Star Ocean: The Second Story R Guide: Arlia / Sacred Forest
Area List (Tap to jump down the page!) |
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Introductions |
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Sacred Forest |
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Arlia |
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Sacred Forest Again |
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Arlia Again / Mansion |
Introductions
Welcome to Star Ocean: The Second Story R! This fabulous remake is absolutely glorious, and we’ll help guide you through the entire game from start to finish! To begin with, you need to choose your character, and aside from a few difference in story beats at certain intervals, there really isn’t that much difference between the two.
After the opening cutscene, it’s time to choose our starting character.
Choose between Rena or Claude, select your difficulty (we’d recommend Galaxy as it’s the most balanced, but Earth will give you an easier run of it, and Universe will ramp things up in a big way). Choose your music arrangement and then let’s get cracking.
After the opening cutscene, it’s time to begin our adventure. For this run, we went with Rena as our starting character but we’ll also cover some of Claude’s differences here too at the bottom of the page. Or you can simply tap HERE to be brought to the bottom.
After gaining control of Rena, head deeper into town rather than heading to the Sacred Forest.
You want to head straight for the mill. Interact with the glowing mark outside and you’ll gain your first Unique Spot. After learning a bit more about the Rustic Waterwheel, you’ll also gain 50xp and 2x Resurrection Elixir. This level up will also see Rena learn Antidote. It’s also worth noting you can explore the rest of the town if you wish but given we’re going to have to do this anyway later on, skip this for now.
Sacred Forest
Leave town via the straight southern path, and you’ll soon arrive in the Sacred Forest. Rena will chirp up that she’s going to head in a bit deeper this time around. Follow the straight path around but before you go south to the red exclamation mark (our target), take a detour north (pictured below). Open the chest to gain 1x Fruit Syrup.
Turn back and now go to your marker. A short cutscene will ensue, where you’ll meet Claude, who will pop up and save the day. He’ll kill the monster terrorizing Rena quickly and more dialogue will ensue between the two. However, it’s back to Arlia again for now, as Rena brings Claude back home.
Arlia
When you gain control of Rena again, you can go check out the watermill if you didn’t already at the start of the game. Across the town, you’ll now see there are a number of markers we need to examine with Claude. Go ahead and do this now.
The first marker is the Velding Church on the left. After listening to the dialogue, be sure to head up the stairs at the back onto the third floor, where you’ll find a chest holding 1x Magic Canvas.
Next, head into the Newlywed house and up onto the first floor via the stairwell to the left. At the top, you’ll find two chests, holding 1x Blackberries and 1x Blueberries.
Keep moving round in a clockwise fashion, and after speaking to the vendor, you’ll find three chests. The one on the left holds 250 Fol, the white chest holds 1x Leather Armor and the one on the right, 1x Resurrection Elixir. Wiht the 250 Fol we gained in the chest, we can look at buying some stuff from the vendor but there’s not much point right now.
On the right side of town, head into the carpenter’s house (pictured above). Inside here, you’ll find a chest with 1x Strawberry Jam. Go ahead and speak to the kids playing before exiting the house and then entering the Mayor’s house, just to the south of this.
Inside Mayor Regis’ house, there’s not much else to see, so just trigger the dialogue and leave. Finally, circle around to Rena’s house. Rena will burst in and claim that the “Hero of Light” has returned and come to save everyone. She’ll also claim that he has the Sword of Light too.
Rena will next head outside and you’ll need to go find Claude. First up, go to the Newlyweds’ house and exhaust the dialogue options between the two. You’ll find him at the starting point of the game (pictured below).
With Claude back in your party, head to Rena’s house again. It turns out Rena’s Mum has made an absolute feast for the pair of you. When Claude settles down for the night, head across the town to Mayor Regis’ place. After discussing excitedly about the Hero of Light, bring him back to Rena’s place.
Here, you’ll learn more about the prophecy of the Hero of Light, including how Claude’s travelling story matches up with his history. The prophecy basically foretells that when the people of Expel are suffering under the threat of impending doom, a Hero will appear in “garbs of foreign make”. And with his Sword of Light, save them all.
After another cutscene, explaining Cataclysms and what’s happened to the world with the meteor (called the Sorcery Globe), you’ll take control of Rena at the start of another day.
Head downstairs and all the way to the Sacred Forest.
Sacred Forest Again
When you enter the Sacred Forest, you’ll be introduced to the Enemy Symbols tutorial. Enemies in this game are divided into three categories – Green signifies a weak enemy. Purple a normal enemy and Red a strong enemy. To engage in battle you basically need to interact with these orbs. This is a good way of skipping red orb fights if you’re not strong enough or weak on HP, and grinding through the purple orbs to level up further.
The yellow glowing sword to your left is a save point, so be sure to use this and rest up before continuing.
Now is a good time to practice your battling, so go ahead and cycle through the tutorials when engaging with one of these orbs. Much like Sea of Stars, you can pull off Perfect Counters by pressing X just as an enemy is about to strike. The cue here will be when they start flashing red.
There will e a couple of different fights here, so go ahead and practice this and level up a little if you wish. When you enter a larger arena, be sure to go south east, into the next area where you’ll find a chest holding 300 Fol.
Next, head back and trigger a cutscene by the red exclamation mark. The truth about Rena’s ancestry will be revealed in a shocking moment. This also explains Ren’s reaction to Claude not being the Hero of Light, given the disappointment she’s experienced in the past.
Back to Arlia/ Mansion
When you gain control of Rena again, head back to Arlia. Someone called Allen will be waiting for you on the bridge. Apparently your wedding ceremony is ready and guards will show up, ready to grab you.
With Rena taken captive, she recognizes that something bad has happened to Allen. She tells the others to stand down in town, including Mayor Regis and her own mum, and it’s off to Allen’s mansion. “Don’t even think about escaping.” Allen warns when you get there, and will leave you in the room. When he leaves, it’s time to escape!
First up, open the chest to the left and grab 1x Talisman. This is a pretty good Accessory early on, which increases your defence by 10% so go ahead and attach this as one of your Accessories.
Now, go down the stairs and take a right. Although you can go left and talk to the cook NPC (who will confirm our suspicions about this stone that Allen has found), there’s not much else to see here.
Inside this room (pictured above), interact with the golden statue to reveal a hidden passageway. Go down and north slightly. Speak to Bosman, who will reveal that he’s okay, albeit a bit hurt. He’ll mention that there’s a strange room inside the Salva Mines. Looks like it’s time to investigate!
Claude Story Differences
The most obvious difference comes from the starting cutscene. We’ll see a lot more context surrounding Claude’s upbringing with his father, along with a bunch of scenes clarifying how he ended up in the Sacred Forest (detailed below). This then ties back into meeting Rena and connects the two tales together, before branching out again.
This branch will see Claude on the world map, heading to a place called Salva, and eventually playing catch-up with Rena at the mansion. When you do, you’ll be able to explore the mansion, including finding Rena’s Hairpin upstairs. Much like Rena’s story, you’ll need to examine the statue and follow her route into the Salva Mines.
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Salva Mines >> |
You can check out our full walkthrough and game guide here! |
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