=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TALES OF THE ABYSS An FAQ/Walkthrough For the Sony Playstation 2 Copyright 2007 Richard Beast =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =============================================================================== Table of Contents: =============================================================================== -!NOTE!- This guide, as you will soon see, is pretty big. Seeing as how this takes effect, you will most likely be lost in trying to find out what you want to read. There is one way to get to it, instantly. Press Ctrl + F, and then look for whatever you want. Let's say you want to go to the Basics section. Type in "IV. Basics", and then you'll go to the basics section, instantly! Pretty neat, eh? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ -------------------------- * TABLE OF CONTENTS * -------------------------- ~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction II. Legal Disclaimer III. Contact Rules IV. Basics V. Characters VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) VIa. Baticul VIb. Tataroo Valley VIc. Engeve VId. Cheagle Woods VIe. Tartarus VIf. St. Binah VIg. Fubras River VIh. Kaitzur VIi. Choral Castle VIj. Katsbert Ferry VIk. Chesedonia VIl. Katsbert Ferry VIm. Baticul VIn. Abandoned Factory VIo. Desert Oasis VIp. Zao Ruins VIq. Chesedonia VIr. Deo Pass VIs. Akzeriuth VIt. Akzeriuth Mine Shaft 14 VIu. Yulia City VIv. Belkend VIw. Ortion Cavern VIx. Yulia City VII. Walkthrough (Part 2) VIIa. Aramis Spring VIIb. Daath VIIc. Oracle Headquarters VIId. Keterburg VIIe. Theor Forest VIIf. Grand Chokmah VIIg. St. Binah VIIh. Sheridan VIIi. Meggiora Highlands VIIj. Shurrey Hill VIIk. Engeve VIIl. Chesedonia VIIm. Zao Ruins VIIn. Daath VIIo. Inista Marsh VIIp. Belkend VIIq. Daath VIIr. Tataroo Valley VIIs. Baticul VIIt. Daath VIIu. Sheridan VIIv. Meggiora Highlands VIIw. Mt. Zaleho VIIx. Ortion Cavern VIIy. Mt. Roneal VIIz. Absorption Gate VIII. Walkthrough (Part 3) VIIIa. Baticul VIIIb. Daath VIIIc. Shurrey Hill VIIId. Grand Chokmah VIIIe. Daath VIIIf. Mt. Zaleho VIIIg. Belkend VIIIh. Mt. Roneal VIIIi. Baticul VIIIj. Isle of Feres VIIIk. Cheagle Woods VIIIl. Baticul VIIIm. Tower of Rem VIIIn. Daath VIIIo. Belkend VIIIp. Baticul VIIIq. Absorption Gate VIIIr. Radiation Gate VIIIs. Chesedonia VIIIt. Eldrant IX. Side Quests IXa. Mushroom Road IXb. Nam Cobanda / Search Points IXc. Dragon Buster IXd. Ortion Cavern (East) IXe. Catalyst Weapons IXf. Abyss Replica Facility X. Items Xa. Weapons Xb. Body Armor Xc. Hand Armor Xd. Accessories Xe. AD Skills Xf. C. Cores Xg. Titles XI. Bosses XII. FAQ XIII. Credits =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ I. Introduction ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Okay, so remember those massive Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy IX FAQs I churned out? Maybe, or maybe not, but you might look at my CRP if you haven't seen it yet, and see that those are my first and second biggest guides. This baby right here was in fact what I had expected beforehand to take it, but it didn't, so whatever. Still that's completely appropriate, because this game is absolutely fantastic. Sure, it's slow starting out, I won't deny that. But for one thing, the soundtrack is better than Symphonia's and even Legendia's put together, and those were two good soundtracks, let me tell ya. What's more, the story is great once it gets going, plus it's just... fun. Characters, villains, everything plot-wise is mucho excelente, but battles in this game kick a divine amount of ass. So you're good in those regards, but I might also add this game has a plethora of side quests for those of you maniacs like me. And yes, you are reading the amount of walkthrough sub sections correctly even considering the fact I can condense several trips into one. So get ready for a sixty hour game that is indeed superior to Final Fantasy XII. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ II. Legal Disclaimer ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- You are NOT permitted to put this FAQ on your site without my permission first. All you have to do is email me or IM me saying you want this FAQ on your site, then you can tell me your site and the chance is high that I'll let you. But if you put this FAQ on your site without my permission I swear you will regret it. If I let you, not ONE word should be changed from this FAQ! NOT ONE! Got it? Good. Also, make sure that no money is involved. If you want this FAQ to be sold on eBay, then just forget about it, man. And don't sell this guide either, or pay people to use it, or you'll be in such big trouble you don't want to think. Another little note is that I will not have this guide hosted on many other web sites besides GameNotOver, GameFAQs, IGN, and Neoseeker. You need full-on permission if it's not one of the four above sites. I am sick of people ripping me off (I have been ripped off three times in the past), so if I don't like your site, I won't let my guide be posted on it. I am sorry, but this is how it has to be. If you ask politely and I like your site, you will definitely have the luck of getting it up there. Thank you very much. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ III. Contact Rules ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- First of all, feel free to check out the stuff I've written on GameFAQs. Those include a guide for Mega Man 5, a few other Mega Man games, and tons of random PSX games. Honor to the PSX, yanno? Hopefully, that'll be added with awesome Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Wild Arms guides. As you might be able to guess, I'm a large RPG fan and writer. Alright, enough shameless advertisement about me. You can e-mail me if there is a question you wish to ask that hasn't been answered in the guide, but I REALLY don't want to bother answering questions that have already been done, answered, and done again in the guide, if it isn't too much trouble. Feel free to tell me if there's something I've forgotten, however. My e-mail address is richard_power1000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Except, replace the [at] and spaces with a "@" symbol and the [dot] and spaces with a period; I have to write like that so I don't get a dozen spam bots e-mailing me and getting me viruses. Just be polite in the e-mail, don't talk like "omg wtf rich ur gides r t3h su><0rz & how du i go frm bcl", and don't ask something that's already been answered in the guide, and I'll respond. And don't bother sending things like: "You friggin' idiot. Your guides suck, you suck, and everything about you sucks. DIE DIE DIE!" "BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL, YOU STUPID RETARD!!!" "What the hell did you think you were doing writing all that garbage, you piece of crap? "I hope you fall down the stairs and break every bone in your body!" "u su><0rz, eVrYtInG BoUt u sUx, dIe ass!!!!!!1" I will laugh at such e-mails and delete them. So... if you're not just playing a friendly joke on me or something, don't bother with that crap cos I've been through with it too much. Okay, that's enough for that. My AIM name is rbeast288; sorry, I don't have MSN or YIM. The list is closed, but I'll add you if you ask politely via e-mail. I like chatting with people, but try not to overdo it on AIM if I add you to my list. Since I am busy a majority of the time and all. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ IV. Basics ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tales of the Abyss truly is an incredible game whether you're a fan of the series or not, but speaking in terms of the two latest North American entries, Symphonia and Legendia, Abyss is much closer to the former although in my opinion it has the most entertaining battle system in the entire series. That's just my opinion though. Indeed, let me start with the battle system. You've got the standard 2D system, but unlike certain other games, you've got individual lines between your characters and the enemy. Not too complicated. However, there's a huge twist this time around. At Level 5, your characters will learn Free Run, which will allow you to hold down the L2 button and just run around in three dimensions, which is very effective for evading enemy attacks or magic. As usual, characters learn techniques as they level up, and each character, when controlled, has eight spaces that you can put said techniques: Circle, Up + Circle, Down + Circle, Left/Right + Circle, and each direction for the right analog stick. Techniques are called "artes", but to make things more specific: physical attacks are strike artes and magical are fonic artes, and in terms of strike artes, the weaker ones are called base artes, and the stronger ones are called arcane artes. Of course, as an example, if you're a high enough level and have used Fang Blade and Havoc Strike fifty times each, you can get Fang Blade Havoc. There's much more. At Level 15 you will gain the ability to go into Overlimit, and with that comes Mystic Artes, of which each character has at least two, whereas Luke, Tear, and Anise each have an extension to one which is second playthrough exclusive. At Level 30 the Special ability will come up, which allows for something truly incredible. There's a bar at the bottom and you can hit R2 to go into Overlimit when it's full, and then hit an enemy with an arcane arte or high fonic arte while in the former case holding X, and you'll get the character's best attack: Mystic Artes. In the second playthrough, however, each character gets a second Mystic Arte. Those are available through different ways, but in all cases it requires 100 TP and Overlimit, and usually a certain weapon equipped, a certain skill used a certain number of times, and a certain amount of HP. Refer to each character for all that, though. And now, we move on to some other aspects of combat, which are AD Skills, Capacity Cores, and Fonslot Chambers. There's also FoF Changes, but refer to the FAQ section for that. You can use Capacity Cores after the Cheagle Woods very early in the game, and what they basically are is attachments that will increase your stats a certain number of points after you level up, ranging from the default inferior Stre which raises your attack by 2 and defense by 1 after each level... to the incredible Tutti, which raises every stat by 4 every level. =) That's not it either. You've got AD Skills, a few of which are learned by level, but most of which are gained by earning a certain amount of extra stat points from capacity cores (i.e. increase your physical attack power by 70 with capacity cores and you'll learn Add Combo 1, which allows you to attack four times in a combo). And last of all, we have Fonslot Chambers, which are meant to enhance artes. There are four types: Carmine (red) Chambers, which typically just make the artes stronger; Cobalt (blue) Chambers, which typically increase how much the enemy is sent flying into the air or away; Grass (green) Chambers, which usually make the arte cost less TP but sometimes allow you to steal from enemies; and Sunlight (yellow) Chambers which are very rare but allow you to do an FoF Change with an arte at a low level. Still, the FSCs level up, so you need to use that arte about 100 times until these will activate every time. And that, my friend, is just about it. Enjoy. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ V. Characters ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Yeah, there's only six characters in this game (actually seven but whatever) compared to eight actually nine from Symphonia and eight from Legendia, but hey, the characters in Abyss are seriously good stuff. Hey, any game that can have a character like Jade Curtiss in it gets my serious respect, so bow down to da man and stuff. Moving on. ~-~ LUKE FON FABRE ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 17 Weapon - Sword Height - 5'7" Weight - 150 lbs Luke is the son of Duke abre, but it seriously doesn't show that he has any royalty whatsoever when you talk to him. He's loud, arrogant, rude, knows nothing of the world outside him, was kidnapped by the Malkuth Empire apparently, is obsessed with sword fighting and his teacher Vandesdelca Grants, and has no memories of anything prior to his kidnapping. Eventually, the fact that he is a so-called "Seventh Fonon" thrusts him into the world against his will, and he manages to undergo the greatest character development that any video game character has ever managed. In battle, it's really between Luke and Guy who you will want to control. They're both easy to get the hang of, especially if you're a fan of Lloyd, Kratos, or Zelos from Tales of Symphonia, but between the two, Luke is the one you're going to get stuck with early in the game, and maybe you'll never let go of it. However, there's no denying that Luke is the slower, more heavy hitting among the two. You've got the strength of Light Spear Cannon and Devil's Inferno, or Guardian Field, but look at Guy: he's got rapid, agile killers like Nihil Blade Tempest and Sword Rain: Alpha. I control both but Luke more, so whatever. He's got high HP, high strength, and all that, so no problem with that. Plus his Radiant Howl mystic arte is one of the better ones, especially with the Ion extension. Lv. 1 - Fang Blade [Lightning Tiger Blade -> Wind FoF] Lv. 4 - Havoc Strike [Burning Havoc -> Fire FoF] Lv. 8 - Raging Blast [Frigid Blast -> Water FoF] Lv. 12 - Steel [Coil -> Fire FoF] Lv. 15 - Fang Blade Havoc Lv. 18 - Fang Blade Rage Lv. 21 - Guardian Lv. 24 - Raging Havoc Lv. 28 - Rending Thrust [Rending Quake -> Earth FoF] Lv. 32 - Guardian Field [Guardian Frost -> Water FoF] Lv. 35 - Rending Fang Blade Lv. 38 - Rending Havoc Lv. 41 - Rending Blast Lv. 45 - Light Spear Cannon [Light Blast -> Wind FoF] Lv. 49 - Devil's Inferno [Devil's Maw -> Earth FoF] Lv. 53 - Swallow Fury [Shadow Fury -> Fire FoF] Unlock - Sonic Thrust Unlock - Demon Fist Unlock - Lightning Blade Unlock - Slag Assault Unlock - Sonic Blast Mystic - Radiant Howl Mystic - Ion [2nd playthrough, hold X during Radiant Howl] Mystic - Lost Fon Drive [2nd playthrough, Key of Lorelei, 15% HP] * After sleeping at St. Binah but before entering Akzeriuth for the first time, you can sleep in St. Binah, Kaitzur, or any other inn, and Luke will go out to practice swords with Guy. After that, Luke will learn Sonic Thrust. * After talking to Natalia for the first time, talk to Ramdas at the entrance of Luke's manor in Baticul, and he'll tell you that the maids sold some of Van's books. He gives you 20,000 Gald, so head to the port at Baticul to talk to the merchant there. Buy the book back and Luke will learn Demon Fist. * After St. Binah sinks, head to Yulia City to Tear's house. Talk to the man right outside, who wants a large amount of Gald. Talk to Luke's mother for it, then go back to the merchant, and Luke will learn