+----------------------------------------------------------+ | SEVEN ﾐ MOLMORTH NO KIHEITAI (The Cavalry of Molmorth) | | BATTLE SYSTEM FAQ version 1.0 | | By: Random Elf (random_elf@yahoo.ca) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ This document is (c) 2002 Lawrence Wong (Random Elf) and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, for purposes other than private, personal use. This document may be redistributed only if the entire file remains INTACT. Questions, suggestions, or corrections can be directed to random_elf@yahoo.ca. 1/10/03 - version 1.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 - INTRODUCTION 2 - THE BATTLE SYSTEM 3 - TROOP DESCRIPTION (CHARACTER CLASSES) 4 - GENERAL TIPS 5 - TRANSLATION OF TERMS 1 - INTRODUCTION With the upcoming release of Venus and Braves, some users on the message board have expressed interest in its predecessor, SEVEN, because the game uses the same battle system. The purpose of this FAQ is to explain the tactical battle system, character classes, as well as some general strategies in SEVEN. This FAQ is written with lots of references taken from the official strategy guide published by NAMCO. Without the help of the strategy guide, this FAQ would not exist. 2 - THE BATTLE SYSTEM 2.1 Arranging Troops The battles in SEVEN require careful tactical planning by the player. Before the battle begins, the player will be shown the stats of the enemy (hit points, strength, defence, attack pattern, special attacks, etc). The player will then choose seven characters from his troop and arrange them on a 3x4 grid. +-+-+-+-+ | | | | | +-+-+-+-+ | | | | | +-+-+-+-+ | | | | | +-+-+-+-+ The bottom row is the front line. Troops placed on that row will be in direct combat with the enemy. They are the ones who will deal damage to and receive damage from the enemy you fight. The front line will receive full damage from the enemy unless they are being defended by supporting troops in the middle row. The middle row is support row. Characters with attack or defence support abilities will aid the front line from the middle row. Note that a character from the this row can only support a front line character that is directly in front of him or her. Attack and Defence support do not work diagonally. Troops with attack support will allow the front line to deal more damage. Troops with defence support will shield the front line from enemy damage. However, if the enemy deals more damage than the support defender can shield, then the difference is spilled over and will damage the front line. The defenders themselves do not take any damage when shielding the front line (their have strong shields!). Finally, the top row is the recover/heal row. Troops with the healing ability will heal themselves or others when placed in this row. There are two types of healing - Heal Self and Heal Row. Troops with Heal Self can only heal themselfves. On the other hand, troops with Heal Row cannot heal themselves, but they can heal everyone else in that row. Note that troops without healing abilities will have to rely on those with the Heal Row ability. During battle it is important for the front line to be rotated to the back so they can heal themselves (more on rotation later). 2.2 During the Battle Time for some action! During the battle, the computer AI takes over and your troops will attack/defend/heal on their own. You have little control over your troops other than deciding whether or not to rotate the rows after each turn. Rotation is one of the key strategy in SEVEN's battle system. After your front line and the enemy traded blows, a menu will pop up and you can decide to rotate, stay, or run away (you have 5 seconds to make the choice). If you choose to rotate, the back row will hop forward to the middle row, the middle row will hop the the front row, and the front row will jump to the back row. Thus, the front line can now heal themselves in the back row, the back row would become the supporters in the middle row, and the middle row now bicomes the front line to fight. Sounds a bit confusing, but it's very clear once you play it. Rotation is important since the supporters from the middle row can only use their abilities once per rotation. So, if you choose not to rotate and have the front line fight a second turn, they will not get any attack or defence support from the middle row because the abilities were used up in the first battle turn. Also keep in mind that troops with healing abilities can only heal when they are in the back row. Note that the healers in the back row will always heal every turn except the very first turn of the battle. Rotation will also cancel out status ailments such as petrify. There are, however, certain advantages to not rotate. Many enemies have can heal themselves, some enemies can defend, and some enemies have extra damage attacks. Like your troops, they can only use those abilities once per rotation. So, if you don't rotate, they won't be able to heal or use those extra attack/ defend abilities. 