Opera is an interesting character in Star Ocean The Second Story R as she can act both as a melee fighter or a ranged warrior. She enjoys keeping her distance though, but should you approach and recruit her or just leave her be?
How to Recruit Opera in Star Ocean Second Story R
Right at the beginning of the game, shortly after meeting Celine, you get the option to witness a temporary Private Action in Krosse City. A three-eyed man will briefly run across you, and that’s all that you need to do for now.
Now keep going through the game until you complete the Lacuer Armory Contest. Return to Hilton and enter the bar to witness a quick cutscene where a three-eyed woman – that’s Opera – is looking for that man you met a few hours ago. You tell her about your brief meeting in Krosse, and that’s where she’s headed now.
Return to Krosse Castle and ask for an audience with the king at the counter, which will turn give you permission to visit the Mountain Palace, the same place he told Opera about before you arrived. The Palace is nearby the main city, so head there at once.
Once you’re here, keep following the quest marks until you finally meet Opera. She’ll propose to join you until she can find Ernest, so take her offer and she’ll be your newest addition.
Opera won’t be able to join you if you already recruited Ashton, so it’s always a choice between them. She’s also necessary for recruiting Ernest.
Should You Recruit Opera?
You should definitely go for Opera whenever possible. She’s packed with many ranged skills and shots that will do quick work of your enemies, as well as supportive/break-type skills like a powerful party heal, allowing you to ditch your healers for more offensive units if you wish. Her personal damage is good too, even though she might get MP-hungry quickly.
But that’s easily avoidable with some abilities like Herbology that allows you to recover more MP with Berries, or by simply playing smarter with your MP. Just be careful as she’s an easy target for enemies if you’re not careful. But you’ll be constantly recovering a bit of it after each battle, so you should be good for most of the time.
However, getting her means not getting Ashton, and reaching her without any other characters (if you also ditched Celine and Precis) might be harsher than it should. I still believe she’s worth the sacrifices, and even if Ernest isn’t the best character around, he also has some interesting skills and funny interactions.
If you do the specific interaction with Opera at the Sacred Forest, you’re forced to accept Ernest in your party or you’ll lose Opera. Be mindful of that before doing so!
| Pros | Cons |
| Ranged offensive/supportive unit with huge personal damage. | Eats a ton of MP (and Berries) over time. |
| Easily adaptable to any situation. | Somewhat fragile. |
| Only way for you to recruit Ernest. | Requires you to forfeit Ashton. |
She can always find a good place in your team, and her skills are good Assault Formation assistances too, so she’ll always be relevant in one way or another. But think twice before settling down for a character as there’s always a catch for each of them.
