Concurrences Explained.

[Jeryhn]

Didn't see this posted anywhere yet, so I thought I'd post this here for us non-Brady Guide users.

The Quickening system is much like a slot machine, so there's some luck involved. As the initial attack occurs, up to three lines of text appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen, one line for each character participating in the attack. Think of these lines as the WHEELS of the slot machine.

The "wheels" randomly cycle through four possible outcomes. They will display the name of a character's level 1, level 2, or level 3 Quickening or the words "Mist Charge". When they appear in white, the player can activate the command by pressing the button shown to the left of the line text. NOTE: that lines appearing gray in color aren't available.

With a little luck, there will be a white line or two available from which to choose, but eventually three gray lines will appear. Press the R2 button when this occurs to shuffle the commands again in hopes of getting a white line or two.

The player can initiate as many attacks as possible withing the four second time limit. By achieving certain attack combinations, the party unleashes a powerful Concurrence that delivers a devastating Final Hit to the target and any nearby enemies. So what makes the white and gray lines appear?

There are 8 Concurrences. If you don't know what a Concurrence is then let me explain. Think of it as a Final Blow after you're done with all your Chained Mist Quickenings. Concurrences aren't "automatic". You will need to trigger them via certain conditions.

Requirements:

Black Hole: 4 lvl 1Quickenings, 4 lvl 2 Quickenings, 4 lvl 3 Quickenings
Whiteout: 3 lvl 1 Quickenings, 3 lvl 2 Quickenings, 3 lvl 3 Quickenings
Ark Blast: 2 lvl 1 Quickenings, 2 lvl 2 Quickenings, 2 lvl 3 Quickenings
Luminescence: 5 lvl 3 Quickenings
Windburst: 5 lvl 2 Quickenings
Torrent: 2 lvl 1 Quickenings, 3 lvl 2 Quickenings
Cataclysm: 7 lvl 1 Quickenings
Inferno: 3 lvl 1 Quickenings

Source: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmes ... c=31486964

[Vaspinne]

That is realllllly handy. When I first started doing Quickening Chains, I thought that the more you did in a row = stronger Concurrence at the end, but this makes it so much more clearer. Thanks for the linkage+post

[Helpoemer]

Didn't see this posted anywhere yet, so I thought I'd post this here for us non-Brady Guide users.

The Quickening system is much like a slot machine, so there's some luck involved. As the initial attack occurs, up to three lines of text appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen, one line for each character participating in the attack. Think of these lines as the WHEELS of the slot machine.

The "wheels" randomly cycle through four possible outcomes. They will display the name of a character's level 1, level 2, or level 3 Quickening or the words "Mist Charge". When they appear in white, the player can activate the command by pressing the button shown to the left of the line text. NOTE: that lines appearing gray in color aren't available.

With a little luck, there will be a white line or two available from which to choose, but eventually three gray lines will appear. Press the R2 button when this occurs to shuffle the commands again in hopes of getting a white line or two.

The player can initiate as many attacks as possible withing the four second time limit. By achieving certain attack combinations, the party unleashes a powerful Concurrence that delivers a devastating Final Hit to the target and any nearby enemies. So what makes the white and gray lines appear?

There are 8 Concurrences. If you don't know what a Concurrence is then let me explain. Think of it as a Final Blow after you're done with all your Chained Mist Quickenings. Concurrences aren't "automatic". You will need to trigger them via certain conditions.

Requirements:

Black Hole: 4 lvl 1Quickenings, 4 lvl 2 Quickenings, 4 lvl 3 Quickenings
Whiteout: 3 lvl 1 Quickenings, 3 lvl 2 Quickenings, 3 lvl 3 Quickenings
Ark Blast: 2 lvl 1 Quickenings, 2 lvl 2 Quickenings, 2 lvl 3 Quickenings
Luminescence: 5 lvl 3 Quickenings
Windburst: 5 lvl 2 Quickenings
Torrent: 2 lvl 1 Quickenings, 3 lvl 2 Quickenings
Cataclysm: 7 lvl 1 Quickenings
Inferno: 3 lvl 1 Quickenings

Source: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmes ... c=31486964

i've said it before
i'll say it again
it's wrong

Luminescene and Whiteout need to be switched

[Vobent]

<3 Helpoemer

[izembo]

yea i noticed that too, that person just took it straight from the guide, and those 2 are backwards. i already got the award for getting them all done :D

[Gregorio]

Anyone know if the Concurrences are stronger based on how many attacks, etc are in combo?

For example...would a 3 lvl 1 quickenings (inferno) be as strong as a 6 lvl 1 quickenings (still inferno)?

