This is a list of characters that appear in the game Star Ocean: The Second Story.
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Main characters
Claude
Claude C. Kenni, 19 year old, is the eldest son of Ronixis J. Kenni, a main character in the original Star Ocean, and Iria. He has always lived under the shadow of his father's celebrity and role-model status. Claude later became an Ensign of the Earth Federation. During a reconnaissance mission on Planet Milocinia after ignoring his father's warnings about a strange device which was found during the exploration, he's transported to Planet Expel, and finds a girl (Rena Lanford) threatened by a monster, and quickly slays the creature using a Phase Gun provided by his father. Due to this event, he is mistaken for the "Warrior of Light" by Rena (as well as the other Expelians); because the so-called "Warrior" used "Alien Raiments" (Claude's clothes, different to the ones used in Expel) and a "Sword of Light" (his Phase Gun). After clarifying the situation, he goes to investigate the mysterious Sorcery Globe incident in order to find clues which would help him to return to Earth (or to his father's ship, the Calnus). Claude has the tendency to be brash and impetuous (and usually a little late), but altruistic. Claude's good looks and noble nature tend to draw the interest of his female party members, especially Rena. He wields a sword in battle, originally given to him by the mayor of Arlia. ʋ Claude was voice acted by Yûji Ueda in the original Japanese version of The Second Story and by Jimmy Freeman in the North American release. Claude returns in the sequel Star Ocean: Blue Sphere.
Rena
Rena Lanford is a 17-year-old girl living on the underdeveloped planet of Expel in a village called "Arlia". Rena's rather happy-go-lucky, but has a very serious and romantic side to herself, especially around Claude. She has strange, elf-like ears that no one else on Expel seems to have, as well as healing powers that the Heraldic (Symbological) runes of the planet do not. In spite of the fact that her official artwork depicts her with a sword, Rena fights with knuckles and sometimes with her feet. Nevertheless, Rena is not a primary fighter; she excels at disruptive, healing, and statistical Heraldry. Her favorite food is shortcake and her favorite instrument is the lyre.
Recruitable characters
Note that, due to the structure of the game, it is impossible to recruit every character listed below during a single play-through. Any special conditions regarding whether a character will join up are noted below.
Celine
The first optional character encountered, Celine Jules is a treasure hunter and a Heraldic enchantress. She appears rather haughty and is confident in her heraldic abilities. Celine is considered beautiful by many characters in the game, and adorns herself with expensive makeup and jewels. She appreciates strong, muscular men who make her feel physically safe, and dislikes effeminate men, though she apparently makes an exception for Ashton, as they appear to be quite friendly with one another in Private Actions though this may be because Ashton somewhat bridges the gap- he is an effeminate man but is also very strong and tough. She is somewhat smitten with Claude. Underneath her seemingly shallow exterior, however, is the heart and mind of a cunning sorceress who is capable of unleashing lethal spells, most of which are Fire, Thunder, and Star-elemental. Celine's favorite food is baby rabbit risotto and her favorite instrument is the violin. Her strongest spell is Meteor Swarm which is acquired not by leveling up, but by 'finding' it in a chest in "Cave of Trials".
Dias
Dias Flac is a master swordsman, and a childhood friend of Rena's. Though he appears cold and emotionless, he feels regret and responsibility for the death of his family. Dias uses a fighting style very similar to iaido, a Japanese sword-based martial art associated with unsheathing and resheathing one's sword. His favorite food is chicken skewers and his favorite instrument is the cembalo. Dias' last Killer Move is called "Firebird Shock Wave" and is gained by leveling him up. Dias appears in both Claude's and Rena's stories, but only becomes recruitable in Rena's. Though he first appears early in the game, the option to recruit him does not occur until the end of the first disc.
Ashton
Ashton Anchors is a swordsman who appears in the Salva Drift where he is possessed by a two-headed dragon, named "Gyoro" and "Ururun" by Rena. (Their names describes the way their eyes move or stare.) Ashton is modest and self-doubting at the time of recruitment, and seeks to expel the dragons from his back. He has a very weird affinity for barrels. Ashton fights with two twin short swords, and his unlucky nature is reflected in his statistics. His favorite food is the hamburger, and he excels at the piano. His last special move, "tri-Ace", is acquired, like Celine, not by leveling up, but by 'finding' it in a chest in "Cave of Trials". Ashton initially joins the party in order to remove the dragons that live on his back, however, when faced with the ultimate opportunity to remove them, he decides that he has grown too attached to them. As thanks for helping him quest to remove the dragons, Ashton joins Claude and Rena permanently. The recruitment of Ashton bars recruitment of Opera and Ernest.
