SAGA FRONTIER SKILL FAQ
By: Aya Brea
aya.brea@ilovelara.com
Note: This is a guide made for the US version of SaGa Frontier.
There are many SaGa Frontier FAQs there out on the net but I thought
some skills need explaining. This FAQ will explain the use of
various techs, skills and magic, how to learn them easily and where
to obtain them as well as some tactics and tricks I've discovered.
This FAQ does not, however, include an item list, enemy list, mystic
weapon list and a few other lists.
This is my first attempt at writing an FAQ so any help will be
appreciated. English is not my first language so it's very likely
that some parts may not make sense or is grammatically incorrect.
Also, this guide is still unfinished. Some data maybe wrong, left
blank or I just forgot to put them in. Please e-mail me with any
mistakes or if you want to contribute to this FAQ or you have a
problem with the game.
CONTENTS
- Revision
- Credits
- Introduction
- History of SaGa
- Starting the game
- Menu
- The world
- Battle
- Races
Humans
Mystics
Mecs
Monsters
- Combos
- Human sword skills
Sword skill list
Alkaiser sword skills
Special sword skills
Tips on sword skills
- Human fighting skills
Fighting skill list
Alkaiser fighting skills
Tips on fighting skills
- Human gun skills
Gun skill list
- Magic
- Magic list
Ying-Yang
Light Magic
Shadow Magic
My thoughts on Ying-Yang Magic
Symbol
Arcane Magic
Rune Magic
My thoughts on Symbol Magic
Dimentional
Time Magic
Space Magic
My thoughs on Dimentional Magic
Magery
Realm Magic
Mystic Magic
My thoughts on Magery Magic
Spiritual
Mind Magic
Evil Magic
My thoughts on Spiritual Magic
Unaligned
Mirage Magic
My thoughts on Mirage Magic
Life Magic
My thoughts on Life Magic
Tips on magic
- Human dodge skills
Dodge skill list
- The ideal Human character
Sword users
Hybrid sword users
Martial art experts
Hybrid fighting experts
Gun users
Hybrid gun users
Magic users
Hybrid mages
The master magician
- How to build your Mystic
Spells to give to your Mystic
Monster absorption
The ultimate Mystic
- How to build your Mec
Mec skills
Mec equipment
- How to build your Monster
Monster forms
The ultimate Monster
Where to absorb the skills
- General tips on how to suceed in this game
- Character evaluations
Main characters
Humans
Mystics
Mecs
Monsters
- Well known tricks
- Other tricks
- Miscellaneous
REVISION
========
v1.0 - 12/Apr/99
First version. Everything is in but still missing a few things such
as quotes and skills description.
V1.2 - 14/Apr/99
Updated the section about SaGa Frontier 2 now the game has been
confirmed for an US release.
V2.0 - 16/Apr/99
Added the "General tips" section and fixed up more errors. Shoud be
ready for public viewing.
CREDITS
=======
* Square, for making this amazing game.
* Nefdar, for his most excellent FAQ which inspired me for writing
this FAQ.
* Asura for his detailed FAQ on Monsters. And also Masterman.
* Thanks to everyone who wrote an FAQ on this game as well as
everyone who submitted a trick or helped them on it.
* Thanks to everyone who wrote an FAQ on Romancing SaGa 3, which
helped me complete the game.
INTRODUCTION
============
Hello and thanks for reading my SaGa Frontier Skill FAQ. This FAQ is
designed to explain the use of most of the skills, how to learn them
and which ones are the best for a certain situation. However, it's
intentionally designed for a human but I will include special
sections on various other races and list some of the more useful
skills for them. Near the end of this FAQ, I will also include a
character evaluation, which none of the existing FAQs had. This will
include where to find a certain character, the skills they're best
at and a bit about their backgrounds. There are also various
miscellaneous stuff that I found quite interesting. So I hope you'll
have a fun time reading this FAQ and I hope that you guys will find
this useful.
HISTORY OF SAGA
===============
Another masterpiece RPG series made by Square. The SaGa series were
largely accepted as a popular RPG in Japan for many years. For those
of you who are not familiar with the past SaGas or the SaGa series
itself, here's a short summary of it.
Non-linearity is the strength (or weakness, depends on your taste)
of the SaGa series. You are basically free to go anywhere you want
and do what ever you want. Reduced linearity usually means reduced
story and character development, and this is what really turns some
people off, so if story development like those of Final Fantasy is
your main priority in an RPG, then I suggest you to not even touch
one of these games! SaGa series uses a rather unique levelling up
system, it's similar to that of Final Fantasy 2 (Japan) in that
you'll gain what you use during combat. Instead of a certain amount
of experience points you gain after the battle which when a certain
amount has been cumulated, will cause your character to go up a
level. In SaGa, the experience are in the form of stat boosts (which
depends on which game you're playing) can either gain you a direct
stat boost (ie. raise in strength) or a proficiency level. You might
gain stats after every fight but you might gain hardly anything at
all. Also in SaGa, instead of running into a random fight every
random numbers of steps you take, you'll be able to see he enemy as
it comes at you and you can try to avoid it.
GameBoy SaGa
Believe it or not, SaGa Frontier is actually the seventh game in a
series known as SaGa. (Or Romancing SaGa) The first 3 SaGa games
were made for the GameBoy and appeared in the US as Final Fantasy
Legend 1, 2 and 3. (I am not sure of what their original names were,
so if you know, mail me and tell me.) Now I don't know what exactly
possessed them (the publishers) to change the title of the game, but
my best guess would be that they felt it would achieve better sales
number by adopting the name of SaGa's cousin series Final Fantasy.
Anyone who has played any of these GameBoy SaGas would probably call
them "weird". These games consist of various races that have
different powers and powers up differently, this feature had been
retained in SaGa Frontier. (Yay!!) I have played none of these 3
titles so I won't comment too much on it.
Romancing SaGa
Romancing SaGa is the first "real" SaGa game IMO. It made its debut
on the Super Famicom in Japan in 1991. Now I can not say for certain
but I think this is the first game in the series to introduce the
free scenario system, which when translated into the game, means
multiple quests with different heros. There were 8 different
characters to choose from, 4 male and 4 female. The characters range
from a prince to a pirate to a thief and many more. Your initial
stats are determined by various questions asked by the game before
you start. You are allowed 6 characters in your team simultaneously
and they can learn different skills depending on what type of weapon
they use in battle. However, the equipment system still follows the
traditional "body-part" system, meaning you can only equip a certain
item on a certain body part, like a helmet on the head. This is
also the first game to use the excellent spontaneous learning
system. (Or light bulbs.) After the battle, your characters will
gain stats directly. Also, conflicting schools of magic like that of
SaGa Frontier is also in this game, some of the spell types made it
into Frontier, such as Mirage and Evil. I have not given this game
much of a go because I can't understand it...
Romancing SaGa 2
Romancing SaGa 2 came out in Japan in 1993. The graphics had been
greatly improved. I think there are 7 playable characters but it's
kinda hard to tell since you can't select your hero from the
beginning. The game uses a generation system sorta like Phantasy
Star 3. When the king/queen dies, the main character switches to one
of the king-queen's children. This game introduced the weapon/spell
proficiency system. Weapons and their techs falls into a few types,
they're given a value from 0 to above 40. The higher the value of
the proficiency level, the more damage you'll do when you attack
with that type of weapon or weapon tech. The same goes with magic,
the more proficient you are with the magic type, the more powerful
are your spells. After the battle, instead of gaining basic stats,
your proficiency level might rise if you have used that type of
weapon/spell during battle. This is, IMHO, less flexible than
gaining straight stats because your when you switch your character
to another weapon type, they're very likely to be proficiency level
zero, which means they'll do VERY little damage even with a powerful
weapon! The "free style item equip system" made its debut in this
game. Also, you can seal your skills after you learn them but
they'll be gone forever! Note that techs and magic are held by
separate slots, 7 for techs and 7 for magic. I haven't played this
game much either.
Romancing SaGa 3
This is probably my second favourite SaGa game after Frontier. It
came out in Japan in 1995. There are 8 characters again for this
game, and can also customize their stats by the question the game
asks you after you select the character. The weapon/spell
proficiency is still here but they've made it better. You can seal
your techs to equip it later, but only on one condition... You have
to master it first. How do you do that? Well, when you first learn a
tech, it will be in red in the menu. If you use it enough times,
you'll master it so you can seal it to equip it later. Even better
is that when you master a tech, ALL your party members will be able
to equip it as well! There are also tons of party formations to play
with. Each character's intros were also well done, using the RE2
style intermingling except it has 8 main characters! But the bad
news is that, instead of having completely different quests like
SaGa Frontier, RS3's quests are just slightly different. Each
character has mostly the same storyline and same bosses, this
hinders greatly on replay value of the game, no surprise that I've
only clocked it once.
SaGa Frontier
Released in Japan in 1997 and came to the US shores a little later.
This is the game this faq is all about so read on for all (well,
most of anyway) your SaGa Frontier needs. One note worth mentioning
is that the classic parchment world map was eliminated in this game,
making it impossible to tell what the world of SaGa Frontier looks
like. (No, Blue's RegionMap does not count because it's just a
series of shapes and polygons stringed together, not parchment.)
SaGa Frontier 2
It has been released in Japan recently. Although Square has EA
behind them over in the US, no one can say for sure whether that
this game will get published in the US, since the response for SaGa
Frontier was not very good. I think I'll have to go jump off the
building if they don't translate it. (Did you hear that Square? Now
you're obligated to bring it over!)
UPDATE! A US release of SaGa Frontier 2 had been confirmed. Keep
your eyes peeled during the first few months of 2000.
From what I've heard, the "free scenario system" has been stripped
bare but will bring back the "generation system" that's been used in
Romancing SaGa 2. Also, I was not pleased to see from the
screenshots that the weapon/spell proficiency system is back again.
Weapon types includes Swords, Axes, Spears, Staffs, Bows (YES!) and
Fighting. The combos are back too but I am not sure if they're
customizable. You can only have a maximum of 4 characters in your
party. The game looks cute though, kinda reminds me of FFT.
STARTING THE GAME
=================
Let's start with the basics! Upon starting the game and choosing
your character, you'll be able to make a new System's Data File. You
don't have to do it if you don't want to and it won't hinder or
affect your game in any way. But I recommend in doing that because
after completing all 7 quests, you'll get a few cool bonuses and you
get to meet the programmers. (But most of them are boring anyway
so.....) The game will ask for your stats such as name and star
sign, I don't know what effect this has (or anything at all) so just
put in anything you want. Also, it's important that you wait `til
the System's Data screen to come up after viewing the character's
ending to update your System Data.
I assume that you're familiar with the button configuration of this
game because I will not waste my time explaining it, it's not too
complicated so take your time to learn them. One important note, the
Quick Save option (pressing the Triangle and R2) is EXTREAMLY handy
in this game and it only takes a second, you should get into the
habit of using this often! But remember, NEVER push the restart
button or turn the power off when you're using QS, it'll erase it!
So before you turn off the power, use the normal save option in the
menu.
MENU
====
Pressing the Square button on the field screen will get you to the
main menu. The 3 vertical columns represent your 3 teams, each
having 5 slots to fill your team members with. The window on the
right is your command window and the little one below it is the
miscellaneous window, containing information such as the current
place (or Region) you're currently in and your credits (money).
These are the commands:
Status
Item
Position
Equip Weapon
Equip Ability
Config
Save
---Status---
Contains all the important information about a certain character in
your current party. On the top left corner is your character's
picture, as well as a few basic stats:
* Name: The... name of the party member. You can usually regconize
them by their picture.
* Sex: The gender of your character, I don't think it affects the
game in anyway. Note a Monster or Mec has "Neutral" gender.
* Race: Very important as how to develop the character. Note for a
Mec, this will tell you which type they are and for a Monster, it's
the form that they're currently possessing.
The following 4 stats are what I call "power points".
* HP: Hit Points. Measure the physical endurance a character has.
When this drops to zero, the character will fall unconscious and
will be unable to act and is vulnerable to attack. Each attack that
hits an unconscious character will cause them to loose an LP. (See
below) An unconscious character can be healed by any healing
methods. Your HP will be fully refilled once a fight is over.
* LP: Life Points. The number of "lives" your character has before
they "die". You can loose these when you get hit while your
character is unconscious. (See above) Once you loose them all (which
is not very easy to do) then your character is considered "dead".
They'll still occupy a slot in your team but all their power points
(HP, WP etc.) will be zero! And they'll be removed from your team
during combat. (Meaning that they'll not be there.) However, you can
"revive" a "dead" character by staying at an inn or using a
SancturyStone, anything that refills all of your character's power
points. If your main character runs out of these then it's Game
Over! Be careful because some enemy attack can drain LP directly,
also some skills will also drain LP. The first number is your
current LP and the second number is your maximum LP.
* WP: Waza (Japanese for technique) Points, also known as Weapon
Points. These are the potential your character has in releasing a
powerful technique. Each time you use a skill/technique that has a
WP cost, the cost of that skill will be subtracted from your current
WP. When your WP gets too low, you will no longer be able to use
that skill so use these sparingly! These will NOT refill after a
battle. You can refill your WP by staying at an inn. The first
number indicates your current WP and the second number is your
maximum WP.
* JP: Jutsu (Japanese for magic) Points, there are no English
equivalent so this is also known in the States as the Ja-something
Points. The potential a character has in casting magic spell. Like
WP, each time you cast a spell, the cost is deducted from your
current JP value, when it gets too low, you'll be unable to cast
some/all spells. These also will NOT refill after battle. You can
refill these by lodging at an inn etc. Again, the first number is
your current JP and the second is your maximum JP.
On the left hand side of the window is your character's "hidden"
statistics. These stats wont be shown in battle but they all affect
your character's actions in a certain way, so they're just as
important as your basic stats, although some are more important than
others:
* Strength (STR): The power of your character. Affects the ability
your character has at inflicting damage with physical attack and
skills. Perhaps the most important skill for your Human swords and
fighting characters.
* Quickness (QUI): The agility of your character. Affects your
ability to dodge an attack (indicated by the pop-up "miss") and how
fast your character will act during battle. (If they have high QUI,
they'll act early.) It is sometimes advantageous to act later in the
round.
* Intelligence (INT): Affects the speed at which the character
learns magic wit the help of "gifts" and the effectiveness of
mechanical weapons (cannons/lasers). I think this may also affect
how fast your character will learn gun techs.
* Will (WIL): The accuracy of weapon attacks. Also the higher the
WIL, more damage can be done when using a gun tech or a spell, as
well as the effectiveness of a spell (such as the death effect of
the Arcane Magic "Death"). Finally, the higher the WIL scores, the
more likely you'll achieve additional status effect of some skills
(ie. The petrify effect of Cockatrice, the Stun effect of AirThrow
and the Palsy effect of Blizzard.) The most important statistic of a
magic/gun user!
* Psychic (PSY): The resistance your character has of avoiding
negative status alignments. Less useful than most stats, but very
helpful occasionally. Also affects the speed you recover from
status. A character having high PSY is virtually immune to negative
status! I am not sure if PSY resists Feint effects.
* Vitality (VIT): It's supposed to be the resistance towards attack
and the Sleep status. I haven't quite figured it out yet but I think
that this will act with your character's Defence values against
enemy skills. (Not physical attacks) A character having high VIT
will take significantly less damage than someone with low VIT
against an enemy skill such as Stampede, but remember, your
character's Defence will play a roll in this too!
* Charm (CHA): Perhaps the most useless stat of all. This affects
your character's ability of evading a charm attack, as well as how
successful your character is at attempting to charm an enemy.
Helpful in rare occasions so just don't bother too much with this.
* Defence (DEF): The resistance your character has against physical
attacks, the higher your Defence, the less damage you take from
physical attacks. You'll increase your DEF values by wearing any
type of armor. A monster has inherited natural DEF value but all DEF
values of a Human/Mystic/Mec is artificial, meaning a character
other than a Monster will have zero DEF if all armor had been
removed.
On the right side of the character status window will either be the
current equipment or skills equipped on the character. You can press
up/down to alternate between the two and pressing O will take you to
the Equip Weapon/Ability option. (Explained below)
NOTE: A human has a bar-like thing on the upper-right of the window.
This deals with mastering techs explained later.
---Item---
This option will show all of the items you have collected during
your journey. Pressing the select button will sort the items by
type. Pressing Up/Down will move the cursor up or down. Pressing
Left/Right will act like the PageUp/PageDown keys on the keyboard.
The bottom window displays the characteristics of a certain item, if
any, when you put the cursor over the item's name. You can carry as
many different items as you want but you can only carry a maximum
number of 99 of one item. Select the item twice will use the item.
Each item has a symbol next to its name, these indicates the nature
(or type) of the object. A sword symbol indicates the item is either
a sword or Katana, a gun symbol means the item is either a gun or
cannon, a bottle is an item and a ring is an accessory. All other
items are self-explanatory. If the symbol looks like Claire's
"Vaccine Case" from RE2 then that's a Mec circuit board.
---Position---
Selecting this option will take you to the 3 vertical columns
containing your party members. You can select a member and put them
into another column/slot by pressing the O button again on with the
cursor on the desired spot. If the desired spot is already being
occupied then those two characters will "swap places".
Note: A character on the top of the column is more vulnerable to
attack (meaning the enemy is more likely to select that member as
their target) and this vulnerability decreases as you move down a
column. So it's a good idea to put your weak characters on the
bottom slot so they won't get killed in one hit like Nina from BOF3!
---Equip Weapon---
Two windows will show up when you select this. The left-hand window
indicates what equipment a character is currently possessing. You'll
immediately notice that this window has been divided into 2 sections
if your character is a Human or Mystic, indicated by the red
highlighting above the bottom section. You may click on a slot
(whether it's empty or not) and another window containing the
equippable items. The window on the right shows your character's
statistic. Some items when equipped, may boost a certain stat, when
you equip one of these items one or more of these stats may
increase, indicated by a color change. If it's green then that
statistic has risen, if it's red then that stat had fallen.
The first 4 slots are the items your characters will be holding on
their hands. You can place a weapon (sword, gun, cannon), an item
(Cure, MagicStone) or a shield. This is what I call the "free style
item equip system" because you can equip any combination of the
above mentioned items. (ie. I could have my character equipped with
4 swords or 4 shield or any combinations in between.)
Note: If you don't equip an item, you'll be unable to use any items,
even if they're in your inventory! (Unless you have a BackPack that
is.)
Note: I do not know what good does equipping multiple shields do. If
the multiple shields can each block a different attack then you can
block against any of them without any problem, but I do not know if
your evading rate will increase if you equip multiple numbers of the
same shield.
The next 4 slots will be the equipment worn on the body of the
character, in other words, armor. You can wear only one item per
type. (ie, you cannot wear 2 shirts etc...) Types of armor include
armor, shirt, suit, gloves, boots and helmet. If you choose to wear
a suit (which is a good idea) then you won't be able to fit in any
armor, helmet, gloves or boots, meaning you can only wear a shirt to
go with it. On top of that, there're accessories. They tend to have
low DEF ratings but has some other effects. (Such as a stat boosts,
built-it skills or protection vs. certain type of attacks)
For a Monster, you're given only 4 slots. These are for equipping
accessories only, as a Monster cannot use any other items.
For a Mec, you'll get 8 slots. However, unlike Humans and Mystics, a
Mec can equip anything including multiple numbers of the same
item!!! (ie, my Mec can equip 3 CyberSuits.) As for an added bonus,
any items equipped on a Mec will give a stat boost!! Some items will
increase stats more than others so try your hand on as many
equipment as you can to find the ones which gives the highest boost!
Mecs are also the only race who and use the special Mec circuit
boards. (Humans can equip them too, but they won't have any effect!)
There are many types of boards, each gives different stat boosts and
have different effects on a Mec. (Some of them give the Mec extra
skill slots while others allow them to use a certain skills when
equipped with the right skill.)
Note: Some items can not be removed. The names of these items are
highlighted in red for Humans and Mystics or Purple for a Mec.
---Equip Ability---
This will allow you to equip, de-equip or exchange your character's
skills. The left-hand window contains all the skills your character
is currently being equipped with. The right hand window is the menu
containing the type of skills your character has learnt. They line
up like this:
Sword
Gun
Fighting
Magic
Special
Dodge
Seal
If you select Magic, another menu containing the magic type will
appear and you'll have to select one of these to access your magic
list.
If you have not learnt a certain type of skill or your race permits
you from using them, then that option will be in grey and you will
not be able to access it.
To equip a technique, first select the slot you want the skill to go
in. (Doesn't matter which one.) Then select the type of skill you
wish to equip and another window containing all the skills you have
access to and select the desired one. Easy!
After you've learnt a number of attacks, it's important that you
"Seal" some of them because you may not learn any more if you have
no empty slots. Select the skill you wish to seal and select "seal"
on the menu, that skill will then be put into the correct skill type
list, which you can equip later.
A Human has 8 slots and they have access to all but Special (except
under certain circumstances.) A Mystic has only 4 slots for them to
equip magic (which is no where near enough!) and underneath it are
their 3 Mystic Weapon (Sword, Glove, Boots) skills, these skill
CANNOT be sealed! (Note a Mystic can have 3 additional techs
absorbed from enemies but they can be used in combat only so they
can't be accessed from here..) A Monster will also have 8 slots. The
skill in the last slot has a different color and is used to exchange
skills with enemies. A Mec has a number of skills depends on their
model. Circuit boards may add additional slots, to a maximum of 8.
Mecs can use only Special skills. Skills, skill types, racial
abilities and how to learn certain skills will be explain later in
this faq.
---Config---
This option allows you to customize various stuff such as sound and
color. The first thing I do when I start a new game is to change the
text color, I can't stand those ugly orange fonts!!!!
---Save---
You can save you game here. As well as the Quick Save option.
From what I've heard, the Japanese version of the game contains an
extra option "Combo". I think you can put in your favourite combo
and if you're using all the right skills in combat, the game will
prioritize that combo, with a 100% rate of success or somethin' like
that.
THE WORLD
=========
The world of SaGa Frontier is divided into "Regions". Each "Region"
may be a town, a country, a planet or even another plane of
existence! Because there're no World Maps in SaGa Frontier, it's
almost impossible to tell what exactly a Region is, how big it is or
which Region is closest to it. You can travel between the Regions on
a Region Ship. These are airplanes, spaceships, ferries or any other
unusual transportation mediums. Region Ships are usually free of
charge and there is a port in every town approachable by Region
Ships. Each region has a unique theme or belongs to a specific time
era or culture. For example, Kyo is very Japanese, Chateau Aiguille
is very Gothic and Manhattan is very modern!
There are 2 different maps in a Region, the area map and the field
map. You can do very little in a field map and not all Regions have
field maps. This is very much like the World Map in BOF3 or Wild
Arms. When you walk on to an area you may enter, the name of that
area will appear on the screen. Pressing the O button will bring you
to the area map. That means some Regions have multiple accessible
areas. Take Manhattan for example, you may access "Port", "Shopping
Mall", "C.T.C Building" and "Central Gate" from the field map. Most
Regions (like Koorong) however, have no field maps so you can
navigate them easier.
The RegionMap
Blue has an item called a RegionMap. This will work with Blue's
"Gate" spell to teleport him to a Region he has already visited. You
can use this by choosing "Item" in the menu and select the
"RegionMap" twice. This will then take you to a new screen with
various cool looking floating icons, each one of these represents a
Region. They're arranged in groups. Pressing left or right will
bring up a new group of icons and pressing up or down will cycle
through the icons, pressing O will teleport you there. The best
thing about the RegionMap is that you can use this almost anywhere!
So the next time you worked your way through the dungeon only to
discover that you have to climb your way out again, you know what to
do! (Well, when you're playing as Blue anyway.)
BATTLE
======
Unlike most other RPGs where a random battle happens without much
warning, you can actually see them coming and therefore avoid
enemies in SaGa Frontier. You will see enemies running around in
some places. If you get close, they'll chase after you. If you
happen to touch one of them, you'll engage in combat.
On a new screen, you can see the enemies you have to fight. On the
top of the screen is a pink colored window that shows the names of
the characters in your first team. Pressing left or right will let
you switch teams. You can move the cursor over a character's name by
pressing up/down and pressing the Triangle button will move them to
the back row. Although I never use it, I think the back row is
immune to some attacks. When ready, press O and this will start the
fight!
SaGa Frontier is the first Square title in years to not use the
famed ATB, so combat is more traditional, similar to that of
Suikoden or BOF3. You can give each character an action at the
beginning of the round and during the round that character will
carry out that action. Pressing up or down in the command window
will scroll through the list of actions, pressing left or right will
cycle through all types of available actions such as changing the
weapon (and the skills associated with it), using items or magic.
Pressing R1 will make your character defend. A defending character
will take reduced damage from attacks. Pressing the O button will
select the desired action. Now enter the command for your next
character. The order in which your characters act is based on their
QUI scores as well as certain amount of randomness. If a character
is some how disabled (stunned, unconscious etc.) then their actions
will be eliminated. The order in which your character will act is
very important when it comes to building combos. (See below.)
