| Mistakes, revival, and defense |
| When the EXECUTOR is struck by a target bullet, it is counted as a mistake and you lose 1 life. If you get hit while on your last life, you are defeated (see continues, below). | ||||||||
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| TERRA and STELLA fall in proportion with the frequency of mistakes when a life is lost. | ||||||||
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| If you still have lives after a mistake, you will revive and may continue to play. Revival takes some time, so you cannot move right away.  | ||||||||
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| There are some exceptions: : With SOLIDSTATE and discharge available : With ASPIRANT, full SOL, and fewer than 4 lives (auto rejection) In these cases, defenses activate and the life is not lost (may activate up to 3 times per segment).   The other effects are less severe, but it still counts towards mistake frequency. In other words, you may accrue more mistakes than you have lives, so it cannot be said to be universally advantageous. | ||||||||
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| The penalties for mistakes and defenses are as follows. Mistakes | |||||||||
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| ASPIRANT auto rejection | |||||||||
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| SOLIDSTATE | |||||||||
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| The Scent of Death (stable and unstable states) |
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| For 30 seconds after a mistake, red stars will orbit the EXECUTOR in a clockwise ellipse. The stars show the EXECUTOR's unstable state after revival--if you get hit during this state, STELLA and TERRA will fall greatly. They begin in a wide orbit, and draw closer to the EXECUTOR as the 30 seconds pass.  |
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| If you don't get hit, the red stars will be replaced with blue stars in a counter-clockwise orbit. This shows the EXECUTOR's return to a stable state, and causes STELLA to increase. They begin in a narrow orbit, which gets wider as STELLA increase approaches maximum.  |
| EXTEND |
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| When the life NECESSARY counter on the left panel reaches 0, life is extended by 1. (The counter will fall with time, aside from in (most) boss battles) The EXTEND also grants 1 second of invulnerability, and converts all target bullets to ingots. It also raises the NECESSARY counter's maximum value. (Character-specific base value + number of EXTENDs * character-specific growth factor) In other words, the time between EXTENDs grows longer. Check here, as well. |
| REVIVE |
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| REVIVE relics, which appear in certain areas, grant 1 extra life. They have no other effects, positive or negative. |
| REGENERATE ASSIST |
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| In SEGMENTs 1 and 2, the player EXECUTOR is still receiving support from nearby allies, so if lives drop below a certain number, they will quickly replenish. However, they will replenish more slowly as more mistakes are made, so this should not be relied upon too heavily. Also, like an EXTEND, this will increase the time to the next EXTEND.  |
| BREAKTHROUGH |
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| When SPIRITs or KILLs pass certain points, LIFE increases by 1. Each can only happen once per session (so 2 lives total) The EXTEND counter is reset, making it easier to get more lives. It may be useful to invest the lives from earlier on in certain strategies, so the reset should help with the late game. |
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| The required values are as follows: SPIRIT: 52000000 (or 62000000 if the KILL condition is met first) KILL : 2500 (or 5000 if the SPIRIT condition is met first) |
| IMMORTAL |
| When an EXTEND is triggered while lives are at maximum ("Immortal"), the excess LIFE is converted to SPIRIT as an IMMORTAL BONUS. | ||
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| Normal EXTENDs provide 800000 SPIRITs. | |
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| BREAKTHROUGH EXTENDs provide 2000000 SPIRITs. | |
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| Also, the IMMORTAL BONUS is multiplied by 400000 points after each time it is triggered. | |
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| If triggered in certain places, the BONUS may affect the placement of targets later in the SEGMENT. | |
| Target flash color when hit |
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| Red: the target can be destroyed simply by attacking. Targets with large reserves of health will flash brighter red as their health gets lower. |
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| Green: the target is not to be considered destructible. |
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| Blue: the target is destructible, but more SPIRITs will be granted if certain conditions are met first. The target will flash red once its conditions are met.  |
| SEAL (projectile blocking) |
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| By moving close to a target, it is possible to gain control of their weapon systems and prevent attacks. Targets within the sealing radius are marked with [SEAL]. This has no effect on some targets. (There is little correlation between the target's size or attack power and its sealability. Bosses are the same) |
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| [SEAL] is not shown over unaffected targets. |
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| Targets which leave the sealing radius will remain sealed for a short time. |
| When lives run out: continue and game over |
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| You may continue once when you run out of lives, returning to the initial state. You may not continue after completing the Shrine of Farewell.  |
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| Choose DECEIVE IT to continue. Choose SURRENDER or allow the timer below the to run out to end the session. |
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| If the continue is unavailable, the session ends immediately. |
| Target health and SPIRITs |
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| White percentages above targets show their remaining health. Similarly, there may be green numbers beneath the percentages. These show the number of SPIRITs obtained from destroying the target as it is at the moment. The amount will change depending on how much you shoot and on STELLA, but this can be a rough guide. |
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When attacking a target, the number of spirits gained (response/feedback) rises with the density of the battle (the number of bullets simultaneously striking targets and target parts). The horizontal bar near the SPIRIT counter on the right panel shows the current SPIRIT feedback. The SPIRITs inside the targets will build up in response to denser attacks. This buildup will be added to the SPIRITs gained upon destruction of the target. Also, in cases where one part of the target is dependent on another, buildup in the child part will be transmitted to the parent part, raising the parent's SPIRITs. Thus, depending on the targets' structure and the timing of attacks, the SPIRITs gained can vary widely. |
| MASTER/SLAVE - UNCHAIN |
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| Some enemies may be labelled with [MASTER], and surrounded by several SLAVEs. Red lines can be seen connected the SLAVEs to the MASTER.  If the MASTER is destroyed, the dependent SLAVEs will be released from control, and usually will self-destruct. (This does not increase the KILL counter)  This phenomenon is referred to as [UNCHAIN], and the more SLAVEs released (not yet destroyed when the MASTER is), the more SPIRITs obtained. Of course, when playing for KILLs, it will no doubt be better to instead destroy all the SLAVEs before attacking the MASTER. |
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When aiming simply to survive, neither strategy will be best 100% of the time. It may be best to destroy the MASTERs of troublesome SLAVEs, and conversely to ignore difficult MASTERs and attack their SLAVEs. There may also be times where there is no clear weak point to cut through, when playing to survive. |
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Also, stronger SLAVEs may drop valuable relics (such as lives), and more challenging UNCHAINs may result in similar rewards, so can be worth trying to do things the hard way once in a while. |
| Freezing |
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| When a target is destroyed, there will momentarily appear an elliptical ring which drains spirits from target bullets. The drained spirits will appear as LUNA droplets (TOKENs). |
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| In certain situations this may be useful for maintaining LUNA levels, but usually there is no specific need to aim for large numbers of TOKENs. Of course, when trying to increase your TOKEN counter, this is invaluable. |
| Knockback immunity |
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| While invulnerable (after having revived or discharge, for instance), the EXECUTOR ignores knockback. However, it is best to be careful to not move anywhere too bizarre.  |
| About discharge STELLA reduction |
| SELF ECLIPSE (triggering STELLA drops) |