When playing Star Ocean: The Divine Force, it's pretty common to complain about how bad the party member AI is. And I agree. It's pretty awful. But there are ways of wrangling the AI to force it to work. Knowing how to design a chain combo workable by the AI can make or break its performance.

In this guide, I will explain the AI as I understand it, the idiosyncrasies with how it handles Chain Combos, and, most importantly, share screenshots of Chain Combo pages for each character and explain why the AI works well with them. Each of these Chain Combos is effective enough to beat the game on Chaos without issue using any party combination. When possible, enjoyability of using the Chain Combo as the player is considered as well - I didn't change from most of these when I played these characters.

None of these chain combos will consider Factors on equipment or food, which can change the efficacy of the combos a bit in the postgame content especially. Adapt accordingly.

The AI follows many of the same rules as the player when it comes to using Chain Combos. But it has additional restrictions that the player does not, and these are extremely important to keep in mind.

In any combo the AI pulls off, it is limited to using a maximum of 5 AP. It doesn't matter if you have 15 max AP - the AI will only use up to 5. If your set combo uses more than 5 AP, the AI will use that 5 AP and then cut the combo off early.

While the player can continue their combo, looping their set chain combo so long as they have AP available, the AI cannot. Once the AI uses 3 skills, it ends the combo even if there is AP leftover.

Presumably, this is the AI waiting for its AP to recover. It will always do this after every combo, and will take roughly the same amount of time no matter how many AP it has used.

If you put just one ability, that costs 1 AP, in one of the button press chain combos, then the AI will use that skill three times even though it's only set once.

If you put a skill in one of the slots where you have to hold a button to activate it, the AI will use that skill just once and then end the combo. Great for skills with a high AP cost like buffs. Actively detrimental if you put low AP cost skills there, though.

One example is Nina's Come Together skill. When set to the first ability in a chain, I have never seen the AI use it. However...

If you set a skill to be used as the second or third part of your chain combo, the AI will use it even if it's a skill that the AI wouldn't normally use, such as Nina's Come Together.

Ever. It just won't. The Extend Dodge passive is worthless on AI party members. Similarly, Malkya's unique Masochistic Semiomancy passive will never be activated by the AI.

Raymond's Chain Combo setup is extremely straightforward. All In chained into two Boulder Strikes makes for some incredible damage. Boulder Strike hits hard, has a relatively quick animation for its power, closes the gap between him and an enemy, and knocks back and down enemies if staggered. There's little reason to use anything else.

Abyssal Gate is very powerful as well, and most importantly, it can be used at range to teleport to the enemy at the moment the animation ends. Even the AI can make good use of this.

All For One is a strong buff. No reason not to let the AI use it.

Laeticia's Chain Combo setup is very full, and each combo has its purpose.

The Y combo is safely spammable and high single target damage. Coupe was chosen as the start because of its quick animation and as a reliable gap closer. While Grand Malheur also lunges toward the enemy, I have found it to be less reliable in doing so, and its longer animation makes it less likely your next skill will land if the enemy decides to move further away. Chaining Coupe into Grand Malheur allows the chain to be both reliable and damaging. Finally, it caps off with Nemesis Rhapsodie for high damage and a knockback.

The RB combo deals modest damage to multiple targets. Eclipse du Choucas starts off by hitting her target as well enemies behind and above her (hopefully knocking down aerial enemies). Coupe is thrown in right after just as filler, and in case the Eclipse du Choucas missed. Then, Mistral is used to deal deceptively decent damage to targets in a large area point-blank.

The bread and butter for damage is All In chained into Supernova on RT. Nothing Laeticia can do will cause more damage than that, and it's incredible. It's strong for single target and area damage. But it's not always safe to be in such a long animation lock - doing so is an easy way to ensure your AI dies a lot. That's why we have the other two combos. A second Supernova is included in case you are controlling her.

