Familiars

Familiar Signs

Depending on what sign your familiar has, they'll receive bonuses against specific elemental attacks and status ailments. But there's more. The Sun - Moon - Star triangle is especially important to memorize: Sun beats Moon beats Star beast Sun. When a sign beats an other sign, it means the familiar deals +20% to that enemy. However, if a sign loses from an other sign (such as, Sun loses from Star), then that Sun familiar deals -20% to the Star familiar (while the Star enemy deals +20% damage to your familiar).

The Planet and Double Planet signs are exceptions to this triangle. A Planet sign is neutral to the three regular signs, but deals +50% damage to the Double Planet sign. The Double Planet sign is an all-round sign, dealing +10% damage to all three normal signs (including the 'Double' ones), and no additional damage to the Planet sign.

Sign Type and Effect:

Sun

+5% Fire resistance and Sleep ailment

Double Sun

+10% Fire resistance and Sleep ailment

Moon

+5% Water resistance and Confusion ailment

Double Moon

+10% Water resistance and Confusion ailment

Star

+5% Storm resistance and Poison ailment

Double Star

+10% Storm resistance and Poison ailment

Planet

+5% EXP bonus

Double Planet

+10% EXP bonus

It's important to know that many strong creatures you'll face are of the Sun sign (including many bounties), which makes the Star sign a good choice for your familiars. Obviously the Planet and Double Planet signs are good as well, but they're also considerably more rare.

Gaining experience

Each party member can hold three familiars with them to use at any time in battle, plus an additional three 'reserves' which you can select from the menu when you're not in a battle. The three active familiars - the ones selectable in battle - will always receive the full battle experience spoils, so it's an excellent idea to have a strong familiar that you use often, level up an other familiar or two in the other slots.

Feeding Familiars

You can feed familiars treats, which boost their primary ability, as well as their familiarity (or love for you). A familiar can only eat 10 treats at a time; by then all their stomach slots are filled, which means calories need some burning. This is done by battling, and each battle you fight empties a stomach slot of all your familiars (it doesn't matter if they fight themselves or not).

A familiar's six stats/abilities can be boosted for a maximum of 50 points (for all stats combined). Moreover, you're only allowed to boost a familiar's stats 10 points for each familiarity heart you've completely filled up. If you've filled up two hearts, that means you can boost a familiar's stats for a total of 20; you can go past it by filling the next heart. There are five familiarity hearts, hence the maximum is a stat boost of 50. Boosting the hearts is also done by feeding familiars treats.

There are various treat types, as well as stronger versions of a type which grant double the regular boost. Each familiar has a favorite treat. Feeding it that specific type will double the familiarity bonus it receives. You can know when a familiar likes a treat when pink hearts appear above their head when eating.

Catching Familiars

Once Esther joins your ranks and you've finished the Temple of Trials, it becomes possible to catch new familiars. This is done by whacking monsters as usual, but sometimes - depending on the creature there's roughly a 4-25% chance that this happens - a bunch of pink hearts will appear above the creature, indicating it's fallen in love with you and is ready to be seduced. Immediately stop attacking it and have Esther perform the Serenade to catch it.

A Genius knows all Genuses

Each familiar belongs to a genus, of which there are 14 in total. Each genus has their own typical strengths and weaknesses, and are most compatible with one of your Main Characters. Below is an overview of basic genus information.

