Next up on the PSIO prototype is Star Ocean: The Second Story. I’ve had a little play around with this one already, and it seems to work quite well. There’s rather a lot of story to get through, but at least I didn’t die immediately like I did in Crash Bash!

One pleasant surprise is that the full-motion video has audio, which hasn’t always been the case with the games I’ve been testing. The music and sound effects also seem to be behaving properly, so that’s a good start.

The game lets you experience the story from different character perspectives, and I’ve decided to try the other side this time. That saves me watching exactly the same opening again and gives me something a little different to explore. There’s a great deal of talking, although I’m not always entirely sure what everyone is talking about!

I’ve also managed to get into some battles. Unfortunately, I spent several turns trying to punch an enemy before realising I had a much more useful weapon available. My fault entirely! At least the combat seems to be working, even when the person holding the controller isn’t.

There are shops, equipment and quite a few things to learn, but I’m enjoying it so far. It’s got a bit of that Final Fantasy feeling, and the story seems to be progressing nicely. If you want to find out what happens next, you’ll probably have to get the game yourself, because there’s only so much dialogue I can fit into one video!

So Star Ocean: The Second Story seems to be another promising result for the PSIO prototype. I’m using hardware 1.1 with software 1.1A, and these observations only cover the parts of the game I’ve tested.

You can visit ps-io.com for more about the project and its ongoing development.

Prototype test conditions

  • PSIO hardware: 1.1
  • PSIO software: 1.1A
  • PlayStation: SCPH-5502
  • CD deck: removed