Star Ocean The Second Story R Character Designer Shares Claude Illustration; Akiman Draws Chun-Li

Square Enix recently hosted a nearly hour-long broadcast featuring the character designer of Star Ocean The Second Story R, Yukihiro Kajimoto, and the character designer of Star Ocean The Divine Force, Akiman, conversed.

The duo discussed several topics, listed below:

• 00:00: Opening
• 00:29: Self Introduction
• 02:53: Explanation about the series
• 06:26: About Each Other’s Careers (Akiman)
• 14:53: About Each Other’s Careers (Yukihiro Kajimoto)
• 23:31: The Interest of Design
• 30:20: Crosspoints between the two
• 37:27: About the Future
• 49:12: Wrap-Up

Near the end of the broadcast, the two artists drew Claude C. Kenny from Star Ocean The Divine Force and Chun-Li from Street Fighter. Kajimoto did the former, while Akiman drew Chun-Li. For those unaware, Akiman is quite well known for his artistry with the Street Fighter series.

You can view both illustrations via our gallery below:

Star Ocean The Second Story R features fully voiced event scenes with the original voice cast, a newly arranged soundtrack by original composer Motoi Sakuraba with new songs, including some with a live band, as well as the new Break and Assault Action combat mechanics.

Players can anticipate two selectable protagonists, Claude and Rena, akin to the recently released Star Ocean The Divine Force. Claude is a Pangalactic Federation officer and son of the legendary Ronyx Kenny, causing him to have internal strife regarding his identity. During a mission, Claude’s ego gets the better of him as he’s transported to an underdeveloped planet and spotted by Rena, confusing him for the Hero of Light.

The Earth, Galaxy, and Universe difficulties are implemented. Further, the developer is Gemdrops, known for porting Star Ocean: The Second Evolution to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan. The original game was developed by tri-Ace.

Subtitled French, Italian, German, and Spanish language support will also be available via a launch day update.

In case you missed it, check out our review of Star Ocean The Second Story R.

• A Star Ocean The Second Story R soundtrack preview is available on streaming services.
• The first three discs of the game’s soundtracks have received dedicated previews.
• The opening theme is streaming with three variations.
• A free demo with save data carry-over is available.
• Check out our interview with the composer and producer.
• Check out the opening movie.

You can view the full broadcast featuring Kajimoto and Akiman below:

Star Ocean The Second Story R is now available worldwide on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.