Original Creation FAQ Version 0.71 By Roger Pope August 15, 2006 Introduction: For quite some time there have been some rather thorough, albeit very disjointed resources for Item Creation. A I e x wrote a very comprehensive guide giving all of the essential details about the various creatable items, including information such as who can make them, and what the base price and difficulty of the items are. This document, however, lacks any item descriptions. To fill this void is Demonkaze's Item Refining FAQ, which gives details about the factors on all items. There is one last tool, the Item Creation Calculator (www.crashedweb.com/so3), which is very useful for giving guidelines on what prices to aim for when doing item creation. The purpose of this document is to tie all of these functions together. This document should provide the easiest way to create all useful items. It is not intended to be a 100% thorough handbook for item creation, as roughly 3/4 of all creatable items are practically worthless. If you wish to create an item which I deem worthless, please consult A I e x's Item Creation FAQ and/or the Item Creation Calculator. Throughout this guide I will try to use a standard format looking something like this: Item Name: Immediate Stat Bonus >Various Factors >The item may have Team: Bill, Bo, Bob W% Cost / YY(ZZ)% Success Prices: 111 222 333 444 555 666 Comments: Discussion of the usefulness and various applications of the item The item name and bonuses are should be obvious. The bit about factors may not make immediate sense, but it should be made clear in the item refining section. The team is a list of characters I feel you should use to create and item. W% cost is just a showing of how much this team modifies the base price of an item. YY% Success is how difficult an item is to create without the use of the invention enhancement item, whereas (ZZ)% cost is the difficulty with the enhancement item. All enhancement items function automatically by being in your inventory, and should never be sold under any circumstance. The prices are the list of values that will create the desired item. You must strictly adhere to these exact values. If I give the value of 456, and you see the value of 457, the value of 457 will generate a different item than the one given by 456. Getting Started: Item creation is available as soon as you reach Peterny, which will probably be about 7-10 hours in for the average player new play. Once you reach Peterny, you must go to the inventor's guild, and join. The guild is on the south side of the street west of the central plaza. Once you join, you now can use the workshops scattered across the land. Nearly every city has a workshop and even some dungeons have workshops. In order to do any item creation (also known as inventing) you need to have at least one line open and the specific invention style unlocked. To unlock lines and invention types, go to "Expand Workshop Facilities" and purchase whichever upgrade the workshop you are at requires. This is a one-time investment, but every workshop has its own facilities. There are also NPC inventors. These inventors have only a single invention skill, unlike your characters, which have all 8. Each inventor becomes available at different points during the story, and you will get a notification if a new inventor becomes available. In order to recruit an inventor, you need to give them a specific item, or set amount of cash. This guide will say when inventors become available and what the requirements of recruitment are. NPC inventors, once recruited, need to be assigned to a workshop in a town. This is a rather trivial assignment so don't worry where they are, because you can always bring an inventor to your current location. The one caveat about inventor placement is that you can never use an NPC inventor in a dungeon workshop. All item creation you wish to do in dungeon workshops (there won't be much, if any) must be done by your party members. Original Creation: This is where items are first created. To create an item, you need only the Fol required for the creation itself. No materials are necessary. The item to be created corresponds with the value shown in the rightmost box when you select original creation. Repeatedly selecting "Original Creation" will generate a new number, which will correspond to a different item. Once you have found the desired value, press the square button ("Start Lines") to begin the crating process. Upon doing so you will see two bars, a Quality bar and a Time Bar. The Quality bar is a relative scale of how well your characters are performing with respect to their optimal skill, this meter decreases after each creation attempt; in other words, you have much less chance of creating an item after a few attempts than you do at the first attempt. You should never let this bar run out under any circumstance. Not only is it a waste of money to attempt creation with a low relative skill, but any successes seen prior to the bar running out will be voided. The time bar is a measure of how long each creation attempt takes; when the bar is full, the attempt has been made. Once the attempt is complete, you will see the inventors' reactions. If the reaction was a happy reaction, then the creation attempt was successful. If the reaction was unhappy, then the attempt was unsuccessful. To collect successfully created items, press the X button ("Direction") and you will be prompted with question, "Request item submission?" Choose yes. Note that for some inventors, it can be difficult to determine is initially difficult what face corresponds to the happy reaction and the sad reaction, thus you may want to do a quick trial run with a cheap item so you know which is which before you do any serious item creation with a given team. If you press the O button, you can cancel the creation process, but any successes will be voided, thus there is no reason to ever use it. Each inventor has a skill level, time and cost modifiers, and a set list of items they can create. These items will generally have difficulties exceeding the skill of that specific character, thus you should add high skilled companions to join in the creation process; these companions need not be able to create the item in question by themselves. In addition, each item has a specific base value. The number seen when you select original creation is one of 11 possible values, based on the following formula: {b + b*(t - 5%)} {b + b*(t - 4%)} ... {b + b*(t + 4%)} {b + b*(t + 5%)} where "b" is the base value and "t" is the sum of all cost modifiers of each team member. After this formula has been applied, the number is rounded to the nearest whole number, with 0.5 rounding up. Through the use of this formula, and careful selection of inventors to eliminate similarly priced items, it is possible to choose exactly the item you desire for nearly all items. Specify Plan: This is also referred to a "Refining." What this does is modifies (generally improving) an item "factor". A factor of an item is what you see in the factor list when you examine an item through the item menu, or in the tan box if you're about to equip an item. The first item you can get with a factor on it is the clone generator. If you examine a clone generator in the item menu, you will see: Cures incap (100% Percent Break) (1) The number in parentheses after the description of the factor gives the number of outcomes that can occur if you refine the item. If an item factor has no number after of it, the factor cannot in any way be refined. Unlike with original creation, the success of refinement does not directly depend upon the skill of the inventors. It does, however, indirectly depend on the skill of the inventors because like with original creation, no success can occur if the quality bar runs out. The better the crafters are, the less the quality bar will decay per attempt, thus you are more likely to succeed if you wish to do something else whilst refining (because the chances of failure due to quality decay are less). When refining, it is generally best to strike some kind of balance in your inventors such that you have high skill but low cost and time. Suggestions for specific inventors are listed in each invention category. Refining requires invention materials in addition to money, thus this is where you use the Smithy, Crafting, Alchemy etc. Materials. It is possible to obtain an infinite amount of materials during the normal portion of the game, but it requires farming of specific monsters for their dropped items or disintegrating blocks in certain dungeons (through use of an item acquired about halfway through the game). Suggestions on where to obtain materials are given in each respective category. After the normal game (i.e. the post game) a shop is available where you can purchase all but Synthesis materials. One last thing to keep in mind is that while many negative factors can be removed, no positive factor may be removed from an item in the case that you do not want it. It is sometimes possible to get rid of undesired factors through synthesis trickery, but not always. See below for more detail. Synthesis: Synthesis is an invention operation unlike any other. What synthesis does is transfer factors from one item and adds them to a weapon of your choosing. Synthesis applies only to weapons, so please don't send me any emails asking how to synthesize factors to armor or accessories. The actual mechanics of synthesis are difficult to explain, so I'll use an example to illustrate. Let's say you have Sword A with these factors: Sword A: >+5 ATT >+10 ATT Now, let's say you have Sword B with the following factors: Sword B: >+20 ATT >+50 ATT > 50% Chance of Breaking >+100 ATT If you wanted to transfer the +100 ATT factor onto Sword A, you would need to select Sword A as the "Item to Synthesize" and Sword B as the "Item to be Synthesized" then you would have to let the synthesis to run for 4 iterations. The result would destroy Sword B, and Sword A would look like this: Sword A: >+5 ATT >+10 ATT >+20 ATT >+50 ATT > 50% Chance of Breaking >+100 ATT Unfortunately, it still has the chance of breaking. Synthesis always runs in succession from first to last, thus there is no way you could transfer the +100 ATT factor without transferring the chance of breaking. You can still avoid adding the chance of breaking however, by letting the synthesis run for only two iterations and requesting the item before the job is complete. The result would look like this: Sword A: >+5 ATT >+10 ATT >+20 ATT >+50 ATT Sword A now has the first two factors of Sword B without the negative third factor. Synthesis requires Synthesis materials, which are in finite supply during the normal game. You are highly unlikely to exhaust all the materials in the game, however, because there are over 50 available during the normal game if you know where to look (many of these are in the Sphere Corporation, see a Sphere 211 FAQ for more detail), and you'll probably use less than 10 synthesis materials during the normal game, if any at all. Post game it is possible to obtain infinite materials, but it can be somewhat difficult and tedious. There is a monster post game that drops the materials very rarely, and Santa's Boots and Grab Bag may randomly give you synthesis materials if you stay at an inn. Two last things to keep in mind about synthesis. First is that it never fails, thus you should always use a team of Maria, Sophia, and Mirage once they're all available, because they each lower the cost by a bit. Second is that any item can hold no more than 8 factors total, and factors generally cannot be removed. Inventors - Playable Characters: Each playable character has all invention skills and has various pros and cons to each. I'll go through each: Fayt (No Modifiers) Cooking 16 Blacksmith 29 Alchemy 14 Writing 34 Craft 20 Engineering 25 Compounding 30 Synthesis 12 Fayt is a very solid inventor. He is among the best Blacksmiths, Writers, Engineers and Compounders. He will be doing a lot of inventing for you through the entire game and likely post-game as well. Cliff (Time +5%) Cooking 9 Blacksmith 31 Alchemy 5 Writing 7 Craft 2 Engineering 36 Compounding 10 Synthesis 14 Cliff is one of the best Blacksmiths and Engineers. He's not much good for anything else though. Nel (Time -5%) Cooking 30 Blacksmith 25 Alchemy 20 Writing 14 Craft 15 Engineering 5 Compounding 10 Synthesis 10 Nel is useful for inventing early in the game but gets outclassed rather quickly. Roger (Time +5%) Cooking 2 Blacksmith 23 Alchemy 6 Writing 4 Craft 35 Engineering 20 Compounding 6 Synthesis 10 Roger is excellent for crafting and engineering in the beginning of the game. He's the only completely avoidable optional character. To recruit him, be sure you thoroughly explore the Duggus Woods before fighting the Mudman boss. After your business is completed, view an event with him in Suferio. Don't worry. If you don't like