STAR OCEAN: THE SECOND STORY COMBAT FAQ VERSION 0.65 > LAST UPDATED 12/16/03 COPYRIGHT 2003 BY METEOR SWARM starrynova@hotmail.com Welcome to the Star Ocean: The Second Story Combat FAQ. I will include all the killer moves in the game, as well as how useful it is, their descriptions, and much more. Be patient though, because this is my first FAQ. I will update this FAQ from time to time, after posting it. I may use some strange punctuation for my FAQ because the standard ASCII format does not allow apostrophes or dashes, and GameFAQs wants my FAQ to be in this format. Thank you. ===== CONTENTS ===== I. Credits II. What are killer moves? (Finished) III. Purpose of using killer moves (Finished) IV. What you should consider while using killer moves (Finished) V. Strategies for combat 80% (Mostly finished) STRATEGIES FOR... Claude: 100% finished! Precis: 100% finished! Ashton: 75 % finished Dias: 50% finished! Chisato: 75% finished! Opera: 100% finished! Ernest: 50% finished! Spells - Strategy Celine and Leon: 100% finished! VI. Items that support killer moves (Finished) VII. Spell casting; Advantages and disadvantages (80% finished) VIII. Items that make you invincible, and how to deal with them (stuff that make you invincible MUST have a downside) IX. The best weapons for characters>>> Claude: 100% complete. Opera: 100% complete. - KILLER MOVES ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION Claude Kenni>killer moves are 95% finished Precis Neumann>killer moves are 96% finished Ashton Anchors>killer moves are 97% finished *THIS PART IS UNDER CONTRUCTION Opera Vectra >killer moves are 95% finished Ernest Raviede>killer moves are 0% finished Bowman Jean>killer moves are 0% finished Dias Flac>killer moves are 0% finished Chisato Madison>killer moves are 0% finished - SPELLS - Rena Lanford>spells (healing/supportive) 0% finished Celine Jules>spells (attack/supportive) 0% finished Leon Geeste>spells (attack/supportive) 0% finished Noel Chandler>spells (healing/supportive) 0% finished ===COPYRIGHT NOTICE=== (complete) I. ===== CREDITS ===== - Enix, Links, Tri-Ace, and SCEA for making this extraordinary game. - Ssmikulas, Allen Tax, and PWOPLW on GameFAQs for clarifying who can wear Bloody Armor - Supersonic607@aol.com for correcting/clarifying several mistakes in my FAQ. II. ===== WHAT ARE KILLER MOVES? Killer moves are special moves that your character can perform, using up a certain amount of mp (magic points). As your character levels up, he/she learns more killer moves. Killer moves are actually quite interesting, because they vary from blowing gas at the enemy, to vigorously slashing the enemy. As you use the killer move more, it increases in proficiency. The more proficiency a certain killer move has, the more effective it is. For example, twin slash is a move where Claude slashes his sword up once then down again, for a total of two hits. With increased proficiency, Claude will slash his sword wide up, down again, up for a second time, then down again, for a total of four hits! Now can you see how killer moves are interesting and can change in time? III. ===== PURPOSE OF USING KILLER MOVES ===== Well...regular attacks are not always that effective. You would want more variety in your moves, and would make life easier for you in the game. For example, if you wanted to hit an aerial enemy, you would probably use a killer move that shoots out etc, instead of having the character jump up to attack the enemy. Or if the enemy is weak against a certain element (ex. Fire) then you could use a fire based killer move to deal more damage. Also, killer moves are sometimes fun, and can deal WAY more damage than regular attacks, seriously. For example, Claude has a powerful move called Mirror Slice, and it slashes the enemy multiple times, dealing as much damage or more than a regular attack. You would have done probably to the equivalent of the damage of five or more regular attacks with just that one killer move. Anyways, killer moves are fun, period. You would be certainly bored in battle if it were not for the killer moves. As said in the above paragraph, there are countless types of killer moves, and each one of them are quite interesting. I hope you will enjoy using killer moves! IV. ===== WHAT YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHILE USING KILLER MOVES ===== True, using killer moves is a great way to deal heavy damage, but take note of the mp usage. Say, for instance, mirror slice is a great move, but did you notice how much mp it costs? 