Photon Points
Photon Points (generally abbreviated as PP) are a numerical indicator of the amount of power a weapon has left. This power is used for various Photon Arts, which are divided into three categories; Skills for Melee Weapons, Bullets for Ranged Weapons, and Techniques for Casting Weapons.
Melee Weapons
For Melee Weapons such as Sabers, Knuckles and Swords, PP is used to power special attacks which can be included in combos, known as Skills. If the amount of PP a melee weapon has left is too low to cover the cost of the Skill, the Skill cannot be used until enough PP is restored to use the attack. The weapon remains perfectly usable otherwise.
Ranged Weapons
For Ranged Weapons, including Handguns, Longbows, and Machineguns, PP is used to power standard attacks; since Bullet Photon Arts are passive, usually giving a special element and status effect to a ranged weapon, and increasing their power while decreasing their accuracy. When the PP of the weapon is depleted, it cannot fire at all until PP is restored. Anybody using ranged weapons, and Rangers especially, need to be careful of PP management when firing them, and also need to bring a number of different guns so that they do not run out of PP in battle, and be forced to melee.
Casting Weapons
The Photon Arts of Casting Weapons -- Techniques -- work similar to Skills, though these weapons cannot be used for any other kinds of attacks, ruling out the ability to make combos as well. Techniques have more applications than other Photon Arts as well, and as such will be a Force's main way of attacking, supporting and healing. Thus, again, PP management is important, as is carrying multiple weapons with different sets of Techniques of them and switching between them. It is important to note that since Techniques can only be attached to casting weapons, and since these can only be used by Forces, in order to use these, Hunters and Rangers would need to have their class changed first.
Restoring PP
PP can be restored in the following ways:
- By using a Photon Charger; these can be bought from Shops, but are quite expensive.
- By using a Photon Charge Cube, these can be found in Cities and Outposts, and may appear once or twice in certain areas during a Mission. They charge a small fee, depending on the amount off PP to be restored.
- Or by natural regeneration. Regeneration is based on the END stat, however it seems to be rather slow.