[Boyiee]

as far as i've seen the more you get in the better. Doing 3 for an inferno and 6 for an inferno doesnt seem to deliver the same damage. I do at least imagine that each level of chain adds some kind of bonus to it though. I did a Luminecense for the first time the other day and it did quite an awesome amount of damage Would have been screwed without it.

Bit of advice, dont use a reflectga mote when Larsa is a guest in your party and you decide to hunt the wyrm in westersand (did it on accident) and dont start fighting gil snapper with no mp at level 30. Getting lucky with quickenings saved me both times. Realized that i really didnt need to however, once reflect was off vaan and i was able to get zerk on him he solo'd the wyrm, the turtle still came very close to owning me completely though.

[Khamsin]

I haven't advanced far enough into the game to obtain Quickenings yet (just killed Firemane), so I haven't tried them. But from what I'm reading, trying to do 12 of them in a four second period sounds tough. I imagine there's some pretty heavy button mashing to get 4 level 1, 4 level 2, and 4 level 3 quickenings out in four seconds.

Just selecting from a list of white quickening options, that's a button press every 1/3rd second, not counting R2s to reshuffle the list or hitting up/down to get to select different options. So its probably closer to a button press every 1/6th second, not counting decision time when viewing the list.

Is it really as bad as it sounds?

[safer]

well each time you do a quickening,, i believe some time gets added...

also... after each quickening you do, the timer freezes so you can see the animation, but before it starts again, the slots are already there for you to see what to press next if anything is available... as long as you button mash the right one.. you should get your next combo off pretty much instantly

also... you can try your luck and press down R2 while button mashing one of the buttons.. and hope as it shuffles you get something off...

lastly to get higher chains.. i find it best to always start off your quickenings with a lvl 1 , even if you have 2 or 3 mist charges full...

[Boyiee]

I haven't advanced far enough into the game to obtain Quickenings yet (just killed Firemane), so I haven't tried them. But from what I'm reading, trying to do 12 of them in a four second period sounds tough. I imagine there's some pretty heavy button mashing to get 4 level 1, 4 level 2, and 4 level 3 quickenings out in four seconds.

Just selecting from a list of white quickening options, that's a button press every 1/3rd second, not counting R2s to reshuffle the list or hitting up/down to get to select different options. So its probably closer to a button press every 1/6th second, not counting decision time when viewing the list.

Is it really as bad as it sounds?

well it's not really like that. Your first quickening cinema loads up, and if other people have quickenings then you have 4 seconds to press one button, one time; either triange x square or r2. They load up on the bottom right of the screen with the names either greyed out, or white. If any are white, you get 4 seconds (which is alot at first) to press the corresponding button one time. This is while your first quickening is going on, if you pressed it in the 4 seconds it tells you whats loading next and you wait a bit. Then your next quickening loads up, and you have 4 seconds to do the same thing, the more you get in every round, the less time you have to press the one button one time. No mashing. It's all response time really. At like chain 12 you have like 1 second to press a button which is where it gets hard to continue.

However the most difficult part is that if the names are greyed out you have to press R2 to shuffle them, sometimes you gotta press r2 like 3-5 times to get a name to pop up, and alot of times you pass a name ; ;. At like chain 6+ pressing R2 to shuffle to get a white name and not passing it can make it very hard. Kinda hope that you dont ever have to press R2 at all, especially once you hit chain 6 because beyond that you hit some really high damage numbers.

edit:: Make sure before you are going into a boss fight that is going to be really hard that all your buttons respond quickly. My controller is old and its a bitch sometimes to press the buttons hard enough for the game to realize i pressed it, and it really takes a toll on my quickenings.

[rincewind]

i finally figured out how to do these last night (haven't played it that long, about lvl 14 and just about to hit the first mines) and i have to say it isn't that intuititive and it feels a bit silly.

also, i've used quickenings a few times (fighting lvl 28s at 11 = easy xp) and sometimes r2 doesn't do anything at all. just luck?

[Aviendha]

Yup, some of the shuffle is luck, think of it as a slot machine, and you're hoping the wheels land on either a mist charge or a quickening ability.

I haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm noticing as I unlock more and more quickening for people (lv2,3), it seems that the shuffle has more of a chance to land on a mist/quick (ie. makes it easier to chain). This would be intuitive if the new abilities took "slots on the wheel" that were previously empty.

[Delenn]

I haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm noticing as I unlock more and more quickening for people (lv2,3), it seems that the shuffle has more of a chance to land on a mist/quick (ie. makes it easier to chain). This would be intuitive if the new abilities took "slots on the wheel" that were previously empty.

I think it inherently does, since mist charges return all your MP bars, while mist quickenings only use a number of bars equal to their level.

