The Walkthrough and Battle Tactics Guide; WoB Version 1.7 Djibriel, November 2005 "It doesn't seem fair, does it?" - Final Fantasy VI 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 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 A Flippin' Contest! 11.0 Final Fantasy VI Junkie links and contact information 12.0 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 1.7 (3/9/2006) Mainly just an update to incooperate the fact the WoR walkthrough has been released. Added links towards the document and its Table of Contents in sections 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 Gave a slight addition to the Love Sonata learning grounds in 6.3 - Version 1.6 (3/9/2006) Reversed version history in order to make the new updates appear on top. Why I didn't do that earlier defies all logic. Fixed some minor errors in section 4.28.4 (the second fight with Ultros) Fixed a few errors, mainly data errors, that were pointed out to me Worded some things on the FC walkthrough better so it would be less confusing. Changed the version at the top of document to 1.6, for which you might think 'duh' or something horrible like that. Fact is, I forgot to do so with the 1.5 update :/ Updated Thanks section - Version 1.5 (1/11/2006) I need to stop needing to ninja-update. I left an unfinished new section in 1.4, section 8.8, so I fixed that. Fixed section numbers in the Version History Added how Seize/Poison/Regen-Seizure never acts on the same interval Fixed a line that implied that Break stops HadesGigas from counter- attacking (which it does not). Mentioned how Imped monsters can use the Imp spell where I previously said they couldn't. - Version 1.4 (1/8/2006) Fairly obvious lay-out and formatting overhaul after the kind of folks of the GameFAQs General FAQ Contributors Board - unblinded by the actual content of the document - discovered it could really use some improvement. Inserted primary physical and magical attacks in the 4.3.1 and 4.3.4 sections Fixed all colon problems Fixed an error in the explanation about Golem's Earth Wall Added information about dying, running and letting the timer run out when fighting Imperial soldiers before the Banquet. Added a note about Condemned its behavior on the Cursed Shld and Cursed Ring. Added the location of the hidden Tent in the Impresario Car of the Phantom Train Noted how you can forever be devoid of the Coin Toss Relic in section 8.3 Added the existence of the wizard/ghost character in Zozo and Narshe's Classroom after obtaining Magicite Expanded section 7.6, Magitek to include all other effects the Armor has on your characters. Expanded in the Status Ailment section to include prevention of Black Belt counter-attacks and True Knight protection where necessary. Discussed the uses of Dried Meat when reaching Mobliz Added attack descriptions from the Dance command Added the alternate way to do Blitz techniques, which doesn't involve diagonals Added how you can go back for the Commander and Vector Pup Rages and the treasure in that secret tunnel by taking Locke through the hidden back door of the house of Duncan's Wife. Mentioned how the Memento Ring is now called the Safety Ring/Safty Ring in the PSX releases. - Version 1.3 (12/9/2005) Eheheh....I left a small note to myself at the start of the guide, so this version is mainly there to remove the 'Mandrake' at the start. Added information about the Thief Glove in the 4.26.2 section. - Version 1.2 (12/8/2005) Changed every 'Kotesu' into 'Kotetsu' Corrected GhostTrain's stats Added a note about Espers removing Clear status in section 9.0 Re-inserted correct solution to the Contest Corrected typo on TunnelArmr's AI script Corrected the Matthew/Matthias mix-up in section 6.5 Corrected Mandrake's behavior under Stop in section 4.41.2 Updates Thanks section once again - Version 1.1 (11/21/2005) Fixed several typos. Distinguished the two Joker Dooms in Setzer's Slot ability section. Changed the link to Master ZED's Slot ability guide. Added contact information in section 11.0 Added Ctrl + F to the Slang section in 3.0 Added a Rare Items section Changed the information on the Telstar song; how dares the internet give me misinformation! Added the Japanese Moogle names in section 4.3.1 Added Relm's and Strago's Step Mine to the honest Intangir strategies. Added Kamog's equipment being given to you Added some information about Shadow's and Cyan's oriental weapons Added information about the secret bridge in South Figaro Added extensive information about the Kutan bug where you miss out on Celes and obtain Kutan the Moogle instead Added a lot of names in the Thanks section - Version 1.0 (11/14/2005) Initial Release ********************************** 2.0 Introduction ********************************** I was tired. And I was sick and tired of always being sick and tired. I can't really tell you when it started, because I wasn't around when it did. It probably started innocently...a friend invited a friend over to come play his new SNES game. "That armored guy with the sword is awesome!", a pimple-cheeked girl with glasses but with a radiant smile would say. "Dispatch kills everything he touches!", she would add. The guy would sigh. "This guy is much better. He kicks all kinds of ass with Fire Dance. It looks so cool, too!" This boy, who'd later grow up to be one of the most successful failures of his lifetime, loved Sabin with all his teenage heart. Neither knew that they started a great tradition. And by 'great', I mean 'unwanted, horrible'. Illiterates would somehow manage to drool over the keyboard in such a way it created a post that stated that Gau sucks. Good men wasted good time countering said horror. Locke was awesome because of his Speed, only he wasn't. Cyan has great equips, only he doesn't. Or did he? Gogo was awesome because he could equip any skill by going to the status screen. But that was just practical on paper, some said. Others weeped over this statement, which they considered a lie fueled by hate and lack of a social life. Others had a social life and claimed that it wasn't all that important as long as you had fun. Heh. In short: there were debates. And here's something funny to consider; you'd think that numbers, data output, logical solutions and expectations would be beyond personal interpretation. A common Dutch saying states that "one cannot argue about opinions". That's the biggest load of feces ever to hit the scene of sayings, I think. You can argue about opinions, you can't argue about facts. So, you'd think that in a game where the same Dispatch in the same situation always results into the same damage output, there'd be little place for debate. Ugh. Besides, it was time somebody took this task upon himself. There's so much known about this game, yet even the best walkthroughs were almost entirely, but not quite, unlike the walkthrough they were supposed to be. So here it is! I've prophesized on numerous occasions that I would never write a document like this on the basis of the fact I would go bat-shit crazy and wouldn't be able to stop typing, making the document a behemoth of unreadable gibberish (most likely consisting out of Relm fetishism and little bits of info nobody in their right mind find amusing). But what is this document you're seeing? Does it really contain everything? Is it some kind of Hitchhiker's Guide to FF VI? The Encyclopedea CCLV VIea? The Kamog 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 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 This is my fourth document meant for public