Part 4

Master skip canceling and blocking mechanics in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Learn about counter auras, heavy skipping, and sidestepping.

• To perform a skip cancel, you must be in optimal range for the next move in the chain at the end of the cancel queue window.
• The cancel queue window for the current move must end before the cancel queue window for the next move begins.

Blocking & Counter Auras

Blocking occurs when a character with 100% Fury is hit by a blockable attack. Each blocked hit reduces the attacker's Fury by 30. Unblockable attacks are indicated by a purple aura around the enemy.

Blocking prevents damage and can trigger a counter aura (also known as Anti-Attack Aura / AAA). There are 7 types of counter auras, most learned from Textbooks, with one requiring an accessory. Selling a Textbook prevents future characters from learning that aura but does not remove learned ones.

The most common enemy counter aura causes a stun for 4 seconds or until a physical hit. Enemies with damaging counter auras like Homing and Wide Area Homing become more frequent after Disc 1. Sidestepping can help avoid damage from these if you regain control of your character before they hit.

The first counter aura learned is a basic stun. Be aware that Force resistance still applies to tougher enemies even when stunned. The Homing counter aura is recommended as it reflects half of the damage you would have received and floats the enemy, leaving them vulnerable.

Some attacks are not interrupted when blocked. Magic and counter auras cannot be blocked. If a character with 100% Fury is hit by an unblockable attack, their guard is broken, and they lose 50% Fury.

You can use a party character (PC) as a 'shield' by setting them to Manual and having them stand near an enemy while you attack. A blockable attack can break a subject's guard if they are afflicted with a special stun, like a grapple or the spinning effect of Whirling Heat.

When an elemental attack is blocked and the blocker would have fully absorbed the damage, the counter aura deals no damage. Counter auras are always non-elemental, regardless of the blocked attack's element.

Sidestepping

Sidestepping grants invulnerability to physical attacks and counter auras for a very short period (about 0.25 seconds) at the beginning of the move, lasting about 0.65 seconds total. It's a useful tool to avoid damage when timed correctly, though less effective against multi-hit moves.

While sidestepping doesn't protect against magical damage, it prevents flinching from it, helping to avoid guard breaks from spells like Fire Bolt or mitigating damage from Lightning Strike.

By default, sidestepping requires holding L2 and moving the analog stick. It is recommended to rebind this to the d-pad.

Magic

Spells can be set as battle skills for Sophia and, to a limited extent, Adray, allowing them to be cast without a casting time, though with a slight 1.5-second delay. Spells have a Major multiplier of 1.3 and cannot be blocked, even when set to Confirm. Magic is generally not a good source of damage except for Sophia and Adray. It is advised to disable offensive spells for other characters in the Symbology menu to prevent the AI from casting them.