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Collecting cats in Another Eden
The world is terrible, so I'm collecting cats in Another Eden. (Check out the cat menagerie on the wiki page.) Part of the fun of going through the story is collecting the cats in the world and seeing their little blurbs.
Cats are an integral part of the Another Eden world. Cats are literally the mechanic by which you are able to travel through time, so your party is always accompanied by a cat. Every day, the Post Cat delivers your login goodies. Learn to love the Post Cat:
As I'm advancing into the latter half of mid game, I have some further thoughts about the relative uses of the freebie units and how well they're able to handle what the game throws at them. So, blabbering time.
Yet another F2P guide to Another Eden
I see a lot of complaints about how the game's gacha mechanic is really shitty and how there isn't enough currency to give the users enough pulls to get the units they want. Or the complaint that there's no autoplay function so it requires too much attention and engagement for a phone game.
To these people, I say, please, find a different game. You're clearly not enjoying the actual gameplay.
Another Eden is a classic JRPG with gacha mechanics. The core engagement of this game is not the gacha, but the exploration, discovery, and team building. If all you want is the best SS-tier units to build a powerful team that can steamroll through the game, then please consider moving on.
With that in mind, let's talk team building.
Your party consists of 6 units: 4 frontline and 2 reserves. Rotation between the frontline and reserve units is one of the keys to success.
Your team of 6 need to fulfill the following roles:
Multi-hit skills during Another Force (AF) (preferably 2 units)
Nuke-skill during AF (preferably also multi-hit when possible)
AoE DPS skills during AF (at least 1 unit)
Low/0MP-cost AoE skills during random encounters
Debuff skills (PWR/INT/SPD down, Type/Resist down, Pain/Poison)
Buff skills (prioritize crit rate/damage up, attack buff, resist buff, stats buff in that order)
Survival skills (healing, regen, status (condition) removal, debuff clear)
Damage has two categories: element and attack type
Element includes: earth, water, fire, wind, shade, thunder, crystal, and neutral
Attack type includes: slash, pierce, blunt, and magic
Therefore, every attack is categorized as a combination of element-type; aka fire-slash, wind-pierce, neutral-magic, etc.
Some terminology that isn't quite the same as what other games call it:
Type-damage up (
) buffs all damage, including neutral damage, not just magical/elemental damageType-resist up (
) does not decrease neutral physical attacks; but it does resist neutral magic damagePhysical-resist up (
) reduces damage except magical damage regardless of elemental categorizationStatus refers to conditions like Pain (
), Poison (
), Regen (
) etc.; basically anything that has a purple box, whether it's beneficial or harmfulOnly debuff removing skills removes things that causes stats to go down; status clear does not affect buffs/debuffs, and vice versa
OK, so with those basics done, time to move onto talking about the freebie characters and how they build your team.
Early Game - Up to and including Chapter 13 ~ Level 30
In early game, as I've mentioned, you have a limited selection of units. So, I'm going to break down the units you will definitely have access to and how they build together.
Bivette
You can choose Bivette during the tutorial encounter. Definitely choose Bivette during the tutorial encounter. Because Bivette comes at 4-stars, that means you can unlock her skill board pretty far once you get to around level 30. Prioritize advancing the skill board towards the next skill, as once the character reaches max level, they will have enough points to fill everything later.
At level 10, you should have enough points to unlock Burn Lift, which will allow you to remove statuses (poison, pain, sleep, etc.). Remember that regen will get removed, too, and thus Bivette will need to reapply regen after removing the negative effects. Place Bivette at the left-most slot to allow her to go faster. Use Bivette's regen skill to keep Aldo (main character) alive in the chapter 1 boss encounter. After that, you'll get some help from Riica.
Bivette will be someone you lean on for all of early game, so keep her gear as upgraded as much as possible.
Aldo
You start the game with Aldo at 3-stars. During early game, it's not really worth grinding Another Dungeons (AD), so focus on getting Aldo as high level as possible. It's less important how you progress his board since his AP is going to outstrip his board capacity at 3-stars. General rule of thumb is focus on unlocking PWR stats.
Aldo's 2nd skill to unlock is Swift Cut, which deals -20% PWR to the enemy. Use this skill to keep the enemy debuffed at all times. If your free pulls were meh, Aldo will become your main damage dealer. If your free pulls gave you a 4-star attacking unit, prioritize that unit as your main damage dealer and relegate Aldo as your main debuffer. Otherwise, Aldo will need to be your main damage dealer until you can get access to better units.
