Record Keeping Final Fantasy Record Keeper

[Nephrite]

This topic is for general discussion of Final Fantasy Record Keeper so those who hate seeing it don't have to see it if they don't want to. If you're unaware of what Record Keeper (henceforth referred to as FFRK) is, then go to the below link. I've also included a synopsis from Something Awful on the game.


http://www.finalfantasyrecordkeeper.com/


What is Final Fantasy Record Keeper?

FFRK is a mobile game created by DeNA(Mobage) which released in Japan late last year and just recently in English. It's a free-to-play game where you go through battles from all of the main, non-MMO final fantasy games. You unlock characters from the various games through normal gameplay as well as event dungeons. The characters can be given skills and equipment (relics). The game has the usual Free-to-Play trappings including premium currency, stamina, daily dungeons, and a gacha where you pull for 3 to 5 star items. Rather than having to pull for rare characters like in other games, you pull for rare gear in this. The English version currently does not have any buddy/friend use system however one was added later on in Japan and should end up here as well.

Remember when All The Bravest was first announced and everyone was looking forward to a mobile FF game setup similar to the old NES/SNES ones? This game is pretty much the kind of game people hoped/expected ATB to be: the usual F2P elements wrapped around turn-based Final Fantasy combat allowing you to put together a team of your favorite characters.



Tips and Tricks

-If you're new, just follow the story dungeons
-On Sundays, make sure you do the Event dungeon, as the experience from it is tremendously higher than anything else in the game
-Do whatever event content is available, as you get great rewards from those dungeons
-Try and hold off on doing a Relic pull until you have 50 Mythril, and do not bother doing a relic pull until we get better banners.

The Retaliate Strategy (usually referred to as Reta-meta or Advantaliate)

Steps on how to get Retaliate to work:

Set-up:
Retaliate (I prefer Rank 3 to get through stages)
Boost (or some equivalent targetable ATK booster)
Armor Break(Down) or some other form of Defense Down for the target(s)
Optional: Double Cut user(s)
Optional: Tempo Flurry user(s)
Optional (but usually a good idea) Advance as a RW, which increases your attack by 250%

Step set 1:
Have your Retaliate user activate said skill
Have your Support user target your Retaliate user with Boost

Step 2:
Have all your non-Retaliate people specifically target the person using Retaliate, and Attack/Double Cut/Tempo Flurry

Step 3:
Remember to refresh Retaliate every other turn


How this works:
Basically, Retaliate puts a buff on the user that puts them in an Evade & Counter stance.  However, this also affects MT physicals, so it winds up being even better effectively.  When the user is physically attacked, they will target the enemy with the lowest % of health left with the activated counter.  If the Retaliate user manages to dodge multiple physicals in the same attack, counters will be queued and all come off once the attack ends, even being stored between combat rounds (but not separate battles).  Retaliate lasts about two turns from its activation.

Double Cut actually has a .6x modifier to each hit of its attack.  However, it counts as two attacks for Retaliate, so if Double Cut is instead targeted towards the Retaliate user, you basically get 2x Retaliate user damage that's auto-targeted.

Boost increases the target's ATK by 50%, which roughly increases damage by that much outright.

Once you combine all these, your physical damage output increases dramatically, because your Retaliate user is getting 4+ Boosted Damage attacks per turn.  It's also very cost-effective when it comes to ability uses.

Downside:
Characters that attack the Retaliate user do not gain Soul Break meter for their attack, like they would for attacking the enemy.
Retaliate counters do not increase the user's Soul Break meter.





Useful Links

https://ffrkstrategy.gamematome.jp/game/951/wiki/Home - Main Wiki
http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/ - Has useful strategies and updates for bosses
http://tinyurl.com/oz43wvp - Quick Info spreadsheet, very informative

5* Abilities and Orb Requirements



DL Friend Codes

I didn't bother to go looking for everyone's code, so I'll just include mine

bUM2 (yes, I'm serious)

Djinn (Don't be friends with him): friend code: enWi
THE DALEKS: Q3gF
Snow: Q1ne
Scar: 91So

[Nephrite]

If people think I should put new player tips or information in the top post I can, but I figured it wasn't really necessary.

[Captain K]

Friend code Q3gF

---------------

Did the Auron boss rush except I forgot to put Auron in.  Not a problem!  Still mastered it because everything has really low hp.  Selphie (Curaga, Diaga), Balthier (Silence Buster, Dismissal), Vivi (Waterja, Quake), Tifa (Magic Break, Armor Break), Sephiroth (Launch, POIZN).  Ended up not needing POIZN because Vivi hit it on first shot with his soul break.

So Kimahri time...

Looks at Kimarhi's useable weapons...

Looks at Kimarhi's usable skills...