release, and as I was with the other three, I'm pretty excited about it. My other projects will both be very helpful for this guide; while the Level # Lore Guide will be only moderately useful and the Sketch Guide just managed to confirm what everybody already knew, a lot of walkthroughs contain a string of question marks concerning Gau and his Rage ability and my Rage Guide taught me exactly what to fill in those question marks. Now, I've basically gotten two kinds of responses about the Rage Guide. Most of it was very positive, and I'm thankful for that. It's great to see the document being linked to all the time (get this: almost as often as the How to Blitz Guide!). But there are a few who've said that my guide contains a major flaw; I'm too talkative. I elaborate and fill it with too much information. You see, there's a reason for that. Everybody has his own personal little fetish; mine is Final Fantasy VI. I've played the game to death and know far more about it than could ever be considered healthy. I want all that information to shine through in my documents, as I personally think it's awesome to know all those things. Also, I tend to waste lines on introductions, puns and other stuff that could have been left out. That's mostly for personal pleasure. As the bored, soulless eyes of your high school math teacher can tell you, explaining stuff that's incredibly basic to you tends to be less fun than, say, sharing a beer with friends or having incredibly awesomely crazy sex. With a woman. You're looking at the most complete walkthrough that exists out there, I can make that statement without false modesty. But 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. One that's generally been called the best one before this one was written is Atom Edge's Walkthrough. It can be found at GameFAQs, but is at the time of writing three years old. Slightly outdated, but it features all of the commonly asked questions and lists a lot of more obscure items. ********************************** 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. Question: I noticed you used the terminology from the older SNES versions. I hope you're aware of the fact there are PAL-versions available in Europe and US and the US have even seen an Anthology release where it's offered together with FFV. Why not adapt the names to that game? They're slightly different, and as they were changed from the original, obviously what was meant to happen. Yes, I am aware. Sadly so, in fact. I think Master ZED said it best when he mentioned how he took the PSX port as a personal insult. They did close to nothing to fix old bugs, inserted a couple of new ones, raped Ted Woolsey's legacy by using the entire translation with a couple of minor changes while removing his name from the credits, and gave us a game with sound and graphics INFERIOR to the SNES game that was released five years prior to the PSX release: 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 Also, Anthology has three different names for each monster; In-battle the names were shortened to 9 characters, in the Rage List there were with the normal ten, and in the Bestiary they were a shocking 8. All SNES names can be easily recognized when you've only been playing/are playing Anthology, as it doesn't take a genius to know that Mithril and Mythril are the same material and that a Fenix Down is the same as a Phoenix Down. To conclude, the PSX blows. The SNES has died, long live the SNES! 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. ID (Instant Death) attack: Instant Death attacks are attacks that check for the Instant Death protection bit. Most of the time, these attacks set Wound (Doom, Snare, ectera), but other attacks also use this feature, most noticeably percentage-based attacks like Demi and Cyclonic. Several Petrifying spells will check for ID next to Petrify protection and the oddball Overcast and the level-halving attack Dischord also check for it. The X-type ID of the Assassin, Trump, Striker, Wing Edge and the dicing effect of the Scimitar also check for ID protection. The following attacks are ID attacks: Roulette, Break, Demi, Doom, Quartr, W Wind, X-Zone, Atom Edge, True Edge, Demon Eye, Cleave, Slash, Antlion, Cave in, Cokatrice, Snare, Snowball, Sonic Boom, Air Anchor, Chain Saw's ID attack, X-Fer, Condemned, Dischord, L.5 Doom, Roulette, Blaster, Cyclonic, Grav Bomb, Overcast, Shimsham, SabreSoul, Star Prism Note that this makes Joker Doom the only Wound-setting attack that doesn't check for the bit, and Dread the only 'normal' Petrify-setting attack that doesn't check for ID protection. ********************************** 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 Whelk 4.2.1 Old Man's House 4.2.2 Escape through the mines 4.3.1 Defending Terra from Marshal 4.4.1 Classroom for the Beginner 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 Lete River 4.10.2 The first fight with Ultros 4.11.1 Choosing a scenario 4.12.1 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Lete 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: Imperial Camp and Doma 4.13.3 Scenario Sabin: Telstar and 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: Specter and the Phantom Train continued 4.15.3 Scenario Sabin: The battle with GhostTrain 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: Veldt Hunting 4.17.4 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 TunnelArmr 4.21.1 Defending the Esper from Kefka 4.21.2 Rider 4.21.3 The battle with Kefka 4.22.1 Narshe 4.23.1 Traveling to Kohlingen and optional trip to the Veldt 4.23.2 Figaro Castle 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 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 (Celes' Opera Performance) 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 Base near the Mountains 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: Sraphim 4.34.2 Airship Exploitation: Auction House: Golem and ZoneSeek 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 Narshe 4.35.2 Lone Wolf persecution and recruiting Mog 4.35.3 Dance lessons, including Water Rondo 4.36.1 Cave to the Sealed Gate 4.36.2 Coin 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 Base near the Cave to the Sealed Gate and Setzer's cutscene 4.39.1 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 FlameEater 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 AtmaWeapon 4.45.4 Kefka's Betrayal 4.45.5 Escape from the Floating Continent 4.45.6 The battle with Nerapa and Exit Take note that this is a walkthrough for the first half of the game; the World of Balance. The walkthrough for the second half can be found here: http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/final_fantasy_iii_l_2.txt Table of Contents: 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 Tzen; the Collapsing House 4.49.1 The Serpent Trench 4.49.2 The tail of the Serpent Trench; Mobliz 4.49.3 The fight with Phunbaba 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 Crimson Robbers 4.51.3 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimson Robbers; Cave of Figaro 4.51.4 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimson Robbers; Figaro Castle 4.51.5 The fight 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 Colosseum 4.53.3 Daryl's Tomb 4.53.4 The fight with Presenter 4.53.5 The fight 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 4.54.