Unlimited SaGa Panel Growth FAQ This FAQ was created 11/05/2003 and was last updated 12/19/2003 1.0: The first version of the faq. 2.0: I decided to start a section for recommend strategies on how to use each member as either a fighter, a mage, or a hybrid. 2.2: I corrected some mistakes in the FAQ. I also decided to change the strategy for mages to include two elements instead of one. As such I changed Michelle and Armand's strategies. Edel and Marie now have their own strategies in the FAQ. I also added a list of trusted sites. 2.5: I added strategies for Ruby, Sapphire and Armic to the FAQ. 2.6: I corrected even more mistakes. Added Judy's Strategy. As well as some general tips. 3.0: More mistakes corrected. An entire new section was added to the FAQ. 3.2: Added set ups for Ventus and Tiffon. Yes it has been almost a year since I last updated the FAQ. Also corrected a couple more mistakes. -------------------------------------------------- Sections 0-11 --------------------------------------------------- 00. Introduction and explantion of the faq. 01. The status that each abbreviation stands for and the icon that representents each status. 02. The Main Base Grid Graph to reference back to. 03. What each abbreviation stands for in terms of panel spots revealed. 04. Which panels affect which stats. 05. How good each panel spot will affect each of your stats. 06. How to read the grid information for each character in depth. 07. Party member panel grid and growth rate information! 08. Character Panel Strategy Explanation. 09. Character Panel Strategies! (Mostly Under Construction). 10. General Tips 11. The ideals of panel growth and setting up your characters in general. 12. Legal Disclamier. Contact Info and Credits. ******************************************************************************* 0. Introduction and explantion of the faq. ******************************************************************************* In Unlimited SaGa every character has ten stats. Each stat is effected by three panel spots on the grid. This guide will tell you which panel spots will effect which stats. The guide will also tell you the most effective panel spot for each stat. Every character has their stats in a different order on the grid. The faq will tell you where each character's stat is on their grid. Like wise each character varies in their growth rate for the ten stats. You will be able to use this faq to learn every character's growth rate in all ten of their stats. ******************************************************************************* 1.The status that each abbreviation stands for and the icon that representents each status. ******************************************************************************* ST= Strength. Strength is represented by an "arm" icon. SK= Skill. Skill is represented by a "sword" icon. SP= Spirit. Spirit is represented by a "heart" icon. MA= Magic. Magic is represented by a "Cane" icon. EN= Endurance. Endurance is represented by a "fist" icon. FI= Fire. Fire is represented by a "flame" icon. EA= Earth. Earth is represented by a "rock" icon. ME= Metal. Metal is represented by a "plate" icon. WA= Water. Water is represented by a "water droplet" icon. WO= Woord. Wood is represented by a "tree" icon. ******************************************************************************* 2. The Main Base Grid Graph to reference back to. ******************************************************************************* (10) (01) (02) (09) [TL] [TR] (03) [ML] [MI] [MR] (08) [BL] [BR] (04) (07) (06) (05) This will be your reference guide for each person's grid. For example if you read the section "Which panels effect which stats" you will see that Top Left and Middle left both effect stat 9. If you read "How good each panel will effect each stat." you will know middle left affects stat 9 better than top left. Now if you go to "Party Member Grid and Panel Growth Information." You will see "EN" where "09" should be. This means that "EN" for that character is the same as "09". This means that middle left and top left affect "EN" for the character because it is the character's stat "09". And it also means that middle left raises "EN" more than top left because "EN" is stat "09". Which I have already mentioned is affected more by middle left than top left. And since we know that "EN" stands for endurance we know that it is endurance being affected here in the example. ******************************************************************************* 3. What each abbreviation stands for in terms of panel spots revealed. ******************************************************************************* TL= Top Left Panel. TR= Top Right Panel. ML= Middle Left Panel MI= Middle Panel. MR= Middle Right Panel. BL= Bottom Left Panel. BR= Bottom Right Panel. ******************************************************************************* 4. Which panels affect which stats. ******************************************************************************* Top Left Panel: It affects Stats 9, 10 and 1. Top Right Panel: It affects Stats 1,2 and 3. Middle Left Panel: It affects stats 7, 8, 9 and 10 Middle Panel: It affects all stats. Middle Right Panel: It affects stats 2,3,4 and 5. Bottom Left Panel: It affects stats 6, 7, and 8. Bottom Right Panel: It affects stats 4, 5 and 6. ******************************************************************************** 5. How good each panel spot will affect each of your stats. ******************************************************************************** Note: Every stat is the least affected by the "Middle Panel". So just remember that as I am not going to repeat that every single time. A panel being more "effective" simply means the panel is better at raising that stat. Stat 01: The top Left panel and top right panel have an equal effect. Stat 02: The top right panel is more effective than the middle right panel. Stat 03: The middle right panel is more effective than the top right panel. Stat 04: The middle right panel is more effective than the bottom right panel. Stat 05: The bottom right panel is more effective than the middle right panel. Stat 06: The bottom Left panel and bottom right panel have an equal effect. Stat 07 The bottom left panel is more effective than the middle left panel. Stat 08: The midde left panel is more effective than the bottom left panel. Stat 09: The middle left panel is more effective than the top left panel. Stat 10: The top left panel is more effective than the middle left panel. ******************************************************************************* 6. How to read the grid information for each character in depth. ******************************************************************************* Example 1 3 5 (EL) (ST) (EL) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(EL) [BL] [BR] (EL)3 (MA) (EL) (SP) 4 3 5 In this example we see that (1) is replaced by (ST) which stands for Strength as I mentioned earlier in this faq. This means that "Strength" is Stat 1 for the said character. Of course Strength, Skill, Spirit, Endurance and Magic are in the same exact spot on every character's grid. The elements fire, wood, metal, earth and water are in different spots on different grids. This is what you want to pay attention to more than anything else. As you will note I put "EL" in those places to show you where elements go. You should notice some numbers. These numbers are the growth rate for each stat. The range is 0-5. O is just plain worthless, 1 is terrible, 2 is bad, 3 is average, 4 is good, and 5 is great. The numbers you see in the example are showing the growth rate for each stat. If you are confused then here is another example that will use the original grid and letters instead of growth numbers. This is to avoid some confusion. Second Example J A B (10) (01) (02) I(09) [TL] [TR] (03)C [ML] [MI] [MR] H(08) [BL] [BR] (04)D (07) (06) (05) G F E Now then you see where the "A" is in reference to stat 1? Well that "A" is where I would put the growth rate number for stat "1". In stat 1's spot you see (ST) in the first example meaning stat 1 is strength. In place of "A" in the first example I have the number "3". This tells you that the character's stat 1 is strength and that their growth rate for strength is 3. For reference here is an easier view of this example A= Growth Rate for Stat 1 B= Growth Rate for Stat 2 C= Growth Rate for Stat 3 D= Growth Rate for Stat 4 E= Growth Rate for Stat 5 F= Growth Rate for Stat 6 G= Growth Rate for Stat 7 H= Growth Rate for Stat 8 I= Growth Rate for Stat 9 J= Growth Rate for Stat 10 Hopefully you will now be able to understand the type of grid I plan to use. And how to reference it back to the base grid. As well as the growth rate of each character and where their stats are. Now on with the grids! ******************************************************************************* 7,Party member panel grid and growth rate information! ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------------- Anzan 3 2 4 (FI) (ST) (EA) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)1 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)2 (MA) (WA) (SP) 2 0 5 ------------------------------------ Armand 2 5 1 (EA) (ST) (ME) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)5 [ML] [MI] [MR] 4(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)1 (MA) (WO) (SP) 1 2 3 --------------------------------------- Armic 1 3 0 (WO) (ST) (FI) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 4(WA) [BL] [BR] (EA)1 (MA) (ME) (SP) 2 3 2 --------------------------------------- Edel 2 5 2 (FI) (ST) (EA) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)5 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)3 (MA) (WA) (SP) 2 2 1 --------------------------------------- Francis 2 4 2 (FI) (ST) (EA) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)2 (MA) (WA) (SP) 1 1 5 --------------------------------------- Grace 3 1 1 (ME) (ST) (WA) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)2 (MA) (FI) (SP) 3 2 1 ------------------------------------- Hiro 3 4 1 (WA) (ST) (WO) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)2 (MA) (EA) (SP) 1 3 3 --------------------------------------- Henri 3 3 2 (WO) (ST) (FI) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WA) [BL] [BR] (EA)3 (MA) (ME) (SP) 4 1 3 --------------------------------------- Iskandar 2 4 1 (EA) (ST) (ME) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)3 (MA) (WO) (SP) 3 1 3 --------------------------------------- Josef 1 1 1 (WA) (ST) (WO) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)3 (MA) (EA) (SP) 4 3 3 --------------------------------------- Judy 1 1 2 (ME) (ST) (WA) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)5 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)3 (MA) (FI) (SP) 5 3 2 --------------------------------------- Kong Ming 3 2 2 (EA) (ST) (Me) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)1 (MA) (Wo) (SP) 4 2 1 ---------------------------------------- Kurt 1 2 3 (ME) (ST) (WA) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)2 (MA) (FI) (SP) 3 3 2 --------------------------------------- Laura 2 4 2 (EA) (ST) (ME) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)1 [ML] [MI] [MR] 4(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)1 (MA) (WO) (SP) 2 1 4 --------------------------------------- Marie 2 2 3 (WO) (ST) (FI) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)5 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WA) [BL] [BR] (EA)1 (MA) (ME) (SP) 5 3 3 ---------------------------------------- Michelle 4 5 2 (WA) (ST) (WO) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)5 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)2 (MA) (EA) (SP) 2 1 3 --------------------------------------- Mordeus 2 4 3 (FI) (ST) (EA) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)1 (MA) (WA) (SP) 4 2 3 --------------------------------------- Musol Yanii 2 5 0 (WA) (ST) (WO) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)1 [ML] [MI] [MR] 4(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)1 (MA) (EA) (SP) 3 3 5 --------------------------------------- Mythe 4 2 1 (WA) (ST) (WO) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)3 (MA) (EA) (SP) 3 1 3 --------------------------------------- Norff 1 3 2 (ME) (ST) (WA) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)3 (MA) (FI) (SP) 5 2 1 --------------------------------------- Nuage 3 5 3 (WA) (ST) (WO) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)2 (MA) (EA) (SP) 1 1 2 --------------------------------------- Pharr 2 3 1 (FI) (ST) (EA) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)2 (MA) (WA) (SP) 2 2 4 ---------------------------------------- Platyphyllum 1 3 3 (ME) (ST) (WA) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 0(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)4 (MA) (FI) (SP) 2 2 2 --------------------------------------- Rebecca 1 4 1 (EA) (ST) (ME) 3(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)1 (MA) (WO) (SP) 5 4 1 --------------------------------------- Roy 1 2 2 (EA) (ST) (ME) 2(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 3(FI) [BL] [BR] (WA)2 (MA) (WO) (SP) 3 2 5 --------------------------------------- Ruby 1 3 2 (ME) (ST) (WA) 4(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)1 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)2 (MA) (FI) (SP) 4 4 4 --------------------------------------- Sapphire 1 2 2 (WA) (ST) (WO) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(ME) [BL] [BR] (FI)4 (MA) (EA) (SP) 4 1 4 --------------------------------------- Silver Girl 2 3 2 (FI) (ST) (EA) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)1 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)2 (MA) (WA) (SP) 5 2 5 --------------------------------------- Tiffon 3 1 2 (FI) (ST) (EA) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)3 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WO) [BL] [BR] (ME)2 (MA) (WA) (SP) 3 2 2 --------------------------------------- Thomas 1 4 2 (ME) (ST) (WA) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)4 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)1 (MA) (FI) (SP) 1 4 2 --------------------------------------- Vearst 1 1 3 (ME) (ST) (WA) 1(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 2(EA) [BL] [BR] (WO)2 (MA) (FI) (SP) 4 2 4 --------------------------------------- Ventus 1 3 3 (WO) (ST) (FI) 5(EN) [TL] [TR] (SK)2 [ML] [MI] [MR] 1(WA) [BL] [BR] (EA)4 (MA) (ME) (SP) 3 1 4 --------------------------------------- ****************************************************************************** 08. Character Panel Strategy Explanation. ******************************************************************************* In the next section I will cover three basic strategies to develop each member of your party. The first strategy will be "Fighter". This will cover how to develop the said member towards fighting only. The second strategy will be how to develop the said members towards magic. This will be known as "Mage". The third strategy will be how to develop the member toward both the use of Magic and Fighting. This will be known as the "MagicKnight" strategy. I will refer to the panel spots by the same abbreviations as before. In other words "MI" is still short for "Middle Panel". Most of section 09 will be under construction. And the strategies will be as general as possible. One thing to remember is since panels are random you may have to settle for something else. For example while it is best to have Judy use a bow or a dagger it would be good to settle for Spear if you get that until she has access to a bow or of course a dagger panel. Your main goal is a level 4 panel of a skill weapon or strength weapon depending on the character. In any case it is time for the next section. Forbidden Magic is a special