Lightning Blade. * After Nephry tells you the life story of Saphir aka Dist, go to the inn in Keterburg and talk to the man on the right of the counter, who wants a lot of Gald, of course. Talk to Luke's mother again for the mother, and after paying this guy, Luke will learn Slag Assault. * After completing the Radiation Gate, go to the secret library in Daath, and talk to the man by the window. For the money, talk to Luke's mother as usual, and after that Luke will learn Sonic Blast. * Lost Fon Drive requires 100 TP for use, 15% HP or less, the Key of Lorelei to be equipped, and X, Square, and Circle to be pressed at once during Overlimit. A lot I know, but it's 30 hits of pure devastation. ~-~ TEAR GRANTS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 16 Weapon - Staff Height - 5'4" Weight - 110 lbs Mystearica Grants is indeed the sister of Dorian General Vandesdelca Grants, and arrives at the manor mysteriously one day in an effort to assassinate her brother, but because she is a Seventh Fonist, she causes a hyperresonance with Luke and they are blown away to Tataroo Valley, on Malkuth territory. I agree sometimes with whomever said that she adopts a "roar, I'm a woman" personality, but she undergoes a tremendous amount of character development, as the one who is charged with looking after Luke, and plus she's always good to have around, singing fonic hymns to put enemies to sleep. There are few characters in battle more important than Tear. Remember Raine from Symphonia? Tear is the equivalent of Raine under T-type and Natalia is that of S-type. If you haven't played Symphonia, I'll spell it out for you that Tear excels at healing the whole party for tremendous yet not 100% amounts of HP. She's certainly no slouch in the offensive department either; her Eclair de Larmes and Holy Lance spells are extremely damaging, Judgment is one of the best spells in the game, and her mystic arte, Innocent Shine, is one of the best in the game, right behind Jade's and then Luke's. You really couldn't do much better than to have Tear in your party; and as for Fortune's Arc in the second playthrough, it's by far the best Mystic Arte in the game. Lv. 1 - First Aid [Meditation -> Water FoF] Lv. 1 - Nightmare Lv. 5 - Pow Hammer [Frozen Hammer -> Water FoF] Lv. 9 - Invoke Ground Lv. 10 - Invoke Aqua Lv. 11 - Invoke Flame Lv. 12 - Invoke Gale Lv. 13 - Nocturnal Light [Inlay Nocturne -> Wind FoF] Lv. 16 - Charge [Tribute -> Earth FoF] Lv. 20 - Healing Circle [Fairy Circle -> Wind FoF] Lv. 27 - Resurrection [Regenerate -> Water FoF] Lv. 31 - Severed Fate [Fatal Circle -> Wind FoF] Lv. 31 - Eclair de Larmes [Flamme Rouge -> Fire FoF] Lv. 37 - Enhance Cast [Witchcraft -> Wind FoF] Lv. 40 - Banishing Sorrow [Searing Sorrow -> Fire FoF] Lv. 44 - Revitalize Lv. 48 - Holy Lance [Cluster Raid -> Earth FoF] Lv. 58 - Grand Cross Unlock - Force Field Unlock - Holy Song Unlock - Judgment Mystic - Innocent Shine Mystic - Fortune's Arc [2nd playthrough, all fonic hymns 50 times] * After Luke cuts his hair, talk to Teodoro in Yulia City and then go to the room that's right below his. Talk to the woman that's there, and Tear will learn the Third Hymn, Holy Song. * After the second trip to the Tower of Rem but before the second trip to the Absorption Gate (strict time limit I know, but it's story related), go to Ion's room in Daath, and Tear will learn the Fifth Hymn, Judgment. * For Fortune's Arc, Tear must be in Overlimit during 2nd play, and have used all hymns 50 times. During Overlimit, cast Judgment, and the arte can be extended by holding down X while it's going on to heal all allies. ~-~ JADE CURTISS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 35 Weapon - Lance Height - 6'1" Weight - 163 lbs Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces, is one of the most badass characters ever to set foot in a video game. Wielding glasses, blue armor, and a lance, he is known as the impossible to kill Necromancer, who slaughters anything within two feet of him, yet from what I have laid in front of you, does this sound like a cliche? If so, I'll break that now and tell you that while he has several secrets he's hiding, he's even the game's comic relief. He's witty, absolutely hilarious, and just loves to make fun of anyone who possibly can be. Yet once again, he's not exactly proud of his past. When you first play as Jade in the Cheagle Woods, he's an absolute god and can slaughter absolutely anything by just looking at it. Then Largo manages to seal his fonic artes and he goes all the way down to Level 5. While he can certainly keep up with Luke and Tear at that point, all he's got is Energy Blast at that point and has to make his way up. That being said, he's an incredible black mage, plus he's not weak and frail as hell like the majority of them are. His magic is GREAT for making FoFs, of which all of them have their own changes themselves, plus once you get past some later parts of the game, he gains the ability to learn three great forbidden spells. Yowza. Finally, his Mystic Arte, Mystic Cage, is a straightforward pathway to death. As for Indignation, it's even better. =) Lv. 1 - Sonic Spear [Crushing Spear -> Earth FoF] Lv. 1 - Energy Blast [Photon -> Wind FoF] Lv. 9 - Stalagmite [Eruption -> Fire FoF] Lv. 14 - Splash [Icicle Rain -> Earth FoF] Lv. 17 - Thunder Lance [Lightning Tempest -> Wind FoF] Lv. 23 - Turbulence [Flare Tornado -> Fire FoF] Lv. 28 - Flame Burst [Explosion -> Wind FoF] Lv. 32 - Impaling Heaven [Goring Hell -> Fire FoF] Lv. 36 - Ground Dasher [Frigid Coffin -> Water FoF] Lv. 40 - Blessed Drops [Divine Saber -> Wind FoF] Lv. 44 - Sovereign Gale [Mighty Deluge -> Water FoF] Lv. 48 - Thunder Blade [Gravity Well -> Earth FoF] Lv. 52 - Infernal Prison [Raging Mist -> Water FoF] Unlock - Absolute Unlock - Prism Sword Unlock - Meteor Storm Mystic - Mystic Cage Mystic - Indignation [2nd playthrough, Thunder Blade 200 times] * The three unlockable fonic artes can be found by collecting the Ancient Scroll and then nine stones. The first five can be found after getting Natalia back after the Absorption Gate, but the last four only after the Radiation Gate. Start by getting the Briefing Scroll in the briefing room of the Malkuth Headquarters in Grand Chokmah, and then talk to McGovern in St. Binah. * The first stone is in the inn in Chesedonia, in the middle room on the second floor, in a dresser. For the second, enter Keterburg from the south, then examine the back of the statue at the north plaza. For the third, head one screen northwest of the south entrance of Sheridan. Jade will learn Absolute. * The fourth stone can be found in Belkend Fon Laboratory I, going north twice and east once and examining the right side of the room. The fifth stone can be found in the Kaitzur Naval Port by automatically entering. The sixth stone is likewise in the Radiation Gate. Jade will learn Prism Sword. * The seventh stone is in Ion's room in Daath by talking to Florian. The eighth stone is automatically in the north entrance of the Fubras River. The ninth stone is in the northeast corner of the lower floor of the central room in Yulia City. After all that, Jade will learn Meteor Storm. * Indignation, Jade's second Mystic Arte, can only be done in 2nd playthrough with Thunder Blade having been used 200 times, but simply enter Overlimit and hold down R2; it's one hit but it's the strongest one hit in the game. ~-~ GUY CECIL ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 21 Weapon - Sword Height - 6'0" Weight - 174 lbs Gailardia Galan Gardios is Luke's servant and best friend, and also among the most loyal of his comrades, the first to come rushing back with faith after the tragic events that befall. He has one very interesting qwirk in that he has a phobia of women, but hey, perhaps MAYBE he has his reasons for that. You never know. Fitting along with that, he seems to be traveling to seek revenge on someone or something, but he has his reasons for concealing that like everyone else. You could expect nothing less from someone from Hod. And as you may expect, Guy is also quite an accomplished swordsman. Like I said with Luke, it's not set in stone whether you have to control Luke or Guy; it's totally up to you. Between the two, Guy is the faster yet doesn't hit quite as hard, but he's capable of dashing right to an enemy and pulling off attacks and combos that hit a ridiculous number of times. Here's a hint: he has Sword Rain: Alpha, and anyone who's played a Tales game knows what that means. However, I will have to give Luke some credit over Guy here, in that I prefer Luke's Radiant Howl to Guy's Razing Phoenix, since it just has more range and is less direct. So yeah, I usually controlled Luke, but you're well within your ability to control Guy. Lv. 1 - Demon Fang [Infernal Torrent -> Fire FoF] Lv. 9 - Crescent Strike [Frigid Moon -> Water FoF] Lv. 12 - Void Tempest [Dragon Tempest -> Wind FoF] Lv. 15 - Center [Focus -> Earth FoF] Lv. 18 - Moonlight Demon Lv. 21 - Guardian Lv. 24 - Demonic Void Lv. 27 - Tiger Blade [Wyrm Wrath -> Earth FoF] Lv. 30 - Demonic Tiger Blade Lv. 33 - Beast [Thunder Beast -> Wind FoF] Lv. 36 - Moonlight Tempest Lv. 40 - White Tiger Strike Lv. 44 - Severing Wind [Searing Gale -> Fire FoF] Lv. 48 - Nihil Blade Tempest Lv. 52 - Sword Rain: Alpha [Eternal Quake -> Earth FoF] Lv. 58 - Final Cross [Final Glacier -> Water FoF] Unlock - Tempest Unlock - Soaring Light Spear Mystic - Razing Phoenix Mystic - Brilliant Overlord [2nd playthrough, Jewel of Gardios, HP 50%, Final Cross 150 times] * Guy has a side quest for the unlockable Sigmund skills, which has seven parts. First, after talking to the King of Baticul, talk to Pere in Luke's manor thrice. Second, enter the northwest tent in the Desert Oasis and talk to the man named Gee. Third, after returning to Kaitzur from Chesedonia before the Deo Pass, go to the inn of north Kaitzur itself and talk to the man there. Guy will learn Tempest. * Fourth, after finishing Oracle Headquarters for the first time, talk to the man at the monument halfway up Daath cathedral's stairs. Fifth, after Guy has the curse slot removed, go to the second floor of Grand Chokmah's bar and talk to the lone guy. Sixth, go to Belkend and talk to the guy in front of the large spinning machine. Seventh and finally, go to north Keterburg and enter the igloo to the left. Guy will learn Soaring Light Spear. ~-~ ANISE TATLIN ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 13 Weapon - Staff Height - 5'0" Weight - 93 lbs Anise Tatlin is the one and only personal guardian of Fon Master Ion, and also happens to be a bit of an accomplice to Jade. She fights with a rod behind a large doll named Tokunaga, as a professional puppeter. While she may be only 13, Anise isn't as sweet and innocent as she might look. She acts suspicious at a number of different times, is constantly sparring with the God General Arietta, is a member of the Oracle Knights of course, and is a tight cheapskate who loves nothing more than to trick people for money. As such, she has a fake crush on Luke for his charming wealth. Whether you think Anise is annoying as a character or not, you have to admit that in battle she's not bad at all. She's fast and furious, packs a tremendous HP for such a character, and also possesses some rather decent magic. Plus there's the classic Bloody Howling for a quick Dark FoF, which is always useful, even thouhg you'll never see half of Anise's FoF changes. However, she does have a rather decent Mystic Arte within Final Fury, and nothing can beat getting kicked by a 13 year old chick who yells "I'll kill you bastards!". Lv. 1 - Dragon Surge [Stone Dragon Ascent -> Earth FoF] Lv. 1 - Limited [Spark Wave -> Wind FoF] Lv. 8 - Dual Punishment [Lightning Punishment -> Wind FoF] Lv. 11 - Eagle Dive [Frigid Raptor -> Water FoF] Lv. 15 - Dual Dragon Surge Lv. 18 - Shadow Raid [Fire Dragon Blast -> Fire FoF] Lv. 21 - Negative Gale [Crimson Riot -> Fire FoF] Lv. 26 - Mighty Charge [Mighty Circuit -> Earth FoF] Lv. 26 - Shadow Punishment Lv. 30 - Guardian Lv. 32 - Shadow Tempest Lv. 35 - Cyclone Shot [Cyclone Blaze -> Fire FoF] Lv. 40 - Miracle Hammer [Rock Mountain - Earth FoF] Lv. 48 - Soaring Blast [Brutal Torrent -> Water FoF] Lv. 52 - Bloody Howling [Maelstrom -> Water FoF] Lv. 56 - Lucky [Happy Light -> Wind FoF] Lv. 56 - Surge Breaker [Gungnir A Go Go -> Wind FoF] Mystic - Final Fury Mystic - Dying Moon [2nd playthrough, hold attack during Final Fury] Mystic - Fever Time [2nd playthrough, 100 Lucky, full HP, 20000 Gald] ~-~ NATALIA L.K. LANVALDEAR ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 18 Weapon - Bow Height - 5'6" Weight - 117 lbs One suggestion first: don't name your kids Natalia Luzu Kimlasca Lanvaldear... ever. It's too long of a name. But anyway, Natalia whose real birth name is Meryl, is the princess of Kimlasca who is currently unfortunate enough to be engaged to Luke although she has some feelings for Asch. She's extremely stubborn when she makes up her mind, although she is very emotionally unstable; when something bad or personal happens, it'll take her eons to get over it. There's just a few strange things about her, I'll just have you know. In battle, Natalia is by far my least used character. First of all, if you've ever played Symphonia, you'll know Raine could go in T-rank to get Nurse, Healing Circle, and Revitalize... or S-rank to get Heal, Cure, and Revive... what does Natalia have? Heal, which heals one character's HP, Cure, which completely restores it, and Revive, which is Auto-Life, plus Healing Force which is Regen. She can only heal one character at a time and/or raise their stats, and that's why I highly, highly prefer Tear. That being said, her bow techniques aren't bad, despite the fact Astral Rain is my least favorite Mystic Arte and barely even comes out in battle unless forced. I will give her one thing and say that Noble Roar is great, though. Lv. 1 - Piercing Line [Voltaic Line -> Wind FoF] Lv. 1 - Heal [Healing Wind -> Wind FoF] Lv. 11 - Storm Edge [Blast Edge -> Fire FoF] Lv. 16 - Barrier [Aqua Protection -> Water FoF] Lv. 19 - Recover [Purify -> Wind FoF] Lv. 23 - Aerial Laser [Astral Laser -> Wind FoF] Lv. 28 - Sharpness [Blaze Emitter -> Fire FoF] Lv. 30 - Resist [Anti-Magic -> Earth FoF] Lv. 35 - Star Stroke [Quake Stroke -> Earth FoF] Lv. 38 - Scare Shot [Calamitous Bane -> Water FoF] Lv. 42 - Star Embrace [Blue Embrace -> Water FoF] Lv. 46 - Cure [Restore -> Earth FoF] Lv. 50 - Cavalry [Phalanx -> Fire FoF] Lv. 54 - Revive [Angel's Breath -> Earth FoF] Unlock - Gallant Barrage Unlock - Healing Force Mystic - Astral Rain Mystic - Noble Roar [2nd playthrough, 150 Piercing Line, use Elven Bow] * After Akzeriuth/Yulia City, use the Tartarus to go to Port Sheridan, which is on the southwest corner of the world map. Enter, and Natalia will save a man there and learn Gallant Barrage. * After the second trip to Mt. Zaleho, go to