The Walkthrough and Battle Tactics Guide; WoB
Version 1.7
Djibriel, November 2005
"It doesn't seem fair, does it?"
- Final Fantasy VI ad
..."The OC guide to beating the game while rabid and one-armed making clever
use of a wall"
- Imzogelmo
Contents
No number: Contents
Foreword (11/14/2005, by Imzogelmo)
1.0 Version History
2.0 Introduction
3.0 Set-up of the document, and slang you're going to start recognizing
4.0 Walkthrough
5.0 Menus and Game Options: As boring as a concrete floor in math class
6.0 Characters. Poor saps.
7.0 Game mechanics; real quick, I promise
8.0 Not Infrequently Asked Questions
9.0 Espers and their Magicite
10.0 A Flippin' Contest!
11.0 Final Fantasy VI Junkie links and contact information
12.0 Credits; People I love because they've done things I wanted them to do
No number: Disclaimer
**********************************
Foreword (11/14/2005, by Imzogelmo)
**********************************
The year was 1994. Until that time, humanity seemed a bleak existence --
why, the 20th century alone saw the world ravaged by two world wars, a tense
period known as the Cold War, and various regional conflicts. Finally, in the
latter decades of the century, a new ray of hope emerged -- the video game.
Instead of fighting and killing one another, now mankind could do so
vicariously or, if it was preferred, two could team up and do battle against
a fictional foe.
Like all forms of expression, the video game underwent many reformations
(or generations) before the recipe became "just right." Several genres of game
sprang into being: platform games, shoot-em-ups, action/adventures, sports,
puzzlers, fighting games, and RPGs. Each type of game appealed to a different
type of player or interest, and all the while advances were being made both in
capacity of games' data and complexity of the hardware used to run it. By the
early 1990's, the types of presentation that would work with a given genre
were well-established, and players could afford to specialize in a particular
genre without narrowing the field of games too greatly.
That brings us back to 1994, or, as Nintendo called it, "The year of the
cartridge." In that year, _Final_Fantasy_VI_ was released, and there was much
rejoicing. The genre was RPG; the fictional foe was the evil Emperor Gestahl,
and later, the pompous nihilist Kefka. Sure, there were other RPGs before it,
but none that struck the perfect balance of character similarity vs. diversity,
importance of storyline vs. gameplay, and plot linearity vs. non-linearity. The
depth of characters and robustness of the game engine (plus the time investment
required to fully explore the nuances of the game) made this one of the highest-
rated games in terms of replayability. Furthermore, the vivid graphics and
moving musical score made it a complete experience, not just a game.
"But it is just a game!" I hear someone in the back say.
No, it is not just a game. In the fast-paced world where information is old
as soon as it can be emailed, a video game generally has a very small window of
time that it is considered new or exciting. For the early history of video
games that may not have been so true, but for the entire history of this game,
the internet has been a very influential medium for discussion among players.
For many fans of the series, this is still the greatest game, in spite of the
hype surrounding some of its successors. So no, it is not "just a game" --
it is a culture. And like many great cultures, it needs great works to
explain, enhance, and record its story.
To document every piece of useful (and no-so-useful) data on a culture --
that's a difficult task. Many approximations have come forward, but always
they have had inaccurate, inconsistent, or insufficient information. That is
not meant as an insult on previous guides -- like I said, it's difficult.
Much information has been uncovered through deliberate playing and replaying
of the game, through hacking its internal code and data, and through combined
effort of its many fans. This guide seeks to improve upon and surpass all
previous attempts. This guide seeks to be the great work of which I speak.
This guide covers _everything_.
**********************************
1.0 Version History
**********************************
Version History:
- Version 1.7 (3/9/2006)
Mainly just an update to incooperate the fact the WoR walkthrough has been
released. Added links towards the document and its Table of Contents in
sections 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0
Gave a slight addition to the Love Sonata learning grounds in 6.3
- Version 1.6 (3/9/2006)
Reversed version history in order to make the new updates appear on top.
Why I didn't do that earlier defies all logic.
Fixed some minor errors in section 4.28.4 (the second fight with Ultros)
Fixed a few errors, mainly data errors, that were pointed out to me
Worded some things on the FC walkthrough better so it would be less
confusing.
Changed the version at the top of document to 1.6, for which you might
think 'duh' or something horrible like that. Fact is, I forgot to do so
with the 1.5 update :/
Updated Thanks section
- Version 1.5 (1/11/2006)
I need to stop needing to ninja-update. I left an unfinished new section
in 1.4, section 8.8, so I fixed that.
Fixed section numbers in the Version History
Added how Seize/Poison/Regen-Seizure never acts on the same interval
Fixed a line that implied that Break stops HadesGigas from counter-
attacking (which it does not).
Mentioned how Imped monsters can use the Imp spell where I previously
said they couldn't.
- Version 1.4 (1/8/2006)
Fairly obvious lay-out and formatting overhaul after the kind of folks
of the GameFAQs General FAQ Contributors Board - unblinded by the actual
content of the document - discovered it could really use some improvement.
Inserted primary physical and magical attacks in the 4.3.1 and 4.3.4
sections
Fixed all colon problems
Fixed an error in the explanation about Golem's Earth Wall
Added information about dying, running and letting the timer run out
when fighting Imperial soldiers before the Banquet.
Added a note about Condemned its behavior on the Cursed Shld and Cursed
Ring.
Added the location of the hidden Tent in the Impresario Car of the
Phantom Train
Noted how you can forever be devoid of the Coin Toss Relic in section 8.3
Added the existence of the wizard/ghost character in Zozo and Narshe's
Classroom after obtaining Magicite
Expanded section 7.6, Magitek to include all other effects the Armor has
on your characters.
Expanded in the Status Ailment section to include prevention of Black
Belt counter-attacks and True Knight protection where necessary.
Discussed the uses of Dried Meat when reaching Mobliz
Added attack descriptions from the Dance command
Added the alternate way to do Blitz techniques, which doesn't involve
diagonals
Added how you can go back for the Commander and Vector Pup Rages and the
treasure in that secret tunnel by taking Locke through the hidden back
door of the house of Duncan's Wife.
Mentioned how the Memento Ring is now called the Safety Ring/Safty Ring
in the PSX releases.
- Version 1.3 (12/9/2005)
Eheheh....I left a small note to myself at the start of the guide, so this
version is mainly there to remove the 'Mandrake' at the start.
Added information about the Thief Glove in the 4.26.2 section.
- Version 1.2 (12/8/2005)
Changed every 'Kotesu' into 'Kotetsu'
Corrected GhostTrain's stats
Added a note about Espers removing Clear status in section 9.0
Re-inserted correct solution to the Contest
Corrected typo on TunnelArmr's AI script
Corrected the Matthew/Matthias mix-up in section 6.5
Corrected Mandrake's behavior under Stop in section 4.41.2
Updates Thanks section once again
- Version 1.1 (11/21/2005)
Fixed several typos.
Distinguished the two Joker Dooms in Setzer's Slot ability section.
Changed the link to Master ZED's Slot ability guide.
Added contact information in section 11.0
Added Ctrl + F to the Slang section in 3.0
Added a Rare Items section
Changed the information on the Telstar song; how dares the internet
give me misinformation!
Added the Japanese Moogle names in section 4.3.1
Added Relm's and Strago's Step Mine to the honest Intangir strategies.
Added Kamog's equipment being given to you
Added some information about Shadow's and Cyan's oriental weapons
Added information about the secret bridge in South Figaro
Added extensive information about the Kutan bug where you miss out on
Celes and obtain Kutan the Moogle instead
Added a lot of names in the Thanks section
- Version 1.0 (11/14/2005)
Initial Release
**********************************
2.0 Introduction
**********************************
I was tired. And I was sick and tired of always being sick and tired.
I can't really tell you when it started, because I wasn't around when it did. It
probably started innocently...a friend invited a friend over to come play his
new SNES game. "That armored guy with the sword is awesome!", a pimple-cheeked
girl with glasses but with a radiant smile would say. "Dispatch kills everything
he touches!", she would add. The guy would sigh.
"This guy is much better. He kicks all kinds of ass with Fire Dance. It looks so
cool, too!" This boy, who'd later grow up to be one of the most successful
failures of his lifetime, loved Sabin with all his teenage heart.
Neither knew that they started a great tradition. And by 'great', I mean
'unwanted, horrible'. Illiterates would somehow manage to drool over the
keyboard in such a way it created a post that stated that Gau sucks. Good men
wasted good time countering said horror. Locke was awesome because of his Speed,
only he wasn't. Cyan has great equips, only he doesn't. Or did he? Gogo was
awesome because he could equip any skill by going to the status screen. But that
was just practical on paper, some said. Others weeped over this statement, which
they considered a lie fueled by hate and lack of a social life. Others had a
social life and claimed that it wasn't all that important as long as you had
fun. Heh.
In short: there were debates. And here's something funny to consider; you'd
think that numbers, data output, logical solutions and expectations would be
beyond personal interpretation. A common Dutch saying states that "one cannot
argue about opinions". That's the biggest load of feces ever to hit the scene
of sayings, I think. You can argue about opinions, you can't argue about facts.
So, you'd think that in a game where the same Dispatch in the same situation
always results into the same damage output, there'd be little place for debate.
Ugh.
Besides, it was time somebody took this task upon himself. There's so much known
about this game, yet even the best walkthroughs were almost entirely, but not
quite, unlike the walkthrough they were supposed to be. So here it is! I've
prophesized on numerous occasions that I would never write a document like this
on the basis of the fact I would go bat-shit crazy and wouldn't be able to
stop typing, making the document a behemoth of unreadable gibberish (most likely
consisting out of Relm fetishism and little bits of info nobody in their right
mind find amusing).
But what is this document you're seeing? Does it really contain everything? Is
it some kind of Hitchhiker's Guide to FF VI? The Encyclopedea CCLV VIea? The
Kamog Sutra, where you'll learn all about Tantric Gameplay (lasts for hours;
winning the battle is NOT the main goal)? I think the best mental image of the
document can be extracted from all the following possible titles that have
passed the revue while creation was still a process of the present:
(by PrattDaBard, of which the last part of his name is more apt than the middle
part will reveal)
"The Spoiler-Filled Walkthrough"
"The Ecumencial FF3 Encyclopedia"
"The Compendious FF3 Companion"
"The Un-Restricted FF3 Reader"
"FF3: an Exhaustive Exhortation"
"The All-Inclusive FF3 Compendium"
"The Far-Reaching FF3 FAQ"
"FF3 for Fools"
"A Discursive Dissertation on FF3"
"A Panoptic FF3 Primer"
"FF3: The Liberal Lexicon"
"The Hefty FF3 Handbook"
"The Full FF3 Folio"
"Djibriel's Dictionary"
(by Imzogelmo)
"Everything You Always Wanted to Know about FF3 (But Would've Got Flamed for
Asking)"
"640 KB Ought to be Enough for Anybody" (ed: 640. Heh)
"The FF3 Bible"
"Detailed Journal of Information By Resolute, Industrious Exploratory
Learning" (ed: I especially loved this one, people with thinking brains can
figure out why)
(by assassin)
"Mages are from Thamasa, Warriors are from Doma"
"An Idiot's A-Z guide to FF3: from Albrook to Tzen"
"Gestahl: The Man, the Dog, the Legend"
"101 Easy Pet Care Tips for your Emperor"
"Just Hold it 'til Vector: A Globetrotter's Guide to Bladder Control"
"I Feel Safe in Suits: Gary Newman's Easy Tutorial to Dancing in MagiTek"
"Djibriel's Humility Fest"
--Warning
This is my fourth document meant for public release, and as I was with the
other three, I'm pretty excited about it. My other projects will both be very
helpful for this guide; while the Level # Lore Guide will be only moderately
useful and the Sketch Guide just managed to confirm what everybody already
knew, a lot of walkthroughs contain a string of question marks concerning Gau
and his Rage ability and my Rage Guide taught me exactly what to fill in
those question marks.
Now, I've basically gotten two kinds of responses about the Rage Guide. Most of
it was very positive, and I'm thankful for that. It's great to see the document
being linked to all the time (get this: almost as often as the How to Blitz
Guide!). But there are a few who've said that my guide contains a major flaw;
I'm too talkative. I elaborate and fill it with too much information. You see,
there's a reason for that. Everybody has his own personal little fetish; mine
is Final Fantasy VI. I've played the game to death and know far more about it
than could ever be considered healthy. I want all that information to shine
through in my documents, as I personally think it's awesome to know all those
things. Also, I tend to waste lines on introductions, puns and other stuff that
could have been left out. That's mostly for personal pleasure. As the bored,
soulless eyes of your high school math teacher can tell you, explaining stuff
that's incredibly basic to you tends to be less fun than, say, sharing a beer
with friends or having incredibly awesomely crazy sex. With a woman.
You're looking at the most complete walkthrough that exists out there, I can
make that statement without false modesty. But if you're repelled by overly
verbose descriptions, if you like your walkthroughs clean and quick and to the
point with tables and abbreviations and all that, there are other documents for
you.
One that's generally been called the best one before this one was written is
Atom Edge's Walkthrough. It can be found at GameFAQs, but is at the time of
writing three years old. Slightly outdated, but it features all of the commonly
asked questions and lists a lot of more obscure items.
**********************************
3.0 Set-up of the document, and slang you're going to start recognizing
**********************************
First off: if you have a question, I've answered it. That's the premise we're
working with here. If the question you have seems oddly GENERAL to you, as in:
is of influence through the entire game, you won't find it in the Walkthrough;
you will find it in the FAQ at the bottom. So, if you want to know about stats,
or what-does-this-do or something, go there.
Question: I noticed you used the terminology from the older SNES versions. I
hope you're aware of the fact there are PAL-versions available in Europe and
US and the US have even seen an Anthology release where it's offered together
with FFV. Why not adapt the names to that game? They're slightly different,
and as they were changed from the original, obviously what was meant to happen.
