Star Ocean The Second Story R Raid Enemies Guide

Star Ocean: The Second Story was never necessarily an easy game, even in the official campaign. There are numerous ways to make the experience smoother by banking on the Item Creation feature, but it was so subtle and poorly explained in the base game that many players ignored it.

I was one of them. That’s why nowadays, after years of gaining experience and leveling up myself while playing RPGs, I felt much more prepared to venture into Star Ocean The Second Story R, the remake. In addition to the results of my training arc, the remake added numerous quality-of-life improvements that promote all the game’s features, including the Item Creation and a tracking system of what has already been crafted.

So, I got my hands dirty and made several powerful equipment from the start, making my journey a walk in the park. Who could defeat me? Well, it seems the developers foresaw that. The remake added Raids, extremely strong enemies that provide the best loot when defeated, to the world of the Star Ocean 2 remake. But to defeat them, I needed to find them first.

That’s why in this Star Ocean The Second Story R Raid Enemies Guide, I will show you where to find all the Raid enemies and the cheesy strategy I employed to beat them all quite effortlessly – and I don’t regret it. At least I ended up on the winning side, something the Raid enemies can’t say.

What is a Raid Enemy

While exploring the World Map of both Expel and Energy Nede, we eventually come across that gaseous representation of a monster on the map. But this time, this smog is ominous, pulsating with a burning red and full of hatred. By design, it was meant to scare us, and it does. These enemies were dubbed Raid.

They are allegedly the strongest enemies in the game. I say this because there came a point where my party was so strong and nearly invincible that it was difficult to measure the power of my opponents. And yet, the item they dropped upon death was always better than what I was currently equipped with. This is reason enough for any hardcore player to track down the Raid and kill the interloper behind the crimson-red smog.

Every Raid enemy has the prefix “Ultra” and then the representation on a massive scale of a common enemy. Killing them also provides a ton of experience, and there are some Challenge Missions that require defeating Raid enemies.

Specialist Challenge Mission:

Defeat 1 raid enemy!

• BP 30
• Fidel Jewel / Enables the addition of Fidel, protagonist of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness, to Assault Action.

Legend Challenge Mission:

Defeat 6 raid enemies!

• FOL 100000
• BP 5
• Aurora Blade+ / Factor HP Drain: Converts 20% of damage inflicted to HP.
• Kaiser Knuckles+ / Factor MP Drain: Converts 5% of damage inflicted to MP.

Legend Challenge Mission:

Defeat 13 raid enemies!

• FOL 1000000
• Seraphic Garb+ / Factor Back from the Brink: Becomes invincible for 5 seconds after resuscitation.

There are 13 Raid enemies in total, so you need to defeat all of them to get the Seraphic Garb, the best armor for spellcasters. The weapons rewards are not as attractive since the Raid enemies themselves drop potent weapons, such as the best sword for Dias Flac, boasting 3300 ATK and turning every strike into critical hits.

Failproof Strategy to Defeat Raid Enemies

To be honest, this was my strategy to defeat all the endgame bosses, the secrets, the arenas, and anything that moved too fast for me to keep up with. I’m sure there are other means, but I’ll explain mine.

First, only fighters. Although the symbologists in Star Ocean 2 R have some powerful spells, especially healing spells, they cannot deal as much damage per second as our brawlers. And, more importantly, only fighters can equip the gears we’ll acquire through Item Creation.

My main party was Claude, Ashton, Welch, and Chisato, but a combination of any other fighter will do. The leading equipment is the Bloody Armor, an armor that makes your character invincible but continuously depletes their HP. Every character needs at least 6000 HP or above for the item cooldown time to reset before your group dies.

It’s extremely easy to get Bloody Armor with Item Creation. You need the Super Specialty Blacksmith at level 5 and Damascus material, easily created with Alchemy at level 7. Four standard Bloody Armors are enough; there’s no need to hunt for rare Factors.

Then, you need a stock of Holy Mist using Compounding by mixing Lavender + Athelas. The item restores 60% of HP to the entire party, which is essential to keep your HP full while the Bloody Armor incessantly drains it.

But in this remake, there’s an even more practical way because of the Formations system. There’s a formation called Assault Shift that allows items to affect all party members at the maximum bonus. This allowed me to use Blueberries to restore 50% of my allies’ HP, as long as they had level 10 in Herbology. To acquire the Assault Shift formation, you need to complete the Challenge Mission “Complete 60% of the Item Encyclopedia!” which, yes, seems overwhelming, but it ends up coming naturally if you’re dabbling with Item Creation.

