Star Ocean: Second Evolution Missable Achievements Guide - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki

Set developed by decimate, guide written by benit149

Hello, and welcome to my missables guide for Star Ocean: Second Evolution, the Playstation Portable port of Star Ocean: The Second Story for Playstation 1. This version utilizes many graphical changes, plus some gameplay and naming changes that I will explain. Compared to Second Story’s set, Second Evolution’s set is nowhere near as demanding, but there are some aspects you will want to know if you’re not familiar with how the original game works.

First of all, I would like to direct your attention to Second Story’s guide that I wrote, specifically the In-Depth Gameplay Analysis to get you up to speed with how both games function. My primary purpose for this guide is to point out the differences and how they will affect your runs here, since I don’t address anything for Second Evolution there.

From here on out, there will be story spoilers involved. If you wish not to be spoiled, please stop reading here and play the game first.

Second Story vs. Second Evolution changes

Think of Second Evolution as a polished hack rather than a full-on remake of Second Story. Aside from graphics, character portraits and a better translation, there are some gameplay tweaks and naming conventions you will want to understand, especially if you’re intimately familiar with the original’s names and might get confused between the two. First will be the gameplay changes.

The addition of a new character named Welch Vineyard. She is recruitable in Laceur after the Armory Contest concludes and you initiate a Private Action. This means that new Private Actions and endings are available for her, but the set doesn’t require you to do any PAs barring some specific ones for character recruitment and removing the final boss’ limiter, which I’ll get to in the Missable Achievements section
To unlock Universe Mode, you just have to defeat 2000 enemies in a single save file. The original demanded that you unlocked 50% of the Voice Collection, which could be a real slog if you were trying to get them all in a single Earth Mode file. The achievement In Nede of a Challenge will automatically unlock when you reach that number, so just play normally on Earth Mode
A number of skills have either been modified, added or removed. The Star Ocean Wiki details what the skill changes are and how they work
The item creation animation can be sped up by holding the X button. If you’re sensitive to bright lights, I suggest glancing away from the screen for a moment since a bright white light obscures the change between the material you’re using and the final product
If you have 20 of an item and you get another one from a chest or from Pickpocketing, you will put it back in the chest or be told you have no space for it. In the original, the item would simply be lost
The password for Eluria Tower is DEATH in this version. In the original, it was APOCA (“apocalypse”)
You can combo regular attacks three times. This makes the game much easier overall compared to the original because you’re also stunning enemies longer and dealing more damage. Short-range anti-air attacks have also been changed, with the character performing an upward strike rather than jumping to attack the enemy. If you want to do a proper jumping attack, your character needs to be in long range from the enemy before confirming the action. Whether or not this is an improvement depends on the enemy you’re fighting. It’s good against the jumping rabbit-type enemies, but flying stingray-type enemies may cause you some trouble. Only fighters can execute this combo though – mages are still restricted to one attack
Dias can now utilize the Slayer’s Ring (called Ring of Lightspeed here) to deal additional damage with the stars. He was not able to do this in the original, likely because of how his regular attack is an iai-style strike
Spell cooldown is shown as a green bar beneath the character’s name at the top of the screen. Spell animations have also been massively shortened
Spells can be assigned to the L1 and R1 buttons now, the same way Killer Moves can be. This could not be done in the original version
The original version had ten elements – Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Star, Vacuum and Void. Of these, Thunder, Star, Vacuum and Void have been dropped here, and the remaining six elements have more defined opposing relations to each other – Fire vs. Water, Wind vs. Earth, and Light vs. Darkness. Healing magic is not assigned an element
Spell Absorption, Cancellation and Reflection have been dropped here
If your character is in the middle of an action in combat, it can be canceled by pressing the Square button
Ambushes, Back Attacks and Surround Attacks will stun your characters for a few seconds. This did not exist in the original
Battlefield hazards like the boulder near Mountain Palace, the mine cart in Hoffman Ruins, and collapsable objects no longer exist here

For skill names, I’ll list Second Story’s original names on the left, and Second Evolution’s modified names on the right. They will be listed from top to bottom, left to right. Some Battle Skills have been dropped, which will be denoted as removed. Some skills will retain their original names, which I will keep in the list to make it as complete as possible.