2.3 Winning Conditions Usually all you have to do is reduce the enemy's hit points to zero. However, sometimes there are conditions that you must fulfill (just to keep things interesting). One such winning condition is troops formation. Sometimes you must beat an enemy with your troops arranged in a certain formation - e.g. 3-3-1 (3 front - 3 middle - 1 back), or 2-4-1. Since your rows are constantly rotated during battle, you can start a battle in any rotation of the given formation. For example, you can start with the arrangement of 3-1-3 or 1-3-3 in a 3-3-1 fight. Or, in the case of a 2-4-1 fight, you can start with 4-1-2 or 1-2-4. During the battle you MUST keep all your troops alive, since losing any one troop would've changed the formation number and thus losing the winning requirement. Sometimes, as required by the story (you are fighting in a cave, where the air is thin), you must finish the battle in a certain number of turns. 3 - TROOP DESCRIPTION (CHARACTER CLASSES) Each class' stats are marked with asterisks (*). The more asterisks, the more powerful. Obviously, every class has its own advantages and disadvantages. #NOTE# Extra Attack % is actually the chance the character will do extra damage in an attack. It is not a chance to attack twice. _ARCHER_ Hit Points *** Attack Power ** Speed ** Ranged Attack **** Defend Support - Heal (row) - Extra Attack % 2% Description: Instead of Attack Support, the archers have inderect attack - meaning they can attack from the second row with the bow. Thus, their inderect attack will not work if you place someone in front of him and blocks his line of attack. On the front line they attack with throwing daggers. The archers are the most useful in the second row using their ranged attack. However, they can also deal decent damage up close on the front line. -------------- _BARBARIAN_ Hit Points *** Attack Power **** Speed * Attack Support *** Defend Support - Heal - Extra Attack % 4% Description: Attack type class - highest in attack power and very good attack support. Has the second highest hit points after the warriors. Like warriors, the barbarians can be used as tanks to soak up damage. Their weakness lies in their slow speed and reliance to row healers. -------------- _CLERIC_ Hit Points * Attack Power * Speed ** Attack Support - Defend Support *** Heal (row) **** Extra Attack % 5% Description: Defend type class - very high heal row and defend support ability. Good for defencive and recovery type formations. -------------- _KNIGHTS_ Hit Points ** Attack Power ** Speed * Attack Support - Defend Support **** Heal (self) ** Extra Attack % 2% Description: A good all-round fighter with self healing. They are very useful as defence supporters. Put a bunch of knights together and you'll have an army that will not die with constant rotation. Useful when you have to put together a defencive team. -------------- _MAGICIAN (ILLUSIONIST)_ Hit Points * Attack Power *** Speed **** Attack Support - Defend Support - Heal (self) **** Extra Attack % 20% Description: Low in hit points but extremely fast and good self-healing. They also have a fairly high chance of doing extra damage in their attacks. Great for hit-and-run (rotate). Their disadvantage is their low hit points. -------------- _MONK_ Hit Points *** Attack Power * Speed * Attack Support ** Defend Support - Heal (row) **** Extra Attack % 5% Description: Similar to the cleric class, except that monks focus on attack support instead of defence support. They also have more hit points so can take more hits. -------------- _NINJA_ Hit Points *** Attack Power ***x2 Speed **** Attack Support ** Defend Support - Heal (self) ** Extra Attack % 10% Description: Very fast and can attack twice per