SirGouki
07-11-2012, 04:24 PM
This is my first guide I've written and posted somewhere. I'm not an expert, but I have noticed a lot of explanations are only getting part of this right, then horribly messing up everything else (including the Japanese wiki surprisingly enough).
NOTE 8/8/2012 : Due to a change in the terms, I will no longer be playing this game until it comes out in the United States. If this change is reverted, I will come back. Good luck to those of you who are continuing to play despite this.
Please Note: If you wish to comment on something, I'm expecting you to have read the ENTIRE statement regarding the something you're commenting on. For example, In the section where I've described a reward given by a Challenge ("Title"), I expect you to read and understand what Nothing Equipped means before commenting. I also expect you to read the disclaimer, and pay attention to the dates in the Recent Changes section. Information is usually valid up to the last date listed there, EVEN IF the "Post Last updated on:" date is newer. If it's not, I will explain why.
Finally, Please read the Help Needed section.
Here is what I KNOW right now:
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
*PSEs can level up to 8.
*Upon reaching level 8, a countdown will start. At this point you have 1 minute to trigger another PSE level for that particular PSE. If you accomplish this, you should hear "PSE Burst!" announce the burst has begun, and the timer resets to 1 minute.
*Each PSE is associated with an element (Ice, fire, lightning, wind, dark, and light).
*The kind of PSE triggered is based on what the monsters elements are. You should trigger ice(blue) and lightning(yellow) on most enemies in the forest, since they have the affinities of fire and wind.** It might be that they are triggering Wind PSEs, since the colors green and yellow are really close to each other in PSE related stuff.
*Each element is associated with a specific effect of the PSE. Yellow is meseta boosts.
*You can trigger boosts to damage with the PSE system in the same manner. Killing enemies in the Volcano will trigger boosts in ice damage. These look like graphs with white and (color) bars, where color is the color of the element being boosted. This appears to happen regardless of that current PSE level.
*The pictures that come up with a radar are telling you that you are triggering a boost to something (Red is monster spawn rate, yellow is meseta, these are all I've seen so far. I'm fairly certain green is exp boosts, but its hard to tell when it's green or yellow because of the closeness of the colors.. they both look yellow to me).
*Aside from regular PSE Bursts, you can chain burst which will add the level of the chain next to the words PSE Burst. You can also crossover burst.
* The PSE with UP in the name is the Fire element one, and as mentioned before, it boosts the monster spawn rate while in effect.
* Killing an enemy with an element CAN cause a PSE of that element to trigger. Doing this fast enough will obviously lead to a burst. This can be proven without a force simply by killing certain enemies with an elemental weapon instead of a plain weapon (dragons in Volcano will PSE Ice instead of Fire if beaten with an Ice based weapon).
* Dagans, Breeadas and their relatives seem to have the opposite effect... They almost always trigger a fire PSE, which is one of the elements they are weak to. I have tested this with 3 different elemental weapons (Ice, wind and dark) and a non-elemental weapon.
* A Crossover Burst is triggered by bursting a different PSE during an active PSE Burst. A Crossover Burst further increases spawn rates, and boosts the Bursts that are active.[/SPOILER-BOX]
What I'm unsure of
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
*While I'm fairly certain (99%) that when you burst you only gain extra bonuses in the PSE that had burst, I must note that you do get other effects even if you have no PSE levels that would trigger that effect. The most noticeable (maybe the only) instance of this is the increased spawn rates. You are guaranteed increased spawn rates during a burst, but I do not know how much different they are compared to bursting on Fire. You also seem to get a higher Item Drop Rate from a burst of any kind. These effects are even higher if you have PSEs that affect them, especially if you burst on them.
* You will get a Chain Burst ("One More!") if you meet the conditions to level up a PSE that is actively in a Burst. Either that, or you kill a percentage of enemies the burst causes to spawn, I'm not sure which.
* Boost rates. From what I've seen, even in the Character Sheet, there are no numerical values for the bonuses given be the PSE. I DO know that they vary, based on the level of THAT PSE. Boosting Fire PSEs will NEVER give you a meseta boost, I've tested this multiple times in emergency missions.
