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Should you pick Claude or Rena in Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Billy Givens
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Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a remake of 1998’s second entry in the space-centric role-playing universe of Star Ocean, but despite its many improvements, the core design of the original game remains almost fully intact. This includes its offering of dual protagonists, one of which you’ll have to pick as your main character at the beginning of a playthrough. If you’re wondering which you should pick first, we’ll give you some information below without going too far into spoiler territory.

Should you pick Claude or Rena first?

Regardless of whether you pick Claude or Rena for your playthrough of Star Ocean: The Second Story R, the game’s mainline narrative will remain the same from beginning to end. However, the two characters will witness many major events from their own perspective, giving you a bit of additional insight into how they feel about what’s happening. Additionally, they’ll each have access to one exclusive recruitable character. This means that you’ll have to play through the game twice if you want to see the full story of the two recruitable characters and see what they bring to the table in combat.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R
Square-Enix

Here are three key things to keep in mind when choosing the character for your first playthrough:

  • Claude offers a fuller view of the narrative and will fill in more gaps in the main tale, while Rena provides a little bit more lore about the planet and local happenings.
  • Claude is considerably more powerful in battle, with a focus on aggressive melee combat, while Rena is largely focused on healing and other magic.
  • Rena’s exclusive recruitable character is arguably superior to the one in Claude’s playthrough and is largely considered the strongest character in the game.
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With all of this in mind, our opinion is that Claude makes for the best character for an initial playthrough due to his clearer view of the story and overall combat abilities making the first half of the game a bit easier. However, if you’re partial to the idea of getting the strongest character in the game or have already witnessed Claude’s playthrough, Rena is a perfectly viable choice, too. Either way, the game features over 80 endings, so there is plenty of incentive to play through the game multiple times with both characters.

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Billy Givens
Billy Givens
Gaming Writer
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…
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