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Palidor 4.54.5 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Jidoor 4.54.6 Airship Exploitation: The Auction House 4.54.7 Airship Exploitation: Fanatics Tower 4.54.8 Airship Exploitation: Thamasa 4.54.9 Airship Exploitation: Dragon's Neck Colosseum 4.54.10 Airship Exploitation: Doom Gaze 4.55.1 Narshe 4.55.2 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Ice Dragon 4.55.3 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Tritoch 4.55.4 Umaro's Cave; the battle with three Pugs 4.55.5 The battle with Umaro 4.55.6 The Moogle Raid 4.56.1 The battle with Phunbaba 4.57.1 Following the pigeon 4.57.2 Mount Zozo 4.57.3 The battle with Storm Drgn 4.57.4 Cyan Garamonde 4.58.1 The Veldt 4.58.2 The Cave of the Veldt and Allo Ver 4.58.3 The battle with SrBehemoth 4.59.1 Thamasa and the Colosseum 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 Dirt Drgn 4.62.4 Gungho's assignment; Ebot's Rock 4.62.5 The battle with Hidon 4.63.1 Another Colosseum 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 fight with Master Pug 4.65.2 The Ancient Castle and the battle with KatanaSoul 4.65.3 The battle with the Blue Drgn 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 Cursed Shld 4.68.3 Gau and his father 4.69.1 The Fanatics Tower and the battle with White Drgn 4.69.2 The battle with MagiMaster 4.70.1 End-game character evaluation 4.71.1 Kefka's Tower: Preparation and explanation 4.71.2 Kefka's Tower: Reconnaisance 4.71.3 Kefka's Tower: The source of all Magic 4.71.4 Kefka's Tower: The Final Battle 4.72.1 The Ending 4.73.1 The proverbial postcoital cigarette -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1 Prelude: The attack on Narshe ********************************** Location: Narshe Party members: Terra, Vicks, Wedge Opponents: Guard, Lobo, Vommamoth 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: Lobo Lobo, Lobo Guard, Guard Lobo, Guard, Guard (forced Pincer attack) Vomammoth, Vomammoth, 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: MithrilBlade Buckler Leather Hat LeatherArmor 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 Lobo, Guard, Guard monster formation. The next one will feature Vommamoth. These monsters will start using Blizzard, 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 with Battle and !Bear Claw. Although they have the second-highest Battle Power 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 Blizzardy 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 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 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 Lobo; this is unavoidable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.2 Prelude: The newly dug mineshaft ********************************** Location: Narshe Mineshaft Party members: Terra, Vicks, Wedge Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man 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. Not Vermin, but vermin. Note the difference. Preparation: Still in the Back Row, are we? There's nothing interesting here to do, so let's move on. Monster formations: First cave: Were-Rat, Were-Rat, Were-Rat (10/16) Were-Rat, Repo Man (6/16) Second cave: Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16) Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16) Were-Rat, Were-Rat (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 Were-Rat and Repo Man, in the second, Vaporite. Were-Rat absorbs Poison, so while it may be tempting to use an MT spell against the largest group of enemies you're facing, don't. Vaporite absorbs Lightning, so in any battle you find one, avoid Bolt Beam like the demonic plague it is. Electricity fails at success, anyway. Repo Man...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 X-Fer, or try to not care. Eventually, you'll come across a barrier. Vicks 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 Whelk ********************************** Whelk (shell) Level: 4, HP: 50000, MP: 120 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Tincture (always) Absorbs: Lightning Special: !Hit : Battle x 4 Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Mega Volt Head (Whelk's head) Level: 6, HP: 1600, MP: 1000 Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Potion (always) Special: !Slime: sets Slow Vulnerable to: Nothing Attacks: Battle, !Slime This battle is quite simple. Vicks 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 your very first boss battle. The shell and the head are two separate entities. The shell will do nothing as long as you won't attack it, but every time you do damage, it will counter with Mega Volt. Mega Volt 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 "Gruuu". 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 TekMissile. Wait until the head has retreated and appeared again. Repeat. Whelk should be dead by now if you fought all the battles against the Narshe guards; if not, just go for another round. Whelk 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 Tincture the shell provides. Since the shell only has 120 MP, he can only use six Mega Volt 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 a Tincture AND a 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 ********************************** Location: Old Man's house Party members: Terra Opponents: None 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 ********************************** Location: Narshe, Forsaken Mines Party members: Terra Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man 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 Were-Rat and Vaporite with a single Fight 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. Monster formations: Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16) Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16) Were-Rat, Were-Rat (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 Vaporites should be taken care of with an MT Fire spell, as should a double Were-Rat. Start the Repo Man/Vaporite battle off with an MT Fire spell and finish Repo Man 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 Fenix Down it now contains is nice, the Pod Bracelet Relic it transforms into later will be much nicer. 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 MithrilKnife 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 Christope, general Celes Chere. A cozy bunch. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3.1 Defending Terra from Marshal ********************************** Location: Narshe, Forsaken Mines Party members: Locke, Mog, Kupek, Kupop, Kumama, Kuku, Kutan, Kupan, Kushu, Kurin, Kuru, Kamog Opponents: Lobo, Vomammoth, Marshal 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 Empire is evil, the Returners are fighting the 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 - Level average + 5 Mithril Pike; Mithril Shld Kupek - Level average + 2 Mithril Pike; Buckler Kupop - Level average + 0 Morning Star; Buckler Kumama - Level average + 0 Mithril Claw; Buckler Kuku - Level average - 5 Flail; Buckler Kutan - Level average + 0 MithrilBlade; Buckler Kupan - Level average + 2 Full Moon; Buckler Kushu - Level average + 2 Chocobo Brsh; Buckler Kurin - Level average + 0 Mithril Pike; Buckler Kuru - Level average + 0 MithrilBlade; Buckler Kamog - Level average + 2 Boomerang; Buckler They're all collected in three teams. These are the teams; behind the names of the Japanese Moogles for RPGone players. Locke's group: Locke Lock Kupek Moglin Kupop Mogpu Kumama Mogchi Mog's group: Mog Mog Kuku Morul Kutan Mogtan Kupan Mogul Kushu's group: Kushu Mogshi Kurin Mogpon Kuru Mugmug Kamog Zummog Preparation: Equip Locke with the equipment you snatched from Terra; the Buckler will be especially nice. You can put Kupop, Kuku, Kupan and Kamog 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: "Couldn't hold out...?! Uh oh..." Monster formations: Lobo, Lobo, Marshal Vomammoth, Lobo Marshal Level: 8, HP: 420, MP: 150 Steal: MithrilKnife (common), Win: Potion (always) Weakness: Poison Special: !Charge: Battle x 2 Sketch : !Charge, Battle Control: Battle, !Charge, Bolt 2 Vulnerable to: Imp, Petrify, Death, Condemned, Mute, Berserk, Muddled, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !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 Vomammoth and the Lobo formation. Aim all attacks on the Vomammoth at first, then the 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 Dusk 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 Dusk Requiem, a Dance he will learn as soon as he has fought one battle here. The Dusk 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 - Kills one enemy, prevents final counters 2/16 12.50 % Elf Fire - ST magical, Fire-elemental attack 1/16 6.25 % Pois. 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 Marshal. 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 Marshal with Locke until you have a MithrilKnife. If you have trouble with the actual 'killing' part of the Marshal 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 Dusk 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 Lobo and then focus your attack on Marshal. 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 spell 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 Marshal battle, remove Mog's MithrilPike and Mithril Shld. Equip the Shield on Locke if you're fighting Marshal with him. For some trivia knowledge some would appreciate, Kuku is Mog's girlfriend. Kuku 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 Kuku's weakness: she's a woman. Family-friendly support group-evading explanation: although lacking in combat experience, Kuku shows some proverbial nuts by going with her lover anyway. At any rate, the Moogle Charm you'll find later in the game, a Mog-exclusive Relic, is supposed to be given to him by Kuku. The only proof of this off-game knowledge lies in its Japanese roots: Kuku was called Moruru there, and the Moogle Charm the Moruru's Charm. Also, the Japanese Creation Data Collection Book supposedly clearly says the Moogle Charm is a "crystal ball charm given by his lover, Moruru". I've never seen it myself and wouldn't recognize Japanese if it exploded from my stomach like the aliens in the aptly-named movies with Sigourney Weaver, but I have no reason to doubt it either. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4.1 Classroom for the Beginner ********************************** Location: Classroom for the Beginner Party members: Terra, Locke Opponents: 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: 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. Environmental 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 Lobo. Have Terra Defend (press right when in the command menu) and Locke Steal until you've gotten that Tonic. You know you want it. Kill him with violence. Find the Tincture in the yellow pot in Environmental 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 Tonic in there. Now, exit. The guy in front of the door advises you to skip Advanced Battle Tactics. What a Tonic-hogger, eh? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4.2 Traveling to Figaro Castle ********************************** Location: Overworld Map. Between Narshe and Figaro Desert Party members: Terra, Locke Opponents: Leafer, Dark Wind, Sand Ray, Areneid 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 MithrilKnife on Terra. She won't use it, gods no, But it's still a 4 point increase in Battle Power, and I don't see why the hell not. Keep the Mithril Shld 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 Fight command. In the desert, put Locke in the Front Row, and keep Terra in the Back Row. Monster formations: Grasslands: Leafer (10/16) Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (6/16) Forest: Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (10/16) Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind, Dark Wind (6/16) Desert: Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (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 Tonics. 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 Gold Pieces 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 ********************************** Location: Figaro Castle Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: None 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 Mithril Shld 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 Mithril Shld 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: Tonic 50 Tincture 1500 Antidote 50 Soft 200 Echo Screen 120 Fenix 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 GP for the Weapon Shop. Weapon Shop: AutoCrossbow 250 NoiseBlaster 500 Bio Blaster 750 Buy a NoiseBlaster and a Bio Blaster; you have obtained an AutoCrossbow 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 Tonic, Antidote, Soft, and Fenix 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 Matron 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 Matron 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 MithrilPike 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! In the Japanese game, Edgar calls Kefka a Mage Warrior of the Empire. Does that mean that Kefka knows Magic as well? Now, when you're controlling Terra again, take hold of that MithrilBlade. 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 ********************************** Location: Figaro Desert Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: M-TekArmor 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: M-TekArmor, M-TekArmor M-TekArmor Level: 8, HP: 210, MP: 250 Steal: Potion (rare), Tonic (common), Win: Potion (common) Weakness: Lightning Status: Safe Special: !Metal Kick, Battle x 1.5 Sketch : Tek Laser, Battle Control: Battle, Tek Laser Vulnerable to: Mute, Berserk, Muddled, Sleep, Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !Metal Kick, Tek 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 Muddle, 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; Tonics and Potions are nothing to get excited about, but Fight removes the Muddled status. Terra should pump out ST Fire spells. It'll get you a 'hilarious' scene. I guess it looked good on paper. For those of you emulator players, Edgar and Locke are supposed to hide behind the menu when Terra goes 'Stop swooning!'. Terra's Magic and their own self-destructive tendencies (Tek Laser hit themselves for super-effective damage) will grant you victory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6.1 Traveling through Figaro Cave ********************************** Location: Figaro Cave Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: Hornet, Crawly, Bleary 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, Bleary, Bleary, Bleary, Hornet (10/16) Hornet, Crawly, Crawly (6/16) Second cave and third cave: Crawly, Crawly, Crawly (6/16) Bleary, Bleary, Crawly (5/16) Hornet, Hornet (5/16) Note: if you didn't use Terra's Magic spells in the battle against the M-TekArmors, 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 Battle and !IronNeedle. Crawly are horribly defenseless creatures, but something about Crawly monsters I find particularly repulsive, so I don't feel bad about killing them. When you confuse them with NoiseBlaster, they might try to use the Magnitude8 attack, but they have insufficient MP. Bleary are the only creatures here that *might* stand through a single AutoCrossbow attack. They can force you to sleep when you look in their eyes with !Slumber, but you'll have killed them before they get a chance to use an attack like that. 