Skies of Arcadia: Battle Mechanics ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Contents / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ Introduction / What is this guide? . . . . . . ~I Attributes - What All the Numbers Mean . . . . . . ~A Character Attributes - - - - - - - - ~AC Ship Attributes > > > > > > > > > ~AS Characters - Strengths and Weaknesses . . . . . . ~C Super Move Attacks - - - - - - - - ~CS Elements . . . . . . . . . . . ~E Elements in Ship Battles - - - - - - - ~ES Status Effects . . . . . . . . . . ~U Enemy Status Effect Vulnerabilities - - - - - - ~UE Status Effects in Ship Battles > > > > > > ~US Mechanics: Ordinary Battles . . . . . . . ~B Before the Battle Begins - Random Encounter Rate - - - ~BB First Strike > > > > > > > > > ~BF Spirit - - - - - - - - - - ~BT Chances of Hitting/Dodging and Critical Hits > > > > ~BH Order of Moves - - - - - - - - - ~BO Basic Attacks > > > > > > > > > ~BA Super Move Attacks - - - - - - - - ~BU Magic Attacks > > > > > > > > > ~BM HP Absorb and Poison - - - - - - - - ~BP Counterattacks > > > > > > > > > ~BC Running Away - - - - - - - - - ~BR Experience, Magic Experience, and Gold > > > > > ~BE Mechanics: Ship Battles . . . . . . . . ~S Spirit - - - - - - - - - - ~ST Chances of Hitting/Dodging and Critical Hits > > > > ~SH Order of Moves - - - - - - - - - ~SO Primary Cannons and the Super Cannon > > > > > ~SP Secondary Cannons, Torpedoes, and Bombs - - - - - ~SS Magic Attacks > > > > > > > > > ~SM Experience and Gold - - - - - - - - ~SE Loopers. What's the deal with them, anyway? . . . . . ~L Gadianos - - - - - - - - - - ~LG FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . ~Q Copyright . . . . . . . . . . ~Y Appendix: Enemy Airspaces . . . . . . . . ~.E Appendix: Armor Classifications . . . . . . . ~.C Contents right at the top of the guide, quickly accessible for your convenience! As is the tradition, "Ctrl+F shortcuts" for this guide are listed to the right of each contents entry. All of these shortcuts begin with a tilde, "~". To jump to a specific section, simply text-search this guide for tilde "~" followed by the sequence of characters/letters that follow the tilde as listed to the right of the desired entry to jump to. The tilde "~" key is around the top left of the keyboard for US keyboards, below Esc, and for British keyboards it is next to the Return key. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Introduction / What is this guide? / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~I This guide explains the mechanics of both ordinary battles and ship battles in the game "Skies of Arcadia", originally known as "Eternal Arcadia" in Japan, and aims to empower the player with the knowledge required to make good strategic decisions. Much of the finer details of the game's mechanics are left unanswered or vaguely specified in the game's manual and in-game descriptions/dialog, which may leave players feeling somewhat lost amongst all the numbers, rules, and statistics. Perhaps most famously, the manual's element effectiveness table is incorrect, for instance. Information on the web is also limited, scattered, and hard to find. While this guide does not answer everything - indeed the game still holds many secrets - hopefully the level of detail in this guide will sate the vast majority of players' appetites for strategic knowledge. This guide also includes details regarding the mechanics of ship battles, alongside ordinary battles, information for which is even harder to find. Although this guide was written with the Dreamcast version at its root, it should be largely applicable to the GameCube version also. Additionally, I have the European version of the game, so primarily cite the European enemy names, but I've also put in what I understand to be the US names where they differ. Regarding Spoilers: I've tried to minimize the amount of spoilers in this guide, but some are inevitable. Spoilers include level names, the order level names appear in the game, the names of all the ships the player can own, enemy names, names/identities of bosses, names of Super Moves, the names/identities of all recruitable Crew Members, what each of the Crew Members does, and the names/identities of characters that can join the party. The "FAQ" section contains a few in its answers, as well. Sources / Acknowledgements While this guide contains mostly original research, it also draws from two sources. - Eso Arcadia, //esoarcadia.org. A website filled to bursting with figures, property values, and raw statistics, that serve as input to the game's mechanisms, much of which were pulled out of the game data itself, as well as holding a good deal of general information about the game. Exact figures and statistics are largely outside the scope of this guide, but for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of the game's individual enemies, Armors, Accessories, and so on, this is the place to go. Suffice to say that the research required to make this guide would have been prohibitively difficult were it not for the data contained on this site. - Porcupine's Special Items & Damage Formula FAQ A widely-cited guide detailing fundamental formula for how damage is calculated, some interesting information about the rules battles follow, and the first guide published to specify the correct elemental effectiveness table, alongside the elements of each enemy. Available alongside this guide on GameFAQs at time of writing. Recommended reading! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Attributes - What All the Numbers Mean / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~A Will, Agile, Hit%, what do they all mean exactly, and where do they come from? This section sheds some light on what these Attributes are, and what they affect. Attributes of characters and ships can be divided into two types - Base Attributes, and Calculated Attributes. Base Attributes represent the character's or ship's raw abilities, and improve when the character levels up, a Seed is consumed, or a Captain's Stripe is used. Calculated Attributes are, well, calculated, from Base Attributes, equipped items such as Armor / Accessories / ship equipment, and Active Crew Members. Enemies also have the Calculated Attributes and some of the Base Attributes, though since enemies can't equip items, many of the Calculated Attributes are specified manually in the game's data. For instance, since enemies don't have equippable weapons that they attack with, they don't have a Power Attribute, and instead have their Attack Attribute specified manually rather than being calculated from a Power Base Attribute. Perhaps somewhat confusingly, there are some Base Attributes that are also Calculated Attributes, notably Will, Quick, and most of the Ship Attributes. The game's menus only display the Calculated Attribute of these instances, and not the Base Attribute. So, in order to determine the value of one of these Base Attributes, such as Will, it is necessary to remove all equipped items affecting Will. For ships, it is also necessary to move any Active Crew Members affecting the Attribute to Stand-By. For instance, to determine the Base Attribute value for a ship's Defense, Brabham must not be an Active Crew Member. Alternatively, adding up all of these values affecting the Attribute and subtracting them from the displayed Calculated Attribute will give the value of the Base Attribute. ============================== ============================= ============================= Character Attributes ============================ ============================== =======================~AC=== Character Base Attributes Most Character Base Attributes have an associated Seed, such as Paranta Seeds and Dexus Seeds. Spirit and Max SP are the only Attributes with no associated Seed, and so can only be improved by leveling up. All Seeds except the fabled Dexus Seed can be bought from Ilchymis' shop, so all other Attributes bar Agile can be boosted requiring only gold. The Seed and the moon it grows under are displayed next to the Base Attribute below. Aside Ilchymis' shop, Seeds can be found in chests, including the "chests" in the Dark Rift and Maw of Tartas, and are dropped rarely by certain enemies, and by some bosses; see Eso Arcadia for full details of enemy drops, including the chances of each drop. Pinta Quest can also be a good source for Seeds, if patient enough to reach level 100. Max HP, Vidal Seed, Green Moon: Hopefully fairly obvious; the maximum health of the character. The boss Bleigock (Catacombs), a green elemental, drops one of these. Max MP, Magus Seed, Silver Moon: Alongside Max HP, the maximum magic points a character can have. Aside from resting and consuming Magic Droplets and Magic Dew, MP itself can also be restored with Aika's Epsilon Mirror Super Move, and the Crew Member Polly's Crew Command, which both restore 10MP. The boss Sinistra & Destra (Daccat's Island) drops one of these. Spirit: During a battle, Spirit is accumulated at the start of each turn, and by Focusing. The amount of Spirit gained by Focusing with a certain character is the value of this Attribute, the character's Spirit Attribute. For ship battles, the Spirit gained by Focusing is twice the value of this Attribute. The amount of Spirit gained at the start of each turn is the sum of all characters' Spirit in the party who are not Unconscious or afflicted with the Fatigue Status Effect. For ship battles, the ship's Spirit Attribute is also added to the accumulated Spirit. This Base Attribute has no Seed, and can only be raised by leveling up. Starting from level 65, the Spirit of all characters synchronize and accelerate, ending at 20 at level 99. Max SP: Maximum Spirit. The Spirit bar has a maximum amount, which is the sum of all characters' Max SP in the party, even those Unconscious or afflicted with Fatigue. For ship battles, the ship's Max SP Attribute also counts towards this maximum; maximum Spirit for ship battles will always be higher than for ordinary battles (given party characters at the same level, obviously). This Base Attribute has no Seed, and can only be raised by leveling up. The maximum value of Max SP is 25 for the primary characters Vyse, Aika, and Fina, and 24 for the secondary characters Drachma, Gilder, and Enrique. With a party of four, these add up to a "maximum maximum Spirit" of 25+25+25+24 = 99 for ordinary battles. For ship battles, maximum Spirit can actually go above 99, though the displayed gauge only goes up to 99, and starts behaving a little strangely. Power, Paranta Seed, Red Moon: This Base Attribute determines a character's Attack Calculated Attribute. For ship battles, this figure contributes to the Attack of the Primary Cannon or Super Cannon that the character fires, determining how much damage is dealt. The boss Vigoro (Dangral Island), a red elemental, drops one of these. Vigor, Zaal Seed, Yellow Moon: This Base Attribute determines a character's Defense and Magic Defense Calculated Attributes. Critical Hits ignore defense, so when on the receiving end of one, this Attribute has no affect. For ship battles, this figure contributes to the Defense and Magic Defense of the ship during that character's Round. Vigor also determines the amount of damage sustained from the Poison Status Effect at the end of each turn, which is simply Vigor * 2, making this Attribute the only Attribute with a drawback to increasing. Will, Icyl Seed, Purple Moon: This Base Attribute determines a character's Will Calculated Attribute. The boss Sinistra & Destra (Daccat's Island) drops one of these. The fact that this Seed grows under the purple moon offers a hint as to the answer of one of the queries posed by Glacia's Guardian Stones. Agile, Dexus Seed, All Moons: The infamous Agile Attribute determines the character's chances of making Critical Hits, including in ship battles, and their chances of dodging non- critical attacks. Agile is the only Base Attribute that does not increase as a character levels up; it can only increase by consuming Seeds. This Base Attribute also determines a character's Dodge Calculated Attribute. The Dexus Seed is the only Seed that cannot be bought in Ilchymis' shop, and so when combined with the fact that it is the only way to increase a character's Agile it becomes notoriously valuable. According to Eso Arcadia, it is dropped by all forms of Loopers (1% chance), Nairads (Maw of Tartas, 1%), occasionally by Zivilyn Bane, and about 30% of the time by Elcian. Elcian, unfortunately, does not stop dropping Moonberries in favor of Dexus Seeds once the player has 99 Moonberries. So, the easiest way of obtaining them, short of fighting Elcian when he becomes available, is to defeat Loopers, a plentiful supply of which are available in the Looper's Nest airspace. See the section "Loopers. What's the deal with them, anyway?" for more information. Quick, Sylph Seed, Blue Moon: This Base Attribute determines a character's Quick Calculated Attribute. The boss Rik'talish (Rixis) drops one of these. Character Calculated Attributes These Attributes can be increased by equipping certain Armors and Accessories, and are the Attributes affected by Status Effects. Attack: Attack is calculated by adding together a character's Power and the Attack of their equipped weapon, and then adding on any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. Attack determines how much damage a character deals out with their attacks, and how much damage characters except Aika and Fina deal out with their Super Moves. Attack is affected by the Strengthened and Weakened Status Effects. Will: Will is calculated from a character's base Will, and adding onto that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. Will is basically the same as Attack except for magic; it determines how much damage a character deals out when casting magic, and how much damage the characters Aika and Fina deal out with their Super Moves. Aika's and Fina's Super Moves are unusual in that they are like offensive magic, except they cost no MP. Will is not affected by the Strengthened Status Effect. Will is also not affected by the Weakened Status Effect, despite the game's/manual's description that Weakened lowers all (Calculated) Attributes. In what is probably a glitch, in ship battles, the Will Calculated Attribute is used to determine the damage done by magical attacks fired by that character, instead of the Will Base Attribute. This means it is possible to boost the attack power of magical attacks for a ship battle by equipping Will-boosting Accessories on the desired characters before the ship battle begins. The same is not possible for Attack and Defense / Magic Defense, however; Power and Vigor are used. Defense: Defense is calculated from a character's Vigor, adding on to that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. Defense determines how much damage a character is able to knock off from a non-critical attack. Critical Hits, which feature in both ordinary and ship battles, ignore defense; thus this Attribute has no effect on damage from Critical Hits. Defense is affected by the Strengthened and Weakened Status Effects. Magic Defense: Magic Defense is calculated from a character's Vigor, adding on to that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory; with no items equipped affecting Defense or Magic Defense, the values for the two Attributes will always be the same. Magic Defense determines how much damage a character is able to knock off from a magic attack. For enemies, this includes Aika's and Fina's Super Moves; this is why Aika's Alpha Storm is not much use against Loopers at early levels, unlike Vyse's Cutlass Fury. Magic attacks are never Critical Hits. Magic Defense is affected by the Weakened Status Effect. However, unlike Defense, Magic Defense is not affected by the Strengthened Status Effect. Quick: Quick is calculated from a character's base Quick, and adding onto that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. The Quick Attribute of characters and enemies determines the order in which their moves execute, although a certain amount of randomness is thrown in, meaning that characters and enemies with closer values for Quick have an increasing chance of executing their moves the other way around. I believe it also affects the success of running away from battles. Additionally, I think it may affect chances for First Strike, either by the characters or enemies; this would explain why groups of enemies with a high Quick often have the advantage of First Strike over the player. Quick is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, and presumably also affected by the Weakened Status Effect. Hit: Hit, or Hit%, unlike other Calculated Attributes, is not drawn from any Base Attribute of the character; it is calculated from the Hit% of the character's equipped Weapon, adding onto that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. When attacking normally, this is combined with the target's Dodge to determine the chances of hitting the target. Critical Hits never miss, along with Super Moves and magic attacks. Dodge: Dodge, or Dodge%, is calculated from the character's Agile, adding onto that any bonuses from the character's equipped Armor and Accessory. Additionally, for Fina, there are three forms of Cupil that give boosts to her Dodge, specifically Cupil Cannon (5%), Cupil Spike (10%), and Cupil Weight (15%), all requiring Abirik Chams. When on the receiving end of a normal attack, this is combined with the attacker's Hit to determine the chances of dodging the attack. It is not possible to dodge Critical Hits, along with Super Moves and magic attacks. Dodge is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, and presumably also affected by the Weakened Status Effect. Counterattack: According to Eso Arcadia this is hidden Attribute not shown in the game's menus, in the form of a percentage. Determines the chances of Counterattacking a normal attack that did not miss, or a Critical Hit that was guarded against. Critical Hits sustained when the target was not guarding cannot be Counterattacked. Not much is known about this Attribute; it is thought to be fixed for each character, affected by the Quickened and Weakened Status Effects, and slightly increased if the character is guarding. Obviously moves such as Counter Stance and Vyse's Counterstrike override this, making the chances 100%. The Armor Vengeance Armor, available in the Sailors' Island weapons shop after obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal, and the Accessory Counter Bracer, dropped by Gravers located in South Ocean airspace, both give a boost to this Attribute. ================================ ================================ =============================== Ship Attributes =============================== ================================ ==========================~AS=== Ship Base Attributes Whereas character Base Attributes improve through a character leveling up, ship Base Attributes improve by consuming Captain's Stripes. Captain's Stripes are a limited item, only appearing a set number of times in the game. An important characteristic to realize about Captain's Stripes is that, despite what the menu mechanism suggests, they apply to the ship's captain, Vyse, not the ship itself. Which is to say, a ship's Base Attributes depend on how many Captain's Stripes have been consumed throughout the game, not how many Captain's Stripes have been applied to that ship in particular. This means there's no need to "save" Captain's Stripes for a particular ship; since they effectively apply to all ships, they might as well be used right away. Some definitions to note - a "Turn" is a set of Rounds, one Round for each party character, where the player chooses what to do in each Round before the Turn executes. A "Round" consists of the two ships executing one action, in a particular order determined by various factors. The Evasive Action or guard command is unaffected by whether it executes first or second; it always applies. Max HP: Again, hopefully fairly obvious; the maximum health of the ship. Health of party characters plays no part in ship battles, although characters' MP does. For each Captain's Stripe, the Little Jack's Max HP increases by 1,000, and the Delphinus' by 2,000. Spirit: At the start of each Turn a certain amount of Spirit is gained. The amount gained is the value of this Attribute, plus the sum of all party characters' Spirit. This Attribute has no effect on the amount of Spirit gained by a particular character Focusing, which is simply double that character's Spirit. Spirit is fixed for ships, and not affected by Captain's Stripes. Max SP: Maximum Spirit. As mentioned earlier, the Spirit bar has a maximum amount. This maximum is determined from the value of this Attribute, plus the sum of all party characters' Max SP. Note that, with four characters at level 99, their combined Max SP will be 25+25+25+24 = 99; this will then be added onto the ship's Max SP, resulting in a number greater than 99. It is in fact possible to have more than 99 Spirit in a ship battle, at least in the Dreamcast version of the game, although the displayed Spirit gauge only goes up to 99, and so behaves a little strangely. Max SP is fixed for ships, and not affected by Captain's Stripes. Defense: This Base Attribute determines the ship's Defense Calculated Attribute. For each Captain's Stripe, the Little Jack's Defense increases by 1, and the Delphinus' by 2. Magic Defense: This Base Attribute determines the ship's Magic Defense Calculated Attribute. For each Captain's Stripe, the Little Jack's Magic Defense increases by 1, and the Delphinus' by 2. Quick: This Base Attribute determines the ship's Quick Calculated Attribute. For each Captain's Stripe, the Delphinus' Quick increases by 2. The Little Jack's Quick is unaffected. Dodge: This Base Attribute determines the ship's Dodge Calculated Attribute. Dodge is fixed for ships, and not affected by Captain's Stripes. Value: This Base Attribute determines the ship's Value Calculated Attribute. Value is not affected by Captain's Stripes; instead, it increases when certain enhancements are added to the ship. For the Little Jack, it increases by 50,000 once the Harpoon Cannon is installed, and for the Delphinus, it increases by 1,000,000 for each of the first two enhancements that Brabham installs. Ship Calculated Attributes These Attributes can be increased by equipping ship equipment onto the ship, and by having certain Crew Members as Active. There are four types of ship equipment, each raising an exclusive set of Attributes - Armor, Magic Armor, Engine Parts, and Valuables. Defense: Defense is calculated from the ship's base Defense, and adding onto that any bonuses from equipped Armor. It is also raised further if Brabham is the Active Engineer of the ship's crew. Defense is combined with the Vigor of the character for the current Round to determine how much damage the ship is able to knock off from a non-critical attack. Critical Hits ignore defense; thus this Attribute along with characters' Vigor have no effect on damage from Critical Hits. Ship Defense is affected by the Strengthened and Weakened Status Effects and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax, although characters' Vigor is not affected. Magic Defense: Magic Defense is calculated from the ship's base Magic Defense, and adding onto that any bonuses from equipped Magic Armor. It is also raised further if Hans is the Active Engineer of the ship's crew. Magic Defense is combined with the Vigor of the character for the current