Screen Layout and Rules

If you proceed to an enemy and collide to get into a battle event, you will move into the battle screen. Read this section to get a grip of the battle rules before you dive into the fray.

Battle Screen

Press touch pad button during battle to open the Battle Menu. Press the OPTIONS button to pause the battle.

Party character data

Souls and SG

All characters and enemies in battle possess a certain number of ”souls”. This number dictates how many artes they can unleash in a row. The number of souls you have right now is shown by the number of ◆ marks in your SG.
* One soul is equivalent to 30 SG. If you have three souls, that means your SG is currently 90.

Stealing Souls

It is possible to snatch souls away from enemies, or to have enemies take souls from you. You start battle with three souls; this can go up to five after you meet certain conditions and all the way up to eight if you learn certain skills.

Steal souls…
– By defeating enemies
– By stunning enemies or giving them status ailments
– By picking up dropped souls

Have souls taken from you…
– By being stunned or gaining status ailments
– By executing a Break Soul

● Example

If you stun an enemy, your souls will change as in the photos displayed below.

Your souls go up

Enemy’s souls go down

Consuming and Refilling SG

Your SG is consumed as you use artes to attack enemies (each arte costs a certain amount of SG). If you attack an enemy when your SG is zero, the attack will be deflected. Your SG gradually refills if you don’t perform any actions and is fully refilled after the end of battle.

About BG

The BG gauge is used to unleash your secret inner powers. Building this gauge up allows you to trigger Switch Blasts or Mystic Artes . The gauge is refilled by using a Break Soul.

If You Lose

The game is over when all of your characters are knocked out. You’ll be given the option of loading a saved game, going back to the title screen, or (in some cases) trying the battle again.

Fleeing Battle

Move your character to the edge of the battlefield and keep holding the left stick towards the border. An Escape Gauge will fill up on the top-left corner of the screen; when it’s full, your party will flee.
* You cannot flee battles if the battlefield borders are colored red.

Battle Results Screen

Once you defeat all enemies and win the battle, you will see the Battle Results screen. Press  button to view details behind the Grade you earned. Press button to skip through the results displays. If you’ve designated someone to be the cook, your party will automatically eat the food they made on this screen.
* Earning good Grades boosts your equipment proficiency level. You can also use them at the Grade Shop unlocked after completing the game.

● Battle Results displays

MaxDamage: The highest amount of damage you dealt in battle.
MaxHit: The highest number of hits you dealt in battle.
Time: The time length of the battle.
EXP: The amount of experience earned.
Gald: The amount of money (Gald) earned.
GRADE: The Grade you earned. You gain Master Skill proficiency based on how good your Grade is.

Crystals

When you defeat stronger foes, you may earn Crystals that boost your equipment stats or give you beneficial effects during battle. You can see which Crystals you earned in the Item screen.

Wandering Enemies

There may be times where, after you defeat all enemies in battle, you’ll go right into battle again with a special enemy. Defeating this foe can earn you items and equipment. (Wandering enemies do not appear if your Battle Rank is set to Simple.)
* Wandering enemies start appearing once you obtain a certain Crystal.

Status Ailments and Status Changes

Characters may be affected by status ailments or changes if they are hit by certain enemy attacks or artes, or by an ally’s Malak Arte. Earning a status ailment will make enemies take your souls, but you can also give them ailments and take their souls.
* Status changes, and some status ailments, disappear after the end of battle or after enough time elapses. If you’d like them healed sooner, use recovery magic or items.

● Status Ailments

Paralysis: The character will freeze when they try to attack.
Burn: The character will stagger for longer.
Slow: The character’s speed slows down and they can no longer quickstep.
Poison: The character’s HP gradually goes down.
Fatigue: The character’s SG fills up slower and it takes longer for them to cast Malak Artes.
Petrify: The character cannot take action and is heavily damaged by enemy attack.
KO: The character cannot take action once their HP hits zero.
* The character will wake up after battle with 1 HP.

● Status Changes

Stun: The character faints, unable to take action for a period of time. Any damage taken is doubled.
Attack Change: Boosts or lowers the character’s Attack stat. A green icon indicates a stat boost; a red one indicates a stat hit.
Arte Attack Change: Boosts or lowers the character’s Arte Attack stat. A green icon indicates a stat boost; a red one indicates a stat hit.
Physical Defense: Change Boosts or lowers the character’s Defense stat. A green icon indicates a stat boost; a red one indicates a stat hit.
Arte Defense: Change Boosts or lowers the character’s Arte Defense stat. A green icon indicates a stat boost; a red one indicates a stat hit.
Focus change: Boosts or lowers the character’s Focus stat. A green icon indicates a stat boost; a red one indicates a stat hit.