When the round ends, a new screen comes up with each character's HP,
LP, WP and JP. Pressing any button will take you back to battle.
Occasionally, numbers will pop up above a character after an action
done by an enemy or party member. A white number indicates damage
taken, a green number means the target gained HP and red numbers
means a lost in LP. If your character rolls away from the attack,
then that character has equipped a Dodge skill specific for dodging
that attack. A "click" sound means that a shield has blocked the
attack. (If you think that's bad, you should hear the brain crushing
"beep" from Romancing SaGa 3!) If "miss" comes up, then the target
had been missed by the attacker, which is determined by the WIL of
the attacker and the QUI of the target. If your entire team falls
unconscious (or is petrified) or your hero looses all his/her LP,
then you're wiped out and it's Game Over! If all enemies are
defeated (or ran away... or in some unusual circumstances), then the
battle is over and you won! Then you'll be rewarded for you hard
work. Your Monsters and Mecs will be able to absorb enemy Monsters
and Mec, if you fought any, by selecting the name of the enemy you
wished to absorb. Then your Human characters will get their
statistic boost depends on the skills they used, as well as any new
gun techs or magic they have learnt. Then your Mystics will get
their share and finally you'll get any items or money the enemies
dropped.
After battle, every character in your party that was not involved in
the fight (ie, in another team) will gain some of their lost LP, WP
and JP back from resting. Note Mecs will not gain any LP back this
way.
Negative Status Ailments
Some attack specializes in crippling your characters by inflicting a
bad status, these will hinder your characters but you may also use
status attacks to your advantage. If used correctly, you may
effectively debilitate them or eliminates them completely. Negative
status includes:
* FEINT
Also known as Death. Not a real status of course but many attacks
have this effect, this also takes place when a character's HP drops
to 0. A feinted ally can be revived but a feinted enemy is dead.
* VENOM
Also known as Poison. This will cause the target to loose about 10%
of their maximum HP each round.
* PALSY
Also known as Paralyze. A paralyzed character cannot act.
* STUN
Looses the ability to perform an action in that round.
* BLIND
Hit rate of physical attack decreases.
* STONE
Also known as Petrify. Cannot act or take damage. A petrifies enemy
will be eliminated. If all your characters are petrified, then it's
Game Over.
* SLEEP
Cannot act.
* ANGRY
Cannot use any techs or magic. They can use only most basic action
and these may or may not take place, having the effect of Blue Mess
as well.
* MESS is divided into 3 degrees:
1) BLUE MESS
You may enter a command for a character affected by Blue Mess but
it may or may not take effect.
2) YELLOW MESS
You may enter a command for a character affected by Yellow Mess
but it may affect either the party or the enemy.
3) RED MESS
The character affected will perform a random action of either your
party member or the enemies.
* CHARM
Perform an action in favour of the opposite party. (For some reason,
my character keeps on using Cures on the enemy... weird!)
Note Angry, Mess and Charm is like a triangle. A character affected
by ether one of them is immune to the other two.
Curing Bad Status
Fortunately, most bad status can be cured. I do not recommend curing
every status you come across because if you keep on doing that
you'll never get any hits in! Especially against bosses, just take
care of the most serious ones like Charm or Red Mess. Also, when you
get to the last boss, your PSY scores should be high enough to avoid
most status and even if you did catch a cold, you'll most likely to
get rid of if the immediately the next round. Also, equipping
accessories like PurpleEyes will avoid many status as well. In
normal fights, you may feel free to ignore the status but you should
win the fight fast. The cures are listed below, note that it's
possible that I have not seen all the skills in the game so I might
be missing out a few.
Note: This is VERY important, SnakeOil will NOT cure STONE, and
neither will MagicHeal!!!!!!!!
Positive Status
Not all status are bad, there are many helpful ones when used, may
cause your character to gain HP each round, or make your characters
do much more damage or double your character's actions! It's a very
good idea to spend the first round using these when facing a big
boss, where you'll gain the benefit of these the most.
Note all positive status will be removed by Vortex!!!
Elemental barriers
Since this is in the manual, I feel obligated to put it in. When a
character is attacked by an elemental attack (Fire, Ice or
Lightning), an energy barrier of the corresponding element will
surround that character. That character himself is immune to the
effect but whenever an enemy attacks him with a short-ranged attack,
the enemy will take damage from the barrier. The barrier will wear
off with time. Also, a character affected by that barrier will take
significantly less damage from elemental attacks of hat type. You
can only have one type of barrier at one time. Some enemies will
have natural barriers that cannot be removed and you may also
achieve summon these barriers with accessories. Note elemental magic
will not cause a barrier but Monster skills and elemental cannons
will!
RACES
=====
All characters in the world of SaGa Frontier belongs to one of the
races, the races includes Humans, Mystics, Monsters and Mecs. Each
of these races has strengths and weaknesses, but are all powerful
(or useful) in their own way. A different race has its own racial
abilities and has to be built up in a different way. You will meet
up with these races during your journey and they may be willing to
join you. You should try out different races when you first start
the game to find the one you feel most comfortable with. (And it's a
Human most of the time.)
---Humans---
Humans are arguably the best race in SaGa Frontier because they have
the most damage potential as well as versatile skills. A Human
starts out very weak but is very likely to be the most powerful race
in the long run. A Human can choose from four types of skills to
learn from, each having their advantages. They can be swords,
fighting, guns or magic. Occasionally, when a Human is exposed to a
dangerous attack, they may discover the nature of the attack so to
prevent the attack (or a similar one) at a later date. That Human
has then learnt a dodge tech. Humans are the only race that has the
ability of instantly learning a new sword, fighting or dodge skill
in the midst of battle. Guns and magic techs can be learned after
the battle if you have used an attack or magic of that category. All
Human techs will be explained in detail below.
When a Human equips at least 6 physical skills (any sword, fighting
or gun skills will qualify) without any magic then they're
considered a "master" in physical attacks and a crown will appear on
the bar to the upper right corner of their status screen. Any
physical skills when then cost 1WP less which is really useful since
some skills will be free of cost! Like wise, if you equip at least 6
spells without any physical techs then they'll become a "master" in
magic and their JP cost will also be lowered by 1!
To build up a Human character, they must participate in a fight and
survive. Then character will then improve on the skills he/she used
during the fight. Each type of skill will increase statistics that's
appropriate at using the skill more effectively. For example, you
won't gain INT if you used a sword throughout the fight, because you
don't need to be intelligent to use a sword effectively, but on the
other hand, you're very likely to gain STR because the damage you do
is dependant on your STR ratings. There also seems to be a "learning
curve" of some kind if you change your character's attack type,
they'll pick up the stats of the new skill slowly but this should
last only for a few fights so feel free to change your character's
attack types. The stats gained will be listed below:
HP: All. But physical attacks seem to increase them the most.
LP: You can not increase this at all!
WP: Swords, Fighting, and Guns.
JP: Magic only! *
STR: Swords and Fighting.
QUI: All will increase Quickness so don't worry if your character
specializes in Magic or some slow skills.
INT: Guns, but Magic increases this the most.
WIL: All, because it affects all types of attacks. Guns seem to
increase this the most.
PSY: Guns and Magic.
VIT: Swords and Fighting.
CHA: Gaining this is more random than anything so you may get a CHA
boost for anything you do, but don't expect to get this boost very
often. It's not very useful anyway!
DEF: You gain DEF by equipping better armor!
* This is really weird! Doll got Charmed once and she used a Cure on
the enemy and the battle ended in the same round. At the end, she
gained JP!!! So is it possible to gain JP through using items??
Note that you do not need to use an action of that category to gain
experience, all you need to do is to _attempt_ the action! A
situation where this applies is if one of your characters got rid of
all the enemies before another character can act. Similarly, you can
learn a new gun tech or magic by attempting to use it. It's a cheap
trick but hey, it works so I'm not complaining! Also because of
this, it's a good idea to get your slower characters into guns and
magic since they're so slow, they almost never gets to hit so it's
unlikely that they'll do very well with swords or fighting.
If your Human character does nothing in a fight, (ie, Defend) then
they'll still gain stats. They'll most often get HP but occasionally
WIL or VIT or something like that will pop up. I believe this is
random though.
I do not recommend this but if you want to mix multiple mediums
during the fight, you can end up gaining the stats from both
categories, but it seems that the chance for you to gain stats will
be halved. Similarly, you can learn a new spell and a new gun tech
after the battle (I did) but it's very likely you'll get nothing!
Still, you're more likely to gain anything by fighting more powerful
enemies.
Another point I need to make is the experience you get after a boss
fight. So you'd expect your characters to level up like crazy after
a though boss?? Well, I'm sorry to say it but it will not happen
that way, it's actually quite the opposite! Most of the time your
characters will get hardly anything!!! I don't know what causes this
but it's perhaps because your character will most likely to mix
techs (see above) in a boss fight so your chance of gaining stat
will be reduced. So just don't expect to get too much from a boss.
---Mystics---
Mystics have a lot in common with Humans only not as good. A Mystic
resembles an exceptionally beautiful Human, they have a very long
lifespan and they actually get prettier with age!!! Actually, a
Mystic has more in common with a Vampire since they sleep in coffins
and their skin tend to be pale. Also, Mystics has blue blood!
Like Humans, a Mystic can improve his skill after a battle is over,
thus gaining a stat boost. Unfortunately, they can only gain CHA,
HP, WP , JP and they do tend to get them slowly. They can gain other
stats by absorbing monsters with their racial abilities MysticSword,
MysticGlove and MysticBoots. These skills when used in battle have
one of three effects:
1) Also the most common effect. The skill will do damage to the
enemy (usually low), this is CANNOT be used in a combo. If the enemy
is killed by this attack then they'll be absorbed.
2) A critical hit! This will do no damage but will absorb the enemy
instantly but it does not happen very often.
3) Instant death effect. The skill eliminates the enemy but they are
NOT absorbed! Also, an enemy killed by this can not be used for an
Absorption by a Monster or Mec after the battle.
You can distinguish the absorbed and instant death effect by just
looking at the enemy. If they disappear then it's the instant death
effect but if their image gets dragged into the Mystic, then they're
absorbed.
An absorbed enemy will give your Mystic a stat boost as well as a
new skill that will appear under the skill. This skill appears in
battle only so you might not know what skills you got until you get
into a fight again. The same enemy will give you different skills
(but not different stat boost) when absorbed with a different Mystic
Weapon (ie, a Suzaku will give FireBreath when absorbed with Sword,
HellWing with Glove and TitasWave with Boots.) If you use a Mystic
Weapon to absorb a new enemy, then the initial absorption will be
lost (both the skill and the stat boost) while being replaced by the
new monster. You can see what enemies are absorbed by the weapons at
the Equip Ability screen. Just move the cursor over to the desired
skill and the name of the enemy absorbed will be in the bottom
window. Some enemies like Mecs and Humans can not be absorbed,
therefore only the effect 1 and 3 can be achieved when using the
Mystic Weapon.
When you first recruit a Mystic, you may find that they're missing
some of their Mystic weapon (or in the case of Mesarthim, missing
all the weapons!) but you don't need to fear because they can gain
the rest of their weapons through fighting, like Humans. Just use
whatever in the fight and you might get a new weapon after the
fight.
To wrap it up, Mystics can also use magic. All Mystics has the
natural gift for Mystic magic and they can learn new magic the same
way as does Humans. Unfortunately, they get only 4 slots to equip
any magic, which is never enough! Few Mystics (TimeLord, Zozma, Rei)
are well known for the fact that they can use unique (not to mention
powerful) magic types, which can be a whole lot of fun!
Mystics can equip anything a Human can but they can not learn weapon
techs like Humans so equip them carefully. I usually equip weapons
that give a stat boost or built-in ability, such as the RuneSword.
Most Mystics have their own stinkin' armor called MysticMail that
can not be removed so concentrate on a high DEF instead of giving
them accessories. Note Dr. Nusakan and Mesarthim can equip heavy
armor or suits so you can equip them like Humans, they're about as
good as a Mystic can get. Give Mystics a try, but when you play the
game a few times, you'll probably find them boring! (I do!)
---Mecs---
Mecs are robots, Cyborgs or androids made by man for combat or
research purposes. Mecs are divided into 8 types. Type 1 and 8 are
unique body-types and the others are more common types. Each type
has their advantages and can use some abilities unknown to other
Mecs.
A Mec is given 8 slots to equip WHATEVER they want!! This can
includes multiple suits of armors, which will give them very high
DEF scores. However, a Mec has 1 to 4 non-removable items, depend on
their serial type, these can be Mec bodies (which will give them a
low DEF), unique weapons and items allowing them to use special
abilities. Every item when equipped will give your Mec a statistic
boost, which is also the only way your Mecs can gain stats. But the
stats a Mec gain is often quite unbalanced. I found it very hard to
gain a reasonable PSY, VIT and INT score. When equipping a Mec, try
using the weapon that gives the best stat boosts. A Mec can also
equip the various types of "Boards" which will give them a stat
boost and it will work with some of the Mec skills to give your Mec
the use of some new skills. The most important stats for a Mec are
HP, STR, QUI, INT and WIL.
Mec skills are hard to come by. First you must fight a robotic enemy
of some type and after the battle, the game will ask you if you want
to absorb the enemy Mec with your Mec, very much like a Monster. If
you absorb a skill you already have, you'll get the message
"Recharged" which means that all your WP is refilled. Also, when you
absorb a new skill, it goes straight to your "Special Ability" list
in your Equip Ability menu, so you have to equip it before you can
use it. Mecs gets a limited number of skill slots, which depends on
their type. Circuit boards can increase the number of slots your
Mecs has available, to a maximum of 8 slots.
Mecs cannot use magic and have no JP. They probably don't need them.
Mecs can be extremely powerful if equipped with the right items and
good skills but since most likely to gain nothing from a fight, I'd
not recommend using Mecs too much because your other units can use
some of the experience for winning the battle.
---Monsters---
Monsters are what's at the heart of every RPG but they're a little
different in SaGa Frontier. Just because a character is a Monster
doesn't mean that he's bad, they're just another race like Humans
and Mystic.
A Monster will be given eight slots to fill with abilities. The
skills they already own will be listed up the top and you'll
probably notice that the last slot is highlighted in purple. Each
time you win a fight, you'll be given a choice to whether or not you
want to absorb the enemy Monster, if you fought one that is. If you
do, your Monster will gain a new skill from the enemy Monster and it
will end up on the last slot. (The game will choose a skill from the
enemy Monster randomly. If it ends up giving you a skill you already
have, you'll get the message "Couldn't absorb anything") Now you can
move that skill around and preferably to an empty slot up the top
because if you absorb a Monster with your last slot filled, you'll
lose that skill! If you have all eight of your slots fill, swap the
skills around and put your most useless skill or the one you don't
want in the last slot so the next time you absorb something you
might get something better. It's very important to move your skills
around often so you can accumulate all the important skills to build
your perfect Monster. Don't get lazy because you may let many
excellent skills slip away! Also note that whenever your Monster
absorbs another skill, their WP and JP are refilled, very handy!
I hope you got that. I tried doing an example but it sounded senile
so I didn't, sorry.
After absorbing a new skill from an enemy Monster, your Monster have
a chance of morphing into another Monster race, depends on the
skills you got and the skills you already have. Absorbing a new
skill can mean your Monster might morph into another Monster who
uses that skill. The weaker Monsters are very easy to become, they
often have only one key skill so if you get that one, you're almost
guaranteed to morph into that Monster. The more powerful Monsters
will have more key skills and they're very hard to absorb, so to if
you wish to become a certain powerful Monster, you can have an
easier time if you get all the skills from another Monster.
If your Monster does morph, and there's a good chance that they
will, your Monster will take on the statistics of the new form.
Usually the Monsters you meet later in the game will have fairly
high stats but are very hard to become because their key skill/s are
so hard to get. So if you became a Kraken for absorbing say,
Maelstrom, you'll take up their STR, VIT, WIL etc, doesn't matter
what your Monster used to be. Their WP, JP, LP and HP will also
follow suit. If your Monster tries to become a very powerful race of
Monsters then they'll assume a weaker from of it, indicated by a
"Jr." after its race name.
However, their HP can be improved. Each Monster has a base maximum
HP, this is a constant like their STR and other scores. Each time
you absorb a skill that you've never had before, your maximum HP is
raised by 4. If your Monster morphs, these "add-on" maximum HP will
be transferred to your new form. So if your Monster absorbed every
enemy you come across, they can become very powerful with high HP,
but Humans are better IMO and they take less effort to build up.
Also, it's possible to gain skills you've had before, in that case,
you get that skill back with no HP bonus.
Monsters are the only race with natural Defence scores (these are
also depend on the current form of your character), however, since
Monsters can not equip anything except accessories, they'll often
turn out to have less DEF scores than your other units. Since they
can only equip accessories, try equip a variety of them that
protects vs some attack because the immunity of certain attacks are
more valuable than the 2 or so DEF increase of a slightly stronger
accessory. I usually don't bother with Monsters but I do recommend
you give them a try because if you have the patience to build up a
Monster with a solid form and absorb so good skills, your Monster
will be very powerful! I will add in a guide to how to build the
(almost) perfect Monster.
Note Monsters generally can not use magic but there are a few
exceptions because a Monster does have JP, a LOT of JP!!! Some magic
can be absorbed by your Monster, such as RavaShot (that's right,
Evil magic!) or VaporBlast, but they're very rare! Also, if you get
Kylin on your team, you'll get all of the Space magic! Another way
of having your Monsters use magic is to use the built-in tech from
some accessories, (such as the PurpleEye, which casts PhantasmShot.)
COMBOS
======
The best new feature in SaGa Frontier is the ability to chain
together 2 or more attacks (to a maximum of 5) of your choice to
form your own custom combos. You may mix and match skills and
abilities in combos but to some extent, a normal attack (such as a
sword slash) cannot be comboed. Actions that qualify as combo
linkers (with few exceptions) includes any sword, fighting, gun or
magic tech, any Monster or Mec skills, Mystic weapon attacks (not
the weapons themselves but the attack you get when absorbing an
enemy), offensive item uses, built-in attacks and cannon blasts.
Basically, any action that causes a window to appear showing its
name.
A combo will occur when one character who acts after another when
they're both using attacks that are complementary, a level 2 combo
will occur. Instead of combining their attacks together like that of
Chrono Trigger or Phantasy Star 4, each element in the combo is done
right before the last element finishes and the damage occur after
the last action. Attacks chained in combos will do more damage than
those same attacks done normally. I can not give the exact mechanics
for combos but a level 2 combo seemed to work so that the damage of
the most powerful attack is doubled and the damage of the other
attack is added to it. I haven't got a clue what higher level combos
work. You can add attack before the first action or after the second
action to link in another character's attack, a level 3 combo will
form. You can build a level 5 combo that way involving all your
characters which will certainly make you wow!
Most attacks are complementary, meaning that most attacks can combo
with almost every other attack. Some are not though, no matter how
many time they occur adjacent to the other, a link will not form! A
good example is Tres Flores which will ONLY go after MoonlightCut.
The order which you do the attacks also matters. Some attacks goes
only before or after another one, I cannot think of an example right
now. This is important as how you want to combine your attacks so
the most linkable attacks are manipulated to the ends so they can
link more attacks together. For example, I have a four character
party each of them is doing: Haze-to-Wheel, RisingNova, SkyTwister
and LifeSprinkler. The following orders of action may occur,
considering that the enemy does not act between the characters. (A -
is a link, a space meaning the attacks cannot link.)
Haze-to-Wheel-LifeSprinkler-RisingNova-SkyTwister 1 x LV4
SkyTwister Haze-to-Wheel-LifeSprinkler-RisingNova 1 x LV3
Haze-to-Wheel-SkyTwister LifeSprinkler-RisingNova 2 x LV2
SkyTwister RisingNova-LifeSprinkler Haze-to-Wheel 1 x LV2
See, you'd want to make your characters act in the order of the
first example, which does the most damage. It's a good idea to plan
out your actions so that the fastest character will do the first
action and try having the following actions done by characters with
decreasing QUI scores. This is not fool proof though, sometimes the
game will not link even if you have 2 attacks right next to another.
Here are some guidelines on combos, these must be met most of the
time:
1) If an enemy acts between 2 complementary attack made by your
characters then the link will be broken, obviously.
2) If your Humans sees light bulbs (ie, they learn something) the
link will be broken.
3) All your attacks must target the same enemy to link.
4) The combo will be single targeted unless an element in the combo
is a multiple target attack, in that case, the remaining enemies
will be affected by that specific attack only! (ie, no damage bonus)
5) Healing (or support) techs that affects your own characters will
not combo.
6) An attack in the combo that has a status effect will be inflicted
on the enemy, the only exception is Feint or Stone. If the main
purpose of that attack is instant kill then the enemy is dead
(unless the enemy is immune to it) but if the attack has a "bonus
status" effect (ie, Feint effect of GiantSwing, Stone of Cockatrice)
then it is not guaranteed to take effect.
7) If one attack from the combo does no damage or the enemy is
immune to it (such as Sliding-BackFist, or ShadowHold-StunSlash)
then the enemy will take no damage from that attack but the attack
linked to it will still gain a damage multiplier, doing more damage
than it should.
8) It's actually possible to chain together attacks where none of
the attacks do damage! (I have! HideBehind-HideBehind is an obvious
one but try CharmGaze-TripGas for a challange!)
9) Don't hope to combine multiple numbers of multi-targeted attacks
because it's almost impossible!!! I have no idea why but I think the
game won't allow it because it's too powerful.
10) All attacks that's in the combo cannot be blocked. In other
words, anything that gets blocked will not link. For example, all
five of you use Fist, an attack that combos with itself on a
Dullahan. You may see the first character do his Fist and a level 4
combo follows immediately after that. That's because the initial
Fist had been blocked! Any "broke-link" moves will take place before
the actual combo so the acual combo won't be ruined.
11) A combo will most likely take place on enemies who have high HP.
A link will not form if a single attack is enough to kill off an
enemy. Because of this, you may feel free to target your enemies
since you will not waster your combos.
Given the guidelines, here are some methods or tips on linking
skills. Note that these are quite general and many links don't obey
these "rules".
1) Standing attacks and charging attacks works well, I guess
everyone knows this way by now but this method is extremely general
because it's sometimes hard to tell whether an attack is standing or
charging. (ie, Thrust) NoMoment-BoundShot is a good example.
2) Multiple cannon/laser blasts will work so well that I couldn't be
bothered to list them any more.
3) The same skills. This also the easiest way to combo, since you're
dealing with the same attack, it doesn't matter which order you do
them in. Only a handful of skills fall into this category.
CrossShot, BoundShot, DarkSphere, Fist, SwallowSwing are great
examples.
4) Opposite schools of magic, Light and Shadow, Time and Space,
Realm and Mystics etc. Implosion-PhantasmShot is an example. Some
skills can be thought of as belonging to a certain school such as
ShadowCounter can be thought of as a Shadow spell.
5) Upwards and downwards attacks. One attack propels the enemy into
the air while another nails them back on to the ground.
RosarioImpale-RisingNova-SkyTwister is a great example. Some attacks
are quite confusing to determine whether it's an air attack or
ground attack, such as TripleThrust. This is also my favourite type
of combo method, you'll get the hang of it after a few tries.
6) Add the combos together! Every link exists as a level 2 combo,
you link 2 level 2 combos to form a level 3 etc. So if you seen
CrossShot-Implosion and Implosion-LifeWave, combine them into a
CrossShot-Implosion-LifeWave combo.
7) Throw random skills together and hope to get lucky. I use this a
lot and I got a few level 5s out of it but sometimes I get nothing!
Pretty risky.
HUMAN SWORD SKILLS
==================
Out of all the skills a Human can learn, Sword skills are the best
IMO, because it does have a good balance of offence, defence, multi-
attack and unblockable techs. They're nothing like Cyan's SwordTech
from FF6 because you don't need to charge up for 2 millenniums to
use them. All sword skills fall into 3 virtual categories: sword
techs (which can be learned from using any swords), Katana techs
(which can be learned from only sword with the label "Katana" in the
item description) and 2-sword techs that can be learned only if you
have 2 swords equipped. All sword techs are physical in nature,
which means the damage caused is dependent on your character's STR
ratings and the attack power of the sword you're using the sword
tech with. The latter is especially true with Katana techs. Too many
people complain that the Katana techs do too little damage, which is
probably because they're using a crappy Katana. (Consider this. The
best swords you can buy are ZeroSwords with attack of 60 and the
best Katana you can buy are Katanas with 34 attack power!) If you
ever get your hands on a "SilverMoon", use a Katana tech with it and
you'll be pleasantly surprised! Sword skills are the all-round
skills because they're strong against all types of enemis.
To learn one of these, you have to use a sword-based attack, either
a basic sword attack or another sword tech. Occasionally, a light
bulb will flash above a character's head and they will do something
different. This attack will cost the WP acquired for the original
attack, which means it's free if you learnt it from a normal attack
but you will have to pay if you learnt it from something else. These
attacks will go into your free slots and you can immediately use it
again the next round if you have enough WP. If you don't have any
skill slots free, you can't learn sword skills! Here are some
guidelines for more effective learning (these also apply to learning
fighting techs):
1) Use normal attacks! You'll learn skills a LOT faster that way,
however, you'll probably want to use more advanced skills as your
base attack to learn some higher level attacks. See below.