* Bosses cannot be PSEd in their boss rooms. I think they can contribute to PSEs during the Emergency codes Duel and Attack, though, if this happens in any other room of that field (if it is timed right, yes you can PSE off of one of these boss fights).
* I am 99% sure, at the time of this writing, that you cannot PSE in a boss room AT ALL, even when normal enemies are spawning.
* You can trigger PSEs without killing certain monsters, but I don't know what is causing this, or if it is even intended (the official description tells me that it is NOT intended). I have only had this happen on an enemy while using a gunslice.[/SPOILER-BOX]
MISC
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
This is information I have figured out that I thought of just now, that many people don't seem to notice.
* You cannot bring an NPC into a field if they are already in that instance of the field. Meaning: If I have アフィン in the volcano and you join my instance of it, even through the multiparty method, you cannot also call him out.
* You cannot bring an NPC into a field if doing so would go over that field's multiparty size. If the multiparty size is 12/12, NO ONE (except GMs) can join, not even the NPCs. I'm assuming this is to keep fields from becoming the lag fests they would be if 12 of us got together with 3 npcs each. NPCs also cannot be used to exceed your maximum party size.
* You earn FUN when someone uses you as a Friend Partner. I have not tested whether standard NPC rules apply to these, but I don't think they do since you can be in a party with someone and them still call out your Friend Partner (and you can call them out, making a full party from 2 people). They will be your level when you call them out, unless your level is higher than the level the player made them at, in which case they will be the level they were created at. NPCs are created at max level.
* NPCs DO NOT level up when you do, they stay the level you were when you called them out.
* If you have a Client Order to kill enemies with a certain weapon, you only have to have that weapon equiped. If your friends or NPCs kill a monster while you have that weapon equipped, IT COUNTS. Even in multi-party areas, if you can EXP at all for a kill, it counts as you killing it. I am not sure if this is intended or not, and I haven't tested if things like killing enemies with traps/poison/burns/confusion works. This is really useful for the class oriented "Kill monsters with this weapon class" orders, since you can take 3 npcs into a passworded free-forest and be done in a couple of minutes.
* If you complete a client order that requires you to use a different class, then switch from that class, the new class can still turn in that order and gain the experience points from it. I have tested this by talking to the NPC that wants you to talk to her as a force, then switched to hunter and turned it in. I also did this with Lisa and her "Talk to me as a ranger" order. The only requirement seems to be that you fulfill the order as the class it asks for first.
* Mags seem to always take 3 discs for a whole level, regardless of their current level. I don't think this is intended and it seems to be the only food item that does this. At the time of testing, this was not in the mag guide.
* you earn 100 Fun for your first 2 consecutive days logged in, then I think its 50 Fun more for every day after that. I have only got to 5 days and that was 250 FUN. I am sure that there is a cap to this.
*(UNSURE!) Some challenges award you with a PP boost item. I don't know which ones, and if you remake that character (or make a new character in a character slot) you cannot get this for that character since it saves to the account. My character currently has 102 pp with no equipment on. To get rewards from challenges, talk to the NPC to the left of the Class Change NPC. Orange names are challenges you've completed, and white names are ones you've taken the reward for. Right now, there are 5 pages. I don't know what the requirements for any of these are, but they work exactly like achievements, and seem to be just like challenges in Phantasy Star Portable.
What I'm unsure of: if this is actually what causes the boost. I had 100 PP when I went to the counter, then when I left the counter I had 102PP. In all honesty, this could have been a reward from a client order, too, except that I've completed more client orders on this character than my previous one, and my previous one had 104PP. I KNOW that it is NOT caused by: Equipment, MAG, AC Item(haven't bought any), My weapons (the weapons I have are a +4PP and a +2PP and those are the only 2 I use that affect it), Timed buff (don't have any active most of the time), Item Codes (haven't recieved any). It COULD have been something from the FUN Scratch, since I used a bunch of items at the time and I didn't know what they were, I was just clearing inventory space. I actually hope that this is the case.
Challenges are what most people are calling titles. I am calling them Challenges because they are closer to Achievements or Challenges than anything else.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Back on topic of PSEs, I'll add more info when I figure it out. If you have theories on something let me know, I'll test it and then add it to this post, or notify you if it doesn't work that way.
