This guide will cover each and every Item Creation, Specialty and Super Specialty, with lists for items as well various tips.

The character artwork I use in the banners come from both The Second Story R and also Anamnesis. All rights reserved.

I started working on this game 6 months after the game launched and I ended up halting it due to real-life and other games. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it, but at least I feel that I should release with what I worked on than never. I'll keep a changelog in case I ever revisit it.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3070792620
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3069776676
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3085708141

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Also known as "Hidden Talents" in the original game, they are special “traits” characters can have that directly affect the odds of success of specific Item Creation and certain Specialties.

Each character has a chance to start with a random number of talents unlocked when they join the party (including the protagonists), with certain characters having a higher chance to start with certain talents unlocked (e.g. Rena has a very high chance to start with Acoustic Sense).

Secret Talents can be manually learned through use of specific Item Creation or Specialties that are respective to said Talents, which grants 100 SP and BP. This can be more easily achieved by performing the Orchestra Super Specialty and using the specific Item Creation repeatedly (even if failing to create the item).

Ideally, you’ll want characters to join with as few Talents as possible to benefit from manually learning them to get free SP and BP. Some Talents are very hard to learn, however (such as Love of Animals, Rhythm Sense and Acoustic Sense).

It's important to note that certain characters simply won't learn specific talents no matter what you do (e.g. Celine can't learn Love of Animals) or never start with a a specific talents (e.g. Opera will never join with Wild Instincts).

⭐ Originality: affects Customization and Crafting.
✔️ Can be learned through Crafting.

⭐ Taste: affects Cooking.
✔️ Can be learned through Cooking.

⭐ Nimble Fingers: affects Crafting, Machinist and Pickpocketing.
✔️ Can be learned through Crafting and Machinist.

⭐ Design Sense: affects Art and Machinist.
✔️ Can be learned through Art and Machinist.

⭐ Composition: affects Writing.
✔️ Can be learned through Writing.

⭐ Rhythm Sense: affects Music.
✔️ Can be learned through Music (either by composing or performing).

⭐ Acoustic Sense: affects Music.
✔️ Can be learned through Music (either by composing or performing).

⭐ Love of Animals: affects Familiar.
✔️ Can be learned through Familiar.

⭐ Wild Instinct: affects Scouting.
✔️ Can be learned through Scouting. The player won't be notified when the character learns it.

⭐ Blessing of Mana: affects Alchemy.
❌Cannot be learned, but all symbologists (Rena, Celine, Leon, Noel) always have it.

Not all characters have access to all Talents. This infographic covers each character available Talent pool:

💬 The special ability to breath life into paintings and sculptures created by yourself.

⭐Relevant Skills: Sketching, Aesthetics

⭐Talent(s): Design Sense

⭐Support Item: Graphic Tool (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Magic Canvas, Magic Clay

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Art is powerful tool that becomes invaluable in later endgame farming, used primarily used for combat. The only issue with Art is that the best items, which are the Cards, have very low odds unless you have Art fully upgraded.

I personally don't tamper too much with Art until the endgame, when I start doing heavy farming for EXP.

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

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Special cards that increase rewards from battle or help out in combat.

Made with Magical Canvas.

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Paints that invoke advanced symbology or heal damage.

Made with Magical Canvas.

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Portraits of a party member.

Allows players to see the character artwork made by Yukihiro Kajimoto, who also worked on Star Ocean: Anamnesis and Star Ocean: The Divine Force as lead character designer.

Made with Magical Canvas.

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Sculptures with powerful and varied effects, such as aiding and healing allies and destroying enemies.

Made with Magical Clay.

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Consumables used outside of combat that grants items, or other cards that can be used in combat.

Made with Magical Clay.

💬 The special ability to modify one's weapon into something new and improved.

⭐Relevant Skills: Eye for Detail, Smithing, Aesthetic Design

⭐Talent(s): Originality

⭐Support Item: Magical Rasp (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Weapons, Minerals

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One of the most impactful Item Creations in the game, it allows players to make weapons from others using minerals. Some of the most powerful weapons in the game can only be made through Customization.

There are three types of possible results from customization:

🏆True Customization: the correct combination of weapon and mineral that will always result in the same weapon, providing the player doesn't fail. These will always be marked with a golden icon in-game to indicate to the player.

✅Default Customization: a possible result out of a pool of various combinations. These are usually shared between all weapons with some minor differences.

❌Failed Customization: a failed combination that results in an useless item (due to low odds). These cannot be re-customized.

I personally don't tamper too much with Customization until the endgame, as the game provides balanced weapons in shops and through the whole experience. But yes, you can make the some of the most powerful weapons in the main game within a few hours of starting a fresh save file.

I cannot include every single combination because otherwise the lists would be huge and convoluted, since a lot of the minerals share the exact same results but vary slightly from weapon to weapon.