2) To learn higher level attacks, use a skill that's very similar in
nature to the attack you wish to learn, look for similar animations!
For example, split-body effects of TurbidCurrent can eventually turn
into LifeSprinkler, where your character will also turn into
multiple forms. Also, you can learn ThunderThurst from Thrust
because they both use the "thrust" action. I will list the easiest
way I know of learning these cool attacks below.
3) Fight more powerful enemies, you'll have a better chance of
learning. The more you're likely to get killed the better! It's very
important that you take sometime out to learn attack at the Bio-lab
in Shrike.
4) Always de-equip techs you don't need to create room so you can
learn. Try to leave 2 slots open and fill the rest with physical
techs, this will allow you to learn a maximum of 2 attack for fight
while still gets to keep the crown for physical attacks.
5) Being a master in physical attacks may make learning a bit
easier.
6) Use the right type of weapon. Use a Katana if you want the Katana
skills and equip 2 swords to learn the 2-sword skills. Also, some
skills are easier to learn when using the right type of weapon, this
is listed below.
7) Try not to mix in other races because Humans tend to learn better
when isolated from other races.
8) Having more than one sword user attack in the same round will
make learning sword skills a lot easier. I usually have all my Human
swordsman train together.
9) You can learn a counter tech randomly when the enemy attacks you.
You must use a sword-type attack (normal attacks will do) to learn a
sword counter/deflect tech. It's no good just having a sword
equipped but not using it.
10) Magic swords like Asura and Kusanagi have no normal sword slash
attack so you can not learn with a normal attack. You can however,
use another sword skill as a base attack (ie, DoubleSlash) but it's
not as good unless you're trying to learn very advanced attacks.
It's generally not a good idea to learn techs from a magical sword.
From experience, the characters I give the magical swords to learns
skills slower than all my other characters.
---Sword Skill List---
The sword skills are divided into 4 levels: Novice, Veteran, Master
and Ultimate. You'll most likely to learn them in order of ascending
power. Strangely, all Katana techs fall into the Ultimate category.
I use the following terms to describe a skill, I'll use these
throughout this faq.
Cost: The amount of WP or JP needed to use that skill.
Target: What targets are affected.
* Single enemy: one enemy.
* Single ally: one ally.
* All: All enemies and allies.
* All enemies: All enemies.
* All allies: All allies.
* User: The character who uses that skill
* Line of sight: Hit all enemies in a straight line.
* Cone: Select the main target to be the end of the cone and all
enemies within the cone-shaped range is affected.
* Circle: Select the main target to be the centre of the circle
all enemies within the circle-shaped range are affected.
The diameter of the circle is fixed.
* Radius: Not the same as Circle. The user will be the centre of
circle. Target an enemy to be the outer edge. The distance
between the use and the target is the radius and enemies
in that circle area are affected.
Note: The main target of Circle or Cone type ranges usually take a
lot more damage than all other affected targets.
Type: The type of attack it is and or if any special effects.
* Normal: Short-ranged and is blockable.
* Long-range: A long-range move that doesn't involve in touching
the target, can't be countered.
* Throw: A throw (fighting tech) which counts as long range and
can't be blocked, however, certain enemies (EarthDragon)
are immune or resistant to Throws.
* Unblockable: This attack can't be blocked and has 100% hit rate.
* Ground: Misses flying enemies.
* Auto-Defence: This may automatically take effect if you're
attacked.
* Defence: Like Auto-Defence but you must choose it at the
beginning of the round to use it.
* Auto-Counter: Like Auto-Defence but your character will evade
the enemy's attack and counter it.
* Counter: Like Defence, you must choose this at the beginning of
the round.
* Healing: Heals the ally
* Miscellaneous: Has various effects explained in the evaluation.
Status: Any status (positive or negative) effect the tech may cause.
The texts in the <> brackets are the description of the technique,
some attacks are very hard to describe so excuse me if the
description is vague. The text after the <> is the evaluation of
that tech.
Learnt from: The easiest way I know to learn that skill. All techs
can be learnt from a normal basic attack unless I note otherwise.
---Novice Sword Skills---
StunSlash
Cost: 0WP Target: Single enemy
Type: Normal Status: Stun
Does good damage and combos well, especially method number one. (See
combos section for details.) I'm not sure about this but I think it
does lightning elemental damage.
Learnt from: Thrust, but you'll often go straight to TripleThrust.
If you try using a normal attack then good luck because it's almost
impossible!
Heaven/Hell
Cost: 3WP Target: Single enemy
Type: Normal (?) Status: Stun
slash then a horizontal slash as you land>
Does about 1000 damage if you're powerful which is very good for
3WP. Probably the best low-level sword tech and the stun effect is
actually quite common.
Learnt from: DoubleSlash can occasionally lead to this. I have
learnt Heaven/Hell a few times with Smash as well. Otherwise this is
harder to learn than most other lower level sword skills.
Dreamcast symbol appears in front of each enemy effected and cuts
them>
Probably the first multi-target sword tech you'll learn. Does
serious damage to the main target but less on all the other targets.
Useful until the point where you get GaleSlash because it's hard to
target effectively and not as powerful as other mid-level techs.
Learnt from: Normal attacks.
WillowBranch
Cost: 4WP Target: Single enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
bring up a wall of flame-like material around the enemy>
Does so-so damage for 4WP but you might have better attacks already
when you get this.
Learnt from: Normal attacks. Using a Katana make this _slightly_
easier to learn.
circular barrier with his sword to block the attack directed at them
or another team member>
An EXTREAMLY useful defence maneuver that your characters will learn
early. It's probably the best defence move in the game because you
can block an attack directed at any of your team members. This works
especially well when you have a crown in physical attacks because
this tech will cost nothing! Have all 5 characters with this will
block 50% of all physical attacks. Never de-equip this for your
sword users. Note this cannot block multiple target attacks.
Learnt from: Randomly when the enemy attacks. Easier to learn than
it sounds since it can block any character in your team.
BearCrush
Cost: 5WP Target: Single enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
invokes sparks as well as a "buzz" sound, as if the enemy had been
electrocuted>
Well, it's definitely better than Smash at both damage potential and
combo ability but it could be better. I think this (and Smash) has
slightly better damage capacity when used against fragile enemies
like skeletons.
Learn from: Smash, obviously.
DeadEnd
Cost: 6WP Target: Single enemy
Type: Normal Status: Feint
and the enemy. You then charge the enemy as the steam out-spreads in
a circular shape around the enemy>
Perhaps the most damaging 7WP attack out of the 5. I haven't used it
much as by the time I get this, all my characters already has
LifeSprinkler.
Learnt from: This is EXTREMELY hard to learn when using a normal
sword, NoMoment can speed this up a bit. The trick is to use a
Katana, it's much easier that way. A normal Katana strike can learn
this easily at times but you can still speed up this by using
NoMoment with the Katana.
TurbidCurrent
Cost: 7WP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: None
enemy. They each conjure up a large, white vertical ring as well as
a green line on the ground, which meets together in the centre where
the enemy resides, forming a large 5 pointed star shape with the
rings and the green line>
(Hope you got that, the animation's very complicated y' know)
This cool looking attack proves to be an excellent starter in
combos. The damage done is average though, like NoMoment. Still,
there are better sword techs.
Learnt from: The rings of HeadWind can net you this quite easily.
You can also try ShadowCounter if early on in the game. Otherwise
not easy to learn.
CrossDeflect (2-Sword)
Cost: 1WP Target: User
Type: Defence Status: N/A
greenish translucent barrier, which blocks the enemy's attack>
I have no idea why this is in the Master section. Basically, this is
Deflect with 2 swords that's not as good because it's not automatic
and you can defend yourself only. Also, if this had not been
triggered then your character will have done nothing that round but
standing around looking stupid. If you have to be extremely
defensive then you might want to give this a try, but you might as
well use Godless (below.)
Learnt from: Randomly when being attacked but this is more random
than others because this is also a 2-sword tech. Having Deflect
might make this faster though.
RisingNova
Cost: 7WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
your sword, causing them to explode into a vertical beam of flames.
Fits its name nicely>
One of my favourite sword techs, it's very good looking (especially
the color of the flames.) It does exceptional damage and is the most
excellent when it comes to upward/downward type combos! (See above)
Also, this connects extremely well with LifeSprinkler. I usually
give at least one character this when fighting the last boss.
Learnt from: WillowBranch. Using a Katana will make it slightly
easier to learn.
RosarioImpale
Cost: 8WP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: None
them comes down around the enemy at a 90 degrees angle from one
another. Each one of them causes a purple line to light up between
them and the enemy. The last image to come down is right above the
enemy's head and will cause the camera to turn to show that the
purple lines had been turned into the shape of a large purple cross>
This looks very cool and the cross will do extra damage against
undead enemies. The damage done is good enough to use this on the
last boss and this combines freely with other "upward" attacks or
LifeSprinkler.
Learnt from: TripleThrust and DeadEnd are the only way to learn
this. That's right, the "only" way because I have never learnt this
from anything else! If this is not true, mail me and tell me.
forms (one per enemy) then re-appears in front of the enemies. Then
an upward slash will bring out a large orange spinning wheel for
each enemy which cuts them>
This will do SERIOUS damage (2000 or so) to all targets on screen.
But since the cost is too high, use 2GaleSlash instead, you'll kill
most of the normal enemies that way. If you're up against multiple
powerful opponents, then give this a try, you won't be disappointed.
Learnt from: WheelSlash only! Again I have never learnt this from
anything else. Have all 5 characters use WheelSlash on a Dullahan
and at least one of them will learn it! It's actually pretty easy
when you know how.
LifeSprinkler
Cost: 10WP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable* Status: None
enemy and beat them up with quick sword combos in the mess of sword
slashes, blood and fury. The images then uppercut the enemy into the
air and slam them down again onto the ground, forming a spiral of
flames>
The ultimate of the ultimate sword skills. This does the most damage
out of all the sword skills and in extremely reliable because it's
unblockable. It also combines extremely well with other upper-level
attacks (RisingNova in particular), doing horrendous damage! Try to
get this on your sword users before the final boss.
Learnt from: There is no easy way of learning this. ShadowCounter is
the simplest and best way I've found and TurbidCurrent can lead to
this as well. Basically, learning this is all about luck. I *have*
learnt this with a normal sword attack but I guess I was extremely
lucky. Make SURE you are fighting a very powerful enemy (Dullahans
works fine) when you're trying to learn this.
* A weird thing happened to me once, I think it's a glitch though. I
was playing as Blue against either Hell's Lord or the Dragon
Guardian. I cast Overdrive then ShadowServant and LifeSprinkler 6
times. On the fifth LifeSprinkler Blue actually MISSED!!!!!!!!! (No
sign of the "miss" message but he did no damage.) His character
still did the animation but the sword slashes and red backgrounds
were gone! Then his shadow came along and didn't miss! I have no
idea what happened. How can an unblockable attack miss??
Godless
Cost: 5WP Target: User
Type: Counter Status: None
illusions, each charge the enemy with a different animation (ie,
HardSlash, NoMoment, MoolightCut etc)>
The ultimate counter and a very good defensive move when you want to
go on offence as well, it does HUGE damage (3000+) to the attacker
and you're free of damage. But this is not as good as it sounds
because you can counter only direct physical attacks and this tend
to not take effect occasionally. Also, the fact that you cannot
counter multiple target attacks makes this less useful than say
Kasumi. Like CrossDeflect, if your character is not attacked they
will do nothing that round, wasting your time!
Learnt from: Randomly when attacked, but having Kasumi equipped will
certainly make learning this easier.
MoonlightCut (Katana)
Cost: 4WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
forward and makes a sword slash in the shape of a crescent moon as
the Kanji character for "Moon" overlays the enemy>
Just because it's an ultimate attack doesn't mean that it's good.
Please tell me if you have found any use for this pretty but low
damage attack. The only use I've found is that it links before Tres
Flores and you can make a level 3 combo Blizzard-MoonlightCut-Tres
Flores which does heavy damage and mimics the classic SaGa sword
skill Midare Setgetsuka or something like that.
Learnt from: Using a Katana. Katana techs are also quite random, you
can sometimes learn Katana skills from weak enemies. ShadowCounter
can rarely lead to this.
lights are centred on your character and the enemy. You character's
eye blinks causing the enemy to flash, the camera zooms in and a
sword slash can be heard as a line of blood overlays the enemy>
A very useful Katana tech because it can do quite a bit of damage if
you have a good Katana and it's long range. But the real reason to
bother with this is the learning capacity this tech has. It can lead
to HeadWind, TurbidCurrent, LifeSprinkler and all the Katana techs,
all are good ones. This also has great combo ability and combines
with itself for big attacks.
Learnt from: Easy. Simply attack with a Katana and you'll get this
fast, even early in the game.
to from as translucent white spikes rise up from the ground and
strikes the enemy. The Kanji character for "Snow" will overlay the
enemy and triggers a snowstorm>
A very classy looking attack but not too useful except to make the
Katana combo I mentioned above. Also the Palsy effect happens very
rarely.
Learnt from: Katana attack can lead to this, as will ShadowCounter
and MoonlightCut.
Tres Flores
Cost: 9WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
and images of your character begins to forms front of you. You then
jump straight up, bringing a red line up into the sky as the Kanji
character for "Flower" overlays the enemy and the flower gets
slashed into thousands of flower petals which flies about the enemy>
My favourite sword skill as well as the most beautiful one. It's
also the second most damaging sword attack (next to LifeSprinkler.)
But the odds are that you'll be stuck with a crappy Katana until
very late into the game, you're very likely to pass this excellent
skill up. This is not as good as LifeSprinkler though because it's
blockable, it's short-ranged and it's the WORST skill for combos in
the whole game but it's certainly a lot easier to learn. It will
only go after MoonlightCut for some reason but if you find any other
links for Tres Flores, please send them to me.
Learnt from: Any Katana skill or Katana attack.
---Alkaiser Sword Skills---
These sword skills can be learnt only by Alkaiser with his RaySword.
KaiserWing
Cost: 1WP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: None
enemy>
An okay long-range tech I guess but you're most likely to have
something better. Also the fact that you have to change into
Alkaiser to use this really hinders its usefulness. I usually seal
it immediately.
Learnt from: RaySword
KaiserSmash
Cost: 4WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
color that appears over the enemy is blue>
Alkaiser's version of Smash, not much better than the real one.
Alkaiser's sword skills are useless.
Learnt from: Raysword
---Special Sword Skills---
These are not really sword skills, just built in skills of certain
sword. You cannot learn these, they comes and goes with the sword. I
will include only the useful ones.
air as the blade extends and finish off with a big vertical over
head slash. Looks kinda like Cloud's Omnislash>
Very powerful early on in the game and it's a good weapon to equip
on your Mystics and Mecs so they can use this skill. The Feint
effect doesn't happen very often though. Later in the game this will
do very little damage to be helpful. (Less than 1000.)
air as the blade extends. A translucent yellow sphere overlays the
enemy. You'll do a vertical overhead slash then a horizontal slash,
the sphere will be cut in half and explode>
This is a very pretty attack and you should see it at least once.
It's an automatic counter built-in tech but it's a bit different
than other automatic counters.
1) You must use the command "Asura"
2) You must be attacked before you can use "Asura"
3) You will take the damage of the attack. If you fall unconscious
then the counter is eliminated
This tech is very useful to dish out extra damage against a boss but
it has the above conditions you must meet, so it's better to give
this to a slow character and put him on the top slot of the team so
he'll get hit more often. Note AsuraRevenge will do more damage than
Asura.
Very good damage for a fighting tech, 1000 minimum. Good combo
abilities and links with itself. Better than GoldHand as well as
easier to learn, make sure your fighting characters has this because
all the ultimate fighting skills are hard to learn.
Learnt from: Kick or RotationKick but Punch often leads to this for
some weird reason.
OgreRun
Cost: 6WP Target: Line of sight
Type: Ground, Long-range Status: Stun (?)
flip them head over heels>
Damage is average but the fact that this has a range of Line of
sight makes this skill hard to use effectively. You can usually
target one enemy and two if you're really lucky. Use this if you
haven't got anything better. Note this is a ground attack that will
miss flying enemies. A flying enemy doesn't always have to be in the
air. As a rule of the thumb, if it has wings, it's probably flying.
If the enemy is highlighted in green when you flip `em over, then
it's affected.
Learnt from: Sliding can lead to this I think but it's also very
easy to learn without it, just make sure you're fighting a powerful
opponent.
Scuffle
Cost: 4WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
Looks like a typical cartoon scene>
Wow, I had absolutely no idea that this was in the master section.
Come to think of it, this does do very good damage for 4WP, though
it's hard to find a link for it. This looks like a throw but it's
not, it's blockable too!
Learnt from: CrushBeat can get you this quickly, so will Backfist.
LocomotionG
Cost: 5WP Target: One enemy
Type: Throw Status: Stun
This looks really painful but it's not. It does barely more damage
than a normal Suplex! I usually don't bother with this. If I want a
throwing tech I use BabelCrumble or GiantSwing, not some attack that
do fake damage!
Learnt from: AirThrow or Suplex can net you this eventually.
DragonTurn
Cost: 3WP Target: User
Type: Auto-counter Status: None
your head and throw them away>
This is perhaps the most useless tech in the whole game! Why?
Because this attack reverses kicks and the enemy hardly ever use
kicks. I have learnt this once and seen it only once but I don't
think it's of any use.
Learnt from: When getting kicked by the enemy I guess. If you're
desperate about learning this useless tech then find a Shieker
(those green plant-like things that uses SuperSonic) and let them
kick you a few time. Fei-On sometimes comes with this skill learnt.
rush to the enemy and deliver the fist of death, throwing it back in
an orange trial>
Now you're really getting to the good stuff. His is IMO the best
normal fighting attack because it does very good damage (2000-3000)
and it's unblockable like LifeSprinkler. I haven't found any very
good links for this attack yet though. The 4 Kanji characters meant
something along the lines of "The fatal blow". The feint effect is
very rare but I don't think you need it.
Learnt from: GoldHand is your best bet but it's still quite hard to
learn.
CorkScrew
Cost: 9WP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range? Status: None
enemy. The triangle then turns into a prism as three dragons appear
and swirl around the target>
Another excellent fighting tech. This does perhaps slightly more
damage than LastShot but is blockable. This can do about 3000
damage. Combine this with LifeSprinkler for a big attack. Learn DSC
and either LastShot or CorkScrew and you're all set for the last
boss. I don't see how but this is actually the ultimate kick attack!
Learnt from: TriangleKick I guess but Fuse and Lize often get this
from their normal attack.
SkyTwister
Cost: 10WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
light blue tornado which engulfs the enemy>
I don't like this very much as the damage is not too great and it's
too expensive. It does combo a lot better than the last 2 ultimate
attack, especially with method 5. This is not even a long-range
attack!
Learnt from: This is not a throwing tech but AirThrow can definitely
lead to it.
DSC (Dream Super Combo)
Cost: 18WP Target: One enemy
Type: Throw Status: Stun?
again if you're really lucky>
The ultimate physical attack and KOTR equivalent of SaGa Frontier.
Although it costs a crazy amount of WP, it has HUGE damage
potential. The damage done is affected by your STR, how many moves
your DSC had done and the DEF of the enemy. Because each boss has
different DEF ratings, it's hard to give a damage approximation
since it can do anywhere between 3 and 5 moves. A 5 part DSC will do
over 22000 damage on GenocideHeart but barely over a thousand on
MasterRing!!! It's always worth the effort of getting this on one or
two characters before you meet the last boss. Note DSC cannot be
comboed since it's a combo all one its own already. Also it's a good
idea to use stat boost items and magic to raise your strength. Don't
use this if your character has low STR because the damage done is
not worth the heavy price tag.
Learnt from: It's not learnt like any fighting techs. You have to
first learn 4 separate fighting moves: Sliding, BabelCrumble, Suplex
and GiantSwing. Equip them all and DSC will appear in your command
window.
---Alkaiser Fighting Skills---
Like Alkaiser sword skils, these can only be used by Alkaiser but
thankfully, Alkaiser's fighting skills are much better than his
sword skills.
BrightFist
Cost: 0WP Target: One enemy
Type: Normal Status: None
Just because this is a healing spell doesn't necessarily mean that
it's a good spell to have. IMO, this is what makes Light magic so
depressing. Fine so it's a healing spell that works on even Mecs (to
a lesser degree) but it heals too little to be of much use. The most
healing I have ever seen this spell do is barely over 370. This is
fairly useful near the start of the game but it's no where enough
when fighting the bosses when they can do 300 points of damage each
round to all your guys. You'll never get any hits in that way! So
take my advice and dump this for better healing spells like MindHeal
and MaxCure!
which moves outwards along the ground from the caster>
A fairly weak mass-attack spell but it's not bad early on in the
game, can do from 400-800 damage. It can take out large quantities
of weak enemies with ease but you'd want something better because
this spell is too weak to use on higher level enemies, who are quite
resistant to this spell for some reason. De-equip this when you get
MegaWindBlast.
FlashFlood
Cost: 5JP Target: All enemies
Type: Instant death Status: Feint
attempting to sweep away the enemies>
I don't know what to think of this spell. It attempts to instantly
kill all the enemies but this is really less useful than it sounds
because the chance of sweeping away an enemy is hopelessly low. I
have swiped the screen clean with this though but my word is don't
waste your time on this spell, use multiple target damage attacks
instead (or the Arcane magic Death.) It's not completely useless but
there're much (and I do mean MUCH) better ways of getting rid of an
enemy. It has come cool effects though, so make sure you see this at
least once. I almost forgot to mention that an enemy killed this way
wouldn't drop anything (money nor items.)
LightSword*
Cost: 7JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: N/A
above the caster, the sword then falls into the caster's possession>
Not a bad spell and also one of the advantages of Light magic. This
summons an ultra-powerful light sword that acts as a real non-Katana
sword. You can use any sword skills you have equipped that can be
used by any normal swords. You can even use it to learn new sword
skills. I think this is the most powerful sword in the whole game
(even more powerful than the GoldenLion that Asellus can get.) It's
a good idea to have your non-Katana using sword users use this on
the first round of the last boss (if they chose Light magic that
is.) The damage is a lot better than an Asura or Kusanagi (about an
extra 800 or so when using LifeSprinkler). Although the damage is
not too great (compared to ShadowServant), the adavntage of using
LightSword is that they retain the ability to combo. If you're want
more damage potential at the price of combos then choose Shadow
magic. (See below.)
MegaWindBlast*
Cost: 9JP Target: All enemies
Type: Long-range Status: None
wind blasts at all the enemies>
This spell is obviously better than it looks. The other advantage of
Light magic and the most damaging mass-attacking spell (does 1500-
3500 damage) in the whole game (it's stronger than even Haze-to-
Wheel.) This is the second most damaging spell so give your magic
users Light magic so they can use this spell, but this still can't
compete with the physical techs like LifeSprinkler, that's why magic
isn't a very effective source of offence. If you're planning to use
magic users in the final battle then let them use this. The only
disadvantage is that those annoying enemies with shields CAN
actually block this spell so use something else against them.
Shadow Magic
"Manipulates shadow and illusion. Counters with Light Magic."
You may buy Shadow Magic from Luminous. You must go through Omble
(the dark section of Luminous) to obtain the gift and only Humans
and Mystics may enter. Any Monsters or Mecs that enter Omble cannot
get back out. To get to Omble, ask the person who sells the spells
about Shadow Magic and he/she'll ask if you'd like to get to Omble.
Like Light Magic, if your character can't get the gift because they
have the opposite (or is 260 or Riki) then all your other characters
who qualify will enter Omble and come out with the gift.
PowerGrab
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Healing Status: STR down
<4 images of the enemy splits out of the enemy's body and absorbs
into yours>
I called this a "healing" type magic but it's actually not quite,
it's more of "draining" type, you will steal the enemy's HP. This
looks to be really weak to be of much use (you'll usually absorb 100
or so HP) but if you really beef up the WIL scores of a Mystic then
you can absorb about 800 or so HP, which is more than you'll need
and you'll still be able to do damage, all for a small price of 1JP.
I'm not sure if you this works on the bosses though but if it does,
it's probably the best healing spell in the game, more soon. Note if
you try to use this on an undead enemy (or some other supernatural
enemy) you'll get the message "miss", that's because you cannot
drain an undead (it's better than loosing your HP in the Final
Fantasies.) This also causes "STR down" every now and then.
HideBehind
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Distracted
the caster behind the enemy. The illusion taps the enemy's back and
runs away>
Very likely to be the most useless spell in the game. This will
cause the enemy to be distracted, meaning your hit-rates will be
raised and damage might be raised slightly also. You can sometimes
"miss" the enemy as well. This can combo with itself for an even
more useless effect (enemy turns its back and immediately turns
back) but it's funny to watch. This will go before TimeEclipse as
well, but the added effect is also useless. (What's the point
distracting someone if they're to be Petrified?) So IMO, the only
reason to get this spell is that so you can master all the Shadow
Magic faster. (See above.)
