Overview
Indiviisible is really a fun game, however it might not make the best first impression when you do not know what you are doing, this should help players fully experience the game. Enjoy the read, and have fun in game 🙂
Introduction & Table of Contents
The guide exists to help players enjoy the Backer Preview demo as it is as of 2nd January 2018, it may and most likely will become outdated with future updates, and without a doubt the final release, which is why I post the guide over hear, instead of the main Indivisible page.
- Tell you how to set up keyboard controls
- List the movement controls
- Explain the combat system in detail
- List the characters and their moves
- Explain the mechanics the game does not tell you about, in spoiler tags to avoid accidentally ruining someone’s fun
- Tell you “best” party composition
- List the “best” combos
- Be a 100% run walkthrough
Are we clear about that? Great let’s go
Setting up & Movement
Before anything else, the single most important thing necessary to enjoy the game, is setting your Keyboard controls properly. You can of course skip this part if you intend to play using a controller
As soon as the game is launched, the game will prompt you to set the key bindings. It starts easy, your direction controls, so just set it up to wsad, direction keys, or whatever else you are used to.
Where it gets tricky however are the next 4 command prompts.
It is of utmost importance to set your keys so that they copy controller layout , so just imagine you are setting secondary wsad and the controller keys are arrow directions.
In my case I used :
Jump (down) – K
Attack (left) – J
Special (up) – I
Dash (right) – L
If you set these up incorrectly, the game will be very confusing, and you will most likely not enjoy it. Of course you can get used to it, but trust me this way it’s going to be a LOT easier.
Next up we got Block and Iddhi buttons. You will be using them a lot, so keep it nearby, though I would recommend having them near your movement controls, so that it’s easier to press them simultaneously with the attack buttons.
Remaining keys, it’s really not important where you set them up, so have fun, and let’s move in to the actual game.
The thing about Indivisible is it makes you think you are being told everything,by the in game tutorials, while it actually only tells you the very basics, leaving you to figure out mechanics on your own, because of that I will keep the mechanics the game does not tell you about in the spoiler tags, so you will not get accidentally told something you didn’t want to be told 🙂
Ajna, your main character, controls as pretty much every platforming game character. She runs, ducks, jumps and dashes (hold the dash button) with the obvious controls,
the only notable thing here is that holding up while standing still, will brings up the map.
Wall jump – If you jump in the direction of a wall, and press jump button again on contact, she will wall jump out of it in the opposite direction.
You may also keep holding the direction towards the wall to perform a Wall Slide and descent slowly, there is no fall damage however, so this only serves a purpose of making sure you are not missing anything as of now.
Slide while crouching press jump or dash button to slide, this allows Ajna to fit into holes too gaps too small for her to go through otherwise, slide may also be used offensively, but I will cover this in the battle segment
Dash Dash while held allows you to travel short distance quickly, interestingly enough, pressing dash at a right time might save you from taking surprise attack damage (again, battle segment)
Axe is a pickup item, which serves as an upgrade for your character. While equipped with an Axe your character is able to scale walls by holding and releasing the attack button while in air. If a suitable wall is in range, Ajna will grab the wall and launch herself higher up the air.
Bow is a pickup item. While equipped with a Bow Ajna is able to shoot arrows on the map.. In the current version this only serves a purpose of weakening the enemies before combat. But it’s likely that in the final version of the game, arrows will be used to trigger switches / levers that you can’t reach.
(Shooting an enemy on the map, will not trigger combat unless standing too close. You may reduce about 20% of enemy health before the fight, after which arrows will no longer deal damage)
With that we may finally go to the most problematic part for most people (past me included) which is the combat system :
Guide to combat
Combat system of Indivisible is definitely it’s biggest feature, selling point, and barrier for new players. It really does seem very overwhelming and needlessly complicated at first. But, actually, if you set your keybindings properly, and give it a while to understand it, it actually turns out to be very simple, and really easy to learn, though it may take time to master.
Most importantly, unlike it’s first impression it’s intuitive and self explanatory.
What this is, is actually an action based spin on the old and (for some) loved JRPG system. There is no turns, no menus, it is completely hitbox and timing based, but in the end, it is still JRPG combat system.
Now, personally I love JRPG’s and honestly I wouldn’t enjoy the any less if it was the traditional combat, maybe even a bit more, but on the other hand, thanks to this combat system being what it is, I’m currently considering Indivisible as a candidate for my personal game of the year in 2018, which I wouldn’t if it was a traditional JRPG.
But enough of my my rambling, let’s get to it :
When the combat is initiated your control scheme changes. You can no longer move using the direction buttons, and the overworld actions such as jump attack etc get replaced.
Like I said before, and I will say again when playing on the keyboard your keybindings must be set properly that is because in combat action button pointing in the direction of the character in your lineup will become this characters’, and only this characters’ action.