38! That is quite a bit for this game. You will run out of mp quite quickly when using it too many times. Also, if you use a killer move that requires lots of mp, then you perform it and the enemy blocks it or runs away, you have just wasted quite a bit of mp. If you are performing the move right in front of your enemy, it is not guaranteed that you will have the full effect of the killer move on the enemy. However, if you perform it on the back of the enemy, chances are you will hit it correctly. If you want that, you can acquire the Flip combat skill. You can buy that in any of these three locations: Lacour, Armlock, and Hilton. Flip is part of the set: Combat 2. It would not take long for you to train Flip into level 10, the highest level possible for a skill, because the sp (skill point) cost is considerably low. Before doing that, be sure to remember to train up to level 10 first in perseverance. You can get that skill in North City, Herlie, or Hilton. Perseverance is in Sensibility 2, for your information. There are certain disadvantages to flip though. It will take longer for your character to hit the character, chances are the enemy is facing you and you may waste precious time. If you ever want to cancel the Flip ability, go to the menu > skills > scroll down your list to flip, which is in green. Press square, and you should see that Flip is not green now, but grayish black instead. Should you want flip to be active again, just press square again on flip. One last thing to consider: Certain killer moves can be really slow to execute, therefore the enemy may have a chance at you before you can release the killer move. Take Dragon Breath, a killer move from Ashton, for example. Once pressing the killer move trigger, Ashton needs to wait for his dragons to get large, then the dragons pause for approximately three seconds, then fires a stream of gas. Altogether it takes around three seconds for this killer move to actually work. You see what I mean...there are two disadvantages: 1) Since the start up time is so slow, the enemy would have had more than enough time to escape your killer move. 2) Enemies have a high probability of hitting you. V. ===== STRATEGIES ===== *Note: By reading this you should have acquired all the killer moves for a certain character already CLAUDE: Here is the best strategy for him. It works on all types of creatures, including aerial ones! (Even the large flying birds that use master attack) Be sure you have the killer move Ripper Blast, and its proficiency MUST be 400 to 500 or more. By using this means total annihilation for the enemies. Strategy: This work against groups of enemies. Long range is best. Start by pressing your killer move trigger for Ripper Blast (L1 or R1) at the beginning of a battle. You should have countless (and I mean it) rocks coming from the ground to the enemy. Because at the beginning of a battle, you are running towards the enemy, which means you are performing it in long range. At long range, millions of rocks come out from the ground 180 degrees of Claude (semicircle). The range is HUGE, surrounding Claude in a semicircle towards the enemy. You will do lots of damage by then, and should hit several enemies (if more than one). Now that the enemies are pulled back, keep doing short range ripper blasts, just keeping pressing L1 or R1, and a few long rocks will shoot where Claude is facing. Take a look at the short diagram below for a short range overview. ---- = rocks C=Claude (Enemies pulled back by short range move) ------------- C Long Range: ----- (Proficiency 500) ------- ----------- -------------- ----------------- C (Something like that, rocks do not come all -------------- out at the same time) ----------- -------- ----- Just keep pressing your killer move for Ripper Blast button and the enemies are GUARANANTEED to die. Each short range Ripper Blast can do several hits. Do not worry though, if you have high mp, the enemies will die before the magic points run out. Strategy 2: If you manage to stun an enemy (stars over the head of the enemy), quickly use mirror slice and you will hack off a ton of hp. If the enemy is still dizzy, keep using it and he will die before your mp even starts to run out. PRECIS: You will have to get the following killer move off machinery, and proficiency must be over 300! CAUTION: MP EATER STRATEGY, BUT QUITE EFFECTIVE! Strategy: You will need the killer move Barrier at 300 or more (better) proficiency. This strategy is simple. Keep pressing the barrier move control (L1 or R1, whichever one you set it to), and Precis will throw one grenade after another, creating explosions. I believe that if the grenade hits a bulls-eye at the enemy, It will do one hit. Hopefully, if enemies move away and the grenade hits the ground, It will create a HUGE explosion, enough to damage several enemies several thousand hp x 4+hits, if the enemy is close to the explosion and considering that you have a high attack. (can hurt multiple enemies) Strategy 2: Increase your killer move Ally-oop! to at least 300 in proficiency. At the beginning of the battle, just keep pressing the button (L1 or R1) that makes Precis perform Ally-oop. One shot will send two of Precis (sorry, can’t use apostrophe) robots to the enemy (over 300 in you know what). One robot