ShadowNet
Cost: 3JP Target: All enemies
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Palsy
of enemies along then ground, which will turn into a net and wrap up
the affected enemies>
You can attempt to Paralyze all the enemies with this spell. This
spell is like the Shadow version of FlashFlood because it has low
success rates. If you want to use these status-affecting spells then
you'd better get someone with a high WIL or the spells will never be
too effective. Another fact I don't like about status affecting
spells is that the effect always wears off too soon! Palsy is not as
good as instant death but it's still useful at times (rarely)
against enemies immune to death so go for this if you want. Use it
against multiple enemies and you should catch some of them with the
nets.
DarkSphere*
Cost: 4JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: None
black vortex, it flows towards the enemy and compresses them>
This is the SaGa Frontier's version of Demi. It's a gravity-based
magic but that doesn't make it any different to all other spells in
this game, as it doesn't do damage proportional to the target's HP.
I wonder why this isn't a Space magic. It can do very good damage
(500-2000) and combines brilliantly well with itself and other
skills. However, this is still not a good offence source on the
bosses (even with powered up Mystics.)
ShadowServant*
Cost: 9JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: N/A
is gathered together to form an exact duplication of the caster
which will then over lay the caster>
This is the to-die-for spell that can double all you damage
potential but it's somewhat risky to use. The shadow mimic you
summon will perform every action you take, doubling the damage or
healing done, which when paired with LifeSprinkler, Tres Flores or
Tower can mean massive destruction! It does have its limitations
though. One of the obvious ones is that the shadow will not imitate
DSC, probably because it's too powerful. The other action I found
that it wouldn't do is MirrorShade. There're probably more skills
that this move cannot perform but I haven't found them yet. The
ShadowServant will do pointless actions too, like mimicking spells
that have no additional effects with multiple casting (SoulRune,
TimeTwister etc.) Also note, if you can finish the enemy in one hit
without the help of the shadow then the shadow won't be triggered.
You can only have one shadow per character at one time.
"ShadowServant" will be highlighted in grey if your shadow is
activated already.
The other advantage (or disadvantage, IMO) is that the shadow can
take a hit for you, destroying itself but leaving you free of harm.
I take this as a negative effect (especially when I just activated
it) because it wastes the round I spent on the casting the spell. Be
careful when to use this spell on bosses with mass attacking
attacks, one of those and all your shadows are gone! (I've had the
boss destroying 3 of my shadows at once!) Note the shadow will not
cover some attack for you but I don't exactly know how it works. As
a rule of the thumb, if you take damage then the shadow is safe
(phew! This is what one should hope for) but if you're free of
damage then the shadow is gone. Another way to tell whether a shadow
had been hit is to see if the shadow overlays the character when he
gets attacked. If it overlays the character, is enlarged and shivers
then it's destroyed. All in all, this is one of the best spells you
can get so make sure you do!
---My Thoughts on Yin-Yang Magic---
If you're a beginner then Light magic might be the best for you
because of MegaWindBlast, LightSword and StarlightHeal, but if you
want a little challenge (and a very rewarding one) then I recommend
Shadow magic. ShadowServant is in fact, the only real advantage of
Shadow but if you take a little practice at using it, you can
effectively double all actions your characters take during battle.
* For magic users, MegaWindBlast is a must, ShadowServant is good
but since you can't have MegaWindBlast at the same time, you're
loosing a lot of offence. If you give Shadow to your magic users
then make sure that they have another high damaging spell (other
than Tower, such as ReverseGravity) or physical techs (and enough WP
to use it) to fall back on.
* Sword users can choose either because both have a good support
spell (LightSword and ShadowServant.) If you really want both then
my best guess it to give Light to someone with LifeSprinkler and
Shadow to someone with Tres Flores.
* Give whatever you want to fighting characters but don't forget
that ShadowServant cannot mimic DSC!
* Gun users should get Light, partly because they're potential magic
user and partly because they really need to combo their gun skills
to do real damage (ShadowServant takes that away).
* Mystics should follow the guidelines of magic users but there's no
real disadvantage for them to use Shadow magic since you can get a
powerful skill in one of their Mystic weapon.
---Symbol---
Arcane Magic
"Users summon the power of Tarot Cards to attack and defend.
Counters with Rune Magic"
You can buy Arcane spells in Devin. You can ask the lady who sells
the spells about the gift and she'll give you 4 cards and sends you
to collect 4 real Arcane Tarot cards in various places.
The Shield Card is in IRPO
The Grail Card is in Yorkland
The Saber Card is in Wataku
The Gold Card is in Bacarrat
Upon attaining all four cards, only Humans or Mystics who was in
your team during all 4 events will get the gift. If they have the
opposite magic then they won't get the gift. You may collect the
Runes only after you get all 4 of the Cards. If you collect a Card
and then a Rune, you'll be unable to get the gift.
Saber
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: None
swords come alive and place themselves 120 degrees apart from each
other and pierce the enemy, meeting at the centre where the enemy
resides>
Average damage (100-500) for 1JP but still I can't see any real use
for this except to learn better Arcane spells. Enemies with shields
can also block this rather easily. Free if you have a crown but this
is obviously not the best free spell around.
Shield
Cost: 2JP Target: All allies
Type: Miscellaneous Status: DEF up
in a lion head, shields will form above ally's heads and shower them
with blue sparks>
A good defence spell to have on bosses, you take about 1/3 less
damage than usual. I think this is effective only with physical
attacks but it will come out first in that round (although this can
sometimes be over-prioritized by OverDrive or other pre-emptive
spells.) Give this to someone in a boss fight and let him or her
whip this out the first round.
Grail
Cost: 3JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Remove status
alive and pours vapors down at the ally>
A very useful spell to use against enemies that has Petrify or Charm
attacks, as it removes any and all status ailments. Minor status
like Poisoning is not worth casting this spell but always equip this
on someone when fighting the last boss. Precautions can be taken to
resist status so this spell is not often needed, but equip this just
in case. Also note, this has the same effect has a SnakeOil (except
that Grail cures Petrify) so you can remove this spell if you want
to have your slot for something else. I am not sure whether this
spell will remove positive status (like Vortex) but it definitely
removes ShadowServant so be careful whom you're using this on.
Gold
Cost: 3JP Target: All enemies
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Distracted
and starts shooting off the from the card>
Another useless spell that distracts all enemies that's even less
effective than HideBehind IMO, since the hit-rate is quite low. I
heard this has an Instant Death effect but I was never able to
achieve that effect.
Death*
Cost: 4JP Target: All enemies
Type: Instant Death Status: Feint
each enemy) and reap the enemies with their scythes>
This spell attempts to instantly kill off all enemies but the
disadvantage of this spell is that if the reaper fails to take the
enemy's life, it will come back and take 1LP away from the caster.
OUCH! Actually this is not as bad as it sounds, since a character
usually has 8LP or so but if you're low on LP then perhaps you
should postpone this spell for a while. Never use this with your
main character (especially) when they have traded their LP for items
in Facinaturu because you could easily loose all your LP and then
it's Game Over! This spell is pretty useful against single powerful
enemy. It's not usually not a good idea to use this on multiple
enemies but don't be afraid to use it if you're surrounded and don't
mind loosing a few LP. The best way to use this spell is against
those mini-bosses that have an INSANE amount of HP (like those
beefed-up SnowFolks, I killed 3 of them in one hit.) If the reaper
slashes the enemy then it kills it, if it does nothing then it's
coming to get you. Sometimes the slash appears but the enemy does
not die, that's because the enemy is immune against Instant Death
attacks but in that case, the reaper won't come back to get you.
Fool*
Cost: 6JP Target: All
Type: Miscellaneous Status: WEA down
the caster as he impersonates John Travota>
This spell lowers attack strength for all targets on the screen,
it's rather pointless. I guess the only use for it is if you're
using a party of all magic users. This does not decrease magic power
y' see so you'll affect all enemies without suffering from the side
effect, but since magic is not a very good offence skill, it's
another useless spell. Give it a try if you want.
Magician*
Cost: 7JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: N/A
ground and creates an illusion of the caster with an infinity symbol
above its head>
This creates an illusion of the caster, which the enemy can't tell
the difference of. The purpose of the infinity symbol is to
differentiate from the Mystic spell MirrorShades, which is similar
but works slightly different. The disadvantage of this spell
compared to MirrorShades is that this will create one and only one
illusion of the caster. The advantage of this over the Mystic spell
is that when an enemy attacks the illusion, it will create a vortex
that devours the enemy completely. It doesn't work on bosses and
normal enemies are not worth the effort of casting this high-cost
spell, also they may not fall for the trap so this spell is really
not too useful. The illusion will only suck the enemy into the
vortex in the enemy uses a short-range attack also, this spell is
useless against multi-target attacks since the enemy can damage all
your guys and kills the illusion at the same time.
Tower*
Cost: ALL JP (minimum 8JP) Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: None
tower creeps up at the enemy and thunder strikes the enemy with
rage>
The most powerful spell in the whole game and the one-and-a-halfth
equivalent of KOTR. Although this takes up all your JP, the damage
done is exceptional! The more current JP you have, the more damage
you'll do. This ranges from barely over 1000 if you have the minimum
amount (8JP) to 15000+ when you have about 120JP!!! I am not sure if
your WIL or INT level has any influence on the damage. Tower may not
do as much damage as DSC unless you have a god-like JP level (and
you can only use it once per fight) but it has one major advantage
over it, Tower can be used in combos for outrageous damage! It
combos well with many ultimate attacks including LifeSprinkler! So
have someone use this spell and let the other characters do what
they want and watch in horror as astonishing 5-digit numbers pop-up
on the screen! (I sure did!)
As I've said before, magic isn't a very effective source of offence
even if it has this mama. That's because Tower will eat up your JP
like crazy. Magic users rely on their JP to do damage but since
Tower takes them all, they'll have nothing to rely on afterwards,
which isn't very pretty. (And believe me I have done that!) The best
use for this spell is to give it to fighters, since they're using
only physical attacks, they won't be needing their JP and so they're
perfect for Tower! (But remember to cast any other necessary spells
before doing so, like LightSword.) If you are using Tower then
remember to have only ONE member cast it per round to maximize combo
opportunities, since Tower won't combo with itself, having more than
one character using it will waste it, doing only minimal damage.
This spell works fine for Mystics though, but be sure you absorb a
good skill into their Mystic weapon so they have something to use
afterwards. Even better is to use this spell with ShadowServant
activated where you'll double the damage of your Tower. I managed to
inflict approximately 25,000 damage with Dr. Nusakan and his shadow!
Note, if you're casting this spell through certain aid that lets you
keep your JP afterwards (ie, OverDrive) then this spell will not
inflict as much damage as it should, usually minimum damage is what
you get. Like wise, casting Tower again through TimeTwister will
also weaken it (usually the damage of the second casting is less
than 1000!).
Rune Magic
"Rune Light protects users from the dark force. Counters with Arcane
Magic."
You can buy Rune Magic also from Devin. You can ask the man in the
Lure of the Rune about the gift and he'll give you 4 stones and
tells you to collect 4 Runes from different Regions.
The Victory Rune is in Mu's Tomb in Shrike
The Vitality Rune is in Tanzer
The Hide Rune is in Koorong
The Freedom Rune is in Despair
Like Arcane Magic, only characters who are in your team when you
obtain all 4 of the Runes will gain the gift. You may collect Arcane
Magic also but not until you gain all 4 of the Runes. If you get one
Rune and then a Card, you'll never be able to obtain the gift for
both magic schools so don't do that.
VictoryRune
Cost: 1JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: WEA up
^
| flows through the target>
One of the more useful Runes. This lets the ally do about 1/3 more
damage with their physical attacks, which doesn't mean much with
normal attacks but when you're using DSC or LifeSprinkler, the
damage is increased by thousands! It's good to have when fighting
bosses but to save room for your skills, you can equip a RuneSword
which has this spell built-in and use that. Since this affects only
physical attacks, magic users will gain nothing with this so just
skip it.
VitalityRune
Cost: 2JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Regeneration
|
|/|
| gets absorbed by the target>
Another pretty useful Rune. This will let you gain about 10% of your
maximum HP at the end of each round. It's very useful against the
last boss as this can heal most of the damage so you can concentrate
on attacking. You probably don't need this if your HP is high enough
though.
HideRune
Cost: 2JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Invisibility
above the target's head and showering them in colored brilliance V
as the target disappears out of sight. The classic "Magic Dust" |
trick>
A pretty useless Rune. This makes the target invisible but if they
do anything other than healing or aiding themselves (or defending)
then they'll immediately come out of hiding. Enemies will ignore a
hidden character but multi-target attack can still hit the
character, a hidden ally will not come out of hiding when they get
hit though. The only use for this spell I have found is when you
want to defend a character from dangerous attack, (such as your hero
when his/her LP gets low) but you could just use a manual-counter
skill instead.
FreedomRune
Cost: 4JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Status invulnerabilities
as a pink cone shaped barrier
| appears above the character>
This spell protects the ally from the Stone, Palsy and Sleep status.
It's actually not as useful against the bosses since this won't
prevent the more "serious" status like Charm and Mess. Also,
equipping PurpleEyes and you'll be able to avoid most of these. If
you're Riki then you have no reason to bother with this. Ignore this
and give Grail to someone instead!
WallRune*
Cost: 8JP Target: One ally
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Shield
/
< / The caster draws the Wall Rune and 2 perpendicular sets of
/|/ rings surrounds the target, shielding them with blue
/ translucent barriers>
/|/
/
/
This gives the character a shield which will prevent from one long-
range attack, afterwards it shatters. This is rather useless and
costs TOO much so give your character the Mystic magic GlassShield
instead.
DwarfRune*
Cost: 8JP Target: One enemy
Type: Miscellaneous Status: STR down
the target and shading them in grey >
Another high cost, low use spell. This will lower the attack of one
enemy but A LOT but rarely works. The Arcane spell Fool can be used
as a substitute but I can't think of any reason you'd want to. Has
the same use as Fool but the chances are that you can't get it to
work because the rate of success is too low.
SoulRune*
Cost: 7JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Stats up
^
\ / earth, casts over the user>
v
(The actual Rune is the above rotated by 90 degrees.)
This is the real reason that I bother with Rune magic. This will
vastly increase all stats of the caster, very useful against the
last boss. I usually give this to someone who's using DSC as the
damage done is increased by a few thousand! This is less useful for
sword or magic users though but never the less, a good spell.
StasisRune*
Cost: ALL JP (minimum 8JP) Target: User and one enemy
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Stasis
^
\ / selected enemy is
v crystalized>
(The above ASCII Rune needs to be rotated 90 degrees.)
The ultimate Rune spell is also the most useless one. This causes
the caster and one enemy to go in stasis, a special type of
Paralysis where neither character and act or be affected, for a very
long time. The effect lasts about 5-9 rounds, the more JP you have
the longer it lasts. Useless as it does nothing and takes all your
JP. This spell does have 2 special effects. The first is when you
equip this and a RuneSword, the Mirage Magic Cockatrice will
mysteriously appears under VictoryRune in that window. The second
effect is when you cast this spell as the last action you do while
in an OverDrive, you'll be able to save all your bullets, WP and JP
that it supposes to be stripped away. For this reason, always try to
get the gift for Rune magic on TimeLord. Note that you can remove
the Stasis effect with SnakeOil, Grail or Vortex. If you don't want
to wait for the effect to wear off on the enemy then get Kylin to
cast Vortex.
---My Thoughts on Symbol Magic---
Unlike many other players, I consider both schools to be equally
good, although Arcane Magic has a slight advantage because of the
damage potential of Tower.
* Magic users should definitely choose Arcane Magic because since
all the Runes has no direct effect, therefore having a high magic
power does not have any additional advantage.
* Sword users should choose Arcane but make sure that you have at
least 2 sword users on your team who has LifeSprinkler, then let one
of them cast Tower and the other use LifeSprinkler, and swap the
next round. You'll have a very high chance of getting a Tower-
LifeSprinker (or better) combo doing over 9000 damage! For example,
Emelia and Gen both has Tower and LifeSprinkler. I let Emelia cast
Tower and Gen back her up with LifeSprinkler, giving me a high
chance of getting them to combo. The next round I let Emelia use
LifeSprinkler and Gen use Tower, I have another chance of doing the
combo. This works best if Emelia and Gen have similar QUI. If you
have more than 2 sword users, let the excess sword users use
something that can go before Tower or after LifeSprinkler.
* Fighting characters should choose Rune Magic, especially if
they're goin' to use DSC. SoulRune can increase the damage done a
LOT!
* Gun characters can choose either. Since gun attacks won't do much
damage, you can have them cast stats-uppers without loosing much
offence. Or they can follow the sword users with Tower.
* Mystics should choose Arcane Magic, especially when paired with
ShadowServant, but make sure you get a good skill on their Mystic
weapon after you blow away all your JP.
* Try get Rune Magic on TimeLord because of the Overdrive/StasisRune
trick. The same goes for Blue but since he can get both, it doesn't
matter.
* All of the above are just guidelines but if for some reason your
character can't get the gift for Arcane Magic, don't panic because
SoulRune works just fine!
---Dimensional---
Time Magic
"Users can command time at will. Very powerful, but very difficult
to acquire. Counters with Space Magic."
TimeLord has all the Time spells, you may either get him to join or
buy the lower levels of Time Magic from him. To reach TimeLord, look
in the character evaluation section on how to recruit TimeLord. Only
one being in the entire universe can have the gift for Time Magic.
DelayOrder
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Miscellaneous Status: QUI down
surrounds the enemy>
This lowers the enemy's quickness but rarely works so don't bother
with it. You can get the same effect from TimeEclipse and do damage
at the dame time.
TimeLeap
Cost: 3JP Target: One enemy
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Stun
decelerates>
Another rather useless spell that attempts to end the enemy's turn
but if you whip out this too slow as the enemy already had its turn
then this does nothing. The success rate is not too high either.
TimeLord has better spells to spend your JP on.
ChaosStream
Cost: 9JP Target: All enemies
Type: Unblockable Status: Various
hands of the clock turns rapidly taking the enemies with them for a
spin>
It looks cool, it has high costs but this spell is actually really
weak. The damage done is rather random, maximum of about 1000 and
minimum of 80 or so. Also, all enemies affected takes different
damage from one another, you could inflict maximum damage to one
while minimum harm to the other. ChaosStream can also cause various
status on the enemy but they happen extremely rarely, I have seen
Palsy and Sleep but I bet there are others too. Don't use this,
ReverseGravity is much better but for TimeLord, this maybe his only
mass attack spell.
TimeEclipse
Cost: 4JP Target: One enemy
Type: Instant Death/Unblockable Status: Stone
second and spins out of existence>
This attempts to instantly kill an enemy by petrifying them with a
VERY high chance of success! It's the best instant kill spell in the
game IMO, since it works over 90% of the time and there are no side
effects. If this doesn't kill off the enemy (or the enemy is immune
to Petrify) then this will do normal damage, usually about 600-1000
and has a high chance of vastly decreases their QUI! Always keep
this on TimeLord (if you got him) when not fighting bosses. Try this
on as many enemies as you can, you never know who is susceptible to
Petrify!
This is one of the best spells in the game and one of the two
reasons why TimeLord is one of the best characters in the game! This
will make the ally act twice that turn, performing their action
twice. This works especially well on characters with DSC. If you
cast this on a character who has ShadowServant activated, then that
character and his shadow will act again, effectively doing four
times as much damage as normal! Since Mystics don't have much damage
potential, let TimeLord cast this spell on a Human who has DSC or
something, each and every round. This practically gives TimeLord the
damage potential of a Human! Note casting this spell on yourself
will simply waste it. Like wise, multiple casting of this on the
same character in the same round won't have any additional effect.
OverDrive*
Cost: 10JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Infinite speed
dimension where a big glass-like clock resides on the ground>
The ultimate magic in the game the second equivalent of KOTR. This
automatically comes out first in the round and everyone else on the
screen will freeze as the animation takes place. The turn will end
and the caster will gain infinite speed in the next round where he
can use whatever actions he wishes. Your magic strength (or maybe JP
max) determines the number of actions you can take. You will have to
enter all the commands at once. There are only two characters in the
whole game can get this, TimeLord and Blue/Rouge. Blue can have a
maximum of 8 actions while TimeLord/Rouge gets only 7 actions
maximum for some reason. Any actions you take will cost nothing but
you must have enough WP or JP there, so you can cast Tower for all
these turns. When OverDrive expires, you'll find out that all your
WP, JP and bullets (guns and cannon) are gone!!! Yup, this can be
really powerful it has some awful side effects.
There is however, a way around this. Make sure you cast the Rune
Magic StasisRune as the last action you take. All your WP, JP and
bullets will remain intact, which means that every action you used
inside the OverDrive is free! You will have to pay 10JP for the
OverDrive though. Also, if you do use StasisRune last, you'll create
a very intersting situation where you'll be able to take as many
actions as you had in the OverDrive every round after the OverDrive!
Use this opportunity to cast stat-uppers or attack intensely.
ShadowServant complements this very well, activate it as the first
action and every action inside the OverDrive will then be doubled.
Have someone with the Grail spell or SnakeOil handy and use it on
Blue/Rouge or TimeLord or know him out of stasis if you want. But
note you will remove the ShadowServent this way also.
You have a few choices of actions inside the OverDrive. Blue/Rouge
have many choices, such as their best sword/fighting techs, Tower or
MegaWindBlast. TimeLord however, the situation is a bit difficult,
since he can't use sword or fighting skills and is unable to use
MegaWindBlast or Tower because these are of the opposite schools to
ShadowServant and StasisRune.
Note you *can* combo with yourself in the round after you come out
of Stasis when you can take multiple actions, but you can't combo
with yourself directly. You have to find someone to link your moves
together. I have achieved a level 3 combo RosarioImpale-Tower-
RosarioImpale with Blue and Liza.
Space Magic
"Control space. Very powerful, but hard to master. Counters with
Time Magic."
Kylin has all the Space spells, you may either get Kylin to join you
or purchase the lower level Space Magic from him. To reach Kylin,
look in Kylin's character description below on how to recruit him.
Vortex, LightShift and DarkShift cannot be comboed. I'm not sure
about Vanish.
VaporBlast
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: None
pierces the target>
Perhaps the best 1JP attack in the game. It's blockable however but
can do about 300-1000 damage. Give this to your Human magic users so
they can use this for free but Mystics have better spells to bother
with. If you have Kylin on your team, have him use this in normal
fights and he'll be able to do a LOT of damage for a tiny price. A
Monster can absorb this as well, from the AirFolks I think.
Vanish
Cost: 3JP Target: One enemy
Type: Instant Death Status: Feint
move towards it and eventually envelopes them completely>
Another pretty strong instant death attack but it's not as good as
TimeEclipse IMO because an enemy killed this way will give you no
rewards, very much like FlashFlood. Use this if you're Kylin but
everyone else has better skills.
ReverseGravity
Cost: 6JP Target: All enemies
Type: Unblockable Status: Stun
be discharged by green sparks and fall upward then dumping them on
their heads back down onto the ground>
One of the best multiple attack skills in the game, it doesn't do
nearly as much damage as MegaWindBlast though, but this does have
many advantages. The most obvious one is that ReverseGravity cannot
be blocked, which comes in really handy at times. (Nothing p*sses me
off more than delivering a powerful spell that gets blocked!)
Another reason is that this does not require the gift and the JP
costing is really reasonable, probably the best damage/JP spell.
This does carry a heavy price tag of 1200 Credits though, but I'd
say it's worth it! Get this on as many characters as you can (except
TimeLord of course), especially those Mystics of yours who went for
Shadow Magic (therefore unable to obtain MegaWindBlast.) This can do
from 500-2000 damage, combos well and the Stun effect is pretty
common.
LightShift
Cost: 1JP Target: All
Type: Miscellaneous Status: N/A
Not the prettiest spell nor is it of much use. This brings the sun,
which has no direct effect. Any Monster with the DeathSynthesis will
stop gaining HP and any Monsters with the PhotoSynthesis skill will
start to gain HP. A handy spell to use against those undead bosses
that gains back 750HP or so each round (like King Sei.) If you're
strong enough though, you won't be needing this but if you like
Monsters then get them PhotoSynthesis so they can take advantage of
the regeneration effect. Just put this on at least one of your party
member just in case.
DarkShift*
Cost: 1JP Target: All
Type: Miscellaneous Status: N/A
whole screen, kinda reminds me of Suikoden>
The counter spell of LightShift is from the higher level for some
weird reason. This is even less useful than LightShift since there
ain't any big ugly plant-type bosses in the game. You can cast this
so your Monsters with DeathSynthesis can have the benefit of
regeneration though, and this is the only way to heal your undead
Monsters (since they can't be healed through normal means.) But my
advice is to trade your DeathSynthesis for PhotoSynthesis (if
possible) and get LightShift instead since Kylin is the only one who
can use this spell.
