1. First and foremost: SAVE OFTEN. This is a game where danger lurks around the next corner, and where your party will be caught up in lots of unforeseen circumstances. Because you will make mistakes, save before attempting anything, and after accomplishing anything. Capcom have limited the number of save slots to one(!) intentionally to stop players from second-guessing every situation, and instead live the life of an adventurer, warts, and no oil for the lantern to show those warts off by, and all.

2. When forming a covenant with pawns from the Rift (hiring), be sure to that your party ends up having 2 Mages with the “Anodyne” or “High Anodyne” skill. This is the healing spell, the light and strong version. If you’re playing the Arisen as a mage, then you’ll be fine with only one more healer, but be sure to sling a heal yourself now and then. Later on, you might be fine with only one healer.

3. When traveling, and on your way to a specific destination, you might get caught by nightfall and waylaid repeatedly in the dark. If you’re starting to think another fight might be the death of you and your pawns, you can always try to run. Spam the “Come!” order to your party while making a beeline in the direction you need to go. Watch the party icons on the mini map to make sure none are KO’d. If they are, run back, get them on their feet, then start running again. You can even try sprinting - pawns are pretty good at sprinting as well. -I’ve thwarted danger and lived to fight another day several times by running away!

4. You don’t always HAVE TO kill what’s in front of you. There might be a way around. Look at the map, devise a plan. The Quarry tunnels are rumored to be home to a few Ogres, but the many side-passages make circumvention possible, for example.

5. Take names and come back later to kill what you couldn’t at first.

6. When learning skills for your Arisen and Main Pawn, prioritize stuns/debilitations and physical augments. Any kind of stun or debilitating skill will let you control battles, and passive, constant physical augments make your characters permanently stronger, regardless of gear or armor, or player skill. I’d wager this will make your Main Pawn more attractive for that job on the side as well!

7. At level 10 your Arisen and the Main Pawn can change vocations. Even though you’re perfectly happy with your current professions, consider a change of pace, since augments earned through different vocations are retained, and can be used with any current class, up to a limit of six. This will result in more solid, comprehensive characters.

8. Be aware of your surroundings and the landscape. Are you setting yourself up to whacked off the castle battlements? Could you possibly toss a bandit to his death off the cliff? Is there a way for you to continue by making a jump? As a presumed plucky adventurer of Gransys, this is the manner in which you should survey the world.

9. Most boss monsters (the ones with more than one health bar, represented by a dot each) have weak spots. Make an effort to find them, they can make a boss fight that much easier.

10. Never embark on a journey with more than average encumbrance. You will be gathering all manner of sundries and such on your adventures, and high encumbrance will cause your Stamina to deplete rapidly, when traveling, running, and fighting. It will make dodging and moving around in combat harder. A loaded down party might even have trouble gathering up mission objectives. So get rid of, or store, all that excess loot while in town.

Good luck out there!

-Smagpie