Tales of Symphonia
Advanced Coliseum FAQ
By Josh Laddin, aka Stormeagle6
Version 1.62 - September 19, 2006
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Table of Contents
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1) Introduction
2) Version history
3) Single Mode General Strategies
3.a) Velocidragon and Dragon Rider
3.b) Crush Tortoise
3.c) Drake
3.d) Ice Warrior
3.e) Dragon Knight
4) Single Mode Character Tips
4.a) Lloyd
4.b) Kratos/Zelos
4.c) Presea
4.d) Sheena
4.e) Regal
4.f) Colette
4.g) Genis
4.h) Raine
5) Cheesing
5.a) Genis and Raine
5.b) Sheena
5.c) Sheena and Colette
6) Party Mode General Strategies
7) Bonus Battles
7.a) Seles
7.b) Tales Series Characters
8) Rewards
8.a) Weapons and Items
8.b) Equipment Drops
8.c) Titles
9) Closing
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1 - Introduction
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Welcome to this, my second FAQ, for the outstanding RPG Tales of
Symphonia. This FAQ is only to help you survive some of the most
difficult battles in the game in the Advanced Coliseum Class in
Meltokio. While there really aren't any spoilers here, you won't need
to read this until you reach the last part of the game anyway since
that's when the Coliseum is available. The Beginner and Intermediate
Classes will not be covered since frankly they're just too easy, and
if you can't beat them you really shouldn't be here. Moreover, you
only have to clear the Single Mode Beginner and Intermediate Classes
with one character (aka Lloyd, unless you have a fetish for another
character) to unlock Advanced for all the characters.
I won all of my battles in the Coliseum while my characters were
between level 70 and 75 - that should serve as a good measure for your
preparedness. Make sure to have every useful tech learned for all your
characters, good equipment, and good accessories. In other words, it's
best to do the Coliseum after you've cleared out the last dungeon of
everything but the final boss. And always make sure to save before you
battle, so you can reset and not lose your money if you lose the
fight. That's about it.
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2 - Version history
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Version 1.62 - September 19, 2006
-Added a tip for Raine
-More info on the Tales Character battle
Version 1.60 - June 18, 2006
-Added a tip for Sheena
Version 1.59 - May 25, 2006
-Added some strategy and tips for the Tales Character battle
Version 1.58 - March 25, 2006
-Added a tip for Lloyd
Version 1.57 - March 5, 2006
-Added some tips for Regal
Version 1.56 - January 21, 2006
-Added yet another Seles strategy
Version 1.55 - December 18, 2005
-Added a Seles strategy
Version 1.52 - November 6, 2005
-Added an Ex Skill suggestion for Regal
Version 1.51 - August 6, 2005
-Added another strategy against Seles
Version 1.5 - June 30, 2005
-Added accessory suggestions
-Added an Ex Skill suggestion for Colette
-Added an Ex Skill suggestion for Raine
-Added a strategy for Lloyd against the Ice Warrior
Version 1.44 - April 1, 2005
-Added a detail about the Seles fight
Version 1.43 - January 4, 2005
-Added a cooking suggestion
-Added an Ex Skill suggestion for Lloyd
-Added an Ex Skill suggestion for Kratos/Zelos
Version 1.4 - November 28, 2004
-Added an Ex Skill setup for Raine
-New equipment recommendation for Kratos/Zelos
-New strategy for Seles battle
-Extra tip for Lloyd
-Added suggestions for Raine's equipment
-Added a note for Raine
Version 1.31 - October 19, 2004
-Extra tip for Colette
Version 1.3 - September 16, 2004
-Ex Skill recommendation for Colette
-Extra tips for Kratos/Zelos
-Added how to enter Party Mode
-A little change in wording here and there
-Slight addition to Dragon Knight battle
Version 1.25 - August 27, 2004
-More info in the Tales Series Character battle
-Added a couple combo charts for Regal
-Even more info on meeting Seles
Version 1.2 - August 10, 2004
-Slight correction to equipment changing
-Added more info for fighting Seles
-Corrected misspelling of Colette's name throughout the FAQ
-Extra tip for Lloyd
Version 1.15 - August 9, 2004
-Added the location of the Extreme Symbol
-Inserted Turquoise gem info in appropriate places
-Tip on changing equipment added to General Strategies
-More info in getting Seles
-More strategy added for Seles
-More strategy added for Tales Series Characters
-Extra tips for Lloyd
-Extra tips for Genis
-Extra tips for Regal
Version 1.05 - August 6, 2004
-Minor grammar and spelling fixes
-Altered Raine's strategy slightly
Version 1.0 - August 4, 2004
-Initial Release
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3 - Single Mode General Strategies
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In this section I will give the stats for each enemy you face, a brief
description of the battles, and tactics universal for most, if not
all, characters. Stats are for normal battle rank.
Remember, you can cook after a battle! This is the best way to restore
HP and TP, so make sure you go in with plenty of ingredients for your
recipe of choice. I recommend Miso Stew (in the game, not real life.
Yuck!).
--> Maxmagnus20019 recommends cooking Meat Stew with physical
characters, such as Lloyd, for the HP restoration and attack increase
for the next battle.
--> I have also been reminded by Aveothopios2 that you can change
equipment in battle, so it would be wise to switch to weapons and
armor that will give you elemental advantages over the competition.
Maxrpg has pointed out, however, that you can only change equipment in
the beginning of the battle, and soon after the option can no longer
be selected.
3.a) Velocidragon and Dragon Rider
Velocidragon
HP: 2300
TP: 0
Attack: 406
Defense: 30
Element: None
Weaknesses: Ice
Strengths: None
Dragon Rider
HP: 2680
TP: 0
Attack: 425
Defense: 37
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
For some characters (magic users mostly) I consider this the hardest
battle in the Advanced Class because it's a 2 on 1. One hit will make
the Rider fall and then you'll have to deal with both. Though the
Rider has better stats, I find it easier to go after him first (except
with casters) because it's easier to hit him with combos and dodge his
attacks. Don't let up on him, and when he's down, go after his pet.
Sometimes the way the Dragon staggers from hits will keep it out of
range of the next hit, which can be annoying when trying to combo it.
Still, once you've taken one of them out, the other will go down
fairly easily.
3.b) Crush Tortoise
HP: 9400
TP: 0
Attack: 904
Defense: 121
Element: Water
Weaknesses: Lightning
Strengths: Water, Ice
This guy is pretty simple. Although his Attack stat is high, he
doesn't seem to do much damage. All he does are close range bites and
stomps, or he'll go into his shell and launch himself at you. All of
these attacks are easily dodged or blocked and then countered. Just
be wary, since if he blocks your attacks he can counter surprisingly
fast. If you use a character that knows healing magic, distance
yourself and heal if you need to.
3.c) Drake
HP: 11850
TP: 1000
Attack: 630
Defense: 54
Element: None
Weaknesses: Ice
Strengths: Fire, Lightning
I consider this third fight to be the "breather." Not only is it very
easy, you should be able to heal yourself back to full before the end
as long as you wear the Holy Symbol or cast magic. I keep all
characters without healing magic (except Genis) equipped with a Holy
Symbol (or Turquoise!). Anyway, all he does is breathe fire in front
of him and occasionally cast Spark Wave. Run underneath him in between
his attacks and stay there. His breath cannot hit you, and if you see
him charging Spark Wave, just run at full speed in any direction to
avoid the spell and get back under him. If you have the Holy Symbol
equipped, just stand under him and dodge his magic until your HP is
back to full. If you can use healing magic, obviously do so as it is
much faster. When you're ready to end the fight, bring him to the
ground with a jump attack and just go to town with whatever attacks
you like, and you shouldn't take any damage at all.
3.d) Ice Warrior
HP: 4320
TP: 0
Attack: 668
Defense: 59
Element: Ice (Duh!)
Weaknesses: Fire, Lightning
Strengths: Water, Ice
He's...really slow. If he shoots ice balls run out of range, but
basically the best tactic is to run up to him, block a slash, and
counter. If you need room to cast a spell, he's fortunately just short
enough to jump over and run to the other side. Just watch out for his
overhead swing if you jump over. The annoying thing he does is his
charged up slash, since it knocks you into the air even when blocking
or using your defensive skill, preventing you from countering! But
he's still not that big a deal. Kill him and cook some food for the
final battle.
3.e) Dragon Knight
HP: 13500
TP: 0
Attack: 1485
Defense: 250
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
The Dragon Knight can be really difficult or really simple depending
on the character. If you're attacking physically, the best way is to
get close enough to initiate his attack, backstep out of the way, then
run in close and block. If he swings his axe, run back in after it
knocks you back. You want him to shoot his fireballs. After blocking
all three you can counter with your strongest combo. Then back away
and repeat. Consider yourself lucky if he does his flying fire breath.
It's easy to dodge if you're at a distance, and if you're close you
can run beneath and behind him to pummel him when he lands. If you
need to heal by way of the Holy Symbol or Turquoise, it's important to
note that all his attacks are triggered by standing a medium distance
away from him. Stand there to get him to attack you and then backstep
to dodge it, run back up to the same distance and repeat. With
practice, you will not be hit at all while you wait for your HP to
regenerate. Lloyd and Presea can pretty much just keep smacking him to
death, but the other characters may take some time to keep their HP
comfortable.
Also, some characters are short enough not to get hit by the fireballs
when standing right up next to the Dragon Knight. You'd be suprised -
even Lloyd sometimes can stand next to him without being hit, in prime
position for a combo. Presea and Sheena can do this almost all the
time (strange, Sheena doesn't seem that short). Try it out.
--> Angelos says that if you get right under the Dragon Knight as he
flies up, he'll land right on top of you and you can cast spells on
him without fear of retaliation.
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4 - Single Mode Character Tips
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I've listed these in order the order of difficulty that I found, easy
to hard. This section is for legitimate fighting only! If you want to
do really cheap stuff to win for some of the more difficult
characters, scroll down to the "Cheesing" section. But I would
recommend that you try doing it the honest way for the satisfaction
and bragging rights. I will list the accessories I used for each
character too.
--> Stormage has informed me that the Turquoise gem is better than the
Holy Symbol as it also restores TP. Use it instead!
--> Maxrpg has mentioned that if you equip both the Turquoise and Holy
Symbol you will get double the regen. Good call!
Here are my choices for the best accessories overall:
Faerie Ring (50% TP consumption) - an absolute must for Tech users
Holy Symbol (3% slow HP regen) - if the character can't use healing
magic, you should slap one of these on them
Turquoise (3% slow HP and tp regen) - Ahh, now I know what this does!
