how do orbal art attacks work?

[Hog D. Rider]

forgive me if i havent looked hard enough, but im confused by this. next to each orbal art attack, theres a requiredment, and it shows a sepith, or quartz, whatever you call it. does using that attack use up the amount of sepith displayed on the attack?

EDIT: all your replies were helpful, a few of you said to check my notebook as it goes into detail about this. to be fair, i did read the notebook but i didnt really put together what it was actually saying. thanks

[Stabbey]

Battle Orbments have lines connected to each other, starting from the center and radiating outward. Each quartz has specific elemental values for the seven elements (usually only 1-2 elements, rarely or never more than 3). Arts are available based on the total and combination of elemental values from the quartz. Once the elemental value on a line passes the requirement for an art, you can cast it.

Art attacks use the resource EP. It's your blue bar. It can only be recharged through EP Charge items, Orbment charging stations, or levelling up (the last is only applicable in Sky 1-3).

Sepith is used to unlock slots in an orbment and to craft quartz to insert into the orbment. You don't spend it to cast arts.

[Shunsatsu]

Each quartz has its own elemental value. The sum of all elemental values in a line are added together to check what arts the character is capable of using (the middle slot is considered to be part of both lines, so ideally put your best quartz with the highest elemental value in the middle)

For example, to be able to use Tear, a healing art, you need one water elemental value. (you can check all elemental value requirements in the bracer notebook) So if you equip a HP 1 quartz, which has one water elemental value, the character becomes capable of using Tear.

So in other words, placement of quartz can become very important later on when you get better quartz and unlock more orbment slots, since to get the better arts, you have to place them in the same line. If you split them into different lines, you won't get the arts you want. Hence, characters with longer lines also make better casters, since they can get stronger tier arts more easily. (the longer an orbment line is, the more max EP the character has as well)

[Oguzhan]

Every battle orbment has lines and slots. Slots can belong to one or more lines. The more slots you unlock the more EP your characters get. The max EP of a character is determined by the number of lines they have on their orbment and how long the line is. For example Joshua should have more EP than Estelle since one of his lines is longer than hers. Later in the game you will meet with characters who have more than 2 lines on their orbment, this usually means that those characters are better suited to physical attacks.

Sepith is used to open up slots and purchase quartz (you are basically giving the shop owner sepith so that they can make something for you).

Quartz, every quartz have elemental value on them on top of their stat boost/ effect. These elemental value total up and then give you a different result of arts. Technically speaking you have access to every single art in the game and you can see the list of arts in your bracer notebook which the game tells you to look at. In fact everything I just mentioned is present in your notebook. And it is well explained in detail actually.

Placement of your quartz is really important, and if you are paying attention you can actually get the best spells in the game very early on. Hell you can get shadow spear and hell gate in the prologue. You just gotta open up enough slots, one line should be enough for both characters.

[Dragon]

No, you don't "use up" sepiths when you use Arts. Casting an Art never takes any sepiths away from you. Rather, Arts use up/take away EP points when you cast them.

What you are talking about in the OP is: when you hover over an Art, the numbers you see there are not "sepith counts," but rather, they are elemental power(s), which is on your screen in order to show you how much elemental power(s) you have for any particular elements (i.e. fire, water, mirage, space, time, earth, wind etc), on any specific line.

The "lines" are shown to the left of where the numbers start.

The reason why you need to know those two pieces of information (that is, "lines" and "elemental power(s)") are because:

a) the number of elemental power(s) that you have on a specific line, and also

b)the mix of elemental power(s) that you have on a specific line

...together determine which Orbal Arts your characters will and/or won't have access to (meaning, which Arts the character can actually cast, because those Arts will appear in your spell list for that character if you have enough elemental power(s) on one specific line in order to make them appear on your spell list).

You can see what the line requirements are for any particular Art(s) by looking at the "Memo" tab of your Bracer Notebook, and then reading all the sub-tabs to the right side of that Memo tab, all of which also explain everything that I've just said in this post, in slightly different words.

So, what all of this boils down to is:

...the game is designed to make you overcome the challenge of:

1) figuring out what are the most number of Arts, and best quality of Arts, that you can fit onto any particular character

2) ... but point 1) which I just stated is limited by these factors:

- you have a limited number of Quartz slots, and therefore a limited number of chances to increase your Elemental Power(s), which determines what Arts you will or won't be able to use on that character

- some slots can only take Quartz of a particular element, so this restricts you from being able to put the Elemental Power requirements that you need on a particular line wherever you ideally would want them to be placed.

[Hog D. Rider]

Originally posted by Shunsatsu:

Each quartz has its own elemental value. The sum of all elemental values in a line are added together to check what arts the character is capable of using (the middle slot is considered to be part of both lines, so ideally put your best quartz with the highest elemental value in the middle)

For example, to be able to use Tear, a healing art, you need one water elemental value. (you can check all elemental value requirements in the bracer notebook) So if you equip a HP 1 quartz, which has one water elemental value, the character becomes capable of using Tear.

