Battles

Learn about battles in Star Ocean: The Last Hope, including tactics, encounters, the battle screen, and special arts. Avoid or gain advantage in fights.

You can view battle instructions by accessing the tutorials in the Battle Simulator. The information is covered here to provide a separate reference before and during gameplay.

Tactics

Before battle, choose Tactics from the menu to tell your allies how you want them to fight. If you want to play it smart, have them conserve their strength during long journeys, only going all-out when fighting bosses and particularly strong enemies.

Encounters

Enemies are visible on the field and you can avoid a battle if you choose. When you touch an enemy, you will enter battle. The type of battle depends on how you make contact with the enemy.

Normal

When you and the enemy can both see each other at the time you make contact, neither party has the upper hand when battle begins.

Preemptive

If you touch the enemy from behind, enemy actions will be delayed at the start of the battle, giving you an advantage.

Surprise

When an enemy touches you from behind, you will be surrounded by enemies and their Rush Gauges will be partially filled when the battle begins.

Ambush

If you touch an enemy while another enemy is nearby, the second enemy group will ambush you as soon as you finish the battle with the first enemy group. If you defeat all the enemies, you will earn bonus EXP.

Battle Basics

After making contact with an enemy on the field, you will be taken to the Battle Screen. Battles take place on a 3-D field with surroundings suited to the field area. You will control the character designated as Party Leader. Other party members will fight automatically, following the Tactics you set for them.

When you defeat all the enemies on the screen, the battle will end and you will earn EXP, Fol and sometimes items. Only the characters in your battle party at the end of a battle will earn EXP. If all members of the party are reduced to 0 HP, or if everyone is Paralyzed in combat, it's Game Over. If that should happen, press / to bring up a loading screen so you can restart from a saved game file.

The Battle Screen

The Battle Screen is where all the action takes place.

• Your current target's HP bar and Rush Gauge are displayed in the upper left corner.
• Battle messages appear in the top center of the screen.
• The battle map (a minimap (the small circular map in the bottom-left corner of your screen)) in the upper right corner shows the location of all battle participants. Your party members are shown in blue, while enemies are depicted in red. The enemy currently targeted by the character you control is highlighted on the map.
• HP, MP and Rush Gauge data for each member of the battle party are displayed at the bottom.
• The right side of the screen shows the status of your Bonus Board along with the party's current hit counter.

Battle Actions

Move - Use to move your character around the battlefield.

Guard - You may be able to guard against an enemy's blow if you are standing or moving. Your chance to successfully guard is determined by the character's GRD stat and the enemy's HIT stat.

Jump - Hold / and push in any direction to jump in that direction. Some characters can execute a jumping attack if you press / in mid-air.

Attack - Press / to attack with your equipped weapon. If you are too far away from the target, your character will automatically close to attack range when you press the button. You can chain up to three regular attacks together. The type of attack may be different depending on the direction you push when you strike.

Targeting

You will automatically target the nearest enemy in battle. Changing targets is different depending on the version of the game you are playing. In the Xbox version, you have to turn your back on the enemy you automatically target and move to face a different enemy for a time in order to switch to targeting that enemy. In other versions, you can manually switch targets by pressing /. You can press / to lock on to a target so you don't accidentally change targets as you and the enemies move around the battlefield.

Special Arts and Symbols

Special Arts

Most characters learn their own set of battle techniques called Special Arts. Additional Special Arts are learned as your characters gain higher levels. To use a Special Art, it must be assigned to a trigger button. Special Arts can be arranged into Combos, and they can be chained from regular attacks. Executing a Special Art consumes Mental Points (MP).

Symbols

In the Star Ocean universe, magic is cast through the use of symbols. Pure fighters can't learn symbol magic, but those characters who can use magic will acquire new symbols as they gain levels. There are attack symbols, recovery symbols and support symbols. Attack symbols can be assigned to trigger buttons and arranged into Combos. Each time a character uses a symbol, it consumes Mental Points (MP).

Chain Combos

A Chain Combo is a Special Art or Symbol assigned for that character through Battle Config. Activate one by pressing / or / in battle. At the beginning, you can assign one Special Art/Symbol to the left trigger button and one to the right trigger button for use in Chain Combos. Play the game for a while and you will gain the ability to assign up to three attacks to each button.

You can chain combos from regular attacks as well as linking combo attacks together. For example, you can press / to start a combo. While the attack is still in progress, press /. You will follow up with the attack assigned to that button, linking the two combo attacks together.

When you link your Special Arts or Symbols together in a Chain Combo, the later attacks will deal extra damage. The damage bonus increases with each successive attack as long as you keep the chain going.

Blindsides

When an enemy is targeting you, you can use a Blindside attack to slip around behind them.