Round to determine how much damage the ship is able to knock off from a magic attack. Magic attacks are never Critical Hits. Ship Magic Defense is affected by the Weakened Status Effect and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax, although characters' Vigor is not affected. However, unlike Defense, Magic Defense is not affected by the Strengthened Status Effect, although it is multiplied when using Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax. Quick: Quick is calculated from the ship's base Quick, and adding onto that any bonuses from equipped Engine Parts. It is also raised further if Lawrence is the Active Helmsman of the ship's crew. Quick affects the chances of who fires first in a particular Round, although for some Rounds this is fixed. As far as I can determine, the Quick of the character active for that Round has no effect on who fires first. Quick is not relevant for the Evasive Action or guard command, as guarding will be in effect regardless of whether the move is executed first or second. Quick is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, and is probably also affected by Ilchymis' Crew Command and the Hybrid Wax. Dodge: Dodge is calculated from the ship's base Dodge, and adding onto that any bonuses from equipped Engine Parts. It is also raised further if Don is the Active Helmsman of the ship's crew. When on the receiving end of a normal attack, this is combined with the attacking weapon's Hit% to determine the chances of dodging the attack. It is not possible to dodge magic attacks and enemy super moves, and presumably the Super Cannon cannot be dodged either. Of course, magic attacks can still fail if the target is "Lost", or if the attacker is afflicted with the Silenced Status Effect. Dodge is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, and is probably also affected by Ilchymis' Crew Command and the Hybrid Wax. Value: The ship's Value is calculated from its base Value, adding onto that any bonuses from equipped Valuables. It is also raised further if Merida is the Active Jester of the ship's crew, specifically by 10,000. The Value Attribute appears to be the remnants of an unused feature of the game, whereby the player was able to sell their ship. It most likely has no effect in the final game; I've tried various experiments with Valuables equipped and haven't noticed any differences, including elemental resistances, one thing that's missing from equippable ship items. Weapon Specific Attributes There are a few Attributes that are specific to ship weaponry, rather than the ship itself. These are explained below. Attack: For Primary Cannons and the Super Cannon, this is combined with the Power of the character for the current Round to determine the damage dealt. For Secondary Cannons and Torpedoes, it is not combined, and so will deal the same damage regardless of what character fires it. Attack is affected by the Strengthened Status Effect and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax, though neither of these affects characters' Power. The Weakened Status Effect does not affect the Attack of enemy ship weapons / attacks, but it does affect the Attack of the player's ship's weapons. Hit: This is combined with the target's Dodge to determine the chances of hitting the target with the weapon used. Presumably, if an attack is to be a Critical Hit, it will never miss, as for ordinary battles. Spirit: How much Spirit it costs to fire the weapon. For Secondary Cannons, this is the Spirit cost for each Round in which the weapon is fired. Limit: This one isn't widely understood; Limit is an Attribute for weapons that can fire into subsequent rounds, specifically Secondary Cannons and Torpedoes. It indicates the limit as to how far the weapon can reach into subsequent rounds. For example, a Torpedo with a Limit of 2 can only strike up to 2 Rounds ahead from when it was launched. As another example, the 5' Cannon Secondary Cannon is more powerful and more accurate than the 3' Cannon, and both cost the same Spirit to fire, but the 3' cannon has a better Limit of 3 compared to the 5' Cannon's 2. This means that the 3' Cannon can be fired for 3 additional Rounds after it starts firing, so 4 Rounds in total, whereas the 5' Cannon can only be fired for 2 additional Rounds after it starts firing, 3 Rounds in total. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Characters - Strengths and Weaknesses / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~C We now know where a character's Calculated Attributes come from, but what about their Base Attributes? How do they increase as each character levels up relative to other characters? This is the subject of this section. For each Attribute I give a rating out of 10 describing approximately how well a particular Attribute levels up relative to other characters. I've chosen Vyse as the arbitrary "average" for most Attributes. Agile does not increase when leveling up, and can only be increased with Dexus Seeds. See further below for details on how Spirit and Maximum Spirit increase. Vyse: An all around good character, with a little more emphasis on physical attributes than magical attributes. - Power - 5.0/10, around 4.68 per level - Vigor - 3.1/10, around 3.78 per level, making it about 80% of Power - Max HP - 5.8/10, around 106.4 per level - Will - 5.0/10, around 3.26 per level, making it about 70% of Power - Max MP - 3.1/10, +1 around every 3 1/8 levels - Quick - 6.3/10, around 4.43 per level - Agile - starts at 11 Aika: The fastest character, Aika is great when you need to heal a character quickly, and also for performing a pair of moves that should be done in a particular order; the second move can be given to a slow character. Other than speed, Aika's magical abilities are pretty good, though not as powerful as Fina's. - Power - 2.4/10, around 3.46 per level - Vigor - 2.7/10, around 3.58 per level, it stays fairly close to Power, drifting ahead slightly - Max HP - 4.6/10, around 96.9 per level - Will - 7.3/10, around 4.24 per level, making it about 125% of Power - Max MP - 5.0/10, +1 around every 2 1/3 levels - Quick - 7.9/10, around 4.76 per level - Agile - starts at 22 Fina: A very powerful magical character, with average speed, but otherwise quite vulnerable. She has the lowest Power, Vigor, and Maximum HP of all the characters, but makes up for it with very good Will and Maximum MP. - Power - 0.6/10, around 2.60 per level - Vigor - 1.3/10, around 2.95 per level, making it about 115% of Power - Max HP - 2.5/10, around 79.8 per level - Will - 9.0/10, around 5.00 per level, making it almost 200% of Power - Max MP - 9.2/10, +1 around every 1 1/2 levels - Quick - 5.0/10, around 4.16 per level - Agile - starts at 12 Drachma: Drachma is a character of extremes; he's either the best or worst of each of the Attributes. He's basically the opposite of Fina - a powerhouse of raw offensive and defensive physical abilities, but almost no magical ability, and the slowest character. - Power - 7.1/10, around 5.65 per level - Vigor - 7.1/10, around 5.65 per level, it always stays very close to Power - Max HP - 9.8/10, around 138.4 per level - Will - 3.1/10, around 2.44 per level, making it less than 50% of Power - Max MP - 1.0/10, +1 fairly predictably every 5 levels - Quick - 0.4/10, around 3.20 per level - Agile - starts at 4 Gilder: Basically a more physical version of Vyse, with improved physical abilities at the cost of lowered magical abilities, and slightly slower. - Power - 6.0/10, around 5.15 per level - Vigor - 3.7/10, around 4.06 per level, making it about 80% of Power - Max HP - 7.9/10, around 122.8 per level - Will - 4.4/10, around 3.00 per level, making it about 60% of Power - Max MP - 2.8/10, +1 fairly predictably every 3 1/3 levels - Quick - 4.7/10, around 4.09 per level, only just behind Fina - Agile - starts at 14 Enrique: A bit like an improved version of Aika, physically he's between Aika and Vyse, and magically he's slightly better than Aika. His main weakness is his speed, which is fairly low. - Power - 3.2/10, around 3.86 per level - Vigor - 2.9/10, around 3.71 per level, it stays fairly close to Power, drifting behind slightly - Max HP - 4.8/10, around 98.1 per level - Will - 8.1/10, around 4.59 per level, making it about 120% of Power - Max MP - 5.5/10, +1 around every 2 1/5 levels - Quick - 3.1/10, around 3.76 per level - Agile - starts at 16 So to summarize: Power- Drachma 7.1/10 Gilder 6.0/10 Vyse 5.0/10 Enrique 3.2/10 Aika 2.4/10 Fina 0.6/10 Vigor- Drachma 7.1/10 Gilder 3.7/10 Vyse 3.1/10 Enrique 2.9/10 Aika 2.7/10 Fina 1.3/10 Max HP- Drachma 9.8/10 Gilder 7.9/10 Vyse 5.8/10 Enrique 4.8/10 Aika 4.6/10 Fina 2.5/10 Will- Fina 9.0/10 Enrique 8.1/10 Aika 7.3/10 Vyse 5.0/10 Gilder 4.4/10 Drachma 3.1/10 Max MP- Fina 9.2/10 Enrique 5.5/10 Aika 5.0/10 Vyse 3.1/10 Gilder 2.8/10 Drachma 1.0/10 Quick- Aika 7.9/10 Vyse 6.3/10 Fina 5.0/10 Gilder 4.7/10 Enrique 3.1/10 Drachma 0.4/10 Agile- Aika 22 Enrique 16 Gilder 14 Fina 12 Vyse 11 Drachma 4 Spirit Unlike the other Attributes, Spirit and Maximum Spirit increase in a set way. Spirit increases by 1 every 20 levels for each character, starting at a particular level. For Vyse, this is level 5, where Spirit increases to 2. It increases again at levels 25 and 45. For Aika, this is level 16, increasing again at levels 36 and 56. For Fina, this is level 18, increasing again at levels 38 and 58. For Drachma, this is level 14, increasing again at levels 34 and 54. For Gilder, this is level 10, increasing again at levels 30 and 50. For Enrique, this is level 12, increasing again at levels 32 and 52. So, to summarize at what levels Spirit increases for each character: 2, 3, 4 Vyse 5, 25, 45 Gilder 10, 30, 50 Enrique 12, 32, 52 Drachma 14, 34, 54 Aika 16, 36, 56 Fina 18, 38, 58 Starting at level 65 of each character, which would be the level Vyse's Spirit increases to 5, the rules change. When any character reaches level 65, their Spirit is increased and synchronized at 5. From level 65 onwards, Spirit increases at the same points for all characters, accelerating towards 20. To begin with, Spirit increases by 1 at every 4 levels after level 65 and up to level 81. At level 84 it accelerates to every 2 levels, and at level 95 it increases to every 1 level. So, to summarize at what levels Spirit increases at and after level 65: Spirit 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 Level 65, 69, 73, 77, 81, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 Maximum Spirit is much simpler. It increases once every 4 levels, the first increase being at level 5, and starts at 4 at level 1. It increases at the same levels for every character. Once it reaches 25 for the primary characters Vyse, Aika, and Fina, it no longer increases, and once it reaches 24 for the secondary characters, it no longer increases. =============================== ============================== ============================== Super Move Attacks ============================= =============================== ========================~CS=== This section briefly compares the various offensive Super Moves of each character. Damage for offensive Super Moves, with the exception of Aika's and Fina's, is calculated as for normal attack damage, and is then multiplied by a certain number. This is what makes Super Moves much more powerful than ordinary attacks. For Aika's and Fina's Super Moves, they behave as for magic - normal attack damage is calculated except using Will rather than Power, and then a fixed amount of damage is added. This has the effect of making their Super Moves less and less useful from a raw damage perspective as the game progresses. Additionally, their Super Moves have a fixed non-changeable Element, Aika's being Red and Fina's being Silver, regardless of what Element is equipped on their weapon. As the heading for each Super Move, I list the owning character, Super Move name, Spirit cost, whether the Super Move attacks one enemy or all enemies, and finally the damage multiplier, or damage added for Aika's and Fina's Super Moves. Bear in mind that the comparisons assume that characters' Power, or Will in the case of Aika and Fina, are relatively close, which may not always be the case. Vyse, Cutlass Fury, Spirit - 7, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 2.5: A good Super Move with a decent amount of damage for the Spirit cost. Pretty much the only reliable way of defeating Loopers early in the game. Vyse, Rain of Swords, Spirit - 14, Attacks - All, Multiplier - 1.5: An alternative to Pyri magic for attacking all enemies. Magic tends to work better against large groups of weak enemies, with a lower Spirit cost so that it may be used on the first turn. Vyse, Pirates' Wrath, Spirit - 21, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 7.5: Exactly the same as three Cutlass Furies in one. Drachma, Tackle, Spirit - 10, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 3: Not quite as efficient as Cutlass Fury, but nonetheless it does more damage in a single turn. For long battles, Cutlass Fury may be better. Drachma, Hand of Fate, Spirit - 25, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 9: Slightly more efficient than Pirates' Wrath, and on top of that it's instant death for non-immune enemies. Even without the instant death effect it's a great move to use, and the most powerful. Gilder, Gunslinger, Spirit - 9, Attacks - Line, Multiplier - 3: Good against more than one enemy, and potentially better than Rain of Swords, though for a single enemy it is slightly less efficient than Cutlass Fury; depending on Gilder's Power, other Super Moves may be better. Gilder, The Claudia, Spirit - 18, Attacks - All, Multiplier - 2.5: More efficient than Rain of Swords, though in many situations it may be overkill; Rain of Swords usually handles large groups of strong enemies for less Spirit, and itself may be overkill compared to magic when up against weaker enemies. Enrique, Royal Blade, Spirit - 8, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 4: The most damaging Super Move available for the Spirit cost, and basically an even better version of Cutlass Fury. Although Enrique's Power will probably be lower than Vyse's, in my experience this has always dealt more damage. Enrique, The Judgment, Spirit - 16, Attacks - One, Multiplier - 8: Exactly the same as two Royal Blades in one. Although Pirate's Wrath deals more damage in a single turn, this move deals more damage in terms of the Spirit cost, so may be a better option for long battles. Aika, Alpha Storm, Spirit - 4, Attacks - Line, Extra Damage - 120: Equivalent to Wevli and Electri in terms of damage. Incredibly useful early in the game against multiple enemies, when there's little offensive magic available. In any case, it's definitely worth getting if only for being able to get Delta Shield. Aika, Lambda Burst, Spirit - 8, Attacks - All, Extra Damage - 200: Equivalent to Noxus in terms of damage, in between Pyres and Pyrum, and just below Wevles and Electres. Can be useful if Moonberries are going spare and some of the more powerful magic has yet to be learnt, though its usefulness may be short-lived. Aika, Omega Psyclone, Spirit - 12, Attacks - All, Extra Damage - 330: Slightly stronger than Pyrulen, and a little stronger than Wevlum and Electrum. By the time enough Moonberries have been collected to unlock this move, there will most likely be magic and other more efficient Super Moves available for effectively dealing with large groups of enemies. Fina, Lunar Glyph, Spirit - 3, Attacks - One, Extra Damage - 50: Intended more as a Status Effect inducing move than for damaging enemies; Crystali is almost three times as powerful at one-third the cost. Fina, Lunar Winds, Spirit - 6, Attacks - All, Extra Damage - 150: Again, more useful for its effect than for damaging enemies; it's less powerful than Pyres, and substantially less than Wevles and Electres, which will probably be available by the time the move becomes available. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Elements / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~E This section explains which enemy Elements each Element is effective and ineffective against, how these strengths and weaknesses affect damage dealt, and the various exceptions to the usual rules. Each enemy in the game, excluding enemy ships in ship battles, is of a particular Element. An enemy's Element can be determined from the border color of their icon when selecting an enemy to attack. An enemy's Element determines two things - the Element of its attacks, and what Elements it is more vulnerable to when being attacked, though there are some minor exceptions. When a character attacks normally, their attacking Element is the Element equipped on their weapon. When a character or enemy attacks with magic, the attacking Element is the Element of the magic used. When a character attacks with a Super Move, the attacking Element is the Element equipped on their weapon, except for Aika and Fina; Aika's Super Moves are always Red, and Fina's Super Moves are always Silver. The table of what Elements enemies of a particular Element are strong and weak against provided in the game's manual is famously incorrect, so here's a correct one: Green Purple Blue Red Yellow Silver Enemy Element Green = < < > > = Purple > << < >> = = Blue > > = < < = Red < >> > << = = Yellow < = > = < > Silver = = = = > < To read this table, locate the row corresponding to the Element of the enemy in question. The cells in that row indicate the effectiveness of each Element against that enemy- = - neither effective nor ineffective, no change to damage dealt < - ineffective, only 90% of damage applies > - effective, damage multiplied by 110% << - highly ineffective, only 70% of damage applies >> - highly effective, damage multiplied by 140% So, when against an enemy of a particular Element, the best Elements to use against it, either magic or as equipped on a weapon, will be columns marked with > or >>, and the Elements to avoid will be the columns marked with < and <<. So, to summarize: Enemy Element Weak Against Strong Against Green Red, Yellow Blue, Purple Purple Red+, Green Purple+, Blue Blue Purple, Green Yellow, Red Red Purple+, Blue Red+, Green Yellow Blue, Silver Yellow, Green Silver Yellow Silver A few things can be observed about the resistances and vulnerabilities of Elements: - All Elements balance out in terms of strengths and weaknesses - Elements are never effective against themselves - Elements that are neither effective nor ineffective against other Elements observe a reflexive relationship; that is, if Element A is neither effective nor ineffective against Element B, Element B is neither effective nor ineffective against Element A - Elements that are effective against other Elements tend to observe an asymmetric relationship; that is, if Element A is effective against Element B, Element B is ineffective against Element A; the two exceptions to the rule are Red and Purple, and Silver and Yellow, which are effective both ways - Red and Purple are opposites of each other in terms of strengths and weaknesses - Green and Purple have the same strengths - Blue is strong against what Green is weak to Understanding that most elemental strengths are asymmetric, the rules for those Elements can be simplified to the following: Wins Loses Electricity Burns Earth Fire Burns Earth Water Puts Out Fire Water Shorts Electricity Ice Freezes Water Earth Channels Water Earth Channels Ice Remembering that Fire/Ice and Yellow/Silver destroy each other and resist themselves. An enemy's attacking Element only becomes relevant for elementally resistant Armor and Accessories, and even Weapons. Having these items equipped will grant resistance to attacks of those Elements, typically 20% each according to Eso Arcadia; equipping one item resistant to a particular Element makes attacks of that Element, including magic, only 80% effective; two items reduces the effectiveness to 60%, and three to 40%. Despite the description of many of these items, they grant resistance to normal attacks of their specified Element, not just magic attacks. These items and how to obtain them follow; the Armor and Accessories listed can be equipped by any character. Many of the Accessories are dropped by enemies; Eso Arcadia has exact details on which enemies drop what items, and the chances of the drop. Armor: Yellow- Elastamor, Sailors' Island weapons shop once Fina is in the party Red- Nasrean Mail, Maramba weapons shop Green- Ixa'takan Armor, Sailors' Island weapons shop after acquiring the Delphinus Blue- Daccat's Tunic, Esparanza merchant Purple- Insulated Mail, Ryu-kan's shop Silver- Silver Armor, two available in chests at the Great Silver Shrine, and so only available for a limited time Accessories: Green- Ivy Band, dropped by most enemies that can inflict Poison via a regular attack Purple- Revered Voice, dropped by enemies that can inflict Silence via a regular attack Eye of Truth, enemy drop Thermo Ring, Mystery Merchant Yellow- Behemoth's Ring, Nasr Kingdom / Pyrynn enemy drop Silver- Silvite Ring, enemy drop Cupil Ring, rare Soltis enemy drop Blue- Wind Gem Ring, dropped by some enemies that can inflict Sleep via a regular attack Red- Thermo Ring, Mystery Merchant Weapons: According to Eso Arcadia, the following weapons also boost a character's elemental resistance of a particular element when equipped: Green- Aika's Grendel Wing, obtained from the Green Gigas Red- Gilder's Nasr Pistol, available in the Nasr weapons shop Blue- Vyse's Dream Cutlass, in a ship "treasure chest" in the Dark Rift Purple- Aika's Ice Splitter, in a chest in the Ruins of Ice Yellow- Vyse's Thunder Cutlass, obtained from the Yellow Gigas Silver- Drachma's Silver Arm, a rare Soltis enemy drop There is one item that deserves particular attention, and that is the Accessory Thermo Ring, sold by the Mystery Merchant. Not only does this grant resistance to two Elements, Red and Purple, but according to Eso Arcadia the resistance it offers is a huge 50%. Suffice to say that this is an incredibly useful Accessory to have. It is particularly useful against Sinistra and Destra of Daccat's Island. Combined with two other equipped items granting either Red or Purple resistance, and it is possible to get up to 90% resistance to Red or Purple attacks, in other words making those attacks only 10% effective. Exceptions There are some exceptions to the rules above regarding an enemy's strengths and weaknesses to Elements, and its attacking Element. The latter exceptions are few and usually fairly obvious; for example, Tortigar is a Blue enemy, but its Ice Storm attack is Purple. Information on the exceptions detailed in this section was data-mined from Eso Arcadia's enemy pages. Which is to say, I have scoured through their enemy pages to find exceptions to the above rules, and done some testing of my own to verify the results. Enemies that are Defensively Neutral: Some enemies don't have any weaknesses or strengths against any Elements; there are no Elements which deal more or less damage than normal to the enemy. However, the attacks of these enemies are still of their Element. These enemies are- - The first enemies in the game, Praeses/Guard, Ferratus/Soldier, and Antonio, all yellow, but not similar enemies appearing later - Ramirez, silver - Elcian, yellow Enemies that are Highly Weak and Strong against their Elements: Some enemies are more vulnerable to Elements their Element is weak against, and with it stronger against Elements their Element is strong against. For these enemies, Elements they are vulnerable to multiply