Aside from playing games, I'm also a programmer with sights set on game development, so I might not even have to test it. I'm also learning Japanese, and this game is helping a lot.
Help Needed
[SPOILER-BOX]
I need recording software. Please pm me a decent software that I can use with this game, preferably free for the time being.
I understand there is an in game recording function. I have not found this option, and have read recently that 1) it was disabled and 2) it requires AC. I need confirmation on this.
I need a group of trusted testers. PM me if you're interested, don't be discouraged if I don't answer within 24 hours.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
DISCLAIMER
[SPOILER-BOX]
If you want to help out DO NOT just tell me something. In most everything here I am providing information as to why I am saying what I am saying. I expect the same thing from people trying to help, even if its correcting something I may have gotten wrong.
Valid proof is NOT:
"he/she/they are saying it's really this."
quoting someone else.
Valid proof IS:
describing your testing methods if you tested it
quoting someones test description
a picture IN A SPOILER BOX
If you didn't test it, and you quote someone without their method of testing and a description, I will either test it myself, or I will ignore your post. Being human, I cannot possibly test every bit of information by myself.
If you DID test it, or you quoted the description of someone else's testing, I will test it myself or have a close friend do so UNLESS part of the proof is a picture/video.
If and only If you provide valid information as to why something is different, will I add it to this post. Anything not in "What I know" or "MISC", to include replies not quoted in this post, should be considered speculation.
All information is subject to change in an update to the game.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
SPECIAL THANKS
[SPOILER-BOX]
TODO: Add credits to information I personally haven't tested.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Recent Changes:
[SPOILER-BOX]
3AUG2012
[SPOILER-BOX]
Haven't been able to play much due to getting a new job as an assistant manager and internet connection issues... This will be changing within a week or so.
Added spoiler boxes.
Added Disclaimer, Special Thanks.
Removed older changes.
Removed Spacing guide (just a string of characters to help me space things better).
[/SPOILER-BOX]
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Planned changes:
[SPOILER-BOX]
Better content grouping.
More format editing to promote easier reading (I.E. using font colors, bolding, etc. to highlight specific information).
I'm considering moving my MISC section to another post.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
NOTE 8/8/2012 : Due to a change in the terms, I will no longer be playing this game until it comes out in the United States. If this change is reverted, I will come back. Good luck to those of you who are continuing to play despite this.
Please Note: If you wish to comment on something, I'm expecting you to have read the ENTIRE statement regarding the something you're commenting on. For example, In the section where I've described a reward given by a Challenge ("Title"), I expect you to read and understand what Nothing Equipped means before commenting. I also expect you to read the disclaimer, and pay attention to the dates in the Recent Changes section. Information is usually valid up to the last date listed there, EVEN IF the "Post Last updated on:" date is newer. If it's not, I will explain why.
Finally, Please read the Help Needed section.
Here is what I KNOW right now:
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
*PSEs can level up to 8.
*Upon reaching level 8, a countdown will start. At this point you have 1 minute to trigger another PSE level for that particular PSE. If you accomplish this, you should hear "PSE Burst!" announce the burst has begun, and the timer resets to 1 minute.
*Each PSE is associated with an element (Ice, fire, lightning, wind, dark, and light).
*The kind of PSE triggered is based on what the monsters elements are. You should trigger ice(blue) and lightning(yellow) on most enemies in the forest, since they have the affinities of fire and wind.** It might be that they are triggering Wind PSEs, since the colors green and yellow are really close to each other in PSE related stuff.
*Each element is associated with a specific effect of the PSE. Yellow is meseta boosts.
*You can trigger boosts to damage with the PSE system in the same manner. Killing enemies in the Volcano will trigger boosts in ice damage. These look like graphs with white and (color) bars, where color is the color of the element being boosted. This appears to happen regardless of that current PSE level.
*The pictures that come up with a radar are telling you that you are triggering a boost to something (Red is monster spawn rate, yellow is meseta, these are all I've seen so far. I'm fairly certain green is exp boosts, but its hard to tell when it's green or yellow because of the closeness of the colors.. they both look yellow to me).
*Aside from regular PSE Bursts, you can chain burst which will add the level of the chain next to the words PSE Burst. You can also crossover burst.