Hey, I wonder if I can master this without Kimahri also!  Sadly the answer is no, the Super Ronso Bros have too much aoe.  They're not terribly strong but you will lose damage medals.  I'll do it again once my timebux recharge.

Yukikaze is really nice!  I'll be using it on a regular basis with Sephiroth.  Only have enough orbs for rank 2 though.  Come on Orbfest!

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

You could try to petrify Kimahri and have the remaining PCs take care of the fight. Stone does not count as a KO for medal scoring purposes.

[Cotigo]

Really? A separate topic? Yeah ok whatever I don't even have the energy to argue about this.

RK - Exp/Upgrade fest over. Got Evoker's RM2, so Valefor farming Engine is now a thing. All of my A team are at 70+, etc. Did an 11 and a 3 pull on the Gilgy/Sephy SSB banner, no luck, but neither were really that important.

Gonna spend timebux rushing through story dungeons trying to get 50 mythril for one 11 pull before Cloud's banner ends.

After that wraps up I think I finally have a strong enough team to attempt the Deep Dungeon areas. Those 120-140 difficulty ratings are still p. intimidating though.

[Veryslightlymad]

Collected the Memory Crystals for Kim and Auron. No real desire to attempt the later parts of the event, because there's nothing worth my while for what I'm assuming will be a failed effort.

Back to grinding mythril for the hopes of finally maybe having a big boy weapon.

[DjinnAndTonic]

friend code: enWi

----

VSM: You could at least take a shot at Iai Strike for Seph/Auron. It's the cheapest access to instant death you'll get. Which while situational, when you get to that situation, you're going to want it instead of having to craft Death or Pressure Point.

Playing some of the new update again before trying Auron's EX fights. It seems FF12 has a Ranged-only fight. Well, at least I have plenty of Ranged weapons, one of which being a FF12 synergy gun! Should be fun. Had to hone up Drain to a decent level because I literally have no room in my party for Drain Strike and I have no other sources of Dark-elemental damage at this point. What did everyone else use?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Friend code: Q1ne

Well, finally concluded the bonus battles on Auron's event, mastery in all of the dungeons. Some thoughts:

- The Seymourpallooza boss rush looks worse than it actually is. The Guado Guardians on Seymour 1 are so fragile you don't even have to bother with instant death/petrify. Just Quake/summon their asses, put up Carbuncle, rush Anima with Magic Breakdown, profit. Seymour Natus can be blitzed as well, just don't forget to mitigate - I stacked Magic Breakdown and Shellga before putting up Carbuncle, which led to a quick, mostly painless fight. Seymour Flux is a bit more annoying, since there's no truly reliable way to inflict Poison (I missed mastery on the fight due to only landing Silence and killing Flux before Poison procced with Venom Buster), but if you perform well enough, you can afford the medal loss. My setup was L54 Auron (R4 Venom Buster/R5 Silence Buster)/L65 Yuna (R2 Alexander/R2 Carbuncle)/L65 Vivi (R4 Waterja/R3 Quake)/L65 Wakka (R3 Mental Breakdown/R3 Magic Breakdown)/L56 Arc (R5 Curaga/R1 Shellga). Sentinel's Grimoire RW.
- Biran and Yenke aren't too bad, either. Berserking Biran mostly undoes his threat and Slowing Yenke also helps a lot (besides being a target mastery score!). They're also not very durable. Setup was L50 Kimahri (R5 Boost/R5 Silence Buster)/Wakka (R2 Power Breakdown/Magic Breakdown)/Vivi/Arc (R3 Berserk/R1 Slowga)/Yuna (Curaga/R3 Diaga). Once again, Sentinel's Grimoire RW.
- Sanctuary Keeper is a COLOSSAL DICK. Holy shit, unmitigated Photon Wings OHKOed half my party and it also happens to proc random status. I had to flee in order to reshuffle my setup, since without Sentinel's Grimoire, the fight just. Wasn't. Happening. The winning setup went as follows:

Auron (Venom Buster/Boost)
Wakka (Power Breakdown/Tempo Flurry)
Vivi (Waterja/R3 Thundaja)
Yuna (Shellga/Curaga)
Arc (R1 Protectga/R3 Reflect)

