Stealth
Stealth prevents a combatant from being seen by enemies. Generally, stealth is lost as soon as the stealthed
character takes any action beyond moving. Stealthed characters can still be hit by attacks that affect a whole
area. If stealthed enemies take damage, they lose the stealth effect.
Stun/Sleep/Knockback/Knockdown/
Paralyze/Pinning
These status effects all prohibit the affected combatant from taking any action, and they abort their current
actions. The visual effects are different, however. Stunned enemies also forget their current target; they choose
a new target (often the same as before) once they are no longer stunned. Sleeping enemies awaken as soon as
they suffer further damage.
TACTICS
Once you have the hang of basic combat strategy, you’re ready to build tactics that help the whole party
work together efficiently without needing constant direction. Although the Tactics screen looks complicated
at first, it’s built around one simple idea: if the first condition on the left side of the screen is true, execute
the corresponding action on the right side of the screen; if the condition is not true, check whether the next
condition is. You must always control the current character directly, but the other members of your party
follow whatever tactics you command.
Behavior
The Behavior menu at the top of the Tactics screen controls the character’s general approach to combat, like
when to attack, what distance to try to keep from enemies, when to give chase, and when to switch between
ranged and melee weapons. Essentially, behaviors are generic reactions, whereas tactics are specific actions.
Press the F button while you have the Behavior menu selected to read a description of the current behavior.
Basic Tactics
As your characters learn new spells and talents, the preset tactics (like Supporter, Damager, or Healer)
automatically populate with combinations of conditions and actions. For example, the Healer preset might
appear empty for Bethany at first, but tactics fill in automatically when she learns the Heal spell. Select a tactics
preset that corresponds to the sorts of actions you want the character to take. The more similar abilities that
character learns, the more tactics fill in.
Custom Tactics
You can also create your own customs sets of tactics, either by modifying the presets or starting from scratch
with the preset marked CUSTOM.
Let’s say you want to add a new tactic that tells Bethany to cast Fireball whenever she sees several enemies
in a small area. First, switch to Bethany, then select a condition slot on the left side of the screen and press
the S button. From the menu that appears, first select who you want the tactic to affect. For this condition,
we’re trying to scorch a number of enemies, so select ENEMY. Now another menu opens; select CLUSTERED,
then CLUSTERED WITH AT LEAST 2 ENEMIES. That’s your first condition: whenever three enemies are near
each other (one enemy plus two near it), the game sees that this condition is true and activates the
corresponding action.
Now you need to set up the action. Select the slot on the right side of the screen next to the condition you just
created and press the S button. Select USE ABILITY and then FIREBALL.
That’s it! Tactics always evaluate from the top down, so urgent requirements like healing should usually go at
the top. Move a tactic up or down by selecting the number in front of it and pressing the S button. Disable an
individual tactic by selecting the + symbol just after its number.
Tactics are particularly powerful when they help different party members support each other. For example, if
Bethany is in your party and knows a healing spell, tell her to monitor all of your party members simultaneously
and heal anyone in need. Since mages are weak in close combat, you can then direct a warrior to always attack
enemies who are targeting the mage (Enemy > Attacking Party Member > Attacking Bethany).
As your characters level up, you gain more condition/action slots on the screen, permitting more complicated
battle plans.
