SO4 Chaos Mode Walkthrough Revision 4 - 10/4/09 Contact - [email protected] (Matthew Emirzian) Star Ocean: The Last Hope is Copyright 2009 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All rights Reserved. Developed by tri-Ace Inc. SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. STAR OCEAN and THE LAST HOPE are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Co.,Ltd. This Chaos mode walkthrough is meant to be used in conjunction with another larger guide with detailed data and lists which are not provided here. While the walkthrough is aimed at Chaos mode, the strategies here can be applied to any difficulty mode. All enemy HP values are listed in Chaos Mode. This walkthrough is made under the following assumptions, in order to keep the game somewhat challenging. 1. Don't make Monster Data Jewels for any monsters you haven't yet defeated in your playthrough. Basically the only two useful monster jewels that are reasonable to get are the Adephage Drus (30 kills needed) and Bigfoot Sam (20 kills needed). The other '100 kills' or boss Jewels are not needed to get through the game. 2. No XP/SP grinding/overleveling. 3. No abusing HP Boost during the main game. 3. No Synthesis until the Gabriel Celeste fight. Table of Contents: 1. Version History 2. General Advice 3. Character Overview 4. Main Game Walkthrough 5. Item Creation/Synthesis Advice 6. Wandering Dungeon Walkthrough Boss Battle Videos: All videos are available in 720p resolution if you click the HD button. All Videos - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1E3556F399FCE15C Amaros Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI_39SoNyuI Amaros Solo Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QLMvPRTH4 Barachiel Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkOB4NblmRc Sahariel Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J14gIfOlNdQ Genomic Beast Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDrKNmEBqg0 Black Eagle Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAy4VPW44kQ Tamiel Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7F7syqMUY Phantom Soldiers Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmcV5AYooIo Amaros Manifest Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXxKCOxnLvo Kokabiel Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMwtV9NiGxw Apostle of Creation Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWLHBAefbmM Satanail Video 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3XyRNJRmcQ Satanail Video 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6dmlvkt6M Temple Guardian Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymC1OCvzgvY Eagle Rangers Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USCH6zz763I Area 01 - Aeos 1 Area 02 - Thalia Plains/Alanaire Citadel Area 03 - Woodley Village/Van Elm Region Area 04 - Wind Swallow Valley/Celestial Ship Area 05 - Cardianon Mothership/Subterranean City/Control Tower Area 06 - Military Facility Area 07 - Tatroi Area/Astral City Area 08 - Astral Desert/Tropp Area/Purgatorium 1/Tropp Area 09 - Purgatorium 2 Area 10 - Finishing Roak/Aeos 2 Area 11 - Miga Insect Warren Area 12 - En II/Old Road to the Sanctuary Area 13 - Astral Caves Area 14 - Nox Obscuris/Palace of Creation Area 15 - Around the Galaxy Again Area 16 - Colosseum Area 17 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B1-B3 Area 18 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B4-B5 Area 19 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B6-B7/Inner Sanctum Area 20 - Cave of the Seven Stars Repeat Area 21 - Wandering Dungeon 1F-5F Area 22 - Wandering Dungeon 6F-10F Area 23 - Wandering Dungeon 11F-15F Area 24 - Wandering Dungeon 16F+ Battle 01 - Amaros Battle 02 - Dragon Newt Battle 03 - Barachiel Battle 04 - Sahariel Battle 05 - Genomic Beast Battle 06 - Black Eagle Battle 07 - Guardian Beast Battle 08 - Tamiel Battle 09 - Phantom Soldiers Battle 10 - Amaros Manifest Battle 11 - Kokabiel Battle 12 - Apostle of Creation Battle 13 - Satanail Battle 14 - Undying Dragon Battle 15 - Temple Guardian Battle 16 - Eagle Rangers Battle 17 - Sahariel Shtavim Battle 18 - Shadow Reimi/Arumat/Sarah Battle 19 - Custom Newt/Dragoon Battle 20 - Wrathful Tamiel Battle 21 - Barachiel Fallen Battle 22 - Ashlay Bernbelot Battle 23 - Gabriel Celeste 2W/4W/6W Battle 24 - Prehistoric Psynard 2F Battle 25 - Ring Beast 4F Battle 26 - Chimera Beast 6F Battle 27 - Imperfect Amaros 8F Battle 28 - Amaros Manifest II 10F Battle 29 - Runaway Dragon 12F Battle 30 - Kokabiel Risen 14F Battle 31 - Shadow Edge/Bacchus/Myuria 16F Battle 32 - Shadow Lymle/Meracle/Faize 18F Battle 33 - Ethereal Queen 2W/4W/6W 20F 1. Version History Revision 1 29/3/09 - First version Revision 2 02/4/09 - Finished Wandering Dungeon, added more IC/stats/info Revision 3 06/4/09 - Further updates, added video links to some boss fights Revision 4 10/4/09 - Revised the post-game section with videos and more info from the official JP guide 2. General Advice 2a. General The main difference between Chaos difficulty and lower difficulties is that enemies get a 1.7x multiplier to all stats, and enemy Rush Gagues rise twice as fast. This means you have less opportunity to juggle enemies, and you will have to use other strategies such as stunning, kiting, blindsiding, and Rush Combos. Also, the enemy 'targeting reticule' no longer appears around your character, but you can still see the tiny arrow on the ground in front of the enemy. Use Sprinting to get by enemies in tight spaces and avoid surprise attacks. Don't max out on common consumables (Basil, Fresh Sage, etc.), there are tons of them in chests. As long as you have one spot open in your inventory, you'll be able to open the chest, so all you normally have to do is throw away one of the items so you have 19x (room for 1 more). You don't need to do a majority of quests or shop orders in the game. Don't tear your hair out trying to get them all done. In fact, doing them all pretty much guarantees you'll overlevel the main game. In Item Creation, shuffling the same 3 people within a group sometimes gets different results. The person in the first slot usually dictates what type of item will be made. Completing all of a shops orders gets you a 10% buy discount there. Press the Start button anywhere inside the Menu Screen to immediately return to the field. 2b. Battle Preparation Always arrange your party for easy switching between your two most used characters. The AI setting 'Gang up with Full Force' or 'Freestyle' is usually best for attackers, and 'Stay out of Trouble' for healers/casters. Turn off spells on melee casters like Arumat, so the AI doesn't waste time using them. Turn off Silence and Void on Lymle/Myuria/Edge to avoid game crashes at the end of a battle. Don't waste Potent stat seeds as they are useful for Synthesis/Duplication later on. Battle Skills like Energy Shield, Critical Hit, and Fury Boost will stack with item factors that provide the same effect. Each character has an innate Luck (chance to crit) stat and Crit Modifier % stat. Here are the stats (Luck/Crit Modifier): Edge 100/1.2, Reimi 140/2.8, Faize/Lymle/Myuria 90/1.2, Meracle 80/1.2, Bacchus 120/1.2, Sarah 100/2.8, Arumat 60/2.0. The "Increases critical hit chance" factor increases Luck by an unknown number. The Critical Hit skill offers 5% crit at level 1, and 10% crit at level 10. Beat:S attributes per rank: 1-Increased damage to Blindsided enemies, 5-Chain combo entry during Blindside, 9-dodge blindside counters, 13-charge blindside attacking (non-movement attacks only), 17-nearby enemies freeze while in blindside animation, 20-?. Beat:B attributes per rank: 1-Increased critical hit chance during Rush Mode, 5-Rush Gauge increase rate up, 9-MP cost -25% during Rush Mode, 13- Rush Gauge decrease rate down, 17- Damage taken -5% during Rush Mode, 20-Rush Gauge increases during Rush Mode (from being hit/successful hits).' The Combat Point bonus for 100/100 Battle Trophies is +3. 