Better than the Holy Symbol or Spirit Symbol
Mystic Symbol (Faster spell casting) - good for Genis and Raine
Extreme Symbol (Stronger attack) - good to round out a character's
equipment, won in the Advanced Party Mode
--> watcher0's choices for good accessories include the Force Ring
(dropped by the Hell Knight) and the Reflect Ring (dropped by Origin).
These provide increased physical and magical defense, respectively.
4.a) Lloyd
My accessories:
Holy Symbol
Extreme Symbol
There's really not much to say for Lloyd. He's overpowered,
especially if you did the Abyssion sidequest to get his Nebilim
swords. If you can't beat the Coliseum with Lloyd, you'd better go
out and get a lot better. Be as aggressive as you can and take the
fight right to your enemy with your favorite combos.
--> Angelos mentions that if you get behind the Dragon Knight and
set Raining Tiger Blade to neutral B, you can keep mashing B and he
won't be able to recover.
--> Aveothopios2 reports that you can abuse Rising Falcon over and
over to dish out huge damage to all your enemies. Whatever floats your
boat!
--> Daide notes that you if the Ice Warrior blocks your attacks, you
can use a Tiger Blade tech (he recommends Raining Tiger Blade) to
break the block for a real combo.
--> yahiko has a strategy for the Ice Warrior in which you run right
up to him at the beginning and let him slash you, then do a normal four
hit combo, Tiger Blade, Fierce Demon Fang, and Raining Tiger Blade.
With this combo, you should be able to do a guard break on him over
and over.
--> Assassin105 has a technique in which you knock an enemy to the
ground with a Beast move, then stand next to them and use Demon Fang.
This should make them stand up immediately, and if you hit them with
Twin Tiger Blade right away it will knock them down again. Repeat to
get high combos.
--> Patrick Da Silva recommends the following Ex Skills:
Lvl 3 - Add Combo
Lvl 2 - Vitality
This will give you Sky Attack, which allows you to use special attacks
in midair. When the Dragon Knight uses his fireballs, use Tempest in
the air and you will sail over him. Then knock him down from behind.
--> Yet another way to slay the Dragon Knight was sent by Mike Lambert.
If your health is low (in the red) you can just equip the Material
Blade and hit A+B+X to do Falcon's Crest, which should probably kill
the Dragon Knight in one go.
4.b) Kratos/Zelos
My accessories:
Extreme Symbol
Faerie Ring
They're good physical attackers like Lloyd, but they can't rack up
or take quite as much damage. Fortunately, they have First Aid. Make
one of your shortcuts First Aid and use it when there are gaps in
your enemies' patterns. Otherwise the strategies should be pretty
much the same as Lloyd's.
--> plastic_chochi has sent me tips on the Ice Warrior and Dragon
Knight. If you hang back far away from the Ice Warrior and use Demon
Fang continuously, you will kill him easily since he moves so slowly.
Likewise, you can let the Dragon Knight corner you and Demon Fang him
repeatedly. To avoid the fireballs you hold guard and hop backward
over them. This Demon Fang stuff can also work for Lloyd.
--> Elmador recommends equipping the Cleric's Hat and Omega Shield on
Kratos/Zelos and giving them Turquoise and Black Onyx for accessories.
This will give your character more HP and therefore lots more HP regen
from all the equipment.
--> SOS brought to my attention the excellent Ex Skill setup for Super
Blast:
Lvl 3 - Eternal
Lvl 3 - Super Chain
Lvl 3 - Slasher
Super Blast lets you have the six combo hits from Slasher, and follow
with special attacks. This is great for long combos and lots of damage.
4.c) Presea
My accessories:
Holy Symbol
Extreme Symbol
Presea is simply a tank. Since she can't use magic she's got a nearly
identical strategy to Lloyd: Hit very hard and very often. Her
defense is incredible, too, so you shouldn't have to worry about your
HP. Remember to take advantage of Presea's height and stand right next
to the Dragon Knight when he shoots fireballs. This is a real
advantage since most of the damage in the Dragon Knight fight comes
from having to block his attacks before you counter.
4.d) Sheena
My accessories:
Holy Symbol
Faerie Ring
I thought the Coliseum would be really hard with Sheena since she
doesn't have a lot of HP and can't heal herself, but she's real quick
and can pull off some strong combos, making the fights go rather
quickly. I like comboing with Life Seal + Demon Seal. It's powerful
and knocks the enemy down to give you some space. Remember the enemy
weaknesses too. Use S. Seal Ice on yourself for the Velocidragon and
Drake, S. Seal Lightning for the Crush Tortoise, and S. Seal Fire for
the Ice Warrior to give your attacks extra power.
--> TripleJump suggests that, if you have a lot of hp left going into
the Dragon Knight fight, you can just deliberately take a beating
until you overlimit and just kill him with a strong summon. If you go
into overlimit during any other fight, you should also summon while
you have the chance, but I think that goes without saying.
4.e) Regal
My accessories:
Holy Symbol
Faerie Ring
I'm not very good with Regal so it was probably tougher than it should
have been. Also I chose stupid accessories since I forgot Regal can
heal himself. But anyway, fight a lot like you would with
Kratos/Zelos. I don't know Regal's good combos, but I used Triple Kick
and Eagle Dive a lot and it got the job done. Remember to heal
yourself when needed.