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GENUS TYPE: Milites
STRENGTHS: Attack, Evasion, Accuracy
WEAKNESSES: Confusion
RESISTANCES: Poison, Curse
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Oliver
FAVORITE TREAT: Chocolate (Attack Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Bestiae
STRENGTHS: Attack, Evasion, Accuracy, Defense
WEAKNESSES: Sleep
RESISTANCES: Blindness
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Swaine
FAVORITE TREAT: Ice Cream (Evasion Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Aquatica
STRENGTHS: ---
WEAKNESSES: Poison
RESISTANCES: Petrification
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Esther
FAVORITE TREAT: Pie (Accuracy Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Vermes
STRENGTHS: Magic Atk, Evasion, Magic Defense
WEAKNESSES: ---
RESISTANCES: Poison
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Oliver
FAVORITE TREAT: Sundae (Magical Defense Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Aves
STRENGTHS: Evasion, Accuracy, Magic Defense
WEAKNESSES: Blindness
RESISTANCES: Sleep
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Esther
FAVORITE TREAT: Ice Cream (Evasion Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Nymphae
STRENGTHS: Evasion, Accuracy, Magic Defense
WEAKNESSES: Curse
RESISTANCES: Nix
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Marcassin
FAVORITE TREAT: Cake (Magical Attack Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Minima
STRENGTHS: Attack, Accuracy, MagicDef, Evasion
WEAKNESSES: Sleep
RESISTANCES: Confusion
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Marcassin
FAVORITE TREAT: Pie (Accuracy Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Dracones
STRENGTHS: Attack, Defense
WEAKNESSES: Poison
RESISTANCES: ---
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Oliver
FAVORITE TREAT: Chocolate (Attack Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Automata
STRENGTHS: Attack, Defense, Magical Attack
WEAKNESSES: Stun, Nix
RESISTANCES: Sleep, Confusion, Poison
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Swaine
FAVORITE TREAT: Flan (Defense Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Arcana
STRENGTHS: Magical Defense, Magical Attack,
Defense, Evasion, Accuracy
WEAKNESSES: ---
RESISTANCES: ---
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MOST COMPATIBLE: ---
FAVORITE TREAT: Cake (Magical Attack Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Flora
STRENGTHS: Defense, Magic Attack, Magic Def.
WEAKNESSES: Curse
RESISTANCES: Stun
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Esther
FAVORITE TREAT: Flan (Defense Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Daemonia
STRENGTHS: Magical Attack, Magic Defense,
Attack, Evasion
WEAKNESSES: Petrification, Confusion
RESISTANCES: Curse
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Marcassin
FAVORITE TREAT: Sundae (Magical Defense Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Mortui
STRENGTHS: Evasion, MDef, Attack, Defense
WEAKNESSES: Petrification, Nix
RESISTANCES: Blindness
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MOST COMPATIBLE: Swaine
FAVORITE TREAT: Cake (Magical Attack Treat)
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GENUS TYPE: Nobilia (Mandragorer)
STRENGTHS: ---
WEAKNESSES: ---
RESISTANCES: ---
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MOST COMPATIBLE: ---
FAVORITE TREAT: Pie (Accuracy Treat)
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Familiar Growth

Each familiar has a specific growth pattern, kind of like us humans in some respects. There are three patterns of growth: 1. Early; 2. Normal; 3. Late. A familiar with an early growth pattern will excel between levels 1-40, slow down at that point between levels 40-60, and perform significantly below average between levels beyond that (60-99). A familiar with an average growth pattern will show a steady grow, but even though they're stronger at later levels than early risers, they're still worse than late bloomers. Late Bloomers will perform below average until approximately level 80, at which point their stats skyrocket upwards, leaving everyone else behind.

As one might've guessed, early risers are particularly good in the beginning of the game, average growers are useful for beginning/mid-game, while late bloomers are especially useful when you're ready to max out your party and do all optional quests in the game.

Familiar Metamorphosis

Each familiar has a family (what's in a name) and has the potential to metamorphose into a different form. Yes, it's Pokemonesque, but the system isn't entirely the same either.

Each familiar can transform into a second form, which is always the same. But the next metamorphosis, to the third (and final) form depends on your choice out of two possible transformations. The most salient differences between these last two forms are elemental differences, growth pattern and types of tricks. Detailed information on all this will be of later concern.

Familiars typically transform for the first time somewhere between level 10 and 20. The next metamorphosis is normally possible some 10-15 levels later. For the first metamorphosis, your familiar needs to be fed a sign-compatible drop, for example, a star familiar requires a star drop. The transformation to its last form requires a more powerful type of the same drop.

It's very important to realize that a metamorphosis also bumps your familiar's level back to 1. Admittedly, high-level familiars that transform into a second or third form do have somewhat higher stats (around 10-20 points, give or take), which makes the question simple: do you want your specific familiar to be strong early in the game, or late in the game. Depending on where you are at, and also depending on the familiar's growth pattern, you'll want to choose wisely. Early in the game it's best to transform familiars as soon as possible, but you should never do this to ALL of them at once, or you'll be stuck with a team of fairly weak level 1 critters; cute, yet useless. It's better to keep at least one high-level familiar as your primary member while having two other 'active' members that can profit from the experience gains as well.