will fly to the enemy, while Precis kicks the second one to the enemy. Keep doing this and you will be shooting like crazy! (The thing that is hilarious about this move is that once a robot hits an enemy, it falls to the ground, dizzy!) Strategy 3: Just keep using Rocket Punch (keep pressing L1 or R1) and Precis will send rockets flying at the enemy. What is also good is that Rocket Punch requires very little mp. (Not to worry about aerial enemies (enemies that float, jump, or fly) because rocket punch and ally-oop will automatically rise up to where the enemy is) ASHTON: (The first strategy requires you to have finished the Cave Of Trials, which means you have defeated the angel, Gabriel Celesta at level 13, and have retrieved the Angel Armband. Strategy 1: Have Ashton equip the Slayers Ring. (Can be found in various places in the Cave of Trials) and the Angel Armband. In battle, have Ashton keep attacking. He will shoot countless hits and stars off from one attack, and his attack is so very quick, so it is very effective against anything and anyone, well...expect for aerial enemies. DIAS: (acquire 300 or more proficiency in Hawk Scream Blast) Strategy 1: It is simple, keep doing Hawk Scream Blast at long range and the enemy should be pretty easy to defeat. CHISATO: (get Tear Gas over 300 in proficiency) Strategy 1: Get the enemy close to the wall and have Chisato perform Tear Gas. The green gas will do COUNTLESS hits on the enemy, therefore dealing quite a bit of damage! OPERA: (get Alpha on One over 400 to 500 (500 is best) in proficiency) (Get Hyper Launcher [very hard to get in machinery] to around 300 in proficiency) Strategy 1: Keep performing alpha on one over and over again. Result: countless light yellow bombs will home in on the enemy and deal quite a bit of damage. Strategy 2: Pin the enemy to a wall and perform Hyper Launcher. It will deal quite a bit of damage. (I still like Tear Gas better though) ERNEST: (have Broken Heart at 300 or more in proficiency) Strategy 1: Keep performing Broken Heart. It is quick and quite reliable. The enemy should die pretty quickly if the parameters for Ernest are good. =====SPELLCASTER STRATEGIES===== Leon and Celine: Let Celine cast the spell Thunderstorm and have Leon cast Gremlin Lair at the SAME TIME. Just have Celine select any target, then press circle immediately after. Switch to Leon and have him cast Gremlin Lair. Turn off the motormouth skill for both of them. Result: Thunder will strike the battlefield. A gremlin will come, throw sickles at the enemy (probably hit the enemy/enemies more than 8 times each if close enough to enemy/enemies. Then the gremlin bites each enemy four times. Each sickle hit and each bite will do around 2000-3000hp worth of damage. Example: One enemy. Sickle hits enemy ten times. 2500x10= 25000 Gremlin bites enemy four times. 2500x4=10000 25000 + 10000 = 35000 damage (yes...over 9999 limit of damage!) if your magic is quite high I mean...both mages should have the million staff on for this to work nicely. VI.===== ITEMS THAT SUPPORT KILLER MOVES ===== ATLAS RING: Can really improve attack power, can even equip two of them for a real boost. Beware though; this accessory weakens your defense with ALL elements of magic. Location: One in Field of Power (the mountain, Energy Nede), can be made from metalwork using rainbow diamond by Claude. LINK COMBO: You can link killer moves with this accessory. One obtained from Leon just before you go to the Hoffman Ruins. Effect: You can perform one killer move after another by pressing either L1 or R1. So you can have a total of four killer moves available by using only two buttons, L1 and R1. To use it, go to the killer move screen for your character. Press triangle. Steal from a mage or a link stock (you can get that at the Cave of Trials, level one) Now you have two slots for each section! VII.===== SPELL CASTING ; ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES ===== Spells can be of great use when you need it. The bad thing is, mages are not really that useful later in the game. Here are some advantages and disadvantages: Advantages: - Can stop enemies from casting spells (some powerful spells hit all enemies) - Works with spell absorption Disadvantages: - good spells take SO long to animate, especially Meteor Swarm - for that animation time, fighters could have done 20 times the damage of that particular spell VIII.===== ITEMS THAT MAKE YOU INVINCIBLE, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM 1) Bloody Armor: This makes you invincible BUT drains your hp at a rapid speed. You will need to have Rena or Noel to continuously cast Fairy Light. Be sure you turn off all the other spells INCLUDING Fairy Heal, Cure Light. Characters that can equip this armor: Claude, Dias, Ashton, Opera, Noel, Bowman, Ernest, Chisato. Location: In the field of power, they can be found by defeating the enemy Darkcrusader, which are the metal soldiers that swing their swords at you. Super specialty Blacksmith> using Damascus without Magical Rasp. *this armor is very important if you want to defeat Iseila Queen, Gabriel Celesta, Indalacio (limiter OFF) easily. 