Second Story -> Second Evolution

Sketching -> Sketching
Musical Notation -> Music Knowledge
Music Instrument -> Performance
Tool Knowledge -> Item Knowledge
Minerology -> Mineralogy
Herbal Medicine -> Herbology
Craft -> Eye for Detail
Esthetic Sense -> Aesthetics
Writing -> Penmanship
Effort -> Effort
Perseverance -> Determination
Patience -> Resilience
Danger Sense -> Danger Radar
Biology -> Biology
Mental Science -> Mental Science
Kitchen Knife -> Knife
Recipe -> Recipe
Good Eye -> Keen Eye
Whistling -> Whistling
Animal Training -> Animal Training
Metal Casting -> Smithing
Scientific Ability -> Technology
Fairyology -> Faeriology
Radar -> ESP
Piety -> Piety
Playfulness -> Purity
Functionality -> Aesthetic Design
Courage -> Courage
Poker Face -> Poker Face
Copying -> Imitation
Mech Knowledge -> Machinery
Mech Operation -> Operation
Below the Belt -> Guardbreak
Strong Blow -> removed
Flip -> Backstab
Counterattack -> Counter
Feint -> Feint
Mental Training -> Power Burst
Motormouth -> Hasten Speech
Body Control -> Body Control
Cancel -> removed (automatically implemented into Second Evolution’s battle system)
Gale -> Godspeed
Provocation -> removed
Float -> removed

Qigong, Sidestep, Trance, Concentration and Recast are new Battle Skills for Second Evolution that don’t exist in Second Story.

These are the name changes for Specialties and Super Specialties.

Art -> Art
Oracle -> Oracle
Musical Talent -> Music
Customize -> Customization
Identify -> Appraising
Metalwork -> Crafting
Authoring -> Writing
Practice -> Train
Scout -> Scouting
Compounding -> Compounding
Cooking -> Cooking
Familiar -> Familiar
Alchemy -> Alchemy
Survival -> Survival
Pickpocketing -> Pickpocketing
Machinery -> Machinist
Master Chef -> Master Chef
Orchestra -> Orchestra
Comprehension -> Enlightenment
Come on Bunny -> Bunny Call
Publishing -> Publication
Identify All! -> Group Appraising
Blacksmith -> Blacksmith
Reverse Side -> Contraband

Talents have likewise undergone some name changes.

Originality -> Originality
Sense of Taste -> Taste
Dexterity -> Nimble Fingers
Sense of Design -> Design Sense
Writing Ability -> Composition
Sense of Rhythm -> Rhythm Sense
Pitch -> Listening
Love of Animals -> Love of Animals
Sixth Sense -> Animal Instinct
The Blessing of Manna -> Blessing of Mana

Some towns and dungeons have had their names changed. I won’t list the unchanged ones like Arlia or Salva, but will for altered ones.

Shingo Forest -> Sacred Forest
Cross -> Krosse
Clik -> Kurik
Mars -> Marze
Herlie -> Harley
Lacour -> Laceur
Sanctuary of Linga -> Sacred Grounds of Linga
El Continent -> Ell Continent
Central City -> Centropolis
Cave of Red Crystals -> Cave of Crimson Crystals
Field of Intelligence -> Field of Wisdom
Field of Power -> Field of Might
Giveaway -> Princebridge
Minhe Cavern -> Minae Cave
Fienal -> Phynal
Cave of Trials -> Maze of Tribulations

I won’t outline all of the changes for spells and Killer Moves, nor will I do so for items due to the staggering number of things that can be created. I’m sure that plenty of practice with the game will get you familiar with those changes. I only wanted to highlight skills, Specialties, Talents and towns/dungeons since a good bulk of your time will be spent managing those, and it can get potentially confusing if you’re more familiar with the original’s naming conventions.

Party Management

Since Welch is a new party member, that means the total number of recruitable characters is 11 (13 total if you include Claude and Rena). You’ll want to recruit every party member between the Earth and Universe runs for the character-specific Fun City Arena Duel Battles. If you want to balance your parties between only two playthroughs while still also having a solid party for the Universe run, what parties should be made to manage all of this? My recommendations are as follows:

EARTH: choose Claude, then recruit Celine, Ashton, Precis, Leon, Noel and Chisato

UNIVERSE: choose Rena, then recruit Welch, Opera, Bowman, Ernest, Dias and Chisato

The character you choose as your protagonist is important because they each have a character that can only be recruited in their specific routes. For Claude, it’s Leon. For Rena, it’s Dias. Leon is a mage who is nowhere near as good as Dias is a fighter. Dias has access to some top-tier skills like Air Slash, Full Moon Slash and Firebird Strike, so you want to have him in your Universe run for the superbosses.

You have some wiggle room with Chisato’s recruitment in Universe. It is an exceptionally difficult mode at the very beginning of the game, so having Celine instead will help manage the enemies until your fighters are strong enough. You could hold off on getting the Ancient Writings in Krosse Cave and level up Celine only enough to help with grinding for the Pickpocketing in the early game, especially with getting a strong weapon from the Goodie Box stolen from the old man in Marze, then ditch her afterwards. If you want to be patient and save the slot for Chisato because she’s a decent fighter, you are able to do so. Universe at the start of the game is no joke though, so decide your approach for this at the get-go before the choice to recruit Celine comes up at Krosse Cave after getting the Ancient Writings. Another option is to forego Chisato and get Welch in Earth Mode instead.

