Essence

Essence is a mechanic in Magical Vacation.

Gameplay

Overview

The protagonist with Essence set; her original attribute is insect at magic level 8, so the inherited levels cannot go past 8

On a party member's Profile in the menu, the player can used the Essence tab to set an Amigo that was registered to the Amigo List via Communication. When an Amigo is set, the assigned character inherits all the Amigo's magic levels, and all the spells learned up until those levels, but they will not exceed the magic level of the character's own attribute. The inherited magic levels and spells are removed if the Essence is unequipped. If a spell exceeding the character's own magic level is set to a spell slot (e.g., setting black hole, a spell learned at dark magic level 18, to a character whose original magic level is less than 18), the slot will be left blank.

This feature is unavailable in the Wii U Virtual Console version of the game, but it has been reinstated in the Nintendo Classics - Game Boy Advance version for Nintendo Switch Online.

Inherited magic

Characters equipped with Essence can use spells inherited from its respective Amigo in battle, granted that their original attribute's magic level is high enough. However, unless their magic levels are naturally 1 or higher, they do not gain attribute experience points when casting spells of attributes other than their original attribute. The protagonist, who acquires magic level 1 when using Communication with players of different attributes, is the only character capable of gaining EXP and magic levels for every attribute. When the protagonist's magic levels increase, they can permanently learn spells from those attributes without needing to set Essence.

Indicator

When setting an Amigo in the Essence tab, the Amigo's name will have a unique indicator next to it. This indicator is affected by the Amigo character's name and player ID (which is generated upon starting a new save file), ranging from 1 to 65535.

• If the name is less than six characters: Remainder = ID number ÷ 7
• If the name is six characters: Remainder = ID number ÷ 8

Remainder	Indicator	Translation
0	の教え	…'s teachings
1	の秘伝	…'s mystery
2	の知識	…'s knowledge
3	の奥義	…'s esoterica
4	のウラ技	…'s trick
5	の書	…'s book
6	の秘密♥	…'s secret♥
7	スペシャル	… special

In the case of the "special" indicator, it is only possible if the Amigo's name is six characters long, and the remainder value equals 7. This particular indicator is longer than the others, so when combined with a six-character Amigo name, the full indicator will appear slightly out of the menu interface. The game also contains data for unused indicators called "…'s bag of wisdom" (の知恵袋) and "…'s treasure chest" (の宝箱); the latter can only be generated if the player ID is exactly 0 upon loading a new save file, which is impossible.

Nomenclature

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	極意 Gokui	Essence