My top tips for a new game:
- SAVE and make multiples. A lot of the game is segmented and you can't backtrack until you get the airship. Make a separate save before each area. Definitely save before hunting each mark they have brutal RNG. Finishing my first playthrough and I've missed a lot.
- Talk to every NPC, some sell you Nethercite and things like elixirs, some join your camp. Do NOT give any money to anyone in Auslen. You will lose 40k.
- Check all Shelves. I stopped for a bit and I think I missed a few things. The small red ones tend to have Elixirs, one in each town kind of like the clocks in FF6.
- Do a low-level game until you get Vera and can access the colosseum. She 1-shots everything and you can get to Rank 10 for the Belhemel nethercite, one of the best leveling ones for a long while. You should have the +3 Spirit one (Vertumnus) too. Rotate those, but keep Vahn on Belhemel.
- Many areas early game (and some marks) are very spikey in difficulty. Avoid the forests around branch, the Oaktown Caves and you'll know the other areas because you will get 1-shot.
- Get as far as you can in the colosseum each time you get access to it, all the reward chests upstairs are good and some good steals pop up early.
- Hunt marks as early as you can. The NRG early one, (lower level one) gives you the most abusable item in the game, the Missile Launcher. It bypasses defense, but tends to miss more than attacks.
- Get as far as you can in the colosseum each time you get access to it, all the reward chests upstairs are all good and some good steals pop up early.
- Hunt marks as early as you can. The NRG early one, (lower level one) gives you the most abusable item in the game, the Missile Launcher. It bypasses defense, but tends to miss more than attacks.
- You should level the crap out of Hans. Move his shield to Vahn.
- You will have a scenario with just Hans and some dudes. In the basement of one of the houses in East Branch(?) is a long dark hallway with shadow finger guys. Run from them (you can only hit them with magic), and HEAL before moving. Get to the end and you get one of the best relics for a while. This may take a few tries and a lot of potions.
- Steal from EVERYTHING, especially bosses. There is a guide in the game folder with the maps. Except marks, they have no steals and give no XP. Still bring Laka, her hasteaga is CRITICAL for later marks (and all bosses).
- You can skip almost all the early armor and weapon shops. You find/seal everything you need. Maybe Mithral armor.
- Status relics and elemental reduction/absorb shields are critical for some of the Marks. Make sure to get 4 of each elemental shield.
- Slow, blind and poison are your friends.
- As stated above, the Graviton Staff is invaluable the Depress spell is broken and you cannot get another one. I sold mine early and regret it.
- In the underwater swim, you are limited to 1 run of it, cannot backtrack, and some of the items are great for that point.
Start all the way Left for the Antidote > Go right to the 2nd-from the left item, Earrings > Go all the way RIGHT for the Gold Apple > Stay Right for Mana Shard > Left a bit for Elixir > back right for Mysidian Ring > Left for the Potion > up for the Magus Sword (you may be able to go right to get a Safety bit, but don't remember).
- When you get to N. Branch Dock, there is a healing pot. Things happen, so this is great spot to level. If you grind, you can go to 14, but not past it. Unequip your whole party before sailing.
- Your stealing begins around the pyramid area.
- When you get to Hillsdale area, go to Kohlingen > Organa > Aether Mine, the Atmos nethercite is +3 magic, this stays on your mages until you get Ashura.
- Kohlingen Auction House has Power Sashes and a Nehtercite.
- Steals are good for money.
- You can steal and run if you don't want to level.
- Mt. Matoya has a nethercite, a journal page on the last ledge before the boss, and you can steal Guard Shards from the mammoths. Good grind for levels and defense.
- Kohlingen Auction House has Power Sashes and a Nehtercite.
- Do every area and town before going through the Kohlingen caves. Especially Faluhd Castle.
- In Falud Castle, the red carpets are the way forward. The first area is easy enough. Once you beat the 1st boss (there are 3, but each area is a massive spike), go out, save and go to the second area. You will RUN from everything as you can't beat them yet, however, there are 2 items in the first room, the Shispar hammer and Dark Iron Shield. The hammer makes Elina/Vera better than Vahn in combat (especially with the missile launcher). This will take a few tries and getting lucky with runs.
At Camp
So far I've found these people.
Brindle the blacksmith - Find at his house in the underworld. Brindle has descent weapons if you need one for new part member. Becomes redundant when 300 vigor/magic weapons become available but does give you a 900 Vigor axe later.
Crepe - Story default squirrel-thing. Check him after every dungeon/event. He hives you good stuff like Hero Ring very early.
Mog for quest notes. Default.
Darius' Mom (Raine) - Talk to her in East Branch with Darius in lead after you get him and airship. Gives Dark Sword after elemental fiends
Vahns Mom (Elise) - Talk to her in Valla after you get the airship. In merged world, steal 20ish Pearls from the mermaids at the lake or the Endless Tangle fairies tp get a beefy spear for Vahn.