Yes, I am aware. Sadly so, in fact. I think Master ZED said it best when he
mentioned how he took the PSX port as a personal insult. They did close to
nothing to fix old bugs, inserted a couple of new ones, raped Ted Woolsey's
legacy by using the entire translation with a couple of minor changes while
removing his name from the credits, and gave us a game with sound and graphics
INFERIOR to the SNES game that was released five years prior to the PSX release:
SNES:
Release Data
Final Fantasy VI Square Enix 04/02/94 JP
Final Fantasy III Square Enix 10/20/94 US
PAL version:
Release Data
Final Fantasy VI (w/FFX Demo) Sony Interactive Studios America 03/01/02 EU
Final Fantasy VI Square Enix 03/11/99 JP
Anthology:
Release Data
Final Fantasy Anthology Electronic Arts 05/17/02 EU
Final Fantasy Anthology Square Enix 09/30/99 US
Also, Anthology has three different names for each monster; In-battle the names
were shortened to 9 characters, in the Rage List there were with the normal
ten, and in the Bestiary they were a shocking 8. All SNES names can be easily
recognized when you've only been playing/are playing Anthology, as it doesn't
take a genius to know that Mithril and Mythril are the same material and that a
Fenix Down is the same as a Phoenix Down.
To conclude, the PSX blows. The SNES has died, long live the SNES!
Slang:
Ctrl + F:
That most holy of combos, the road to salvation. Had enough of the ridicule of
those more adapted to today's lifestyle than you? Have you been bossed around
by the 'elite' for far too long? Don't take it out on the naturally superior,
but Physician, heal thyself: Ctrl + F is the search function. Learn to love it
like your long-lost little brother.
ST:
Single-target. It targets a single target.
MT:
Multi-target. It targets multiple targets, in most cases all.
LLG:
Low Level Game. A playthrough in which the level of the characters is kept
as low as possible. The current lowest score has been an average of around 7.2,
ranging from 6 to 13.
NMG:
Natural Magic Game. Called a challenge while it's really not, it just prevents
you from equipping Espers and items which teach spells. Naturally learned Magic
and Lores are allowed.
!Special:
It's great to have an obvious distinction between spells and Special attacks,
the modified physical attacks which either set a status effect, do x times
as much damage as the normal physical attack or drain HP/MP. Every Special
I've listed in this document (that's quite a lot) is preceded by an
exclamation point to identify it as such. My Sketch Guide already featured
this. The exclamation point doesn't find any feedback in the game whatsoever,
and isn't canon in the current other documents out there, but I felt it was a
good idea.
ID (Instant Death) attack:
Instant Death attacks are attacks that check for the Instant Death protection
bit. Most of the time, these attacks set Wound (Doom, Snare, ectera), but other
attacks also use this feature, most noticeably percentage-based attacks like
Demi and Cyclonic. Several Petrifying spells will check for ID next to Petrify
protection and the oddball Overcast and the level-halving attack Dischord also
check for it. The X-type ID of the Assassin, Trump, Striker, Wing Edge and the
dicing effect of the Scimitar also check for ID protection. The following
attacks are ID attacks:
Roulette, Break, Demi, Doom, Quartr, W Wind, X-Zone, Atom Edge, True Edge,
Demon Eye, Cleave, Slash, Antlion, Cave in, Cokatrice, Snare, Snowball, Sonic
Boom, Air Anchor, Chain Saw's ID attack, X-Fer, Condemned, Dischord, L.5 Doom,
Roulette, Blaster, Cyclonic, Grav Bomb, Overcast, Shimsham, SabreSoul, Star
Prism
Note that this makes Joker Doom the only Wound-setting attack that doesn't
check for the bit, and Dread the only 'normal' Petrify-setting attack that
doesn't check for ID protection.
**********************************
4.0 The Walkthrough
**********************************
Table of Contents:
4.1.1 Prelude: The attack on Narshe
4.1.2 Prelude: The newly dug mineshaft
4.1.3 Prelude: The battle with Whelk
4.2.1 Old Man's House
4.2.2 Escape through the mines
4.3.1 Defending Terra from Marshal
4.4.1 Classroom for the Beginner
4.4.2 Traveling to Figaro Castle
4.5.1 Figaro Castle
4.5.2 Fighting off MagiTek power
4.6.1 Traveling through Figaro Cave
4.7.1 South Figaro
4.7.2 The Overworld Map around South Figaro
4.8.1 Sabin's Hut
4.8.2 Mt. Koltz
4.8.3 The battle with Vargas
4.9.1 Traveling to the Returners' Hideout
4.9.2 The Returners' Hideout
4.10.1 Escaping over the Lete River
4.10.2 The first fight with Ultros
4.11.1 Choosing a scenario
4.12.1 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Lete River continued
4.12.2 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Traveling to Narshe
4.12.3 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Narshe
4.13.1 Scenario Sabin: Meeting Shadow and finding the Imperial Camp
4.13.2 Scenario Sabin: Imperial Camp and Doma
4.13.3 Scenario Sabin: Telstar and Imperial Camp continued
4.14.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to the Phantom Forest
4.14.2 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Forest
4.15.1 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Train
4.15.2 Scenario Sabin: Specter and the Phantom Train continued
4.15.3 Scenario Sabin: The battle with GhostTrain
4.16.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to Baren Falls
4.16.2 Scenario Sabin: Baren Falls
4.16.3 Scenario Sabin: Traveling over the Veldt to Mobliz
4.17.1 Scenario Sabin: Mobliz
4.17.2 Scenario Sabin: Recruiting Gau
4.17.3 Scenario Sabin: Veldt Hunting
4.17.4 Scenario Sabin: Crescent Mountain
4.18.1 Scenario Sabin: The Serpent Trench
4.18.2 Scenario Sabin: Nikeah
4.19.1 Scenario Locke: South Figaro
4.19.2 Scenario Locke: Secret Underground Passge of South Figaro
4.20.1 Scenario Locke: Traveling to Figaro Cave
4.20.2 Scenario Locke: Figaro Cave
4.20.3 Scenario Locke: The battle with TunnelArmr
4.21.1 Defending the Esper from Kefka
4.21.2 Rider
4.21.3 The battle with Kefka
4.22.1 Narshe
4.23.1 Traveling to Kohlingen and optional trip to the Veldt
4.23.2 Figaro Castle
4.24.1 Kohlingen
4.25.1 Traveling to Jidoor
4.25.2 Jidoor
4.26.1 Zozo
4.26.2 Chainsaw Riddle and Zozo continued
4.26.3 The battle with Dadaluma and meeting with Ramuh
4.27.1 Magicite and Owzer's Mansion in Jidoor
4.28.1 The Opera House
4.28.2 The Dream Oath (Celes' Opera Performance)
4.28.3 Stopping Ultros
4.28.4 The second fight with Ultros
4.29.1 The Blackjack
4.30.1 Albrook
4.30.2 Traveling on the Southern Continent
4.30.3 The Imperial Base near the Mountains
4.30.4 Tzen
4.30.5 Maranda
4.31.1 Vector
4.31.2 Imperial MagiTek Research Facility; MagiTek Factory
4.31.3 Imperial MagiTek Research Facility; The Pit
4.31.4 The battle with Ifrit and Shiva
4.31.5 Imperial MagiTek Research Facility
4.31.6 The battle with Number 024
4.31.7 Imperial MagiTek Research Facility; Mine Cart Ride
4.31.8 The battle with Number 128
4.32.1 Escaping Vector
4.32.2 The battle with the Cranes
4.33.1 Zozo; Terra's Flashback
4.34.1 Airship Exploitation: Sraphim
4.34.2 Airship Exploitation: Auction House: Golem and ZoneSeek
4.34.3 Airship Exploitation: Locating Grenade
4.34.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Gaia Gear
4.34.5 Airship Exploitation: Intangir
4.34.6 Airship Exploitation: Veldt hunting
4.34.7 Intermezzo; Espers 101
4.35.1 Narshe
4.35.2 Lone Wolf persecution and recruiting Mog
4.35.3 Dance lessons, including Water Rondo
4.36.1 Cave to the Sealed Gate
4.36.2 Coin Toss and Cave to the Sealed Gate continued
4.37.1 Esper rampage; Snake eyes
4.38.1 Vector; Imperial Palace
4.38.2 The Banquet
4.38.3 Items of the Imperial Base near the Cave to the Sealed Gate and
Setzer's cutscene
4.39.1 Albrook
4.40.1 Traveling to Thamasa; Crescent Island
4.40.2 Thamasa
4.40.3 The Burning Mansion
4.40.4 The battle with FlameEater
4.41.1 Leaving Thamasa
4.41.2 Crescent Island's Eastern mountains
4.41.3 The third fight with Ultros
4.41.4 Relm and the Espers' gathering place
4.42.1 Epilogue
4.42.2 Leo versus Kefka
4.43.1 Airship Exploitation: Rage and Lore hunting
4.43.2 Airship Exploitation: Doma Castle
4.44.1 Preparation for the Floating Continent
4.44.2 Imperial Air Force
4.44.3 The fourth fight with Ultros
4.44.4 The battle with Air Force
4.45.1 The Floating Continent
4.45.2 Gigantos and the Floating Continent continued
4.45.3 The decisive battle with AtmaWeapon
4.45.4 Kefka's Betrayal
4.45.5 Escape from the Floating Continent
4.45.6 The battle with Nerapa and Exit
Take note that this is a walkthrough for the first half of the game; the World
of Balance. The walkthrough for the second half can be found here:
http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/final_fantasy_iii_l_2.txt
Table of Contents:
4.46.1 Intermezzo; The Solitary Island
4.46.2 Intermezzo; Saving Cid
4.47.1 The World of Ruin
4.47.2 Albrook
4.48.1 En route to Tzen
4.48.2 Tzen; the Light of Judgment
4.48.3 Tzen; the Collapsing House
4.49.1 The Serpent Trench
4.49.2 The tail of the Serpent Trench; Mobliz
4.49.3 The fight with Phunbaba
4.50.1 The head of the Serpent trench; Nikeah
4.51.1 South Figaro; Gerad and the Crimson Robbers
4.51.2 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimson Robbers
4.51.3 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimson Robbers; Cave of Figaro
4.51.4 Pursuing Gerad and the Crimson Robbers; Figaro Castle
4.51.5 The fight with the Tentacles
4.52.1 Figaro Castle
4.52.2 En route to Kohlingen
4.53.1 Kohlingen
4.53.2 Dragon's Neck Colosseum
4.53.3 Daryl's Tomb
4.53.4 The fight with Presenter
4.53.5 The fight with Dullahan
4.54.1 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Maranda
4.54.2 Airship Exploitation: The Overworld Map
4.54.3 Airship Exploitation: Master Duncan; completing Sabin's training
4.54.4 Airship Exploitation: Obtaining Palidor
4.54.5 Airship Exploitation: Visiting Jidoor
4.54.6 Airship Exploitation: The Auction House
4.54.7 Airship Exploitation: Fanatics Tower
4.54.8 Airship Exploitation: Thamasa
4.54.9 Airship Exploitation: Dragon's Neck Colosseum
4.54.10 Airship Exploitation: Doom Gaze
4.55.1 Narshe
4.55.2 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Ice Dragon
4.55.3 Narshe's Snowfields; the battle with Tritoch
4.55.4 Umaro's Cave; the battle with three Pugs
4.55.5 The battle with Umaro
4.55.6 The Moogle Raid
4.56.1 The battle with Phunbaba
4.57.1 Following the pigeon
4.57.2 Mount Zozo
4.57.3 The battle with Storm Drgn
4.57.4 Cyan Garamonde
4.58.1 The Veldt
4.58.2 The Cave of the Veldt and Allo Ver
4.58.3 The battle with SrBehemoth
4.59.1 Thamasa and the Colosseum once again
4.61.1 Jidoor; Owzer's Mansion
4.61.2 Owzer's Mansion, the Magic House
4.61.3 Owzer's Mansion, the battle with Chadarnook
4.62.1 Obtaining Strago
4.62.2 Bulking up the Thamasian Two
4.62.3 The battle with Dirt Drgn
4.62.4 Gungho's assignment; Ebot's Rock
4.62.5 The battle with Hidon
4.63.1 Another Colosseum trip
4.64.1 Doma Castle
4.64.2 Cyan's Soul
4.64.3 Cyan's Soul; the battle with the Dream Stooges
4.64.4 Cyan's Dream; the Phantom Train?
4.64.5 Cyan's Dream; Mechanical mines
4.64.6 Cyan's Dream; Doma Castle
4.64.7 Cyan's Dream; the battle with WrexSoul
4.65.1 The road to the Ancient Castle and the fight with Master Pug
4.65.2 The Ancient Castle and the battle with KatanaSoul
4.65.3 The battle with the Blue Drgn
4.66.1 Triangle Island
4.66.2 The world inside of the Zone Eater
4.66.3 Wake me up before you Gogo
4.66.4 The Steal command regained
4.67.1 Phoenix Cave
4.67.2 The battle with the Red Dragon
4.68.1 Locke Cole
4.68.2 Narshe revisited with Locke; Ragnarok and Cursed Shld
4.68.3 Gau and his father
4.69.1 The Fanatics Tower and the battle with White Drgn
4.69.2 The battle with MagiMaster
4.70.1 End-game character evaluation
4.71.1 Kefka's Tower: Preparation and explanation
4.71.2 Kefka's Tower: Reconnaisance
4.71.3 Kefka's Tower: The source of all Magic
4.71.4 Kefka's Tower: The Final Battle
4.72.1 The Ending
4.73.1 The proverbial postcoital cigarette
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1.1 Prelude: The attack on Narshe
**********************************
Location: Narshe
Party members: Terra, Vicks, Wedge
Opponents: Guard, Lobo, Vommamoth
Narshe, a coalmine city that manages its own business and cares not for the
war that is waged far away, has stumbled upon a mysterious find in their mines.
