Star Ocean Anamnesis general FAQ

>What is Star Ocean Anamnesis?
Star Ocean Anamnesis (SOA) is a mobile game for Android and iOS devices.  Its story takes place in S.D. (Space Date) 539, two years after Star Ocean 5 making it the second to last game in the current timeline (the last being SO3).  It is a free to download and play gacha game where you use currency acquired in game (or purchased with real money) to summon characters and weapons from across the entire Star Ocean series to help you battle your way out of the ass end of galactic nowhere and back to Earth.  Combat is real time with simple touch controls.

>Real money?  Is this a pay to win game?
As far as these types of games go, SOA is considered very generous with regards to the free currency given out through gameplay, events, log in bonuses, etc.  You can clear all content in the game without spending a dime if you feel like it.

>What do I need to play?
Any modern-ish Android or iOS device should be able to run the game.  The global version is currently available in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (SE is considering expanding this).  If your device can't run the game or you're not in a region where it's on the app store, you can try emulating it.  Though be warned, emulation for this game isn't perfect and each emulator has its own issues such as:
-Nox has fucked up lighting.
-Bluestacks3 can't display hair models, some enemies are invisible and the game will crash during story segments and maps.
-Bluestacks3N with Advanced Graphics enabled can run the game properly but it's such a resource hog the game will lag badly unless you have a really good PC.
Here's a guide for getting the game to work on Nox: https://www.reddit.com/r/soanamnesis/comments/8xpvw2/noxplayer_for_star_ocean_anamnesis_a_brief_guide/

And here's a /sog/ guide for Nox that fixes the dark display issue:
>Launch Nox (OpenGL mode)
>go to where you installed Nox (should be C:\Program Files (x86)\Nox\bin)
>open a command window there
>type "nox_adb devices -l" (without quotes) to check what's the port number of your Nox instance
>type "nox_adb -s 127.0.0.1:XXXXX shell setprop persist.nox.quality 1" (without quotes)
>replace XXXXX with the port number you got from doing devices -l and press enter to send the command
>launch the game
>everything looks great

Use shift + right click inside the Nox folder and there should be a "open command window here".


>Is there multiplayer?  PvP? Guilds?
Multiplayer plays a big element in this game, as you can host almost any stage in the game (main story, events, daily grinding dungeons) and have up to three other players help you out through co-op.  There isn't any pvp or guilds in this game.

>Do I have to reroll for an amazing character when I start?
You don't have to, the game isn't that hard and you'll soon be swimming in gems to summon more powerful characters if you prefer a favorite character over a more “meta” pick.  That being said, the “best” characters to reroll for are likely gonna be in flux fairly often, so ask the thread who's good/available right now.

>How do I reroll?
Don't sync your game account to a facebook or google play games account until it is the account you want to keep.  You don't need to uninstall/reinstall, you just need to go to the app data in your device's settings and clear it, then reboot the game.

>Do I need to play all the other Star Ocean games to understand this one?
No, SOA is designed for newcomers and fans alike.  The story is self-contained and relatively simple to be honest.  That being said, be sure to give the rest of the series a try; you'll appreciate the characters you use in SOA that much more!

>What is an ACE character?
ACE is like separate rarity from 5* (even though they still say 5*).  Confused yet?  Okay, some characters in this game are 5* characters and some characters in this game are 5* ACE characters.  There aren't two separate versions of each 5* character; a characters is either an ACE or a non-ACE, never both.  But what's so special about ACEs you say?  ACEs are even stronger than non-ACE 5*s.  They are the most powerful units in the game.  You can recognize them by the rainbow text when you summon them.
ACEs come with better passives and better modifiers in their active skills and rush combo, where non-ACE units are generally weaker and more situational in their use.  ACE units are rarer and require more materials to upgrade than a normal 5* (twice as many orbs to augment, twice as many Large Limit Break items to limit break).

>What should I be doing?
First, work your way through the story.  This will make you rank up enough that you'll have enough maximum stamina to host and join all event stages.  Make sure you do your three maze runs per day, every day (they cost no stamina).  See below for more on the maze.

>How do I unlock the stages with a red fireball icon?
You need a Barrier Blaster.  You can get them from clearing certain story stages (like the final one of Chapter 2, the first planet you find one of these barriers on) and buy them from event shops with the coins you get from grinding the events.  You only need to use one on a given stage once, then it's unlocked forever.

>What is the Maze of Tribulations?
The Maze (as well as the Events menu) unlocks after you get halfway through Chapter 1 (clear stage 1-23).  Every day you can clear it three times before it locks itself.  Emphasis on “clear”; if you fail or quit once entering a floor of the Maze, it doesn't count against this limit of three attempts.  Only once you clear a floor, any floor, does one of the three daily uses of the Maze go away.  One very notable thing about the MoT is that it is single player only, making it the only part of the game where you can't invite people for co-op to help you clear it; it's up to your own strength.  Each time you clear a floor, another, harder floor unlocks until you clear the whole thing.  Each time you clear a floor, you get Maze Coins which you can use at the Item Exchange (located at the Shop screen) to purchase gems for summoning.  You can also exchange Maze Coins for special mission tickets but you really shouldn't do this; you'll get enough of those tickets through normal play and events and gems are the most valuable thing in the game.  Once you've got at least 40 stamina and have one max level character (see below for making your character stronger) you are ready to hit up those time limited events.  Grind them, get their coins for their respective shops, then get the items you want from the shops.  Oh, and as you do all of these things, make sure to check the starter missions on the Bridge (home screen) for a bunch of extra free items; you'll end up completing these just through normal gameplay since the missions are things like level a character or weapon to a certain level, clear the maze 3 times, run enhancement daily dungeons a certain number of times, trade in coins at shops, etc.  Note that except for the level up a character missions, these missions aren't counted retroactively so if you did your three maze runs for the day and unlock a starter mission that wants you to do maze runs, well, you'll have to wait for tomorrow (it sucks, I know).

>How do I make my characters stronger?
Since clearing stages gives minimal exp, the best way to level up is by using exp prisms.  Go to Characters > Status Enhancements then select the character you wish to enhance.  Rainbow prisms give a lot of exp to every character but most prisms you get will be color-coded.  Each of the five colors corresponds to one of the five roles/classes and gives extra exp to characters of the appropriate role.

The colors are:
Red = Attacker
Blue = Sharpshooter
Yellow = Defender
Purple = Invoker
Green = Healer

The best place to get these prisms are from the daily enhancement dungeons on the Events screen.  There is a general dungeon for all types of prisms but it's better to go for one of the specific ones which cycle through the following schedule:

Invoker Enhancements = Monday
Attacker Enhancements = Tuesday
Sharpshooter Enhancements = Wednesday
Healer Enhancements = Thursday
Defender Enhancements = Friday
All = Saturday & Sunday

You can also get augment materials for the various roles from these dungeons (and this is the best source of them short of buying them from the item shop).  Lets talk augments.  When you get a character to their maximum level (60 for 5* units, which is pretty much all you're going to use), you can augment them to a new star level (6* being the limit).  For that you'll use augment mats that you get from the enhancement dungeons just like prisms.  To perform augmentation, go to the Character menu and tap Augment, then the unit you wish to augment.  It will show you how many of each mat you need.  Once you augment, the star of the character's rarity will increase, their level will increase, and they will get some improvements to their passives or maybe a new skill.  However, they will be reduced to level one and you will need to level them up again to their new max.  You can also enhance your characters' stats permanently on the enhancement screen with seeds.  Seeds are dropped from the Frost Tree event dungeon (open Monday to Friday) and the Crystal Guardian event dungeon (open Saturdays & Sundays).  Here's a link to a Japanese site that gives a breakdown on seeds and how many stat points you can get from using them (use Google Translate for it if you can't read moon):
https://wikiwiki.jp/soanamnesis/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89

>What does Limit Break mean?
Limit breaking permanently boosts all of your stats and a character can be limit broken up to ten times total.  They don't need to be max level or 6* to do this.  Select  Limit Break on the Character screen to do this, and it will tell you how many limit break items you need to break a unit's limits.  They come in small, medium and large varieties but you do not need to use the total number of small, medium and large limit breakers listed; you only need one category.  So if you need 50 small, 10 medium or 2 large limit breakers to limit break your Maria, that really just means you only need 2 large.  You can get large limit breakers from events, and small and medium ones are farmable (at low rates) from the story eventually.  Of particular note, whenever you pull a second (or third, fourth, etc) copy of a character you own, they will automatically be limit broken for free.  You can also limit break weapons, which takes us to...

>How do I improve my weapons?
To level up a weapon (or accessory), go to Items then Enhance.  You can fuse hammers or trash weapons (1*, 2*) to give weapons exp and threads and accessories to give accessories exp.  Hammers and thread give more exp than fusing weapons and there are hammer and thread daily dungeons that alternate Monday to Sunday (starting with the hammer one on Monday).  Once a weapon has hit level 10 it is capped until you “uncap” it by fusing a copy of the same weapon (it doesn't matter what level the fused copy is).  This can be down up to five times, increasing the level cap each time to a maximum of 20.   Uncapping also unlocks new passive boons called factors that the weapon grants.

>What is transmuting?
If a weapon is at least level 10 (there is no reason to go higher than 10 for the purpose of transmuting), you can select the Transmute option on the Item screen to transmute it.  This involves fusing five weapons of the same rarity into the level 10 weapon (they do not need to be the same weapon type).  Once this happens, the weapon is lost forever but you acquire a new weapon of the same weapon type that is one rarity higher.  For example, you level an Inferior Sword (1* sword) to level 10, then go to Transmute and fuse five 1* weapons into it.  The level 10 Inferior Sword is gone and you now have a new level 1 2* sword (which could be one of several different swords).  This can be used to acquire 5* weapons and you can even transmute those!  If you sacrifice a 5* weapon by transmuting it, you will receive a 5* weapon coin of that weapon's type.  You can exchange these coins at the Item Exchange under “5* [Weapon Type] Coin Exchange.”  As for which weapons are good here, elemental weapons are prized above all others because by hitting a boss' elemental weakness repeatedly, you can stun it.  Weapons that do extra damage against certain races of enemies like humans or machines are also useful.  Don't feel pressured to transmute all your weapons away though; the best weapons come from the weapon gacha eventually and you can get tickets from events that guarantee 5* weapons from said gachas.

>How do I get more money/fol?
Best way is to sell ingots.  Ingots aren't good for anything but selling for cash, so sell them!  You can get them through events and normal gameplay but the best way to get them is from the ingot dungeons that are open on Saturday & Sunday.  A little tip for when you do sell platinum ingots, sell them 2 at a time. The “acquire 200k fol” achievement is repeatable so every 200k you make you get an extra 30k.

>What do I do with this launch coin?
>The pre-register campaign resulted in new accounts starting with a bunch of free items, including a Launch Coin.  To use it, go to the Shop, then Item Exchange, then the Launch Coin Exchange.  You can use the coin to buy one 5* weapon.  There's not really a point in hanging onto it as you'll get stronger weapons later on, so think of it as a way to jumpstart your favorite character with a stronger weapon.  Play around a bit until you settle on the character you want to use the most in multiplayer, then buy them a weapon then can equip with the Launch Coin.

>How do I set a unit that my followers can borrow?
Go to Characters > Edit Party and long press on one of your characters (tap to see your whole roster).  Once you've long pressed, their Character Details screen will pop up.  Hit the “On Loan” button in the lower right and then that will be the character your followers can summon when they enter missions solo.

>Can I switch to Japanese voices?
Yes!  Go to Other > Settings > Sound > There is a language setting here you can toggle.

>How do I make Coro shut the fuck up?
Go to Other > Settings > Sound > There are options here to turn Coro's voice on or off, Eve's voice on or off, or the other characters' voices on or off.

>How do I multiplayer?
There are two sides to multiplayer: hosting and joining as a guest.  To host a game, click on whichever mission you want to host.  Instead of hitting Single Player, hit the purple Multiplayer button.  Then tap Create Lobby and select your party.  The leftmost character is the one you will play as in multiplayer.  Make sure to check your loadout here; you can't change it in the lobby. Hit confirm and you're taken to the lobby screen.  Here you can set a comment and tap the other three party slots to lock them to certain roles like healer or defender, or keep them open to players of any role.  If you want to keep the lobby public, make sure it says Lobby: Public and hit Recruit to start recruiting!  You can also choose to open the lobby only to mutual followers of yours by hitting the appropriately labelled button.  Alternatively, if you wish to host a private lobby, such as a raid you organize in the thread, tap “Lobby: Public” to change it to “Lobby: Private”, then hit Recruit.  A Lobby ID number will appear that you can share with other people.  Now would be a good time to mention how to join existing lobbies.

After pressing the purple Multiplayer button on a specific mission, or the purple Join Forces With Other Explorers button on the main menu of an event or story mode chapter, you can join a game by hitting Join Lobby.  If you know the ID number of a private lobby, hit the Search with Lobby ID button instead and type in the number to make the private lobby appear.  If you just want to roll with randoms though, Join Lobby takes you to a party select screen with three options: Search Mutual Lobbies (for public lobbies opened by your mutual followers), Search All Lobbies (pick and choose from all lobbies publicly available) or Auto-match (get connected to the soonest open lobby).  Auto-match is usually recommended since a lot of lobbies fill up and disappear before you can click on them.

One last thing about hosting.  You can long press on a person who joins your lobby to kick them if you so desire.


>What does the “Rookie” tag next my character mean?
For the first 30 days of a new account, you will have this tag.  It gets you bonus drops in co-op, which the other participating players receive too.  So bring those new players along and show them the ropes for free loot!

>My screen is a clusterfuck, how do I see through all these effects?
Turn Hit Effects Display off for Allies under Other > Settings > Battle so you can see the boss and turn effects under Animation.
Also turn Effect Settings on Other > Settings > Graphics to one notch from the left so ally effects in general are visible but transparent.
Set Camera Range under Other > Settings > Battle to far.
Finally, unchecking Battle Camera Effects under Other > Settings > Battle will stop the boss from dominating your camera so you will be able to see ground AoEs and projectiles while it's in the air.
This will let you have the most vision possible.

>When is daily reset?
Login bonuses reset every day at 4:00 am (PT)/ 11:00 (UTC)

>What is a cancel bonus?
If you tap on one of your skills (or even a normal attack) before the animation for the one you're currently executing is complete, the damage of the next attack will be increased, up to a maximum of 300%.  This also charges your Rush Mode faster so it is very important to master this technique for boss battles.

>Does the order the party uses their Rush Mode matter?
Yes!  When you activate more than one person's Rush Mode (called a Rush Combo) a damage modifier gets added for each additional person after the first, much like the cancel bonus (following the same +0% then +150% then +200% then +300% pattern).  For this reason, you should Rush in order from weakest (lowest damage modifier on their Rush Mode, lowest attack) to highest.  Generally healers will want to go first, then sharpshooters, then attackers.

For example, let's say you have a party of Miki (Rush Mode multiplier 2000%), Maria (3000%), Fidel (3000%), and Cliff (4500%). If Miki goes last this equals 600% (4000% more than usual), whereas if Cliff goes last it equals 13,500 (9000% more than usual). So you would definitely want the Rush order to be Miki -> Maria -> Fidel -> Cliff.

>What does Elemental Burst mean?
When an enemy is hit with elemental attacks enough times, "Elements Burst" flashes across the screen and the boss is stunned. Stun length varies by enemy, and wears off quickly if the enemy isn't being attacked, but can extend over 20 seconds with a constant onslaught in some fights. Stunned enemies can be knocked around and launched by attacks; take care not to disrupt the rest of the party and accidentally waste the stun.

>How does a weapon that makes your attacks elemental affect skills that are a different element from your weapon?
Your weapon's element is applied to any special attacks you use, but not spells (a spell is anything that involves a casting circle). If multiple elements are applied to an attack, it will apply only the element that does the most damage to the enemy.

Further details:
- The boss's weakness element(s) contribute twice as much to stun as other elements do. Non-elemental attacks contribute nothing. (this is one reason elemental weapons are highly valuable)
- Contribution toward Elements Burst depends on the multiplier of the skill used, not the actual damage dealt. A lv1 Fidel and a lv70 Fidel using Double Slash with an elemental weapon will both contribute the same amount toward stun.
- Some characters increase stun rate, which greatly affects Elements Burst's frequency. (e.g. Faize buffs the entire party's stun rate by +15%; Myuria buffs her own stun rate by +30%)

>What should I prioritize from event shops?
Tickets for summoning characters and weapons, then event weapons and accessories, limit break items and barrier blasters.  The rest is gravy but check the thread to see if certain pieces of gear are more valuable than others.

Are 4* units useful?
You are going to want to make a team of 5* units, don't worry about anything of a lesser rarity.  You'll be able to get plenty of 5*s both through pulling with gems and from 5* tickets.  For a small breakdown on 4*s, check this out:
>Amina - Curse resistance and Undead Killer
>Ted - Freeze resistance and Human Killer
>Farleen - Poison resistance
>Gunter - Seal resistance and Dragon Killer
>Tiffan - Paralysis resistance and Mech Killer
All these guys get thrown into the trash once Reimi shows up

>Welch - A slightly less selfish Myuria with Light/Earth magic
>Tynave - Bootleg Fidel w/knuckles
>Milla - Bootleg Maria w/daggers
>Hana - Bootleg Miki
>Shimada - Beast Killing Vampire who does no damage
>Pavine - Asshole who only thinks about himself and MUH CRITS
>Raffine - Don't bother
>Stephen D. Kenny - Bootleg Viktor
>Eleyna - Don't bother

>What's the deal with support medals?
When followers use your on loan unit, you'll get support medals on your next login, up to 750 per day.  You can use these to pull from a special banner called the Support Medals Box Draw (go to Draw then Event Draws).  You can get a lot of nice prizes from this, including 5* tickets!  Once you've cleared out all the prizes in the box, it will refresh itself.  There's no difference between doing single pulls and 10x pulls on this specific banner, but it's more convenient to do 10x pulls.