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 Crawly with his AutoCrossbow. If you don't meet Bleary monsters, have Terra simply Defend and Locke Steal while you're waiting for Edgar's turn to come up. When Bleary 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 AutoCrossbow. If you're scared you wasted GP on the Bio Blaster, you'll gain use for it soon enough. If there's a choice, always try to Steal from Crawly. A Tonic is a Tonic, 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 (Fenix Down upstairs, two Tinctures downstairs) will transform into rad items in the near future. I advise you to let them be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7.1 South Figaro ********************************** Location: South Figaro Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: None 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: Tonic 50 Antidote 50 Soft 200 Eyedrop 50 Echo Screen 120 Fenix Down 500 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 You might want to buy one or two Soft potions, as it *is* possible to accidentally get a Petrified character in a bit, and you'll want something to counter its effects. Weapon Shop: Dirk 150 MithrilKnife 300 MithrilBlade 450 RegalCutlass 800 NoiseBlaster 500 Bio Blaster 750 Buy a RegalCutlass and give it to Terra. Give the MithrilBlade 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 MithrilKnife. You can buy the two non-AutoCrossbow Tools for Edgar if your ignorant brother saved after the Figaro Castle experience without buying them there. Armor Shop: Buckler 200 Heavy Shld 400 Hair Band 150 Plumed Hat 250 Cotton Robe 200 Kung Fu Suit 250 Buy two Heavy Shlds, three Plumed Hats, a Cotton Robe, and a Kung Fu Suit. Equip them with Optimum. Relic Shop: Spring Shoes 1500 Goggles 500 Star Pendant 500 Jewel Ring 1000 True Knight 1000 Buy three Star Pendants and a Jewel Ring. True Knight and Sprint Shoes I'll leave up to you. Goggles are entirely useless so unless you want to obtain as many Items as possible, ignore them. Equip a Star Pendant on every character. The Jewel Ring, despite what its descriptions says, only 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) Fenix Down - Fenix Down Tonic - X-Potion Antidote - Tent Eyedrop - Remedy Tonic - Revivify Green Cherry - Tent Soft - Elixir Warp Stone - Fenix Down There's a Tonic in the barrel between the Weapon and Armor Shop. I suggest skipping this one; you've got plenty of Tonics, but X-Potions will always be nice to have. There's an Eyedrop 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 Tonic that becomes a Revivify (leave it), the Green Cherry behind the Chocobo Stable becomes a Tent (grab the Cherry) and the Soft 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 Fenix 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 RunningShoes. The Hyper Wrist boosts Vigor, increasing your physical attack power; the RunningShoes gives you inherent and unremovable Haste status. I suggest giving the RunningShoes 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 GP, 1000 GP, 1500 GP, 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 Warp Stone. It'll become a Fenix Down later, but Warp Stones are infinitely cooler at this stage of the game than Fenix Downs will ever be. Finally, there's a Tonic 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 ********************************** Location: Overworld Map. Around South Figaro Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: Rhodox, Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk 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: Grass: Rhinotaur (6/16) GreaseMonk, GreaseMonk (5/16) Rhodox, Rhodox, GreaseMonk (5/16) Forest: Rhodox, Rhodox, Rhodox, Rhodox (6/16) Rhinotaur, Rhodox, Rhodox (5/16) Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk, Rhodox, Rhodox (5/16) Fairly standard stuff, now. GreaseMonks take more damage from Bio Blaster than from AutoCrossbow, so use that on double GreaseMonks. They'll just attack physically and won't start using !LodeWrench 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. Rhodox are obscenely boring creatures as they do nothing but Battle under any circumstance. The only interesting thing to note about them is the fact that they cannot be Suplex'd. 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. Rhinotaur are the first genuinely dangerous-looking creatures you meet. They attack with Battle and !Redline, and counter Magic spells with a 1/3 shot at using Mega Volt, so don't do that. You'll want to try to Steal a Mithril Claw from him; it's a weapon none of your characters can equip...yet. Any monster fight should include Edgar using AutoCrossbow (double GreaseMonk can be taken down easier with Bio Blaster, 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 GreaseMonks in one hit as well with the AutoCrossbow. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8.1 Sabin's Hut ********************************** Location: Sabin's Hut Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: None 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 Tonic 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 ********************************** Location: Mount Koltz Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar Opponents: Brawler, Trilium, Tusker, Cirpius 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: Brawler, Brawler (10/16) Tusker, Tusker (6/16) Slopes: Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (11/16) Tusker, Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16) Great slopes: Trilium, Trilium (10/16) Trilium, Tusker, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16) Foot of Mount. Koltz: Brawler, Trilium, Vaporite, Vaporite (10/16) Tusker, Tusker (6/16) This is highly frustrating for console players, but Brawler 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 AutoCrossbow 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'). Brawlers, 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 version was Holy Moon Sword. Way to boringify an attack, Woolsey. 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 AutoCrossbow; when they come with a Tusker you'll want to confuse them until one of them has petrified the Tusker with either !Beak or the Break spell. Tuskers are the only real threats here. They have stronger physicals comparable to Marshal's pounding, and they have a 1/3 chance at countering every Fight command. Don't use it. An MT Fire spell and an AutoCrossbow round kills them. Trilium, lastly, are annoying because they Poison you with !Bane 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 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 Guardian! 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 Atlas Armlet. The Atlas Armlet is much better that the Hyper Wrist; while the Hyper Wrist boosts a stat used for physical damage calculation by 50 %, the Atlas Armlet simply boosts your physical damage by 25 % period. Equip it on Edgar to boost his AutoCrossbow. With the Atlas Armlet equipped, Edgar should be taking everything out in one hit except for Tuskers, 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 Atlas Armlet from Edgar and give it to Locke; give his RunningShoes to Terra. Equip Edgar with the Hyper Wrist or, if you have it, the True Knight. 