Hello and welcome to my first guide!

Here, you'll find gameplay basics to help you get started in Artifact Adventure. It is a great game with a lot of heart, but it didn't get an amazing language translation and the devs apparently didn't put a TON of effort into making it easy to play. There are a lot of things that aren't well-explained. That's okay, though... I'm here to help you out!

If you get through this guide and feel like you want more information, please feel free to check out Endarire's guide here!

Alrighty! Let's jump right in, shall we?

To start off, let's get the controls sorted out:

Basics:
• Arrow Keys -- Move in menus and in the play area.
  
• Shift + Arrow Keys -- Walk in most areas. Does not work on the overworld map.
  
• Enter, Z, or Space -- Select or interact. I found that Z was somewhat buggy in the character creation screen, but it works fine otherwise.
  
• Esc or X -- Your traditional select/back key. This will either cancel or open up your ingame menus.

Program Menus:
• F1 -- This opens the generic RPG Maker properties menu. It's not of a TON of use unless you're familiar with RPG Maker and it's keybinds. (Or if you can read Japanese)
  The first screen:
  -Start in Full Screen
  -Display at a Steady Frame Rate
  -Play Background Music
  -Play Sound Effects
  
• F2 -- Displays more information on top of the window, namely FPS.
  
• F12 -- Quit to Title Menu without saving.

Quality of Life:
• Q & W -- These switch between the leading character while walking around (Highly important!!). Also allows you to switch between characters in the menus.
  
• Shift + Z -- Sell individual items instead of a full stack.
  
• Shift -- Helps distinguish which items have a special use during important events.
  
• Alt + Enter -- Enables Fullscreen.

That's it! Let's go ahead and move on!

Sweet! You've made it this far... now we can get to the good stuff!


Let's start off with a big one and the main reason I even started this guide:

On your journey, you will collect many different artifacts... Picking them up is a great way to help you along, but it's not QUITE that simple. You see, if you aren't careful, the wrong person will get the artifact and you can never give it to another party member!

In order to fix this, ensure that the right person is 'leading' your group. "How do I do that?" You might ask... Well, I'm here to give you good news! It's rather simple, really; just use Q and W to cycle through your leading party member until the right person is visible!

Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to more exciting tips!

• Inventory: Managed on a per-character basis. Any item you pick up goes into the leading character's inventory. These can be used or given to another character within the ingame menus.
  
• Mid-Battle Equipment Changes: Equipment can be changed during battle by selecting 'Item' then selecting the item you'd like to equip. This may require that the person already be holding the new piece of equipment.
  
• Special Use Items: Some weapons and other items can be used mid-battle to trigger a special effect. Make sure you do any testing on easy monsters so you don't lose anyone!
  
• Formation: Formation is determined by the order of your characters in the menus. The first two characters are in the front row and the last two are in the back.
  
• Power Ups: Throughout the game, there are potions and other items that can permanently increase a trait such as HP or MP. Use them wisely!
  
• Poison: Your party members can be poisoned. If it happens, they will take damage both in AND outside of combat. Cleansing Tonics will remove the status.

This list is by no means complete, so please let me know if you come across any great tips you'd like to share!

When you first open up the game in Steam, you are greeted with a cheery little language selection window. Click on English (or Japanese).

Next, you're greeted with the title screen. Select New Game using the Arrow Keys and Enter or Z.

Select which Journal you wish to use. You can have up to 10(!) saved games.

Now, you get to put together your party. Use the Arrow Keys to navigate left and right and Enter or Z to select a character. When you do so, class information will be displayed. You then select Yes to recruit the character or No to go back and select a different one. Feel free to read through all of the class information!

Give the new character a name. Arrow Keys to navigate, Z is select and X is backspace.

Once your party is complete, you'll find yourself in front of a King who is requesting your assistance. Speak with him using Enter or Z and navigate with the Arrow Keys. Be sure to speak to all the people you see to learn more about the world and the game. You're now ready to be off on your way!

Good luck on your adventures!

Thank you all for stopping by and reading! I hope this guide has been of some use to you. If you have any comments, ideas, or just wanna chat, please feel free to use the comment section below. Good luck hunting down those artifacts!

--Llurendt

P.S. Endarire has posted a TON of useful information in the comments section - Please check it out!