Soul Emblems:
Soul Emblems are items that represent relationships with certain characters and can be obtained as you progress through the story. All of the Soul Emblems that you’ve obtained can be viewed on the Community menu.
Soul Emblems don’t do anything by themselves, but by setting them to a community board, you can activate effects that will help you on your adventure.
Community Board:
Community boards are where you set your Soul Emblems. Emblems can be set or removed at any time, so if you get your hands on a new emblem, don’t forget to set it to a community board!
To set a Soul Emblem to a board, press "A" on the Soul Emblems menu and select the one you want to set.
Community Rank:
A community’s rank is influenced by the overall community level of the Soul Emblems you have set. Once the overall community level reaches a certain value, the community’s rank will increase and you’ll gain access to more of its community skills, which provide helpful effects on your adventure.
As a community’s overall level is dependent on the community level of the Soul Emblems set to it, it is also possible to lower a community’s rank by adding or removing emblems.
Community Level:
Soul Emblems have community levels that affect the community to which they are set. Some emblems may be better suited to certain communities but not others. Setting them to certain communities will increase the maximum community-level. Increasing proficiency will increase a community’s level.
Link Bonuses:
Placing specific Soul Emblems next to one another will active a Link Bonus. Activating a Link Bonus raises a community’s level which in turn makes it easier to raise the overall rank of the community.
List of Communities and their focuses:
- Z Warrior Community – Focuses on community skills that will help you in battle.
- Training Community – Focuses on community skills that boost EXP gain and DEF, among other effects.
- Cooking Community – Focuses on community skills that will help you cook.
- Development Community – Focuses on community skills that help with development, such as increasing vehicle level and abilities.
- Adventure Community – Focuses on community skills that will help you on your adventure, such as increasing Ki and HP recovery.
- Community of the Gods – Focuses on community skills that affect items earned from battles.
- Adult Community – Focuses on community skills that aid in earning Zeni.
Gift Items:
A Soul Emblem’s Friendship and Proficiency can both be increased by using gifts.
Raising an emblem’s proficiency to a certain amount will increase its community level. The community that is affected will depend on the gift given. For example, the “Sacred Text of Martial Arts” item increases proficiency in the Z Warrior Community.
Friendship influences how characters perform in battle.
Proficiency:
Giving gifts from the Community menu on the Soul Emblems screen increases proficiency within a community. Different items increase different communities’ proficiencies and Friendship levels (which affects how support characters perform in battle).