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 Near Fatal. 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: Potion (rare), Potion (common) Weakness: Fire Special: !Claw: Battle x 1.5 Sketch : !Claw, Battle Control: Battle, !Claw Vulnerable to: Imp, Mute, Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !Claw Vargas Level: 12, HP: 11600, MP: 220 Steal: Mithril Claw (rare), Tonic (common) Weakness: Poison Special: !Doom Fist: sets Condemned, Battle x 1.5 Sketch : !Doom Fist, Battle Control: Battle, !Doom Fist Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !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 Battle and !Claw. Vargas will casually switch between Battle and Gale Cut in a Battle-Gale Cut- Battle rhythm. Dance to it. After every 50 seconds, he will taunt you cruelly by saying: "Come on. What's the matter?" and use Battle 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!! Off with ya now!". 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 "Mortal attack: 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 AutoCrossbow, and Terra use ST Fire spells on the Ipooh you looted. After you've taken care of the Ipoohs, switch to the Bio Blaster 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 Bio Blaster 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 Pummel 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://members.shaw.ca/yoshi6400/HowToBlitz6400.txt 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 Vaporites here, which seem horrible misplaced in space. AuraBolt is the strongest ST attack you have at this point; take advantage of it. Only after you annihilated everything non-Tusker on screen though. If you have a Bandana and/or Mithril Claw in your inventory, give it 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 ********************************** Location: Returners Hideout (and surrounding lands) Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin Opponents: Rhodox, Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk Monster formations: Rhodox, Rhodox, GreaseMonk (6/16) GreaseMonk, GreaseMonk (5/16) Rhinotaur, Rhodox, Rhodox (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 Mithril Claw, 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's Vargas? Where's my husband? SABIN (looking down): Master was... Vargas... DUNCAN'S WIFE: I'll never understand Vargas... Fortunately, my husband taught his most secret techniques to you. SABIN: For 10 years you've treated me like a son. I am eternally grateful! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.9.2 The Returners' Hideout ********************************** Location: Returners' Hideout Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin Opponents: None 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 Fenix Down in the chest in the room you woke up in. Go out and head up. You'll find three chests here: a True Knight, another Fenix Down, and an Air Lancet, 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 Tincture. Furthermore, there's a Green Cherry in the pot in the conference room (the one with the large table) and a 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: "Someone dropped a scrap of paper..." and you'll get two options: Toss it in the trash. Leave it there. 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: "BANON: Who did this? Who left this piece of paper here?" 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: Eyedrop 50 Tonic 50 Potion 300 Tincture 1500 Echo Screen 120 Sleeping Bag 500 Tent 1200 Sprint Shoes 1500 This is the first shop you can actually buy Potions at, so if you're low on them, it might a good idea to stock up on some. A few Eyedrops 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 another 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: "Scum! You're Returners!" If you declined Banon's offer three times, Terra will walk back into the Hideout and mutter: "Hope... How can 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 Lete 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 Lete 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 Lete River later in the game. For a fun little tidbit, go to the room Terra woke up in and stand under the chest. Pride yourself in having seen one of the most elusive minor cutscenes in the game. :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.10.1 Escaping over the Lete River ********************************** Location: Lete River Party members: Terra, Edgar, Sabin, Banon Opponents: Pterodon, Nautiloid, Exocite 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 Atlas Armlet/RunningShoes to Edgar, Hyper Wrist and True Knight 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: Uwaaaa! The Empire's invading! (cue 'Troops march on') (Troops march on fades out) "What the...? Sleep talking?" Welcome to Lete River. The first rule of Lete River is: you don't talk about Lete River. The second rule of Lete River is: you do not talk about Lete River. The third rule of Lete River is when Banon goes down, the game is over. If Banon receives Wound 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 fell..." 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 Battle 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 Safe status), so the AutoCrossbow and Fight commands will do little here. Also, after three turns he'll turn on Banon for a Battle attack, so BEWARE. Pterodon are the strongest enemies here. They can use Battle, execute !Wing to set Seizure on the party the second turn and can actually use Fire Ball the third one, which is an MT Fire-elemental attack and particularly dangerous. Pterodon 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 AuraBolt to deliver damage, and have Banon use Health 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 Lete River. However, there are many ways to Rome, and many ways to travel the Lete 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) Pterodon, Exocite, Exocite (1/4) Monster Formation Pack # 2 Pterodon, Pterodon (3/4) Nautiloid, Exocite, Pterodon (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 Pterodon, 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 'eerie glow' 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 Lete 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, Battle x 1.5 Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !Ink, Tentacle "Uwee hee hee Game over! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" 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 saying: "Uwee hee hee Game over! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" and using a Battle attack. Then, if 10 seconds have passed (and they will have), he'll say "Delicious morsel! Let me get my bib!" 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 Battle, !Ink or an ST Tentacle in that very same turn; if not, he'll spread the happiness with an MT Tentacle/ follow up with Battle/!Ink/ST Tentacle, wait a turn, and THEN hate Sabin for his body. His next turn is devoted to a Battle attack and either a Battle, !Ink or ST or MT Tentacle attack in the same turn. Then, he'll say "Y you frighten me!" and use an ST Tentacle attack on Banon, from where he'll start at his first MT Tentacle-Battle/!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 Fire Dance Blitz, he will say "Yaaooouch! Seafood soup!" 