Part of the joy in playing through Star Ocean The Second Story R is making your own party in any way you like. The very first character you can get is Celine, the symbologist from Marze who helps you at the start of your journey, and bringing her to the party has a lot of great benefits.
How to Recruit Celine in Star Ocean Second Story R
Celine is introduced at the very beginning of the game after having an audience with Krosse’s king, and therefore meeting her is not missable. She accompanies you through Krosse’s Cave, and you get the option of permanently having her after completing this small dungeon. Just ask her to keep traveling with you at the end. She’s a powerful mage who has access to a large variety of elemental/buffing spells.
Grabbing Celine early doesn’t lock you out of any character, and she makes the early game way easier as the next possible character you can get is Ashton, but he locks you out of Opera and eventually Ernest. If you plan to have those two traveling with you later, she’s your only extra option in the first continent.
Celine will accompany Claude during the Forest of Symbols portion regardless of whether you recruit her or not, so don’t worry about that part if you don’t get her.
She’s the most support-focused of all mages available. She has plenty of offensive spells, but her damage is far from being the strongest in the game. On the other hand, her buffs/debuffs can be game-changing the more you play, and she can find her way into your final compositions if you like messing around with your enemies for a bit.
Should You Recruit Celine?
I definitely recommend recruiting Celine in a first playthrough. Second Story R can be rough at specific points if you don’t know what you’re doing just yet, and Celine helps trivialize certain dungeons. Her powerful spells can help Claude eliminate most enemies on the screen without much effort.
She gets outclassed in damage by Leon, but you can only get him later in the game and only if your protagonist is Claude, which makes her even more valuable in Rena’s playthroughs. Even if she’s not that powerful during late-game, her support skills can compensate for that.
There aren’t many reasons to turn this beautiful woman down unless your planned party doesn’t have any space for her. But if you’re unsure of who you want to be in your final team, you might regret setting down for her early as you could end up without enough space for your dream team.
| Pros | Cons |
| Easier early game | Weaker than other mages in late-game |
| The best support mage available | Compromises a party slot too early |
| Possibly the best mage option for Rena |
Even if she gets more value in Rena playthroughs, her PAs with Claude are absolute gold. You might want to pick her up just to see those, but playing with Rena is the only way to see her special ending, so both protagonists have their own perks here.
