introduction
Mobius Final Fantasy from Square Enix, which only released in the U.S in mid-2016, thrusts players right into the role of a would-be Warrior of Light, the main protagonists of fate from the original Final Fantasy game. Gameplay is very intuitive; you tap the screen to do a basic attack, which grants you element orbs, which can then be used to activate your abilities which appear on your phone screen's sidebar. The tutorial provided is satisfyingly short; the game tells you everything you'll need to succeed… for a while. This guide will go over the things the game doesn't tell you outright but are darn useful to know. Keep in mind that this is covering strategies for succeeding in the U.S version, which is far behind that of Japan.
magicite
Magicite is the game's premium currency, which can be purchased at a more reasonable price than other free-to-play titles bearing the Final Fantasy name. On the surface, you would think that magicite is best used for summoning new ability and job cards, but that's not necessarily the case at the moment. Currently, the U.S version of the game does not have access to 5-star abilities, and only contains a fraction of the Japanese version's 47 job classes. For this reason, you magicite is usually more efficient when it's used on specialty items like crystals or upgrade catalysts. If you're aching to do a summon (and don't have unlimited riches burning a hole in your pocket), I'd suggest just waiting it out 10 days, which is the time it would take the game to give you 1000 magicite, free of charge.
abilities
As of right now, abilities can only reach rank 4, and rank 3 abilities are fairly easy to get. The game starts out by throwing those ability tickets at you like candy and then convincing you to use them on upgrading your cards, but that's nowhere near their best use. Take those cards and head right into the ability shop, where you can exchange a minuscule amount of tickets for some pretty powerful abilities.
The next obvious step is upgrading those abilities, yes? First thing's first, UNCHECK THAT BOOSTED FUSION BOX. When you first try to fuse your cards, the game will try to use up your ability tickets, but unchecking the box allows you to use your lower rarity cards and EXP fodder cactuars to upgrade your abilities. While we're on fusion, sometimes you'll see a second number under how much experience a card will give you. What is that? That, my friend, is the chance a card has to increase your base ability's skill level, which in turn increases the orbs that skill will generate and how many skill seeds you will get from using said skill.
Another thing to note about abilities is the class they work best with. Obviously, you want to use skills relevant to the class you've chosen to advance, but if you find yourself with a 4-star firaja, please don't hesitate to equip it. Also remember that certain classes can only create certain orbs (onion knight creates fire, ice, and earth only). If you have an unusable ability equipped, the game will let you know by marking that card with a yellow exclamation point over it.
multiplayer
Upon unlocking the world map, you can visit the Circle of Braves, which acts as the co-operative multiplayer mode in which you the god-like creatures that are ubiquitous to the Final Fantasy series. Currently, these include Shiva, Ifrit, and Odin.
What's the use? Defeating these creatures, known as Sicarus, will give you a massive amount of skill seeds as well as a rare material based on the difficulty tier you participated in. So, you can rip the horn off of Irfit or tear Shiva's dreads right off her scalp, but why? Loot, that's why. To the right of the NPC that allows you to join a lobby is a small shop that houses very powerful ability cards and rarities such as summon cards and crystals. Generally, the price will be 12 tier-1 materials and 2 tier-2 materials.
I found this to be the best way to improve my character early on. Some people have been playing since the night of release, and never stopped. Now, they've finished most of the content and just farm materials. What that means for us newbies is that we can piggyback off of their ridiculous power to gain a sizable hoard of skillseeds in a very short time. Be careful, though; multiplayer can sap your otherwise big stamina bar in an instant.
Battle tips
The game gives you a quite quick rundown of how battle works, so it's easy to lose some more important details. The biggest thing you can easily miss is the mechanic of breaking. When you deplete the red bar under an enemy's health, they basically keel over so you can wollop 'em for some massive damage. The game illustrates pretty well how to do this, but not in the most efficient way. When you hit an enemy with a basic attack, you'll notice that their health and break meter both deplete a tiny amount. But when you hit them with an ability, their health takes a hit and their break meter turns to a dark red. Here's where the game was a bit ambiguous. After that meter turns dark red, your basic attacks will take significantly bigger chunks out of it. So the best strategy is to turn the break meter dark red, target the enemy with basic attacks until they break, and then just wail on them with you saved up abilities.
The next thing to go over is element drives. When you thumb over the little circle on the bottom right of the battle screen, your available elements will appear. Pressing one of these will grant you increased resistant to that element based on how many orbs you will expend (or heal you if you use the pink life element). It is greatly recommended that when you come across a monster with a specific element next to its health bar, you should make sure to increase your resistance to it, and not attack a monster with its own element.
Finally, we'll discuss Ultimates. Ultimates become available after you've used a bunch of abilities in a single stage. They do a ton of damage and significantly increase your score, which in turn grants more skill seeds. I would advise that you use these exclusively for bosses. as they usually only charge once per stage, if at all. Additionally, Ultimates also have abilities that trigger after they're used. Some increase defense or attack and some grant orbs. For instance; I unlocked the dragoon class, and after using the Jump Ultimate, all of my orbs become a rainbow color, allowing me to use them for anything. Know your Ultimates and their abilities so you can use them to their full potential.
One of the tabs you'll find you never really use is the "Social" tab. It controls how you appear to other players. Hidden in this customization is the ability card you can rent out to other players. Each time another player chooses to use your ability in battle, you can a friend card. Collect ten of these, and you can perform a cactuar summoning, which can exponentially increase the levels of your cards.
Also, if you stumble upon an ability you love, but is owned by another player, make sure to follow them. Following them increases the chances that they will appear more often when you start a mission.
some final things to remember
- If you are going to spend money, keep an eye out for deals. $18.99 for 3,000 magicite is pretty reasonable, so any price drop is just icing on the cake.
- Don't pull 3-star cards, they can be bought from the shop for super cheap.
- COLLECT THAT MAGICITE. IT'S FREE
- If you summon a job that you already own, don't worry. It will become more powerful than the original since it's starting point is higher.
- Expect tons of updates. As of right now, the U.S release is pretty bare compared to its Japanese counterpart. We can expect to get more Sicarus, chapters, and jobs. We don't even have the legendary classes yet! I, for one, can't wait to outfit my Warrior as the mighty Tidus.