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 Def. skill to reduce the power of Tentacle when you know they'll be targeted by it. Have Banon use Health at all times, as his Fight 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 AutoCrossbow, and Sabin use AuraBolt. IF he knows Fire Dance at this point, it's stronger than AuraBolt, but if you're highly leveled like that, you probably don't need to worry about anything. If you defeat him, he'll go "Th that's all, friends!" 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 ********************************** Location: ??? Party members: Mog Opponents: None 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 Edge, and the ability to de-equip, most likely freeing an Atlas Armlet and RunningShoes. Locke: Iron Helmets, a Ribbon, one pair of Earrings, a Thunder Rod (if you left the Fenix 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 MithrilGlove, a Barrier Ring, Green Berets, a set of Earrings, a Sniper Sight, a Tintinabar 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: Lete River continued ********************************** Location: Lete River Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon Opponents: Pterodon, Nautiloid, Exocite Preparation: Ain't nothing you can do, lil' missy. Monster Formation Pack # 1: Nautiloid, Exocite (3/4) Pterodon, Exocite, Exocite (1/4) Monster Formation Pack # 2 Pterodon, Pterodon (3/4) Nautiloid, Exocite, Pterodon (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 Pterodon Muddled, take Nautiloid with an ST Fire spell, and Exocite with the AutoCrossbow. Have Banon on stand-by. You should be used to these guys by now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.12.2 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Traveling to Narshe ********************************** Location: Overworld Map Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon Opponents: Leafer, Dark Wind You rode that Lete 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 sets of Earrings, and have Edgar stick to Atlas Armlet/RunningShoes. Monster formations: Grasslands: Leafer (10/16) Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (6/16) Forest: Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (10/16) Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind, Dark Wind (6/16) Desert: Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (1/16) You can just slaughter these guys left and right however you please; MT Fire spell or AutoCrossbow, your pick. For some extra fun, you can take Banon to the hidden Chocobo Stable south of Figaro Desert. He's not a permanent character and was never given a 'rider' sprite, but it is called when you put him as the lead character and order a ride. Garbage with maximum entertainment (I'll admit there's a possibility that Garbage - the Band does make for an ever better evening, but I've never actually heard anything by them to my knowledge). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.12.3 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Narshe ********************************** Location: Narshe Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man, Dark Side, Spectre, Rinn, 1st Class, Wild Rat. 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: Were-Rat, Were-Rat, Were-Rat (10/16) Were-Rat, Repo Man (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, 1st Class, 1st Class, Wild Rat, Wild Rat (6/16) 1st Class, 1st Class, 1st Class (5/16) 1st Class, Wild Rat (5/16) Both 1st Class and Wild Rat monsters attack physically only, so there's little point in explaining what it is that they do. 1st Classes 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: Dark Side, Dark Side (3/4) Dark Side, Spectre, Rinn, Rinn, Rinn (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 Dark Side enemy. Lo and behold, as there is a small chance (25 %) you will actually encounter the interesting Spectre and Rinn. There's no reason you want to meet them and killing them is very easy, but you'll make them appear on the Veldt so you don't end up with a needlessly incomplete Rage list. Spectre 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 Edge*. 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 RegalCutlass, as the Rune Edge 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 Edge 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 Edge is now. Monster formations: Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16) Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16) Were-Rat, Were-Rat (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 ********************************** Location: Overworld Map Party members: Sabin, Shadow Opponents: Stray Cat, Beakor, CrassHoppr, Rhobite 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 Earrings, AuraBolt kills everything in one shot anyway, so a power boost isn't needed. Beakor's Duster can Poison you, so that's why I advise a Star Pendant. Clever, no? Monster formations: Grass: Beakor (6/16) Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Beakor, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Forest: CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Beakor, Beakor, Stray Cat (5/16) Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (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: Tonic 50 Fenix Down 500 Tent 1200 Plumed Hat 250 Shuriken 30 Inviz Edge 200 Shadow Edge 400 Sprint Shoes 1500 I suggest you buy 99 Shurikens from him. 2970 GP is not that much, and it'll stop any worrying about the limit of Shadow's attacks for a good while. Also, buy 5 Inviz Edges and 5 Shadow Edges. 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: "Whoa... The dog just can't stand 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 Heavy Shld 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 Atlas Armlet 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. A little note on his Imperial weapon: some have seen this as a hint that Shadow is originally from the Southern continent, possible from Vector. 'Imperial' was never the weapon's name in the Japanese game; there it was called the Kunai, which should make anime otaku smile with recognition. It's *the* generic ninja weapon. 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 Inviz Edge. This makes him invulnerable for the remaining journey on the Overworld Map. Throw Shurikens and AuraBolts 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: Imperial Camp and Doma ********************************** Location: Imperial Camp, Doma Castle Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan Opponents: Soldier, Doberman, M-TekArmor, Leader 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. 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 Shld, Plumed Hat or even an Iron Helmet 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: [SWDTECH-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 Soldiers), but it's of little use, as you'll be forced to fight Soldiers in the near future anyway. I suggest you simply go for the leader. Leader Level: 12, HP: 456, MP: 20 Win: Fenix Down (rare), Black Belt (common) Status: Safe Special: !Axe: Attack * 1.5 Attacks: Battle, !Axe The leader, surprisingly called 'Leader', 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 Leader. Cyan should be in the Back Row, so Leader's attacks shouldn't really hurt him. Cyan's # 1 SwdTech skill, Dispatch, will deal sufficient damage to easily kill Leader before Leader can come anywhere near killing Cyan. SwdTech skill # 2, Retort, will make sure that the Leader is killed in one hit. SwdTech skill # 3 works as well, although it takes needlessly long. Make sure you end up with a Black Belt rather than a Fenix 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 a Soldier, Soldier, M-TekArmor 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! The top won't open. Right... (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. 