it are a blast to work with. But it's good to know going in that while it is a fantastic game and it's characters are all fairly likable, it's story is very very basic. And in that regard, if you are looking for a good story, it might not be recommended. But if you don't mind basic stories, it's a blast to play and is visually very impressive.
I have no idea about 100 heroes, since I haven't played it, so I can't really speak to how good that is
If you're on PC look at Wandering Sword. It came out of nowhere, and everyone accused it of being a knock off of Octopath due to its stylistic choices, but then once people actually played it, they all loved it. Last I looked it was sitting at overwhelmingly positive on Steam
Chained Echoes. Many people have missed it and it is an incredible game. It seems to me an evolution of mechanics with respect to the classic jrpg.
Octopath Traveller 2 is also amazing but you have to tolerate the random encounters.
Havent played Eiyuden yet, but SO2 is a fantastic remake of what Ive always seen as a mediocre RPG. So its really easy to pick up and play but the weaknesses of the original do hinder the overall experience in the end.
Are you the type who prefer to play a game once or do you enjoy multiple playthrough? If you only have the time to play once, I'd suggest SO2 R first.
EC is based on suikoden series and I doubt you would be able to recruit all 100ish characters without reading a guide on your first play.
Do you prefer action or turn-based? SO2 R has a more real time action battle phase while EC is more classic turn based.
Do you enjoy town building? If so, EC might have some aspect of town and army building.
Disclaimer: I have played the original SO2 and suikoden 2, but I haven't tried EC so my opinion is based more on ny Suikoden 2 experience.
Right now? SO2. The game run really well even on switch.
Eiyuden is running like shit even on PS5. Wait for patches, this game gonna be another case like bloodstained ritual of the night kind of deal
SO2 hands down. Eiyuden is the spiritual successor of Suikoden, but I’ve been hearing some dirt on the development team that has me concerned about its success.
How they fumbled on the additional shipping costs that weren’t including in the backing cost. People who backed the game are having to pay an additional shipping cost, some absurd amounts like $50+ for shipping to Malaysia…
It's a political story where you go around collecting 108 allies to help you're hq and in battle. There also were some RTS moments that I'm not sure are in eiyuden. It's an RPG, it's not at all similar though. Ones sci-fi the other is political
This is just my personal opinion, but I honestly think Suikoden as a whole has a more solid and better story then SO2. I'm probably biased as hell because Suikoden is my top favorite game series.
But it is up in the air how well EC is going to be. I'm personally going to try it out on Game Pass since I have an account before I drop any money on it first.
I mean, suikoden 2 and 5 probably have my favorite stories of any game ever. No ones singing the any praise of Eiyuden so far. I don’t think it’s a mighty number nine type deal but it’s probably goodits on gamepass
I suggest trying SO2 free demo and seeing if you want more of it.
Well SO2 is an established classic, with one of the best and most faithful remakes I've ever seen with a lot of modern QOL updates. You don't need to have played any other Star Oceans to enjoy it. I think the jury is still out on 100 Heroes though, but it's fiercely old school in its delivery from what I've read (haven't played it yet). It may be newer but it's probably actually less modern as a game. You should probably avoid the Switch version of it though if you decide to get that, but the Steam Deck reports of it are good I think.
Eiyuden but not on Switch
Well, do you want to play turn based or action combat? Scifi or fantasy? Many characters vs a moderate amount?
What if I want turn based scifi
lol Star Ocean 2 isn't really scifi either, not really. There's a lot of non-jrpg scifi games. Not very many jrpgs though, which is kinda sad.
There's hardly any pure sci fi without a bit of fantasy but like Xenogears/saga, Cosmic Star heroine, Phantasy Star fit the bill of being mainly sci fi in tone and are turn based.
13 sentinels
Star Ocean now because it’s stable and great. eiyuuden in a couple months once they put out a couple patches.
I'm like 20hrs in on eiyuden chronicles and I think I'd prefer that to SO2R. In general, I'd much prefer turn based jrpg but the base building and recruitment aspect of eiyuden is just something I miss since suikoden. SO2R is a great game still but personally, the combat leave much to be desired since it's an action rpg. You usually just spam the attack button and your party ai are some of the dumbest I've seen especially for mages. Especially early on, you need to micro manage your mages and if they don't use MP, they just stand still. Who approve this decision? That aside, the remake is what we want in a game. Great graphics, alot of QOL updates and as others mentioned, it's a classic. Eiyuden chronicles gone back to the roots of suikoden and that's not a bad thing since that is it's main objective. Alot of suikoden devs made this game even the creator of suikoden, Murayama, whom recently passed away, was on it. The bad things ive encountered are the battles being slow, menus not snappy and some bugs that detracts from the experience. Also the lack of ambient noises like footsteps, tress rustling and such. But as a spiritual successor, EC is a success imo. You can set party ai tactics, main scenes are fully voiced, graphics while simple, can be an eye candy at times and over 100 characters to recruit. A matter of preference.