The Empire, the all-consuming power-hungry nation to the far south of the world,
has learned of this.
-Command to the Empire Force in particular.
-Commence to launch the attack on Narshe, the coal mines city.
Three of their most dangerous units are dispatched to claim this discovered
treasure for the glory of the Empire and by all means necessary. Three soldiers
of the Empire, piloting MagiTek Armors, are sent out. One of them is a very
special soldier of the Empire, and a future unlike any other is waiting for her.
Preparation: Put all your characters in the Back Row. MagiTek attacks, being
MAGICAL BEAMS and all, won't suffer from the 50 % damage reduction, but you'll
be reaping the benefits soon enough. From the reduced damage you'll be taking,
that is.
To learn about MagiTek attacks: [MAGITEK-LINK]
Monster formations:
Lobo
Lobo, Lobo
Guard, Guard
Lobo, Guard, Guard (forced Pincer attack)
Vomammoth, Vomammoth, Guard, Guard
This is the prologue of the game, and it concerns you, being overpowered,
blasting your way through poor defenseless Narshe. Enjoy the MagiTek powers
while they last.
You can't really touch equipment right now. Ogle your mystery girl and her
Imperial Starsky and Hutch buddies, as the situation is about to change. For
trivia knowledge, this is the equipment of your generic soldiers:
MithrilBlade
Buckler
Leather Hat
LeatherArmor
Any offensive attack you perform at this point results into Death on the other
side. With this in mind, the choice is simple. If Terra comes up, have her use
the MT Bio Blast attack. The Imperial soldiers can make themselves useful by
using any of the three beams; they are identical in power and are always
fatal, so it doesn't matter what you do. After you've leveled, you can use
Terra's Cure out-battle to restore HP. Use it once with an MT effect and you're
set. Do the same after the forced pincer attack you had to endure from the
Lobo, Guard, Guard monster formation. The next one will feature Vommamoth.
These monsters will start using Blizzard, an MT Ice-elemental on you as soon
as Terra (or, if not available, a randomly decided party member) has a level
equal to or higher than 7. This is not the case when you encounter them now,
so they will only attack you physically with Battle and !Bear Claw.
Although they have the second-highest Battle Power in the game, the fact they're
level 1 effectively screws them out of any significant damage output. If you're
in the Back Row, you'll see them doing 0 damage. Savor the sight; it'll be a
while before you see it happening again on a physical attack. For extra fun,
try using Confuser against them; it'll give you a little taste of what
Blizzardy violence will be sent your way later in the game. For imminent death
on their side of the battlefield, Bio Blast works well enough as it kills all
four targets instantly.
There is a maximum of 5 battles and a minimum of 2 battles to be fought in
this part of Narshe. When you enter, you can try to go right of the Inn. A
single Lobo will be sent after you.
You have no choice but to press on. You will encounter two Guards when you try
to pass the Inn, there's no avoiding them.
There are lines of what appear to be vents on the ground. You've been following
the vertical line, you now come across a horizontal line of vents. If you stand
on the tile where the two cross, two Lobos will be sent after you, and then
two Narshe Guards. You can avoid this by going around the tile in question.
If you pass the Item Shop, you'll be caught in a Pincer attack of two Guards
and a Lobo; this is unavoidable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1.2 Prelude: The newly dug mineshaft
**********************************
Location: Narshe Mineshaft
Party members: Terra, Vicks, Wedge
Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man
You've entered a newly dug Mine Shaft in search of the Esper you're supposed to
retrieve. You're up for some vermin in the mines. Not Vermin, but vermin. Note
the difference.
Preparation: Still in the Back Row, are we? There's nothing interesting here to
do, so let's move on.
Monster formations:
First cave:
Were-Rat, Were-Rat, Were-Rat (10/16)
Were-Rat, Repo Man (6/16)
Second cave:
Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16)
Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16)
Were-Rat, Were-Rat (5/16)
You're past the town of Narshe. You can be proud of yourself; you just killed
a number of brave men, undoubtedly with a happy life and a family. Faintly, you
can hear an orphan crying.
You can pretty much blast your way through these monsters too. In the first
cavern, there are Were-Rat and Repo Man, in the second, Vaporite. Were-Rat
absorbs Poison, so while it may be tempting to use an MT spell against the
largest group of enemies you're facing, don't. Vaporite absorbs Lightning, so
in any battle you find one, avoid Bolt Beam like the demonic plague it is.
Electricity fails at success, anyway.
Repo Man...This little goblinoid (is that a word?) is one messed-up little dude
with self-destructive tendencies of the worst kind: the kind that can hurt you
as well. Every time you'll hurt it without killing it, there's a 33 % chance
he'll use !Wrench on himself. If, however, you dealt a fatal blow to him and
he decides to execute that !Wrench, he'll find that he can't actually attack
himself. Nay, one cannot attack the dead. Only on the GameFAQs Board, and that's
limited to kicking and horses. He'll fling the tool in your direction instead.
Avoid this by using X-Fer, or try to not care.
Eventually, you'll come across a barrier. Vicks will knock it down for you, but
as soon as you want to continue a Narshe guard rushes out with quite a nasty
surprise...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1.3 Prelude: The battle with Whelk
**********************************
Whelk (shell)
Level: 4, HP: 50000, MP: 120
Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Tincture (always)
Absorbs: Lightning
Special: !Hit : Battle x 4
Vulnerable to: Nothing
Attacks: Mega Volt
Head (Whelk's head)
Level: 6, HP: 1600, MP: 1000
Steal: Nothing (always), Win: Potion (always)
Special: !Slime: sets Slow
Vulnerable to: Nothing
Attacks: Battle, !Slime
This battle is quite simple. Vicks and Wedge will alert each other about the
grave importance of avoiding attacking the shell at all costs. When they're
done, you can move in your very first boss battle.
The shell and the head are two separate entities. The shell will do nothing as
long as you won't attack it, but every time you do damage, it will counter
with Mega Volt. Mega Volt won't be strong enough to actually kill a character
at full HP, but it will be strong enough to do so in two hits.
The head will just attack physically and on occasion slow you down with !Slime.
After every 10 seconds, it'll 'retreat in its shell', i.o.w. disappear from the
battlefield. He'll keep this up for 10 seconds, and he'll pop out again. Both
actions are accompanied with an oh-so-sinister "Gruuu".
Your strategy? The main thing to avoid is selecting an attack on the head just
when it retreats. It's because of this it's best to just go with one attack for
each character in one period of 10 seconds. When you can move, make your
generic Imperial soldiers attack with a Beam-class attack and the mysterious
girl use TekMissile. Wait until the head has retreated and appeared again.
Repeat. Whelk should be dead by now if you fought all the battles against the
Narshe guards; if not, just go for another round.
Whelk is, to be honest, nothing more than a big sign saying: "You see, this game
isn't about mindless violence...it's about strategy, about good thinking".
Yeah...
Note: If you are beyond the shame of any man, you can go for the Tincture the
shell provides. Since the shell only has 120 MP, he can only use six Mega Volt
attacks. After this, it is helpless. If you whittle down its 50000 HP and make
sure you kill both the shell and the head with one attack (use a calculator!),
you'll get both a Tincture AND a Potion, and it'll only have cost you over an
hour and your dignity.
In the second cave, you finally come across the object of your mission: the
dug-up Esper. But as soon as you get near it, the mind-slave of your party acts
very weird indeed, and it's not long after the two soldiers grow suspicious
they are removed. Note that we can't say for sure the Esper killed them or
simply warped to some place, but we never ever see them again.
Alone, the Esper does *something* to Terra. Her MagiTek Armor explodes
underneath her, and all turns to an inky black.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2.1 Old Man's House
**********************************
Location: Old Man's house
Party members: Terra
Opponents: None
You wake up alone, scared, and confused. An old man has found you in the
mines and has nursed you back to health. To make matters worse, you have to
flee as soon as there's somebody to explain the situation to you. Such plot
device! You get the fact that Narshe guards outside are trying to get to you.
Scones will not be involved in the meeting, so you'd better make a run for it.
Preparation: Remember when you were in the Back Row? Let's stick to that.
When you awoke, you received two Sleeping Bags (from Arvis, we could assume).
Sleeping Bags are like Tents, but for one person only. They completely restore
HP/MP and remove any status ailment except for Zombie, but are only usable on
a Save Point or the Overworld Map.
Before you go, grab the Elixir in the clock.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2.2 Escape through the mines
**********************************
Location: Narshe, Forsaken Mines
Party members: Terra
Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man
Remember those kick-ass attacks you just did? Yeah, about those? They're gone.
Your party members have been magically consumed, and your magical tank of
happiness exploded under your seat. Everything you love is finite. But don't
fear too much, for a Final Fantasy tradition of old is about to set in: you can
now hurt stuff with pointy things that you push into them using your muscles.
Use it to your advantage.
Preparation: If you're in for some leveling, I suggest moving to the Front Row.
You'll take more damage, sure, but you can also kill Were-Rat and Vaporite with
a single Fight command now, which is much more MP-friendly in the long run. If
you seek to breeze through, stick to the Back Row and use Fire. Out-of-battle
Cure is your friend.
Monster formations:
Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16)
Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16)
Were-Rat, Were-Rat (5/16)
These monsters and monster formations seem awfully familiar, don't you think?
The difference is, though, that now you're by your lonesome, without magical
machines of malice and maniacal maiming under your command. I guess we can
do it the old-fashioned way, then. Double Vaporites should be taken care of
with an MT Fire spell, as should a double Were-Rat. Start the Repo Man/Vaporite
battle off with an MT Fire spell and finish Repo Man off with a physical. You
can't do anything about !Wrench now, so suffer in silence.
There are two chests here. Feel free to grab the left one; it contains a
Sleeping Bag. Later it turns into an Elixir, which is much better, but you can
steal them in large quantities by then so there's no need to wait. It'd be best
to leave the right chest alone; while the Fenix Down it now contains is nice,
the Pod Bracelet Relic it transforms into later will be much nicer.
When you're past the two chests and the Save Point (did you save? Saving is
good, word on the street says even Jesus saves!), remove Terra's MithrilKnife
and Buckler, and press on.
The Narshe Guards will corner Terra, but she has a plan: quickly, she
collapses down a conveniently thin layer of rock that caves in underneath her.
One could argue this isn't so much a plan as it is sheer luck, but I'm willing
to give our heroine some credit here.
Three flashbacks will be seen now: Terra getting her Slave Crown from Kefka,
Terra being tested as the Imperial weapon she was meant to be, Terra at an
Imperial parade. Behind the Emperor here, from left to right: Kefka Palazzo,
general Leo Christope, general Celes Chere. A cozy bunch.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.3.1 Defending Terra from Marshal
**********************************
Location: Narshe, Forsaken Mines
Party members: Locke, Mog, Kupek, Kupop, Kumama, Kuku, Kutan, Kupan, Kushu,
Kurin, Kuru, Kamog
Opponents: Lobo, Vomammoth, Marshal
Locke arrives to the game! Locke and the old man chat about bygones and
memories past, while the old man (still anonymous) takes care of some
exposition. Basic points: The Empire is evil, the Returners are fighting the
Empire, and Narshe should join the Returners but, right now, has not done such
a thing.
Locke manages to reach Terra before the Narshe guards do, which is a good thing
all in all. Terra is still unconscious, so She Needs To Be Rescued.
Locke is your new permanent character. That naming screen sure is a dead give-
away, is it not? You can now control him using your controller. It won't be
for long though, as the half dozen enemies, which come storming into the place,
will ensure Terra is captured and Locke smacked around.
But lo and behold, there are eleven Moogle friends for you to exploit as well!
Sadly, you cannot enter their equipment. Except for one, Mog. How bizarre.
Here's the rundown of the Moogles:
Mog - Level average + 5
Mithril Pike; Mithril Shld
Kupek - Level average + 2
Mithril Pike; Buckler
Kupop - Level average + 0
Morning Star; Buckler
Kumama - Level average + 0
Mithril Claw; Buckler
Kuku - Level average - 5
Flail; Buckler
Kutan - Level average + 0
MithrilBlade; Buckler
Kupan - Level average + 2
Full Moon; Buckler
Kushu - Level average + 2
Chocobo Brsh; Buckler
Kurin - Level average + 0
Mithril Pike; Buckler
Kuru - Level average + 0
MithrilBlade; Buckler
Kamog - Level average + 2
Boomerang; Buckler
They're all collected in three teams. These are the teams; behind the names of
the Japanese Moogles for RPGone players.
Locke's group:
Locke Lock
Kupek Moglin
Kupop Mogpu
Kumama Mogchi
Mog's group:
Mog Mog
Kuku Morul
Kutan Mogtan
Kupan Mogul
Kushu's group:
Kushu Mogshi
Kurin Mogpon
Kuru Mugmug
Kamog Zummog
Preparation: Equip Locke with the equipment you snatched from Terra; the Buckler
will be especially nice. You can put Kupop, Kuku, Kupan and Kamog in the Back
Row, as their weapons will still do full damage. Now, head into battle. Already
know which team you want to use for the boss battle; read below. Try to avoid
fighting with this group, and catch the other monsters with your inferior
groups. If you fail, the monsters will reach Terra, prompting Locke to say:
"Couldn't hold out...?! Uh oh..."
Monster formations:
Lobo, Lobo, Marshal
Vomammoth, Lobo
Marshal
Level: 8, HP: 420, MP: 150
Steal: MithrilKnife (common), Win: Potion (always)
Weakness: Poison
Special: !Charge: Battle x 2
Sketch : !Charge, Battle
Control: Battle, !Charge, Bolt 2
Vulnerable to: Imp, Petrify, Death, Condemned, Mute, Berserk, Muddled, Sleep,
Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !Charge, Net
There are two battles here. First, I'll talk about the battle you engage in when
you meet the walking monsters. This is the Vomammoth and the Lobo formation.