Precis
Precis F. Neumann is a teenaged inventor who works with her father in Linga. Throughout the game, Precis appears to be attracted to several different male characters, including Claude and Ashton, but this is only apparent in certain Private Actions, though she is close to Rena despite them both being enamored with Claude. Although perky and assertive, she is a genius technician and crafts her own unique weapons. She fights with a mechanical punching hand, which she controls with what appears (in her character portrait) to be a DualShock PlayStation controller, as well as other gadgets she has in her rucksack, including her "Bobot" and a portable satellite dish. Precis' final Killer Move is called "Holo-holograph" and can only be obtained by a certain Private Action with Ashton. Precis' favorite food is chocolate crêpes, and her favorite instrument is the harmonica. Precis and Bowman cannot both be in your party at the same time. Recruiting one bars recruitment of the other.
Leon
Head of research at the Lacour Castle laboratory, Leon D.S. Geeste is quite literally a "child genius," with all the arrogance and naïvete of one. Leon is close to Claude, who feels he is a big brother to him. He shares a rapport with Precis and develops crushes on all the females in the party. Though only twelve, Leon is the driving force behind the completion of the Lacour Hope, an energy weapon. Leon has pointed ears that show he is not an ordinary Expellian, but a member of the Fellpool race, this is because according to Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, some Expellians mutate into Fellpool. Leon fights close-range by summoning monsters from books, but generally shuns melee combat for Heraldry, specializing in Darkness, Void, and Water elements. He enjoys carrot juice and best plays the violin. Like the previous Ashton and Celine, his last Killer Move, "Extinction", is gained not by means of leveling but by 'finding' it in a chest in Cave of Trials. Leon appears in both Claude's and Rena's stories as a party member, but only becomes permanently recruitable in Claude's.
Bowman
Pharmacist for the university town of Linga, Bowman Jean is married, but seems more interested in adventuring. Although he never even graduated from the University, people in the town regard him as a professor, much to Bowman's chagrin, although he does have medical training and qualifies as a doctor. He studies herbs and uses them as aid in battle. He fights short-range with fists. Bowman's last Killer Move, "Sakura Attack", is gained through leveling him up. His favorite food is daikon miso soup and his favorite instrument is the harmonica. He is the only male character who cannot be romantically paired off with one of the females, showing that he is faithful to his wife. Recruiting Bowman precludes recruitment of Precis.
Opera
Opera Vectra and Ernest are from the planet Tetragenesis, home to an advanced civilization that all bear a third eye upon their foreheads. For reasons unspecified, this feature does not draw overt attention to their appearance even among populations that have not experienced first contact. First born from a wealthy aristocratic family, Opera has a devoted, if not bordering on obsessive, personality and chases her boyfriend Ernest all over the galaxy and Expel. It is revealed that Opera crash landed on Expel in the Shingo Forest while looking for Ernest, and is now stranded there. Although she loves Ernest, she also develops a slight crush on Claude, in fact if the player is unable to go through the series of events that result in Ernest appearing, Opera begins an affair with Claude, this is reflected in both Claude and Rena's scenarios. Opera fights with a large shoulder-mounted laser gun, the "Kaleidascope", though she typically uses it like a staff, firing the gun only when executing Killer Moves. Opera's final Killer Move called "Hyper Launcher" can only be obtained through use of the Machinery Skill. She favors apple cider and the piano. Recruiting Opera bars recruitment of Ashton. In order to recruit her the player must have first triggered a private action with a third eyed male in the town of Cross early on in the game. The group will later meet her in a tavern in the port-town Hilton after participating the Lacour Tournament. Follow her to Cross and get permission from the king to enter Mountain Palace. At the palace Opera will join the group as she searches for her boyfriend there.
Ernest
Based on a character in an older game by the same company, Ernest Raviede is an archaeology professor from planet Tetragenesis. He cares about his work much more than he says he cares about Opera, though he still puts up with and cares for her. He wields a whip in battle. His favorite food is Hassaku tea and he plays the cembalo. You must have Opera in your party to recruit Ernest after the Hoffman Ruins. An important point is that, if you refuse Ernest's offer to join, Opera will permanently leave the party as well. However, it is easily possible to obtain Opera and keep her by not going to her ship's crash site, as Ernest will not appear at all as a result.
Noel
Noel Chandler is a Nedian biology professor and a caretaker at the Synard preserve. Noel reveals that he was once an ally of the Ten Wise Men, but is now interested in redeeming himself. He is pacifistic, and spends most of him time looking after animals. Noel uses attack (mainly wind, vacuum and earth) and healing Heraldry, though Leon, Celine, and Rena are more specialized in their separate fields. Like Rena and Bowman, he fights with knuckles. His favorite food is the Big Tuna, and he plays the illusive shamisen.