* The PSE with UP in the name is the Fire element one, and as mentioned before, it boosts the monster spawn rate while in effect.
* Killing an enemy with an element CAN cause a PSE of that element to trigger. Doing this fast enough will obviously lead to a burst. This can be proven without a force simply by killing certain enemies with an elemental weapon instead of a plain weapon (dragons in Volcano will PSE Ice instead of Fire if beaten with an Ice based weapon).
* Dagans, Breeadas and their relatives seem to have the opposite effect... They almost always trigger a fire PSE, which is one of the elements they are weak to. I have tested this with 3 different elemental weapons (Ice, wind and dark) and a non-elemental weapon.
* A Crossover Burst is triggered by bursting a different PSE during an active PSE Burst. A Crossover Burst further increases spawn rates, and boosts the Bursts that are active.[/SPOILER-BOX]
What I'm unsure of
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
*While I'm fairly certain (99%) that when you burst you only gain extra bonuses in the PSE that had burst, I must note that you do get other effects even if you have no PSE levels that would trigger that effect. The most noticeable (maybe the only) instance of this is the increased spawn rates. You are guaranteed increased spawn rates during a burst, but I do not know how much different they are compared to bursting on Fire. You also seem to get a higher Item Drop Rate from a burst of any kind. These effects are even higher if you have PSEs that affect them, especially if you burst on them.
* You will get a Chain Burst ("One More!") if you meet the conditions to level up a PSE that is actively in a Burst. Either that, or you kill a percentage of enemies the burst causes to spawn, I'm not sure which.
* Boost rates. From what I've seen, even in the Character Sheet, there are no numerical values for the bonuses given be the PSE. I DO know that they vary, based on the level of THAT PSE. Boosting Fire PSEs will NEVER give you a meseta boost, I've tested this multiple times in emergency missions.
* Bosses cannot be PSEd in their boss rooms. I think they can contribute to PSEs during the Emergency codes Duel and Attack, though, if this happens in any other room of that field (if it is timed right, yes you can PSE off of one of these boss fights).
* I am 99% sure, at the time of this writing, that you cannot PSE in a boss room AT ALL, even when normal enemies are spawning.
* You can trigger PSEs without killing certain monsters, but I don't know what is causing this, or if it is even intended (the official description tells me that it is NOT intended). I have only had this happen on an enemy while using a gunslice.[/SPOILER-BOX]
MISC
============================================
[SPOILER-BOX]
This is information I have figured out that I thought of just now, that many people don't seem to notice.
* You cannot bring an NPC into a field if they are already in that instance of the field. Meaning: If I have アフィン in the volcano and you join my instance of it, even through the multiparty method, you cannot also call him out.
* You cannot bring an NPC into a field if doing so would go over that field's multiparty size. If the multiparty size is 12/12, NO ONE (except GMs) can join, not even the NPCs. I'm assuming this is to keep fields from becoming the lag fests they would be if 12 of us got together with 3 npcs each. NPCs also cannot be used to exceed your maximum party size.
* You earn FUN when someone uses you as a Friend Partner. I have not tested whether standard NPC rules apply to these, but I don't think they do since you can be in a party with someone and them still call out your Friend Partner (and you can call them out, making a full party from 2 people). They will be your level when you call them out, unless your level is higher than the level the player made them at, in which case they will be the level they were created at. NPCs are created at max level.
* NPCs DO NOT level up when you do, they stay the level you were when you called them out.
* If you have a Client Order to kill enemies with a certain weapon, you only have to have that weapon equiped. If your friends or NPCs kill a monster while you have that weapon equipped, IT COUNTS. Even in multi-party areas, if you can EXP at all for a kill, it counts as you killing it. I am not sure if this is intended or not, and I haven't tested if things like killing enemies with traps/poison/burns/confusion works. This is really useful for the class oriented "Kill monsters with this weapon class" orders, since you can take 3 npcs into a passworded free-forest and be done in a couple of minutes.
* If you complete a client order that requires you to use a different class, then switch from that class, the new class can still turn in that order and gain the experience points from it. I have tested this by talking to the NPC that wants you to talk to her as a force, then switched to hunter and turned it in. I also did this with Lisa and her "Talk to me as a ranger" order. The only requirement seems to be that you fulfill the order as the class it asks for first.
