The Final Fantasy VI Advance Walkthrough and Battle Tactics Guide Version 2.5 Djibriel, August 2007 "It doesn't seem fair, does it?" "Who says life is fair?" - Final Fantasy IIIus ad ..."The OC guide to beating the game while rabid and one-armed making clever use of a wall" - Imzogelmo Contents No number: Contents Foreword (11/14/2005, by Imzogelmo) 1.0 Version History 2.0 Introduction 3.0 Set-up of the document, and slang you're going to start recognizing 4.0 The Walkthrough 5.0 Menus and Game Options: As boring as a concrete floor in math class 6.0 Characters. Poor saps. 7.0 Game mechanics; real quick, I promise 8.0 Not Infrequently Asked Questions 9.0 Espers and their Magicite 10.0 Final Fantasy VI Junkie links and contact information 11.0 Credits; People I love because they've done things I wanted them to do No number: Disclaimer ********************************** Foreword (11/14/2005, by Imzogelmo) ********************************** The year was 1994. Until that time, humanity seemed a bleak existence -- why, the 20th century alone saw the world ravaged by two world wars, a tense period known as the Cold War, and various regional conflicts. Finally, in the latter decades of the century, a new ray of hope emerged -- the video game. Instead of fighting and killing one another, now mankind could do so vicariously or, if it was preferred, two could team up and do battle against a fictional foe. Like all forms of expression, the video game underwent many reformations (or generations) before the recipe became "just right." Several genres of game sprang into being: platform games, shoot-em-ups, action/adventures, sports, puzzlers, fighting games, and RPGs. Each type of game appealed to a different type of player or interest, and all the while advances were being made both in capacity of games' data and complexity of the hardware used to run it. By the early 1990's, the types of presentation that would work with a given genre were well-established, and players could afford to specialize in a particular genre without narrowing the field of games too greatly. That brings us back to 1994, or, as Nintendo called it, "The year of the cartridge." In that year, _Final_Fantasy_VI_ was released, and there was much rejoicing. The genre was RPG; the fictional foe was the evil Emperor Gestahl, and later, the pompous nihilist Kefka. Sure, there were other RPGs before it, but none that struck the perfect balance of character similarity vs. diversity, importance of storyline vs. gameplay, and plot linearity vs. non-linearity. The depth of characters and robustness of the game engine (plus the time investment required to fully explore the nuances of the game) made this one of the highest-rated games in terms of replayability. Furthermore, the vivid graphics and moving musical score made it a complete experience, not just a game. "But it is just a game!" I hear someone in the back say. No, it is not just a game. In the fast-paced world where information is old as soon as it can be emailed, a video game generally has a very small window of time that it is considered new or exciting. For the early history of video games that may not have been so true, but for the entire history of this game, the internet has been a very influential medium for discussion among players. For many fans of the series, this is still the greatest game, in spite of the hype surrounding some of its successors. So no, it is not "just a game" -- it is a culture. And like many great cultures, it needs great works to explain, enhance, and record its story. To document every piece of useful (and no-so-useful) data on a culture -- that's a difficult task. Many approximations have come forward, but always they have had inaccurate, inconsistent, or insufficient information. That is not meant as an insult on previous guides -- like I said, it's difficult. Much information has been uncovered through deliberate playing and replaying of the game, through hacking its internal code and data, and through combined effort of its many fans. This guide seeks to improve upon and surpass all previous attempts. This guide seeks to be the great work of which I speak. This guide covers _everything_. ********************************** 1.0 Version History ********************************** Version History: - Version 2.5 (02/07/2014) Still at it? Don't I have a job or a family or something? Upgraded some things, mainly due to some experimentation with games where no characters get KOd. Rewrote the Rizopas section. In the Phantom Train, there is a compartment with two hidden items, a Tent and a Fairy Ring. This compartment can be accessed from two consecutive cars in what is a strange but apparantly intentional event. Described it in this new version. I missed a treasure! There was an Ether to be found in WoR Mobliz. Where I previously advised to obtain Sabin ASAP in the WoR without much further discussion, I've discovered the merits of not doing so. I now explain the advantages and disadvantages of your choices. I fixed a monster formation pack in the Phantom Forest. It was not correct. Added a note on how enemy NPCs respawn once during Kefka's Raid on the snowy hills of Narshe. I improved the Flame Eater section with the Rasp strategy and some notes on Grenade. Added a note on the possibility of training Celes, Edgar, Setzer and Gau at the start of the WoR to inflate the level of the other characters to be recruited. Improved and streamlined the Colosseum sections. Made a lot of changes to the chapters detailing Kefka's Tower. Mostly I've made the party transition moments more obvious, broke up the endless list of monster formation chances and monster descriptions into room-by-room bits and give a simple and functional example of possible teams that allow Locke and Strago to face Fiend and steal that Safety Bit and learn that Forcefield Lore. - Version 2.4 (02/28/2012) It never ends! A quick update, this. Implemented a note about the way the Floating Continent handles available monster formations for you to fight. Added a note on Shadow lacking Interceptor protection when walking to Thamasa when you didn't recruit him in Sabin's scenario or Kohlingen. - Version 2.3 (02/28/2012) Most importantly, I guess, is that I combed the document for any lingering SNES-era name with Ctrl + F. It was boring, but I did it for you. I wrote down all the moments where your character's levels are recalculated based on the party average, as well as all moments where characters are automatically de-equipped when they leave your team. I scattered notes about these phenomena where appropriate. Added some bits and pieces from the German translation of this game. Thanks for your interesting take on the game, herr Andreas Wollny! I strongly get the impression that it was translated from Japanese, not any English translation. Some noteworthy and fun bits and pieces came out of it. Fixed a wrong monster formation for the Floating Continent. Fixed a northeast/northwest mix-up in the WoB Kohlingen chapter. I knew for a while that you couldn't get rare items from Ragnarok's Metamorphose through Magicite Shards, but neglected to change this in the document. Here you go! Brushed up the Dragon's Den section in all kinds of ways, mostly typos and minor strategy adjustments such as Skull Dragon Redux using Lv. 5 Death. Added some other things across the board, such as using Valor to circumvent Ultima Buster's Ultima spell, making sure to get a Genji Helm from Gilgamesh, and added some "hilarious" insults about monsters I dislike here and there. Included obtaining Gogo as a possible part of the game-breaking "Moogle Raid" Discovered and added that the jailer in Figaro Castle also takes note of the latest in Figaro Esper research after you read the queen's diary in the Ancient Castle. Fixed a comment where I mention Blade Dancers are vulnerable to Dischord, which they are not. Added some notes on your "options" when controlling Edgar for the first time. We can only assume Edgar doesn't want to enter Narshe because he's afraid they'll hound him for his royal autographs. Fixed a whole slew of typos and bits where I confuse left and right, most notably in the Soul Shrine section. It was quite a mess. - Version 2.2 (04/06/2012) Lots of small updates lately... think of it as a new way of keeping information up-to-date, web 2.0, stuff like that! Because the update features a lot of small updates, here's a list: Due to some self-imposed challenges I re-evaluated some write-ups and improved, I think, the sections on Deathgaze and Mandrakes. I added info on how the global timer on the Floating Continent will abort battles when the place is about to blow. I made three (!) interesting changes to the Phoenix Cave section: I had overlooked a Teleport Stone chest which has been added, clever maneuvering can get you past some spikes with only 400 HP damage (not 800 as I claimed) and I added some info on how random encounters are twice as rare in the Phoenix Cave. I corrected a mistake in 1.14.1 where I advise a Heavy Shield - the least ninja-like of equipment - on Shadow while he cannot make use of it. I added a strategy for the Red Dragon when you lack Fire-resistant equipment. I fixed a mistake in section 8.8, where I previously missed how MP gain when leveling differs between the SNES and GBA release. I corrected a mistake where I say you should Sketch Vasegiatta for Aero, but you should Sketch Marchosias instead (or no bird at all). - Version 2.1 (06/14/2011) A relatively minor update. The missing desert encounters were added in section 4.30.2 and an oversight was corrected in section 8.12. In the new Advance release, the old Veteran enemy (renamed Ahriman in the new translation) no longer takes double damage from the Man-Eater), making that bit of info likely the most obscure change made by the remake team thusfar discovered. I also removed a shameful comment amount Shield Dragon's inherent Reflect status, because it has no inherent Reflect status. - Version 2.0 (02/26/2011) After much thought, I decided to merge the documents. In addition, I changed some lay-out for the better, added Bestiary numbers for the monsters encountered and fixed some random tidbits not worth mentioning. Version History (old World of Ruin document): - Version 1.0 (02/01/2008) That's much better. The walkthrough now spans the World of Ruin from beginning to end, including the Dragon's Den, the Soul Shrine and Omega Weapon. The added chapters include 7.74.1 t/m 7.77.1. In addition, some clarification was given on certain GBA-only bugs, such as Leap/Gigantuar and the item duplication bug. - Version 0.9 (01/06/2008) Initial release. This document is primarily a kind of upgrade over my FF VI walkthrough for the SNES. Version 1.2 was used as a basis. You can check the SNES document for a longer version history. The version number is 0.9 to indicate that it is not complete yet; the Dragon's Den and Soul Shrine sections are still to be written. In addition, I've decided to boycot the KO label and just call it Death; it may not be as retarded as Psyche, but I still don't like the sound of it. Version History (old World of Balance document): - Version 1.2 (12/28/2007) Fixed the missing monster formations in the IMRF and the Esper's gathering place. In addition, the shops have been straightened out (there's gotta be a system, y'know) the format of the monster formations has been made entirely consistent and I've replaced every 'esper' with 'Esper' again. I was taken aback shortly by the new translation, but decided I didn't like it. This bodes ill for the Coliseum spelling in the WoR document... - Version 1.1 (12/6/2007) With some minor corrections, this was the debut version to appear at GameFAQs - Version 1.0 (10/17/2007) Initial release. This document is primarily a kind of upgrade over my FF VI walkthrough for the SNES. Version 1.7 was used as a basis. You can check the SNES document for a longer version history. ********************************** 2.0 Introduction ********************************** Hi, I'm Djibriel. 'Sup? A very important thing to realize about this document is that it's a translation of a SNES-based document which can be found elsewhere on this site. Too bad for you lot it was done by the document's original author, that being me, so you have little room for complaining about translation 'errors' and my apparant inability to capture the original document's air. Don't forget, oh perfect reader, I know you better than you know yourself >:) The original document was first released in November 2005, and we're roughly two years down the road now. It may seem weird to some that 'simply 'adapting the original 1381 kB file took about as long as writing the monstrosity in the first place, but you'd be surprised at how much work it is! Saint Jerome and Ted Woolsey would've shared my pain I'm sure, had they not both passed away 16 centuries ago. At the very start of this document I'd like to mention that none of this would have ever happened if there weren't so many righteous characters out there who advised my walkthrough to people on the message boards, who e-mailed me just to say they enjoyed the FAQ in one way or another or otherwise made me feel like I didn't spend all this time just for personal enjoyment... I had a market to work for. Hotels around the globe replaced their Holy Bible with a printed version of the Battle Tactics Walkthrough. Rumors have comely women carry snippets of my guide in their panties to feel sexier and more confident. Like Stephen King and Robert Jordan, I had to struggle to deliver my ultimate work before Death's ever-fickle hand took me in its grip. Before you, you see the results. The all-inclusive Walkthrough and Battle Tactics Guide for Final Fantasy VI Advance. But what is this document you're seeing? Does it really contain everything? Is it some kind of Hitchhiker's Guide to FF VI Advance? The Encyclopedea CCLV VI Supremea? The Cosmog Sutra, where you'll learn all about Tantric Gameplay (lasts for hours; winning the battle is NOT the main goal)? I think the best mental image of the document can be extracted from all the following possible titles that have passed the revue while creation of the original document was still a process of the present: (by PrattDaBard, of which the last part of his name is more apt than the middle part will reveal) "The Spoiler-Filled Walkthrough" "The Ecumencial FF3 Encyclopedia" "The Compendious FF3 Companion" "The Un-Restricted FF3 Reader" "FF3: an Exhaustive Exhortation" "The All-Inclusive FF3 Compendium" "The Far-Reaching FF3 FAQ" "FF3 for Fools" "A Discursive Dissertation on FF3" "A Panoptic FF3 Primer" "FF3: The Liberal Lexicon" "The Hefty FF3 Handbook" "The Full FF3 Folio" "Djibriel's Dictionary" (by Imzogelmo) "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about FF3 (But Would've Got Flamed for Asking)" "640 KB Ought to be Enough for Anybody" (ed: 640. Heh) "The FF3 Bible" "Detailed Journal of Information By Resolute, Industrious Exploratory Learning" (ed: I especially loved this one, people with thinking brains can figure out why) (by assassin) "Mages are from Thamasa, Warriors are from Doma" "An Idiot's A-Z guide to FF3: from Albrook to Tzen" "Gestahl: The Man, the Dog, the Legend" "101 Easy Pet Care Tips for your Emperor" "Just Hold it 'til Vector: A Globetrotter's Guide to Bladder Control" "I Feel Safe in Suits: Gary Newman's Easy Tutorial to Dancing in Magitek" "Djibriel's Humility Fest" --Warning At the time of writing I have written four documents in total, all meant for Final Fantasy III for the SNES and/or Final Fantasy VI Advance for the GBA. Though the Level # Lore and Sketch Guides are more novelty knowledge than anything, grabbing my Rage Guide off the shelves could be a worthy addition, even though all directly important information is given in this document as well. My style is verbose. This document is meant for players who like to take their time for games, who like to know background information, a little extra suspense, detailed explanation for equipment choices and technique formulas. It doesn't matter if you're a first-time player or a veteran FF junkie as it gives both basic descriptions and advanced info, but as long as you like to dive in there, it's cool. However, if you're repelled by overly verbose descriptions, if you like your walkthroughs clean and quick and to the point with tables and abbreviations and all that, there are other documents for you. The one I'd like to specifically mention is the one written by Lufia_Maxim. As you can read in its final chapter, it was greatly influenced by this very, at the time untranslated document. It's got all but the useless info and it's only half the size, so he must've been doing something right. ********************************** 3.0 Set-up of the document, and slang you're going to start recognizing ********************************** First off: if you have a question, I've answered it. That's the premise we're working with here. If the question you have seems oddly GENERAL to you, as in: is of influence through the entire game, you won't find it in the Walkthrough; you will find it in the FAQ at the bottom. So, if you want to know about stats, or what-does-this-do or something, go there. Obviously, this document will use the new translation used by the GBA version of the game. Boo for Ted Woolsey, give it up for Tom Slattery! Super Famicom/SNES: Release Data Final Fantasy VI Square Enix 04/02/94 JP Final Fantasy III Square Enix 10/20/94 US PAL version: Release Data Final Fantasy VI (w/FFX Demo) Sony Interactive Studios America 03/01/02 EU Final Fantasy VI Square Enix 03/11/99 JP Anthology: Release Data Final Fantasy Anthology Electronic Arts 05/17/02 EU Final Fantasy Anthology Square Enix 09/30/99 US GBA: Release Data Final Fantasy VI Advance Square Enix 11/30/06 JP Final Fantasy VI Advance Nintendo 02/05/07 US Final Fantasy VI Advance Nintendo 06/29/07 EU Slang: Ctrl + F: That most holy of combos, the road to salvation. Had enough of the ridicule of those more adapted to today's lifestyle than you? Have you been bossed around by the 'elite' for far too long? Don't take it out on the naturally superior, but Physician, heal thyself: Ctrl + F is the search function. Learn to love it like your long-lost little brother. ST: Single-target. It targets a single target. MT: Multi-target. It targets multiple targets, in most cases all. LLG: Low Level Game. A playthrough in which the level of the characters is kept as low as possible. The current lowest score has been an average of around 7.2, ranging from 6 to 13. NMG: Natural Magic Game. Called a challenge while it's really not, it just prevents you from equipping Espers and items which teach spells. Naturally learned Magic and Lores are allowed. !Special: It's great to have an obvious distinction between spells and Special attacks, the modified physical attacks which either set a status effect, do x times as much damage as the normal physical attack or drain HP/MP. Every Special I've listed in this document (that's quite a lot) is preceded by an exclamation point to identify it as such. My Sketch Guide already featured this. The exclamation point doesn't find any feedback in the game whatsoever, and isn't canon in the current other documents out there, but I felt it was a good idea. One-hit KO attack: One-hit KO attacks are attacks that check for the one-hit KO protection bit. Most of the time, these attacks set KO (Death, Snare, ectera), but other attacks also use this feature, most noticeably percentage-based attacks like Gravity and Cyclonic. Several Petrifying spells will check for one-hit KO next to Petrify protection and the oddball Cloudy Heaven and the level-halving attack Dischord also check for it. The X-type one-hit KO of the Assassin's Dagger, Viper Darts, Ichigeki, Wing Edge and the dicing effect of the Zantetsuken also check for one-hit KO protection. The following attacks are one-hit KO attacks: Roulette, Break, Gravity, Death, Graviga, Tornado, Banish, Zantetsuken (Odin), Shin-Zantetsuken (Raiden), Demon Eye (Catoblepas), Oblivion, Tiger, Antlion, Cave in, Cockatrice, Snare, Snowball, Sonic Boom, Air Anchor, Chainsaw's one- hit KO attack, Banisher, Doom, Dischord, Lv. 5 Death, Roulette, Blaster, Cyclonic, Gravity Bomb, Cloudy Heaven, Shamshir, Sabre Soul, Star Prism Note that this makes Joker's Death the only KO-setting attack that doesn't check for the bit, and Dread Gaze the only 'normal' Petrify-setting attack that doesn't check for one-hit KO protection. In addition, while Diabolos' Dark Messenger attack and Gravija are both percentage-based attacks, neither checks for immunity to one-hit KO attacks. (Enemy) Meteor, (Umaro) Snowstorm: Both Meteor and Snowstorm, as attacks, have two incarnations in this game. There's the Meteor spell, an unblockable spell that deals non-elemental barrier-piercing damage to all targets. And then there's the enemy attack Meteor, which is blockable to the point of being rather inaccurate but a lot more powerful. When I'm talking about the spell Meteor, I'll just call it Meteor. The enemy attack Meteor is called "(enemy) Meteor" in this document to differate between the two. In addition, there are two kinds of Snowstorm attacks. The enemy attack Snowstorm, which is a weak MT Ice-elemental attack used by the Megalodoth monsters at the beginning of the game. And then there's Umaro's Snowstorm, which is far stronger but not Umaro-exclusive. Gau has access to the attack through, for instance, the Black Dragon Rage. The first will be called Snowstorm, the latter "(Umaro) Snowstorm". Redux: The Dragon's Den features eight new elemental dragons. They're called exactly the same and they look exactly the same. To differate between the two sets of dragons, I've given the Dragon's Den version the title 'Redux'. It sounds cool, and it helps :) It's Latin for 'brought back', and if anything, it references Apocalypse Now: Redux, which is an awesome movie. ********************************** 4.0 The Walkthrough ********************************** Table of Contents: 4.1.1 Prelude: The attack on Narshe 4.1.2 Prelude: The newly dug mineshaft 4.1.3 Prelude: The battle with Ymir 4.2.1 Old Man's House 4.2.2 Escape through the mines 4.3.1 Defending Terra from the Guard Leader 4.4.1 Adventuring School 4.4.2 Traveling to Figaro Castle 4.5.1 Figaro Castle 4.5.2 Fighting off Magitek power 4.6.1 Traveling through Figaro Cave 4.7.1 South Figaro 4.7.2 The Overworld Map around South Figaro 4.8.1 Sabin's Hut 4.8.2 Mt. Koltz 4.8.3 The battle with Vargas 4.9.1 Traveling to the Returners' Hideout 4.9.2 The Returners' Hideout 4.10.1 Escaping over the Lethe River 4.10.2 The first fight with Ultros 4.11.1 Choosing a scenario 4.12.1 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Lethe River continued 4.12.2 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Traveling to Narshe 4.12.3 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Narshe 4.13.1 Scenario Sabin: Meeting Shadow and finding the Imperial Camp 4.13.2 Scenario Sabin: The Imperial Camp and Doma 4.13.3 Scenario Sabin: Satellite and the Imperial Camp continued 4.14.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to the Phantom Forest 4.14.2 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Forest 4.15.1 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Train 4.15.2 Scenario Sabin: Apparition and the Phantom Train continued 4.15.3 Scenario Sabin: The battle with the Phantom Train 4.16.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to Baren Falls 4.16.2 Scenario Sabin: Baren Falls 4.16.3 Scenario Sabin: Traveling over the Veldt to Mobliz 4.17.1 Scenario Sabin: Mobliz 4.17.2 Scenario Sabin: Recruiting Gau 4.17.3 Scenario Sabin: Crescent Mountain 4.18.1 Scenario Sabin: The Serpent Trench 4.18.2 Scenario Sabin: Nikeah 4.19.1 Scenario Locke: South Figaro 4.19.2 Scenario Locke: Secret Underground Passge of South Figaro 4.20.1 Scenario Locke: Traveling to Figaro Cave 4.20.2 Scenario Locke: Figaro Cave 4.20.3 Scenario Locke: The battle with Tunnel Armor 4.21.1 Defending the Esper from Kefka 4.21.2 Hell's Rider 4.21.3 The battle with Kefka 4.22.1 Narshe 4.23.1 Traveling to Kohlingen and optional trip to the Veldt 4.24.1 Kohlingen 4.25.1 Traveling to Jidoor 4.25.2 Jidoor 4.26.1 Zozo 4.26.2 Chainsaw Riddle and Zozo continued 4.26.3 The battle with Dadaluma and the meeting with Ramuh 4.27.1 Magicite and Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor 4.28.1 The Opera House 4.28.2 The Dream Oath 4.28.3 Stopping Ultros 4.28.4 The second fight with Ultros 4.29.1 The Blackjack 4.30.1 Albrook 4.30.2 Traveling on the Southern Continent 4.30.3 The Imperial Observation Post 4.30.4 Tzen 4.30.5 Maranda 4.31.1 Vector 4.31.2 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; Magitek Factory 4.31.3 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; The Pit 4.31.4 The battle with Ifrit and Shiva 4.31.5 Imperial Magitek Research Facility 4.31.6 The battle with Number 024 4.31.7 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; Mine Cart Ride 4.31.8 The battle with Number 128 4.32.1 Escaping Vector 4.32.2 The battle with the Cranes 4.33.1 Zozo; Terra's flashback 4.34.1 Airship Exploitation: Seraph 4.34.2 Airship Exploitation: Auction House: Golem and Zona Seeker 4.34.3 Airship Exploitation: Locating Grenade 4.34.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Gaia Gear 4.34.5 Airship Exploitation: Intangir 4.34.6 Airship Exploitation: Veldt hunting 4.34.7 Intermezzo; Espers 101 4.35.1 Allied Narshe 4.35.2 Lone Wolf persecution and recruiting Mog 4.35.3 Dance lessons, including Water Harmony 4.36.1 Cave to the Sealed Gate 4.36.2 Gil Toss and Cave to the Sealed Gate continued 4.37.1 Esper rampage; Snake Eyes 4.38.1 Vector; Imperial palace 4.38.2 The Banquet 4.38.3 Items of the Imperial Observation Post and Setzer's cutscene 4.39.1 Departing from Albrook 4.40.1 Traveling to Thamasa; Crescent Island 4.40.2 Thamasa 4.40.3 The Burning Mansion 4.40.4 The battle with Flame Eater 4.41.1 Leaving Thamasa 4.41.2 Crescent Island's Eastern Mountains 4.41.3 The third fight with Ultros 4.41.4 Relm and the Espers' gathering place 4.42.1 Epilogue 4.42.2 Leo versus Kefka 4.43.1 Airship Exploitation: Rage and Lore hunting 4.43.2 Airship Exploitation: Doma Castle 4.44.1 Preparation for the Floating Continent 4.44.2 Imperial Air Force 4.44.3 The fourth fight with Ultros 4.44.4 The battle with Air Force 4.45.1 The Floating Continent 4.45.2 Gigantos and the Floating Continent continued 4.45.3 The decisive battle with Ultima Weapon 4.45.4 Kefka's Betrayal 4.45.5 Escape from the Floating Continent 4.45.6 The battle with Nelapa and Exit 4.46.1 Intermezzo; The Solitary Island 4.46.2 Intermezzo; Saving Cid 4.47.1 The World of Ruin 4.47.2 Albrook 4.48.1 En route to Tzen 4.48.2 Tzen; the Light of Judgment 4.48.3 The Collapsing House 4.49.1 The Serpent Trench 4.49.2 The tail of the Serpent Trench; Mobliz 4.49.3 The battle with Humbaba 4.50.1 The head of the Serpent Trench; Nikeah 4.51.1 South Figaro; Gerad and the Crimson Robbers 4.51.2 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers 4.51.3 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers; Cave of Figaro 4.51.4 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers; Figaro Castle 4.51.5 The battle with the Tentacles 4.52.1 Figaro Castle 4.52.2 En route to Kohlingen 4.53.1 Kohlingen 4.53.2 Dragon's Neck Coliseum 4.53.3 Darill's Tomb 4.53.4 The battle with Angler Whelk 4.53.5 The battle with Dullahan 4.54.1 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Maranda 4.54.2 Airship Exploitation: The Overworld Map 4.54.3 Airship Exploitation: Master Duncan; completing Sabin's training 7.54.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Quetzalli 4.54.5 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Jidoor 4.54.6 Airship Exploitation: The Auction House 4.54.7 Airship Exploitation: Cultist's Tower 4.54.8 Airship Exploitation: Thamasa 4.54.9 Airship Exploitation: Leviathan 4.54.10 Airship Exploitation: Deathgaze 4.55.1 Narshe 4.55.2 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Ice Dragon 4.55.3 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Valigarmanda 4.55.4 Umaro's Cave; the battle with three Tonberries 4.55.5 The battle with Umaro 4.55.6 The Moogle Raid 4.55.7 Round two: Dragon's Neck Coliseum 4.56.1 The battle with Humbaba 4.57.1 Following the pigeon 4.57.2 Mount Zozo 4.57.3 The battle with Storm Dragon 4.57.4 Cyan Garamonde 4.58.1 The Veldt 4.58.2 The Cave of the Veldt and Death Warden 4.58.3 The battle with the Behemoth King 4.60.1 Thamasa and the Coliseum once again 4.61.1 Jidoor; Owzer's Mansion 4.61.2 Owzer's Mansion, the Magic House 4.61.3 Owzer's Mansion, the battle with Chadarnook 4.62.1 Obtaining Strago 4.62.2 Bulking up the Thamasian Two 4.62.3 The battle with Earth Dragon 4.62.4 Gungho's assignment; Ebot's Rock 4.62.5 The battle with Hidon 4.63.1 Epic of Gilgamesh; Get Rich or Die Tryin' 4.63.2 Epic of Gilgamesh; the battle with Gilgamesh 4.63.3 Another Coliseum trip 4.64.1 Doma Castle 4.64.2 Cyan's Soul 4.64.3 Cyan's Soul; the battle with the Dream Stooges 4.64.4 Cyan's Dream; the Phantom Train? 4.64.5 Cyan's Dream; Mechanical mines 4.64.6 Cyan's Dream; Doma Castle 4.64.7 Cyan's Dream; the battle with Wrexsoul 4.65.1 The road to the Ancient Castle and the battle with Master Tonberry 4.65.2 The Ancient Castle and the battle with Samurai Soul 4.65.3 The battle with the Blue Dragon 4.66.1 Triangle Island 4.66.2 The world inside of the Zone Eater 4.66.3 Wake me up before you Gogo 4.66.4 The Steal command regained 4.67.1 Phoenix Cave 4.67.2 The battle with the Red Dragon 4.68.1 Locke Cole 4.68.2 Narshe revisited with Locke; Ragnarok and the Cursed Shield 4.68.3 Gau and his father 4.69.1 The Cultist's Tower and the battle with Holy Dragon 4.69.2 The battle with the Magic Master 4.70.1 Finding the hay in the needlestack; the battle with Gigantuar 4.71.1 End-game character evaluation 4.72.1 Kefka's Tower: Preparation and explanation 4.72.2 Kefka's Tower: Reconnaissance 4.72.3 Kefka's Tower: The source of all Magic 4.72.4 Kefka's Tower: The Final Battle 4.73.1 The Ending 4.74.1 The Epic-Level challenge: Mission Briefing on the Dragon's Den 4.75.1 The Epic-Level challenge: The Seals of Ice, Wind and Earth 4.75.2 The Epic-Level challenge: The Seals of Water and Fire 4.75.3 The Epic-Level challenge: The Cloister of Trials and the Seal of Darkness 4.75.4 The Epic-Level challenge: The Seal of Heaven 4.75.5 The Epic-Level challenge: The Seal of Lightning and the Treasure Room 4.75.6 The Epic-Level challenge: The battle with Kaiser Dragon 4.76.1 The Soul Shrine 4.77.1 Omega ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1 Prelude: The attack on Narshe ********************************** Opponents: Guard (#1), Silver Lobo (#2), Megalodoth (#3) Narshe, a coalmine city that manages its own business and cares not for the war that is waged far away, has stumbled upon a mysterious find in their mines. The Empire, the all-consuming power-hungry nation to the far south of the world, has learned of this. -Command to the Empire Force in particular. -Commence to launch the attack on Narshe, the coal mines city. Three of their most dangerous units are dispatched to claim this discovered treasure for the glory of the Empire and by all means necessary. Three soldiers of the Empire, piloting Magitek Armors, are sent out. One of them is a very special soldier of the Empire, and a future unlike any other is waiting for her. Preparation: Put all your characters in the Back Row. Magitek attacks, being MAGICAL BEAMS and all, won't suffer from the 50 % damage reduction, but you'll be reaping the benefits soon enough. From the reduced damage you'll be taking, that is. To learn about Magitek attacks: [MAGITEK-LINK] Monster formations: Silver Lobo Silver Lobo, Silver Lobo Guard, Guard Silver Lobo, Guard, Guard (forced Pincer attack) Megalodoth, Megalodoth, Guard, Guard This is the prologue of the game, and it concerns you, being overpowered, blasting your way through poor defenseless Narshe. Enjoy the Magitek powers while they last. You can't really touch equipment right now. Ogle your mystery girl and her Imperial Starsky and Hutch buddies, as the situation is about to change. For trivia knowledge, this is the equipment of your generic soldiers: Mythril Sword Buckler Leather Cap Leather Armor Any offensive attack you perform at this point results into Death on the other side. With this in mind, the choice is simple. If Terra comes up, have her use the MT Bio Blast attack. The Imperial soldiers can make themselves useful by using any of the three beams; they are identical in power and are always fatal, so it doesn't matter what you do. After you've leveled, you can use Terra's Cure out-battle to restore HP. Use it once with an MT effect and you're set. Do the same after the forced pincer attack you had to endure from the Silver Lobo, Guard, Guard monster formation. The next one will feature Megalodoth. These monsters will start using Snowstorm, an MT Ice-elemental on you as soon as Terra (or, if not available, a randomly decided party member) has a level equal to or higher than 7. This is not the case when you encounter them now, so they will only attack you physically. Although they have the second-highest Attack in the game, the fact they're level 1 effectively screws them out of any significant damage output. If you're in the Back Row, you'll see them doing 0 damage. Savor the sight; it'll be a while before you see it happening again on a physical attack. For extra fun, try using Confuser against them; it'll give you a little taste of what Snowstormy violence will be sent your way later in the game. For imminent death on their side of the battlefield, Bio Blast works well enough as it kills all four targets instantly. There is a maximum of 5 battles and a minimum of 2 battles to be fought in this part of Narshe. When you enter, you can try to go right of the Inn. A single Silver Lobo will be sent after you. You have no choice but to press on. You will encounter two Guards when you try to pass the Inn, there's no avoiding them. There are lines of what appear to be vents on the ground. You've been following the vertical line, you now come across a horizontal line of vents. If you stand on the tile where the two cross, two Silver Lobos will be sent after you, and then two Narshe Guards. You can avoid this by going around the tile in question. If you pass the Item Shop, you'll be caught in a Pincer attack of two Guards and a Silver Lobo; this is unavoidable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.2 Prelude: The newly dug mineshaft ********************************** Opponents: Wererat (#4), Spritzer (#5), Bandit (#6), Ymir (#266 & #267) You've entered a newly dug Mine Shaft in search of the Esper you're supposed to retrieve. You're up for some vermin in the mines. Preparation: Still in the Back Row, are we? There's nothing interesting here to do, so let's move on. Monster formations: (First Cave) Wererat, Wererat, Wererat (10/16) Wererat, Bandit (6/16) (Second Cave) Bandit, Spritzer (6/16) Spritzer, Spritzer (5/16) Wererat, Wererat (5/16) You're past the town of Narshe. You can be proud of yourself; you just killed a number of brave men, undoubtedly with a happy life and a family. Faintly, you can hear an orphan crying. You can pretty much blast your way through these monsters too. In the first cavern, there are Wererat and Bandit, in the second, Spritzer. Wererat absorbs Poison, so while it may be tempting to use an MT spell against the largest group of enemies you're facing, don't. Spritzer absorbs Lightning, so in any battle you find one, avoid Thunder Beam like the demonic plague it is. Electricity fails at success, anyway. Bandit...This little goblinoid (is that a word?) is one messed-up little dude with self-destructive tendencies of the worst kind: the kind that can hurt you as well. Every time you'll hurt it without killing it, there's a 33 % chance he'll use !Wrench on himself. If, however, you dealt a fatal blow to him and he decides to execute that !Wrench, he'll find that he can't actually attack himself. Nay, one cannot attack the dead. Only on the GameFAQs Board, and that's limited to kicking and horses. He'll fling the tool in your direction instead. Avoid this by using Banisher, or try to not care. At this point, it may be a good idea to train your question-mark beauty up to level 5. The battles are not threatening, you can heal yourself for free and the levels of future characters depend on the level of the green-haired girl. Eventually, you'll come across a barrier. Biggs will knock it down for you, but as soon as you want to continue a Narshe guard rushes out with quite a nasty surprise... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.3 Prelude: The battle with Ymir ********************************** Ymir (shell) Level: 4, HP: 50000, MP: 120 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Ether (always) Absorbs: Lightning Special: !Hit : Attack x 4 Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Megavolt Head (Ymir's head) Level: 6, HP: 1600, MP: 1000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Hi-Potion (always) Special: !Slime: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Slime This battle is quite simple. Biggs and Wedge will alert each other about the grave importance of avoiding attacking the shell at all costs. When they're done, you can move in for your very first boss battle. The shell and the head are two separate entities. The shell will do nothing as long as you don't attack it, but every time you deal damage, it will counter with Megavolt. Megavolt won't be strong enough to actually kill a character at full HP, but it will be strong enough to do so in two hits. The head will just attack physically and on occasion slow you down with !Slime. After every 10 seconds, it'll 'retreat in its shell', i.o.w. disappear from the battlefield. He'll keep this up for 10 seconds, and he'll pop out again. Both actions are accompanied with an oh-so-sinister "Grawwwk...". Your strategy? The main thing to avoid is selecting an attack on the head just when it retreats. It's because of this it's best to just go with one attack for each character in one period of 10 seconds. When you can move, make your generic Imperial soldiers attack with a Beam-class attack and the mysterious girl use Magitek Missile. Wait until the head has retreated and appeared again. Repeat. Ymir should be dead by now if you fought all the battles against the Narshe guards; if not, just go for another round. Ymir is, to be honest, nothing more than a big sign saying: "You see, this game isn't about mindless violence...it's about strategy, about good thinking". Yeah... Note: If you are beyond the shame of any man, you can go for the Ether the shell provides. Since the shell only has 120 MP, he can only use six Megavolt attacks. After this, it is helpless. If you whittle down its 50000 HP and make sure you kill both the shell and the head with one attack (use a calculator!), you'll get both an Ether AND a Hi-Potion, and it'll only have cost you over an hour and your dignity. In the second cave, you finally come across the object of your mission: the dug-up Esper. But as soon as you get near it, the mind-slave of your party acts very weird indeed, and it's not long after the two soldiers grow suspicious they are removed. Note that we can't say for sure the Esper killed them or simply warped to some place, but we never ever see them again. Alone, the Esper does *something* to Terra. Her Magitek Armor explodes underneath her, and all turns to an inky black. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.2.1 Old Man's House ********************************** Container contents: Elixir Miscellaneous items: Sleeping Bag x2 You wake up alone, scared, and confused. An old man has found you in the mines and has nursed you back to health. To make matters worse, you have to flee as soon as there's somebody to explain the situation to you. Such plot device! You get the fact that Narshe guards outside are trying to get to you. Scones will not be involved in the meeting, so you'd better make a run for it. Preparation: Remember when you were in the Back Row? Let's stick to that. When you awoke, you received two Sleeping Bags (from Arvis, we could assume). Sleeping Bags are like Tents, but for one person only. They completely restore HP/MP and remove any status ailment except for Zombie, but are only usable on a Save Point or the Overworld Map. Before you go, grab the Elixir in the clock. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4.2.2 Escape through the mines ********************************** Opponents: Wererat (#4), Spritzer (#5), Bandit (#6) Container contents: Phoenix Down, Sleeping Bag Remember those kick-ass attacks you just did? Yeah, about those? They're gone. Your party members have been magically consumed, and your magical tank of happiness exploded under your seat. Everything you love is finite. But don't fear too much, for a Final Fantasy tradition of old is about to set in: you can now hurt stuff with pointy things that you push into them using your muscles. Use it to your advantage. Preparation: If you're in for some leveling, I suggest moving to the Front Row. You'll take more damage, sure, but you can also kill Wererat and Spritzer with a single Attack command now, which is much more MP-friendly in the long run. If you seek to breeze through, stick to the Back Row and use Fire. Out-of-battle Cure is your friend. You can use the Sleeping Bag to restore HP and MP on the Save Point. Monster formations: Bandit, Spritzer (6/16) Spritzer, Spritzer (5/16) Wererat, Wererat (5/16) These monsters and monster formations seem awfully familiar, don't you think? The difference is, though, that now you're by your lonesome, without magical machines of malice and maniacal maiming under your command. I guess we can do it the old-fashioned way, then. Double Spritzer should be taken care of with an MT Fire spell, as should a double Wererat. Start the Bandit/Spritzer battle off with an MT Fire spell and finish Bandit off with a physical. You can't do anything about !Wrench now, so suffer in silence. There are two chests here. Feel free to grab the left one; it contains a Sleeping Bag. Later it turns into an Elixir, which is much better, but you can steal them in large quantities by then so there's no need to wait. It'd be best to leave the right chest alone; while the Phoenix Down it now contains is nice, the Guard Bracelet Relic it transforms into later will be much nicer. You may want to raise Terra's level to 6 or 7 here; since Terra is alone she will grow quickly, and you can use the Sleeping Bags to restore HP and MP on the Save Point. When you're past the two chests and the Save Point (did you save? Saving is good, word on the street says even Jesus saves!), remove Terra's Mythril Knife and Buckler, and press on. The Narshe Guards will corner Terra, but she has a plan: quickly, she collapses down a conveniently thin layer of rock that caves in underneath her. One could argue this isn't so much a plan as it is sheer luck, but I'm willing to give our heroine some credit here. Three flashbacks will be seen now: Terra getting her Slave Crown from Kefka, Terra being tested as the Imperial weapon she was meant to be, Terra at an Imperial parade. Behind the Emperor here, from left to right: Kefka Palazzo, general Leo Christophe, general Celes Chere. A cozy bunch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3.1 Defending Terra from the Guard Leader ********************************** Opponents: Silver Lobo (#2), Megalodoth (#3), Guard Leader (#278) Miscellaneous items: Mythril Spear (Mog), Mythril Shield (Mog), Mythril Knife (common Guard Leader steal) Locke arrives to the game! Locke and the old man chat about bygones and memories past, while the old man (still anonymous) takes care of some exposition. Basic points: The Gestahlian Empire is evil, the Returners are fighting the Gestahlian Empire, and Narshe should join the Returners but, right now, has not done such a thing. Locke manages to reach Terra before the Narshe guards do, which is a good thing all in all. Terra is still unconscious, so She Needs To Be Rescued. Locke is your new permanent character. That naming screen sure is a dead give- away, is it not? You can now control him using your controller. It won't be for long though, as the half dozen enemies, which come storming into the place, will ensure Terra is captured and Locke smacked around. But lo and behold, there are eleven Moogle friends for you to exploit as well! Sadly, you cannot enter their equipment. Except for one, Mog. How bizarre. Here's the rundown of the Moogles: Mog - (Terra's level + 6) Mythril Spear; Mythril Shield Moglin - (Terra's level + 3) Mythril Spear; Buckler Mogret - (Terra's level + 1) Morning Star; Buckler Moggie - (Terra's level + 1) Mythril Claws; Buckler Molulu - (Terra's level - 2) Chain Flail; Buckler Moghan - (Terra's level + 1) Mythril Sword; Buckler Moguel - (Terra's level + 3) Moonring Blade; Buckler Mogsy - (Terra's level + 3) Chocobo Brush; Buckler Mogwin - (Terra's level + 1) Mythril Spear; Buckler Mugmug - (Terra's level + 1) Mythril Sword; Buckler Cosmog - (Terra's level + 3) Boomerang; Buckler Note that all level adjustments stem from the average of all characters, not just Terra and Locke. This means that (for instance) Molulu is only 2 or 3 levels below Terra, not 5. They're all collected in three teams. These are the teams: Locke's group: Locke Moglin Mogret Moggie Mog's group: Mog Molulu Moghan Moguel Mogsy's group: Mogsy Mogwin Mugmug Cosmog Preparation: Equip Locke with the equipment you snatched from Terra; the Buckler will be especially nice. You can put Mogret, Molulu, Moguel and Cosmog in the Back Row, as their weapons will still do full damage. Now, head into battle. Already know which team you want to use for the boss battle; read below. Try to avoid fighting with this group, and catch the other monsters with your inferior groups. If you fail, the monsters will reach Terra, prompting Locke to say: "No...! I failed her..." Monster formations: Silver Lobo, Silver Lobo, Guard Leader Megalodoth, Silver Lobo Guard Leader Level: 8, HP: 420, MP: 150 Steal: Mythril Knife (common), Win: Hi-Potion (always) Weakness: Poison Special: !Charge: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Charge, Attack Control: Attack, !Charge, Thundara Vulnerable to: Imp, Petrify, KO, Doom, Silence, Berserk, Confused, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Charge, Net There are two battles here. First, I'll talk about the battle you engage in when you meet the walking monsters. This is the Megalodoth and the Silver Lobo formation. Aim all attacks on the Megalodoth at first, then the Silver Lobo. Don't bother using Steal with Locke; they carry nothing of importance. If you use Mog's party, you will notice that Mog learns the Twilight Requiem after one battle. Have him use this Dance for the other battles, as it kills stuff dead very seriously. For information about Steal and how it works: [STEAL-LINK] Mog's Dance skill is limited to the Twilight Requiem, a Dance he will learn as soon as he has fought one battle here. The Twilight Requiem will have the following random effects every turn: 7/16 43.75 % Cave In - Removes 75 % of target's current HP 6/16 37.50 % Snare - Sets KO to a single enemy, prevents final counters 2/16 12.50 % Will o' the Wisp - ST magical, Fire-elemental attack 1/16 6.25 % Poisonous Frog - ST magical, Poison-elemental attack, also sets Poison Unless both Mog's team and Locke's team have been beaten down severely, there's no good reason to use the four-generic-Moogle party against the Guard Leader. Between the other two, the choice is up to you. As you cannot get a Game Over in this part of the game - a defeated party is sent back to a certain point with all characters at 1 HP - you can always fight Guard Leader with Locke until you have a Mythril Knife. If you have trouble with the actual 'killing' part of the Guard Leader battle (Power-wise, not moral-wise), Mog has extremely dangerous attacks to offer, so you can use him for that. If you picked Mog's team, the Twilight Requiem will make short work of the fight regardless. If you picked Locke's team or the third and inferior party, you will want to kill one Silver Lobo and then focus your attack on the Guard Leader. As long as he's not alone, he won't use !Charge, an extremely strong physical attack that can kill weaker units in the Front Row. He will, on the other hand, use the Net attack to stop some of your party members. You can try to stall if Locke is hit if you want to. Before you engage in the Guard Leader battle, remove Mog's Mythril Spear and Mythril Shield. Equip the Shield on Locke if you're fighting the Guard Leader with him. For some trivia knowledge some would appreciate, Molulu is Mog's girlfriend. Molulu is the weakest Moogle you'll find here and stands next to Mog on the battlefield on the second position of his group. Male chauvinist pig explanation of Molulu's weakness: she's a woman. Family-friendly support group -evading explanation: although lacking in combat experience, Molulu shows some proverbial nuts by going with her lover anyway. At any rate, the Molulu's Charm you'll find later in the game, a Mog-exclusive Relic, is supposed to be given to him by Molulu. Previous english releases did not make this connection, though it existed in the original Japanese game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4.1 Adventuring School ********************************** Opponents: Silver Lobo (#2) Container contents: Ether, Potion, Sleeping Bag, Monster-in-a-box (Silver Lobo) It was going to happen regardless of your wishes. This is the place where the game is explained to you. They should've just listed the GameFAQs URL in my opinion, but hey. It's Square. You shouldn't expect anything from them when it comes to logic. If you really want to learn about general Battle Mechanics: [BATTLE-LINK] Preparation: There will be one battle against the weakest opponent in the game. Try finding your chi or something. I hear it's located within you. Monster formations: Silver Lobo When you enter, the first thing you'll see is a man standing over a bucket. While normally I wouldn't advise you to go near people bending over buckets, let alone drink anything those buckets may contain, this specific bucket contains water from a Recovery Spring, magical springs that heal HP, MP, and remove all status effects. There are three rooms in this building. Field Science is the one to the far right, and it's where the only monster here is located. Open the chest to fight a single Silver Lobo. Have Terra Defend (press right when in the command menu) and Locke Steal until you've gotten that Potion. You know you want it. Kill him with violence. Find the Ether in the yellow pot in Field Science and open the chest in Battle Tactics (middle door) for a Sleeping Bag. Then, be bold and walk straight into Advanced Battle Tactics. There's a chest containing a Potion in there. Now, exit. The guy in front of the door advises you to skip Advanced Battle Tactics. What a Potion-hogger, eh? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4.2 Traveling to Figaro Castle ********************************** Opponents: Leaf Bunny (#7), Darkwind (#8), Sand Ray (#9), Alacran (#10) Having been dissed by a Narshe guard, you have no choice but to pursue a career in fighting for the greater good. Locke was told to bring Terra to the king of Figaro, and so he does. Castle Figaro lies in the middle of the desert, denying the rules of logic and reason. You need to cross the Overworld Map in order to reach it. Hold me. Should you try to enter Narshe, a Narshe guard will rush to the scene and inquire to your name. You quickly run off. Preparation: Equip the newly acquired Mythril Knife on Terra. She won't use it, gods no, But it's still a 4 point increase in Attack, and I don't see why the hell not. Keep the Mythril Shield on Locke; he has more Hit Points, granted, but he will be taking more damage as well. For the battles against the grassland and forest monsters, it would be best for both Terra and Locke to sit safely in the Back Row, as neither of them will be using the Attack command. In the desert, put Locke in the Front Row, and keep Terra in the Back Row. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Leaf Bunny (10/16) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (6/16) (Forest) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (10/16) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind, Darkwind (6/16) (Desert) Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (1/16) There are two kinds of battles here. There are the desert battles and the non-desert battles. The non-desert battles are no threat to you. If Locke comes up first, have him Steal. It'll get you moderately useless junk, solely limited to Potions. If Terra comes up, an MT Fire spell kills everything. Desert battles are different. In here, you'll face danger. And sand in your boots. If you come across a double Sand Ray formation, have Locke Steal (Antidotes!) and Terra use an ST Fire spell, which should take one down in a single hit. Repeat for the other. If, however, you come across more than two, an MT Fire spell followed by a physical from Locke kills. Do just that. Don't waste more than one Fire spell in one battle unless you're close to the castle. Hey, did you know that the Sand Ray was based off an actual creature, the Trilobite? They're related to crabs, scorpions and spiders, but are extinct due to the fact they failed at life in general. There's a Chocobo Stable hidden in the forest south of the desert. There's no reason to go there whatsoever. The owner will charge you 100 Gil to rent-a- bird. If this seems insane to you, remember that this is the same guy who hides his own shop in the woods. And here I was thinking you'd want to promote your shop if it depended on your amount of customers. I'll never understand capitalism. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5.1 Figaro Castle ********************************** Container contents: Antidote, Gold Needle, Phoenix Down, Potion Miscellaneous items: Auto Crossbow You've reached Figaro Castle. Everybody's mighty polite. There's not a whole lot to do here. Walk on. In the farthest room, Edgar Roni Figaro is casually lounging in his throne. Before you talk to Edgar, put Locke in the Front Row (if you hadn't already) and take his Mythril Shield from him. He'll leave. Edgar hits on you! Oh my, I can't see that working out. After the failing of his charmings, he leaves, leaving Terra to question her sexuality. When controlling Terra, equip the Mythril Shield on her and put her in the Front Row as well. There are two shops here, an Item shop and a Weapon shop: Item Shop: Potion 50 Ether 1500 Antidote 50 Gold Needle 200 Echo Screen 120 Phoenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 There's really not anything that you need to buy here. You could buy a Tent or two if you have the money, but you'll need 1250 Gil for the Weapon Shop. Weapon Shop: Auto Crossbow 250 Noiseblaster 500 Bioblaster 750 Buy a Noiseblaster and a Bioblaster; you have obtained an Auto Crossbow by talking to Edgar. One should wonder where Edgar keeps his hands if he has the power to sneak stuff in your inventory without you noticing, especially since he's the token pervert of this game. Haha, now that was a mental image that delivered big funny! Make sure to find the Potion, Antidote, Gold Needle, and Phoenix Down in the castle. All of them are easy to find so I won't bother pointing them out to you. Try to find the High Priestess of the castle; she is located in the left wing of the castle. She'll tell you all about the rather tragic past of the Figaro throne; twin brothers. Twins. Poor Figaro. Luckily, Sabin Rene Figaro ran away leaving his brother as the sole monarch, as things should be. In the Japanese game, she also states here that Sabin was smaller and weaker than Edgar when they were children. When the High Priestess is done telling her story, you can find Edgar again, who has returned to his throne. In the hallway, you meet the second man of the Figaro army, the Chancellor. Have a chat, by all means. As soon as Edgar starts to make small talk again, he is disturbed by the gravest of messages; Kefka Palazzo, a big man of the Empire, is coming for a visit, and something tells you he won't be wanting any of your scones. When controlling Edgar, keep him in the Front Row and equip Mog's Mythril Spear on him. As this is the first time you're actually handling Edgar, this might be the perfect time to learn about his fighting powers: If you'd like to learn about Tools: [TOOLS-LINK] Edgar defies the Empire! He blatantly lies to Kefka when he asks if he knows anything about Terra, the girl who 'stole something of minor importance'. The only thing she stole was the Empire's dignity! Zing! Edgar calls Kefka Emperor Gestahl's court mage. Does that mean that Kefka knows Magic as well? Now that you're controlling Edgar, you can explore some of the castle and even exit, traveling back to Narshe. Edgar can't enter Narshe though, because... uhm...y'know. Stuff. Logical reasons. If I still have to explain it to you, you'll never understand. Edgar will just exit Narshe and blink a few times if you try. So just talk to Locke once you're done with Kefka, and we'll pretend this option doesn't exist. Now, when you're controlling Terra again, take hold of that Mythril Sword. What a switch-happy game it is. You can follow Locke now if you want to. You'll notice that Terra is one level, if not two, behind Locke. Edgar will be even stronger. If you want to equal the situation out a little, you can choose to leave the castle and fight some solo-Terra battles outside. I advise you do the training in the forest, though, as the desert enemies might !Numb you and grant you a Game Over of Death. You might opt to rent a Chocobo to return to Figaro Castle, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5.2 Fighting off Magitek power ********************************** Opponents: Magitek Armor (#279) That night: misfortune! Kefka has royally screwed Figaro's alliance with the Empire up its currently non-existent ass. For a moment, all seems hopeless, but Locke had a plan! Turns out Edgar and the Chancellor had taken this possibility in account. But see, I know it's Locke's plan, because his music is playing. Anyway, you escape your castle while said castle is digging its way through the desert. No, I don't know either why they didn't do that right away, before the bad guys set it on fire. You're now being chased by the Magitek Armors. We saw how powerful they are, remember? You are going to die a painful but mercifully quick death. Preparation: You did the preparation thing in the castle, right? All one can do at this moment is pray to whatever god you worship. Monster formations: Magitek Armor, Magitek Armor Magitek Armor Level: 8, HP: 210, MP: 250 Steal: Hi-Potion (rare), Potion (common), Win: Hi-Potion (common) Weakness: Lightning Status: Protect Special: !Metal Kick, Attack x 1.5 Sketch : Magitek Laser, Attack Control: Attack, Magitek Laser Vulnerable to: Silence, Berserk, Confused, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Metal Kick, Magitek Laser It turns out that, like Uruk-Hai, Magitek Armors are about as laughably incompetent in combat as they were awesome out of it. For this battle, the main objective is to avoid being hit. The enemies are susceptible to Confuse, so use that knowledge to your advantage. By which I mean the Noiseblaster. Have Edgar use it as soon as possible and keep them confused during the rest of the battle. Simply let him bide his time if both are still confused and it's his turn to move again. Locke should Steal; Potions and Hi-Potions are nothing to get excited about, but Attack removes the Confuse status. Terra should pump out ST Fire spells. It'll get you a 'hilarious' scene. I guess it looked good on paper. Terra's Magic and their own self-destructive tendencies (Magitek Laser hit themselves for super-effective damage) will grant you victory. Bravo Figaro! By the way, you won't believe the "son of a submariner" versus "son of a sandworm" discussions out there. You can recognize survivors by their thousand yard stare. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6.1 Traveling through Figaro Cave ********************************** Opponents: Foper (#11), Hornet (#12), Urok (#13) Container contents: Ether x2, Phoenix Down Miscellaneous items: Remedy (rare Urok steal) Figaro Castle is gone, and you still can't go to Narshe...I guess it's time to quest further into Edgar's Lands, Figaro, to reach the Returners' Hideout. Terra should be useful in their battle against the evil Empire, which is evil. Preparation: Everybody in the Back Row again. I know it gets boring now, but I promise I'll eventually let you keep characters in the Front Row. If you're wondering why Back Row characters still take reduced damage even when there's nobody in the Front Row to protect them - which is the initial point of being in the Back Row - then I have no satisfying answer. Monster formations: (First Cave) Hornet, Foper, Foper, Foper, Hornet (10/16) Hornet, Urok, Urok (6/16) (Second Cave and Third Cave) Urok, Urok, Urok (6/16) Foper, Foper, Urok (5/16) Hornet, Hornet (5/16) Note: if you didn't use Terra's Magic spells in the battle against the Magitek Armors, you still can trigger the 'flipping-out' scene in normal battles. Throughout the cave you retain this possibility, but once you step on the tile just in front of the exit, the ability to see the scene is lost if you haven't already. Hornets are Floating creatures, but that doesn't make any difference at this point of the game. They attack physically with Attack and !Iron Stinger. Urok are horribly defenseless creatures, but something about Urok monsters I find particularly repulsive, so I don't feel bad about killing them. Besdies, !Digestive Fluid sets Sap, of which I'm no fan. When you confuse them with the Noiseblaster, they might try to use the Magnitude 8 attack, but they have insufficient MP. Foper are the only creatures here that *might* stand through a single Auto Crossbow attack. They can force you to sleep when you look in their eyes with !Forthy Winks, but you'll have killed them before they get a chance to use an attack like that. They may try to use Dread Gaze when confused, a Petrifying attack, but it will fail due to insufficient MP. Their name is likely a bastardization of 'faux pas', which is French for 'not done'. Edgar is a very nice addition to your team. In fact, I'd say he's horribly overpowered at this stage of the game. Time to take advantage of it! Edgar can one-hit KO Hornet and Urok with his Auto Crossbow. If you don't meet Foper monsters, have Terra simply Defend and Locke Steal while you're waiting for Edgar's turn to come up. When Foper does in fact make an appearance, have Locke still Steal, Terra use a single MT Fire on the group, and Edgar finish it off with his Auto Crossbow. If you're scared you wasted Gil on the Bioblaster, you'll gain use for it soon enough. If there's a choice, always try to Steal from Urok. A Potion is a Potion, but a Remedy is a Remedy, if you know what I mean! As far as chests go, there are three in this cave. I know you're just dying to grab them, but desist and cease! Know that the amount of chests you shouldn't get is about to rapidly decrease, and these items, while 'meh' at this point (Phoenix Down upstairs, two Ethers downstairs) will transform into rad items in the near future. I advise you to let them be. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7.1 South Figaro ********************************** Container contents: 500 Gil, 1000 Gil, 1500 Gil, Antidote, Elixir, Eye Drops, Gold Needle, Green Cherry, Hyper Wrist, Hermes Sandals, Phoenix Down, Potion x3, Teleport Stone You've reached South Figaro! Great. This is the first town you arrive in where you don't try to slaughter innocent inhabitants, so you should be able to shop, sleep at Inns, steal stuff from houses, talk to NPCs, the usual RPG to-do list. How awesome. Item Shop: Potion 50 Antidote 50 Gold Needle 200 Eye Drops 50 Echo Screen 120 Phoenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 You might want to buy one or two Gold Needles, as it *is* possible to accidentally get a Petrified character in a bit, and you'll want something to counter its effects. Weapon Shop: Dagger 150 Mythril Knife 300 Mythril Sword 450 Great Sword 800 Noiseblaster 500 Bioblaster 750 Buy a Great Sword and give it to Terra. Give the Mythril Sword to Locke. You'll be switching to a better weapon in no time, but for the time being, it's a free upgrade from the Mythril Knife. You can buy the two non-Auto Crossbow Tools for Edgar if your ignorant brother saved after the Figaro Castle experience without buying them there. Armor Shop: Buckler 200 Heavy Shield 400 Hairband 150 Plumed Hat 250 Cotton Robe 200 Kenpo Gi 250 Buy two Heavy Shields, three Plumed Hats, a Cotton Robe, and a Kenpo Gi. Equip them with Optimize. Relic Shop: Sprint Shoes 1500 Silver Spectacles 500 Star Pendant 500 Jeweled Ring 1000 Knight's Code 1000 Buy three Star Pendants and a Jeweled Ring. Knight's Code and Sprint Shoes I'll leave up to you. Silver Spectacles have an actual purpose in this GBA release of the game (as opposed to earlier versions where the Darkness status did close to nothing). They are, however, still crummy as Darkness isn't a dangerous status ailment. Equip a Star Pendant on every character. The Jeweled Ring protects against Petrify. Because you won't be able to get yourself Petrified unless you level Terra up to level 68 (she learns the Break spell at that point) or take tremendously stupid actions when facing Cirpius, you can just let the Relic rest in your Inventory. You'll need it later on. Hidden Items: Like in the first cavern you explored with a lone Terra, there are items hidden here that are best left untouched for a while. Here's a list of the items in South Figaro: (items now) (items they become) Phoenix Down - Phoenix Down Potion - X-Potion Antidote - Tent Eye Drops - Remedy Potion - Holy Water Green Cherry - Tent Gold Needle - Elixir Teleport Stone - Phoenix Down There's a Potion in the barrel between the Weapon and Armor Shop. I suggest skipping this one; you've got plenty of Potions, but X-Potions will always be nice to have. There's an Eye Drops in a box north of the entrance to the port, and an Antidote in the barrel just above it. They become a Tent and Remedy respectively, so it doesn't really matter what you do. The barrel next to the Chocobo Stable contains a Potion that becomes a Holy Water (leave it), the Green Cherry behind the Chocobo Stable becomes a Tent (grab the Cherry) and the Gold Needle in the box to the far southwest corner of the town becomes an Elixir (definitely leave this one to change). Enter the large house in the northwest corner of South Figaro. You'll enter through the left door; exit through the right door. In one of the barrels you see here, there's a Phoenix Down. Continue behind this corner of the house and you'll find yourself in a hidden room! Search the clock for an Elixir. Now, go back in the house and go up the stairs. In one of the rooms, there will be a man writing a letter (who is he writing to? I'm sure it's not important. Couldn't be the enemy, anyway). Behind the bookcase, you'll find a secret entrance to a staircase, which leads to another staircase. Follow it in the next screen. Now, go all the way to the right until you're facing a wall. Now, go all the way down to the bottom. You should be out of sight now. Now, go right to enter a secret area with a Hyper Wrist and a pair of Hermes Sandels. The Hyper Wrist boosts Strength, increasing your physical attack power; the Hermes Sandels gives you inherent and unremovable Haste status. I suggest giving the Hermes Sandels to Locke and the Hyper Wrist to Edgar. If you had some Sprint Shoes equipped on either, you can just pass it to Terra. Exit. Going up will take you two a room with three doors. The first is empty, the second one contains a Save Point, and the third one contains four chests, respectively containing 500 Gil, 1000 Gil, 1500 Gil, and nothing. I, for one, believe the last one is symbolic for the meaning of life. Exit. On the town wall, there's a group of three barrels you can see when standing near the Chocobo Stable. Find your way there (stairs are near the Armor Shop) and grab a Teleport Stone. It'll become a Phoenix Down later, but Teleport Stones are infinitely cooler at this stage of the game than Phoenix Downs will ever be. Finally, there's a Potion in the house of the old servant of the richest man in town. I figured I'd save the best for last. Other stuff to do: In the Pub, there will be a dark man with a dog near the counter. Talking to him will make you be able to name him. Shadow sure is mysterious. If you thought he was going to join your party now, think again. This guy is a ninja; they don't bother in RPGs unless you're at least past the first serious town. In the Japanese game, an old man in the Pub will also say that 'you' (Edgar) look like one of Duncan's students, which is the first hint there that Sabin went off to train under Master Duncan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7.2 The Overworld Map around South Figaro ********************************** Opponents: Belmodar (#14), Unseelie (#15), Mu (#16) Miscellaneous items: Mythril Claws (rare Belmodar steal) You've had your fun in South Figaro, bought some new armor, equipped some Relics, and met a mysterious stranger with the name of Shadow. I'd say it was worth it. But, time to move on. Go straight north, as there's something of interest there. But woe to those who seek to cross the Overworld Map! Preparation: You prepared in South Figaro. Still keep everybody in the Back Row. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Belmodar (6/16) Unseelie, Unseelie (5/16) Mu, Mu, Unseelie (5/16) (Forest) Mu, Mu, Mu, Mu (6/16) Belmodar, Mu, Mu (5/16) Belmodar, Unseelie, Mu, Mu (5/16) Fairly standard stuff, now. Unseelies take more damage from Bioblaster than from Auto Crossbow, so use that on double Unseelies. They'll just attack physically and won't start using !Mythril Wrench until they're alone, which they probably will never be. The Anthology Bestiary claims they're Imperial maintenance troops. It's official media, but one wonders why Imperial maintenance troops would wander off into the lands to smack people with wrenches as opposed to, say, carry out maintenance to Imperial stuff. Mus are obscenely boring creatures as they do nothing but Attack under any circumstance. The only interesting thing to note about them is the fact that they cannot be struck by Meteor Strike. A character you'll meet in the future can lift trains, hold up houses and whatnot, but he cannot lift this squirrel up in the air. It makes sense when think about it while you're drunk. Belmodars are the first genuinely dangerous-looking creatures you meet. They attack with Attack and !Rush, and counter Magic spells with a 1/3 shot at using Megavolt, so don't do that. You'll want to try to Steal a Mythril Claws from him; it's a weapon none of your characters can equip...yet. Any monster fight should include Edgar using Auto Crossbow (double Unseelie can be taken down easier with Bioblaster, though), Locke Stealing and Terra using Defend and Cure outside of battle when needed. When your level is decently high (9), Edgar should be taking out Unseelie in one hit as well with the Auto Crossbow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8.1 Sabin's Hut ********************************** Container contents: Potion The three of you come across an odd hut in the middle of nowhere. Obviously, you choose to explore it and take a nap if nobody is around. Let's just hope the beds and spoons are decently sized, or some *bear* might come for you. It's a Goldilocks/FF VI cross-reference! The flowers, stove, and dishes all draw a comment from Edgar. What is he talking about? We can rest assured it's a woman, however, since no man would profile himself through tea and domestic ornament like this. There's a Potion in the bucket. Egads! He was talking about his long-lost twin brother, Sabin. Outside, Edgar will show his double-headed coin to an old man and ask if he's seen 'this guy' (Sabin) before. Sabin has headed into Mt. Koltz; his mentor has been killed, and the mentor's son, Vargas, is missing too. Nice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8.2 Mt. Koltz ********************************** Opponents: Spritzer (#5), Zaghrem (#17), Trillium (#18), Gorgias (#19), Cirpius (#20), Vargas (#280), Ipooh (#281) Container contents: Main Gauche, Gigas Glove, Tent x2 Miscellaneous items: Bandana (rare Zaghrem steal), Mythril Claws (rare Vargas steal) Mountains are always nasty to cross, and Mount Koltz is no exception. You will be attacked, spied upon, and tested severely. Also, a boss fight at the end I might add. If that sounds fun, you're doing well. Preparation: I think this section will grow in usefulness once the game progresses. In the meantime, I feel like I should say something about the Back Row and in what fashion everybody should be in it. Monster formations: (Caves) Zaghrem, Zaghrem (10/16) Gorgias, Gorgias (6/16) (Slopes) Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (11/16) Gorgias, Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16) (Great Slopes) Trillium, Trillium (10/16) Trillium, Gorgias, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16) (Foot of Mount. Koltz) Zaghrem, Trillium, Spritzer, Spritzer (10/16) Gorgias, Gorgias (6/16) This is highly frustrating for console players, but Zaghrem enemies carry Bandanas, which are incredibly hard to obtain right now. They're rare steals, and the common steal is empty. This means that you automatically have a 7 in 8 chance to fail at your Steal attempt. It's a slightly stronger helmet for Locke, Terra, and a character you're about to obtain, so if you're really adamant/near the entrance anyway/playing on an emulator, try to get three of them. For killing them, the Auto Crossbow works great. If it doesn't outright kill them, you can finish them off with Back Row physicals or an MT Fire spell (although you should really be saving your MP in this 'dungeon'). Zaghrem, by the way, are martial artists who have turned to a life of evil, using their combat skills for personal gain. It's like the Dark Side, only different. Their Special, which you never get to see unless you bring a late-game character around to use Sketch on them, is called !Punch; the Japanese SNES version was Holy Moon Sword. Way to boringify an attack, Flattery. You Woolsey wannabe. Note that since you're stealing Bandanas, which are basically handkerchiefs you put on your head, you're sending your brave heroes to steal and subsequently wear on top of their heads: other people's snotrags. Cirpius are potentially the most dangerous, but never live up to that promise. If you allow them to take three turns, they have a rare chance of using !Beak, which sets Petrify on a character. A triple Cirpius formation can be killed in one go with the Auto Crossbow; when they come with a Gorgias you'll want to confuse them until one of them has petrified the Gorgias with either !Beak or the Break spell. Gorgias' are the only real threats here. They have stronger physicals comparable to Guard Leader's pounding, and they have a 1/3 chance at countering every Attack command. Don't use it. An MT Fire spell and an Auto Crossbow round kills them. Trillium, lastly, are annoying because they Poison you with !Poison Touch. They only use it the first round though, after which they'll take two turns by just attacking you physically. This means you can easily use an Antidote or the Poisona spell first and kill them second. The first slopes feature no enemies, so you can safely walk into the cave. The cave is straightforward. The other side takes you to another slope, with monsters this time. You see a chest there, but you can't reach it. This cave has two 'hidden' passages to treasure. The first is to the south of the entrance. Around the square-ish bulge, you can reach an exit where you can open the chest you saw earlier. It's a Main Guache! It's the first weapon with a stat boost you see, and it's a better weapon for Locke. Go back in. To the right of the path/stairway, there's a hidden passage into another room, which holds a chest containing the Gigas Glove. The Gigas Glove is much better that the Hyper Wrist; while the Hyper Wrist boosts a stat used for physical damage calculation by 50 %, the Gigas Glove simply boosts your physical damage by 25 % period. Equip it on Edgar to boost his Auto Crossbow. With the Gigas Glove equipped, Edgar should be taking everything out in one hit except for Gorgias', which can be finished with an ST Fire. Locke should Steal. Continue up the wooden pathway. Outside, you walk around two slopes and reach two entrances into the mountain. Now, for the first time, you'll see a shadow figure leaping away from you. Who could it be? Mystery. The first entrance takes you to a chest with a Tent, the second one continues your way through Mt. Koltz. Misty slopes with a bridge this time. The bridge looks like it might collapse, but it doesn't. Ever. Unlike that one bridge from King's Quest; you'd get a point every time you'd cross it, but while you were having a blast collecting points, a big goofy grin on your young face, it would suddenly go down. Bad pun, the end. The next room contains a Save Point, and when you leave it, you'll be on what I've dubbed as the Great Slopes at the Monster formations section. Follow them all the way down, and... ...eventually you'll meet the shadowy figure that has been stalking your every move. It's Vargas. He believes you have something to do with Sabin, so he commences his violence. You get to hurt him now. Obviously you made sure that your HP is high enough for boss battles, as is Terra's MP. Take the Gigas Glove from Edgar and give it to Locke; give his Hermes Sandals to Terra. Equip Edgar with the Hyper Wrist or, if you have it, the Knight's Code. The first one will give you a slight increase in offensive power, and the latter will make sure that Edgar takes physical damage for characters in Critical. It's a matter of personal preference as neither should really be of any significant use. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8.3 The battle with Vargas ********************************** Ipooh Level: 11, HP: 360, MP: 60 Steal: Hi-Potion (rare), Hi-Potion (common) Weakness: Fire Special: !Claw: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Claw, Attack Control: Attack, !Claw Vulnerable to: Imp, Silence, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Claw Vargas Level: 12, HP: 11600, MP: 220 Steal: Mythril Claws (rare), Potion (common) Weakness: Poison Special: !Doom Fist: sets Doom, Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Doom Fist, Attack Control: Attack, !Doom Fist Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Doom Fist, Gale Cut Two Ipooh bears initially protect Vargas; you can't harm him until you have killed the Ipooh. Ipooh attack physically only, with Attack and !Claw. Vargas will casually switch between Attack and Gale Cut in a Attack-Gale Cut- Attack rhythm. Dance to it. After every 50 seconds, he will taunt you cruelly by saying: "Come on! What's the matter?" and use Attack twice, as if to insult you. What a bastard. Once he hits 10880 HP - that's after 720 damage - he will start getting bored with you and exclaim: "Enough of this! I'll send you all to the great beyond!". Just then, a new character will appear. It's Sabin Rene Figaro, long lost heir to the throne of Figaro and twin brother to Edgar. It seems that Vargas misunderstood the outcome of a successor issue of Duncan, their master and father to Vargas. Vargas turned to patricide, and here Sabin is complimenting Vargas on his FINE SPIRIT. Morals these days, let me tell ya... Anyway, Vargas executes "Blizzard Fist!" Blasting all inferior warriors of the field, the battle is up to Sabin alone. In the Japanese version,this attack was called 'Super Wind Tsunami Fist', which makes a whole lot more sense. When Sabin has appeared and Vargas hits 10368 HP - that's 512 more damage - Sabin will lament about his master's teachings. You'll have to use a Blitz to win this battle. Once the primary Blitz technique has been used, Vargas will ...die or run, it's kind of vague. At any rate, Vargas is never to be heard from again. Your strategy? When you engage Vargas, try to pick some Ipooh possessions with Locke, have Edgar use Auto Crossbow, and Terra use ST Fire spells on the Ipooh you looted. After you've taken care of the Ipoohs, switch to the Bioblaster with Edgar, have Terra on stand-by for an MT Cure spell for every Gale Cut that is sent your way. After a successful Steal attempt with Locke, have him attack. The Bioblaster will do the bulk of your damage anyway, so it's probably not justified to take a turn moving to the Front Row and take more damage there. Eventually, Sabin will crash the party. PAY ATTENTION, AS YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO THE MOST COMPLICATED THING INVENTED IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY. That's right, you're about to execute a Blitz technique. Follow on-screen commands closely. Write them down. Remember. After you've completed a Raging Fist technique, you've won your battle. If you'd like to learn more about Blitz: [BLITZ-LINK] If your life is a complete, miserable failure, try this: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/930370/46958 So there you have it! It's a sad and symbolic story, the rivalry of Sabin and Vargas. As a son to Duncan, he was forced to pursue a career in martial arts, even though Vargas resented it. When Master Duncan, after training (among others? It's not clear) Sabin and Vargas for 10 years, decides he's too old to uphold the title of Master any longer, he decides that Vargas should be his successor. However, somehow Vargas understood that Sabin would be his father's follow-up. The cause of this misunderstanding is never explained, and much like how Judas betrayed Jesus to his death, so did Vargas betray his father and took care of him. After that he went searching for Sabin, who knew that it was Vargas who was supposed to be the next Master. Believing that Edgar had something to do with Sabin, he attacked them, which led to the stand-off between Sabin and Vargas, from which Sabin emerges victorious. Little can be said about your Mount Koltz experience with Sabin. You can meet Spritzers here, which seem horrible misplaced in space. Aura Cannon is the strongest ST attack you have at this point; take advantage of it. Only after you annihilated everything non-Gorgias on screen though. If you have a Bandana and/or Mythril Claws in your inventory, give them to Sabin. Oh yeah, and there's a Tent in the chest, but you can't miss it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.9.1 Traveling to the Returners' Hideout ********************************** Opponents: Belmodar (#14), Unseelie (#15), Mu (#16) Miscellaneous items: Mythhril Claws (rare Belmodar steal) Monster formations: Mu, Mu, Unseelie (6/16) Unseelie, Unseelie (5/16) Belmodar, Mu, Mu (5/16) After descending from Mount Koltz, you'll find yourself on the Overworld Map again. The Returners' Hideout is to the north. I won't bother explaining the battles and how Sabin fits in here; you were fully capable of handling them without a 400 damage producing righteous killing machine, so I suspect you'll do just fine. If you still don't have a Mythril Claws, try going for one here. You can, if you want to, hike back to South Figaro with Sabin in your party, which will get you a small cutscene with Duncan's wife. It's not very impressive and it's needlessly time-consuming, but if you're like me, you'll wind up doing it anyway: Duncan's Wife: Sabin, where are Vargas and Duncan...? Sabin: Vargas...turned on our master... Vargas, he... Duncan's Wife: Oh, Vargas... Why would you do such a thing? But my husband was able to pass his techniques along to you, Sabin... I'm sure he'd have no regrets. Sabin: For the past ten years you've treated me like a son. I'll never forget all the things you've done for me! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.9.2 The Returners' Hideout ********************************** Container contents: Antidote, Air Knife, Ether, Green Cherry, Hi-Potion, Knight's Code, Phoenix Down x2, White Cape Miscellaneous items: Gauntlet OR Genji Glove (Banon) Once you enter the Hideout, you'll have to follow a Returner and enter the door he points you to. Enter and watch the cutscene. There's a Greek mythology reference here (a rather obvious one) and a symbolic position for Terra. How neat. When the scene's over, you're by yourself again. Hidden Items: You can find a Phoenix Down in the chest in the room you woke up in. Go out and head up. You'll find three chests here: a Knight's Code, another Phoenix Down, and an Air Knife, a stronger weapon for Locke that's also Wind- elemental. A hidden passage to the right of the three chests (walk around them) leads to a White Cape. Be sure to grab it. In the bucket and pot, which are standing next to each other, you can find an Antidote and a Ether. Furthermore, there's a Green Cherry in the pot in the conference room (the one with the large table) and a Hi-Potion in the save point room. If you examine the top-right part of the large conference table, near Sabin, Terra'll crouch down and say: "There's a scrap of paper lying here..." and you'll get two options: Toss it in the trash. Leave it. If you toss it in the trash, nothing will happen. If you leave it there, and Banon calls the Returners around the table for a meeting, he'll freak out, say: "Who threw this here? Don't you people know what a wastebasket looks like?" and throw it away himself. This makes Terra laugh (which, incidentally, probably is the only time Terra laughs in a long, long time as far as I can recall). This whole thing is supposed to be a Japanese joke that didn't port so well in the transition. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me why exactly this is supposed to be funny, so let's move on. There's an Item Shop here: Eye Drops 50 Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Echo Screen 120 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Sprint Shoes 1500 This is the first shop you can actually buy Hi-Potions at, so if you're low on them, it might a good idea to stock up on some. A few Eye Drops are also nice if you think those black sunglasses are just SO 1983. Other stuff to do: You need to talk to your three companions before you can talk to Banon. You find Locke immediately upon crawling out of bed, Sabin is in the conference room and Edgar in the Save Point room where you met Banon earlier. You can now exit the Returner Hideout and talk to Banon. Now, you'll have to make a choice. If you immediately want to go for the offer, you'll get a Gauntlet. If you decline, you can get a Genji Glove from the Returner walking around in the storage room. If you decline three times, you'll get a Genji Glove from from that same Returner in the middle of some important conversation. You'll want to pick the Genji Glove, trust me. Granted, the Gauntlet is more of a rarity, but that doesn't mean it's also better (it isn't). You could, with Terra alone, hike back to Mt. Koltz. However, there will be an Imperial soldier guarding the entrance who'll chase you out on the World Map if you talk to him: "You! You're Returners!" If you declined Banon's offer three times, Terra will walk back into the Hideout and mutter: "Hope... How could anyone put their hope in me?". Just then, a wounded Returner stumbles in with Banon. Locke, Edgar and Sabin come rushing in, Locke leaves for South Figaro and Terra, Edgar, Sabin and Banon will be going to Narshe through the back door, the Lethe River. A Returner quickly sneaks into the conversation to give you a Genji Glove (truly one of the few acceptable reasons to interrupt important dialogue) and off you go. If you did anything else, there'll be a meeting. Banon gets angsty about Magitek power, failing to realize that on the two occasions Magitek power has been employed so far, it accomplished NOTHING. Banon kinda steers towards the 'we need Magic too' topic when a wounded Returner stumbles in. Returners, assemble! Locke goes off to stop Imperial Forces in South Figaro by his lonesome and Terra, Banon, Edgar and Sabin will escape via the Lethe River, raging river of the wilderness. After the sequence has played out, you've had Locke split (don't worry, his equipment is in your inventory) and Banon added. The fact that you couldn't name him should tip you off to his inferior status in your party. Although he's a PC in battle, you cannot access his Equipment and Relic screen. His equipment: Punisher - Magus Hat Silk Robe Don't immediately go to the raft; go up and remember where you came out. You'll need to find the hidden access to the Lethe River later in the game, so now you know where you'll want to go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.10.1 Escaping over the Lethe River ********************************** Opponents: Lesser Lopros (#21), Nautiloid (#22), Exocite (#23), Ultros (#282) The Empire invaded South Figaro (notice how Edgar didn't respond *whatsoever* to that notion?) and is coming to the Hideout. We must run like the wind. We'll escape using a raft and the flowing water that carries it. Fun! Preparation: Everybody in the Back Row. You can strip the Star Pendants from your characters and apply Gigas Glove/Hermes Sandals to Edgar, Hyper Wrist and Knight's Code to Sabin, and a White Cape to Terra. There's nothing remotely useful you can put in Terra's second Relic Slot (you'll want to have those Sprint Shoes in your inventory, and you won't be walking anyway). Monster formations: Okay, this is rather complicated to do right here, so I'll explain it a few paragraphs down the line. First, I want you to exit the hallway you find yourself in through the northern entrance. Not only will you now know where you can find it from the Returners' Hideout, you can also walk over to the room where Terra woke up in and find the wounded Returner in bed. If you stand beneath the chest here, you'll catch the poor sap having a nightmare: The Empire! The Empire's invading! (cue 'Troops march on') (Troops march on fades out) "What the...? ...Sleeptalking?" You can trigger this cutscene every time you re-enter the room :P Welcome to Lethe River. The first rule of Lethe River is: you don't talk about Lethe River. The second rule of Lethe River is: you do NOT talk about Lethe River. The third rule of Lethe River is when Banon goes down, the game is over. If Banon receives KO status, you'll get a Game Over. Protecting Banon should be your first priority. If you fail, you'll get a neat message saying, "Banon has fallen..." Fun fact: if you level Terra up to level 68 before meeting Banon, you can set Petrify with the Break spell she learned and make him invincible. Then again, if you're leveled like that, you really needn't worry in the first place. Exocite is your average physical attacker. He seems to have a specifically strong, instinct-based hatred for the elderly, as after every six turns, he will always target Banon for a single Attack. You should have turned Exocite in little bits of Exocite nuggets by then, though. Nautiloid is more annoying. Rather than doing damage with his Special, !Ink sets Dark, which is a useless thing to do but still looks rather stupid on your characters. To top that, his Defense is very strong (partly thanks to an inherent Protect status), so the Auto Crossbow and Attack commands will do little here. Also, after three turns he'll turn on Banon for an Attack, so BEWARE. Lesser Lopros are the strongest enemies here. They can use Attack, execute !Wing to set Sap on the party the second turn and can actually use Fireball the third one, which is an MT Fire-elemental attack and particularly dangerous. Less Lopros should be subdued by Noiseblaster at all times and taken out first if possible. The strategy is simple. Keep the monsters at bay with Noiseblaster, use Fire and Aura Cannon to deliver damage, and have Banon use Pray to recover from any damage you might have taken. As soon as you decide to hop on board the raft, you'll be taken down the Lethe River. However, there are many ways to Rome, and many ways to travel the Lethe River. At two points in the trip, you'll be asked to pick a direction. Each direction has an influence on the monsters you face. Here's the run-down of your possibilities: Monster Formation Pack # 1: Nautiloid, Exocite (3/4) Lesser Lopros, Exocite, Exocite (1/4) Monster Formation Pack # 2 Lesser Lopros, Lesser Lopros (3/4) Nautiloid, Exocite, Lesser Lopros (1/4) Start: (Invoke Battle with # 1) You'll reach the Straight/Left/Right decision. You'll want to pick Left for the shortest time of passing through and the potentially least amount of battles. If you're going for the most battles, or want to make sure you encounter a Lesser Lopros, obviously pick 'Straight'. Straight: (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 2) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1) Left: Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time) Right: (Invoke Battle with # 1) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) Regardless of your choice, you will end up at a small cave with a Save Point in it. (Invoke Battle with # 1) You'll reach the Up/Left decision. Up: (Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) You're back at the Up/Left decision. Left: (Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time) A cave with a mandatory Save Point. Last Save Point you can get the 'strange light fills the air' speech at! From second Save Point to exit: (Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) Ultros Battle if you haven't fought him before. At the end of the Lethe River ordeal, you'll encounter what looks like the ultimate Nautiloid, a huge purple octopus who goes by the name of Ultros... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.10.2 The first fight with Ultros ********************************** Ultros Level: 13, HP: 3000, MP: 640 Weakness: Fire, Lightning Special: !Ink: sets Dark, Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Ink, Tentacle "Gwee-hee-hee... You're up the creek without a paddle! And I'm not gonna let you through! ...Does that make me a bad octopus?" Ultros is a tough bastard whose Tentacle attack can be a huge pain if you're playing the game without over leveling. Everybody *must* be in the Back Row. If you are a moron and played with any of your characters in the Front Row, fix that. He'll start by delivering his intro speech and using an Attack. Then, if 10 seconds have passed (and they will have), he'll say "Oh, that one's a tasty morsel! I'd love to get my tentacles around her... *sluuuuuurp*!" and target Terra with an ST Tentacle attack. If at his next turn another 10 seconds have passed, he'll say "Muscle heads? Hate 'em!" target Sabin with an ST Tentacle attack and use an MT Tentacle attack on his next turn, followed by either Attack, !Ink or an ST Tentacle in that very same turn; if not, he'll spread the happiness with an MT Tentacle/follow up with Attack/!Ink/ ST Tentacle, wait a turn, and THEN hate Sabin for his body. His next turn is devoted to an Attack and either an Attack, !Ink or ST or MT Tentacle attack in the same turn. Then, he'll say "Your ugly mug gives me the creeps!" and use an ST Tentacle attack on Banon, from where he'll start at his first MT Tentacle-Attack/!Ink/ST Tentacle turn again. Also, every time he is targeted by a Fire-elemental attack, which at this stage is either a Fire spell from Terra or Sabin's Rising Phoenix Blitz, he will say "Yeeeouch! Seafood soup is NOT on the menu!" and counter with an !Ink attack. ...yeah, it's a talkative guy. Beating Ultros down is relatively simple if you pay close attention to his AI script. Have at the very least Terra and Banon in the Back Row using their Defend skill to reduce the power of Tentacle when you know they'll be targeted by it. Have Banon use Pray at all times, as his Attack is nothing to consider seriously (even though he possesses a snazzy weapon that you won't get on other characters for a long, long time from now). For damage output, have Terra use her Fire spells, Edgar fire off arrows with the Auto Crossbow, and Sabin use Aura Cannon. IF he knows Rising Phoenix at this point, it's stronger than Aura Cannon, but if you're highly leveled like that, you probably don't need to worry about anything. If you defeat him, he'll go "*sploosh*! *blub blub*..." and escape underwater. Sabin won't like this and he'll go after him; sadly, Sabin does not consider he's more of a 'land-based' guy and Ultros appears to sane people as a generally aqua-themed creature. In other words: Sabin is dead in the water. Pun! P.S.: On Ultros being 'obviously' aqua-themed, I suppose several people now think that Lovecraft's Cthulhu is entirely capable of surviving on land. But as it is generally held into account that whoever sees Cthulhu will turn mad within an instant, it still can be said that no SANE man will assume a squid-like creature to be land-based, and my statement still stands. He'll rise and feed upon your brain and soul and is more powerful than anything you could begin to comprehend. Cthulhu will rise. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.11.1 Choosing a scenario ********************************** There were initial plans for a normal menu screen where you could select your scenario from, but I guess they figured this would be more fun. They were right. Unlike the previous Mog, you can't access this guy's equipment or relics, so don't bother. It's here that you'll need to decide what scenario to do first. Here's a quick list what you can gain from each scenario: Terra/Edgar/Banon: a Rune Blade, and the ability to de-equip, most likely freeing a Gigas Glove and Hermes Sandals. Locke: Iron Helms, a Ribbon, one Earring, a Thunder Rod (if you left the Phoenix Down alone when you passed through the Cave of Figaro with Edgar, Locke, and Terra). Ends with a boss fight, so it's dangerous to de-equip at the end. Sabin: a Mythril Glove, a Barrier Ring, Green Berets, an Earring, a Sniper Eye, a Tintinnabulum and the ability to buy new equipment, including Magus Hats, Iron Armor, Silk Robes, and Bandanas. Ability to de-equip at the end. Now, I would advise you take the scenarios in the following order: Terra --> Sabin --> Locke Terra's scenario is a cinch where no extra items are needed by a long shot. However, it does contain some strong Relics you can't free until you've played through it. Therefore, Terra's scenario first. Now, Locke's scenario could use Sabin's items and vice versa...but the fact that Locke's scenario is probably the more difficult of the two, and you can't properly de-equip at the end of Locke's scenario, made me advise Locke's scenario last. On to the three scenarios: I'll handle them in the same order I advise you to take them in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.12.1 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Lethe River continued ********************************** Opponents: Lesser Lopros (#21), Nautiloid (#22), Exocite (#23) Preparation: Ain't nothing you can do, lil' missy. Monster Formation Pack # 1: Nautiloid, Exocite (3/4) Lesser Lopros, Exocite, Exocite (1/4) Monster Formation Pack # 2 Lesser Lopros, Lesser Lopros (3/4) Nautiloid, Exocite, Lesser Lopros (1/4) (Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) (Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time) With Sabin gone, battles will take a little longer. Not to worry, though. Keep the Lesser Lopros Confused, take Nautiloid with an ST Fire spell, and Exocite with the Auto Crossbow. Have Banon on stand-by. You should be used to these guys by now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.12.2 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Traveling to Narshe ********************************** Opponents: Leaf Bunny (#7), Darkwind (#8) You rode that Lethe River (more commonly known as 1337 River by flourishing people around the world...by which I mean flowers of ACNE) like a professional. You're right in front of Narshe; this should be a cinch. Preparation: Keepin' it in the Back Row there? I promise this is going to change. If you did any of the other scenarios before this one, upgrade your equipment, give Terra one or two Earrings, and have Edgar stick to Gigas Glove/ Hermes Sandals. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Leaf Bunny (10/16) Leaf Bunny , Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (6/16) (Forest) Leaf Bunny , Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (10/16) Leaf Bunny , Leaf Bunny, Darkwind, Darkwind (6/16) (Desert) Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (1/16) You can just slaughter these guys left and right however you please; MT Fire spell or Auto Crossbow, your pick. In other versions of the game, you could send your party to the hidden Chocobo Stable south of the desert and witness Banon's lack of rider sprite. They fixed it so that Terra takes over whenever a Chocobo's involved. Boo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.12.3 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Narshe ********************************** Opponents: Wererat (#4), Spritzer (#5), Bandit (#6), Valeor (#30), Wild Rat (#31), Darkside (-), Specter (-), Eukaryote (-) Container contents: Rune Blade Now, that was ridiculously easy; I told you this scenario was nothing to get your underwear in a twist about. After some Narshe Guards show you disrespect (remember to murderalize them later for that), it's up to you to find an alternative entrance. Luckily, you remember that secret entrance from the start of the game. No, yes you do. The one to the left? Preparation: You should've done that on the Overworld Map. Life does *not* start and stop at your convenience. Games do, though, so you can do it anyway. Enter the cave and walk through it. You'll recognize it as being the one Locke carried the unconscious Terra through. Monster formations: Wererat, Wererat, Wererat (10/16) Wererat, Bandit (6/16) You'll walk over a snowy slope. You can see Narshe already to the right of you, but you still can't reach it. The next cave contains new enemies: Monster formations: Wild Rat, Valeor, Valeor, Wild Rat, Wild Rat (6/16) Valeor, Valeor, Valeor (5/16) Valeor, Wild Rat (5/16) Both Valeor and Wild Rat monsters attack physically only, so there's little point in explaining what it is that they do. Valeors are the highest-ranking maintenance troops in the Empire. What the hell are all the Imperial guys doing in places where there's nothing for them to maintain? Pass through it. On the other side, you'll encounter the Dreaded Security Check Point. From the Japanese game, you could have learned this is a testing place for Narshe Guards. Who made it? Who creates something like this *period*, let alone in a desolate cave like this, punishing the weakest fighters in the game to follow its path with legions of undead monstrosities? Drunken wizards? Frat boys who find little pieces of Magicite and, being too poor to buy the pretty girls a drink, try to impress by feats of magic? So here's the deal. Follow the path of the sparkle thingy. Abandon knowledge of the will o' the wisp and DO follow this one. If not, nine revolving lights will quickly surround you. If you manage to tag the yellow one, you'll be given a chance to get back on track. If not, you will have to fight a battle: Darkside, Darkside (3/4) Darkside, Specter, Eukaryote, Eukaryote, Eukaryote (1/4) Suffice to say, if you mess up here, you'll have to fight a battle. Now, I was assuming that you acted on mistake and you were incapable of avoiding this bold act. However, it should be noted that you'll probably want to fight this illuminating magical sphere, as this is the only place where you'll find the nefarious Darkside enemy. Lo and behold, as there is a small chance (25 %) you will encounter here the interesting Specter and Eukaryote. There's no reason you want to meet them and killing them is easy, but you'll make them appear on the Veldt so you don't end up with a needlessly incomplete Rage list. Specter has a rare Ice Rod for stealing, but you sadly lack Locke at the moment. Intruding further into the dark, cold mines will allow you to come across the location where the Moogles live. Resuming your quest will get you past the chest in this room; reach it and open it to obtain the Rune Blade*. It's is stronger then your current blade. Unfortunately, it consumes 12 to 18 MP to inflict a critical hit every time, so grab onto your few MP and stick with the Great Sword, as the Rune Blade is horribly cost-inefficient at this stage of the game. * Actually, it would make more sense to just leave it here. Despite the fact that the Rune Blade allows Terra or Celes to do more damage than she could do without it, you probably will never use it. Much later, the treasure here will change into a Ribbon, which is much better at that time than the Rune Blade is now. Monster formations: Bandit, Spritzer (6/16) Spritzer, Spritzer (5/16) Wererat, Wererat (5/16) When you walk out of the Moogle Den, you're pretty much done. Keep ignoring any closed chests you might encounter; their contents haven't changed yet. When you're out of the cave, you can safely de-equip everything. That just was Scenario # 1... hope you liked it. The Old Man has been given a name! His name is Arvis. Nothing much has changed in Narshe; they're still neutral even though the Empire attacked them, they haven't really done anything with the Esper, and are a generally indecisive bunch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.13.1 Scenario Sabin: Meeting Shadow and finding the Imperial Camp ********************************** Opponents: Stray Cat (#32), Aepyornis (#33), Nettlehopper (#34), Chippirabbit (#35) So, Sabin was thrown off the raft and separated from his 5-minute friends. Getting back to Narshe is going to be tedious, as you have no idea which way to go. Your only hope is to find somebody who can point out the way... Preparation: Keep Sabin in the Back Row. White Cape and a Star Pendant. Even if you do have an Earring, Aura Cannon kills everything in one shot anyway, so a power boost isn't needed. Aepyornis' !Featherdust can Poison you, so that's why I advise a Star Pendant. Clever, no? Monster formations: (Grasslands) Aepyornis (6/16) Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) Aepyornis, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) (Forest) Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) Aepyornis, Aepyornis, Stray Cat (5/16) Aepyornis, Stray Cat, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (1/16) You start near a little house. Walk over to it. If you couldn't figure that out by yourself, I advise you to equip a Gun Relic in your mouth and use Pull The Trigger for offense. Here, there are three main points of interest. The guy you met in South Figaro is here, there's a green soldier-type merchant on a chocobo who comes in and leaves pretty quickly, and there's a house to go in. First, go over to the merchant. He has a nice set of items for you: Potion 50 Phoenix Down 500 Tent 1200 Plumed Hat 250 Shuriken 30 Invisibility Scroll 200 Shadow Scroll 400 Sprint Shoes 1500 I suggest you buy 99 Shurikens from him. 2970 Gil is not that much, and it'll stop any worrying about the limit of Shadow's attacks for a good while. Also, buy 5 Invisibility Scrolls and 5 Shadow Scrolls. You probably won't ever need any more. Now, go over to Shadow (you can talk to his dog from various angles and watch Sabin hide behind several objects, that always gets a kick out of me: "Don't get too close... He doesn't like strangers."), chat with him, and accept him in your party. I guess I should note it's not required as such; you can perfectly well finish the scenario without him. It's just that there's no reason whatsoever to ignore him, as not only is he a great asset to your team at this stage, he also comes with some Ninja Gear on him, which is great armor for now. Your additions to his equipment should be a Buckler and a Plumed Hat (you can buy the latter from the merchant if you have none to spare). Like I mentioned in the preparations, you'll want an Gigas Glove and a filler Relic on him, such as the Hyper Wrist. Stick him in the Back Row, as the very purpose of throwing something is ignoring the distance between you and the target. Since this is the moment Shadow is officially a party member, it'd be nice to know what it is that he does in battle. Learn it: [THROW-LINK] Entering the house will be difficult. You'll need to locate the door. It's hidden somewhere on the front side of the house itself, so look carefully. Inside the house, you can touch the stove for a neat little scene about how crazy this guy in fact is, but there's nothing remotely useful for you to do here otherwise. Make sure you talk to the Crazy Old Man in question several times, as his lines change. There are moments in the game Shadow has the annoying tendency to have a chance of running off after every battle. I'll explain that when that chance actually presents itself. For now, Shadow is your loyal sidekick. In other words, Shadow will NOT run out on you right now. On the Overworld Map, all violence directed at you is physical. In the first battle you fight with Shadow, have him Throw an Invisibility Scroll. This makes him invulnerable for the remaining journey on the Overworld Map. Throw Shurikens and Aura Cannons at your heart's delight; you'll find there's little strategy in this scenario as most of your fights consist of taking hits and returning ST one-hit KO's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.13.2 Scenario Sabin: The Imperial Camp and Doma ********************************** Opponents: Captain (#36), Imperial Soldier (#37), Templar (#38), Magitek Armor (#279), Doberman (-), Soldier (-), Officer (-) Container contents: Barrier Ring, Mythril Glove, Remedy, Star Pendant, Monster-in-a-box (Satellite) Miscellaneous items: Black Belt (common Captain drop), Green Beret (guaranteed Satellite drop) It seems there is an Imperial obstruction in the way. This is the Imperial Camp Shadow talked about, the one that will have to overcome the defenses of Doma at some point in the near future. We'll have to try to sneak past it. Preparation: Keep Sabin in the Back Row, as well as Shadow if you brought him. As soon as you enter the Imperial Camp, a cutscene will ensue. It becomes apparent that general Leo is leading the attack on Doma, and that he's pretty popular with the soldiers. Kefka, on the other hand, is expected to drive Leo out of the mission, becoming a general himself, a thought that inspires fear in the soldiers. Also, Doma is being attacked. Right now. By the way, the German translation calls the two soldiers "Major Möhre" and "Korporal Kartoffel", or "Major Carrot" and "Corporal Spud". The scene switches to Doma, where chances of overcoming the attack are slim. The retainer however, Cyan Garamonde, has a daring plan: rush out of the castle to kill the leading officer; this might send the soldiers scurrying off for the time being. After the scene, you are in control of Cyan. Equip Cyan with fancy new equipment you can offer him (Heavy Shield, Plumed Hat or even an Iron Helm if you went through some pains in Locke's scenario already). I suggest you take a moment to check up on the character that is Cyan: [BUSHIDO-LINK] Outside, eight Imperial soldiers are banging their heads against the walls of Doma in a sophisticated attempt to infiltrate it. The leading officer does nothing. You can pick a fight with any of the wandering Imperial soldiers (which will trigger a battle with two Imperial Soldiers), but it's of little use, as you'll be forced to fight Imperial Soldiers in the near future anyway. I suggest you simply go for the leader. Captain Level: 12, HP: 456, MP: 20 Win: Phoenix Down (rare), Black Belt (common) Status: Protect Special: !Axe: Attack * 1.5 Attacks: Attack, !Axe The captain, surprisingly called 'Captain', will sometimes use !Axe in between his normal physicals. He has a 33 % of countering any damage with !Axe, and that wraps it up for Captain. Cyan should be in the Back Row, so Captain's attacks shouldn't really hurt him. Cyan's # 1 Bushido skill, Fang, will deal sufficient damage to easily kill Captain before Captain can come anywhere near killing Cyan. Bushido skill # 2, Sky, will make sure that the Captain is killed in one hit. Bushido skill # 3 works as well, although it takes needlessly long. Make sure you end up with a Black Belt rather than a Phoenix Down; the Black Belt is a nice Relic at this point of the game, and you can't get another one for quite some time. When you're done playing around with petty officers, and the Imperial Soldiers, despite their overwhelming number, have decided it would be best to flee, the scene switches back to Sabin and Shadow. Proceed to explore the Imperial Camp. To the left is an Imperial soldier marching around; engaging him will get you an Imperial Soldier, Imperial Soldier, Magitek Armor battle. This walking soldier will re-spawn every time you leave and enter the Imperial Camp, by the way. To the left are a seemingly passive guard dog and a chest in the large military tent. You'll be given three options when examining the chest: Urrgh! It won't open. (Kick it.) (Hit it.) (Leave it.) - If you Kick it, the guard dog outside will be alarmed and will attack you, triggering an attack: Monster formations: Doberman, Doberman, Doberman (3/4) Doberman, Doberman (1/4) They're the only Dobermans you'll ever see in the game, so if you're still cruising for the perfect Rage list, this is the option you'll want. Dobermans, strangely, do NOT appear in the Bestiary. After Kicking it, the chest is open. It contains a Star Pendant. - If you Hit it, you'll fool an Imperial soldier by pretending to be a NEKO NEKO KAWAII. I meant a cat. After the soldier has disappeared, you'll be able to open the chest, which contains a Star Pendant. - If you Leave it, nothing will happen, unlike, say, leaving your wife. If you're done in this part of the Imperial Camp and are ready to continue, you'll come across a cutscene in which general Leo is called home to Vector by Emperor Gestahl, leaving Kefka in charge. You can get up and stretch you muscles for two steps before Leo and Kefka meet before your eyes. Kefka and Leo do NOT get along. Leo hasn't disappeared from your sight for a second when Kefka orders the poisoning of Doma's water supply, which not only goes against the laws of honor and war, but will take out several Imperial prisoners within the walls of Doma castle. Even given your current position, you cannot allow this to happen. You'll be fighting a character Kefka, who runs after taking one hit. He'll simply smack you over the head with his Morning Star if you let him, so getting your ass kicked isn't even terribly interesting in this case. Don't immediately follow him all the way; there are important things to be done: - In a tent, there are two chests. Ignore them for now, walk behind this tent. Automatically, you'll jump off a ledge in walk into another Tent. Here, you'll find a Barrier Ring; swap it with Sabin's Star Pendant. He can enjoy the slight Aura Cannon damage increase. Now, walk back into the tent with two chests. - The right one contains a Mythril Glove, which you can ignore for the rest of your life. - The left one contains one of NASA's old-time prides: the Satellite. If you already completed Locke's scenario, give the Ribbon to Sabin at this point. If not, give him the Genji Glove and move him to the *gasp* Front Row. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.13.3 Scenario Sabin: Satellite and the Imperial Camp continued ********************************** Satellite Level: 14, HP: 1800, MP: 250 Steal: X-Potion (rare), Win: Green Beret (rare), Green Beret (common) Weakness: Lightning, Water Status: Float Special: !Supersonic Wave: sets Confused Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Supersonic Wave, Dischord, Scintillation, Mega Berserk, Magitek Laser, Missile Satellite will normally use Attack, !Supersonic Wave, Scintillation, Magitek Laser and Missile to make your life harder than it already is. Every ninth turn it takes, Satellite will use Dischord to halve a character's level. After 25 seconds of fighting, Satellite will call two Imperial Soldiers to aid him. 55 seconds later, he'll call in three Imperial Soldiers to help him (if there are Imperial Soldiers from the previous calling still standing, he'll fill the number to 3), and 120 seconds later, he'll call four Imperial Soldiers (once again, he fills the screen up to four Soldiers anyway). Finally, Satellite will counter any Blitz attack with Mega Berserk, making sure that Sabin will be Blitz-less in this battle, like an animal. Shadow should be Throwing Shurikens while Sabin can keep on pumping out Aura Cannons. If you didn't have a Ribbon, he will be Berserked by Satellite's Blitz-counter, Mega Berserk. It should be noted that Shadow will, for the first time, be vulnerable to attacks here as there's a large chance at least one of Satellite's magical attacks will be striking Shadow, removing the Invisible status. After the fight, you win a Green Beret. Equip it on Sabin and swap his White Cape with the Mythril Glove (don't worry, it'll soon fade into the non-existence it was created for). Return Sabin to his Back Row Aura Cannon self and move on. Following Kefka further will get you into another battle with character Kefka. Have Shadow re-apply his Invisible status if you lost it versus Satellite. After talking to Kefka for the third time, he'll run off and sends Imperial Soldier, Imperial Soldier, Templar, Templar at you. If Shadow is still visible, take care of that problem. Have Sabin Defend and keep his own HP up, while Shadow takes out the enemies one by one (Templars first). There's a large chance they will use strong physical counters on you, and Shadow can avoid all of them. After Kefka breaks the universal honor code and Cyan learns that everything he loves is subject to Poison, you gain control of the good knight. Equip the Hermes Sandals on him and another nice filler Relic. You don't really have a choice but to go downstairs and watch Cyan rush into the royal chamber. The King of Doma (whose name is King Doma; I like to think his first names are 'King of') is dying. Then, he dies. Do not go into the door to the right when you leave the royal chamber. It contains graphic adultery, you hear? Instead, go on do the bottom of the screen and see two doors there. Pick the right one and enter. There's a Remedy in a pot here. Talk to the Doma Sentry you see in this room, and try to explore the available door next to him. It seems the statement about 'survivors' was too hopeful. When you're done, put Cyan in the Front Row and enter the room I previously forbid you to enter. You regain control of Sabin and Shadow once the scene is done. You can't exit left, as there's poison there (although you'll learn in a little while there's good distance between the Imperial Camp and Doma Castle, plot device laughs in the face of logic). No choice but to help Cyan! For some extra fun, try talking to Cyan when between the two attacking Imperial soldiers: Cyan: Grrr! Art thou an enemy as well!? Sabin: Ouch! Probably shouldn't have gotten in the middle of that... Too bad you don't lose HP there; that would amuse my bitter, bitter self. Cyan will fight automatically in this battle, having a 66 % of using Attack and 33 % shot at Fang. Sabin and Shadow can stick to their trusted ST power- blows, and you'll win the day without breaking a sweat in the battle formations you have to go through: Soldier, Soldier, Soldier (3/4) / Soldier, Soldier, Soldier, Soldier (1/4) Soldier, Soldier, Soldier (3/4) / Soldier, Soldier, Soldier, Soldier (1/4) Officer, Soldier, Soldier After all is said and done, you get to run around in Magitek Armor again! How sweet it is! Heal any damage done to Sabin and Cyan with Healing Force (obviously Shadow wasn't touched at all; he's a non-generic ninja). Use Healing Force anyway, as his invisibility can, believe it or not, become a negative factor in the near future. Put Cyan back in the Back Row and blast your way through any opposition with whatever beam you can use. Everything kills everything, to be blunt. The helpless opposition: Magitek Armor Imperial Soldier, Imperial Soldier, Magitek Armor Magitek Armor, Magitek Armor When you're done, leave. This is, by the way, a good strategy for a large portion of your life, although it doesn't seem to work as effectively after you've taken what you want from girls. Finally! You've managed to sneak through an Imperial Camp without the loss of your life. Of course, you didn't so much 'sneak through' as simply murdered everybody you saw, which was half of the Camp's population. Still, you live. That's good. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.14.