2c. Combat Dodging and kiting are good ways to keep most enemies under control while they are in Rush mode. Beat B is almost always better than Beat S, due to the HP boost percentage and the 'No Guard' properties of Rush mode. However, Beat S is very useful against enemies with No Guard such as Gabriel. Enemies can be stunned even while in Rush mode. Abilities that can stun (Galvanic Shock), and anyone with a Stun manual can be highly useful. There are only a few enemies in the game that can't be stunned (Gerels, Rock Hermits, Psynards, some bosses, etc.). Abilities that rely on knocking the enemy back, down, or juggled up become less effective since an enemy in Rush mode can't be moved. In Chaos difficulty enemies are almost always in Rush mode due to how fast it builds up. Abilities that can hit knocked down targets are almost always more useful than ones that can't - see the character section on what abilities can and can't hit knocked down targets. Timing Chain Combos is important. For example, Edge's Rising Blade can be chained infinitely if you wait for the enemy to fall closer to the ground before starting another one, instead of mashing the triggers. Switch quickly between characters if it looks like you're about to get hit and lose your Bonus Board. You can cancel out of auto-moving into attack range by jumping in any direction. 2d. Rush Combos/Rush Mode/Blindsides Rush Combos can interrupt pretty much anything going on during a battle, and the combo will end with the target knocked down. They can also be activated far from melee range, even by melee characters. Your characters Rush Combo partner(s) will be whoever they are standing closest to. This is important for powerful post-game bosses that can wipe the whole party out instantly. The animation a character makes when entering Rush Mode is the time window to press LT or RT to activate a Rush Combo. If you don't want to start a Rush Combo, avoid the animation delay by activating Rush Mode while in the middle of an attack, jump, being hit, etc. You can activate Rush mode during a blindside animation. Enemies that are stunned won't activate Rush mode until they are able to act again. There are two types of 'blindside' - blindsiding an enemy during one of their attacks seems to make the duration last longer, rather than blindsiding them as they approach your character. You can keep juggling a Blindsided enemy as long as the Blindside effect (the "?!" symbol) is on them, even if they are in Rush mode. There are a few Manual control infinite combos involving two characters keeping an enemy permanently juggled and in the Blindsided state. The more hits an ability does, the more Rush Gage it will build up, assuming the hits connect. When setting up Rush Combo teams, use the abilities for characters that deal the most damage. For example, Scintillant Scream (1120%) for Edge, or Dragon Roar (910%) for Arumat. 3. Character Overview Reimi: Best single target attack - Savage Sparrows. Best attack against groups of enemies - Crescent Wings. During fights with lots of enemies, always maneuver around first to line up a perfect shot that will hit most of the enemies at once. Time Reimi's Chain Combos so that enemies that are knocked down will be up again by the time the next one hits them, unless you're using Crescent Wings. Reimi's normal attack draws/animates faster than all of her ranged specials (Sonic Thorn, Crimson Squall, Hunter's Moon Crescent Wings, Savage Sparrows). To speed up her first special attack, fire a normal shot first then hit the trigger. Sonic Thorn: A ranged line attack that can knock enemies back. The arrow can also hit enemies close to Reimi as she fires it off. Its low CP and MP cost make it extremely useful early in the game. It can't hit knocked down targets. Crimson Squall: A single target oriented attack, basically a rapid series of shots. Unfortunately it knocks targets down so it's not as useful as Sonic Thorn. It can't hit knocked down targets. Seraphic Thunder: A PBAOE with a long delay time. It can't hit knocked down targets. Hunter's Moon: A ranged AOE attack that holds non-rushed enemies in place and deals constant damage. It can't hit knocked down targets. Chaotic Blossoms: A series of single target attacks with an AOE knockback at the end. It can't hit knocked down targets. Crescent Wings: An alternate version of Sonic Thorn that can hit knocked down targets. However, it has trouble hitting high flying enemies like Harpies, so it's not perfect for every situation. It can hit knocked down targets. Heavenly Flight: A close range AOE that comes up from the ground and juggles enemies up. It can hit knocked down targets. Savage Sparrows: A unique ranged attack that auto-hits all enemies on the field and juggles them upward, and lingers around the enemy if they are currently knocked down. It builds up a huge amount of Rush for a single attack, and is perfect to use in Rush Combos against post-game bosses. It's also great against enemy casters to interrupt them whenever possible, because it will auto-seek them out no matter what corner of the field they are hiding in. It can't hit knocked down targets. Bacchus: Best single target attack - Galvanic Shock. Best attack against groups of enemies - Termination. His jump-attack has a high stun rate and works on most enemies, so use it as much as possible. Emergency Repairs is great in a tight situation to keep alive for a little longer, or take enemies down 1 on 1. Force Breaker: A PBAOE attack with target seeking missiles. It can hit knocked down targets. Galvanic Shock: A short range PBAOE that can be chained very quickly, does a ton of damage, and frequently stuns. Galvanic Shock can be chained so quickly that it cuts off some of the damage (8 ticks) if you cancel out too quickly, so be patient with chaining it. It's perfect for most of the bosses in the main game, and even most of the post-game bosses. One of the drawbacks is that Bacchus controlled by the AI likes to fight at range and usually won't attack with Galvanic Shock. It can't hit knocked down targets. Irridation: A ranged AOE that does an enormous amount of damage, despite having a long activation time. It can't hit knocked down targets. Termination: Another ranged AOE. This one activates quickly but there's a delay before the damage occurs. Since it launches Bacchus into the air it's useful for avoiding some types of attacks. It can hit knocked down targets. Black Hole Sphere: A huge ranged AOE that pulls enemies towards the centre if they are not in Rush Mode, but lacks damage. It can't hit