Open with Sentinel's Grimoire, follow up with Shellga and Protectga, then Power Breakdown and Venom Buster until Poison lands (it's a target score and the damage seriously adds up if you proc early). Afterwards, I put up Reflect on Sanctuary Keeper, both avoiding his magical counters and walling his buffs/status healing. Next Arc turn, Reflect goes on Vivi so he can actually do offense. Yuna stays on healing duty. Poison landed on Auron's second try, Wakka landed Slow on the first Tempo Flurry and then the fight went relatively smoothly - buffs and Esuna are wasted Keeper turns and avoiding those magical counters is a godsend. All buffs -will- wear out at some point, though, so you need to be on point to recast them. Mana Breath in particular could one-shot almost any PC in my party sans mitigation. If you have a strong physical party, you can also forego a mage entirely (self-casting Reflect can be problematic for healing). There's so much that can go wrong in the first turn, though. Nearly everything SK does if he gets a crack at your party before mitigation's up can lead to an instant S/L. Regardless, done with the event, so back to Elite dungeon clearing until Vaan's event.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Playing some of the new update again before trying Auron's EX fights. It seems FF12 has a Ranged-only fight. Well, at least I have plenty of Ranged weapons, one of which being a FF12 synergy gun! Should be fun. Had to hone up Drain to a decent level because I literally have no room in my party for Drain Strike and I have no other sources of Dark-elemental damage at this point. What did everyone else use?

Just as well, Drain Strike isn't elemental, unlike the Drain spell. I expect to fully maim the FF12 event if the Elite dungeons were any indication: Danjuro and a 4++* Empyrean Rod really make short work of everything. For Garuda, I had R4 Drain, R5 Dark and a fake-6* synergy rod. 9999s off -ga-level spells were had in abundance.

EDIT:

Collected the Memory Crystals for Kim and Auron. No real desire to attempt the later parts of the event, because there's nothing worth my while for what I'm assuming will be a failed effort.

I'd at least give the non-boss stages further down a shot. Retaliate setups with FF10 synergy weapons (if you have a Warrior's Sword or a Kodachi, you already have better than natural 5* equipment to Reta-meta with and clear the fights. Combined, the Mythril Sabers handed by the event are about as good as a natural 5*) should tide you over very well. In fact, I wouldn't even rule out trying Defender X if you can craft Carbuncle and at least R2 Berserk, since you can spoil the hell out of the fight that way. Advantaliate would take care of the rest. And honestly, I wouldn't rule out using Mythril retries for those rewards either, those Greater Orbs are SERIOUSLY valuable. If you think you can clear content spending a Mythril or two, do it: the payoff is far bigger than saving Mythril you can replenish in a couple daily logins. I used Mythrils for fully clearing events until my abilities and hones were good enough to not need it anymore and I have absolutely no regrets.

[DjinnAndTonic]

If people think I should put new player tips or information in the top post I can, but I figured it wasn't really necessary.

Might be worth it to post how Retaliate Meta/Advantaliate works up there since it's the most non-intuitive core strategy that can help anyone new at getting those hard-to-reach Memory Crystals in their earliest events.

[Scar]

Just got IA strike.

Kinda bummed about not getting Zack relic.

Kinda bummed about only having 2 character specific relics.

This game is bum indusing.

[Magic Fanatic]

Steps on how to get Retaliate to work:

Set-up:
Retaliate (I prefer Rank 3 to get through stages)
Boost (or some equivalent targetable ATK booster)
Armor Break(Down) or some other form of Defense Down for the target(s)
Optional: Double Cut user(s)
Optional: Tempo Flurry user(s)

Step set 1:
Have your Retaliate user activate said skill
Have your Support user target your Retaliate user with Boost

Step 2:
Have all your non-Retaliate people specifically target the person using Retaliate, and Attack/Double Cut/Tempo Flurry

Step 3:
Remember to refresh Retaliate every other turn


How this works:
Basically, Retaliate puts a buff on the user that puts them in an Evade & Counter stance.  However, this also affects MT physicals, so it winds up being even better effectively.  When the user is physically attacked, they will target the enemy with the lowest % of health left with the activated counter.  If the Retaliate user manages to dodge multiple physicals in the same attack, counters will be queued and all come off once the attack ends, even being stored between combat rounds (but not separate battles).  Retaliate lasts about two turns from its activation.

Double Cut actually has a .6x modifier to each hit of its attack.  However, it counts as two attacks for Retaliate, so if Double Cut is instead targeted towards the Retaliate user, you basically get 2x Retaliate user damage that's auto-targeted.

Boost increases the target's ATK by 50%, which roughly increases damage by that much outright.

Once you combine all these, your physical damage output increases dramatically, because your Retaliate user is getting 4+ Boosted Damage attacks per turn.  It's also very cost-effective when it comes to ability uses.

Downside:
Characters that attack the Retaliate user do not gain Soul Break meter for their attack, like they would for attacking the enemy.
Retaliate counters do not increase the user's Soul Break meter.

[Magetastica]

I'm just going to chime in to note that unless your Retaliate-r is idling for a while, you can get 2 ability use/attacks off from them before needing to refresh retaliate on the third turn. Also, if you're killing enemies in one attack with the Retaliate-r then you won't need to refresh it until you either hit the next set of battles (duh) or you hit a boss.