Laudo - Ether guy, forgot where I found him.
On Marks
You can do most marks your level +2/3. More than 5 levels will probably truck you.
Hasteaga, Big Guard, Zoneseeker, Golem, Kirin/Starlet, Virus/Poison/Slow/Blind, status resists and element absorb are CRITICAL. If you can't beat it on the first try equip the necessary immunity items. Lots of "death" users in the bosses/marks.
Brindle
You can get him as a party member or as your camp blacksmith. He dual-wields, but his other stats are terrible. and you get 20+ party members, so I got him as a blacksmith. He gives you a 900 vigor Axe after the elemental fiends. Not sure if he does as a party member.
The Ancient Amory
You get your first keys in world 2, but only get 6 as far as I can tell. I suggest these weapons in this order:
Dagger for Laka > Spear for Vahn/Adder > Mythraven(sword)/Balmug (darksword)/Ninja Blade/ Abraxas(wizard staff) depending who you use most.
The Axe and Rod have comperable or better ones available in side content and the bow is meh. The hammer could be good for Cid, if you use him a lot.
The ones used by the most characters are the Dagger, Spear, Wizard staff, and Sword.
On leveling and stat maxing. (Character name spoilers)
- You want staggered leveling, and leveling in groups of fighter(vigor)/mage(magic)/off-stat like luck or speed. This is especially needed when your roster gets huge.
- To do this, kill off a mage/fighter pair for a couple battles while using the other mage/fighter pair. This will probably happen naturally.
- There will be some overlaps as level experience will differ. Be an autist and check status after every battle.
- Assume a boss will level anyone below 15k xp from leveling. Later bosses 23k.
- By the end of the game battles are 3-7k xp, so as long as your mages/warriors are that staggered from each other you don't have to make tradeoffs.
- You get A LOT of nethercites over the game, some good, some meh, for leveling. All have a relevant resistance for certain bosses/marks/areas.
- You get some high-Speed nethercites later in the game. These are really good to sprinkle in, as some charters have terrible speed.
- Ignore the HP/MP only nethercite for leveling. You get MP regenerating equipment that makes it pointless.
- Be careful with negatives because....
- Speed is critical in world 2. Low-speed characters need some love.
- Nethercite min/maxing becomes less critical when you can easily steal Gold Apples from the mask enemies outside the Endless Tangle. But do both.
Specific characters with odd stats to their abilities:
- Nobumasa's is mostly a fighter, he gets spirit from items, level him mostly with Vigor nethercite.
- Babardiccia's abilities key off mainly her speed (and vigor, magic to a lesser extent). Level accordingly, prioritize speed.
- Lyric is best leveled with Luck nethercite rotation Yojimbo/Siren. Use the speed ones every so often.
- Ovelia has great leveling stats all around, but she is a mage. Use Ashura every level. She does not need any extra MP other than a shard or 2.
- Moguel: Never level with magic nethercite, his ability cooldowns are good to rotate through Vigor, Speed, Luck, Defense. Level balancing those out.
Best for leveling are:
Hybrid
- Ixion is +2 Vigor, +2 Magic. This is made for Vera (before she gets enough summons/MP to only do that) and the last character you get. Works well on Jasmine and Coral (since her magic stat seems to affect the items). This is OK on Ami, but only one of her Blue magics involves Vigor. Brosche's magic seems to affect his abilities, but not sure. Still figuring out Babariccia, but it seems her Speed matters more than vigor and her weapons are not high-vigor., 2 of her abilities do use magic though.
Vigor
- Yojimbo is #1 (+3 Vigor, +1 luck), no downsides
- Belhemel #1 early (+1 Vigor/Speed/MP), this stays on Vahn early game
- Ymir is a big +5 boost, but the -5 speed hurts. This can help Laka, but watch her speed. You NEED her going 1st in battle later. You can steal power shards earlier and easier than speed shards.
Magic
- Ashura +2 Magic, +2 Spirit
- Atmos +3 magic (especially early)
- Remora +1 Mag, +1 Spirit, +3 MP (also early)
- Seraphym +2 MAgic, +1 Speed, +4 MP (best one later, except on Ovelia)
Defense
- Titan +4 is really it. You get to steal shards very early, so maybe just to beef up a caster for a level or 2 here and there.
Spirit
- Vertumnus +3 Spirit, really only good on Nobu if you're trying to make him more of a mage/healer.
Speed
- Chihuacoatal +3 Spd is great all game. Vahn's heal is great and is based on speed.
- Zorigami (+6 Spd, +1 Luck) has zero downside for Cid and Moguel.
- Zouyu is Vigor -1, Spd +4, HP +8. Perfect for Casters.
Luck
- Yojimbo takes care of most of it for fighters, but some characters need big boosts. This is you status effect resist.
- Siren is... it, really... best +5 Luck, +3 HP
There is a YouTuber, Lancer, who has done video playthroughs. Super helpful if your stuck.