damage by 140% instead of 110%, and Elements they are resistant to only deal 70% of damage instead of 90%. - Scorfly, Nasr Kingdom airspace, purple - The related Scorpon, Valuan Empire airspace, purple Enemies that are Extremely Weak and Strong against their Elements: Similar to the enemies above, some enemies are even more vulnerable against their weaknesses, those Elements multiplying damage by 200%, and even stronger against their strengths, those Elements only dealing 50% of damage. - Maroccas, Mid Ocean airspace, blue - The related Buroccas, Frontier Lands airspace, blue - Ferliths, Rixis, green - The related Feralisks, Daccat's Island, green - Grapors, Deserted Island / Crescent Isle, green Red and Purple Enemies only weak and strong against Purple and Red: Some Red/Purple enemies are extremely weak to Purple/Red, those attacks being multiplied by 190%, and massively resistant against Red/Purple, those attacks only dealing 10% of damage. Against all other Elements they are neither weak nor strong, those Elements dealing normal damage. - Rokwyrm of Pyrynn, red - Sinistra of Daccat's Island, red - Destra of Daccat's Island, purple Enemies that are Not Highly Weak and Strong against certain Elements: Purple and Red Elements are usually highly effective against Red and Purple enemies, respectively, and highly ineffective against Purple and Red enemies, respectively. For some enemies this is not the case; they are merely normally effective/ineffective against those enemies. For these enemies, the normally highly effective Element multiplies damage dealt by 110% instead of 140%, and the normally highly ineffective Element deals 90% of damage instead of 70%. Most of these enemies are bosses or boss-like enemies. - Zivilyn Bane, red - Gordo, red - Furiosus / Mad Chef, red - Vigoro, red - Dralkor Lacus / Dralkor Tank, red Other Unusual Enemies: - Gelu Vermis / Frost Worms of the Ruins of Ice, purple elementals, are extremely vulnerable to Red and completely immune to Purple; see its Eso Arcadia page for full details - The Sentrees/Sentries of Dangral Island, yellow elementals, are completely immune to Yellow and highly vulnerable to the Yellow weaknesses Blue and Silver; see its Eso Arcadia page for full details ============================ =========================== =========================== Elements in Ship Battles ========================== ============================ =====================~ES=== Elements also play a role in ship battles, although to a lesser extent. As for ordinary enemies, each enemy ship has a set of resistances to particular Elements, although unlike enemies there is no obvious pattern. The Elemental strengths and weaknesses of enemy ships become relevant not only when attacking with magic, but also when attacking with certain ship weapons and bombs. These are listed below, along with how to obtain them. Unfortunately however, many of them become available too late. The player's ships have no elemental strengths or weaknesses, nor are there any equippable items that grant such resistances, unlike in ordinary battles. Blue- Wevl Cannon, Secondary Cannon, available in Belle's/Khazim's store Wave Bomb, sometimes dropped by Valuan Spellship, a ship roaming between the Grand Fortress and Sailors' Island Red- Pyril Cannon, Primary Cannon, available in the Sailors' Island ship store after obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal Pyro Bomb, available in the Maramba ship store, and dropped by the Spell Pirates in the Southwest of North Ocean, and the Tenkou Spellship Purple- Crystil Cannon, Primary Cannon, dropped by Galcian's Elite providing Kalifa is an Active Crew Member, a ship battle before facing the Hydra Frost Bomb, sometimes dropped by Valuan Mage Ship, a ship fought before facing the Hydra also available to fight near the crater lake in Valua for a time, and sometimes dropped by Valuan Phantom, a ship encountered on the southern borders of Ixa'taka Yellow- Thunder Bomb, dropped by Valuan Mage Ship, described above For full details on enemy ship elemental vulnerabilities, I recommend reading Eso Arcadia's highly detailed enemy ship pages. As a few general rules, Valuan ships tend to be resistant to Yellow, and often also to Red and Purple, and least resistant to Blue, and ships later in the game tend to be more resistant to elemental attacks in general. Also, interestingly, the Gigas are completely immune to their Elements. I've listed a few notable weaknesses/strengths of enemy ships below, details for which come from the game data as extracted and displayed by Eso Arcadia. Valuan Phantom- Strong against Yellow and Red, which only do 50% damage. Valuan Gunboat- Also strong against Yellow and Red, which only do 50% damage. Valuan Spectre- Very resistant to all elemental attacks, especially Yellow which only does 30% damage. Valuan Mage Ship- Extremely resistant against Yellow which only does 30% damage, and highly resistant against Red and Purple which only do 50% damage. Galcian's Elite- Highly resistant to all elemental attacks, and extremely resistant to Purple which only does 20% damage. Stick to non-elemental weapons for this one. Black Pirates- Extremely vulnerable to Yellow, damage for which is multiplied by 200%. So Electri away. Tenkou Spellship- Pretty resistant to all elemental attacks with no particular strengths of weaknesses, elemental attacks doing only 70% damage. Obispo- This is a weird one. Highly vulnerable to Blue and Red which multiply damage by 150% and 130% respectively, and extremely resistant to all other Elements. The Wevl Cannon can be useful here. Roc- Highly vulnerable to Yellow and Red which multiply damage by 150% and 130% respectively. Alaina- Highly vulnerable to Red which multiplies damage by 150%, and extremely resistant to Purple which only does 10% of damage. Raja- Highly vulnerable to Purple which multiplies damage by 150%, and suitably highly resistant to Yellow which only does 50% damage. Purple magic attacks that never miss can be useful here. Anguila- The Anguila is massively vulnerable to Red, damage for which is multiplied by 250%. In fact, if it's attacked with Red magic, you're rewarded with a little extra dialog. The Blackbeard- The Blackbeard has no particular weaknesses or strengths, and later on all Elemental attacks do only 30% damage. The Chameleon- Very strong against Yellow, which only does 50% damage, but extremely weak against Blue, damage for which is multiplied by 200%. However, later in the game it is completely immune to Yellow alongside the Hydra, and all other elemental attacks do only 30% damage, so those always-hitting magic attacks are considerably less effective. The Auriga- Very resistant against Red and Purple, only doing 50% damage, and extremely resistant against Yellow, which only does 30% damage. The Hydra- The Hydra is the same as the Yellow Gigas, completely immune to Yellow, with other elemental attacks doing regular damage. Go ahead and try firing Electrulen at it. Green Gigas- Elemental attacks only do 50% damage, except for Red, which does normal damage. Blue Gigas- As well as being immune to Blue, strangely it is vulnerable to Red attacks, which multiply damage by 150%. Silver Gigas- Somewhat resistant to elemental attacks, which only do 80% of damage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Status Effects / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~U Here the various Status Effects that characters, enemies, and ships can have during battles are explained in terms of what effects they have, and also how enemies are classified in terms of their vulnerabilities to the various effects. Additionally I list how they can be acquired, what enemies and what moves can inflict them (although this listing may not be complete), and what Accessories can stop them. Unless otherwise specified, protecting Accessories can be equipped by all characters. Interestingly, enemies that induce a particular Status Effect tend to drop the Accessory that protects against it. I believe all protecting Accessories can also be obtained in Pinta Quest. Some Status Effects override other Status Effects. When inflicted with such a Status Effect, any Status Effects the target is afflicted with that the new Status Effect overrides disappear, replaced by the new Status Effect. Also, a target afflicted with a Status Effect cannot be inflicted with a Status Effect that that Status Effect overrides. For instance, Poison overrides Regenerate. If a target with the Regenerate Status Effect is successfully inflicted with Poison, the Regenerate Status Effect will disappear, replaced with the Poison Status Effect. Attempting to regain the Regenerate Status Effect will not work whilst afflicted with Poison. There are a few Accessories that affect resistance to adverse Status Effects in general, notably the Pipes which can only be equipped by Drachma and Gilder. These Accessories are: - Gem of Purity, originally a Pipe, which gives a boost to adverse Status Effect resistance, available from the Lower City weapons shop - Immunity Ring, originally a Pipe, which gives a boost to adverse Status Effect resistance, available from the Nasrad weapons shop - Shard of Purity, originally a Pipe, which gives a boost to adverse Status Effect resistance, available from Ryu-kan's shop once upgraded - Chance Ring, equippable by all, a very rare enemy drop in the Dark Rift, which gives a big boost to defense at the cost of increased vulnerability to adverse Status Effects; can be useful if used carefully - Constitution Gem, equippable by all, another very rare enemy drop in the Dark Rift; a very valuable item that grants complete immunity to all adverse Status Effects, including Instant Death and Eternum Vyse's Skull Shield, although it blocks damage from ordinary attacks, does not block any potential adverse Status Effects from those attacks; this is most noticeable against Elcian. The Defensive Aura, however, does seem to block adverse Status Effects from normal attacks. Enrique's Justice Shield puts all characters into a guarding state, even those afflicted with Stone or Sleep. Strengthened, a.k.a. "Increm": Popularly referred to by the magic that induces it, Strengthened affects the target's Attack and Defense. Specifically, it increases the target's Attack and Defense Calculated Attributes by 125%. One thing in particular to note about Strengthened is that it does not affect Magic Defense, and it does not affect Will, so it is less useful for magical characters or when against magical enemies. To put it another way, offensively, while Strengthened increases a character's/enemy's physical attacks, it does not increase their magical attacks, which includes Aika's and Fina's Super Moves. Defensively, while Strengthened fortifies a character's/enemy's defense against physical attacks, their defense against magical attacks remains unaffected. - Overridden by - Weakened, Stone - Spells that induce - Increm, Incremus (Red) - Items that induce - Glyph of Might, available in shops later in the game - Enemies knowing Increm - Venificus / Spell Warden (appears with Carcer/Executioner), Loopalon (red Loopers), Tenkou (Tenkou Island), Muraji, Nadnarb (Maw of Tartas) - Enemies knowing Incremus - Fossor / Mine Patrol (Moon Stone Mtn.), Ferlith (Rixis) and Feralisk (Daccat's Island), Nairad (Maw of Tartas) Quickened, a.k.a. "Quika": Quickened doubles the target's Quick and Dodge, and makes it easier for them to run from battles. It may also increase a target's Counterattack, making them more likely to Counterattack. Not only does Quickened significantly increase the target's chances of executing their moves before others, it also gives them a boosted chance of dodging attacks. - Overridden by - Weakened, Stone - Spells that induce - Quika (Blue) - Items that induce - Glyph of Speed, available alongside Glyph of Might - Enemies knowing Quika - Crylhound (Catacombs) and Crylbeast (Mount Kazai), Custos / Patrol Guard (Upper City), Ballista Rostram / Stonebeak (Nasr Kingdom airspace), Varkris (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) and Iridzu (Dark Rift airspace), Fiendo / Flat Fiend (Dark Rift) and Monstrum / Stalk Fiend (Maw of Tartas), Tenkou (Tenkou Island), Muraji Regenerate: This unusual effect adds a set amount of health onto the target at the end of each turn, providing the battle isn't over. - Overridden by - Poison, Stone - Items that induce - Healing Salve, regenerates 250, available alongside Glyph of Might - Super Moves that induce - Fina's Lunar Blessing, regenerates 200 - Enemy Moves that induce - One of Ramirez's moves can induce this, regenerating 600 Poison: The opposite of Regenerate; subtracts a set amount of health from the target at the end of each turn, providing the battle isn't over. This has the potential to kill the target, potentially ending the battle (which abruptly stops the background music, sounding a little strange :P). The amount subtracted is the target's Vigor * 2. I haven't ever encountered a situation where both sides die from poisoning at the end of the same turn, though the result is probably game over. - Overrides - Regenerate - Overridden by - Stone - Spells that induce - Noxi, Noxus (Green); presumably Noxus has a higher chance, as it is more powerful per-target than Noxi - Weapons that induce - Vyse's Assassin Blade, in a chest in the Catacombs - Enemies knowing Noxi - Ferlith (Rixis) and Feralisk (Daccat's Island) - Enemies knowing Noxus - Florast and Flyst (Dark Rift), Ghrost (Yafutoma airspace) - Enemies that induce - Dralnog (Catacombs), Dementis (Catacombs), Bleigock (Catacombs), Furiosus / Mad Chef, Veles' / Shock Troop's Poison Gas (Grand Fortress), Jellikra (Yafutoma airspace) and Medulizk (Lands of Ice airspace), Praeses Elite's / Elite Guard's Poison Gas - Protecting Items - Ivy Band, dropped by most enemies that can induce Poison from normal attacks Stone: Puts the target out of action for several turns, also stopping them from dodging attacks. Can be very useful against multiple strong enemies, Stoning one while dealing with the other. Stone overrides all Status Effects, both positive and adverse; all will be removed upon being inflicted with Stone. Vyse's Skull Shield has no effect on characters afflicted with Stone. However, the Defensive Aura still works. - Overrides - All Status Effects - Super Moves that induce - Fina's Lunar Glyph, which has a fairly decent chance of success - Weapons that induce - Enrique's Stoneblade, from Ryu-kan's shop once upgraded, and Enrique's Serpent Strike, a rare Soltis enemy drop - Enemies that induce - Death's / Death's Head's Stone Breath (Pyrynn), Rokwyrm's Cinder Storm (Pyrynn), Polraxis (Rixis), Alusphere (Mount Kazai), Tortigar (Mount Kazai), Nadnarb's and Nairad's Stone Ooze (Maw of Tartas), Eliminator's Laser Blast (underneath Dangral Island), Hopril's & Dorntak's Laser Blast (Soltis) - Protecting Items - Gem of Fluidity, one in a chest in Maramba, also a rare enemy drop in Rixis, and sometimes dropped by the Aluspheres in Mount Kazai Sleep: Puts the target out of action and also stops them from dodging attacks for a few turns, or until they are woken by being attacked. Sleep is also removed if the target is successfully inflicted with an adverse Status Effect, but not a positive one. For characters afflicted with Sleep, Vyse's Skull Shield does not Counterattack, though still negates damage. If a character afflicted with Sleep is hit and has the Defensive Aura equipped, the Defensive Aura has the effect of protecting them from the hit, and so they will not wake. - Overrides - Fatigue - Overridden by - Confuse, Stone - Spells that induce - Slipara (Blue) - Weapons that induce - Vyse's Sword of Daccat and Gilder's Daccat Custom, both enemy drops in Daccat's Island, and Aika's Yin Wing and Enrique's Blade of Slumber, both available in the Yafutoma weapons shop - Enemies knowing Slipara - Scarabee / Durel Beetle (Nasr Kingdom airspace), Oestrus / Dung Fly (Pyrynn), Varkris (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) and Iridzu (Dark Rift airspace), Golooper (Blue Loopers), Elcian - Enemies that induce - Flestik (Shrine Island) and Centralk (Daccat's Island), Langry (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) and Tsurak (Dark Rift airspace), Roseln's (Ixa'taka airspace) and Carnilak's (Maw of Tartas) Slumber Dust, Rik'talish's Ring of Sleep (Rixis) - Protecting Items - Wind Gem Ring, an enemy drop Confuse: Each turn for a few turns, or until they are hit and "knocked out of it", the target panics and uncontrollably attacks the nearest target. Unlike Sleep, it is not removed if the target is successfully inflicted with another Status Effect. Has the advantage of stopping enemies from using their special moves and magic. Confuse appears to override Sleep; it does not seem possible to inflict Sleep on a target afflicted with Confuse. For characters afflicted with Confuse, as for Sleep Vyse's Skull Shield will not Counterattack, though will still negate damage. If a character afflicted with Confuse is hit and has the Defensive Aura equipped, the Defensive Aura has the effect of protecting them from the hit, and so they will not recover from Confuse. - Overrides - Sleep - Overridden by - Stone - Spells that induce - Panika (Purple) - Weapons that induce - Drachma's Beak Hand, available in the Sailor's Island weapons shop once Fina is in the party, Aika's Flutter Blade, available in the Sailors' Island weapons shop after obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal - Enemies knowing Panika - Grouder (Shrine Island) and Drogerp (Dark Rift airspace), Walrenk (Daccat's Island) and Cerosik (Ruins of Ice), Gelu Vermis / Frost Worm (Ruins of Ice) - Enemies that induce - Tsorok (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace), Slothstra (Rixis) and Dolthstra (Ruins of Ice), Rik'talish's Circle of Panic (Rixis), Vigoro, Florast and Flyst (Dark Rift), Veltarn (Ruins of Ice) - Protecting Items - Eye of Truth, enemy drop Silence: The target is no longer capable of casting magic, and any magic cast will not execute. - Overridden by - Stone - Spells that induce - Sylenis (Purple) - Weapons that induce - Enrique's Rapier, Enrique's Imperial Blade, in a chest in Dangral Island, and some forms of Cupil, specifically Blade, Sword, Cutlass, and Claymore, all on the normal evolutionary path - Enemies knowing Sylenis - Custodiae / Mage Warden (Grand Fortress), Arclooper (Purple Loopers), Umbra/Shadow (alongside Ramirez), Sorcerer (Hydra), Assassinata/Assassin (Hydra) - Enemies that induce - Scorfly (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Scorpon (Valuan Empire airspace) - Protecting Items - Revered Voice, dropped by enemies that induce Silence through regular attacks Fatigue: The target is no longer capable of focusing and will not regain any Spirit at the start of each turn, even if Warrior's Heart is equipped. Any attempt to Focus will "Miss". Interestingly, Sleep overrides Fatigue, so one way of "curing" Fatigue is to become afflicted with Sleep. Since this only affects Spirit, it is the only Status Effect that cannot be induced on enemies, only characters. - Overridden by - Sleep, Stone - Enemies that induce - Ballista Rostram / Stonebeak (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Razorbeak (Valuan Empire airspace), Pinalisk's Fatigue Breath (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace), Digger's Fatigue Gas (Moon Stone Mtn.), Serpantis (Moon Stone Mtn.) and Mantoid (Mount Kazai), Fiendo / Flat Fiend (Dark Rift) and Monstrum / Stalk Fiend (Maw of Tartas), Dracolurg's (Maw of Tartas) and Dracoslyth's (Soltis) Terrible Bite, Garagor (Soltis), Elcian - Protecting Items - Everlasting Gem, dropped by some enemies that can induce Fatigue through regular attacks Weakened, a.k.a. "Driln": According to the game's manual and in-game descriptions, Weakened affects "all" of the target's (Calculated) Attributes. There is at least one exception, however - Weakened does not affect Will; any magic cast will have the same effect as if the target was not Weakened. Weakened lowers the target's Attack, Defense, and Magic Defense to 75% of their value. Note that, unlike Strengthened, Magic Defense is affected by Weakened. Presumably Weakened also affects the target's Quick, Dodge, and Counterattack. - Overrides - Strengthen, Quicken - Overridden by - Stone - Spells that induce - Driln, Drilnos (Yellow) - Weapons that induce - Aika's Storm Wing, an enemy drop in Pyrynn - Enemies knowing Driln - Scarabee / Durel Beetle (Nasr Kingdom airspace), Oestrus / Dung Fly (Pyrynn), Custodiae / Mage Warden (Grand Fortress), Florast and Flyst (Dark Rift), - Enemies knowing Drilnos - Jellikra (Yafutoma airspace) and Medulizk (Lands of Ice airspace), Shrilp (Maw of Tartas), Ramirez, Garagor (Soltis) - Enemies that induce - Rik'talish (Rixis), Alusphere's Drain (Mount Kazai), Shrilp, Ramirez - Protecting Items - Behemoth's Ring, a Nasr Kingdom / Pyrynn enemy drop Unconscious, a.k.a. "Instant Death"/"Eterni": There are a few moves that can instantly drain a target's health, removing them from the battle. Bosses are immune to Instant Death, including when they appear as normal enemies with the exception of Hydra / Hydra Elite (Hydra). The Eternum-casting Gravers (South Ocean airspace) and Elcian are also immune. However, Zivilyn Bane is not immune to Instant Death, making him very easy to dispose of late in the game. - Spells that may induce - Eterni, Eternes (Silver) - Spells that will induce - Eternum (Silver) - Super Moves that will induce - Drachma's Hand of Fate - Weapons that may induce - Drachma's De Loco Drill, in a chest in Moon Stone Mtn., Vyse's Soul Sword, available in Ryu-kan's shop once upgraded, and Gilder's Marksman Gun, an enemy drop on the Hydra - Enemies that know Eterni - Dralnog (Catacombs) and Lucich (Moon Stone Mtn.), Azbeth (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Jynnus (Valuan Empire airspace) - Enemies that know Eternes - Delzool (Dark Rift), Sorcerer (Hydra), Galcian - Enemies that know Eternum - Graver (South Ocean airspace), Ramirez, Galcian - Enemies' Moves that may induce - Veltarn's Death Laser (Ruins of Ice), Umbra's/Shadow's and Assassinata's/Assassin's Death Strike, Susceptor's/Guardian's Crypt Laser - Protecting Items - Silvite Ring, an enemy drop, Valuan Medallion, dropped by Galcian, and also sometimes dropped by Elcian - Items that increase resistance to - Cupil Ring, only equippable by Fina, a rare Soltis enemy drop Protecting against Instant Death and Eternum: Aside the Eternum-negating Silvite Ring and Valuan Medallion mentioned above, the rare but valuable Constitution Gem mentioned earlier also negates Eternum and Instant Death. It's also worth remembering that Aika's Delta Shield can block inbound magic, which is the easiest accessible defense against Eterni magic. Of course Sylenis or otherwise inducing Silence is another option, though less reliable. Lacking these, and aside Drachma's and Gilder's Pipe Accessories and Fina's Cupil Ring that increase resistance to Instant Death moves, the defense becomes reactionary - Riselem, a supply of Riselem Crystals, and Fina's Lunar Light Super Move. ====================== ====================== ===================== Enemy Status Effect Vulnerabilities ===================== ====================== ================~UE=== In ordinary battles, adverse Status Effect inducing magic doesn't always induce the Status Effect on its target, unlike positive Status Effect inducing magic; in fact they frequently miss. The same holds true for weapons, though probably to an even greater extent due