Using momentum?

[Larry]

How do you use it? The game didn't tell me how to use it... There doesn't seem to be a button and going into the encylcopedia thing just gives you the history of momentum or singularity or whatever but no indication as to how you use it.

[mithc]

So in the first 20 minutes or so of the game there was a series of combat tutorials. The last combat with the boss of the tutorial monsters showcased the Momentum mechanic.

Momentum works by filling up the circular gauge to the right of your ATB (action guage) meter. It can be filled up by dealing damage, taking damage, or by having your character sit with an ATB gauge full. Once it fills up it'll display a star at the top of the circular gauge and start filling again until it reaches a max of 3 stars. Any time you do an action when there is a star at the top of the Momentum gauge a horizontal lightning bolt will flash above your characters head for a brief moment and a sound byte will play. To activate the momentum mechanic you have to press the momentum button (usually Square on a PS controller and X on an Xbox controller) during the time the lightning bolt is displayed.

Doing so will confer bonuses to the action and if you kill an enemy with that Momentum boosted action you will get more materials. Words in red let you know if you've done it correctly after killing an enemy saying "Momentum Kill" along with other phrases such as "Water Kill" for a water attack or "Exact Kill" for killing an enemy within a 5 HP buffer of its remaining health.

Let me know if you need any clarification.

[Larry]

Ah, thanks for that. I figured it might have something to do with timing of attacks and tried using RB, LB and the trigger buttons(XBox 360 controller) but got nothing out of it. Pretty sure I tried X as well but I must not have timed it right. I'll give it a shot tomorrow!

Thanks again!

[mithc]

The surefire way to check is to go into the settings in the game and check the button mapping to see which button you have Momentum mapped to.

[Felodese]

I had the same problem then I realised that by default the button was set to triangle on my playstation controller because I had previously used my xbox controller. Some reason the buttons all rotate one to the left with playstation controllers. Just check which button its set under.

Basically, you just click the "momentum mode" button right you see the sign of the name of the skill you are using/lightning bolts coming out the character (for normal attacks). You'll know you've done it properly when a bunch of things come up on the left side of the screen.

[mithc]

The lightning bolts appear for every action momentum can be used on, not just regular attacks.