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

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💬 The special ability to identify items with names that begin with a question mark.

⭐Relevant Skills: Item Knowledge, Mineralogy, Herbology

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: Element Analyzer (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Spectacles, unidentified item

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Unidentified items can be found usually in dungeons and while fishing. Occasionally, when using other Item Creation, there is a small chance the resulting item will become unidentified.

While this Item Creation itself is not so useful as unidentified items are uncommon, it plays a major role into the Super Specialty Group Appraising. More details later.

💬 The special ability to craft gems and precious metals into original accessories.

⭐Relevant Skills: Mineralogy, Eye for Detail, Aesthetics

⭐Talent(s): Originality, Nimble Fingers

⭐Support Item: Smoldering Iron (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Minerals

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Accessories play a major role in this game, with a lot of them enabling entire builds and drastically improving the characters capabilities. If used correctly, Crafting can grant the player a lot of power in the early game.

The catch is that each character has their own pool of accessories they can create per different type of mineral; while some characters share these item pools, they're not the same.

As players upgrade Crafting, they unlock more minerals to craft accessories from.

I always start tampering with Crafting as soon as I can. It's possible to get some of the best accessories in the game right at the start, thanks to Alchemy (mode details later).

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

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💬 The special ability to pen books on skills you have learned that raise the reader's skill level.

⭐Relevant Skills: Penmanship

⭐Talent(s): Composition

⭐Support Item: Word Processor, Beret (30% of chance to not lose materials, each)

⭐Materials: Fountain Pen

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The Writing Item Creation is arguably one of the BEST in the early game and when recruiting new characters. It allows characters to create books which can be used to learn / upgrade specific skills, up to level 7. This is useful to save a lot of BP and SP, since of these skills tend to become costly later.

Fountain Pens can be first bought on Hilton, but there are some few ways to get them early, but they're a bit convoluted and RNG-dependent (i.e. Survival and the Sprite's Bracelet). So my recommendation is to start messing with it right when you arrive in the Lacuer continent.

One of the things that makes Writing so useful is that it's not RNG-based; your chance to write books depends entirely on the skills you have learned and your Writing Level. The higher the level, the higher the odds of successfully writing the book; this means that while you can have all books available to write, your odds will be very low if your Writing isn't high enough.

Ideally, you'll want your dedicated writer (anyone who has Composition and optionally also high LUC) to learn a single level of all the skills you can write books for, which are.

I strongly recommend you avoid putting more than one point in those skills with your entire party so you can just write books later to save SP and BP. This is especially important for new recruits as their SP and BP are not retroactive with the completion of Guild Quests and Challenge Missions.

Leon can use Writing to create weapons for himself.

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📸All books CAN be duplicated through the Replication Item Creation. 📸

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💬 The special ability to compound two herbs to create medicine.

⭐Relevant Skills: Biology, Herbology, Mental Science

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: Sterile (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Herbs

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The Compounding Item Creation is definitely one that most people (myself included) tend to sleep on. In the early game the cost X benefits aren't very good because herbs are a bit expensive and the need for consumables isn't very necessary as players can get plenty from treasure chests, enemy drops and even fishing. On top of that, the chances for successful concoctions tends to be low unless the player has Compounding over level 7.

The way Compounding works is very simple: you pick a herb, then a second herb, and you have a variety of possible results within that choice.

📸 All results from Compounding CAN be duplicated through the Replication Item Creation. 📸

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These types of items are simple and straightforward restoratives of HP or MP, and also can cure status effects.

These types of items are often double-edge swords; they provide beneficial or recovery effects at the same time they're crippling and / or randomized.

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These types of items provide powerful in-combat effects to empower allies or cripple enemies.

💬 The special ability to process raw ingredients into food.

⭐Relevant Skills: Knife, Recipe, Keen Eye

⭐Talent(s): Taste

⭐Support Item: Keen Kitchen Knife (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials: Raw food

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Cooking is one of the most relevant Item Creations, despite at first glance being nothing special. Cooked foods are restorative items that can only be used out of combat, to restore HP and/or MP, depending on the food. Each character also has their own favorite food that, when used, fully restores their HP and MP.

In this remake, many food items also have temporary buffs attached to them that affect various things, such as combat and item creation. All food buffs have two charges, meaning they last for a specific number of battles or instances of Item Creation.

Cooking has great use through the whole game, and can be a good source of income in the early game, by cooking Eggs and Dairy and selling the products at vendors for easy profit, since Eggs and Dairy are the cheapest ingredients in the game.

There are also certain types of food, specifically alcoholic beverages, that can only be made by characters who are over 20 years old, namely: Celine, Ashton, Opera, Ernest, Dias, Chisato and Noel. While these specific food items can only be prepared by older characters, they can be consumed by any character (most alcoholics were censored in the localization, having their names and descriptions changed).