Aim all attacks on the Vomammoth at first, then the Lobo. Don't bother using
Steal with Locke; they carry nothing of importance. If you use Mog's party, you
will notice that Mog learns the Dusk Requiem after one battle. Have him use
this Dance for the other battles, as it kills stuff dead very seriously.
For information about Steal and how it works: [STEAL-LINK]
Mog's Dance skill is limited to the Dusk Requiem, a Dance he will learn as soon
as he has fought one battle here. The Dusk Requiem will have the following
random effects every turn:
7/16 43.75 % Cave In - Removes 75 % of target's current HP
6/16 37.50 % Snare - Kills one enemy, prevents final counters
2/16 12.50 % Elf Fire - ST magical, Fire-elemental attack
1/16 6.25 % Pois. Frog - ST magical, Poison-elemental attack, also sets Poison
Unless both Mog's team and Locke's team have been beaten down severely, there's
no good reason to use the four-generic-Moogle party against the Marshal. Between
the other two, the choice is up to you. As you cannot get a Game Over in this
part of the game - a defeated party is sent back to a certain point with all
characters at 1 HP - you can always fight Marshal with Locke until you have a
MithrilKnife. If you have trouble with the actual 'killing' part of the Marshal
battle (Power-wise, not moral-wise), Mog has extremely dangerous attacks to
offer, so you can use him for that.
If you picked Mog's team, the Dusk Requiem will make short work of the
fight regardless. If you picked Locke's team or the third and inferior party,
you will want to kill one Lobo and then focus your attack on Marshal. As long
as he's not alone, he won't use !Charge, an extremely strong physical attack
that can kill weaker units in the Front Row. He will, on the other hand, use
the Net spell to stop some of your party members. You can try to stall if
Locke is hit if you want to.
Before you engage in the Marshal battle, remove Mog's MithrilPike and Mithril
Shld. Equip the Shield on Locke if you're fighting Marshal with him.
For some trivia knowledge some would appreciate, Kuku is Mog's girlfriend. Kuku
is the weakest Moogle you'll find here and stands next to Mog on the battlefield
on the second position of his group. Male chauvinist pig explanation of Kuku's
weakness: she's a woman. Family-friendly support group-evading explanation:
although lacking in combat experience, Kuku shows some proverbial nuts by going
with her lover anyway. At any rate, the Moogle Charm you'll find later in the
game, a Mog-exclusive Relic, is supposed to be given to him by Kuku. The only
proof of this off-game knowledge lies in its Japanese roots: Kuku was called
Moruru there, and the Moogle Charm the Moruru's Charm.
Also, the Japanese Creation Data Collection Book supposedly clearly says the
Moogle Charm is a "crystal ball charm given by his lover, Moruru". I've never
seen it myself and wouldn't recognize Japanese if it exploded from my stomach
like the aliens in the aptly-named movies with Sigourney Weaver, but I have
no reason to doubt it either.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4.1 Classroom for the Beginner
**********************************
Location: Classroom for the Beginner
Party members: Terra, Locke
Opponents: Lobo
It was going to happen regardless of your wishes. This is the place where the
game is explained to you. They should've just listed the GameFAQs URL in my
opinion, but hey. It's Square. You shouldn't expect anything from them when it
comes to logic.
If you really want to learn about general Battle Mechanics: [BATTLE-LINK]
Preparation: There will be one battle against the weakest opponent in the game.
Try finding your chi or something. I hear it's located within you.
Monster formations:
Lobo
When you enter, the first thing you'll see is a man standing over a bucket.
While normally I wouldn't advise you to go near people bending over buckets,
let alone drink anything those buckets may contain, this specific bucket
contains water from a Recovery Spring, magical springs that heal HP, MP, and
remove all status effects.
There are three rooms in this building. Environmental Science is the one to the
far right, and it's where the only monster here is located. Open the chest to
fight a single Lobo. Have Terra Defend (press right when in the command menu)
and Locke Steal until you've gotten that Tonic. You know you want it. Kill him
with violence.
Find the Tincture in the yellow pot in Environmental Science and open the chest
in Battle Tactics (middle door) for a Sleeping Bag. Then, be bold and walk
straight into Advanced Battle Tactics. There's a chest containing a Tonic in
there. Now, exit.
The guy in front of the door advises you to skip Advanced Battle Tactics. What
a Tonic-hogger, eh?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4.2 Traveling to Figaro Castle
**********************************
Location: Overworld Map. Between Narshe and Figaro Desert
Party members: Terra, Locke
Opponents: Leafer, Dark Wind, Sand Ray, Areneid
Having been dissed by a Narshe guard, you have no choice but to pursue a
career in fighting for the greater good. Locke was told to bring Terra to the
king of Figaro, and so he does. Castle Figaro lies in the middle of the desert,
denying the rules of logic and reason. You need to cross the Overworld Map in
order to reach it. Hold me.
Should you try to enter Narshe, a Narshe guard will rush to the scene and
inquire to your name. You quickly run off.
Preparation: Equip the newly acquired MithrilKnife on Terra. She won't use it,
gods no, But it's still a 4 point increase in Battle Power, and I don't see why
the hell not. Keep the Mithril Shld on Locke; he has more Hit Points, granted,
but he will be taking more damage as well. For the battles against the grassland
and forest monsters, it would be best for both Terra and Locke to sit safely in
the Back Row, as neither of them will be using the Fight command. In the desert,
put Locke in the Front Row, and keep Terra in the Back Row.
Monster formations:
Grasslands:
Leafer (10/16)
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (6/16)
Forest:
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (10/16)
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind, Dark Wind (6/16)
Desert:
Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16)
Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (1/16)
There are two kinds of battles here. There are the desert battles and the
non-desert battles. The non-desert battles are no threat to you. If Locke
comes up first, have him Steal. It'll get you moderately useless junk,
solely limited to Tonics. If Terra comes up, an MT Fire spell kills everything.
Desert battles are different. In here, you'll face danger. And sand in your
boots. If you come across a double Sand Ray formation, have Locke Steal
(Antidotes!) and Terra use an ST Fire spell, which should take one down in a
single hit. Repeat for the other. If, however, you come across more than two, an
MT Fire spell followed by a physical from Locke kills. Do just that. Don't
waste more than one Fire spell in one battle unless you're close to the castle.
Hey, did you know that the Sand Ray was based off an actual creature, the
Trilobite? They're related to crabs, scorpions and spiders, but are extinct
due to the fact they failed at life in general.
There's a Chocobo Stable hidden in the forest south of the desert. There's no
reason to go there whatsoever. The owner will charge you 100 Gold Pieces to
rent-a-bird. If this seems insane to you, remember that this is the same guy who
hides his own shop in the woods. And here I was thinking you'd want to promote
your shop if it depended on your amount of customers. I'll never understand
capitalism.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5.1 Figaro Castle
**********************************
Location: Figaro Castle
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: None
You've reached Figaro Castle. Everybody's mighty polite. There's not a whole
lot to do here. Walk on. In the farthest room, Edgar Roni Figaro is casually
lounging in his throne.
Before you talk to Edgar, put Locke in the Front Row (if you hadn't already) and
take his Mithril Shld from him. He'll leave.
Edgar hits on you! Oh my, I can't see that working out. After the failing of
his charmings, he leaves, leaving Terra to question her sexuality.
When controlling Terra, equip the Mithril Shld on her and put her in the
Front Row as well. There are two shops here, an Item shop and a Weapon shop:
Item Shop:
Tonic 50
Tincture 1500
Antidote 50
Soft 200
Echo Screen 120
Fenix Down 500
Sleeping Bag 500
Tent 1200
There's really not anything that you need to buy here. You could buy a Tent or
two if you have the money, but you'll need 1250 GP for the Weapon Shop.
Weapon Shop:
AutoCrossbow 250
NoiseBlaster 500
Bio Blaster 750
Buy a NoiseBlaster and a Bio Blaster; you have obtained an AutoCrossbow by
talking to Edgar. One should wonder where Edgar keeps his hands if he has the
power to sneak stuff in your inventory without you noticing, especially since
he's the token pervert of this game. Haha, now that was a mental image that
delivered big funny! Make sure to find the Tonic, Antidote, Soft, and Fenix
Down in the castle. All of them are easy to find so I won't bother pointing
them out to you.
Try to find the Matron of the castle; she is located in the left wing of the
castle. She'll tell you all about the rather tragic past of the Figaro throne;
twin brothers. Twins. Poor Figaro. Luckily, Sabin Rene Figaro ran away leaving
his brother as the sole monarch, as things should be. In the Japanese game, she
also states here that Sabin was smaller and weaker than Edgar when they were
children.
When Matron is done telling her story, you can find Edgar again, who has
returned to his throne. In the hallway, you meet the second man of the Figaro
army, the Chancellor. Have a chat, by all means.
As soon as Edgar starts to make small talk again, he is disturbed by the
gravest of messages; Kefka Palazzo, a big man of the Empire, is coming for a
visit, and something tells you he won't be wanting any of your scones.
When controlling Edgar, keep him in the Front Row and equip Mog's MithrilPike
on him. As this is the first time you're actually handling Edgar, this might
be the perfect time to learn about his fighting powers:
If you'd like to learn about Tools: [TOOLS-LINK]
Edgar defies the Empire! He blatantly lies to Kefka when he asks if he knows
anything about Terra, the girl who 'stole something of minor importance'. The
only thing she stole was the Empire's dignity! Zing!
In the Japanese game, Edgar calls Kefka a Mage Warrior of the Empire. Does that
mean that Kefka knows Magic as well?
Now, when you're controlling Terra again, take hold of that MithrilBlade.
What a switch-happy game it is. You can follow Locke now if you want to.
You'll notice that Terra is one level, if not two, behind Locke. Edgar will be
even stronger. If you want to equal the situation out a little, you can choose
to leave the castle and fight some solo-Terra battles outside. I advise you
do the training in the forest, though, as the desert enemies might Numb you
and grant you a Game Over of Death. You might opt to rent a Chocobo to return
to Figaro Castle, too.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5.2 Fighting off MagiTek power
**********************************
Location: Figaro Desert
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: M-TekArmor
That night: misfortune! Kefka has royally screwed Figaro's alliance with the
Empire up its currently non-existent ass. For a moment, all seems hopeless, but
Locke had a plan! Turns out Edgar and the Chancellor had taken this possibility
in account. But see, I know it's Locke's plan, because his music is playing.
Anyway, you escape your castle while said castle is digging its way through the
desert. No, I don't know either why they didn't do that right away, before
the bad guys set it on fire. You're now being chased by the MagiTek Armors.
We saw how powerful they are, remember? You are going to die a painful but
mercifully quick death.
Preparation: You did the preparation thing in the castle, right? All one can do
at this moment is pray to whatever god you worship.
Monster formations:
M-TekArmor, M-TekArmor
M-TekArmor
Level: 8, HP: 210, MP: 250
Steal: Potion (rare), Tonic (common), Win: Potion (common)
Weakness: Lightning
Status: Safe
Special: !Metal Kick, Battle x 1.5
Sketch : Tek Laser, Battle
Control: Battle, Tek Laser
Vulnerable to: Mute, Berserk, Muddled, Sleep, Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !Metal Kick, Tek Laser
It turns out that, like Uruk-Hai, MagiTek Armors are about as laughably
incompetent in combat as they were awesome out of it. For this battle, the main
objective is to avoid being hit. The enemies are susceptible to Muddle, so use
that knowledge to your advantage. By which I mean the NoiseBlaster. Have Edgar
use it as soon as possible and keep them confused during the rest of the battle.
Simply let him bide his time if both are still confused and it's his turn to
move again. Locke should Steal; Tonics and Potions are nothing to get excited
about, but Fight removes the Muddled status. Terra should pump out ST Fire
spells. It'll get you a 'hilarious' scene. I guess it looked good on paper.
For those of you emulator players, Edgar and Locke are supposed to hide behind
the menu when Terra goes 'Stop swooning!'.
Terra's Magic and their own self-destructive tendencies (Tek Laser hit
themselves for super-effective damage) will grant you victory.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6.1 Traveling through Figaro Cave
**********************************
Location: Figaro Cave
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: Hornet, Crawly, Bleary
Figaro Castle is gone, and you still can't go to Narshe...I guess it's time to
quest further into Edgar's Lands, Figaro, to reach the Returners' Hideout.
Terra should be useful in their battle against the evil Empire, which is evil.
Preparation: Everybody in the Back Row again. I know it gets boring now, but
I promise I'll eventually let you keep characters in the Front Row. If you're
wondering why Back Row characters still take reduced damage even when there's
nobody in the Front Row to protect them - which is the initial point of being in
the Back Row - then I have no satisfying answer.
Monster formations:
First cave:
Hornet, Bleary, Bleary, Bleary, Hornet (10/16)
Hornet, Crawly, Crawly (6/16)
Second cave and third cave:
Crawly, Crawly, Crawly (6/16)
Bleary, Bleary, Crawly (5/16)
Hornet, Hornet (5/16)
Note: if you didn't use Terra's Magic spells in the battle against the
M-TekArmors, you still can trigger the 'flipping-out' scene in normal battles.
Throughout the cave you retain this possibility, but once you step on the tile
just in front of the exit, the ability to see the scene is lost if you haven't
already.
Hornets are Floating creatures, but that doesn't make any difference at this
point of the game. They attack physically with Battle and !IronNeedle.
Crawly are horribly defenseless creatures, but something about Crawly monsters
I find particularly repulsive, so I don't feel bad about killing them. When you
confuse them with NoiseBlaster, they might try to use the Magnitude8 attack, but
they have insufficient MP.
Bleary are the only creatures here that *might* stand through a single
AutoCrossbow attack. They can force you to sleep when you look in their eyes
with !Slumber, but you'll have killed them before they get a chance to use
an attack like that.
Edgar is a very nice addition to your team. In fact, I'd say he's horribly
overpowered at this stage of the game. Time to take advantage of it! Edgar can
one-hit KO Hornet and Crawly with his AutoCrossbow. If you don't meet Bleary
monsters, have Terra simply Defend and Locke Steal while you're waiting for
Edgar's turn to come up. When Bleary does in fact make an appearance, have Locke
still Steal, Terra use a single MT Fire on the group, and Edgar finish it off
with his AutoCrossbow. If you're scared you wasted GP on the Bio Blaster, you'll
gain use for it soon enough. If there's a choice, always try to Steal from
Crawly. A Tonic is a Tonic, but a Remedy is a Remedy, if you know what I mean!
As far as chests go, there are three in this cave. I know you're just dying to
grab them, but desist and cease! Know that the amount of chests you shouldn't
get is about to rapidly decrease, and these items, while 'meh' at this point
(Fenix Down upstairs, two Tinctures downstairs) will transform into rad items
in the near future. I advise you to let them be.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.7.1 South Figaro
**********************************
Location: South Figaro
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: None
You've reached South Figaro! Great. This is the first town you arrive in where
you don't try to slaughter innocent inhabitants, so you should be able to shop,
sleep at Inns, steal stuff from houses, talk to NPCs, the usual RPG to-do
list. How awesome.
Item Shop:
Tonic 50
Antidote 50
Soft 200
Eyedrop 50
Echo Screen 120
Fenix Down 500
Sleeping Bag 500
Tent 1200
You might want to buy one or two Soft potions, as it *is* possible to
accidentally get a Petrified character in a bit, and you'll want something to
counter its effects.
Weapon Shop:
Dirk 150
MithrilKnife 300
MithrilBlade 450
RegalCutlass 800
NoiseBlaster 500
Bio Blaster 750
Buy a RegalCutlass and give it to Terra. Give the MithrilBlade to Locke. You'll
be switching to a better weapon in no time, but for the time being, it's a free
upgrade from the MithrilKnife. You can buy the two non-AutoCrossbow Tools for
Edgar if your ignorant brother saved after the Figaro Castle experience without
buying them there.
Armor Shop:
Buckler 200
Heavy Shld 400
Hair Band 150
Plumed Hat 250
Cotton Robe 200
Kung Fu Suit 250
Buy two Heavy Shlds, three Plumed Hats, a Cotton Robe, and a Kung Fu Suit.
Equip them with Optimum.
Relic Shop:
Spring Shoes 1500
Goggles 500
Star Pendant 500
Jewel Ring 1000
True Knight 1000
Buy three Star Pendants and a Jewel Ring. True Knight and Sprint Shoes I'll
leave up to you. Goggles are entirely useless so unless you want to obtain as
many Items as possible, ignore them. Equip a Star Pendant on every character.
The Jewel Ring, despite what its descriptions says, only protects against
Petrify. Because you won't be able to get yourself Petrified unless you level
Terra up to level 68 (she learns the Break spell at that point) or take
tremendously stupid actions when facing Cirpius, you can just let the Relic
rest in your Inventory. You'll need it later on.
Hidden Items: Like in the first cavern you explored with a lone Terra, there are
items hidden here that are best left untouched for a while. Here's a list of the
items in South Figaro:
(items now) (items they become)
Fenix Down - Fenix Down
Tonic - X-Potion
Antidote - Tent
Eyedrop - Remedy
Tonic - Revivify
Green Cherry - Tent
Soft - Elixir
Warp Stone - Fenix Down
There's a Tonic in the barrel between the Weapon and Armor Shop. I suggest
skipping this one; you've got plenty of Tonics, but X-Potions will always be
nice to have. There's an Eyedrop in a box north of the entrance to the port,
and an Antidote in the barrel just above it. They become a Tent and Remedy
respectively, so it doesn't really matter what you do. The barrel next to the
Chocobo Stable contains a Tonic that becomes a Revivify (leave it), the Green
Cherry behind the Chocobo Stable becomes a Tent (grab the Cherry) and the Soft
in the box to the far southwest corner of the town becomes an Elixir (definitely
leave this one to change).
Enter the large house in the northwest corner of South Figaro. You'll enter
through the left door; exit through the right door. In one of the barrels you
see here, there's a Fenix Down.
Continue behind this corner of the house and you'll find yourself in a hidden
room! Search the clock for an Elixir. Now, go back in the house and go up the
stairs.
In one of the rooms, there will be a man writing a letter (who is he writing
to? I'm sure it's not important. Couldn't be the enemy, anyway). Behind the
bookcase, you'll find a secret entrance to a staircase, which leads to another
staircase. Follow it in the next screen. Now, go all the way to the right until
you're facing a wall. Now, go all the way down to the bottom. You should be out
of sight now. Now, go right to enter a secret area with a Hyper Wrist and a pair
of RunningShoes. The Hyper Wrist boosts Vigor, increasing your physical attack
power; the RunningShoes gives you inherent and unremovable Haste status. I
suggest giving the RunningShoes to Locke and the Hyper Wrist to Edgar. If you
had some Sprint Shoes equipped on either, you can just pass it to Terra.
Exit. Going up will take you two a room with three doors. The first is empty,
the second one contains a Save Point, and the third one contains four chests,
respectively containing 500 GP, 1000 GP, 1500 GP, and nothing. I, for one,
believe the last one is symbolic for the meaning of life. Exit.
On the town wall, there's a group of three barrels you can see when standing
near the Chocobo Stable. Find your way there (stairs are near the Armor Shop)
and grab a Warp Stone. It'll become a Fenix Down later, but Warp Stones are
infinitely cooler at this stage of the game than Fenix Downs will ever be.
Finally, there's a Tonic in the house of the old servant of the richest man in
town. I figured I'd save the best for last.
Other stuff to do: In the Pub, there will be a dark man with a dog near the
counter. Talking to him will make you be able to name him. Shadow sure is
mysterious. If you thought he was going to join your party now, think again.
This guy is a ninja; they don't bother in RPGs unless you're at least past the
first serious town.
In the Japanese game, an old man in the Pub will also say that 'you' (Edgar)
look like one of Duncan's students, which is the first hint there that Sabin
went off to train under Master Duncan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.7.2 The Overworld Map around South Figaro
**********************************
Location: Overworld Map. Around South Figaro
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: Rhodox, Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk
You've had your fun in South Figaro, bought some new armor, equipped some
Relics, and met a mysterious stranger with the name of Shadow. I'd say it was
worth it.
But, time to move on. Go straight north, as there's something of interest there.
But woe to those who seek to cross the Overworld Map!
Preparation: You prepared in South Figaro. Still keep everybody in the Back Row.
Monster formations:
Grass:
Rhinotaur (6/16)
GreaseMonk, GreaseMonk (5/16)
Rhodox, Rhodox, GreaseMonk (5/16)
Forest:
Rhodox, Rhodox, Rhodox, Rhodox (6/16)
Rhinotaur, Rhodox, Rhodox (5/16)
Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk, Rhodox, Rhodox (5/16)
Fairly standard stuff, now. GreaseMonks take more damage from Bio Blaster than
from AutoCrossbow, so use that on double GreaseMonks. They'll just attack
physically and won't start using !LodeWrench until they're alone, which they
probably will never be. The Anthology Bestiary claims they're Imperial
maintenance troops. It's official media, but one wonders why Imperial
maintenance troops would wander off into the lands to smack people with wrenches
as opposed to, say, carry out maintenance to Imperial stuff.
Rhodox are obscenely boring creatures as they do nothing but Battle under
any circumstance. The only interesting thing to note about them is the fact that
they cannot be Suplex'd. A character you'll meet in the future can lift trains,
hold up houses and whatnot, but he cannot lift this squirrel up in the air.
Rhinotaur are the first genuinely dangerous-looking creatures you meet. They
attack with Battle and !Redline, and counter Magic spells with a 1/3 shot at
using Mega Volt, so don't do that. You'll want to try to Steal a Mithril Claw
from him; it's a weapon none of your characters can equip...yet.
Any monster fight should include Edgar using AutoCrossbow (double GreaseMonk
can be taken down easier with Bio Blaster, though), Locke Stealing and Terra
using Defend and Cure outside of battle when needed. When your level is
decently high (9), Edgar should be taking out GreaseMonks in one hit as well
with the AutoCrossbow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.8.1 Sabin's Hut
**********************************
Location: Sabin's Hut
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: None
The three of you come across an odd hut in the middle of nowhere. Obviously,
you choose to explore it and take a nap if nobody is around. Let's just hope
the beds and spoons are decently sized, or some *bear* might come for you. It's
a Goldilocks/FF VI cross-reference!
The flowers, stove, and dishes all draw a comment from Edgar. What is he
talking about? We can rest assured it's a woman, however, since no man would
profile himself through tea and domestic ornament like this. There's a Tonic
in the bucket.
Egads! He was talking about his long-lost twin brother, Sabin. Outside, Edgar
will show his double-headed coin to an old man and ask if he's seen 'this guy'
(Sabin) before. Sabin has headed into Mt. Koltz; his mentor has been killed, and
the mentor's son, Vargas, is missing too. Nice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.8.2 Mt. Koltz
**********************************
Location: Mount Koltz
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar
Opponents: Brawler, Trilium, Tusker, Cirpius
Mountains are always nasty to cross, and Mount Koltz is no exception. You will
be attacked, spied upon, and tested severely. Also, a boss fight at the end I
might add. If that sounds fun, you're doing well.
Preparation: I think this section will grow in usefulness once the game
progresses. In the meantime, I feel like I should say something about the Back
Row and in what fashion everybody should be in it.
Monster formations:
Caves:
Brawler, Brawler (10/16)
Tusker, Tusker (6/16)
Slopes:
Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (11/16)
Tusker, Cirpius, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16)
Great slopes:
Trilium, Trilium (10/16)
Trilium, Tusker, Cirpius, Cirpius (5/16)
Foot of Mount. Koltz:
Brawler, Trilium, Vaporite, Vaporite (10/16)
Tusker, Tusker (6/16)
This is highly frustrating for console players, but Brawler enemies carry
Bandanas, which are incredibly hard to obtain right now. They're rare steals,
and the common steal is empty. This means that you automatically have a 7 in 8
chance to fail at your Steal attempt. It's a slightly stronger helmet for Locke,
Terra, and a character you're about to obtain, so if you're really adamant/near
the entrance anyway/playing on an emulator, try to get three of them. For
killing them, the AutoCrossbow works great. If it doesn't outright kill them,
you can finish them off with Back Row physicals or an MT Fire spell (although
you should really be saving your MP in this 'dungeon').
Brawlers, by the way, are martial artists who have turned to a life of evil,
using their combat skills for personal gain. It's like the Dark Side, only
different. Their Special, which you never get to see unless you bring a
late-game character around to use Sketch on them, is called !Punch; the Japanese
version was Holy Moon Sword. Way to boringify an attack, Woolsey.
Cirpius are potentially the most dangerous, but never live up to that promise.
If you allow them to take three turns, they have a rare chance of using !Beak,
which sets Petrify on a character. A triple Cirpius formation can be killed in
one go with the AutoCrossbow; when they come with a Tusker you'll want to
confuse them until one of them has petrified the Tusker with either !Beak or
the Break spell.
Tuskers are the only real threats here. They have stronger physicals comparable
to Marshal's pounding, and they have a 1/3 chance at countering every Fight
command. Don't use it. An MT Fire spell and an AutoCrossbow round kills them.
Trilium, lastly, are annoying because they Poison you with !Bane Touch. They
only use it the first round though, after which they'll take two turns by just
attacking you physically. This means you can easily use (an) Antidote first
and kill them second.
The first slopes feature no enemies, so you can safely walk into the cave. The
cave is straightforward. The other side takes you to another slope, with
monsters this time. You see a chest there, but you can't reach it.
This cave has two 'hidden' passages to treasure. The first is to the south of
the entrance. Around the square-ish bulge, you can reach an exit where you can
open the chest you saw earlier. It's a Guardian! It's the first weapon with
a stat boost you see, and it's a better weapon for Locke. Go back in.
To the right of the path/stairway, there's a hidden passage into another room,
which holds a chest containing the Atlas Armlet. The Atlas Armlet is much better
that the Hyper Wrist; while the Hyper Wrist boosts a stat used for physical
damage calculation by 50 %, the Atlas Armlet simply boosts your physical damage
by 25 % period. Equip it on Edgar to boost his AutoCrossbow. With the Atlas
Armlet equipped, Edgar should be taking everything out in one hit except for
Tuskers, which can be finished with an ST Fire. Locke should Steal.
Continue up the wooden pathway. Outside, you walk around two slopes and reach
two entrances into the mountain. Now, for the first time, you'll see a shadow
figure leaping away from you. Who could it be? Mystery.
The first entrance takes you to a chest with a Tent, the second one continues
your way through Mt. Koltz.
Misty slopes with a bridge this time. The bridge looks like it might collapse,
but it doesn't. Ever. Unlike that one bridge from King's Quest; you'd get a
point every time you'd cross it, but while you were having a blast collecting
points, a big goofy grin on your young face, it would suddenly go down. Bad pun,
the end.
The next room contains a Save Point, and when you leave it, you'll be on what
I've dubbed as the Great Slopes at the Monster formations section. Follow them
all the way down, and...
...eventually you'll meet the shadowy figure that has been stalking your every
move. It's Vargas. He believes you have something to do with Sabin, so he
commences his violence.