Vortex*
Cost: 3JP Target: All
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Remove status
abnormalities in the form of blue lines into its dark red core>
Another all affecting spell, this can be useful or pointless
dependant on the situation. This removes all status (both good and
bad) from both the enemies and the allies. This can be handy when
all your characters had been Paralyzed, Asleep or Poisoned but don't
use this when you just powered yourselves up with LightSword,
ShadowServant, Shield or the various Runes as this spell negates
them as well. This spell can remove positive status from bosses as
well but since they rarely use them, you rarely get this advantage.
---My Thoughts on Dimensional Magic---
Since there're only two characters in the entire universe who can
get the gift, the answer is easy. The higher Time Magic are godly
powerful and the lower Space magic are useful so I'd get TimeLord on
my team (his TimeTwister and OverDrive is worth every bit of you LP
you traded to get him!) and buy the lower Space Magic from Kylin.
The good spells to get from Kylin are ReverseGravity (a MUST! But do
carry a hefty wallet with you because this is going to do some MAJOR
damage to your credit card) and VaporBlast.
---Magery--- (true that this is not a real word, but it's in the
manual *Grin*)
Realm Magic
"An ancient secret from our kingdom that allows its user to command
supernatural forces. Counters with Mystic Magic."
You may buy the lower Realm Magic from Magic Kingdom. Males born in
Magic Kingdom will have the inherit ability of casting all the Realm
spells. Only Blue and Rouge start with the gift for Realm Magic,
otherwise the gift is unobtainable.
EnergyChain
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: Palsy
level, this will swirl around them and entangles them>
Does about as much damage as VaporBlast. This is the only spell I
know of that can be up-graded so the chain of energy entangles the
enemies and causes the Palsy status. I'm not sure about this but I
think this spell will be up-graded when the caster learns the full
set of Realm Magic. The chains will choke the enemy from then on but
the chance of it leaving a Palsy status if actually quite rare.
Implosion
Cost: 3JP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: Feint
Can Paralyze the enemy but the effect usually won't last for more
than 2 rounds and this can target only one enemy. If you are looking
for a Paralyzing effect spell, ShadowNets is better since it can
target all enemies.
Evaporate
Cost: 2JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Invisibility
though>
This works just like HideRune so the uses are identical. The enemy
will not target an invisible character but you can be hit by multi-
target attacks. If you attack or affect a character other than
yourself, the spell will be broken. Hmm, I wonder what the enemy
will do if your whole team is invisible.
LifeWave*
Cost: 2JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: None
together to form a large javelin, as it pierces the enemy and breaks
up into bits again>
A very good spell to put into combos and also combos with itself.
Does very good damage for 2JP, can do as much as 1500 or so to one
target, since there ain't very many good Human magic users (Rouge
does not qualify since he can't get the gift) in the game, this
spell is wasted. Make sure you get this if you're using Doll.
Awakening*
Cost: 2JP Target: User
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Stats up
A substitute for SoulRune as it has the same effect only cheaper
casting cost. But you'll soon realize the disadvantages! All WP and
JP costs will be DOUBLED! That means 36WP for DSC, 20WP for
LifeSprinkler etc.... This spell can be used like SoulRune for short
battles but NEVER ever use this spell in long battles, as it will
drain your WP and JP like crazy!
Evil Magic
"Also known as Curse Magic. Counters with Mind Magic."
Zozma the Mystic will start with 4 Evil spells but he does not have
the gift. I have heard that there are more Evil spells but I haven't
seen them yet. I know that some undead enemies have the access to
Evil spells as well, even ones that Zozma hasn't got. If you're
lucky enough to absorb an Evil spell I suggest that you keep it. The
gift is unobtainable.
RavaShot
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: None
Pretty good attack can do 300 or so damage but since Zozma has only
4 slots to equip magic, he should spend his time on better spells.
Few undead enemies also use this spell and should be able to be
absorbed by your Monsters.
PainDoubler
Cost: 1JP Target: All enemies
Type: Unblockable Status: None
<>
Zozma's multiple target attack. This spell doubles the damage the
enemy has already taken but it's not as good as it sounds, because
its maximum damage potential is 666. PainDoubler can go in combos
though but I'm not too sure how it works but my best guess is that
this spell still does 666 damage but will increase the damage done
by the attacks linked to it.
SharpPain
Cost: 1JP Target: All enemies
Type: Miscellaneous Status: Stun
them somehow>
The best Evil Magic. This spell automatically comes out at the first
(usually but can loose its priority to OverDrive, Shield etc.) and
attempts to Stun all enemies. This spell has a fairly high chance of
taking effect but make sure you get Zozma a high WIL as to have the
best effect. The casting cost is also pretty cheap. If Zozma cast
this spell in succession the enemies will have a very small chance
to act but there ain't very many situations where this spell can be
truly helpful. Most encounters are too weak that they can't do very
much damaging and this spell often links with your Human skills
therefore ruins your chances of learning new techs on powerful
enemies.
I stumped into an interesting situation once. SharpPain always comes
out first right? Well, that's usually true. The enemy cast this
spell on me once but some of my characters got to act before this
spell was cast and they ain't even using pre-emptive attacks! I
guess this spell is slightly better for Zozma than for the enemies.
DeathCurse
Cost: 4JP Target: One enemy
Type: Instant Death Status: Feint
them>
If the sigils touch the enemy then they'll be kill but if the sigils
stay in place for a few seconds then it's bad new because they'll
come back to take 1LP from Zozma, just like the Arcane spell. I like
the Arcane Magic Death better as it has the same JP cost but targets
multiple enemies. There are better instant death spells especially
one that won't punish you when it fails such as Vanish.
---My Thoughts on Spiritual Magic---
Since only Zozma (and maybe a lucky Monster) can get Evil Magic,
there's no point not to give every Human you can Mind Magic.
Monsters maybe able to absorb Evil Magic from some undead Monsters,
even the ones Zozma hasn't got! (But it's really hard, I haven't got
them yet.) I usually train for the gift for Mind Magic when I have 3
full teams, so all my Humans can obtain it. Use Zozma if you want
but I don't think the Evil Magic is very good but you may think
different.
---Unaligned---
Mirage Magic
"Ancient lost magic. It's been divided into Shadow and Mirage
Magic."
Rei has the gift for Mirage Magic and starts the game with the full
set. The gift is unobtainable through other means.
All Mirage spells are interchangeable with the Mystic spell
PhantasmShot in terms of combos.
BlackCat
Cost: 1JP Target: One enemy
Type: Long-range Status: Mess
fluorescein outline and meows>
A rather weak Mirage Magic overall but it's cheap to cast. This may
inflict a Mess status on the enemy and always starts from Blue Mess.
Each subsequent casting may upgrade it to a more severe degree of
Mess, but this is rather pointless in many ways. The enemy usually
recovers before you can get them to the Red Mess status (or recovers
immediately after it) and you may not achieve Mess from the casting
of this spell. If you want Rei to bother with Mirage spells then get
her a high WIL so she can use these with maximum effect (that goes
with PhantasmShot too.) This is also the only Mirage Magic that's
blockable, very annoying!
NightMare
Cost: 2JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: Sleep
puff of smoke>
A better phantasm than BlackCat as it does slightly more damage and
Sleep is a bit more useful than Mess. Note however, if you hit a
Sleeping target they will wake up and if they wake up on the same
round as they fell asleep (ie, getting hit right after the casting
of this spell) they'll still be able to act that round! (Thus the
Sleep status has no effect.) Don't bother with this on the bosses,
use better phantasms instead.
Jackal
Cost: 3JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable Status: Venom
Does slightly more damage than the above, the best Mirage Magic IMO.
This can Petrify the target, killing it in one hit. The problem with
this is that it's not as dependable as an instant-petrify attack
like TimeEclipse and doesn't do as much damage as DarkSphere, you
often achieve the effect you don't want, very unpredictable! Works
almost as well as TimeEclipse but if you have that spell, why bother
with this?
Reaper
Cost: 7JP Target: One enemy
Type: Unblockable/Instant Death Status: Feint
and reaps the target>
The most damaging Mirage Magic but the damage difference between
this and BlackCat is only about 200. Like Cockatrice, this is also
very unreliable instant death spell, use better ones if you have it
and the JP cost is too high for the damage you get!
---My Thoughts on Mirage Magic---
The ancient lost magic ain't as good as you'd think. If you want the
phantasms, use PhantasmShot instead as it costs less (you get
BlackCat most of the time though, but I really don't think you
should bother with the phantasms.) I usually equip only one of these
(usually Cockatrice) and leave 3 slots for better spells. They don't
look too cool either, don't expect the phantasms to be like the
Summon magic in FFVII or even the Espers in FFVI!
Life Magic
"Only one who masters both Light and Shadow Magic can get this...
the ultimate magic."
Blue (Rouge) automatically obtain the gift and both Life spells when
he beats/gets beaten by Rouge. Otherwise the gift is unobtainable.
Very useful spell indeed! This works exactly like Alkaiser's
FinalCrusade and Mesarthim's LifeRain. The caster sacrifices 1LP of
their own and heals all allies but himself by the caster's maximum
HP plus one, so keep Blue's max HP high to achieve the best effect.
This has the same pitfalls too! Don't EVER use this with
ShadowServant activated because it will drain 2 of your LP at once!
Since Blue has the lowest LP maximum of all main characters (and
especially if you traded your LP for items in Facinaturu) use
caution when using this as you may let your LP get too low and
accidentally ruin your game!
Reviva
Cost: 9JP Target: One ally
Type: Healing Status: Reviva
and emerges with the target>
The ultimate magic is back from Romancing SaGa 3, this time with a
new appearance! This is essentially one of the best spells in the
game and why Blue is one of the top characters. When a character
with this spell cast on them falls unconscious, this will instantly
revives to maximum HP the character with NO LP LOSS! You're
essentially immortal! Cast this on Blue when fighting his last boss
just to be safe but you probably won't need it if you spend about 10
hours building up your characters in every game like I do. Note
Vortex WILL remove Reviva so don't use it!
---My Thoughts on Life Magic---
What can I say, the ultimate magic is the ultimate magic! Life Magic
has only 2 spells but they're both excellent ones. It's a shame that
only Blue/Rouge can get it, these will only make him more powerful
than ever (like if he isn't god-like powerful already!)
---Tips on Magic---
1) Note the elemental attributes of an enemy. Elemental attributes
ain't as important in SaGa Frontier as Final Fantasy but they still
exists, if only vaguely. Most spells are non-elemental types but
there are some slight exceptions. For example, most of the Light
Magic are fire elemental, which will do almost no damage on an enemy
with a flame-barrier (ie, Suzaku.) Common sense is the best way to
determine an enemy's weakness.
2) Gun users are potentially good mages, just make sure they have
enough JP to spend.
3) The ULTIMATE magician is no doubt Blue. Rouge, Doll and the
Mystics are no where near as powerful as him but are good magicians
too.
4) Conserve your JP. Don't blow all your JP out on Tower on the
first round of the last boss, you won't get anywhere that way! Plan
your attacks and use Tower when the boss is almost dead.
5) Magic makes a terrible main damage source (except Tower, which is
one of the best in the game) but many of the none-damaging spells
are quite useful, especially when used as supports by your other
characters.
6) A few of Mystics has unique schools of magic that so one else can
get. If you like magic, then these characters are your best bets on
Mystic characters.
HUMAN DODGE SKILLS
==================
These are weird skills that Humans can learn that doesn't really fit
anywhere. Occasionally, when a Human gets attacked, their instincts
take over and they roll out of the way of the dangerous attack,
taking no harm but learn the true nature of the attack so they can
evade similar attacks in the future. A dodge skill is very much like
the automatic defence skills such as Deflect. If you have a certain
dodge skill equipped, your character can and will evade attacks of
that type. I actually don't find these skills very useful because
equipping shields, Deflect or accessories can block most of them.
Equip them if you want but I'd rather spend one of my slots on a
better and more useful skill.
There ain't any extremely good ways to learn these skills, they're
very random. I'd say not bother too much about it because you don't
need them. The only dodge tech I find useful is DodgeGale and
DodgeGaze. The former can be blocked by shield and the latter can be
substituted by equipping PurpleEyes. DodgeSeduction can save your
life but the enemy rarely uses charm attacks.
THE IDEAL HUMAN CHARACTER
=========================
This section is a guide to build a perfect (well, nearly) character
you want. I'll divide them into sections depends on what you train
your characters in. Notice that there are sections on "hybrid"
characters, these are Humans that uses more than one type of skills
but relies on one type of skill as their main weapon. I recommend
you "hybridize" your characters because the advantage of using more
than one type of skill is majorly helpful!
---Sword Users---
The most important statistics to a sword user is STR! High WP will
be useful when unleashing powerful attacks. A high WIL can be
helpful but since the ultimate LifeSprinkler is unblockable, WIL is
irrelevant when you can't miss. High QUI is good too.
For a start, you should ALWAYS carry 2 swords! One should be very
powerful normal sword (60+ attack power, ZeroSwords are good, but if
you have something better equip it), the second should be a Katana.
(You can buy Katana with 34 attack power, but you should equip
something better if you have it.) You should attack with the first
sword and use all techs from it as it does the most damage. The
Katana should be used when you want to learn a Katana tech (or
skills that are learnt more easily with Katanas), use a Katana tech
or do limited damage. Equipping both swords will allow you to learn
2-Sword skills as well. I also recommend equipping a shield.
Try to learn the counter and defence moves as soon as possible.
I recommend you fill your skill slots with something like this:
1. Deflect
2. Kasumi
3. Mass attack: 2GaleSlash/Haze-to-Wheel
4. Something powerful such as NoMoment or LifeSprinkler
5. DoubleSlash or HeadWind
6. A base attack for learning advanced techs
7. _empty_
8. _empty_
This is what your fighter should equip during normal fights and when
you're building up. The first two are obvious defence manoeuvres. A
multiple target attack is highly recommended to get rid of large
groups of enemies and a powerful attack is for sticky situations,
use it as a desperation move when you're in trouble. Slot number 5
is there simply to save WP, since you're likely to have a crown
DoubleSlash is free and HeadWind is the best damage/WP skill to do
high damage with limited WP. Techs you equip on slot 6 is to learn
better skills, you should always have an aim of which skill you want
(such as DeadEnd -> RosarioImpale) not just "I'll try WillowBranch
and see if anything pops up." I usually trade slot 5 for another
base learning skill. Note how I left the last 2 slots empty, that's
because you need empty slots to learn new attacks.
You should manipulate your skills when fighting bosses, I won't list
it because each boss it different and you need to adjust your skills
depending on the situation.
* You should always keep Deflect and Kasumi.
* Keep the multi-attack when you're facing multiple opponents (such
as when the boss is accompanied by other enemies).
* Always have a powerful move but the appropriate move will depend
on the situation. Having LifeSprinkler will make your life so much
easier (maybe that's why it's called LifeSprinkler) because it's the
perfect tech for every situation. If you haven't got it then you
should choose the best substitute.
* Get NoMoment on bosses that block.
* RosarioImpale, TurbidCurrent, NoMoment are good long-range attacks
that's good on bosses with barriers or counter attacks. (2GaleSlash
is ok but the damage is so-so.)
* For combos, almost every sword tech will do but be conscious of
what attacks you want to combo with.
* For power then you can't beat LifeSprikler (I told you it's that
flexible) but Tres Flores is good too.
---Hybrid Sword Users---
I recommend magic to sword users. Light or Shadow are good schools,
Tower of Arcane is recommended and Mind. LightSword or ShadowServant
is perfect and Tower is the best way to blow away all your JP that
your sword users don't actually need. MindHeal is good for everyone!
You should have your slots filled up with something like this before
the last fight:
1. Deflect
2. Kasumi
3. LifeSprinkler/Tres Flores
4. LightSword/ShadowServant
5. Tower
6. A good combo attack such as RosarioImpale
7. Anything
8. Anything
For slot number 7 and 8 you can equip anything you want as the first
6 slots should be enough already. I usually use these slots for
MindHeal, GlassShield, other support magic or anther sword skill
(just in case). The reason that you need another sword tech besides
LifeSprinkler is because that these will act as linkers between the
LifeSprinklers, as they won't link with themselves.
---Martial Art Experts---
STR is again very important to your fighter. WIL is good and WP is
especially important so you can afford the 18WP DSC. High HP and VIT
are also a good idea since a fighter has less dependable defence
techniques than a sword user.
A fighter doesn't have to have any weapon equipped to use their
fighting skills but definitely carry a good shield for defence.
Carry some Cures if you can too.
Your slots should be filled up with something like this:
1. SwayBack
2. KO Throw
3. Something powerful like CorkScrew
4. A throwing skill
5. AirThrow
6. Kick
7. _empty_
8. _empty_
The first 2 are for defence but they ain't very good so don't worry
if you haven't got it or substitute it for something else. The
throwing skill is unblockable to use against enemies with shields
and the powerful skill is to use against powerful enemies. AirThrow
and Kick are equipped so you can learn attacks of the kick and
throwing type.
For bosses, you may want to equip the 4 DSC moves: Sliding, Suplex,
BabelCrumble and GiantSwing. Keep the defence moves if you like and
keep another powerful skill as well.
---Hybrid Fighting Experts---
I like to give my fighters swords because the STR they accumulated
will be put into good use. Some enemies are also strong against
empty-handed source of damage and fighting lacks multiple target
skills so sword skills are excellent for fighting users. There are
more sword skills than fighting so have your characters use a sword
when they've learnt most of them.
Magic is good for anyone so give them to your fighters but the
guideline for sword users don't apply here. LightSword won't do much
good and ShadowServant won't work with DSC so just choose whatever.
SoulRune is good but so is Tower.
At the end, you should have the below skills:
1. Sliding
2. Suplex
3. BabelCrumble
4. GiantSwing
5. SoulRune or Tower
6. LastShot or CorkScrew
7. Anything
8. Anything
See how I ditched the defence skills. The first 4 skills will nets
you DSC and #5 is a good spell to cast. An ultimate fighting skill
is good for combos but you don't actually have to have it when
you've got DSC (unless in Riki's scenario.) Put anything you want in
slot 7 and 8.
---Gun Users---
There's no reason what so ever why you'd want a gun user because
they're really not good! There are no ultimate gun users since they
have the least damage potential. You can however, build a pretty
good gun using team by comboing.
The most important statistic is WIL! I am not too sure if INT is
very important though but everything else doesn't really matter.
Having everyone with high (and similar) QUI helps when you're trying
to pull off combos. The WP level doesn't really matter too much
either because gun techs are really affordable and the TwoGun skill
helps a lot since it's free.
You don't have to always equip your gun users with 2 guns since they
can't use both of them until they get TwoGun. I always give shield
to all my Humans, you should too!
To build a good team of gun users all you need is have everyone
learn either CrossShot or BoundShot, TwoGun and QuickDraw. Try your
hands at comboing and you can do something like 20,000+ damage for a
level 5 combo. TotalShot is pretty good at taking out large groups
of enemies and having QuickDraw means you can kill them before they
even have a chance to act!
---Hybrid Gun Users---
Magic is excellent for back ups. Any spell is good as long as it
does decent damage and combos well. Note Tower combos after
BoundShot and I have once did 29,000+ damage with 4 BoundShots and
Tower, pretty good huh?
Since there ain't very many gun skills, your gun users may not learn
very many skills so if you think you can build up the STR then train
them in swords too, but make sure you get those scores WIL up!
---Magic Users---
Human magic users simply suck unless you're playing Blue's quest, in
that case, it's the most powerful. Mystics are covered in the
Mystic's section so look there for Mystic mages.
Again, WIL is most important but INT is very handy at learning new
spells. Make sure you have a high JP level too.
Which school you specialize in magic determines the power or your
magic users. I'd train my mages in Light, Arcane, Space, Mind and
Mystic (or Realm in the case of Rouge and Blue). The most important
spells are:
LIGHT: MegaWindBlast
SHADOW: ShadowServant
RUNE: None
ARCANE: Tower, Death
TIME: TimeEclipse (but get TimeLord instead!)
SPACE: ReverseGravity
MYSTIC: GlassShield
REALM: VermillionSand
MIND: LifeWave, MindHeal
On the last boss, try having your magic user combo using
MegaWindBlast and use Tower when the boss gets low. If you choose
Shadow magic instead then use ReverseGravity and cast ShadowServant
few rounds later followed by Tower, this can do 20,000+ damage by
itself!
---Hybrid Mages---
I'd train my magic users in guns for a few reasons. Guns requires
the similar stats as magic and that gun skills don't take up very
much WP as sword or fighting (magic users tend to have low WP.)
Basically follow the guidelines of hybrid gun users.
---The Master Magician---
This section is made for Blue (or Rouge) in his own scenario since
he uses different rules than the regular Human mages.
Later in his quest, Blue can use up to 10 schools of magic, even
opposite schools! This can open up huge numbers of new skill
combinations. Now he can cast MageWindBlasts with ShadowServant, or
ReverseGravity in OverDrive!
Also, Blue has very high mental stats, a 99 in WIL, INT and PSY is
not uncommon, making his spells do huge amounts of damage.
Equip the following skills when you're playing as Blue:
* ShadowServant
* OverDrive
* StasisRune
These 3 will allow you to use the OverDrive trick but you need
something to use in the OverDrive. Below are some good choices:
* MegaWindBlast
* Tower
* LifeSprinkler
* DSC
For some reason, MegaWindBlast will do more damage than Tower. I
think the effect of Tower is reduces when used in an OverDrive.
LifeSprinkler is perfect but DSC will not work with ShadowServant.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR MYSTIC
========================
Although Mystics ain't as interesting or powerful as Humans, there
are many good Mystics in this game which would be disappointing if
you don't give them a go. For a Mystic to be useful enough to be in
your final team, they need to have good spells, high stats and at
least one decent damaging skill in their Mystic weapons. Most
Mystics have low DEF no thanks to the MysticMail that can't be
removed, which hinders them significantly. They usually die in 2
hits or so.
If you can get a full team of Mystics (Asellus' quest) then let them
train together. I know it sounds stupid and it's really not a smart
idea because 5 Mystics makes a really weak team, but they seem to
get the most experience after battle. If you have a Mystic in a
Human team, they tend to gain HP really slowly. Also try to build
their WP as well as JP, it'll be useful.
The best Mystic in the game is TimeLord with his powerful Time
Magic. Mesarthim and Dr. Nusarkan are also very good since they can
wear heavy armor and both have a unique item that can be used in
battle. Zozma and Rei are also better than others since they can use
Evil and Mirage spells.
---Spells to give to your Mystic---
Mystics have only 4 slots to equip magic but it isn't enough so
you'll have to use `em sparingly. Every Mystic has the gift for
Mystic Magic.
I consider Shadow Magic to be more superior than Light to a Mystic.
Also Arcane Magic is also very good with Tower, especially when
combined with ShadowServant. TimeLord has some very powerful Time
spells so get him Rune Magic to do the StasisRune trick with
OverDrive. For everybody else, get them Arcane and Space Magic so
they can use Tower and ReverseGravity (except for Mesarthim, who
starts with the gift for Runes.) Mystics can't use Mind Magic since
they're for Humans only. Rei has the ancient Mirage spells and Zozma
has Evil, they're both ok so go for them if you want.
---Monster Absorption---
Since Mystics can't improve most of their stats by fighting normally
like Humans, they need to absorb some very powerful enemies for the
best stats, as well as a good skill for them to use. I like to get
my Mystics high WIL and QUI since they're using magic. A high STR is
useful when using the powerful Mystic weapon attack GriffithScrach
and TigerRampage, they're both physical attacks for some reason. I
won't list all the monsters but just best ones:
Suzaku: All but CHA +20
The phoenix thingies that can be found deep in the Bio Lab in
Shrike. They are probably the best enemies you can find normally to
get high stats but the skills they give out are useless. You can get
FireBreath, HellWing and TitasWave, all of them do little damage. I
usually get 2 of these and get some other monster with better
skills. Each Suzakus has 6000HP.
Dullahans: STR, QUI, INT and PSY +20
Not bad. I usually absorb this with MysticSword because it has
GriffithScratch, a very powerful skill. They have 7500HP.
Genbu: STR, PSY, VIT +20
Not very good stats boost but you can get GriffithScrath from
MysticSword. Good for early on in the game.
CrystalTree: STR, WIL, PSY, VIT +22
Good but the skills are so-so. You can get the very powerful
Oscillation with MysticSword but it's a sonic attack. Sonic attacks
ain't that good because many of the high level monsters are immune
to it. You can get Crystalizer with MysticGlove.
Kraken: STR, VIT +30
You can get Oscillation and TigerRampage from MysticSword and
MysticGlove respectively. TigerRampage is very powerful but the
stats boost ain't all that good.
Thundragon: STR, QUI, VIT +20
Again has the potent GriffithScratch with the sword.
If you're happen to be playing as Blue and you're collecting Space
Magic, try have a Mystic absorb Kylin for the best stats boost I've
seen in the game as well as some very good skills!
Kylin: All but CHA +25
You can get GriffithScrach from the sword and TigerRampage from the
glove, very powerful.
---The Ultimate Mystic---
A good Mystic has to have a good Mystic weapon skill and have 2
Suzakus fill the other 2 weapons.
