Star Ocean 4; The Last Hope - Bonus Board

Something I found very useful throughout the course of the game is a little thing called the Bonus Board.  The Bonus Board is something you can see in the right side of your screen when you get into a Battle.  It has 14 crystal shaped spots on it.  There are 4 different colored "Crystals" in the Bonus Board, Yellow, Pink, Blue, and Green.  To get these colors first you have to perform a specific task inside of Battle.

For Yellow, you need to defeat 2 Enemies at the same time. After doing so you will receive one Crystal which gives the bonus of Extra Fol at the end of the Battle.  For the Pink Crystal, you need to defeat an Enemy with only Skill Attacks, and you will receive an HP and MP recovery at the end of the Battle.  For the Blue, all you need to do is defeat an Enemy with a Critical Hit.  Blue gives 10% extra EXP at the end of the Battle.

For Green you need to have an Ambush happen, to do this, you have to have 2 consecutive Battles without the Battle ending.  This can be done by having 2 separate Monsters chase you on the Overworld Map.  When they are really close to each other, run into them and it should cause an Ambush.  Green Crystals give 1 SP each at the end of the Battle, and are useful for when you are trying to raise your Party's Skills.

You can stack any of these Crystals for added Bonuses.  Be careful though, as you will lose the Bonuses if you turn off your game, or if you happen to receive a Critical Hit from an Enemy. Fortunately, if you get the Critical Hit from the Enemy you won't lose All of the Bonuses, but they can be significantly lessened.  Also, this can happen when you are Countered while performing a Blindside Attack, so be wary!

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Battle

This time I am going to discuss Battle.  Since you cannot go through this game and not get into one, this is a big part of the game itself.  To start off, on the world map you will see a Monster, and depending on how you make contact with that Monster is how you will start your Battle.  If you manage to run up behind the Monster, you will start a Pre-emptive attack.  This means that you will have a chance to attack the Enemy Monsters before they can attack you.  You start the Battle with about 5 seconds to hit the Enemy before they start coming after you.  If you run into the Monster face to face, the Battle will start normally, and both Teams will be able to attack at the same time.  If you have the misfortune of the Monster running up behind you, then the Battle will start up as a Surprise attack.  This means that the Monsters will start off trying to hit you and you have to wait a little bit before you can react.  In general it is always best to try and get Pre-emptive attacks on the Enemy because it starts the Battle in your favor.

When the Battle begins you have control over one of the Characters, and you can switch between Characters by pressing the R1 and L1 buttons.  You can run around by using the Directional Pad on the controller.  If you press the Square button when your Rush gauge is full, you will enter Rush Mode.  In Rush Mode, you will not get phased by attacks, and you will have a higher chance of performing Critical Hits.  Also occasionally you can survive a fatal attack when in Rush Mode.

If you press the X button you will perform a normal attack.  If you press X multiple times you can do a combo, combos usually are around 3-4 hits and you can change what kind of combos you do by holding the Directional Pad and  pressing the X button.  If you hold down the Circle button, you will start charging your Rush Gauge.  If you hold it down too long though, you will be dazed for a little while leaving yourself open for attack.  You can hold down the Circle button and press any direction on the Directional pad to do a Dodge.  Dodging is useful when you are being targeted by lots of Enemies and you need to get away from them.  When you are charging your Rush Gauge, and a Monster is targeting you, you will see a kind of Triangular Target on your character.  When you dodge during that time you will perform a Blindside Attack.  A Blindside Attack causes the Enemy to be temporarily confused and allows for a high chance of Critical Hits.

When you press the Triangle button, you will open up a Menu, that has 7 different options. Tactics, Change Members, Escape, Items, Symbology, Skills, and Setup. Tactics allows you to switch a Character's attack style when not being controlled by you.  Change Members lets you switch between Characters that are in standby.  Escape is for when you wish to Escape from Battle if things are going badly for you.  Items opens up your Item menu, letting you choose which Item you wish to use during Battle, after using an Item there is a small cooldown time where you have to wait before you can use another Item.  Symbology opens up the menu for all your Magic skills that your Character has.  If you select one your Character will start to cast it automatically, or in some cases after you choose a target to cast it on.  Skills opens a menu for your Character's Skills. Finally, Setup allows you to change your current equipped Skills with other Skills, this is handy if none of your Magic attacks are affecting the Enemy.  Also you can equip certain Skills to the R2 and L2 buttons for faster use.

If you stand still facing a Monster you have a chance of Blocking their attack, and the same works for them as well.  After defeating all of the Monsters a status screen will come up and you will receive some Fol and Experience.  Beware, you can lose the Battle if all your Characters run out of HP, or if they all become Paralyzed.

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Monster Data

In this game there are 154 different monsters you can encounter.  After fighting any monster their information is placed into a bestiary called "Monster List" that is located via "Collections" in the Menu.  In the Monster List, you can see what monsters you have battled, how many times you defeated that monster, what items you can get from it, where you can find it, what type of monster it is, and how much Exp and Fol it will give.  This is very useful if you are trying to find a particular monster that you need to get some Battle Trophies or an item that you need.

Along with that information, you also can see "% Analyzed".  This goes up when you fight the monster a few times, and when you get it to 100% you can do something special to it.  Any monster in this game when at 100% can be "Transformed" into a special item.  Each item's abilities are affected by what type of Monster Data you decide to use.  To use this feature you need an item called  a Monster Jewel.  When you select the Transfer option for the Monster Data, you get a menu that shows what type of item it will create.  When you choose to create the item it becomes a wearable accessory.  Hope this helps!

Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Battle Trophies

Today I wish to discuss something that is both fun and aggravating at the same time.  Something known as Battle Trophies.  You should already know by now that the game has Trophies you can earn by completing certain tasks, just like all the other games for Xbox360 which get Achievements, and the games that were made after 2009 for Playstation 3.  Well this game has Trophies inside the game called Battle Trophies.  These Battle Trophies work virtually the same way, in battle if you perform certain tasks you are rewarded.  There are a total of 100 Battle Trophies for each character in the game.

There is a point to collecting all of them, when you complete a certain percentage of these tasks you unlock things on the game.  All of the rewards are the same for each character, but the tasks are different.  At 30% you unlock Additional Battle Voices Set 1, at 50% you get a Level Cap Increase, at 75% you get Additional Battle Voices Set 2, and at 100% you get More CP.  Also I would like to add that if you are going to be going through secret dungeons, then it is imperative that you at least get 50% of the Battle Trophies for each character, for the Level Cap Increase is vital in gaining strength.

Naturally, you want to get 100% because you will get all of the rewards and More CP means that you will gain more points when you level up so you can max out your skills faster.  I find this to be a useful tool in the game, because it gives you something to work towards, especially when you will have to battle so many enemies throughout it's entirety.  I also find this to probably be the MOST annoying thing about this game.  If you want to get the Trophy, you have to complete all the character's Battle Trophies 100%.  This wouldn't be so bad, if some of them weren't based on luck. For example, Edge has a Battle Trophy where the requirement is to "Recover HP to the Exact Maximum Capacity."

Not all of the Battle Trophies are so difficult though, and you will probably fill out most of them by just going through the game and battling.  In total, there are 9 Characters in the game, so be prepared for a long and grueling process if you are aiming to get them all.

Some of the Battle Trophies are hidden, so you have to try and figure out how to do them and what they are.  Each Character's Trophies are based on their skills, so some of the Battle Trophies are easy to guess.  Overall I do think that Battle Trophies are a useful addition to the game, and if you want to get the Platinum Trophy, you must complete them all.  Have fun!