Hey, after spending hours playing i was looking through my gems and realised i didn't know what some did and also had the same stat choice in bulk in Emelita's dark costume (http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8320/cg000001.jpg), other than being obscenely expensive, what use is there in dark+1 and equivalents?

Dark + 1 Increases defense against the dark element

Earth, Fire, etc. increase the armor's corresponding resist by 1 level.
The rest should be self-explanatory, I think.

Btw, it's "obscenely expensive" because the last upgrade you bought (marked by the character's head) is whopping 14 cells away. Normally it would cost 78120s / 14 = 5560s (IINM).

point taken.

Thanks for clearing it up for me.