As Dusk Falls

Memory Diary System

Various actions including completing tasks, requests, synthesis and even speaking to people can grant memory points. These points can then be used to write memories into a diary at any of your workshops. Diary entries must first be obtained by completing story events, then they can be written into the diary for an additional bonus. Most of the bonuses are stat increases for Ayesha, but some are alchemy recipes or other effects such as equal experience for characters not in battle or additional items from syntheses. Requests will be a constant source of memory points, but tasks later in the game will also provide a good amount as well. Keep up with requests and pick up any flyer you come across and you shouldn't have to worry about points very much.

Shop System

There are various shops in this game and they each have a unique inventory of items to sell. Party members also have their own shops but are only available during the Bazaar event held on the 10th through the 19th of every month. Some shops also allow you to register specific categories of items that they will then be able to sell back to you. Since shops restock their items every 1st, 11th and 21st of every month, you can effectively duplicate your items. Each shop has a level associated with it that raises as you buy from them. As you raise the shop level, additional slots will become available for registered items. Overwriting a registered item is slightly bugged because you can't overwrite an item that is sold out, meaning you'll have to wait until the next restock. As you complete characters' events, their shops will expand their inventories. Sometimes this will allow you to obtain some items that you won't be able to synthesize or find for a while, and other times they'll sell extremely rare ingredients.

Battle System

The battle system in As Dusk Falls is turn based with some character positioning for an added strategic element. Each character has the Attack, Move and Flee commands plus unique Skills except for Ayesha who can use Items instead. Battles take place on a field where enemies stand in the center and each party member stands in one of four surrounding zones. Attacking an enemy from behind will guarantee a critical hit, so that is the best way to win battles. When using area attack skills, only the primary target has to be facing away in order to gain a back attack bonus against all enemies in the area of effect. Characters' attacks are also short or long ranged which will provide a bonus indicated in the upper-right corner of the screen if the target is at the correct distance. Press up on the right analog stick during targeting to get a better view of the field.

Items and Skills

Ayesha can use items in her basket and all other characters have their own set of skills. Items will be consumed after use so you must restock your basket whenever you have a chance. Ayesha's MP might seem useless early on, but some high level items have an effect that drains her MP. If she doesn't have sufficient MP, the used item will have a reduced effect. Other characters will use their MP for skills and many are area attacks that make it easy to clear out groups of enemies.

Active Commands

When you perform an action with one character, another character can support them with an Active Command. The support gauge below a character's HP/MP is built up with any action and consumed when using an active command. Each character has Pursuit and Back Attack which are basic follow-up attacks that can only be used if the supporting character is in the same zone as the initial attacker. The Defend command is also available to all characters and is usable from the same or adjacent zones the character being attacked is in. Each character also has two unique active commands that can only be used if the initial and supporting characters are in separate zones.

Super Moves

Each character except for Ayesha learns their Super Move at level 30. A new gauge below the support gauge will increase during any action or when receiving attacks and will allow the super move to be performed once it reaches 100%. Super moves do large physical damage, and if one is used to finish a battle, a unique song and animation will play.

Alchemy System

Alchemy! In the beginning, synthesis will be very basic as all you can do is choose your ingredients and how many copies of the item you want to create. As Ayesha raises her alchemy level, she will gain new synthesis skills that will give you more control over the process. Press Start during synthesis to see explanations about the synthesis screen and press Select to read descriptions of stockyard traits or properties. Unlike the previous games, alchemy no longer consumes MP, which renders Ayesha's MP stat almost useless. Instead, Ayesha has a certain amount of CP to be used for each synthesis which is two times her alchemy level. An extra 20 points can be gained from the History of Alchemy diary entry (Keith's Events) and alchemy goal (synthesize 150+ unique items) allowing you to reach a maximum of 120 CP. Each time an ingredient is added during synthesis, CP equal to the ingredient's level is used and if you run out during the process.

Each item possesses fixed fire, water, air, and earth values. As you add ingredients during synthesis, their elemental values are incorporated. The final elemental values determine which item effects are activated. Equipment does not have innate elemental values, but other items do, which are used to trigger specific traits.

