Players who have played the demo will encounter one turn-based combat situation. This game was designed to be easy to learn so beginners and even non-gamers can get into it fairly quickly. But underneath that simplicity lies a more complex system for those who choose to exploit it.
Watch a video tutorial or read on for a more detailed explanation.
The screenshot above shows the standard combat scene. Turn-based combat is just that, players and enemies take turns to execute moves. The numbers above the player's avatar represent the status of the player. At this moment, it is the player's turn and there are 4 options available.
- Attack makes an attempt to attack. It may be ineffective due to bad luck or if the enemy is fast.
- Evade makes an attempt to dodge the enemy's next move. It has a high chance of dodging but can sometimes fail.
- Clarity opens up the clarity sub-menu.
- Risk opens up the risk sub-menu.
The menu above is the Clarity sub-menu. These are moves that boost the player in some way. Using them cost clarity, represented by C in the player stats.
- ATK Up boosts attack damage for a short period of time and costs 1 clarity point.
- DEF Up boosts defense and reduces physical damage taken for a short period of time and costs 1 clarity point.
- Heal restores a variable amount of the player's Hit Points/HP for 2 clarity points. If HP drops to 0, the player loses the encounter. But you can retry the stage as long as there is still clarity left.
Clarity is the main resource for the entire game. If it reaches 0, it is a game over!
The menu above is the Risk sub-menu and where the combat can get complex. Pryzm uses a risk system that slightly changes how turn-based combat functions traditionally.
- Crit ATK makes an attempt to perform a critical attack that does triple the normal attack damage and can be stacked with ATK Up.
- Escape makes an attempt to flee the encounter. This option is not available in some situations where an enemy has trapped a player.
- Absorb makes an attempt to absorb clarity from the enemy. Some enemies contain more clarity than others but the quantity per enemy is finite. There are also other ways to obtain clarity outside of combat.
Attempting any Risk move will check the probability of success represented by R in the player stats. This percentage changes and is determined by the different normal moves performed. In general:
- Normal attacks raise R% by a small variable amount.
- Evading raises R% by a large variable amount.
- Getting hit by the enemy decreases R% by a small variable amount.
The higher the R%, the greater the chance a risk move will be successful. So what is stopping a player from just maximizing the R% by spamming evade? Well, there's a catch. If your R% is more than 100%, it resets to 0. This means that it is almost impossible to get a 100% success rate, which is why these are risky moves! A failed risk move will result in the enemy performing a critical attack or clarity drain on the player. The system, therefore, gives you control of these moves depending on how risk averse you are and how you strategically manipulate the R%.
It is entirely possible to not use any risk move, but you will find it harder and harder to avoid it as your clarity goes down throughout the story. Remember, this game does contain elements from the horror genre so you are not expected to defeat every enemy. Escaping is a very viable option to conserve clarity. But then you would possibly miss out on some key items dropped by enemies... It's decisions like these that define your game run.
Hopefully, this has shown you what you could do with the combat. Now get back into the Pryzm and make it out with the best outcome! (You can apply this knowledge for the demo encounter as well!)