case. Forbidden Spells can take a long time to get. And at the same time it can be a long time before you can use them. At the same time raising magic a stat can also lower element. I will instead consider forbidden magic as a possible bonus to a fighter set up, a mage set up and/or a magic knight set up. In other words look at the recommended section. If it says "Forbidden" as one of the recommendations. It means you should try to learn forbidden magic to use in addition to the recommended element/weapon and/or both as the case may be. Or heck once you have the forbidden spells and can use them perhaps you should use it instead of the weapon or element as your main use. In all the fighter and magicknight sections. I will either say put down a strength weapon in this spot or put down a skill weapon in this spot in many cases. This is because you will have a much easier time using say sword skills if you have a sword panel for example. When I say skill I mean put down either dagger, bow or gun. When I say strength I mean any other weapon. Which would be Sword, Axe, Spear and Staff. When I say (light version) next to Kick, Punch or Throw what I mean is this. To make sure the character is not heavily equipped so they can access the light version of the move and thus use it. ******************************************************************************* 09. Character Panel Strategies! (Mostly Under Construction). ******************************************************************************* General Advice: Each Mage should only work on one tablet at a time. It is best to finish them as soon as possible in order to keep the stats as best as they can be. Limit yourself to one familiar unless other wise stated. Remember that these are strategies to shoot for if you can. If not you can still work with characters remembering basic ideals. Ie Ruby is good at fire and bad at water so Ruby should not worry about water as yet another example of course. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anzan Fighter: Under Construction. Anzan Mage: Under Construction. Anzan MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armand Fighter: In the panels TL, MI and BR make a line bonus of melee. In ML put the level 4 panel you want to use as your main weapon. Make sure it is a strength based weapon. In TR put a panel good for raising strength and in MR put a panel good for raising skill. Use BL as a replacement panel spot. Armand Recommended Weapon: Axe or Sword. Armand Mage: In TL, ML, and BL put down panels that bias toward elements. This will result in good fire and earth elemental levels. Use MI as a replacement panel spot. TR should be used for a magic tablet. Use MR to hold a familiar or bias it toward stats to keep your spirit higher. Put down a panel good for stats in BR. Recommended Element: Fire and Earth. Armand MagicKnight: Bias TR and MR towards stats to get high skill. Put either a level 4 dagger or level 4 bow in the BR spot. Bias ML and BL toward elemental to keep your fire level up. TL should be used for your magic tablet or your familiar. Use MI as a replacement spot. Recommend Weapon and Element: Knife and Fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armic Fighter: Make a melee bonus in TL, MI, and BR. Try to make another melee bonus in TR and MR. Shoot for a line bonus of level three and a joint bonus of level 4. As level 4 is easier to get. Try to mak sure one of them is a level 4 kick. Use BL as replacement panel. Put a panel good for stats in ML or use it for things like locksmith, defuse and etc if need be. If you want him to use a a weapon instead of meele, ML is also a good spot to use. Recommanded Weapon: Kick (Light Version) Armic Mage: ML, BL and BR should be biased toward raising elements to get your water and metal elements high. MI should be a replacement panel. TL should be for a magic tablet. TR and MR should be used for familiars. Level 4 water and level 4 metal is what you want. Recommended Elements: Water and Metal. Armic MagicKnight: Bias ML and BL towards elements to have a good water level. TL and TR should have panels good towards stats to have decent strength. I'd recommend a joint bonus of melee. Level 4 if you can swing it. MI should be a replacement panel spot. Use MR for magic tablets. Bias BR toward stats. Try to use MR for a water familiar when not working on a tablet. Reccomended Weapon and Element: Kick (Light Version) and Water. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edel Fighter: A line bonus of Melee in TL, MI and BR for the Strength bonus. TL should have a panel biased toward stats to keep your strength up. Put down a strength weapon panel in ML. Use BL as the replacement panel spot. Recommended Weapon: Sword Edel Mage: Bias TR, MR and BR towards elements. This will give you good levels for Earth and Metal. Use MI as the replacement panel spot. TL and ML should be used for familiars or a joint bonus. BL should be used for your magic tablet. Recommended Element: Earth and Metal. Edel MagicKnight: Bias TR and TL towards stats to have high strength. MI should be for a replacement panel spot. MR and BR should bias toward elements to keep your metal level up. ML should be used for your weapon of choice. And it should be a strength weapon. BL should be used for your magic tablet. Recommended Weapon and Element: Sword and Metal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Francis Fighter: Under Construction. Francis Mage: Under Construction. Francis MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grace Fighter: Under Construction. Grace Mage: Under Construction. Grace MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hiro Fighter: Under Construction. Hiro Mage: Under Construction. Hiro MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Henri Fighter: Under Construction. Henri Mage: Under Construction. Henri MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Fighter: Under Construction. Iskandar Mage: Under Construction. Iskandar MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joseph Fighter: Under Construction. Joseph Mage: Under Construction. Joseph MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Judy Fighter: TL and ML should be a joint bonus of Key. BL and BR should have Bow and Dagger. MR and TR should be biased toward stats. Judy can be good forbidden magic. If you desire to use it then put tablets in BR and choose between Dagger and Bow as your weapon. In fact this is probably your best version to use forbidden magic. Recommended Weapon: Bow and Dagger or Bow/Dagger and Forbidden Spells. Judy Mage: BR and MR should be biased towards elemental to have your Wood level good. ML and BL should be biased toward elemental to have your earth level good. This will also result in a good fire level. TL should have a magic tablet. TR should be for a familiar of Earth or Fire. Mi should be a replacement panel. Although she is good for forbidden magic I'd recommend her as an elementalist in this regard. In this way you do not have to sacrifice Fire and Earth to use spells that honestly take a long time to learn. Judy Recommended Elements: Fire, Wood and Earth. Judy MagicKnight: TL should be for your tablet. Bias TR and MR towards stats for good skill. MI should be a replacement panel. ML should have your weapon of choice. Bow or Dagger. And I'd recommend BL and BR be biased towards fire. Again I would not recommend forbidden magic to go with this set up. Recommend Weapon and Element: Dagger and Fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kong Ming Fighter: Under Construction. Kong Ming Mage: Under Construction. Kong Ming MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kurt Fighter: Under Construction. Kurt Mage: Under Construction. Kurt MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laura Fighter: Under Construction. Laura Mage: Under Construction. Laura MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marie