to their frequency of use compared to magic. The chances of an enemy successfully being inflicted with an adverse Status Effect depends on their vulnerability to that particular Status Effect, and for magic it also depends on the attacker's Will, and probably also the target's Magic Defense. Enemies can be immune to certain Status Effects; see Eso Arcadia's enemy pages for complete details. As a general guide: - If an enemy can induce a particular Status Effect either normally or with one of its special moves, it will probably be immune to that Status Effect; the same kind-of holds the other way around, though less so - Galcian, Ramirez, Elcian, and also Sinistra & Destra, are immune to all adverse Status Effects; the latter pair of enemies are probably immune due to coding issues with the special attack they have - Curiously, all Silver enemies, except Loopers, are immune to Poison - Machines tend to be immune to Poison - There are a number of additional enemies that are immune to Poison that have no attacks that inflict Poison - Aside the immune-to-all enemies, the only other enemy immune to Weakened is the Alusphere of Mount Kazai; Shrilps (Maw of Tartas) are not immune - Aside the immune-to-all enemies, the only other enemies immune to Confuse are the ones that never attack, and so it would make no sense to induce Confuse on them; namely Eversors/Destroyers in the Grand Fortress, and Muraji - Following from this, enemies with Confuse-inducing attacks are more resistant to Confuse rather than immune to it - Muraji is immune to Silence, probably because it's one of the few ways he can attack - Almost all non-magic enemies are immune to Silence - All bosses, and also Elcian, are immune to Instant Death, including almost all regular enemies that appeared earlier as bosses - Zivilyn Bane is not immune to Instant Death In most cases, there are two things that determine how vulnerable an enemy is to a particular Status Effect that it is not immune to; their vulnerability to Status Effects in general, and their Element. The former has the most significant effect, and the latter slightly tweaks resistances against particular Status Effects. General Status Effect Vulnerabilities Most non-boss enemies can be put into one of four "bands" of general vulnerability to Status Effects. These bands are- - Regular, average resistance to adverse Status Effects - Resistant, difficult to induce adverse Status Effects on - Vulnerable, somewhat easy to induce adverse Status Effects on - Extremely Vulnerable, adverse Status Effects will usually take hold Most bosses, and also Zivilyn Bane, have a fixed resistance for all Status Effects they are not immune to, roughly equivalent to the Resistant band of non-boss enemies. Bosses appearing later in the game as normal enemies retain the same resistances as before. Status Effects usually aren't too worthwhile against bosses, with some notable exceptions. Fina's Lunar Glyph Super Move may still produce results, however, as it appears to be quite strong. Listings of what non-boss enemies fall into what bands follow; all other non- boss enemies fall into the Regular band. This listing and its exceptions was data-mined from Eso Arcadia's enemy pages; which is to say, I've scoured through the enemy data to find those that fall into the "bands" that I've defined above: Enemies falling into the Vulnerable band- - Tsirat (Catacombs) and Tsorok (Ixa'taka Kingdom) - Azbeth (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Jynnus (Valuan Empire airspace) - Ballista Rostram / Stonebeak (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Razorbeak (Valuan Empire airspace) - Varkris (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) and Iridzu (Dark Rift airspace) - Pinalisk (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) - Kilite (Lands of Ice airspace) Enemies falling into the Extremely Vulnerable band- - Marocca (Mid Ocean airspace) and Burocca (Frontier Lands airspace) - Flestik (Shrine Island) and Centralk (Daccat's Island) - Dementis / Mind Stealer (Catacombs) and Death / Death's Head (Pyrynn) - Scorfly (Nasr Kingdom airspace) and Scorpon (Valuan Empire airspace) - Scarabee / Durel Beetle (Nasr Kingdom airspace) - Oestrus / Dung Fly (Pyrynn) - The infamous Gravers of South Ocean; be sure to take advantage! - Langry (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace) and Tsurak (Dark Rift airspace) Enemies falling into the Resistant band- - Slothstra (Rixis) and Dolthstra (Ruins of Ice) - Gelu Vermis / Frost Worm (Ruins of Ice) - Shrilp (Maw of Tartas) - Dracolurg (Maw of Tartas) and Dracoslyth (Soltis) - Garagor (Soltis) - Linark (Soltis) Notable non-boss enemy exceptions to these rules are as follows: - Many of the Valua soldier enemies that can cast magic, a few similar enemies appearing later on the Hydra, are Extremely Vulnerable to Silence - Totelm (Rixis) is Extremely Vulnerable to Confuse and Sleep - Slothstra (Rixis) and Dolthstra (Ruins of Ice) fall into the Resistant band except, suitably enough, they are Extremely Vulnerable to Sleep; a good tactic is to put them to Sleep and then focus up for a powerful set of moves - Venificus / Spell Warden, Umbra/Shadow (alongside Ramirez), and Assassinata/Assassin (Hydra) fall into the Resistant band except for Silence, to which they have average resistance to - Gelu Vermis / Frost Worm (Ruins of Ice) and Garagor (Soltis) fall into the Resistant band except for Silence, to which they have average resistance to Notable boss exceptions to these rules are as follows: - Bleigock (Catacombs) is a weird one; its resistance to Confuse, Sleep, and Weakened, is roughly on par with the Regular band of non-boss enemies rather than the Resistant band - Carcer/Executioner, and its later appearance as Hydra / Hydra Elite on the Hydra, is Extremely Vulnerable to Silence - Rik'talish's (Rixis) resistance to Poison and Stone is roughly on par with the Regular band of non-boss enemies rather than the Resistant band; knowing it is less resistant to Stone can make it very easy to defeat with Fina's Super Move - Jao's and Mao's vulnerabilities to Poison and Confuse are on par with the Regular band of non-boss enemies - Muraji, aside from his immunities, is Extremely Vulnerable to everything - Dralkor Lacus / Dralkor Tank are Extremely Vulnerable to Confuse and Sleep; like Slothstra and Dolthstra, a good strategy is to send them to Sleep, and save up Spirit for a powerful set of attacks Elemental Status Effect Vulnerabilities Non-boss enemies are slightly more vulnerable and slightly less vulnerable to certain Status Effects depending on their Element. Enemies' vulnerabilities to Status Effects depending on their Element are similar to their vulnerabilities to Elements depending on their Element. The table below describes what non-boss enemies of a particular Element are slightly more and less vulnerable to. Poison Confuse Silence Sleep Weak Instant Death Stone Enemy Element Green < < = < > = = Purple > < = < = = = Blue > > < = < = = Red < > > > = = = Yellow < = > > < > = Silver = = = = > < = As an example, let's consider Scarabees, known as Durel Beetles in the US version. Scarabee falls into the Extremely Vulnerable band, so adverse Status Effect inducing moves will often succeed against it. However, it will be slightly more vulnerable, and slightly less vulnerable, to certain Status Effects, depending on its Element. Scarabee's Element is Blue. According to the table above, Blue elemental enemies are slightly more vulnerable to Poison and Confuse, and slightly less vulnerable to Silence and Weakened. This is the case for Scarabee, except it is immune to Silence. There are a few interesting patterns to note about the table above- - No enemy elements are more or less vulnerable to Stone - Where Poison is Green, Confuse is Purple, Sleep is Blue, Weak is Yellow, and Instant Death is Silver, the table becomes very similar to the enemy elemental resistances/vulnerabilities table; for example, Silver enemies are slightly more resistant to Instant Death / Silver, slightly more vulnerable to Weak / Yellow, and normally vulnerable to all others There are some enemies whose vulnerabilities do not vary, and are instead "fixed", according to the band they are in: - The first enemies in the game, Praeses/Guard and Ferratus/Soldier, whose elemental resistances also specially do not vary - Grapors of Deserted Island / Crescent Isle - Maroccas (Mid Ocean airspace), Buroccas (Frontier Lands airspace), Langries (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace), Tsuraks (Dark Rift airspace) ========================= ======================== ======================== Status Effects in Ship Battles ======================= ========================= ==================~US=== The positive Status Effects Strengthened and Quickened, and the adverse Status Effects Silence and Weakened, are also available in ship battles. Unlike in ordinary battles, Status Effects in ship battles always take hold, unless the target has a conflicting Status Effect. Alongside of this, there are no enemy ships/Gigas/e.t.c. with immunities to any of these Status Effects, and no equippable items to negate them. And yes, this means you can Driln and Sylenis all the Gigas :P. Strengthened, a.k.a. "Increm": Strengthened affects the ship's Defense, and the Attack of all the ship's weapons. Specifically, it increases those Attributes by 150%, even greater than for ordinary battles. As before, it does not affect Magic Defense. It also does not affect character Attributes that contribute to attacking and defensive power, including Will for magic attacks, Power for Primary Cannon and Super Cannon attacks, and Vigor for defense. There is one particular thing to note about this Status Effect however, and that is that it can be combined with Ilchymis' effect or the Hybrid Wax; this will make the ship's weapons, including its Super Cannon, more than twice as powerful. Ilchymis' Crew Command and the Hybrid Wax, the latter of which is dropped late in the game, both do the same thing; combining them has no extra effect. - Spells that induce - Increm, Incremus (Red) - Items that induce - Apa Wax available in the Maramba and Nasrad ship stores, Apo Wax available in the Sailors' Island ship store upon obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal - Crew Members that induce - Ryu-kan, the same as Incremus - Enemy ships knowing Increm/Incremus - The Lynx Quickened, a.k.a. "Quika": Just as for ordinary battles; doubles the ship's Quick and Dodge, making it more likely to fire first and dodge attacks. - Spells that induce - Quika (Blue) - Items that induce - Speed Wax, available in the Sailors' Island ship store upon obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal - Enemy ships knowing Quika - Valuan Spectre, Silver Gigas Silence: The target is no longer capable of firing or casting magic. This can be extremely effective against some enemies, though perhaps a little too effective. With use of this move, ship Magic Armor becomes less useful, and can be exchanged for another Armor or Engine Part, giving an additional boost to the ship's Defense or Quick and Dodge. Of course, in order to fire it, the attacker must not itself be Silenced. - Spells that induce - Sylenis (Purple) - Enemy ships knowing Sylenis - The Chameleon (Deep Sky), Silver Gigas Weakened, a.k.a. "Driln": This is a bit of an inconsistent one. As before, according to the in-game descriptions, Weakened affects "all" of a ship's (Calculated) Attributes. Note this does not include character Attributes such as Power, Will, and Vigor, which affect attack power and defense. Additionally, for enemy ships, it does not affect the Attack of the ship or its weapons. Weakened affects the ship's Defense, Magic Defense, and presumably also Quick and Dodge, lowering them to 75% of their value. For the player's ship, Weakened also lowers the Attack of its weapons, though I think there's only one ship battle enemy that's capable of inflicting this Status Effect on the player's ship. Neither Strengthened nor Weakened have any effect on the attack power of magic, as this is not based on the Attributes of the ship or any of its weapons. - Spells that induce - Driln, Drilnos (Yellow) - Enemy ships knowing Driln/Drilnos - Silver Gigas ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Mechanics: Ordinary Battles / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~B Here the mechanisms of ordinary battles are explained, including strategies for how to take the upper hand for each characteristic of battles. How damage is calculated is explained here, along with some other equations, explaining how much of the concepts described earlier affect damage dealt. This section largely builds upon the other sections in the guide, and there is some repetition for clarity. ================ =============== =============== Before the Battle Begins - Random Encounter Rate ============== ================ =========~BB=== The Accessory White Map, the conceptual opposite of the Black Map and only equippable by Vyse, reduces the rate of random encounters in the game, which can be useful when simply exploring or passing through an area, or when after something that was missed earlier. It would also be extremely useful for Discovery hunting, but in order to get it 50 out of 64 located Discoveries are required, by which point its usefulness for that purpose will be minimal. The White Map also enables running from battles to almost always succeed, the converse-inverse of the Black Map. The Stealth Ring also makes it easy to run away, and is available earlier in the game, but only for a limited time as it is sold in the Nasrad marketplace. The Stealth Ring is equippable by all characters. The Black Map allegedly increases the rate of random encounters, though I have doubts as to whether this is actually the case. There is certainly a difference with the White Map. ================================== ================================= ================================= First Strike ================================ ================================== ===========================~BF=== First Strike is where either the characters or the enemies have a free turn against their opponents at the start of a battle, without their opponents able to do any actions in that turn. It is indicated by one of the sides facing the wrong direction, away from the other side, at the start of the battle; the side facing the correct direction is the side with the advantage of First Strike. I believe First Strike is calculated based on the Quick of each side, so similar to how chances for running away may be calculated. This would explain why, when the characters are ambushed, it is often by enemies with high Quick. The chances for First Strike for the characters can be further increased by certain Accessories. The Accessory Black Map, dropped by Loopers except white Loopers, increases the chances for First Strike. The Accessory Assassin Ring, available alongside the Stealth Ring for a limited time and a sort-of opposite to it, also increases the chances. The Assassin Ring can be equipped by all characters; I'm not sure what the effect of equipping four would be, one on each character, whether the boost to the chances for First Strike would stack or not. Guaranteed First Strikes, maybe? ===================================== ===================================== =================================== Spirit ==================================== ===================================== ===============================~BT=== At the start of each turn, including the first turn, a certain amount of Spirit is gained, often referred to as "regenerated" by the game's various descriptions. The amount of Spirit gained at the start of each turn is the sum of all characters' Spirit Attributes, who are not afflicted with Fatigue or Unconscious. Characters inflicted with Sleep and Stone still contribute to the Spirit gained at the start of each turn. Appropriately enough, one way to "cure" Fatigue is to be inflicted with Sleep, which overrides the Fatigue Status Effect, and allows the character to contribute to the Spirit Pool at the start of each turn once more. The maximum size of the Spirit Pool is calculated from the sum of all characters' Max SP Attributes, even those afflicted with Fatigue or Unconscious. When Focusing, the amount of Spirit gained is equal to that character's Spirit Attribute. In the case of Drachma's Spirit Charge Super Move, the amount of Spirit gained is equal to his Spirit *2, and also makes him guard against attacks, effectively rendering his Focus obsolete. Spirit Charge is unavailable along with Focus when afflicted with Fatigue. When choosing which character to Focus with, Vyse is invariably the best; his Spirit Attribute increases a full 5 levels before the next best character, Gilder. Gilder is followed by Enrique, then Drachma, then Aika, and finally Fina, who's Spirit increases the latest. Unfortunately, characters that tend to be good at Focusing are the ones best used at the front lines of a battle, and not support-type characters. There are a few Accessories that affect Spirit, though they appear late in the game. The Accessory Warrior's Heart, a rare Soltis enemy drop, increases the amount of Spirit gained at the start of each turn, except the first turn, by 2, provided the character it is equipped on is not afflicted with Fatigue or Unconscious. It does not increase the amount of Spirit gained by that character Focusing, which will remain equal to that character's Spirit Attribute. It can be equipped by all characters except Drachma and Gilder. Unfortunately Warrior's Heart cannot be used to boost Spirit available on the first turn, as it only boosts Spirit gained from the second turn onwards. As an example, consider a party where Vyse has 4 Spirit, Fina has 2 Spirit, and the remaining two characters have 3 Spirit. Ordinarily, at the start of each turn, there will be 4+3+3+2 = 12 Spirit added to the Spirit Pool. If Fina is equipped with Warrior's Heart, this boosts the Spirit she gains at the start of each turn bar the first by 2. So, the amount of Spirit gained becomes 4+3+3+(2+2) = 14. If Fina is afflicted with Fatigue however, then the amount of Spirit gained falls to 4+3+3+0 = 10, and not 12, as the Accessory has no effect if the character is Fatigued. Note that if Warrior's Heart is equipped on Vyse the effect is no different; Spirit gained will still be (4+2)+3+3+2 = 14. The other Accessory affecting Spirit is the Ominous Mask, a rare enemy drop on the Hydra. This gives a big boost to a character's Attack and Defense, but it comes at the heavy price of no Spirit. It can be equipped by Warriors (Vyse, Drachma, Gilder). To be more specific, at the start of each turn when it is equipped, the party's Spirit is reset to 0. It is still possible to Focus and use Spirit Charge and generally accumulate Spirit during the turn, but this Spirit can never be used while this Accessory is equipped, because the accumulated Spirit is immediately drained to 0 at the start of the next turn. Equipping the Warrior's Heart along with the Ominous Mask has no effect; Spirit is still drained to 0 at the start of each turn. ================== ================= ================= Chances of Hitting/Dodging and Critical Hits ================ ================== ===========~BH=== The chances of hitting a target with a normal attack, or the chances of the target not dodging a normal attack, depend on the difference between the attacker's Hit% and the target's Dodge%. Hit% largely depends on the weapon in use, and can be boosted with Agile-type Armor and various Accessories. Dodge% comes from a character's Agile, and is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, as well as improvable by Agile-type armor and Accessories, the Moonlight Robe dropped by Tortigar in Mount Kazai in particular. Presumably Dodge is also affected by the Weakened Status Effect. The chances of hitting a target are calculated as follows: 50% - ((Target Dodge - Hit) / 2) Where "Hit" is the value of the attacker's Hit Calculated Attribute, and "Target Dodge" is the value of the target's Dodge Calculated Attribute. So, basically, to have a 50% chance of hitting a target, the attacker's Hit must equal the target's Dodge, and to have a 100% chance, the attacker's Hit must be 100 higher than the target's Dodge. Targets afflicted with the Sleep or Stone Status Effects cannot dodge attacks. When facing enemies that Dodge a lot, it can be effective to limit attacking them to characters whose weapons have high Hit, such as Aika and Fina, and of course with non-missing moves such as magic attacks and Super Moves. Weapons with high Hit such as Aika's Storm Wing dropped in Pyrynn and Grendel Wing acquired after the Green Gigas, and in particular late in the game Gilder's Marksman Gun, an enemy drop on the Hydra, and Vyse's Vorlik Blade can prove particularly advantageous. Additionally, the Sleep and Stone Status Effects can stop an enemy dodging altogether if successfully applied. A Critical Hit is simply an attack that "goes through" or ignores the target's defense. The chances of a Critical Hit are based on the attacker's Agile Attribute. The chances of a Critical Hit override the chances of hitting the target, as explained above, so the chances of hitting a target with a normal or critical hit are actually slightly higher than calculated above. For example, a character with 999 Agile will nearly always land critical hits on all targets, regardless of their Hit or the target's Dodge. Critical Hits never miss, along with Super Moves, magic attacks, and Counterattacks. Additionally, a target afflicted with Sleep or Stone cannot dodge attacks. There's not much that can be done to defend against Critical Hits, aside Vyse's Skull Shield; Armor and Defense-increasing items have no effect on the damage received, as Critical Hits ignore defense, going straight through them, and a high Dodge does not affect the chances of a Critical Hit. Increasing elemental defense does affect the damage done by Critical Hits however, so equipping items that resist the enemy's attacking Element reduce the damage received. Stopping the enemy from attacking with Sleep or Stone is another strategy, Confuse being one to avoid. The Weakened Status Effect will reduce the damage the enemy deals out, including from Critical Hits. ================================= ================================ ================================ Order of Moves =============================== ================================= ==========================~BO=== The order in which each character's/enemy's move executes in a battle is determined by that character's/enemy's Quick, with a certain amount of randomness thrown in, and excepting certain defensive moves such as Counter Stance and Spirit Charge which always occur first. The Quickened Status Effect doubles Quick, and so has a substantial effect as to the order in which moves execute. Moving first is advantageous for various reasons. Among them, disposing of weak enemies before they have a chance to attack, healing characters low on health before enemies have a chance to damage them further, and gaining or inflicting Status Effects that hinder later enemy attacks. Aika is particularly useful against large groups of weak enemies; her high Quick and Will allow her to dispose of them with magic attacks before they can do any serious damage. ================================= ================================= ================================ Basic Attacks ================================ ================================= ===========================~BA=== The damage done by a normal attack depends on the attacker's Attack Attribute, which is affected by their Power Attribute and equipped Weapon alongside any equipped Armor and Accessory, the target's Defense Attribute, which is affected by their Vigor Attribute alongside the equipped Armor and Accessory, the Element of the attack and the target's resistance to that Element, and the Status Effects Strengthened and Weakened. Vyse's Skull Shield, and also the Accessory Defensive Aura, negates damage from normal attacks, including Critical Hits. Offensively, Strengthened and Weakened have the effect of increasing and decreasing the attacker's attacking power. Defensively, Strengthened and Weakened have the effect of increasing and decreasing the target's defending power, though for Critical Hits they have no effect, as defense is ignored. So, for maximum offensive power, use a character with high Power, a Weapon with high Attack, use the Element the target is most vulnerable to for the Weapon's Element, equip an Attack-boosting Armor and Accessory, gain the Strengthened Status Effect, and inflict the Weakened Status Effect on the target. For maximum defensive power, the character should have high Vigor, equip a Defense- boosting Armor and Accessory, or better still equip an Armor and Accessory that resist the enemy's attacking Element, equip a Weapon that resists the enemy's attacking Element, gain the Strengthened Status Effect, and inflict the Weakened Status Effect on the enemy. Guarding halves damage received. Enrique's Justice Shield puts all characters into a guarding state; both guarding with a character and using Justice Shield does not half damage again, so guarding with Justice Shield applied has no extra effect. The amount of damage done by normal attacks can be calculated with the following, bearing in mind there will be some variance in the final figure. Note that although a character's Attack and Defense Calculated Attributes are capped at 999, the Strengthened Status Effect can raise attacking and defending power above this limit. Final damage is capped at 9999. Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Guarded Critical Damage = Critical Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Critical Damage = Attack Power * 2 Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect The terms are explained below: - Damage - The damage sustained from the attack if it is not guarded, provided it is not a Critical Hit - Guarded Damage - The damage sustained from the attack if it is guarded against, provided it is not a Critical Hit - Critical Damage - The damage sustained from an attack that is a Critical Hit if it is not guarded - Guarded Critical Damage - The damage sustained from an attack that is a Critical Hit if it is guarded against - Elemental Effectiveness - The percentage effectiveness of the attacker's attacking Element against the target, mostly one of 100%, 110%, 90%, 140%, and 70%; see the section "Elements" for more information - Attack - The value of the Attack Attribute of the attacker - Target Defense - The value of the Defense Attribute of the target - Status Effect - If the attacker has the Strengthened Status Effect this is 125%, if the attacker has the Weakened Status Effect this is 75%, otherwise it is 100% - Target Status Effect - If the target has the Strengthened Status Effect this is 125%, if the target has the Weakened Status Effect this is 75%, otherwise it is 100% Let's go through an example. Suppose we're fighting a Ballista Rostram in Nasr Kingdom airspace, known as a Stonebeak in the US version. Stonebeaks are Yellow enemies, can inflict Fatigue, and according to Eso Arcadia have an Attack of 160 and a Defense of 118. Suppose Aika attacks with her Scout Wing, with a Power of 47, the weapon's Element Purple, and the weapon's Attack being 53. With no Attack-boosting Armor or Accessory equipped, Aika's Attack Calculated Attribute will be 47+53 = 100. We can now calculate about what damage Aika will inflict: Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Attack Power = 100 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened Attack Power = 100 * 100% = 100 Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Target Defense Power = 118 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened Target Defense Power = 118 * 100% = 118 Standard Critical Damage = Attack Power * 2 Standard Critical Damage = 100 * 2 = 200 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 200 - 118 = 82 Elemental Effectiveness = Purple versus Stonebeak Stonebeak is a Yellow enemy, and so Purple attacks are 100% effective Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 82 * 100% = 82 Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Critical Damage = 200 * 100% = 200 So, Aika will inflict about 82 damage, or about 200 if she manages a Critical Hit, both assuming the enemy isn't guarding. We can improve on this quite a bit. We can use a more powerful character, such as Vyse, whose Power is say 65. His weapons are usually more powerful; say he has the Nasr Cutlass, with an Attack of 70. We can equip him with the Nasr Combat Mail that boosts Attack by 5, and a Thorkryn's Scale that boosts Attack by 10. We can change the Element of his Weapon to one that Yellow enemies are weak to, namely Silver. Finally, we can cast Increm or use a Glyph of Might on him for the Strengthened Status Effect, and suppose one of the other characters in the party have managed to inflict Weakened on the enemy. Vyse's Attack is now 65+70+5+10 = 150, and the damage works out as follows: Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Attack Power = 150 * Strengthened Attack Power = 150 * 125% = 187.5 Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Target Defense Power = 118 * Weakened Target Defense Power = 118 * 75% = 88.5 Standard Critical Damage = Attack Power * 2 Standard Critical Damage = 187.5 * 2 = 375 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 375 - 88.5 = 286.5 Elemental Effectiveness = Silver versus Stonebeak Stonebeak is a Yellow enemy, and so Silver attacks are 110% effective Elemental Effectiveness = 110% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 286.5 * 110% = 315.15 Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Critical Damage = 375 * 110% = 412.5 So, Vyse will inflict about 315 damage, or about 412 if he manages a Critical Hit, both assuming the enemy isn't guarding, a vast improvement. Suppose now the Stonebeak attacks Vyse. Let's assume Vyse has a Vigor of 54. The Nasr Combat Mail he's equipped with boosts his Defense by 66, giving him a Defense of 120. The amount of damage he receives will be about the following: Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Attack Power = 160 * Weakened Attack Power = 160 * 75% = 120 Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Target Defense Power = 120 * Strengthened Target Defense Power = 120 * 125% = 150 Standard Critical Damage = Attack Power * 2 Standard Critical Damage = 120 * 2 = 240 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 240 - 150 = 90 Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - items resistant to Yellow Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - 0% = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 90 * 100% = 90 Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Critical Damage = 240 * 100% = 240 So, we can expect to receive about 90 damage, or about 240 if the enemy manages a Critical Hit. Already both of these values have been improved by the Weakened Status Effect inflicted on the enemy, and the non-critical damage is improved further by the Strengthened Status Effect on Vyse. We can further improve this by equipping Vyse with the Ceramic Armor that boosts Defense by 73, and the Slayer Ring that boosts Defense by 8, improving Vyse's Defense to 54+73+8 = 135, which changes the calculation as follows: Attack Power = 120 Target Defense Power = 135 * 125% = 168.75 Standard Critical Damage = 240 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 240 - 168.75 = 71.25 Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - items resistant to Yellow Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - 0% = 100% Damage = 71.25 * 100% = 71.25 Critical Damage = 240 * 100% = 240 This improves the damage received slightly, but it doesn't affect Critical Hit damage. Now let's try a different strategy; we will equip Vyse with the Yellow- resistant Elastamor Armor that also boosts Defense by 54, and the Yellow- resistant Behemoth's Ring that also boosts Defense by 5. Vyse's Defense is now 54+54+5 = 113, lower than before: Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Attack Power = 160 * Weakened Attack Power = 160 * 75% = 120 Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Target Defense Power = 113 * Strengthened Target Defense Power = 113 * 125% = 141.25 Standard Critical Damage = Attack Power * 2 Standard Critical Damage = 120 * 2 = 240 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 240 - 141.25 = 98.75 Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - items resistant to Yellow Elemental Effectiveness = 100% - 20% - 20% = 60% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 98.75 * 60% = 59.25 Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Critical Damage = 240 * 60% = 144 By equipping elementally resistant items, the damage has been reduced further, from about 70 to about 60, and even the damage from Critical Hits has been reduced. Elementally resistant items don't always reduce damage more than strong Armor, but most of the time they are a good bet, especially two or more. =============================== ============================== ============================== Super Move Attacks ============================= =============================== ========================~BU=== Damage from Super Move attacks apart from Aika's and Fina's Super Moves is almost identical to normal attacks; the main difference is that the attack and defense power is multiplied by a multiplier specific to each Super Move. Character Super Moves and their multipliers are described in the subsection "Super Move Attacks" of "Characters - Strengths and Weaknesses", though I list the multipliers again below. Super Move attacks also differ from normal attacks in that they never miss, and are never Critical Hits. Damage for Aika's and Fina's Super Moves is calculated as if they were magic attacks, explained further below. Super Move Multipliers: Cutlass Fury (7, single) - 1.5 Rain of Swords (14, multiple) - 1.5 Pirate's Wrath (21, single) - 7.5 Tackle (10, single) - 3 Hand of Fate (25, single) - 9 Gunslinger (9, multiple) - 3 The Claudia (18, multiple) - 2.5 Royal Blade (8, single) - 4 The Judgment (16, single) - 8 With these figures at hand, approximate damage from Super Move Attacks can be calculated as follows: Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Super Defense Power Standard Critical Damage = Super Attack Power * 2 Super Attack Power = Attack Power * Super Move Multiplier Target Super Defense Power = Target Defense Power * Super Move Multiplier Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Where "Super Move Multiplier" is the multiplier specific to the Super Move used. Let's go through another example - Vyse's Cutlass Fury versus the Rokwyrm. Suppose Vyse's Power is 65 and he's using the Nasr Cutlass with Attack of 70 and Blue as its Element, making Vyse's Attack 135. According to Eso Arcadia the Rokwyrm has a Defense of 148. The multiplier for Vyse's Cutlass Fury is 2.5. A normal attack on the Rokwyrm under these conditions would do about (135*2)-148 = 122. Attack Power = Attack * Status Effect Attack Power = 135 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened Attack Power = 135 * 100% = 135 Target Defense Power = Target Defense * Target Status Effect Target Defense Power = 148 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened Target Defense Power = 148 * 100% = 148 Super Attack Power = Attack Power * Super Move Multiplier Super Attack Power = 135 * 2.5 = 337.5 Target Super Defense Power = Target Defense Power * Super Move Multiplier Target Super Defense Power = 148 * 2.5 = 370 Standard Critical Damage = Super Attack Power * 2 Standard Critical Damage = 337.5 * 2 = 675 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Super Defense Power Standard Damage = 675 - 370 = 305 Elemental Effectiveness = Blue versus Rokwyrm Although the Rokwyrm is a Red enemy, according to Eso Arcadia its elemental resistances are exceptional in that it is only vulnerable to Purple and only resistant to Red Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 305 * 100% = 305 However, again from its Eso Arcadia page, the Rokwyrm is unusually extremely vulnerable to Purple attacks, which are 190% effective. If Vyse changed his weapon's Element to Purple, this would change the last part of the calculation to: Elemental Effectiveness = 190% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 305 * 190% = 579.5 ================================= ================================= ================================ Magic Attacks ================================ ================================= ===========================~BM=== Damage for magical attacks is a little different. Like Super Moves, they can never miss, and are never Critical Hits. Unlike other attacks, the Strengthened Status Effect has no effect on magic attacks, and the Weakened Status Effect has only a limited effect. The basic attack power of a magical attack uses a character's Will rather than their Attack, and then a fixed amount specific to the magic used is added to the damage. These fixed amounts are listed below, along with the Spirit cost of magic in brackets: Wevli (2) - 120 Wevles (4) - 210 Wevlum (6) - 300 Wevlen (8) - 390 Electri (2) - 120 Electres (4) - 210 Electrum (6) - 300 Electrulen (8) - 390 Pyri (2) - 100 Pyres (4) - 170 Pyrum (6) - 240 Pyrulen (10) - 310 Crystali (1) - 140 Crystales (2) - 240 Crystalum (3) - 340 Crystalen (4) - 440 Noxi (3) - 120 Noxus (6) - 200 Eternum (15) - 500 Aika's Alpha Storm (4) - 120 Aika's Lambda Burst (8) - 200 Aika's Omega Psyclone (12) - 330 Fina's Lunar Glyph (3) - 50 Fina's Lunar Winds (6) - 150 Magic that attacks a range of enemies, rather than all enemies as with Red magic, is more powerful, and magic that damages a single enemy is more powerful still. So, when attacking multiple enemies, Blue and Yellow magic should be used if possible, otherwise Red magic can be used at the cost of lower damage, enemy elemental resistances notwithstanding. Purple magic gets progressively stronger than comparable magic down the levels, and costs half as much. Noxus can be a pretty effective replacement for Pyrum when against enemies resistant to Red attacks. Pyrulen is perhaps a little overrated; a well-placed Wevlen or Electrulen will have enough range to hit most enemies anyway, and will do more damage per enemy hit. However, Pyrulen becomes available sooner, so it may be useful before other magic becomes available. That and, well, it looks awesome. The attacking Element of Aika's Super Moves is always Red, and of Fina's Super Moves is always Silver, regardless of what Element is on their weapon. Alpha Storm is a bit like an early version of Electri, Lambda Burst fits in between Pyres and Pyrum in terms of damage, and Omega Psyclone beats Pyrulen in its destructive power, but not Wevlen or Electrulen. Aika's Delta Shield complements Vyse's Skull Shield, in that it blocks all inbound magic attacks. It's worth pointing out that, looking at the game data as extracted and displayed in Eso Arcadia's enemy pages, the Maroccas of Mid Ocean and the related Buroccas of the Frontier Lands airspace have an unusually low Magic Defense compared to Defense, so attacking these enemies with magic can be very effective compared to regular attacks. The approximate damage caused by a magic attack or one of Aika's or Fina's Super Moves against a particular target can be calculated as follows: Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Attack Power = (2 * Will) + Magic Power Target Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Weakened Where "Will" is the attacker's Will Calculated Attribute, "Magic Power" is the fixed amount of damage added for the magic used as defined above, "Target Magic Defense" is the Magic Defense Attribute of the target, and "Weakened" is 75% if the target is inflicted with the Weakened Status Effect, and 100% otherwise. Strengthened does not affect Magic Defense. As an example, let's consider Loopers, specifically red Loopalons. According to Eso Arcadia they have a very high Magic Defense of 435 compared to their Defense of 136, typical of Loopers, and a total health of 62. Say Fina is at level 15, with a Will of 95. Casting Crystales against a Loopalon yields the following: Attack Power = (2 * Will) + Magic Power Attack Power = (2 * 95) + 240 = 430 Target Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Weakened Target Defense Power = 435 * 100% = 435 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 430 - 435 = -5 = 0 Elemental Effectiveness = Purple versus Loopalon Loopalons are Red enemies, which are 140% vulnerable to Purple attacks Elemental Effectiveness = 140% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 0 * 140% = 0 However, fast forward about five levels until Fina's Will is at 120, and the story is very different: Attack Power = (2 * Will) + Magic Power Attack Power = (2 * 120) + 240 = 480 Target Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Weakened Target Defense Power = 435 * 100% = 435 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 480 - 435 = 45 Elemental Effectiveness = Purple versus Loopalon Elemental Effectiveness = 140% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness Damage = 45 * 140% = 63 Enough damage to defeat the Looper in one hit, and even without the elemental bonus, most of the Looper's health is gone. So, basically, magic tends to either work well against Loopers, if a character's Will is high enough, or not work at all. ============================== ============================= ============================= HP Absorb and Poison ============================ ============================== =======================~BP=== A few enemies in the game know a move called HP Absorb, which transfers a certain amount of health from the target to the enemy. HP Absorb and the Poison Status Effect behave almost identically in terms of the damage they do. The amount of damage sustained from HP Absorb depends on the Vigor of the attacker, and the amount of damage sustained from the Poison Status Effect at the end of each turn depends on the Vigor of the character or enemy poisoned. Additionally, the amount of damage sustained from HP Absorb is halved by guarding. Things that don't affect damage sustained for either of these include the total health of the target, the Strengthened and Weakened Status Effects, the elemental resistances of the target, and the Defense of the target, including any equipped items. HP Absorb is treated like an enemy Super Move, so neither Vyse's Skull Shield nor the Defensive Aura protect against it. Aika's Epsilon Mirror does negate it, though, which looks rather amusing. Aika's Epsilon Mirror does not negate damage from Poison at the end of a turn; it wears off before the poison then takes effect. The fact that the amount of damage sustained from Poison increases as a character's Vigor Attribute increases makes the Vigor Attribute the only Attribute where there's a drawback to increasing it. As mentioned above, unlike what may be commonly thought, Poison damage is not dependant on a character's Maximum HP; you can test this out yourself by buying a load of Zaal Seeds and giving them to Fina, comparing how much damage she sustains from Poison before and after. Enemies knowing HP Absorb along with their Vigor are listed below: - Ghastling (Mid Ocean airspace), 64 - Graver (South Ocean airspace), 212 - Lurker (Frontier Lands), 144 - Ghrost (Yafutoma airspace), 176 - Tsirat (Catacombs), 126 - Tsorok (Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace), 232 - Shrilp (Maw of Tartas), 444 - Garagor (Soltis), 504 As a side-effect of these enemies having higher Vigor than usual, they receive greater damage from the Poison Status Effect, although this isn't too significant as the enemies either have low health or are resistant to being inflicted with Poison. It may be a useful exploit against Garagor however, who can be inflicted with Poison with some persistence. The approximate amount of health absorbed by HP Absorb can be calculated as follows: Damage = Attacker Vigor * 2 Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Where "Attacker Vigor" is the Vigor Attribute of the enemy using HP Absorb. As can be seen, the only defense against this is guarding; Armor and Accessories have no effect. The amount of damage sustained at the end of each turn from the Poison Status Effect can be similarly calculated: Damage = Poisoned Vigor * 2 Where "Poisoned Vigor" is the Vigor Attribute of the character or enemy that is poisoned. The only difference is where the Vigor Attribute comes from, and the fact that there's no random variance in the figure; it is always exactly Vigor*2. ================================= ================================ ================================ Counterattacks =============================== ================================= ==========================~BC=== After a normal non-critical attack that does not miss, or a Critical Hit that was guarded against, there is a chance that the target will Counterattack, provided the original attack was not fatal. It is thought that the chances for Counterattacking are slightly raised when guarding, with the Quickened Status Effect, and slightly lowered with the Weakened Status Effect. There are a few items which raise the chances of Counterattacking for a character. The Vengeance Armor, a Physical-type Armor equippable by Men, and available from the Sailors' Island weapons shop after obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal; and the Accessory Counter Bracer, equippable by Blue Rogues (all characters except Fina and Enrique), a rare enemy drop in South Ocean. The Accessory Defensive Aura disables Counterattacks, as normal attacks effectively never reach the character. Aika's Epsilon Mirror also seems to stop her from Counterattacking. Enemies with Counterattack Moves: There are certain defensive moves that guarantee a Counterattack, although the target may still dodge the attack. Among them are Vyse's Counterstrike, which guarantees Counterattacks from him, and Vyse's Skull Shield, which guarantees Counterattacks from all characters, except those afflicted with Sleep and Confuse for which it merely defends, and except those afflicted with Stone where it doesn't work at all. The following enemies have Counterattack- guaranteeing moves, though this list may be incomplete: - Sceptrum Praeses / Royal Guard (Upper City), Executor/Officer (Grand Fortress), and Defensor/Defender (Hydra), Counter Stance - Mereo/Soldier (aboard the Delphinus at a certain point in the game), Counter Stance - Galcian, Devolver ================================== ================================= ================================= Running Away ================================ ================================== ===========================~BR=== I haven't really experimented with this, so I don't know much about it. The Quickened Status Effect makes it easier to run from battles, so presumably it is linked