--> Edrynion submits the Ex Skill setup of:
Lvl 3 - Add Combo
Lvl 4 - Flash
This gives you Air Jump, and the way to use it is to double jump over
the Dragon Knight and unleash combos on him from behind.
--> Niraj Lakhia says that a good combo for Regal is Triple Kick
followed by Dragon Dance with the Add Combo Ex Skill.
--> iggy91519 and a lot of others have mentioned that Mirage is a
killer tech for Regal. Use it to get behind your enemies (especially
Dragon Knight) and hit them while their backs are turned.
--> Here are two great combo charts sent in by Jack, cause we all
know that Regal's all about combos:
---------->"Eagle Fall"
"Dragon Dance"---- --->"Wolverine"
---------->"Eagle Dive" ------
--->"Triple Rage Kick"
I
I
I
"Triple Kick"
->"Eagle Fall"
->"Crescent Moon" -
"Crescent Dark Moon"-- ->"Eagle Dive" -I
->"Eagle Fall" I
-->"Wolverine"
->"Eagle Dive"------------
-->"Triple Rage Kick"
I
I
I
"Triple Kick"
--> Ice Magus uses the following Ex SKills:
Lvl 2 - Vitality
Lvl 3 - Guard Plus
Lvl 4 - Guilt
Lvl 4 - Flash
to make the compound Ex Skill Glory, preventing most staggering. He
also suggests the Turquoise and Faerie Ring for accessories. His
tactic for killing the larger enemies (like Velocidragon and Dragon
Knight) calls for standing a medium distance away and Miraging into
them. You can end up inside the monster and can heal yourself freely
because it can't hurt you (except for the Dragon Knight's thrust
attack).
4.f) Colette
My accessories:
Holy Symbol
Faerie Ring
Once you get past the first fight, the rest actually aren't that bad
with Colette as long as you have Para Ball and/or Torrential Para
Ball. If not, I'd suggest you learn these S techs. Once you get a feel
for the Para Ball's range, you can keep tossing them at your enemies
to keep them at bay. It takes a while, but it's a nice way to kill
your enemies while keeping yourself relatively safe. Also, the Para
Balls stun enemies quite frequently, which will let you run up and
combo.
--> Jack has submitted an extremely useful Ex Skill setup as follows:
Lvl 3 - Resurrect
Lvl 3 - Eternal
Lvl 4 - Stat Boost
Lvl 4 - Angel Song
This gives you the "Angels's Tear" compound Ex skill which revives you
automatically once per battle! Quite nice.
--> ages_boy submits the following Ex Skills:
Lvl 2 - Vitality
Lvl 3 - Spirit
Lvl 4 - Stat Boost
This should give you Life Thief and Spirit Thief - now if you
continuously cast Stardust Cross, you will restore your HP and TP.
Simply repeat it until your enemy is dead.
-->AllPainful recommends using Hammer Rain to deal lots of damage to
the Dragon Knight. If you run up and stand under him when he flies up
to breath fire, you can hit him with Hammer Rain to dish out tons of
damage.
4.g) Genis
My accessories:
Heal Bracelet
Mystic Symbol
I don't use the Holy Symbol for Genis because his fights end too
quickly for it to be effective; either you or the enemy will die fast.
Instead I use the Heal Bracelet for 10% HP regain when he kills
enemies. It's a more substantial gain in the long run. I also subbed
the Mystic Symbol for the Faerie Ring, also because the fights end too
quickly to come close to burning through all your TP.
Genis and Raine must absolutely have the "Concentrate" Ex
Skill if you want to win legitimately. For Genis this requires:
Lvl 3 - Rhythm
Lvl 4 - Spell Save
Lvl 4 - Speed Cast
Lvl 4 - Spell Charge
This prevents you from staggering when hit while casting a spell. With
that in mind, cast your strongest Ice magic to kill the Velocidragon
and any strong spell to kill the Rider. Lightning will tear up the
Crush Tortoise and Ice will take out the Drake, although the Ice spell
Absolute will not usually hit him since he's flying. But it's the
Drake, so you can kill him with pretty much anything. Use your
strongest Fire magic against the Ice Warrior and cast Meteor Storm
nonstop against the Dragon Knight to wipe him out quite easily. Cook
often with Genis since he'll take a beating while casting.
4.h) Raine
My accessories:
Mystic Symbol
Faerie Ring
As above, you want the Ex Skill "Concentrate". For Raine this
requires:
Lvl 3 - Speed Cast
Lvl 4 - Item Pro
Lvl 4 - Spell Save
Lvl 4 - Happiness
Raine's entire offense is composed of only 2 spells, which makes the
strategy pretty simple. While her advanced offensive spells have the
potential for more damage, the number of hits they do can vary, and it
takes a while for the hits to actually connect, leaving you open
longer. Photon does less damage but hits quickly and accurately.
Balance them as the situation dictates. In the first fight, keep
blasting the Velocidragon until it's dead (hopefully before you). Then
immediately cast First Aid over and over until you're back up to full
HP. The Rider will hit you, but not for nearly as much as you get
healed each time. The second, third, and fourth fights shouldn't pose
much of a problem with your healing power. The Dragon Knight can be
trouble. Mix up your casting with First Aid and offensive spells as
appropriate. Unlike the other enemies, the Dragon Knight can damage
you for more than you heal at a time, so choose wisely when you cast.
--> Ryan Johnson recommends using the Blue Talisman and Turquoise for
battles 1 and 5, and the Reflect Ring and Persian Boots for battles
2 - 4, with the Spirit Robe equipped for all of them.
--> Garuda notes that Ray will hit for maximum damage on the Dragon
Knight if you cast it on top of him.
--> Murasaki has contributed this Ex Skill setup:
Lvl 2 - Personal
Lvl 3 - Add Combo
Lvl 4 - Spell Save
Lvl 4 - Happiness
She gets the Compund Ex Skills Nimble Mage, Hard Hit, and Reducer. The
most important is Nimble Mage, since it allows her to move again
immediately after casting, as the spell hits. This is a good setup if
you want to try an alternate way of going through the Coliseum (not
Concentrate).
--> Rock M suggests this setup:
Lvl 1 - Magical
Lvl 2 - E. Guard
Lvl 3 - Guard Plus
Lvl 4 - Item Pro
This combination gives the following -
E Block
Auto Aid
Blood Magic
Auto-Aid randomly casts First Aid as a counter to taking damage
(non-blocked), and Blood Magic regenerates Raine's TP when she's hit
in battle.
--> [ho1ysword] has a tip for the first battle. If you need to heal,
let the Velociraptor kick you in the air or the Rider knock you in
the air with a jumping slash, and just hit the ground. When you get
back up, you will flash briefly and have enough invincibility time to
cast First Aid, allowing you to recover the HP lost and a significant
amount more.
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5 - Cheesing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
None of these cheesing strategies come from me, but some clever users
of the gamefaqs message boards. They're pretty dishonorable ways to
win, but if you don't mind that, go ahead and use them. These can
probably work in any battle, including the bonus battles.
5.a) Genis and Raine
This is an almost surefire way for Genis and Raine to kick ass in the
Coliseum posted by Yeblos, and it requires the "Randomizer" Ex Skill
for Genis or the "Quick Spell" Ex Skill for Raine. The setups are:
Genis:
Lvl 1 - Tough
Lvl 3 - Rhythm
Raine:
Lvl 2 - Neutralizer
Lvl 4 - Spell Save
Lvl 4 - Happiness
These skills give a small chance of casting a spell instantly,
supposedly a 1/10 chance. The idea is to use "spell canceling". If
you haven't noticed yet, you can cancel a spell as it is being cast
and instantly go back to a neutral stance without any lag time just
by guarding. So the simple process is to take a powerful spell like
Meteor Storm or Ray and put it on your neutral B button shortcut. Then
in battle just mash B, X, B, X, B, X, etc. over and over as fast as
you can because each time the random chance will be reset. You will
usually be able to cast a powerful spell in much less time than you
would normally, although on some unlucky occasions you might end up
taking longer. But overall it works very effectively and you should
conquer the arena without any problems.
5.b) Sheena
This is another one of Yeblos' ideas, what he calls her "semi-infinite
combo". It involves having Sheena's "Hard Hit" Ex Skill which
requires:
Lvl 2 - Dash
Lvl 3 - Prolong
This makes the enemy stagger more from your hits. You also need the
T tech Serpent Seal Pinion (or as Yeblos calls it, "SSP"). Learn the
move if you don't have it, because it has the shortest recovery time
of Sheena's techs.
There are two ways to pull this off. If you can get behind the enemy
and hit it before it turns around, all you do is continuously normal
combo behind its back + SSP. It won't be able to turn around and you
can just keep smacking it. This won't actually form combo hits, but
it's still a way to just slaughter your enemy.
If you can't get behind the enemy's back and hit it in time, you can
first use Force Seal on the enemy to further increase it's stagger
duration. Now, as long as Force Seal remains active, you can do the
same process from the front of the enemy and it will count as a combo.
5.c) Sheena and Colette
This infinite combo was developed by magnomanX on the gamefaqs boards
originally for Colette, but it can be used by Sheena as well. Like the
strategy for Genis and Raine, it involves spell canceling. I will use
Colette as the example for this:
Set one of her angel spells to the neutral B shortcut. Colette can
only do a 2 hit normal combo, so you go up to the enemy and hit A
twice, then you spell cancel with B and X, and it negates the
recovery time after the original combo. If you do it fast enough you
can launch another 2 hits while the enemy is still staggered, which
will add to the original combo. In essence you continuously tap
A, A, B, X over and over. Once you get the timing down you can do it
indefinitely and kill anything.
Sheena can do the same by spell canceling with her S. Seal techs. This
strategy is more useful for Colette, though, since it's not too hard
for Sheena to win in the Coliseum anyway.
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6 - Party Mode General Strategies
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You wouldn't believe how many people have problems entering Party
Mode. To enter, all you need to do is talk to the girl to the left of
the one you talk to for Single Mode!
Even the battles in the Advanced Class are pretty easy on Party Mode.
The real strategy comes in your character choice, since you can only
use 3 characters for these battles. I think Lloyd and Raine are a
given. For the third character you should use either Genis or another
physical attacker. I personally used Regal since I don't think just
Lloyd is enough as a meat shield. Anyway, on with the battles. Stats
are for normal battle rank.
