The formation in "Metaphorical Fantasy: ReFantazio" is something that has a greater impact on combat in the game, but many players are not sure how to use combat formations. In fact, if you want to use formations, they can be divided into front row and back row. The front row is for tanks and melee combat, and the back row is for long-range and auxiliary treatment.
How to use metaphorical fantasy battle formations
Players can fight with the help of their own team members during the battle. These team members can be directly controlled or set to automatic battle mode. A character's positioning in combat directly affects how much damage they can do and how vulnerable they are to enemy attacks. This setting can be customized through formations. Here's how the formation works.
How combat queues work in ReFantazio
In any battle there are two ranks: the front rank and the back rank. When it's a character's turn to act, players can direct the character they control to move to the front or back row; the button to press is displayed in the lower right corner of the screen.
During the character's turn, moving the column does not cost any turn points or actions; this can be done freely and at no cost. You can instruct them to move to the front or back row multiple times during a character's turn, but actions are consumed when they perform any action, such as using a melee attack, using a skill, or even synthesizing a skill.
The formation of other team members will not affect the use of synthetic skills. Only the position of the character using the synthesized skill matters.
The benefit of moving party members between ranks is simple. The character in the front row will deal the most damage from melee attacks and abilities, and will take full damage when targeted by enemies. Characters in the back row will reduce the damage caused by melee attacks and skills, and will also reduce the damage taken by enemy attacks.
How to change formations in ReFantazio
Formation allows players to pre-select the team's battle line position before the battle begins. The operation is very simple. Open the pause menu and select "Team". Here you can select each member and change their position to the front or back row by using the formation shortcuts shown in the lower right corner of the screen.
You can also quickly understand the current team formation by looking at the character sprite on the right. The characters in the front row will be marked with a red "front row", while the characters in the back row will be marked with a blue "back row", as shown in the picture above.
By default, all team members are stationed in the front row.
How to use formations correctly in "ReFantazio"
Some characters like Gunners, Healers, and Mages rely almost entirely on ranged attacks to deal damage, so they always want to be in the back row to take less damage. Melee combatants like Boxers and Warriors, on the other hand, will want to stay in the front row in order to deal as much damage as possible during the round. However, this is not set in stone. For example, if the knight has low health and uses the Knight Declaration skill to attract all attacks, he should move to the back row early because he will not deal damage this turn, just attract aggro. By moving to the back row, he essentially halves the damage he takes next turn, without any negative consequences.
Additionally, some powerful enemy attacks target entire rows rather than individual characters, such as seen in the fight with the Winged Man. Often, these skills will have advance warning of where they will land. Moving all characters to different ranks ensures that the skill doesn't hit anyone.
Knowing when to move between ranks is important knowledge for getting the most out of your team, and is almost a must on higher difficulties. The value of a formation is to create a basic template for the team. But always remember that once a character performs an action, their position is fixed until it's their turn to move again.
