=========Basics Guide==========
==Buttons==
A: Light attack
B: Heavy attack
C: Block
D: Special
Keyboard1: ABCD=ZXCV Up/Left/Down/Right: HBNM
Keyboard2: ABCD=ASDF Up/Left/Down/Right: IJKL
Keyboard3: ABCD=(numpad)1234 Up/Left/Down/Right: Direction keys
Other Keys: Esc: Quits game. Insert: Return to menu F1:Toggle fullscreen/window.
Joystick Button 5 brings up a pause screen in-game.
Note: You can technically play with 3 players on the keyboard but this will
require
a) Significant manual dexterity to use Keyboard 1 and 2 simultaneously, and
b) Wonât be much fun as few keyboards support holding down more than 2 keys at
once. Donât all block at the same time!...
Much better is one player on the keyboard and 2 on joypads/joysticks. As long as
Windows recognises the joysticks before you start the game, you should be OK.
After you run the game it will check for patches. Click the left button to
continue.
==Menu Translations==
Main Menu:
=Start Game
=View Ranking
Exit
=View Ranking Menu=
Character Status (with nice fullscreen art)
Point Ranking
From left to right: Total points, Times played, Play time, Monsters
Killed, Bosses Killed
Time Attack Ranking
Left/Right to select stages. First menu option plays the replay of the
stage, second toggles party/solo ranking.
View Replays
Return to Title
==Start Game==
This takes you to the lobby. At the first text box all players should press
their A buttons quickly. Itâs sometimes tricky to get the joysticks and keyboard
pressing at the same time, try starting with the joysticks. There should be one
character select line per player, if youâre missing one press Insert and try
again.
You are now presented with the character select screen. Press left/right to
select a character or press A in an empty slot to create a new character. You
can only have 10 characters total. To delete one select it then choose New Game.
Press A to confirm then wait for the bar to fill up. Pressing a button before
itâs full will cancel the delete.
==New Character==
First choose the class of your character with L/R and press A. You Then need to
select a name, up to 8 letters/numbers/kana/cute pictures long. The bottom row
from left to right is:
Move Forward, Move Back, Delete, Backspace, Clear All and Enter.
You can then distribute 100 Points to your stats. They start off being 2 points
per point to increase, this rises by 1 point per 10 points in that stat (so 3
points to go from 10 to 11, 4 to go from 24-25 etc)
You then have 2 points to put into stats. At the start you will only have a few
choices. Raising certain skills to 3 points or more will reveal more skills.
Check the Job Guide for descriptions of each skill.
Confirm your selections with A and youâre done!
==Stats==
STR:
* Increases attack power.
AGI:
* Increases the speed of the character, decreasing move delays and walking
speed.
* Increases chance to dodge
VIT:
* HP, Defence power and resistance to status effects rises.
DEX:
* Number of attacks in a chain combo rises (up to 10 of each attack)
* Attack power of the Archerâs bow attacks relies on DEX, not STR
LUK:
* Number of criticals rises.
==Stage Select==
After selecting a character, you are shown the Inn menu. This has three options:
Stage start
Adjust Stats
Return to Menu
Choose the first to see the stage select screen. You can change the stage by
pressing left/right and select with A to play that stage. Initially you will
only
have the practice stage, complete each stage to unlock the next. Complete all
stages
with all classes (either male or female versions) to unlock Novice Class,
complete all stages with a Novice to unlock the hidden stage.
Usually killing all enemies or a boss lets you move on to the next section. Some
sections require you just to reach a certain point or fulfill certain
conditions. These will be shown in the middle of the screen when the time comes
(in English and Japanese).
At the end of the stage you will be awarded points for damage dealt, total time
taken, remaining lives etc. Normally you will gain a level (indicated by the
usual angel animation) You are then asked if you want to save a replay of the
game. To save choose the left option then a slot to save it in. To not save
choose the right option then the left option to confirm.
After this you return to the inn, where you should choose the second option to
use the skill and status points you got with the level up.
==Levels==
Level 20 is the maximum, beyond this you will earn no points.
You start at level 1 with 100 status points. At each level you get more,
depending on the level:
Lv1: 100
Lv2-Lv5: 12
Lv6-Lv10: 16
Lv11-Lv15: 20
Lv16-Lv20: 24
Total points: 448.
You gain 2 skill points per level for a maximum of 40.
