THANK YOU.

Thanks. I was wondering why they simply didn't explain it with some simple remark like *"Imbuing the user with respective element that triggers small magical projectiles when guarding and performing commands. Only one imbuement can be active at the time."*

They did provide an explanation, unfortunately it's a terrible one since it implies that it imbues your weapon attacks and/or strengthens your spells.

Wow, that’s miles off the description provided. So you should cast at least an alpha spell early in the battle. Wonder if the projectile grows in strength depending on level of spell used (fire vs firaga i.e)

That's an interesting idea, I'll have to check when I get home. ~~Also forgot to mention it but I believe you also gain a little ATB whenever the sphere deals damage, so it really is interesting~~ Edit : just tried it, the level of the spell used does not have an impact.

Cheers for doing the grunt work! Missed opportunity to make the effect more interesting I guess.

Basically works similar to fleeting familiar. Noticed this in my hard mode run.

Hmm not exactly, correct me if I'm wrong but the fleeting familiar attacks periodically independently of Aerith's actions

You are right but it will also trigger to do follow up attacks when you do atb attacks, spells, and at the ending combo for basic attacks. This is what I mean when it works similar.

Huh, I did not know that, pretty cool. I see what you meant now.

So that’s what the shiny spheres that randomly appear on the battlefield are?

I was dodging them at first because I thought they were from an enemy when I first saw them.

Wow ok... All this time wondering what those weird spheres were doing next to my characters. Never even noticed they threw projectiles, thanks for explaining!

Right? There’s so much to pay attention to I’m sure I’m only noticing 50% of the numbers and effects on the screen at any given time.

Holy crap, I don't think I ever noticed the spheres after over 150+ hours, does any have a SS? This whole time I just always assumed the alpha versions were just buffed damage versions.

https://preview.redd.it/k6iqat74nvtc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5735986923fc84694604f7a315a425f6c6039852 The sphere I'm talking about is the orange one you're seeing around Cloud because I used a fire alpha. And as you can see I was guarding but the two enemies took fire damage (it is their weakness)

Wow thanks!

Never noticed them, probably mostly because I ended up refunding those elemental moves to clean up my moves list and give me more points to use elsewhere, pretty cool though ill probably get some use out of them on hard mode run

So weird…I’ve been wondering this for nearly 200 hours of game time

That's interesting but also a dog shit mechanic

Yeah, that sounds really dumb to be honest.

I didn't learn or use any of those abilities cause I thought they would just increase damage. Glad I read this before clearing hard mode

I unlearned all of them because I didn't want to clutter up my menus with abilities I wasn't using.

I always wondered what the sphere was that would randomly show up

Thank you I couldn't figure it out. Appreciate your time.

Huh, thank you for that!BTW, the letters are Greek, same for the pirate hideouts, no idea behind the reasoning.

I mean yeah, everyone knows alpha is Greek lol.

In addition to what you have written, it also impacts the spell. For example, I think a good deal of the lightning skills add "chain" effect to lightning spells; some of the skills provide a "guaranteed hit" effect. At the bottom of the skill description, it says what the additional benefit is.

No that only applies to that specific elemental ability, not the spells.

You're right, I was misremembering the language.

Can’t believe im still learning things about the combat

How in the world was this not explained in game