Daath Bay to find the same man there, and Natalia will learn Healing Force, which is basically a Regen type spell in FF terms. ~-~ ASCH THE BLOODY ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Age - 17 Weapon - Sword Height - 5'7" Weight - 150 lbs Very little is known about Asch in the early portions of the game, but still. Asch the Bloody is a long, enigmatic, red haired scion of flames, who has the exact same fighting style as Luke fon Fabre. Asch admires Van a lot, and you would think that would show in his personality, but it doesn't. Asch is an elitist jerk who acts arrogantly and bitches non-stop, and he has reason to, because he detests the idea of fomicry and replicas, as there was a replica at one point that took his status from him. And no, he's not a permanent character in this game, he just joins you between Akzeriuth and Ortion Cavern, in the Mushroom Road side quest, and a brief moment in the late game. You can play as Asch in battle twice in the game, and the first time he kicks ass. First of all he has all the abilities that Luke has, plus magic although you probably won't really want to use it, since he kicks ass without it. Here is the major catch about Asch though: YOU CANNOT REMOVE HIS EQUIPMENT. He's stuck with that Maestro Sword, Maestro Robe, and Maestro Crest. So yeah, Asch is awesome first time, but in the Mushroom Road he just sucks; his damage can't keep up with Guy or anyone else, plus he dies in four or five hits. So yeah, it is a true shame that you can't change his equipment, because otherwise I would in one second do the glitch and put him in my party to replace Luke, since he is awesome. And yes, you can change his equipment with a GameShark. Lastly, though, his Mystic Arte Rending Saber is great stuff. Lv. 1 - Fang Blade [Lightning Tiger Blade -> Wind FoF] Lv. 1 - Sonic Thrust Lv. 1 - Demon Fist Lv. 1 - Lightning Blade Lv. 1 - Slag Assault Lv. 1 - Sonic Blast Lv. 1 - Stalagmite [Eruption -> Fire FoF] Lv. 1 - Icicle Rain Lv. 1 - Explosion Lv. 1 - Thunder Blade [Gravity Well -> Earth FoF] Lv. 4 - Havoc Strike [Burning Havoc -> Fire FoF] Lv. 8 - Raging Blast [Frigid Blast -> Water FoF] Lv. 12 - Steel [Coil -> Fire FoF] Lv. 15 - Fang Blade Havoc Lv. 18 - Fang Blade Rage Lv. 21 - Guardian Lv. 24 - Raging Havoc Lv. 28 - Rending Thrust [Rending Quake -> Earth FoF] Lv. 32 - Guardian Field [Guardian Frost -> Water FoF] Lv. 35 - Rending Fang Blade Lv. 38 - Rending Havoc Lv. 41 - Rending Blast Lv. 45 - Light Spear Cannon [Light Blast -> Wind FoF] Lv. 49 - Devil's Inferno [Devil's Maw -> Earth FoF] Lv. 53 - Swallow Fury [Shadow Fury -> Fire FoF] Mystic - Rending Saber And lastly, I would feel quite guilty were I to exclude the awesome villains from a list such as this. So because of that, I will throw in the Six God Generals. Just because they kick ass. Legretta the Quick =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Age - 26 Weapon - Guns Height - 5'6" Weight - 115 lbs Legretta is the right hand woman to Van, as is fairly obvious at any twist and turn, even though the God-Generals are supposed to be under the whim of Mohs. Legretta's real name is Giselle Oslo, and she was Tear's instructor, when she was in the Oracle Knights. Her excellent strategy is obvious in battle, because for one thing she's the rival of Tear and wields a pair of guns, just loving to churn out her Arcane Artes like Searing Sorrow and Flamme Rouge, and plus the quick factor is emphasized in her Mystic Arte, Prism Bullet. This all being said, she loves Van and is willing to die for him. Sync the Tempest =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Age - 14 Weapon - Fists Height - 5'5" Weight - 128 lbs Sync is the right hand man to Van, and is obvious in any of the battles you fight with him that he's tough and means business. He's a rapid, fast attacker and student of martial arts, even for his young age of 14 (that's right, Sync really is even younger than Arietta). He wears a mask pretty much everywhere he goes, and only his rival, Guy, knows exactly what he looks like. Too bad Sync manages to use a Fon Master technique, the curse slot, on Guy. In battle, Sync loves to annihilate you with his lightning fast combos, his magic from Turbulence to Flare Tornado, his signature attack Stone Dragon Ascent, and his two Mystic Artes, Akashic Torment and Harrowing Gale. Largo the Black Lion =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Age - 48 Weapon - Scythe Height - 6'11" Weight - 260 lbs Largo the Black Lion is a very, very big man, as is shown by those statistics right above. He's also the oldest member of the Oracle Knights, but that doesn't stop him from using powerful scythe attacks, even if his speed really suffers because of that. He's the leader of the shock troops, and what he used to be was a desert mercenary by the name of Badaq. I can say no more for fear of spoilers, but as for Largo, he respects others but gives them no mercy. And in battle, his lack of mercy is shown in his Arcane Artes, Ravaging Thunder and Infernal Blast, as well as his devastating Mystic Arte Brimstone Tempest. And as for his rival, that is Natalia. Dist the Reaper =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Age - 32 Weapon - Fon Machines Height - 5'9" Weight - 137 lbs Dist the Reaper, or shall I say, the Rose, is a Fonon scholar and narcissist who goes by the real name of Saphir Wyon Neis. His rival is Jade, who he has known since childhood. Dist is an even bigger clown than Jade, featuring a constantly runny nose, an acclaimed revenge journal, and his weapon is indeed fon machines. He is never found actually strutting his own abilities in battle, and instead prefers to operate large fonic machines. Because of this, he features no Mystic Artes, sadly, but all the same he isn't a pushover. Lastly, he has the tenacity of a cockroach... nigh on impossible to kill. Arietta the Wild =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Age - 16 Weapon - Staff Height - 4'10" Weight - 93 lbs Arietta the Wild is a girl who lost her parents when the Isle of Feres was hit by a tidal wave. She was then raised by Ligers, and refers to the queen in the Cheagle Woods as her "Mommy". Because of being raised by monsters, she is able to control them in battle, even though as a person, she is an obnoxious, annoying brat who contributes relatively nothing to the God-Generals. All fitting that she's Anise's rival. ;] Oh well, she used to be Ion's guardian, and she has most of the spells that Anise does, like Limited, Negative Gale, and Bloody Howling, as well as two nasty Mystic Artes: Evil Light and Big Bang. Asch the Bloody =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Age - 17 Weapon - Sword Height - 5'7" Weight - 150 lbs Asch the Bloody is a long, enigmatic, red haired scion of flames, who has the exact same fighting style as Luke fon Fabre. Asch admires Van a lot, and you would think that would show in his personality, but it doesn't. Asch is an elitist jerk who acts arrogantly and bitches non-stop, and he has reason to, because he detests the idea of fomicry and replicas, as there was a replica at one point that took his status from him. And yes, he is a playable character as shown in the status, because he does indeed have his own motives. In battle, he does indeed have the same fighting style as Luke, as well as a very similar Mystic Arte, Rending Saber. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ VI. Walkthrough (Part 1) ~-~ ~-~ ~-~ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Just a note on things to come before I begin this insanity. This game is ridiculously long. By far the longest game I've ever written for... and yes, I've written for Chrono Cross, Symphonia, Legendia, Final Fantasy IX, and quite a few others. There's three parts, which are easily divisible. The first part goes from the very beginning of the game to the big turning point and when the second amazingly good battle theme kicks in, and you WILL know when the third part begins. But you see the thing here. The second part of the game has so many trips, is so eventful, and is so... freaking... long... I absolutely struggled to condense it into only 26 sub-sections. There are many occasions in which I cover as many as three trips in one sub-section, and I believe there was even one which I did FIVE. No joke. That is how long this game is, and how all over the globe you'll be in just a third of the game. There's a reason why this walkthrough is 70 sub-sections, which is an extraordinary number even without the fact that a lot is condensed into all of them. So... don't get intimidated by this. I'll always kick off a new area with a new sub-section, and the place I list in it is always the first I'm going to there, so no worries. Enjoy this fantastic guide and this even more excellent game. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIa. Baticul -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 2 Enjoy the nice, peaceful anime cutscene that you get at the beginning. Doesn't beat the rocking tune at the beginning but oh well, whatever. And when you emerge, you're controlling the main character, Luke, in his bedroom. Just to give you a little background, he lives in the capital of the nation Kimlasca, Baticul, but is not allowed to leave the manor there. That's all the technical stuff I'm gonna spill out now. Leave this room to the south, and you'll see that this game is another one in which the main character is prone to headaches and hearing things. Cliche, much, but there's a reason this game is so long. Outside Luke's room, take a right into that room there, and try and head past the guard there, who will tell you that you happen to have a visitor. Yeah, Luke is of royal status, even if you're soon to see his attitude. Head to the room right below and take with the guy by the window, who goes by the name of Ramdas. A guy by the name of Van Grants is arriving, and it just so happens to be that Van is one of the only reasons Luke doesn't commit suicide. Get a taste of Luke's attitude, and then head back to the previous room. Here you'll get a skit which you can play optionally by hitting select, some of which are great, some of which are boring, this one is on the boring side. Plus there are way too many (489, I don't exaggerate), but whatever. Now just return to Luke's room, where he gets another headache and gets greeted by his friend Guy. More stuff, and then you can just leave this room and head left to the hall there. Just head down to get to the drawing room to met the very crucial Dorian General Van Grants. Luke delivers one of the game's most hilarious lines already, "What's a Fon Master Ion?". Hahaha... that quote will be funnier as the game goes along. Apparently Ion has gone missing though, and Van has to go to a place called Daath to look for him. Listen to another skit and then leave this room to the north and this time head north again to reach Luke's parents' room, where you can examine the cabinet at the right for 100 Gald. Money is scarce in the beginning of this game, so every little bit helps. Now head to the courtyard (the center of this place for all who are challenged in whatever ways) to find Guy and Van talking, the guards being put to sleep by some chick, and then you can sword train with Van. Very easy stuff, it's all just tutorials. Move back and forth, attack, defend, use Luke's default arte (skills in this game) Fang Blade, then perform a combo, that's it. After that, the chick comes down trying to kill Van, and ends up doing something weird with Luke. Before you know it, the "Seventh Fonons" react and they both vanish. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIb. Tataroo Valley -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 2 With that, Luke and Tear are alone, at night, in an unknown place. You'd think it'd be much more romantic, but nope, they hate each other's guts but Tear has to try and escort Luke back to Baticul, and he's apparently being protected because he's a "Seventh Fonon" as well. You'll get it later. In the meantime you've got a new party member, who has two artes: First Aid, which heals a little HP, and Nightmare, which uses the First Fonon (that is, darkness) to put enemies to sleep. Sounds good. She's also Level 3, but whatever. Just head down the hill and you'll be attacked by monsters. I must say, this battle theme is kick ass, even though it's about a third as good as the second one which plays... in the second part of the game. Bahaha. But whatever, just fight a ridiculously easy battle, watch the skit and scene that ensue, and then head down while killing some enemies that take about five seconds to finish off, if you so desire. There you'll come to an up-down fork. Take the upper path first, and both branches from there for an Apple Gel and Orange Gel. Okay, not bad, now return and head down, to be attacked by multiple enemies. Quote of this place, Luke: "How the hell am I supposed to relax?!". Haha. Okay, in any case, finish off more easy enemies and tutorials, then head to the right, which might be a little hard to see, but you'll manage. There you'll find 300 Gald and a Life Bottle. Sweetness, now just head back to the main path and down a little more. There's another path in there that kind of blends in, but at the end of it is a Cape. Equip that on Luke to raise his defense a little bit; Tear is perfectly fine off. Return to the path yet again and keep going down to find a coachman. I like Tear's comparison of Luke, and also how they keep saying "the capital". Heh, amusing much. Use the save point right above and snatch the 400 Gald above it, and get on the coach. Apparently Tear was mistaken and this "capital" wasn't Baticul... it was Malkuth's capital, Grand Chokmah. Watch the scenes onboard Malkuth's land dreadnought, the Tartarus, watching as they put out a bridge using the Fifth Fonon (fire). So anyways, this situation sucks, but Luke and Tear have to get off here, because getting off at Grand Chokmah would just get them further away from Kimlasca. You'll then have the option of being taken or walking to Engeve, and I highly recommend walking, just for EXP and Gald and stuff. Just follow the road east, watch another tutorial (of cooking), and you'll come to a north and south fork. North is to Engeve, and south is to St. Binah... I think that says enough. North to Engeve. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIc. Engeve -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 4 Congratulations, you have made it through 2 of the 70 sub-sections in this walkthrough... too bad most of them are much longer than five paragraphs. ;] Just enter and then head to the upper left, where Luke will start trying to take a store's product without paying cuz the poor boy is confused. Hahaha. Alright, with the comic relief over, head to the west and enter the very westernmost house and talk to the woman inside. She'll ask you to get some miso, and Luke agrees because he's so nice. Or not. Leave the house and enter the one just to the east of that one, with the water mill next to it. Talk to the old woman just to the right, Luke makes a fool of himself, and then return to the previous house and give that woman the miso, to get some cooking ingredients and the Spaghetti Recipe. See, that was worth it. Now just head to the eastern part of town and towards the south. Apparently food has been stolen lately, and obviously Luke seems the perfect culprit for that. So Tear lets him get arrested. Bahaha. Inside you'll meet Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division Malkuth Imperial Forces (one of the best characters ever created), and Fon Master Ion, who doesn't exactly look captive. And apparently animals called cheagles stole food, not Luke, so he's innocent. Just leave and return to that building at the bottom of the eastern part of Engeve, to meet Anise Tatlin, who is a Fon Master Guardian under Ion, and despite only being 13, she's one of Van's soldiers. Aight, whatever you say. Talk to the guy up front, who will let you stay for free, but Luke still flips out in the room about being called a thief. Watch the skit that follows, and your next destination will be Cheagle Woods, which is north of Engeve, just because Luke is angry and wants to prove the cheagles the thieves. Watch the two skits that follow, which are about Jade and then about the synopsis diaries that Luke keeps, and then talk to the guy on the right to start buying stuff. Oh yeah. I STRONGLY suggest selling Luke's default armor, as the 1000 Gald you get for it outweigh the fact that it's a piece of crap. I left with Luke wielding a Cutlass, Leather Mail, Bracelet, and the Cape from Tataroo Valley, and Tear wielding a Rod (the Wand is slightly overpriced for its own good), an Iron Guard, and a Cape. With that, you're good to go. You might also want some Magic Lenses, as they're cheap and useful. A few extra Apple Gels or Orange Gels never hurt anybody either. Leave the inn and then talk to the grocer who Luke swiped an apple from, and he'll have a request for you, that you go get a box from the Cheagle Woods. Well, why ever not. Leave Engeve and then head north a little bit. In the process you might find rings of light being emitted from the ground, and I do recommend examining that for a set of rather useless items which sell for some Gald. Whatever, just keep up and find the tree there. The area around it is Cheagle Woods. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VId. Cheagle Woods -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 4 This area is the first really big "dungeon" area in the game, so get used to it while you're here... some places in this game are going to be smaller, but some are going to be a lot bigger... whatever, I'm done intimidating you. Or not. Once inside, you'll find Ion being attacked by monsters, so he uses an extremely powerful Daathic fonic arte to take them all out, and collapses in the process. He'll start following you around, but no, he's not a playable character. However, a cheagle manages to distract Luke, despite the fact he discovers that Tear is Van's sister yet she wants to kill him anyway. Eh. Before anything, head left at the fork to get the Secret Box. Just leave to get out of Cheagle Woods now, and return to Engeve to give the grocer that, and he'll give you the very valuable Collector's Book. Geez, that was hard enough to find. But anyway, go back to Cheagle Woods and to that initial fork. Head right this time, only to come to another fork. Bah... just head right again and then down, following the path for an Apple Gel. None too shabby, now just head back up. Both left from that fork just a little bit back, and up from here lead to the same place. Don't bother exiting to the east, since that's just a dead end at the moment. Exit to the north, only for Ion to be as feminine as any male character could ever hope to be. Ugh, that scene makes me sick. But on a different note, I really hope that Luke and Tear are both up to Level 5 now, so they can get the AD skill Free Run, which allows you to move around enemies by holding L2 down. This game is miles different from Legendia already. There's a west-east fork here, but east is just a dead end again, so head west to find Tear scaring a cheagle away by her being drawn to its cuteness. Or lack thereof. Anyways, time to find the proof. Just head towards the tree over to the left, to find food spilled over the place. Now THAT is proof. Ion forces you into the tree where they live, and you'll hear that the cheagles needed to steal food to feed the ligers who came here, because a cheagle caused a fire in the northern region where they live. So with that you'll have to negotiate with the ligers, and take a cheagle to translate for you. With that, a cheagle named Mieu will come along to help you. Don't get too attached to this guy, because Luke is an EXTREME bastard to this little guy. Oh well. Leave the tree, and Luke gives Mieu the creative name "Thing". What a jackass. But anyway, Mieu can breathe fire, which is quite useful. Return to the first screen of this place, and to the east which I said was a dead end earlier. Burn the vines there, fight the Wood Golem on the way, and get the S Flag that's there. A key item that lets you change your avatar. Okay. Head back north to that other west-east fork, and just start going to the east, where Luke complains about having to wade through the river to get to the liger's lair. Oh well, just have Mieu breathe fire on the tree's roots to create a bridge. Don't go through there yet though; head back to the cheagle tree, but instead of going inside, head north and around, and then follow the path south to a new screen. Beat up the Wood Golem, and head west for a 500 Gald and east for an Orange Gel. Me likes. Alright, now head back to where you breathed fire to knock down the tree, and cross it to head to the next screen to the east. Here, Ion will give Luke a Capacity Core, and while you won't exactly learn how to use Daathic fonic artes, your stats will increase after leveling up. With the Stre Core, which Luke now has equipped, your strength will increase by 2 and defense by 1 whenever you level up... now that is an advantage. Tear's is more over the place, but hey, Luke's works for who he is. Here's another fork, so just head north and flame down the tree to cross over. The rest of this area is littered with ligers, so just be careful as you go through. Head west for a Magic Lens before going north into the tree there, which is the much larger liger counterpart to the cheagle territory. Walk over to the right a little bit and flame down the chest there... only to drop it. Head west for an Orange Gel, then east for the Life Bottle that dropped, and a green memory circle, which heals you. And you need it, because right ahead is the liger queen, who is a little angry, but this has to be done. Boss time! ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Liger Queen Party: Luke, Tear \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 10,200 || - P. ATK - 76 EXP - 175 || - P. DEF - 83 Gald - 1,000 || - F. ATK - 72 Difficulty - Easy || - F. DEF - 80 || || Weakness - None Resist - Earth, Wind || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Your initial inclination is probably that that is a massive total of HP, and I would certainly agree with you on that. However, it's a little less than you would think. Luke's total three hit combo will do about 80 damage or so, with Tear's Nightmare adding some damage into the mix, but you'll be spending a little more time either blocking its attacks or Free Running around it to avoid them. It's got a smash attack which causes a rather threatening impact, and it spits lightning at you for 60ish damage as well, so with the mid 400s that you have, you might end up depleted without some First Aid/Meditation if it activates going on. So either way, try and reduce the Liger Queen to about half of its HP. When I finally got down to the low 5000s (I suppose with some others it might be as much as mid 7000s depending on how long the fight has dawned on), Jade Curtiss steps in to take care of things. Jade is exponentially stronger than Luke and Tear put together, strutting his Level 45 and extremely strong fonic artes. For the sake of this battle, has strongest one is by far Blessed Drops, as the second best, Ground Dasher, is a resistance in this battle. So anyway, with Jade helping out, this fight will end very, very quickly. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ With that done, the battle is kind enough to relinquish a Life Bottle and a Sage, as well as mucho EXP and Grade. With that, Luke kicks Mieu around, and Jade goes with you for a little bit, if only to criticize Ion. Grab the Life Bottle and Cutlass in the two chests that are there, and then leave this room to find the Technical Ring, which is a rather pointless item that allows you to switch to the Manual setting in battle. Yeah, whatever, just leave this tree and stuff. Head back to the left-right fork and head left this time, to get to the cheagle tree. The elder will exile Mieu from the tribe and allow him to assist Luke, which you can imagine will end in humorous results. Watch the rather entertaining skit that will no doubt follow that, and then just make your way back to the entrance of Cheagle Woods, where Anise and Jade have Luke and Tear arrested and taken on board the Tartarus. That's the second time you've been arrested in like... two hours. Not bad. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIe. Tartarus -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 7 Alright, so basically, Jade and the company at Malkuth want Luke's help at preventing a war from breaking out. Talk to Anise once you regain control, and she'll join you. And yes, she does seem to have a thing for Luke, but that's only because of the money he possesses... if it weren't obvious enough. Anyway, enter the hall and then head north, up the ladder, and then south to find Jade and Ion outside. Talk to both, as the conversation that ensues with Jade is absolutely priceless. With that having been done, return and enter the room where Luke was held just a few minutes ago, and then talk to the soldier Marco to the left, to initiate another confusing conversation around Luke. Watch as Jade gives up all his pride, and then talk to Ion twice after that. With that, leave the room and then talk to Jade, only to find the Tartarus under attack. With that, Largo the Black Lion of the Six God-Generals of the Oracle Knights breaks in and uses a fon slot seal on Jade. That's right, Jade's artes are now sealed and he has to undo it little by little, starting at the strength that Luke and company are at. Enjoy seeing a different side of Luke here (yes, he is a wuss when it comes to taking human life), and now you're free to roam the upper parts of the Tartarus. Take note that the Griffins here like to form Wind FoFs, and if you use Luke's Fang Blade arte in them, that'll become the much more potent Lightning Tiger Blade, which looks cool and has an even cooler damage amount. Sweetness. Head up the massive ladder here, and then cross the deck while taking out enemies if need be. Tear and Jade leave Luke behind on "guard duty", and in another spasm of hilarity, Luke starts swinging Mieu around because his voice "drives him up the walls", which awakens the soldier, and then a rather fake battle begins as Luke attempts to fight off the soldier, succeeds, the fonons weaken, and then two God-Generals by the names of Legretta and Asch land down. And the group is arrested again. Hahaha, that's three times now. Inside the cabin, Luke is reluctant to fight because he has a serious problem with taking human life, but he eventually agrees, so good for him. You need your equipment back though, so just leave this room and head down a little bit to find two doors. Enter the one on the right to get all that stuff back, then go back to the hall and enter the very lower left room. In here, you get to move blocks for three quite valuable treasure chests: the Styl capacity core, 1200 Gald, and a Life Bottle. Sweetness, I recommend putting Styl on Luke, since Enhancement is a very, very helpful thing. With that, enter the room on the bottom right, where Luke gets to do all the heavy lifting because Jade is such a decrepit old man and Tear is a woman. Aight, no problem. Just clear a path to the right, to find that "something fun" Jade was referring to earlier... gunpowder. Bahaha. Watch Mieu blow up the wall, and then grab the chest there for a Long Sword, which should be equipped on Luke following that to kick more ass. With that, enter the hole you just blew up, and then climb the three ladders. Back on the center of the Tartarus, enter the room to the east only to be attacked by Arietta and Major Legretta, two of the six God-Generals. Of course, none other than Guy comes in now, being that he went everywhere looking for Luke. And in the process you get Ion back, so that's a good thing. Anyways, your next destination is St. Binah, and you'll be right at the fork between Engeve and St. Binah. Just walk a few steps in the latter's direction, and Guy gets to introduce himself. In the process you'll learn that Guy has a phobia of women... never a good thing. Just minutes later, Oracle Knights come in and attack, so after a rather effortless battle, Luke hesitates, Guy and Tear come in, and Tear is injured, delivering her favorite quote in the whole game to Luke: "You idiot". Okay, whatever floats your boat. Talk to everyone after that, with Tear last and then Mieu a second time to go to sleep. After a skit (lol at Mieu's 38 times), another scene, and St. Binah is right nearby. Change Guy's Blade to the Cutlass while you're at it. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIf. St. Binah -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 8 Heh, this music reminds me of that of Symphonia. Not bad. I might also add before starting this place off that some people choose to control Luke in battle, and some prefer Guy. I really have no recommendation because I liked to control Luke for the most part because I was used to him and never really got out of that habit, but Guy is certainly admirable, because of his greater speed albeit slightly less strength. But anyways, the Oracle Knights are here, but the people from Engeve come in, so Luke and company manage to get in. After two priceless reactions from Guy, you're free to do some shopping around St. Binah. I really recommend talking to the equipment shop guy and buying the Rapier for the own between Luke and Guy of whom you're going to be controlling. Also, the Glaive and Mace are certainly good weapons to have. The armor isn't quite as important as just look at the stat gains. A little less, to say the least? Bah, that was as stupid a line as Ion's last one. Some items wouldn't hurt either, although I personally didn't need them. I was almost bankrupt anyway. ;] With that, head to the eastern part of town and enter the leftmost house there. Examine the book on the far left to earn the Sandwich recipe... eh, not bad. Go back to the western part of town and enter the northern building which has two guards in front of it, so that Jade can have a talk with the two McGovern people which seem to, well, govern this place. You'll get a letter from Anise out of that (I concur with Luke's reaction), and next stop is Kaitzur, across the Fubras River. You'll also get the World Map out of it, so that is a good thing. But still, try to exit the town, and you'll see five of the six God-Generals, who are Van's immediate subordinates, the executive officers of the Oracle Knights: Largo the Black Lion who survived, Arietta the Wild who wants revenge on Ion for the death of... the Liger Queen, Legretta the Quick who's just tagging along, Sync the Tempest, who seems to be in charge of things and is a newcomer here, and Dist the Reaper... or Rose, whatever. He's obviously the comic relief behind it. After the scenes that follow, rest at the inn that's just next to the equipment shop, and Ion will mention the Sephiroth (oh my GOD), which are the planet's ten most vital points. The parallels are so obvious... watch as Jade says more cryptic things, watch a skit, and now we're off to Kaitzur to rendezvous with Van and Anise. First, though, it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that you sleep at the inn again, because Guy and Luke has some practice that results in Luke learning Sonic Thrust. After that's over, your next destination is Fubras River. It's just a bit due south of St. Binah. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIg. Fubras River -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 8 Watch as Luke acts like a further fool of himself, and then head to the left and use Mieu to burn down the vines for an Apple Gel. Aight, now head down a little more, and you get to listen as Jade teaches you a valuable lesson. Just use Fang Blade on the green field of fonons and you get Lightning Tiger Blade, for some kickass results. Alright, but we already knew that. Finish the battle and then you're faced with a fork that just goes the same either way. Eh, just take the right path. Grab the Magic Lens there, and then head down and a bit towards the center for the 500 Gald there. With that, go south beyond the gate shaped thingy there, where you'll reach the river itself. Okay, just start by heading to the left and getting the Apple Gel there, then take the central path down and to the right to find a save point. This is a rather big fork, so start by going north to find a big gate... and a chest with an Iron Mail. How frivolously useless. Go back down again, alright? Take the path on the right and keep following it down, and on the next screen you'll be attacked by Arietta again. Yep, the liger queen was indeed her mother. But with that, an earthquake hits, and deadly mist called the miasma starts pouring out. Jade is about to kill an unconscious Arietta, but Ion and Luke have to bitch about it, so none of that. In the process, though, Tear learns Force Field, which she'll be using quite a bit. But anyway, we're back in control, am I right? Just scope over to the right for an Orange Gel there, and then over to the far bottom left to find a Life Bottle. Now head up the path which seems to be covered with monster fangs (a disturbing mental image), and follow it to find a chest containing a grand total of 1600 Gald in it. Now that is sweet. You can just take that path out of the Fubras River, and then you're on the world map going to Kaitzur. Jade will stop you halfway to ask about Tear's fonic hymns, but that's no problem. Laugh at Luke's rather particular comment, and then enter the extremely noticeable, easy to find Kaitzur. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIh. Kaitzur -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 9 A short trip... and yes, last sub-section was four paragraphs and this one is normal. You ain't seen nothing of how crazy this'll get after a while, I'm afraid. ;] Okay, that was idiotic and pointless. Once in Kaitzur, enter the first building there, which is the inn/item shop. I personally didn't need any items at all, although getting some Lettuce and Engeve Bread isn't a bad idea. Just head to the bridge, and you'll find Anise there, who is rather without a passport. And ever needlessly loving of Luke, no less. Just as that happens, though, Asch comes in and starts trying to slice Luke down. Once again we can't see his face, but Van manages to break in and get Asch away from him, mentioning how pathetic Luke's techniques still are. With that scene over, head to the inn and talk to Van, who's on the left side. Apparently, the God-Generals are working under Grand Maestro Mohs, who Tear is under the intelligence division of. So... who to trust, Van or Tear? It's up to you. Feel free to rest, because Tear and Van don't trust each other. Your next stop is the Kaitzur Naval Port. Just head a little bit south and use the passports there to get to Kimlasca territory, and from there, just enter the equipment shop on the right. Things here and very expensive, but I at least recommend the Broad Sword for Luke/Guy, and the Guisarme for Jade. Get some Leather Boots too, plus some Chain Mails/Chain Guards wouldn't hurt. Whew, now I'm bankrupt. Anyways, on the world map which is south of here, you'll find a fork between Choral Castle and the Kaitzur Naval Port. Stay away from Deo Pass and the former, and just head to the naval port, which is close by. And when you get here... you'll find Arietta the Wild, and monsters, have attacked. The engineer has been kidnapped by Arietta, who is bringing him to Choral Castle, where she wants Luke and Ion to head off to. Van, however, is against that and wants them to return to Kaitzur. Whatever... stop off at the inn before anything, though. There's no one there, but hey, there's a save point. Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing at the Kimlasca Base either, so just leave this place and then some people will request that you go to Choral Castle... guess you don't have a choice. Back on the world map, Choral Castle is roughly towards the southeast. I might also note that you do have five party members, and the one out will almost invariably be either the swordsman between Luke and Guy who's not there, or Anise. Tear and Jade are... too valuable. But whatever. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIi. Choral Castle -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 10 I totally love this music. Very chilling, relaxing, peaceful, yet... haunted. And that's exactly what Choral Castle is... haunted, despite being Duke Fabre's vacation home. Enter, and inside you'll immediately be introduced to surprise encounters, which will randomly mess your party formation up and are usually slightly harder because of that. This one isn't too bad, though, so just finish it off, let Luke be scolded, and now you're free to roam the dark terrains of Choral Castle. And yeah, this place is longer than the Cheagle Woods or Fubras River, but it's a lot more awesome than those two places just because of this eerie music, so no problems there. Anyways, if you head through the door up front, you'll find a purple orb in the door, but you can't go through there because... well, yeah, you can't, because you need two other orbs, but that's your destination. Outside, the left is blocked with a chandelier, so head to the right and then follow that long path down. Seaside, huh... well, just cross the path and head to the left. There you'll find that ghost with a red orb in it that you saw earlier, but it just runs away and you can't catch it. How do you remedy this? Okay, see the two statues that are right above? One's in the corner, and one's in the closet/door thingy that's just a bit to the left. Pull them up so that they block off the path ahead, and then exit this screen and re-enter. Then the ghost will try to run and be blocked. What do you do? Kill the bastard. With that done, you'll receive a red orb. Yeah, you'll find out what it's for momentarily. Just head through the door on the left, and you'll see another one of those statues that you can pulverize above. With that, take the stairs on the left down for a Life Bottle, and then head south from here. You'll find a room here with a ghost with a yellow orb, but do NOT fight this one. If you do get in an encounter with it, just run away. Otherwise, leave this room through the south and follow the outdoors path there for an Apple Gel. Worth it, I suppose. Back in. Once you're back inside the room, head up the stairs and you'll find a ghost with a blue orb there, which will attempt to run away. I recommend hitting it with Mieu's fire to slow it down a bit, but when you do get in the fight and finish, you'll end up with a blue orb along with the red. What do red and blue make? Purple. What was the color of the orb at the entrance? Purple. Speaks for itself. Before that, though, head up the stairs and take the first door you see to the right. At that balcony, grab the 1000 Gald that's there, and then return and continue up the stairs. Another door, another balcony, and... an Iron Mail. What a pathetic joke. Leave this room and continue progressing up the stairs, and you will come to the roof of this grand place. Or not. Enter the room that's there, and avoid the ghost with the green orb while you're at it. Pick up the chest for a Silk Robe, which is for Jade. Aight, ready to go back to the entrance of this place? Thought so. Enter the room in the center, and supposing you still have the red and blue orbs, the door will be opened. The room that emerges is one in which you can go down another flight of stairs to see a large machine, which to Jade looks quite familiar. But in a strange sort of turn of events, Anise falls on Guy, who gives... one hell of a reaction. Maybe because part of his memory is missing. Feel sorry for the guy (no pun intended) and head to the right. Ignore the stairs and just head to the next area. Nothing in this cave, so keep going. Here you'll find a place similar to that one with the balconies and stuff. There's a healing circle right above which is very much needed, along with a cracked wall that you can't go through. Oh well, head upstairs and through the door that's there for a Shakujo. That's a weapon for Tear, so just give it to her and whatever she was using to Anise. Now head up and through the next door for 1600 Gald. Sweetness, but when you keep going up, a scene will cut in as Luke and Anise run after Arietta. Naturally, Luke gets swiped by a bird and almost dropped off the castle before Dist saves him for some reason. He gets taken to the fon machine, where Sync does weird stuff to him. Guy cuts in, rescues Luke, sees Sync's real face which we don't, and gets a fonic disc. Aight, just head back to that save point from earlier. There's nothing more to see by going through any doors, so just head to the roof, where Arietta awaits. Looks like she's still pissed off. ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Arietta / Liger / Hresvelgr Party: Luke, Tear, Jade, Guy \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 3,000 || - P. ATK - 98 EXP - 760 || - P. DEF - 263 Gald - 1,300 || - F. ATK - 111 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 235 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || || Stats: HP - 3,700 || - P. ATK - 148 EXP - 0 || - P. DEF - 228 Gald - 0 || - F. ATK - 101 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 167 || || Weakness - None Resist - Wind || || Stats: HP - 3,500 || - P. ATK - 135 EXP - 0 || - P. DEF - 236 Gald - 0 || - F. ATK - 99 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 172 || || Weakness - Fire Resist - Water || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ For the second boss fight of the game, Arietta may prove to be quite a tough cookie and might even *gasp* provide you with your first sight of the dreaded Game Over screen. First of all, there's three enemies. The Liger is the faster attacker, the Hresvelgr is the slower one, and Arietta is the magic user and also the one I recommend targetting first. She will be in a constant state of nuking you with Limited and Negative Gale, which can easily reduce a full HP characters to inches of their life. Using Free Run is definitely the best option for avoiding Arietta's spells. The Liger and Hresvelgr will be gradually worked on by your other party members anyway, so focus your strength on Arietta, and use FoF Changes whenever you can. Remember that darkness will allow for earth and water, which means Luke's Frigid Blast is convenient. Not to mention light allows for fire and wind, meaning Luke has Lightning Tiger Blade and Burning Havoc at his disposal. With one of the three gone, the other two will fall in very short time. Plus you even end up with a Savory out of it, which raises one character's TP by 10. Not bad. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Van shows up once the fight is over, and takes Arietta into her custody. You now have the option of either taking the coach or walking back, and as usual I recommend walking back. Plus you even have the option of taking on the first of three Sword Dancers now, which if you follow through with it will allow for quite a good weapon for Luke much later in the game (look at the Isle of Feres on my table of contents, that's where). But oh well, why not at least try, since there's a save point there. Right at the entrance hall is a sword in the floor, and examining it will pit you in a battle with the Sword Dancer, who has 17,000 HP, an attack power of 248 compared to the Liger's 148, a whooping 3800 EXP upon its defeat, and a helluva hard fight. If you can beat it, good for you, but I imagine the majority can't, plus this fight isn't even mandatory -- you can fight it a bit later and have a much better chance of winning. Anyways, you've gotta head back to the Kaitzur Naval Port. Yeah, this is the first time I've condensed two trips into one sub-section. Get used to it, I'll be doing it a lot. Anyways, talk to the soldier by the Kimlasca Base. He sells a few items, just don't buy large quantities of Lemon Gels, Pineapple Gels, and Panacea Bottles. Head inside the base and talk to Van, watch a scene, and then talk to the soldier on the left of the place after the skit, to board the Katsbert Ferry. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIj. Katsbert Ferry -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 13 You start off on a grand bit of nothing. Just head to the door and Luke collapses because of one of the headaches again. Still, step outside to raise your mood with one of the funnier (and crueler) skits in the game. From there, do feel free to enter the room right above to talk to Guy. Also, the room above that has a chest with a whooping 1800 Gald in it. That done, head up north for an Orange Gel there, and then upstairs to the left, further over to the next room, and a chest with an Iron Bracelet in it. Talk to Jade there for a very cryptic question, and with that, return to the room with the Orange Gel and enter the room right above. Talk to Ion and answer Anise's rather interesting question, then talk to Tear to get a full on explanation about the Seventh Fonon. And with that, head up to the right only for Luke to get another headache and be consoled by Van, who tells him that he has the power to become a hero. Yeah, right. With that, you'll arrive in Chesedonia. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIk. Chesedonia -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 13 Van goes off and leaves you to explore the sandy lands of Chesedonia, which is one of the game's most resident city. Start by heading to the left and entering the building right above to talk with the guy Din there. He collects trade items and gives you stuff for them, so hey, you might want to think about that instead of selling them for scrap. Right below is an accessory shop and food shop, but just continue a little past that only for Luke to get seduced by some old woman. How appalling. Tear notices that this woman, Noir, stole Luke's wallet. Bahaha, what a moron. She gets it back for him though, so you're good to go. Feel free to stop by the medicine shop to the west, but otherwise head southeast past two screens to come to a place absolutely loaded with merchants. Before anything, though, talk to the guy at the counter just below, who says that you can sell things for a higher price in Baticul. Ask for items, get dissed by Guy, and he'll give you two Apple Gels and two Poison Bottles. That helps. Feel free to do some shopping here, especially at the armor shop at the top, but don't even bother trying for the Dragon Killer right now. I know it's enticing, but neglect any instincts that come to mind. With that, leave this screen and head to the previous one, and then towards the west. You'll see a large mansion there, so just enter and you'll meet up with Astor, the guy running this whole place. His assistant does some analysis of the fon disc, so your business here is done. Go back in the mansion after that and enter either of the northern doors, and then the one to the upper left. In that room, look in the drawer to the right to find the Time Traveling Hero, which is an accessory for Anise. Whatever. With that, head south of here and towards the merchants, and none other than Sync shows up to try and steal the stuff from Guy, who gets attacked in the process. That could be a problem... but anyways, the team manages to get away, onboard the ferry. Looks like Dist is still a problem though... -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIl. Katsbery Ferry -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 13 Once onboard the ship, the group begins to talk about Lorelei, who is the great sentience of the Seventh Fonon, just as Gnome is that of the Second (earth), Sylph is that of the Third (wind), Undine is the Fourth (water), and Efreet is of the Fifth (fire). You get the point., Then Jade brings up replicas and fomicry, which are extremely important in the story. But it all comes to an interruption when the Oracle Knights attack, and after a quick battle, Luke gives the cruelest line to Mieu that you will ever hear. Haha. Get out of this room and enter the one right above to find a merchant. I bought the Scimitar for Luke so he could kick even more ass, so I advise you do the same thing if you can afford the wages. Do NOT sell the Time Traveling Hero here yet, though. Instead, head upstairs and fight off the Oracle Knight that's there, and then north to find a fonstone fragment has been stolen by a poorly designed robot. Just chase it, and stop when an exclamation point appears above Luke, it's really easy. I got through one tremor and then caught it, so don't worry. Watch it fall to its doom, and you'll get the Nobile fonstone and the Winged Boots, which simply increase your movement speed. Speaking of fonstones, I'd recommend swapping capacity cores up now, since you want to get a good range of all of them for the various AD skills, but obviously focus on stuff like P.ATK for Luke, F.ATK for Jade, ENH for all, etc. Just head further up, only to meet the one behind it all, Dist. After a mutual argument with Jade, it's boss time. ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Kaiser Dist R Party: Luke, Tear, Jade, Guy \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 19,000 || - P. ATK - 182 EXP - 800 || - P. DEF - 302 Gald - 1,500 || - F. ATK - 139 Difficulty - Easy || - F. DEF - 204 || || Weakness - Water Resist - None || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Dist may have an enormous amount of HP and physical defense, but he really is a huge pussycat. His attacks mostly consist of large stomping motions, together with thrusting his big drills forward, but it's not like those can actually be considered a threat. Meanwhile, he's terribly weak to Jade's Splash fonic arte, which he should probably have by now, and if Tear uses Nightmare around it, you may end up with a Fourth Fonon field, while will allow for Luke's Frigid Blast, resulting in further damage. Tear's First Aid should be sufficient enough for healing, but hey, you have Apple Gels lying around if not. This fight should NOT pose any problems. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ That having been finished, Dist is shot into the ocean. Yeah, like that's going to kill him. Not much else to do here, so with that the Katsbery Ferry will take you straight towards the royal capital of Kimlasca, which is Baticul. Remember this place from the beginning of the game? ...Obviously not, but hey, it's not just a manor. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIm. Baticul -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 14 You'll be greeted by two peoples by the names of Goldberg and Cecille, whom Guy seems to have something slightly more against than Cecille's gender. Head down and save, first of all, and then take a ride to the grandeur of Baticul, which still doesn't exactly feel like home to Luke, for obvious reasons. Noir, Urushi, and York greet you just by the entrance... Noir's line to Anise is truly ownage in its purest form. But anyway, first thing you should do is enter the large building to the right. These are the shops/coliseum, the latter of which is not yet open and will not be open for a few eons. Remember, you're not done with even a tenth of this game yet. My recommendation is to sell the Time Traveling Hero, just because I'm a greedy, money loving bastard, but oh well, it's your choice. Buy whatever strikes your fancy, particularly weapons that you couldn't afford before fighting Dist. When you're done, exit and go to the inn if necessary. Otherwise take the elevator up. Nothing to do here, so just take the lift on the upper right up to the castle grounds. Can't go in Luke's crappy manor yet, so just enter the castle right up front. Head up the stairs to find that King Ingobert VI is in an audience with Mohs, but Luke just forces his way in and tells Mohs to shut the hell up, pretty much. For such an important character, Mohs really is just an ugly old geezer. But whatever, he's just trying to start a war when Malkuth was totally peaceful. However, Luke's mother is ill so you have to go back to his manor now. Enter, get the greeting, and Tear has to go apologize to her, so talk with Ramdas if you want, but then go to the drawing room, take the upper exit, and then to the upper room there to talk with Susanne. Once that's done, go over to the courtyard, and here's something optional and rather important. Make SURE you talk to the gardner, Pere, here, a few times until he starts talking to Guy. He'll refer him to a man in the desert named Gee. This is the first of seven steps toward getting two techniques for Guy, so MAKE SURE YOU DO IT. Yeah. With that, next step is to see Princess Natalia. Head to the drawing room next to find her, only for Guy to get dissed, and Luke accused of touching the "cold chick" Tear. And apparently Van is going to be arrested and executed as soon as he enters Baticul. No candy for guessing what Luke's reaction to that is. Anyway, return to the first room of the manor for a classic Luke, Tear, and Guy interaction, and now, SOMETHING ELSE IMPORTANT! Talk to Ramdas here. Don't ask why, just do it for the scene that follows. You'll get 20,000 Gald, because a book of arcane artes belonging to Van was sold to a traveling salesman who is likely still at the port. So with that said and done, leave the manor and head for the port. Luke will stop the merchant, who only has one, and you can buy it back, so Luke will learn Demon Fist after that. It's the equivalent of Demon Fang, so it works well enough. Anyway, go back to Luke's manor, and then to his room, which is just above the courtyard. Go to bed, and a messenger from Natalia will arrive, requesting your presence at the castle. Hard to refuse that. Enter the castle again to hear Tear talking to Mohs, and then an audience is called making a proposal to Luke, that is he travels to the town of Akzeriuth as a goodwill ambassador, being that they risk destruction due to the miasma, Van will be set free. Obviously he agrees, so next objective is to see Van. You really do need to listen to that Score Tear reads, though, cuz it really is so vague and interesting. But anyway, leave this room and enter the one on the left, then head down the hall and enter the room there. Down the stairs in this cell is Van. Now Luke does the stupidest thing of his life, agreeing with Van to destroy the miasma without moving the citizens of Akzeriuth, but they can't tell anyone else of the plan. Of course, Natalia manages to overhear all this... heh heh heh... I'm loving it. After that, leave the castle for another classic Luke, Tear, and Guy interaction, and then head a bit near the inn to find Anise there, and for two things to come out: Ion has been kidnapped by the Dark Wings, and Mohs actually isn't involved with the Six God-Generals. You probably can guess what that means. You now have to cross to Malkuth terrain by land, but you can't leave the city because Sync is guarding it. But before anything, take the elevator here down, and Guy will show Luke to an old man named Miyagi. He'll give you a Carmine Chamber, which allows you to make certain artes stronger, and a Moon Selector, which allows you to pick who you control in the middle of a battle... very, very useful. Anyway, right below is the aircar to the Abandoned Factory you need to cross. Someone else has been here, though... -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIn. Abandoned Factory -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 14 Before firing away here, I would like to note that I hate this dungeon with a passion. I honestly can name maybe one dungeon in the whole game that is worse than this place, and considering how early we are in the game, that's a fairly good thing. So might as well get it over with, right? After Guy's long explanations, Natalia shows up and demands to go, after dissing Tear and Anise. Plus she overheard Luke's plan to flee to Daath, so after some blackmail, Luke decides to take Natalia with the group. "This is why women scare me..." Natalia in battle is the equivalent of Raine from Tales of Symphonia doing S rank -- she's still good but completely inferior to T rank, because most of her artes do a good job healing one character, Tear is far better because she gets stuff like Healing Circle and Revitalize, which recover the whole party. That being said, might as well take her in at least a few battles to get acquainted. Start off by heading to the far right for an Apple Gel, and then start climbing ladders. The mundane, rather uninspiring music makes this place that much more exciting, huh? Yeah, thought so. Once you're done climbing ladders there's a fork with nothing to see to the left, so just progress to the right. Climb down the ladder here, but don't bother climbing the one below that, because all it is, is just a long path that leads to a grand total of nothing. So just head over to the right when applicable, and then move forward a bit for a scene which ends in Jade being a total badass. Haha. Head up the ramp here to find a switch that needs to be flicked. Whenever you see these and can flick 'em, do it... it's irreversible, which means no mistakes can possibly be made. Then take the lift on the left and there you'll find an up-down fork of ladders. Oh my god, what is this, Legendia? Whatever, take the upper one first to find a Scimitar, which is good because I didn't buy an extra one for Guy. And with that in order, head back down and then down the ladder which has yet to be taken. Go to the right and just keep going to find a Cobalt Chamber there, which can be used in the chambers to make an arte send enemies flying, and just head up to find an oil drum that happens to be flammable. What does this mean? Ah yes, Mieu. Set that baby on fire and then press the switch there which your blind party members can't see, and then take the lift right below and try to take the path before the thing just collapses. No problem there, just take it down and head to the right. There, you'll find oil dripping into a drum, and all you have to do is time Mieu's fire so that it hits the drops of oil. Nothing to that, anyway... at least it lights this place up so that your characters can see a centimeter in front of them. Just go back to where that switch you pressed was, and enter the door to the right of it. In there, hit the switch that's right near the aircar, but before taking it, climb down the ladder right below it and cross another broken pipe to find an Apple Gel. That is all to find there, so just head back up and enter the aircar to get to at least the second half of this god awful dungeon. There you'll find a machine that can control the oil flow, and a switch that's "too dark to see". Double you tee eff, I can see it just fine. Start by changing the flow to the left, and then take the aircar back and take the ladder on the far right. There's oil dripping here, so just flame it and then head back to the oil machine and the switch nearby. Change the oil flow to the right, hit the switch, and acknowledge that you are getting closer to finishing this POS dungeon. Just follow the path to the right without diverging up the lift, and hit the oil drum above with Mieu's fire. Then take the ladder near the entrance of this screen down and over to the left, then up to find more oil dripping, and at the top is an empty oil drum that can be moved. That sounds ideal enough. Just drop it down and shift it over to the dripping oil, and then try to flame the oil only to find out that won't ignite it. Aight, just head back to the oil machine and switch, and take the lift. Follow up to enter a new screen, and head to the left to automatically knock the pipe down and fill the drum below with oil. Me likes that. Head back and lower the ladder below, then head up for the Panacea Bottle there, then to the left to lower a second ladder, and then down it. Time to hit that oil drum with Mieu Fire, si? Do that to light up the area above, then climb up (too many damn ladders) to the conveniently placed healing circle, and then to the left for a switch. Sure, whatever, just take the aircar nearby. It appears you are not alone... ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Abaddon Party: Luke, Natalia, Jade, Anise \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 22,000 || - P. ATK - 197 EXP - 1,190 || - P. DEF - 333 Gald - 2,000 || - F. ATK - 186 Difficulty - Semi-Easy || - F. DEF - 271 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ I certainly will give this monster some props and say that it's better in the combat department than it is in the aesthetic department... not that that says much. Anyway, this is a rare exception in which I actually prefer Natalia to Tear, because the former's Heal is very useful here in the rather singular attacks that Abaddon uses. There's three main things: a physical attack, Bug Parade which is very dangerous, and Negative Gale which is easy to dodge but is upwards of 350 damage to one character, and that really does add up fast. It's not all bad, though, because Negative Gale is the First Fonon of shadow, and Jade should be constantly using Splash which is the Fourth Fonon of water. Darkness and water go together to create a blue FoF, which is perfect for Luke whipping out a good Frigid Blast. Along with that, your characters should all pretty much have Over Limit, except for maybe Natalia, so that'll help you defensively. A few casualties may result here, but overall it isn't a hard fight. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Just move over a little to the left once that's done, and then a rather funny scene ensues as Natalia orders Guy to do something he obviously can't do, Anise starts flirting with him, and Jade is his usual badass self. Take the emergency exit there, and a fantastic anime cutscene ensues as Luke finds Asch waiting outside, draws his sword, and we see Asch's face for the first time... he looks like Luke. Anyways, you're off to Chesedonia and the oasis by land. And yes, I know that there is a glitch here that makes the previous music played, play on the world map. Nothing to do about it, just leave it. You'll need to move over to the desert to the east to find the oasis, obviously, and the sand there is difficult to move through. The oasis itself is around the center of the desert, but slightly westish. Easy to find, distinguishable by tall trees, etc. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIo. Desert Oasis -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 17 As soon as you enter, Luke will get another headache, and these voices are different. They're coming from none other than Asch, the one who looks like Luke. He says that both he and Ion are in the Zao Ruins, so that's your next destination, but the only problem is that you don't know where it is. But I do, it's to the east of here. Haha, no need to worry about asking people now. However, someone sells weapons and armor outside the tent, and inside the tent is something VERY IMPORTANT! Yeah, remember Pere referring Guy to some guy named Gee? He's the old guy in this tent, and the next step in learning an arcane arte is meeting some guy in Kaitzur... not anytime soon. There's a grocer in here, but hey, who needs that right now. What I recommend is leaving this place and heading for the northwest of this desert land mass, where Chesedonia is. Sure, Anise scolds you but there's stuff here to buy. Notably the Steel Sword which is superior to the Scimitar. So yeah, there's the Gothic Mace for Tear/Anise, a ton of stuff for Natalia, the Scythe for Jade... but I couldn't afford it, so HAH! You might also want to take a swing by Din's place to give him random stuff you've found, but when you're ready to head off to the ruins, they really are in the eastern part of the desert and impossible to miss. I just hope you didn't miss talking to Gee, or shame on you. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIp. Zao Ruins -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 18 Before we step in, remember going to Choral Castle? You were roughly level 12 or 13 or so (at least I was) when finishing and you more than likely couldn't beat that Sword Dancer with everyone alive? We'll be doing that shortly after the Zao Ruins, and I'll say that you really have come a long way. Can't give you any false impressions though, since this game really is. That damn long. But I'm done ranting, just head forward to find that this is the place, but it really is... a ruin. Enter sandman. Or... Zao Ruins. Once inside, head down the extremely long spiraling path, and in the center of the floor below is a chest containing an Apple Gel. Head down from there to come to a left-down fork. Head down first, and at the bottom of the path you'll find a concentration of the Second Fonon, which will give Mieu the new ability of Mieu Attack, which can break rocks and stuff. Very useful. Now head up and back to the fork, to take a left. At the end of the path there is a sort of three way fork, with left being a small path leading to an immediate dead end, right being a quick 2400 Gald, and the central path... being a bunch of boulders. Break them with Mieu Attack to observe how kind Natalia is compared to Luke (eh I don't really know actually) If you can't figure it out or just skipped the instruction, use R2 to alternate between fire and attack, and square to attack. Easy as pie. What follows is a down-right fork, with down leading to some boulders, which in turn lead to a Breast Guard, which is for Tear or Natalia. Okay, works for me, after that's done head across the bridge to the right. Here you'll find some more rocks to break for an Orange Gel behind them, and a save point. No, there is not a boss right ahead, you'll have to wait just a little bit. Just head through the tunnel right ahead and follow the path up, collecting a Panacea Bottle as you go. Moving up, a pile of debris falls. What a bunch of crap, literally. Break it apart with Mieu Attack for a treasure chest behind it, containing the Stre Forte capacity core. That is your best one yet if you like physical attacks, but unfortunately increasing my current Enhancement was slightly more important at the moment, but oh well, keep it handy. Just head up the stairs nearby and you'll come to a left-right fork. The left leads to an invisible chest with a Life Bottle in it, so do that and then head to the right. Break the rocks there, and then that path will take you to an up-down fork, up of which has rocks in the way for a Mieu Attack, and has a Carmine Chamber right behind. Sweet, this place likes those upgrades. And then at the next fork, down leads to a new screen and left leads to... nothing. Just another long path that leads to... a healing circle. You know what THAT means! ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Sync / Largo Party: Luke, Tear, Jade, Anise \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 13,000 || - P. ATK - 210 EXP - 800 || - P. DEF - 222 Gald - 1,200 || - F. ATK - 154 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 150 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || || Stats: HP - 17,000 || - P. ATK - 265 EXP - 800 || - P. DEF - 210 Gald - 1,200 || - F. ATK - 161 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 100 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Alright, here's a rather challenging fight for all you peoples out there. Sync the Tempest is the quick, agile fighter while Largo the Black Lion is the slower, slightly stronger one. That being said, everything here points at going after Sync first, because his attacks are faster, more distracting and whatnot, plus his Arcane Artes are as annoying as they get. Prepare for damage in the mid 400s when he pelts out Stone Dragon Ascent at you. Plus he has less HP than Largo, so yeah, use logic for this. Sync's two key spells, Thunder Blade and Turbulence, are both rough at over 300 damage apiece, but there's a good side in that you can always have Luke switch to Fang Blade and use Lightning Tiger Blade, always a good thing. Before you know it Sync will be gone, and Largo is by no means as hard, but is still quite a threat. His signature Blazing Talon arte has an annoying range, plus a single physical attack is about 90-100 damage. His combos can rack up some damage fast, but once you get four people ganging up on him, he won't be able to keep up. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Once that's over, Luke and Asch have to have a bit of a duel with each other, trading the same arte that Van taught the both of them. But with that, they agree to turn over Ion in exchange for ending the fight. However, as they leave, Guy looks at Sync, acknowledging how "they are the same", and Largo speaks Natalia's name in connection. Just leave that room and you'll find that the memory circle has particles coming out of it. You'll get a Wing Bottle here, which you can use to teleport out of this dungeon. I recommend doing so. Back on the world map, the theme from the Zao Ruins will play. Gotta love that. But in any case, you may want to scope out some of the few search points that are here, since going to Din's shop really can provide you with some good stuff. Also take note that you reached a Verbena from winning that fight, and that will increase your physical defense by a grand total of 1. Anyways, off to Chesedonia. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIq. Chesedonia -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 20 Luke will experience a quick headache just as soon as you walk in, and he pretty much has to go to the inn on that note. But before that, why not check out some of these fantastic shops. Having Luke equipped with a Steel Sword, Breastplate, and a Lapis Bracelet. I also recommend you sell the Garnet, for the nice 5000 Gald which it gives. But anyway, approach the northwest and Asch will start talking to Luke through his head, tells him to turn his sword on Tear, then the headache stops and Luke collapses. At the inn, Jade is fairly assured Dist just did something to Luke, so you're good to go. Head through the door once that scene's over, and feel free to save. Outside, finish the shopping and schtuff, and then head to the northern part of town. You might want to swing by Din's shop and give him all of the stuff you've been getting from search points. Otherwise, head just a bit to the right and enter the Malkuth consolate, which is the building right above the two soldiers. With that, head two screens up and talk to the consulate, then Sync is shown outside, and Guy collapses, knocking Luke down with him. He has a curse slot in him, but Ion says only Fon Masters can use Daathic fonic artes, so... Sync is what, exactly? Ahem. The ship leaves from Chesedonia and arrives in the naval port of Kaitzur. But anyway, now that we're here in Malkuth territory, there are two VERY important things to do. Read: YOU MUST DO THESE TWO THINGS BEFORE ENTERING AKZERIUTH OR YOU WILL REGRET IT! Hopefully the all caps caught your attention. Anyway, start by leaving the Kaitzur Naval Port and head to Kaitzur. Go to the northern part of it and talk to the guy right next to the inn, and he will teach Guy the Tempest base arte. That really is vital, and a great arte, but the next person isn't for a while... he's at a historical monument. Okay, worry about that later. Second thing to do: leave Kaitzur and head to Choral Castle. It's finally time to settle things with the Sword Dancer, who's in the first room. ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Sword Dancer #1 Party: Luke, Tear, Jade, Anise \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 17,000 || - P. ATK - 248 EXP - 3,800 || - P. DEF - 159 Gald - 1,000 || - F. ATK - 126 Difficulty - Easy || - F. DEF - 135 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Those 6-7 levels really did drain the challenge out of the Sword Dancer. Sure, his attacks will do about 250 damage if they're unblocked, plus he can spin around, use Fang to hit from a long distance, and use Overlimit to up his defenses. However, he dies so quickly that he never will get a chance to utilize any of that. Jade casting Splash in the background, while your melee fighters bash the life out of him and do combos that do about 3000-4000 damage apiece, will reduce him to inches of his life in mere seconds. Enjoy the massive amount of EXP that results from that joke of a battle. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Your rewards are subtle: that exaggerated amount of EXP, the fact that the Sword Dancer will be back in the Theor Forest later, the fact that you're closer to getting the second best sword in the game, personal satisfaction, and a departure of this place which makes Choral Castle's theme play in the world map. Oh yeah. Well anyway, it's finally time for us to go to Akzeriuth. To get there, head to the Deo Pass which is over to the northeast. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIr. Deo Pass -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 22 Right as you enter, Luke whines about how time was wasted in the desert and that they should've just left Ion with Sync and Largo. Geez, what a fool. Enjoy Anise's ranting skit that follows, and let's start catching up to Van. Right at the entrance is a two way fork with right leading to nothing but a tree that you can shake for a grand subtotal of nothing, so head to the left and use Mieu Attack to break the boulder on the way. Moving up, just keep going to the right. The tree at the center can be hit with Mieu Attack to turn it into a rather effortless Treant enemy, if you're interested. Otherwise, go to the right for a breakable rock that reveals 1600 Gald behind it. With that, there's two more ways to go: left to a dead end, and up to a new screen. Should be obvious enough... head up on the very small new screen, and on that third area, here's yet another fork. This does indeed set the stage of what's to come on the Deo Pass. Before anything, hit the tree in the center for a Panacea Bottle that drops out of it. Having done that, head west at the fork and take the upper of the two paths down, following it to a new screen past a Treant for a Gothic Mace. Good if you only bought one for Tear and need an extra for Anise. Return to the fork and head east this time, up another small and eventless screen, and then in that next area, head to the far east and then down that path to find a tree, which gives you 1800 Gald on a tremor. That tickles my fancy. Head back up and then over to the bridge and across, where Ion demands some rest. Luke is his usual bitchy self about it, and after some scolding by Tear, save and then head down a little bit, and to the west for as boulder to break for a Carmine Chamber. Will do... down some more is a two way fork with right only leading to a tree which will give you nothing, so head to the left and down for another tremendous large area with three million forking paths everywhere. First of all, take the southern path down and head to the right for a tree to shake, making a chest fly out somewhere else. Better than nothing, I guess. Head back and shake the tree right above for an Apple Gel, and then take the eastern path down to another new, large area. There's another save point here, and believe me that it'll come in handy. Before anything, though, head to the west and take the upper path to a new, small screen with a chest that has an Orange Gel in it. While you're here, the tree aka Treant is a rather nice random monster. =) Whatever. Head back to the last screen and take the lower left path there, swooshing the tree along the way for an Apple Gel, and just continue down for a boulder to break for 1500 Gald. Just proceed to the right to find two paths, one with grass and one rocky. Take the grassy one and climb the ladder to find that chest earlier... a Steel Bow. Yawn, already have it. Now proceed down to the rocky path ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Legretta Party: Luke, Tear, Jade, Guy \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 31,000 || - P. ATK - 357 EXP - 2,100 || - P. DEF - 319 Gald - 2,500 || - F. ATK - 224 Difficulty - Medium || - F. DEF - 196 || || Weakness - None Resist - Light || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Legretta may be fighting this battle alone, but she's an extremely formidable opponent, especially as the fight draws on. Her gun combos are quite damaging as they come, but it doesn't get too bad until you get further into the fight. Sure, Luke being reduced to 700 HP or below isn't nice, but Tear with Healing Circle can remedy that very quickly. It's just when you get down to about half of Legretta's quite high HP that she starts throwing Overlimits out and getting on your nerves. First of all, her magic. Eclair de Larmes is about 400 damage, Holy Lance is about 500, plus her signature arcane arte, Searing Sorrow is about 600 damage. All of those are multi hit attacks which can roast two or possibly even three characters right then and there. However, there's a good side in that Eclair de Larmes and Holy Lance are both light elemental and will deploy a Sixth Fonon FoF right there, so Luke can pull out Burning Havoc to get things done. Just do not neglect healing and cure yourself when you get below 500 HP or so, or you may be in trouble. They don't call this chick Legretta the Quick for nothing. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ On the closing of that fight, Legretta tells Tear to get away from the "reject" aka Luke, then Jade and Ion get really angry about the Oracle Knights bringing back some forbidden technology called fomicry. Now Luke blows up about being left out of the conversation. What a child. Anyways, exit to the east and then watch the best skit in the entire game that follows, between Luke and Tear. Foreshadowed up the wazoo. Anyway, Akzeriuth is right nearby. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIs. Akzeriuth -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 24 The miasma and stuff in this town are just pretty bad... alright, Luke's the ambassador and corrupt and whatnot, and it's time to save this place... or not. Start by entering the building just to the east, which is a rather failed infrimary. Talk to the guy behind the counter for three free Apple Gels, three Orange Gels, a Life Bottle, and a Panacea Bottle, for a total of 0 Gald of wages. That's a bargain! While you're here, note that Legretta dropped an herb called a Chamomile, which raises fonic attack by 1, so give it to Jade or Tear, or Anise maybe. And with that, head down the ramp to the left and enter the building there, which sells items and equipment alike. The guy with the spear offers little to nothing new, but I do recommend restocking up on items with the guy on the right, even though they're expensive. I blew off almost 10,000 Gald on items, but hey, you can never really have enough. From here there really isn't too much more to do. There's absolutely nothing in Tunnel 7 which is to the right of here, so take the elevator on the left to go down below. No, you can't get the treasure chest at the bottom, so don't try. Head to the right and enter Tunnel 14, where a man named Hyman will assist you. Nowhere to go but forward to where Van is... -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIt. Akzeriuth Mine Shaft 14 -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 24 Here's where it all comes together... this is the decisive point for Luke. Hope you're ready for it. The camera here is really annoyed because it makes this place out to be full 3D, but you'll get used to it. Start by heading to the left at the fork and grabbing the Panacea Bottle, and then go back to the fork and head north only for the camera to change what's ahead to an up-right fork. Yeah, you thought the Deo Pass was bad, get a load of this place. Might as well head up for a chest with a Steel Circlet. By the way, you may have noticed that Tear isn't in the party, so the usual of Luke, Jade, Guy, and either Anise or Natalia will have to suffice. Don't worry, there's nothing in here that can rend you in seconds without Tear there to use Healing Circle. =) Head to the right after that and then up when applicable for a Life Bottle, proceeding east through the miasma-rich tunnels of Akzeriuth Mine Shaft 14. Continue to follow the path until it diverges up yet again, and leads to a nice Carmine Chamber and 5500 Gald. Oh how I love these non Apple/Orange Gel chests. Keep on following the path to the right until an up-down fork dawns on you, and then just head up for the Nocer Forte capacity core. Once again, these places have awesome chests. Head down this time to yet another fork, in which up leads to a Cobalt Chamber. Got the hang of this place yet? ...If not, I do pity you. If you didn't, it doesn't matter, just head to the left, where we'll see the exact extent of this place. Now just head north to find Van there... Ion has no choice but to open the door there, that Van tells him to. And with that, Luke, Van, and Ion enter the Sephiroth, despite three headaches with Asch trying to stop Luke from entering. Perhaps you couldn't predict it yet, but it all is coming together. Tear and Jade meet up because the vanguard was wiped out, and Van is... blank out. Gah. Inside the Sephiroth, it really is as straightforward as any place can be. Head down and then at the only fork, head right to avoid the dead end, and at the bottom Van will give you an order. Yeah, as Tear says, Van is trying to destroy Akzeriuth and Asch has been helping them. As Luke, head forward and Van will ask you to cause a hyperresonance, which Luke does... and as that happens, he calls him "foolish replica Luke", Asch breaks in, and then we see an FMV as Akzeriuth is completely and utterly destroyed. Van really did deceive Luke, all that time. You'll be in Fallen Akzeriuth after that, which is basically just that city in a place called the Qliphoth, which is underground. Talk to Tear and kill yourself inside watching some kid drown into the mud, along with the other thousands that died because of Luke. With that, your destination is Yulia City to the west. Along the way are two cutscenes, one of which the entire group shuns Luke for doing what he did with only Mieu comforting him, which makes Luke feel even worse. Oh well, it IS 100% his fault. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIu. Yulia City -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 25 When the group arrives in Yulia City, Luke just stands there while the whole group goes off to see Tear's grandfather. Basically if you didn't quite get it, you're in a place called the Qliphoth, which supports the Outer Lands by things called Sephiroth Trees, pillars that support it, and Luke completely broke one of them when Van deceived him. And then Asch comes in and lets Luke know that is indeed his fault, and then reveals that Luke is a second-rate replica of Asch, and that he wants that piece of trash to die. ____________________________________________________________________________ \\ Boss: Asch Party: Luke \\ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Stats: HP - 10,000 || - P. ATK - 380 EXP - 1,250 || - P. DEF - 340 Gald - 1,200 || - F. ATK - 250 Difficulty - Hard || - F. DEF - 100 || || Weakness - None Resist - None || ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ You do not have to win or lose this fight. Asch overpowers you completely and if you want to just throw the fight instead of throwing away a ton of Apple/Orange/Lemon/Melange Gels, that's perfectly acceptable. In fact, I hear you'll even get the EXP and Gald from the fight if you lose, although I'm not completely sure about that. But whatever... this fight is freaking difficult, although I suppose it is fairly satisfying personally to win. Asch uses the same techniques as Luke, except he's also capable of using magic. What a totally more awesome guy. Demon Fist is fairly useful here, as you want to keep your distance from him, plus Asch is fast so Free Running isn't exactly the best option here. However, there's one way to interrupt things. If Asch is totally cutting you down, use Raging Blast and a cutscene will ensue, ending with Asch saying something totally badass: "You're damn right you're not me". Plus when Asch gets below 5000 HP, another cutscene ensues as the two try to slice each other to pieces. Otherwise, you'll really have to use Apple Gels when you get below 900 HP, and Lemon Gels when below 500. Fortunately, Asch's spells are easy to Free Run away from, and leave him vulnerable to a good slash up, and plus if you hooked Steel up to a Grass Chamber, that might have a little bit of a healing effect. Good luck. Whatever you do, though, leave 3 Apple Gels. Remember, you can win or lose this battle. ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Whether you win or lose, the result is the same: Luke ends up in bed with a headache while Asch seems to control him, although it is most satisfying to hear Asch's first few roars of anguish. When you emerge, Luke is in bed connected with Asch through isofon slots, meaning that Luke can see everything that Asch is doing, yet you are indeed controlling Asch, because the party is completely sick of Luke and wants nothing more to do with him. Which is a perfectly understandable sentiment in my opinion. Anyway, when you emerge as Asch, do please talk to Luke and watch that sheer beauty of an exchange of words. With that, examine the closet behind him to get a Deck Brush (weapon for Jade), and then head downstairs and pick up the green book to learn the recipe for Ramen. Do go ahead and talk to Tear, but she doesn't intend to go to the Outer Lands. And nope, it's not because she loves a bastard like Luke or anything. Really. But with that, head outside and talk to Natalia, but then head over to the far left. Talk to the guy there and give him three Apple Gels, to which he runs off after Asch barking at him. Yeah, of course... but anyway, you came out of the right one between two buildings. Enter the one on the left, which is the central facility, and you can buy expensive tools to the left if you want. Bah, 270 Gald for an Apple Gel, who are you kidding. Save, talk to Ion and Jade if you want, and then enter the conference room which is above, and speak to the old man above. That is Tear's grandfather Teodoro. He and Asch will discuss raising the Tartarus, which I recommend starting now. Nothing to see here. With that, watch an FMV as the Tartarus makes it to the surface of the Outer Lands. Asch needs to use the Tartarus to get to the city of Belkend and learn Van's true objective, but he can't use his own men because everything he would do would be leaked to Van, so the party decides to accompany him. Just for the record, though, Luke and Tear are left in the Qliphoth, but that doesn't matter since Asch is a perfect substitute for Luke. And with that, you can use the Tartarus to explore the Outer Lands in all their beauty. I'd forgive you if you didn't know where Baticul is, because we've done little with the world map at this point, but it's on the northernmost part of the southernmost continent, in an ironic way. Make sure you head there first... trust me. Enter the shopping center, which is in the center of the city, and buy several Rices. You'll need at least five when you re-emerge as Luke, so this is the best time to do it. Plus you may be cooking Rice Balls, so either way, buy them. And when you're done, go back to the port and board the Tartarus so we can find Belkend. Before you can get to Belkend, you need to land in Port Belkend, which is on the western side of that same continent. Alright, will do. After the scene with Asch and Natalia, leave the port to the south and fight some battles to get the hang of Asch, who I like to use quite a bit here to get his usage percentage up and Luke's down since I used him a lot. Do NOT equip Asch with a Capacity Core or a Fonslot Chamber though... just don't. For me anyway, Asch had 417 P.ATK but just note you can't unequip his Maestro stuff. As for your destination, Belkend is just toward the southwest. -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ VIv. Belkend -~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ - Recommended Level: 26 I dig this music... very funky and twisted. Start off by examining the panel to the left of the entrance, and then some fon machine hand will appear and smash a box to pieces, revealing a chest with an Orange Gel in it. Cheap yet useful. And from there, follow the path and head down and to the right when applicable, and then under the bridge. Examine the hatch that's there, and marvel at how anyone, when Asch helps them, is surprised that he's actually a nice guy. I think that's really creepy. Either way, the guy gives you a Soba Noodles recipe, so might as well take it. Having done that, head to the left to reach a new screen, to which you can just ignore the boxes above. Nope, there really is nothing you can do with those at the moment. Enter the enormous building there, wh