Star Ocean: The Second Story R - Characters Recruitment

There are 10 recruitable characters in this game, alongside with Rena and Claude. Rena or Claude are your main characters - depending on which you choose at the beginning, some of the optional characters will be tied to either Rena or Claude, but the rest can be recruited by any starting character.

Claude's unique recruitable characters

• Leon

Rena's unique recruitable characters

• Dias

Shared recruitable characters

• Celine, Ashton, Precis, Opera, Welch, Bowman, Ernest, Noel, Chisato

Needless to say - all characters above are missable. You can reject them when it's their time to join. I will note how I recruited them. Participating in PA - Private Actions, means you raise or lower the affinity levels between your team or certain characters. You can raise or lower Friendshop or Relationsip with your team. Depending where you end up with a certain character will affect the ending.

By accepting some characters in your party will mean that you can't get the other. I will note that below, so take that into cosideration.

Claude's Party

• Rena, Celine, Opera, Welch, Bowman, Ernest, Leon

Rene's Party

• Claude, Ashton, Precis, Dias, Noel, Chisato

Chronological Character Recruitment

0:00 - Ernest Pre-requisite #1
0:30 - Celine
2:02 - Ashton Pre-requisite #1
2:50 - Ashton Pre-requisite #2
4:45 - Aston
5:40 - Opera Pre-requisite #1
7:22 - Opera Pre-requisite #2
9:12 - Opera
9:50 - Ernest Pre-requisite #2
10:00 - Ernest Pre-requisite #3
10:15 - Ernest Pre-requisite #4
10:35 - Welch
12:25 - Precis
13:42 - Bowman
14:25 - Ernest
15:42 - Dias
15:58 - Leon
16:40 - Chisato Pre-requisite #1
16:53 - Chisato Pre-requisite #2
17:23 - Chisato Pre-requisite #3 & 4
18:35 - Noel
19:40 - Chisato

Celine

Celine is the first optional party member you can recruit. She will be part of the story in Krosse City. At one point she will join your adventures in Krosse Cave. When you finish the cave dungeon and exit from it, she will ask to join. You can either accept or decline - I used her for the spells, but you can easily live without her as there are many characters in this game that are better.

Ashton

When you enter Harley, approach the two man and you will learn about the twin-headed dragon in Salva. Go there, and enter the mines through the north-western entrance. Speak with the soldier standing there. You can now reach the previously blocked nortwestern area of the dungeon. When you reach that point you will see Ashton on the bridge above. You then need to make your way through this part of the cave until you reach the save/teleport point "The Deep Lair". South from there you can see Ashton fighting a two-headed dragon. After the scenes you will be prompted with "Take Responsibility" and "Don't take responsibility" options. If you take the responsibility Ashton will join, if you don't, he won't. If you don't take responsbility you can still go south after the scenes and accept him to the party, but if you exit the cave he will be gone for this playthrough.

NOTE: If you recruit Ashton you can't recruit Opera and Ernest in that playthrough. He is a great sword fighter, but I declined him in my first run with Claude.

Opera

If you don't recruit Ashton after reaching Harley, you can then proceed getting Opera and Ernest (he will come a bit later, but you must recruit Opera first). When in Krosse City/Castle for the first time, you can trigger an event when you aproach the yellow "!" sign (check the map). You will see a 3-eyed man. After turnament with Dias in Lacuer City you can go to Hilton bar to witness the scene with Opera (only if you did the previous step in Kross City).

When you need to go to Mountain Palace dungeon for story purposes you will see another yellow "!" sign (check the map). This is where Opera is. Say "Sounds good to me" to accept her to the party for the first time, or "I'm afraid not" to reject her. Rejecting her means you can't get Ernest later. There will be a boss fight deeper in the same dungeon. Last stop is the hidden laboratory, also in here.

Welch

After you have 4 party members (for me it was Claude, Rena, Celine and Opera), go to Lacuer City and enter the Private Action mode. Go towards the castle entrance to the north to active the PA with Welch. Answering with "Please join us" or "Okay, fine, you can joins us" will get her recruited, while saying "Something's not quite right won't.

Her cutoff point is after you defeat the Hoffman Ruins boss.

Precis

When you enter Linga for the first time you will witness a scene with Precis. After the scene you can follow Precis with witnessing a PA with her in town (the location differs depening with whom you play as). If you watch the PA with her you can answer with "Sure, why not." to recruit her or "No. This isn't about fun and games." to reject her. You can also simply NOT watch her PA to safely avoid her.

NOTE - Recruiting Precis means you can't recruit Bowman after the story events in Linge and the upcoming dungeon.

Bowman

You will meet him shortly after Precis in Linga. He will be you go-to man for the Ancient Text you've found in Krosse Cave during the past story events. After you complete the next dungeon and bring back the herb to him, there will be some scenes in Linga, after which he just joins your party (if you don't have Precis with you).

Ernest

You can't get Ernest if you recruit Ashton or reject Opera. Ernest comes only if you have Opera. After you recruit her go to Sacret Forrest in Arlia where you started the game. There will be a scene about the ship and Ernest.

Next meeting point is after you get the ore from Hoffman Ruins (after defeating the boss there for story purposes). Do not teleport, simply exit the Hoffman Ruins and you will see a scene with crazed Ernest. Fight him, win and there will be a choice to keep Opera. Say "Would you like to travel with us a little longer?" to keep Opera and get Ernest. If you say "Yeah, I guess this is it, then" you will lose Opera and Ernest for this playthrough.

Dias

He will ask to join just before you go to the Lacuer Front Line Base, after Hoffman Ruins events. 

NOTE - He can only be recruitable when you play as Rena.

Leon

During events in the small Elurian Settlement, you will be asked to leave Leon there (this happens after you get washed up the shore and only Leon is with you). Say "It'll be better for you here, Leon" to reject him, or "Well, you wanna go with us anyway, Leon?" to recruit him.

NOTE - He can only be recruitable when you play as Claude.

Noel

After you defeat the Psynard in Cave of Crimson Crystals on planet Nede, he will ask you to join if you don't have 8 party members already. I did, so he never asked.

Chisato

When you reach The Centropolis of Nede, you can trigger a scene with Chisato. Second one is inside the North City, also on Nede. When you go to Cave of Crimson Crystals there will be a spot where you can trigger a scene. Chisato will fall down and lose her card. Go where she fell and pick "Chisato's Card".  After beating the dungeon you will go back to The Centropolis of Nede, where you can find her on the second floor. If you don't have 8 party members already, she will ask you to join. I had full party so she never asked.

The cutoff point to get her is before completing the 4 fields during the story.