Last Scenario

• Enemies (especially bosses) love to use status effects, so equipment that protects against them is pretty valuable. If you're struggling against a boss, pay attention to what status effects it uses and see what equipment and status cure spells you can use to mitigate it. Don't be afraid to equip armor with poor defense if it protects against a status effect, as that's often more valuable. You won't get equipment that can protect against all status effects until the end of the game, so until then it's often a case of picking your poison.

• Don't blow your money on new weapons/armor every time it's available, you don't make nearly enough money for this to be feasible.

• Before you go into the desert, make a separate save because you'll be trapped there for a while with no chance to re-supply. Think of it as a "Wiegraf" scenario from FFT.

• Play Hex if you can; you can get a lot of valuable prizes from trading in certain tiles, including powerful items you won't find elsewhere until later in the game. There are several players in the endgame who have unique tiles you will absolutely want to pick up. Some Hex players are missable, but no tiles are. If you're finding it too hard at first, Hex tiles sometimes drop from monsters, which can help beef up your deck. There is also a sidequest related to a recurring Hex player, but it's not missable and you can't finish it until the end of the game anyway, so don't stress over it.

• Keep multiple saves. There are a lot of points in the story where you'll be trapped in a location with no way to resupply.

• If the damage number is red, that's actually good: It means you hit a weakness. (Grey damage numbers mean you hit a resistance.)

• Don't be afraid to use rare consumables, especially damage items. The game is pretty good at resupplying you as you progress.

• The only difference between player characters is their stats, but that matters a lot. Whenever you get a new player character, go to the status screen and examine their stat layout to get an idea of how to use them. Matilda and Lorenza are recommended mainstays, as they have the best offensive stats.

• Offensive magic works a bit strangely compared to what you may be used to from other RPGs. It's highly dependent on the base power of the spell, so whenever you upgrade to a higher tier of magic it will massively outdamage everything else you have for a while, but physical attacks will eventually catch up. The same applies to attack items, which work like spells; you'll often be given an attack item for a spell long before you get its spellcard, making it extremely powerful for that point in the game.

• With very few exceptions, every boss has something worth stealing. Only a few boss steals are totally unique, but they're often items you won't find elsewhere for a long time.

• Pick up a Bolster spellcard as soon as you can. The basic cast is a simple buff, but the Crisis cast, Limit Break, can be extraordinarily powerful and will carry you through most of the early game.

• When you get to the island base before the attack on Ft. Walstein, there's a chest hidden behind the tree on the first screen that contains an accessory that will be useful for an upcoming boss fight.

• The Riftgate is vulnerable to Limit Break and non-elemental damage items. Using them will make the fight significantly easier.

• If you're having trouble with the Viviones: They only heal the Vivione directly clockwise from them. If you Mindblow one and kill the one in front of it, you won't have to deal with them healing each other.

• The Towers are optional dungeons that will obliterate you if you attempt them when they're first available. As a general rule of thumb, you should be ready for each by the time you have access to the next tower. (The final one is doable around level 70.) You should definitely do this, as they have good loot.

• The Gate to Elysium is optional endgame content. Don't worry about it until then.

• You can't revisit the Biorite Facility after completing it, so make sure to get everything first. (It will be very obvious where the point of no return is.) The most important item there is the Thinking Cap, which can be found in one of the lockers.

• After completing the Biorite Facility, you can revisit it to obtain a unique Hex tile.

• After the second fight with Tiamat, talk to Barasur to obtain a unique Hex tile.