Part 6

Understand AI flaws like Fury management and target painting in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Learn how AI uses attacks and chains.

AI Behavior Details:

• Switching characters or AI settings can sometimes result in target painting issues, though this is infrequent.
• The AI's Fury management is a significant flaw, limiting chaining and blocking effectiveness. Typically, the AI acts when Fury is above 39 (nFUp threshold) and rarely recharges above 40-50 Fury, limiting heavy hitter boosts to 175% or 200% (with Berserk).
• Max Fury can partially remedy this, but it's often mutually exclusive with the more crucial No Guard skill.
• A separate Fury threshold exists for follow-up attacks (chained attacks). If Defense skill is at least Lv3, characters will move away from enemies when below a certain Fury threshold.
• Using Well-balanced or FYA AI settings is recommended after increasing your Attack level. AWAYM can cause the AI to use leftover Fury for cancel fodder.
• AI may ignore Fury recharging if override targeting occurs.
• The AI lacks explicit blocking logic.
• The AI targets enemies with 100% Fury using unblockable attacks when not overriding. They primarily use unblockable attacks on enemies with 80-99% Fury, with a small chance of using blockable ones. Below 80% Fury, only blockable attacks are used unless chaining. For magic-casting enemies, unblockable attacks are used regardless of Fury.
• The AI's insistence on breaking enemy guards by spamming unblockables is inefficient. If you control a character who deals Fury damage, softening the enemy's Fury can help the AI. At Attack Lv10, the AI needs only the first blockable hit to initiate.
• Anti-air normal attacks are treated as follow-up attacks to floater normal attacks and are used regardless of enemy Fury, often resulting in blocks. Fayt, Cliff, and Mirage have normal attacks that enable this. Fayt has a chance to use his unblockable anti-air attack, which can also deal Fury damage.
• Fighters may frequently use attack magic regardless of enemy Fury, which is detrimental. It is best to disable spells in the Symbology menu outside of battle.
• The AI generally won't move from short to long range to use long-range skills, with Maria and Adray being partial exceptions if attack magic is available and Def Lv3+ is met.
• Increasing Attack level makes the AI more likely to utilize cancel chains. At Lv1, it's occasional; at Lv10, it's consistent when damage is dealt. Canceling is triggered by dealing damage, even if elemental absorption occurs but a spell deals damage.
• Moves that knock down enemies are problematic for AI chaining, though they often lack the Fury to continue. Manual compensation may be possible if you are not preoccupied.
• Some moves are never canceled by the AI.
• Berserk is almost essential for the AI to consistently use heavy hitters in chains or otherwise due to Fury limitations.
• Charge and Aerial attacks are considered normal attacks, making them difficult for AI to use in cancel chains.
• The AI won't use elemental waza or magic on an enemy if damage is nullified or absorbed, unless it's within a chain (Attack level is irrelevant).

AI Fury Thresholds (Example):

• Fighter: FUp (Follow Up) <25, SelfP (Self Preservation) <40, nFUp (non-Follow Up) <40 (varies by level)
• Mage: FUp -, SelfP <40, nFUp <40 (varies by level)