For example, if you just have one character with 2 quickenings unlocked start with full MP (2 MP bars), then start with MQ1 (level 1), you'll have 1 MP bar going into the 2nd hit.

For the 2nd hit, there are 3 possibilities:

• MQ1[/*:m:d9ca8]
• MQ2[/*:m:d9ca8]
• Mist Charge[/*:m:d9ca8]

Since you still have 1 bar, both MQ1 and Mist Charge would be available (ie. white)

Instead, if you started with MQ2, only Mist charge would be white, since the 2nd hit started with 0 bars.

Regarding the exact probabilities, I don't know if they're evenly distributed or not. I just wish mist charges were more common...

Hope that helps,

[Khamsin]

So for Black Hole, you need to do:

Level 1
Level 2
Mist Charge
Level 1
Level 2
Mist Charge
Level 1
Level 2
Mist Charge
Level 1
Level 2
Mist Charge
Level 3
Mist Charge
Level 3
Mist Charge
Level 3
Mist Charge
Level 3
Mist Charge to end so you have full MP after?

[Boyiee]

I wouldnt know. I've done luminescence and never have i done a quickening combo and had MP after it lol. Wtf is this mist charge crap? Its always Quickening on mob > square x triangle to do another > repeat > repeat > repeat > press r2 once or twice > repeat > repeat until i cant press r2 fast enough or pass another quickening. I didn't know there was anymore to it, is there additional text somewhere or something cause i just look for the button lol.

[izembo]

wouldnt have to be in that order, ive done black hole and it ended up something like 11121322323

[Khamsin]

wouldnt have to be in that order, ive done black hole and it ended up something like 11121322323

Well, I just chose that order to require the fewest Mist Charges. If you have three MP bars, and use one on a level 1, then two on a level 2, then you can Mist Charge back up to three, then use another 1 and 2 before recharging, and so forth. Rather than using only one or two of your three bars, and Mist Charging with spare bars left you hadn't used yet.

Or does Mist Charge only replenish one at a time, and not all 3?

From what is written in this thread, it sounds like...

START - All 3 bars full
Vaan:
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)

Perform Level 1 Quickening - 1 bar used, 2 bars remaining
Vaan:
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)
MP: (__________)

Perform Level 2 Quickening - 2 bars used, no bars remaining
Vaan:
MP: (__________)
MP: (__________)
MP: (__________)

Use Mist Charge - Refill bars
Vaan:
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)

Perform Level 3 Quickening - 3 bars used, no bars remaining
Vaan:
MP: (__________)
MP: (__________)
MP: (__________)

Use Mist Charge - Refill bars
Vaan:
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)
MP: (**********)

etc.

[Maguspk]

I think Mist Charge randomly refills mist bars because I've done a level 3, mist charged and done another level 3, and then sometimes I'll mist charge and do a level two. Well actually maybe you're right and it does recharge all 3, but the chance of you getting the lvl 3 quickening is rare. you can't really plan out quickenings, it's all luck. The thing that sucks the most about them is how long they take and how you can end up doing like 16+ lvl 1 quickenings just because they keep popping up as whites. It's a pretty dumb system, it wouldn't suck so much if it wasn't so long/slow.

[Delenn]

Or does Mist Charge only replenish one at a time, and not all 3?

• Mist charge occurs individually per character[/*:m:69b74]
• A mist charge refills all of that character's MP bars[/*:m:69b74]
• Your example is feasible[/*:m:69b74]

The key I've found is to make use of any excess time you have.

For example, let:

• Vaan have MQ2, 1 bar filled[/*:m:69b74]
• Ashe have MQ2, 2 bars filled[/*:m:69b74]
• Penelo have MQ2, 0 bars filled[/*:m:69b74]

If I start with a lv1 on Ashe, the possiblies are:

• Vaan - white(lv1, charge) gray(lv2)[/*:m:69b74]
• Ashe - white(lv1, charge) gray (lv2)[/*:m:69b74]
• Penelo - white(charge) gray(lv1, lv2)[/*:m:69b74]

My thought process:

• I would shuffle as long as I can to attempt recharging all 3 characters[/*:m:69b74]
• Right before the timing runs out, I'll hit a white line to continue on to the next hit[/*:m:69b74]
• For the most possible number of hits, I want to use lv1 MQs to increase the probability of white lines on the next hit[/*:m:69b74]

Hope that helps,

[izembo]

yea when you mist charge it fully refills the bar, but that doesnt mean it always comes up as a level 3 on the slot, sometimes you get a lesser one and you just gotta go with what you got unless you wanna waste time or only need 1 more level 3 for black hole.