Croix Gardien is slotted in Y Hold because the AI makes surprisingly good use of this to dodge attacks. It's not very often, but it helps keep Laeticia alive quite a bit. It was important to have it accessible to the AI, but it doesn't really combo well with any of her other abilities, so it was best off on its own.

Vampiric Weapon and One for All are good buffs. No reason not to use them, and use them the AI will.

Albaird's Chain Combo is largely focused on keeping up Shadow Remnant while doing other things. You'll want to improve the rank for Shadow Remnant early on, so that the duration is higher. It's the very key to making Albaird a very strong caster.

Ikaruga, Peerless Guillotine, and Demon Gate are all very strong area damage skills. Occasionally, the AI will use them to great affect, so it should definitely have access to them. Since Ikaruga has a 3 AP cost, that leaves 2 AP for prepping a Shadow Remnant for casting in later combos.

RB focuses on generating Shadow Remnants twice, then casting once. RT focuses on generating one Shadow Remnant, then casting twice. They are reversed like this to help the AI keep up the Shadow Remnants.

With Shadow Remnants being created in every combo, the AI is bound to keep most of them up. When casting, each Shadow Remnant will create one extra projectile. This means each Shadow Remnant is worth roughly half the power of Fireball/Ice Sword, with having the maximum of 5 of them out making each Fireball/Ice Sword have 210 Power up from the base of 60 Power.

I highly recommend you improve the rank of Fireball/Ice Blade just once, to level 2. Doing so gives it a chance to increase INT when used, making Albaird's casting even stronger. Higher rank, bigger INT buff.

As an aside, the Factor, "Makes all projectiles piercing." will causing Fireball/Ice Sword projectiles to pierce as well. Since these projectiles are homing, this means they'll go through an enemy and then circle back, hitting the enemy multiple times - usually thrice. This quite literally triples Fireball/Ice Sword damage. With this, and 5 Shadow Remnants, you're looking at roughly 630 Power per cast - that's insane!

Nina's Chain Combos each fulfill a very different purpose.

The Y combo builds a field of damaging fields of deterring sound, useful for both damaging enemies that don't flinch easily and keeping them away if they do.

The RB combo is one the AI actually won't use, since, in my entire time playing, I have never seen it use Come Together. But now if you control her manually, you have access to that very strong positional skill. And a buff and heal, too.

The RT combo is for healing. A healing fields followed by her main healing skill. The healing field actually heals Nina as well, so it's important to use it first in case she is hit during the long animation at the end.

Y Hold has Heavy Bass, which is actually a deceptively powerful area damage ability. Nina's ability to do damage should not be underestimated, and even the AI can use this one well.

RT Hold has Reverberate, the resurrection spell. Of course you want the AI to have this.

Okay, I know, I get it. That's a lot of Wisp Blaster.

But, quite frankly, you don't need much else. Wisp Blaster is actually very potent. The only other thing you really want Midas to cast is Spicule.

You might be wondering why Wonderful Swing is in the middle of the Y combo. Well, when you use Wonderful Swing, any Wisp Blaster projectiles on the field will instantly shoot into Midas' target. Rather ironically, this works best at a distance, as otherwise more of the projectiles will miss. So, Midas spawns a bunch of Wisp Blaster projectiles and swings his staff to shotgun an entire field with a spread shot of them. It's really quite strong!

But why is Wonderful Swing in the middle rather than the start? Well, because Midas' AI is cowardly. It will do everything within its power to stay out of melee range. If you start a combo with a short range skill, then AI Midas will simply wander around most of the time rather than attack.

The RB combo is filled with just Wisp Blaster in order for Midas to create a minefield of projectiles. Enemies love to run right into them.

Spicule is Spicule and, aside from Wisp Blaster, nothing else matters. Trust me on that. If you want to increase the frequency at which he casts Spicule, add one to an empty first slot in his Chain Combos (RB Hold, RT Combo, and RT Hold).