As far as Noel is concerned, he should only be recruited in Earth Mode. Your preference may be different, but I don’t like his gameplay whatsoever. His physical attack stinks, and his magic isn’t much better. He also doesn’t have a Strategy option to focus on healing like Rena does, and he doesn’t even learn Raise Dead.

You can also adjust your choice between Precis and Bowman. Both of them are solid fighters who have their strengths and weaknesses. You can get Precis before the Laceur Armory Contest and boost her in Sacred Grounds of Linga while still having access to Laceur’s normal state. With Bowman, you have to wait until after the tournament concludes and get the rare herb before you can recruit him, which likewise locks you out of Laceur’s normal state for a long time. Precis’ Killer Moves focus more on long range with a slight warm-up time, whereas Bowman’s are short-ranged moves that tend to be quicker to execute. The reason I suggested Bowman for Universe is due to his moves Poison Pills and Explosion Pills, which are super quick and can hit multiple times at higher proficiency levels. Since the enemies hit really hard in that mode, executing moves as fast as possible is paramount, and Precis struggles a bit in that department without someone else to cover for her.

As far as the Ashton vs. Opera/Ernest choice goes, it’s much easier. Ashton’s best move Sword Dance isn’t acquired until he’s level 70, whereas Opera starts off with an amazing move called Tracking Plasma, a quick attack that shoots homing bullets at an enemy. Through the Machinist specialty, she can also make special items that grant her new Killer Moves, one of which is Healing Star. This is an AoE heal that will quickly recover HP depending on its proficiency level, so maxing it out will give you near-instant 5000 HP healing for everyone. This is much faster and more consistent than hoping for Rena’s Hasten Speech to activate when she casts Fairie Light, especially in tough boss fights like Gabriella Celesta, Iseria Queen and Unlimited Gabriel. Furthermore, Ernest has two Battle Suits that can be stolen from him, which is a very impressive set of armor that anyone can wear, including mages. You absolutely want these for Universe.

Missable Achievements

Since the base game is essentially the same as Second Story’s, it’s missables will largely be the same as well. If the requirements for a missable achievement are identical to an achievement in Second Story, I will copy and paste my explanation from the other guide here, adjusting the names as needed.

A Full Crew (5)

Recruit a complete party of 4 battle members and 4 reserve members

You want to plan what your full party is going to be well ahead of time. It hadn’t been possible to form a full party before Energy Nede in Second Story, but it is here thanks to Welch. The only way to accomplish this is to recruit Celine, Welch, Opera, Ernest, Dias/Leon, and Precis/Bowman. If you get Ashton, you will always have at least one slot open for Energy Nede. I already outlined how to organize your character choices in the Party Management section, so refer to that for details.

On a Path to Chaos (2)

Meet the mysterious prophet in Kurik before a great disaster occurs

You need to initiate a Private Action in Kurik before ever speaking to the captain and starting the events involving Ketil. There will be a blue-haired woman imploring everyone to leave Kurik, but no one believes her. The next achievement involves her as well, and is an important PA to watch for much later in the game. Do this PA in both your Earth and Universe runs – just trust me on this one.

The Wet Bandit (2)

Successfully pickpocket the mysterious prophet in Kurik

This involves stealing the Sprite’s Bracelet accessory from the prophet during her PA there. This is not as easy as it sounds. First off, your chosen protagonist MUST start with the Talent for Nimble Fingers. There is no way to acquire it through Compounding and Metalwork this early in the game because the requisite skills are not sold yet. If they don’t have it, start a new game to reroll their Talents.

Next, you need to spend time leveling your hero’s Poker Face and Courage skills to unlock Pickpocketing, then save 40,000 Fol for the Thief’s Glove in Harley before ever starting this PA. Getting money this early in the game takes a while, and the best place for grinding both levels and money is in the first screen of Lasgus Mountains, especially if you run into a group of balloon-like enemies that only drain your allies’ MP, making them free experience. You want to abstain from spending on healing items, making this grind trickier than usual. It would be a good idea to buy the Flame Sword for 4800 Fol in Marze to deal additional damage to the kobolds and birds. Rest in Krosse’s inn if you want to heal for cheap, although you need to buy Stone Cure and Paralysis Cure from the item shop to heal those statuses. I suggest saving this grind for your Universe run so that your characters’ levels will balance out with the enemies’ strength once you’re done with this, and just enjoy the game normally on Earth Mode if this is your first playthrough ever.