to Quick; the chances of successfully running away may be similar to the chances for First Strike. Enemies can also run away, and many attempt to do so frequently if the characters are at relatively high levels. According to Kalifa, the Swashbuckler Rating is also a factor of being able to successfully run away; the lower the rating, the easier it is to run away. Some items make running away almost always succeed, if equipped. The Stealth Ring, equippable by all characters, is available for a limited time in the Nasrad marketplace. The White Map, equippable only by Vyse, is obtainable from Domingo after finding 50 or more Discoveries. To stop enemies from running away, notably Loopers, Vyse can equip the Black Map, which reduces chances of enemies running away to almost zero. It is still possible for enemies to successfully run away, but very rare, only about once or twice per playthrough. The Black Map is occasionally dropped by non-white Loopers. So, the easiest way to run away, aside from simply equipping one of the Accessories above, would be to gain the Quickened Status Effect, equip Quick- boosting Armor and Accessories, and otherwise have a low Swashbuckler Rating and high Quick for all the characters. ===================== ==================== ==================== Experience, Magic Experience, and Gold =================== ===================== ==============~BE=== At the end of each battle, a certain amount of Experience and Gold is given, based on the enemies defeated. If no enemies were defeated, none is given. Magic Experience is always awarded after battles unless the characters ran away, but not if the enemies ran away, and is awarded in fixed amounts, increasing from 1 to 5 as the game progresses. Each enemy in the game is worth a certain amount of Experience and Gold, which is awarded if that enemy is defeated. A Kanezl enemy, for example, is worth 1,000 Gold, so defeating a group of three of them with no other enemies would earn 3,000 Gold. The amount of Experience enemies yield varies between the Dreamcast and GameCube versions, though seems to differ by about a factor of 4. Elcian, for example, is worth 7,500 Experience in my version, though I hear he nets 30,000 in the GameCube version. Loopers invariably yield very high Experience, and often Gold too, especially when compared to their health. Defeating them is a good way of leveling characters. The amount of Magic Experience awarded increases as the game progresses, starting at 1. The amount of Magic Experience awarded from bosses is always double, although I think Gordo is an exception. The points at which Magic Experience awarded progresses are: - Game start - 1 - Into Nasr Kingdom - 2 - Into Dark Rift airspace - 3 - Ramirez's second appearance - 4 - Inside Soltis - 5 However, going back to areas from earlier in the game reduces the Magic Experience gained back to the amount awarded for that area. For example, in Dark Rift airspace once it is accessible, Magic Experience awarded is 3, but traveling back to Mid Ocean and fighting enemies there will yield only 1. Exceptions to these rules include: - Gordo, who gives 2 instead of 4 - Kantor (Grand Fortress), which gives 12; only appears once Eversor/Destroyer uses its Emergency move - Elcian, who gives 20 The amount of Magic Experience gained by a character for a particular Element of magic will be a multiple of the amount of Magic Experience awarded. To determine this multiple, count the number of characters with that Element on their weapon, and add 1 if the character in question had that Element on their weapon. For example, at the end of a battle that awards 2 Magic Experience, suppose Vyse had Red equipped on his weapon, Aika had Blue, Fina had Silver, and Drachma had Red. The amount of Magic Experience Fina gains in Red will be 2 multiplied by the number of characters with Red equipped, plus 1 if she had it equipped herself. 2 characters had Red equipped, and she did not have it equipped herself, so the amount of Magic Experience gained for Red is 2*(2+0) = 4. The amount of Magic Experience gained for Silver will be the number of characters with Silver equipped, which is 1, plus 1 if Fina had Silver equipped herself, which she did, giving 2*(1+1) = 4 Magic Experience. The amount of Magic Experience Vyse gains in Red will be 2 multiplied by the number of characters with Red equipped, 2, plus 1 if he had Red equipped himself, which is true, so the result is 2*(2+1) = 6. This can be expressed as follows: Magic Experience Gained = Magic Experience Awarded * (Characters with Element + Own with Element) Where "Characters with Element" is the number of characters with the Element in question on their weapon, and "Own with Element" is 1 if the character in question had the Element in question on their weapon, and otherwise 0. The total amount of Magic Experience gained for all Elements for each character is always the same; it is not possible to equip Elements on weapons in such a way that more Magic Experience is awarded in total. For instance, after a battle awarding 2 Magic Experience, if all characters are equipped with Red, then the amount of Magic Experience each will gain in Red will be 2*(4+1) = 10. If each character has a different color equipped, they will each gain 2*(1+0) = 2 for the three Elements others have equipped that they don't, totaling 6, and 2*(1+1) = 4 for the Element they have equipped, which all together totals 10 Magic Experience gained, as before. If two characters have one Element equipped and the other two have another equipped, the amount of Magic Experience gained for the Element not equipped will be 2*(2+0) = 4, and the amount of Magic Experience gained for the Element that is equipped will be 2*(2+1) = 6, all together still totaling 10. The total amount of Magic Experience gained by each character can be calculated simply as follows: Total Magic Experience Gained = Magic Experience Awarded * (Characters in Party + 1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Mechanics: Ship Battles / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~S Here the mechanisms of ship battles are explained, including details on how damage is calculated, taking into account Status Effects and various Crew Members. An important fact about the damage in ship battles is that damage values always have a "0" appended onto the end; this is why they seem much higher than the values for Attack, Defense, and so on, associated with the ship and its weapons. The key to understanding damage values in ship battles is to ignore the "0" on the end of the figure. Throughout this section, I write damage values with a "(0)" on the end, emphasizing the figure before the final "0". Some terminology - A "Turn" comprises of entering a sequence of moves to execute, three or four, and then those moves executing, along with the enemy's moves. A "Round" comprises of each ship executing a single move, three or four of which comprise a Turn. The optional ship battles that can be fought repeatedly are listed below: - Black Pirates, wandering around near the Temple of Pyrynn - Valuan Spellship, in Mid Ocean about between the Guidestones and the Grand Fortress gate - Valuan Phantom, on the East side of about where Ixa'taka meets South Ocean - Spell Pirates, North Ocean near Ixa'taka - Valuan Gunboat, North Ocean, can be found after the Spell Pirates on the way to Valua, and may also be wandering around near the Grand Fortress gate - Valuan Mage Ship, flying over an enormous crater on the Valuan continent that used to be a lake, once on Disc 2; if I remember rightly the Ancient Palace Discovery is to the Southwest of this lake - Valuan Spectre, near the Grand Fortress gate later in the game - Raja, Deep Sky, upon an "incorrect guess" - Obispo, the giant squid just West of the island with the Giant Squid Nest Discovery, near the Dark Rift - Alaina, wandering around over the Lands of Ice continent - Roc, flying high above the Northwestern border/corner of Ixa'taka ==================================== ===================================== =================================== Spirit ==================================== ==================================== ===============================~ST=== Spirit plays a bigger role in ship battles, as it is needed to do just about anything, one rare exception being attacking with Bombs. As a result, Spirit is slightly different for ship battles, though remains largely the same. The amount of Spirit gained at the start of each turn is equal to the sum of all characters' Spirit, as before, except the ship's Spirit is added to the result. For instance, if each of the four party characters has 3 Spirit, the Delphinus having 4 Spirit, the Spirit gained at the start of each turn will be 3+3+3+3+4 = 16. Similarly, the maximum size of the Spirit Pool is calculated as before, the sum of all characters' Max SP, and the ship's Max SP is added to the result. This means that the maximum size of the Spirit Pool can go above 99, even though the gauge displayed is only capable of going up to 99. It is entirely possible to have more than 99 Spirit in the Spirit Pool, though the gauge will behave a little odd. When Focusing in a ship battle, the Spirit gained is now double that of the character's Spirit; if a character's Spirit is 3, Focusing with them in a ship battle gains 6 Spirit. The Warrior's Heart Accessory has no effect in ship battles. However... in what is probably a glitch, the Ominous Mask Accessory does have an effect. If a character in the party has the Ominous Mask equipped upon entering a ship battle, characters will not gain Spirit at the start of each turn, only the ship will. So, aboard the Delphinus with a Spirit of 4, only 4 Spirit will be gained at the start of each turn; no Spirit from any of the characters will be gained. Characters can still Focus, which yields the normal amount of Spirit, and unlike in ordinary battles, Spirit is not drained at the start of each turn. Various items and Crew Members affect Spirit. Gear Grease adds 10 Spirit to the Spirit Pool. Rudder Grease halves all Spirit consumption from after the point it is used for one turn, and Robinson's Crew Command can be used for the same effect; multiple applications do not continually half Spirit consumption. Machine Oil doubles the Spirit gained at the start of the next turn, and Marco's Crew Command can be used for the same effect; multiple applications do not further multiply Spirit gained. For instance, after using Machine Oil, rather than gaining 16 Spirit at the start of the next turn, 32 Spirit will be gained. Urala's Crew Command will fill the Spirit Pool to full, minus 15, the cost of executing the command, essentially doing the same thing as the Aura of Valor Potion item. This can be useful at the start of a battle, to save Focusing later. ================== ================= ================= Chances of Hitting/Dodging and Critical Hits ================ ================== ===========~SH=== The chances of hitting a target with an attack are just as for ordinary battles; the only difference is where the Hit% and Dodge% Attributes come from. Hit% comes from the weapon used, Torpedoes having notoriously low Hit%. Dodge% is an Attribute of the ship, and for the player's ship it is improved by equipping Engine Parts on the ship. Presumably Dodge is doubled by the Quickened Status Effect, and so the primary benefit of gaining this Status Effect, and reduced by the Weakened Status Effect. Magic attacks and Bombs never miss, although they can be "Lost". Torpedoes can never be "Lost", so can be advantageous to fire in those Rounds in lieu of anything else. Having Don as the Active Helmsman increases the ship's Dodge by 15%. Having Tikatika as the Active Lookout Crew Member raises the Hit% of the ship's Torpedoes by, according to Eso Arcadia, a massive 80%, effectively turning Torpedoes from an often-missing weapon to a highly accurate one, almost guaranteeing a hit against all enemies. You can pretty much ignore the Hit Attribute of Torpedoes if Tikatika is Active. Combine this with the fact that Torpedoes can never be "Lost", and they become quite useful against certain enemies. Critical Hits also feature in ship battles, although unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any indication as to when they occur. Just as before, they are basically attacks that ignore defense. The chances of a Critical Hit depend on the Agile of the character firing the weapon. So, it is always most advantageous to fire Secondary Cannons with the character with the highest Agile, usually Aika. Magic attacks and Bombs cannot be Critical Hits, and the Super Cannon doesn't seem able to be a Critical Hit either. Domingo's Crew Command raises the chances of getting Critical Hits on the enemy, though by how much and for how long is uncertain. Having Tikatika as the Lookout is probably more desirable. The Quickened Status Effect can be particularly useful against enemy ships that fire Torpedoes often. For enemies that dodge attacks a lot, notably Alaina in the Lands of Ice airspace, the Blue Gigas, and the Deep Sky battles, aside using/equipping more accurate weapons, always-hitting magic attacks can also be used. Inflicting Weakened on them may also help. As before, there's not much defense against Critical Hits, aside Pinta and guarding. Unlike in ordinary battles, the Weakened Status Effect won't reduce the target's attack power. ================================= ================================ ================================ Order of Moves =============================== ================================= ==========================~SO=== For each Round, who moves first is usually determined by the Quick of each ship, though for some Rounds it is fixed. The Quick of the character active for the Round doesn't seem to have any effect. As before, the Quickened Status Effect has a significant impact on who moves first. Having Lawrence as the Active Helmsman Crew Member increases the ship's Quick by a small amount. Don is probably the more useful to have as a Helmsman, who increases Dodge. Also, Pow's Crew Command supposedly increases chances of being the first to move for each subsequent Round of the Turn, though I've seldom used it. Moving first isn't as advantageous as in ordinary battles, but it is still useful when needing to heal quickly, and inflicting the enemy with Silence before they can fire a magic attack. ====================== ===================== ===================== Primary Cannons and the Super Cannon ==================== ====================== ===============~SP=== The damage done by Primary Cannons and the Super Cannon depends on the Power Attribute of the character firing them, the Attack Attribute of the weapon fired, the target's Defense Attribute which can be raised by equipping ship Armor and having Brabham as the Active Engineer, the Vigor of the character active for that Round in the target ship, the Status Effect Strengthened, the Status Effect Weakened for the player's ship but not enemy ships, if Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax is in effect, the Round in which the weapon is fired, and for elemental cannons the effectiveness of that Element against the target. Each Round in a ship battle has a pair of multipliers associated with it; one multiplier is for the player's attacks, and the other for the enemy ship's attacks. The approximate relative value of these multipliers is indicated by the background color and icon displayed at the top of that Round's column on the command grid. Rounds with a green background typically have a multiplier of 100% for the enemy and 100% for the player, Rounds with a yellow background typically have a multiplier of around 120%-200% for the enemy and sometimes a multiplier of around 90% for the player, and Rounds with a red background typically have a multiplier of around 150%-300% for the enemy and sometimes a multiplier of around 50% for the player. Rounds with a "C!" icon, called "Chance" Rounds, have a multiplier of around 150%-250% for the player, and Rounds with a Super Cannon icon have a multiplier of around 200%-300%. However, these figures are approximate, and they can vary tremendously. Additionally, the color and icon of the Round does not always indicate when the multiplier changes, though if the multipliers do change it won't be by a significant amount. An important fact to realize is that Super Cannon Rounds are like extra effective "C!" rounds, so if the Super Cannon isn't being fired in them, it's still advantageous to concentrate firepower into those Rounds. Offensively, Strengthened and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax have the effect of increasing the attacker's attacking power, and Weakened has no effect on enemy ships. Defensively, Strengthened, Weakened, and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax have the effect of increasing and decreasing the target's defending power, though for Critical Hits they have no effect, as defense is ignored. The Strengthened Status Effect in ship battles is more powerful - it raises Attack by 150% rather than 125%, whereas the Weakened Status Effect has the same reduction factor of 75%. Also, it is worth noting that the Strengthened Status Effect can be combined with Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax, which also boost Attack by 150% among other Attributes for the duration of the Turn; this more than doubles Attack at 225%. Ilchymis' Crew Command and the Hybrid Wax themselves cannot be combined for an extra boost, however, as they do the same thing. Ryu-kan's Crew Command is basically the same as Incremus and the Apo Wax, giving the Strengthened Status Effect for four Turns, and probably more accessible than Incremus as it will most likely be available earlier. This is at the cost of having Ilchymis as the Active Artisan, however. Gunner Crew Members can add small bonuses to the Attack of weapons when they are Active. Khazim adds 35 to the Attack of Primary Cannons, boosting their damage by about 70(0), and Belle adds 50 to the Attack of Secondary Cannons, boosting their damage by about 100(0). Also, the Builder Izmael increases the Attack of the Super Cannon by 100 when he is Active. The only Primary Cannons that have elemental properties are the Pyril Cannon, available from the Sailors' Island ship store upon obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal, which has Red elemental properties, and the Crystil Cannon, dropped by Galcian's Elite before facing the Hydra provided Kalifa is the Active Merchant of the crew, which has Purple elemental properties. Super Cannons don't have any elemental properties. So, for maximum offensive power, use a character with high Power, a weapon with high Attack, obtain the Strengthened Status Effect, combine it with Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax, inflict the Weakened Status Effect on the target, use a weapon with elemental properties that the target is most vulnerable to if they have any vulnerabilities at all, and fire it on a Round with a high player multiplier, such as on a Super Cannon round, avoiding red and yellow Rounds without an icon. For maximum defensive power, equip multiple Armor items on the ship with high Defense, guard with a character with high Vigor, obtain the Strengthened Status Effect, combine it with Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax, and don't bother inflicting the Weakened Status Effect. The amount of damage done by Primary Cannons and the Super Cannon can be calculated with the following, remembering to append a "0" to the final figure, and bearing in mind that the result will be approximate. Unlike ordinary battles, the attack power of cannons is not capped, and neither is final damage, though the characters' Power and Vigor are still capped at 999. Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Guarded Critical Damage = Critical Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Status Effect * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis The terms are explained below: - Damage - The damage sustained from the attack if it is not guarded, provided it is not a Critical Hit - Guarded Damage - The damage sustained from the attack if it is guarded against, provided it is not a Critical Hit - Critical Damage - The damage sustained from an attack that is a Critical Hit if it is not guarded - Guarded Critical Damage - The damage sustained from an attack that is a Critical Hit if it is guarded against - Elemental Effectiveness - If the player attacks with a weapon with elemental properties, such as the Pyril Cannon or Frost Bomb, this is the percentage vulnerability to the Element of the attack, otherwise this is simply 100% - Round Multiplier - The damage multiplier for the Round, explained earlier, roughly indicated by the color and icon for the round indicated on the command grid - Character Power - The Power Attribute of the character that fired the weapon, 0 for enemy ships - Character Vigor - The Vigor Attribute of the character that is active in the Round when attacked, 0 for enemy ships - Weapon Attack - The Attack Attribute of the weapon fired - Target Ship Defense - The Defense Attribute of the target ship - Status - 150% if the attacker has the Strengthened Status Effect, 75% if the player is the one attacking and has the Weakened Status Effect, 100% otherwise - Target Status Effect - 150% if the target has the Strengthened Status Effect, 75% if the target is afflicted with the Weakened Status Effect, 100% otherwise - Ilchymis - 150% if Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax has been applied earlier in the Turn, 100% otherwise - Target Ilchymis - as above, but for the target ship Let's go through an example. We're in the Delphinus, with a Defense of 50 and armed with Prototype Cannons with an Attack of 100, and we're up against the Auriga, which according to Eso Arcadia has a health of 50,000 and a Defense of 300. Vyse has a Power of 120 and a Vigor of 100, and Enrique has a Power of 105 and say an unusually high Vigor of 130. Firing the Prototype Cannon with Enrique in a green Round with a multiplier of 100% will deal about the following damage: Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 100 * not Strengthened * no Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 100 * 100% * 100% = 100 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * 100% * 100% = 300 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 300 + 0 = 300 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (100 + 105) * 2 = 410 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 410 - 300 = 110 Elemental Effectiveness = Prototype Cannon has no Element Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 110 * 100% * 100% = 110(0) Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = 410 * 100% * 100% = 410(0) We only manage damage of about 1,100, or about 4,100 if we're lucky with a Critical Hit. We can improve this in a number of ways. We can use Vyse rather than Enrique, who has a higher Power of 120. We can use a more powerful weapon, such as the Advanced Cannon with Attack of 150. We can have Khazim as the Active Gunner of the crew, increasing the Advanced Cannon's Attack to 150+35 = 185. We can obtain the Strengthened Status Effect by casting Increm or Incremus or using Apa Wax or Apo Wax. Let's say we have Ilchymis in our crew; we can combine this with Ilchymis' Crew Command, executed in an earlier Round. We can inflict the Auriga with the Weakened Status Effect. Finally, we can fire on a "C!" Round, with a multiplier of say 150%. This gives us the