Combo:Any attacks connecting after another without enemy recovering from its stunned frame is counted as combo.

Chain:Skill and Ougi (secret attack) count as 1 chain, normal attacks count as 1 chain each.  So Eg. if we do 2 normal attacks+skill+Ougi it'll count as 4 chain regardless how many hits the skill and ougi contributes.

Party/Enemey Zone: Blue indicates area covered by allies, if you go into red area (most likely by attempting to double team an enemy), your Max SP and TP will decrease by half.  Going back to blue area will get rid of that penalty.

Party Status: Blue bar is your SP gauge which decreases as you make any attacks or use skills, regenerates when you stop attacking. make sure it does not become depleted or you'll be rendered very vulnerable.  Orange bar is your TP gauge which decreases as you activate spells and skills, it regenerates over time as well but a lot slower compared to SP gauge.

General Info

R1 is used to display enemy stats, using スペクタクルズ will reveal their resist and weakness.

L1 is used to change AI's battle pattern.

Select is used to switch between Auto,Semi-Auto and Manual.

If you set the 2nd member to Semi-Auto/Manual, he or she will be controlled by 2P, 3P controls the 3rd member and so forth.

Normal Attacks

Circle --> typical vertical slash

down+circle --> thrust

up+circle --> slashes upwards (mainly used against enemies in air)

back+circle -->

Normal attacks are usually the first attacks you do before chaining into other types, you can combo any 3 normal attacks together.

Eg. Circle-->Circle-->Circle

Jump Attacks (requires you to double tap forward in Manual mode or be a certain distance away from enemy in semi-auto)

circle --> jumps in mid-air and slashes in a downwards arc

down+circle --> Downwards thrust

up+circle --> Upwards thrust

Guarding (Square key)

Square --> Guard against physical attacks, take note that how many hits you can guard before your guard breaks depends on the glove you're wearing. 

down+square --> Spell guard, note you'll be surrounded by a green sphere that decreases damage taken from spells, it only lasts a brief moment so timing is important.  Spell guard consumes SP.

up+square --> Jump

forward+square --> Advancing guard, walks forward slowly while guarding, enemy's SP gauge will deplete faster if they hit you in this stance.  Consumes SP.

back+square --> Back Step, very useful evasive skill that allows you to escape damage if used properly.  Consumes SP.

Spells

When casting spells, a direction key will appear below the person who is casting, entering the direction keys shown will decrease the time it takes for the spell to be cast.

The following actions can be taken while casting:

up+square --> Cancels the spell

forward/back + square --> Allows the caster to move slowly forward or backward

forward/back + X --> Changes target

Battle Techniques

Critical : Doubles the damage dealt and regains small amount of SP and TP.  Enemy stays in hit frame longer than usual.

Weapon Spark : Occurs when 2 physical attacks clash, renders both sides immobile for a brief moment.

Guard Break : Occurs when the person guarding takes more hits than he can withstand, becomes vulnerable for a brief moment.

Guard Strike : Only useable when you're guarding and have sufficient amount of SP left, allows you to counter.

On Screen Info After Battle

Technical Smash! : Acquired when you meet certain requirements when defeating an enemy, affects battle Grade and chance of Item Drop.

XX BUSTER : Acquired when you defeat more than 1 enemy in a string of attacks, XX denotes the number of enemy defeated.

XX CHAIN : Max number of chain.

No Damage : Acquired when party defeats enemy without taking damage.

Triangle : Used 3 different inputs for normal attacks, Eg. up+circle, down+circle, circle (not circle, circle, circle).

Aerial : Acquired when enemy is defeated in air.

Secret Ougi (Super secret move)

Kyle, Roni and Judas : Makes sure you equip 秘奥義 as your action enchant, hold down circle after performing that particular skill in SBM (Spirit Blaster Mode).  The last hit must connect, not blocked in order for the cut-in to come out.

Nanaly : Do a tier 1 spell while she's in SBM and hold down circle, I tried it with Fire spell and it worked.  Not too sure if it works with all tier1 spells though.

Reala & Harold : Make sure you equip 具現結晶 as your action enchant for any Tier 3 spell, while in SBM make sure the spell hits and hold down circle button.

Make sure you have enough TP left when trying to perform the secret ougi, SBM grants you infinite SP but not TP so having 20% TP left is a requirement (consumption decreases by 1 TP for every skill level you raise).  

Status Screen

AI Configurations

1. Lets AI control the character according to their default personality.

2. Follow the leader.

3. Attack when there's an opening.

4. Attack the enemy with lowest HP.

5. Attack speedy enemies.

6. Attack the nearest target.

7. Concentrate on counter attacks.

8. Defend the back row.

9. Attack aerial targets.

10. Prevent enemy from casting spells (Very useful for casters)

11. 5-Attack till TP&SP runs out 4-Attack when TP&SP is above 25% 3-Attack when TP&SP is above 50% 2-Attack when TP&SP is above 75% 1-Defend

12. 5-Always defend, casts healing spell when life fall below 100% 4-Defends and casts healing spell when life fall below 75% 3-Defends and casts healing spells when life fall below 50% 2-Defends and casts healing spell when life fall below 25% 1-Fights till death.

Attribute Growth Chart

*Growth rate is approximately halved after lv62.

Chart source http://www.ac.wakwak.com/~monta/tod2/data/lvup.html

Common Questions

Q: Who has extensions for skills and spells?

A: Roni and Kyle have extensions for their skills but not spells, Judas has both extensions for his skills and spells.  Reala, Harold, Nanaly and Judas all have extension spells but Nanaly and Judas do not have an extension for Tier 3 spells since it's reserved for Harold&Reala's Secret Ougi.

Q: How can see when I am about to go into SBM and any ways to make it come out faster?

A: When a character starts flashing purple he/she is about to go into SBM, SBM gauge cannot be seen but is increased through the following means, hit, be hit and block hits.  Equipping "Blaster" enchant skill helps too but you're sacrificing damage in the long run for not using "Damage Up" enchant.

Q: How can I run away from battles?

A: Like previous Tales games, if you attach yourself to the left border of the battle field a bar will appear and when it's filled up your whole party flees (doesn't work on the right border I think cos of the new zone system).

Q: I've heard about Judas's extended secret ougi, how do I do it?

A: Refer to secrets section.

Q: Why do I see a skill in blue colour and can't use it yet and what does the Attack, Chain, Skill and Magic levels mean?

A: When a skill or magic is in blue colour it means you haven't reached the lv requirement for it yet, read below to find out how those sub-lvs work.

There 8 types of field exp. Attack, Chain, Skill and Magic are the normal ones you see. Under magic it's divided into another 4 categories, Wind, Earth, Fire Water.

Attack lv is increased by doing your normal circle slashes.
Chian lv is increased by chaining attacks together, you see the chain display on screen when you fight.
Skill lv is increased when you do a skill (duh) not magic.
Magic lv is increased when you do a magic and the element lv is obviously affected by which element magic you cast most often.

When I mean lv increased it actually means the portion of exp gained from battle diverted to that category increases.

Say at default you have 25/25/25/25 exp share for Attack,Chain,Skill and Magic. Being a melee fighter you use a lot more skills than magic thus after a while your exp pool table might turn out to be something like this 30/30/30/10.

Other categories will never gain no exp at all but just slower, so later in the game Kyle might have an attack lv of 30 while magic lv of only 20, thus he gets new skills faster than he gets spells (he'll still get all of them, just a matter of which first).
　

By Arcor                                  Main