knocked down targets. Blessed Buster: Fires a straight beam outward that does decent, but doesn't have the coverage of Bacchus' other AOE abilities. It can't hit knocked down targets. Justice Savior: A large frontal cone attack. It can't hit knocked down targets. Godslayer: A close range attack like Galvanic Shock, except it can't stun, isn't an elemental attack, has a longer activation time, and a huge CP cost. It can hit knocked down targets. Arumat: Best single target attack - Dragon Roar. Best attack against groups of enemies - Dragon Roar. Unholy Maelstrom: A walking-forward PBAOE. It does a decent amount of damage but can easily be replaced by Dragon Roar. Nether Strike: A ranged AOE that knocks the target upward. It can't hit knocked down targets. Diabolic Edge: A slow starting PBAOE. It can hit knocked down targets. Bloodstorm Revolution: A PBAOE air juggle that leaves targets knocked down. It can't hit knocked down targets. Aerial Gallows: An ability that picks up an enemy and slams them on the ground, bouncing them up in the air to be juggled further. It can't hit knocked down targets. Dragon Roar: An AOE knockdown with an enormous range and level of damage. It can hit knocked down targets. Meracle: Best single target attack - X Claw. Best attack agains groups of enemies - Drill Spike. Although she's extremely powerful post-game, she's not that great for the main game since she doesn't get X Claw or Drill Spike until lv 60. She's great at Blindsiding and juggling enemies, although this usually means you will be Manually controlling your allied attackers, since the AI tends to mess Blindside juggles up. Drill Spike: Meracle dashes through the target with a wide range and good amount of damage. This is her best ability for large groups of enemies. X Claw: Meracle jumps in the air and juggles enemies upward from the ground. It can hit knocked down targets. Max Shockwave: Kind of like Sonic Thorn, except huge. Does a decent amount of damage. It can hit knocked down targets. Edge: Best single target attack - Raging Strike. Best attack agains groups of enemies - Celestial Sword. Edges strong point is that his normal attacks are very effective when combined with Critical Hit or Stun. This is useful early in the game when you have few ways of conserving or regenerating MP. He doesn't get his best abilities until later in the game. Rising Blade: A decent point black AOE that's useful for most of the main game. When chaining Rising Blade, wait for the enemy to fall further towards the ground before starting the next one, otherwise you will knock them too far back. It can't hit knocked down targets. Stampede Slash: A charge forward with an AOE at the end. It can't hit knocked down targets. Aura Spark: A forward line knockdown attack. It can't hit knocked down targets. Mystic Cross: A high air juggle, not a very practical ability. It can't hit knocked down targets. Cyclone Blade: A small PBAOE. It can't hit knocked down targets. Celestial Sword: A wide range PBAOE that juggles enemies and does good damage for an AOE. It can't hit knocked down targets. Raging Strike: Edge jumps in the air then lands with a single strike, knocking down the target. It can hit knocked down targets. Scintillant Stream: Much like Bacchus' Godslayer, it's too cumbersome and long to be used directly in battle, but its huge amount of damage makes it perfect for adding into Rush Combos. If every hit connects, it does the most total amount of damage of any ability in the game. It can't hit knocked down targets. Sarah: Sarah is easily the best healer/support character in the game. She's best used with her offensive spells and buffs/debuffs turned off. Faize: Level up his Earth Glaive and turn off other attack spells that build enemy Rush gagues too quickly. Don't put any party SP into him, and replace him asap. Myuria: She's best used as a healer set to Manual, since her AI is unreliable. Order her to heal, use items, or revive during fights like Gabriel Celeste or Ethereal Queen. Lymle: Treat her as a healer early in the game, and don't bother putting points into anything but Healing and Faerie Healing until they are maxed, then work on HP Boost so she doesn't die so quickly. It's best to replace her with Sarah as the primary healer during the game. 4. Main Game Walkthrough Area 01 - Aeos 1/Exploration Base Average Party Level - 1 For most of the early game, you should get used to contrlling Edges normal attacks, since you won't have a constant supply of MP yet. Letting the AI control Edge is pretty much a death sentence since the AI will be too stupid to kite or blindside Rush enabled enemies. Blindside and hit enemies until they go into Rush mode, then kite them around. Keep enemies grouped up so they hit Rush mode at the same time to keep things simple. Finish enemies off with Edges A+Up move, as it seems to have a higher critical hit rate than his normal attacks. Remember to set everyone to Beat:B as soon as you get them in your party. Pick up Reimi before you open any chests. Try not to waste any good items while fighting, as you'll need a decent amount for the boss. Use Sprint to avoid most of the enemies in between the Calnus and the restore point on the Northern Coast, while opening chests and harvesting. Once you reach the restore point, run around from there grabbing treasure/resources while fighting enough battles to reach lv 4. Level Rising Blade and Sonic Thorn to lv 4 as well. At the Exploration Base, do not give away your Iron to the shop order, as you can put them to better use in IC. Buy the Repair Kit, Eldarian Bow, and some consumables. Don't bother buying the skill manuals yet. Ignore the insect quests. Battle 01 - Amaros HP - 6846 Average Party Level - 4 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI_39SoNyuI Solo Edge Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI_39SoNyuI Blindside the boss during its attack animation, then move a bit to the side and start hitting its shell with normal attacks and Rising Blade. Ice Needles can be dodged at range by jumping, or by standing very close to the boss. Faize is going to die fairly quickly - set him to stay out of trouble, and leave him dead until the bosses shell is broken. Use items liberally to keep your party up. Area 02 - Thalia Plains/Alanaire Citadel Average Party Level - 6 Head right into Triom and pick Lymle up. Level Smithery to 2, purchase the Bowstring in Triom, head back into the Calnus to create the Storm Blade, Shell Armor, and Hunting Bow. Sell Lymle's Fire Armlet off for some funds, then buy the Mystic Chainmail and Blessed Sword, and stock up on Fresh Sage. Create an Adephage Drus Jewel for Edge. Save Lymle's SPs for when she gets Healing at lv 6 - your party won't be very functional until she learns it. The Mist Graves and Dryads are the easiest enemies to pick up to get Lymle up to speed on the way to the Citadel. Make another Adephage Drus Jewel out of the Monster Jewel in the Thalia Plains chest. While in the Citadel, stick with Reimi until you run out of MP, then switch to Edge with Blindsides and normal attacks/Rising Blade as crowd control. Give the Hide manual to Lymle. Take out the Wise Lizardmen first if you see them, to avoid being frozen. Try to keep enemies off Lymle, or switch