Part 9

Understand Force of Impact (Flinch, Knockdown, Float, Blocking, Getting blocked, Body impact, Parrying) and Damage Calculation in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.

Force of Impact Effects:

• Flinch: The most common result of most attacks.
• Knockdown: The target is knocked off their feet and cannot be damaged until they recover (around 2 seconds for characters, variable for enemies). This can interrupt multi-hit attacks.
• Float: The target is launched into the air and bounces upon landing, entering a knockdown state. Re-floating is possible. Touching battlefield boundaries or other subjects while airborne also triggers knockdown. Attacks that don't cause knockdown or float can cancel the knockdown state. The degree of floating varies by attack; some are practically just knockdowns.
• Blocking: A subject always flinches when blocking an attack, likely interrupting spellcasting.
• Getting blocked: Most blockable attacks are interrupted when blocked, unlike energy projectiles.
• Body impact: Occurs when a subject falls on or is pushed against another subject.
• Parrying: Occurs on a Hit vs Evade roll, resulting in no damage but a flinch for the parrying subject (unless the attack wouldn't have caused a flinch otherwise). On Earth and Galaxy, parrying is more likely with a significant level gap. It's not possible when attacked from behind, using certain waza, or if the attack breaks the target's guard.

Other Force of Impact Notes:

• The actual flinching animation can be the same across multiple Force of Impact types.
• If an attack causes knockdown or float, enemies may semi-resist, resulting in a regular flinch.
• If an attack stuns a subject, knockdown/floating properties are ignored.
• Offensive items (like Fire Crystals or bombs) always cause hitstun.
• Items and spells that increase stats or grant special conditions seem to be affected by knockdown invincibility.
• You won't flinch from physical hits if the enemy's ATP (Attack Power) is lower than your DFP (Defense Power), or if the attack is elementally nullified or fully absorbed.

Frame Advantage/Disadvantage:

• Strive to create situations with significant frame advantage, such as after baiting an enemy into attacking and then avoiding it. Whiff punishing (attacking an enemy that missed) is a common offensive tool to start chains.
• Blocking, sidestepping, and attacking an enemy targeting another character are other options. Magic attract can distract enemies.
• Having frame advantage doesn't guarantee a successful chain due to hitstun resistance and blocking, but it increases your odds.
• Observe enemies to learn their attack patterns, vulnerabilities, and directions. Practice sidestepping. Check the enemy move list for data like damage multipliers and health thresholds. There are over 400 enemies, many belonging to families with similar movesets, though move attributes can differ between family members.
• Higher movement speed is advantageous. Movement speed can be increased by up to 30% with a Ring of Haste or Bunny Shoes.
• Low Fury is not necessarily a disadvantage for enemies, as they have attacks usable at minimum Fury and don't perform chains. Enemies with high force resistance recover Fury at full speed even while being attacked.
• Use feinting and sidestepping to recover Fury when needed. Max Fury can randomly fill a character's Fury to 100% on neutral, but it's often mutually exclusive with No Guard, which is generally more useful. Max Fury is more beneficial for AI due to their reaction speed.

Damage Calculation:

The physical damage calculation formula is approximately: ((ATP - DFP)(d + i)bmachsr)e where:

• d: Basic multiplier (typically increases with proficiency).
• i: Increase HP/MP Damage bonus.
• b: Berserk multiplier (1.3 for HP only).
• m: Major multiplier.
• a: Cancel bonus multiplier (1.75, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0).
• c: (Specific function not detailed in source).
• s: (Specific function not detailed in source).
• r: (Specific function not detailed in source).
• e: (Specific function not detailed in source).