Once you get to late-game stage, with the appropriate upgrades and full 255 light levels, Aldo will become a huge DPS monster. Don't neglect his growth.
Riica
Riica is the second guaranteed in-game character to join your team. She joins at 3-stars and has potential to get quite far, but overall not too worthwhile except for more niche uses. In early game, if your pulls are bad, she'll be your only healer until after Chapter 10. If you get a 4-star healer in your pulls (Krervo/Prai/Erina) or 4.5/5-star healer (Mariel et al.), pick them instead. If you don't have one, Riica will suffice until after Chapter 10.
Riica's first skill is Heal. Pretty straight forward, it restores HP. However, since the thing is dependent on INT, and her INT stat is actually fairly low, make sure to prioritize INT unlock on the skill board. Focus on getting her to cast Heal and focus on getting her Magic Attack up as high as possible to fuel Heal. Once you've beaten the Chapter 10 boss (Tower of Time), replace her with the freebie 4-star healer (dreams → regular, then the healer banner will be the first one).
Riica doesn't excel at anything and is easily replaced by later units. As such, unless you're doing a bonus boss that requires multi-type damage (in late game), you can leave her at 3-stars.
Amy
Amy is a fist-fighter that joins at 3-stars, leaves the team after finishing your 2nd boss, and doesn't rejoin until after you clear Chapter 13 and gain access to much better units. As such, for early and mid game, you can ignore Amy. She can become useful if you do get a unit that sets up blunt damage zone, however, so how much you want to invest in her really depends on what kind of units you pulled in gacha.
Early on, Amy is mostly good for buffing the team. Put her in the reserve slot, bring her forward on turn 1 and get a +10% PWR increase (after doing chapter 1 of her character quest). If you don't have any other 4-star units to fill out the team, use Amy. Otherwise, fill the slot with someone else.
Cyrus
Cyrus joins the party at 3-stars after you've defeat him. He's the fourth boss and difficult for Aldo due to his water nature. PWR debuff will be very important in this fight. However, once you recruit Cyrus, he'll grow to become a very powerful unit.
At the time of recruitment (level 20), he should have enough AP to unlock all three skills. His stun skill is good for buying your team some time, his damage is decent, and he has good speed, so he should be able to go first. Again, if you don't have better 4-star units, you'll be needing to rely on Cyrus to do the heavy lifting on damage. Aldo-Cyrus-Riica auto attacking and Bivette casting regen should get you through most regular mobs. With Aldo focused on debuffing, Bivette on regen/status clear, Riica on spike healing, and Cyrus on DPS, it should be enough to pull you through Chapter 10.
Hopefully, you'll have at least one non-Bivette 4-star from your pull to fill your team out until after Chapter 13.
Mid game - Chapter 14 to Chapter 25 ~ Level 60+
During this period, all the collabs and most side-stories open up. If you prioritize collab units, you will have a team that can clear pretty much everything up to end game, so I will focus on discussing how to build your (probably) first F2P max level team.
Joker
Joker joins as a 4-star guest when you get through chapter 1 of the Persona 5 #1 collab and joins permanently as a 5-star once you complete the boss. Joker is consistently under rated, but he will be the main carrier of your first max-level team.
Joker's VC allows him to deal AoE damage (L neutral-pierce). If he swaps in for another Persona collab unit, his damage increases by 50%. If he's wielding his personal weapon, that increases the L damage to XL (~50%). If he hits something weak to pierce damage, he'll hit twice, thanks to his passive skill One More. His main role will be clearing weak mobs on your way to the boss and not having to worry about mana sustainability.
Joker's Triple Shot (5-star skill) allows him to hit three times with guaranteed critical. If the monster is weak to piercing damage, he'll hit SIX times. This makes him a good AF extender.
Joker can also apply cheap AoE sleep effect to buy your team more time if needed through the Dream Needle skill. Or he can apply stun with neutral-magic damage skill Megidalaon. Or he can apply AoE fire-slash damage that hits twice against anything that's weak to fire or slash, further extending AF. While Joker is somewhat short on pure DPS, his support skills are not to be underestimated.
TL;DR — 0MP AoE (XL) neutral-pierce, AF extender, AoE neutral-magic nuke, stun/sleep applier
Morgana
Morgana joins your party as a 5-star guest during the Persona 5 #1 collab and joins permanently once you beat the boss. Morgana is a commonly used unit, even among paid units, because he offers some very good support roles.
Morgana, with his personal weapon, offer 1500HP flat-rate heal. Unlike other healers, his healing is not INT dependent, which means INT debuffs won't hurt his ability to keep healing the team. This is the main reason to use Morgana. (The other reason is that he's a sword wielding mage, so he can also fill in spots on a magic-based team if need be. His personal weapon gives him a substantial INT boost.)
He also carries a wind-blunt (XL) stun skill, a wind-magic (XL) AoE nuke skill, a -15% INT/PWR/SPD debuff skill, and wind-resist debuff skill. So, he carries some good support skills for a mixed or mono-wind team. He has good synergy with Yuri (Tales collab) as a support unit and good as a healing unit for basically any slash-focused team.
Yuri
As mentioned, Yuri is a Tales collab unit. He joins as a 4-star unit that can upgrade to 5-star once you beat his corresponding boss in the Citadel Ruins.
Yuri is a huge DPS unit that carries some support skills. His main DPS skill is Azure Wolf Strike. It hits 4-times (XL) wind-slash damage (x2 on single target, x2 on multi-target), serving as an AF extender and AoE nuke all in one skill. It also buffs Yuri's PWR/SPD (+30%), allowing him to hit even harder. Alternatively, you can use Lone Wolf Storm, which hits 4-times under AF (once outside of AF). Lone Wolf Storm boots the team's crit rate, effectively doubling the damage. Lone Wolf Storm may result in better damage if you don't have any other sources of crit buff, but if you have enough crit rate, switching to Azure Wolf Strike will give better returns.
In addition to DPS, Yuri has a fixed 1500HP heal (like Morgana) that increases Type-resistance (+25%) and a multi-hit skill that applies Pain, which can help buff Serge's DPS (see next section). Yuri's DPS also doesn't have as much ramp up time, so he can unleash powerful attacks turn 1 if needed. This makes him your main DPS unit with some flexible support skills and he always has a spot on any mono-wind or mono-slash team.
Serge
Serge joins the party as a 4-star guest unit that can upgrade to 5-star once you've collected 52.1k growth stars from the Chrono Cross collab (reward: Goddess of Destiny Tome). It's recommended that you run the Another Dungeon (AD) for Chrono Cross to collect the growth stars and grab the Goddess of Destiny tome and spend it on Serge first. (You can collect two more by hitting higher milestones.)
Serge is a magic-slash zone setter. This means all slash and magic type damage will gain a permanent 30% buff until the zone is overwritten by another unit. In addition, the element alignment of Serge's damage is dependent on the element orb he has slotted into his element equip (2 slots at level 30, 3 slots at level 60, and 4 slots at level 80). Elements are unique to Chrono Cross units, as they can use the skill associated with the element orb they've equipped.
As such, in addition to adjustable elemental damage, Serge can also use skills like Purify (removes status and buffs), Holy Wind (removes status and heals), and an assortment of buff/debuff skills to support the team in addition to his innate skill Light of Meditation. At 0 stacks of Power, Light of Meditation raises the party's max HP by 1000 and heals 1000HP. At 10 stacks of Power, Light of Meditation can raise max HP by 2500 and heals 2500HP. Power stacks are built up via attacking and using Light of Meditation.
Shining is a preemptive move that sets Pain on the enemy, and at 10 stacks of Power it can set Pain permanently for the duration of the fight. While it sounds pretty powerful, ramping up power stacks to 10 is pretty difficult when there's a bunch of other things Serge needs to focus on. However, in a drawn out fight, this can be very valuable.
Serge starts off slow, but ramps up in power as you get deeper into the battle. His DPS skill, Dash Cut: Heavens, deals AoE slash damage that changes its element alignment based on the element orb equipped in the first slot. Sky Arrow is a multi-hit skill that changes how many times it hits based on the number of stacks of Power, and changes its element based on the element orb equipped in the first slot, and gets extra damage bonus if the enemy has Pain status.
In short: depending on the number of power stacks and which elements you put on Serge, he can deal nuke AoE DPS, heal, debuff, buff, extend AF, cure status ailments, purge debuffs, apply pain. However, his skills can be costly, so you'll want him to conserve his resources until the boss fight.