The payoff will be excellent however, especially if you wish to successfully steal from as many NPCs as possible. Kurik will be destroyed shortly after starting the story there, meaning you lose access to a lot of NPCs. It’s not necessary to do too much stealing for this set compared to Second Story’s, but if you’re curious about any worthwhile steals, I suggest reading the RAGuide I wrote for that version.

Splice and Dice (1)

Receive a reward from Ferguson in Salva for dispatching the Salva Mines Dragon

After meeting Ashton in Salva Mines and agreeing to help him exorcise the dragons, go back out to Salva, but do not try to leave the town yet. Go to the weapon shop and speak to the shopkeeper Ferguson, who will reward you with the Twin Slicers for Ashton to equip. If you leave the town without speaking to him first, you lose out, meaning the timeframe for this is extremely strict.

All Expel Treasure (10)

AND

All the Treasure in the Star Ocean (25)

Loot all the non-dungeon treasure chests on Planet Expel, and loot all the treasure chests in the game respectively

Since this turned out to be a bigger pain in the rear than I had expected, I made a checklist of all the treasures and any important notes, which are likewise repeated here due to the time-sensitive nature of some chests.

If you’re familiar with Cave of Trials in Second Story, you would know about three chests tied to having specific characters in your party. They have not been included in the overall tally of chests since it would only be possible to open them all in a Claude playthrough – Leon is tied to one of the chests, and he can only be recruited in Claude’s route. If these chests had been included, it would be impossible to get them all in a Rena playthrough for this reason. If you want to open every last one though, it would have to be a Claude run that includes Celine, Ashton and Leon.

In Kurik, there is a chest in the Mansion on the Hill that contains a Lyre, and three chests in the restaurant Captain’s Cabin that contain Seafood, Grains and Vegetables. All of these will be lost once the earthquake and tsunami destroy the city.

In Rena’s route, she can initiate a line of Private Actions involving a sailor named Yul, leading to a one-on-one boss fight against Zandor, the owner of Harley’s mansion. The mansion has two chests in one of the upstairs rooms containing a Ring Mail and Sinclair, and two more in a couple of the lower rooms containing 1200 Fol and Leather Boots. If Rena loses her duel against Zandor and the chests aren’t looted, a pair of guards will bar her passage, not allowing you to get these chests. This is not an issue in Claude’s route since those PAs are not available for him.

If you’ve done everything right, you should have 25 of the 27 chests on Krosse continent. The final two are in Laceur Castle, but only one containing a Star Ruby can be acquired during the Laceur Armory Contest. The last one has to wait until after completing the herb quest with Bowman to update Laceur into the “evacuated” state. The chest is in the Royal Bedchamber during the time you have Leon in the party temporarily, which contains 10,000 Fol.

As far as dungeons go, I would worry only about Field of Might and Phynal for reasons explained below. You will be able to return to Expel late in the game via the old man in Fun City’s coliseum. There are some well-hidden chests that you would never figure out where to look, so I’ve gone through and described these trickier ones, providing screenshots where needed.

Krosse Cave: There is a completely obscured chest containing a ?JEWELRY item

Salva Mines: You need to trigger Ashton's recruitment quest to be able to access the dragon area of the mines. From personal experience, I went straight to recruiting Opera without doing anything with Ashton, but wound up being barred from exploring the back of the cavern to pick up the chests there once I returned to Expel from Energy Nede. Needless to say, it was incredibly frustrating for me, so make sure to trigger the sidequest and pick up the chests, which means you need to interact with Ashton. If you want to recruit Opera while still getting every chest, you need to choose “avoid responsibility”, leave the cave and town, re-enter, and go back to where Ashton and the dragon were to pick up the two chests behind the dragon.

Sacred Grounds of Linga: there is a fairly well-hidden path way in the back of the cavern, shown in this screenshot. Beyond the save point is a room with some treasures and the boss battle against three Vesseyas. This is relevant for Unnatural Den of Beasts

Hoffman Ruins: there are seven switches you can press, which are bombs that damage the immediate area and injure your party members. You want to actually activate this specific switch to open up a room containing some chests. From the entrance, just keep going right for a few screens. None of the other switches have any hidden rooms or chests, so you can ignore them

Eluria Tower: you can only get 23 of the 24 chests while on Expel. The last one is in the room with the Ten Wise Men, but you have to wait until you can return to Expel from the old man in Fun City since the story automatically progresses onto Energy Nede once you enter that room the first time

