Johnny Game Over aka JGO[RETRO V.G. ADS] (JP) Star Ocean - The Second Story (1998) (PS1)
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maiji"I don't understand why the Queen of Cross has summoned me. I don't understand what I'm being asked to do. But after these three nights, the answer will become clear."
Cover art WIPs, commentary, link to full fic: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/6395239
Finally finished this sequel to The Queen's Twa Generals!
Content warning: War, major character deaths.
#MastoArt #CreativeToots #StarOcean2 #StarOceanTheSecondStory #fanfics #fanart #fanfiction
Efemèrides Videojocs 🕹👾Tal dia com avui de 2000 ens arribava "Star Ocean: The Second Story" per "PlayStation" de #Sony 🕹🎮. #StarOceanTheSecondStory #StarOcean #Playstation #JocDeRol #Aventura #Videojocs #Gaming #VideoGames #RetroGaming #ClassicGaming #RetroGames
Made a longer post on my Pillowfort about two fun pieces of official Japanese #StarOceanTheSecondStory media from 1999 and 2000: a drama CD and a short story collection!
maiji: Star Ocean 2 CD Drama and Game Novel - the first stories
[images: Two photos of Star Ocean The Second Story media. 1) Booklet and the back of the jewel case for CD Drama Collection Star Ocean: The Second Story 2, featuring the original PS1 artwork. Booklet shows Claude paired with an image of the Shingo Forest. Back of the case shows Rena overlapping an image of a nature scene showing a path with trees, grass and flowers, and mountains in the distance. 2) Front cover of Star Ocean The Second Story Private Action Bootleg by Shougo Mukai. Illustration of Claude and Rena sitting in a tree, looking out towards a town with a mountain in the background.]The Star Ocean series has quite a bit of additional media that did not make it across the ocean for official English releases. I recently got my hands on two of them! I was long aware of both of these, often seeing them pop up on Japanese auction and secondhand sites over the years. However, because neither of them are visuals-focused, in the past I never felt like I'd be able to get much out of them because my Japanese literacy was so low. It's only now, deep in the throes of the third (?) wave of my SO2 obsession with enough basic language comprehension that I feel like I have the motivation and sufficient foundational skills to work through it slowly and practice more Japanese that we are here!! I'm also trying to pace myself in consuming these in between work/life/everything else on my to-do list.CD Drama Collection Star Ocean: The Second Story 2In 1999, the year after the original PS1 SO2 came out, 2 drama CDs were released. See them with more images here and here. They feature the same OG main Japanese cast that was brought back for the 2023 SO2R remake. Listening to it now after having played SO2R a million times with both JP voice casts, it's quite impressive how consistent the seiyuu were able to sound over 20 years later. There are differences, of course; for example, I find Ueda Yuuji (Claude) doesn't employ as much of a rasp here as he does in his SO2R performance. [READ-MORE]This CD has 3 stories (my attempted translations below, with / indicating PS1 vs SE and SO2R translations for names): 港街ハーリーにて - In Port Town Herlie/Harley 紋章兵器恋物語 - Heraldic/Symbological Weapon Love Story 突然おまけ物語 - Sudden Side Story The cast listed are: Claude: Ueda Yuuji Rena: Hisakawa Aya Ashton: Sakaguchi Daisuke Dias: Horikawa Ryo Precis / Ururun: Sumitomo Yuuko Celine: Kaida Yuki Chisato / Eleanor's mother: Kasahara Rumi Mirage: Nogawa Sakura Eleanor: Imai Asami Yul: Hayamizu Risa Michael / Metatron: Touchi Hiroki [Reminder: Also Ernest's voice actor btw lol.] Gyoro / Arena assistant: Matsuda Yuuki Jophiel / Claude's father* / Owner of Gametsuki Hall [this is the antique shop in Herlie]: Ugaki Hidenari Zaphkiel / Doctor: Hirano Toshitaka Zand / Calnus Lieutenant: Yoneda Naotsugu [*Why do they have him listed as "Claude's father" and not "Ronixis"? lol...]My listening skills are pretty bad, and there's no script included, so I struggled through the first story haha. But it's really interesting! It's actually a blend of several Herlie PAs, and seems to fuse the Eleanor and Yul PAs together with some new ideas. I excitedly messaged my sis because when we were much younger we made a Star Ocean doujinshi together, and her story actually was connecting Eleanor and Yul's backgrounds as well, so that was a super fun link. Because this isn't the SE cast (the first time the game was actually fully voice acted), all the background cast/NPC voice actors are totally different from SE and SO2R. Eleanor sounded a lot older than I expected, and I ended up having a really hard time picking Yul out in the voices because my brain kept expecting rowdy slangy dude in SE, haha.Full disclosure: I got this CD primarily because I recall reading somewhere that the third story involves Claude and doujinshi. In my mind, and because the title literally says "omake", I'm anticipating complete crack. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong - but if you do know, don't spoil me (yet) hahaha. [/READ-MORE]Star Ocean The Second Story Private Action Bootleg Contrary to its name, it is not actually a bootleg, lol. Released in 2000, this is the second of two collections of short stories by Mukai Shougo; you can see the info here and here (Amazon links for reference only, general PSA try not to buy from Amazon if you can help it). They play off of, and reimagine or extend, various PAs from the actual game. Officially sanctioned fanfiction basically, haha. It includes illustrations by Mayumi Azumi (who did the Star Ocean 2 manga and also stepped in for the character art for Blue Sphere): cover, a two-sided colour insert, and I believe one black and white illustration per story. I think I've seen most or all of the illustrations because I used to have the two Treasure artbooks which collected Mayumi Azuma's plethora of SO2 art. [READ-MORE]The first story, 一粒 ("A single drop"), was only 12 pages but it took me a while. I'm trying to read a spread at a time without support to see what I can piece together myself, and then start looking up stuff with Jisho and Google Translate. The title, hItobutsu, can be translated "one [counter for a small round object]". "grain" or "particle" are probably the most technically accurate, but I leaned to "drop" because the story has key references/moments involving tears and starlight from above, so I think that works more seamlessly in English.A single drop is from Rena's perspective, and is based on several PAs: Rena's story: where she catches Claude staring at the sky in Salva and he asks her what she thinks is beyond the sky. Recording with English voice cast here. Rena's story: the classic favourite sky PA. My transcript here. Claude's story: PA where Rena asks Claude what he thinks of her strange healing power. Recording with Japanese (SE) voice cast here. In this story, during her travels with Claude, Rena observes that he seems very lonely and homesick, and wonders, not for the first time, where he's from. When they stay overnight at Celine's home in Mars, she has a lovely little private reflection on both of their mysterious origins. It also fills in a missing scene: in the favourite sky PA, if Rena answers that she loves starry skies, Claude asks if she'd like to go stargazing sometime, and we never actually see it in the game. But they do it in this story!I enjoyed A single drop; it's poetic and subtle, and I like that Claude's actions and words are very ambiguous to Rena. Also, I found it interesting that the author had Claude give Rena a mix of both of his "good" answers for his PA (unless you have Ashton in your party and open up the rude joke third answer, both of Claude's options net you positive points for their relationship, just that one gives you an even better result)... and hilarious that the author had Rena give Claude the "bad" answer for the "what do you think is beyond the sky?" PA. Claude is disappoints lolI am also dying because I did a speedy flip-through of the entire book to check its condition and assess its contents, and discovered the illustration for the final story is Ernest and Claude talking. I love Claude and Ernest and we already have so little Ernest content (including fanworks), so the idea that the final story may very well be a Claude and Ernest-centric interaction makes me extremely excited. No one spoil (or disillusion) me!! Anyways, I'm really trying not to skip to the end, haha. I will do this PROPERLY and read everything PROPERLY in order. Very slowly. And trying to manage my expectations so that hopefully I don't get disappointed when I finally get to it.[/READ-MORE]
Did you know: In 1999 after #StarOceanTheSecondStory came out, they released 2 drama CDs (this is the same OG main Japanese cast brought back for the 2023 SO2R remake)!