So in other words, placement of quartz can become very important later on when you get better quartz and unlock more orbment slots, since to get the better arts, you have to place them in the same line. If you split them into different lines, you won't get the arts you want. Hence, characters with longer lines also make better casters, since they can get stronger tier arts more easily. (the longer an orbment line is, the more max EP the character has as well)

oh, ive just been putting my quartz in random slots. so if i put my HP1 for olivier, who has one long line, will i unlock HP2 for the next slot, or am i misunderstanding

[Hog D. Rider]

Originally posted by Dragon:

No, you don't "use up" sepiths when you use Arts. Casting an Art never takes any sepiths away from you. Rather, Arts use up/take away EP points when you cast them.

What you are talking about in the OP is: when you hover over an Art, the numbers you see there are not "sepith counts," but rather, they are elemental power, which is on your screen in order to show you how much elemental power you have for any particular elements (i.e. fire, water, mirage, space, time, earth, wind etc), on any specific line.

The "lines" are shown to the left of of where the numbers start.

The reason why you need to know those two pieces of information (that is, "lines" and "elemental power") are because:

a) the number of elemental power(s) that you have on a specific line, and also

b)the mix of elemental power(s) that you have on a specific line

...together determine which Orbal Arts your characters will and/or won't have access to (meaning, which Arts the character can actually cast, because those Arts will appear in your spell list for that character if you have enough elemental power(s) on one specific line in order to make them appear on your spell list).

You can see what the line requirements are for any particular Art(s) by looking at the "Memo" tab of your Bracer Notebook, and then reading all the sub-tabs to the right side of that Memo tab, all of which explain everything that I've just said in this post in slightly different words.

So, what all of this boils down to is:

...the game is designed to make you overcome the challenge of:

1) figuring out what are the most number of Arts, and best quality of Arts, that you can fit onto any particular character

2) ... but point 1) which I just stated is limited by these factors:

- you have a limited number of Quartz slots, and therefore a limited number of chances to increase your Elemental Power(s), which determines what Arts you will or won't be able to use on that character

- some slots can only take Quartz of a particular element, so this restricts you from being able to put the Elemental Power requirements that you need on a particular line wherever you ideally would want them to be placed.

ohh, so the value next to each art just shows how strong an attack is for the element it shows? i was confused about whether it uses sepith or not because it says required elements, so i thought it takes something from me

[Dragon]

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

ohh, so the value next to each art just shows how strong an attack is for the element it shows? i was confused about whether it uses sepith or not because it says required elements, so i thought it takes something from me

The reason why you are confused is because the "elemental power" count on the screen you are looking at visually looks like the sepith pieces count that you see on other screens. So this visual similarity has caused your brain to think that both screens are indicating sepith counts to show you how many septith pieces you have in your inventory, even though they actually are not.

The screen you are talking about in your original post, and also in the post which I just quoted here, that screen has nothing whatsoever to do with how many sepith pieces you have. That screen does not contain any information about that at all.

Rather, that screen shows you only what your "elemental power" is inside of your orbment device.

For example, I have the Quartz "HP 3" placed in one slot of my Orbment device. If I hover over that Quartz, it say "Water Elemental x5." The means that it's giving the line which it is placed in a value of 5 Blue/Water.

So if I were to take that HP 3 Quartz out of that Orbment slot, then my Elemental Power on that line will be reduced by 5 Blue/Water.

Thus, any Water Arts that needed me to have those 5 points on that line will now be removed from my spell list and I can no longer cast them, since I no longer meet the elemental power requirements in order to access those Arts.

[Oguzhan]

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

Originally posted by Shunsatsu:

Each quartz has its own elemental value. The sum of all elemental values in a line are added together to check what arts the character is capable of using (the middle slot is considered to be part of both lines, so ideally put your best quartz with the highest elemental value in the middle)

For example, to be able to use Tear, a healing art, you need one water elemental value. (you can check all elemental value requirements in the bracer notebook) So if you equip a HP 1 quartz, which has one water elemental value, the character becomes capable of using Tear.

So in other words, placement of quartz can become very important later on when you get better quartz and unlock more orbment slots, since to get the better arts, you have to place them in the same line. If you split them into different lines, you won't get the arts you want. Hence, characters with longer lines also make better casters, since they can get stronger tier arts more easily. (the longer an orbment line is, the more max EP the character has as well)

oh, ive just been putting my quartz in random slots. so if i put my HP1 for olivier, who has one long line, will i unlock HP2 for the next slot, or am i misunderstanding

You are misunderstanding. It's quite simple. Every quartz (HP1, HP2, Attack 1, Attack 2 etc etc) have their own effects and elemental values. Effects can range from increasing you HP, STR (physical attack), ATS (magical attack) to Speed.The elemental values of the quartz are depicted on them. For Attack 1 for example it says 1(red coloured element) meaning fire element. The total value in a single line opens up the magic. Heal and fire bolt for example are easy. They just require water and fire respectively. However something like Fire Bolt EX which is fire bolt on AOE, requires fire and wind elements. You can check what each spell requires in your Bracer Notebook. READ it, it does a fantastic job at explaining how this stuff works. It even tells you the specifics on spells. Is it support? Offensive? Is it single target? Is it AOE? What does it do?