Avoid accessories when your Mystic is wearing the unmovable
MysticMail then give them some good helmets, gloves etc... If you're
using Dr. Nusakan or Mesarthim, give them a suit like a Human and
some accessories like PurpleEyes. Your Mystic doesn't have to have a
weapon to use their attacks but I like to give them one just in
case. A Kusanagi or Asura with a built-in skills is good, but your
sword users might need them. Definitely give them a good shield and
I usually give them a gun or cannon and the BackPack some they can
use items. And put them in the fifth slot so they won't get attacked
as much.
Their 4 slots should be filled with something like this (I know all
Mystics are different but this way seems to make them the most
useful):
1. ShadowServant
2. Tower
3. GlassShield (or anything)
4. ReverseGravity (or anything)
Of course, you have to adjust accordingly to different Mystics, like
Mesarthim who has Rune or if you want to include Time Magic for
TimeLord. ReverseGravity is a good spell too if you don't want to
blow away all your JP. MirrorShade is a good defensive spell but
ditch it on bosses that use mass attacks often. Basically, just use
whatever you have.
Now on with strategy. Cast ShadowServant on the first round if you
can and try not to get hit. Then the second round immediately cast
Tower. This should do something like 25,000+ damage if you have 100
or so JP, pretty impressive huh? Now you're gonna wonder what you're
gonna do. Well, that's why you needed the good Mystic weapon skill
and because they take up WP not JP. If you don't have one then use
the Kusanagi or Asura, or a cannon (HyperionBazooka is not bad), or
throw a MagicStone or just heal if you don't have anything. You
should still have the ShadowServant active, if not then try combos.
See the character evaluation on TimeLord for his strategy.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR MEC
=====================
Mec are probably the easiest to power up. The Type of a Mec will
determine its usefulness as some are more powerful than others due
to their unique skills and equipment. Here's a list of basic
advantages of each Type of Mec.
Type1: Has the most slots to equip items
Type2: ECMSystem and LaserCannon
Type3: High QUI
Type4: Medikit and LaserCannon
Type5: ???
Type6: RepairKit
Type7: Hammer
Type8: V-System!
Type 8 is obviously the most powerful because of V-System but I
think Type 1 is the best of the normal models since you can equip
the most items to get great stats. T260 can change his body shape in
his own quest but all other Mecs in the game are stuck.
---Mec Skills---
A Mec has to have skills just like other races. Each Mec will start
with a limited number of skill slots but equipping the various Mec
circuit boards can increase them. These skills are absorbed from
enemy Mecs. The skills you absorb are, I believe random so you
really need to have some luck.
Here are the best Mec skills IMO. Having most of these will make the
last boss a lot easier:
* MaxwellProgram: This will let you regenerate WP during battle!
There are no sighs that indicate this on screen but it works! You
won't have to worry about your WP any more.
* SelfRepair: An automatic regeneration skill, useful.
* EnergySupply: Using this in battle will restore all of one Mec's
WP! It won't cost anything and has up to 10 applications per battle!
I think only Type 6 Mecs can absorb this though. (Leonard starts
with it!)
* TigerProgram: You can use the powerful TigerRampage if you have an
OctopusBoard equipped, but it doesn't seem to do much damage (around
900 points on GenocideHeart).
* DragonProgram: Like above, you must have an OctopusBoard equipped.
It has the water attack Maelstrom.
* LogicBomb: Does ok damage to enemy Mecs and gives them a status
ailment. Good early on.
* PluralSlash: You'll get this early and it's very good. You must
have a sword equipped to use this though, the more powerful the
sword the more powerful this is. Works well even on the last boss.
* ShockSoldier: Releasing tiny duplicates of the user which shocks
the target, does extreme damage. One of the best!
* PopKnight: The air version of ShockSoldier. An anti-air attack.
Costs a bit more than ShockSoldier but does slightly more damage.
Another one of the best!
* Magnify: This will make a Laser type weapons do MAJOR damage but
that laser will malfunction afterwards and won't work for the rest
of the battle. The damage is worth is IMO and this is a great skill
for characters with built-in lasers (Rabbit.) I don't know if this
can be comboed though.
There's a skills called Shoot-All that shoots all of your weapon's
ammunition on the same round, doin' extra damage. It costs 34WP but
the damage is really not worth it (around 2000 for all ZEKE's
weapons plus a HEAT Bazooka, even less than Magnify with only one
weapon!) unless you have many HyperionBazookas. You might want to
use this if you're planning to use ShockSoldier or PopKnight,
especially if have a Mec with many built-in weak weapons like ZEKE.
If you're playing as T260 then you'll have the access to the Omega
body (Type 8) with the awesome V-Max skill! Upon using this, T260
will have the access to two more powerful skills: StarlightShowers
and CosmicRave. StarlightShowers will damage all enemies for around
2500 damage and CosmicRave will do 3500+ to one target! Of course,
V-Max will come at a price. After 6 rounds, the effect will expire
and "V-End" happens. T260's stats will drop DRAMATICALLY!
(PluralSlash with a good sword will do some where around 250 damage
where it does 1000 normally!) Use V-Max with caution and if T260
need healing, let someone else heal for him, as he can't afford to
waste one round of V-Max! Having SelfRepair helps too.
A good place to absorb good skills is in one of the Shingrow ruins
where there a lot of enemy Mecs running around. Get a few good
skills on your Mecs there. My favourite place to absorb Mec skills
is in Despair in the room with the laser. Since you'll get into a
fight with Mecs every time you touch a laser beam, you'll have
access to endless supply of enemies! Most of the time you'll be up
against multiple Mecs and they should have some very powerful skills
waiting for you!
---Mec Equipment---
Equipping equipment on a Mec is more important than other races as
it is the only way for Mecs to gain stats. Without equipment a Mec
will be weaker than all other characters! Every item you equip on a
Mec will cause them to gain stats. Note HP can be gained this way
but a Mec's LP and WP will stay constant. All Mecs have very high LP
levels but ridiculously low WP. (That's why the WP restoring skills
are so important!)
If you took the Kusanagi from King Sei then give it to a Mec to
increase their HP by 250, STR and QUI by 25! And the built-in skills
is very powerful when used by a Mec, it usually does 2000+ damage!
Other good sword are the CometBlade (same stats increment as
Kusanagi and the MillionDollers skill is powerful) and the LordStar
(HP+200, STR and QUI and WIL+20. The BraveHeart skill is also
handy!) Usually rare items are better than store-bought items, even
if they're not as strong!
For guns LethalGun is ok and BehemothRifle is better. If you're
using swords and guns then equip the corresponding "Mastery" skill
(ie, ShootingMastery, CombatMastery) to increase their power.
Cannons and lasers are essential to Mecs IMO, I always give every
Mec of mine one of them as they're powerful and give quite a bit of
stats boost. The best ones are HEAT Bazooka, HyperBlaster, HG-Cannon
and of course, the HyperionBazooka! All of the above will increase
HP quite a bit as well as WIL and they do decent damage! The
HyperBlaster is good to use with the Magnify skill.
As for armor, 2 PoweredSuits will give a Mec an instant DEF of 99!
But the stats boost is not all that good IMO (HP+100, STR and
QUI+20). If you ever get your hands on a SprigganSuit, equip it.
You'll be surprised by the stats increase! Alternative, you can opt
to equip separate pieces or armor but equipping these will be a
waste when you already have 99 DEF but it's the only way to gain
some stats. Helmets will generally give you INT, Gloves will give
you STR and boots increase QUI. Don't equip shirts, as they'll only
give you an HP+5!
Shields are a good idea but not essential. I think DurahanShield is
a waste on a Mec and would be more useful to a Human or Mystic.
Surprisingly, an ExcelShield will give the same statistics increase
as the DurahanShield so equip those instead.
Boards are essential to Mecs and they're the only race that benefits
from wearing them. There are many different boards in the game, each
will give you different stats boost. Some of them will increase your
number of skill slots too and some of them even allow you use news
skills from the skills you already have. (ie, DragonProgram)
Experiment with them a bit and make sure you equip at least one of
them as you really need the slot increase.
I wouldn't equip any accessories unless I must as they give crappy
increases.
Try to get the best increase out of these equipment but make sure
you have everything that you need. As you might have guessed, it's
very hard to increase some stats such as INT, PSY, VIT and CHA.
Well, it's just the disadvantage of being a Mec, c'est la vie,
you're just gonna have to live with it. But look on the bright side,
a Mec will have very high HP, STR, QUI and DEF! You should be
thankful.
I would equip my Mec with the following equipment:
* Kusanagi
* HEAT Bazooka
* PoweredSuit
* PoweredSuit
* ExcelShield
* _Board_
* _Board_
I'd gain substantial HP, STR, QUI, WIL and DEF from the above
combination and get some good attacks too. If you don't have that
many slots free, take off either the sword or the cannon as you only
need one. You may not need the shield either when you have 99 DEF so
you may feel free to take that off too.
HOW TO BUILD YOUR MONSTER
=========================
Building a good Monster is not as easy it sounds, you need to
collect good skills, be able to assume (and keep) a stable form and
you need to absorb as many skills as you can in between to get a
high HP.
The only equipment a Monster can use are accessories, and any built-
in skills that goes with it. As you should know already, accessories
give low DEF scores so don't try to boost your DEF with it. Instead,
try to equip items that prevent attacks (ie, water, sonic, gaze
etc.) or raises stats. This is how I would equip a typical Monster:
1. PurpleEye (Must have! Blocks gaze and PSY+7)
2. PearlHeart (Or anything better like SeaStone that blocks water)
3. HarmoniumEarrings (Blocks sonic)
4. _Anything_
Of course, you may adjust these but always keep the PurpleEyes! They
can be bought in the mall in Manhattan for 8,000 Credits, expensive
but worth it. Other good accessories are:
* SandVessle (Blocks Petrify and allows the use QuickSand)
* Magatama (Allows the use of SacredSong)
* BloodChalice (Blocks Feint)
* WindShell (Great accessory! High DEF and raises stats)
* Any "Amulets" bought in Kyo that raises stats
* And last but not least, who can forget Riki's Rings! Make sure you
equip one or two of them, as they're useful to the max!
---Monster Forms---
The shape your Monster takes is very important, especially later in
the game where you need to withstand high damage attacks. To take up
the form of a certain Monster you need to have absorbed most of its
skills or a key skill. A key skill is a skill that almost guarantees
a morph into that Monster. It may not happen instantly but once you
loose/gain a new skill, another check is made by the game that
determines the shape of your Monster and that key skill maybe the
only thing you need to morph into that type of Monster. Of course,
you may loose that form again when you loose/gain another ability
but keep swapping your skills around and eventually you'll go back
to the form you wanted. I hope that made sense, it's always a pain
in the butt when it comes to explaining Monsters.
Here are some Monsters that I think are powerful and stable:
Monster forms Key skill
Chimera GasFlame
Kraken Maelstrom
Dullahan Stampede (?)
Suzaku HeatWave (?)
BlackDragon (?)
Mariche 4 gaze attacks
Note when you take up the form of a new Monster you take up their
weaknesses as well as immunities. For example, the Kraken is immune
to water, Mariche is immune to sonic, Suzaku flies (immune to ground
attacks) and the Dullahan cannot be healed through normal means
since it's undead.
If the key skill method don't work then you'll have to do it the
hard way. To keep on fighting the Monster and accumulating all of
it's skills and eventually....
Some of the Monsters (especially the powerful ones) won't give their
powerful skills away. It's not uncommon to absorb a Dullahan ten
times and get Lance for all of them. You may want to get their
skills from someone else. Fight the Monster you want to become and
get used to their skills and think which other Monster gives that
skill and get it off them, it's much easier that way.
---The Ultimate Monster---
(Thanks to Asura's Monster Morphin' 101 FAQ and Masterman for the
information on the Mariche)
The most powerful Monster form is the Mariche, a Monster that can
only be found in one place (Riki's last boss) and it's impossible to
absorb it then. You can take up the form of a Mariche by simply
absorbing its skills from other enemies. It's not even that hard! I
was able to turn Slime into this in about 2 hours but you do need a
bit of luck.
Skills: StunGaze, CharmGaze, StoneGaze, DeathGaze and Silf
I am not sure what its key skills are, there probably isn't one. You
are guaranteed a morph when you get the four different gaze attacks.
An ultimate Mariche should have its slots filled with these:
1. StunGaze
2. CharmGaze
3. StoneGaze
4. DeathGaze
5. MagicHeal
6. Powerful single target attack, I recommend Silf
7. Powerful multi-target attack
8. ---------
The first four gazes are a must to keep the form of a Mariche. They
are not completely useless, as these can eliminate the enemy with a
low failure rate with the high stats of the Mariche.
MagicHeal is a very good healing skill that every good Monster need
to know, it can save someone else's butt time after time. If you're
lucky enough, you might be able to absorb LifeRain, the mas healing
skill that makes Mesarthim such a good character.
Silf is a Mariche skill, you don't need it to keep that form but
it's probably one of the best single target attacks. Other good
single attack skills are Salamander (the fire version of Silf),
MightyCyclone, GriffithScratch and Tornado.
Try not to deploy a sonic attack (Siren, Oscillation, SacredSong) as
your multiple target attack. I know that they're powerful but a
countless number of enemies are immune to sonics. WindBlast or
HeatWave is a good all-target attack. If you ever lucky enough to
absorb MagneticStorm then keep it! (I was not that lucky and never
absorbed it. It's a killer whenever the enemy uses it though). Ignis
is also very powerful but I've only seen it once!
I left the eighth slot blank because you need to keep that slot
flexible to absorb new skills and gain HP.
---Where to absorb the skills---
StunGaze is the easiest to get. Absorb an Unknown as you'll get it
first time. Otherwise, the Dullahan, RazorBack and LivingArmor has
it too.
StoneGaze is not too hard either. Wait until your Human's HP are
around 400 then head for the swamp in Yorkland. Every enemy here
will be a Basilisk. You can absorb StoneGaze from them. (Not very
hard) I'm not sure if any other enemy has StoneGaze.
CharmGaze is tricky. The Unknown has it but it's hard to absorb it
from them. Unicorn, Dullahan, Mimic and Lich has it too.
DeathGaze is the hardest. The Unknown has it also but it's hard to
get it from them. Dullahan and DemonGoat has it.
CharmGaze and DeathGaze are the hardest to get. Make sure you have
Stun and StoneGaze first. When your Humans have 500 HP or so, head
to the Bio Lab in Shrike and put your Monster in with a team of 4
Humans. Now fight the second scientist over and over again, he'll be
a Dullahan. Your Humans can learn new skills that way and your
Monster will eventually get both Charm and DeathGaze. It's tedious
but it's the best way to do it when luck is not with you.
You can get Silf from AirFolks, SpearValkyries and SnowFolks easily.
Salamander from FlameFolks. MightyCyclone can be gotten from Kraken.
GriffithScratch is from Griffon but you don't see them around so
it's not convenient to absorb.
AirFolk and SnowFolk has WindBlast, they're hard to get but not as
hard as Charm or DeathGaze. HeatWave can be gotten from Suzaku.
Siren and Dullahan has Siren, AirFolk and CrystalTree has
Oscillation if you want a sonic attack. I have seen MagneticStorm
being used by Genbus and CrystalTrees so go after them if you want
this ultra powerful skill.
MagicHeal is not too heard either. Unicorn has it and the Wormbrood
in the Natural Cave (HideRune place) has it too. The unicorn has
LifeRain also, if you wanna give it a try.
Notify me if you can find some better skills!
GENERAL TIPS ON HOW TO SUCCEED IN THIS GAME
===========================================
1) Train, train and train. Probably the most important tip of all.
Take some time out between each mini-quest or missions and try to
learn a few new skills. The best learning place is the Bio-lab in
Shrike. The weaker enemies you may encounter during the mini-quest
are not worth fighting IMO, because they're so weak you won't be
able to learn decent new techs.
2) Use the Quicksave feature often. I usually Quicksave after every
fight because you could get killed easily in this game. Who knows
when the enemy wants to use Pheromone or gets lucky with DeathTouch.
3) It's usually a good idea to have more than one good team because
any character you don't use in a fight will gain back some stats
through resting. Having multiple teams will allow you to complete
lengthy dungeons faster and easier.
4) Prepare for the last battle. All the trainings you do in your
quest is to make sure you're strong enough to take down the last
boss. Your HP should be around 600 minimum and you should have some
good attacks.
5) I strongly recommend you take the various magic quests especially
Rune and Arcane (I recommend you do both) as they don't take very
long and can get you some powerful spells and characters.
6) Don't forget defence. Give everyone shields and any automatic
defence skills they have. Don't be stingy and get them so decent
armor and accessories. A party of 5 swordsman each with Deflect,
Kasumi and a shield can stop 90% of physical attacks!
7) This is for your girls out there-SHOPPING! I always spend the
first 1 or 2 hours of the game making money (by doin' the infinite
Credit tricks) and get some good equipments for your team. Koorong
has great weapons, armor and potions that you may need. The mall in
Manhattan has some great accessories (although expensive) and Kyo
has a gift shop where you can buy some accessories that increases
your stats.
8) I recommend you do the infinite money tricks below. I know it's
cheating but trust me on this as it will make your game a lot
easier! An honest game is fine but you will find the game as hard as
hell and you'll end up having to spend more time accumulating cash
than you actually need and therefore you won't be able to enjoy this
game!
CHARACTER EVALUATION
====================
SaGa Frontier contains over 40 playable characters each with their
strength and weaknesses. It's true that SaGa Frontier is the game
that allow you maximum customization meaning you have build a
character in anyway you want him or her to be even though he or she
starts with different skills. For example, I could train Gen in
magic or Mei-Ling with Fighting, that'll work but some characters
just won't do as well in certain categories as others. I'll explain
each character in detail as well the skills he or she will do well
or not well in. I'll try to throw in some history and backgrounds on
the character if I can so there might be some spoilers. YOU'VE BEEN
WARNED!
Note this section is still incomplete. Many of the data maybe wrong
and some quotes were left blank as I have to go through the game
again to find some. Feel free to submit any quotes.
---Main characters---
Red
"Guess everyone has their own secrets."
Chapters obtained:
* Red: You start with him
Background: Red Okonogi and his dad was driving in a car discussing
about Dr. Klein, who used to be a friend of his father but turned
evil. Then someone rudely drops onto their car, causing it to crash
and killing Red's father. They burned down Red's house and killed
his sister and mother and beaten his up. A mysterious masked super
hero kind of guy named Alkarl arrived and saved Red from Shuzer, the
same guy who killed Red's father. Red was in a critical condition
and wasn't likely to survive so Alkarl turned him into Alkaiser and
made him obey the code of honor of being a super hero. He said if
Alkaiser's real identity was ever revealed his memory would be
erased.
Years later, Red's working on board the Region Ship Cygnus who's
captain being his father's old friend Hawk. Red's still plotting on
his revenge against BlackX.
Apparently, Red has some connection with Asellus, who was a friend
of Dr. Okonogi, Red's father. She used to play with him when he was
a kid, see her section for more.
Red likes to make fun of most things and does not take things very
seriously, it seemed to me. I like his sence of humor.
Starting skills: Kick, Chop, QuickDraw
Evaluation: One of the best characters in the game simply because of
his ability to turn into Alkaiser. Don't worry too much about his
Alkaiser skills after he leaves the Cygnus because you don't get to
turn into Alkaiser very often and I advise you not to turn into
Alkaiser too often because he'll get no experience what so ever. If
you do want to change into Alkaiser then get a team of all Mechs and
leave an enemy slot or kill of the excess character. Just seal his
Alkaiser skills but you do need to learn Al-Phoenix sometime! Don't
worry, he's still decent without Alkaiser.
Alkaiser has an HP boost of 250 and Red's stats will be boosted too.
He carries a RaySword, which is pretty weak and can't be relied on.
Alkaiser can use his Alkaiser skills containing sword skills (can
only used with the RaySword) and fighting skills.
Red's pretty good with both swords and fighting. He has good STR
scores and tends to have very high VIT. Red's HP goes up EXTREMELY
fast. His WIL also goes up more quickly than others and he's ok with
guns I guess (he starts with QuickDraw.) Red's pretty average with
magic like most characters.
Later in his quest, Red'll change into Alkaiser and will remain as
Alkaiser `til the end of his quest and you can choose your team
anyway you like. This is very useful, as some of his bosses are
tough.
Blue
""
Chapters obtained:
* Blue: You start with him
Starting skills: Gift for Realm Magic, EnergyChain, Implosion, Gate,
PsychoArmor
Background: Just graduated from his homeland Magic Kingdom as a
full-fledged magician and sent out to a quest to gather all the
types of magic then seek out his twin brother Rouge and kill him! He
was told that he'll never reach his full potential with his brother
alive and he'll not be able to return to Magic Kingdom after that's
done.
After the dual with his brother, Blue realized that he's neither
Blue nor Rouge, but both of them at the same time. They were never
twins, just the same person! The people of Magic Kingdom wanted to
find someone who is strong enough to kill himself to protect their
land, as the life of a lowly magician is nothing compared to the
safety of their kingdom they said.
Blue is a rather cold character and he does not show any signs of
compassion to many people.
Evaluation: Blue is the ultimate magician enable of casting spells
from opposite schools, what more can you ask for? Blue has to choose
to collect either Light or Shadow, Arcane or Rune and Time or Space
Magic gifts while Rouge will get the opposite. After the fight with
Rouge, Blue will steal all the spells Rouge had!
He can obtain up to 10 schools of magic: Light, Shadow, Rune,
Arcane, Time, Space, Mind, Life, Realm and Mystic! To get Life
simply beat Rouge and you'll automatically get it (he's the only one
who can use it!) To get the gift for Mind, you'll have to wait after
Blue has combined with Rouge (after their fight.) And yes he can use
Mystic magic. During the trip to Facinaturu in the quest for Time
Magic, you can trade your Realm Magic for Mystic. It's rather risky
because you can't use PsychicPrison for the next couple of fights
but you'll get all your Realm Magic back after you beat Rouge.
After the fight with Rouge, Blue's INT, WIL, PSY and JP maximum will
be doubled! Make sure you build Blue up so his INT, WIL and PSY is
at least 50 so they'll instantly jump to 99 because if you fail to
do so you'll still have very high stats but they won't go up any
further for some reason. (It's probably because they're too high
already.)
So what more did you expect from the ultimate magician, it turned
out Blue also makes an excellent sword user and fighter! Sure he
starts the game with no WP and a STR or 9 but if you build him up
he'll be just as powerful as Gen or Liza! I was able to get him DSC
and LifeSprinkler in the same game! Just keep using him as a
physical fighter and he'll grow into one with ease! Needless to say,
he's also a very good gun user but I haven't actually trained him in
that category. Definitely the most powerful character in the whole
game IMO!
Asellus
""
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: She's the hero in her own quest.
* Red: You can find her with White Rose aboard the Cygnus when the
ship gets attacked.
* Emelia: You can find her during the trip to Trinity Base. After
the scene in the dance room, you can find her on the boucany. Win
the fight and she'll join.
Starting skills:
* Asellus: Gift for Mystic Magic and nothing else
* Emelia, Red: StunSlash and Gift for Mystic Magic
Background: A Human girl who was on her way to Dr. Okonogi's (Red's
father, they're friends) house when she gets stomped by a mysterious
chariot. She wakes up in Chateau Aiguille and found out that the
lord of the Mystics, Orlouge, revived her with a transfusion of his
blood and now Asellus is obligated to serve him. She had been turned
into a Half-Mystic! She was introduced to Ildon, Orlouge's servant
and Princess White Rose, who helped her escape and grew dangerously
close to her! (Can you say LES-B-N?) She later discovered that she
has died for 12 years (without aging a single day)!
Asellus has green hair but it seemed that she used to have a
different hair color but it was never revealed in the game what was
her original hair coloring.
In Emelia's quest, her and White Rose was seen in Trinity Base as
"show girls", but it turned out that Asellus and White Rose were
acting as spies like Emelia with the help of Zozma to infiltrate the
base.
Evaluation: Another very powerful character. Being a Half-Mystic,
she can learn the Mystic weapon skills (which are under the
"Special" category) after some story events. Using one of these in
battle will result in Asellus morphs into her Mystic form, rather
like Terra's "Morph" in FF6. (Asellus does look slightly like
Terra.) Asellus will then be able to absorb monsters into her Mystic
weapons and being in her Mystic form, she will gain the stats boost
from all her Mystic weapons, which means if you got 3 Suzakus, she'd
have all her stats being 99! She'll also resist negative status
ailments. But the bad part is she'll gain stat boosts like a Mystic
after battle. Use it on bosses and she'll do about twice as much
damage!
Asellus is pretty decent with a sword but average at fighting. She
won't learn very many fighting attacks but getting DSC on her is not
very hard so do so! She learns fast with guns but she gains no help
from her Mystical blood when learning magic for some reason. Her
stats are irrelevant when she morphs into a Mystic, she'll have 99
of each!
