How to Escape From Battle in Final Fantasy Resonance (and What Retry Does)

Final Fantasy Resonance uses a turn-based battle system. When a character becomes active, their command list includes Attack, Skills, a Vision skills row (for example, Leah’s Skills or Summon Esper if that character has one), Defend, Items, and Escape. Escape is available in that menu, though it may fail or be unavailable in certain encounters.

Quick answer: Select Escape at the bottom of the battle commands and confirm for a party member. Most random encounters allow it, although the attempt may fail; boss and story battles disable the option.

A press upward with Attack selected jumps the cursor to Escape. A failed escape may leave that command dimmed until the encounter ends. If all party members are defeated, Retry replays that encounter from its opening rather than returning you to your most recent save.

Way out	How	When it works
Escape command	Last row of the command menu, then confirm	Random battles; can fail
Smoke Bomb	Items in battle	“escapable battles”; 300 Gil in shops
Mechabo Escape	Lid’s skill	“Escape from battle guaranteed.”
Retry	After “The party has fallen…”	Restarts the battle from the beginning

How to escape from battle

On a character’s turn, move the cursor to Escape, the last row of the command menu. The quickest route is to press up while the cursor sits on Attack, which wraps it straight to Escape. Its tooltip reads “Attempt to escape from battle.”

Battle command menu with Escape selected: Attempt to escape from battle. — Escape is the last command.

Select Escape to proceed to party selection; the targeting marker will sit over a member, for example, “Lv.14 Lasswell”.

Target cursor on Lv 14 Lasswell after choosing Escape — Confirm on a party member.

Choose that member with a second confirmation. A successful attempt closes the encounter and returns you to the field at its starting location.

Back on the field in Siren's Tower after escaping — Back on the field after escaping.

Escape worked for us in random battles in Siren’s Tower, the Mobliz Shipyard and the Cave of Waters, including a fight against an Adamantoise with two Anet. It is also the fastest way through a timed section. During the Mobliz Shipyard escape, a successful run costs about 15-20 seconds of the timer, against a few minutes for a full fight. For the rest of the battle inputs, see the controls and keybinds.

Why Escape is greyed out

A greyed-out Escape row comes down to one of two things.

A failed escape attempt

A failed Escape attempt may disable the command until the encounter ends. This occurs in a Chapter 1 battle against Cutpurses and against a Centipede group at the Mobliz Shipyard; in both cases, fighting is the sole remaining choice. At the Cave of Waters, after failed attempts in an encounter with two ghosts and two rats, Escape is likewise dimmed when Fina takes her turn.

Battle command menu with Escape greyed out after a failed escape — Escape greyed out after a failed try.

Boss and story battles

In boss and story fights, Escape is greyed out from the first turn. That covers Umbra outside Grandshelt Castle, the scripted Goblin fight on Felicitas island, Gilgamesh in Siren’s Tower, Epimetheus at the Mobliz Shipyard and Wave Lopros in the Cave of Waters. These battles have to be won.

Wave Lopros battle command menu with Escape greyed out — No escape from a boss.

Other ways to run: Smoke Bomb and Mechabo Escape

The Smoke Bomb item reads “Allows the party to flee from escapable battles.” You use it from Items during a fight. It costs 300 Gil, and stock is limited: the Felicitas item shop sells only three, listed as “Remaining: 3”. The Olderion shops carry it too.

Felicitas item shop: Smoke Bomb 300 Gil, Allows the party to flee from escapable battles — Smoke Bomb in the shop.

Lid can do the same with Mechabo Escape, described as “[Mechabo Skill] Escape from battle guaranteed.” Boss encounters cannot be escaped, so neither this skill nor a Smoke Bomb will work there. See the full items list for other supplies to stock.

Lid's skill Mechabo Escape: Escape from battle guaranteed — Lid’s Mechabo Escape.

The party has fallen: Retry, Load or Return to Title

Knock out the entire party and the screen displays “The party has fallen…” alongside three options: Retry, Load, and Return to Title.

The party has fallen... with Retry, Load and Return to Title — The screen when the party falls.

Retry asks “Retry this battle from the beginning?” with the cursor resting on No, so move it before you confirm. Choosing Yes restarts the same fight at the HP and MP you had when it began. Everything you did since your last save stays, including items picked up and chests opened.

Retry this battle from the beginning? with Yes and No — Retry restarts the battle.

Choosing Load opens the list of saved files, whereas Return to Title exits to the title screen. Retry is available for ordinary encounters (including an Adamantoise with two Anet) and bosses such as Wave Lopros; often, starting over with a new approach is enough.

When to run and when to fight

When MP is running low and the nearest save point is distant, or a countdown is underway, flee random encounters. In other situations, take the fights for their EXP, Gil, and MRP rewards. The beginner tips explain how these gains benefit your party.

Some dungeons have no save point between floors, such as the raft areas in the Cave of Waters. There, Retry after a loss beats reloading and losing your progress. It still pays to know how to save before heading in.