Alright, we’ve secured your survival. Now, we need to ensure the non-survival of the Raid enemies. Welch was my primary damage dealer because she could equip the Earring of Frenzy – created through Crafting using Moonstone as material- an accessory that increases ATK by +200% but decreases HIT by -50%. With two of them, it was easy for her to reach 9999 ATK. I also maxed out her Combat Skill Feint to ensure my attacks would land regardless of hit accuracy.

If you haven’t recruited Welch, there are numerous accessories that give a boost to ATK at the cost of defense, such as the Ring of Might, only created by male characters through Crafting with a Rainbow Diamond. This accessory doubles the attack but reduces all your elemental defense. Since you’ll be invincible, no problem here.

The next step is to equip all your break-focused type Special Arts and face the Raid enemies. The battle will play out similarly to the others. The enemy will come at you, but panic because it can’t deal damage. Your HP will be quickly drained, but you can reverse that by using Holy Mist or a Blueberry with the Assault Shift formation. In the meantime, spam your Break-focused Special Arts to break the shields, putting them in a stagger situation, and finish the deal by destroying them, acquiring the victory.

That’s pretty much it. After I discovered the potential of the Bloody Armor with my target-all healing items, I mastered Star Ocean The Second Story R. This combination may seem highly cheesy, and it may well be, but if the game provides me with the means, I’m going to use them in the best way possible.

Now that you know how to face the Raid enemies, check out a list with all of them. Since they are found on the World Map, and it’s pretty hard to give directions in this ample space, I tried my best to grab screenshots showing where they are. There are also some minor orientations in case you want to fast travel to a location near the Raid.

Ultra Untrained Assassin

Habitat: Expel World Map – South of Harley

Dropped Items:

• Scumbag Slayer – Effect: Instantly kill all enemies with “scum” in their name.

Ultra Ghark

Habitat: Expel World Map – Island West of the Sacred Forest

Dropped Items:

• Valkyrie’s Bracelet – The best shield for female characters.

Ultra Wizard

Habitat: Expel World Map – Near Maze of Tribulations

Dropped Items:

• Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy – Leon’s strongest weapon / Effect: MP +1 and INT +1 every time a battle skill triggers.

Ultra Rock Demon

Habitat: Expel World Map – Northern single island

Dropped Items:

• Valiant Shield – The best shield for male characters.

Ultra Aulbear

Habitat: Expel World Map – Desert after Lasgus Mountain

Dropped Items:

• Hachimentei – Dias’ strongest weapon / Effect: All attacks are now critical hits.

Ultra Ogre

Habitat: Expel World Map – Island west of Linga

Dropped Items:

• Roaring Burst Puncher – Precis’ strongest weapon / Effect: Special art damage +200%. MP costs +200%. Can spend HP to use special arts if MP is too low.

Ultra Crimson Beast

Habitat: Expel World Map – North of the Maze of Tribulations

Dropped Items:

• Glorious Thorn – Ernest’s strongest weapon / Effect: Perform additional attacks with roses when using special arts.

Ultra Phantom Phoenix

Habitat: Expel World Map – North of Eluria Tower

Dropped Items:

• Battle Suit – The best armor for fighter characters.

Ultra Phantom Knight

Habitat: Nede World Map – Near Fun City

Dropped Items:

• Ring of the Deep King – Effect: ATK +50%.

Ultra Takikodus

Habitat: Nede World Map – Near Phynal

Dropped Items:

• Symbol of Antiquity – Effect: 100% chance to block status ailments.

Ultra Robinette Captain

Habitat: Nede World Map – South of the Cave of Crimsons Crystals

Dropped Items:

• Formation Manual “Defense” – Enables use of the formation “Astral Shift.”
  • A single vanguard stands in front, with three allies providing support. Powerful MAX bonuses make this formation good for experienced players.
  • 80 spheres – DEF 20% up.
  • 180 spheres – AVD 20% up.
  • 300 spheres – Acquiring spheres restores MP.

Ultra Darth Widow

Habitat: Nede World Map – Near L’Aqua

Dropped Items:

• Soul Helmet – The best helmet for female fighters.

Ultra Whelp

Habitat: Nede World Map – Northeast of Princebridge

Dropped Items:

• Secret Manual “Weight” – Enables learning of the combat skill “Heavy Hitter.”
  • Heavy Hitter: Grants a chance that a greater ratio of the enemy’s shield value will be removed after a perfect counter.

The Monsters Have Been Raided

Square Enix and Gemdrops were really cool at introducing new content to Star Ocean The Second Story R. They’d mentioned adding new weapons to the game, and I only found out which ones were after I defeated these Raid enemies; after all, they didn’t exist in the classic game.

I lasted only seconds the first time I faced a Raid. But after devising an evil plan that involved using the Blood Armor as a defense and relying on eternal healing, the bad guys didn’t stand a chance, and I hoarded victory after victory. And if I can do it, so can you. Once again, thank you for reading RPG Informer!

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