2) Lunatic Ring + Peep Non (can be found in various places in the Cave of Trials.) Location: Lunatic Ring> With Metalwork using moonite. Can be made from Rena, Dias, Opera, Ernest, and Precis. RESULT: THE WEARER OF THE TWO ACCESSORIES ARE INVINCIBILE, BUT THE LUNATIC RING EASILY BREAKS. IT TOOK LESS THEN 30 SECONDS FOR A BOSS (ISEILA QUEEN) TO BREAK MY RING. NUMBER 1 INVINCIBLE TRICK IS RECOMMENDED. IX. ===== BEST WEAPONS FOR EACH CHARACTER! ===== CLAUDE – Eternal Sphere Stats: Attack 1600, Guts 40, Hit 70, and CRT 25. Materials need to obtain: - Claude, customizing skill at level 9 or higher - two Mithrils - Sharp Edge sword from Gamgee How to obtain: You should have won runner up from the Lacour Tournament back in Lacour. If you did, then you should have gone to Gamgee’s hut in Lacour immediately after the tournament. Talk to him and he should have given you the sword. If you did not sell it etc, then you should have it in disc two. It is easiest to get this item in disc two, as a matter of fact, because you will need two mithrils. To quickly get them, train Rena or any other character except Claude to level ten for alchemy. Go to Central City and buy a Lezard Flask from the store there. You should have had enough money to get one by then. If not, level up on the skill Playfulness and battle some more. Assuming that you now know how to do item creation in the game (going to your items screen and pressing triangle, then click on item creation), press x on where alchemy is on the screen. Have that character scroll down on the screen until you see Mithril. Execute. You must have one piece of iron. You can buy it at a normal store (North City? Central City? Giveaway? > try the stores in those cities) for 200 fol. Cheap eh? Anyways, keep doing alchemy until you acquire two mithrils. Now assuming you have trained Claude to level ten in Customize, go to the customize screen. Combine Sharp Edge with a Mithril. Chances are you will get a dull sword. If you keep trying for long enough, you will end up with a Minus Sword. Now SAVE. After you did, go to customize again and combine the Minus Sword with another mithril. You should get the Eternal Sphere, the best weapon for now, seriously. If you fail, you will again get the dull sword. This will make you frustrated, and if you really cannot get that sword, refer to the following paragraph. HUGE TIP (OPTIONAL): Get the super specialty Orchestra. Train at least most of your characters to learn Musical Notation and Musical Instrument. (By now or after you buy the instruments you can you should have learned the super specialty skill Orchestra.) Then buy all the instruments you can at the store at North City. If you managed to buy some instruments back at Hilton, that is great also. Now, buy all the instruments at North City’s tool shop if you did not. After, go to the same tool shop again (in North City) and buy 20 feather pens. DO NOT leave the shop. Press specialty on the main screen and choose a character with a high musical talent level. Click on Musical Talent. Click Compose. You will be composing for a while, for there are 2 songs for each instrument. As soon as you run out of feather pens, buy 20 again. They are really cheap, just 20 fol. When you think you have enough songs, go to the camp screen> items> triangle> Super Specialty skills> Orchestra. You should have bought several Conductors Batons also from Central City. Go there to buy them if you did not. Try to play orchestra. If it tells you that you do not have enough instruments, check back at stores to see if you missed any. Chances are you will not have. If it says there are not enough songs, compose more. Try to compose at least one song for each instrument. Once those two problems are solved, you should be ready to play. Battle some more, get more skill points, and raise your characters levels of Musical Instrument and Musical Notation to a higher level. Getting Super Specialties to level up is way different than getting a item creation skills to level up. REMEMBER, you do not have to have everybody at level 10 for Musical Notation and Musical Instrument for Orchestra to be level 10. Making Orchestra to level 10 is easier than getting one person to get to level 10 with both skills I believe. Just slowly level up your characters on those skills and you will be level 10 in Orchestra in less than 5 minutes if everyone has sufficient skill points (some at least 200). It should not provide a trouble for you getting Orchestra into level 10. Now play Orchestra. Quickly, go to the customize screen for Claude. Combine and forge your weapons. If you did it correctly, then the success rate should be more than 