Gameplay

Game Screen

While out in the world pressing R1 will show you your current location and objective. If you don’t know what to do or where to go, be sure to click it.

World Map

The world map can be accessed by pressing R3. Here, you can see an overview of the world and a detailed list of the locations within it, divided into Towns, Dungeons, Other, Crucibles of Malevolence, Shops, and Inns.

Press X on a town to see the available shop and inn and the goods they're currently selling. Press X on a dungeon or field to see the monsters you've encountered there, along with their level, the number of times you've defeated that enemy, and the types of items the enemy drops.

Area Map

Click L2 to bring up a map of your current location. Press L2 again to zoom in and out, and change which floor to look at with the Right Stick. If you don’t know what the icons mean on your map, press to bring up the Icon Guide. You can see your location name and current objective here as well.

Mini-Map

The mini-map in the upper-left corner of the screen gives you a close-up of your current place in the area map, as well as giving you the direction of map icons.

Map Actions

Battle Advantage

Making contact with a hellion will launch a new battle, but there are ways to initiate these battles to start you off with an advantage.

By sneaking up on hellions and hitting them with your sword with , or by using the other map actions below, you can begin these battles with an advantage. Sword hits can also take down certain types of roadblocks, like spider webs and hitting enemies weak to non-elemental damage will give you an advantage.

Silver Flame	Wind Rush	Spectral Cloak	Giant’s Strength
Cast Silver Flame in the direction you’re facing by pressing . It will light torch-like objects and remove impure obstacles. If you use it to strike enemies weak against fire, you can begin the battle with an advantage.	Press to teleport forward. This can be used to cross ravines and reach otherwise inaccessible areas, as long as there is ground in range. If you use it to strike enemies weak against wind, you can begin the battle with an advantage.	Press to become invisible. You’ll only be able to walk, but you can use it to pass undetected by sight-sensitive obstacles and enemies. If you use it to touch enemies weak against water, you can begin the battle with an advantage.	Press to destroy some types of huge objects. If you use it to strike enemies weak against earth, you can begin the battle with an advantage.

Dangerous Encounters

Just as you can use the above techniques to get an advantage over your foe even before the battle begins, hellions can also get the advantage with what is called ‘dangerous encounters’. If two roaming hellions are chasing after you and come together, they will team up together to strengthen their stats and increase the number of foes that appear. You can tell a dangerous encounter has occured by the shadows that appear at their feet. When this happens even average foes can become deadly, so if you can, run—otherwise, get ready to go all out.

Current Objective

LOCATIONS

Towns

Towns are where you can find inns and Weaponsmiths. For the most part you won’t find any hellions walking about, so always retreat to towns to heal up and upgrade your gear. These are also the places to go to find out about the latest gossip floating about the world.

Fields

While fields are also home to many a hellion, don’t be surprised to find humans or other friendly creatures within them as well. Fields are also, generally speaking, the connecting points between towns and dungeons, so you’ll probably find yourself journeying through the same fields on multiple occasions.

Malevolent Crucibles

These ominous structures scattered across the continent were unsealed by Heldalf to further the venomization of hellions. Within them, hellions battle for superiority, weeding out the weaklings and leaving only the most powerful to roam the area. You can purify these places by defeating waves of hellions, but each Crucible will only allow a specific character or pair of characters to enter. If you are victorious, you’ll purify the area and win some nice equipment; you can even enter again if you’re looking for the items and the experience. After cleansing all eight crucibles, the last of which can only be accessed after clearing the game and exploring Hexen Isle, a Trophy will unlock.

Weaponsmiths

Weaponsmiths are shops where you can purchase things such as recovery and equippable items for use in battle, and sell any unwanted items for gald. A weaponsmith’s rank goes up depending on the amount of gald exchanged when purchasing or selling items, which can result in the weaponsmith stocking more powerful equipment. Along with buying weapons, weaponsmiths are where to go when you want to use Fusion on your weapons and armor.

Refer to "Shops and Inns" in the Data section to see more specifics on available items.

Inns

Besides recovering your HP, there are many advantages to staying at inns, such as:

SKITS

Skits can be found at Save Points or Discovery Points by following the on-screen button prompt L3, or trigger automatically when you stay at Inns or travel through the world. They usually appear at Save Points after storyline events, so be sure to check for them often. They’re a great way to get to know character personalities and backstories, find out more specific information about gameplay and battle mechanics, as well as witness some general goofiness.