Chisato
Chisato Madison is a reporter for the Nede Chronicle. Absent-minded at times but quite potent, she follows the party through a monster-filled cave before losing her identification card and being recruited. She has attained the rank of black belt in "Shingu-style" jujutsu. She also fights (though rarely) with stun guns or handguns. At one point in the game, it is shown that see has feelings for Dias. Her favorite food is Lady Fingers (due to a programming error; she was meant to like fruit sandwiches, these items exist in the game data but can only be gotten through a cheat device). Her favorite instrument is the organ. Chisato is the last recruitable character that the player will encounter. Due to the relatively non-linear nature of Star Ocean 2's second disc, the event that triggers Chisato's recruitment scenario (when she loses her ID) may occur at any one of several different locations.
Enemy characters
The Ten Wise Men
4 billion years ago a rebellion had broken out in a remote region in the galaxy against Planet Nede, as a resort the rulers of Nede had decided to create a weapon to subjugate the rebel army. The job was given to the genius Dr. Lantis and he begun creating the "Ten Wise Men Defense Plan", whose task was to defend and control the remote planets. During that time Lantis's daughter Filia was killed in a terrorist act held against the creation of the Ten Wise Men. The Nedian military tried to hide this information from him, but despite their efforts he eventually found out. After learning of the incident, he completely sealed himself off the inner area of the lab and begun reprogramming the Ten Wise Men's mission to that of the destruction of the universe. Once the Ten Wise Men were finished, they began terrorizing the Nedian people. Soldiers of the highest caliber were unable to destroy the Ten Wise Men, due to the remarkable power given to them by Dr. Lantis. After a battle that took some weeks the Nedians had almost defeated the 10 wise men, but as a last resort Dr. Lantis sealed them off into unknown space, and at the same time he committed suicide. In the end, Nede had lost nearly all it's military power and as a result of that the Rebel army would be extremely difficult to suppress. In the end the rulers of Nede decided to destroy their home planet and that the entire population of the planet would be transferred to an artificial planet, named Energy Nede, surrounded by a Class Nine Super-Energy Field to stop the advancing rebel army. It was then decided not to let anyone know the truth about the Ten Wise Men Defense Project, locking all information in a secret information file.[1]
Indalecio
The final and most powerful of the 10 Wise Men, Indalecio, was reprogrammed as an image of Lantis, and the vessel of his soul. Lantis then made another artificial being, Filia, named after his own daughter, as a limiter for Indalecio and himself. In the final area of the game, Indalecio is seen standing before the Quadratic Sphere which he plans to use in conjunction with the Crest of Annihilation to destroy the universe. The resulting battle with Claude and the others varies greatly in difficulty depending upon whether two scenes was viewed in which the party met Filia. If it wasn't, Filia acts as a seal on his power, weakening him greatly. However, if the limiter is released, Indalecio uses all his power, making the last battle much more difficult, even for max level (255) characters. Indalecio's initial battle plan consists of little more than floating around shooting fireballs and using his "Divine Wave" attack, although this one move makes it incredibly arduous to cause damage to him. While this attack is in effect, a large slow-moving energy ring emanates from him, and any character running over to him to attack will suffer several hits and even a highly-leveled character can be annihilated in seconds. When Indalecio's life is depleted half-way, he will cast "Time of Truth" and seemingly merge with Filia, as a large ghostly image of her will remain over him during the fight. After this occurs he will gain several more moves, mostly some of Celine's spells, but one especially deadly final-boss-caliber spell called "Divine Comedy," in reference to the book of the same name by Dante. The player's party is thoroughly taken through hell if this spell comes out.
Cyril
Silver haired, with a black long coat and large wings, he ruthlessly seeks to oust Indalecio and control the Universe himself, rather than ally himself with the more nihilistic desires of Indalecio. As the second most powerful Wiseman, he was called "the clever one" and is the penultimate boss in the game. The most striking aspect of Cyril is that he admits to sending the "weaker" wise men first, because he does not want to share the world with them. He even goes so far as to say that once he is done dealing with the party (who have killed the other eight wisemen), he will then go and kill Indalecio himself. Unfortunately for him, Cyril never gets the chance, although Indalecio's moveset seems to hint that the battle would be very short... Cyril attacks using various high-level spells available to Leon and teleporting around the room... and he always opens the fight with an unavoidable casting of his strongest attack, "Wind of Destruction." The casting animation of this spell renders Cyril immune to all damage, and he occasionally casts it more than once in the fight. He is also the first boss who features the popular music track, Incarnation of Devil, which becomes a mainstay in future Tri-Ace games.