roger, viewing the first event in Suferio with him does not make him a permanent character, only temporary until the end of disc 1. Maria (Cost -10%) Cooking 19 Blacksmith 4 Alchemy 22 Writing 22 Craft 10 Engineering 20 Compounding 25 Synthesis 15 Maria is good mostly for her cost reduction, although her engineering, writing, and compounding skills are suitable until you have better. Albel (Cost +5%) Cooking 16 Blacksmith 30 Alchemy 15 Writing 4 Craft 12 Engineering 16 Compounding 16 Synthesis 15 Albel is an optional character, and there isn't much need for you to ever use Albel for inventing. He's good at Blacksmithing, but not much better than Fayt. For the purposes of this guide, I'll just give directions on how to craft with Fayt, even if Albel is in your party. Sophia (Cost -5%) Cooking 43 Blacksmith 6 Alchemy 36 Writing 15 Craft 33 Engineering 3 Compounding 15 Synthesis 25 Sophia is one of the best Alchemists and Crafters, plus she has cost reduction. Peppita (Time -10%, Cost +10%) Cooking 6 Blacksmith 5 Alchemy 12 Writing 6 Craft 40 Engineering 15 Compounding 11 Synthesis 20 Peppita is one of the best crafters in the game, but since she is optional, I shall assume you don't have her. She does have one very special property, that she is one of only two characters capable of making the Philosophers stone (required for recruiting the best alchemist in the game). If you have the NPC inventor Misty Lear and the Alchemist's stone, you should definitely craft the Philosophers stone during the temporary window when she is always in your party on disc 2. Adray (Time -25%, Cost +30%) Cooking 20 Blacksmith 27 Alchemy 4 Writing 11 Craft 3 Engineering 7 Compounding 5 Synthesis 15 Adray is fast... and expensive. Because he's fast, you'll want him on any refining team where the cost additional cost is not prohibitive, even though his skills are mostly mediocre. The first opportunity you have to recruit Adray is once your return to Aquios from the Bequerel Mine. You'll meet him in the throne room, but it's possible to avoid him completely during this timeframe. Later in the game, Adray will join you, whether you like it or not. Mirage (Time -5%, Cost -5%) Cooking 26 Blacksmith 17 Alchemy 18 Writing 16 Craft 30 Engineering 31 Compounding 27 Synthesis 22 Mirage is good at quite a few things, but her biggest asset is her time and cost reductions. You will get Mirage during an event very late in the game and there is no way to recruit her earlier. Smithing: Smithing creates weapons and armor for characters. You can also refine any factor on an item already on a weapon / armor, be it innate to the item or added via synthesis. Smithing Enhancement Item: Smithy Hammer - Found in Flad's House in Arkives. You must return to Arkives after visiting Gemity for the first time to acquire this item because Flad's mother initially blocks you out of the house. Smithing NPCs: Grats - 25 Skill - 10,000 Fol to recruit No Modifiers Found in Bequerel Copper Refinery. Grats is becomes available before you have the opportunity to meet him. He's only useful for crafting one item, which you won't use unless you recruit and use Adray early. Otherwise he's of little practical use, since Fayt and Cliff are both better, and Nel is just as good. Lias - 36 Skill - 28, 000 Fol to recruit Cost +20% Found in Airyglyph Tavern Lias is available as soon as you return from the Shrine of Kaddan. He can useful for a couple things, like making a robe for Adray and helping with a gauntlet for Cliff, but I generally ignore him altogether. Gusto - 60 Skill - 60, 000 Fol to recruit Time -15% Found in southern Peterny Gusto available after completing the Urssa Lava Caves, but sadly you don't have the opportunity to recruit him until a decent way into disc 2. He is THE man when it comes to smithing. He can make nearly all of the useful weapons and armor and he's easy to get. Boyd - 95 Skill - Bent Mystic blade to Recruit Time +50% Found in Arias general store Boyd has the highest skill of any smith but the most ridiculous requirement to recruit. The only way to get the bent mystic blade is to win 100 point in the Bunny Races, which will take 4-6 hours betting Perfecta, or 10 hours with a turbo controller betting on normal races. Boyd simply isn't worthwhile if you don't have a turbo controller, as nearly every item of interest is creatable by Gusto. Weapons for Fayt: Searing Sword: ATT +150 / Hit +20 >Emits Balls of fire when attacking ] Team: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 45(65)% Success ] Prices: 3800 3840 3880 3920 3960 4000 4040 4080 4120 4160 Comments: This is one of the best weapons you can make immediately when you join the inventor's guild. It's less powerful than the Holy Sword in Airyglyph, but you'll probably spend less on this, and it feel a little less overpowered to use this weapon than getting the Airyglyph weapons early. Veinslay: ATT +900 / Hit +35 ] Team: Gusto, Cliff, Fayt ] 0% Cost / 20(40)% Success ] Prices: 380 384 388 392 396 400 404 408 412 416 420 Note: All Prices overlap with Paladin's Helm. Comments: This is Fayt's best factor free weapon. There is a very good chance you will load this guy up with +30% ATT/DEF factors, which give Fayt the best possible defense in the game. Weapons for Cliff / Mirage Damask Gauntlets: ATT +190 / Hit +23 ] Team: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 35(55)% Success ] Prices: 1378 1392 1407 1421 1436 1450 1465 1479 1494 1508 1523 Comments: This is a very good weapon for Cliff to use for most of Disc 1. It's not nearly as expensive as the "Damask Gauntlet" sold in Airyglyph (behold the power of pluralizing), and they're almost as good. Gatling Gauntlets: ATT +250 / Hit +27 ] Team1: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 15(35)% Success ] Prices: 3990 4032 4074 4116 4158 4242 4284 4326 4368 4410 ]] Team 2: Fayt, Cliff, Lias ]] 20% Cost / 26(46)% Success ]] Prices: 4830 4872 4914 4956 4998 5040 5082 5124 5166 5208 5250 Comments: These are even better than the "Damask Gauntlet", but significantly harder to make than the Damask Gauntlets. Mythril Gauntlets: ATT +1000 / Hit +38 ] Team: Gusto, Cliff, Fayt ] 0% Cost / 20(40)% Success ] Prices: 428 432 441 450 459 464 468 473 Comments: This is like Cliff and Mirage's equivalent to the Veinslay. Weapons for Nel Flare Baselards: +130 ATT / Hit +30 >Emits Balls of Fire when attacking. ] Team: Nel, Fayt, Cliff ] 0% Cost / 35(55)% Success ] Prices: 2902 2933 2963 2994 3024 3055 3086 3116 3147 3177 3208 