to her and use Hide if she's being attacked. The fights get much more difficult when your party starts running out of MP, so use Blackberries liberally and take advantage of the healing point on the 2F right side. Max out Rising Blade, Sonic Thorn, Earth Glaive, and Lymle's Healing. Battle 02 - Dragon Newt Average Party Level - 11 Control Reimi and pelt him with ranged attacks. He has No Guard so it's tough to break him out of anything. If he starts targetting Lymle switch to her and use Hide while kiting until he stops chasing. Area 03 - Woodley Village/Van Elm Region Average Party Level - 11 Buy a Skill Manual: Pickpocket, Skill Manual: Chain Combos, Bandit's Gloves, and two Skill Manual: Taunt. Edge and Reimi should both have Chain Combos now. Pickpocketing should be around lv 5 to get everything in the village. If you have any Fol left, buy enough Iron to hand in for the Aeos shop order. Try to kill the Man-Eating Trees along the way to get a Fire Gem to drop, it has a very common drop rate. Before heading to the Celestial Ship, go back to the Calnus and create the Flame Sword. Level cooking to 5 to create Caesar Salad, Hamburg Steak, Salt- Grilled Saury, Shortcake, and Custard Pie if you wish. This is the last set of useful items you can create until after the Purgatorium/Astral Caves, so forget about leveling any IC skills until then. Area 04 - Wind Swallow Valley/Celestial Ship Average Party Level - 13 Control Reimi and fire at range. Keep your party's MP up and you should have no problem wasting any group of enemies in these areas. Work on leveling up Chain Combos for Edge and Reimi, and start saving Lymle's SP for Faerie Healing. Give Critical Hit to Reimi and max it out asap using Party SP. You can give the HP Boost skill to either Edge or Reimi. Battle 03 - Barachiel HP - 27960 Average Party Level - 15 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkOB4NblmRc This bosses weak spot is on his back, which he exposes briefly after using Dragon Tornado and Freezing Circle. Set Faize to Manual so he doesn't interrupt your shot at the bosses weak spot. Run around behind him and use Rising Blade whenever possible. Stick close to him and dodge his air attacks, but don't bother avoiding Dragon Tornado/Freezing Circle. Area 05 - Cardianon Mothership/Subterranean City/Control Tower Average Party Level - 16 Make a quick stop in Aeos to pickpocket everything, hand in shop orders for as many supplies as possible, and buy the item drop manuals. Create two more Adephage Drus jewels from pickpocketing. Control Reimi and use Sonic Thorn chains. With Critical Hit and Chain Combos maxed out, she should be very efficient at clearing out waves of enemies and filling up bonus boards. Keep the party's MP up as usual. At the shops around the dungeon, pick up supplies, Ripe Berries, and a Scrambling Unit to make a Lil Vending Machine 2 later. Keep working on maxing out Chain Combos for Edge/Reimi, try to get some points into Reimis Focus, and keep saving Lymle's SP for Faerie Healing. Train Bacchus to max level Chain Combo and set him up using Galvanic Shock chains. To take full advantage of Galvanic Shock and Bacchus' jump-attack, you have to control Bacchus yourself. Deal with the Dragon Generals and Armed Dragoons by using Galvanic Shock from behind them, which will stun and kill them almost all of the time. If that fails, stun the enemy with Bacchus's jump-attack, or switch to Reimi. Battle 04 - Sahariel HP - 58167 Average Party Level - 25 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J14gIfOlNdQ The boss exposes its weak point on its chest whenever it starts casting Voltage Blast and other special abilities. Control Bacchus and move in to use Galvanic Shock whenever possible, and the boss should go down in a couple attacks. Set Edge and Reimi to Manual so they doesn't get in the way. Depending on how often the boss uses Voltage Blast, the fight could be over in seconds. Area 06 - Military Facility Average Party Level - 27 Set up the Lil Vending Machine on the Calnus and pick up some supplies. In the Facility, use Galvanic Shock chains to eat through the enemy's large amounts of HP. The Bigfoot Sam monster can be maxed out in 20 kills for a useful +crit rate jewel, which will be useful for most of the main game. Give the No Guard manual to Bacchus. Bench Meracle for the main game, since she doesn't get her best attacks until after lv 60. Battle 05 - Genomic Beast Average Party Level - 27 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDrKNmEBqg0 Control Bacchus and jump-dash to stun it, then move in to pull off Galvanic Shock chains, which should stun it some more. Area 07 - Tatroi Area/Astral City Average Party Level - 27 Start training Mining, Harvesting, and Pickpocketing to Max. Use Reimi chaining Sonic Thorn for most of the monsters on the Roak overworld. Bacchus should switch to Termination for groups of normal monsters, and Galvanic Shock if you need to control him against bosses. Buy HP Boost for Edge or Reimi, Bacchus, Lymle, Arumat, and Sarah, Critical Hit for Edge and Arumat, and one Chain Combos for Arumat. Sell the Foal Snaps, Anti-Curse Amulet, Anti-Stun Amulet, Demon Amulet, and Thunder Armlet for extra Fol. There are a bunch of IC materials around, but they are worthless without some key ingredients that aren't available until after the Purgatorium/Astral Caves. Battle 06 - Black Eagle HP - 64457 Average Party Level - 28 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAy4VPW44kQ Blindside him and lay down the Chain Combos/Rush Combos. Remember to time Rising Blade so you don't push him too far away. Area 08 - Astral Desert/Tropp Area/Purgatorium 1/Tropp Average Party Level - 29 Reimi, Lymle, Bacchus, and Edge should all work on HP Boost. There's a lot of wide open area to cover in the desert, but none of the treasure is really worth going out of the way for. I recommend avoiding it and going straight for Tropp. Try to hit at least a few of the Harvesting nodes for some Ebony for an Anti-Silence Amulet later, though. Buy 3 Convert manuals in Tropp. Convert gives Edge, Bacchus, and Armuat more or less infinite MP during the main game. At this point you should have HP Boost, Critical Hit, Chain Combos, and Convert saved up for Arumat, and HP Boost saved for Sarah. Pick up the "A Symbol of Bravery" quest from the Tough-Talking Girl, which is very easy to complete, and rewards the important Scumbag Slayer. The Purgatorium Stone can be found in the entrance hall. Area 09 - Purgatorium 2 Average Party Level - 29 You can swap Myuria's Alchemist's Cloak onto Lymle, which is the best armor for her currently. Control Reimi full time using Sonic Thorn. Use Convert for Bacchus/Edge if they run out of MP at any point. If you come across a group of Chimera + Spirit Priests, kill the Priests asap so they don't heal/buff the Chimeras. The chests are a pain to get without the Recharge skill, so it's a better idea to come back later for most of them. At least pick up the Bow of Wisdom, though. B2 Statue Order: X 8 3 7 1 6 4 X 2 5 B3 Statue Order: 5 X 7 2 8 4 1 6 3 Battle 07 - Guardian Beast Average Party Level - 30 Fire at range with Reimi, use her Focus skill to break the bosses defenses with critical hits. Battle 08 - Tamiel Average Party Level - 