If you don't like how Wisp Blaster is working out, then just remove everything but Spicule from his Chain Combos. No, I'm not even kidding. You know you want to.

Elena's Chain Combos are very full, and seem to make little sense at a glance. Once you take into account the AP Saver skill, though, it begins to come together. These Combo Chains are designed to function both with and without AP Saver's buff active. The AI will use AP Saver, and keep it up most of the time, but sometimes it will chain once or twice without it.

Assassin is her hardest hitting ability, but it can't be chained back-to-back very well because it moves her a little further away from her target when it's used. To make up for this, a mid-ranged attack, Tamer, is used after Assassin.

The Y combo closes the gap to the enemy with Gladiator before using Assassin, while the RB combo forsakes the gap closer and requires the AI to be right up against the enemy before use but lets loose and Grim Reaper projectile at the end of the combo instead.

RT is a ranged area damage combo that ends with spawning a Grim Reaper projectile for good measure.

RB Hold is slotted with Bullet Hunter, which the AI will sometimes make pretty good use of to avoid projectiles.

Malkya's AI is awful for her intended playstyle. Malkya is clearly meant to use her Masochistic Semiomancy passive to seamlessly weave her spells into her melee combos. However, the AI will never activate Masochistic Semiomancy, completely ruining her ability to cast in melee combos.

As such, Malkya's AI combos and the combos you want to use when controlling her are very different. Rather annoying.

That said, her AI combo is still passable.

The Y Combo starts with Shall We Dance? due to its dodge effect while also being a gap closer, which the AI will incidentally use to avoid damage occasionally. Serval Hunt follows it up as filler, just for an extra hit, and in case the previous skill missed the target. The combo ends in Rising Papillon for damage, which is placed at the end in hopes that even stagger resistant enemies will be kicked into the air by this point in the combo so that none of the midair kicks miss.

Y Hold has Wild Cat, which the AI will frequently use to avoid damage.

The RB Combo is interesting. It starts with Trathen's Royal Sword as a powerful damaging ability and self-heal, then sacrifices some of that healed HP to regain AP via Convert HP/AP in order to finish up the combo with a Crush Clap. This is a very damaging combo, and the AI will often end with more HP than they started with despite the Convert HP/AP cost.

RB Hold forgoes Crush Clap and just uses Trathen's Royal Sword, for when healing is needed and the HP sacrifice is too dangerous. Even the AI will make use of this occasionally, more by accident than intention.

The RT Combo simply chains together both of her debuffing spells for some long range damage and debilitation.

RT Hold has Deep Freeze, her strongest spell, just for the raw damage. The chance to freeze her enemies is just a bonus.

Marielle's AI is best when it sits back and blasts. You can't really expect it to intentionally make use of her Point-Blank Range and Dead-Angle Shooting passives, even if it will accidentally do so once in a while.

The Y Combo focuses on non-area multi-target damage. It starts with Trident R, which is deceptively potent in small spaces due to the projectiles rapidly bouncing around. Then, it follows up and concludes with back-to-back Predator Rays for reliable damage.

The RB Combo has only Spray and Pray. It's a shotgun at close range, and a spread shot at long range. The AI will occasionally use it right in an enemy's face for hilarious damage.

The RT Combo starts with Laser Blast to stagger nearby enemies, to make the relatively long animation of the following Force Drain safer, for its modest all-target damage and a decent self-heal. If there are no enemies nearby, then Laser Blast can be skipped by using Force Drain via RT Hold.

Y Hold is the true powerhouse of her "combos". Energy Burst is just too good, but it's not always safe to use with its long animation, or when there are multiple enemies spread apart. That's what the other combos are for.

The AI truly has no idea how to play J.J. You cannot equip AI J.J. with any of his Counterattack skills, because all the AI will ever do is use them and stand around, even when there's no enemy attacking him. This means you're left only with his more traditional damaging abilities. Luckily, they're still super strong.

