Spoiler-free tips for Sephirothic Stories

[Victar]

Sephirothic Stories isn't a very good game, but for those who would play it, here are some spoiler-free tips. As usual, there won't be any story spoilers (the story is a confusing mess anyway) and there won't be anything about specific boss battles.

Like many Exe-Create games, the easiest and most thorough way to break Sephirothic stories is to use the real-time garden and put all stat boosters on one character. This will absolutely trivialize every battle beyond the very beginning of the game, especially since there is no Arena and no optional content other than sidequests. If you want any challenge at all, then either don't use stat-boosters or limit their use.

Characters naturally get very small stat boosts just from leveling up, and there is no metal dungeon. High-experience metal monsters show up randomly, and rarely. If you want to kill metal monsters when they appear, then be aware that only Izzy has easy access to a weapon type that can hurt them. Everyone else needs a weapon with a critical hit enhancement, and finding or forging one can be a random or tedious process.

Because there is no metal dungeon, leveling up to the maximum of 99 or learning the highest-level magic spells is a chore. A typical playthrough won't raise your team's levels above the 70's. Breaking the game makes the team's level irrelevant anyway, and the highest-level magic spells aren't worth the time it takes to learn them. You don't need the highest-level wind spell to get the 50-hit combo award/trophy/achievement; the Duo Crest from the coin shop (which is not a cash shop) makes getting high combos easier.

You can get both silver and gold coins for the coin shop from regular battles, very rarely. Most of your silver and gold coins will be collected from the overworld, and they don't respawn. So choose your coin shop purchases carefully!

Perhaps the most important coin shop purchases are rings that teach elemental magic when equipped. The only other way to learn elemental magic is to have an equipped weapon with an enhancement that teaches it, and there are too many better weapon enhancements (such as enhancements to raise speed, or boost the critical hit rate). If a character does not equip anything to teach them elemental magic, then the SP they get from battles is wasted!

Putting different characters in the lead has no effect on battles, but very strong effects on non-combat gameplay. Different characters run faster or jump higher, which is important when attempting run-and-dodge challenges or collecting coins. Different characters land in different places when they jump on a trampoline.

Harold can more easily see monsters. Izzy can more easily see in dark places, and he's so heavy that water currents don't push him around. The fairy slows the growth of the Murk meter when she's in the lead. Only the lighter characters can cross thin rope bridges. Other characters will mention their talents when Harold talks to them for possible party inclusion.

Although the fourth party member can be changed in the home village, characters not in the party will not receive experience or SP. One subtle difference between the optional characters is that each of them has different dialogue in story cutscenes, including the ultra-short dialogue bits in sidequests.

The coin shop sells two accessories to disable slick floors and spiked floors for the party, and these are very helpful for run-and-dodge sidequests.

The game tells the player that they can pick up, carry, and put down boxes, but the game never tells the player that it's possible to climb on top of a box with a ridged front.

The combo system is limited in that all combo hits must be performed by one character. If another character or a monster attacks, then the combo ends. The easiest way to set up a long combo is to customize the super attack so that the same character is attacking over and over.

The super attack meter builds VERY slowly, something like 1% per party member action, and items to boost the super meter are extremely rare. The quickest way to max out the super meter is to get into combat with a weak enemy and repeatedly defend.

If you feel like spending money on the cash shop - or if you're playing a PC/console version and have extra currency to spend on the shop from grinding regular battles - the most convenient item to buy is the accessory that turns off regular battles. It lets the player walk through enemies on the map without triggering a fight. Unlike most Exe-Create games, Sephirothic Stories has no way to trigger a regular encounter with every step.

The second most convenient item to buy is a piece of equipment that disables the annoying Murk meter. Which one is a judgment call. There is a small chance that rare Premium Tickets will give you one, if you wait until late in the game to spend them.

Some of the run-and-dodge sidequests just require repeated attempts, learning and memorizing the optimal route as you go. There's no way around it, other than to skip these sidequests. Skipping sidequests may be the best option; they have very little story beyond their initial text box, and some of them have no story at all. Sidequests are required for a trophy, though.