Violet
Violet joins your party as a 5-star permanent unit once you complete Persona 5 #2 collab. Unlocking her requires a bit more work, but once you have her, she's another strong DPS/AF-extending unit with reliable support skills.
Violet's DPS skill, Combo Attack, hits multiple times for neutral-slash damage on each consecutive use (x2, x3, x4, x4, repeat). This is her AF extender and nuke skill. It will automatically change targets once her target is dead, allowing her to land the excess attacks on a new target. (Other's multi-hit will keep hitting the same target even if they're dead.) She also carries an earth-slash (XL) skill, Sword Dance, that triples damage on crit, which jives well with Yuri's crit rate increasing Lone Wolf Storm.
She also carries two major defensive support skills: Kouga, which deals neutral-magic damage and increases the party's physical resistance (+25%), and Brave Step, which raises party crit to 100% (1 turn) and reduces enemy intelligence (-25%). This means she carries both physical and magical defensive support skills, allowing the team to survive a bit longer.
Milla
Milla's joining is similar to Yuri's process; she joins as a 4-star guest, becomes permanent, then unlocks to 5-star after beating her corresponding boss in the Citadel Ruins.
Milla is a support heavy unit with a very context dependent DPS skill. Her Shimmer Spin - Blade Torrent - Cloud Pierce line of skills is a multi-hit attack (x2 neutral-slash) that also debuffs the enemy's type resistance (max 45%) has an added effect at the end of the turn. It deals additional magic damage based on the most used elemental damage by the party during the turn and debuffs the enemy's resistance to that element (-100%). If no elemental damage was most used (either everyone attacked with neutral, or elemental damage was equally split), then the skill deals neutral damage and heals the party (50% of max HP).
Milla's nuke DPS skill, Overdrive, is an AoE neutral-slash skill that increases in power based on the number of debuffs on the enemy. It also debuffs the enemy's INT (-15%) and buffs her PWR/SPD (+30%).
Finally, she also carries Binding Sphere, a debuff skill that reduces the enemy's PWR (-20%) and SPD (-30%) for 3 turns with a single cast. There's also Whirling Assault, which deals a multi-hit neutral-slash damage that lowers Physical resistance by 30%.
TL;DR — Milla can heal, extend AF, deal AoE, debuff all type resistance, and debuff PWR/INT/SPD. Her end-turn heal can make the difference between surviving a preemptive hit the next turn or party-wiping.
Kid (an alternative to Milla)
Kid, like Serge, can reach 5-stars with the Goddess of Destiny Tome. You'll get a second one when you grind to 88.6k+ growth stars. Because Kid can use element orbs, she also has a lot of flexibility, and you may consider going for Kid rather than Milla in the final set up.
Kid delivers higher DPS on a mono-fire team, as her Red Needle skill not only extends AF (multi-hit 3-5 times), but also debuffs enemy resistance to fire by 30% and increases party fire damage by 30%. However, on mono-slash team made up of predominantly freebie units, Kid's skill can only buff herself and Aldo. Her nuke skill, Heat Shot, deals increased damage based on the stacks of Power she built up and reduces physical resistance (-30%).
In addition, Kid can also deliver utility with her steal line (Steal - X-Steal - Z-Steal). Z-Steal simultaneous lowers enemy PWR/INT/SPD (-20%) and boost party PWR/INT/SPD (+20%), which increases in percentage based on her stacks of Power (maxing out a 50%). The steal skills also has a chance of stealing very rare items such as chant/prayer scripts and high selling money items (100k). Add in the skills from elemental orbs (Purify, Healing Wind, Holy Wind, etc.), and Kid can pinch-hit for any number of additional support skills (resistance buff, status clear, healing, regen) depending on the party's needs.
The 7 units listed above should be your focus (choose one of Milla or Kid for the 6th party member). This is a team that can carry you through most of mid game and well into late game. Unless you hit a boss that's immune to slash damage, you basically have a team that can deal with anything.
Additional considerations:
Aldo
Like I've said, Aldo becomes a crazy powerful DPS unit towards end game. Kid supports him well, so if you choose Kid, then definitely put effort into getting Aldo to max light levels.
Cyrus
Cyrus is a serious consideration for bosses that absorb/nullifies fire damage. Milla's all type boost can still benefit Cyrus, which is why I personally prefer Milla's versatility over Kid's higher DPS output. However, you could always give up Kid's native skills and use purely element skills to deal with the fire absorb/nullification. (To be fair, Yuri is also pretty screwed on a wind nullification boss, but Yuri's 1500HP flat heal is better than anything the elemental orb skills offers healing wise.)