This one has 3 stories: "In Port Town Herlie/Harley", "Heraldic [Symbology, in the new translation] Weapon Love Story" and "Sudden Side Story" (my attempted translations). I'm using it for listening practice, it's super interesting! Also I'm very far from fluent so I'm struggling, but it's interesting haha.
Armory Fan Club? Armory Fan Club!! 
⚔️ Commentary and screenshots of the fan club NPCs from the game https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5852229
Read the fic! 
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62347540
#fanfic #fanfiction #fanart #StarOcean2 #StarOceanTheSecondStory #StarOceanSecondStoryR
maiji: Armory Fan Club
[image: Cover for Armory Fan Club - a fanfic by maiji. Digital illustration of Dias and Claude back to back, smiling out at the viewer with swords crossed. The kingdom capital of Lacour is all around them in full festival mode, with blue skies, colourful confetti and hanging buntings. Below is a collage of assorted characters from the game in front of crowds of festival-goers. They are: two giggling women waving a fan that says "Lord Dias" with a heart; a woman holding a bowl and handing out flyers that say "CK" with a heart; a pair of blushing guards being amazed at how cool Dias and Claude are; Gamgee and an older Sufia hefting a sword in a scabbard; a laughing Precis; an annoyed Leon; an amused Granny Moor.]The Sorcery Globe is gone. The Tournament of Arms is back.And so are the two most acclaimed swordsmen in its history!Read Armory Fan Club on AO3This is me, having too much fun. (Note: The above is not Remnant Light Claude. I just needed physical descriptions that make it very clear Dias and Claude went through more eventful adventures after the end of the game, so I repurposed most of the design I came up with for that story. The main difference visually is that he still has his red headband instead of a leather headband.) I love how they made festival Lacour look in SO2R and I really wanted to capture that wonderful medieval-party-under-brilliant-blue-skies vibe! Everyone in this illustration is actually a character in the game. Read the story to find out who they are! Or if you figured it out because you obsessively talk to every NPC like I do, yay for you!While working on The Thesis, I made a silly joke about how in SO2R the Armory Contest (remake translation for Tournament of Arms) recovery room got reconfigured so there's only one guard who witnesses The Conversation between Dias and Claude, and now he's gonna be dying until the end of his shift to share the hot gossip. Next thing I knew, I had a fanfic word count of 1,500 that was climbing with great momentum. To the point where The Thesis almost ended up not being finished because writing this nonsense was more fun, and easier, than translating. Until I got to the fight scenes anyways. And then I was like "This needs a cover!" やれやれ… Armory Fan Club is basically me trying to pack in my thesis evidence of everything I think is great about Dias and Claude as a pairing, some metacommentary on fandom, and of course, my usual love for/references to lots of NPCs! The fan clubs in the story are all based on actual stuff from the game too. I took a lot of screenshots in my SO2R playthroughs so here they are! Spoilers for a bunch of people you can talk to during the tournament. This post does double duty for me saying a while back I'd post about the Claude fan club. There are Dias fans in here as well.[READ-MORE][Screenshot of Claude talking to a youth near the registration table. The youth stammers, "Mr. Kenny, I-I just want t-to say th-that you're…you're a real inspiration to me!"]"Isaol": On the cover, he's the soldier/guard on the right. Unnamed in the game, he's a friendly purple-haired youth pacing near the registration table. If you're Claude, every time you talk to him in between your matches, he grows increasingly impressed. His line in Japanese is quite ardent, but I didn't want to make him too over-the-top of a character in the story. He says: クロードさん、ぼくは、ぼくはモーレツに感動しています！ Something like, "Claude-san, I'm, I'm intensely moved/impressed!" Which I don't think fully conveys how intensely moved and impressed he is the way it does in Japanese, haha. モーレツ ("intensely") is probably 猛烈: fiercely, violently. So the English take on it is cute and nicely done to convey his awe of Claude's performance in the tournament.[Screenshot of Claude, Rena and Dias in the recovery room with the guard at the door. 1) Dias is leaving. Claude says, "Will I see you again?" 