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to the Phantom Forest ********************************** Opponents: Sand Ray (#9), Alacran (#10), Stray Cat (#32), Aepyornis (#33), Nettlehopper (#34), Chippirabbit (#35) Having broken out like a bad case of acne, your only hope to reach Narshe is to travel through a dark forest to the east of Doma Castle. Preparation: Save, darn you! Now that Sabin is no longer alone and scared, there is little direct reason for Shadow to linger. That means that starting from your escape from the Imperial Camp, he may randomly decide to leave you after every battle, taking all your equipment he's got equipped with him: Shadow: My job is done. I've earned my pay. Shadow: So long... It's just a 1/16 chance though (which, by the way, is in NO way influenced by the order you performed the scenarios in, there are many myths and misconceptions about that). I can say that in a short while, there will be a situation in which Shadow will no longer be able to escape, but you'll need to make it there with Shadow at your side, preferably. This can be reached by: a) Saving beforehand and relying on your luck b) Killing Shadow until the party reaches said destination. c) Running from every battle If you're playing the game on an emulator, I suggest the first (you can always Quick Save after every battle and Quick Load when Shadow decides it's time to hit the road). If you're playing on a console (PSX or GBA), I advise you to simply run away for the time being. The monsters give crap Experience, they drop nothing interesting and there is absolutely no penalty to fleeing in this game. Monster formations: (Grass North of Imperial Camp) Aepyornis (6/16) Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) Aepyornis, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) (Grass South and West of Imperial Camp) Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (6/16) Stray Cat, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Aepyornis, Stray Cat, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (5/16) (Forest) Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit, Chippirabbit (5/16) Aepyornis, Aepyornis, Stray Cat (5/16) Aepyornis, Stray Cat, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (1/16) (Desert) Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran (5/16) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran, Alacran (1/16) You know how to handle the wildlife here. You can travel to Doma Castle, but you'll find it occupied by Imperial troops so you cannot enter. Just travel to the forest to the southeast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.14.2 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Forest ********************************** Opponents: Ghost (#40), Poplium (#41) Welcome to Phantom Forest, called the Forest of Illusion in the Japanese game. After entering the forest, something quickly seems...off. Eyes from the darkness leering at you. Sounds from places you can't keep your eye on. You being on fire. Preparation: Shadow's still a possible run-away, so keep him down if that's your strategy. Monster formations: (First and Second Screen) Ghost (10/16) Ghost, Poplium, Poplium (6/16) (Third and Fourth Screen) Ghost, Ghost, Ghost (10/16) Ghost, Ghost, Poplium, Poplium, Poplium (6/16) Ghosts are unfriendly, generally unpleasant, Undead, and they hate you. Every first turn will be a Fire spell or nothing, but the second turn can contain Attack, !Time Freeze (which sets Stop) and Dancing Flame, a very strong ST Fire -elemental attack that will probably shave off 150 HP. Poplium are waiting to be relieved from this unlife they're doomed to suffer through. They attack physically and if they're feeling particularly grumpy they might even use !Cling to slow you down. This is, strategy-wise, a very boring and straightforward part of the game. Sabin, Cyan, and Shadow all have ST attacks that can take out all enemies in one hit. Keep up with Fang, Shuriken, and Aura Cannon. Use Potions when you are hit with an unlucky Dancing Flame or when your HP is running low due to other causes. You will find a Recovery Spring you will automatically heal yourself in. Make sure to kill Shadow again if you're a SNES player. Think: "Take this, nemesis! A Shuriken to the face! Oh, wait. Fitting as it is for my dark, brooding character, I myself am my nemesis. My physical agony is without boundaries." Always stick to the next exit on the top of the screen; other exits will lead you in circles. Laugh at their attempts to trick you. Eventually, you'll reach a train. The train was destroyed in the recent war between Doma and the Empire, and Sabin will talk about survivors and taking looks. Cyan will freak, but we're used to that by now and pay little attention to him as we climb aboard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.15.1 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Train ********************************** Opponents: Cloud (#42), Angel Whisper (#43), Oversoul (#44), Bomb (#45), Living Dead (#46), Apparition (#47), Siegfried (#48), Phantom Train (#284) Container contents: Earring, Phoenix Down x2, Sniper Eye, Monster-in-a-box (Apparition) Miscellaneous items: Hyper Wrist (guaranteed Apparition drop), Tent x3 (2 hidden, one guaranteed Phantom Train drop) Preparation: You can revive Shadow now as, trapped on the Phantom Train as he is, he won't run away anymore. You'll want to keep hold of your high-tech reviving utilities, as a Save Point is nearby. Monster formations: (Outside entire Phantom Train) Angel Whisper, Angel Whisper, Cloud (5/16) Bomb (5/16) Angel Whisper, Angel Whisper, Angel Whisper, Angel Whisper (5/16) Bomb, Bomb, Bomb (1/16) Behold, the Phantom Train! This is the first area where we'll fight multiple monsters that regularly use spells; learn to love it. The Phantom Train is a luxury, a transportation device unlike any other. Pulled by a locomotive, the Train features a Save Point, two train wagons for the rich, a restaurant wagon, and five normal wagons with the Conductor's working area in the far back. This is it: ( LOCOMOTIVE ) ( SAVE POINT CAR ) (APPARITION CAR, POSH ) ( SIEGFRIED CAR, POSH ) ( RESTAURANT CAR ) ( MAGIC SWITCH CAR ) ( LEAP OVER CAR ) ( NO ESCAPE CAR ) ( HUMEROUS TUMBLE CAR ) ( STARTING CAR ) ( CONDUCTOR CAR ) Angel Whispers are emissaries from a magical world. They use Attack, as is the wont of monsters, and Gravity, a spell that halves your amount of current HP. It's pretty annoying. This is also the first monster you'll see with inherent Sap status. The undead were supposed to be healed by this status, so this was supposed to be a recovering opponent. Instead, due to a bug, Angel Whispers just waste away in their own misery. Living Dead are warrior zombies possessed by an evil spirit. Nice. They attack physically and with !Slip Touch, which sets Sap. They're inherently boring and mediocre. Cloud monsters are NOT undead. This is a surprising feat for a creature on the Phantom Train, and I don't really know why this is. They cast Drain to little avail, as you'll be doing one-hit KO's against them, but it's a nice try. Also, !Unseen Strike damages. Oversouls are undead skeletons born from a coalescence of hatred. Also, they're most rude. Every second turn they take can make them use Dread Gaze, an attack that sets Petrify on a single target. If they're alone they won't ever use Dread Gaze but they can use !Insanitouch, which sets Confused and is potentially even more dangerous than Dread Gaze. Bombs are mostly found when you're walking outside, and they have nothing to do with the Phantom Train and its destination. If they attack at all, they use Blaze, a strong Fire-elemental attack they can either aim at a single character or at the entire party. Always go for Bombs first, but never allow yourself to hit them with a non-fatal attack as they could use Self-Destruct, which harms you as much as the Bomb in question has for current HP. Luckily, as Self-Destruct is all about self-destruction, the Bomb will be dead. Even though a great variety of attacks will be sent your way, there's very little you can do about them. Continue to use your powerful ST attacks, and have Shadow target Bombs and then Angel Whispers before anything else, as their Blaze and/or Gravity attacks are the biggest threats you face. It's feasible that your Sabin has learned Rising Phoenix by now. While you must've leveled him to level 15 for Rising Phoenix to be an option, and while level 15 is over leveled at this point, it's not entirely dramatically high. Bombs absorb Fire/Rising Phoenix, so refrain from using it when facing them. Aura Cannon is more powerful on a single target, but both feed off the weaknesses that seems inherent to all undead enemies: Fire and Holy. You'll learn to use Rising Phoenix, I'm sure. Give Shadow the Hermes Sandals, as his ST attacks will be the most important ones. Mythril Glove/Gigas Glove Cyan in the Front Row, Aura Cannon Sabin in the Back Row with a White Cape and Barrier Ring. Once you decide to board the train, there's no going back. The door will close behind you and the train will start moving. Examine the door, and Cyan will explain about the Phantom Train, which brings the deceased to the afterlife. Business must be small, with all them Phoenix Downs. Monster formations: Bomb (10/16) Bomb, Bomb, Bomb (6/16) When you're done gasping and shaking in fear, head to the right. You'll walk out of the train car and, if you keep that button down, into a new one. You'll see a ghost here. Talk to him and have him join your party! It's only temporary, but I'll discuss the White Robed a bit: The ghost joins on a level quite similar to yours, and can use Attack, Possess, and Item. Since he has no weapons, his Attack is horribly weak. Possess is a quirky command that is only seen here; Possess will remove both the caster and the target from the battle. The caster is gone from the party after the battle ends. This command has a 3 out of 8 chance of succeeding against every target, regardless of one-hit KO protection, Evasion, or Magic Evasion. The ghost comes equipped with NO equipment, and only one Relic: the Lich Ring. This turns the wearer into an Undead creature, which is exactly the story behind the temporary character. This means you will *hurt* the poor bastard with Potions and Hi-Potions and kill it instantly with Phoenix Downs. If it has fallen in battle, you cannot revive him (the Phoenix Down will miss). Outside of battle, however, you can heal with restorative items. If a temporary ghost character dies, he will be removed from the party. If you haven't brought Shadow, you can recruit two Ghost characters. You'll always obtain the stronger one first, and should you have left Shadow behind or allowed him to run off, a weaker one will come second. Enter the cabin. If you look at the switch, you'll see a cutscene in which Cyan's fear or machinery is once again displayed in a humorous manner. If you examine the book, you'll see some dialogue. If you talk to the Conductor, you can ask some questions. In the top-left corner of the car, there's a hidden Tent just waiting for you to be discovered. If you leave again, you'll see another ghost. If Shadow left you/if you haven't bothered with him at all, you can have this guy join you too, although this second ghost is always significantly more useless. Monster formations: Angel Whisper, Cloud, Cloud, Cloud (6/16) Angel Whisper (5/16) Living Dead, Living Dead, Living Dead (5/16) Okay, to the left we go! This is where the Locomotive is located, which we need to shut down. In the next train car, you see all sorts of ghosts. Some will attack you, some will want to join you, and some will want to sell you items. You shouldn't really benefit from the items, but if you feel you could use extra from the following, be my guest to search them out: Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Antidote 50 Green Cherry 150 Phoenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Shuriken 30 Ghosts that attack you are either: Ghost (3/4) Ghost, Ghost, Ghost (1/4) So don't worry about that. When you exit the train car to the left, you can use a ladder to climb up the car you just abandoned and come across an air vent you fall through should you stand on it. How rad! How entirely useless! Going into the next train car will be a suicidal plan, as it turns out. Just seconds after you entered, a ghost will appear from behind and block your path back. There are no other exits. It's time to fight the bugger! Like all other ghosts that have attacked you when you talked to them, this is either a single Ghost or a triple Ghost formation. When outside, you will be cornered by a mob of angry undeads. And they're not doing the moonwalk either! Time to escape. The roof, however, fits the role of upper surface completely and provides no means of exit. Then, Sabin gets an idea, which apparently requires Cyan to 'come'. Who knows what those years of training have been good for? You escape, Shadow and the ghost carefully secured in your back pocket. Or something. Monster formations: Angel Whisper, Cloud, Cloud, Cloud (6/16) Oversoul, Oversoul (5/16) Oversoul, Living Dead, Living Dead (5/16) The ghosts pursue! Instead of making this a kick-ass pursuit scene, you can simply flick a switch to detach the rear train cars. Do so. Remember, this has no consequences for the otherwise innocent, as the only thing you do is trap dozens of souls in the mortal realms, denying them passage to the afterlife, including, but not limited to, those nice guys who wanted to sell you items and help you on your quest. But hey, you're the good guys, right? Once back inside, you can swap the same switch to clear your path. What, is this some kind of MAGICAL switch that can do whatever you want it to do? Is this some kind of MAGICAL world you play this game in? Balderdash! Humbug, I say! This is the train car you want to be in to find Oversoul, as they don't appear on earlier or subsequent train cars. The next train houses the Dish of the Damned! The Food of the Forgotten! The Cuisine of the Con...demned! Sitting at the middle table will make a ghost waiter serve you some food. Cyan will spaz out (he does that a lot) but you'll be fully healed, just like a meal in real life. You can repeat this for a less dramatic but more personal scene by switching lead characters the next time(s) you sit down: Sabin: All right! Dinner time! I'm gonna eat till I burst! Cyan: Is this train's food tr-truly safe to eat? Shadow: ... Interceptor... Are you hungry, too, boy? Ghost: *gobble*... *snarf*... *slurp*... the Ghost will just go bananas on the food. It's a hoot to see, seriously :D You can't exit to the left, so go out and walk around the train car. Don't forget to go back in the other side and open the chest behind the waiters for an Earring. Swap one of Sabin's Relics with it, as you'll need the boost in Aura Cannon power in a bit. Monster formations: Angel Whisper (6/16) Bomb, Bomb, Cloud, Cloud (5/16) Angel Whisper, Living Dead, Cloud, Cloud (5/16) You can't go around the next train car, so just get in! There are two compartments in this train car. The first one houses a chest, but as soon as you face it from the front (you can't open it from the side), you will hear an ominous voice! Of course, there's really no indication the voice is ominous, so I'm just making that up. Siegfried Level: 7, HP: 100, MP: 5 Steal: Win: Green Cherry (rare), Green Cherry (common) Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Petrify, KO, Doom, Silence Attacks: Attack After the introduction between you and Siegfried is done, it's fighty time. Siegfried has 100 HP and opens with a flurry of eight weak physical attacks. Chances are your Black Belt character or Interceptor kills him before he finishes all eight, but if that's not the case, you can just do whatever (the Tiger Bushdio skill doesn't work!). You'll get a Green Cherry for your troubles. Siegfried is impersonating the legendary swordsman Siegfried and had hoped to scare you off rather than actually having to fight you in any kind of serious battle. In the Japanese version, Siegfried continuously refers to himself as Mr. Me. It gets really annoying really quick. Anyway, the pansy has been beaten. Siegfried runs off with the treasure - Au revoir! Don't worry if you just missed the biggest kick-ass Gamma Sword just there; the chest isn't really a chest with contents anyway. The next room in the compartment appears empty, but this is not the case. See those two empty tiles to the left of the bench? The left one contains a Tent; just face it and press action. The right one contains a Fairy Ring, but you can't obtain it since you can't face it. Stupid programmers are the scourge of gaming. :( On to the next car! Once again, it's a posh car with two compartments. The first compartment is a copy of the compartment with the Tent and Fairy Ring in the previous car. If you left the Tent in the previous car, you can pick it up in this car; if you picked it up there, it's obviously gone in this one as well. It's a bit weird you basically walk into the same compartment from two different train cars, but it seems to be intentional. It's a magic train, whatever. The second one is lined up with four chests; rejoice. From right to left, they contain a Phoenix Down, Sniper Eye (you can ignore this Relic for now, nothing evades your physicals at this stage of the game, and you're not using them anyway), Phoenix Down, and a Monster-in-a-Box. How frightening. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.15.2 Scenario Sabin: Apparition and the Phantom Train continued ********************************** Apparition Level: 19, HP: 1500, MP: 10000 Steal: Win: Hyper Wrist (rare), Hyper Wrist (common) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy Status: Undead Special: !Lightning: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Lightning, Attack Control: Attack, !Lightning Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Lightning, Blizzard, Leech This is Apparition. According to the latest Anthology release (I imagine somebody reading this in 2050 and laughing...laughing!), this is the ghost of a murdered person. Oh my. Apparition has normal access to three attacks: Attack, the Blizzard spell, and Leech, which drains HP. If you damage Apparition, he will hate you for it and get a 33 % shot at attacking his attacker with !Lightning, which is nothing even remotely like Lightning-elemental. There are a number of ways to kill this thing humiliatingly easy, but the Top 2 of cheap tactics go right against my game ethics. Of course, there's taking advantage of Square's assumption that even though it's supposed to be a rather difficult enemy, it still should be vulnerable to a Phoenix Down scoring a one- hit KO. Also, you're traveling with a ghost that is capable of delivering a one -hit KO on everything. But I'll take that not only are you too good for the Phoenix Down move, you also don't want to lose your cool ghost guy just yet. So, when the battle begins, wait for Cyan's third Bushido skill, Tiger. Don't move with Sabin and Shadow or even the ghost; just skip to Cyan and use Tiger. It'll halve his current HP and should do 750 damage. Follow up with an Aura Cannon and a Shuriken and you should be done. You'll get a Hyper Wrist for your troubles, which is hardly satisfactory. Then again, it wasn't much trouble. Before you can reach the next car, your ghost companion(s) will leave you. ...How troublesome. The next car contains a Save Point. Save. That is its point. Finally, you made it to the locomotive. Rather than making puns with 'loco' (or worse, with 'motive'), I'll just say that the engineer's compartment will make Sabin and Cyan excited before they even set as much as a single step within it. Sounds promising! In the top-left and the bottom-left corners of the room, you can read that you need to shut the first and third pressure valves. All three are now open, so just flip the first and third one, and go outside near the smoke stack. Before you operate, you should expect a major fight coming up. As preparation, move everybody to the Front Row and equip any Ribbon you might have. Equip the White Cape on Cyan (switch with Hyper Wrist). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.15.3 Scenario Sabin: The battle with the Phantom Train ********************************** Phantom Train Level: 14, HP: 1900, MP: 350 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Tent (always) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Lightning, Holy Status: Undead Special: !Wheel: Attack x 2 Vulnerable to: KO Attacks: Attack, !Wheel, Acid Rain, Diabolic Whistle, Saintly Beam The Phantom Train will start with the battle with either a physical attack, !Wheel, or Diabolic Whistle. The next four turns will be spent at using normal physical attacks and his Special !Wheel; the fifth turn will be Diabolic Whistle, but only if there are at least two characters still alive. After every 15 seconds of battle, Phantom Train will use either Acid Rain (2/3) or Saintly Beam, an attack that deals MT Holy-elemental damage to your party. Finally, if Phantom Train has been damaged, he has a one in three chance of using !Wheel. For trivia, Saintly Beam used to be Phantom Train-exclusive until Holy Dragon Redux showed its pasty face for the Advance release. Given it's such a nasty move in that fight, it's occurance here at least shows the Phantom Train was on the right track. I came up with that pun in the subway! The fight against Phantom Train can be real easy and real bad, and it all depends on his Diabolic Whistle attack. This sets one random status ailment on your party out of the following: Darkness, Poison, Imp, Doom, Berserk, Confused, Sap and Slow. Due to a GBA-exclusive bug, you can circumvent all effects from this attack by equipping a Relic which protects against Imp (such as the White Cape). It should've still applied other status ailments in that case, but it doesn't. The ones you need to be concerned about are Imp, Berserk, and Confused. If one of your characters is Imped, you'll want to use Hi-Potions to damage Phantom Train. Hi-Potions inflict 250 worth of HP damage, which is superior to your crummy Imped Attack command. Smack your Confused characters, as there's nothing more fatal than Confused characters, especially when they have access to Rising Phoenix or barrier-piercing attacks. The Phantom Train battle is very much like the Apparition battle in the sense that using a Phoenix Down is the coward's way out, and that the strategy revolves around allowing Cyan to start the battle with his third Bushido skill, Tiger. After this, have Sabin come in with an Aura Cannon and Shadow with Shuriken. A lot of people have dubbed it 'hilarious' to have Sabin use Meteor Strike on the Phantom Train. If you want to see a tiny sprite lift a huge train, be my guest. After the fight is over, you're in for the most dramatic moment of your life. If you don't actually have a life, that is. Cyan Garamonde, who has lost everything he ever lived for, has to come face to face with his departed wife and son, only moments before the Phantom Train forcefully takes them away. I suppose it's only justifiable Cyan is slightly in shock after this. You'll be able to leave after a set period of time. Shadow: "Best leave him be." After all has been said and done, you find yourself on the Overworld Map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.16.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to Baren Falls ********************************** Opponents: Stray Cat (#32), Aepyornis (#33), Nettlehopper (#34) Monster formations: Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (6/16) Stray Cat, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Aepyornis, Stray Cat, Nettlehopper, Nettlehopper (5/16) You've escaped the Phantom Train and find yourself at the southern edge of the Phantom Forest. To your right is Baren Falls, a great waterfall you must get past to reach the Veldt, which is full of dangerous monsters. It seems Sabin's scenario is packed with landmark-esque obstacles. Preparation: Shadow, once again, may run away. Also, he will depart anyway in a very small bit; de-equip him of his equipment and relics. Give the Ninja Gear and Hermes Sandals to Sabin and pass the Gigas Glove to Cyan. If you're still suffering from bad status afflictions from Phantom Train's Diabolic Whistle, a Tent might be appropriate. Don't forget to move all but your Black Belt character to the Back Row. Wait for Sabin's Rising Phoenix to kill everything or, should you lack it, slave away with those ST slayers you've grown so familiar with. Make sure to fight Stray Cats here if you haven't before, as they will prove most useful. Simply walk into the cave to the east and head all the way to the falls. Sabin and Cyan will discuss your bad situation and Shadow will leave you here. If he still had any of your equipment on him, he'll take it with him. He'll be missed, but you'll get an even better character in a bit, so don't feel too bad about it. You could return to the Phantom Forest, but there's really no point; you'll just find yourself walking through some familiar screens of the Phantom Forest and you'll eventually reach the other side. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.16.2 Scenario Sabin: Baren Falls ********************************** Opponents: Opinicus Fish (#49), Rhizopas (#285) Miscellaneous items: Remedy (guaranteed Rhizopas drop) Lacking your favorite ninja, your first course of action is hurling yourself down a waterfall packed with rabid piranhas with crazy spell casting abilities. I'd say it's clear who the brains in that operation was. Preparation: You're still set. If you have a Black Belt, it's really useful in this fight. Monster formations: Opinicus Fish, Opinicus Fish, Opinicus Fish, Opinicus Fish, Opinicus Fish, Rhizopas Yeah, you read that right, but it's more of a data thing. What you'll see on-screen is monster formations of Opinicus Fish x2, Opinicus Fish x3 and Rhizopas. What'll happen here is that you'll be fighting Opinicus Fish for 60 seconds before Rhizopas appears. Which pack of Opinicus Fish monsters pops up entirely depends on which Opinicus Fish you killed last, but it shouldn't really concern you, as the normal Opinicus Fish are extremely weak. What you do in the first 60 seconds is entirely up to you. If you want little fuss, you can just wait the 60 seconds out in the first battle, kill all but one, heal up with Potions for the Rhizopas confrontation, and kill the last bugger. On the other hand, Opinicus Fish know a rare Potion drop, so if you want a shot at as much of those possible, kill as much Opinicus Fish as you can handle. Since Opinicus Fish only have 10 HP even a Back Row Attack command kills them, so do that. It's the fastest way. If you don't care about inferior healing liquids, it's good form to try and kill the last Opinicus Fish with a Black Belt counter, leaving both Sabin and Cyan with a full ATB bar versus Rhizopas. Rhizopas Level: 13, HP: 775, MP: 39 Steal: Win: Remedy (rare), Remedy (common) Absorbs: Water, Weakness: Lightning Status: Float Special: !Bite: Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Berserk, Confuse, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Bite, Blizzard, El Niño, Megavolt As soon as Rhizopas it's time to bring the noise hardcore-like. The first turn, he'll use Attack, !Bite or Megavolt, followed by either another physical or a 66% shot at casting the Blizzard spell. On the second turn, this little guy has access to the El Niño attack, which will deal up to 250 damage to both Sabin and Cyan. Your best bet is to go all-out offensive to make sure Rhizopas never lives to see its second turn. While Rhizopas has very decent magical defense, Aura Cannon still out damages Raging Fist (and Rising Phoenix, but that should be obvious). Tiger doesn't work, so just go with Fang. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.16.3 Scenario Sabin: Traveling over the Veldt to Mobliz ********************************** Opponents: Most everything you've seen so far; it's the Veldt, man! You've managed to survive the Seafood of Death, and now you're on the Veldt. You came across a strange boy, dressed in animal hides. Life is strange. Preparation: Re-equip that Black Belt if you took it off. Welcome to the Veldt! Here, random encounter monster formations are reproduced for you to fight. You will not gain Experience Points, and its main purpose is obtaining Rages for Gau, the character you will have to name. I'll explain that in a bit. For now, you'll be able to name Gau. I'll call him Gau. For now, you'll have to go find Mobliz, to the east. You'll fight battles in the meantime, and there's a chance you'll see Gau appear when you're done. You probably don't want to hurt the guy, but you can't run from him (the buttons will do nothing), so your only option is to smack him over the head to cause him to flee. The alternative is fleeing from the random encounters themselves, if possible. You've reached Mobliz? Good! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.17.1 Scenario Sabin: Mobliz ********************************** Container contents: Elixir Miscellaneous items: Tintinnabulum (Wounded lad quest) Mobliz is a great backwater village supporting itself through hunting. Or something. There are some great shops here, so take a look around. Weapon Shop: Mythril Knife 300 Mythril Sword 450 Mythril Claws 800 Kotetsu 800 You'll want to buy a Kotetsu for Cyan, or two if you want to make him a Genji Glove/Black Belt character (which is a wise decision). Armor Shop: Buckler 200 Heavy Shield 400 Plumed Hat 250 Magus Hat 600 Bandana 800 Iron Helm 1000 Kenpo Gi 250 Iron Armor 700 Buy two Heavy Shields, two Magus Hats, another Plumed hat, and two Iron Armors. The Iron Helms are ridiculously expensive and you find better alternatives in a short while. Item Shop: Dried Meat 150 Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Eye Drops 50 Green Cherry 150 Phoenix Down 500 Tent 1200 You'll want to buy at least one Dried Meat, as you'll need it to trigger a necessary cutscene. Dried Meat is basically a healing potion that heals a character for 150 HP (so it's inferior to normal Hi-Potions), but has the added property of also healing Undead monsters/characters (instead of hurting them like Potions and Hi-Potions do). Relic shop: Sprint Shoes 1500 White Cape 5000 It's never a bad idea to have White Capes ready, as they make grand filler relics. Make sure you leave 2500 Gil in your wallet, at least. Hidden Items: There is an Elixir hidden in the clock of the carrier pigeon house. Don't bother paying the Inn fee; you can sleep at the bed in the back of the Relic shop. Take a look at the two kiddos in love; Duane and Katarin will make a more significant appearance in the future. There's a wounded lad from Maranda residing in Mobliz. He left the army when he heard they were heading for Doma, but was busted up for his insolence. They broke every bone in his body for leaving, to be more precise. Poor lad indeed. Him being here makes sense because Mobliz is in no way on route when traveling from Vector to Doma. Anyway, he has a honey in Maranda, and you can help him with it! He receives letters from her, but can't write back. Do it for him, I say! You'll have to send a total of five letters over there: A letter A record Some Potion (which will not be taken from your inventory) Another letter A book You can't send new stuff if the wounded soldier hasn't gotten any reply; he gets a reply whenever you've: - slept at the Inn - have talked to the salesman of the Item Shop - have talked to the salesman of the Weapon Shop - have talked to the salesman of the Armor Shop - have talked to the salesman of the Relic Shop - have let the scholar show you the Serpent Trench That makes NO sense whatsoever, I am completely aware of that. After you've sent the five letters, the poor guy gives you a Tintinnabulum, a nice filler Relic and extremely rare, which gives the illusion it's actually more useful than it in fact is. If you're wondering what the hell exactly a Tintinnabulum is, it's probably derived from 'tintinabulation' which means 'ringing'. I can add that the Japanese game calls it a Cat's Bell; I guess we're supposed to assume that with every step the Tintinnabulum lets out a chime and heals the wearer a little. Once you're done dancing and prancing in Mobliz, head to the Veldt again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.17.2 Scenario Sabin: Recruiting Gau ********************************** Opponents: Veldt encounters The weird kid called Gau repeatedly said he was hungry, but you had nothing to help him with. Fortunately, Mobliz offers you the possibility of buying food, unlike other towns. Because that makes sense. Preparation: Equip the Genji Glove and Kotetsu Katanas on Cyan and keep him in the Front Row, or stick with Back Row Cyan if you don't have a Genji Glove. The other Relic should be the Black Belt if you have the Genji Glove; while Fang still out damages Cyan's Attack (it's pretty close), the counterattack will kill most critters here. You're bound to run into a few battles here, and you're bound to come across Gau while doing so. You'll need both Sabin and Cyan alive for him to appear. Feeding him a Dried Meat (just use it on him) will trigger a long, long, yet surprisingly un-boring cutscene in which Gau joins you. Learn the basics of Gau: [RAGE-LINK] Gau arrives, like a baby, completely naked (and screaming nonsense). Equip him with what you have, which probably is a Buckler, Bandana, and Kenpo Gi. You will want to swap Sabin's Mythril Shield with Gau's Buckler as Gau will have to be in the Front Row and can use the extra defense. Not only does Gau return to his spot in the team in the Front Row at all times, his physicals are important enough on the Veldt to warrant Front Row. As far as Relics go, you should have a Gigas Glove free. Set the other Relic slot up with a filler Relic (White Cape is nice). Gau joins with a few Rages already: Zaghrem, Exocite, Hornet, Silver Lobo, Magitek Armor, Belmodar, Cartagra, Wererat, and Angel Whisper. Zaghrem is nice, and Belmodar has its distant uses, but for the real good stuff (and there really is a lot of good stuff for Gau to Rage, make no mistake), you'll want to obtain these: Darkwind Break inherent Float Trillium Bio absorbs Water Alacran !Numb (Stop) Spritzer Blaze absorbs Lightning, inherent Float, Undead Oversoul W. o' the Wisp absorbs Poison, Undead Stray Cat !Cat Scratch Guard Leader Wind Slash Lesser Lopros Fireball inherent Float Mu Snare Templar Fira inherent Protect Cloud Thundara one-hit KO protection Satellite Sonic Boom inherent Float, one-hit KO protection Bomb Blaze absorbs Fire, inherent Float The most important ones right now are Darkwind, Trillium, Alacran, Templar and Guard Leader/Lesser Lopros. If you completed Locke's scenario already, Acrophies is just as good as Alacran for the purpose it's designed for. Really, unless you want to obtain as much Rages as possible, you can ignore other monsters. Keep in mind that Leaping at monsters such as Silver Lobo and Gorgias is just losing control of Gau's Leaping for the time being, which could make him miss out on the others. Guard Leader has the strongest MT attack you can possess up to now: Wind Slash. He is, sadly, especially elusive due to the way the Veldt works, so don't feel too bad if you leave the Veldt without having met this one. Obviously, no Rage is mandatory, but keep in mind that Gau's usefulness exceeds all other characters if you find the right Rages, and sucks beyond belief if you don't invest the time in him. Satellites still drop Green Berets, which are superior Helmets for everybody. Terra and a mystery character soon to be introduced (I'm talking about Celes) have an acceptable alternate option in the Magus Hat, but ideally, you'll want to stick around until you've won another three Green Berets (you'll find one extra before long). When you're done chasing Gau around, stick him in the Back Row as the next dungeon will have him rely on magical attacks and go visit Crescent Mountain, located to the southeast. Gau has a gift for you there, and a bloke in Mobliz mentioned you could reach Nikeah by jumping into the raging current of the Serpent Trench. Who knows, those might be connected somehow! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.17.3 Scenario Sabin: Crescent Mountain ********************************** Miscellaneous items: Potion (Gau) Upon entering the cave, Gau will fail to do the one thing he was enlisted for. Let's take a look around. To the right side of the plateau you're standing on, you can see a little cutscene (7 steps up, 1 step to the side from the entrance) that is entirely useless. To the left, you'll see a little square sticking out where Gau will find you a Potion (which, believe it or not, is actually added to your inventory!). Proceed and you'll come across a ridge you can walk up on. All the way left, another cutscene will ensue where Gau will scare Sabin out of 500 Gil (which is removed from your amount of money). If you had less than that, Cyan will magically possess the remaining Gil instead of Sabin and nothing will be removed. Proceeding further will allow Gau to find the diving helmet! Many a philosopher has pondered over the impossibility of three men sharing the same helmet, but none have found a satisfactory answer. Regardless, the cutscene will take you outside and plunge you into the cold, cold waters of the Serpent Trench. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.18.1 Scenario Sabin: The Serpent Trench ********************************** Opponents: Anguiform (#50), Aspiran (#51), Actinian (#52) Container contents: Green Beret, X-Potion Narshe is a long way if you take the wrong turn at the Lethe River! Having passed through an Imperial Camp, the lands of Doma, the Phantom Forest, Baren Falls, and the Veldt, you now need to reach Nikeah where a ferry should be available to take you to South Figaro and finally deliver you close to Narshe. But the Serpent Trench is a raging current with violent monsters hunting for you... Preparation: Make absolutely sure you have a fully equipped Gau, as there are two rather nasty monsters waiting for you here. There are three monsters here. You can really forget about Actinian; his physicals shouldn't really bother you that much, and whenever you meet a triple Actinian monster formation, Fang, Aura Cannon/Rising Phoenix and the Templar, Bomb, or Lesser Lopros Rages go well with that. Anguiform are dangerous not only because they have a murdering physical attack in !Garrotte, which is actually as painful as it sounds, but especially because they like to use Aqua Breath when they are alone. Aqua Breath is an extremely strong MT Water/Wind-elemental attack that will hurt for about 170-200 HP damage. Not nice. You should kill with Rising Phoenix if possible, but if you lack it, you should be careful. Gau's MT attacks don't guarantee a KO on multiple Anguiforms. Take them out as fast as possible with Aura Cannon, Fang, and either Trillium (absorbs Aqua Breath and has very decent offense) or Cloud/Ghost (Thundara slaughters any Anguiform period). Aspiran are the trickiest. Whenever you meet them, keep hold of your precious secondary commands as Aspiran will counter any damage not inflicted by the Attack command with a 33 % shot at Gigavolt for about 330-350 of damage to whatever hit him. Unless you gained more levels then you normally should, that kills you. Counter this with your Genji Gloved character to (Cyan was the wisest option) kill it or use Belmodar/Spritzer Rages, as they will allow Gau to absorb Gigavolt. This is the 'map' of the Serpent Trench and the effects it will have for you: Monster Formation Pack # 1: Actinian, Actinian, Actinian (3/4) Anguiform (1/4) Monster Formation Pack # 2 Anguiform, Actinian, Aspiran (always) Monster Formation Pack # 3 Anguiform, Anguiform (3/4) Actinian, Actinian, Actinian, Aspiran, Aspiran (1/4) Start: (Invoke Battle with # 1) You'll get the choice of going either to the Left or to the Right. The Left features more monsters and a certain encounter with all the creatures of the Serpent Trench, the Right features a small cave with an X-Potion chest in it. Left: (Invoke Battle with # 2) (Invoke Battle with # 3) Right: (Invoke Battle with # 2) (Cave with X-Potion) Here, the two paths will reunite. However, no battle is fought before you are presented with yet another choice. Left again means monsters, Right again means treasure. Left: (Invoke Battle with # 2) (Invoke Battle with # 3) Right: (Invoke Battle with # 3) (Cave with Green Beret. You'll have to stand on a certain tile to let the water out in this cave so you can proceed) After this, you'll safely reach Nikeah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.18.2 Scenario Sabin: Nikeah ********************************** Container contents: Elixir Nikeah is small town that thrives on their ports and ferries. There used to be remote access to the lands of Doma, but due to a recent rockslide, the path there is blocked (imagine, if that hadn't been the case you could've just walked to the west for a while when it was just Sabin and you had found a way home). Weapon Shop: Mythril Claws 800 Kotetsu 800 Mythril Spear 800 You can buy another Mythril Spear here if you wish, but you won't really use the Attack command with Edgar and the character That Might In The Future Join You And Wield Lances To Boot will have a better weapon by then, so you can save your money. Armor Shop: Heavy Shield 400 Plumed Hat 250 Magus Hat 600 Bandana 800 Iron Helm 1000 Kenpo Gi 250 Silk Robe 600 Iron Armor 700 You should've bought everything available here a while ago, with the exception of the Silk Robes. Buy two of them. Item Shop: Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Echo Screen 120 Smoke Bomb 300 Green Cherry 150 Phoenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 How's your supply of Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs looking? If you're low on them, it's never a bad idea to stock some of them up. Also, you might want to buy a few Smoke Bombs, as you don't have any of them right now and they could prove useful in the future. Relic shop: Silver Spectacles 500 Star Pendant 500 White Cape 5000 Fairy Ring 1500 The only thing this guy has going for him is his collection of White Capes. You could buy one if you pulled enough Gil from your Veldt hunting (which means over 10000 Gil), but you might as well leave him. There's an Elixir hidden in the clock of the Inn, as always. Take it. Finally, there's an awesome scene between Cyan and the hooker of the local Pub; you haven't lived a satisfying life without having seen it. In the Japanese game her position as Girl of Entertainment is stated much more blatantly, while Sabin will state how he knows plenty about girls. When you're done in Nikeah, strip the boys of their gear and Relics, then put them on the ferry to South Figaro. Your scenario is over. Time for pie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.19.1 Scenario Locke: South Figaro ********************************** Opponents: Heavy Armor (#24), Cadet (-), Merchant (-) Miscellaneous items: Iron Helm (rare Heavy Armor steal), Main Gauche (rare Merchant steal) Locke has somehow managed to stall the actions of an entire army, safeguarding the Returner Hideout...for now. His mission now is to get to Narshe, but South Figaro is under strict martial law and nobody is allowed to leave, not even Imperial Troopers themselves. But somehow, Locke has to find a way... Preparation: Equip the Genji Glove and Gigas Glove on Locke, and stick him with Ninja Gear and a Green Beret. Front Row for now. Obviously, if you haven't done the Sabin scenario yet, it'll be a Genji Glove/Gigas Glove with Bandana and Kenpo Gi. You see why it was a good idea to do Locke's scenario last? Note: You can skip this entire section of the game by using a bug. This results into you missing the Rare Item Cider, never obtaining Celes as a character for the entire game and getting the Moogle Moghan and lacking Runic on Gogo when you recruit him. I wouldn't advise it in the slightest, especially because it forces power-leveling (Locke needs to defeat the boss by himself where he really isn't supposed to be able to do that, and as you might know Celes needs to solo a small bit of the game by herself). But it's a humorous alternative really. If you want to learn exactly how to do all this: [MOGHAN-LINK] A Magitek Armored soldier has blocked the normal entrance to the rest of town. There are two ways to continue: - In the Item Shop, there's a Merchant. He insults you be stating your actual profession, so obviously you'll need to kill him. By successfully Stealing his item (either a Plumed Hat or a Main Gauche), you also steal his clothes. After the battle is over, you'll be in Merchant outfit. If you just beat him up instead of Stealing his clothes, you'll be plain Locke after the battle and you'll have gained nothing from the brawl. Once dressed up as a Merchant, you can go to the house of the servant (he was the waiter, to be precise) of the richest man in town and peacefully walk through to the other side of town. - OR, you could just bust up the Heavy Armor guarding the area. This is extremely risky and is prone to failure if you're not slightly high-leveled. The other way is definitely the way it was meant to be done. Once in the rest of South Figaro, your plan is simple. Mug a soldier and walk out of town in soldier's clothes. Remember where you found the Teleport Stone here? Walk up the perimeter wall and go over to the three barrels. There's a Cadet walking around. Engage in a fight with him and Steal one of his items; once again, you'll walk off with his garment. Another option is using a secret passage even the game designers forgot while creating this scenario for you: there's a big building that's built over the water here; it's the to left of the Armored trooper, and on the other side you can see it's the Inn/Cafe. Behind the part that's built over the water is a secret bridge you can use to walk over the water. You circumvent having to steal from the Cadet here, and if you're a match for the Heavy Armor you can circumvent stealing clothes entirely. The only soldier you can convince is the one near the Chocobo stable, and the exit is still prohibited. Oh well, might as well gather some more information in the Pub; you learned from the soldier near the Magitek Armor that Narshe is the next target of the Imperial Army, who knows what else you might learn? The Pub is bustling with activity! Chatting here will tell you there's an Imperial general held captive somewhere in South Figaro for treason, and there's talk of a secret passage out of South Figaro from the rich man's house. Too bad you can't enter it. But there also seems to be a secret passage from the rich man's house to another house in town, and what house could be more logical than the one of the servant? Better charm that old coot with some Cider to see if he talks. Go downstairs and you'll find the merchant who continuously brought Cider to the old man when you first visited South Figaro with Edgar and Terra. Obviously, he says something that will make you want to beat him up. Since you're still in the outfit of an Imperial Soldier, you'll want to steal his clothes again (else that kid won't let you pass). If you accidentally beat him up, there's always a merchant waiting for homicide in one of the rooms of the Inn. Bring the Cider (which, by the way, is a Key Item) to the old servant and he will reveal the existence of a secret passage. He cannot remember his own password, nor is he willing to walk five steps to go over to his grandson and tell him it's okay. You'll have to go downstairs and guess. Or, I could just tell you the correct password is 'Courage'. You're in the secret passage to the rich man's house! Once you arrive, you'll see the clock you robbed earlier from his Elixir. If you didn't do that with Edgar and Terra, do so now. Exit, walk around to the door, and enter. Go up to the second floor. The right room has a girl saying something about 'Winding the Clock'. Guess that's what the kids call it these days, eh? The left room contains a grieving rich man, showing how capitalism ruins a man. Find the secret passage behind the bookcase and descend. Halfway to the basement, you will be asked to change your clothes. Doing so will turn you back into plain Locke. It doesn't really matter what you do. Walk on. The next cutscene was subject to much debate. In all other versions of the game, Celes is smacked around quite a bit by the soldier, eventually falling to the floor. For the new GBA game, this scene was removed from all versions of the game, including the Japanese version. Tom Slattery, the translator of the VI Advance game for the English release, explained in an interview that this decision was made to make the game fit the lowest maturity rating. Oh well. If you were plain ol' Locke or in Merchant mode, you'll hide in the rafters; if you're disguised as a soldier you'll simply give a salute. (Locke still disguised as a trooper) Celes: Aren't you a little short to be an Imperial trooper? Locke: What? Oh...the uniform. (Locke still disguised as a merchant) Celes: What could you possible hope to pebble in a place like this? Locke: Oops! Forgot I was still wearing these clothes. (Locke in normal-mode) Celes: And you are... Since Celes is now introduced to your party, it might be a good idea to read about her special skill, Runic: [RUNIC-LINK] When you're done being the chivalrous young male protagonist (Final Fantasy players should be used to that), it's time to bust out. Celes points out that the soldier has something you want. Take it. I love how morals stop you from progressing at this point. :P Don't forget to equip Celes; she was wearing nothing but a Hairband. If this is your last scenario, her equipment is best off looking like this: Great Sword/ Rune Blade, Heavy Shield, Green Beret, Silk Robe. If you haven't, it'll be Great Sword, Heavy Shield, Plumed Hat (or Bandana if you went through the trouble of stealing it), Leather Armor. Keep Celes in the Back Row; she'll like it there. Walking out of the room there are two more doors for you. The second one contains a Save Point (for Saving) and the third room is a room you should've looted earlier. A lot of junk, a ticking clock, and a clock that isn't ticking. Wind it with the Clock Key, and a cabinet will move, revealing a door. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.19.2 Scenario Locke: Secret Underground Passge of South Figaro ********************************** Opponents: Commander (#25), Vector Hound (#26) Container contents: Earring, Great Sword, Heavy Shield, Hi-Ether, Iron Armor, Ribbon, X-Potion Way to go, Locke! Not only did you find a passageway out of South Figaro, you also won a powerful new ally. As a former general, Celes is bound to have a huge amount of information you can use. Also, she appears to be able to cast Magic, like Terra. Preparation: If you haven't equipped Celes, you're in trouble. Monster formations: Commander, Commander, Commander (6/16) Vector Hound, Vector Hound (5/16) Vector Hound, Vector Hound, Commander (5/16) The strategy here is simple: both Celes and Locke need to equipped in such a fashion that they can both take out one enemy in one hit. Typically, that means Celes with an Earring and the Blizzard spell and Locke with the Gigas Glove. The Genji Glove isn't necessary unless you're level 10 or lower and would just be harmful to your defense. Vector Hounds are the more durable enemies, but even they should fall to a single attack. When a Vector Hound is alone, it will Flee, so take out Commanders first so you have to kill one less living thing. If everything looks good, simply try to nab some extra items with Locke (nothing to get excited about, sadly) while having Celes kill all with two MT Blizzard castings. It's the most effective way, but don't do it all the time, as her MP isn't high enough to take such a constant toll. Walking through this underground passageway can be frustrating; there are a few rooms seemingly blocked from your path. There is always a hidden path there, though. I tried describing the locations, but since there's no real stable point here, I failed miserably. The only pointer I can give you, though, is the stairs leading to an even lower location; there are two chests here, one containing a Hi-Ether and one containing an X-Potion. Below the one with the X-Potion is a hidden chest containing a Ribbon. Be sure to grab it. All other, more visible treasures in the passageway itself include Iron Armor, Great Sword, an Earring, and a Heavy Shield. Make sure to find all items. The battles can be a tad boring due to their repetitiveness, but Locke and Celes tend to come to Narshe with the lowest levels so the extra experience doesn't really hurt. When you're done, you can leave. You'll see another set of stairs to the south of the stairs you're using to escape; that's the only room you can't gain entrance to. It's the basement of the house where Duncan's wife lives, and should you enter the basement from her house you'll find a Save Point there which you can't seen now. Now you're in South Figaro again, but you have no options besides escaping. You can talk to the Imperial Trooper who was pursuing Locke in the beginning of the scenario, but he will be completely incapable of recognizing either the person he was chasing a while ago and/or a famous general of his own army. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.20.1 Scenario Locke: Traveling to Figaro Cave ********************************** Opponents: Belmodar (#14), Unseelie (#15), Mu (#16) You've finally escaped South Figaro. Now it's all about reaching Narshe, tracking back to where you came from through the Cave of Figaro, Figaro Desert, and into Narshe. Unlike Terra, neither Locke nor Celes are infamous in the town, so walking into Narshe should be a piece of cake. Preparation: Nothing new here. Keep at it. I trust you took the liberty of equipping better equipment where you saw it fit. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Belmodar (6/16) Unseelie, Unseelie (5/16) Mu, Mu, Unseelie (5/16) (Forest) Mu, Mu, Mu, Mu (6/16) Belmodar, Mu, Mu, (5/16) Belmodar, Unseelie, Mu, Mu, (5/16) You know the drill by now. Kill with Blizzard spells and pointy knives. Belmodar will still counter spells with Megavolt, so lay off it when you meet one. Your goal is to reach the cave entrance to the East (Mount Koltz is still blocked by Imperial Troopers, and you have no business going to the Returner Hideout anyway). You can rest in Sabin's hut if you're hurt (or if the prospect of Locke and Celes sleeping together gives you a funny feeling in your stomach). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.20.2 Scenario Locke: Figaro Cave ********************************** Opponents: Cartagra (#27), Acrophies (#28), Gold Bear (#29), Tunnel Armor (#283) Container contents: Ether, Thunder Rod, X-Potion Miscellaneous items: Air Knife (common Tunnel Armor steal), Elixir (guaranteed Tunnel Armor drop) This is one of those nasty Changing Caves (caves that change). Not only do chest contents turn into other chest contents before you can say "Glachenspiell Gazette", monsters also change. No more inferior caterpillars who sport a fetish for attacking you; instead, land crabs will hound your steps. No more cycloptic furries, or even oversized bees to make your life miserable. Nay, purple trilobites inject poison and bears straight from El Dorado wrap their expansive paws around your neck. Danger! Monster formations: Cartagra, Acrophies, Acrophies (5/16) Gold Bear, Acrophies (5/16) Acrophies, Acrophies (5/16) Cartagra, Cartagra, Cartagra (1/16) Only, not really. The only thing that makes this dungeon somewhat annoying is the fact you only have two characters. !Poison Barb is more a nuisance than anything else (use an Antidote or the Poisona spell, whichever you seem to have more resources for; out of battle, a Star Pendant can cure the Poison status by equipping it and removing it), while !Numbclaw can prolong the battle. The only strong attack you need to fear is !Gouge coming from Gold Bear, but as long as you keep your HP up, there's no need to worry. Both Acrophies and Cartagra fall to a single ST Blizzard spell. Acrophies also falls to Locke's physical. Cartagras have a nasty Protect status that makes them pull through single physicals, so let Celes concentrate on them. Gold Bear monsters will have to be taken down with two hits unless you're high-leveled or equipped with the Genji Glove. Cure when needed, as logic applies once again. You know the way. You could pick up an X-Potion from the chest to the west. The other chests will still become better later on so I'd leave them for now. The only real choice you should make is the chest on the upper level; it's a Thunder Rod now and will become a Hero's Ring later. The Thunder Rod can be broken during the next boss fight, pretty much insta-killing the thing, after which it's gone. The Hero's Ring will serve you very well in the future though. I'd go for the Hero's Ring just because the Thunder Rod is in no way necessary to make it through Tunnel Armor, but it's up to you. You heard strange noises all the time. You might have mistaken this for the rumbling of your stomach or the pleasant murmur of Russian tanks rolling through the streets, but nothing could be less true; it was a boss following you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.20.3 Scenario Locke: The battle with Tunnel Armor ********************************** Tunnel Armor Level: 16, HP: 1300, MP: 900 Steal: Bioblaster (rare), Air Knife (common) Win: Elixir (always) Weakness: Lightning, Water Special: !Drill: Attack x 2 Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Drill, Fire, Thunder, Poison, Magitek Laser Tunnel Armor is a scripted battle, more or less; it forces you to use Celes as a Runic user while Locke should Attack, Attack, Attack! Runic is a brilliant command that allows Celes to absorb most spells and a number of enemy moves. Obviously, you've already read all about it; if you haven't, here you go: [RUNIC-LINK] Tunnel Armor is boring. He uses Attack, !Drill, Fire, Thunder, and Poison to hurt you. If he hits 384 HP, he'll swap the possibility of casting Poison for the ability to fire off Magitek Lasers. If he's been damaged, he'll sometimes counter with Attack. Have Celes under continual Runic during this fight. If your enemy casts a spell, have her use it as soon as possible. If the enemy uses a physical attack, just have Celes wait; there'll be a magical attack around the corner. Locke should try to steal something as long as Tunnel Armor still has anything (if you steal a second Air Knife, and Locke still has a Genji Glove with a Main Gauche equipped, you can use the second Air Knife by equipping it mid-battle). Have Locke use a Hi-Potion if either Locke or Celes' HP is a tad low (the strongest attack he'll be able to successfully use is !Drill, which hits for slightly over 100 HP worth of damage on a Genji Glove wearing, Front Row Locke). Otherwise, he should simply attack. Eventually, you'll beat the burrowing fiend, and you'll be good to go! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.21.1 Defending the Esper from Kefka ********************************** Opponents: Heavy Armor (#24), Fidor (#53), Corporal (#54), Hunting Hound (#55), Hell's Rider (#286), Kefka (#287) Miscellaneous items: Mythril Vest (common Hell's Rider Steal), Hi-Ether (common Kefka Steal), Elixir (rare Hells' Rider & rare Kefka Steal), Peace Ring (guaranteed Kefka drop), Remedy (guaranteed Hell's Rider drop) Reality split the Returners into factions, but due to the power of Friendship and Plot Device, they all found their way to Narshe to re-unite. And lo and behold, it was just in time to thwart the execution of evil plans! As Locke learned in South Figaro, a detachment from the Empire led by Kefka is planning to do what Terra and her two companions were unable to: obtain the mysterious Esper located in Narshe. For no particular reason at all, it was moved to the snowy hills behind Narshe, so it is here that the seven of you will have to make a stand. Obviously, Narshe guards will not be helping you whatsoever. Preparation: You have an abundance of equipment and seven characters to equip it on. I'll give a brief overview on how to treat the seven characters now that the good relics seem surprisingly small in number: Terra - Back Row Great Sword Heavy Shield Magus Hat (if you have more than five Green Berets, equip one of them on Terra) Silk Robe Earring Edgar - Back Row Mythril Spear Heavy Shield Green Beret Iron Armor Locke - Front Row Air Knife/Main Gauche Air Knife/Main Gauche Green Beret Ninja Gear Genji Glove Celes - Back Row Great Sword Heavy Shield Magus Hat (if you have more than six Green Berets, you psycho, equip one here) Silk Robe Sabin - Back Row Mythril Claws Buckler Green Beret Kenpo Gi Cyan - Back Row Kotetsu Heavy Shield Green Beret Iron Armor Gau - Front Row Empty Mythril Shield Green Beret Kenpo Gi Earring The Relics...I'll leave this one up to you. I'd really advise an Earring on Gau, as he'll be doing monster MT magical damage. If you have Rising Phoenix, equip an Earring on Sabin as well. Hermes Sandals are great for those you want to attack first: either Locke (for Stealing before killing) or Gau (for killing ASAP). Gigas Glove is nice for those you'll be doing physical with (Locke, Cyan; NOT Edgar), and the Black Belt is only worth it on Locke. The teams! The monster hitters at this point of the game are Edgar and Gau. Edgar's Bioblaster, that one Tool you kept ignoring, will now hit the weak spot of a lot of enemies here and will take them down in one hit. You can complement him with a weaker character, so I would suggest Terra; her Fire spells are starting to become really poor when talking damage output, and Edgar will like the Cure spells. Gau rules this part of the game even more than he rules most parts. He will be doing superior MT damage when using Lesser Lopros' Fireball or Guard Leader's Wind Slash, and is by far the best choice for both 'boss battles' you'll be battling. Gau should be the core of your superior team, and should be complemented by the other two characters that have things to offer besides damage: Locke (for Steal) and Celes (for Runic). This leaves us with Sabin and Cyan. If Sabin knows Rising Phoenix, this team will more than make up for its lack of Cure spells; if not, this is easily the weakest team out of the three. Both Cyan and Sabin will have sufficient ST damage without the ability to heal beyond Hi-Potions, so they'll require your maintenance. As soon as you are done with equipping everybody, talk to Banon to make your teams. My personal choice, as I've explained, is the following: 1. Edgar, Terra 2. Locke, Celes, Gau 3. Cyan, Sabin When you're done, Kefka will appear with a frighteningly large amount of enemy soldiers at his disposal. They will line up and start walking to you. This is very much like defending Terra from the Guard Leader's minions; if the soldiers reach Banon, it's Game Over. An important distinction here is that every moving NPC here will respawn once, meaning you'll actually fight twice as many battles as there are NPCs you see at first.Your job is to protect. Block all three pathways to him with your three teams and have out-battle control over the one with Sabin and Cyan (as you'll be needing to feed them Potions outside of battle). An alternate strategy is forming a four-headed party who rushes to Kefka ASAP. You'll miss out on some Experience Points, and you won't be able to farm Mythril Vests and Hi-Ethers, but it's quicker. For this mission, I would go with Locke, Celes, Gau and either Sabin or Cyan. Monster formations: Green Soldiers: Corporal, Corporal, Corporal, Corporal (3/4) Hunting Hound, Corporal, Corporal (1/4) Brown Soldiers: Fidor, Corporal (3/4) Heavy Armor, Corporal, Corporal (1/4) Racing Brown Soldier: Hell's Rider (always) Kefka: Kefka (always) The battle strategy here is simple. If you have a strong MT character (Gau, possibly Sabin, Edgar against Corporals), let them do their killing. Strong ST characters (Locke with Genji Glove, Sabin, Cyan) should pick apart. Weak offensive characters (Locke without Genji Glove, Terra, Celes) can support the general party by Stealing and Curing. Corporals fall to Bioblaster and are generally weak units. Avoid the Attack command against them as their strong point is !Swing, which they'll only use to counter Attack with. Hunting Hounds, like their palette swaps, Flee when alone. In a Corporal x2, Hunting Hound monster formations you can take out the Corporals and ignore the dogs if you like. Fidor dogs are heavily armored brutes that will probably survive single attacks if they're not really strong ones. They only get stronger when alone (they will start using !Pounce every time as opposed to only 33 % of the possible times), so weaken them/kill them first before you finish of the rest. If Locke is facing these things, he can steal a common Phoenix Down from them. Heavy Armor are opponents you still recognize from Locke's scenario, where they were used as more-or-less unbeatable monster you had to run around. Here, you'll have to defeat them, which is considerably easier given the fact you have more than one character to work with. When Celes is in your party, the Imperial tank will recognize her and fear her magic, prompting him to use Magitek Barrier, which sets Protect and Reflect. You weren't using Blizzard anyway (unless you've been a naughty boy), so that shouldn't be that much of a concern. Don't start using Cloud or Templar, though. After the two waves of 'normal' enemies are over, there are but two opponents left after the massacre: Hell's Rider and Kefka. Rider is surfing around Kefka so you'll need to take him out first. This might be a fun time to learn about your character's feelings at the moment; you can talk to the lead characters of the teams (you can obviously switch around). Here's what they have to say: Terra: Kefka... Is he the one who put the slave crown on me...? Locke: Curse the Empire! I'm not gonna let them walk all over people! Celes: My past is behind me... I have nothing to do with the Empire now! Edgar: Kefka...! What do you hope to gain from all this? Sabin: It's time to put everything Master Duncan taught me to use... Cyan: I will avenge the people of Doma! Gau: Gau fight hard! Banon: If they reach me, we've lost. It's all up to you! There's no Game Over here unless you let the soldiers reach Banon, in which case he'll go: BANON: We've failed... This is the end... If a team is entirely killed, the characters will find themselves with 1 HP on the spot where the Save Point used to reside. This means that you can engage a battle, get yourself killed, and engage again. This also means you can Steal from what is supposed to be a single encounter time after time. Hell's Rider has a common Mythril Vest, a piece of armor everybody can equip that is superior to everything so far but the Ninja Gear. There's also a rare Elixir. Kefka features the same rare Elixir and common Hi-Ethers, a superior version to the insanely expensive Ether. I'd advise you to steal three Mythril Vests (you'll take one Ninja Gear along) and as many Hi-Ethers as you want. Hi-Ethers are very rare, very useful, and you're not going to get unlimited amounts of them until the late WoR, and even then it's a huge stretch to try to obtain them. I've dubbed it the OnionRider trick, so make me proud and mention it wherever you go! You see, because like an onion, Hell has layers, and you peel several Mythril Vests off of him? Remember now, OnionRider. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.21.2 Hell's Rider ********************************** Hell's Rider Level: 14, HP: 1300, MP: 170 Steal: Elixir (rare), Mythril Vest (common), Win: Remedy (rare), Remedy (common) Weakness: Fire, Poison Special: !Silver Lance: Attack x 3 Vulnerable to: Petrify, KO, Doom, Silence, Berserk, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Silver Lance, Venomist, Reverse Polarity Hell's Rider is a durable bastard who has an extremely strong physical attack in !Silver Lance, which he also uses to counter a successful Steal attempt with. Every fourth attack he has a 1/3 chance of using Venomist, an inaccurate MT Poison-elemental attack that also sets the Poison status. Gau can take him out in a single hit with Mu's Snare and the Break spell from Darkwind and/or Commander. If you have nothing along those lines, his Alacran's !Numb and Acrophies' !Numbclaw will stop him in his actions. If you lack Gau (shame on you), Cyan's Tiger works great if used first, and any combination of your strongest attacks should suffice. He can also counter any Attack with Reverse Polarity on that character, so that's kinda silly to do. Now, this is, finally, the confrontation with Kefka. He enslaved Terra's mind, set fire to castle Figaro, and destroyed Cyan's life. It's time to give him some payback for all that he's done. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.21.3 The battle with Kefka ********************************** Kefka Level: 18, HP: 3000, MP: 3000 Steal: Elixir (rare), Hi-Ether (common), Win: Peace Ring (always) Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, Blizzard, Blizzara, Thunder, Poison, Drain, Confuse, Flee Kefka is vulnerable to Stop, so have Gau Rage Alacran and/or Acrophies for best results. Always have Runic in place, as he knows some very powerful spells that can one-hit KO your characters when focused in an ST blast, regardless of row. Have your other character(s) give it their best shot. Terra's Fire cannot be used with Runic in place so she should focus on her other powers; she can cast Magic when Celes isn't on Runic stand-by or simply wield the Rune Blade to some very nice result. Locke should Attack, Edgar should unload his Auto Crossbow, Sabin relies on good old Aura Cannon, Cyan can use Fang or his fourth Bushido, Flurry, if he has access to it, and that's about it. The battle is slightly anti-climactic when you consider the implications of it, but you'll pull through. When Kefka is defeated, he'll manage to escape (leaving behind a swanky new, Peace Ring). And that was that. Terra leaves behind the equipment she had on her, thoughtfully. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.22.1 Narshe ********************************** Container contents: 5000 Gil, Earring, Elixir, Hyper Wrist, Reflect Ring, Thief's Bracer, Thief's Knife Miscellaneous items: Ice Rod (rare Specter steal) After killing the main part of their defensive force in the beginning of the game and being denied entrance two times in subsequent parts, it is finally time to embrace all that Narshe has to offer. It is quite a city indeed. To the west, there are the caves where the Moogles live. To the north are the coalmines and the passageway leading into the snowy mountains where you protected the Esper. The city itself, independent as it is, has many great items to offer you. This is the first time you have to make a choice between your seven characters. Whom to take, whom to leave behind? Since it mostly depends on personal preference, I will write from now on knowing that you could have every character combination possible (although I will expect you to have four party members). As far as best characters at this point go, I'll do my best: Edgar buys two great new Tools in a short while, which definitely beat all other options. Edgar is a must-have at this point in the game. Sabin should reach level 15 if he hadn't already and learn Rising Phoenix, a great MT attack that puts the significant hurt on pretty much everything. Gau is an offensive maniac at this point, only hindered by the fact he only uses the Awesome Attack 50 % of the time. However, he does have access to stuff like auto-Protect, !Cat Scratch, Bio, and !Numbclaw. If you found even one third of the Rages I recommended earlier, Gau is a much better choice then whatever is left. I'd definitely recommend these three characters for this scenario, as they'll have the easiest time coming through. If you didn't pick any of Gau's Rages, though, his only saving grace is Zaghrem, which frankly, still puts him above Cyan but doesn't make him superior to Locke and Celes. Celes is a nice addition to your team as a Cure user. You have all the offensive power you could ever need with Flash (Edgar's new MT damage Tool) and Rising Phoenix, so the fact she can't really damage stuff efficiently doesn't hurt her case. She'll also make a fine asset to the boss battle of the scenario, although nowhere near the usefulness of a good Raged-up Gau with Alacran or Acrophies. Locke doesn't have any offensive power to bring to your team either, but his purpose is the Steal command (obviously). There are quite a few rare Steals that are worth your time, and where Celes heals with Cure, Locke simply adds an extra restorative item to your team in every battle. Cyan is the worst character right now. The only thing he can do is offense, and not only do you not need it, Bushidos are horrible at this part of the game. Fang is so-so and while Cyan learns Flurry, you either have to charge it up while the Figaro Brothers attack (in which case there's nothing to Slam left in most cases) or while all other characters are on hold, which disrupts the flow of the battle. Also, Flurry is far inferior to Flash and Rising Phoenix (although it makes an above-average ST attack, for all that's worth). Finally, you *could* choose to leave Narshe with only three characters and pick up an old 'friend' in Kohlingen: Shadow. Shadow will randomly leave you throughout the entire scenario, and is therefore a risky investment. I would only consider him when playing on an emulator (in which case I'd still pick Locke over him). Battle-wise, Shadow is a straight offense man. Very acceptable ST damage still comes from Thrown Shuriken, and he has extremely strong MT damage at the cost of 500 Gil a toss (you can obtain elemental scrolls in Kohlingen as well, but they are very expensive at 500 Gil a piece). In the end, my personal recommendation is a team consisting of Edgar, Sabin, Gau, and Locke. If you're playing on an emulator, Locke is an even better addition as you have control over what he steals (just abuse those Save States). On a console, it's really a personal toss-up between Locke and Celes. Weapon Shop: Great Sword 800 Mythril Claws 800 Kotetsu 800 Mythril Spear 800 Air Knife 950 Chain Flail 2000 Moonring Blade 2500 New weapons here include the Chain Flail and the Moonring Blade. The Chain Flail is a weapon for Terra and Celes; Terra is gone and Celes will still do more damage with and Blizzard spell than with the Chain Flail. It's an entirely useless weapon, but you might want to buy it for completeness' sake. It deals the same amount of damage from the back row, so it has that going for it, but since the possible wielder at this point (Celes) loses the ability to Runic and shouldn't be attacking anyway, it's still a moot point. Blizzard spells do cost MP where a Chain Flail attack does not, so in theory (when you're stupid), it could have its use. The Moonring Blade is a weapon for Locke that allows him to do full damage from the Back Row; a superior weapon without this feature can be found somewhere else. I'd buy one, as you may want to use it. Armor Shop: Mythril Shield 1200 Magus Hat 600 Bandana 800 Iron Helm 1000 Silk Robe 600 Iron Armor 700 Finally, Mythril Shields for everybody! Buy one for the entire team (as in: your current team of four characters and you probably already have one). All other items were previously obtainable. Relic Shop: Sprint Shoes 1500 Jeweled Ring 1000 Fairy Ring 1500 Barrier Ring 500 Mythril Glove 700 Knight's Code 1000 The first Relic shop that sells those crappy near-death Protect/Shell relics! If you must do anything in this shop, I suggest you mock the owner of the relic shop. Do not leave this place with at least three Relics that protect against the Stone status (a Ribbon is one, Jeweled Rings for the rest). Item Shop: Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Gold Needle 200 Phoenix Down 500 Smoke Bomb 300 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Especially if you don't bring Celes, Hi-Potions might come in handy, so keep an eye out for your stock. Phoenix Downs are ever useful, so make sure you have a few of those to throw around if necessary. Hidden Items: In the clock in the Elder's House, you'll find an Elixir. A helpful peasant allows you to take his stuff. While normally that'd include such useless trinkets as paled paintings and broken silverware, what will be offered here is very nice indeed: in the small shack, you'll find the following: 5000 Gil, a Thief's Knife, an Earring, a Reflect Ring, a Thief's Bracer and a Hyper Wrist. The Thief's Knife is Locke's superior weapon I was talking about. The Thief's Bracer doubles his Steal success rate; the treasure hunter is quite hyped at this point! If you walk to the north, where you entered the coalmines to find the Esper with Terra and co., you'll catch a glimpse of a being, dressed in white fur. Maybe at some point in the future you'll learn who, or what, it is. Remember that elusive battle formation you hunted for in the caves of Narshe, the one with Specter and Eukaryote from the security checkpoint? Well, guess what: Specter has a rare Ice Rod for you to steal, and with Locke, you finally have access to it. Granted, without an emulator the odds are far too small, but while the Ice Rod is a weapon you cannot currently equip on anybody, you can break it for massive damage in battle, and it's nice to have at this point. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.23.1 Traveling to Kohlingen and optional trip to the Veldt ********************************** Opponents: Leaf Bunny (#7), Darkwind (#8), Sand Ray (#9), Alacran (#10) Terra flew off. Not only do you personally care for her well being, she is still a key player in your struggle against the Empire; she must be retrieved or it will be a major setback for the Returners. Witnesses say they a soaring light, heading west... The western continent is accessible with Figaro Castle, the subterranean taxi. It's time to split your team between those who will seek Terra, and those who stay behind should the Empire attempt another attack to obtain the Esper. And now, you travel... Preparation: I'm not going to bother listing the enemies to Figaro Castle this time, as they only things they'll be able to do by now are rolling over and dying. You have three Earrings now; split them between those of your party who can use it (Sabin, Gau, and Edgar). Celes' damage will be subpar anyway, so trying to make something out of it will be a waste of Earrings. If you have the Genji Glove, Locke and Cyan (in that order) will benefit from it, possibly paired with a Black Belt (although you'll want to equip that Thief's Bracer on Locke). -There is one small 'side-quest' you can perform before going further to Kohlingen and beyond, and that's taking Gau back to the Veldt to have him learn some new Rages. The two new Rages of interest are Anguiform and Aspiran. Anguiform performs Aqua Breath, which although weaker than Wind Slash on multiple targets, will nail the weakness of much more monsters later on. Aspiran, whose Gigavolt is an obscenely strong magical attack that sometimes goes MT (far surpassing Aqua Breath and Wind Slash in that aspect) or ST (far surpassing...anything. For comparison, it's almost as strong as a Fira spell...when the latter is HITTING A WEAKNESS). It's not entirely necessary as Gau's attacks are already stronger than whatever your other characters are capable of, and there will be a more rewarding time for Gau to visit the Veldt in the near future, but it never hurts to boost offense. To visit the Veldt, take the Cave to South Figaro and pass through Mt. Koltz. You'll find the Returner Hideout again, and in Banon's Room, you can find the hidden passage to the raft. Jump on it, and after the same battles you had to fight earlier, you'll now take the path Sabin took when he drifted off. You find yourself near the hut of the crazy man again. Walk to and through the Phantom Forest (no Imperial Camp or Phantom Train this time) and jump down Baren Falls (no battles here either). You're on the Veldt now. Leap around until you're satisfied. Jump down the Serpent Trench and wind up in Nikeah. Take the ferry to South Figaro and you're on known territory. Oh yeah, and you're smuggled out of South Figaro in a chest; that never ceases to amuse the kids. Weapon Shop: Auto Crossbow 250 Noiseblaster 500 Bioblaster 750 Flash 1000 Drill 3000 In Figaro Castle, there are new Tools for sale! Flash is a non-elemental MT magical attack, so your Earrings on Edgar will shine even more. Drill is an attack like Fang, Raging Fist, and Shuriken; physical, barrier-piercing, and non-elemental. Drill beats Fang and Raging Fist in power, though. Since Edgar is king, you can put him as the lead character to obtain a discount; the merchant will whine regardless but will ONLY give a discount of Edgar is your leader. If you lack Edgar in your party but have Sabin, the merchant will notice even that...but regardless of Sabin's position, no discount for you. At this stage, the Meteor Strike Blitz will start becoming more dangerous than Aura Cannon when Sabin is without Earrings. With Earrings, the damage difference is marginal, but you'll want to get used to using Meteor Strike when only one monster is on the battlefield (it will do double damage when only one target remains). On Meteor Strike: Code-wise, it would be better to say that it deals half damage when more than one opponent is on the battlefield. However, since Meteor Strike can never target more than one opponent at a time, it would seem like it deals double damage when only target is around, and that's also how at least one Square-approved piece of media. Cyan will learn Flurry on level 15. The charge time becomes noticeable now, and the result, four hits on random targets whose total add up to be the same as Drill's damage, is hardly worth it. I would advise Cyan to stick to Fang and Attack (Fang is slightly stronger, but Genji Glove Attack is targetable). If you take either Edgar or Sabin to Figaro Castle, this will draw a reaction from them: Edgar: Sabin should come back here with me one time... (should Sabin still be in Narshe) Sabin: Ah, this is just like old times! I'm gonna wander around for a bit! If you go sleep at the Inn of Figaro Castle with both Edgar and Sabin, the tragic past of the Figaro Throne will be revealed in a touching scene. There's a more logical moment to see this scene in the future though, so I'll list it then. When you're done, have the man in the room left from the entrance ship you to Kohlingen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.24.1 Kohlingen ********************************** Opponents: Sand Ray (#9), Alacran (#10), Fossil Dragon (#56), Vulture (#57), Iron Fist (#58), Bloodfang (#59), Rock Wasp (#60), Paraladia (#61) Container contents: Elixir, Green Beret You've safely arrived on the other side of the mountains, on an exciting new continent. Oh, the monsters! Monster formations: (Grasslands) Bloodfang, Vulture, Bloodfang (6/16) Bloodfang, Bloodfang (5/16) Vulture, Vulture (5/16) (Forest) Paraladia, Paraladia, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (6/16) Paraladia, Vulture, Iron Fist (5/16) Iron Fist, Iron Fist, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (5/16) (Desert) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran (6/16) Fossil Dragon (5/16) Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) I'll explain about the monsters when you need to cross the Overworld Map in earnest. Kohlingen is a nice town without anything significantly wrong with it. It doesn't house any gargantuan frozen serpents, it's not being overrun by the Empire, it doesn't consist of hunters, dogs, and Mickey Mouse Club rejects; Kohlingen is your average village where the sun shines and the grass grows (the non-narcotic kind). But since that doesn't attract any tourists, you'll quickly notice that Kohlingen houses crazy people, preserves dead people, and has assassins in every Inn, not unlike whatever the hell the Russians did to Moscow after Lenin died. Weapon Shop: Air Knife 950 Chain Flail 2000 Moonring Blade 2500 Shuriken 30 Flame Scroll 500 Water Scroll 500 Lightning Scroll 500 Invisibility Scroll 200 On actual weapons, they have nothing new for you. What is interesting is the fact you can buy scrolls here (yes, they are scrolls. Ninja scrolls. I know that sounds like 'Dental Plan of Doom' or 'Waffle of Power', but they are actual Ninja scrolls. I can't help it). At 500 Gil a piece, they are really too expensive for you to buy in mass amounts. If you chose to hire Shadow, buy a few Flame Scrolls. All three are equal in power and only differ in their element, and the Fire-elemental ones are just the most useful. A note on the scolls for those interested: ninja magic/ninjutsu is a factor in earlier and later FF games, but since this game only offers a single secondary ability to every character, the game designers decided to relate Shadow's ninjutsu abilities to items and have him use them with his Throw command, even though you don't really throw scrolls. Since Shadow is one of the two characters (next to Cyan) who is almost exclusively based on Japanese warfare culture, I'll give some translations of his techniques. Japanese name Direct translation Flame Scroll Katon Fire release Water Scroll Suiton Water release Lightning Scroll Raijin Swift Lightning Shadow Scroll Kage Bunshin Shadow Clone Invisibility Scroll Konoha Gakure Hiding in leaves ...believe it! Armor Shop: Mythril Shield 1200 Magus Hat 600 Bandana 800 Twist Headband 1600 Iron Helm 1000 Silk Robe 600 Iron Armor 700 The only new item of interest here is the Twist Headband. The Twist Headband is a ridiculously expensive helmet that is inferior to the Green Beret. If you have any characters that can equip it without having a Green Beret for them, you might consider buying one (Note that you'll get another Green Beret somewhere in this city). Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Holy Water 300 Antidote 50 Green Cherry 150 Phoenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 If you brought Locke instead of Celes, this might be a good time to make sure your amount of Hi-Potions doesn't drop to one-digit levels. Never travel without less than 5 Phoenix Downs and less than 20 Hi-Potions, as they're always useful. The most important are the Holy Waters; carry a few at ALL times, as the Zombie status they cure can only be healed by Tents and Holy Water and Tents are just a waste to use just for that. Hidden Items: In Rachel's House, there is an Elixir in the clock. If you want the Elixir with Locke in your party without having to see the scene, know that the scene is triggered when you cross the tile directly in front of you after you've entered the house. You can walk around it if you want to. To the northwest is Rachel's House, who has a history with Locke. If Locke is in your party, you'll learn more about his tragic past. If he isn't, you will learn NOTHING, like you always do when you make mistakes. Locke: I... I couldn't protect her... (switch to a cave. Locke and a girl are walking through it) Rachel: Locke! What are we off to find today? Locke: It's almost your... Locke: There's supposed to be an amazing treasure hidden somewhere in this mountain. We're gonna find it! (Locke crosses a wooden bridge, but it starts to collapse underneath him.) Rachel: Locke! Look out! Locke: RACHEL!!! (Locke jumps down) (switch to Rachel's house. Rachel is lying in bed, Locke is standing next to her) Locke: Rachel! Are you awake? (Rachel gets up out of bed) Rachel: ... ...? I... I can't remember anything... (switch to the outside of Rachel's house. Locke is thrown out. A man appears in the doorway) Rachel's Father: Get out of my house! It's your fault Rachel lost her memory! Locke: Wait! Just let me talk to her...! (Rachel appears as well) Rachel: Please, just go away! I don't know who you are, but my parents get upset whenever you come here! (Locke is standing outside of Rachel's house, alone. A man with the appearance of an outlaw walks up to him) Rachel would be better off without you hanging around, Locke. She's going to have to make a new start of it. With you here, she can't even do that... (Locke slowly walks off, out of town) Back to the present: Locke: "A year went by... When I finally returned, I found out that Rachel had been killed in an Imperial attack. Her memory had returned just before she died. The last thing she said was...my name. I never should have left her side. I... I failed her..." To the northeast, there is a large mansion that houses two points of interest. If you sneak through the back entrance (you'll see the door when you're in the house, and you can walk around the house to find the hidden door there), you'll find a Green Beret hidden there (the chest is visible, but barely; it's hidden behind the armor). If you descend to the cellar, you'll meet a crazy man who apparently keeps a body lying around, preserving it. Since the necrophilia jokes are all too obvious, I won't make them. It IS an interesting fact that there are FOUR scenes where an old man watches over a lifeless body of a girl. But I digress; if you have Locke, you can add some more story to him, and Celes will make a short but important star performance when she's also in your party. (Upon entry) "Oh, Locke! It's been a while! Ages even! Oh, that? Worry not, worry not! Your treasure's quite safe! Hee-hee-hee..." (When examining Rachel's body) "It's a good thing I'd just happened to have finished this herbal concoction back then! Now she'll never age a day! Hee-hee-hee... Had to use my herbs, I did! Couldn't very well refuse with you begging me like that... (cut to a flashback in the very same room) Locke: You're sure the stuff will work? Of course, of course! The love of your life will sleep here just like this forever... ...and ever...and ever! Hee-hee-hee... Locke: If there were a way to...call her spirit back... A way to call her back, eh? ...You mean like that legendary treasure? Hee-hee- hee... Oh yes, I suppose if you had that...you might be able to bring her around! Gwee-hee-hee-hee!" (End flashback) I... failed her... (Exit Locke. All team members follow him out) If Celes is present: (Celes comes back, takes a look at Rachel, and bows her head) Celes: Locke... He will refuse to divulge the secret when you lack Locke, though: "That? Oh, that's Locke's... ...Dear me, I almost spilled the beans! Hee-hee-hee..." In the Inn, there's Shadow waiting for you! For 3000 Gil, he will offer to join your team as long as there's room for him (otherwise, he'll simply tell you to piss off). His merit in this scenario has been discussed earlier; I just want to stress again that Shadow might leave you at all times after every battle, taking your equipment with him. His level, however, has been adjusted to the average level of all recruited characters (but not Terra). Also, you now have finally access to the infamous Shadow's Dreams! If you want to learn about them, go to the end of the document where I talk about them. A burned house here is inaccessible. A 'glowing monster' destroyed it; it seems Terra made a visit to Kohlingen and flew off again. But where? No sense doubting, as there's really only one place to go. A random NPC saying that the strange, glowing creature left to the south removes any hesitation you might have. We're off to Jidoor, to the South. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.25.1 Traveling to Jidoor ********************************** Opponents: Sand Ray (#9), Alacran (#10), Fossil Dragon (#56), Vulture (#57), Iron Fist (#58), Bloodfang (#59), Rock Wasp (#60), Paraladia (#61) Container contents: Hero's Ring While searching for Terra, you were told Terra went to Jidoor. But reaching Jidoor is not an easy task, as the road to Jidoor is a long and dangerous one. Preparation: Since you didn't really improve equipment-wise, stick to what you know. Monster formations: (Grasslands to the North) Bloodfang, Vulture, Bloodfang (6/16) Bloodfang, Bloodfang (5/16) Vulture, Vulture (5/16) (Grasslands to the South) Iron Fist, Iron Fist, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (6/16) Vulture, Iron Fist (5/16) Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (5/16) (Forest) Paraladia, Paraladia, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (6/16) Paraladia, Vulture, Iron Fist (5/16) Iron Fist, Iron Fist, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (5/16) (Desert) Sand Ray, Alacran, Alacran (6/16) Fossil Dragon (5/16) Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Before you go all the way to Jidoor, let's take a look at some features this part of the game provides! A man in Kohlingen told you about his brother to the north, at Dragon's Neck, who dreams of building a coliseum. You'll want to pay this so-called lunatic a visit, as one of his buckets houses an ever-so- precious Hero's Ring, a ring featuring the image of a roaring lion. It is a Gigas Glove and an Earring combined. They work on every character, but are especially nice on those who use both magical and physical attacks, such as Edgar and Gau. The desert is dangerous! While most battles will just feature the same critters you faced on the other side of the mountains, you're more than likely to meet a Fossil Dragon before long. These undead dragons have witnessed their own bones bleaching in the sun, being polished by the never-ending sand storms of the desert. They have a fatal attack in !Bone (for which you'll need a Holy Water to cure), and Sandstorm is a nasty attack that deals about 200 HP worth of damage to your entire party. It's easily evaded, but at this point, your team isn't going to avoid an old man in a wheelchair, so watch out. Beating one will get you 1870 Gil though, so it's worth the challenge if you're low on cash. The easiest way to take care of them is using a Phoenix Down or Holy Water (you can buy three Phoenix Downs or six Holy Waters from one battle, so it's a feasible strategy that goes easy on the wallet), but if you lack those, it's up to your most powerful attacks. Steal a Phoenix Down/Holy Water with Locke, Drill a hole with Edgar, Sabin can deliver massive pain with Aura Cannon (it's super-effective), Celes can make little difference regardless besides an MT Cure when a Sandstorm attack kicks in, Cyan can use Tiger early on or deliver a Fang later, and Gau's Dark Side, Anguiform, Templar and Mu are extremely effective. In the forest near the would-be Coliseum is a Chocobo Stable. If you don't feel like traveling and doing battle, you can always rent one here and reach Jidoor on a whim. To be honest, the monsters here, as well as their corresponding Rages (excluding Rock Wasp, which only appear near Jidoor anyway), are worth crap so you're not really missing out. The grasslands and forests are littered by useless enemies who are just waiting for you to kick their Attack/!Special asses. The most dangerous ones are Iron Fists, crazy monks gone wild. Wild for BEADS! When they're alone they will use Stone, a horrid spell that not only will do 8 times as much damage to you when you're the same level as the caster (in Iron Fist's case, 15) but will also Confuse anything that survives it. If you're level 15 and are hit with Stone, you die (it's over 1300 HP worth of damage, folks). If you're not and you're still hit, you go medieval with Auto Crossbow, Rising Phoenix, Wind Slash, and whatnot on your own party members. You'll want to avoid this scenario at all costs; kill Iron Fists first. Two legs bad. All other enemies are generally unassuming. Bloodfang and Paraladia can poison you, so watch out, and give them priority over Rock Wasp bugs. These simple pests prolong the battle by putting you to sleep. They're easy enemies and you should destroy them. Rising Phoenix and Flash rule supreme as heavy-hitting MT spells that can either seriously weaken or kill anything they touch with consistent effort. Wind Slash, Gigavolt, and Aqua Breath performed by Gau are going to kill everything when they occur. Let these characters do the hitting and have other characters run utility work. Celes can absorb Shamshir with Runic, so you might want to have her ready with it, should those two meet. Locke can Steal some rather uninteresting healing potions and Cyan can waste time in your party. That may seem harsh, but I told you this would be the case, so you obviously brought him along to do just that :) There's a peninsula to the south of Jidoor, leading to a sole building. This is the Opera House, and it's closed. Closed. No, it's closed. Honest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.25.2 Jidoor ********************************** Container contents: Ether Remember that day? Remember that day you went to visit your aunt's eccentric and rich sister, who had those beautiful crystal-like glasses you wanted to have so very, very bad? And remember when you told your mom and she told you that you would never ever earn enough money to buy one, no matter how hard you tried? This is like a city full of those rich sisters, but this time you *can't* punch them in the face and take what you like from them. Weapon Shop: Kiku-Ichimonji 1200 Kaiser Knuckles 1000 Kodachi 1200 Moonring Blade 2500 Flame Scroll 500 Water Scroll 500 Lightning Scroll 500 Shadow Scroll 400 New weapons! The Kaiser Knuckles are new weapons for Sabin, and they're Holy-elemental. Aside from being fairly legendary throughout a lot of Final Fantasy games, they're also somewhat, but not entirely, useless. I do suggest you pick up two of them, as there will be one scenario where they will come in handy. Kiku-Ichimonji are new Knives for Cyan. If you have Cyan in your party, you probably made a Genji Glover/Black Belt out of him; two Kiku-Ichimonji improve his usefulness. Kodachi blades for Shadow; disregarding the fact you're unlikely to actually have him on the team, the fact any Thrown Shuriken will surpass any held blade in damage will make sure the Thief's Knife is superior to equip. May be less of a non-factor if you brought Locke AND Shadow and have felt the necessity to equip the Thief's Knife on the treasure hunter. Armor Shop: Mythril Shield 1200 Twist Headband 1600 Mythril Vest 1200 Ninja Gear 1100 White Dress 2200 Jidoor sells expensive new stuff. First and foremost, you'll notice Mythril Vests for sale. You should already have enough of them, but if you don't have enough to keep the Cyans and Edgars in your party pleased, you could get some. The Ninja Gear was thus far an exclusive item you kinda forgot to return to Shadow when he left, but it's likely the majority of your party can enjoy this thing. Finally, the White Dress: if you have money, buy two. The White Dress kicks ass, giving a hefty Magic Boost and solid Magic Defense. Relic Shop: Peace Ring 3000 Barrier Ring 500 Mythril Glove 700 Earring 5000 Knight's Code 1000 Sniper Eye 3000 This if the first time you can buy noteworthy nice Relics! Earrings are for sale in Jidoor. After the many new weapons, potions, scrolls, whatever, it's unlikely you have a lot of money to spare. If your party can really use a third Earring (say, if you brought Gau, Edgar, Sabin, and Celes), consider buying one. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Antidote 50 Gold Needle 200 Holy Water 300 Phoenix Down 500 Echo Screen 120 Tent 1200 Stock up on stuff you feel like you need. It's very simple! Hidden Items: All the way to the north is a massive mansion that wouldn't really stand out as an attraction in a cheesy amusement park (where, surprisingly, nobody really amuses him/herself). There's an Ether in a bucket. Time to explore the town! There's precious little to explore, actually; like actual rich people, it's all appearance and little content. Remember the huge mansion to the north; the owner of it is Owzer, a famous art lover. The Auction House is closed for the time being; a convenient plot device employed to tell you that whatever you can buy here shouldn't be available yet. The NPCs are generally useless here, but there are three points of interesting to derive from them: *1 Terra apparently headed north, into the mountains. That's where Zozo is. *2 People in Zozo lie. They lie! *3 The inhabitants of Zozo also steal. Why would Terra use her newfound ability to travel by air to go to what sounds like the slums of Jidoor, detached, full of American Presidents? It will forever be a mystery. Or not, because you're about to find out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.26.1 Zozo ********************************** Opponents: Iron Fist (#58), Harvester (#62), Hill Gigas (#63), Gobbledygook (#64), Veil Dancer (#65), Dadaluma (#288) Container contents: Brigand's Glove, Burning Fist, Chainsaw, Ether x2, Hermes Sandals, Hi-Potion, Potion, X-Potion Miscellaneous items: Dragoon Boots (rare Harvester steal), Thief's Bracer (rare Dadaluma steal), Thief's Knife (rare Dadaluma drop & rare Veil Dancer steal), Gigas Glove (rare Hill Gigas steal) Magicite: Cait Sith, Kirin, Ramuh, Siren Upon entry of Zozo, the image you had of it quickly abandons you. You expected poor people; you encounter pure madness. Staggering through the buildings are madmen mumbling about minutes, hours, and seconds. The exotic dancers wield arcane spells no human is to possess. Bulking giants attack you, shaking the ground with every 20-ton step. Corpses rot on the street. Towering constructions reach into the sky. And somewhere in this chaos, Terra is waiting for you. Preparation: You should've equipped all new pieces of armor before entry. If you have Gau in your party, make sure his first Rage is something Float inducing such as Ghost, Lesser Lopros, Aspiran, or Hornet. It will protect at least him from the dreaded Magnitude 8 you may encounter here. Save. Zozo is the most dangerous place you'll set foot into for a while, so make sure you're not caught with yer shorts down. Monster formations: (Outside) Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook (5/16) Hill Gigas (5/16) Harvester, Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook (5/16) Hill Gigas, Harvester (1/16) (Inside) Veil Dancer (5/16) Veil Dancer, Harvester, Harvester (5/16) Harvester (5/16) Veil Dancer, Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook, Gobbledygook (1/16) First off, how to treat the enemies here. It's incomprehensible why these cretins wield destructive power of Magic; there's certainly not a plot-related explanation given. But regardless, these inhabitants aren't going to give you random advice, allow you to raid their homes and take 300 Gil they contained in that bucket for over three generations, or sell you new stuff. They are here to kill you. It's up to you, but I'd say we kill them right back. Veil Dancers should be your first concern, period. If they are alone, they start casting Fira, Blizzara, or Thundara. Always. A focused ST level 2 spell will probably kill a character. An MT spell will hurt your entire party more than anything you've encountered so far. Take them out ASAP when they're alone. If they come with other opponents, try to see if you can steal more Thief's Knives from them and then end their lives. Hill Gigas is your second large concern. They just hit stuff, hard. If you keep your HP up, they're not going to kill you, but keep in mind that a weakened character can quickly fall victim to a devastating physical blow like the ones Hill Gigas delivers. If you kill one, there's a 33 % chance they will end things with a Magnitude 8 attack. This hurts about as much as an MT level 2 spell, and since I just spent quite some words detailing the fact you want to avoid that at all costs, know that once again this is the case. You can avoid this fate by changing the giant into an Imp with Celes, or let him sink in a Snare attack, only employable by a well-trained Gau. Darkwind is also an efficient way of dealing with the wall of muscle, but Break won't stop the Magnitude 8 attack. Cross your fingers and make sure you have four Potions or Celes' Cure spell ready. Harvesters are next. They're weak fighters, but when allowed to take a third turn, they will use Shadow's Throw technique to hurl either a Dagger or a Mythril Knife at you. This is crazy high ST damage that's likely to take a character down in one shot. It ignores defense and Row, so if you see it, you're in trouble. The only way to dodge around these flying blades of death is the Invisible status. And that's where our fourth and final random encounter comes in! Gobbledygook are Zozo's cannon fodder; useless pieces of Hit Points that run into your sharp objects and die from them. Compared to their fellow monsters here, they are doubly pathetic. They serve a grand purpose, though. If you have any means of setting Confuse, use it! Edgar's Noiseblaster is far and entirely superior to Gau's Zaghrem Rage (Stone), but if you lack Edgar, you have precious little choice should you want to employ this. A confused Gobbledygook has a 33 % chance of casting Vanish at a random character of yours. The Invisible status remains after battle and makes you immune to all physical attacks sent your way, including items Thrown by Harvester. Two characters under Invisible is good, three is grand, but four is generally unconceivable as you can't control which character gets to be the target, and a Vanish spell on an Invisible target is just going to remove the status. So, welcome to Zozo! If you walk a bit into the town, you'll notice there are three buildings here. The one you passed is the smaller building, which has some treasure on top. The door says 'Cafe'. All the way to the north is a small building with only a clock to set. The final and remaining tower is what could be defined as the main dungeon, a construction even Gaudi didn't dare dream of. Twisted, man. I'll call the three buildings the Small Tower, the Chainsaw Tower and the High Tower, for readability. Not that hard. Enter the Small Tower first. A Zozo crook shouts gibberish over his counter. Ignore him and continue to ascend. You'll meet a split here: a door to the left and one to the right. The left one takes you nowhere, like studying philosophy. The right one takes you outside, where you climb a frightening stairway to the next level. Here, the left door is rusted shut and the right one opens to reveal an Ether. Now, you can track back! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.26.2 Chainsaw Riddle and Zozo continued ********************************** The Chainsaw Tower is the one you were meant to explore last. The trick is that there is a mysterious clock; its time you can set. By collecting clues from the Zozo inhabitants, you could discover the time you needed to unlock a secret treasure. Here are all the clues you can find: That clock doesn't have a minute hand. Of course, it never points to the right time, anyway! (This 'that clock' means the one nearby. Examining it will get you the message, 'The clock's hand is pointing at the 2...') The second hand on my watch is pointin' at 30. The seconds? They're divisible by 20! My watch's second hand is pointing at the 4. Time, you say? It's 4:00. Don't listen to the others! Trust me, it's 8:00! Oh, it's 10:00! I'd better be getting home. It's already 12:00. It's 2:00. With the options presented to you when trying to set the clock to the right time, it's clear that the hour must be 6:00, as all other options are stated by lying Zozo pigs. The seconds are NOT divisible by 20, and it's not 0:00:30. The minutes can be narrowed to only one option; the man who tells you there is no minute hand on THAT clock proceeds to say it isn't on the right time. Talking to the clock will reveal that the (minute) hand is standing on the two, i.o.w. 0:10. At any rate, after some trying here and there, it's clear that the real time is either 6:10:10 or 6:10:50. Regardless, after you've tried one of them you know what the real answer is: 6:10:50. When you reset the time to match this, a wall will slide away to reveal another pathway to a chest containing the Chainsaw. It's a powerful new Tool for Edgar that is basically Drill on crack with the annoying 25 % tendency to try to go for an instant-kill, which has a small chance of missing, and always misses against targets immune to one-hit KO. For a comparison between Chainsaw and Drill, go to the end of this document and search for the 8.2 section. Now, for the High Tower! It's the one to the southwest, with the Relic shop logo above the entrance. When you enter, another politician in the making is waiting for you to listen to his crap. Leave him. You take a stairway outside to enter the second level, where cycloptic thieves run rampant. There are a total of seven of them, repeating themselves in an endless polonaise of decay and horror. Walk amongst them to leave. Now you're outside again! At the end of the first set of stairs, you can face south and be asked if you want to use the Crane. Using the Crane will simply let you descend to the previous level. The Crane was probably installed so you could easily return to the ground without having to wade through the thieves. Maybe the designers figured it would in fact be impossible to return by those means; by clever navigational skills it's very much possible though. Pressing on, stair after stair, will get you to a dead end! Granted, there was a room with a Brigand's Glove on the way, but you cannot proceed. Time to pick up an ancient Zozo trick: jumping between buildings. There is a small black entrance above the door you passed through to get outside. Enter it and face the west. Now, walk over there and jump! Twice! The Brigand's Glove, by the way, is a Relic for Locke that allows him to change his Steal command into Mug, which is basically Attack + Steal. The Thief's Bracer also boosts the chances of stealing through Mug, and the chances of stealing are just as high for Mug as it is for Steal. The only downside (and very rarely upside) of Mug is that it makes the weapon lose some special powers. None of the weapons you have at this point will lose any effect, but the following weapons do: - The Ultima Weapon; Becomes a normal 255 Attack blade - Ichigeki, Assassin's Dagger, Wing Edge and Viper Darts will not execute X- type one-hit KO any more. - The Zantetsuken won't slice enemies, ever. - The Man-Eater won't double damage on 'Human' targets. - Blood Sword and Soul Sabre won't absorb respectively HP and MP and do normal damage instead. The Soul Sabre's damage will be reduced by Defense. - Rune Blade, Ragnarok, Lightbringer, Punisher and the Organyx can't execute the MP-powered critical hit; in addition, the Organyx can't break on you. - No random extra damage from Hawkeye and the Sniper; the throw graphic won't be used either. - Dice and Fixed Dice become worthless due to the 2 and 3 Hit Rate for them, while graphic glitches ensue. - The Valiant Knife loses defense-ignoring properties and doesn't add the (max HP - current HP) damage. - Kazekiri won't cast Wind Slash. You get back inside on the other side of the building and continue to travel. Ignore the first partly hidden set of stairs to your left; it will only take you behind some counter. The second one gets you to your needed destination: further. There is a Hi-Potion and an Ether hidden in two pots here. Leave. Time to leave this detour building and jump back to the normal one, which has a girl on top. According to the Zozoian below. Or, NOT, so it is. Still with me here? Jump again and you'll find yourself in a huge set of swirling stairs. Climb them. When you find yourself outside again, climb those stairs too. Don't forget to find the Burning Fist hidden in the small chamber here; the door is obvious. Eventually, you will reach Dadaluma. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.26.3 The battle with Dadaluma and the meeting with Ramuh ********************************** Dadaluma Level: 22, HP: 3270, MP: 1005 Steal: Thief's Bracer (rare), Jeweled Ring (common), Win: Thief's Knife (rare), Twist Headband (common) Weakness: Poison Special: !Sweep: sets Sap Vulnerable to: Imp, Petrify, Doom, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Sweep, Jump, Protect, Shockwave, Item (Potion), Item (Hi-Potion), Throw (Dagger), Throw (Mythril Knife), Steal Dadaluma is...yeah, what the hell is he anyway? He's a crazy lying dog like the entire population of Zozo, as he charges at you as soon as he's finished saying he's going to let you by unharmed. He's some hybrid between a martial artist and a thief: the love child of a Harvester and an Iron Fist on steroids. Most of his attacks are physical, and his most powerful ones are him Throwing Daggers and Mythril Knives. Your Invisible characters are relatively safe if he doesn't expose them with Shockwave, which is a weakish attack with the power to hit your Invisible targets. When he's taking enough damage to dive below 1920 HP, he'll use either a Potion or Hi-Potion three times and cast Protect on himself. That's only slightly annoying for Locke, as all other characters are going to attack either with barrier-piercing attacks or those that are magical of nature. There are some more twists and turns to Dadaluma's battle script! When you've hurt him with the Magic command two times, he will Throw one weapon and Jump in the air, being temporarily untouchable. He'll come down to damage a character for some minor physical hurting. He won't do all this if he has the Slow status, but since the only way to set it is by using Gau's Poplium Rage, there are much better things to set on Dadaluma. If you've hit him with the Attack command four times, he will Throw TWO weapons. Such violence. Obviously, you're never going to use Attack that much, but if you brought Locke AND Cyan and went Attack-happy for some reason, watch out. Finally, after 30 seconds, he will call some aid. God knows he needs it by then, if he's not dead already. He'll whistle for two Iron Fists that you'll never face alone and are thus deprived of their one and only strength: Stone. Dadaluma won't be able to whistle when he's Silenced, but you can't silence him at this point of the game, so there's no avoiding it. So yeah, you can imagine what to do. Try to nick that rare Thief's Bracer with Locke. Edgar can play with his new equipment (like you did when you grew hair in weird places...don't deny it). Aura Cannon with Sabin. Cyan's Flurry will be better before Dadaluma has cast the Protect spell on himself, but Fang comes out victorious after he's successfully done so. Even when Protect isn't in effect, the wait time might make Fang more appealing to you. Celes' Imp spell can seriously cripple Dadaluma, as it actually works on him. His physicals will now always do twice as much damage, but his Shockwave/Throw days are over, so if you have any characters under Invisible, you're destined to win. Have her pose as a back-up Cure caster if necessary, and if you choose not to turn Dadaluma into an Imp, you'll want her ready with Runic to disable Protect for the Lockes and Cyans of this world. Gau's Alacran and Acrophies Rages will set Stop on Dadaluma, turning him completely useless. Trillium offers Bio, on the other hand, which will hit for CRAZY damage. Shadow can simply toss his stuff; his Scrolls (especially when Earring-boosted) will come out stronger than his Shuriken, but you might not want to waste them on an easy fight like this. Yeah, when all is said and done, after a dungeon like Zozo a final boss like Dadaluma fails to impress anybody. Stepping over the battered corpse of the Bandit King, you find yourself in a large room. There are two chests here, containing rather nice items: an X-Potion and a set of Hermes Sandals. But most importantly, it houses Terra. I advise you to simply watch the scene yourself, and don't forget to take all your new sources of happiness and power with you. Before I go to the next part of the walkthrough, though, I want to leave you with what Gau would say had you brought an actual solo-Gau party to Ramuh, as it's one of the bits of dialogue that never ceases to amuse me in its brilliance: Gau: Terra...she okay? Gau: Espers...live other world...right? Gau: Why you not tell people you Esper? Gau: Gau hear fairy tale... People...Espers...before, live same place! Gau: Ma-gi-tek Re-search Fa...ci-luh-tee? ...Your friends there? Gau: Ra...muh... You leave...not come back? Gau: Waoooh... Note that this guy, later in the game, has trouble saying 'yes'. There's a couple more character sentences: Upon entry: Cyan: Is Lady Terra all right? Celes: Is Terra okay? Celes: But don't Espers live in another world? Locke: But my grandma told me that humans and Espers once lived side by side... Of course, that was only a bedtime story... Celes: ...Huh? The Magitek Research Facility? Your people are in there!? Shadow: You old fool... Why throw it all away...? Cyan: He's...gone, isn't he? Celes: Ramuh... Why...? Cyan: He sacrificed himself to give us the strength with which to fight the Empire... From now on, there will be a wizard/ghost character roaming the streets of Zozo as well as the Adventuring School in Narshe to explain how Magicite works. What great news! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.27.1 Magicite and Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor ********************************** Opponents: Vulture (%57), Iron Fist (#58), Bloodfang (#59), Rock Wasp (#60), Paraladia (#61) As it turns out, Terra is apparently safe in Zozo. All she needs is more time to understand her newfound powers. Ramuh, the ancient Esper of Lightning, in the meantime, begged you for a favor. The Empire's forbidden might, Magic, is extracted from Espers held within the city of Vector, in the Magitek Research Facility. Releasing them or otherwise disabling the flow of Magic to the Empire would deal a serious blow to its offensive forces. To top that, Ramuh's plea is understandable; no conscious being should be held into submission and tested on like this. But the Empire knows better than to allow offensive forces into their lands, and after conquering the entire continent, they disabled any means of traveling to the Southern Continent. So how will these Returners reach Vector? Jidoor might hold some answers. Preparation: Your choice of team is more limited now, as both Locke and Celes are forced into your party. It's too bad, as both are relatively weak characters at the moment. But hey, forced is forced. Know that physical attacks, unless barrier-piercing, are almost entirely useless in the next scenario, so Cyan is out from the get-go (Fang fails to measure up to your other offensive options, and Flurry is going to be laughable most of the time). Shadow is still in the Kohlingen Inn if you haven't recruited him earlier, but he will leave at a crucial point where, even while you technically CAN go back to Narshe, will be most annoying. Shadow is out. It boils down to Sabin, Edgar, and Gau. If you haven't trained Gau, it's no contest and you'll want to bring the Figaro brothers. If you have, it's no contest and you'll want to add Gau. Seriously, he is *obscenely* strong at this point of the game (provided you go Rage Hunting in a bit, anyway). Between Edgar and Sabin, I'd definitely pick Edgar over Sabin. They're about equals in offense at this point, but Edgar has the option of using the Noiseblaster, and being able to target will be a damn useful function before long. If you picked Gau, you'll want to pick some new Rages from the new monsters you encountered. Useful Rages include: Anguiform, Aspiran, Rock Wasp, Veil Dancer, Gobbledygook and Hill Gigas. Hill Gigas' Magnitude 8 will be stronger than Wind Slash in MT damage, but it cannot hit Floating targets. Anguiform and Aspiran both hit the weakness of pretty much everything in the next real dungeon, so don't feel complete until you've found them. Route to the Veldt, Copy/Paste from the previous section: To visit the Veldt, take the Cave to South Figaro and pass through Mt. Koltz. You'll find the Returner Hideout again, and in Banon's Room, you can find the hidden passage to the raft. Jump on it, and after the same battles you had to fight earlier, you'll now take the path Sabin took when he drifted off. You find yourself near the hut of the crazy man again. Walk to and through the Phantom Forest (no Imperial Camp or Phantom Train this time) and jump down Baren Falls (no battles here either). You're on the Veldt now. Leap around until you're satisfied. Jump down the Serpent Trench and wind up in Nikeah. Take the ferry to South Figaro and you're on known territory. Oh yeah, and you're smuggled out of South Figaro in a chest; that never ceases to amuse the kids. Also, you've received Magicite! Magicite are awesome little gems that allow you to summon the corresponding Esper once a battle, learn the spells the Magicite teaches, and even give you a stat boost when you level up! For a more detailed descriptions of Espers and how do and do not work, there's a section towards the bottom of the document. I will not fail to mention THIS, though: To unequip an Esper, select a black slot from the Esper list. There are too many creatures out there that, after having consumed a meal consisting entirely out of Doritos and feces, nose-type a "how to unequip Espers" topic. Because, typing the message and waiting for the often verbally violent and inaccurate response somehow takes less time in their dimension of madness than simply trying the option, which has always seemed to me as a product of logic. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Iron Fist, Iron Fist, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (6/16) Vulture, Iron Fist (5/16) Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (5/16) (Forest) Paraladia, Paraladia, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (6/16) Paraladia, Vulture, Iron Fist (5/16) Iron Fist, Iron Fist, Rock Wasp, Rock Wasp (5/16) I speak too much! Your job is to find a proper means of transportation towards the Empire. By now, you'll probably stare at the lead character of your party, going, and here I quote one of the best films recently created, Napoleon Dynamite: "Before we get started on our new project, I have a few concerns. First off, I'm concerned about your transportation situation." See, you need to go to Vector, capital of the Empire. This city is on a continent, and while you are also on a continent, it's sadly an entirely different one. While Celes is wearing a bathing suit, swimming is not an option. Maybe you can get yourself a ship in Jidoor? Money buys anything, right? Except for happiness. Happiness and actual quality coffee, when you're living in America. Starbucks my ass. While walking to Jidoor, you'll be surprised to note that every battle ends with an added message of you obtaining Magic AP! That's good. When you've reached Jidoor, you may want to rest at the Inn. The guy standing in front of the counter has some new info about this guy called 'the gambler', who likes operas. Kind of the dumbest thing ever, talking to strangers ABOUT strangers, no? At Owzer's place (you know, that huge mansion? The mansion to rule them all?), you'll find somebody called the Impresario. He's having a bad time. Talk to him and grab the letter on the way out. Resume: The Impresario (trivia: his name is Dancho) is the Big Chief of the Opera. Everybody loves that place, especially because of Maria, the very sexual, the very tight. Setzer Gabbiani, world-cruising playboy of a gambler that he is, has announced in a private letter to the Impresario that he will kidnap Maria right from the stage. The Impresario doesn't want Maria to be kidnapped; bad for business, nor does he want to call off the next show; bad for business. Dancho's in a tight spot. Oh, the troubles of capitalism. Also, Celes is the 'spitting image' of Maria, it seems. I never quite understood this expression. Two women and saliva doesn't sound too bad, but it just seems kinda out of place in a game like this. So yeah, world's most popular fetish aside, you need to go to the Opera House, where you'll try to set up a meeting with Setzer, pilot of the world's only airship, the Blackjack (off-game knowledge!). Once you reach the Opera House (don't tell me you needed any more info on the monsters occupying the way there), all will be self-explanatory. So, allow me to skip to the next thrilling action sequence, which involves the favorite FF VI scene for many. Not me, though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.28.1 The Opera House ********************************** Opponents: Stunner (#66), Goetia (#67), Ultros (#289) So here's the plan. Instead of Maria, who hid her pretty self somewhere, Celes will perform the Dream Oath, the massively popular opera about Draco and Maria (seems like the opera star and her part share the name), a story of love, war, honor, and as bad luck gives us, a squid. Ultros followed you here. The reason is not clear; it's not so much revenge for beating him, as it's entirely possible to use a team that features none of the characters you used to fight him the first time. But let evil be evil as long as you stop it. Celes needs to be successfully abducted here, and we can't have any octopi ruining the plan. Preparation: Celes de-equipped herself when she changed into Maria's opera get-up, so if she was carrying anything other party members might be able to use, that's great. Make sure that one of your remaining party members has Sprint Shoes equipped if you're playing one of the SNES versions. The Impresario predicted Setzer would arrive in the first scene, and as Setzer is an undependable scoundrel who has no ties in life and has much to gain by surprising the Impresario in his abduction in as many ways possible, the prediction can be nothing but 100 % accurate. So, Celes needs to survive only through the first scene before she gets her proverbial homerun! Here's what she has to do: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.28.2 The Dream Oath ********************************** Scene 1 O my hero, my beloved, Shall we still be made to part, Though promises of perennial love Yet sing here in my heart? I'm the darkness, you're the starlight Shining brightly from afar. Though hours of despair, I offer this prayer To you, my evening star. Must my final vows exchanged Be with him and not with you? Were you only here to quiet my fear... O speak! Guide me anew. ...This is where you pick up the flowers. Climb the stairs and toss the flowers from the highest balcony. (Be sure to finish by the end of the interlude! There isn't much time before the start of Scene 2.) - Impresario At least, that's what the score says. Listen to it; it makes sense. Celes will be given three options during her play concerning the proper lines, and then has to successfully climb some stairs and lift flowers. Quite a workout! Here's what the options will do: (Oh my hero...) --> success! GOOD. (Alas, Draco...) --> Alas, Draco! You have left me... The orchestra stops. BAD. (I wish I...) --> I wish I...uh? The orchestra stops. BAD. (I'm the darkness)--> success! GOOD. (Must my...) --> success! GOOD. (Prince Ralse...) --> Prince Ralse will be my groom. I know... that this isn't the right line. The orchestra stops. BAD. Now, you walk the stairs, talk to the phantom Draco three times, pick up the flowers, and stand on the far end of the balcony. If you fail to do this in time, Celes says: "Ah, I'm too late! So much for that...", the orchestra stops and that's BAD. Every time you mess up the Opera (you mess up the lines, you don't move around fast enough, Ultros does his thang, you are defeated by Ultros in combat), the Opera is halted and you find yourself outside of the building, where you can go back in to plead for another chance. After you mess up the first time, you get three chances. That's a total of four tries to get it right. If you fail four times, evolution hasn't been kind to you and you receive the message "It looks like you weren't exactly born to be on stage..." and get an actual Game Over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.28.3 Stopping Ultros ********************************** So, that's Celes' part. You can do it. Meanwhile, Ultros has decided to kill the woman on stage with the combined terror of weight and gravity, which he told Locke with a letter. Because that's useful for your chances of actually pulling it off, you see. Before you alert the Impresario, make sure to talk to your fellow characters. Amusing! Edgar: Go on! Give her some encouragement! Sabin: Huh? Why's everyone singing? Cyan: Where art thou going? Thou should relax and enjoy the show! Gau: Uwao! Pretty song, pretty song! And if you brought Shadow, against all possible odds and rules of logic: Impresario: Your friend left. Said he'd fall asleep if he had to sit here for more than five minutes... I'm sure a lot of you folks thinks that's awesome. You have five minutes to reach the lever on the right side of the Opera House, flip it, go to the rafters, which are accessible on the left side of the Opera House, fight your way through some annoying rats, and stop Ultros. So do it! Flip the far right switch in the room to the right. For you left/right analphabetics out there, I'll lay it out for you: Switch 1 Switch 2 Switch 3 Super Switch! Switch 1 makes a sound like a dog barking. Switch 2 turns out the lights in the opera hall, causing the crowds to make little eyes in the darkness. Switch 3 opens a hole directly under you, causing you to slide on stage! You immediately get off by hopping on the heads of the crowd, bursting in the entrance hall of the Opera House, where the lead character will strike a pose and say 'Whew!'. I suppose all three switches are pretty amusing, but there's imminent squashing and you can't shrug that off, so what you'll want to flip is the Super Switch. Now, sprint all the way to the far left room (you'll pass the Impresario again) and pass the door (which would be locked if you hadn't flipped the switch in the far right room). Now, you're on the rafters. Don't fall down now. Haha, you can't fall down! You can, however, fight rats and get kicked out of the Opera House for another try if you lose. So, you don't want that. Each rat will trigger a battle, which contains either: Goetia, Stunner, Stunner (3/4) Stunner, Goetia, Stunner, Stunner, Goetia (1/4) The Goetia monsters (yellow) are the main problem, the Stunners (black/green) the lackeys. If you take out all the Stunners while one or two Goetia still live, they'll call more, prolonging the battle. So have Edgar, Locke and Genji Glove'd Cyan and/or Sabin go for the ST kill on those before you try to engage in MT slaughter. Goetia are weak against Ice, so if Gau can Rage Veil Dancer or Darkside, that might be a good idea too. They have nothing worth stealing, so don't waste time there. It's said it's actually possible to get by without having to fight a single group of rats, but you'll skip both their Rages (not that good, I'll admit, but you can *miss* them for the sake of the Savior), and it's damn hard to boot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.28.4 The second fight with Ultros ********************************** Ultros Level: 19, HP: 2550, MP: 500 Steal: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Water, Weakness: Fire, Lightning Special: !Ink: sets Dark, attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Ink, Fire, Drain, Lv. 3 Confuse, Imp Song, Acid Rain, Megavolt, Tentacle Before you try to hurt Ultros, make sure your Ramuh-wearing character is equipped with an Earring (or two). If you have a Burning Fist-wearing Sabin, he should be in the third or fourth position, as that'll make sure he'll face Ultros' back at the start of the match. Make sure that your party is covered in Peace Rings/Ribbons, as Ultros has the ability to set Confuse, which is serious business. Ultros is back and he's better and badder then ever. Only not really, because he actually has less HP than he did when you first met him. To compensate, he has quite a few spells to throw at you, and has a nasty Command Script that gives him the power to, at the worst situation possible, actually take 10197 HP of damage before going down. Here's how that works: Ultros has four positions. He starts at Position 1. Every time he takes two rounds, he'll make a comment, switch to another position and start using different spells. Now the story and our eyes will have us believe that it's one Ultros, hopping about; the game treats this battle as one with four Ultros', each with his own set of 2550 HP. If you hurt Ultros but let him escape to a different position, you can Libra him and see he will again have 2550 out of 2550 HP. At least, that's what you would see if this Ultros didn't yield a "Can't probe target" message. So, the trick is to kill him as quick as possible, before he can move around at all. For the record, he will go like this: 1 - 3 - 2* - 4 - 2 - 1 - 4 - 2 - 3** ** = Here, he makes four attacks before he moves on to 2* again. So what does Ultros do? He counters Blitz techniques and Bushido skills with Acid Rain, a nasty Water/Poison-elemental attack that sets Sap. I'd advise against using those skills, especially because Sabin will inflict more damage with the Burning Fist then he will with his Blitz attacks (unless it's Rising Phoenix, unless he's hitting with the Burning Fist in the back of Ultros). After every minute of battling, Ultros will use Imp Song, which changes the living characters on one side of him into Imps. This is very annoying and yet another reason to deal with Ultros as quickly as possible. Finally, his attack pattern is this, depending on his position: 1 = Attack, !Ink or Tentacle 2 = Attack (33%) or Fire (66%) 3 = Attack (33%) or Lv. 3 Confuse (66%) 4 = Attack or Megavolt or Drain But none of this should really matter, honestly. Because if you even get to see Acid Rain or Lv. 3 Confuse, let alone Imp Song, you've already missed the goal and are in actual danger of losing the battle if you're either inexperienced or unlucky. So here's what to do to prevent that. Locke is fairly useless; Ultros has nothing to steal whatsoever. If Locke knows Slow or Thundara, have him cast it. Otherwise, just attack. Edgar's Chainsaw inflicts very decent damage, and I've said enough about Sabin's Burning Fist to make the impression I actually want you to use it. Cyan should ignore his Bushido command and act like Locke. Gau, finally, can pick a Rage like Aspiran or Cloud for direct violence (Aspiran is godly), or Acrophies/Alacran for causing Stop if you want to prevent him from changing position rather than killing him outright. Unless it's Sabin, summoning Ramuh takes priority over anything else. It's basically a Thundara spell coming from someone who probably hasn't learned Thundara yet. The only scenario I can see where the above strategy wouldn't automatically mean you toasted the guy before he could move a muscle is a rather low-leveled Locke, Cyan, and Gau team where Gau just didn't feel like doing his non-Attack. If this is the case, have Cyan and Locke support Gau and cure their own Imp status should this become a problem. Ultros really isn't that much of a deal if you take him down with as much brute force in as little time you could do; if you allow him to wander, he could become quite a nuisance. You'll get a Green Cherry for your troubles at the end. His lines, because there are people who love him as much as I dislike the guy: "It's me again! Long time no see! Did ya miss me?" (Battle Commence) "Here! Over here!" "I ain't no garden-variety octopus!" "Havin' fun yet?" "You called?" "You must hate it when I show up... Too bad!" "Don't worry, I ain't goin' nowhere!" "Imp! Buddy! Pal! " (Imp Song) "Thwarted again! I feel like such a sucker. Well, kids, hate to ink and run... ... but I AM an octopus!" (Defeat) Having stopped the threat that threatened the plan, the plan comes together! Setzer, quite possibly the most awesome character out of video game history as far as looks and style go, swoops down, grabs Celes, and in one awesome spin gets her out of her opera gown, into her normal clothes, and entirely tied up. Wow. And to know that there are some, who shall remain nameless, who at one time had problems with bra clasps! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.29.1 The Blackjack ********************************** My God, Setzer is awesome. He's a world-traveling albino pirate who kidnaps this game's equivalent of Kylie Mynogue to marry her on his own casino-zeppelin. His airship-crash-induced facial scars only make him more of a special case and nicely compliment the rather gothic black trench coat he got way before the Wachowski brothers had even dreamed about bending spoons that aren't there and bullet-time and whatnot. Sadly, he gets punked by a band of unlikely heroes the world has never seen before. First, he is persuaded by you to listen to your tale of woe rather than kick you off his property: Celes: Wait! We heard that your ship is the finest vessel in the world. Locke: And that you were the world's greatest gambler... Edgar: I'm the king of Figaro. If you help us, you'll be well rewarded... Sabin: My brother's the king of Figaro. If you help us, I can ask him to reward you. (only if Edgar isn't there) Cyan: I am a warrior of Doma. Please, I humbly beg for thy aid! Then, he is converted from a rather neutral guy to a full-fledged Narshesque (or Swiss) I-don't-knower: Celes: You're not the only one suffering. The Empire has been toppling towns and villages left and right... Locke: They're abusing their Magitek power and trying to take over the world. Edgar: My kingdom was allied with the Empire...until recently. Sabin: Maybe you want to be a slave to the Empire, but I sure don't. Cyan: I lost my friends, my family... (he gets all sad after this) Finally, he is joining your cause! It was inevitable after all; you gave him a name and whatnot. Celes will fool him with a double-headed coin. If Edgar's present, he'll give the coin to her. If Sabin is also present, he'll shout at his brother for a bit for obvious reasons (and if they're not obvious, you didn't take them to sleep at Figaro Castle, am I right?). The coin in question is a coin from Figaro, displaying Edgar's face on one side and Sabin's face on the other. You'll see it in action in the credits... but enough about this. You hitched a ride to the Empire. Go Returners. As soon as you get out of the Blackjack, you can re-enter the ship to see its full interior. From this point on, you can take advantage of Setzer's crew and their sweet services. There's a healing guy and an item guy. The item guy sells: Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Holy Water 300 Phoenix Down 500 Remedy 1000 Smoke Bomb 300 Teleport Stone 700 Tent 1200 Good-for-nothing albino pirate gamblers only sharing with the rest of us for profit... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.30.1 Albrook ********************************** Container contents: Elixir, Ether, Hi-Potion You're finding yourself next to an entirely new town. This is called 'hinting'. Square wants you to go in. Do it. Note: Don't forget to re-equip Celes. We don't want her running around naked. Well, I've seen enough GameFAQs posts that say that some of you would, but that's talking 'naked', not "naked". Albrook is one of the three major towns the Empire invaded and currently occupies. The Imperial troopers here won't directly recognize you, and won't attack you outright. If you try to enter the port, the Magitek Armored soldier will prevent your entry by means of hitting you. No Hit Points will be lost, don't worry. Most soldiers will show themselves as patriotic pigs, and most inhabitants of Albrook will sigh and moan about their lot. The only useful information you receive here is that coming from a portrait painter and two scholars. The painter tells of a portrait he must do of the Emperor himself (you'll come across this painting in your travels later, where it serves a special purpose). The first scholar will talk about the fact that the monsters on the continent have only weak magical power (which is a flat-out lie as some of them have the power to outright create several new interesting ways to urinate for you if you don't watch out). The other one is talking about two Ultima Weapons; one a sword, one a monster. I'M SURE WE'LL NEVER MEET EITHER OF THEM. Weapon Shop: Kiku-Ichimonji 1200 Venom Claws 2500 Bastard Sword 3000 Sakura 3200 Shuriken 30 Flame Scroll 500 Water Scroll 500 Thunder Scroll 500 The Weapon shop has Bastard Swords (which you can ignore if you want to as neither Celes nor Edgar will ever use it), Kiku-Ichimonji for Cyan that you previously bought in Jidoor (right?), and Venom Claws for Sabin, of which I recommend you buy two. You can leave Shadow's Sakura for now, as he's not around and you'll be able to buy more of them later. Armor Shop: Twist Headband 1600 Priest's Miter 3000 Mythril Vest 1200 Ninja Gear 1100 White Dress 2200 The Olde Armore Shoppe sells nothing of value other than Priest's Miters. They're the magical equivalent of the Green Berets; where Green Berets raise HP by 12.5 percent and give you a 10 % bonus on your Evasion rating, the Priest's Miter raises MP by that very amount and gives a 10 % bonus on your Magic Evasion rating. It's a popular choice for obtaining a god-like assembly of equipment later in the game, but right now, you're probably better off with the Green Berets as an HP boost is more useful than an MP boost and you'll be taking much more physical hits than magical ones. And yes, the chests in the Armor Shop are now, and will under any circumstance be, empty. Relic Shop: Silver Spectacles 500 Peace Ring 3000 Earring 5000 Sniper Eye 3000 Reflect Ring 6000 Amulet 5000 The Relic Shop has Amulets and Reflect Rings. The Amulet will be kind of a necessity in later dungeons, but you can wait for now. Make sure to grab four Reflect Rings here, though. These Reflect Rings will make a few boss battles in the future much easier.The main attractions at the moment though are Earrings; Earrings are almost universally useful. You should have four Earrings and a Hero's Ring; you might want to buy another one or even two. Earrings are great damage boosters. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Eye Drops 50 Remedy 1000 Holy Water 300 Phoenix Down 500 Tent 1200 Teleport Stone 700 Items of +2/+2 using. First Remedies for sale ever. The Cafe is plain awesome. I wish there was a place over here that played Johnny C. Bad continuously; I wouldn't go there because I'd go stark raving mad, but it be nice to have around, just because. Items are hidden throughout the town. There's the mandatory Elixir in the clock in the hallway connecting the Armor Shop and the Cafe. There's a Hi-Potion in a barrel next to the Inn. A hidden Ether in the pot of the Weapon Shop closes the deal. On the whole, Albrook is a rather disappointing hole of a town, not at all worth the hassle of the whole having-Celes-abducted-by-a-flying-albino thing. So I suggest we explore the rest of the continent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.30.2 Traveling on the Southern Continent ********************************** Opponents: Fossil Dragon (#56), Litwor Chicken (#68), Joker (#69), Don (#70), Wyvern (#71), Grasswyrm (#72), Bug (#74) Miscellaneous items: Dragoon Boots (rare Wyvern steal), Mythril Rod (rare Joker drop), Tiger Mask (rare Don steal) Welcome to what we like to call the Southern Continent. Vector in the middle, Albrook to the south, Tzen to the north, Maranda to the West, and an Imperial Observation Post seemingly built to protect a mountain range to the East. As is the tendency of games like the one we're talking about here, a new continent features new enemies that are stronger than the ones seen before. Preparation: Re-equipped Celes? Make sure you have Thief's Bracer on Locke, as the upcoming monsters might actually have something worth stealing. If any of the characters knows Float, cast it on the party. If not, have Gau (if present) Rage Hornet or a similar Rage that is Float-inducing. Monster formations: (Middle and West Grasslands) Grasswyrm, Grasswyrm, Grasswyrm (6/16) Don, Don (5/16) Don, Wyvern, Wyvern (5/16) (Southwest and East Grasslands) Don, Joker (5/16) Don, Wyvern, Wyvern (5/16) Joker, Joker, Joker (5/16) Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken (1/16) (Forest) Don, Wyvern, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken (10/16) Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken, Litwor Chicken (6/16) (Desert) Bug, Bug, Bug (5/16) Fossil Dragon, Bug, Bug, Bug (5/16) Fossil Dragon, Fossil Dragon (5/16) Bug, Bug, Bug, Bug, Bug, Bug (1/16) There's a plethora (expensive word: + 500 Exp.) of dangerous monsters around. Grasswyrms are entirely like Nettlehopper, only they're red. They're just as weak to Fire as their green brethren are, they're just as silly in their physical attacks and berserking attempts with their Special, and they're just as likely to find themselves in several flaming pieces on the cold earth before an even remotely long time. The Don is simple Attack/Special cannon fodder, only it's kinda sturdy and tends to take more than one attack to kill. Also, they have a rare Tiger Mask steal, a nice Helmet for Sabin and/or Gau that you probably want to swap for the Green Beret (but only for the sake of being able to; I'd still say the Green Beret is the better choice of the two). For a bit of trivia, their Anthology Bestiary mentions these dogs were created as a test of using Magitek power. But then again, the Bestiary is so full of shit I tend to ignore it despite the fact it's official Square statements. Jokers are bastards. They're floating, so they're immune to your strongest MT attack (Gau's Magnitude 8). If you allow them to take more than one turn, they start casting Acid Rain on the entire party, which you'll want to prevent. If they're alone, they start casting Thundara, which you will really want to prevent. Summoning Siren is a very good idea if you run into them, as doing so removes the threat of both spells. Noiseblaster also works well. Rarely, they will drop Mythril Rods. You didn't have those yet. If you were greedy, you'll have three different kinds of Rod already, and nobody can equip them. Beautiful. Wyvern are... NOT FLOATING. They have wings, and they are called 'wyvern', a word commonly reserved for flying serpents of death. They are in a flying position in their sprite, which was specifically designed to capture the very nature of the beast in one pose. Yet, not floating. It's a mockery of the concept of wing itself. Wyvern are monsters who will use Cyclonic when they're alone, a percentage-based attack that will remove 93.75 % of the targets current HP. And Cyclonic hits all characters. Don't let this happen. They have rare Dragoon Boots for any Lockes you might have in your party, which sell for a whole bunch of moola. Litwor Chicken are the silliest and potentially the most deadly of the monsters found on the continent. When they're alone, they cast Quake. Surely, they must've abandoned all hope of getting out of the battle alive, as it hurts them as well. Quake is a seriously powerful spell: an Earth-elemental, barrier-piercing spell that hits every target on screen as long as it isn't Floating. If you kept Cait Sith around long enough for any of your characters to learn Float, be sure to cast it if you are still touching the ground. Otherwise, they're weak to Ice and look silly. The desert houses Fossil Dragon, and you should be used to their presence by now. If not, Ctrl + F the thing. Bugs are also found circling their bodies. Bugs are annoying because they tend to go out with a BANG: a BANG of petrifying their killer. Only if they were killed by Attack, and only if they were alone, and only 33 % of the time, but still... Avoid it, as that's good. To sum it up: Have Locke try and steal from Don and Wyvern monsters, don't let Litwor Chicken or Wyvern alone, both are weak to Ice attacks, summon Siren when you meet Jokers (and Wyvern and Litwor Chicken if you're not feeling confident about your ability to take them out first. Siren stops Quake and Cyclonic as well) and don't do drugs. It's by no means mandatory or even very beneficial to visit the other three locations before going into Vector, but it doesn't hurt to do it in any way and it gives more back story to the game. It's up to you to decide if you'll want to do it. Here are the benefits of investing the time: The Imperial Observation Post near the Mountains. Eh...you get to fight monsters that have glands on their back that secrete Tents. A lot of them. You'll be fighting them anyway in the next serious dungeon. Tzen: Boomerangs for sale, a slight improvement over the Moonring Blade. Mythril Helms for sale, featureless helmet for everybody but Sabin. Black Belt Relics for sale. Maranda: Boomerangs for sale, a slight improvement over the Moonring Blade. Tridents for sale, a Water-elemental Spear. Mythril Helms for sale, featureless helmet for everybody but Sabin. Mythril Mail for sale, better armor for Cyan and Edgar. Free Remedy and Holy Water to find! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.30.3 The Imperial Observation Post ********************************** Opponents: Sergeant (#76), Proto Armor (#78), Mega Armor (#93) Monster formations: Walking soldiers: Sergeant, Sergeant, Sergeant, Sergeant (always) Armored soldiers: Mega Armor, Proto Armor (always) Yeah, it's called differently, but the name kinda reveals its purpose so we wouldn't want that yet. All you'll find here is a truly impenetrable Imperial Base, blocking access to whatever lies on the other side. You can fight the walking people here. The normal soldiers, regardless of color, will turn out to be four Sergeants, and the Armored soldier is a Proto Armor/Mega Armor combo. Note on the four Sergeants: this is an easily controllable battle where you don't really have to fear sudden KO's creeping up on you. The thing is, though, Sergeants have a Tent for common steal. So, you have the option of complete restoration after every battle if you steal one. I tend to linger a while. It builds my amount of Tents to about 20 and gains some sweet spells in the meantime. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.30.4 Tzen ********************************** Tzen is a small town. Used to be an independent town, a monarchy no less. The Empire has slaughtered the royal family, and Tzen is currently under even more Imperial watch than Albrook is. There...really isn't much to say about Tzen. The soldiers will be useless and passive as they were in Albrook, the citizens friendly and helpful. One will tell about an Imperial weapon called the Guardian, which can't move by itself but is extremely powerful. Oh well, we can always make a run for it should we come across it. Another man tells of a gate in the mountains to the East. The mountains were heavily guarded and impenetrable for you; could it be that the Empire is looking for something there? Weapon Shop: Air Knife 950 Moonring Blade 2500 Bastard Sword 3000 Boomerang 4500 The Weapon Shop offers nothing you can use other than the Boomerang. The Boomerang is a slightly better version of the Moonring Blade, so if you were using it I suggest you replace it. Armor Shop: Priest's Miter 3000 Mythril Helm 2000 Mythril Vest 1200 Ninja Gear 1100 White Dress 2200 The Armor Shop has Mythril equipment! However, you have plenty of Mythril Shields from Narshe, and you could've obtained enough Mythril Vests from Hell's Rider earlier. So, if you played smart so far, the only feature of meaning is the Mythril Helms. It has a slight defensive boost over the Green Beret and the Priest's Miter, but it isn't worth the loss of those two its special properties in my opinion. And it's flat-out worse than the Tiger Mask. Relic Shop: Earring 5000 Hermes Sandals 7000 Black Belt 5000 Amulet 5000 Nice Relics for sale in Tzen. The Amulet is the first store-bought item that protects you from the Zombie status. You'll need it later, but not now. All other Relics are filler relics. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Eye Drops 50 Green Cherry 150 Echo Screen 120 Holy Water 300 Phoenix Down 500 Tent 1200 You might want to grab a Chocobo in the hidden Chocobo Stable in the forest to the east of Tzen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.30.5 Maranda ********************************** Container contents: Holy Water, Remedy Maranda, Maranda... what do we know about Maranda? The last to fall against the Empire, it was general Celes Chere herself who led the attack to conquer the continent. It's still slightly trashed from the attack. Like Tzen, many of the city's young men were led to fight in the army of the Empire. The wounded man you found in Mobliz was one of them, and his darling Lola still lives here. Lola lives in a little house in Maranda, and if you'll speak to her, her response depends on your actions in Mobliz: Didn't help shit: My beloved hasn't replied to my letter... I'm sick with worry... Sent a letter: He wrote me back! He's all right... Oh, thank goodness... Sent the record: He sent me a record! I'm so happy! Sent the Potion: He sent a potion for Mother... He's so kind... Sent 2nd letter: He wrote me back! He's all right... Oh, thank goodness... Sent the book: He sent me the book he'd been reading! I've been reading a little bit every night before bed. I'll treasure it forever! If you sent an item, received her next request and DIDN'T respond to that letter, Lola will also say 'My beloved hasn't replied to my letter... I'm sick with worry...' Weapon Shop: Mythril Spear 800 Trident 1700 Venom Claws 2500 Bastard Sword 3000 Boomerang 4500 The Weapon Shop has three new weapons. The Trident, a Water-elemental Spear you might want to use later in the game, the mandatory Bastard Sword, and the Boomerang you could've found in Tzen. On the whole, buy a Trident and leave. Armor Shop: Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Mythril Helm 2000 Mythril Vest 1200 Mythril Mail 3500 The Armor Shop has Mythril Equipment as well, but they're a little better at it. There's only one feature of interest if you visited Tzen earlier: the Mythril Mail, heavy defensive equipment for Celes, Cyan, and Edgar. I wouldn't recommend it on Celes though, as the White Dress is only slightly less protective and gives a very nice Magic bonus. Finally, let's not forget about the fact this is the first time you see Green Berets in shops. It's not like you shouldn't be swamped in those buggers by now, but hey. Item Shop: Say what? This town doesn't have one! I believe that makes it the only town ever, ever, ever in this game. Crazy world. Let's not start on Zozo, as that's a dungeon rather than a town. If you want two free items, find the Holy Water in the bottom crate west of the south exit and find the Remedy in one of the two crates near the arguing couple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.1 Vector ********************************** Opponents: Sergeant (#76), Belzecue (#77), Proto Armor (#78), Guardian (-) Well, here you are, deep in the heart of the Empire. Vector is the capital of the Empire and houses its two most important structures: the Imperial Palace, home to Emperor Gestahl, general Leo Christophe, and general Kefka Palazzo, and the Imperial Magitek Research Facility, where the very source of Magic is somehow obtained under the eyes of master scientist Cid del Norte Marguez. There's a lot to do here. I'll discuss it feature by feature: In the part of town closer to the Imperial Palace (to the north), soldiers roam the streets. The normal troopers will be: Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant, Sergeant (3/4) Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant (1/4) The Armored troopers will be: Proto Armor, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (3/4) Proto Armor, Proto Armor (1/4) The Inn is not very trustworthy. The guy behind the counter looks like a Zozo bum, and sure enough, after he's offered you the room free, there's a 50 % chance he'll come and steal 1000 Gil during the night. If you don't have 1000 Gil you'll see the man sneak around in the night, but the '1000 Gil was stolen!' message won't pop up and no money will be lost. No, you're better off going to the slim house to the left of the Inn, where an old woman will ask you to pledge your allegiance to the Empire. If you do so, all will be fine. If you refuse, she will send two... Narshe Guards after you? After you have beaten them, she will offer you a free healing service every time you talk to her, much like a Recovery Spring. A less successful way of healing yourself is going over to the running kid, who was subject to one of Cid's experiments and now has the power to heal with the Cure spell. Sadly, he's not very good at it, and will be able to only heal 1 HP at the time. He can also 'heal' the dead without actually reviving them; the only chance in the game you'll be able to see a dead character with above-0 HP. The Weapon Shop and Armor Shop sell nothing you couldn't buy in Albrook. The inhabitants of Vector are, understandably, pro-Empire, but will provide you with information nonetheless. You learn that general Leo refused a Magitek infusion, where Kefka was Cid's first experiment, which supposedly turned him into the ranting fool he now is. Imperial soldiers on the higher regions of town will recognize you and engage in a fight. Every time you either win or run away, you'll find yourself on the southern edge of town again. If you managed to elude all the troops and you try to enter the Imperial Palace to the far north of the city, you'll be heard by an Imperial Soldier within the Palace, and you hide. If you walk away again, a member of the Imperial Special Force will send Guardian after you. Guardian is invulnerable in the true sense of the word. You can't damage him in any way, he's immune to any status effect including Invisible, you can't normally spin Joker's Death against him; you name it. He's the very model of a plot device that looks like an enemy: Can't go here, sonny. The only way out of this battle that doesn't include running yourself is using Confuse on somebody who is about to use a Smoke Bomb; the Smoke Bomb will target Guardian, and you cause Guardian to run away itself. This has the same effect as running away yourself, though. Weapon Shop: Kiku-Ichimonji 1200 Venom Claws 2500 Bastard Sword 3000 Sakura 3200 You shouldn't need anything here. If you haven't bought a Sakura blade yet, now's your chance. The Sakura was called the Sakurafubuki in the Japanese game; 'sakura' is cherry blossom' and 'fubuki' is blizzard. Elegant and graceful like the sakura, destructive and ruthless like a blizzard; the perfect ninja warrior. Note that the Sakura is Wind-elemental. Armor Shop: Twist Headband 1600 Priest's Miter 3000 Mythril Vest 1200 Ninja Gear 1100 White Dress 2200 This Armor Shop is exactly the same as the one in Albrook, so you shouldn't see anything new. Item Shop: Heh, yeah. No Item Shop here either, I guess Maranda wasn't all that unique. Now, make sure you're fully healed before you engage in the rescue mission of a lifetime. Monster formations: Facility Guards: Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant, Sergeant (3/4) Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant (1/4) Three soldiers guard the road to the Imperial Magitek Research Facility, and you can't just smack them around in broad daylight in the middle of Vector. Luckily, and old man standing behind some crates is a sympathizer of the Returners and offers you his assistance. While he pretends to throw up (great plan, sport), you sneak behind the soldiers' back on the metal rafters. Just walk into the crates and you'll jump onto them, automatically walking over to the other side of the human barrier. If you come too close near the soldiers now, a battle will be triggered (Sergeant and two Belzecue, or two Sergeants and two Belzecue) so try not to do that. If you want out, though, it's the only way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.2 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; Magitek Factory ********************************** Opponents: Onion Knight (#75), Sergeant (#76), Belzecue (#77), Proto Armor (#78) Container contents: Dragoon Boots, Ether, Flametongue, Golden Armor, Golden Helm, Golden Shield, Icebrand, Tent, Thunder Blade, Remedy, X-Potion, Zephyr Cloak Unbelievable. You managed to reach Vector and actually made it into the IMRF (Imperial Magitek Research Facility) itself. But you didn't think it would go unguarded, did you? The IMRF not only is the laboratory where Cid del Norte Marguez strolls ever onwards in the mysteries of magic, making the Empire both more dangerous and more despicable by the second; it's also the building where the Magitek Armors are created. Each machine is a nature-perverting hybrid of metal and magic, designed and infused for the sole reason to kill. You're walking into THE power source of the Empire. No, I don't think it will be unguarded at all. Preparation: Everybody in the Back Row. This is a theme-based dungeon, and the theme is "If ye can't top 200 Defense, you ain't no kinda man." If a physical attack isn't specifically barrier-piercing, it will be like butting your head against a wall to try to break it. So, Front Row is useless. Genji Glove is useless. A weapon's Attack is useless; if your Locke runs around with a Boomerang, you might as well switch it to a Thief's Knife as neither will do even a remotely impressive amount of damage but the Thief's Knife has added benefits for it. The same goes for Bastard swords, so if you have a Rune Blade granting you that extra 10 % Evasion, go for it. So yes, if it can't penetrate defenses and has a physical nature, you'll be hard-pressed to find a use for it. I think it might be wise to give a quick recap on what's useful here and what's not: Useful: Magic, especially Thunder and Thundara Summon attacks, which especially means Ramuh right now. Flash, Drill, Chainsaw Raging Fist, Meteor Strike, Aura Cannon, Rising Phoenix Fang, Sky, Tiger Rage-inflicted magical attacks, which besides Magic, includes Aspiran's Gigavolt, Anguiform's Aqua Breath, Guard Leader's Wind Slash and Hill Gigas' Magnitude 8. Not useful: Attack Auto Crossbow Flurry Rage-inflicted physical attacks, which include Specials such as !Cat Scratch. So yes, try to boost your magical attacks. Cyan will be especially boring and useless here, as Fang starts to definitely lack in power and is only ST. Locke, unless he can get in an acceptable shot, like casting Siren or a Thunder spell, should do nothing but Steal (wear a Thief's Bracer; Brigand's Glove is nigh useless) and use some Hi-Potions, if necessary. If you have a Gau around who can Rage Anguiform, you should just wait for him to use Aqua Breath and stall with Noiseblaster, Runic, Cure, and Steal, as he will end the battle when he attacks with it. If you're low-leveled, some Earrings might help. If you lack Gau and/or his Anguiform Rage but have the Figaro brothers, a Flash/Rising Phoenix combo with some Earrings behind it should end all. If you lack both, use some more sneaky tactics and attack to your best insight concerning the enemies. The ultimate way of dealing with enemies here is having a character with (1 or 2) Earrings, especially Celes, summon Ramuh for Judgment Bolt. Judgment Bolt will kill everything it touches, and it's not random like Gau's Aqua Breath. However, it will cost you 25 MP per summon, so unless you switch Ramuh around (which is a lot of trouble as it slows spell learning down) you'll have to use Ethers to keep it up. Monster formations: (First Room) Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant, Sergeant (6/16) Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant (5/16) Proto Armor, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (5/16) (Second Room) Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (6/16) Proto Armor, Proto Armor (5/16) Belzecue, Belzecue, Sergeant (5/16) The most common foe is the one you found earlier in the Imperial Observation Post and strolling the streets of Vector: Sergeant. Their most attractive feature is their common Tent Steal, and otherwise they're very straightforward. Cid programmed them with Program 65, which, when executed, will silence the target for the duration of the battle. Their set of elemental weaknesses is rather strange; humans tend to succumb to Poison where machines are more likely to have a problem with Lightning and Water. Maybe this and the fact that they're apparently programmed is a hint they are some kind of cyborgs? At any rate, normal cannon fodder you have to plow through. Sergeants are often accompanied by Belzecue dogs. They're canine versions of the Sergeant, really. Cid's program for them was Program 95, which ignites madness in the target, confusing them for the rest of the battle. Same weaknesses, same treatment. Don't worry too much about them confusing your Sabin when he is about to execute a Rising Phoenix Blitz; they will never use it unless they're alone, and you're bound to take them on with MT attacks anyway, right? The name 'Belzecue' is taken from Dante's Inferno, wherein Belzecue was a leading demon. The metallic vermin of the IMRF are the Onion Knight robots. They're small, have little HP, are kinda weak, and only attack in large numbers. To compensate for their lack in offensive power, Cid set them up to use Program 55, one that turns the target into the illustrious Imp creature that is incapable of doing anything that is more than a little unlike rolling over and dying. The Flash Tool alone will finish them off without a lot of trouble, let alone Rising Phoenix and Aqua Breath. The Empire is about to bring a new kind of Magitek Armor, but they have created nothing but prototypes for them yet; the Proto Armor is the pure chassis of the new model, but fully operational. Its powers over the standard Magitek Armor include, besides the standard electricity-based Magitek Laser, a missile support unit to fire off either a single Missile or go for the massive Launcher attack to attack multiple targets simultaneously, a blinding flash of light called Scintillation - also used by the Satellite - to blind the offensive party, and Cid's personal touch, Program 35, which by magical means fuels the body to deliver physical damage. To properly dispose of these tanks, Siren is massively useful to halt all magical attacks, should you not wish to wait for their demise before disabling them. Noiseblaster works too. Besides, Scintillation and Launcher, both more dangerous than Missile, will only be carried if the Proto Armor is either alone or has just been targeted by a Attack command, which was foolishness to begin with. You are now entering what the Bestiary gives as the Magitek Factory: the part of the building where the Magitek Armors are being created. What you'll want to do first is go all the way to the left, through a pipe, on a conveyer belt, to a chest that contains, oh sweetness, a Flametongue. It's a nice Fire- elemental sword that mildly boosts your Magic; give it to either Celes or Edgar (where Edgar probably has the slight preference as you'll be using him more). You'll notice a crane going back and forth. Face the crane, and when it's on your side, quickly jump onto it with the Action button to let it carry you across the gap. Over here, you'll see two pipes where the ends that are facing the gamer kinda look like eyes. You'll want to enter the right one first to obtain access to the chest - an Ether - before climbing back and allowing your party to climb down the left one. The stairs will drop you on another conveyer belt, which drops you off near a chest and another pipe. The pipe will take you back should you want it to (with an elevator! Oh, my!), but you probably won't. Grab the chest - X-Potion. The path downwards will get you exactly nowhere (you can't make that elevator go down to where you are), so get on the conveyer belt that takes you further into the factory. It delivers you to another chest! The Thunder Blade is waiting for you. If you had an Edgar or Celes left to equip it on, do so (there's really no point in switching it with the Flametongue, but if it pleases ye...). Move down a little and there'll be another chest. Such treasury! It's a Remedy. Get on the newly visible conveyer belt and don't forget about the chest you see on the way down; we'll be coming for it later. There's a slight break from the conveyer belt here. Continuing right on will simply get you to advance the dungeon, but you'll miss treasures! Rather nice ones, actually, although nothing can compare to blades of which the first one is on fire and the second one has electric currents running through it. To the bottom-left is the first accessible chest, which contains Dragoon Boots. Going up the ladder near it will get you (through a door) to the chest you passed earlier, which will contain a Golden Shield. It's also the way out if you still want to pussy out of the mission. Descending the stairs near the Dragoon Boots chest again, you'll want to go all the way to the right (just past a crane that has no use here) and all the way to the bottom, where you'll see a door leading to a chest containing a Golden Helm. Exit the door and go all the way to the right, where you'll see a small chamber of which only the inner wall is visible. Here, a chest is hidden with Golden Armor. Exit the room and walk up the stairs for the Tent in the chest. Hike back to the place where the conveyer belt dropped you off in this room, but don't continue just yet; go up the stairs above the conveyer belt. You'll meet plenty of crates here (with, as your sharp eye has probably noticed, the Imperial Logo on 'em). There's a hidden entrance to the right just below the fifth crate. If you're having trouble finding it, face the first crate you come across, take five steps down, all the way to the right, one step back. Go down a while and you'll see the hidden chamber with two chests; one the Icebrand sword, a blade made entirely out of never-melting ice and the Ice-elemental equivalent of the Flametongue and Thunder Blade, and the Zephyr Cloak, which boosts both Evasion stats by 10 % and introduces a spiffy cape animation when you block something with it to boot. If you're done, it doesn't matter if you hike back or continue down; if you go down, you'll fall out of the end, and a while later, appear at the end of a pipe close to the conveyer belt you were just thinking of continuing. Get on the conveyer belt and simply walk on until you meet a friendly face, by which I mean a certain kind of friend who would like to hit you in the abdomen with a rather large and heavy object and who would enjoy extra ice in his drinks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.3 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; The Pit ********************************** Opponents: Trapper (#79), Flan (#80), General (#81), Destroyer (#82), Lenergia (#83), Ifrit (#290), Shiva (#291), Number 024 (#292) Container contents: Stoneblade Miscellaneous items: Blood Sword (rare Number 024 steal), Flametongue (rare Number 024 drop), Icebrand (common Number 024 drop), Magicite Shard (rare Flan steal), Rune Blade (common Number 024 steal) Magicite: Bismarck, Carbuncle, Catoblepas, Ifrit, Maduin, Phantom, Shiva, Unicorn Kefka. You don't get to fight him or even confront him this time, and all he basically does is prove with his power-horny monologue what you already knew; the facility houses Espers, and magic is being drained from them. There's one thing that clings to you, or at least *should* cling to you, like one of those little corn skins between your teeth or barely noticeable migraine during your important exam; Kefka mentions reviving the Warring Triad, as if this would be of great value to him. What is this Warring Triad? Preparation: Nothing special, as the monsters, while changing, will also be annoyingly much like the ones you met earlier in their high regard of physical defense. Except for a tiny few, but hey, they're zeroes. Monster formations: Flan, Flan, Flan, Flan (10/16) Flan, Flan, Flan, Flan, Flan, Flan (6/16) Great Scott(y, 1920-2005), would the famous Cid del Norte Marguez wade through tiny metallic leprechauns, stumble over conveyer belts, and fly up on ascending cranes to his lab every single day? Remove the semi-futuristic crazy scientists' lab setting and he'd have to be Mary bloody Poppins, wouldn't he? But I digress. You made it past the factory...at least, it seems you did. Take a look around. You're standing in some kind of...death room. Skeletons everywhere, two lifeless Espers who you saw thrown down here. One could pick a nicer spot for a picnic. First, the layout. The blue Esper, Shiva, is blocking a door. She (the Anthology Bestiary at least confirmed she's female) won't respond to your calls. There's another door, leading to a small room with no purpose one could easily pinpoint (although there's a Save Point glowing on the ground). A hook provides you escape from the room...but all is not silent in the halls of the dead. The red Esper, Ifrit, stirs. And blue goop, all around you, appears to move by itself, splitting and sinking into the tiles. Flan are this game's incarnation of the Pudding, the Jello, the Blobra... they're in every game; semi-liquid monsters who are not particularly dangerous but are rather a pest to take on due to their extreme physical protection and oft-changing elemental weakness. FF VI Flan are entirely unlike their counterparts. FF VI Flan are immune to all the non-basic elements, and their defense is, well, pathetic. A Defense rating of 13. That's...just great. Take them out any ol'way you want, but take note; these monsters have had time to feast upon the 'useless' corpses of many Espers thrown here; they might have some Magicite Shards on them. In cooking, flan is a custard-like dessert originating from Spain, and is popular in former Spanish colonies such as Latin America, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. So there you go. Flan, by the way, appear in two kinds of group. The first is your average four-headed party. The second appears to be only a single Flan enemy, but when you kill it, two more will appear. If you kill those, three more will appear, until you've killed them. If you kill the first Flan or the last of the two Flan with Gau's Mu's Snare, you won't get any more Flan down your throat. Now, it's time to turn our attention to the two Espers here. Equip as many Reflect Rings as you have (obviously, one on every character is plenty) and face them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.4 The battle with Ifrit and Shiva ********************************** Shiva Level: 21, HP: 3000, MP: 500 Steal: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Nullify: Thunder, Poison, Wind, Holy, Earth and Water, Weakness: Fire Special: !Hit: attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Blizzard, Blizzara, Reflect, Snowstorm Ifrit Level: 21, HP: 3300, MP: 600 Steal: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Fire, Nullify: Thunder, Poison, Wind, Holy, Earth and Water, Weakness: Ice Special: !Hit: attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, Fire, Fira, Firaga, Blaze The battle against Ifrit and, if you allow it, Shiva, is not your classic battle of good vs. evil. Nay, two scared, dying members of an abused race turn like a dog in a corner on whoever comes near them. Ifrit, the fire Esper, and Shiva, the ice Esper...eternal counterparts. Ifrit, the fire Djinni. Next to a physical attack, he performs Fire and Fira spells and a deadly Blaze attack that ignores Reflect Rings and Runic blade alike. If provoked by three Magic spells from you, he will charge up for a massive Firaga attack, which you'll want to avoid at all costs if you're not fully protected from the spell by Reflect Ring, Celes' Runic, or Gau's possible inherent Fire-elemental absorption. Shiva, the Ice Queen, will come at you with the more basic Blizzard and Blizzara spells, on occasion switching on performing a nasty Snowstorm attack, which isn't as strong, but penetrates Reflect Rings and Runic. If damaged she can be quick to retort with an Blizzard spell, and when hit three times with a Magic spell herself she will cast a Reflect spell on one of your characters, which will send any Blizzard and Blizzara spell she will cast on you back at her, healing her. The trick here is to defeat one of them. If this happens, the Espers will realize they're not fighting someone coming for their death and they will sense Ramuh's soul near you. However, you can't just focus on one just like that, as you will only fight one at a time. Every time bit 3 reaches an amount of 5, they'll switch in for the other. The quickest approach may lie in taking Ifrit down before he can call on Shiva, but that may not always be possible. Bit 3 is incremented when: a) the Esper is damaged by any means b) the Magic skill is used on them Their Defenses are through the roof, much like most opponents you've faced so far. You know how to deal with that, although these magical beasts also take no damage from elemental magic unless it's their own element (which they'll absorb) or their weakness. So, you can forget about your Magic skill. If you're sure you won't be able to pull off a Blitzkrieg against Ifrit anyway, you might want to start the battle off with a Slow spell if you have it, else it's a wasted turn as it increments bit 3. Drill/Chainsaw does great damage, especially when backed up with a Gigas Glove. Celes can cast an Blizzard spell (Runic, with frequent counter-spells, doesn't work as well as you'd think and is entirely redundant if you are fully protected by Reflect Rings). Sabin can Raging Fist Ifrit and perform Rising Phoenix when Shiva's around. Locke has no business being a thief in this battle, and might as well grab the Icebrand against Ifrit (he might pull off the random Blizzard spell) and the Flametongue against Shiva (or plain cast the Fire spell if he knows it). Cyan's Fang is the only thing he CAN do with some success, useless cretin that he is. Gau's irresponsible nature makes him kind of a Janos in this battle. With other characters backing him up, the wisest course of action will probably be Zaghrem, as it's non-elemental, magical damage against both targets. Along with the violence, summoning Kirin to aid you throughout the battle and casting a lot of Cure spells is a probably a great idea as you may not have Reflect Rings here. The Runic blade, more often than not, catches a counter- Blizzard while letting the Blizzara spell slip by. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.5 Imperial Magitek Research Facility ********************************** When all is done, Ifrit and Shiva will realize their position and will offer themselves to you as Magicite. It's possible to leave the Magicite of Ifrit here and miss it forever; note that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to do so. I say you grab Shiva and Ifrit and equip them if you think their x 5 Blizzara and Fira spell learn rates look yummy to your tummy. Shiva's Rasp and Osmose spells do not hurt your cause at the slightest; Rasp is a great tactical spell, and Osmose simply means you won't need any MP-restoring potions anymore. Ever. Monster formations: (Stairs) Trapper, Trapper, Trapper (6/16) General, General (5/16) General, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (5/16) (Tube Room) Lenergia, Destroyer, Lenergia (6/16) Lenergia (5/16) Destroyer, Destroyer (5/16) Rather then using the crane to escape, I suggest you press on and open the door. On the other side are stairs. A whole mother lode of them. You'll find new enemies here, of which the most dangerous ones are the Trapper robots. Trapper robots care not for personal safety or any kind of intelligence or battle skill. They care for nothing; as robots, they are nihilists. They perform only three tasks: casting Lv. 3 Confuse, casting Lv. 4 Flare, and casting Lv. 5 Death. They are bitches if you let them be. The spells will do what you would have kind of guessed they did: Lv. 3 Confuse confuses any character whose level is divisible by 3, Lv. 4 Flare casts a Flare-like attack on every character whose level is divisible by 4, which means pure sonic death at this stage of the game, and Lv. 5 Death...well, it kills any character whose level is divisible by 5. If you find that all your characters are level 18, you might want to go back and steal some Magicite Shards from the Flan until you've collectively reached 19, and if your level is 15 or (especially) 20 you'll want to do this, as you'll never make it. To take care of Trappers with utmost efficiency, summon Ramuh or cast Thundara if you have it. If you brought Edgar, Noiseblaster works very well, and like you could expect, Gau's Anguiform- induced Aqua Breath kills them with death. Generals, finally, are mere humans. Their Defense is high but not sky-high, and they're normal and weak to Poison attacks. Unleash the new-found fury of Ifrit and Shiva if you want; they are unassuming compared to the enemies you've found so far. They have restorative powers in an actual spell they learned, Cura, but they won't make a lot of use out of it, as they're often being too dead to use it. Lenergia. Is it any surprise the Lenergia appears to be so weak, especially next to horned demons from the underworld? They're unassuming opponents you can take down any way you want, but know that when left alone, they start attacking with Shamshir attacks non-stop. It makes for a great MP-refiller for Celes, as it's basically a 20 MP gain every turn the Lenergia takes. The horned demons from the underworld I was talking about are called Destroyer. I hope I didn't get you all worried; stress is bad. And they're not that dangerous once you get to know them. They make silly physical swipes with their claws, and on occasion try to poison you with !Poison Strike, but it's not until their solitude arises they start showing their true colors, which are very, very, incompetent. When alone, the Destroyer tries to cast the overly cheap Reraise spell, the spell that grants an automatic revive of a fallen character right after he dies. Sadly, the spell takes 50 MP, and Destroyer only has 35. So sorry. Their incredible defense, one-hit KO protection, and Lightning-absorbing can make them tedious to take down; a combination of Flash and Rising Phoenix, not mentioning the trusted Aqua Breath, will get the job done. The room you enter after the Stairs of Seeming Infinity contain five vacant tubes; three to the top of the screen, two to the bottom. Hidden to the left of the bottom-left tube is a Stoneblade. The Stoneblade sadly lacks in special stat bonus properties, but makes up for it with having impressive Attack and a rather interesting randomly cast spell in Break, a petrifying move. At this point, if any of your characters stuck with Cait Sith long enough to learn Float, have him or her cast it on the party (this can be done outside of battle), as when you continue, you meet the... yes, what the hell is this guy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.6 The battle with Number 024 ********************************** Number 024 Level: 24, HP: 4777, MP: 777 Steal: Blood Sword (rare), Rune Blade (common); Win: Flametongue (rare), Icebrand (common) Special: !Overflow: sets Confuse Vulnerable to: Imp, Sleep Attacks: Attack, !Overflow, Fire, Fira, Blizzard, Blizzara, Thunder, Thundara, Libra, Cure, Cura, Aqua Breath, Sunbath, Cave In, Arctic Hare, Acid Rain, Fireball, Magnitude 8, Barrier Change, Reverse Polarity, Sonic Boom, Gale Cut On one hand, machines tend to have that crippling weakness to Lightning, or at the very least a Program ## move somewhere to dish out. This guy has neither. He uses spells and wields swords, so you'd almost assume he was a human if it hadn't been for a 'System error!' message he is able to produce in the middle of battle. A cyborg, then, like the Sergeant? We can only guess. Fact remains Number 024 is a darned interesting opponent that is no real challenge even if you forget about his status ailment weaknesses, but is so darn versatile we still love him anyway. The guy's main move is Barrier Change. Barrier Change shuffles all the elemental properties of the caster and picks one element to set as its weakness. Then, it sets one element as the element it absorbs. First effects: you'll never know what exactly your elemental attacks will do; 75 % chance they'll do nothing, 12.5 % chance they'll heal him, 12.5 % chance they'll do double damage. Conclusion: waste of time, think of alternative means of violence. But # 024 adapts his fighting style according to his weakness. Here are his moves: Weakness Fire = Blizzard, Blizzara Weakness Ice = Fire, Fira, Fireball Weakness Lightning = Aqua Breath, Acid Rain Weakness Poison = Cure, Cura Weakness Wind = Magnitude 8, Cave In (Here's where Float comes in handy) Weakness Holy = Attack, Reverse Polarity Weakness Earth = Sonic Boom, Gale Cut Weakness Water = Thunder, Thundara Here's what he'll do. He'll simply strike you physically for 30 seconds. Then, he'll do his first Barrier Change. If you manage to strike his weakness then (discover it with a Libra spell), he'll perform it again. Even if you just let him perform another 30 seconds of action, he'll perform another Barrier Change. After he has performed a Barrier Change for three times, he'll go haywire, even though you haven't destroyed him, reading 'System error', calling up Arctic Hares (the more successful branch of the Lagomorph family), enjoying Sunbaths, and finding his true self with the Libra spell. After 30 seconds of this, he'll snap out of it again, starting over as if he had cast his first Barrier Change of the battle. But you won't have to see all this madness. The Sleep spell, taught to you by Siren, works on the fiend, as does Cait Sith's Imp spell. Alone, they severely cripple him; together, they are an unstoppable force. Keep him sleeping and make sure you only cast Magic. If that blasted neutral Tapir shows up and awakens him, cast Sleep again as soon as possible. If Gau is among your forces, just have him relax. Try to steal with Locke; Rune Blade or Blood Sword, both are nice additions if nothing else. I'd especially go for the Blood Sword if you have any choice in the matter, as it's quite unique. In the end, # 024's Hit Points will run out, and he will die. Victory dance, coffee et thou. It seems this Number 024 was guarding the room where the remaining Espers are being subdued in their test tubes. We know that Ramuh, Kirin, Siren, and Cait Sith escaped, which might explain the empty test tubes we saw earlier. In this room, six Espers fuel the Empire's power. Meet Bismarck and Maduin, Unicorn and Catoblepas, and Phantom and Carbuncle. There's a lever over there. It's a fictional universe; I'll be damned if the most prominent button or lever in the room isn't at least slightly self-destructive. Use it. Watch the scene now. That moment was...disturbing in quite a few ways. First, before the eyes of Cid himself, we revealed the secret of Magicite, one that he apparently did not know yet. The Magicite handed itself to you, safe for the moment from the Empire, but only as long as you manage to stay out of their hands. And you're still in the heart of Vector. Then, Celes' true loyalty is questioned. We can assume she has sworn an oath or two, oaths not cheaply dismissed. Cyan, who has waged war with the Empire already and has shown more knowledge about Celes than anyone else, has never trusted her and almost carelessly dismisses the scene as an inevitable one: "Hmph. I knew she was not to be trusted!" Locke, whose bond with Celes has been the strongest so far, is not happy with the situation. Amidst it all, Kefka has made another appearance and shows the upper hand until Celes warps her, Kefka, and the Armored soldiers out of the room. This still proves nothing on the subject of her allegiance, by the way; it's reasonable to assume she just couldn't bear being the witness of their direct death. The Espers have ruptured their tubes, something they apparently could only do as Magicite, and spilled dangerous fluids. The IMRF shakes on its foundations. Time to save your own lives first and ponder important questions later. Join Cid on the elevator, and abandon the place. Note: In the Japanese game, Cid casually states that there are hundreds of Espers rather than the 26 you eventually obtain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.7 Imperial Magitek Research Facility; Mine Cart Ride ********************************** Opponents: Magna Roader (purple) (#84), Magna Roader (red) (#85), Number 128 (#293), Right Blade (#294), Left Blade (#295) Miscellaneous items: Kazekiri (rare Number 128 steal) Cid: Oh, what have I done...? There's no excuse for it, no matter how much Kefka may have threatened me... Cid: Draining the life energy from Espers just to make people stronger... Cid: You've helped me come to a decision. I'm going to talk to the emperor and make him realize how foolish this whole war is! I've always thought that Cid comes off very clean very quick in this game. Cid del Norte Marquez is a ruthless scientist who experimented on scientist beings in an attempt to remove their very life energy to the benefit of the Empire. Just because as a scientist he feels the war should be stopped doesn't he mean he feels even the slightest remorse at his actions per se; he regrets them being used for military purposes, apparently, but shows no regret on his glorious victories in the field of science. Preparation: Celes, the poor lass, was de-equipped upon her exit from your party. You'll want to keep everybody in the Back Row here and equip everyone to their best possible ability, as the next opponents will not have as much Defense as those you've seen just now. You've obtained six new Espers, and you can check them out if you want. There's NO WAY you'll learn new spells before the next boss, but their effects can be nice. I really, really suggest equipping Phantom, as his Ghostly Veil attack can turn the entire party invisible, which is a good thing against both the monsters and the boss you're about to face. When you arrive, you're bound to notice the Save Point waiting for you there. Cid plays another emo-card by declaring himself as the almost-daddy of Celes, and how sorry he feels her life was dedicated to warfare. Before he can go on, though, Kefka is heard close by, and Cid pushes you into a mine cart. Now, a warning about the upcoming scene: if you're on acid, don't do it. Mindfuck. I guarantee it. I'm not sure what the graphic designers were thinking here, but it can only be interpreted as one of those paintings of which close inspection only reveals rubbish, while standing away a long distance you'll suddenly notice it's a fish! Or a tree! Or even Jesus! At any rate, abstract gaming is not pleasant. I think it's supposed to be some kind of underground railroad from the perspective of a viewer in a speeding mine cart, but I'm not sure. Right now, you'll face five monster formations before the eventual boss, without time to heal or change equipment in between. These monster formations can either be: Fight #1 and #3: Magna Roader (purple) (75 %) Magna Roader (purple) Magna Roader (red) (25 %) Fight #2, #4 and #5: Magna Roader (purple) x2 (75 %) Magna Roader (red) x4 (25 %) For the SNES game, there was this elaborate explanation possible as to one could make sure to encounter red Magna Roaders. The specifics of the red Magna's in the Advance incarnation is not clear at all, but you shouldn't be worried as it's only relevant if you're a deadpan completionist or LLG-er. If you're one of those and are bummed out now, Save and try. Anyway: Purple Magna Roaders are big and weak. Red Magna Roaders are small and weaker. Purple Magna Roaders wield Fire and Fira spells, both horribly weak. Red Magna Roaders attack with Blizzard and Blizzara spells. Both monsters are cannon fodder with especially low amounts of Defense. Their spells are more annoying than dangerous (as they prevent you from summoning Phantom at the start of the five monster formations and gain invulnerability for the time being). Make sure you're fully prepared - or AS fully prepared as possible - when you leave the fifth monster formation behind you. The next battle will be unpleasantly like being difficult. Here's how to pull that off nice and professional-like. Step one: Silence the remaining opponent(s). Step two: summon Phantom. Note that Heal up with Potions and Hi-Potions until you're at full health. Smack the last Roader down. You're good to go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.31.8 The battle with Number 128 ********************************** Number 128 Level: 23, HP: 3276, MP: 810 Steal: Kazekiri (rare); Win: Tent (always) Absorbs: Ice Special: !Red Feast: Drains HP, attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Berserk, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Blood Feast, Blizzard, Haste, Net, Blaster, Atomic Rays, Shockwave, Gale Cut Left Blade Level: 22, HP: 700, MP: 470 Steal: Ether (rare); Win: Phoenix Down (common) Absorbs: Ice Special: !Slash: attack x 2 Vulnerable to: Petrify, KO, Doom, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Slash, Shamshir Right Blade Level: 21, HP: 400, MP: 150 Steal: Ether (rare); Win: Phoenix Down (common) Absorbs: Ice Special: !Rapier: attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Petrify, KO, Doom, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Rapier Number 128 is not so much a human with the cybernetic parts in him but a robot with flesh on it. I've only ever seen one thing that vaguely reminded me of it, and that was during a Hellraiser movie. You know, horror. To top it, he's stronger than anything you've ever encountered so far. There are three attacking parts here, and only three party members. The absolute worst part is the fact he carries a very rare sword on him, a sword that will remain useful throughout the entire game, of which only two exist; one in a chest you'll find two dungeons from now, one as a rare steal on this very opponent. It's by no means horrible if you don't obtain it, but it's really nice if you do. There are two blades. Left Blade and Right Blade. They're to the left and right of Number 128. Hence their name. They attack physically every round, and throw in a mean Special if you're in bad luck. If you kill them, they'll be back within 15 seconds. Left Blade knows Shamshir, which is especially dangerous as it reveals invisible characters. The main body is the worst, as you could imagine. Physical strikes more powerful than those of the blades, a Special that drains HP, the ability to cast the Blizzard spell, and cast a Net over a character. The latter two reveal invisible characters. But when both blades are killed, he gets really mean. He will cast Haste on himself to increase his amount of turns and starts using almost exclusively magical attacks. Gale Cut and Atomic Rays are both MT attacks, and Atomic Rays hurts quite a bundle. Shockwave is an attack you saw earlier on Dadaluma, and Blaster is its most dangerous move; while inaccurate, it will simply kill any character it does hit. If you are under the influence of Invisible, you get a Game Over. So here's the strategy if have Phantom at your disposal and/or have summoned him earlier: ignore the blades and try to focus on the main body. Locke should use Hi-Potions or Phoenix Downs when necessary, and spend all other turns trying to get that Kazekiri blade. He's a good character to cast Slow spells if he can use them; focus them on the blades to slow them down. Edgar is reliable and powerful with Drill or Chainsaw, but his brother not so much. If Sabin doesn't know the Thundara spell, I suggest Rising Phoenix. Eventually it will take out the blades, but Phantom gave us a head start at the very least, and you can always summon him again if you entered the battle while invisible. With Cyan, it's the same, only with Fang. If you obtain the Kazekiri for him, equip it and simply Attack the body. Gau can Rage Anguiform to be sure to hit the body every Aqua Breath, or Rage Aspiran if you're feeling lucky. Gigavolt is stronger, yet not always MT. A few tips remaining: - If (most of) your party is revealed and you can still summon Phantom, do so. Invisibility is definitely a positive status as long as you can keep at least one blade around at all times. - Counter his Haste spell with a Slow spell from your side when possible. - If you find yourself in the rare position of having Catoblepas equipped but not Phantom, summon the piglet Esper right away. There's a rather large chance he'll take out both blades in one go. Number 128 is one of the most dangerous opponents of the game given its relative setting, and if your luck is just really, really bad it's possible to die even if you're a rather experienced player, especially if you're trying to get the Kazekiri. A note about the common Phoenix Downs you get from the blades; you'll never get them. The blades will always ripple away, which is an action before they disappear. As such, you'll only make them disapppear, you never actually kill them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.32.1 Escaping Vector ********************************** Opponents: Onion Knight (#75), Sergeant (#76), Chaser (#86), Crane (#296), Crane (#297) Miscellaneous items: Debilitator (rare right Crane steal) Well, officially, the mission was a success. You penetrated the Imperial Magitek Research Facility. You didn't so much rescue the eight Espers you managed to find, but took their Magicite remains as per their request. Nobody on your side died. Cid is just a scientist, but his promise to try to persuade the Emperor is a glimmer of hope. Yet, the loss of Celes weighs heavily, and you're not out of Vector yet. Monster formations: Chaser, Trapper, Trapper, Trapper (5/16) Sergeant, Sergeant, Sergeant, Sergeant (5/16) Chaser, Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (5/16) Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight, Onion Knight (1/16) Preparation: Equip the Kazekiri on Cyan if you haven't already. You can once again go for a simply what's-best set-up, as neither impossibly high Defense nor insane flurries of physical attacks are present now. Summoning Bismarck will be very useful in the next boss battle (don't worry; it'll take a while before there's another boss fight after it), so you might want to equip it. The Flametongue and Thunder Blade should not stay equipped (go with Icebrand instead), and any Burning Fist should be swapped with Venom Claws. Your infiltration didn't go unnoticed, and you have Imperial forces chasing you down. The aptly named Chaser robot is one of them. Chaser robots rain death from above, so it's your task to, you know, kinda geyser death from below. Even from below, I think it's more of a raining motion, but I couldn't think of anything that rains upside-down. Unless you're in Australia. Heh. Back to Chaser robots. They're the last of Cid's protective metal golems you'll meet. Chaser robots can shoot Magitek Lasers and weaken opponents by use of Dischord (which halves their level, as I explained with Satellite, the palette swap). It can also attack with a Plasma attack, which is actually very powerful. Plasma is ST, luckily, so if one of your characters dies you can simply revive him. If you encounter them alone, their death will cause three Trappers to appear (unless you kill him with Gau's Mu Snare), and if you meet him with three Onion Knights already present, take him out first, as he will just continue to call more if you take them all down. Save at the Save Point if you want to. You can stroll into the Magitek Factory again here, but one of the pipes collapsed, so you can't go very far. The fact that even this part is shaking hints at the fact the entire building is going down; this was more than you could've hoped for. Simply run down the rails and you'll meet up with Setzer. The Empire was becoming paranoid, and the hustle and bustle in Vector alarmed him. He notices the lack of Celes, but understands the need to escape. The four of you rush out of Vector, freedom nigh. Not nigh enough. Kefka plays a last card in a final attempt to stop you from escaping. Cyan: Gah! What are those mechanical monstrosities!? Edgar: I don't like the looks of those things! Sabin: Whoa! What're those!? Gau: Uwao! Waou!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.32.2 The battle with the Cranes ********************************** Cranes. I don't know about the 'countries' you guys live in, but here in the Netherlands, cranes are not an uncommon sight if there's building going on. They tend not to attack us, though. These two attack in pairs, can use Magic, and can significantly screw you up if you're not careful. You have one character you couldn't equip beforehand: Setzer. I'll talk a bit about the Cranes. Setzer comes with the following equipment: Cards Mythril Shield - Mythril Vest That's pretty shitty. Fun fact: Setzer's not wearing a helmet because in the SNES and PSX releases of the game, he was wearing a Bandana, a piece of headgear he can't equip. He. Just. Can't. Anyway, if you want to know about Setzer's abilities, take a look at [SLOT-LINK]. There are two Cranes, and they're not completely the same. Crane (right one) Level: 24, HP: 2300, MP: 447 Steal: Debilitator (rare), Hi-Potion (common) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Lightning, Water Special: !Wrecking Ball: Attack x 2 Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, !Wrecking Ball, Fire, Fira, Firaga, Thundara, Magnitude 8, Magitek Barrier Crane (left one) Level: 23, HP: 1800, MP: 447 Steal: Noiseblaster (rare) Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Water Special: !Wrecking Ball: Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, !Wrecking Ball, Thunder, Thundara, Fira, Gigavolt, Magnitude 8, Magitek Barrier The right one is fire-based. It will attack physically and use the Fire and Fira spell. When hit by a Fire-elemental attack of any kind, it will charge, going through "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 1" to "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 2" and finally to "THERMAL REACTION LEVEL: 3 UNLEASHING THERMAL ENERGY" at which point it will target the entire party with a Firaga spell. When alone, it will boost its defenses with Magitek Barrier, which as you know, grants both Protect and Reflect, protecting it from Magic spells. After one minute of fighting, the message "The crane shakes the deck!" will appear and the Crane will perform a Magnitude 8 attack. Finally, every third time it has been damaged, it will perform a Thundara spell on the other Crane, charging it. It has a rare Debilitator steal that you might want; it's another Tool for Edgar. The left one is pretty much the same, only lightning-based. From "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 1" it will pass through "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 2" and "ELECTRIFICATION LEVEL: 3 Electrical energy unleashed!" performing an MT Giga Volt attack. All other features are the same, only it will cast a Fira spell on the other crane every third time it has been damaged. If you brought Gau and he knows how to perform the Anguiform Rage, you're in luck, as the Aqua Breath attack is incredibly powerful in this battle, up to the point where an Earrings-boosted Aqua Breath will probably kill one Crane in one hit. Do NOT let him enter a Rage that performs either Fire or Lightning based attacks, and don't let him enter a Rage with a special attack that is Reflectable. Locke can do little here but try to Steal the Debilitator from the right Crane. Focus on one Crane at the time where possible. Drill/Chainsaw and Aura Cannon are songs often sung right now, and Cyan can enjoy his Kazekiri Knife. Setzer is easily the weakest link at this point, lacking in proper equipment. Just try to nail a diamond or Chocobo on your first spin; that will make for the most consistent damage output. The Cranes are not as hard as Number 128 was, and you're bound to gain the upper hand if you don't make any mistakes. Now, it's time to fly to Zozo. Let's see what Terra has been doing in the meantime; with Celes gone, we need Terra to fill the role of ex-Imperial magic woman. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.33.1 Zozo; Terra's flashback ********************************** When you arrive in the sanctuary Ramuh prepared for Terra, one of the pieces of Magicite you took from the Imperial Factory starts to glow, much like Valigarmanda did when it and Terra crossed paths. It's Maduin, and he inspires a memory in Terra... As Maduin, you relive the history of Terra's birth. Maduin is the Gate Keeper of the Esper world, whose job is to make sure whatever needs to stay out stays out. A youthful Esper, alarms you there's something going on (the alpha version of this document stated this was Yura. While I still believe this is accurate, it's never stated so I won't do so here). The gate is near Maduin's cave, to the north. The strong winds of the day have already alarmed the Elder of the Esper World, who has explained them as an ill omen. Walking around the Esper World gives you the following responses from the ancient Espers: Hey, Maduin! How have you been? Good evening, Maduin! Is it your turn to watch the gate, Maduin? This is one nasty storm...Be careful, Maduin There's an ominous air about this evening... (the Elder) When you reach the gate, you see a collapsed girl - a human girl. Choosing to let her lay there simply won't continue the plot, so take her with you. After she has been installed in her bed to rest, the Elder has come to see her. The Espers are not happy about her arrival; humans and Espers don't mix. While the day has cleared, the moods of the Espers have not. Walking around the Esper World gives you the following responses from the ancient Espers: Everyone is worried... The barrier between our worlds must've weakened over the past millennium. I heard there's a human girl in the village! Do you have any idea what you've done? For centuries, no human has wandered into our world. Why has this happened now, after all these years? We ought to kill it right away. Humans and Espers are incompatible... (The Youth, standing guard near the gate) Elder's orders...no one passes through the gate. Talking to the girl will wake her up. Her name is Madeline. Maduin gives her a pendant for no apparent reason, perhaps as a gift of good will. Terra carried a Pendant when she invaded Narshe, and kept it with her ever since... When Maduin wakes up, he quickly notices Madeline is gone. The Elder is waiting outside, concerned about the situation, and while outside one Esper laments on the worst possible scenario ("If the humans learned of our powers and decided to try to make use of them... That would be a terrible thing indeed."), another one saw Madeline go to the gate. Try to catch up with her. Apparently, she slipped by the guard, as he has no idea what's going on. In a declaration of love that is more sudden than the infamous Neo/Trinity thing from the Matrix, Madeline decides to stay behind with Maduin. They have a baby, and it is Terra. Two years later, the same winds of ill fate howl through the Esper World, and the Empire marches in. They beat up and take several Espers. Amidst the chaos, Madeline takes her chance and tries to escape with Terra. It seems she could not live in the Esper World as much as she wanted. When Maduin tries to catch up with her, tragedy ensues...Terra is taken by the Empire, Madeline is killed by the Emperor, and Maduin's fate is sealed to suffer in the heart of the Empire at the hands of Cid. When Terra wakes up, it's time to go. Regrouping is done. Time for action. From this point on, Terra finally gains access to a second skill: Morph. Learn all about it here: [MORPH-LINK] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.1 Airship Exploitation: Seraph ********************************** Magicite: Seraph We're free to do what we want now. This is the glorious moment I cherish in all the Final Fantasy games I've ever played; first time on the airship. The Blackjack is waiting for your instructions. Nothing is off-limits. Well, except for Vector. Guardian is waiting for your arrival, and there's no way to gain entry to Vector now. Joker Death, due to a bug explained in [SLOT-LINK] can be used against Guardian to gain 'victory', but it'll still be there afterwards, simply triggering another battle. In Tzen, a crook is hiding in the trees next to the Relic shop. During your mission in the Imperial Magitek Research Facility, this guy managed to sneak out a piece of Magicite, and he's offering to sell it to you now. 3000 Gil is not a lot of money, and even though the Esper Seraph doesn't teach you any spells you couldn't have obtained from other Espers, her learning rates are much more user-friendly. Seraph is far and above the best White Magic Esper you'll get for quite a while. You can wait until after a certain point of the story at which point he'll offer you the 'stone' for only 10 Gil (With the world falling apart like it is, I guess it doesn't do me much good to hold on to this glowing stone...). I advise just buying it right now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.2 Airship Exploitation: Auction House: Golem and Zona Seeker ********************************** Magicite: Golem, Zona Seeker In Jidoor, the Auction House is finally open. It's not so much the bidding here that's annoying. You'll be asked two times if you want to over the current prize; if you say no, you don't get the item, if you say yes two times, you get the item. It's just that there are two items right now you want: two pieces of Magicite. Golem and Zona Seeker are waiting for your capable hands. Here's how the Auction House works. There's a 50 % chance the item up for bidding is "a gorgeous pair of" Angel Wings, a Relic that gives you the automatic ability to Float. If it's not, we continue. Then, there's a 50 % chance it's a walking, talking Chocobo. You can never buy this 'item' no matter how much you pay, as the father will always buy it. But if this item isn't the Chocobo, we continue. Then, there's a 50 % chance it's the Golem Magicite! Nice. Try to buy it. If you already bought it earlier, or the item isn't Golem, we continue. Then, there's a 50 % chance it's the Zona Seeker Magicite. Good. If you already bought this item, or if it still isn't this item, we continue. If it's none of the above, it's an Angel Ring. Period. So in the end, if you haven't bought any of the pieces of Magicite yet, the odds will be as following: Angel Wings 50 % Chocobo 25 % The Magicite Golem 12.5 % The Magicite Zona Seeker 6.25 % Angel Ring 6.25 % If you bought Golem: Angel Wings 50 % Chocobo 25 % The Magicite Zona Seeker 12.5 % Angel Ring 12.5 % If you bought Zona Seeker: Angel Wings 50 % Chocobo 25 % The Magicite Golem 12.5 % Angel Ring 12.5 % If you bought both: Angel Wings 50 % Chocobo 25 % Angel Ring 25 % Don't worry; if another person buys a piece of Magicite, it will have a chance of appearing next time you pay the Auction House a visit. Prices are as follows: Angel Wings 10000 Gil The Magicite Golem 20000 Gil The Magicite Zona Seeker 10000 Gil Angel Ring 20000 Gil If you don't have enough money, fly the Blackjack to an area where Fossil Dragon monsters appear; they give great amounts of money and you should be able to handle them pretty easily by now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.3 Airship Exploitation: Locating Grenade ********************************** Opponents: Bomb (#45), Grenade (#73) Monster formations: Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb (10/16) Bomb (5/16) Grenade (1/16) In the large forest west of the Veldt, only Bombs seem to appear. There is a rare chance you'll encounter a Grenade, though. Fighting one gets you nothing, but if you want a complete Rage list and/or Beastiary, you'd better have met one, as you will never come across one by following the story only. Note that the Grenade will possibly appear in a boss battle in the future, where it can get a Bestiary entry but never a Rage possibility. I suggest you bring Edgar, as he has brilliant means of taking them all out in one shot, and at least one character with Cure and/or Cura, as no matter how repetitive Blaze will seem in a while, it still hurts. Grenade enemies have 3000 HP, but very poor Defense and Magic Defense. Target them with Ice-elemental attacks and just whatever you have. One-hit KO attacks work well, though he is immune to Petrify. If you use Attack on him, he can use Self-Destruct on you, which is likely to kill the initial attacker, so try to avoid it. If he uses !Mesmerize, you have little choice in the matter unless you manage to use Dispel before the situation gets too serious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Gaia Gear ********************************** Opponents: Briareus (#94), Devourer (#95), Chimera (#96) Miscellaneous items: Gaia Gear (rare Briareus steal), Golden Armor (rare Chimera drop) Monster formations: (Grasslands) Devourer, Briareus (6/16) Briareus (5/16) Briareus, Briareus (5/16) (Forest) Devourer, Devourer, Devourer (6/16) Chimera (5/16) Chimera, Devourer, Devourer (5/16) On the continent to the east of the Veldt, there are three new monsters: Briareus and Devourer on the grasslands and Devourer and Chimera in the forest. I'll tell you how to deal with them when you actually need to go there. Ctrl + F their name if you're feeling uneasy. The Briareus have a rare Gaia Gear you can steal from them, and there's nothing in the Common slot, so you can just keep trying. Chimera drop the alternate nice armor, the Gold Armor, for your Edgars and Cyans. Gaia Gear especially will be VERY nice to have at the next dungeon, and this is the only way of obtaining it. To the north of this continent is the town of Thamasa. The Inn charges outrageous fees, the Weapon and Armor Shop will refuse to help you (we reserve the right to deny service blah blah), and you aren't getting anything out of anybody; info, items, nothing. We'll come back here someday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.5 Airship Exploitation: Intangir ********************************** Opponents: Leaf Bunny (#7), Darkwind (#8), Intangir (#97) Miscellaneous items: Magicite Shard (rare Intangir steal) Monster formations: (Grasslands) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (6/16) Leaf Bunny (5/16) Intangir (5/16) (Forest) Intangir (6/16) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind, Darkwind (5/16) Leaf Bunny, Leaf Bunny, Darkwind (5/16) On the small triangle-shaped island to the northeast of the World Map, you'll find lots of Leaf Bunnies and Darkwind enemies. However, you'll also find Intangir monsters. Intangir are massively powerful, absorb all elements, and are invisible. They confuse a lot of first-time players. When you damage them, they retaliate with an (enemy) Meteor attack, which is likely to actually kill anybody it hits, as it will damage for over 900 HP. Though previous versions of the game allowed you to kill Intangir easily with that shadiest of all tactics, Vanish/Death, the current versions rightfully keeps you from doing so. The only ways to kill an Intangir now are to either keep it continuously subdued with Stop or use Joker's Death against it. As for damage output while the Intangir is stopped, here's what to do. Since his Defenses are very good and he absorbs all elements, good choices against Intangir are Edgar (Drill), Sabin (Meteor Strike) and Cyan (Fang). Later in the game, should you want to return for extra-hard MP grinding, Relm's Sketch results into a 75 % shot at Traveler, which is also a powerful attack to use against Intangir, but keep in mind that Sketch always misses monsters under the effects of Invisible. Strago can just use it from the Lore menu, obviously. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.6 Airship Exploitation: Veldt hunting ********************************** It's a great time for the hunting down of some new Rages. You have a whole set of new spells to learn, Espers to use, monsters to see...have fun. Great new Rages include: Anguiform Aqua Breath inherent Darkness Aspiran Gigavolt inherent Float Rock Wasp !Sleep Stinger inherent Float Veil Dancer Blizzara Gobbledygook Vanish Hill Gigas Magnitude 8 Litwor Chicken Quake Chimera Aqua Breath lots of status immunities, one-hit KO protection General Cura inherent Protect Magna Roader Bio inherent Haste Destroyer Reraise inherent Protect, one-hit KO protection Briareus Cyclonic Intangir Transfusion inherenst Invisible, Protect, Shell, Haste, Regen and Float, but you'll have to keep it from using the self-destructive Transfusion attack with Silence before Gau initializes the Rage Golden oldies: Darkwind Break inherent Float Trillium Bio absorbs Water Alacran !Numb (Stop) Spritzer Blaze absorbs Lightning, inherent Float, Undead Oversoul W. o' the Wisp absorbs Poison, Undead Stray Cat !Cat Scratch Guard Leader Wind Slash Lesser Lopros Fireball inherent Float Mu Snare Templar Fira inherent Protect Cloud Thundara one-hit KO protection Satellite Sonic Boom inherent Float, one-hit KO protection Bomb Blaze absorbs Fire, inherent Float ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.34.7 Intermezzo; Espers 101 ********************************** Finally, now that you have all the Espers you'll have for quite some time, I'll give some pointers on how to wisely handle Espers: At first, it's important to note that there are basically two kinds of people when it comes to Magicite. There are the characters that need Espers to teach them the valuable spells to damage opponents with, and the characters that can damage just fine on their own and would rather benefit from supportive spells. Terra, Locke, Celes, and Relm are all characters that, in the World of Balance, will have a hard time comparing themselves to the other characters in terms of damage as long as you haven't made sure that they know a level 2 spell or Bio. They need it to survive. For this purpose, it's useful to teach them at least one level 2 spell as soon as possible (Ifrit and Shiva excel at this), and then bring in a supportive Esper for this newly found magic nature (Zona Seeker or Shiva, both teach the Osmose spell, while Rasp too is nice to have on them). You can expand the pool of options to another level 2 spell or perhaps even more of them, but as soon as you have two, it would be wise to start thinking of tacking on Seraph, Golem, or Unicorn, as Cura is a nice asset to any character, and these characters are definitely making use of Earrings anyway (unless you have made gross errors). The characters who don't depend on damage from the spells can, if they want to, take one or more level 2 spells from Espers, but will generally find that their special skill surpasses the Magic spell in almost every way (no MP cost, stronger, that kind of thing). The major exceptions to this rule are Gau, Mog, and Setzer, who could use at least one strong magical attack that always hits and isn't bothered by a factor of randomness. So, these guys will want to focus on supportive Espers. Siren teaches three spells that are all very useful to have around at all times, as does Phantom (granted, Gravity sucks, but both Vanish and Berserk can be tactically brilliant...especially when combined). At some points in the game, the possession of Break and/or Death spells can really save you a lot of trouble, so Catoblepas is definitely a consideration if you're done with Siren and Phantom. Golem is good on everybody as Cura, like I said, is always an asset, while Stop especially can be a great spell for everybody. Cait Sith is not as good as its fellow starters, but while Imp and especially Float can take a while to learn and the very nature of Confuse makes you want to ridicule it, Float can be damned handy to have around as preparation for a dungeon with Earth- elemental creatures, and Imp can disable quite a few dangerous enemies. All other Espers - Bismarck, Kirin, Carbuncle - their summons can be useful in some situations, but their spells don't specifically merit any interest, so I'd say you should mainly use them if you have a character who's already filled with good spells and you are in need of a rogue Float caster. I've yet to find a specific use for the Reflect spell as long as Carbuncle's MT Ruby Light and Reflect Rings exist, Bismarck teaches subpar spells at insane learning rates, and Kirin just kinda fails at anything other than being summoned. One last piece of advice: a lot of people are looking to learn Magic without gaining levels. The two best places to gain Magic AP without Experience are the Veldt and Triangle Island, where the Intangir roam. Triangle Island is more efficient, but if you're using Gau there's a large advantage involved when walking on the Veldt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.35.1 Allied Narshe ********************************** Miscellaneous items: Gold Hairpin (Lone Wolf) Well, it's Narshe again. The first time Terra came here, she was violently pulled out of the clutches of the Empire. The second time, she was again touched by Valigarmanda and lost control of her self. Narshe has not been a good city to Terra at all; let's hope it has some good news this time. And so it appears! Narshe, ever-doubting about their role in the war, has finally decided to stand with the Returners against the Empire. A plan is revealed wherein Narshe and Figaro team up to make for war. But the Empire, even without the ever-increasing number of Magitek Armors, is a force far greater then Narshe and Figaro combined. The gate needs to be opened; the Espers need to be contacted. Surely, they would be willing to aid against those who have wronged their species so much. Terra is the necessary link; a new mission is given. Narshe is once again bustling with activity! New weapons and equipment are being sold in the stores for the upcoming war. Weapon Shop: Poison Rod 1500 Trident 1700 Boomerang 4500 Morning Star 5000 Hawkeye 6000 Sakura 3200 In the Weapon Shop, there's a new kind of Rod: the Poison Rod. You can let it rest for now. The Morning Star is a Back Row weapon for Celes and Terra, simply an upgraded version of the Chain Flail. Make sure to get one. The most interesting sell here is the Hawkeye for Locke. The Hawkeye has a 50 % chance of doing 1.5 damage (no visual effect) to non-Floating enemies and 3 times as much damage against Floating enemies (it will appear to be thrown). Very nice. Buy one, or two if you feel you want to use Locke and the Genji Glove together. Armor Shop: Golden Shield 2500 Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Mythril Helm 2000 Tiara 3000 Golden Helm 4000 Mythril Mail 3500 Power Sash 5000 The Armor Shop sells new equipment as well. Golden Shields and Golden Helms for the heavy-equippers (you still have to get Golden Armors from the Chimera if you want them), a Tiara for Terra (the first actual helmet I'll simply recommend over the Green Beret), and Power Sash for those guys whose name isn't Edgar or Setzer. Relic Shop: Earring 5000 Sniper Eye 3000 Hermes Sandals 7000 Reflect Ring 6000 Black Belt 5000 Nothing new here, but if you feel like you could use some of the above, don't hesitate. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Phoenix Down 500 Green Cherry 150 Tent 1200 Flame Scroll 500 Water Scroll 500 Lightning Scroll 500 There's nothing remarkable here other than the fact this is the first town that sells Shadow's scrolls when he isn't a possible party member. Except for Albrook. Isn't that a weird notion to make, then? Yes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.35.2 Lone Wolf persecution and recruiting Mog ********************************** But this isn't all. One odd character has chosen to take advantage of the situation of Narshe: Lone Wolf, the infamous thief, has paid a visit. Lone Wolf is a character from FF V, and if not, at least so similar to him there's bound to be a conscious running theme here. FF V's Lone Wolf was a thief locked up in a dungeon in some castle. He looked like a humanoid wolf. A werewolf, as they appeared more in the game, though Lone Wolf has no obvious connection to them and it's even possible it's just a guy with a mask. You had the option of releasing him, but he would just take three treasures you would then be unable to obtain later in the game. The old man who gave you his treasures earlier (remember, the house with the Thief's Knife and Thief's Bracer in it?) worries about the treasure he didn't give you; the locked chest. If you are kind enough to take a look for him, you'll just see Lone Wolf running off with its contents. Never mind Lone Wolf's name is "Wolfram von Stibitz" (Stibitz = pilfer) in the German translation, this is serious business you guys. Follow Lone Wolf to retrieve the treasure! He escapes to the mines. The path is straightforward. On occasion, you'll see Lone Wolf running from you. And eventually, you'll have him cornered, but the situation is looking grim, as Lone Wolf has taken a Moogle hostage. If you try to approach, Lone Wolf will threaten to kill the Moogle. Sweaty mongoloids whose basic garment consist entirely out of underpants will tell you that you can recruit Mog by trying to walk over to Lone Wolf over and over and over until you loose patience and spam message boards, but this is humbug. The trick here is to simply stand still at the spot you automatically back away to. After a while, the Moogle will be able to free itself, and in the struggle that ensues, both are thrown over a side of the cliff. Will you help the Moogle, or will you try to obtain the treasure you initially came for? The treasure is a Gold Hairpin, a Relic that cuts your MP usage in half. It's a Relic I only find useful when playing a Low Level Game, as you will be able to cast spells you otherwise don't have the MP for. One additional consideration is that when Mog joins now, he will join with 5 levels higher than your party average. This advantage will likely get smoothed over thoughout the game. If you ignore him here and recruit him at a later date, he will have that five- level lead at that later stage. On the other hand, there is one Mog's Dances that can only be acquired when you recruit him now. In a normal game, the better (and morally superior) choice is helping the Moogle. The Moogle is an old acquaintance of yours, the leader of the gang of Moogles who helped Locke save Terra. To top that, he appears to be able to talk, something no other Moogle can do. Apparently was contacted by Ramuh at a time and was told to join your cause. He joins your cause, and runs off to your airship. Mog is the unofficial mascot of this game, and everybody thinks he's bloody adorable. Myself, I just appreciate him as one of the strongest characters the game has to offer. Right now, his main power lies in his special ability, Dance, with which he summons awesome power from the very terrain around him and the animals that live there to put the hurt on your enemies. Let's go collect Dances for him, and on the way, I'll explain how Mog works. [DANCE-LINK] Wasn't that easy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.35.3 Dance lessons, including Water Harmony ********************************** Go to the Blackjack and change your party so it includes Mog. You'll notice his level is very high: 5 levels higher, in fact. Equip him (you'll see he uses Lances, mostly) and head out to the open sky. - Land in front of Narshe and fight some Leaf Bunnies on the grasslands to make him learn the Wind Rhapsody. Stride into the forest for the Forest Nocturne and enter the desert for the Desert Lullaby. - Now, get back on the Blackjack and fly to South Figaro where you can climb Mt. Koltz. On the slopes, Mog will learn the Earth Blues (possibly the most universally useful Dance). If you didn't pick up the Twilight Requiem while protecting Terra earlier, you can head in one of the caves to learn it. - Fly the Blackjack to Zozo and fight a battle there; the Love Serenade will be Mog's. - The Dance that is the hardest to obtain, and the only actually missable Dance in the game, is the Water Harmony. There are currently two places where Mog can learn it: on the Lethe River and in the Serpent Trench. Both take you along a one-way route to a radically different place. A while from now, there's a single boss battle which takes place underwater (GBA version only!) where you can bring Mog to learn the Water Harmony. I suggest you learn the Dance now. Here's the quickest way: Land in front of Baren Falls, and leap down the raging waters. Don't worry, there won't be any Opinicus Fish to worry about this time. Walk across the Veldt and enter Crescent Moutain. Jump in the Serpent Trench to re-appear in Nikeah. Grab a Chocobo in the local Stable (to the north) and ride the big bird all the way to Baren Falls again. Now, you've gained 6 or 7 out of 8 Dances in very little time; that's a 75 or 87.5% increase right there! That's more than Cyan can say; he probably has gained about one Bushido since you recruited him, lazy hobo that he is. We've concluded Mog's training. Let's see if we can advance the plot now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.36.1 Cave to the Sealed Gate ********************************** Opponents: Outcast (#87), Provoker (#88), Zombie Dragon (#89), Antares (#90), Lich (#91), Ninja (#112), Kefka (-) Container contents: Assassin's Dagger, Elixir, Genji Glove, Heiji's Jitte, Hi-Ether x3, Magicite Shard x3, Kazekiri, Tent, Ultima Weapon, X-Potion Miscellaneous items: 293 Gil (hidden), Amulet (rare Outcast steal), Angel Wings (rare Ninja steal), Fuma Shuriken (rare Ninja drop), Invisibility Scroll (hidden), Remedy (hidden), Water Scroll (hidden) The Empire has abducted several Espers about 20 years ago, and kept an Imperial Base around to guard the Sealed Gate. The Espers sealed it from the inside, so there's no way for the Empire to actually get in. But you have to try for the Returners. So now it's your mission to sneak through this Imperial Observation Post and pass through the cave to reach the Sealed Gate and...Yeah, do what exactly? Terra seems like the most likely way of getting contact. Let's see what we can do when we get there. Preparation: First: Once again, I want to stress how nice it is if you collect four sets of Gaia Gear, which you can rarely Steal from Briareus on the grassland of the continent East of the Veldt. Thank you for your patience! Now, Relics are important in the first few parts of this dungeon. One of the enemies can cast Fire, Fira and Firaga (!) so Reflect Rings are very handy, especially since Firaga is really powerful and could kill you. Peace Rings/ Ribbons are great to equip against this very same enemy's Confuse-setting Special. You can buy additional Peace Rings and Wall Rings in Albrook if you so desire. Time to choose a new four-headed party out of your eight-headed available party! Mog is the most powerful party member at this point; those five extra levels don't hurt his cause, and his Water Harmony Dance cleans house like nothing before in the next dungeon. El Niño equals death to the most common and most dangerous enemy. A much surer way of making fatal hits is giving Dragoon Boots to Mog and equipping a Trident. Sabin is another great choice; go for either a Genji Glove and two Kaiser Knuckles or an Earring and Aura Cannon spamming. Edgar's Chainsaw with a Gigas Glove is another great asset to your team. Terra is a mandatory character, so there's little to choose there (although she is very weak at this point). Cyan, Kazekiri or not, is simply strategically unfit for the next dungeon. Gau is great if he knows Anguiform or Chimera Rages, but not quite as good as the other characters. Setzer's Slot is too unreliable at this moment, and he needs to pull something like Dive Bomb or Mega Flare out of his *cough* nose to finish off Outcasts, so he's a bad choice. Locke, finally, is simply too weak without heavy Relic-boosting. He can, however, steal many Phoenix Downs from Zombie Dragons, and rare Amulets from Outcasts. In Terra's case, I'd especially advise you to allow her to have some private moments with Shiva, as that's the fastest route to a powerful spell that isn't Bio or Fira (both are useless in the upcoming dungeon). If you have Gaia Gear, equip it. If you have four sets of it, I suggest you swap Edgar out of the party - he can't equip it - and replace him with Gau (or one of the others; it really doesn't matter that much as long as it isn't Cyan, as he can't equip it either). Monster formations: (First cave) Lich, Lich, Lich (6/16) Provoker, Provoker (5/16) Lich, Provoker, Antares (5/16) (Basement 1) Outcast, Outcast, Outcast (6/16) Provoker, Provoker (5/16) Provoker, Provoker, Lich, Lich (5/16) (Basement 2) Antares, Antares, Antares (6/16) Zombie Dragon (5/16) Zombie Dragon, Outcast, Outcast (5/16) (Basement 3) Outcast, Outcast Outcast (6/16) Zombie Dragon, Zombie Dragon (5/16) Zombie Dragon, Outcast, Outcast (5/16) You need Terra for this mission. As your party leader will point out if you try to enter without her: "The Espers wouldn't give us the time of day without Terra... We'd better bring her along." Terra, in the meantime, isn't a happy camper. She needs some support, as when she enters the Imperial Camp by herself she'll go: "...I know I can do this, but still... I really don't want to go there all alone..." and will refuse to continue. First three rooms are partly filled with monsters you won't find in the rest of the dungeon: Provoker, Antares, and Lich. Provokers are nasty upgrades of your average Angel Whisper. They absorb Fire- elemental attacks, and have a one-third chance of countering any attack that damages them with Imp Song. Sadly, Siren stands helpless against them, so you'll just have to try to kill them in one hit. Aura Cannon, Chainsaw, Blizzara, double Kaiser, all works great. Antares are small scorpion-like creatures with no real special power. They can put you to sleep with !Dreamstinger, and have a slight chance of countering attacks with a Magnitude 8 spell, for which it has insufficient MP. Way to go there, champ. Strong MT attacks are particularly helpful here, like Flash, Chocobo Stampede, Magnitude 8, Sandstorm, you name it. Liches are the worst, man. They can start the battle with !Insanitouch. Confused characters are never a good idea; with a little luck you can snap them out of it before bad things happen, but chances always exist you'll have to swallow a Rising Phoenix or something before you do. To top this madness, they can cast Fira with considerable power and can even cast Firaga. Their Firaga attacks taste like burning. :( You'll want to avoid that. You can't shut them up with Siren or Silence. If you have Edgar, Noiseblaster can confuse them to buy you enough time to kill them. Charge for Lich immediately. You won't meet a lot of them, so there's no shame in using a Phoenix Down or Raise spell if you run into one, although an ST Blizzara spell or something might be more cost- efficient. If your level is really low, make sure you have four Reflect Rings, and keep them on your characters at all times. This should prevent Lich's spells from hurting you. Like I said before, Peace Rings and Ribbons protect nicely against !Insanitouch. Every step you take after those three rooms consist out of only two enemies: Zombie Dragon and Outcast. Zombie Dragons are bigger, so you'd assume they're more dangerous. Such folly. Reflect Rings are useless once you get into Zombie Dragon territory, and status-prevention Relics can be removed as well as Outcast's !Glare just sets Darkness and Zombie Dragon's !Bone attack, while setting the dangerous Zombie status, is so rare and used so late you shouldn't even see it. Zombie Dragons just attack physically, unless you wait a really, really long time until they have a slight chance of turning a character into a Zombie with !Bone. Zombie Dragons are the only enemies in this blasted cave that don't absorb Fire, so if somebody knows or learns Fira here (Terra learns it naturally at level 22), use it to great effect. Otherwise, you know how to handle monsters now. Gau can flush Zombie Dragons nicely with Mu's Snare. Locke can steal Phoenix Downs from them most of the time. Outcasts are entirely different. They have a move called Liveshaver, an obscenely strong attack. It's an Earth-elemental attack that functions entirely like Drain; drains HP, can't drain more then the caster is damaged anyway. Since it's such a strong attack at this point, the Outcast will most likely drain all their lost HP. If both his lack of HP and the targets possession of it allows it, Liveshaver can do up to 750 damage; unless you are equipped with Gaia Gear, in which case you don't need to worry as you'll absorb the attack and the Outcast will damage itself. If you're equipped with Gaia Gear, there's no need to worry about specific tactics as you can just pound away. But without, the highest priority when facing Outcast is this: YOU WANT TO TAKE THEM OUT IN ONE SHOT. This way, they have no chance of casting Liveshaver (You cannot Silence the bastards). If you brought Locke with you, definitely try to Steal four Amulets here; they are a common steal, so it requires little work. You can one-hit KO them in a multitude of ways, but you'll have to make an effort to have at least one of the following on the team. Earrings/Aura Cannon is a good one, while Genji Glove/Double Kaiser is a nice alternative. Jump/Trident works well on Edgar or Mog, although the latter might enjoy Dancing the Water Harmony better; El Niño not only kills Outcast, it sends them flying in the bloody Clouds of Magellan. Aqua Breath, sadly, probably isn't strong enough at this point, even with a Hero's Ring or Earring behind it. If you did bring Gaia Gear for all your boys and girls, Gau can make Briareus's Cyclonic work to great effect as every opponent is vulnerable to one-hit KO attacks. Sure, Wyvern works just as well, but since we got the Gaia Gear from Briareus enemies in the first place, let this be a tribute. ;) When you arrive at the Imperial Base, there are no soldiers around. That's mighty suspicious, as reasonably argued that can only mean two things: the soldiers are somewhere else, preparing for an attack, or the Empire has decided they will let you go the Sealed Gate, of which can come no good. Still, you press on. Boy, is it HOT in this cave. The Cave to the Sealed Gate is a volcanic area, and the monsters have adapted to it. The first room has a chest already! It contains the Assassin's Dagger, a brilliant semi-Thief's Knife that randomly kills in one hit. The comparison with the Thief's Knife comes from the fact it's both Locke/Shadow only and gives stat boosts, making it a nice option if you don't plan on using Attack anyway. The Assassin's Dagger revives the Undead though, all the time, so I wouldn't suggest equipping it here (even if you weren't going to use it, Thief's Knife's special abilities are better). The next room has another chest, this one containing a Kazekiri blade. If you hadn't stolen one from Number 128, this is the only one you'll find in the game barring end-game Soul Shrine adventures. It has a 50 % chance of nulling the special effects of the physical strike and casting Wind Slash instead. It's pretty much the most interesting weapon Cyan will ever get his hands on, so cherish it (for all the lack of Cyan I tried to talk into you). Next room is a 'puzzle': Every 1.5 second or so, the pathway changes from one state to the other. Explaining how to get across would be folly, as not only would my hints just confuse, it's not that hard. The chest to the right contains an X-Potion, and the chest to the bottom contains the Heiji's Jitte Relic, a Relic that changes Setzer's ability from Slot into Gil Toss. A little talk on Gil Toss: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.36.2 Gil Toss and Cave to the Sealed Gate continued ********************************** If you think throwing coins is a rather silly way of doing damage, it has been featured in FF V as a grossly overpowered attack and finds its roots in Japanese folklore. The Heiji's Jitte, you see. Zenigata Heiji was a kind of 'Sherlock Holmes' during the samurai era who stopped/killed his foes by throwing a coin at them. A Jitte is a specialized weapon specifically designed to catch an opponent's blade, used in the day by the law inforcement to disarm criminals. What Heiji's Jitte has to do with Heiji's coin throwing antics remains a mystery. Gil Toss, while more consistent, is inferior to Slot, especially when Setzer is equipped with Earrings, as he should be. Imagine the Flash Tool for an indication of the amount of damage to one or two targets, but Coin Toss actually splits the damage between the amount of targets, so the more targets, the weaker it turns out. Besides that, there's no way of boosting it other than level, AND it costs you money every time you use it by a Amount of gold used = Level * 30 ratio. There are times -- in the future -- where it'll be worth it to equip the Relic, but not now. The exit of the room is to the bottom-right of the screen. Here, you come across a choice: right or dead ahead. Going to the right will get you to a chest with a Hi-Ether in it. Grab it, hike back, and continue. You'll want to go up the diagonal nature-crafted stairway and you'll reach a bridge with a switch next to it. If you press the switch, the bridge will collapse under you and you'll fall down, but no HP damage will be done, and you 'hear a distant sound'. Going to the left and up will get you to a chest with...a Genji Glove! A very kick-ass Relic indeed. If you have the equipment and the characters, you can add a double Trident Attacker to the party this way, eliminating the Jumping time. Go back and continue this time. You'll see a plateau with two switches, and a bridge with a switch next to it. Go over to the two switches on the plateau. The left switch opens the door to a Save Point and a chest with a Tent in it; the right switch triggers a battle with a Ninja and accomplishes otherwise nothing (you won't ever make this Ninja appear on the Veldt). If you decide to fight the Ninja, make sure you heal yourself, as he's bound to get in at least one Thrown Scroll. The best way of dealing with the Ninja is by utilizing one-hit KO attacks; the Death spell should do the trick, otherwise the Mu Rage or Twilight Requiem will offer a large chance. If you don't want to rely on luck, he's weak to Lightning, so Thundara and Gau's Aspiran's Gigavolt work well. He doesn't have that many HP, and when he dies, he will talk about hidden treasures in the 'plaza beneath the grand stairway'. Few people seem to know actually what he's talking about there, but yours truly naturally does so don't worry. The switch on the bridge (doesn't that sound like a Dr. Seuss novel to you?) is mandatory this time, as it will create a large stairway. Egads, a GRAND stairway I might add. Behold, the plaza! This already is the plaza the Ninja risked his life for, littered with treasure. This is where they are: Invisibility Scroll: One step down and one step to the left from the lowest stairway tile. Gold Needle: Six steps down from the Invisibility Scroll. 293 Gil: Three steps up from the treasure chest visible here. Water Scroll: Three steps down and three steps to the right from the lowest stairway tile. The chest here contains an Hi-Ether. Let's move on. When you enter the little cave, you'll have to find your way up through a hidden tunnel, but a monkey with brain cancer could do that, so I won't be helping you. When you emerge, you can open the chest for an Elixir. This part is kind of frustrating to 'pin down'. There are two stepping tiles in front of you. The first one accomplishes about as much as I know about car mechanics: absolutely nothing. It creates a stairway to a featureless little six-tile area. The second stepping tile breaks a bridge apart to the chest; you can walk around it or step on it anyway and go another route I'll point out in a bit. The chest in question contains not an item or a monster, but a switch. Switch-in-a-box. Heh. Flick it, or don't, it doesn't do anything remotely interesting. Going down will get you to another stepping tile. This one is more of a friend to you; it opens a door to a small cave with four chests: two Magicite Shards, an Hi-Ether, and the ULTIMA WEAPON. The Ultima Weapon is a nifty sword that's more special than useful. A scholar in Albrook mentioned it, remember? It was created during the War of the Magi, along with a monster with the same name. Meeting the sword was the better choice, I think. The Ultima Weapon will do rather weak, barrier-piercing damage at this point of the game when the wielder is at his maximum HP; its damage is partially based on the max HP/current HP ratio where the Ultima Weapon will do more damage when the wielder at full health and almost no damage when the wielder only has a few HP left. TheUltima Weapon gains strength with the wielder's level, and can achieve three lengths, depending on the damage output (it changes from short to medium beyond 500 HP damage, and from medium to long at 1000). I wouldn't equip it at this point. Points of interest: - The Ultima Weapon is rather famous for starring in the horrid legend where you Throw this weapon for an instant kill against the final boss. You can't throw the Ultima Weapon. - When you combine the Ultima Weapon with Mug, it will lose its special damage formula and it'll become a normal sword with an Attack of 255, which is rather nice. Most people will argue this is a bug, though. - INCREASE YOUR ULTIMA LENGTH WITH NATURAL ENHANCERS. It's folly. Much like the male reproductive organ, there are legions who claim there are fast and easy ways to increase its performance. The urban myth includes wearing Green Berets or Red Caps and equipping Muscle Belts, all to increase maximum HP and boost that blue thing. It doesn't work, as it's the ratio that's important, not max HP. - Isn't it wicked? It's like a lightsaber. Let's walk over to the new pathway. You'll encounter a switch you have to press to raise land to the right of you so you can cross it. Here's a switch as well; if you stepped on the bad stepping tile earlier, you can press it so you can walk over to the chest. The switch, by the way, would block your path IF you had stood on the two useless/bad stepping tiles earlier, and only as long as you didn't fight a random encounter. I really don't know why programmers even bother with things like this. Moving on will get you a chest with a Magicite Shard. From here on, it's a straight path to the Sealed Gate. Finally, there you are. Nobody's too comfortable with the place: Locke: Beyond there is the Esper world... Cyan: What an eerie place... Edgar: From here on out, it's all up to you, Terra... Sabin: We're counting on you, Terra... Setzer: Oh, what am I doing in a dreadful place like this...? As usual, Gau and Mog are entirely forgotten by their creators. As soon as Terra wants to call out to the Espers: a burden! Kefka has followed you here, hoping you'd be able to open the Sealed Gate and deliver more Espers to the Empire. Folly! How could you have been so foolish!? Time to put the hurt on Kefka! Like in the Imperial Camp, you fight a human Kefka. I won't bother really listing what he does and how you should handle it, as the fight ends as soon as you do anything to Kefka, be it helpful to him or damaging. For trivia purposes, I'll list his moves, though: Poison, Fira, Dischord, Attack, Rasp, Slow, and Special. He doesn't actually HAVE a Special attack though, as he's a character, so instead, the attack name pop-up will display nothing, Kefka will take one step forward and raise his arms (like Gau performing a Special), and without any attack animation, the attack will miss. Oh yes, and don't use Magicite Shards, as those cancel on characters, including opponent characters. During the battle with Kefka, Terra manages somehow to explore contact with the Espers behind the Gate. The door opens, but something is wrong; rather than asking what you want, several Espers bolt out the door, flying off, sending shockwaves of power through your body. When they are gone, the door closes behind you and is blocked with an eerily skull-like barricade of rocks. Terra urges you to get out when she awakens, and maybe it's wise to follow her advice. The cave has a new exit; take it for a shortcut. Make sure that you've collected all the treasures you wanted, as once you get out of the cave and board the Blackjack, there's no going back in unless you go out of your way to do so (ominous foreshadowing). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.37.1 Esper rampage; Snake Eyes ********************************** Once you pass through the Imperial Base and find your ally at the other end, he'll tell you that the Espers have flown to Vector. You were planning to have them attack it anyway, but it's doubtful if this is the best outcome... The ill-news bringer depends on whoever is in your party, but starting from the most likely one, the game works down the list from Locke to Cyan, Edgar, Sabin, and finally Setzer. Actually, it's quite impossible for you to encounter Setzer here, as you'll at the very worst have a Terra/Locke/Cyan/Edgar party, in which case it's still Sabin who delivers the news. Ah, goddess of unnecessary coding! Immediately afterwards, you find yourself flying to Vector. But you start feeling some vibration, and it isn't the good vibration Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch and the Beach Boys used to sing about. No sih, not at all: It's such a good vibration It's such a sweet sensation No sih, not at all. Terra: The Espers... They were...angry... Locke: The Espers probably headed straight for Vector... Cyan: I could feel the warrior spirit in those Espers. Edgar: Somehow we need to convince the Espers to lend us their aid. Sabin: We should hurry and check out the situation in the Empire. I'm a little worried... Setzer: Blast it! I guess the skies'll have to wait... Mog: ...Kupo. Gau: ...Oooh...Gau...high place...oooh... ...not good...don't like... You'll find yourself near Maranda. Absolutely nothing has changed in this town, so you might as well go find the hidden Chocobo Stable and hike to Vector. The Stable is hidden in the narrow part in the forest to the East of Maranda. As you can see when you arrive, Vector is in ruins. Seems the Espers smacked it around with a club called 'Destruction'. The Returners are, without any apparent reason, exposing themselves to the Empire now that it seems weakened. I'm sure they won't call the soldiers on you, sillies. Even Banon and Arvis are here. Banon will declare you mad for even bringing up the option of talking with Espers; clearly, they are barbarians whose bones are filled with violence and manslaughter. Entering the Imperial Magitek Research Facility will accomplish exactly nothing, as you can't. Entering the Imperial Palace, however, will get you an Imperial escort who will take you to the Emperor himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.38.1 Vector; Imperial palace ********************************** Opponents: Sergeant (#76), Imperial Elite (#92), Mega Armor (#93) Container contents: Alarm Earring, Ether, Gale Hairpin, Holy Water, X-Potion Miscellaneous items: Tintinnabulum (banquet performance), Ward Bangle (banquet performance) It appears that the Emperor has changed from the power-hungry antagonist to the sorrowful ally! The Espers destroyed his town, his pride. He's been severely punished already for his arrogant lust for control and domination; but can a man change so quickly, so completely? For now, you can do what Cid has asked you to do, and try to warm the hearts of Imperial Soldiers. At the very least, it'll give you something positive to do until you can start negotiations with the Emperor. There are 24 soldiers to talk to. You have four minutes: 4:00. Later on in this part of the game, you are rewarded for your behavior in the Palace; it starts here. You get a point for every soldier you talk to, and another five for every soldier you manage to convert by shoving his testicles upwards through his throat. For maximum enjoyment and treasure, you'll want to talk to all of them (you can skip 3 of the passive ones without any penalty). Skip any treasure chests for now; you can get them a little while later when the seconds aren't of any importance. Every normal trooper who wishes to fight you turns out to be a single Sergeant unit, and every Armored trooper that confronts you is a single Mega Armor. Bio spells and barrier-piercing attacks work great against the Sergeant units; one-hit KO attacks work nicely (including Break). As far as the Mega Armor goes, one-hit KO attacks go well against him too (although he has Petrify protection for Break). He may counter Attacks with Magitek Laser and non-fatal Magic spells with Missile, so be wary. If you die, you don't get a Game Over but you'll find yourself out-battle after a red flash. You'll get the 1 point for talking to the soldier but not the 5 points for defeating the soldier. If you escape the battle by running, using Smoke Bombs or the Teleport Stone/Teleport spell, you'll find yourself out- battle after a green flash, and you'll get 1 point but not the other 5. You can't run from Mega Armor regardless. If you let the timer run out during a battle, there's a blue flash and you'll get 1 point but, again, not 5. Walk right ahead and talk to the first four soldiers. Take a turn to the right (from your view). Ignore the first door for now; it houses Kefka, who talks too much for your precious time to be wasted on him. Go up the stairs and enter the door on this floor. In this room, you can talk to a soldier, a Special Forces unit, and a soldier in the bathroom. Get out of the room and go up the stairs. Here, you enter the balcony of the palace. You can talk to five soldiers here, and one soldier in the cabin on top (which you might recognize as the one where Kefka released the Cranes from) wants to fight you. Fight him (it's a single Sergeant) and press on. Enter the door to the other side of the little cabin on top. In here, there's a wandering soldier. You should be at 14 by now. Go further down. Enter the first new door. There are four wandering soldiers below the soldier in the bed and one above. One of the four wants to fight you; do so. When you have talked to all in the room, enter the bathroom, where another soldiers wants to fight you. You're on 21 now. Get out, ignore the next door (treasure only), and go out of the palace. There are two soldiers here and an Armored soldier who wants to fight; it's a Mega Armor now. Kill it and you have the final, 24th soldier. 44 points maximum. Dinner time! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.38.2 The Banquet ********************************** At the great Banquet, where you'll settle manners with the Empire, removing the very core of the conflict, you'll be repeatedly allowed to fill in gaps in the conversation. Your choice influences how much the Emperor likes you, and how much he'll reward you for showing up. It's like trying to hit on that hot girl at the bar, only with me showing you what works well and what will get you slapped in the face. Here we go: Gestahl: At last, we can all be together, sharing a meal at the same table! Let us make a toast! To what shall we raise our glasses? 2 ^ To the Empire. 1 ^ To the Returners. 5 ^ To our homelands. Gestahl: As you may know, I've imprisoned Kefka for his crime of using poison against Doma. What do you think should be done with him? 5 ^ Leave him in jail. 1 ^ Pardon him. 3 ^ Execute him. Gestahl: I tam truly sorry about what occured in Doma. No one ever dreamed Kefka would use poison. 1 ^ What's done is done. 5 ^ That was inexcusable. 3 ^ Apologize again! Gestahl: By the way...With regard to General Celes... 1 ^ Was she an Imperial spy? 5 ^ Celes is one of us! 3 ^ We trust her whether she spied or not. Was there anything else you wanted to ask? 2 ^ Why'd you start the war? 2 ^ Why do you want peace now? 2 ^ Why'd we have to talk to your men? Gestahl: With your permission, I'd like to talk about the Espers... 0 ^ I still have a few things to ask. (Every question you ask will get you 2 points, but the same question asked twice will cost you 10 points) 0 ^ Okay. 0 ^ I still have a few things to ask. 0 ^ Okay, let's talk about the Espers... Gestahl: The Empire has been decimated by the Espers that emerged from the Sealed Gate. They're just too powerful... If we don't do something, they'll tear the entire world apart! 5 ^ They have gone a bit too far... 2 ^ You're the one who brought them here in the first place! Gestahl: When the Espers came through on their rampage, all of my ambitions faded in an instant. Now I find myself asking why I ever wanted that much power in the first place. Of course, there is no excuse for the atrocities I committed in the name of conquest. By the way...what was that first question you asked me a minute ago? ^ Why'd you start the war? ^ Why do you want peace now? ^ Why'd we have to talk to your men? (if you answer correctly, you get 5 points. If not, 0 points for you) Cid: You must be getting tired... Why don't we take a short break? 0 ^ (Take a break.) 0 ^ (Keep talking.) (Here, you'll get the option of walking about a bit and talking to the Imperial Elite, who will challenge you. You get 5 points for kicking Imperial Elite in their bathing suit area within 2 minutes. If you fail, you get 0 points). Resume the conversation? 0 ^ Yes 0 ^ No Gestahl: Is there anything you wish to hear me say? 3 ^ That you really want peace. 5 ^ That your war is truly over. 1 ^ That you're sorry. Gestahl: I have a Magitek armor transport ship moored in the port of Albrook... I had hoped to send it to Crescent Island with all haste. Would you please go on board? 3 ^ Yes 0 ^ No (If you first answer no, and then answer yes, you won't get the 3 point increase). And this is it. 49 points to earn at the Banquet. Plus 44, that's 93. Nice. The negotiations were a success! You are to be dispatched, now employed of all things by the Empire of all empires, to seek out the Espers who destroyed Vector. General Leo Christophe will accompany you. Depending on your party, you'll see old acquaintances meet again: Sabin: Didn't I see that guy in Doma...? Oh, right...! He was the one with principles... So...that's General Leo, eh? Leo: Isn't that...!? Cyan, retainer to the king of Doma! Please, forgive me for not being there to stop Kefka... Cyan: ... What happened was not your fault. If you're done, Terra gets on a solo mission... until Locke mixes himself in it again. That guy has a serious problem with being left behind, it seems. Locke and Terra will go to Crescent Island to search for the Espers. Congrats. When you leave, an Imperial Elite unit will come up to you, and reward you for your troubles in the Palace: Always: South Figaro is liberated. You gain nothing but your pride for it. 50-66: South Figaro is liberated. You gain nothing but your pride for it. Doma Castle is liberated. Some minor items AND your pride. Things are looking up! 67-76: South Figaro is liberated. You gain nothing but your pride for it. Doma Castle is liberated. Some minor items AND your pride. Things are looking up! The locked house in the Imperial Observation Post near the Cave to the Sealed Gate is opened. This is very nice. 77-90: South Figaro is liberated. You gain nothing but your pride for it. Doma Castle is liberated. Some minor items AND your pride. Things are looking up! The locked house in the Imperial Observation Post near the Cave to the Sealed Gate is opened. This is very nice. You get a Tintinnabulum from the Emperor! He likes you! 90-93: South Figaro is liberated. You gain nothing but your pride for it. Doma Castle is liberated. Some minor items AND your pride. Things are looking up! The locked house in the Imperial Observation Post near the Cave to the Sealed Gate is opened. This is very nice. You get a Tintinnabulum from the Emperor! He likes you! You get a Ward Bangle from the Imperial Elite unit you are talking to! He wants to have your man-babies! Run like the wind! Well then, if you'll excuse me... As soon as you have your new Locke/Terra combo (something probably not seen since you tried to locate Figaro Castle in the desert south of Narshe), you'll notice that you have received the items all other characters were equipped with. That's nice. For equipment, I'd advise something like this: Terra: Blood Sword/Blizzard/Thunder Blade Golden Shield Tiara White Dress Earrings, Earrings Locke Ultima Weapon Hawkeye Green Beret Power Sash Genji Glove/Brigand's Glove Roaming the Imperial Palace, you can now find the things you skipped earlier in your rush to be helpful for the Empire. They're hard to miss, and include an Alarm Earring (tiny earrings with built-in speakers), an X-Potion, a Gale Hairpin, a Holy Water, and an Ether. Also, you can find Kefka in jail, who's so annoyed he's about to go soil himself. You can find your former party members all over Vector: Edgar: Albrook's a port town to the south of the Empire. The plan is to leave for Crescent Island from Albrook on a transport ship carrying Magitek armor... We'll keep a close watch on the Empire. You deal with the Espers! Sabin: Is it really safe to trust the Empire? I have an awfully bad feeling about this... Cyan: I will never be able to forgive Kefka... Gau: Smells like cider... Smells like old man......? Mog: Kupo! Banon: So, that's what Gestahl said... Team up with the Empire to look for the Espers... Hmm... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.38.3 Items of the Imperial Observation Post and Setzer's cutscene ********************************** Container contents: 8000 Gil, 13000 Gil, 20000 Gil, Alarm Earring, Angel Ring, Angel Wings, Elixir x2, Flametongue, Hermes Sandals, Hi-Ether, Reflect Ring, X-Potion Other than the fact Gau seems to remember things about his father who supposedly threw him out seconds after he was born, you notice here that Setzer is missing. I can divulge here that Setzer is not in Vector at all; he's on the Blackjack, over at Maranda. Together with Cid, he's repairing his beloved airship. You can go over there if you want to and watch the often missed and delightful scene between the two. This is it, if you're lazy: (Setzer is fixing things in the engine, Cid is standing around, likely in awe or admiration) Cid: This is a nice ship you've got here! Setzer: The shock from our crash really banged up the engine. It's gonna take a while to fix... Cid: Let me help you! I know my way around an engine! Setzer: I think I'll pass. Cid: You know, we could really speed this baby up if we axed the casino and streamlined her a bit... Setzer: ...That's not open to discussion. Now, will you please get out of here? Cid: Oh well... Would've been at least twice as fast, too... Maybe three times... (exit Cid) Terra: You really love this ship, don't you? Setzer: It may be hard to believe, considering how I live now, but I used to be a driven man. Terra: ...Really? Setzer: I wanted to make this the fastest ship in the world, and fly it across the open sky... That was always my dream. Terra: Is that any different from what you're doing now? Setzer: Back then, there was a person who kept me working towards my dream... The pilot of the Falcon, the fastest airship ever made. At times we were friendly rivals, and at times we were simply friends. We'd always talk about our dreams... Like which of us would be the first to sail beyond the sky to the stars. But then she vanished along with the Falcon, and that was the end of youthful dreams. Setzer: ... Darill... After the scene: Setzer: The repairs will take some time. You're going to have to take a boat from Albrook. Anyway, the real new treasure lies in the Imperial Base at the Cave to the Sealed Gate. Enter the house, and prepare to be stumped; the Empire has made a great gesture of good will with this gift. The chests here include: an X-Potion, an Angel Wings Relic, a Hi-Ether, a Reflect Ring, Hermes Sandals, an Elixir, an Angel Ring, and an Alarm Earring, together with 8000 Gil + 13000 Gil + 20000 Gil = 41000 Gil. There's a hidden chest with an Elixir hidden by the south wall, and there's a Flametongue in the stove. If you want to, you can go and visit Tzen and Maranda; there's really nothing for you there, but you can see how both towns have been abandoned by the oppressive Imperial forces, and how glad everybody is that the war is finally over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.39.1 Departing from Albrook ********************************** Container contents: Teleport Stone At any rate, as soon as you can get to Albrook, you'll find the entry to the port open. You immediately appear next to two crates, of which one contains a Teleport Stone. General Leo is discussing with subordinates here; he tells you to go and take a rest at the Inn, but not before 'introducing' you to two 'strangers': The first is Shadow, the second another general of the Empire, General Celes Chere. Locke spazzes out and Celes runs off. You can bask in Shadow's idea of humor for a while before acknowledging Leo has made arrangements, and you can rest at the Inn free. If you ignored Shadow both with Sabin and in Kohlingen, this is the first time you'll meet him. So as opposed to 'friendly' banter, he'll say "I'd better let this guy stretch his legs before he gets cooped up on the boat..." Resting at the Inn will trigger a sad cutscene in which Locke and Celes exchange their names and offer charged silences to each other. When morning comes, the freighter takes off. A lot is afoot during the night. When the morning comes, everybody is already awake. You can learn from the soldiers that rumors say magic still exists on Crescent Island -- clearly folly -- and you can talk to Leo for your mission briefing. General Celes and General Leo will try to gain information, while Terra, Locke, and Shadow are dispatched by themselves. There's a town to the north called Thamasa, so it might be a good idea to try to learn something there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.40.1 Traveling to Thamasa; Crescent Island ********************************** Opponents: Briareus (#94), Devourer (#95), Chimera (#96) Miscellaneous items: Golden Armor (rare Chimera drop) You've been dropped off at the southern end of Crescent Island. Shadow, now under employment by the Empire, aids you in your search, and you can at least be certain he won't run out on you this time. Also note that if you never recruited Shadow in Sabin's scenario or Kohlingen, Interceptor will not protect Shadow in battle on Crescent Island, due to an oversight of the game. Preparation: Be sure to equip Shadow in the latest fashion fads, and it might be useful to have him equip a nice Esper like Siren to unlock his Magic ability. If you decide to stay around and fight some monsters for whatever reason, summon Phantom; it will be very nice. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Devourer, Briareus (6/16) Briareus (5/16) Briareus, Briareus (5/16) (Forest) Devourer, Devourer, Devourer (6/16) Chimera (5/16) Chimera, Devourer, Devourer (5/16) The monsters here are pretty interesting. The only one you need to worry about right now is Briareus, as you don't need to go through the forest, but you might want to, so I'll take a look at them too. Briareus are turtle-like monsters that only attack physically. I've mentioned them earlier for their rare Gaia Gear Steal, a nice addition to your equipment options. If a single Briareus is damaged, there's a 33 % chance it will counter with Snort, an odd attack that basically forces the target to run. There's nothing you can do about it, sadly. Devourer, to me, stand out because of their overwhelming usefulness with Rage- centered SCC games. Devourer is one of the two monsters that combine a Special with one-hit KO protection on Gau, which is very nice. As opponents, they stand out for their great physical defense (auto-Protect) and the fact they rarely employ Ultros' Tentacle attack, which makes them the only random encounter monsters to use it. Tentacle is a very strong attack, so take out Devourer as soon as possible. Crescent Island's Magnum Monster is Chimera. They have a lot of HP, are invulnerable to all prominent status effects, and torment the party with magical MT attacks, which include Aqua Breath on a regular basis and Blizzard, Fireball, and Cyclonic when they're alone. Don't take Chimera for granted; keep your HP up and don't go easy on him. The only way out of a head-on fight is casting Berserk on him; his physical attacks also hurt, but if you're quick, you can simply shrug it off with Phantom. In short, if you act quickly with Chimera around (he'll always take at least one turn before he employs a magical attack), Phantom gives you invulnerability. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.40.2 Thamasa ********************************** Container contents: Echo Screen, Eye Drops, Gold Needle, Green Cherry, Phoenix Down As soon as you enter Thamasa, you'll notice strange things going on. There's an unfriendly atmosphere, and the Innkeeper charges insane amounts of money (well, 1500 Gil a night is very expensive!). But hey, at least the shops are open now! Also, three free items are lying around town: There's an Echo Screen in the top barrel next to mayor's house, a Green Cherry in the barrel next to Strago's house, a Gold Needle in the bottom barrel near the Relic shop, an Eye Drops in the middle barrel near the Item shop, and a Phoenix Down in the upper barrel next to the Inn. Armor Shop: Golden Shield 2500 Tiger Mask 2500 Tiara 3000 Golden Helm 4000 Mystery Veil 5500 Power Sash 5000 Gaia Gear 6000 Golden Armor 10000 The Armor Shop is open! You can finally buy your Gaia Gear if you were too lazy to Steal it earlier. Also, the Mystery Veil, a great helmet for Celes and Terra that you'll want to equip for a long time from now. Also, Golden Armor, but you really don't want to buy more, as the next dungeon, which you'll be able to choose party members for, will need Gaia Gear wearers anyway. Weapon Shop: Mythril Rod 500 Flame Rod 3000 Ice Rod 3000 Thunder Rod 3000 Morning Star 5000 Hawkeye 6000 Heavy Lance 10000 Darts 10000 The Weapon Shop is also open. Rods for SALE now? Such folly. I suggest you buy an Ice Rod; leave it at that as far as Rods are concerned (you'll understand why later on). New weapons also include a Heavy Lance for Edgar and Mog, and Darts for Setzer. While I can guarantee you none of these characters will really use those weapons, it doesn't hurt to boost their Attack. :) Relic Shop: Earring 5000 Sniper Eye 3000 Hermes Sandals 7000 Reflect Ring 6000 Black Belt 5000 Dragoon Boots 9000 Sprint Shoes 1500 Nothing new here, really, although the general layout is nice. All Relics here are nice to have as supplementary stuff. Item Shop: Potion 50 Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Remedy 1000 Teleport Stone 700 Holy Water 300 Phoenix Down 500 Tent 1200 Item Shop. You can shop for Items in the Item Shop. It's what the name tries to indicate, silly. Someone advises you to talk to the old man who lives on the edge of town. It's to the northeast of the plaza. In here, you'll meet a strange man indeed... Meet Strago Magus, and his lovely adopted granddaughter Relm Arrowny. While Strago is explaining to you that he has no idea whatsoever what Espers are (even though he's supposed to be the expert in town), Relm barges in and asks if they can 'use magic too'. How odd! How terribly, terribly odd! Relm proceeds to not be mauled up by Interceptor, instead seemingly befriending him. Disappointed yet suspicious, you leave the house. Around town, odd things happen. Behind Strago's house, you can interrupt what appears as a Cure casting, and behind the large mansion a kid is practicing what looks like fire magic. How can this be? Regardless, it's been a tough day, I'd say we'd better take a nap at the Inn, which has suddenly taken on a much more customer-friendly pricing... Important note: Before you take your nap, de-equip Shadow of his equipment, Relics and most importantly, of his Esper. All set? Good. If you don't do this, he'll take it all with him when he goes, not to be seen for a while. In the middle of the night: panic! Strago wakes you up as he needs your help; Relm is trapped inside the mansion, and it's on fire! It's getting progressively worse. You go with the old man, while Shadow stays behind. This isn't what he is paid to do, so he doesn't do it. You can't access his equipment and Magicite in the next mission, so that's great. Outside, Strago shows you exactly what you've been 'suspecting' so far. He tries to use magic to calm the flames. The entire population of Thamasa tries to use magic to calm the flames. They fail. Strago goes in, and you rush after him. This all makes sense, as if all else fails, try to stab the flames with your weapons. It'll do some good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.40.3 The Burning Mansion ********************************** Opponents: Grenade (#73), Balloon (#98), Flame Eater (#298) Container contents: Flame Rod, Ice Rod Miscellaneous items: Flametongue (common Flame Eater steal) Lores: Self-Destruct The mansion is on fire, and somewhere is a scared little 10-year-old waiting to be rescued by you. Her adoptive grandfather, despite the fact IT'S NOT POSSIBLE, has magical powers. This turns out to be an odd night indeed. Preparation: You have a new party member: Strago. I'll explain in a bit what he's all about, I'll first explain how to properly handle him. He's a mage, but in this dungeon, he'd do well to preserve MP, as his magical skills are grossly overkill. I suggest you equip him with an Ice Rod, Mythril Shield, Priest's Miter or Magus Hat, and some Gaia Gear. As far as Espers go, Shiva is a brilliant pick, as she teaches five spells that are all very useful in this dungeon and for Strago is general. Also, equip Locke and Terra with Blizzard blades (Hawkeye is sufficient with a Gigas Glove). Monster formations: (Wandering Flame) Balloon, Balloon, Balloon (3/4) Balloon, Balloon, Balloon , Balloon, Balloon, Balloon (1/4) (Trap Door) Balloon, Balloon, Balloon, Balloon (always) Strago is the FF VI Blue Mage. His special skill is called Lore, with which he can use several monster attacks. Learn all about them here: [LORE-LINK] Right now, he knows Aqua Breath, a powerful MT Water/Wind-elemental attack, Stone, an inaccurate attack that deals non-elemental damage and does 8 times as much damage if the attacker and target have the same level (remember Gau during the Narshe Raid?), and Revenge Blast, of which the damage output is simply caster's maximum HP - caster's current HP, dealing the damage the caster currently has on him. All the roaming flames here indicate flame monsters: Balloon. Letting them touch you means either a battle with three Balloons, or a battle with six Balloons. Balloons rarely use Self-Destruct and attack physically otherwise, so I suggest summoning Phantom or casting Vanish during the first battle. Use an MT attack to finish off the six Balloons (MT Blizzara spell, Aqua Breath, Shiva's Diamond Dust) and use physical attacks for the three. You can either use the Confuse spell, Cait Sith's Cat Rain attack, or the Stone Lore (MT) to confuse Balloon monsters, in which case they're likely to use Self-Destruct on each other. This will make Strago learn Self-Destruct, an attack he will hopefully never, ever have to use, as it's horrid; it kills the caster, and all it does is damage equal to the caster's current HP to a single target. If Strago is level 22, Stone will do fatal damage to the Balloons because of Stone's same-level destruction properties. The first two rooms are straightforward. The third room has two doors standing next to each other. The left one opens to expose four flames leaping out, catching you in a four- headed Balloon monster formation that is a fixed Pincer attack. This happens every time you try to enter the door. The right one allows you to continue. In this room, two more doors: The right door takes you to a room with a chest in it containing a Flame Rod. The left one allows you to continue. In this room, two more doors: The right one takes you to a room with a chest in it containing an Ice Rod. The left one allows you to continue. The next room is simply a hallway. It opens into the largest room of the house, where the source of the blaze is located. If you take one step into the room, it will attack you. Equipping Zona Seeker helps for the battle, as does Kirin (as usual). Try to equip as many Reflect Rings as possible; you're bound to have two from treasures. You can circumvent the Reflect Rings by equipping Carbuncle, but while that doesn't take any Relic slots, it's not what a sane man would call permanent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.40.4 The battle with Flame Eater ********************************** Flame Eater Level: 26, HP: 8400, MP: 480 Steal: Flametongue (common) Absorbs: Fire; Nullify: Lightning, Poison, Holy, Earth; Weakness: Ice Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Fire, Fira, Firaga, Protect, Reflect, Fireball, Bomblet Flame Eater starts the battle by using Bomblet. The move Bomblet itself doesn't really do anything (although it removes your Invisible status if you had it on you), but it's always followed by Flame Eater summoning allies. Flame Eater can summon from two to four Balloon monsters and even a Grenade. He will always start with four Balloons. Flame Eater is basically a massive floating flame, so you could expect him to have a fire-based AI script. He normally uses Fire spells and Fireball attacks, while countering one third of your damaging attacks with a Fira spell. After you've damaged him six times, he'll cast Protect and Reflect on himself (unless he already had Reflect on him), at which point he will bounce Fira and Firaga spells off of his own barrier until it's faded (he'll go back to regular programming at that point. Also, if you would hit him with Gravity or Graviga (a spell you're unlikely to have), he would have retorted with a Graviga or Flare spell of his own; sadly for Flame Eater, you can never actually hit him with Gravity/Graviga, as he has one-hit KO protection. Silly programmers. The strategy is simple and Ice-based. Cast Slow as soon as you can. If you have Kirin or Zona Seeker equipped, start it at the start of the battle. If you're not covered in Reflect Rings, Carbuncle may come in handy; the Reflect status make you immune to Flame Eater's Fira counters. Try to steal his Flametongue with Locke; you don't really need it, but there's no harm in it and Shadow can always chuck it in some poor creature's face or face-like appendage. Whenever Flame Eater summons allies, use a powerful MT attack like Shiva's Diamond Dust, Aqua Breath, or an MT Blizzara spell to take care of them all. If a Grenade is summoned, note that it has 3000 HP but poor defenses. It's vulnerable to Death, but immune to Break. Don't use Attack on it, as it may counter with Self-Destruct. Try to take it out ASAP, as its !Mesmerize attack may set Berserk on one of your guys. First priority would be not dying, second priority is attacking with Blizzara spells and Ice-elemental weapons (especially dual Ice Rods!), and making sure he doesn't get all Reflective on you if you are spamming spells. If Strago is level 26, you can't pass up the opportunity to deal illegal amounts of damage with Stone. A short-cut to victory is to let Terra Trance, then break the Ice Rod you found. It will automatically target the entire enemy team, but even with Balloons or a Grenade present you can focus the icy blast on Flame Eater alone by switchting the targeting to your allies, then back at Flame Eater again. An alternate strategy that you may find useful if you have enough Rasp casters is casting Rasp. Flame Eater has only 480 MP and dies once they're gone. At normal levels, you will have killed Flame Eater before he starts with the Protect + Reflect business. If you have one or two characters capable of casting Rasp, this is the better strategy. Flame Eater is a simple boss who's likely to go down easy on you. To sum it all up: "Attacks are the best attack." (RedDemon). When you've put it out, you find Relm in the back of the house. Just in time to be buried beneath flaming rubble with her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.41.1 Leaving Thamasa ********************************** Miscellaneous items: Memento Ring (hidden) Remember when you died in a fire? That didn't happen. Shadow came in and saved the day, just to rescue his dog. He decided he might be able to spare your sorry lives free. Wotta guy, eh? Thamasa is the village of Magi's descendents. During the War of the Magi, Magicite-powered humans called Magi fought alongside of normal humans and Espers. When the war ended, the Espers retreated and the humans hated the remaining influence of the magical: the Magi. They were forced to flee, and much like the Espers founded the Esper World, so did the Magi create Thamasa. Their descendents have lost a slight tough of their magic after the 1000 years, but they're still powerful enough to actually use the magic the world has forgotten for so long. As soon as Strago mentions that the mountains to the west might be worth a look, Shadow splits. Outside, it seems that he will 'search for the Espers his own way'. You shouldn't forget that despite the fact Shadow has fought alongside of you, he is a morally lacking person directly employed by the Empire, whose interests are still rather questionable. He's breaking a direct order for no apparent reason. Highly suspicious. Highly, highly suspicious. In a strange turn of events, Shadow kindly leaves behind the equipment and Magicite he had equipped. With Strago in your party, you get the new mission of finding Espers in the mountains. Nice. Relm offered to join, but despite her prominent naming screen, was refused entry into the party, which even has a free spot for her. I'M SURE WE'LL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN. There's a Relic hidden in Strago's house, on the second floor: hidden in the bulge in the left wall, it's near the small table with the two chairs surrounding it. This Relic, the Memento Ring, is at this moment entirely useless to you. You should know that in the PSX release, they changed the name of this Relic to 'Safety Ring'. At least, that's what it says when you grab it here; if you check your inventory or try to equip it, it'll speak of a 'Safty Ring'. When you're done, take a nice and uneventful nap at the Inn and head out to the mountains. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.41.2 Crescent Island's Eastern Mountains ********************************** Opponents: Bonnacon (#99), Land Grillon (#100), Adamankary (#101), Mandrake (#102), Venobennu (#103), Ultros (#299) Container contents: Chocobo Suit, Healing Rod, Tabby Suit, X-Potion Lores: White Wind Thus, a typical Byronian hero accompanies the half-Esper magical prodigy and the elderly walking-encyclopedia-on-monsters-and-their-behavior-with-magical- powers to what they hope will be a place filled with Beasts of Doom. If this is achieved, we can get the peace the Returners have fought so hard for. Preparation: Make sure your equipment and Espers are comfortable. It's wisdom to summon Phantom at the very start, as most attacks are physical here. Jeweled Rings and Ribbons are nice to protect against the Petrifying Special of one of the monsters on the slopes, though, as these are the same monsters that have the power of removing your Invisible status. Monster formations: (Caves) Adamankary, Bonnacon, Bonnacon (6/16) Adamankary, Adamankary (5/16) Bonnacon, Bonnacon, Bonnacon, Bonnacon, Bonnacon (5/16) (Slopes) Venobennu, Venobennu (6/16) Mandrake, Land Grillon, Land Grillon (5/16) Mandrake, Mandrake, Mandrake (5/16) There are five entirely new monsters roaming these mountains, two in the caves and three on the slopes. They are: Bonnacon. Anything resembling an Urok palette-swap can be nothing but very, very weak. An Earring-boosted MT Fire spell tends to take them all out (although at lower levels, you might need a follow-up MT spell). They share the caves with Adamankary monsters. Rather soon for a palette-swap in this case, don't you think? You met Briareus at the foot of these mountains. That's just not right. Adamankary are named like that because their hide is hard. Hard like ADAMANTINE. There's no penetrating it (unless it's with barrier -piercing physical attacks, obviously). You'll want to stick to magical attacks with them. Don't ever use Attack, ever, as they have a one/third chance of using Snort, breaking your ever-so-fragile invisibility. On the slopes, a brilliant new enemy is called Venobennu. They attack physically only, having a small chance of trying to poison you with !Featherdust. After they've taken three turns, they'll use White Wind, but only if there's some two of them on-screen; when alone, they'll never use White Wind. The first time White Wind appears, have Strago stand there and observe; he'll learn the magnificent move. Also, Land Grillon. Remember Nettlehopper? Remember Grasswyrm? I'm sure you don't, as both are dull as hell. Land Grillon has a more diverse color pattern on them, but fail to impress on all related issues. Mandrakes are without a doubt the most dangerous creatures this moutain has to offer. The Anthology Bestiary says their vines are made out of metal, but that's important right now. Every second turn, they may use !Stonetouch, which sets Petrify to the poor fool that suffers it. The Invisible status, a Ribbon and/or a Jeweled Ring will help you stay soft and limber. The second great annoyance with them is the fact they'll retaliate any damage you do with a 33% chance of using a Leech attack, draining about 300 HP worth of damage from you and dispelling your Invisible status. Stop spells stop their Leech counter- attacks, or you could even opt to simply run from them. Fira spells are especially effective versus them. The entrance of the mountains lies north of the forest here. The entrance wasn't here before, if you were wondering. The first room houses a chest with a Healing Rod (keep hold of this one!). The Healing Rod is a spiffy Rod that heals all targets, be it living or undead. At this point of the game, a Front Row character using it is likely to fully heal the target character (it'll do about 1000 HP worth of curing). Personally, I think the supposed equippers of a Healing Rod, Strago and Relm, will usually be too busy doing the exact same thing with an ST Cura spell and still having room for an offensive weapon, but there are people out there who are in love with the Healing Rod because it's MP-free. Regardless, much later in the game you can trade your Healing Rod for a weapon that is so kick-ass they might have called it +7/+7 Weapon of kick-ass for all I care, so definitely don't EVER sell it. For trivia, they once made a half-assed attempt at making it auto-target your party under Attack. They simply succeeded in making it auto-target your party under Throw, in which case the Healing Rod resulted in efficient death on the hapless victim of Shadow. In the GBA release, instead of fixing this, they simply removed the property whatsoever, making it target the enemy in all instances. The cave opening to the north and left will just link to each other, so take the right one (to the right). You'll see a quick 'unrecognizable' red flash dash from the corner of your eye, but that's just the shadows being a bitch to you. In the slopes here, you can find Venobennu monsters. You'll want to meet them at least once to learn White Wind. White Wind is a full-party healing move that cures for the same amount of Hit Points the caster currently has. This sounds like a silly move, as you'd guess the more you're damaged, the more you need healing, and that's exactly when this move tends to fail (if Strago is near-fatal, White Wind will do little). White Wind is *very* useful though, as it is a move that can heal characters with Reflect Rings and surpasses Runic. If you cross these slopes and enter a new cave, you see the red movement again. What's with your eyes these days? The new cave can be easily passed through; you see a lot of broken pathways here, but you can't reach them anyway. The next room houses three golden statues. Strago will freak out when he sees them, and explain about the Statues. Remember when Kefka talked about reviving the Statues, and how fun he thought that was going to be? Better learn about them, then. These golden icons are mere representations of the real Warring Triad, and even these shimmer with power. Strago muses that perhaps the Espers came here to bask in this power so familiar to them (and obviously, this is where it's said the Espers were created all this time ago). The following is inscribed in the statues: The dawn of magic... Three gods descended from the heavens. Fearing one another's power, the gods began to war. Those mortals caught amongst their fighting became Espers, and were forced to fight endlessly as slaves to the gods. Realizing their power begot naught but strife, the gods at last agreed to seal away their strength. With the last of their fading magic, the gods returned the Espers' free will, then turned themselves to stone. The last words they left to the Espers were these: "Never must we be woken." In reverence towards the gods were these statues made, and in prayer that their power would ne'er again be stirred. Let them serve as a warning to future generations of the three gods who once descended from the heavens... As soon as you intend to leave, a familiar octopod crashes the party. It's Ultros. Laugh or die. He mentions something about Siegfried (calls him 'big brother' in the Japanese version), throws a semi-smart retort to Locke's comment (at whose body he jumped a little, Locke's his personal nemesis since he met him on stage), and attacks you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.41.3 The third fight with Ultros ********************************** Ultros Level: 25, HP: 22000, MP: 750 Steal: White Cape (common) Absorbs: Water, Weakness: Fire, Lightning Status: Float Special: !Ink: sets Dark, Attack x 1.5 Sketch : Tentacle (rare), Tentacle (common) Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Ink, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Protect, Haste, Aqua Breath, Stone, Magnitude 8, Tentacle, Hailstone Ultros isn't very hard this time around. He starts the battle off with the message "Thought you wouldn't see me again? I've got more lives than I do arms!" He'll normally use Attack, !Ink, Stone, and Tentacle. After every minute of battle, he'll use Hailstone, a percentage-based attack that removes 75 % of your current HP. Every other turn, he'll start by taking a little slither in your direction. Once he has slithered eight times, he uses a particularly nasty spell: either Aqua Breath or Magnitude 8. You can easily take both (especially the latter if you're equipped with Gaia Gear as you should be), but you can make him back off one slither if you hit him three times with a Magic spell (not Lore). Not that that's really advisable, but I'll explain that in a minute. When Ultros reaches the low grounds of mere 15360 HP, he'll cast Haste and Protect on himself. "I know what you're thinking... Man, that was cheap! Sorry, so sorry!" Yes. Once you've cast five spells on him, he'll go red and the screen will say: "Ultros alters his body composition! Use elemental attacks at your own risk!" This means that any Fire-elemental spells will be countered by Firaga, Ice-elemental spells by Blizzaga, and Lightning-elemental spells by Thundaga. As soon as you bring down Ultros to 10240 HP, a cutscene will trigger to bring in Relm. She'll chat with Ultros, and some moments later - after the obviously hi-la-rious cutscene has passed - will join you on your side against Ultros. If you use her Sketch ability on him, Ultros will say: "How can this be? I'm just a...washed-up old octopus?" and leave. The strategy is pretty straightforward. I wouldn't bother with offensive spells whatsoever if I were you (other then two Slow spells, one to start off with and one to counter his Haste/Protect combo with). If you have Golem's Stop spell, use it to great effect and cast it every time you see Ultros taking another turn. Strago's Rods, should they have the Fire or Lightning element, will do decent damage overall (especially when that random spell steps in). Ultros Floats, so Locke can horribly abuse that with his Hawkeye(s) (you can cast Berserk on Locke if you feel like you can miss the controllable nature of him). Terra can wield Flametongues and/or Thunder Blades to hurt Ultros a bundle. If Strago's level is 25, he can rock out with his rock out; Stone will do major damage. Try to Steal his White Cape, as it's basically free and generally useful. End the battle with Sketch if you want to. Even if Relm never shows up in-battle, she'll still take all the credit for the victory :p ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.41.4 Relm and the Espers' gathering place ********************************** Relm's ability is Sketch, and I dare say it's the worst ability in the game. If you're interested in the reason, go to [SKETCH-LINK] Right now, I suggest you give Relm an Esper to teach her a good spell pronto. Shiva is perfect, but Strago is probably still struggling with it, so either Ifrit or Catoblepas is a generally quick road to success. She starts with the left list of equipment, and I'd advise the right one: Chocobo Brush Flame/Thunder/Ice Rod (in that order) Mythril Shield Mythril Shield Plumed Hat Mystery Veil/Tiara Silk Robe White Dress/Gaia Gear She comes equipped with a Memento Ring; you found one earlier in Strago's house. It can be equipped by two people, of which Relm is one. Another character you already know can also equip it, but it's not Strago, and who could possibly be protected by Relm's dead mother besides Relm herself? Checking its properties reveals this character is Shadow... The next room contains a Save Point and three tiles that look like they might cave in underneath you. These cave in underneath you. The top one takes you to a place in the broken walking bridge maze where you can go to the slopes at two places and find two nice pieces of equipment: The Chocobo Suit and the Tabby Suit. Equip Strago and Relm accordingly. You can jump off to a familiar path. The loose tile to the far right will take you to an X-Potion, and the loose tile to the bottom-left will advance your path to the Espers. After you pass this last slope, you enter a room brimming with magical energy... The Espers have indeed gathered in this mountain, and they don't look too friendly. They've stopped Strago and Relm from leaving and are slowly surrounding you. Even though they have the plot power to wipe three members of your party from this world like excrement from a boot, you still prepare for battle; until an Esper who once discovered Terra's mother face-down near the entrance of the Esper World, and who even longer ago was human, recognizes the power within Terra and saves the day. It's Yura. The Espers are talking peace and non-carnage now. The Espers were gathering near the Sealed Gate, plotting how to rescue their captured comrades. It took them 18 bloody years; way to go, champs. Just at that time, in a great coincidence, Terra called out to the Espers and, according to Yura, it was her who opened the gate. As we knew from Terra herself, Espers in our world tend to go bat-shit bat-fucking crazy, and that's what happened to Yura and his merry friends. And now they're here, feeling sorry about it all. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.42.1 Epilogue ********************************** Epilogue time! Every conflict has been resolved, the war is over, the Espers have been calmed down, everybody is happy. Leo and Yura apologize much like two lovers who just came out of an argument (I didn't mean what I said about your mother and the way she smells!), and Locke makes a light-hearted innuendo about Celes. Everybody smiley face. The End. Kefka appears. Or is it? How is this possible? Isn't he stuck in jail? Did he escape? Did the Empire set you up and was Kefka released? Is everybody safe? Within seconds, he has sent Magitek Armors on you that have taken all your party members down, killed three Espers, knocked Leo out cold, and has caused general unhappiness. Damn his eyes! During the conversation of Kefka and Leo, it becomes clear that the Empire did set you up. When Shadow heard you mentioning the Espers being at the Eastern Mountains, he most likely reported to the Emperor, who sent Kefka and a Magitek Armor division to Thamasa as soon as possible. Who knows what he has done to your friends in the meantime. As Leo Christophe, you wake up. Leo can't leave town, as where ever he ventures, the Guardian will attack him, leaving him no choice but to turn back. Houses are all empty (though you can just shop away; it's like a Wal-mart policy). You *can* pick up the Memento Ring with him if you haven't already, but there's little point. There's one sensible thing to do. Leo Christophe never got himself a naming screen, which bodes ill for the upcoming battle, but he'll be damned if he won't act honorably. Talk to Kefka and fight him. He is a disgrace to the Empire. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.42.2 Leo versus Kefka ********************************** Crystal Sword Aegis Shield Golden Helm Golden Armor Gigas Glove Master's Scroll Leo has awesome equipment and has quite a high level. The Emperor called him his greatest warrior; it shows. Due to the Master's Scroll Relic, he attacks four times rather than one time with the Attack command, and his Gigas Glove really boosts his damage with it. His special skill, Shock, is an MT non- elemental magical attack. This Kefka uses several attacks, including Attack, Poison, Drain, Bio, and Firaga. Strategy isn't really important, as you can't really lose this battle. If Leo is in the Front Row, his Attack command will do more damage than Shock. You can use Magicite Shards for miscellaneous effects, but it bears no purpose whatsoever and is just wasting resources. Once you 'kill' Kefka, he'll put on a nice show that stars Gestahl, and then he proceeds to actually murder general Leo Christophe. The next few scenes are not positive to your chances of making a positive action. All the remaining Espers bolt through the gate to attack Kefka, and he kills them all. He leaves you alive, but it's hinted at that he backstabbed Shadow as well. Thanks to Edgar, your party members were able to save themselves from imminent death, but Banon, Arvis, a lot of Narshe guards, and the majority of the Returners have apparently been killed in Vector, though. All in all, a rotten day. You leave Interceptor behind in Thamasa. Note that the levels of Cyan, Edgar, Sabin, Setzer, Gau and Celes are re-averaged, but not in the usual style of simply taking the average of all recruited characters. The new lowest level is the average of the levels of Terra, Locke, Strago, Relm and due to a bug, Mog, so they should be even more up to speed than they otherwise would be. In addition, if Gau was Leapt away on the Veldt prior to the whole shtick in the Cave to the Sealed Gate, he will now be back on the Blackjack. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.43.1 Airship Exploitation: Rage and Lore hunting ********************************** Lores: Doom, Dischord, Lv. 3 Confuse, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 5 Death, Transfusion, Roulette Traveler As soon as you find yourself outside of Thamasa, you'll want to board the Blackjack. A cutscene in which bad things happen is triggered. Gestahl and Kefka have reached the Warring Triad, and have apparently used them to set afloat the continent of the Cave to the Sealed Gate, creating a massive airborne weapon from which Gestahl can probably wreck havoc without fearing any kind of retribution. This is bad shit. Change to a party without Strago in it, and head back into Thamasa. You can find Gungho, an old acquaintance of Strago, near the Inn. The man does little but call Strago a 'monumental coward'. Nice. I am Gungho, Thamasa's most renowned monster hunter. I come back here for the first time in ages, and the place looks like it's been through a war! What in the world happened? Seems you're letting Strago fight with you, but I should warn you... the man's a monumental coward. Back when you were young, you tried so hard to hunt Hidon...but then you gave up and quit before you found him. Note: Ofcourse, that last line could be Gungho muttering to himself, imagining himself talking to Strago. However, since this dialogue was faulty in the SNES version, it's more likely this is just a screw-up. With Strago (you can head back, change, enter again): I am Gungho, Thamasa's most renowned monster hunter. I come back here for the first time in ages, and the place looks like it's been through a war! What in the world happened? Strago: G-Gungho!? Gungho: Oh, Strago! Have you come back to hunt Hidon? Gungho: You haven't changed a bit, have you? Back when you were young, you tried so hard to hunt down Hidon...but then you gave up and quit before you found him. Strago: I didn't quit! It's just... I sort of... I mean... The thing lives in Ebot's Rock, and after the place sunk, well... Gungho: Always have to make excuses, don't you? Gungho: You're pathetic! Now you're airborne and you're simply dying to stop the Emperor from doing nasty things with the Warring Triad, but there's no rush, and there are quite a few things to do right now. First, enjoy your massive pool of character options: Terra: Don't worry. I'm sure a peaceful future is right around the corner! Locke: We'll bring peace back to the world...no matter what! Cycan: I cannot forgive the Empire... Edgar: I'm not just sitting here playing games! ...I'm thinking up our next strategy! Sabin: Let me at the Empire! Celes: I may have served as a general to the Empire, but I still know evil when I see it. Strago: I traveled around the world, too, in my younger days... Relm: Hey! Do you want me to paint your portrait? Setzer: What's important to me...? Bah! If I were attached to things, I couldn't gamble! Mog: Kupoppo! Gau: Gau get stronger on the Veldt. The world is barren of Imperial activity. Vector and the Imperial Palace are completely deserted, and there are no soldiers in Albrook anymore. Albrook is rather overshadowed at the moment, as the Floating Continent is right above them. I don't see why they would want to linger there; if I had a floating landmass the size of Belgium floating over my head, I think I'd high-tail it to Germany before long. - More Lores. I'll explain how to get as many Lores as you can at this point of the game: - Doom Rummage around on the Veldt until Gau encounters and Leaps a Zombie Dragon. When you get Gau back, have him Rage Zombie Dragon. His special attack is Doom, and Strago will learn it if he's paying attention. Doom sets a timer over the target's head and uses an automatic unblockable Death spell if the timer runs out. Monsters can be immune to both Doom and (Instant) Death, mind. Rather useless. - Dischord Meet either a Chaser or a Satellite on the Veldt. Satellite will *always* use Dischord after he's taken nine turns, Chaser will use it randomly. Dischord is an attack that halves the target's level. If the target is immune to one-hit KO, Dischord will fail. The best use of Dischord lies in stealing; lowering an opponent's level increases your chances of stealing. - Lv. 3 Confuse Try to meet up with a Trapper (the hanging robots from the IMRF, remember). They will randomly and happily use Lv. 3 Confuse. If Gau already learned the Trapper Rage, Strago can learn it from the feisty kid. - Lv.4 Flare It's like with Lv. 3 Confuse, only you need to make sure that Lv. 4 Flare doesn't kill your entire party. - Lv. 5 Death Trappers, Trappers, Trappers, Trappers. And waiting. - Transfusion Make sure you have encountered at least one Intangir, and go Rage-hunting on the Veldt. When Gau learns the Intangir Rage, he can execute it to use Transfusion. Strago will learn it, although I can't see a use for it whatsoever. - Roulette Make sure you have Relm in your party for this one. Try to find Onion Knight enemies on the Veldt. If you Sketch one, there's a 75 % chance it will cast Roulette. Strago can watch and learn. Roulette basically lets the cursor spin around. If you hit the action button, it'll slow down and deliver an unblockable Death spell (targets that are immune to one-hit KO survive the attack). I'm sure you can get Roulette targeting down to a science, but it's not really worth it. - Traveler Fly over to South Figaro. You can take a walk there and enjoy the freedom of the town for a moment, but the real treat lies just outside of its borders. Unseelie, when confused, will somehow -- while drooling and flailing their arms around and being generally amusing to look at -- use the Traveler attack. Traveler is a brilliant attack with fixed damage. It's non-elemental, barrier- piercing, and the direct output of a simple mathematical formula: The damage you deal = Number of steps taken / 32 The amount of MP it costs you = Amount of minutes played / 30 In case you were wondering, whenever monsters use this attack they use YOUR amount of steps for it. That's hardly fair. It's like tax money, only they use it to spy on you rather than help your poor family members through the winter. Update: Hollywood Narrator gave me some information about US politics So, for US readers: It's like tax money! Also: new Rages! New monsters you'll want to Leap include Antares and Outcast. Below is the old list of monsters you're still interested in. Darkwind Break inherent Float Trillium Bio absorbs Water Alacran !Numb (Stop) Spritzer Blaze absorbs Lightning, inherent Float, Undead Oversoul W. o' the Wisp absorbs Poison, Undead Stray Cat !Cat Scratch Guard Leader Wind Slash Lesser Lopros Fireball inherent Float Mu Snare Templar Fira inherent Protect Cloud Thundara one-hit KO protection Satellite Sonic Boom inherent Float, one-hit KO protection Bomb Blaze absorbs Fire, inherent Float Anguiform Aqua Breath inherent Darkness Aspiran Gigavolt inherent Float Rock Wasp !Sleep Stinger inherent Float Veil Dancer Blizzara Gobbledygook Vanish Hill Gigas Magnitude 8 Litwor Chicken Quake Chimera Aqua Breath lots of status immunities, one-hit KO protection General Cura inherent Protect Magna Roader Bio inherent Haste Destroyer Reraise inherent Protect, one-hit KO protection Briareus Cyclonic Intangir Transfusion inherenst Invisible, Protect, Shell, Haste, Regen and Float, but you'll have to keep it from using the self-destructive Transfusion \ attack with Silence before Gau initializes the Rage Antares Magnitude 8 absorbs Fire Outcast Lifeshaver absorbs Fire and Poison, inherent Float, Undead There are not a lot of new monsters here, but you'll probably be here anyway, as you're hunting for Lores. Aren't you? You disturbed excuse of a human being. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.43.2 Airship Exploitation: Doma Castle ********************************** Container contents: Elixir, Hi-Ether, Phoenix Down, Prayer Beads, X-Potion Doma Castle! Doma Castle was occupied all this time, but back when Emperor Gestahl was punking you, you were very nice to him and he opened up Doma Castle for you. Doma Castle has generally little and valueless treasure for you. You can find a Hi-Ether, an Elixir in the alarm clock in a bedroom, an X-Potion in the room Cyan found his dead wife and son in, and when you go outside on one of the walls, you can find a little room with a Phoenix Down and some Prayer Beads. Prayer Beads were broken in all versions but the Advance one, so allow me to talk about them a bit: Prayer Beads give the character +20 % Evasion, which is a nice effect by itself. However, it goes on. When a physical attack is performed on a character with Prayer Beads, the hit rate of that attack is halved. Attacks that always hit due to a perfect hit rate or another circumstance will still always hit. Prayer Beads allow a character avoid a lot of physical hits this way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.44.1 Preparation for the Floating Continent ********************************** Now, I'm going to have to give you a spoiler, as otherwise I'd be constantly busy with trying to get you to do things while I can't explain why they're particularly useful. Here we go: After the next dungeon, you will NOT be able to visit this world again. So, if there are things you have yet to do -- obtaining the Water Harmony, meeting some snazzy elusive monsters, buying more weaponry -- this is the time. Stock up on Phoenix Downs, as they're always useful. I specifically want you to have four sets of Gaia Gear, and four Priest's Miters are nice as well. I'd like to direct you to Kohlingen now, as I want you to buy a good amount of Ninja scrolls. Maybe 40 Lightning Scrolls and 20 Flame Scrolls. You can laugh in the face of Water Scrolls, as they are useless. The entire deal of 60 new scrolls will just cost you 30000 Gil, which isn't that much. Also, tip for the future: if you have excess money at this point, you might consider buying a few Sakura blades, 10 or so. They make for excellent ST Wind-elemental Throw objects, the best there are. If you've been a good boy so far, check out the Bestiary under the Config menu option. Having followed this walkthrough, you should have filled the Bestiary for 33 %, possessing a solid block of exposed monsters from 1 (Guard) to 103 (Venobennu). If you miss one, I helpfully shift your attention to the Bestiary checklist in section 8.0. When you're done with whatever you want to do, go to the Floating Continent. Let's see here. As replacement for the Espers you stole from their Facility in Vector, the Empire, by the name of Kefka, has obtained a lot of new Magicite. Before long, this might be a real problem. The problem that is existent right now, though, is the fact that Gestahl is up there on his cozy Floating Island, with the power of three ancient gods at his disposal. He doesn't need Magicite, Magitek Armor, or honorable generals. All he needs is the wish to flail the flesh off your face with a thousand flaming arrows and urinate on the bloody ribbons of what once was your body, and so it shall be done. Eh, we can always try to stop him. We've got an albino who throws coins. Preparation: Whom to bring to the FC? It's hard to give proper advice concerning your party for the next round. First off, you can only take three. Second off, going easily through the majority of the dungeon is largely dependent on your Magic skills; the more prepared (especially with effect magic) the better. A few pointers (not at all meant to discuss every character): - Terra is a person who relies on Magic. When properly equipped, she can always make herself known on the battlefield. Plus, she has the uncanny ability to go all Rambo on monster's asses when she's in Trance. Definitely a solid contender, especially in boss battles. - Celes is, like Terra, a character who is decent in the dungeon and very good against the boss fights. Her Runic ability really helps at some point in the next dungeon, but as she is forced into your party at some point later in the dungeon anyway, bringing Celes means that you'll have to do an (admittedly easy) part of the dungeon with three characters rather than four. - Cyan, as always, should stay behind. He tended to be subpar, now he's just plain bad. He would have a moment against the IAF, as his Kazekiri blades make for great Wind Slash spammers, but after that, it's a never-ending quest of pain and misery. He can't even equip Gaia Gear. - Edgar can't equip Gaia Gear either, but he makes up for it with his Noiseblaster. A lot of opponents on the Floating Continent can be easily subdued with this Tool, including the source of Lifeshaver. Though chances are you still might get hit by the attack, it's not quite disastrous enough to warrant that much caution. Though full party Gaia Gear is nice and allows you to have Gau Rage Litwor Chicken for full-party healing, Edgar's MT Confusion move definitely isn't a bad idea. - Mog reigns supreme over all character, especially if you waited until now to pick him up and he's five levels above you. Make sure to allow him to learn at least Siren's spells to start with, though. - Should you take Mog, I would advise against Gau, as you don't want to lose control over two characters in the same party. His Rage ability makes for an unnecessary random factor anyway. - Locke is rather weak, a guy who needs dual Hawkeyes and a Gigas Glove if he's going to leave a mark. Fact of the matter is though, the next dungeon contains a monsters with a rare Genji Glove steal, something some people go absolutely wild for. And no, you won't find them anywhere else. It's really just a matter of preference. If pressed, I'd go for a Mog/Terra/ Locke party, but that's assuming they know some spells. It's up to you. Equipment example: - Note that Icebrand, Flametongue, and Thunder Blade are interchangeable, as are Green Berets and Priest's Miters. Green Berets give slightly more HP and Evasion while the Miters raise your MP and increase your Magic Evasion. I'd lean towards the Berets, but it's your choice. Terra Icebrand, Golden Shield, Mystery Veil, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Locke Hawkeye, Hawkeye, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Genji Glove, Thief's Bracer Edgar Blood Sword, Golden Shield, Green Beret, Golden Armor, Hero's Ring, Earring Sabin Burning Fist, Mythril Shield, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Cyan Kazekiri, Kazekiri, Green Beret, Power Sash, Hero's Ring, Genji Glove Gau Empty, Mythril Shield, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Hero's Ring, Earring Celes Thunder Blade, Golden Shield, Mystery Veil, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Setzer Darts, Golden Shield, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Mog Heavy Lance, Golden Shield, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Strago Thunder Rod, Mythril Shield, Green Beret, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring Relm Thunder Rod, Mythril Shield, Mystery Veil, Gaia Gear, Earring, Earring If you're all properly equipped, let's roll. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.44.2 Imperial Air Force ********************************** Opponents: Sky Armor (#104), Spitfire (#105), Typhon (#300), Ultros (#301), Air Force (#302), Laser Gun (#303), Missile Bay (#304), Bit (#305) Miscellaneous items: Debilitator (rare Missile Bay steal), Elixir (rare Spitfire steal), Princess Ring (guaranteed Air Force drop), X-Ether (rare Laser Gun steal) Monster formations: Sky Armor, Sky Armor, Spitfire (3/4) Sky Armor, Spitfire (1/4) Uh-oh! It's the Imperial air force! They've got us surrounded! We're going to have to engage them! So it seems you still haven't gone through every last one of the Imperial soldiers just yet. You'll have to fight four battles in succession now. Each battle can either consist of a single Spitfire and a single Sky Armor, or a Spitfire and two Sky Armors. It's always a forced pincer, but that's okay, as they have little damaging physical attacks to take advantage of it with. In between, you have some moments to use Items and whatnot. Then, you note how "There's something strange up ahead! It's coming this way!" You have to fight another two battles against the IAF. Then, Ultros hops off whatever it is that approached you, and his mere presence inspires you to pull out his brains through his nostrils. And if he doesn't have the latter, we can always make holes for that very purpose. Sky Armors are the weaker of the two. Normally, they simply use Magitek Laser or !Reverse Thruster, but if one is alone, he might even consider firing a Missile or two. Spitfires are the scourge of the LLG player. Every turn, he has a 33 % chance of using Absolute Zero, an MT Ice-elemental attack. If he's alone, he has a 33 % of using Diffractive Laser, an MT Lightning-elemental attack that is about half as effective as Absolute Zero is, so I don't know what's up with that. The strategy is very simple. Siren just stops these guys from doing any damage whatsoever (not counting Spitfire its Special), so make sure one of your characters has it. Summon Siren, listen to her Lunatic Voice, loot the buggers if you have Locke with you (rare Elixirs on Spitfire, and the common Ether isn't half bad either), and kill them all. Wind Song (home Dance!), Cyan's Kazekiri blades and Gau's Guard Leader Rage all offer a chance at Wind Slash, which kills all enemies (on both sides of you, that is). Strago, if he has access to Lv. 5 Death, should use it to take out any Spitfire monsters right away. Lv. 4 Flare affects Sky Armor, but that's probably far too expensive. It's worthy of note that the Spitfire, the proud top model of the Imperial Air Force, is not Floating. And we figured those Wyvern were bad. Ugh. "No, really! This is our last battle! Honest!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.44.3 The fourth fight with Ultros ********************************** Typhon Level: 26, HP: 10000, MP: 40000 Steal: Dagger (common) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Ice, Water Special: !Hit: sets Poison Sketch : !Hit, Attack Vulnerable to: Silence, Berserk, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, Fireball, Snort Ultros Level: 26, HP: 17000, MP: 8000 Steal: Dried Meat (common) Absorbs: Water, Weakness: Fire, Poison Special: !Octopus Ink: sets Dark, Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Octopus Ink (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, !Octopus Ink, Tentacle Note that you can't normally spin 7-7-7 in this battle. It's still possible to get ahold of the offensive Joker's Death by using the trick described at [SLOT-LINK]. Ultros is an absolute joke this time, with a very simple script and weak stats. He has three attacks: Attack, !Octopus Ink, and Tentacle, so we're back to basics. If he reaches 12800 HP -- that's about 5000 damage, something a Bio spell coming from a normally leveled Earrings-boosted Terra can do in ONE hit -- he will complain and call his buddy, Typhon. "Ultros: Looks like I lose again! But today I brought along a buddy of mine! Mr. Typhon! Come on down!!!" From here, he'll keep attacking like he used to, only he'll talk about the monstrosity now. "Ultros: He's not so great with words, but his strength'll blow you away! Heh- heh..." "Ultros: I'd try not to make him mad... He gets hungry when he's irritated." "Ultros: You know, just the other day I was taking a snooze, when he came along and decided to start gnawing on my head. Let me tell ya-the guy's got sharp teeth!" Typhon is nothing to worry about either. His attacks are unassuming, his stats fairly weak: Attack and Fireball are past their prime. When he dies, he'll use a final Snort attack on everybody. Gezondheid! Strategy? Psh. Summoning Phantom at the very start takes care of Attack and !Octopus Ink, and you can Berserk or Silence Mr. Typhon as soon as he comes down. You're invulnerable. Not that a normal Cure or Cura casting couldn't prevent any kind of danger, but...on the offensive side, Fira and Bio work very well on Ultros (yes, he suddenly traded his Lightning-weakness for a Poison one), and Typhon can suck down some Blizzara spells. It's just acceleration material though, as this is a very easy battle. Typhon sneezed you off the ship! And if he didn't, you probably tripped after completing that obscene victory dance of Vanish/Doom. You fall of the Blackjack, tumbling down towards the Floating Continent. It's like the Satanic Verses, only with less Jihad-inducing properties. Remember the five Magna Roader fights in a row, with their ultra-violent and dangerous gang leader at the end with two fully self-conscious and sentient arms? It's going to be like that again. The head of the IAF is a big machine thingy called Air Force. I wouldn't know if it's piloted or just a sentient machine or what; all I know is it's attacking me with very powerful spells I'm not too fond of. Let's take a look at him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.44.4 The battle with Air Force ********************************** Air Force Level: 25, HP: 8000, MP: 750 Steal: Elixir (common), Win: Princess Ring (always) Weakness: Lightning, Water Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Magiek Laser, Diffractive Laser, Wave Cannon Laser Gun Level: 24, HP: 3300, MP: 335 Steal: X-Ether (common) Weakness: Lightning, Water Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Magitek Laser, Diffractive Laser, Atomic Rays Missile Bay Level: 25, HP: 3000, MP: 7000 Steal: Debilitator (rare) Weakness: Lightning, Water Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Missile, Launcher Bit Level: 25, HP: 420, MP: 285 Steal: Amulet (rare) Weakness: Lightning, Water Status: Freeze, Runic Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: None The parts to this battle: Air Force, Laser Gun (the part to the right of Air Force), and Missile Bay (the dark red part below Air Force). In the SNES game, the Missile Bay was light grey like the Laser Gun. Why they decided to change *that* of all things will forever be a mystery. Missile Bay fires off Missile attacks. If it gets weak and reaches 1536 HP - that's after taking 1464 HP damage - it might get a shot at using Launcher. Laser Gun uses Magitek Laser and Atomic Rays. If it hits 1536 HP - after taking 1764 HP damage - it loses the Atomic Rays option, but gains Diffractive Laser, which is slightly weaker than Atomic Rays. Air Force itself will just use Magitek Laser and Diffractive Laser. When Laser Gun dies, a Bit will be released. Bit is an opponent that takes no turns; the only thing it does is floating on constant Runic stand-by, absorbing all your Magic spells. At this point, Air Force will try to self-apply Haste status (and fail, as he's immune to Slow) and start counting down: "COUNT:6" "COUNT:5" "COUNT:4" "COUNT:3" "COUNT:2" "COUNT:1" At this point, the Bit will leave the battlefield and Air Force will use Wave Cannon, a very strong MT Lightning-elemental attack. By this point, you should be fully healed though, so you won't die from it if all is well. After Wave Cannon, Air Force will launch another Bit and start counting again from 6. In old versions, the Bit remained and after the first time, Air Force would start counting from 3. Why the changes were implemented is anybody's guess; Bit doesn't absorb Wave Cannon whatsoever, so Bit's removal during Air Force's use of Wave Cannon is just weird. The first thing on your mind is taking out Missile Bay. If you have Locke in the party, try to Steal for as long as he's around; Missile Bay has a rare Debilitator you probably don't have yet. Zona Seeker is a brilliant summon here, as the Shell status can really help you out in this battle, and once Missile Bay is gone, you can safely summon Kirin to override all Sap effects with the positive Regen blessings. - If you have Terra on the time, I definitely believe Trance is justified in this battle, as it's one of the hardest in the game, in my opinion. Have her focus on her strongest spells, Thundara if possible. - The same goes for Celes; Runic isn't justified in the battle, as she'll take one Magitek Laser while she lets other attacks past her. - Gau should enter either Chimera or Destroyer Rage. Chimera's Aqua Breath hits quite hard on all targets, and it's superior to Anguiform because that would self-apply a weakness to Fire-elemental attacks in a battle where Atomic Rays might appear. Aspiran's Gigavolt will be absorbed by Bit once it arrives, so Chimera is definitely the way to go. Destroyer, on the other hand, will absorb Magitek Laser, Diffractive Laser and Wave Cannon while being immune to Missile and Launcher. If you have the time and manage to take out Laser Gun, Destroyer wins you the battle. - Locke's usefulness in this battle is limited. If he knows Thundara, he can do some decent damage, but if not you should let him run utility as otherwise his turns will be pretty much wasted (none of the opponents here are Floating; go figure). He can try to Steal if he has nothing better to do; Laser Gun's X-Ether is an extremely rare item in the game, and Missile Bay's Debilitator might prove useful if you didn't nick it from Crane earlier. - Sabin isn't especially helpful in this fight; Rising Phoenix is all he can do. If Sabin knows Thundara, it takes preference over his Blitz abilities. - The same goes for Edgar, although his Drill/Chainsaw attacks can take out a Bit very quickly. Thundara will do more damage to Air Force than his Tools will. - Setzer should fire off Slot attacks if he doesn't know Thundara. Dive Bomb and Mega Flare are more powerful than Thundara, but you're likely to mess around with Mysidian Rabbit and Prismatic Flash more than you'll see diving squadrons of death or the King of Dragons coming to your aid, so Thundara will be better to stick to. - Strago can simply fire off Aqua Breath attacks rather than Rage like a madman for it, so do just that. Aqua Breath is more powerful than Thundara, mind. If Strago is level 25 at this point, he can hit for a LOT of damage on Air Force, Bit and Missile Bay if Stone connects. - Cyan should use his Kazekiri blade(s), as his Bushido are horrible, absolutely horrible. A disgrace to the very essence of a special skill. - Relm's Sketch is even worse. If you can't use powerful Magic with her like Terra and Celes, she should equip a Thunder Rod and simply attack with it. She's a 10-year-old girl slapping a machine with a rod, but it's still superior to Sketch. - Mog's home dance here is the Wind Song. Wind Slash is decent and Sunbath always nice. If you feel like taking a gamble you can go for Water Harmony. El Niño and Plasma will both hurt VERY badly, and the Racoon has the added advantage of removing Sap (slim though that chance may be). Heal regularly, keep your defenses up, and you'll defeat Air Force in no time at all. If you're really having trouble, you can break Thunder Rods. Something to remember if you're playing the game blindfolded. Or simply blind. Poor lad. An alternate strategy if you picked three characters that all heavily rely on Magic (Locke, Relm, Celes, for example) is this. Since you want to avoid the presence of Bit here, don't kill Laser Gun. However, you can stop his attacks for long periods of time if you combine the Slow and Stop status ailments on it. Kill off Missile Bay, use your speed-reducing grey magic on Laser Gun and focus all spells on Air Force. No Bit, no Wave Cannon, no fuss. You'll get a Princess Ring for your trouble, which is about as useless as something you'd consider quite extraordinarily useless. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.1 The Floating Continent ********************************** Opponents: Brainpan (#106), Misfit (#107), Apocrypha (#108), Dragon (#109), Platinum Dragon (#110), Behemoth (#111), Ninja (#112), Gigantos (#306), Ultima Weapon (#307) Container contents: Beret, Murasame, Monster-in-a-box (Gigantos) Miscellaneous items: Angel Wings (rare Ninja steal), Angel Ring (rare Apocrypha steal), Elixir (common Ultima Weapon steal, rare Gigantos steal and guaranteed Ultima Weapon drop), Fuma Shuriken (rare Ninja drop), Genji Glove (rare Dragon steal), Hermes Sandals (rare Behemoth steal), Ribbon (rare Ultima Weapon steal), Sasuke (guaranteed Giganos drop) Lores: Lv. 3 Confuse, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 5 Death, 1000 Needles Welcome to the Floating Continent! The Floating Continent is one of the most fun and dangerous dungeons in the game, so if you're not enjoying it, I suggest you quit the game. ;) Kefka and Gestahl are standing with the Statues, sadly on the other end of the Floating Continent. You'd better high-tail it there as fast as possible, as who knows what they're about to do. On the other end, you're likely to die once you get there. But hey, you caused this mess, better try to clean it up as well. Shadow is waiting for you. Although to the untrained eye, it seems like Shadow is more or less 'severely wounded and unable to go anywhere else' rather then 'tricking you with awesome ninjutsu skills of yore'. At any rate, Shadow bears a personal grudge to the Empire, and goes with you to get his revenge. You also notice that Shadow can equip the Memento Ring, which would appear to have been a Relm-only Relic. Hmm. Important detail: Since Interceptor is in Thamasa, he obviously will NOT be defending Shadow in-battle at this moment. You can't go back to Thamasa and pick up Interceptor now that you know where his owner is at, either. Preparation: Equip Gaia Gear where possible, and stick everybody in the Back Row unless it's vital for their strategy (and quite frankly, I can't think of anybody fitting that profile but Gau, and even he should be in the Back Row and ignore his !Cat Scratch urges in favor of other ones). Make sure you have nice Espers on everybody, and set Shadow on his path of supportive Espers (I'd suggest you move from Siren to Catoblepas). Shadow's main power lies in his Scrolls now, so Earrings rather than Gigas Gloves. Monster formations: Ninja, Ninja (10/64) Brainpan, Misfit, Apocrypha, Brainpan (10/64) Dragon (6/64) Behemoth, Misfit, Misfit (6/64) Behemoth (5/64) Apocrypha, Misfit, Misfit (5/64) Apocrypha (5/64) Platinum Dragon, Platinum Dragon, Platinum Dragon (5/64) Apocrypha, Apocrypha, Apocrypha (5/64) Brainpan, Brainpan, Brainpan (5/64) Behemoth, Behemoth (1/64) Ninja, Ninja, Platinum Dragon (1/64) Note that this is the only dungeon that handels monster formation encounters somewhat differently. When the game determines you'll fight a monster formation based on the usual roster (four possible monster formations with one rare 1/16 encounter), it actually makes another check to make you fight any one out of four possible formations. This raises the least common denominator for formation odds from 16 to 64 as it were, since within the normally rare 1/16 encounter, the odds are again 1 in 4 you'll find one of the four formations within that 1/16 chance, resulting in a 1/64 chance. You've met a Ninja earlier, in the Cave to the Sealed Gate. What went down then still goes down here. They use one of the three ninjutsu Scrolls and very rarely use a normal Attack. Lightning-elemental attacks get them very quickly, as do one-hit KO attacks. You can Imp them, but they'll still be able to use the Scrolls (Imps can still use Items, or any attack which doesn't use MP). Rarely they will drop a Fuma Shuriken, which are upgraded Shuriken. Save them for later. Apocrypha are odd little demon-buggers who attack physically only, until there's only one left. A lone Apocrypha will counter any damage you do with Lv. 5 Death, Lv. 4 Flare, or Lv. 3 Confuse. Ideal for Strago if he hasn't learned all of those attacks yet, but annoying on your party. Try to circumvent the possibility by taking Apocrypha out first (or all at the same time). If you find yourself stuck against a lone Apocrypha, Break and other one-hit KO attacks can kill it without provoking any kind of counter in any way, and an even better way of doing that is the Rasp spell, as reducing Apocrypha's MP to 0 kills him. Silence/Lunatic Voice also works. You can rarely Steal Angel Rings from them. Behemoths are legendary Final Fantasy monsters, and in this dungeon they may just be the most dangerous monsters you can encounter, especially so because they can appear in tandem. This means two Behemoths in one fight. They tend to use physical attacks, but their Special !Beatdown is very strong. If they are alone (which they often are), they'll counter any damage you do by having a 66 % chance at countering with !Beatdown. Luckily, you can use Petrification and other one-hit KO attacks to go around this. They're weak to Ice, and Blizzara will deal a nice amount of damage, but KO attacks like Death, Catoblepas' Demon Eye, and Gau's Mu Rage-induced Snare are by far the easiest way out of an encounter with Behemoth monsters. If you are forced to fight them head-on, you're in slightly more trouble, but it still can be done with relative ease. If you have Vanish around or Phantom equipped, make everybody invisible before attacking. Heal regularly. Blizzara is a powerful spell on them, and Strago's Lv. 4 Flare is especially fruitful here. Brainpan monsters are bloody annoying. They randomly Stop one of your characters with !Smirk, and when they are alone, they will use 1000 Needles, an attack that will always deal 1000 HP of damage. Strago can learn it if he's around. The proper way of treating them is mass attack: They are weak to Fire and Lightning, so Shadow's Scrolls should severely cripple them in a small amount of time. Try to Steal some Earrings if Locke is around; any amount lower than 24 is a bad amount. Brainpan are also nice for Sketching, by the way, as both !Smirk and 1000 Needles will be unhappily received at the other end of the battlefield. Dragon! Dragons are even more dangerous than Behemoths, when left unattended. They're also very famous for being the only source of Genji Gloves besides those that chests and events give you (which is often not enough to satisfy some players). If you run into one, your first action should be disabling him, as his attacks include !Tail (which is his Special and will likely kill you), Revenge Blast (with a maximum HP of 7000, that can become very painful), Snowstorm and Freezing Dust, an attack that will Freeze one character solid and disable it. Every time a Dragon has been damaged, it'll have a 33 % chance of using Snort. There's danger all around here, and they're immune to one-hit KO attacks. To handle them, cast either Sleep or Stop on them, possibly both, and try to shave off as much HP while he's incapacitated. He's weak to Lightning, so Thundara, Gigavolt (although you'll probably want to lay off Rages against Dragon as the random physical attack will wake him up), and Lightning Scrolls work very well. If Locke or Shadow with one or two Thief's Knives is in the party, Steal from every Dragon you encounter. Even one extra Genji Glove is nice. Misfits are Outcast palette swaps, and once again, they are inSilencable bastards that use Lifeshaver. Luckily, at this point, you should be entirely clothed in Gaia Gear no matter what you did, and Edgar and Setzer should just keep themselves healed. They're weak to Fire, which is a great plus over the original Outcast, so take advantage of that. Break and Rasp both kill Misfit in one hit when they connect (Break sometimes misses). Platinum Dragon is the last random encounter monster we'll see in this dungeon. Imagine Wyvern, Floating, with a very high amount of Defense. That's basically it. The trick to defeating them easily is turning them on each other. Noiseblaster and Cait Sith's Cat Rain will make them randomly use Cyclonic on each other, after which you can simply pick them apart with any ol' MT attack you have. If you lack MT confusion devices, you can try to Sketch them if Relm is around for Cyclonic, or simply use one-hit KO attacks on one at a time. They CAN use Cyclonic themselves when they're alone, so keep that in mind. Catoblepas's Demon Eye can take care of them all if you have him equipped, although he might miss sometimes. Pick up Shadow, and after some "I am not worthy" dialogue he will join your party for the time being. Note that bringing Shadow along is entirely optional, although not bringing him is just not very smart. Walk to the right, and a passageway will automatically open for you. This is a theme in the dungeon; a lot of passageways will open or have to be opened. Walk on and you'll open another passage. Now, you'll come across a blue orb to the north of you; these are the Floating Continent's version of chests. Open it for the Murasame, which does NOT live up to its name in this game and should not be equipped, as Fang is better than any Attack you'll pull off with it. Should you have brought Cyan and find yourself using nothing but Bushido anyway, the Murasame's 10 % Evasion boost is nice. Now, you'll encounter again what seems like a dead end. To the north, a stairway will open into a bulge in the landscape, and to the south, one will open towards a blue orb if you near it. You'll want to grab the blue orb first, but not until after you've finished at least one battle and have summoned Phantom to open this orb with an invisible team. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.2 Gigantos and the Floating Continent continued ********************************** Gigantos Level: 25, HP: 6000, MP: 1120 Steal: Elixir (rare), X-Potion (common), Win: Sasuke (always) Status: Protect Special: !Throat Jab: Attack x 5 Sketch : !Throat Jab (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Imp, Petrify, KO, Doom, Silence, Berserk, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Throat Jab You see, the blue orb holds the monster-in-a-box Gigantos, a purely physical fighter that can kill Front Row character in one go with !Throat Jab. Gigantos will start the battle off with THREE !Throat Jab attacks, and continue to switch between Attack and !Throat Jab while countering any damage you do with two Attacks and a !Throat Jab. That's a lot of physical damage. If you self-applied the Invisible status like I advised, you're invulnerable in this fight. If you're fighting him, one-hit KO attacks work best. Lv. 5 Death offs him easily, as do Break, Catoblepas's Demon Eye, Snare (Mu Rage), and Death. You can, of course, toy with him a little bit; try to steal his rare Elixir or common X-Potion. He's vulnerable to Stop as well, so for ensured victory, you can use a Stop/Death combo if you're evil enough. For all your trouble, you get a Sasuke blade, a stronger weapon for Shadow without the Assassin's Dagger's one-hit KO property. Since you should not be using Attack at all, I recommend sticking to your current blade, which should be either the Thief's Knife or Assassin's Dagger. Now, enter the bulge, which will swallow you and deliver you at another point in the dungeon. Go down and you'll come across an odd stone that you need to stand on to proceed. The landmass will expand, allowing you to cross where your path was previously impeded. Just walk over to the other side of this part, as there's only one way that gets you anywhere (another bulge you need to enter). The bulge delivers unto you a decision when you arrive and notice two new bulges. The right one takes you nowhere, so the left one it is. Left = right, what a world. The new delivery point immediately features a new stone to step on, so you do that. It lowers some part in front of you, but you can't reach that now. Go back and find the other stone waiting for you. You'll need to activate the obvious stepping-stone for another obvious obstacle, see. Continue and now you can reach the lowered part. Walk on and on, to the left, down, right and then northwards until you reach yet another stepping-stone. It'll reveal a familiar bulge, but before you enter it, you should go down the stairway below you for a Save Point and open the blue orb to the right of you, which contains a Beret. The Beret is a nifty helmet for Relm that increases her Sketch success, allowing her to be entirely useless with it more often than before. I'd stick to the Mystery Veil. If you're done, continue. You'll be asked if you want to return to the Blackjack now. There's no real reason to unless you're really out of resources, as at this point, you've almost completed the dungeon, and should you return to the Blackjack and fly up to the Floating Continent again, you'll have to do the entire dungeon again. Plus, Shadow will leave here and won't return to your party until you're back on the FC, where he will be waiting in the same spot as he was when you found him there for the first time (although he will be brooding rather than suffering face- down). If you do decide to hop off, remember that Shadow will take the equipment and Esper he has on him with him. Pressing on opens another pathway, where a beast is waiting for you. A beast created long, long ago, during the War of the Magi. A beast of mass destruction. A beast of pure power. Ultima Weapon. Before you fight him, have somebody cast Float on those in your team that lack Gaia Gear if possible (Gau, as always, can self-inflict it), equip Heiji's Jitte on Setzer if he's on your team and equip Reflect Rings, if that's possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.3 The decisive battle with Ultima Weapon ********************************** Ultima Weapon Level: 37, HP: 24000, MP: 5000 Steal: Ribbon (rare), Elixir (common), Win: Elixir (always) Status: Float Special: !Full Power: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Full Power (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, !Full Power, Fira, Bio, Flare, Graviga, Quake, Tornado, Rasp, Mind Blast, Flare Star, (enemy) Meteor, Blaze Ultima Weapon is quite a challenge. Not quite as disgustingly horrible as Air Force, but you could maim the two cannons off Air Force and he'd be at your mercy as long as you had something to do about Speck. Ultima Weapon starts like a rather tough monster, and as he has the most HP of any normal monster so far (Intangir excluded), he'll be quite the little troublemaker. His normal battle script from the start consists of saying: "My name is Ultima... I am power both ancient and unrivaled... I do not bleed, for I am but strenght given form... Feeble creatures of flesh... Your time is nigh!" and then simply pound your character into submission with Attack, Flare, and Blaze. Flare is a snazzy new spell you're probably not familiar with yet. Flare is non-elemental and barrier-piercing, yet can be protected from with Reflect Rings and the like. This is, until he reaches 12800 HP, at which point he'll start casting Bio, Quake, or (enemy) Meteor, use either Attack or !Full Power, use an MT Fira spell, and end with Mind Blast. Mind Blast is an MT attack that randomly selects a character four times and sets on them one randomly selected status ailments out of the following possibilities: Darkness, Zombie, Poison, Imp, Petrify, Doom, Silence, Berserk, Confuse, Sap, Sleep, Slow, and Stop. If a character is never chosen, he won't be affected by the spell; if a character was randomly selected three times, he'll get three randomly selected status ailments set on him. As you can imagine, you can come away from this attack with relatively minor damage, or with some fairly severe damage. It might be a good idea to summon Unicorn if you have it after Mind Blast has been used. Due to a GBA-exclusive bug, you can circumvent all effects from this attack by equipping a Relic which protects against Imp (such as the White Cape) or gaining Imp immunity with a Rage. It should've still applied other status ailments in that case, but it doesn't. After Mind Blast, Ultima Weapon will get even stronger. The message "Focusing energy" will appear, and Ultima Weapon will give himself Protect, Shell, and Haste status and glow an eerie yellow. He'll wait for his next turn and glow yellow again. That next turn, he'll glow yellow for a long time, some cogwheels will spin (as the hobby assembly enthusiast, I wonder how the hell they did that), and Ultima Weapon will use the move Flare Star. Flare Star is a neat attack. It's fire-elemental and its damage depends on YOUR level. It multiplies the level of a random party member by 80 and splits the damage by the amount of characters you have. So, if you have a four-headed party, all level 25, the damage will be 500 per party member. After Flare Star, he basically starts over again with Bio/Quake/(enemy) Meteor, etc. When you knock him below 6144 HP, he'll start using another set of spells: Attack, Graviga, Tornado, Rasp, and Blaze. Every time he is damaged in this stage, he'll have a 33 % chance of countering the attack with Flare. He'll keep this up until he dies. You can basically do two things here. In both scenarios you'll want your party covered in Reflect Rings. Celes shouldn't need to use Runic until the final stage of Ultima Weapon when he gains the ability to cast Graviga, as that can be absorbed by Celes' Runic blade yet flies past Reflect Rings. If a lot of your characters know the Rasp spell (say, three or four), you could try to Rasp his 5000 MP down to 0 and kill him that way. It will take longer than HP violence will, but if you just stick with attacking his MP, he'll never leave the 'safe' area of using Attack, Flare and Blaze, with which Zona Seeker and Reflect Rings means easy victory. Even without those two, it'll be easier on you to handle it than the HP violence will. If you decide to just smack him to death with your ouchies, beware. Start the battle off with Zona Seeker to soften the blow of his magical attacks. Make staying alive priority one: Flare can do over 600 damage, so be prepared for a Flare spell at all times if you're not covered in Reflect Rings. Cast Slow on him to slow him down. Try to steal a Ribbon with Locke, and if Edgar is in your party and he can use a Debilitator; use it until you've nailed a nice weakness to something you can exploit. Exploit it. If he uses Mind Blast, cure the most dangerous status ailments and proceed. If the message "Vast energy focused" appears, use Dispel to remove the positive status effects (and cast Slow again). Basically, it's a story of heal first and damage later. Terra, Celes, and Relm should just use their level 2 spells (Blizzara is, by a very slight margin, the strongest of the three). Have Locke steal until he has acquired either an Elixir or a Ribbon, and use Hawkeyes to fight with for the duration of the fight. Edgar can use Drill and Sabin Aura Cannon for superior damage. Mog's Dance is up for debate. The Earth Blues is the home Dance, so it will never fail, and it also has the most damaging attack of all of Mog's attacks: Rock Slide. The Water Harmony, on the other hand, has a more constant damage output, as both El Niño (most common attack) and Plasma (2nd most common attack) will work. In contrast, Earth Blues' Sonic Boom will fail whenever it's used. I'm leaning toward Earth Blues myself, but it's more a matter of personal preference. Setzer will probably want to stick to Gil Toss. Even with double Earrings, his level 2 spells are inferior to Gil Toss and his Slots aren't very useful in this fight. Prismatic Flash can't compare to Gil Toss, Chocobo Stampede misses entirely due to Ultima Weapon's inherent Float and the other attacks are too rare to consider an option. Cyan's Flurry out-damages Fang, so try to have other characters attack while you wait for Flurry to load. It might be safer, if you're less experienced, to simply stick to Fang and have him run utility work if that's necessary. If you seriously brought Cyan for some reason I expect you to have taught him at least one level 2 spell; with one Earring, a level 2 spell will outdamage Fang. Strago's Aqua Breath attack is the strongest he'll be able to do. If you equipped Reflect Rings, his White Wind move will be very nice to have around. Traveler might be stronger than Aqua Breath, but it should also be much more troublesome on your MP. Try it out and see what hurts more in your case. An added benefit of Aqua Breath, by the way, is it's dual-elemental nature; if you brought Edgar, there's a double chance Strago can exploit the Debilitator- induced weakness with the attack. Gau's best choices are probably either Ninja (Water Scroll), Chimera (Aqua Breath), Bomb (Blaze) or Outcast (Lifeshaver). Ninja is the strongest offensively, but you probably didn't go back to pick it up. Outcast is very defensive; since it makes Gau absorb Fire-elemental attacks, it's inherently Floating and gives the Undead property, Outcast will protect against Fira, Bio, Quake, Blaze, Flare Star and (due to a bug) all the effects of Mind Blast. If you have level 2 spells on Gau, I'd advise you to use Magic rather than Rages in this battle, as the level of control will be nice to have and with all the Attacks Gau uses, damage output will be higher overall. After Ultima Weapon has been defeated, you get an Elixir for beating him. Shadow will leave you, taking his equipment with him, and it will only take you five steps to come face to face with Emperor Gestahl and Kefka. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.4 Kefka's Betrayal ********************************** Before your eyes, Gestahl absorbs more and more of the power of the Warring Triad. Celes will arrive if you didn't bring her, and in both cases, she will be spared from Gestahl's paralyzing spell, as Gestahl has an offer to make. Even after all this time collaborating with the Returners, he is still willing to allow her to return to his side. It certainly looks like the winning party, but Celes decides differently. In other words: DIS! Celes uses the sword given to her to stab Kefka. The desired effect (death) does not take place, however. Kefka, in a fit of rage, rushes into the field in the middle of the Goddesses and commands them to give him power. Nothing happens. Kefka repeats the statement. The Warring Triad glows a little, about as enthusiastic about the job as a McDonald's employee on Mondays. Gestahl starts shouting about actually reviving the statues; according to Gestahl, reviving is bad. It was Kefka's plan all along though, so what gives? It's at this point that Gestahl realizes that he cannot have Kefka around; his practical use is over now that Gestahl has everything he lusted for, and the man is simply unstable. But when Gestahl tries to use the awesome power the Warring Triad has bestowed upon him, nothing happens. The field of the Warring Triad absorbs all Magic sent their way (even Meltdown, which is unRunicable!). Kefka gains control over the slowly reviving gods and commands them to unleash their power on Gestahl. They do. Emperor Gestahl, your most important enemy throughout the game, dies. After that, Kefka does the unthinkable. Strago warned you earlier about the Warring Triad. Move them from their spot, and this world they partly created will go haywire. At this time, Shadow arrives! Eager to deliver a payback from getting back-stabbed (and maybe even feeling guilty of being the tool of the Empire), he rushes in and traps Kefka between the field of the Statues. The paralyzing spell on your party members is lifted, and it's time to run. Recap: Celes stabs Kefka in his body. He reacts by swearing and killing Gestahl, much like how Bush responded to unaligned terrorist threats by going after Iraq. Kefka than proceeds to fuck everything up by moving the statues. Shadow arrives to stop him and tells you to get away; the Floating Continent is going down. Celes and co. run off while Shadow sacrifices himself to save the planet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.5 Escape from the Floating Continent ********************************** Opponents: Naude (#113), Nelapa (#308) Container contents: Elixir Lores: Doom, Roulette Monster formations: Naude (always) You have six minutes, 6:00, to get off the Floating Continent. Goddess energy naturally takes on the form of monsters, and you have to plow through these newly born entities to reach the end (which is also the landing point of a particularly big sparkle, AKA a particularly powerful new creature). Preparation: You're still covered in Reflect Rings if you listened to my advice. Keep them on! If Celes joined your party just now, give one to her as well. The Reflect Rings protect from the Blizzara spell the Naude enemies cast, and it will be nice to have against the boss here as well. Shadow's equipment has been added to your inventory. Naude enemies are a pain because they take time to defeat and you can't run from them. They're about wasting time, and they're fairly competent at it. Their attacks include Attack, !Hit, Blizzara, Snowstorm and Freezing Dust. Sadly, they can use Freezing Dust on the first turn, disabling a character. If you hit them with a Magic spell, they have a 33 % shot at using Silence. A largely useless alternative, though this Naude-only Silence attack will not bounce from Reflective targets, nor can it be absorbed by Celes' Runic blade. When you Imp them, their next turn will be spent on de-Imping themselves and using Flee. Keep in mind that when you always use the Imp spell to make them run, you'll never get their listing in the Bestiary, so beat one down at least once. Since Celes is a mandatory character and she'll be above level 14 unless you were really going for an LLG, she'll know Imp. I suggest you use it. If Celes if frozen beforehand and nobody else knows the Imp spell, just take advantage of Naude's weakness to Fire, Lightning, and Holy. Lv. 4 Flare works on him as well, so if Strago is around, he'll be able to do quite some damage with it. Sprint Shoes are great in any situation with a timer; while you shouldn't need them, they cut back the time you spend walking. Walk on, and the ground will crack underneath you. You'll make a surprised jump and can continue. Behind you, the part you just walked on falls off. Dangerous shit, this dungeon! Walk on, another crack, another part breaks off behind you. Walk on. Another crack. If you go to the featureless part below you now, a small part will come off. You'll want to press on, though. You now reach for a small plateau with a blue orb on it, but when you get near it the ground cracks beneath you. Should you now simply continue, the part you'll need to reach the blue orb will fall off. Go around the gap here so you can grab the treasure: an Elixir. Now you'll see the big sparkle: go over to it and prepare yourself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.45.6 The battle with Nelapa and Exit ********************************** Nelapa Level: 26, HP: 2800, MP: 280 Absorbs: Fire, Nullify: Poison, Wind, Earth, Water Weakness: Ice, Lightning, Holy Status: Reflect, Float Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit (rare), Attack (common) Vulnerable to: KO, Doom, Berserk, Confuse, Stop Attacks: Attack, Fira, Firaga, Doom, Roulette, Fireball The big sparkle's name is Nelapa. He gets 10 out of 10 for style, but minus one billion for good thinking. I mean, here you are, with a timer quickening your pace, and he thinks it's a good idea to cast Doom on the party. It's like: "If I give them TWO timers simultaneously, they'll have to move TWO times as fast!" If this is what Japanese logic is all about, I fail to see how they even managed to make this game work. Then again, it *is* the most bugged game currently mapped, so I guess that still doesn't say much. To prove my point, the battle with Nelapa (or a Naude) will automatically terminate as soon as the global timer hits 0:04 seconds; enough time to still dive from the Floating Continent to "safety". You won't be able to wait for that special someone during those few moments, though... Anyway, being a pompous annoyance "Mwa-ha-ha... You thinkg I'm going to let you escape?" and after casting Doom on the party, he will now try to attack you. I very much doubt he won't be looking like a kitten that just came out of your microwave at this point, but let's give this guy some credit and assume that he's still standing. He can use Attack, Fira, Firaga, and Fireball. Very spooky. Firaga actually hurts a bit. Now HERE'S a hoot: If you hit Nelapa with six Attack commands, he'll use Roulette. Next to the fact that Roulette can actually take Nelapa himself down, the mere thought that Nelapa could even survive six Attacks is laughable by itself. You'd need a Healing Rod or a rat-flail or something in order to pull that off. Anyway, back to not insulting this guy into submission (although you could). He's weak to Lightning AND Ice AND Holy. He's also Floating. Just make sure you keep in the back of your mind this guy is inherently Reflective, which means you'll need to resort to your skills and summon attacks. There are literally hundreds of ways to off this guy, and they're all very easy. Gau's Mu Rage can enSnare him for a one-hit KO, as can a fatal Chainsaw attack. Bouncing a few Rasp spells off yourself will kill him. Bouncing a Death spell off yourself will kill it. You can confuse him; you don't get any more pathetic than that. Just use your strongest attacks, be it Gigavolt, or Aura Cannon, or Diamond Dust, or what have you. Nelapa has 2800 HP. If you played your cards right, you were doing 2800 in one attack back there against Ultima Weapon. Once you've beaten Nelapa, you can walk over to the edge and the Blackjack will appear under you. The airship's below. Jump! Wait. But Shadow is still back there! If you choose to Jump!!, the entire Floating Continent will come crashing down with Shadow on it and you will never, ever see him again. If you choose to Wait!!, you'll do nothing and you'll get the option Jump! Gotta wait for Shadow... every time you walk up the ledge. You'll want to keep standing there. He might still show up. And he does, once the timer hits 0:04 Shadow will appear, make a smart remark in the middle of the Tempest of Destruction and Doom you find yourself in, and will jump down on the Blackjack with you. If you were goofing off in the menu during 0:04 he still appears if you get out of it between 0:04 and 0:01, but if you wait until time runs out you're just going down. So, Shadow was going to sacrifice himself to save the planet. Only: a) he doesn't sacrifice himself and b) the planet isn't saved. In the next cutscene, a lot of bad things happen. Congratulations. You try to rally in the Esper troops from behind the Sealed Gate; you send them on a murderous rampage. You try to talk peacefully to them; you deliver them straight to Kefka. You try to stop Gestahl; you destroy the world. A competent bunch of heroes, these Returners. Real smart. Planet: I'm apocalypsing! As a side note, all equipment from all characters is now de-equipped, but due to a bug you now receive the equipment of the generic Moogle Cosmog, one of the Moogles that helped you rescue Terra way in the beginning. This means you win a Boomerang and a Buckler. For free! So, you know, it's not all bad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.46.1 Intermezzo; The Solitary Island ********************************** Rise and shine, commander. Rise and shine. Opponents: Peeper (#116), Land Ray (#)119, Black Dragon (#121) Miscellaneous items: Elixir (rare Peeper steal), Megalixir (rare Land Ray steal) No words can be used to describe the blasphemy of Kefka's act. By moving the Statues he has shaken the very foundations of this world; earthquakes, tremors, eruptions and floods ensued. While trying to escape the Floating Continent, the Blackjack was torn apart from under your feet. Celes Chere, ex-General of an Empire that may not even exist anymore, wakes up in a dirty shack. One year has passed the face of time; by a stroke of coincidence the person who found her and took care of her was none other than the person who did so during her Imperial-flavored youth: Cid. Cid himself, now, seems weakened and doesn't seem to possess much will to carry on whatsoever. The entire population of the island has either passed away or has killed themselves, so Celes takes it on herself to take care of him for a while; at least it will keep the ghosts of the past away. Preparation: Celes is entirely unequipped, so you should help her out a little in said regard. As far as Relics go, make sure she is equipped with either an Amulet or Ribbon, as one of the monsters on the Solitary Island uses !Bone- Powder, which turns a character into a Zombie. This is an instant Game Over if it hits, so protect yourself from it. Monster formations: (Wastelands) Peeper, Peeper (10/16) Peeper, Peeper, Peeper (6/16) (Desert) Land Ray, Peeper, Peeper (10/16) Black Dragon (6/16) Peepers are silly buggers that don't so much classify as monsters as they do dying animals on a rotten world. With 1 HP and inherent Sap status, they more likely than not will perish before they make a move. If they do manage to take a turn, it's either Attack, !Tail (Attack * 1.5), or White Wind, for which Peepers don't have enough MP. Land Ray only has one attack: !Poison Tail, which sets Poison. However, Land Ray shares the fate of Peeper: 1 HP, inherent Sap. Wandering into the desert without an Amulet or Ribbon is incredibly stupid, so !Poison Tail shouldn't affect you. The Black Dragon is the only actual opponent with a fighting chance on the island. The first turn can already feature Sandstorm; the second turn Sandstorm and !Bone Powder. Sandstorm is the thing to watch out for; Celes is by her lonesome, so she takes quite some damage here. You can instantly defeat Black Dragon by casting a Raise spell on him. Personally I don't consider it a shadowy tactic when the undead monster in question lacks Death protection (like Black Dragon), but if you don't want to go for it, you can cast Stop on him (perhaps combined with Slow so that it really takes its sweet time to wear off) and pound on him in the meantime with Fira. Note: Peepers have a rare Elixir steal and Land Ray have a rare Megalixir steal. Right now, this is of no consequence, as you can't steal; later I'll point it out again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.46.2 Intermezzo; Saving Cid ********************************** Now, you'll have to watch out for Cid's health. There's a hidden health bar for the guy, which you need to maintain. If you manage to take it up to 256, Cid becomes permanently healthy; if you allow it to drop down to 30, he will die. Here's how it goes down: Cid's health starts at 120. Every second you spend in any place that isn't the Overworld Map, Cid will drop his health bar down by 1. On the beach, there are fish you can catch. You can simply try to grab them when they come near the tiles you can stand on. There are four types of Fish: Fish (A delicious fish) (fast) - Increases Healthy bar by 32 when fed to Cid. Fish (An ordinary fish) (medium) - Increases Healthy bar by 16 when fed to Cid. Fish (A foul-tasting fish) (medium) - Decreases Health bar by 4 when fed to Cid. Fish (A fish) (slow) - Decreases Health bar by 16 when fed to Cid. All of these are Rare items. Once you've captured a kind of Fish, there's no way to get rid of it other than feeding it to Cid. The effects of the Fish you have caught are cumulative; if you have captured (A fish), (A foul-tasting fish), and (A delicious fish), Cid will gain (-16 - 4 + 32 =) 12 points of health. 231 - 255 I can feel my strength returning. 201 - 230 Celes... Thank you for taking caring of me like this, day after day... 161 - 200 *cough*... I'm starting to feel a lot better. 121 - 160 *cough*... *hack*... I just can't seem to shake this thing... 91 - 120 I'm afraid...I may not be long for this world... 61 - 90 No matter what happens to me...you mustn't lose hope! *cough*... *wheeze*... 31 - 60 *cough*... *hack*... Celes...while I can still talk, I...*cough*... want to...*wheeze* ...thank you...*gasp*! 0 - 30 This is the end for me... Whether or not Cid lives or dies has little impact other than, you know, it's Cid who lives or dies and Celes who reacts to it. Regardless of your efforts, Celes will get off the island fairly quickly: ----- Cid lives ----- After you've surpassed the 256 limit on Cid's Health bar, he's been successfully saved from death, he'll say: "I'm all better now! Thank you, Celes!" and leave the bed. Celes: What is it? Cid: Celes... I finally finished the little project I've been working on at night. Go on downstairs and take a look! At this point, you can indeed take the look Cid urges you to take. It's a raft! Celes: Granddad... Cid: Celes... You have to leave this place. I'm sure your friends are still alive somewhere, waiting for you! Celes: ...I know they are. I'll go. But I'll be back! And I'll bring them all back to see you! Cid: You bring that Locke fellow, too, now, you hear? (Switch to the beach, where Celes has dragged the raft to. She waves Cid goodbye and leaves the island) ----- Cid dies ----- After you've hit 30 or below and Celes is in the room, Cid will say "This is the end for me...". If you enter the room with Cid's health at 30 or below, Cid will be dead. (Cid:) ... Celes: Granddad... You have to eat, or... Wh-what's the matter? Granddad... Celes: Cid... Celes: No! ...No!!! You promised you'd stay here with me! Celes: Granddad, answer me! Tell me you're just joking! (Celes flees the cabin, crying. Slowly, she crosses the Overworld map to a cliff to the north, which you could enter earlier. Here, she finds a lifeless bird. By examining it, a memory of Cid arises) Cid: The other people who were here with us all gave up hope... One after the next, they flung themselves from the northern cliffs in despair... Celes: Everyone's gone... Even Locke... There's nothing left for me in this world. Celes, closing her eyes, hesitates a moment. Then, she throws herself off the cliff. In the American SNES version, Ted Woolsey was forced to make Celes' moment here a 'leap of joy'. What you're seeing here though, is Celes giving it all up and trying to commit suicide. Celes comes to at the same beach she used to catch fish on. A bird is beside her. Celes: Uhhhn... Were you watching over me? Why would you want to help someone like me? I've already given up hope... Celes: This bandana... It couldn't be...! Celes: Hey, little bird... Where'd you come from? Is the person who wrapped your wound still alive? Please, tell me...! (The bird flies off) Celes: He's alive... Locke's alive! If you go inside Cid's shack now, you'll find a letter on the ground. By examining it, you'll learn it says: You must leave this island. Somewhere out there, your friends are waiting for you. Go down the stairs by the stove. The road to your freedom awaits... Love, Granddad After pulling the raft from its resting place, Celes stands on the beach and laments. Celes: I'll make you proud of me, Granddad... (Off she goes.) - The debate over Cid's life is surprisingly adamant when you take into consideration that it doesn't really affect gameplay. Most people tend to think letting Cid die is the best way out of the situation; not only is catching fish a tedious enterprise, the consequences of Cid's demise give depth to the character of Celes. Others try to keep him alive for the sole reason that he is one of the major NPCs and this game's Cid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.47.1 The World of Ruin ********************************** Opponents: Fafnir (#114), Killer Mantis (#115), Peeper (#116), Murussu (#117), Gigantoad (#118), Land Ray (#119), Luna Wolf (#120), Black Dragon (#121), Rukh (#122) Miscellaneous items: Elixir (rare Peeper steal), Megalixir (rare Land Ray steal) Staying on an island with nothing but sickly animals to keep you company is not what anybody would consider leading a rich and fulfilling life. It's time to see how badly this world has turned out; if the Empire is still standing with Kefka leading it, if any of that rogue squadron of Returners has survived; in other words, if there is still hope. Preparation: You can take your Zombie-protection off now if you want. Replace it with something that protects against Petrify for now (Ribbon or Jeweled Ring will do). Try to apply the Invisible status ASAP as it protects you from anything if you're smart. Since the enemies here are actually worth a damn, you'll want to equip a Morning Star and move to the Back Row if the whole Vanish thing isn't working out for you for whatever reason. You wake up near Albrook. You can go in right away, but for now, I'll give a quick run-down on the monsters in the area. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Fafnir, Fafnir (10/16) Killer Mantis, Fafnir (6/16) (Wastelands, east) Luna Wolf, Luna Wolf (10/16) Murussu, Gigantoad, Gigantoad (6/16) (Wastelands, west) Luna Wolf, Rukh (10/16) Rukh, Murussu, Gigantoad (6/16) (Forest) Fafnir, Fafnir, Fafnir, Fafnir (10/16) Killer Mantis, Killer Mantis, Fafnir (6/16) (Desert) Land Ray, Peeper, Peeper (10/16) Black Dragon (6/16) Fafnir stems from Norse mythology, being a greedy dwarf turned dragon to better hoard his treasure, being ultimately slain by the hands of your generic Norse hero. In this world, Fafnir is Attack/Special cannon fodder with a weakness to Ice. This is note-worthy; dinosaurs and lizards in general have a weakness to Ice. Fafnir will Flee unless they are by themselves, in which case they'll stand to fight. !Tongue Lash causes the Sap status. Killer Mantis use Attack. When they are targeted by Attack, they sometimes use !Kama, which is a more advanced way of inflicting damage or something. I wonder, if not with their sickles, how they normally attack you. They seem to have a wicked sharp stinger; maybe they slash with it. Regardless, they are kind of boring. Heh. Gigantoads are cool. See, they're toads, and they're gargantuan. This makes them inherently violent, attacking with Attack, !Croak (damage), Sticky Goo (sets Slow, looks spiffy), and Rippler. Rippler is an attack of utmost danger, but Gigantoad lacks the MP to pull it off. Luna Wolf is Silver Lobo WoR style. Rather than using !Bite to inflict damage, they use !Face Chomp to blind (although I can't imagine a bite to the face that blinds and doesn't actually hurt as well). Stuff to plow through. Rukh is the only monster that actually is worth a damn right now. Not only can it pull off a !Beak attack in its third turn to petrify you, it will rarely retort with a Shamshir attack if you use Magic on it. Murussu is normal Attack/Special stuff (!Carapace damages. Also, !Carapace refers to the dorsal section of an exoskeleton or shell found in a number of animal groups!) with one annoying habit: if it's by itself, it can counter any damaging attack with Snort. This tends to come into play if you employ a fatal MT attack to the entire monster party. Take out Murussu first. Just walk around here and kill stuff with your attacks. Should you have Invisible status and lose it again due to Sticky Goo, Snort or Shamshir, re- apply it. Kill Murussu first, never use Magic on Rukh, and don't linger with Gigantoads and you should be invulnerable. Eh...yeah. You'll want to go into Albrook now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.47.2 Albrook ********************************** Welcome to Albrook. It's nice to see there are still some signs of civilization left. It's time to gather some info on this strange new world; after all, it can't be expected everybody took a full year's nap. Weapon Shop: Flametongue 7000 Icebrand 7000 Thunder Blade 7000 You should be both familiar with and possessive of these weapons, but if you for one reason or another want to have more of them, you can buy them here. I'd be a tight-ass about my cash right now if I were you, though. These weapons should be noted for their great use with the Throw command; they are basically elemental Fuma Shuriken; if you have great amounts of cash in the future, you can Throw these for insane damage if the target is weak against the element. For now, keep hold of your Gil. Armor Shop: Golden Shield 2500 Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Golden Helm 4000 Golden Armor 10000 Nothing new here, and nothing you should specifically want any more of. Relic Shop: Sprint Shoes 1500 Gigas Glove 5000 Earring 5000 Barrier Ring 500 Mythril Glove 700 Knight's Code 1000 Reflect Ring 6000 Jeweled Ring 1000 These must be tough times if a Relic shop owner can get away with selling rubbish like this. If you don't have a Jeweled Ring or a Ribbon, definitely buy a Jeweled Ring here. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Sleeping Bag 500 Smoke Bomb 300 Teleport Stone 700 If the Floating Continent was harsh on your supplies, you can restock some now. Make sure you have some Holy Water, and note that Sleeping Bags are at the moment cheaper versions of Tents, as you're traveling by your lonesome. Hidden Items: If you haven't picked them up in the WoB, there's a Hi-Potion in the barrel next to the Inn, an Ether in the pot in the Weapon Shop, an Elixir in the clock in the Relic Shop/Cafe, and a Teleport Stone in one of the crates on the docks. Also, two empty chests in the Armor Shop. Smiling happy people, walking on sunshine. Only kind of not. Albrook turned into a rather depressing mess of a town. The situation is bad. Kefka is ruling the world. Monsters abound. Albrook's port, once a thriving capital of aquatic travel and trade, is derelict. Your only hope is the rumor of a man who passed through Albrook recently, a man with the same shimmer of hope in his eyes. Hardly constructive, but worth a shot. The Japanese game makes specific mention of a 'monk' here. Albrook doesn't seem like a place to hang around in anyway. It's time to leave. It's time to see what became of Vector, Maranda, and Tzen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.48.1 En route to Tzen ********************************** Opponents: Fafnir (#114), Killer Mantis (#115), Peeper (#116), Murussu (#117), Gigantoad (#118), Land Ray (#119), Luna Wolf (#120), Black Dragon (#121), Rukh (#122) Miscellaneous items: Elixir (rare Peeper steal), Megalixir (rare Land Ray steal) Monster formations: (Grasslands) Fafnir, Fafnir (10/16) Killer Mantis, Fafnir (6/16) (Wastelands, east) Luna Wolf, Luna Wolf (10/16) Murussu, Gigantoad, Gigantoad (6/16) (Wastelands, west) Luna Wolf, Rukh (10/16) Rukh, Murussu, Gigantoad (6/16) (Forest) Fafnir, Fafnir, Fafnir, Fafnir (10/16) Killer Mantis, Killer Mantis, Fafnir (6/16) (Desert) Land Ray, Peeper, Peeper (10/16) Black Dragon (6/16) Back on the Overworld Map, you'll soon notice that Vector is no more and has been replaced by a tower. This is Kefka's seat, from where he rules the world. That's nice. Maranda has been broken off the continent to the west. Luckily, Tzen is still there. Note: As soon as you enter Tzen, you'll be sucked into a side-quest from where you'l emerge with Sabin. If you do not have either a Ribbon or a Jewel Ring on you, it is a bad idea to do this now; head back and purchase one in Albrook. But even if you are fully capable of completing the next bit, there are reasons to skip this section. There are advantages and disadvantages to consider; it's a World of Ruin dilemma. I'll list them here, but they may contain some minor spoilers: Advantages of skipping: - The next dungeon and the trek towards it will be completed with Celes alone if you skip your visit to Tzen, making her level up faster. Since other character's level depends on your current team's average (at this point only Celes) you will recruit other characters at a higher level automatically. - If you skip this side-quest, you will wind up with four characters whose level has been determined once you gain a new mode of transportation. This allows you to easily train these four characters, at which point you can recuit the others at the suitably inflated level. - Makes eventually completing this side-quest easier with more people on your team, though this is quite trivial Disadvantages of skipping: - Makes the next dungeon and the trek towards it somewhat harder, though it's not a difficult part of the game even with Celes only. - Makes an optional side-quest at this point, that allows you to obtain an Esper a bit earlier, significantly more difficult to the point it may not be wise to attempt it. - Inflates Celes' level and with that other characters. This is basically a good thing, but it prevents you from training these character's levels with the level-up boosts you'd potentially like to give them. For a first-time or somewhat casual player, I'd recommend diving into Tzen; it's on the way and Celes has been lonely long enough. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.48.2 Tzen; the Light of Judgment ********************************** When you step up the stairs, a disaster occurs! The Light of Judgment hits the town, and it quickly becomes clear that a child is trapped in one of the collapsing houses. Holding up the mansion is a familiar face: Sabin Rene Figaro, wandering heir to the throne of Figaro! It's good to see him still alive, but the situation asks for action. Leaving is impossible, as a citizen will ask you to stay and help: "Please help him! I'm begging you!" As soon as you stand in front of the door Sabin will start talking to you and a timer will start, so let's see what you can do beforehand: Before you enter the house to save the child, you *can* get some healing at the Inn (you won't spend the night, but you'll get some sparkly action going on) and you can shop at the three shops Tzen has to offer. Weapon Shop: Kaiser Knuckles 1000 Venom Claws 2500 Flametongue 7000 Icebrand 7000 Thunder Blade 7000 Burning Fist 10000 It's nice to have two of each Claws. The Kaiser Knuckles are too weak at this point, so you can ignore them. If you don't have two Venom Claws stock up until you do, and you're bound to miss at least one Burning Fist. Grab it, as a boss battle in the future could use double Burning Fists. Armor Shop: Golden Shield 2500 Beret 3500 Tiger Mask 2500 Golden Helm 4000 Power Sash 5000 Golden Armor 10000 Berets for sale, so you could buy one if you missed it at the FC. The rest of the merchandise here is old news. Relic Shop: Dragoon Boots 9000 Thief's Bracer 3000 Black Belt 5000 Alarm Earring 7000 Sniper Eye 3000 Peace Ring 3000 Jeweled Ring 1000 Thief's Bracers for sale are new, but they don't help you. What you do want is a Jeweled Ring if you still haven't bought one. Last chance, honest. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Green Cherry 150 Phoenix Down 500 Echo Screen 120 Holy Water 300 Sleeping Bag 500 Super Ball 10000 In this time of turmoil, an entirely new item has appeared in the Item Shop: the Super Ball. Unseen by many, shunned by many, forgotten by many, the Super Ball is an item that deals damage in combat to random target for a random amount of damage. To be more precise: Super Ball deals 256, 512, 768, 1024, 1280, 1536, 1792, or 2048 HP damage against 1, 2, 3, or 4 randomly decided targets. If it the same monster is targeted twice by the Super Ball, he is hit twice, meaning that the damage can exceed 2048 HP. In short: Super Balls are very expensive, entirely random and most of the time not impressive enough to warrant its usage. Yes, in theory a Super Ball could do a total of 4 x 2048 = 8192 damage against a single target, which is insane at the moment, but I've never seen it do even remotely that kind of damage. Buy one if you want to fill your inventory, but you won't find a lot of use for them in most circumstances. When you're done shopping while everybody else is panicking, try to save the child by entering the house. For curiosity's sake, I've listed the responses given by the running townsmen and women if you manage to catch their attention: (Guy) All this, just because someone acted against Kefka's will... (Merchant) There are monsters inside that house! They keep petrifying everyone who goes in to help. You'd better have some relics that'll keep you safe! (Old man) We refused to bow down to Kefka, so he unleashed the Light of Judgment on us! (Old woman) Hurry, or the house'll collapse! Before you get near the mansion, set Celes up like this: Stoneblade/Icetongue/Thunder Blade/Flametongue Golden Shield Mystery Veil Golden Armor/Gaia Gear Black Belt (vital!) Jeweled Ring/Ribbon (likewise!) As soon as you stand in front of the door, you'll have your conversation with Sabin and the timer (6:00) will start running. If you are still outside of the house while the timer runs out, you get a Game Over: your screen will display Sabin saying: "I can't...hold out... ...any longer... Brother...the rest is up to you!" in an entirely black background. It doesn't matter if you're outdoors or indoors: Game Over, man. Better get in there and save that child. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.48.3 The Collapsing House ********************************** Opponents: Zokka (#123), Nightwalker (#124), Scorpion (#125) Container contents: Blood Sword, Ether, Healing Rod, Holy Rod, Hyper Wrist, Magicite Shard, Monster-in-a-box (Nightwalker x4), Monster-in-a-box (Nightwalker x4) Magicite: Seraph Preparation: Black Belt and petrification protection, right? Monster formations: Scorpion, Scorpion, Scorpion (10/16) Zokka, Zokka, Nightwalker (6/16) The Scorpion is the main annoyance in this house while the Zokka is the most dangerous. Meeting three Scorpion monsters will make you want to use MT magic violence, but their Magic Defense is through the roof, you don't have any barrier-piercing attacks at your disposal and using Attack three times takes a long time when time is of the essence. Hence the Black Belt; Scorpions will use !Lethal Sting (sets Doom) followed by Attack, so there's plenty of physical attacks to take advantage of, especially because Celes is alone anyway. Zokka have two attacks to fear. The first is Net; you may remember it from your fight against Guard Leader way, way back. Net stops, which is bad if you want to hurry (you want to hurry). They won't use it until their third turn though, so no worries as you will have killed them by then. Their other dangerous attack is !Rock. It petrifies, and is only used when a Zokka is alone and damaged by you. Sadly, this scenario includes MT killing everything on the battlefield. Protect yourself from ridicule and enjoy that Jeweled Ring or Ribbon I advised you. Nightwalkers are cannon fodderg. They will use Drain, which is sad as this prevents total invulnerability by means of Vanish. It tends to do either 0 or 6 damage (6 is the damage a single Sap hit inflicts). That's it. You can take them all out with an MT Fira spell or Ifrit's Hellfire. Use Attack and enjoy your counters during Scorpion battles, and MT Fira spells or similar kinds of violence will suffice against everything else. Note: If you started this scenario later, you should have more characters. Edgar's Auto Crossbow is very nice against the Scorpions, so you don't really need the Black Belt on anybody. Make sure everybody is protected against Petrify though. I could talk and talk about your options if you have other characters, but since this entire bit was designed to be doable with only one character, a full team will have so little trouble here that explaining what to do would be insulting your position as a person capable of abstract thought. If you walk through the hallway, you'll come across a chest at the end. This contains a Healing Rod; make absolutely sure you grab it. Turn left and you'll see a chamber with a chest in it. The chest contains a Holy Rod; go out the same way you got in. Continue to the left and you'll see two chests. The one in reach contains an Ether, the one near the stairs leading downwards contains a monster-in-a-box (Nightwalker x4). Go down the stairway and go up to the high living room or whatever it is. The right chest contains a Magicite Shard, in the middle is the kid (grab it), and the left chest contains, again, the same monster-in-a-box of four Nightwalkers. The one room here you didn't pass through contains a Blood Sword in a chest. Grab it if you like. Leave this mess. Upstairs and to the bottom is one chest you missed: it contains a Hyper Wrist. Grab it if you have the time, there's really no use for yet another one of these Relics. Sell it or something. If you're done, get out. Outside, the kid is safe and so is Sabin. There's hope! Yatta! Etcetera. Sabin joins the party. Note that at the end of the world, all characters except for Celes where removed from the roster, so to speak, so that Sabin's new WoR level will be calculated based on the average level of re-recruited characters only, in this case only Celes. This will be the case for all characters you (re-)acquire in this brave new world. If you haven't bought Seraph yet, now's your chance to do so for only 10 Gil. With the world falling apart like it is, I guess it doesn't do him much good to hold on to this glowing stone... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.49.1 The Serpent Trench ********************************** Opponents: Fafnir (#114), Killer Mantis (#115), Murussu (#117), Gigantoad (#118), Luna Wolf (#120), Black Dragon (#121), Rukh (#122), Delta Beetle (#126), Vampire Thorn (#127), Lizard (#128), Devoahan (#129) Miscellaneous items: Blood Sword (rare Lizard steal) This part, again, is optional. You get another Esper out of it, an encounter with another of your friends, and a boss battle. If you want to press on immediately, there's no rush and you can always get back later. In the tail of the Serpent Trench lies Mobliz, a town that got fried by the Light of Judgment earlier. Maybe it's time to take a look It's not exactly on your way, but... do you even have anywhere specific to go now? Preparation: Equip an Amulet or Ribbon on Celes and Sabin! One of the monsters can turn you into a Zombie in the very first turn, and you'd be surprised how easy a Game Over is to obtain when one character is chewing on the brains of another. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Fafnir, Fafnir (10/16) Killer Mantis, Fafnir (6/16) (Wastelands, west) Luna Wolf, Luna Wolf (10/16) Murussu, Gigantoad, Gigantoad (6/16) (Wastelands, east) Luna Wolf, Rukh (10/16) Rukh, Murussu, Gigantoad (6/16) (Grasslands, Serpent Trench) Vampire Thorn, Vampire Thorn, Lizard (6/16) Vampire Thorn, Vampire Thorn (5/16) Devoahan (5/16) (Wastelands, Serpent Trench) Devoahan, Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle (10/16) Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle (6/16) (Northwest wastelands, Serpent Trench) Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle, Delta Beetle (6/16) Devoahan, Lizard (5/16) Vampire Thorn, Vampire Thorn, Delta Beetle (5/16) (Forests, Serpent Trench) Vampire Thorn, Vampire Thorn, Lizard (6/16) Vampire Thorn, Vampire Thorn (5/16) Devoahan (5/16) Three new monsters on the Serpent Trench: Devoahan are sickly animals that attack out of desperation. If you wait for four turns he'll swap his normal Attack with a !Rage, Attack, Attack combo. Gasp thrice! !Rage is merely Attack * 1.5, so there's nothing to worry about. If he's hit by a Magic spell, he might counter with Sunbath. So don't. Delta Beetle uses Attack, !Slam (Attack * 1.5) and Megavolt. Megavolt is entirely too weak to worry about, but it does remove Invisible status, and that's annoying. Let's see here... its name comes from the Greek symbol Delta, which was a triangle. I'm introducing you to a whole new world here, am I not? MT Fira spells and/or the Rising Phoenix Blitz is the way to go. Vampire Thorn are the most dangerous enemies here. They can start the fight off with Attack or !Life Drain, which sets Zombie. The second turn can feature the Bio spell, which you don't want. The thing about Vampire Thorn is their defenses: 254 Defense, 254 Magic Defense. They compensate by having only 12 HP, but still. Since they're undead, the best way to penetrate those defenses is by an MT Cure spell on them. Celes is bound to know it. Otherwise, MT Fira spells and Rising Phoenix can get the job done if tweaked a little. Check how strong your flaming is to learn if this is a better option for you. Whenever Delta Beetle appear, Rising Phoenix is a good idea to clean them all up in one go, as is an MT Fira spell, if you lack Sabin. Devoahan is also weak to Fire-elemental attacks, so if you find a lone Celes facing one, just go with that element and hope he doesn't use Sunbath. Vampire Thorn is best disposed of with an MT Cure spell (on them, obviously). It's a good idea to cast Vanish on yourself; while the second turn of both Delta Beetle and Vampire Thorn can remove your Invisible status with Megavolt and the Bio spell, respectively, but you shouldn't let it come that far. Find the bridge to the Serpent Trench and walk up to the tail. When you're almost there, you can find a Chocobo Stable in the forest just south of the town of Mobliz. Regardless, you're here: Mobliz. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.49.2 The tail of the Serpent Trench; Mobliz ********************************** Opponents: Humbaba (-), Humbaba (-) Container contents: Phoenix Down Lores: 1000 Needles Magicite: Fenrir [HUMBABA1-LINK] Preparation: There will be a boss battle here, so I want you to prepare for it. Ideally, you have Sabin with you, who I suggest you give a Hero's Ring, Genji Glove, and two Venom Claws. Equipping Golem on either will be a good asset. Just keep Celes the way you like her, but make sure she can use Runic. If you don't have Sabin, the next battle will be very tough. Equip a Reflect Ring and a Hero's Ring, and save on the Overworld Map. Definitely have Golem on Celes if she's flying solo here. When you enter Mobliz, two dogs will start barking and a kid comes running out of a house before re-entering it. Before you follow him, grab the Phoenix Down on one of the three barrels by the other burned house. You can take a nap in the bed of the abandoned Relic Shop for HP/MP restoration. When you enter the house, you can grab the Elixir in the clock if you didn't in the WoB. Go down the stairs to find a whole bunch of kids, Duane and Katarin and ...Terra! But as the cutscene progresses, you'll learn the situation is more complicated than 'hey-ho, let's go', and Terra refuses to leave. When you go outside (before you do, make sure you're fully equipped for the fight), a kid will come screaming in that Humbaba is coming! You heard about Humbaba in Albrook, a demon from the ancient world. Terra goes out to defend the children. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.49.3 The battle with Humbaba ********************************** Humbaba (# 1) Level: 26, HP: 60000, MP: 10000 Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Poison Special: !Solar Plexus: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Solar Plexus, Attack Control: Attack, !Solar Plexus Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Solar Plexus, Thundara, Thundaga, 1000 Needles This battle is a scripted battle. Terra won't be able to deliver any damage as Humbaba is blessed by the same kind of invulnerability as WoB Guardian was. Terra can slave away with physicals: 0 damage. She can cast Fira, Bio, and Drain: 0 damage (although she'll obtain HP from Drain). Terra is supposed to lose here. So, don't use Trance or Elixirs or anything. There once was a way to circumvent the fixed outcome of the fight, and that's by using the Vanish/Doom trick. This is only possible in the SNES versions though, as Square made the Vanish spell miss against this Humbaba in the PSX versions. But it doesn't matter if you lose or win by cheating (it doesn't get you any items or MP either); the outcome will be entirely the same. Terra will be lying on the ground, facedown, and whoever came for her (most likely Celes and Sabin, but anything is possible) comes to her aid. Humbaba (# 2) Level: 26, HP: 28000, MP: 10000 Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Poison Special: !Solar Plexus: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Solar Plexus, Attack Control: Attack, !Solar Plexus Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Solar Plexus, Thundara, Thundaga, 1000 Needles, Flee Joker's Death: No. The game prevents you from spinning 7-7-7 in this battle. This is better. Humbaba will start the battle with a physical, be it either Attack or !Solar Plexus. Then, he'll start using Thundara and Thundaga spells; finally, he can use 1000 Needles, which is ill received, as 1000 damage is nothing to laugh at when it's coming for you. Humbaba's name, if you're wondering, comes from the old Babylonian heroic poem 'Gilgamesh'. He was a monster there. He got killed, too. If you have a Celes/Sabin team, have Sabin use his dual Venom Claws for great damage. Don't bother with Celes her damage output; have her on Runic standby. Both should start the battle by calling up Golem's Earthen Wall if they have him equipped. If Sabin is weak, you should break the Runic guard to cure him. Smack Humbaba with Sabin's fists until he runs off. If you have a solo Celes party, summon Golem to start, and fill all other turns by casting Bio (or, lacking Bio, Blizzara) as quickly as you can. Fighting this guy with Celes only is a risk as no matter what you do, 1000 Needles is very dangerous and Humbaba can kill you. If you're low at HP, sneak in an X- Potion or Elixir. Any other team needs little guidance; you've obviously been around the world, have collected at least four characters, and have better equipment than you need to have. Bio spells come in handy. What else is there to say? Setzer can't spin Joker's Death here. The best Dance is Earth Blues, while the home dance, Wind Rhapsody is nigh worthless. Spritzer absorbs Thundara and Thundaga while dealing acceptable damage, although a purple Magna Roader Rage with a Reflect Ring is better. After Humbaba storms off, Terra once again claims she won't be able to fight for you. When you try to leave, the kid at the entrance gives you your first new gem of happiness: the Esper Fenrir. The Japanese game makes mention of the Fenrir Magicite being a part of Humbaba's dropped necklace. Equip it if no other Espers appear to teach better spells at the moment (Banish is nice, but not as strategic as Stop, Vanish, Silence, etc.). Note: If you already found the Falcon at this point, you can simply leave Mobliz and return to finally put a permanent stop to Humbaba and recruit Terra. Read all about that here: [HUMBABA2-LINK] Leave. We're going to the head of the Serpent Trench now; you can grab a Chocobo from the Chocobo Stable in the forest, it's ideal for long cross-country hikes like this. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.50.1 The head of the Serpent Trench; Nikeah ********************************** Welcome to Nikeah! Being pretty much the least important town in the entire WoB, some have chosen to mock it for its useless northern part where only the Inn is. Truly, Nikeah is not the best-looking town you've come across so far, but the in-game equivalent of total blasted doomsday just happened; I don't think we can judge less-then-perfect aesthetics right now. As soon as you enter Nikeah, you are assaulted by a strange man who turns out to be an ex-Returner. This guy is GBA-exclusive! Boy, aren't you giddy with odd anticipation right now! The good man introduces the existence of the four GBA- exclusive Espers Leviathan, Cactuar, Gilgamesh and Diabolos. "Hey, aren't you...? You were with the Returners, right? Me, too! I thought everyone else had been wiped out! I don't know if there's anything I can do for you now, but I did hear something you might be interested to know... Apparently, four Espers escaped from that Magitek Research Facility not long before you guys snuck in there. There's no way of knowing if they're still alive, but if you could find them, I bet they would lend you their power!" Weapon Shop: Rune Blade 7500 Flametongue 7000 Icebrand 7000 Thunder Blade 7000 Enhancer 10000 You probably already have at least one Rune Blade (either from grabbing the chest in the Moogle Cave or from Stealing it from Number 024 back in the day), but they are actually for sale now. Don't buy them; even with their MP-driven auto-critical they are not as strong as a normal blow from the great new weapon that's also for sale: the Enhancer. Grab two. What does the Enhancer do? First off, it gives a +7 bonus to your Magic Power, which is very nice, Also, it grants the wielder an extra 20% Magic Evasion, which is also very nice. I suggest you grab two and put one on Celes. The Enhancer really is a great weapon, and will serve you well until the very last parts of the game. Armor Shop: Diamond Shield 3500 Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Diamond Helm 8000 Gaia Gear 6000 Power Sash 5000 Diamond Vest 12000 Entirely new items for sale in this Armor Shop! Victory galore. I'd grab two Diamond Shield, though it's likely either Cels or Sabin will be dual- wielding at the moment. Ignore the Diamond Helm entirely; there are better helmets out there still (Mystery Veil, Priest's Miter, Green Beret). Grab ONE Diamond Vest and give it to Sabin. There'll be something nicer for Celes in a short while and Diamond equipment is crazy expansive (who would've guessed, huh). Relic Shop: White Cape 5000 Angel Ring 8000 Zephyr Cloak 7000 Gale Hairpin 8000 Hyper Wrist 8000 Prayer Beads 4000 Amulet 5000 Princess Ring 3000 The kid's merchandise isn't very special, except for the fact he has Prayer Beads for sale, one of the most useful Relics in the game, not to mention their 'special effect' during Mardi Gras. Also, Angel Rings for sale; they were 20000 Gil in the Auction House, so it's a relative bargain here. Angel Rings still suck though, and you could've gotten all the Angel Rings you ever wanted back on the FC. Other items for sale that previously weren't include Zephyr Cloaks, Gale Hairpins (one is enough), and Princess Rings (Cute, those trigger-spell-when- Critical Relics, but hardly useful). Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Gold Needle 200 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Stock up if you want. Word on the street says that Figaro Castle has had an accident and that the South Figaro ferry is about to leave. However, if you talk to the captain of the ship, hoping for a lift, he tells you the ship belongs to the Crimson Robbers, the thieves that escaped the cells of Figaro Castle when it had the accident. They're in the Pub. In the Pub, talking to all of them reveals their story. Stuck in jail, they had the fortune of being freed by sandworms. Their boss perished, but their new leader Gerad will lead them into Figaro Castle to get their booty back. The thieves all leave the Cafe, but on-board they are still waiting for Gerad, who's still somewhere in town. When you walk into town, the lost king of Figaro is seen! However, he insists he is Gerad, the cunning leader of the Crimson Robbers. It seems the fact 'Gerad' is an anagram of 'Edgar' is mere coincidence. Follow him every time he tries to walk off, and eventually you'll sneak onto the ferry. Note: A lot of people find it strange that Sabin doesn't specifically react to this semi-Edgar. One could blame the fact Sabin isn't a mandatory character at this point, but few know there actually IS a line for Sabin at this point, it's just never accessed in the game. Here it is: Sabin: Is this some kind of joke, Edgar? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.51.1 South Figaro; Gerad and the Crimson Robbers ********************************** Opponents: Commander, Vector Hound Container contents: Elixir, Holy Water, Phoenix Down x2, Tent x2, X-Potion South Figaro had only a taste of freedom again when the world collapsed. Invaded by the Empire, martial law, a king who has run off leaving other people to govern, an apocalypse; South Figaro has had it rough. But the people here haven't given up hope. They're rebuilding the houses and managing their affairs as good as they can. We could admire this kind of determination. Weapon Shop: Trident 1700 Heavy Lance 10000 Enhancer 10000 Golden Spear 12000 The only new item here is the Golden Spear. As you could guess, it's a Lance stronger than the Heavy Lance. While I think the Golden Spear looks kinda nice in combat, I would still prefer the Enhancer over the Golden Spear any day, so I won't tell you to buy one now, as in the next boss battle, the weapon with the highest Attack Power will be automatically equipped. Since the Enhancer provides the important benefit of 20% Magic Evasion while the Gold Spear doesn't, it's better to keep it out of your inventory. Although nothing will be said, you'll get a 50% discount if Edgar is your leading party member. Armor Shop: Diamond Shield 3500 Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Diamond Helm 8000 Gaia Gear 6000 Diamond Vest 12000 Diamond Armor 15000 I told you to hold off buying new equipment for Celes in Nikeah: the Diamond Armor is the reason. I suggest you buy two if possible; your Gil will be running fairly low by now, but you'll thank me for it in the future. You could try selling some stuff you're sure you'll never use again, such as Hyper Wrists and the like. Although nothing will be said, you'll get a 50% discount if Edgar is your leading party member. Relic Shop: Silver Spectacles 500 Star Pendant 500 Fairy Ring 1500 Amulet 5000 Hermes Sandals 7000 Reflect Ring 6000 Angel Ring 8000 Princess Ring 3000 There's nothing here that you want. Two Hermes Sandals will be nice in the future, but you should already have at least two of them from chests. More importantly, make absolutely sure you don't leave before you have enough Amulets to protect four party members against Zombie (Ribbons also do this). This is vital. Although nothing will be said, you'll get a 50% discount if Edgar is your leading party member. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Eye Drops 50 Echo Screen 120 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Tent 1200 Stock those stockings if your stockings need stocking. The first time you arrived here, there was plenty to do. Now, the action in South Figaro is slightly less. Points of interest: - "Not too long ago when I was out sailing, I saw a huge shadow pass by beneath the water." An NPC reference to one of the four new Espers; the king of the seas, Leviathan! You can't find him yet, though. - The four members of the Crimson Robbers can be found all over town. Here's what they have to say: "We're breaking into Figaro Castle! That treasure belongs to us!" (two) "A young guy just came through town searching for a legendary treasure with the power to bring back the dead." (Pub) "We won't stop till we get our treasure back!" (Standing over at an abandoned MagiTek Armor) The middle line there is rather odd for a thief that just escaped from jail, got to Nikeah and now just returned to South Figaro. In addition, a 'normal' South Figaro inhabitant says "Those men may be thieves, but at least they're working towards a goal. We could learn a thing or two from that." which in the SNES was about himself (we may be thieves, etc.). There's no saying for sure, but it's likely those lines were accidentally swapped around. - A couple sexing each other up in the trees at the edge of town can be disturbed if you want to: "Lives may be lost, but new lives can be born as well! I'm just doing my part!" (guy runs off) & "Oh...! I can't believe him!" (girl runs off) - Commander and Vector Hound opponents can still be found in the dungeon where Celes and Locke escaped from in the WoB. This is obviously an error as there's really no story-related reason for them to be there anymore. - The little daughter of the richest man in town, who mentioned the Clock Key earlier in the WoB, now talks about jumping and turtles. Crazy talk from a crazy person, probably. - Duncan is still alive! His wife informs you that he's meditating just north of Narshe. If there's some time in the future, we should definitely get Sabin to Duncan. We owe that to Sabin. When you find Gerad in the room of the Inn, he'll immediately leave and take the Crimson Robbers with him, still insisting that he is not Edgar. Still, Edgar or not, you'll want to follow him to see what his plans for Figaro Castle are. If it's Edgar, you'll want to know what the hell is going on; if it's not, we should defend the property of Figaro in Edgar's absence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.51.2 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers ********************************** Opponents: Sandhorse (#130), Cancer (#131), Oceanus (#132), Desert Hare (#133) Preparation: If you have Float, cast it on your party. That's about it. Monster formations: (Grasslands) Desert Hare, Desert Hare, Desert Hare (always) (Wastelands) Cancer, Cancer, Desert Hare, Desert Hare (always) (Desert) Cancer, Cancer, Cancer (6/16) Sandhorse, Sandhorse (5/16) Sandhorse, Cancer, Cancer (5/16) (Forest) Oceanus (10/16) Oceanus, Desert Hare, Desert Hare, Desert Hare (6/16) Desert Hare is one of the few enemies in the game with a Magic Power high enough to supersede that of your characters (30), but you needn't fear; the only spells these guys cast are Cure, Cura, and Esuna, and for some reason unknown to man they cast it on you... when hit by Attack. Under normal circumstances you'll find them smacking you with Attack or !Carrot (Attack * 1.5, and the name is subject of ridicule by itself), but why bunnies would want to cure you upon slaughter is just silly. There were healing bunnies in FF V as well, but they tended to actually help themselves. Maybe it's a reflex reaction? Cancer is just an upgraded version of Exocite. Attack, !Pincer, a chance at a double !Pincer when they are alone. !Pincer is boring Attack * 1.5 shtuff. Exocite were water-based, but these wretches occupy the deserts; they are weak against Ice and Water. Oceanus resembles Anguiform, but that's where the similarities end. Anguiform had an exceedingly strong Special; Oceanus has the normal Attack * 1.5 !Corkscrew attack. Instead of being a creature of water and using Aqua Breath, Oceanus uses Magnitude 8 on a regular basis. Weak against Lightning and immune to ID. Sandhorse is the most dangerous enemy here. Under normal circumstances they will repeatedly use Sandstorm or possibly !Clamp (Attack * 5!), and if they're alone they start using Attack. You'd assume they would want to keep their stronger attacks for the more dire situations, but oh well. Sandhorse is weak against Ice and Water like most desert dwellers, but its most prominent weakness is Rasp; it dies automatically when its MP reaches 0, and with only 100 MP, any Rasp spell should do one in. Float should circumvent Oceanus' Magnitude 8, so just pound away there. Use Attack on Desert Hare whenever you can, their healing will do you a lot of good. The only threat is Sandhorse; do them in with a Rasp spell or something you know will do significant ST damage. Summoning Bismarck will take care of them, but you probably have better things to do than equip that sub-par fiend of an Esper. Enough dilly-dallying around. There really isn't anything on the entire continent that deserves our interest, so let's head into the Cave of Figaro, where we can assume the Crimson Robbers also headed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.51.3 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers; Cave of Figaro ********************************** Opponents: Humpty (#134), Cruller (#135), Neck Hunter (#137), Dante (#138) Container contents: Hero's Ring, Hi-Ether, X-Potion Preparation: A lot of monsters here will try to set the Confuse status on you, so equip Relics that protect against Confuse like Ribbons or Peace Rings. This is quite important, especially now that your characters are getting stronger; while you freeze in panic your twirling characters may cast Banish on themselves and give you a Game Over. Monster formations: (Cave of Figaro) Neck Hunter, Cruller, Humpty, Humpty (10/16) Dante (6/16) (Recovery Spring) Humpty, Humpty, Humpty, Humpty (6/16) Neck Hunter, Neck Hunter (5/16) Dante (5/16) (Corridor from Recovery Spring to Figaro Castle) Neck Hunter, Neck Hunter (6/16) Humpty, Humpty, Humpty (5/16) Cruller, Humpty, Humpty (5/16) The first thing you see in the Cave of Figaro is an old acquaintance: Siegfried! He explains it's wise to stay behind and let him - master swordsman that he is - clear all the monsters out of your path. He goes off to complete this goal, but since the last time we saw him he was all bark and no bite, it's more like him to keep you out of his way while he goes off to collect treasure that you would otherwise obtain. No time to linger and wait for something to happen, time to press on! Note: No matter how long you wait here, nothing will happen. Humpty is just really, really fat. Never mind that jolly Buddha or that figurine of the goddess of fertility; Humpty is a grotesquely obese little bugger with as much to offer to the eye as a festering wound. Attack and - ugh - !Hug (sets Confuse) are among his arsenal. Also, he's undead. What wretch has taken it onto himself to revive only the broadest of men? Cruller knows spells. One to be exact: Fira. I'd love to comment on other features of it, but... what the hell is it? A glibbering mass of goo and internal organs, or so it seems. Humpty at least had the decency to be overly disgusting in a humanoid form; Cruller can't even take that to its defense. Anyway, Cruller can start battles with Fira and Attack, and if you keep him around long enough he can use Sticky Goo and !Brainstorm (sets Confuse). Weak to Fire. Neck Hunter uses !Mad Sickle (sets Confuse) and Attack. That's about it. They're probably supposed to be thieves or something; humans in dungeons almost never make sense in RPGs. They're susceptible to ID, they're Floating, and they're weak to Poison. Dante. Named after the Italian writer of La Divina Commedia (which is said to have been one of the sources of inspiration for this game by some fans), Dante is kind of weird. He's Undead, but doesn't absorb Poison. In fact, he's weak against it! His attacks consist out of Attack and !Crystal Lance (Attack * 3), and he sometimes counters Magic spells with Lv. 3 Confuse. Dante is slightly more durable than the other enemies in the cave, so it might be nice information to have that the Raise spell puts a stop to his existence. Stop, ironically, also puts a stop to his existence, but it'll wear off so you'll want to hurt him in the meantime. Here's the strategy. The theme of this dungeon is 'Confuse'. Almost all enemies can set it, and with new spells such as Banish, Confuse gets all the more dangerous. Wear Peace Rings and/or Ribbons to prevent the horror. Boost Sabin's Rising Phoenix or perhaps even Razor Gale (which he learns at level 30) with a pair of Earrings or a Hero's Ring; Rising Phoenix offs all Humptys and Crullers. Celes can take care of the remaining Neck Hunter with her Enhancers or a Poison spell. If Dante is ever encountered, cast Raise, Stop or do whatever normally works. This cave isn't too difficult to plow through. You know what the cave looks like. If you have left all the chests alone (and I've been advising you to do so, haven't I?), they should now contain an Hi-Ether, an X-Potion, and a very awesome Hero's Ring. A HERO'S RING, rock on! Just walk to the other end; once you get there you'll notice its blocked, but you'll also notice the Crimson Robbers know a way into Figaro Castle regardless. Also: The guy once had a turtle. After the Crimson Robbers have disappeared and Siegfried has followed them, you're free to pursue both by jumping on the turtle. Use the action button for that. You can think back to the little daughter of the richest man in South Figaro again; this is the second time she's given good advice. In the next room, you'll find an empty corridor with four chests that already have been looted. Darn that Siegfried. Press on; we might be able to catch up with him. In the next room, a crossroad! If you go up, you'll come across Siegfried opening a chest. As soon as he spots you, he runs off with the contents of the chest, never ever to be seen again. You can't follow him; just let him go. If you press on you come across what appears to be a dead end; a hidden passage to the bottom lets you exit, though. And then, the scenery changes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.51.4 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimon Robbers; Figaro Castle ********************************** Opponents: Humpty (#134), Cruller (#135), Dropper (#136), Neck Hunter (#137), Dante (#138), Tentacle (#310), Tentacle (#311), Tentacle (#312), Tentacle (#313) Container contents: Crystal Helm, Hi-Ether, Gravity Rod, Royal Crown, Soul Sabre, X-Potion Preparation: Keep the Peace Rings/Ribbons on there. Monster formations: (Figaro Castle Basement) Humpty, Humpty, Humpty, Humpty (6/16) Neck Hunter, Neck Hunter (5/16) Dante (5/16) (Engine Room) Humpty, Humpty, Humpty, Humpty (6/16) Dropper, Dropper, Dropper (5/16) Dante (5/16) As soon as you enter, relief washes over you like a giant sea of... water. It's Figaro Castle. Gerad seems oddly sympathetic towards a swooning local before running off. Seriously, can we even still assume Gerad is *not* Edgar? But why this farce? Dropper is probably Edgar's home-built security system or something, there's no other explanation of automatic mechanical beings here. They do nothing but use !Crazed Signal every turn, which sets Confuse if you let it. If you use Attack to damage it, it'll counter with Attack. Refrain from that, and kill them with Magic spells (they're weak to Lightning-elemental attacks) and Blitz techniques. Pushing onward will take you up the stairs, but you can't go out of the castle or to the exterior areas; we're submerged here, remember? The only choice is to walk into the engine room, which was hitherto forbidden territory. You'll come across Figaro soldiers all over; obviously, the lack of food and fresh air has taken its toll. Simply ascending two stairs will take you into a room with four chests containing, from right to left, a Crystal Helm (don't bother equipping it), a Gravity Rod (what is it with Rods that new ones always appear when nobody can equip them?), which is an Earth-elemental weapon that randomly casts Graviga, an X-Potion, and a Hi-Ether. If you enter the door to the far left, you'll be able to go up some stairs, enter a door, and grab a Royal Crown, which you should equip on Sabin if he is around. Trace back your steps to the room with the four chests, and enter the middle door. Pass through the corridor and behold: the engine that drives Figaro Castle, its best-kept secret. However, the engine seems to be crawling with ...something. It must be the source of Figaro Castle's inability to move around lately. The Crimson Robbers themselves seem rather worried by it. Before you gently tap the shoulder of Gerad and kindly ask what the hell is going on here, you should know that this is the only room in the game where you can find Dropper enemies. Their Rage is useless and they are entirely uninteresting other than their elusive nature. Also note that if you brought Celes here, without Sabin, this is good place to level up if you want to. Talking to Gerad means the start of a boss battle, so let's prepare. Hermes Sandals disables a large part of the boss' strategy, so equip them on both Sabin and Celes if possible. Reflect Rings and/or Relics that provide immunity to the Poison status will come in handy as well. Summoning Golem and/or Fenrir is a great idea, as is Siren. So, the following party will be greatly prepared: Celes Enhancer Diamond Shield Mystery Veil Diamond Armor Reflect Ring Hermes Sandals Esper: Golem/Siren/Fenrir Sabin Burning Fist Diamond Shield Royal Crown Diamond Vest Reflect Ring Hermes Sandals Esper: Golem/Siren/Fenrir This is a forced Side attack by the way; know that the battlefield will look like this: Character #3 Tentacle Tentacle Character #1 Character #4 Tentacle Tentacle Character #2 If you didn't pick up Sabin in Tzen earlier, it's possible that you engage in a 'Side attack' while only attacking from the front (Edgar is automatically placed in the first slot convenient, so he'll be either #1 or #2 {if Celes was in #1} if you didn't pick up Sabin). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.51.5 The battle with the Tentacles ********************************** There are four Tentacles in the upcoming battle: Tentacle (bottom-right) Level: 31, HP: 7000, MP: 800 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Ice, Water Special: !Stun: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Poison, Petrify, Silence, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Stun, Poison, Bio, Grab, Release, Entwine Tentacle (bottom-left) Level: 32, HP: 6000, MP: 700 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Water, Weakness: Fire Special: !Stun: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Poison, Death, Doom, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Stun, Poison, Bio, Grab, Release, Entwine Tentacle (top-right) Level: 33, HP: 5000, MP: 600 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Lightning, Water Special: !Stun: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Poison, Petrify, Silence, Sleep, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Stun, Poison, Bio, Grab, Release, Entwine Tentacle (top-left) Level: 34, HP: 4000, MP: 500 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Earth, Water Special: !Stun: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Petrify, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Stun, Poison, Bio, Grab, Release, Entwine Joker's Death: Yes Nothing the Tentacles use screws with the RNG. What's the point of this battle? There are four Tentacles. It gets rather confusing because each Tentacle has its own set of status immunities and elemental properties. But there is one thing that all Tentacles have in common; the attacks they perform, of which the most noticeable is the Grab, the attack both !Stun and Entwine are centered around. What does Grab do? Grab seizes a character and renders it completely helpless. During a period of about 30 seconds, the Tentacle that used Grab holds the character and gradually drains his or her HP. It's a weird little formula. It's non-elemental and barrier-piercing and has a 5/8 chance of dealing about 60 HP of damage every interval (which means that damage is taken less regularly if the Tentacle is slowed and more often if Hasted). Tentacles just use their normal attacks: Attack, !Stun to set Slow, Entwine as an MT means of setting Slow, Poison and Bio. If they're damaged, they have a 33% chance of countering with Attack. However, whenever a character is Slowed, a Tentacle will always use the Grab attack and will seize the character from which it drains HP. The Tentacle that has seized a character doesn't perform attacks, and the character that is Grabbed cannot act. This lasts for about 30 seconds, at which point the Tentacle will use Release to remove all the effects of Grab. Slow was removed when the Grab attack was used. This is why Hermes Sandals are so nice: with inherent Haste, both !Stun and Entwine will never work and thus Celes and Sabin will never be Grabbed during the battle. Start the battle off by summoning one or both of your physical protection Espers, Fenrir and/or Golem; both protect against Attack and, more importantly, !Stun. Employ Edgar's Bioblaster to Poison up to three of the Tentacles. If one of your characters has Siren equipped, send her out to stop the Poison and Bio spells of two of the Tentacles. Now the MT offenses and defenses have been cast, it's time to kill off one Tentacle at a time. Cast Death on the bottom-left Tentacle to dispatch it instantly. Obviously, the newly acquired Banish also works, but Death's Hit Rate is superior and the Death spell is more MP-efficient. If you summoned Siren, the most dangerous Tentacle right now is the top-left Tentacle, as that's the only Tentacle capable of casting Poison and Bio. Cast Stop if you have it, and focus Edgar's Drill and Sabin and Celes's level 2 spells on it until it dies. If you didn't summon Siren, you should cast the Silence spell on both the bottom-right and top-right Tentacles. If this isn't an option, it's best to kill the most fragile Tentacle first: the bottom-right Tentacle. Drill and Blizzara will kill it very quickly. Now, the remaining Tentacles are left to your imagination. Don't bother with Antidotes when a character is Poisoned; the battle won't take that long, so sticking to Cura spells to keep your HP up will suffice. If Sabin knows Razor Gale, stick to that, have Edgar focus on his Drill attacks, and keep Celes around to whip out a level 2 spell that isn't absorbed whenever possible. When Death or Banish has taken care of the bottom-left Tentacle, Blizzara is absorbed by none of the Tentacles). The fight against the Tentacles can be a pain, but only if you don't prepare properly. You'll pull through. When the battle is over, Edgar will explain his situation. If Sabin is around, he'll say "You could've told us.". The Crimson Robbers will flee the scene with their treasure, assuming Gerad must have been eaten by the Tentacles. Edgar decides to let them go (the Japanese game makes clear their 'booty' was useless rubbish anyway) and shows he wants to stop Kefka like the others. Sabin: Let's go shake things up again! As soon as you can move, equip Edgar with two nice Relics. His headgear will probably be the Crystal Helm you picked up earlier; you can swap it with a Green Beret or Sabin's Royal Crown if you want. In the treasure chamber, you'll see eight emptied chests. Looks like the Crimson Robbers had quite a lot of items taken from them by the Figaro law enforcement. On the armor in the middle, you can find a Soul Sabre, which is basically an MP-version of the Blood Sword. It also has a 25% chance of casting Death with every hit. It is a strange hybrid between a physical attack and a magical attack. It runs off Strength, the wielder's Row matters, it's damage is boosted by a Gigas Glove. However, it's damage is reduced by the target's Magic Defense and Shell. If you have Osmose, there's no real reason to equip it, so let's get out. When you emerge from the engine room, the old man who handles subterranean travel will say "Nonsense! It's been fixed! Next stop, the surface!" I always thought this was a weird line until I realized it's probably supposed to be a reply to Sabin's words he spoke over at the engine. Thus, Figaro Castle rises amidst the golden sand of Figaro Desert. But we've already seen there's nothing more here, so before you do anything else I suggest you take Figaro Castle to a shiny new continent: time to travel to Kohlingen once more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.52.1 Figaro Castle ********************************** Welcome to Figaro Castle! It's been a rough day, so I suggest you take a nap for some free healing. If you didn't see the Figaro brothers cutscene earlier, Sabin will be off as soon as you advance up in the castle and you can't access the two towers of the castle because two soldiers are telling you to take a nap. They're not being very subtle over at Square. During the night, a cutscene. I won't bother describing it as it's mandatory, and you can look up additional info in the characters section. Needless to say, childhood nostalgia grabs the Figaro brothers, and the memories of days long gone only strengthen their resolve to stop Kefka. One of the girls in the guest room tells you about the Cult of Kefka. If ever a loved one of a person in the Cult would come to its aid, however, he or she might just snap out of it. Interesting. On the left tower of Figaro Castle, there's a funny man, who'll say: "I hear that some fanatical members of the Cult of Kefka insist on spelling Kefka's name with Cs instead of Ks. That just seems silly to me. Kefka's Kefka. He's still the same villain, no matter how you spell his name!" That's a bit of fourth wall breaking there, as that's Slattery making a comment about FFIII purists who adhere to the Japanese names. The German version's amusing as well, calling Kefka a 'Teufel' (devil) and calling his soul (translated) "darker'n a behemoth's tookus on a moonless prairie night", a nice little Big Lebowski reference. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Antidote 50 Eye Drops 50 Echo Screen 120 Phoenix Down 500 Remedy 1000 Tent 1200 What can I say? If you need anything, grab it here. If you have Edgar as your leading party member, you get a 50% discount. Weapon Shop: Auto Crossbow 250 Noiseblaster 500 Bioblaster 750 Flash 1000 Debilitator 5000 Drill 3000 A new Tool is for sale here! If you didn't Steal a Debilitator during the battle against the Cranes or Air Force, here's the thing for 5000 Gil. And it's only 2500 Gil if you have Edgar as the leading party member! Now, let's get the hell out and see what's happening in Kohlingen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.52.2 En route to Kohlingen ********************************** Opponents: Sandhorse (#130), Cancer (#131), Bogy (#139), Marchosias (#140), Deepeye (#141), Mousse (#142) Miscellaneous items: Magicite Shard (rare Mousse steal) Lores: Aero, Transfusion If you're still enjoying the sun of Figaro, it's time to take Figaro Castle to the other side of the oceans. When you arise and leave the castle, you'll notice three dots on your Map: one to the north and two to the west. To the north is Dragon's Neck Coliseum, which I'll discuss later. To the west, there's Kohlingen and Darill's Tomb. The northern-most one is Kohlingen. You want to go there now. Who knows what kind of interesting things are awaiting you there (I do, for one)? There's nothing for you now at Darill's Tomb anyway; it's just a featureless bulge in the ground which offers no exciting activities. Monster formations: (Desert) Cancer, Cancer, Cancer (6/16) Sandhorse, Sandhorse (5/16) Sandhorse, Cancer, Cancer (5/16) (Grasslands) Marchosias (10/16) Mousse (6/16) (Forest) Marchosias, Deepeye, Deepeye (6/16) Deepeye, Deepeye, Deepeye, Deepeye, Deepeye, Deepeye (6/16) Mousse, Mousse, Mousse (5/16) Wasteland: Bogy, Bogy (10/16) Deepeye, Mousse, Mousse, Deepeye (6/16) Marchosias looks pretty dangerous; the last time we saw a sprite that big on a random encounter was the dreaded Behemoth. Marchosias' a big wimp though, so no worries! It uses Attack, !Talon (Attack * 1.5, you shouldn't ever see it unless you're waiting for it as it may appear every fourth round), Aero, which admittedly hurts pretty badly (it's like a Wind-elemental MT level 3 spell), and White Wind. With 1500 HP, all you should do is kill it pretty quickly. It's weak to Wind-elemental attacks, so Sabin's Razor Gale technique gets the job done, as does the usual violence. Deepeye is one of those odd monsters that attacks you, and continues to use Flee every other turn. Every first turn they may lunge at you to use Attack or let you sink into that hypnotizing eye of theirs to use !Dreamland (sets Sleep). And yes, every second turn means 33% Flee. Kill them all quickly with Fire-elemental attacks such as an MT Fira spell and Rising Phoenix. The interesting thing about Deepeye is the fact they make for a Rage that uses the Dread Gaze attack, but the special property of Dread Gaze (only checks for Petrify protection, not ID protection) isn't important right now, so I'll talk about it later. Bogy is boring. !Growl (Attack * 2) sounds kinda retarded too. Inherent Protect and immunity to ID attacks makes it slightly durable, but since in the extended period of time Bogy is allowed to live it accomplishes nothing of significance, you can just pound away until it dies. I'd love to give Mousse a little credit as life is tough enough if you lack a backbone in the literal sense of the word. You'd miss out on massages, which if you ask me is like sex, only it doesn't make a mess or anything and you don't have to pay for it/have awkward moments when you break up/actually do anything yourself if you don't want to (Editor's note: the writer of these lines is nowhere near as much a chauvinistic pig as he would have you believe). But in the end, it's clear as day that Mousse is as staggeringly dumb as 2006's Samuel L. Jackson flick 'Snakes on a Plane'. It may randomly use Transfusion, also as a counter to your Magic spells. Mousse will never use Transfusion when it's the last monster standing on the field, and will solely use Attack and !Gunk (Japanese roots: Icky Sticky Goo) to set Slow. Like Flan monsters, Mousse nulls the effect of every elemental attack that isn't Fire-, Ice- or Lightning-elemental. In the end, the only attack that could hurt you if protected by Invisible is Marchosias' Aero, and quick acting and/or Silence setting prevents it from occurring. Sabin's Rising Phoenix Blitz technique helps against the Deepeyes where his Razor Gale is very effective against Marchosias. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.53.1 Kohlingen ********************************** Kohlingen! The last time you passed through here on a mission you were trying to find Terra. Right now, you're pretty much trying to find everybody. Kohlingen is another example of a city in despair. Nothing seems to work out anymore in this world. Points of interest in Kohlingen: - A girl mentions a 'charming' man passed through Kohlingen recently, a man who kept calling people 'thou'. This must be Cyan! It's good to hear that old man is still kicking. We should pick him up when we have the chance, never mind his sub-par skills in combat ;). - To the north, a woman and a little girl are staring at a tile. They planted some seedlings there, and are trying to see if anything comes from it. Results so far have been disappointing. If you stand on the tile, they will reprimand you and you quickly jump off. - An old woman can show you a flashback of WoB Kohlingen. Ah, nostalgia... - A Narshe Guard tells you that Narshe has been forsaken and completely overrun by monsters. Poor Mog... - The old man who told you earlier of his crazy (younger, btw) brother who wanted to build a Coliseum now praises him as a visionary; apparently, the Coliseum has been built! We should definitely check it out some day. Also, a mean guy is fighting there looking for a weapon called the 'Itchy Gekcy'. Handy info, lady. We're always looking for interesting new ways to be murdered. - Sadly for Celes, Locke isn't anywhere to be seen in Kohlingen. The man who preserves Rachel figures he's returned to his quest of finding the restoration relic to revive Rachel. In other words: find the treasure, and you'll find Locke! But the main attraction in Kohlingen is waiting for you in the Pub, drinking his troubles away: Setzer Gabbiani. What was once a dashing pirate with more bravado than the entire city of Jidoor combined is now a broken man burping into his wine, brooding over his lost wings. Celes snaps him out of it; the sight of a beautiful woman hasn't lost its appeal for Setzer, apparently. Hope fills his heart, and he mentions another airship, in a tomb nearby. He shows you the way. We've got us another mission statement! On your way out, you run across the Narshe guard again, who has also been inspired by Celes's words. The mysterious Esper that was dug up at the very start of the game is still in Narshe. We might just be able to wake it up and harness its power in the struggle against Kefka! Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Antidote 50 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Buy some Holy Water; 20 is a nice amount of have. Surely, you have Relics to protect against Zombie so you don't need to heal the status, but you can never be too safe when it comes to Zombies. If Night of the Living Dead has taught us anything, by the gods, it is that. Armor Shop: Diamond Shield 3500 Priest's Miter 3000 Green Beret 3000 Diamond Helm 8000 Diamond Vest 12000 Diamond Armor 15000 More of the same, but now that Setzer has joined your party you can use some more of it. I suggest you buy a Diamond Armor and a Diamond Shield; the Green Beret is still a superior Helmet to the Diamond Helm, and doesn't cost you anything. Weapon Shop: Darts 10000 Dice 5000 Viper Darts 13000 Enhancer 10000 Golden Spear 12000 There are three weapons of interest here, and two new weapons for Setzer for sale! I'll discuss the Dice last, as they require the largest introduction. - The Viper Darts has the X-type Instant Death ability, like the Assassin's Dagger. The next dungeon will be crawling with Undead enemies, making the Viper Darts largely useless. They'll have some use in Coliseum though, so if you feel like going there in a moment, buy two. - The Golden Spear could be bought earlier, but I advised against it as you would want the Enhancer its +7 Magic Power and + 20% Magic Evasion. Since the Jump command is about to take a great power-up and Lances are, as opposed to the normal 50% boost, twice as effective with Jump, you'll probably want the Golden Spear for Edgar. - The Dice are a very weird weapon. Allow me to pass judgment first; the Dice are not worth it. The Dice completely ignore any normal kind of physical damage formula (which is why they are always placed all the way down when choosing a Weapon in the Equipment screen), and instead do the following: When attacking with the Dice, two dice will be rolled on the target. The result of the dice determine the damage in the following manner: First dice roll * second dice roll * 2 * level Sadly, the Dice are rigged against Setzer, much like his Slot command is rigged against him: 1, 2, 3 and 4 have a 3/16 chance of being rolled, while 5 and 6 only have a 2/16 chance of being rolled. Fighting with the Dice makes for an unblockable, barrier-piercing attack (as the target's Defense isn't factored in the damage calculation whatsoever). While the Dice will be ideal in a bit, they are a consistently poor choice of weapon as the damage output is, on average, inferior to your normal weapons at this time. You should buy one, though, as 5000 Gil isn't that much and you'll want to use them before you get another chance to buy them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.53.2 Dragon's Neck Coliseum ********************************** Welcome to the Dragon's Neck Coliseum, a monument to combat. Fighters from all over the world gather here to test their skills against each other, as do several creatures. The stakes? Rare relics, priceless weaponry, the greatest of armor. Whatever you have, it can be found at the Coliseum at least twice as sturdy and sharp. First, let's scout around here. Ultros is a receptionist now; he warns you about Typhon and is a pest like usual, but doesn't attack you, in a surprising turn of events. The real Siegfried resides in a room where he warns you of his imposter (yes, you can fight Siegfried in the Coliseum, but not now). The last Imperial soldier is also here, and he gives you a hint about 'talking to the Emperor twice'. Strange, since the Emperor is quite thoroughly dead. Also, he mentions he passed this info to a bandana'd friend of yours. And within strange aeons, we may yet find Locke... How does the Coliseum work? You bet an item. An opponent will rise to meet your challenge, always the same opponent for the same item. You'll lose your bet item regardless, but if you win, you'll be given an item in return, an item often greater than the one you bet in the first place. If you cast Teleport in- battle or are Snorted out of the battle, you'll keep your bet item. Your characters act like they are Confused, but attack the 'normal' targets. That means that characters in the Coliseum will never use Item, Revert, Throw, Control, Slot, Leap, Defend, or Possess. Item and Throw are great to have listed as such, as you don't have to have a chance of using that single Megalixir or throwing a unique weapon away. You can't run successfully in the Coliseum (you'll just start running but will never get anywhere - you don't take any turns though) but the Teleport spell does work. Not all items can be traded for superior weapons here; most weak or common items will pit you against Typhon, who will promptly use Snort to end the battle (you can defeat him, but it'll take a long while before you'll even come close). If Typhon Snorts you away, the battle is considered a draw and you'll keep the Item you wagered. At this point, here's what you can do to make your life better. Difficulty is measured in * symbols; more *'s means more problems: ** Flametongue - Organyx Opponent: Great Malboro ** Tintinnabulum - Growth Egg Opponent: Dark Force * Elixir - Rename Card Opponent: Cactuar * Phoenix Down - Magicite Shard Opponent: Cactuar An explanation on the new items you can obtain here: The Rename Card is a 'secret' item that can only be found by fighting at the Coliseum. It enables you to rename one of your characters, after which it disappears. The Organyx is a very odd weapon. It's stronger than what you've seen so far, and uses MP to inflict Critical hits. It can deal an incredible physical blow for only 12 to 19 MP a hit. In fact, it deals more damage on a critical blow than two Enhancers. Sadly, there is also a downside to the Organyx. Namely, it can break while being used, and the chance is pretty big: an average of 28%. Here's how that's decided: [0..(last digit of attacker's HP + 1)] = 0 At any rate, you don't really want to risk losing your precious Organyx ; on the other hand, if you can't use it, what good does it do for you? There is one way to circumvent the whole breaking thing without it losing its charm; use the Black Belt! When countering, the Organyx will never break. So, the best way to use the Organyx is equip it on Celes and/or Edgar, stick to level 2 spells and/or Tools and swing the Organyx in self-defense. To be fair, the Organyx isn't that great or important a weapon. The Growth Egg doubles the Experience Points gained by the wearer. Two Growth Eggs don't stack, and ONLY the wearer receives twice as many Experience Points. - Flametongue - Organyx Opponent: Great Malboro Equip Sabin with two Burning Fists and a Ribbon. If Great Malboro uses Snort, the battle is over and you'll still have your Flametongue. Eventually, Sabin's Burning Fists will poundGreat Malboro into burning pulp and you'll have won a new sword, the Organyx. An alternate strategy includes Setzer with two Viper Darts, as Great Malboro is vulnerable to ID attacks. - Tintinnabulum - Growth Egg Opponent: Dark Force Dark Force has about 9000 HP, and has a 1/4 chance at using White Wind. Odds are you don't have the offensive strength to take him down before he takes you down. What you'll want to do is rely on your Instant Death weapons, as that's what Dark Force is susceptible to. Setzer's Viper Darts, if possible paired up with a Genji Glove, can take him out easily, as can a Soul Sabre. - Elixir - Rename Card Opponent: Cactuar - Phoenix Down - Magicite Shard Opponent: Cactuar Equip Setzer with the Dice you bought in Kohlingen. Relics, equipment, it's not needed. The Heiji's Jitte Relic is a negative factor as that could make him win while losing some money as opposed to making him win without any downsides. You know, because Slot won't be used in the Coliseum? Every time Setzer's turn comes up, he tosses out his Dice and wins. At any rate, do what you feel like investing time in and leave again. No items mentioned here are a truly significant improvement of your current team, and we have an airship to recover. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.53.3 Darill's Tomb ********************************** Opponents: Borghese (#143), Malboro (#144), Cloudwraith (#145), Exoray (#146), Skeletal Horror (#147), Angler Whelk (#314 & 315), Dullahan (#316) Container contents: Crystal Mail, Genji Helm, Growth Egg, Man-Eater, Regal Gown, Monster-in-a-box (Angler Whelk) Miscellaneous items: Dragon Claws x2 (guaranteed Angler Whelk drop and guaranteed Angler Whelk shell drop) Lores: Bad Breath, 1000 Needles Monster formations: (First Room) Skeletal Horror (10/16) Borghese, Borghese (6/16) Borghese, Cloudwraith, Cloudwraith (1/16) (B2F) Malboro, Exoray (6/16) Cloudwraith (5/16) Exoray, Exoray, Exoray (5/16) (B3F) Cloudwraith, Exoray, Exoray (6/16) Malboro (5/16) Malboro, Exoray (5/16) Preparation: The theme of the dungeon is Zombie! Of the five random encounter monsters present in this dungeon, four have the power to turn your characters into a Zombie. This is serious business, so you should definitely equip Relics to prevent this madness, even though the monsters here drop Holy Water like it's going out of style. Skeletal Horror. He sure looks rather terrifying; he appears in my top 10 rather-not-meet-IRL list anyway, just below 2004 pop idol Ashlee Simpson. Skeletal Horrors have three attacks. Attack and !Moldy Bone (sets Zombie) should be obvious, but Crypt Dust is an entirely new attack. Crypt Dust sets Zombie, but only hits characters with the Death status. In other words, it can only revive characters as Zombies. Used without intelligent AI script, it's almost always a wasted turn. Skeletal Horror is your run-of-the-mill undead opponent, weak against Fire and Holy and whatnot. No biggy. Borghese looks awesome. Every turn, it can use up to three (!) !Zombie Touch attacks, which set Zombie (gasp). When damaged, it may retaliate with Attack; if harmed by Magic spells, a Bio spell may be sent your way. Aside of their looks and awesome Zombifying skills, Borghese is rather boring. He's undead like almost everything in here, and has the normal weaknesses for it too. May drop an Amulet (12.5% chance) as opposed to the standard Holy Water. Cloudwraith's Special is called !Mysterious Dance and, in a shocking change of style, drains HP rather than setting Zombie. So, does Cloudwraith lack the power of Zombie-setting? Nay, not at all. The rarely seen Soul Extraction attack can target a single character and turn him or her into a Zombie. Yawn. Furthermore, Cloudwraith has 'Flare' written all over it, in its Rage, Sketch, and Control attacks. Luckily, Cloudwraith will never actively use it against you. Exoray are the most common in here. They can use Attack, !Deadly Pollen (sets Zombie), and Venomist, but they will only use Venomist when alone. Since you should be covered in either Amulets or Ribbons, Venomist's Poisoning effect will be lost on you, sticking Exoray with a weak, inaccurate Poison-elemental attack. Stick to what works against them, as they are as undead as the rest. The only living enemy in Darill's Tomb is Malboro. They are the most sturdy of the monsters here and use, besides Attack and !Drool (sets Sap) Bad Breath, an attack that sets Darkness, Poison, Imp, Silence and Confuse and can be learned by Strago in the future. Even with an Amulet, that turns one of your characters into a sleeping Imp that cannot even cast the Imp spell. Note that Bad Breath falls to a larger bug introduced in the GBA games; attacks which *also* set the Imp status will fail entirely when Imp immunity is registered. This means that while a character wearing a White Cape should still be vulnerable to Bad Breath's other effects, Bad Breath will miss alltogether. I suggest dual Burning Fists on Sabin, as he will kill every target with it on a remotely decent level, including Malboro. A Black Belt/Organyx combo on Celes works very nicely (make sure she's in the Front Row here). If you didn't bother to grab the Organyx at the Coliseum, just give her an Earring Relic (or Hero's Ring, obviously) and spam Fira spells all over. Edgar can use Tools to inflict consistent damage (give him dual Enhancers if you like). His Dragoon Boots/Dragon Horn/Golden Spear is less intelligent as you'll need one of those Relic slots for an Amulet/Ribbon. Setzer is the weakest link at the moment. Gil Toss does more damage than Prismatic Flash/Chocobo Stampede with double Earrings behind them, so if you ever wanted to use Gil Toss now's the time. You can't logically have double Earrings anyway, as you'll want an Amulet/Ribbon in there somewhere. Don't attack with Setzer's Viper Darts that will just revive every monster but Malboro (who IS susceptible to its X-type Instant Death). Push through the first room. Make sure you meet an Skeletal Horror here, as well as a Borghese. Both have acceptable Rages you might just want to use. As soon as you enter the main chamber of the tomb, you'll notice you can go in five different directions. Oh, the difficulty! I'll tell you where you want to go though, so no worries. First, let's dive into the bottom-right path for some quick chesty action: it's a Genji Helm, the strongest piece of heavy headgear in the game (and Crystal equipment hasn't even appeared on sale yet!). Equip it on Setzer or Edgar; it even beats the disgustingly over-used Green Beret. Now, get in the top-right room. This looks like just a tombstone in a deserted room, but examine the tombstone and another passageway opens! It leads to a skeleton button of some sort. Push it to raise the water level in a room. Trace back your steps to the main room, and dive into the bottom-left room. You'll come across a chest (Crystal Mail, something for Celes, Setzer, or Edgar), go down some stairs and come across another chest (Regal Gown). The Regal Gown is a Relm-exclusive piece of Armor that, sadly, isn't all that good. You can bet it later for a Minerva Bustier at the Coliseum though, which is pretty much the best option for some characters including Celes. Enter the door to come in a watery room with another skeleton button. Press it to open a door you can't reach. Trace back to the main room, and go through the door in the middle, leading inwards. Here, another turtle! Had you not pushed skeleton button # 1, you couldn't have stepped on the turtle. Now, the faithful reptilian carries you across. On the other side, another skeleton button! Press it, and the water level of the room you pushed skeleton button # 2 in raises to your aid, carrying another turtle. But don't hop on just yet. Go down for now, and you arrive in a room with four tombstones. ERAU QSSI DRLO WEHT Collect all four inscriptions, and have a look at it. From bottom-right to top-left, backwards, it reads 'the world is square'. I've always found this to be the surprisingly beautiful jewel in the unholy and disgusting crown of Ted Woolsey (adopted by Slattery). This is supposed to be the final revelation Darill had while piloting her airship, the revelation that cost Darill her life: not only is the Overworld Map square, which she might have seen from high above, the name of the company that created the game was at the time also Square, which would make the world 'Square' as well. In the Japanese version, it was an entirely different pun. One way, it read 'rest in peace'. The other way, it read 'rot and wither'. Very dark. Very gothic. Go back to the main room, and find the top-left room. Had you examined the tombstone in this room earlier, upon choosing to carve something would have given you a "Nothing appropriate comes to mind..." Now, you get to choose between the four inscriptions you read earlier. Start from the beginning of the backwards sentence (THEW, OLRD, ISSQ, UARE) and you'll be rewarded with the Game Over music and the secret of the hidden Growth Egg in Darill's Tomb: I have hidden the Growth Egg in the side room on the third basement level... Go to the room where you found the Regal Gown (bottom-left room, down the stairs) and find the hidden passage to the chest there. Obviously, this was an option from the start, but I always thought this puzzle was pretty neat and didn't want to spoil it for you. >:) Go back to where you traced back for the inscriptions, and cross the water with the turtle. You'll enter a new room, with a Save Point and two chests. The right chest contains a Man-Eater dirk. The Man-Eater deals double damage to every opponent with a humanoid appearance. To learn about the opponents this includes, follow [MANEATER-LINK]. Now, MT Float your party, because the left chest contains a monster-in-a-box, Angler Whelk, which uses a ground-based attack. Make sure Float is set, and be sure to equip Catoblepas (Golem's nice too). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.53.4 The battle with Angler Whelk ********************************** Angler Whelk Level: 31, HP: 9845, MP: 1600 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Dragon Claws (always) Absorbs: Ice, Lightning, Water, No effect: Poison, Weakness: Fire Special: !Petriblast: sets Petrify Sketch : !Petriblast, Attack Control: Attack, !Petriblast Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Petriblast, El Niño, Megavolt Angler Whelk (Shell) Level: 19, HP: 9230, MP: 1600 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Dragon Claws (always) Absorbs: Ice, Lightning, Water, Weakness: Fire Creature Type: MP Kill Status: Float Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom Attacks: Attack, 1000 Needles, Megavolt, Gigavolt, Magnitude 8. Joker's Death: Yes There are a few oddities about this thing. First off, it's supposed to be a scary Ymir upgrade, at which it fails. Second, notice how the shell is Floating but the head isn't? The tale of a creature whose head was too heavy to carry hasn't been new since Catoblepas, but I've never seen it applied to a snail before. Angler Whelk also made an appearance in the 1996 Square game 'Bahamut Lagoon' which never hit the shores of America. Same name, same sprite, has a tendency to appear when you destroy buildings with Thunder-techs. Also, the game designers made a little mistake we're going to exploit here; we were never supposed to obtain more than one Dragon Claws from this fight, but we're getting two. Just watch me. The AI script of the head is simple. If you damage the head two times, it'll retract into its shell, disappearing from the battlefield. It'll remain there for 20 seconds, at which point is comes out again. It'll use Attack, !Petriblast, El Niño, and Megavolt without too many difficulties to it, so be ready for any of them at all times. The shell attacks by itself, and is no longer just an object of counters. Attack, Megavolt and 1000 Needles may appear at all times, and especially 1000 Needles should be watched out for. When the head has been retracted, it'll stop using these attacks and switch over to Magnitude 8. Whenever the shell is damaged, it has a 33% chance at retorting with Gigavolt. The strategy we're aiming for is simple. If one of the parts dies, the other one dies as well, but will NOT give us the item. Thus, if we want both Dragon Claws (and we certainly do, as the Angler Whelk is the only source for Dragon Claws in the game, and we won't meet another one until the very very very last of the game), we have to kill them both at the same time. First, our defenses! If you didn't cast Float earlier, do so at the start of the battle. Zona Seeker helps against Megavolt, Gigavolt, and El Niño. Golem and/or Fenrir protect against Attack and !Petriblast. You could have Celes on Runic stand-by for Megavolt and Gigavolt, but it's not worth it. Now, let's kill this snail. Since both targets are susceptible to Instant Death attacks and Petrify, the two best strategies are using Banish and using Catoblepas' Demon Eye. However, we don't want to take any chances, do we? First, if you have the Vanish spell, cast it on the shell to ensure that Banish/Demon Eye will hit it. Remember, this is NOT a bug exploit; the shell is susceptible to ID attacks, and setting Invisible just makes sure it hits, what it was always supposed to do. Sadly, we can't apply Sleep or Stop to make sure Banish/Demon Eye works on the head, because both attacks check for the target's Stamina (in which case those steps are ignored). So, we'll just have to take our chances here. Since Demon Eye is more accurate than Banish, it takes preference. If the head is missed, I suggest you reload the game. When you're done, equip both Dragon Claws on Sabin. They are Holy-elemental, so they still do massive damage to everything in the tomb. Not that it's really that big of a deal now, since we're about to leave it; in the next room, we finally come across the tombstone of Darill herself. Examining it triggers a boss battle, which in my opinion is one of the better yet more redundant boss battles of this game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.53.5 The battle with Dullahan ********************************** Before you do, I want you to throw around your equipment and Relics, as Dullahan (the boss) is rather tough and entirely unlike the random encounters you've been facing so far. - If you have a Dragon Horn, throw it on Edgar with some Dragoon Boots. Equip a Golden Lance. Put him in the Back Row. - The boss is weak against Fire-elemental attacks, so Sabin's dual Burning Fists will take good care of him here. Give him a Hero's Ring (or Gigas Glove) and Hermes Sandals to accompany his bashing. A more defensive option would be sticking him in the Back Row and let loose with Rising Phoenix. - Celes' Organyx/Black Belt set-up, if you had it, will be useless. She will be using Runic almost non-stop, so equip her defensively. Dual Enhancers are a good choice. Since Dullahan is pretty fast, I suggest Hermes Sandals on Celes to keep up with his spell casting. - Setzer should just run utility. Give him the Heiji's Jitte to make sure he can just do constant damage when he doesn't need to do anything else. Two sets of Earrings and the Slot command also do the trick, but this isn't nearly as strong at this point and wastes more Relic slots. Also, make sure that none of your characters possess a level that is evenly divisible by the last digit of your party's gold. I'll explain why later. Dullahan Level: 37, HP: 23450, MP: 1721 Steal: Genji Glove (rare), X-Potion (common) Absorbs: Ice, Weakness: Fire Creature Type: MP Kill Status: Float, Haste Special: !Morning Star: Attack x 2 Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Morning Star, Cura, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Holy, Lv. ? Holy, Reflect ???, Absolute Zero, Northern Cross Joker's Death: Yes Dullahan is badass. Although he looks like he'd rather impale you with that lance of his any day, he's an almost exclusive spell caster with inherent Haste. Both his spells and Magic Power are relatively strong, so expect a challenge here. Its name comes from an ancient spirit from Irish mythology: a headless horseman who only travels to collect somebody's life. Its carriage is made of bone, its horses have flaming eyes, and it will stop at nothing... Dullahan always starts the battle off with Lv. ? Holy. This is a strong Holy- elemental attack, in terms of power similar to level 3 spells. Its drawback is that it will only hit targets whose level is divisible by the last digit of your Gil. This is why I told you to make sure that it never hits; it leaves quite a mark. Under normal circumstances, he'll just focus on his three main spells, being Blizzara, Blizzaga and Holy. When he detects any characters in your party with the Reflect status, he'll use Reflect ??? on your entire party. It will display "Holy cast if level is divisible by ?.", setting Darkness, Silence and Slow on every character with the Reflect status. If he dives beneath 10240 HP, he'll use Cura instantly once. If he passes through four normal turns, he'll regain the ability to cast Reflect ??? and/or Cura if the situation calls for it. Finally, whenever you hit him, there's a 33% chance he counters with Attack. Oh, my. If you damage him eight times, he'll get four turns where he uses nastier spells. Blizzara and Lv. ? Holy can make another appearance, but so can !Morning Star, Absolute Zero and Northern Cross. You can't Runic your way out of these new spells, which makes them harder to stop. Northern Cross, while being vulnerable to Runic, is the most dangerous of the five. Northern Cross sets the Freeze status ailment, which you could already encounter in the fight versus Naude, who could set it with Freezing Dust. Northern Cross is MT, but uses an 'interesting' way to determine if it hits or not. After it checks if it hits or not (after Invisible, Magic Evasion, the usual), it randomly misses from 0 to 4 characters. This makes sure that even when all characters are normally hit, you'll almost never see a party entirely frozen. That is good, as it's basically mega-Stop and you cannot protect against it AT ALL. Remember that the fastest way to dispel the Freeze status is to hit the party with a Fire-elemental attack; the Fire spell is obviously the best one. There are two strategies you can employ. I'll list them both, as both should be perfectly fail-safe if you know what you're doing. Here they are: Strategy # 1: Hit Points This is the strategy where we use violence to end Dullahan. First off, let's set up our available defenses. Zona Seeker is nice should Absolute Zero make an appearance, as is Golem or Fenrir for !Morning Star and Attack counters. Have Celes use Runic, continuously. If she isn't wearing Hermes Sandals, make sure you cast the Haste spell on her. Now, let's get to the violence! Your main damage dealers here are Sabin and Edgar. Sabin should be in the Front Row with two Burning Fists. If Celes is absorbing one of Dullahan's spells, sneak a Berserk spell on Sabin for increased damage. If Edgar is equipped with the Dragon Horn, have him Jump. If not, stick to Tools; you can see what I want to do with him. Setzer should just stand by and use Hi-Potions on hurting characters. Since Celes should pretty much absorb all of Dullahan's attacks, you should be safe from his attacks. In the end, you should prevail. Strategy # 2: Magic Points. Or I suppose they could be Mana Points. Dullahan dies if you rasp away his MP. Thus, the entire offensive arsenal you get to use in this strategy is Rasp. The advantage of the strategy is that if you have two to four Rasp casters, you'll find that the battle is over far quicker. Its downside is that it DOES require that many Rasp casters, and that since Rasp is vulnerable to Runic, you can't protect yourself against Dullahan's attacks and have to regularly heal. On a normally raised party, I find both strategies equally satisfying; it's your pick, really. After you've defeated Dullahan, a passageway will be opened. Walk behind the tombstone to enter the final part of this dungeon, a long stairway leading downwards that is as much descending into Setzer's memory as anything... This tells the story of two rivaling friends. Setzer was about 18 here; not yet a gambler, but an airship enthusiast with the dream of building the fastest ship in the world, a dream he shared with his friend Darill. Sadly, Darill pulled an Icarus on Setzer and wrecked herself, together with her airship, the Falcon. Upon ascending from the waters, Celes will spot - gasp - a bird. In the sky! A bird in the sky! This must be an omen. She quickly urges you to follow it, to the town of Maranda. So Setzer does. When you fly around, there's a change you'll be attacked by the monster called Deathgaze. If you manage to defeat Deathgaze (and you will in the future), you'll be rewarded with the Bahamut Magicite, which teaches the Flare spell. Defeating him at this stage is a complicated feat, though. If you want to know about Deathgaze now, take a look at [DEATHGAZE-LINK]. Even if you choose to ignore Deathgaze until such time you can more easily slay him, you may still run into him. Know that he starts every fight with Lv. 5 Death (so certain parties may face an instant Game Over) and that he can be run from, so some Teleport Stones may be in order. Another important note: It is at this point that Gau's new WoR level is calculated, based on the average of Celes, Edgar, Setzer and possibly Sabin. That means that if you leveled to level 99 and then recruited Gau, he would still be found with the average level of the party you used to defeat Dullahan. If you really, truly want to gain access to Gau ASAP, that can be done. All you have to do is get rid of a party member, fly over to the Veldt and meet him there. However, how do you tell a party member to buzz off without his or her feelings? Fly over to Kekfa's Tower north of Albrook, descend into it and skip to the third party, to the far right. The Falcon's hook should fly over every now and again; you can grab it without having to set a step. Teleport spells and Stones also work. Setzer will be piloting the Falcon by himself now, and you can go below deck to assemble a team of your choosing. There you go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.1 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Maranda ********************************** Welcome to Maranda. The last time you visited Maranda it was one of the occupied towns, generally featureless, safe for Lola, the girlfriend of the wounded lad in Mobliz. A lot of random information is blurted out by the townspeople here. A thief mentions he visited the tower of the Cult of Kefka, and one of them used to mumble 'to the right of the treasure chest' in his sleep. Since none of the thieves ever made it past the first room, we should examine that place should we ever get there. Now, the bird turned out to be a carrier pigeon for Lola; according to Aishya, the girl running circles below Lola's house, she's been receiving a lot of letters lately. Once you enter her house, you find dozens of silk flowers here. Also, a letter seemingly written by the wounded lad in Mobliz, but that's impossible. Somebody must be posing as him. Accept the 'mission' of sending a carrier pigeon out as a reply so we can track the source of this imposter. Note that you'll briefly get the Rare item Lola's Letter: "Thank you for always sending me flower! How are you feeling? I'm worried about you..." The pigeon flies across the ruined lands of this new world until it reaches a town to the north of Jidoor, and although the world map has changed a lot, this town can be none other than Zozo. Weapon Shop: Gravity Rod 13000 Swordbreaker 16000 Falchion 17000 Flame Scroll 500 Water Scroll 500 Lightning Scroll 500 Invisibility Scroll 200 Shadow Scroll 400 You've already found a Gravity Rod, and since it was entirely uninteresting back then I'm sure you can figure out you really don't need another one. The Swordbreaker is a great new Dirk for a few characters you haven't obtained at the moment; since it grants the wielder +30% Evasion, it has great situational use. The Falchion is useless as-is, but there's one large reason why you should buy Falchions. You see, they can be bet at the Coliseum for Flame Shields. And Flame Shields can be bet for Ice Shields. So ideally, you'll just buy four of them and transform all of them into Flame Shields (you don't really need Ice Shields if you have Flame Shields as Flame Shields nullify Ice-elemental attacks). Forget about the Scrolls for a moment; you have nobody to Throw them now anyway. Armor Shop: Crystal Shield 7000 Crystal Helm 10000 Oath Veil 9000 Black Garb 13000 Magus Robe 13000 Crystal Mail 17000 Maranda features Crystal equipment! Excellent! Buy two Crystal Shields if you don't want to go for Flame Shields at the Coliseum later on, and two pieces of Crystal Mail as well. Equip them on those that can use it. The Oath Veil is probably supposed to be the ultimate girly helmet, but since it's inferior to both the Circlet and the Mystery Veil, just leave it. A nice set of Black Garb is great for Sabin. The Magus Robe is pretty much the programmer's solution to the fact that Strago and Relm really didn't get any store-bought pieces of armor (monster hides like Chocobo Suits and Tabby Suits are never store-bought). Also, it's the ultimate equipment for a character not yet introduced, but we'll solve that problem when we get there. The Crystal Mail is boring yet superior to Diamond Armor, so get that for characters who still carry around that ancient piece of rubbish. "Do you know what a cactuar is? I'd been hunting the little varmints last time I was out in the desert, when all of a sudden, a huge one attacked me! A monster of that size has to have some good treasure. I'd bet my right eye on it!" Near the entrance of Maranda, an odd-coloured NPC is waiting for you. I'm not saying that just because he's got a different color he's inferior or anything. Don't get me wrong. It's just...you know, it's so obvious he was imported, that's all. And he really does do a good job cleaning, picking fruit and taking care of the local Cactuar problems, and he sends his family back home good money, so nobody's complaining. Right! Anyway, he's talking about one of the four new Espers as you might have guessed. You can meet the requirements for fighting the required fight easily enough, but there's just no chance you'll defeat *raspy voice* The Gruesome Gigantuar now, so I won't bother describing everything related to him just yet. If you want to learn about the strongest sentient succulent right now, visit [GIGANTUAR-LINK]. Okay, no, we're done here. Let's go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.2 Airship Exploitation: The Overworld Map ********************************** Opponents: Brachiosaur (#171), Tyrannosaur (#172), Tumbleweed (#173), Leap Frog (#174), Slagworm (#175), Cactuar (#176), Crawler (#177), Sprinter (#178), Basilisk (#179), Lycaon (#180), Greater Mantis (#181), Vasegiatta (#196), Gloomwind (#197), Purusa (#198), Zone Eater (#195), Deathgaze (#331) Miscellaneous items: Celestriad (rare Brachiosaur drop), Impartsian (rare Tyrannosaur drop and rare Greater Mantis steal), Reed Cloak (rare Sprinter drop and rare Tyrannosaur steal), Ribbon (rare Brachiosaur steal), Saucer (rare Tumbleweed steal), Tortoise Shield (rare Basilisk drop and rare Basilisk steal), X-Potion (rare Lycaon steal) Magicite: Bahamut "Take a few steps...you're bound to run into one!" Yes, the random battles on the Overworld map. Now that you practically START with the Falcon before you've explored so much of the Overworld Map, you never actually need to fight these guys. However, there are quite a few monsters here you won't find anywhere else, so even if it's for something trivial as a full Rage list and Bestiary or just for meeting them, I'll try to give a run-down on which enemies appear where. You can skip it if you want to. In other words: needless violence against grazing animals! It's a shame there's no option in this game where you can simply stay on the Falcon while blasting level 3 spells on defenseless livestock down below for Experience Points. Here's a neat little navigational chart for you if you're ever lost on where to go. Yeah, Paint Shop Pro it ain't, but I tried my best and one of today's most famous writers already said you couldn't bake a pie out of shit no matter how hard you try. 1 2 6 4 7 8 3 5 9 A B C D E F G H K I J L M N P O 1 - Dragon's Neck Coliseum 2 - Duncan's House 3 - Darill's Tomb 4 - Kohlingen 5 - Figaro Castle (location 1) 6 - Narshe 7 - Crazy man's house 8 - Triangle Island 9 - Figaro Castle (location 2) A - Nikeah B - Doma Castle C - Cave of the Veldt D - South Figaro E - Zozo F - Cultist's Tower G - Mobliz H - Jidoor I - Opera House J - Maranda K - Tzen L - Kefka's Tower M - Albrook N - Solitary Island O - Thamasa P - Ebot's Rock For the record, the grasslands are the green tiles, the wastelands the grey ones. Monster formations: *** South-eastern continent (Thamasa): (Grasslands & Forest) Vasegiatta (10/16) Vasegiatta, Purusa(6/16) (Wastelands) Gloomwind, Gloomwind, Gloomwind (10/16) Purusa, Gloomwind (6/16) Vasegiatta: Attacks physically with Attack and !Talon Grab. Vaegiatta rarely uses Aero to attack as well. When hit by a Magic spell, it might counter with a Attack or Cyclonic attack. Gloomwind: Gloomwind is weak to Ice-elemental attacks and acts like the Zokka monsters you faced earlier (with Celes most likely, trying to save that kid in Tzen); Attack and the Stop-setting Net attack are used, and when a single Gloomwind is non-fatally damaged it may use !Rock, which sets Petrify. Purusa: Uses nothing but Attack and !Bear Hug to attack physically. Purusa is pretty boring, but it has a kick-ass Rage for Gau to offer (Rock Slide, no elemental weaknesses) so make sure you meet one. *** South-western continent (Jidoor, Zozo, Maranda) (Grasslands) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (10/16) Basilisk, Basilisk, Leap Frog (6/16) (Desert) Slagworm (10/16) Cactuar (6/16) (Forest) Leap Frog, Leap Frog, Leap Frog, Leap Frog (10/16) Greater Mantis, Greater Mantis (6/16) (Wastelands) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (10/16) Greater Mantis, Sprinter, Lycaon, Lycaon (6/16) Leap Frog: Ol' LF here is pretty famous among the bug hunters of this game; with the broken Rippler attack that swaps more statuses than it should (such as cuties like Trance, Rage, Dance, and Shadow's Dog Block) and the ability to use a Jump attack, this is probably the most bug-infected opponent you face. You shouldn't notice them if you're playing 'normally' though. LF uses Attack or !Tongue (Sap) the first round, a Jump attack the second, he'll come down the third turn, and uses either Attack or Rippler the fourth. Loop from there. LF is weak to Ice-elemental attacks and vulnerable to ID attacks, so do whatever floats your boat there. Slagworm: Without over-leveling, Slagworms are strong enough to kill you. They give 5 Magic AP and quite a lot of Experience Points, but you probably want to stay out of the desert at this moment. Slagworms are dangerous and prone to cause you pain, death, and mild discomfort. They're big defensive weakness is their lack of Death Protection, which should be exploited. Causing HP damage is just going to cause mean double Sandstorm counters and their amount of MP is too large to deplete every time you encounter one. Note that Slagworm is protected from Petrify, so Break's superior Hit Rate to Death isn't going to help you. Avoid percentage-based attacks, as they allow counters. Confuse, Stop and Berserk can help in keeping Slagworm subdued while you make with the Death spells. You may think that I'm being anal about these counter-attacks. This is entirely justified, make no mistake. While Sandstorm is an attack that is easily evaded, it's still three times as dangerous as Slagworm's physicals. You'll simply want to evade it. If you have all characters protected with Thunder Shields, Paladin's Shield, and/or Minerva Bustier or simply 128 Magic Evasion %, it doesn't really matter what you do as you'll laugh in the dusty, non-existing face of Sandstorm. What has an eye, but no face? A tornado. Amaze your friends! Cactuar: Cactuars give 10 Magic AP, which make them great spell teachers. However, not every character can easily dispatch them, and since they share the desert with the Slagworm enemies, reaping the benefits at this moment may be too dangerous for your team. Cactuars are little 3 HP buggers who use 1000 Needles on you every turn (and ten times 1000 Needles in a single turn if you wait to long killing them). At this stage, Edgar can easily take care of them with a Drill or Chainsaw attack, or have Sabin unleash a Raging Fist Blitz technique. Setzer's Dice work too. Everything else misses if it can, or will do only 1 HP worth of damage. Crawler: Crawlers stand out because they are so very, very annoying. They rank up there with those guys who chew their gum too loudly, or obnoxious girls who just don't get that yes, you can get too pushy, especially if you manage to accompany every word you say with a little bit of spit that goes flying in my face, thank you very much. Crawlers use Attack and !Feeler, which sets Poison. When alone, Crawlers start to use the level-halving Dischord attack and Leech, which drains HP from you (if it isn't obvious). Ice-elemental attacks and ID attacks are their bane, and MT Confusion (such as the Noiseblaster) is a great move, as they will start using Traveler on each other. Sprinter: If you Confuse them, they start using Cyclonic on themselves! Sprinters are vulnerable to such ID attacks. They may use White Wind to restore HP, !Osmose Beak which strangely enough drains MP (it tends to do nothing since they hardly ever consume their own MP), and of course attack physically too. They may drop (1/8 chance) a Reed Cloak, a piece of armor that absorbs Water-elemental attacks and has EXTREMELY grand Defense and Magic Defense, although it only grants the Defense aspect when the wearer has the Imp status. You can read more about all this here: [KAPPA-LINK]. Basilisk: Another land-roaming lizard that mainly stands out due to it being the source for another piece of Imp equipment, that being the Tortoise Shield it rarely drops. Basilisk attacks physically and uses !Stone Gaze to set Petrify. In Rage, Control and Sketch attacks, petrification abilities run rampant. It's immune to Petrify, obviously. Ice-elemental attacks as usual (all lizards are weak to the element) and non-Petrification inducing ID attacks work too. Basilisks have 5000 HP and are quite sturdy, so you might want to take advantage of that. Lycaon: Lycaon is a ferocious little critter that pounces into combat despite the fact an emo singer's bad hair day could knock it out cold. With 250 HP and no special amount of defenses, Lycaon will be gone very soon from the battlefield. When you confuse them, they may use Acid Rain, which kills them all. Lycaon grants Ragers a great skill in the Blaster attack, which is an ST/MT ID attack that, unlike pretty much every other ID attack, doesn't check for Stamina. This doesn't mean much except for the fact that Stop/Blaster and Sleep/Blaster combos DO always work. Lycaon attacks physically only, by the way, so nothing to mention there. Greater Mantis: Theoretically, Greater Mantis is merely Attack/Special cannon fodder. I should mention here that Greater Mantis'Attacks have the power to one-hit destroy a single character by pure damage output. You'll want to avoid that, and when hunting in these regions, the Invisible status is definitely a plus. !Mind Reaper just takes away MP, but since Greater Mantis NEVER uses MP-reliant moves, it'll always do 0 damage unless you used Rasp or Osmose on the massive mantodea. *** Triangle Island: Zone Eater (always) Zone Eater: Yeah, you'll want to lay off this guy for a while. Not that it's going to kill you, but strangely enough, it will transport you to a dungeon where you'll encounter plenty of monsters that probably will kill you at this stage of the game. There's no good reason to dive in there now. It's an odd monster indeed. It absorbs Ice-elemental attacks, is weak against Holy-elemental attacks, and nullifies all other elements. And all it seems to use is a rare Gravity spell and the Inhale attack. Inhale is pretty much the same as Snort; it removes a single character from battle. If you run away with some characters 'in the body of Zone Eater', you'll just find them in your party at the end. If you kill the thing after some of your characters have been eaten, likewise. However, if your entire team fell victim to the Inhale attack, you'll find yourself in one of the worlds this Zone Eater ate; a cave, filled with humans (or at least, humanoids) bent on your destruction for some reason that doesn't involve logical thinking. Best be on your guard. *** North-eastern continent (Dinosaur forest, crazy man's hut): (Grasslands) Sprinter, Sprinter, Lycaon, Lycaon (10/16) Tumbleweed, Tumbleweed, Tumbleweed, Tumbleweed (5/16) Greater Mantis, Sprinter, Lycaon, Lycaon (1/16) (Wastelands) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (6/16) Crawler (1/16) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (5/16) (Forest) Tyrannosaur (10/16) Tyrannosaur, Tyrannosaur (5/16) (fixed Pincer) Brachiosaur (1/16) Brachiosaur: This is THE strongest random encounter in the game, and you absolutely positively don't want to mess with one at this time. It has the properties you'd expect: over 46000 HP, extremely high level (77), immune to every single status ailment you could throw at it including ID attacks and some very, very strong Special in !Spin (Attack * 6). Next to Attack, which you'll normally see (and which leaves quite a bruising all by itself), it can use some very strong attacks and spells, including Disaster (which it can MT, sets Darkness, Imp, Doom, Silence, Confuse and Float), Meteor (non-elemental barrier-piercing spell that hurts a lot), Snort (a god-send in this battle, as it means you get to embrace the sweetness of life for a little longer), and Ultima. Ultima is like Meteor only so much stronger it'll do over 5000 HP worth of damage to every character you have. Unless he or she is alone, in which case you'll get to see the novelty of a monster inflicting 9999 damage to a character. In the future, you could beat Brachiosaur with Relm's Control skill, a few other dirty tricks or just plain kill the bastard with violence before it can do the same to you. There's a decent enough reason to do so too, as it has a rare Ribbon for Stealing and a rare Celestriad drop too (sets the MP cost of every Magic spell and Lore technique to 1). Now, however, this is not an option. Tyrannosaur: The opponents in the fabled Dinosaur Forest are tough. Brachiosaur is a rare freak occurrence, while Tyrannosaur are dangerous enough as-is. Tyrannosaurea have incredible physical strength, which is especially bad since not only can they channel this in a !Bite attack (Attack * 8), they also occasionally double-team your party from both sides, and that is NOT as sexy as it sounds. When a monster attacks from behind, its physical attacks will do more damage and become unblockable (although Interceptor and Golem can block these attacks, the Image status is useless in this aspect). On top of that, Tyrannosaurea have the power to cast the Meteor spell, which damages the entire party for over 1500 HP. To stop this madness, cast a combination of Sleep and Slow on these dangerous dinosaurs and pound away with magical attacks. Ice-elemental attacks are the bomb, so Blizzara and Blizzaga spells and Valigarmand's Tri-Disaster really put the hurt on these babies. I wouldn't advise going in the Dinosaur Forest right now, but if you HAVE to have an Impartisan right now, Save beforehand and make sure you know how to make your opponents snooze the battle away. If not, there's no chance you'll survive an encounter. Tumbleweed: These strange creatures fall easily to Lv.5 Death attacks, though you won't be able to cast it if you've followed the walkthrough so far. They use Attack and !Blinder, which sets Darkness. When alone, a Tumbleweed may use Lifeshaver to recover HP. They're weak to Fire-elemental attacks and vulnerable to ID, so take advantage of the knowledge that you have. *** Northern continent (Narshe, Duncan's House) (Grasslands) Basilisk, Basilisk, Leap Frog (5/16) Leap Frog, Leap Frog, Leap Frog, Leap Frog (5/16) Greater Mantis, Greater Mantis (5/16) Greater Mantis, Sprinter, Lycaon, Lycaon (1/16) (Wastelands) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (6/16) Crawler (5/16) Crawler, Crawler, Crawler (5/16) One niche tactic I'd like to mention now is the following. If you didn't pick up Sabin in Tzen already, you should now have Celes, Edgar and Setzer on your team. Pick up Gau from the Veldt if you haven't already. You now have the four characters whose level is already determined; the levels of the rest is calculated when you recruit them. You can train these four now if you'd like, and pick the rest up at a higher level. You'll lose out on stat increases from Espers, but it sure is handy recruiting characters at bloated levels! Best way to train is roaming the grasslands around the Dinosaur Forest. Set Clear to the lot; you are now immune to all attacks except for Crawler's Dischord and Leech and Tumbleweed's Lifeshaver, all of which are attacks they will only use when they're alone. Make sure to tackle these guys with MT violence and they'll never touch you. Nothing new here. I can absolutely understand you're anxious to get the boring stuff out of the way and start pumping up! How does an all-game ultimate Blitz technique sound? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.3 Airship Exploitation: Master Duncan; completing Sabin's training ********************************** We have our wings back! And as opposed to last time we got some improved transportation situation, we have almost the entire world left to explore. The story obviously directed us to Maranda, but not only is there so much to do before following the carrier pigeon to Zozo, some of it is even easier than the quest we were put on in Maranda. So, allow me to give you some pointers as to where you want to go first. Duncan is alive! His wife told us that, and Sabin probably is anxious to see his old master again and hear how it went down. Duncan's wife told us that Duncan was meditating north of Narshe. If you can't find Narshe right now, it's on the continent to the north of the 'head' of the Serpent Trench. Narshe, like it was before, is a dent in the mountains on the map. To the northeast of Narshe, you can find five trees on the map that form a Greek cross (+). Duncan's located on the middle tree. If you bring Sabin here, Duncan will come out and laugh off Sabin's worries. He'll then proceed to teach Sabin the eighth and final Blitz technique, the ultimate martial arts attack: Phantom Rush. Sabin would have learned to perform it himself at level 70, but this sure is quicker. Phantom Rush is, contrary to what you would believe, a MAGICAL attack, meaning that it can (and should) be boosted by Earrings. It's barrier-piercing and non-elemental and extremely strong, far surpassing anything the rest of your party can do right now (except maybe a lucky 4-hit combo with the Dragon Horn, but Phantom Rush is constant). The Japanese game calls it the Illusion Battle Dance, which as you would expect is a lot cooler sounding than its American incarnation. If you go to Duncan with a party lacking Sabin, you'll see him jumping around: "Duncan: Move it! You're in my way! *cough*... *wheeze*... Darn this old body of mine... Won't do what I tell it to anymore..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.54.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Quetzalli ********************************** Magicite: Quetzalli Let's see how (the corpse of) Cid is doing! If you find Cid on the Solitary Island, you'd think he would grab the opportunity of flying over to civilized areas; you can't take him, however. If he lives, he'll just say, "I'm all better now! Thank you, Celes! " and continue to walk around his little cabinet like a senile. If he died, his letter is still there. Who would've moved it? Then again, who put it there in the first place? Mysteries. Time to ponder them over at the beach. But gasp, something has washed ashore: a piece of Magicite! 'Tis Quetzalli, one the greatest summons the game has to offer and a great Hastega spell tutor. You'll like it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.5 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Jidoor ********************************** Let's fly over to Jidoor for a moment now. Jidoor is still a thriving town, filled with people who find the end of the world a moderate inconvenience and an interesting new art theme. I don't think you need to be even near white trash to hate these guys with a passion. Walking around town, you hear that the bird you saw is one of the many carrier pigeons that have been flying to Maranda lately. Way back, when the world was still a shining square of happiness, Sabin and Cyan met up with a wounded lad in Mobliz who corresponded with his girlfriend in Maranda by means of these feathered friends. Sadly, Mobliz was hit by the Light of Judgment, and the wounded lad was killed. The other story of the day is concerning Owzer. Something is up with the guy; he had a fine new painter arrive at his house - a little girl. Could this be little Relm Arrowny? If you let Shadow live on the FC, you can already dive into Owzer's Mansion for the answer to that question, a dungeon, a boss, a new Esper and a character regained. I've got it planned for later times, but if you're impatient, you can take a look at [OWZER-LINK]. For now, you'll want to buy a few things here regardless: Weapon Shop: Man-Eater 11000 Partisan 13000 Crystal Sword 15000 Sniper 15000 Interesting new weapons here! Allow me to describe them. You know the Man- Eater. When fighting certain foes, a double Man-Eater strike will be superior to whatever you have, but these foes are generally not too much to worry about, so buying another one is probably a waste of money. The Partisan is superior to the Golden Spear, which means an upgrade for our new Dragoon Edgar. Buy one. The Crystal Sword is just another plain sword whose base power is inferior to the Organyx but superior to the Enhancer; it doesn't give any stat boosts and there's no real reason to attack with it. Don't buy it and stick to Enhancers or Organyx/Black Belt. The only interesting feature about the Crystal Sword is that General Leo equipped it when he fought Kefka. The final weapon is the Sniper. It's an upgrade over the Hawkeye, with the same 50% chance of doing 1.5 times as much damage against normal enemies and triple damage against enemies with the Float status. It's a great weapon to equip, but nobody right now can use it so just forget it for now. Conclusion: Buy a Partisan, than leave. :P Armor Shop: Circlet 7000 Black Cowl 7500 Crystal Helm 10000 Black Garb 13000 The Circlet is a nice Helmet with an all-round stat boost: +2 Strength, +1 Speed, +3 Stamina and +4 Magic Power (which really is the only important one). Everybody can equip one, but everybody but one has superior Helmets at this moment (Celes's Mystery Veil, Edgar/Sabin's Royal Crown, Genji Helm), so just buy one and stick it on the unfortunate sap who still went with that ancient Green Beret. The Black Cowl is rubbish, superior to the Circlet in Defense by 1 single point and inferior to it in all other ways. Forget about the Crystal Helm as well. A set of Black Garb for Sabin is nice, though. In short: buy one Circlet and a set of Black Garb if you didn't buy Black Garb earlier in Maranda. Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ehter 1500 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Teleport Stone 700 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Buy stuff, it's good for you. Weren't you paying attention to the voices in your head? LIVE BUY CONSUME DIE. Relic Shop: Princess Ring 3000 Protect Ring 5000 Gigas Glove 5000 Angel Wings 6300 The interesting new Relic called 'Protect Ring' sets Protect on your character. Basically, the Relic cuts the damage of physical attacks by 1/3, always. Sadly, physical attacks are past their prime at this stage of the game, so its usefulness is kind of low. If you like the thought of a physical powerhouse who can withstand all blows, buy and equip one to whomever you feel should benefit; you're better off focusing on offense though. If you plan to use Gau, there's something you can do make absolutely sure you get one of his best Rages relatively quickly; enter Owzer's Mansion, read the diary if you want, turn on the lights near the stairs and examine the flower painting for a fight with three Rafflesia enemies. This only applies if Shadow survived the Floating Continent; if he didn't, the house will just be lit and empty for now. More information can be found at [OWZER-LINK]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.6 Airship Exploitation: The Auction House ********************************** Miscellaneous items: Excalipoor (Auction House), Hero's Ring (Auction House, Zephyr Cloak (Auction House) Magicite: Golem, Zona Seeker In front of the Auction House, a GBA-exclusive NPC lingers. "I heard they're going to put a rare sword up for auction. I can't decide if I should bid or not." As soon as you've spoken to the guy, the rare sword Excalipoor becomes an option in the Auction House. Since we can't afford it yet and we do want other things, I suggest ignoring the bloke for now. The Auction House got a makeover! New items are for sale here. No longer does that talking Chocobo bother you. Sadly, TWO new useless items have been added to the collection: an Imp robot and a 1/1200 scale airship. You cannot buy either of these items. The reason you're here is the Hero's Ring. You can buy ONE Hero's Ring here, for 50000 Gil. The Zephyr Cloak is also exclusive, but since the Zephyr Cloak is more expensive here than in WoR Nikeah (3000 Gil more expensive, in fact), don't bother shooting for it here. Once you buy the Hero's Ring, it won't appear again. If you didn't buy the Espers earlier, you'll want to do that now, too, although I don't see why you should've skipped on that earlier. - There's a 50% chance the item up for bidding is the Excalipoor. If you didn't talk to the NPC outside, already bought it earlier, or the item isn't the Excalipoor, we continue. - There's a 50% chance the item up for bidding is a Hero's Ring. If you already bought it earlier, or the item isn't the Hero's Ring, we continue. - Then, there's a 50% chance it's a 1/1200 of an airship. You can never buy this 'item' no matter how much you pay, as the father will always buy it. But if this item isn't the 1/1200 of an airship, we continue. - Then, there's a 50% chance it's the Golem Magicite! Nice. Try to buy it. If you already bought it earlier, or the item isn't Golem, we continue. - Then, there's a 50% chance it's the Zona Seeker Magicite. Good. If you already bought this item, or if it still isn't this item, we continue. - Then, there's a 50% chance it's a Zephyr Cloak. If you already bought this item, or if it's not the Zephyr Cape, we continue. - If it's none of the above, it's an Imp Robot. Period. You can never buy the Imp Robot, as the father will always buy it. So in the end, if you haven't bought any of the pieces of Magicite yet, the odds will be as following (assuming you didn't unlock the Excalipoor yet): Hero's Ring 50% 1/1200 scale airship 25% The Magicite Golem 12.5% The Magicite Zona Seeker 6.25% Zephyr Cloak 3.125% Imp Robot 3.125% If you bought both Espers, but not yet the Hero's Ring: Hero's Ring 50% 1/1200 scale airship 25% Zephyr Cloak 12.5% Imp Robot 12.5% If you bought the Hero's Ring and both Espers: 1/1200 scale airship 50% Zephyr Cloak 25% Imp Robot 25% Yeah, that means you can completely raid the WoR Auction House until nothing but useless junk is left. Don't worry; if another person buys a piece of Magicite, the Excalipoor, the Hero's Ring or the Zephyr Cloak, it will have a chance of appearing next time you pay the Auction House a visit. Prices are as follows: Excalipoor 500000 Gil Hero's Ring 50000 Gil The Magicite Golem 20000 Gil The Magicite Zona Seeker 10000 Gil Zephyr Cloak 10000 Gil That means, by the way, that the Zephyr Cloak is ridiculously overprized in the Auction House, as it's just 7000 Gil from the kid merchant in Nikeah. If you don't have enough money, fly the Falcon to the desert south of Maranda, where you'll be able to make a lot of quick cash fighting Cactuars. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.7 Airship Exploitation: Cultist's Tower ********************************** In Figaro Castle, we heard about the Cult of Kefka, which is located in the middle of the Serpent Trench, where they have erected a giant tower in Kefka's honor. From thieves you've heard there are treasures unheard of up there, but the going is rough. Trying to climb the tower right now would be stupid, but we can take a look regardless, right? What the hell? It seems that one of our former party members, Strago Magus, has lost his heart in despair. One of the Cult of Kefka, he doesn't respond to you at all. We heard earlier that a loved one should be able to break through this self-inflicted barrier. If we could manage to find Relm, we should bring her over here to see if we can break the spell on Strago. The thieves here are sitting at the foot of the tower, not because they think Kefka is their Speshul Boy but rather because of the treasures on the tower; so close, yet so far... It's revealed the most wondrous thing is at the very top, and one of the thieves offers you a secret for the insane sum of 100,000 Gil. This is what he has to say if you pay his the full price: "Oh, thanks! You're too generous! Right, the scoop... There's an ancient castle buried beneath the desert of Figaro...and no doubt loaded with treasure! By the way, I heard the old man who lives in the weapon shop in Narshe was looking for ya..." One more stop before continuing for realz, the last populated city we haven't been to yet: Thamasa! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.8 Airship Exploitation: Thamasa ********************************** Sadly, neither Strago nor Relm is present, so all we can do here is take a look at the equipment they have to offer and talk to the townspeople. One woman mentions how Ebot's Rock is above water. As soon as we can convince Strago back on our side, we should bring him back to Thamasa. There's another mention of Deathgaze, but that's about it. Pay your respects to General Leo's grave for a moment, and then go shop. Armor Shop: Mystery Veil 5500 Circlet 7000 Black Cowl 7500 Luminous Robe 11000 Diamond Vest 12000 Do you remember I told you about the Magus Robe? Well, the Luminous Robe is like the Magus Robe, only inferior in every single way. Do I hear somebody say 'redundant'? Yes, I believe I do. It was me. If you want to have as many Items as possible, buy one. If not, don't. All other items are familiar to you. Weapon Shop: Da Vinci Brush 7000 Gravity Rod 13000 Holy Rod 12000 Viper Darts 13000 Golden Spear 12000 Man-Eater 11000 Shuriken 30 Fuma Shuriken 500 Like all Brushes, the Da Vinci Brush is about as useful as a 'hurt me' sign in an ass-kicking contest. You can buy one or two Holy Rods extra as they make great equips for Strago and Relm once you get them and everybody can break them (there's actually a brilliant moment to break Holy Rods, against Deathgaze). All the other weapons have been revealed to you. I also want you to buy some Fuma Shuriken; they turn into nice items at the Coliseum, and make nice attacks when you obtain Shadow. 99 Fuma Shuriken are actually *less* costly than that single Hero's Ring you purchased in Jidoor, so don't feel too irresponsible when you overstock on them. Relic Shop: Barrier Ring 500 Fairy Ring 1500 Reflect Ring 6000 Jeweled Ring 1000 Princess Ring 3000 Protect Ring 5000 Peace Ring 3000 Angel Ring 8000 Rings! RINGS! For the love of God, they have every Ring Relic available. Except for Hero's Rings. And Memento Rings. And Cursed Rings. And Berserker Rings. And Lich Rings. Oh shucks, so they don't have every Ring Relic available. Give me some credit for distracting you from seeing that I don't have anything useful to say about this Relic Shop! Item Shop: Hi-Potion 300 Ether 1500 Phoenix Down 500 Holy Water 300 Remedy 1000 Smoke Bomb 300 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Potions! POTIONS! For the love of...I'm not getting away with this trick again, am I? How about another movie quote concerning consuming items? Choose Potions. Choose a chest. Choose a command. Choose Smoke Bombs, Crystal Mail and matching Helmets. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that? Now, get out. It's time for one more trip to the Coliseum before we dive into an actual dungeon for a change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.9 Airship Exploitation: Leviathan ********************************** Opponents: Leviathan Lores: Tsunami Magicite: Leviathan Leviathan was named after the 'Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil' written by fictional comic book tiger Thomas Hobbes. The book deals with the structure of society, wacky inventions, the distribution of common-wealth and a gruesome description of death by drowning, likely the cause of the reference. It's the first new Esper we'll ensnare in our quest, but we'll have to make some preparations if we don't want to end up, like Hobbes' distopic vision, drowned in "dark and erroneous doctrines, also, buttloads of water". Leviathan is the King of the Sea, and thus attacks with mass Water-elemental attacks we won't survive unless we have a way of absorbing or nullifying his attacks. This opportunity lies in the pieces of Imp equipment scattered across the world as random drops by monsters. The following bit assumes that you'd like to go out and hunt down some of these pieces of equipment. It's much easier when you can Steal, though. You'll get this chance at some point, so feel free to skip Leviathan until that time if you don't want to hope for drops and probably gain some levels down the road. [LEVIATHAN-LINK] There are four pieces of Imp equipment (that's an entire set), this being the Impartisan (non-elemental Lance every character but Umaro can equip), the Tortoise Shield, the Saucer helmet, and the Reed Cloak, all of which sport incredible Defense and Magic Defense while absorbing Water-elemental attacks and teaching the Imp spell at a x1 rate. They don't fully work unless you have the Imp status, though. Attack Power and Defense of these items are reduced to 1 when they are equipped on a character that is not an Imp. Magic Defense, Evasion and Magic Evasion do still work, as does the elemental properties and the spell teaching. The two relevant pieces of equipment for now are the Tortoise Shield and the Reed Cloak. The Impartisan doesn't let you absorb Water-elemental attacks, and you can only get the Saucer by betting a Tortoise Shield at the Coliseum at this time. The Tortoise Shield is the better of the two. You're basically giving up an equipment slot for Water absorption, but the Tortoise Shield also gives the wearer 30 % Evasion and Magic Evasion, and the fight versus Leviahtan is a fight where Evasion is key. You'll want to collect either a Tortoise Shield or Reed Cloak for all four of your characters. On the grasslands (not the grey wasteland!) of the Northern Continent around Duncan's abode, you have a 5/16 chance of meeting two Basilisks (which drop Tortoise Shields) and a Leap Frog and a 1/16 chance of meeting a formation with a Sprinter which may drop a Reed Cloak. On the North-Eastern continent where the hut of the Crazy Man is located, there's a 10/16 chance of meeting two Sprinters and a 1/16 you'll meet a formation including a single one. In other words, the second location has a higher chance of coughing up one of the necessary pieces, but it'll always be a Reed Cloak, not the Tortoise Shield. By the way, you'll most likely win the fight with one or two characters down, so if you find the treasure hunting a tedious enterprise, you can quit early if you want to. When you're done, take the Falcon to Nikeah and opt for a boat ride to South Figaro. Make sure you've got the relevant pieces equipped, as well as Fenrir, Golem and Prayer Beads across the board. Halfway the cruise, you'll be attacked. "Wh-what's going on!? Is that some kind of sea monster? Leviathan Level: 91, HP: 32000, MP: 7000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Water Special: !Entangle: sets Slow Sketch : !Entangle, Attack Control: Attack Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Entangle, Aqua Breath, Tsunami, El Niño Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Yes! Leviathan attacks as you thought he would. He'll start the battle with a Tsunami attack, a powerful MT Water-elemental attack. Every 20 Doom intervals he'll attack with two Tsunamis. In between, he'll use powerful physical attacks and attack with Aqua Breath and El Niño. Whenever struck by a Magic spell or Lore, he'll counter with a full-screen El Niño attack; whenever struck by anything else, he'll counter with !Entangle. The strategy is simple. Since we've prematurely taken care of Tsunami, Aqua Breath and El Niño, all we have to worry about is dealing with his physicals. Fenrir and Golem will make sure you won't be genuinly struck by them for a while. Prayer Beads increase your Evasion pretty high, having your characters dodge over half of his blows. Whenever Leviahtan manages to land an attack a character will be especially hurtin' due to lacking proper Defense, but that's nothing a Cura or Raise spell can't fix. Though you might be tempted to unleash the fury with Lightning-elemental attacks, Leviathan isn't weak to the element. Your damage options are good enough; Phantom Rush and Edgar's Dragon Horn Jump are your main damage dealers, while Celes and Setzer can run utility and cast a level 2 spell or use Gil Toss when they have nothing better to do. It's not a hard fight by a long shot if you're well prepared. When you're done, new Esper! Leviathan's Tidal Wave attack is the most powerful MT Water-elemental attack in the game, and the most powerful MT attack you have at the moment (BAR-BAR-BARring Setzer's Slot outcomes). Leviathan teaches Flood at a x2 rate, which is real darn nice. Flood is *the* attack to use if you need a full-screen attack or whenever you need a Magic spell to fly past Runic or Reflect. Did I mention it hits all monsters even when in a Pincer? You need to take the ferry once again to return to the Falcon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.54.10 Airship Exploitation: Deathgaze ********************************** Opponents: Deathgaze Lores: Aero, Lv. 5 Death Magicite: Bahamut To find Deathgaze... yeah, finding Deathgaze tends to be a pain. There are 4096 'tiles' on the Overworld Map. Deathgaze possesses two adjecent tiles. If you cross one of those tiles with the Falcon, Deathgaze will attack you. Deathgaze will remain on the same tile until you fight him; if he escapes, he'll possess another two random adjecent tiles. Altitude doesn't matter. You'll just want to fly around, searching for him. Make SURE that you watch your levels; Deathgaze will instantly kill any character whose level is divisible by 5, so a group where two or more characters are vulnerable to Lv. 5 Death should be trained a little. Listen to some good music while you're at it; Searching for friends (the theme playing when flying the Falcon) gets repetitive after a while. May I suggest Soulwax, partly because they're awesome, partly to boost European economy? When you find him, you'll fight him. [DEATHGAZE-LINK] Deathgaze Level: 68, HP: 55555, MP: 38000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy Creature Type: MP Kill Status: Float, Shell, Protect Special: !Venom Claw: sets Poison Sketch : !Venom Claw, Attack Control: Attack, !Venom Claw Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, Blizzaga, Death, Aero, Lv. 5 Death, Flee Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No "Many ancient monsters that had long been sealed away were released when the world was ripped apart... Humbaba, Deathgaze...even the eight legendary dragons." "I saw Deathgaze soaring up among the clouds the other day! I'd hate to think what would happen if some poor sod in an airship ran across that thing..." "I saw a huge monster fly across the sky. It looked like a giant bat!" "I stumbled across something incredible—— Deathgaze's little secret! ...He can't recover his health after battle! If you just keep fighting him over and over, you should be able to wear him down and eventually defeat him." You've heard it all over the world... Deathgaze soaring over the skies of this new world, terrorizing all in its path. An ancient demon who knows no remorse; no satisfactory pack of unlikely heroes can let this go on. Deathgaze is a relatively simple, yet tough opponent, so prepare well. Deathgaze will start every battle by using Lv. 5 Death; Safety Bits and Memento Rings protect against it if your level is right (or wrong, depending on your interpretation), but you likely don't have the former and can't use the latter. Deathgaze may cast a Blizzaga or Death spell the first turn, and may cast Death or use Aero the second. After every two turns (not counting the initial Lv. 5 Death), Deathgaze has a 66% chance of using Flee to escape the battle. When damaged, it may counter with Attack, as all bosses tend to do. Reflect Rings are extremely potent to equip as they'll protect the party from the Blizzaga and Death spells, and Thunder Shields or the Minerva Bustier help out against Aero. When these defensive measures have been taken, it's just a matter of inflicting as much damage in the few turns that Deathgaze will likely give you. Note that since Deathgaze can be run from, and he won't use Aero until the third turn, you could potentially run after every second turn Deathgaze takes and only suffer from physical Attacks throughout your epic struggle with the giant bat look-a-like. So there's inherent Protect and Shell, a weakness to Fire- and Holy-elemental attacks to consider, he absorbs Ice- and Poison-elemental attacks and no status ailment vulnerabilities to exploit. How are we going to take this guy down as good as possible? Breaking Rods was always powerful, but against Deathgaze, they're a blessing; since spells executed by breaking Rods gain a barrier-piercing property, you'll be able to break Flame Rods for a barrier-piercing Fira spell and Holy Rods for a barrier-piercing Holy spell (the latter is much more powerful). They will inflict tremendous amounts of damage. Other options may not be as optimal. Dragon Horn Jumpers will find their Jump attacks are hindered by Protect and the strict time window imposed on this battle. Sabin's Phantom Rush pierces Deathgaze's Shell status, so it'll be quite potent; the same goes for Setzer's Gil Toss, though it's quite a lot weaker in practice. If you brought a Rager into this battle, the Io Rage will serve you well; Flare Star will inflict 9999 damage to Deathgaze, and the Io Rage will also make the Rager immune to Aero. If you choose to break Holy Rods or not, as long as you chuck out as many barrier-piercing attacks as humanly possible, Deathgaze will eventually fall as with Reflect Rings and nullifying of the Wind element, he's really got nothing on you. Deathgaze will take a long time to take down if you're not breaking Rods, and you may have to find him quite a few times if your level is low. However, once you defeat him, you'll gain the Magicite remains of the Bahamut Esper. That's good! Not only does the god-king of all dragons teach Flare at a x2 rate (Flare is very powerful, barrier-piercing and non-elemental!), his summon attack Mega Flare is EXTREMELY powerful, barrier-piercing, and non-elemental. You'll enjoy him on your side. Trust me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.1 Narshe ********************************** Opponents: Test Rider (#182), Wizard (#183), Lukhavi (#184), Psychos, Magna Roader (yellow) (#185), Magna Roader (brown) (#186), Psychos (#187), Garm (#188), Valigarmanda (#320), Ice Dragon (#340) Container contents: Elixir, Guard Bracelet, Ribbon Miscellaneous items: Flame Rod (rare Wizard drop), Force Shield (Ice Dragon drop), Ice Rod (rare Wizard steal), Molulu's Charm (hidden on wall near Mog), Thunder Rod (common Wizard steal) Magicite: Valigarmanda Note: The story wanted you to go to Maranda and follow the pigeon to Zozo, and I sent you around the world to optimize your equipment, learn Phantom Rush, etcetera and so on. I haven't sent you in any dungeon. However, for various reasons, I believe it's better gameplay-wise to dive into Narshe first and get down in Zozo second. You get Mog and an entirely new (and hidden) character out of it, you get access to level 3 spells, and get a Relic that allows you to circumvent random encounters, giving you access to some items that you weren't supposed to obtain yet, this being the [MOOGLE-RAID]. It's really a sweet deal all in all, but you ignore the story flow here, and miss out on one little detail of the story as well (which I'll give when the time comes, but you won't see it on-screen). Whom to bring? People with Ice-elemental protection other than shields are preferred if you don't have enough shields to cover for the entire party. The Minerva Bustier (Celes, Terra) or Snow Scarf (Gau, Mog) are examples. Otherwise, characters that can deal strong Fire-elemental damage are good to bring along. Everything started at Narshe and its Esper. Although the Esper is still residing in the snowy mountains, Narshe has changed a lot. Arvis is most likely dead; we haven't heard from him since the Empire backstabbed you while Terra and Locke were searching for the Espers near Thamasa. The Narshe Guards, always a force of justice, have been utterly destroyed altogether. Monster formations: (Narshe) Lukhavi, Garm, Garm (5/16) Garm, Garm, Garm (5/16) Test Rider (5/16) Lukhavi, Lukhavi (1/16) (Northern Mines and First Cave of Western Mines) Magna Roader (yellow), Magna Roader (yellow), Magna Roader (brown) (10/16) Magna Roader (yellow), Magna Roader (brown), Magna Roader (brown) (6/16) (Western Mines) Wizard, Wizard, Wizard (5/16) Wizard, Wizard, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos (5/16) Garm, Garm, Psychos, Psychos (5/16) Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos (1/16) Lukhavi don't absorb Ice-elemental attacks. They don't even use them. They're just silly Attack/!Claw Swipe cannon fodder. They have inherent Protect, so they're more or less similar to those Bogy enemies you encountered earlier. The way to go is MT magical attacks; they're weak against Fire-elemental attacks. The same goes for Garm. Attacks include Attack and !Bodyslam (Attack * 1.5). They will, to me, be forever infamous because they are one of the two monsters that give a Attack/Special Rage with Death Protection. This is no big deal in any version but the SNES game though, for reasons that'll take you many a night to ponder. They are entirely uninteresting as opponents, however. Test Rider is another Attack/Special opponent. Its Special is !Golden Lance (Attack * 3). Much like its palette swap Hell's Rider, Test Rider will counter Steal (and in his case, also Mug) attempts with a !Golden Lance strike. Sadly for Test Rider, there really isn't a good reason to try to steal his items (a rare Partisan) so he won't be doing anything with it. When Sketched, Controlled, or Raged, Test Rider suddenly grants access to Flash Rain, but he will never use it on your party. The brown Magna Roader is inherently Hasted like the red Magna Roader was. The first turn consists out of Attack or !Slam (Attack * 2), the second turn out of Fire-elemental spells (Fire or Fira). It rarely uses Fireball when damaged while alone. The yellow Magna Roader lacks the purple Magna Roader's inherent Protect. What's left is a monster that's all facade and only possesses skill in rolling over and dying. It uses physicals in the first turn (33% !Wheel), Ice spells in the second (Blizzard and Blizzara). Wizards are annoying. They are mages in the classical sense of the word, almost exclusive spell casters while sporting low Defense and high Magic Defense. They use annoyer tactics; they cast Confuse or Osmose (first turn), Rasp or Stop (second turn), and Confuse or Sleep (third turn). When they are hit by a spell themselves, they can counter with !Fallen Footsteps, which sets Zombie. They're also remarkable for their items: they have a common Ice Rod and a rare Thunder Rod for stealing and a rare Flame Rod drop. They're the only source for these three elemental Rods in the WoR (apart from the rare Ice Rod on Specter on the Veldt...bleh). Psychos' are coalescences of psychotic energy. And they hate you. The thing to remember about them is that they absorb Fire; none of your current massive damage dealers deal Fire-elemental damage, but still. Ice is their weakness. I'd like to make some neat brain freeze puns, but I can't think of any. Just do it. Lv. 4 Flare works on every single one of the above enemies! Sadly, you probably lack access to the Lore command. Instead, Sabin's Razor Gale should be pumped up as much as possible (you probably already had an Hero's Ring/Earrings combo on Sabin, but if you hadn't this is the time to make it so). It kills and/or severely cripples most enemies here, and those that remain can be taken care of with Edgar's Flash, an MT level 2 spell, whatever. Test Rider and Psychos are the only notable exceptions; you're better off with a Bio spell or with the Rasp spell against TR (Test Rider dies when its MP reaches 0), and an MT Blizzara spell is the way to go versus large Psychos groups. Obviously Leviathan's Tidal Wave cleans house like you read about, but it's a tad expansive. Before you go into the derelict city of Narshe, you can visit the Classroom for some free healing. Also: "Welcome to our school for budding adventurers. We're always here to help you find your way in the world...or at least what's left of it." That's just nice. We were told that the owner of the Weapon Shop was looking for us. Sadly, the door is locked, and as Lone Wolf told us, only a treasure hunter could pick that lock. Lacking Locke, we can do nothing but leave the town of Narshe again and dive into its mines; perhaps Mog is still around, and is willing to offer us his help. Remember how you snuck into the town of Narshe with Terra, Edgar, and Banon and came across the Moogles doing so? We're going to do just that. While facing the city entrance, walk to the left, past the Classroom, to the hidden switch to the far left. Open up the cave. Just follow the path; there are no new surprises. The Security Checkpoint is gone, however. Eventually you'll come across Mog. If you didn't rescue him in the WoB, he'll get his introduction scene again: Kupo!!! Don't scare me like that, kupo! (naming screen) If you did recruit him in the World of Balance, he'll get smart on you and say: Mog: Kupoppo!!! I thought you'd all died, kupo! I'm so glad you're alive, kupo! I'll help you fight, kupo! Regardless, after Mog says he's a friend of the sasquatch that you could have spotted during the World of Balance, the screen fades to black for a while. If you had three characters, Mog will now be in your party; if you had four characters, he'll be waiting for you at the Falcon. If this happened (and it most likely did, as you've been a good boy), go find the Falcon and switch Mog with whomever you want out of your party. Honestly, I think Setzer is the weakest link at this point, but as Mog makes a great Dragoon, you can switch one Dragoon with another and switch Edgar out of your team. Regardless, do examine the wall Mog was staring at when you found him. You'll receive the Molulu's Charm, a little crystal ball given to Mog by his late girlfriend, Molulu. No wonder our little furry friend was lost in thought... Molulu's Charm is a great relic. It has no use in-battle whatsoever, but does grant you one small thing; it allows you to circumvent random battles entirely. A blessing for every SNES player and downright immediate salvation for PSX players, the Molulu's Charm has its tactical use. You can dive into dungeons and grab great items that you weren't supposed to receive until you were man enough to tackle the dungeon itself. Put in practice, this usually means the items of the Cultist's Tower (except for the prized object at the very top of it) and a lot of items from Kefka's Tower. A second option would be to let Mog tackle one half of the dungeon requied to reintroduce a certain treasure hunter back into the party, a feat that unlocks some of the game's best equipment and some of its most powerful spells as well. Since the other half of the party will have to overcome great danger I have saved that dungeon for a more appropriate time in this walkthrough, but you can skip to 4.67.1 if you want to take a look at the Phoenix Cave right away. If you left the Rune Blade in the WoB, grab the Ribbon in the chest in this room. Armed with Mog, it's time to head into the mountains and locate the dormant Esper that you haven't been able to properly contact since the beginning of the game. Head out of the mines and head into the mountains, like you did when you first tried to rescue Mog. Exit by the normal exit, which enters into Arvis' old house. On your way, you should pass two chests. If you didn't rob them of their contents earlier, they should contain an Elixir and a Guard Bracelet, which is a poor man's version of the Miracle Shoes (it only sets Protect and Shell, not Haste and Regen like the Miracle Shoes add to that). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.2 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Ice Dragon ********************************** Monster formations: (Snowfields) Wizard, Wizard, Wizard (5/16) Wizard, Wizard, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos (5/16) Garm, Garm, Psychos, Psychos (5/16) Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos, Psychos (1/16) If you want to abuse Molulu's Charm now, skip ahead to [MOOGLE-RAID]. Don't worry; both dungeons you'll be visiting will be visited later for another good reason. For a quick list if what you'll obtain from raiding the Cultist's Tower and Kefka's Tower: Cultist's Tower: a Force Armor, an easy battle with the Holy Dragon from which you'll win a Holy Lance upon your victory, a Genji Shield, a Safety Bit, and the Air Anchor, which is Edgar's eighth Tool. Kefka's Tower: a Red Cap, a Nutkin Suit, a Gauntlet, a Hypno Crown, the Fixed Dice, a Minerva Bustier, a Pinwheel, an Aegis Shield, a Force Shield, an easy battle with the Gold Dragon from which you'll win a Crystal Orb upon your victory, a Force Armor and a Ribbon. With Mog in your party, get back into Narshe and go find the snowfields. This is your first chance to learn Mog's last Dance (save it for me... eheheh), the Snowman Rondo. It's a rather crummy Dance considering it's WoR-only, but Avalanche looks sweet and works especially well against the Psychos monsters you find here. In the snowfields, you'll find the Ice Dragon. Ice Dragon Level: 74, HP: 24400, MP: 9000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Force Shield (always) Absorbs: Ice, Weakness: Fire Creature Type: MP Kill Special: !Hit: Attack x 2 Sketch : Firaga, Blizzaga Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Poison, Silence, Berserk, Confuse, Slow Attacks: Attack, Avalanche, Northern Cross, Absolute Zero Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance to obtain one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail Go ahead and gawk at those status vulnerabilities if you like. However, I can't say that the Ice Dragon is the weakest of the eight brethren; as you'll see in the future, the Gold Dragon is about as silly, while the Holy Dragon is even worse. Ice Dragon can be fairly easily screwed over though. Sadly for Ice Dragon, his element is easily absorbed, his amount of HP rather low, and his status vulnerabilities downright horrible, but I'll try and treat Ice Dragon with the same amount of dignity I firmly believe everybody deserves. Except for Nelapa, obviously. What does Ice Dragon do? He can use all three spells normally. If you damage him, he might counter with Attack. If he dies, he might use one final Avalanche attack before rolling over, but that's about it. Honestly, Ice Dragon might very well be THE least interesting boss in the game. How to stop him? There are tons of ways! It doesn't really matter who you bring here. All you need is the Berserk spell and the Esper that teaches it, Phantom. Set Berserk on Ice Dragon, summon Phantom, and sit back. Use Poison or Bio to set Poison on the freezing fiend, and even Haste if you like; it will only speed up the Poisoning, as you're immune to everything he does. If you brought Mog, make sure you don't execute a Dance; the only one that doesn't have an inherent chance to remove your Invisible status is the Twilight Requiem, which is pretty much useless (3/16 chance you'll damage him once you get it working). A slight variation is setting Poison to the Ice Dragon, setting Confuse through the Confuse spell or the Noiseblaster, then keeping him occupied with that status for as long as it takes for him to die from the Poison hits. You've won right there! Sadly, Ice Dragon was made immune to the Vanish spell in the GBA version. Gau's (or Gogo's) Io-induced Flare Star attack will do 9999 damage every time it appears at any level the caster is on, while Leaf Bunny or the purple Magna Roader make Gau and Gogo absorb the Ice-elemental attacks without any equipment. If you brought Edgar, you can tease the Ice Dragon by trying to make Poison his weakness (if you get it, Poison will take off about 3200 damage a hit at the peak of its glory). If you have the equipment and the status ailments to throw around, Ice Dragon is a joke. If you don't, his Absolute Zero and Avalanche attacks will hurt real bad. The Silence status effect prevents Northern Cross and Absolute Zero. If, for some reason, you don't opt for Berserk/Phantom, try setting Slow, Poison, and Silence (a neat way of doing this is casting Reflect on the guy and have Strago/Gogo execute Reflect???, but that's just novelty). Equip the easily obtained Ice Shields, Flame Shields, Snow Scarfs and/or Minerva Bustier and you won't feel a thing from Ice Dragon's attacks. Golem should be more than sufficient for Ice Dragon's physical attacks, but you can humiliate him extra by summoning Fenrir over Golem. Once you've defeated the Ice Dragon, you'll receive a Force Shield. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.3 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Valigarmanda ********************************** Pushing on, you'll come across a Save Point where you can use a Tent if you need one. In the next screen, you'll walk across a bridge that takes you to the mysterious Esper from the beginning of the game, the same frozen entity that prompted Terra to morph into her Esper form earlier and (possibly) overlooked Lone Wolf's taking hostage of Mog. As you come near it this time, it seems that the Esper has had it with the waiting itself. An eerie glow surrounds it, and Valigarmanda the Esper attacks you. Valigarmanda Level: 62, HP: 30000, MP: 50000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Nullifies: Lightning, Poison, Wind, Holy, Earth, Water, Weakness: Fire Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Blizzaga, Rasp, Freezing Dust Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Valigarmanda is attacking you. That's not very nice of him. Luckily, he has very little to damage you with. Blizzaga is his only offensive spell, and as most of your party is easily covered in Flame Shields, Ice Shields, or Minerva Bustier, the spell will do nothing to them. If you lack the above equipment for all characters, it's worthy of notice that the Thunder Shields and Force Shields both halve damage done by Ice-elemental attacks (and the Force Shield grants the wearer inherent Shell, reducing the Blizzaga spell by another 33%). What Valigarmanda does is all very basic. He attacks normally with the above three spells, although he hardly ever uses Freezing Dust just like that. Whenever Valigarmanda is hit by a Fire-elemental attack, he has a one-third chance of casting Rasp. Also, whenever Valigarmanda is hit by either Bushido, Tools, Blitz, Lore, Sketch, or Rage, he has a one-third chance of casting Freezing Dust to freeze the violator. The strategy the game wants you to follow is clear. Fire-elemental Magic is the key. You will mainly be casting Fira here. Sabin's Rising Phoenix is weaker on a single target and may allow a Freezing Dust attack, but if Sabin lacks Fira and Phantom Rush, just go ahead. If you brought Gau, the Twinscythe Rage (Metal Cutter) works great because it inherently absorbs Blizzaga. A Rage like Devil Fist is also great, providing you can combine it with an Ice Shield or Snow Scarf on the Rager. The Io Rage is even better as it will consistently deal 9920 damage every time Gau uses Flare Star and inherently nullifies Ice- elemental attacks, but it's unlikely you have it at this point. There's little strategy involved, as the battle as too easy. If you somehow didn't bring any equipment with elemental properties, Zona Seeker can help you out there. Haste on the entire party (now with the Hastega spell, brought to you by Quetzalli) can shorten the time a character is Frozen; hell, just cast a Fire spell on the afflicted and watch him turn back to normal. Celes' Runic can absorb the Blizzaga and Rasp spells; it won't be necessary if you prepared enough, but if you haven't it's a great idea. As soon as you defeat Valigarmanda, he starts talking! Blast, he could've done that earlier and saved us a lot of trouble. "You know Terra, you're a half- Esper, and the Empire is evil and has abused you. Go side with the Returners. Here's my Magicite, it teaches level 3 spells so you fry anything on your path. Good luck! Oh, and don't stick Skittles up your nose." Regardless: an opening in the cliff. You can hop into it. RPG wisdom tells us that the 'No' option isn't going to get us treasure. A note on Valigarmanda: He teaches level 3 spells, which is sweet; sadly, he does so at a x1 rate which is decidedly slow. So Valigarmanda's summon attack, Tri-Disaster, will actually be your strongest magical attack on character as Celes and Terra for a while (in the GBA game you're playing it's equalled by Leviathan). Tri-Disaster, though, is an odd attack; it's tri-elemental; Fire-, Ice- and Lightning-elemental and about as powerful as a level 3 spell. How does this work? If a creature absorbs one of the elements, it absorbs the entire attack. If a creature nullifies one of the elements, it nullifies the entire attack. If a creature is weak against one of the elements, it is weak against the entire attack. So, you'll want to use Tri-Disaster against enemies that are weak to Fire, Ice, or Lightning, but don't absorb or nullify any of them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.4 Umaro's Cave; the battle with three Tonberries ********************************** Opponents: Tonberry (#189), Onion Dasher (#190), Anemone(#191), Illyankas (#192), Knotty (#193), Tzakmaqiel (#194), Tonberries (#321), Yeti (#322) Container contents: Gauntlet, X-Ether, Monster-in-a-box (Tonberries x3) Miscellaneous items: Minerva Bustier (rare Tonberries drop, rare Tonberries steal) Lores: Traveler Magicite: Midgardsormr Whom to bring? Mog is great, as he's needed to obtain the 'sasquatch muscle' you meet later on. Otherwise, the same people that did well in 4.55.1 will do well again here; the main danger of the cave monsters is Imp-setting where you need White Capes/Ribbons for anyway. Monster formations: (Upper Two Levels) Knotty, Knotty, Knotty, Knotty (5/16) Tzakmaqiel, Knotty, Knotty, Knotty (5/16) Tzakmaqiel, Illuyankas (5/16) Tonberry (1/16) (Skull Room and Tonberries Chest Room) Anemone, Anemone, Anemone, Anemone (5/16) Illyankas, Onion Dasher, Onion Dasher (5/16) Anemone, Anemone, Onion Dasher (5/16) Illyankas, Illyankas, Illyankas (1/16) Knotties are Mu palette swaps. Like Mu, they cannot be Meteor Struck; I continue to wonder if they're just sitting in holes in the ground or ripple into our existence from a maddening rift in the space-time continuum. If this question doesn't confuse you, the Knotty's Stone attack may; they have a 33% chance of using it in their second turn. Not only does the Stone attack set Confuse on a successful hit, it will also completely make you to eat dirt if your characters are level 33; it's the same level as Knotty, and as you know, Stone deals 8 times as much damage when the level of the caster and the target as equal. Just make sure this doesn't happen by taking them out ASAP; they're weak to Fire, so Rising Phoenix or the newly acquired Valigarmanda can help. Noiseblaster also works like a charm. An MT charm, to be precise. :P Another theory I'd like to credit Suonymona for mentions that Mu/Knotty are this game's version of FF V's Nut Eaters/Skull Eaters. They're both squirrel-like in appearance the colors are consistent (brown for the weaker, grey for the stronger). Since Sabin has a childhood fear of 'Nut Eaters', maybe the Mu's and Knotty's non-Meteor Strikeable nature doesn't come from the fact they are unable to be lifted, but rather comes from the fact Sabin can't bring himself to perform the attack on them. This wouldn't explain Gogo's behavior, though. Tzakmaqiels are boring. Their Special, !Peck, sets Imp. Weak against Fire like everything in the cave, it doesn't really matter if you torch them or just use other kinds of violence. The Sketch command has a 3/4 shot at pulling Cyclonic from this freaky bipod, which works against both Tzakmaqiel and Knotty. Tzakmaqiel are called 'leaders of the little monsters' by the Anthology Bestiary. What that's supposed to mean is left to anybody's imagination. Illuyankas are pretty sturdy with inherent Protect, Death protection, and the ability to absorb your Lightning-elemental attacks. They're weak against Fire and really don't do anything special AI-wise (Attack and !Friendmaker, which sets *gasp* Imp), so take your time, they're not very dangerous. They have a mouth-watering Rage, though (inherent Protect, Lightning-absorption, ID protection, Gigavolt). The Tonberry. The notorious creatures that look like they're waddling over for a hug yet intend to flay the flesh from your skull while you're still alive. They have a lot of Hit Points (8000) for a normal monster and possess two very strong attacks. Every round, it will use Traveler. Since Traveler is unblockable, non-elemental, and barrier-piercing, there's no protection from it. I can't predict how much damage it will do, but 1700 is a fair guess, I'd say. Every time you damage a Tonberry, it will counter with a !Knife attack, which is eight times as strong as his normal Attack (which he never uses) - an incredible blow - AND another Traveler attack. It slaughters you left and right! How to deal with one? The trick is the Imp status! Turn it into an Imp with the spell or Bad Breath. It'll start to do automatic criticals now, so if you're not under the influence of Invisible you should do so ASAP. Now, you can just pound it without fear. The quickest ways to a dead Tonberry are Fire- elemental attacks and the Deepeye Rage. Since Tonberry is immune to ID attacks, but not to Petrify, most petrification attacks will fail where Dread Gaze will work. It has a rare Tintinnabulum drop, which is pretty spectacular, but as a Tonberry encounter by itself is rare enough, it's hardly a good source to find them. Anemone are pretty passive enemies. When with other monsters, they will merely use !Imp Touch every now and then, which sets Imp. If they've been damaged, they will heal themselves a little with Megavolt; they both are weak to the element and absorb it, so not even the Debilitator can make Megavolt hurt an Anemone. If an Anemone is all by itself though, it'll start to use Gigavolt on the party every turn, so you'll want to avoid that. Weak to Fire, like you suspected. Onion Dashers are monsters I find specifically annoying for no apparent reason. Their Special is called !Dash, and it doesn't set Imp; it sets Haste! That's why they use it on themselves every second turn, too. Otherwise, it's just physical attacks when they're with others or Imp Song when they're alone. You've only seen Imp Song as a counter-attack so far, so I should point out that Imp Song is actually an MT attack. So, slap on as many Ribbons as you have and give White Capes to the other characters. You don't want to be turned into an Imp, and Ribbons are nice in the aspect of Confuse-protection for Stone. Summon Phantom at some time or just cast Vanish a couple of times; invulnerability is the goal here. Knotty's Stone isn't cast until the second round and Gigavolt and Imp Song only when the enemies in question are alone (don't allow it). Tonberry's Traveler is unavoidable, but you can set Imp, possibly revive the fallen characters, and quickly re-apply Invisible. Fire-elemental attacks rule here, but the only strong one you probably have at this point is Vligarmanda's Tri-Disaster. Firaga spells clean house though. Umaro's Cave is a cave with two themes. The first theme is out-battle, and it's pitfalls. Bloody, bloody pitfalls. They're not there to make you land on poisoned spikes or anything, but they do keep you from getting treasure. The other theme is Imp. Every monster here has the ability to turn you into one of those blasted Kappa water sprites. When you land, you have access to three parts of the cave. The far right one just leads you to a pitfall, so you have no business there. The one in the middle leads you to a chest with an X-Ether (the upper chest). Grab it and then return to the first cave you entered. Now, enter the far left cave-mouth. Make sure you don't stand on the two dark tiles there, as they are pitfalls. Walk around until you get a random battle. Make sure to end it with four characters with the Invisible status. Siren is nice to equip as well, but only necessary if you can't set Imp or Silence in any way. Now, open the chest. As you may have guessed, 'tis a monster-in-a-box. Tonberries (x3) Level: 62, HP: 30000, MP: 50000 Steal: Minerva Bustier (rare), Win: Minerva Bustier (rare) Absorbs: Water, Weak against: Fire Special: !Knife: Attack x 8 Sketch : !Knife, Attack Control: Attack, !Knife Vulnerable to: Imp, Silence, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Knife, Holy Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Impartisan Tortoise Shield Saucer Reed Cloak Tonberries are the more powerful yet more easily defeated version of the Tonberry. They simply walk up to you and use Attack every time they take a step. If they're right in front of you - have taken eight steps - they use !Knife and return to their original position. If you hit them with a Magic spell, they counter with Holy. Their Holy spell is fairly weak and not even a direct threat, but it does remove the Invisible status, which opens you up to their physical attacks. When you fight them, do whatever you want, so long as you make sure you stay under Invisible. Silence the lot, cast an MT Bio, and cast a Hastega spell on them to speed up the Poisoning. They're weak against Fire, so the newly acquired summon attack, Tri-Disaster, packs a nice punch. The battle really revolves around staying invincible. Gau's Io Rage is really grand, as the Tonberries' level is really high. You know what hurts by now, I assume. If you have a character with the Steal command, you could try to nick a Minerva Bustier if you don't have two yet; the only situation in which you need more than one Minerva Bustier is a team that features both Terra and Celes, but it doesn't hurt. Do know that due to the Tonberries' high level and the Minerva Bustier being a rare Steal, it really makes for a small chance of success; you need to be at least level 50 for a chance of success. Once you're done, you cleared the entire top floor so it doesn't matter if you go back to the first cave and enter the middle cave-mouth to descend the stairs to the lower level or just fall through a pitfall. Regardless, find the Gauntlet in the chest here and push on. It's an easily maneuverable cave and you should reach the stairs before long. Ascend to find a switch. Ignore it; it triggers a pitfall right where you're standing. The next switch also does this, but allows you to enter a new part of the cave. This is the room of the sasquatch that Mog and various townspeople from Narshe were talking about earlier. The stairs up just lead to the point where you could see Umaro the sasquatch in the WoB and forces you to fall down there. It's a long hike back, and we still have work to do here. Examine the bone carving in the middle of the room to find a piece of Magicite in it! Once you choose to remove the remains of Midgardsormr from the carving, an enraged yeti comes for you! You should know better than to mess with art... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.5 The battle with Umaro ********************************** Umaro Level: 33, HP: 17200, MP: 6990 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Weak against: Fire, Poison Creature Type: Humanoid Special: !Tackle: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Tackle, Attack Control: Attack, !Tackle Vulnerable to: Poison, Berserk, Sleep, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Tackle, Jump, Item (Green Cherry), Snowball, Avalanche, Snowstorm, Hailstone Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No So, you've had three major battles with relatively easily defeated monsters with a weakness to Fire, so the game designers decided to add something new here. Sadly, the game designers lost the dictionary and forgot the meaning of the word 'new', and as a result Umaro is, yet again, a relatively easily defeated monster with a weakness to Fire. Umaro employs all kinds of freaky attacks to try to damage you. Normally, he'll use Attack, !Tackle, and Snowstorm. He uses physical attacks only when only one character is alive, but I see no reason for that to occur other than in a SCC. Every 40 seconds (when 2 or more characters are alive), Umaro will either use Snowball (an unblockable ID attack that halves the target's current HP and sets Sap), Avalanche, or Hailstone (ID attack that takes off 75% of the targets current HP). Umaro may counter Fire-elemental attacks with either !Tackle or Snowstorm, and every other kind of damage with !Tackle. Every third time Umaro is hit by a Magic spell, he'll use a Jump attack. The interesting part of this fight is the Green Cherry Item. When you use it on him or he uses it himself (automatically when he reaches 10240 HP), he will glow red and the following message will appear: Energized! Defense increased! Magic Defense Increased! Speed incrased! Healing increased! This means that Umaro sets Protect, Shell, Haste, and Regen on himself. Sadly for Umaro, he has Sap immunity, so you never get to see Regen in action. The appearance of the Green Cherry means Dispel time for you! Dispel will remove all of his power-ups (so will Strago's Rippler Lore, by the way). Umaro is a very easy opponent. Since he has Berserk vulnerability, you can set it with the Berserk spell, summon Phantom, and effectively win the match right there. If this is not amongst your pool of options, combining Sleep with Slow should really cripple him too. If status ailments are too cheap for you, Umaro is simply weak enough to defeat with damaging and healing when appropriate. Fira spells work just fine, as does Sabin's Phantom Rush, Dragon Horn Jump attacks, you name it. After the battle is over, Umaro will be sitting in a corner, looking sad and pummeled. But hey, you broke his statue and, dunno, pummeled him, so I guess that makes sense. If you walk over him, don't be afraid; he won't attack you again. If you didn't bring Mog, he'll just go "Oooh..." and continue to sit there. If this happens, you can just return to get Mog and talk to him later; he'll still be sitting there. If you did bring Mog though, he'll go talk to Umaro. In a stunning display of taking advantage of the mentally disabled, Mog orders Umaro to join your cause. He'll stomp off to find the Falcon and wait there for you. You don't have to have Mog in your party to use Umaro, and using a Green Cherry on the character Umaro has no special effect over removing Imp like it always does. If you would like to learn more about Umaro, follow [UMARO-LINK]. Umaro, as a character, is generally considered the weakest character in the game. His stats are awesome, that's not the problem, and his Tackle and Character Toss attacks are nothing to scoff at. Not to mention the fact that with the two Relics made specifically for him (the Berserker Ring and Blizzard Orb) he absorbs Fire and Ice while nullifying Lightning, taking care of the three basic elements in the game. Then why is Umaro still considered the weakest link? First off, you can't access his equipment. He's stuck with a feature-less, non-elemental Bone Club in his right hand and the Snow Scarf. Granted, the Snow Scarf is arguably the best armor to be 'stuck with', but this means that Umaro cannot adapt to a situation. He needs at least one Relic slot for a sufficient damage output, which doesn't help him. He can't learn or cast Magic like all the other characters, and can receive no Esper boosts, as he can't equip them. He's uncontrollable from the beginning, so he can never react to a surprise Death with a Phoenix Down or fall back as a utility character. In short, Umaro is a completely one-dimensional character. This immediately explains his popularity by many first-time players; it's hard to go wrong with him. Every character can be tweaked to be superior to Umaro, but you have to know how in some cases, while it's impossible to go really wrong with Umaro; you bring him into battle; he'll do impressive damage. For now, if you've followed the walkthrough so far, you'll have neither the Berserker Ring nor Blizzard Orb, so the best Umaro right now is one equipped with a Gigas Glove (Hero's Ring works, but Umaro won't benefit from the increase in magical damage) and a Gauntlet. Since Umaro comes without a shield anyway, the Gauntlet raises both the offense (his normal physicals only, not Tackle and Character Toss) and defense of the raging snowman. Now, you can just cast the Teleport spell to get out. Or walk, do whatever pleases you. The path Umaro took is the only way to leave Umaro's caves. Note: You just obtained Midgarsormr as well. Midgarsormr isn't as powerful as Valigarmanda, almost nothing is weak to the Earth element and he doesn't hit Floating targets, but Midgarsormr's Abyssal Maw *is* stronger than your level 2 spells so it's a nice Esper to summon for Terra/Celes/Relm/Strago if they haven't learned any truly powerful magic yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.6 The Moogle Raid ********************************** Container contents: Aegis Shield, Air Anchor, Force Armor x2, Force Shield, Fixed Dice, Gauntlet, Genji Shield, Hero's Ring, Hypno Crown, Kagenui, Minerva Bustier, Nutkin Suit, Red Cap, Ribbon, Safety Bit, Pinwheel Note that this section is entirely optional and in fact hardly what you're 'supposed' to do, feel free to skip it. It's the abusing of a no-encounter Relic to gain all sorts of late-game treasure from three dungeons you're not quite ready for. It *really* helps out. [MOOGLE-RAID] The following needs you to have Mog in your party, equipped with Molulu's Charm. It's the entire point of the quest, silly! Since you'll be walking anyway, might as well equip Sprint Shoes. The first stop is the Cultist's Tower. We see Strago prancing 'round like before, but now we go right past him, onto the Tower. On the first part of the stairway, there's a door we can enter. Enter and raid the chest; it contains a Safety Bit. The Safety Bit protects the wearer from Instant Death-magic; it's basically a Memento Ring for everybody. But wait a minute, didn't that thief in Maranda mention how one of his companions mumbled 'to the right of the treasure chest'? The thieves can never have gone too far, so you'd better check it out. Press the action button when standing to the right of the treasure chest. Something rumbles, and when you leave the door another one has appeared below you! When you enter this one, you can find a chest containing an Air Anchor, Edgar's final Tool. The Air Anchor does the following. Once an enemy is hit by the Air Anchor, it is allowed one more turn, after which it dies. It never misses, unless the target is immune to Instant Death attacks. The Air Anchor also deals damage, which is entirely redundant (as no damage will be done if it misses, and the damage is useless if the target dies the next round anyway). I myself have always liked the Air Anchor because it never fails and you can focus attacks on other opponents while you know the Anchored one has been taken care of; others will claim the Air Anchor is a scrubby Tool that allows for another attack while so many other ID attacks like Death/Snare/Zantetsuken do not. And thus was born the Air Anchorman; the legend of Edgar Roni Burgundy. While in the Air Anchor room, remove your Molulu's Charm and walk around! The only battles here feature Magic Urn. Not only do they heal you with a multitude of potions, they also Flee on their own after a while. They have a kick-ass Rage (allows Gau to absorb all eight elements regardless of equipment and immunity to all status ailments while casting Curaga half the time), so you'll want to meet them at least once. We press on! The door in the second part of the stairway contains a Genji Shield, which is a nice enough shield; third-best Defense in the game (lower than the legendary Paladin's Shield and oddball Tortoise Shield), respectable Magic Defense, and 20% Evasion and Magic Evasion added to the wearer. The door in the third part of the stairway contains the Kagenui the second-most powerful Dirk for Shadow. It has a 25% chance of casting Stop every time a strike is made, but gives nothing in terms of fringe benefits. Famous for Coliseum tactics against the likes of Typhon and Siegfried, who are both vulnerable to the ailment and very hard to defeat by other means. The room also features the Holy Dragon; you can defeat him now if you want for a Holy Lance: [HDRAGON-LINK]. The door in the fourth and last part of the stairway contains a Force Armor. The Force Armor is a great piece of armor, especially for those characters that have no other interesting pieces to equip (Locke, Cyan, Edgar, Setzer, and Shadow). It doesn't really have that much on Defense (inferior to Crystal Mail), but it's quite good on Magic Defense (only inferior to Genji Armor, rare Snow Scarf and oddball Reed Cloak), has great elemental advantages (50% Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, and Earth-elemental damage) and an added 30% Magic Evasion. The Force Armor is inferior to the Minerva Bustier in every way except for the Magic Evasion, so don't equip it on the girls; it's a genuine toss-up for the boys, though. The Genji Armor is sturdier in both the Defense and Magic Defense department and gives all-round stat boosts to boot; the Force Armor makes for a more evasive character that is better suited to deal with elemental magical attacks. I prefer the Force Armor for non-specific boss battles and the Genji Armor for random encounters myself, but it's up to you. The top part of the Tower, where the 'wondrous' item lies, should be off-limits to you at this point; you can try to defeat the boss, but it's an enormous hassle to defeat the guy at this stage. If you want to try the pain-in-the-ass way (which for emulator users means juggling with Quetzalli's Sonic Dive and for console players hours upon hours of MP-draining), skip ahead to [MAGICMASTER- LINK]. If not, just hike all the way back, which is my least favorite part of this game by far. Next and final stop, Kefka's Tower! Put Mog with Molulu's Charm in party # 1, and fill up the other two positions. You won't be using them, so don't worry about which characters to take. Walk around with Mog. You'll first come across a chest containing a Hypno Crown, which boosts the wearer's Magic Power by 4 and raises the success rate of the Control ability (Relm's upgraded Sketch). Walking on gets us into a familiar area, a part of the Imperial Palace. Open the chest for the Fixed Dice (which makes Setzer eternally more appealing than he was so far). The Fixed Dice are Dice, but better. Dice sucked always, but the Fixed Dice is a better damage dealer than Setzer's other weapons on average (unless extreme circumstances appear, but meh). The main differences include the fact that the Fixed Dice have THREE Dice to multiply with, and upon the situation of three equal rolls (1-1-1, 2-2-2, etc.) the outcome is once again multiplied by the number rolled. Finally, the damage output of the Fixed Dice aren't cut down by the Master's Scroll so Setzer can deal four of these attacks from the Back Row with the relic equipped. Now, walking on will get you to a dead end, so either use a Teleport Stone, the Teleport spell, or switch to one of your characters and touch the Crane to get out. Now, put Mog in party # 2 and continue raiding. The first chest you find is rather messily stacked on the background in the second room. It contains a Minerva Bustier. Continue to find a split in the road. Go up to grab the Pinwheel in the chest, and then go down. You'll find yourself in the jail of the Imperial Palace, where Kefka was locked up when you were on the mission to find the Esper for a peace conference. A monster sits in Kefka's jail; ignore it for now and get out. You'll fall down. Go up the stairs to find two pipes. The right one takes you back to the Pinwheel room, the left one allows you to continue. You'll find a Force Shield in the chest you see upon tasting fresh air again. Go down; don't bother with the two doors for now, and get to the far bottom-left to find a Force Armor in a chest. Get back to the two doors. The left one takes you to a button on the floor and a chest containing a Ribbon. Get out and take the right door. You can find the Gold Dragon waiting for you here, but no more chest contents. If you have the Berserk and Vanish spells, you can take him with Mog only; an average party at this point also can. If you want to take the dragon on now, take a look at [GDRAGON-LINK]. Teleport out. Now, get Mog in party # 3. Walk downwards. Going to the left will clearly take you past three chests: a Red Cap (awesome), a Gauntlet, and a Nutkin Suit. Continuing down the logical path will eventually take you to a part of the derelict Magitek Factory. Pick the chest for a Hero's Ring and try to find the Aegis Shield hidden to the south. If you're playing on an emulator, simply disable layer 2 to see the path. If you're a console player, do the following: Go down into the darkness to the left of the spinning whatever-it-is. - Go all the way down - Go all the way to the right - Go all the way down - Go 1 step up - Go all the way to the left - Go all the way down - Take a few steps to the right and grab the Aegis Shield - Go back into the darkness and go all the way to the right - Go up and to the right until you don't go any further - Go all the way to the left, and all the way up to re-appear This is it! You've raided Kefka's Tower as far as you could. There's plenty more, but you'll need three thoroughly prepared parties to go further so there's a time for that later. Finally, it's possible to get a secret character really early. It's a fun character in a rainbow-coloured burqa that can perform ALL the skills, giving you Steal back among other options. There's a few neat treasures as well. All you gotta do is fly over to the Triangle Island to the northeast, take off Molulu's Charm, engage a Zone Eater (it won't kill Mog) and have it Inhale Mog. When inside, follow your heart: [EARLY-GOGO] When you pick up Gogo this early, make sure to check out the chapter detailing the Steal command in the World of Ruin. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.55.7 Round two: Dragon's Neck Coliseum ********************************** Welcome to the Dragon's Neck Coliseum, a monument to combat. You've had a nice trip around the world, obtained two fluffy mascots and probably used one of them to steal everything that wasn't nailed down. It's time to bet your newly acquired prizes to gain more prowess in combat. Again, more *'s means more difficulty. *** Falchion - Flame Shield Opponent: Outsider * Flame Shield - Ice Shield Opponent: Metal Hitman ** Murasame - Masamune Opponent: Glasya Labolas ** Masamune - Murakumo Opponent: Gorgimera ** Murakumo - Holy Lance Opponent: Galypdes *** Fuma Shuriken - Pinwheel Opponent: Chaos Dragon ** Pinwheel - Rising Sun Opponent: Aspidochelon * Rising Sun - Bone Club Opponent: Weredragon ** Bone Club - Red Jacket Opponent: Test Rider ** Sniper - Bone Club Opponent: Glasya Labolas * Regal Gown - Minerva Bustier Opponent: Death Machine *** Rename Card - Miracle Shoes Opponent: Fiend Dragon For a casual playthrough, I suggest the following. Get one Red Jacket by betting one Fuma Shuriken, bought in Thamasa, and continuing down the line until you win a Red Jacket. If you haven't obtained a Minerva Bustier earlier, do so now by betting your Regal Gown. Miracle Shoes are the bee's knees, and Rename Cards are easily obtained from Elixirs. Check the strategy and see how much patience you have for them. Obtaining four Flame Shields and four Ice Shields won't be truly relevant until you can access the bonus content. An explanation on the new items you can obtain here: The Flame Shield is a shield that, well, absorbs Fire-elemental attacks. It nullifies damage done by Ice-elemental attacks, and the wearer will receive twice as much damage from Water-elemental attacks. It teaches the Fira spell at a x5 rate and will cast an unblockable, barrier-piercing Firaga spell when used in combat, after which it breaks. Its Defense rate is 1 point below that of the Ice Shield, which basically serves the same purpose. It's inferior to the Crystal Shield in terms of Defense and Magic Defense, but the elemental properties and the extra 10% Magic Evasion makes it come out superior in my book. The Ice Shield is a shield that, well, absorbs Ice-elemental attacks. It nullifies damage done by Fire-elemental attacks, and the wearer will receive twice as much damage from Wind-elemental attacks. It teaches the Blizzara spell at a x5 rate and will cast an unblockable, barrier-piercing Blizzaga spell when used in combat, after which it breaks. Its Defense rate is 1 point above that of the Flame Shield, which basically serves the same purpose. It's inferior to the Crystal Shield in terms of Defense and Magic Defense, but the elemental properties and the extra 10% Magic Evasion makes it come out superior in my book. The Masamune is stronger than the Murasame but lacks the Evasion boost, which with Cyan's Fang Bushido is really the only use you'll get from one of his weapons. I only suggest trading away your Murasame if you plan on getting a Holy Lance now. The (Ame no) Murakumo (Sword of the Billowing Clouds, or shortened as Heaven's Cloud), is the strongest weapon from Japanese mythology. In FF VI, it's a rather uninteresting weapon and the fourth-strongest weapon Cyan gets to lay his hands on without crossing the border of weapons he can normally equip. It's a very simple upgrade in Attack Power over the Masamune. The Holy Lance is a Holy-elemental Lance that gives a +3 on Magic Power and has a 25% at casting Holy every time you Fight with it or on every last Jump attack the wielder makes. The Holy Lance is argued to be the best Lance out there, because the only one higher in Attack Power doesn't have a random spell casting applied. You may have found already if you took Mog lootin' in the Fanatic's Tower and went toe to toe with the Holy Dragon. The Pinwheel is the ultimate throwing star. It eh.... yeah, it damages. A lot. You can't really buy them anywhere, they are hardly ever found in chests, and they only appears as a rare steal on a late-game enemy, so the Coliseum is your source for them. The damage increase over the Fuma Shuriken probably isn't worth all the effort, but the Pinwheel can be bet away in the Coliseum for other items. The Rising Sun is a Moonring Blade upgrade. It's weaker than the Sniper Special weapon and can only be gotten *later* than it. It's a passageway item at the Coliseum and should only be collected for that very purpose. The Bone Club is equally useless. Only one character, Umaro, can equip it, he comes with one and cannot be (un)equipped anyway. Another passageway item collected for completion and betting at the Coliseum. It can be sold for a purse full of 10000 Gil. The Red Jacket is Sabin's ultimate Armor. Sadly for Sabin, it's the second- worst piece of ultimate Armor in the game. It nullifies any Fire-elemental attack and is superior to Diamond Vests and Crystal Mail and all that, but comes nowhere near other end-game pieces of equipment and has no special effect. It's also useful on Edgar for a short while, I might add. The Minerva Bustier is the piece of Armor you'll wind up keeping on Celes and Terra for the remainder of the game because it's the BEST armor in the game. Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Wind are nullified, and Water, Earth, Holy, and Poison only deal 50% as much damage. To top it off, it grants the wearer an all-round stat boost (+1 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Stamina and +4 Magic Power for dessert) and 10% additional Magic Evasion. Its special effect is granting the wearer 25% extra MP. In other words, you'll want this on your armored girls most of the time If you defeated the Tonberries in Umaro's Cave, you might have found one or more already. Miracle Shoes are grand. They set Protect, Shell, Haste, and Regen on a character. This will make him or her take only 2/3 of the damage every attack normally does that isn't barrier-piercing, grants an immunity to Slow and Sap, and basically makes sure that a character will stick around longer and act faster than he or she normally does. Miracle Shoes are great filler Relics; while Miracle Shoes take a spot that a Hero's Ring can't take, some prefer the defensive route to the offensive one. - Falchion - Flame Shield Opponent: Outsider Outsider is vulnerable to ID, and that's your savior. Outsider uses Attack, !Dispatch, Flare, and Banish. !Dispatch kills you if it connects. Banish kills you if it connects. Every time you hurt Outsider, he's going to respond with Shurikens, Fuma Shurikens or a Pinwheel down your throat. Send in Setzer with dual Viper Darts and a Black Belt and you should be winning more battles than you lose. Sadly, you're just gonna have to rely on the X-type ID kicking in, or else you'll see Setzer eating dust like it's 311 B.C. - Flame Shield - Ice Shield Opponent: Metal Hitman Metal Hitman has little HP and weak defenses. Sending in Sabin with dual Dragon Claws and a Black Belt will guarantee you victory unless Sabin pulls off a Soul Spiral. If you have a Safety Bit, you can use it to protect against the Dischord attack. - Murasame - Masamune Opponent: Glasya Labolas - Sniper - Bone Club Opponent: Glasya Labolas This is a battle of persistance. With the new and improved (read: working) Prayer Beads, you can stuff a character with some Prayer Beads, stick him/her in the Back Row and wait for it. GL has incredible Evasion himself, so you'll have to count on unblockable/magical attacks to land, such as Bio, Setzer's Gil Toss, Edgar's Tools, etc. Miracle Shoes help, as does a Protect Ring. This is a superior route to Bone Clubs and Red Jackets. Your best bet is probably Setzer with Heiji's Jitte, some Prayer Beads and Fixed Dice (or Dice if you don't have those). - Masamune - Murakumo Opponent: Gorgimera Gorgimera is a mean upgrade from the Chimera. He can use Avalanche (strong), Aero (even stronger), and Flare Star, which will kill you unless you have any way of nullifying it/absorbing it. Send in a character with a Flame Shield, as he or she will be protected from both Avalanche and Flare Star. An Ice Shield is not as smart as Aero will do double damage to such a target. Dragoon Edgar works best. - Murakumo - Holy Lance Opponent: Galypdes Galypdes is a big bird. It uses Attack, !Flap, Shamshir and Cyclonic. You can't protect against the latter two yet, so just send in Dragoon Edgar and hope for the best. If you don't have him, I regret to inform you that ID attacks don't work against this bird and you won't win the battle. - Fuma Shuriken - Pinwheel Opponent: Chaos Dragon Chaos Dragon has three attacks that are prone to screw you over. !Incinerate will kill you if it connects. Disaster turns you into a Confused Imp, which pretty much settles the score. Meteor is just very strong. You won't' be able to take two and live through it. Your best bet is to send it Dragoon Edgar and hope for Attack/Meteor. Chaos Dragon has quite some HP but weak defenses, so while in most cases you'll die, you really want to pull through a few times to get to the Red Jackets in the end. - Pinwheel - Rising Sun Opponent: Aspidochelon Aspidochelon is a joke. He has little HP (3210), little Defense, and a weakness against Holy-elemental attacks. Sabin with two Dragon Claws, a Black Belt, and Gaia Gear is almost sure to win. His Landslide attack will be absorbed by the Gaia Gear, so the only worry is Avalanche, of which Sabin can take at least two before rolling over and dying. If you want to be really sure, try getting an Ice Shield first so you absorb both Landslide AND Avalanche. - Rising Sun - Bone Club Opponent: Weredragon Weredragon is weak, but has a 1/3 chance of casting Death. Equip a Reflect Ring to reflect it back at him (he's vulnerable to ID). Any strong attack will take him out. - Bone Club - Red Jacket Opponent: Test Rider It's better to wait until after you've gotten yourself an Ice Shield so you absorb Flash Rain. If you have a Saucer to equip or perhaps a Tortoise Shield, that works too (Flash Rain is Ice/Water, despite it's Lightning-elemental looks). Edgar would make a nice Dragon Horn Dragoon with an Ice Shield in this fight. Test Rider isn't really something to worry about. - Regal Gown - Minerva Bustier Opponent: Death Machine 75% of the time, Death Machine will cast Death. Death Machine is also vulnerable to Instant Death attacks. Grab a Reflect Ring and equip it, and send whoever. If your character attacks, Death Machine can counter with up to FOUR Blaster attacks. If your character damages Death Machine without killing him, the battle is over. So, start running as soon as you enter the fight! Your character will just run and never attack. He won't succeed in running away, and just Reflect the Death spell to win. - Rename Card - Miracle Shoes Opponent: Fiend Dragon Fiend Dragon has four attacks: Attack, which normally wouldn't be that much of a disaster, yet will prove fatal in most cases in this battle. Northern Cross, which has a small chance of freezing you. Southern Cross, which is a strong Fire-elemental attack. And Heartless Angel, which is an unblockable attack that sets your character's HP to 1. Equip a Flame Shield (Red Jackets or Ice Shield won't be sufficient) on Dragoon Edgar. The only way you can be killed is receiving an Attack at 1 HP. You just need to pray that doesn't happen and that Southern Cross heals you back up whenever you reach that level. To finish off, an impression what my team looks like at this point: EDGAR Holy Lance Flame Shield Royal Crown Red Jacket Dragon Horn Dragoon Boots SABIN Dragon Claws Ice Shield Circlet Red Jacket Hero's Ring Earring CELES Enhancer Crystal Shield Mystery Veil Minerva Bustier Hero's Ring Prayer Beads SETZER Viper Darts Ice Shield Genji Helm Crystal Mail Hero's Ring Earring -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.56.1 The battle with Humbaba ********************************** Opponents: Humbaba (-), Humbaba (#309) Container contents: Hi-Ether Lores: 1000 Needles Whom to bring? Celes is great to bring; Runic is nice if you don't have enough Reflect Rings to satisfy the entire party, and Celes's Minerva Bustier nullifies Humbaba's Lightning-elemental attacks. Sabin is a great addition to your team as he'll be able to a lot of damage without disturbing him from his sleep with Phantom Rush. Gau's not very useful, as his random physicals will disturb Humbaba from his Sleep status, and the same goes for Umaro. Assuming you haven't fought Humbaba earlier, you still have some things to do, which you can read about here: [HUMBABA1-LINK] Assuming that you fought Humbaba earlier and talked to Terra in Mobliz: [HUMBABA2-LINK] This is a good time to check in on the kids in Mobliz again. That pigeon can wait for just a little bit longer (don't worry, we'll get with the pigeon next) and the last time we saw Terra, she wasn't doing so hot. Personal problems, loads of responsibility, and the ancient demon Humbaba stampeding around would get the average nineteen-year old girl down, I'm sure. As soon as you enter Mobliz, nothing happens. The dogs have gotten used to you, so they don't bark. Descending in the orphan's shelter will teach you that the three older kids in town are gone; it seems that amidst all of the disaster, safe sex wasn't a priority for Duane and Katarin. Katarin's pregnant, Duane had thought of a better future than sitting in a dump of a town with his knocked-up 17-year old girlfriend like so many fine young men of our generation, and Terra... Where the hell is Terra? Best search around town. The Relic Shop's derelict, although there's a nice bed for you to sleep in if you feel like it. The only other standing house contains a dog that quickly sneaks off behind a bookcase and Duane, who laments. Follow the dog and you discover the haven within the haven; Terra and Katarin have retreated here to discuss the existence of the baby. Duane comes in to apologize for his whatever the hell he did wrong. At any rate, Humbaba attacks again. Duane sticks to Katarin, Terra refuses to fight once more, and the kid asks you to rid the world of Humbaba once and for all. With ten young eyes pointed at you, do you really have a choice? Before you go out, you can grab an Ether from the yellow pot here, so there's that choice. Before you go out, make sure you're properly equipped and healed up. Reflect Rings will really help here, especially if you lack the Runic ability on your team. Obviously, people with a Thunder Shield and/or the Minerva Bustier don't need a Reflect Ring, as they absorb (Thunder Shield) or nullify (Minerva) Thundara and Thundaga anyway. If you brought Umaro and already found a Blizzard Orb, equip it on him; not that his Snowstorm attack is specifically strong in this battle, but the Blizzard Orb nullifies Lightning-elemental attacks. Humbaba (Breath) Level: 31, HP: 26000, MP: 10000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Lightning, Weak against: Poison Special: !Solar Plexus: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Solar Plexus, Attack Control: Attack, !Solar Plexus Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Solar Plexus, Thundara, Thundaga, 1000 Needles, Humbaba Breath Joker's Death: No It's impossible to spin 7-7-7 in this battle; the game prevents it. Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Humbaba (final) Level: 31, HP: 26000, MP: 10000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Lightning, Weak against: Poison Special: !Solar Plexus: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Solar Plexus, Attack Control: Attack, !Solar Plexus Vulnerable to: Sleep Attacks: Attack, !Solar Plexus, Thundara, Thundaga, 1000 Needles Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No This isn't all that difficult, so I'll make it kinda quick. You rush out of the house to find Humbaba approaching. You do battle with him. The first round, he'll throw a Attack or !Solar Plexus attack. The next round consists out of Thundara or Thundaga, and the third round is Thundara, 1000 Needles or Attack. It loops. As soon as it hits 15360 Hit Points, it'll counter the first attack you throw at him with a double Humbaba Breath attack. Humbaba Breath is a Humbaba-only attack that's exactly the same as Snort; it only looks different. Humbaba targets two random characters and blows them away. They will also be removed from your party and can be found at the Falcon later. Here, the battle ends. If you somehow managed to completely circumvent this event by doing more than 15360 damage in one turn, he'll use Humbaba Breath only once and die. This is odd, as the thing going on here is that you can't really handle Humbaba. Sure, you pound on him for a while, then he disables two of your characters just like that. On the offense, Humbaba is temporarily resistant to the Sleep status so that doesn't work. Focus on your strongest attacks; Sabin's Phantom Rush, Mog and Edgar's Jump attacks, Setzer's Gil Toss attack (his Fixed Dice are stronger if you have them), Cyan's Flurry technique, what have you. If you brought Gau to the scene, !Cat Scratch at decent level (30 and above) is the best bet versus Humbaba for Gau. Tyrannosaur's (enemy) Meteor's decent, followed by Marchosias; Aero and Trillium's Bio. Spritzer absorbs Thundara and Thundaga, which is a great defensive choice if you didn't bring Reflect Rings or a Runic user. Keep in the back of your head that Spritzer is undead, though. Destroyer isn't, but that really kills Gau's offense in the matter. Baalzephon absorbs the Lightning-elemental spells and has superior offense in Blizzaga, but chances are slim you chose to pick up Gogo before Terra. Your Mages and lesser-trained characters have the Bio spell to use, and if any character has learned Quake than it is pure Magic (don't forget to cast Float, obviously). Note that since this battle fades out rather than actually ends, Strago won't be able to learn any Lores (aka 1000 Needles) from this battle. Anyway, despite your perfect set-up and the little amount of damage Humbaba will be able to do, you still get your face handed to you on an IKEA silver platter according to the storyline. No fair. So, Terra comes to save you! Sensing that her friends are in danger or something cheesy like that, she rushes to the rescue, unleashing the Esper within herself on her way. Round two. Now, you stand there with one or two less characters you picked beforehand, but with a permanently Tranced Terra as a replacement. Just continue to attack him. If Terra knows the Bio spell, have her use it. Since Terra doesn't have a Reflect Ring and likely lacks the Minerva Bustier as well, it can be a good idea to cast Shell or Reflect on her in this battle, even though she already takes half as much damage from the attacks due to her Tranced state. The Sleep status ailment works now, so have one of your characters cast it if possible and focus on magical attacks only. Before long, Humbaba will fall. Interesting tidbit: this is actually the only battle in the entire game you can see the fallen Esper Terra sprite in. In normal situations, Terra will automatically Revert when she is killed, but not so in this battle. After the battle, the kids of Mobliz rush out of the houses to celebrate the victory, but instead of their Mama, they find a naked purple furry. They hide behind barrels for safety. One of the toddlers recognizes Terra and all surround her. Terra, meanwhile, has concluded that pacifism isn't the way to enlightenment and decides to fight for her loved ones, the children of Mobliz. When the scene is over, we can leave Mobliz behind; we can only hope that all will go well for them, and that the upcoming baby will never represent this world reborn when the credits roll. I wouldn't get my hopes up for that last one, by the way. An important note to make before we really go back on the Falcon, by the way, is the fact that as of now Terra will receive TWICE as much Trance time for every Magic Point she gains. That's awesomely sweet. Terra is entirely like Celes on her set-up and the way you should treat her; teach her Bahamut's, Midgarsormr's or Valigarmanda's spells, and equip the Minerva Bustier on her no matter what you have in mind. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.57.1 Following the pigeon ********************************** Finally, it's time to get on with the story and get busy with the pigeon you were prompted to deal with all these aeons ago. Whom to bring? The Minerva Bustier is great against the boss you'll fight, so Celes and Terra are nice choices if you have up to two Minervas Bustier. Sabin is still a magical powerhouse, but Dragoon Edgar, Dragoon Mog, and Fixed Dice Setzer are pretty powerful too. If Gau has something like Magic Urn or Baalzephon I'd bring him along. Never mind Umaro. It comes down to the characters you have proper equipment for, really. First stop, if you still remember, is Maranda, where the carrier pigeon first took us. Some pigeons surround Lola's house, and as we enter we find the entire room covered in beautiful silk flowers. Lola claims that her boyfriend, the wounded lad in Mobliz has sent them all, but we just visited that place; that poor guy was killed when Kefka attacked the town with the Light of Judgment. So, who has been deceiving this girl, keeping her hopes up? Examining the letters reveals that the handwriting of it resembles the handwriting of Cyan, who like no other, knows the pain of loss. Lola asks you if you can attach her reply to a carrier pigeon. Accept, and you'll receive the Rare item "Lola's letter". You can examine it to read the first two lines (Thanks for all the flowers, I'm worried about you...) Go outside and find the pigeon waiting for you near Lola's house; attach the letter (obviously, you'll lose it) and you'll see it fly across the Overworld Map to Zozo. It seems our characters have incredible eyesight if they can track a single bird that far. Jump on the Falcon and fly over to Zozo. Zozo still houses the same opponents as it did in the WoB, but I'm not going to comment on them again, as they're no real threat to you anymore. In Zozo, you find the pigeon resting for a bit near the entrance; pushing it a little makes it fly on, over, and behind the Small Tower. Up there, you may remember one of the doors being rusted shut; you could climb up there and experience this fact if you want to, but we're better off looking on the ground for help. Besides, didn't that one guy in Maranda say how the honest merchant here might be able to help us out one day? The honest merchant is willing to help us for a price; for 1000 Gil, we can buy some Rust-Rid. He won't sell you the Rust-Rid if you haven't sent the pigeon all the way, so make sure you did that. The Rust-Rid is a Rare Item you gain if you pay the man. Climb up the stairs, and find the door that was rusted shut. You use the Rust-Rid, and presto: a new dungeon. The same merchant also gives you the tip of equipping 'sniper whatchamacallits'. This is only a good idea if you plan on using the Fight command, which is about the only physical attack that isn't unblockable you'll ever use. If you bring Gau or Umaro here, that might actually be a good idea; otherwise you'll find it's a waste of your relic slot. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.57.2 Mount Zozo ********************************** Opponents: Mugbear (#148), Devil Fist (#149), Luridan (#150), Punisher (#151), Glasya Labolas (#152), Storm Dragon (#341) Container contents: Aegis Shield, Gold Hairpin, Ice Shield, Red Cap, Thunder Shield Miscellaneous items: Bone Club (rare Punisher steal), Brigand's Glove (rare Devil Fist steal), Force Armor (guaranteed Storm Dragon drop), Muscle Best (rare Glasya Labolas steal), Rising Sun (common Punisher steal), Thief's Bracer (rare Mugbear steal) Lores: Aero, White Wind Monster formations: (Caves) Mugbear, Punisher (6/16) Glasya Labolas (5/16) Mugbear (5/16) (Bridge Slope) Punisher, Devil Fist, Punisher (6/16) Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan (5/16) Glasya Labolas (5/16) (Slope Before Cyan's Settlement) Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan, Luridan (6/16) Luridan, Luridan, Luridan (5/16) Glasya Labolas, Mugbear, Devil Fist (5/16) Glasya Labolas are upgraded Hill Gigas. They don't use Magnitude 8 and don't absorb Earth-elemental attacks either; they're just really powerful physically and have a lot of HP. It has a very nasty Special in !Uppercut, which is five times as powerful as Glasya Labolas' Attack, and has two chances of attacking you every turn. Finally, they have a rare Muscle Belt steal; the Muscle Belt is a Relic that raises your max. HP by 50%, which really helps you defensively. They're nice targets for a Dread Gaze attack (has ID protection but no Petrify protection) too. Punishers are boring. They're stronger versions of the Harvesters you met down in Zozo, but not nearly as interesting. They counter Steal with Steal. You can Steal a common Rising Sun or rare Bone Club from them, which are limited to them and Coliseum appearances. They take two turns attacking normally, and a third turn in a frenzy of !Clobber (Attack x 2) and up to two Attacks. They're Floating, like all thief opponents, and weak against Poison, like all humans. Devil Fist are strong Zaghrem-type enemies, but unlike Zaghrem and Iron Fist lack the ability to utilize the Stone attack. They have inherent Haste and attack with either Attack or !Switchblade (Attack x 1.5). They also counter any damaging attack with either Attack or !Switchblade. They have a rare Brigand's Glove steal. Great. In the Sketch, Control, and Rage department, Devil Fist has access to Will o' the Wisp, but he won't use it normally. Luridan's crazy! Just crazy, I tell you! It knows two silly terrain attacks only normally accessible through Mog's Dances. On the third turn, he may use Forest Healing (removes Darkness, Poison, Petrify, Silence, Confuse, Sap, Sleep, Slow and Stop), and on the fourth turn, it may use Meercat (MT, sets Haste). Exactly why a violent delta-shaped bug like Luridan has power over nightingales and young felines is left to anybody's imagination. On every non-Forest Healing/ Meercat turn, Luridan will either use Attack or !Ram (Attack x 2). Since Luridan tends to travel in large packs of either three or six, the continuous pounding gets rather painful on the whole. They can be quickly dispatched by a decent MT Fira spell, and Gau's MT magical violence in Marchosias' Aero also works wonders (Quake misses...why are they Floating?). Mugbears are bears. They don't damage you; they just Steal Gil from you. This was never a problem with other monsters that did this (Harvester, Dadaluma), as they never ran, so you just got the money back in the end. Mugbear, however, will flee the second turn when given the chance. He'll try to Steal from you in the first turn, and counter any damaging attack you throw at him with a shot at a Steal attack, so chances are you really want to take him down ASAP. Sleep, Stop, and Berserk all work on him, and they're weak to the Fire element. Also, there's a trick with Mugbear you can't execute now, but will be able to do later. Bring Relm with the Cat-Ear Hood equipped, and have either Relm herself or Gogo Control a Mugbear. Now, just go ahead and damage it a little with something minor like a Thunder spell, and heal him afterwards. Some of the time, he'll counter with Steal. Now, since Mugbear will Steal an incredible amount of money over time, and the Cat-Ear Hood doubles all Gil obtained, you'll get your own money back twice. I'll remind you when you have the Cat-Ear Hood and need the money :) All of the attacks of the monsters in Mt. Zozo are physical, so all you have to do is summon Phantom once or cast Vanish enough times to cover the entire party and you're more or less done until you reach the Storm Dragon here. For some trivia, all monsters have a high Evasion rating. You don't notice due to the fact almost none of your attacks are blockable physicals, but those that use them will find they miss often. As you enter, you'll find a giant cave with wooden bridges going everywhere and nowhere. If you go up, you'll reach a dead end because both bridges here have collapsed. Go all the way to the left to find a chest containing an Ice Shield. If you go down a little, you'll find a wooden bridge going down and a chest containing a Red Cap, a brilliant piece of headgear that raises HP by 25%. I love and suggest it on every character that's not wearing a Mystery Veil at this moment. Follow the bridge downwards and it'll take you to a long set of stairs going down, to the left, past a chest containing a Thunder Shield, and eventually up again. The Thunder Shield is the best elemental shield there is. Unlike its Flame and Ice brethren, it has no elemental weakness, and next to absorbing Lightning- elemental attacks and nullifying Wind, it also halves damage done by Fire- and Ice-elemental attacks. I'd advise it over, say, the Genji Shield if your set-up can use some elemental resistance. Going up will get you past a chest with an Aegis Shield. Boy, the treasure in this dungeon really rocks, I tell you. The Aegis Shield is a shield primarily for magical attacks; its Magic Defense is better than the Genji Shield and its Magic Evasion is also higher (40% is better than 20%, no?). It's not as good as defender against magical attacks as the Force Shield, and not as good against physicals as the Genji Shield, but it's a great shield on both areas. Although its lack of elemental properties makes it primarily a great choice for people who get their elemental properties from other sources (in other words, that's mostly Minerva Bustier wearers, people with the Cat-Ear Hood, or Force Armor). Outside, in the opening to the far left, you'll find a chest with a Gold Hairpin. The other exit takes you outside on the slopes of Mount Zozo, over a bridge. In the next cave, you find a Save Point and a button tile. If you stand on the button tile, a chest you can't reach opens to release the Storm Dragon, who flies freely around. Equip Minerva Bustiers and Thunder Shields where possible now, and Golem/Fenrir and Zona Seeker are great to have around to summon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.57.3 The battle with Storm Dragon ********************************** Storm Dragon Level: 74, HP: 42000, MP: 1250 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Force Armor (always) Absorbs: Wind, Weakness: Lightning Status: Float Special: !Wing Sabre: Attack x 3 Sketch : White Wind, Aero Control: Attack, !Wing Sabre Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Wing Sabre, Aero, Wind Slash, Leaf Swirl, Cyclonic Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail Storm Dragon is the toughest dragon out of the bunch, and the specific scourge of the average LLG players, because one of Storm Dragon's attacks is the non-elemental, unblockable Leaf Swirl attack, which you can't prevent Storm Dragon from using. Luckily, you probably have at least one Minerva Bustier wearer in your party at this point, and you just found a Thunder Shield you can equip on any given party member (except for Umaro, useless piece of muscle that he is), so you have at least two party members that nullify the Wind element. Storm Dragon can use three attacks normally: Attack, Wind Slash, and Leaf Swirl. Leaf Swirl and Wind Slash are about alike in power and they're both unblockable. Leaf Swirl, however, is non-elemental where Wind Slash is Wind-elemental. As soon as Storm Dragon dives beneath 15360 Hit Points, he'll drop Wind Slash and Leaf Swirl for more physicals (he'll start using !Wing Sabre here): Aero and Cyclonic. Aero is about 1.2 times as powerful as Wind Slash, but 2.4 times as powerful when used on a single target (which will only happen if all the other characters are Dead or in the air due to a Jump attack). Cyclonic, as you know from Wyvern and Platinum Dragon, is an MT percentage-based attack that will remove 93.75% of the targets current HP. Memento Rings and Safety Bits block the effects of Cyclonic, as do Rages with the ID Protection property. At the start, summon Golem or Fenrir to protect against the physical attacks Storm Dragon uses. Zona Seeker's Magic Shield really helps against Wind Slash and Leaf Swirl, but you should invest in individual Shell castings if you don't have Zona Seeker ready. Now, you'll want to use Rasp a few times to take care of Storm Dragon's MP; when it's gone (you can check with Libra, or keep track with a calculator), Storm Dragon won't be able to cast Aero or Cyclonic in its 'dangerous' phase. If one of your party members has learned the Hastega spell from Quetzalli, by all means. Now, just start beating him! Terra's Trance can help boosting the damage of her spells (and halve the damage done by the magical spells, even though only Leaf Swirl should ever damage Terra is you've played your cards right). Since Storm Dragon is weak against the Lightning-element, Thundara, Tri-Disaster and Thundaga all hurt very nicely. Storm Dragon is rather strong and not to be taken lightly, especially since he won't succumb to your status ailment spells, but with the proper set-up, you shouldn't have a lot of problems. When the fight ends, you'll have defeated another dragon and obtain a Force Armor, which is great against magical attacks and halves the damage done from Fire-, Lightning-, Ice-, Wind-, and Earth-elemental attacks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.57.4 Cyan Garamonde ********************************** After the battle, you can simply pursue you path without any kind of difficulty. Eventually, you'll reach a room filled with the same silk flowers you found in Lola's house, and a letter on a desk that reads: Dear Lola, I am writing to beg for your forgiveness. I am guilty of perpetuating a terrible lie. I have only now realized the error of my ways, and taken up this quill in hopes of correcting a great wrong. Your boyfriend, who you believed to be in Mobliz, passed away some time ago. I have been writing to you in his stead. We humans have a tendency to become trapped in the past and refuse to move on. I implore you not to let this happen. Now is a time for you to look forward, and rediscover love and all of the other joys of life... Cyan Also, there's a locked chest. When we leave through the opening to the right, we see Cyan send a letter and recite a poem; when he notices you, he declares his alliance to your cause once again and freaks out about you seeing his silk flowers and reading his letters. It seems the year of solitude has hardly changed him. If you brought three characters, Cyan is now in your party; if not, he'll be waiting on the Falcon for you. If you go outside, you'll see something shimmering; it turns out to be the key to Cyan's secret chest. You can go back in and open the chest. You'll find two books here: a Machinery Manual (Japanese game: Machinery for Dunces, A Pictorial Guide to Machines, Everything about Machines and Machines for the Mechinically Disinclined) which supposedly cured Cyan's fear of machines and a book called "Bushido in the Bedroom", of which he's very possessive. If you have Cyan in your party at this moment, he'll make a small scene in which he takes this item from your party leader. The Japanese game just called this "Bushido in the Bedroom" a naughty magazine. So it's a fact, poetry-writing heart-broken samurai get lonely too. :P If you take Cyan to Lola, he'll exchange the "Everything's going swell here in Mobliz"-letter with the letter you read in Mount. Zozo. Lola will talk a little about her feelings and exclaims how she wants to meet this man who wrote all the letters; if you brought Cyan and at least one other party member, he or she will be about to break the secret when Cyan steps in and prevents the truth from surfacing, telling Lola to enjoy life. Case closed. Cyan, if you've been following the program a bit, probably learned two new Bushido skills in your absence. Dragon (which you may have already seen in the WoB, level 24) is an attack that drains both HP and MP in a single strike using some dragon-related power. It's strong enough to restore Cyan back to full in both aspects if you don't level too high, so unless the damage drained is hampered by the target, it's a great restorative move. Eclipse is basically Cyan's version of Sabin's Razor Gale, much like Fang is Cyan's version of Sabin's Raging Fist. Eclipse is slightly stronger, non-elemental, and has a rough 55% chance of setting Stop if the struck opponent is still alive and vulnerable to the ailment: it's a random 140/256 chance ignoring any kind of Magic Evasion or Evasion stat. With Flurry still being there for you, Cyan's Bushido skills truly are something to fear; it's the bloody charge time that holds you back. Waiting for Bushido #6 akes a really long time; even if you skip to all the other characters and input the commands for their long-animation attacks, Cyan won't always be done charging when the other characters are done, and at this point, the opponents have often already been defeated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.58.1 The Veldt ********************************** The Veldt has altered a bit. You no longer have access to the town of Mobliz when walking on the Veldt, Crescent Mountain has disappeared and a new cave, mysteriously called the Cave of the Veldt has appeared. It's been quite a while since you picked up some new Rages, so I suppose it's time to go check up on our friend Gau again. You won't have to rescue him or do anything special to recruit him; just go fight on the Veldt with any party that has a free spot and he'll have the same ol' 57.5% chance of appearing like always. You've met a great load of monsters, so I'll give a quick rundown on the good ones you can look for. I'd like to advise you to enter the Cave of the Veldt and complete it before you start hunting for new Rages, since it unlocks two worthwhile new Rages and introduces a recurring monster on the Veldt that drops some really good stuff. Behemoth (enemy) Meteor Ninja Water Scroll absorbs Poison, inherent Float Platinum Dragon Cyclonic inherent Protect and Float Land Ray Mighty Guard Fafnir Traveler Killer Mantis Metal Cutter Instant Death protection Skeletal Horror Banish absorbs Poison, Undead Borghese Holy absorbs Poison, Undead Cloudwraith Flare absorbs Poison, Undead Magna Roader (b) Lv. 4 Flare inherent Haste Illuyankas Gigavolt absorbs Lightning, inherent Protect, Instant Death protection Behemoth King Firaga absorbs Poison, Undead Luridan Rock Slide inherent Float Devil Fist W. o' the Wisp absorbs Poison, inherent Haste Black Dragon (Umaro) Snowstorm absorbs Poison, Undead Punisher Thundaga inherent Haste and Float *1 Metal Cutter is a non-elemental magical attack about as powerful as a level 3 spell. Under Rage, it randomly changes between an ST and MT spell, much like Fira, Gigavolt, and attacks like that. *2 Holy is a Holy-elemental spell that you will later learn from an Esper. It's slightly weaker than a level 3 spell. *3 Rock Slide is an ST non-elemental barrier-piercing attack that's about 1.25 times as powerful as a level 3 spell on a single target. Superior to Flare in all ways, it was already Mog's second-strongest Dance attack. *4 (Umaro) Snowstorm is exactly what you get when you invent an Ice-elemental Scroll and make it not a Scroll. Notable as one of Umaro's attacks, it's his strongest Ice-elemental attack until Gau gets his greedy little hands on Baalzephon. On how to use Gau in the WoR: It's a common notion that while Gau rocks people's socks in the WoB with his incredible offensive abilities, he's just a tank in the WoR while the offense is lacking. This is only partly true, however. For fairly far into the WoR, Gau's special attacks are still powerful enough to make most forms of MT damage pale in comparison. The most noticable picks on a good ol' fashioned MT violence Gau are: Litwor Chicken/Medusa Chicken. You should have Litwor Chicken from the WoB, but Medusa Chicken is just a slight alternative (absorbs Poison, but lacks ID protection). Quake never misses unless the targets floats, and also hits your side, so you'll want to make sure to always have Floating characters when using this Rage. When the opponents get hit and you don't, this is pretty much the best choice you have. (Enemy) Meteor is about as strong as Quake, hits all enemies and all enemies only AND is non-elemental. What's the problem then? Not only is obtaining (enemy) Meteor slightly more of a feat then Quake is (you'll have to go in the woods and fight yourself a Tyrannosaur), it also misses 20 % of the time. That's bad. On Floating targets, or when Quake doesn't work for any other reason, I suggest (enemy) Meteor over pretty much everything else because of its pure power. If you can use neither, there's a slew of options waiting for you that are pretty good but not quite as good as Litwor Chicken/Medusa Chicken and Tyrannosaur. Marchosias' Aero is a Wind-elemental level 3 spell on all targets. Killer Mantis shares its power and is non-elemental, but may appear ST or MT which adds a level of randomness. As for ST damage, Purusa's Rock Slide is a great option, as is Punisher's Thundaga. The Punisher Rage will also induce Gau with auto-Haste and auto-Float, which doesn't hurt its case in the slightest. Always boost by Earrings! If you feel like your new Gau has been pumped up enough, find the newly formed Cave of the Veldt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.58.2 The Cave of the Veldt and Death Warden ********************************** Opponents: Gorgimera (#153), Twinscythe (#154), Death Warden (#155), Behemoth King (living (#317) Behemoth King (undead) (#318) Container contents: Berserker Ring, Ichigeki, Monster-in-a-box (Death Warden) Miscellaneous items: Behemoth Suit x2 (guaranteed Behemoth King drop x2), Murasame (rare Behemoth King (living) steal), Poison Rod (rare Twinscythe drop and common Twinscythe steal), Tigerfang (guaranteed Death Warden drop) Lores: Doom Monster formations: Twinscythe (10/16) Twinscythe, Twinscythe (5/16) Gorgimera (1/16) Whom to bring? Gau's a great choice here, as you can practice his new Rages here (which are great if you have some of the proper ones). Edgar's excellent to bring if you got his Air Anchor already and also great if you don't, as is Relm (although you probably don't have her yet). In Edgar's absence, Mog's a nice addition as well; it's about the Holy Lance here. Celes's Runic ability comes in handy in the boss battle here too. For the random encounters, those who have learned Firaga are excellent. Twinscythe is a big nasty Killer Mantis upgrade. Twinscythes absorb Ice- elemental attacks and have ID protection. To top it off, they have just enough HP to survive most MT spells, so it's hard to clean them up easily. On the offense, they're nothing to worry about; they just use Attack over and over again, countering every attack with a 33% shot at !Drainsickle (drains HP). Take them out with Fire- or Wind-elemental attacks. Sabin's Razor Gale works really well on them, Cyan's Kazekiri katana hurts them badly (although you'll want a Genji Glove/Hero's Ring combination to ensure death), and Lv. 4 Flare also hits the spot (the brown Magna Roader's Rage allows Gau to cast it; it's all the way to the bottom of the Rage list). Razor Gale and Lv. 4 Flare should be boosted by Hero's Rings and/or Earrings. Gorgimera are very elusive, but pretty dangerous when you do encounter them. They have over 7000 Hit Points, no weaknesses and have ID protection, so they'll stay a while when you meet them. For three turns they'll just attack physically, but on the fourth turn Gorgimera will get all fired up. He'll start with !Rampage (Attack * 2), and use three of the following attacks: Snowstorm, Fireball, Gigavolt, Magnitude 8, or Aqua Breath. Three, that hurts pretty bad. You can stop this madness by casting a combination of Sleep, Slow and/or Stop on the monster, stopping his actions entirely (if you lay off of the physical attacks). Gau's Rages in the CotV: Marchosias works wonders on the Twinscythes, but the brown Magna Roader with Lv. 4 Flare (bottom) is grand on all monsters here. Quake is less desirable because it removes Invisible even when Floating, and (enemy) Meteor may miss. As soon as you enter, you'll see a familiar yet inhuman face: Interceptor! He'll retreat into the cave, so you'll want to follow him. To the right is nothing anyway. In the next room, you'll meet a group of four hunters who live in the cave. They'll talk of Gau and tell you that he won't approach if you're with four party members. In this same room is a chest that contains the Berserker Ring, a Relic that allows Umaro to absorb Ice-elemental attacks (which he already did anyway due to the irremovable Snow Scarf on him), nullify Fire-elemental attacks, and add the Character Toss attack to his options. To learn more about the Character Toss attack, take a look at [UMARO-LINK]; it's basically an improved Umaro Tackle, a non-elemental barrier-piercing physical attack that requires another party member to work. Me, I like to believe he shouts, in Sasquatch gibberish: "MAN TORPEDO" before every hurl. That would amuse. Leave through the door. The Berserker Ring takes care of all the elemental resistances Umaro is ever going to get, and with the added offense, you really want the Berserker Ring on Umaro at all times. You'll end up in a place where you can go to the bottom and to the left. To the left (you'll have to navigate blindly for a few steps to reach it) is a chest containing a monster-in-a-box, the deity of Death called Death Warden. Death Warden was never supposed to be a one-time battle, but due to a formation mix-up, this is the only time you'll fight him. He was supposed to appear on the Veldt, providing you with Magic AP in this battle and providing you with more Tigerfangs before the final dungeon, but he does neither. Death Warden Level: 19, HP: 8000, MP: 8000 Steal: Potion (common), Hi-Potion (rare), Win: Tigerfang (always) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy Creature Type: Humanoid, Undead Special: !Dead End: sets Death Sketch : !Dead End, !Dead End Control: Attack, !Dead End, !Dead End, !Dead End Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom, Confuse, Slow Attacks: Death, Doom, Atomic Rays Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Remedy Remedy Remedy Remedy Here's the deal. Every turn, Death Warden will use Death, Doom, or do nothing. He also may counter every damaging attack you make with a Death spell as well (33%). If you allow him to live for more than a minute, he'll cast eight consecutive Atomic Ray spells, which coming from his rather spectacular Magic Power (50!) means death to everybody who isn't specifically protected from Fire -elemental attacks. Don't bother with damage. The weakness of Death Warden is ID attacks. As soon as you enter battle, have somebody cast Break or Banish. You may want to revive a character if he fell to Death Warden's first turn Death spell, but Break is definitely the way to go. I don't recommend Edgar's Air Anchor because Death Warden may counter the Tool with a Death spell, which you don't want. Regardless, Death Warden is really more of a regular enemy than he is a boss, so you shouldn't have any trouble with him. The Lich Rage makes any Rager invulnerable, as Death and Doom will heal the Rager and Atomic Ray will be absorbed. After you've defeated Death Warden, you can equip the non-elemental Tigerfang on Sabin if you like (if only for the extra increase in Magic Power), and trace back your steps a little and take the southern path this time. The path will take you a long way, but eventually you'll come across a room with a chest and a switch. The chest contains the Ichigeki. The Ichigeki is a rather feature-less weapon with the Assassin's Dagger's X-type ID ability. It's a weapon you heard about earlier; a 'real tough fellow' in the Coliseum was looking for it. That's of little concern to you at this time; we still haven't found Interceptor yet. If you touch the switch, a new path opens up for you to take. Once you take the path: shock and awe! It's Shadow, and he's not looking healthy. If you didn't wait for Shadow at the Floating Continent, he's not here, but it will be Relm who's lying facedown on the rocks on the cave. In both cases, Interceptor will be standing guard, waiting for you to come over and help the both of them. Ascend the stairs, and you enter a room with a Save Point. Do your Save Point stuff and enter the room. While you're examining the wounded person, you're attacked from behind by a behemoth-like monster. Bollocks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.58.3 The battle with the Behemoth King ********************************** Behemoth King (living, blue) Level: 43, HP: 19000, MP: 1600 Steal: Murasame (rare), Win: Behemoth Suit (always) Absorbs: Ice, Weakness: Fire, Poison Special: !Devil Claw: Unblockable Attack + Removes Reflect Sketch : !Devil Claw, !Devil Claw Control: Attack, !Devil Claw Vulnerable to: Imp, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Devil Claw, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Holy, Imp, (enemy) Meteor Joker's Death: No/Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Behemoth King Level: 49, HP: 19000, MP: 9999 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: BehemothSuit (always) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy Creature Type: Undead Special: !Hypno Gas: sets Sleep Sketch : !Hypno Gas, Firaga Control: Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack Vulnerable to: Death, Doom Attacks: Attack, !Hypno Gas, Death, (enemy) Meteor Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Cursed Ring Cursed Ring Thornlet Lich Ring The blue Behemoth King, despite his appearance, is almost a pure spell caster. He'll normally attack with Blizzara, Blizzaga and Holy spells which all hit with considerable force. If he hits 10240 Hit Points, he'll get more Blizzaga spells than before and throw (enemy) Meteor in the mix, which hurts a bundle (around 1000 on every character, pretty much the same force Intangir used to throw (enemy) Meteor attacks on you). If a character of yours is under the influence of Reflect, he'll target the character and use !Devil Claw to remove the Reflect status (the message "Reflect removed." will appear) and return to his normal AI script. If multiple characters are under the influence of Reflect, he'll go down from character #1 to character #4, switching between !Devil Claw turns and normal AI script turns. Note that characters with Reflect Rings still yield the "Reflect removed." vanished notion yet keep the status. If Behemoth King is turned into an Imp, it'll respond to that by changing its AI Script. He'll now receive auto-criticals from being turned into an Imp and start using two Attacks every turn for three turns, after which it'll cast the Imp spell to try and remove the Imp status. He won't try to do this if he has the Reflect status at this moment, though. If Behemoth King is hit by the Holy spell, he'll counter with (enemy) Meteor period. Sadly, due to a bug, this overrides the other normal counter, that of having a 33% at countering with Attack on every other damaging attack, so the next attack will also be countered with an (enemy) Meteor attack. In other words, the Holy spell eventually sends two extra (enemy) Meteor attacks down your throat, so don't do it. The Barghest and Holy Dragon Rages cast Holy; ignore them. What to do? The best way to deal with the blue Behemoth King is a combination of Imp and Stop. Now, give it everything you have. Cast Hastega to speed up the process. Summoning Fenrir or Golem helps protect against stray physicals from his side. Fira and Firaga really hurt him. Gau's Devil Fist Rage gives Gau inherent Haste and makes him use Will o' the Wisp; it's great for the battle. If you don't have access to either the Imp or Stop status ailments, Celes's Runic can really help if you brought her. Phantom Rush, Fixed Dice, Dragon Horn Jumps, you know what works. When you finally defeat Behemoth King, he'll ripple away and the battle is over. But no! Behemoth King's hatred for all things good has allowed him to survive death itself and return as an undead being to try to wreak havoc once more. Oh noes. Everybody runs to the other side of the screen, but don't fear; your Row is still intact (even though it doesn't look like it and it'd be entirely logical if Row hadn't been intact), so you don't have to change. This Behemoth King is a little simpler. He'll just use Attack, !Hypno Gas, the Death spell, or (enemy) Meteor. He won't use Death until the second turn, and (enemy) Meteor until the third turn (after which he resets back). If he successfully uses !Hypno Gas on a person, he'll target that person next for four consecutive Attacks (of which the first one is sure to land). That's about it. The undead Behemoth King's one weakness is the ID attack. He can be killed by Banish, Snare, and the Air Anchor Tool, and is hurt by Tiger, Gravity, you name it. Since Behemoth King's first turn isn't dangerous and he has no dangerous counters, the Air Anchor really is a great option to use. The Twilight Requiem coming from Mog houses both Cave-In and Snare which both truly cripple the massive menace. Since Behemoth King is Undead and lacks ID protection anyway, the Raise spell is a glorious option; the Raise spell also works on Undead with ID protection mind you, but here it feels less like raping the system. :) When the battle is over, Behemoth King will ripple away again. He's now a rather indestructible monster that roams the Veldt, attacking you every now and again. He leaves a Behemoth Suit behind every time you meet him though, so it's really not all bad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.60.1 Thamasa and the Coliseum once again ********************************** Back in Thamasa, we're helping the poor wounded character through a difficult dream. Here's the dream if you rescued Shadow from the Cave on the Veldt: (Clyde leaves a house that resembles Strago's house in Thamasa. A dog follows him and tries to stop him) You came to try and stop me... I'm sorry, but I can't turn back, boy... Stay here with my daughter... You both deserve to live in peace... (Clyde leaves. The dog, after looking back at the house and barking, follows him) Now, here's the dream if you left Shadow to die at the Floating Continent and found little Relm Arrowny in the Cave on the Veldt: (Strago and Relm are standing on the top floor of their house in Thamasa) Daddy...? Where'd Daddy go? He's coming back...isn't he? (Strago looks down, not answering) The character will now just lie in bed, recovering from the wounds. Shadow: It's only a scratch. I've had worse. And I've got this guy watching over me. Relm: It still hurts a little... But I'm okay. Interceptor's here with me. That's great. You're back in Thamasa now, but there really isn't anything new to do here since the last time you visited the place, so just leave. As soon as you leave Thamasa, the character you rescued will depart as well. Shadow will have departed for the Coliseum, as indicated by the guy who previously talked about Deathgaze: "If you're looking for that man who was dressed all in black, he already left. He said he was going to the coliseum.". If you saved Relm things will be ever so slightly more complicated. She can now be in Jidoor: "One day not long ago, a man came here saying he worked for an aristocrat in Jidoor, and left with that little girl!". However, it's not a fixed occurance. In order to make Relm appear in Jidoor, you need to step on one of three specific tiles and exit Thamasa, re-enter, step on one of those tiles again, and exit again (which is a given). This process sounds far more unnatural than it comes to most players; one of these tiles lie on the stone path leading out of Thamasa to the southern exit, so as long as you follow that one, you'll be fine. It's time to go pick them up, I'd say. Shadow's just a stone's throw away. Fly the Falcon to the Coliseum, and remember that notion about the Ichigeki. Once you bet it, you won't find a monster fighting you for it (after you've fought this battle, or if you haven't met the criteria so far, this'll be Typhon) but the merciless mercenary himself: Shadow. Shadow is a complete pushover; unequipped, unarmed, and unable to use the Throw command in the Coliseum, Shadow is pathetic. But it doesn't even matter if you win or not; whether you win, lose (equipped a Healing Rod or something, right?), or Teleport out of battle with the aptly named spell, Shadow will join you afterwards. And it's permanent this time (Shadow fans: yatta!). Poor Shadow, though; his only joy in this world left is to fight. At least we can turn this into a positive force now that he intends to face Kefka himself. And boy, does he do it well! Scrolls are very strong, and now you have the finances to really buy them en masse. Especially Flame Scrolls often nail elemental weaknesses, so buy lots of those and a few of the other ones to make them feel appreciated. Now you're here at the Coliseum, you might as well bet the Behemoth Suits nobody can equip yet for some Snow Scarfs. I told you earlier how to defeat the Outsider that guards it, so go find it if you're having trouble. The Snow Scarf is awesome, absolutely awesome equipment for both Mog and Gau. Its great defensive properties allow Mog and Gau to reach the maximum 255 Defense, it absorbs Ice-elemental attacks and halve Fire-elemental attacks. - Behemoth Suit - Snow Scarf Opponent: Outsider Outsider is vulnerable to ID, and that's your savior. Outsider uses Attack, !Dispatch, Flare, and Banish. !Dispatch kills you if it connects. Banish kills you if it connects. Every time you hurt Outsider, he's going to respond with Shurikens, Fuma Shurikens or a Pinwheel down your throat. Send in Setzer with dual Viper Darts and a Black Belt and you should be winning more battles than you lose. Sadly, you're just gonna have to rely on the X-type ID kicking in, or else you'll see Setzer eating dust like it's 311 B.C. - Rename Card - Miracle Shoes Opponent: Fiend Dragon If you succeed in obtaining at least one Snow Scarf, you can finally set up a character to defeat one of the most intimidating opponents in the Coliseum, the Fiend Dragon. Give either Mog or Gau the Snow Scarf, a Genji Helm and Flame Shield. Mog's best; if you chose Gau, give him an additional Mythril Glove. You should have your character at 255 Defense. Give Mog Dragoon Boots and a Dragon Horn or Hero's Ring, or give Gau a Hero's Ring to go along with the Mythril Glove. Stick your character in the back row. You can now tank it out with Fiend Dragon; your character will be immune to physical attacks, absorb Southern Cross, and Heartless Angel and Northern Cross will never kill you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.61.1 Jidoor; Owzer's Mansion ********************************** Opponents: Misty (#156), Rafflesia (#157), Still Life (#158), Coeurl Cat (#159), Crusher (#160), Blade Dancer (#161), Caladrius (#162), Chadarnook (#319), Chadarnook (-) Container contents: 293 Gil, Ether, Gold Needle, Lich Ring, Moogle Suit, Potion Miscellaneous items: Moogle Suit (rare Misty steal), Nutkin Suit (rare Rafflesia steal), Tabby Suit (rare Coeurl Cat steal), Super Ball (rare Crusher drop and rare Crusher steal), Moogle Suit (rare Blade Dancer steal), Chocobo Suit (rare Caladrius steal) Magicite: Lakshmi [OWZER-LINK] First off, to enter this dungeon, you must have done two things. You must've either saved Shadow at the Floating Continent, or let Shadow die there and have saved Relm from the Behemoth King in the Cave on the Veldt. If you let Shadow die and haven't saved Relm yet, Owzer's Mansion will be empty, yet lit up, and the Rafflesia and Misty paintings will not respond to your presence. Whom to bring? Uncontrollable characters are very poor in the boss battle at the end, so I'd advise against Gau and Umaro. Also, due to the time delay, I'd add Mog to the category as well as neither his Dances nor his Jump attacks are very useful there. Minerva Bustier wearers are favored once again, and if you already have a character that can Steal, that'd be grand (although the chance is small). I'd go for something like Terra, Shadow, Celes, and Sabin, but it's up to you. Shadow is AWESOME in this dungeon; Earrings-boosted Flame Scrolls kill pretty much everything, and the boss is weak to Fire, too. When you enter the house, it will be dark inside. No sign of Relm or Owzer to be seen. Obviously if you saved Shadow earlier you don't even know Relm is supposed to be here, but you'll never get more evidence than you have now and you'd get all pissy if I entirely skipped two characters because the game doesn't tell you where they are. When you try to ascend the stairs to go to the art collection, a mysterious force holds you back. Stay...away...yeah, we're not going to listen to that. When we're at the foot of the stairs again, a diary appears. Here's Owzer's diary: - Just spent an absolute fortune on a new painting. It's quite a large one, so I won't be able to put it on the first floor with the others. I'll have to think about where to display it later. - An artist came from Zozo today. Showed me his "work." What a waste of time. - Lamp on the stairwell was broken, so I bought a new one at the item shop. Twas a tad pricey, but now everything's all bright and cheery with just a flip of the switch. - I invited an artist here from Kohlingen. Skills weren't quite up to par... I guess it's asking too much to expect a painter to have more talent than a wet sponge. - I've been feeling strange lately. Ever since I had that picture painted... I've been hearing things, too——strange sounds. They seem to be coming from the cellar. - The diary ends here... That's just swell. Something's up all right. At least we discovered how to get the room back to normal; just flip the switch on the stairway lamp and the room will light up, and you'll be able to proceed up the stairs. There are three paintings worth discussing here. The first one is the painting of the pink flowers. When you examine them, they will come alive and attack you! Note that once you've completed this dungeon and you haven't fought the Rafflesia enemies yet, the painting won't respond anymore. It's a battle with three Rafflesia enemies, which are well known through their Rage; both the Rage and the AI Script of these flowers feature the Entice attack. Entice sets a Confuse-like status, with a few differences. - First off, since it's not the Confuse status, you can't protect against it. Entice works on *everything* as long as it connects (Entice has a Hit Rate of 80, meaning that it'll have but a rough 80 % chance of connecting on a target with no Magic Evasion). - Second, the character or monster affected won't show any indication of being under the influence. Monsters won't look the other way, and characters won't spin right round. - Third, it's not dispelled when you use a physical attack. - Fourth, the Entice spell creates a bond between the Entice caster and the target. If the 'caster' of the Entice attack dies, the affected target will turn back to normal. If the caster of the Entice spell tries to attack with Entice on another target, it'll miss as long as the other Enticed target is still alive. Due to a bug, when one Enticer 'steals' the Enticee of another Enticer, this other Enticer - while not having a Enticee anymore - won't be able to Entice another target until his stolen Enticee is dead. Needless to say, Entice cripples every boss as it will completely disable their AI Script and they will start to attack themselves. Anyway, using Entice in a boss battle is just evil and sucks the fun out of the entire deal... so just don't use it. Back to Rafflesia. They're immune to every status ailment you throw at them, and can use Entice on the very first turn. What you'll want to do is go head-on with every kind of strong violence you have; they're specifically vulnerable to Fire-elemental attacks, so Flame Scrolls, Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster and Fira work very well. They have a rare Nutkin Suit for Stealing, but as this battle is pretty dangerous you'll probably don't want to bother. Just hope that they'll stick to their Attack and !Poison Seed (sets Poison) attacks for the most part, and that characters hit by Entice will stick to weaker attacks. The second painting of interest is the painting that has replaced the Ultros painting in the WoB; it's the portrait of Emperor Gestahl that he didn't want, so Owzer decided to buy it and hang it up here. The 'last Imperial trooper' at the Coliseum told you to talk to the Emperor twice, so examine the portrait twice; the second time, you'll obtain the Rare Item "Emperor's Letter", which reads as follows: Where the mountais form a star... Could this be the grand treasure of the Empire, the ancient relic with restoration abilities? We should definitely inform Locke once we find him, or we may even meet him while we're there, who knows. Whenever you have obtained the Emperor's Letter after talking twice to the portrait in Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor, but before you have recruited Locke, the following dialogue will appear when you talk to the old man who lives alone on the northeast continent: Aged Man: Oh! You finally come to do those repairs? "No, actually I was wondering if you knew anything about Emperor Gestahl's map..." Aged Man: The emperor's map...? Seems like that's all anyone wants to talk about these days! "Pardon?" Aged Man: Little while back, another repairman wearing a bandana came here asking the same thing... So I told him! "Then...where is it!?" Aged Man: It's where the mountains form a shape like a star... Sheesh! Why didn't you just ask me from the beginning? No need to be so shy! If you want to witness this holy grail of hidden cutscenes, fly the Falcon to the north-eastern continent. There's two white dots indicating a location on this continent; the northernmost one will take you to a solitary house, where the Aged Man lives. For the record, this 'map' is never mentioned outside of this cutscene, and neither is there ANY information about why our characters apparantly decide this guy should know something about Gestahl's possessions and he actually does. It's just weird. Time to press on! The picture of the lovely lady comes alive as well, as two Misty opponents. Misty use their first turn to set a status ailment, with either the Silence spell or the !Eyeshadow Special, which sets Darkness. The second turn will feature either the Blizzara or Thundara spells. When a Misty has been damaged, she may use a Cura spell *on the attacker*. I'm pretty sure that the AI scriptwriter intended for Misty to use the Cura spell on herself but forgot that counter attacks are typically carried out on the attacker, regardless of the spell's initial targets. Misties are nothing to fear. They have a rare Moogle Suit Steal. You'll notice this is a theme in this dungeon; most monsters have an animal suit Steal. Misties are, unlike most paintings, weak against Poison and not against Fire, so you can use Bio or strong attacks of other kinds to dispatch them. Once you defeat the Misty opponents, the painting will be entirely destroyed to reveal a door. Enter to find more darkness and a stairway going down. Beware children, not even your Teleport spell can help you leave this place... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.61.2 Owzer's Mansion, the Magic House ********************************** Monster formations: Blade Dancer, Blade Dancer, Crusher, Crusher (6/16) Caladrius, Caladrius (5/16) Caladrius, Caladrius, Coeurl Cat, Crusher, Crusher (5/16) Coeurl Cat are cats. They have a rare Tabby suit steal, and they attack physically. Due to a bug, they may use Fireball when alone (this was never the intention; Fireball was supposed to be a rare brown Magna Roader counter). Normally it just attacks with Attack and !Pounce. Its name might ring bells of that nasty Fidor Special, but Courel Cat's !Pounce is unassuming (Attack * 1.5) and shouldn't be feared. Crushers look unassuming. Fact of the matter is, they're really kind of not. 2095 HP isn't that unassuming, !Direct Hit (Attack* 5) isn't that unassuming, and the Lifeshaver attack it uses when alone isn't that unassuming. It has a common Super Ball steal which makes it the only random encounter enemy here that doesn't have an animal suit for stealing. Kill it with fire; if you brought Gau his brown Magna Roader Rage (Lv. 4 Flare) can really put a dent in their hides. Blade Dancer is supposed to be a magician of some kind; with a stellar (for monsters) Magic Power of 30 and up to three spells in its Control menu (Drain, Osmose, and Fira) it seems likely that she will also attack magically, right? Wrong. She attacks by Throwing Dirks. You may still remember the last time you met an opponent with this ability; it was Dadaluma, and it was obscenely strong. You should survive the weaker Dirks, but the stronger ones (the strongest one being the Assassin's Dagger) can do up to 1750 worth of damage, and remember that it's almost always non-elemental (Air Knife is Wind-elemental so Thunder Shield wearers and Minerva Bustier wearers take no damage from it), barrier- piercing, Row-ignoring, and unblockable damage. The Image status doesn't help, and Golem doesn't catch the flying blades; only the Invisible status can make you avoid the attacks of Blade Dancer. This is what she'll do: 1st round: Dagger or Mythril Knife 2nd round: Mythril Knife or Main Gauche 3rd round: Air Knife or Thief's Knife 4th round: Thief's Knife or Assassin's Dagger (loop) Also, she counters any damage done to her with !Blood Dance, which drains very little HP. She has a rare Moogle Suit steal too. Ways to cripple her include Berserk, Confuse, Sleep, and Stop. Noiseblaster and Cait Sith's Cat Rain help tremendously. Caladrius' are the strongest of all small birds. And with 885 HP, the same petrification abilities through !Beak like Cirpius and the so-so Acid Rain set in Control, Sketch, and Rage, that's not all good news for the small birds in general. If for some reason you have trouble killing them in one shot, Fire is their weakness (as it is of all small birds). They have a rare Chocobo Suit steal, befitting of their feathered nature. Strategy is simple yet again: have everybody under the influence of Invisible, and don't let Coeurl Cat and Crusher enemies alone. Invincibility is nice. As soon as you've descended the stairs, you find more paintings. That's just great. These don't seem so threatening though; how could you be attacked by a painting of a door or a chair? But the joke's on you... If you get to close to the painting of the chair, the painting will suck you in, onto the chair, where you'll be attacked by a previously absent old lady. The old lady turns out to be a Blade Dancer accompanied by her four cats. How's that for a stereotype? If you smack her around, she'll take her place on the chair and leave you alone. After you leave and re-enter the room, it'll just be a harmless painting of a chair again. When you continue, you see two doors. The left one leads to a chest containing a Moogle Suit! The Moogle Suit is just another animal suit, stronger than the Chocobo Suit but weaker than the Nutkin Suit. It nullifies Poison though, and gives a nice +5 on Magic Power. The best part, though, is the fact it changes the in-battle sprite of the wearer into that of a Moogle, which is totally sweet and has given seed to over a dozen 'weird glitch' topics from people who didn't make the Moogle Suit-Moogle sprite connection. The right door takes you to...three more doors. Nice. First, make sure you go around the doors and grab the hidden Lich Ring that lies there. The Lich Ring is a Relic that makes the user of it undead. This basically means that healing spells will hurt and the Death spells and the eventual effect of the Doom status will restore HP back to full. It can make for a nice combo if the equipped also has a weapon with X-type Instant Death; he or she can always restore his/her own HP back to full with one swing of a blade. Anyway, between the three doors, you'll want to pick the far left one. If you enter one of the others, you'll find yourself being thrown out of the door painting you saw earlier. If you've completed this dungeon, you won't even be able to enter the other two doors; they'll just be locked. Just continue, and don't wonder where you are. It doesn't make sense. When you enter a door, you'll suddenly find yourself in a new area with...floating chests. If you stand on the shadow of the floating chests, they'll come down and you'll be attacked; in every instance, it'll be a single Blade Dancer and four Coeurl Cats. What it is: 293 Gil Potion Ether Gold Needle If you're done toying around with the floating chest and gawking at the painting of Maria that appears to change every time you look at it, go examine the picture of the battle armor; it will be another battle, with a creature called Still Life. Still Life pretends to be a semi-boss, but is not. It looks very weird, he's got that much going for him; it appears to be a cloud of smoke with green lips that comes from behind a painting. It has four attacks up its proverbial sleeve: Attack, !Poison Kiss (sets Poison), Lullaby (an MT Sleep-inducing attack that's admittedly annoying), and Doom, which Still Life uses to counter every blow he takes. Go all out with strong attacks against him; Phantom Rush, Flame Scrolls, Tri-Disaster, you know what hurts. He has a rare Fake Mustache Steal, the Relic that turns Relm's Sketch ability into Control. You'll meet Still Life on the Veldt, so you'll be able to Steal one later if you want to. Just pound him now, he doesn't have enough HP to make Doom a nuisance. Once Still Life has been defeated, a door will appear. The door, as you've been getting used to now, leads to more doors. Use the Save Point to your advantage and take the door to the right; the door to the left will throw you out of a door somewhere in a wall you saw earlier. You've finally found Owzer now, but he's changed quite a bit; from your average aristocrat pretty boy, he's changed into a coughing blob of a man who looks surprisingly much like Jabba the Hutt. Or any other Hutt, I guess they're all alike. Another theory states that the scholar-type guy you meet in the WoB isn't Owzer at all, and that Owzer always was a generally inhuman fat blob with a frogface for no apparant reason. Who apparantly lives somewhere in his house where other people can't reach him and despite his wheezing, sickly appearance went out of the house on a fairly regular basis to locate artists. It's not my theory, so I may sound slightly subjective here...then again, it *is* a silly theory :P The German translation calls the scholar-type guy a "Butler" quite explicitly, but you may decide for yourself if you want to count that as canon. When Owzer came across another piece of Magicite in the Auction House, he bought it and felt the irresistible urge to obtain a painting of the Esper therein contained. The large painting of the Esper Lakshmi created by Relm came alive like all of her artwork, but with an added problem this time; the demon Chadarnook arrived, enticed by the magic of the Magicite and the painting. He possessed the living Lakshmi painting and started to have an evil influence over all of Relm's paintings, the reality within Owzer's Mansion and finally Owzer himself. Relm, by the way, is still painting the painting; it's not quite done yet, as you'll learn later. Regardless, it's time to remove the evil demon Chadarnook from the living Lakshmi painting to save the life of Owzer so you can take Relm with you. Owzer begs you to keep the Lakshmi painting intact. Whatever. Before you talk to him, equip Thunder Shields on as many characters as possible. Non-Minerva Bustier wearing characters take priority, as the Minerva Bustier nullifies the Lightning element (which is what concerns us here). The Force Shield and Force Armor both halve damage done by the element, and Umaro's Berserker Ring nullifies the element, even though that furry muscle package is quite useless in this battle. Protection from Water and Ice is also nice, as Flash Rain may appear in the next battle, although Lightning takes priority. The Tortoise Shield, Saucer, Reed Cloak and Snow Scarf allow you to absorb the attack, while the Minerva Bustier also nullifies it. It's a real dang shame Umaro's uncontrollable nature is, in fact, uncontrollable by nature, as the combination of his inherent Snow Scarf and the Berserker Ring really takes care of the majority of the opponent's attacks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.61.3 Owzer's Mansion, the battle with Chadarnook ********************************** Chadarnook (Lakshmi) Level: 37, HP: 56000, MP: 9400 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Holy, Water, Weakness: Fire Special: !Last Kiss: sets Doom Sketch : !Last Kiss, Attack Control: Attack, !Last Kiss Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, !Last Kiss, Lullaby, Entice, Poltergeist Joker's Death: No Spinning 7-7-7 is impossible in this fight. Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Chadarnook (Demon) Level: 41, HP: 30000, MP: 7600 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Fire, Holy Creature Type: MP Kill Special: !Hit: sets Doom Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, Thundara, Thundaga, Flash Rain Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Interesting trivia; the Japanese game showed much more skin on the Lakshmi image. No nipples or anything horrifying and ungodly like that, but still, more skin. Now here's an odd encounter. It's a living painting of the Esper Lakshmi, possessed by the demon Chadarnook. Even if you don't care about art in general or Owzer's pathetic pleas, there really isn't any point to damaging the painting; as soon as Chadarnook is exorcized, it won't be a threat anymore. So, the strategy is clear to us; wait until Chadarnook shows his face, and hurt it until it dies. We've been doing an awful lot of hurting so far, so we should be prepared soundly. You'll start out facing the Lakshmi painting. It'll use either Attack or the dreaded, blasted Entice attack. Fortunately, the effects of Entice are undone whenever your opponent changes, so it's not as much a bother as it could have been. After that first turn, the demon will make itself known. Chadarnook attacks with Lightning-elemental spells (Thundara and Thundaga)and the confusing Flash Rain; sparkly as it may look, it's actually Ice- and Water- elemental and has nothing to do with Lightning. He won't use Flash Rain until he starts getting weaker though; when he hits 15360 HP (after taking 14640 HP worth of damage, in other words), to be precise. The demon Chadarnook will always hide when he has been damaged five times, and after 40 seconds. Unfortunately, (and possibly unintentionally), it seems that the Lakshmi painting's timer is also used when Chadarnook checks his 40 seconds, so if you faced Lakshmi for 35 seconds and the monster changes, Chadarnook will only be there for a second or five before returning. This is particularly frustrating, as you'll have put in all your commands as soon as Chadarnook appeared, making you attack Lakshmi a few times in a row. Attacking Lakshmi is bad. Not only is it pointless (as soon as you deplete Lakshmi's HP, she'll just regenerate; she's immortal), it's rather dangerous, as Lakshmi has a mean counter. 33% Attack, 33% not doing anything, and 33% Poltergeist. Blast Poltergeist. Seriously. It's an MT attack that sets the super-duper- special HP Leak status on a target, which can only be seen in this battle. It's the same as Sap, only it's so dangerous because it ISN'T Sap. This means you can't protect from it with Relics, you can't override it by setting Regen, and you can't cure it in any way. As soon as HP Leak is set, any current Regen status (even if it's from a Angel Ring or Miracle Shoes) will be removed. Trying to set the Regen status on a character with the Regen spell or Kirin's Holy Aura attack will accomplish nothing. All in all, the constant HP dropping gets annoying quickly, and even dangerous if you don't watch your HP. Don't be afraid to spend some turns healing even when it isn't immediately necessary. Lakshmi, by the way, will also attack normally after her first appearance; her arsenal consists out of Attack, !Last Kiss (sets Doom), the dreaded Entice, and the surprisingly crippling Lullaby, which (as you know) sets Sleep on all characters. So what to do? You should be covered in equipment that protects against Chadarnook's Lightning-elemental spells, and possibly against that Flash Rain attack too. Patiently wait out the first turn against the Lakshmi picture, than quickly throw whatever you have when the demon appears. He is extremely weak to Fire-elemental and Holy-elemental spells, as he has a weakness to the element and its Magic Defense really isn't that stellar. Terra and Celes's Fira and (preferably) Firaga spells will really hurt Chadarnook (Firaga takes priority over Holy, too), but keep in mind that because Chadarnook absorbs Lightning-elemental spells, Valigarmanda's Tri- Disaster will be absorbed. Shadow's Flame Scrolls should be boosted by Hero's Rings and Earrings to ensure a lot of damage, although it should be noted that the much more expensive Flametongues will hurt much more. Setzer should throw his Fixed Dice around if possible; if not, Fira, Holy, and Firaga take priority over the Heiji's Jitte-induced Gil Toss. Sabin should stick to Phantom Rush regardless of his spell selection, where Edgar is probably better off sticking to Drill unless you're really sure that when he lands from a Dragon Horn Jump, he'll be landing on the demon (in which case, with the Holy Lance, he'll be doing a LOT of damage). The same really goes for Mog; his Dances are useless, as he will also attack the Lakshmi painting when he's in a trance. Stick to spells if you don't want to risk Jump attacks (or just plain don't have the right equipment). Cyan is horrible, as often before, as his charge times mean you waste a lot of time in a battle where speed is top priority. Gau and Umaro (while certainly hard to take down) suffer from the uncontrollable nature. Gau should stick to his Magic spells if possible, while Umaro should be... Yeah, killing him in the middle of battle seems a little harsh, so you might be better off setting Stop on him if you for some reason defied me and brought him here. Since Chadarnook is weak to Fire- and Holy-elemental attacks, breaking a Flame or Holy Rod on the fiend inflicts great amounts of damage. Absolutely one of the best fights to do so. You can't do anything when Entice connects, and you can't do anything when Poltergeist connects. Fenrir/Golem will help against the physicals (especially !Last Kiss can be a pain), while the Hastega spell is an asset as always. If you have a few characters unprotected from Chadarnook's attacks, Zona Seeker's Magic Shield attack can help. Basically, throw up your barriers and go all-out offensive when the demon is around while making sure your HP stays in the four digits at all times where possible. After you've defeated Chadarnook, all will return to normal. You'll learn that Chadarnook was probably enticed by the 'weird stone' Owzer bought at the Auction House, and he asks you to take it. It's on the right part of the shelf. With Lakshmi, you finally gain access to the Curaga spell! Relm also follows you out. It's possible you now have access to Relm's upgraded special skill: Control! If you want to learn all about it, check out [CONTROL-LINK]. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.62.1 Obtaining Strago ********************************** You learned from a man in Figaro Castle that people under the spell of the Cult of Kefka could be freed by meeting a loved one; with Relm in your party, we can try to turn Strago Magus back to our side. At the sight of the little girl, he leaps up in joy; no single word about his year of despair crosses his lips as he demands a primary spot in your party. Just like all the other characters, he joins your current party if there's room for him, and is placed on the Falcon if there's not. Regardless, the next parts of this walkthrough will be dedicated to raising both Relm and Strago to acceptable and even respectable levels of might on the battlefield, so I suggest you make a party that includes Relm and Strago (and no uncontrollable characters). If you were wondering, you still don't really have what it takes to tackle the top warrior of the Cultist's Tower, so it's useless and rather suicidal to go all the way up there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.62.2 Bulking up the Thamasian Two ********************************** Lores: Aero, 1000 Needles, Mighty Guard, Dischord, Bad Breath, Transfusion, Rippler First, I want to look at the Control command. There's a respectable chance you gained access to it so far; if you obtained a Fake Mustache from mugging Still Life, or already dove into the Zone Eater dungeon that I'll discuss quite a bit later in this document, you have this command at your disposal. [CONTROL-LINK] Control allows Relm to control a monster. What does this mean? The monster will stop its normal AI script. It'll still use counters though. Relm's hold over an opponent's psyche doesn't end until the opponent in question is attacked physically or either the Controlled or the Controllee obtains one of the following status ailments: Sleep, Confused, Berserk, Death, Petrify, Zombie, Freeze, or Stop. The chance of Control working is exactly the same as Sketch working, and is based on both the Controller's level and the level of the opponent you're trying to Control. The Hypno Crown Helmet raises Relm's Control success percentage, where the Beret raised Sketch success rate. When Relm is controlling a monster and it's her turn to act, you'll get the choice between the four (or less) Control commands of the monster she's controlling instead. The Control commands are also the ones a monster randomly uses when Confused, and most of the time there's some reason to the attacks found there. Regardless, Control can be a strategic choice when you know what monsters are worth controlling; most of the time the 'monster stops attacking until I say so' is the sweetest part of the deal, but sometimes the Control commands really include some sweet attacks like Freezing Dust, Flare Star, Death-setting Specials, and the like. Control is great to get a particularly powerful enemy out of the way (Brachiosaur comes to mind), or to have an unlimited amount of Steal attempts without you having to worry about a thing. I'd say that for the loss of a Relic slot, a Relm with a good Magic arsenal is better off with a second Earring than with a Fake Mustache; I'll mention the usefulness of the Control ability when it should be mentioned. For now, if you have a Fake Mustache, equip it, as the Control ability helps getting you Lores (although it won't grant access to Lores you couldn't already obtain anyway; it just makes life easier). Two more notes; if you used Mog's Molulu's Charm to raid Kefka's Tower earlier, you should have a Hypno Crown by now. Equip it for increased Control chances. Also, the Japanese name of the Fake Mustache is "Dancho's Mustache"; Dancho was the name of the Impresario of the Opera House. Why a taped-on mustache allows you to control monsters is beyond logic. I'd mention something about Adolf Hitler, his mustache, the Germans, and how they're the missing link between animals and human beings if I wasn't so scared of the "Du werdest eine Krankenschwester brauchen"-like retorts. Now, it's time to reap the benefits of this strange new world; new monsters, new attacks, new Lores. I'll discuss them step by step. - If Strago hasn't yet learned 1000 Needles, take him to the desert just south of Maranda, where Cactuar will use it every single turn it attacks. Make sure you can take Cactuar out after he uses 1000 Needles, though. With Relm on your side, both Sketch and Control grant access to 1000 Needles itself, which kills the Cactuar. - Now for one of the greater Lores you'll find: Aero, the Wind-elemental MT level 3 spell-like attack. Find a Vasegiatta near Thamasa; you can't NOT fight a Vasegiatta in the forests. You can Confuse or Control Vasegiatta for Aero, and you can even wait for it to use the attack randomly. Marchosias near Kohlingen may also use it randomly, and can also be forced to use the spell through Sketch (75% chance) and Control. Aero is slightly more powerful than a level 3 spell in both MT and ST situations. Don't let the Wind element blow you away (heh); very few enemies are actually weak to the element, and those tend to be weak monsters too. But don't be discouraged; even though teaching Strago the level 3 spells is a good idea for elemental flexibility, Aero should be Strago's main form of attack unless elemental properties declare otherwise (or if you know Lv. 4 Flare can connect). This is all until you get Strago's strongest Lore Grand Delta, but until then, Aero is for you. - If you missed White Wind for some obscure reason, you can also find it on Marchosias (uses randomly) and Sprinter (uses randomly). - The Transfusion attack is entirely pointless and about as useful as jamming a pencil up your left eye socket and running around in a classic 'Kiss the cook' outfit while religiously chanting Madonna's breakthrough single Holiday. In other words, you'll never actually use it, but it's fitting of Strago's character. Near Kohlingen, you can find Mousse ad infinitum; just wait for them to use Transfusion. You can force them with Control, but unless they're alone it shouldn't take them long. Don't Sketch them; Relm executing Transfusion will kill her. Yeah... Transfusion fully heals the targets MP, removes all negative status ailments except for Imp and Freeze (I'm counting Berserk as negative for the moment), and heals the target for the same amount of HP as the target currently has (which seems odd). The downside? It kills the caster and removes him from battle entirely. When Strago casts Transfusion, his role on the battlefield is over. Really, you should be very, very desperate if you use this attack. - Bad Breath can be learned from Malboro in Darill's Tomb near Kohlingen. It's wise to equip Relics that protect against Zombie in the short while you're in the Tomb. Sketch will get you a 75% shot at Bad Breath, its in Malboro's Control menu and he'll use it pretty often when he's alone. If you meet any Borghese opponents down the way, Lv. 5 Death offs him quite carelessly. Bad Breath sets a lot of status ailments: Darkness, Poison, Imp, Silence, Confuse, and Sleep, to be precise. It's ideal if you want to cripple an opponent but don't quite know what he's protected against; with Bad Breath, you're bound to hit him in some form or another. A funny thing about Bad Breath is that while it may set Imp, the sprite of the monster will not change because of it. An additional note for you GBA crazies out there: never more apparant than when wielding Bad Breath is the bug that lets attacks miss alltogether if Imp immunity is discovered. Should you execute Bad Breath on a monster immune to the Imp status, it should've just applied all the status ailments the target was vulernable to. Instead, Bad Breath'll just miss alltogether. Such a shame. - Mighty Guard. Meet a Land Ray in the desert and Sketch it. A 75% chance of the painting using Mighty Guard. You can also quickly cast Stop on it, if the first character coming up knows the spell and isn't capable of using Sketch. If for some reason you really don't want to use Sketch, you can also meet it once, make Gau learn the Land Ray Rage on the Veldt, and keep Strago around for when Gau casts Mighty Guard through the Land Ray Rage. Mighty Guard is, quite simply, pretty neat. It sets both Protect and Shell on all party members, even in a Side Attack. It's a superior version of the Zona Seeker's Magic Shield attack I've been mentioning so often; the MT Protect isn't that useful with Fenrir and Golem around, but certainly doesn't hurt you a bit. - The last Lore easily obtainable for now is Rippler. First, make sure your party is covered in the Invisible status. Now, fly over to Jidoor and enter the forests to the north. Mess around until you meet up with four Leap Frogs. They have a 33% chance of casting Rippler every third turn; that's after the landing from their Jump attack. Rippler trades statuses. It takes all of the statuses of the caster and removes them if possible (Relic/equipment-induced statuses will remain) and applies it to the target is possible (immunities may prevent it). In turn, it takes all of the target's statuses and removes them if possible, and sets them on the caster if possible. Ideally, Rippler trades YOUR status ailments for THEIR positive statuses. Sadly, Rippler is prone to all kinds of more or less disturbing bugs; the most obvious one being that it trades far more statuses than it was ever supposed to, giving you the ability to trade Terra's Trance status (Confuse/Rippler) on other characters, as well as Shadow's Dog Block. A monster taking Dog Block from you and than dying will remove Interceptor from you PERMANENTLY. Another character stealing Dog Block from that very same enemy or directly taking it from Shadow by means of Confuse/Rippler will obtain Interceptor equally permanently. Just make sure you don't lose him forever, you wouldn't want that. Ideally, if you don't mind to abuse bugs, you'd want Interceptor on Gogo in the future (he can use the extra protection, and his superior equipment-boosted Magic Power makes sure Interceptor hits extra hard). Rippler as an attack isn't exactly hot stuff. It can copy some positive statuses from a few rare bosses such as Demon (Image, Float, Haste, Protect), Goddess (Haste, Shell), and Death Gaze (Float, Shell, Protect). Oh yeah, and the Rippler attack is the only way to get rid of Doom status (not counting completely random attacks such as Raccoon). So for a quick reference, the Lores you could have obtained so far include: Doom Mighty Guard Lv. 3 Confuse Rippler Roulette Revenge Blast Traveler Stone Aqua Breath White Wind Dischord Self-Destruct Aero Lv. 5 Death Bad Breath 1000 Needles Lv. 4 Flare Transfusion This section is called 'Bulking up the Thamasian two', so you might be wondering by now how we're going to bulk up Relm. There are three things that can be done to her (eh... gameplay-wise), and they're all equipment. One's the Behemoth Suit; if you don't have two already, make sure you spend a while on the Veldt as there's NO doubt you'll run into one or two Behemoth Kings before long. The Behemoth Suit is also for Strago, by the way. The second thing we'll be doing for Relm is defeating another elemental dragon for his great item drop, but we'll get to that in a minute. No, the only thing we can really do for Relm specifically now is obtaining her best piece of headgear. +2 to Speed, +4 to Magic Power, 10% extra Magic Evasion, Superior Defense and Magic Defense to every other helmet (except for oddballs Thornlet and Saucer) and 50% damage reduction against Fire-, Lightning-, Ice-, Holy-, Earth-, and Wind-elemental attacks. And, if all that wasn't enough, it doubles the Gil gained from random battles. If that doesn't sound like a sweet deal, there is no pleasing you. How to get it? It's Coliseum material. The opponent is the Weredragon, an unassuming giant lizard whose only dangerous attack (the Death spell) can be easily circumvented with a Reflect Ring. The trick here is to find the item the Weredragon is willing to fight for: an Impartisan. There are two ways to find them, and both are nasty at this point. One is finding a Greater Mantis (your best bet is the forest to the north of Jidoor) and trying to steal one. It's a rare steal, and your best thief you currently have is Shadow with a double Thief's Knife equip, which isn't that great. Chances are very low. Make sure you are all set with the Invisible status, as otherwise Greater Mantis' physicals will rip you apart VERY quickly. Keep the Greater Mantis you're stealing from healed, as you don't want it to die without giving you the Impartisan first. You can go on for eternity without danger of dying, but it will probably take a long time indeed. The other option is the rare, 12.5% chance drop the Impartisan is for the Tyrannosaur in the Dinosaur forest to the north of the Veldt. Tyrannosaurs are extremely dangerous random encounters that are widely known for the fact they, in tandem, give the most Experience Points of any random encounter in the game. On the second turn, they may use Meteor, which will take off about 1500 HP worth of damage on every character. Quickly cripple them with a Sleep spell or the Bad Breath Lore, and kill them as quick as you can with Ice-elemental spells. Don't bring uncontrollable characters, as they will snap the Tyrannosaurs out of their snoozing (sure, Dance won't, but Dance sucks here). If you meet a Brachiosaur, run like a madman. Save often, as Brachiosaur is this game's Warmech. It presents death unto you, if you catch my drift. I'd consider the Greater Mantis method far superior, honestly. - Impartisan - Cat-Ear Hood Opponent: Weredragon Equip a Reflect Ring against his Death spell, and a Star Pendant, Fairy Ring, or Ribbon against !Venom Claw. The reflected Death spell may work on Weredragon, but it doesn't really matter, as Weredragon is too weak to give special thought to. Now, let's go find the ultimate rod of the game, which carries Strago's last name and is the sure-fire drop of one of the elemental dragons, the Earth Dragon. Before you go, make sure you have Angel Wings Relics for those characters that can't equip Gaia Gear. If you sold some of it, you can still buy more in the Armor Shop in South Figaro. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.62.3 The battle with Earth Dragon ********************************** Opponents: Earth Dragon Miscellaneous items: Magus Rod (guaranteed Earth Dragon drop) There's commotion in the Opera House? Only one year after the Wandering Gambler threatened to kidnap the star of the Dream Oath, a dragon saw it fit to enter the Opera House and make it his den. Or something; I don't know what the hell the Earth Dragon wants with the artistic bags of hot air of this place. Regardless, dragons are dangerous and need to be killed with violence. Equip Angel Wings or Gaia Gear on every character before you go in. If you have Gau in your team and a decent Float-inducing Rage (Marchosias, Ninja, Hornet, Luridan, to name a few), he shouldn't need one, as Rage-induced Float status is equally irremovable. Do you remember the four switches in the right wing of the Opera House? If not, here's a modified copy/paste from the best guide released in years: Switch 1 Switch 2 Switch 3 Previous Super Switch. Switch 1 makes a sound like a dog barking. Switch 2 turns out the lights in the opera hall, causing the crowds to make little eyes in the darkness. Funny! Switch 3 opens a hole directly under you, causing you to slide on stage! Where you previously immediately got off by hopping on the heads of the crowd, bursting into the entrance hall of the Opera House, where the lead character would then strike a pose and say 'Surprise!', you'll now be granted access to the subject of the Impresario's distress, the Earth Dragon. Earth Dragon Level: 53, HP: 28500, MP: 16500 Steal: X-Potion (rare), Win: Magus Rod (always) Weakness: Wind, Water Status: Float Special: !Honed Tusk: Attack x 5 Sketch : Magnitude 8, Thundaga Control: Attack, !Honed Tusk Vulnerable to: Poison, Sleep, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Honed Tusk, Quake, Magnitude 8, 50 Gs, Landslide Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail The Earth Dragon is fairly unique; he's the only elemental dragon that doesn't absorb his own element (instead, he uses the Float status to circumvent almost all Earth-elemental damage). Why they chose to do this is beyond me, as even with Quake healing, Earth Dragon wouldn't have been that crazy of a challenge. We may well never know. Oh well, they saved it for the Redux version :) Every 20 seconds, the Earth Dragon will use his 50 Gs attack, a Earth Dragon- only move that removes the Float status on all targets. Irremovable Float, like the one given by the Angel Wings and Float-inducing Rages, will not be removed. Given the fact that Earth's G is, as you might expect, 1 G, 50 G is plain crazy; you'd effectively become 50 times as heavy as you normally are. Shadow would suddenly become 7250 lbs, for instance. But enough with the first-grade science. He has a one-third chance of countering any damage done to him with the dreaded !Honed Tusk attack, which really is quite strong. Any other attack he uses is either Attack or ground-based; Quake always misses Earth Dragon himself, and the Magnitude 8 and Landslide attack should either miss or heal you if you've been smart up until now. Start the battle off by throwing up your barriers. Golem and Fenrir are particularly useful, as the only real threat in this battle should be Earth Dragon's !Honed Tusk and Attacks. Strago's Mighty Guard should also help in that department. Hastega is great as always, and Kirin doesn't hurt either. Cast a combination of Sleep and Slow on the Earth Dragon as well; remember that Sleep can not be set with Strago's Bad Breath attack in the GBA release, which will always miss due to the Imp-related buggery. Now that you've been bulked up plenty, and the Earth Dragon is vulnerable in his extended slumber, it's time to start the magical offense. If you want to keep Earth Dragon sleeping, keep Gau busy with Magic spells. Back Row Gau with 255 Defense and a Float-inducing Rage is invulnerable, but it may come at the cost of fallen party members. If you don't really care too much, as all characters are either draped in Gaia Gear or protected by Angel Wings, I should mention that Rages like Marchosias, Ninja, Hornet, and Luridan really help (especially Marchosias). Strago's Aero packs a proverbial wallop, and Shadow's Water Scrolls are pretty strong. If you don't care for the Sleep status, Thrown Sakura are extremely painful to Earth Dragon. Sabin's Phantom Rush still gets the job done as always, and is superior to Razor Gale even though it doesn't exploit a weakness. Mog's Water Rondo is a superior alternative to Jump attacks if you're going for a snoozing Earth Dragon. His Wind Rhapsody is also an option; Wind Slash is weaker than El Niño, but you might prefer Wind Rhapsody's 6/16 Sunbath to Water Rondo's 6/16 Plasma attack. All other characters should just stick to Magic spells. Any strong mage capable of wielding the Flood spell taught by Leviathan will make a large impact. Umaro should be kept AWAY from this battle, as usual. His presence makes the Sleep status strategy rather impossible. After you've defeated the Earth Dragon, you'll obtain a Magus Rod, which gives the same +7 Magic Power as the Enhancer does, but gives a 30% Magic Evasion bonus where the Enhancer only gives a 20% increase. The Magus Rod is sweet and is to be preferred over all other rods... no matter how the Magus Rod was robbed of the unfair advantages it possessed in the SNES and PSX releases. Now we've gotten all the normal Lores we can easily gather, and optimized our equipment, it's time to dive into Thamasa for two things; Strago's ultimate Lore, and some quality Esper time that both Thamasians desperately need and deserve. Just for kicks, I'll give you an example of what my Thamasians look like at this point: Strago Magus Rod Thunder Shield Circlet Behemoth Suit Hero's Ring Earring Relm (Magic-focused) Relm (Control-focused) Holy Rod Aegis Shield Holy Rod Aegis Shield Cat-Ear Hood Behemoth Suit Hypno Crown Behemoth Suit Hero's Ring Earring Fake Mustache Hermes Sandals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.62.4 Gungho's assignment; Ebot's Rock ********************************** Opponents: Warlock (#231), Mahadeva (#232), Sorath (#233), Medusa Chicken (#234), Creature (#235), Moonform (#236), Aspidochelon (#237), Hidon (#332), Erebus (#333), Erebus (#334), Erebus (#335), Erebus (#336) Miscellaneous items: Thornlet (rare Hidon steal) Lores: Grand Delta Whom to bring? Strago is mandatory, really. You just obtained Relm, and her big weakness is her lack of Esper time, so why not help her a little and bring her along as well? Thievery is nice to have access to at some point of the next dungeon, so either Shadow or Locke/Gogo is a welcome addition. Ragers are welcome as well, so why not bring Gau? To the north of Thamasa, on a small island, is Ebot's Rock. It's closed for now. As soon as you cross between the Armor Shop and the Item Shop, Relm will get excited about being back in Thamasa. However, not all is well at the home front; Gungho, Strago's former battle partner, took on Hidon, the legendary beast Strago hunted together with Gungho when he was young. Hidon was submerged under water together with the entire Ebot's Rock, but now that it has resurfaced, Gungho went ahead and tried his best. Now, he's been defeated and is bed-ridden. After listening to Gungho's pleas, Strago decides to go, and after a while, accepts Relm's help. Note that after this part, Strago is required to actually complete the dungeon that is Ebot's Rock. Relm, however, is not. Monster formations: (First Cave, Save Point Area, and Living Chest Area) Sorath, Warlock, Creature (5/16) Sorath, Sorath (5/16) Warlock, Medusa Chicken Medusa Chicken, Creature, Creature (5/16) Moonform, Medusa Chicken Medusa Chicken, Medusa Chicken (1/16) (Main room) Aspidochelon, Aspidochelon (5/16) Mahadeva (5/16) Aspidochelon, Moonform, Creature (5/16) Moonform, Moonform, Moonform (1/16) There's a theme here; teleport stones in the dungeon, and every monster here has both a rare Teleport Stone steal and a rare Teleport Stone drop. That's just nice. And it's dark like a behemoth's tookus on a moonless prairie night. The Warlock is an annoying little...warlock. Evil and vile throughout, it makes a mockery of the holy light by attacking with the Holy spell, which is all it uses for attacking. It may try to drain back some of his lost MP with !Magic Drain, but he'll be attacking you with the Holy spell; rarely over !Magic Drain normally, constantly while alone. The Warlock's Defenses are also very strong; Defense is high, Magic Defense extremely so. Barrier-piercing attacks should be your main priority against him; you might even use the Stop spell to make sure he doesn't hurt you in the meantime. The Mahadeva needn't worry you. It looks dangerous, but 'tis not. It may randomly use Crypt Dust on the second, fifth, eighth (etc.) turn but it will be a wasted turn like always; it's Special is called !Rib, and unlike what you would expect, does Attack x 2 damage rather than setting Zombie. Common Undead weaknesses in Fire and Holy. Sorath BEARS a close resemblance to Purusa, wouldn't you agree? See, it's funny because... Oh man, I'm too funny to BEAR with. Again! If you haven't figured out that I'm stalling because Sorath are rather boring, you haven't had enough hibernation. They attack with Attack and !Choke (Attack * 1.5). They're not very powerful with it. The only interesting thing to say about them is the fact they take a distant liking to percentage-based attacks (75% Shamshir through Sketch, Cave In through Rage) while being immune to it themselves. Medusa Chicken are upgraded Litwor Chickens. Weak to Ice like their WoB brethren, but they also absorb Poison-elemental attacks. They have Quake written all over them, in Sketch, Control, and Rage alike; they'll have a 33% at using it when alone. Every second turn when not alone, Medusa Chicken has a 33% chance at using !Lick, which sets Petrify and is to be avoided. Creatures...little bastards are weak versus Lightning, and attack with Attack and !Stench, which sets Confuse. Unlike Humpty, they're not Undead, and that's why they don't absorb Bio attacks either; Control, Sketch and Rage all grant access to the spell. Creature is NOT a name. Don't do drugs! Moonform is nothing but a monster in FF VI. In the real world though, it's used to describe the shape of our planet's moon. It attacks with Attack and !Mouth Clamp, which sets Sap. It may counter any Magic attack with the Poison-/Water- elemental Acid Rain which sets Sap, and any other attack with the much more powerful Ice-/Water-elemental Flash Rain attack. Both attacks also feature the Sketch and Control possibilities, and Rage features Flash Rain. The best way to deal with them is by casting Rasp; they have 82 MP and will die from sub-zero MP, leaving them unable to use final counters. Aspidochelon is another stupid suffering fanged bull, like y'know, the other one on the Serpent Trench. They are VERY similar to Devoahan, almost so much there's no doubt it's intentional; just like Devoahan they will use nothing but Attack for four turns before letting loose with Attack, Attack, !Rage, which once again is Attack * 1.5 like Devoahan's Special !Rage. When hit by Magic, Devoahan responded with Sunbath; Aspidochelon responds by casting Wind Slash. The main difference is the fact that Aspidochelon is Undead, with the standard elemental properties of Undeads too. So, the strategy is clear. Cast Float on everybody to protect against a stray Quake attack, and make everybody invisible with Ghostly Veil of Vanish. Now, don't let Medusa Chicken be the last monster on the battlefield, don't cast Magic on Aspidochelon and kill Moonform with Rasp and you're invincible here until Hidon. On the dungeon: You missed them so far, right? Blasted, damned-for-all-time in-dungeon warp stones. Oh yeah, and it's real dark here, so naturally you can't see further than a few tiles around you. Great, now all we need are some annoying enemies at every corner we'd rather not fight since we're busy carrying around key items to actually get anywhere and we've found one of the more frustrating dungeons of the game. Here's the deal. The first warp stone (not to be confused with a Teleport Stone, mind) takes you to a living, talking chest that won't grant you passage since he's hungry. He's also a chest, lacking opposable thumbs, abstract thought, or even the most rudimentary of senses. Let's face it; bossing around other people to bring him food is really his most effective way of feeding himself. Your task here is to feed him enough Coral, the stuff of magic you find in the chests all around Ebot's Rock. In every chest, there's an equal 25% chance you find one of the following: 1 piece of Coral 2 pieces of Coral 3 pieces of Coral 5 pieces of Coral The talking chest will let you pass on two conditions. One: you need to have Strago. If you don't have Strago in your party, you can feed him all you want, but won't accomplish anything, either for you or for the chest. He eats, like so many young people of our time, because he's unhappy. It's a destructive and endless cycle of finding consolation in the very weakness he despises. I yap. Two: You need to feed him 22 pieces of Coral IN ONE GO. If you feed him 18, he'll send you off for more, and you still need to feed him 22 pieces of Coral again. So, while you scurry off to find a pencil and a slip of paper to write down how much Coral you're finding all around, I'm going to try to explain how the layout of Ebot's Rock is constructed. Just kidding. Every warp stone has up to four different locations it can warp you to. They're all in the same room, and in most cases there's only one warp stone to walk towards after possibly raiding a chest. There's no possible advantage of knowing where you are; warp, open chest, warp. Repeat if necessary. In the end, you'll have your 22 pieces of Coral and you can go 'find' the talking chest. It's up to luck how soon you come across it, obviously. Feed it, and you're allowed to continue. Finally, Hidon! The mere sight of the horrid creature sends shivers down Strago's spine. Can we assume Strago knows that this creature can teach him the most powerful of Lores, the fabled Grand Delta. The Japanese game sure mentions it, so it's time to pound him for great, sweet justice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.62.5 The battle with Hidon ********************************** Hidon Level: 43, HP: 25000, MP: 12500 Steal: Thornlet (rare), Teleport Stone (common), Win: Teleport Stone (always) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy, Earth Creature Type: Undead Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack !Hit Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, Poison, Bio, Grand Delta, Vemonist, Crypt Dust, Leech Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Hidon attacks with Attack and Bio. That's what he does. He has a 33% shot at Bio there, and a 66% one at Attack. If you hit him with something, he has a small chance of countering with the Poison spell. Whenever a character dies in-battle (as in, the Death status), Hidon will try to revive the fallen character as a Zombie with the Crypt Dust attack, which will fail if the fallen character is immune to the Zombie status ailment. When Hidon is alone, his first turn will be spent on glowing an eerie yellow and attacking with the magnificent Lore Grand Delta which will deal between 900 and 950 damage on your sorry asses. After that, you'll notice that Hidon is particularly mean when he's by himself; he'll start attacking with all kinds of crazy spells, including Venomist (the MT Poison-elemental attack that misses a lot yet looks funky) and Leech (the non-elemental HP draining spell). 80 seconds after the last Erebus perished, Hidon will call all Erebus back into existence if all fell. If you kill them all again, Hidon will cast Grand Delta again, and then revive them again. Throw up your barriers where possible (Hastega, Mighty Guard, Golem/Fenrir, Kirin) and set Slow on Hidon. Evasion of physical attacks is doubly important, as all the Erebus will try to set nasty status ailments on you with their Specials. Now, it's time to take care of the Erebus. While Bahamut's Mega Flare attack is by far the best way to take care of them all at once, well-timed doses of Cyan's Eclipse Bushido, possibly paired with Edgar's Auto Crossbow or Flash Tools, should get the job done. The most difficult Erebus to dispatch of is the one in the lower-left corner; inherently Reflective, absorbs all elements, ID protection. Shadow's stronger throwing Stars work well against him, as does Strago's Traveler attack, Setzer's Fixed Dice, and Edgar's Drill. Also, don't forget to throw around stealing attempts until you've stolen something from Hidon; the common steal is a meager Teleport Stone, but its rare steal is the Thornlet, an elusive item that, provided you choose the Ragnarok sword over the Ragnarok Esper in due time, can only be found here. The Thornlet is a piece of Headgear that's odd. The only thing it has going for it is the fact that its Defense is superior to everything, not including the Saucer on Imps. On the downsides, the Thornlet grants inherent Sap to the wearer (thorns inflict pain) and has NO Magic Defense whatsoever. The Thornlet, as my verdict says, should be ignored. Your only reasons for getting one could be completing your Item list as much as possible and betting it later for a Mirage Vest. Now, behold the power of Grand Delta! As soon as that's all over, it's time to defeat this wretched being. Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster attack, Fira, Firaga, and Quake spells really hurt, as does Shadow's Flame Scroll. Having Shadow Throw a Flametongue, Gravity Rod or Holy Rod hurts Hidon very badly. Mog or Edgar as Dragon Horn Dragoons paired with a Holy Lance also deal great amounts of damage. Mog should definitely refrain from using Dances; the Dusk Requiem sucks. Phantom Rush and Fixed Dice are reliable as always. Strago and Relm themselves really need to use their Magic skillset; if Strago's selection is extremely poor, I would suggest Aero or Traveler. Obviously, if Strago is level 43, his Stone attack beats all other options (except for Firaga). Cyan should probably stick to his Flurry Bushido skill, unless he has Firaga. Why you would want to train Cyan enough to have him learn a level 3 spell boggles all normal minds, but I suppose it's a possibility. Gau has a few options, but most of them are kind of odd. Devil Fist is nice enough, as it allows Gau to absorb Poison, Bio, and Venomist. Inherent Haste and Will o' the Wisp is good enough too. If you're not too concerned about that Poison ailment, have Gau engage Litwor Chicken (don't forget to cast Float on yourselves beforehand, since Litwor Chicken uses Quake). Finally, Magic Urn turns Gau into an ever-present tank that heals your party. Nice. And Umaro? Just let him go, man. After the fight, Strago will giggle like a little girl and run off to tell his friend. Gungho seems surprised and oddly vital when hearing the news, and both growling old men stay up late to celebrate. Relm, like the stereotype demands, is smarter and more mature than her old grandpa, and explains to the moronic player that, gasp thrice, Gungho was faking his wounds. When the player regains control over the party, you may or may not notice that the party hasn't been healed from the fight against Hidon, although they did spend the night in Thamasa. Possibly some of your characters are still poisoned, so you might as well take them to the 1 Gil Inn and heal them with a decent nightly rest. Ah sleep, thou sweet mistress. A pretty important note here: outside of Strago's house, Gungho will walk around. Normally he'll just ask you if everything's okay, but every time you talk to him, there's a 12.5% chance that he'll say: "I heard someone saw Hidon at Ebot's Rock again!". As soon as Gungho says this, Hidon will indeed appear on his original spot. To reach him, you'll have to gather another 22 Coral for the living chest that has also reappeared. Re-fighting Hidon is only important if you either haven't learned Grand Delta from the first fight or need a Thornlet, possibly to wager at the Coliseum for the odd Mirage Vest. It should also be noted that after the first time you defeat Hidon, Strago is no longer required to find Hidon. Now, you probably taught Relm at least the level 3 spells or Flare while still being equipped with that awesome Cat-Ear Hood and possibly the awesome Magus Rod, and Strago has the best MT damage of any character at the moment, so we can all celebrate their Thamasian existence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.63.1 Epic of Gilgamesh; Get Rich or Die Tryin' ********************************** Opponents: Onion Dasher (#190), Siegfried (#238), Gilgamesh (#347) Miscellaneous items: Genji Armor (rare Gilgamesh drop), Genji Glove (common Gilgamesh steal), Genji Helm (common Gilgamesh drop), Genji Shield (rare Gilgamesh steal), Merit Award (win from Onion Dasher) Lores: Aero, Dischord, 1000 Needles, Quasar, Revenge Blast Magicite: Gilgamesh Befitting of a monument of war, Dragon's Neck Coliseum is packed with mighty brawlers. Shadow, the merciless mercenary himself, competed here. Siegfried, the greatest swordsman of this age, is its champion. Sometimes all you could hear were flat, hard packing sounds over the yelling, or the wet choke when someone caught their breath and sprayed 'Stop'. But now, a new challenger has appeared, one who felt he was too good for a mere 16-bit console. Gilgamesh, a mysterious demon-man who travels through dimensions in search of rare swords, has found Dragon's Neck Coliseum. Being one of the four 'new' Espers available to the player, all we have to do is make him fight us. Even though we've found some extraordinary weapons on our travels so far, it won't spark the interest of Gilgamesh. The only thing this guy'll fight for is a weapon called the Excalipoor, and it's up for grabs in the Auction House in Jidoor. Well, grabs... It's up for 500000 Gil. That's a lot of moolah. If you're half-way there, you did more fighting than you could've done. To collect wealth en masse, there are two tips for your mission for them greens, being lean mean money-making-machines fighting fiends. When in poverty, beat up a cactus! Cactuars will give 10000 Gil when you kill them (dunno why). It's twice that amount with Relm's Cat-Ear Hood around. It's certainly the normal guy's route, but there's a more subtle one, unknown to most and not involving cactuar genocide. Okay, here's the inside scoop, baby-dolls. Whenever you win a battle with the Cat-Ear Hood equipped, your Gil income doubles. That's part one. Whenever an opponent steals Gil from you and you manage to kill it before it runs off, that Gil is returned to you after the match. That's part two. The combinations of these parts is what makes the plan work. Mt. Zozo Mugbears may Steal Gil from you. They may Steal 8724 Gil from you, to be exact. Control one with Relm and start healing it. Whenever you damage or heal it, it has a 33 % chance of countering with another Steal attempt. Whenever you heal it, you make sure it doesn't die just yet. Every batch of stolen Gil is returned twicefold at the end of the battle. Repeat if necessary. In front of the Auction House in Jidoor, a GBA-exclusive NPC lingers. "I heard they're going to put a rare sword up for auction. I can't decide if I should bid or not." As soon as you've spoken to the guy, the rare sword Excalipoor becomes an option in the Auction House. It'll have a 50 % chance of appearing, but only if you've spoken to the man outside. When it appears, you can simply keep bidding and buy it. The Excalipoor may look like the holy sword Excalibur, but with a measly 1 Attack Power and no stat boosts, it'll do you little good. Hey, we can always try to bet it at Dragon's Neck, right? "Excalipoor? Yes, that is indeed a rare blade. Apparently, someone's been making off with rare swords from the coliseum... You'd best keep an eye out." You know, keeping an eye out? Like Sauron? Before you go in to wager your useless sword, make sure you save. The boss you'll fight has a 87.5% chance of dropping a Genji Helm when you defeat him, and you really want to make sure you get it. Also note that you can steal a common Genji Glove from this boss, but you'll have to be at least level 38 and wearing a Thief's Bracer to even stand a chance. Something to consider before you go in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.63.2 Epic of Gilgamesh; the battle with Gilgamesh ********************************** A guy came to the Coliseum for the first time, his ass was a wad of cookie dough. After a few weeks, he was carved out of wood. And the eighth and final rule? If this is your first night at the Coliseum, you have to wager. - Excalipoor - Merit Award Opponent: Onion Dasher Though Gilgamesh will come even if you lose the battle, this is an excellent opportunity to get your hands on a Merit Award. Also, should you lose, you'll start the battle with a character down, which is a hindrance. The Onion Dasher attacks physically and may Haste you with his !Dash attack, but the only threat he poses is by wielding his Traveler attack. You can't really protect against it, so make sure you deal enough damage fast, as Onion Dasher has very little HP. "Hey, that's quite a rare sword you've got there..." "I think..." "...I'll take that sword for my own!" If you've lost, technically, Gilgamesh should've brawled it out with the Onion Dasher. Regardless, he'll come after you. Y'know to clench his thirst. His thirst for GLORIOUS BATTLE! Such combat savvy! Gilgamesh Level: 97, HP: 38000, MP: 3200 Steal: Genji Shield (rare), Genji Glove (common), Win: Genji Armor (rare), Genji Helm (common) Creature Type: Humanoid Special: !Blade Dance: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : Attack, Hastega Control: Attack Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, !Blade Dance, Protect, Shell, Haste, Aqua Breath, Aero, Dischord, 1000 Needles, Revengle Blast, Stone, Quasar, Revenge Blast, Throw (Lightbringer), Throw (Ragnarok), Throw (Zantetsuken), Throw (Mutsunokami) Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Gilgamesh will attack fast and furiously with both physical attacks and a wide selection of Strago's Lores. Especially annoying are Dischord and Stone when they land, as it's unlikely you're protected from their effects. Revenge Blast may simply kill a character, sucks to be you. Quasar is a new Lore which was previously off-limits to Strago until the very last dungeon. It's exactly like Grand Delta, only it's cheaper on Strago's MP and not quite as powerful. Coming from Gilgamesh, Quasar will deal around 1100 damage to all characters, so make sure you're never below that point. When you've pounded a semblance of sense in Gilgamesh' thick skull, he'll rethink his strategy and start fighting 4 reelz. As soon as you see Gilgamesh cast Protect, Shell and Haste on himself, know that he'll have entered his second stance. Starting from that point, Gilgamesh will Jump (1st round) and land, use four physical attacks in quick succession (2nd turn), Throw either a Lightbringer or Ragnarok (3rd turn) and Throw either a Zantetsuken or Mutsunokami (4th turn). Loop from there. The physical attacks are all just physical attacks, but each of the four blades will deal 9999 non-elemental, barrier-piercing and unblockable damage. That is, without the Invisible status! Here's the strategy. Make sure you're prepared for the fight and have saved, as the fight with Gilgamesh at this point is quite a challenge. Make sure to bring Strago for a chance of learning Quasar, and his Mighty Guard, White Wind and Grand Delta will make a nice addition. Throw up your defensive barriers ASAP, they'll be needed. Hastega, Mighty Guard, Golem and Fenrir, what have you. Keep yourself healed and try to keep up, which should be entirely doable. Never allow a character to be Confused longer than he/she has to, and quickly revive characters fallen from Revenge Blast or other forms of violence. When Gilgamesh casts his defensive spells, turn to Phantom or the Vanish spell. If you manage to apply it, you've won your battle. Sweet! Naturally, make sure you haven't told Mog to Dance or have Gau stuck in a Rage capable of targeting his allies; while Magic Urn would provide superior defense to most of Gilgamesh' attacks, Curaga's tendency to reveal the hidden is somewhat of a burden in the second part of the fight. On the offense, it should be noted that Gilgamesh has great amounts of Defense and Magic Defense. Any magical attack which isn't barrier-piercing will have a hard time making a noteworthy impact. So stick with physical attacks and abominations such as Grand Delta and Flare. Sabin's Phantom Rush is especially powerful at this point in the fight. A small trivia note on Mog is that his home dance is the Wind Rhapsody, not the Love Serenade, which makes little sense. Then again, nobody really cares. When you're done, you'll find yourself with a Merit Award and the Gilgamesh Magicite! This could also be a great time to discuss the Merit Award. What does the Merit Award do? It allows the wearer to equip any weapon and any armor except for animal hides (Relm/Strago equips), the Snow Scarf, and the female-only equips (Minerva Bustier and Mystery Veil among others). It does take up a Relic slot though, so what characters would benefit enough from the expanded pool of options to sacrifice a Relic slot for? - Sabin's weapons are nothing special. A few minor stat boosts, that's all. In addition, his best armor is the Red Jacket, which next to nullifying Fire does nothing special and has a sub-par Defense and Magic Defense rating. A Swordbreaker/Magus Rod rather than the Tigerfangs and a Genji Armor as opposed to the Red Jacket can really help him out both offensively and defensively. - In simpler times, Gau and Gogo could equip the Merit Award as well, both to great effects. Those times are long gone, though, forever erasing the existence of the glorious Wind God Gau. Behold reason #37 why the 21th century is making us miserable. Most players kinda frown upon using the Merit Award as it has the potential of turning every character into a clone of another. And yes, with the Merit Award, a combo of Lightbringer, Force Shield, Priest's Miter, and Force Armor is all too easy to pull off. I just figure that this way, we're still tasteful while helping out the characters we love. :) The Gilgamesh Magicite teaches Quick (awesome!) and Valor (awesome!). Valor is pretty much the remedy for the fact that physical attacks suck compared to magical ones most of the time. Valor targets all allies and allows every first physical attack that character uses come out with triple power. That's to be taken quite literally. This goes for odd attacks such as Cyan's Tiger Bushido (which now deals 150 % the target's current HP), Setzer's Gil Toss, you name it. It'll only boost the first strike in a multi-strike attack such as Cyan's Flurry. Note that for the few MT physical attacks (Auto Crossbow and Gil Toss), only one target will receive three times as much damage. Gilgamesh himself, when summoned, can attack with each of his four blades. Masamune is a non-elemental barrier-piercing attack. Excalibur is a Holy- elemental attack. The Excalipoor will only deal 1 damage to all targets. Gilgamesh' combo attack with his partner Enkidu is a massively powerful non- elemental barrier-piercing attack. The chances of each attack appear to be 25 % chance each, but since I don't speak ARM7TDMI assembly I can't be absolutely sure. Boy, that was a wild ride. We're here now, let's see if we can do some other stuff here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.63.3 Another Coliseum trip ********************************** Sure, why the hell not, eh? Most of the below described items are "provided you have them" or "provided you want them", but I have to put them somewhere and this seems like a nice place. I'll go easy on you and start out with the really helpful ones! *** Healing Rod - Magus Rod Opponent: Tonberry ** Cat-Ear Hood - Merit Award Opponent: Slagworm * Thornlet - Mirage Vest Opponent: Aspidochelon *** Minerva Bustier - Regal Gown Opponent: Tonberry * Nutkin Suit - Genji Armor Opponent: Aspidochelon ** Snow Scarf - Ward Bangle Opponent: Yojimbo * Thief's Bracer - Brigand's Glove Opponent: Amduscias ** Gauntlet - Thunder Shield Opponent: Vector Chimera * Genji Glove - Thunder Shield Opponent: Demon Knight *** Megalixir - Tintinnabulum Opponent: Siegfried You should know all items (if you're rusty on what they do and where to get them, you can Ctrl + F the document). The only reason you should want to trade in a Minerva Bustier for a Regal Gown is when you have more than two Minerva Bustiers and you want to have all items in the game at the end. I've never found a good use for the Gauntlet, and in my opinion the Genji Glove has outlived its usefulness as well, but there are a lot of players googoo for Genji Gloves, so they may not agree with me when I say you can turn those Relics into the awesome Thunder Shields (save one of each if you're going for that 'perfect' end-game item list). You CAN steal Thunder Shields in the final dungeon, but it's a long way there. - Healing Rod - Magus Rod Opponent: Tonberry - Minerva Bustier - Regal Gown Opponent: Tonberry Tonberry is a bastard in the Coliseum. The trick here is that he will counter any damage done to him with both !Knife (Attack * 8) and a Traveler attack. Death doesn't stop him from countering, and as it's highly unlikely you'll be able to survive two Traveler attacks (not even mentioning the !Knife attack here), you must take down Tonberry in one shot, which is hard, as he's quite durable and not vulnerable to ID. Obviously, he also attacks normally, with Attack, !Knife, and the Break spell. First off, you'll want a Reflect Ring, Jeweled Ring, Ribbon, Safety Bit, or Memento Ring to protect against Break. Second, make sure you can survive the !Knife/Traveler combo; Muscle Belts and Red Caps increase your HP for Traveler, and you'll either want to evade or nullify !Knife entirely, so a high Evasion percentage or 255 Defense does the trick. On the offense, the Master's Scroll is almost required, either with the Fixed Dice or a Valiant Knife, whatever you have. You probably have none of those. - Cat-Ear Hood - Merit Award Opponent: Slagworm Slagworm is, if I'm not mistaken, the toughest enemy out there that's still vulnerable to ID. This is really what you'll want to take advantage of. He'll randomly use Attack, !Crush (Attack * 5), Sandstorm, and Quake. Every damage done will by countered with up to two Sandstorm attacks. Equip some Angel Wings for the Quake spell, and a Thunder Shield to nullify the Sandstorm attacks. If you can pair this with 255 Defense (on Mog), you can't lose. If you can't obtain invulnerability, it's best to go all-out offensive; the Master's Scroll, possible Genji Glove, and weapons with either the X-type ID property or the Zantetsuken. Remember that the random Death spell from the Soul Sabre and the Death Tarot won't work with the Master's Scroll. - Thornlet - Mirage Vest Opponent: Aspidochelon - Nutkin Suit - Genji Armor Opponent: Aspidochelon I discussed Aspidochelon earlier, so I won't do that now. Instead let's move on! - Snow Scarf - Ward Bangle Opponent: Yojimbo I discussed Yojimbo earlier, but the situation's so much different now I'd like to mention him again; get your Evasion as high as possible on a character that's bound to inflict a lot of damage on the guy. Fixed Dice, Master's Scroll, Prayer Beads, Green Beret, etc. The chances are pretty good Setzer will outlive a Yojimbo this way. - Thief's Bracer - Brigand's Glove Opponent: Amduscias All Amduscias does is Attack, !Booty Shake (sets Confuse), Slowga, and Hastega. 255 Defense and a Peace Ring/Ribbon to protect against !Booty Shake and you're set. The only question remains...what WAS she going to do with all that junk, all that junk inside her trunk? - Gauntlet - Thunder Shield Opponent: Vector Chimera Attack, Gigavolt, Aqua Breath and Blaze. A combination of Thunder Shield and Red Jacket takes care of all the powerful attacks here, so send in Edgar with this equipment and you're set. Sabin's good too, though he might use Soul Spiral. - Genji Glove - Thunder Shield Opponent: Demon Knight Demon Knightlooks pretty neat, but that doesn't stop him from sucking all-round in the Coliseum. Attack, !Cursed Gaze (sets Sap) and Shockwave are all too useless to worry about, and Holy can be reflected by a Reflect Ring. Equip one and win. Megalixir - Tintinnabulum Opponent: Siegfried Siegfried has three attacks: a 50% chance at Attack, a 25% Metal Cutter which is rather painful, and a 25% Hyperdrive, which kills you. There's NO circumventing it other than Runic, which isn't reliable enough. Hyperdrive is a non-elemental barrier-piercing magical attack that cannot be Reflected. Coming from Siegfried, hyped as the greatest warrior that isn't in your team or called Kefka Palazzo, it delivers around 7200 damage. Your best bet is to take advantage of his vulnerability to the Stop status; equip on Shadow the Kagenui, Dragoon Boots, Dragon Horn, and as much Magic Evasion raising equipment as you can put on the guy. If you're in luck, a random Stop spell coming from the Kagenui will kick in and disable Siegfried long enough for you to kill him. You can only meet the awesome Siegfried here, and defeating him is the only way of filling the Bestiary with his entry. And yes, that's a gun he's holding. Sweet, eh? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.1 Doma Castle ********************************** Now, there are a few side-quests left before there's really nothing better to do than break into Kefka's domain, and we've still got a disturbing lead to follow before we can answer to Celes's desperate wishes to reunite with Locke. With Cyan on our side, the fact that demons appear to roam around in Doma Castle has some meaning; we could check it out at the very least. Where's Doma Castle you ask? You can ask the old lady in Maranda, but I'll tell you anyway: to the east of the 'head' of the Serpent Trench, where Nikeah is located. Make sure that you have quite a few Green Cherries and Phoenix Downs, and if you're planning to bring Shadow (which is a good idea), make sure you have over 30 Flame Scrolls as well. Cyan is mandatory for this part. I can see from your shocked faces that after all the Cyan-bashing I did in the past, not only are you all heavily convinced of the fact he's horrible, this is also the reason you never really bothered to raise him. Little to no Esper time, no doubt? Not to digress; you don't really have to fight with him. :P Whom to bring? Terra is especially nice; I really advise you to bring her. You're probably sick of Strago and Relm by now, but if you want to take advantage of their newly acquired powers, be my guest; Grand Delta really is powerful, and there's a new Lore to be learned here as well. Shadow is great, as his Throw attack is targetable. The same goes for Setzer, but only if you have his Fixed Dice. Do NOT bring along Gau and Umaro; they'll have major trouble with the final battle here, which also means that YOU will have major trouble. I wouldn't really advise Edgar and Mog either, as the final battle is yet again an annoying peek-a-boo situation where you don't want to sit around waiting for them to come crashing down when you don't want them to. As soon as you enter Doma Castle, nothing seems odd. But hey, both the guy in Thamasa and the young man in Nikeah mentioned that the demons came after nightfall. If you haven't found the Doma Castle treasures in the WoB, you can do so now: You can find a Hi-Ether, an Elixir in the alarm clock in a bedroom, an X-Potion in the room Cyan found his dead wife and son in, and when you go outside on one of the walls, you can find a little room with a Phoenix Down and some Prayer Beads. If you're done raiding the halls of the dead, find the bedroom where the option of sleeping will be presented to you. Do so if you're ready for the dungeon. Make sure you have a decently powerful character in the fourth slot (or in the third if Cyan's in the fourth slot). When the night has ended (don't worry, you've been healed), you will all get up. But wait, what's this? Cyan remains silent. When you go over to check on him, three creatures that look like little boys appear. They introduce themselves as the Dream Stooges, being Laragorn, Curlax and Moebius. Dunno what the story with Curlax and Moebius is, but I've heard Laragorn is in love with an immortal Lelf and can command an army of Lundead, so we'd best be careful. Regardless, the Dream Stooges leap into Cyan's mind. Or something, whatever. You'll quickly notice this entire ordeal is 73% Lewis Carroll, 26% water, and a tiny bit of magic. You leap after them. OFF the Veldt! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.2 Cyan's Soul ********************************** Opponents: Weredragon (#208), Alluring Rider (#211), Pandora (#212), Parasite (#213), Coco (#214), Curlax (#323), Laragorn (#324), Moebius (#325) Lores: Doom, Roulette, White Wind, Lv. ? Holy You start out with the character that was in the fourth slot of your party when you went to sleep; if this was Cyan, it'll be the character in the third slot. If you brought Gogo the mimic here and don't start out with him, you can see him lying around mimicking Mog's colour scheme; while this fits his role of copycat nicely, it's most certainly a bug. There are detached stairways of unidentifiable material all around the place and a lot of doors. The entire room looks like you've been sniffing Ether (and you might have) recently, and you're by yourself. Monster formations: Coco, Alluring Rider(5/16) Alluring Rider, Pandora, Pandora, Pandora (5/16) Weredragon, Parasite, Parasite, Parasite (5/16) Weredragon (1/16) Weredragon is a crazy dino, that's for sure. It does nothing but try to poison you, and let's be honest with ourselves here; that's just not very honorable for a giant lizard with fangs and claws, now is it? At least try to eat them. At any rate, the only thing it'll try to do to you is use !Venom Claw and attack with Venomist. Weredragon is weak against Fire- and Holy-elemental attacks and is vulnerable to ID attacks. The Anthology Bestiary mentions that Weredragon is 'normally' human, but transforms into a Weredragon in-battle, spewing poisonous breath (Venomist). Alluring Rider is your gal if you neglected Strago a little during the WoB and brought him along for this ride. Every first turn may feature Roulette (33% chance), every second turn may feature the as-of-yet unseen Lv. ? Holy (33% chance), and every third turn may contain Doom (33% chance). If you want to, wait around until she has taught these Lores to Strago. Other attacks include Attack and !Sap Seed, which sets Sap. She's a rare breed, having no palette swaps whatsoever. She's also rather weak defensively; Doom shouldn't worry you, Roulette is a nuisance that's quickly recovered from and Lv. ? Holy, should it connect, won't do all that much damage (about 550 when hitting multiple normally-equipped targets, 1100 on a single one). Pandora is Undead. Also, while they look like the least dangerous enemy, they're the worst. There are two attacks you have to watch out for; Diabolic Whistle may set one out of the following status ailments on every party member: Darkness, Poison, Imp, Doom, Berserk, Confuse, Sap and Slow. Since they always appear in triple formation here, it can be quite bad if one or two character(s) have to swallow up to three Diabolic Whistle attacks. Ribbons are a must. The other attack that's nasty is Absolute Zero; it's a straightforward Ice-elemental attack, but can deal about 500 damage to multiple normally equipped characters and 1000 on a single one. Revenge Blast shouldn't be that much of a concern. Parasite are Aspiran palette swaps. They're almost entirely alike. They attack with Attack and !Mind Stop, which sets Stop (Aspiran's !Numbspines also did this). Every Attack command will be countered with a 66% shot at Gigavolt, which is a strong attack but fails to impress here, as Parasite's Magic Power is a stunning 1. 1000 HP and weak to Fire-elemental attacks. As Freud would tell you, the Parasite is a metaphor for a giant penis commanding you to sleep with your mother. Hey, don't look at me. It's science. Coco smoked in the Japanese game. She stopped for the US kids, though. Smoking is bad for you! Ranging from bad breath and yellow teeth to an empty wallet, smoking is nothing but trouble. It's also damn well enjoyable after a long day might I add. Coco resists all status ailments (maybe she can get away with smoking due to Lung Cancer immunity, I dunno), and has an annoying tendency to use an Imp spell at the start of every battle. Her second turn may feature either the Drain spell or the Overture attack. About Overture : Overture forces the affected character to take physical hits for the caster, like the caster is a Critical character and the affected has a Knight's Code equipped. The affected will only absorb Attacks and Special attacks; other attacks, physical or not, will be ignored. Anyway, heal the Imp status if it was set and then pound her as soon as possible with your strongest attacks. Any damage done will be countered by a 66% shot at !Slap, which sets Silence. Coco's Defense is rather poor and she's weak to Poison-elemental attacks, protected from ID, and immune to every status ailment but Slow and Stop. Whatever character you brought, it's vital you equip a Ribbon on him. Status ailments like Stop and Confuse are NOT nice when you're by yourself. Fire- elemental attacks are really strong, so Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster, Firaga, Flame Scrolls and Rising Phoenix should help you combat these pests. That Ribbon really is necessary; it protects against Coco's Imp and !Slap, Weredragon's attempts at poisoning you, and Pandora's Diabolic Whistle horror. You can protect against Roulette and Doom with Memento Rings on Shadow and Relm, and Safety Bits and Lich Rings on the rest. If you're shooting for a full Rage list for some reason, make sure to encounter Alluring Rider and Weredragon here as you won't be able to return to this place later. The other monsters can be found at other locations, too. They should encounter any enemy they want to here while they can, because you can't go back to this place after you leave... When you wake up, it's near a Save Point so you can save. To the left are three doors. It would take a very large block or boring text to describe where all the doors are leading, so here's a neat schematic! #0: Starting point, #1 (left door), #2 (middle door), #3 (right door) #1: Character, #4 (door) #2: #12 (door to the right), #13 (door to the left) #3: #8 (left door), #10 (right door) #4: #5, (top door) #6 (bottom door) #5: #8 (left door), #10 (right door) #6: #7 (door) #7: #5, (top door) #6 (bottom door) #8: #9 (door) #9: #8 (left door), #10 (right door) #10: Character, #11 (door) #11: #12 (door to the right), #13 (door to the left) #12: Save Point, #1 (left door), #2 (middle door), #3 (right door) #13: Final door, battle with the Dream Stooges. Explanation: both of your unconscious characters are guarded by a Dream Stooge. When you arrive, the Dream Stooge chickens out and runs off, as he's without his brothers; you reunite with your fallen comrade in arms and press on. If you found both characters, you can trigger the battle with the Dream Stooges at the final door; if you haven't collected all characters, nothing will happen there. The easiest path through this madness is this: #0 - #1 - #4 - #6 - #7 - #5 - #10 - #11 - #12 - #13 In plain English: Walk over to the three doors, and pick the left one. You scare off the Dream Stooge and find a character here. Leave through the door. Take the top door in the next section, which leads to two doors right next to each other. You'll want to take the right door, which leads to another Dream Stooge, who runs off and reunites you with your final character. Exit through the only door here, and walk over to the door to the far right in the next section. This door will lead you to the final door, standing between three... things. Out leap the three Dream Stooges, ready to do battle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.3 Cyan's Soul; the battle with the Dream Stooges ********************************** Curlax Level: 47, HP: 15000, MP: 2000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Ice, Water Creature Type: Humanoid, MP Kill Status: Float Special: !Hit: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Sleep Attacks: Attack, Fira, Firaga, Slow, Stop, Silence, Reflect, Arise, White Wind, Delta Attack Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Laragorn Level: 47, HP: 10000, MP: 2000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Ice, Wind, Weakness: Fire Creature Type: Humanoid Status: Float Special: !Hit: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Death, Doom, Silence, Confuse, Slow Attacks: Attack, Blizzara, Blizzaga, Reflect, Delta Attack Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Moebius Level: 47, HP: 12500, MP: 2000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Lightning Creature Type: Humanoid, MP Kill Status: Float Special: !Hit: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Berserk, Stop Attacks: Attack, Thundara, Thundaga, Protect, Haste, Reflect, Shell, Cura, Delta Attack Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Joker's Death: Yes Curlax is the strongest of the three Dream Stooges, and also the most vital one to take down. He has a random shot at casting White Wind every now and again, which heals the other Stooges and himself. Even worse, he will cast Arise on a fallen comrade when he notices they're down. He'll attack with the status-inducing spells when all three brothers are alive, and with the Fire-elemental offensive spells when a comrade has been slain (which is a useless bit of the AI script, as Curlax will always immediately make sure this is never the case with Arise). When he's hit four times by a Magic spell, he'll cast Reflect on himself and start bouncing Fira and Firaga spells off himself. When all three Stooges are alive, he'll cast Delta Attack every 30 seconds; Delta Attack is an unblockable ST attack that sets Petrify (doesn't work on targets immune to Petrify, obviously). He has a 33% chance of countering any of your attacks with a Fira spell. Laragorn is the weakest of the three Dream Stooges; his amount of HP is the lowest and his status vulnerabilities are horrible; as if Death wasn't enough, he's an almost exclusive spell caster susceptible to Silence, and Confuse is crippling too. He's the Ice-elemental of the three. Like Curlax, he'll cast Delta Attack when all three Stooges are there and 30 seconds have passed since the beginning of the battle/the last time Delta Attack appeared. He'll cast Reflect when he's hit by Magic four times and start reflecting Blizzara and Blizzaga spells off himself. Laragorn will normally just attack with Attack; he'll start using Blizzara and Blizzaga spells when one Stooge is down. He'll counter with a 33% Blizzara spell. The interesting thing about Laragorn is that he may run away in the middle of a battle. When one of the Stooges is down, and Laragorn has been hit by four Magic spells, he'll run away. After 30 seconds (if you haven't won the battle yet), he'll return; his HP is back to maximum, but MP hasn't changed and any status ailments you might've set are still there. Moebius is the middle child, and the only one without an elemental weakness. His bane is the Berserk status, and he has the Lightning-element. Like his brethren, he casts Delta Attack after 30 seconds, will cast Reflect on himself after four Magic spells, and start casting Thundara and Thundaga on himself which bounce off; normally he uses support spells (Protect, Shell, Haste, and Cura), but he will start to cast offensive spells (Thundara and Thundaga) when one of the Stooges is down. Might counter any attack with a Thundara spell. The boring one of the three. A note about Delta Attack: when the global battle timer reaches 30, the first Stooge to act will attack with Delta Attack. After that, the global timer is set to 0, so the other two Stooges won't use it. In other words, every 30 seconds only ONE Delta Attack will appear, not three. How to fight this battle? Set Silence on Laragorn (the Silence spell is obviously the most prominent way, and note that Strago's Bad Breath will fail always due to Laragorn's Imp immunity) and Berserk on Moebius (with the Berserk spell, possibly). Don't kill off Laragorn with a quick Death spell just yet; our main priority is Curlax. Cast a Sleep spell on him and pound him with magical attacks, preferably Ice-elemental attacks. When he's dead, abuse Laragorn's vulnerability to ID attacks and dispatch of him quickly. What you have left is a Berserked Moebius who is no threat whatsoever. It's really an easy battle; barriers like Mighty Guard, Hastega, Howling Moon, Earthen Wall, and Holy Aura are nice, but really not necessary. You don't get any items for beating the Dream Stooges, but you'll get 6 Magic AP. After you've killed the Dream Stooges, you've taken care of the problem you came 'here' for, but you still have to find a way to get out of here. The door the Dream Stooges guarded is still open, so you might as well pass through. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.4 Cyan's Dream; the Phantom Train? ********************************** Opponents: Samurai, Al Jabr, Suriander, Pandora, Parasite, Coco Container contents: Flame Shield, Genji Glove, Ice Shield, X-Potion Monster formations: (Inside) Al Jabr, Al Jabr (5/16) Samurai, Al Jabr, Al Jabr (5/16) Coco, Samurai, Suriander (5/16) Suriander, Pandora, Parasite, Parasite (1/16) You're now somehow traveling through Cyan's mind, searching for a way out. You're on a train now; since Cyan has really little experience with mechanical things, it's safe to say this is a memory of the Phantom Train. We'd best be on our guard; Cyan's mind is not devoid of the demons that torture him, and they don't leave us alone either. A few new enemies here. Samurai are very odd. Weak to Poison like most humans, their Defenses are horrible. And I mean just horrible. Worse physical Defense than Flan enemies, worse Magic Defense than Ultros #4. Every second turn they may use !Slay, so take them out quickly. It'd be very hard to take them out slowly, mind, but you never know. ID-protected, by the way. Al Jabr are crazy on the elementals. Weak to Ice, Holy, and Water, almost every character should be able to nail these guys' weaknesses one way or another. They attack with physical attacks (!Spinning Umbrella sets Sleep) and Flash Rain, the MT Ice-/Water-elemental attack. Not very strong, but strong enough to worry about. When Al Jabrs are alone, they'll use Thundaga, which is even more of a nuisance. Their vulnerable to the Confuse status, so the Noiseblaster and the Lv. 3 Confuse Lore keep them busy while you kill them. Suriander surely surprises scarce sources; boring beyond borders, bestowing bruises by Attack, sometimes Snort. It also uses !Yawn (sets Sleep). ID-protected. The bloated creature is weak to Holy-elemental attacks and vulnerable to the Sleep status, so if you want to make sure none of your characters get blown away by his omni-counter Snort attack, take advantage of that. ( LOCOMOTIVE ) ( SAVE POINT CAR ) ( MAZE CAR ) - Contains an Ice Shield and an X-Potion ( LUMP OF METAL CAR ) - Contains a Genji Glove and a Flame Shield ( SAVE POINT CAR ) ( INACCESSIBLE ) To the right of you is a train car you can't enter. You can go up the ladder, but it serves no purpose. To the left of you is a train car, desolate of everything but a Save Point. Just pass through it. When you're outside again, you'll see a quick cutscene where Cyan escapes from a ghost, oddly similar to the scene in the game where Sabin and Cyan escape the ghosts. You can't enter the new train car until the scene is over. You can use the ladders to completely circumvent this car, but you don't want to do that, as you'll miss out on two treasures and an important hint. This new train car brings a chest, firmly locked away between two crates and a hole in the floor. When you flip the switch to the right of it, the left crates will move. However, after 4 seconds the crate will move back if you haven't raided the contents. If you fight a battle left of that crate (in the immediate horizontal line) the crate will move again; alternatively, if you enter the menu screen immediately to the right of it (stand next to the crate), it will also move. The easiest solution would be flicking the switch twice; at the second time the right crate will move, no questions asked, and will remain there until you leave the train car. The chest contains a Genji Glove. Further on is another chest, but you can't reach it; an empty chest will always block your path. The trick is to walk over to the closed chest to the left; opening it will get you the Rare item 'Lump of Metal', which you can use to pin the empty chest to the ground and walk around it to grab the Flame Shield in the chest. Finally, make sure that you flick the other switch in this train car too; three out of the six chests will close (flicking again will open them all up again), and the book says: "One would do well to remember the positions... Such knowledge could be one's salvation." What is this, the Kama Sutra? Very well: 0 0 x x x 0 0 = Open x = Closed This next train car is a nasty one. It's a maze, with three switches that all change the furniture to block off your path and/or the other switches. Grab the Ice Shield and the X-Potion in the slightly hidden chest first. There are four switches in this car; the left-most switch isn't important right now, so it's #1 #2 #3 The order to handle the switches in is this: #3, #1, #3, #2, #3, #1 Now, your path is blocked off again by a wall, and there are six chests here, not unlike the chests you saw earlier. Flicking the switch appears to do nothing whatsoever. Close the chests like you saw earlier: 0 0 x x x 0 0 = Open x = Closed Flicking the switch will clear the path. You can walk outside to find another train car with a Save Point, and finally the caboose; the switches here do absolutely nothing. When you leave the room, you will warp out of this train and into a new section of Cyan's Dream. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.5 Cyan's Dream; Mechanical mines ********************************** Opponents: Schmidt (#209), Pluto Armor (#210), Io (#211) So, this is the part where Cyan's still lingering fear of machines resides. Hulking, steaming technological horrors lunge for you, and the worst part is that your abilities are crippled by the fact that you are, in fact, riding one of those mechanical monstrosities yourselves. Yes, you're all covered in Imperial Magitek Armor. Terra is the only character that will be able to use all eight attacks. If you brought Gogo, give him the Attack command in the Status menu so he can use Magitek as well. Umaro (and Berserked characters) will randomly choose a Beam-class attack and will never use Healing Force. Monster formations: Io (6/16) Pluto Armor, Pluto Armor (5/16) Pluto Armor, Schmidt (5/16) Pluto Armor attacks with Attack, !Ram (Attack x 2), and Magitek Laser. When it's alone it'll start using the nastier machine attacks you'll be recognizing by now: Launcher and Metal Cutter (and Magitek Laser, still). When hit by Attack, it may counter with either Launcher (on the entire party) or Metal Cutter (on the attacker itself), but this is only possible on the Veldt or when combining the Imp and Berserk status ailments on a character (which you don't really want). Metal Cutter really is powerful and Launcher annoying as hell (for those of you that forgot, Launcher = 8 x Gravity on random targets), so don't let Pluto Armor alone. Schmidt is much less dangerous. It'll use Reverse Polarity and Magitek Laser. When alone, it may start to attack with Missile - but compared to Pluto Armor's Launcher, that's nothing - and !Anchor, which sets Sap. Io is most noticeable for its Rage, which allows the Rager to attack with Flare Star. It will either do nothing (66%) or attack with !Crush (Attack x 3) for three consecutive turns; !Crush isn't that powerful. The fourth turn, it'll either use Wave Cannon or Diffractive Laser. Io's a little harder to take down, but little threat. The strategy, you ask? There's little, here. Know that the Beam attacks are about as powerful as level 2 spell, so if you have level 3 spells they'll be more powerful than the Magitek attacks. You'll always want to switch between Healing Force and Thunder Beam in this dungeon, as Thunder Beam hits the weakness of all the enemies here. Magitek Missile is more powerful than Thunder Beam though, so Terra should stick to that. All enemies can be taken out by Terra's Banisher, and both Pluto Armor and Schmidt fall for Confuser. Pluto Armor can be crippled by status ailments such as Silence, Stop, and Berserk while Schmidt really isn't a threat at all. Just walk around a while, there's only one path to take. As soon as you discover that you're walking around in circles, turn back and approach the situation from a different angle; start walking clockwise. Eventually you'll arrive at a slope you haven't seen before, and you'll see Cyan cross a bridge. As soon as you try to follow him, the bridge will collapse underneath you. Awesomeness: the game gives a Magitek Armor to your leader in the dungeon. If you switch leaders, the new character will also gain Magitek Armor, but the other character won't lose it. When you exit this part, the Magitek Armor is taken from the leader, but not from the other three character. Thus in the next scene in this section, those characters will appear in Magitek Armor in the cutscene. Neato! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.6 Cyan's Dream; Doma Castle ********************************** Opponents: Samurai (#205), Al Jabr (#206), Suriander (#207), Pandora (#212), Parasite (#213), Coco (#214), Wrexsoul (#326), Soul Saver (#327) Miscellaneous items: Guard Bracelet (guaranteed Wrexsoul drop), Memento Ring (rare Wrexsoul steal), Masamune (obtained from Cyan) Magicite: Alexander You fall into a recognizable room; the guest chambers of Doma Castle, where you spent the night before Cyan was invaded by the Dream Stooges. You've gained a mission objective now; next to simply escaping Cyan's mind, it seems that his personal demon can be actually battled; Wrexsoul, a composite monster made up of angry spirits, is its name. It's time to seek out this demon, so Cyan can find redemption, and you can get the hell out. Monster formations: Al Jabr, Al Jabr (5/16) Samurai, Al Jabr, Al Jabr (5/16) Coco, Samurai, Suriander (5/16) Suriander, Pandora, Parasite, Parasite (1/16) When you can move again, it's time to fulfill the request of Elayne and Owain, Cyan's wife and child. They're right, he doesn't deserve this, sub-par combat skills be damned! When you walk around, you can find three small cutscenes which all show a proud moment out of the past of Cyan Garamonde, retainer to King Doma. Outside, near the moat, to the left: (Cyan and Owain are jumping at each other, the sound of metal on metal) (Cyan:) Thou hast grown quite strong! With a little more practice, thou wilt be Doma's finest swordsman! (Owain:) Yippee! Dad told me I'm strong! I'm gonna go tell Mom! Outside, near the moat, to the right: (Cyan and Owain by the side of the moat) (Owain, jumping up and down:) Dad...fishing is boring! (Cyan:) This is but another part of thy training. Patience is something we all must learn. (Owain, calming down:) ...I love fishing! Inside, in the room where Cyan found Elayne and Owain dead: (Elayne:) My dear... Do you love me? (Cyan, spazzing:) What art thou asking me!? A warrior does not speak of such things! (Cyan, calmed:) I...love thee. I love thee more than anything... (Owain, appearing from the bed:) Yay! I heard that! "I love thee, I love thee!" Dad loves Mom! (Elayne:) Owain! (Owain:) I heard what Dad said to Mom! (Owain runs off) If you haven't gotten the treasures from Doma Castle in the real world so far, you can even obtain them here: you can find a Hi-Ether, an Elixir in the alarm clock in a bedroom, an X-Potion in the room Cyan found his dead wife and son in, and when you go outside on one of the walls, you can find a little room with a Phoenix Down and some Prayer Beads. Wrexsoul is waiting for you in the throne room, sitting on the throne with Cyan lifeless on the ground next to him. The confrontation is inevitable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.64.7 Cyan's Dream; the battle with Wrexsoul ********************************** Wrexsoul Level: 53, HP: 23066, MP: 5066 Steal: Memento Ring (rare), Win: Guard Bracelet (always) Absorbs: Fire, Holy, Weakness: Ice Special: !Doom Strike: sets Doom Sketch : !Doom Strike, Attack Control: Attack, !Doom Strike Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, Thundaga, Fury Soul Saver Level: 41, HP: 3066, MP: 566 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Fire, Holy, Weakness: Ice Creature Type: Humanoid Special: !Magic Drain: Drains MP Sketch : !Magic Drain, Attack Control: Attack, !Magic Drain Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom, Berserk, Confuse, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Magic Drain, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Reflect, Cure Joker's Death: No You can't spin 7-7-7 in this battle. Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Wrexsoul is obviously the main baddy here whom you'll have to defeat. The ironically called Soul Savers are the goons. At the start of the battle, Wrexsoul will use Fury and leave the battlefield to invade one of your characters. He won't re-appear for you to damage him until the character he invaded receives Death, Petrify, or Zombie status. When he's out he'll just sit there for a while, attack with Attack or casting Thundaga. When either one or two Soul Saver(s) has the Reflect status, he'll cast Thundaga on it so it'll bounce off to your party. Like any proper boss, he'll counter Attack with a 33% shot at Attack. The Soul Savers are the bane of this battle. Virtually immortal, they'll regenerate as soon as you kill them off. Normally they'll just sit there, slinging the level 3 spells at your with ridiculously small amounts of effect. Whenever they hit 16 MP or less, they'll use !Magic Drain to drain you of your MP (and with a 50 Attack Power, their !Magic Drain is really quite strong). They'll cast Reflect on themselves as soon as Wrexsoul is around, allowing him to cast Thundaga on them for damage on you. On all other turns that Wrexsoul is around, they'll spend time casting Cure spells on Wrexsoul for double-digit amounts of healing (in other words; neglectable). Before the normal, honest tactics, the usual method of winning this battle is casting Banish. The Soul Savers restore themselves over and over again, but when you successfully suck both Soul Savers into the parallel dimension with Banish, they can't do that and you'll just win the battle. The downside here is that you won't win the Guard Bracelet from Wrexsoul, as you never actually defeat him. Normally, you'll just want to completely ignore the Soul Savers. Minerva Bustier wearers take no damage and anybody with an elemental shield should take very little damage all-round anyway (Thunder Shields are the best, as Thundaga is cast most often). First, throw up the usual barriers; Hastega, Earthen Wall, Mighty Guard, Howling Moon, Holy Aura, whathaveyou. Now, just check each character by killing him/her and reviving him/her. Strago can commit easy suicide with Self-Destruct (careful: Transfusion removes him from the battle; you don't want that). Shadow can throw Fuma Shuriken or Shuriken to do unblockable and non-elemental damage, while Setzer's Fixed Dice serve the same purpose. If you don't have these characters, just go ahead with spells and Attacks where you can; Flare and Break are great for killing party members (provided it hits); Flare has a superior Hit Rate, but with Break you've actually killed a party member and can bring him/her back without any HP loss with a Gold Needle or Remedy Item or Esuna spell. If the targeted character doesn't have too much Magic Evasion, Strago's Stone attack can probably take him/her out in one hit; remember that Stone does 8 times as much damage when the target shares the caster's level, which is a likely case. Whenever Wrexsoul appears, act fast and furious! His Magic Defense is a stunning 220, which makes sure that if a magical attack isn't barrier-piercing, it'll have to be an Blizzaga spell coming from Morphed Terra to do a lot of damage. Breaking Ice Rods and/or Ice Shields nets you barrier-piercing attacks, so if you lack power in your team that's an option. Ideally you'll want to stick to targetable attacks: Setzer's Fixed Dice, Shadow's Fuma Shuriken (Icebrands hurt a LOT), and Edgar's Drill are good ones. Barrier-piercing attacks can even by MT'd; Mega Flare, Grand Delta, and Gau's Tyrannosaur-induced (enemy) Meteor attacks hurt badly. If you have the Flare spell, it's better than a Blizzaga spell if you have the choice. The pure magicians here should cast Flare or Blizzaga, or simply resort to attacking. If Strago hasn't learned Grand Delta (or Quasar) yet, Traveler is his best option (dual Ice Rods are also an option here, if you don't mind unusual set-ups). Celes's Runic really doesn't help that much, as the level 3 spells aren't a real threat, so just keep on attacking and healing with her. Sabin's only hope at leaving a mark is Phantom Rush, with which you can only hope will hit Wrexsoul itself. Umaro just rage. In the end, the Wrexsoul battle isn't really dangerous; it's just very annoying, especially if you have your characters geared towards Magic Evasion and are doing quite well in the area. Your own characters can be surprisingly hard to take down. After Wrexsoul has been defeated, Cyan will have a chance to talk to his departed wife and child. They gave him the courage to face his pain and despair, but even then, it turned out it was too strong for him. With your help though, he has exorcized Wrexsoul. The love of his wife and child transforms into the image of a blade, which Cyan grasps... Back out, in the real world, the blade has been added to your inventory as a lousy Masamune, and now that Cyan has cleared his soul and redeemed himself, he'll gain control over ALL the Bushdio skills he hasn't acquired yet, up to #8, Oblivion. Contrary to fairly popular belief, he won't just learn Oblivion; he'll learn all Bushdio skills. It's likely you'll gain Bushdio skills #7 and #8 at this point. Number 7, Tempest, is a physical, barrier-piercing attack that hits four times and is pretty powerful; a level 40 Cyan with a Hero's Ring will reach a total of 8000 damage. Oblivion is just Instant Death to everything that's vulnerable to it. The trick with both moves is that while they are grand, you really have to wait to reach them, even by inputting the commands of the other characters first. As a finishing touch to this scenario, you can walk into the throne room and find the Magicite remains of the Esper Alexander, the only Esper to teach the Holy spell. If you play the game like me, you turned the Murasame you found on the Floating Continent into an Masamune, the Masamune into a Murakumo and the Murakumo into a Holy Lance a long time ago, and this Masamune is the first strong Knife you see again. Do turn it into a Murakumo at the Coliseum (fight a Gorgimera) if this is the case; Cyan will appreciate it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.65.1 The road to the Ancient Castle and the battle with Master Tonberry ********************************** Opponents: Figaro Lizard (#218), Devil (#219), Enuo (#220), Master Tonberry (#328) Container contents: Death Tarot, Hi-Ether, Magicite Shard, Wing Edge, X-Potion, Monster-in-a-box (Master Tonberry) Miscellaneous items: Gladius (guaranteed Master Tonberry drop) Lores: Tsunami, Lv. 5 Death, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 3 Confuse, Traveler, Dischord If you had paid one hundred thousand Gil to one of the thieves at the foot of the Cultist's Tower, you'll have heard of an ancient castle somewhere under the desert of Figaro, which is supposedly loaded with treasure. Now we're not greedy, but for eh...improved success chances or something; it'd be a good idea to take a look. Whom to bring? The theme of the next dungeon will be magical resistance. The caves leading to the castle and the castle itself will be filled with monsters with inherently Reflective tendencies and crazy Magic Defense, making any non-barrier-piercing magical attack useless. The Holy element is very strong here, though. Holy Lance Dragoons are great. So is a Sabin with dual Dragon Claws, suffering on the Defense as he may be in that case. Gau and Umaro are decent choices too, as their uncontrollable nature is no hindrance whatsoever in the next part of this fine game. Strago can learn Rippler, 1000 Needles and Dischord here, which is hardly a point, as he can learn all three on the bloody Overworld Map too; but he can also learn Lv. 3 Confuse, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 5 Death and Traveler here (if you missed it earlier), as well as a Lore that's probably new to you, Tsunami. Make your team and fly the Falcon over to Figaro Castle, which is probably on the Kohlingen side of the sea at this point. Send it over to the Figaro desert, and it will reach a bumpy part of the journey where the old man piloting the castle will ask you if you want to investigate. Boy, do we ever. Walk over to the dungeons, where the hole the sandworm that freed the Crimson Robbers created is still present. You can use it exit the castle and enter the caves leading to the Ancient Castle. Monster formations: Enuo, Devil, Figaro Lizard (6/16) Enuo, Enuo (5/16) Devil, Figaro Lizard Figaro Lizard (5/16) Figaro Lizard. They're entirely too much like Crawler enemies, only much harder to take down. !Venom causes the Poison status, and they'll use either Leech or Dischord. He doesn't have a weakness to the Holy element, so I would suggest barrier-piercing magical attacks and physical attacks of any kind; ID-attacks such as Gau's Coeurl Cat-induced Blaster attack, Banish, and Cyan's Oblivion Bushido will get the job done. Remember that Figaro Lizardis Reflective though, so Death and Break will bounce. Devil is a nasty enemy that delights in attacking physically with some force. Attack isn't that tough, but !Swipe (Attack x 4) really packs a punch. Whenever a Devil is alone, he will start casting Lv. 3 Confuse, Lv. 4 Flare, or Lv. 5 Death every second turn, and a shot at Blaze in between. Control, Sketch, and Rage are filled up with level 3 spells, too. Their Defense is horrid, so their respectable 5555 HP isn't as bad as it seems. Abuse Devil's weaknesses by attacking with Holy Lances, Dragon Claws, and Holy Rods. The random Holy spells won't do anything, but the physical strikes themselves will get the job done nicely. ID attacks works as well. Enuo is a boiling glob of slimy mucus with certain powers over water. Normally it'll just attack with Attack or !Slime, which sets Slow. When an Enuo is alone though, it'll use Aqua Breath or Tsunami, a new Lore for Strago. Wretched Defense, weakness to Holy and ID attacks; abuse them at your heart's content. Tsunami is an MT Water-elemental Lore for Strago. You're probably wondering why you need another one of those; Aqua Breath is already there, not to mention Leviathan's Flood spell. The trick is that: A, Tsunami isn't partly Wind-elemental like Aqua Breath B, Tsunami hits both sides in a Pincer attack unlike Aqua Breath, and C, while Tsunami is weaker, it doesn't split damage on multiple targets, making it stronger than Aqua Breath versus multiple targets. Flood beats both by far, so it's more or less trivia knowledge, but hey. In the room you first enter, there are two chests. To the left is a chest containing a Wing Edge, the strongest 'Special' weapon for Locke. It's main selling points are a + 7 to Speed, the Assassin's Dagger's and Viper Darts' X-type ID property, and the fact it deals the same amount of damage from the Back Row. The chest to the right contains a Hi-Ether. There are three exits below; it doesn't really matter which one you take, but the middle one and the far right one take you directly to a monster-in-a-box while you have to walk around for it when leaving through the far left one. If you came in through the middle door, don't fret; you can walk through the wall to reach the chest you see. The chest you see to the top-right of this cave is the chest containing Master Tonberry, the toughest monster-in-a-box you'll find in this game. Master Tonberry Level: 73, HP: 22000, MP: 1200 Steal: Megalixir (rare), Elixir (common), Win: Gladius (always) Absorbs: Water Special: !Knife: Attack x 8 Sketch : !Knife, Attack Control: Attack, !Knife Vulnerable to: Poison, Sleep, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Knife, Bio, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Holy, Quake, Tornado Tsunami, Traveler, Barrier Change Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Master Tonberry is very mean. He'll start the battle off with an Attack, but then the madness begins. Every 15 seconds, Master Tonberry takes a step forward. After seven steps he'll use !Knife on a random character and retreat halfway, meaning that he'll just have to take four more steps after that to reach the position where !Knife is used. Every step is accompanied with the ever-frustrating Barrier Change attack. Master Tonberry casts his spells in conformation his weakness, not unlike Number 024 way back in the day. Here's what he'll use: Weakness to Ice: Firaga (66%) Weakness to Fire: Blizzaga (66%) Weakness to Wind: Thundaga (66%) Weakness to Holy: Bio (66%) Weakness to Lightning: Tornado (66%) Weakness to Poison: Holy (66%) Weakness to Water: Quake (66%) Weakness to Earth: Tsunami (66%) One of the worst parts, though, is his Traveler counter to every damaging attack you perform. Depending on your actions and style of playing this game, that can do a lot of damage. The way to victory lies in his status ailment vulnerabilities. Cast Sleep on Master Tonberry, and pair it up with Slow as well. If you have enough people with control over the Rasp spell, you might try removing all his MP first; better safe than sorry, right? If you're done with that or simply don't want to bother, start attacking him with magical attacks. Physical attacks will wake him; stick to magical ones only. It's highly possible you manage to kill him before he even wakes up once. If he does wake up, just cast Sleep again. When you're done, you win a Gladius, a Holy-elemental Dirk that can be equipped by pretty much everybody. It's a powerful weapon but doesn't have any interesting properties. Its Holy-elemental nature can make it useful in this dungeon, though. The only other chest in this cave contains the Death Tarot, Setzer's most powerful 'normal' weapon. Like the Wing Edge, it deals the same amount of damage from the Back Row and has the Assassin's Dagger's X-type ID property, but it doesn't boost any stats. You'll want to exit to the left of the screen to find another cave with two chests. They contain an X-Potion (to the left) and a Magicite Shard (the one to the bottom). The big feature here is the grand stairway leading into a random encounter-less room with a Save Point and another stairway going up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.65.2 The Ancient Castle and the battle with Samurai Soul ********************************** Opponents: Samurai (#205), Suriander (#207), Coco (#214), Armored Weapon (#216), Lunatys (#217), Figaro Lizard (#218), Devil (#219) Enuo (#220), Samurai Soul (#329), Blue Dragon (#338) Container contents: Blizzard Orb, Gold Hairpin, Puniser, X-Ether, Monster-in-a-box (Samurai Soul) Miscellaneous items: Master's Scroll (guaranteed Samurai Soul drop), Zantetsuken (guaranteed Blue Dragon drop) Lores: Tsunami, 1000 Needles, Lv. 5 Death, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 3 Confuse, Dischord, Rippler Magicite: Odin, Raiden Monster formations: (Outside of the Ancient Castle) Devil, Figaro Lizard, Figaro Lizard (6/16) Devil, Devil (5/16) Coco, Samurai, Suriander (Inside of the Ancient Castle) Armored Weapon (5/16) Lunatys (5/16) Lunatys, Lunatys, Figaro Lizard, Figaro Lizard (5/16) Lunatys, Lunatys, Lunatys, Lunatys (1/16) If you forgot, Coco, Samurai, and Suriander could all be encountered in Cyan's Soul, so I won't have to explain them here. You can Ctrl + F to 4.64.2 if you want to learn about them. Armored Weapon looks totally badass. With 9200 it's got quite the amount of HP, it's immune to every status effect except for ID (and Doom) and has some nasty attacks up its sleeves. Normally this is where I say he will normally use Attack and !Metal Arm (Attack * 2) when he's with other monsters, as that's what his AI script says. However, you ALWAYS encounter this thing by itself, so it'll just randomly use Missile, Launcher, or Diffractive Laser. Launcher is the worst out of the bunch (Diffractive Laser may hurt if your Magic Defense/resistance to Lightning isn't all that hot). You'll want to use ID attacks against the fellow; he's inherently Reflective like almost everything here, but Banish flies right past that, as does Gau's Coeurl Cat/Lycaon-induced Blaster attacks, his Mu-induced Snare, ID coming from weapons like the Assassin's Dagger and Ichigeki, etc. If you lack all that, focus on Lightning- and Water-elemental attacks that defy the existence of Reflect; Water Scroll, Tri-Disaster, Flood, you know what to do. Lunatys is a sweet enemy as well. Inherently Reflective and Floating, you'll be hard-pressed to take this guy out with any kind of magical attack (as you're used from monsters around here). Normally a Attack/!Electrode (Attack * 3) zealot, he'll switch to Freezing Dust and (enemy) Meteor when alone. (Enemy) Meteor will hurt real badly, just across the 1000 HP line. Freezing Dust induces Freeze like always and is a pain in the ass. A common weakness to Holy-elemental attacks and ID attacks combined with a low Defense rating should make it obvious how to treat this bugger. You can Silence them, so if you're not sure about them you could always summon Siren or have someone cast Silence to stop them from using their most dangerous attack. Of special note is the fact that both Lv. 3 Confuse and Lv. 5 Death will work on these guys (also on the Figaro Lizard monsters often accompanying them). If you brought Strago, you're in luck. When you approach the derelict halls of the ancient castle, once the proud monument of a civilization destroyed in and by the War of the Magi, the character most suited to know the legend will speak of the attack, and the legend of the magnificent battle between Odin and a powerful sorcerer of his time. Maybe we will be able to find the remains of Odin inside? For those interested, the one to talk will simply be the characters with the lowest data number, an order you can also see in shop and character selection screens. This is why it will be Cyan or Sabin who'll do the talking rather than Strago most of the time. Before you enter the main hall, there are two more or less hidden doors to the left and right of the large doors. To the right is an already open door leading to a chest containing the Punisher. The Punisher is a weapon that you haven't seen since Banon wielded it, and now it's special power can finally be seen. Like the Rune Blade and Organyx, it has an MP-driven auto-critical. It doesn't have any real uses except if you brought Relm or a Grand Delta-less Strago along in this dungeon, as it's the strongest attacking Rod there is (although the Holy Rod is hitting a weakness most of the time at this point). To the left is a chest containing the legendary Master's Scroll, one of the most talked-about Relics in the game. Guarding this item is a monster-in-a-box, Samurai Soul. I talked about Master Tonberry being the toughest monster in a box, but Samurai Soul is up there, competing for that title. Samurai Soul Level: 61, HP: 37620, MP: 7400 Steal: Murakumo (rare), Murasame (common), Win: Master's Scroll (always) Weakness: Poison Creature Type: Humanoid Special: !Assassin Blade: sets Death Sketch : !Assassin Blade, Attack Control: Attack, !Assassin Blade Vulnerable to: Poison, Confuse Attacks: Attack, !Assassin Blade, 1000 Needles, Gale Cut, Shockwave, Item (Flame Scroll), Item (Water Scroll), Item (Lightning Scroll), Throw (Ashura), Throw (Kunai), Gil Toss Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No First off a note of doom: Samurai Soul is unique in the fact that he's a monster in a box you can run from. Doing so hurts your game though; you won't be able to fight him when you return to the chest, and thus you'll miss out on the Master's Scroll you win when you're still living and he's not. Samurai Soul is the perfect hybrid between a Samurai and a Ninja, as will become apparent by his AI script. Normally, his attacks will consist out of Attack, any of the three offensive ninja scrolls (Flame Scroll, Water Scroll or Lightning Scroll) and Gale Cut, 1000 Needles or Shockwave. This isn't half bad for an opponent, but nothing spectacular either. It's when he's aggravated that he becomes lethal. When you battle him for longer than 40 seconds, he'll pump himself up. The message "Samurai Soul's power increases!" will appear, and he will self-apply the Image and Reflect statuses, making him immune to every blockable Attack for the duration of Image and most Magic spells for the duration of Reflect. He'll also try to set Haste, but with inherent Slow immunity it will fail. Sad thing. He may counter Attack, Magic, and Lore with an Attack, but that's not the purpose of his counter script there; when hit six times by Attack, he'll use !Assassin Blade on a random party member, which is a simple instant Death attack with an admittedly poor Hit Rate of 100. When hit three times by either a Magic spell or Lore attack (this includes 1 Lore and 2 Magic, for instance), he'll Throw either an Kunai (weakest ninja weapon) or Ashura (weakest katana) at a random party member, doing about 8000 damage to him/her. He'll then spend the next turn using Setzer's Gil Toss, dealing exactly 915 HP worth of damage to four party members (1220 to three if one is still down from the thrown blade). Samurai Soul's glaring weakness is the combination of vulnerability to the Confuse status and its own Special, !Assassin Blade. By setting Confuse with the Confuse spell, Cait Sith's Cat Rain, Edgar's Noiseblaster or whathaveyou, Samurai Soul has a 50% chance of killing himself with !Assassin Blade. Sketching nets you a 25% shot at !Assassin Blade too. Exploit this weakness for a far easier battle. If you're looking for more of a challenge or for some other reason don't want to muddle the poor warrior into defeat, here's what you'll want to do. First, throw up your barriers. Focus on the magical side; Mighty Guard (for Shell) or Zona Seeker's Magic Shield, Hastega, Kirin's Holy Aura, etc. Golem and Fenrir help against !Assassin Blade, but you shouldn't see it directed at you anyway. Now, let loose with your characters. There's no reason to use Attack, Magic, or Lore on Samurai Soul. Terra, Celes, and Strago should really just wait out this battle. Attack with Phantom Rush Blitzes, Cyan's Bushido skills (Tempest is nice), Jump attacks, the Drill Tool, etc. If you're really unlucky and brought all the wrong characters, just Attack (!Assassin Blade every sixth Fight attack isn't all that bad). When Samurai Soul powers up, Dispel removes all three positive statuses immediately. If you want to be evil, you can break the no-Lore rule one time and steal all three with Rippler (provided Strago's not prancing around with something like a Guard Bracelet or Miracle Shoes). After Samurai Soul dies, you'll receive a Master's Scroll! The Master's Scroll is often misused and - dare I say it - abused. So, it's time to sit down and discuss the Master's Scroll a little. What does the Master's Scroll do? It makes 'Attack' attack four times in a row rather than one. It also makes every Attack become unblockable. The Master's Scroll Attack is also smart; it will never hit defeated opponents when there are still living ones on the battlefield. That's all good. It also removes random spell casting (but not Kazekiri's Wind Slash) and criticals (including MP-driven criticals), which is kinda bad in most situations. The downside is that it halves the power of EVERY physical attack of the person equipping it. This makes sure that every person equipped with the Master's Scroll would better stick to Attack as things like Flurry, Drill, Meteor Strike and Raging Fist all halve in power. An often-heard combination is Genji Glove and Master's Scroll, allowing for eight physical strikes. Is it really that good? It delivers quite a lot of damage most of the time, and it looks flashy to see eight attacks in a row. However, you sacrifice two Relic slots and the ability to equip a shield here, and that's a lot of sacrificing. And is the damage really that good? Hardly. It's up there with a single Phantom Rush, Flurry, and luckier Dragon Horn Jump attack, sure, but that's about it. And once again, you're really being hurt defensively here. Then what are the better uses of the Master's Scroll? The odd weapons. The damage outcome of the Fixed Dice isn't cut by the Master's Scroll, so Setzer equipped with the Master's Scroll and the Fixed Dice will become exactly four times as powerful as a non-Master's Scroll Fixed Dice Setzer, all for the loss of only a single Relic slot. The same goes with Locke's Valiant Knife, but I'll explain about that weapon when you get there. Cyan's Kazekiri's Wind Slashes won't decrease in power either, but even when all four hits turn into a Wind Slash attack, the damage won't be stellar. Weapons with the X-type Instant Death feature (and the Zantetsuken) don't lose their ID properties, so you'll have four consecutive shots at a 25% immediate dispatch. Thief's Knives still attempt to steal and Hawkeye/Sniper will still randomly inflict more damage. A quick note about the Thief's Knives: the game can only store a single stolen item per attack, so if you combine the Master's Scroll with Thief's Knives you'll only obtain the last item you succesfully stole. All others have been removed from the monsters but are not in your inventory. Let's press on. Inside, it'll be just a big hallway you have to cross. The next room is the throne room, with the statue of Odin in the middle of it. Petrification was the quickest strategy versus Odin in FF V, for trivia knowledge; now, you can add the Odin Magicite to your inventory by talking to the statue. The pathway to the right, right next to the thrones, takes you to a room with two chests: a Blizzard Orb for Umaro and a Gold Hairpin for absolutely nobody in particular. Also to the right, a little south of that very pathway is another pathway leading to the queen's room. There's an X-Ether in the bucket, but what really draws your attention is the sparkle on the bookcase. It turns out to be the queen's diary; it seems that the queen and Odin had a little romancin' air going on there. If Terra is in your party at this point, she'll step away from the party to look sad and say, "Love between a human and an esper..." At this point, the jailer in Figaro Castle will change his line to: It seems they discovered an ancient text in the library. And one of the scholars up in Figaro Castle will change his line to this: "To think that a thousand-year-old city would be lying buried beneath the sands of this very desert! I found a short passage about the city in an ancient text, but I haven't been able to make much sense of it. "When the queen stands and takes five steps..." The Queen's throne is the one to the right. Face the throne, take five steps downwards, and press the 'action' button to make the castle rumble and shake for a slight moment there. Now, re-enter the queen's room to find that a stairway has appeared, leading even further down. This new hallway is devoid of random encounters, but there are two things of interest here; first, the petrified remains of the queen herself. If you have collected the Magicite of Odin and interact with the statue, a tear will come from the stone to drop upon his remains, turning it into Raiden, the Odin upgrade with the superior summon attack in Shin-Zantetsuken and tutor of the awesome Quick spell. Also, the Blue Dragon. If you have any Imp equipment (Tortoise Shield, Saucer, Reed Cloak), throw it on! Like Leviathan, the Blue Dragon is all about Water-elemental attacks, and that's what Imp equipment absorbs. Don't equip Ice Shields, as Aqua Breath will hit twice as hard when you don't have any Imp equipment; Flame Shields are even worse, as they are weak against Water-elemental attacks in general. Thunder Shields are great as they null the effects of Aqua Breath (as it's part Wind- elemental) and halve all damage done by Flash Rain (as it's part Ice-elemental); Force Shields halve the damage done by Water-elemental attacks in general, too. Minerva Bustier wearers shine once again; they null Aqua Bustier and Flash Rain and halve damage done by all other Water-elemental attacks. Snow Scarfs of Gau, Mog, and Umaro will allow them to absorb the Flash Rain attacks. Relics protecting from Sap (that'd be Ribbon, Angel Ring and Miracle Shoes) are great, too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.65.3 The battle with the Blue Dragon ********************************** Blue Dragon Level: 65, HP: 26900, MP: 3800 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Zantetsuken (always) Absorbs: Water, Weakness: Lightning Special: !Hit: Drains MP Sketch : Blaster, Blizzaga Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Poison, Slow Attacks: Attack, Slow, Tsunami, Aqua Breath, Rippler, Acid Rain, Flash Rain Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail As soon as the battle starts, the Blue Dragon will attack with Tsunami. If Strago is in your party and hasn't learned Tsunami from either the Enuo random encounters or the Master Tonberry enemy yet, you're set. Normally the blasted creature will attack with Attack and Acid Rain; believe me, Sap will get very annoying very quickly if you don't have protection against the status. When Blue Dragon dives beneath 16384 HP, he'll also start attacking with Aqua Breath and Flash Rain. Every 40 seconds, Blue Dragon will have stored enough water for a Tsunami attack as well. All in all, you will be continuously pounded by MT attacks. Every Magic spell or damaging attack may be countered by Attack, as usual. The difficult part of Blue Dragon's AI script is the Rippler spell. To put it simply (or as simply as possible), Blue Dragon will use Rippler IF: 1: One of your characters has the Haste status. If so, target that character; if more than one character have the Haste status, he picks the first one he meets when going from top to bottom. 2: If Blue Dragon isn't already affected by the Haste status. 3: If Blue Dragon isn't affected by the Protect status. 4: If it has been two turns ago (not counting the 40-second Tsunami attack) that Blue Dragon used Rippler. If all those conditions are met, Blue Dragon will cast Slow on itself and proceed to use Rippler to try to steal the Haste status and give you the Slow status instead. So what to do? Throw up the boring old blah-blah barriers; Mighty Guard, Magic Shield, Holy Aura, Earthen Wall, Howling Moon, whathaveyou. If you brought Shadow, you do NOT want him to be the victim of Rippler (Interceptor could be stolen). Don't apply the Haste status. Attack with Lightning-elemental spells if possible; Valigarmanda's Tri-Disaster isn't absorbed, so that works; Thundaga is stronger, though. Lightning Scrolls work great, but Thunder Blades are even more (read: obscenely) powerful. The same old still works. The mages should stick to Lightning-elemental attacks. Edgar makes a good Dragon Horn Dragoon, as usual. Sabin's Phantom Rush beats all, like usual. Setzer's Gil Toss is still stronger than Slot, while the Fixed Dice (especially when paired with the Master's Scroll) is superior to both of them. Cyan should, if possible, combine Quick with his Flurry Bushido. If he can't, he can't really do his job as usual (you can set him up as a utility man). Gau's Aspiran Rage allows him to absorb all Water-elemental attacks while making him attack with Gigavolt, a strong Lightning-elemental attack that will really hurt Blue Dragon. Actinian and Exocite also allow Ragers to absorb Water-elemental attacks. You know, it's not really that the Blue Dragon is weak; no, with regular MT magical spells with some power behind them and no crippling status vulnerabilities, the Blue Dragon is a fairly solid contender. It's just that it really begins to show here that your characters are growing more overpowered by the day. If Phantom Rush and Dragon Horn Dragoons weren't enough, you get to use Fixed Dice/Master's Scroll, equip armor like the Minerva Bustier and Cat-Ear Hood, and get access to all the awesome no-questions-asked attacks such as Grand Delta and Phantom Rush. When you have defeated the Blue Dragon, you'll be rewarded with the Zantetsuken, Odin's weapon (whose summon attack is called exactly that, Zantetsuken). Anyway, it's the only non-Knife weapon Cyan can equip and pretty much his best option (for all that there his 'ultimate' weapon is slightly stronger, it has no neat side-effects like the Zantetsuken does). With Raiden obtained and the Blue Dragon defeated, there is nothing for you here. You can leave this place and tell the old man in Figaro Castle to advance with the castle. You can revisit this place any time you want to, as every time you travel under the sea with Figaro Castle the old man will be surprised by the oddness of the stratum. That guy must have trouble remembering his wife's birthday. "You never get me anything nice," she probably complains, but no... He loves her dearly and means her no harm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.66.1 Triangle Island ********************************** Opponents: Zone Eater Monster formations: Zone Eater (always) All the way to the northeast, you can find an island that's shaped like a triangle. There's two groups of mountains there, some forests... it's where you possiby fought Intangir in the World of Balance. And you know about that island? [EARLY-GOGO] "That island is home to a monster that sucks in anything unfortunate enough to go near it. Wonder what would happen if you got sucked into it? ...Yuck, I don't even want to think about that!" Now here's an odd monster indeed. It absorbs Ice-elemental attacks, is weak against Holy-elemental attacks, and nullifies all other elements. And all it seems to use is a rare Gravity spell and the Inhale attack. Inhale is pretty much the same as Snort; it removes a single character from battle. If you run away with some characters 'in the body of Zone Eater', you'll just find them in your party at the end. If you kill the thing after some of your characters have been eaten, likewise. However, if your entire team fell victim to the Inhale attack, you'll find yourself in one of the worlds this Zone Eater ate; a cave, filled with humans (or at least, humanoids) bent on your destruction for some reason that doesn't involve logical thinking. Best to be on your guard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.66.2 The world inside of the Zone Eater ********************************** Opponents: Covert (#199), Kamui (#200), Wartpuck (#201), Shambling Corpse (#202), Amduscias (#203), Baalzephon (#204) Container contents: Fake Mustache, Genji Armor, Hero's Ring, Hi-Ether, Magical Brush, Thunder Shield, Pinwheel, Zephyr Cloak Miscellaneous items: Ashura (common Kamui steal), Chain Flail (rare Wartpuck steal), Kunai (common Baalzephon steal), Murasame (rare Kamui steal), Pinwheel (rare Covert steal), Sasuke (rare Baalzephon steal), Soul Sabre (rare Shambling Corpse steal) You find yourself within the Zone Eater cave. To the north is a beam of light; you can use this whenever you want to leave the innards of the Zone Eater and face the light of day again. However, for now it might be interesting to intrude ever further into the bowels of this strange creature. Who knows what oddities of another world we may find here that may help us in the struggle against Kefka. Preparation: A lot of elemental attacks and status ailments are thrown around, but rather than using full force you'll want to play it defensively this time. A Thunder Shield is a grand on everybody you can find; NEVER use Ice Shields and Fire Shields, as the former is weak to Wind Slash and the latter is weak against the Water Scroll (and both will appear here). Equips Ribbons where possible; you'll want something to block Kamui's !Zombie Touch (Zombie) and Shambling Corpse's !Figaro Malt (Imp). The Ribbon also protects against the Baalzephon's !Frenzy, which sets Berserk, but that's not really a threat. Monster formations: (All caves except Gogo's Spot) Shambling Corpse, Shambling Corpse (5/16) Wartpuck, Kamui (5/16) Amduscias, Covert, Covert (5/16) Baalzephon, Baalzephon, Shambling Corpse, Shambling Corpse (1/16) (Gogo's spot) Kamui, Kamui (5/16) Covert, Kamui (5/16) Wartpuck, Wartpuck (5/16) Amduscias, Baalzephon (1/16) Do you remember those Ninjas from the Floating Continent, bane of our being that they were? Coverts are like super-Ninjas. Though you'd think that a ninja smart enough to dress in DARK garments would be inherently superior to those flailing along in bright-red outfits (screws over the entire 'hide in the shadow' theme ninjas tend to carry around), Coverts can be a real pain, especially since Coverts lack the Ninjas main defensive weak point; Covert is immune to ID attacks. Every odd-numbered turn will be either a physical or Wind Slash, and every even turn he'll throw a Scroll at you (all three may appear). MT'd, Wind Slash and the Scrolls are equally strong. When hit by a Thrown weapon, Covert will respond by Throwing a Shuriken or Fuma Shuriken of himself; avoid this at all cost. Finally, every Attack may make Covert use !Disappear on himself, which sets Invisible. Cast Sleep, Stop, Slowga, or Berserk to stop their magical MT attacks and off them quickly; they're NOT weak to Lightning as the Ninjas were, but they are weak to Holy so the appropriate Holy spell will serve you well here coming from a decent caster. Kamui is annoying, as he will use up to three !Zombie Touches every turn, which can quickly turn very fatal for you if you're not protected from Zombie. When hit by a Magic spell, Kamui has a 33% chance of countering with the Bio spell, and every other kind of damage may be countered with an Attack. Kamui is weak to Lightning- and Holy-elemental attacks, and both Stop and Berserk will stop him from using those blasted !Zombie Touches. Wartpuck: the only non-humanoid enemy in the cave. As much Attack/Special cannon fodder as they come this far in the game. !Yawn sets Sleep and is randomly used next to Attack, every turn. When hurt, Wartpuck may counter with an annoying Snort attack, so you'll want to take Wartpuck out in one shot to make sure nobody misses out on Magic AP. Immune to ID and every status ailment except for Sleep, your best bet is an ST Firaga spell as Wartpuck is weak to Fire-elemental attacks. Shambling Corpse, like all Outcast palette swaps, is a pain. The only Undead random encounter immune to ID attacks (outside of the Cultist's Tower and Dragon's Den); Shambling Corpse is the superior opponent. Every Attack may be countered by Attack, every Magic spell will be countered by either a Thundaga, Break, or Flare spell, and everything that damages Shambling Corpse and is neither Attack nor Magic will be countered by a Lifeshaver attack. In between of all the counter-attacks, Shambling Corpse will only use !Figaro Malt, which sets Imp. Use Raise spells to take them out cleanly, and strong Attacks also work (you'll want to avoid the magical counter-attacks, they're quite strong). Since Shambling Corpse is weak against Holy-elemental attacks, so next to Fixed Dice, Holy Lance Dragon Horn Dragoons are very nice (note that Jump will be countered by Lifeshaver if the Shambling Corpses survive the slaughter). Amduscias uses Attack and !Booty Shake, which seduces and confuses you. That'd about it. You don't want to see them appear as they are always paired with two Coverts, but they're not very dangerous themselves. If you have Shadow or Gogo Throw something at them, they will counter by Throwing either an Enhancer or Crystal Sword, so just don't use Throw on them and you'll be fine. "This enemy might look like a pierrot entertainer, but his lunatic performance puts victims into a Frenzy." Baalzephon is one of the most elusive monsters in the game, as they only appear randomly at a 1/16 rate in a few rooms where you'll want to breeze through. As an opponent, they're not very unassuming unless you're very unlucky; they will just use !Frenzy, which sets Berserk, and when they're targeted by Attack, they'll counter with Attack. These guys want to counter you into submission or whatever, I don't know what they're deal is. Anyway, they're big thing is elemental absorption; they absorb all elements except for Fire (weakness) and Holy (normal reaction). There's no reason to be equipped with ANY weapon that's not non-elemental or Holy-elemental at this point, but anyway. Baalzephon make a great Rage, casting Blizzaga randomly and absorbing six elements (the Fire weakness tends to be overruled by Gau's Snow Scarf) so you don't want to leave this place until you've encountered these guys at least once if you're a Gau fan. Let's get through this! Take the stairs down. You'll see another set of stairs going down, but it'll just take you to a blocked-off path. You'll want to go to the left, to a crazy pathway of unstable wooden pathways with strange green men walking on them. Whenever these cretins get a hold of you, they'll push you off the pathway, so you'll want to jump when they're not around. You'll want to get pushed off a least once though. This way, you'll reach the other side of the blocked-off cave below to gather the Hi-Ether and the Red Jacket lying there. Anyway, here's what the room looks like: ======= ========== =====x===== ===x== 0= ==x=== =====00=== ===== = - Pathway 0 - Chests On the pathway, there are two chests next to each other: Genji Armor to the right, and a Magical Brush for Relm to the left (like all Brush weapons: utter crap). The Genji Armor is the ultimate heavy-class armor. Minerva Bustier is better by sheer elemental resistances and the MP + 25% bonus, but the Genji Armor is all-round the most useful armor for the heavy-equipment guys (Locke, Cyan, Edgar, Setzer, and surprisingly, Shadow). It tends to be outclassed by stuff like the Force Armor against bosses (for elemental resistances and Magic Evasion and all), but all in all, Genji Armor is awesome. To the far left is a chest containing a Fake Mustache. You could have obtained this thing earlier by stealing it from Still Lifes, but this is the sure-fire way of getting access to Relm's Control ability. If you want to learn about that, take a look at [CONTROL-LINK]. If you safely crossed the bridges, you'll now wind up in a room with a Save Point, devoid of monster formations as rooms like those usually are. Do your stuff, and equip some Sprint Shoes. Even if you're playing on an emulator I suggest you in-game Save here, as I've misjudged my actions in the past and saved just over my own death... Which is bad. In this next room, I should note first off that there are no monster formations. Second, you can't access the Menu in this room. Third, there's a big fucking ceiling falling down every few seconds. If you are crushed under the ceiling, it's an instant Game Over. You don't want that. So, that's what the Sprint Shoes are for. Sprint to the left, and grab the contents of the first chest in sight, a Zephyr Cloak. Wait for the ceiling to fall, and before it moves back up again, grab the next chest, a Hero's Ring. Wait in front of it until the ceiling drops and rises again. Now, sprint as far to the left as you can, take one step back and two down. You'll be caught safe in a hole in the ceiling now. Watch the ceiling rise and fall like the chest of your sleeping lover, and make a run for the final chest, containing a Pinwheel for Shadow. Don't wait now, just exit below. There's a little, meaningless cave here with some monsters again! Leave. A jumping puzzle now. First, take the one-chest path to the left and the two- chest path above you to reach the pathway near the button; you can jump on the platform with the action button. It'll extend to extra tiles of pathway: one for you to leave, and one to reach the treasure. Jump off. Take the same one- chest path to the left, another one-chest jump, and then a one-chest jump up to the chest containing a Thunder Shield. Now go around again until you can jump on the platform with the button again; just take the one-chest jump the left instead, leading you to a door. Except for a whole new set of new monster formations without any new monsters, the point of interest here is the creature draped in fabric standing there. It's Gogo, the last character you will recruit in this game. After introducing itself as a master of the simulacrum, it will decide to both hone its own skills and help you on your quest by joining you in your cause. It'll join your party now; if you were traveling with less than four characters it'll now be in your party, if not, it'll be waiting on the Falcon for you. Gogo's gender is kept a mystery throughout the game, which is why I'll be referring to Gogo with 'it'. The German version just calls him a man, though. Gogo's all exciting! If you want to learn about the odd thing that is supposedly human, you might want to check out [MIMIC-LINK] For now, you can either use a Teleport Stone or the Teleport spell to get back out. Or, just hike all the way back and find the pillar of light waiting for you, if you lack warping means (it's the only way to travel!). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.66.3 Wake me up before you Gogo ********************************** Just a little talk about what you should do with Gogo now (and for the pun; I'm mighty proud of it). The best armor Gogo can equip is the Magus Robe, which stinks. It gives a + 5 to its Magic Power and + 10% Magic Evasion, so it's not all bad, but compared to the other best equips it's pretty darn lame. You can buy one in Maranda for 13000 Gil. Its other pieces of equipment? It can equip the Magus Rod, which is hands down its best option ever. As far as Helmets go, try to counter its lack of durability in most cases with more HP; if you have a Red Cap, Gogo will like it a lot. If not, just go with what gives the best Defense/Magic Defense (Genji Helm/Black Cowl). Since it has NO elemental resistances whatsoever this way, and it comes nowhere near pulling off the Force Shield (a Defense rating of 130? Are you insane?), I suggest a Thunder Shield. An Aegis Shield is an acceptable substitute, although it'll lack anything elemental-related with that set-up. As far as Relics go, something to boost its magical damage output would be fine, and something to help it out defensively (Guard Bracelet, Miracle Shoes, hell, even Protect Ring) really helps. What skills to give to Gogo? Let's face it; the thing isn't too hot on the stats. Worst Strength out of the final bunch (worse than Relm), third-worst Speed, second-worst Magic Power. So, what have we in the end? A utility character, mostly. This makes the Magic skillset excellent for it, as a lot of spells don't depend on your Magic Power to be effective (status spells, ID spells, reviving spells, etc.). Plus, while Magic tends to lack in pure power to other damaging skillsets (which is countered by the high Magic Power of the Magic wielders, mind, and I'm not counting Ultima and all), it does feature the four most common weaknesses (Fire, Ice, Lightning, Holy) in quite some power, and it's targetable. Gogo makes as adequate a Stealer as Locke. It can equip the Thief's Bracer and only the character's level is used in the Steal chance, so there's no problem there. Gogo will probably never use Bushido. Not only does it require you to use a blade with the Bushido ability (probably the Gladius), which means getting rid of the awesome Magus Rod, the ability just plain sucks when you have a free choice in the matter. Tools on Gogo is fairly acceptable. However, now that we can freely choose between skillsets, Drill/Chainsaw is just outclassed by Throw and Auto Crossbow, Flash outclassed by Grand Delta and Razor Gale, and we don't get excited over MT poisoning anymore either. What's left in Tools? MT unblockable Confuse from the Noiseblaster, which is nice enough. Not a top-tier choice in my opinion, but you can work with it. Gogo doesn't make as great a Throw ninja as Shadow, but Throw is just plain awesome. Targetable, very powerful, all elements can be applied, you name it. Great for bosses really, as you don't want to waste too many resources on ST damage. Rage is good on Gogo. Not because of the damage output, as Gau's damage output started to decline a while ago, and just because Gau gained tank abilities in return doesn't mean the 50% usage of a spell most characters can surpass all the time doesn't suck all of a sudden. Flipside, Rage grants Gogo the elemental resistances and status immunities the frail thing so desperately needs. With a large enough Rage library and knowledge over it, you can ditch the Thunder Shield for an Aegis Shield and send him away. Blitz is Gogo's trump card when it comes to damage. Blitz was designed to work well on a character with sub-par Magic Power: Sabin. Now, Gogo has even lower Magic Power that Sabin, but his equipment tends to favor his Magic Power; with the assumed Magus Rod/Magus Robe combo, that's a +12 on Magic Power right there. Phantom Rush hurts a LOT, and Razor Gale isn't too bad. Lore's eh...multiple status effects from Bad Breath is great, Mighty Guard is great, White Wind isn't directly influenced by Gogo's bad stats either, and Grand Delta is pretty darn powerful so even when Gogo's Grand Delta is inferior to Strago's, it still hurts. Yeah, Lore is a good option, although you'll find that most of the weaker Lores (Aero, Lv. ? Holy, Tsunami) just come out like a wet fart from Gogo. I'm not going to discuss Sketch, Slot, Dance as that's all WoB/early WoR Gil Toss skillsets designed to be outclassed by other means of damage output (Jump, Magic, Fixed Dice). They're all bad. Runic, in the end, is too situational to discuss here. In the end, something like this works: Mimic Magic/Rage/Tools Blitz Lore Blitz for ST damage, Lore for MT damage, protection, healing and status ailment setting, Magic for pretty much the same purpose only superior or inferior in some ways, and Mimic if something cool just happened (Mega Flare, something like that). The choice there depends on what you have and what you know. If your surrounding party members know quite a few decent spells, Magic is probably the best one out of the three. If you have the Rages and know your stuff, Rage is the more strategic option. If you lack good spells and never really bothered with Rages, Tools is a nice fallback option. Anyway, this was Gogo. Hope you have fun with the androgynous little bugger. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.66.4 The Steal command regained ********************************** So, we've just gotten the Steal command back. No more crossing fingers with Shadow's Thief's Knives, unsupported by Thief's Bracers; Gogo can Steal as often as it likes, without inflicting damage, with twice as much success as Shadow ever had thanks to the Thief's Bracer it can equip. Here's a list of worthwhile Steal moments you so far lacked the abilities for: Owzer's Mansion: Misty: rare Moogle suit, common Empty Coeurl Cat: rare Tabby Suit, common Empty Crusher: rare Empty, common Super Ball Blade Dancer: rare Moogle Suit, common Empty Caladrius: rare Chocobo Suit, common Empty Darill's Tomb: Malboro: rare X-Potion, common Empty Zone Eater cave: Covert: rare Pinwheel, common Shuriken Kamui: rare Murasame, common Ashura Wartpuck: rare Dried Meat, common Chain Flail Shambling Corpse: rare Soul Sabre, common Mythril Blade Baalzephon: rare Sasuke, common Kunai Cave of the Veldt: Twinscythe: rare Empty, common Poison Rod Cave to the Ancient Castle: Enuo: rare X-Potion, common Empty Mt. Zozo: Devil Fist: rare Brigand's Glove, common Empty Punisher: rare Bone Club, common Rising Sun Glasya Labolas: rare Muscle Belt, common Potion Ebot's Rock: Hidon: rare Thornlet, common Teleport Stone Veldt: Holy Dragon: rare Holy Lance, common X-Potion Rafflesia: rare Nutkin Suit, common Empty Still Life: rare Fake Mustache, common Empty Nightwalker: rare X-Potion, common Empty Tonberries: rare Minerva Bustier, common Empty Overworld: Brachiosaur: rare Ribbon, common Empty Tyrannosaur: rare Reed Cloak, common Empty Tumbleweed: rare Saucer, common Empty Leap Frog: rare Pinwheel, common Potion Lizard: rare Blood Sword, common Empty Peeper: rare Elixir, common Empty Basilisk: rare Tortoise Shield, common Empty Lycaon: rare X-Potion, common Empty Land Ray: rare Megalixir, common Empty Greater Mantis: rare Impartisan, common Empty Purusa: rare Moonring Blade, common Empty Mousse: rare Magicite Shard, common Empty Of special interest: - Be sure to have four pieces of Imp equipment. Best to steal four Saucers from Tumbleweeds. Since they'll never use magical attacks unless they're alone, you can set Invisible on your entire party and steal all four before you start to kill them. With these is much, much easier to take down Leviathan. [LEVIATHAN-LINK] - The animal suits you can steal in Owzer's Mansion eventually lead to a Genji Armor in the Coliseum, which is pretty much the best armor for Locke, Cyan, Edgar, Setzer, and Shadow. The animal suit here that takes the least time to turn into a Genji Armor is the Moogle Suit from the Blade Dancers. You can Control them or set Invisible to the entire party to facilitate the process. - Four Ribbons are grand, but be sure to bring Control along for Brachiosaur, as you will die if you don't. Once you've Controlled one, you'd better be level 28 as otherwise, you'll never be able to Steal, Thief's Bracer or not. - Impartisans from Greater Mantii. If Shadow with the Thief's Knives wasn't working for you, you can try again to obtain some of these odd weapons. They're awesome material to Throw as they have a stellar 254 Attack Power, and they turn into Cat-Ear Hoods (which turn into Merit Awards) at the Coliseum. Sweet! - Trying to Steal a Fake Mustache from Still Life is the only way to having more than one character with the Control command. - Kamui is the source of Holy Lances and Murakumo, if you don't have enough of those. Steal until you've found a Murasame, and bet in the Coliseum until you've won the weapon you want. - Land Rays are the fabled sources of a rare Megalixir, the item that restores HP/MP back to full for the entire party in-battle. However, since Land Rays have inherent Sap and only 1 HP, you usually only get to take one shot at it. You can counter this by casting Stop and Slow (Stop first); since the Stop status halts all other interval-based effects, Sap won't damage Land Rays so you can have more Steal attempts. Slow just prolongs the moment. Sleep doesn't stop Sap from taking damage, were you wondering. - Muscle Belts are Relics that increase your HP by 50%. They're great for those characters that fail to deliver on the defensive side (Sabin and Gogo) to increase durability in battle. Sadly, they're a rare Steal from Glasya Labolas and he has a normal Hi-Potion in the common slot. You'll just have to try a lot, I suppose. Done? You might want to dive into the Coliseum one last time now, or hunt some Rages on the Veldt, I dunno what you feel you've neglected in the past. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.67.1 Phoenix Cave ********************************** Opponents: Ouroboros (#163), Face (#164), Zeveak (#165), Seaflower (#166), Galypdes (#167), Necromancer (#168), Clymenus (#169), Chaos Dragon (#170), Red Dragon (#337) Container contents: Dragon Horn, Ribbon, Teleport Stone x2, Wing Edge Miscellaneous items: Celestriad (rare Galypdes steal), Murakumo (guaranteed Red Dragon drop) Lores: 1000 Needles, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. ? Holy Long, long ago, almost a year, you met a man in the Auction House in Jidoor that talked about a relic that could 'bring back departed souls', but he had to admit only in the Imperial capital of Vector a relic like that existed. We haven't met this object of great power yet, but a hidden letter in the painting of Emperor Gestahl mentioned 'the treasure', lying somewhere where the mountains form a star. It's more than likely this is the same item, and it's also possible this is the item Locke has been searching for. We can use all the power we can get, and with Locke still nowhere to be found, it doesn't hurt to join him in his quest. Once we get the relic he's searching for, we may be able to find him. The Phoenix Cave is indeed hidden where the mountains form a star; just north of Tzen, where you found Sabin earlier, a large mountain range has a hole right in the middle, where you can use the 'cancel' button to lower two teams of four characters down into the dungeon. You know, this is the first time that it occurs to me it's probably just a volcano. Square calls it 'Phoenix Cave' and you just stop thinking... Whom to bring? It's kind of a toss-up. On the one hand, the stronger the characters you bring, the easier a time you'll have in this dungeon. And make no mistake, even though it lacks a proper boss battle at the end, this is pretty much the Zozo/Floating Continent of the WoR; you're used to the royal treatment, and all of a sudden the battles heat up and you're in danger again. On the other hand, this is the last dungeon before we dive into the final one, so you'll want to train the ones you've been neglecting so far. I tend to take the eight characters with the lowest level, but you might like to bring the stronger ones and level the weaker ones later. You now have two parties to control; use the Y button to switch between the two. Know that there's no shame in sharing the really great equipment between the two groups; the Master's Scroll is a one-of-a-kind Relic you might like on Setzer AND Gau while they're both in another party; the same goes for items like the Red Caps, the Soul of Thamasa, the Lightbringer and the Paladin's Shield (although you should not have them yet). Monster formations: (Basic floors) Face, Face (5/16) Face, Zeveak, Necromancer, Necromancer (5/16) Clymenus, Clymenus, Necromancer (5/16) Galypdes, Chaos Dragon, Chaos Dragon (1/16) (Lava floors) Clymenus, Clymenus, Clymenus (5/16) Seaflower, Seaflower, Seaflower, Seaflower, Seaflower (5/16) Chaos Dragon, Ouroboros, Seaflower, Seaflower (5/16) Ouroboros, Seaflower, Seaflower (1/16) Most of the enemies here absorb Fire-elemental attacks and are weak to Ice. Poetic irony that this cave is therefor extra accessible by the one member who wants it the most, Celes Chere? You'll recognize Ouroboros from its palette swap Vampire Thorn. Ouroboros shares its incredible defenses, but isn't Undead so a Cure spell on them won't work. This time around though, you have plenty of barrier-piercing attacks you can utilize to straight-up murder their asses. Like most enemies in this cave, Ouroboros absorbs Fire-elemental attacks, and has a rare Phoenix Down to both Steal and find afterwards. Oh yeah, on the offense he uses Bio spells every second turn and !Negatouch (which sets Zombie) on the fourth. Loop afterwards, obviously. Face uses Attack and !Smirk, which sets Stop. When alone, it'll start using 1000 Needles which deals 1000 damage as always, and whenever it's damaged it'll have a 33 % chance of retorting with 1000 Needles too. Try to take them out in a single shot; Blizzara and Blizzaga spells work like a charm. Zeveak are annoying as they may use their Special !Whirling Umbrella on their first turn, which sets Confuse. Every second turn may feature the Ice-/Water- elemental Flash Rain, which should be absorbed or nullified by a large portion of your characters by now. When alone, it will start to use El Niño on you, which is about twice as powerful. Weak against Ice and vulnerable to ID. Chaos Dragon attacks rarely, but when it does it's probably bad. Most of it's turns are spent doing nothing; the only exceptions are its second turn and its seventh turn, after which it spends another five turns waiting before looping. Its second turn has a 33 % chance of Chaos Dragon using Disaster, an attack that you probably haven't seen; it can be MT'd and sets Darkness, Imp, Doom, Silence, Confuse and Float. Its second turn has it use !Incinerate one-third of the time, a Special that sets Death. Seaflowers are kinda annoying. They often attack in large numbers and have quite a few Hit Points (4200) for cannon fodder. Also, their Special !Tentacle sets Poison. Mass Ice- and Lightning-elemental attacks are the way to go; Banish also gets the job done very nicely. Galypdes is famed for its rare Steal, the Celestriad, a Relic which cuts MP usage for EVERY Magic spell and Lore technique down to 1. Trivia: this means it actually raises Reflect ??? its MP cost, as it normally takes 0 MP to cast. Anyway, Galypdes has mean physicals (!Flap hurts especially bad), absorbs Fire and sometimes uses Cyclonic out of the blue. It may counter damage with a 33 % chance of using a Shamshir attack (which you can have Celes absorb with her Runic blade, just to be on the safe side). Necromancers, according to Anthology, are unfortunate mortals that have been hit by a !Zombie Stick attack. They're like vampires; a spreading plague over the lands. Necromancers are extremely dangerous, make no mistake about that. Why? They can use !Zombie Stick on their very first turn, which obviously sets Zombie. That's annoying enough, but it doesn't stop there. Every time Necromancer is damaged, even if it IS fatal, it may counter with a Gravity or Graviga spell on the character that damaged it. Also, when only a single Necromancer is alive, it will drop its normally physical-oriented AI script and randomly cast Death, Banish and Flare spells, which are all bad. Their Flare spells deal around 1000 damage. The way to go at them is Raise spells: Necromancers are Undead. Since Raise spells don't damage you won't have to worry about the counter-attacks, so as long as you make sure no Necromancer is left alone you shouldn't need to see their wrath in action. Clymenus' are the only opponents in this volcano that don't absorb Fire. They like to use it, though. They'll normally use Fira spells for the hell of it. If you use Reflect spells, they'll get into all kinds of crazy shenanigans, too. If any of your characters has Reflect status, they'll start casting Cura, Reflect and Haste spells on you; if any of them has the Reflect status, they'll start casting Fire, Fira and Firaga spells on themselves. Very fun. They have incredibly high Magic Defense, so stick to physical attacks, especially Holy-elemental ones will be succesful. Let's make the first party you act with Party #1, and the other party, Party #2. Easy enough, right? Let's dive into this volcano! Since most of the 'puzzles' in this dungeon consist out of clever switching between the two parties, I've taken the liberty of including a double hard return every time you switch parties; it's an eyesore in the FAQ, but really helps in my opinion. Note about the spikes in the cavern: they deal 400 damage every time you land or walk on them. They disregard status ailments, so Petrified character may still be hurt by them. Also, the spikes will NEVER kill a character; if a character has 400 HP or less, it'll set the amount of current HP to 1. Party #1: Walk inside of the cave. There are no enemies on the cliff, but there is the crane of the Falcon waiting for you; you can grab it any time you like to return to the Falcon with all characters aboard. Find the pressure tile inside and stand on it; it should open a pathway. When you get off the tile it closes again, so you'll have to stay put. Change to the other party. Party #2: Walk inside, and enter the newly opened door. On the other side, there's spikes to the top-right, a chest to the left and a passage to another pressure tile to the bottom-right. If you try to get the chest, you'll fall down through a gap in the floor onto some spikes, which deliver 400 HP of damage to your entire party. If you did this, you can go around to the bottom, up the stairs and stand on the pressure tile to permanently extend a bridge to the chest, which you can now open for a Wing Edge. Later, you'll be able to do this without taking 400 spike damage. Regardless, you'll want to move your party on top of the pressure tile right above the pressure tile #1 is standing on, and switch to the other party. There are two options here: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Option A, the shorter route which deals out-battle damage to your party: Party #1: Take the party over the spikes. If you're smart, you can minimize the damage to 400 a character (one spike-tile). To the bottom-right, there is a chest containing a Teleport Stone; note that the pathway is partially obscured by a rock ceiling. Return, and go down a level (ignore the spike-guarded chest, it's empty) and you'll find yourself on the lava level. Go to the left and up. Stand on the pressure tile there to raise some stones and go back, and trace down the pathway. Go all the way (you'll find an empty chest along the way) and switch. Party #2: Walk over the spikes (they'll deal a total of 1200 damage to your party). Go down the stairway to the left. If you haven't picked up the Wing Edge in the chest, do so now. If you have or if you're done, jump over the newly formed tiles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Option B, the longer route which doesn't deal out-battle damage to your party: Party #1: Go up until you, not far from your starting point, come across another pressure tile. Stand on it to remove the spikes that were in #2's way earlier. Switch. Party #2: Walk across the disappeared spikes. To your left is a stairway going down; you can use it to enter a lower level, so you can re-appear again to claim your Wing Edge chest on the other end. The other path, a wooden bridge over the lava, is broken off for now, so if you grabbed the Wing Edge earlier, there's no reason to go down here. On the upper level, you'll want to walk to the far right, where you come across a stairway leading to another pressure tile. It removes some spikes in the area #1 is standing in. Switch. Party #1: Finally, some real action with #1! Walk over the disappeared spikes until you come across a stairway. Past the stairway is some more removed-spikes pathway to a chest, but the chest is Empty! You never know, maybe some random scoundrel or even Siegfried might have emptied these chests, but maybe it was Locke? Regardless, turn back and descend the stairway. On the lower level, there are two paths; ignore the right one for now, as to the left is an (empty) chest and a pressure tile which causes some rocks to rise out of the lava, creating a pathway for #2. Switch. Party #2: Go the left and descend a level. Now, jump over the newly raised rocks to the other side, and again to reach the new area. On the other side, there's a chest with some spikes in front of it. You can bet your life and limbs to open it, but it'll just appear to be empty as the other chest, so don't. Before you enter the narrow passage, notice the pressure tile near the big rock blocking your path to the right. Stand on it, to cause another passageway to open, blocking yours. Switch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Party #1: There's really no other way to go but down, following the path across the lava. You'll come across another chest, but it'll be empty like the others. Pressing on, enter the passageway #2 created for you. Go around and ignore the path leading over the spikes. Step onto the pressure tile, which restores the passageway to make room for #2. Switch. Party #2: For #2, there's a Save Point to the left, but you'll just want to stand on the pressure tile just there. Party #1: Move up and to the left, over the disappeared spikes. You'll come across a stairway. Go down the stairway to the lower level. A jumping puzzle now! Jump over the rocks to the left, below and to the right. Now, the first jumping option takes you to an empty chest; the other one takes you to a stairway going up again. You'll come across a skeleton switch; flip it to allow all the water from the upper level to flow over the lava, solidifying it so you can walk on it. Going down the little stairway just shows you that you won't be able to go on any further, so switch. Party #2: To the far left, there's another pressure tile. Stand on it to clear the path for #1. Party #1: Don't go all the way down below so far; there's a boss battle here, and you'll want the free option between your two parties. Go up the little stairway, and you'll see three pressure tiles: one up, and two below. You'll want to hit the single one. Switch. Party #2: As soon as you get off the pressure tile, you'll clear your own path to the other side. You can just go one way, which will take you to the solidified lava. You can now get to the unopened chest in the middle, which in a shocking turn of events isn't empty but contains a Ribbon. Go up the stairway that you couldn't get to by jumping over the rocks, and you'll find yourself on the upper level once more. Walk under the ceiling that blocks your view over your characters, and you'll reach a dead end; or not, as #2 created a pathway for you by raising the two rocks. Jump to the other side. Now, occupy one of the two pressure tiles that are right next to each other. Switch. Party #1: Get off the pressure tile and occupy the other pressure tile that's has been left. A pathway will clear. On the other side, you'll find a stairway leading to the exit of this dungeon. Party #1 or #2: Can go fight the roaming dragon here now. I should note that it's keeping itself near a chest here, which contains a Dragon Horn that you might find interesting. Party #2 or #1: Continue down the only path you can follow. Eventually, you'll find the last person you were missing: Locke Cole. And he just reached his life-long ambition too; the lost relic that is able to restore life, the Magicite remains of the Phoenix Esper. The scene switches to the village of Kohlingen. Note that you can return here later if you want to; there will be a red sparkle to the right of the Phoenix Esper chest. This is merely a warp sparkle that you can use to return to the Falcon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.67.2 The battle with the Red Dragon ********************************** Red Dragon Level: 67, HP: 30000, MP: 1780 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Murakumo (always) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Ice, Water Special: !Eraser: Unblockable Attack + Removes Reflect Sketch : Lv. ? Holy, Firaga Control: Attack, !Eraser Vulnerable to: Poison, Confuse, Slow Attacks: Attack, !Eraser, Fira, Firaga, Flare, Lv. 4 Flare, Fireball, Southern Cross, Flare Star Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail The Red Dragon is red, and lives in a volcano. He's a Fire dragon, in other words! You'll be laughing now, I assume; not only have you already spotted his weakness to the Confuse status, the Fire element is the one most easily protected against. The Red Jacket, Ice Shield, Minerva Bustier, and Blizzard Orb nullify it, the Flame Shield and Berserker Ring absorb it, and if those resources aren't enough, the Force Shield, Thunder Shield, Cat-ear Hood, Snow Scarf and Force Armor all halve damage done by the element. Yeah, even though the Red Dragon tries to counter this by employing Flare spells and the Lv. 4 Flare attack, he's still fairly easy. Every 40 seconds, Red Dragon will use a particularly powerful attack; either Southern Cross, Flare Star, or Lv. 4 Flare. Flare Star still deals Fire- elemental damage based on your level, Southern Cross is just a strong MT Fire- elemental attack and Lv. 4 Flare deals non-elemental barrier-piercing damage to every character whose level is divisible by 4. Normally, Red Dragon switches between Fira (66%) and Fireball (33%). When he reaches 10240 HP (which is after having absorbed 19760 HP damage), he'll switch to Firaga (66%) or a Flare spell (33%). All these spells except for Fireball can be Reflected, but that may not be the wisest action to take; every character under the influence of Reflect will be targeted every second turn by !Eraser, from top character to bottom character, just like the living Behemoth King and his !Devil Claw attack. !Eraser removes the Reflect status, but not when the status is inherent (through Reflect Rings or Rage). Like most bosses, the Red Dragon has a 33% Attack counter to every damage he takes. What to do? He has a fairly low amount of MP, and all his dangerous attacks need MP to function. In his less dangerous phase, throw up your barriers (summon Fenrir and/or Golem, Kirin's Holy Aura is useful as always, Hastega, Mighty Guard, you name it). When you're done, start casting Rasp! You can check if he's out of MP with Libra if you can't keep track yourself. You should have crippled him before his first 40-second attack comes around. Now that Red Dragon is nothing but a big lizard of fire, attack him with attacks. It doesn't really matter, as he's pretty much done by now, but the strongest attacks tend to be Ice-elemental ones; the Blizzaga spell, thrown Icebrand swords (or Water Scrolls), the usual Phantom Rush and Dragon Horn Jump attacks, whatever works. Note that Tri-Disaster is absorbed, though. You can toy around with Confuse if you want, but it's not necessary. It's possible you figured you'd want Locke ASAP after obtaining the Falcon, grabbing Mog and his Molulu's Charm for a no-encounter second party. If so, you came here without any equipment that absorbs Fire. Reflect Rings help against Fira, but Fireball deals around 400 damage to all, and Southern Cross deals a whoppin' 2000 damage to all. You can still win, though. Edgar can both Poison (Bioblaster) and Confuse (Noiseblaster) the Red Dragon. If you keep Red Dragon continusouly occupied chasing its own tail while being crippled by Poison, you won't have to endure any of his attacks. You'll have to keep reapplying, since Red Dragon was made immune to the Vanish spell in the GBA game. Edgar by his lonesome may not be able to keep up with Red Dragon since it smacks itself out of it every turn with physical attacks. Celes learns Confuse at level 32, and if you have no other characters with the Confuse spell, Cait Sith can help out at least once in a pinch. Good luck! At the end, it's an easy battle. The Murakumo you get is little to celebrate, as you should be neck-deep in the buggers if you ever had the wish to do so. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.68.1 Locke Cole ********************************** Miscellaneous items: Elixir, Flame Shield, Phoenix Down, Valiant Knife, X-Ether, X-Potion (obtained from Locke) Magicite: Phoenix Locke re-enters the party after having finally completed his life-long task and finding it to be a futile effort. However, he barely seems to mind; he's been released, not crushed. With him he brings the remains of the Phoenix Esper, and the treasures of the Phoenix Cave he collected along the way; an X-Potion, a Phoenix Down, an X-Ether, an Elixir, a Flame Shield, and Locke's primary source of pride, the Valiant Knife. Note that there were but four empty chests in the Phoenix Cave; the Phoenix Down might have been a rare drop from a monster, but we're still left with a mystery item. Bleh, who the hell cares? :P First off, if you haven't yet gotten Gogo by now, this is where the Steal command re-enters your game. If you want to work it, go check out section 4.66.3 to learn what Steal can do for you now. Locke has returned to your team! Defensively, there are few things to say. He has the more or less standard equipment options, which he shares with the likes of Setzer, Cyan, and Shadow. The Genji Armor is his strongest option, which is nicely complemented by the Thunder Shield for elemental resistances. If equipped with the Valiant Knife, the Red Cap is especially nice on Locke, as it indirectly boosts its average damage output with the Valiant Knife. On the offense, there are three weapons worth nothing for Locke: The Sniper. Remember the Hawkeye from the late WoB? The Sniper is exactly that, only with updated Attack Power to make a stand in the WoR. No stat boosts, but it does hit for 1.5 as much damage 50%, and three times as much damage against Floating targets. The Wing Edge. His second-strongest normal weapon. Back Row compatible, +7 to both Strength and Speed (which both matter little), +1 to Stamina, +2 to Magic Power and the Assassin Dagger's X-type Instant Death ability. There are two in this game, so you could Genji Glove it up if you want. Nice if you're going out to Steal anyway, but this time Locke CAN dish out damage like other characters, and that's because of the: Valiant Knife. The first noticeable feature of this awesome weapon is the fact it is barrier-piercing. Every strike is stronger than a Raging Fist or Fang attack coming from him. The second feature is even more important; every strike, (max HP - current HP) damage is added to the damage you're doing. In other words, that's what Revenge Blast does; the more hurt Locke is, the more damage he'll do. It's prone to FF VIII Limit Break-fever - let's walk around while we're all busted up so we can do three times as much damage as usual - but it does work. The disadvantage over the other two weapons is the fact it isn't Back Row compatible and doesn't give any stat boosts. So, we're complete! Time to take on Kefka? There are two more things to do here, and we're going to get a few VERY broken items/abilities out of it. Like that, dontcha? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.68.2 Narshe revisited with Locke; Ragnarok and the Cursed Shield ********************************** Opponents: Test Rider (#182), Lukhavi (#184), Garm (#188) Miscellaneous items: Cursed Shield (given to by NPC), Ragnarok (choose the sword when given the choice) Magicite: Ragnarok (choose the rock when given the choice) Welcome to Narshe! Lone Wolf tipped us off earlier; only a true treasure hunter could pick the locks of these houses. When Narshe was abandoned for reasons never explained in the game, the inhabitants were clearly planning to return, as they locked their stores and houses carefully. Meh, those items won't be needed by them when Kefka kills them all, so it's only logical we should be able to take them all. Besides, we need to find the owner of the Weapon Shop anyway; the thief at the bottom of the Cultist's Tower, where we found Strago, told us he was looking for us. Buildings locked include the following: The Inn. Unlocking this building will get you nothing. The Item Shop. Same here; there are neither salesmen nor leftover items here. The Relic Shop. Derelict like a plundered tomb. The Weapon Shop. Go around the counter and descend the stairs. Here, you'll find the owner of the shop. He shows you a piece of Magicite, and offers to forge a weapon out of it. You can choose between the Ragnarok Magicite and the Ragnarok Sword here. With the addition of some of the GBA tricks you can pull off, the Ragnarok sword can be obtained infinetely through other means, so the obvious choice would be to choose the Esper. For a full comparison between the two, I suggest reading up on them in section 8.10; for a detailed explanation of the powers of the Ragnarok Esper's summon attack, follow [METAMORPH-LINK]. In short: The Esper's summon attack is pretty crappy but does grant access to some rare items you could otherwise get only a very limited amount of, while the Esper also teaches Ultima at a x1 rate, which is the strongest spell in the game. On the other hand, the Ragnarok Sword gives + 7 on all stats except for Speed (where it grants a +3), randomly casts Flare, deals MP-driven constant criticals and gives 30% Evasion and Magic Evasion. You can bet it at the Coliseum for the Lightbringer, which gives +7 on all stats, has the same MP- driven criticals ability, randomly casts Holy with twice the power of a normal Holy spell (due to the automatic criticals; Flare doesn't get to enjoy a power boost), has Back Row compatibility and gives 50% Evasion and Magic Evasion. The house above the Relic Shop has been empty throughout the WoB, but now you will find an old man sick in bed. He gives you the Cursed Shield, a possessed shield of awesome power, but useless now due to a curse. It's up to you to break it and unleash its awesome abilities if you're up to the task. The curse is broken when the shield is equipped on a living character other than Gogo for 256 battles. It doesn't matter if the character dies during the battle, as long as he or she is alive at the end of it. Gogo can't uncurse the Cursed Shield as the counter is semi-tied to gaining Magic AP, which Gogo doesn't gain at all. Equipping the Cursed Shield is bad. It makes the equipped character weak to all elements, and LOWERS all stats by 7. Also, it gives the equipper inherent Confuse, Berserk, Sap, Silence and Doom. You wind up with a Berserked character that hits you every turn with a physical and dies after a while. You can either counter these effects with a Ribbon/Lich Ring combo (the Ribbon protects against all but Doom, and the Lich Ring makes sure you're revived when the counter reaches that final 0), or get it to work to your advantage by equipping the Healing Rod and possibly the Master's Scroll for mad healing. There's two little vintage strategies I want to mention here that include the Cursed Shield: One: Relm/Strago/Gogo, Cursed Shield, no Ribbon, Healing Rod, possibly Master's Scroll. Every turn, this character will heal random characters. Yeah, it's kinda cute, but the fact it never got an official name such as 'Spinning Right Round Relm' or 'Top Man Strago' or something like 'Whirlwind Wee Girl' kinda should tip you off on the fact that it's not all that useful. Two: This strategy requires the elusive Intangir Rage. Equip the Cursed Shield on Gau or Gogo, as well as the Peace Ring, then Rage Intangir. The Peace Ring will prevent Berserk and Confuse, and the Intangir Rage will make the Cursed Shield bearer absorb all elements, as well as provide protection from the Doom timer. The Cursed Shld' Silence-inflicing nature will prevent the Intangir Rager from casting Transfusion. The Rager, alongside the elemental and status ailment protection, also gains inherent Protect, Shell, Haste and Invisible. Congratulations, you have created a creature that does almost nothing and will never die. Like a pet rock! The Paladin's Shield is awesome. It allows the equipped to absorb Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Holy while nullifying the effects of Earth, Poison, Wind, and Water. In other words, the wearer becomes entirely immune to elemental attacks. Add to that the second-best Defense rating (Tortoise Shield on an Imp beats it) and third-best Magic Defense rating (Tortoise Shield and Force Shield beat it) and + 40% Evasion and Magic Evasion and you've got yourselves the ultimate shield right there. The big bonus on top of all this is the fact it teaches Ultima at a x1 rate to the wearer. The quickest way to uncurse the Cursed Shield is fighting battles on Solitary Island. If you want some kind of extra meaning to the hours on the Solitary Island, you can bring Locke, Gogo, and Shadow to try to steal as many Elixirs (and possibly Megalixirs) as possible. If you want to go into the desert, be sure to equip Amulets or Ribbons to protect against Land Ray's !Poison Tail and Black Dragon's !Bone Powder. As far as (the) Ragnarok goes, you should take a look at [RAGNAROK-LINK] if you went with the Esper. If you went with the Sword, you absolutely want to trade it in for the Lightbringer at the Coliseum; aside from Ragnarok's random Flare being non-elemental and Lightbringer's random Holy being Holy-elemental, there is NO reason to stick to the original sword; - Ragnarok - Lightbringer Opponent: Daedalus Daedalus attacks with Attack, Flare, Flare Star, and Blaster. If you equip a Reflect Ring and a Safety Bit/Memento Ring, Flare and Blaster are not a threat anymore; a Flame Shield/Ice Shield or the Minerva Bustier takes care of Flare Star and the Dancing Flame Daedalus sometimes uses to counter Attacks with. Attack is all that's left, and that's nothing to worry about. Don't send in Relm; her Sketch attacks will usually make a Quake spell appear, which hurts her as well. Obviously, from now on, I won't be assuming that you have either the Lightbringer OR the Paladin's Shield; choosing the Esper over the Sword is the legitimate choice, and obtaining the Paladin's Shield is quite a bit of work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.68.3 Gau and his father ********************************** This is just a cutscene you're getting nothing out of, but still builds the character of Gau and strengthens the relationship of Gau and Sabin, so it's worth watching. It's kinda funny too. Relatively speaking. You'll want to bring, ideally, Locke and Edgar to accompany Sabin and Gau, as that'll net you the most individual cutscenes. If you brought Sabin to the crazy man in the shack by himself earlier, the following conversation will occur: Aged Man: Oh, hello again! It's been a while. Let me tell you, those repairs of yours were top notch! Sabin: I told you, I'm not—— Aged Man: Now, hurry up and fix that chair over there! You're gonna need to stand on it so you can fix the roof! Gau: ...Fa-ther? At this point, Sabin leaves the house, the party splits up, and Sabin says: "You don't suppose...? ...Could this guy be Gau's father?" When you bring both Sabin and Gau to the crazy man, this will happen (with the same conversation preceding it): Sabin: You don't suppose... Gau, couldn't that man be your father? Gau: Uwaoh... Sabin: Come on, Gau... don't you think? Gau: Fa-ther...? Sabin: Yeah. That guy's gotta be your dad! Gau: ...? ...Gau...dad!? Uwaooo Gau! Sabin: All right! Let's go tell him! He needs to know you're his son! Sabin: Wait a minute... This is a once-in-a-lifetime event! Sabin: We should at least dress you up a bit! Let's go to Jidoor and get you spiffed up! (The gang is now at the Inn in Jidoor. Gau is standing at the table) Sabin: No, Gau! How many times do I have to tell you not to eat with your fingers? Gau: Uwao... Sabin: Don't say "uwao" when you mean "sorry"! Gau: Yaoh! Sabin: ... (The gang is now at the Item Shop in Jidoor. Everybody's busy) (If you recruited Terra:) Terra: How do you like these? Wouldn't they look good on him? Oh, but I liked those other ones so much, too...! ...*mumble*...everything you liked......boy wouldn't even be able to move... Terra: What was that!? (Sabin freaks out and hides behind the counter) N-nothing! Didn't say a thing! ...Whew. That was close... (Always) Celes: What to do, what to do... Oh, this is nice! ...But I need something that would look good on Gau, don't I? Hmm... Oh, pick something, already...! Celes: What did you say!? (Sabin freaks out and hides behind the counter) ...N-nothing! (If you recruited Cyan, and he is not in your active party:) Cyan: Now this is a fine and jaunty little hat! Maybe if he were a clown... Cyan: What was that? If he wore a crown? Ha! We don't want his father thinking he's some kind of prince, now, do we? ... (Always) Sabin: I know just the thing! That's a kenpo gi... Sabin: It's perfect! Functional, yet sporty! That's, uh...not exactly what I had in mind... (If Setzer is not in your active party:) Setzer: *sigh*... Not an ounce of fashion sense among the lot of you... Setzer: Excuse me, sir. Could you order another set of clothes like the ones I'm wearing? Setzer, no! We're trying to make him look better, not worse! (If both Edgar and Locke are in your active party) (Gau now wears a 3-piece tuxedo Armani'd be proud to weep over) Edgar: I've got it! A tuxedo, a silk hat...and a rose between his teeth! Locke: Talk about overdoing it! Sheesh... I guess we'll have to go with a bandana on his head after all. (Gau pretty much now wears what Locke is wearing, admiring the red bandana on his head) Edgar: A bandana? I thought we were trying to make him look presentable! Guess we all know better than to expect any sort of class out of Locke, though... Locke: What was that!? Why don't you try saying that again? (Locke attacks Edgar, and sounds of punching and eventually the good old cartoonish birds-around-the-head sound the Confuse spell makes) When returning to Gau's father, there's is also another check made. This dialogue can also be accessed outside the Gau-centric cutscene, but there's no other logical time to visit this guy so I wanted to include it here. Whenever you have obtained the Emperor's Letter after talking twice to the portrait in Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor, but before you have recruited Locke, the following dialogue will appear when you talk to the old man: Aged Man: Oh! You finally come to do those repairs? "No, actually I was wondering if you knew anything about Emperor Gestahl's map..." Aged Man: The emperor's map...? Seems like that's all anyone wants to talk about these days! "Pardon?" Aged Man: Little while back, another repairman wearing a bandana came here asking the same thing... So I told him! "Then...where is it!?" Aged Man: It's where the mountains form a shape like a star... Sheesh! Why didn't you just ask me from the beginning? No need to be so shy! For the record, this 'map' is never mentioned outside of this cutscene, and neither is there ANY information about why our characters apparantly decide this guy should know something about Gestahl's possessions and he actually does. It's just weird. The rest of the cutscene is as mandatory, as it is sad, so I won't be giving the information away here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.69.1 The Cultist's Tower and the battle with Holy Dragon ********************************** Opponents: Magic Urn (#221), Level 10 Magic (#222), Level 20 Magic (#223), Level 30 Magic (#224), Level 40 Magic (#225), Level 50 Magic (#226), Level 60 Magic (#227), Level 70 Magic (#228), Level 80 Magic (#229), Level 90 Magic (#230), Magic Master (#330), Holy Dragon (#344) Container contents: Air Anchor, Force Armor, Genji Shield, Kagenui, Safety Bit, Soul of Thamasa Miscellaneous items: Crystal Orb (rare Magic Master steal), Holy Lance (Holy Dragon drop and rare Holy Dragon steal) Welcome to the Cultist's Tower! We've probably been here before; if not for some Moogle raiding, we picked up Strago here with Relm earlier. Regardless of the actions you've taken so far, I've mentioned the Cultist's Tower quite a few times so far, always advising you to wait with fighting the final opponent on the very top. Now, it's time for the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny: we're going to tackle this huge erect symbol of Kefka's manhood. Monster formations: (Cultist's Tower Inside) Level 90 Magic (5/16) Level 50 Magic (5/16) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (6/16) (Air Anchor Room) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (always) (Top and Fourth Tier) Level 90 Magic, Level 80 Magic (5/16) Level 80 Magic, Level 80 Magic (5/16) Level 90 Magic, Level 60 Magic (5/16) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (1/16) (Third Tier) Level 60 Magic, Level 30 Magic, Level 10 Magic, Level 10 Magic (5/16) Level 70 Magic, Level 70 Magic, Level 50 Magic (5/16) Level 70 Magic, Level 50 Magic, Level 40 Magic (5/16) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (1/16) (Second Tier) Level 50 Magic (5/16) Level 40 Magic, Level 50 Magic, Level 60 Magic (5/16) Level 30 Magic, Level 20 Magic, Level 10 Magic (5/16) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (1/16) (Bottom Tier) Level 10 Magic, Level 20 Magic (5/16) Level 30 Magic, Level 30 Magic, Level 30 Magic (5/16) Level 40 Magic, Level 20 Magic, Level 20 Magic (5/16) Magic Urn, Magic Urn (1/16) Magic Urn is a kinky enemy. Well...enemy? If it does intend to harm you in the first place, it seems to assume you're undead. The first turn, it'll use either a Remedy item or an Ether the second turn a Hi-Potion or Elixir, and the third turn an Ether or a Hi-Ether. If any of your characters has Death set, it'll use a Phoenix Down on it (due to a bug, it'll respond to the Reflect status in the PSX versions). If one is Petrified, it'll use a Gold Needle item (due to a bug, it responds to Protect in the PSX versions). After it has used an item, it has a 33% at fleeing the battle using Flee; it'll also sometimes flee when you damage it. With 100 HP, absorption of all elements and status ailment invulnerability, it's difficult to harm the thing without killing it. If you have trouble accepting help or simply want to speed things up, the only way of killing these things is Berserking a character, casting Drain, Meteor, or Ultima or summoning Bahamut, Maduin, Ragnarok, or Quetzalli. If you smell great Rage potential here, you're absolutely right. Level 10 Magic casts level 1 spells every turn, and will counter any damage done to him by either a Slow, Stop, or Haste spell. They're undead, and have the normal Undead weaknesses: Fire and Holy, while absorbing Poison. Vulnerable to Silence, non-Reflective, Floating. No threat to a Reflect Ring party. Level 20 Magic casts ID attacks. Gravity, Graviga and Break the first turn, Gravity, Graviga and Banish the second turn (loops afterwards). Banish is the most dangerous by far. He counters every damage done with either a Rasp, Confuse, or Protect spell. Weak to Poison, vulnerable to ID, Reflective. One of the more dangerous enemies here to a Reflect Ring party; make sure you take them out quickly. Level 30 Magic casts level 2 spells, and will counter every damage done with either an Imp, Osmose, or Reflect spell. Weak to Poison, absorbs Holy, non- Reflective. Level 40 Magic casts Drain, Break, or Vanish every turn. He will counter your attacks with either Silence or Sleep. Floating, weak to Lightning, absorbs Poison, non-Reflective, vulnerable to Silence. Level 50 Magic is your typical undead mage, casting Poison, Bio, and Death the first turn, and spends the next turn casting either Esuna (33%) or Dispel (66%) on a monster. When damaged, it will retort with either a Berserk, Slow, or Hastega spell. Undead, weak to Fire and Holy, absorb Poison, vulnerable to ID and Silence, non-Reflective. Level 60 Magic casts Quake, Tornado and Holy. When damaged, he'll cast Osmose, Slowga, or Regen on a single character. Weak to Fire-elemental spells, absorbs Ice-elemental spells, Floating, vulnerable to ID and Silence. Non-Reflective. Level 70 Magic casts the level 3 spells. When damaged, it'll respond with Sleep, Rasp, or Shell. Absorbs Fire, weak to Ice and Water. Reflective, but vulnerable to ID and Silence. Level 80 Magic is finally an opponent with some sophistication; she's a lady, after all. She'll cast Cura, Esuna or Haste when a character is Reflective. If that's not the case, but a monster is Reflective, she'll cast level 3 spells on all monsters. If nobody on the battlefield has the Reflect status, she'll just go with Poison or Bio spells. When damaged while characters around have the Reflect status, she'll counter with Curaga, Cure, or Reraise (which can't be Reflected...poor confused gal). When damaged while monsters with the Reflect status are around, she'll cast Stop, Dispel, or Holy on a monster. If she's damaged with NO Reflective targets around, she'll do nothing. Weak to Poison, non-Reflective, vulnerable to ID. Level 90 Magic is the strongest random encounter here. The first three turns may feature Flare, Meteor, or Meltdown. Meteor is the most dangerous of these three, but Meltdown is especially annoying, as Level 90 Magic absorbs Wind. Every fourth turn, the guy can cast a Dispel spell and up to three Flare spells. When damaged, he may counter with Stop, Thundaga or Reraise. Reflective, Floating, vulnerable to Stop. So yeah. I've never found much satisfaction in the Cultist's Tower specific kind of challenge, but maybe you're going bananas behind your screen, I dunno. Here's a set of small tables to remind you of the opponents weaknesses: Reflective Undead Floating ID-protected Level 10 Magic - Yes Yes - Level 20 Magic Yes - - - Level 30 Magic - - - - Level 40 Magic - - Yes Yes Level 50 Magic - Yes - - Level 60 Magic - - Yes Yes Level 70 Magic Yes - - - Level 80 Magic - - - - Level 90 Magic Yes - - Yes Silence, Berserk, Stop: Level 10 Magic: Silence, Berserk Level 20 Magic: Level 30 Magic: Berserk Level 40 Magic: Silence Level 50 Magic: Silence, Stop Level 60 Magic: Silence Level 70 Magic: Silence, Stop Level 80 Magic: Level 90 Magic: Berserk, Stop How to handle them: Level 10 Magic: a Raise spell Level 20 Magic: Banish or Break spells (bounce off Reflect Ring characters) Level 30 Magic: Break spells Level 40 Magic: Silence Level 50 Magic: a Raise spell Level 60 Magic: Silence Level 70 Magic: Banish or Break spells (bounce off Reflect Ring characters) Level 80 Magic: Break spells Level 90 Magic: Stop (bounce off Reflect Ring characters) On the whole, especially against the weaker opponents, you may just want to go all-out offensive. Spells such as Meteor and Ultima never fail to deliver damage no matter who the opponent is, and since nobody absorb Lightning- elemental attacks, cast Thundaga on all four or your Reflect Ring characters to hit them. Whom to bring? That really depends. Know that the Cultist's Tower is very special, and that ascending the tower means that you will temporarily lose all your skills except for Magic. Obviously, those with high Magic Power are favored, but much more important is how much you built up your Magic skillset. If somebody knows Ultima, bring him or her along no matter what else he or she has going on; next to that, Meteor, Flare, Thundaga, Stop, Silence, Raise, and curative and restorative spells are pretty much what you'll be wielding, so you'll want to bring those with you. Typically, assuming their Magic skillset is roughly the same, you'll want something like Terra, Celes, Relm, and whoever. If only one or two characters know Ultima, bring Gogo along so it miraculously knows Ultima too. Preparation: Reflect Rings are VITAL. You WILL want a Reflect Ring on every character. Inherent Reflect status makes climbing the tower much easier, and is a very important factor when fighting the strongest mage this world has to offer, Magic Master. Also, know that you'll be casting and receiving Magic spells only, so that Attack Power of weapons and Defense rating of equipment is pointless. Equip accordingly. Ribbons are very nice as well, by the way, as a lot of status ailment spells will be coming your way, sometimes reflected off barriers thus penetrating your magic shield of justice and sunlight you call a Reflect Ring. Also, make sure you cast Float on the party. A surprise Quake is easily countered but can be equally painful. Notes: At the Cultist's Tower, Attack is turned into Magic and every secondary skill disappears. Item's still there, but that's it. If you send Gogo up there, give it the Attack command as that'll turn into Magic (while its Magic command will be removed). Umaro doesn't suffer a bit from the Cultist's Tower's strange effect, as he will perform normally. When Berserked, characters will just use Attack. On the first part of the stairway, there's a door we can enter. Enter and raid the chest; it contains a Safety Bit. The Safety Bit protects the wearer from Instant Death-magic; it's basically a Memento Ring for everybody. But wait a minute, didn't that thief in Maranda mention how one of his companions mumbled 'to the right of the treasure chest'? The thieves can never have gone too far, so you'd better check it out. Press the action button when standing to the right of the treasure chest. Something rumbles, and when you leave the door another one has appeared below you! When you enter this one, you can find a chest containing an Air Anchor, Edgar's most rare Tool. The Air Anchor does the following. Once an enemy is hit by the Air Anchor, it is allowed one more action, after which it dies. It never misses, unless the target is immune to Instant Death attacks. The Air Anchor also deals damage, which is entirely redundant (as no damage will be done if it misses, and the damage is useless if the target dies the next round anyway). I myself have always liked the Air Anchor because it never fails and you can focus attacks on other opponents while you know the Anchored one has been taken care of; others will claim the Air Anchor is a scrubby Tool that allows for another attack while so many other ID attacks like Death/Snare/Zantetsuken do not. The only battles in the Air Anchor room feature Magic Urn. Not only do they heal you with a multitude of potions, they also Flee on their own after a while. They have a kick-ass Rage (allows Gau to absorb all eight elements regardless of equipment and immunity to all status ailments while casting Curaga half the time), so you'll want to meet them at least once. We press on! The door in the second part of the stairway contains a Genji Shield, which is a nice enough shield; third-best Defense in the game (lower than the legendary Paladin's Shield and oddball Tortoise Shield), respectable Magic Defense and 20% Evasion and Magic Evasion added to the wearer. The door in the third part of the stairway contains the Kagenui, the most powerful Dirk for Shadow. It has a 25% chance of casting Stop every time a strike is made, but gives nothing in terms of fringe benefits. Famous for Coliseum tactics against the likes of Typhon and Siegfried, both vulnerable to the ailment and very hard to defeat by other means. What the room also features is the Holy Dragon. [HDRAGON-LINK] Holy Dragon Level: 71, HP: 18500, MP: 12000 Steal: Holy Lance (rare), X-Potion (common), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Holy Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : Flare, Holy Control: Attack, Holy, Holy, Holy Vulnerable to: Silence, Slow, Stop Attacks: Holy, Dispel Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail Wow. There is SO little I can say about Holy Dragon here. He casts up to three Holy spells every turn. When hit by a Magic spell, he has a 66% chance of countering with a Dispel spell. And that's it. You've seen a palette swap of the guy earlier, honestly, trying to drone on gets kinda embarrassing right now. He casts nothing but spells, and is vulnerable to Silence. That's all there is to it, just cast a Silence spell and you're done. You don't have to bother with Slow, Stop, and all that, just cast Silence and attack the guy with offensive spells. If you're getting low on MP, use Osmose. Try not to swallow anything sharp while playing, it's the only situation I can imagine where a loss is actually possible. If you brought either Locke or Shadow, equip Thief's Knives and go for Holy Dragon's item, as both are nice. If you arrived here with a solo-Mog party, the strategy is only slightly different; since you don't want to take any chances, be sure you're equipped with a Reflect Ring. If Mog doesn't know the Silence spell, equip Siren so Mog can summon her for her Lunatic Voice attack. Now that Holy Dragon is at Mog's mercy, just attack until he's dead. When you're done, you get a Holy Lance from an event afterwards. This is to make sure you don't get a Holy Lance every time you see the Holy Dragon on the Veldt: YES, the cretin appears there! Makes quite a solid Rage too, casting Holy and ID-protected and all. The door in the fourth and last part of the stairway contains a Force Armor. The Force Armor is a great piece of armor, especially for those characters that have no other interesting pieces to equip (Locke, Cyan, Edgar, Setzer, and Shadow). It doesn't really have that much on Defense (inferior to Crystal Mail), but it's quite good on Magic Defense (only inferior to Genji Armor, rare Snow Scarf, and oddball Reed Cloak), has great elemental advantages (50% Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, and Earth-elemental damage) and an added 30% Magic Evasion. The Force Armor is inferior to the Minerva Bustier in every way except for the Magic Evasion, so don't equip it on the girls; it's a genuine toss-up for the boys, though. The Genji Armor is sturdier in both the Defense and Magic Defense department and gives all-round stat boosts to boot; the Force Armor makes for a more evasive character that is better suited to deal with elemental magical attacks. I prefer the Force Armor for non-specific boss battles and the Genji Armor for random encounters myself, but it's up to you. Welcome to the roof of the Tower, where the 'wondrous' item lies. Enter the little room to find a chest. As soon as you stand in front of the chest, a bit is set; when you leave the room, with or without the contents of the chest (the Soul of Thamasa Relic), you're going to be surrounded by members of the Cult of Kefka and a wizard will come for you, so be prepared. The Soul of Thamasa turns the Magic command into X-Magic. This means that you can cast TWO spells in one turn. This is obviously great, and best applied to those who rely heavily on their Magic skillset. The only drawback is the fact that you will lose the ability to summon the Esper you have equipped. The Soul of Thamasa is totally sweet, and a kind, loving mistress who's not afraid of the leather if you're not, I might add. [MAGICMASTER-LINK] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.69.2 The battle with the Magic Master ********************************** So, we've battled mages from level 10 to level 90; at the very top was Kefka's most treasured item, a gem-covered box containing the very soul of the town of Thamasa, home to 1000 years of Mage Warrior generations. This prized relic greatly enhances magical capabilities, allowing you to prepare two spells simultaneously and casting them in quick succession. The treasure is guarded though, by what may just be Kefka's strongest henchman. The ultimate mage: Magic Master. Yes, after all the pompous introductions, I suppose we'd better slap him around a little bit until he allows us to leave. Magic Master Level: 68, HP: 50000, MP: 50000 Steal: Crystal Orb (rare), Elixir (common), Win: Megalixir (always) Creature Type: Humanoid, MP Kill Special: !Hit: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : Attack, Attack Control: Attack, Ultima Vulnerable to: Berserk Attacks: Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Bio, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Death, Ultima, Silence, Barrier Change Joker's Death: Yes/No Do note though that you can NEVER use the Slot command on the Cultist's Tower, so you won't actually be able to spin 7-7-7 in the first place. Later, in the Soul Shrine, you will be able to use Joker's Death. Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Yesh. First turn, he casts a level two spell. Then, he casts a level 3 spell. Then, he casts TWO level 3 spells. After that, another double cast of two level 3 spells. Another turn after, a single level 3 spell, and his last turn before turning back to the level two spells can consist of Death, Bio, or Silence. All of this is coming from a spectacular 50 (!!!) Magic Power, which means that you absorb the attack, have the Reflect status, or die a gargantuanesqually painful death. If Magic Master has the Reflect status himself, he will bounce a level 3 spell off of himself every turn; Magic Master will never self-apply the status, and there's no reason for you to cast it. You may have noticed that every spell Magic Master uses is reflectable; and yes, that they are. However, the thing with Magic Master is that not only is the ULTIMATE mage, he's also fiercely loyal to Kefka. So it's only logical that Magic Master would be able to cast the strongest spell in the game, Ultima; and he won't let you go before casting it. As soon as you kill the Magic Master, he will cast Ultima. It will deal between 5400 to 6100 damage to all of your characters, and unless you've overleveled (level 53 with Muscle Belt, 58 with Red Cap, 67 without any HP boosting equipment), that's just going to kill you deader than Grandma's infamous road kill surprise. Let's go through a few situations now: - You're followed the walkthrough, or know Reraise at the very least: Keep yourself draped in Reflect Rings at all times, as it will mean you are invincible. Do NOT attack Magic Master; as soon as you do this, he will use Barrier Change and he will start countering all your attacks with Barrier Change making him that much harder to take down. He will also counter to his own spells reflected back at him. If you just keep still, he won't start using Barrier Change, not even under the torment of his own attacks. Cast Reraise on all your characters, and just wait this one out. Eventually, when Magic Master has killed himself, he'll cast Ultima, everybody dies and is subsequently revived; you're free to go. - You don't have Reraise: This one's a tricky pony. You can cast Rasp over and over and over again until his 50000 MP are all gone; he won't be able to cast Ultima now. You'll have to keep him alive this way. This is easily done by casting the Berserk spell on Magic Master while casting Vanish or summoning Phantom to protect yourself. Now, Rasp away. It'll take a very long while. You can check his MP score with the Libra spell. When he has less than 80 MP, you can kill him. There you go. Alternately, you could just damage a lot and summon Quetzalli; the trick here is to kill Magic Master with one or more characters in the air. Ultima won't hit them, so you win. If you want to do this, carefully keep track of his HP with Libra; for optimum damage output, you'll want to equip barrier-piercing weapons where possible (Ultima Weapon on Terra/Celes/Edgar/Locke, Valiant Knife on Locke, Fixed Dice or Dice on Setzer) to try and circumvent Magic Master's crazy 250 Defense. - You don't have Rasp...and you don't have Quetzalli either. Da-amn Tiffany, your personal fetish for self-inflicted torture is your business, but I'd suggest you try to keep the painful situations to a minimum. Of course, it's not that I myself mind but it's just that you're kind of a disgrace to everybody *around* you and quite frankly, I can only take so much before I just leave you and your issues alone to enjoy myself on the beaches of Florida. Eh...yeah. Last chance, honest. Equip a character (Terra, Celes, Edgar) with a Reflect Ring, Genji Glove, Rune Blade/Ragnarok/Lightbringer, and the Soul Saber. The MP-critical weapon in the Right Hand, the MP draining weapon in the Left Hand. Now, cast Berserk on Magic Master, Invisible on your party, and Berserk and Haste on your magical weapon character. Every turn, he or she will attack and deal (12...19) MP damage. If you're setting this up so you can go do something else in the meantime (I trust you have taken a liking to your sanity?), Berserk a Healing Rod character to make sure Magic Master doesn't die from the physical blows. Honestly, this is going to take AGES. - You don't have that either? Why in God's name did you see it fit to come up here anyway? I suppose pulling the power on your SNES right before Magic Master casts Ultima stops him from using it. If you're reading this and hope for yet another strategy as this is the situation you're in, I somehow don't think you thought your cunning plan all the way through. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.70.1 Finding the hay in the needlestack; the battle with Gigantuar ********************************** I assume you know Garfield. Y'know, the 'lazy, fat, selfish, orange, anthropomorphic tabby cat who enjoys eating, sleeping, stealing Jon's meals, and being mean to Odie by kicking him off the table'? Heh, that reminds me of that project where they systematically remove Garfield's thought bubbles from every strip, reducing Jon to a lonely, pathetic, delusional man who rants to his cat about sock drawers while wearing cowboy hats of various sizes. But I disgress; what Garfield has with mondays, I have with Gigantuar. Ugh. [GIGANTUAR-LINK] Opponents: Slagworm (#175), Cactuar (#176), Gigantuar (#345) Magicite: Cactuar "You still haven't beaten those cactuars? Stop poking around! I'm on pins and needles here!" "I'll tell you something good if you manage to take down 1O of the little guys, so give it your best shot!" "Wow, you managed to take down 1O cactuars, did you? I guess I'd better hold up my end of the deal!" "Before, when I was walking through the desert to the south, I spotted a humongous cactuar. A monster of that size has to have some good treasure. I'd bet my right eye on it!" As a whole slew of dummied lines from this game will tell you, the trick here is to defeat 10 Cactuars (you can check your Bestiary under Config if you want to know where you are), at which points a single tile on the Overworld Map will trigger the Gigantuar battle as soon as you step on it. This tile is located in the middle of the south-western stretch of desert south of Maranda, where the Cactuars roam. NOTE: due to a programming oversight, if you fly Gau from the Veldt straight into the Gigantuar battle, he´ll retain his Leap command. If you execute it, you won´t have won the battle and you won´t obtain the Magicite, and you'll have another shot at seeing him. Gau will have returned to the Veldt as he normally would after a succesful Leap command, but since Gigantuar has no Rage availabe to him, Gau will be none the wiser. Gigantuar is the third of the four new Espers. Except it's not really an Esper, now is it? Look at it's bloated moustachio’d visage. What the hell does it think is is, a 30-foot Salvador Dali? My hatred of this cross between a giant cactus and a comically retarded maître d' is only magnified by the fact it's so difficult to destroy the thing. Even the Rafflesia Rage, usually my solution to things I dislike profusely, will fail the innocent player when going toe to needle with this thing. Gigantuar Level: 68, HP: 30000, MP: 4500 Steal: nothing (common), Win: nothing (always) Nullifies: Fire, Weak against: Water Special: !Knockdown: Attack x 5 Sketch : 1000 Needles, !Knockdown Control: Attack Vulnerable to: nothing Attacks: !Knockdown, 1000 Needles Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Gigantuar's strategy is so simple. He'll use 1000 Needles twice the first turn, as well as the second turn. The third turn, he'll use four times 1000 Needles. Loop. When you damage the thing, it'll have a 66 % shot at countering with !Knockdown, which ofcourse is stupifyingly powerful. When you manage the kill the thing, it'll retaliate with ten times 1000 Needles. So the trick isn't really killing the thing, as any doofus can do it. The trick is to get away with it. Just like in real life! Fortunately, unlike real life, you can Save just before the occassion. You need to be able to do three things if you want to defeat Gigantuar and live to tell the tale. First, you have to be able to stay alive long enough to execute great amounts of damage, which means in most cases +2000 HP on every character. Step two is the great amounts of damage. Gigantuar has perfect Evasion and Magic Evasion and extremely decent Defense ang Magic Defense, so unless the attacks you're using are both unblockable and barrier-piercing, you'll get nowhere. Last, you need to be able to cast Reraise or summon Quetzalli or Jump, the latter of which is tedious and prone to extreme failure if you're not playing on an emulator. Gigantuar's wicked fast, so it's tough to keep up. Bring a Hastega caster to the fight, and make sure you're able to summon Fenrir to deal with !Knockdown. Curaga spells are very powerful, and having one or two character with the White Wind Lore makes a real difference. Being able to cast Arise and Reraise are both great assests to this battle. Prayer Beads and Hermes Sandals both duplicate effects you can set in-battle, but if you'd rather have Haste or great Evasive powers from the get-go, salvation lies in them. On the offense, you have ample options. Mages are fairly worthless unless they know how to summon Bahamut or cast Ultima. Combining the Master's Scroll with Locke's Valiant Knife or Setzer's Fixed Dice makes for great results. Phantom Rush and Grand Delta are powerful attacks as well. If you brought characters due to their supportive spell selection but don't want them to be offensively inept, buy a few Holy Rods to chuck at Gigantuar; the resulting Holy spell will be both unblockable and barrier-piercing, as is any spell coming from a broken rod. Gigantuar has 30000 HP. Try to keep track of it a bit so you can guess when to Jump. Sadly enough, you really stand the best chances if you just pound away with Curaga and Reraise while dishing out as much damage as you can. If you lack Reraise, you'll likely fail. The best approach is to have your first character Jump and try to off Gigantuar in that same round with your other three characters using Quick. If you lack both Quick and Reraise but have one character with +4000 HP (2641 + Muscle Belt) you can even try to outlast Gigantuar. Never attack, only heal yourself every round. After 90 times having using 1000 Needles, Gigantuar will be out of Needles, so the only attack you'll have to worry about as soon as you're going on the offense is !Knockdown, which Vanish takes care of. If you fail, no worries. It happens to the best of us. You'll be able to start over with a better grasp of Gigantuar's move pattern. In the end, you'll prevail. An alternate philosphy by Linkin' Park statest that in the end, nothing really matters. Considering you're playing a video game, that's also true. "You defeated that huge cactuar? Nice work!" You won't obtain the Gigantuar Esper, but the Cactuar 'Esper', which teaches Teleport, Vanish and Hastega. All that work for this? Cactuar's summon attack will deal 1000 damage to all enemies on-screen, but there's a (10 percent?) chance Gigantuar will appear dealing 9999 damage with his 10,000 Needles? attack. The only thing Cactuar adds to the list is a +2 Speed on level-up. Yeah, whatever. Only those who are slow in the head raise speed. If you hated this entire ordeal, don't feel like an outcast. Nearly everyone hates Gigantuar, in the way that nearly everyone hates watching old people make out without their teeth in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.71.1 End-game character evaluation ********************************** So, I'll be discussing characters here as they perform at this point, just to give you some comparison. I won't be advising Lightbringer or Paladin's Shield, as I can't expect you to have it. Most Relic slots will be left empty if no Relics are vital to the set-ups we're going for (Dragoon Boots/Dragon Horn and all that are mentioned, as is Berserker Ring on Umaro, as not equipping it is folly). As far as the Lightbringer goes, you'll want to give it to Locke, as the girls really don't need it, and Edgar has enough damage potential too. The Paladin Shield is best given to a character that otherwise needs Thunder Shields to gain elemental advantages; characters such as Strago, Gogo, and Sabin come to mind (especially because they really enjoy the defensive increases). A note about the Genji Helms here. Genji Helms are often the best helmets you can land on a character, yet they are rare. End-game, you have two Red Caps, a Hypno Crown, a Royal Crown in your inventory; all can be turned into a Genji Helm at the Coliseum (Red Cap - Hypno Crown - Royal Crown - Genji Helm). Red Caps are superior to Genji Helms in my opinion, the Hypno Wave is usable in an NMG and the Royal Crown is plain garbage in the end. You can have up to six Genji Helms in the end, but you'll probably want to end up with three or four. In the suggestions I list, I list five character with a Genji Helm, as well as two with a Red Cap. This isn't possible per se. However, you can switch the Genji Helms between groups, and with the party recommendation I give it's entirely possible. In the final battle, hey, you can't. Circlets are the best back-up helmets. Gau is the only one who has specific use for a Genji Helm, since disregarding oddities such as the Paladin's Shield and Thornlet, he needs it to reach 255 Defense. Terra Terra (alternate 128% Magic Evasion set-up) Enhancer Enhancer Aegis Shield Force Shield Mystery Veil Mystery Veil Minerva Buster Force Armor - White Cape - White Cape Strength: 32 Strength: 31 Speed: 36 Speed: 34 Stamina: 29 Stamina: 28 Magic Power: 53 Magic Power: 49 Attack: 147 Attack: 147 Defense: 200 Defense: 145 Evasion%: 25 Evasion%: 5 Magic Defense: 180 Magic Defense: 206 Magic Evasion%: 87 Magic Evasion%: 137 Absorbs: Absorbs: Nullifies: Fire, Ice, Nullifies: Lightning, Wind Resists: Poison, Holy, Earth, Resists: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind, Earth Water Terra kicks all kinds of ass late-game; she gets to wield all the best equips out there; I won't count on the Lightbringer, but I *will* count on the Minerva Bustier. Late-game Terra nullifies four elements and takes 50% from the other four. Her main point of offense is her Magic skillset, obviously, meaning that she can fling the four of the most popular elements to be weak against - Fire, Ice, Lightning, Holy - with considerable force. A level 3 spell coming from Terra is going to leave a mark coming from her horribly bloated Magic Power, and her Magic Evasion is pretty stellar. Her alternate set-up is shooting for > 128% Magic Evasion. Not as awesome as it was in alternate versions, it's still noteworthy since physical attacks are so easily repelled by Ferir and Golem. Not a very practical set-up for random encounters, but some magically included bosses will have major trouble with this Terra. Locke Valiant Knife Thunder Shield Genji Helm Genji Armor Muscle Belt - Strength: 42 Speed: 43 Stamina: 33 Magic Power: 31 Attack: 159 Defense: 215 Evasion%: 35 Magic Defense: 169 Magic Evasion%: 12 Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: Wind Resists: Fire, Ice Pretty much the only remarkable feature of this set-up is the fact it includes the Muscle Belt. Locke lacks any real awesome armor (in fact, he's pretty much the schoolbook average Defensive character), so the Muscle Belt doesn't hurt to boost him there. In addition, the more HP Locke has to lose, the more power he can channel into that blue blade of happiness he carries around, the Valiant Knife. Nothing much else to say, really; Locke can really enjoy the Master's Scroll if you're looking for that other Relic to accompany the Muscle Belt. Note that Red Cap doesn't stack with the Muscle Belt when it comes to HP boosts. Locke's primary concern is his complete and utter lack of Magic Evasion, but this is his best shot. Cyan Zantetsuken Aegis Shield Genji Helm Genji Armor - - Strength: 45 Speed: 31 Stamina: 35 Magic Power: 28 Attack: 233 Defense: 220 Evasion%: 26 Magic Defense: 190 Magic Evasion%: 41 Absorbs: Nullifies: Resists: I don't really like this set-up, but then again, I don't really like anything on Cyan (or should be something exceedingly heavy and/or spikey, heh). It's as good as it's going to get, though. Defense, Magice Defense and evasive abilities are all normal. The only point of debate is the weapon of Cyan. Some claim that since Fang outdamages the Attack command at all times, you should only consider using a weapon that has an added effect, be it either Masamune's 10 % Evasion, Zantetsuken's 25 % slice effect or Kazekiri's 50 % Wind Slash attack. If slicing is any kind of option I find a Death spell far and away superior, and Wind Slash? A 48 Base Power magical attack coming from CYAN? Nay, while the above philosophy is actually sported by some respected peers, I find that Attacks' targetable nature is often more useful than Wind Slash or random ID, so stick with your strongest weapon, also when you should find the more powerful yet largely featureless Mutsunokami in the near future. Shadow Thief's Knife Thunder Shield Genji Helm Genji Armor - - Strength: 44 Speed: 44 Stamina: 32 Magic Power: 36 Attack: 111 Defense: 216 Evasion%: 58 Magic Defense: 171 Magic Evasion%: 29 Absorbs: Lightning Nullifies: Wind Resists: Fire, Ice What can I say about Shadow here? Apart from his weapon, his defenses are entirely standard. You'd expect something more evasive and less durable for a Ninja, I'm sure, but this is what the game gives us. You can take Shadow any ol' way you like; give him two Earrings and watch his magical Scrolls perform decently; give him a Hero's Ring and a Hyper Wrist (due to Throw, actually fairly effective) and watch feable Shuriken clean house; pass on both Force Shield and Swordbreaker to make for that mad-dodging-Ninja you might think would fit him, I don't really care. Shadow has, as is befitting of a true cold-hearted warrior, no actual weaknesses to defend or extreme strengths to exploit, so have a field day with him. Edgar Holy Lance Force Shield Genji Helm Genji Armor Dragoon Boots Dragon Horn Strength: 59 Speed: 30 Stamina: 34 Magic Power: 32 Attack: 214 Defense: 176 Evasion%: 4 Magic Defense: 210 Magic Evasion%: 51 Absorbs: Nullifies: Resists: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Earth, Water Canon Hiryuu Dragoon Edgar, I'd say. Obviously there's always the choice which (if any) piece of Genji equipment is replaced by an item that grants elemental properties. I liked this one the best, as it gives Edgar superior Magic Defense (honestly, 210 is really good), and while his Defense is lacking here, his status as Dragoon makes sure he will take far less physical hits than other characters anyway. Inherent Shell coming from the shield is nice icing on the proverbial cake, and 51% Magic Evasion is plain solid. Edgar is mainly working his Jump attacks here, which means he's pretty limited to rather uncontrollable and random Holy-elemental damage, but he's very good at it. The only non-Magic skills Edgar may still use are Noiseblaster and Air Anchor (possibly Drill if you want to go for a sure and quick kill when you know the enemy is weakened enough). Sabin Sabin (Merit Award set-up) Tigerfangs Enhancer Genji Shield Genji Shield Red Cap Circlet Red Jacket Genji Armor - Merit Award - - Strength: 59 Strength: 54 Speed: 44 Speed: 41 Stamina: 47 Stamina: 44 Magic Power: 32 Magic Power: 42 Attack: 241 Attack: 161 Defense: 209 Defense: 222 Evasion%: 32 Evasion%: 32 Magic Defense: 143 Magic Defense: 170 Magic Evasion%: 24 Magic Evasion%: 44 Absorbs: Absorbs: Nullifies: Fire Nullifies: Resists: Resists: Yes, with the Red Jacket as your ultimate armor, you can't expect to be very well suited to take hits, and with a grotesquely low Magic Defense as 143 that quickly becomes apparent. It was a toss-up for me between Thunder Shield and Genji Shield; Sabin could use the elemental properties, sure, but switching means that Sabin's Magic Defense lowers to 121, which is just plain unacceptable. Since in this game extra Defense matters more if you have high Defense in the first place, Sabin will like the Red Cap better than the Genji Helm's superior defenses. Defense is more or less okay-ish, slightly lower than most characters. Horrid evasiave properties too. On the offense, Sabin is basically a two-trick pony; Razor Gale for MT damage and Phantom Rush for ST damage. Unless you know it'll do the trick or you have a good follow-up move, Razor Gale is pretty obsolete in the final dungeon; you want to kill or disable, not randomly throw damage around (it ain't Seiken Densetsu III, folks). Once again, Sabin relies on his Magic Power, so stick at least one Hero's Ring/ Earring on him (he will also like defensive Relics such as Guard Bracelet and Miracle Shoes. Muscle Belt works, in which case you should swap the Red Cap for a Genji Helm). On the alternate set-up: some players frown upon the Merit Award, but I feel it will help Sabin greatly in the final parts of this game. At the loss of a single Relic slot and Fire nullifying, Sabin gains here + 10 Magic Power, 13 Defense, 27 Magic Defense, and 20% Magic Evasion. I say Sabin wins here. Replace Enhancer with Magus Rod where possible for 10% extra Magic Evasion and 33 extra Attack Power. Celes Celes (alternate 128% Magic Evasion set-up) Enhancer Enhancer Aegis Shield Force Shield Mystery Veil Mystery Veil Minerva Bustier Force Armor - White Cape - - Strength: 35 Strength: 34 Speed: 37 Speed: 35 Stamina: 32 Stamina: 31 Magic Power: 50 Magic Power: 46 Attack: 151 Attack: 151 Defense: 202 Defense: 142 Evasion%: 27 Evasion%: 7 Magic Defense: 178 Magic Defense: 199 Magic Evasion%: 89 Magic Evasion%: 129 Absorbs: Absorbs: Nullifies: Fire, Ice, Nullifies: Lightning, Wind Resists: Poison, Holy, Earth, Resists: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind, Earth Water Celes is entirely like Terra with some very, very subtle stat differences and one major one; Celes has 2 extra inherent Magic Evasion which means that she needs 10 coming from equipment to reach that perfect 128. This, again, means that Celes can pull off Terra's road to perfect evasion while still making room for a Relic such as Prayer Beads. That's good! Relm Relm (alternate 128 Magic Evasion% set-up) Magus Rod Magus Rod Genji Shield Force Shield Cat-Ear Hood Cat-Ear Hood Behemoth Suit Magus Robe - White Cape - White Cape Strength: 32 Strength: 26 Speed: 42 Speed: 36 Stamina: 28 Stamina: 22 Magic Power: 61 Magic Power: 60 Attack: 179 Attack: 179 Defense: 216 Defense: 146 Evasion%: 43 Evasion%: 23 Magic Defense: 186 Magic Defense: 193 Magic Evasion%: 69 Magic Evasion%: 129 Absorbs: Absorbs: Nullifies: Nullifies: Resists: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Resists: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Holy, Wind, Holy, Earth Earth 61 fricking Magic Power! Yeah, Relm is a PURE Mage end-game. Sketch sucks beyond all human comprehension, and her physicals are nothing compared to her magical damage output. On the main set-up, her element protection comes from the Cat-Ear Hood, meaning she won't actually absorb or nullify anything, which is a darn shame - she will still take less damage than most characters, however. On the alternate set-up: a perfect Magic Evasion set-up. The good thing here is that she only needs ONE item you may want on another character to get there; everything else is either store-bought or pretty much Relm-focused anyway. Great Magic Power still, and her elemental resistances don't suffer either. A far greater set-up than the 'basic' one if you have the goods to spare. Strago Magus Rod Thunder Shield Circlet Behemoth Suit - - Strength: 36 Speed: 32 Stamina: 28 Magic Power: 51 Attack: 178 Defense: 195 Evasion%: 26 Magic Defense: 147 Magic Evasion%: 47 Absorbs: Lightning Nullifies: Wind Resists: Fire, Ice Yes, as you can see, late-game Strago's Magic Power doesn't differ much from Terra's, even though the old man's less magically adept than the moody shapeshiftress ever was; you can thank the Magic-boosting equips for that. Strago is inferior to Terra in his role as Magic wielder, but where Terra has Trance, Strago has Lore. This is only partially useful late-game; Mighty Guard, White Wind to heal through Reflect Rings and Runic, and Grand Delta if Strago is Ultima-less. I'd say in the end, Strago isn't the hottest mage around, but since his Lores do add a certain degree of extra flexibility that Terra lacks, even though it's mostly on paper, Strago isn't completely outclassed. Pretty bad Magic Defense though, especially considering Strago is a mage himself. Setzer Setzer (Imp set-up) Fixed Dice Fixed Dice Genji Shield Tortoise Shield Genji Helm Saucer Force Armor Reed Cloak Master's Scroll Master's Scroll - - Strength: 36 Strength: 36 Speed: 32 Speed: 32 Stamina: 32 Stamina: 32 Magic Power: 29 Magic Power: 29 Attack: 19 Attack: 19 Defense: 207 Defense: 255 Evasion%: 29 Evasion%: 39 Magic Defense: 182 Magic Defense: 234 Magic Evasion%: 51 Magic Evasion%: 31 Absorbs: Absorbs: Water Nullifies: Nullifies: Resists: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Resists: Wind, Earth Right. I had a hard time deciding between Thunder Shield/Genji Armor and Genji Shield/Force Armor; the first one has great Defense and handles Lightning- and Wind-elemental attacks better, this one resists more elements and has a higher Magic Defense. Since magical attacks tend to be more dangerous end-game, this won the fair-day goose. Solid Defense, solid Magic Defense, pretty much standard evasive capabilities and the Fixed Dice. Setzer will be throwing the Fixed Dice for damage. That means that he's entirely random, especially when paired with the Master's Scroll as you can't target specific enemies either that way. On the alternate set-up: Yes, this will need you to have the Imp status set. Perfect Defense, stunning Magic Defense, Setzer will just be a lot harder to take down. His bane here is status ailments, as 31-39% evasive scores aren't that high, and since you need Imp, you can't equip a Ribbon. He'll lose his Magic skillset too, so unless you have three other characters with decent Magic skillsets, the tradeoff might not be worth it. Mog Holy Lance Genji Shield Circlet Snow Scarf Dragoon Boots Dragon Horn Strength: 31 Speed: 37 Stamina: 29 Magic Power: 42 Attack: 210 Defense: 255 Evasion%: 40 Magic Defense: 195 Magic Evasion%: 42 Absorbs: Ice Nullifies: Resists: Fire The reason I'm going with this set-up is simply the fact that gosh-golly Colonel Sanders, I'm afraid we're running out of Genji Helms. This isn't much of a concern to Mog, though. This is his Dragoon set-up, and it's pretty much his only choice, as the little guy doesn't have the equipment to back him up as a great mage. Perfect Defense, great Magic Defense, very acceptable Magic Power should you want to sneak in a spell or like to see a Holy spell employed on that ever-precious final Jump attack. A tad scrawny on the 'elemental protection' category, but with nigh-200 Magic Defense, it's not that bad. Gau - Thunder Shield Genji Helm Snow Scarf White Cape - Strength: 44 Speed: 38 Stamina: 36 Magic Power: 34 Attack: 109 Defense: 255 Evasion%: 51 Magic Defense: 195 Magic Evasion%: 48 Absorbs: Ice, Lightning Nullifies: Wind Resists: Fire In my opinion the Thunder Shield/White Cape combo is superior to Genji Shield/ whatever Relic you want for a 255 Defense set-up; he's better with the elements and gains immunity to two nasty status ailments. Genji Shield gives more Magic Defense though. If you're REALLY into Rages, Genji Shield is superior, as you don't need the shield's elemental properties since you know how to self-apply them at every turn. Anyway, this set-up turns Gau into a tank; 255 Defense means immunity to physical damage that's not barrier-piercing, and 195 Magic Defense is very high as well. Very nice elemental attributes too, and standard amounts of evasive capabilities. On the offense, Gau really doesn't have a lot to offer anymore; Rages tend to be inferior to Magic by now, so he'll just be casting spells with far less power than characters such as Celes and Relm. Gau shines on the defensive side, though. Gogo Magus Rod Thunder Shield Red Cap Magus Robe - - Strength: 29 Speed: 33 Stamina: 22 Magic Power: 38 Attack: 181 Defense: 174 Evasion%: 30 Magic Defense: 120 Magic Evasion%: 56 Absorbs: Lightning Nullifies: Wind Resists: Fire, Ice Yeah, Gogo does NOT take hits very well. The Genji Helm over the Red Cap would have helped its defenses somewhat, but the 25% HP boost will help Gogo better in the long run. Thunder Shields elemental resistances really help Gogo's survivability, but it's best to stick a protective Relic on it nonetheless; if you go with Muscle Belt, swap the Red Cap for a Genji Helm. For the offense, Gogo should totally go with Throw on bosses and Phantom Rush on randoms. Umaro Bone Club Snow Scarf Berserker Ring - Strength: 62 Speed: 33 Stamina: 46 Magic Power: 37 Attack: 198 Defense: 217 Evasion%: 18 Magic Defense: 158 Magic Evasion%: 15 Absorbs: Fire, Ice Nullifies: Lightning Resists: Yes, Umaro's stats are pretty good, but it's a shame that we can't really take advantage of them. Umaro's Defense is above average, but the flip side of the coin is that you'll want him in the Front Row to deal better damage with his Attacks. Magic Defense is obviously sub-par; better than the likes of Gogo and Sabin (and even Strago), but still sub-par. Absorbing or nullifying the three basic elements is great, but on the offense, Umaro is both strategically unfit AND too weak to still make a good party member, even with the previously named advantages. Umaro is still superior to Magic-less Relms or poorly raised Gaus, though. So, that's my say on the characters at the final stage. I'm sure your undying love for everything Sabin might make you want to disagree with me, but I think this is a fairly solid objective view on the task at hand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.72.1 Kefka's Tower: Preparation and explanation ********************************** Right. When you're fully prepared to tackle the final dungeon, you can fly over there. What does 'fully prepared' mean? Well, the following are nice additions to your party: - Make sure you have good equipment on everybody. Crystal Mail and Mythril Shields are unacceptable. - Phoenix Downs are great. Not every character may know a Raise spell, and you will want to respond ASAP to fallen allies. - You should have more Gil than you'll know what to do with. Buy some Thunder Blades, Icebrands and Flametongues in the Albrook Weapon Shop. They make great ammunition for Shadow and Gogo against the many bosses you'll be fighting. - Speaking of Gil, do you remember Lv. ? Holy? NO enemy in Kefka's Tower will ever drop an amount of Gil that's not divisible by 10. This means that when you set the last digit of your Gil stack to 1, you'll gain an MT Holy-elemental attack that's as powerful as a MT'd level 3 spell. The easiest way of reaching #######1 Gil is by obtaining and selling Magicite Shards, which sell for 1 Gil a piece. Team recommendations: #1 #2 #3 (Gold Dragon) (Skull Dragon) (Ultima Buster) (Inferno) -------------------------------------------------------(switch decision) (Fiend) (Goddess) (Guardian) (Demon) Celes Terra Edgar Locke Setzer Sabin Strago Relm Cyan / Gogo Mog Shadow Gau / Gogo Locke Setzer Gau Relm Terra Cyan Strago Edgar Mog Shadow Sabin Celes Here's a quick rundown on what the three parties will face. Half-way there's a switch for party #1. Going left or right affects the paths of all three parties, so I'm giving both scenarios here. #1 will know the most random encounters in the first part of the dungeon, but doesn't face any bosses before the left/right choice. If #1 goes left, these will have to face off against Fiend and Ultima Buster; if #1 goes to the right, they'll have to face Goddess. #2 will meet Ultima Buster and the Gold Dragon. If #1 goes to the left, #2 will also face Goddess; if #1 goes to the right, these will face off against Guardian and Demon. #3 will have to defeat Inferno and the Skull Dragon in their travels. If #1 goes left, these will have to face Guardian and Demon; if #1 go to the right, they'll come across Fiend. Party #1 will fight the most random encounters, but won't fight any bosses. I'd say the #3 party sees the toughest road ahead of it; Inferno is one of those Number 128/Air Force-esque "One Main Man And Two Parasitic Lackeys" bosses which tend to take a lot out of the party. This walkthrough has Party #1 go to the left. This is the best overall formation I could come up with. Why is that? Let's take a look at my genius: Edgar, Terra, and Celes are all on different teams. There will always be a spot on each of the teams to use the amazing Lightbringer. You decide if you want it on Celes or Locke in their team, though. Locke, Setzer, and Gau are the characters that will benefit the most from the unique Relic that is the Master's Scroll; this way, none of them will ever have to go without it as you can switch it around. Without giving too many spoilers, the teams are somewhat based on the bosses they'll face. Strago should be around for Fiend, since that battle is the only battle in the game he can learn a certain Lore. Fiend also has a great item for you to Steal, the finite item Safety Bit, so Locke is there to take it. Obviously, you could swap out Locke for Gogo. The Goddess fight is easier with ID Protection applied, and sending the two Memento Ring wearers to fight her makes life easier. Sending Gogo into party #3 is a good idea, since Guardian has a good Force Armor for you to take if you have a thief. The above is assuming you want to take all twelve 'character' characters with you, and not the hidden characters that can't equip Espers. Based on your style of play, it is possible you have a very weak character in Gau, and Cyan just plain isn't that great. Swapping either one of them out for Gogo is a good idea. I don't advise on Umaro in this walkthrough. All done? Ready. Set. Go. "It shinnied up like a monkey on a stick - and suddenly its face was pressed against the tough plastic sheet Will Hanlon had put over each of the pages in his book. Beverly screamed again and this time Eddie joined her, although his scream was faint and blue-breathless. The plastic bulged out - later they would all agree they saw it. Bill saw the bulb of the clown's red nose flatten, the way your nose will flatten when you press it against a windowpane. 'Kill you all!' The clown was laughing and screaming. 'Try to stop me and I'll kill you all! Drive you crazy and them kill you all! You can't stop me! I'm the Gingerbread Man! I'm the Teenage Werewolf!'" - King, Stephen (1986) It -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.72.2 Kefka's Tower: Reconnaissance ********************************** Opponents: Yojimbo (#239), Dark Force (#240), Muud Suud (#241), Fiend Dragon (#242), Mover (#243), Cherry (#244), Vector Lythos (#245), Primeval Dragon (#246), Landworm (#247), Gamma (#248), Great Malboro (#249), Outsider (#250), Demon Knight (#251), Duel Armor (#252), Great Behemoth (#253), Vector Chimera (#254), Fortis (#255), Junk (#256), InnoSent (#257), Daedalus (#258), Ahriman (#259), Death Machine (#260), Metal Hitman (#261), Prometheus (#262), Inferno (#348), Rahu (#349), Ketu (#350), Gold Dragon (#339), Skull Dragon (#343), Ultima Buster (#351), Guardian (#352), Fiend (#353), Goddess (#354), Demon (#355) Container contents: Aegis Shield, Fixed Dice, Force Armor x2, Force Shield, Gauntlet, Hero's Ring, Hypno Crown, Megalixir, Minerva Bustier, Nutkin Suit, Pinwheel x2, Rainbow Brush, Red Cap, Ribbon Miscellaneous items: Air Anchor (rare Gamma steal), Blood Sword (common Ultima Buster steal), Chainsaw (rare Dual Armor steal), Crystal Orb (guaranteed Gold Dragon drop, rare Ultima Buster steal), Excalibur (guaranteed Goddess drop), Flame Shield (rare Rahu steal and rare Ketu steal), Force Armor (common Guardian steal), Guard Bracelet (rare Fiend Dragon steal), Ice Shield (rare Inferno steal), Masamune (rare Yojimbo steal), Minerva Bustier (rare Goddess steal), Muscle Belt (guaranteed Skull Dragon drop), Mutsunokami (guaranteed Fiend drop), Pinwheel (rare Demon Knight steal), Radiant Lance (guaranteed Demon drop) Red Jacket (rare Demon steal), Ribbon (rare Guardian steal), Safety Bit (rare Fiend steal), Stoneblade (rare Outsider steal), Thunder Shield (rare Muud Suud steal), Tigerfang (rare Great Behemoth steal) Lores: Doom, Roulette, Tsunami, Aero, 1000 Needles, Mighty Guard, Revege Blast, White Wind, Lv. 5 Death, Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 3 Confuse, Reflect ???, Lv. ? Holy, Traveler, Dischord, Bad Breath, Transfusion, Rippler, Quasar, Self-Destruct Magicite: Crusader Since Kefka's Tower is so incredibly large and knows such an incredible variety in monster formations, monsters and areas, I'm going to lay the monsters down for you when you reach a room where you start meeting them, okay? ******************************************************************************** Start with Party 1 You'll start with Party #1, the left-most party. You can walk a nice distance into the dungeon, but you'll have to open the path of Party #1 up with both Party #2 and Party #3 at one point. Since equipment swapping is tedious, I'd rather complete its travels in one go. Stay where you are and switch to your friends in the middle. ******************************************************************************** Switch to Party 2 Kefka's Tower (garbage Slopes) Behemoth King, Great Malboro, Vector Lythos (6/16) Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos (5/16) Primeval Dragon, Great Malboro (5/16) Ri-hi-hight, let's get this baby cracking. Naturally, since you're in the final dungeon and all, you're assuming that these cretins are going to be very, very tough on you. You're kinda semi-right. They can be mean if you let them, but as that went for quite a few other monsters out there there's nothing to really worry about. Since the How-to-Blitz topics have been at a steady 472.3 to 1 rate to the How-to-defeat-Kefka topics, I've always known that idiots tend to get filtered out early, so you're capable and all. Let's discuss, man to man. Warning: this chapter has a lot of monster descriptions because there are so many of them, and they're so interesting. Vector Lythos. 'Lythos', that's Latin for stone. And it's not even immune to Petrification (though only Dread Gaze will work). They like to attack physically (this includes !Bite, which is just a tad stronger than Attack) and use Fireball. They're weak to Ice-elemental attacks like all lizards, but also to Water, so a Flood spell isn't a half-bad idea if you like using obscure attacks to hit elemental weaknesses. They're immune to ID attacks, and you can Sketch (75%) and Control them for White Wind attacks, which may help you. Great Malboro is spunky and nasty. These nasty plants attack physically only under normal circumstances. When hit by a Magic spell they have a 1/3 chance of attacking with a !Infernal Kiss attack, which sets Death. When alone, they will use Bad Breath, like their tomb-dwelling brethren. They absorb every element but the Fire element, to which they are weak like good little plants. They are vulnerable to every status ailment too, including Death, so use that to your advantage. Note that while Magic is usually a big no-no versus these guys, they will do nothing once they are dead, so FATAL Magic spells yield no counters. If you're sure you're going to do more than 7000 HP of damage or just cast Break, Death or Banish, there's nothing to worry about. Great Behemoths like to think of themselves as bigger, better versions of Behemoths, but in reality they really, truly are. They attack physically and with the Meteor spell (shaves off about 1500 HP, which is quite painful) and counter any damage done by !Haymaker (Attack * 4). They're weak to Ice like normal Behemoths, but they have ID protection, which certainly makes their omni -counter all the more annoying. Thankfully, they are vulnerable to Sleep and Stop. It's a good idea to set one of them before attacking as !Haymaker hurts. I should add a final note about the fact you can't run from them. Oh yeah, and you can steal rare Tigerfangs from them. Tigerfangs are fairly pointless on Sabin by this point, especially if you already have one, but you might appreciate the novelty behind having more than one. If your one of those Sabin + Genji Glove + Master's Scroll + dual Tigerfangs crazies, be my guest. And stop reading. You have learned nothing. Party #2 starts out in front of a broken conveyer belt. Go down and enter the door. Use ID attacks on the Great Malboro and Stop on the Great Behemoths. When you enter the door, you'll enter a cave. You're now in a CAVE made out of garbage. Boy, talk about messed up feng shui! Mog's home dance here is the Dusk Requiem. (Garbage caves party #2) Primeval Dragon, Primeval Dragon (10/16) Great Malboro, Great Malboro, Great Malboro (6/16) Primeval Dragon has always kinda stood out for me, as it's the opponent most prone to ID attacks while being immune to ID attacks, if that makes sense. It's one of the strongest monsters susceptible to the Dread Gaze attack coming from a Deepeye Rage, and the Ragnarok Esper has a nigh-100% Hit Rate too. For a dinosaur, it sure knows some funky attacks; it borrowed Lifeshaver from those blasted flying skeletons and is also able to produce the Atomic Rays attacks usually found on machines; Atomic Rays is probably something breath-related or something. Their Special, !Heave, is very powerful too. The Imp status really cripples them, as does the Stop status. Weak to Ice, as logic would imply. There's a chest smacked in a random corner, containing a Minerva Bustier. All the conveyer belts here are broken. You'll come across two doors now; one is more or less hidden, but both are indicated by the signs hanging over the doors. The one to the top will get you to a Pinwheel in a chest. To the south, you'll enter the door and find yourselves in the cells of the Imperial Palace. Seems like a lifetime ago Kefka was imprisoned here to trick us. The toilets are broken now... Boy, that really burns me up when that happens. (Imperial jail cells) Demon Knight, Yojimbo (10/16) Yojimbo, Yojimbo, Dark Force (6/16) Demon Knight is just one of the biggest anti-climaxes of the game. Honestly, he had everything going for him. He's like that rich kid from high school who was both good-looking and athletic and managed to turn up five years later as a meth addict. Sharing a sprite with the likes of Borghese and Kamui - a very awesome sprite too - Demon Knight the big old scary devil warrior really...doesn't do anything. He throws Crypt Dust attacks around, which we have previously appointed THE most useless attack ev4r when not used with some thought, and when alone, he starts to use Shockwave. Shockwave very well may just be... hang on...yes, THE weakest monster attack in the game. Counters with !Cursed Gaze which sets Sap, still ranking as #1 laughable status ailment. Way to go, pal. Just trash him with what you normally do. Yojimbo may very well be familiar faces to you as you could've brawled with them in the Coliseum. They're not quite as annoying in 'real life', but they come bloody close and that's bad enough. They attack physically, often two times every turn. Every fourth turn, a Wind Slash attack may make its appearance, sometimes even two in a row. The kicker, as always, is that !Eye for an Eye attack it pulls out of thin air every time you kill it. The strategy to use here is the Imp status; set Imp and kill them. The Imp status will transform their physicals into automatic criticals, but it's worth it. They have the Masamune as a rare steal; you shouldn't need any at this stage of the game, but you can change them into Murakumo katanas at the Coliseum, which are stronger weapons for Shadow to Throw than Pinwheels. Dark Force is generally hailed as the ultimate Lore resource, and that's for a good reason too. Dark Force uses all the Lores available to Strago except for Mighty Guard, Force Field, Grand Delta and Transfusion. Tsunami can only be accessed by Dark Force when they are Confused or Controlled. Since this means that Dark Force can throw a wide array of nasty attacks your way, you'll want to kill them as quickly as possible. ID attacks work, and especially. Lv. 5 Death is great to accomplish their deaths. Lacking this, Banish and Break spells are your best options. If Strago lacks Lores at this stage, here's Dark Force's AI script for the ultimate learning experience: 1st turn randomly: Doom, Roulette, Aqua Breath 2nd turn randomly: Revenge Blast, White Wind, Lv. 5 Death 3rd turn randomly: Lv. 4 Flare, Lv. 3 Confuse, Reflect ??? 4th turn randomly: Lv. ? Holy, Traveler, Launcher 5th turn randomly: Dischord, Bad Breath, Imp Song 6th turn randomly: Aero, 1000 Needles, Self-Destruct 7th turn randomly: Rippler, Stone, Quasar Loop The two Lores that you are likely to not know at this stage are Reflect ??? and Quasar; the former is a ridiculously horrible attack that sets Darkness, Silence and Slow on every Reflective opponent on the battlefield (which would have been mildly useful one hundred years ago, while scouting the Ancient Castle, a place you have no business returning too), while Quasar is just a non-elemental, barrier-piercing attack that would have been extremely fine hadn't it been for the fact that Grand Delta. is better in every relevant way but MP cost. There's a chance Gilgamesh taught it to you earlier. In the far left cell, there's a monster waiting for you. Fighting it is entirely optional, and you don't get anything necessarily positive out of it. Still, it's fun, so go ahead and do it anyway. Cast Float on your party if you can, and if you have Celes or Gogo in your party, you'll want to make sure they can use their Runic skill. Ultima Buster Level: 67, HP: 55000, MP: 19000 Steal: Crystal Orb (rare), Blood Sword (common), Win: Nothing (always) Absorbs: Poison, Wind, Holy, Earth, Water Creature Type: MP Kill Special: !Hit: Attack * 1.5 Sketch : !Hit, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: Attack, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Meteor, Ultima, Quake, Tsunami, Northern Cross, Flare Star, Southern Cross Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: No Remember when some scholar-type guy told you there were two so-called Ultima Weapons? Strangely enough, you ought to own one and have defeated the other, so what's the deal with this guy? Clearly, now that Kefka has control over the Warring Triad, he's made them craft an ever-stronger version of the legendary beast of mass destruction we destroyed a year ago. Or something. I am the one known as Ultima... Forged an eternity ago and left here... Forgotten in the mists of time... Long have I pondered what I should do... Long, long have I pondered... But now it seems I have an answer... Ultima Buster isn't THAT interesting. Normally, he uses the level 3 spells, switching to a Northern Cross or Southern Cross attack every now and then. When he hits 32640 HP, he'll revert to Firaga, Quake, and Meteor spells, and Tsunami and Flare Star. When you hurt the fiend, he may counter with Attack, but what Ultima Buster is actually doing is storing the hate he develops from your blows into the ultimate attack: whenever he is hurt 12 times, he will stop acting and start storing energy: "A strange light surrounds Ultima" It'll proceed to glow yellow and do nothing for two turns before unleashing the strongest attack known to man: Ultima. It hurts really bad (count on around 2400 HP worth of damage), and you don't want that. Ultima Buster's unique elemental coverage makes Holy Lance Dragoons useless, so give them Partisans at the start of the battle. Summon your barriers: Mighty Guard, Hastega, Zona Seeker's Magic Shield, Earthen Wall, Howling Moon, Holy Aura, you know what works. Don't forget to set Slow on Ultima Buster, and you might try Stealing too, although there's nothing especially grand to obtain in this fight. Now, keep yourself healed and make sure you only execute the strongest attacks. Ideally, if you don't have Runic, you want to take out Ultima Buster in twelve hits or less, which makes for a needed average of around 4600 damage a hit. That shouldn't be TOO much of a problem, right? The Valor spell can really help out characters such as Cyan, Sabin, Shadow and Edgar deal tremendous amounts of damage in a single hit. If you still find yourself struggling, there's a few ways around the situation: - The Reraise spell. - Have a character summon Quetzalli around the time Ultima Buster flashes yellow for the second time, making Ultima miss all your characters. - Don't attack Ultima Buster; just set Reflect and keep yourself healed with Healing Rods, Hi-Potions, and White Wind until his own level 3 spells have damaged him enough to lower him in his 'dangerous phase'. Debilitator might help to speed things up there. Now that he's already fairly damaged, you should be able to kill him before he gets to Ultima. Obviously, if you do have Runic at your side there's nothing to worry about as when Ultima Buster starts glowing, you can just initiate the Runic skill and watch the attack be absorbed by the blade. Don't forget that Gogo can equip the Man-Eater or Gladius to utilize Runic as well. You can use the crushed, bloody remains of the monster to rest, gather your mind, zone out for a few moments. This hollow carcass is your Fortress of Solitude, your little haven in the chaotic fast-paced world around you. Yeah, I'm talking about a Save Point that's now here. When you're done peace-ing out, exit through the door. Alas, it was a fake! You tumble down towards the ground. In this new room, you'll fight nothing but Movers and Muud Suud. (Imperial stairway) Mover, Mover, Mover (10/16) Muud Suud (6/16) Poor Movers; you used to be so grand. The thing about Mover, or what it was supposed to be, is that they have 254 Magic Defense (that's real high) and nigh -perfect Evasion, so that NEITHER PHYSICAL NOR MAGICAL ATTACKS WOULD HURT IT! And then everybody realizes that all our characters are crammed full of barrier -piercing and unblockable attacks in the first place. With 120 HP, you don't need a lot of strategy. Normally, Mover attacks physically and with !Silencing Touch (take a wild guess), and when alone it uses 1000 Needles and Mighty Guard. If Strago is around and hasn't learned Mighty Guard yet, there is NO reason to leave this area before taking it with him. Spells such as Meteor solve the Mover problem very quickly, as does Gil Toss, the Auto Crossbow or an Attack command with the Master's Scroll equipped. Muud Suud is pretty much the opposite of Mover; more HP than you can shake a stick at (no, that's just a figure of speech; you could shake a stick at it if you wanted to) while having crappy Defense. It uses Snowstorm and Gigavolt to attack, while using Freezing Dust and Northern Cross to freeze your party. Slow and Stop both work on the guy, and Holy-elemental spells hit its weakness. Set the statuses and rough it out. The most notable thing about Muud Suud is its rare steal: a Thunder Shield. Experience tells that you can hardly have enough Thunder Shields, especially since they can be transformed into Genji Shields at the Coliseum and can be broken in-battle for barrier-piercing Thundaga spells. Go up the stairs into the next room, which is chock-full of pipes going everywhere. You enter through the far right tube; the one to the left of it takes you all the way back to the Pinwheel room, should you so please (escaping this hellhole and not having Teleport spells or Teleport Stones would be your only reason to do so). The far left tube takes you to outside again, on the trash-slopes. The encounters here can be dangerous, but they're all vulnerable to ID attacks and the Silence status ailment. Equipping Siren or Odin/Raiden on a character can really help shutting them all up in one swoop. (Facility rooms) Junk, Junk, Junk (6/16) Metal Hitman, Metal Hitman, Metal Hitman (5/16) Duel Armor, Fortis (5/16) Metal Hitman's sprite doesn't bode too well for it. And nay, with 2000 Hit Points, physical attacks and the Dischord Lore there's no reason to fear these tiny metallic soldiers. They're weak to Lightning. They succumb easily to an MT Thundaga spell, a Valigarmanda summon, a Lightning Scroll, or something along those lines. Junk is scrap metal with just enough self-conscience to explode when you come near. That's basically what they do; at the slightest hint of danger, they sacrifice themselves by using Self-Destruct or Transfusion. There's also a chance that on the first turn will have them do nothing; if this is the case, there's a small chance they will use !Parallout on themselves on the second turn, which sets Invisible. Regardless, act fast when you meet them. 2000 HP of damage to a character isn't something you were really waiting for, so make sure you take them out ASAP. They're weak machines. Thundaga spells and Lightning Scrolls galore. Fortis. That's Latin for 'strong' if you don't mind the possible grammatical inaccuracy. They attack with Fireball, Snowball, and Missile. Fireball is entirely too weak to worry about, especially since most of your characters either absorb or take reduced damage from the attack. Missile is annoying when it hits, but Snowball especially stands out, as it's unblockable, and it's unlikely you have characters running around with Safety Bits or Memento Rings. When struck by a Lightning-elemental attack, Fortis will respond with a !Double Arm (Attack * 1.5) and Attack. Obviously the Attack is supposed to be part of the whole !Double Arm ordeal there. Where do these armors come from? Who makes them anymore? Who'd be demented enough to ride around in one to protect a guy like Kefka all day? Senseless as they may be, Duel Armor can be a real pain. They have the ability to cast Lv. 4 Flare and Lv. 5 Death, and since you don't really prepare for them, you may suddenly find two of your characters facedown before you blink twice. Whenever damaged, the Duel Armor may counter with a Metal Cutter attack, which is nasty enough too. The Silence status followed up with ID spells is the way to go. Duel Armor has a Chainsaw as a rare steal, so if you never bothered to grab the thing in Zozo, you can try your luck here. You'll arrive on familiar garbage slopes. Great Behemoths and all that, y'know. The next chest you see contains a Force Shield (excellent!) Ignore the doors for now and go all around the conveyer belts to find a Force Armor in a chest. Now, find the two doors again and enter the left one that you're seeing en profile. You're in a room with a chest and a button. Find the Ribbon in the chest and push the button on the floor. You've now opened up a path for Party #1. Leave. Enter the other door. A small garbage passageway filled with Vector Chimera and Primeval Dragon greets you before you exit. (Garbage passageway party #2) Vector Chimera, Vector Chimera (10/16) Primeval Dragon, Primeval Dragon (6/16) Vector Chimera, this is one cute quadro-headed freak of nature. They're not as dangerous as the Chimera was when you met it, and not as cool or elusive as Gorgimera. It is immune to all status ailments though, and has a large pool of elemental attacks that are kinda too weak to worry about. Snowstorm, Blaze, Aqua Breath and Gigavolt may all appear when going head-to-head with a Vector Chimera. Four attacks, four heads, there's probably a link there. When attacked by Attack, they'll often counterattack with eh...!Counterattack (Attack * 2). You'll wind up in a room where the Gold Dragon is waiting for you. The random encounters can be dangerous as well, so beware. (Gold Dragon's room) Ahriman, Ahriman, Ahriman (10/16) Daedalus, Ahriman (6/16) Ahriman is all about ID attacks. Doom and Dread Gaze feature its normal AI script (although, let's be frank here, there's nothing 'normal' about this grotesque stare on wings), and it has a 1/3 chance of countering Magic spells with a Roulette attack. Strago fans that haven't had their gambling fix all month, here's your chance. Ahriman lacks elemental weaknesses, has a lot of HP (10000), and is immune to ID attacks, so taking them out is difficult. Silence or Berserk kills their threat, and Stop works too. Disable them, attack, and simply revive the characters that might expire from Doom. Siren is a great Esper to have around in this room, since she disables all Ahrimen in one summoning (though not Daedalus, sadly). Daedalus uses Lv. 5 Death, which is annoying. It also uses the Bio spell, Vemonist, the Gravity spell normally and the Reflect ??? attack whenever a character is Reflective. Daedalus is the easiest source for the Lore too. Daedalus counters Attacks with Dancing Flame 1/3 of the time. They're not very special: they're Undead so a Raise spell takes them out quickly. Nifty Metamorphose set, I must admit (Cursed Ring, Lich Ring, Thornlet). A small note on the Cursed Ring; it is an item that can only be acquired by betting the Cursed Shield at the Coliseum (not advised) or by summoning the Ragnarok Esper versus either Ahriman, Daedalus or the Behemoth King. It is a ring adorned with a tiny horned goat's skull, and gives you the magnificent evil benefit of learning Banish at an x5 rate and an inherent Doom timer. For completionists, it is. The Gold Dragon should be one of the two still alive if you didn't face it with Mog alone during a hypothetical Moogle Raid. If so, take it on now to reduce the number of dragons to one. [GDRAGON-LINK] Gold Dragon Level: 62, HP: 32400, MP: 4000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Crystal Orb (always) Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Water Special: !Hit: Attack x 4 Sketch : Blizzaga, Thundaga Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Poison, Berserk Attacks: Attack, Thunder, Thundara, Thundaga, Reflect, Gigavolt Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail What does Gold Dragon do? First off, every four Attack commands he gets especially pissed and the message "Gold Dragon begins storing energy..." will be displayed. Gold Dragon will spend a turn doing nothing (aka, charging for Thundaga), and the very next round, Gold Dragon will cast a Thundaga spell on the entire party. We faced a level 3 spell with fair warning halfway through the WoB, for crying out loud! If a living character has the Reflect status, Gold Dragon will cast the Reflect spell on himself and will start bouncing Thunder and Thundara spells off itself. Every Magic spell can be countered by a Thunder or Thundara spell anyway, but Gold Dragon will not counter Magic spells when he is charging for the Thundaga spell. Normally, Gold Dragon will just attack with Thunder and Thundara spells and Gigavolt attacks. Gold Dragon is an incredibly easy enemy at this point; all of his attacks are either Attack or Lightning-elemental; Thunder, Thundara, Gigavolt and Thundaga are all vulnerable to Celes's Runic, and Lightning is very easily absorbed or nullified by equipment such as Thunder Shields, Paladin's Shield, Minerva Bustier, or Berserker Ring. The bane of Gold Dragon's existence, however, is Phantom; cast the Berserk spell on Gold Dragon. Hell, set Berserk in some other way; the neat thing about late-game battles is that you can do so much. The Schmidt Rage attack with Mega Berserk, and the Land Grillon Rage with !Wing Snap, which also sets Berserk. At any rate, Berserk the Ryuu D'or and summon Phantom (or cast Vanish on the entire party) to obtain invulnerability. If you're here with Mog alone, just equip a Thunder Shield and do everything you can to reduce damage done by physical attacks, such as equipping a Protect Ring or Guard Bracelet, putting Mog in the Back Row and maximizing his Defense. If Mog comfortable survives Gold Dragon's attacks, it doesn't really matter what kind of attacks he uses. Breaking a Poison Rod can be a great help in whittling down the dragon's HP if you have no other way of significantly putting the hurt on it. You'll win a Crystal Orb from the guy. The Crystal Orb could have been obtained earlier throughout the game (rare Steal from both Magic Master - Berserk a character with Thief's Knives equipped to steal on the Cultist's Tower - and a rare Steal from Ultima Buster, but this is likely your first encounter. Crystal Orbs aren't very special; they raise maximum MP by 50%. Yeah, with MP not really being an issue in this game, and with the existence of Celestriad Relics, the Crystal Orb fails to stand out. After the battle, you can leave through the door, walk through one small featureless room, and find yourself into a grand metal hall. There are no random encounters in this final location. There's a button on the floor on the far end, but it doesn't seem to do anything by itself. (Imperial corner-room) Outsider, Outsider, Cherry (5/16) Demon Knight, Yojimbo (5/16) Yojimbo, Yojimbo, Dark Force (5/16) Dark Force, Dark Force (1/16) Cherry is a tough opponent, and as she often appears with two Outsiders, things look even grimmer. I'd say that every battle with a Cherry/double Outsider formation is more dangerous than most of the boss battles you have to engage in this dungeon. Cherry is difficult to describe, as what she basically does is throw powerful spells around is a manner loosely related to her current situation. Any time she is damaged, she may cast either Cura on herself/her party, the Meteor spell on your party, or both. When all monsters are Reflective, she'll cast Curaga on YOUR party, which makes no sense whatsoever. Getting the enemy party Reflective, though, takes a lot of effort in a situation where you get nothing out of a Reflective enemy party, so that scenario shouldn't present itself. In no particular order, the spells she can cast (all on the targets you'd naturally assume): Cura, Curaga, Esuna, Reraise, the level 3 spells, Flare, Holy, Protect, Shell, Regen, and Haste. Oh yes, and she rarely throws in a completely useless !Blinding Touch attack to blind a character. All in all, you want to stop those spells. Imp, Berserk, and Stop are all ways to do just that. Make it a priority when facing that dreaded Cherry/Outsider/Outsider combo, as a Berserk spell never fails. Outsiders are THE most universally damaging opponents in this game. Not the most dangerous, as they are easily dispatched, but with inherent Haste, the ability to use the Throw command every turn, and a Throw counter to every non-fatal attack you perform, they're more than likely are going to sneak at least ONE blade down your throat. Every turn, they either Throw a ninja blade or a katana in this order: Kuani or Ashura Kodachi or Kotetsu Sakura or Kikuichimonji Sasuke or Kazekiri Ichigeki or Murasame When damaged by the Fight command, any Outsider will respond with a Shuriken; at every damaging attack that's not an Attack command, they will respond with either a Fuma Shuriken or a Pinwheel. Funnily enough, Outsiders appear to have a strong yet bizarre sense of honor; if they have not succeeded in killing your entire party by the time they Throw either an Ichigeki or Murasame, they will kill themselves with their !Dispatch attack. Whenever you meet Outsiders, you want to stop their actions immediately. You may Confuse them with the Noiseblaster of the Lv. 3 Confuse Lore to divert their attention for a moment before attempting to kill them using Banish or Break. They have a rare Stoneblade Steal. If, for some unthinkable reason, you want to go for them, cast Stop to make your life a lot easier. If you put this party on the button, you're done with these guys for now. De-equip all precious items and Espers and switch to Party #3. ******************************************************************************** Switch to Party 3 I won't go over the monsters again, but I'll give the formation odds just so you know what you can expect. (Garbage slopes) Great Behemoth, Great Malboro, Vector Lythos (6/16) Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos (5/16) Primeval Dragon, Great Malboro (5/16) Kefka's Tower (garbage caves party #3): Great Behemoth, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos (10/16) Great Behemoth, Great Malboro, Vector Lythos (6/16) You stand in front of moving conveyer belts. Nice. Stand on the left one to allow it to take you down (the good way). First, you'll come across a door to the left. There's a Red Cap to the door, and when you enter the door and fight your way through the passageway, you'll find a metal ramp which holds up two chests; a Gauntlet to the left and a Nutkin Suit to the right. This ramp holds enemies such as InnoSent and Gamma, which are both quite tough, so be on your guard. (Gauntlet/Nutkin Suit metal corridor) Gamma (6/16) Prometheus (5/16) InnoSent, InnoSent, InnoSent (5/16) InnoSent, that's how they kinda work you, too. You'll come to despise these satellites very quickly, let me assure you. They attack with !Brainblast (sets Confuse), Plasma, Freezing Dust, and very rarely Lv. ? Holy. Unless you made a conscious effort to set the last digit of your Gil amount to 1 (so Strago could abuse the move), Lv. ? Holy won't hit very often. A lot of your characters should nullify or even absorb Plasma, so the main annoyance is Confused and Frozen party members. You'll want to Confuse them with Noiseblasters and/or cast Banish to get rid of them. Lv. 4 Flare also works if the simple "remove HP until I win"-based strategy is your kind of plan. They're also weak to Lightning- and Water-elemental attacks. Now HERE'S a modern Prometheus! It stands out because it has no Rage, which is quite surprising for a random encounter such as Prometheus. It attacks with !Drill (Attack * 1.5) and Metal Cutter, which hurts a bit. When hit by a Attack command, it may use Southern Cross (on the attacker only) and when hit by a Magic spell, it may counter with Northern Cross (on the attacker only, so it hardly ever actually sets that Freeze status). Prometheus is a durable machine, I'll give it that, but there's nothing VERY dangerous about him so just pound him. It's weak to Lightning- and Water-elemental attacks, as you'd suspect. If for some reason you never Stole or simply bought that Debilitator, you can Steal one from Prometheus. Gamma. The last random encounter I got to describe. ;-; And it's all exciting too! Its most redeeming feature is the fact it has a rare Air Anchor to Steal, so if you never bothered to go up the Cultist's Tower or forgot to listen to one -eyed bums in Maranda, here's a shot at the precious Tool. Let's not forget that Gamma is actually kind of a challenge; it starts the battle off with !Gamma Rays, which sets Doom. Shucks. Its attacks may include more !Gamma Rays, Wave Cannon, Launcher, and Gravity Bomb, a percentage-based attack...you've never seen before unless you Raged a Armored Weapon. It's not that big of a deal, it just halves your current HP score. When Gamma dies, it fires off a final Atomic Rays on its slayer, which ST'd can hurt a lot if the character in question is shield-less, or Gogo or something. Set Stop, cast Thundaga, Throw Water Scrolls and all that to kill it. Get back out and find the other door which (through another featureless room filled with enemies) to find what appears to be a part of the Magitek Facility. The enemies in this section are Fortis, Duel Armor and Death Machine, for which great caution is advised. Siren is a great Esper to summon since she disables all magical machines instantly (though Fortis' Snow Ball will still work since it doesn't cost Fortis any MP). (First garbage passageway party #3) Primeval Dragon, Primeval Dragon (6/16) Great Behemoth, Vector Lythos, Vector Lythos (5/16) Great Malboro, Great Malboro, Great Malboro (5/16) (Magitek Facility) Fortis, Fortis (10/16) Duel Armor, Duel Armor, Death Machine (6/16) Death Machine is hell if you don't know how to take 'em. They start every battle with the Lv. 5 Death attack to weed out those unfortunate enough to be vulnerable to it. They then spend three turns using !Mind Stop (sets Stop) or cast the Death spell. Their true strength though, is the fact they will counter ANY damage done to them, besides damage coming from a Attack command, with up to four (!!!) Blaster attacks. Know that when the initial attacker is killed in this counter and Death Machine decides to use at least one other Blaster attack, it'll default to 'random' targeting. This means that your entire party might be targeted, and I'm talking MT here. Never let this happen. Take out Death Machine with ID attacks or set the Silence status to prevent all this from ruining your life. There's a Hero's Ring in the chest, and also a hidden Aegis Shield in this room; if you're playing on an emulator, simply disable layer 2 to see the path. If you're a console player, do the following: Go down into the darkness to the left of the spinning whatever-it-is. - Go all the way down - Go all the way to the right - Go all the way down - Go 1 step up - Go all the way to the left - Go all the way down - Take a few steps to the right and grab the Aegis Shield - Go back into the darkness and go all the way to the right - Go up and to the right until you don't go any further - Go all the way to the left, and all the way up to re-appear Anyway, get on the conveyer belt to continue. When you exit, you'll see a tube to the left of you. This will suck you in when you stand in front of it and take you back to the other end of the conveyer belt. Walk past the new Save Point and save if you must; you're only seven steps away from a surprise boss battle with Inferno. Down below you'll see an empty chest; it'll always be empty. Inferno Level: 67, HP: 30800, MP: 9700 Steal: Ice Shield (rare) Absorbs: Fire, Weakness: Lightning Special: !Sobat: Attack x 3 Sketch : !Sobat, Attack Control: Attack, !Sobat Vulnerable to: Slow Attacks: !Sobat, Thundara, Thundaga, Meteor, Delta Attack, Atomic Rays, Gigavolt, Magitek Barrier, Shockwave Ketu Level: 67, HP: 11000, MP: 2600 Steal: Flame Shield (rare) Absorbs: Ice, Weakness: Fire Special: !Slash: Attack x 2 Sketch : !Slash, Attack Control: Attack, !Slash Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, Metal Cutter Rahu Level: 69, HP: 8000, MP: 770 Steal: Flame Shield (rare) Absorbs: Lightning, Weakness: Ice Special: !Rapier: Attack x 1.5 Sketch : !Rapier, Attack Control: Attack, !Rapier Vulnerable to: Petrify, Death, Doom, Slow, Stop Attacks: Attack, !Rapier Joker's Death: No Ragnarok's Metamorph: No The battle against Inferno is a rather simple one, although it is frustrating that the main body and the blades don't share elemental properties. As you would expect, the main body is the one with all the fancy spells and with the most HP. Rahu is the left blade, and it just attacks physically with Attack and !Rapier. Once you destroy it, it'll take 20 seconds to grow back. Katu, the right blade, is a tad meaner than Rahu; next to Attack, it also uses Metal Cutter, the magical non-elemental attack that's as strong as a level 3 spell. Like Rahu, it grows back 20 seconds after you destroy it. Inferno uses a barrage of magical and mostly elemental attacks such as Thundara, Atomic Rays, Shockwave, and Gigavolt. When Inferno has both blades, it will use Delta Attack every 30 seconds. Delta Attack is still an unblockable attack that sets Petrify, so watch out for it. When Inferno has only ONE blade, it will only use Thundaga and Meteor spells (Meteor is especially nasty). The first time you destroy both blades, Inferno will use Magitek Barrier to set both Protect and Reflect on itself. Every time you damage Inferno, it may respond with a !Sobat attack that's just annoying. Your strategy is simple. You have no business caring about Rahu and Ketu whatsoever. Cast Slowga at the start of the battle and cast Stop spells on both blades to make sure they are out for a while. Cast Hastega, and summon Zona Seeker or call out a Mighty Guard attack if Strago is around. Now, focus all your offense on the main body. Let's not bother with Meteor and Magitek Barrier. The big weakness of Inferno is the Thundaga spell. It's an incredibly strong Lightning-elemental spell you can easily target to just hurt Inferno (it'll heal Rahu if you MT it), and one or more of your characters should be able to cast it with considerable power. If Shadow and/or Gogo is around you can have him/it chuck a few Thunder Blades at the infernal machine for large amounts of damage. Another possibility if you have spare Thunder Shields is break those; re-target the broken shield onto the main body by targeting your own party once, then switching back to Inferno. In the end, Inferno is the only 'random' boss of the entire dungeon, and it isn't incredibly hard if you prepared for the dungeon properly. Sadly, you get nothing out of the battle with Inferno short of some measly Magic AP. When you've given this ghost from the past a smackdown, you can continue. You'll walk through yet another garbage hallway into the garbage clearing again. Honestly, FF V's final dungeon had a lot of style with the blue crystals and the infinity of stars and planets in the background; they kinda took a tumble with the new installment if you ask me. This passageway contains nothing but Landworms, by the way. (Other two garbage passageways party #3) Landworm (always) Landworm is a big, big enemy that takes little effort to defeat. It uses the area around you to crush you: Magnitude 8 comes from below, and Hailstone (that unblockable 75% ID attack) from above. Rarely it uses !Constrict, which is nothing but an unimpressive physical attack. The only status ailment Landworm is protected against is Imp, so Death/Break/Stop away. How about a Stop/Blaster combo? You'll see a chest that contains a Megalixir to your right, and to your left is a pathway to a new door, a conveyer belt, and an opened chest with a red sparkle on it. REMEMBER THIS CHEST IF YOU PLAN TO LEAVE THE DUNGEON AT SOME POINT. After you've hit this switch once to extend the path for Party #1, leave and return, the red sparkle will be gone, so you'll have nothing but an open chest to look for. Don't go through the door quite yet, but go with the conveyer belt; it'll take you to a chest containing the Rainbow Brush, the second-strongest Brush weapon for Relm. Sadly, it still sucks horribly and is in every important way inferior to the Magus Rod, which you should keep equipped on her. Now, go around to enter the door. Through another trash hallway filled with Landworms, you'll come across another elemental dragon. (Skull Dragon room and ensuing hallway) Outsider, Outsider, Cherry (5/16) Demon Knight, Yojimbo (5/16) Yojimbo, Yojimbo, Dark Force (5/16) Dark Force, Dark Force (1/16) It's the last one; it's time to see what this Eightfold Seal is all about. Skull Dragon Level: 62, HP: 32800, MP: 1999 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Muscle Belt (always) Absorbs: Poison, Weakness: Fire, Holy Creature Type: MP Kill Special: !Hit: Removes Reflect (unblockable) Sketch : Rasp, Attack Control: Attack, !Hit Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Attack, Apparition, Will o' the Wisp, Doom, Disaster Joker's Death: Yes Ragnarok's Metamorph: Yes 12.5% chance of obtaining one of the following: Crystal Sword Crystal Shield Crystal Helm Crystal Mail Skull Dragon...just isn't very assuming. It's a generally sub par dragon as-is once you ignore the fact it has no status vulnerabilities to exploit, but at the very end of the game? It's kind of ridiculous and sad all at the same time. For Skull Dragon, it's like going against Tiger Woods; doesn't mean its golf skills stink; it's just that it's Tiger fucking Woods. Attack, Doom, Will o' the Wisp and Apparition all feature the first three turns, Doom easily the most popular one. Every fourth turn, Skull Dragon may use Disaster, which is clearly its most crippling attack. It will be randomly ST'd or MT'd by the semi-Undead dragon, and it sets Darkness, Imp, Doom, Silence, Confuse and oddly enough, the Float status. You should know the rest; one little tidbit about Apparition is that the graphic designers never expected any monster to use Apparition, so instead of a graphic of the caster (Skull Dragon in this case) you'll see a half-baked sprite of your leading party member instead. Every damage it takes may be countered by Attack. Throw on Ribbons where possible. You shouldn't need any special protection for Will o' the Wisp, as it's about as powerful as Fira, but you can equip Flame Shields, Ice Shields, Minerva bustier, or a Berserker Ring to absorb or nullify the attack. On the offense, just do whatever you have learned works. Since it's possible you have Ragnarok's Metamorphose at your disposal, you can try that for a quick win. Firaga spells are extremely powerful (more so than the Holy spell). Ragers can Rage Behemoth King to cast Firaga and become immune to Doom (the eventual death trigger will heal him), and the Imp, Silence and Confuse status that Disaster may set (the remaining Darkness and Float statuses that will be set are nothing to worry about for obvious reasons). Gogo should Rage like Gau. If you bought Fla