Fighter: Make a line bonus of Key panels in TL, MI, BR. Biase TR and MR toward stats to keep your skill high. BR should have a Dagger Panel or Bow panel of the best level you can get. It depends on the weapon you want to use. Use ML as the replacement panel spot. If you want her to learn forbidden spells then put the tablet down in ML and use MI as the replacement panel spot. Just try to bias toward's a key panel for the line bonus. Recommended Fighter Weapon: Bow and Forbidden Spells. Marie Mage: Bias TL and ML towards element for a good Wood Level. Bias TR and MR toward elements to have a good fire level. Use MI as a replacement panel spot. BL should be used for your magic tablets. BR should have a panel good for raising stats to keep spirit high. If you want familiars then put them in TL and ML. This will still give you a good wood level. When you do not have a magic tablet bias the BL panel towards stats to keep your magic high. This is for if you want to use forbidden magic. Reccomended Element: Fire, Wood and Forbidden Spells. Marie MagicKnight: TL and ML should have panel biased toward elements to keep your wood level high. TR and MR should be biased towards stats to keep your skill level high. In BL put down your magic tablet. BR should have a Bow or Dagger panel depending and what weapon you want to use. MI should be the replacement panel spot. Bias BL towards stats whenever you do not have a tablet to learn as this will help your magic level. That is good if you want to use forbidden magic. Recommended Weapon and Element: Bow, Wood and Forbidden Spells. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special Note: Michelle's Strategy will have two versions to each secton. This is because in one quest she has a gauntlet panel for the entire quest. While in another the panel is gotten rid of. So in the former you must work around this panel since you can not replace it. While in the latter this becomes part of your strategy. For this reason Michelle will have six sections. The ones with the word "Gauntlet" will tell you how to develop when she has the gauntlet panel of course. While the ones without the word "Gauntlet" will tell you how to develop when she does not have this cursed panel. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) Fighter: Use TL and ML to form a joint bonus that will help strength. Two level 4 Melee panels or a level 4 Weapon Panel in TL and a level 3 Weapon Panel in ML are your best bets. Do the same thing with the spots TR and MR. In BR put down the level 4 panel of the weapon you want Michelle to use if the panel is not already being used for a different purpose. Use BL as a replacement Panel slot for Michelle. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) Fighter Weapon Recommendation: It should be a strength Weapon. I recommend Spear, Sword or Light Kick. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) Mage: In TL and ML put down panels biased toward elements in order to help your water level. Do the same in TR and MR. Use BL as the spot for your tablets. Use BR as a replacement panel spot, but bias it toward stats for good spirit. If you want familiars then put them in TR and MR. They still raise elements decently. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) Mage Element Recommendation: Water and Wood. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) MagicKnight: In TL and and ML put down panels that will help your water level. Try to make them map panels as to get a joint bonus for water. In TR put down a level 4 bow or Dagger panel depending on what you get and which you want to use. In MR put down a panel good for raising your skill. Now then I recommend you avoid using familiars in this case. Because you don't have many spots to work with. Your best is to just use a familiar until Michelle learns some spells and a member can use quick fix. Then after that have Michelle rely on a weapon or accessory with "____ Arts" for example "Water Arts". instead. Heck once she gets purify her main purpose in being a water user then you just need an item with "Water arts" and one with hopefully "water support". So use BL as a replacement panel slot. BR should be used for magic tablets or for a good strong panel to raise your spirit. One idea you could try is using the BR and BL as places for a joint panel bonus. Two Key panels be good toward skill while two more map panels can be good towards your water level. Michelle (Cursed Gauntlet) MagicKnight Element and Weapon Recommendation: The element should be water. The weapon should be a skill weapon. I recommend Bow the most. If not shoot for Gun probably. Michelle Fighter: Make a line bonus of Melee using TL, MI and BR. Put a good panel towards raising strength in TR. Put a good panel towards raising skill in MR. In ML put down the level 4 panel of the weapon you want Michelle to use if it is not already being used in another spot. Use BL as the replacement panel slot. Michelle Fighter Weapon Recommendation: It should be a strength Weapon. I recommend Spear, Sword or Light Kick. Michelle Mage: In TL and ML put down panels biased toward elements in order to help your water level. Do the same in TR and MR. Use BL as the spot for your tablets. Use MI as a replacement panel spot. Use BR to keep your spirit high. If you want familiars then put down them in TR and MR as they are still good for raising your elemental level. Michelle Mage Element Recommendation: Water and Wood. Michelle MagicKnight: TL and ML should be used to raise water level. TR should be where yout put down a dagger panel or bow panel of level 4. MR is where you put down a panel good for making your skill high. Put down a panel good for raising Spirit in BR or a familiar if you prefer. In BL put down your magic tablet or familiar if you feel you are done with magic and/or not learning magic right now. Use MI as replacement panel slot for Michelle of course. Michelle MagicKnight Element and Weapon Recommendation: The element should be water. The weapon should be a skill weapon. I recommend Bow the most. If not shoot for Gun probably. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mordeus Fighter: Under Construction. Mordeus Mage: Under Construction. Mordeus MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musol Yanii Fighter: Under Construction. Musol Yanii Mage: Under Construction. Musol Yanii MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mythe Fighter: Under Construction. Mythe Mage: Under Construction. Mythe MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Norff Fighter: Under Construction. Norff Mage: Under Construction. Norff MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nuage Fighter: Under Construction. Nuage Mage: Under Construction. Nuage MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pharr Fighter: Under Construction. Pharr Mage: Under Construction. Pharr MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Platyphyllum Fighter: Under Construction. Platyphyllum Mage: Under Construction. Platyphyllum MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rebecca Fighter: Under Construction. Rebecca Mage: Under Construction. Rebecca MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy Fighter: Under Construction. Roy Mage: Under Construction. Roy MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruby Fighter: Make a line bonus using TL, MI and BR. Put the weapon you want her to use in ML. Use BL as the replacement panel spot, but bias it towards stats to keep her magic high as be good with forbidden magic. TR should be a panel good for stats. Finally MR should be used for magic tablets to learn forbidden spells. Recommend Weapon: Spear and Forbidden Spells Ruby Mage: BL and BR should be biased towards element to keep your fire high. Bias TR and MR towards elements to for a decent water level. ML should have a panel good towards stats. MI should be your replacement