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and alcoholic beverages that are exclusively made by older characters with a 🍺 emoji.

📸 All Cooking ingredients and their results CAN be duplicated through the Replication Item Creation. 📸

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The following recipes refer to the Premium Ingredients, which are very rare ingredients the player can only obtain through the Cooking Master Minigame in Fun City; there is also a limited amount that can be found in the Maze of Tribulations.

It's strongly recommended to save at least one of each Premium Ingredient to duplicate them with the Replication Item Creation.

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💬 The special ability to turn iron into gems and other precious metals.

⭐Relevant Skills: Technology, Mineralogy, Faeriology

⭐Talent(s): Blessing of Mana

⭐Support Item: Triangle Flask (30% of chance to not lose materials), Lezard's Flask (enables more transmutations)

⭐Materials: Iron

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Alchemy is one of the most important Item Creation in the game, as it enables so many others (Customization, Crafting and Blacksmith). The best part is that it's a incredibly cost-effective process as it only requires Iron, the cheapest mineral in the game.

While not necessary, Alchemy is best done by symbologists, as they're the only characters that have access to the Secret Talent Blessing of Mana, which increases the odds of a successful transmutation.

Improving Alchemy unlocks more precious metals to be transmuted, and decreases the difficulty level for each transmutation.

The most important item for Alchemy is the Lezard's Flask, which allows players to make the rarest metals that cannot be unlocked through improving the Item Creation.

This is a very expensive item that can only be found at shops in Energy Nede. The player simply needs to buy it and it'll unlock the additional metals; no additional actions required.

I'll mark all metals that need Lezard's Flask with the ⚗️ emoji.

The "suitable level" refers to the recommended Alchemy level in order to have higher odds. If the player doesn't meed the suitable level, the chances will be very low.

❌All minerals, including Iron, CANNOT be duplicated through the Replication Item Creation.❌

💬 The special ability to create an exact replica of an item.

⭐Relevant Skills: Imitation

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: Magical Camera (required), RIRICA (required; increases odds)

⭐Materials: Magic Film, base item

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Arguably one of the most powerful Item Creation in the game. The ability to simply replicate items have a variety of uses, such as:

• Replicate certain types of material.
  
• Replicate items that are otherwise tied to RNG-based Item Creation.
  
• Replicate valuable consumables
  
• Conserve certain rare items.

While the vast majority of items CAN be duplicated, certain cannot, such as:

• Nectar and Luxury Grape Juice
  
• Magic Gumdrop
  
• Rare / Unique Weapons, Armor and Accessories
  
• Caught Fish
  
• Crafting Kits
  [*} Minerals
  
• Certain materials (e.g. Re-Creation Gems)

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Normally, you can only get the Magic Camera once you reach the Lacuer continent, as it's sold in Linga. However, you can start replicating a bit earlier in the game.

You can pickpocket a green-haired man at the hall in Krosse Castle for a Magic Camera. And after finishing the Forest of Symbols segment in Marze, the shop in Harley will start selling Magic Film.

If you want to start even earlier, the Bugbears in the Forest of Symbols drop Pet Food. You can summon Eagles with Familiar Level 9 to buy Magic Film.

💬 The special ability to create a variety of useful machinery for an adventurer.

⭐Relevant Skills: Machinery, Operation

⭐Talent(s): Nimble Fingers, Design Sense

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: Mechanic's Toolbox

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The Machinist is a very niche, yet very powerful Item Creation capable of creating mostly Combat Items, in the form of a variety of gadgets such as bombs. One of the most powerful items you can craft with Machinist is the Megabomb. This Combat Item deals fixed damage equal to half of the enemy's HP, up to 99.999. It works even against bosses. It's the perfect item to quickly complete the "Deal 99.999 Damage in a Single Hit" challenge to get the Archangel Bracelet earlier.

The true power of the Machinist, however, lies in the ability to create Support Items for other Item Creation and Specialties, which are items that, for the most part, add a chance to not consume materials when using specific Item Creation.

Precis and Opera are unique in that they can also create exclusive items for themselves through Machinist, namely weapons and most importantly, exclusive Special Arts. If you recruit any of them I strongly recommend to make them your primary user of Machinist.

You can first buy Mechanic's Toolboxes in Linga, but there are ways to acquire these through Survival and Pickpocketing beforehand. Those are convoluted methods, so I strongly recommend holding off from tampering with Machinist until you reach Linga.

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

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Make bombs that aid in combat or portable items that help avoid battle.

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Make powerful explosives that are useful in battle.

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Make items that only Precis can use.

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Make items that only Opera can use.

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Make items that help with Crafting and Specialties.

💬 The special ability to pick up useful (or not) messages from Tria, the Gods of Creation.

