What Portraits Do in Star Ocean The Second Story R? – Answered

Certain chests in Star Ocean Second Story R hide some seemingly useless items such as portraits representing the main characters. Is there any particular use for these pictures or are they simply ornamental items with no bigger purpose?

What Are Portraits Used For in Star Ocean Second Story R?

Portraits let you see a character’s illustration… and that’s it. No, I’m serious. There’s nothing else. That’s literally all it does. You use it once and you’ll see the basic character portrait. The same you can check anytime by heading to “Status” in the menu. The item is also consumed in the process for some reason. Something something art is ephemeral something something.

Portraits can also be sold in shops for a small amount of money, but they’re far from a reliable source of cash. The materials required to craft them are 500 FOL each, and most portraits will be way cheaper than that. Investing in them would bring you little to no return. It might be a metaphor for how some people treat artists in real life. Not even Star Ocean is cutting them some slack.

But okay, seriously. Don’t try to make money by selling those. Portraits from characters recruited later in the game are more valuable than early game characters’ portraits, but it’s still not worth it. Just sell the ones you occasionally find in chests and move on.

How to Get Portraits in Star Ocean Second Story R

If you’re just collecting them for fun, Portraits can be made with the Art Specialty at Level 1. The obtainable portraits are random, but you can only get the ones from characters currently in your party. You can’t paint Dias if you haven’t recruited him, for example.

Each portrait requires one Magic Canvas which can be bought for 500 FOL from Item Vendors in various cities like Harley or Hilton. There’s no other real function to them, so don’t bother going for them. But if you end up going for it anyway, make sure to get some good models for your party.