What is Final Fantasy Brave Exvius?
A mobile game for iOS and Android, produced in collaboration between Square Enix (Final Fantasy et al) and Gumi/Alim (responsible for Brave Frontier). The game’s story is based around a young knight named Rain and his friend and stepbrother Lasswell, who one day encounter a strange sight: a young girl trapped in a crystal. Following her words, they encounter the power of “Visions,” or the ability to summon warriors from other places and times to assist in battle.
Note to new or returning players
Due to the developer's servers being hacked, there's a pause on new content presently. No user data was compromised or negatively affected (the developers don't keep that stuff since they outsource it to FB, Google, etc.), but the devs appear to be focusing on security updates in lieu of new content. Do the story, farm some stuff, and I'm sure it'll be rolling with new stuff before we know it!
What is with the name of the game?
It's SquareEnix, responsible for making a trilogy of games called Fabula Nova Crystalis. They're kind of known now for making up fanciful words like Crystarium, and Dissidia Duodecim 012, and 358/2 Days. Be the Bravest Exvius you can be, and define that on your own terms, that's what I say.
I've played Brave Frontier and liked/hated it. How does this compare?
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is an expanded spin on Brave Frontier, with whom it shares some similarities. It's another gacha game, meaning you will earn in-game currency, coming in the form of Friend Points and Lapis, to summon new units on a seemingly unfair spreadsheet of hidden factors that emerge in the form of unique characters, and many familiar to the world of Final Fantasy. This game, though, adds the usual Final Fantasy elements of equipment and materia, giving a surprising depth to the gameplay as units can be mixed and matched with different abilities and stats boosted or modified.Each unit can equip up to 6 types of equipment and 4 materia, but each unit also has limitations and advantages to what they can equip and use.
You mentioned Final Fantasy characters? I love Final Fantasy!
FFBE has a wide variety of characters from Final Fantasy, with its own beefy roster of unique names original to FFBE. Characters from Final Fantasy 1 all the way to 15 and even outliers such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Type-0 are represented. Funny enough, there are no Final Fantasy 7 or 8 characters yet, but they’re coming (we know they are coming soon, due to the JP version being ahead). The animation sprites used in this game are gorgeous, by the way.
The roster of characters in game is a mishmash of various Final Fantasy games and units exclusive to FFBE, although most people care about the FF characters. As previously mentioned, characters are added to the gacha, usually alongside special events that tie into the game they're from (unless it's just more FFBE exclusives). Unlike other games of this type, the rarity isn't just in the higher rank of the unit, but also the characters themselves. You should ignore the fact that the Exdeath you pulled is 3*, for example, because it's possible to increase the rarity of units to their natural cap (Exdeath is capable of reaching 6*, the game's current top rarity).
Further, different units are good at different things. A healer like Rosa may be less valuable than a damage dealer like Gilgamesh, since the best defense is often a good offense. There are other mechanics in play, such as elemental affinity, stat breaks, buffs, and so forth, to keep it ever evolving around the core gameplay.
Here's a link to a site that will update regularly as the global version gets more characters, and ranks the units by various categories to back up the reasoning for their position in the tier list.
Unit Rankings
I'm new, and got a bunch of these characters out of my first 11-pull. Are any of these good? I love Shadow/Sabin/Penelo!
Unfortunately, your Shadow/Sabin/Penelo are some of the worst characters in the game. Yes, they are beloved Final Fantasy characters, but that doesn't exclude them from being King of the Trash Heap. Someone has to be, right? A lot of early characters are mainline Final Fantasy units, but by nature of power creep, they’ve been long overshadowed by new units. Different units are powerful or weak in different ways, and just because a unit is popular in their original Final Fantasy series doesn’t mean they will be useful in FFBE.
However, FFBE is unique in that many older units are perfectly viable. Good team composition and strategy can make mid-tier units very good, and sometimes spending a bit of time thinking through a tough fight can result in eeking out a well-deserved win. Many players are F2P (they spend no money) and have a good roster of units, or are otherwise able to tackle some of the hardest content in the game.
If you're just starting out and want to know who to look for, note that as we are 18 months into the game, the hardest content tends to require some fancy gear and "rainbow" base units. If you see a rainbow crystal, rejoice, for it will grant a 5* base unit, which range from useful to very powerful and can easily secure a spot on your team!
