================
VAGRANT STORY
Introduction FAQ
================

by Henry H. Jerng
on March 14th, 2000
at hjerng@leland.stanford.edu


CONTENTS
I.  Personal Notes
II.  Vagrant Story
     A. Story Introduction 
     B. Charaction Introduction
     C. Script to the Introduction
III.  Gameplay
     A. Screen Display
     B. Controls
     C. Battles



C. BATTLES

1. Battle System Analysis
-------------------------
     In preparing to fight with monsters, remember that weapon attack is 
the basis of battle.  You must fight many monsters and the Holy Knight 
sqad in Lea Monde.  To fight these enemies, first try to remember the 
weapon attack, the basics of battle.
     First, learn the flow of combat.  For ways to fight monsters, there 
are 2 types of attack:  weapon attack and magic attack.  I'll first show 
you the flow of battle by using a most basic weapon attack scenario as 
an example.  When in relax mode, you can enter the battle mode by 
pressing the circle button.  The basic controls in the battle mode are 
not that different from those in the relax mode.  Exceptions:  circle 
button = open target dome; X Button = return to relax mode.

Step 1:  Discover enemy.  Go to battle mode.
     When not in battle mode, you cannot attck with weapons.  However, 
because recovery (such as health) is slow in battle mode, to stay in the 
battle mode is an invitation to danger.
     Special features of battle mode include:  recovery of HP, MP, and 
Rick is slow, and Phantom Point decreases.

Step 2:  Open target dome.
     The size of target dome changes depending on the weapon.  The 
target dome is a dome that displays the limit of your weapon's reach.  
The bigger the weapon's range value, the bigger the dome becomes.  If 
the dome is big, you can attack your enemy from a distance, and 
naturally the chances of receiving damage will decrease.

Step 3:  Select a limb to attack.
     The damage value and hit rate differ from limb to limb.  When you 
have the enemy within the target dome, now you will select a limb (body 
part) to attack.  Because the damage value and hit rate differ from limb 
to limb, you should try to attack a limb with the highest hit rate and 
the biggest damage value you can find.

Step 4:  After selecting a limb, begin attack.
     Whenever you attack, Risk goes up.  When you decide on a limb to 
attack, you'll naturally move to attack.  No matter if you hit or miss, 
the Risk value goes up.  Because Risk will exert various effects on the 
battle when it gets high, you'll want to defeat the enemy quickly.  
(When the Rick value gets high, your hit rate will drop and the damage 
value inflicted will increase.  It will be easier to dish out a critical 
hit.)

Step 5:  The battle ends when you defeat the enemy.
     Maybe the enemy will drop an item.  If you defeat the enemy, the 
battle will end.  The expended HP, MP, and Risk will automatically 
recover.  If there is no other enemy around, try to change quickly back 
to relax mode because the recovery speed is faster.  And, when the 
battle has ended, the enemy may drop an item or two.

2. Kick Monster's Ass with a Powerful Force
-------------------------------------------
     (Acquire magic by reading "Grimoa")  Magic is said to have 
ordinarily existed long ago, more than 2000 years ago.  That power 
exists in Lea Monde.  If you can use them, there's no need to be afraid 
of monsters.

- Acquire magic by reading "Grimoa"
     You can obtain the power of magic by reading spell books called 
"Grimoa", which you get from chests inside the dungeons or monsters as 
war spoils.  Magic that you've remembered can be used infinitely, 
although it will consume MP.  There are 4 types of magic:  Sorcery, 
Theology, Warlock, and Enchant.  They each have different roles as 
introduced below.  You can use magic by selecting from menu options, or 
you can operate it speedily by using shortcut command (using the L2 
button).

a.  Sorcery- assistance type (L2 button + square button)
     Sorcery has an important assistance role.  It can cause status 
changes such as poison or paralysis on the enemy, or it can increase 
your own ability.  When a long battle (such as a boss fight) is 
foreseen, these magics are helpful.
     Examples:  Miserable Body (Cause enemy's strength to decrease for a 
fixed time; its attack and defense abilities both drop; try to use this 
on monsters with high attack ability), Protect (increases weapon and 
armor status temporarily; a magic useful on a boss fight), and Unlock 
(open chests and key-requiring doors with magic).

b.  Theology- recovery type (L2 button + triangle button)
     Theology has the role of recovering your health and curing abnormal 
statuses.  The magic "heal", which recovers HP, also has the effect of 
giving damage to undead monsters.
     Examples:  Heal (Recover HP by healing wounds; can give damage to 
undead monsters), Antedote (Recover from poison; has the same effect as 
the item "Spiritual Prayer"), and Generous Heal (HP will steadily heal 
for a fix time; useful in a long fight).