Food/Snack Benefit

Snacks can only be used outside of battle via the Items menu. Similar to Inn meals, they restore HP while also granting a special bonus or effect for the next battle, as well as recovering a certain amount of initial SC.

Collection Items

Discovery Points

Unique to each area are Discovery Points, indicating a place of note in that area. When you know a point is close by but cannot pinpoint its location, use the Right Stick to look around the area and try to look for some unique feature, or have a character use their Support Talent "Point of Interest" to pinpoint it on the map. At located Discovery Points, a L3 button prompt may appear at the bottom left of the screen, triggering a skit. You can increase your AP, necessary for setting battle actions, by locating Discovery Points.

Monoliths

Scattered throughout the world are stone monuments, or monoliths, written by persons unknown and detailing lost battle techniques. After finding one, you can check its teachings at any time in the System Book. For each one you find, you will gain AP, which is necessary for setting battle actions. When you find one, press to investigate it further. The Support Talent "Point of Interest" will notify you if a monolith is close and pinpoint its location on your map.

Iris gems

Originally called Earthen Historia, Iris Gems contain memories of the past. They serve as guideposts on the search for the Lord of Calamity. Be on the look out for the purple stars that will lead you towards more Iris Gems and the answers they will give.

Treasure Chests

You can find treasure chests in towns, dungeons, and fields alike. Eventually treasure chests can respawn items in old locations after certain story conditions are met, so be sure to double back to old locations every once and a while. Some treasure chests are locked and need corresponding keys to open them—be sure to make note of their locations so you can open them later.

Herbs

Scattered throughout dungeons and fields are herbs, usually appearing as a sparkly plant or flower. Herbs are a one-time use item that can increase certain stats as well as recover your HP and initial SC. Which stats they increase are specific to the herb type. Herbs respawn after a certain amount of time has passed.

Normin

Normin are creatures who share a long history with the seraphim, and can enhance their powers. While there are 50 normin types, there are 120 skills to gain by combining their powers. While wandering the world you may stumble upon Normin (use the Support Talent ‘Normin for the Win’ to be notified when they’re close), and if you talk to them they will offer to add their skill to a piece of your equipment with an open slot. They will then go to the Lord of the Land; refer to the Lord of the Land section to read up on what they do there.

EQUIPMENT

Titles

Titles are a unique type of equipment that raises character stats and adds extra battle abilities specific to that title and character. These stats will raise in proficiency as you level up; titles can be raised after passing certain plot points. While most skills are unlocked as the title rises in proficiency, some skills, called Scenario Skills, are added to titles after completing certain story events. Refer to "Titles" in the Data section for more details.

Which title you have equipped changes which arte that character will learn next, so keep an eye on this if there is a specific arte you’re holding out for.

Proficiency

You can increase your proficiency in an equippable item by accumulating victories in battle with this item attached. Your proficiency in any one item can rise to a maximum level of 5.

Fusion

Fuse together multiples of equipment, offensive or defensive, to strengthen them and unlock new skills. Don’t hesitate to fuse equipment you consider weak; it might just lead you to new skills and new opportunities. Refer to "Fusion Skills" in the Data section to learn what these combination of skills can create.

Sanctification

After acquiring the boon “Sanctification”, you can select “Sanctify Equipment” at any Lord of the Land site. This ritual, reserved only for equipment with a fusion level of 10, inscribes the item with the blessing of the Lord of the Land. Blessing an item doubles the effect of the skill in that equipment’s first slot and give it a new name. Sanctifying equipment does not cost gald. Refer to the Sub-Event "Mythril" for more details, as well as "Shops and Inns" in the Data section to see which mythril items are available at each specific shop.

Mythril

As you raise the levels of each weaponsmith’s shop, the smiths will drop hints about how you can obtain weapons made of Mythril. Each brother has some skill needed to craft Mythril equipment, and you’ll have to earn the trust of all of them in order to gain these powerful items. Once you have raised all of the shop levels to at least two and a half stars, you will be able to bring the weaponsmiths the raw materials needed to craft Mythril equipment. This can be found in Aroundight Forest, but requires a special tool from the weaponsmiths in order to mine it. You only need to do this once, and after that the weaponsmiths will regularly stock Mythril equipment in their shops for you to purchase. Each shop will specialize in different types of equipment, so if you want a full set of Mythril gear, be prepared to shop around and spend a lot of gald!