Experience

Experience, often abbreviated as EXP, is the measure of a character's progress, leading to their level. Characters improve their statistics and unlock new personal crafts as their level increases.

Gaining Experience

The only way to obtain experience is by winning battles, except in Reverie, where experience boosting items can be obtained. Each enemy defeated grants a base amount of experience to each character that isn't knocked down at the moment of defeat, which is modified by the difference between their level and the enemy's.

Below,$Lv _ {CHAR}$and$Lv _ {FOE}$are the level of each character and enemy respectively. $EXP _ {FOE}$is the enemy's base experience value, as listed when they are analyzed. $Bonus$ is the tactical bonus resulting from Battle evaluation introduced in Zero, further increasing the experience gained.

Games	Formula	Minimum	Maximum
Sky FC, SC, and the 3rd	$EXP={\begin{cases}Lv_{FOE}>Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*1.25\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\\Lv_{FOE}=Lv_{CHAR},&EXP_{FOE}\\Lv_{FOE}<Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*0.5\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\end{cases}}$	1	9999
Zero and to Azure	$EXP_{BASE}={\begin{cases}Lv_{FOE}>Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*1.25\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\\Lv_{FOE}=Lv_{CHAR},&EXP_{FOE}\\Lv_{FOE}<Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*0.5\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\end{cases}}$ $EXP_{FINAL}=EXP_{BASE}\times Bonus$	1 (before bonus)	9999 (after bonus)
Cold Steel I and II	$EXP_{BASE}={\begin{cases}Lv_{FOE}>Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*1.1\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\\Lv_{FOE}=Lv_{CHAR},&EXP_{FOE}\\Lv_{FOE}<Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*0.8\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\end{cases}}$ $EXP_{FINAL}=EXP_{BASE}\times Bonus$	10% of$EXP _ {FOE}$ (before bonus)	200% of$EXP _ {FOE}$ (before bonus)
Cold Steel III and IV, Reverie	$EXP_{BASE}={\begin{cases}Lv_{FOE}>Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*1.1\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\\Lv_{FOE}=Lv_{CHAR},&EXP_{FOE}\\Lv_{FOE}<Lv_{CHAR},&\lfloor EXP_{FOE}*0.8\rfloor {\text{for each level of difference}}\end{cases}}$ $EXP_{FINAL}=EXP_{BASE}\times Bonus$	1 (before bonus)	200% of$EXP _ {FOE}$ (before bonus)

Leveling Up

Experience is displayed using two fields, an EXP value listing the current total, and a NEXT value. In Sky FC, SC, and the 3rd, NEXT indicates the total experience required for the next level, while starting from Zero, NEXT indicates the remaining experience required for the next level.

Games	Formula	Maximum Level
Sky FC, SC, and the 3rd	$EXP _ {TOTAL} = 10 \times Lv ^ 2$	Sky FC: 49
		Sky SC: 99
		Sky the 3rd: 149
Zero and to Azure	$EXP _ {TOTAL} = 10 \times (Lv - 3) ^ 2 + 300 \times (Lv - 3)$	Zero: 50
		Azure: 120
Cold Steel I, II, III, and IV, Reverie	$EXP _ {TOTAL} = 100 \times Lv ^ 2 + 300 \times Lv$	Cold Steel: 99
		Cold Steel II: 200
		Cold Steel III: 99
		Cold Steel IV: 200
		Reverie: 250

Stat Growths

Leveling up increases the character's statistics, with each character having a unique set of growths. In Sky FC, SC, and the 3rd and Zero and to Azure, the stat growths themselves with levels, meaning each level provides a larger increase than the previous. Starting from Cold Steel characters have a flat growth per level. Each character's stat growths can be seen in their respective page.

Similar Mechanics

Master Quartz

Main article: Master quartz

Introduced in Azure, master quartz are special quartz that level up with use. They gain experience proportional to the experience gained by their user, improving their stats and unlocking effects.

Link Level

Main article: Link level

Used in Cold Steel I, II, III, and IV and Reverie, link levels determine the teamwork between pairs of characters. They gain a flat amount of experience for each battle won, increasing if the pair were linked at the end of it, and unlocking link abilities.