The Skill system in Star Ocean: The Second Story is perhaps the system that allows the most customization of your characters' strengths and weaknesses.
Skills allow you to decide what ratings you want to increase in. For instance, if you want to make Claude have a higher guts rating, taking Poker Face is a good Skill for it.
Distributing Skills is done when you have amassed Skill Points, which are gained after every level you gain, and after you gain new Talents.
Skills are bought in Skill guilds in the towns in the game, where you buy sets of Skills. Each set contains from 3 to 5 Specialties. When you buy Skill sets, the Skills within the
Specialty sets will now appear on your Skill screen, where you can now distribute Skill Points to the new Skills.
There are four types of Skill sets.
Knowledge Specialties.
Technical Specialties.
Sensation Specialties.
Combat Specialties.
Each type of Skills have 3 levels, and you can buy the different levels of Skills as you progress in the game.
Knowledge Level 1:
Mineralogy:
Knowledge of identification of gems and other rare minerals. Increases learner's Intelligence by Specialty Level x 3.
Herbal Medicine:
Knowledge of the medical uses of herbs for healing. Increases learner's healing of Blueberries and Blackberries by Specialty Level x 3%.
Recipe:
Knowledge on food recipes and their effectiveness in taste.
Knowledge Level 2:
Musical Notation:
Knowledge of musical taste. Increases learner's Dodge level by Skill Level + 1.
Biology:
Knowledge of organisms and their environments. Increases learner's maximum HP by Skill Level squared x 10.
Tool Knowledge:
Knowledge of equipped items (weapons, armor, accessories). Increases selling price of all items by specialty Level x 3%.
Knowledge Level 3:
Mental Science:
Knowledge of the senses and power of the mind. Increases learner's maximum MP by Skill Level x 5.
Piety:
Knowledge in a heavenly and more perfect power over other life. When Piety Specialty Level is raised, one random ability gets increased in power for the learner.
Fairyology:
Knowledge of the source of living beings and how people came into being. Increases learner's Intelligence level by Skill Level + 1.
Sensation Level 1:
Courage:
The Specialty of doing outrageous things in front of peers without feeling any stress or becoming nervous.
Patience:
The Specialty of being able to take no pain from physical attacks, having strong will-power in force. Increases learner's defense power by Skill Level + 2.
Esthetic Sense:
A sense of appreciation in art or natural things, and being creative in natural criticism.
Good Eye:
The ability to look out for perfect ingredients in terms of tasteful food. Increases the healing potential of healing items.
Sensation Level 2:
Playfulness:
The ability to have an open mind toward others and their beliefs. Each time the learner gains an experience level, you will gain some bonus Gold
(the higher the Skill Level, the more bonus Gold you receive).
Danger Sense:
The hidden ability to sense danger or dangerous situations. Increases the learner's Stamina by Specialty Level x 3.
Perseverance:
The ability to endure the force of physical energy and deadly and powerful plows. This ability decreases the amount of Specialty points needed to learn all Specialties.
Note that this is one of the most important Skills in the game, as if you get a new character with tons of Skill Points to use, first get this Skill up to level 10, then all Skills will be
decreased by a lot, making getting Skills powered up much easier.
Poker Face:
The ability to stay calm and keep a straight face in even the most dangerous situations. Increases learner's Guts level by Specialty Level x 3.
Sensation Level 3:
Functionality
The ability to determine what is beautiful, and what is good for functioning in everyday life. Increases learner's Strength, Intelligence, Evasion, and Accuracy by Specialty
Level + 6.
Radar:
A hidden sense of calling higher powers and more perfect beings to assist you in earthly matters. When you increase Denpa, you get a random item.
Effort:
The ability to concentrate on what one has to do, and persevering in every situation one encounters. When increasing Doryoku's Specialty level, the less experience points needed
to reach the next level for the learner.
Technical Level 1:
Whistle:
The Specialty of being able to whistle effectively.
Copying:
The ability to make an exact replica of an object using the hands, while capturing unique details.
Sketching:
The ability to show originality in artwork, but by paintings and molding objects out of clay.
Kitchen Knife:
The ability to effectively use a kitchen cleaver to perform multiple tasks. Increases learner's Strength by Skill Level x 20.
Technical Level 2:
Mech Knowledge:
Knowledge of how machines work, their functions, and how to make and program them.
Craft:
The ability to have fast reactions to movement, quick reflexes.
Increases learner's Dodge ability by Specialty Level + 3.
Animal Training:
The ability to effectively train animals to do tasks that you want them to do.
Writing:
The ability of effectively writing long documentation on different subjects. Increases the learner's Accuracy ability by Skill Level + 2.
Technical Level 3:
Musical Instrument:
The Specialty of being able to effectively play musical instruments. Increases the learner's Evasion rate by Specialty Level + 1.
Scientific Ability:
The ability of being able to use multiple tools to perform useful functions. Increases learner's Strength by Skill Level x 10.
Mech Operation:
The ability to effectively operate machinery to do helpful tasks.
Metal Casting:
The ability of tempering and bending metal into useful objects and weapons. Increase’s learner's Accuracy by Skill Level x 2.
Combat: Level 1:
Note: Combat Skills are different from the other three types of Skills in that in battle; you have a certain chance of performing the Skill in battle, and raising their Skill levels
make the Skills have a better chance of being executed in battle.
Spirit Force:
The ability to concentrate on tough battles and not lose hope. Reduces the damage taken from attacks, raising defense power.
Below the Belt:
The ability to strike an enemy's weak point, breaking through all defenses they have equipped. Ignores a certain percentage of the enemy's defense power, doing more
damage to the enemy.
Strong Blow:
The ability to launch a powerful blow that makes the enemy fly backward in combat.
Cancel:
The ability to consistently throw attacks. In battle, right after doing an attack, with good timing, you can press either L1 or R1 buttons to immediately throw your assigned
Killer Move, allowing you to do a great normal attack/Killer Move combo.
Combat Level 2:
Flip:
The ability to hit the enemy in multiple places. Increases learner's chances of running behind the enemy and hitting it from behind with a normal attack or Killer Move.
Gale:
The ability to run very fast in battle.
Feint:
Increases the accuracy of the learner's attacks.
Mental Training:
Your character will draw extra hidden energy into his or her attack and the learner's attack power will be greatly increased.
Combat Level 3:
Counterattack:
The learner of this Skill can sometimes press the Circle button right as he or she is getting hit by the enemy to counterattack immediately. As this Skill is build, the character
will counterattack the enemy at a much higher percentage.
Parry:
The Specialty of making quick movements on the battlefield. Increases evasion rate, making dodging enemy attacks much easier.
Body Control:
The ability to focus on standing against the enemy. The learner of this Skill will have a higher percentage of not being dizzy after a strong enemy attack.
Motormouth:
The ability to say words and chant songs very fast. The learner of this Skill has a higher percentage of very little delay time between casting spells, making casting consecutive
spells very easy.
Provocation:
The ability to successfully provoke and enrage the enemy. The learner can press the Select button in battle to use a battle taunt. When a character uses their battle taunt, all
enemies are drawn to attack the taunter. This Skill doesn't seem to be useful, but when your other characters are being beaten, it is very useful to use.
Combat Level ?:
Float:
The ability to do a special normal attack. The learner will sometimes hits the enemy far into the air with a very powerful blow.
Note: You cannot buy Combat Level ? Skill in the game, you must find it in a special location.