Comments: This is pretty much the only useful weapon you can invent for Nel. It's weaker than the Osprey Dagger in Airyglyph, so you should use it pretty much like Fayt's Searing Sword. Also she has an almost useful weapon with high base ATT, but unfortunately the ice blades come packed with Water-Based damage. Weapons For Roger Shark Helm: ATT +350 / HIT +25 ] Team: Roger, Fayt, Cliff ] 0% Cost/ 33(53)% Success ] Prices: 552 558 564 569 575 581 587 592 598 604 Comment: Weaker than the Airyglyph weapon, but much cheaper and no backtracking needed. Looks pretty cool when worn by Roger. Paladin's Helm: ATT +1200 / HIT +40 ] Team: Gusto, Cliff, Fayt ] 0% Cost / 20(40)% Success ] Prices: 380 384 388 392 396 400 404 408 412 416 420 Note: All Prices overlap with Veinslay. Comments: Best weapon for Roger during the main game. It has a hilarious description, "May not look good on short people." But in truth it makes roger look pretty slick running around in silver armor, even if it does clash with his green shirt. Weapons For Adray: Demon Slayer: ATT +450 / HIT +20 / INT +30 ] Team1: Fayt, Cliff, Adray ] 30% Cost / 17(37)% Success ] Prices: 3750 3780 3810 3840 3870 3900 3930 3960 3990 4020 4050 ]] Team2: Lias, Cliff, Adray ]] 50% Cost / 24(44)% Success ]] Prices: 4350 4380 4410 4440 4470 4500 4530 4560 4590 4620 4650 Comments: This is a very powerful weapon for Adray and Albel, with very high ATT for when you can first get it. This is the definitive weapon to be using if you want Adray to act in a purely magical capacity, as it is his only weapon that has all at factor slots free and has an INT boost to match. Adray's Immortal has better stats than this, but unfortunately comes with a Balls of Lightning factor. Weapons for Albel: Demon Slayer: See details on Adray's Demon Slayer Claw of Judgement: ATT +900 / HIT + 45 ] Team: Fayt, Cliff, Gusto ] 0% Cost / 20(40)% Success ] Prices: 5890 5952 6014 6076 6138 6200 6262 6324 6386 6448 6510 Comments: Albel's best inventible weapon. Weapons for Peppita, Sophia and Maria: These characters have not been forgotten. Maria's weapons are invented (and refined!) through engineering rather than smithing. Sophia's best weapon, the Adept Staff, is not invented, but rather purchased. Peppita has one good weapon that can be created for her, the Damask Cape, which unfortunately requires Boyd. Heavy armor: Mythril Plate: DEF +55 >DEF +5(1) ] Team: Fayt, Nel, Cliff ] 0% Cost / 25(45)% Success ] Prices: 133 134 136 137 139 140 141 143 144 146 147 Comments: Rather good armor that is available early and very inexpensive. Astral Armor: DEF +140 >DEF +20(1) >Immunity to petrification >Immunity to freezing >Immunity to Spells 30% ] Team: Fayt, Cliff, Gusto ] 0% Cost / 21(41)% Success ] Prices: 4304 4349 4394 4439 4485 4530 4575 4621 4666 4711 4757 Comments: This is the best armor in the normal game. It requires a little bit of refinement to make the DEF better than the best purchasable armor, but it's definitely worth it. Light Armor (cloaks): Cloak: DEF +1 >DEF +5 (1) ] Team: Grats, Cliff, Fayt ] 0% Cost / 75(95)% Success ] Prices: 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Comments: This really weak armor is one of the few pieces of armor that Adray can equip on disc 1. You should probably refine it, so it'll give a net DEF of 41 rather than 6. Elven Cloak: Def +4 >DEF +5 (1) >Adds wind defense (Absorption) Team: Lias, Cliff, Fayt 20% Cost / 66(86)% Prices: 3818 3851 3884 3918 3951 3984 4017 4050 4084 4117 4150 Comments: This is barely useful. If you're using Adray, you no doubt already have a refined Cloak before you could possibly make this. The only reason you might want to make this is because there is a rather difficult boss that relies primarily on wind based attacks shortly after Lias becomes available. Medium Armor: No particularly useful medium grade armor can be invented. The inventible armor here is usually much too difficult or is weak compared to the buyable armor. Some people like the Elemental Leather, which gives elemental protection, but I don't think the hit to DEF is worth it. Crafting: Crafting is meant for creating equippable accessories. Some accessories have attributes that make them ideal to wear as accessories, whereas others are best utilized through synthesis. Crafting Enhancement Item: Cherubic Bust - Found behind a tree in the northeast region of the field between Arias and Peterny. Available as soon as you are allowed to take the east exit out of Arias. Stanice - 20 Skill - Limited-Edition Doll to recruit -30% Time / -20% Cost Found in Suferio Inn Stanice is available as soon as you enter Aquaria for the first time. Her recruitment item is found in the Duggus woods in a green chest that boulders are toppling over. You must walk by this chest to complete Duggus Woods so hopefully you picked it up. Stanice is the best person to have on your team when refining. She has amazing cost and time reduction, and her skill is half decent. You never want to refine an accessory without her. Balbados - 37 Skill - Antique Jewelry to recruit -40% Time / +50% Cost Found in Southwest Mosel Dunes Balbados is available as soon as you return to Airyglyph after being told to. His recruitment item is rather a pain to acquire. You need to take a visit to the Kirlsa Caves and ride the hauler once you get the Ring of Disintegration. Use any hauler, and take the first left, then the next right, then stop as soon as possible. In this area is a chest behind some disintegratible debris. Balbados has a very respectable crafting skill, but he's a pain to actually require since getting both his recruitment item and recruit him usually require detours. That being said, he's usually worth it, if for no reason other than his amazing speed. Putting him, Stanice and Adray on a line make any refining go by nearly instantaneously, if you can afford it. He's also handy for creating a few items. I really dislike putting Balbados and Chilico in the same party. For some reason, under my personal (perhaps flawed) observation, having both characters on the same line biases the number generator such that it really hard to get useful items crafted by either. Aqua & Evia - 49 Skill - 20,000 Fol to recruit +10% Cost Found in Peterny Temple Aqua and Evia are available shortly after arriving at Gemity. They are good for they're high skill. Chilico - 60 Skill - 85,000 Fol to recruit -10% Cost / +60% Time Found in Suferio Item Shop Chilico is available after your second visit to the Shrine