31 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7F7syqMUY Set Reimi up with Sonic Thorn chains and Bacchus with Galvanic Shock chains. Start the fight with Reimi holding a full Rush meter and Focus enabled (from the previous ambush) so you can hit him with a Rush Combo to start with. Once he gets stunned, switch to Bacchus and use Galvanic Shock, then trigger more Rush Combos. It helps if you get a target lock on Tamiel so that it doesn't switch to a henchmen. You might get overwhelmed but he has low HPs so he'll die eventually if you keep reviving allies and hitting him hard. If you're having trouble with the fight, use Party SP to raise everyone's HP Boost skill beyond 3-4. Area 10 - Finishing Roak/Aeos 2 Average Party Level - 35 Make a quick stop in Tropp to pick up the "New Life, New Clothes" and "Desert Dilemma" quests. Kill the Sand Bird on the way back to the Calnus, which is located around the desert Oasis just south of Tatroi/Astral. The Sand Bird is just a normal Psynard enemy. It can't be stunned but is easy to take out at range with Reimi using Sonic Thorn chains, Focus, and Rush Combos. Ignore the other quests. On the Calnus, level Crafting, Engineering, Alchemy, and Compounding to 10. Some good items to create are the Vending Machine No 2 (Bacchus, Sarah, Edge), Ressurection Elixir, Ressurection Unit (Myuria, Faize, Lymle), Perfect Berries, Anti-Silence Amulet (Meracle, Myuria, Lymle) for the upcoming Amaros Manifest fight, Speech Restoration Unit, and Attack Bracelet (Edge, Meracle, Reimi). If you level Cooking to 10, you can invent almost every recipie in the game with Meracle and Sarah. With the Lil Vending Machine 1 and 2, purchase materials and create a couple Ressurection Elixirs, Ressurection Units, Physical Stimulants, and Perfect Berries. As for accessories, equip Attack Bracelets on your attackers and Energy Bracelets on your healers. Level Sarah's Healing, Faerie Healing, and HP Boost. Turn off all her spells but Healing, Faerie Healing, and Cure Condition. Battle 09 - Phantom Soldiers Average Party Level - 35 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmcV5AYooIo Use a party of Reimi, Bacchus, Lymle, and Sarah. Control Reimi and use Focus/Sonic Thorn from as far away as possible, while using healing/revive items. Position Reimi on the upper left or right side of the screen and try to hit all the enemies in a row with Sonic Thorn as they appear each Ambush. If you're having trouble with the fight, you can go back and do the Astral Caves or quests on Roak to gain levels and more Party SP for HP Boost. Area 11 - Miga Insect Warren Average Party Level - 40 (except Arumat) Now that Lymle is shuffling out of the main party, you should get her Artistry up to Max. Max out Unholy Maelstrom, and Critical Hit on Arumat, then start working on HP Boost. You can really get a lot of use out of his AOEs, although Reimi is still the safer bet to hold on to bonus tiles. Everyone should be working on HP Boost. Battle 10 - Amaros Manifest HP - 364150 Average Party Level - 42 (except Arumat) Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXxKCOxnLvo Give Sarah an Anti-Silence Amulet if possible. HP Boost is not necessary for this fight at all (see video) as long as you have some Ressurection Units to revive your party with. Control Bacchus with Galvanic Shock. Kill the bugs first, then blindside the boss with Galvanic Shock. If more bugs show up, ignore the boss and kill the bugs. Use Taunt as much as possible if the boss goes after someone else. It should only take a couple of well timed shocks to send the boss down, thanks to Galvanic Shock's enormous damage. Area 12 - En II/Old Road to the Sanctuary Average Party Level - 44 (except Arumat) Have Reimi focus on Cooking/Harvesting, Focus and Berserk, Bacchus focus on Termination, No Guard, and Emergency Repairs, Arumat focus on Diabolic Edge, Critical Hit, Chain Combos, HP Boost, and Berserk, and Sarah focus on Restoration and HP Boost. With Arumat on the Calnus, invent the Laser Suit (Bacchus, Arumat, Sarah) and Laser Scythe (Bacchus, Arumat, Edge). Create at least two Laser Suits and the Laser Scythe. You'll need Symbol Card "Aurora Rings"+ (Lymle, Sarah, Arumat) which is an Artistry lv 9 recipie, for each Laser Suit. If you're low on Gnomestones for Laser Suits, mine them in the Sanctuary. There are 2 hidden mining nodes in the southern area of the Sanctuary, right on the inner sides of the wall where the path splits. Just keep searching around until you see the "Examine" tag show up. Buy the T08 Cannon, Mental Stimulants, 13-17x Laser Oscillators, 2x All Purpose Ceramics, and good armor for anyone who didn't get a Laser Suit. Also get 3x Berserk, one Taunt, and one Hide manual. After defeating Kokabiel, Return to the Sanctuary to Complete the Trial of Might quest for the Laser Weapon, and equip it on Reimi. Complete the Trial of Courage quest and accept the Trial of Wisdom quest. Battle 11 - Kokabiel HP - 556651 Average Party Level - 44 (except Arumat) Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMwtV9NiGxw Set Bacchus using Termination, Arumat using Diabolic Edge, and Reimi using Sonic Thorn. Control Arumat and chain Diabolic Edge/Berserk. Try to hit all the killable spawning minions before they spread out, then avoid the bosses attacks until it gathers its remaining non-killable spawn and goes into its energy shield. HP Boost is not necessary for this fight at all (see video) as long as you keep the killable Kokabiel Spawn under control. If you let them rampage around, they will tear your party up. Area 13 - Astral Caves Average Party Level - 48 This is the last time you can visit the Caves without totally overleveling the place. You could just skip it anyway and head into the Palace of Creation, as you won't be missing much anyway. If you do the Astral Caves, you probably will end up at the final boss around lv 60 instead of 55. Land the Calnus on Nox Obscuris to open the transporters, then teleport to Tatroi. Finish the Ogre Battling quest then head into the Astral Caves. The new enemy Rock Hermit can only take damage from Critical Hits, which Reimi, Arumat, Edge, and Meracle have in ample supply. The Astral Caves boss seems to get knocked down/stunned even in Rush mode, for some reason. It's very easy to take down with ranged attacks. Area 14 - Nox Obscuris/Palace of Creation Average Party Level - 50-52 Bring plenty of Physical Stimulants, Mental Stimulants, group status cure items, Ressurection Elixirs, Ressurection Units, Physical Stimulants, and Perfect Berries. Pick up the Thunderbolt Gear, Vulcan Discharger, and ATK Boost manual for Bacchus. All of these items can be picked up along the fastest route through the Palace. Once Bacchus has ATK Boost, max it out asap. The Dark Soldiers and Dark Clowns are probably the only enemies in the main game worth avoiding. Fastest way through the Palace of Creation: At Area 1, step on the pendulum and cross into Area 2. At Area 2, head west into Area 3. From Area 3, go southwest into Area 5. In Area 5, melt the ice on the upper floor and ride the pendulum into Area 8. In Area 8, go north and pick up the Serpent Staff, then head west into Area 7. In Area 7, head west and jump down the ledge, which will bring you to the middle