You get to hurt him now. Obviously you made sure that your HP is high enough for
boss battles, as is Terra's MP. Take the Atlas Armlet from Edgar and give it to
Locke; give his RunningShoes to Terra. Equip Edgar with the Hyper Wrist or, if
you have it, the True Knight. The first one will give you a slight increase in
offensive power, and the latter will make sure that Edgar takes physical damage
for characters in Near Fatal. It's a matter of personal preference as neither
should really be of any significant use.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.8.3 The battle with Vargas
**********************************
Ipooh
Level: 11, HP: 360, MP: 60
Steal: Potion (rare), Potion (common)
Weakness: Fire
Special: !Claw: Battle x 1.5
Sketch : !Claw, Battle
Control: Battle, !Claw
Vulnerable to: Imp, Mute, Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !Claw
Vargas
Level: 12, HP: 11600, MP: 220
Steal: Mithril Claw (rare), Tonic (common)
Weakness: Poison
Special: !Doom Fist: sets Condemned, Battle x 1.5
Sketch : !Doom Fist, Battle
Control: Battle, !Doom Fist
Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !Doom Fist, Gale Cut
Two Ipooh bears initially protect Vargas; you can't harm him until you
have killed the Ipooh. Ipooh attack physically only, with Battle and !Claw.
Vargas will casually switch between Battle and Gale Cut in a Battle-Gale Cut-
Battle rhythm. Dance to it. After every 50 seconds, he will taunt you cruelly by
saying: "Come on. What's the matter?" and use Battle twice, as if to insult you.
What a bastard.
Once he hits 10880 HP - that's after 720 damage - he will start getting bored
with you and exclaim: "Enough!! Off with ya now!". Just then, a new character
will appear. It's Sabin Rene Figaro, long lost heir to the throne of Figaro
and twin brother to Edgar.
It seems that Vargas misunderstood the outcome of a successor issue of Duncan,
their master and father to Vargas. Vargas turned to patricide, and here Sabin
is complimenting Vargas on his FINE SPIRIT. Morals these days, let me tell ya...
Anyway, Vargas executes "Mortal attack: Blizzard Fist!" Blasting all inferior
warriors of the field, the battle is up to Sabin alone. In the Japanese version,
this attack was called 'Super Wind Tsunami Fist', which makes a whole lot more
sense.
When Sabin has appeared and Vargas hits 10368 HP - that's 512 more damage -
Sabin will lament about his master's teachings. You'll have to use a Blitz to
win this battle. Once the primary Blitz technique has been used, Vargas will
...die or run, it's kind of vague. At any rate, Vargas is never to be heard
from again.
Your strategy? When you engage Vargas, try to pick some Ipooh possessions
with Locke, have Edgar use AutoCrossbow, and Terra use ST Fire spells on the
Ipooh you looted. After you've taken care of the Ipoohs, switch to the
Bio Blaster with Edgar, have Terra on stand-by for an MT Cure spell for every
Gale Cut that is sent your way. After a successful Steal attempt with Locke,
have him attack. The Bio Blaster will do the bulk of your damage
anyway, so it's probably not justified to take a turn moving to the Front Row
and take more damage there.
Eventually, Sabin will crash the party. PAY ATTENTION, AS YOU ARE ABOUT
TO DO THE MOST COMPLICATED THING INVENTED IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY. That's right,
you're about to execute a Blitz technique. Follow on-screen commands closely.
Write them down. Remember. After you've completed a Pummel technique, you've
won your battle.
If you'd like to learn more about Blitz: [BLITZ-LINK]
If your life is a complete, miserable failure, try this:
http://members.shaw.ca/yoshi6400/HowToBlitz6400.txt
So there you have it! It's a sad and symbolic story, the rivalry of Sabin and
Vargas. As a son to Duncan, he was forced to pursue a career in martial arts,
even though Vargas resented it. When Master Duncan, after training (among
others? It's not clear) Sabin and Vargas for 10 years, decides he's too old to
uphold the title of Master any longer, he decides that Vargas should be his
successor.
However, somehow Vargas understood that Sabin would be his father's follow-up.
The cause of this misunderstanding is never explained, and much like how Judas
betrayed Jesus to his death, so did Vargas betray his father and took care of
him. After that he went searching for Sabin, who knew that it was Vargas who
was supposed to be the next Master. Believing that Edgar had something to do
with Sabin, he attacked them, which led to the stand-off between Sabin and
Vargas, from which Sabin emerges victorious.
Little can be said about your Mount Koltz experience with Sabin. You can meet
Vaporites here, which seem horrible misplaced in space. AuraBolt is the
strongest ST attack you have at this point; take advantage of it. Only after
you annihilated everything non-Tusker on screen though. If you have a Bandana
and/or Mithril Claw in your inventory, give it to Sabin.
Oh yeah, and there's a Tent in the chest, but you can't miss it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.9.1 Traveling to the Returners' Hideout
**********************************
Location: Returners Hideout (and surrounding lands)
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin
Opponents: Rhodox, Rhinotaur, GreaseMonk
Monster formations:
Rhodox, Rhodox, GreaseMonk (6/16)
GreaseMonk, GreaseMonk (5/16)
Rhinotaur, Rhodox, Rhodox (5/16)
After descending from Mount Koltz, you'll find yourself on the Overworld Map
again. The Returners' Hideout is to the north. I won't bother explaining the
battles and how Sabin fits in here; you were fully capable of handling them
without a 400 damage producing righteous killing machine, so I suspect you'll
do just fine. If you still don't have a Mithril Claw, try going for one here.
You can, if you want to, hike back to South Figaro with Sabin in your party,
which will get you a small cutscene with Duncan's Wife. It's not very
impressive and it's needlessly time-consuming, but if you're like me, you'll
wind up doing it anyway:
Duncan's Wife: SABIN, where's Vargas? Where's my husband?
SABIN (looking down): Master was... Vargas...
DUNCAN'S WIFE: I'll never understand Vargas... Fortunately, my husband taught
his most secret techniques to you.
SABIN: For 10 years you've treated me like a son. I am eternally grateful!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.9.2 The Returners' Hideout
**********************************
Location: Returners' Hideout
Party members: Terra, Locke, Edgar, Sabin
Opponents: None
Once you enter the Hideout, you'll have to follow a Returner and enter the door
he points you to. Enter and watch the cutscene. There's a Greek mythology
reference here (a rather obvious one) and a symbolic position for Terra. How
neat. When the scene's over, you're by yourself again.
Hidden Items: You can find a Fenix Down in the chest in the room you woke up in.
Go out and head up. You'll find three chests here: a True Knight, another Fenix
Down, and an Air Lancet, a stronger weapon for Locke that's also Wind-elemental.
A hidden passage to the right of the three chests (walk around them) leads to a
White Cape. Be sure to grab it. In the bucket and pot, which are standing next
to each other, you can find an Antidote and a Tincture.
Furthermore, there's a Green Cherry in the pot in the conference room (the one
with the large table) and a Potion in the save point room.
If you examine the top-right part of the large conference table, near Sabin,
Terra'll crouch down and say: "Someone dropped a scrap of paper..." and you'll
get two options:
Toss it in the trash.
Leave it there.
If you toss it in the trash, nothing will happen. If you leave it there, and
Banon calls the Returners around the table for a meeting, he'll freak out, say:
"BANON: Who did this? Who left this piece of paper here?" and throw it away
himself. This makes Terra laugh (which, incidentally, probably is the only
time Terra laughs in a long, long time as far as I can recall). This whole
thing is supposed to be a Japanese joke that didn't port so well in the
transition. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me why exactly this is
supposed to be funny, so let's move on.
There's an Item Shop here:
Eyedrop 50
Tonic 50
Potion 300
Tincture 1500
Echo Screen 120
Sleeping Bag 500
Tent 1200
Sprint Shoes 1500
This is the first shop you can actually buy Potions at, so if you're low on
them, it might a good idea to stock up on some. A few Eyedrops are also nice
if you think those black sunglasses are just SO 1983.
Other stuff to do: You need to talk to your three companions before you can talk
to Banon. You find Locke immediately upon crawling out of bed, Sabin is in the
conference room and Edgar in the Save Point room where you met Banon earlier.
You can now exit the Returner Hideout and talk to Banon. Now, you'll have to
make a choice. If you immediately want to go for the offer, you'll get a
Gauntlet. If you decline, you can get a Genji Glove from the Returner walking
around in the storage room. If you decline three times, you'll get a Genji
Glove from from another Returner in the middle of some important conversation.
You'll want to pick the Genji Glove, trust me. Granted, the Gauntlet is more
of a rarity, but that doesn't mean it's also better (it isn't).
You could, with Terra alone, hike back to Mt. Koltz. However, there will be an
Imperial soldier guarding the entrance who'll chase you out on the World Map
if you talk to him: "Scum! You're Returners!"
If you declined Banon's offer three times, Terra will walk back into the Hideout
and mutter: "Hope... How can anyone put their hope in me?". Just then, a wounded
Returner stumbles in with Banon. Locke, Edgar and Sabin come rushing in, Locke
leaves for South Figaro and Terra, Edgar, Sabin and Banon will be going to
Narshe through the back door, the Lete River. A Returner quickly sneaks into the
conversation to give you a Genji Glove (truly one of the few acceptable reasons
to interrupt important dialogue) and off you go.
If you did anything else, there'll be a meeting. Banon gets angsty about
MagiTek power, failing to realize that on the two occasions MagiTek power
has been employed so far, it accomplished NOTHING. Banon kinda steers towards
the 'we need Magic too' topic when a wounded Returner stumbles in. Returners,
assemble! Locke goes off to stop Imperial Forces in South Figaro by his lonesome
and Terra, Banon, Edgar and Sabin will escape via the Lete River, raging river
of the wilderness.
After the sequence has played out, you've had Locke split (don't worry, his
equipment is in your inventory) and Banon added. The fact that you couldn't
name him should tip you off to his inferior status in your party. Although
he's a PC in battle, you cannot access his Equipment and Relic screen. His
equipment:
Punisher
-
Magus Hat
Silk Robe
Don't immediately go to the raft; go up and remember where you came out.
You'll need to find the hidden access to the Lete River later in the game. For
a fun little tidbit, go to the room Terra woke up in and stand under the chest.
Pride yourself in having seen one of the most elusive minor cutscenes in the
game. :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.10.1 Escaping over the Lete River
**********************************
Location: Lete River
Party members: Terra, Edgar, Sabin, Banon
Opponents: Pterodon, Nautiloid, Exocite
The Empire invaded South Figaro (notice how Edgar didn't respond *whatsoever*
to that notion?) and is coming to the Hideout. We must run like the wind.
We'll escape using a raft and the flowing water that carries it. Fun!
Preparation: Everybody in the Back Row. You can strip the Star Pendants from
your characters and apply Atlas Armlet/RunningShoes to Edgar, Hyper Wrist and
True Knight to Sabin, and a White Cape to Terra. There's nothing remotely
useful you can put in Terra's second Relic Slot (you'll want to have those
Sprint Shoes in your inventory, and you won't be walking anyway).
Monster formations:
Okay, this is rather complicated to do right here, so I'll explain it a few
paragraphs down the line.
First, I want you to exit the hallway you find yourself in through the northern
entrance. Not only will you now know where you can find it from the Returners'
Hideout, you can also walk over to the room where Terra woke up in and find the
wounded Returner in bed. If you stand beneath the chest here, you'll catch the
poor sap having a nightmare:
Uwaaaa! The Empire's invading! (cue 'Troops march on')
(Troops march on fades out)
"What the...? Sleep talking?"
Welcome to Lete River. The first rule of Lete River is: you don't talk about
Lete River. The second rule of Lete River is: you do not talk about Lete River.
The third rule of Lete River is when Banon goes down, the game is over. If Banon
receives Wound status, you'll get a Game Over. Protecting Banon should be your
first priority. If you fail, you'll get a neat message saying, "Banon fell..."
Fun fact: if you level Terra up to level 68 before meeting Banon, you can set
Petrify with the Break spell she learned and make him invincible. Then again,
if you're leveled like that, you really needn't worry in the first place.
Exocite is your average physical attacker. He seems to have a specifically
strong, instinct-based hatred for the elderly, as after every six turns, he
will always target Banon for a single Battle attack. You should have turned
Exocite in little bits of Exocite nuggets by then, though.
Nautiloid is more annoying. Rather than doing damage with his Special, !Ink
sets Dark, which is a useless thing to do but still looks rather stupid on
your characters. To top that, his Defense is very strong (partly thanks to
an inherent Safe status), so the AutoCrossbow and Fight commands will do
little here. Also, after three turns he'll turn on Banon for a Battle attack,
so BEWARE.
Pterodon are the strongest enemies here. They can use Battle, execute !Wing to
set Seizure on the party the second turn and can actually use Fire Ball the
third one, which is an MT Fire-elemental attack and particularly dangerous.
Pterodon should be subdued by NoiseBlaster at all times and taken out first
if possible.
The strategy is simple. Keep the monsters at bay with NoiseBlaster, use Fire
and AuraBolt to deliver damage, and have Banon use Health to recover from any
damage you might have taken.
As soon as you decide to hop on board the raft, you'll be taken down the
Lete River. However, there are many ways to Rome, and many ways to travel the
Lete River. At two points in the trip, you'll be asked to pick a direction.
Each direction has an influence on the monsters you face.
Here's the run-down of your possibilities:
Monster Formation Pack # 1:
Nautiloid, Exocite (3/4)
Pterodon, Exocite, Exocite (1/4)
Monster Formation Pack # 2
Pterodon, Pterodon (3/4)
Nautiloid, Exocite, Pterodon (1/4)
Start:
(Invoke Battle with # 1)
You'll reach the Straight/Left/Right decision.
You'll want to pick Left for the shortest time of passing through and the
potentially least amount of battles. If you're going for the most battles, or
want to make sure you encounter a Pterodon, obviously pick
'Straight'.
Straight:
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 2)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1)
Left:
Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time)
Right:
(Invoke Battle with # 1)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
Regardless of your choice, you will end up at a small cave with a Save Point
in it.
(Invoke Battle with # 1)
You'll reach the Up/Left decision.
Up:
(Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
You're back at the Up/Left decision.
