Star Ocean: The Fifth to Last Hope

[Zeromus_X]

The battle system is virtually the same as Star Ocean 3's, but with some improvements.

Really? I found it a massive downgrade from SO3. Except for being able to switch party members/abilities during battle, that was pretty awesome.

I abuse the Bonus Bar like you wouldn't believe. So much so that I never have to worry about running out of restorative items because my characters kill the enemies fast enough that they don't inflict much damage and I don't use much MP. And even if the battle lasts for a long time, I have enough purple gems to fully restore my HP and MP. On top of that, I end up gaining almost twice as much EXP after every battle. However, because of my reliance on the bar, I freak out every time it's broken. Does anyone else use the bar as extensively as I do? I mean, I usually have it full of purple and blue gems, so I gain tons and tons of EXP, while getting healed after every battle.

Don't worry about the bonus board breaking, the game is still very easy even without abusing it.

Second question is do you lose or gain affection points depending on who's in your party? I just got Bacchus, for example, and I switched out Reimi for him, so I'm a little worried about lowering Edge's affinity with her.

As far as I know, only Private Actions affect the affinity between party members. The Private Action faq on Gamefaqs lists (almost) every PA and their effects on the party's affection for eachother.

As for Reimi, don't worry too much about her and Edge; you get so much free affinity for them you have to purposely try to not get their ending.

My last question kinda relates to my previous question. I noticed that members not in your party don't gain experience points. Is it worth it to train every single character or to just stick with a few and level them up?

Sticking to a few is fine; and that said this game is perfectly beatable with any combination of characters. As well, as you've experienced, it's very easy to level up characters so don't be afraid to try out new characters if you like switching it up. If you only use one party most of the time, I'd only make an exception for one party member if you don't use them. (SPOILER)Try and keep Faize leveled up enough, since Arumat inherits his level and skills when he joins, of course, this is only important if you plan on using Arumat.