Both the Y and RB Combos start with All In for a damage boost and close in to the enemy using his weak and quick strike that is Zan-Ku, then finishes with a charged strike.

The Y Combo finishes with a Zan-Ku: Fury, which is like Ray's Boulder Strike except stronger and quicker but has a very short range - if the enemy moves even an inch away, it will miss. This is why it cannot be chained back-to-back and must be preceded by a basic Zan-Ku to close the gap.

The RB Combo finishes with a Zan-Ku: Dark Desperation. This is the single strongest skill in the game...but also has a windup animation of a whopping 5 full seconds, during which time J.J. is unable to move and the enemy may very well move out of the way. But when the enemy doesn't move? Oh, boy, what damage! Even with the chance to miss, it's worth giving the AI the chance to try and use the skill. If an enemy is ever knocked down or distracted, the AI will just absolutely murder it.

Like with J.J., the AI has absolutely no idea how to play Theo. Theo is unique in that all of his skills have higher Power than the rest of the cast, but his weapon attack skills that don't outright require melee range will do 60% less damage if they are used in melee range. The AI will completely ignore this mechanic, hugging the enemy as close as possible while spamming his Chain Combos, effectively neutering Theo's damage.

After hours upon hours of fiddling and fighting against the AI's nature, I finally decided upon this one set of Chain Combos.

But first, some information about Theo's mechanic, to help explain why I chose the skills I did.

Of all his ATK skills, only Spiral Destroyer and Meteor Strike don't suffer the melee range damage reduction. Spiral Destroyer has an insanely long animation and does nowhere near enough damage to make up for that, which means all it will accomplish is making the AI get itself killed.

Theo's INT skills, Enlightened Prominence and Evil Dragon Buster, do not technically suffer the melee range damage reduction. However, Theo's INT stat is far lower than his ATK, making Enlightened Prominence weaker than even some of his damage-reduced ATK skills. Furthermore, not only does Evil Dragon Buster not do anywhere near as much damage as its listed Power would imply, but it only hits most enemies once if used in melee range, so it's effectively useless in melee range as well. All of these issues are exasperated by the fact that Theo has no way to buff his own INT, but does have Berserk to buff his ATK. This renders both of his INT skills practically worthless.

Then comes in the AI's best friend, X Gale. X Gale is a skill that deals two weapon strikes, and then a piercing ranged damage attack in the form of a forward-gliding "X" shape. Roughly half the damage of X Gale is dealt from the two weapon strikes, and the other half comes from the ranged portion of the attack. That means that the ranged portion of the attack will do full damage even when in melee range! In essence, this means that X Gale only suffers a 30% damage reduction when in melee range, making it the most effective low AP cost skill for AI Theo. Low AP cost, good damage, and good cleave. X Gale is great.

Finally, onto the Chain Combos.

The Y Combo starts with Flash Break as a gap closer. Why Flash Break instead of the slightly stronger Devilish Wolf Smash? Because Flash Break will actually leave Theo just far enough away from the enemy to do full damage with his other attacks. As such, it causes the follow-up X Gale to do full damage fairly often. Finally, the combo finishes with a powerful Meteor Strike. Both X Gale and Meteor Strike have good cleave, and will often hit other nearby targets incidentally.

The RB Combo starts with Abyssal Blood. Twice. When used in melee range, Abyssal Blood loses its chance to apply the DEF debuff to the enemy. This chain exists just in case AI Theo is far enough away from the enemy to apply the DEF debuff. 30% less DEF on an enemy is significant enough to take the chance, and the damage is still pretty good even if this fails and the combo goes off in close melee range - thanks again, X Gale!

Y Hold is slotted with Berserk, which is too strong a buff to pass up considering Theo lacks All In.

All of these Chain Combos are what I used to complete the game on Chaos, so I can guarantee they work well. Hopefully this helps out those who have been struggling to make the AI actually pull its own weight.