THIS SECTION SUBJECT TO PENDING UPDATE
3* units to look for: Cecil, Exdeath, Timothy, Camille -- any that can go to 6, generally, otherwise they're only useful at the very beginning
4* base units to look for (gold crystal or better): Chizuru, Warrior of Light, Garnet, Mystea, Agrias, Refia, Veritas of the Earth, Rikku, Ashe
5* base units to look for (prismatic crystals only): Orlandeau, Veritas of the Dark, Ayaka, Tidus, Onion Knight -- basically anyone but Lightning!
3* base units that if your entire starting roster is full of, you might want to re-roll: Vivi, Lani, Galuf, Shadow, Penelo, Sabin, Maria, Fran, Clyne, Russell, Bedile, Anzelm, Gilbert, Rakshasa, Medius, Cyan
Helpful Links:ExviusWiki: Best source for Global version information, with maps for exploration dungeons, quest guides, and unit details.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Reddit: The reddit community for FFBE, containing info and updates for both the Japan and Global versions. Check here if you want to know what kind of stuff we'll get 5-6 months in advance since Japan gets it first. Also contains useful player-submitted guides, and has a Wiki which is up to date with the current state of Japan's game, so you can look ahead at unit enhancements and trust masteries, that sort of thing.
Friend ID List!:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HfEIPxz_tV42C8dhfSiuVsWJ_f2YQhXiNg5BwiuJCik/edit?usp=sharing
To find your friend ID in the game, tap Home in the upper right corner (on most screens), then the Menu icon in the upper right, then Player Info on the left. Your ID should look like this in your little character card: 123,456,789. This is also where you change your greeting, and rename your character if you like. Adding friends is the only way to use your "guest character" limit break in combat, and only your current party's Leader is shared to friends. Remember to set a Companion Party from the Options in the Main Menu! This way, you will always have a party set up with a specific character that will be shared to your friends, and you should never ever edit that party except to change the Leader if you want to change who you share.
Posts
My lapis lies in wait for his arrival.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Also this raid is insane. Last night I went to bed at rank 9,000. I woke up this morning at 17k. I've been running it non-stop today and I'm at 19k. What the fuck?
Or they won't be, which I'm okay with, because I don't really care about the rankings. That one ticket you lost because you're a reward tier below your usual is more than compensated for by all the free gil, (all) moogles, cactuars, and maybe even 4 star tickets.
I want 7* Randi, myself.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Also hello my little tomb raiders
Yeah, since the rate-up I've actually gotten a bunch of rainbows, it's just they never seem to be on-banner.
List of rainbows I have: Onion Knight, Cid, Ayaka, Barbariccia, Christine, Beatrix, Queen, Wilhelm, White Knight Noel, Duke, Yun, Reberta, Delita, Lightning, Luneth.
List of rainbows I got from their own banner instead of from a different banner or EX tickets: Christine, Beatrix.
I am kind of looking askance at the banner system, is what I mean here.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
The advantage of the banner system is of course that if you want the banner unit, the banner is the best chance to get THAT unit.
Ayaka is ridiculous. I can't even imagine doing it without her.
for Rainbows I got: my 4th trance terra, my 6th lightning, my 3rd delita, my 3rd olive and my first and hopefully last Jiraiya. not even a decent TM there.... I also got a bunch of abels and 2 more soliels.
Also, now you can do this: https://imgur.com/a/6bqsH
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Very bad streak going on.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Maybe I'll pull more at the tail end of the banner, but I can't keep doing this right now. It's too depressing.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Maybe it’s ExAileen!
Duke #2
joy
Edit: next ticket -> rainbow ?!?
Knight Delita #2
that’s better
Is it? Didn't seem amazing.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
30%ATK/HP is pretty fantastic. It'll get better and better as more units can more easily reach the 300% ATK cap.
If I dont get Fina in all of this......
FFBE: 838,975,107
Dokkan: 1668363315
That's my fear right there. I dumped a LOT of resources into Christine's banner over Christmas (like 20k lapis and 60-some-odd summon tickets) and ended up with one Kryla and zero Christines. If CG Fina's banner is indeed another dual-5*, even with my 16k lapis and 40 tickets now, I'm not wild about those odds.
Unless 7* Rem is some healing machine that Im not aware of
FFBE: 838,975,107
Dokkan: 1668363315
This was me on cloud’s banner, with no luck as well. It’s hard to get hopes up about chasing anything since the success rate is so low
Gonna get me a Genji Glove!
She never had one IIRC.
First prototype Step Up JP had was on the Type Banners that we never got. But those were only 3 steps and not the 5 steps you see now.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12