panel. MR should be used for magic tablets. If not use MR for familiar or whatever. Ruby MagicKnight: Bias BL and BR towards elements to have your fire high. TL and TR should be biased toward's strength to keep your strength high. MR should have the weapon you want to use. MI is your replacement panel. Use Mr for magic tablets of course. Recommended Weapon and Element: Spear and Fire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sapphire Fighter: TL, MI and BR should be a line bonus of key. TR should have the weapon you want to use. I'd recommend Dagger. MR should have a panel good Use ML for a magic tablet. Use BL as a replacement panel spot, but try to keep your magic high. As in the end Sapphire is recommended for forbidden magic. Recommended Weapon: Dagger and Forbidden Magic. Sapphire Mage: Bias TR, MR and BR towards elements to have a good wood and fire level. Bias BL towards stats to have a good magic level. MI should be used for a replacement panel. TL should be used for magic tablets or for familiars. ML should be a used as a replacement panel spot. Bias it toward magic to help your magic level. Recommend Elements: Fire, Wood and Forbidden Magic Sapphire MagicKnight: TR and BR should biased toward stats to have good skill. Use TL for a magic tablet. MI should be a replacement panel. BR should have the weapon you want to use. I again recommend dagger. BL and ML should be biased towards element for a good metal level. Recommended Weapon and Element: Dagger and Metal. In the first example I went for one of Sapphire's lesser elements in order to bias towards the weapon type she is better for. If you prefer bias towards magic. Then do this instead. Sapphire MagicKnight (Alternative): Bias MR and BR towards elements to have a good fire level. Use MI as the replacement panel spot. TR and TL should have panels good toward stats to have a decent strength Two level 4 melee for a joint bonus may be good bet. BL should have the weapon you want to use. Make it either Spear, Axe or Sword. This will also give you a decent level for using forbidden magic. ML should have your tablet or familiar. Recommend Weapon and Element: Spear, Fire and Forbidden Magic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver Girl Fighter: Under Construction. Silver Girl Mage: Under Construction. Silver Girl MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tiffon Fighter: TL and ML should be key panels in order to help give Tiffon a boost in her skill level. Make sure TR and MR are both melee panels. As this will give a boost to endurance and melee panels are good at raising stats. So this helps your skill. Either a dagger or bow panel should be in BR. BL should be used as the replacement panel spot for her. Recommend Weapon: Dagger. Tiffon Mage: TL and ML should be familiars. Try for a fire familiar in one of the two spots at least. TR and MR should be used for magic tablets or for a joint bonus. I'd suggest map panels as this will give you a bonus toward water and endurance. In fact I feel it is probably best just to not worry about having Tiffon learn spells. Instead just use a water and fire familiar. BR should be something like a staff or dagger as they are balanced between raising both elements and stats. BL should be the same way, but it is also your replacement panel. Recommended Elements: Fire and Water. Tiffon MagicKnight: TL and ML should be familiars. TR and MR should be punch and kick. BR should be either a dagger or a bow. Although a bow is your best bet. BL should be a replacement panel but biased toward magic. You still want one of the familiars to be a fire one. The other should be water. While her purify and bubble blow may not be that strong it can still be a bit useful with the help of a decent magic stat. Definitely do not go for magic tablets at all in this set up. Recommend Weapon and Elements: Dagger, Fire and Water. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas Fighter: Under Construction. Thomas Mage: Under Construction. Thomas MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vearst Fighter: Under Construction. Vearst Mage: Under Construction. Vearst MagicKnight: Under Construction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ventus Fighter: TL and TR should be level 4 punch and level kick. ML, MI and MR should be level 3 punch, kick and throw. BL should be a replacement panel. BR should be for either Spear, Axe, or Sword. Ventus should use both melee and a weapon. It's probably best to use a spear with him. If you can make Ventus light to use hummingbird. Recommended Weapons: Hummingbird (Light) Punch line and Spear Ventus Mage: TL should be for your magic tablets. TR should be a replacement panel, but be biased toward elements for a good fire level. ML, MI and MR all should be familiars. Make it a case of fire, water and earth. BR and BL are to be used for punch and kick as this will give a bonus to endurance due to their properties as joint panels. They will also help with your magic and spirit stats. Recommended Elements: Fire, Earth and Water. Ventus MagicKnight: TL and TR should be a punch and kick panel. MI, MR and ML should be familiars. Make it so BL is where you place your tablets. BR should be a replacement panel spot biased toward stats for a good spirit level. In this case it is best to have Ventus rely on melee. Recommended Weapon and Elements: Punch Line and Fire, Earth and Water. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************************************************* 10. General tips ******************************************************************************* 1. Do not drown someone in magic tablets. It can take awhile to finish them. Spreading them out among your members is a good idea. 2. Try to finish magic tablets as soon as possible. 3. In fact follow this ideal. If you already know the last two spells on a tablet are ones you are not going to use. Then unless you really care about the bonuses then just skip finishing the tablet. This is easier to follow when you know what the spells in the game and what types they are. 4. Your weapon of choice should not be in the skill/strength spot. This is because while Sword may be your weapon of choice, Axe is much better for raising Strength for example. So it is better to have the sword in a spot that does not affect strength. This is especially true for using skill weapons. As bow and dagger are very bad for raising skill compared to things like Axe, Kick and Punch. 5. High Skill people should use Bow and Dagger or Gun and Dagger for the most part. High Strength people should use Spear and Sword or Axe and Sword the way I see it. Although this could be a bit debatable. The general idea is to have the blocking weapon your stats are good for. Sword (Deflect) for Strength users and Dagger (Parry) for skill users. Staff could be good if you plan to only use the secondary weapon for the purpose of its status dropping abilities. And of course staff has that in spades. ******************************************************************************** 11. The ideals of panel growth and setting up your characters in general. ******************************************************************************** In reality the growth system is nothing more than a case of choices between two ideals. And I will go through this using some example characters. I will also try to keep it simple as it were. But remember this is only the basics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Maximize vs Balance] Take for example Sapphire's Fire and Spirit. Fire and Spirit are both affected by the bottom right and middle right panel spots. In general panels either help your stats more or your elements more. This is where you choice comes in. You can either maximize Fire or Spirit first of all. This means in both spots you put down a panel that helps spirit/fire more than fire/spirit depending on your preference. This