The Timely Accessories in Final Fantasy 16 are items which provide a unique way to adjust combat difficulty throughout the game. The more conventional method of adjusting difficulty settings based on variants of easy, medium, or hard has been ditched, and instead you’ll have two basic game modes: Story Focused, or Action Focused. Timely Accessories are equipped by default in Story Focused mode, but there’s a little more to it than that. We’ll explain everything you need to know about difficulty settings and Timely Accessories in FFXVI on this page.
Clive and Lord Commander Murdoch, Final Fantasy XVI.
Story Focused vs Action Focused Game Modes in FF16¶
The two basic game difficulty modes referred to as Story Focused and Action Focused aren’t as different from each other than you might expect. The first thing to note is that even if you select one over another at the beginning of the game, you can always switch between the two at any time during your playthrough. This means that if you start off with Action Focused but you hit a particularly difficult boss, you can always switch to Story Focused temporarily while you get through it.
Accessibility / Easy Mode Options¶
The switch from Story Focused to the Action Focused mode will slightly increase the difficulty of most enemies, either by increasing their health and defenses, or making it more difficult for you to kill them as Clive inflicts less damage. However, the other major difference is that if you start the game on Story Focused mode, you’ll have a couple of Timely Accessories equipped by default, such as the 
Ring of Timely Strikes and the 
Ring of Timely Focus. We provide a breakdown for all Timely Accessories and their effects in the table below.
The result of enemies being slightly less difficult in Story Focused mode, and with the Timely Accessories equipped by default in that mode, essentially makes it a more accessible mode for players who aren’t as confident in their combat abilities with action games. We’d encourage you to at least try the Action Focused mode to get the most out of the combat system in the game, but if it’s not for you and you’d rather just focus on the story, you have that option too.
What Are Timely Accessories in Final Fantasy 16?¶
There’s a total of five Timely Accessories that you can use in FFXVI, and each of them can be equipped or unequipped at any time throughout your playthrough, allowing you to customize your combat experience in the way that suits you best. You can see the effects of each accessory in the table below.
All Timely Accessories (aka Cheat Rings) and Their Effects¶
The five Timely Accessories will be available to you from the beginning of the game, with the exception of the Ring of Timely Assistance, which only becomes available once 
Torgal joins you in combat. You can see that each of these accessories come in the form of rings, so they’re sometimes referred to as cheat rings as a result. This is perhaps a little unfair, because rather than being cheats which grant some form of god mode, they can help to take the busy work out of the combat mechanics, making it more accessible to those who want to focus on the story. They’re entirely optional so you don’t have to use them if you’d rather have a more challenging combat experience.
| Accessory | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ring of Timely Strikes |
When equipped, complex ability combinations can be executed by simply pressing  |
| Ring of Timely Focus |
When equipped, time slows before an evadable enemy attack strikes Clive. To evade the attack, press the  button before the time runs out. |
 Ring of Timely Evasion |
When equipped, Clive will automatically evade attacks, as long as the attack can be evaded. |
 Ring of Timely Healing |
When equipped, Clive will automatically use a potion when his HP falls below a certain point.  Potions will be used before high potions. |
| Ring of Timely Assistance | When equipped, pet commands are executed automatically and Torgal will assist Clive’s attacks at all times. This specific accessory will be obtained when Torgal joins your party. |
Aside from Timely Accessories, there are numerous other types of accessories which can enhance various aspects of gameplay, such as providing different buffs to stats, or increasing the amount of XP that you earn from combat encounters. You can find these accessories at different points throughout the game, both in main story missions and side content. You can also purchase or craft some of them, and once you start a NewGame+ you can even combine some to make them more powerful. There are a limited number of regular accessory slots so you’ll need to customize which you use for a specific set of buffs, but you will always have the option to use all five of the Timely Accessories at the same time if you wish.
(1 of 3) You can equip as many or as few Timely Accessories as you wish from the gear menu.
Ring of Timely Strikes¶
As noted in the brief description in the table, equipping the Ring of Timely Strikes will allow you to execute complex ability combinations just by pressing (or whatever you’ve set your default basic attack button as) once. This will allow you to defeat enemies and bosses much more quickly while you execute chain attacks with minimal effort, but it does take away a lot of the engagement from the combat experience, and there’s a certain satisfaction that you feel after successfully executing an attack combo that will be impossible to achieve if you have this accessory equipped.
