Note for PC: High battle chains do not seem to significantly improve drops on the PC (or increase the rate of rare drops). If there is an improvement, it is too small to be meaningful.
- At the same time, it doesn't seem to affect Battle Rank as much either. So, getting higher chains is still much better in the long run for stat grinding.
Counter Testing for Xp gain Boost[]
Staff = 651 -> 727XP == +76XP Double Strike (mighty v) = 591XP -> 615XP == +24XP Thunderclap (mighty v) = 612XP -> 628XP == +16XP Cascade Strike (mighty iv) = 472XP -> 508XP == +36XP
R01: Cascade Strike (hit) R02: Double Strike (hit) R03: Double Strike (hit) R04: Double Strike (hit) R05: Recover R06: Thunderclap (hit) R07: Cascade Strike (hit) R08: Cascade Strike (hit) R09: Cascade Strike (hit) R10: Cascade Strike (ko no use) R11: Thunderclap (hit)
- Double Strike Use = 3 Hit == 3 * 8 = 24XP (ok)
- Thunderclap Use = 2 Hit == 2 * 8 = 16XP (ok)
- Cascade Strike Use = 4 Hit + 1 KO Miss = 4 * 8 (hit) + 1 * 4 (ko miss) = 36XP (ok)
- Staff XP Gain = 76XP = (3 + 2 + 4 )* 8 + (1 * 4) = +76XP (ok)
Good places to raise battle chains quickly?[]
What are the good places to raise battle chains quickly for stat grinding?
The best one inarguably is Aveclyff during Glenys's quest but that one is no longer available later on.
The Sweeping Safehold in Ruins of Robelia castle is another good one that's available later but it gets kind of annoying having to go all the way back to the underground tier (or even second floor) to respawn the monsters there.
I tried the Great Sandsea lured by the in-screen respawning but the trekking between successive battles quickly put me off.
Any other good places? Especially where individual monster unions have more creatures per union. Asifbaig 15:23, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
Battle Chain affect stat increase (PC)[]
The original article states that Battle Chains affect nothing but the speed at which Arts are being learned or improved. That doesn't hold true for me at all, I've fiddled around with some trainers (Yes, yes, I went there.) and a constant chain of 9999 would permanently yield greater stat gain at the end of any battle by comparison to a fought battle with a low or none existent Battle Chain. Bottom line being, Battle Chains seems to affect both, Arts as well as stat gains.
Of course the latter may be moot as I've no details about the ratio, and grinding bugs for a high chain is likely not to underline my point, as they're fairly weak enemies to begin with. I've not yet tried it in battle where the morale is in my favor (only equal or in the enemy's favor). Still thought I might point this out.
--78.50.93.30 21:46, July 18, 2011 (UTC) Erbse
- Chain affects all EXP gains, including weapon strengthening. I think the page was written with X360 players in mind as they would be grinding their arts after maxing their stats. Anyways, I don't think page has been touched in a while and it's on one of my lists of things to revamp (along with a million other things...). Like the weapon strengthening EXP, the ratio is rather gradual, but it'd be rather tedious to track it as various actions in battle will affect exactly how much EXP is gained to each stat. Zephyr 22:13, July 18, 2011 (UTC)
- By "all EXP gains" do you also include the EXP which is responsible for raising Battle Rank? Because I just found out (the hard way) that my love for grinding in RPGs is biting me in the ass here. I can confirm that using a simple memhack tool (in my case ArtMoney) can also adjust this Battle Chain count - I put in the max 9999, but I'm not really seeing "greater" stat gains after battles. Granted, I'm still early in the game (just got past Ivory Peaks on the way to that meeting thingy), but I've already ran into the issue of some rare monsters being way too hard for my party since I foolishly grinded so much my BR is already 40.
- It would kinda suck if maxing out Battle Chain also just drives up my BR rate increase faster, since I'm really just interested in the "other exp" stuff like you can see in the Developing Arts article. - Spinfx (talk) 08:54, January 8, 2013 (UTC)
- Yes, Chain also affects BR EXP. But the effect isn't exactly noticeable unless you're scoring perfect fights all the time and it maxes at 370+ anyways. Setting Chain above that is essentially pointless since you can't increase the modifier any further than x2.0. If you read up on the Battle Rank page, you would have read that ally KOs help mitigate the BR EXP problem somewhat. It's a balancing factor since they obviously don't want you to just mindlessly grind up your stats and skills without possible consequences. For this game, it's all about how you grind, not that you can just do so. Zephyr (talk) 15:10, January 8, 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks for the confirmation! Hmm, Battle Rank maxes at 370? I assume that's far away, I don't quite think I've heard of people talking about BR higher than 150ish on the GameFAQs forums, I thought that was the "normal" BR for the endgame. Oh yeah, I forgot about New Game+.
- Yes, I read about the KO thing, but early on I can't really afford to have dead unions, unless they mean dead characters other than the union leader, so that union is still contributing.
- I used to play the "low exp" FF8 game, you know the drill: carding all enemies (no exp) - here you can't do that, you really actually have to avoid battles. Which means missing out on drops. I... simply don't have the patience anymore, after work and stuff I got maybe 2 hours tops to game. If that. In any case, I managed to isolate the BR variable in memory (a 2-byte value) so it's no longer a problem. - Spinfx (talk) 00:52, January 10, 2013 (UTC)
- BR maxes at 255 (min = 0, starts @ 1). Chain multiplier maxes once you reach 370 Chain. BR gains slow down quite a bit after hitting around BR120 anyways since there's really not much higher the enemies will go. You can definitely afford to have dead unions right around the Catacombs. There are a few units (Faye, Neales) that can revive. A little further ahead, when Tier 5 soldiers and other leaders become available, even more revivers. Then there's your team when they've gotten the 70EXP for Herbs. It just kinda requires you to play based on keeping them alive if you don't have too many on hand. Now imagine going through an entire game with only 3 such revive units. Zephyr (talk) 07:36, January 10, 2013 (UTC)