the pet companion system orientation

[Lightning Farron |]

THE PET COMPANION SYSTEM

welcome to the pet companion system orientation! in this article, i'll explain:

I. What Are Pets?
II. Why Are Pets Useful?
III. How Can I Get Pets?
IV. What's Pet Battling?

now let's get started, shall we?

I. WHAT ARE PETS?
pets are special creatures that are either too weak, too small, or too common to be classified as actual summoned creatures. one would compare them to Pokémon; while the legendary Pokémon are rare and unique, many other Pokémon are common and widespread.
let's put this into context. in Final Fantasy, a typical summoned creature is unique - like Ifrit, Phoenix, Bahamut, Shiva, and so on. you don't see multiples of them, right? but you do see a heck of a lot of flans and chocobos. see where i'm going with this?

the grey area is when we start getting into "superboss"-y creatures like tonberries, and so the policy is as so:

if you can summon the creature in-game, then it counts as a summoned creature, not a pet companion.

perhaps a better example would be the pet taming system in Final Fantasy XIII-2, though this system is not intentionally based upon that gameplay augment.

to summarize, a pet companion is a creature that isn't quite unique enough to be classified as a summoned creature, but is very different from a generic animal.

let's move on!


II. WHY ARE PETS USEFUL?
pets can be useful in a number of ways! first off, if you have a pet that can fly or swim or another unique travel ability, depending on the context, you may be able to circumvent some travel restrictions on an area, even if you don't own an airship! pretty cool, huh?

also, your pet(s) have the ability to accompany you into battle! depending on the pet you have equipped, you can gain a boost of some kind to your stats, your cooldown rate, you name it! though keep in mind, you can only have one pet in battle at a time. we'll explain how this works later.

you can also level up your pets and, possibly, trade them for rarer, more unique companions!

to top it off, a few events might be pet-only battles, so you can train up your pet and have it face off against the best pet companions on the warpath home!

let's sum it up. pets are useful because:
they might allow you to circumvent travel restrictions
they can give you stat boosts in battle
you can level them up or trade them
you can use them in pet-only events or quests

and also... there might be a few extra awards in store for those of you who wanna be the very best. of course, you gotta catch 'em all!

III. HOW CAN I GET PETS?
good question! let's start with the basics. the weakest pets will be available in the gil shop starting soon. that means you can get started raising anytime! also, slightly stronger pets can be available as prizes for quests or contests! the less frequent they are available and the harder they are to obtain, the more powerful they will be! sometimes trading in a specific pet during an event can net you a super-strong companion! this is why it's important to collect, collect, collect.

by leveling up your pets and trading them in, you can climb the ladder of pet quality 'till you've got some of the strongest pets on the site!

and to summarize:
you can get pets by buying them, or receiving them as rewards for contests and quests and the like. the strongest ones will be the hardest to get!


IV. WHAT'S PET BATTLING?
this is the part you were probably the most interested in, huh? well, as i stated earlier, pets can give you boosts in battle. you can only have one pet battling at a time, however, unless otherwise specified: and these exempt events will be either pet-only events or perhaps tournament or event battles. you can have up to two pets with you in a thread, though, which means if your first pet is knocked out, you can switch the other in! you may only switch when your pet is knocked out, though!

it's in your best interest to have a pet if your opponent has one, as the battle is not over until your opponent and both of their pets are ko'd. this can be a major problem if, say, your opponent has a pet that knows Raise. not fun, right?

your pet can attack either your opponent or your opponent's pet in their turn, it's up to you. your pet companion has one action slot per turn and zero dodges, though haste can still be used on your pet to add another slot!

your pet's ability is only in effect while that pet is conscious. also keep in mind; if you lose a battle with pet(s) equipped and they're ko'd, you will lose those pets! unless a pet is specified to not be lost on ko+loss, you will lose that pet and any abilities it may give you! it's wise not to bet your rarest pets on a battle you stand a fair chance of losing!

you will always receive a pet at level one unless specified. every pet maxes out at level five, though the amount of battle posts it takes to reach the peak differs for each companion. let me clarify that. for every battle post your companion is active in, it will gain 1 EXP point. your reserve companion does not receive that EXP, unfortunately.

every pet will have four abilities that it can use. upon leveling up, your pet's abilities won't change - the bonus it gives you will. for example, maybe a flan leveling up from level 2 to 3 will have its bonus changed from "minus two posts cooldown on every white magic spell" to "minus three posts cooldown on every white magic spell". just like that! the abilities your pet has are not necessarily ones that are in the ability guide, nor are they required to behave the same way (for instance, the cooldown on a pet ability may be less than on a character). however, you cannot change the abilities your pet has. all pets retain the basic "attack" ability in addition to their four special abilities.

on level up, your pet companion's hp will also increase by 5 points per level.

let's put this in context! using the earlier example, let's say you received a miniflan at level 1. this is the information you will be presented with when buying or receiving your pet:

miniflan, level 1: minus one post cooldown on every white magic spell.
--- starting hp: 25 hp
--- exp to next level: 2 - 5 exp (5 exp total); 3 - 5 exp (10 exp total); 4 - 10 exp (20 exp total); 5 - 15 exp (35 exp total)
--- abilities: slime: deals 5 hp damage to an opponent and poisons them for two turns. cooldown - one post
pray: restores 5 hp to everyone in the party.
spit: deals 10 hp damage to two opponents. cooldown - two posts
deshell chaser: inflicts 5 hp damage to an opponent, or 10 hp damage if they are inflicted with deshell. cooldown - one post

and when you receive your monster pet, it's advised to add a category to the first post of your battle stats, below your inventory, containing your pet information. this will be added to the template, but if you've already posted your battle stats before the update, remember to add it! when you store it, it will look something like this:

miniflan, level 3: minus three posts cooldown on every white magic spell.
--- hp: 35 hp
--- exp: 13 exp total. to level 4 - 10 exp (20 exp total); 5 - 15 exp (35 exp total)
--- abilities: slime: deals 5 hp damage to an opponent and poisons them for two turns. cooldown - one post
pray: restores 5 hp to everyone in the party.
spit: deals 10 hp damage to two opponents. cooldown - two posts
deshell chaser: inflicts 5 hp damage to an opponent, or 10 hp damage if they are inflicted with deshell. cooldown - one post

as long as all the information's there, you're set! you can also nickname your pet if you'd like to, just make sure the species name is in the description somewhere.

items meant for characters will work on your pet companions, also! e.g. you can resurrect them with a phoenix down, or heal them with a potion. however, there may be a few special items that you can buy that work just for your pets!

(disclaimer: the example used in this orientation may not be an actual description of a pet.)

thanks for reading, guys! that's all i've got. i hope to see you out there, raising your pet companions to be the best around!