⭐Relevant Skills: ESP, Piety, Purity

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: None

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The Oracle Specialty simply provides a bunch of tips, suggestions and even trivia about the game. It provides no real benefits to the player and is completely optional, The skills tied to Oracle are very useful by themselves, though:

Grants a random item per level, ranging from simple restorative items to rare materials; it is possible to acquire many minerals that can only be obtained much later in the game.

Increases a random stat by 3% per level. This can even be used to increase static stats such as LUC (so yes, it is possible to increase Ashton's LUC above 18).

If you want to optimize and save scum for Piety, the best stat to look for is CRT, since, much like LUC, also won't increase with level ups.

Gives the player a set amount of Fol per level:

1. 100 Fol
   
2. 700 Fol
   
3. 1.900 Fol
   
4. 3.700 Fol
   
5. 6.100 Fol
   
6. 9.100 Fol
   
7. 12.700 Fol
   
8. 16.900 Fol
   
9. 21.700 Fol
   
10. 27.100 Fol

This can be useful for a so called "Purity Trick", that consists in nothing more than spending points on Purity with Guest characters the player has no intention in recruiting. A fine example is doing this with Leon during the Hoffman Ruins segment, if the player picked Rena as the protagonist, since Leon will never permanently join the party.

Maxing Purity grants the player a total of 100.000 Fol.

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"This game is a remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story, which was originally released on July 30, 1998."

"The story changes slightly depending on which character you start the game with."

"Try returning to towns you've already visited. You might be able to watch some new Private Action scenes."

"Take a good look at every item. Some have uses that aren't obvious at first."

"Make sure to check weapon abilities carefully. Many have low attack power but strong special effects."

"Remember to equip all weapons, armor and accessories."

"Many powerful new weapons have been added in this version. Put them to good use in your adventures."

"Make sure to inspect armor closely. Even if its defense power is low, it may have excellent elemental resistances."

"Elemental defense effects on equipment are prioritized by strength. So if one piece of gear makes you weak to Fire but another nullifies Fire, then Fire damage will still be nullified."

"Study elemental strengths and weaknesses of your enemies to fight them more efficiently."

"Check your equipment carefully. You may find added effects called "factors" from time to time."

"Give plenty of thought to factors. They may have dramatic effects when combined in the right way."

"Some accessories may break during battle."

"Once you break an enemy's Shield, it's your lucky day! Keep on attacking to earn lots of bonuses."

"Undertake missions and learn new things. The more you can do, the broader your horizons."

"You can use Item Creation to craft power equipment, and Specialties to become very strong very quickly."

"You can create unique weapons by Customizing certain weapons with certain metals."

"A character can only Customize weapons that he or she can wield."

"Pickpocketing too much will lower friendship with party members."

"You should Replicate valuable items before you use them."

"Special Arts and Symbology grow more powerful as they reach higher levels."

"Private Actions aren't the only way to increase friendship - fighting alongside each other in battle is also important."

"If you want to know how close you are to a party member, check your status to get a look at who you're friends with."

"Leon can use the Writing Item Creation to create weapons for himself."

"Welch can learn new Special Arts during Private Actions."

"Precis can use the Machinist Item Creation to learn new Special Arts."

"Opera can use the Machinist Item Creation to learn new Special Arts."

"Dias won't join your party unless you're playing with Rena."

"Leon won't join your party unless you're playing with Claude."

"You can't have both Ashton and Opera in your party at the same time."

"You can't have both Bowman and Precis in your party at the same time."

"Opera needs to be in your party for Ernest to join."

"Make sure to explore thoroughly in the field and make note of any Unique Locations."

"Give careful thought to party formation, not just in terms of character position, but also the bonus effects."

"Strategy is important! Make sure you've set a strategy for each character."

"As a bonus, we've hidden a secret dungeon somewhere in the game. Have you found it yet?"

"You can now carry over your clear data to play through the game again."

"Let us know what you think of the game. Writing, art, social media or any other format is fine."

💬 The special ability to write music and play instruments.

⭐Relevant Skills: Performance, Music Knowledge

⭐Talent(s): Rhythm Sense, Acoustic Sense

⭐Support Item: Music Editor (30% of chance to not lose materials)

⭐Materials:
Feather Pen (for composing)
Conductor Baton (for performing)

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The Music Specialty provides useful effects both in and out of battle. While some music will increase attributes in battle, others can increase odds in Item Creation.

There are two steps for using this Specialty: composing and performing. In order to compose, the player must first acquire the specific instrument, and have a stock of feather pens. After composing, the player can perform, using conductor batons.

Certain types of music, such as The Devil's Aria and Hero's Arrival, can only be played in the world map and dungeons.

Music can't be used when in the Camp Menu when picking to retry lost battles. Its effects also won't count after cutscenes that are followed by battles.

Most musical instruments can be bought at Hilton. There are two secret instruments, the Illusive Shamisen and the Silver Trumpet, which are found only in the post-game dungeon: the Maze of Tribulations.