99%! Good luck! OPERA> Psycho Box or Pulse Box Psycho Box> Stats: Attack: 1050, increases just attack power, nothing else. Location: Win Rank A for Dual Battle in the Fun City Arena. Use Opera as your fighter. Pulse Box> Stats: Attack: 1000, Hit +60, CRT +20, AVD +40 Location: N/A > Opera needs to customize this weapon Materials needed: Beta box, orichalcum To get beta box customize x-box (find at Eluria tower, Hoffman ruins, or pickpocket Opera in Giveaway) with a mithril. Then customize your newly acquired Beta Box with an orichalcum. Comments: Despite the fact that the Psycho Box has a higher attack power, the Pulse Box only has 50 attack points less, and increases your hit rate, critical rate, and evade rate. I would highly suggest the Pulse Box if it were not for the slight lag time when attacking (Pulse Box takes time to charge). But still, I recommend the Pulse Box. =============================KILLER MOVES============================== CLAUDE>KILLER MOVES: AIR SLASH: MP Usage: 4 > Level Acquired: 3 Short Range: Claude goes near the enemy and surrounds himself with weak air, also hitting the enemy. Long Range: Claude sends a slow blade of air towards the enemy. My rating: 3/5. Very slow move. Later in the game, enemies will most likely in short range before the move even takes effect on the enemy. Long range is OK. Can deal moderate damage on slow to medium speed enemies. At higher proficiency: The slash now looks gold, dealing more damage. I do not think the speed is any better. SHOOTING STARS: MP Usage: 7> Level Acquired: 7 Short Range: Claude pops two comets out of his fist, and circles them around his fist; it is very short in range. Long Range: Claude shoots out from his hand a comet, and it tries to hit the enemy. Range is not that great either. My rating: 3/5. It would be a fairly good move if the range did not mess it up. At close range, if you miss the enemy, you will need to stand still for several seconds before moving. What I like about it is that it can keep enemies away from the front of Claude. For the rear, it is very dangerous. At higher proficiency: The range becomes slightly longer. In addition, for close range, Claude shoots more comets out of his fist. HEAD SPLITTER: MP Usage: 9> Level Acquired: 13 Short Range/Long Range: Claude actually jumps high into the air and comes with his sword landing on the enemy. No wonder it is called Head Splitter. My rating: 4/5. Pretty useful early in the game, if you want to get to enemies fast. The computer also tends to use this move, for some strange reason. At higher proficiency: Claude swirls with his sword while jumping; there is a faint blue trail behind him, and tries to hit the enemy. The only downside is that if he lands with the sword not facing the enemy, the move will do no damage. ENERGY SWORD: MP Usage: 11> Level Acquired: 20 This move does no damage, because all it does is heal Claude for 20 percent of his total hp. The problem is, he takes a while to heal, and may get hit by enemies before he even heals himself. Also, why waste a precious slot for a healing move. You have Rena. There is practically no use in this spell. My rating: 2/5. At higher proficiency: Claude heals 40 percent, and then 60 percent. BURST KNUCKLE: MP Usage: 12> Level Acquired: 28 Short Range: Claude has his fist turn into fire, and then punches the enemy with it. The damage is pretty good if you look at it. Long Range: Claude shoots fire at the enemy. The range is not the best, but safer if you don’t want to contact the enemy while attacking them. My rating: 4/5. At higher proficiency: RIPPER BLAST: MP Usage: 17> Level Acquired: 38 Short Range: Claude sends a few sharp rocks to spike the enemy into pieces. Very useful at higher proficiency. Long Range: Claude runs up closer to the enemy and causes many rocks to spike many enemies around him. My rating: 6/5. The bonus is for the higher proficiency. Technically speaking, once this move is powered up, Claude is practically invincible. At higher proficiency: More rocks. More rocks. And more rocks. At 500 in proficiency, this move is crazy. So many rocks come up the enemies can barely avoid it. My all-time favorite. TWIN SLASH: MP Usage: 15> Level Acquired: 45 Always short range, Claude must run up to the enemy. Claude runs up to the enemy and does two wide slashes. Can damage aerial enemies very easily, as Claude jumps while performing the move and his slashes are quite large. My rating: 5/5. Very good move, and the damage is not bad either. At higher proficiency: Claude does four slashes instead of two. One wide up, down again, once more wide up, and finally back down. DRAGON HOWL: MP Usage: 28> Level Acquired: 53 Short Range only: Claude draws an air dragon to him and it blows several blasts to the enemy. The MP Usage is high compared to his other moves, so I don’t suggest you keep using this move. It is excellent for aerial enemies, and is quite