Battle Menu

Press touch pad button during battle to pause the action and open the Battle Menu. This lets you adjust artes, equipment, and strategy, as well as use items.

Battle Menu

Use the directional buttons or left stick to select an option and press button to confirm.

Artes: Lets you change the artes to use in battle. Characters whose control mode is set to Auto will be able to use the artes shown here immediately. Select the arte you want, then select the target for that arte.
Equipment: Lets you change the equipment of the selected character.
Item: Lets you use items in your possession. Select the character using the item, the item to use, then the target character. Once you use the item, an Item Gauge will appear on the top-left corner of the screen; you cannot use any other items until the gauge disappears.
Strategy: Lets you change the strategy carried out by your characters.

Adjusting the Battle Camera

While the Battle Menu is onscreen, hold down button and move left stick left and right to adjust the camera distance or up and down to adjust its height. Both can be adjusted to five different levels.

Changing Characters or Control Modes

While the Battle Menu is onscreen, press button and button to change the character you control in battle. Press button to change control modes.

Battle Actions

Players can control characters whose control modes are set to Semi Auto or Manual. Use the attack and defense skills you have at hand to lead your party to victory.

Movement [Left stick]

Move left stick in any direction to move around the battlefield.

Defend/reset camera 

As long as you hold button down, your character will defend, reducing any damage taken. Press button quickly to return the camera to front and center.

Quickstep [ + left stick]

Hold down button and move left stick in any direction to quickstep. You can also quickstep while attacking. Dodging an enemy attack with a quickstep may cause souls to fly out of them, letting you pick them up to refill your own.

Front step: [ button + move left stick up / move left stick towards enemy] Quickly take a step towards the foe, closing in the distance between you and them.
Sidestep: [ button + move left stick left / right ] Quickly step to the side, dodging enemy attack.
Backstep: [ button + move left stick down / move left stick away from enemy] Quickly take a step away from the foe, dodging enemy attack.

Switch Blast [Directional buttons]

Press any of directional buttons during battle to consume one BG unit and switch your character out for one of the standby characters not in battle. Press left button or right button to select a character, then press up button or down button to switch to the standby.

Issue command [ button +  button /  button]

Hold down button and press button or button to issue a command to the entire party. Commands take precedent over characters’ strategies, letting you instantly change their behavior in battle. Press button to cancel the command.

All-Out ( button + button): Launch an all-out attack on the enemy. Prioritize
Defense ( button + button): Perform nothing but defense, healing, and dodging.

Select Target [ button + left stick]

Hold down button, and the battle will pause. While holding down button use the left stick to change your target. Press button quickly to change your character’s target to the nearest enemy.

Use Artes [ button /  button /  button /  button]

Press button / button /  button / button to use the artes assigned to that button in the Artes screen. Artes are generally unleashed in bursts of four, but the maximum number can change depending on how many souls you have. (Since you start battle with three souls, you can only perform three-arte combos at first.)

Use Break Soul [ button]

If you have three or more souls and all conditions are met for each character, hold down button to consume one soul and launch a powerful Break Soul attack. The enemy will take one soul from you when you do this (gaining one for themselves), but you can get it back if you defeat the enemy.

Break Soul Features

Break Souls can be launched regardless of any combo restrictions currently in place, and you can also start a string of artes after a Break Soul ends. Using a Break Soul lets you string together a combo longer than the amount of souls you have; it also refills your BG, so make them a regular part of your arsenal.

Launch Mystic Arte [ button]

As you proceed in the game, you’ll gain the ability to consume BG and launch powerful Mystic Artes. Hold down button during a combo when you have three or more BG units to unleash the move.
* There exist even more powerful Mystic Artes that are more difficult to successfully pull off.

Attacking with Weak-Point Combos

If you land a combo with moves that all strike your enemy’s weak point, you’ll trigger a Weak-Point Combo, leading to assorted effects. If you attack with an element that the enemy is resistant to, you’ll see reduced damage and sometimes even no damage at all.
* Enemies do not have weaknesses or resistances if the Battle Difficulty is set to Simple.

Weak-Point Combo display: The bottom number is the damage multiplier.
Weak-element damage: Damage dealt to an enemy’s weakness has the word ”WEAK” displayed in red next to it.

● Weak-Point Combo effects

* Boosts damage dealt to enemy.
* SG used during combo is refilled after the end of the combo.
* Enemy becomes weak against all elements (including those it has a resistance to).