Deirdre
Deirdre is basically an earth element version of Yuri, but without the 1500HP flat heal skill and crit bonus. Good for dealing with Fire bosses, as she doesn't have the fire weakness that Yuri has.
Cress
Cress is a very good slash unit and also sets the slash zone. He's a bit redundant with Serge, but he and Serge can switch off to up-keep slash zone 100% in case you go up against a boss that resets the zone. Although Cress has fire-slash damage, his best damage comes from neutral-slash damage. Coil is a strong skill that gives +20% max HP and physical resistance to help the team's survival. However, Cress also easily triggers Overlimit under AF, which is a long animation for not enough justified damage.
Velvet
Velvet is a pretty good earth unit, but she also offers the least to the team. She mostly offers a good AF extension and gives herself high buffs. She, Deirdre, Violet, and Serge can make a pretty good mono-earth slash team.
Late to end game - After Chapter 25 ~ Level 80
Once you've created a versatile slash set up with the previously mentioned units, it's time to focus on other types of damage for when slash damage is nullified or when a boss changes damage immunity based on remaining HP.
Sheila AS
Sheila is a 4-star unit that upgrades to 5-stars after completing Ocean Palace #2 side-story. Sheila sets piercing zone, which gives the party +30% permanent buff to piercing damage. Her 5-star form also has a passive skill that boosts max HP and restores 10% of max HP for each piercing skill used (for a max of 40%). If you do not have luck with piercing units, she will be extremely important for getting around slash nullification.
Cerrine
Cerrine joins your party after you defeat her 5 times. She's an earth-piercing unit that uses gloves (gloves normally deals blunt damage). She doesn't have any AF extending moves until she equips her manifest weapon.
Jade
Jade joins your party after you finish the IDA school #1 side quests and upgrades to 5-star with another sidequest. He is a fire-piercing unit that has AF extending attacks which also debuffs enemy power. He can fit reasonably well into a piercing team. He has fire element damage, but there are much more versatile freebie fire units.
Mana
Mana joins your team as a 5-star unit after completing IDA school #3 side quest. She's ostensibly a piercing unit, but is actually mostly coveted for one reason: She restores MP. Her VC reduces MP consumption for the entire party by 90% for one turn and her Monstro skill restores 10MP to the party at the cost of 25MP for her. However, this MP restore is outpaced by Chrono Cross units' Recharge element skill, which replenishes 15MP for 15MP, effectively allowing the battery to go on forever. In other words, unless you absolutely need a piercing unit, go with Harle or Kid running Recharge instead.
She can also remove all buffs from the enemy at the cost of also removing debuffs and then adds -25% type resistance at the end.
Harle
Harle is the last of Chrono Cross collab units. Same as the others, you can unlock her 5-star form with a Goddess of Destiny Tome. You can get a third one by reaching 130k growth stars.
Harle offers much needed versatility, as not only is she a substantial fire/shadow mage, she also can offer healing, regen, status cure, and debuff purge. She, Kid, and Serge can carry all the needs of a mono-fire team.
Bivette
Remember Bivette from early game? Don't forget to come back and get her 5-star form. She carries a substantial fire-magic nuke damage that can also extend AF. She gives high regen (XL) and can cure status. Plus she buffs physical resistance by 35%. And her personal weapon from the cat battle sidequest gives her permanent HP regen.
Gariyu AS
Gariyu is a 4-star unit that gains a 5-star form after completing a sidequest boss battle. As a 5-star unit, Gariyu can establish a fire-zone, which boosts damage of all fire-element attacks by 50%. His passive skill also buffs the party's damage buff up to 80% if everyone uses a fire-element attack. Finally, he can extend AF with a magic attack that hits 3 times and boosts INT in the same move. Gariyu, Aldo, Serge, and Kid synergizes into an absolute nuke monster as long as the enemy doesn't nullify fire damage. Bring in Harle and Bivette as backup, and you've got a complete mono-fire team.
And that ends the F2P team building blathering. There are other units, but those are the ones most of interest and will probably offer the most comprehensive coverage of all the things you need the party to be able to pull off in a boss battle. As you can see, you never even have to touch the gacha to have all the tools you need to finish the game. So, think of the gacha as a bonus lottery, but focus on upgrading your F2P units and making them your main team instead.