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Basic Setup



Battle in Oracle of Tao is very similar on paper to the average RPG, but there are some subtle differences. Let's start with the basics. Commands are divided into seven categories: Limit, Fight, Spell, Special, Defend, Item, Flee.

Using Fight or Defend triggers Buildup effect. When this happens the Faceset of the character changes to a bar adding to a limit break meter. Depending on the weapon, attacks can cause from 1-6 hits, and certain weapons can possibly cause more. Damage of physical attacks generally isn't as hard as spells, but this chain ability is what allows greater damage potential.

Whenever you use Fight, MP regains equal to your level. Whenever you use Defend, HP regains equal to your level (Nevras regains both if you defends).

When Limit break reaches maximum, the Fight (usually, Aqorm replaces her Geomancy skill with Coin Toss) becomes replaced by Limit. Limits take no MP to use, but they generally take a longer time to charge up for.

Spells use MP (duh), which much then be recovered either with certain items like Mana Water or by using Fight. Certain Spells systems do not use this model. For instance, Ambrosia uses no MP at all in her Oracles, but they can only be used every other turn.

Flee is 100% effective in battle. There are no failed flee attempts. You generally cannot flee boss battles though.

Finally, there are Special commands. These commands do special effects in battle, and are often learned through secrets in the game. An example would be Azrael's Binding, which gets rid of small ghosts. Each Special has its own mechanic, for instance, Binding gradually becomes stronger with repeated use, allowing her to exorcise stronger ghosts.

ECS

ECS stands for Environment Condition System. This system has been a work in progress for some time, starting out as a number of smaller battle systems, until a main event that connected all of these was made. ECS is actually a 7-in-1 battle system, so let's talk about each type.

Day Night System


Day Night System (or DNS for short), was actually the first battle system to be made. It uses a turn-based model, but instead of basing it on things like initiative, the hour of the day is used as a model to determine whether you or the enemy go first. If you go first, the enemy skips turns, until party members act. If the enemy goes first (night), the party has sleep status. After this initial disadvantage at night, the rest of the battle appears to proceed normally to turn based.

After roughly 12 turns (some battles have more or less, but most are averaged around 12), day turns into night or night turns into day, meaning the turn order reverses itself. This also means it is possible to get hit by Sleep several times per battle.

Variant Day Night
This is almost identical to Day Night System, except there is no twelve turn cycle.

Turn Based



Turn-based system works based on an initiative roll, deciding whether the party or monsters have a turn first. Although it is technically turn-based, ATB does come into play when deciding action order (hence the meter is still there). It should also be noted that it is possible to disrupt the turns by acting when it is technically the enemy's turn (although the monster has to wait, you do not) but doing so may throw off the turn order, possibly giving them a second round of attacks.

Another thing to note is that not all monsters wait for turns. Some monsters (particularly robots and dragons) have the ability to ignore turns, allowing them to attack as many times as they want, provided they have the ATB meter at full.

Low Light Battle



Low light battles have restricted visibility, being inside a cave or underground. These battles are turn-based, but with the added complication of not being able to use most physical attacks, due to blindness. These battles tend to be all the more challenging if you should run out of MP, since there is no way of hitting enemies physically.

Snow Battle



Snow battles are turn-based as before, but produce a steady drain on HP. The effect is somewhat gradual, but this adds up over many turns. There is also a minor effect on the chance of hitting enemies.

Rain Battle



Rain battles are turn-based, but drain MP and lower chance of hitting enemies. Having MP drained sounds minor, but combined with tougher enemies or a large group, can make a long battle longer, or a challenging battle even more difficult. It is important to remember that Attack/Defend restores some of your MP each turn, and this can help keep you from running out of mana.

Heat Battle



Hot battles are turn-based as before, but produce a steady drain on HP that is much larger than snow battles. It is important to end these battles quickly, since even a few turns can run down HP to almost nothing.

(There are also a few additional evironmental conditions. Unlike the others, these are caused by the monsters.)

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There's also two special terrain effects. Cruel World (any attack you make deal damage to your allies), and Pure World (constant healing, with damage to you if you attack. This one also applies to the enemy, making battles very weird).
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Where is the "normal battle" type?
Normal battles are for wimps. In an actual battle in real life, you would be out during the day or night, it would be raining or snowing, or you're fighting in a cave and you would have to make do with imperfect situations.

The closest thing is Turn Based (I don't like ATB).
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