Star Ocean: The Second Story R features a roster of 13 characters where some will inevitably outshine others in a ranked tier list scenario. While you might grow comfortable with any of them in a playthrough, you’ll find that in the late phase or post-game, some companions will be outright better choices.

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All Star Ocean: The Second Story R Characters Ranked | A Tier List

I’ll first clarify that you can play through the game with virtually any characters in your party. But in Star Ocean: The Second Story R, there is a challenging element to the later phases of the game, and the post-game including raid battles begins to show where you should invest your growth.

With a sky-high level cap and intense options to pretty much max out any character, it’s mostly a matter of who is the most efficient for this in the later stages of their development. Here is our tier list of Star Ocean: The Second Story R characters.

S-Tier: Claude, Dias, Opera, Rena

These characters would be welcome in any team comp. In this entry alone you’ve got two incredible close-range heavy hitters with reliable damage output (and moves that are just easy to spam, for the casuals and power-gamers alike). Claude and Dias in particular get access to weapons so powerful they could almost be set into a tier above this.

Additionally, Rena’s healing and quick growth in how well she sustains her MP pool make her an asset from the very beginning, while Opera is a deadly ranged fighter, a worthy addition as long as you draw the aggro from her.

A-Tier: Ashton, Leon, Precis, Welch

These characters are nothing to scoff at, either. They’re pretty solid recommendations to add to your team, but in mid-to-late playthroughs, you might have to tailor your team comps to bring out their strengths more. Ashton is a prime example of this, being exceptionally powerful and able to focus on single targets, but you’ll wind up needing to revive him more often.

Welch is similarly strong like Ashton, although slightly more underwhelming but makes for a quick and reliable addition to Assault Formations. Leon is the best spell caster in the game, but he falls short of the potential found in the S-Rank characters’ breadth of usefulness. Precis is also quick as a fighter but is often outperformed by similarly leveled teammates such as in close combat. She does, however, have possibly the coolest special art gimmicks.

B-Tier: Bowman, Celine, Chisato, Noel

Here’s where you get to the characters who you can more easily leave behind. Bowman and Noel each fight using their knuckles like Rena, but without the actually beneficial gimmick she has of being able to heal. Chisato fights using a gun, yet her range is puzzlingly awkward, and due to the game’s fighting system, she’s an unreliable addition to your roster. Finally, Celine is outperformed by Leon despite being twice his age as a symbologist.

C-Tier: Ernest

Ernest tries too hard to be versatile as a fighter at all ranges but falls short of the specialized ones. He can be fun for combat challenges like in the arena, but he has no practical use outside of it and his special arts are nothing noteworthy. It’s a shame, too, because his design resembles a sci-fi Simon Belmont with a third eye.

As always, you can take this tier list with a grain of salt. You can max out each of these characters, but I’m simply recommending the ones who grow the most efficiently into their given roles and soar on the battlefield.

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