I'll be marking songs I find valuable with a ✨emoji.

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💬 The special ability to lower one's attributes in return for gaining more EXP in battle.

⭐Relevant Skills: Effort, Determination, Resilience

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: None

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Train is one of the most important Specialties as it increases the amount of EXP gained, at the expense of lowering characters stats during combat. This stat decrease is NOT permanent and will NOT affect stat growth.

The Train Specialty can be toggled on or off per character, and it will affect characters in the reserve too. Characters that are currently Training will have their EXP gauge as gold at the end of fights to notify the player.

The skills related to Train are important, particularly:

Passively lowers the SP cost of all the Item Creation and Specialty Skills; this always should be the VERY FIRST skill to max before spending SP on anything else.

This skill is a bit misleading. While its description implies that it passively decreases EXP required for level up, what it actually does is halving the EXP needed to gain the current level.

So for example, let's say that you need 500 EXP to level up, by improving Effort once, that amount goes to 250. If Effort is improved again, it goes to 125, so on and so forth until the character is at 1 EXP to level up.

Characters cannot actually level up through Effort; if the player continuously improve Effort while the character is at 1 EXP to level up, it'll essentially be a waste. Because of that, it's best to improve Effort at later levels where EXP required to level up is much larger.

💬 The special ability to raise or lower the frequency of battles at will.

⭐Relevant Skills: Danger Radar

⭐Talent(s): Wild Instinct

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: None

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Scouting is very useful Specialty as it controls the spawn rate and behavior of Enemy Symbols found on the overworld and dungeons. Depending on which setting the player uses, the Enemy Symbols will act differently, based on the percentage of success:

The default mode. Enemy Symbols will act accordingly to their default behavior, which varies on the color of the enemy symbol.

Enemy Symbols will take longer to notice the player (as shown by a "?" that will appear above their heads) and will generally not engage directly.

The spawn rate of Enemy Symbols increases exponentially and they will pretty much instantly detect the player and chase after; at higher percentages, multiple Enemy Symbols will spawn at once, which can easily lead into Chain Battles of 5 waves.

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The success rate of Scouting is vastly affected by the Wild Instinct Talent, which is objectively one of hardest Talents to manually learn. The only way to learn it is to turn on Scouting (regardless of what setting) with a character that DOES NOT have the Wild Instinct Talent.

The character with Scouting turned on will then passively have a chance to learn the Wild Instinct Talent while the player is exploring dungeons and the overworld.

Unlike learning other Secret Talents, the player will never get a notification that Scouting has been learned.

The Scouting Specialty can be combined with the Bodyguard Super Specialty to enable AFK farming (more info on that later).

💬 The special ability to train an animal to leave dungeons and other places to go shopping.

⭐Relevant Skills: Whistling, Animal Training

⭐Talent(s): Love of Animals

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: Pet Food

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The Familiar Specialty is a very handy way to buy items while inside dungeons. When successfully triggered, the player can choose a bird and send it on an errand. Each bird has their own list of items, and as the player levels the Specialty, more types of birds can be summoned.

Only one bird can be sent shopping at a single time. After sending the bird, it'll return in around 10 seconds, no matter what the player is doing. If the player sits on the camp menu, the bird will only return once they exit it.

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💬 The special ability to from others while wearing a special glove. Can you be tempted into crime?.

⭐Relevant Skills: Courage, Poker Face

⭐Talent(s): Nimble Fingers

⭐Support Item: Thief's Glove (required), Magician's Glove (required; increases odds)

⭐Materials:
Relax Perfume (resets the number of times Pickpocketing can be used)
Pick Again (allows restealing items that have been stolen previously)

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Arguably one of the most powerful Specialties in the game, it allows players to steal up to three items from NPCs in towns, and even other party members while in Private Actions.

Pickpocketing works the following way:

1. The player must first acquire a Thief's Glove (the first one is found at Harley, for 40.000 Fol).
   
2. The player must enable it in the respective Specialty Menu.
   
3. The player must approach the victim and press the respective keybind / button. A menu will appear showing the item pool the character has, as well the percentage of stealing each item.
   
4. The player can attempt to Pickpocketing a single NPC up to three times, whether they succeed or fail to acquire the item(s). This can be reset by using a Relax Perfume.

While, aside from few characters, there are no exclusive items to be stolen through Pickpocketing, the player is able to acquire a lot of items and materials much earlier than they normally could.

One key aspect of Pickpocketing is having the Nimble Fingers Talent with the character you plan using for stealing. All characters are able to use this Specialty provided they have it learned, they're selected as the Leader, and the player has acquired the Thief's Glove (or the Magician's Glove).

Using Pickpocketing has a small chance to slightly decrease the affection points of the ENTIRE PARTY towards the character using the Specialty.

In the original game this could be avoided by only using Pickpocketing while in Private Actions, but in this remake it may decrease even during it. This penalty may happen whether the player has succeeded or failed the Pickpocketing.