c.  Warlock- attack type (L2 button + circle button)
     This type has the role of giving damage to the enemy.  If you are 
using it with the same essentials as a weapon attack, it is possible to 
give big damage to multiple limbs.  As for these magic, you can give 
bigger damage as your intelligence increases.
     Examples:  Fireball (attack magic with fire property; red-hot 
fireballs launched to inflict damage on enemy; effective against water-
type monsters), Spirit Surge (attack magic with spiritual property; 
spirit of light released to cause damage; effective against the undead 
with high darkness properties), and Explosion (attack magic with 
physical property; explosion ignited at enemy's location and causes 
damage to multiple limbs).

d.  Enchant- attribute type (L2 button + X button)
     This magic causes various attributes to be added to your weapons 
and armor.  When attacking a monster with the attribute of fire, water, 
wind, or earth, you can turn the battle to your advantage by using 
protective magic to resist weapon-based or powerful attribute attacks.
     Examples:  Frost Attach (water-type attribute magic; changes 
weapon's attribute to "water attribute" temporarily; effective against 
fire-type monsters), Spark Guard (fire-type attribute magic; changes the 
armor's attribute to "fire attribute" temporarily; resistance against 
fire increases), and Soil Guard (earth-type attribute magic; changes the 
armor's attribute to "earth attribute" temporarily; resistance against 
earth increases.

-Magic collectively puts enemy to rout by attacking multiple limbs.
     There are magic that has a wide range of attack.  If used 
correctly, you can obliterate the enemy in one hit, but you cannot use 
too much because they use up too much MP.  These magic have levels, and 
if its level becomes high its effective limit becomes larger.  And if 
your too close, you'll get hurt too.

-Magical power changes depending on your equipment.
     Intelligence values greatly affect the power of attack magic.  If 
you equip a weapon that causes INT to increase and enter battle mode, 
the weapon's intelligence value is added and damage is increased.  In 
case of recovery magic, pay attention to the armor's "magic defense 
power (INT/DEFENCE)".  The more this "decrease", the more the recovery 
value gets bigger.  For using recovery magic in the middle of battle, 
you can consider taking off the shield.

3.  The Various Abilities Useful in Battle
------------------------------------------
     There are deadly fighting techniques sealed in your memory.  As the 
game unrolls monsters and fierce battles, battle abilities will bring 
various support effects to your fighting.  If you reach eventual levels, 
will you even need weapons and armor?!
     There are two techniques:  attack and defense techniques, also 
known as Chain Ability and Defense Ability, respectively.  Chain Ability 
enhances your attack, and Defense Ability enhances your defense.  You 
can activate them by pressing buttons at proper timing.  There are many 
supplemental attacks, damage reduction, and beneficial things, but 
everytime you use them the Risk gradually increases.

a.  Chain Ability
     This will allow you to defeat the enemy without giving it a chance 
to counterattack.  For Chain Ability, you can link up attacks by 
pressing buttons at the right timing (by synchronizing with the "!" mark 
displayed on the screen).  To get a knack for Chain attack, get 
acquainted with every ability's "motion" and "!'s timing".  The motion 
is divided into 3 types.  I want you to remember their movement and 
timing and make them useful in battle.

(Weapon Motion)
Additional Damage Type (A-type)
     On top of being relatively easy to perform, they have a rather 
highly useful value.  Just disburse this type alternatively with 
another, you will connect many hits.  Examples:  Heavy Shot, Mind 
Assault, Raging Ache, Insane Ache, and Crimson Blade.

Recovery Type (B-type)
     An operation to quietly dispose of the enemy by thrusting the 
sword.  Timing is critical, and try to remember it precisely to handle 
to Gain Phantom.  Examples:  Gain Life, Gain Magic, Gain Damage, and 
Gain Phantom.

Abnormal Status Type (C-type)
     It gives abnormal status such as silent, poison, and paralysis.  It 
is relatively easy to perform, but it is highly difficult to get the 
timing of the rightward motion.  Examples:  Paralysis Pulse, Numbing 
Claw, Dullness Bind, and Snake Venom.

b.  Defense Ability
     They work similar to the Attack Abilities; you must assign the 
abilities to square, triangle, or circle buttons and press one at the 
proper time.