2) Dias has left. When you talk to the guard, he says, "The Armory Contest's ended. It was pretty good, wasn't it?"]"Garet": On the cover, he's the soldier/guard on the left. Unnamed in the game, he's the guard at the door of the recovery room when Dias goes to see Claude after the finale. He witnesses the conversation between Dias and Claude. Sure, he seems chill about it, but he's actually just putting on a professional front and the memory now haunts his dreams. I mean that in a good way. [Several screenshots showing Rena or Claude talking to a young woman with long dark hair, a red headband and a red dress. 1) To Rena she says: "Hi, I'm Lucy! I saw Claude performing out there. He was sooo dashing! Is it okay if I have a crush on him?" 2) To Claude she says, "Hi, I'm Lucy! I saw your match out there. Is it okay for me to have a crush on you?"]Lucy: A girl with long dark hair pacing the left side of the arena. She was my fave tournament audience NPC when I was little. No matter whose story I played, every time I ran around the colosseum I would talk to her just to see her ask for permission to have a crush on Claude. Of course she would be the president of his fan club![Screenshots of Precis cheering Claude on during the tournament events. 1) Ashton, Precis, Claude, Rena are outside the castle entrance after Claude said he wants to enter the tournament. Precis is saying, "Oh, go ahead, go ahead! I can't wait to see your studliness in action!" 2) Precis, Rena, Ashton in the stands during the tournament. Precis and Ashton (and Gyoro and Ururun) are looking shocked/slightly freaked out. Precis is saying, "Claude's absolutely the dreamiest! I can't believe what's happening!"] Precis: Okay, Lucy aside, Precis was definitely Claude's #1 fan at the Arms. Everyone in your party says nice things, but she is by far his most vocal supporter from the get-go if you have her in your party. Her comments always crack me up, and the SE/SO2R translation is really funny.[Screenshot collage of Claude talking to a group of four young girls in the colosseum. They say in turn (doesn't matter which of them you talk to): "We're..." "...members of the..." "...Sir Glorias Fan Club!" "But he lost in the first round.]The Lord Dias Fan Club: Formerly the members of the Sir Glorias Fan Club. A group of ladies standing around the left side of the arena. Sir Glorias lost his first match, so obviously they need a new obsession to cheer for. If you try to pickpocket them, you'll notice they're all carrying portraits of Dias. Easy shift of allegiances. [Screenshot of Rena on the way back to her seat in the colosseum just in time to see a woman in the audience screaming in Japanese, "Ah! Dias-sama!"]"Lord Dias": You can only see this lady in a Rena story if you don't have anyone else in your party other than Claude and Rena. She just says "Oooh! Dias!" in English. But the "Dias-sama" in Japanese slayed me. The guy next to her is a Claude fan, you can see the full dialogue here.[Screenshot of an NPC in the corner of the bar saying "Dias was incredible, but I was more intrigued by that Claude kid."]More Claude fans: There are a bunch more NPCs in the tavern who were really impressed by Claude. I inserted most of them into this fic, so let the above gentleman represent them all.[Screenshots of Dias at the Front Lines observation deck, Rena talking to two soldiers near him. 1) Dias is not in the party yet. The soldier closest to Rena is saying, "Oh, wow! It's the Armory Contest champion." 2) Dias is now in the party. The same soldier is saying, "The Armory Contest champion is just at another level. You can feel an aura different from normal people."]More Dias fans: A couple of star-struck Dias fans at the Front Line Base. Or rather, one star-struck Dias fan and his patient long-suffering buddy. The soldier on the left squeals a lot more in Japanese (the "Oh, wow!" is actually an excited "Wa wa!"), and his friend on the right is like "wow even you tell the truth every so often", implying that this guy has been going on at length about a Dias sighting before this. It's too bad you can't make Dias the leader at this specific part of the game even when he's in your party in SO2R. Would've been hilarious to see a different response from the soldier when Dias himself is talking to him.[/READ-MORE]There are more fans in the game that I didn't screencap or fit into the story. But if you play SO2R, keep an eye out for them, and have fun talking to everyone before, during and after the tournament!Also, I totally didn't expect this to line up - at least in my timezone - but happy birthday Claude!! (January 23, Space Date 347 - or year 2433 if I didn't mess up my math).