of Area 4. Go to the exit at the east end of Area 4, which will lead to the upper floor of Area 7 (you can also take a detour into Area 6 at the north end of Area 4). Once on the upper floor of Area 7, the Serpent Staff will activate and you can ride the pendulum to the boss. Battle 12 - Apostle of Creation HP - 1099572 Average Party Level - 55 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWLHBAefbmM Reimi should have Laser Suit/Laser Weapon, Bacchus should have Vulcan Discharger/Thunderbolt Gear, Arumat should have Laser Scythe/Laser Suit, and Sarah should have Sacred Spear or Sea Serpent Harpoon/Laser Suit. Equip a Stallion Snaps on your attackers and a Magic Bracelet on your healer(s). Set Reimi using Hunter's Moon, Bacchus using Galvanic Shock, and Arumat using Unholy Maelstrom. You can also try a two healer setup using Reimi, Bacchus, Lymle/Myuria, and Sarah, but you'll need to manually control Lymle/Myuria to keep them from getting close to the boss. Control Bacchus and use jump-attack stuns/Galvanic Shock/Rush Combos. On the way to Satanial, it's possible to avoid every boss. At the first intersection turn right, then take the next left, then the next right, then the next left. Battle 13 - Satanail Average Party Level - 56 HP - 6172011 (each orb has 306000 HP which is included in the total value) Video 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3XyRNJRmcQ Video 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6dmlvkt6M To start out with, take control of your healers and park them into the far corner, then lead the boss to the other end of the field. Control Bacchus and use jump-attack stuns/Galvanic Shock/Rush Combos. Make sure you're hitting the boss from the front where the orbs are. If there is no orb currently at the bottom, just back off until an orb rotates into the spot. The boss will be tossing around a lot of status effects so you'll need to switch characters a lot and use recovery items from whoever's free, or command Sarah to Cure Condition. The Yellow Orb is definitely the most annoying because it causes multiple random status effects, including the annoying Pumpkin status which there is no group cure for. An Anti-Pumpkin or Silence Amulet for Bacchus might be a good idea for the first phase of the fight. The Green orb will drain Rush Gague, the Red orb just does damage, and the Black orb causes Void status. Once Satanail is very low on health, he'll start spamming Dawn of the Cosmos. Run away from the attack or use a Rush Combo to interrupt it. When your melee characters die, switch to Reimi/Sarah and start rezzing/using items. None of your item usage is carried over into your clear file, so feel free to use everything. Use Rush Combos whenever possible to negate the bosses special attacks, or whenever it gets unstunned. Battle 14 - Undying Dragon Average Party Level - 55 If you can defeat Satanail, this guy is a piece of cake in comparison. Just get on him and spam Galvanic Shock and he'll probably just stand there stunned for 3/4 of the battle. Area 15 - Around the Galaxy Again Make sure you have the Trial of Wisdom quest from the En II Sanctuary, then take a trip around the galaxy to pick up some gear, skill manuals, levels, resource nodes, etc. Teleport to Lemuris/Triom to get the Cryptograph for the Trial of Wisdom quest. It's located in the northmost chokepoint in the ice field next to Alanaire Citidel. Teleport to Aeos to get the next Cryptograph, in the swampy area directly north of the save/restore point. Stop in the Miga Insect Warrens to open a Light Chest with the Dragon Roar manual for Arumat, which is at the bottom level (drop from east hole in B3). Teleport to Roak/Tropp to get the final Cryptograph. It's located by the pillars outside the eastern entrance to the Cave to the Purgatorium. Stop in the bottom floor of the Purgatorium for the Savage Sparrows manual for Reimi. Stop in B3 of the Purgatorium to pick up the Folklore Plate for Bacchus. Stop in the bottom floor of the Astral Caves to pick up Burning Claws for Meracle. Complete the Desert Dilemma quest if you haven't yet. Teleport to En II/Sanctuary to hand in the Trial of Wisdom quest. Finally make a stop at the Old Road to the Sanctuary to pick up the Godslayer manual for Bacchus. For IC, you can probably make the Quadplex Scythe at this point. Moonstones and Philosopher's Stones are needed for the rest of the IC gear. Finally, if you rushed through the Palace of Creation, skipped the Astral Caverns, or never touched the Colosseum, now would be a good time to go back and get a few levels. If you want to switch Arumat or Bacchus with Meracle, this is a good time to do so. Try to get Myuria to lv 61 sometime before the Wandering Dungeon so you can have two people in your party that can ressurect. Area 16 - Colosseum Average Party Level - 60-80 The colosseum is very straightforward, although it can be trivialized by fighting most of the battles after you're lv 100+ and covered with Synthesized gear. For the sake of a good challenge, you should attempt to beat all but the #1 Team Mode team while at lv 70-80 with unsynthed gear. There are no status cures available during fights, so equip an Anti- Silence/Paralysis Amulet on Sarah. If your party ends up nearly wiped out, use Reimi and kite while trying to revive and/or push enemies back with Crescent Wings. Always choose the curative set, of course. Against Le Pierrot Assassinat (24), don't bother trying to keep your whole team alive. Just solo them with Reimi using Crescent Wings until they hit Rush mode, then kite until it wears off. Against the Symbol Liberation Front (20), equip Bacchus with No Guard and use Galvanic Shock and Rush Combos on the Support Masters to stun and prevent them from healing. Against Bettlemania (19), put an Anti-Paralysis Amulet on Sarah at least. Against Netherworld Guardians (16), set Reimi and Arumat to "Fight Freestyle With Full Force!". Work on picking off one Gatekeeper with Galvanic Shock, No Guard, ATK Boost, and Berserk while the rest of your party stops the other ones from getting off too many heals. Against Creepy Crawlies(12), use the same tactic as Netherworld Guardians, except HP Boost instead of No Guard for Bacchus. Against Birds of Shangri'la (10), equip No Guard on Bacchus and focus on the Chicks of Paradise. Once those are dead, switch to Reimi and take the Bird of Paradise out at range (it can't be stunned). Make sure to keep Sarah very far away from the action. Against King-Sized Pair (6)/Gemini Twins (2), try to keep the two separated as far as possible to avoid taking too much damage, while spamming Galvanic Shock to keep one stun locked. Against Rainbow Blight (5), control Reimi with 'Gang Up' tactics. Switch Bacchus to Terminate chains. Fire at range and when one or two starts chasing Reimi, kite them until their Rush gague runs out, then start pushing them back again. Keep circling the arena to reposition Reimi so she can start hitting all 4 at once again. Against Nubile Wenches, (3), use Galvanic Shock. Give Reimi Savage Sparrows since Crescent Wings is too low to hit the harpies. The solo coluseeum is a good way to test different abilities. Reimi Solo: One of the easiest soloers, due to her ability to kite, jump- attack, and push enemies back