quick. My rating: 4/5 (point off for high mp usage) At higher proficiency: The dragon blows more blasts to the enemy; I think at the end it does approximately five to six. SWORD BOMBER: MP Usage: 32> Level Acquired: 62 Normal range (few meters in front of the enemy): Claude jumps high in the air and shoots down 2 or 3 fireballs at the enemy. Each fireball dealing reasonable damage, but if you keep missing (as a result of the jumping time), the MP is going to run out quick. My rating: 4/5 (point off for slight delay in jumping) At higher proficiency: Claude sends down more fireballs, which means more protection time between physical attacks. I think one more fireball after each 150 points in proficiency. MIRROR SLICE: MP Usage: 38> Level Acquired: 70 Short range only: Claude does 4 or more powerful slashes on the enemy, each dealing equivalent to a regular attack or more. If an enemy is trapped with mirror slice, he will be in big trouble. My rating: 5/5 Excellent! At higher proficiency: Claude does way more slashes. A Star Ocean 2 player even counted 12 hits at top proficiency!!!!!! GREAT DAMAGE DEALER! That’s it for Claude C. Kenni. His killer moves are quite interesting, as a matter of fact. Hope you enjoy them! PRECIS F. NEUMANN> KILLER MOVES ROCKET PUNCH: MP USAGE: 4> Level Acquired: She starts with it Medium range: Precis fires a quick rocket at the enemy. Damage is the same or slightly more than a regular attack. Nice if you don’t want to get hit by the enemy while attacking. My rating: 5/5 – Very good! At higher proficiency: I’m not sure, but I think the rockets are faster and more efficient. HOP STEP: MP USAGE: 5> Level Acquired: She starts with it Any range: Precis jumps up from the ground and comes down with a hammer. Something like head splitter, but costs less mp. My rating: 3/5 At higher proficiency: MOLE: MP USAGE: 7> Level Acquired: 17 Any range: Precis and her robot dig to the ground and pokes the enemy right on the rear end when coming up. Precis is obviously protected from physical attacks. My rating: 4/5 for the protection. At higher proficiency: ALLY OOP! : MP USAGE: 8> Level Acquired: 25 Shorter range: Precis throws her little blue robot at the enemy, has more range than rocket punch. Very useful when trying to hit an enemy from a distance. My rating: 5/5 At higher proficiency: You can see why I gave it a 5/5. Precis now shoots two robots, one thrown and one kicked I believe, for a two hit killer move. PARABOLA BEAM: MP USAGE: 12> Level Acquired: 38 Medium range: Precis takes out a satellite shaped disc and it shoots out laser beams at the enemy. Can do multiple hits I believe. It is best used when the enemy is pinned to the wall. My rating: 4/5 At higher proficiency: BANG BANG ATTACK: MP USAGE: 15> Level Acquired: 49 Short range: Precis hits the enemy with a hammer several times. Pretty useful for smacking the enemy. Seriously, if you learn how to use it, it is not a bad move at all. My rating: 3/5 can get into danger while attacking. AT higher proficiency: Precis does more hits with her hammer. BLOODY MARY: MP USAGE: 32> Level Acquired: 57 Short range: Precis turns her robot called Bobot into a giant drilling machine. It goes to the enemy and drills it. Ouch! My rating: 4/5 can be very useful also if enemy is pinned. At higher proficiency: Precis drills for longer periods of time. BARRIER: MP USAGE: 28> Level Acquired: Get it through Machinery. Medium range: Bobot becomes a grenade as Precis throws it towards the enemy. If Bobot directly hits the enemy, then one hit I believe. If it hits towards the ground, then it creates an explosion meaning in multiple hits. My rating: 4/5 for the HIGH MP cost. At higher proficiency: Bobot has a green trail behind them while dropping and leaves a larger explosion, meaning more damage and more hits. I still think it only does one hit if it hits the enemy right on. MUJIN SUPER BEAM: MP USAGE: 24> Level Acquired: Get it through Machinery. Medium range: Precis has her Bobot turn huge and fire a huge laser beam that hits the enemy. Powerful damage, but unfortunately it only does one hit, not multiple hits. Also, it takes a long time for Precis to get set up and fire the beam. My rating: 4/5 for the lagging start time. At higher proficiency: I didn’t notice much, but possibly resulting in more damage. HOLO HOLOGRAPH: MP USAGE: 20> Level Acquired: I think you go to a private action in Fun City, then you see Ashton teaching Precis his Sword Dance. Ashton and Precis must have a friendship level over 8 though. Short range for Bobot: Bobot imitates Ashton doing Sword Dance. Sword Dance is better than this move, but it is not bad either. Precis> Her killer moves mainly involve more of her Bobot doing the actual action. Precis mainly throws at the enemy, and sometimes smacks or drills at the enemy. Not bad of a fighter for a girl anyways. ASHTON ANCHORS> KILLER MOVES TWIN STAB: MP Usage: 4> Level