turn. Useful agains enemies with defencive abilities as the first attack breaks down their defence. Also has decent attack support, high hit points, and self-heal. -------------- _PALADIN_ Hit Points *** Attack Power *** Speed ** Attack Support **** Defend Support **** Heal (row) *** Extra Attack % 1% Description: All-round best fighter. Unfortunately, you don't get to use her much in the game. -------------- _SAMURAI_ Hit Points * Attack Power **** Speed **** Attack Support *** Defend Support - Heal (row) - Extra Attack % 25% Description: Similar to the ninja. The samurai's sharp sword will slice through anything (hence the high extra attack %). Fast and powerful, but relies on row- healers due to low hit points. -------------- _SHAMAN_ Hit Points * Attack Power *petrify Speed * Attack Support - Defend Support *** Heal (self) **** Extra Attack % 2% Description: Their attacks are weak but can petrify enemies. Petrified enemy receives 1.5 times damage than normal. They're too slow and has too few hit points, so I don't find them very useful. -------------- _SIBYL_ Hit Points * Attack Power *x4 Speed **** Attack Support - Defend Support ** Heal (row) *** Extra Attack % 4% Description: Female counterpart to the shaman, but much much more useful. Her multiple attacks make her very useful against enemies with defence ability. Very fast, defends well, and has a high heal row ability. -------------- _VALKYRIE_ Hit Points * Attack Power * Speed *** Ranged Attack **** Defend Support - Heal (self) *** Extra Attack % 4% Description: The female counterpart to the archer. In close-range combat they are weaker than the archer. Their strength lies in their ranged attacks, speed, and the ability to self-heal. -------------- _WARRIOR_ Hit Points **** Attack Power *** Speed ** Attack Support - Defend Support - Heal - Extra Attack % 8% Description: Warrior has the highest hit points compared to other classes. Thus, they will not need to rely on the healers as much. Powerful and fairly fast, they are like tanks on the front line. -------------- _WARRIOR MAGE_ Hit Points **** Attack Power **** Speed ** Attack Support **** Defend Support ** Heal (row) *** Extra Attack % 15% Description: Similar to the paladin, but more focused on the offensive. Strong but you won't get to use him much in the game. In fact, you don't get to use this class at all during the rpg part of the game. Even in the second game that opens up after you complete the rpg portion, this class still will only rarely show up. -------------- _WITCH_ Hit Points * Attack Power * Speed **** Attack Support **** Defend Support *** Heal - Extra Attack % 10% Description: The witch is the ultimate supporter. Has better defence support than the wizards. Although the witch doesn't have high attack power, she is very fast and can be deadly if a strong attack supporter is behind her. -------------- _WIZARD_ Hit Points * Attack Power * Speed * Attack Support **** Defend Support ** Heal (row) *** Extra Attack % 10% Description: The male counterpart of the witch. Although slower and weaker in defence, they have high heal row ability. -------------- 4 - GENERAL TIPS Here are some general tips to get you started: When arranging troops, keep in mind each troop's abilities (can check by pressing the square button during arrangement). Also keep in mind the enemy's abilities and attack patterns so you can counter them. Pay attention to your attack power, defence power, and the amount you can heal. ----- Also, when arranging troops, you will see percentile numbers near the bottom of the grid. This shows the chance of that person getting attacked by the enemy. ----- The enemy's HP, attack power, defence power, heal, special attacks, and attack patterns will be available to you when you arrange your troop. Use the info to your advantage. ----- Some enemies have a preference to who they like to attack. For example, some enemies will attack females. If there's a female character in the front line, then she will always get attacked. If there are no females, then the enemy attacks as normal. Other examples attack preferences include: attack row-healers, attack self healers, attack the oldest/youngest, etc. ----- Some of your troops or enemies will be aligned to an element (earth, air, water, or fire). The dominance of elements goes like this: AIR > EARTH /\ \/ FIRE < WATER When a dominating element