following: Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 185 * is Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 185 * 150% * 150% = 416.25 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * 75% * 100% = 225 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 225 + 0 = 225 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (416.25 + 120) * 2 = 1072.5 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 1072.5 - 225 = 847.5 Elemental Effectiveness = Advanced Cannon has no Element Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 847.5 * 100% * 150% = 1271(0) Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = 1072.5 * 100% * 150% = 1609(0) With all those improvements, we have increased the damage dealt by over a factor of 10, to around 12,710, and a sizable chunk of the Auriga's health. Suppose now the Auriga returns fire with its AP Cannon, which according to Eso Arcadia has an Attack of 300, and the "C!" Round we're in is a yellow Round with an enemy ship multiplier of 120%: Weapon Attack Power = 300 * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 300 * not Strengthened * no Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 300 * 100% * 100% = 300 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 50 * Strengthened * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 50 * 150% * 150% = 112.5 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 112.5 + 100 = 212.5 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (300 + 0) * 2 = 600 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 600 - 212.5 = 387.5 Elemental Effectiveness = Player ships have no elemental vulnerabilities or resistances Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 387.5 * 100% * 120% = 465(0) Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = 600 * 100% * 120% = 720(0) Note that the Weakened Status Effect on the Auriga had no effect on the final damage. Even with the Strengthened Status Effect boosting our Defense, around 4,650 damage is still painful. But, we can make some improvements; suppose we have four Captain's Stripes we haven't used. We can apply them, raising the ship's Defense to 58, and equip some ship Armor, such as three Compound Decks, each increasing Defense by 40 for a total of 120, raising the ship's Defense further to 178. Finally, we can have Enrique active in the Round when the Auriga attacks, with his unusually higher Vigor of 130. Weapon Attack Power = 300 * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 300 * not Strengthened * no Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 300 * 100% * 100% = 300 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 178 * Strengthened * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 178 * 150% * 150% = 400.5 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 400.5 + 130 = 530.5 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (300 + 0) * 2 = 600 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 600 - 530.5 = 69.5 Elemental Effectiveness = Player ships have no elemental vulnerabilities or resistances Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 69.5 * 100% * 120% = 83(0) Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = 600 * 100% * 120% = 720(0) Although damage from a Critical Hit hasn't changed, normal damage has improved considerably to around 830. This is thanks largely to ship Armor equipped, raising the ship's Defense, and the Strengthened Status Effect and Ilchymis' effect, which now have a much larger number to multiply. As a final example, let's fire the Super Cannon. The Super Cannon has an Attack of 800, and can only be fired on Super Cannon Rounds, which have a high multiplier. Say this multiplier is 250%; I'm not sure of the actual figure. We'll use Enrique first. Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 800 * not Strengthened * no Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 800 * 100% * 100% = 800 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * neither Strengthened nor Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * 100% * 100% = 300 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 300 + 0 = 300 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (800 + 105) * 2 = 1810 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 1810 - 300 = 1510 Elemental Effectiveness = Super Cannon has no Element Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 1510 * 100% * 250% = 3775(0) A damage of around 37,750, though this will be around 18,880 if the Auriga is guarding. A good chunk of the Auriga's health either way, but let's make the attack even more powerful. We can fire the Super Cannon with Vyse with his higher Power of 120. We can have Izmael as the Active Builder to increase the Super Cannon's Attack to 800+100 = 900. Finally, we can apply Status Effects and use Ilchymis' Crew Command as before. Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 900 * is Strengthened * Ilchymis Weapon Attack Power = 900 * 150% * 150% = 2025 Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 300 * 75% * 100% = 225 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 225 + 0 = 225 Standard Critical Damage = (Weapon Attack Power + Character Power) * 2 Standard Critical Damage = (2025 + 120) * 2 = 4290 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 4290 - 225 = 4065 Elemental Effectiveness = Super Cannon has no Element Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 4065 * 100% * 250% = 10162(0) We have increased normal damage to around an astronomical 101,620, enough to one-shot the Auriga twice over, and enough to one-shot it even if it's guarding. This is largely due to the Strengthened Status Effect and Ilchymis' Crew Command multiplying the already high power of the Super Cannon. Note that in contrast the Weakened Status Effect has little effect on the damage dealt. ==================== ==================== =================== Secondary Cannons, Torpedoes, and Bombs =================== ==================== ==============~SS=== Other ship weapons behave exactly as for Primary Cannons, except they don't take the firing character's Power into account. They otherwise depend on the same things; their Attack Attribute, the target's Defense, Status Effects and Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax, the Round multiplier, and their attacking element. The Attack of Secondary Cannons can be increased by 50 by having Belle as the Active Gunner of the crew. Alongside of this, having Tikatika as the Active Lookout will increase the accuracy, specifically the Hit, of Torpedoes. There is only one Secondary Cannon with elemental properties; the Wevl Cannon, available in Belle's ship store, has Blue elemental properties. There are four Bombs with elemental properties, each with a different element. The Pyro Bomb is a Red elemental Bomb, dropped by the Spell Pirates, and the Tenkou Spellship. It is the only elemental Bomb also available in a shop, specifically the Maramba ship store. The Frost Bomb is a Purple elemental Bomb, dropped by the Valuan Mage Ship, which can also be fought optionally for a time near the dried lake/crater on the Valuan continent. It is also sometimes dropped by the Valuan Phantom. The Thunder Bomb is a Yellow elemental Bomb, also dropped by the Valuan Mage Ship. The Wave Bomb is a Blue elemental Bomb, sometimes dropped by the Valuan Spellship. Bombs are a bit like Secondary Cannons in terms of the damage they can do, and cost no Spirit to fire, but are not affected by the Strengthened Status Effect or Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax. Like magic, Bombs have no Hit%, and so never "Miss", but can still be "Lost". They can be effective early in the game, but upon getting the Delphinus most become underpowered in comparison. Bombs have an Attack Attribute that determines how much damage is done, just like other weapons, although it's not shown. Bombs are listed below, in order of increasing power. - Bomb - Big Bomb - Concussion Bomb - Elemental Bombs, all with the same power - Pyro/Frost/Thunder/Wave Bomb - Shredder Bomb; along with the elemental Bombs these can be useful on the Delphinus for a time, but upon getting the 3' Cannon and Heavy Torpedo their usefulness begins to dwindle Regarding enemy attacks, as a general rule Torpedoes tend to do the most damage, followed by Primary Cannons, and finally Secondary Cannons. However, as explained earlier, Torpedoes have low Hit, so gaining the Quickened Status Effect may increase chances for dodging them. The damage done by these other weapons can be calculated using a slightly simpler version of the formula for Primary Cannons: Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Critical Damage = Standard Critical Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Guarded Critical Damage = Critical Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Standard Critical Damage - Target Defense Power >>> Standard Critical Damage = Weapon Attack Power * 2 <<< Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Weapon Attack Power = Weapon Attack * Status Effect * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = Target Ship Defense * Target Status Effect * Target Ilchymis The only line that's changed is the line calculating "Standard Critical Damage", which no longer adds the firing character's Power Attribute before multiplying. The only Attributes of the firing character used are the character's Agile for determining the chances of a Critical Hit, and their Vigor for defense if the enemy attacks in the same Round. ================================= ================================= ================================ Magic Attacks ================================ ================================= ===========================~SM=== These behave much the same as in ordinary battles, with one noteworthy difference - the constant values for each spell are a little different. As before, they can never be Critical Hits, and can never miss, though can be "Lost", and the Strengthened Status Effect has no effect, the Weakened Status Effect having only a limited effect. The attack power of magic is determined from a character's Will, and a fixed constant value specific to each spell. The defensive power of the target ship is determined from its Magic Defense, which can be raised by equipping Magic Armor on the ship and by having Hans as the Active Engineer. Firing magic costs MP as before, from the character firing the magic. Polly's Crew Command is essentially a Magic Dew, restoring 10 MP of the character executing it. The constant values added to the attacking power for each spell are slightly different in ship battles, slightly lower and more consistent, and are listed below. Wevli (2) - 120 Wevles (4) - 180 Wevlum (6) - 240 Wevlen (8) - 300 Electri (2) - 120 Electres (4) - 180 Electrum (6) - 240 Electrulen (8) - 300 Pyri (2) - 120 Pyres (4) - 180 Pyrum (6) - 240 Pyrulen (10) - 300 Crystali (1) - 60 Crystales (2) - 100 Crystalum (3) - 140 Crystalen (4) - 180 As far as I can tell, Pyrulen doesn't do any more damage than Wevlen and Electrulen, despite costing more Spirit, enemy elemental vulnerabilities notwithstanding; this could be explained again by the fact that Pyrulen can be learned sooner than the other two. Purple magic except Crystalen doesn't seem to be as efficient in terms of the damage bonus per unit of Spirit cost, again enemy ship elemental vulnerabilities notwithstanding. For more information about enemy ship vulnerabilities and resistances to elemental attacks, see the section "Elements in Ship Battles", although most ships are resistant to elemental attacks. As mentioned above, this constant is combined with the firing character's Will to determine attack power. However... in what is probably another glitch, the firing character's Will Calculated Attribute is used, rather than their Will Base Attribute. This means that equipping Will-boosting Accessories before entering a ship battle increases damage done by magic attacks. Will still cannot go above 999, however. Moegi's Crew Command is essentially the same as the Magic Shell ship item, which is dropped by the Chameleon (Deep Sky), and behaves as if the enemy has been inflicted with Silence for one Turn. Although seeing as Sylenis costs a fraction as much and lasts longer, save only that it may be "Lost" and costs MP, Pinta is probably more valuable, who brings damage from all non-magic attacks down to 0. The approximate damage from a magic attack can be calculated in a very similar way as for ordinary battles, the only differences being that the defending character's Vigor is taken into account, Ilchymis' Crew Command / Hybrid Wax can raise the ship's Magic Defense, and of course the Round multiplier: Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Guarded Damage = Damage / 2 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Attack Power = (2 * Character Calculated Will) + Magic Power Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Ship Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Target Weakened * Ilchymis Where "Character Calculated Will" is the attacking character's Will after applying any bonuses from their equipped Accessory and Armor, "Magic Power" is the damage bonus associated with the particular spell used as listed above, "Character Vigor" is the Vigor of the character active in the Round when the ship was hit, "Target Magic Defense" is the Magic Defense Attribute of the target ship, "Target Weakened" is 75% if the target is afflicted with the Weakened Status Effect otherwise 100%, and "Ilchymis" is 150% if Ilchymis' Crew Command or the Hybrid Wax has been executed in an earlier Round of the same Turn otherwise 100%. As an example, let's fire Electres at the Black Pirates with Fina, Will 90, in a normal green Round with a player multiplier of 100%. According to Eso Arcadia the Black Pirates have a Magic Defense of 10, and a vulnerability to Yellow attacks of 200%. Suppose our ship has the Strengthened Status Effect, and the Black Pirates are already afflicted with the Weakened Status Effect. Attack Power = (2 * Character Calculated Will) + Magic Power Attack Power = (2 * 90) + 180 = 360 Ship Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Target Weakened * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 10 * is Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 10 * 75% * 100% = 7.5 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 7.5 + 0 = 7.5 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 360 - 7.5 = 352.5 Elemental Effectiveness = Yellow versus Black Pirates Black Pirates are 200% vulnerable to Yellow Elemental Effectiveness = 200% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 352.5 * 200% * 100% = 705(0) A damage of around 7,050. Note the fact our ship had the Strengthened Status Effect had no bearing on the damage caused, and would still have no bearing if the target ship was Strengthened. Also, due to the target's low Magic Defense, the Weakened Status Effect had negligible effect on the damage, adding only 50 damage ((10-7.5)*200%*10); it tends to be more useful against ships with higher Defense and Magic Defense. For another example, suppose we're late in the game, and a certain enemy with a Will of 240 fires Crystalen in a yellow Round with a multiplier of 200%. Our ship has a Magic Defense of 120, and has the Spherical Figure Magic Armor equipped, boosting Magic Defense by 300 to 420. Suppose Drachma is active in the Round we're attacked, at around level 40 with a Vigor of 245. Attack Power = (2 * Character Calculated Will) + Magic Power Attack Power = (2 * 240) + 180 = 660 Ship Defense Power = Target Magic Defense * Target Weakened * Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 420 * not Weakened * no Ilchymis Ship Defense Power = 420 * 100% * 100% = 420 Target Defense Power = Ship Defense Power + Character Vigor Target Defense Power = 420 + 245 = 665 Standard Damage = Attack Power - Target Defense Power Standard Damage = 660 - 665 = -5 = 0 Elemental Effectiveness = Purple versus player ship Player ships do not have any vulnerabilities or resistances to elemental attacks Elemental Effectiveness = 100% Damage = Standard Damage * Elemental Effectiveness * Round Multiplier Damage = 0 * 100% * 200% = 0 Thanks largely to the Spherical Figure Magic Armor and Drachma's high Vigor compared to other characters, the damage from the magic attack has been completely eliminated, without even the need to guard. The fact that it was fired on a yellow Round with a significant enemy multiplier of 200% makes no difference. ============================== ============================== ============================= Experience and Gold ============================= ============================== ========================~SE=== Just as for ordinary battles, each enemy ship is worth a certain amount of Experience and Gold, which is awarded if defeated. Magic Experience is not awarded for ship battles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Loopers. What's the deal with them, anyway? / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~L Loopers are cute little things that often run away. They're notoriously hard to hit, and seem to be almost immune to never-missing magical attacks. Most of the time they will run at the first sign of danger, or if lucky they'll cast a spell and then flee at the start of the next turn. Likely you'll have a few encounters with a lone Looper only to have it immediately run off before you have a chance to do anything. So what's up with them, exactly? If all they seem to do is run off, avoid most attacks anyway, and are immune to magic that cannot be avoided, then... why bother with them? Well, mainly, Experience and Gold. When compared to other enemies, Loopers are worth -a lot-. Combine this with their fairly frequent appearances, and defeating them can be quite lucrative. The later they appear in the game, the more valuable they are, ending with the purple Arcloopers as the most valuable. On top of this, Loopers have a chance of dropping the sought after Dexus Seed, and non-white Loopers have a chance of dropping the Black Map Accessory. What about the Kanezl plants? They seem a lot like Loopers, always dodging attacks, running often, and really resistant to magic. Are they the same? Not quite. The Kanezl plants appearing in Frontier Lands airspace and Dark Rift airspace don't give much Experience. However, they do give a lot of Gold - 1,000 each. This is why you'll often see your gold total shoot up at about the point in the game where they appear. This is more than most Loopers. In fact, their original name in the Japanese version is something akin to "Revenue", hinting at their purpose. On the other hand, their bluer-toned cousins, the Imezl plants, are much more like normal enemies, yield an average amount of Experience and Gold, and don't dodge attacks anywhere near as much nor have especially high Magic Defense. Okay, so Loopers and Kanezl plants are worth a lot of Experience and Gold. How do I defeat them? In short, Super Moves. But unfortunately not Aika's or Fina's with their low Spirit cost, as their Super Moves do magical damage rather than ordinary physical damage, which Loopers have a very high resistance to. Earlier in the game, you may have to wait a turn in order for enough Spirit to accumulate for a Super Move, and very early on some Focusing will be needed. While waiting, you can fire a few pot-shots at them in the hope of hitting. But let's look at Loopers' Attributes more in depth (ignoring Elcian). According to the game data as extracted and displayed by Eso Arcadia, they all have a very high Dodge, 150%, a Dodge beaten only by Centralks of Daccat's Island (160%). Kanezls have a slightly lower Dodge of 120%. This means that, with a Hit% of 100%, there's only a 25% chance of hitting Loopers with a normal attack, and no chance at all with a Hit% of 50% or less. In order to have even a 50% chance of hitting them with a normal attack, a character needs a Hit% equal to their Dodge%, at 150%. So, one strategy is to raise a character's Hit as much as possible. Hit is determined from the weapon the character has equipped, plus any bonuses from the equipped Armor and Accessory. Two of Aika's weapons obtainable early in the game have a high Hit of 150%, which are the Storm Wing sometimes dropped in Pyrynn, and the Grendel Wing dropped by the Green Gigas. When firing pot-shots at Loopers these particular weapons can be very effective, with a 50% chance of hitting alone. Without these weapons, many of the forms of Cupil are pretty accurate, more so than Aika's common weapons; forms with high Hit include the basic/first form, Cupicone, Star, Lance, and Spear, and forms to avoid include Cannon, Spike, and Weight. Other highly accurate weapons, obtained much later in the game, are Vyse's Vorlik Blade, crafted by Ryu-kan upon finding the material Velorium, and Gilder's Marksman Gun, dropped by enemies on the Hydra. Both of these have a massive 200% Hit, giving them a 75% chance of hitting. Combine these with Hit boosting Armor and Accessories for maximum effect, which include the following- - Agile-type Armor equippable by Fina and Enrique - Skyseer Goggles for Vyse and Aika, 5%, owned by Vyse - Slayer Ring for all characters, 10%, available from the Mystery Merchant - Crylhound's Claw for Blue Rogues (not Fina or Enrique), 20%, available in the Lower City weapons shop - Counter Bracer for Blue Rogues, 20%, rare enemy drop in South Ocean - Hunter's Hand for Blue Rogues, 40%, enemy drop in Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace - Assassin Ring for all characters, 40%, available for a limited time in the Nasrad marketplace - Nocturnal Sight for Vyse and Aika, 60%, available from the Esparanza merchant - Vigoro's Chain for Warriors (Vyse, Drachma, Gilder), 30%, available from the Esparanza merchant - Critical Vision for Vyse and Aika, 50%, available from Ryu-kan's shop once upgraded - Warrior's Rune for all except Drachma and Enrique, 20%, very rare enemy drop on Dangral Island; may be easier to get from Pinta Quest - Ancient Bracer for Blue Rogues, 40%, a Soltis enemy drop A good combination for raising Hit early in the game is to get Aika's Storm Wing from the enemies in Pyrynn and combine it with a Crylhound's Claw Accessory from Lower City, creating a Hit of 150+20 = 170%, or combine it with a Hunter's Hand Accessory dropped by enemies in Ixa'taka, creating a Hit of 150+40 = 190%. Later in the game the ultimate Hit-boosting Accessory becomes available, Nocturnal Sight, although this is only equippable by Vyse and Aika. The best Hit boosting item for Fina, along with all other characters, is the Assassin Ring, only available for a limited time. A good combination for Fina, a little later in the game, would be to evolve Cupil into Cupil Lance or Cupil Star with 12 Chams, feeding an Abirik after the second Cham for Lance, combined with the Moss Armor found in a ship "treasure chest" in the Dark Rift and Assassin's Ring, giving a Hit of 120+20+40 = 180%. Another strategy for getting around the high Dodge of Loopers is to take advantage of attacks that never miss. These include magical attacks, Counterattacks, and of course Super Moves. Additionally, inflicting Loopers with Sleep or Stone will ignore their Dodge altogether, as targets afflicted with Sleep or Stone cannot dodge attacks. But we hit another snag with magical attacks, often executable before Super Moves in a battle - Loopers have a very high Magic Defense, increasing for Loopers appearing later in the game. This means that magic will only be effective against Loopers with a high