at range. Bacchus Solo: Galvanic Shock+Emergency Repairs makes him practically invulnerable. The two enemy types that can't be stunned (Rock Hermits and Psynards) can be taken out at range with one of his many ranged abilities. Arumat Solo: His Dragon Roar combos can dish out a huge amount of burst damage before kiting a Rush mode enemy. He also has goodies like Stun, No Guard, and Critical Hit. The Ultrabeast Gedoran (Solo Rank #2) can both paralyze and freeze, with a ton of damage and health (2.6 mil HP). However its ranged abilities are fairly weak. The Lord of Dragons has 4.2 mil HP, but is very easy to kite and has no real ranged attacks. Area 17 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B1-B3 Average Party Level - 60-80 The Cave enemies start out at 3-4 times the stats of the Palace of Creation monsters, and they only get stronger from there. Always bring stacks of recovery items. It's not a bad idea to make some healing/ressurection Symbol Cards also. Put on a Warning Brooch for this dungeon as getting surprised can lead to some very nasty situations. If your team is lv 60 and wearing the same non-synthed Palace of Creation gear, most enemies are going to take a while to kill. Using Berserk and Focus can speed things up greatly, though. Bacchus should chain Galvanic Shock or Termination, Reimi should chain Crescent Wings or Savage Sparrows, and Arumat should chain Dragon Roar. Controlling Arumat and using Berserk/Dragon Roar is probably the fastest way to kill enemies at this point. The Bone Knights, Guiafairos, and Leonblades are the easiest enemies to pick on, while the Gust Hornets and Crater Perytons are the worst. When fighting Gust Hornets, use Arumat and try to kill them with Berserk/Dragon Roar in a group before they have a chance to spread out and destroy your party. Try keeping the Crater Perytons from camping out in the corner and casting Tornado repeatedly. Things get a little easier once you grab Reimi's "Evil Spirit's Bow" on B2, which will up her ATK by about 1000 over the Laser Weapon. This floor has Treants, which can be extremely annoying when paired with Gust Hornets. Battle 15 - Temple Guardian Average Party Level - 60 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymC1OCvzgvY Get up close and hit it with melee attacks like Galvanic Shock, which seems to make it constantly fall over instead of running around attacking. Its short range attacks are far less dangerous than the long range beams and target seeking missiles. Battle 16 - Eagle Rangers Average Party Level - 65 Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USCH6zz763I Use Galvanic Shock, hopefully keeping 1-2 of them stunlocked. Stick around Sarah and try to keep them off of her. Battle 17 - Sahariel Shtavim HP - 1706652 Average Party Level - 70 This fight is even easier than the previous times. Set everyone but healers on manual and hit its weak spot with Galvanic Shock when it uses Voltage Blast. Area 18 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B4-B5 Average Party Level - 75-100 The Treants are easy pickings without the Gust Hornets backing them up. Put an Anti-Paralysis Amulet on Sarah to make the Manadragora fights go a little smoother. Battle 18 - Shadow Reimi/Arumat/Sarah Average Party Level - 80 Set your party to Fight Freestyle to keep the three separated and occupied. Take out Shadow Sarah first, then Shadow Reimi, then Shadow Arumat at range. Area 19 - The Cave of the Seven Stars B6-B7/Inner Sanctum Average Party Level - 100-120 In any battle with a Spirit Archbishop, kill them first. The Scumbag Slayer works with special attacks, making the Metal Scumbags easy to kill with one equipped. See "Area 20" for Metal Scumbag farming. The Spirit Archbishops rarely drop a Symbol Booster needed for Myuria's best weapon. You'll finally get the Duplication manual on B7, so you can make some Moonstone gear. Create the Valiant Mail for Arumat, and Photonic Blaster for Bacchus. Battle 19 - Custom Newt/Dragoon Average Party Level - 95 Go after the Dragoon first with Galvanic Shock. Wait for it to target someone else then come up from behind and start shocking, or jump-attack to stun it. If you can catch both enemies close together, you can just keep both of them perma stunned and make the match very easy. Battle 20 - Wrathful Tamiel Average Party Level - 105 Tamiel doesn't have a lot of HP, but he's very deadly. Switch between Reimi and Bacchus, depending on how many henchmen he's got out. Try to nail Tamiel at every opportunity, he will go down fairly quickly. Don't waste too much time trying to get your party back on its feet one by one, just use lots of Ressurection Units and Rush Combos at range. Battle 21 - Barachiel Fallen HP - 3341251 Average Party Level - 110 Same as always, wait for this guy to come down on the ground then nail the weak spot on his back. Battle 22 - Ashlay Bernbelot Average Party Level - 120 HP - 8840000 ATK 6611, INT 4766, DEF 2458, HIT 1839, GRD 100, LUCK 10 Video - Kill Ashlay before doing any Synthesis. You'll have to defeat the #2 team about 5-6 times, though. Ashlay can't be stunned, so kite him around with Reimi using Savage Sparrows, dodge his attacks, and use Rush Combos often. Set up Reimi using Savage Sparrow x3, Bacchus using Galvanic Shock, and Arumat using Dragon Roar x2/Unholy Maelstrom to maximize Rush Combo damage. An alternate strategy is to blindside him as much as possible with a melee character like Arumat or Meracle. Battle 23 - Gabriel Celeste 2W/4W/6W Average Party Level - 120 HP - 8160000/16320000/24480000 ATK 4456/5240/6343, INT 2674/2471/2571, DEF 2620/2700/2796, HIT 605/1018/1164, GRD 100, LUCK 200 Video - Bring a full stack of the usual healing items (Ressurection Units especially). Equip Anti-Paralysis amulets on everyone. The Elusion skill is very useful for running away from encounters to reach Gabriel quickly. Gabriel is immune to all elemental damage (including Galvanic Shock), although he can be stunned. Make the following IC Synthesis gear: Photonic Blaster/Evil Spirit's Bow/Quadplex Scythe/Burning Claws with 2-3x +18% atk Stallion Snaps on Reimi (or Arumat/Meracle) with 4x Rush Gauge charge rate +2 Set up Reimi using Savage Sparrow x3, Bacchus using Godslayer x2/Irridation, and Arumat using Dragon Roar x2/Unholy Maelstrom. Controlling Reimi, dodge Gabriel's attacks and keep hitting him until you can get a Rush Combo, then perform the Rush Combo and repeat. With +8 Rush Gauge, Reimi should get a full bar with one Savage Sparrow attack. If he uses Brutish Bolt or Celestial Fists of Fury, Reimi has enough time to get off a Savage Sparrow and pull off another Rush Combo. Make sure Sarah is far away a corner and you don't kite Gabriel over to her. If Gabriel for some reason starts chasing Sarah, use Taunt and try to pull him away. Bacchus and Arumat will be going down often, but as long as one of them is alive for you to perform a Rush Combo with, you should be ok. Alternate strategy: Control Meracle or Arumat in at least Rank 9 Beat:S and Blindside him to break his No Guard, then juggle him around until you can hit him with a Rush Combo. Kite him until his Rush Gague wears out, then repeat. Once he gets to half HP he gains blindside counters, so you will need at least Beat:S Rank 9 to break it. 5. Item Creation/Synthesis Advice Occasionally you will create a 'high quality' item. This means it's base stats are 5% higher than normal, and it has an -R01 at the end of the name. Some of the best IC items have an annoying secondary factor tacked onto them like ATK +2. There are two ways to get around this. I'll use a Caesar Salad as an example (MP Cost -25%, ATK +2). 