of Kaddan. She is the sole creator of many of the best craftable items. She is also extremely slow. Her high skill and cost reduction in no way justify her slow speed. Useful Items: Brooch of Footwork >10% increase in ATK/HIT Team: Fayt, Nel, Stanice -20% Cost / 35(55)% Success Prices: 129 131 133 134 136 138 139 141 143 145 A handy item to have. Just about the only accessory that provides a boost to HIT, making it especially useful on the higher difficulty when enemies parry. Ring of Mental Power >3% MP recovery at intervals during battle (1) ]Team1: Chilico, Aqua & Evia, Balbados ]+50% Cost / 66(86)% Success ]Prices: 319, 321, 328, 330, 339, 341 ]]Team2: ]] -20% Cost / 43(63)% Success ]]Prices: 165 172 174 176 183 185 187 All prices overlap with the Earring of Accuracy unfortunately. This refines to give 6% MP recovery at intervals. Two of these factors, equipped or synthed to a weapon will give 12% MP recovery, but that's as far as it stacks. If you're having trouble getting the proper numbers to pop up, try using the other team. Bangle of Accuracy >+10% ATK increase (1) >ATK +5 (1) Team: Maria, Fayt, Stanice -20% Cost / 30(50)% Success Prices: 167 169 171 173 178 180 182 184 189 The +10% ATK Factor can refine up to +30% ATT, which is very useful. The +5 ATK factor copies itself, so if you full refine this, it can have +35 ATT. If you do refine, however, make sure you refine the 10% ATT factor first, because it can become difficult to refine if you have several +5 ATT factors. Blue Talisman >No HP damage 10% of the time (1) :: Red Talisman :: >No MP damage 10% of the time (1) ] Team1: Maria, Fayt, Stanice ] -30% Cost / 30(50)% Success ] Prices: 172 177 179 187 192 195 ]] Team2: Balbados, Sophia, Aqua & Evia ]] +55% Cost / 99(119)% Success ]] Prices: 390 393 395 398 400 403 406 408 411 413 416 Both of these items have the exact same creators and base price, and they also overlap with the useless Yellow Talisman. They refine up to 30% of their respective damage preventions. Bangle of Intellect >+10% INT increase (1) >10% INT increase (1) ] Team1: Maria, Fayt, Stanice ] -30% Cost / 30(50)% Success ] Prices: 198 201 213 216 219 222 225 (all values overlap with Ring of Healing) ] Note: All prices overlap with Ring of Healing ]] Team: Aqua & Evia, Mirage, Fayt ]] +5% Cost / 79(99)% Success ]] Prices: 303 306 309 312 315 318 321 324 327 Both factors refine up to 30% for a net boost of 60%. This is a really nice accessory for Sophia and Adray, and should left in accessory form rather than synthed onto a weapon, because it's much better to fill up one accessory slot with two factors than two factor slots on a weapon. Lunar Talisman >+10% Max HP increase (1) :: Star Talisman :: >+10% Max MP increase (1) ] Team: Aqua & Evia, Chilico, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 72(92)% Success ] Prices: 298 301 304 307 310 314 317 320 These refine up to 20%. Blazing Pendant >Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from fire attacks (2) ] Team: Chilico, Aqua & Evia, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 112(132)% Success ] Prices: 342 346 350 353 357 361 365 369 372 376380 This accessory is not meant to be synthesized onto a weapon. It comes with Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from fire attacks. When you refine it, evolves in a succession of: Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from fire attacks Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from water attacks Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from earth attacks Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from wind attacks Recover MP of 1/10 dmg from fire attacks Recover MP of 1/10 dmg from water attacks Recover MP of 1/10 dmg from earth attacks Recover MP of 1/10 dmg from wind attacks Now... the next stage in each evolution can occur in two ways, it can either change the existing stage into the next, or it can add the next stage without changing it. Put in simpler words, you could refine it 7 times and depending on how your luck went, you could end up with all 8 factors, or you might end up with just "Recover MP of 1/10 dmg from wind attacks". Depending on your level of patience (with saving and resetting), you want at most HP recovery from all 4 elements, or at least HP recovery from Earth and Wind. As has been mentioned several times, Earth and Wind are essential for getting the no damage trophies vs. Lenneth and Freya. Just a note, it must be Recover HP in order to null the damage, because with recover MP, the damage is still dealt, you just gain MP while being hurt. Battle Bonus Ring >+1 Battle Bonus Gauge increase (1) ] Team: Sophia, Balbados, Chilico ] +35% Cost / 50(70)% Success ] Prices: 650 655 660 665 670 675 680 685 690 695 700 Refines up to +5 Gauge increase. Makes the bonus gauge fill faster. This function is mimicked by the tri-emblem, but it can be handy until you get one. Ring of Erudition >+10% EXP acquisition (1) ] Team: Sophia, Aqua & Evia, Chilico ] -5% Cost / 92% Success ] Prices: 602 608 614 621 627 634 640 ]] Team: Balbados, Aqua & Evia, Chilico ]] +50% Cost / 76(96)% Success ]] Prices: 928, 934, 941, 947, 954, 960, 966, 973, 979, 986, 992 XP increase affects all party members. Refines up to 20%. Five refined rings may be synthed to a weapon for 100% XP increase, or 5 may be worn in accessory slots. Ring of Animosity >-1 Fury use (1) ] Team: Chilico, Mirage, Fayt ] -15% Cost / 40(60)% Success ] Prices: 560 567 574 581 588 595 602 609 616 623 630 Refines up to -3 Fury Use. It may not sound like much, but if you use it in conjuction with low fury skills, it can effectively give you 20-30 more fury than you would otherwise have. Aqua Ring >+30% damage for water-based spells (1) >Adds water defense (1/2 damage) (0) :: Earth Ring :: >+30% damage for earth-based spells (1) :: >Adds earth defense (1/2 damage) (0) Flare Ring >+30% damage for fire-based spells (1) >Adds fire defense (1/2 damage) (0) :: Wind Ring :: >+30% damage for wind-based spells (1) :: >Adds wind defense (1/2 damage) (0) ] Team: Maria, Fayt, Roger ] -10% Cost / 25(45)% Success ] Prices: 765 774 783 792 801 810 819 828 837 846 855 ]] Team: Sophia, Aqua & Evia, Chilico ]] -5% Cost / 102(122)% Success ]] Prices: 810 819 828 837 846 855 864 873 882 891 900 All 4 of these rings are identical, so you'll just have to keep trying until you get the one you want. The +30% damage factor refines up to +50%, and it applies only to spells. Elemental based physical skills