LogFAQs > #957879282

_stingers_ posted...

Yeah I remember making that complaint in CS1. Also that there isn't any actual reason that I can determine to have different lines in the grid. Since they aren't used to determine arts anymore they are just...there

Oh, missed this at first glance.

While they're less obviously important than they were previously because of this they do still serve two functions.

First, the amount of EP the character gains from unlocking/upgrading a slot increases the further it is from the center on a line. So a character with a single straight line will be getting more EP added to their total than someone with three shorter lines. (This is why Emma will have a higher total EP than Machias even after factoring out MQ bonuses and the like)

Second, status effect quartz. They're limited to one per line which means a character with a single line could only equip a single one. Meanwhile, a character who has three or four shorter lines could load up on say, Deathblow, Petrify, Faint, and Freeze so each attack/craft has a chance of triggering any of those.

So it's somewhat of an inversion of Sky where having a single line was just pretty much always superior, in Cold Steel there is something of a tradeoff where a Caster still wants that for the increased EP gains, a physical type generally benefits more from multiple lines if they want to stack up quartz like that.

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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?