How To Quickly Level Up In Star Ocean: The Divine Force
Depending on how you like your RPGs, the grind to the highest level can either be an essential part of the experience or a complete chore based on the level cap. With an upper ceiling of 255, "Star Ocean: The Divine Force" offers a long grind to max out every single party member. And while this isn't necessary to complete the main story — with players on GameFAQs reporting that the final boss was trivial at only level 100 — there's tons of endgame content to cover and prepare for (per Screen Rant), not to mention the fun of maxing out and optimizing the individual builds of all the playable characters.
As with most games, "Star Ocean: The Divine Force" offers tons of intuitive and built-in ways of leveling up faster, as well as some unbelievably efficient mechanic exploits that'll have your level hitting the 255 cap in no time (so long as you've unlocked the necessary abilities). Here's a rundown on the fastest ways to level up in "Star Ocean: The Divine Force," from playing the way the developers intended to breaking the leveling system altogether.
Speed up the early game grind with combat maneuvers
When it comes to the ways "Star Ocean: The Divine Force" offers reasonable bonuses to leveling up, the majority involve successfully ambushing enemies. There are three combat mechanics involving ambushes that reward bonus EXP: Blindsides, Surprise Attacks, and Battle Chains (via GameRiv).
Blindsides are combat maneuvers that can be executed at any time by successfully attacking an enemy from the rear, while Surprise Attack bonuses only occur if you manage to start combat while undetected and defeat the enemy while the Surprise Attack is still in effect. Battle Chains are when you successfully pull off consecutive encounters with Surprise Attack on foes clustered in the same part of the map, and each encounter increases the bonus percentage based on the difficulty of the enemies involved.
There are a few passive ways to boost experience gain, as well. For one, equipping D.U.M.A. with the Silencer field skill (per Pro Game Guides) will make it much easier to consistently ambush enemies. According to GameRiv, unlocking and leveling Laeticia's skill, Determined Princess, which awards huge bonuses to EXP at the cost of lowered stats, can also help. While this might make combat much more difficult, you can offset the increased difficulty with optimized gear in addition to using ambushes as much as possible to end encounters before they become too involved.
Take advantage of Synthesis to get to max level fast
Due to the way Item Creation works in "Star Ocean: The Divine Force," it's entirely possible to create optimized EXP-farming gear that absolutely breaks level progression and gets you to level 255 quick. It's not nearly as expensive as optimizing endgame builds or crafting the Fol-farming gear — however, it does require access to Synthesis, as well as having Malkya's Synthesis level maxed out.
According to YouTuber King-X, you'll likely want to be near a vendor to quickly buy and replenish materials as you craft. The basic idea is to mass-craft low-level items to farm at least four EXP boosting Factors with bonus percentages above 100%, as well as enough Accessory Factor boost Factors to cumulatively meet the 60% cap. If you have the Fol to spare, you can attempt to craft the Faize item with Nina using Exalithium for a guaranteed +135% EXP boost Factor attached. You'll then have Malkya synthesize all four EXP Factors onto one accessory, and the Accessory boosting Factors onto one gear piece — just remember to save before each attempt in case RNG doesn't favor you. Additionally, using the Power Ring and Ring Mail as the base will help save on Synthesis Costs.
All that's left to do is to equip the new EXP gear onto your character of choice, make sure to enable Laeticia's Determined Princess passive, then hack your way through the highest level enemies you can find and watch your levels rocket towards 255.