are not affected by this. Ring of Haste >+5% Movement Rate (1) ] Team: Sophia, Aqua & Evia, Chilico ] -5% Cost / 82(102)% Success ] Prices: 990 1001 1012 1023 1034 1045 1056 1067 1078 1089 1100 Refines up to +30% Movement rate. Is very expensive to refine. Star Necklace >1/2 casting time (0) ] Team: Chilico, Sophia, Aqua & Evia ] -5% Cost / 62(82)% Success ] Prices: 3690 3731 3772 3813 3854 3895 3936 3977 4018 4059 4100 Lessens the amount of time required to "summon" a spell (the period when the energy globe is growing). Decent factor for Sophia and Adray, but copied by the victory trophy. Boots of Prowess > +5% ATT/DEF (1) ] Team: Chilico, Sophia, Aqua & Evia ] -5% Cost / 43(63)% Success ] Prices: 2232 2257 2282 2306 2331 2356 2381 2406 2430 2455 2480 Also known simply as BoP. Refines up to +30%. Is very expensive to refine. This is pretty much the definitive synthesis item. This is the best item for raising defense. Use of 9 or 10 BoP (through synthesis) is enough to make Fayt, Mirage and Cliff invulnerable to even the strongest enemies on the Galaxy and Universe difficulties. Other characters still get a lot of use out of these because of the hefty boost to ATT and DEF. Ankh of Dismissal > Disintegrates enemy (No EXP awarded) (1) ] Team: Chilico, Sophia, Aqua & Evia ] -5% Cost / 92(112)% Success ] Prices: 258 263 266 269 272 274 277 280 Refinement of this allows you to gain XP from killed enemies, but is of little worth doing so. This is only particularly useful in one section of the post- game, where you are forced to fight 10 semi-consecutive battles against some wisps which are very good at killing your party before you realize what has happened. Alchemy: Alchemy creates a number of useful items that are used in synthesis. No alchemy item can be used directly without synthesis. Alchemy Enhancement Item: Alchemist Stone - Found in the western Mosel Dunes in a green chest. Eliza - 4 Skill - 10,000 Fol to recruit -30% Time Found in East Aquios Eliza becomes available upon your first entry to Aquios. She is the only character besides Peppita who can create the philosopher's stone. She has good time reduction without any addition to cost, so if you're going to refine an alchemy product directly, you may want her on the team. I personally prefer to synth alchemy items directly to weapons then refine afterwards. Mackwell - 31 Skill - Book of Prophecies 1 to recruit Time: +40% Found in Castle Aquaria Library Mackwell becomes available shortly after completing the Bequerel Mine. His recruitment item is found in Kaddan, behind a cracked wall before the first save point. Mackwell is only useful if you want to do synthesis on disc 1, which really isn't very necessary. However, neither his recruitment item nor his personal location require a serious detour, so you might as well get him. Misty Lear - 50 Skill - Spirit Stone to recruit No Modifiers Found in northern section of Mountains of Barr Misty becomes available after completion of Kaddan. Her recruitment item is very close to where she is; it is on the east side of the Ruins of Barr. You might want to recruit her immediately after getting the Spirit Stone lest you forget to recruit her, it's only a 2-4 min detour. Ansala - 99 Skill - Philosopher's Stone to Recruit -20% Time Found in Castle Aquaria, East Corridor, Third room on left Ansala is available shortly after arriving at Gemity. He is a very good alchemist, necessary for many of the nicest alchemy items. He is also useful for generating a lot of cash, because he can make lots of expensive items risk free, which you can immediately sell. Philosopher's Stone ] Team1: Peppita, Sophia, Misty Lear ] +5% Cost / 0(18)% Success ] Prices: 11, 12, 13, 14 ]] Team2: Eliza, Sophia, Misty Lear ]] -5% Cost / 0(10)% Success ]] Prices: 11, 12, 13, 14 This is useful for one thing and one thing only, to recruit Ansala. If you don't need anything that Ansala makes exclusively and don't care for the money making applications, then don't bother. If you don't plan on taking Peppita permanently, hopefully you will have gotten the alchemist stone and recruited Misty Lear before she temporarily joins you on disc 2. There is a huge difference between 18% success and 10% success. It is possible with the Eliza team, as I've done it myself, but it can be the difference between spending 5 min on one item vs. 60 min on one item. I've heard of people spending over two hours trying to make this item without success. Sapphire >DEF +10 (1) ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Nel ] -10% Cost / 31(51)% Success ] Prices: 136 138 139 141 142 144 146 147 149 150 152 The DEF factor duplicates when refined. This is pretty much only useful for giving the armor impaired Adray some defense on disc one. Note: All prices overlap with the Ruby. Emerald >INT +50 ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Nel ] -10% Cost / 31(51)% Success ] Prices: 170 172 174 176 178 180 182 184 186 188 190 This is useful if you want to bolster Adray INT early on. The INT +50 factor can't be refined so you'll need a synthesis material for each factor you want to add. Air Gem >Adds wind-based damage :: Earth Gem :: >Adds earth-based damage Fire Gem >Adds fire-based damage :: Water Gem :: >Adds water-based damage ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Mackwell ] -10% Cost / 33(53)% Success ] Prices: 298 301 305 308 312 315 319 322 326 329 333 ]] Team2: Sophia, Mackwell, Misty Lear ]] -5% Cost / 77(97)% Success ]] Prices: 315 319 322 326 329 333 336 340 343 347 350 All gems overlap in price. These aren't very useful in general, but have some decent special case uses (I'll let you figure out whatever they may be). Brownie Stone >Raises normal attack decision by 1 (1) ] Team: Mackwell, Maria, Misty Lear ] -10% Cost / 33(53)% Cost ] Prices: 893 903 914 924 935 945 956 966 977 987 998 Refines to "Raises normal attack decision by 2". One of the most obtuse definitions for a factor. What each additional "attack decision" does is adds 50% of the previous damage to the total damage from NORMAL NON-BATTLE SKILL attacks. If your attack was going to do 1000 damage, the with one additional attack decisions, you would do 1000 and 500 damage. If you had two additional attack decisions, it would do 1000, 500 and 250 damage. This is incredibly useful for Albel who has an extremely good short minor attack. This factor is on both Tri-Emblem and Victory Trophy, and thus becomes obsolete very quickly in the post-game. Diamond >DEF +50 (1) ] Team: Mackwell, Maria, Nel ] -10% Cost / 13(33)% Success ] Prices: 1097 1109 1122 1135 1148 1161 1174 1187 1200 1213 1226 The DEF factor duplicates upon refinement. This isn't the most useful of items, but it could come in handy depending on your goals. Shell Sapphire > Freezing (Attack effect) ] Team: Ansala, Misty Lear, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 95(115)% Success ] Prices: 2070 2093 2116 2139 2162 2185 2208 2231 2254 2277 2300 This is an incredibly useful factor. Freezing resembles paralysis in that a frozen enemy (or companion!) cannot do anything while frozen; they can't move, attack, defend, etc. A frozen enemy may be "shatter killed", which is an instant death regardless of HP/MP, by striking it with a weapon that does not have the freezing property. This is usually a companion with a different weapon, but you can weapon swap if necessary. Some freezable enemies have a shatter resistance, thus attacking it while frozen may not always result in death, but any enemy that can be frozen can be shattered. Rainbow Diamond >DEF +100 (1) >Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from fire attacks (2) >Recover HP of 1/20 dmg from earth attacks (2) ] Team: Ansala, Misty Lear, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 90(110)% Success ] Prices: 2803 2834 2864 2895 2926 2957 2988 3018 3049 3080 The DEF factor duplicates upon refinement. The Recover factors refine according to the specifications described in the Blazing pendant details. This is generally much inferior to Boots of Prowess as far as raising DEF is concerned, but it can have some special case uses. Dark Crystal >INT +500 (1) >Chaos (Attack effect) ] Team: Ansala, Misty Lear, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 90(110)% Success ] Prices: 3330 3367 3404 3441 3478 3515 3552 3589 3626 3663 3700 This is the most important item when it comes to improving your mages. The INT +500 factor refines to INT +1000. Orichalcum >ATK +500 (1) >Survive on Fury when incap (50% success) ] Team1: Misty Lear, Maria, Mackwell ] -10 % Cost / 5(25)% Success ] Prices: 4845 4902 4959 5016 5073 5130 5187 5244 5301 5358 5415 ]] Team2: Misty Lear, Mackwell, Sophia ]] -5% Cost / 19(39)% Success ]] Prices: 5130 5187 5244 5301 5358 5415 5472 5529 5586 5643 5700 ]]] Team3: Ansala, Misty Lear, Sophia ]]] -5% Cost / 87(107)% Success ]]] Prices: 5130 5187 5244 5301 5358 5415 5472 5529 5586 5643 5700 This is the great grand daddy of item creation. It can made before the end of the first disc. It's very handy for acquiring battle trophies, but it will destroy any sense of challenge in the normal game. Use this only if you seek a quick run through of the normal game. Beginning with the post-game, however, it is more or less expected that you have Orichalcum enhanced weapons. The Survive on fury factor can be nice, but it's up to personal judgment to determine whether or not it will help you. I'm in the camp that thinks it's a waste of a factor slot, because most attacks that kill you are multi-striking, but some people put orichalcum on their final post game weapons for the sole purpose of the survive on fury factor. Celestial Homunculus >Shoots balls of light when defending (0) >Emits balls of light when attacking (0) >50% probability of breaking (2) ] Team: Ansala, Misty Lear, Sophia ] -5% Cost / 105(125)% Success ] Prices: 9270 9373 9476 9579 9682 9785 9888 9991 10094 10197 10300 These are useful only for selling, as they are the main cash crop. When making these, remember that you can only hold 20 of each item, thus if you make more than 20, you are only losing development money. I personally like to do two batches of 10, as you tend to start failing between 13 and 16 homunculi. Also, there is nothing remotely in this price range, so if you see something that's in the 9000-10000 range in alchemy, don't worry about whether or not the numbers are exactly alike. Compounding: Everything made through compounding is single use. For the most part, I feel that store bought items are good enough in most situations and that compounding is a frivilous use of time. Nonetheless, here are the items which could be useful. Compounding Enhancement Item: Multi-Flask - Found in a chest just north of the eastern exit in Arias. Milenya - 19 Skill - 3200 Fol to recruit -20% Cost Found in Arias Temple Milenya is available as soon you join the crafting guild. Nothing fancy about her, but she's good for early compounding Gossam - 9 Skill - Potion of Youth (Fake) to recruit +20% Cost Found in northern Peterny Gossam becomes avalable shortly after your first fight with Albel. He has no merit as a compounder and is useful only for completion sake. Louise the Diviner - 98 Skill - 90,000 Fol to recruit +30% Time Found in house in Suferio Louise becomes available after your second visit to Kaddan. Puffy - 57 Skill - Experimental Remedy to recruit -40% time Found on 5th floor of Maze of Tribulations Puffy joins the guild shortly after arriving at Gemity, but remains unrecruitable until after completing the game and gaining access to the Maze of Tribulations. She can still invent items on her own, however, so if you wish to get some of her good items, you can sometimes wait for her to make them. Her Recruitment item is found on the second floor of the Maze of Tribulations. It's one of the many chests uncovered by disintigrating a certain box. That statement may sound apocalyptic, but trust me, it'll make sense as soon as you see it. Useful Items: Potion of Youth (Fake) ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Cliff ] -10% Cost / 0(20)% Success ] Prices: 4 5 This has no use other than recruiting Gossam, who is not valuable at all as a compounder. For completion's sake only. Fruity Potion >50% HP recovery (1) ] Team 1: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 30(50)% Success ] Prices: 12 13 14 (Only 14 is without overlap) ]] Team 2: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ]] -30% Cost / 54(74)% Success ]] Prices: 8 9 10 (only 10 is without overlap) This is an excellent item to make in the beginning of the game. Easy to make, great results. If you wish to refine these, the first refinment will boost the recovery to 70%, after which point it could either turn to 90% or drop to 10%. Syrupy Potion >30% HP/MP recovery (2) ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ] -30% Cost / 34(54)% Success ] Prices: 13 14 15 (all prices overlap; 13 has least overlap) This item refines to either 50% recovery or 70% recovery. 