Vesper and Decus
One of the hardest fights in the game occurs when the player is forced into a showdown with two of the Ten Wise Men about midway through the tower of Fienal. Vesper is a large expressionless (visibly mechanical) bald man clad in a regal magician's robe, and Decus is seemingly little more than a man completely engulfed in flames. Their styles compliment each other, as Vesper pummels the party with spells, occasionally turning a party member to stone or depleting their MP to refill his own. His trademark attack is Mind Blast. The rather vocal Decus, rushes around the room at blinding speed delivering flaming combination attacks, killing each party member one by one. Decus' only other attack options are Celine's "Explosion" spell and a massive scale fire-attack called Spicule. Spicule is likely the attack that a player curses for ending an otherwise good run through the final area.
Jibril, Nicolus, and Ruprecht
Three of the wise men attack the player in the entry hall to the tower of Fienal. It is easy to see why the three of them attack together, because if encountered alone, each would be no harder than one of the regular encounters in the level. Nicolus can move around at will when he isn't casting spells (he moves relatively slowly), attacking by the use of magenta beams that can potentially petrify their targets(note that Nicolus is the weakest of the Ten wise men, so kill him first!). Ruprecht only moves by teleporting, attacking by throwing a gas grenade or using his tuning fork-like scepter to create a mid-range cone of sound. Jibril is different, he is basically a teleporting "void" (only a dark cloud can be seen inside of his cloak) that drops from above on one character (creating a shockwave in the process) or occasionally sucking in a character completely, through a demonic hand that extends from the cloak's void. Jibril will release a character if struck enough times, and cannot seemingly absorb more than one at a time. Each of these three can also use spells--Ruprecht uses Mind Absorber and Protection, Nicolus uses Delay and Noah, Jibril uses Cure All and Thundercloud.A good strategy is to go after one of them at a time with all of your fighter type characters, if you do that the battle is very easy and quick.
Shigeo
Shigeo seems to be a mostly robotic man, clad in a white jumpsuit, who kills everything in sight. This is evident in his rampage at the amusement park "Fun City" where the party encounters him bent on a massacre mission in one of the event areas of the park. His speech is also typed in all caps, indicating he has some sort of electronic voice. He also has a "jetpack", which greatly enhances his ability to move around the room. He attacks using fire waves, tornado blasts, and another move called "Infringment", which has the potential to Petrify members of the party.
Berle
Berle appears as a knight is a full suit of armor, complete with a sword and shield. He is a very trying opponent to battle. Berle is a very smart opponent, as his attacks are very defensive, and occasionally, he will activate his "Meta-Guard". This creates a blue aura around him so he does not suffer any damage at all until the move wears off. This characteristic makes the battle against him a unique one indeed. He is one of the two wisemen who are fought in "plot-battles" in which they are unkillable, due to a missing necessary item that is acquired later.
Marsilio
Marsilio is a muscular man with long purple hair, and a barbarian-like appearance. He is armed with a large broadsword and uses it in every move. He has the distinction of being armed with a special move that was not translated properly (on either side of the Pacific)... sometimes during the fight, he will perform the multiple-hitting "Cruelly Rushes" attack on a character, which bears a lot of similarities to Claude's own "Mirror Slice". His other special technique, Initial Slay, involves him charging his target even more quickly than normal and slashing him/her twice. Marsilio is the other wiseman who is encountered in another location before he can actually be slain.
Shin
Shin's appearance is that of a flying devil/gargoyle-type creature with a strange white/pink hue. He leads the waves of monsters encountered on the planet Expel from Eluria Tower. His occupation seems to be that of a "general" in the employ of the Ten Wise Men, and before they are introduced, he appears to be the games main villain. Shin is a very arrogant opponent, and often boasts of how easy it would be for him to wipe out the party in seconds. He even gets the chance before the party has the capability to damage him, and thus, what appears to be a victory-run for the heroes leaves them stranded on another continent, without the means to return. Shin attacks extremely fast, making the fight against him extremely difficult. He uses his main special attack, "Spoil", frequently because he can regain lost health through its usage, the move itself is a vampiric grappling move from the air. He can also cast Noel's "Foehn" spell, but does so rarely. This is probably rarer because the player is constantly "avoiding him" during the first encounter, whereas he can be confronted directly and killed in the second battle, in a similar fashion to the first Wise Men encountered.
References
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| Games | Star Ocean · The Second Story · Blue Sphere · Till the End of Time · Star Ocean 4 |
| Remakes | The First Departure · The Second Evolution |
| Manga and anime | The Second Story · Star Ocean EX |
| Characters | The Second Story · Till the End of Time |
| Other | List of Star Ocean locations |