The good thing is that a pop-up message will always appear on-screen when the player triggers the affection point penalty. They can use this to their advantage combined with constantly saving the game to avoid the decreasing the affection levels.

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I will not list all the thousand items that can be acquired across all NPCs, but I will list below some of the most notable items.

In most towns, characters from the party will have their favorite food in their respective item pools.

Party members in all Energy Nede cities will always have mid-game weapons in their pickpocketing pool.

💬 The special ability to forage an area for useful items.

⭐Relevant Skills: Herbology, Resilience

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: Survival Kit (enables to obtain superior ingredients)

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The Survival Specialty allows the player to obtain random materials while literally anywhere: towns, dungeons and the overworld. The chance slightly increases per level, and since it's a toggle option, you can just turn it on and never look back.

The beauty of Survival is that, unlike the Sprite's Bracelet and similar, it works even if you're standing still; you don't need to move at all and you'll still randomly get items. This makes Survival perfect for AFK farming with Scouting + Bodyguard (more on that later).

The pool of items is limited to food, minerals and herbs; by acquiring the Survival Kit, the item pool expands and it is possible to even get the rarest minerals, such as Mithril and Philosopher's Stone.

While turned on, Survival will always take in consideration the character with the highest Survival Level.

💬 A specialty that allows one to lower a line for catching fish in locations on the map that have water.

⭐Relevant Skills: Biology, Item Knowledge

⭐Talent(s): None

⭐Support Item: Masterwork Rod (allows to catch the Gigantic Rare Fishes)

⭐Materials:
Bait (other fishes)
Fishy Fragrance (doubles the rate of fishing based on level)

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Fishing is a fun, yet completely optional Specialty. If the player approaches a body of water, they get a prompt to throw the line. The hilarious part is that the player can fish ANYWHERE with water, including wells and vases. Literally anywhere that has water is a fishing spot, and some fishes can only be found in those fishing spots.

Catching fish provides nothing but the fishes themselves; they cannot be used as materials for Cooking or Master Chef. However, the fish you catch and be used as bait to catch other fish.

This Specialty has a toggle option; if the player turns it off, they won't get a fishing prompt while near a body of water.

As the player catches different types of fish across the world, the Fish Encyclopedia grows, and by talking to Reel, the Fish Collector, located in Harley and L'Aqua, the player can obtain lots of rewards. In addition, they can also trade fish with her for other items.

Fishing is not relegated only to the protagonists; any character in the party can fish provided they have it leveled and also are the set as the Party Leader.

I also strongly recommend going to Harley first and meeting with Reel before messing around with Fishing because she'll give the player books that increase your fishing level: Pocket Encyclopedia (Item Knowledge) and Life in Nature (Biology).

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💬 A super specialty where everyone works together to cook up luxurious food and drinks.

⭐Conditions:
Cooking: 2 characters at Level 4
Compounding: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Support Item: Keen Kitchen Knife

⭐Materials: Raw food

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The Master Chef Super Specialty allows players to combine two types of food to create unique dishes. Unlike regular Cooking, there is only one possible result per combination, which means no RNG.

I'll be marking items I find valuable with a ✨emoji, and items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

⭐Sashimi: grants 2 SP to the character. Made with two Seafood.

⭐Vegetable Stir-Fry: grants 2 BP to the character. Made with two Vegetables.

These ingredients have very cheap costs, which makes this method even easier to pull right at the start of the game, especially when combined with the tip above of cooking and selling Eggs and Dairy products.

💬 A super specialty where everyone performs together, boosting the trigger rate of certain support items and the discovery of talents.

⭐Conditions:
Music: 2 characters at Level 4
Art: 1 character at Level 1
Must have 4 or more instruments

⭐Materials: Conductor Baton

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The Orchestra Super Specialty that increases the trigger rate of the support items such as Element Analyzer and Keen Kitchen Knife, which add a percentage for materials to not be consumed when using Item Creation.

The most powerful effect of Orchestra, however, is vastly increase the rate of discovering Secret Talents. Because of that I strongly recommend holding off discovering Secret Talents until unlocking Orchestra, as it makes much, MUCH easier to do so.

💬 A super specialty where everyone makes a few sacrifices to earn more skill points per level.

⭐Conditions:
Train: 2 characters at Level 4
Survival: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Materials: None

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Enlightenment is objectively the best Super Specialty in the game. As the player progresses through the game, SP and BP costs become exponentially more expensive per level, which is where this Super Specialty shines. It decreases the amount of Fol earned in battle but increases the SP and BP gains.

Making money in this remake is very easy and surprisingly simple. Even if you don't actively try to money farm, completing Challenge Missions award a lot of money. I strongly recommend trying to unlock Enlightenment as soon as possible to reap the early benefits.