1. Synth the Caesar Salad onto an item that already has 3 factors. The ATK+2 will be thrown away as there's no room for it. The drawback to this method is that it only works for the 4th synth slot. 2. Synth a Sacrificial Doll twice to a Fresh Sage, which gives you 3 "Automatically revives from incap, then vanishes" factors. Then synth the Doll with the Caesar Salad. This will erase the ATK +2 on the bottom as there's no room for it. Then synth your intended weapon/armor with the Doll. Since weapons/armor can't have the "Automatically revives from incap, then vanishes", factor it will only recieve the MP Cost -25% bonus. This works perfectly for stacking +EXP (Curry Rice) and +Fol (Mille-feuille) factors to gain huge amounts of XP and Fol quickly. If you are working with weapons, you can use Warding Brooches instead of Sacrificial Dolls. Warding Brooches already have 2 factors on them that can't transfer to your weapon, so you only need to apply one item like a Fresh Sage instead of two. If you are working with accessories, first synth the desired 3 factors onto any empty weapon/armor. Then synthesize the weapon with the accessory as the base to transfer the factors over. This only works with factors that can exist both on weapons and accessories or armor and accessories. If you factor an accessory onto a weapon or armor (such as a Tri-Emblem), the weapon/armor gains the full value of that accessories stats (although DEF/GRD doesn't transfer from accessories to weapons). If you factor a weapon onto a weapon, or an armor onto an armor, the base item gains only 5% of the synthesis items stats. This makes the Tri-Emblem more or less the undisputed champion. Inexpensive weapons with no factors: En II: Slasher Claws, Observer's Spear, Observer's Sword, Wand of Wonder. Colosseum: Wild Arc, Mithril Sword. Bacchus, Myuria, and Arumat can synth the weapons they came with, if they still have them. The base Clay cost to Duplicate an item remains the same regardless of what factors are synthed onto it. Take advantage of this by synthing high cost items like Potent Seeds onto cheap weapons that only cost 1 Clay. You can then duplicate that piece of gear for 1 Clay with the stats from other items that would have cost far more otherwise. All items have a limited number of times you can synth them. To save on synths, you can synth 4 factors onto an unimportant weapon/armor/accessory, then transfer those factors onto your intended base item. This will give you 4 factors for the cost of one synth. After your item has the 4 desired factors, synth items like Tri-Emblems until you run out of available synths. Tri-emblums are the best Wrist Accessories to make custom pieces out of, since they have 8 available synths. Create a 'super Tri-emblum' then duplicate it for as many party members as you wish. There's no real 'best' Neck Accessory, but a customized Anti-Paralysis Amulet would be the most useful against Gabriel. The Ethereal Queen can also stun, so an Anti-Stun Amulet with some factors on it would also be useful. Good Items/Factors for gear: Oyakodon/Curry Rice - +20% XP for party after each battle(weapon/accessory only) Mille-feuille - +40% Fol after each battle (weapon/accessory only) Hyper Potion - ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% Caesar Salad - MP cost -25% in battle Potent Attack Seeds - ATK +18% (weapon/accessory only) Potent Accuracy Seeds - HIT +25% (weapon/accessory only) Potent Health/Magic/Defense Seeds - HP/MP/DEF +20% (armor/accessory only) Green Talisman - Increases chance of surviving incap via fury (armor/accessory only, does not stack) Blue Talisman - Nullifies HP Damage 25% of the time (armor/accessory only, does not stack) Stallion Snaps - Rush Gauge charge rate +2 (accessory only) Crystal (mined on Lemuris), also a factor on many Monster Jewels - Increases critical hit chance (aka the Luck stat, seems to stack to some extent)... (weapon/accessory only) Tri-Emblem - Can be synthed for its full value onto any weapon, armor, or accessory (200 ATK/INT, 100 DEF/HIT/GRD). Weapons will only get the ATK/INT/HIT, however. Also useful for Rush Gauge charge rate +3 Regeneration Symbol - Restores 2% of MP periodically in battle (armor/accessory only, does not stack) Angelstone - Enemy Def+100% (weapon only) Shadestone - Enemy ATK/INT +100% (weapon only) Since the actual values for critical hit chance and surviving incap via fury are hidden, I don't know whether the effect is greater depending on if they are on a weapon/armor or accessory. List of ultimate IC gear: Bacchus: Symbol Cannon "Tempest" (5x Moonstone, 1x Philosopher's Stone), Plate of the Lost Monarch (WD 3F, 5F) Arumat: Laser Weapon (Trial of Might quest), Universal Armor (4x Moonstone, 2x Dragon God Scale, 1x Philosopher's Stone, 1x Gabriel Celeste's Feather) Meracle: Hidden Claws "Crimson Falcons" (WD 10F, 12F), Absolute Protector (WD 11F,13F,16F) Edge: Imperial Sword (4x Moonstone, 1x Philosopher's Stone), Universal Armor Reimi: Mediumistic Bow (2x Moonstone, 1x Philosopher's Stone), Absolute Protector (WD 11F,13F,16F) Sarah: Trident Harpoon (WD 9F, 13F), Laser Suit/Seven Star Cloak Myuria: Wizard's Staff (1x Philosopher's Stone), Laser Suit/Seven Star Cloak Recommended Synthesis on gear based on lv 255 base character stats: Always max out the Tri-Emblem slots on armor before starting on the weapon to top off ATK if needed. Synthing Tri-Emblems to the weapons isn't as important as the armor/accessories, since you only get ATK/INT/HIT and not DEF/GRD. Once your characters ATK/INT is maxed, there's no real point synthing more Tri- Emblems onto the weapon. Universal Armor (10 synth slots) Nullifies HP Damage 25% of the time DEF+20% DEF+20% GRD+25% Absolute Protector (12 synth slots) Nullifies HP Damage 25% of the time DEF+20% DEF+20% Maximum HP+20% Plate of the Lost Monarch (8 synth slots) Nullifies HP Damage 25% of the time DEF+20% DEF+20% GRD+25% Laser Suit for Sarah/Myuria/Lymle (16 synth slots) .. or Seven Star Cloak (10 synth slots) Nullifies HP Damage 25% of the time DEF+20% Maximum HP+20% Maximum HP+20% Tri-emblum (8 synth slots) Hit+2 Increases chance of surviving incap via fury Maximum HP +10% Rush Gauge charge rate +3 Anti-X (Stun, Paralysis, whatever) Amulet (3 synth slots) for attackers Grants immunity to X status Rush Gauge charge rate +2 Increases critical hit chance or Restores 2% of MP periodically in battle Rush Gauge charge rate +3 Anti-X (Stun, Paralysis, whatever) Amulet (3 synth slots) for healers Grants immunity to X status DEF+10% DEF+10% DEF+10% Symbol Cannon "Tempest" (12 synth slots) Increases critical hit chance Increases critical hit chance ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% Hidden Claws "Crimson Falcons" (4 synth slots) Increases critical hit chance +20% damage to animals Increases critical hit chance ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% