Silva Saga II
Mercenary, Idol, and Spell Guide
Written by lesterklarth
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* Version History *
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Feb. 2, 2012: First release.
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* Table of Contents *
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1. Introduction
2. Mercenaries
3. Mercenary Battle Strategy
4. Idols
5. Idol Battle Strategy
6. Idol Spells
7. Idol Combinations
8. Idol Combination Strategy
9. Spell Effects
10. Weapon Spells
11. Acknowledgements
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* 1. Introduction *
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Silva Saga II features an intuitive three-party system. Battles begin with
your hero's main party at the helm, but you may elect to swap them out for a
team of physically-oriented mercenaries or spell-based idols.
Both mercenaries and idols fight automatically but fully restore their HP, MP,
and status after every encounter, making them ideal for clearing out random
battles with little danger to your party. Understanding the strengths and
weaknesses of your ancillary parties will help you decide the best course of
action in developing and deploying them.
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* 2. Mercenaries *
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The physical powerhouses of Silva Saga II, mercenaries are available from the
start of the game. Several towns include a Mercenary Guild from which you
are able to hire and organize up to twelve mercenaries (but only four can be
in your party at any given time).
Mercenaries come with a variety of names and battle portraits, and each
Mercenary Guild you encounter features progressively higher-level hirelings.
The location and starting level will have no bearing on their stat growths;
the only stat-based difference between mercenaries comes from their gender.
Male mercenaries will have slightly higher HP and STR, whereas female
mercenaries will have slightly higher DEF, AGL, and LCK.
Regardless of this minor difference, all mercenaries will prove strong and
hardy, surpassing your main party members in physical offense and defense for
most of the game. You are able to equip them with most heavy weapons and
armor.
Mercenaries that die in battle vanish from your party. Their equipment and
earned experience will be lost. The mercenaries themselves are not gone
forever--you may rehire them from their original Mercenary Guild at their
initial level.
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* 3. Mercenary Battle Strategy *
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Capable of physical attacks only, your mercenaries will select enemy targets
at random and deliver solid, single-target hits. Because you have no means by
which you can assist, cure, or heal them within battle, be mindful of their
HP. Once a mercenary drops low, switch to a different party.
Mercenaries turned to stone at the end of a battle will have their status
restored to normal, but they will miss out on that fight's experience.
You may be tempted to give all the experience to your mercenaries and allow
them to steamroll encounters, but you will be leaving your main party
vulnerable to surprise attacks. When surprised, you won't be able to swap
parties until the end of the enemy's first turn. The lower your level in
comparison to the enemy, the greater the chance of being surprised. Even
bosses have a chance to open with a surprise attack! The danger lies in the
fact that your game will end as soon as your hero reaches zero HP.
Balance the distribution of experience between your parties. As your
mercenaries are approaching the end of a fight, swap to another team and allow
them to administer the final blow to give them the experience instead.
Do not be afraid to use mercenaries against bosses. Even if your mercenaries
won't be able to take the fight all the way, deploy them at the start to
soften up the enemy.
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* 4. Idols *
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Idols are the magical to the mercenaries' physical. As you adventure through
Silva Saga II, you will discover idols (most often in treasure chests). Just
as how mercenaries are managed through the Mercenary Guilds, idols are managed
through the Magic Guilds found in each town. In addition to saving your game,
the guild mage lets you revive, combine, and organize idols.
All idols in the game have the same stat growths; at equal level, you will
notice only minor differences in each stat. With somewhat low HP and DEF,
they will be more fragile than your mercenaries. The HP and DEF gap between
mercenaries and idols becomes smaller as they reach high levels, but they will
always remain a step behind defensively.
Instead of gearing up with weapons and armor, idols can be combined to yield a
new idol with new spells. The two idols used in the combination are forever
lost, and there are no duplicate idols, so choose carefully. The resulting
idol's level is roughly equal to (FirstIdolLevel + SecondIdolLevel) / 8.
Consult the combination list and spell list to get the most out of your idols.
Idols that lose all of their HP will become "damaged," unable to fight until
they are restored at a Magic Guild for a fee.
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* 5. Idol Battle Strategy *
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Similar to mercenaries, idols will select enemy targets at random and unleash
a spell. You cannot heal idols in mid-battle, so switch to another party when
an idol gets low on HP to avoid a trip to the Magic Guild.
There is no stat that reduces damage taken from spells; the damage inflicted
by a Basir spell on one enemy will be the same on the next. This allows idols
to perform well offensively even against enemies with high DEF. Overall
spell damage (for both idols and your hero's party members) is very slightly
increased with each level gained, and is not tied to any particular stat.
Some enemies have a resistance or immunity to one or more elements. Elemental
resistance grants a chance to nullify spells of that element (in addition to
the standard chance to outright dodge attacks). Elemental immunity will
always nullify the spell. Idols can detect immunities; left with no other
options, an idol will rely on its weak physical attack.
Idols seem to have a slight resistance to spells in general, granting them an
additional chance to nullify elemental attacks. They are immune to
stun/petrification.
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* 6. Idol Spells *
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Soil: Basil
Star: Whirlwind
Lake: Calm
Lore: Meta Pozo
Fire: Fabol
Skye: Basir
Wind: Meta Basil
Dark: Fabor
Soul: Tornado
Feat: Tornado
Love: Fabor
Fall: Basir, Calm
Vann: Basil, Pozo
Guye: Fabol, Pozo
Roda: Basil, Calm
Wolf: Fabol, Basil
Doll: Whirlwind, Tornado
Deli: Basir, Tornado
Rage: Whirlwind, Meta Pozo
Void: Pozo
Kali: Whirlwind, Fabor, Tornado, Meta Calm
Siva: Basil, Fabor, Tornado, Meta Fabor
Toto: Fabol, Basil, Fabor, Meta Stun
Harn: Basil, Fabol, Basir, Fabor, Typhoon, Calm, Stun, Meta Stun
Janu: Basil, Fabor, Meta Basil, Pozo
Yarn: Basir, Fabor, Calm, Stun
Gale: Meta Basil, Meta Fabor, Meta Pozo, Tornado, Calm
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* 7. Idol Combinations *
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- Basic Combinations -
Fall = Soil + (Fire, Skye, or Star)
Vann = Soil + (Wind, Lake, or Lore)
Guye = Star + (Soul, Wind, or Lore)
Roda = Lake + (Fire, Skye, or Star)
Wolf = Lake + (Soul, Wind, or Lore)
Doll = Lore + (Soul, Dark, or Skye)
Deli = Fire + (Soul, Skye, or Lore)
Rage = Wind + (Dark, Fire, or Skye)
Void = any two incompatible idols
- Advanced Combinations* -
Kali = Guye + Deli
Siva = Soil + Dark or Doll + Rage
Toto = Doll + Fall
Harn = Fall + Wolf
Janu = Rage + Roda or Vann + Dark
Yarn = Love + Feat or Deli + Fall
*The idols yielded from an advanced combination cannot be combined any
further.
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* 8. Idol Combination Strategy *
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In order to understand the best way to combine idols, it is important to
understand how the idol AI works.
Idols will select a spell at random from their list of known spells. If an
enemy is completely immune to a particular spell effect, associated spells
will not cast any Fabol-based spells. Likewise, against an enemy immune to
(or already inflicted by) poison, an idol will not cast any Pozo spells.
This spell exclusion works with immunities only. If an enemy is merely
resistant, your idols will still try the spell.
With this in mind, consider idols that have a high chance of casting desired
spells. The two basic idols, Soul and Feat, know only one spell: Tornado.
This spell is the strongest single-target spell you can access, and these
idols will cast it 100% of the time. Now consider the final form idols like
Harn, Kali, Siva, and Yarn. These idols learn a variety of spells, but they
will most often select a spell that is not as worthwhile as Tornado.
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* 9. Spell Effects *
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- Restorative and Defensive Spells -
Stat-boosting spells stack with stat-boosting items (Power Dust, Prayer Dust,
etc.).
Mez: Heals one ally for 25% of maximum HP.
Meta Mez: Heals everyone for 25% of maximum HP.
Mezl: Heals one ally for 50% of maximum HP.
Meta Mezl: Heals everyone for 50% of maximum HP.
Meza: Heals one ally for 100% of maximum HP.
Meta Meza: Heals everyone for 100% of maximum HP.
Rip: Cures one ally of poison.
Meta Rip: Cures everyone of poison.
Remed: Cures one ally of sleep.
Meta Remed: Cures everyone of sleep.
Harn: Revives one ally, bringing them back to life with full HP.
Litam: Temporarily boosts one ally's physical damage.
Poan: Temporarily increases one ally's chance to dodge physical attacks.
Meta Poan: Temporarily increases everyone's chance to dodge physical attacks.
Mahal: Temporarily increases one ally's chance to dodge spells.
Meta Mahal: Temporarily increases everyone's chance to dodge spells.
- Offensive Spells -
Relative spell strength (single-target): Tornado > Typhoon > Fabor > Basir
Basil: Deals weak lightning damage to one enemy.
Meta Basil: Deals medium lightning damage to all enemies.
Basir: Deals strong lightning damage to one enemy.
Fabol: Deals weak fire damage to one enemy.
Meta Fabor: Deals medium fire damage to all enemies.
Fabor: Deals strong fire damage to one enemy.
Whirlwind: Deals weak wind damage to one enemy.
Tornado: Deals strong wind damage to one enemy.
Typhoon: Deals strong non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Pozo: Poisons one enemy (works on bosses).
Meta Pozo: Poisons all enemies (works on bosses).
Calm: Puts one enemy to sleep.
Meta Calm: Puts all enemies to sleep.
Stun: Petrifies one enemy.
Meta Stun: Petrifies all enemies.
- Miscellaneous Spells -
Popoi: Escapes combat.
Stator: Temporarily increases running speed and disables random encounters.
Tusk: Exits the current dungeon.
Lamun: Teleports the party to a previously-visited town or dungeon.
Call: Allows you to save your game out in the field.
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* 10. Weapon Spells *
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Some special weapons can be used as items during combat to evoke a particular
effect. The weapon is not consumed in the process. It does not need to be
equipped; if equipped, only the party member wearing it may use it.
Sun Axe*: A non-elemental, single target attack for roughly 70-80 damage
Mirror Sword*: A non-elemental, single-target attack for roughly 30-55 damage
Harn Sword: Meta Mezl
Manus Staff: Meta Rip
Delito Sword: Meta Poan
Gura Sword: Meta Mahal
*Despite the spell graphics used, these weapons are not casting the elemental
spells Fabor and Basir.
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* 11. Acknowledgements *
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Many thanks to the Dynamic Designs team for their excellent work in releasing
the English patch to Silva Saga II. Due to their efforts, many more people
are now able to enjoy this fantastic game!