The Alliance Alive originally launched for the 3DS in 2017 for Japan and 2018 worldwide. The gameplay hook of leveling up stats and abilities through battle usage began with Final Fantasy II, which then led to the creation of the SaGa franchise. When that series dried up, The Legend of Legacy was like a long awaited spiritual successor. The Alliance Alive then is a sequel of sorts to that. Got it?
It is a bit confusing to wrap one’s head around at first. This is not a typical RPG, but it is still worth checking out. Now is as good a time as any what with the new HD upgrades and all. We are here to help out with some essential tips to get the journey started.
10 Not A Traditional RPG
First and foremost we should explain how this game operates. As hinted in the intro, characters do not traditionally level up. Instead, weapons are the big focus here. Using a certain type, like a sword, will unlock sword abilities. Using these abilities will then increase their effectiveness.
HP and SP can also be increased, but this is a random occurrence. In fact all of this is random. There is no straight way to know when a stat, or ability will unlock.
9 Focus On One Weapon
Even though characters can hold up to two weapons at a time, like a sword and spear, we think it is important to diversify the party. That is to say only have one character master one weapon style. This will ensure that all of your party members will be strong in one attribute.
It may seem advantageous at first to create ambidextrous fighters as it were, but because it takes so long to master a weapon, we think it is only right to stick to one and be done with it.
8 Don’t Sell Weapons
Another tip about weapons is to not sell them. A little ways into the game characters will learn a sort of Limit Break akin to Final Fantasy VII. Provided they have enough SP, they can unleash a massive strike in desperate situations like when an ally falls.
While powerful, this also breaks the weapon. Over the course of the game monsters will drop low level weapons. They don’t sell for much so may as well keep them around for backup.
7 Level Up In Dungeons
Speaking of monsters, for whatever reason they don’t populate the map as often as we would like. That is to say, it can take a while to “level up” on the world map when monster spawns are so few and far between.
That’s why we encourage players to grind in dungeons. Going from one dungeon room to the next will trigger a load thus respawning monsters. This should make the grind go faster.
6 Chain Monsters
Another great tip to speed up the process of boosting characters is to Chain them. If an alerted monster chases the player with another one following, those two creatures will create a Chain, meaning players cannot escape from battle. This also means two consecutive battles will start.
This can be tricky with certain types, but the risk is worth the reward for more skill points and cash. We have so far managed to Chain four monsters together so theoretically this idea can go above that as well. Running away from more than four is pretty hard though.
5 Skills Increase Learning
What is a skill point? It is the only other way players can increase their stats in a round about way. In the skill tree, players can increase their chances of leveling up HP for example, or increase the chances of learning new sword techniques.
Everything costs a lot especially compared to how little monsters dish out. That is another reason why we tell players to stick to one weapon and one weapon only. Broadening one’s horizons on many levels is just a waste of time.
4 Multiple Parties
About two to three hours into the game players might be surprised to learn that this is about two different parties. Galil is part of a resistance group while Vivian is a beast person, or daemon, that has a bit more lighthearted adventure.
We won’t spoil what happens between the two, but because this is so early on we thought it would be a good warning. So don’t get too attached to leveling up just one party is what we really mean.
3 Skipping Story Beats
On the subject of different parties and their respective stories, it might be a good idea to skip past them. The early stages of this game are pretty slowly paced with the writing repeating itself on some occasions.
It is like okay we get it already! That’s why the Skip prompt was implemented almost as if the team knew. Hitting Skip will not erase everything, fading to black. Instead it just fast-forwards through dialogue sections, which can be stopped at any time.
2 Fast-Forward Battles
Battles can also be sped through. With a simple tap of the shoulder buttons, the speed will increase by two, or by four. It is not wise to do this during boss battles, as they tend to be a lot harder. Using this to get through the normal grind is recommended though.
This may be an obvious tip, but sometimes these prompts are invisible to those not looking for them if that makes sense.
1 Gem Shop
Another somewhat hidden aspect of the game is the Gem shop. Gems can be found twinkling in dungeons and on the world map as white, or purple objects. For a long time we had no idea what these were for until we talked to someone sitting in the first town’s hotel lounge randomly.
He had a shop full of rare gear. We actually recommend saving them up for some expensive stuff later on in the game.