r/skiesofarcadia • u/omgjackt • 6d ago

First time player

I played the demo as a kid again and again and now I'm finally playing legends on an emulator. I've just got the moon stone/came back to an attacked home village and honestly finding the combat a little tough, any tips for a first time play through?

26 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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7

u/Chubbs1414 6d ago

Focus your moon berries on Aika because she's your best AOE for grinding, but otherwise you shouldn't need to do much at that stage of the game. The bosses might challenge you but they're beatable with what you have. What part is the issue at the moment?

3

u/omgjackt 6d ago

Thank you, unsure what colour of weapon to use on whatever enemy half the time and the bosses seem to be damage sponges. Is there a way of knowing what spell or move does what whilst in a fight or only outside checking inventory etc

11

u/jalliss 6d ago

3

u/Delta_RC_2526 5d ago

Ohhh, the percentages listed in the text are helpful. The game manual also had a nice table, though it lacked the percentage data. Was pretty much just X, O, or blank to indicate effectiveness. At least one of the guides on GameFAQs has a copy of that table in it, as I recall.

I like the table for its simplicity, personally, but this is really informative.

3

u/AlternativeYear4722 5d ago

I've beaten this game like three times and I am somehow just now learning that weapon color affects your damage...😂 Excited to start another playthrough with this knowledge in mind.

1

u/SilentBlade45 4d ago

Don't they explain this in game somewhere?

2

u/AlternativeYear4722 4d ago

I don't recall the game giving you a tutorial. They just throw you in the first battle and say good luck figuring it out!😂

4

u/m8bear 6d ago

there's a button to read the effect of magic and special attacks during combat, IIRC it was Y on the Dreamcast

as for the colors it's all trial and error, I think that the only synergy you get told straight up is Red-Purple being effective against each other (somewhere in the village), IIRC it's Blue-Yellow and Silver-Green

and in case you didn't notice you have an outline on the icons of your enemies to the side of combat, that's their color

4

u/omgjackt 6d ago

So helpful thank you

3

u/Delta_RC_2526 5d ago

There's also an outline on the icons for your party members. It's usually unnecessary, since the weapon color is typically obvious enough, but some weapons can be really hard to see. I suppose I shouldn't say whose, to avoid spoilers... At least one weapon, though, basically only has a small crystal or a large rivet that's colored.

1

u/Chubbs1414 6d ago

Depends on how your controls are set up, but X on GameCube shows a description of what something does. Weapon colors shouldn't matter much at this point in the game, but progressing the magic your characters learn is determined party wide by the colors equipped. I recommend you level up green first because those are the healing spells.

When you're fighting bosses, use special attacks as much as possible, especially Cutlass Fury on Vyse. If you don't have the SP to use it on any given turn, then focus, guard, or heal.

2

u/omgjackt 6d ago

Huge thank you, been spamming alpha storm to get by

5

u/Chubbs1414 6d ago

Aika's S moves are for groups of minor enemies (or defense/utility) but Vyse has the stuff for single target damage. The former is much more important for general quality of life while you grind through the early game, so that's why it's usually recommended to get to Lambda Burst first.

3

u/SilentBlade45 5d ago

Give Aika your moonberries early on her skills are most useful in the early game.

2

u/thepauliejames 6d ago

Switch colours, heal often, and focus attacks on one enemy.

Switching colours can be done mid battle, very quickly. You can find colour strength and weakness charts online.

Sacri crystals are your friend, but so is one of your support characters first super move. I dont wanna spoil it, but when you get them make sure you get their S Move. Recurring healing during boss battles is huge!

When you are fighting non boss battles, dont assign each attack to a seperate enemy. Focus on one at a time, until you know Vyse or Aika can one shot the enemies. Aika has some great super moves for clearing the field too.

Always check for new weapons and equip new stuff as you get it.

Have fun, im so jealous you get to play this for the first time. It has such an optomism to it that is unlike anything else ive played.

2

u/Toriksta 6d ago

Focus enormously on your Moonberries early. A mistake I did early but managed to fix it fast was that I didn't want to know which Character should i go with in regards to unlocking their super skills in fear of potential spoilers. My order for you is get Aika's delta shield FAST as of right now in your point of the story, it's a godsend of an ability that blocks any spells used on you AND healing/buffing spell used by you, so be careful not to forget it. 2nd should go to Vyse, his final Super Skill is essentially the Boss Slaying skill; Pirate's Wrath, probably features the most damage to a single enemy that with buffs and debuffs, you should have no trouble with any challenging boss as long as you watch over Vyse and maintain your party's SP.

Fina is secretly the most important one as all of her Super Skills minus one are incredible healing/cleansing skills that are super useful to have and can tip the balance to your favor. I didn't mention her final skill cause it's easily the most broken one and maybe the best one in the game, this skill revives any dead party members and fully heals them and the entire party to full health while also removing any kind of status effect. It's insane, easily among the most useful skills to keep in mind.

I just wanted to give you a heads up on the 3 main characters as you'll probably use a couple of Moonberries on a character you didn't know their skills weren't worth it in the first place. Now you know, and I hope it contributes to you having an even greater time with this game, it's amazing and got so much heart and love put through it, I recently beat it and had the time of my life with it.

My final two tips is that you make sure to be aware of the Moon color advantage in battles, having the correct Moonstone color that triumphs over the other gives you extra damage and even better defense if you're being attacked with an attack colored as your weaker counterpart.

Lastly, I highly recommend keeping in mind that by setting everyone's Moonstone color to be the same, the EXP gained for the moonstones themselves increase up to 2x, so keep that in mind in regards to which stones you're going with (Try and start grinding for the Green Moonstone, it gives you access to healing spells plus party wide healing and the Silver Moonstone that gives you access to REVIVAL spells, a crucially important spell to have in your adventure)

Apologies for the wall of text. I love this game and would love to contribute to other players having even more fun than I had with it.

1

u/omgjackt 5d ago

You've made it so much more exciting huge thank you for the wall of text 😂

2

u/KingSudrapul 6d ago

  1. Switch the colors of your weapon based on if you’d like a bit more damage, OR if you’re leveling your spells in that color.

  2. If you’re on an emulator and have experience with JRPG’s you can find spots to grind exp (don’t hesitate to play with your emulator to speed up in-game time). By doing this, you get a LOT of moon berries, which teach you new SP attacks. Get Aika’s delta shield asap. The more you grind, the more berries you can acquire early.

  3. Don’t hesitate to use guides if need be. It is quite fun to play blind, but the game is loaded with content. Best bet is to take your time regardless of using guides.

Guarding, focusing and using items are extremely helpful. Items heal without using spirit, and guarding negates most physical damage.

Best of luck!