This is basically what happened at the beginning of the game, isn't it?
Full transcript of comic and more commentary at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5776169
#StarOcean #StarOceanTheSecondStory #StarOceanSecondStoryR #StarOceanTheSecondStoryR
maiji: low effort SO2R comic
[image: very scribbly pencil-like digital doodles. Transcript below.] Ronixis (laughing and cheering with crew and then pointing authoritatively at Claude): let's check this planet out! whoo whoo claude you're coming with meClaude (concerned): with all due respect Admiral I don't think that's a good ideaRonixis (sad and pouty and pointing his index fingers together, with Kurtzman and other crew members unruffled behind him): boohoo but I'm old let me have my funClaude (unamused): .........[several hours later]Ronixis (sobbing): CLAUDE!! CLAUDE!!! IT'S ALL MY FAULT...!!Science Officer: With all due respect Admiral it sort of is [sometime later in the Shingo Forest](Equipment Menu showing Claude has nothing equipped except for an Ugly Accessory. Next to it is Claude in the Shingo Forest wearing nothing but a belt and holster with the phase gun, looking down at himself and screaming in alarm, with a mandrake-like Ugly Accessory acting like a censor for his lower half. There is also note saying that he must still have his phase gun.) [much later in Arlia Village]Claude (lying face down on the ground and either crying or drooling): oof... oogh... my stomach...Westa: Rena. quick, while the Hero of Light is stuffed and can't escape!! we'll make sure he saves Expel!!Rena: Got it, Mom!! Yes, I started another SO2R game to fill in some gaps in the Flavour Text documentation.1) I was saying to my friend who is an orange, you know, the opening of Claude's story does seem like Claude's recklessness is what transports him from Milocinia/Milokeenia to Expel, but it's also interesting that you later discover (in flashback) that he actually didn't want to go down and recommended against it. The conversation between him and his dad is pretty much what I summarized above. I'm not even kidding.2) I was going through the menu to make sure Claude came with Dexterity/Nimble Fingers and was like "oh yeah [because this isn't New Game+ anymore], I'm completely naked." Then I found an Ugly Accessory after a battle. This accessory does nothing, but I equipped it on him anyways since I was in the screen and had nothing to do. It seemed like it could provide some level of modesty.3) While adding to my Flavour Text notes, I laughed at how I had captured this Camp Menu reminder-hint from the equivalent part of Rena's story on what to do at this point of the game.[Screenshot of Ellipsus text doc that reads: After stuffing Claude full of food - Rena is running! Rena: I need to tell the village chief about the Hero of Light!chat message at 3:39PM: it's like they stuffed him so he can't get away]Westa's brilliant plan all along. I do believe my sis and I used to periodically crack this kind of joke back in the olden days of PS1 SO2, actually.I can't believe this is my first art post of 2025, haha.
Smile for the camera 📸 Oriana's screencap. An illustration for the final chapter of Along Theta's Fringe: The Most Beautiful Thing.
It's dooone! ✨ https://archiveofourown.org/works/59780053/chapters/152484025
Ah the feeling of completing a project to be savoured 😌 before returning to the pile of all my other neglected/deferred projects 😂
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanTheSecondStory #fanfic #fanfiction #fanart
Blaarrgh = me doing anything with action 
Figured out the scifi thingy I was complaining about a few posts back, finished chapter 4 and squeezed in some doodles!
Comments and closeups of their faces https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/5483883
Along Theta's Fringe https://archiveofourown.org/works/59780053/chapters/152484025
#StarOcean2 #StarOceanTheSecondStory #fanfic #fanfiction #fanart
maiji: Along Theta's Fringe doodles (Chapter 4: On The Surface/To the Depths)
[image: digital ink-brush and watercolour style illustration that reads: This Remnant Light: Along Theta's Fringe - Chapter 4 away team and gyre-angels. Left side shows Lt. Sulien Wave & Lt. Claude C. Kenni in Pangalactic Federation combat gear and looking a little bedraggled. Wave is holding a phaser rifle, Kenni is holding a Pangalactic Federation longsword and pulling his tactical goggles up over his head. Right side shows 2 gyre-angels - floating white luminescent ghostly aliens. One angel is hovering in the air. The other angel is going "blaarrgh" and exploding in teeth at a little Sulien and a little Claude who are going ?!!? and !! in alarm. The angels are approx. 2-3m in length.][image: Closeup detail of Sulien and Claude's faces at 100% drawing size. ]"This is the Ishibashi. Dream Team: do you read me?"After a brief pause, Claude responds, "Copy loud and clear. But—are you seriously calling us that?""Crew voted. This was the winner. Over.""There was a vote??"Claude tilts his head slightly towards Sulien, as if to ask when the heck did that happen?? Sulien can picture the incredulous look behind the dark goggles.He shrugs back. It must've been around when they were getting suited up. Hence Ensign Breem's comments."It's not the worst. And it's way faster to say than 'Lieutenants Kenni and Wave'. Or even just 'Kenni and Wave'. Oh, you know what—you guys didn't get to vote! Did you want to—""Let's get a move on," says Sulien.Claude scratches his head. "We're fine."- Along Theta's FringeLieutenant Sulien Wave and Lieutenant Claude C. Kenni and the gyre-angels as they appear in Chapter 4: On The Surface/To The Depths. Something sort of like this but please imagine it much cooler. Also "blaarrgh" and spewing things everywhere is exactly me when I'm writing action scenes and spewing ideas and words everywhere trying to hit all the targets I need to address to make a story work believably. (That was not my inspiration for the gyre-angels, it's just a metaphor I came up after the fact while writing this post. But who knows, maybe it was subconscious.)I regret the way I drew Sulien's phaser rifle previously. I didn't put much thought into at all (throwaway weapon design) and I was finding it wasn't really working here, so I just kind of blobbed around it. Fortunately, this is all for fun and also not a comic so I don't have to be accountable to consistency or anything other than my own personal annoyance. Yay!This chapter was the biggest bottleneck because I had to figure out the plausible-sounding-enough sci-fi-y plot mechanism. You can see me bellyaching about the SF stuff over here, with support from lovely fellow creators. I'm just glad I didn't have to make anybody unclog an optronic torsional modulator.The rest of this fic is mostly proofreading and cleanup so they should go much faster! I have one more planned illustration for the last chapter so that's the only other thing I can think of that may slow me down. Famous last words. Wrapping up soon~
The random fic I made back in the summer exploded into its own little universe. I started a continuation, then got derailed with a spinoff AU.
Here's a design for the protagonist of the spinoff, an OC who is essentially AU Federation Dias Flac. I'm stupidly proud of his last name. I explain in the author's notes for ch 1 but if you figured it out in advance thank you. And I'm sorry 😂
📖 Along Theta's Fringe: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59780053/chapters/152484025
