Star Ocean: The Divine Force is JRPG from the massively beloved Star Ocean series. It features two main characters, Raymond Lawrence and Princess Laeticia Aucerius, who players will choose between at the start, determining the direction their journey will take. Throughout the story, more playable characters will be unlocked, including Albaird.
Albaird is a deeply devoted and loyal subject of Laeticia, forever sworn to be by her side as a knight. His sole purpose in life appears to be her protection, which makes him distrustful of Raymond from the start of Star Ocean: The Divine Force. The player will find that Albaird is an excellent ranged fighter, using his chakram and magical abilities to slay foes. Choosing his skills wisely will make the most out of this party member.
7 Rainy Day Fund
One of Albaird's passive skills is Rainy Day Fund. This skill is a fantastic way to boost the player's money-making abilities. When he has this skill, the party's net gain of Fol at the end of every battle is increased. At its base level, it is a 20% increase to Fol gains.
It doesn't stop there. This skill can be leveled up several times to increase its output, making it an essential skill to unlock for this character. It's especially useful to have at the early stages of the game when earning Fol seems to be one of the most challenging tasks imaginable.
6 Spring Of Wisdom
Since Albaird uses a significant amount of magic during the journey, it's important to increase his INT. Spring of Wisdom is an active skill that will do just that, but only temporarily. It can be activated during battle for an INT boost that will help the player with Semiomancy attacks.
It increases INT by 50% for 10 seconds, which can be a game-changer. The player can incorporate this skill into a link combo for maximum effect.
5 Longer Punishment
Since Albaird can inflict debuffs with his skillful use of magic, Longer Punishment is also an excellent investment to make. The player will want the enemy to be affected by debuff spells for as long as possible, and this skill makes this happen.
With this skill, all debuffs inflicted by Albaird will last 20% longer. As it is a passive skill, this will occur through the battle without any intervention from the player.
4 Ice Needles
An easy form of Semiomancy, the Ice Needles skill allows Albaird to perform a long-ranged magical attack. It fires sharpened blades of ice at a single target. Ice Needles allows the user to perform several excellent combos with other Semiomancy skills for the ultimate attacks.
For example, Albaird can perform a few physical combos, mixing in Shadow Remnants, and then slam his enemy with Ice Needles. As he is more of a hybrid character than a pure caster, using effective combinations is the key to maximizing this kind of skill.
3 Fireball
The Fireball skill is a great, easy-to-use form of Semiomancy. It allows Albaird to use a long-ranged magical attack that fires off homing fireballs at one enemy. This skill makes for an excellent combination with other Semiomancy skills and routine combat combos to design a brutal onslaught.
Shadow Remnants is the best skill to combine Fireball with. Players can use Shadow Remnants and quickly follow it with Fireball. Once they have both skills more advanced, they can even add Ice Needles to the combo. Physical attacks can also be thrown in with the use of Shadow Remnants at the beginning to further enhance the combo.
2 Shadow Remnants
Activating this combat skill creates four chakram that orbit Albaird. Once Semiomancy is triggered, the chakram can fire up to four projectiles. As such, it is essential to use this skill in combination with Semiomancy combat skills.
The most straightforward skills to combine with Shadow Remnants are Fireball or Ice Needles. Once Shadow Remnants is fully upgraded, the player will be able to do a combo in which both skills are used in succession. Enhancing the amount of magic released ensures more damage to the enemy.
1 Peerless Guillotine
With the Peerless Guillotine skill, Albaird will fire off a bunch of guillotines at once toward a group of enemies in the target area. This works well when there is a large group of enemies that need to be taken out as quickly as possible.
The player may also find some benefit from this skill when fighting a larger enemy. With so much damage directed at one foe, it will help bring down its HP more quickly than with smaller attacks. Whichever method the player chooses to use this skill for, it will keep Albaird out of the direct line of fire as it is a projectile skill, not a close-combat skill.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.