Welcome to the 4th Captain’s Log! In battle, you may notice moments when a Critical Hit lands or an attack gets Guarded. A Critical Hit increases damage by 50%, while Guard reduces incoming damage by 50%. Have you ever wondered what the chances are for your character to land a critical hit or successfully guard an attack? You can see these probabilities numerically just before your character takes an action. In a previous game I worked on, attacks could completely miss due to random chance (similar to how misses happen in Fire Emblem). However, as a player, I noticed that the frustration of missing an attack often outweighed the satisfaction of seeing an enemy miss. To address this, I introduced the concept of Guard. Instead of an attack missing entirely, Guard allows you to mitigate the damage, ensuring that your efforts aren’t entirely wasted. The mechanics of Evasion (Miss) and Accuracy are replaced by Guard and Hit. Here's how it works:

• Guard is your character's ability to reduce damage from an enemy's attack. For example, if your Guard stat is 50, you have a 50% chance to block or reduce the damage.
• Hit is the enemy's ability to bypass your Guard.

The actual Guard chance is calculated as your Guard stat minus the opponent's Hit stat. For example:

• If your Guard is 51 and the enemy's Hit is 40, your effective Guard chance is 11%.

Similarly, Critical Hits follow the same logic:

• Your chance of landing a Critical Hit is your Critical stat minus the enemy’s Critical Defense stat.
• For example, if your Critical stat is 63 and the enemy’s Critical Defense is 51, your chance of landing a Critical Hit is 12%.

With this deeper understanding of Critical and Guard mechanics, you’ll be better equipped to choose stat cards that suit your strategy and develop your characters in the direction you want! Hope this helps and we’ll catch you in the next one! Jin Sang Kim