* Mags seem to always take 3 discs for a whole level, regardless of their current level. I don't think this is intended and it seems to be the only food item that does this. At the time of testing, this was not in the mag guide.
* you earn 100 Fun for your first 2 consecutive days logged in, then I think its 50 Fun more for every day after that. I have only got to 5 days and that was 250 FUN. I am sure that there is a cap to this.
*(UNSURE!) Some challenges award you with a PP boost item. I don't know which ones, and if you remake that character (or make a new character in a character slot) you cannot get this for that character since it saves to the account. My character currently has 102 pp with no equipment on. To get rewards from challenges, talk to the NPC to the left of the Class Change NPC. Orange names are challenges you've completed, and white names are ones you've taken the reward for. Right now, there are 5 pages. I don't know what the requirements for any of these are, but they work exactly like achievements, and seem to be just like challenges in Phantasy Star Portable.
What I'm unsure of: if this is actually what causes the boost. I had 100 PP when I went to the counter, then when I left the counter I had 102PP. In all honesty, this could have been a reward from a client order, too, except that I've completed more client orders on this character than my previous one, and my previous one had 104PP. I KNOW that it is NOT caused by: Equipment, MAG, AC Item(haven't bought any), My weapons (the weapons I have are a +4PP and a +2PP and those are the only 2 I use that affect it), Timed buff (don't have any active most of the time), Item Codes (haven't recieved any). It COULD have been something from the FUN Scratch, since I used a bunch of items at the time and I didn't know what they were, I was just clearing inventory space. I actually hope that this is the case.
Challenges are what most people are calling titles. I am calling them Challenges because they are closer to Achievements or Challenges than anything else.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Back on topic of PSEs, I'll add more info when I figure it out. If you have theories on something let me know, I'll test it and then add it to this post, or notify you if it doesn't work that way.
Aside from playing games, I'm also a programmer with sights set on game development, so I might not even have to test it. I'm also learning Japanese, and this game is helping a lot.
Help Needed
[SPOILER-BOX]
I need recording software. Please pm me a decent software that I can use with this game, preferably free for the time being.
I understand there is an in game recording function. I have not found this option, and have read recently that 1) it was disabled and 2) it requires AC. I need confirmation on this.
I need a group of trusted testers. PM me if you're interested, don't be discouraged if I don't answer within 24 hours.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
DISCLAIMER
[SPOILER-BOX]
If you want to help out DO NOT just tell me something. In most everything here I am providing information as to why I am saying what I am saying. I expect the same thing from people trying to help, even if its correcting something I may have gotten wrong.
Valid proof is NOT:
"he/she/they are saying it's really this."
quoting someone else.
Valid proof IS:
describing your testing methods if you tested it
quoting someones test description
a picture IN A SPOILER BOX
If you didn't test it, and you quote someone without their method of testing and a description, I will either test it myself, or I will ignore your post. Being human, I cannot possibly test every bit of information by myself.
If you DID test it, or you quoted the description of someone else's testing, I will test it myself or have a close friend do so UNLESS part of the proof is a picture/video.
If and only If you provide valid information as to why something is different, will I add it to this post. Anything not in "What I know" or "MISC", to include replies not quoted in this post, should be considered speculation.
All information is subject to change in an update to the game.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
SPECIAL THANKS
[SPOILER-BOX]
TODO: Add credits to information I personally haven't tested.
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Recent Changes:
[SPOILER-BOX]
3AUG2012
[SPOILER-BOX]
Haven't been able to play much due to getting a new job as an assistant manager and internet connection issues... This will be changing within a week or so.
Added spoiler boxes.
Added Disclaimer, Special Thanks.
Removed older changes.
Removed Spacing guide (just a string of characters to help me space things better).
[/SPOILER-BOX]
[/SPOILER-BOX]
Planned changes:
[SPOILER-BOX]
Better content grouping.
More format editing to promote easier reading (I.E. using font colors, bolding, etc. to highlight specific information).
I'm considering moving my MISC section to another post.
[/SPOILER-BOX]