
The higher the level, the more often the effect will be triggered. Instead, they trigger special effects (such as surviving critical hits, counterattacking, etc.) in battle, at a given rate. However, they are not used in Abilities, nor do they give you bonuses.
Combat Skills can also be bought at Skill Shops. These skills have two purposes: firstly, leveling them up may give you bonuses in stats secondly, they affect Ability levels (see below). These fall under the categories of Knowledge, Technique, and Sense. Regular Skills can be bought in Skill Shops in towns. Most Skills can be leveled up by spending SP on them. When you obtain a Skill, everyone in the party (or at least, everyone who can use that particular Skill) will automatically learn it at level 0. There are several types of Skills with various uses. You get these when you level up, and they can be spent on Skills. When that happens, your statistics increase, and you may learn new fighting techniques or spells. After you gain enough experience, your character's level goes up. You also get this from defeating monsters (seen as a gray jar, with the amount ending in an E). You buy stuff with it.ĮXP: Experience points. You get this by defeating monsters (seen as a gold jar, with the amount ending in a V) and (rarely) finding it around. Here's a rundown.įol: This is the monetary unit in the game. Most of the gameplay revolves around various points you accumulate. R: Move down one screen of items/skills/techniques/characters. L: Move up one screen of items/skills/techniques/characters. Y: Switch between item description and stats. L/R: Use a predefined technique (fighters only). Y: Allows you to choose a place to manually run to using the directional buttons. Battle happens when you are attacked by enemies, and the menu screen can be reached from the field or world map.Īssuming you keep the normal controller configuration:Ī: Examine/Search/Talk/choose dialogue option/use Flint Stone or Ocarinaī: Hold down to run once you've learned the Dash Ability cancel dialogue optionī: Cancel target/menu selection when no target or menu windows are open, allows you to switch your active character using direction buttons. The world map looks and plays exactly the same as the field, but a small map shows in a corner of the screen, and you can save at any time. There are four states you can be in in this game. that you would know how to play FF4 or Super Mario RPG).
So here's my manual! I assume basic knowledge of RPGs (e.g. It has similarities to Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean: Second Story, but enough differences to be confusing.
Star Ocean is not a beginner's RPG it's quite complicated and hard to get good at unless you have good reflexes and a good understanding of the skill system.