Star Ocean: Second Evolution for PSP Reviews by Gamers

If you missed the original 1999 sleeper hit, "Star Ocean: The Second Story", for the PSone, now is your chance to play it--but with a few vast improvements. For those of you who played the original, there have been a few changes; The character art, a handful of items, Heraldry, Killer Moves, and city names have been altered or changed completely, the item creation sequences are much quicker, the formalities stemming from Japanese culture in the dialog has been overhauled completely to flesh out the characters more and appeal more to Western audiences, and characters can now dish out THREE (normal) attacks successively (which compensates for Bowman's lack of range).
More Private Actions have been included as well involving Dias Flac, whom was curiously omitted from PAs in the original, and some involving the secret character (and bane of my existence)Welch Vineyard.

For those that are new:

Pros:

-The game is an absolute blast. There are random battles, but combat is free roaming. Party Member A.I. is exceptional, so they'll get you out if you're in a pinch (Unlike Star Ocean 3).

-Voice acting was surprisingly good, as many of the actors are second and third rate actors from FUNIMATION. Unfortunately, there are a few bad apples (Dias and Leon, for example, felt too forced and eye rollingly haughty at times)

-Innovative item creation system. Depending on your individual characters' talents and skill levels, food, powerful weapons, armor, anti-personnel weapons (cluster bombs, grenades, instant kill items)and other unique items can be created. Hate how stores rip you off? There's a specialty to combat that!

-Easy learning curve

-Up to 86 different endings (character pairings)

Cons:

-Slow start. AS SOON AS YOU GET CONTROL OF YOUR CHARACTER, go to the OPTIONS and select the "skip messages" option. You'll thank me later.

-Some places seem to have MUCH higher encounter rates than others

-Story isn't stellar, but certainly better than SO3's inane plot