It's important to note that Enlightenment only affects SP and BP earned in battle; things like SP and BP rewarded from Guild MIssions or using specific items such as Sashimi and Vegetable Stir-Fry will NOT be affected by the bonus multiplier from Enlightenment.

💬 A super specialty where everyone shouts out Bunny's name as loud as they can.

⭐Conditions:
Familiar: 2 characters at Level 4
Scouting: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Materials: None

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The Bunny Call Super Specialty is essentially like Star Ocean's response to the chocobos. It's a mean of quick traveling.

The bunny ignores terrain height and can climb pretty much anything on the map; it can even cross small bodies of water such as tiny rivers (but it can’t walk on ocean water). While mounting on the giant bunny, all Enemy Symbols will disappear (except for Raid Enemies, but they can’t be interacted with). Unlocking Bunny Call earlier allows the player to visit a lot of dungeons and areas and reap rewards.

By pairing the Bunny Call with Fast Travel, you can cut so much time that would be wasted backtracking between towns. I strongly recommend getting the minimal requirement for the Bunny Call and start entering all towns and dungeons to unlock their Fast Travel options.

Even though Enlightenment is more useful in the long run, I strongly recommend unlocking Bunny Call before ANY other Super Specialty.

💬 A super specialty where everyone contributes to an amazing book that they can all be proud publishing.

⭐Conditions:
Writing: 2 characters at Level 4
Machinist: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Materials: Fountain Pen

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The Publication Super Specialty allows characters to write their own books. Unlike the Writing Item Creation, they instead author books, such as novels or other types of publications. Each character has two books, which can be used on another character to increase the affection levels.

In addition, players can also sell the books to specific NPCs (in Lacuer and Centropolis) to collect royalties and make a decent amount of money. The royalty system is time based, and you technically don't need to sell more than one copy of the same book.

💬 A super specialty where everyone works together to determine the correct value of an object.

⭐Conditions:
Appraising: 2 characters at Level 4
Crafting: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Materials: Spectacles

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Simply but, Group Appraising allows players to get discounts on shops any time, provided they have Spectacles in hand; each time group appraising is activated, the discount will remain until the player checks out at a shop.

This discount is actually cumulative with other discounts, such as the 25% from Cinderella's Glass and the 10% from Secret Account.

💬 A super specialty where everyone works together to craft armor from various precious.

⭐Conditions:
Customization: 2 characters at Level 4
Alchemy: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Support Item: Magical Rasp Magical Rasp (30% of chance to not lose materials; enables advanced creations)

⭐Materials: Smith's Hammer, Minerals

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Blacksmith is one of the most powerful Super Specialties in the game, as it enables to create a armor pieces that are second only to the ones found in the Maze of Tribulations.

💬 A super specialty where everyone conspires to create items that aren't quite legit. Will crime pay in the end?

⭐Conditions:
Pickpocketing: 2 characters at Level 4
Replication: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: Premium Paper

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Contraband, in essence, is a "legit cheat code" within the game. It allows players to create nearly gamebreaking items at the expense of having a HIGH chance to reduce the relationship levels of the entire party for EACH item created.

The player isn't notified of the changes in affection levels, and it's possible to completely reset the relationship status across all party members.

This Super Specialty can make all kinds of useful items (including Counterfeit Medals, which reduce your current EXP to 1, essentially allowing you to get a level per battle), its most powerful tool is money making.

I'll be marking items that CANNOT be duplicated through Replication with a ❌.

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By using Contraband and Duplication, the player can make vast amounts of money. The Magical Camera can be first bought in Linga (or pickpocket at Krosse Castle), while the RIRICA can be created through the Machinery Item Creation.

I also strongly recommend getting the Group Appraising Super Specialty to further increase the amount of Fol gained.

1. Create a Forged Document (it can be done even with low level Contraband).
   
2. Make copies of it using the Duplication Item Creation (recommended around Level 7 for higher success chance).
   
3. Use the Group Appraising Super Specialty to increase the selling price (optional).
   
4. Sell all the duped Forged Documents except for one.
   
5. Rinse and repeat from step 2.

If you're worried about relationship levels, save before using Contraband and create one item of time and reload until getting the Forged Document

💬 A super specialty where everyone stays on alert to spot enemies and stop them in their tracks.

⭐Conditions:
Scouting: 2 characters at Level 4
Train: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: None

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⭐AFK Farming⭐

It is possible to AFK farm by maxing Bodyguard and using two Rings of Avoidance (30% of chance to trigger Bodyguard) on each active party member, as well the having the Scout Specialty ON (doesn't have to be maxed, but ideally you'll want 100% chance, which is easier if you have someone in the party with the Wild Instincts Talent).

The Ring of Avoidance can be made through the Crafting Item Creation by using Philosopher's Stone (Rena can make them). If you want to do this earlier in the game, you can use Intimidation Pendants (15% instead), which can be crafted with Crystals (also by Rena).