Also it's super cost-effective for those with very few high-end Equips because you really just need to load one person up with as much Attack as you can, and then everyone else just needs to live, basically. Their actual damage output doesn't matter too much.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Also worth noting a few things:

- Boost increases attack by 25%, which means an effective ~50% damage increase (the damage formula isn't linear, so higher attack yields increasing returns before hitting the soft cap, currently at 529 ATK)
- Speaking of soft cap, Boost stacks with specific buffs like Hand of the Emperor (Leon's SB) and Advance (Luneth's SB), for an instance. If you have access to these RWs, you can achieve outstanding results
- More importantly, Retaliate massively alleviates the hunt for good equipment, since only the retaliator's attack matters for your damage output. It can compensate for low hones and bad gacha pulls in a really big way, especially when paired with Advance (to give you an idea, you can ram the soft cap just with Advance by the time your retaliator hits 212 total ATK, which isn't a hard benchmark to achieve even with only 4* gear).
- Another advantage to Reta-meta is its low maintenance on orb demand, requiring mostly 2* orbs, which are easy to amass in bulk even sans dedicated daily farming. Tempo Flurry requires 3* orbs, but those are easily farmable on Heroic dailies, which can be safely cleared by a party close to L50 and non-completely awful gear (synergy 2++* and onwards).

[Captain K]

How to Mage Meta:  Win Vivi's soul break weapon, faceroll game.

[Nephrite]

I think one of the best pieces of advice for a totally new player would be to go back and do the Elite version of the second FF7 dungeon and the Waterway in FF4 to get those two weapons that are crazy good for your casters.

[Cotigo]

Too lazy to look it up. What does Tempo Flurry do and what are the reqs? I dunno which branch Celerity is in JP but can prolly figure it out based off that info.

[DjinnAndTonic]

In Japanese it's Dual Delay (デュアルディレイ).

[Veryslightlymad]

My lack of unique soul breaks continues. This game is sadness.

[Cotigo]

You could go into credit card debt for a sb weapon

Dual Delay? The Double Cut plus slow skill? What is the advantage of using that over double cut? Does Slow increase the duration of Reta or something?

Also, is there more to the mage meta than having Rods, ja spells, faith, and the assorted WM buffs? Its rockin pretty hard with just that but I wanna make sure I'm squeezing as much as I can out of my workforce.

[DjinnAndTonic]

It's a Celerity (Speed) skill. So it comes out notably faster than Double cut. Also it can be equipped on PCs that have Celerity and not Combat. And it can be used to inflict Slow on an enemy in a pinch. But it still serves the same basic purpose in Reta-Meta, since the Slow won't ever proc on a retaliater since they auto-evade any physicals directed at them.

[Cotigo]

Ah, ok, so its more of a party composition thing. I suppose nobody I run regularly only has speed but not combat. Well, maybe Faris, but she's always on breakdown duty when she comes out anyway.

Edit: I don't think anyone else is playing JP, but in case someone new comes along who is, go ahead and throw my friend code up on the top post pls.

QdGsY

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

You could go into credit card debt for a sb weapon

Dual Delay? The Double Cut plus slow skill? What is the advantage of using that over double cut? Does Slow increase the duration of Reta or something?

Also, is there more to the mage meta than having Rods, ja spells, faith, and the assorted WM buffs? Its rockin pretty hard with just that but I wanna make sure I'm squeezing as much as I can out of my workforce.

That and hones are basically it. Getting specific SBs such as the one from Lulu's Hairpin or the one from Kefka's Mantle are nice perks, and scoring good bracers and hats also helps, but if you get a good assortment of rods and staves (or char-specific spellcasting weapons, such as Terra's Enhancer and Mog's Holy Lance), you're pretty much set. Given your loadout, I can say you're safely well-suited for mage meta.

EDIT: Hilariously, Cap'n is kinda right about the Oak Staff. It took until the Mace of Zeus for the Oak Staff to be obsoleted specifically for Vivi (Doublecast Venom has a higher mult than Doublecast Meteor and the Cypress Pile only has 1 more Mag than the Oak Staff, which was, until that, the highest mag weapon in the game). And you really can never have too many mage weapons unless you're completely drowning on mage synergy equips.

[Veryslightlymad]

Also, on Tempo Flurry/Dual Delay (why did we bother renaming it? Weird), as near as I can tell, more bosses are able to be slowed than cannot be slowed. It seems like the one status that actually will work on bosses, so despite being the same mult as double strike, it's definitely worth being a star higher, because it is just much better on that virtue alone.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Tempo Flurry being a 3* along with LEG SHOT is one of the most wtf design decisions in abilities. I don't think Tempo Flurry would hold out as a 4*, but it's definitely a great 3*. Also, you'd be very surprised at how often bosses are vulnerable to debilitating status in this game.

(Also, Double Cut is a 2* ability.)