Tips

[Piotr]

Hi, I don't fully understand levelling system, so I tried to use recommended weapons I found in topic on Gamefaqs. And thing is Galil (shield), Tiggy (cannon ofc) and Barbosa (axe) has great damage and two other characters in my team: Azura (bows), Renzo (unarmed) has terribly low damage. It's huge difference, because some shield attacks have 200+ damage per attack and Renzo or Azura can reach barely 20 dmg. Am I using wrong weapons or what? I'm in chapter 20, right after game opened up and I heard one battle in ice area (chapter 23) is supposed to be hard, so I prefer to consult my problem here.
Also, after unlocking building towers, game is supposed to be "open-world", right? So I should now probably focus on leveling my characters and guilds, I know most important are Tacitcs & Library & Recon, does it make difference where I place these towers?
And last question - is there any sprint or vehicle which will speed up exploring overworld? It's kinda slow and I have walk through same areas third or fourth time.

[Darkling]

The game is somewhat similar to the SaGa games (Romancing Saga, Saga Frontier), if you're familiar with them.

Here's what I do.

> Try to save up for the item drop, item creation, and shop abilities first. After that, buy abilities that increase the awakening (spark) rate, the rate at which you level up techs/spells/sigils, and ability cost reductions. After that go for HP leveling increase. The 3 abilities which increase the formation effect for your weapon/spell/sigil type are good too.

> Have each party member focus on one weapon type. Warriors (those with high physical stats) get one weapon and shield, mages (those with high mental stats) focus on one weapon type (typically a weapon which is an etheract) and either sigils or spells. Tiggy is stuck with cannons and sigils. There's a google docs spreadsheet which tells you which stat powers each tech/sigil/spell, you can use that to figure out which weapon to pick for each character. That said, the difference isn't that big between most and least optimal (and there is NG+), so if you already picked something just roll with it.

> Set up formations for party members so they are all in a row suitable for their weapon type and all defense, attack, or trick. These are your grinding formations. Go grind against enemies with your techs, trying to get each tech up to a certain easily achieved minimum for the area.

> Make sure you have formations for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 person parties.

> For sanity's sake, reorganize each tech, spell, and sigil your characters learn by cost, then power, then type (buff, debuff, damage, healing is my method). When you level up the tactics guild I think you can seal unused stuff for a minor bonus to the rest.

> Weapon and armor power is by far the biggest factor in damage, though formations and how leveled up your techs are also matter.

> You don't have to do this, but there's a google docs spreadsheet which explains how to get everyone, or the options if some people or items are mutually exclusive. There's NG+, so you could wait until then to consult that.

> Set up a lot of blacksmith and signimancy towers, and assign people to them. Library is also good because it will eventually improve them after you get very high level in library, but that probably won't occur until your 2nd playthrough. Recon is somewhat good for it's bonus, and tactics is okay I guess but not really needed.

> Visit the library to see what item drops info on monsters you've unlocked (by already getting that drop). It could help with grinding.

> Stat increases/decreases in battle from techs/spells/sigils decay over time, weapon and armor increases/decreases do not. All of them can be overwritten with new effects.

> Don't try to beat the boss of each water devil den until you've thoroughly explored it at least once and defeated every enemy in it. Look out for sparkly items on the ground, and NPCs too.

> You will need about 30 to 40 equipment defense (especially cold/force) - and level 30 defense for all the techs/spells/sigils you'll use in battle - to defeat the boss of level 3 water devil dens.

> Status defense increases resistance to status ailments, status immunity makes you completely immune to them.

> The power (attack or defense) of an etheract modifies the damage of sigils you cast with it.

> Level up healing sigils ASAP.

> Any ability which damages enemies and heals yourself is extremely useful.

> If you are having a very hard time, make one of your front row melee fighters block with a shield or weapon tech which blocks (deflect, blade block) every turn while at least that one character is in defense mode. They will block for the entire party.

> There's a friendly water devil somewhere you can sell items to. These items persist across new games with the same save file.

> If you're not sure what to do in every new thing you encounter, make a couple saves and then try each dialog option, then go with whichever one you prefer.

> Read the manual and/or tutorials.