Character Recruit Questions

[Tea ♡]

Forgive my memories, but back in the old days on Playstation's SO2, we need to choose between characters, right?
I kinda want to make sure of some things:

1. I didn't play the PSP version, but is there a new character named Welch? Can we recruit her here?

2. If yes, do I need to choose between Celine and Welch? Did we used to pick between two characters, like Precis/Bowman or Chisato/Noel? who is Welch's counterpart?

3. I want to recruit Opera, but I'm unsure about Ernest. Can I leave that slot open for a future character and trigger Ernest's quest later on? Or is there a time limit, like needing to do it before a certain checkpoint in the game?

[Pnume]

1 - Yes - Not very long after the tournament

2 - Welch doesn't block other recruitments apart from the 8 character limit. You cna have both Celine and Welch. You have to choose between Precis and Bowman but Chisato and Noel can both be recruted in the same playthough

[REhorror]

Man now I just find out Welch actually comes from SO3?

This makes me wish the SO2R has added more playable characters, yeah, I know the cameo characters. Reel the fish girl is perfect for it.

[Chriziel]

3. Only way to recruit ernest is after the hoffman ruins quest and before exiting the ruins there will be a small cutscene. He will be unrecruitable after that but keep in mind you will also lose opera if you refuse to let him join.

[Oragepoilu]

In order from when you can get them

Claude - always here
Rena - always here
Celine - always recrutable early game
Ashton - follow a quest that start in Harley, right before you go into lacour (tournament). Doing it prevent you from getting Opera later
Opera - now you automatically get the event when you go to the castle in Cross. From here, after the tournament go do some PA in hilton (check the bar) and follow the quest
Welch - do tournament, then check around in lacour castle. Timed event IIRC, do it before bowman
Precis - always recrutable in Linga, check around before doing bowman quest. Prevent bowman from joining later
Bowman - If you didn't get precis, he automatically ask to join after his quest
Ernest - Have Opera first. Then do a PA in arlia (forest) with Opera (otherwise, Ernest won't appear later). Then do hoffman ruin (leon quest). When you go out of it, at the entrance a scene start and you can get Ernest or you can refuse and lose Opera on top of not having Ernest IIRC.
Dias - always recrutable with Rena as MC
Leon - always recrutable with Claude as MC
Noel - Always recrutable, but he sucks so don't do it
Chisato - A few timed event let you get her. From the first time youy get in central city check often to not miss small event on the side. After that, do an event in a cave (BEFORE finishing the cave), get her item, finish said cave and bring her item back to get her

[Yílõng Má]

Why don't you want to get Ernest in Opera playthrough? That way, you have to do 3 playthroughs to get the platinum.