Left:
(Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time)
A cave with a mandatory Save Point. Last Save Point you can get the 'eerie glow'
speech at!
From second Save Point to exit:
(Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
Ultros Battle if you haven't fought him before.
At the end of the Lete River ordeal, you'll encounter what looks like the
ultimate Nautiloid, a huge purple octopus who goes by the name of Ultros...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.10.2 The first fight with Ultros
**********************************
Ultros
Level: 13, HP: 3000, MP: 640
Weakness: Fire, Lightning
Special: !Ink: sets Dark, Battle x 1.5
Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !Ink, Tentacle
"Uwee hee hee Game over! Don't tease the octopus, kids!"
Ultros is a tough bastard whose Tentacle attack can be a huge pain if you're
playing the game without over leveling. Everybody *must* be in the Back Row. If
you are a moron and played with any of your characters in the Front Row, fix
that.
He'll start by saying: "Uwee hee hee Game over! Don't tease the octopus,
kids!" and using a Battle attack.
Then, if 10 seconds have passed (and they will have), he'll say "Delicious
morsel! Let me get my bib!" and target Terra with an ST Tentacle attack. If
at his next turn another 10 seconds have passed, he'll say "Muscle-heads?
Hate 'em!" target Sabin with an ST Tentacle attack and use an MT Tentacle
attack on his next turn, followed by either Battle, !Ink or an ST Tentacle in
that very same turn; if not, he'll spread the happiness with an MT Tentacle/
follow up with Battle/!Ink/ST Tentacle, wait a turn, and THEN hate Sabin for
his body.
His next turn is devoted to a Battle attack and either a Battle, !Ink or ST or
MT Tentacle attack in the same turn.
Then, he'll say "Y you frighten me!" and use an ST Tentacle attack on Banon,
from where he'll start at his first MT Tentacle-Battle/!Ink/ST Tentacle turn
again.
Also, every time he is targeted by a Fire-elemental attack, which at this
stage is either a Fire spell from Terra or Sabin's Fire Dance Blitz, he will
say "Yaaooouch! Seafood soup!" and counter with an !Ink attack.
...yeah, it's a talkative guy.
Beating Ultros down is relatively simple if you pay close attention to his
AI script. Have at the very least Terra and Banon in the Back Row using their
Def. skill to reduce the power of Tentacle when you know they'll be targeted
by it. Have Banon use Health at all times, as his Fight is nothing to consider
seriously (even though he possesses a snazzy weapon that you won't get on other
characters for a long, long time from now).
For damage output, have Terra use her Fire spells, Edgar fire off arrows with
the AutoCrossbow, and Sabin use AuraBolt. IF he knows Fire Dance at this point,
it's stronger than AuraBolt, but if you're highly leveled like that, you
probably don't need to worry about anything.
If you defeat him, he'll go "Th that's all, friends!" and escape underwater.
Sabin won't like this and he'll go after him; sadly, Sabin does not consider
he's more of a 'land-based' guy and Ultros appears to sane people as a generally
aqua-themed creature. In other words: Sabin is dead in the water. Pun!
P.S.: On Ultros being 'obviously' aqua-themed, I suppose several people now
think that Lovecraft's Cthulhu is entirely capable of surviving on land. But
as it is generally held into account that whoever sees Cthulhu will turn mad
within an instant, it still can be said that no SANE man will assume a
squid-like creature to be land-based, and my statement still stands.
He'll rise and feed upon your brain and soul and is more powerful than anything
you could begin to comprehend.
Cthulhu will rise.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.11.1 Choosing a scenario
**********************************
Location: ???
Party members: Mog
Opponents: None
There were initial plans for a normal menu screen where you could select your
scenario from, but I guess they figured this would be more fun. They were right.
Unlike the previous Mog, you can't access this guy's equipment or relics, so
don't bother. It's here that you'll need to decide what scenario to do first.
Here's a quick list what you can gain from each scenario:
Terra/Edgar/Banon: a Rune Edge, and the ability to de-equip, most likely
freeing an Atlas Armlet and RunningShoes.
Locke: Iron Helmets, a Ribbon, one pair of Earrings, a Thunder Rod (if you
left the Fenix Down alone when you passed through the Cave of Figaro with Edgar,
Locke, and Terra). Ends with a boss fight, so it's dangerous to de-equip at the
end.
Sabin: a MithrilGlove, a Barrier Ring, Green Berets, a set of Earrings, a Sniper
Sight, a Tintinabar and the ability to buy new equipment, including Magus Hats,
Iron Armor, Silk Robes, and Bandanas. Ability to de-equip at the end.
Now, I would advise you take the scenarios in the following order:
Terra --> Sabin --> Locke
Terra's scenario is a cinch where no extra items are needed by a long shot.
However, it does contain some strong Relics you can't free until you've played
through it. Therefore, Terra's scenario first. Now, Locke's scenario could use
Sabin's items and vice versa...but the fact that Locke's scenario is probably
the more difficult of the two, and you can't properly de-equip at the end of
Locke's scenario, made me advise Locke's scenario last.
On to the three scenarios: I'll handle them in the same order I advise you to
take them in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.12.1 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Lete River continued
**********************************
Location: Lete River
Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon
Opponents: Pterodon, Nautiloid, Exocite
Preparation: Ain't nothing you can do, lil' missy.
Monster Formation Pack # 1:
Nautiloid, Exocite (3/4)
Pterodon, Exocite, Exocite (1/4)
Monster Formation Pack # 2
Pterodon, Pterodon (3/4)
Nautiloid, Exocite, Pterodon (1/4)
(Invoke Battle with # 2 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
(Invoke Battle with # 1 50 % of the time)
With Sabin gone, battles will take a little longer. Not to worry, though. Keep
the Pterodon Muddled, take Nautiloid with an ST Fire spell, and Exocite with
the AutoCrossbow. Have Banon on stand-by. You should be used to these guys
by now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.12.2 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Traveling to Narshe
**********************************
Location: Overworld Map
Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon
Opponents: Leafer, Dark Wind
You rode that Lete River (more commonly known as 1337 River by flourishing
people around the world...by which I mean flowers of ACNE) like a professional.
You're right in front of Narshe; this should be a cinch.
Preparation: Keepin' it in the Back Row there? I promise this is going to
change. If you did any of the other scenarios before this one, upgrade your
equipment, give Terra one or two sets of Earrings, and have Edgar stick to
Atlas Armlet/RunningShoes.
Monster formations:
Grasslands:
Leafer (10/16)
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (6/16)
Forest:
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind (10/16)
Leafer, Leafer, Dark Wind, Dark Wind (6/16)
Desert:
Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16)
Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (1/16)
You can just slaughter these guys left and right however you please; MT Fire
spell or AutoCrossbow, your pick.
For some extra fun, you can take Banon to the hidden Chocobo Stable south of
Figaro Desert. He's not a permanent character and was never given a 'rider'
sprite, but it is called when you put him as the lead character and order a
ride. Garbage with maximum entertainment (I'll admit there's a possibility
that Garbage - the Band does make for an ever better evening, but I've never
actually heard anything by them to my knowledge).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.12.3 Scenario Terra/Edgar/Banon: Narshe
**********************************
Location: Narshe
Party members: Terra, Edgar, Banon
Opponents: Were-Rat, Vaporite, Repo Man, Dark Side, Spectre, Rinn, 1st Class,
Wild Rat.
Now, that was ridiculously easy; I told you this scenario was nothing to get
your underwear in a twist about. After some Narshe Guards show you disrespect
(remember to murderalize them later for that), it's up to you to find an
alternative entrance. Luckily, you remember that secret entrance from the
start of the game. No, yes you do. The one to the left?
Preparation: You should've done that on the Overworld Map. Life does *not* start
and stop at your convenience. Games do, though, so you can do it anyway.
Enter the cave and walk through it. You'll recognize it as being the one Locke
carried the unconscious Terra through.
Monster formations:
Were-Rat, Were-Rat, Were-Rat (10/16)
Were-Rat, Repo Man (6/16)
You'll walk over a snowy slope. You can see Narshe already to the right of
you, but you still can't reach it. The next cave contains new enemies:
Monster formations:
Wild Rat, 1st Class, 1st Class, Wild Rat, Wild Rat (6/16)
1st Class, 1st Class, 1st Class (5/16)
1st Class, Wild Rat (5/16)
Both 1st Class and Wild Rat monsters attack physically only, so there's little
point in explaining what it is that they do. 1st Classes are the highest-ranking
maintenance troops in the Empire. What the hell are all the Imperial guys
doing in places where there's nothing for them to maintain?
Pass through it. On the other side, you'll encounter the Dreaded Security Check
Point. From the Japanese game, you could have learned this is a testing place
for Narshe Guards. Who made it? Who creates something like this *period*, let
alone in a desolate cave like this, punishing the weakest fighters in the game
to follow its path with legions of undead monstrosities? Drunken wizards? Frat
boys who find little pieces of Magicite and, being too poor to buy the pretty
girls a drink, try to impress by feats of magic?
So here's the deal. Follow the path of the sparkle thingy. Abandon knowledge
of the will o' the wisp and DO follow this one. If not, nine revolving lights
will quickly surround you. If you manage to tag the yellow one, you'll be given
a chance to get back on track. If not, you will have to fight a battle:
Dark Side, Dark Side (3/4)
Dark Side, Spectre, Rinn, Rinn, Rinn (1/4)
Suffice to say, if you mess up here, you'll have to fight a battle. Now, I was
assuming that you acted on mistake and you were incapable of avoiding this
bold act. However, it should be noted that you'll probably want to fight this
illuminating magical sphere, as this is the only place where you'll find the
nefarious Dark Side enemy.
Lo and behold, as there is a small chance (25 %) you will actually encounter the
interesting Spectre and Rinn. There's no reason you want to meet them and
killing them is very easy, but you'll make them appear on the Veldt so you don't
end up with a needlessly incomplete Rage list. Spectre has a rare Ice Rod for
stealing, but you sadly lack Locke at the moment.
Intruding further into the dark, cold mines will allow you to come across
the location where the Moogles live.
Resuming your quest will get you past the chest in this room; reach it and
open it to obtain the Rune Edge*. It's is stronger then your current blade.
Unfortunately, it consumes 12 to 18 MP to inflict a critical hit every time, so
grab onto your few MP and stick with the RegalCutlass, as the Rune Edge is
horribly cost-inefficient at this stage of the game.
* Actually, it would make more sense to just leave it here. Despite the fact
that the Rune Edge allows Terra or Celes to do more damage than she could do
without it, you probably will never use it. Much later, the treasure here will
change into a Ribbon, which is much better at that time than the Rune Edge is
now.
Monster formations:
Repo Man, Vaporite (6/16)
Vaporite, Vaporite (5/16)
Were-Rat, Were-Rat (5/16)
When you walk out of the Moogle Den, you're pretty much done. Keep ignoring
any closed chests you might encounter; their contents haven't changed yet.
When you're out of the cave, you can safely de-equip everything. That just was
Scenario # 1... hope you liked it.
The Old Man has been given a name! His name is Arvis. Nothing much has changed
in Narshe; they're still neutral even though the Empire attacked them, they
haven't really done anything with the Esper, and are a generally indecisive
bunch.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.13.1 Scenario Sabin: Meeting Shadow and finding the Imperial Camp
**********************************
Location: Overworld Map
Party members: Sabin, Shadow
Opponents: Stray Cat, Beakor, CrassHoppr, Rhobite
So, Sabin was thrown off the raft and separated from his 5-minute friends.
Getting back to Narshe is going to be tedious, as you have no idea which way
to go. Your only hope is to find somebody who can point out the way...
Preparation: Keep Sabin in the Back Row. White Cape and a Star Pendant.
Even if you do have Earrings, AuraBolt kills everything in one shot anyway, so
a power boost isn't needed. Beakor's Duster can Poison you, so that's why I
advise a Star Pendant. Clever, no?
Monster formations:
Grass:
Beakor (6/16)
Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Beakor, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Forest:
CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16)
Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Beakor, Beakor, Stray Cat (5/16)
Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (1/16)
You start near a little house. Walk over to it. If you couldn't figure that
out by yourself, I advise you to equip a Gun Relic in your mouth and use Pull
The Trigger for offense.
Here, there are three main points of interest. The guy you met in South Figaro
is here, there's a green soldier-type merchant on a chocobo who comes in and
leaves pretty quickly, and there's a house to go in.
First, go over to the merchant. He has a nice set of items for you:
Tonic 50
Fenix Down 500
Tent 1200
Plumed Hat 250
Shuriken 30
Inviz Edge 200
Shadow Edge 400
Sprint Shoes 1500
I suggest you buy 99 Shurikens from him. 2970 GP is not that much, and it'll
stop any worrying about the limit of Shadow's attacks for a good while. Also,
buy 5 Inviz Edges and 5 Shadow Edges. You probably won't ever need any more.
Now, go over to Shadow (you can talk to his dog from various angles and watch
Sabin hide behind several objects, that always gets a kick out of me: "Whoa...
The dog just can't stand strangers."), chat with him, and accept him in your
party.
I guess I should note it's not required as such; you can perfectly well finish
the scenario without him. It's just that there's no reason whatsoever to ignore
him, as not only is he a great asset to your team at this stage, he also comes
with some Ninja Gear on him, which is great armor for now. Your additions to his
equipment should be a Heavy Shld and a Plumed Hat (you can buy the latter from
the merchant if you have none to spare). Like I mentioned in the preparations,
you'll want an Atlas Armlet and a filler Relic on him, such as the Hyper Wrist.
Stick him in the Back Row, as the very purpose of throwing something is ignoring
the distance between you and the target.
A little note on his Imperial weapon: some have seen this as a hint that Shadow
is originally from the Southern continent, possible from Vector. 'Imperial'
was never the weapon's name in the Japanese game; there it was called the
Kunai, which should make anime otaku smile with recognition. It's *the* generic
ninja weapon.
