Chains

The **Chains** are an abstraction of the limitations placed on the Protagonist's heart. They create restrictions on the player's party and drive the Protagonist to collect the Ancient Artifacts.

## Story

In the Prologue, the Protagonist has an adverse reaction to the first battle with Yorick, causing an intense pain in their chest and restricting their breathing.

Later, in Chapter 1, Elder Matthias informs the Protagonist that there are "chains" on their heart. They are not literal chains, but a kind of biological mechanism that seals off the Protagoinst's full potential. It is unknown why there are there or where they came from.

According to Matthias, the only way to remove these chains is to use the power of the seven Ancient Artifacts. With this, the Protagonist sets off to save themselves from the curse.

There are multiple moments where the panic and anxiety of the Protagonist causes a reaction with the chains, meaning that emotional outbreaks might endanger their health.

At the end of Chapter 1, the Protagonist obtains the first artifact, the War God's Hammer, which shatters the first of the chains.

## Description

The chains are represented by dark chains bearing heavy locks. The true nature of these chains is unknown, however.

### Effects

The chains restrict the natural potential of the Protagonist, and inhibit the growth of their Pokémon. This causes two main issues:

#### Level Cap

The player has the maximum level of the Pokémon in their party limited based on the number of chains remaining. The level cap starts at 20, then increases by 10 with each Artifact obtained. It essentially follows this formula:

```
Max Level = 10 * Number of Artifacts Obtained + 20

```

Pokémon in the party at or above the level cap will not gain experience in battle (akin to being at level 100).

Additionally, the player may have in their party any Pokémon that is fewer 10 levels above the level cap (i.e. by catching a wild Pokémon above the limit), however any Pokémon that are 10 or more levels above this limit are ejected from the player's party and sent to the PC and cannot be added to the party until the level cap is raised.

#### Party Cap

In addition to the level cap, the player also has their party size capped relative to the number of artifacts obtained. Every 2 artifacts obtained by the player will raise the party cap by 1. It essentially follows this formula:

```
Max Party Size = 3 + Floor(Number of Artifacts Obtained / 2)

```

Where Floor() rounds the number inside down to the nearest integer. The max party size can also never be higher than 6.

These effects exist to counter the practice of "grinding" or "power leveling," in which the player repeatedly fights easy enemies for a long period of time to artificially increase the levels of their team. Since this tactic requires no strategy, only mindless repetition, the level and party caps require the player to increase the ability of their team through strategy and planning instead of just cheesing the experience system. This also reassures the player that while they may seem underpowered, they are in fact perfectly prepared to deal with all the game's challenges.

## Trivia

* The appearance of the chains draws inspiration from the Psyche-Locks from the Ace Attorney series.