Acquired: He starts with it. Medium range: Ashton tries to attack the enemy using both of his short swords. Bad thing is, if he misses, I’ll take a few seconds for him to recover. My rating: 3/5 very slow killer move. At higher proficiency: Ashton does his move quicker, and possibly having more hits. CROSS SLASH: MP Usage: 8> Level Acquired: He starts with it. Medium range: Some of his worse killer moves I must say. If you miss the enemy, you’ll have to wait quite a bit of seconds for him to recover. He slashes the enemy twice, the second he glides to the enemy I believe. At higher proficiency: I don’t see much change. But ask yourself first: Why bother to take so much time training this move. It’s practically one of the worst moves Ashton can perform. My rating: 2/5 LEAF SLASH: MP Usage: 19> Level Acquired: He starts with it. Long range: Ashton teleports to the enemy, while leaves surround him and the enemy, then the enemy gets it by them. I didn’t use this for a long time, so leaf slash is not guaranteed to be just like what I said. My rating: 4/5 Ashton teleports, that is good, because he is invulnerable to attacks. At higher proficiency: Like I said, I’m not an expert at leaf slash. Ashton does more hits with leaf slash, therefore dealing more damage. NORTHERN CROSS: MP Usage: 9> Level Acquired: 18 Short range: This isn’t the best move short range move ever. Ashton slowly creates a large icicle, and then pummels the enemy with it once. (Thanks to a reader who verified this for me) Medium Range: Ashton creates an icy diamond in front of him and shoots it towards the enemy. Very slow move unfortunately. My rating: 2/5 for the lagging time and slowness. At higher proficiency: Ashton does his move quicker and the ice becomes larger. PIERCING SWORDS: MP Usage: 12> Level Acquired: 22 Medium range: Ashton positions his swords towards the enemy and shoots them (approximately 6). At first only some reach the enemy and some fall to the ground though. My rating: 4/5 >a bit slow. At higher proficiency: Ashton shoots more swords and this time, they go faster, and therefore none hit the ground, assuming that they do not miss. HURRICANE SLASH: MP Usage: 16> Level Acquired: 45 Short range: Ashton attacks the enemy with his swords then shoots out a hurricane to send the enemy flying out. (Hurricane does damage also) Medium range: Ashton hits the ground and sends a hurricane flying towards the enemy. At higher proficiency: More hits I think (can anyone verify this?), and definitely the hurricane gets larger, after observing it. My rating: 5/5 >GREAT MOVE! DEAD TRIANGLE: MP Usage: 19> Level Acquired: 53 Long Range: Ashton teleports to the enemy and splits into three Ashtons, creating a barrier around the enemy and freezing it. They strike their swords on the ground, and a hot field appears inside the barrier. The enemy takes a powerful blow. = this move can miss if the enemy is quick. If enemy is hit or disrupted the freezing will disappear and the triangle can miss the enemy. My rating: 3/5 >slow move At higher proficiency: The triangle does more damage. It is also best used for dueling in the Fun City arena, unless there are friends you distract the enemy while you perform the move. DRAGON BREATH: MP Usage: 28> Level Acquired: 64 Medium range: The two dragons Ashton owns on his back become gigantic, and one of them breathes either fire or ice at the enemy. My rating: 4/5> the time needed for the dragons to actually very long, and leaves Ashton as an easy target. Enemies have a good chance of running away from the dragon breath also. At higher proficiency: Both dragons breathe fire AND ice at the enemy at the same time. SWORD DANCE: MP Usage: 32> Level Acquired: 70 Short range: Ashton stays still in one spot while juggling the enemy with swords (mirror slice style, only a bit different) My rating: 4.5/5> If Ashton misses, he would waste lots and lots of time, and I’m serious =O TRI ACE: MP Usage: 45> Level Acquired: Ashton gets it at the end of the tenth level in the Cave of Trials (Bonus dungeon) Long range (hits all enemies on screen): Ashton yells “OH? THE ALMIGHTY TRIA” “OVERFLOW ALL THE ENEMIES”. Anyways, both of the dragons on the back on Ashton go into his sword. It glimmers for a while, then the killer move takes effect. While the move is on, the screen pauses, and Ashton creates a blue ball and slashes it twice. On the third slash, it explodes, causing everything to be engulfed in blue gas. All enemies take reasonable damage. Also, when the dragons are in the sword of Ashton, he is invincible from the front of him. True, the killer move will be disrupted, but stars will be shot at the disruptor (enemy). Well...technically speaking, this move is more like a spell than a killer move. My rating: 4/5> quite slow for damage At higher proficiency: More damage, a green trail sweeps behind the sword Ashton is swinging. That’s all for Ashton! You can say Ashton is like an attack mage. Take for instance, dead triangle. He can teleport, create hurricanes, and cause a ball of energy to explode over the battlefield. You can tell already by these moves that he is an elemental and mage type fighter. OPERA VECTRA> KILLER MOVES PHOTON PRISON: MP Usage: 10> Level Acquired: She starts with it. Medium range?