Game Mechanics

General Information

Chrono Cross

Level Up and Stat Bonuses

by utunnels

I found some people ask about how to max all statistics at 99th star, such as "why is my Serge's strength 87 instead of 88; it was 88 in my last run", or "why is Riddel's magic attack not 60". I searched via Google, some say it is all random (and it is almost true since I myself saw Guile had very poor magic attack, at least before Serge became Lynx). And someone says the bonus can't be changed by the save/load trick; I tested before a boss battle, and it is true. Later I found bonus values for next star are determined after a boss battle which gives you a star and will be carried in the save file until you receive next star.

Level star bonus values are random and follow a formula like:

HP bonus = ((Lv99HP - MaxHP) / (101 - Stars)) x random(0, 2) + 2  
Other bonus = ((Lv99Points - Points) / (101 - Stars)) x random(0, 2)

random(0, 2) is a random decimal value between 0 and 2, doesn't include 0 and 2. The result will be rounded to get an integer value (for example, 2.4 will be 2 but 3.6 will become 4).

Minor bonus values after regular fight

I'm still not sure how exactly the formula works, but here's what I've figured out:

1. Your team receives some kind of "exp" after a regular fight, based on what star level you are currently at, until it reaches a certain value (ThresholdPoint). It will be zeroed if you gain a new star level. For example, at level 1, you will receive 1 point per fight. But after 8 fights, it just stops increasing. But at level 50, you receives 3757 points per fight, but stop receiving any after 3 fights.

2. The "exp" interacts with your stats growth, but not by adding up. It is still unknown. However, it seems the rule is fixed instead of random. That means the save and load trick doesn't work here.

3. Total bonus will not get past about 66%-69% of next star bonus. For example, if Serge will gain 12 HP at the next star level, he can receive at most 8 HP during those regular fights.

4. After each fight, points growth is based on "exp" and other factors. It differs among star levels. For example, at star level 0, Serge gains HP in an order of 12%, 13%, 12%, 10%, 7%, 4%, 3%, ... in the first fight, he will gain 12% x next star level hp bonus, and so on. But at level 50, the order is almost 20%, 20%, 14%, 7%, 4%, 2%, 1%,... percentage drops sharply after the ThresholdPoint, which will make it almost impossible to gain any points sooner or later.

5. Small values can be added to next fight, somehow. Though the formula is unknown, but I've noticed, if next star bonus is only 1 point( for example, strength bonus), the character can still receive the point after several fights, in my test case, it should be before the ThresholdPoint.

6. Add a new member to your 3-person team after the ThresholdPoint? Well, he/she will still receive a bonus, and quite a lot in the first fight, but tgus will drop sharply later, and total bonus still can't get past 66-69% of next star bonus.

Most used character gain stats like the red curve in the picture, and those you never use are like the blue one.

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