will result in good fire/spirit, but bad spirit/fire. Then of you have the option of balance. This means putting a panel good for spirit in the slot that affects spirit more and a panel good for fire in the slot that affects fire more. While neither stat will be at its best, they will be at a good level. Of course good for your growth rate that is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Stat vs Functions] As you may realize each panel has a different function of course. And at the same time raises stats and elements by different rates. So you may often have to make a choice between them. For example Sapphire has level 4 dagger skills and you want her to use a dagger because of that. She has gotten access to level a 4 Axe panel and a level 4 Dagger panel at the end of a scenario. The Axe panel will raise her stat more than the dagger will. And thus if she puts it in the slot that affects skill the most her damage will become even better than the level 4 dagger panel would have made it. However at the same time let's say she doesn't even have as much as a level 1 dagger panel in her grid. Making it very hard for her to hit the level 4 panels on the reel. So while the level 4 dagger panel may not help any of her stats as much it will make her easier to use in battle. Sometimes the choice between stat and function is easy. Other times it may not be. I will say this much I'd go for the level 4 panel of the weapon I am using first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Concentrate on Stat/Element means a loss for two Elements/Stats] Case in point when Sapphire concentrates on her fire element she is essentially making herself weaker in skill and spirit. Meanwhile when she concentrates on her skill stat, she is making herself weaker in wood and fire. This often means you are going to have to accept some loss in something. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Direct confrontation of Stat vs Element] In our original example we noted that fire and spirit share the same panel affects for Sapphire. And while Spirit is more affected by bottom right panel spot, fire is more affected by middle right. This allows for us to create a balance. However sometimes the stat and element are both affected the greatest by the exact same spot. In Sapphire's case fire and skill are both affected greatly by middle right. This means in the end you will either greatly give up skill or greatly give up fire. It is at this point you must make the tough choice. Think ahead of time which you'd rather have her do. Because trying to do both will not work well. Simply because one will end up rather weak. So remember in these cases just choose one over the other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Who cares about that stat/element! I just want a bonus for this stat/element] As you may alreadly know you gain bonuses for having panels of the same type next to each other. There is a triangle bonus, joint bonus and line bonus. I will not get into how bonuses work too much. Let's give a very basic example using joint bonuses only. If you have two panels that look like each other in middle right and bottom right you will get a bonus based on the type of panel. Even more if the panels are the same level. For example key panels will give you a joint bonus to "skill" as it were. Let's look at this bonus alone for a minute. We're thinking of giving Sapphire more skill by using the joint bonus. So we end up putting the key panels in the top left and middle left spots so we can get the joint bonus. And at the same time still put the panels that affect skill the best in the slots that affect skill itself. However here is the problem we run into. While sometimes the two panels that create the bonus are the best choice you get. Other times they will harm the stats you are trying to help. For example we decided to have Sapphire use top left and middle left for the joint bonus. So in other words we are restricting the growth of her Strength, Water, Endurance, Metal and Magic just so we can have a joint bonus. And by the fact middle left greatly affects metal and endurance, we are being very restrictive on the growth of those two stats. Also by the fact top left greatly affects water and strength we are affecting those stats greatly at the same time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Time for a Fighter who uses magic! No wait a Mage who can fight that's the ticket!] In the end most of your weapons are affected by skill or strength. And each spell of a certain element is of course affected mostly by that said element. For the sake of being simple, we will just refer to sword as our strength weapon and bow as our skill weapon. Making a fighter/mage character is a matter of having one element good and either your skill good or your strength good. However there are times we run into a problem. Take for example Michelle. Michelle has five growth in strength and five growth in skill. Meanwhile she has four growth in water. Her strength stat and water stat are both affected greatly by one of the same spots. Meanwhile her skill can be greatly raised without affecting her water. What this boils down to is Michelle can still be a great fighter by using her a skill weapon the bow and be a great magic user by using her water stat. Because neither will conflict with each other. In another example we have Sapphire. Sapphire's best element is of coure "fire" at 4. All her other elements are at "1" or "2". Meanwhile her strength is at "2" and her skill is at "4". So you're thinking "Let's make her a bow user that burns people with fire spells!" Back up a minute! Her skill and fire spot are both greatly affected by the same spot. This means you can't have both. So your perfect hybrid is not to be. So what do you? You have two choices. Fighter who uses magic or mage who can fight. What this means is simple. If you choose "Fighter who uses magic" then what you first do is look at your strength vs skill. In the case of Sapphire "skill" wins. Now then you concentrate on skill over the elements that are affected by the same spot as it minus the middle panel since it affects everything. As you should know Wood and Fire are the elements affected by along with skill. This means as a fighter who uses magic, Sapphire should forget about her wood and fire elements. At the same time we see Water, Metal and Earth are not in conflict with her "skill" stat. So what you would do is choose one of them as your element instead. The growth for earth and water are both "1" while metal is "2" making metal the logical choice. What we have is Sapphire using bow because we concentrated more on her best fighting ability. And at the same time she is using metal because it is her best element that does not conflict with her skill. In truth "Mage who can fight" is a simpler choice. First we look at the fact fire is Sapphire's greatest element. Since her skill is in direct conflict with her fire, we must forget about raising her skill. So essentially this means we are now going to concentrate on her strength instead of her skill for her fighter aspect. Simply because strength is not in conflict with her best element. So in this instance we have Sapphire using her best element fire. And at the same time she has opted for her lesser fighting stat "strength" because her better fighting stat "skill" must be sacrificed for her best element "fire". For some characters their strength and skill are about the same. Still for others many of their elements are about the same. And some have skill and strength the same while having many elements the same. Of course when I say "same". I mean same growth rate or well almost. These people are in general easier to decide how to set up as hybrid between using magic and fighting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Limiting your spots by your plans] When ever you do things like set up