> Opera fires energy out of her Kaleidoscope and attempts to freeze the enemy. My rating: 2/5 > Do not bother with this move, it’s practically useless, and the freeze time is so low. At higher proficiency: The freeze time is a bit longer. FLAME LAUNCHER: MP Usage: 7> Level Acquired: She starts with it. Short range: Opera fires a stream of fire at the enemy (range is not that long) and can do more than one hit. Long range: Opera fires a tiny fireball at the enemy. It has a high chance of missing. My rating: 3/5> For long range, the fireball is TINY! At higher proficiency: Short range: The flame stream is larger. ALPHA ON ONE: MP Usage: 23> Level Acquired: 24 Medium range: Opera fires three yellow balls which home in on the enemy (follows the enemy). Each ball does about the equivalent of a regular attack. My rating: 5/5> Very useful, and practically never misses. At higher proficiency: More balls (5) SPREAD RAY: MP Usage: 16> Level Acquired: 34 Medium range: Opera leaps into the air and fires her Kaleidoscope 3 times at the enemy. My rating: 4/5> Not the best, but good enough. It acts like sword bomber from Claude, but energy is fired out instead of fireballs. COLD WIND: MP Usage: 25> Level Acquired: 41 Medium range: Opera shoots countless pieces of ice from her Kaleidoscope gun. What is shot out of the gun acts like a beam of ice, with cold wind, as the name implies. Can do more than one hit. My rating: 3/5> The damage per hit is quite small to be exact, and the start up time is not the fastest. At higher proficiency: The icy beam lasts longer? GRAVITY SHELL: MP Usage: 20> Level Acquired: 54 Medium range: Opera shoots her Kaleidoscope to the air and bolts of gravity try to crush the enemy. My rating: 4/5> Only one hit damage I believe, and the move is not the fastest one ever. At higher proficiency: I did not notice any changes. = MOVES THAT OPERA MAKE FROM MACHINERY = HEALING STAR: MP Usage: 9 Long range: This move does not heal as much as Fairy Light. It is not that useful since it is assumed that you have your healers. This is useful if you plan to have four fighters though. Does not heal that much too. When I first learned it the move healed 225 hp! My rating: 3/5> You have your healers, and this move does not heal A LOT! At higher proficiency: More hp is healed. I think if you use it once, the hp heals more by 1 (can anyone verify this?) LASER BIT: MP Usage: 8 Medium range: Hmmm...it is quite hard to describe. Opera first gets out a ball of laser, then shoots it into pieces. I think it also has something to do with reflecting off a mirror. The pieces fall to the ground at different directions. This killer move is slow and often misses. My rating: 3/5> Like I said, it often misses. Don’t rely on this killer move. HYPER LAUNCHER: MP Usage: 34 Medium range: Now this is more like it. Opera turns her gun into a cannon like figure. Out comes a GIGANTIC dazzling beam of light as wind comes out of the back of the cannon. The range is considered good, and it is best if you pin an enemy to the wall while executing this move. My rating: 4/5 > Start up time lags, but can do LOTS of hits. At higher proficiency: The beam lasts longer, and I think the range is slightly longer. Can hit multiple enemies. Opera is more like a shooting type character. ALL of her killer moves involve her Kaleidoscope shooting out energy. Unfortunately, her weapons are very weak. Her two best weapons, the Pulse Box and the Psycho Box, consist of attack powers of 1000 and 1050. You will need to equip (an) Atlas Ring(s) on her to match up with her fellow allies towards the end of the game. (For information on how to acquire Atlas Rings, please refer to my Items That Support Killer Moves section.) ====== DISCLAIMER/COPYRIGHT ===== PLEASE DON’T COPY THIS FAQ FOR POSTING ON OTHER SITES PLEASE. I HAVE SPENT QUITE A BIT OF TIME ON IT. IF YOU WANT THIS FAQ POSTED ON ANOTHER SITE, YOU ARE WELCOME TO AS LONG AS YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION. SEND AN EMAIL TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW. NAME YOUR TOPIC FAQ PERMISSION. YOU MAY USE THIS FAQ FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL USE ONLY. THANKS. C COPYRIGHT 2003 BY METEOR SWARM Sorry if this FAQ is quite incomplete. Fortunately, winter holidays are coming very soon and I will be able to work on them ASAP. I will update it every day and look for some improvements. If you have any suggestions, please email starrynova@hotmail.com and name your topic Star Ocean 2 FAQ suggestions Thanks, your help is appreciated. <<<>>>