Combat in Magical Vacation

In Magical Vacation, battles occur randomly in the overworld, by interacting with certain things, or during scripted events.

Once a battle begins, the player's team of up to six party members will be placed on a 3x2 grid opposite of the enemy's, and will then recover MP based on their individual MP% stats (this occurs at the start of every turn). Battles are completely turn-based, meaning that there are no action elements or timers. The player selects each of the party members' moves in the order of their respective Agility stats, and the combat will begin once each characters' actions have been selected.

Actions
The options available to characters are Kick, Magic, Item, Guard, or Flee.

Kick
Kick (キック, Kikku) is a non-elemental technique associated with the Power stat. The name of this skill varies among characters, some examples being Slap, Punch, and Chop, but they all share the same effect.

Magic
Magic (まほう, Mahō) unleashes elemental attacks against enemies by using MP.

Item
Items (アイテム, Aitemu) are categorized into different types.
 * Gummy Frogs heal HP
 * Gummy Worms heal MP
 * Tails remove status ailments
 * Bombs emulate elemental attacks

Guard
Guard (ぼうぎょ, Bōgyo) halves the damage of physical and magical attacks.

Flee
Flee (にげる, Nigeru) gives the party a chance to run from battle. It is not always successful.

HP
HP determines how much damage a party member is able to take. If it reaches 0, that party member faints.

MP
MP is used to cast spells from the Magic menu.

Power / POW
POW (力, Chikara) is the strength of physical attacks. Its symbol is a sword.
 * Buffed with Beast Magic
 * Debuffed with Insect Magic

Defense / DEF
DEF (守り, Mamori) is the resistance to physical attacks. Its symbol is a shield.
 * Buffed with Stone Magic
 * Debuffed with Water Magic

Agility / AGI
AGI (速さ, Hayasa) is how early an action is executed. Its symbol is a boot.
 * Buffed with Wind Magic
 * Debuffed with Ancient Magic

Spirit / SPR
SPR (精神, Seishin) is the resistance to magic attacks. Its symbol is a staff with a green jewel.
 * Buffed with Sound Magic
 * Debuffed with Wood Magic

MP Recovery % / MP%
MP% (MP回復率, MP Kaifuku-ritsu) determines the amount of MP that is recovered at the start of every turn. Its symbol is a red circle outlined in yellow.
 * Buffed with Love Magic

Level
Level is a ranking that increases with EXP, which is gained by defeating enemies and requires active participation in battle. The maximum Level for each character is 999.

Magic Level
Magic Level is a ranking that increases with Magic EXP, which is gained by frequently casting magic. Magic Levels reward party members with more spells, and they also increase the strength of magic attacks. The maximum Magic Level for each element is 99.

Formation


On the battle grid, there are a total of six spaces that party members can occupy; three in the front, three in the back. Characters in the middle of the front row are more likely to get hit with attacks, and those in the back row or sides are less likely. Party members with higher physical and defensive stats (HP, POW, DEF) are better off in the front row, whereas characters who are proficient in magical traits (MP, AGI, SPR) work best in the back row.

When a party member in the front row faints, they will swap positions with the classmate standing directly behind them, even if they are revived. The party's formation goes back to normal when combat is over.

Spirits


When casting magic, the damage can be amplified by having spirits of the same element on the field, which is called a Spirit Combo. The spirit(s) will disappear once a spell of their element has been cast, and their power will be transferred to the spell.

Any spirits on the field are free to be used by both the party and enemies, and up to seven may be present at once. If one spirit is used in a combo, the damage will be doubled. If two spirits are used in a combo, the damaged will be multiplied by 4. This means that with seven spirits, the damage will be multiplied by 128.

Elements
Magical Vacation has a total of sixteen different elements. Thirteen of them (which are the ones that are chosen at the start of the game) follow a rotation of super-effectiveness. When a spell hits an enemy of the same element, the damage inflicted will always be 1 unless that spell gets boosted by a Spirit Combo.

Primary axis

 * Fire --> Wind
 * Wind --> Poison
 * Poison --> Beauty
 * Beauty --> Blade
 * Blade --> Sound
 * Sound --> Stone
 * Stone --> Insect
 * Insect --> Wood
 * Wood --> Beast
 * Beast --> Water
 * Water --> Thunder
 * Thunder --> Ancient
 * Ancient --> Fire

Secondary axis

 * Darkness --> All except Light and Love
 * Light --> Darkness
 * Love --> Neutral (no strength or weakness)

Spells
Every element in Magical Vacation comes with seven learnable spells, which are obtained as a character's Magic Level increases. Four of these spells have offensive or utility effects, and the other three are used for summoning or clearing spirits.

Status ailments
Certain spell types can inflict targets with an ailment. The only way to recover from most of these is by waiting them out, using a tail, casting the White Rose spell, or winning in battle.

Poisoned
Poison (どく, Doku) reduces 10% of the target's HP at the end of every turn. Severe Poison reduces it by 20%.
 * Caused with Poison Magic
 * Recovered with Depoison Tail

Paralyzed
Paralysis (マヒ, Mahi) halts the input of actions.
 * Caused with Beauty Magic
 * Recovered with Deparalyze Tail

Numb
Numbness (しびれ, Shibire) works similarly to Paralysis, but takes effect less often.
 * Caused with Thunder Magic
 * Recovered with Unstun Tail

Blind
Blindness (ブラインド, Buraindo) reduces the accuracy of physical attacks.
 * Caused with Light Magic
 * No items recover this status

Asleep
Sleep (ねむり, Nemuri) halts the input of actions until the effect wears off, or the sleeping target is hit with an attack.
 * Caused with Sound Magic
 * Items and White Rose cannot recover this status

Petrified
Petrification (石化, Sekka) permanently halts the input of actions until it is recovered, and it cannot be waited out.
 * Caused with Stone Magic (enemy skills only)
 * Recovered with Stoneoff Tail

Fainted
Fainting (気絶, Kizetsu) stops a character from executing actions until they are revived.
 * Caused when a character's HP hits 0
 * Recovered with Wakey Tail or White Rose (half max. HP), or when a battle ends (1 HP)

Stickers
Stickers (シール, Shīru, Seals) are accessories that represent all sixteen elements. Every party member has three slots next to their five pieces of equipment for a total of fifteen slots. Up to three stickers can be set to a piece of equipment, and they will stay on a character even if that equipment is removed. Stickers can also be peeled off and swapped between characters.

Wearing stickers reduce damage taken from spells of their corresponding elements. They also increase the rate of Magic EXP gained at the end of battle, as long as the sticker's element is the same as the character's.

Additional features in battle
While selecting actions, certain buttons can be pressed to assist the player.


 * At the very start of a turn, pressing B shows the entire battlefield without the command interface. Pressing A or B undoes it.
 * Pressing the Left trigger opens an elemental weakness chart.
 * While hovering the cursor over a spell or an item, pressing Select will show the effects they have in battle.
 * If the A button is held, actions will be rapidly selected and battle animations will be skipped. Releasing it makes the battle flow normally again.

Link Battles


When using the Let's Battle feature with Link Mode, players will be placed on the usual 3x2 field, but there are a few catches that distinguish Link Battles from average battles.


 * All characters on both sides will start with 0 MP, meaning they must naturally recover it.
 * Three spirits of completely random elements will appear and disappear at the start of each turn.