Field of Might: there are unique battles involving some apes making their way toward a lever, which you want to prevent from occurring. If the apes trigger certain levers, it will change the layout of the dungeon, which can permanently bar access to some chests

Minae Cave: there is one partially obscured chest indicated by the red circle in this screenshot. I actually suggest waiting until you defeat the boss before getting all of the treasures, since the enemies will stop attacking and you can explore freely until you return to the overworld

Phynal: I ran into a rather strange conundrum that I couldn’t find any information on how to resolve, involving the three items on Floor 6 with the color switches. I went through the whole puzzle without picking up the three chests because I didn’t know they were there. Once I was done and realized my mistake, I tried to reopen the door to the room with the chests, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do so. I have no idea how the door was closed on me, but I think it is shut for good once you complete the puzzle, meaning you’d miss out on those three items if you don’t follow the correct steps.

To avoid this issue when you first reach Floor 6, go east, then north, activate the middle switch, then east and activate the right switch, then north twice and you’ll reach the room with the items. Completing the puzzle fully closes the last door leading to the item room, and I couldn’t find any way to reopen it whatsoever. From my own experimentation, it appears that the orange switch just south of the green switch is the one that locks you out of accessing the treasure room, so get everything before triggering that switch.

Maze of Tribulations: Other than the three chests tied to specific characters, you may notice that some chests are located in rooms completely surrounded by walls. There is actually an invisible path for each of these, which will be indicated by a chime when you find it. I suggest using a detailed walkthrough of the Maze and picking up only the chests that will give you an edge in battle. Leave the others alone until you defeat Gabriella Celeste. Once you do, you will be able to plunder everything during your “victory lap” without any enemy encounters until you return to the overworld.

Blade of the Legendary Swordsmith (1)

Receive a unique sword from Gamgee in Lacuer City

Just like with Splice and Dice, this has an absurdly narrow and specific timeframe. You need to complete the Laceur Armory Contest and come in second place. After getting Claude’s reward from his sponsor shop, immediately go to Gamgee’s place and speak to him! He will give Claude the Deadly Edge, a one-of-a-kind weapon that is a necessary ingredient for forging his Aeterna sword, detailed in the next achievement. There is no other way to acquire the Deadly Edge, and if you leave Laceur before talking to him, you have missed out. Likewise, you will miss out if you are defeated before the match against Dias in Claude's route, or if the AI-controlled Claude is defeated in his matches in Rena's route. The latter can be pretty scary in Universe, so do plenty of level grinding and save outside Laceur before initiating the tournament events.

The Akimbo Special (2)

Craft Claude's Aeterna sword through Item Creation and equip it

This is an incredibly powerful sword for Claude that you can craft as early as after the Laceur Armory Contest to help you breeze through the entire rest of the game. You need the Deadly Edge plus two pieces of Mithril, and ideally level up Claude’s Customization to level 10 for the best chance of success. I was able to do it at level 7, but it requires a lot of resetting. Deadly Edge + Mithril will produce Blade of Minos, and Blade of Minos + Mithril will produce Aeterna.

To acquire Mithril, level up the ESP skill one at a time and check your inventory for a new item. Mithril is part of the skill’s item pool, which is very broken if you have the patience to manipulate it. If you don’t get one, reset and try again. I suggest using one level of ESP for multiple characters rather than trying to do it one at a time. As long as you have the Deadly Edge, you can save getting Mithril and forging the weapon for later in Energy Nede. I still recommend doing all of this in Expel however – you can see how the game’s item creation system can get utterly busted like this.

The item pool for ESP is as follows:

Aquaberry x5, Blackberry x5, Blueberry x5, Cook From The Heart, Cure Stone, Feet Symbol, Frog, Healing Ring, Mental Ring, Mithril, Moonite, Orichalcum, Peep Half, Spectacles, Stardust Ring

Here are the requisite skills you’ll need - three for unlocking Customization, one for getting the Mithril, and one for reducing the overall SP cost.

Determination: Sensibility 2 in Harley and Hilton, 1600 Fol
ESP & Aesthetic Design: Sensibility 3 in Laceur, 2700 Fol. Claude also starts with Aesthetic Design.
Eye For Detail: Technique 2 in Hilton, 1600 Fol
Smithing: Technique 3 in Linga, 3600 Fol

The Aeterna can also be produced as a mystery ?WEAPON item, so have someone who can use Identify and some Spectacles as well.

If you’re curious as to whether or not you could do this process for the other characters’ gear, you potentially could if you have the time and patience. This was something I did in a casual playthrough of Second Story, doing what I could to craft the best possible weapons and armor for every character except Noel and Chisato (plus Welch, who doesn’t exist there). These are the results of that work, which you can do the research at RPG Shrines to learn how to make everything. Note that I did not use the Treasure Chest from the old man in Marze to get myself anything potentially better than what’s shown here, and certain weapons were way too hard to Customize without Orchestra. Please don’t chew me out if you think a better piece of gear should be here.

