As you will quickly find out while playing, all of the enemies you encounter will be present on the field while exploring. By coming into close proximity to them, battle will ensue. If they notice you, which is usually denoted by the enemy making a noise, then the battle will start normally. Should you manage to sneak up on them, then you will begin the battle with a full ATB gauge, as well as a single SP point (will be explained shortly).

Once the battle starts, you will see a bar at the bottom of the character portrait. This is the ATB gauge and it will fill up as the battle goes on. Upon being full, that character’s action list will appear and you can pick one of the options to perform in battle. You have Attack, which is the basic physical attack, Tech, which allows you to perform a skill, and Item, allowing you to use a consumable.

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Try to sneak up on enemies in the field, as you get a full ATB and single SP point.

You are probably wondering what the circle with the snowflake is to the right of the ATB gauge is. That is the SP gauge and is used with something called Momentum. You’re taught about Momentum Mode early on in the game, and it is a special mechanic that you can apply to your skills to add additional effects to them. In order to use Momentum Mode, you will need a SP point. When you’re in battles, you will notice a special snowflake circle to the right of your ATB and MP gauges. This is the Special Power (SP) gauge and it will fill up whenever you have a full ATB gauge and don’t pick an action.

Once the SP gauge is filled, you will gain a SP point, which is shown as a little sparkle at the top of the gauge. The gauge will reset and begin filling up again, allowing you to gain more SP points, up to a maximum of three. In order to use these SP points in combat, whenever you choose an action, you will see something flash over the character. Pressing the X button at the moment you see the flash will trigger Momentum Mode, adding effects to that action.

For example, if you trigger Momentum Mode during a normal attack, then you might get additional hits or a critical out of it. For something like a healing tech, you might get healed for more or even increase the range for the tech. You might also notice something that pops up in the top left corner whenever you use Momentum Mode. These are special bonuses called Singularities and they are completely random. They affect the entire party and only last for as long as what is mentioned in the pop-up.

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Momentum is one of the most important mechanics in the game and will be used in almost every battle from the beginning of the game.

Defeating all of the enemies in a battle will result in you winning the fight, earning experience and items. Enemies in this game do not drop money, but they will always drop items upon their death. Depending on how you kill enemies, you will earn more items from them. For example, enemies will always either drop a normal item or a rare one, but if you defeat one with a water-based attack, then they will drop another item in addition to one of the previously mentioned two items.

Singularities¶

As you battle, you will sometimes notice a box that pops up in the upper left corner of your screen. These are Singularities and they are effects that will sometimes generate in the surrounding area during combat. They are completely random, but their effects are both wide-ranging and quite powerful. Singularities seem to appear as you use Momentum more often.

Status Ailments¶

As with any other game in the RPG genre, you will come across different status ailments that can be applied to both your party and enemies. Those inflicted will usually flash a certain color during battle and those ailments that stick after fights will have a little icon in the character portrait (it’s a bit hard to see) on the status screen. Note that all ailments, except Death, can be cured with either a Panacea item or by using Endir’s Aura with Momentum.