some tips for folks playing ikenfell who might find it difficult, a thread!

hunt for treasure, and make sure to keep your main battle party equipped with the best stuff available at that time. even 2-3 points in power/defence can make a huge difference. a LOT of treasure is extremely valuable equipment

if you can’t avoid the newest items/equipment from the most recent shops, sell your old stuff! there is no benefit to keeping most of it, and re-sale value is very generous.
BUT, keep most accessories, lots can be useful even late game.

sell the coins you win from boss fights! they will help you afford the equipment you need!

*always* buy equipment before stocking up on items. items are dropped generously by enemies and also can be procured using Rook’s Soul Pierce ability, saving you that precious gold for buying stronk equipment.

higher speed makes you get more turns more frequently! do the enemies feel like they’re overwhemlming you? make sure you have the latest boots equipped and your speed is as high as can be without sacrificing too much pow/def!

there is a “view units” option in the action menu that will show you how much HP enemies have left, and will also show where they are in the turn order. this can help you pick-off enemies strategically and also KO the ones about to get their turn next, preventing damage!

skipping lots of battles? they get progressively more challenging, drop tons of items, and level you up *very* quickly. they also let you practice your abilities! so if bosses seem hard, that might be why!

stats are very sensitive in ikenfell by design! if you’re having a tough time, gaining a *single* level can often make a boss wayyy easier and faster. a battle+level+faster boss win is often actually faster than just fighting the boss alone, so you’re not wasting time!

make sure to try lots of your abilities! some that initially seem weak might be far more powerful than you know: poison, shatter, motivate, starborne, energize... all incredibly useful and powerful spells. dont just mindlessly attack!

regular battles are a great place for you to test these out, against increasingly challenging odds, so skipping my them is deriving yourself the chance to practice and improve!

depriving*

sometimes, it’s better to just focus all your attacks on the boss and finish it off quickly rather than fighting it’s minions! using levitate or speed-reducing abilities can help get the minions out of your way for a few turns so you can whoop butt for a bit.

rainbow and aura are broken, if the game is especially hard for you, they will be lifesavers.

and finally, you can turn on “semi-auto” timing mode in the options menu! this will let you practice getting “GREAT” timings while all misses will default to “NICE”, making the game easier. if you want to increase the challenge, you can disable it any time.