Since this is the moment Shadow is officially a party member, it'd be nice to
know what it is that he does in battle. Learn it: [THROW-LINK]
Entering the house will be difficult. You'll need to locate the door. It's
hidden somewhere on the front side of the house itself, so look carefully.
Inside the house, you can touch the stove for a neat little scene about how
crazy this guy in fact is, but there's nothing remotely useful for you to do
here otherwise. Make sure you talk to the Crazy Old Man in question several
times, as his lines change.
There are moments in the game Shadow has the annoying tendency to have a chance
of running off after every battle. I'll explain that when that chance actually
presents itself. For now, Shadow is your loyal sidekick. In other words, Shadow
will NOT run out on you right now.
On the Overworld Map, all violence directed at you is physical. In the first
battle you fight with Shadow, have him Throw an Inviz Edge. This makes him
invulnerable for the remaining journey on the Overworld Map. Throw Shurikens
and AuraBolts at your heart's delight; you'll find there's little strategy in
this scenario as most of your fights consist of taking hits and returning
ST one-hit KO's.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.13.2 Scenario Sabin: Imperial Camp and Doma
**********************************
Location: Imperial Camp, Doma Castle
Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan
Opponents: Soldier, Doberman, M-TekArmor, Leader
It seems there is an Imperial obstruction in the way. This is the Imperial
Camp Shadow talked about, the one that will have to overcome the defenses of
Doma at some point in the near future. We'll have to try to sneak past it.
Preparation: Keep Sabin in the Back Row, as well as Shadow if you brought him.
As soon as you enter the Imperial Camp, a cutscene will ensue. It becomes
apparent that general Leo is leading the attack on Doma, and that he's pretty
popular with the soldiers. Kefka, on the other hand, is expected to drive Leo
out of the mission, becoming a general himself, a thought that inspires fear in
the soldiers. Also, Doma is being attacked. Right now.
The scene switches to Doma, where chances of overcoming the attack are slim.
The retainer however, Cyan Garamonde, has a daring plan: rush out of the castle
to kill the leading officer; this might send the soldiers scurrying off for the
time being.
After the scene, you are in control of Cyan. Equip Cyan with fancy new
equipment you can offer him (Heavy Shld, Plumed Hat or even an Iron Helmet
if you went through some pains in Locke's scenario already).
I suggest you take a moment to check up on the character that is Cyan:
[SWDTECH-LINK]
Outside, eight Imperial soldiers are banging their heads against the walls of
Doma in a sophisticated attempt to infiltrate it. The leading officer does
nothing. You can pick a fight with any of the wandering Imperial soldiers (which
will trigger a battle with two Soldiers), but it's of little use, as you'll be
forced to fight Soldiers in the near future anyway. I suggest you simply go
for the leader.
Leader
Level: 12, HP: 456, MP: 20
Win: Fenix Down (rare), Black Belt (common)
Status: Safe
Special: !Axe: Attack * 1.5
Attacks: Battle, !Axe
The leader, surprisingly called 'Leader', will sometimes use !Axe in between
his normal physicals. He has a 33 % of countering any damage with !Axe, and
that wraps it up for Leader.
Cyan should be in the Back Row, so Leader's attacks shouldn't really hurt him.
Cyan's # 1 SwdTech skill, Dispatch, will deal sufficient damage to easily kill
Leader before Leader can come anywhere near killing Cyan. SwdTech skill # 2,
Retort, will make sure that the Leader is killed in one hit. SwdTech skill
# 3 works as well, although it takes needlessly long.
Make sure you end up with a Black Belt rather than a Fenix Down; the Black Belt
is a nice Relic at this point of the game, and you can't get another one for
quite some time.
When you're done playing around with petty officers, and the Imperial Soldiers,
despite their overwhelming number, have decided it would be best to flee, the
scene switches back to Sabin and Shadow.
Proceed to explore the Imperial Camp. To the left is an Imperial soldier
marching around; engaging him will get you a Soldier, Soldier, M-TekArmor
battle. This walking soldier will re-spawn every time you leave and enter the
Imperial Camp, by the way.
To the left are a seemingly passive guard dog and a chest in the large military
tent. You'll be given three options when examining the chest:
Urrgh! The top won't open. Right...
(Kick it)
(Hit it)
(Leave it)
- If you Kick it, the guard dog outside will be alarmed and will attack you,
triggering an attack:
Monster formations:
Doberman, Doberman, Doberman (3/4)
Doberman, Doberman (1/4)
They're the only Dobermans you'll ever see in the game, so if you're still
cruising for the perfect Rage list, this is the option you'll want. After
Kicking it, the chest is open. It contains a Star Pendant.
- If you Hit it, you'll fool an Imperial soldier by pretending to be a
NEKO NEKO KAWAII. I meant a cat. After the soldier has disappeared, you'll be
able to open the chest, which contains a Star Pendant.
- If you Leave it, nothing will happen, unlike, say, Leaving your wife.
If you're done in this part of the Imperial Camp and are ready to continue,
you'll come across a cutscene in which general Leo is called home to Vector by
Emperor Gestahl, leaving Kefka in charge.
You can get up and stretch you muscles for two steps before Leo and Kefka meet
before your eyes. Kefka and Leo do NOT get along. Leo hasn't disappeared from
your sight for a second when Kefka orders the poisoning of Doma's water supply,
which not only goes against the laws of honor and war, but will take out several
Imperial prisoners within the walls of Doma castle. Even given your current
position, you cannot allow this to happen.
You'll be fighting a character Kefka, who runs after taking one hit. He'll
simply smack you over the head with his Morning Star if you let him, so getting
your ass kicked isn't even terribly interesting in this case.
Don't immediately follow him all the way; there are important things to be done:
- In a tent, there are two chests. Ignore them for now, walk behind this tent.
Automatically, you'll jump off a ledge in walk into another Tent. Here, you'll
find a Barrier Ring; swap it with Sabin's Star Pendant. He can enjoy the slight
AuraBolt damage increase. Now, walk back into the tent with two chests.
- The right one contains a MithrilGlove, which you can ignore for the rest of
your life.
- The left one contains one of NASA's old-time prides: the first active
communications satellite, the first satellite designed to transmit telephone
and high-speed data communications, as well as the first privately owned
satellite. Joe Meek wrote a song about it. In short: the Telstar. If you
already completed Locke's scenario, give the Ribbon to Sabin at this point.
If not, give him the Genji Glove and move him to the *gasp* Front Row.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.13.3 Scenario Sabin: Telstar and Imperial Camp continued
**********************************
Location: Imperial Camp, Doma Castle
Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan
Opponents: Soldier, Templar, M-TekArmor, Telstar, Grunt, Cadet
Telstar
Level: 14, HP: 1800, MP: 250
Steal: X-Potion (rare), Win: Green Beret (rare), Green Beret (common)
Weakness: Lightning, Water
Status: Float
Special: !SonicBlast: sets Muddled
Vulnerable to: Slow, Stop
Attacks: Battle, !SonicBlast, Dischord, Schiller, Megazerk, Tek Laser, Missile
Telstar will normally use Battle, !SonicBlast, Schiller, Tek Laser, and Missile
to make your life harder than it already is. Every ninth turn it takes, Telstar
will use Dischord to halve a character's level.
After 25 seconds of fighting, Telstar will call two Soldiers to aid him. 55
seconds later, he'll call in three Soldiers to help him (if there are Soldiers
from the previous calling still standing, he'll fill the number to 3), and 120
seconds later, he'll call four Soldiers (once again, he fills the screen up
to four Soldiers anyway).
Finally, Telstar will counter any Blitz attack with Megazerk, making sure that
Sabin will be Blitz-less in this battle, like an animal.
Shadow should be Throwing Shurikens while Sabin can keep on pumping out
AuraBolts. If you didn't have a Ribbon, he will be Berserked by Telstar's
Blitz-counter, Megazerk. It should be noted that Shadow will, for the first
time, be vulnerable to attacks here as there's a large chance at least one of
Telstar's magical attacks will be striking Shadow, removing the Clear status.
After the fight, you win a Green Beret. Equip it on Sabin and swap his White
Cape with the MithrilGlove (don't worry, it'll soon fade into the non-existence
it was created for). Return Sabin to his Back Row AuraBolt self and move on.
Following Kefka further will get you into another battle with character Kefka.
Have Shadow re-apply his Clear status if you lost it versus Telstar.
After talking to Kefka for the third time, he'll run off and sends Soldier,
Soldier, Templar, Templar at you. If Shadow is still visible, take care of that
problem. Have Sabin Defend and keep his own HP up, while Shadow takes out the
enemies one by one (Templars first). There's a large chance they will use
strong physical counters on you, and Shadow can avoid all of them.
After Kefka breaks the universal honor code and Cyan learns that everything he
loves is subject to Poison, you gain control of the good knight. Equip the
RunningShoes on him and another nice filler Relic. You don't really have a
choice but to go downstairs and watch Cyan rush into the royal chamber. The King
of Doma (whose name is King Doma; I like to think his first names are 'King of')
is dying. Then, he dies.
Do not go into the door to the right when you leave the royal chamber. It
contains graphic adultery, you hear? Instead, go on do the bottom of the screen
and see two doors there. Pick the right one and enter. There's a Remedy in a
pot here. Talk to the Doma Sentry you see in this room, and try to explore the
available door next to him. It seems the statement about 'survivors' was too
hopeful. When you're done, put Cyan in the Front Row and enter the room I
previously forbid you to enter.
You regain control of Sabin and Shadow once the scene is done. You can't exit
left, as there's poison there (although you'll learn in a little while
there's good distance between the Imperial Camp and Doma Castle, plot device
laughs in the face of logic). No choice but to help Cyan! For some extra fun,
try talking to Cyan when between the two attacking Imperial soldiers:
CYAN: Eeoooa! Be you friend or enemy?!
SABIN: Ouuuch! ...didn't MEAN to step in there...
Too bad you don't lose HP there; that would amuse my bitter, bitter self.
Cyan will fight automatically in this battle, having a 66 % of using Fight and
33 % shot at Dispatch. Sabin and Shadow can stick to their trusted ST power-
blows, and you'll win the day without breaking a sweat in the battle formations
you have to go through:
Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (3/4) / Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (1/4)
Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (3/4) / Grunt, Grunt, Grunt, Grunt (1/4)
Cadet, Grunt, Grunt
After all is said and done, you get to run around in MagiTek Armor again! How
sweet it is! Heal any damage done to Sabin and Cyan with Heal Force (obviously
Shadow wasn't touched at all; he's a non-generic ninja). Use Heal Force anyway,
as his invisibility can, believe it or not, become a negative factor in the
near future. Put Cyan back in the Back Row and blast your way through any
opposition with whatever beam you can use. Everything kills everything, to be
blunt. The helpless opposition:
M-TekArmor
Soldier, Soldier, M-TekArmor
M-TekArmor, M-TekArmor
When you're done, leave. This is, by the way, a good strategy for a large
portion of your life, although it doesn't seem to work as effectively after
you've taken what you want from girls.
Finally! You've managed to sneak through an Imperial Camp without the loss of
your life. Of course, you didn't so much 'sneak through' as simply murdered
everybody you saw, which was half of the Camp's population. Still, you live.
That's good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.14.1 Scenario Sabin: Traveling to the Phantom Forest
**********************************
Location: Overworld Map
Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan
Opponents: Stray Cat, Beakor, CrassHoppr, Rhobite
Having broken out like a bad case of acne, your only hope to reach Narshe is
to travel through a dark forest to the east of Doma Castle.
Preparation: Save, darn you! Now that Sabin is no longer alone and scared, there
is little direct reason for Shadow to linger. That means that starting from your
escape from the Imperial Camp, he may randomly decide to leave you after every
battle. It's just a 1/16 chance though (which, by the way, is in NO way
influenced by the order you performed the scenarios in, there are many myths
and misconceptions about that). I can say that in a short while, there will be
a situation in which Shadow will no longer be able to escape, but you'll need to
make it there with Shadow at your side, preferably. This can be reached by:
a) Saving beforehand and relying on your luck
b) Killing Shadow until the party reaches said destination.
c) Running from every battle
If you're playing the game on an emulator, I suggest the first (you can always
Quick Save after every battle and Quick Load when Shadow decides it's time to
hit the road). If you're playing on a console (especially PSX), I advise you to
simply kill Shadow for the time being. Resetting is a bore. Just have him sneak
a Shuriken down his own throat and that should be the end of Shadow for now.
Darn, I promised this section would grow interesting, right? As far as Relics
go, I advise a Genji Glove/Black Belt and Front Row Sabin and a Back Row Cyan
with Barrier Ring and MithrilGlove. Shadow can have those RunningShoes and
Atlas Armlet.
Monster formations:
Grass north of Imperial Camp:
Beakor, Beakor (6/16)
Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Beakor, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Grass south and west of Imperial Camp:
CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (6/16)
Stray Cat, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16)
Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (5/16)
Forest:
CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr, Stray Cat, Stray Cat (5/16)
Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite, Rhobite (5/16)
Beakor, Beakor, Stray Cat (5/16)
Beakor, Stray Cat, CrassHoppr, CrassHoppr (1/16)
Desert:
Sand Ray, Sand Ray (5/16)
Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid (5/16)
Sand Ray, Areneid, Areneid, Areneid (1/16)
You know how to handle the wildlife here. You can travel to Doma Castle, but
you'll find it occupied by Imperial troops so you cannot enter. Just travel
to the forest to the southeast.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.14.2 Scenario Sabin: The Phantom Forest
**********************************
Location: Phantom Forest
Party members: Sabin, Shadow, Cyan
Opponents: Ghost, Poplium
Welcome to Phantom Forest, called the Forest of Illusion in the Japanese game.
After entering the forest, something quickly seems...off. Eyes from the darkness
leering at you. Sounds from places you can't keep your eye on