enough Will, or a powerful enough spell, or both. Magic is often effective when facing "old" Loopers, already encountered earlier in the game, though much less so against the later appearing Loopers. Fina is the obvious choice for powerful magic, with her rapidly progressing Will and ease of learning magic. Don't worry about the Element of magic used against Loopers; this factor merely multiplies the damage received, which most of the time is either going to be 0 or much higher than the Looper's health. What matters more is how powerful the magic is. Purple magic, for instance, is much more powerful than comparable Blue and Yellow magic, and Red magic is progressively weaker than comparable Blue and Yellow magic. Counterattacking doesn't happen often, but it can be a useful extra weapon against Loopers, as it's not too uncommon that they attack. Chances for Counterattacking are raised with the Counter Bracer, a rare South Ocean enemy drop, and with Vengeance Armor available from the Sailors' Island weapons shop after obtaining the yellow Moon Crystal. Chances are also thought to be increased by the Quickened Status Effect, and by guarding. Vyse's Counterstrike is a very good move to use whilst waiting or Focusing for enough Spirit for a Super Move, as it guarantees a Counterattack if a Looper attacks normally and the attack hits. Furthermore, a little later in the game and against groups of Loopers, Vyse's Skull Shield is even more effective, as it guarantees a Counterattack from any character if a Looper attacks normally and hits, provided the character is not afflicted with Sleep, Confuse, or Stone. All of these strategies can be used whilst waiting or Focusing for enough Spirit to attack a Looper with a Super Move, to increase the chances of defeating Loopers before they run away. The ultimate Super Move to use against groups of Loopers is Rain of Swords, which will wipe them all out. To have enough Spirit for this on the first turn, the characters need to be at around level 50-54. Specifically, Vyse and the secondary character need to have 4 Spirit, and Aika and Fina 3 Spirit, making 4+4+3+3 = 14. Vyse will have 4 Spirit by level 45, and the secondary characters have 4 Spirit by levels 50-54, Gilder being the soonest and Drachma the latest. Before reaching this point, though, Loopers will have ample opportunity to run away. An alternative technique would be to equip the Assassin's Ring Accessory, available for a limited time in the Nasrad marketplace, increasing chances for First Strike, which gives a free turn in which to accumulate Spirit, but its effect on the problem is limited. So how best to stop them running away? There's the Sleep and Stone Status Effects, but there we run into the problem of Loopers being highly resistant to magic again. The chances of an enemy running away are, I believe, calculated based on that enemy's Quick and the Quick of the party. Quick can be raised by equipping various Accessories, notably the Dhabu Hide available for a limited time in the Nasrad marketplace. Though much more effective is the Quickened Status Effect, obtainable with the magic Quika, or at no Spirit cost with Glyph of Speed. I'm actually not sure just how effective this is for stopping Loopers from running away, as I've never tried it on normally leveled characters; it may turn out to be very effective indeed. However, the ultimate way to stop Loopers running away, Elcian with them, is the Black Map. This Accessory, when equipped and only equippable by Vyse, reduces the chances of enemies running away to almost zero. It is still possible for enemies to escape, but very rarely, only about once maybe twice per playthrough. With this equipped, you are free to guard and wait for sufficient Spirit for a Super Move. So then, where to find this incredibly useful, Looper-owning Black Map? Well... it is dropped exclusively by non-white Loopers :P. Elcian also drops it a bit more often, but only appears right near the end of the game, and the Black Map is almost a requirement for defeating him regardless. Okay, so you want to go fight some Loopers, maybe to do a bit of power leveling before a difficult bit in the game. Where to find them? White Loopers are found in Mid Ocean airspace and Shrine Island. Red Loopalons are found in Nasr Kingdom airspace, Pyrynn, and appear frequently in the Eastern half of South Ocean. Green Eloopers appear frequently in the Western half of South Ocean, and in Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace and Moon Stone Mtn.. Yellow Yuloopers appear in Valuan Empire airspace. Blue Goloopers are found in Yafutoma airspace and Mount Kazai. Purple Arcloopers are found in Lands of Ice airspace and the Ruins of Ice. However, there is another area where Loopers appear, in all varieties, and in great numbers. The Looper's Nest airspace is hidden away north of North Ocean, contained within a large triangle formed by a turbulent sky rift and a stone reef. At the very least, you'll need to be at a point in the game where the ship is able to fly through gray stone reefs in order to access it. There's a large group of Kite Rays roaming around close to the Northern sky rift bordering the area, which can be fun to catch between battles. ================================= ================================== ================================== Gadianos =================================== ================================= ============================~LG=== Gadianos, an "enemy ship" enemy that appears just before landing at Soltis, is very much the Looper of ship battles. A non-repeatable ship battle, it's good at dodging attacks, its Magic Defense is enormous so always-hitting magic attacks don't fare well against it, it usually attacks first, and it runs off if not defeated quickly. Combine this with the fact that it's not particularly powerful, and... What's the point of it? Simple - If defeated before it escapes, it drops two very valuable items. The first is the Sparkling Deck ship Armor, extremely effective armor more than seven times the strength of the next best armor. The second is the Moon Gun Secondary Cannon, very powerful, very accurate, can fire for four rounds, and uses less Spirit than the 3' and 5' Cannons. Goes with the Moon Cannon Primary Cannon dropped by the Hydra, and the Moon Torpedo also dropped by the Hydra. Don't miss your chance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / FAQ / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~Q There are some small spoilers in some of the answers in this section, so read with discretion. - What version of the game did you use? The Dreamcast version, specifically the European version. - What in the world is a Ballista Rostram / Praeses / ? The European version of the game, including the version sold here in England, has different names for some of the enemies. Since these are the names I'm familiar with, they're the ones I primarily use, though I've tried to include what I understand are the US names alongside of them, where they differ. The enemy called "Hydra Elite" in the US version, for example, is just called "Hydra" over here, making the name particularly confusing. - I have the GameCube version; where does Disc 1 end and Disc 2 begin in the original? At the end of the Yafutoma part of the game. Specifically, after the event where the player receives the Blue Moon Crystal and the Book of Polarity, a prompt appears indicating that the end of Disc 1 has been reached, and to insert Disc 2. Following insertion of Disc 2, the player is back in world- space, by Yafutoma. - Why are the damages in ship battles so high compared to ship and weapon attributes? All damage in ship battles have a "0" appended onto the end of them. The key to understanding damage in ship battles is to ignore this final "0" in the damage figures; things should then start to make sense. Also remember that "C!" and Super Cannon Rounds multiply damage dealt by your ship by around 150%-300%, and similarly for yellow and red Rounds for enemy ships. - What's the difference between a boss and a normal enemy? Is Zivilyn Bane a boss? Easy - the background music. So no, Zivilyn Bane is not a boss, and nor is Elcian. - Enemy drops? What are they? After battles, sometimes a notice is displayed listing items that you've acquired. These items have been "dropped" each by a particular enemy that was defeated in the battle. Each item that an enemy can drop, usually just one if anything at all, has a certain chance that, upon being defeated, the enemy will drop that item. Different enemies drop different items with varying chances. Only enemies that are defeated drop items; if an enemy manages to escape, it will not drop any items. Many of the items dropped by enemies are not available in shops. The Eso Arcadia website has extensive information about enemy item drops and their chances; see there for full details. - What's the ship's Value Attribute for? Apparently the game was to have a feature allowing the player to sell their ship, for which this Attribute would be relevant. Why the Value Attribute was left in and not also removed I don't know; it doesn't seem to have any effect, alongside the various items that increase it. I hear there's some sort of achievement in the GameCube version for collecting all those items, though. - Where are the Frontier Lands? For the purposes of this guide, the Frontier Lands airspace is the airspace home to Nasrad, Crescent Isle, Daccat's Island, and the airspace North of the Valuan continent, home to Ilchymis' Island. So basically it's the airspace North of the South Dannel Strait, up to the ordinary sky rift North of Daccat's Island, and most of the airspace North of Valua. - Where's the Looper's Nest? The Looper's Nest airspace is North of North Ocean on the map. It is accessible late in the game, not far into Disc 2, when you gain the ability to fly through gray stone reefs. It is roughly a large triangle on the map, with two sides formed by a turbulent sky rift and one side formed by a stone reef. I named the airspace after the Discovery found there; it doesn't have a name on the map. See also the section "Appendix: Enemy Airspaces" for more information on the various airspaces in the world where enemies appear. - Where's the Nasrad marketplace with all these limited-time items? The Nasrad marketplace area is accessible by going up the stairs between the ship store / Sailors' Guild building, and the tavern building. The Accessory items sold there by one of the merchants are potentially quite useful, but all items sold there are only available for a limited time. Be sure to buy everything you want from the merchants there before completing Daccat's Island. - Where are all the optional ship battles? I've listed them near the start of the section "Mechanics: Ship Battles". I'm not exactly sure when some of them appear and disappear, the three giant monsters in particular. - Where's Ryu-kan's weapons shop? Ryu-kan needs to be recruited into the ship's Crew, upon which he will open a shop on Crescent Isle, located in the round cave. In order to recruit Ryu-kan, I believe Vyse's Swashbuckler Rating needs to be Daring or higher. He can originally be found on Ryu-kan's Island, an island far North of Yafutoma and through a normal sky rift. - Where's Ilchymis' Potions/Seeds shop? Ilchymis needs to be recruited into the ship's Crew, upon which he will open a shop on Crescent Isle, located in the round cave. In order to recruit Ilchymis, I think at least one character needs to know the spell Riselem; I'm not sure if Vyse himself has to know it or not. He can originally be found on Ilchymis' Island, an island high above the clouds at about the center of the large airspace North of the Valuan continent. His shop needs to be upgraded before he sells Seeds. - How do I "upgrade" Ryu-kan's/Ilchymis' shop? Upgrading a shop owned by one of the Crew Members basically involves speaking to the owner and giving them some funds to make improvements, in return for which they will start selling new and improved items. The upgrade is not immediate; as for building modifications, you'll need to leave and return to the island for it to take effect. To upgrade Ilchymis' shop, simply speak to him. He may tell you a story first, in which case speak to him again afterwards. Unfortunately it's not as easy with Ryu-kan, who tends to moan about being tired a lot when spoken to. At some point in the game, I think after visiting Dangral Island, he will suddenly start complaining about his paltry shop environment when spoken to, and you'll be able to get him to upgrade it, making it "adequate" :P. - Where is Belle's ship store? Belle or Khazim need to be recruited into the ship's crew, upon which one of them will open a shop on Crescent Isle, located in the underground port near the gantry leading to the ship, next to the save point. Belle can initially be found right next to this building when you arrive, and joins the crew upon spoken to. - How do I get the Black Map? The Black Map is dropped by all non-white Loopers. So, basically, fight loads of Loopers. There's a plentiful supply of Loopers as random encounters in the Looper's Nest airspace, if you don't have the Black Map by the time that area becomes available. - How do I get the White Map? It's one of the items Domingo gives you as a reward for finding a set number of Discoveries, when he's a member of the crew. Find at least 50 out of the 64 Discoveries, and talk to him up in the Crescent Isle meeting room. If he's not already in the crew, he can be found in Gordo's Bistro, which appears in the middle of North Ocean once you can get back there again. You'll need to have found at least 30 Discoveries for him to join. There's no other way of getting it, so whatever you do don't sell it :P. - How do I get Captain's Stripes? There are a fixed number of Captain's Stripes in the game, and you always get them during the normal course of the game. Unfortunately there is no recurring enemy or enemy ship that drops them. - I'm after Seeds - Who's Zivilyn Bane? Zivilyn Bane only appears a fixed amount of times during the game, so is only a very finite source for Seeds. All his battles are optional, and are entered upon attempting to open a chest containing a valuable item he's after. - Who exactly is this Elcian fellow I keep hearing about? (some spoilers) Elcian is a special Looper that enables fast leveling of characters, due to the very large amount of Experience, Magic Experience, and also Gold that is awarded for defeating him. Contrary to what is often said, he does not appear after Soltis; he appears right next to the end of the game, after the Hydra and just before the fight with Gadianos. He appears in the last pocket of the Dark Rift before the Eastern blue exit pocket, near the save point, as a large gray Looper. It is necessary to press "A" when near him to start the battle, rather than simply colliding with him. He reappears each time the Dark Rift level is entered. Be warned - he is extremely powerful. Save before you first fight him. As for how to defeat him, I think there's a guide dedicated to him on GameFAQs, or if not at least one of the guides there gives a good technique. - What are the forms of Cupil and how do I get them? A few of the guides on GameFAQs have already covered the subject of Cupil quite nicely; see them for further details about Cupil. - What exactly does Aika's Delta Shield block? Delta Shield blocks inbound magic, including magic cast upon the same character that casts it. It does not, however, block outbound magic, and it does not block Crystals. Delta Shield will block enemy magic attacks, and healing and positive Status Effect magic from allies. Delta Shield will not block allies' magical attacks on enemies, and will not block healing and positive Status Effect magic used by enemies. Delta Shield will block Vyse casting Sacri on himself, but will not block Vyse using a Sacri Crystal on himself. - Why do guides like these always stick to boring ASCII characters, and never take advantage of the plethora of vibrant characters and combining punctuation offered by the now well-established Unicode standard? Why, you could have spelled ScarabeÌ￾e correctly! Yes, I am aware I could do things like ┌────── make better horizontal │ and vertical borders, â–‘â–’â–“use shading,â–“â–’â–‘ â‘¢ have â—￾ fancy â—‡ bullet â—‘ points, “use decent double quotesâ€￾, have a proper copyright © symbol, ↱ point to ⇄ all sorts of things â‡￾ and mark them to be of interest ⌘, and generally â￾„ have access to ° a variety of ✳ useful punctuation, but the GameFAQs guidelines recommend ASCII characters only, citing the ideal of portability across all devices. Unusual characters aside, even though all Web-capable devices nowadays ought to be supporting Unicode along with a healthy amount of popular characters, I can sympathize with their argument. Well, to an extent… - What's up with the weird "i>?" thing at the start of the guide? Uh... ignore that ^^;. If it's showing. In fact, better ignore the previous question too, as it will also be a load of garbage. If you must know, it's something called a BOM; switch your Browser's display encoding to UTF-8 to get rid of it, and with that the previous question should make more sense. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Copyright / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~Y As I've stated in my other guide, I don't know what all the fuss is about regarding copyright. The basic terms of copyright, largely concerning ownership rather than copying, are implied and automatic anyway. Besides, the culture of the Web has historically been a free and open one, and I see no reason to argue. Even if I wanted to stop you from making multiple copies of this guide, storing it on all your devices, or mass-printing it for some reason, would I be able to? Not really. So, basically, use this guide how you like. Publish where you like. Just don't plagiarize. Common sense, really. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Appendix: Enemy Airspaces / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~.E The world-space is divided into several airspaces in which encounters with certain enemies can occur. Throughout the guide I've given these airspaces names suffixed with "airspace"; I've listed where to find them below. These airspaces do not always exactly correspond with how they are listed on the map. There are some spoilers as to what's in the world and where in this section. Mid Ocean airspace- The first sky of the game, within the boundaries of the sky rifts enclosing the area, up to the rock tunnel Northeast of Shrine Island. Mid Ocean North airspace- The sky through the rock tunnel Northeast of Shrine Island, home to Sailors' Island. Its borders are the surrounding sky rifts and stone reefs, and goes up to the South Dannel Strait. Nasr Kingdom airspace- The sky through the stone reef in Mid Ocean North airspace, bordered by sky rifts and the Nasr mountains, up to the approach to South Ocean. Home to Maramba. South Ocean airspace- More-or-less as it is on the map, bordered by its North and South sky rifts, except the West border of it may be further East than on the map. Ixa'taka Kingdom airspace- The sky after South Ocean, surrounded by sky rifts and the stone reef, up to the Iron Net in the far North. Some of the enemies that appear in this airspace also appear in North Ocean airspace. North Ocean airspace- The sky through the Iron Net of Ixa'taka airspace, surrounded by sky rifts, including a turbulent sky rift to the North, and a "V" of sky rifts to the Southwest. Goes up to a little before the start of the Valuan continent. Valuan Empire airspace- The sky over the Valuan continent. This also extends slightly into the airspace North of Nasrad, close to the Valuan continent, and slightly into the airspace North of the Valuan continent. Frontier Lands airspace- The sky starting from Nasr's South Dannel Strait and extending North, with Valuan Empire airspace bordering it on the West and a turbulent sky rift bordering it on the East. This includes all the airspace around Nasrad, despite what it says on the map. This also includes most of the airspace North of the Valuan continent, a short distance North from its Northern edge, bordered by sky rifts. Home to Nasrad, Crescent Isle, and Daccat's Island. Dark Rift airspace- The Dark Rift is surrounded by an ordinary sky rift, which must be passed through to reach Esparanza. This airspace forms the skies within that surrounding sky rift to the West of the Dark Rift. Home to Esparanza. Yafutoma airspace- An entire North-South slice of the map, stretching from the bordering Dark Rift's sky rift Eastwards all the way to the stone reef. This includes the area inside the ordinary sky rift surrounding the Dark Rift. Lands of Ice airspace- The sky South of South Ocean, bordered by sky rifts. It extends a little further to the South than the continent's Southern edge. Looper's Nest airspace- The large triangle on the map North of North Ocean, formed by a turbulent sky rift and a stone reef. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- / / / / / Appendix: Armor Classifications / / / / / /________________________________________________________________________/ ~.C Characters can equip one Armor, and one Accessory. Armor, and to a lesser extent Accessories, can be categorized into two sets of groups. Firstly, they can be categorized into what group of characters can equip them, and secondly, they can be categorized into what Attributes they boost and to what proportions. I don't list all of the Armor here, but I give a few examples. Among other things, knowing what categories an Armor falls into by looking at who can equip it and the Attributes it improves can help with deciding when to sell it, when a stronger equivalent Armor is bought or found. Let's start with who can equip Armor. Each Armor can be equipped by a specific group of characters. These groups are as follows- - Warriors - Vyse, Drachma, Gilder - Mages - opposite of Warriors; Aika, Fina, Enrique - Blue Rogues - Vyse, Aika, Drachma, Gilder - Regal - opposite of Blue Rogues; Fina, Enrique - Men - Vyse, Drachma, Enrique, Gilder - Women - Aika, Fina - General - equippable by all characters There are a few exceptions; Vyse's Uniform is equippable by Blue Rogues except Drachma, Drachma's Shirt is only equippable by Drachma, and Enrique's Coat is only equippable by Enrique. All the General Armor either gives resistance to a certain Element, or gives a slight boost to Attack and Will. The second way of categorizing Armor is by what Attributes they improve and to what proportions. These groups are as follows- - Basic - improves Defense and Magic Defense in equal measure, all the General and Blue Rogue Armor fits into this group - Physical - improves Defense a little more and Magic Defense a little less, all Armor for Warriors and Men fits into this group, including Drachma's Shirt - Magical - improves Magic Defense a little more and Defense a little less, all Armor for Mages and Women fits into this group - Agile - improves Defense and Magic Defense in equal measure, and also improves Hit and Dodge, all the Regal Armor fits into this group, including Enrique's Coat Armor that boosts additional Attributes to those mentioned above includes the Nasr Combat Mail and Victory Mail General/Basic Armor that slightly improve Attack and Will, the Moonlight Robe Women/Magical Armor that boosts Dodge, the Swift Dress Women/Magical Armor that improves Quick, and the Vengeance Armor Men/Physical Armor that improves Counterattack.