Battle Rank (BR) is the Last Remnant's version of a leveling scheme.  Unlike traditional RPGs where character level translates directly into character strength, BR is a measure of battlefield performance that boosts enemy difficulty and enables certain team improvements as it rises. It can be viewed after battle, or on the PC version, the party menu screen and save/load screens.

There are two individual Battle Ranks present in the game. The one which is visible is the Army's Battle Rank. The hidden one is the Unit Battle Rank, which every unit has their own starting Battle Rank and it scales independently based solely on their individual battle time.

• The Army Battle Rank is used to gauge the starting Army Morale on the battlefield, and the difficulty compensation applied to the enemy Army.
• The Unit Battle Rank is used to calculate the applied Stat Growth compensation for each particular character. Each unit has a 2-dimensional table which maps out Enemy Battle Rank difference vs Stat Growth rate. Each unit's Stat Growth vs Battle Rank Difference table has 6 fixed mapping points at static BR difference values. The mapping covers a range of up to 50 Battle Ranks and in most cases the minimal stat growth with be ~ 50% of base growth at the lowest resolution (when difference favours a Friendly Unit/Army) and somewhere between 63-68% of base Stat Growth at the highest resolution (when difference is at least 48-50 ranks between friendly unit and enemy unit). At this point the stat growth for a given unit will be at it's greatest, and appears to be further boosted when Army Morale Rank Difference is also favoring the Enemy Army.

So basically through an Army and Unit Battle Rank the system can scale extremely well above and beyond a rank of 130, and on PC at least doesn't punish the player noticeably if they accrue a massive Battle Rank.

Battle Rank Effects Edit

BR effects on XBOX 360

• Increased BR effectively decreases the rewards for fighting monsters.
• Increased BR increases enemy stats, most notably, HP.
• Increased BR has no effect on rare monster stats, most notably their HP.
• Increased BR causes enemies to use improved versions of their techniques.
• Increased BR enables various unit enhancements, including weapon upgrades and access to new skill sets.
• Increased BR allows access to various additional recruits, notably a large number of soldiers.

BR effects on PC

• Increased BR has little effect on the rewards for fighting monsters.
• Increased BR increases enemy stats, most notably, HP.
• Increased BR causes enemies to use improved versions of their techniques.
• Increased BR enables various unit enhancements, including weapon upgrades and access to new skill sets.
• Increased BR allows access to various additional recruits, notably a large number of soldiers.

Battle Rank Strategy Edit

In The Last Remnant, character strength is primarily based upon base stats like Strength and Intellect, which are, in turn, mostly increased by fighting battles. The stat bonuses earned for winning a battle are partially determined by BR.  With a low BR, the game will consider a given set of enemies relatively stronger than the party, and will make it easier for allies to gain stats.  With a high BR, the game will consider the enemy relatively weaker, and will make it harder for allies to gain stats. Therefore, to gain more stats from monsters, it is a good idea to keep BR low.

One fairly risky strategy to keeping BR low is allowing ally unions to fall then revive them several times during battle. Unions falling is more likely when facing stronger enemies, which in turn balances out the BR gain from fighting high BR encounters (larger BR difference = higher BR gain). As the BR gains are also dependent on how many enemy unions are terminated, the most efficient way to gain stats relative to BR gain is to find a strong/robust single-union encounter and combine it with accruing a large number of unit KOs. Turn count may also have some influence on BR gains, so finishing a battle quickly may limit it.

XBOX: BR is increased more quickly if more enemies are linked in one battle. Therefore, to keep BR low, fight enemies one at a time. This way, BR will increase more slowly, allowing more stat gains per BR earned. This effect has been dramatically reduced in the PC version.