Grade Farming?

[Mezma]

Has anybody found a reliable spot in the game to farm grade points?

[Reshyk]

If you're looking to farm grade you're really just looking for dire enemies. There's no real spot to do that. Pick whatever area you like and get as many dangerous encounters as possible. Probably also want to choose enemies who won't die too quickly so you can use as many break souls and mystics as possible.

Oh and be sure to pop a dark bottle.

And up that difficulty as high as you can.

[sbe_15]

You will get an item that gives up to 2x grade by chaining battles.
Then, fight higher level mobs (dire enemies or link encounters).
But most importantly, keep your party healthy. KO's, status ailments and using items gives a huge penalty on grade.

[Mouse...]

grade farming for what ? mastering gear or for grade shop ?

for mastering gear, always use dark bottle, it wont hurt for normal encounter, and if possible do dangerous encounter (even more advised when you have 'marathoner ventite' to chain grade bonus). no specific place, you do it while progressing through exploration/story.

for grade shop preparation, it's easier and more effective time wise to farm dire-foes lindwurm in figahl icecaps (hellawes outskirt). dude got big hitbox, and the minions don't have many attack patterns (since they're early mobs).

PS : i'm assuming you've already known stuffs like certain equipment skills/title to boost learning speed.

[Mezma]

Preferably for the grade shop, and the only previous game of this series that i played was Tales of the Abyss. So this item stuff is new to me, but i am figuring it out as i go along.

[Fel]

If you are near the end of the game, the first zone (icecap area) is fairly good for that like said above.
You want to make a route that keeps your multiplier as high as possible, and when you are on x2 go for dangerous encounters repetedly to hunt for the dragon dire foe.

Dangerous encounter + dire foe anywhere can easily net you 300+ grade each time (not to mention the gald drops from that dire foe) if you don't have KOs, but the wyrm has a higher level cap so it will net you more.

[Mezma]

Any tips for a good route for this?

[Mezma]

I did forget to mention, i did beat the game, i just realized i needed a lot of grade points for the shop alone.

[Fel]

A good route is starting from the "ruins" that lead to the other city on that island, not clearing all of the mobs in the direct path and going up the slope (towards the village), then taking the ice shortcut and clearing enemies as you make your way back to the entrance of the ruins.
If you combine a dark bottle and the geo-board, you definitely will have enough speed to not lose your multiplier if you kept one enemy close to the ruins for the "return" path.

[Mezma]

Does the difficulty matter for grade points?

[Reshyk]

Originally posted by Shy Guy:

Does the difficulty matter for grade points?

Absolutely. One of the larger affecters actually. You'll want as high a difficulty as you can manage without people dying.

[Fel]

It matters a whole lot:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/ps4/167071-tales-of-berseria/faqs/74291#section43

Not only does it directly increase one of the numbers, it also increases the level of the enemies (level difference is a big thing for grade) as well as their stats (which means you will probably use more soul breaks and all that, which are the base on which grade is awarded in normal fights).

[Mezma]

Jeeze, the is a lot of things to factor into this, why does it seem more complicated now then it did for the other games in the series?

[Reshyk]

Originally posted by Shy Guy:

Jeeze, the is a lot of things to factor into this, why does it seem more complicated now then it did for the other games in the series?

You'd be surprised. Zesteria easily had just as much of not more complexity, though a lot of it was under the hood and kind of... irrelevant. Complexity that the player couldn't manipulate or didn't change the way they played. The big difference is the addition of the soul resource, which gives the player a tangible benefit for exploiting the game mechanics properly. It's not that Berseria is more complex, it's just more obvious since the benefits of the system feel better.

Honestly I love the souls mechanic. It feels good to get and it feels good to spend. Plus there's enough safeguards and comeback mechanics in place that you don't feel completely screwed when you run out. Plus when you're running around with 0 BG and no souls you're like, "okay. I know I screwed up because I got to aggressive or spent my resources too freely and now I'm in a rough spot." Makes the combat feel less button mashy and more controlled.

[Mezma]

I have heard a lot of bad things about zesteria, never played it honestly. I do like the things they have in Berseria, do not get me wrong on that. The only thing I do not like is maxing out the armor and what not, it just got tiresome for me when i got towards the end game.

[Fel]

it's not really that complex once you understand it.

Beat enemies of higher level than yourself for more Grade (dangerous encounters force enemy levels to be higher that yours, that's why it makes so much difference too), finish at least one enemy with a mystic arte to double the "base" (doesn't impact the "boss" gains), use a lot of soul break, swaps, stuns and status ailments to increase the "base" and try not to use items when possible.

As for what lowers it, KOs (the first KO divides your gains by 2 already) and having someone under a status ailment at the end of the fight are the two big ones.