Welch's armor set is the same as for Precis and Chisato. If you want to make a good early-game weapon for her, there are some options that others have debated. I went with Furious Handy Stick, which involves a chain of Customizations:

Handy Stick + Gold = Worrying Handy Stick
Worrying Handy Stick + Damascus = Annoying Handy Stick
Annoying Handy Stick + Rainbow Diamond = Furious Handy Stick

The Eccentric Creator (5)

Recruit Welch as a permanent member of the party

This needs to wait until the Laceur Armory Contest is over, and you also need to have a party of four characters for the PA to activate. Once you reach that point, initiate a Private Action in Laceur to meet Welch. This is missable because defeating the boss at Hoffman Ruins locks you out of getting her.

Another Good Deed Rewarded (5)

Receive a reward from Ruddle the Traveler

After the Laceur Armory Contest concludes (and you get your Deadly Edge!), backtrack to Salva to find the scholar-type NPC Ruddle the first time, who says he wants to go to Harley. Tell him to “go north”. Find him next in Marze and tell him “it’s east of here”. Now take the boat to Hilton to find him there, and tell him “take the return boat”. He’s finally reached his destination in Harley, so go to the town’s inn and receive a Scumbag Slayer from him, which will be invaluable for grinding Metal Scumbags in Maze of Tribulations way later. All of these are the first options, so you can just button mash the entire time. If you’re doing Pickpocketing, don’t forget to steal from Ruddle before talking to him each time, since he takes off after you give him the directions.

Unnatural Den of Beasts (10)

Defeat the Vesseyas in the Sacred Grounds of Linga on Universe difficulty mode before handing over the herbs

When you’re on your errand to find the rare herb for Bowman, go to the Door to Another World way in the back of the cavern. It is the room after the save point shown in this screenshot. You will fight three Vesseyas there, which needs to be done on Universe mode for this. The battle can be bypassed altogether and you can return to Bowman with the herb, but you don’t want to do that for this achievement. The Vesseyas are the ugly worm-like monsters that can swallow characters and temporarily remove them from the field. Use long-range abilities like Claude’s Meteor Palm or Air Slash, some of Precis’ moves, Opera’s Alpha on One, and/or Rena and Celine’s magic. Ashton doesn’t have any decent and quick-acting long-range moves, so perhaps switch him out.

Evacuation Protection (1)

Receive a suit of armor from Gamgee in Lacuer Castle

After giving Bowman the rare herb and talking to Keith, you’re supposed to return to Laceur and go to the castle to meet Leon to advance the story. On the stairs to the throne room are Gamgee and Sufia. Speak to Gamgee to get a Plate Armor from him. This is missable because Laceur’s “evacuation” state is temporary, reverting back to its “normal” state once you can revisit Expel from Energy Nede.

The Archaeological Adventurer (5)

Recruit Ernest as a permanent member of the party

There are some steps involved with recruiting Ernest that are missable, which may cause you to only have Opera when you reach Energy Nede. To get him, follow these steps:

In Krosse City, initiate a Private Action where the protagonist meets a three-eyed man. Be sure to do this before the Laceur Armory Contest
After the Laceur tournament concludes, go to Hilton’s bar to meet Opera. Return to Krosse City and have an audience with the king to be granted passage to the Mountain Palace
Find Opera in the Mountain Palace, defeat the boss, and find Ernest’s laboratory deep inside the dungeon. Opera will join the party
Go to Arlia and initiate a Private Action where Opera is standing on the mayor’s balcony. She will mention that she crash-landed in the Sacred Forest
Exit the PA and re-enter Arlia normally. Go to the Sacred Forest and watch the cutscene of Opera and Claude examining her spaceship
Continue the plot until you clear Hoffman Ruins. Upon exiting the dungeon, Opera will run off and find Ernest. A small boss fight occurs, then choose to keep both of them in the party. If you reject them, they will both leave permanently. This does allow you to recruit Ashton in Opera’s place though

Ernest’s recruitment is also tied to the achievement What’s Yours is Now Mine because he has two Battle Suits you can Pickpocket off of him. One is in a Private Action in Marze, the other in a PA in Linga.

The Space Bandit (2)

Successfully pickpocket some armor in the Calnus during Claude's story

During Claude’s scenario in Eluria Tower, he will be unexpectedly beamed up to the Calnus. This is an opportunity to steal from some NPCs. The cadet on the right side of the door has a Battle Suit. If you’re in Rena’s route, you’re out of luck. Make a save before this since you only get one shot to steal from the NPC. If it fails, reset and go through the scenes to try again.

