STAR OCEAN: TILL THE END OF TIME AI TRAINING FAQ VERSION 1.00 by Angelo Pineda(rpger77@yahoo.ca) VERSION HISTORY 15-9-2004 - Completed all info about AI training theory and other AI-related material. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. AI TRAINING 3. WHAT IS THE AI TRAINING THEORY? 4. EXAMPLES 5. CREDITS 1. INTRODUCTION Many players who have SO3 complain about the AI. They say it is bad, lacking, and horrible. However, they realize that it can be manipulated in a way that the AI performs much better than usual. Most guides and the manual do not go into detail about the AI so this FAQ will explain how to make the AI better. 2. AI TRAINING Let's get down to the basics. The obvious ways of improving the AI are seen in the Camp Menu. These are: ATTACK AND DEFENSE SKILL UPGRADES These two are obviously by going to the Status Skills menu. Now, some people misunderstand this as ATK/DEF upgrades. This is false, it improves the AI on both offense and defense. It's best to take a look at the characters before deciding on the upgrades. If Attack or Defense is too far ahead, the character will either run like a chicken or fight aggressively without thinking of doing some evasive manuever. The general recommendation is Attack of 7-10 and Defense of 1-5 for melees like Cliff, 5-8 Attack and Defense for all-rounders like Fayt, and Attack of 1 and Defense of 10 for spellcasters like Adray. Here are what happens at each lv for Attack and Defense: Attack Level 1 - Will attack but mostly will get Anti-Attack Aura'd/Guarded. Level 3 - Will attack but will make use of strong attacks to avoid AAA/Guard. Level 5 - Will begin to make use of Cancel Bonus combos. Level 8 - Will use Battle Skills that require button presses(Blade of Fury). Level 10 - Will use Cancel Bonus very effectively, AI is aggressive, and makes use of some Fury conservation. Evasive moves are rare in this level. Defense Level 1 - Will attack and move a bit but may stand still like a sitting duck. Level 3 - Will attack, starting to move before enemy attack. Level 5 - Will attack less, move around a lot and start using side-step. Level 8 - Will evade attacks and side-step well, may counter-attack if Attack is close to Defense levels. Level 10 - Will evade attacks with ease, side-step well, and AI is cowardly. Attacks are rare in this level. Some character recommendations: Attack/Defense Fayt 8/8 Cliff 10/5 Nel 5/5(no real recommendation since she is versatile) Roger 9/6 Maria 5/8 Albel 8/5 Peppita 7/7 Mirage 10/5 Sophia 1/10 Adray 4/10(he can attack you know) TACTICS There is no real need to go in-depth about this but make sure each character has the right AI script for them. 3. WHAT IS THE AI TRAINING THEORY? The AI training theory basically tries to identify exactly how the AI operates. The theory states that the AI can learn from the actions of the character that the player(you) controls, and eventually use it when that character is back on AI. Although this is not 100% confirm, there is very strong evidence to prove that it does exist. The closest to resemble this is Silent Line: Armored Core and its Custom AI training system. The system from that game is the same as SO3's AI training theory: what YOU(the player) do, the AI eventually learns to mimic your patterns(with the controlled character obviously). Let's go in-depth about the subject. WHAT AREAS DOES THE AI IMPROVE IN? The AI can improve in all areas based on your actions. The following will list the possible areas of improving AI. Take note that it will require control of a specific character that you(the player) wish to improve and many battles. RANGE TRAINING As the sub-heading states, the AI can improve on what to do at either short or long-range. Basically if you want a pure melee or a sniping character. To be able to improve this, your controlling character must fight in either of the two ranges, or both, and STAY there(unless doing both then alternate). ATTACK TYPE TRAINING This improves how the AI handles weak and strong type attacks. To ensure better use of weak and strong attacks, or simply being dominant in one type, battle using weak/strong normal attacks and the same for weak/strong Battle Skills. CANCEL BONUS TRAINING Although improving Attack can allow for Cancel Bonus use, it can be enhanced further(such as getting to 300%). To improve, simply activate Cancel Bonus as many times needed, trying to hit 300% as much. EVASIVE MANUEVER TRAINING Simply said, it improves how the AI can dodge better, use side-step, and even counter attack. To see the changes, move a lot on the field, use side-step as much, and try to evade-and-counter with enemies. ANTI-ATTACK TRAINING(both enemy and character) This is self explanatory. Since you don't need to move to activate Guard(which then activates AAA), it's pretty easy. Now, for enemy AAA, it's quite hard. Since enemies don't always stand still, you have to find some enemies that rarely, if at all, attack. When doing so, make sure you use ONLY weak type attacks. Why not strong attacks? The AI will eventually start to use strong attacks after activating enemy AAA. This part takes a while to develop so be prepared to fight plenty of battles. SYMBOLOGY TRAINING *Make sure you do this while at long-range otherwise the AI will cast them close to the enemy, which you do not want.