attacks a dominated element, the damage is increased by 25%. When a dominated element attacks a dominating element, the damage is reduced by 25%. For example, when WATER attacks FIRE, it will do 25% more damage. But, when FIRE attacks WATER, it will do 25% less damage. ----- Fatigue - after a battle, if the total amount of damage that a character has received is equal or more than his/her total hit points and has survived (due to healing), then he/she will be fatigued. A fatigued character will be denoted by a blue sad face. The stats (other than HP) of a fatigued character will decrease as they don't perform as well when tired. A normal character is denoted by a yellow neutral face. A well-rested character is denoted by a red happy face. Stats other than HP of a well-rested character will increase. If you have fatigued characters after a battle, switch them out and let them rest through the next few battles. ----- Age - your troops and characters will age as the game progresses. Everyone has a growth phase, peak performance phase, and decline phase. During the growth phase the character's stats will increase once a year. The stats will stablise with little increase during the peak performance phase. Finally, when a character reaches his/her age of decline the stats will actually decrease with each year. ----- Rotation during battle is important, as it allows your injured troops to heal and refresh support abilities. However, against certain high leveled monsters, rotation can actually hinder you if the monster can heal a large amount of HP when you rotate. The way to beat such a monster is of course not to rotate, and place your most powerful fighters up at the front. The SEVEN strategy guide suggests this: +-+-+-+-+ | | |*| | A= Archer +-+-+-+-+ W= Warrior |A|w|w|A| w= witch +-+-+-+-+ *= any | |W|W| | +-+-+-+-+ The front line should have at least one warrior. They have high hit points and have good attack power. For the other spot on the front line, you can put in a barbarian or another warrior. Samurai, ninja, and magician are also good choices for the second spot if they have reasonably high hit points. The witch supports the front line with their superb attack and defence support abilities. If you don't have witches, other good choices are wizards, paladins, or warrior mages. The archers with their powerful ranged attacks pack quite a puch without exposing themselves to enemy attacks. Valkyries are also good here if you don't have archers. I've tried out this formation and it works! ----- 5 - TRANSLATION OF TERMS This game contains lots of kanji (Chinese characters). Here are the ones pertaining to enemy and troop stats. 5.1 Your Troops 職種 - character type 騎士 - knight 戦士 - warrior 幻術師 - magician 神官 - cleric 僧侶 - monk 魔術師 - wizard 魔女 - witch 剣闘士 - barbarian アーチャー - archer ヴァルキリー - valkyrie サムライ - samurai ニンジャ - ninja 祈梼師 - shaman 巫女 - sibyl 聖騎士 - paladin 魔騎士 - warrior mage 5.2 Troop Parameters 属性 - element type 年齢 - age ピーク年齢 - peak performance age 衰退年齢 - age of decline 疲労度 - fatigue 攻撃力 - attack power (the actual damage that will be done to the enemy) 素早さ - speed 攻撃補助 - attack support 間接攻撃 - range attack (archers and valkyries) 防御補助 - defence support 回復力（自） - heal (self) 回復力（列） - heal (row) 5.3 Enemy Stats (I'm only listing terms that haven't appeared above) 能力 - abilities 攻撃パターン - attack pattern 特殊攻撃 - special attacks 　列攻撃 - row attack (the attack will damage the entire row) 　複数攻撃 - multiple attacks (will attack multiple targets) 　連続攻撃 - series attack (attacks several times on a single target) 　怒りの一撃 - raging blow (extra damage attack) 　生命力奪取 - steal life 　死の呪い - curse of death (the target cannot heal) 　石化攻撃 - petrify attack (turns target to stone) 　力を溜める - save strength (charge up to do double damage next turn) 思考 - enemy AI (how they will choose their target) 　きまぐれに攻撃 - whimsical (choice of target only affected by the percentile you see at the bottom of the grid when arranging troops) 　女性を狙う - targets females 　(class type)を狙う - targets a certain class type 　列回復者／自回復者を狙う - targets row/self healers 　HPの低い者を狙う - targets the lowest HP of the row 　若者を狙う - targets the youngest of the row 初回攻撃力 - the extra damage that will be dealt at the beginning of each rotation; works only once per rotation 初回防御力 - the extra defence the monster will have at the beginning of each rotation; works only once per rotation End of FAQ