4.  Break Arts Exist in Your Weapons.
-------------------------------------
     Break Arts attack by consuming your HP, unlike magic that uses MP.  
It's a powerful technique that can pulverize the enemy in one blow if 
certain criteria are met.

a.  It's possible to defeat the enemy in one hit.
     You can use Break Arts by expending your HP.  Their attack powers 
are things that can't be estimated.  If you use it with considerations 
for attributes and type, it's possible to bury the enemy in one hit.  
Break Arts is different from magic, and you cannot use it if you're not 
in battle mode.  Because it will consume HP, it is the same thing as if 
you had actually fought.  It's good that it gives big damage, but  you 
should try to be careful because if they are used too much, you may lose 
quickly.  If you use it often, you need to recover HP very often.

b.  The number of defeated enemies will become experience points.
     You can remember Break Arts by defeating a set number of enemies.  
If you look at menus, you will know how many you still need to kill 
until the next Break Arts.  A point is the same as one enemy you must 
kill, so if the point for swords is 10, then you can remember the next 
sword Break Arts if you kill 10 more enemies with a sword-type weapon.

c.  There is Break Arts even for bare hands.
     You may mostly consider Break Arts as a "powerful weapon attack" 
simply hidden in every weapon type, but actually that is not what they 
are.  Break Arts has "attack attribute" and "attack type" in techniques, 
and there are cases where if they depended on the weapon type, they 
would be completely different.  For example, sword's "Dark Slayer" has 
the attack type of "cut", but this does not change even when you use 
Rapier (a pierce-type weapon).  This applies to attributes too.  Because 
Break Arts exist even for bare hands, the breadth of fighting will 
probably become wider if you let yourself have the attribute to fight 
bare handed.

5.  Advanced Battle Techniques
------------------------------
     Fight freely with all the techniques!  Colorful magic, numerous 
Battle Abilities, whole-body Break Arts...  I'll introduce a battle 
technique for livening up these attacks.

a.  Fight without receiving damage by getting a headstart with long-
distance attacks.
     As a way to kill enemies without getting damaged, headstart attacks 
can be joined with distance attacks.  Equip a weapon with wide range and 
wait for the enemy to get near.  If you open and shut the dome quickly, 
you will know when it is in battle range at any time.
     After you've made your first attack, you can run away before the 
enemy attacks.  Attack again when it gets near again, and you can defeat 
it without getting attacked by the enemy.  Get a knack for making its 
movement slowed by attacking the legs first.  Monsters attack when there 
is a "!" in their overhead balloon.  If you can attack quickly before 
that happens, it's possible to get a headstart even with a weapon like a 
dagger.

b.  Continuous attack using abbreviated commands.
     After attacking with weapon, attack with magic or Break Arts by 
quickly pressing the L2 button.  If you press the circle button at the 
same time as you let go of the L2 button, you'll be back in the weapon 
battle, and there will be some time remaining.  Progress in battle while 
verifying the abbreviated commands often by pressing the L2 button.

c.  Check enemy attribute and attack its weak point.
     If you do not match the weapon you're carrying with the enemy's 
race, attribute, and type, then you cannot give as much damage as you 
think possible.  The magic "Analysis" is useful at that time.  You can 
see the enemy's status by using this magic and pressing the L-R button 
to open the status screen.  Try to attack with a weapon that correctly 
suits the enemy.

d.  Battle techniques that use Battle Ability
     When you can't find the enemy's weakness, or you don't have the 
weapon that works, try to attack with Battle Ability.  Battle Ability 
has things that can give damage with no connection with attack ability, 
is different from normal attack, and has success rate that does not 
deteriorate depending on the rise in Risk.  There are times when they 
work on bosses, and its appeal is to give damage without regard to 
anything.  If you use practically the ability, even if Risk is 100, you 
can defeat any enemy.

6. Introduction to Customization
--------------------------------
	You can get your hands on high-quality equipment by grasping the 
systems for how various weapons and defensive items grow and how they 
can be combined and assembled.

a.  The set up of weapons and defensive items (Disassembling and 
assembling weapons and defensive items)
     Weapons are divieded into "Blade" and "Grip", and they can be 
replaced with various other parts.  A weapon's performance is decided 
with the grip's performance as the core, and that is combined with the 
blade's.  The blade can be strengthened by the mixing, but you'll use 
grips as you get them.  It's a good idea to destroy one's that you won't 
use.
     Shields can be equipped and un-equipped with mystery stones.  There 
are shields that can equip multiple stones, and it's important how they 
are combined.

b.  Development system for weapons and defensive items.
     Weapons and defensive items develop thru use.  Parameters that 
conform to certain criteria will change depending on the race and 
attributes of monsters you encounter.  Even equipments basically low in 
attack and defensive abilities can have their performance raised to some 
degree by having their race and attribute parameters developed.  
Furthermore, if you utilize combination and development together, you 
can create very high performance equipment.

c.  Values change by making attacks and receiving attacks.
     Weapon's parameters change by attacking and defensive item's 
parameters change by receiving enemy attacks.  Pay attention because 
parameters can increase by this mutual relationship, but there are also 
things that can decrease them.  (If you turn on "display the equipment 
development value", the value change in parameters will be shown.)

d.  Effects of DP, PP, and equipment repair.
     DP and PP increase or decrease depending on combat.  If DP is zero, 
equipment performance reduces by half.  If PP reaches maximum, 
attributes are increased.  In short, if both DP and PP are at their 
maximum, you can realize the full performance of that equipment.  You 
can recover lost DP by repairing equipment in the factory.  Because PP 
decreases gradually in battle mode, it's better to operate in relax 
mode.

