Grandia ReDux Complete #3: Magic

Magic is a rather big topic so I'll likely post some further details elsewhere. In any case, here's the rundown.

Different Types of Mana

Magic from the original Grandia to ReDux currently functions very similarly: In regards to MP you'll have three different pools -- each containing spells that are catagorised into being weaker or stronger than others. Weaker spells would be LV1, and stronger spells would be LV3. It was a simple enough process, and mana management simply came down to balancing weaker spells with stronger spells. The problem with this is that often times, the way you could use your mana was often confused and you could say -- a bit overbearing. There wasn't really any focus into balancing spell usage with similar types, since they were split into different pools. And using weaker and stronger spells was never really a choice for the same reason. Ultimately, you had 297 mana to use healing spells if you wanted to, or 297 mana for damage spells. This just made it easy for someone to essentially not care about which spell they were using. Take Alhealer and Alhealer+ for instance. One is clearly stronger than the other. However, both are seperated into different pools of mana, so you therefore have 198 mana to use both, while having little compromise on which spell you wanted to use at any given time, other than balancing mana in each specific pool.

A better way to balance this however is to scrap the idea of splitting spells based on power, but instead seperate them into defined types. If Alhealer and Alhealer+ shared the same pool of mana, then there is suddenly a need to think about what spell is appropiate to use. If you overheal with Alhealer+, your entire mana pool for healing spells takes a noticeable hit. Again, this works for say, Burn, Burnflame and Burnflare. All of these spells now share the same MP pool. What this means is that these spells can be balanced closer to eachother while offering a choice on whether extra power is essential. Previously, if you ran out of mana to use Burn, you would still be able to use Burnflame and vice-versa. Thematically that didn't make much sense and had to balanced oddly. Therefore, instead of three pools of mana separating power, they are now separating types of spells:

LV1 = Support Spells.

LV2 = Basic offensive spells.

LV3 = Advanced offensive spells.

'Basic' and 'Advanced' simply refer to the elements of the spells. Fire, Water, Wind and Earth are catagorised as 'Basic' while Explosion, Lightning, Blizzard and Forest spells are catagorised as 'Advanced'. This does not occur for support spells however.

Mana Restoration

This is fairly similar to the SP system changes mentioned in the previous post. What was also mentioned is 'Invoke' a new SP costing ability that all magic users have. To put it simply, 'Invoke' is a spell that restores a flat amount of mana to the user. This costs SP as well as having a fixed cast time. Again, this means that spells generally cost a lot more than they used to, which means that you'll need to invoke fairly often in order to restore your mana. However, because of the SP cost and long cast time, you'll need balance normal attacks with other skill usage in order to do so.

In boss fights, you'll require careful management of both resources inbetween areas of downtime. MP and SP items are no longer avaliable in combat, individual management is even more essential. Most of the reasonings behind this change was echoed within the previous post. 

New Spells!

In ReDux Complete there are also many new spells to learn! As well as tweaks and overhauls of the currently existing spells too.

Shield - A single target buff that increases defense. Earth element.

Star - A single target buff that increases Max HP. Explosion element.

Restore - Restores all health to a single ally. Forest element. Was previously Boost.

Bubble - A single target damage spell. Water element.

Bubbling - A damage spell that targets all enemies. Water element.

Wrath - A single target damage spell. Forest element. Was previously Craze.

Howlspin - A single target damage spell. Wind element. Was previously SHHH!

Confuse - Inflicts confusion on a single enemy. Water element.

Meltdown - Inflicts heavy damage on multiple enemies. Fire element. Was previously Fireburner.

Haste - Increases the IP of one ally. Wind element.

Runner - Has now returned!

Curse - Inflicts plague on a single enemy. Blizzard element.

Torment - Inflicts plague on multiple enemies. Blizzard element.

Shock - Inflicts paralysis on multiple enemies. Lightning element.

Spell Progression

Spells are now also recieved at a much more gradual pace than they used to. Higher level spells are especially recieved much later than they did before. This is so progression remains consistant across all areas in the game. You'll still be learning new abilities even near the end of the game, so progression does not come to a halt much earlier! In addition, higher level spells have room to be even more powerful or useful as a result. You should feel satisfied when learning them!