So, in the party seen on the screen above, to attack with Ajna I would need to press the button pointing right, the dash button. If it wasn’t on my right, it would make the combat painfully confusing button mashing that is not enjoyable at all.
Even though every character only has one button, the combat is actually really skill based, (player skill, not character skill) but again, very intuitive
When the enemy is NOT attacking, pressing the button will prompt the character to attack, Every character in game has 3 attacks. Standard attack, Up + Attack, Down + Attack.
The effects of every attack, damage, additional inputs and combos are different for every character. Learning your moveset, and how to best use said character plays a crucial role during the combat.
However Your character can only attack when his action cooldown is ready, action cooldown is indicated by little colored dot under your character. Every action (other than block) takes away one dot, which will then become black, and slowly fill up again until you can attack again.
Dots only fill up when none of your characters is currently attacking, however the only limit to you using your cooldown is that the enemy may not be attacking, you might as well order all 4 of your characters to attack on the same time and they will do so.
Successfully attacking will build up your Iddhi bar, especially the combos. Remember that attacks are timing and hitbox based. It is possible to miss an attack if timed incorrectly, there is no rng to it you may only miss if your attack did not make physical contact with the enemy.
Blocking consumes your Iddhi bar, if it’s completely empty you will not be able to block. You may hold the button for the character to keep blocking, but not only does this consume more Iddhi, it also blocks less damage.
The best way to defend is to tap the block button at the very perfect moment before the damage, which will result in perfect block, that reduces the damage taken greatly and costs very little. It is very hard to do consistently, but it will come with practice.
Some of the most powerful enemies in game deliver so much damage it hurts even with perfect blocking.
The same rule applies for defending the grabs, pressing the block button when enemy is during the grab animation should nullify it. Grabs can not be blocked and will always deliver full damage if block is held or timed incorrectly.
Last thing to know about blocking is the Block all button. This one will drain your Iddhi super quickly, but it’s use will often be necessary, as some enemies will have attacks so big, they will hit multiple targets, even if they only have 1 target. It’s good that block all button can also be used for perfect blocking 🙂
Iddhi is built up during the fight, besides the already covered use for blocking it also serves as fuel for your blockbusters, limitbreaks, mysteries, or whatever else you want to call special moves. There are 3 bars of Iddhi, you can not miss when one bar is filled, as there is a big number by the meter reminding you.
Every character has 3 special skills they can use, to launch it you need to hold Iddhi button and press the character button for the one you want to use, just like attacking. Every time you press the character button one bar of iddhi will be used. So if you want to use your level 1 skill, just press it one time. If you want to go for level 3 skill, press it 3 times.
Learning your character moves, and how to best manage Iddhi usage is crucial in more difficult fights, but it shouldn’t pose any trouble to always use them when you wanted to and the one you wanted to.
You may not use Iddhi while the enemy is attacking, but you can attack with other characters when one is using his special move.
Last thing that you need to know is initiating combat. There is no rng to enemy encounters, no tall grass with random fights popping out. You will see the enemy on the overworld map, and what happens next depends only on your actions.
The enemy will try to attack you, while you may either try to avoid him or attack him yourself. Should both of you just collide, the combat will start normally, both parties will be at their starting HP, and their attack cooldown empty (meaning you can not attack until at least 1 dot fills up)
However if the enemy successfully attacks you the entire party will receive damage before the fight.
This I call a First Strike, it’s basically a skill based replacement for the ambush system of all the traditional JRPG’s
Likewise if you attack the enemy on the overworld map, the enemy will receive damage, and some attacks will even fully charge your cooldowns allowing you to deal massive damage, potentially fight ending damage before the enemy can even move.
If Ajna is equipped with an Axe not only her damage and combos are greatly improved, she will also be able to block in overworld map. If Map enemy attack is blocked no damage will be received and the fight will not trigger.
Characters
Coming up soonish… someday… probably… I’ll try? Don’t worry about it, it’s coming up ^^’
Hidden mechanics
I believe the first thing the game does not tell you about is the fact you can explode arrows by pressing Attack and Bow buttons at the same time. Exploding arrows not only deal massive damage, they can hurt an enemy much further than arrows can.
Exploding arrows can bring enemy near death before the fight even starts, sometimes you can even kill the enemy without fighting by delivering a first strike on fully weakened enemy.
After beating the final boss, Ajna is getting a secret upgrade. To use Super dash simply keep holding direction key, and dash button.
Besides obviously letting you travel quicker, super dash also counts as 2800 damage first strike when running into an enemy (it will however not charge your starting attacks) AND can break cracked walls
While super dash is active, jump, hold down and press attack Ajna will deliver powerful attack directly below her, letting her destroy cracked floors