Once this achievement is done, all of Energy Nede’s story cutscenes and bosses are easy enough to go through. You won’t get some of the boss-related achievements on an Earth run due to them being tied to the Universe difficulty, but beyond Chisato’s recruitment, there’s nothing else to worry about concerning missables for a long time.

The Investigative Reporter (5)

Recruit Chisato as a permanent member of the party

This is potentially missable because you need to watch a short cutscene in Centropolis to initiate a line of cutscenes leading to you being able to recruit her. After the party’s first conversation with Mayor Nall, exit the government building to the outside. There will be two paths, one leading west, the other south. Go west and approach the red-haired woman, who will run off. This particular cutscene can be very easily bypassed if you just go south and onward to North City. From there, it should be straightforward. There will be two cutscenes of Chisato in North City, and one more in the Cavern of Crimson Crystals as you go down some steps to reach a chest. She will drop her ID card, so bring it back to her in Centropolis and you can recruit her then.

Shady Island Life (2)

Find Tok's Shady Shop on Energy Nede

Not missable, but is hard to find if you don’t know where to look. Once you have the Psynard, you can find this well-hidden shop by landing on one of the tiny snow-covered islands located between Princebridge and the Field of Might. The shop has the best armor available without relying on Blacksmithing, but it is very expensive, so have a few million Fol on hand.

Free Skiing Lesson (1)

Take a ride down an avalanche in the Field of Might

Not missable, but is a bit vague to find. In Field of Might, there is a specific cliff in the screen containing four exits and a ladder, highlighted in the red circle in this screenshot. You have the option to shout, which you should do so to trigger an avalanche. You can escape it by running to the lower right cavern, but you actually want to get caught in it for a shortcut back to the dungeon’s entrance. Do this after getting all of the treasures, defeating the boss and doing the story sequence at the summit.

Nede’s Declassified Survival Guide (5)

Acquire the Pandora's Box and gain access to all the classified information of Nede

Ever wondered what the Sorcery Globe actually was, who the Ten Wise Men are, why you’re fighting them, and much more? The story does not hand a lot of that information out for free - you have to go looking for it yourself. First you need to do the story events in the Symbological Weapons Institute, then follow these steps. Credit goes to RPG Shrines, but with a small amendment:

Read ALL the files in the North City database. The information's pretty interesting, but if you know it all already, just zip through it. Then try accessing the secret files.
Head to Princebridge and enter the university. Talk to the Dean (he's in the far right room on the first floor); he'll mention something about Leifath.
Leifath is in the far left room on the second floor. Talk to him now.
Go back to Centropolis and talk to Chisato (if she's in your party you'll have to enter a PA).
Leave Centropolis and go back in (again, going into a PA if she's in your party) and talk to her again.
Go back to North City and talk to the operator. You'll break through security, but you won't actually be able to read the files because your terminal is outdated.
Go back to Princebridge and talk to Leifath; tell him you were the ones to enter the Research Lab, and give him the codes you saw there; you'll then be able to read the first two categories. Read everything, then try to access the last two categories and you'll be cut off.
Go back and talk to the Dean and he'll give you the Pandora's Box, a decrypting device.
Go back and talk to Leifath and give him the Pandora's Box. Now you have to leave and come back later. This part is where RPG Shrines’ info is incorrect. You don’t need to have any amount of real time pass. Just do a PA in Princebridge, exit, then re-enter normally and speak to Leifath to read the final two files.

Third Ring of Lightspeed

While this is not attached to an achievement whatsoever, you would want to pick up this accessory since it generates stars during a character’s attack like the Aeterna does, which goes a long way in damaging enemies. Normally you can only get two Rings of Lightspeed in a game, both of which are in Maze of Tribulations, so getting an extra one this early is pretty nice. The trouble is that it is missable, and it’s only available in Claude’s route. To get this, complete the three boss battles against Zaphkiel and Jophiel in Fun City, plus Metatron in Armlock, but don’t go to L’Aqua to meet up with Nall yet. Instead, trigger a Private Action in Fun City and head for the coliseum. Claude will meet up with Mariana, and after some conversation she’ll collapse and be taken to a bed at the inn. Speak to her twice to get two different items – a Silver Cross the first time, and the Ring of Lightspeed the second time.

