It's been a while since i've played this, tips?

[MaxedEntropy]

So i finished this game a very long time ago and decided i want to do another playthrough
The game is fantastic but apparently i'm too stupid to get ss rank on the first mission, is there any guide that could tell me how xD

[Last_Sinner]

Run Nozomu/Nozomi/Green Cryst going north and Katima/Satsuki/Red Cryst going west. Build a Sands of Time with Katima at the start - it makes turns take less IP. You have to take the upgrade to Satsuki's counter in order for it to be able to counter Red's Flame Shower due to it being a higher level spell. From memory, the IP limit for SS was either 414 or 418 so you have to be fast. Double attack with Red Cryst in the support slot to win battles in 1 shot going west. Going north, you need to find the combos to clear most of them in 1 shot. For the boss, have Satsuki in the Supporter slot when Red has 3 mana (aka Turn 2, Turn 3, Turn 5, Turn 6, etc.) until Red is taken out. If you're lucky, you might have a chance for one of those teams to do a Reinforce to level up when they reach one of the towns along the way. Do multiple save slots so that you can have progress points to fall back to if you made a mistake that will have you miss the SS IP limit.

And for the record, 2-1 is one of the hardest missions to get SS on, no matter what difficulty you play it on.

[Ghaleon]

Kinda late, not really a necro though since it's only halfway down the first page.

But just to clarify, you don't build a sands of time on normal difficulty since you do not possess enough bound mana to do so, and if you wait around until you GET enough, you'll be too slow.

But yeah, you basically just split your forces into 2, and don't waste a single turn not moving towards the enemy base, if you fail to kill an enemy unit within 1 battle, you probably failed. Don't be afraid to intentionally eat some damage if it means dealing some faster if you need to. The final enemy, despite their higher level isn't that hard since the red guy in the back essentially does nothing for the first turn so you can heal first if needed on turn 1. OFC don't engage them without Setsuna in the party or else flame shower will make you cry.