Rough level recommendation

[Leigh]

I'm on my first playthrough of the game, loving the story, the world and characters. I am playing the game on hard as I found normal a little too easy.

I'm just about to dive into the Schoolhouse once more for Chapter 4, and all Class VII members are around levels 39-41. ( EDIT: Correction, Group B of the last Field Study are all level 31)I was early 30s 'til the end of Chapter 3 (Golem onwards) but found a rather large difficulty spike. Thankfully, Nord is a great place to grind levels and that is what I did.

Even at level 40 ish I found "G" and his pet challenging, and had to pop a ZP (thanks Cat). So going into Chapter 4 I feel slightly underlevelled.

The Schoolhouse will be the perfect place to grind some beasties, as I am sure C4s Field Study will offer some challenges at what level should be I be aiming at this point of the game? 50s? Higher?

I'm aware the final boss is 70 ish and I'd rather grind gradually from now opposed to doing lots of grinding later.

[Wilq]

If I remember correctly AT THE END of each chapter you should have same level as number of chapter multiplied by 10. Chapter 1 - level 10, chapter 2 - level 20, chapter 3 - level 30 etc.

I should also add that if you are not playing on nightmare, grinding is pointless. Since Trails games have leveling system that somehow prevents/makes it more difficult to grind. While you are getting higher levels, you will be getting much less experience from enemies that have lower level than members of your party. Instead I would focus more on strategy, orbments settings etc.

You also need to remember that every Class VII member have their own pros and cons.

If you are asking about Chapter 4 boss battles, I don't remember anything challenging. I left Thors at levels from 31 to 34 and I was fine.

[Walke_893]

Just to expand on Wilq's answer, the Trails games utilise an EXP scaling system wherein, depending on the differences between character levels and monster levels, you will either be rewarded with extra exp for lower level characters or reduced exp for higher level characters. This does not take into account bonus exp from battle bonus modifiers.

The Trails games thus promote a less level dependent battle system in favour of a "build" type battle system. i.e. You focus on gearing your characters to overcome challenges and use every thing at your disposal. The game will take care of levels as you go even with the minimum amount of exp grinding.

[Stabbey]

The question just seems strange to me. Grinding is not necessary in the game. When underlevelled, you rapidly gain XP. When overlevelled you gain very little XP.

If you are having trouble, the problem is in your approach and setup, NOT your level.

[Leigh]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

The question just seems strange to me. Grinding is not necessary in the game. When underlevelled, you rapidly gain XP. When overlevelled you gain very little XP.

If you are having trouble, the problem is in your approach and setup, NOT your level.

I just want to counter this. While it may not be my character level that is lacking, it maybe my MQ level.

For example, pre-40 on "G" I found that Emma couldn't crowd control that well on her own. Hitting 40 and getting Gale with Rean made the pair a unstoppable force. I think "Gs" goons got maybe 1 hit in? So there are some elements of levelling required here.

Regarding my "approach and setup" I feel gearing and member choice was spot on. It was a working tactic but I died to attrition more than anything. Adding some levels (and getting Gale) assisted me in this I feel.

Even at that level, Emma had so much ATS she was practically high on the stuff. Gaius with Insight was just pretty much auto dodge. Rean was stacking Delay nicely. Had Alisa spamming the Chrono spells and healing when needed. Swapped in Jusis a couple of time in "Gs pet", he seemed to really help matters. I also have plenty of Impedes, Actions and Speed Down quartz/moves to my name, in this case I honestly feel it was more level than anything.

And I just want to add, that my level 31ers are getting decent EXP on the 4th basement of the Schoolhouse, so as such they are "underlevelled". Once exp evens out they are at recommended level, which is what this post is all about. I'm happy to spend the time to get the others up to speed.

[Wilq]

Originally posted by Walke_893:

Just to expand on Wilq's answer, the Trails games utilise an EXP scaling system wherein, depending on the differences between character levels and monster levels, you will either be rewarded with extra exp for lower level characters or reduced exp for higher level characters. This does not take into account bonus exp from battle bonus modifiers.

