*********************************************************** *********************************************************** ** ClaudeLv250's ** ** Ys V - Kefin, Lost Kingdom of Sand ** ** Element & Magic FAQ ** ** v.1.00 ** *********************************************************** *********************************************************** -Table of Contents- A. Getting Started a1. Introduction a2. Ys V a3. How Magic Works a4. Elements a5. Fluxstones B. Magic Guide b1. Fluxstone/Spell List b2. Recommended Spells b3. Magical Items C. Miscellaneous c1. Frequently Asked Questions c2. Guide History c3. Legality c4. Credits ******************************************************************************* A. Getting Started ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to my Ys V Magic FAQ! Ys V is the fifth installment in Falcom's long running Action RPG series. This installment was developed for Nintendo's SNES/SFC game console and released only in Japan in December, 1995. I am ClaudeLv250, aka Claude Augario, aka Jamjohnx3. I played Ys V a few years ago in Japanese. I decided to revisit the game now that Aeon Genesis has released an English translation patch. During my replay, I decided to cover one of the least chronicled aspects of Ys V - its magic crafting system. With an English patch now available, a lot more eyes are going to be on this game now. If you're looking to see which spell does what and how to craft it, you've come to the right place! This FAQ covers vanilla Ys V, so there won't be any acknowledgement of changes (if any) brought about by the Expert re-release, let alone Taito's PS2 remake, as I've never played either one to compare and contrast with the original. And I'm sure that a full-blown Falcom remake will materialize eventually. If you have any questions or suggestions for the guide, you can email me at ClaudeLv250(AT)yahoo(DOT)com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a2. Ys V ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you're here, chances are you already know about Ys. I'm going to jot some info down anyway for completion's sake. Ys V follows the latest adventure of Adol Christin as he travels to Xandria in Afroca and is quickly swept up in the search for the elemental crystals in order to uncover the secrets of Kefin, the ancient lost city. Ys V is the first game in the series to retain its overhead perspective and ditch the collision gameplay. Adol now has an attack and defend option, as well as the ability to jump. The magic system has been revamped. While it is not complex by any means, it certainly is more convoluted than its predecessors, which usually involved equipping an item and pressing a button (if there was any magic at all). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a3. How Magic Works ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o==========o | Crafting | o==========o Ys V is an Action RPG, so the fighting is in real time, as is the charging and execution of spells. But before you can even use magic, you must first CRAFT it! This is done through a few steps: 1. Obtain 3 element stones. 2. Find an alchemist and craft the 3 elements into a fluxstone. 3. Equip the fluxstone onto your currently equipped sword. 4. Charge your spell and press the attack button. o===============o | MP & Charging | o===============o To use magic in the field once it's equipped, you have to take two immediate factors into consideration: MP and charge points. Your HUD appears at the bottom of the screen and should look like this: --------------------- ( /////////////////// ) 000/000/000 --------------------- On the left is your health bar. On the right are three numerical values. The numbers leftmost are your numerical HP value. The center numbers are your MP, and numbers to the right are your charge points. You "charge" magic by pressing or holding the R button, which will increase the numerical value by increments of 12-14. When the number hits 100, press the attack button and you will cast your equipped spell. Spells deplete a certain amount of your MP and and charge; the MP is so you can't cast indefinitely, and the charge is to prevent you from spamming the spell over and over again. You have to charge back up to 100 if you want to cast again. o=================o | Replinishing MP | o=================o You can replenish MP by using a magic potion, leveling up, or going to an inn. You can't actually sleep at an inn, but simply going to one will refresh Adol. o======================o | Gaining Magic Levels | o======================o Adol has two types of levels: physical and magical. Enemies give you the same amount of experience points when you kill them, but how you kill them determines whether those points go towards your physical or magical levels. Killing anything with your sword nets you physical EXP, killing enemies with your spells gets you magic EXP. Physical levels increase stats like HP and STR, while magic levels increase MP, INT, and WILL, which improves your magical attack and defense. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a4. Elements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are six types of elemental stones that can be found in the game, and they represent the six elements that tie into both the plot and gameplay. These six stones, and the abbreviations I've assigned them, are: Fire (Fi) Water (Wa) Earth (Ea) Wind (Wi) Light (Li) Dark (Dk) Element stones can be found in a variety of places. Potted plants, barrels, treasure chests...check every nook and cranny and you might be surprised by what you find. This applies to pretty much all items. Elements contain properties and do not lose said properties even after being fused into a Fluxstone. For example, a water-based enemy will absorb damage from the Fusionblast spell because, despite being a fireball attack, the actual alchemical combination contains the Water element. Similarly, any spell with a Light element in it will kill the skeletons in the desert even if the spell does not appear to contain Light influences. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a5. Fluxstones ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluxstones are the actual stones that contain magical spells. To get obtain one, you must find an alchemist and combine three element stones. You can create a fluxstone from three different elements (Fi+Wa+Ea), two of the same element and one outlier (Fi+Fi+Wa), or three of the same element (Fi+Fi+Fi). This is the base theory anyway - there is a total of 18 fluxstones/spells you can craft in the game, and anyone that's done the math knows that's a smaller number than the possible combinations suggest. The reality is that only the base elements (Fi/Wa/Ea/Wi) freely combine. There are no stones that contain a fusion of Light + Dark, and no stone has more than one Light or Dark element in the mix. The combination of elements will determine what fluxstone you create. For example, the very first fluxstone you will obtain is SEXTA, which is a combination of earth+fire+water. The Sexta fluxstone contains the FUSIONBLAST spell. The stone and its spell are tied together and are one in the same. The two seperate names may be great for lore purposes, but for gameplay purposes, you are talking about two names for one end result. Sexta will always bear Fusionblast, and you cannot use Fusionblast unless you have a Sexta stone equipped. Swords in the game can have up to three slots for fluxstones, which you can equip onto your weapon through the fluxstone menu. You can use the L button to swap between equipped spells on the fly. ******************************************************************************* B. Magic Guide ******************************************************************************* This is a list of every fluxstone in the game, the spell it bears, the element combo needed to make the stone, the MP and charge cost, and a description of what the spell itself does. You'll find them listed by stones and not spells since the stones are what you need to craft in order to use the spell in the first place! o======o | Abis | o======o SPELL : Sandstorm ELEMENTS : Fi+Ea+Wi MP : 17 CHARGE : -58 DESC. : Adol jumps and drives his sword into the ground, tossing surrounding enemies into the air. Doesn't work on airborne monsters. o========o | Antria | o========o SPELL : Freezing ELEMENTS : Wa+Wa+Wa MP : 126 CHARGE : -68 DESC. : Summons a tidal wave that does heavy damage to everything on the screen. Powerful, but VERY expensive, and painfully slow to execute. o========o | Bortes | o========o SPELL : Thunderburn ELEMENTS : Fi+Wi+Li MP : 5 CHARGE : -17 DESC. : Adol does fancy sword work and launches a ball of light in the direction he's facing in. Stronger version of Fusionblast, but has stupidly long start up time. The ball pierces through enemies, but it's so slow to come out...who's going to stand in a straight line for that long? o========o | Bictol | o========o SPELL : Heat Coal ELEMENTS : Fi+Ea+Dk MP : 23 CHARGE : -37 DESC. : Adol turns dark and creates a circle around himself that launches fireballs straight up into the air. The first half of this spell freezes enemies in place; they start moving again once the fireballs emerge. Slightly better than most AOE spells due to the fact that it can hit multiple times. o=======o | Bixis | o=======o SPELL : Ravine ELEMENTS : Fi+Wa+Wi MP : 19 CHARGE : -37 DESC. : Summons a mist (?) that envelops the screen and signficantly slows down all the enemies. o======o | Drad | o======o SPELL : Combustion ELEMENTS : Fi+Fi+Fi MP : 173 CHARGE : -81 DESC. : Heat wave spreads outward from Adol. This is just a fire version of Freezing - full screen, expensive, powerful, slow. o========o | Ecleas | o========o SPELL : Heat Rush ELEMENTS : Fi+Fi+Li MP : 9 CHARGE : -50 DESC. : Adol emits a huge wave of light. Very long animation with only decent full screen damage. o========o | Fornax | o========o SPELL : Megatornado ELEMENTS : Wi+Wi+Wi MP : 108 CHARGE : -72 DESC. : Adol spins around and creates a massive gale. Wind version of Freezing and Combustion - full screen and powerful. o=======o | Indus | o=======o SPELL : Flame Rush ELEMENTS : Fi+Wa+Wa MP : 26 CHARGE : -51 DESC. : Boiling (?) water surrounds Adol. Doesn't work on airborne enemies. o========o | Kaerum | o========o SPELL : Heat Sand ELEMENTS : Fi+Fi+Ea MP : 25 CHARGE : -50 DESC. : Adol creates a small quake around himself. Way too slow and not worth it. o=======o | Kigna | o=======o SPELL : Heat Wind ELEMENTS : Fi+Fi+Wi MP : 5 CHARGE : -25 DESC. : Adol spins in a circle before hurling a crescent shockwave forward. The spell has a long start up but the actual shockwave is quick and powerful. o==========o | Kilkines | o==========o SPELL : Catastrophe ELEMENTS : Ea+Ea+Ea MP : 108 CHARGE : -72 DESC. : Adol leaps into the air and drops down in a giant boulder. Does good damage and it's quicker than the other full screen spells. o=========o | Korunpa | o=========o SPELL : Volcano ELEMENTS : Fi+Ea+Li MP : 13 CHARGE : -25 DESC. : Adol's sword emits a beam of light the razes the earth in front of him. The range is awful. o=========o | Lakelta | o=========o SPELL : Dark Boil ELEMENTS : Fi+Wa+Dk MP : 15 CHARGE : -52 DESC. : Dark water autotargets a single enemy and hurls them high into the sky. Pretty much a slightly stronger, water version of Dark Flash. Doesn't work on airborne enemies. o======o | Rinx | o======o SPELL : Dark Flash ELEMENTS : Fi+Fi+Dk MP : 4 CHARGE : -30 DESC. : A dark beam auto-targets a nearby enemy, lifting and damaging them in the process. Looks cool but that's about it. Doesn't work on airborne monsters. o=======o | Sexta | o=======o SPELL : Fusionblast ELEMENTS : Fi+Wa+Ea MP : 2 CHARGE : -9 DESC. : Shoots a fireball in the direction Adol is facing. The first spell you will acquire. o======o | Ursa | o======o SPELL : Heat Boil ELEMENTS : Fi+Wa+Li MP : 4 CHARGE : -8 DESC. : Adol hurls forward a boiling ball of water. o======o | Wera | o======o SPELL : Lava Flow ELEMENTS : Wa+Fi+Fi MP : 19 CHARGE : -1 DESC. : Adol surrounds himself in a pillar of lava. Has short range and decent damage, and freezes enemies during the animation, but it's still a pretty underwhelming and overall awful selection for what will be a lot of player's second spell and first discovery tinkering with the magic crafting system. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b2. Spell Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So you're new to Ys V (or at least never messed with the magic system before) and you've seen the list of spells in the game but have no idea what you should go with? Look no further! I split my recommendations into two categories: high and low. There's also a third list of spells you should STAY AWAY from. ***HIGH RECOMMENDATIONS*** FUSIONBLAST (Sexta) - It's the first spell you get and it's reliable through the entire game. It's spammable, it casts instantly, and it will outclass your normal attack as long as you have decent or high magic levels. You get it automatically anyway so you might as well take advantage of it. CATASTROPHE (Kilkines) - The best full screen attack spell, mostly because it's the fastest. If you want to dabble in powerful magic, this is the way to go. HEAT WIND (Kigna) - Alternative to Fusionblast. Not bad for dungeons with small corridors. ***LOW RECOMMENDATIONS*** HEAT RUSH (Ecleas) - Light damage spell that covers the screen. It's slow, but it's not too bad if you're looking to do Light-elemental damage. THUNDERBURN (Bortes) - Alternative to Heat Rush if you still want to do Light based damage. It's a projectile and not quite as slow as Heat Rush. FREEZING (Antria) - Alternative to Catastrophe, mostly because you'll probably find three water elements way before you find three for earth. It does more damage, but it's much slower and costly. HEAT COAL (Bictol) - One of the better AOE spells. It's not great, but it does have the potential to hit enemies multiple times, which is pretty unique among spells in this game. ***GOD, NO!*** LAVA FLOW (Wera) - Just an awful spell. Turns a lot of people off because it's typically the first one anyone makes when left to their own devices. Worthless. RAVINE (Bixis) - The Time Ring already has this affect, why waste the elements or spell slot on this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b3. Magical Items ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a small list of items related to magic or MP, mostly here for completion's sake. o==============o | Magic Potion | o==============o Restores 60% of your MP. Sold in most item shops for 600G. o===========o | Maju Seed | o===========o Fully restores MP. Uncommon. o==================o | Celceta Medicine | o==================o Miracle medicine from the land of Celceta that fully restores HP/MP. Uncommon. o============o | Timer Ring | o============o With this equipped, enemies are slowed down by draining your MP. o============o | Magic Ring | o============o Halves MP cost when equipped! ******************************************************************************* C. Miscellaneous ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c1. Frequently Asked Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why can't I use magic on some bosses? A: The simplest answer is that the developers designed the bosses a certain way and did not intend for the player to use magic and break the fight. There is a canonical reason why Adol can't use magic during these encounters that you'll discover as you play the game. Q: Why do people seem to hate the magic in this game so much? A: The simple reality is that the execution of the magic system in Ys V is very flawed. Most of the spells are useless, and the fluxstones you can craft depend on how good you are at snooping out elements. Q: I can't find the elements that I want! Help! A: It pays to rub up against everything once Massea teaches you alchemy. Flower pots in homes, curious rocks out in the field, nondescript corners in dungeons...there are a lot of elements tucked around the game. Q: I have the right elements but I can't make a stone out of them? A: It's mentioned earlier in the FAQ but not every element combination can yield a fluxstone. The game is designed to give you stones based on the possible predetermined combinations, so you'll never see a fluxstone made with dark/light elements together and such. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c2. Guide History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ver. 1.00 (1/9/2014) * First publication * Elements and Fluxstones covered * Magic guide section completed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c3. Legality ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This FAQ/Walkthrough is the property of Jamar Johnson (ClaudeLv250) and cannot be copied and rehosted on another website without my consent. It cannot be reproduced and sold for monetary value. Ys V is a copyright of Nihon Falcom. Sites that have permission to host this FAQ: GameFAQs.com Neoseeker.com If you want to host this FAQ on your site, please contact me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c4. Credits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a couple of people/places I'd like to give thanks to: Falcom For creating the Ys series, which I have played and supported for the past 13 years. Nintendo For creating the SNES, one of the best game consoles of all time. People are still discovering its wealth of hidden gems. GameFAQs For hosting a load of awesome guides for games on all platforms. Aeon Genesis For finally delivering the English patch. I may have never written this FAQ if I never gave Ys V a second go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jamar Johnson © 2014