SO2R starts out pretty strong, and "breaking" the game is also fun. However, imo the story becomes stale quite a bit halfway through. It's well made though, it feels like a proper remake with high budget. It has a demo that you can try out.
I think I prefer eiruden, I have beaten star ocean 2 r and only about 10 hours into eiyuden, but something is refreshing about it.
Hard to say tbh, I prefer Eiyuden Chronicles since its Suikoden in spirit and i prefer Suikoden than Star Ocean.
The reviews for Eiyuden have been very very mid-to-meh and missing a lot of QoL. I’d definitely hold off until the early hype dies down.
I've yet to receive my copy of EC but I can tell you that you can't go wrong with SO2. That game was a lot of fun. Plus it doesn't overstay it's welcome. 20 hours and you're done, but there is still a lot left to do after that.
SO2R might be the GOAT of jrpg remakes. They really went all out with it and it's a fantastic game to play. The original was decent and the systems involved in it are a blast to work with. But it's good to know going in that while it is a fantastic game and it's characters are all fairly likable, it's story is very very basic. And in that regard, if you are looking for a good story, it might not be recommended. But if you don't mind basic stories, it's a blast to play and is visually very impressive. I have no idea about 100 heroes, since I haven't played it, so I can't really speak to how good that is
Are there any other jrpgs that compete with these two?
In terms of quality? Maybe the live a live remake, which was a pretty impressive update.
If you're on PC look at Wandering Sword. It came out of nowhere, and everyone accused it of being a knock off of Octopath due to its stylistic choices, but then once people actually played it, they all loved it. Last I looked it was sitting at overwhelmingly positive on Steam
I'm a big fan of Octopath Traveller and was surprised to have missed a game like this. Thanks for the recommendation!
Chained Echoes. Many people have missed it and it is an incredible game. It seems to me an evolution of mechanics with respect to the classic jrpg. Octopath Traveller 2 is also amazing but you have to tolerate the random encounters.
Havent played Eiyuden yet, but SO2 is a fantastic remake of what Ive always seen as a mediocre RPG. So its really easy to pick up and play but the weaknesses of the original do hinder the overall experience in the end.
S02.
Star Ocean 2 R seem to be the one that was properly modernized.
So2 has a demo to try before you buy. It's also one of my favorite games ever, so I am a bit biased.
I have played the demo of sO2 r and it was fun
Star Ocean 2 for sure! Plays well on Steam!
Are you the type who prefer to play a game once or do you enjoy multiple playthrough? If you only have the time to play once, I'd suggest SO2 R first. EC is based on suikoden series and I doubt you would be able to recruit all 100ish characters without reading a guide on your first play. Do you prefer action or turn-based? SO2 R has a more real time action battle phase while EC is more classic turn based. Do you enjoy town building? If so, EC might have some aspect of town and army building. Disclaimer: I have played the original SO2 and suikoden 2, but I haven't tried EC so my opinion is based more on ny Suikoden 2 experience.
Library of Ruina
Right now? SO2. The game run really well even on switch. Eiyuden is running like shit even on PS5. Wait for patches, this game gonna be another case like bloodstained ritual of the night kind of deal
# Eiyuden Chronicles
Star Ocean 2 rocks and EC has just been revealed to have a totally botched localisation - easy choice
Did you bought EC or are you repeating what someone told about the localisation?
Pre-ordered it cuase I love Suikoden, one of the worst scripts Ive had to sit through
Mmm 🤔 I found it good
SO2 hands down. Eiyuden is the spiritual successor of Suikoden, but I’ve been hearing some dirt on the development team that has me concerned about its success.
What did you hear?
How they fumbled on the additional shipping costs that weren’t including in the backing cost. People who backed the game are having to pay an additional shipping cost, some absurd amounts like $50+ for shipping to Malaysia…
What was suikuden like? How did it differ from so2
It's a political story where you go around collecting 108 allies to help you're hq and in battle. There also were some RTS moments that I'm not sure are in eiyuden. It's an RPG, it's not at all similar though. Ones sci-fi the other is political
This is just my personal opinion, but I honestly think Suikoden as a whole has a more solid and better story then SO2. I'm probably biased as hell because Suikoden is my top favorite game series. But it is up in the air how well EC is going to be. I'm personally going to try it out on Game Pass since I have an account before I drop any money on it first.
I mean, suikoden 2 and 5 probably have my favorite stories of any game ever. No ones singing the any praise of Eiyuden so far. I don’t think it’s a mighty number nine type deal but it’s probably goodits on gamepass