* I will split this into three parts: ATTACK Simple enough, just fire the spell as much as possible. DEFENSE This includes support spells too. Same as last time, but revive spell training takes some time to perfect. CONSERVATION DO NOT cast spells like mad! Cast them in certain situations and make sure they are low cost. The AI will eventually learn to conserve MP by only using a spell in certain situations and it's not too MP costly. DO X ACTION WHEN LOW ON HP/MP You know how the AI sometimes runs like a chicken? You can ensure it does something else besides act like a coward. Basically, do any of the ones I've mentioned before but when low on HP/MP. Best to do this on enemies that will not be able to deal damage that can kill you. WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT AFFECT AI TRAINING? Although it might seem easy to do the aformentioned training patterns, there are also other factors that one should look at. They are: ATTACK AND DEFENSE SKILL UPGRADES It's important that Attack and Defense are to not to hit 10. This will make some of the training methods difficult to attain. Here are some setups that can help certain types of training: Range training - no real recommendation Attack type training - Attack of 7-10, Defense of 1-5/ 5-8 Attack and Defense Cancel Bonus training - Attack of 7-10, Defense of 1-5 Evasive manuever training - 5-8 Attack and Defense/ 1 Attack and 10 Defense Anti-Attack training - no real recommendation Symbology training - 5-8 Attack and Defense/ 1 Attack and 10 Defense Do x action when low on HP/MP - no real recommendation If in doubt, keep Attack and Defense at 5; this will allow the character to get the training for all areas without too much difficulty. TACTICS Pretty important too, the AI scripts used also affect the AI's behavior. It is pretty obvious that "Act in a well-balanced manner!" works well with an Attack and Defense of 5-8 and most training methods. "Attack with all your might!" may work well with 10 Attack and 5 Defense but not with evasive manuevers. CHARACTERS Self explanatory. Not all characters are suited for Symbology or attack type training. Play a bit with the characters(which is easy since you get to try out most of them) and you should get an idea of their fighting styles. Nel will not attack as much as Cliff even if both have Attack levels of 10, while Sophia is more evasive than Albel even with level 10 Defense. SKILL SETUP VERY important. The AI learns and improves based on what the setup is for that character. You can do range training with Nel, using Flying Guillotine all the way and then switch to Ice Daggers but realize that the AI is more proficient with the former. My advice is when you are doing AI training, stick with the skills YOU will use mostly for that character. For well-balanced fighters, try to have a mix of skills that do different things and have some Symbology spells on that character too. WHAT HAPPENS ONCE I'VE DONE ALL THE TRAINING I CAN? Well, if you're done with the training, start to test the character you were in control of. Make sure their Attack/Defense upgrades, AI scripts, and skill setup are properly set. Take control of another character(for training) and enjoy the show! If you've been battling and doing what I've said, you should see the AI character you controlled using your battle patterns. If not, test some more or do more AI training. It's not guaranteed the AI will follow all the actions you do in your patterns, but it should mimic them for the most part. Now there is one last important thing to discuss... WHAT HAPPENS IF I USED A NEW, DIFFERENT BATTLE PATTERN? This is not 100% confirmed, but there is a chance the old one might be either erased or "saved" by the AI. If you put too much time into the new one, then the old one might be erased. Same if you put less time with the new one: the old one is retained for the most part. If you spent an equal amount of time both patterns, you might see a combination of both battle patterns. I will personally try to confirm this myself so don't worry about it too much. If the AI can "save" patterns, there's nothing to worry about. 4. EXAMPLES I have tried this plenty of times but I also hope some of you will be willing to share your own experiences. contributed by LegaiaRules(myself) Fayt Level 255 Attack and Defense at level 8 AI: Act in a well-balanced manner! Setup: S. Weak - Critical(2) or Side Kick(2) S. Strong - Increase HP/MP Damage(2) or Shotgun Blast(4) L. Weak - L. Strong - Divine Blade(8) or Dimension Door(6) Support - Critical Hit MP(2) or Max Fury(2) Tactical - Berserk AAA - Standard Symbology Used - Healing, Stone Rain, Explosion AI Training Used - Everything(500+ battles) Results(after 20 battles, 5 vs secret bosses) With Divine Blade, Critical, Increase HP/MP Damage, and Critical Hit MP: Fayt constantly moved between short and long-range, only stopping when the enemy was close. When enemy had purple shadows, Fayt evade-and-counter. If not, Fayt let enemy get AAAed. 2/4 times Fayt used DB after enemy was AAAed. When enemy Fury=100%, Fayt used a strong atack 3/4 times. Used Explosion and Stone Rain when enemy was not strong vs them and not attacking. Used Healing when HP was below 1/2 mark. Resorted to evasive maneuver when low HP/MP. Fayt ran all the way to the edge of the map when enemy was about to do a very strong attack. With Side Kick, Shotgun Blast, Dimension Door, and Max Fury: Fayt preferred short-range fighting, using a 300% weak -> weak SK -> strong SB -> weak SK -> strong SB Cancel Bonus combo. Used DD to gain ground on enemies and before doing an attack. Same tactics for Symbology, AAA, low on HP/MP, and evasive maneuvers except more evade-and-counter maneuvers. 5. CREDITS Thanks go to: -GameFAQs obviously -SE and tri-ace for making this wonderful game This FAQ copyright 2004 to Angelo Pineda. Redistrubition in any form, including reprinting in electronic or print media, without express permission of the author is strictly forbidden.