Emelia
""
Chapters obtained:
* Emelia: You start with her
* Everyone else: Choose to collect Arcane Magic and talk to the
blonde bunny girl in Bacarrat, she'll mention something about the
Gnome Spirit. A Gnome will talk past. Follow it until it gets in the
elevator and go down a few floors and take the elevator to the
parking lot. Try descending the manhole and Emelia will run in and
say "Wait!" Talk to her and let her join.
Background: Emelia used to be a very successful supermodel but she
was unhappy, until she found the love of her life, Ren, a cop
working for IRPO. She quit her job so she could be with Ren but Ren
spent most of his time on duty and couldn't be with her. She tried
to convince him into giving up his job and so he could spend more
time with Emelia (as seen in Red's quest) but it seemed that he
refused so they fought and she ran away. She returned the next to
Ren's house attempting to make up with him only to find Ren lying on
the floor dead and some nasty clown running around. AAARRRGGGHHH
CALL 911! Well, unfortunately they weren't very helpful either since
Emelia was questioned by Fuse who used to be Ren's partner. He
didn't believe anything Emelia said and threw her in prison for no
apparent reason (and called her a tramp.)
While in prison, she met Annie who along with Liza helped her escape
the prison and recruited her as a new member of Gradius, a
resistance group led by Roufas opposing the evil Trinity. There she
worked as an under-cover agent or spy of some kind to seek out the
where abouts of Joker, Ren's murderer.
Evaluation: Well, she's a really strong character in everyone else's
scenario but she's extremely weak in her own game, learning
abilities and powering up slower than every one else. In her own
quest, she starts the game with no skills, no weapon and low stats
so you'll really have to build her up, especially when she goes on
quests where she can't take anyone else with her! In everyone else's
quest, she starts with good HP and a STR of around 30 which is very
good.
Guns are obviously Emelia's specialty, you can tell from the
numerous pictures of her. IMO, she's a lot better with a sword
because sword skills are a lot stronger and she does really well at
it, probably the second best sword user after Gen! Seriously! As she
learns very quickly and I would say she is the best when it comes to
learning LifeSprinkler! She's pretty average at fighting though,
it's possible, but very challaging to get DSC on her as she tends to
learn only one of the throwing skills. For some reason, Emelia has a
thing for TriangleKick, as she will always learn it! As a magician,
she's really not that good, even though she has a background in
guns, she would learn magic slowly.
Stats wise, Emelia's HP grows very quickly and she also seems to
have the highest WP maximum. She's also fast and her CHA gets very
high (because she used to be a supermodel.) And she has good STR and
WIL levels, making her a good choice to be in your final team.
Lute
"Guess you're the guy to talk to the next time I get a parking
ticket, huh?"
"What's a high-class chick like you doin' in a dive like this?"
Chapters obtained:
* Lute: Your starts with him
* T260: Go to the factory and enter the building to the right.
* Everyone else: In the pub in Scrap, just talk to him.
Background: Lute's just somebody who lives in Yorkland with a mean
mother as she kicked him out of the house one day and said "Don't
come back until you get a job." On his way, he met Mondo who gave
him a lift on his ship but he soon found out that Mondo was the one
who killed his father so he's after now after him to avenge his
father. A rather unconvincing story but we'll have to live with it..
Evaluation: Lute starts out in everyone's chapter with very low
stats. Like Monica from Romancing SaGa 3, that makes Lute perfect
for maximum character customization. You can train him in any way
you want and he WILL do well at it but it will take time. He's a
perfect character to have in you team for beginners IMO but you'll
most likely to have the urge to ditch him after a few games because
he's not easy to train. Lute is sluggishly sloooooow, almost never
gets to hit so it's hard to train him in swords or fighting, the
most useful skills in the game IMO. I don't recruit him any more
now.
Lute's very good at swords, if your got pass the problem with his
speed, he'll learn some very cool skills early. As a fighter, he has
no trouble learning DSC and so on, he's good at anything.
Lute gets very high CHA, even higher than that of Emelia's but has
bad QUI. He starts with hardly any WIL and won't gain very much of
it unless you train him in guns or magic.
T260
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: You start with him
* Riki, Blue, Lute: In Scrap pub, just talk to him.
Starting skills: None
Background: A robot on a crashed spaceship who lost its memory. He
was found by a little boy named Thame who took him to his uncle and
fixed him up. He then took on a quest to find his lost mission as to
carry it out. It became apparent that T260's model was out of this
world so he couldn't have been a war machine made by Trinity. He
soon discovers that the T260 model was made to destroy the RB3,
something powerful enough to destroy the world! *Gasp*
Evaluation: Well, another great character simply because of the
Omega Model body T260 can change into later in his game. T260 starts
off in a unique Type 1 body and can change body types at Nikajima
Robotics in Shrike. I still think that Type 1 is the best since you
have the most equipment slots open but do feel free to change body
type. Later you can change into Type 8, the Omega Model and I
suggest you do that because it's very powerful! I think it's not
mandatory to change to Type 8 body though, I dunno.
T260 starts the game with no skills so try to absorb some good Mec
skills but it doesn't actually matter since T260 will have access to
V-Max with the Omega body. Try using V-Max sparingly because after 6
rounds the effect will end which causes all of T260's stats to drop
like crazy! Also when you have V-Max activated, try to have T260
attack for all of the 6 rounds because he really can't afford to do
anything else because of V-End. If he needs healing throw him a
RepairKit or use EngineerCar and when he runs out of WP use
EnergySupply. MaxwellProgram also comes in handy.
Riki
"I got to beat up Caballero!!"
"Look Mei-Ling, she hasn't got any clothes on. She must be really
hot!"
"Is it tasty?"
Chapters obtained:
* Riki: You start with him
* Blue, T260, Emelia, Lute: Talk to him in Scrap pub.
Starting skills: Tail, TailHit, Heal
Background: Riki is a Lummox, a race of Monsters living in Margmel,
a far away Region. Margmel is dying and the only thing that's
keeping it alive is a ring. Riki was summoned to the Lummox elder as
he explained the situation to Riki and they soon discovered that
there are more rings in existence thanks to an inscription carved in
the ring. The elder changed Riki into a Human-like form and sent in
to Earth in search of the rings to save his home.
While on Earth, Riki made many friends, one of them is Mei-Ling who
grew close to him like a big sister. Riki's quest has some pretty
good character development and storyline, enjoy it!
Evaluation: Like all Monsters, they're only as good as the skills
they absorb and the form they morph into. The form Lummox is very
weak, with 60 or so HP and all stats 8. Try morph into something
else as soon as you can. All his starting skills sucks so dump them
and use the guidelines above in the Ultimate Monster section.
---Humans---
Annie
"Just aim and pull the trigger. No biggie."
Chapters obtained:
* Emelia: She joins automatically at the beginning. You can ask her
to join again in Koorong outside the restaurant
* Red: She's outside the restaurant in Koorong. Talk to her and
accept her offer
* Riki: Choose to collect the ring in Despair and Lize will walk
past and overhears your conversation. She tells you that the blonde
"chick" outside the restaurant knows something. Talk to her and say
you trust her.
* Everyone else: Choose to collect the Runes and talk to the blonde
in Koorong when you have 3 Runes and she'll join. (Note, if you're
playing as Blue, she can take you to Despair and join you even if
you don't have any Runes. I believe you have to get Liza and Roufas
on you team first.)
Background: A girl who works for Gradius but she don't actually care
about over-throwing Trinity, she just need some quick cash. She has
a little brother and a sister she has to take care of. Annie is very
strong willed and really knows how to handle a sticky situation
since she grew up in a tough neighbourhood. According to Liza, Annie
is a very private person. She's tough and mean to strangers but kind
to her friends.
Evaluation: A pretty sad character over all. She is good with a
sword but I'm afraid that's the only thing she is good at. She often
learns a bunch of good sword skills fast and won't learn anything
for ages, which is quite frustrating. Annie often learns a few high
level skills early like RosarioImpale, StillStream and RisingNova.
But the big problem with Annie is that it's REALLY hard for her to
learn HeadWind (and therefore TurbidCurrent and LifeSprinkler.) Try
learning ShadowCounter and learn HeadWind from there, or just skip
it and go straight to LifeSprinkler. Annie tends to miss a lot too.
As I've said, she's not good with anything else. She simply won't
learn very many skills with fighting and learns very slowly with
magic. She's a tiny bit better with guns but not enough to make her
a good gun user.
Annie has very high STR, seems to surpass that of Gen's. She also
gets a lot of HP but all her other stats are pretty low or average.
Captain Hamilton
"You can eat a whole lot more here because they don't use crap like
MSG."
Chapters obtained:
* Lute: Talk to her in Owmi restaurant. Then go to Nelson and you'll
be on board the Victoria, Hamilton's ship. Talk to her and say
you're not ready and she'll be added to your team.
Background: Captain Hamilton is from Nelson. She commands the
warship Victoria and has been assigned to watch the activities of
Mondo. She knows a lot of stuff and say that they need to collect
all sorts of data in order to face Trinity. Captain Hamilton knows
about Lute's father and how he used to be an anti-Trinity activist.
Mondo betrayed him and sold him to Trinity. She talked Lute into
avenge his father.
Evaluation: Captain Hamilton is specific to Lute's quest only but
never the less, she is a very good character! She's very good with
guns and starts with the TwoGun skill, something of a rarity. She
can wield a sword too and does well at it and I'd say she's at least
as good as Annie. Not too great as a fighter but fair at magic. A
strange thing is that she has 20JP (sometimes 10JP) when she joins
you but she has no magic!!! Weird!
Captian Hamilton is generally quite slow. Slower than Gen but better
than Lute but she has very high INT and WIL even if you don't train
her in guns as much.
Doll
""
Chapters obtained:
* Red: In Shingrow port, talk to the purple haired girl and agree to
help her
Background: (Doll reminds me a lot of Katarina from Romancing SaGa
3, they look almost exactly the same!) When Doll first met Red, she
told him that her brother is missing in one of the ruins and gets
Red to help her. But later she revealed herself as really an
undercover police officer working for the IRPO. Apparently, Fuse
told him about Red and wanted her to follow him as Red will lead her
to Berva, a wanted criminal she has to arrest.
Evaluation: You know what Human magic users are like but she is a
good substitute for Rouge. The first time I got her she carried with
her DarkSphere (when she didn't even have the gift yet) but when I
played Red's quest a second time, she didn't have DarkSphere! If you
got DarkSphere then you're very lucky, as it's very useful. She is
good at magic but not as good as Rouge but I think she is more
useful as she starts with 20WP. Train her in guns as well and she'll
be quite powerful. She's ok with a sword but won't dish out very
much damage so it's a waste and she's definitely not good at martial
arts.
Being a magic user, Doll has good WIL and INT. If you want to train
her as a physical fighter then good luck as her STR goes up slowly.
Fei-On
""
Chapters obtained:
* Riki: You'll end up in Koorong after you get the MerchantRing.
Travel anywhere and you'll be swallowed by Tanzer. When pursuing
Nomad, Fei-On will stop you when you try to enter a manhole. Talk to
him and he'll join.
* Everyone else except Blue: When collecting Runes, you'll be
swallowed by Tanzer when you try to travel to any Region from
Koorong. Talk to Fei-On and agree to help him.
Background: A Human martial artist on his way to Kyo to train but
got swallowed by Tanzer. He now hold his own territory where he
offers a safe haven for other passengers swallowed by Tanzer, he
protects these people from the crime boss Nomad.
He was Mei-Ling's boyfriend but since he got swallowed, he was
unable to keep an eye on her. He blames himself for what happened to
Mei-Ling for not looking after her properly.
Evaluation: Good fighter and learns pretty quickly, one of the 3
characters in the game that truly specializes especially on fighting
skills. Fei-On has no trouble learning DSC, a good member if you can
recruit him early. Average with swords but he learns gun skills
faster than most people for some reason. Poor magic user as you
might have guessed.
Fei-On gets very high STR and VIT. And he's also very fast, about as
fast as Liza.
Fuse
""
Chapters obtained:
* Red1: He automatically joins when the Cygnus is attacked.
* Red2: Talk to him in the burger shop in Manhattan.
* Red3: See below.
* All: Choose to collect the cards. Go to IRPO and talk to the
receptionist. Fuse will send you to Mosperiburg mountain where he
joins you temporarily. Beat the Suzaku and he'll join permenantly.
Starting skills: Kick, Gift for Mind Magic, MindHeal and (sometimes
SpellBound and/or Awakening and/or LifeWave)
Background: A patrolman for IRPO. He is currently investigating on
the illegal importing of pirated goods by Cindy Campbell. He used to
be Ren's (Emelia's fiance) partner, he described Ren as "Unlike me
he was a good cop." Does this mean that he's the bad cop? (Probably,
that's why he threw Emelia is prison without a reason!)
Evaluation: Fuse is a cop that uses martial arts and does his job
well. He's a lot like Fei-On in terms of fighting power but he
learns the ultimate fighting skills a lot easier than all other
characters. If he starts with LifeWave then he'll be really useful
as it combos well and does good damage. Average with a sword like
Fei-On but is slightly better with guns. He makes an ok magic user
and starts the game with quite a bit of JP.
His HP rises very quickly and he has probably the highest STR level
in the game! He has good WIL, good stats over all.
Gen
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: Joins automatically near the beginning
* Riki: Talk to him in Scrap pub and he'll join when you leave
* Everyone else: Choose to collect the cards and talk to the
skeleton in Koorong then take the ship to Scrap and he'll be in the
pub.
Background: Gen has a rather detailed storyline for a back-up cast.
He's apparently a friend of Thame and will go to great length to
protect him. Rest of the time, he likes to get drunk at the pub. He
hates Trinity but don't seem to do anything about it.
Gen is from Wakatu, a ruined city. He knows that Mondo keeps a
secret head-quarters under Wakatu and the city was destroyed to keep
this a secret. He's a gifted swordsman using sword skills found only
in Wakatu (but that doesn't make him any more special in game
terms.) He worships the Blade God, a deity of Wakatu I guess.
Evaluation: This guy is the best! He learns sword skills like crazy
and can master them all without much effort! He starts with most of
the low level ones already. Don't have him use any other skill until
he masters or close to mastering all the sword skills, I usually
reserve a space in my final team for him, he's the best sword user
in the game for sure!
Gen's pretty good at fighting too but only train him in this
category when you're satisfied with his sword skills. He's a lousy
gun user though and the same goes to magic.
As for stats he's pretty average but does his job well. He's quite
slow but a lot better than Lute so you can depend on him. He has
high STR but low INT, WIL, PSY and CHA even if you train him in
those categories. Try not to worry about it too much.
Liza
"Everyone tells me I'm too bitchy."
Chapters obtained:
* Emelia: Liza joins at the start
* Red: Get Annie on you team and go talk to Roufas in the restaurant
and you'll be able to get either Roufas of Liza on your team.
* Blue: Choose to collect the Runes and find her in the restaurant.
Talk to her and let her come with you.
Starting skills: Kick, AirThrow, KO Throw, Suplex, Fist
Background: Another member of Gradius. She had an affair with Roufas
in the past but he was more interested in his job than a
relationship and now she's forced to live with her embarrassing
past. Liza told Emelia that Emelia would get on fine with Annie
because they're about the same age, which means Liza is either
really young or really old.
Evaluation: Wo! Don't let the feminine image of this girl fool you,
she's actually the strongest fighter in the game! Liza is the BEST
fighting character in the game because she will learn exceptionally
fast. I was able to get DSC on her in 2 hours, and I wasn't even
fighting strong enemies! Liza however, won't learn the ultimate
fighting skills very easily though (they're hard to learn.) She's
pretty good at swords too and she learns guns (especially) and magic
skills ultra fast compared to other characters. Liza's my favourite
character in the game!
Liza's STR starts out low but will rise very quickly later in the
game. She's also very fast, almost always attack first but I find it
disturbing as she most often breaks the combo, but it makes her
perfect for DSC as she won't break your combos. Average stats
otherwise. Liza can do more damage with her Punch than Fuse who has
a higher STR.
Mei-Ling
"Buzz off!"
Chapters obtained:
* Riki: Automatically joins near the start
* Blue, T260, Emelia, Lute: Talk to her in Scrap pub
Starting skills: SharpShot, SunRay, StarlightHeal and (sometimes
QuickDraw)
Background: Mei-Ling is a student who studies the existence of the
legendary rings, the same ones in Riki's quest. *SPOILER* She has
actually been possessed by the rings that she will do anything to
get her hands on them.
Mei-Ling was the girlfriend of Fei-On who disappeared without a
trace. She was angry with him when they met again but deep down
inside she still has feelings for him.
Mei-Ling is a obviously a rich girl because she always seems to be
loaded with cash, bribing everyone in Riki's quest to get her hands
on the rings. Lute calls her a "classy chick" and I agree with him!
Evaluation: Mei-Ling is another one of those great gun users and
sometimes starts with QuickDraw. I bet you'd think Mei-Ling is a
magic user when you first get her but she's no where as good as the
professional magicians like Rouge. Mei-Ling starts the game with an
OUTRAGEOUS STR of 3!!! This may sound crazy but I'd advise you train
her in swords. Even though her STR starts out rediculusly low, it'll
rise, although not as fast as desired. I am not joking, she makes an
exceptional sword user as she is probably the fastest at learning
sword skills. Mei-Ling'd be the best sword user if it wasn't for her
STR. I'd say she's third best, after Gen and Emelia. Mei-Ling is
terrible at fighting but I was able to get DSC on her in under half
an hour one time (yeah, I got lucky.) But she really sucked though,
doing minimal damage.
Mei-Ling has below average stats.
Roufas
""
Chapters obtained:
* Red1: You can get find him in one of the guest room on board the
Cygnus when the ship gets attacked.
* Red2: Go talk to him in the restaurant in Koorong with Annie on
your party, you can get either Roufas or Liza to join.
* Red3: See below.
* Blue, Emelia, Lute: Choose to collect the Runes and you can ask
him to join in Mu's Tomb.
Starting skills: Thrust, ThunderThrust, SharpShot, TotalShot, Gift
for Mind Magic, MindHeal and some other Mind Magic at times. (Sorry,
I can't remember. He's a lot like Fuse and it confuses me)
Background: One of the heads of Gradius. Roufas is exactly what
Annie described him as, tough, smart and good with guns. Roufas used
to be Liza's "lover" but he was more interested in his job so it
didn't work out. Roufas is very calm and cool, he'll do anything to
get what he wants, including betraying a friend. Currently after
Joker and The Cube.
It seemed that Roufas and Fuse were once colleagues. They both start
with the gift for Mind Magic so they must have some connection.
Evaluation: Well, Roufas is not as bad as his name (it rhymes with
Doufas) and he doesn't look that stupid either. Roufas might have
been the best gun using character in the game as he learns really
fast. Roufas learns pretty well with a sword but he suffers the same
problem as Doll, his STR is low so he usually does not do as much
damage as the WP cost indicates. He learns some high level skills
fast but he has the same problem as Annie only worse. Whenever I
decided to place him in my final team, he stops learning! So by the
end, I had to take him out! Otherwise, good secondary team member.
Not a very good fighting character but good with magic.
Roufas has high WIL and low STR otherwise not much noticeable
difference.
Rouge
""
Chapters obtained:
* Blue: Loose to him when fighting him, he'll be the new hero.
* Emelia, Red, Asellus, Lute: Answer yes to his question in Luminous
port. If you said no, you can find him again in Devin. I don't know
where he goes after that.
(Note: If you try to go to Magic Kingdom Rouge will leave but you
can find him in Luminous port again and you can ask him to join
again. All his skills and equipment will remain.)
Starting skills: Gift for Realm Magic, Gate, EnergyChain, Implosion,
PsychoArmor
Background: Twin brother of Blue and has the same mission as him. To
gather magic from around the world then seeks out Blue and kill him.
Rouge and Blue are actually the same person and if Rouge is the
dominant brother (meaning Rouge was able to win again Blue) then
Blue will be absorbed into Rouge's body, otherwise, Rouge will
combine with Blue's body.
Evaluation: Rouge is supposed to be exactly the same as Blue but
IMO, Blue is a lot stronger. Rouge is average at both swords and
fighting and his stats don't go up as fast as Blue. Excellent with
both guns and magic. Rouge is the best Human magic user in a non-
Blue game.
Rouge starts with no WP what so ever so training him in physical
skills is difficult. Not only that his STR level starts off low and
grows slowly, his WP level is also very low. Concentrate on magic if
you can. By the end of the game, Rouge's INT and WIL should be
around 60+. Decent JP too.
There is a secret scenario which I'm sure you all know about. Simply
loose to Blue and Rouge will carry on with his game. The advantage
of this is that Rouge will not have lost LP Blue spent on items in
Facinaturu but the MAJOY draw backs is that you will loose every
single skill Blue had except magic! Very disappointing especially if
you have spent time getting DSC or LifeSprinkler on Blue. Other than
these two points, Rouge will have the same stats as Blue would,
meaning that Rouge's INT, WIL, PSY and JP would have been doubled as
well. Rouge's game is exact the same as Blue's, with the same
characters and last Boss. Whether you want to play as Rouge is your
call but I'd rather not bother since the disadvantage is so great.
Note: In everyone else's quests, Rouge will not be able to obtain
the gift for Mind Magic because Rouge will not get a chance to
"meld" with Blue, his mind is still divided.
---Mystics---
(All Mystics has the gift for Mystic Magic)
Dr. Nusakan
""
Chapters obtained:
* Riki: While getting the ring in Yorkland, Mei-Ling will tell you
of a doctor in Koorong who can help defeat Mollasite. Head to the
bottom back street in Koorong and enter the clinic. Talk to the
doctor and he'll join.
* Blue: While collecting Rune, a girl in Koorong says the doctor may
know something. Go to the clinic in the bottm backstreet and the
doctor will join.
(I heard that Dr. Nusakan will also join Lute but I was unable to
get him)
Background: A doctor in Koorong who runs a clinic in one of the
backstreets. He knows quite a bit of the local history and the
HideRune from within the city. His clinic looks haunted.
Evaluation: Dr. Nusakan is very cool as he does not have that lousy
MysticMail so you can equip him with some decent armor. I like suits
so I would give him a PowerSuit bought in Koorong. He also starts
the game with the Arcane spell Death even though he don't have the
gift yet (you have to look in the un-equipped spell list to find it)
and it is very useful, especially against those powerful enemies
that you're just too weak to defeat. Give him the gift for Shadow
and Arcane Magic and he'll work perfectly with the "ultimate Mystic"
strategy above. Also, note that Dr. Nusakan has an item that cannot
be removed, it is the MysticWear, something very different and much
better than the MysticMail. When used in battle, it will restore HP
to a non-Mec target and you can use it as many times as you want! If
you want a Mystic on your team then Dr. Nusakan is the man!
Ildon
""
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: After you fight with the Lion Princess Ildon will join
you at a random place.
Background: A faithful servant of Orlouge. He came to Asellus to aid
her for some unknown reason even although his lord may punish him
for doing so. Ildon is a very calm person.
Evaluation: If you think that being a character unique to only one
scenario must be a good one then you're wrong. Ildon is probably the
worst Mystic in the game but since all Mystics are very similar,
Ildon can still be a good Mystic if you follow the guidelines above.
He's one of those few Mystics in the game that hasn't got any
distinctive features. I think Ildon is simply a story character so
don't expect too much out of him. Ildon is compulsory to Asellus
quest!
Mesarthim
""
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: She joins early on in Owmi mansion but leaves when you
complete the mansion. You can get her later at the same spot where
you released her in Owmi mansion but only after the Dark Labyrinth
event.
* Blue, Red, Riki, Lute, Emelia: At the same spot in Owmi mansion
basement but you must have a Mystic on your team and you must not
have recruited Silence.
Starting skills: Fascination, Gift for Rune Magic and VictoryRune
Background: A water Mystic who is actually a mermaid. She got caught
in the nets by Owmi's lord who kept her in his bathtub. Mesarthim is
thankful that he saved him but she says she really can't stand the
smell of Humans. Mesarthim however respects Mystics and will do
anything for them, including becoming their slave.
Evaluation: Mesarthim is just as good as Dr. Nusakan, if not better.
She can wear heavy armor as well and she comes with her own
accessory, MellowRing. This powerful little ring will let Mesarthim
use LifeRain, one of the 4 mass healing skills in the game similar
to that of Sacrifice and FinalCrusade. When Mesarthim gets all 3 of
her Mystic weapons, the MellowRing will also allow her to use
Maelstrom, a tidal-wave attack with a Feint effect, very powerful.
On topa that, the ring will protect Mesarthim against water type
attack!
The only disadvantage Mesarthim has over Dr. Nusakan is that
Mesarthim starts with the gift for Rune Magic which means she'll
never be able to use Arcane Magic and Tower! She is useful if say
only a few (or none) of your characters can master Rune Magic, such
as in Emelia and Riki's quest. Without Tower, you must find some
other high-damage attack. MegaWindBlast is good, or ShadowServant
with a good Mystic weapon skill, or just she her as a "utility"
character and give her the BackPack so she can heal with potions and
LifeRain.
Mesarthim starts out extremely weak and has low starting stats so be
sure to train her hard if you want to use her. Mesarthim is fast
though.
Rei
"Sold Out!"
