Spoiler-free tips for Ambition Record

[Victar]

Ambition Record has only one difficulty setting (unusual for an Exe-Create RPG) and isn't very hard, but here's some tips anyway. As usual, there won't be any story spoilers, and there won't be any details about specific boss fights.

The first tip is a warning: 100% completion is locked behind premium gacha and forcing encounters with every step is locked behind $2 paid DLC. 2 jobs, the achievements/trophies and bestiary entries tied to those jobs, and the items required for the 10 or 15 overkill awards, are all gacha exclusive. I rant about this in my review of Ambition Record on the Games page, so I won't repeat everything here.

I will stress that the player does not need the gacha-exclusive jobs to beat Ambition Record and all optional challenges. The party's default jobs are fine. The characters naturally start with Soldier, Hunter, Sorcerer, and Cleric. The Swordsman job is unlocked from a sidequest and not really needed (it's a defense-oriented physical attack job). The Thief job is all about getting treasure, NOT battle prowess of any kind, and can be safely ignored. Thief "passive" skills do not help in battle - only in earning more treasure - making Thief a nearly pointless job to master!

The player may want to consider switching who starts with what default job at the very beginning. I recommend making sure that there's a Soldier, Hunter, Sorcerer and Cleric no matter what, but keep in mind that each character learns a few unique skills from leveling up. These unique spells will be available no matter what job the character has. Rafael gets a party-wide resurrect spell; Henry gets a Dark magic spell that debuffs Speed; Alexia gets a magical attack that debuffs INT; and Amelia gets a few healing spells.

So, it may be worthwhile to have Alexia learn the physical-attacker job of Soldier because she naturally obtains an innate magic attack, and can therefore use both her STR and INT stats to do damage. If Rafael keeps his default of job of Soldier, he won't learn any magic attacks and his INT stat will be purely defensive. In my playthrough, I kept Rafael in physical-attacker jobs while giving him most stat boosters, and his high INT was ultimately wasted. It's also a little too easy to get a sword with an INT stat boost by fusing weapons won with tickets, and the Sorcerer class can't use swords!

When the player masters the default jobs (which will naturally happen about halfway through the game) they can consider switching jobs. Job skills do NOT carry over into a new job. Only passive bonuses (like 25% increased critical hit chance for the Hunter job) carry over, and only if the job is maxed out at job level 10. Jobs can be switched anytime out of combat, and I recommend going back to the party's strongest jobs for boss fights. Like most or all Exe-Create games, Ambition Record warns the player when a boss fight is imminent.

Probably the easiest way to overpower most of Ambition Record is to get two strong weapons (a sword and a bow) from the Award Menu for using Lune attacks from Dragonstones up to 30 times. This is trivial to do since restoring Lune points is as simple as resting in an inn (or talking to the man in the mercenary base item shop). These strong weapons will make the early and mid game much easier, and they will be even stronger if the player fuses them with weapons won from tickets or earned from battle.

Also, these weapons will almost trivialize the job training courses in Francia! You do not need to have any specific job equipped to try a job training course. If Amelia tries the Cleric job training course as a Cleric, she could be in for a long and tough battle. But if she temporarily switches jobs to Hunter (even at job level 1!) and borrows the powerful bow, she can easily handle the gauntlet at relatively low levels and earn the bonus Cleric skill.

(If the player does try a job training course or the postgame Arena and fail, they will be left with 1 HP - be sure to rest up at an inn afterward!)

Another trick the player can do is buy rings that defend against paralysis/sleep and use them to raise paralysis/sleep resistance to 100% on the party's armor. This takes a fair amount of gold, but has a strong payoff since way too many enemies like to inflict bad status.

Forging ores allow the player to transfer 100% of a bonus when fusing or adding effects to weapons/armor. However, forging ores are quite rare. The player will earn some from the in-game menu awards, and get a few from treasure chests. Forging ores very rarely drop in the postgame optional dungeon as well. I strongly recommend saving forging ores for transferring hard-to-find stats like Speed, or perhaps transferring very high weapon/armor bonuses (nothing less than +30).

Speed almost breaks the game when put on weapons! More speed yields more turns in battle. Brain Rings (which increase a character's INT/Speed 10%) can be used to upgrade a weapon's speed, but I recommend holding on to them as equipment until the player doesn't need them anymore.

The most broken overpowered accessory in the game is the Indomitable Crest. Hold on to these - I found three in my playthrough and I'm not sure if any were gacha prizes. The Indomitable Crest prevents death from damage if the wearer's HP is above 1, and instead reduces the wearer's HP to 1. This effect can trigger over and over, and is a lifesaver when combined with a large stock of store-bought potions that heal the entire party (available for purchase late in the game).

Buffs and debuffs are important in Ambition Record, but buffs should be prioritized over debuffs. Buffs last for several rounds on the party (although recasting a buff that's already active will not extend its duration), while debuffs go away in two enemy turns. Some bosses have two turns every time they act, which means that debuffs on them never last long!

The 50 hit combo award is difficult to earn since most enemies die before 50 hits can be tallied. Ambition Record does not save after the battle with the True Final Boss (it just shows the second ending and goes to the title screen), so earning a 50 hit combo on that boss is useless. The best enemy to earn a 50 hit combo on is the 2nd round opponent of the optional postgame Arena (available in the job training center in Francia). If the party has Speed buffs, weapons that boost their Speed, and Dragonstones that deal 10 hits equipped, combined with multi-hit spells like Meteo, then chaining 50 hits is reasonably doable.

Armor "conversion" can give a small advantage in battle, although Award menu armor tends to be outright superior. Try converting the two types of store armor for sale upon reaching any new town. One sidequest requests a Mirage Coat; the ingredients for a Mirage Coat are obtained from converting store-bought armor (great robe + great mail and crystal robe + crystal mail).

When should the party attempt the optional areas and bosses in dungeons? Each optional area has a sign that warns the player of dangerous monsters beyond; defeating the area's boss will yield a powerful item. Nothing is missable in Ambition Record, so the player can wait until the endgame when these optional areas are trivial. Or, the player can attempt them right after beating the dungeon - be prepared for a doable but very tough battle.