Basic Guide

There exists plenty of detailed information on the various pages in the Wiki, but this page provides a general overview useful for beginners and those unfamiliar with the game. If you have suggestions on how this guide may be improved, please leave a comment on this page.

## Getting started

For the recommended experience, register an account and play the Tutorial before starting anything else:

1. Select "Network" from the Main Menu.
2. Select "Register".
3. Fill in your username, email address and password.
4. Select "Create Account".
5. Check your email and verify your account.
6. The Tutorial will introduce the basic game mechanics, and will automatically play when first entering Music Play. To replay the Tutorial, go to the Main Menu and select "More" > "Tutorial".

## Modes

There are 4 main modes in the game. All except Music Play are only available when logged in.

### Music Play

The basic mode. In this mode:

* The Tutorial is automatically triggered on the first time.
* Songs can be played without any limit or restriction.
* Playing songs earns Fragments (in-game currency used to unlock new songs).

There are three main difficulties in Arcaea: Past, Present and Future (similar to Easy, Normal and Hard in other games). Past is selected by default. Some songs have a fourth challenge difficulty, Beyond, which is generally unlocked through World Mode's Lost Chapter.

Songs are divided into song packs. The current song pack is displayed near the top-middle area of the song selection screen. Selecting the current song pack brings up the pack selection screen, from where you can choose another pack to view or view all songs.

Certain songs are locked (darkened song covers). Selecting these songs brings up their unlock requirements.
Some songs' requirements involve spending fragments, or playing or successfully clearing other free songs.
Songs in Arcaea are all free to play, sometimes with additional fragment, clear, or World Mode requirements.
World Extend songs can be unlocked for free through limited time events in World Mode, but can be purchased with Memories if any events have been missed.
Other songs must be purchased with Memories. Songs in Memory Archive can be purchased individually, but all other packs must be purchased as a pack.
There are also certain hidden songs with secret unlock conditions that come with certain packs.

### World Mode

*Main article: World Mode*

The exploration mode, consisting of a series of maps that contain new songs and other content.
A number of these maps are free to play.
In this mode:

* Playing songs earns Steps to progress through maps, plus Fragments.
	+ Progressing far enough through maps grants new songs, fragments, or other rewards.
* Playing songs in this mode consumes 2 stamina per play. Stamina recharges over time (1 stamina every 30 mins), but may be refilled with fragments.
	+ Certain maps called Legacy maps (many of which are free to play) only cost 1 stamina per song play. In these maps, extra stamina or fragments can be spent to boost map progress to access their rewards faster.
* Partners with a high STEP stat progress through maps faster. Playing songs in World Mode also gives the equipped Partner EXP, which is used to level them up.
* Certain maps require song or song pack purchases.
	+ Rewards in these maps include new songs, Partners, and Cores (which are used to Awaken Partners).
* Certain maps (in the Event Chapter) are only playable for a limited time. These are announced in advance on the official Twitter.
	+ Some of these maps contain new songs for the World Extend pack, and are playable for free by all players.
	+ Others require song or song pack purchases to access.
* Lost Chapter: Beyond has its own unique mechanics.
	+ This Chapter is only accessible to players with a Potential of at least 9.00, and will not be accessible during the early-game.
	+ Maps in this chapter unlock bonus Beyond difficulties for existing songs. A number of these are free to play.
	+ In this Chapter, Partners with a high OVER stat progress through maps faster.
	+ Maps also have certain Partner Affinities, and boost map progress when using certain Partners.

### Course Mode

*Main article: Course Mode*

This mode contains a series of courses with 4 charts each.
Completing courses grants various rewards, including fragments and new user nameplates.
Courses can be played by consuming 4 stamina, or 1 Warped Shard (which are a limited resource that can be obtained via World Mode maps, several of which are free).
Some courses contain charts from paid songs, and can normally only be played by purchasing the songs.
These courses can be played for free by consuming a Warped Shard.

### Story Mode

*Main article: Story*

This contains Arcaea's various stories.
These all come with particular song packs or songs, and must be bought with Memories.

* The Main Story packs include Hikari and Tairitsu's main story.
* The Side Story packs include stories for various side story Partners.
* Short Stories can be unlocked and read with certain Memory Archive single song purchases.

## Memories

*Main article: Currency § Memories*

Memories are Arcaea's premium currency, and must be bought to access the following:

* All songs outside the Arcaea and World Extend packs (or to buy previous World Extend songs that were missed out on)
	+ Songs in Memory Archive cost 100 Memories each. Song packs average out to 100 memories or fewer per song.
* Partners other than Hikari and Tairitsu
* All Stories

Memories can be bought in-game or via the Arcaea website.
100 Memories are typically gifted to players who log in on January 1 each year.
Sales on songs and song packs are also held each year in March, around the time of Arcaea's anniversaries.

## Fragments

*Main article: Currency § Fragments*

Fragments are a free in-game currency, earned for playing songs in Music Play or World Mode, or as World Mode map rewards.
Fragments have several uses:

* Unlock songs with a Fragment requirement (after completing other song requirements).
* World Mode:
	+ Unlock certain maps.
	+ Refill 6 stamina (24 hour cool-down).
	+ Boost progress in Legacy and Lost Chapter maps.
* Extend your available friend slots.

Note that fragments cannot be used to buy premium songs or song packs.

## Partners

*Main article: Partners*

Arcaea has various selectable Partners with different stats and skills that affect gameplay and progression.
The Partner select screen is accessible by selecting the character icon on the middle of the top bar. The equipped Partners can be changed here.

Partners have 3 stats: FRAG, STEP and OVER.
These stats can be improved by levelling them up with EXP.
EXP is earned for the selected partner when playing songs in World Mode.
The three stats work as follows:

* FRAG affects the amount of Fragments earned after playing songs.
	+ Partners with high FRAG will earn more Fragments.
* STEP affects the map progress earned after playing songs in World Mode (except in Lost Chapter: Beyond).
	+ Partners with high STEP will progress through World Mode maps faster.
* OVER affects the map progress earned after playing songs in World Mode's Lost Chapter: Beyond.
	+ Map progress in the Beyond Chapter depends on both OVER and Partner Affinities (see Partner Affinity). Different maps have an Affinity for different Partners (Partners with no map Affinity default to x1 Affinity). In general, Partners with a high product of Affinity x OVER will progress through Beyond Chapter maps faster.

Most partners also have skills. Some ease gameplay, some enforce challenges, and some cause aesthetic changes.
Partners with more challenging skills typically have better stats.

By default, players start with 2 partners, Hikari and Tairitsu.
Hikari's skill makes it easier to clear songs, and is useful for achieving clear requirements for other songs.
Tairitsu has no skills, but has higher stats than Hikari, and earns more fragments and progresses through World Mode faster.

Certain other partners are available by purchasing song packs, and most of them need to be unlocked in World Mode.
Some of these are only available through limited-time World Mode event maps.

## Potential

*Main article: Potential*

Potential is a measure of a player's best and recent performances. Most game features do not depend on Potential, except for World Mode Lost Chapter: Beyond and certain paid high level boss songs. Plays in both Music Play and World Mode affect players' Potential, with some exceptions. See the main article for more details.

## Network

*Main article: Network*

Unlocking most free content and all paid content requires players to make an account.
It is advisable to remain logged in to allow save data to be synchronized across your devices.

In order to prevent your high scores from being lost, it is also advisable to select the "Sync" button at the top-left corner of the result summary screen whenever achieving a new high score. This uploads your high scores to the Cloud, which may be downloaded onto other devices. If you miss it by accident, you may manually sync your scores by selecting "Cloud Sync" from the Network sub-menu.