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: You must visit Rei's room in Chateau Aiguille with only
White Rose in you team, you'll hear how Rei escaped. After the Dark
Labyrinth event, talk to the purple haired girl outside of the
shrine in Devin and she'll join you.
Starting skills: Fascination, PhantasmShot, GlassShield, Gift for
Mirage Magic, BlackCat, NightMare, Jackal, Cockatrice, Reaper
Background: Rei was the first princess of Orlouge and the only one
that escaped from the Mystic's realm. She knew that the coffins
Orlouge keeps as his weakness(?) To escape Chateau Aiguille, she
committed suicide and through the cycle of life, Rei was able to be
reborn into Human flesh. (Hey, doesn't this make her a Half-Mystic?)
Orlouge often searches for her all through the Regions, in fact, the
chariot that trampled Asellus was Orlouge trying to capture Rei. Rei
regrets not being able to stop Orlouge from creating the first Half-
Mystic so she offered to help Asellus.
Evaluation: Rei is ridiculously weak by the time Asellus gets her.
Rei starts the game with only 6WP! But she does start with a full
set of Mirage Magic, which ain't as good as you'd think. I think of
her as more of a novelty. If you really want to use her then beef up
her WP level and train her until her HP is about so high as the rest
of your members (she starts with about 300HP.) Rei has incredibly
high CHA, making her a good candidate for Fascination, that's if you
bother with that spell.
Silence
"Beware! The real Silence is mute, just like his name."
Chapters obtained:
* Emelia, Asellus, Red, Blue, Lute: Choose to collect Shadow Magic.
In Omble, talk to Silence's shadow in the first room and agree to
help him. When you exit, talk to the guy standing behind a wall and
he'll join.
Background: Silence obviously had some connection with IRPO because
his shadow said that he was sent to Omble to persue a fugitive. Also
remember what Silence carried in his weapon slot? That's right! The
old trusty HandBlaster that every cop has one! (Fuse and Doll both
starts with it too!) The only question left is how can a Mystic
become a police?
Evaluation: Forget what I said about Ildon, Silence is definitely
the worst Mystic in the game! For all the trouble you have to take
to recruit him in Omble, he's just not worth it. First he won't be
assigned the gift for Shadow Magic even though he completed the
maze! (I think this is because the game will allow him to obtain the
gift for Light Magic if you wanted but it means that Silence will
NEVER be able to get the gift for Shadow Magic because you can
challenge Omble only once!) His starting stats don't excel and he
doesn't start with any magic except the boring old Mystic spells.
What's even more annoying is that if Silence is in your party, you
won't be able to recruit Mesarthim.
Skip him if you want and put him in the "dust-collecting" party if
you did recruit him.
TimeLord
"Alright, do your worst."
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: You must purchase the SandVessle all the way from the
beginning of the game when you're in Facinaturu. Then follow the
step below.
* Red, Emelia, Lute: Ask the RingLord in Mosperiburg about Time
Magic after you have obtained either the gift for Arcane or Rune and
Light or Shadow Magic. He'll send you to TimeLord's Region. Go all
the way to the broken hourglass and examine the sand then go back to
the entry and teleport out. Now talk to RingLord again and he'll
send you to Facinaturu. Talk to the green-skinned, goblin-like
Mystic named Gazuru and buy the SandVessle off him (it costs 1LP!)
Talk to the pilot in one of the houses and escape with him. Go back
to Mosperiburg and RingLord will send you back to TimeLord's Region.
Go back to the broken hourglass and examine the sand again. Run all
the way up to the platform above it and your character will jump
onto the hourglass and restarts it. Time will be restored to the
Region. Now enter the door, cross the bridge and you'll find
TimeLord beyond the door. Ask him to join!
Starting skills: Gift for Time Magic, DelayOrder, TimeLeap,
TimeEclipse, TimeTwister, ChaosStream, OverDrive, PhantasmShot,
Fascination, GlassShield
Background: A Mystic with the gifted ability to use Time Magic
resides in his hidden Region. He is still trying to perfect his
skills he is yet to become a powerful Mystic.
Evaluation: Although TimeLord has that crap MysticMail, his ability
to use Time Magic makes him one of the most powerful characters in
the game! Make sure you get him Rune and Shadow Magic as they
compliment OverDrive well.
---Super TimeLord---
These are the skills I equip my TimeLord with and it works like a
charm:
* RuneSword
* (Something)
* BackPack
* DurahanShield (or DragonShield)
* MysticMail
* HyperWear
* CyberGlove
* JetBoots (or alternatively, IronClogs)
Since TimeLord don't actually need slot number 2, try equipping him
with items that increases stats. The JetBoots and DurahanShield
increases stats. RuneSword has VictoryRune as a built-in tech and
Cockatrice will appear when equipped with StasisRune. (If you ever
need it that is.)
Make sure that at least one other member in your party has SnakeOil
or Grail equipped.
Now the fun part begins. Enter the fight with the last boss and have
TimeLord whip out OverDrive. If TimeLord is powerful enough, he'll
certainly get 7 actions but if he's weak, he may get a minimum of 4
action. Cast ShadowServant as your fist spell then use 5
GriffithScratches (the Dullahan in his MysticSword will allow him to
use it) then finally wrap it up with StasisRune as your last action.
If you're not sure if TimeLord will have 7 actions then use this
method. Put in the first 3 action then StasisRune as the 4th. If the
screen pops up again after that, it means that TimeLord can take
more actions so press the X button to cancel. This will allow you to
re-enter command number 4. Then repeat the process by entering
StasisRune again until the command screen no longer pops up after
StasisRune.
TimeLord will freeze everyone with OverDrive and casts ShadowServant
on himself. Each GriffithScratch with the shadow will do about 3000
damage. StasisRune will freeze the boss and TimeLord. If you're not
fighting Hell's Lord or Diva (I know it's impossible normally but
you can in 2nd Div.) then the boss cannot break out of Stasis and
stays frozen for about 8 rounds or so. Now have one member use
SnakeOil or Grail on TimeLord and everyone else should use stats-
uppers like LightSword and the various Runes but make sure you don't
cast Shield yet as Shield will automatically come out first thing in
that turn and TimeLord will not be affected while in Stasis so cast
Shield when TimeLord is out of Stasis.
When you for TimeLord out of Stasis with SnakeOil or whatever,
you'll notice that his shadow is gone but it's no big deal. TimeLord
will be able to take 7 actions so let him use LuckyCoins on
everyone. Then he should cast VictoryRune on everyone. If your other
characters are goin' to use SoulRune then make sure they do it late
because after 4 rounds SoulRune will expire and suck 1LP off you! I
usually use it on the 7th round.
When the boss comes out of Stasis your characters should be god-like
powerful with all those stats boosts. How have everyone except
TimeLord use whatever they want (DSC, LifeSprinkler etc.) TimeLord
should use TimeTwister on everyone but himself and with the
remaining 3 rounds he may either heal with items or attack with
GriffithScratch. Every character will attack multiple times (not to
mention combos!) with this strategy and the boss should be dead in
about 2 rounds after Stasis!
White Rose
"Lady Asellus, live in freedom!"
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: Joins way back in the beginning in her room.
* Red: On board the Cygnus when the ship gets attacked. At the same
place as Asellus.
* Emelia: Trinity Base on the boucany with Asellus.
Background: Orlouge's 35th (?) princess. Also known as the "Kindest
princess" in Chateau Aiguille. She's obedient to her lord but won't
deceive her friends. Strange it may seem that Asellus treated her as
kind of a "lover" but her attitude toward Asellus is more like a
sister.
Evaluation: A weak Mystic that won't stay long in any of the
chapters (ok, she stays until the end with Emelia but you do get her
rather late in the game) but she her spells are extremely useful
during that time you have her. She starts the game with a full set
of the lower level Light Magic, which gives her offence as well as
healing abilities that you need. Having trouble with the enemies on
board the Cygnus? Have White Rose use her MysticSword to knock them
out in one hit! Having trouble with the Mecs in Trinity Base? Have
White Rose cast FlashFire! She's not of much use later in the game
though so just retreat her to the dust-collecting team. Being the
kindest princess gives White Rose higher CHA than most.
Zozma
""
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: After the Dark Labyrinth event, go back to the previous
screen (or Devin's shrine) and he'll talk with you for a while and
join.
* Emelia: Recruit Asellus and White Rose in Trinity Base and find
Zozma in one of the other rooms, disguised as a soldier. Talk to him
and he'll join.
Background: A Mystic banished from Chateau Aiguille. (I think) I
don't exactly know what his purpose in the story is though. He looks
a LOT like Akuma from Street Fighters!
Evaluation: I don't know why but everyone seemed to love Zozma. All
I can see him as is an average Mystic with some half-baked Evil
Magic. Anyway, his Evil spells can be useful when used under the
right circumstances but don't use him much. I bet you guys know him
more than I do.
---Mecs---
BJ&K
""
Chapters obtained:
* Red: Talk to him in the nurse's office when the Cygnus is under
attack. He'll leave after that event but you can find him at the
same place and he'll join again.
Starting skills: HypnoFlash
Background: A Type 4 robot nurse on board the Cygnus.
Evaluation: BJ&K has a built-in Medikit skill, this is very
different to EnginnerCar's RepairKit skill as this heals non-Mecs!
If you try to use it on a Mec then you'll get the "Miss" message so
be sure you can distinguish between the two. I know, it's confusing.
Other than that he's just a normal Mec that depends solely on
absorbing good skills and equipping good equipment. He has a built-
in laser cannon to use.
EngineerCar
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: Just talk to him in Nikajima Robotics in Shrike.
* Red, Blue, Lute, Riki: Talk to him in Shrike and he'll offer to
join if you have a Mec in your party.
Starting skills: CrossHair, RangeFire
Background: A Type 6 Mec designed by Nikajima to fix various
mechanical malfunctions.
Evaluation: Being a Type 6 Mec gives him the ability to heal Mec in
battle, very useful if you like Mecs. He starts with some useless
skills so get him some good ones in order to attack. He's equipped
with a MachineVulcan but it's just too weak, get his some decent
weapons instead!
Leonard
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: Return to Leonard's lab in Manhattan after you've explored
Shingrow and the Mec Leonard will join you.
Starting skills: EnergySupply, HypnoFlash
Background: Dr. Leonard possesses a lab in Manhattan where he
researches machines. Because of his fame, he anticipated his death
so Leonard stored his memory into a Mec model. His assassination
soon followed but Leonard was able to continue his research as a
Mec.
Evaluation: The game says Leonard is a Type 6 model but I doubt it,
as all Type 6's look like EngineerCar. Leonard starts with the
equipment identical to EngineerCar though. He also has built-in
RepairKits which you may find useful. Leonard starts with an ultra
powerful Mec skill EnergySupply which makes him the perfect Mec
companion. Get Leonard either PopKnight or ShockSoldier and he's
ready for the final fight.
Rabbit
""
Chapters obtained:
* Red: Find Rabbit in Kyo's Garden but Red must have left the
Cygnus.
Starting skills: Jammer
Background: An anti-Mech model. (Type 2) Seems to be pursuing
Mblack.
Evaluation: A powerful little Mec but it's hard to boost some of his
stats like HP for some reason. Rabbit has the powerful built-in
laser cannon which is powerful but takes quite a bit of WP to use.
He's also fast.
The unique thing about Ribbit is that he's equipped with an ECM
System which when used in battle, allows him to dodge missiles (I
think.) Also bring a Type 2 Mec Rabbit can absorb CounterECM which
will make the enemy's ECM (such as MBlack) ineffective. He also has
BitSystem but I'm not sure what that does.
PzkwV
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: Talk to the Mec who runs a laser shop in Koorong's
Backstreet with Leonard in your party and he'll join.
Starting skills: ShootingMastery
Background: A Type 5 Mec who runs a shop that sells smuggled weapons
from Trinity. He knows Leonard.
Evaluation: I don't know what Type 5 Mec's specialty is but I don't
like PzkwV because first, I can't pronounce it's name and second, it
has too many equipment slots filled with useless stuff like the
MicroMissile. Type 5 is supposed to be the heavily armed model but
all he has is a bunch of low damaging missiles. I suppose you can do
heavy damage when using Shoot-All but it's really not that worth it.
Only have PzkwV in your main team if you want a party of all Mecs.
Many other people seem to like him.
ZEKE
""
Chapters obtained:
* T260: Retrieve the robot mouse from Sei's Tomb in Shrike and ZEKE
will offer to join you in Nikajima Robotics.
Starting skills: None
Background: Another Mec made by Nikajima Robotics but this time it's
used for research. ZEKE is a Type 3 model.
Evaluation: Type 3 models are really fast but are somewhat weak.
ZEKE has a couple of weak cannons that works fine early in the game
but so give him something better if you have it. He has an item
called Accelerator which boosts his speed in battle but it's not
useful at all since ZEKE is usually the fastest already! A unique
attack called KAMIZAKI Crush can be absorbed but the damage is not
too great (around 1000) and it costs 1LP. So use him in an all Mecs
party. I don't know who is better, ZEKE or PzkwV. What do you
recoin?
---Monsters---
Cotton
"Kyu kyukyu Kyu kyu"
Chapters obtained:
* All: You can find Cotton on the top floor of the Bio Lab in
Shrike. You must fight some mad scientists and Cotton will join.
Background: A monster being taken hostage by the mad scientists of
the Bio Lab. He reviewed to Doll that it was a set up. Cotton
obviously has a link to IRPO and he is a friend of both Fuse and
Doll. He speaks a tongue which nobody but Doll and Fuse understands.
It seems like he's currently on the inter-Region bandit's case.
(Wow, IRPO is really up to date. Not only do they hire Mystics but
Monsters too!)
Evaluation: I dunno. I just get him because he's cute. He has
nothing of value in his skill slots. Use him if you want, just
follow the steps above.
Kylin
""
Chapters obtained:
* All but Blue: Obtain either the gift for Light or Shadow and
Arcane or Rune Magic and ask Rei (purple haired girl in Devin's
shrine) about Space Magic. She'll send you to Kylin's Paradise. Find
Kylin in one of the buildings and agree to his challenge, he'll send
you to a maze. Work your way out of the maze and talk to him again,
ask him to join and he will.
Background: A Monster with the gift of Space Magic. He created a
Paradise out of no where and let people enjoy the fun. A carefree
Monster.
Evaluation: Kylin is pretty good and it's the only Monster that I
don't mind having in my party. His stats are pretty good, he has
very high WP/JP levels and comes with a full set of the all so
powerful Space Magic. However, I must confess that I am under a lot
of pressure when I'm using Kylin because 6 of his slots are filled
with Space Magic that can't be replaced so I must keep them. His
Kylin'sSong is essential to keep the KylinJr. form so I can't loose
that either. That leaves me with only one slot to absorb skills from
and I can't even keep it! Needless to say but Kylin gains HP very
slowly. I found a better solution to just don't ask him to join and
buy the Space Magic off him for my Humans and Mystics instead but if
you like Monsters (especially powerful ones) then definitely get
him.
RedTurnip
""
Chapters obtained:
* Asellus: In Dark Labyrinth talk to him and he'll join when you
escape.
Background: A Monster of the race Mandrake who got trapped inside
the Dark Labyrinth for some unknown reason. He was able to escape
with Asellus because White Rose sacrificed herself.
Evaluation: Although RedTurnip has all 8 of his slots filled,
there's a really nothing there that's of much use. RedTurnip is only
worth getting for that extra nifty bit of cut scenes. He also joins
rather late in the game so I just ignore him and put him in my 3rd
team.
Sei
""
Chapters obtained:
* Collect all 3 items from Sei's Tomb and place them on the glowing
altars. Go through the door that opens and get close to the coffin,
Sei'll mistake you guys for robbers and fighting you. After the
battle you may opt to let him join. (He'll join Riki without a
fight.)
Background: Once a king of Shrike. You can read about him in the
town's library.
Evaluation: Another good Monster but I'd rather have his sword
instead. King Sei starts with some unique and powerful skills like
Kusanagi and MinionStrike (the Monster's version of ShockSoldier, I
think Arachne has it too.) His DeathLord form unique but rather weak
compaired to other Monster forms. Probably you should try morph him
into a good Monster that has only one key skill (Chimera is a good
one) and also I'd recommend you keep Kusanagi, MinionStrike and
SacredSong as they're very powerful. Take him if you like Monsters
but the Kusanagi is very useful to Humans, Mystic and Mecs!
Slime
"(The slime don't talk!)"
Chapters obtained:
* All but Riki: Upon leaving Tanzer after obtaining the VitalityRune
he'll sneak into your team!
NEWSFLASH: There is a way to not have Slime sneak into your team.
All you need to do is to have 3 full teams of party members. You
must have at least 14 characters when entering Tanzer and recruit
Fei-On. After the fight to obtain the Rune you won't even see the
scene where the Slime crawls into your team!
Starting skills: Spoil, Solvent, HPDrain
Background: None!
Evaluation: Probably as crappy as a playable character gets but you
can still turn it into something useful like a Mariche. I try to
fill up all my character slots before the Rune event but it may not
always be possible so just retire him to the dust-collecting party,
stop moaning and save your breath for Oprah.
Suzaku
"(Again, this phoenix don't speak.)"
Chapters obtained:
* All: During the trip to Mosperiburg mountains when pursuing the
Shield card, beat the fairy on the first screen and head straight
until you come across a snow field with 3 boars. If a snowman is
present then fighting it (it's tough) and head back into the caves.
You can find the Suzaku in on of the caves and if you killed the
snowman, it will be thawed and touch it to get it to join.
Background: Lute's "brother" and childhood friend. He calls Lute's
mother "Ma" but he's a Monster (an Ogre) so they can't possibly be
related. He's probably adopted.
Evaluation: Thunder starts out strong but may change when he morphs.
GroundHit is a good attack but there are better Monsters in the game
if you wanted one. I got him once and retired him to team 3 after an
hour.
WELL KNOWN TRICKS
=================
This section covers tricks that you must have heard of a thousand
times already so skips it if you want. I didn't discover these
tricks so I claim no credit for them.
---Junk Shop Trick---
This trick allows you to get infinite items from the Junk Shop in
Scrap. Pay the lizard at the counter (the fee varies as you go
through the game) and pick 3 items of your choice. Return and choose
to sell and click on "HyperionBazooka" assuming that you don't have
one. It will "beep" and you may go back to pick up 7 more items.
Repeat as desired! The items will improve after you sell some
RepairKits (it's not how many you sell but how many times you sell)
and by the end it will contain only one item in each box.
Note the Junk Shop has some great items. You can pick up LethalGuns
which are the best store bought guns (sold for 4020 Credits in
Koorong.) The ExcelShield is great to give to all your members
(unpurchaseable.) The Osc-Swords can be sold in Shrike for 110 each!
Other great items include WarLordArmor, JetBoots and MirrorGlass.
Collect lots of Osc-Swords and you're ready for the next trick.
---Infinite Credit Trick---
You must have a reasonable amount of money to do this trick, I think
1000 or 1500 or so should be enough. Go to Nelson and buy as many
GoldIngots as you can. Travel back to Koorong and choose sell and
press "down" until you have none left. Now press up until you have
the maximum number of GoldIngots, you'll notice that their value had
increased. Press down again and sell all your GoldIngots. You'll
have more money than you started with and repeat the trick.
If the value for the GoldIngots ever drop to zero when you're
pressing the down button then sell them immediately as any more gold
you sell after that will have no value! You should have about
50,000+ Credits to spend. Spend them all and repeat the trick by
selling the remaining GoldIngots and buying more from Nelson etc.
I know it sounds complicated but you'll understand how it works when
you play do it. It's way too complicated to explain everything here.
---DoubleSlash Trick---
Use DoubleSlash with the Asura or Kusanagi when you have 6 or more
physical skills equipped to gain the power of these swords at no
charge but there's no much need for it in my experience.
OTHER TRICKS
============
These are the tricks that I've discovered.
---Guaranteed Level 5 Combo!---
What's more fun than watching a level 5 combo but they're almost
impossible to pull off. This will make your life easier. Have 5 gun
users and equip them with QuickDraw and either CrossShot or
BoundShot (you can mix and match them if you like, they're
interchageable for this combo.) Go into a boss fight and have
everyone use either BoundShot or CrossShot, you'll automatically go
first (thanks to QuickDraw) and a level 5 combo will take place
doing over 10,000 points of damage! Better still, give everyone 2
guns and equip them with the TwoGun skill, the damage will be
doubled! The problem with this is that QuickDraw will only work once
but you may try it again the next round and if you're lucky, you'll
get another level 5 combo. (I think QuickDraw boosts speed as well.)
Note if the enemy has a shield, one or more of the attacks maybe
blocked leaving you with a level 4 or less combo.
---Arcane and Rune Magic---
There's a trick to use bother Arcane and Rune Magic even if you're
not Blue but the only problem is that you'll only be able to get the
lower level Arcane spells. First you need to obtain the gift for
Rune Magic then dump any Rune spells they have and buy them the
lower Arcane spells. Now give them a RuneSword and use VictoryRune
during battle. Eventually you'll learn another Rune spell and go
from there.
---Realm and Mystic Magic---
This trick is similar to the above and you'll be able to get only
the lower level Realm spells. Take a Mystic to the Magic Kingdom and
buy them some Realm spells, discarding the Mystics spells they have.
Give them a PurpleEye and use it in battle (it cases PhantasmShot)
and you'll learn another Mystics spell and go from there.
---Speed Magic Learning---
The problem with learning spells is that you learn them too slowly,
I have discovered a trick that lets you learn all the spells you
need (for one team) in about half an hour or so. First you need
TimeLord (or Blue, or someone with the TimeEclipse spell). Absorb
some good monsters in TimeLord's Mystic weapons to get him a high
QUI. Now put him in your main team with 4 Humans. Your Humans should
have the gift for about 3 types of magic. Make sure you purchase all
the spells that falls into that school as it'll save you time. Now
equip your Humans with 6 or more spells (so they have a crown in
magic), make sure you equip spells that falls into the school you
want to learn from, especially the 1JP ones. Now head to Shrike's
Bio Lab or Yorkland's swamp and fight the Dullahan or Krakens. Have
TimeLord cast TimeEclipse and everyone else use a 1JP spell (it'll
be free because they have a crown) from the school they want to
learn from. TimeLord should be fast enough to go first and Petrify
the Dullahan or Kraken with TimeEclipse and end the fight. Because
your Human characters attempted a spell, they're qualified to
learning a new spell and being a master in magic helps you learn as
well. This trick works fine even with Gen or someone with low INT. I
think Yorkland is better since the Kraken always comes singly. When
TimeLord runs out of JP give him a MagiWater.
MISCELLANEOUS
=============
Here's some "weird" stuff I found rather interesting.
* Remember Gozarus? The Mystic that sells stuff for your LP. He
claims that all his items are one of a kind. He has a ShadeRobe that
he sells for 1LP. Now remember what Asellus was wearing when she
joined in Red and Emelia'' scenario? That's right, the ShadeRobe!
And when I was playing as Red, one of the enemy actually dropped a
ShadeRobe! What's this? Three ShadeRobes in one game?!?!?!?! (Hmm, I
wonder where I can get my hands on another one of those excellent
Asuras.)
* In Koorong, there's a manhole that leads to a small area with
nothing in it and there's a manhole lid that won't open, I wonder
what they're for.
* Have you tried goin' up the stairs on the top floor in Bacarrat?
They won't let any character enter. When I first played the game I
thought that area was specific to Emelia's quest in one of her
Gradius mission.
* When you use the Kusanagi sword skill, instead of hearing the
usual sword slash sound effect you'll hear the Monster skill sound
effects. I think this is a bug (the Kusanagi is also King Sei's
Monster skill).
* When you use a 2-sword skill with the Asura or Kasanagi you'll see
the character holding 2 red or green swords regardless of the other
sword they equipped!
* Emelia is a person who carries her wedding dress around with her!
And she had to fight Dive is it! Now how'd you suppose she did that?
* You can chain together Blizzard-MoonlightCut-Tres Flores which
will evoke the classic Midare Setgetsuka sword skill. (I wonder why
they broke in into 3 bits.) It's very pretty and does quite a bit of
damage for a level 3 combo. Try it for fun!
* I head a rumor that the Lion Princess is a playable character. She
can join right before the last fight with Orlouge in Asellus' quest
if she save Gina and Rei is not on her team.
* The lord of Owmi in Riki's quest is different from the one in
Asellus' quest. The manor is abandoned when you're playing as other
characters but you can see both "lords" in the town part of Owmi.
The lord from Asellus' quest is on the bridge saying "Come back,
please.... I love you...." (could it be Mesarthim?) and the lord
from Riki's quest is on the platform by the sea.
* The enemy Dullahan may drop their shield when you win but they're
actually called DurahanShields!
There are more but I can't remember `em on top of my head right now.
You may feel free to use this FAQ as long as it's not used for
making money or any dirty scam you can think of. And don't rip me
off without giving me credit.
Copyright 1999 by me. E-mail me at aya.brea@ilovelara.com
SaGa Frontier (c) 1997, 1998 Square
Thanks again for reading and remember to have fun!