The Trails games thus promote a less level dependent battle system in favour of a "build" type battle system. i.e. You focus on gearing your characters to overcome challenges and use every thing at your disposal. The game will take care of levels as you go even with the minimum amount of exp grinding.

Thank you for better explanation than mine ;)

Originally posted by lei07:

Originally posted by Stabbey:

The question just seems strange to me. Grinding is not necessary in the game. When underlevelled, you rapidly gain XP. When overlevelled you gain very little XP.

If you are having trouble, the problem is in your approach and setup, NOT your level.

I just want to counter this. While it may not be my character level that is lacking, it maybe my MQ level.

For example, pre-40 on "G" I found that Emma couldn't crowd control that well on her own. Hitting 40 and getting Gale with Rean made the pair a unstoppable force. I think "Gs" goons got maybe 1 hit in? So there are some elements of levelling required here.

Regarding my "approach and setup" I feel gearing and member choice was spot on. It was a working tactic but I died to attrition more than anything. Adding some levels (and getting Gale) assisted me in this I feel.

Even at that level, Emma had so much ATS she was practically high on the stuff. Gaius with Insight was just pretty much auto dodge. Rean was stacking Delay nicely. Had Alisa spamming the Chrono spells and healing when needed. Swapped in Jusis a couple of time in "Gs pet", he seemed to really help matters. I also have plenty of Impedes, Actions and Speed Down quartz/moves to my name, in this case I honestly feel it was more level than anything.

I don't think that goons should die after one hit. Since you are playing on hard difficulty level you should expect more challenging battles and you should perfect gearing and maximze pros of every party member you have. I would highly recommend to stop wasting time on overgrinding and focus more on story. If you have any problems with any boss battles you could easily look up how other people beat them on YT and apply same methods to your party. You would be surprise how many different battle strategies/gear setups you can come up in this game.

I don't want to brag (I apologize if I do) but I beat G on level 30 (with one party member on level 33 - spoiler) and I didn't feel that G was challenging.

[Wilq]

I actually replayed this battle and uploaded it on YT. Yes, I played on normal difficulty level but what you need to know that I didn't play ToCS for a while so I had to relearn lots of stuff. First what I noticed is that G (and his goons) are susceptible to lots of status changes like Faint (Millium) or AT Delay (Rean). I could probably do something better here and there but as you see I don't have any difficulties with G and beat him without swapping party members. You can use it as reference for you future battles ;) If you ever have some problems with other boss battles feel free to ask for help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK3KrNdtwMs

[Walke_893]

Just to address the Master Quartz exp. MQ levels are independent of character levels and gain exp at a much slower rate, but are still subject to the exp scaling system. As such, if a MQ is taking longer to get from level 2 to level 3 compared to level 1 to 2, then you've reached the soft cap for the chapter.

Generally, MQ levels are not a good indicator of what level you should be at nor indicative of strength. Their function is to allow you flexibility in builds. Likewise you will not reach max level in all MQs by endgame without grinding heavily.

You should choose MQs that compliment your playstyle and focus in on them unless you like to experiment or want even levelling.

[Leigh]

Just gotten home and only breezed through these replies, will read em later, for now:

Gs goons took several hits to kill, they only managed to get one hit in, maybe two.

I am aware that MQs level independantly, just when my Rean hit level 40 he acquired Gale, meaning the MQ levelled too.

I found being at level 40 made the G fight a lot more manageable, and his pet (and its pets) much eaiser too. I would not say I'm OP on bosses, I'm about right. The giant djinn spider of doom wasn't easy, but it felt comfotrtable. I was expecting a difficulty spike, and the Golem was it. Most (older) Final Fantasy games have a difficulty spike in the early mid game, several SNES JRPGs I played did (love Illusion of Time/Gaia), it is not an unusual thing. I feel Chapter 3 is when it hits (the extra/new statuses and such, too).