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 AuraBolt damage increase. Now, walk back into the tent with two chests. - The right one contains a MithrilGlove, which you can ignore for the rest of your life. - The left one contains one of NASA's old-time prides: the first active communications satellite, the first satellite designed to transmit telephone and high-speed data communications, as well as the first privately owned satellite. Joe Meek wrote a song about it. In short: the Telstar. 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: Telstar and Imperial Camp continued ********************************** Location: Imperial Camp, Doma Castle Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan Opponents: Soldier, Templar, M-TekArmor, Telstar, Grunt, Cadet Telstar Level: 14, HP: 1800, MP: 250 Steal: X-Potion (rare), Win: Green Beret (rare), Green Beret (common) Weakness: Lightning, Water Status: Float Special: !SonicBlast: sets Muddled Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop Attacks: Battle, !SonicBlast, Dischord, Schiller, Megazerk, Tek Laser, Missile Telstar will normally use Battle, !SonicBlast, Schiller, Tek Laser, and Missile to make your life harder than it already is. Every ninth turn it takes, Telstar will use Dischord to halve a character's level. After 25 seconds of fighting, Telstar will call two Soldiers to aid him. 55 seconds later, he'll call in three Soldiers to help him (if there are Soldiers from the previous calling still standing, he'll fill the number to 3), and 120 seconds later, he'll call four Soldiers (once again, he fills the screen up to four Soldiers anyway). Finally, Telstar will counter any Blitz attack with Megazerk, 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 AuraBolts. If you didn't have a Ribbon, he will be Berserked by Telstar's Blitz-counter, Megazerk. 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 Telstar's magical attacks will be striking Shadow, removing the Clear status. After the fight, you win a Green Beret. Equip it on Sabin and swap his White Cape with the MithrilGlove (don't worry, it'll soon fade into the non-existence it was created for). Return Sabin to his Back Row AuraBolt self and move on. Following Kefka further will get you into another battle with character Kefka. Have Shadow re-apply his Clear status if you lost it versus Telstar. After talking to Kefka for the third time, he'll run off and sends Soldier, 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 RunningShoes 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: Eeoooa! Be you friend or enemy?! SABIN: Ouuuch! ...didn't MEAN to step in there... 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 Fight and 33 % shot at Dispatch. 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: Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (3/4) / Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (1/4) Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (3/4) / Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (1/4) Cadet, Grunt, Grunt 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 Heal Force (obviously Shadow wasn't touched at all; he's a non-generic ninja). Use Heal 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: M-TekArmor Soldier, Soldier, M-TekArmor M-TekArmor, M-TekArmor 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 ********************************** Location: Overworld Map Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan Opponents: Stray Cat, Beakor, CrassHoppr, Rhobite 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. 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 (especially PSX), I advise you to simply kill Shadow for the time being. Resetting is a bore. Just have him sneak a Shuriken down his own throat and that should be the end of Shadow for now. Darn, I promised this section would grow interesting, right? As far as Relics go, I advise a Genji Glove/Black Belt and Front Row Sabin and a Back Row Cyan with Barrier Ring and MithrilGlove. Shadow can have those RunningShoes and Atlas Armlet. Monster formations: Grass north of Imperial Camp: Beakor, Beakor (6/16) Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Beakor, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Grass south and west of Imperial Camp: CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (6/16) Stray Cat, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (5/16) Forest: CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16) Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16) Beakor, Beakor, Stray Cat (5/16) Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (1/16) Desert: Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16) Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16) Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (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 ********************************** Location: Phantom Forest Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan Opponents: Ghost, Poplium 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 screen and fourth screen: Ghost, Ghost, Poplium, Poplium, Poplium (10/16) Ghost, Ghost, Ghost (5/16) Ghost (1/16) 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 Battle, !Pause (which sets Stop) and Fire Wall, 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 Dispatch, Shuriken, and AuraBolt. Use Potions when you are hit with an unlucky Fire Wall 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 console 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 The Phantom Train ********************************** Location: Phantom Train Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan Opponents: Hazer, Whisper, Over-Mind, Bomb, Ghost, StillGoing, GhostTrain, Ziegfried*, Specter * Is called Siegfried in the SNES release, but is more commonly known as Ziegfried on the forums for various reasons, and the Anthology release calls him Ziegfried as well. Jay for reality imitating art imitating reality, I guess. 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 portions of the entire Phantom Train): Whisper, Whisper, Hazer (5/16) Bomb (5/16) Whisper, Whisper, Whisper, 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 Impresario's working area in the far back. This is it: ( LOCOMOTIVE ) ( SAVE POINT CAR ) ( SPECTER CAR, POSH ) (ZIEGFRIED CAR, POSH) ( RESTAURANT CAR ) ( MAGIC SWITCH CAR ) ( LEAP OVER CAR ) ( NO ESCAPE CAR ) (HUMEROUS TUMBLE CAR) ( STARTING CAR ) ( IMPRESARIO CAR ) Whispers are emissaries from a magical world. They use Battle, as is the wont of monsters, and Demi, a spell that halves your amount of current HP. It's pretty annoying. This is also the first monster you'll see with inherent Seizure 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, Whispers just waste away in their own misery. StillGoing are warrior zombies possessed by an evil spirit. Nice. They attack physically and with !Slip Touch, which sets Seizure. They're inherently boring and mediocre. Hazer 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, !Invizap damages. Over-Minds are undead skeletons born from a coalescence of hatred. Also, they're most rude. Every second turn they take can make them use Dread, an attack that sets Petrify on a single target. If they're alone they won't ever use Dread, but they can use !Wild Touch, which sets Muddled and is potentially even more dangerous than Dread. 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