7.  Changes in Attribute/Race Parameters
----------------------------------------
     Developing and enhancing weapons and defensive items may be better 
called increasing parameters.  Basic attacks and defense abilities are 
established on various weapons and defensive items, but you can conduct 
battles with a good deal of strategy by grasping contents of parameters 
and increasing them.  I'll explain about attributes and race that have 
effects on them and their properties.

a.  Attribute's relations and its rise
     Attributes have connections that have "natural laws" that 
exclusively antagonize each other.  This shows that attributes are 
mutual weak points.  If you attack an enemy with some attribute, then 
the attribute that antagonizes that enemy's equipment rises.  In short, 
this is how youw weapon can automatically adapt to that enemy's 
weakness.  For defensive items, because they receive attacks, the 
attribute that is the same as the enemy's rises.  This shows endurance 
toward that attribute.

b.  Attribute's relations and increase/decrease of their values
     Race parameters also changes attribute values through attacks and 
defenses, and the enemy's race is a influence.  However, the 
relationship between races is like in the table below (not shown); for 
example, if you attack a human, that weapon's beast and undead values 
decrease.  Naturally, your basic consideration is to understand how to 
use weapons depending on race, because weapons are effective against 
races that you have highest values against.
     You should develop three types of weapons:  Type 1 = human / 
phantom; Type 2 = beast / dragon ; Type 3 = undead / evil.

- About combining weapons and defensive items
     You can combine weapons and defensive items in factories, but it's 
hard to get a high performance weapon by simply combining haphazardly.  
You need to consider the points from combining weapons, shield, and 
defensive items, while investigating trends in parameter changes.
     If you roughly understand the main points on combing weapons, then 
you know that the three important factors are material quality, types, 
and parameters.

8.  How to Fight in Order to Forge Your Equipment
-------------------------------------------------
     Your equipment are enriched only when you understand how to fight.  
Your weapons and defensive items develop after repeated battles.  Here, 
I'll introduce some practical battle strategies in case you want to 
intentionally develop your equipments.

a.  It's important what attribute your weapons are made of
     In enriching weapons, there are ways to increase race and attribute 
parameters.  Race affects amount of direct damage, and damage gradually 
increases only when race value rises.  Meanwhile, the numerical value of 
various attributes determines the weapon's special attribute- which is 
the one with the highest number.  By increasing both the race parameter 
and attribute parameter, you can give huge damage by developing weapons 
directed at the enemy's weakness.

b.  One attribute per weapon
     One thing to watch out for when developing weapons is to have one 
attribute per weapon.  The weapon's attribute is the one with the 
highest numerical value, and other attributes are ignored.  You should 
efficiently raise your capability by attacking enemies with different 
attributes with different weapons.
     When attacking enemy with same attribute, you can more efficiently 
increase attribute and race parameters by using a different weapon, but 
when considering all the types, attributes, and races, it may be 
insufficient no matter how many weapons are available.

c.  Seriously consider the hit rate and increase the frequency of 
attacks
     There's no reason why parameters would change by attacking just 
once, but it certainly is easier for them to change if you increase the 
frequency of attacks.  Furthermore, if an attack is not successfully 
made, parameters do not increase.  So, your weapon's enhancement 
probably progress more if you select limbs with higher hit rate and 
lower damage.

d.  Combination is basic to enrichment of defense items
     In the case of enriching defensive items, it's basically enough to 
just combine them.  You can gradually combine war trophies from monsters 
and create high grade defense items by paying attention to defensive 
values against every type of attack.  Then direct attacks won't be much 
of a problem.  Against attacks such as magic and special attacks, try to 
defend by equipping special stones on shields.  If you can increase all 
the parameters and not stick to just one attribute, then no attack will 
be able to touch you.
     For example:  This is how you make defensive items against the fire 
attribute, such as a fire attack like dragon's breath.  First, find 
monsters that attack with that attribute and receive their attacks while 
minimizing damage with defense ability.  In the case of enriching 
shields, you must be in battle mode.  To suppress reduction of PP, the 
weapons need to be drawn.

d.  Finally, your efforts will be rewarded
     Your equipment are appreciably fortified by fighting with careful 
thought.  You'll allow your equipment to inherit attributes by combining 
them with things obtained from monsters, and they will evolve into 
powerful weapons and defensive items.  From this slow but sure effort as 
well as research on monsters and weapon/defense items, the strongest 
equipment will be born.


THE END