50% Recovery turns to either 70% Recovery or 90% Recovery. 70% Recovery only improves to 90% recovery. 90% Recovery improves to either 100% recovery, or tacks on another 30% Recovery. It's probably not worth refining beyond 70%, however. Medicine Bottle >Poison immunity during battle (1) ] Team: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ] -30% Cost / 69(89)% Success ] Prices: 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 (all prices overlap) The effect of the medicine bottle lasts the entire duration of the fight you use it in, making it excellent for bosses that inflict status ailments. Each refinment adds an additional immunity, however the existing immunities stay, making it somewhat more difficult to obtain the latter immunities. The refinment proceeds as: Poison -> Paralysis -> Petrification -> Freezing -> Silence Might Tablets >20% ATK increase during battle (1) ] Team 1: Fayt, Nel, Cliff ] 0% Cost / 46(66)% Success ] Prices: {86 87 88 89 90} 91 92 93 94 95 {Braced items have overlap} The effect lasts for the entire battle. Refines to +40% increase. Excellent for bosses. Resurrection Elixir >Cures incap & restores up to 60% of HP/MP (2) ] Team 1: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 48(68)% Success ] Prices: 133 134 136 137 139 140 141 143 ]] Team 2: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ]] -30% Cost / 72(92)% ]] Prices: 91 92 93 94 95 97 98 101 104 ]]] Team 3: Fayt, Mirage, Louise ]]] -5% Cost / 153(173)% Success ]]] Prices: 126 127 129 130 132 133 134 136 139 Very good item to make, useful throughout the entire game. This item can refine to 90% restoration or even 100% restoration. Resurrection Mist >Cures incap & restores up to 30% of HP/MP (Pty) (2) ] Team 1: Fayt, Cliff, Nel ] 0% Cost / 40(60)% Success ] Prices: {200 202 204 206 208 210 212} 214 216 218 221 ]] Team 2: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ]] -30% Cost / 64(84)% Success ]] Prices: {137 139 141 143 145 147 149} 151 153 155 158 All prices overlap with Witch Tablets. Braced prices have an additional overlap. Handy item to have in the beginning ove the game. Loses its luster later when an identical item (Analeptic) is on sale. Can refine to 50% party recovery or 100% solo recovery. 50% Party recovery refines to 70% Party recovery or 100% Solo recovery. Witch Tablets >30% HP recovery (Whole party) (0) ] Team 1: Fayt, Maria, Milenya ] -30% Cost / 4(24)% Success ] Prices: {137 139 141 143 145 147 149} 151 153 155 158 ]] Team 2: Fayt, Mirage, Louise ]] -5% Cost / 85(105)% Success ]] Prices: 189 191 193 195 197 {200 202} 204 206 208 210 All prices overlap with Resurrection Mist. Braced prices have an additional overlap. Handy item, although a little too difficult to practically make early on, and a little lackluster (although not worthless) when it feasible to make them. Verdurous Potion - 100% HP recovery (0) ] Team: Louise, Mirage, Fayt (or Puffy) ] -5% Cost / 65(85)% Success ] Prices: 279 282 285 288 291 295 298 301 304 307 310 Very handy item to have (obviously). Once puffy joins your team, you can replace Fayt on the line for no change in cost, and lot of added skill and speed. Super Potion >Petrifies an enemy (2) ] Team: Adray, Mirage, Puffy ] +25% Cost / 88 (108)% Success ] Prices: 362 365 368 371 374 387 390 393 The team setup is for speed, not for skill. The super potion is not very 
useful for itself, but there are a few high HP enemies that can be petrified 
that are useful damage battle trophies and various experimentation.  In 
particular, the Red Dragons on Floors 208+ in Sphere 211 are particularly 
useful for this application.

Cinderella Tablets
>10% off shop prices (1)
] Team: Louise. Fayt, Mirage
] -5% Cost / 56(76)% Success
] Prices: 901 911 921 931 941 951 961 971 981 991 1001
Refines to 30% off, but is very expensive to do so.  These are only worthwhile 
if you're going to buy merchandise from Santa (who's wares cost in the 
millions) or if you have the urge to clear the inventor of some peddler.


Roe Tablets
>30 sec invincibility in battle (No attacks)
] Team: Fayt, Louise, Mirage
] -5% Cost / 56(76)% Success
] Prices: 2754 2785 2815 2846 2876 2907 2938 2968 2999 3029 3060 
Nothing else is remotely in this price range, so feel free to select any value 
over 2000.  These are not especially useful, but they can come in handy in the 
few situations where using a stun bomb isn't enough to prevent your untimely 
death. 


Endorphin Boost - Prices: 22 23
:Tears of Aphrodite - Prices: 33 34 35
::Pheramone Enhancer - Prices: 45 46 47 48 49
:::Tears of Venus - Prices: 70 71 72 73 74 75
::::Tears of Ishtar - Prices: 108 109 110 111 112
Note: The above items all use Fayt, Louise and Adray in the team and all have 
negligible difficulty.  They all serve the same purpose, to lessen the 
relationships between Fayt and other characters (in the interest of 
manipulating endings).

Molotov Stun Bomb-R1
>HP damage to enemy (1)
>Stuns enemy (0)
>Reduces DEF of enemy by 30% (0)
::Umai-bo Stun Bomb-R3
::>MP damage to enemy (1)
::>Stuns enemy (0)
::>Reduces DEF of enemy by 30% (0)
Team: Puffy, Louise, Mirage
-5% Cost / 142(162)% Success
Prices: 111 113 114 115 116 117 119 120 121
These powerful stun bombs can only be player made in the post game after 
recruiting Puffy.  If you are lucky, Puffy might patent some before you 
complete the game.

Durian Stun Bomb-R4
>MP damage to enemies (Huge area) (0)
>Stuns enemy (0)
>Reduces DEF of all enemies by 30% (0)
::Grabbag Stun Bomb-R2
::>HP damage to enemies (Huge area) (0)
::>Stuns enemy (0)
::>Reduces DEF of all enemies by 30% (0)
Team: Puffy, Louise, Mirage
-5% Cost / 142(162)% Success
Prices: 658 665 673 680 687 694 702 709 716 724 731
These powerful stun bombs can only be player made in the post game after
recruiting Puffy.  If you are lucky, Puffy might patent some before you 
complete the game.





Credits:
Thanks to Terrance of GameFAQs for telling me about the cost manipulation 
formula.
Thanks to Trepie for his awesome cost manipulation spreadsheet.
Information on where to find antique Jewelry is from vexis58's Kirlsa Cavern 
Hauler Guide.
Most Raw information related to item names, cost and difficulty come directly 
for Aiex's Item Creation FAQ.
Much of the math and paperwork were made easier using the Item creation
Calculator.
Most Factor information comes from DemonFayt's Item Refining FAQ.  


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Copyright 2005, 2006 Roger Pope