joint bonuses, triangle bonuses or line bonuses you are in of course in essence restricting certain panels to never be replaced. This can be good when you have a dumping spot. But sometimes you may get a really good panel as it were. Thus having a bunch of joint bonuses can make it so you have to put the panel in the dumping spot if you are against ruining your bonuses. So by trying to have bonuses you can often ruin your chances to grow if you are stubborn. One of the worst offenders can be line bonuses. Often the middle panel which is always included in a line bonus is the best spot for dumping "panels" as the amount you lose in stats over all is not that great. By having such a line bonus and being too stubborn to lose it, you have lost the best place to dump bad panels. And yes I have been quite stubborn about killing line bonuses too. So while it is good to have bonuses, you must remember they can restrict your spots. Another thing that can restrict your panel spots is of course "magic tablets". You never know when you will find one or even find the same one again. So you can feel obligated to finish the tablet. But as long as the tablet remains on your grid, it takes up a valuable spot. If you are the type who moves forward rather than staying behind to finish a tablet you will often be with one spot you can't use. Even worse if you are the type who feels he must finish the tablet no matter what. Or heck the type who does both. This can have you go through several adventures without ever being able to use that spot. Of course finished tablets give bonuses so some want to keep them even if they finish them. Being a realist you can really only do one of three things. First accept the fact you will not be able to use that panel spot for awhile. Second forget about learning spells completely. Third either don't get all the spells the tablet has or just finish the tablet before moving forward. I find that once you know what spells are what is it far better just to get the spells you want to use for the most part and ski pgetting the other spells. As this speeds things up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Wait a minute why am I doing this? That other member can do it!] While some panels are good to have on multiple members others are not. For example in Mythe's quest many members are better at skill growth than strength growth. Such as Marie, Sapphire and Tiffon. So it makes sense for them to all have a level 4 bow panel. However at the same time you really do not need all three with "quick fix" as just one member alone is enough to perform the function. As long as that member is in the party of course. So what you may want to do is spread out the functions among members. Don't have it so Sapphire, Marie and Tiffon can all use quick fix when only one needs to be able to. If Sapphire already has quick fix level 3 and Tiffon gains access to a choice between level 3 quick fix and level 3 monger, consider giving Tiffon level 3 monger panel instead. You will gain a new funtion to use and of course not be wasting a spot on a function you already have. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Planning ahead vs Accepting your fate] So you're going to have Francis concentrate on using swords. However he doesn't get a level 4 sword panel. No he gets a level 4 Spear panel! This where planning ahead and accepting fate come into play. You can either keep using swords with Francis and gain more sword skills all in the hope you will gain a level 4 sword panel. This is good if you already have sword skills and no spear skills. However at the same time you are hoping for a good future. One that may never come. Alternatively you can accept your fate and have him use spears instead because he now has a level 4 spear panel. What's good is once he learns level 4 spear skills, he should have an easy time hitting them. But now you are forced into hoping he will learn the skills. And while there is a chance you may never gain the level 4 sword panel in the first example at the same you may have trouble sparking level 4 spear skills. The point is you must either accept working with the panels you have or hope for good panels for what you are planning to use. And for some the choice is easier than others. After all if you decide to make Armand just a fighter, he has high strength and skill. So he can be fine with just bow or sword. However Marie who has low strength can't really make use of the sword that well so she needs the bow panel. While Laura who has high strength needs the sword panel and not the bow panel because her skill is bad. Since most weapon are strength weapons, the ones who are reliant on skill weapons potentially have it the worst. However depending on your opinions of the specialities of the skill weapons bow, dagger and of course gun it can easily balance out anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Defenses are down! Defenses are down!] For the most part "Spirit" and "Endurance" make up your defensive stats. Spirit is your defense against mental status affects while endurance is your defense against physical status affects. Like all other stats they are in conflict with elements. Let's go back to Sapphire for example her metal and endurance are in direct confrontation with each other. This means for a good metal stat she must have a lower endurance than she could have. As many panels again either help elements more than stats or vice versa. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Helping my terrible stat/element or my good element/stat? Choices, choices] Sometimes you will have an element and stat in direct confrontation where the growth rate difference is a case of stat/element being 4 and element/stat being 1. For the sake of argument let's look at the set up for Musol. His endurance growth rate is 2 while his metal growth rate is 4. Both are in direct conflict with each other in the middle left panel spot. On one hand you could say that endurance is lower so it should be forgotten about in favor of having a good metal level. This is a strategy of going for the best you can be. However sometimes you may find it is better to help the stat you are worse at. Give it the extra boost it needs. After all with better endurance, you can resist physical status effects easier. And at the same time since your metal level is twice as good it can afford to have panels that are not as good for it. So you have a basic choice between making a terrible stat good or a good stat great. Depending on how you set up your members this can be good or bad. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [What is the point of this thing my member has? Should I even bother with it?] Sometimes members like Sapphire will start with a good panel in the middle spot. For example the panel fortuneteller level 4 helps you with treasure hunting and is a great panel to have early on. The problem is the urge to keep such a panel for fear of never getting it again can be pretty bad. For one thing if she keeps the panel, she will definitely never get it again. Second that middle spot is often your best spot for dumping bad panels as well as the spot always used for line bonuses. Now if you plan a line bonus that involves that look like the fortune teller panel that is not so bad. However if you desire a line bonus of keys for example then the fortune teller panel is liability. At the same time sometimes the panel can be so rare that getting rid of it is even harder. For example Iskandar starts with a level 4 meister panel in the middle spot panel spot. This panel is as far as I know a very rare panel. Meaning if you give it up you may not get it back at all. Of course the same can be said about replacing any panel. Another example is spells and magic tablets. Some members start with spells. For example Mythe starts with purify a water spell. And he has a water growth of 4. So in esseence he can take advantage of the spell he already has by making his water stat good. In another example we have Grace who starts with many water spells. The problem is her water growth is not that good. So you have to ask yourself if you should bother raising her water level to take advantage of spells she already has or instead get her some metal spells since her metal growth is much better. If you choose to go for the spells she already has you have a good base of spells but you limit your potential due to her low water growth. At the same time if you choose to go for getting new spells to take advantage of her better element metal you must hope to find these tablets and learn these spells. Likewise some members start with tablets that may or may not have spells that are good for their respective growth rates. Such as Judy having a tablet with forbidden spells and having high magic growth which is good for forbidden spells. And Michelle starting with a tablet that has earth spells, but her growth for earth is bad. The idea here is similar to our examples with Mythe and Grace except instead of knowing the spells, you just have the tablet with the spells. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Looking at the multiple factors] I have gone through several different ideals of setting up your character. However the next step is realizing the factors have to be taken into consideration with each other. And sometimes are even directly affected by each other. For example before we talked about making Sapphire a fighter who uses magic. This meant first choosing the greater of the two weapon stats "Skill" or well "Strength". Of course skill wins out for Sapphire. Next we chose to forgo "fire" and "wood" since trying to help either element could not be done due to full concentration on "skill". So we were left with a choice between water, metal and earth of course. And in the end since earth and water were "1" and metal was "2" we went with it as our element. This is where what I said comes into play. Remember the section on defenses. Endurance is your defense against physical status effects. And it is affected the greatest by the same exact spot that greatly affects metal. So you run into the problem of sacrificing some of your defense for your best remaining element stat. And if you decide not to sacrifice your defense against status effects, you are then left with concentrating on Sapphire's two remaining elements. Water and Earth. So if we decide to go for Sapphire's water element we are brought back to the idea of "maximize vs balance". Here to have both decent endurance and decent water, we would end up putting a good panel for water in the top left spot since it affects water the most and a good panel for endurance in the middle left spot since it affects endurance the most. Thus we create a balance. So as you can see you will be taking multiple factors into account. Sometime factors won't matter as much depending on you set up your member. Heck if you plan to only use someone until you get to kick them out, you really don't need to concentrate on the member much anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [My set up is perfect! I don't want to ruin it!] So you have several members with good set ups. If only you could keep them that way. Well it's quite simple what you can do is this. Remove two of the members who have the so called perfect set ups. That's right let the two members you do not plan to use take their place. If a member is not present when you complete an adventure they will not have to worry about replacing a panel. However be warned that eventually if you want to use the "tetra force" you must replace a panel. And the member won't gain any HP at all due to the fact he will not be present in the adventure. To be blunt you are better off having your perfect set up revolve around six of the panels spots. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [So what is sacrificed for what? What balances with what?] If you have read sections 2-5 you have a very good idea how well each element and stat is affected by each panel spot. However what you want to know here is direct element vs stat. Well for this let's create a new grid. S will stand for "stat" while E will stand for "element". (E5) (S1) (E1) (S5) [TL] [TR] (S2) [ML] [MI] [MR] (E4) [BL] [BR] (E2) (S4) (E3) (S3) First the direct confrontations. S1, E1 and E5 are in direct confrontation with each other. S2 and E2 are in direct confrontation with each other. E3, S3 and S4 are in direct confrontation with each other. And finally E4 and S5 are in direct confrontation with each other. Now if you choose to go for balance then S1 must be balanced with E1 and E5. S2 must be balance with E1 and E2. S3 must balanced with E2 and E3. S4 must be balance with E3 and E4. S5 must be balanced with E4 and E5. E1 must be balanced S1 and S2. E2 must be balanced S2 and S3. E3 must be balanced with S4 and S3. E4 must be balanced with S4 and S5. Finally E5 must be balanced with S1 and S5. So as you can see you have many different options for balancing out the stats. This is probably making your head spin or at least mine. Well try to think of it in smaller terms instead for balance. Ie if you want Sapphire to have to good spirit and fire then just look the idea of balancing E2 which is her fire element with S3 here spirit stat. At the same time just forget about certain stats. In other words if Sapphire is not going to use a strength weapon ever and she will never even think about using punches, kicks or throws then you should not even worry about her strength stat at all. Thus that should save you a headache. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Get to the point!] In conclusion for this section. We get to the basic heart of growth in U.SaGa. It boils down to one thing. And that is making a choice between different ideals. I have shown you the very basic ideas and have given you examples. This section should have hopefully given you an idea of things you need to think about. And by thinking about these things you will have a better basic idea of how to build up your members as well as the choices you will be faced with. Also remember I did not take the middle panel into consideration in a lot of these examples. While it affects all stats it does so by small amounts and thus does not really work for some of the points being made. ******************************************************************************* 12. Legal Disclamier. Contact Info and Credits. ******************************************************************************* Disclaimer: This FAQ is copyrighted by Robert Gilreath and can not be copied for use on other sites without my permission. Where can this FAQ be found: It can only be found at http://faqs.ign.com and http://www.gamefaqs.com as of right now. If it is at any other site then the FAQ has been posted there without my permission in most cases. There may be a rare case I give a site permission, but this FAQ has not updated at the other sites to reflect this. So if you do find someone stealing the FAQ then please email me about it. Don't go into a flamewar with the person. Contact: You can email at precischisato@lycos.com if you wish to contact me to ask me about some questions such as permission to use the FAQ. You can also post at the Unlimited SaGa message board at Gamefaqs. Do not email me gameplay related questions. Especially heavy handed ones. Post such questions at the board itself. I do not check my email that much. Credits: This FAQ could not be possible without the following people. Niu: For clarifying a lot of the information about the game and allowing me to draw conclusions on what information to look for when making this guide. The regulars at Gamefaq's U.SaGa board: Their dedication and various topics helped inspire the writing of this faq. As well give ideas on the the study of information.