@ % % @ % %@@@@@@%@@%%@% %@ @@ @@@ %@@@@@@% @@ %@% %@ @@@@@ @@ %@@%%@@% %@@% @@ @ @@ @@ @ @@ @% @@ @ @@ @@ @ @ @%@ @@ %@ @ %@@ @@% @@ @@ @@% @ %@@% @% @@ %@@% @@% @ @% %@@% @@% % @@@ @@ @ @@ @@@%@ @%@@ @% @@ @ @%@@ @@@%@ @% @%@@ @@@ %@% @@%@ @@ @ @@@ @ @@ @% @@%@ @ @@ @ @@@ @% @ @@ @@@@ %@% @@ @@ @ %@@ %@@@@ @% % @@ %@@@@ @ %@@ @% %@@@@ % @@ %@% @@ @@ @ @@ @ %@% @% @% @@ @ %@% @ @@ @% @ %@% @% @@ %@% @@ %@@%@@% @@@% @@@%@@@@@ @@ @%% @@@@@% @% @ @@% @@@ %@@@@ @@@ @@ @@ @ @@ @@ * @ @ @ @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@ @@%@% @%@@@@@@@@@@@%@@@@@ %@@#@% @% %@@%@ @ @% @@@@ @@ %@@% %@@ @@# @% @@@ %@ @@ @@ @@# %@ @@% %% @@@@ @ #@@@ @@ %# @ @@@ @ @@ @@# @ ## # % @@@@ %@@@@ @@@ % % @@@ % @@ #@@ % %@@% @@@@ @%@@@% %@@# @@@ @@ @@@ %@@@% @@@@ @ #@@@ @@@% @@@ @@ @@@ #@@@@% @@@# %@ @@@ @@@% @@@ @@ @@@ @@@@@@% @@@@ @% @@@% @@@% @@@ @@ @#@ @@@@@# @@@# @ @@@@ #@@% @@@ @@ @@@ @@@@# @@@@ #@@@@@@@@ @@# @@@ @@ @@@ # @@@@ @@@@ @ #@@# @@@ @ @@@ @@ @#% @ # @@@% @@@@ %@ #@@# @@# % @@@ @@ %@@ % @% @@@ @@@@ %@@% @@@@@ @#@ %@% @@@@% #@@@ #@@% %@% @@@ @@# @@@@ %@@@% %@@@% @ %%%% @@@@ @@@@ Final Fantasy Tactics FAQ / Strategy Guide Version 1.0 @@#% Written by AstroBlue (tetsuwan_blue(at)yahoo.com.au) @@% @% Last Updated: August 31th, 2002 # ******************************************************************************* 1)PREFACE 2)CONTROLS 3)BATTLE SYSTEM 4)FAQs 5)STRATEGY WALKTHROUGH i)Chapter I - The Meager ii)Chapter II - The Manipulator & The Subservient iii)Chapter III - The Valiant iv)Chapter IV - Somebody to Love 6)SIDE QUESTS i)Beowulf and the Dragon ii)The Deep Dungeon iii)Bar Propositions 7)JOBS i)Generic ii)Unique Characters 8)MONSTERS 9)INVENTORY LISTS i)Weapons and Shields ii)Head iii)Body iv)Accessories v)Items 10)THANKS TO =============================================================================== 1)PREFACE =============================================================================== (Taken from Instruction Manual) Throughout history, wars repeat themselves in various times and places. From these wars, legends of heroes are handed down from generation to generation. Weathered by rumors and passing of time, the truth may be forgotten, the reality buried under legends. Many years ago, a war seethed and erupted within the land of Ivalice. It lasted for 50 years, finally ending when both sides laid down their arms. However, the war had exhausted the people's strength and the country's resources, and the situation within Ivalice gradually became worse. The lords of the six ruling families united to guide Ivalice back to prosperity. However, their delicate balance of power soon collapsed. One year after the 50-year war had ended, Ivalice's Princess Ovelia was abducted. Prompted by this, conflict grew between two families: Gallione (ruled by Prince Larg, whose crest was one of a White Lion) and Zeltennia (ruled by Prince Goltana, whose crest was a Black Lion). The war between the two families would be known later as "The Lion War". Added to the backdrop of the Lion War was the problem of succession to Ivalice's throne due to the sudden death of the King. Prince Larg is the elder brother of the Queen Ruvelia. Prince Goltana is the younger cousin of the dead King. According to historical record, a young hero named Delita suppressed the Lion War soon after it engulfed Ivalice. There was also another young man named Ramza who played a role during the Lion War, though you will not see Ramza's name in any history books. Now the true story can be told... =============================================================================== 2)CONTROLS =============================================================================== Directional Buttons - * Move Cursor. * Scroll Battlefields and the World Map w/Square Button. Circle Button - * Confirm selections. * Select hilighted Unit in Battle. X Button - * Cancel selections. * Display "Move" range of hilighted Unit in Battle. Square Button - * View allegiance of units: Allies (Blue) and Enemies (Red). * Hold to Scroll Battlefields and the World Map. Triangle Button - Pause Menu. L1 Button - * Rotates Map to the left in Battle. * Displays entire World Map. L2 Button - Toggle between the camera being zoomed in or out in Battle. R1 Button - * Rotates Map to the right in Battle. * Displays entire World Map. R2 Button - Toggle between low and high camera angles in Battle. Start - View Units in the order of their AT. Select - View Help (Indepth Info) on basically anything. =============================================================================== 3)BATTLE SYSTEM =============================================================================== The Battle System for Final Fantasy Tactics is pretty complex. Essentially it uses the same "Active Turn" system as the majority of the "mainstream" Final Fantasies. The only catch is, battles are fought over a grided area, so mobility and range become factors in the fight, which make the battles more tactical. Also, Final Fantasy Tactics uses an optimised version of the Job System used in Final Fantasy V. Gone is ABP, replaced with JP that you can spend on abilities how you want. And new Jobs are opened up individually using a level based Job tree, instead of collecting fragments of crystals. So all of your units are almost fully customizable. I am not going to document the ins and outs of the whole Battle System, mainly because two other sources have done this much better then I ever could. If you want to learn the essentials and intermediate "battle mechanics" of Final Fantasy Tactics, I suggest you go through all the Tutorials in the actual game. Not only are they incredibly amusing due to the copious amounts of "engrish" they contain, but they are slightly educational. You can access theses Tutorials from the Main Menu or from the World Map's Pause Menu. To learn the advanced "battle mechanics" of Final Fantasy Tactics (i.e. how all the attacks and magic are calculated), I suggest you read Aerostar's FFT Battle Mechanics Handbook. This can be found at http://www.fftactics.net/fftmech/ =============================================================================== 4)FAQs =============================================================================== Q: I've heard you can make Ramza a Dark Knight, how do you do this? A: Basically, one moron posted this rumour up on Usenet and it spread through the internet like a disease. It's completely false, just ignore it! However, you can make Ramza a Dark Knight by using a GameShark. See AeroStar's FFT GameShark Handbook for the codes to use, it is found on GameFAQs. - - - - - - - - - - Q: How come I cannot access the Fur Shop? All the Clerk says is "What do you want? There's nothing more to sell." A: In order for the Fur Shop to be "open", you must have at least one character with the Secret Hunt support ability. Not including Byblos' innate Poach ability. - - - - - - - - - - Q: Do you think using Orlandu is "cheap"? A: In a word, yes. It's not Orlandu's absolute brute strength that makes him "cheap", but it's the ease of actually obtaining him. For instance, think of the Knights of the Round summon in Final Fantasy 7. Yes, you could destroy the final boss in the game by using it twice. But in order to obtain it you had to either spend hours breeding Chocobo and racing them, or you had to destroy a REALLY hard boss. You don't have to do anything special at all to get Orlandu, you just have to get to the last 1/4 of the game. - - - - - - - - - - Q: What items can I get from poaching monsters? A: Here is a handy table: Monster | Common Item | Rare Item --------------+----------------+ - - - Chocobo | Phoenix Down | Hi-Potion Black Chocobo | Eye Drop | X-Potion Red Chocobo | Remedy | Barette Goblin | Potion | Hi-Potion Black Goblin | Hi-Potion | Antidote Gobbledeguck | Mage Masher | Ancient Sword Bomb | Fire Ball | Flame Rod Grenade | Water Ball | Flame Whip Explosive | Lightning Ball | Flame Shield Red Panther | Antidote | Battle Boots Cuar | Soft | Germinas Boots Vampire | Holy Water | C Bag Pisco Demon | Echo Grass | Hi-Potion Squidlarkin | Small Mantle | Sleep Sword Mindflare | Hi-Ether | Dracula Mantle Skeleton | Holy Water | Ether Bone Snatch | Hi-Potion | Partisan Living Bone | Wizard Mantle | Elf Mantle Ghoul | Ether | Ninja Knife Gust | Hi-Potion | Main Gauche Revnant | Hi-Ether | Mythril Gun Floatiball | Shuriken | Platina Dagger Ahriman | Magic Shuriken | Air Knife Plague | Yagyu Darkness | Zorlin Shape Juravis | Potion | Rubber Shoes Steel Hawk | Phoenix Down | Hunting Bow Cocatoris | Soft | Feather Mantle Uribo | Maiden's Kiss | Cachusha Porky | Chantage | Nagrarock Wildbow | Ribbon | FS Bag Woodman | Eye Drop | Healing Staff Trent | Gold Staff | Fairy Harp Taiju | Defense Ring | Defender Bull Demon | Battle Axe | Giant Axe Minitaurus | Coral Sword | Slasher Sacred | Ivory Rod | Holy Lance Morbol | Platina Dagger | Ice Shield Ochu | N-Kai Armlet | Chameleon Robe Great Morbol | Elixir | Madlemgen Behemoth | Defense Armlet | P Bag King Behemoth | Cherche | Ultimus Bow Dark Behemoth | Wizard Rod | Stone Gun Dragon | Jade Armlet | H Bag Blue Dragon | Cashmere | Dragon Rod Red Dragon | Salty Rage | Dragon Whisker Hyudra | Blood Sword | Scorpion Tail Hydra | Setiemson | Rubber Costume Tiamat | Ryozan Silk | Whale Whisker --------------+----------------+ - - - - - - - - - - - - - Q: How does Brave and Faith effect your units? A: Brave and Faith are some of the most important stats in the game, and thankfully they can be fully manipulated. Brave's most prominent effect is on your Reaction Abilities, in most cases your units Brave is directly proportional to the chance of its Reaction Ability initiating. e.g. A unit with Brave of 75 and Counter as their Reaction Ability, will have a 75% chance of countering any physical attack. Brave also effects the damage you do with bare fists, Knight Swords and the Wiznaibus and Witch Hunt dances, and it also effects what item you get with Move-Find Item. The chance of getting the crappier item is directly proportional to the unit with Move-Find Item's Brave, and so a unit with Brave of 80, will have an 80% chance of getting the crap item and a 20% chance of getting the good item. And so generally it's best for all your unit's to have the highest Brave possible, except for item finders that should have the lowest Brave possible (within reason). Exceptionally low Brave can be very bad. If a unit's Brave in battle is less than 10 it will turn into a Chicken, as a Chicken it is uncontrollable and will use its turns to run away from conflict. Also, if your units permanent Brave is less than 16, you will get a Warning message after winning a battle, and if your unit's permanent Brave is less than 6 it will leave your party because it's so scared of conflict. Faith effects the chances of a magic spell working and how effective it is (i.e. how much it heals/damages). This is based on both the caster of the spell and the target(s) of the spell's Faith. Higher Faith all round will lead to a more effective spell. And so Faith is a kind of double edged sword, on one hand it will let your unit do more damage and be healed more with a spell, but it will also let your enemies inflict more damage with magic on that unit. And so in my honest opinion it's best for your mages to have the highest Faith possible (within reason), and for the rest of your units you should keep their Faith at what it originally was, around 60-70. Exceptionally high Faith can be very bad. If your units permanent Faith is more than 85, you will get a Warning message after winning a battle. If your unit's permanent Faith is more than 95 it will leave your party because it's so engrossed in divine activities. - - - - - - - - - - Q: What types of items do the cities individually sell? A: Cities can be categorised into three groups, plus three unique cities. All cities sell common accessories and medicines. Here is a catalogue ^_^ Castles (Igros, Lionel, Riovanes, Zeltennia & Limberry) sell Knives, Swords, Axes, Hammers, Cross Bows, Bows, Spears, Shields, Helmets and Armor. The Trade Cities (Dorter, Warjilis & Zarghidas) sell Ninja Swords, Katana, Rods, Staffs, Hammers, Musical Instruments, Dictionaries, Sticks, Bags, Cloths, Shields, Hats, Clothes, Robes, Ninja Stars and Bombs. The Fort Cities (Zaland & Yardow), Goland Coal City and Bervenia Free City sell Rods, Staffs, Sticks, Bags, Hats, Clothes, Robes, Ninja Stars and Bombs. Gariland Magic City sells: Knives, Rods, Staffs, Sticks, Bags, Hats, Clothes, Robes, Ninja Stars, Bombs and specifically Broad Swords. Goug Machine City sells: Guns and Cross Bows. Lesalia Imperial Capital sells: Knives, Swords, Axes, Bows, Spears, Shields Helmets and Armor. - - - - - - - - - - Q: What are those (?,?:?) in the walkthrough now and then? A: They are coordinates which are mainly used for the location of buried items that need to be retrieved with Move-Find Item. To read them, think of the battle area as the positive quadrant of a standard linear graph. In other words, the bottom left square of the battle area when the objective is displayed (i.e. Defeat all enemies!) is the origin. The coordinates are set out like (x,y:h), with x being the longitude, y being the latitude and h being the height. So if your coordinate is (2,12:4), from the origin square you would count across twice, then up twelve times and then you should be selecting terrain which is at a height of 4. Anyway, if you don't understand it really doesn't matter, as I always give visual directions. The coordinates are just for confirmation. - - - - - - - - - - =============================================================================== 5)STRATEGY WALKTHROUGH =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i)Chapter I - The Meager ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 1 - Magic City Gariland ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your first real battle is of course one of the easiest in the game. Your objective is to defeat all enemies. Split your party into two groups; Ramza and a Chemist in one group and two Squires and a Chemist in the other. Have the first group help Delita attack the two Squires and a Chemist that occupy the east bank of the river, and have the second group attack the two Squires that occupy the west bank of the river, one is on the rooftops. If any of your units get low on HP (say around 10-15 HP), get one of your Chemists to use a Potion on them. Eventually your units will have all of the bandits dead. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During the first chapter, it would be a good idea to set up all your basic utility generics. This includes a Chemist; with all Items and Move-Find Item learnt, a Thief; with all Steals learnt, a Wizard; with a variety of Black Magic learnt, and a Monk; with most of the Punch Arts learnt. The Chemist's main use is for healing other units in battle, but the Move-Find Item movement ability allows you to use the unit to retrieve rare items that are buried underground. Because the lower the Brave the better/rarer the item you find with Move-Find Item, it's best to choose the unit with the lowest Brave to become your Chemist. The Thief is for pillaging rare items from your enemies. Its speed and mobility also makes it a good addition to your assault team. Choose a strong female unit to become your Thief, this will give you move targets for Steal Heart, as there are more male enemy units in the game than female units. The Wizard's role is to destroy the opposition with spells, especially monsters. Choose a unit with high Faith to become your Wizard, as high Faith means higher magic damage. Also dabble in the other Magic disciplines such as White Magic (Priests), Time Magic (Time Magi) and Yin Yang Magic (Oracles). The Monk is handy in your team because it's a dual healer/fighter, Ramza is a really good choice to become your Monk. So once he learns all of the Guts abilities, think about making him a Monk. Apart from a Monk, you should also think about having a Knight as a strong attacker. As for Delita, make his secondary Ability "Item" and make him learn Potion and Phoenix Down. This will make him twice as useful! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 2 - Mandalia Plains ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the battle begins, you will get to choose if you want to save Algus or not. If you select "Our duty is to destroy the Death Corps", everyone in your party will get a Brave increase of ten and your objective will be to "Defeat all enemies!". If you select "Saving him is our priority" you will get no increase in Brave and your objective will be to "Save Algus!". I know which one I choose. All the Squires in the Death Corps are pretty weak, only the Red Panther and Thief can really put up anything that resembles a fight. So simply have a full on assault and heal with Potions if anyone's HP gets low. If you chose to save Algus, I suggest you send a Chemist over to keep his HP up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Algus will now join your party as a guest. Like Delita, make his secondary ability Item and have Phoenix Down learnt. Mandalia Plains now will become a random battle area. Move back and forth between it and Gariland Magic City to get in battles with Chocobos, Goblins & Red Panthers. Fight battles here to gain JP and GP. Head over to Igros Castle, to speak with Ramza's elder brother, Dycedarg. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 3 - Sweegy Woods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is to defeat all enemies, all of which are monsters. Because monsters have elemental alignments, it's a good idea to bring a Wizard with at least Ice learnt. Goblins and Black Goblins have a weakness to Ice, so you'll be able to obliterate them with it. Anyway, stay away from the swamp area and kill the Bombs first, as their Self Destruct move is very nasty! Don't bunch up your units, or they will be sure to use it. Take out the Black Goblin and Red Panthers next and then finally deal with the Goblin. As always, have a Chemist with you to heal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 4 - Slums in Dorter Trade City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These slums are filled with Wizards, Archers and a lone Knight. Because the rooftops are so high, any Archers up there will basically be able to hit any unit on the ground. Algus and Delita will usually head up the rooftops to kill the one up really high. Have Ramza use Yell on Algus and Delita, or bring a Time Mage and have them cast Haste on Algus and Delita; so they kill the archer faster than usual. If you have a Thief already, have it in your team. Because Thieves have superior jump, move and speed stats, they will be able to traverse the slums and neutralise the Wizards and Archers quite easily. Also if your Thief is very advanced and has Steal Weapon, you'll be able to steal the first bow in the game, a Long Bow, from one of the Archers. Go for the Wizards first, as their spells can be quite devastating. Then focus all your units on the Knight, as he's quite strong. Then make your units climb onto the roofs to kill off all the Archers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 5 - Sand Rat Cellar (Zeklaus Desert) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is your first battle with two squads! It really doesn't matter who you put in which, as they start fairly close to each other. However, I recommend putting a Chemist with Ramza in the first squad, and a Wizard in the second squad. All the Death Corps are in the ruined house, there are Knights, Monks and an Archer. Have the first squad help Delita storm the western entrance, while the second squad helps Algus storm the northern entrance. This will trap them in the house, and they will probably clump up near the northern entrance. Now you can use your Wizard to blast them into submission with his/her strongest spells. Once the first squad has defeated all the enemies on their side, head them into the ruins to finish off what the Wizard has started. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Head over to Igros Castle, to speak with Dycedarg again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 6 - Thieves Fort ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is to defeat Miluda. Because of the topography of fort, it's best to use a range attacker like an Archer, to cause some serious damage (especially to those darn Priests). Once you have the Priests down, focus all your energy on defeating Miluda. If you brought a Wizard along, keep them away from the Thieves. One Thief is equipped with a Mage Masher that can Silence you when hit by it. Generally, the Thieves will attack you instead of trying to steal your equipment. Miluda has a generous amount of HP and good evade, which makes it hard to take her down. But with both Priests down, there's no way for her to recover, so keep hacking away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Head over to Igros Castle again, hmmm.., there's descent amongst the ranks. Algus leaves your party and goes off somewhere to act like a jackass. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 7 - Lenalia Plateau ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is the same as last battle, defeat Miluda! The Wizards will probably move forward and cast spells on your front line. While they are casting their defence decreases considerably, so quickly run forward and take them out with strong physical attacks. Like the last battle with Miluda, an archer is indispensable, have them climb the plateau on the west edge of the area and rain arrows down on Miluda and her allies. Miluda's Knights are advanced enough to destroy your weapons. Unfortunately, most of your units have probably not learned the Chemist support ability, Maintenance; to prevent your equipment from being broken. But have it equipped on any units that have learnt it. If your Archer hasn't got Maintenance, keep him/her away from the Knights. One good Weapon Break and your Archer will become extremely useless. The Time Mage may cause you some trouble with Slow on your units and Haste on your enemies, but really, she's the least of your worries. With the Wizards down, attack Miluda vigorously with all your units until you kill her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 8 - Windmill Shed (Fovoham Plains) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is to defeat Wiegraf. The biggest problem in this battle is Wiegraf's Holy Sword attacks. With them, he's probably able to do One Hit KO's on your weaker units, which is a real pain. However, he can only use his Holy Sword attacks while he's wielding his Mythril Sword. So if you have a Knight with Weapon Break or a Thief with Steal Weapon, you'll be able to break/steal his sword, so all he can do is punch. Both Weapon Break and Steal Weapon will probably have about the same chance of working, roughly around 37%. But a Knight would probably survive longer than a Thief, because they can equip Shields, Helmets and Armor. You want to get all your units up the steps to attack Wiegraf head on, don't worry about the other Death Corps as Delita will most probably draw their fire. Also try throwing rocks at the Knight up there, if your lucky you'll knock her down off the edge of the Windmill Shed, this will put her out of the battle for around 2 turns. If you are to take out any of Wiegraf's Units, take out his Chocobo, Boco. Boco will heal himself and others with Choco Cure, which is quite annoying. You don't have to kill Wiegraf, you just have to get him down to at least 35 HP to complete this battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 9 - Fort Zeakden ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the final and unsurprisingly the hardest battle of this chapter. Your objective is to defeat Algus, who is guarded by own posse of very strong Knights and Wizards. Algus's Brave will gradually increase as the battle progresses. This is another battle where you must deploy two squads, the 2nd Squad will be situated directly opposite of the battle field to where Algus is, which makes them pretty useless. However, you can counteract this by having a Chocobo as one of the units in the 2nd Squad. This means inviting one with a Mediator, from a random battle prior to this battle. Then put a physically strong unit such as a Knight, with the Chocobo in the 2nd Squad. Now this is a duel purpose team, the Chocobo is great for riding the Knight over to Algus, and the Knight is great as a "human shield" for the Chocobo. Either way, you'll have at least one strong unit over near Algus. I suggest you put a Chemist in the first squad with Ramza, to keep Ramza and alive so they can attack Algus. You really don't have to keep Delita alive, as he will automatically "reraise" half way between Algus and Ramza's "conversation". Focus all your efforts on Algus and noone else. Unfortunately, Algus has the Auto-Potion reaction ability set. So every now and again, once hit he will heal with a Potion, recovering 30 HP. This will take the edge of most of the attacks you hit him with. But persevere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii)Chapter II - The Manipulator & The Subservient ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agrias will join your party as a guest, she is very powerful. She will bring her two apprentice Knights; Alicia and Lavian, and Ramza's apprentice, Rad; will join. Accept them all into your battle party, even if it's just to strip them of their equipment before you kick them out ^_^ The generics you built up in Chapter 1 will probably be far superior to them. By now you should have at least one Monk with Chakra and Revive, hopefully it's Ramza. Monks are incredibly useful during this chapter, they will make your life so much easier. During this Chapter you should further develop your generics. Make your Thief learn the ways of the Ninja and your Chemist should learn the Monk's Punch Arts. You should also try to begin to unlock and use the more advanced Jobs. Such as the Summoner, Geomancer, Lancer and Samurai Jobs. Also, you can now send members of your party off to Bar Propositions. Do as many as possible for reasonably Gil and JP rewards. Head to Dorter Trade City, a battle will start. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 10 - Dorter Trade City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your up against 2 Thieves, 2 Archers & 2 Wizards, on the harshly sloped streets of Dorter Trade City. All of the enemy units are as deadly as each other, so there is really no specific type you should go for. The least amount of female units in your party the better, as the male Thieves will try to woo them over to the other side with Steal Heart. If any of your female units get Charmed (especially Agrias), Throw a Stone at them to snap them out of it. If you have a Wizard or an Archer, try getting them up on the rooftop for a great attack vantage point, they'll need a Jump of at least 4. Agrias and Gafgarion are most helpful in this battle, so make sure you keep them alive with Potions and/or Cure magic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 11 - Araguay Woods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Goblins have surrounded a friendly looking Chocobo! The game will let you choose your course of action, if you select "We must leave now" everyone in your party will have their Brave drop by ten and your objective will be "Defeat all enemies!". If you select "Is he strong in a fight?" your objective will be "Save Chocobo", which means you'll have to keep him alive in order to win. Once the battle begins, you'll realise that it's Wiegraf's Chocobo, Boco. The bastard abandoned him! Boco will probably keep himself healthy with Choco Cure and he'll head for the far top right corner of the map. If the Black Goblin goes after him, kill the Black Goblin before he can kill Boco. Be quick about it or Boco will most likely die, usually from a countered Choco Attack. Anyway, just focus on killing all the Goblins. A Wizard with any of the Ice spells will do easy work of them all. If you have Black Magic as Agrias' secondary ability, she will also cast it on the Goblins. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boco is strong for a Chocobo, but is still superseded by Red and Black Chocobos. So he's really not that much help. Unequip Gafgarion of all his equipment, because um... well.. he won't need it because he's so strong! Yeah... that's it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 12 - Zirekile Falls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The objective of this battle is to "Save Princess Ovelia". Gafgarion has double-crossed you. But because you sneakily removed Gafgarion of all his equipment, he will only have around 80 HP and he will be unable to use his Dark Sword techniques. So he's a sitting duck! If you didn't unequip him, he should be your main target. Because not only is his Night Sword technique brutal to your units, but it will also heal him. You only have to make him critical to make him run from battle. Delita is with Ovelia and will help you fend off the Hokuten, he's a Holy Knight like Agrias! Ovelia can be helpful too, she has MBarrier that will provide the target with almost every positive status effect there is. She will definitely use it on herself, but then she won't have enough MP to use it on anyone else. So bring a Monk to use Chakra on her, or a Chemist to throw a Ether at her, so she can cast it on other units. Overall, Monks are extremely helpful in this battle. Mainly because they don't carry a Weapon that can be broken by the Hokuten Knights, but also because of their healing abilities. Equip the Maintenance ability on any unit that has learnt it, to protect from the Knights Battle Skills, especially on any units that rely on their weapon, like Archers. Speaking of which, if you have an Archer and climb them to the top of the falls, they will be able to hit almost anywhere on the battle field. Delita and Agrias will deal with most of the Knights, just use your units to protect Ovelia and clean up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 13 - Zaland Fort City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another battle that gives you a choice, if you choose: "Don't want to get involved" your objective will be "Defeat all enemies!", and if you choose "We have to help him!" your objective will be "Save Mustadio" and all your units will get a Brave increase of 10. This battle is a pain, the wall in between your party and the enemy is extremely high. Also, Mustadio will tend to stay where the Archers and Wizards can kill him. Priests can be helpful, as you can stand below the wall and keep Mustadio alive with Cure spells, and you can give him extra protection by casting Protect and Shell. Generally ranged attacks are best for this battle, so bring any Wizards or Archers you have. If you get an Archer on top of the archway, they will be able to hit basically any enemy unit. A Ninja with dual Mage Mashers can obliterate the Wizards, if they don't kill the Wizards with two swipes you'll have a one in five chance of Silencing them. Which is as good enough as killing them. You need at least a Jump of 4 to be able to scale the wall. Equip any of your offensive units, such as Knights & Archers with Spike Shoes prior to this battle, so they can scale the wall. Monk's have an innate Jump of 4, so no Spike Shoes are needed. Don't bother giving them to Wizards of Priests, as they are best to stay on their side of the wall. Agrias will take a while to get into the action, but when she does, you'll be thankful! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mustadio will join your party as a guest! Keep him as he is, but make sure he learns all his Snipe abilities (especially Seal Evil), and how to use Phoenix Down. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 14 - Barius Hill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The topography for this area is very distinct, it has a large hill that cuts the battle area in two. A Summoner is lurking in each of the two far corners on either side of the hill, they are the main problem you'll have in this battle. As they can cure allies (them) with Moggle and destroy enemies (you) with Shiva. Mustadio will most likely go for the Summoner on the left, but it won't be enough to kill her. You could use an Archer to move forward and kill her with arrows. But, in my honest opinion it's best to use a Ninja equipped with Spike Shoes, so they have a Jump value of 5. This will let the Ninja rush forward, kill the Summoner, traverse the hill over to the other side and kill the other Summoner. Make sure you have a surplus of Battle Axes, Coral Swords and Shurikens, for the Ninja to throw. As for the Knights and Archers that inhabit the hill, it's best to deploy some physically strong units such as Knights and Monks. If you don't have a Monk, substitute them with a Chemist so you can keep everyone healthy. The Knight on the lower ledge can be easily killed with Ramza as a Knight or Monk. Simply rush forward in the first turn and attack him. This will trap him on the ledge, so he will run back to the far edge, which will trap him even further. So next turn, move up further and hack away at him. If Ramza gets a little low on HP, get a Monk or Chemist to heal him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go to Lionel Castle to see Draclau. Agrias and Ovelia will leave your party. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 15 - Zigolis Swamp ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zigolis Swap mainly consists of a poisonous marsh, which will unsurprisingly Poison your unit if you move them into it. Poison is easily purged with an Antidote thrown by a Chemist, the Squire's Heal ability or the Monk's Stigma Magic ability. So it won't cause you too much trouble. Overall it's much easier to just have a Time Mage cast Float on all your units, so they can simply Float over the poisonous marsh. You're up against a bunch of monsters, and all but one are undead. The Skeletons, Ghouls and the Bone Snatch are undead. If you bring a Chemist, you'll be able to take the undead monsters out instantly by throwing Phoenix Down at them. However, since the terrain is so treacherous, and since undead enemies awaken once their timer counts to zero, you may not be able to get to all of them fast enough. The superior ways of killing them are permanent solutions. If Mustadio has learnt Seal Evil and you're lucky, he will most probably Petrify some for you. Or you could bring a Priest, and a strong enemy unit like a Lancer or Monk, equipped with the Secret Hunt ability. Then weaken the undead mosters with Cure spells and then poach them into oblivion. The "living" monster is random, use Ice spells if it's a Morbol or Flotiball, and Invite it with a Mediator if it's a rare Uribo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the following battle, you will be cut off from the rest of Ivalice until Battle 18 - Golgorand Execution Site. So buy any items from Igros Castle that you cannot buy anywhere else, before heading to Goug Machine City. On arrival to Goug Machine City, Mustadio will run off to the slums. You will now be allowed to Shop. Buy some Romanda Guns and equip them onto any of your Chemists or Mediators. Then head for Zigolis Swamp to initiate the battle in Goug Machine City. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 16 - Slums of Goug Machine City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mustadio has been striped of all his equipment and will probably be killed off very early on. If he does get killed, don't bother reviving him because he will just get killed again and he won't crystallise anyway. You're up against Thieves, Summoners and Archers. The most useful unit you can have in this battle is a Ninja. Especially when equipped with twin Mage Mashers and with a stockpile of Great Axes. With a Ninja, you're able to climb up to the Summoners and hack away at them, either killing them or probably Silencing them. Plus you can throw Great Axes at other units on the way to cause major damage. You should fill the rest of your team with ranged attackers. Archer's are pretty helpful; Chemists equipped with Romando Guns are excellent! As you can attack your enemies and heal your allies, both from a distance; Geomancer's are also a great idea! The terrain in the slums is so varied; you can do Carve Model, Gusty Wind, Hell Ivy and even Demon Fire! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mustadio will now join your party as a playable character, yay! Head over to Warjilis Trade City, Delita will "greet" Ramza on arrival. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 17 - Barius Valley ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agrias is surrounded by troops from Lionel Castle, your objective is to save her. You will have to deploy two Squads, the first will deploy near Agrias and the second will be on the other side of the river near a Wizard and a Archer. You should probably put Mustadio and a Chemist or Monk in the first squad to keep Agrias alive. For the second squad, you should use strong units preferably with good jump, I suggest Ninjas or Lancers. Anyway, the first squad should shoot down the Wizard first, then the Archers and then the Knights, keep your distance at all times and heal Agrias if she ever takes sub-lethal damage. The second squad should rush over and obliterate the Archer and Wizard. As always thrown Giant Axes do _so_ much damage. Once those two are killed, you should get your second squad to cross the stepping stones over to help the other squad defeat the Knights. Overall, this is a very straight forward battle. Nothing like what is next to come... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Agrias will now join your party as a playable character, woohoo! She's so damn strong, and now she's yours. Now the next battle is quite hard, so stock up on Items at Warjilis Trade City. The Shops have been restocked again with new items. So outfit your troops with the latest gear, namely Brigadines. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 18 - Golgorand Execution Site ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This battle is definitely one of the hardest battles in the game. As before, Gafgarion's Dark Sword abilities will have your units crippled, while healing most of the damage you deal to him. The two Time Mages will mess the flow of the battle up a lot with Slow and Haste, and even Stop. The Archers will attack from afar, and because the battle area is so seemingly vast, it will be hard to get to them. The Knights will swarm at your units, causing large amounts of damage and destroying your equipment. It sounds like hell, but the tide of battle can be reversed with a single unit. All you need is a Ninja, with Steal, Martial Arts, Move+2 and a Green Beret. Set them on the far left square of the second group. The Ninja will most likely get the first turn, use it to Steal Gafgarion of his Blood Sword, you should get a steal chance of around 45%. So if the Ninja misses, reset and try again. Gafgarion without his Blood Sword is like a Martini without an Olive, he's a bunny, just get him critical and he'll teleport away. He may cause a little bit of trouble if he has Elemental as his secondary ability, but that's pretty rare. Once the Ninja has dealt with him, send it up to assassinate the Time Mages before they can cause trouble. Put Agrias with the Ninja in the second squad. For the first squad put Mustadio with Ramza, and the generic unit that accompanies them should be able to heal. So I would go for Chemist or Monk. More so a Monk, because their fist fighting can be quiet strong against Knights and Archers. Give as many units Maintenance as possible to protect from the Knights breaking their equipment. If you want a more offensive character, be careful if you use a Summoner or Wizard, as they will most likely be killed in two seconds flat by the Archers and Knights. You can make them more resilient with Equip Armor as their Support Ability. Mustadio should stay away from the action, shooting away at the enemies from a distance. Occasionally you should try to use Arm Aim on any "annoying" enemy units. Before too long, you'll have this "hard" battle wound up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next two battles will play out in succession. If you want, you can head over to the other areas of Ivalice, such as Igros and Dorter. Just select Zaland Fort City and you will walk right past Lionel Castle. This will let you buy Cross Helmets. Before you go to Lionel Castle to battle, make sure you have some Defense Rings, Diamond Armlets and Rubber Shoes. At least 2 of each. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 19 - At the gate of Lionel Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This battle is strange because it's split into two areas, Gafgarion and Ramza must battle mano a mano inside Lionel Castle's gates. While the rest of your party and the Lionel Knights must do battle outside of the gates. However, there are ways to use this dynamic to your advantage. You could give Ramza the Time Mage's Teleport movement ability, so he can simply teleport to the other side of the castle wall. Or you could put a Black Chocobo in your second squad, have it fly over to Ramza, have Ramza board the Chocobo and then fly Ramza upon the Chocobo over to the other side of the castle wall. Both these tricks will leave Gafgarion in solitary confinement, to think about his behaviour ^_^ However, stay away from the gate, as Gafgarion can still reach you with Night Sword from there. Anyway, with Ramza and the rest of your party, obliterate the Lionel Knights. Once you do this, don't go after Gafgarion just yet. Wait for all the enemy units to crystallise or leave Treasure Chests. During this time use abilities that will gain you EXP and JP while making it easier to kill Gafgarion, such as Accumulate, Yell, Chakra and Potion. Then have Ramza Teleport or fly over on the Black Chocobo to the gates switch, to open up the gate so your party can come in and help Ramza kill Gafgarion. However, if you want to win this battle "legitimately", you'll have far more work to do. Make Ramza a Knight and make sure he has learnt the Weapon Break, Battle Skill. You could substitute a Knight with a Thief and Weapon Break with Steal Weapon. But Thieves are defensively weak and you'll probably get killed by Gafgarion, but on the plus side you'll get an Ancient Sword. Have Guts as your secondary ability. Now, make your way down to Gafgarion, Accumulate on the way down (Yell if a Thief) as this will improve your chances of success in breaking/stealing Gafgarion's sword. When you get to Gafgarion, keep using Weapon Break on him (Steal Weapon if a Thief) until you break/steal his sword. Like in the Golgorand Execution Site, without his sword he's a sitting duck. Keep hacking away at him until he's dead. Make sure you get Ramza to collect the crystal that he leaves behind immediately after he dies, to recover all of Ramza's HP. If you really having trouble staying alive, substitute Guts with Punch Arts or Item. You'll be less likely to break/steal his sword without Accumulate/Yell, but at least you'll be able to heal periodically with Chakra or Hi-Potions. Philsov adds: "Similarly, Ramza can merely have Auto-Potion w/ only Hi-Potions to offset Gaffy." As for your second squad, you'll have to deal with Archers, Knights and a Summoner. The area you fight in is very flat and strangely claustrophobic. The Summoner is your greatest threat, but you should be able to assassinate him easily with a Ninja. As always, have twin Mage Mashers equipped onto the Ninja and a stockpile of Great Axes to throw. Enemy and allied units tend to clump up, this means indiscriminate magic like Black Magic can do more harm than good. So it's best to have a Summoner and/or a Samurai. Both of these units not only have attacks with wide ranges and decent destructive power, but they will only target who you want to target. Also, with a Summoner you can cast Golem, which will essentially negate all physical attacks. Also, if you equip your units with Rubber Shoes you will be able to avoid any attacks from the Archers, since they are equipped with Lightning Bows. All in all, this battle is more messy than it is hard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 20 - Inside of Lionel Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Draclau is transformed by the Zodiac Stone into the Impure King, Queklain. Your objective is of course to defeat him. Queklain specialises in status ailment inducing spells. You can protect your party from his worst attack Nightmare (which either puts your units asleep or gives them Death Sentence) by equipping Defence Rings on your units. This will force him to use Chicken Race; which causes Don't Act, or Death Cold; which causes Slow. Diamond Armlets will protect you from Death Cold and Rubber Shoes will protect you from Chicken Race, so it's a matter of figuring out which status ailment you find most annoying and equipping the corresponding accessory to negate it. But remember you can always purge Sleep or Don't Act with the Punch Art called Stigma Magic. Either way, you will always have a weakness. After he has crippled you with status ailments, he'll attack with Bio spells. Bio spells not only cause damage, but they also can give you even more status ailments. A Summoner is quite helpful in this battle, but more so if they have learned the stronger Summon spells. Just deploy your best offensive team and just attack him really aggressively, hopefully you'll have him down before he can make your team riddled with Status ailments. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii)Chapter III - The Valiant ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fur Shops have now opened up in the two Trade Cities of Dorter and Warjilis. If a unit is equipped with Secret Hunt, and kills a monster with a normal attack, the unit will poach that monster. The monster will then be refined by the Fur Shop into equipment or an item, and you will be able to buy the refined item at half the retail price. Fur Shops also double as the Ivalician equivalent of Pawn Shops. If you are short on cash, you can sell equipment to them and it will be stored in the shop. Once you have accumulated a decent wealth of Gil, you can buy back the item you sold to the Fur Shop for the same amount of Gil you sold it for! You should get one of your male units such as Ramza, Mustadio or a Chemist to learn the Bard's Sing abilities. They will be helpful in the longer, attrition based battles that you will see in this last half of the game. A physically strong female unit should also learn the Dancer's Dance abilities, again for the attrition based battles. Your Wizard should have enough experience as a Priest, Time Mage and Oracle to be able to learn the Calculator's Math Skills. Math Skill is a million times better than the normal Magic skill sets, but Calculators suck. So learn all the Math Skills and then make your unit a Wizard and set Math Skill as their secondary ability. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 21 - Goland Coal City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Olan has stumbled upon some cut-throat thieves, and they want him dead. Your objective is to "Save Olan" from them. You're up against three Thieves, two Chemists and a Mediator. The female Thieves are a real pain, they will try to steal your equipment and will try to charm your male units with Steal Heart. That's why it's best to have as many female units in your team as possible, and to have as many units as possible set with Maintenance. Have at least one unit with Guts or Basic Skill as their secondary ability so they can use Throw Stone, which is great for "de-Charming" any charmed units. It's highly unlikely that the enemy units will be able to kill Olan, but have a unit with healing abilities shadow Olan anyway. Monks aren't the best choice here, because the varied topography will give you hardly any chances to use Chakra. A Priest or Chemist is the go, because you can heal him from a reasonably far distance. Pray for Olan to cast Galaxy Stop a lot, because it will help _so_ much. A female Ninja with Steal as her secondary is very helpful in this battle, she will be able to traverse the hideout with ease, slashing the Thieves and stealing the Mythril Guns from the Chemists. If you are going to use Throw on a Thieve, check if they are equipped with Catch before doing so, as you don't want to waste a turn. An Archer can kill the enemies quite effectively if you get them up on the roof fast enough, you'll need Ignore Height to get up to the very top of the roof though. Agrias can do some damage here as well, but she's far too slow and will probably get swamped by Thieves. Maintenance is essential for her, because without her sword she's about as useful as tits on a bull. Anyway, if you kill the Chemists off as fast as possible and the go for the rest, you'll have not problems with this battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Head to Lesalia Emperial Capital to speak to Zalbag. Then head for Zeklaus Desert and a battle will start. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 22 - Back gate of Lesalia Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zalmo the Heresy Examiner and his entourage of knights and monks will come after Ramza, who has been labelled as a heretic. Alma is by Ramza's side and can provide the same kind of help Ovelia did at Zirekile Falls. Keep Alma's MP topped up with Hi-Ethers and/or Chakra so she can use MBarrier on your units. Your objective is to "Defeat Zalmo!". Unfortunately, Zalma has Arrow Guard. Otherwise, I would have suggest you deploy a party of Archers to attack Zalmo, but instead you will have to make do with Guns. The two Mythril Guns you hopefully stole from the Chemists in the previous battle will be quite helpful in this battle. Make Ramza a Chemist and give him a Gun, have Mustadio in your team and I would suggest you have a generic Chemist armed with a Gun. Anyway, set all your "gunners" up on the ledge of the castle and have them take pot shots down at Zalmo. He is quite hard to take down since he has around 250HP, has Move-HP Up set and uses White Magic. However, when he is casting White Magic, he's far more vulnerable. Geomancers are also great in this battle, stand them up on the ledge with the "gunners" and have them Carve Model away at Zalmo. A Wizard (Black Mage) is useless, due to the range of Black Magic and the fact Zalmo has a White Robe. A Summoner is by far batter, because you'll be able to take out some Knights and/or Monks while you try to kill Zalmo with Titan or Lich (which are not halved by his White Robe). Ignore the Knights and Monks, you want to get this battle over and done with as soon as possible. So just attack Zalmo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alma will now join your party as a guest so she can get you into Orbonne Monastery. Unequip Alma of all her equipment before heading to Orbonne Monastery (especially the Healing Staff and Barette). There will be three battles in a row next, so make sure you're ready. After finding Simon wounded in the 1st floor of the Underground Book Storage. You will be prompted to save and form your team before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 23 - Underground Book Storage 2nd Floor (Orbonne Monastery) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is your first battle against Lancers. Lancers are defensively strong, but their attacks rely too much on speed. So bring a Time Mage to Haste your units and slow the Lancers, so you'll be able to move your units out of the way before the Lancers finish their Jump and spear you. The best strategy for this battle is to block off the steps in front of your party with strong characters such as Ramza and Agrias, to trap the enemy nits on the lower "steps". Then use ranged attacks from the highest "step" down onto the Time Mages, Lancers and the Chemist. "Gunners" are hard to use in this battle, mainly because the stepped topography of this level will get in the way of having a clear shot down onto the Time Mages. However, Guns are good against Lancers because bullets cannot be avoided... but neither can Agrias' Sword Skills, and they cause much more damage. So Agrias should be your main "Lancer killer". Generally it's better to have Archers rather than "Gunners", because your elevated position and the ability for Archers to shoot arrow in a parabolic arc makes it possible to damage _any_ enemy unit. Although, if you want your Archer to be able to damage the Lancers, have them equipped with Concentrate. Otherwise they will almost always evade any arrows you shot at them. Summoners can really rip the enemies apart in this battle, generally because the enemy units tend to clump up around the middle "step", don't use Ifrit or you'll probably heal the Lancer equipped with a Flame Shield. Elemental attacks cannot be evaded, so you may want to bring a Geomancer along to help Agrias dispose of the Lancers. You'll only probably be able to use Kamaitachi, but that's not half bad considering it can cause Don't Move. If you gain access to some steps you'll be able to use Demon Fire, which can put enemies to Sleep! If any of the Lancers charm Agrias with Steal Heart, attack her _immediately_ so she doesn't do any harsh damage to your party. Anyway, this battle should be fairly easy if you firstly take out the Chemist; so he can't recover any of the enemy units, then the Time Mages; before they cast haste on the Lancers, and then finally the Lancers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your party before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 24 - Underground Book Storage 3rd Floor (Orbonne Monastery) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective in this battle is to "Defeat Izlude", who is accompanied by Knights, Archers and a Summoner. Izlude is like an uber-Lancer, he can Jump on your units from a long distance. Have most of your units wear Germinas Boots, so they will be able to get through the maze like structure of this area with ease. Anyway, firstly you should disable all of Izlude's accompanying squad. You can do this by bringing a Summoner that knows Golem. Once you cast Golem your allies will be impervious to attacks made by the Archers and Knights for as long as it takes until the Golem is "broken". If it breaks cast it again. This will make your Summoner drain MP very fast, so give them Item as a secondary ability so they can replenish their MP with Ether and Hi-Ether. Golem will not stop the destructive effects of the Summoner, so you'll have to defeat him. Do this by placing at least two range attackers (such as Archers, Geomancers or "Gunners") on the bottom left edge of the battle formation grid. Then in battle, rush over to the Summoner and take him out. Now all of Izlude's cronies have been neutralised, it's time to defeat Izlude. This can be done with simply Agrias and Ramza. Ramza is best as a Ninja, because of the increased speed and innate Two-Swords ability. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your party before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 25 - Underground Book Storage 1st Floor (Orbonne Monastery) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wiegraf has come back to avenge the death of his sister, Miluda. Your objective is to "Defeat Wiegraf", and you should try to do this as quickly as possible. Ninjas are great for defeating Wiegraf, as they can rush forward with their tremendous speed at Wiegraf and then cause massive damage by throwing a Slasher at him or hitting him twice with dual Ninja Knives. Although, they should have Concentrate equipped so there is no chance of them missing Wiegraf. Monks with Elemental magic as their secondary ability are really great against Wiegraf. You get the speed bonus and strength of a Monk, but if you don't quite manage to make it to Wiegraf you can use Elemental magic from a far. Wizards and Summoners tend to be a bad choice in this battle, as they tend to be a tad slow due to casting and/or stats, and Wiegraf seems to be well defended against magic. If you don't clog up the central doorway between the two halves of this floor, and you hit Wiegraf hard, you should have no trouble defeating him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wiegraf sells his soul to the devil, hmmmmm... is the devil supposed to be a Marino with 4 arms? I thought he was a big red dude? Head to Dorter, an "Exotic Wizard" will confront Ramza and will tell him to bring the "Germonik Scriptures" to Riovanes Castle in order to get Alma back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 26 - Grog Hill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is probably close to being one of the easiest battles in the game. A group of Nanten Deserters wish to kill Ramza so they can use his head as a bargaining chip out of the Nanten. Just kill the Thief first, then the Chemists, then the Archer and then finally the Squires. You may want to bring a Oracle, so you can Foxbird the last enemy into a Chicken, or inflict other non-lethal status ailments so you can wait for the other five enemy units to turn into crystals or chests without any hassles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 27 - Yardow Fort City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After having a fight with her brother Malak, Rafa runs to Ramza for help. And so your objective this battle is to "Save Rafa". Rafa and Malak both have Heaven and Hell Skills respectively, these are both random and multiple hitting forms of elemental magic. Unfortunately, Rafa will probably only use her Heaven Skills once, but fortunately it's because she has the good sense to run away from her brother, who is accompanied by Ninjas and Summoners, which are all within the walls of the fort city. Have Agrias stand in the entrance of the city, below the arch. This doesn't prevent the enemies from getting over to your side, but it will make it so the Ninjas have to attack to Agrias from the front, which will be hard form them to hit due to her shield and evade. Set her reaction ability as Catch, and the Ninjas wont be able to lay a finger on her. To get her there during the first turn, set her movement ability as a Move+ and equip her with Battle Boots or Germinas Boots, then place her two spaces to the left of where Ramza is set by default on the battle formation grid so she appears close to the entrance. From the entrance Agrias will probably be able to kill the Ninjas on her own. Usually the Ninjas line up nicely in front of the entrance, almost begging to have Holy Explosion used on them. The rest of your units should be predominantly ranged attackers. Geomancers are probably the most useful because of their long range. Archers are very good at killing the Summoners, but you'll have to set a Jump+ on them and equip them with either Spiked Boots or Germinas Boots, in order for them to be able to climb on top of the arch for the perfect vantage point. You may want to bring a Monk, Chemist or Priest to keep Rafa alive, but I doubt any enemy units will get to her. So it's probably most necessary. Anyway, have your Archer(s) focus of the Summoners, while Agrias and your Geomancer(s) focus on the Ninjas, add once they're all defeated go for Malak. silentXP has quick way to complete this battle: "I managed to beat the (battle) in one and a half turns, here's how. Make sure you have a Lancer with a long enough jump for say atleast 2 to 3 spaces. Well, most of the time Malak heads right by the wall nearest to the player starting point, and starts casting a spell. I found it extremely easy to just use my Lancer to pounce on him from the other side. I killed him in one jump hit, or atleast enough for the battle to end anyway." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After Rafa and Ramza have a heart to heart, and Malak gives them a message in the form of a 'sploding frog O_o. Rafa will join your party as a guest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 28 - Yuguo Woods ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This battle is much like battle you fought in Zigolis Swamp, as you're up against a party of Undead enemies (Monsters and Humans). Use the same type of strategy you used in Zigolis Swamp, just more advanced thanks to your hopefully more advanced party. Get Mustadio to try and Seal Evil all the Undead Time Mages and Wizards, this will get them out of your hair indefinitely. This battle is a breeze if you bring a Wizard with Math Skill, just constantly use CT(4 or 5)Cure, this will heal all your units while damaging all the Undead units. Unlike Zigolis Swamp, because the terrain of Yuguo Woods is pretty straight forward, you can easily defeat all the enemies by simply brining a lot of Chemists and have them throw Phoenix Downs at the undead enemies to kill them instantly. Overall, this is an easy battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 29 - At the gate of Riovanes Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rafa and the knights and archers of Riovanes Castle are guarding the entrance. This battle is unfortunately the calm before the storm. Your team will deploy in two squads, the first squad will be in front of the draw bridge, and the second squad will be on the bank of the moat. You should put Agrias in the first squad with Ramza, give them both Germinas Boots to increase their mobility. Ramza is very good as a Samurai in this battle. Make them both kill the guard on the bridge, and then get them to climb on top of the castle to kill all the Archers. For your second squad, you should bring a Summoner that knows Golem. Make the Summoner cast Golem periodically, while every know and then using a summon monster such as Shiva or Titan on the knights. Therefore it's a good idead to bring along a Chemist stocked up with Hi-Ethers, to keep your Summoners MP stocked up. The Chemist can also use a Mythril Gun to damage the knights. If you want to kill the Knights that lurk around the moat very easily, bring a Lancer and give them Feather Boots. Because Knights are slow, you'll be able to hit them with Jump nearly every time. If you bring a Dancer, they can cause some trouble with Wiznaibus or Polka Polka. Once you kill Malak, Rafa will teleport away. It really doesn't matter if you kill him fast or if you let him live so Rafa stays around longer. They are both as useless as each other. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 30 - Inside of Riovanes Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is probably one of the hardest battles in the game. It's a fight between Ramza and Wiegraf, mano a mano! Wiegraf is extremely powerful, so you'll need to use some strong strategies against him. The most classic strategy is to make Ramza a Chemist with his secondary ability set as Guts, then have Ramza Yell his little heart out until he has enough turns to get away from Wiegraf and then shoot him to bits with a Mythril Gun. As a Chemist, Ramza can also use Hi-Potions or X-Potions to keep his HP over what Wiegraf can deal to him. Ramza as a Squire could also equip a Chameleon Robe to prevent Wiegraf using Lightning Stab, and Feather Boots to prevent Wiegraf from using Earth Slash. This will leave Wiegraf with only Wave Fist as a ranged attack, which has only a range of 3 and is relatively weak compared to the others. If you replace Chemist with Archer in this strategy, you wont be able to heal with Potions, but as you increase your Speed with Yell your Bow will begin to deal more and more damage. Guns will always cause the same amount of damage, unless of course they make a critical hit. Not even using Accumulate will boost a Guns attack. Anyway, my strategy relies more on keeping Ramza alive while afflicting damage than avoiding Wiegraf's attacks. Make Ramza a Squire, Knight or Geomancer and make his secondary ability Punch Art. This will let you equip everything you need on him and will allow to use Chakra if things get desperate. Now have Ramza's reaction ability set as Auto-Potion and throw away every last Potion you have in your inventory, this will allow Ramza to recover 70HP almost every time he takes damage. Make his support ability Concentrate, so he never misses. His movement ability could be anything, but Move-HP Up will further extend his recovery powers. Now as the piest-de-resistance, equip Ramza with the Blood Sword you stole from Gafgarion in the Golgorand Exection Site. This allows Ramza to cause a decent amount of damage to Wiegraf, while simultaneously healing. It doesn't really matter what else you equip Ramza with, but I would suggest you equip him with a Bracer, so you cause more damage and heal more with the Blood Sword. After you defeat Wiegraf he will use the power of the Zodiac Stone to turn into Velius. The rest of your party will now appear, but Velius will summon three Archaic Demons, so it kinda evens out. Your objective will now be to "Defeat Velius!". If you used the Yell method you'll be able to kill Velius by attacking him with your 5+ turns at the beginning. If you brought a Summoner you'll be able to do some major damage with Lich. Keep your party spread out nicely, or Velius will destroy your units with his summons, namely Cyclops. The Archaic Demons will use really strong magic attacks such as Dark Hoy and Giga Flare on you. But don't attack them, just focus on Velius. Fortunately, all of Velius' and the Archaic Demons spells take a while to charge, so if you have really fast units such as Monks and/or Ninjas, you'll be able to obliterate Velius before any of them can attack. Accesories can really help you in this battle. N-Kai Armlets protect your units from being Confused by Velius' Loss spell and they also halve the damage caused by the Archiac Demons' Dark Holy attack. Equip any Magic users with Golden Hairpins, this will prevent Velius from Silencing them with his Lose Voice spell. And finally, Jade Armlets will protect yout units from being Petrified by Velius' Seal spell. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 31 - Roof of Riovanes Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the stand-off between Barinten and Rafa which ends in Malak getting shot, the Marquis of Limberry; Elmdor and his two bitches, Celia and Lede will appear wanting the Zodiac Stone that is in Rafa's possession. Your objective is to "Protect Rafa!". This battle will be very easy if you brought a Ninja, so you can rush forward first turn and cause enough damage to one of your enemies to make them critical, thus winning the battle. If you don't bring a character with high speed, Rafa will run toward Celia or Lede to attack them and will get ripped apart in the process, you'll lose the battle before you can even make a move. But there is a way to manipulate Rafa's suicidal AI. To do this you need to make Ramza's Speed at least 10 and his Move at least 4. You can boost Ramza's Speed by equipping Sprint Shoes, a Green Beret or a Thief Hat on him, or by making him a Monk, Thief or Ninja. You can boost his Move to 4 by equipping Battle Boots or Germinas Boots on him, setting his movement ability as Move+1 or Move+2, or by making him a Squire, Thief, Geomancer, Lancer or Ninja. Now, with those stats Ramza's will be able to head over to Celia and attack her on his first turn. It doesn't matter if you don't manage to make her critical. Since Ramza is up on the roof, Rafa will not head up there and will flee down to where you units are, thank god! Philsov adds: "Red chocobos work well against the Assassins, since their unblockable long range attack does good damage and they have good speed. Also, some players can opt to simply de-equip Ramza to make him an easily target for the assassins. Fodder, if you will :) ". The Assassins can use a wide variety of status ailment inducing spells. The most annoying being Stop Bracelet which causes Dead, and Shadow Stitch which causes Stop. The Barette you removed from Alma will be great on one of your female units, as it cancels every single one of the status ailments Celia and Lede can cause. Your male units with have to make do with Jade Armlets which cancel Stop and Petrify, Judo Outfits and Chameleon Robes which prevent Dead, and N-Kai Armlets which prevent Charm, which can be caused by the Assassins Allure spell. Both Celia and Lede have rare accessories, a Cachusha and a Barette respectively. People have said that it's impossible to Steal these accessories from them, But I know it's very possible to do this, since I've done it many times. All you need is a Ninja with Steal as their secondary ability, they also need Martial Arts, Move+2, a Green Beret and Sprint Shoes. Place this Ninja were Ramza is set by default on the battle formation grid. Now on the first turn of this battle the Ninja will have immediate access to Celia and Lede's backs, perfect for stealing. However, you'll only be able to steal from Ledes, as Celia is on a raised section. So try Steal Accessory on her, I get a % chance of about 50%. If you miss, just reset and try again. To steal the Cachusha from Celia, you will have for her to move from the raised section. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv)Chapter IV - Somebody to Love ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You've made it to the final chapter in the game. A chapter filled with treachery, challenging battles and a large amount of side quests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 32 - Doguola Pass ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a pretty standard battle against a fairly varied opposition. They are surprisingly quite strong. If you have a Samurai, get amongst the Lancers and use Heaven's Cloud repeatedly on them. If you happen to Slow them in the process, well that's just a bonus. A Summoner can really rip shreds into the opposition, just make sure you have their Reaction Ability set as Arrow Guard so the Archer's cannot assassinated them and you keep them a fair distance away from the Lancers and the Knight. Agrias is extremely helpful in this battle, as always. This is especially true if you have her Lightning Stab the Wizards to death. If you bring a Thief, have them Steal the Oberisks from the Lancers. Not only will you get strong spears which cannot be bought for quite some time, but the Lancers will cause considerably less damage without them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 33 - Bervenia Free City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meliadoul and her squad of female body guards were awaiting your arrival to Beervenia. Meliadoul wants to kill Ramza because she thinks that he killed Izlude, who she proclaims is her brother. Your objective is to "Defeat Meliadoul". Because Meliadoul uses Mighty Sword, which is another "Sword Skill". If you break or steal her sword she will become no threat at all. Now, because she's wielding a Defender, which is the first Knight Sword in the game, and because she's also equipped with the mega-useful Chantage (which essentially makes her immortal), you're not going to break them ^_^ And so you need a Thieve, a very advanced one at that. Like the steal strategies before, you want a Ninja with Steal as their secondary ability. Equip them with a Green Beret and Sprint Shoes to bump up their speed. Sunken State is the reaction ability to set on them. If they get they'll go transparent, which will make the enemies ignore them and will throw all evade % our the window (like Concentrate) which is a very good thing when stealing. You should set their support ability as Martial Arts, to increase their stealing %. Some would say set Maintenance so Meliadoul can't break your stuff... but who really cares? You're going to try to steal her Defender first go, so she won't be able to use any of her Mighty Sword skills anyway. Anyway, their Movement ability should be set as Move+2, but if your Ninja is a boy then Move+3 would be even better! Place your "Ninja Thief" in the 2nd Squad, on the square one space to the right of the far left (south-east) square on the formation grid. This will allow you to get to Meliadoul first turn to steal from her! I usually only get a Steal Weapon % in the 20's, but that's not too bad. If you miss just do soft-reset (L1+R1+Start+Select) and retry. It should only take you four soft-resets on average. Now with the Defender safely out of Meliadoul's hands, your greatest threat is out of the way. This only really leaves you with two Summoners, two Archers and a Ninja to worry about. You really shouldn't bother attacking them unless their attacks become unbearable, but while they are alive and while Meliadoul is equipped with Chantage, she is immortal. And so your Ninja should proceed to try and steal her Chantage from her, so she is kill able and so you get a Chantage ^_^ With Sunken State probably enabled you should get a decent Steal Accessry % of around 45. Have a Bard in your first squad... well it's better to have a Wizard with Sing, equipped with a Wizard Rod, Holy Miter, Wizard Robe and Magic Gauntlet. This will give you a 7+ increase in MA. Which means Life Song will cure 7 more HP for every unit. That's not much of an increase, but every bit helps. Place this "Singing Wizard" at the far end of the battlefield behind the house and leave him to sing Life Song. This effectively ends up acting like a more frequent and higher healing Regen on all characters. This healing should nullify most of the damage your units sustain. Put Agrias in your second squad and place her near the Ninja. She can help the Ninja defeat Meliadoul. Whilst your Ninja is stealing have Agrias attack the Summoners and the Ninja. It really doesnt matter who you put in the first squad, as your Ninja and Agrias will probably have the battle over before the units in the first squad can even do anything helpful. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 34 - Finath River ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your party has encountered a flock of Chocobos. What class of Chocobo they are is completely random. If you're lucky you may get an Uribo on the central delta. You're party will be split into two squads, the first squad will be on the western bank of the river, while the second squad will be on the eastern bank of the river. You may want to bring a Time Mage, so you can cast FLoat on your units so they are able to cross the river with ease. You could always just equip them with Feather Boots for the same effect. It really doesn't matter who you use in this battle, be more worried about who you're up against. If there are lots of Red Chocobos, do a soft-reset and try again. Red Chocobos will obliterate your party with Choco Metoer, which NEVER misses. Black Chocbos are less dangerous, as Choco Ball is usually pretty weak and can miss quite often. Chocobos (aka Yellow Chocobos) can heal with Choco Cure, but since they have no ranged attacks they will have to get close to your units to attack. Which will allow you to obliterate them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 35 - Church outside of town (Zeltennia Castle) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zalmo is up really high on the steeple of the church. He has brought along some knights again, but he has ditched the Monks for Oracles. Your objective is to "Defeat Zalmo". This battle can be won before Zalmo even gets a turn. Just bring ranged attackers that have attacks which ignore height, this includes Agrias, Geomancers, "Gunners", Wizards & Summoners. Wizards and Summoners are not a good idea, this is because Zalmo equipped with a White Robe that will halve the effectiveness of all the fast spells. This leaves Agrias, Geomancers and "Gunners". Agrias is the most useful, have her use Lightning Stab on him and she'll rip him apart ^_^. Geomancers and "Gunners" will only cause marginal damage, but every little bit helps. In order for the "Gunners" to be able to hit him, you will have to move them to the edge of the battle area, away from Zalmo. It's a VERY easy battle if you use this strategy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 36 - Bed Desert ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, Ramza and his battle party encounter Balk and his squad on the way to Bethla. Your objective is to "Defeat Balk!". Your party will start this battle poisoned thanks to Balk. Equipping them with Poison cancelling equipment won't prevent this. Bring a Monk! If you place your units in a cross shape with the Monk as the center, you'll be able to purge away all of the poison in one turn. Antidotes throw by Chemists and the Basic Skill called Heal do the same thing. Balk's squad consists of two Archers, two Knights and a Wizard. You should really just concentrate on Balk. If you deploy a strong group of units with some healing abilities this battle shouldn't be much of a pain. Balk is equipped with a rare Blaze Gun, this means two things: one, you should bring a Thief to steal it, and two; have your units equipped with stuff like Ice Shields and/or White Robes to guard against the effects of the Blaze Gun. But be careful, Ice Shields make your units weak against Lightning, and so if the Wizard casts a Bolt spell on your unit, they'll take a lot of damage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On arrival to Bethla Garrison, you will be given the choice of how you want to strategically infiltrate it. From the front (north) or from the back (south). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 37(s) - South Wall of Bethla Garrison ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you attack Bethla Garrison from the back, you'll engage in battle with Nanten Knights, Archers, a Thief and a Ninja. Because your opposition is very speedy, you may want to deploy fast units such as Monks and Ninjas so they don't have much of a speed advantage. Bring Agrias to attack the Knights from a distance with Holy Sword skills, while your other units attack the rest. This is a VERY standard battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 37(n) - North Wall of Bethla Garrison ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you attack Bethla Garrison from the front, you will have to get past far greater fortifications and you will have to deal with Nanten Lancers, Archers, a Monk and a Summoner. Because of the high fortifications, it's best to have characters with ranged attacks. Also the higher the jump the better, otherwise your units will tend to have a "traffic jam" near the wooden box, since they all will have to use it to get over the wall. You want to keep that wooden box free for a Geomancer (if you have one) so you can use Demon Fire, which can cause Sleep. If you cast Haste on your units using a Time Mage, they will be most likely able to dodge a Lancer using Jump. Use a Ninja or Archer to assassinate the Summoner. Anyway, this battle is slightly harder than coming at the south wall, but it's still a very simple battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 38 - In front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is to "Open water gate at Bethla Garrison". That means that hypothetically you can finish this battle without even battling ^_^ Anyway, your battle will be split into two squads. The first squad lead by Ramza will begin on the eastern side of the sluice, while the second squad will begin on the western side. Have Agrias in the 2nd Squad, you'll need a strong unit like her to kill the Wizards on that side. When it all boils down to it, this is a very standard battle, just have your units charge up the sides of the gate while slaughtering the opposition. Because you have to stand on both switches as Ramza to clear this battle, you can prolong it for as long as you wish. This makes it the perfect time to gain JP & Exp, alter your units Brave and Faith, and collect lots of treasure chests and crystals. Bring a Mediator with Praise, Threaten, Preach and Solution and have them alter all of your units Brave and Faith how you see fit. There is a really easy way to finish this battle quickly. You need a stealthy Ramza, so make him a Squire, give him Germinas Boots and set his reaction ability as Sunken State. You could also give him Teleport or Ignore Height to make your life even easier. Now don't put any one else in the first squad with Ramza, and place Agrias on her lonesome in the second squad. You must make her immortal, so give her the Chantage you stole from Meliadoul. Once Ramza is attacked he will most likely go Transparent. From then on never use "Act" or Ramza will be visible again. Then simply have your "immortal" Agrias draw the Knights from the switches, so Ramza may pull both of the switches undetected. As Philsov suggests, you could always just give the Knights status ailments such as Confusion or Beserk, so they are more inclined to step from the switches. You can do this by making Agrias's secondary ability Yin Yang Magic, or by bringing a female Oracle w/ Chantage in tow. Them have them use Blind Rage or Confusion Song on the Knights. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ramza will now free Orlandu from the gaol. Orlandu will now join your battle party! Trust me, they don't call him Thunder God Cid for no reason. Head to Zarghidas Trade City, a girl will approach you to sell flowers. Don't be a tight arse, select "Ok, I'll buy it." and do a good deed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 39 - Germinas Peak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group of Bandits want to kill Ramza, so they can recieve the church's bounty that they placed on Ramza's head. The Bandit Boss is a Ninja, while his subservients are Thieves and Archers. The Bandit Boss will throw some nice items at you, so have a couple of your units set with Catch. There is a Vanish Mantle buried at the peak of the mountain, exactly where the Bandit Boss was standing (6,6;15). This is the only one in the game. Bring a character with low Brave and Move-Find Item as their movement ability, so you can get it. If you get a Ether, do a soft-reset and try again. You only get one chance of retrieving the Vanish Mantle. I like to think of this battle as the "demo" for displaying Orlandu's power, as it's the first story battle that you can use him in. He'll be able to destroy all the opposition single handedly, and will make this battle very easy. If you don't use Orlandu, this battle will be quite challenging. Try using the rugged terrain to your advantage, the Archers won't be able to hit you if you get really high. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 40 - Poeskas Lake ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like the battles in Zigolis Swamp and Yuguo Woods, this battle is against a lot of undead units. So use the same type of strategy (i.e. Mustadio with Seal Evil, Chemists with Phoenix Down, Cure 2 using Math Skill, et cetera). You may want to bring a Thief to Steal the Ultimus Bows from the Undead Archers, as you are not able to buy them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next three battles in Limberry will be consecutive. So be prepared! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 41 - At the gate of Limberry Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Celia and Lede are back, and this time they have an army of demons that are called Apandas to back them up. Even though it says your objective is to "Defeat all enemies!", this battle will finish if you make Celia or Lede critical. Sounds easy... but this is one of only two battles in which you can learn Ramza's Ultima spell via Blue Magic (Lore), so you'll most probably want to learn that for the sake of completeness. You'll have to force Celia or Lede into using Ultima on Ramza for him to learn it. If you equip a Jade Armlet you'll prevent them from using their longer range attacks such as Seal and Shadow Stich, which will force them into using their shorter range attacks such as Allure and Stop Bracelet, and Ultima which has a fairly long range. So if you stay out of the range of Allure and Stop Bracelet, which have effective ranges of 3 and 1 respectively, while staying in the effective range of Ultima; which is 5. Celia and Lede will have to cast Ultima on Ramza. In order to do this Ramza must be a Squire, he must have his speed at 10 (you can bump it up with a Green Beret), and you must make him fairly resilient to any attacks he will have to endure. I suggest you make his secondary ability White Magic and have Wall learned. Now during the first turn, move Ramza down four spaces towards your other units (8,4:2). This will get you out of Celia's range for Allure, but will keep you in her range for Ultima. Have Ramza cast Wall on himself to lessen the impact of the Apandas' Bio spells. Celia will cast Ultima on Ramza, and Lede will be in range to use Allure on Ramza, but will always opt to attack your party or cast more Ultima on Ramza. Hopefully, Ramza will survive anything the Apandas throw at him and will be hit by Ultima and will survive. You'll be prompted to learn Ultima once this happens. Once you've learnt it, get your units to attack one of the Assassins vigorously. If you have Barretes (you should have at least one) equip them on your female units, to protect against everything there is to worry about. Your male units will have to settle for Black Costumes and N-Kai Armlets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 42 - Inside of Limberry Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's time to battle the marquis of Limberry himself, Elmdor. He's accompanied by his otherworldly "bitches", Celia and Lede. Your objective is to "Defeat Elmdor!". This battle is quite easy, you can actually even win this battle if all of your units become vampires thanks to Elmdor's Blood Suck. As they'll just suck the Vampire dry :) However, Elmdor is equipped with a very rare and helpful set of equipment... the legendary Genji equips. Getting these is quite the task. So you'll need a highly specialised group of units... You'll need a Thief, a Speed Manipulator, a Brave Manipulator, a Healer, a Speed Status Manipulator and a strong Warrior to pull this off. The following team is what I have found to be the best. Your Thief shouldn't be a Thief at all, it's best to have a female Monk with Steal as their secondary. Monk's have innate Martial Arts, which will increase your chance of stealing. They should have Sunken State as their Reaction Ability, since it causes Transparency which will increase your chances of stealing. Set Attack UP as their support ability, this will further increase your chances of stealing. And equip her with a Barette, to guard against Blood Suck and Stop. Ramza should be a Squire with Battle Skill as his secondary. This will allow him to Yell at your Thief and Speed Break Elmdor. Yet again, making your chances of stealing greater. Set his support ability as Two Swords so you get two chances with the Breaks, and equip him with a Black Costume and 108 Gems, to guard against Blood Suck and Stop. Bring Beowulf, if you don't have him yet, bring an Oracle. Make his secondary Time Magic. Beowulf has a special ability called Chicken, this ability lowers brave by 50!. Lowering Elmdor's brave is very important, as he is equipped with Blade Grasp which is dependant on Brave. If you lower his Brave, Ramza's Breaks will have a far better chance of penetrating past the Blade Grasp, and your Thief will be more likely to steal his Genji Equipment. Equip Beowulf with 108 Gems to protect against Blood Suck. Bring Orlandu (or Agrias), have him as a Holy Swordsman and his secondary as either Battle Skill or Item. Have Catch as his reaction ability, Equip Change as his support ability and equip him with a Black Costume and a N-Kai Armlet to prevent Stop and Charm. For your Healer, bring a female Monk. With Item as her secondary, Throw Item as her support and a Barette and Chantage equipped. This will make her an immortal HP Healing Helper :) Now, place Orldandu two spaces to the right (south-east) of the far left square on the formation grid. Now, first turn, move Orlando four spaces towards Elmdor and have him use Lightning Stab between Celia, Lede and Elmdor. Now pray to jebus that Elmdor doesn't Blood Suck Orlandu. He really will only do that if you place all your units in a way that will not allow him to Muramasa them all. If he does happen to Blood Suck Orlandu, rush your Monk up and throw Holy Water at him. Because you wounded the Assassins so well, they will retreat to the far corners of the hall. Have Orlandu finish them off and they will turn into Ultima Demons, which are actually weaker than their human form. Orlandu should have no problem at all in finishing them off single handedly. The rest of your team is for setting up the Steals, have Ramza Speed Break Elmdor into submission, and then have him Yell at your Thieving Monk. Beowulf should firstly then use Chicken twice on Elmdor, so his Brave is non-existent. Then have him Slow Elmdor and Haste all of your units. Once Orlandu has finished with the Ultima Demons, have him use Equip Change to switch the N-Kai Arlmet for 108 Gems, so Elmdor cant Blood Suck him :) Then have Orlandu join the others, either Mind Breaking Elmdor to lessen the power of Muramasa, or healing the others with Items, it depends what you set his secondary to. As for your Thieving Monk, make her steal his Genji Shield first, so you will have better chances when stealing from his front or sides without Transparency. Then go for his Genji Gauntlet, so his attacks are slightly less effective. Then try stealing his Masamune so his physical attacks are _much_ weaker, and then finally steal his Genji Armor and Genji Helmet. After you've thieved the complete set, defeat the naked vampire (Elmdor for the completely dense). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 43 - Underground Cemetery of Limberry Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Undead Knights and Skeletons will rise from the surrounding graves, and then Elmdor will transform into the Zodiac beast Zalera, who is the Angel of Death. Your objective is to "Defeat Zalera!". Meliadoul will witness this transformation and will realise the error in her ways. And so she will join your party as a guest. However, her Mighty Sword skills only work on enemies with equipment, and unfortunately none of the enemies in this battle have any. Not even the Undead Knights. So she is really quite useless, apart from drawing away the Skeletons from your units. Zalera is much like Queklain, it will use status inducing spells like Nightmare to cripple your units, and then will use very high level like Flare 2 to defeat your units. As in the Queklain battle, equip Defense Rings to prevent the status effect of Nightmare. Zalera can also cast Spell; which causes Stop, Chicken Race; which causes Don't Act, Darkness and Blind 2; which both cause Darkness, Toad 2; which causes Frog, Sleep 2; which causes Sleep and Confuse 2; which causes Confusion. This means that it doesn't matter what you equip, you'll never be completely immune without a Ribbon (which I highly doubt you have). To counteract all these status ailments, bring a Chemist with Punch Arts as their secondary, equipped with a Cachusa, a Black Costume and a Defense Ring. Since Cachusa's cancel Darkness, Frog & Don't Act, and Black Costumes cancel Stop, the only effect they'll be vulnerable to is Confusion, which can easily be cured with Throw Stone ^_^ This unit will be able to purge all of the status ailments albeit Stop with Stigma Magic. You really shouldn't worry about the Skeletons and Undead Knights, just focus on Zalera. However, if you bring a Wizard with Math Skill as their secondary, use CT(4 or 5)Cure 2 or Holy to wipe them all out. With Holy, you'll want your units to have either a Excalibur or Chameleon Robes equipped, so they get healed from Holy instead of dying from it. Spread your units out so they all can't be hit by Flare 2 in one hit, and constantly attack Zalera. Ninja's are wonderful for rushing up to Zalera and dealing large amounts of damage, as is Agrias and Orlandu with Lightning Stab. Mustadio is also great for Petrifying the Undead Knights with Seal Evil. Anyway, deal enough damage and Zalera will explode, leaving only the Gemini Zodiac Stone behind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meliadoul will now join your party. Try to leave Limberry and the game will cut to a long cut-scene. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 44 - Inside of Igros Castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zalbag confronts Dycedarg about the treachery of both his lord and father. Dycedarg calls reinforcements and Zalbag is surrounded. Your objective is to: "Defear Dycedarg's elder brother!". But thankfully his elder brother Typolis was killed in a Chocobo crash at the age of 4, so I guess you'll just have to settle on defeating Dycedarg. All of the enemies are up above on the arching bridge, this means that if you don't bring units with ranged attacks or that don't have movement abilities such as Ignore Height, Fly or Teleport, they'll waste around two turns just getting to Dycedarg. Meliadoul is excellent in this battle, have her use Hellcry Punch to destroy Dycedarg's Defender, making him unable to use his Holy Sword techniques. If you can't bear to destroy such a rare weapon, bring a Thief with Ignore Height (or similar) and make them steal it from him. Agrias and/or Orlandu are probably able to kill Dycedarg with a single Lightning Stab. Once Dycedarg is dead, he'll transform into Adramelk using the Capricorn Zodiac Stone. Adramelk would be one of the strongest Zodiac Beasts to date, however he has one fatal flaw. Adramelk is much like Velius, in the way he uses very strong summons like Bahamut to obliterate your battle party. However, Summons are pretty useless if you have been Silenced ^_^ Yes, Adramelk can be silenced. So bring Beowulf and Silence that all powerful demon into a green goat. Anyway, to get his HP down fast, bring a Wizard or Summoner and use Demi 2 or Lich respectively. Then have your other characters hack him to death. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will fight three battles in a row, so be prepared. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 45 - St. Murond Temple (Murond Holy Place) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is another battle fought with two squads, but this time it's a little more extreme as the squads are deployed on completely different sides of the chapel. All the enemies are situated on the roof of the temple. You can reach them with ranged attacks, but they will tend to retreat out of your range. That's why it's best to give all your units in the first squad movement abilities such as Ignore Height, Teleport or Fly that will allow them to get on the roof easily. Ignore Height looks really cool, kind of like those old Japanese TV series such as "Samurai" and "Monkey Magic". Wizards and Summoners are really the only decent ranged attackers in this battle, as you can cast it on a unit, and it doesn't matter how far they walk away the spell will hit. This first squad should probably contain a unit with Steal skills, as the Summoner has a pretty rare (albeit useless) Dragon Rod, that you will probably want to steal. Your second squad will really only be up against two weak Mediators with Mythril Guns. The only really bad thing thank can do is put your units to sleep by Mimicing Daravon, however this can easily be prevented by either equipping them with Defense Rings, or setting their reaction abilities as Finger Guard. The only other thing worth mentioning are the Geomancers, as they can give your units nasty side effects such as Petrify, Stop and Slow from respectively using Carve Model, Hell Ivy and Gusty Wind due to the terrain. I suggest you equip them with Jade Arlmets to protect against Petrify and Stop at least. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 46 - Hall of St. Murond Temple (Murond Holy Place) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh no... three shrine knights... eek. It say's your objective is to "Defeat Vormav", but really it's "Make one of these three evil bastards critical!". Kletian is the most physically weak, so you should go for him. For god's sake... (almost literally) have every one of your units set with Maintenance as their support ability. Otherwise, both Rofel and Vormav will have a field trip with their Mighty Sword skills, breaking your hard earned equipment and killing your units. You could always fight fire with fire and bring both Orlando and Meliadoul, Orland equipped with the Excalibur and Meliadoul with Sprint Shoes. Use both of their first turns to break Vormav and Rofel's swords with Hellcry Punch, this will make them have to use their fists. Worker 8 is a good addition to your party in this battle, no equipment makes him invulnerable to Mighty Sword skills, and Innocence makes All Magic as useful as nailing jelly to a tree. If you're slightly crazy (but determined) bring a Thief to steal Kletian's Dragon Rod. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 47 - Chapel of St. Murond Temple (Murond Holy Place) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vormav will summon two Archaic Demons, an Ultima Demon and a zombified Zalbag. Your objective is to "Defeat Zalbag!" This battle is easy as long as you do two things: one; bring Melidoul and have her break Zalbag's sword with Hellcry Punch. This will make him unable to use his Ruin sword skills and will carve a nice chunk of HP out of him, and two; equip everyone with 108 Gems, or even better a Barette if they are female. This prevents Zalbag from making all your units blood thirsty with his Blood Suck ability. Zalbag has Speed Save, so try not to hit him with too many low damage attacks, or he will just blitz you. Focus all your attention on killing Zalbag, ignore the Demons. You'll have to kill Zalbag to free him from his curse, you can't critical him. Also, this is the last battle that you can "functionally" learn Holy in. So if you haven't learned it yet, bring Ramza as a Squire and hope you get lucky... very lucky. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the time of the game in which you should do everything there is to do, so see the Side-Qquests section below. The battle ahead is the point of no return in this game, so make sure you make a copy of your save file onto another Memory Card or use a DexDrive to back it up. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 48 - Underground Book Storage 4th Floor (Orbonne Monastery) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a very basic battle, nothing you haven't seen before. You probably should set some of your units with Maintenance, to prevent the Knights from breaking your equipment. Steal the Archer's Yoichi Bow, not only will you get a nice bow to use in the battles ahead. But you'll completely neutralise the threat he produces. Go for the Monks first, or they'll use Chakra on the other units, plus they are quite aggressive. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 49 - Underground Book Storage 5th Floor (Orbonne Monastery) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rofel is down in the basement with a posse of Mages. Your objective is to "Defeat Rofel!". Don't worry about setting you units with Maintenance to protect against Rofel's Mighty Sword skills, that support slot is best left for something more useful. Instead, bring Melidaoul equipped with Excalibur for Haste, and have her break Rofel's Save the Queen with Hellcry Punch first turn. The Wizards and Summoners will really bombard your units with strong spells. So bring a Lancer with full range and have them Jump on the mages while they are casting, to spell certain death. Have all your other units attack Rofel aggressively. Once defeated, Rofel will speak incantations that will send you to hell... almost literally. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 50 - Murond Death City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During this battle, you will be split into two squads. Your objective is to "Defeat Kletian!", who is accompanied bu Ninjas, Samurai and Time Mages. The first squad will be closer to Kletian, so you should put melee attackers in the first squad. The best strategy for this battle is to bring Beowulf and have him use Silence on Kletian, this will make him a sitting duck. The Samurai will use Kiyomori on their allies (including Kletian) which casts Protect and Shell on them. Beowulf can always remove these positive status effects from enemies with Despair. But prevention is better than cure, so use Beowulf to cast Don't Action the Samurai. Mustadio can help him do this with his Arm Aim sniping skill. Use a Ninja to hack away at Kletian. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 51 - Lost Sacred Precincts (Murond Death City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Balk, the engineering Shrine Knight is here, accompanied by a large group of strong Hydras, a Dark Behemonth and a Chemist. Your objective is to "Defeat Balk!". Have you units equipped with either Defense Armlets, Thief Hats or Cachusha to protect against Balk's Snipe skills. Balk is equipped with a Blast Gun that causes Lightning elemental damage, so equip you may want to equip some units with Rubber Shoes, which prevent both Lightning elemental damage and Don't Move. Units with Rubber Shoes will still be susceptible to Don't Act, without a Thief Hat or a Cachusha. This is Reis' time to shine, give her a Chantage and she will be a unstoppable Tiamat taming temptress. If you tame the Tiamat, Hydra and Hyudra with Dragon Tame they'll turn on Balk, the Dark Behemoth and the Chemist and cause large amounts of damage. Most importantly, they wont be causing damage to your units. Set your units with Teleport to cross the chasm easily to attack Balk with full force. Also, a Lancer with full jump range should be able to Jump on Balk from the safety of the other side of the chasm. This battle looks harder then it is. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 52 - Graveyard of Airships (Murond Death City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vormav is trying to resurrect St. Ajora using Alma as a host. It fails so he transforms into the Zodiac Beast called Hashmalum, the Regulator. Your objective is to "Defeat Hashmalum!". Bring a Summoner and use Lich to bring his HP down a lot. Lancers are great to use against him, because the long charge times of all his spells allow Jump to hit every time. Speed is the most important stat in this battle, as you want to defeat Hashmalum before the Meteor that he casts hits. Once defeated, Hashmalum (i.e. Vormav) will commit suicide to provide enough blood for Ajora to awaken in Alma's body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle 53 - Graveyard of Airships (Murond Death City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alma's soul is too strong and breaks away from Ajora! Ajora will now summon four Ultima Demons and will transform into Altima. Your objective is to "Defeat Altima!". Altima the Holy Angel is pretty weak compared to some of the Zodiac Beasts you have fought (namely Velius). Bring a Monk to use Chakra on Alma, not only will this bring her HP up from an ominous 1 HP. But you will be able to keep her MP up so she can use the omni-useful MBarrier on almost every one of your units. Once you get him down far enough, he'll transform into the Arch Angel. A Summoner is extremely useful at this stage, as you will be able to deal a tremendous 999 HP. Just kill that false prophet and save the world! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T H E E N D ! =============================================================================== 6)SIDE QUESTS =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i)Beowulf and the Dragon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a reasonably long and fruitful side-quest. You will get four special characters out of it (two of which are excellent) and a couple of rare items that are really good. Make sure you except Mustadio into your battle party after Battle 16 - Slums of Goug Machine City, and don't dismiss him afterwards. Otherwise, you will not be able to do any of this. * From the beginning of Chapter 4: Head to Goug Machine City. Besrodio has found an ancient relic that resembles a steel ball. It responds to the Pisces Zodiac Stone, and then Besrodio will comment that it has an Aquarius sign engraved into it. Head to Goland Coal City, in the Bar read the Rumor called "Ghost of Colliery", it seems there is a monster in the depths of the mine. Head to Lesalia Imperial Capital. Ramza will head to the bar and will order the hardest stuff they have... Milk ^_^ Ramza will then overhear some warriors speaking of the monster in the mine, and decides to head for the mines. A knight will stop Ramza, he's Beowulf, and he want's you to hire him. Select "Let's go together". Goland Coal City will now be an active battle site. Head there to fight in a series of battles taking place in the colliery. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle A - Colliery Underground 3rd Floor (Goland Coal City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Five disgruntled miners (all Chemists) will attack your party for no apparent reason. This is another battle in which you must deploy two squads, the first squad will be near the center of the battlefield, while the second squad will be near a Chemist on the side of the battlefield. Beowulf will tend not to do much during these battles :( If you're doing this side-quest during the later stages of this chapter, put Meliadoul and Orlandu in your team and get them to use Hellcry Punch on all the Chemists. Not only with this severely wound the Chemists, but they won't be able to shoot you from a far with their Mythril Guns. If you don't have Meliadoul and/or Orlandu, you'll have to settle for Agrias and/or Mustadio. If you put Agrias in the second squad, you'll most likely be able to kill the nearby Chemist in the firt turn. For Mustadiom make him a Knight, with Equip Gun as his support ability and Snipe as his secondary ability. With this set-up you'll be able to do two great things; one, you'll be able to break the Chemists' Mythril Guns from a far, and two, you'll be able to use Arm Aim on the Chemists, making them unable to attack or heal with Items. Anyway, Counter Flood is the best reaction ability to have your units equipped with in this battle. Anything else will not work, albeit Counter in tandem with a long range weapon. Since all the Chemist's are all equipped with Mythril Guns, except for special circumstances they'll cause 64HP worth of damage each time they attack. If you have a couple of healers (Chemists, Monks and Priests), you should be able to counter act all this damage with constant healing. Chemist's will tend to revive each other with Phoenix Downs, you can counter act this nuisance by bringing a Dancer. Have the Dancer constantly use Wiznaibus. If a Chemists is revived by a Phoenix Down, they will most likely be killed by Wiznaibus before they can even have their turn. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle B - Colliery Underground 2rd Floor (Goland Coal City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This battle is much like the last one, except this time you're up against a Chemists, two Thieves, a Behemoth and a King Behemoth. And instead of walkways and scaffolding, this battle takes place in the inclined slope of the miners quarters. The King Behemost is hiding behind the Thief to the right of your party. Stay away from it at all costs, it's Stab Up attack can be devastating. Attack it from a distance with ranges attacks. The lone Chemists is carrying a rare Blaze Gun, this is the earliest chance in the game you'll get to obtain it. So bring a Thief along and steal away ^_^ Note that in these snowy battles, Ice elemental magic and attacks cause 1/4 more damage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle C - Colliery Underground 2rd Floor (Goland Coal City) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This time you're fighting against two Chemists, two Blue Dragons and an Uribo. Again, this battle is much like the other two. Don't have Counter Flood set during this battle, or you'll tend to heal the Blue Dragons a lot with Blizzard. Just bring a Wizard/Summoner to constantly bombard the Blue Dragons with Fire/Ifrit or Salamander. You may also want to bring along a Mediator, so you can Invite Uribo's for breeding/poaching. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You will be prompted to save and then form your team, before the next battle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle D - Underground Passage in Goland Coal City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reis, the Holy Dragon is being confronted by an Archiac Demon who is called Schinoeg (Sinogue). Your objective is to "Save Reis). Reis will generally take care of the two Ochus with her Ice Bracelet attack. Bring Agrais (or Orlandu if you have him) make she her jump is 4 and you'll be able to jump up on the ledge above and use Holy Explosion down the corridor, this will usually kill at least one Plague. I like to bring Mustadio, equipped with the Blaze Gun you stole from the Chemist two battles ago, and with Secret Hunt set. He can then kill the remaining Plague(s), poaching them in the process. Hopefully you'll get a rare Zorlin Shape out of it. Be careful with Sinogue, if you get him critical he will tend to use Lifebreak on Reis, which will most likely kill her, causing the Game Over scree to come up at you mockingly. Try using one hit kills such as Agrias' Crush Punch, or just really strong magic attacks such as Flare. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For helping him save Reis, Beowulf will hand over the Aquarius Zodiac Stone he found down here. Also, Beowulf and Reis will now join your party, do not dismiss them!! ...well at least until you finish this entire side-quest. Head to Goug Machine City, Ramza will put the Aquarius stone into the steel ball. The ball will unfold mechanically into a large robot. Ramza tells the Steel Giant to dance, he does the electric boogaloo ^_^ , more comedy unfolds as Ramza tells it to beat up Mustadio. Worker 8 will now join your battle party. * After Battle 38 - In front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice: Head to Zarghidas Trade City, a girl will approach you to sell flowers. Make sure you buy some from her, so select "Ok, I'll buy it." Head to Goug Machine City. Besrodio has built a strange contraption using relics found in a drift. It reacts with the Zodiac Stones much in the same way Worker 8 did while he was a steel ball. Besrodia will then comment about the Cancer Zodiac mark on it... looks like it's time for more Zodiac Stone searching... Head to Zeltennia Castle. Inside the Bar, read the Rumor "Cursed Island, Nelveska". Hmmm... a "fearsome iron sentinel"... sounds fun. A pathway will extend over to Nelveska Temple, which is currently an active battle site. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle E - Nelveska Temple ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The "fearsome iron sentinel" mentioned in the rumour seems to be another Steel Giant, like Worker 8. This one has the model no. "Worker 7·new", and as you approach it will go into "Genocide Mode" O_o. Your objective is to "Defeat Worker 7!". Worker 7 has quite a large supply of energy (HP), so this is going to be a long battle. It's made even longer due to the fact there are four rare items hidden around the temple in really hard to get places. You'll definitely need a unit with Move-Find Item, make sure they have low Brave (16 will do) and equip them with the Vanish Mantle you found on Germinas Peak. You'll have to bring Worker 8 and you'll have to make your "Item Finder" a Monk, Thief, Ninja or Mime; so that their Jump is 4. You can then use Worker 8 for a "leg up" to get on top of the pillars. To support your "Item Finder" you'll need a group of highly specialised units. Bring Agrias and/or Orlandu for your main assault team, make sure you equip them with Jade Armlets to prevent the Cocatoris from Petrifying them with Beak. You'll need a healer, so bring a female Monk, equipped with Chantage so she's essentially immortal. Have her secondary ability set as Item and have your support ability set as Throw Item. You'll need a "Breaker", so either bring Mustadio as a Knight, with Equip Gun set as your support ability and a Blaze Gun equipped. This will allow you to break from a distance. Or you could bring a Ninja with Battle Skill as a secondary ability. This unit is much more vulnerable than Mustadio. But Ninja's are incredibly fast and they'll break twice in one go thanks to innate Two Swords. Now, you firstly want to take out the three Cocatoris and the two Hyudra. But wait for the Hyudra to fly down from the pillars before attacking them, otherwise you'll have to wait for the remains to crystallise or treasurechestify before you can climb up to get the hidden items. If you brought Orldandu, use Night Sword on the enemies. It's healing is very helpful in keeping the old bastard alive. During this phase you should just make the "Item Finder" select Wait, if you make them Act they'll become opaque. After all the Cocatoris and Hyudra are out of the picture, it's time for the item finding phase. In order to keep your unitsalive, you'll want to neutralise Worker 7. Do this by constantly Power Breaking him, until his attacks only cause 12HP damage. Firstly, have the "Item Finder" climb up on the left pillar (2,2:7). You'll need to put Worker 8 adjacent to the pillar to get up there. Hopefully you'll get the ultimate Escutcheon; which is gold in colour, and not the crap Escutcheon; which is brown with silver trimmings. If you get the crap one, just do a soft-reset (L1+R1+Start+Select) and try again. Then head to the right pillar (8,2:7) and you'll get a Javelin. The ultimate Javelin is silver in colour and has a large spear head, the crap Javelin is bluish in colour with a light brown handle. Next, head into the depths of the temple (4,9:0) to hopefully find a Nagrarock. After you get this you should begin to speed break Worker 7 to neutralise him even more. The last buried treasure, a Sasuke Knife is buried behind the temple in the moss covered area (2,11:4). To get up there, place Worker 8 below the ledge of the temple, so your able to climb up on top of it. Now you have all four treasures, it's time to defeat the ol' rust bucket. Once you get him down to 0 HP he'll connect to a Reserve Circuit and resurrect. Thankfully he forgot to recharge his batteries, so he'll only reraise with 1 HP. So just kill finish him off, again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Worker 7·new will self destruct, leaving the Cancer Zodiac Stone behind. Try to head to Zeltennia Castle, Beowulf will use the Cancer Zodiac Stone to transform Reis into a human. She's ultra strong. Head to Goug Machine City, Ramza will put the Cancer Stone on the contraption and it will will summon Cloud from the Lifestream in Mideel! After acting like... well, how Cloud does... he'll run away... to somewhere. * After Battle 44 - Inside of Igros Castle Head to Zarghidas Trade City. Aeris is in big trouble with some enders that want money, hey at least the knave isn't wielding a Masamune and is not the product of genetic engineering using a nihilistic alien life form ^_^ Cloud will come to her rescue, and will act like... well... Cloud. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Battle F - Zarghidas Trade City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your objective is to "Save Cloud!". The bandits comprise of a Monk, two Squires and three Thieves... pretty easy stuff. Clouds HP will only be in the 200's at the most, so it's going to be hard keeping him alive. This is why dual healing/attacking jobs are best here, so bring either Monks, Samurai or Summoners. I like to also bring either a Chemist or Priest to specifically keep Cloud alive, just to be sure. Take note that the slum rooftops are a perfect place for Archers. A very easy end to a rewarding side-quest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cloud will now join your party, he'll be at a very very low level though >_< For Cloud to use his Limit skills, you'll need to get his Materia Blade. Go to Bervenia Volcano and get in a random battle (it's much easier to approach from the south). Make sure you bring a unit with Move-Find Item and very high Jump (or Ignore Height, and have them climb to the peak of the volcano (3,9:15) to find Cloud's Materia Blade. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii)The Deep Dungeon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Deep Dungeon is a wonderful sidequest. It's a completely pitch black cave, riddled with strong monsters and hidden treasures. The Deep Dungeon is comprised of 10 floors, the first 9 floors are always random battles and the last battle is a story battle against a Zodiac Beast the first time you play it. All of the floors have four extremely rare treasures hidden amongst their varied terrain. Anyway, if you simply just defeat all the enemies on one floor, you will not gain access to the next floor. Instead you must have a unit stumble on the next path, you will now when a unit has found this path as they will say: "We found a path that goes further on.". Where the path is, is random. If you want to know all the possible locations of the paths, I suggest you read Gastrifitis' excellent FFT Deep Dungeon Exits Guide available on www.GameFAQs.com. In order to get the most from the Deep Dungeon, I suggest you compile a special team. Firstly, you'll need an Item Finder; I suggest you have them a Ninja, since they are fast and have good movement values. Equipped with a Vanish Mantle (later on replace it with the Hidden Clothes or Setiemson if they are female); so they can sneak around the terrains undetected, and of course with Move-Find Item set as their movement ability. I also suggest you give them Germinas Boots.