How Does Item Appraisal Work in Star Ocean The Second Story R?

The Star Ocean The Second Story R item appraisal feature is one of the most valuable skills your party members can use outside battle. The mechanic is incredibly useful since it allows you to obtain powerful items.

How to unlock Item Appraisal in Star Ocean The Second Story R

To appraise items in Star Ocean The Second Story R, there are some requirements you must meet first and foremost to unlock the feature. What you want to do is open up the main menu of the game and head to the “Improve” menu. Next, navigate to “IC/Specialty Skills,” and you will see the various skills you can teach to the party members on your team.

The skills you must have are Mineralogy, Herbology, and Item Knowledge. You must have at least level one in each of these skills and all for the same party member if you want them to learn the item appraisal skill in Star Ocean The Second Story R. It costs a handful of SP, usually about four points for a total of 12 to unlock these three skills. You can get SP from typical fights.

How to Appraise Items

Once you have the item appraisal skill on one of your characters, the next thing you need is some Spectacles. You can purchase this item from most item shops. There is a convenient one near the start of the game in this southwestern corner of Krosse City. You can buy Spectacles there for pretty cheap.

You then need the mysterious weapons with question marks on them. You can obtain these in dungeons randomly. Once you have one, open up the main menu again and select IC/Specialty. Navigate to the item appraisal skill and use it. It will require one Spectacles item each time you appraise an item. But once you use it, you’ll unlock the true properties of the item and be able to equip it and fully benefit from it.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC.