Force/Technique Tips and Tricks

Force has more tricks up its sleeve this time around, largely thanks to third person shooter mode and Talis. In this thread, I'll list out any tips and tricks that I know, ordered from less obscure to more obscure. I'm positive that they've been posted somewhere on this forum before, but not in a readily accessible manner. My hope is that some of these may give you a new perspective on Force skills. =)

=> If there was PvP (that is, if this was not a Phantasy Star game xD), Force would BY FAR have the most mix-ups and mind game potential.

Feel free to contribute your own tricks! I'll add them to the first post~


Terminology I Will Use
TPS Mode or TPS (Z by default) - Third person shooter mode which allows manual aiming.
AoE - Area of effect. Describes any skill that blankets an area and affects multiple players or enemies.


Techniques in Sub-Palette
Force can equip techniques in the sub-palette. This allows for much more freedom and versatility in equipment and techniques. I strongly recommend using this, as it gives you 10 additional spells that can be accessed with a single button press and an additional 20 with not many more presses. This also lets you cast techniques with melee weapons, making it more important once subclasses are released.
Note: Switch sub-palettes by first pressing the keys to change palettes (default F, R), followed by a key used to navigate the sub-palette (default G, H), then followed by the palette change key again (F, R). You can quickly shift one bar down with F->G->F or up with R->G->R, though there is a slight delay between switches.
Screenshots: One, Two
random: wow, the first image got renamed to an anagram for talis. /mind blown

Alternate Method for Using Sub-Palette + "Quick" Resta
It is possible "navigate" the sub-palette using the G and H keys. The selected button will be highlighted, and you can use the given skill/item/photon art by pressing "B". I find this to be cumbersome, so I generally avoid using the G and H keys and simply keep Resta highlighted. This allows me to use Resta any time with any weapon simply by pressing B. Highly recommended!
Screenshots: Bottom Right xD, Options

Talis Directed Techniques - Foie, Barta, Sazonde, Gizonde, Gibarta (Less Practical)
I'll start by saying that these techniques can be fired in any direction in TPS mode, even into the air or ground. This is gives the piercing ice spell Barta range that it never had in PSO/PSU (launching it into the air gives it a parabolic trajectory).
If you throw a Talis, projectiles will be launched from the Talis rather than your character. If you lock onto an enemy, the projectile will be directed from the Talis towards the enemy. This is useful when there are obstacles, or if an enemy's weak point is on its back! Throw a Talis through the enemy and have it shoot backwards.
Things really get interesting (albeit not that useful) in TPS mode. When in TPS, your Talis will be oriented identically to your character but its location will be offset. This allows you to, from a remote location, fire a projectile in any direction. If you throw a Talis straight up and look straight down before shooting, the projectile will go from the sky to the ground. It's tricky to fully utilize this because firing towards yourself requires you to face away from the Talis (cannot see enemies), not to mention how hard it is to manually aim a projectile remotely in the first place. Why would you do this? Its only semi-practical use is hitting an enemy that's being difficult to lock-on to. Landing a trick shot is quite satisfying though. =p
Note: Gibarta is always aimed in the direction your character is facing, even if you lock onto an enemy. You don't need to use TPS mode to aim it because it cannot be directed up/down. You can simply face the correct direction with the direction keys and keep your camera directed towards the enemy if you need to fire it backwards from a Talis.
Screenshots: Talis Placement, Striking from afar <= aimed in TPS mode but switched view for screenshot

Pinpoint Techniques - Grants, Zonde, Rafoie
As you may know, these three spells auto-lock on and generally hit the center of the enemy when used. However, casting these spells in TPS mode will instead cause the spells to be centered wherever your cursor is aimed. This is most useful for targeting enemy weak points, which is usually but not always the head or those giant infection pimples.
Zonde and Rafoie also have deal damage in an area, so you can use this to aim skills in the middle of a crowd rather than an individual enemy.
Screenshots: <eventually>

The Largest AoE - Razonde
Many people believe this skill to be useless, but it has a unique attribute among the circular AoE techs. When cast in the air, Razonde will reach downwards in a cone shape-- the higher you are, the larger the cone. This can be coupled with a Talis fired into the air using TPS mode for a MASSIVE area of effect. In case it isn't clear, switch to TPS and throw a Talis into the air. It can be straight or diagonally upwards, but I there is a maximum vertical range for Razonde so be careful. When the card is appropriately positioned, use Razonde (charged) and strike your enemies down with lightning~
Screenshots: One, Two

What about shooting mid-air with a Gunblade? Switch to Gunblade, jump and time JAs, and you will recover all of your PP in an eye blink. Granted, anyone can do that, but Forces are the only class who can benefit from this. Until subclasses come out in October, and everybody picks Force/Techer and forgets about PP shortage forever, at least.

Why would going Force/Techer make you never run out of pp? :o

Well, maybe not "never", but Techers seem to have a skill that greatly boosts PP recovery.

Another tip for "Foie" is target the enemy at the back then line the others all up, jump/fire and you will hit every enemy in the line rather than it just exploding on impact and causing damage to the one and only target. Fairly basic one but definately helps low level forces to begin with.

Zonde is pretty crap for aiming at a weakspot. It follows some awkward targeting mechanics that is always based on line of sight from the caster regardless of talis position and gets stopped by chest high walls all the time. The hit detection for it is all over the place too, I can't tell if it reads from the ground up or from the sky down most of the time. There's also a range limit.

Rafoie is just straight up bananas with near infinite range, instant on target damage and the fact that it will completely ignore obstacles. Go rafoie if the situation allows you to lock onto a weak spot.

zonde hits whatever you're aiming at, provided that it is close enough to the ground to be hit.
the lightning bolt is just there to look pretty, the actual spell is the explosion on the ground.

I haven't played lately and don't care to, but if anyone wants to test: I'm 90% sure uncharged zonde has a different hit mechanic than charge zonde. I want to say uncharged hits from the top and charged hits from the ground like Carillon said. I know with Micas((sp?)(the really annoying little darkers with a big weak point on the back and stupidly high def)) I can nail the weakspot with uncharged zonde while locked on no problem, but when charged it hits the body instead.

Having trouble with the Banshees? Play cat and mouse with them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...j5X1AC0#t=351s

Using Talis? Need a quick Just Attack cast from your hand instead of the card? Tap a Technique (aka Cast an Uncharged tech) then Just Attack off it.



Using Talis? Need a quick Just Attack cast from your hand instead of the card but low on PP? Switch to TPS mode, quickly turn to a nearby wall or look down to the ground (best recommended) and throw a basic attack, then Just Attack off it and exit TPS mode.