Combat

The **Combat System** in *Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood* is both similar and differing from that of traditional RPGs. It operates on a turn-based structure much akin to games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Mother series. Where it differs from the contemporary relies in how the system tries to emulate the speed of the Sonic franchise.

The objective of Combat is to lower the enemy's (or enemies') Health Points to zero while avoiding the same for the Player's own characters. Defeating enemies results in the player being rewarded with Experience Points which allows the player characters to level up, becoming stronger and allowing them to have an easier time taking on stronger enemies.

## Stats

Each character, both friend and foe, has several Statistic Values that determine how they behave in battle. Said stats consist of the following:

* **Health Points (HP)** - The health of the character. Once lowered to zero, the character will be knocked out and unable to act unless revived by another member. The sole exception to this rule is the Swatbot series of enemies, which auto-revive unless all other enemies are knocked out as well. The battle is won when all enemies have their HP lowered to zero, and is lost if the same occurs to the player's entire Party. HP can be restored through various means, primarily through the use of the Health Plant series of items.
* **POW Points (PP)** - Points needed to perform POW Moves. POW Moves require a specific amount of PP in order to be used. If the character lacks the funds to use a move, they simply won't be able to use it. PP can be restored via a number of means, including supportive POW Moves, as well as the POW Sweets series of items.
* **Speed (Spd)** - Decides the turn order of the player characters and enemies in a round. The character with the highest speed stat will attack first, while the lowest will attack last. so much as a single point of difference between two characters' speed stats will put one in front of the other. Speed can be temporarily increased via the usage of certain Chao, pieces of Equipment, or consumable items. The status effects, Hyper and Sluggish will boost and reduce Speed respectively for several turns. Speed is one of four stats that can be leveled manually with bonus points after leveling up.
* **Attack (Atk) [Accuracy]** - The Attack stat determines the likelihood that the character's attacks will land on enemies. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, most POW Moves do not factor in Attack. Attack can be raised via the use of Chao, Equipment, or consumables. The status effects, Focused and Distracted will boost and lower the Attack stat respectively for several turns. Attack is one of four stats that can be manually leveled using bonus points after leveling up.
* **Defense (Def) [Evasion]** - Determines the likelihood that incoming attacks will be dodged. Unless stated otherwise, this does not effect POW Moves. Defense can be boosted via the use of Chao, Equipment or consumables. The status effects, Hyper and Sluggish, in addition to boosting and reducing speed, also do the same for Defense, respectively. Defense is one of four stats that can be manually leveled with bonus points after leveling up.
* **Luck (Lck)** - Increases the chance of critical attacks which do increased damage. Luck can be increased by using Chao, Equipment, or consumables. The status effects, Lucky and Cursed will boost and lower Luck respectively for several turns. Luck is one of for stats that can be manually leveled with bonus points after leveling up.
* **Damage (Dmg) [Attack]** - Damage controls the amount of base damage the character does to the opponent's HP. Damage can be boosted via the use of Chao, Equipment, and consumables. The status effects, Empowered and Weakened will boost and lower Damage respectively for several turns.
* **Armor (Arm) [Defense]** - Armor will determine how much damage will be received from incoming attacks. Armor can be boosted by using Chao, Equipment, and consumables. The status effects, Fortified and Vulnerable will boost and lower Armor respectively for several turns.

## Turn-Based Combat

The actual combat of the game functions on a turn-based system, much like standard RPGs. Players decide what each member of their party does during the coming turn and they will either watch things play out, or participate in Action Commands to increase the effectiveness of certain abilities. The goal is to strategize a 'game plan' that will reduce the enemy's (or enemies') HP to zero without succumbing to the same fate.

### Character Types and Priority

There are three Types (or Classes) or characters in the original game as well as four in the remaster:

* **Power** - Characters with this class are very offensively-oriented, with most of their POW Moves dealing damage, with potential secondary status effects. The majority of characters are Power-type.
* **Shifter** - These characters are a hybrid of Power and Support, they are designed to be versatile in a limited fashion, or in other words, able to *shift* between offense and support. They tend to have a large variety of Utility-based POW Moves that range from friendly Buffs, to OHKO attacks on specific enemies.
	+ **Technique** - Technique is the working replacement title for the Shifter character type. It will be functionally the same, just with a more intuitive name.
* **Support** - These guys are fairly lacking in offensive abilities. All of their POW Moves focus on maintaining the HP and status of their teammates, with occasional Debuffs that can be used on enemies.
* **Tank** - New to the remaster, Tank-Type characters specialize in taking the heat off of the rest of the team. They have extraordinarily high damage output, but are the slowest characters in the game. When on the field, they attract the attention of enemies.

Choosing a proper combination of character types is crucial to take on some of the game's stronger fights.

In addition to character types, there is also an unseen system we'll call Priority. Each character has a Priority Value (PV) from one to three. Priority decides how many times a character will perform an action during a turn. Characters like Sonic, who have a Priority Value of 3 will act three times during the turn, whereas characters like Big, with a PV of 1, will only be able to perform one action over the course of the turn. Character actions are mostly straight-forward, with Standard Attacks, POW Moves, Defending, and using an Item all taking up an action slot. Worth noting is that POW moves which involve multiple characters take action slots for all characters involved.

The second option allows the player to select and perform POW moves from a submenu- powerful attacks which consumes a set amount of PP Points depending on the move. The player would be required to tap the screen when inputs appear; mistakes can either lessen the impact of these attacks or result in failure when using status POW moves. These inputs can vary between tapping circles as a larger circle closes in, tapping a large circle a set amount of times or by holding a circle that travels across a line without letting go. Most POW moves require a single party member but some can involve multiple- in this instance every party member will lose the allotted PP Point cost and every party member will require a free move in that round to be able to perform it.

POW moves can have varying effects aside from inflicting damage. For example, Tails' Tinker POW move will lower the defence of robot enemies as a Passive Debuff, and Amy's Blow Kiss will Buff the selected party member. The input method however is going to remain the same. Some offensive POW moves can also have elemental bonuses on them which makes the attack elemental based- certain elements are resistant or weak against certain elements and will get less or more damage from the move.

The elements are:

* Fire
* Water
* Earth
* Electricity

* Wind

The Defend option causes the player to block and when selected will make their remaining actions for that round defending. It lowers the amount of damage that the defending party member receives if hit with an attack. They will not be able to participate in POW moves that require them

The Items option will bring up a submenu where the player can spend a move using an item- items can give buffs, HP/PP Point restoration across a single member or the whole team depending on the item, revival items, etc. If the player has remaining moves in the round they can select other actions to perform.

The Flee option can allow the players to attempt to run away from battles, in which the player will have to tap on party members to make them jump over obstacles as they run. As they get hit they slow down which can give the pursuers chance to catch up and force them back into combat where they will then proceed to get a free round.

Conversely, the enemy may also attempt to flee from the fight and the player will have to avoid obstacles by making the characters jump over them to catch up, and then they will be able to attack.

Some battles that are important to the plot will not allow you to flee, and this can be known when the screen displays "TRAPPED" as the battle begins.

**Equipment**

There are equipment items across several classes which can go into certain categories; characters can equip them for improved stats and/or abilities depending on what the item does.

* Shoes
* Gloves
* Accessories
* Chao

Items can be limited to certain party members based on their kind as well- an example would be how robotic parts can only be used by E-123 Omega. Other items may be restricted to others based on certain conditions and can provide an assortment of different benefits for customisation.