Challenge

Challenge mode is a secondary game mode that can be selected during party creation. It can be played in Episode 1 or Episode 2, and is divided into stages which are further divided into areas. Episode 1 has nine stages consisting of 46 total areas, and Episode 2 has five stages consisting of 29 total areas. Stages must be completed sequentially in order to progress.

At the beginning of each stage, players are set to a predetermined level based on the stage and given an inventory based on the stage and their class. At the beginning of each stage, players begin with one or more Scape Dolls in their inventory. If any player in the party is killed without a Scape Doll in their inventory to revive them, the party fails the stage and will be forced to restart in order to continue.

After the stage is completed, all instanced items, character levels, and stats will be gone. Every attempt at a given challenge stage will begin with the same parameters, and challenge mode progress does not affect normal mode progress outside of the rewards listed below.

Challenge mode is a timed game mode, and time is tracked per stage and per character. The timer starts at the beginning of the stage and ends when the final enemy in the stage is killed.

Unlike normal mode, challenge mode utilizes unique weapon attribute drop tables featuring a bias towards higher attribute values and an exclusion of irrelevant weapon attributes for monsters found in the stage. These tables are unaffected by player Section IDs.

Various features and items are omitted during a challenge stage, such as access to Pioneer 2 prior to stage completion, Telepipes, Moon Atomizers, rare drops, Meseta, Charge weapon special, or untekked weapons (weapons with specials are already identified).

Stages

Challenge Mode Stages

Episode 1	Episode 2
Stage 1: Forest	Stage 1: VR Temple
Stage 2: Cave 1	Stage 2: VR Spaceship
Stage 3: Cave 2	Stage 3: Central Control Area
Stage 4: Cave 3	Stage 4: Seabed
Stage 5: Mine 1	Stage 5: Tower
Stage 6: Mine 2
Stage 7: Ruins 1
Stage 8: Ruins 2
Stage 9: Ruins 3

Rewards

The rewards for challenge mode are based on the final rank and the episode in which it was played. The player will have their choice of the below rewards if they complete the corresponding challenge mode within the listed time frame.

	Time	Rank	Reward Options
Episode 1	<7 hours	S	ES weapons (Episode 1)
	7-13 hours	A	Gods Shield "Suzaku"
	>13 hours	B	Gods Shield "Byakko"
Episode 2	<5 hours	S	ES weapons (Episode 2)
	5-9 hours	A	Yellow Ring
	>9 hours	B	Hunter Field Ranger Field Force Field

Strategy

Because the two critical elements of challenge mode are getting a low time and staying alive, strategy for the game mode typically revolves around methods to optimize these two elements. For lowering time, this means clearing enemies efficiently and only doing what's necessary to proceed (i.e. not clearing any unnecessary enemies or pressing unnecessary switches). For staying alive, this means managing healing effects and dodging attacks to minimize deaths.

The following table contains links to guides written for each stage of Challenge mode. These guides include maps and describe the routes for completing each stage, including the necessary enemies to clear.

Episode 1	Clear Time	Episode 2	Clear Time
Stage 1: Forest	13"	Stage 1: VR Temple	65"
Stage 2: Cave 1	47"	Stage 2: VR Spaceship	55"
Stage 3: Cave 2	40"	Stage 3: Central Control Area	45"
Stage 4: Cave 3	45"	Stage 4: Seabed	85"
Stage 5: Mine 1	40"	Stage 5: Tower	50"
Stage 6: Mine 2	50"
Stage 7: Ruins 1	60"
Stage 8: Ruins 2	55"
Stage 9: Ruins 3	70"