💬 A super specialty where everyone works together to reapply new factors to equipment.

⭐Conditions:
Replication: 2 characters at Level 4
Customization: 1 character at Level 1

⭐Support Item: None

⭐Materials: Re-making crystal

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I strongly recommend checking Almighty Boof's excellent Remaking guide:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3077681964

Here are the cheapest ingredients to use in order to fill the bar of each Remaking category.

⭐Buff: any kind of weapon.

⭐Support: any kind of book (from Writing or Publication), portraits (from Art) or armor.

⭐Special: any kind of fish (easiest way to get is to buy Shrimp in Centropolis) or accessory.

Remember to add one Factor Energy and four of one the ingredients above.

The Masterwork Rare Factor (increases the chances of getting rare factors by 10%) is pivotal help make rare factors. This can be attached to any type of equipment, and using it as material will boost the chances; what's even better is that adding multiple equipment with Masterwork will stack (so you can actually get a 50% chance of rare factors if using five).

Ideally, you want to get this Factor attached to piece of equipment, and then duplicate it through the Replication Item Creation, in order to make as many as you want without having to go through the ordeal of getting it on Remaking again.

The easiest way to achieve that is to craft gear through Crafting, Customization and Blacksmithing repeatedly until you get equipment with Rare Factor.

Here's a quick way to do it:
⭐Buy any weapon that can replicated

I'm still experimenting with the Factor system, but from general testing I'd say the best ones I've found out, for ALL characters, are:

⭐Weapons:

• HP Drain (Convert 20% of damage inflicted to HP)

Make the character virtually immortal and self-sufficient (no need for Rena anymore). Bowman in particular greatly benefit from it since his Ultimate Weapon gives him 80% damage reduction when at max HP. Arguably one of the most, if not the most powerful Support-type Factor in the game. Completely trivializes the use of dedicated healers in the party.

• Fight or Flight (ATK, INT and DEF increase as HP gets lower, max 30%)

This Special-type Factor can essentially make any weapon into a Demon Sword Levantine, and it actually stacks with the Levantine if you put it in it. Can enable low HP builds using the Cast-iron factor.

⭐Armor:

• Narrow Escape (If reduced to 0 HP when HP is at 40% or more, survive with 1 HP)

One of the most powerful defensive Special-type Factors for armor. Amazing for Universe difficulty.

• Cast-iron (negates damage below 5% HP)

Another one of the most powerful defensive Special-type Factors for armor. Amazing for Universe difficulty. Can enable low HP builds using the Levantine Sword or/and the Fight or Flight factor.

⭐Helmet, Shield and Boots:

• Gathering Stars (Increases your ATK, DEF, HIT, AVD and INT by 20% there are three of the same factor)

Self explanatory. Massive stat boons. This Special-type Factor can be added to any type of equipment.

• Adamantine (negates damage below 10% of max HP)

This one is more situational since enemies will hit like a bulldozer on Universe. This Special-type Factor can also be added to Shields.

However, it's possible to make 1 HP builds and forgo HP Drain on the weapon to be be completely immune to damage. Just use a Nuclear Bomb before fights and don't use a healer in the party. Combining this strategy with the Fight or Flight on weapons is very powerful.

• Red Dragon (converts 10% of physical damage taken to MP)
  
• Blue Dragon (converts 10% of symbology damage taken to HP)

These two Special-Type Factors are actually a pair and can work with the aforementioned 1 HP build.

⭐Accessories:

• Coercion (inflict a random status ailment when breaking an enemy)
  
• Press the Advantage (enemies broken while afflicted with a status ailment or debuff stay broken for 30% longer)

I haven't been able to test extensively, but I'm pretty sure that if Coercion (Support-type) procs Press the Advantage (Special-type) also does at the same time.

• Full Bonus (120% bonus effects when the bonus gauge is full)

Self explanatory. Depending on which Formation you use this can be very potent. This Special-type Factor affects the entire party.

• Break Up (Deplete enemy shields +10%)

Self explanatory. This Support-type Factor works on any character, but ideally you'll want it on a specialized character who can break (such as Ernest).[/quote]

Some few food items made through the Master Chef Super Specialty also grant bonuses to Item Creation, increasing the chance of getting Rare Factors when using certain ones.

The following food items increase Factor rarity,:

⭐Strawberry Rice Cakes: Grains + Fruits. Only affects Crafting.

⭐ Sweet Toast: Grains + Eggs and Dairy. Only affects Customization.

⭐ Shark Fin Dumplings: Grains + Seafood. Only affects Blacksmith.

⭐ Plain Omelet: Eggs and Dairy + Eggs and Dairy. Only affects Remaking.

I've yet to finish some of the sections, but I'd say this guide is around 85% finished.

I might revisit it one day and finish the remaining sections.

Have fun!