Weapons are the lifeblood of Dark Chronicle, with their statistics, rather than those of their wielders, determining power. Their development is one of the most vital and most complex aspects of your quest, so it is important to understand how they work.
Both Max and Monica carry two weapons at once, one for melee combat and one for long-range attacks. Steve's arms aren't included in this section, as they are handled in a different manner altogether. Max wields wrenches/hammers and handguns, while Monica uses swords and magical armbands. As they are used, their WHP (weapon hitpoints) decrease, eventually causing them to break. Unlike Dark Cloud, a broken weapon thankfully doesn't disappear; it simply deals no damage until it is repaired. Melee weapons may be repaired at any time using Weapon Repair Powder, while guns and armbands require their own special powders. All three powders are readily available in many shops and under rocks in the dungeons.
Levelling Up
Enemies drop little blue gems on death. Collecting these adds experience to the weapon with which the monster was killed. When a weapon reaches the next level, its Attack, Durability, and maximum WHP all increase. It also gains Synthesis Points, which are used in raising its other attributes.
Almost every item may be broken down via spectrumising. Once spectrumised, the items may be permanently fused onto a weapon, raising its statistics. This action uses up synthesis points, usually at a rate of one per item. This cycle of gaining SP, spectrumising items, and synthesising makes up the core of weapon development. None of its stages are reversible, so be sure to choose your actions wisely.
Once a weapon reaches +5 status (having been levelled up five times), it too may be spectrumised and used to develop another weapon. Later in the quest, this becomes the only efficient way of increasing a weapon's attributes. Equipment lower than level five may also be spectrumised, but to very little effect.
Building Up
Eventually, a weapon will reach its maximum potential in one or more attributes, and this is where building up comes in. Most weapons may eventually be transformed into one of two other forms, although some have three or just one destination. These new forms have higher stat ceilings, and may also have new special abilities. In order to build up a weapon, its statistics must be raised at least as high as those of its destination. Any weaknesses will flash red in the build-up menu.
Weapon data
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Battle Wrench Big wrench. Looks painful. |
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Above is a sample from our weapon database. Besides the name and pretty picture, it details everything you need to know:
Skills
There are 12 special abilities a weapon may possess. They may be added by synthesising special coins or by synthesising weapons already carrying those abilities. In addition, some weapons have these abilities naturally, and will gain them on upgrade. Some abilities cancel each other out, and the only way to lose them is by applying the opposite via synthesis. Weapons will retain abilities even if they are built up into other forms.
- ABS Up: Enemies slain with this weapon will drop more experience crystals.
- Absorb: Hitting an enemy with this will cause its owner to recover a little health. Opposite of Heal.
- Critical: This weapon will occasionally deal extra damage. Opposite of Dark.
- Dark: This weapon will deal more damage than usual, but will hurt its owner in doing so. Opposite of Critical.
- Durable: This weapon's WHP will decrease much slower than usual.
- Fragile: This weapon's WHP will decrease much faster than usual.
- Heal: This weapon's owner will gradually recover HP. Opposite of Absorb.
- Poison: Hitting an enemy with this may poison it, causing its health to gradually decrease.
- Poverty: Enemies slain with this weapon will drop less money.
- Steal: Hitting an enemy with this may cause you to receive an item.
- Stop: Hitting an enemy with this may cause it to freeze for a short while.
- Wealth: Enemies slain with this weapon will drop more money.
There is one more special ability, Elemental, which only applies to some of Monica's swords. An Elemental weapon will absorb magical attacks from enemies, and may then be used to launch a projectile of that type. A sword with this ability will appear with little circles next to it during battle. These circles fill as the weapon is charged, but only one element may be built up at a time. This ability is special in that it cannot be passed on to other weapons.
Statistics
The WHP, as explained above, is the "health" of the item. It increases a little each time the weapon levels up, and cannot be directly modified. It isn't used in deciding whether it can build up, so the number given is the WHP of a brand new weapon.
The Attack attribute is the most important, determining the basic amount of damage dealt per hit. It increases naturally with each level.
Durability determines the resilience of the piece. Higher durability causes the WHP to decrease at a much slower rate during battle. It is not used in deciding whether the weapon may be built up.
Flame-Scale are the weapon's elemental attributes. These determine how effective the weapon will be against certain types of enemy. Enemies weak against fire will take more damage from a weapon with a high Flame attribute, and so on. Check the monster notebook to find out weaknesses.
Invent/Make
An effective method of acquiring new equipment is to build it yourself. First take photos of certain things to add new "ideas" to your notebook, then combine them to invent the weapon. Once invented, it may be built using items found in dungeons or bought from Conda on the train.
Upgrade
Finally, the possible upgrades are given along with the required statistics.
