T A L E S O F S Y M P H O N I A FAQ/WALKTHROUGH by GheddonLN For the Nintendo GameCube ========================================================================= "My glorious return to the FAQing scene, and for what game! Tales of Symphony offers thrills comparable to those lived in the past Tales games, but with a lot more polish and style thanks to its "next- generation" pedigree. When you first see the beautiful graphics, you'll feel like a total stranger to the series, but when you try the battle system, with its trademark breakneck-pace and hectic controls... that's when you'll be sure you're right at home." Well, that's what I wrote a year ago... no, more than a year ago. For some reason, I let this FAQ rot in one of my many, dusty folders after finishing it. Hm... I think I got bored writing the lists... which is why I decided not to include them (seemed like overkill). But anyways... here it is... A FAQ for Tales of Symphonia... -GheddonLN Let's get it started. ========================================================================= I. Walkthrough II. Sidequests ========================================================================= I. WALKTHROUGH 0000000000 WALKTHROUGH 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 The camera floats about the land as a voice explains how the world came to be as it is now. Eventually, you'll be transported to a wooden shack which kind of serves as school. Enter Lloyd Irving, the game's hero. In typical Gheddon fashion, I'll let you watch the cutscene... by yourself. No summaries or anything, not from me at least ;) ====== ************ 000000000000000000000000 ************ ====== 0000 S Y L V A R A N T 0000 ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ======== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E L I A =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the insightful cutscene, you'll take control of Lloyd. After chatting with your partner's, approach the room's exit to get a short scene. You'll have to make a choice along the scene; pick the second to keep the scenes flowing. When prompted, agree to accompany Colette on her quest to retrieve the Oracle. You'll be given some information regarding skits; afterwards, speak with the blue haired kid nearby to get a Magic Lens. By now, you should get your first skit; hit Z to watch it. Examine the Colette-shaped hole at the northern side of the screen, next to the board, to earn a title for the chosen girl. Exit the classroom through its only door and head out the building. After the small amount of dialogue, head down the dirt road to find a white, shiny circle on the floor; these are your save points. After saving, you have a variety of paths to choose. The road that's directly above the save point (the one with the wooden archway) should be avoided from now. Instead, head up from the save point and when possible, turn west (the house over there is locked, mind you). In the subsequent screen is Genis' house; should you approach it, you'll trigger a scene. Go south to reach a small plaza of sorts. There are some soldiers around here, a locked-up house and the Halo store. The equipment sold there is useless, since you have it already, but they sell the ever so useful Gels and Life Bottles. Stock up and leave. Head north to arrive at the Save Point area; head east instead of north and proceed rightwards in the next screen. Head inside the first house you come across to meet a guy who'll fully heal you for free. Neato. Head back to the save point screen. Well, it was nice exploring the town! Too bad it's time to go town ;) Head north and into the next area. A monster will pop out of nowhere! Bust down this fool with standard physical strikes. After he's gone for, another fiend comes into the scene. Shift targets and attack the zombie with Lloyd, and through the menu, attack the ghost with magic. After the battles, head out to the world map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enemies now roam the are and are completely visible, so you choose whether you fight them or not! Watch the skit and head down and then turn right. Keep going along the coastline until you find the Martel Temple. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M A R T E L T E M P L E ======================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the introductory cinema, head up the steps all the way to the temple's entrance. Here, you'll have to fight! It's a standard fight, really. Cast your two spells on them with your partners, and attack physically with Lloyd. That's about it. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Vidarr Well, your first boss fight! Attack him some (heal up if you have any wounded character) until a scene kicks in. After it, you'll resume the battle, with a new, mysterious ally. Pound him physically with Lloyd (not much else to do) and have your pals attack magically. You might want to set their Strat. so they're more laid back and attack with their spells nearly-exclusively. This guy attacks with both his hammer and spiked ball. A hammer hit does around 100 PTS of DMG if it connects (gulp!). Thankfully, you can stun this guy with a handful of well placed hits, meaning he won't get much chances to strike you down. Heal if you need. I've noticed that he also blocks attack often, and likes to counter after being hit a couple of times. His spiked ball does about half the damage as the hammer-sword, but it is still dangerous. He's a strong guy, so expect a couple of your characters to lose a lot of their health. The mysterious guy who aids you heals often, so you should not worry too much. Attack him constantly and block if needed when he counters. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Enjoy the cutscene and don't agree to stay outside; Colette will stand up for you (...meh. I can already smell the love!). After some more scenes, you'll be inside the temple (and you'll have the Training Manual). You'll be at a hub of sorts. There are three paths to take; head to the right first. Around this area, you'll find hard-shelled SPIDERS that can soak up lots of hits and wobbly SLIMES, who attack from afar and do considerable damage. The spiders are best suited for your strikers, while the slimes should be dealt with magic. Anyway, move along the chosen path. You can find some more enemies, namely ZOMBIES, whom you've already fought and are easily damaged by physical strikes, and GHOSTS, who are weak to magic. At the end of this path there is a staircase that goes down; descend into a room with a glowing, tiled floor that overlooks a shrine of sorts. You'll have to fight a GOLEM. He's a big, powerful guy, but he's slow. Attack with Lloyd and retreat to prevent a possible, hard-hitting strike, or block if you're feeling like it. Magic works excellently. When he blocks, punish him with your magical strength. When he's open to attacks, hit him with your techs as well as your attacks. After he's gone for, he'll turn into a huge rock and slide down. Another GOLEM will pop out. Now, the idea is to beat all of the golems that keep appearing and send down the stone they turn into. Deal with them as you dealt with them before: attack frontally, and block when you see the GOLEM is about to strike. Use magic and techs and it should be no trouble. His spin attack should be easy to block or dodge if you're really near to him; his pound attack should be blocked (hit X as soon as he raises his hands). His pound attack is hard to block if you're mid combo, so you might just need to be struck down... or run back. None is really effective, really o_O It isn't a damaging attack, thankfully. Now, as you can see, the room has nine holes you can push the blocks through; not all of them are of any use, you see. # ** # # # * # # # Push down the blocks down the asterisked holes; the one with two asterisks should be fed two blocks. After completing this task, exit the room through the northwestern staircase. Run to the bottom end of this area to find an offshoot with three chests, which contain a Life Bottle, an Apple Gel and 250 Gald. Now, return to the Golem room. Walk down the staircase at the southwestern tip of the room (you might need to drop down again that extra crate at the double-asterisk hole). Save up and head to the northern end of this winding path. Push the crate forward (if you did not drop the two crates, as told, there won't be a crate to push) to create a bridge. Hm... interesting, Zelda-like sound there... You'll get the Sorcerer's Ring at the shrine at the top. Cool, this thing has made it through many games and it doesn't seem it'll be leaving anytime soon! Head up to find some new enemies roaming the area. Finish them off. Now, if you want to explore the temple some more, you'll need to do some more Golem killin'. Exit the room and come back. Kill off the Golem that appears and drop down his block here: # # # Now, go down and push the extra block forward to crate a bridge * # # towards the staircase there. There is a chest with a Life Bottle # # # at the top of them. Now, there is one more item to get. Exit the room, re-enter, and kill the Golem again. This time, drop down his block through here: # # # Once again, head down and push the extra block into the gap to # # * craft a bridge. Cross it, head up and get your Panacea Bottle. # # # Kill the enemy floating around, too. This'd be it for this room. The Golem has re-appeared, and if you kill it now, you'll get a block that's really useless. Make it back to the central hub (along the way, watch the skit when prompted). You went through the rightmost wing already and got the Sorcerer's Ring; the left wing would seem like the obvious place to explore now, but it is blocked off by debris. So, instead, head north. Get really near to the blue, circular field here and hit X to activate the Sorcerer's Ring, clearing the path for you. Approach the portal and warp up. Enjoy the scene. Among other things, you'll be told your next destination is to the south, where the Seal of Fire rests. Talk with your friends thereafter: when you speak to Kratos, you'll an extra scene. Warp back down and head out of the temple (unless you wish to stay around and level up; if you've fought constantly up to this point, that shouldn't be needed). If you wait a bit before heading out of the temple (around the warp circle), you'll get a series of fun skits. It's not like you have to wait too long, so stay behind for a bit and watch them. It's not like you can exit the temple, anyways, since when you try to do so, you'll be interrupted by a scene. After it, try to exit the temple to be interrupted by yet another scene. Outside, walk out to the world map and watch the skit there. Now, head back to Iselia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E L I A =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk with the people around and head inside the school for an extra scene and a new title for Genis ("Brotherly Love"). Now, you're free to explore the town. Visit Genis' house (you can actually enter it) and check out his bookcase. Also, notice that there is a locked cupboard. Stock up on healing items at Halo and head back to the save point area. From there, go east and enter the huge house you'll come across to trigger a scene. Watch it (you'll get the Collector's Book). Once it is over, your next mission will be to... vist Genis' house. You should get a skit along the way. Anyways, at Genis´, you can get an explanation about cooking, which is a fairly useful art you should pay attention to through the game (as Lloyd said, Gels ain't cheap). Head to the southern tip of town and approach the town's exit to meet Noishe, Lloyd's pet. After the short-lived scene, exit Iselia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our next destination, the Iselia forest, is directly to the left of the town. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E L I A F O R E S T ======================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short cutscene and then you're on your own. Enemies around these areas include MINICOIDS, small mushrooms with moderate resistance and attack power and who're weak to fire. Physical attacks work well, too. The SLIMES make their comeback, being as damaging as ever; deal with them first in any enemy party. Lastly, there are hard-shelled SPIDERS and agile RABBITS, who're moderately weak but fast. Head up the slope you start at. Keep going up (it's a linear path) and be sure to open the chest you'll find along the way, to get a Life Bottle. It should be noted that if you waste time around this place, you might get a skit. At the very top of the area, proceed to the next screen. Here, enjoy the scene. Save at the memory circle, then, and proceed to the area past it to check out on Genis' friend. A short cinema kicks in. You will be in front of the Desian human ranch once it ends. Instead of heading to the front door, head to the left of the ranch. You'll see another cinema. Meet Marble, Genis' so called friend. When prompted, agree to make a Key Crest for Marble. When told to, run away. After the scene, head back to the front entrance and go to its rightmost side. Look up for a ledge here that overlooks the shrubbery. Approach it from its bottom side and jump up. Bounce up again and pick the chest (Orange Gel) that's to the right. Afterwards, head up the ledge opposite the chest and approach its peak. You'll witness Marble's whippage. Listen to Lloyd's ridiculous salvation plan. When the time to take it into effect comes, you'll be fully healed, thanks to Genis' mad-cookies. The whole thing fails (well... duh) and you'll end up engaging two Whip Masters. They really aren't tough, as long as you take a conservative approach into the fight. Slash them some, and once the combo is done, hit the block button. That way, you'll save a lot of health and kill them quickly. After they're done for, a scene kicks in. Endure through it. The scene ends up by sending you to the save point of yore (well, of ten minutes ago, actually). Do your thing and head forward into the next screen. Now that you're alone, blocking should become one of your main abilities. Take a conservative approach into your fights (hit-and-block) to save up health. There is a new enemy here, a BEE of sorts, who is weak and when struck once has little to no chance of surviving (just keep comboing it). Anyways, run up the slope. Hm, bifurcations! There are three additional paths (besides the one you came from). There is one directly to the right, and two ahead of you. One of these two goes further forward while the other one veers to the right and eventually converges with the first road. It also leads to an Apple Gel chest as well as a bridge. The other available road (the one that goes further ahead) is to be explored now. You can either turn left or right here; to the left there is a small mount with an Apple Gel resting at its top. Head to the right and open the chest overlooking the river to get a Leather Glove. Head back to the bifurcation now and take either of the other two roads. Both lead to a bridge you should cross. At the other side, move forward and open the chest you will come across to get 500 Gald. Head around the corner and move on. A tree trunk serves of an archway to the northern road, besides which there is a road that veers to the left; it leads to a dead end. So, instead, cross the tree trunk archway. You have probably noticed the item bag resting on top of the trunk. You can simply pick it by walking into the trunk. It contains an Orange Gel. Head further to the north to exit the area. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To get to Dirk's House (which is Lloyd's, too), simply go along the dirt road marked on the grass. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- D I R K ' S H O U S E ====================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the introductory sequence, simply head forward and into your house. Inside, watch the tragicomedy-kind of scene here. Once it is over, you'll be outside. When prompted, pick the "Just a Minute" option and talk with your partners. Once you're done, speak to Colette, who's sitting at a bench next to Noishe's stable (speak with Noishe, too.) After the scenes, it'll be morning and you'll be in control of Lloyd. Head down the stairs. Save at the memory circle that's underneath the staircase and exit your house. Head towards Lloyd's mother gravestone and speak with Dirk. You'll be given the Key Crest and a whole lot of items that should be of use on your travel. More importantly, you get the Sylvarant Map. After the scenes are done for, you'll be taken back to Iselia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E L I A =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the initial cutscene, head to the eastern side of the area and proceed to the next screen. There, walk towards Colette's house. It should be noted that you'll probably get a couple of skits as you wander about the town. Watch both. At Colette's place (the big house up north) you'll get a scene, where Lloyd is told (through a letter) the truth about Colette's sudden departure. When you're about to be told some more interesting stuff, something crashes into town! Exit Colette's and, blam, Desians are attacking the town! A cinema reveals that your obvious destination is the town plaza, but before getting there, head towards your school. A local soldier there is being harassed by some Desians. Kick their half-elven butts. You'll get an Apple Gel and an Orange Gel for your efforts. You should get a skit around this point; visit Genis' house, too, to find it in flames and trigger a scene. Now, head back Colette's house area (save here) and go south. Kill the Desians gawping at a burning house. Having done all of this, head to the plaza on the southern side of the town (you can get there through all of the roads the town has). A scene will kick in there, and thereafter, a boss battle! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + ???? A gigantic, nasty looking mutant with an interesting wardrobe (similar to Marble's...) This guy uses his long arms to claw you for around 60 PTS of DMG a hit. So, he's powerful. If blocked, the damage is reduced to around 12 PTS of DMG. Genis is far too weak to attack this guy head on, so set one of his spells to your shortcuts and use it constantly. Have Lloyd run up to the monster and apply the laws of hit-and-block: slash him once or twice with a special skill or normal attack, and hit the X button to block the subsequent attack. It should be noted that this guy has a variety of tricks up its sleeve. He can attack you mid-combo, and if it performs an uppercut, you'll be sent flying backwardly. Once you land, it'll take a few seconds for you to send up again. Should you attack it with an aerial attack, he might uppercut you in midair. If you see Genis getting dangerously near to the monster, be sure to alter his strategy so he stays back ("Don't Pursue"). If his TP depletes, he'll move forward, no matter what. So, once he exhausts them, use an Orange Gel on him. You can usually apply the hit-and-block tactic, but some times, it's even possible to back off and dodge the attack altogether. This would be hit- and-run. However, the combo must be short, so you get time to run away before a monstrous hit connects. If the combo drags on too much, you won't make it and will be slashed. Other times, when you move in for the kill, the guy might swap you, preventing you from getting near. If you have quick reflexes, you can block this. Keep in mind that when Lloyd is running, it takes him time to stop. So, even if you stop, you have to wait around a second for your defenses to come up. That second is usually well-spent by the monster. The monster also has an attack called "Insane Cell". He creates small, circular, dark-energy field around his body. Should you get near it, you'll be damaged. It's quite damaging, don't get fooled! As you wear down his HP, he'll add more attacks to his repertoire. One of such attacks is Impact Hammer, where he slams you with his long arm. This attack can actually hit you twice, for a total of around 80 PTS of DMG! As told, hit and block tactics work well. Slash him and block down his attack, while you constantly cast Genis' spells. By attacking him this way, it's possible to slow him down just enough so he doesn't corner you (which would be very bad). A great skill for this fight is Demon Fang. It strikes the enemy even if you're far from him, so if you want a long-distance fight, it's the skill to go. Exhaust your TP reserves with such skill. It'll damage the bastard greatly, and it'll also gradually push him back. Using such skill exclusively works, surely. Instead of replenishing Genis' TP, do so with Lloyd's, and keep on the onslaught. However, once Genis' reserves run low, he undoubtedly will try to attack the monster and will probably get killed! So, try to keep a balance between both of these guys. It should be noted that you're going to be damaged a lot in this fight; sometimes blocking is impossible, you know. For that, it's imperative that you constantly use Apple Gels to heal. Genis probably won't need them (since he'll be laid back, as long as you feed him Gels to keep his TP up), but Lloyd will be at the shores of the Stygian many times throughout the battle. Heal him with Apple Gels and DON'T let him die. Why? Life Bottles are expensive and hard to come by, and Genis will probably get wasted before he can even revive his partner o_O As long as you keep Lloyd around the 250s Hit Points, it should be all right. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + See? Told you it had a strange wardrobe ;) Meh. Anyways, the scene is quite touching (it is!), so watch it. After all of the cinemas are done for, you'll be officially banished from town. Talk with Frank and her wife to learn Colette went south. Try to exit the town to find Noishe and get a new title for Lloyd: "Drifting Swordsman". ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go south along the dirt road. If you veer to the east of the road, you can find Nova's Caravan where you can rest up if needed. Also, you can save. Anyways, resume your way south along the dirt road. You'll eventually reach a place where a scene kicks. Here, you'll be given an important explanation on Exspheres. After the Tutorial, it'll be added as an entry to your Training Manual. Neato. There is an EX Gem to the west of here, among some trees at the bottom of some hills. For now, you need not to worry about Ex-Skills. Resume your way south along the dirt road. On your way, you will come across a House of Salvation. Here, you can rest to heal your wounds (i.e. fully heal yourself). Also, you're bound to get a skit here. Approach the guy in green garb to initiate a scene. You'll be given an cryptic explanation about some monuments and Long-Range Mode. Agree to learn more about it, to clear up your doubts. Ah, I get it now. That's good. Now, get some insight on Guidepost Monuments. Yeah, that's right... Head inside the House; at its second floor, you can heal for 100 Gald. Save, too. Now, exit the House of Salvation. Ahead of you (further to the south) is the Trite Desert. Wander into it. Here, you can find BANDITS who are regular humans with daggers; they're powerful when it comes to offense, so be careful with them. Also, if you stay on the area long enough, you might just get a skit. Other enemies include SCORPIONS and SIDEWINDERS. Both of these guys can poison you, but the Sidewinders kind of get the advantage, as they can do so from afar. These two are also quite damaging, so if you dive in towards them recklessly, expect to get your HPs reduced real quickly. If so, back away and heal. The best to deal with them is with magic, Demon Fang (from afar) and hit-and-block/run tactics. We were heading south, remember? Head into Triet as soon as you spot it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T R I E T ========= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Woah! Chambard? Try Triet! Seriously, is this some kind of homage to ToDII? Even if it isn't, simply watch the scene. After it, you might want to check out the wanted poster the Desian just put up, for laughs, you know. Entering the house directly to the right of it is also recommendable; there is an inn there, as well as a save point. Do as you see fit; before leaving, though, head up. Go the balcony's eastern end and examine the pottery there. It's the Wonder Chef! He'll teach you the Cabbage Rolls and will also bestow you with the appropriate ingredients. The rooms themselves don't hold much, so leave. Talk with a guy in blue garb across the "Traveler's Mate" (item shop) to get a short-lived mini-scene. Also, you might want to stock up on items and get your first Panacea Bottles (an essential item). If you're the type that doesn't like to fight, there are also Holy Bottles, so you can reduce the enemy encounter rate. Even if you're up to the fighting challenges, purchasing one or two might be good, just for kicks. Now, if you head further down the store's road, you'll be called upon by a storekeeper. Agree to listen to him. He'll ask you to bring some Beast Hide; if you've been fighting, you should have one. If not, battle some enemies at the grassy lands until you get one. Once you have it, talk with the old guy. You'll get a Soft Leather (armor). This guy will basically improve your stuff by giving him the right items. Which is good. If you have an extra Beast Hide, you can turn the Soft Leather into Hard Leather. Do so if you can. Notice the two Chakrams here; you'll eventually come back and get 'em. He'll give a short, to the point explanation on customizing (yep, it is like most of the game's tutorials). Afterwards, you might want to check out the adjacent stores. If possible, upgrade Lloyd's equipment (and Genis', too). If in need of money, sell some items, namely, Beast Hides. They sell for good cash. Don't touch the Magic Cloth (if you have) though, and don't sell all of your Hides. There is a hut across the Weapons Shop. Talk with the guy and he'll say "Isn't this an impressive hole?". Hm? Oh, yes, look at the odd shaped figure on the hut's wall. That's the hole, and it looks just like Colette... Hm. Anyways, be sure you've purchased all you _could_ get here. Damn, those things are expensive! Right now, you might be thinking about fighting outside of town, but I'd advise against it. Enemies give out minimal EXP and almost no Gald, so it's rather useless. Forget about those weapons you couldn't get your hands on. Anyways, it's time to go further into the town. Head across the road next to the inn. Talk with the cat-dressed woman there and ask her about the Katz Exploration Team. These guys will basically explore areas for you, even if you can't access them anymore, and scope on items and enemies, adding them to your collection. They'll also look for Guidepost Monuments and unexplored places. It's a really useful feature. If you wish to get this area's Guidepost, pay them so they do so (you could also look for it, it's much cheaper). The success rate increases if you pay them more. One of the Katz explorers that's next to the reception will sell you EX Gems for your grades. You increase your grade by winning fights, by the way. Right now, you probably can't get it any gems, so simply head past him and into the next screen. Talk with the people here. Here you can also find a food store so you can replenish your reserves and get that cookin' going again. Go up from the food store to find Fortune Teller's hut. Head inside and talk with her to trigger a scene. Pay the required 100 Gald to keep it flowing. You're told she's "heading to the oasis that was destroyed when Efreet went out of control"... huh, right. Backtrack all the way to the town's entrance and try to exit. You'll be stopped on your tracks by those Desians fools! Fight them (they're easy, but keep an eye on the Bowman. Kill him first) to continue with the scenes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- S Y L V A R A N T B A S E ========================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll be locked up in a cell. It seems there is no way out, but Lloyd has an idea: hitting the guard patrolling the area with the Sorcerer's Ring. Do so to unlock your cell door. Open the two other cells to the left to get a Beast Hide and a save point. If you feel you can't open them, Examine the little panels besides each door. That's the key to opening. Now, head to the right and go into the small, disorganized control room up north. Open the chest there to regain all of your equipment pieces; they'll be automatically outfitted on Lloyd. Now, head further to the right. At the corner, a scene will kick in and you'll have to do battle against some soldiers. Beat them (be sure to employ conservative battle tactics here) and head through the door. After the short, semi-insightful scene, check out the energy ball here to change to the Sorcerer's Ring function from fire to electricity. With it, you can stop the flying robots here on their tracks. You can also fight them RAYBITS. They're weak, attack wise, easily stunned, but have moderate HP. Should you beat one, it'll regenerate after it. You'll also earn a skit. Keep beating them to get extra skits (wandering about for a lot of time might earn you the "Help, Genis" skit). Now, as explained on the cutscene, the idea is to freeze the robots on the blue panels here by using the Sorcerer's Ring. This'll unlock the westernmost door. The northernmost door is also locked up. To get one to stand on the blue panel, simply stand in front of it (take some prudent distance) and lure the robot towards you. When it hits the panel, fire at it with the S. Ring. You must freeze both fast, because the Ring's effects wear off after a bit. I'll be honest with you: this part can be notably frustrating. Damn these stupid minigames. The best way to do this painlessly is to exit and re-enter the room. When you do, both robots will be floating right in front of the panels. Simply wait for them to fly by them and stun them. The one that's giving you its back is easily stunned, but the other one, which is coming your way (unless you go around him) will dash toward you once he spots you. It's harder to make him stop on the blue panel when he does so. Once you get the door opened, head through it. In the next room, move on to the left. Eventually, you'll see the path veers forward, but also continues to the left. Ah, yes, like any good Tales dungeon, this place is a goddamn dance of bifurcations. Should you take the upper path you'll spot a guard that, when beaten, gives out a Memory Gem. Head down this road and through the door. In the next screen, open the chest to get a Beast Fang. Check the yellow machine; it's a shop. Stock up on items. Go back to the bifurcation and take the road to the left. You'll land on a room with a Gamecube in its middle. Examine the small panel next to the 'Cube for a cryptic explanation on this puzzle. The gist of it: there are three poles on the room's western end. You need to hit 'em with the S. Ring. Hit the bottom pole to open the room's bottom door. Head through it to find a completely empty room. Meh. Hit the upper pole now to unlock the upper door. Before going through it, you might want to hit the middle pole to unlock the rightmost door. Head towards it. Uh, what is it? Memory Gems? As you approach this door, you're bound to get an explanation (out of nowhere) regarding these Gems and sealed save points. After you endure through it, squint for a odd- shaped pattern on the floor. Step on it; it's a save point! Unlock, and save. Open up the door you just unlocked and get the item in the chest there. Go back to Gamecube room. If you want to return to the previous screen (the one with the bifurcation), hit the middle pole. Even if you don't need to go back, hit it. Then, blast the upper pole followed by the middle pole. This'll unlock both the bottom and upper doors. Head through the bottom one and pick up the Magical Cloth in the room with the pillars. The door further to the south is locked. Back at the Gamecube room, head through the northern door. Walk up the steps here to find a robot who simply won't pursue you. He'll merely stare at you; you can beat him down if that's what you wish to do. Back at the GCN room, hit the middle pole and then the upper one. Finish by hitting the bottom pole to unlock the control room. Save and head through the upper door. Here, go forward a bit to get a cutscene. After it, you'll be on a boss fight! With all of your party members, of course... + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Botta Foot Soldier x 2 Modify your Strat: have both Genis and Colette set theirs to "Don't Pursue" and "At Once". Give Kratos the "Heal", "Scatter" and Move Freely. Set Colette's and Genis' spells to your shortcuts, too. With Lloyd, I suggest running up to the soldiers and killing them with physical strikes and Techs. Do not worry about blocking or anything, since it's real hard to do so. Just focus on kicking the soldier's asses; Botta will, meanwhile, attack with elemental magic and his sword. His elemental attacks are notably good at damaging, but his slashes aren't specially powerful. Once the soldiers are done for, you may focus on Botta. Constantly tap on the C-Stick to trigger your spells, while Lloyd attacks him head on. It might be wise to change Kratos' directives from Scatter to another, more attack-oriented setting; leave "Heal", though. It is useful. When attacking Botta with Lloyd, finish your combos with Techs, if possible. Just be sure that you block after finishing a combo, so you prevent Botta from wrecking too much havoc on you. If you get too near him, he's bound to use a ground attack, where he slams his sword into the ground and crates some shockwaves. This attack hits more than once, but is blockable. By blocking it, the total damage should not surpass the 50 PTS of DMG. If unblocked, it should do over 120 PTS of DMG. His other attacks did around the same, so it's no biggie (well, his spells could go past the hundreds...). As usual in this game, keep your friend's TP up so the spell casters don't decide to get too near Botta. If they do, too many will be around him. And if the situation, he will use Stalagmite to wreck some critical damage on you. This attack could go past the 200 PTS of DMG! If your spell casters get too near him, you're going to lose them. Even if you replenish their TP, it'll be a while before they back out... ...and Botta ain't no fool. Once he sees the weaklings attacking him, he IMMEDIATELY shifts his attention to them and starts kicking their asses... real quick. Even if you slash him like a madman he won't flinch; he'll keep laying waste on those poor little guys! In general, keep an eye on your TPs to keep this kind of scenario from happening. That way, the only people Botta will attack will be Kratos and Lloyd, who'll be up front and can block his attacks. Kratos will heal you from them, too. Botta Over-Limits after a bit of punishment, and when he does, be careful! If he ever gets a chance to land a hit on your weak-boys, he'll make you pay dearly for it; there is no stopping him! Over-Limited Botta is quite more powerful, but not much of a threat as long as he only focuses on Lloyd and Kratos. When he's casting an spell, it might be wise to heal. You don't know if such spell might turn out to be Stalagmite, and this guy is basically unstoppable when it comes to spell casting. Since it's Kratos who heals, have Lloyd keep on attacking. Keep the onslaught of spells and attacks and he should fall to your sword. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the battle there'll some cutscenes. You'll end up in the map; head to the southwest to find Triet (you'll have to withstand a skit on the way). Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T R I E T ========= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the scenes, talk with Kratos and exit the screen. Head up and enter the rooms to chat with your partners. Colette's should be visited first; after the scene, visit Raine's room. Talk with her once again after the scene; check Genis, too, and select not to wake him up to learn how fond this guy is of you. Exit the room and you'll be given a choice (damn?! is this Skies of Arcadia or something!?). Follow him for additional scenes. In the morning, save and head out. Watch the scene and you'll be told that your next destination is to the southwest. You'll also get the Monster List from Raine; it records enemy data for further analysis. Raine will also join you. Her initial spell (First Aid) makes her a healer as of now. If She's in your party, Kratos' role might be limited to fighting only. Now, it's time to go. Before heading out, it might be good to explore the town again. You probably have a lot more cash now, so re-checking the stores is recommendable. Upgrade Genis' and Colette's weapons. The Flying Disk (the standard Chakram you can purchase here) can be customized into the Duel Ring if you have a Beast Fang. Get it. Purchasing armor is also vital; if in need of money, sell some Magic Cloth and Beast Hides, if you have any --just don't sell all of them. There is a fun little sidequest you can begin here. With Colette as the displayed party member, talk with the town's wandering dog. If you wish to do so, return to the House of Salvation and talk with the dog there, too. The idea is to talk with all of the world's dog to get a special title. The quest has just started! Oh, I should note: while you wander about town, you might get a skit. Wait for it and once you have it, exit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head directly to the southwest. You should the Triet Ruins at the horizon. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T R I E T R U I N S ==================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A short scene precedes a fight against two elemental based enemies. Set a water-based spell to one of your shortcuts and beat these flying dudes. They're FIRE ELEMENTS. They aren't really tough and attack with Fireball mainly, which does around 50 PTS of DMG. Not too bad. You'll be given some new defensive skills you can pump out anytime. After the scenes, you'll get a skit, too. Once it is done, head to the left and go up the steps to find the temple's actual entrance. Through the introductory scene you'll be given Raine's "Archeological Mania" Title. Enter the temple afterwards. Walk forward along the hall. You'll bump into some of the temple's enemies, namely, the FIRE BIRDS and BROWN POTS. The POTS defend a lot, so it's hard to damage them adequately, while the Birds are agile and swift. Both aren't tough, really. Employ the standard "attack-block" combo along with spells. I should note that it's recommendable to keep your TPs up through the exploration, but if you feel you're wasting too much item, simply accommodate your party's Strat. to a more physical-attack minded kind of offensive. That way, you'll save up lots of TP and replenish it after every fight (so you can cast first Aid). It's a good way to proceed. If, however, you're going to face some of the toughest enemies (Fire Warriors), don't do this, at least not with your weaklings. Ahead of the entrance is a doorway that leads to a shrine of sorts, and two paths that go up and down, respectively. The shrine is the actual destination, but ignore it for now and go south. You'll find SCORPIONS here, who you've fought in the desert. No biggie. At the far end of the southern hallway, there is a doorway as well as a chest, but the chest has some debris on top of it. Shoot it down with your S. Ring and claim the Lemon Gel inside. Thereafter, head through the doorway. Here, move forward a bit and turn right into the small nook there. A scene kicks in. Fire at the torch there afterwards. Kill the enemy floating about to earn a Memory Gem. Exit. If you wish to get more items, head up the steps BEFORE firing at the torch, and light up the one there. Then, fire at the first torch. Head back to the shrine entrance and go in. There, move south and open the chest by the monster to get an Apple Gel. Then, run to the far north side of the screen and turn left when possible. There is another chest here, guarded by a monster. Kill it and earn your prizes, a Life Bottle and a Bracelet. Go back around the corner and push the block there down for a couple of tiles. You should spot a small gap below an staircase, to the left. Push your block into such gap. It'll fill half of it. Now, a bit to the south of this place there is another block; drag it here and push it into the other half of the gap, creating a bridge to the staircase and to the torch. Light it. Now, head the stairs and follow the linear path towards some chest with a Mumei, 1000 Gald and a Savory. Go back to the shrine entrance and head north along the winding path. You might find FIRE WARRIORS here, by the way. Eliminate their companions and be careful of them. Their standard attacks do half-a-hundred PTS of DMG, while their special skill does up to a hundred. Block and don't let your spell casters get too near. At the end of this path there'll be a stony chest resting besides a doorway. Don't open the chest; it contains a dangerous FAKE enemy. If you've played abundant RPGS, you might know that these guys pack a whallop and are usually hard to beat; this no exception. Head through the doorway instead. Go forward and head around the corner. Run down this path and be careful of the floating enemy; it holds a party of two Fire Warriors, a Fire Element and a Brown Pot; definitely not good. At the end of the path, where there is a boulder, go down and light up the torch there. This'll raise some blocks. Backtrack and use them to cross to the other side; light up the torch there. Before leaving the place, head back to the area with the torch and look for the boulder resting around there. Now, in front to the torch there is a small gap next to a treasure chest. Push the boulder into the gap and use it to get to chest, which contains a Stiletto. You can also use one of the raised platforms to get to a chest with a Circlet. Head back into the middle shrine and ascend; halfway through the staircase, you'll notice you can use a raised platform to cross to the sealed save point, as well as a teleporter. Unseal the save point, save, and hit the warp. (BTW, if you wander around too much, you should get a skit). A scene kicks in. Watch it for a bit. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Ktugach Ktugachling x 2 An elemental boss! Hit Y and work a bit on your Strats. and shortcuts. Wind Blade and Aqua Edge should be set to the C-Stick. Meanwhile, have your spell caster take a laid-back, magic-pumping approach to the battle. Set Kratos to "Heal". Have all of them "Attack Same" (i.e. attack the enemy you attack). Focus on the Ktugachlings. Go for them with Lloyd, which will make everybody attack them. Thankfully, Colette and Genis will stay back. If you see Colette getting too near, don't worry. She can handle it. Kratos will be healing constantly, too, so it's no biggie. If needed, though, heal manually (go to the menu and select First Aid). Specially Lloyd (we'll see why). So, run up to the Ktugachlings and start jamming on the A Button, as well as the B button to rack up some quick, hard hitting combos. The idea is to button mash to give the Ktugachlings little chance to move about and finish them quickly. Since everybody will attack the same enemy, they'll help you. It sounds easy. Let's outline some problems: Lloyd will be real near to the Ktugachling AND to Ktugach, which means he'll be punished twice as much as your party members. Kratos' healing helps, but it's not enough. Ktugach attacks with a mult-hitting spike attack (each hit is worth 30 PTS of DMG) while the Ktugachlings simply lounge at you. However, damage will rack up fast. How to deal with this? Your pals really won't suffer too much. With Lloyd, it'd be wise to take a "blind blocking" approach. How so? After getting a combo down on the Ktugachling, immediately hit the X button to block for a few seconds. After blocking down a few attacks, resume your attacking. This is a nice way to tackle these guys. While attacking, you'll be undoubtedly damaged; but by applying this strategy, the damage is drastically reduced. It's highly possible that you won't even know what you're blocking; that's why I refer to it as blind blocking; it works, to an extent at least, and it's useful. Lloyd is your main concern, since your other guys will rarely get damaged (if you set up the adequate strategies). If Colette is getting too near these folks, keep an eye on her. Heal her often (manually). She won't be as damaged as Lloyd, but she's weak, HP- wise. After a Ktugachling is gone for, switch to the other one. Kill this one even quicker (keep an eye on your health) so you can finally focus on Ktugach. Heal up your wounds first (give priority to Lloyd). If needed, run back and wait you can replenish your health. Then, run forward. While you combo him, Ktugach is stunned. Once he gets back on his feet, he'll unleash the Spike attack. So, the idea here is to combo him (a three hit combo; use techs to damage him more) and hit X to absorb the Spike attack. Meanwhile, jam on the shortcut buttons to send spells flying towards his way and prevent your weaker characters from getting too near. TP disappears fast in this battle. When replenishing it, give priority to Kratos and Genis. Kratos, for the healing; Genis, because you can't afford him to get too near. With Colette it's not biggie, since she's a mid-physical striker, and can soup up the hits. Kratos should be given priority above everyone else, though. Healing depends on him, remember? While you fight, you might sometime see Ktugach lay down and start shining; he's going to cast Eruption. This spell has a limited attack range, plus, it takes him a lot of time to actually cast it. So, after he announces he's going to use, you have plenty of room to move back and dodge it. Should you be hit, be ready to absorb up to 150 PTS of DMG. All in all, I must say it's a fairly simple fight. Keeping your HPs up is fundamental, and blocking the spike attack is a necessity; otherwise, Lloyd will die too often. Eruption is damaging, but can recovered from. Not too bad. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the scenes, Colette will have learned Angel Feathers. Neato. Head out of the temple for an extra cinema. Your party will camp thereafter. Talk with your partners before chatting with Colette. Twice. Outside, watch the skit and go back to Triet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T R I E T ========= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raine will get the title Sisterly Love here. You are here to stock up on items, so do so. Save if you feel you need to. After you've gotten your items, chat with the townsfolk to learn that your next destination, the Ossa Trail, is to the east of the town. Before heading over there, you might want to pay a visit to the Triet Ruins to earn a level or two. Get to level 11; if you wish to go past there, go you! It's time consuming, though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, head east. The Trail's entrance is at the bottom of some hills, on a grassy patch past the desert area. Head inside after saving. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- O S S A T R A I L ================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head up along the dirt road until a scene kicks in. Pick whatever choice you want to keep the cinema flowing. Once it is done, resume your way forward. In the next screen, you'll find some enemies, namely THIEVES and ARCHERS. The Archers are definitely the major threat, hitting from afar for notable damage; deal with them first, and then go for the thieves. There are some MANDRAGORAS, AXE BEAKS and BEARS in this area. All are surprisingly powerful, specially the Mandragoras, who are rather swift, and the Bears, who hit hard (be sure to block). In any party the Bear's on, it's better to deal with him last. Keep moving until you have take a turn to the left and go up a steep slope. At its top a bifurcation rests; it goes to the left and to the right. The leftmost path is actually a limited portion of grass that holds a Battle Staff; the camera might make it seem like a full-length path; it isn't. Once you've gotten such item, take the other available road. Run to the subsequent screen, where the trek upwards resumes (note: keep your health/TP up around this place. There is a boss battle coming up, and it starts without notice). It's a steep path; once you see the road flattens down and then resumes in another steep, declined slope, head south (down) to find an offshoot with two chests (Apple Gel and Melange Gel) as well as a save point. Heal up and save (fight the monsters if you feel like so). Run down the steep, declined slope that continues eastward. At the next screen, keep going down and take a sharp left when prompted, at the base of the cliff. Head down, turn right when needed and pick up the Orange Gel that's patrolled by a soldier. You might find a WITCH if you engage them; deal with them first, before anybody else (they're quite strong, though!). Then, run down the hill across the chest (heal on the way down). At the bottom of this hill, a scene kicks in. Right after it, it's battle time! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Sheena Wind Guardian Techs and Strat, ASAP! I recommend the standard party here (no Raine). Set Angel Feathers and a Genis' spell to your shortcuts. Be sure you have Tempest and Tiger Blade on Lloyd's shortcuts. As for the Strat, go for "Don't Pursue" and "Keep Reserve" on the spell casters, and "Heal" and "Move Freely" on Kratos. Set Kratos' to "Attack Same", too, as well as Colette. Go for the Guardian first. Hit it with a Slash-Tempest combo and then block immediately the Guardian's two-hit combo. Go for the combo again. This guy likes to protect himself a lot (just like you ;)), so your total damage might be greatly reduced. It's important that you block, though. A combo of this guy adds up for serious damage, and it sends you flying back (effectively stunning you). The Guardian also uses a fireball kind of attack that hits 4-5 times for around 90 PTS of DMG, total. If you're really near to her, it'll miss. But if, for instance, you were sent back, and you're running to her, she'll use it and hit you head on. Sheena probably won't bother you, but she'll go for Colette and Genis; with Kratos, their HPs should be up the whole way. Lloyd will get less attention, but he'll often be healed by the time he hits the 400s. Keep Kratos' TPs up to keep the healing going on. Keep in mind that if too much of your party members get too near an enemy, and another one is left behind, Sheena will probably go for this one and beat the living crap out of him. In this case, shift tactics so your party attacks the Guardian will you look for Sheena. Hit her twice or so, block and backtrack to drag her away and "spread" her attacks. However, don't let the Guardian alone for too long! If you do, she'll kick your ass _hard_. The only way to effectively control her is with Lloyd, by attacking her and blocking her hits. Your other friends can't handle her; trust me. So, if you can't get Sheena to spread, simply backtrack and let her bitch be killed (so be it!) That way, she'll eventually run up to the main party, giving your dead friend space to be revived. In this scenario, Kratos will have to heal up like crazy. Use Gels if needed. Meanwhile, you should always attack the Guardian so it doesn't get a chance to wreck havoc. Eventually, the Guardian will be killed. Kratos should have kept your party at optimum conditions throughout; Lloyd is probably beat, though. Give him a Gel while you run up to Sheena. Now, it's possible to end with her rather quick. Simply get up to her sexy ninja body and slash away, hitting A furiously. You'll rack up fast, easy hits. Sheen really won't get much of a chance to recover if you jam on the A button fast enough. If she ever breaks your attack string, hit block to absorb the damage and then resume your attacks. It's possible to hack away her for quite a bit before she can get to stop you. As a matter of fact, and if she was damaged as you dealt with the Guardian, you can kill her quickly just by juggling her. It's a simple fight. The Guardian ain't too much of a threat, but she's the most dangerous of the bunch, due to her high blocking and damaging attacks. And if you your party the "simple" task of dealing with her on their own, be ready to get creamed. But she's easy to get down with Lloyd. Once she's out, Sheena ain't hard. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Enjoy the cinemas and heal your party. Go inside the mine. Watch the skit and run forward to hit a bifurcation. You can continue further into the mine by going forward, to the right and to the left. Head left and then all the way up to get a Fine Guard. Head back to the bifurcation and turn to the right. Head all the way down to get a Black Silver. Return to the bifurcation and take the middle road all the way to the next screen. Here, open up the two chests for a Ex Gem Lv 1 and a Beast Fang. Note the floating Black Skull who won't pursue you. You can even talk to it; do so and you'll be asked if you want to fight. Don't be reckless and start fighting just like that; you'll get creamed. This guy is the Sword Dancer and he's one tough cookie! He's part of a bigger sidequest. You can beat him later, but after you go through certain story-related events, he disappears. He stays here until you get to Hima (and do a couple of things here). Since you have yet to save, I'd suggest holding off on fighting him now. Instead, let's finish this place, get to the world map to save, and then return. Ok? So, exit the mine shaft and go south from it. Head out of the Trail. To do so, you'll have to watch a skit before. You'll learn to use Unison Attacks after that. Read the Tutorial. Outside, save and watch the skit. Now, head back to the shaft and talk with the Sword Dancer (note: you might feel like proceeding with the story so you can get to a town and stock up on items. Not a bad idea, if you feel like doing so). Initiate the battle. ... Oh, you'd rather go to town a little while and get some items. Okay. Just follow the dirt road towards Izoold. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Z O O L D =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here, talk with the dog that greets you and head into the house nearest to the entrance to find the inn. Resting there triggers a skit (doing so one more time triggers yet another one). Do so and save afterwards. Talk with the townsfolk and then head to the eastern side of the town to find a bridge that leads to the docks. Here is the items shop. Stock up on Orange Gels and Life Bottles (very important if you feel like fighting the Sword Dancer). Now, you can proceed with the story or fight the Dancer. If you feel like fighting him, read the strategy below. Otherwise, go past it and read what suits your tastes better. **************************************** OPTIONAL FIGHT Preparations: First, I suggest you bump up your levels to the 13-15 area by battling the folks at the beach. Be sure you fight the "big" guys (larger, experience-happy groups) to speed up the process. You'll also earn Gald this way, which is necessary to get all of the items you'll need. Apple Gels are notably useful, but you should give Orange Gels and Life Bottles a priority. Also, be sure you have the Unison Gauge completely filled up; Lloyd's "Beast" and "Tempest" learned; a party of Genis, Colette, Kratos and Lloyd. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Sword Dancer Shortcuts are for losers! Instead, go to all of your non-controllable character's Tech Menu and have them use only a select amount of spells: Angel Feathers for Colette, Lighting for Genis and Lighting/First Aid for Kratos. Set both Colette and Genis for "At Once" and "L-Range Magic". Your other character (Kratos) should sport "Heal" and "Move Freely". Let's analyze a couple of things about this fight. First, it's hard. It took me lots of tries to beat it (mainly because I was utilizing the wrong party), but in the end I managed to get through it with all of my party members alive at the end of the battle. The Sword Dancer hits hard, specially on unsuspecting folks. This is the battle where you'll learn just how terrible the game's AI can be. When you run up to the Dancer with your controllable character, he'll usually do a two-hit combo and sometimes performs a "Cross Slice" attack after that. If these attacks manage to connect, prepare to be killed on the spot. Now, how do you deal with these? Simple: block. Now, there are a lot of variables to be considered here. When you first start the fight, you'll be at a prudent distance from the Dancer. Run up to him and immediately hit block to absorb the first wave of attacks. This'll be an important rule in this fight: every time you run up to the Dancer, hit the block button. Blocking the first two attacks is fine, but after they're done, keep your finger pressing X for a split-second. Why? Cross Slice _may_ follow. If you let go of Block too soon, it'll hit you and practically kill you. The split-second pressing of X will give you a great chance of blocking it, and, if it doesn't come, you only need to resume your attacking. Now, for the attacking. Angel Feathers and Lighting both do great amounts of damage, but Lloyd also needs to contribute to the battle! The best way to attack the Dancer with him is to hit him good with a standard sword combo (hit A rapidly) followed by Tempest and finished by Beast. By pulling off this combo, you'll knock the Dancer over. While he's on the ground, heal your wounds, revive fallen allies or replenish your TPs (more on all of this later). Keep in mind that the Dancer enjoys to block, and if he does, he won't be knocked over. If that's the case, you should hit the block button once you conclude your combo to absorb the inexorable barrage of attacks that shall follow. This is all very simple, but like I said before, there are tons of things to consider: firstly, the combo Lloyd will be continuously using drains TP fast, so you'll have to replenish it on a minutely basis(well, not really). The best moments to do so is when the Dancer is knocked over. Back away a little and utilize a refreshing Orange Gels to keep the skills flowing. Replenishing your other character's TP is as fundamental, too: Genis and Colette need to crank out the spells to rack up the damage, but more importantly, to keep them back from the Dancer. No matter how you tweak their Strats., they'll always run up to the Sword Dancer whenever their TPs run dry, getting effectively creamed on the process. By maintaining their magic bars at an acceptable level, this shouldn't happen too often. But it'll happen, nonetheless. And that brings up another point: prepare to die. A lot. Lloyd will be dying the most, and, with any luck, your other characters won't be visited by the Reaper too often. Life Bottles are fundamental in this fight. Administer them to the affected character as soon as he or she goes down. To prevent too much dying on Lloyd's part, you'll have to play it careful sometimes. Instead of running to the Dancer with just 200 HPs, wait for a healing. Or heal yourself with a Gel. While you float around waiting for the healing to come, the Dancer gets dangerously near to your other party members. This is really not a trouble, since it's easy to push him back with Lloyd's combo attacks. However, sometimes he'll shift his attention to one of your party members and start whacking him. In those cases, the best you can do is run up to the dancer and hit block. It'll immediately shift back its attention to you, and slash you good. However, it's easier to control damage issues with your controlled character, so it's better this way. Overall, you have to learn to block, attack constantly and heal frequently. High TPs are a must. Healing will be nicely handled by Kratos (whom you should revive first whenever he dies), so manual-curing will most likely not needed. Just be sure you try to keep your characters at optimum conditions and distract the Dancer with Lloyd (so it doesn't kill the rest of your folks). Use Unison Attacks, too. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ********************************************** Are you back? Good. Now head to the docks. After stocking up on items, explore the docks a bit. There is a cat-woman here who'll play Emotion Balloon with you, a weird minigame where you match the "EB" shown to you with the d-pad button that's assigned to it. Not too good. There are two ships here, too. One of them is docked on the eastern side of the harbor, staggering over the dim waves. The other one is a bit to the southwest, ahead of a small storehouse. Max, its owner, and apparently the only guy who'd be willing to give you a ride, refuses to provide you with any means of transport. Shucks. So, head back to the town's first area and head into the northernmost house after talking with the guys around here. Speak with the lady there (you might need to do so twice) to trigger a scene. Once it is over, backtrack to the harbor and head over to Max's boat. Agree to take the letter to Aifread. When you're ready to leave, chat with Max and pick yes to ignite a scene. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- P A L M A C O S T A =================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stroll through the docks and chat with the townsfolk. There is even a dog to be named! You should also get a skit around these parts. There are various shops around here. The newer equipment is pretty expensive, but if you've been fighting a lot you should have the cash to afford them. Now then, if you've burned some of it on healing items (coughSwordDancercough) you might not be able to upgrade your party. Hold off for a bit if that's the case. Even then, you might just be able to upgrade your weapons at the Customization Shop. Some of the items require you to make a previous purchase at one of the local stores (aha! a powerful synergy it is, a'ight?). Some can be made right off the bat, if you earned the items previously (most likely, but even then...) The harbor has two exits: the northern one leads to a sealed-off lighthouse, while the southern one connects the docks to the main residential area. Shortly after entering it you'll witness a cutscene. Short story made even shorter: Colette makes some girl break her Palma Potion. And you have to replace it. You don't have many places: you can enter the inn right besides the two guys who are, apparently, the girl's bodyguards. They are the ones who limit your exploration: should you go too far, they'll basically stop you, thinking you're just trying to escape. Meh, whatever. Head east of these two guys and enter the big building there (on its second floor you can find the Katz Exploration Team) which would be the best place to get a Palma Potion at... but it turns out they're sold out! Go inside the shop next to the wine-and-drinks shop. After the short scene there, purchase the Palma Potion for a hefty 1,000 Gald. If you're short on cash, you'll be told you can amass some of it by playing a minigame. Keep in mind that you're told this ONLY if you first view the shop list with less than 1,000 Gald. If you view the shop's list with over 1,000 Gald, and then purchase something, lowering your cash to less than such amount and proceed to check out the list... you won't get the aforementioned suggestion. With the Potion in hand, head back to where the girl's bodyguards are and hand over the item. After the scene, head over to the easternmost side of town and cross the bridge over there. A cutscene kicks in. Stroll about the plaza. There is a narrow paved road that leads to steamship that rests on the horizon, Dorr's mansion to its left, and the Church of Martel to its right. Head into the church and chat with the priest to get some valuable information. Go out once the chitchat is over. Your folks will consider the course of action, and they'll decide visiting General Dorr is the best-suited plan. Now, before heading over there, you might want to visit the steamship area. As you approach the vehicle itself you will get a nice cutscene. Once it is done, you're free to talk with the people around the area (check out the two guys by the bowsprit. Heh.) There really isn't a lot to do here, I just figured you'd like to see the whole town ;) There is another interesting place around these parts, namely, the local Academy, right next to the church. Right off the bat you're given a challenge... on the intellectual level, though. And you don't have to take it up right up. Examine the weird, torch-like thing underneath the staircase to find the Wonder Chef, who grants you the recipe for the Omelette. After getting it head to the right and explore the two classrooms spread across this short hall. In the second one you're given the possibility to become a waitress for a short time. It's an interesting minigame. People come over and giver you orders. You memorize them (and the people's appearance), make the cook prepare them, and then deliver it to the appropriate folks in the right amounts. Do well enough and you'll get some cash and the "Turbo Waitress" title. Go back to the entrance area and head to the second floor. Enter the first classroom to trigger a scene. You'll be asked three questions, and their answers are: Guardian, Acceleration due to gravity and I don't know. Having taken up this test, exit the classroom and head over to the adjacent room. Another hilarious scene for you to enjoy. Once it is over Genis will have a new title: "Honor Roll". Good enough. You can now leave the academy. So now would be a good time to backtrack and consider heading into Dorr's place. Before crossing the doorway, talk with the two big-framed guys by the door. Doing so triggers a special scene (only of you choose to see it). After you're done with it you might want to enter the mansion once and for all. Head up the steps and watch the scene. By the time it ends, you'll be given a new objective: to reach Hakonesia Peak!. When you exit the mansion, you're bound to get some skits. Go back to the previous screen and move to its westernmost side and chat with the people there to learn that Hakonesia Peak is to the northeast. This is also where you can exit Palmacosta. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd suggest fighting around the beaches and grasslands for a bit to earn cash. That way you can modernize your party's equipment. There are GIANT BEETLES around this area, which are flying enemies who usually come in back packs. They're really weak, so I'd say no special considerations should be taken with them. The bigger parties give out a nice amount of EXP and Gald. At the beaches you can find FISH and SEA JELLY. The Jellies can resist a lot of hits before going down, but aren't very damaging. The Fishes are run-down-the-mill enemies. They give out much less EXP and Gald than the other guys, but they really ain't too bad. Finally, there are SOLDIERS and ARCHERS whom we've met before and are EXTREMELY resistant, but don't do much damage. Not so bad. Oh, there is also a skit to be seen around these parts. Just wander around until it shows up. Another enemy you will see around here is the GRASSHOPPER. They can dish out quite some damage; consider defending. They can also poison you, which is never good. Use Panacea Bottles or prevent it altogether by equipping any Poison Charms you have. There are also some places to be visited around the map. Firstly, head more or less southeast from Palmacosta and to find Nova's Caravan sitting in the middle of a grove. Talk with the people inside (one of them tells a hilarious story about tree nuts crafting beautiful melodies). You'll get a Linkite Nut and some interesting information about how to find Aska. Like Raine says, it's not like you have to look for her right now, though... Go back to the field and head towards the mountain that's behind the Caravan. Resting at its bottom there is an Ex Gem Lv2. Take it. That about sums it up. Our next destination, Hakonesia Peak, is to the northeast, so stroll over there. You basically just need to follow the dirt road and cross the bridge at its northeastern end. Keep on until you find a House of Salvation. Head inside. Talk with the people around here and name the dog before heading into the House itself. Inside, talk with the assassin who previously tried to kill you to learn she's called Sheena. After the short scene, you're free to heal at the top floor (save, too). Once you come back down, talk to the newly-spawned people. Leave then. Resume your way towards Hakonesia by following the adjacent unpaved road that goes more or less north. The path branches out after a bit, one of the roads leading to the continent's easternmost shore where the Guidepost Monument is. Follow the other available road to finally reach the Peak (it's a long walk). Before heading in, head to the east of it to find a Magic Mist overlooking the sea. Head into the peak now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- H A K O N E S I A P E A K ========================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head into the only house here and talk with the old chap inside. Turns out the impostor Chosen party sold him the Book of Regeneration and won't let you look at it unless you pay him some money... or bring him the Spiritua Statue that's the House of Salvation. Hm... exit his shack to witness another scene. After it you should get a skit. -- So, head back to the map and move over to the House of Salvation we just passed by (on the way you're bound to get a skit). A word of advice: fight a lot as you stroll about the map. Levels are quite easily attained around these parts. You should be at around level 14-16. Heal up and talk with the priest by the Spiritua statue to learn that you can't it take just now. Exit and now, head back to Palmacosta. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- P A L M A C O S T A =================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing you might want to do is to stay at the inn and save. Then, head to the town's plaza by Dorr's house. Fight the Desians there after the scene (it's a simple fight). Once the whole thing ends you'll be at Cacao's shop. Stock up on the necessary items and head towards the town's western exit (you're bound to get some skits by this time). Talk with the woman in white garb by the exit and agree to walk her part of the way to Hakonesia. -- You'll be at the House of Salvation the next minute. Approach the House itself to trigger a cutscene. Agree to help out Chocolat and enter the House. Speak with the Grand Priest to trigger yet another cinema. As it flows you'll be prompted to make a choice; pick the answer that suits your tastes. Our next destination is the Human Ranch; leave the House. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you read your Synopsis you'll be told that the Human Ranch is to the southeast of Hakonesia Peak... which means you should go southeast from the House along the dirt road. When the road ends, go northeast. Turn around the mountain to find the ranch nested between the shrubbery. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- P A L M A C O S T A H U M A N R A N C H ========================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the introductory cinema, watch the skit and dash forward. Another cinema kicks in; watch it. You'll be told if you want to go back to Palmacosta to confront Dorr, or if you want to storm the ranch right away. The logical option would be to go to Palmacosta, but I highly suggest attacking the ranch. So, in order to follow this walkthrough, do so too please :) Head through the rightmost path towards the ranch's front entrance. Battle the WHIP MASTERS and BOWMEN around the area. They're upgraded versions of the dudes you've faced in the past; they're easy, overall. Open the main door and do battle against the guards patrolling the yard while moving to the northernmost side of the area, where the entrance to the ranch awaits. Inside you should examine the pedestal in the middle of the room to change the S. Ring's function to that of a "radar". You should also get a skit around here. Exit the area through the door to the right. In the subsequent screen, fight the two Desians and trigger the radar to uncover some items, namely: Omega Shield and White Silver. At the top right side of this small platform there is an interesting, cylindrical structure. Trigger the radar and choose to examine it. Do so until a staircase appears in the horizon. Notice how the bridge across from it disappears once the staircase pops up. Firstly, make the bridge appear and head to the other side. Watch the short cinema that explains how the apparatus in the middle of the platform works (it heals you). Fight the Desian for a Purple Card and pick up the hidden items (Orange Gel). Trigger the radar again and check the cylinder (from now on "radar switch") to craft a bridge that leads to a hidden life bottle. Deactivate this radar switch and activate the one on the previous platform so only the staircase is visble. Head back to the main hub (where you got the special Radar Ring). Exit through the west and kill the lone guy there for a Memory Gem (there is also a hidden Apple Gel). Go southwest to find a small passage that sprawls into a wide hallway with lots of enemies (the robot group is quite damaging). Clear it and trigger the radar to find an Orange Gel by the hall's northern exit, which is actually a dead end... with a hidden Life Bottle. So, stroll towards the corridor's southernmost exit. There, go forward but then go down the hall just now (you can't go up it, anyways). Instead, head past it and get the hidden item there. Run back to the main room and "unlock" the warp point there by using your radar. In the next screen, save and explore around. There are a total of four possible paths: the one you came through, a sealed warp point off to the north (it can't be unlocked with just the ring) and two doorways veering off to the west and east. Firstly, head east. Hit the S. Ring button to uncover a bunch of invisible crates. One of them, at the bottom of the platform, overlooks a gap that precedes a small landing with an item on it. Clear the gap with the block and get the Ex Gem Lv2 that's resting on the small platform. As for the other crates, you can easily move them around. Push them into the gaps by the small landing where the Ex Gem was. You can now easily access the refresher area. Heal up if needed and hit the radar switch on the eastern side of the crate platform. At the other side, go down the stairs to trigger a small cinema, along which you'll be given a Red Card. Having done that, cross back the bridge and lock it back through the radar switch. Backtrack to the save point (NOTE: I think it's necessary to head back to the refresher area to make the staircase appear again), four-way intersection and veer west. In this screen (the prison area) you'll be given the Blue Card. With that in hand, return to the previous area and open up the sealed warp to the north (simply access your radar). Transport to the subsequent zone. Here, there are some enemies as well as two warp points. Finish off the Desians and take the leftmost warp after picking up the Melange Gel that rests besides it. In the next area, use the upper warp point. In this new screen, pick up the hidden Apple Gel resting by the recently-used warp. Then, take up the northernmost warp point. Kill the enemy upstairs (the staircase will be here only if you've followed the steps mentioned throughout the area's walkthrough) and get the hidden Panacea Bottle. Head back to the warp room and take the bottom transporter. Then, take the western, red warp (grab the item next to it). In the next screen, don't pick the hidden "item" to the north, as it is an alarm-triggering device. Instead, take the southernmost warp and pick up the Life Bottle there. Head back to the previous room and go north this time around. In the next area, take the western warp (pick up the item floating by it) and head through the north. Then go west. Beat the Desians here to free Chocolat. She then takes the northern warp; before following her, go east to find a sealed save point. Unlock it and save/heal. Then, head north. At the next screen, beat the Desians (after the mandatory scene, of course) and then you'll have to deal with Magnius. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Magnius Whip Master Bowman Strat./shortcut time! Set some powerful spells to your shortcuts (Angel Feather is somewhat mandatory) like Stalagmite or Spread... or if you're not there yet, then Lightning, which is also quite powerful. If you don't feel like using the C-Stick, then simply have both Colette and Genis use only one spell (through their Tech menu) by canceling out the other ones. Set your CPU-controlled characters to "Attack Same"; Genis should also have "Use Skills Freely" and "L-Range Magic". Colette should "Move" & "Attack Freely" while Kratos "Heals". That's about it. Magnius will be attacking right off the bat with some powerful skills, such as Eruption, which can hit your entire party for a hefty 300 PTS of DMG, Beast, that knocks you back and deals over 200 PTS of DMG, and his standard physical attack, which knocks off around 150 HPs! His lackeys serve as a nuisance and give him plenty of space to cast his spells. It's important that you first kill his lackeys. They're weak, but have a lot of HP. They're not too bad; the problem is that Magnius will be assaulting you while you deal with the soldiers. Manually heal your wounds through items or First Aid (through this first part of the fight, it might be good to have Kratos cast First Aid exclusively. You can then tweak his behavior). If you get a chance to cancel one of Magnius' spells, do so, but be careful; if you get too near to him, he'll definitely use either Beast or his axe-swing attack, both of which are powerful. Blocking is a definite advantage you have here, so be sure to use it constantly to absorb some of the damage he can deal. Magnius might sometime focus on only one or two of your party members and wreck havoc on them. If that's the case, simply run up to him to get a nice share of the fighting; otherwise he'll just cream the members he's focusing on. If you have the Unison Gauge full, be sure to hold off on using it until Magnius is alone. That way he'll take most of the damage. When you go forward to attack Magnius, be sure to heal your folks before. Also, I've noticed that both Genis and Colette seem to lose their TPs quite quickly here, so it'd be good to replenish them for maximum effectiveness. Do so with Kratos as he is the one with the healing. Magnius ain't a joke; keep that in mind. Aside of the aforementioned attacks, he's got Flame Lance which roughly does 150-200 PTS of DMG. Guard-breaking Hell Axe is another dangerous attack that dishes out over 200 PTS of DMG, while Hell Hound, which can hit two party members at a time, hits hard (200-300 PTS of DMG), is hard to block (but not impossible) and knocks you back. Ouch! Healing and reviving are two fundamental actions you'll need to constantly do; otherwise you'll get killed. Maintaining both your TPs and HPs will take you through the fight, since Magnius attacks often, hard and uses attacks that often can't be blocked (so they dish out maximum pain). TP reserves will be exhausted on a blink here, so you've got to keep an eye on them, otherwise your spellcasting will be limited. Powerful spells really help the battle go by faster, so if needed, cast them manually through a shortcut or through the Tech Menu. If you see Genis is reluctant to use Stalagmite, Spread or any other powerful spell, then set it to a shortcut and wiggle on it. Damaging spells add up to the pain quota and stun Magnius, which is good. Blocking is not as effective here as it's been in other battles, but it still can absorb some damage of a some of Magnius' attacks; yet, they're worthless against some others :) That makes healing all more important. Mark my words: you need to heal and revive. If you can knock off his HPs at a steady rate and maintain yours up, then it shouldn't be too hard of a fight. It's really more about being careful with your folks than anything else (since he's easily healed from). + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After all the nice scenes, exit to the map and watch the skit you'll probably get. Head back to Palmacosta. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- P A L M A C O S T A =================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Healing at the inn and buy some new items, specially if you used some against Magnius. After that, head to Cacao's shop for a scene, and then move over to Dorr's mansion. There, head downstairs after the brief cinema. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Kilia This girl is quite powerful! Still, she's not as tough as Magnius and I'd say she's quite easy to defeat. Have some powerful, hard-hitting spells set to your shortcuts. Run up to her unleash some combos on her; use skills such as Beast or Fierce Demon Fang to deliver the coup de grace; it makes racking up the damage a much faster process. Meanwhile, wiggle on the stick to unleash some powerful spells. With some timing, you can obliterate her with a powerful combination of spells and skills, that can easily add up to 20 or so hits. Blocking is quite effective in this battle; this girl attacks by using a series of quick-hit combos that often deal around 200-300 PTS of DMG, perhaps even a bit more. These attacks are very damaging, as you can see, so manually healing from them is a must. Even then, if you keep the spell casting up, it's highly probably that only Lloyd will be damaged by them, since she doesn't have any long-range attacks. As a matter of fact, Kratos finished this battle with full-health, which was quite a surprise! He basically spent his time healing. My other characters were barely touched, and they were easily healed from. So, as long as Lloyd attacks her relentlessly and you keep your other characters busy, casting a myriad of spells, they should be alright. Kilia will eventually sprout some wings off her back; her combos become more powerful and harder to block (they usually pierce right through it) plus she uses them more often... and faster. Lloyd will be in for a world of hurt, so keep the healing up, but, also keep up the offense. If you heal steadily, Lloyd should not die. To prevent your other characters from getting too close to Kilia, have them constantly cast long-range spells... and make sure the TPs reserves are always moderately full so they don't feel like going to the frontlines. All in all, this is an easy fight. Just make sure you heal Lloyd's wounds. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + If you came here before going to the Ranch, you'll be given a passcode and Card Key which you can use to enter the ranch through a different path; if you've already gone through it, you'll get a Pass you can use to cross Hakonesia. All of this along the cutscenes, of course :) As you move around Palmacosta, you're bound to see some skits. Save/heal and stock back on items. You can also play "Orienteering" at the plaza (talk with the soldier that rests at the southwestern corner of it) where you must find people that match the criteria given to you. The soldier gives out some clues that are actually quite helpful. The people who you have to look for are: a boy that wanders about the steamship dock, the two guards overlooking the mansion, an old woman standing inside a fence by the academy (tell her she actually hear you) and the fishing stand (yes the stand) at the northern dock (the one that belongs to Seven Seas). Finish the game by talking with the soldier at the plaza (there is no prize, mind you). Keep playing and you should have to find more people, but those are the first, I think (this might be random. If it is, please contact me). Now, head to the western side of town and talk with the woman in white garb. Take her with you "part of the way" so you end up at the House of Salvation. From there, head over to the human ranch and veer south from it. Go inside Thoda Dock. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T H O D A D O C K ================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The house nearest to the entrance is actually a House of Salvation, so heal up there if needed. Across the House's entrance there should be a white, dotted dog that Colette should take here time naming. Inside the House's first floor, look to the right to find an almost-hidden desk with the travel woman. Pay her 200 Gald to be taken to the Thoda Geyser. Save up and head up the rocky slope. There a cutscene will kick in. After it, name the dog to the left and chat with the people around. There is also a guy by the top of the slope who sells items, and is the first guy to start selling Melange Gels. They're expensive, too. Head to the rightmost side of the spring and head up the small mount over there. After the scene you'll play a small minigame. Simply follow Genis directions and you shall not fall (or take damage). It's simple and quite easy. Once it finishes, you'll have the Spiritua Stone with you. Neato. Examine the lectern-like thing next to the signpost here to find out it's the Oracle Stone. This'll open up the water temple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W A T E R T E M P L E ====================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head all the way forward through the entrance road. Along the way, you'll find FLOAT DRAGONS and STARFISH. The Dragons can poison you, which is never good, so take a conservative approach towards them and back off every time you see "Poison Needle". These two guys are only moderately damaging, so they're not too tough. At the end of the path there is a staircase that goes down; proceed. You're bound to find GREEN ROPERS (ah yes, I remember them...) and WATER ELEMENTS. The Elements have the extremely powerful Aqua Laser (over 300 PTS of DMG); the Ropers have lots of HP and have a spin combo-like attack that hits abundantly and quite hard for what it is; it can shove off more than 200 HPs, I'd say. When you see the Roper is about to perform it (it's got a telltale sign, don't worry) hit block. A good way to deal with multiple, ultra damaging Elements is to constantly shift between them whenever you see they're chanting a spell. That way you can silence them and prevent further damage. At the bottom of the aforementioned staircase there is another downward- oriented stairway, and to its far right, a chest, holding a Mermaid's Tear. Snag this item and then head down. From there, proceed to the very bottom of this temple. It's a rather expansive platform that overlooks a small pond with some geysers to the west, and has a circular, lit-up shrine to the east, resting next to two treasure chests. The chests hold a Life Bottle and a Circlet, respectively. The shrine next to them changes the function of your S. Ring. Ignore it for now, though. Instead, exit the room through the southwestern path. You'll arrive at a huge, two-story room that's composed mainly of catwalks-like roads, small, interesting shrines and whatnot. Head across the entrance to find two big, cylindrical pillars resting along the right wall; in between them is a hidden path that leads to a minute platform with two treasure chests positioned on top of it. Open them for White Silver and an Orange Gel. Back at the previous screen, head over to the small shrine to the left of the aforementioned entrance. Such shrine is composed of two flanking, unlit torches, in the middle of which there are two water jugs. Light up the torches and head back to the room with the S.Ring-shifting shrine. Shift the S.ring. Then, go through the southeastern exit. In the following room, head down the flight of steps straight ahead. Turn right to find a series of wide, horizontally lined archways that serve as a support to a bigger platform. Underneath such platform, and by crossing the archways, you can find a duo of chests holding a Stun Bracelet and a Circlet. There are also some foes to be fought here, amongst which you can find the big-but-tender OCTOSINE. One of the enemies here (the one on the eastern side of the archways) holds a valuable Memory Gem. Anyways, after snagging all of the possible items, head down the staircase at the bottom side of this platform. You'll land in a rocky, unpaved and brief road. The enemy floating about is usually a dangerous combo of Ropers and Elements. Healing must be employed throughout such a fight, and skills, too, so it ends rather fast. At the western end of the road there is a doorway. Cross it to enter an L-shaped (with a small offshoot by the L's bottom-left) at the tip of which there is one of those small shrine, the same as the one in the floor above of you. There is also a boulder and an enemy; I'd say get rid of the enemy. Enemy, push the boulders backwardly towards a small square that's underneath the doorway you just used to enter. It should make a click sound. Once you've done so, backtrack to the first shrine we visited, where we lit up some torches. As told in this walkthrough, you should have already shifted your S. Ring from fire to water; if not, do so now. Anyways, at this shrine, hit the rightmost jug with a blast of fresh, clear water. Having done this, go back to the boulder-room shrine. There, you only have to splash the rightmost jug at the shrine to fulfill this puzzle (and get an interesting Zelda-like sound, again... hm). With all of this done, head back to the floor where the first shrine is. By now you're probably wondering where you can find a good save point. Head directly across from the shrine area's entrance door and go a bit past the two cylindrical pillars. Squint hard at the area in front of the railing to find the faint remnants of what once was a save point. Save/heal and work on your Strategy. You'd want a fully-healed party that can attack magically and physically and has healing capabilities; I suggest Raine, Kratos, Genis and Lloyd, because you'll need some healing in the next fight. Have Raine "Heal", of course. And "Protect Friends". Make sure that her only cast-able spell is First Aid. Meanwhile, have Kratos shift between First Aid and Lightning, as well as any other skill you feel is useful. Have your Spell-caster (Genis) take a laid-back approach with a L-Range Magic/Don't pursue setting. Kratos should also have "Heal". Oh, and have they everybody except Lloyd use "Scatter". Now, head over the platform that just rose and step into the warp. It's battle time! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Andulocia Amphitra x 2 Andulocia is the main guy here, but as you were probably expecting, it's highly recommended to go for her(?) lackeys first. Keep in mind that Andulocia will start wrecking havoc on you as soon as possible with Spread, which is outstandingly powerful, shoving off over 600 PTS of DMG if fully hit! Now, that's quite something. So, how to go around this? Well, you... can't. Andulocia can't be stopped mid-chant, so once she starts casting a spell, it's party time! The best way to prevent getting killed from that is to heal constantly; keep your HPs above 800 and you should be fine. At first, I suggest moving around a lot with Lloyd. Have some nice, powerful spells on your shortcuts and wiggle on them while you circle between targets. Constantly hit R and shift your objective, head towards it and slash it down with a combo or two. Keep moving. This helps, trust me. Your folks will do a great job handling the Amphitras, so don't be surprised when you slash one and it dies. If possible, manually heal. It helps a lot, since your friends will sometimes ignore healing. And top- notch health is really helpful throughout this battle. When you circle around Andulocia, try to block or block-jump (hit block and press "left" on the stick) to prevent damage from her, which is often a lot (her bubble-combo deals a good ~250 PTS of DMG, while the Aqua Laser can take off as much as 300-300 PTS). The Amphitras don't dish out that much pain, but it's still considerable. When you're hit by Spread, manually heal to prevent further, threatening wounds. That's a good strategy. After moving around for a bit, the Amphitras will be dead and it'll be Andulocia against ye. Before engaging her, heal up your party. Two healers makes this noticeably easier. Hit Andulocia with a powerful combo that makes her stagger (finish it with Beast, for example) and hit block to absorb her subsequent attack. Or block-jump to dodge it altogether. If she starts chanting an spell, backtrack and hit block to absorb it with Lloyd. Also, take some time to heal any wounds you have. I died quite a bit through this fight, mainly with Lloyd. He's going to die, don't sweat. However, your other party members shouldn't die too often if you maintain them healthy. All in all, a semi-tough fight. Andulocia is relentless and quite damaging, so healing takes a great importance. Make good use of any spaces you get to replenish your health and attack conservatively. Use Unison attacks, too. If your characters die, don't be afraid to employ Life Bottles. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the bevy of scenes, exit the temple. Watch the scene outside and save at the washtub dock. Make your way to Hakonesia Peak and enter the shack there. I should note that you're bound to get some skits as you make your way (sleep at the House of Salvation to get one, for instance). Talk with Koton to earn a scene where the party reads the Book of Regeneration. Afterwards, head up the slope to the north to find two soldiers standing by the pathway that leads to the "Asgardian" part of the continent. Cross it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The enemies around this area are no joke! DRAGOON RIDERS and VELODRAGON accompany some old guys. These two enemies do a lot of damage per hit (to the point it's obscene) and have quite a bit of resistance. Be careful around them. There are also WARRIORS and SORCERERS, the two of which seem to have no resistance whatsoever, are easily stunned, and take lots of damage per hit (due to their limited resustance). They aren't too much of a threat, so don't sweat it. Most of the bigger groups give out generous amounts of EXP and Gald, so anybody who's feeling like incrementing his/her levels should fight around for an hour or two. Anyway, just out of the Peak it's a dirt road. Follow it into an intersection in the middle of the spread-out, lush grassy fields. Mountains surround the horizon. At the intersection there is a House of Salvation. There is a dog to be named and information to get (be sure to speak with everybody), like the whereabouts of your next destination. You can go east towards the Balacruf Mausoleum, or head weast to Asgard. Of course, we could head over to Luin, but let's go to Asgard first (both of this cities are marked off as must-visits on your Synopsis). Go southwest to find Asgard practically hidden amongst some strategically placed cliffs and mountaintops. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S G A R D =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just by the entrance is the Vortex Inn, hidden beneath the rocks and placed next to the flight of rocky stairs. Further ahead there is an improvised entrance to the city, formed by the two cylindrical pillars that sustain the stone bridge gazing at the top of the them. The shops are spread along the upper area. There is also a natural cavern formed within the rocky walls that contain Asgard, inside which ancient piece of wall-art rest, waiting to be gawked by impressed tourists and art maniacs. There are not a lot of new items to be bought at the Weapons Shop, but the Armory is carrying an interesting set of new items. The Katz Exploration team is also floating around here. At the bottom area of town there are also some interesting places to be visited. The item shop is around this place, too, next to the road that leads into a cavern. Next to it is a dog waiting to be named, and up a gentle slope you can find a rather large mansion that it's actually an inn, but an expensive one. You can go down a small flight of steps across the item shop and go forward along the twisting path. At its end there are various ways to go, including a dragon's ranch to the left and another inn to the right. Ich! So many places to rest at :) To the right of the inn here lies another part of the town. There is also a dog to be named. Head up the flight of stairs and enter the house to the right. There, go upstairs and examine the record player on the floor to find the Wonder Chef! He'll teach you the Meat Stew. It's possible to further explore this zone, but I wouldn't deem it as necessary. Our real destination is at the previous screen (around where we found the third inn). Next to such inn is a long road that leads to a long staircase. Head up. After the scene you can stay behind to listen Raine's mind-numbing chatter, talk with your folks... or head around the square-shaped ruin to find two mischievous kids. Endure through the annoying scene (I hate Raine. Who does she think she is!?) Once the cinema is over, you may save at any of the available places in town... and heal. Having done this, move back to the ruin area, where the game will continue. Go up the stairs to start a cinema, at the end of which you should leave. Move over to the easternmost area of town and go into the house where we found the Wonder Chef. Read the dialogue that ensues and bounce back to the Ruin's entrance staircase. Long story made short, you'll need to pick a party that includes Raine for the following fight. Since she provides the healing, pack in some physical strikers and the obligatory spell caster. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Windmaster This guy ain't really too bad. He's go a decent defense, and can dish out a good amount of damage. Physical hits shove off as much as 160 HPs, while its scythe combo deals around 60-130 PTS of DMG per hit (it's a four-hitter). Jump block and normal block will be of great importance. Have somebody occupy himself/herself on healing constantly, and set up some powerful spells to your Shortcuts. Use them constantly throughout the entire fight to put a dent on the Windmaster's health. Limit your character's attacking choices so they use the best spells more consistently or actually heal whenever it is needed. The onslaught of shortcut-summoned spells will help rack up the total damage delivered, but it won't make the boss stagger. With Lloyd, move forward to the Windmaster and employ a good combo of techs and physical strikes. Tempest and Fierce Demon Fang work well, if you have them. After performing it, you could end up with Beast to stun the boss (although it sometimes does not work). Or you could block, to absorb any subsequent hit. When you're near the boss, hit block and perform jump blocks steadily to prevent damage: after you perform a combo, or when you get near him. Once you've done such maneuver, run forward and slash him down with a powerful amalgam of attacks and Techs. Meanwhile, try to nail him with your strongest spells (Stalagmite, Spread, Photon). Manual healing should not be necessarily used too often, but you might find yourself in a dire situation. In that case, don't hesitate to heal. All in all, I'd call this a simple battle. As long as you can deal with the semi-extreme damage the Windmaster can deliver, you're good to go. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the scene, go to Linar's House (the one with the wonder chef). Watch the cinema and once it is over, make your way out of the city. On your way, rest at the expensive inn to trigger a scene with Kratos. Accept his training proposal. You should also get a skit or two as you go. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, hello! Make your way to the House of Salvation. Veer west. You'll find a city; it's Luin. Ignore it and keep moving. On the horizon, next to the big mountain that's a besides a wooden bridge, you can find the Guidepost Monument. At the other side of the mountain it's the Tower of Mana, and a bit to the northeast of it a chest sits resting in front of the ocean, holding an Ex Gem Lv2. You can visit Luin as you make your way back to the House. From there, head east along the limited cliff that ends up in a wooden bridge. Cross it and head eastwards towards the peninsula's end. Just before the small crevice formed by the mountains, amongst which is the Mausoleum, turn more or less to the north to find a Strike Ring resting at the bottom of a soft mountain, some hundred meters away from the ocean. The Balacruf Mausoleum is your next destination. However, before getting to it, I'll comment on Luin. If you're not interested, skip over to the Mausoleum directly below. You can also visit the Lake Umacy, to the northeast of the House of Salvation, on top a plateau, surrounded by low forests and with a mountain overlooking it. Some scenes take place there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- L U I N ======= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As told before, skip over to the Mausoleum part if you don't wish to visit Luin. Directly ahead of the entrance is the inn. Rest up and save if you feel like it, or you can visit the Weapons Shop directly to the left of it. A customizer also uses this place for its business; he can customize all sorts of new weapons for you, but they all require an assortment of items you may not have now. The actual shop is very lame, so if you can't customize you might as well leave. From here, head west towards the next screen, where a scene ensues. You'll be given a swashbuckling choice here. Endure through the cinema. If you exit this area through the far southeast you'll find an ever-so- useful item shop. If you examine the small piggy-bank to the left of the counter you'll find no other than the Wonder Chef, who'll teach you the Seafood Stew. Hmmm... that's about it for Luin. Proceed to the Mausoleum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- B A L A C R U F M A U S O L E U M ================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name the dog roaming the area and chat with the nice folks that loiter the entrance of the ruined Mausoleum. If you head over to the far left side of the entrance you'll find a treasure chest beneath an improvised hut, behind a traveler. Anyway, head to the northernmost door where a scene is triggered. At the inner side of the mausoleum you'll be treated to a series of branching paths... hm. Head to the right to find a square room with a sealed save point and an slithering worm. Among the enemies in this place are ARACHNIDS, GARGOYLES and HARPIES. The Harpies can absorb an uncanny amount of damage, as do the Arachnids. But none of these are two tough. Open up the chest here for a Beast Fang and try to light up the torch. The strong wind current coming from the western side of the Mausoleum quickly suffocates the fire. Head west, past the entrance to find two possible paths to take. The one that goes further west has a portion of the floor clad in punctured iron... try to cross that and spikes will protrude from the floor and single-handedly remove 125 HPs out of your bars. Ich! To cross the spike-protruding floor simply move slowly across it (heh). At the other side, head up the steps and kill the enemy there to get a Memory Gem. At the very top, read the inscription to the left and push down the block to the bottom floor. From there, move it into the pattern on the floor to stop the wind current. You can now read the plaque east of the entrance. Neato. And you can also unlock the save point there. Go back to the spike-protruding steel floor and look up. Oh, a hallway! This other available path veers northward and its highlights include spiked, squared plaques that crash against each other in a slow fashion. These are spread across the hallway and are easily dodged. So, go north through this hall. At the other side there is a floating skull; it probably carries a few SKELETONS or, heck, WIND ELEMENTS. Try to do away the Elements first, or at least keep them from using their powerful magical attacks. The Skeletons do above-average damage but sustain lots of it if they can't manage to block. Ahead of the spike-plaque hall is another torch smothered by the strong current crashing against it. To its left is a short flight of steps; head up. Be careful with the enemy there, as it may carry a MELTING POT. These guys are VERY DAMAGING, specially since there usually is a duo of them. If you get caught in their rapid-fire combo attacks you can expect to be 400 HPs nearer to death. Go forward and check out the inscription by the lit-up torch. You might wanna jot it down; if you're following the walkthrough it might be unnecessary. Anyway, head around the corner and cross the hall with the spike-plaques. Next, you may light up the two torches, effectively unlocking the door leading to the final part of the dungeon... however, we're not done yet. Instead, head past this door and go down the steps (note: ignore the S.Ring-shifting device to the left). Read the inscription by the torch. Across from it is a block; push it forward so it is perpendicular to the wind current and carry it to the right until it stands upon a switch. Once you've done so, it'll stop the wind current here. Head north and get the Iron Guard and Blue Ribbon off the chests. Go south to find a torch; light it and read the inscription to its left. Also, get the Beast Hide out of the chest. Now, backtrack all the way back to first, twin-spike-plaque hallway, by where there should be a torch; light it and read the inscription by it. You might want to save now at the memory seal east of the entrance. Having done all of this, go back to the door you opened by lighting up two torches (I mentioned it as the door leading to the final room) and go down the steps to its right once again. Turn left and examine the S.Ring- shifting device resting underneath the foundations of the road above of you. Shift the Ring and go through the door with the torches. Finally. A seemingly out of place scene takes place and you'll regain control shortly thereafter. Next, you'll be in a sprawling room with two enemies floating about. Killing them might be a good choice. You can also get a skit around here. Notice the five windmills, all differently colored. The inscriptions on this dungeon were tips on how to work them out. They're spread out like this: 1 2 5 3 4 You can skip over to simplified solution, or read on for an in-depth explanation. ----------- 1 is red colored, 2 is green colored, 4 is yellow colored and 3 is white. 5 is blue. 1 would be what "the _throne_ of gods", 2 is "the power of gods", 4 is the "rich earth", 3 is the "calm earth" and 5 is "the blue wind princess" What you have to do is to start the windmills with your S. Ring in a certain order to unlock *something*. The meanings are a tad ambiguous, but it works. Now, let's check out the info from the inscriptions that describes how to work these puzzles: "That which is offered to the throne of gods, from the power of gods, makes the rich earth as the calm earth and arrives at the blue wind princess. This be as if traveling the giant's body in the manner of a clock's hand" This is dreadfully easy. Just start with the "throne of gods" and make your way through the windmills in clockwise fashion, finishing with the blue wind princess. Next, "That which the blue and wind princess protects. Heads from the throne of gods and across the rich earth. Stands up the calm earth, and gazes up ay the power of gods". Notice that it first mentions the blue wind princess; it goes first. From there it should be smooth sailing. Lastly, "The holy seal that extols the king, flows from the throne of gods to the rich earth, travels from the power of gods to the calm earth. And when the blue princess is born in the center of the world, the holy seal shall also be complete". Start from the throne of the gods. Quite normal. ----------- Uninterested folks need to apply? Good enough. Check out this simplified solutions and also, the prizes you earn from working out each puzzle. 1 2 4 3 5 = destroys a wall with an enemy and a chest holding a Ex Gem Lv2. 5 1 4 3 2 = destroys another wall, which holds another enemy and a chest with a Blue Ribbon. 1 4 2 3 5 = Unlocks the door leading to the seal. Once you've unlocked the door, heal up and head north (you might want to backtrack and save, but it's not entirely necessary) to the seal room. After the mandatory scene, a mandatory boss fight. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Iapyx I should mention that I started this battle without healing (I forgot *smirk*) and didn't really have much trouble... but I guess that's because I compulsively used Orange Gels on everybody VERY often throughout the fight, which made me endure it. Iapyx flies about and uses only a handful of attacks. When you're near it, it spins and renders around 230 PTS of DMG. When it manages to get some air, it tries to keep foes away with its Feather attacks, that can dish out as much as 300 PTS of DMG if each feather connects. His most dangerous but seldom-used attack is Air Thrust, which can shove off as much as 450 HPs out of various of your party members, since it's got a decent "splash" radius. As told, he doesn't seem to use it often, and is rather hell-bent on preventing anyone from getting too near him by utilizing constant physical strikes. Lloyd will be severely damaged throughout the fight, but it's possible to lessen such wounds by employing block often, and by manually healing (or trust Kratos/Raine's judgment on that. Be sure they're set to "Heal"). Unlike other fights, blocking after a combo is only mildly effective here, since Iapyx is fast and will often strike you after you unleash a bevy of strikes. It seems very vulnerable to Beast, since it doesn't like to block too often. A good combo should be one with fast, quick-hitting attacks, and finished by Beast to send it tottering back. This also gives you some valuable time to be spent on healing your folks or replenishing their TP reserves. Genis is practically a must in this battle, since you need to unleash spells constantly to rack up some decent damage, since physical attacks only do a little of it. Spread is by far the best attack to use here; ignore Stalagmite, though. It does pitiful damage to the flying enemy, as do any other spells. Angel Feathers, and I guess Photon, work good. Constant use of Spread also gives out a little bit of time to use on the all-important healing, since Spread stuns your foes. As mentioned, it also renders notable amount of health. Obsessively maintaining your TPs up will be a great asset in this battle. That way you can keep up the Lloyd's combos and keep up the relentless spell-casting, all of which makes the fight flow easier, stuns the enemy, and give you time to heal if needed. Healing is also an important point: use Apple Gels, or manually heal through Kratos/Raine, or whatever; just keep your HPs up. In general, a good spell casting will keep the monster at bay (to an extent) and make the battle flow faster. Employ Lloyd's Beast to stun it easily and get valuable time to replenish your health and TP. If you maintain an adequate balance of healing, you shouldn't need to revive dead characters... but if it comes down to that, don't hesitate to use Life Bottles. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the scene, you'll be fully healed. Make your way back to the entrance and try not to fight enemies. Once you try to exit the Mausoleum, a boss fight ensues. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Guardian-Lightning Resolute Assassin Have Genis "Attack Same" and be sure he's only got Spread and Stalagmite as his cast-able spells. Meanwhile, set Kratos to "Heal" and "Scatter". Your other character should try to attack, but, in case it is Raine, make sure she takes a laid back approach and works as the healer only. The Guardian and Sheena move around with great agility and attack with great cunning. The Guardian moves one way, Sheena the other, and they swiftly start to wreck havoc on your party. If you concentrate on the Guardian, Sheena will employ her grace and make her way to Colette or any other character and employ a series of hard-hitting combos on your ally. Her attacks are less damaging than those of the Guardian's, but she's quicker and can rack up hits faster; the guardian is about pure, unadulterated strength, but he's rather cumbersome. Even then, he enjoys blocking and playing it conservatively. I'd say it's better to attack Sheena first. Lock-her-on and run towards here jiggly self. Immediately pull off some floor-based, hard-hitting combos. If you see she's not blocking, use Beast to send her back stuttering, which should give you a limited window of time, which in this case should be employed on something different to healing. How so? While you're attacking Sheena, the Guardian might be shredding one of your other partners, and the only way to stop him from doing so is to hit him with Lloyd. If you stun Sheena, haul ass to the Guardian and hit him a couple of times. Do this only if you see one of your character's HPs declining dangerously fast (that means he's being creamed). Otherwise keep hitting the girl. Healing is really important here, believe or not; manually heal with First Aid or use Apple Gels; they both work. Just try to keep an acceptable level of HPs _and_ TPs and it should be good. Sheena can be killed quite quickly, specially if she forgets to block. Once she's out, the Guardian ain't much of a threat. He does lots of damage, but he's rather slow and can be blocked off quite painlessly. When he's your only target, all you've got to do is mercilessly attack him with the best of your repertoire. Don't get too cocky, though; be sure to heal. If Genis has "Attack Same", his spells will let you prevent these two guys from getting too annoying or dangerous, all while dishing out massive amount of pain. He'll attack whomever you're attacking, which is a very useful thing, indeed. It also helps stun them. Colette and Raine are both decent attackers (Angel Feathers and Photon), but if you have the latter coupled with Kratos, she's better off healing and letting the 6'1'' mercenary attack... or you can have him be a partial healer, too, all while attacking. This way it'll be quite hard to die. Keep your hit points up and try to prevent the Guardian or Sheena on killing your characters by attacking him/her exclusively (to do so, move around the field and shift targets constantly) and it should be good. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The now hackneyed ritual of party vs Sheena starts! Watch the scenes and exit the Mausoleum. More cutscenes. But these ones... are rather interesting. Aaaanyways. Leave the Mausoleum and make your way back to Luin (rest at the House) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- L U I N ======= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explore town and move over to the fountain area where you will recruit Sheena. Further move around town for some skits. Your next destination is the human ranch. Exit Luin through its far east. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go east until you find a raised portion of land; a plateau. You can probably see glimpses of the ranch's structures from afar, as it rests on top of it. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S G A R D H U M A N R A N C H ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a short scene you'll have to fight some Desians. Beat them for an extra batch of cinemas. After them, you'll regain control inside the ranch. Go ahead. When you see the glimpse of a bunch of crates to your right, move over there to find a Beast Hide resting the grass. Then enter the ranch through the north. Inside the ranch itself, take the northwestern door for some more cinemas. After you regain control, pick up the item hidden at a corner to a bit upwards and go down the staircase ahead of it. Kill the Desian and resume your path parallel to the conveyor belts. At the end, head up and turn left to find an extra Desian. Kill him. Save up at the memory seal overlooking the conveyor belts and exsphere factory spread between them. Resume your way leftward and make quick work of the Desian patrolling the staircase. Head down these thereafter and take the first left you can. Go up the raised platform and make mincemeat of the Desian there for a Memory Gem. Open up the chest for an Iron Baracelet and return to the hall running parallel to the leftmost parcel. Go north (there is a Desian around here) and up the steps. A cinema kicks in immediately. ----------- Head back to Luin. After the scene, head directly to the south of where you are to learn about your next destination, Hima. Also, talk with the swordsman by the weapons shop and agree to train with Kratos when prompted. Of course, you can only train with him if you trained at Asgard; otherwise is mission FALILATED!! Anyways, exit Luin through its westernmost side (around the fountain). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head towards the dirt road ahead of you. If you go directly to the north of Luin you'll find the land tightens as the ocean starts sprawling to your sides. Head to the top of this cliff to find a chest with a Technical Ring and ahead of it, a Skit Point. To get to the skit you'll have to go down into the beach, though. Go back to Luin and land on the dirt road that's ahead of it and right before the cliff. Veer west (you might find big, but easily beaten OGRES along the way) through it. Powerful and damaging COCKRATICES also inhabit the area; their tornado attack dishes out lots of pain, over 200 PTS to be exact, so better be careful! Spread dismiss them quickly, though. Move along the path. As you near its end, you should notice on the map a long, straight peninsula that is also the end of the this portion of the continent. A bit to the right of it there is a wider, ample peninsula, more or less southeast of the main road. As you hit this peninsular area, you should immediately notice a sinuous, fierce-looking, brownish road that heads up a mountain. This actually the entrance to Hima, but before heading there, go southeast from it. When you hit a long, steep mountain that is spread across the land, head around it. Look around to find the Guidepost Monument as well as a skit point. Now trek back to Hima and go in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- H I M A ======= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Move along the arid, cooked-up (by the sun, no less) road to find a big house, at the front of which there is a dog to be named. This is also the inn. Rest and talk with the woman there to learn some shocking information regarding Pietro... hm. Save and leave. A shop rests to the right of the inn (which is the whole village, actually). You can get items, weapons and customize newer stuff. Stock up on what you need and then head around the inn. Trek the slope there. Once you reach the first rest a scene kicks in. You'll get the Desian Orb after this. Now, you might to visit the mountain's summit to chat with the guy there, and name the dog by the graves. Enter the inn's bottom room (by the save point) and examine the pot letting out some steam to find the Wonder Chef and learn the Risotto. Having done all of this, move back to the Human Ranch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S G A R D H U M A N R A N C H ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Examine the boulder just by the entrance. You'll be inside after that; beat the greeting Desian party. After that, you'll have to slit up your team. Along with Lloyd you should pack Genis for his spell-casting proficiency and a healer; for this, I'd suggest Kratos, but Raine is also pretty good, I'd say. Lloyd's the infiltration team, so keep that in mind. After you've picked your teams, you'll take control of Lloyd's, the infiltration team. Go down the steps below to find a refresher (heals you and lets you purchase items) and a save point. There are two ways out of this room: through the north and through the south, both doors put along the western wall. The southern door is by the save point, while the northernmost one is besides the machine Raine hacked to. First, head through the north. In this new room there is a hallway that stretches all the way up and finishes with a treasure chest holding a Cleric's Hat. Should you go down instead of up, you'll have to go around a corner and from there, you can head left. Do so for a bit until you see another sprawling hallway that hosts two chests at its northern tip. There is also a weird machine in an offshoot to the left. They contain Pellets and a Lamellar Leather. Now go to the machine in that little nook to the left, at the bottom of this hall. Shut it down and now return to the control room. This time around, exit it through the south. Examine the S.Ring shifting device gazing upon the conveyor belts to increment the power of the ring's fireball. Head down the steps protruding next to the belt and head along the road that runs parallel to them. You should notice that there are small, barely noticeable aisles that serve as boarding points for the belts. As of now, you should ignore them, though. Instead, go south and up the steps there. Turn left and clean the area out of Desians before going down the westernmost flight of steps, to land in a pathway running next to the leftmost conveyor belt. There, take the first left and check out the machine with the green, transparent panel. This'll teach you how to stop the conveyor belts. Board the nearest parcel and look towards the cylindrical, vibrantly lit batteries spread between both belts. As you slither down, take good, accurate aim and fire at the batteries. Don't let the belt get the best of you! Once you've destroyed them, trot to the other conveyor and do the same with the trio of batteries over there. The parcels will immediately stop. Head to where to found the instructions and go north from there. Run up the steps and board the conveyor to the left, that serves as a steep, stairless inclination leading up to our destination. At the top, instead of heading into the dark, mysterious abyss within the belt's exit port, go up the steps to its left. There is a door there and to its right a nice chest with an Ex Gem Lv2. Run through the door. In this new room, kill the Desians for good measure. Unlock the memory seal and save/heal before boarding the nearest warp. You'll shift to the deactivation group. Exit the area through the southeastern door (NOT the one we took we Lloyd; that'd be the southwestern). Kill the Desian and exit the area through the south to reach the courtyard. Kill the Desian and enter the crate "complex" to the right. Look for a small opening between the crates, a bit to the bottom of them), and run through it. You'll find a bunch of smaller crates. Move them around to make a path to the door at the upper side of this small complex. It's quite easy, you just need to intelligently move the crates (which isn't too hard). Go through the door. You'll reach an intricate portion of this level, with various paths to be taken. First, go right to reach the traditional, rectangular room with a Desian on it, waiting to be killed. Once he's done for, head through the top-left opening to reach a room with a Card of Earth and a switch; press it. After the short cinema, head through the door across the switch. Beat the Desians here to get another cinema. Now, you have three ways to proceed (not counting the useless upstairs area): exit through the door right in the bottom-middle of the room, or take either of the two paths at the bottom right and left. The bottom right takes to you to the switch you just hit. Let's go first through the bottom left opening. Get the Stun Charm there and activate the switch on the floor. Once you've done so, go back to the previous room and exit through the bottom middle. Kill the RAYBIT hovering about and go south to reach a three-way intersection. You can go right, left, or further to the south. Check out the southern door to disengage its lock and make it possible to quickly head back to the control room. Anyway, now, you have the right and left paths to choose. Head through either of them. You'll eventually reach a rectangular room with a door shut-tight (and a Desian wandering about), and a opened doorway, which leads to a Raybit nested on top a switch. Kill the Raybits on both wings and trigger both switches. Depending on your party, the Raybits could be a bit hard, but careful healing is really all you need. The action will shift back to Lloyd. Save/heal and hit the warp. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Kvar Energy Stone x 3 This battle is quite tough. Your Healer should be set to heal, and Genis (you have him, right!?) should have Air Thrust or Stalagmite set to his shortcuts. Be sure they all have "attack same". Your first priority is to get rid of the Stones. Immediately lock on into one of them, jam on the shortcut and head over to where it is. Use a powerful combo and hit block after it; these things a special energy wave that, if too near, racks up lots of powerful hits (around 300 PTS of DMG). Guardian would be a great way to lessen the damage, but hold off on that for now. If you're encircled by the Stones, shift targets and RUN! If they gang you up, their energy attack will be too much to handle and will kill you in no time! It's good to escape and heal any wounds (manually) when this happens. The stones are usually pretty close together, but they like to fly around. When they like some of your guys, they get to him and start depleting his or her HP. You should circle through the many stones, all while using a ridiculous amount of Air Thrusts, so they don't get rid of your pals too quickly. Healing is of extreme importance. We've already discussed them Stones and how damaging they're; but there is also the Kvar factor. If you stay away from him he really can't do much, but if destiny is hell bent on getting your characters next to him, be ready to be rumbled. Kvar has a limited assortment of attacks: his Lightning Combo is usually preceded by two wand strikes, which are weak; but then comes a burst of lightning which, by itself, shoves off as much as 400 HPs. He's got a spell that basically sends a gigantic, spherical wave of energy your way, reducing lots of HPs (as much as the previous attack). He'll also sometime float, raise his wand and quickly cast a spell. This, I think, is as potent as the others; I only saw it once. With a good usage of Guardian and the standard block you can absorb a lot of Kvar's hits, but while the Energy Stones are around it's simply not possible. That's why you should do your best to stay away from him, all while compulsively healing your wounds with items or spells. If you see a character being picked at by Kvar, run up to him, slash Kvar until your friend runs, and then get the hell out. The stones have lots of HPs, sadly, so it'll be a while before they're out. Kvar will use his short-reaching Lightning combo throughout this first portion of this fight; his long range wave attack is bound to be unseen throughout it. However, don't count on that, as he may use it. Heal up when you're ready to engage Kvar. Now, when you run up to him, hit the Guardian button to absorb his first wave of attacks. Let me mention something, though: Guardian _doesn't_ last long enough to completely nullify ANY of his attacks. So you will be hit; not as many times, but it's still notable damage. Attack Kvar, all while pumping out Air Thrusts (don't forget about them!). When you see him strike you with his wand, block the first hits and then IMMEDIATELY activate Guardian to lessen the damage done by the Lightning burst. As a matter of fact, you should hit Lightning any time the arcane pattern appears underneath him (i.e. he's going to cast a spell). As told, most of his attacks will still deal out great damage even if Guardian-ed. But it's an amount you can deal with. By pumping out Air Thrusts and using strong combos you will make the fight flow faster. A important matter here is, without a doubt, healing: you'll need to heal a lot. Items are very, very useful in this fight, as spells often take too long. You will also find yourself needing to use Orange Gels for TP; don't hesitate to do so. Lloyd will also die often, so Life Bottles should be employed adamantly. I know this is becoming a trite diatribe, but hey, it works: healing is important, otherwise you'll be killed too often; and revival of your characters will let you stand up to him adequately. And TP... well, you need the spells for the damage. The one that'll need healing the most will be Lloyd; don't doubt it. The other ones should do moderately well. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Watch the scene. You'll be at Asgard ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S G A R D =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Save and head to the area where Linar's house is; head into Harley's house (built into the very stone) and go through the upper right door. Talk with Harley to get the Figurine Book. Then, head to the Asgard ruins for a cutscene. Go to Luin and head over to the fountain area; talk with the guy there to be taken to Hima. There, move forward to the inn for additional cutscenes. After them you'll have the Tower Key. Now head to the world map. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head back to the Luin area by going northwest and, when you hit a dirt road, veering a bit east. Cross the bridge by Luin and run to the north along the eastern slope of the mountain over there. You'll eventually reach a small space positioned among the mountains and silently gazing at the sea -- it's the Tower of Mana. Head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O W E R O F M A N A ======================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go through the front door. At the foyer a scene occurs and after it you'll have to pick a party member to come along with you... Colette is a mandatory, so you only have one spot. A healer would be good, but Genis' spellcasting does great justice... your choice, anyways. At the next screen, move to the right. You'll find LIVING SWORDS and the infamous GRIM REAPERS. The Swords are very weak and fall quite easily; the Reapers like to defend quite a bit but they're easily dealt with. So, proceed tranquilly. It's a circling staircase dimly lit by torches and sustained by pillars. Try to fight all of the enemies you find as you go up (TOY DOLLS are woefully easy), as one of them grants an ever so-useful Memory Gem. Trust me, it's quite a long walk. At the very top you will find a brown treasure chest containing an Armet Helm, next to a doorway; head through it. You'll reach an ornamented square room boasting an interesting, mirror-clad block and a series of cryptic structures. At the northern side of the room there is a curtain; burn it. This'll cause sunlight to beam in into the room. Push the block into the ray of light and align it with the two "structures" on the eastern and western side of the room (a white sphere to the right and a stone door to the left). Thus you unlock the westernmost door. Head through. After crossing the aforementioned door you'll hit a balcony suspended over a dancing-room like room. There is a locked-up save point (unseal it) as well as a warp point. Save and utilize the warp by examining the pedestal next to it. Examine the bookcase directly to the left of the opened door. You should be able to examine it; do so to get Boltzman's Book. Then head through the aforementioned door and up the steps. Here, burn down the curtain to the left and push the block into the sunlight. Align it with the uppermost door to destroy it; proceed to the next screen. Once you arrive at it, head directly to the left and burn down the curtain there. Scout this area. It's a sprawling room with lots of blocks and various spherical pieces. There is a dilapidated bridge over it, too. At the northern side of it there are some treasure chests (Ex Gem Lv 2, Lunar Guard and Moon Robe). A door is also around these parts. Ignore it for now. Instead, let's work out the blocks. There are three spherical pieces spread out, accompanied by blocks that reflect sunlight in different directions according to the alignment of their mirrors. Let's check them out: 1-- 2-- 3-- 4-- ############# ############# ############# ############# # ########### ########### # # ## # # # # ######## ######### # # #### # # ## # ##### ###### # # ###### # # ##### # ## ### # # ######## # # ######## # # # # # ########### # ########### ############# ############# ############# ############# That's the way the mirrors are shaped inside the actual blocks. Now, let's examine the spherical pieces: O This is, in a different scale, how the pieces are put in O O the room. It's now time to organize the mirrors/spheres: 2%%%%%%%%%%1 % O O%%%%%%3%%%%%%O%%%% % % X%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%4 This is how it'll all look. "X" is where the light beams from, the "%"s represent the sunlight's direction and the Os are the spherical pieces. The numbers are the mirrors and their location. To learn which number represents which mirror check the above diagram. Having done this, save up and the northern side of the room and go through the adjacent door. Pick up the Stinger Ring next to the doorway here and then break through to the next room. There, exit through the south to reach another spiraling staircase. Ascend. SPECTERS are a new breed of enemy you might bump into; they're not too hard, though, so just go around them with magic. At the top of the spiral there is a door; cross it and turn left at the next screen. Kill the monster floating about and open up the two chests to get an Ex Gem Lv2 and Iron Mail. You can now cross the light bridge shimmering over the crevice, or, uh, kill the enemy down the steps _ Seriously though, just cross the light bridge. You'll take control of Lloyd's group. Save up and go along the light bridge that just formed. From there make your way along steps and bridges until you reach the other group. Heal up and pick a party for the following battle. A Healer, Genis and Lloyd are the best recommendation. I dislike having to force you to use a certain character, but I mean, seriously, Genis > you, at least now. The fourth character will NEED to be Colette. Have your healer be set to "Heal", Genis use "L-Range Magic" and "Use Skills Freely", while Colette is put on an attacking mindset that goes along her capabilities. Heal up, too and have Air Thrust on your shortcuts along with another powerful attack (like Angel Feathers). If you feel like so, make your pals unable to use many spells so they pump out only the best. If you have Raine, don't do so; her support magic is actually quite useful. Step into the teleporter. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS FIGHT + + + + + + + + + + Iubaris Right off the bat he'll lunge at you for around 280 PTS of DMG and will basically corner your party; PUSH HIM AWAY! Tempest or any variation of it, accompanied by a strong spell, are enough to do so, partially, at least; repeat the process to get him completely away from you. The spell stuns him; hem staggers back when struck by Tempest. Keep in mind that this combo will do good damage to him, and if he blocks it, he won't even flinch and will just resume his attack. It's worth noting that his attacks are nearly all short-ranged. He's got an attack where he summons two dark horses that trot through the battlefield and damage anyone within their wake (for about 280 PTS of DMG), but that's about it. Whenever you see him raise his legs block or trigger a healing spell or whatever. If it is the dark-horse attack you won't be able to do much, as it usually goes past Lloyd if he's real close to Iubaris. If he isn't, block. Iubaris has his own brand of Photon, which does heavy damage to anyone it hits; heal such wounds manually, or you won't stand a chance. Whenever you attack Iubaris he usually retaliates with a strong, hard- hitting combo; blocking it is _nearly_ too easy: blocking cannot prevent such string of attacks to send you flying back. If you feel like it, pump out a Guardian to negate the attack altogether (to an extent... you still receive a little bit of damage). Iubaris likes to jump around the battlefield, a lot: he lunges _past_ you and strikes down two of your folks, pulls off a nice combo that wounds some other guys and when you hit him he shifts back his attention. Normally he'll simply retaliate against Lloyd (who should be attacking him) but don't dismiss the chance of him jumping forward (damaging Lloyd in the process) and hitting some of your fine friends. Sometimes he chains his attacks with the dark-horse summon which will really put a dent on your folks. He'll also fly up and after being suspended for a couple of seconds Force Ray will come out of his mouth, shoving off 300 HPs out of anyone that is hit. In general, you'll be hurt a lot. Manual healing through First Aid is effective to counterattack the pain but simply not enough; employing lots of Apple Gels along with the aforementioned spell is a strongly recommended procedure. It takes less time and replenishes decent amounts of HPs. Utilize Gels constantly, mainly with characters who are out of harm's way; they're the best to be given such task. Your healer should also heal whenever possible, but sometimes that becomes a bit too hard and time- consuming. It's also important that you constantly hack away at Iubaris. Tempest, Fierce Demon Fang and other techs are good, but the best way to actually damage him is through your spells: Air Thrust is by far the best as it stuns Iubaris (making any of Lloyd's techs a world better) and adds up lots of damage; hits. It gives you valuable time to deliver the gels to the appropriately wounded character. Having spells on your shortcuts and pumping them out relentlessly is a great way to go on about, but don't let your character/s that are not among the 'cuts list of privileged folks stand idle! Manually command them to use strong, hard-hitting spells against Iubaris to rack up damage, hit and make your time ;)! Stay mobile and hit block/Guardian often; whenever Iubaris lunges at you be sure to replenish your health and do your best to prevent Iubaris from damaging your friends a bit too much. Pushing him away or getting his attention is rather easy of you combine a spell with one of Lloyd's techs. Iubaris will be bouncing around, flying and generally attacking you without mercy. Healing is rather important as evidenced here. Through First Aid and the gels it should be an easy task, though. This'll put a dent on your TPs; be sure to replenish them CONSTANTLY. Lloyd will be among the characters whose TP runs dry fast. Genis is bound to suffer from this predictable syndrome. Orange Gels were made for a reason; employ them well. Carefully planned healing is an important and effective strategy here. Blocking won't really reduce damage by a great margin but it's rather effective. As long as you make up windows of time through spells/tech for healing, keep up the heat and do well, generally, it should be good. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the scene you must exit the tower (backtrack through Lloyd's path for a much shorter trek). After the cinema head into the world map and from there go to Lake Umacy. A scene ensues. ---- Now comes a semi-optional part of the game. Our true destination is Hima's mountaintop, where we must ride the dragons to the Tower of Salvation. Nonetheless, there are some loose ends to be tied up before heading there: namely, getting the world's summon spirits. As told, this is semi-optional. If you don't wish to do them, be prepared to do so later in the game... when the summons have become more powerful (you'll have to fight them, yes). If you don't wish to go on a fetch-quest, simply skip past the row of asterisks. *************************************** SUMMON HUNTING! UNDINE: First, you must head over to Lake Umacy. A scene ensues there and you're directed to the Thoda Island Geyser. Cross Hakonesia Peak and haul ass to Thoda Island. From there, make your way into the Water Temple and proceed to the altar chamber (heal/save before heading there). You'll have to fight Undine. (note: Sheena must be in your party). BOSS -- UNDINE Genis is a must here; Sheena is obligatory; so is Lloyd. So your other character must be a healer (Raine or Kratos). Undine's modus operandi Is a fairly simple one. By attacking her constantly she stays back and all she'll do is unleash a one or two sword slashes and Spread. Mostly Spread. Undine's spell-casting cannot be stopped and she certainly enjoys employing such spell. Her Sword Slashes and Spread can be foreseen quite easily. She raises her sword, hit block; a slash is coming your way. She's surrounded by the trademark arcane symbol, wait. When she casts Spread, a water circle will appear on the floor; it'll shoot off the water that's the actual spell. When you see the circle, back away; you get enough time. Of course, this is too simple. Undine's sword slashes are very damaging at 170 PTS of DMG per hit, and if she aims at somebody other than Lloyd with Spread that/those person/s are likely to be hit. Spread does considerable damage, up to 300 or more, I'd think. Sheena will come with Lloyd to attack Undine head to head. Attacking the Summon Spirit relentlessly is enough to keep her back, which means your spell caster/healer will be safe -- lest it be Kratos, who'll go forward too (that's why I prefer Raine, so you can control the dying/healing). An occasional Spread will flee and hit the chanters, but that's easily healed from; you don't even have to do so manually. With Lloyd/Sheena/whomever else you'll need to more careful. It's easy for Lloyd to escape Spread and the slashes but nonetheless he'll be hit. Your other strikers will be receiving even more pain as they can't dodge Spread and other attacks as effectively. How to go around this? Dispense Gels non-stop to your main attackers I wouldn't suggest First Aid too much as it eats lots of time before being cast. Gels are a quick, painless way and are just as effective When it comes to attacking Undine, Air Thrust is a tremendous choice as is Photon (if you don't have Raine, don't fret). Air Thrust _can_ stun Undine's spell-casting if cast at the right time, but you'll need immaculate timing. Even then, keep performing the spell to add up lots of hits and give you small time to perform further combos or heal up. Lloyd won't do much damage; however, it's important that he attacks. The usual combos combined with ground-based Techniques (Fierce Demon Fang and others) are very effective, but will usually leave you open for attack (unless she's about to cast Spread). Block often to lessen the damage. Healing your strikers is of great importance. Since you will be chanting lots of spells, techs and whatnot TPs will run dry quickly so replenish those to. It's a bit of a long fight but it'll eventually be over. You'll get the Aquamarine and the ability to summon Undine. Now, head back to Lake Umacy (gulp!) and watch the scene there. You'll get the Unicorn Horn and Raine will learn Resurrection. She'll also earn the title of Grand Healer. Having done this, head to Luin and talk with the guy by the fountain to be taken to Hima. Go into the inn (stay away from the mountaintop) and pay a visit to Pietro. He'll be healed in no time. If you return to Luin Pietro will be standing by the entrance asking for donations; provide him with cash to make him rebuild the city of destruction; but not now. Further information can be found in the sidequests appendix of this FAQ. SYLPHS: Head over to the Balacruf Mausoleum. There, go to the altar room. BOSS -- SYLPHS (Yutis Fairess Sephie) Once again, Sheena must be with you. I'd say going for the arrow girl first. Have "Attack Same" with Sheena and another guy while Genis attacks different Targets with Spread. This is a hectic battle and healing will be of extreme importance. The Sylphs will bounce around and kick your folk's ass. As told, go for the arrow girl, as she can attack for afar with quick-hitting combos (each hit takes off around 270 HPs). Look for her and push her down with Tiger Blade/Tempest and then proceed to slash her guts out. Mercilessly. Meanwhile, have Genis cast Spread a whole lot and your healer employ Gels. Yes, Gels. Given the fact that there are so many targets and they're very swift, you can expect to absorb tons of damage constantly so First Aid is too slow for this. Jam on the buttons so you get rid of the archer quickly and then shift your attention to the swordsman. Repeat with her, but try to block-jump away from her attacks as it is easy. Meanwhile, keep performing those spells and healing! The third Sylph should be dealt with equally. I'm sorry for the lack of an extensive strategy, but healing is mostly what you'll need to do. Lots of it, through Gels and the occasional spell. Try to kill your targets quickly to lessen the damage done to you and slow down the pace. TPs will run dry quickly, so keep an eye on those, too. After the fight you'll get the Sylph summon spirit. EFREET: Well, you'll have to travel quite a bit. Firstly, go to Luin and from there head to Hima with the travelsman by the fountain. Exit Hima and go west towards the beach. You should find Nova's Caravan. Head inside if you wish, but veer southwest instead (in your map, you should be heading to the tip of a long peninsula). Turn south when you hit the beach to find a bridge. Cross it. Activate the Guidepost Monument to the west of the bridge and then head around the mountains. Go south until you find the Ossa Trail. If you haven't beaten the Sword Dancer, do so (it should be extremely easy). Anyways, just cross to the other side. Dive into the desert and go to Triet. Heal/save there and stock up on items. I also recommend paying the Katz so they find the Guidepost Monument for you. Either way, move over to the Triet Ruins. At the Ruins, go the warp point (I suggest duking it out with the Fake here. It can only be damaged by magic, but now it should be easy to beat it. You'll get an All-Divide and Spirit Bottle). BOSS -- EFREET Sheena, Genis, Lloyd and a healer, as usual. Have "Spread" on your shortcuts along with another strong attack, such as Photon. Be sure Genis can't cast Fire spells. Engage. Start off by casting Spread and performing S.Seal: Water on Sheena herself and Lloyd. If you have Kratos, on him, too. Efreet is vicious. He's got lot of attacks and most of them manage to hit various party members at a time. Let's go over such attacks. Firstly, there is Explosion. When it is cast, you won't see a thing. Shortly thereafter a powerful energy beam will crash against the floor and crate a shockwave that engulfs anything within its wake. Totaled up, the damage done by this attack surpasses the 1,000 PTS! Blocking reduces it to around 500, but you're still sent back. Besides, it's likely that your friends won't block adequately and be hit by it. This is a dangerous attack that's thankfully not used very often and will usually hit two party members, at most. It's tough to heal from it on time; a combination of spells and Gels is the way to go. Raging Mist is a rather interesting attack. Basically, the floor turns into molten lava and you start taking hits as you stand on it. When you see the floor melt up, all you have to do is fly away from there by block jumping or performing Tempest. Both are as effective. You're bound to eat up a couple of hits, though. Each one of them shoves off around 170 PTS of DMG. Efreet's other attack is Eruption which does around 500 PTS of DMG to anybody along a semi-wide spectrum; blocking it is possible, with Lloyd, at least, but your other friends will have a hard time doing so. You get around a second to escape from it before it connects, so be swift and move out. Lastly, Efreet will pick up whomever is real near to him and while choking him shove off up to 500 PTS of DMG out of that person; this attack is unblockable. As told, casting S. Seal: Water should be among your priorities. It's real tough to do so: Sheena likes to attack Efreet head on, and WILL be interrupted as she casts the aforementioned spell. To go around this, shift control to Sheena, move away and bestow the powers of water upon Lloyd, yourself and Kratos, if you have him. Then, shift back to Lloyd and resume the attacking. If there is something good about this fight is that Efreet can be hit deliciously easy. Pump out Spreads like a madman and perform combos on him while he flies up (Tempest, Tiger Rage and whatnot). Beast is a moderately good attack; but Spread is your greatest Asset. You'll have to move around a lot to dodge some of Efreet's attacks, and your folks will most likely eat up most of them (damn the AI). Blocking is useful if you see you cannot escape Explosion or Eruption, but, trust me, it doesn't absorb as much damage as you'd be led to believe. It's mostly useless, so it's better to escape. Sheena and whomever is attacking head-on will suffer a lot. With Lloyd is a bit easier to control the damage received by ducking and whatnot but Sheena/Kratos will suffer all of the vexations. The chokehold attack, Eruption, Explosion... it's a hectic battle. Healing takes a whole new meaning here :) It's almost impossible to keep up with the damage done to you, so you don't expect to be full-health throughout the entire fight. You'll be very low on HPs many times, but don't fret! Try to have it over 600 and you should be fine most of the time. Of course, Efreet will kill you in that case, but not very often. Explosion and the chokehold attack are the only attacks that can do so and they are not used too constantly. You can't do much when that happens so simply revive, pump out First Aid and hope for the best. Utilizing Gels in combination with First Aid is the best way to proceed. Gels are fast but they don't heal enough HPs; on the other hand, First Aid is slow. A powerful combo of them will keep you alive through most of the fight. Spreading will keep Genis back and make him be one of the least damaged party members. Have Lloyd perform powerful strings of attacks to rack up the damage. Healing and reviving will be of extreme importance. Your friends will die often and surely will hit critical status more than once. Quick employment of your healing tools will be fundamental to your survival. This is the most-damaging boss we've faced thus far, so be sure you have enough Gels! After he's out you'll get his summon. Now, before heading back to Hima (we're almost done), I suggest visiting Dirk's house. Exit the desert through the northeast and hit the dirt road. Once you find the House of Salvation, veer northwest. You'll eventually arrive at Iselia. Cross the forest and move to Dirk's. Talk with him some to begin processing Pellets and get an Ex Gem Lv3, Metal Sphere and Onion (you'll have to talk with him more than thrice, I think). You'll also get an Exsphere Shard. Anyways, now make ALL the way back to Hima ;) *************************************** You don't want to go summon hunting/already went? Well, got to Hima. There, head to the mountaintop (save/heal/stock up on lots of items). Talk with your folks spread around the village and finish with Colette. A series of entertaining scenes ensue. You'll get the Assassin's Ring along the way. After this, it's rockin' time! Save and go to the top of the mountain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O W E R O F S A L V A T I O N ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head inside and move across the light bridge suspended over an infinite gap. As you go along, you'll have to watch a scene. Bodies circle along the infinite chasm that spreads out below you, in an endless, ominous cycle. Warp up after this. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Remiel Well, he ain't too bad. You're forced to employ Lloyd, Sheena, Raine and Genis. Be sure Genis can only cast his strongest spells, that Raine CANNOT use Photon and Sheena... hm, no prob. Also, having a full Unison Bar at the start of the fight is good. Work your Strats so Genis and Raine stay behind. Oh, and be sure you have a moderately nice supply of items. Remiel starts by floating around an area and generally being a dork. When you run up to him he occasionally fires a triple-hitting arrow shot, each hit knocking off over 120 PTS of DMG. You can block it rather easily IF you see it coming; otherwise not even catwoman-like reflexes will save you. Other than that he uses his Holy Lance, where he summons a bunch of celestial spears and impales whomever it is directed to. It's quite easy to dodge with Lloyd; once you see a rainbow-kind of aura appear on the ground jump-block back and you'll dodge it. As usual, if its directed to your other characters it'll be next to impossible to save them. The best thing you can do is to assign somebody to use a healing item on the affected person while the spell is cast; so, after he's fully hit his/her health will be replenished. Attacking Remiel at this phase is relatively simple. Pump out tons of techs, employ lots of magic spells (be sure you have some on your shortcuts) and heal/cast support magic on your party. Eventually Remiel will start to warp around the field. This is when things get a bit hard, as he becomes nearly uncontrollable. He'll warp up, shoot some arrows and dish out notable damage before he starts chanting a powerful Holy Lance spell to knock off even more HPs. Since his spell casting cannot be cancelled, only prevented, you can't do much. He'll also add "Judgment Ray" to his repertoire, a tremendous attack that dishes out as much as 700 PTS of DMG. It's got a telltale sign (an aura beams around Remiel) so it can be easily dodge; but man, you really have to back off as it's got a very large hit radius so if you back out only a little you'll be hit. At this second phase attacking is a bit harder and will be done mainly through spells, so keep them coming! You'll also see your characters die, get to critical status and generally, have a bad time. Manual healing is a must; but be sure your characters can also heal/revive through their own free will. Both methods will be of great help. Lloyd will have a hard time nailing Remiel but it's possible to do so; besides, you must do so to pump up the Unison Bar. If possible unleash one more attack (or your first if you didn't have the bar full at the start of the combat). It makes Remiel stagger, gives you valuable time to heal and racks up some nifty damage. Magic will be your main weapon through the warp-phase of the battle. Healing will also become very, very important. So, heal ;) All in all, a moderately easy fight. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Now comes another fight... + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Kratos He's really, really hard. He basically bounces about pumping out mad combos with his sword and tearing your party up. He usually hits one or two characters only, but he can cripple half of their HP rather painlessly. His Grave attack does so, for instance. It's hard to land effective hits on him (he blocks often) or any hits at all as he's very agile. Even then, he usually counters with a strong attack and halves your HP o_O Employing Guardian is of extreme importance with Lloyd; use it often. Your other characters will be hit a lot, though. Be ready to revive, heal and replenish TPs like crazy. Kratos is hard to handle, I cannot stress this enough, so healing and using Guardian are two strategies that must be used often. Eventually Kratos will go nuts and start using Thunder Blade like crazy. This is probably when you'll lose the fight :) This attack will probably kill you in one hit (because you're never at full health): is practically impossible to dodge, hits various times and it can land on multiple characters. Taking a careful approach to Kratos becomes even more important now: Sheena will probably die, but to prevent Genis and Raine from becoming mincemeat continuously tap on the shortcut buttons (be sure they've got some spells there) so they stay away, while Lloyd attacks carefully, with lots of dodging and blocking (mostly blocking). Using Unison attacks will really help, too. You have to keep it up for quite a lot before he goes down, so be ready to employ lots and lots of items (to the point you'll lose most of them). If Kratos ever kills your other party members you're most likely doomed, because he gets rid of them fast. Do your best but don't sweat it if you lose; the game continues anyway. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Well, sorry for the rather brief strategy over there ;) Anyways, you'll now have to fight Lord Yggdrasil. Kratos was insane but he could be beaten; not so here. Die. Just die and keep on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- S Y L V A R A N T B A S E ========================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you regain control, turn right and immediately thereafter, head north. There is a new breed of soldiers here, the EVIL WARRIORS who carry gigantic hammers. They have a high amount of HP but are easily beaten with a quick succession of physical hits. Anyways, at the end of the corridor turn right to arrive at a bridge suspended over of an expansive warehouse. In a small nook nested in front of the bridge's entrance is a store of sorts; stock up, sell some items if needed and resume your way rightwards. You'll reach an sprawling room filled with crates, stairs and an S. Ring shifter directly across from the entrance door; be sure to do the shiftin'. Now, you may want to scout the area: the upper part of it and the bottom part, which is reached by going up the steps next to the entrance and from there heading down. At the bottom area there are three blocks; two are laying about while one is nested on top a small platform. Now, pick up the two laying around and push them towards the staircase to the left. Accommodate them so they form a natural bridge towards the platform the third block is on (this isn't too hard). Push down this third block and drag it towards the top- right side of the room. Evaluate this area. There is a small, stepped platform sprawled in the middle of it ahead of which is a blue panel. To its right is another small podium separated from two chests by a small gap. Position one crate in such gap while you create a bridge between the middle platform and the rightmost podium (using the remaining crates). Cross through this makeshift structures to reach the chests. They hold a Straw Hat and a Ex Gem Lv2. After doing this, push the "pale", nearly-colorless, "different" block into the blue panel in the middle of the room. Then head down the stairs it unlocks. You'll reach what seems to be a water drainage. Ahead of the staircase there is a small pond of clear water; to the right a block. To the left a machine nestled along the wall (move around until you can "Examine" it) and a pillar circling about on the top-left. Hit the machine with the S.Ring and toy around with it. Head back to the upper area and head to its bottom side. Look for a slightly odd-colored square portion of the floor with pink lights on its bottom and top (it's by the steps). Position two blocks (straight line, like this "!") on such piece of the floor and head back to the bottom room. Go to the circling cylinder and hit it with your S.Ring and examine the machine. Push the switch. This'll lower the aforementioned, odd colored squared "platform" with the two crates; cross over to the other side and turn left. Hidden by the raised platform with a panel on it and directly in front of the pond is a chest with a Protect Ring. Get it; now, head to the podium's bottom side. Activate the pillar there, climb up the stairs of the platform and trigger the switch. Cross over to the other side of the pond and push the odd-colored block (to the right) onto the chasm formed by the drainage of the water. Now head to the other side and go down the stairs across the panel-ridden platform into the crevice where you dropped the block. Drag it to the blue panel. Now hit the pillar. Go back up and exit the room through the southern tip of it. Watch the scene. Now head through the leftmost door. In the subsequent corridor, turn left but veer northwards whenever possible. Run along the corridor into the hangar. Watch the scene. ====== ************ 000000000000000000000000 ************ ====== 0000 T E T H E ' A L L A 0000 ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ========= ** ======== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- F O O J I M O U N T A I N S ============================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Descend through the soft slope, save and proceed downwards. In this next screen resume your descent. Along the way you'll have to fend off against some easy enemies (they can be moderately damaging but it's not too bad) and will also get a nifty batch of items. It's a completely linear road albeit a bit long. Eventually you'll reach a small, open area that has a few "craters" on the floor and two chests. Head south from there and look to the left to find a hidden path; at the end of it is a Misty Robe. Head back to the main road and go south to find the exit. Watch the scene and exit. (note: you'll be getting lots of skits here). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W O R L D M A P ================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A brave new world is spread right in front of you; time to get a'exploring'! There are some items to be gotten here before veering northwards to Meltokio. Firstly, head all the way south from the mountains till you find a chest containing Super Pellets. From there head west along the dirt road that is extended through the continent's western side (check the mini map). At the end of its is a microscopic canyon with an Anti-Magic Bottle nestled on it. Now go back to the Fooji Mountains and go north until you find a city encircled by tall walls. West of it there are a series of lush forests; two actually, divided by a peak that protrudes off the nearby mountain. Explore the southern tip of this shrubbery. Look for a canyon (a nook of sorts) nested next to the aforementioned peak. Wade through it a bit until you get a valuable Reverse Doll. Trek back to Meltokio and turn to east of it until you hit the shores. From there go south until you find a mansion of sorts positioned on top a peak, gazing at the ocean. It's a House of Guidance; here you can rest up for a hefty sum of 600 Gald and chat with the people. Head west from the House to find the Guidepost Monument among the thicket, in front of the mountains. Well, that's about it. Run back to Meltokio and head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M E L T O K I O =============== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the introductory scene, head forward for further cinemas. Head right and enter the building there (the inn). Go further to the right to reach a small plaza; east are the slums, north is the Elemental Research Lab. Head to the western side of town to find the item shop/Katz stand. You can purchase Lemon and Pineapple Gels here for high prices; try to get a couple of them, at least. Climb the staircases in the middle of town to trigger a scene. Turn west thereafter and enter the shop that's right after the bridge. It's the weapons/customization store. There is a cute little cat on the upper-left side of it which is actually the Wonder Chef! You might want to upgrade your weapons stock, too. Directly below of this shops is the coliseum where strong warriors test their might and skills. Stay away from it for now... or fight if you feel like so ;) Anyways, east from the plaza where you found Zelos is the armor shop. If you have the cash to spare, upgrade. Back at the plaza, go north into the upper class quarters where the filthy rich live. To the west is the church, to the right in a subsequent screen a garden of sorts. Run past the huge mansion just ahead the introductory steps until you find a fountain; enter the estate that's next to it. Head upstairs and turn left. At the corner, examine the present with a chef hat to find the Wonder Cheffiour! After this, exit. You may further explore the upper quarters and then head back to the "main hub" of them. Go upwards to the entrance of what seems to be the local castle. Approach the entrance doors to trigger a brief cinema. After that, head to the church and speak with the main priest. Exit after that to watch a rather funny scene ;) Head towards the castle entrance after that to trigger another cinema. Inside, Presea will join your party. It's time to explore the castle. Head west and, in the next screen, go upstairs (explore about if you wish). Here, if you go further up you'll reach a balcony with red double doors, leading into the royal chambers. Before heading there, go east. Go down and explore the eastern side of this portion of the castle to find a memory seal. There really isn't much else to do; head back to the royal chambers doors and barge in. Throughout the following cinemas you'll have to make a rather hard choice, at least on the moralistic side >_< It's up to you to decide what to do, though ;) I must admit that it was a semi-tough decision (not the usual bad/good kind of thing). Exit the castle and meet up with Zelos at the cathedral. He'll join you; now, leave Meltokio. At the world map, head northeast until you find a huge bridge. Go inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- G R A N D T E T H E ' A L L A B R I D G E =========================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Move across the bridge until you find a blue katz staring at the ocean; talk to him to play Green/Red Light. Basically, you have to run forward when the katz is not looking and stop when he is looking, and so until you get to the finish line. Other children will try to beat you to it; the competition is fierce! (check the appendices for extra info.) Clear the bridge and exit to the world map. There, go northeast until you find a small village. Go into it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- S Y B A K ========= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientists galore! Anyway, explore town. Head inside the huge building on the northern side of town and examine the interesting "painting" positioned among the two cyclopean bookshelves... well, it's the wunderkind of a chef! He'll teach you a new tasty recipe ;) Now head to the southwestern screen of the town and go into the big building there. After the scenes, exit it by going east and head back to the town's main plaza. Go over to the merchants at the northwest and chat with the one hidden among some boxes, covered by the clandestine shadows. After the merchant obdurately gives up his Key Crest, make your way back to the academy and talk with the people by the entrance. After you're inside, head through the door left of the dinosaur and in the following hallway enter the second door from right to the left. Backtrack to the main lobby where a ludicrous cutscene ensues. After them you'll the Tethe'alla Map and Sheena will rejoin your group. Exit through the door that was just unlocked and exit Sybak. Go back to the Grand Bridge at swing your leg across it. Fight the Knights at the other side. ----- After the scenes, head to the Fooji Mountains. Climb to the very top, fighting some new, tougher monsters as you. (be sure to save/heal whenever possible). You'll reach the top in no time, where a boss fight awaits! (put Colette and Raine in your party, as well as Genis. Set Photon and Judgment/Angel Feathers to your shortcuts. Be sure Raine has "Heal" on her Strats. The rest is standard-issue) + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Pronyma Well, this nice lady is actually moderately hard ;) She's got lots of POWERFUL attacks that'll make tasty mincemeat out of you if you don't heal properly; but if you do it should be easy to handle. Having Guardian among Llody's available attacks is a good choice, but not necessary. With him, I suggest going forward and pumping out a quick- hitting attack such as Sword Rain Alpha, Tiger Rage or even Raging Beast; a combination of such is also pretty good. Try to pump out Techs that are ground-based and not high-flying stuff such as Omega Tempest Strike. Guardian helps to minimize damage done by her short-range attacks, namely, her physical strike, which cleans off around 350 HPs out of your bars and Leonazium which can, quite easily, remove as much as 600 HPs! These two come out real fast, so there's no way to predict efficiently, but by paying attention is real possible to block them, too. These two attacks are used on a regular basis but are not the girl's exclusives. She also has a trio of long range attacks: Dark Sphere, which in total can do over 700 PTS of DMG; Ice Tornando, which can hit various characters for a hefty 300-500 PTS of DMG; Agarazium, a tractor beam kind of attack that reaches the 500's and lastly, Bloody Lance which is bloody powerful, doing as much as 500 PTS of DMG totaled. That's quite an arsenal! Lloyd can block most of this attacks with a careful use of Guardian but when they're aimed to your other pals they certainly won't. Jam on your shortcuts to chant Photon and Judgment as often as possible as they're the two most damaging spells. Performing them often also means that when you're damaged you _could_ have to wait aeons before a healing spell comes out. And that's why I nearly lost this fight. I simply kept casting spells while my characters were down on their 700's and seldom healed (mostly through the AI). Eventually, Pronyma got too vicious and my characters started to die! How to go around this? Manual healing. Even if Raine is casting Photon, head into the menu and select "Heal". She'll cancel her previous spell will start to cast Heal/First Aid. Meanwhile, have somebody else dive into the Item inventory and use a Gel. Do this rather often while Lloyd attacks relentlessly with his combos and Colette pumps out the ever-so-powerful Judgment. Genis should be given the task of dispensing items, so give him a few spell-casting breaks. If you heal adequately Pronyma won't be able to kill you. Now then, even if she does, just revive and fully heal such character. I recommend taking breaks from fighting to do so; have two friends focus on healing a wounded character and, if there are too many, have your entire party concentrate on this beneficial task. Pronyma hits real hard but so does Judgment, Photon and Lloyd. Genis ain't too bad, either. So, racking up the damage ain't really a problem. The problem could be surviving Pronyma's powerful onslaught of attacks that can obliterate you if you don't do adequate healing. As long as you constantly keep your characters up all while pumping out Judgments (the most important spell here) everything should go very smoothly. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Save and exit the Fooji Mountains. Now head into Meltokio. A scene ensues and then you'll be in the sewers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M E L T O K I O S E W E R S ============================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go forward past the odd-colored patterns on the floor and turn right. There are SEWER RATS, VIOLENT VIPERS and JELLYFISH spread around here. None are particularly hard but it should be noted that they do have a hefty amount of HPs. Vipers are poisonous so get rid of them first. Head up the steps at the end of this short path (you might GIANT LEECHES here. As nearly every enemy here, they're poisonous). Turn left and take note of the cobweb connecting to an adjacent platform; it can't be crossed. So, head further to the left and examine the S.Ring shifter there. The new S.Ring function you'll get shrinks your party to microscopic levels. Stepping on the various blue panels returns you to normal! Be wary, though, as enemies are tougher when fought in mini-mode >_> Look at the top-left side of the shifter altar and stare at it until you make out a thin ledge that sticks out the wall; turn mini and board it. Move across it until you find a rat's hole. Inside, dodge the rate and pick up the Ex Gem Lv2. Go back to the shifter now and head south from it. Turn mini and cross the cobweb. Get back to normal on the panel and ascend. Defeat the rat wandering about to get a memory gem. Head up and turn right; cross the bridge. At the other side you can go down the steps or go further to the north. Head down the steps and pick up the Spirit Ring hidden underneath them. Go back up and proceed north. The party will have a brief discussion; after that, pick up the Ex Gem Lv3 off the wooden box and go up the long staircase. At the big, clean platform up there, head forward to find a great machine. After the dialogue, move to the left of the machine and gawk at the wall until you make out the hard-to-see rat hole there. Inside is a Great Axe. Now, check out the machine and make it create a garbage block. After it is done, let it rest and examine the leftmost portion of this platform. You should see three gaps in the railing; concentrate on the middle one. Push a block down it. Look at the bottom side of the platform, next to the stairs, to find two more gaps. Create two garbage cubes and drop them through each gap. Once you've done so, go all the way down and move towards the staircase underneath of which you found a Spirit Ring (south of the flight that leads to the garbage machine). You should notice the blocks floating between a tiny rail line. Shrink and board such; then, use the cubes to break on through to the other side. Transform back to normal and turn the valve there. After this, backtrack to the once-locked door where your party discussed and proceed to the next portion of the sewers. Right across the entrance is a sealed memory seal; to the right a staircase. Unseal the save point, save, and go down the staircase. Go into the small nook next to it, by where the blue panel is, to find a hidden chest with a Breastplate. Head back to the save point. Turn left of the save point and look for a grated set of stairs at the bottom of screen; veer downwards to find a small wooden box. Board it while in mini-mode and, at the next screen, turn big and open the valve there. After that, shrink again and "Jump" into the pathway that's across the valve. Clear it and make your way into the garbage machine. Go through the door you just unlocked. There is another machine here. Before making any cubes, explore the sprawling but linear catwalk, at the corners of which cobwebs gaze upon the level below. Also, take a good look at the catwalks railings; notice that there are some gaps along them. Take note of the panels, too. Hmm... Make a garbage block and start pushing it along the catwalk. At its first turn to the right there is a gap (on the bottom side); however, you don't need to push the block down it. Push the block a bit past the cobweb but not enough so it falls. Now, shrink and use the web to go around the block. Step in the panel and now that you're at the other side of the cube, _drag_ it rightwards *one* space. Shrink again, head around the block one more time and _push_ it rightwards (there is a difference) until you find a gap. Now, exit to the previous garbage-machine room and head down the stairs there; then, through the door that was before unlocked (from now on referred as the "connecting door"). Move forward and trot down the steps to the right, behind the save point. Look for the tiny pathway protruding out of this platform and board it. Go forward and turn left when possible. At the other side, go up the steps on mini mode and head into the cage by crossing the space between the bars. Open up the gate to the right; also, step on the almost invisible switch in the middle of the cage. It makes a bridge extend west of here. Once you get out of the switch the bridge goes back to normal; anyway, exit the cage through its rightmost side and from there make your way to the "upper machine" (the one by the catwalks). Create a block and follow the previous ritual to get it to the gap where you dropped off the first cube. Instead of dropping it off, though, use the cobweb to go around it and then drag it upwards. When you can't keep dragging it, you'll be in front of a gap and next to web; use the web to, once again, go around the block and this time around, push it forwards but be sure it doesn't fall down (one space). Get to the block's side by using the web and drag it rightwards until you can't do it anymore; get to the block's opposite side by using the nearby cobweb and push the cube down the gap right here. Make your way to the connecting door and into the bottom level, where you just dropped off the cube. Move towards it (turn right from the save point, go up and take the first left to find it) and drag it into the switch in the middle of the cage (the block is, conveniently, right across the switch). Run to the upper machine once again and create a block. Drag it to the place where you dropped off the second one just a while ago (repeat the ritual). Once you get there, don't push it down. Simply put it in front of the gap. Then, go around it and drag it up once it's not possible to keep doing so. Get to its bottom and push it once space up so it is about to fall; make sure it doesn't. Bounce to the block's right side and drag it to eastwards. Toy with the block there to drop it down the gap. Now, head to the bottom level. Take the path right of the seal and head all the way up into a series of grated steps; take the left one to arrive at a platform with the block you just dropped off. If you look at the platform's bottom railings you should see a gap along its rightmost side. Oh, check out the upper wall right next to the staircase to find a very invisible mouse hole; inside is a Ex Gem Lv1. Anyways, push the block down! Now, backtrack to the memory seal and from there head west until you hit a wall. Go north from there across the grated bridge; at the other side, turn right and climb down the steps. Proceed rightwards a bit more until you notice the mini pathway spreading along the wall. Board it and proceed to its right until you can go up into a podium with a valve. Twist it to unlock a door. Head there and proceed to the next room. Here, go across the entrance to find a chest with 2500 Gald. Now, move back to the entrance door and head south; then, climb down the steps, turn left and proceed upwards past the panels. Turn mini after them and examine the wall between the two brown pillars on the right wall; you should find a rat's hole, with a Thunderbolt inside. Head further up towards the drainage tubes. You should make out part of a pathway underneath the tubes; shrink and cross to the other side. Go down and head into the rat's hole on the leftmost wall (it's totally visible, but, should you have trouble finding it, it's right between two pillars) and then proceed south past the panels. Fight off the wimpy convicts that appear (really wimpy convicts, might I add). After the scenes, go up. There is a S.Ring shifter as well as a chest; should you want to open it you'll have to fend off against a Fake. Defeat it with magic (that's the only thing that damages it) to get an Elixir and an All-Divide. Should you fight it now? Yep. Pump out Angel Feathers, Spark Wave/Air Thrust and Heal like a madman with Raine/items, be sure to revive and it's quite possible to beat without too many problems. Either way, head up the stairs here and at the top head to right and up the ladder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M E L T O K I O =============== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phew! I suggest stocking up on items, healing at the inn and perhaps getting a few new weapons/pieces of armor. Then, head to the city's bottom level and turn east and go up when you run past the inn. Head into the fenced building over there, the Elemental Research Laboratory. A scene ensues. Exit this place and run to the upper quarters of the city. Head to the eastern wing and look for a conspicuously big mansion on the rightmost side of the area (not the one with the pillars and the porch*, but the one to its right, that's clear white and outlined with gold). Talk with your buds on the lower and upper floors. Afterwards, talk with the butler and tell him you're ready to rest. Now you must go back to the Elemental Research Lab where you'll get a Wing Pack (to store the EC). Now, you must exit Meltokio, and to do so, you need to head into the sewers. Before doing so, look around for dogs and name 'em (look in the slums, at the upper floors, and outside Zelos' house). Head to the park on the westernmost side of the bottom level and board the manhole. Pick Quick Jump to be taken outside immediately, exit Meltokio, and head into the Tethe'alla bridge. Climb down the right staircase, head into the docks on the right and chat with Kuchinawa. You'll get Kuchinawa's charm and will board the EC. -- Go directly straight from where you are and look for a pier to right; disembark on it. Now, head to Sybak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- S Y B A K ========= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the scene, name the dog on the main plaza and head southwest to the Academy. There is an extra dog here; left from it it's the manhole you used to go out from Kate's lab. Head into it once again to reach the enclosed quarters where half-elves rest. Kate's promise to recant the Exsphere's power over Presea is to be fulfilled by reaching Gaoracchia Forest which is to the northeast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- G A O R A C C H I A F O R E S T ================================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beat the Papal Knights ahead of the entrance (they've got lots of HP and can shove off moderate amounts of HP, but in general they're easy). Head forward along the linear road to find many foes, such as the BOXER IRIS, PUMPKIN TREE and TROPICAL WORM. The Boxer Iris is VERY vicious, fast and bloodthirsty... plus it does lots of damage! Besides, he looks to follow you around. Beat it to a pulp with strong Techs and show him who's boss! The Pumpkins can also do lots of damage, specially if two gang you up, but are not as violent as the Worms. You'll eventually find a S. Ring shifter. Shift your ring's function. Now, if you want to exit to the other side of the forest, head west. At the map, go forward and turn northeast to find the area's guidepost Monument. There is also a skit point around here. Now, head back to the forest and move over to the shifter. From there, turn right and go along the fierce road, smothered by roots and plants. At the next screen, proceed onwards and get the Drain Charm hidden within the foliage. The bright patch of sunlight across from it serves as a reloading point for the S.Ring's light cannon. There are several paths to be chosen: north, south and east. Galore! Head north. After the road twists to the right it's highly possible that you'll see a conspicuous dome of leaves surrounding a chest; burn the dome with your S. Ring and claim the Phoenix Rod hidden within. Afterwards you might want to backtrack, reload your ring to preposterous levels (to its max) and come back here. Head into the next screen then. There are several more paths: north, or south. Go south and burn the two leafy domes. Get the Witch's Robe off the chest and head east past the plants that were just burnt out. At the next screen, run along the single path and burn out the plants you'll find to get an Angel Bracelet. Go down to reach another bifurcation and head south to find another one (geez!). Left is a plant dome but it can't be burnt; to the right there is a replenishing patch. Rejuvenate and then head further to the right. Go north then. Turn right to find another "planted" chest. Burn its coverings to find out it's sealed. Hmm... also, you might find a bunch of new enemies here. You've probably seen Phantoms and Ghouls (easy) but the UNDERTAKERS are most likely new. Huge coffins attached to their backs, a bent over, red- garbed figure with a mysterious demeanor, utilizing its striking luggage to defend itself with violence by employing the decadent and magically corrupt elements enclosed within the wood. Beat the floating skull around the sealed chest (a bit to its left) to get a Memory Gem. From there, go south and veer eastwards then. Burn down the leafs and proceed into the next screen; there, unlock the save point (save/heal) and head into the next screen. We're about to go out of here. It might not seem like so, but we got most of the area's items (only missed a Pretty Ribbon) and even though we didn't come across the Sword Dancer. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Convict He's got lots of skills, is fast, furious but in general he's a wimp. His damaging attacks can be alleviated by employing careful dodging, moving around and healing. Employ lots of Techs and pack an extra attacker to aid you, while Genis pumps out powerful spells. Meanwhile, have somebody heal constantly. By employing these tactics the battle should go by smoothly. Just don't forget to block!. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Exit the forest through the south. -- At the map, move forward. There are new enemies around here (BEAST OGRE, GOLD BEETLE and MANTIS) There is also a Skit Point... and the village of Mizuho. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M I Z U H O =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explore town, stocking up on items and whatnot. There is a dog waiting to be named, too. Talk with Orochi outside the house surrounded by a small pond. Regal will join you. Afterwards, head back into the Vice-Chief's place and examine the washtub directly ahead of the house's entrance. You'll find the wonder chef and will be taught Ramen. Chat with the Vice-Chief to be able to rest for free in this place. Before leaving, move about town to see a few skits. When you feel you're ready, go back to Gaoracchia. If you want to fight the Sword Dancer read the strategy enclosed by asterisks; otherwise, right after you enter into the forest go north and exit. At the map, cross the bridge and dive into the dense forest in front of the pond; you should have not many difficulties finding Ozette. ************************************************* You might want to pay a visit to the Sword Dancer. At the entrance area, take the exit next to the S.Ring shifter. Head into the screen subsequent to the save-point room. There, go forward and turn left when possible. There he is! Save up if you wish to fight him now. A word of advice: have lots of Lemon Gels, Pineapple Gels and, more importantly, Life Bottles. I once was in the threshold of beating him (with these low levels, of course) with 3000 HP to go (which can be knocked off rather easily)... and ran out of methods to revive my folks. I was knocked out soon afterwards. Damn. Get Ready! Make sure you party is Raine, Colette, Genis and Lloyd; fiddle around and obligate Colette and Genis to cast, exclusively, Spark Wave and Judgment/Angel Feathers (both of 'em) while Raine's repertoire is limited to: Resurrection, Heal, Photon and her support spells. Make sure everybody's got "At Once" on their Strats., except for Raine, who should have heal. Oh, and in your U. Attack menu, put everybody's most useful attack (Judgment, Photon, Spark Wave and, strangely, Omega Tempest) on their one-hit slot (so there is no need to fiddle with the stick). Good equipment is useful, but lots of Gels and Life Bottles even more! A full Unison Gauge, too ;) Anyway, before chatting with Dancer, cook a meal that pumps your Defense. Engage! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Sword Dancer 2 Somebody's gonna want to hit me when I say this guy is not that tough; he's definitely tough but also very beatable. His modus operandi is fairly simple, mind you: he combo'es whomever is too near him by employing his trademark one-two-followed-by-Cross-Slice to shove off conspicuous amounts of damage, but, hey, he might add an extra, arse- kicking element to the chain: Death Spiral, where he twists with his extended quarter of swords and casts death upon whomever is too near; it's a tremendously powerful attack, but it can be survived (more on this later). Sometime later he'll reduce his patterns to spell-casting almost exclusively, casting myriads of dangerous of spells such as Grave, Spark Wave, Flame Lance and whatnot, all hitting numerous party members and dealing damage that needs to be considered! Aside from that there is nothing too special: his toughness resides in his sheer, unadulterated strength and powerful defense. What to do? You must start by pumping out a mandatory Unison Attack. As suggested before, be sure your spells are cast by pressing the appropriate button (with no sticks) so they come out easier. That way you can cast Judgment, Spark Wave, Photon and Omega Tempest painlessly and dish out lots of damage (and also create a Compound U. attack). Now it's time to analyze the rest of the battle! Firstly, be sure you cast some support spells on your lads. Barrier on Lloyd is fundamental, and aside from that, nothing else is much useful, but anyways. With Lloyd you need to have a bevy of ultra-important techniques among your repertoire: namely, Hunting Beast (or Beast), Omega Tempest, Tiger Blade and, more importantly, Guardian (be sure this one is on the B-button slot). Why? Hunting Beast/Beast not only produces considerable wounds, it also generates enough force to propel the Dancer backwards and make it crash down (unless he's blocking) effectively nullifying his momentum (mass times zero velocity = zero) and, more significantly, providing you with time to treat your wounds, revive a character, cast a support spell or simply attack him! It's not as useful as it was in the first fight against the dancer, but it's useful nonetheless! Omega Tempest is sort of a preemptive measure we need to take. The Sword Dancer won't stand idle on a corner of the battlefield; he'll constantly slither towards you, very methodically, yes, but eventually he'll be upon your party. If he's, he can wreak havoc with little to no effort. When he's hazardously proximate to you, perform Omega Tempest to push him backwards and haphazardly eliminate his threat for a while. Tiger Blade/Rage is an attacking measure but now comes one of the most important skills in this battle: Guardian. When The Dancer chants an enchantment it's usually directed to the rest of your team and not Lloyd, which means Guardian won't be of much use against that. There are times, however, when the Dancer will cast his spells on Lloyd. It's fairly easy to see them coming (Spark Wave forms a temporary wave around you before starting to dish out damage, Flame Lance can be seen from a distance; same with Grave) so Guarding them is quite possible; and important. Lloyd is an important asset and maintaining him in premium conditions of great preponderancy. However, the caster's spells are not the things Lloyd will be blocking; rather, it is the Dancer's ubiquitous physical strikes and combos. You can safely block the first two hits but unless you're at maximum health the following thumps will finish you. A careful and intelligent combination of block and Guardian will get you through them. You need to master the art of Guarding, which is kind of easy, anyways. Even then, sometimes you'll mess up and get hit; hey, that's life! The first two slashes are absorbed by a standard block; the next two might two, but Death Spiral will kill you. So, start Guarding halfway through Cross Slice to survive the Spiral. Now, the infamous Jump-Block is also pretty useful! You can get away from tons of attacks by accurately employing it; in the first fight against the dancer this was our main weapon against its combos, and it still is! Jumping back nullifies most of the damage, but it needs to be done with precise timing. Jump Block also works neatly against his spells: since you can predict them, why Guarding them, jump back! Keep in mind that sometimes the telltale sign of a spell will catch you mid-combo and the only way you have to "escape" it's Guarding right after it's started. If you try to jump block it might not work (although trying is not bad ;)). Also, it's worth noting that Guardian won't get you through an entire attack. For instance, Guarding Spark Wave will protect you from the initial attacks but the last two hit will be fully taken. How will you proceed against such a formidable foe? Firstly, be sure you have Spark Wave and Angel Feathers in your shortcuts. I'd suggest Judgment but since it is so inaccurate I went against it. Now, you need to constantly jam on these shortcuts stubbornly. Both spells should come out rather speedily, which is a plus in a fight like that. Raine should do a good job of healing through AI. Have Lloyd pour attack after attack upon the Dancer, namely, Hunting Beast, but make sure he performs the adequate amount of Guarding and Blocking. Punch out the aforementioned spells with unprecedented relentlessness (the C-Stick will be clickin' like crazy). The Dancer likes to block a lot, so a lot of Lloyd's combos will get nullified. No matter, though. Healing should be done manually, but not through spells; leave Raine's AI for that. Constantly jump into the menu and utilize Gels. Lemon Gels are extremely useful for they heal lots of HP rather quickly; however, they're also scarce. Use them, nonetheless. However, try to alternate them with Apple Gels to keep your reserves balanced for tougher portions of the fight. Try to heal after you're hit by a strong magical attack, specially if it lands on Genis, Raine or Colette. If the damage is too severe, don't hesitate to employ a Lemon Gel, specially if your HP reaches the 500 or so. If it is knocked into the thousands an Apple Gel should be employed. Keep your eyes affixed to your HPs to opportunely utilize the Gels and keep the HPs up. Life Bottles are also important items; whenever somebody's dead, revive the, it's as simple as that. The revived character should immediately be healed to prevent further deaths that could be uncomfortable to your team. With spell-casting so constant and obdurate, TPs will run dry in no time and in those case action needs to be taken; in Lloyd's case, a Pineapple Gel is a necessity, because Lloyd can't function without TPs. Same goes for everybody else. However, priorities should be established when performing TP-recovering maneuvers: Genis should be given the highest priority, followed by Raine and Colette. Why? Aside from being nearly useless without the spell-casting substance, these characters enjoy moving forward when they're out of TPs giving the Sword Dancer ample space to totally tear them up; that's why they need to be taken care of rather quickly. The fight might promise to be annoyingly extensive but I found out it wasn't; I also found out it wasn't nearly as tough as I expected it to be. With a healthy supply of items adequate healing was a cinch (those Lemon Gels sure are good!) and constant reviving saved my day. I also cast my spells with immaculate dedication so damage kept flowing; Lloyd blocked, dodged and Guarded whenever it was possible. But, as usual, healing is what'll make this fight for you. By keeping your HPs up it won't be that hard. Just heal after a spell connects, cast spells steadfastly and attack with Lloyd. Knocking off 30,000 HPs isn't that hard; what's hard is to be alive long enough to knock 'em off. And, even then, it really isn't that bad. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + You'll get a Yasanaki Jewel. ************************************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- O Z E T T E =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cross the path leading into the town and turn left to find the inn; rest up and check out the parrot by the receptionist's desk to find the wunderkind of a chef ready to teach you Tenderloin. Across from the inn is what you'd call the main plaza; south of it a winding path heads into the upper workings of the town, where a dog waits to be named. On the upper side of the main plaza yet another dog is; there is an armor shop, too. Take the southeastern exit and head into the next screen, where a scene ensues. After that, leave Presea's house area through the southwest and you'll immediately be on the world map. Head south towards Altessa's House, which is the "nook" formed on the cliff spread along the base of a mountain (it's yellow-ish). -- A long scene ensues there; after it, leave and head through Ozette so you're at the other side of it. Take a quick trip back to Mizuho and talk with Puninja, the owner of the item shop; after that, check out the well behind the chief's house for further scenes. You'll get a Secret Notebook. Purchase a Mizuho Potion (important) and leave. Head back to the Ozette area and head to the northeast, where an EC Dock rests. Board your EC and surf your way into the southernmost continent and there, head to the its _southern_ tip where a dock is. I make special emphasis on south because a dock rests on the southeast, too. After landing head forward to find the mine's door gazing at the valley. There are some skit points spread around it (one with Regal, for instance, stands on a peak southeast of the dock ) as well as items (head along the peak where you found Regal's skit until you hit a beach. A Rune Cape sits on it) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O I Z E V A L L E Y M I N E =============================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Immediately after you enter a boss fight begins! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Defense System Guard Arm x 4 Auto Repair Unit Orbit x 2 Really easy. Destroy the two Orbits and then crack open the Auto Repair Unit. While it is down, run forward to the Defense System. Hack away at it with myriad attacks (jam on the shortcuts) until the Auto Repair Unit is restored; destroy it again and resume your attacking. It's a very simple and easy battle. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Go back to the previous screen after the scene and get the Ex Gem Lv1 behind the cart. Head into the shaft you were taken and head forward. You're going to find RED RROPERS, RED BATS, BASILISKS and ROCK GOLEM all of which are simple. It's highly possible that you've spotted the machine in front of a crevice, in front of which a rail line extends. Revive the machine to begin a cyclic process of a gondola running along the rail line. Board it when it gets to you and as you go forward shoot the switch north of the gondola (the one with an arrow, on top of a pillar) to change its direction (the alternate path the gondola can take is not of our interest now). Move forward so you find a locked door. Left of it is a huge boulder (beat the enemy around for a Memory Gem) and across, an elevator. Board it and go down. At the bottom, veer southward until you see some wooden planks leading into a raised area. Head up into the small space where a bunch of dilapidated carts rest and examine the upper side of them to find a Crescent Ax (it's a bit hard to get it, since it's so out of the way). Climb into the raised area, as there is a Saint Rapier there, by the planks. Head to the upper side of it to find the extremely vulnerable ROLLER SNAIL and behind it, a Sand Saber. After snatching it, go back down the planks and head southeast. A S. Ring shift rests lonely there. You'll get the Mana Bombs. Head all the way up into the elevator and ride it upwardly. To the left of the locked door there is a boulder you can blast so you're able to jump past the gap, into the area with the gondola machine. After blasting it, head back to the S. Ring shifter and turn back to normal. Jump the gap into the gondola and hit the switch so it shifts direction. Once again, clear the aforementioned gap, head down and get the bombs. Make your way into the gondola and have it take you straight ahead. I'm sure there is a far more convenient way to do this, but I've yet to find it ;) Anyway, head into the cave at the platform and destroy the boulder. Turn right and blast an extra rock. Backtrack into the main path and run up; head into the small room to the left to find the Iron Greaves. Backtrack to the block on the right that was just blown and head along the twisting path there (another block will need to be blasted). Turn left and head down the plank into a damp, lowered area; at its right there is a Battlesuit. Head back up and turn left. Head all the way to the left until you hit a wall, go up and climb down the planks. Activate the machine there. Go back up and run forward, turn right and destroy the boulder. Straight ahead is a plank, but before getting to it blow up the rock south, and then the one past the plank. Afterwards, climb it down. Reach its bottom and talk to the little Gnomelette for a funny scene (give 'im the Mizuho Potion). Snatch the item to the right and climb into the upper area by utilizing the planks. Turn right and unlock the memory seal. Proceed further to the right (destroy the block to the south) and turn up when possible. You'll reach a pathway that extends rightwards and has a small alcove at its beginning. Head down this path to trigger a scene. After it finishes, turn right (do not deactivate the trap you just escaped from) and head to the road's end to find a Naploosa Bacura, an enemy which cannot be beaten. Move close to it and have it follow you until it is right in the path through the which the trap-boulders flow. If you get too near to the Bacura it slaps you! Anyway, have it follow you along the aforementioned path (note: head into your Ex Skill menu and set Lloyd's Ex Skill to "Personal" so he runs faster). Once the Bacura is halfway through this road he gets bored and starts to backtrack; hit the switch to unleash a rock into the path, run down and get into the small space on the left. The rock should connect and the Bacura will be destroyed. Deactivate the trap and backtrack over to where the memory seal is; take the elevator ahead of it. At the bottom, explore this small area to find a couple of items (Thunder Cape and Super Pellets) and run through the Bacura's remains to find a Devil's Arms (more on this on the Sidequest section). Run to the area where you first found the Bacura and proceed to the next screen. There, veer rightwards and go down the steps next to the bridge. Proceed eastward to find an Ex Gem Lv3. Go back to the bridge and cross it. At the other side, blow up the boxes until you find a chest, containing the Inhibitor Ore. --- Exit the mine. Now, head back to Ozette. Head forward to see a scene; beat the Knights (they do a lot of damage but are easy if you heal sporadically) and see the long cutscenes. Agree to Quick Jump to Mizuho. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- M I Z U H O =========== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head to the chief's house, sift through the brief dialogue, and visit Sheena in front of Jizou (the graveyard) AFTER talking with your buds spread around Mizuho. Exit the town and head over to the dock around Ozette. Surf northward for a bit until you find a dock, behind which a greed-shaded tower is. Enter it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T E M P L E O F L I G H T N I N G =================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's some good music there! Move forward and elude the fields of bolt. At the other side, turn left. At the end of the path there is a save point behind bolt field (elude it). To the south there are some yellow blocks. Head back to the "main road" (where the shiny pattern on the floor is). Now, let's evaluate this area. Far to the right there are some colored blocks we should ignore. In the middle of the main road there are three possible paths to take: the middle one, and two on its sides. All of them lead to a thing I call lightning re-director. Or lightning rod ;) Anyways, the middle road has a certain particularity: it's got a switch that, when hit, unleashes a bolt of thunder that hits one of the three rods. Which one? As you may now, lightning strikers higher ground. So, the highest rod will be hit. However, it'll only hit whichever block is active. What does it mean to be active? Check out one of the "safe rods" (the one on the sides) and you'll notice that when you do so, a stick protrudes off it and hides, depending on what you want. When the stick is out it means the rod is active. Now, this is what we need to do. Activate the rod on the far right and now head into the middle path. When you hit the switch the lightning will blast the uppermost rod, which we just activated. De-activate the rod here, and then, go to the rightmost stick and de-activate it. Leave only the leftmost one active. Having done so, hit the switch. This'll blow up a cage right in front of the western rod. Head across it to find a S.Ring shifter, which grants you with the power to unleash Blue Lightning. With that in hand, head to the easternmost side of the main road, where two blue blocks are. Blow them up and go across of where they were to find a treasure chest containing a Silver Guard. Get it and with that in hand, head over to the middle path. Break on through past the switch and run up the stairs behind the rod. You'll hit a cyclopean, high-roofed hall of sorts. It boasts two expansive staircases to the left and right of the entrance, and, atop a flight of steps, a door blocked off by a blue crate. There are tons of path to go through now, so let's take it easy ;) Taking the leftmost staircase leads to a short hall with a door blocked off by yellow crates; the rightmost staircase leads to a similar area, with the difference that the door is not blocked off. At the end of such paths there is a flight steps that leads into an altar room with a pillar of three, differently colored crates. The bottom one is blue, so hit it. Now, it's time to explore the rest of the possible paths. Head to the bottom hall first, and exit through the north. Here, turn left (to the right there is a dead, non-working apparatus we should ignore for now) and blow up the blue block. Head up the stairs next to them and proceed to the next room. This is a dark area where lightning strikes often and provides ephemeral light. It really isn't that dark, though, but you can fall off the ledges. Anyway, go down and head up the steps. Head along the linear road (it's got some tight ledges, though) and exit to the next screen. Climb up the short flight of steps to be put against the dance of the varied paths! Fortunately for you, we're severely limited as of now. Head south from where you enter to find an almost-hidden door. At the other side, turn right until you find a lightning rod and a blue block floating off past it. Blast the block and activate the rod. You'll fall down. Pick up the Ex Gem Lv3 and head leftwards. Hit the block floating off the rod, and then activate it. Pick up the Duel Helm. Head past it to find another floating block; blast it. Now, head all the way to the right to find yet another rod, with a block suspended next to it. Do your thing and when you fall down, claim your prize. There is a rod to the left, but before heading there, go past the chest you just emptied and head through the door. Follow the linear, darkened path up some steps. Keep going until you climb down some more steps; there, turn right and go up the partially-obscured peninsula that's away from the main road to find a Spirit Bottle. Go back to the previous screen and head over to the rod we just talked about. Activate it. Backtrack to the darkened room where we got a Spirit Bottle and drop down. You'll be in the main hall. Exit through the north. Here, turn left and go down the steps along there (next to the stairway leading up) to reach a dampened area. De-activate the rod there and climb into the little podium on the east. Shift your ring so it shoots Yellow Lightning. Make your way back to the very entrance (the "main road") and head left. Crack open the yellow blocks and snatch the Shining Star. Now, haul ass to the main hall. Climb the leftmost staircase and electrify the two crates there. Head over to the main altar past these blocks and make quick work of the yellow block that's forming a pillar. One more to go! Head to the bottom of the main hall and exit through the north. With this, go back to the main hall and go through the eastern exit (atop the stairs). Wade through the dark room. At the next screen, destroy the crate floating just off the balcony. Now, go back to the main hall and go north one more time. Turn right and activate the rod there. Now, head to the far west and go up the staircase. There should be a chest here, containing an Ex Gem Lv2. Claim it and proceed through the door. Cross the dark room. In this screen you'll arrive at, cross the bridge that's on top a short flight of steps (the room we're currently at should be referred to as the bridge room). Exit by the eastern door to reach a darkened room we've been at before. Proceed until along it so you reach its end. At the next room, go up to find a lightning rod we fiddled with in the past. De- activate it and return to the bridge room. Head up as soon as you enter. Approach the machine concealed behind a stairway. Examine it twice and pick "I want to see higher up". Hmm... if you choose start, you'll see the panorama we just appreciated, with small dots of light flowing through a marked (hmm...) direction. You'll also get damaged -_- Anyways, the idea is to shift the dot's direction for our benefit. This is the general layout of the panorama: # # # # # Blow up the set of crates with the XXX's # # # # # underneath them. As you do so, kill the #°°°°°# #°°°°°# # enemy floating about for a Memory Gem. #°°°°°# #°°°°°# # Now, head to the bottom and re-activate # #°°°°°# XXX #°°°°°# the machine. Magic ensues! The bridge # #°°°°°# #°°°°°# in this room will now collapse. Veer #°°°°°# XXX #°°°°°# # down it. At the bottom, head down the #°°°°°# #°°°°°# # steps behind the dilapidated structure. # # # #°°°°°# Proceed downwardly to the very bottom # # # #°°°°°# and exit through the door there. At the other side, shift the Ring's function so it shoots Red Lightning. Now, go back to the previous screen and ascend up the bridge. Head east into the darkened room and drop down to reach the main hall. Now, make your way back to the main road, the entrance, and turn right. Blow up the crates at the bottom for an Ex Gem Lv3. One more time, folks! To the _main hall_, aye, aye! Exit through the westernmost door we unlocked in the past (at the top of the stairs) and wade through the pitch-black roads. You'll reach a balcony with two red blocks; crack 'em and get the Power Greaves out of the chest. Noooow.... make your way back to the main hall and head northward. Unlock the memory seal there, save, and... heal ;) Prepare yourself! Genis is nearly a must; be sure he can only cast Wind Spells. Sheena is also useful, with her Sylph summon but, more importantly, her S.Seal: Wind. A Healer is also necessary. I recommend rain, but it's your choice; what I love of this game is that every party member is outstandingly useful and can be used anytime, against whomever, and still win! Awesome ;) The Strats. should be self explanatory. Go to the main hall and climb to the altar at the top. Destroy the final crate and activate the rod. Through the following scene you'll have to press A when you notice the dialogue stagnates. Anyways, you'll eventually have to engage! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Volt Well, he's pretty simply in all honesty, not what you'd expect given the premonitory cutscenes. He's got plentiful attacks, but only a few are a real threat: firstly, he uses "Strike" to hit physical attacks who're real near to him; this usually only affects Lloyd. It does lots of damage and Volt usually uses it right after you end a combo. It's rather simple to Guard it or Block it, but even if you don't do so, don't worry. After souping up a couple of them just whip out a Lemon Gel and keep goin'. Spark Wave is extremely weak and nothing to worry about. His "Master Field" attack targets a pretty big, circular area, but it's not enough to hit the magicians who're, hopefully, away from you. It's got a telltale sign that should give you time to cast Guardian or block it off. If you're hit, expect to soup up as much as 800 PTS of DMG. Once again, shrug it off. Your healers will eventually treat you, and, if he/she doesn't, just wait a bit until you're in a critical state to whip out a Lemon Gel. He also employs Cardinal Strike, which hits only those real near to him and Thunder Blade, which is usually aimed at your magicians (or whomever is far away) for big damage (800 or so). Your casters won't be hurt too much, which is good. Meanwhile, your strikers will be :) As suggested, shrug off the damage and resume your attacking, while occasionally utilizing a Lemon Gel to speedily head your wounds and keep it up. Attack Volt with lots of Air Thrusts and long, hard hitting combos from Lloyd (Tiger Blade/Rage, Raging Beast and a couple of variations of Demon Fang combo quite well) and defending occasionally. If you have Sheena, cast S.Seal: Wind on your strikers and resume the attacking. It helps a great deal, since Volt has high defensive capabilities. He's, nonetheless, quite vulnerable, specially to Lloyd's combos. Unison attacks are a great aid, so be sure you have a full bar at the start of the fight. If you obstinately attack Volt, the bar should fill up again rather easily, giving you the chance to employ an extra Unison attack, which is always good ;) Attacking Volt is a great pleasure, because you land lots of hits and he's cumbersome, which means he won't be dodging many of them ;) All in all, a simple fight. Lloyd and his partner will be receiving plentiful damage, but sporadic healing does the trick (and the AI's healing helps a great deal). The battle will take a good amount of time to end, though. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + You now have Volt as your summon pal. Good enough! You'll earn a bunch of stuff. Exit the temple and board the EC. Go southeast to a "fjord like area". You'll reach a bunch of snowy peaks. Examine your map; you should see a dot put in the middle of them peaks. Maneuver towards that place; you should have no difficulty seeing a dock from the distance (when you're near to the dot, of course). Disembark, save, and enter the Tethe'alla base. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T E T H E ' A L L A B A S E ============================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the initial cutscenes, speak with Orochi to regain your health. Also, buy some items at the refresher on the bottom left corner of the room; save up, too, if you wish. Utilize the S.Ring shifter and leave through the main door. Here, exit through the east. You'll arrive at a room with a straight hall that stretches eastwards, and one that goes northward; this one is rather long. Now, along the eastern hall there is a laser beam which can't be crossed; but, lucky you, a crate is conveniently placed next to the beam's origin, so all you have to do is push it into the ray's range to nullify part of it and make it possible to cross to the other side. There is an important catch with the block, though; you need _drag_ it from its front, don't go around it and _push_ it, because if you do, you'll be hit by the laser the crate was blocking! Anyway, once you nullify part of the laser, run across the hall and through the door at its end. Beat the Desian there to get a part of the passcode you need. Depending on the order you get these passcode fragments, the final pass- code will different. So, if you decide not to follow me, yours will differ from mine. Exit the shaft where you got the code to find the block resting besides the door. Push it towards the nearest beam, go around it, drag it a one space and then push it into the upper beam, the one covering the northernmost hall. Proceed in such direction after completing these tasks. At the end there is a door; head through it. Snatch the Silver Circlet from the nearest chest and take a look at this room. A laser blocks the way westward, and further up the path is also blocked off. There is a block to the right. Create a path on the left beam. Now, go around the crate and drag it away from it. An extra laser burns ahead of you. Carry your block there. Once you've locked the ray up, go around the cube and drag it away. Having done this, take it through the small path that goes up, to find yet another ray. There is also a door to the left of here. Go through it. There are two paths to take; one of them goes up into a huge warehouse, and a brief one extends to the left. Drag away the local block from its starting position and collocate it in front of the leftmost laser field. Cross to the other side to find another huge room; there are two Desians patrolling around it. Beat the purple one to get the second portion of the code. Go up the small podium by where the soldier was patrolling and hit the small structure there with your S. Ring. Thereafter, examine the small panel tucked away on a corner, next to the apparatus we just triggered. Activate it. Take good note of this room and head back to the previous one; this is also an important room. Anyways, backtrack to Orochi, heal, and head into the big lobby that's outside his hideout. Turn west and through the door. You'll reach another branching path with blocks and lasers galore. Up north there is a bunch of bifurcations, so ignore that for now. _Drag_ the local block from where it is and put it in front of the western laser beam. There are two doors here; one of them leads into a shaft with an Ex Gem Lv2 while the other leads to a Card of Ice. After snagging both items, work out the nearest laser grids so you're able to go north. Do so and dive into the next screen. Turn left as soon as possible and enter the door there. Kill the Desian for the last part of the passcode. There is a chest here with an Ex Gem Lv3. Exit this elegant room and turn right so you reach the main corridor once again; dash northward. At the next screen, kill the greeting Raybit to get a memory gem. Get to the room's uppermost side and turn right, up a short flight of steps. If you triggered the panel a while ago there should be a block at the far end of this platform; drag it leftwards. Look for a gap in the platform's railing, along its leftmost edge. Push the block down it so it hits the laser beaming machine below. Remember the "important room" I told you to take note of? The one where we got the second part of the code? Where we triggered a switch? Head there. It's actually the room where we dropped off the block just now (if you don't know how to arrive there, head east from the room outside Orochi's. In the next room, go north so you hit a laser-gridded area. Work them out so you reach its western side. At the next screen, head west past the laser. There you are!) Have you arrived? Good. Head to the northwest side of this expansive place. Get the Dragoon Tooth and Thunder Blade out of those chests. Thereafter, head to the hall just outside this area (the one I told you to take note of). Go north to reach another big, warehouse like room. Save up (unlock the seal first, doh). There are myriad things to see here, but, to summarize: this one gigantic puzzle. Anyways, go up the steps on the upper right side of this area to get an item out of a chest. Head to the northwest and evaluate the area: a flight of steps heads up. Atop of the stairway's landing, an extra flight goes up but there is also one concealed on the upper portion of the platform that heads down into a limitedly square platform, next to which there is a gap. Should you not go up the steps, you can also find the aforementioned square and its respective gap by gawking at the small alcove behind the staircase's platform. There are two gaps, as a matter of fact. Also, there are two blocks here. Hm... push the blocks into the gaps, firstly. Head up into the stair's landing and head down to the makeshift path we just formed. Cross it to get a Lavender. You should notice that there is one of those weird, spiraled structures behind the chest. Shoot at it from the appropriate angle. Head into the landing and go down into the main area. Notice that the staircase you just went down has a small rest halfway through it. Now, take away the blocks from the gaps they're at and carry them over to the staircase we just analyzed. There is a small, horizontal space right in _front_ of this stairway (there is one below it, too, but ignore it). Carry the two blocks into this space. If done correctly, you should be able to board one of the blocks by using the stair's rest I just mentioned. Good! Board the blocks and take the Aqua Cape out of the chest to the left. Now, carry one of these two blocks into the elevator next to the switch we powered up a while ago. The elevator is a squared platform with four available spaces where you can tuck the block; put it into the top- right one, get into the lift and ascend. At the top, push the block forward one space and get down. Climb the stairs to the left and at the landing, head up. Turn right at the top, go down the stairway and, at the bottom, go left along the thin path stretching at the bottom of the platform. There is the block we just worked with. Drag it rightwards all the way until you can't do it anymore; go around it and _push_ it that extra space you were needing. You now have it in front of a gap; push it down it and get on top of the block. Shoot the spiral ahead of you. Go to the very bottom of this area; the lift on the far east is now functional. Carry a block towards it and ascend. At the top, carry the block forward and crate an improvised platform in front of the lone chest there. Open it up to get a Tomahawk Lance. Now, go back to the lift we just rode and turn left. You'll reach a non-functional elevator, with a powering spiral next to it. Head north for now and get the Beam Shield. Make your way back to the non-functional elevator. Hit the spiral next to it and then board it. Go down, along with the block that was resting on top of this crane. At the bottom, carry the cube into the gap formed alongside the right railing of the platform you're on. Push it down it; it'll fall on top another crate and form an effective path into a chest containing an Ex Gem Lv3. Head down the stairs here and exit the room. Re-enter it, save, fully heal and re-arrange your party. Make sure it's got Genis and a Healer. If you wish to do so, go back to Orochi (wouldn't recommend it). Anyways, because you left and came back, the block's positions have been reseted. Carry one block into the easternmost lift and head up. There, push it forward. You should notice that there is a gap in front of a chest we opened in the past; to the right of it, alongside the wall, there is another space. Slide the block into this rightmost niche so you're able to cross to the other side. Do so and head up. Examine the panel by the door and input the pass-code. Head through the door. A scene ensues. After it, a battle begins! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Yuan Botta Well, this is a fairly tough fight. Have Genis be unable to cast Lightning and Earth spells and set Eruption to your shortcuts. Botta is a nuisance, but not as much as Yuan. This latter is really powerful, employing powerful physical attacks and spells. Botta attacks mainly through Stalagmite, which can be Guarded quite easily, but if it connects, you can expect to lose as much as 500 HPs. Go for Yuan first. This might seem unorthodox, but it's best to distract him, because otherwise he'll have an easy time maneuvering around and generally kicking your ass. As told, Botta is far less dangerous, even though he's got some fast, hard-hitting ground based attacks. Whomever is up front will be taking a lot of damage, keep that in mind; specially Lloyd, since Yuan also uses physical attacks for lots of damage. But anyway, employ Demon Fang-based techs alongside with Tiger Rage and perhaps Raging Beast to create good combos that deal out nifty damage. No matter if you have Regal, Sheena or Zelos, be sure you've got one of his/her techs on your shortcuts, alongside with Genis' Eruption. Constantly tap on the stick so both of them attacks come out constantly and aid you in the attacking. Blocking Yuan's main attacks is a bit hard, but possible. However, your main worry should be to block off his magic-based techs: Thunder Blade and a field-like attack that often misses. Both have heads-up signs that are extremely useful when trying to predict them, to the point it's really easy to (same goes with Stalagmite), so blocking should be made easy. Given the fact there is so much going on sometimes blocking is pretty hard; so expect to take lots of damage. To solve this, you must employ Lemon Gels whenever you hit the 800. Your magicians won't get there too often but your frontline attackers will. Pump out those gels to replenish health and it should all right through most of the fight. Jamming on the shortcuts is important, but creating good combos with Lloyd is too. But more importantly, try to Guard Yuan's attacks to lessen the damage and keep up your HPs out of the 800 range. Yuan also has an Indignation attack which will instantly kill you most of the times (over 1,900 PTS of DMG) unless you back off (which is kind of hard with your brain-dead buds). Damage will seemingly come out of nowhere; just heal and stop wondering about that. Attack relentlessly Yuan and block his myriad attacks. Botta is so useless here that he'll probably die before you kill Yuan, even if you have not been aiming him (meh). If he doesn't, no prob; Stalagmite is easy to dodge, although his other, less ranged attack is quite powerful too and most of the time you won't see it coming ;) Eventually, they'll be dead. Just keep up the healing through Gels and the attacking and it should be fine. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + We're flying! Wahoo! It might be good to return to a known town to heal, save and get items. --- Our next destination certainly isn't obvious. Your Synopsis is a bit cryptic but provides a helpful tip: explore the eastern skies. So, head over there. When you're on the easternmost corner of the world, fly around the middle of it (along what'd be the equator). You should see a shining ball in the sky. Approach it. A battle ensues. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Baby Dragon 2 Winged Dragon I personally found this battle to be obscenely tough. The two Baby Dragons float about the field and employ some VERY powerful attacks that can do over 700 PTS of DMG, along with considerably good physical strikes which somehow many to stun you. The Winged Dragon comes out a bunch of holes scattered around the field and aside from waving its head around for 400 PTS of DMG each touch, employs a devastating Nest Crack attack that, single-handedly shoves off as much as 1,500 PTS of DMG out of your bars! Isn't that bad!? Firstly, aim for a Baby Dragon and head to it. Try your best to employ with a combo that utilizes Beast, Raging Beast or any variation you may have; this is extremely useful. Tap on your shortcuts to pump out some spells that'll aid you, but, mainly, attack like a madman with Lloyd. Blocking is not an easy feat here; the dragon's "tornado" attack comes out without warning, although their clawed strikes can be nullified by hitting block after a combo. Pump out Gels occasionally to keep it up. Now, keep an eye on your party's HPs and try your best to revive them as soon as possible; be sure to use a good amount of Gels. Nest Crack will kill you a couple of times, but it's not too bad. When you destroy the babies, go for the Winged Dragon. Now it's harder because your party is somehow less mobile, so Nest Crack will wreak havoc on your team; put your money on that. Attacking this guy is a pain in the rear, because he's whirling around, so landing hits is a bit hard and he slaps you with ease; spells often miss (specially Eruption and others) and if you cast spells often, Nest Crack will _always_ hit your spell- casters (if you use abundant magic your casters remain in one place _too_ long performing the enchantment, and the dragon will more often than not aim at those stagnating with Nest Crack) so be ready to do some _serious_ reviving. This part of the battle is extremely frustrating, due to all of the reviving and healing that'll need to be done and the limited amounts of damage you can dish out. But keep and you should win after going through a lot. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + You'll be right outside the Temple of Earth. Before diving into it, pay a visit to the nearest town (or the farthest, i.e., Mizhuho, due to their superior stock of items) and stock up on healing implements. Also, visit Altessa's House and talk to Tabatha to learn the recipe for Curry (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. READ THIS!!!) Come back here and go into the temple. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T E M P L E O F E A R T H =========================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shift your S. Ring at the shifter nearby and dash forward. You'll bump into a bunch of high stone; use your S. Ring to make them fall. Proceed onward and talk with the Gnomelette positioned on the bridge. If you gave a potion to the Gnomelette at the Toize Valley Mine you should be able to proceed; otherwise, you'll have to settle things at the Mine. Proceed onward till you hit a bifurcation: you can go further up or veer south. First, head south along a sinuous road. You're going to find some interesting enemies around here, like the CLAY GOLEMS, GIANT SNAILS and EARTH ELEMENTS, all of which are easy; keep an eye on the elements and prevent their spell-casting, though. You'll also bump into NEVIROS, who do acceptable damage but are quite vulnerable. Anyways, move along this road to find a cave. Cross the bridge there and pick up the Mythril Circlet at the other side. Go back to the previous screen, and backtrack along the twisting path to the bridge where you talked to Gnomelette. Move forward and keep an eye on the path. Once you see a snail up front, gawk at the bottom side of the road to find a small alcove. Stand in it and activate your ring to create a path that goes down. Turn left there and stand besides the rock structure here; use the S. Ring to make it stumble down, and claim the Mythril Guard. Take note of this small platform and backtrack into the main path (where you called forth the cataclysm that made it possible to get into this landing) and go north and into a cave. Cross the bridge and chat with the Gnomelette to the left. You'll have to cook him some curry. Select the character that will do so (be sure it's not Raine or Zelos. Genis and Regal work well). After the scene, you'll notice that the path the gnomelette was blocking is now free to be crossed. Note that a thin, inclined corridor runs parallel to it. Get into such corridor and head to its top; beat the monster there and claim the item behind him. Go the path Gnomelette was blocking and talk to the additional Gnomelette standing on top a wooden bridge. Now comes a short minigame of sorts. Basically, the idea is to stand on the bridges and destroy them through the S. Ring, and keep doing this until you reach the bottom. As you go, you'll get items. The initial bridge is conformed of three pieces, and depending on which one you crumble up, the different items you'll get. To get the max out of this game, repeat it various times. And refer to this map: ###-###---###-%%%%%% Fairly complex, huh? The "%" are safe, ! ! ! rocky paths; the "#" are the collapsing ! ! ! bridges. The X's are items. And the "-" ###-%%%! %%%-###-%X% are simple divisions you should ignore. Oh ! ! ! yeah, the "!"'s signal where you'd fall. %X%-###-%%% ###-%%% ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ###-%%% %x%-###-%%%-%%%-### ! ! ! ! ! ! %%%-### %X%-%%%-### ! ! ! ###-###-###-%%% ! ! ! ###-###-%%% ! ! ! ! %%%-%%%-###-###-%X% ! ! ! ! ###-%%% %X%-###-%%% ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ###-%%%-%%%-%%%-%%%-%%%-%%% At the bottom of the cliff, head to the western side of the road (fight the Dragon around here to earn 10,000 Gald) so you're taken to the starting area once again. Gnomelette stand here. If you wish to repeat the crumbling game, ignore him and make your way back to the bridges. Otherwise, talk to him to begin another game. Basically, he moves along the nearby path; get ahead of him and kill any enemies loitering the road, because if Gnomelette touches any, he'll charge you a bunch of Gald! Head into the cave at the end of the path; you'll find Gnomelette positioned on top of the bridge there. If you have anything to do here (like getting mad amounts of gald from the Dragon at the bottom of the above minigame's cliff. Or, you might wish to wait till you actually need lots of Gald to come back here and spend some quality time chatting with the Dragon) do so, and come back here. Talk to Gnomelette. Another game ensues. What you must do is to utilize the S. Ring when Gnomelette pounds the bridge; he'll count to three, and jump right after that. When he's at his max height, hit the S. Ring button so it causes a shockwave right when Gnomelette pounds the bridge. Do it thrice. You'll fall into the level below; the path south leads back to the main area, while up north is a memory seal (save/heal) and Gnome's altar. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Gnome Gnome is a rather hard boss, but not to the point of being insane. He employs a limited amount of spells which both can shove off as much as 800 HPs; his physical strikes are a bit weaker, at around 320 PTS, but he usually combo's them for devastating results. He basically attacks with his body, bouncing around while seldom swinging his shovel and whatnot. He can dish out plenty of damage, not precisely in a single attack, but rather in a quick succession of them as he's strangely fast. Anybody who's under 800-900 HPs should be given immediate attention as he/she is bound to die in any moment, should Gnome decide to employ a couple of attacks on such character; or, in an alternate scenario, cast a spell such as Stalagmite, which is quite devastating. Blocking his attacks is rather easy, mind you. Jump-blocking them is a bit harder, though, because of Gnome's large frame (you don't cover enough distance with your jump and will be hit rather easily). Try to hit block as often as possible to minimize damage; keep in mind that your folks ain't as good as you _could_ be at blocking, so they're bound to take lots of damage. Healing through Gels and reviving is the way to go. Pound out Air Thrust and the usual spells; with Lloyd, be sure you've got S.Seal: Wind cast upon your sword and employ a two-Tech, fast hitting combo such as Tiger Rage-Fierce Demon Fang, which can be performed very quickly, deals out good damage and due to its speed it's possible to perform it various times on Gnome before he manages to cancel you. Don't worry too much about your other character's attacks, just be sure the spells keep flowing out. As usual, his spell-casting must be inexorably absorbed. When he begins to chant a magical attack, break off from the attacking and perform a bit of healing. Practically all of his spells have telltale signs that make it easy to dodge them; however, as usual, your party members are bound to be hit, due to their limited brains >_< Gnome deals lots of damage, but an adequate supply of Gels will let you get through it without too many complications. Be sure you enchant your weapons with S.Seal: Wind and perform the suggested combo, or another fast and reliable variation while pounding out the spells. Just be patient; it should go through smoothly. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the fight, go south (pick up the Mithril Bracelet) and leave the temple. -- Board your Rheairds, fly to a town to heal and stock up on items. Now, head over to the northeastern, snow-soaked continent. Land on it and walk around before entering Flanoir. Fight some enemies, specially PENGUINISTS, to earn Penguinist Quills (get three). There are also a couple of skit points around here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- F L A N O I R ============= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Talk with the dog by the western inn, and then head into it if you wish to heal. Otherwise, turn right and speak to the man sprawled in front of the big building; his name Is Abyssion and he provides you with the Nebilim key and sword so you can hunt for his "Devil's Arms", mysterious weapons sealed with unholy power. Head down the steps past where Abyssion is and turn north. A merchant there will undoubtedly stop you to ask for a Celsius' Tear, which you don't have. Go north into the next screen. There, you can enter the highly-solicited doctor's office or immediately veer eastward and proceed to the next screen after talking to the local dog. Proceed to the northernmost side of this area to find a bunch of ice statues; the building next to them corresponds to the weapon shop. Inside, some new items await your purchase, but be careful! You already have some of those (or, should have). If you try to access his customization services you'll be told they're not being offered right now. Climb up the steps outside this shop to find the accessory store, to find the most varied items, among which are Black Onyxes (30% more HP) and Moonstones (30% more TP) for a hefty 25,000 Gald apiece. Hmm, perhaps in the future we'll get some! Oh, the old woman inside this house offers to make Penguinist Gloves out of Penguinist Quills. Take note of that. Move further up from this shop to find the church; head inside and run down the leftmost aisle to find a... pot resting on top what seems to be piled-up green cloth. Examine it to find the Wonder Chef, ready to the teach the subtle lusciousness of Quiche. Yum! Now, it's important that you get the Penguinist Quills (steal them! it's a lot faster) and make Gloves out of them (you only need a pair, so 3 Quills are enough). Also, I suggest procuring the Devil Arm's from the Earth Temple and the Gaoracchia Forest. Let's see how. - Firstly, head to Altessa's House. On its leftmost corner, next to the small flight of steps that lead into Altessa's improvised workshop, there is a Gnomelette. Have a good chat with him. Exit Altessa's and fly into the Temple of Earth. Trek through the entrance pathway until you see a cave opening on the left; head through it. Beat the snot out of the dragon floating about and go to the road's other end. After the Gnomelettes leave, move past where they were to find a small podium with a blue chest. Open it to get a Devil's Arm. Now, exit the temple and fly over to Gaoracchia's northern entrance, by Ozette. Inside, turn left into the next screen (the one with the save point). Head further up from there. In the subsequent area, simply trot through the left-oriented road until you find the blue chest... or a bunch of vines. Burn them if that' the case. Either way, get the item out of the chest. - Well, that's about it. Return back to the Flanoir area. Heal/save and go into the world map. Journey south. When you see a bunch of caves and paths formed in a depression, fly over it and agree to head inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T E M P L E O F I C E ======================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The temple's courtyard is a snow-covered patio with a bunch of chests sprawled around it and some enemies. To get the chest, head forward past the snow monticule that is to your right. Veer right then and go to the small nook to the southeast to find two chests. Head forward; venture to the far left to find a frozen river. At its southern portion there is another item. After getting it, go to the northeast corner of the area and go inside the cave there. Immediately next to the entrance there is a S.Ring shifter; utilize it. Proceed southward up this gentle slope. Take a right when you reach the top. Get the item and journey upwardly. Another mild ramp ascends into a raised area; to the right of it there is a Mythril Gauntlet overlooking the waters below. Climb up the ramp (you can find LOBOS around here) and the ones that come after it. You'll reach a platform where you can continue further up, or turn right to find a bridge built from rock-solid ice. Head up to find a cave; to the left of its entrance there is a Mythril Armor; get it and go inside. You'll reach the _outside_. Directly ahead of you there is a frozen, inclined river that, should you touch it, will make you slide all the way to the entrance. Gulp! Instead, take the path south of the entrance, that veers rightward along a snowy wall. You'll eventually find a crack that wounds the road; on top of it a stalactite drips water into the crevice. Wait for a drop to fall down and hit it with your S.Ring; this'll form an Ice Cube. Resume your way down and at the bottom, turn left. Head into the cave that's next to the crevice there. Inside, get the Celsius' Tear (only if you have the Penguinist Gloves) and an Ex Gem Lv2. Exit this cave and backtrack to the cave at the top; head back into the temple. Go all the way right to find the ice-bridge. Cross the bridge, and from there, proceed east until you see the path lets you re-direct southwardly. It's a road enclosed by fierce rocky walls. Once you exit it, you'll notice that you can go further down, or turn right and from there veer north. You'll find another stalactite dripping water; freeze it to create a block. Drag it down and take it left then; drop it into the gap there (the "road" we just crossed) and clear it. At the other side, a short cinema ensues (take note of the totem's face directions) Now, trek to the bottom of this area to find another stalactite oozing liquid. Create a block and cover the gap to the left; cross it. Head to the far left and stand in the platform protruding off the main path. Once you do so, you'll be able to "examine" the pond here. This'll freeze the lake, giving you the possibility to cross it. Keep in mind that when you begin moving one way, you can't stop until you hit a solid object. Do as follows to get all of the items and reach the other side: Firstly, head right, to the gap we covered a while ago. Get into it and run forward. Then, left, down, left, up, left, up, right, down, left, get the Rosemary off the chest and position yourself on the bottommost portion of its platform. From there, head right, up, left, down, right, up, right, up. Get the Ex Gem Lv3 and run forward to find a quartet of totems which you'll need to accommodate. Make sure the rightmost totem is looking down, the leftmost one is looking to the right, the uppermost totem is staring left and the bottom one gazes rightwards. This'll unseal the door that leads to the local summon spirit. Re-arrange your party so it includes Sheena, Genis, a Healer and Lloyd. Be sure Genis can't cast Ice-based techs; same with Sheena. Work out your Strats. a bit (set Genis and Sheena to attack Same). Then, fully heal yourself and head into the altar room. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Fenrir Celsius This battle isn't too hard, actually. Fenrir moves around with great agility but it's easy to catch and to stop with combos. Celsius doesn't move too much and her attacks, while accompanied by Fenrir, don't seem to be too dangerous. You must first aim for Fenrir. With Lloyd, run up to him and perform a series of deadly combos: Tiger Rage combined with Raging Beast is a quick, effective damaging combo that'll make Fenrir teeter back and lose his cool. It's quite damaging and should Fenrir block (so he doesn't doodle back) you can hit your block button rather easily after it. Meanwhile, pump out Eruption and another powerful attack by your accompanying characters (either your healer or Sheena). They'll be aimed at Fenrir if you set your friend's Strat. to "attack Same", so the damage will be racked up fast! I've noticed that while Fenrir is around you won't suffer much damage. Celsius usually stays back casting her rather weakened version of Freeze Lancer (around 300 PTS of DMG) and sometimes get to you, punch/kick, and move back. Sheena does a rather good job of keeping here at bay! And Fenrir is easily controlled by employing the suggested strategies. Your TP will endure the Tiger Blade/Rage & Beast/Raging Beast long enough for Fenrir to go down. If you were too badly wounded, heal through a couple of gels and replenish your TP reserves to invigorate your team and be able to handle Celsius with ease. She'll employ her usual repertoire of attacks, most of which are short- ranged. This means Lloyd is the one who'll be getting the most hits, which translates into plentiful damage! When fighting Celsius in this one-on-one fashion damage is dramatically increased to whomever is laying waste on her. Mainly due to her combos and a ice-spike attack that deals over 1,000 PTS of DMG! Wazzoo! Fierce Demon Fang/Tiger Blade and then Beast (or any variations of these three attacks) produce an effective combo against Celsius, but it drains TP rather speedily. If she gets to you, escaping through Tempest is a good choice. These attacks are good, but they need to be accompanied by a good deal of fire spells, which DO shove off a lot of HPs, so jam on your shortcuts. Lloyd will need to be healed often but that's it. In general, this is a fairly easy battle. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Exit the temple. At the map, you'll be transported to Ozette. After the scenes, you'll be outside Presea's house. Exit the area through the left (you can stay behind to see some more skits). Enter Altessa's House after that and talk to Altessa. Head into house then and speak with him some more. A bunch of things are discovered; leave afterwards. Board your Rheiards and fly east. However, don't just go east aimlessly. Check your map and check for an island, rather long, which is located to the southeast of Ozette, north of the southeastern continent, along its middle side. You could also say it's located on Tethe'alla's equator. It's the only island around there, with a big mount that overlooks lushly green plains surrounded by beaches, along which Altamira is spread. Land and go in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A L T A M I R A =============== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the introductory scenes, we must survey Altamira. Everybody you talk with will try to provide with info regarding Raine's whereabouts. Going into the beach, to the west, will net you more people to talk with. The big building ahead of the entrance is the inn. Pay a hefty sum inside to rest; or explore it, to find the stores: item, weapons, armor and customization (all on the 2nd floor). Back in the city, head forward to the first area's northern edge. Chat with the woman there, dressed like a playboy bunny (hmm), and with the dog. The girl tells you that to totally explore Altamira you'll need to employ the elemental railway. To the right of the girl, and next to the dog, a road stretches right. Approach the man there for a scene. After that, head over to the elemental railway. Use the lift to go down; talk with the man on the railway and tell him to take you to Lezareno. Head inside any of the elevators and go to the Sky Terrace. Approach the gravestone right in the middle; exit the sky terrace after enduring the scene up there. Ride down to the first floor, where further cinemas take place. After that, exit Altamira and board your Rheairds. Head east from Altamira. -- The Otherwordly Gate is a bunch of stones, pillars and debris put over an island east of Altamira.; you can't miss it. Go in when you find it; you'll have to do battle against some fools, but it ain't too bad. You'll be outside Palmacosta. Head inside Neil's house at the main plaza; after the scenes, board your Rheairds and explore the world for skit points and items. When you feel you've flown around enough, head to the Palmacosta Human Ranch. There, further scenes will ensue. After them, talk to Botta and have him take you to the Remote Island Human Ranch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- R E M O T E I S L A N D H U M A N R A N C H ============================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head forward through the main path until you reach the "lobby". It veers northeast, northwest and north. Only the upper path is unlocked, so go over there and proceed to the next screen. Here, a tiled platform rests to the right. You can simply cross to the other side, but if you only do that, you won't be able to clear the gap there. So, what to do? Come back to the tiled platform; notice that when you step in each tile, it lights up, all while it "turns off" another tile. The idea is to light up every one of them. This is the path to follow: _ _ _ -Right three tiles !!>!^! You start off at "*". From there, follow -Down five tiles !V!X!E! the "arrows" until you reach "E". "X's" -Right three tiles !>!>!^! are empty spaces. And the V's mean "down". -Up two tiles The number of tiles counts the one you're in. So, let's say you're here X## and the "#"'s are the adjacent tiles. In this case, I'd tell you "right three tiles", because I count the one you're in. It shouldn't be hard to understand, specially with the mini-map there. Cross the platform, beat the Desian and clear the gap by employing the bridge that was just lowered. Next, go up to find another tiled platform. You must do the same as before, light up all of the tiles. It goes as this (remember to count the tile you're in). -Right one _ _ _ -Down three !>!>!V! -Right three _ _!^!X!V!_ _ -Down three *!V!E!^!!>!V!!^! -Left three !V!X!^! -Up five !>!>!^! -Right three -Down five -Right three -Up three -Left six The verbal directions are easier to comprehend than the map, but you have both just for kicks! Anyway, cross to the right side of the platform, beat the Desian and clear the gap by utilizing the translucent bridge there. Next, head over to the following zone by proceeding eastward. You'll arrive at a circular chamber with a S. Ring shifter; shift its function and stand in the middle of the chamber. Hit A and agree to go up. When it stops, exit. You'll be on a small platform with a tremendous, cyclopean structure that stretches up, like an obelisk. Spread around its platform there are four strange, finger-like structures that jut out of the floor; resting beneath three of them there are four chests. Get them all. Nestled next to the obelisk's wall there is a series of yellow buttons; press them to open up the cells that extend along the tower. A scene ensues and after it you'll be right in front of the elevator. Head inside and tell it to go further up. You'll be on a platform overlooking a huge chasm, with what seems to be laser railways suspended over its profoundly dark extension. When you stand by the lasers and use the S. Ring you'll summon a chariot. This thing will then start to slide along the lasers, NEVER stopping. The idea is to "change" its directions steadily so it goes where you want. How does this work? Notice the small panels on the laser railways. Once you hit one, the chariot will turn towards whatever direction its currently-active-light is telling it to. To change such direction, hit X. The idea is to maneuver around the railways so you reach a warp-point which leads into a railway higher up. As you go, you'll find gaps that make you fall down, fields of electricity that damage you and places where you'll need to make quick, reflex-testing turns to avoid falling down or missing a warp. It's a fun game and really easy to figure out. Just get used to the direction-shifting, build up your reflexes and make some mistakes; eventually you'll have the routes down and will make it through to the other side with ease. Once you reach the uppermost platform, head to the following screen. There, simply proceed rightwards. You'll reach the most intricately puzzle-like part of this dungeon. Basically, there are a bunch of warp points you must wrestle with. You can change their colors with your S.Ring, and depending on that, you'll be taken to different places. Psych! Insane! Not so. I must thank Brady Games' guide for a quick, painless and prolific (item-wise) solution to this puzzle. Here is how it works: -Shift the first warp to pink and head up. Turn left and pick the Ex Gem Lv2. -Warp down to the first floor and shift the first warp to green. Get the Saffron to the right; also, beat the Desian. -Go back to the first room and make the warp go blue. Warp up and turn right to find another warp point. Make it pink and teletransport. -Turn right and disengage the lock there. Warp back to the previous room and make the white teleporter blue. Head up. Another white warp rests to the right. Color it pink and transport. Turn right and get the item. -Warp back one room. Make the white ring here green and take your molecules to the following area. A staircase greets you; head to its left to find a Holy Cloak beneath. Then, climb it all the way to the top, where another warp rests. -Color it blue and teleport. Turn left, beat the Desian and get the chest. -Warp back once and make the teleporter there green. Warp. Get the chest underneath the steps, and then climb them. Cross to the other side to disengage a lock. Now, transport back once. -Color the warp pink and head up. Beat the enemy (careful with the Sea Horror's Aqua Laser; it's very, very powerful). A small podium rests here, and underneath it, to the right, two chests (Minazuki and Ex Gem Lv4.) Get the items and climb into the platform to find another warper. -Make it blue and fly away. Get the Mythril Axe to the left, and climb up the steps. Head all the way up to disengage the last lock. Now, go back down until you find a white warper. Make it pink and transport; snatch the Ex Gem Lv3 out of its chest. Warp back once. -Turn the white ring blue and teleport. A flight steps greets you; go to the right of it to get a pair of Mythril Greaves. Head up the stairway to find a Revive Ring. Now, if you head to the very top you'll find a white teletransporter. Color it pink and fly away. The two transporters here are a way for the game to tell you that you could have arrived here much sooner... but without as many items. Save up/heal. Head through the door here and proceed upwards. Next, exit the lift-room. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Rodyle Rodyle isn't too hard, but he ain't too easy either. He's very big, so landing lots of hits on him becomes easy and pleasant. This also means he's got powerful offense, with attacks that usually do around 300-400 PTS of DMG and send you flying back. If you're knocked up, hit X to land adequately. His attacks can be blocked off very easily: after finishing a combo on him, simply hit the X button to lessen down damage. While you fight and are moving around, hit block often to absorb any attack. Guardian is also a great choice here. He's got other powerful techs that deal over 1,000 PTS of DMG. These are hard to see coming, and thus, blocking/Guarding them is a bit hard. Gravity Well CAN be blocked; when you see its aura surround you, chant Guardian and you should absorb most of the hits. Other attacks are harder, so be ready to take up lots of DMG. In that case, pop a Lemon Gel and keep it up. Try your HP to be around 1,500 at all times (2,000 would be ideal) so you can survive all of Rodyle's attacks. I suggest both Genis and Raine for this battle. Photon/Eruption works rather well, but if you're at a decent level (the level you should be around if you've fought a lot but haven't spent more than 1.5 hours, total, leveling up) you should have both Holy Lance and Gravity Well; if so, set them to your shortcuts and blast away often. Both of these attacks hits a lot of time and each hits knocks off as much as 300 HPs. They're great choices, but if you don't have them, use Photon accompanied by a strong, multiple-hits spell. Either way, jam on the shortcuts often. Since Rodyle is so big it shouldn't be too hard to land hits on him. Tiger Rage and Demonic Tiger Blade can be chained with extreme ease, for devastating results. You can perform the combo twice, for lots of damage, before Rodyle will retaliate. In that case, block back or hit Guardian; or, soup up the hit. Raging Beast instead of Demon Tiger Blade is also functional, although it eats up TP faster. The first combo also consumes it rapidly; when you're out of it, immediately pop a Pineapple Gel and keep the offense up. This fight is rather easy. Heal opportunely, pump out constant spells and attack him relentlessly with Lloyd. In no time he'll be knocked out. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + You will have to fight some Baby Dragons. There are lot of them and they can corner you with extreme ease. Agh! Insanely jam on your shortcuts to stop them on their tracks through spell, and employ Raging Beast/Tiger Blade to keep them back with Lloyd. Use lots of items to keep the HPs up and attack like a madman; that's the best way to deal with 'em. -- A new batch of sidequests has become available... in Tethe'alla. Here in Sylvarant, you might want to later visit Izoold's beaches... trust me (or check the sidequests section). Oh, Triet also houses an interesting minigame (once again, refer to the sidequests appendix). I should note that if you try to exit Palmacosta, you'll be given the option to quick- jump to the Sylvarant Base, our next destination. If you wish to explore the town, just select to wait. At the base, you'll be taken to Tethe'alla after a series of scenes. Your next destination will be Altamira. It's good to know that you can now travel between both worlds. But anyways, head to Altamira. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A L T A M I R A =============== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to Lezareno where a series of scenes will take place. After them, it's time to enjoy Altamira's nightlife. Check in at the inn and tell the receptionist you wish to go out at night. This opens up the two upper floors of the inn and lets you use the elemental railway to reach some of Altamira's more interesting places. First, explore the upper levels of the inn. The fourth floor houses a pumpkin next to a stairway; it's the wunderkind of a chef! Wahoo! Board the elemental railway and chat with its driver. At the casino area, talk with the dog next to the building's entrance. Head to the far right of it along a bridge. When you see a blonde man, speak to him and agree to purchase the Devil's Arm from him. That's all you can do here... the casino and theater are unsurprisingly stale, with nothing to do inside them. Meh. When you wish day to come by again, sleep at the inn (it's the 5F VIP room, yep). -- Fly the Rheairds to Mt. Fooji. Go south from them until you find a plateau with a blue temple nestled on it. Enter the Temple of Darkness to trigger a laconic cutscene. You'll be out afterwards, so fly over to Meltokio and there, pay a visit to the elemental research laboratory (to enter it you'll have to Quick Jump through the sewers). As you go you will meet Kratos; watch the scene. Resume your way to the Elemental Research Lab, where further cinemas must be endured. Go to the Coliseum on the city's middle level (west side of it). Inside, talk with the woman behind the counter and pick your fighter. Depending on whom you choose, the entrance fee will be lower: Zelos pays nothing, Presea 5,000 and the rest, 10,000. Then, you'll be at a room that serves as resting quarters for participants. Talk with the guard up north and tell him you're ready to rumble! After the first fight, you'll be at the resting quarters. Head to the rightmost side of it and through the door there, to reach the prison. Mover over to the cell block to find Kate; watch the following scenes until you arrive at the Elemental Research Lab and get the Blue Candle. When you're ready, fly over to the Temple of Darkness and crawl in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T E M P L E O F D A R K N E S S ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slide along the entrance road till you find a bridge; further ahead from it's a chest nestled behind a fallen structure. It contains an Ex Gem Lv2. Get it and cross the bridge. At the other side, head down the ramp that inclines into the mysterious inner workings of the temple. You'll arrive next to a block with red eyes, which cannot be worked out with. Hmmm... Turn right to find a vibrating shadow. After the scene, proceed right and exit through the door on the right wall. Come back; an enemy will have appeared. You could have to do battle against MANTICORES and PHARAOH KNIGHTS. Anyway, approach the shadow. It'll now begin to follow you; note that they dislike getting near light, or seeing you battle enemies. If you do any of this while in their presence, they simply will stop moving. To get them to follow you again, touch them; with this one, though, you'll have to exit the room you're in, come back and touch it. Don't let it turn itself off! Anyway, you don't need this first shadow now, so exit the area you're on through the east. Here, head down the stairs. At the bottom, examine the "sparkling" thing underneath the staircase to find out it's actually a chest holding a Headband. After nailing it, go back up the staircase. At the middle of it, examine the opening on the wall and agree to go through. Change the ring's function inside the small room. Now, you can activate the blocks with faces spread around the dungeon, and turn off the lights also put out around the maze. Drag the red-eyed block here away from its resting point as much as you can. Then, go back to the previous screen. There, return to the room where you found the first shadow. Touch it, douse off the light next to it and proceed leftward past the block. At the end of the road, turn south. Dodge the enemy and head down the steps there, to find a green- eyed block tucked inside a nook. Activate it. After the scene, grab the green block and push it out of its starting position. Climb back up the steps and head forward, until you see a stairway going down, to your right. Head down it. Dodge the floating skull and proceed right, to the light that is next to the inclined bridge (it leads down). Turn it off with your ring and proceed downward. Nullify the light at the bottom and approach the save point. The shadows will wait for you here no matter what, so turn right and go down the big staircase. In this area, go back up the stairs and head to where you shifted your ring's function. Hit the red block there again with some shadow and drag it away. Exit this small offshoot and backtrack to the "main room", where we found our first shadow. Head to the left to find another red-eyed block; push it all the way into its niche. Now, go back to the big stairway with the crack that leads to the shifter. Head to its bottom, and there to the next screen. Climb up the stairs to the save point, and from there ascend up the inclined bridge. Turn left at the light and proceed to the leftmost corner of the area, along the raised platform that stretches next to the staircase's base. Turn south there and, at the bottom, veer right until you reach a "bridge" that leads to a shadow. Pick it up. Backtrack all the way to the save point (work the lights out) where you dropped off two shadows in the past and drop this one off there. Now, once again, go back to the "main room" (where we found our first shadow) and head all the way to the left. Veer southward from there and climb down the steps. Notice the white-eyed block to the right? Hit it with a burst of darkness. Then, push it all the way into its niche. This'll make a boulder with a shadow on top of it to fall off. Hit the green-eyed block next to the white-eyed one and drag it away from its nook. Climb up the steps and head forward until you see a stairway heading down; walk to the bottom and there, turn left till you hit a wall. Direct yourself southwardly, to find a block with a shadow nestled on top of it. Notice that there is a thin, _marked_ path that stretches next to the "candlestick" to the right of the block. Put the block in this path and push it to its upper end, which forms a small nook. Once you do so, the shadow gets off the block. Head to where it lands and drag it to the save point area. Phew... climb back up the bridge and at the light, head left. Go down the soft slope to find another, blue eyed block. Bring it to life with a stream of shadow, and push it all the way into its niche. Go back to the save point; climb down the staircase to the right; in the next screen, run all the way up and proceed to the next area (the "main room"). Go south, get the Shadow Dancer out of its chest and pick up the last shadow. Cross back through the bridge. The shadow will now stay here. Good, because we need to wrestle with the block system some more ;) Exit through the right (by the bridge where the shadow will stay) and climb down the steps to the crack that leads to the shifter. There, hit the red-eyed block and drag it away. Backtrack to where we left the shadow, pick it and go left, all the way. Turn south then and climb down the steps to find the green-eyed block. Activate it and push it into its nook. Go back up the steps and head down the stairway further ahead. From there, it should be smooth sailing to the save point area. Phew. Save, touch every one of your shadows and head to the upper end of the platform, as there is a makeshift bridge there that leads down. The shadows will go down on their own. Follow them. In the next screen, go to the bottom and there, head up. Proceed further ahead through the main path to reach an almost-circular platform with a couple of branches. Take the bottom path to reach an Ex Gem Lv2. The right path leads to find an Ex Gem Lv4. Take the upper path and from there, trek to the bottom (it's a long, annoying road. Damn those shadows). You'll eventually reach a platform with a sealed memory seal. Unlock it, save/heal, and re-arrange your party so it includes Raine and Colette. Set their Light-based techs to your shortcuts, work out your Strats. Sheena will have to accompany you, so ditch Genis. Take the long stairway left of the memory seal. From there, keep going down (argh!!). You'll reach the altar, and if you have all five shadows, you'll witness a scene. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Shadow Well, this guy can make lots of damage but it's quite easy. He can be hit at large with plenty of attacks without him blocking, and staggers back often. Yeeha! His attacks are rather strong, though. When somebody's casting a spell he's got the tendency to warp to that person and slap him for around 600(?) PTS of DMG. Sometimes he employs his standard attacks, too: Dark Sphere knocks off as much as 700 PTS of DMG, while his combos run the gamut from 400 to almost a thousand PTS of pain! Blocking his attacks is a really hard task, but given the fact that he's so easy to stop on his tracks with relentless attacking, it shouldn't be too worrisome. Tiger Rage/Raging Beast should be used with Lloyd. Use lots of Tiger Rages on him and then a Raging Beast. Shadow makes it easy to do so. You could add any other attack, but I think this works well. You'll add up lots of hits and damage with ease by employing it, and Raging Beast will most likely knock him off-balance (it's rather easy to pull that off). He doesn't remain down for long, but you have enough times to pop a Gel or two before he gets back. If he retaliates with slaps, block with Lloyd or let the others absorb it. To prevent too much attacking, run up to him and utilize combo attacks (normal + the aforementioned one) since it's so easy. On your shortcuts there should be Judgment/Angel Feathers (lots of power but mediocre accuracy, or, moderate power and excellent precision?) and one of Raine's spells, either Photon or Holy Lance (with any luck you'll have the latter). If you have Holy Lance, pump it out with steadfastly, as it is really powerful against this guy and will probably be your main weapon. Judgment is powerful, but tends to miss too often, so I'd suggest Angel Feathers. Constant use of this attacks makes thing flow faster. Your healer, Raine, won't probably get too many chances to use Cure or Heal in between Holy Lances/Photons, so the way to heal Shadow's powerful strikes is through Gels, as usual. As told, blocking off his attacks is rather hard; only his normal hits are semi-blockable, and even then, normal guarding much do much; use Guardian for better results. I wouldn't deem this necessary, though. The best defense here is to make Shadow teeter as much as possible through Tiger Rages and the almighty Raging Beast. This'll give you plenty of time to breath. Healing through items is the way to go. Keep assaulting Shadow with normal attacks and spells to prevent him from getting too many attacks. Revive any dead characters, and maintain the heat up. I'd think that's the best way to go around him, to exploit his weak defense. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Exit the temple. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S K A & L U N A =================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now it's time to find, beat and sex0r Aska and Luna. Before that, I suggest going through one of the myriad sidequests available at Tethe'alla, because a whole batch of them will become. Anyways, when things have been smoothly dealt with, warp to Sylvarant. Travel directly northeast from it to find a lavishly green depression girdled by mountains. In the midst of it a lone, shriveled tree looms. Land next to this saddening panorama and go "inside". It's the Linkite Tree Nova always talked about! Approach and examine its exhausted extension. Now would be a good time to fly over to Nova's Caravan nestled besides Hakonesia Peak. Talk to the this pundit man to learn more about the Linkite's nature. It's now time to visit the Linkite's shrunken home and nourish it to life! A series of fun scenes follow. Once they're over, you might to a little extra thing: get on your Rheairds and transport to Tethe'alla. There, soar the skies to Altessa's House where you need to chat with Mithos. After that, examine the red, eye-catching ExSphere on the table to initiate a series of scenes. You'll suddenly be on the Toize Valley Mine. Go to the waterfall area by veering east on the entrance and, in the next screen, going through the northeastern exit. Once you reach another cinema begins. Live through it. Once it ends, you'll be back at Altessa's. This mini-quest it's over now, so I'd say it's time to pay a visit to the summon spirits of light and get 'em to join your ranks. Backtrack to Sylvarant and fly to the Tower of Mana. Inside, go the very top (SAVE ALONG THE WAY!). When you reach the teleporter to the altar room, you meet no other than Kratos who... well, babbles on. At the top, organize your party so it _excludes_ Colette and possibly Raine, but packs in Genis and a healer (who could be Raine; just be sure to de-activate her light-based spells). + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Aska Luna THIS FIGHT IS EXTREMELY HARD! Pack in lots of Life Bottles, Pineapple Gels, Lemon Gels and, if you didn't save, the disposition to employ at least one Energy Tablet (o_O). Aska and Luna are tough bosses, mark my words. What makes them so tough? They're fast. I found Aska to be almost harmless, as it only moves around, beaks at you for a bit, but when you hit him it stays away. He's slow so constant running around the field makes things be even easier. Even then, its attacks do considerable damage, from a measly 200 to a rather dangerous 600. The real problem comes in the shape of a woman sitting on a rainbow- colored moon. Floating around calmly, Luna pumps out powerful photon spells that are unavoidable and hit really hard! (around 800), plus they stop you on your tracks o_O When you get too near she slaps you for around 200 PTS of DMG, and often teleports around (making landing Unison Attacks on her an uncertain exercise). What makes this battle so complicated is Luna's bad-ass attack, the powerfully unpredictable "Limited Ray". With almost no casting time and a pretentious amount of power, this attack alone has the power to ravage your party within seconds. It comes out of nowhere and renders as much as 1,000 HP out of your bars in a single hit. Often and speedily a ray of light will be shot out from the sky to explode among your lines, effectively eliminating those who're lacking on health. Aska might not be that much of a threat, but it takes HP out of you. Eventually your party will be badly wounded; you'll try to heal them and it'll be possible to. Eventually, though, Luna will go gun-ho and start performing the dangerous Limited Ray so often reviving your folks it's an impossible task, to the point it becomes otiose to do so; they'll just die back in a matter of seconds. You heal your partners through gels, they get killed in two more attacks. Argh! Knocking out abundant spells with Genis is a great offensive; Thunder Blade is an awesome spell here, so set Genis' pattern to Attack Same and veer over to Luna with Lloyd. Impetuously strike her petite body with combo strokes, conformed by attacks such as Tiger Blade and, more importantly, Raging Beast. Luna's blocking is not reiterated so making her teeter back through a good, pounding Raging Beast is not an impossible task. Blocking after the combo is not necessary. Instead, have a quick glance at your bars and treat anybody who's being pounded by Aska. Try not to do so with Lloyd and simply keep jamming on your combo buttons to entertain Luna; Genis spells, which are hopefully being cast, will be a great aid on this important task. Cast T.Seal: Dark on your weapon to maximize damage. Aska will slowly but surely chop away at your Hit Points, so if you see it becoming stubbornly addict to one of your partners and is too focused on getting his Life out of his/her bars, break off the attacking on Luna, get to Aska and chop away at it to get pressure out of your team and balance it. You'll be doing this rather often. Having Sheena, for instance, with a Scatter Strat. helps things greatly (and it's highly recommended). Things will get a bit too complicated once Luna takes enough of a beating to get her into "Limited Ray" mode. As told, this attack flies out fast, hits hard and, more importantly... ... it's really fast! o_O Wave after wave of it comes and knocks you out. You need to thoroughly attack Luna. However, how are you going to be able to stay alive? Tenacious healing is the answer! Keep in mind that it'll have to be _really_ tenacious healing, because Luna is merciless. Employ Life Bottles right after the character dies, and wait for a chance to use another item while commanding Raine to cast a spell. Through both means you should be able to keep a delicate balance on your health. However, it won't be enough. Sometimes while you're waiting for the Item's wait bar to extinguish a character will be killed: and it could be Raine! So, back to reviving, waiting and healing. Whomever is revived MUST be IMMEDIATELY healed, otherwise he'll be killed in no time flat. Feed him a good, acidic Lemon Gel for maximum effectiveness (no Apple crap here, bud). Meanwhile, command Raine to cast constant Heals to add up to the total curing. Otherwise you won't stand a chance. Relentlessly smack Luna and show her what you got. If you keep up the onslaught of spells and Tiger Blades-Raging Beasts, she'll be obliterated in no time. Aska is now the next enemy. Without Luna, it's just a cumbersome, oversized bird that shouldn't pose too much trouble. Just block its beak attacks, slam its poor skull down and heal so you don't fall now. Eventually it'll be dead. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Cutscene time! Kratos will join your party. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E L I A H U M A N R A N C H ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll arrive here after more scenes. Enter the ranch's inner area and go down the steps to the right. Inside, save up and change your S.Ring's function at the shifter. Proceed northward then (dodge the red spotlight slithering over the floor). Once you hit the area past the hall a cutscene triggers. You'll have to pick a team that accompanies you to the Mana Reactor. This team will have to fend off against a boss, so choose well! After the scene, open the chest on the southern side of this "main hub" to find a Lovely Mitten. You can go west of north now. Go north, maneuvering past the spotlight, to reach a sprawling room with two limitedly small paths on its northeast and northwest corners. Head northeast to find a pair of chests. They contain an Ether Sword and a Rune Staff. Backtrack to the sprawling room and veer west to find a Solar Spinner, Cor Leonis and Murasama. Backtrack to the main hub (the big, circular panels here are refreshers that sell items and heal you. Hit the two poles next to the western door with your S.Ring to unlock them. Dodge the spotlights and proceed to the next screen. Beat the Desians here and go down to the bottom. There, turn east to find a secluded pathway. Proceed to the next screen. Dodge the spotlights. Past them, head all the way to the right to find a Rune Robe positioned across a flight of steps. Climb up them after snagging the item. You're now given a _multitude_ of paths to take. Turn right and you can find a hall that goes north, or go further to the right to find a flight of steps that heads down. Take a left, to the very leftmost corner of this room. There, power up the two poles next to the locked door. Beat the Raybit floating around if necessary and get the Aqua Greaves, Rune Mail and Rune Shield at the top of this small warehouse. Exit, and take a laconic right until you find a path stretching upwards. Board it. You'll find another poled door. Power the sticks up to unlock the door that leads a room with a lone soldier and three chests, holding: Hairpin, Rune Gauntlet and Rune Guard. Backtrack out of these rooms and proceed further to the right. The hall starts to wall-up here. At the extreme right a flight of steps climbs down; a bit before it its similar goes down, too, but southward. Trek down this one. Dodge the spotlights and unlock the door at the bottom, leading to a sober room with two chests: Rune Circlet and Rune Cloak. Backtrack and hike back up them steps. Dance rightward for a second and go north, down the aforementioned steps. Turn right to find a hallway that extends to the south. Follow it; at its end, a locked memory seal and a door wait. Cross the door, get the War Hammer out of the chest and beat the enemy for a Memory Gem. Activate the elevator here so you can go up the main area easily, so it's possible to heal and purchase items back at the main hub. Go back and save at the now-unlockable memory seal. Fully heal your party and go north to find a door with the trademark sticks. Unlock it and outmaneuver the spotlights in the subsequent hallway, at the end of which a warp point awaits. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Forcystus ExBone Well, this isn't too hard of a fight. Firstly, have two powerful, ranged spells with that deal multiple hits (Gravity Well/Holy Lance, for instance) on your shortcuts. Secondly, be sure _everybody_ is set to either Scatter or Attack Far; or a combination of both. Lastly, have a good deal of healing items. With Lloyd, aim for an ExBone. Like ToDII's Maxwell, who I beat with Demon Twist, these little things are made mincemeat by employing the similar-functioning Tiger Rage. Set it to an easily accessed shortcut button and blast on it while you're locked on an ExBone. Meanwhile, blast on your shortcuts to make the magic flow and trust on your fourth character's wits. Forcystus will cast a series of normal spells that are still damaging. This phase of the battle demands constant movement, so you'll see a reduced amount of attacks; but it's still enough of them. Simply focus on getting rids of the ExBones. Heal any wounds that are inflicted upon you. It shouldn't bee too hard to send the ExBones to kingdom come with obstinate employment of Tiger Rage or Tempest (preferably the former). Once they're out, shift your attention to Forcystus, pop a couple of Gels to replenish lost TP and HP, and for him now! He attacks physically with a three-hit combo that deals over 700 PTS of DMG, which is roughly the same damage his attack-wind spell string does. He performs both often, although sometimes he surprises you with an Air Thrust for a good 500-600 PTS of DMG. These attacks are easily healed from by a popping a simple Apple Gel, and, in the former two's case, by blocking. Keep in mind that this guy can cast Wind's strongest spell (so far), Cyclone (gulp!), for an obliterating 1,800-2,000 PTS of DMG. Whomever is caught within it is sure to die unless he/she is absolutely full! How to attack Forcystus? Keep the onslaught of them spells with the reiterated hits and unstoppable power while you run up to Forcystus and employ a simple and repetitive string of Demon Tiger Rages or, why not, simple Tiger Rages. These attacks are quick, nearly 100% accurate, deal good damage and aren't usually blocked. After employing a good amount of them, performing Guardian might be good; standard blocking isn't good. Forcystus will attack Lloyd mostly (and your fourth character if he/she is a frontline attacker), so heal him(them) through Gels (as spell- casting takes too long, and its time is better spent on pumping out assailing magic). Forcystus is still good enough to send a spell over you and knock Genis' humanity back, so keep an eye on their HPs. His attacks are not that powerful, although for Lloyd damage will stack up at a deviant rate. Keep an eye for Cyclone, because this attack can really break you! If it catches Lloyd, simply watch him die, but if it girdles Raine, Genis and Kratos, sweat it good, boy, cause you're going to have one hell of a situation (with a good amount of accent in every syllable!)... or perhaps not, if you're properly healed. Thanks to Namco's inane decision to remove the "call for yer mateys through down + X (or was it O?)" command, once you see the shredding waves of furious wind trap your friends in a threatening lock of gusting air, pump one or two of them to full health so he makes it through and helps you enact the reviving. I really don't think this guy is too hard. Heal, survive Cyclone and use a ludicrous amount of Tiger Rages/Demonic Tiger Rages. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Watch Forcystus preposterously funny "death" (heh). Exit the ranch now. After a series of scenes, [CHANGE DISCS] and proceed. [DISC 2] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A S E R I E S O F E V E N T S ================================ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- After the scenes, exit Colette's house and head to the school for more cinemas. Talk to Raine at her house after this and then drift to the town's entrance. After this you'll be at Dirk's; talk with him and then chat with your folks spread around the house and its outskirts. At Lloyd's room, next to his bed, there is a bunch of wood that makes the wonder chef loom into the area and teach you the Miso Stew. After getting it, head to the balcony area to find... Colette (MEH!). Now warp to Tethe'alla and visit Altessa, where you're directed to Sybak. Go into the big building just up from the entrance. After the cinemas, go to Meltokio and quick jump through the sewers. You'll... be taken inside the sewers. Walk a step or two to trigger a scene, and then exit the sewers. At the city, visit the church, where you must enter the small room to the left of the entrance. Along the long scenes Colette will earn the "Spiritua Reborn" title. Exit the king's room when prompted, turn right and climb down the steps. Head through the door further to the right to initiate another scene. Talk with Hilda at the castle's lobby and now go to Lezareno at Altamira. There, talk to George at his office; trek down to the second floor for further cinemas. After them, go back to Sybak's big academy building to the west of the entrance (since the ban on you has been removed you can go through the main door). Go through the door nearest to you and in the subsequent screen be sure to repeat this practice. Get the Zircon out of the chest and exit Sybak. Fly to Mizuho (outfit Sheena with some good items) where some scenes ensues. Talk to Orochi by the entrance (save!) to be taken to the place where the duel against Kuchinawa will take place (try to chat with your buds before doing so, though). Kuchinawa is a really tough opponent; if you manage to beat him you're a badass ;) Anyway, he basically employs a series of fast, nearly unpredictable attacks that do LOTS of damage (around 300 per hit, and each combo is usually composed of three attacks). If you could effectively block all of them through a pattern this battle would be easier; being able to utilize items would also help. But neither thing consummates. Blocking this guy off is a highly possible exercise if you simply tap the block button endlessly; in the midst of attacking, it's a doubtful thing. Kuchinawa's zealousness gets him to unexpected levels, so be ready to re-load a lot of you're hell-bent on beating him. Firstly, you'll need at least one Black Onyx. Two would be ideal to attain the maximum HP permitted by your level, but I'm well aware these items are hefty purchases. Beat Dragons at the Earth Temple to amass the necessary money, and soar to Flanoir to get the aforementioned minerals. Once you have them, be sure you give Sheena her Guard Plus ExSkill. Now, begin the fight. Firstly, set Pyre Seal to your "RIGHT+B" shortcut. The way to deal with this guy is simple: firstly, wait for him to come towards you and rush on yourself. Block his initial wave of attacks (which should include a thunder blast which can be _dodged_ but not _blocked_) and perform either a one-two combo followed by a Pyre Seal, or simply Pyre Seal. While the guy's on the floor, smack him twice and block; or start blocking even while he's on the floor. To chip away all of his 10,000 HPs you'll have to battle for quite a bit, so don't get discouraged. What makes this so hard is that when you run up to him he usually pulls out a strong, unbeatable combo which he then strings into subsequent destroying attacks. Oh, and the fact that he's relentless. Lose and you get Corrine's Bell; win and you also get the Asura card for Sheena. Anyway, let's move on. After the fight, stock up on items at Mizuho if needed, board your Rheairds and fly to the southeastern continent. Look at it on your map; notice the peninsula to the northwest of it. Land on its tip to find a lush forest in the middle of it, surrounding what seems to be the outlines of a village. Wade through the thicket until you're given the possibility to access the Ymir Forest. Go inside. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Y M I R F O R E S T ==================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [NOTE: I suggest reading the whole thing, or at least looking through to get a grasp on the Blue Seed's location, as I refer to it often] Move all the way forward to the S.Ring shifter and change your ring's function and get the item behind the tree there (a Resist Ring). Then, climb up the tree stump to the right and employ your ring to see a brief scene explaining its effects: it is able to call animals. Backtrack a bit till you see a big tree root on the right, beaming up; climb it and beat the enemy there, which is probably a group made out of KILLER BEES, which are uncannily damaging but easy to beat. Backtrack a few metres; you should see a root beaming upwardly, and underneath it, a wooden path. Go along it. When you see you can go up or down, veer downward to find two tree stumps; you can only climb into the one with the flower. Do so and call forth a boar through your S.Ring to unlock the nearby chest and earn a Solar Guard (the boar smashes it with its fierce horns, making it open-able). From here, go forward toward what seems to be an isle up front. Facing off against the wandering boar puts you against a whole family of them, where the small ones move swiftly and damagingly through the field, while the big ones are rather cumbersome; even then, these guys can rack up plenty of hits and do notable damage. Go with god. Anyway, the isle seemingly holds nothing, but behind the tree on it a chest looms over. Before such island the path stretches to the left. Follow it to the next screen. Here, take the first left you can to find another blooming tree trunk. Climb onto it and immediately cast forth your S.Ring's charming melody. Nothing big enough happens... not yet. Head back to the previous screen and pour forward. Take the first right you can and ignore the "jump" command when it's prompted. Eventually you'll reach a bifurcation, where the path goes up to a island with a blooming stump, while the rightmost derivation also leads to similar results. Ponder about the meaning of life. Thereafter, move to the eastern stump and perform the S.Ring ritual to earn a Blue Seed. Examine the behind of the tree next to the stump to get a Crystal Shell. Then, go up along the path that extends across this wooden piece. Backtrack all the way to the "main path" (the one that leads back down into the previous screen) and backtrack to the very S.Ring shifter. Here, examine the small patch of ground to the left of the shifter, where you can plant the blue seed we got a while ago. This makes blue flowers bloom on the lily pads scattered across the forest. From there, go down a few steps till you see a road turning leftward. Cross this small "bridge". Then, look up to find a thick root encroaching upwardly. Climb it up. Pour rightward to the next screen, where you must resume your way. ORCROTS might be found here; they create auras around them every now and then for moderate protection. Easily slash them to death. At the end of this path, go down the root and veer left to find a lily pad (not counted). Use your S.Ring there. This causes a chest to seemingly slither toward you. Anyway, go back right and pick the path underneath the big root. Go along it until you reach the raised "catwalks" suspended over the matted forest. Firstly, turn left and proceed along the linear road: down a stump and into a small isle with a save point, a chest with a Maid's Hairband and that floating chest which holds a White Seed. Up front a boy requests you to find him a Ymir Fruit. Backtrack all the way back to the catwalks and head eastward up there, to the next screen (you'll to climb down a root). Next, climb up once again into the catwalks and proceed right until the path crashes and re-directs itself southwardly. You should reach a familiar platform, by where we earned our Blue Seed. Trek back to the S.Ring shifter and plant the white seed on the patch left of it. This makes a flower bloom in the forest's twigs. Go down from the S.Ring isle and hike up the thin root to the right, which leads to a wooden plank where appropriate accommodation provides us with the option to jump into another oversized twig. Call forth the eagle to land next to a big crate; drop it down and backtrack to the main S.Ring area. From there, head to the very tree where you found the Blue Seed. Climb up the root a bit behind of it, and go forward along the bridge. Once you reach a gap filled by a tree, next to an adjacent bridge, trek down. Go right to reach a blooming stump that makes the Ymir Fruit fall into the water. Now comes the fun part; getting it. Pace back leftwardly and go up the root. At the catwalk, turn south and climb down into another plank. Go to the to the north, and there, summon a bunch of bugs through the stump. Then, head to the place where you found the Blue Seed (simply run eastward) and from there go up to a lily pad. Summon a fish; after the quick scene, move as if you were heading to the isle where you made the bugs fall. Instead of heading towards it veer west, climb up the root and generally make your way to the path which leads to the isle; containing the stump that summons the Ymir Fruit. If you head left, instead of right, away from the aforementioned isle, you'll find another stump. Summon a bunch of bugs here. Now, go all the waaaaaay back to the road extending from the platform; where we summoned our first bugs (not the platform itself), and veer west, underneath the big tree, to find a lone lily pad. Stand in it and perform the ritualistic S.ring dance. Wazza! Anyway, hike to the upper areas (use the root to the right of here) and head to the northwester corner of it, where a lone twig is suspended besides the catwalk. Jump onto it and summon an eagle through your S.Ring. Go right and summon a boar on the stump. Now, go back the last liliy pad we dealt with (summon back the eagle on the white flower to the reach the main dungeon once again), and from there, take a few steps to the left to get a grasp of the road on the upper left corner of the screen; head over there and proceed to the next area, where a lone lily pad tranquilly floats over the water. Jump onto it and redundantly employ yer S.ring for the penultimate time (be sure the big fish floating about is very far away from you). Finally, lead your avatar to the S.Ring isle and go left from it. Follow the sinuous, wooden road to the last lily pad; call forth a fish, and after the brief sequence, go to the S.Ring shifter isle and pick up the fruit from the Lily Pad. Now, wade to the upper side of the forest, where the save point and the boy are; save and approach the little kid. You'll get a Metal Sphere and the ability to cross over to Heimdall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- H E I M D A L L =============== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here we have a tune that sounds, in parts, so much like FFVII's nostalgic music (*sniff* I LOVE 'EM) that I was _literally_ forced to play through that game all over again. Anyways... enjoy the cinematography. Explore the town's trio of stores (weapons, armor and items) to find a bevy of new implements, a good bunch of which you should have snatched out of chests. Underneath the inn's porch there is a dog waiting to be named by Colette. The elder's house is nearly completely secluded; left of the inn is a thin road that goes along a fence; it leads to another screen: can you believe it? YOU BETTER DO! Anyways, you'll reach the elder's house area. The house itself is far to the north. Before heading inside, go underneath it to reach a small rest to the left. Cross the plank there to reach a platform that holds an unnamed dog; you know what to do... Now, head into the elder's place. Before talking to the lone, flagrantly placed elder, head into the back-room and check out the painting there to evict the wunderkind of a chef out of his hiding place! Learn, master and eat the Cream Stew. Yum! Now talk with the elder; this initiates a brief dialogue which concludes when you're given the Elf Elder's Staff. With this in hand, return to the entrance to recollect Raine and Genis; thereafter, leave town and quick-jump through Ymir's forest. At the map, board the Rheairds and soar towards Latheon Gorge, on the southwest. It really isn't far away; it's a steep mountain wounded by a fierce-looking dirt road, inclined over a small "pond" (sorry, lacking the geographically correct word here o_O). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- L A T H E O N G O R G E ======================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Move forward along the entrance path. After the dialogue, get the Ex Gem Lv4 at the off-shoot to the north; then, veer eastward. When you see the path going south, follow it to find a S-ring shifter; change the ring's function and go back to the main path. Resume your way along the eastern road, which suddenly twists north. At the end of it there is a chest with Rare Pellets, but there is also a raised portion of land on the left side of this path; it leads to a wind-blowing plant. Position yourself in front of it; let it blow wind a couple of times, maybe more, till you get used to its pattern. Utilize the S.Ring once; it transforms you into a bubble which can be softly pushed along by the wind. Having learned the plant's patterns, calculate a good time to en- bubble yourself so you get caught in the current; cross to the other side. Examine the emaciated plant there, and then, go north. At the end of this brief road you'll find a Kirima Tree. Take a Kirima fruit of it and backtrack to the famishing plant; feed it the fruit to bring it back to life. The flower will now be healthy, ready to blow some wind! Float over to the adjacent platform by employing the flower's wind current. You'll land right next to another flower, but ignore it for now; instead, head right to find a pathway that stretches upwardly. It's kind of a linear road which concludes in front of a wooden bridge. Cross the bridge to the next screen. Here, go right. Eventually you'll find a road that goes north, while you can proceed further to the right to find an Ex Gem Lv3. Across the northernmost path there is a semi- hidden inclination that takes you to the upper platform. There, pick the Ex Gem Lv3 beneath the tree to the left. Practically across the blowing plant here there is a ramp which goes into a secluded nook; there, a Devil's Arm rests. Get it. Directly to the right of the local blowing plant there is a Kirima Tree and across it there is a dying plant. Get a generous amount of Kirima and feed it to the suffering plant. Go back to the tree, turn left and approach the blowing plant there. Have it push you forward; as you float, the plant we just revived while re-direct you to an adjacent platform. Head up to find a tree with Amangos; pick lots of them and then proceed up the path next to it, to reach the following screen. Here, go forward until you hit the rocky wall. From there, you can go right, or left. Left holds a chest with an Ex Gem Lv4 and a gigantic, purple plant. There is also a dead plant here; revive it, and revive the one to the far right, on top of a slope. Then, go back to the purple plant and have it blow you forward. You'll land in an isle of sorts; revive the local dead plant so it can carry you to the waterfall. Pick the Star Cap to the left, and use the plant to the right to return to the isle. From there, utilize the bottom blower. Land in the subsequent piece of land and go down from there; pick up the Rare Shield out of its chest and have the huge plant blow you forward. Move along the path you land in and climb up the steep slope at its end, to reach the nook where you got the Devil's Arms. From there, rehearse the past routines to reach the northern side of the area, where the Amango tree is, and from there proceed to the next screen (where we first saw the big, purple plants). Here, climb into the platform to the right, which should have two blowers if you revived one of them in the past; if not, then just revive it! Anyways, use the bottom blower to cross to the other side. Here, employ the nearest blower (not the one up the hill). If you revived the plants as directed in the past, you'll cross over to the other side safely. Get the Flare Greaves behind the nearest blowing plant; get the Toroid to the far right. Revive the plant up the slant; now, approach the other plant here and float to the platform across of it. There, a big purple, bad-momma blower is. It takes you to another screen. Here, go down the podium you land in, and head south along the adjacent path. Revive the two plants there; now, backtrack to the landing point and employ the plant there to reach another landing with two more plants; kill the rightmost of these two (feed it Amangos) and then use the leftmost to arrive next to the two plants we revived in the past. Backtrack to the landing point and kill that one blower. Next, board the leftmost platform, with the previously revived plants, and soar forward by utilizing the rightmost blower. At the next landing, go up the slant to find a wilted tower; revive it and climb up the slope to the left to find an additional, well-formed flower; have it blow you forward, so the plant we just revived captures you in its breath and pushes your humanity upwardly. (NOTE: if you wish to get an item in this screen, before proceeding to the next, go to the two plants on the bottom-left corner of the area; the ones that were dead when we first found them. The leftmost one of them carries you to a platform with an Ex Gem Lv4. The catch? You have to backtrack all the way back here, from the very first area. Ugh!) You'll land in a cliff with a blower. Now comes a seemingly "puzzle-some" series of maneuvers. Firstly, float west. Then, climb up the slope to find two flowers. Use the purple one. At the next platform there is another flower; if you've been healing plants as suggested, there should be a gust of wind stretching up. Use the local flower, which, in conjunction with the vertical wind current, takes you to the subsequent landing (revive the plant). Fly leftward from there to find a cave (revive the plant by the entrance). Inside, pick a couple of spell casters and open the chest; it's a Fake (it can only be hurt by magic, hence the spellcasters). Have Lloyd position himself in front of it and adamantly block; just that, block. Meanwhile, pump out lots of spells through shortcuts. The Fake will be dead soon enough. You get an All-Divide and an Elixir. Go up the nearest slant and from there ascend once more. Kill the slug slithering about to get a memory gem, and ascend an additional time to find a Draupnir on a chest. Go down twice and turn left past the wandering flower. At the westernmost end of the area, you can go up to find a Kirima tree, or simply proceed south to the next screen. Here, revive the dead plant and soar rightwards. Do so once again by employing the all powerful purple blower. You'll reach another landing (_if_ you revived the plant by the cave's entrance !!). Once again, use the only available blower to reach the subsequent area. You can calmly revive the local plant, but it won't be of much use -_- Anyways, go right and climb up the slope there. Move along the linear, beautifully decorated road. Pick some Kirima and feed it to the plant by the bridge; do so again with the plant past the bridge. Also past the bridge there is a hut with a save point next to it, directly south of the hut there is a Battle Pick. Save and enter the hut; go behind the man here to find a toy bunny in a closet of sorts; examine it to find the Wonder Chef. After doing so, it might be good to speak with the man, who is the storyteller. What the heck!? Anyways... after the dialogue, pick a good party (with a healer, doh) and go back to the hut; don't enter it. Instead, cross the bridge and use the flower at the other side: have it blow you forward. You'll be caught in a series of currents which will ultimately take you to a small podium; there, a cutscene is enacted. After it finishes, save at the memory seal and exit through the door the storyteller opened. Next, proceed rightward (heal now) and employ the local flower to reach the cave behind the waterfall. Move forward a couple of steps for a scene... + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Plantix Well, this is ain't too bad. Plantix does lots of damage with its whipping attacks, but they're close-ranged; therefore, only your close- range fighters will be really hurt. It's long-range attacks are also damaging but far less accurate, which means your spell-casters won't have too much of a tough time. Pour forward and employ Beast (any variation) as well as Eruption and Holy Lance for lots of damage and high-counting combos. Constantly pump out these attacks, as they come out fast and do lots of damage (specially Eruption; Beast is also particularly useful). Pop Lemon Gels occasionally to heal Lloyd. Eventually, the plant will reveal its skull. It'll start using more long-ranged attacks, but Lloyd will still be the most-damaged. Pop a quick gel, keep an eye on Lloyd's HP and resume your attacking. Now it's the time to use Unison attacks, too; Plantix is initially invulnerable to them, but with its skull revealed, they become effective. Attack relentlessly, heal on time and it should all go well. A very easy battle, really. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Back at the hut, talk with the storyteller after saving, of course. A scene, composed mostly of dialogue, ensues; there is lots of interesting stuff waiting to be said here! You'll be right at the entrance of Latheon Gorge. Go outside, save and board the Rehairds. Now, fly over to an island southeast of the Toize Valley Mine. -- Go into the "Abbey" there. Talk with Zelos' sister, Seles (meh) at the abbey's top floor. After that, fly over to the Tower of Salvation, right in between the middle of the center of the world. Save and prepare a good team before going in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O W E R O F S A L V A T I O N ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Simply proceed to the entrance and endure through the compulsory cutscenes. From there, make it to the warp to witness more cinemas. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Kratos This undoubtedly is a tough fight but it sure can be won. Firstly, you'll need a powerful spell that hits lots of times; Cyclone is your best card. It hits an absurd amount of times and does decent damage to Kratos. Other than that, Spread and even Tidal Wave could be of use; but Cyclone is the greatest. Meanwhile, be sure you've got Raine as your healer and she has cure; also, disable her light based spells. Lloyd should have on his shortcuts a series of quick attacks, such as Tiger Rage and Fierce Demon Fang, along with powerful, slower techs such as Raging Beast and Demon Circle. So, with this, we have one spot for one last character; be it Regal, Presea, Sheena or whatever, it doesn't matter. Just pick. Be sure you have a good batch of healing items; around 5 Lemon Gels and 5-7 Life Bottles work well. I won this fight through obdurate healing; this might seem hackneyed already, but it is true. Of course, Cyclone's outlandish amount of hits and power, combined with Kratos' uncanny vulnerability to Raging Beast helped; that, coupled with a strong Unison Attack in the middle of the fight. However, I Got through it all due to healing. No contest, really. Kratos Aurion's attacks are mainly physical; so, Lloyd will receive lots of damage. His attack-Lightning Blade combo is specially powerful; I'd estimate it does around 1,000 PTS of DMG. It's quick, sharp and almost unavoidable. Guardian is probably the way through, but I don't think it can guard all of it. His spells are scarcely cast; Judgment hits _really_ hard, though it is rarely employed (and, like Prism Sword in ToDII, it misses often). Other spells include powerful iterations of Eruption and Thunder Blade, although their limited radiuses really make them less harmful. To attack Kratos, things are really simple. Start chanting Cyclone, move forward and hit block to endure through his initial batch of attacks; after that, pump out a Tiger Rage, subsequent to which a Raging Beast should be cast; this is an easy combo that knocks Kratos most of the time. He gets on his feet _real quickly_. Run up to him again, Guard, then employ another combo or simply an attack: Demon Circle, Tiger Rage; it works. Around this time, Cyclone should be being cast. Cyclone or whatever, really, because some people might not have it. If it is a decent spell, it should stun Kratos all through the attacking animation. Use this time to further attack him with aerial-to-midair kind of attacks (Tempest, Tiger Rage) and whomever serves as the fourth character (who should have an attack on the shortcuts). If you're badly wounded, pop a Gel around your buds. But mainly, keep attacking. Kratos expeditious attacking is damaging, sure; thankfully, you can, too, damage him rather easily and abundantly. His blocking is strangely scarce, so most attacks will do proper damage; he's also easily hit. The real problem comes to the damage he can dish out. Spell-casters should not have much problem with this, thanks to their laid-back positions. Other types of characters will face constant flagellation. How to go around with this? Raine. All throughout the fight, have her be your absolute healer; she should do no more. Constantly AND _manually_ (this is important) heal wounds; 2,000 HPs is not enough against Kratos, so when you're on that threshold, immediately use Cure to get back on track. This is really, really important. Keep your HPs above 2,000 at all times with all of your characters. Break from attacking if in dire need of healing; if you do so Kratos might get plentiful space to stab you to death, though. In those cases, heal through a Gel to keep up till the proper healing comes. This is a very beatable battle. He isn't quite the demi-god. Try not to be too conservative in your attacking, otherwise the fight will never end. Attack and attack, but, mainly, maintain a good level of health. The stun-time Cyclone/whatever provides is great for Curing; spell-casters should be easily cured. And if a striker needs treatment, pop a Gel to sustain a couple of hits before Cure is cast; that's how I survived. I healed whomever was at 2,000 HPs or so. Since spells take time to be cast, sometimes I simply broke-off the attacking and stayed back. If I saw Kratos was getting a bit too much space, I used a Gel, attacked him to shrink his movement options and waited for the healing. That's about it. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + After the scenes, you'll be outside a jail cell. Use the platform nearby. Turn left (your left), save at the seal and go up the steps to find a warp. A scene ensues. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W E L G A I A ============= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Colette, push the leftmost box rightwards and then drag away the box on top of the transporter. Back the prison, use the nearest transporter to reach Welgaia. There, turn right. To the far right there is a door, while there is a similar one on the upper wall; go through this one. In the next room, enter the room to the left. A Devil's Arms await. After getting it, exit its room and examine the door to the right of it; it's an elevator. Have it take you the various levels and chat with the angels. It's necessary to do this. Now, exit and go all the way back to the main area. Take the door I told you was to the far right. Speak to the Angel there to earn a Mana Fragment in the most outlandish of ways. Back at the main area, use the walkways west of here. At the next screen, save and go north towards the purple transporter. You're unable to use it now, though, so go east (backtrack to the platform previous to the transporter and take the other available road). Follow the linear road to the next screen. Here, you can go up a flight of steps or down its homologue. On the upper level you find a series of lifts, two of which lead to Refreshers. The elevator left of the easternmost lift carries you to a refresher, but is also in front of a panel; examine it in order to trigger a scene. Now, if you need to purchase item, use the easternmost lift itself, as it leads to a vending machine. Across this easternmost lift there is another panel which holds valuable information. After examining such panel, go back to the entrance of this area; from there, go down the steps. Here, you can see two lifts spread across the upper wall, which serves as the foundation of the upper floor. On the bottom portion of this platform, across the two lifts, there is an extra transporter camouflaged among the bright-blues. Now that you know it's there, you should little trouble finding it. Board it and have it take you to the platform to the right. If you've collected the necessary information you'll be able to leave. ---- DOWN THE TOWER OF SALVATION! **************************** In the next room, move left, save, and proceed to the next area. Below, go across of the stairway; careful of the flying robots here. With their quick, 150-PTS-OF-DMG attacks they rack up LOTS of hits easily; be rather careful. Anyway, across the stairway a path veers north, but it's blocked off; further the left it extends southward after a bit. At the next screen, move along the hall to reach a rather big room. On the top-right corner of it there is a door, which leads to an anti-gravity chamber. Here, when you start moving, you won't stop till you hit something! The idea is to clear this room. Move in these directions to do so: 1. Right 6. Up 11. Left 16. Down 2. Down 7. Left 12. Down 17. Right 3. Left 8. Down 13. Right 18. Up 4. Up 9. Left 14. Down 19. Right 5. Left 10. Up 15. Right Enter the control room, beat the Raybit and get the item (Ex Gem Lv4) out of the chest here (it's gray-and-green chest. It shouldn't be hard to miss). Thereafter, activate the red panel nearby. Back at the anti- gravity chamber, exit to the previous room. Take the southern road; follow it all the way, as it leads into a nook with an item: a Rare Guard. Backtrack all the way back to the room previous to the anti- gravity chamber, and from there go back northwards to a previous screen. Go up the steps. If you head right, you'll reach the staircase that goes into the warp that leads to Welgaia; a bit before it there is a path veering up, that was once locked but is now open. Take it. Next, you can enter the room to the right, or proceed leftward. Go leftward to an adjacent screen. Here, go down. Immediately south of you it's highly possible you'll notice to short corridors; they both end in chests. Pick the two of them to attain new items, and go west, to get a glimpse of a hallway which extends to the north. It ends in a blue panel; hit the button. Now, backtrack towards the two short corridors, and from there, up the steps into the previous screen. Go right here, through the door across the stairway. In this new screen, proceed rightward; a staircase goes south, while a corridor extends further to the east. Take it. You'll see a door, but is locked, so, instead, head south to reach a bifurcation. Turn right and when possible go down. Along the corridor, keep a sharp eye on an item positioned along the left wall; it is a Holy Robe. At the bottom of the path simply go to the next area, where a linear road is to be followed. It ends in a open area, different to the tight corridors we've crossed. At its northern side two roads veer up; the first one, from right to left, leads to a small room with a Dragon Fang. Pick it, and approach the leftmost corridor. At the base of it there as in item; an Ex Gem Lv3. After snagging it, go into the corridor and move along. At the next screen, head left. You'll be back in a seemingly similar area; go south, turn left and down the steps. From there, make it to the anti-gravity chamber. Move like this: right, down, left, up, left, up, left, down, left, up, left, down, left, down, right, up and right. You'll hit an elevator. It'll carry you to another anti-gravity chamber. Here, move like this: 1. Down 8 Right 15. Up 2. Right 9. Down 3. UP 10. Right 4. Left 11. Down 5. Up 12. Right 6. Right 13. Up 7. Up 14. Left Proceed along the one-way road in the next room. You'll eventually reach a point where a path offers itself, heading south, while you're enticed to proceed east. East is an item; Energy Tablets. South, and then to the left, you reach the anti-grav chamber we just reached; only you arrive at it in a different place. Move left, up, left, down, right, down, right, down, right, up, left, down. Hit the lift, boy! You'll be back at the very first grav chamber. Right across of you, though, there is a lift to be taken. Wazza! The final anti-gravitational-force chamber. Follow these hot direction: 1. Left 7. Right 13. Left 19. Right 2. Up 8. Down 14. Down 20. Up 3. Right 9. Left 15. Left 21. Right 4. Up 10. Down 16. Up 5. Right 11. Left 17. Right 6. Down 12. Up 18. Down In the control room you'll hit, get the Holy Circlet out of its chest and examine the blue, glowing panel to get the Elevator Key. Backtrack to the anti-grav room and there, head to the lift on the bottom-left side of the screen. It's the easiest thing ever; it transports you to a previous anti-grav. Here, go right, up and left. You'll be back at the "main dungeon". Go north all the way to reach another screen. Go up and right when possible; look for a path which goes north. Take it, and go right through a doorway whenever prompted. Proceed all the way eastward till you find a gray door with a glowing panel next to it; examine the _other_ panel, non-glowing, to unlock the door IF you have the Elevator Key. Heal, prepare a party and go up. Examine the sphere there and agree to go down. Exit the lift and go across of it. There is lots of machinery in this open area; between the leftmost set of it, along the upper panels, a chest is tucked, holding an Ex Gem Lv2. Go up and turn west then. In the subsequent room, heal, and board the warp. Now you'll face Yggdrasill; it really isn't much of a fight. Just survive for long enough (you won't need need to cause damage, I think; as far as I know you only need to endure) till the battle ends. Heal to prevent an unexpected death, and it should be fine. Enjoy the scenes, exit the Tower, save. As you exit the tower's outskirts, you're immediately taken to Altessa's. ---- Save on the seal just outside the dwarf's house and enter. Cutscene time! Some shocking--albeit highly expectable--truths are revealed. These are some nice scenes, ya? You'll have to do battle against some angels, too. Speak to the guys around here after the small fight. Then, fly over to Flanoir. Save and then explore town. The doctor's office is reached by going east from the entrance and then, head north. Move forward to find Zelos and then enter the hospital. The greedy doctor will pick three characters to accompany him to Altessa's; these three are the lowest three, relation-ship wise, that you have in your party. Psych! Colette will come in and ask if you want to go out for a walk... I think. Or something. This part is really hazy, but I know that if you deny her, another character will come in; rinse and repeat once more, for a total of three possible people coming over. If you agree to Colette you'll get her Snow Hare's. I think that if you agree to Zelos (if he's around) he also gives you an item. I got Colette, denied her, and along came Genis, followed by Presea. Lastly, when I told everybody "No", I got a fourth scene, with Kratos (apparently this only happens if you have a good relationship with him). I saw all of them cutscenes (had to reload my save file plentifully). I got an item out of Colette's and Kratos'. As told, I think you can get one of Zelos' if you pick him. It should be noted that if you see Kratos', you'll get the chance to let him join you later on... however, this has its price... If you agree to talk with the first person who comes along... well... let's say it favours Zelos. The scenes following these dialogues are different depending on which ones you see. If you see any of the first three, Lloyd will tell Zelos he trusts him; if you speak to Kratos, he'll ask him if he can trust him! Yes, yes... can you guess the price you're gonna have to pay for chatting with good old Mr. Aurion? Mwahahaha [If you like Zelos a helluva lot, don't pick Kratos as your chatter] There are lots of new available sidequests. And, also, the Sword Dancer has once again appeared; he's on the northernmost exit of Iselia Forest. He's got 99,999 HPs, so fighting him now might be kind of tough; however, I highly recommend you to do so. He's beatable, and, so far, we've beaten him as soon as we got the chance: no "I'll come back much later" crap. The real deal, a'right? So, let's keep that string alive. Face him. It's the final time we'll battle him. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Sword Dancer 3 You'll need the following: Thunder Blade and Holy Lance (both shortcut); Cure; Black Onyxes on everybody (real important); 20 Lemon Gels; 20 Life Bottles; 15 Miracle Gels; as many Apple/Orange Gels as you can. And, if you are really hell bent on beating him, one Energy Tablet (or two; just be sure that after the fight you still have some to boot). The Black Onyxes should be outfitted to Raine and Genis; the third one should go to Lloyd (hey! He's damaged quite a lot!). The Sword Dancer is oh-so-powerful: it's cross-slice attacks usually shear off as much as 2,000 PTS of DMG per combo; it's spells do a bit less. Ground Dasher, however, is the exception; it does around two thousand, too. Indignation is rarely cast; it renders 3,000 HP out of your bars! Thankfully, right before it connects, an aura is created around the area which is going to be affected. Just break off the attacking and run away. Some of your buds might be caught in the "cone of death", so just revive him. The Dancer has a fairly high defense; normal strikes do little to him. However, they're necessary: Raging Beast, for instance, might knock him back (although it's now harder to do so) unless he's defending, while Tempest or Tempest Beast help you push him back, thus preventing him from cornering you. Swift attacks such as Tiger Rage, Demonic Tiger Rage are usually for racking up damage; here they do little, but combo'ed with Beast or Tempest you can attain some interesting results. Don't you go around thinking Lloyd's attacking will be useless; it just won't be the core of your offense. That would be Thunder Blade and Holy Lance; each one of them does really good damage; Thunder Blade is around the 2,000 area, while Holy Lance is sheer insanity: the last hit renders as much as 1,000 HPs! If you have Colette around, have her employ her Light-based Techs. They're powerful, too. But Thunder Blade/Holy Lance are absolute madness. Be sure to cast them ridiculously often. Constant casting of Holy Lance means Raine will have reduced healing time. Lloyd should administer Gels to himself; waiting for Cure is otiose here, so just deal with it yourself. Colette or "the fourth character" does not pose much of a problem. I'll say it now: Colette is the best choice for such fourth character; she stays back, so damage is greatly reduced. Her healing should be handled when she's around 1,000. The others should not fall below 2,000. Raine and Genis, as they stay back, should also have some liberties in the healing department; but they don't. They're the core of your attacking, for Christ's sake! Raine should be fed Gels, too, as well as Lloyd. Try not to overuse them, though, because they run out, too! Genis is also really important, but you can spend time Curing him. If Raine is attacking, simply give him a Gel. That's the hardest part of this fight: maintaining a good level of HPs, mainly because Raine is attacking and attacking. When you heal, you usually break off from the assailment; this means the Dancer moves around rather freely and gets to cast some spells. Lloyd and Colette are the ones who should work out the Gels; it's the best thing. Meanwhile, have Raine and Genis attack. Since Gels are limited, try not to use them always; sometimes, just wait for Cure to be cast. Some guys can handle a couple of seconds with low HP (not Lloyd, though). If your buds are badly wounded and things don't seem to be going along smoothly, simply pop a Gel. That simple. Thunder Blade and Holy Lance: attacking. Combined with Lloyd's slashing, the Dancer will be kept at bay (so to speak). Its myriad attacking choices and sheer power make it hard. Use Gels on your most important characters in dire situations, but don't exhaust them too quickly! + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + You'll get the Kusanagi Blade. Yes, indeed. The Sword Dancer has been beaten. So, fly to the Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O W E R O F S A L V A T I O N ================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Move forward; after the scene, keep moving upward. There are two refreshers in a room to the right. There is a teleporter is next to this room, too. Use it. Now comes a rather interesting scene. No spoilers will be told, but if you talked to Kratos at Flanoir, you'll have to face Zelos here; if you chose the first available person, you won't fight Zelos but a Gatekeeper. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Angel Swordian x 2 Gatekeeper A total joke. You can catch the Swordians in a quick sucession of Tiger Rages and kill them with that; it's really easy. When it comes to the Gatekeeper, just do the same constantly. She has high HP and can do decent damage, but a good, never-ending combo of Tiger Rages will eventually kill her. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + **** + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Zelos Meh, he's really easy. He's fast, agile and does decent damage with its combo (but only to those real close to him, though). Simply get to him and employ quick skills such as Tiger Rage and Demonic Tiger Rage for lots of hits and damage; use them constantly, as it's easy to land hits on him. Meanwhile, have some spells on your shortcuts and cast them all through the battle. This is an enjoyable fight, as it's very easy to powerfully smack Zelos without too many repercussions. Heal Lloyd whenever needed (he's bound to get damaged a lot). + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + So, regardless of whom you fought... ----- You'll be at the inside of the Tower now. Move forward along the available road. When you're given the choice to steer either rightwards or leftwards, go forward; those other two paths are blocked off. The upper path is also blocked by a tree branch, but it can be burnt by the S.Ring. Proceed. In this new screen, go up and turn right when prompted. Go around the railing there and then down the stairway; at the level below, a Diamond Shell awaits. Go back up and head south away from railing and examine the gap between this platform and a thin bridge suspended to the right; agree to jump... holy crap, it tilted! Turns out the bridge is unstable. Crap, we'll need to figure out something. Go back up and jump into the bridge. After it tilts, simply go along it till it slants rightward; jump off into this platform and go through the door to the right. In the subsequent room, go south along the linear path which is kind of a bridge. It eventually concludes in a bifurcation where you have two path to take: the upper one is blocked off by branches, while the leftmost one is clear. Firstly, burn off the branches (you'll have it to hit a few times) as behind them there are three chests, holding an Ogre Ax, Hanuman's Staff and Southern Cross. With these, take the leftmost road next to where the branches where. Along it an additional branch needs to be burnt; do so and go past it. Follow the path southwards (another branch will need some burnin') to find a stairway which leads up. Take it. At the upper level, go down first to find a panel; examine it to unlock a nearby door, which leads back into the entrance. Anyway, take the stairway here, heading further up. Go forward along the road (burn the branches), turn right around the corner and, when possible to go up or down, firstly head down to find a Heavenly Robe tucked away in a corner; then, go up. The path is suddenly blocked by a branch, just as you're offered the chance to veer east. Burn the branch as there is an item hidden behind it: Energy Tablets. Having attained them, go east. This open area you'll reach also has two interesting offers: a road which goes north (leads to a pair of chests, holding a Star Mail and an Ex Gem Lv4) and one that goes south (down). Take the bottom path once you've gained the items and follow its linear extension to a door. In the next room, get the Phoenix Cloak at the bottom of the balcony and check out the big boulder to the right of it; hit it with your S. Ring till it falls. Now it's time to backtrack. Exit the boulder room, head up along the path and steer west when possible. From there, head south and look for the stairway to the left; head down to the previous screen. Here, go southward and through the door we unlocked with a panel in the past. Head all the way rightward till a road going north is offered; take it. Back at the tilting bridge room, go down the steps to the north. Approach the already-tilted bridge and jump onto it. Run along it; thanks to the boulder, it won't slant all the way down, but only halfway; jump into the adjacent platform and approach the flight of steps. Pick the item next to it (Star Guard) and go up. Head away from the stairway to find a warp; have it transport you. Go down the steps and beat the Angels. From now on, they'll wander the Tower. No prob. Oh, you'll also lose Regal momentarily. After the scenes, go south from where you are to find a Refresher along the leftmost wall and a Shaman Dress on the southernmost tip of the platform. Veer north now, past the warp (save). Get the item over there and go back to the warp; transport. Head down the spiraling road and, at the bottom, cross the bridge in the middle of the spiral structure. Witness the scene as you; you'll now lose Sheena. Hmm... are we on our way to destruction? Whatever. Next, go forward all the way till it's not possible to do so anymore; turn right at that moment. Go past the first platform into the adjacent one, with a wandering flower on it. Get the item hidden underneath the slanted block of stone on the bottom of the landing (a Star Helm) and keep going right to find a memory seal. Save and head south. When it's impossible to keep going down, turn left till you're forced to veer upwards. Go in such direction and turn right when the path heading further north is blocked off. After taking such right, go down to find a warp point. Take it and go forward in the next screen; more scenes. Beat the enemies that come along. You'll now lose Raine (argh! I hate her, but she's an useful healer ;)). So, go forward after the scene, all the way to the top, and turn right. You'll reach a platform which has a path going south; the platform further to the right has a similar one. Which one to take? Take the first one and take the item beneath the slanted piece of debris (Star Shield). To the left of this is the road that leads to the next warp point; keep in that second, aforementioned, south-going road also leads to a memory seal. So, it might be good to go out of the way to save there and then come back to the warp. When you do so, transport. Go down the steps nearby and approach the blast doors at the bottom. After the subsequent, "heartwarming" scenes (heartwarming, dammit, no need to be a tough boy >_>) you'll lose Presea. So... go right from the broken warp and then head north. When possible, turn right to find a memory seal, and from there head south for an item (Star Circlet). Back at the memory seal, go up all the way and so the same, this time leftwards. Once you find a wandering angel, go south to find an Ex Gem Lv3. Back at the memory seal, head right from it and from there go down. At the bottom, veer left; a Star Gauntlet awaits. Back at the memory seal, save, and go right once again. Now, instead of head south, go north. Warp up. Go forward along the path. You'll reach an intersection of roads, where it's possible to go both right and left; and up, too. To the east and west there are items: Ex Gem Lv2 and Star Bracelet. Get them and go north. Another scene; you've lost your last character! Lloyd the Achilles will now be alone. Warp up and go east from the broken transporter. At the platform with the wandering rosebud, go up and then turn left to find an Ex Gem Lv4. Go back to the rosebud and head eastward till it's impossible to keep doing so; head up, then, till you see the warp. Run all the way left from there to a memory seal. Go south and take the first right you can. Proceed along the path to find a wandering flower and a slanted piece of rock; beneath it there is a spirit bottle. Get it and go back to the warp. Fly to the next screen. Here, approach the bridge for a quick scene. I'm betting that this scene is different if you have or not Kratos' pendant. Save at the seal up the steps and examine the sword sticking out of the wall. A scene occurs. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Pronyma Idun x 2 Firstly, have your strikers on "Attack Same" and your spell casters, with spells on your shortcuts, on "Scatter". Light based techs are extremely useful here: Holy Lance, particularly. Go for the Iduns with Lloyd and have just one more person accompany him; make sure it's not one of the spellcasters, as suggested. The Iduns do lot of damage and can stun you rather easily; however, there is a way around this. Get to them and immediately hit block to survive the initial batch of attacks; then, start using Tiger Rage or Demonic Tiger Blade (preferably Tiger Rage) constantly at them (putting it on the B button shortcut eases thing). You'll catch the Idun in a death-combo which is extremely hard to end (for them of course). Eventually they'll break off; block and repeat. This way you can kill both Iduns. Pronyma and the Iduns do outlandishly high amounts of damage; I certainly wasn't expecting this much, really. As told, the Iduns are easily dealt with Lloyd, but they can wreak havoc on the rest of your team. Oh, and even though Lloyd can handle them easily, block when you approach them and before you initiate any Tiger-Rage combo. Their attacks are powerful and will undoubtedly knock you. Pronyma, meanwhile, will be attacking. This first stage of fighting should have trademark healing; constant healing, mind you. The damage done here can be ridiculous, so better pop out those Gels often (cast Holy Lance instead of Cure, and use Gel). Howevever, don't go nuts; save. Pronyma is as damaging and more-or-less tough as she was the first time you fought her. She's quick and use lots of powerful attacks. You'll often be around the 1,000-2,000 threshold, which is bad. Heal through Apple Gels so you're never below 2,500; if you're, though, simply use a Lemon gel or make use a good Cure. As told, save items; you'll know why soon enough. Cure is a good way to heal, although sometimes it's too slow. Be wary of Pronyma's Prism Sword; it's powerful, really powerful. To attack her, move forward, block and employ Demonic Tiger Blade constantly, while jamming on your shortcuts to keep Holy Lance coming; this aids a lot. Lloyd's techs does decent damage and catches Pronyma in a hard-to-break combo. You can employ these seconds to heal, cast a protective spell, and what not. She eventually frees herself, so follow her around. Keep a good eye on Raine's and Lloyd's HPs and heal; promptly revive whoever goes down (otherwise you won't stand much of a chance). Holy Lance is by far the most important attack here; Lloyd's techs are really good, too, as they help stun Pronyma. If you have Genis, have him cast Thunder Blade constantly; any physical striker should do whatever he wishes. It really doesn't matter. Don't take things too lightly; she's tough and can obliterate you. Coolly heal and attack; you'll make it through. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A cruel scene follows. If you fought Zelos at the entrance of the tower, Kratos will join you... otherwise it'll be Zelos. Hm... I chose Kratos, mind you. I have a separate save-file which will help me discern Zelos' file rather easily, but I'll work on that in a future version (I promise). Anyways... re-organize your party, _heal_ and be ready to rumble! + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Yggdrasill Well, he is hard. Definitely not a pushover. He's got lots and lots of attacks, most of which do 700 to 1,000 PTS of DMG. Practically all of them have wide hitting areas: Ray, for instance, has an easy time hitting everybody for tremendous amounts of damage. His "physical attacks", often used when you're near him, also seem to do plentiful damage to whomever is too near. Ground Dasher is tremendously damaging, snagging as many as four members in its wake (often three, but sometimes, all four of them!) for around 1,000 PTS of DMG. He flies around a lot, casts spells quickly and generally wreaks havoc on you. HP which has just been healed is suddenly depleted; it's like that. Beast and similar Techs don't do much to him; you need a quick attack such as Tiger Rage through which you can attain long combos and damage. I suggest both Raine and Zelos/Kratos, with "Heal" as their Strat. Be sure Raine can't cast light spells. Your "fourth character" could be Sheena or Genis. Using Raine's protective magic helps a lot; Keenness increases damage done, which is a big plus. Any enchantment that helps you defend a bit more against magic is also a big, enormous help: use it. As told, move forward and relentlessly pound Yggdrasill with Tiger Rage. He won't falter, so don't go around expecting that to happen. Having Raine's Cure on your shortcuts might be quite useful. The other shortcut button should have a powerful attack; use it all through the fight, and hit the Cure shortcut every once in a while (i.e. really often) to keep it coming out: it's really important that you heal here. Kratos'/Zelos' occasional healing, combined with this, makes you stand a better chance here; a much better chance. Popping Gels at regular intervals is also a necessity. Yggdrasill is too damaging for our tastes; he's swift and casts spells in no time flat. Tiger Rage, when used as relentlessly as I suggest, eases things; the problem is that aside from that, Kratos'/Zelos' occasional hits and Genis'/Sheena's attacks, there isn't much else to distract Yggdrasill, so he'll be getting plenty of space. I had Sheena in this battle, and she wasn't too useful (although T.Seal: Darkness helped a bit); Genis' Cyclone and Thunder Blade attacks might be much better. It's your choice anyway. There isn't much to be said; don't be afraid to use Energy Tablets (I ate two), but don't go nuts: don't waste all of them, and don't go around feeding Elixirs to your buds like they were Orange Gels. Energy Tablets are for those times when you revive your three dead characters and Yggdrasill is about to cast a spell; quick healing is definitely needed at those times. And that's what the Tablets are for. Promptly revive and heal and attack Yggdrasill with Lloyd and a second character, while Raine and co heal non-stop. It's a long fight, but constant blasting of your shortcuts will make it a bit shorter (spells will come out faster, after all). + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Phew... watch the scenes. A whole batch of side-stuff can be done... but now we must release Origin. Exit the tower, save, and fly to Heimdall (more precisely, the Ymir forest, but you just have to quick jump it). Talk with your buds spread around the town (Regal is around the elder's house, for those who can't find him) and then talk to Colette by the inn. Tell her you're ready to go to bed and go into the inn. It's now time. Next morning, head to the elder's house area and exit to the Torent forest by speaking to the watchman on the northeast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T O R E N T F O R E S T ======================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Holy crap, this place is utterly, absolutely confusing! Anyway, move forward along the entrance path. Eventually, a brief scene takes place and an animal hides in a tree trunk. Now, you can explore the place. Firstly, head to the left; here, the path breaks up. The road which heads to the top of the screen "leads out of the area"; well, it should, because it actually brings you back here! The other road, going away from this one leads to two more additional paths: the bottom ends in a Stardust; the other one also "leads out of the area"(ahem). So, backtrack to the trunk where the animal hid and head to the right of it. Take the bottom path of the two choices you're offered with, and then pick the upper one (careful with the CARNIVOROUS PLANTS around here: they're extremely damaging (can shove off around 1,000 PTS of DMG in no time flat) and have tons of HP), to be led into another bifurcation; veer right to find a Crystal Dagger. Now, make it to the trunk and hit it with a good burst of S.ring energy. The furry will come out; follow it to the next screen. You'll be right next to the trunk that needs to be hit; before we do so, let's get some items! Firstly, take the right path. As you go along it, keep a sharp eye for a slug; kill it and cross the road behind it. You shall see a treasure chest; inside it an Angel's Tears has been resting for the past few eons. To left of the trunk there is also a very visible chest up north, containing an Acalanatha. Attain it and then backtrack to the trunk; hit it to lead the furry out, and have it carry you to the third area (go right from the trunk, go along the road and veer right again through the road where the slug was. From there, it's a one way highway to where the furry is). Here go north. When possible, turn right to find a pond; go further east past it. Now, veer further up. Battle the wandering flower to earn a Memory Gem and then go right till the path breaks up. South there is a Gold Dragon which bestows lots of EXP to those who beat him; north it's the trunk, which you need to hit. Go back to the pond area and look for the path next to it which goes north; you'll find the animal over there. In the fourth screen, simply go forward until you hit an intersection. This shall be point a. Head to left to find even more paths; take the bottom one to be taken to a Mana Protector. The upper-right holds an Ex Gem Lv4 at its top. Back at point a, the introductory intersection, take the upper right road. Turn to the actual right when prompted and head along this path; a small, visible off-shoot protrudes out of it, and in it a Ex Gem Lv3 awaits for an owner. Get it and proceed to the right. Unlock the memory seal there. There are three roads which go away from it: one to the north, two to the south. Of the two south, the upper one ends in an Ex Gem Lv4. Take to the bottom one to crash into another bifurcation; the road which goes eastward eventually twists its way towards the behind of the local waterfall, where you'll find two items: Warlock Garb and Shield Ring. Go back to the bifurcation we just hit and take the bottom path, till you find the trunk. Hit it and proceed to the next screen following the little critter (it'll go the next screen nearly immediately, so don't hesitate to go after him!) Here, run towards the very top of the screen. When you reach a bifurcation with a wandering flower, proceed further up and look for a road to the right, where the trunk is. Hit it, HEAL UP, and go to the next screen, following the furry. A scene ensues. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Kratos This is quite the insane battle. Having around 15 Lemon Gels is recommendable; not because you're going to use all of them. It's because right after Kratos comes another boss! Pick your strongest, hardest-hitting (or fastest-hitting tech) and put on the B button slot. This could be Demon Circle, or Demonic Tiger Blade. Also, have Tempest on your shortcuts. That way, you can get behind Kratos easily. He employs a quick-cast Grave (takes no time to be employed) for around 800 PTS of DMG. He also likes to capture you in a trademark, 1,000 or so PTS of DMG combo; there is his S.Lightning Blade (or something like that) which he's been using for quite a while now, and it's about as powerful as his normal combo... because it is often employed along with a traditional combination. Kratos is very beatable. Firstly, run up to him and block his initial wave of attacks. Now, start hitting B to try to get a Tech out; sometimes Kratos simply catches you and it's impossible to do so. If this happens, heal after every combo, and then start trying to hit him once again with the B button Tech. If you nail, repeat it till he captures you in his furry of attacks; if you don't, you can either soup his subsequent strikes, heal, and try again; or fly behind him with Tempest and have an easier time nailing him. When you manage to hit him, do your best to keep doing so. Hittin him during spell-cast is not as easy as it'd seem, since right after you start the Tech animation the spell is usually cast (since they're so fast!), effectively nullifying your combination! With a very powerful Tech the battle is considerably easier. Tempest aids very notable, so be sure to use it! Heal as suggested, don't get too cocky, and it all should go well. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Now comes some more scenes. Re-organize your party so it includes Lloyd and Sheena and get ready to rumble. + + + + + + + + + + BOSS BATTLE + + + + + + + + + + Origin Hmm... like ToDII's Maxwell, this guy was unusually easy for me. He can't deal with fast Techs (Tiger Rage and Demonic Tiger Blade, and any other variation), is very big, so he can be caught in endless combos with ease. Besides, spells stun him easily! He's got lots of spells, and one of them, where he summons a blinding field of thunderous light, does around 1,000 PTS of DMG! (hard to tell, really!). Thunder Arrow is supposedly very powerful: I never got to see it damage me too much. Since Origin is so easy to nullify, things should by smoothly. Simply get to him (use an Unison attack of possible) and start using a quick string of Tiger Rages, Demonic Tiger Blades or any other fast, multiple-hit attack and try to combo it to a "tank tech", namely, Demon Circle or Raging Beast. To ease things, pack in two quick techs and two tank techs to your shortcuts and use them indiscriminately; and very often, of course! Meanwhile, set a good spell to your shortcuts (like Thunder Blade) and cast it. This kind of attack usually stuns Origin and gives you even more time to attack him. Heal through Gels (that should be enough) and the party will be over in no time flat. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + At Heimdall, save the villagers from the collapsing tower. One is left of Torent's entrance, while the other two are around the store area. After nailing them, go to the elder's house (maneuver through the debris) and talk to him. Now, leave the town. After the scenes, leave it for good and fly over to Sylvarant. Go to Dirk's, get the Material Blade (weaker than the Kusanagi Blade, nyuk) and Eternal Ring. It's now time to do some sidequests: if you haven't beaten the Sword Dancer (oh no, Timmy!) do so; it's also possible to fully re-construct Luin and more! The last batch of sidequests will require you to visit Derris-Kharlan, but, even then, you can still accomplish a few of them now. Go to the Tower of Salvation and head inside it. You'll be transported to Derris-Kharlan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- D E R R I S K H A R L A N ========================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's one good tune there! Move along the path till you reach a platform with two available roads. The leftmost one leads to an Ex Gem Lv3. Turn right of it and go along the slanting, rocky road to reach an Ex Gem Lv2. With that in hand, go back to the first Ex Gem and veer south from it; from there, wade northeast along the adjacent path. In this new screen there are various items to be found. First, there is a small, almost puerile platform behind the "candlelight" here; it's to the north and it leads to a Golden Helm. Go right from the candlelight for plenty of time till the road crashes and extends north; from there veer up, for a long time, until you find a chest besides a wandering skull. Pick the item and go left and then, up; all the waaaaay. It's a huge road; it ends in a platform with two angels, with an off-shoot protruding out of out it: there, an Ex Gem Lv4 is. You'll hit a platform with a strange pattern on the floor; DON'T TOUCH, and go south! Further explore the area till you find another item (around the right side of the area), a Magical Ribbon and come pack to the pattern. Touch it for a scene, and then warp to the next screen. There, go forward till you find the character that was possessed by Mithos. After the scene, he/she'll join. Use the warp here. At Welgaia, go left towards the walkway, which leads into the "main area". So, cross it. A scene ensues here. Two of your buds will return top your team (Sheena and Zelos/Kratos). After the scene, head right and examine the glowing panel on the floor to initiate a battle with a mini- boss monster. Its "rattling light" attack does plenty of damage, but it's rarely used; never you'll be critical just by being hit by it. Run up to it and use lots of Techs till it falls. Now, approach the warp to the southwest to be taken to the prison area. There, go down the steps, save, and go north. Take the flying panel to Regal's prison. Witness the scene by approaching him and Presea; after it, examine the blood pond on the floor and beat the mini boss. Then, go back to the warp here and make it to the "main area". There, head to the walkway. Next, go forward till you reach a platform with multiple paths: one leading back to the city's entrance, one leading to a path blocked off by a field or light, and the third one which you should take. It takes you to the refresher room. You can still stock up on items and heal! Anyway, take the steps that go down, next to the entrance. There, take the lifts on the upper portion of the platform to be taken down below. Approach the jail cell to the right for further cinemas. Then, examine the broken mirror and beat the mini-boss. Now, go back up and exit this room. Go along the road to the platform with the multiple paths and head to the one which was blocked off by the field of light. After the scene next to such field (which earns you the Derris Emblem), proceed up the teleporter. Move forward to a warp, and transport. You're now at Mithos' castle! The actual road is just up the stairs right here, but there is further exploration waiting to be done! IF YOU SIMPLY WANT TO BEAT THE FINAL BOSS, KILL THE DRAGON UP THE STAIRS AND OPEN THE DOOR. IF YOU WANT TO EXPLORE, DO SO AND THEN MAUL THE DRAGON. IF YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO THE WORLD MAP AND DO SIDEQUESTS, READ ON (you'll attain all of the above, too). Turn east of the entrance and go through the door. There, take the road below the raised platform here, to find an angel; beat it. This causes a chest to appear. Anyway, enter the room to the right, where an item waits, and then exit. Head to the this area's left side and run up the stairs there. Go up once more; you should see a door to the right. Run through it to reach a library. Go behind the couch here (from the left) and hit A to get a Prism Guard. Go back and go left from the doorway we just exited from (it's not necessary to climb up the steps, unless you want to beat the angel) and exit through the door there. You'll be next to a bridge; next to you there is also a door. Cross it to reach a spiraling staircase, which extends downward and upward. Try to mark the door you came through, and fully explore the staircase's many rooms up and down. Firstly, head left from the door to find only one item; heading up till you find a Spirit Bottle (there is also a Mortality Cloak behind the couch) , then come back to the door I told you to mark. Back at the bridge, cross it. Next, you can take the door directly across of the bridge, or go through the other one. It leads to another spiraling staircase! Once again, mark the entrance off in your mind. Now, go left. At the very bottom, pick the Blue Shield. It's time to make it all the way to the right, exploring. Once you find an Elixir, go through the next door and beat the angel there for the Past Stone (it'll appear on a chest on the back). Exit the door and head right, to the top of the spiral. Go through the yellow door to reach a balcony of sorts. Here, go right. Keep an eye on the upper side of the screen; the door you came through is positioned along a wall. Once the wall ends, broken, and the sky is revealed, approach it. Behind the corner of the guard there is a trove with an Elemental Guard. Head all the way to the right to find a similar space, with a Ninja Sword. Pick it, and run through the door further to the right. Go down till you find the bridge room. Cross it and pick the bottom door at the other side (across the bridge). In this new area, enter the chamber to the far left, get the item, and exit. Next, head all the way to the top platform, with a wandering angel. Once you get there, you might think there is no way further up; but there are two flight of steps. Take either one, and go left to find a chamber with a Demon's Seal; go right to hit a balcony. Head along it to the far right, to find a smaller balcony with the Future Stone in it. Make it to the "hall" (entrance of the castle) and beat the dragon up north for the Vinheim Key (note: when you get back to the hall, brief cinemas with your stones might take place). Now, go back down the stairs and turn left; approach the blue panel of the floor to witness a short scene (if you haven't done so already). Push the blocks that appear into the glowing warp (positioned on top of the glass floor) so they transport; you'll be taken along with them! Take the dark one first. There is a gapped bridge here; push the boulder into the space. Go back, and take the dark blue, red and purple boxes (the purple crate is in the right side of the hall); repeat the process of pushing them into the aerial gaps. The last block must be taken across the bridge you'll form with the boulders, and then put into the gap on the floor. Once you've done so, warp back to the hall and head to the far right. Approach the symbol on the floor, witness the scene if you haven't done so already, and take along with you the yellow, green and light blue blocks (two of these are two the left!). After forming the bridge, carry the white block across it and collocate it in the niche on the floor. Pick up the Sacred Stone of the chest that unlocks. With this, you can use the warp at the base of Mithos' castle's hall to teleport back to the very entrance of the Tower of Salvation; that way you can do more sidequests, like beating Maxwell and Abyssion. Anyways, once you're ready, save (right side of the hall) and go through the door up north. After the scene, take the warp to the final battle. B O S S B A T T L E -- Mithos [55 000 HP] Well, he really is a bit tough. There is a way around this, though: Demonic Tiger Blade. Run up to him with Lloyd and use it constantly to stun Mithos for long and dish out a whole lot of damage, while you cast a spell or have your strikers aid you in the mauling of Mithos. Such combo of attacks will let you juggle him for long; eventually, he'll cast one of his powerful light spells, most of which affect wide areas and usually do around 1,000 PTS of DMG per hit! Use a couple of Lemon Gels here and there but try to save up, as another battle is coming. Through the use of Demonic Tiger Blade and your friend's accompanying attacks, Mithos will be more-or-less of a cinch, as long as you keep healing! Oh, and be sure to heal the nasty statuses he bestows upon you with his Retribution attack. -- Mithos 2nd Igniton [60 000] It's more of the same, except this time he's even more damaging: those who're near him are bound to be hit by his rattling-light attack, which does over 1,000 PTS of DMG, or his energy field skill, which also does around the same. He's constantly using a combination of these two, so close-range fighters WILL be damaged plentifully; pop Gels here, don't worry about it, you're about to finish the game anyway. Cure often and use the old Demonic Tiger Blade + Beast combo which works excellently, accompanied by magic (Thunder Blade) or a couple of strikers; Regal- Kratos/Zelos-Lloyd is a devastating trio against this guy, even though Genis is also quite good. Hold nothing against him (unless you want to carry over lots of items to the New Game + function) and he'll eventually die. ----- Enjoy the ending. You're finished! It's now time to go out more, play soccer, read and eat (and also take a bath). You've played the game long enough! Give a try to other rpgs (Star Ocean 2 and 3, Persona 2, Shin Megami Tensei), get a girlfriend and start those Polish lessons. Life goes on... [This is my way of saying: "Sayonara, good reader! Hope you enjoyed the FAQ!.". Thanks for reading, really ;)] ========================================================================= II. SIDEQUESTS 0000000000 SIDEQUESTS 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 COLETTE (DOG LOVER) -- All through the game ******************************************* With Colette as your avatar, talk to the many dogs all around the world. Once you've spoken to every one of them, you'll get a new title for Colette. Here's the run down. - House of Salvation around Iselia - Triet - Izoold - Palmacosta - Palmacostan House of Salvation - Thoda Island Boat Dock - Thoda Geyser - Asgard (x2) - Asgardian House of Salvation - Hima (X2) - Meltokio (x2) - Sybak (x2) - Mizuho - Flanoir (x2) - Altamira - Altamira Night - Exire (x2) - Heimdall (x2) - Iselia - Luin, City of Water (last stage of remodelation and upgrading). KRATOS & LLOYD -- (All the way to Sylvarant's Tower of Salvation) ***************************************************************** These are some training scenes which earn your Kratos' favor and let you attain his figurine later into the game. To trigger them you speak to Kratos at certain specific places. They are: - At Palmacosta, speak to the guards guarding the Governor's place. - At Asgard, beat the Windmaster and stay at the Cool Breeze inn. Kratos offers to train. - After quickly going to the Asgard Human Ranch, come back to Luin and speak to the swordsman by the destroyed weapon store. - At the Hima mountaintop, speak to the dragon dealer. The party splits up. Talk to Kratos twice. WHOLE PARTY (REBIRTH OF LUIN) -- After curing Pietro **************************************************** Another entertaining sidequest, albeit a bit taxing on your wallet. Basically, after Pietro is cured, you can go to Luin and donate him money for the re-construction fund. Pietro only takes SELECT amounts of money per stage of reconstruction; paying him more or less will earn you mad props, but, in the former case, it'll means you lose some money, and in the latter, you'll lose some money and nothing will get done! For instance, if he requires 5,000 Gald and you give him 100,000, you've just wasted a good 95,000 Gald, for he only employs 5,000 of them! Give him 4,888 and you'll get nowhere, either... Re-building Luin is a very satisfactory exercise; also, when it comes to the "upgrading" of it, it means giving birth to great armor/weapon stores; besides, the "upgrading", when fully attained, makes Luin a beautiful place. Here's the run down on the money to be paid. As for the aesthetic effects, there are more than those listed: you can see houses gradually getting back to life, bridges being worked upon and so on. On the stage of upgrading, things gradually get more beautiful. I'd be too taxing to list them all, so I just give you a general idea of the whole thing. - 5000 (Pietro thanks you) - 12,000 (woman joins) - 21,500 (name change to City of Rebirth) - 15,000 (more people appear) - 20,000 (more people appear) - 25,000 (lots of workers re-appear) - 35,000 (item shop re-opens) - 40,000 (more people appear) - 45,000 (the Katz returns) - 50,000 (Fully restored Luin. Better Weapon/Armor Shop) - 75,000 (stone streets, better bridges, upgraded Katz counter) - 100,000 (better buildings, more elegant vibe) - 5,000 (statue of Sheena built) - 5,000 (statue of Lloyd built) - 5,000 (statue of Raine built. Pietro leaves). GENIS (EB) -- (Always at Izoold) ******************************** In this game, you match the Katz's emotions with yours by pressing the adequate items. That's about it. Prizes include Apple Gels, Life Bottles and Lemon Gels. WHOLE PARTY -- (After clearing Latheon Gorge; must choose Zelos over Kratos at Flanoir, or do it before such events) ************************************************************************* Firstly, return to Meltokio and speak to the butler at Zelos' place. You'll need to go to the castle; after further events and traveling, the party will have to make haste to the Gaoracchia Forest. There, kill the Papal Knights. You'll get a title for Lloyd which dresses him formally. after this, you're suddenly at a ballroom. When you're told somebody's waiting for you, you get to pick somebody else; he/she'll get his/her formal dress. In the actual ballroom, speak to three more people to get their dresses and title. ZELOS -- (After speaking to Seles at SE Abbey) ********************************************* Go to Zelos' house. As you go, a scene should happen. You'll get a title for him. WHOLE PARTY (COLISEUM) -- (After speaking to Seles at SE Abbey) *************************************************************** Matches can be partaken here. Beating Beginner's Class -single- with anybody will unlock the Beginner's Class -party-, where you can fight with up to three members. Clearing a Class unlocks the subsequent level (Intermediate and then Advanced). Conquering Advanced Class -single- with anybody nets you a title for the character in question, as well as a Krona Symbol. Clear Intermediate Class for a bunch of items that boost your stats. After obtaining the Vinheim Key, clear Advanced Class with everybody to obtain a weapon for such character (check chart below). Beating it twice with Zelos let's you fight Seles, to earn a Last Fencer and Elemental Circlet. Lastly, beating the Coliseum's Advanced Class - party- earns you a Mumbane ArmoR, Star Cloak and Krona Symbol. Prize chart (structure: Name(title ; weapon): Lloyd (Sword of Swords ; Valkyrie Saber) Colette (Super Girl ; Angel's Halo) Genis (Ultimate Kid ; Final Player) Raine (Gladiator Queen ; Crystal Rod) Sheena (Rose of Battle ; Divine Judgment) Zelos/Kratos (Grand Champion/Conqueror(Kratos) ; Excalibur) Regal (King of the Coliseum ; Kaiser Greaves) Presea (Deadly Flower ; Bahamut's Tear) COLETTE -- (After talking to doctor in Flanoir) *********************************************** Go to east of Meltokio's castle throne room and speak to the maid around there (keep a sharp eye). You get a new costume (title) for Colette). ZELOS -- (After speaking to Seles at SE Abbey) ********************************************** An important event if you want Zelos' favor, speak to the child standing outside Sybak's inn. GENIS -- (After talking to the doctor in Flanoir) ************************************************* Head to Meltokio's Slums; there, you'll need to go to the rooftop where a short amount of dialogue ensues with an old man. Go to the item shop in the city and talk to the Katz there. Now, go to Katz' Village on the northwestern corner of the Sylvarant map. Talk to the elder (a spinning cat on the upper platform) and go back to Meltokio's slums; talk to the old man again. You'll finally obtain a title for Genis and his Katz costume. [[[[::::::::::HERE::::::::::]]]] SHEENA;-;(Chief Igaguri);-;here %%%%%% [[[[::::::::::HERE::::::::::]]]] WHOLE PARTY (ORIENTEERING) -- (Always at Palmacosta) **************************************************** Speak to the man on the bottom-left side of the plaza and agree to play this game. Here, you must find certain persons around town by following the provided clues. There are various, randomized patterns to this. It really isn't that hard of a game; it's quite simple actually, and sane fun. GENIS (RED LIGHT/GREEN LIGHT) -- (Always ay Grand Tethe'alla bridge) ******************************************************************** Here, a kid up front gives you the "red/green light". Red means you can't move (or else you'll lose), green means: run! The idea is to get to this kid before the other guys do; they're fierce, though, pounding you out with their shoulders! Skillfully run along the edges of the bridge for maximum effectiveness, and hit start when red light comes so you stop immediately; this strategy means you can run for a second more, right after you're red-lighted, because you can stop immediately. Beating the game with the Vinheim Key nets you the One World kendama. PRESEA -- (After beating Rodyle) ******************************** Head over to Meltokio's upperclass leveland visit the easternmost side of it. Go inside the house there (_easternmost_) and talk to the woman garmented in what seems to be a pinkish dress. Exit the house and agree to keep the conversation up. Now, at Sybak, speak to a man next to a dog by the Academy's entrance. Exit the area for further scenes (agree to have Presea talk) and talk to the woman in Meltokio and then exit her "house" to claudicate this series of events. PRESEA -- (With right conditions, after beating Rodyle) ******************************************************* Once you've reached Ozette, approach the item shop. A man named Wells should insult the party. By triggering this event, you'll then be able to get a title for Presea by visiting the gravestone northeast of Altamira's main entrance. MIXED -- (After beating Rodyle) ******************************* Go to Sybak and speak and speak to the man in blue by the junk. He gives you a ring. After clearing the Iselia Human Ranch, go to Altamira. Head towards the Elemental Railway; a scene takes place and you're given 5,000 Gald. Return to Sybak and speak to Joshua. Go to Meltokio and go east from Zelos' place to find the woman who gave you the money at Altamira. Let her fill you in, and speak to the man near the junk at Sybak. Now, go through the Flanoir doctor event later into the game and speak to these two at the slums. RAINE -- (After clearing the Iselia Human Ranch) ************************************************ There is a house east of a three-story building; enter it to find the elder. After talking to him, head towards to the southeastern (more or less) place of the city, east of where a kid and its mom are playing (I think); you should look for a hut outside which a woman warns you about it. Talk to her and go inside, to find Raine's mom. After the scene, you get Virginia's Diary. MIXED -- (After beating Rodyle) ******************************** Head to the Izooldian beaches when it's possible to do so. A scene ensues and you finally heal Clara! MINIGAME -- (After beating Rodyle) ********************************** Visit Triet at Sylvarant and speak to a man by the inn. A minigame starts. Basically, a series of middle-aged men walk down the street and are numbered. Thereafter, you're given a long string of clueless old chaps who you must identify in the order given to advance to the subsequent round. As it flows, more uncles are added to the list, which means more fun! Employing devious techniques such as jotting each men's characteristics and number is highly endorsed. Beating the game nets you an interesting 1980 Gald, while goading yourself to attaining a total of 100 identification accomplishments nets you a title for Lloyd, an adequate "Midlife Crisis". REGAL -- (After beating Pronyma and Yggdrasill) *********************************************** Go to Meltokio's castle and speak to the chef's left of the castle's double doors to learn a new recipe for Regal and earn a title as well as an alternate custome. This can only be done right after beating the two bosses mentioned above; don't wait till later. After clearing the Torent Forest, you can find more chefs at the Houses of Guidance spread around Tethe'all and at Asgard. WHOLE PARTY (DEVIL'S ARMS) (through the whole game; must have eight characters in team to get all Devil's Arms and to be able to speak to Abyssion). ************************************************************************* Well, quite the entertaining sidequest. Firstly, obtain the Evil Eye from the Toize Valley Mine (check out the walkthrough) and then go to Flanoir. There, speak to the blue-haired man in front of the building to the right of the entrance. He'll hand over the Nebilim sword for Lloyd and the Nebilim Key. With these, you can snag more Devil's Arms out of sealed chests in various places around the world. I think you can get Devil's Arms whenever possible, but to speak to Abyssion you need to have eight characters in your teams. I THINK that this could also apply to the collection of arms themselves, but I wouldn't know. -- Fafnir: This is the first one you should get; enter Gaoracchia from either Mizuho or Ozette and veer west, into the area past the memory-seal chamber. Look for a bunch of vines on the upper-left side of the area; behind it it's the chest with Fafnir. -- Gates of Hell: Head over to the passage where the Dragon roams at the Temple of Earth. Talk to the Gnomelettes to the far right, and then go to Altessa's; speak to an additional Gnomelette there. Then, go back to the Temple and get the Gates of Hell in the podium the Gnomelettes were covering. -- Disaster: In Altamira's night, use the elemental railway to be taken to the casino theater. There, head along the bridge which extends rightward. A man there will sell you this for 1,000. -- Soul Eater: Go to Triet when you can transport between the two worlds. There, speak to the people around the store area to learn about a man who got eaten by a sandworm... or something along those lines. Exit Triet and go north (on foot) till you see a skit next to a mountain. Beat the Sand Worm (it's easy if you're at a good level; it's quite damaging, though) to attain this Devil's Arms. -- Diablos: Found at Latheon Gorge, on the second zone to the east. There, look for a slant veering down along the bottom side of the cliff. -- Apocalypse: At Welgaia, this is found on the elevator room, north of the warp that takes you to the prison area. It's on the room to the left. -- Heart of Chaos: Talk to Abyssion once you've found every other Devil's Arms. Then, go to Hakonesia Peak and speak to the man inside the hut. With all them Devil's Arms, go to the seal room of the Temple of Shadow (save/heal) along the way. At the botton, Abyssion engages you. --- Abyssion [120 000 HP] By far my favorite battle in the entire game, Abyssion puts up a hectic, fast-paced battle where lots of combos can be attained, magic flows fast and healing is important (although not as much as you'd think!); Abyssion's dexterity lets him change Devil's Arms expeditiously, which means one moment he'll be using Mass Devastation and the other, Fierce Demon Fang. He combines his myriad physical skills with powerful spells that take little time to cast and run the gamut from Ground Dasher to Indignation, Meteor Shower and Prism Sword! Truth be told, halfway through the battle I said to myself "This guy is quite the bastard! He's hard", something I had not thought in any previous battles; that was mainly due to his quick-going combos and sheer power! I never really cared about levels in this game; Lv68 is good enough for Abyssion, I think, and if you're below, no prob; no need to go around leveling up (the biggest waste of time in RPGs; damn them side-dungeons that require tons of leveling to be possible to beat... even then, beating them out on low levels is a tad easier, as you waste less time... hm, I'm digressing...). Two healers are an absolute must: Raine and Kratos/Zelos. Put Raine's Cure or Revitalize on your shortcuts, and give her a "Hold Position" Strat. That way, she stays back and only moves when you command her; the same could be useful for Genis (another semi-must): put his tech on one of your shortcuts and have him stay back. It's less useful this way, though. Have around 8 Lemon Gels, 8 Pineapple Gels, 10 Miracle Gels and Melange Gels and 20 of the rest should do the trick; believe it or not, I only used two Life Bottles all through the battle. Lloyd's most useful Techs will be Raining Tiger Blade (if you have it) and Demonic Tiger Blade; by a longshot. That, with Raging Beast, for combos. Be sure your spell-casters have Black Onyxes to pump up their HP; give the same to Lloyd, as he's the one who'll be eating the most hits. Outfit Raine and Lloyd with TP-saving items; if you have one to spare, do so with Genis. A Reverse Doll would be overkill, I'd say, but since the game's final bosses don't really require it, you MIGHT want to do it; I wouldn't recommend it. Oh, and you need at least one All-Divide. Be sure Raine has Speed Cast and perhaps Spirit as her fundamental Ex Skills; for Lloyd, Add Combo is often good. Other than that, equip very good weapons and armors (the Kusanagi Blade makes a bit of a difference, but I'd say the Material Blade also works; I wouldn't know, I had Kusanagi). When you begin the fight, use an All-Divide; now, you'll notice how quickly Abyssion moves about. The thing is, since your spell-casters will be laid-back, he only focuses on Kratos/Zelos and Lloyd. Such unbalance is deepened when you start attacking him, because he'll just try to fend off against those who dare slash him. Raining Tiger Blade racks up LOTS OF HITS; it doesn't do much damage, though, since Abyssion often blocks all of the attack. However, since he'll be defending for so long, you can employ those seconds to heal or cast a spell. Thunder Blade was my spell of choice here and it worked wonders, since it managed to stun Abyssion (break his combos and spells) and break his (obstinate) defense. Have it on your shortcuts and constantly jam it; it usually comes it very opportunely, since every attacking moment you get is opportune here. Abyssion usually combos you for devastating results, around 1,000 PTS of DMG. Don't try to heal through a Gel right off the bat, though. Instead, be a good judge of your abilities and keep fighting. Demonic Tiger Blade is another outstanding attack against him; although it doesn't hit as much as Raining Tiger Blade, you can use it almost indefinitely, for good results. Anyway, if you're badly wounded from one of his combos: simply command Raine to Cure and run up to Abyssion; his next string of attacks will probably send you into critical, but after that, you can juggle him till Raine Cures you. This is a very good, offensive-minded way to go around healing. Other than that, keep an eye on everyone's HP and command Raine to cast cure (through your shortcut) when somebody is around the 2,000 area. It'll take a while before it comes, but it's easy to entertain Abyssion for long enough so it works. Sometimes he'll cast a spell out of nowhere, but if you always, always keep yourself about 2,000 HPs, he'll only put you into critical, which will then be healed through Cure. Sometimes he'll nail several characters; in those cases, pop two Gels, tops, to ensure you have characters alive in the hypothetic case he decides to use a wide-ranged spell, and juggle him to buy time for Cure. He's got some mind-bogging spells such as Indignation, which you can easily dodge, Meteor Storm (just soup up this one; move around a lot to dodge some meteors) and Prism Sword; this last one is utter danger; it only affects a selected area, but for what damage! Just run away from the highly visible radius. Usually after these spells people affected by them will be around the 2,000 area: call for a Cure and juggle at Abyssion. That was my main tactic: juggle at him to buy myself time for Cures (and attain damage), cast Thunder Blade constantly to help my combos and use Unison Attacks every now and then. Whenever things seemed to be too hard to use a Cure, I popped a Gel. And what I saw things going too awry, I simply fed my team a good Energy Tablet (used two) to keep going. Pineapple Gels were often used, too, since the battle is so long and it requires plenty of magic and healing -_- I should mention that whenever you're fully healed, cast a Holy Lance on Abyssion for powerful damage! Other than that, just have Raine heal like a deranged woman; Kratos'/Zelos' aid is also quite valuable. Keep in mind that you'll get plenty of Unison Attacks here (which is strange, since your attacks are more often than not softened by Abyssion's defense prowess) and also Overlimits: both for Lloyd and Abyssion. You might go around thinking than an Overlimited Abyssion is a tremendous monster, but nah, he's about the same; it's just that he combos harder and more consistently, so popping a Gel might be needed. On a side note, an OL Lloyd vs OL Abyssion one-on-one fight is quite the sight: both will relentlessly pound each other (unless you stay idle and watch him rape you), without faltering, constantly; it brings a tear to my eye! It's a fairly long battle and Abyssion keeps the hits flowing all through it; he ain't afraid to use his most powerful spells, so be wary of that. Constant use of Cure, even when it doesn't seem necessary, juggling and Thunder Blade will get through this. I didn't need to use many Lemon Gels (7), but I did use plenty of Miracle Gels and Melange Gels, as well as Pineapple Gels; and I used two Energy Tablets. That's why I only revived my buds twice, too. A good offense turns out to be the best way to keep going here, but that doesn't mean you should ignore healing. ------------------------ After kicking his ass off, he'll be out. Presea will earn a new title, and you'll unlock the true potential of the Devil's Arms: they get more powerful each time you kill an enemy (not necessarily with them; kills previous to the battle with Abyssion count; the person who kills makes his/her Devil's Arm stronger, and not the others'). WHOLE PARTY (MAXWELL) -- After obtaining the Derris Emblem ********************************************************** Go to Exire. I found it floating to the northwest of the northern continent's southern tip (what!?), or: more or less to the northwest of the Tower of Salvation. It's also found on the southwestern corner of the world. There is a Wonder Chef in one of the houses (the one with a bridge connecting to its top floor; it's the same one with the Katz team), hidden as a scale model of a ship. There are also various dogs. East of the three-story building where the Katz are it's a house by a staircase. The house has a flight of steps, a thin piece of grassy floor, and then the door. You can actually go around the house by using the grassy floor; behind it it's a slanted ledge which leads to a shrine. Outfit your four characters with the Ruby, Garnet, Opal and Aquamarine. You also need the Derris Emblem. Check out the pillar for a scene and a fight. [Maxwell] -- 60 000 HP There really isn't anything too special about him... until he casts Meteor Storm... perhaps twice! If you've beat Abyssion you've probably seen the attack, but here, boy, it is crazily damaging! Around 1,000 per hit, that bastard of a spell can obliterate your entire party. Equip Demonic Tiger Blade on Lloyd, set a spell to your shortcuts (alongside Cure) and use DTB a whole lot; Maxwell is very susceptible to it, so it's possible to stun him, plus it does lots of damage; it's also fast, so you can use it constantly. Couple that with Sheena's skills, a spell or two and he'll be down in no time. Be sure you're at top notch form through the entire fight so when he casts Meteor Storm you survive it; and after it is cast, heal through Gels and Magic (and, if you were like me and fought him just after beating Abyssion, with almost no Gels, an Energy Tablet) and it should all be good. ------------ That's about it. You can now summon Maxwell. WHOLE PARTY (NIFLHEIM -- (After getting the Sacred Stone out of Vinheim) ************************************************************************ Enter Sybak's library and examine the book standing out of the rest; after the scenes, go to Heimdall and speak to the green-haired elf on the elder's house area (by the windmill). Then, go back to Sybak, examine the book, and dive into Niflheim. It's a randomly-generated dungeon with 15 floors, where there are often handicaps for you to struggle with, enemies and whatnot. You'll also need to kill enemies to clear some floors (red-colored ones). You have Soulfire, which, if depleted, means game-over; replenish it by killing enemies and lighting braziers, but be careful when doing the latter: missing a brazier means losing 10 Soulfire points. It's a pointless sidequest... in my opinion; I really didn't bother going through all of it. LLOYD -- (After the pact with Origin) ************************************* Talk to the two kids to the right of Heimdall's entrance to learn about Noishe. GENIS -- (After obtaining the Derris Emblem) ******************************************** Go to Heimdall and talk to the men speaking in the park to the east; you'll learn Meteor Storm. WHOLE PARTY (SWORD DANCER) -- All through the game *************************************************** The Sword Dancer is an elite monster from the underworld which needs to be beaten thrice in order for it to finally rest; it lives to fight, and you're the worthiest contenders he's found, so that's why he keeps coming back (till, at his fullest strength, he's finally beaten). I've covered the three fights in the main walkthrough, but here is a rundown on where to find him (should you miss him somewhere, lest it be the last location, he'll be gone forever). (Ossa Trail cave, right when you get there. He disappears when you speak to Colette at Hima's mountaintop. You earn the Yata Mirror). (Gaoracchia Forest, when first crossing it. He disappears when you beat Luna and Aska. He gives you the Yasakani Jewel) (Iselia Forest, when you come back from the Tower of Salvation with Colette healed. He gives out the Kusanagi Blade). ========================================================================= And that's about it... Sorry for the poor formatting... and the lackluster content... and the lateness and... ah, whatever. My eyes hurt, my head's spinning, I can't think clearly. Hm... eh... ah, that. If you're one of my fans (there's like... 2 in the universe) then you'll be glad to know I'm considering writing for some games this winter... we'll see... -José F.