Honestly reading the notebook is going to give you a better explanation than anyone here. Read it, test things out. You will be surprised at how versatile this system is.

[Hog D. Rider]

Originally posted by Dragon:

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

ohh, so the value next to each art just shows how strong an attack is for the element it shows? i was confused about whether it uses sepith or not because it says required elements, so i thought it takes something from me

The reason why you are confused is because the "elemental power" count on the screen you are looking at visually looks like the sepith pieces count that you see on other screens. So this visual similarity has caused your brain to think that both screens are indicating sepith counts to show you how many septith pieces you have in your inventory, even though they actually are not.

The screen you are talking about in your original post, and also in the post which I just quoted here, that screen has nothing whatsoever to do with how many sepith pieces you have. That screen does not contain any information about that at all.

Rather, that screen shows you only what your "elemental power" is inside of your orbment device.

For example, I have the Quartz "HP 3" placed in one slot of my Orbment device. If I hover over that Quartz, it say "Water Elemental x5." The means that it's giving the line which it is placed in a value of 5 Blue/Water.

So if I were to take that HP 3 Quartz out of that Orbment slot, then my Elemental Power on that line will be reduced by 5 Blue/Water.

Thus, any Water Arts that needed me to have those 5 points on that line will now be removed from my spell list and I can no longer cast them, since I no longer meet the elemental power requirements in order to access those Arts.

yeah it took me a while to get, but i think i finally understand it. each quarts will give me a certain amount of elemental value for whatever element that quartz shows, and i have access to all arts in the game, i just need to find the right quartz to get enough of a certain elemental value to unlock the attack which i am looking for, which i can find in the bracer notebook

[Hog D. Rider]

Originally posted by Oguzhan:

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

oh, ive just been putting my quartz in random slots. so if i put my HP1 for olivier, who has one long line, will i unlock HP2 for the next slot, or am i misunderstanding

You are misunderstanding. It's quite simple. Every quartz (HP1, HP2, Attack 1, Attack 2 etc etc) have their own effects and elemental values. Effects can range from increasing you HP, STR (physical attack), ATS (magical attack) to Speed.The elemental values of the quartz are depicted on them. For Attack 1 for example it says 1(red coloured element) meaning fire element. The total value in a single line opens up the magic. Heal and fire bolt for example are easy. They just require water and fire respectively. However something like Fire Bolt EX which is fire bolt on AOE, requires fire and wind elements. You can check what each spell requires in your Bracer Notebook. READ it, it does a fantastic job at explaining how this stuff works. It even tells you the specifics on spells. Is it support? Offensive? Is it single target? Is it AOE? What does it do?

Honestly reading the notebook is going to give you a better explanation than anyone here. Read it, test things out. You will be surprised at how versatile this system is.

yeah i looked through the notebook, i think i finally understand it. thanks for your help

[Dragon]

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

yeah it took me a while to get, but i think i finally understand it. each quarts will give me a certain amount of elemental value for whatever element that quartz shows, and i have access to all arts in the game, i just need to find the right quartz to get enough of a certain elemental value to unlock the attack which i am looking for, which i can find in the bracer notebook

Yes that's correct, but the one thing missing from that explanation is: all of the elements need to on the same one line in order to count towards the elemental power requirements to access Orbal Arts.

I.e. if say you are trying to be able to cast a Water Art that requires 15 Blue elemental power.

And you have 10 Blue elemental power on line one, and 5 Blue elemental power on line two.

You are not going to be able to access that Art that you are trying to gain access to until you get all 15 of those Blue points onto the same one line.

And by the way:

Originally posted by Sasquatchius Silius:

oh, ive just been putting my quartz in random slots. so if i put my HP1 for olivier, who has one long line, will i unlock HP2 for the next slot, or am i misunderstanding

...no, that is not correct. The number next to the quartz tells you how powerful of a version of the quartz it is, with the higher number always being the more powerful version than the lower number, and thus the higher numbered one offers more benefit when you cast it, and/or more buffing stats for your character when you equip it, and/or more elemental power for your line requirements when you equip it.

But contrary to what you said there, the numbers in the quartz name have nothing whatsoever to do with the lower numbers being prerequisites for equipping higher number versions.

Moreover, you cannot do what you proposed to do in that quoted that statement anyway (i.e. install HP 1 and HP 2 into the same Orbment device), because when you try to do that, the game will stop you from doing it, and pop-up a message that says "Cannot install two of the same type of quartz."