Battle One:
Beast Ogre
HP: 3420
TP: 0
Attack: 578
Defense: 43
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
Druid (x2)
HP: 3810
TP: 420
Attack: 758
Defense: 70
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
Come on, this is simple. Kill the Druids first so they don't use magic
while you hit the Beast Ogre (which should always be used as a general
rule).
Battle Two:
Boar (x2)
HP: 6840
TP: 0
Attack: 891
Defense: 82
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
Baby Boar (x3)
HP: 3760
TP: 0
Attack: 799
Defense: 37
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
You may be a bit outnumbered here, but that doesn't make the battle
much more difficult. The babies barely do anything at all. Focus on
taking out the big Boars first, and the babies will fall in seconds
flat.
Battle Three:
Red Mantis (x2)
HP: 2780
TP: 0
Attack: 520
Defense: 43
Element: None
Weaknesses: Fire, Lightning, Ice
Strengths: Water
Feather Magic (x2)
HP: 3580
TP: 68
Attack: 603
Defense: 58
Element: None
Weaknesses: Earth
Strengths: Wind, Lightning
Go for the Mantises first since they're easier to hit and have less
HP. If you see a Feather Magic casting a spell, quickly run over and
slash it, then resume pounding on the Mantises. Once they're done you
can finish off the Feather Magics with ease.
Battle Four:
Cutlass
HP: 9800
TP: 0
Attack: 1010
Defense: 95
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
Evil Teddy (x2)
HP: 7800
TP: 800
Attack: 1250
Defense: 230
Element: None
Weaknesses: Fire
Strengths: None
Hey, these guys actually put up a respectable fight. Though the
Cutlass has more HP, the Teddies actually take longer to kill because
of their significantly higher defense. Still, since they can cast some
dangerous magic you're better off going for the Teddies first. This
battle will be the longest yet, but you shouldn't have a problem as
long as you don't get careless.
Battle Five:
Druid (x2)
HP: 3810
TP: 420
Attack: 758
Defense: 70
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
Dragon Knight
HP: 13500
TP: 0
Attack: 1485
Defense: 250
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
This battle is actually easier than the last because the magic users
go down faster. You'd think they'd use some stronger magic users than
just a couple more Druids, but whatever. Target the Druids first, and
then go to town on the Dragon Knight, who is loads easier with three
characters than he is in Single Mode.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7 - Bonus Battles
----------------------------------------------------------------------
These are much more difficult battles than the normal Coliseum
battles. They also drop great items that you can't get anywhere else.
Be prepared before you fight them, and always reload if you lose.
7.a) Seles
To fight Seles, you must have Zelos in your party and fight a
couple matches in the Coliseum to see some cutscenes involving her.
Then play as Zelos and win the Advanced Class Single Mode. She will
challenge you to a one-on-one battle.
NOTE: Alex Nelson contributed to my understanding of the conditions
for fighting Seles with Zelos in your party:
"If you've beaten the beginner and intermediate classes, then you'll
see the needed cutscenes. Just beat [Advanced Class] once to see the
final Seles minicutscene, and twice to fight her (not neccessarily
using Zelos)." I've found further clarification of this indicating
that you can fight her with any character as long as you use that
character to win twice in a row. Zelos must still be in your party to
meet her at all, though.
--> Wrath of Anubis from the gamefaqs message boards also states that
if you challenge Seles with Zelos and lose, she will be available to
any character that completes Advanced Class until you beat her.
Now, if you went for Kratos instead of Zelos, you can fight her a
second time after opening the final door and viewing the final scene
before the boss. If you go back to the arena she should challenge you
to a second match. But be warned, you MUST have beaten her once with
Zelos in your party before losing him or you cannot fight her at all,
let alone a second time.
--> DragonKnightKain points out that you don't neccesarily need to
BEAT Seles to have her come back to avenge Zelos after the final
scene. You only need to see her in battle before that particular event.
Seles:
HP: 12000
TP: 800
Attack: 1300
Defense: 420
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: Water, Wind, Fire, Earth
If you're fighting with Zelos, this can be tough since he's not the
ideal character for the battle. Using Lloyd would make it much easier,
but this is the strategy I used for Zelos:
Have the Faerie Ring equipped (essential), and basically keep your
distance to make her cast Absolute and Freeze Lancer over and over.
Start guarding when she begins to cast, and if it's Absolute, backstep
to dodge the spell completely. If it's Freeze Lancer, push down to
activate Guardian. Keep doing this until she runs toward you, which
means she's out of TP. Now run toward her and jump over her head when
you get close. She should slash the empty air where you were. While
she does that, attack her exposed backside with your best combo.
Then back away, run at her again, and repeat until she goes down. Be
wary of her special techs, though, like the hammer smashes. They have
a long range.
I know this isn't the best way to fight her, but it's how I won. Ice
resistant equipment can also help a lot.
--> trowabartan recommends hanging back while she casts a spell and
jumping over her as soon as she casts to do a back attack combo. I
couldn't quite get the hang of this myself as it seems her casting
time varies, but it does work effectively when you can pull it off.
Also, if you block her entire sword strike air combo thing she will
land with her back to you and open for a combo. Back away from the
hammer smashes since you can see them coming pretty early and run in
for a combo after she misses.
--> Lastjustice has a strategy using Lloyd if he's a T type. Run
toward Seles right at the start, avoiding her spell. Use Sword Rain
Alpha on her immediately after her spell, while she's open. Before
Sword Rain Alpha finished, combo it into Rising Falcon, which will hit
her and send you through to her other side. While she's still facing
the other way, do the Sword Rain Alpha into Rising Falcon combo again.
Keep doing it and she'll be defenseless the whole battle.
--> ArmyLeprechaun2 submitted this strategy that was written for
Presea, but can be adapted with other characters' appropriate moves in
place of Endless Infliction:
"At the start of the fight, Seles will start casting a spell.
Immediately run towards her and, if possible,jump over her. Wait for
her to cast the spell. If it's Absolute, just back step it and repeat.
If it's Freeze Lancer, immediately run to her back and use Endless
Infliction. The second you finish the attack, backstep. If she runs at
you, run forward and jump over her again. If she doesn't use Sword
Buster (or whatever Light Spear mimic attack she has), use another
Endless Infliction. If she uses Sword Buster, wait until the final down
strike to run, and use Endless Infliction on her anyway.
The key is Endless Infliction, back step, forward, jump, repeat."
--> A strategy using Zelos/Kratos from Dave Higaki:
"Ok, Seles will first go out and start casting a spell. Move 1/2 way
towards her until her spell is cast, then either Guardian if it�s
Freeze Lancer, or back step for the Absolute (you mentioned this).
Now she should be casting again. Run up to her and lay on a Fierce
Demon Fang. This WILL juggle her into the air and cancel the spell.
Now guard, for she typically does a two-swing counterattack, then
smack her with a 3 hit combo. The trick now is if she pops guards; if
she does, use the! Fierce Demon Fang to juggle again and quickly lay
on a Super Lightning Blade. If she doesn�t, just use the Super
Lightning Blade and Block again. Around this point, she�ll use her
Sword Breaker combo thing, so just block. She should jump over you,
so quickly turn around and lay on a combo against her exposed backside
(I prefer 3 attacks, Fierce Demon Fang, Super Lightning Blade in that
order ). Keep close so she�ll prefer to use melee over magic and
rinse and repeat until she loses her hat.
At that point, back up while she�s casting. She�ll cast Prism Sword
as her choice always after losing her hat. As soon as the spell forms
below Zelos, run towards her and smack down a combo again. Do the
guard her attack/counter attack with a combo strategy as above, but
watch for her Mini Meteor. She gives an announcement so you can
quickly Guardian the attack or back step if you�re quick enough."
--> Another Zelos/Kratos strategy, this one from Douglas Pantaleon,
involves running as far away as possible from her in the beginning of
the fight. Once you are at maximum distance you can just hit her
repeatedly with Double Demon Fang. This interrupts her spells but she
will keep trying to cast. Then when she tries to attack you physically
just use your best combos to finish her off.
7.b) Tales Series Characters
To get this battle, all you have to do is beat the Advanced Party Mode
and they will challenge you. Fortunately this is an exhibition match,
so you are allowed to use items. It would be unbelievably difficult
without them. These are characters from previous Tales games that have
teamed up to challenge you.
Garr:
HP: 20000
TP: 150
Attack: 1650
Defense: 450
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: Earth, Lightning, Ice, Darkness
Farah Oersted:
HP: 20000
TP: 150
Attack: 1705
Defense: 455
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: Fire
Meredy:
HP: 16000
TP: 1450
Attack: 800
Defense: 390
Element: None
Weaknesses: None
Strengths: None
This battle gets very hectic. Your top priority is to go after Meredy
in this one. She can cast Resurrection on a dead comrade if you don't
take her out first, which can completely screw you over. The problem
in going after her first is that the other two seem to like going after
your magic users a lot. Farah is very annoying when she keeps
attacking Raine and interrupting your healing. Plus her beast move is
really strong and knocks you down. Try to attack Farah and/or Garr
every once in a while to make them target you instead of Raine, though
the first priority is taking out Meredy. She will revive once,
however, with a portion of her HP left.
When she's down for good the battle's not so bad. I'd go after Garr
next since he hits from long range, but either of the remaining 2 make
prime targets.
--> Drum Kero has also conducted tests and told me that it is not
simply Meredy who revives, it's whomever you kill first. The AI
apparently allows one revive to whichever character you defeat first.
After playing them again, I found that if Meredy is killed first, Garr
simply uses a Life Bottle. So whomever you kill first will come back
through either Resurrection or a Life Bottle, but apparently only
once. I still prefer to go after Meredy first because she's the
annoying caster and an easier kill with less HP, but the choice is
yours since the revival factor can be applied to all of them.
UPDATE: MiturBinIzdrti has found that if you kill one character and
they get revived, then kill a different character before finishing off
the first one, the second character gets revived as well. So to be
safe, you should make sure and finish the revived one completely or
risk more reviving from your next target.
--> Namu_the_king has a number of suggestions for the battle:
-Use Zelos/Kratos as your third character
-Have max numbers of every gel
-Use First Aid primarily because of its short casting time and small
TP usage
-Be a high level (duh)
-Kill Garr first, because he hits hard from both long and short
range
-Give Lloyd the Add Combo Ex skill and use A, A, A, A, Tiger Rage,
Hunting/Raging Beast for an effective combo
-Hit Farah every once in a while to grab her attention because she
likes going after Raine
Don't be stingy on your item use in this battle - you're allowed to
use them for a reason! An all-divide would work well in this battle,
although I didn't use one. You'll eat through a bunch of life bottles
and gels by the time you're done. Have Raine constantly cast
Revitalize to keep your HP up, and you should be able to pull through.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
8 - Rewards
----------------------------------------------------------------------
8.a) Weapons and Items
Every character gets a really powerful weapon for beating Advanced
Class Single Mode the first time, but you must have opened the door to
the last boss, gone inside, and watched the scene. Once that's done,
go back out and you will be able to receive these awesome weapons in
the Coliseum. They are:
Lloyd - Valkyrie Saber
Colette - Angel's Halo
Genis - Final Player
Raine - Crystal Rod
Kratos/Zelos - Excalibur
Sheena - Divine Judgment
Presea - Bahamut's Tear
Regal - Kaiser Greaves
The first time that you beat Advanced Class on Single Mode you will
be awarded a Krona Symbol, which blocks all status effects and makes
for some pretty cheap leveling when combined with the Demon's Seal.
Michael Blaker, Chaos Stryker, and a number of others have informed me
that you win the Extreme Symbol from the Advanced Class Party Mode.
Thanks everyone!
8.b) Equipment Drops
You get some pretty sweet equipment from winning the bonus battles.
They are also the only source for these pieces of equipment as far as
I know.
For beating Seles, you will win the Last Fencer, a weapon for Zelos
that's even more powerful than the Excalibur. She also drops an
Elemental Circlet which is perfect for Raine.
For beating the Tales Series Characters, you get the Mumbane, a great
armor for Lloyd, and the Star Cloak, a great cloak for Genis.
8.c) Titles
Every character earns a fantastic title for completing the Advance
Single Class the first time. They are:
Lloyd - Sword of Swords
Colette - Super Girl
Genis - Ultimate Kid
Raine - Gladiator Queen
Kratos - Conqueror
Zelos - Grand Champion
Sheena - Rose of Battle
Presea - Deadly Flower
Regal - King of the Coliseum
Lloyd will also receive the title of Tactical Leader if you win the
Advanced Class Party Mode with him.
All of these titles offer great stat boosts for all stats and are well
worth earning.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
9 - Closing
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions? Suggestions? Comments?
Send them to [email protected]. Everything is welcome except
pointless hate mail. If you expect credit, please give me a name to
credit you by if it's not evident in the email.
*I've got more Seles strategies now than you can shake a Kendama at,
so please no more of those*
Legalese:
This document Copyright 2004 by Josh Laddin.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
This document may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site other
than:
-www.gamefaqs.com
-www.neoseeker.com
-www.supercheats.com
-www.tales-central.com
-www.1up.com
or distributed publicly without written permission from the author.
Like anyone ever reads this anyway.
I'd like to thank:
-Nintendo and Namco of course! You need the game before you need a
FAQ!
-Yeblos of the gamefaqs message boards for his Sheena, Genis, and
Raine cheesing strategies
-magnomanX, also from the boards for his Colette cheesing strategy
-Stormage (and many others) for the info on Turquoise
-Maxrpg, for the Turquoise/Holy Symbol combo and an equipment note
-Niraj Lakhia, for some Regal tips
-Angleos, for Lloyd, Genis, and Regal tips
-trowabartan, for some more Seles strategy
-Alex Nelson, for information on getting Seles
-Aveothopios2 for a Lloyd tip, equipment tip, and Tales Character
battle tip
-Michael Blaker, Chaos Stryker, and others for where the Extreme
Symbol comes from
-iggy91519 (and others) for a Regal tip with Mirage
-Daide for a Lloyd tip
-Wrath of Anubis, for more Seles info
-Jack, for the Regal combo charts and also Ex Skill contribution
-Drum Kero, for contributing information about the Tales Character
battle
-plastic_chochi, for Kratos/Zelos tips
-AllPainful, for a Colette tip.
-Assassin105, for a Lloyd tip.
-Ryan Johnson, for suggestions on Raine's equipment.
-Garudam for a Raine note.
-Lastjustice, for a strategy against Seles.
-Elmador, for a Kratos/Zelos equipment recommendation.
-Murasaki, for a Raine Ex Skill contribution.
-Maxmagnus20019, for a cooking suggestion.
-Patrick Da Silva, for a Lloyd Ex Skill contribution.
-SOS, for a Kratos/Zelos Ex Skill contribution.
-DragonKnightKain, for a detail on the Seles battle.
-Rock M, for a Raine Ex Skill contribution.
-watcher0, for accessory suggestions.
-yahiko, for a Lloyd tip.
-ages_boy, for a Colette Ex Skill contribution.
-ArmyLeprechaun2, for a Seles strategy.
-Edrynion, for a Regal Ex Skill contribution.
-Dave Higaki, for a Seles strategy.
-Douglas Pantaleon, for another Seles strategy.
-Ice Magus, for some Regal tips.
-Mike Lambert, for a Lloyd tip.
-Namu_the_king, for tips on the Tales Character battle.
-TripleJump, for a Sheena tip.
-MiturBinIzdrti, for more clarification in the Tales Character battle.
-[ho1ysword], for a Raine tip.
-As always, you, the readers.
Good luck in the Coliseum!
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