How to recruit Ashton in Star Ocean The Second Story R

Star Ocean has always prided itself on the amount of playable characters, and how some of them you can’t get on a single run of the game, thanks to some being locked out from receiving others. Here’s our guide on how to recruit Ashton in Star Ocean The Second Story R.

Related: How to unlock a super specialty in Star Ocean The Second Story R

How do you recruit Ashton in Star Ocean The Second Story R

First thing to mention here is that recruiting Ashton can lock you out of recruiting another party member or two. If you decide to recruit Ashton, like myself, you will be locked out of recruiting Ernest and Opera later on in the game. While this may be a tad annoying, I actually quite like it because it gives me a different party setup when I inevitably play the second route of Star Ocean The Second Story R down the line. 

Recruiting Ashton

To recruit Ashton, you’re first going to want to complete the story until after you finish the main story mission in Marze. This is the mission involving a dungeon in the back of town, involving crossing mud with a specific item. After you complete this mission and the following cutscenes, you will be told to head to Harley. Once you’re told this, actually go to Harley! As the first flag for recruiting Ashton actually happens there. 

Once you get to Harley, you’re going to want to talk to the two men near the entrance of the town. They will mention something about a dragon in the Salva Mines, and this will then trigger the opportunity for you to go there and begin the quest to recruit Ashton into your party in Star Ocean The Second Story R.

After this, head over to the Salva Mines, and where you couldn’t progress before due to dragons in the area on the left-hand side of the mine, you will now be able to go in. Head into this area and explore, as there’s some chests to be found as well as a new party member. But once you progress a bit inwards, you’ll see Ashton chasing down the dragon. Follow the dungeon to its end and you’ll see Ashton fighting the dragon. After a cutscene, you’ll have Ashton in your party in Star Ocean The Second Story R! 

Making sure he’s a permanent part of your party

Although he’s in your party, he’s not an official member just yet, I don’t think. While he’s in combat with you, I believe he doesn’t explicitly join until you finish his side quest. At the end of this side quest there’s a pop-up mentioning how he has joined the party, and I didn’t try progressing the main story with him to see what happens. Therefore, you might want to complete his side quest before continuing. You can keep track of this by looking at the sub-event markers on the fast travel menu.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is available for purchase on Steam, and you can check out our other articles here.