Ring of Timely Focus¶
The Ring of Timely Focus essentially provides you with a small window of opportunity to evade an attack before it lands, so long as the attack in question can be evaded. It will not only slow time just before you’re about to be hit, but it will also give you a prompt with a large circle at the center of your screen, as shown in the screenshot below, which gives you a few seconds to execute the evade by pressing . This can be particularly useful for players who find it difficult to react in time, or if you find yourself in an especially chaotic fight where you just need that little bit of extra help to get things done.
Ring of Timely Evasion¶
The Ring of Timely Evasion is basically a more powerful version of the Ring of Timely Focus. Rather than slowing time and providing you with a prompt to evade attacks yourself, all evadable attacks will be automatically evaded. This will remove the slow effect that occurs whenever you’re about to be hit by an attack that can be evaded, and it’ll just move you out of the way as quickly as possible.
Although this can be useful for those who have the most trouble with evading attacks even with the Ring of Timely Focus equipped, it detracts significantly from the combat experience and robs you of some autonomy in the middle of a fight. You will briefly lose control of Clive whenever an attack needs to be evaded, which can be frustrating or disorienting. Another downside to this is that you won’t be able to choose the direction in which you evade an attack, so it can actually put you in more danger if there are environmental hazards in the area.
Ring of Timely Healing¶
The Ring of Timely Healing is more of a classic combat aid, which will essentially ensure that you’re healed automatically whenever you drop to a sufficiently low level of health. This can be helpful if you’re in the middle of a chaotic fight and you haven’t had time to check your HP, especially when there’s so much to do with different melee combos and magic affinities. Regular potions will always be used before 
High Potions, which restore a greater percentage of health (from 20% to 40%).
On the other hand, you may find that you drop to a low level of health right at the end of a combat encounter, and you know that you can kill the enemies before they can kill you, but if you have this accessory equipped it may still use a valuable healing potion right when you don’t need it. As a general rule, if you don’t want your health potions wasted and you’d rather have full control of when you heal, you’re probably better off not having this accessory equipped.
Ring of Timely Assistance¶
The Ring of Timely Assistance has a very specific use once you gain access to Torgal in your party. When this happens you’ll be able to control him to some extent, as you request combat assistance in the form of pet commands. The timing of issuing pet commands can make all the difference here, so it can be genuinely difficult to become proficient in knowing when to time the assists properly. For this reason you might find the accessory useful while you’re trying to juggle all of the other combat mechanics in terms of melee combos, magic charges, special abilities etc. However, it’s still worth trying to adjust to the chaos to see how much you can manage. You may surprise yourself, and it’s often best to learn small things over time as you’re introduced to them, rather than try to dive in with all the complexities of the combat system at once.
(1 of 2) !Torgal will often glow just before he executes an assist attack, which will be done automatically if you equip the Ring of Timely Assistance.
!Torgal will often glow just before he executes an assist attack, which will be done automatically if you equip the Ring of Timely Assistance. (left), You’ll have a brief warning window marked by this circle to evade any relevant attack if you equip the !Ring of Timely Focus. (right)
Arcade Mode Challenges and Timely Accessories in FF16¶
Once you reach 
The Hideaway hub in the game, you’ll gain access to the 
Arete Stone, which allows you to replay various elements of the game that you’ve already cleared. You can think of this as a kind of challenge mode, and that’s reflected in the fact that there are leaderboards where you can see how well you perform against other players in each challenge. You can practice before you try any of these in the Hall of Virtue, where you can customize a training area to work on aspects of combat that you find particularly difficult.
Once you feel ready to challenge other players, you can try Arcade Mode to replay much of the content you’ve already cleared. At the end you’ll be awarded a score based on your performance, which details things like damage output, damage received, combo executions, and more. There are even more difficult challenges unlocked in the form of Chronolith Trials, which you’ll access later in the game, and there will be more options for all of these once you unlock New Game+. The only catch here is that if you want to earn the highest scores, you won’t want to use Timely Accessories. Although you can technically use them in the challenges, you’ll earn fewer points overall for doing so.
More Final Fantasy 16 Guides¶
If you’re looking for more Final Fantasy 16 guides to learn about the basics of gameplay, see the links below.
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