Contrary to what the developers would have you believe, Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is a mobile base-building war game, rather than an MMORPG. As we argued earlier in our review of the game, though, we were more than willing to forgive this slight misrepresentation once we got into the complex gameplay and the multitude of strategic decisions that ultimately comprised our successful reign.

What’s more, we quickly realized that A New Empire actually does also include a few RPG elements – most notably through its use of heroes, their primary targets, the monsters, and minimalistic quests. Below, we take a closer look at the latter two of these features.

Quests Made (Too?) Easy

A long tradition of RPGs in the Final Fantasy series has accustomed players to a certain type of story-heavy quests. This, however, is not at all the case in Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. On the contrary, in this mobile strategy game, quests are nothing more than a time meter. To start a quest, you press the right button and presto! The meter begins to fill and, once the timer is complete, you get to collect the rewards.

What just happened during said quest? Nobody knows. All we know is that there are multiple types of quests – Empire, Hero, Guild, and VIP. Empire quests are similar to achievements because they are awarded to you once you complete certain buildings or research skills, rather than on a timer basis. Hero quests grant hero EXP and empire resources, guild quests reward loyalty points, while VIP quests offer a combination of both, but are only available when you activate your VIP status.

Although not amazing in terms of role-play, quests are still an important part of building a successful empire. If you can, log in every 5-6 hours to start and complete any new quests.

Monsters in the Realm

A far more interesting feature in Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire is your ability to have your hero hunt realm monsters. We’ve covered hero upgrades and uses in a different guide, so we’ll only focus on the monsters themselves for the rest of this article.

Why would you want to go out and hunt monsters when they look so cuddly? For one, we are told, they seek to destroy the realm and all of its kingdoms! That’s pretty much the extent of the background story we get on these creatures, but couple it with the fact that they drop a bunch of useful loyalty points and we’re motivated enough. Temporary Solo Kill Monster Events also reward plenty of goodies for engaging and slaying realm pests, so if you see the event on the right side of the screen, it’s a great time to go hunting.

There are also a few things you can do to increase both the amount of loot on a monster and your event reward. Your journey will likely begin inside the University, where you must find and research Monster Tactics Level 1 (under the Hero tree) to become able to send your hero on hunts. All skills in the second level of the tree, including MP Recovery, March Speed, and Critical Hit, will also make a significant difference, especially once you take them to rank 5.

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Next, you should make sure that you hero is wearing the appropriate gear. Several legendary sets – such as Hunter’s, Beastmaster’s, Dreadmist, and (Master) Monster Slayer’s – contain pieces that add huge bonuses to your total MP, MP Recovery, hero attack, hero marching speed, and streak per attack. Work your way towards these sets (in the Armory) whenever possible.

Finally, it’s time to get out on the map and find a suitable monster. Note that you can only hunt monsters whose level is equal to or lower than your highest Monster Tactics rank. If you’ve only researched Monster Tactics Level 1, for example, you’ll have to find a level 1 monster to be able to send your hero for an attack.

Once you’ve acquired a target, you’ll notice that you can task your hero with a normal attack or a max attack. Because the Solo Kill Monster Event gives you score each time you engage a monster, you can actually get more loot if you hit the monster more times before killing it. To this end, you should remove all of your hero gear and perform several normal attacks. Only once you’re at approximately 25% hero MP should you re-equip your items and order a max attack to attempt to kill the beast.

Monsters in the Proving Grounds

Although this won’t count towards your monster event score, you can also take a stab at a monster inside your own kingdom, in the Proving Grounds. Each hit requires 50 Ether, which is a different resource than you typical hero MP. You get one free attack in the Proving Grounds per day, but can purchase more Ether from the guild shop using loyalty points.

Unfortunately, no hero research buff or piece of armor will improve the damage your hero does inside the Proving Grounds. Each hit counts for a fixed 20% of the monster’s health, but also offers decent loot, including resources, gold, and speed-ups. Once the monster is defeated, you get to choose 1 of 3 possible rewards. One of these three options is usually extra shiny (VIP points, millions of resources, tons of gold, you get the idea), but you have to be lucky to click the right one.

That’s it! Armed with this knowledge, you are now able to tackle realm monsters far and wide in Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire. Before you go hunting, don’t forget to check the guild shop for all kinds of useful bonuses – including MP boosts, marching speed, and hero attack. Finally, bear in mind that all players will be looking for monsters when an event is on, so you want to find and hit the monster closest to your kingdom as quickly as possible!

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