On a Path to the Truth (2)

Speak with the mysterious prophet in Centropolis before confronting Gabriel in Phynal

Remember the Private Action in Kurik involving the mysterious prophet you did way back in the beginning of the game? She’ll pop up again in a PA in Centropolis, disappearing and leaving an accessory behind. More importantly though, this will remove the final boss Gabriel’s limiter, making him significantly harder than before. If you didn’t do the PA in Kurik, you completely miss out. The achievements A Daughter’s Betrayal and Unlimited Power are likewise tied to all of this.

Unlimited Power (25)

Defeat Unlimited Gabriel in Phynal on Universe difficulty mode

Now that you’ve removed Gabriel’s limiter, you’ve unlocked the most difficult challenge the game can offer. From my experience with doing this fight on Earth Mode, I noticed that there were some differences that made this version a little harder compared to the PS1 version. The biggest difference was that spellcasting seemed slower here, even after maxing all of Rena’s spell-related Battle Skills. Fortunately you are allowed to have your fighters equip Bloody Armors, which grant them invincibility but also rapidly drains their HP. Control Rena and maintain a balance of healing, item usage, and moving her around the battlefield as needed. Have Bunny Shoes on everyone to make your life significantly easier. Otherwise, just let the AI-controlled party members deal damage to Gabriel. Your job is to make sure they survive.

I didn’t do Maze of Tribulations and only grinded enough to do everyone’s A-Rank Duel Battles, so it was a little difficult to keep Rena alive whenever Gabriel did AoE spells or the devastating Song of the Gods, which is an AoE physical attack. Casting Reflection helped mitigate the damage from the spells, but I always had to resurrect her with an item after Song of the Gods. This can get potentially scary since the other characters’ HP is being drained during all of this, so you need quick reflexes to keep up. Remember, this was all on Earth Mode. Universe will get significantly scarier if you don’t bring your A-game.

First off, do this in Rena’s route. This is because Dias’ Killer Moves can help with damaging Gabriel, especially Full Moon Slash. Have Opera in the party as well and have her learn Healing Star through the Machinist specialty. Once you have it, use it over and over again until it is at maximum proficiency. This allows Opera to rapidly heal about 5000+ HP to everyone, which is way more efficient than Rena’s Faerie Light. The third fighter should be Claude spamming Dragon’s Roar, or doing normal attacks with either the Aeterna or a Levantine Sword + Angel Armband combo. Naturally, complete Maze of Tribulations to get one Angel Armband, then summon and fight Iseria Queen as many times as you need to get more as item drops. Be sure to use Discovery Cards to boost the chances of getting items. Angel Armbands allow the fighters’ attacks to shoot stars like the Aeterna.

You also need to bring lots of items – MP and HP healing for both single target and AoE, bombs, Revival Cards, resurrecting items, items that boost attack strength, anything that can temporarily halt MP consumption, and whatever else you can think of. Also max out a character’s Music specialty and play the song that boosts everyone’s stats before initiating the fight. If that wasn’t enough, boost everyone’s levels to around the 200s, or even higher. The goal is to level up the Guts stat as high as it can go – this improves a character’s chances to do a critical hit, but more importantly it allows them to survive a mortal blow with 1 HP. Having Guts at 255 is ideal since that is the highest it can go. Another handy trick is that while Gabriel has tons of HP, he actually only has 999 MP in Universe Mode. Using 20 Mind Bombs on him will exhaust that MP, eliminating his spell options at least.

Think this amount of preparation is overkill? It isn’t. Not only does Gabriel have 3,000,000 HP, he will zip all over the place either insta-casting a powerful AoE spell like Southern Cross, Explode, Star Flare or Stone Rain, or do Divine Wave that will most likely kill anyone trying to gang up on him, or do Song of the Gods that may utterly destroy even an entire party at full health. It can almost be downright unplayable if you’re not set up for it. The key is to stymie him using bombs or spells that can be quickly cast like Rena’s Crush, giving the fighters a chance to catch up and combo him for as long as possible. As long as Opera handles the healing, Rena should be able to cast Crush frequently to keep Gabriel still for a second. If her magic is on cooldown and Gabriel is about to do a dangerous attack, use a bomb to stop him. That was the strategy I came up with for my Unlimited Indalecio fight in Second Story’s set, which forbids the usage of Bloody Armors, Chaos Armors or the Algol shield. At least the option to use Bloody Armors is allowed here, so try those if you’re struggling.

To quote someone from that set’s comments: “May god have mercy on your souls…”

That should cover everything you need to know to master Second Evolution. Even with skimming over all of the information from Second Story, this is still a massive game for a newcomer to get to grips to. Hopefully my advice will help you make more informed choices and prepare for the penultimate challenge that is Universe Unlimited Gabriel. Beyond that, you will want to do your own research on how to make good weapons and armor to help you survive. Good luck, and happy cheevo hunting!

benit149, June 2025