==The Interface==
The play screen has most of the info at the top of the screen. The first row of
information, from left to right is:
Frames Per Second
Stage/Area you are in.
Time elapsed this stage.
Number of zeny (You start with 10)
Number of arrows (You start with 10 per archer in your party)
Number of extra lives (2, shared between the whole party)
The second row has one set of stats for each character in your party. Clockwise
from top-left, these are:
Name, Job/gender, level, SP(current/max), HP (current/max).
Under this row appears your damage per second rating if youâre hitting someone
(also blue stones left for magicians)
Finally thereâs the Radar. The grey rectangle is the current area. Red dots are
players, green dots are small enemies, blue dots are large enemies. Offscreen
enemies sometimes appear to the left or right of the rectangle.
Damage to your character appears as red numbers, critical hits have a red
backround and larger text. If you receive multiple hits in succession the total
will appear as orange numbers. Damage you do appears as white numbers.
Your character is purple if itâs poisoned, youâll lose a small percentage of
your HP periodically until the poison wears off.
If you dodge an attack youâll flash yellow.
==Fighting==
From here on Iâll use the following notation for directions:
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
So 4 is left, 6 right 3 down and right, 236+B is down, then down+right, then
right and B together.
66/44: Either Run or Hop in that direction.
7/8/9: Jump. Press 7/8/9 in the air to double-jump.
1/2/3: Hold to sit. If you stay sitting without attacking or being attacked you
will heal HP and SP faster and faster.
A: Light attack. See Character descriptions for requirements for A Combos. These
will change what successive Aâs will do when you hit with them.
2+A: Ducking attack. Can be chained as long as there is something to hit.
B: Heavy attack. Usually does about double the damage of an A attack.
2+B: Trip attack. Knocks enemies into the air.
4+B: Special B, usually a juggle type attack.
3+B: Different attack to 2+B for some characters.
C: Blocks certain attacks. Basic attacks by weak enemies can be blocked, along
with some boss moves.
D: Different for each character, see Job Guide. Does nothing for Swordman.
==Chain Combos==
Every character can combo their basic attacks together. Using a combo increases
your Damage Per Second rate and keeps enemies stunned.
Note: Small and medium sized enemies can be stunned, which is where they recoil
from a hit. Large enemies like bosses have âSuper Armourâ, which means they
never get stunned.
To do a chain combo just input a move before the last one has finished but after
it has hit an enemy. The new move will cancel the recovery time of the first
move and go right into the second. You can use basic A and B attacks for this,
and moves in the âSpecial techniquesâ sections in the Job Guide. Depending on
your DEX, each move can only be repeated a certain number of times. For example:
Chain Combo 1 (for swordman):
B,2+B,6+B
If your DEX is high enough you can increase this to the following:
Chain Combo 2: (Swordman with DEX:10+)
B,B,2+B,6+B,2+B,6+B
The repeat moves can appear in any order.
If you try to repeat a move beyond what your DEX allows nothing will come out.
If you fail to hit an enemy with a move the combo will end. Some multi-hit moves
(like Magician-F 66+A) need to be cancelled before their last hit or the combo
will end.
You can finish with a special move if you like, but the charge-up time of the
special will not be cancelled, so fast moves are best for this.
An extreme example of a long combo possible with a high-level Swordman:
Chain Combo 3 (For Swordman with DEX:20+)
B(x3),6+B(x3),3+B(x3),236+B,236+B.
If you have moves that move you into the air (Thieves have several) you can
continue your combo with air attacks, and even land and continue with ground
attacks once more. In the air the same rules apply, but the combo resets after
you double jump.
==Damage Scaling==
The downside to combos is that each successive attack in a combo will do
progressively less damage. For short combos this is hardly noticeable, but at
the end of a 6 hit combo you will be doing about half damage with each hit. The
Thiefâs 66+A attack is a good demonstration of this, it can be chained into
itself as many times as you like. After 8 hits youâre doing hardly any damage,
and around 10 you will be doing 0 damage each hit. Luckily if you finish the
combo with a special it will do itâs full damage, no matter how many hits come
before it.
The exception to this rule seems to be crouching A (and standing A before you
get Combo 1) These moves can be chained into themselves forever and their damage
increases slightly with each hit, This is not very useful unfortunately as most
enemies will be pushed away after a few hits and the damage starts low and ramps
up slowly. Most useful as a handy way for saving SP while hitting stationary
enemies, like Pupa and Golems.
