Claude C. Kenny

Lore & Background

Claude C. Kenny is the son of Ronyx J. Kenny, the protagonist of the original Star Ocean. The game takes place in S.D 366, twenty years after the original game. Claude's first mission under his father's supervision is to survey the planet Milocinia, where a mysterious energy field has appeared. Ignoring orders to keep away, Claude examines a mysterious device on Milocinia, which activates and teleports him to the planet Expel.

On Expel, he meets Rena Lanford, who takes him back to her village, Arlia, believing him to be the 'Hero of Light' from local legends. Claude explains he is not the hero but offers to investigate the Sorcery Globe meteorite in hopes of finding a way home. The game gives the player the choice of playing as Claude or Rena, with the journey evolving and ending differently depending on the choices one makes. There are 86 possible endings in the original PlayStation version.

Reader's Guide

Claude C. Kenny is one of two selectable main characters in Star Ocean: The Second Story. There are ten other playable characters in the game, though the player can only recruit six of them to fill out their eight-member party, and some recruitment choices will make other characters no longer available. Battles play in real time, during which the player has manual control over their character, as opposed to choosing options from a menu. Battles take place on a broad battlefield, over which the player's character can move without limit, allowing them to trade blows face-to-face with the enemy or circle around for a flanking attack.

The other party members (up to 3 others) are controlled by the game's AI; the player may change an ally's strategy to one of six different pre-determined options (such as 'Spread out and attack', 'Save your Magic Points', and 'Stand Still and Don't Do Anything'). Nine different batches of skills are sold in in-game shops; once unlocked, they must be learned by committing battle-earned 'Skill Points' to them. Some skills raise a character's statistics, some unlock Specialty abilities, and some provide bonuses in battle (such as the ability to counter-attack).

Specialties allow the characters to create a wide variety of items, including Herbal medicine, Cooking, Writing, Composing and Musicianship, Pickpocketing and Training. The entire party can contribute to 'Super Specialty' skills such as 'Master Chef', Blacksmithing, Publishing and 'Reverse Side', which allows the character to counterfeit valuable items at the risk of lowering their allies' opinion of them. A mechanic called 'Private Actions' allows the player to influence the relations between their characters.

During a 'Private Action', the player's party temporarily breaks up during a visit to a town, with each character going their own way. The player's main character (either Claude or Rena) can then interact with their allies, often with the option of making one of those allies like another character more or less. This 'relationship point' mechanic can have a major effect in battle—if Character A's close friend is felled, Character A will get major combat bonuses for a short time—and also determines what ending the player will see, as each party member's scene plays out differently depending on who they befriended. There are 86 possible endings.

The Protagonist's Origin and Mission

Claude C. Kenny serves as the primary protagonist for players who choose his perspective, hailing from a futuristic Earth Federation as a newly commissioned Ensign. His narrative arc begins twenty years after the events of the original Star Ocean game, placing him in the year S.D. 366. Under the watchful eye of his father, Ronyx J. Kenny, Claude is assigned his first official duty: to investigate a mysterious energy field on the planet Milocinia.

During this survey mission, he discovers an enigmatic device that, despite explicit orders to maintain distance, he approaches for closer examination. This act of curiosity triggers the machine, which instantly teleports him across space and time to Expel, a primitive world with medieval-level technology. Upon arrival, his advanced Federation gear is misinterpreted by locals as legendary artifacts; specifically, his standard-issue Phase Gun is mistaken for a mythical "Sword of Light," leading the local girl Rena Lanford to believe he is the prophesied "Hero of Light." This misunderstanding sets the stage for his journey from a stranded officer to a key figure in a multi-world conflict.