I'll look at that vid when I can.

If I were to answer my own question I would say 35-40 for end of Chapter 3 (from Golem), so going on I would want to be around 50 for end of Chapter 4, if by the final boss (Chap 7) 70ish is a good level.

You can have all the best Quartz for level you want, if your team loses to attrition then you are simply not high enough.

[Stabbey]

Why post a thread asking for advice if you're just going to ignore it? You keep banging your head on the wall insisting that is the correct way to get into a building, while ignoring the people pointing out that rectangular thing next to you with the knob on it.

Level 50 is not where you're supposed to be at the end of Chapter 4. It's where you're supposed to be about 2/3 of the way through Chapter FIVE.

[Wilq]

Originally posted by lei07:

If I were to answer my own question I would say 35-40 for end of Chapter 3 (from Golem), so going on I would want to be around 50 for end of Chapter 4, if by the final boss (Chap 7) 70ish is a good level.

This is interesting level trajectory. There is one contradiction - If you remember at the beginning of the game you started with 49 level in prologue. I am not gonna say when you reach this moment of the game but I am going to say it is not Chapter 4.

I think most of the people will agree with me that At the end of each chapter you should have same level as number of chapter multiplied by 10. Chapter 1 - level 10, chapter 2 - level 20, chapter 3 - level 30 etc. If you have less you don't have to worry since you can simply catch on thanks to the leveling system in this game. If you have more - you simply waste time on grinding.

[Leigh]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

Why post a thread asking for advice if you're just going to ignore it? You keep banging your head on the wall insisting that is the correct way to get into a building, while ignoring the people pointing out that rectangular thing next to you with the knob on it.

Level 50 is not where you're supposed to be at the end of Chapter 4. It's where you're supposed to be about 2/3 of the way through Chapter FIVE.

I am not ignoring it, I am discussing it. If level 50 is around Chapter 5 than that is the recommended level. I am also only at the Schoolhouse in chapter 4, I do not know what is beyond that point.

Remember, it is my first playthrough, I'm new to the Legends games as a whole, and I am simply applying, as best as possible, what I have learned in other games to this game.

Its diffierent of course, but like how everyone says that only Fie and Gaius (maybe Rean) can be evasion tanks. Not correct. Get as close to 50% EVA as possible and use Insight and you should be dodging most physical attacks. Add this to Machias, for example, and he could be a great evasion tank.

I am not saying "OH MY GOD YOU ARE WRIONG AND I AM RIGHT", I am merely asking 'cos I want to learn the thought process behind it. I'm probably only going to do one playthrough, two at max, so I have zero issue spending the time playing the game I'm really loving just diddling around fighting stuff to level up.

[Blood Flowers]

Originally posted by lei07:

Its diffierent of course, but like how everyone says that only Fie and Gaius (maybe Rean) can be evasion tanks. Not correct. Get as close to 50% EVA as possible and use Insight and you should be dodging most physical attacks. Add this to Machias, for example, and he could be a great evasion tank.

I am not saying "OH MY GOD YOU ARE WRIONG AND I AM RIGHT", I am merely asking 'cos I want to learn the thought process behind it. I'm probably only going to do one playthrough, two at max, so I have zero issue spending the time playing the game I'm really loving just diddling around fighting stuff to level up.

...You can also make Laura a spell caster, but it doesn't make it good or optimal. Fie and Gaius are the primary evasion tanks due to their weapons inherently having +EVA% when customized which enables them to reach high evasion values without being forced to have constant insight uptime. However, assuming you're playing on Normal/Hard difficulty, you can pretty much do whatever you like. Optimal is irrelevant unless you're on Nightmare - and even then there are several different viable options.

I wouldn't recommend wasting time on grinding levels though. If you're within +- 2 levels of the enemies, you're in good shape. The stats you get from levels are pretty minor. Your time would be better spent looking at your strategies and builds.