Breath of Fire III/Battle System

General Informations
In many areas of the game it is possible to encounter enemies and have to face random battles. When you meet an enemy, a ! will appear over the head of one or more of your characters. Breath of fire 3 has a turn-based combat system. At the beginning of each battle, the player selects a move for each character of the group from the appropriate menu that appears in the center of the screen. After selecting all the moves, the battle begins. The player-controlled characters and enemies make their moves in an order determined by the agility of each. When each character has made his moves, if there are still living enemies on the battlefield, you need to select the moves again from the appropriate menu. The fight continues until the enemies are defeated or until the group is knocked down (in this case it is game over). The battle menu commands are described below.

Battle Menu
ATTACK: the character attacks the selected enemy with his weapon. The damage done depends on the power of the weapon and the character's Power value.

DEFENSE: The character defends himself from the attack of enemies, reducing the damage in case he is hit.

SKILLS: The character can use various types of skills, such as attack spells, healing spells, special moves learned from enemies or Masters, etc.

ITEM: The character uses an item by taking it from the inventory. There are various types of items, with healing or attack powers.

EXAMINE: The character will examine the selected enemy. If this enemy uses a particular skill, the character will have a chance to learn this skill. There are very useful skills that can only be learned by examining enemies. Some enemy abilities, however, cannot be learned.

CHARGE: This command can be brought up by pressing the L1 button. The party will automatically attack enemies with physical attacks. The sequence can be stopped by pressing the triangle button.

ESCAPE: This command can be made to appear by pressing the R1 button. If you encounter an enemy that is too strong for you, you can use this command to attempt to escape the battle. However, it doesn't always work. Also, it is not possible to escape from boss battles.

Formation
The parameters of each character during the battle and the likelihood of being attacked also depend on the formation used. The formation in use can be changed from the appropriate Tacties section of the main menu. In this section it is possible to select a formation and assign a position to each character, among those in use. Using the most suitable formation and assigning the best position to each character is very important to easily overcome battles. There are six formations in all available in the game. The first three will be learned automatically, progressing in the adventure, while the other three must be learned by as many Masters. The data for each formation are shown below.

NORMAL FORMATION This formation does not benefit any member of the group and everyone has an equal chance of being attacked. To be used only at the beginning of the game, when there are no other formations available yet. After that, it is definitely worth using other better formations.
 * Position 1: no benefits. Chance of being attacked 33%
 * Position 2: no benefits. Chance of being attacked 33%
 * Position 3: no benefits. Chance of being attacked 33%

ATTACK FORMATION Probably the best formation in the game. The leading member of your party is drastically increased his attack power, even if his defense is slightly reduced and he will be more likely to be attacked. Then put a character with high attack and defense values in position 1 to optimize the effects (Ryu is fine) and equip him with a good armor.
 * Position 1: Power +70%; Defense -20%. Chance of being attacked 50%
 * Position 2: no benefits. Chance of being attacked 25%
 * Position 3: no benefits. Chance of being attacked 25%

DEFENSE FORMATION Another very useful formation, especially for overcoming the toughest battles. This formation allows you to discreetly increase the defense of all your characters, making them more resistant to enemy attacks. However, keep in mind that your agility will be significantly reduced and that enemies will therefore probably attack first.
 * Position 1: Defense +25%; Agility -33%. Chance of being attacked 33%
 * Position 2: Defense +25%; Agility -33%. Chance of being attacked 33%
 * Position 3: Defense +25%; Agility -33%. Chance of being attacked 33%

CHAIN FORMATION This formation can be taught to you by Bais (see the Masters section) and allows you to have the agility of the character in position 1 for the whole group, but at a very high price. Your defense is in fact halved. However, by placing a character with high agility in position 1, you may be able to defeat all enemies before being attacked, remaining unscathed. A formation that can give you a great advantage, but also risky.
 * Position 1: Defense -50%. Chance of being attacked 50%
 * Position 2: Defense -50%; same Agility of Position 1. Chance of being attacked 30%
 * Position 3: Defense -50%; same Agility of Position 1. Chance of being attacked 20%

MAGIC FORMATION Lee (see Masters section) can teach you this formation, in which the group member in position 3 is increased magical power and is also less likely to be attacked than the other two. Putting a character with high magical power like Nina in this position can produce good results. Obviously, however, the magical power of the other two members is reduced at the same time.
 * Position 1: Intelligence -25%. Chance of being attacked: 40%
 * Position 2: Intelligence -25%. Chance of being attacked: 40%
 * Position 3: Intelligence +50%. Chance of being attacked: 20%

REFUGE FORMATION You can learn this formation from Wynn (see Masters section). This formation is practically the same as the Normal one. The only difference is that the group member in position 1 is more likely to be attacked than the other two and that all three will recover 1 HP each turn. Definitely not very useful.
 * Position 1: Recovers 1 HP each turn. Chance of being attacked: 50%
 * Position 2: Recovers 1 HP each turn. Chance of being attacked: 25%
 * Position 3: Recovers 1 HP each turn. Chance of being attacked: 25%