Traits are integral to synthesis, allowing you to modify elemental values, quality, gained properties, and CP (Crafting Points) consumption. Ingredients can have up to two traits, which are fixed. When ingredients are added, their traits are moved to a stockyard that can hold a maximum of five traits, with effects activating each time a new ingredient is added.

During synthesis, the four elemental bars visually represent the required values for unlocking each effect. Effects for attack and healing items can alter their damage or healing output, while accessory effects can fundamentally change their function. An item's quality significantly impacts its effects, so consider this when synthesizing items for use.

Properties are bonus effects that can be added to your items. Until Ayesha acquires the Power Transfer synthesis skill, only an item's innate properties can be applied to it. The property gauge, located in the lower right corner of the screen, indicates when a new property will appear and increases by an amount equal to the ingredient's level. Some properties are exclusive to specific item types, such as attack/heal/support items or equipment.

Tip: You can efficiently search your items by navigating to your container, pressing select to display all items, then pressing triangle and choosing the specify option. This allows you to quickly check for items with specific traits, properties, or of a particular category.

Certain traits and properties can be combined to create enhanced versions. Typically, two lower-tier versions of a trait or property merge to form a higher-tier one. For instance, 'Good w/ Liquids' and 'Nice w/ Liquids' combine to create 'Great w/ Liquids,' and 'HP +10' and 'HP +15' result in 'HP +25.' The trait 'Heighten Power' is unique and can combine with most lower-tier traits.

Synthesis Skills

Synthesis skills are crucial for crafting items with specific effects or properties. They may consume CP but offer potent benefits during synthesis. To use them, press left or right on the d-pad when choosing the order of ingredients. Only one skill can be applied per ingredient.

• Draw Power (5 CP) - Enhances the property gauge gain by 15 when used with the next ingredient, enabling the unlocking of high-level properties with low-level items.
• Power Pour (10 CP) - Allows for ingredient duplication, with a cumulative 50% CP cost increase per use. This is useful for getting traits onto the stockyard or manipulating elemental values.
• Power Transfer (5 CP) - Enables the transfer of an ingredient's properties onto your item, essential for crafting Ultimate Equipment and other items.
• Power Denial (0 CP) - Deleting unwanted properties is necessary when aiming for specific item properties, as only five properties can exist on an item. This prevents desired properties from being overwritten.

Tip: Using Power Pour can rapidly deplete your CP. You can intentionally do this to lock an item's quality, elemental values, and properties. Since Power Denial costs no CP, you can still remove properties even after your CP is exhausted.

Recursive Synthesis

Items and accessories can possess duplicate properties. One method to obtain multiple copies of a property is through recursive synthesis. For example, the Tonic item can serve as the (Nutritional) ingredient in its own synthesis. Obtain a desired property on another ingredient, such as Distilled Water, and transfer it to the Tonic. You can then create another Tonic using the same Distilled Water and one of the newly crafted Tonics, transferring properties from both to acquire two copies. Repeat this process to accumulate the desired number of property copies.

Ultimate Equipment

Whetstones and Dyes

Weapons and armor are acquired from enemies rather than crafted. Instead, whetstones and dyes created via alchemy are used to transfer properties to equipment. The most effective method for creating ultimate equipment involves crafting multiple whetstones/dyes that transfer one or two properties, rather than attempting to create a single item with all desired properties. A whetstone or dye can transfer up to five properties per use, depending on its effect. Weapons and armor cannot have duplicate properties, so carefully select the properties you wish to apply. When using a whetstone or dye, properties listed at the top of the selection are transferred first. If unwanted properties are present on your whetstone/dye, using the Power Denial skill to remove them can simplify the process.

Some particularly useful properties include:

• Red Power - Found on Aurora Stone from (Alt) Steinfeder. Grants +10% Fire, Ice, Lightning damage and +3% Damage done absorbed as HP.
• Spirit Power - Found on Spirit Magnet from Wilbell event boss and her bazaar shop afterwards (limited availability). Grants +15% Fire and Ice damage.
• Soul Words - Found on Word Stone-Ma.