Challenge Mode - The Basics

Welcome! This guide is for all who are new (or even those who are experienced, but are intrigued to know more) about Challenge Mode. Please remember, all information differs and is not a set trend within the game! Everyone has their own opinion of who is the best character to use, etc. This guide is just a general oversight into the world of Challenge Mode. If there is anything you would like to discuss, or maybe if you’ve got some handy Japanese phrases that would be suitable to add to the list below in this guide, please visit our Forums and comment. All feedback is appreciated.

Contents

Materials and Statistics

This section is for the Materials and who uses what ones, etc…

  • Power: Hunters (start by giving to the weaker hunters i.e. HUcaseal, HUmar, in stringent circumstances, you may need to favor your HUcast like in Stage 9 for example).
  • Defense: Generally Forces, though Hunters greatly benefit from these as well, but FO is your first choice. If given to a Hunter, androids are the first to receive them, since they usually deal more damage, they are more valuable.
  • Evade: Hunters, Hunters, and Hunters, I cannot stress that enough, no other class requires these at all. If no HUmars are present then the FO would take it cause they are more fragile and cannot risk taking hits.
  • Mind: Obviously Forces, if there are no Forces present, then the HUnewearl or RAmarl is your best bet.
  • Luck: Hunters or Rangers, seeing as they hit with physical attacks constantly. Hunters are your first choice though because criticals are 1.5 times the damage and Rangers seldom hit that hard in Challenge Mode.
  • HP: Nearly always Forces, Rangers sometimes. Generally never Androids, though, because all of them get better HP than any Human or Newman counterpart.
  • TP: Force, or whoever your designated magic caster is.

Exceptions

There are always exceptions to this (except for Evade, thats a constant). For example, if there are four Hunters, it is pretty much whoever gets what uses it. Never hoard in a case like that, always try to keep the party even but the rules are less strict in cases like that. Use your best judgement for your particular situation, if you have a HUmar doing more damage than the HUcast, then give the HUmar the def mat because he is more useful to the party. Common sense dictates. And do not forget, communication is essential.

Your Actions

This is how you should act before, during, and after the challenge (especially useful if you’re playing with Japanese players).

Before

Always welcome Japanese players with Word Select “Hello” and “Nice to meet you” or “Good to see you”. Also if you know bits and pieces of Japanese, speak to them, they appreciate when you try to learn their culture. Another important thing is if you have a character class join your game that you don’t need in your team, ask them to leave but in a nice way, always use Word Select to say “Sorry”. Of course there are those jerks out there that get mad to you anyway but dont dignify them by yelling back.

During

If you have something you want to give to somebody else, drop it by the door to the next room. If you aren’t aware of that door, try to drop it near the person. If you come across a puzzle you do not know how to solve (like switches on the floor) DO NOT try to solve it, let someone who knows do it, even if it seems obvious to you, often times in C-Mode there are many tricks and traps that damage the whole party. If you are out of Scape Dolls and the team really wants to try and finish, drop your stuff and disconnect, no sense screwing the whole team out of a victory just for your sake, most times they’ll retry with you if you’re nice enough to do that. If you have to leave for any reason during a challenge, always drop all your stuff near the closest player, it will be VERY useful to them.

After

If you and your team did well, suggest exchanging Guild Cards, most Japanese players won’t exchange unless you prove yourself as a really good player so don’t bother them unless you do really well. Always say “Nice Playing with you” on Word Select. Again, common sense dictates, just be polite.

Hunters

Good to use

  • HUcaseal: Awesome accuracy, evade, and combos for most weapons are good. Decent HP, decent attack, and the use of traps is essential, especially in Time Attack games. Good for beginners.
  • HUcast: They are iffy due to their extremely low accuracy but the highest strength and HP in Challenge Mode comes in handy. Adequate defense and evade and again, the use of traps is very helpful. Japanese players tend to use them because they know what they’re doing, so I suggest you know the same before attempting this class. They are either incredibly useful or useless, and can only be that useful if you know how to use them.

Bad to use

  • HUnewearl: The only thing this girl has to offer in the regular game is high MST and you never reach the point of that in Challenge Mode. Crappy accuracy, the worst attack of the hunters, low MST (not as bad as HUmar but again this is supposed to be her saving grace), overall just bad. I would suggest only using this girl after you have gotten used to Challenge Mode.
  • HUmar: Has the second best strength of the Hunters, has adequate defense, but his accuracy and evasion can be a problem. Decent HP, all and all, can take hits and deliver them just as well. HUmar can be decent in some stages, like Episode II Stage 3, where he is basically the best Hunter to use. Once again, only use if you are already good at Challenge Mode.

Rangers

A Quick Note: Rangers are basically the worst class to use in Challenge Mode, they are never strong enough to deal substantial damage unless you are lucky enough to find an amazing weapon for them. This applies to all of them so do not use a Ranger until you are experienced with Challenge Mode. A positive side note though, due to them being distant from enemies, their lack of good stats is not generally an issue, other than the fact they are taking up the spot of somebody who could have been more useful. You cannot rely on the distance, though, as there are many enemies who have ranged attacks.

Good to use

  • RAcaseal: Pretty much the only Ranger worth using in Challenge Mode, her ability to see and shoot traps from the start is a must. She has very good ATP and ATA in Challenge Mode.

Bad to use

  • RAcast: Granted he is the strongest Ranger, but he’s got the worst accuracy of them all, and what is the point of having a Ranger who cannot hit monsters?. His HP is above average and his DFP is rather good.
  • RAmarl: Definitely not a good character to use in Challenge Mode. Her ATA, DFP and EVP are good, but she lacks HP and ATP. Her MST can allow her to sue a few healing or support techniques, but they never really come in handy, and a Ranger who cannot see traps is rather useless in Challenge Mode.
  • RAmar: He gets the most accuracy of any class in the game, but his ATP, DFP and HP are really not high enough. He can cast magic (though it sucks), but as said for the RAmarl, a Ranger who cannot see traps is a burden.

Forces

A Side Note: No Force is really good or bad to use as they each have certain situations they can be useful in. Therefore I will only put the pros and cons of each. Also, this is a given but, since they are fragile you have to be careful and if you are going to be a Force, you have to know that many of the big monsters will be handled by you so know ALL of the elemental weaknesses for each monster.

  • FOmar: Starting with Stage 2 (in EpI) and Stage 1 (in EpII), the FOmar (and all forces) starts with Shifta and Deband. Seeing as this is his speciality, it is useful. However, his HP, DFP and MST are very low. He actually has the worst MST of the Forces.
  • FOmarl: Her boost to the range of Shifta, Deband, Resta and Anti, and the best DFP and HP of the Forces make her a very good Force for the less experienced players.
  • FOnewm: Definitely not for newcomers, FOnewm has no boost to any support or healing technique, making the task a lot more difficult. Not to mention you will very rarely get to put to use his boost to normal and hard techniques – but if you do, it will be worth it.
  • FOnewearl: The most fragile but most effective as a force because she gets a boost to simple techniques (which you will use a lot) and the highest MST. Most Japanese players use FOnewearls, which should tell you that you have to know what you are doing to be one. They can be very useful if used right.

Important note to all Forces

TP conservation, something I learned from being a Force four times through Challenge Mode. It is essential that you know the placement of all the health rings and time your level ups to come right around when you run out of TP. Also (this applies especially to TA games), die for TP if you are nowhere near leveling or a health ring and out of fluids. Obviously this is a last resort even in TA games but its expert technique and if used right (and if the other teammates are good enough to survive without their Scape Dolls) it is the only way to get TA level times because the Forces can constantly blast magic at enemies. Only use fluids when you have no TP. No exceptions to this. No point wasting them if you are about to level up or there is a health ring around a corner that you forgot about.

Key Japanese Phrases

These phrases may very well come in handy when playing Challenge Mode with others in the team who are Japanese (be mindful of the time it is in Japan).

General Phrases

  • Konnichiwa: Good afternoon
  • Ohayo gozaimasu: Good morning
  • Konbanwa: Good evening
  • Oyasumi nasai: Good night (when you leave a game/lobby)
  • Gomen nasai / Sumimasen: Sorry
  • Genki desu ka?: Are you well?
  • Arigatou: Thank you
  • Isshoni asonde mo ii desuka?: May I join you?
  • Yoroshiku: Good to see you (widely used)
  • Omedetou: Congratulations
  • Sayonara: Goodbye
  • Dewa dewa: Bye-bye
  • Ja ne: See you
  • Eigo ga dekimasuka?: Do you speak English?

In-Game Keywords

  • {Item Name} Kudasai: {Item Name} Please (Used to ask for an Item/Mat, etc.)
  • Yu: Heal Ring Description