This page explains the basic mechanics of combat in Trails through Daybreak and Trails through Daybreak II.
Entering Combat[]
Unlike previous games, there is no separate battle field. All enemies appear present in the field and can be fought directly in a field battle, deploy shards to transition to a command battle, or ran away from to avoid combat entirely.
Field Battle[]
The lead party member can attack enemies on the field, with each character's attack sequence having different properties. Enemies will also attack, but their attacks can be dodged or moved out of range. The lead member can also use a charge attack after filling the charge bar by hitting enemies and perfectly dodging enemy attacks. Charge attacks deal more damage and significantly more stun damage.
Other active party members can also attack enemies on the field (and be attacked) depending on their tactics, but they will not use charge attacks, will only deal 10-20% of the normal damage and take 3-5% damage from enemy attacks.
Shards can be deployed at any point during a field battle to transition into a command battle. Party members cannot be knocked out from enemy attacks during field battles.
Command Battle[]
After deploying shards, every alerted enemy (as seen in the Contact bar) will be brought into the area for a command battle. Important battles will go directly into command battles and cannot be released from.
Command battles use the Action Time Battle system. Each unit will have a random delay until their first turn comes (explained later), with the lead party member having the least delay of all party members.
Save for forced command battles, shards can be released during any party member turn, transitioning into a field battle. All downed party members will be revived at 1 HP.
Preemptive Shard Strike[]
If an enemy is stunned at the time of deploying shards, the lead party member will unleash a preemptive strike against all enemies before starting the command battle. A minimum of 6 shards will attack the enemies, each shard dealing 3% of the enemy's max HP as damage and inflicting 3 AT Delay each.
Enemy Advantage[]
If the lead party member takes an attack during a field battle while under 40% of their max HP, the battle will automatically transition to a command battle with the party having more delay. Additionally, shards cannot be released until the 5th turn.
Strong enemies can also unleash a powerful attack in the field after taking several attacks, that cannot be dodged and will start a command battle with enemy advantage unless the lead party member moves out of range or deploys shards beforehand.
Delay and Speed[]
During command battles, the Action Time Battle system determines the order in which the units will take turns. For this, the game uses AT Units (AT for short) as a measure of the time it takes for a unit to have their next turn. Every action has a different Base Delay associated with them in AT units:
- Moving is free and the character is free to reposition within their MOV range before their action.
- Regular attacks have a base delay of 100 AT.
- Using an item has a base delay of 80 AT.
- Defending has a base delay of 50 AT.
- Crafts each have a different base delay, expressed in the tables.
- Arts have two base delays: the Cast delay before the art takes effect, and the Delay after casting before the caster can act again.
- Using an S-Break to interrupt a turn will make the user suffer only the normal delay of the S-Craft, discarding any delay they had before.
- Some attacks can inflict an additional base delay as part of their effects, which is added to the current delay of the target.
- Some skills can reduce the delay of allies to zero (Haste), making their turns happen immediately after.
However not all units take the same time to process the same base delay. Depending on their SPD stat, the base delay will be modified to obtain the real delay before the unit can act:
Hit Chance[]
While arts and S-Crafts are guaranteed to hit, normal attacks and most crafts have a chance to miss and have no effect. If the attacker's ACC% is greater than the target's EVA%, the difference is used to determine whether the attack automatically hits. If the target's EVA% is greater, the difference is used to determine whether the target evades the attack. If this fails, the chance to hit then depends on the attacker's DEX, and the target's AGL:
Counter[]
If a unit misses an attack or craft against another unit that can attack back (i.e. within range and not channeling arts or otherwise unable to attack), they have a 50% chance to perform a counterattack against the attacking unit, which cannot miss, but also cannot hit units other than the attacker.
If multiple units avoid the same attack, only one unit that evaded that can counter will do so.
Damage[]
The formulas for physical and magical damage are the same, with the only difference being the stats used. Every number in each step is rounded down. A reflected attack considers the target to be the same as the attacker.
- Skill Power is the power of the art or craft used (normal attacks have a power of 100%).
- Stat Modifiers for the relevant stat take into account the full value of the stat, including equipment and quartz bonuses.
- A Critical hit adds 0.5 multiplier.
- Attacks on Stunned enemies adds 0.5 multiplier.
- Being in range for an SCLM Support adds 0.2 multiplier.
- Defending substracts -0.5 multiplier.
- The Status multiplier is the sum of status effects that modify damage instead of stats: DMG/ADMG/RES/ARES Up/Down, etc.
- Crafts can have a Position bonus that multiplies damage by 1.5 if the enemy is
- Random is a random factor between -Modified Damage/15 and Modified Damage/15.
Chain Hit[]
Dealing repeated hits before the other team takes a turn increases the Chain Hit damage multiplier. Attacks, crafts and arts can deal multiple hits per damage instance, but their damage is determined by the Chain Hit multiplier at the start of the turn. This multiplier applies to both party and enemies.
Hits | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 45 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Multiplier | 1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.5 |
Healing[]
Healing arts and crafts not based on maximum HP have a formula:
- Skill Power is the power of the art or craft used.
- Random is a random factor between -Base Healing/10 and Base Healing/10.
Switching Members[]
On a party member's turn, they can be switched out with one of the support members. The member that switched in will be able to act immediately without a penalty to delay. Only one member switch can happen per turn.
Ending Combat[]
Combat can end in various ways: the victory condition is met (usually defeating all enemies), the party runs away or is defeated.
Victory[]
The victory condition for the majority of battles is the defeat of all enemies present. In other cases, only specific enemies need to be defeated, or the enemy must be taken below an HP threshold. When the victory condition is met, the party is taken to the battle results screen.
Ending a battle with a victory grants the items and sepith dropped by the enemies as reward, as well as experience to characters not K.O.'d. The enemy lists note the various rewards for defeating enemies.
The experience each party member gains from each enemy depends on the level difference between them and the enemy. For each level the party member is above the enemy, the experience is reduced by 30% of the original experience, until a minimum of 1%. For each level the party member is below the enemy, the experience is increased by 20% of the original experience, until a maximum of twice the original experience. Afterwards the experience is increased by any tactical bonuses obtained.
Retreat[]
Field battles can be fled from by running away, though the enemy might give chase until it's gone far enough from its spawn point. Command battles that started from field battles can be fled by releasing shards, which cannot be done for a number of turns if started with enemy advantage.
Defeat[]
The defeat condition for battles is all party members being K.O.'d. If all active members are K.O.'d in a battle, the support members will take their place. In most situations a defeat results in a game over, with the option to retry the battle, lowering the difficulty for the battle before retrying or go back to the menu to load a save.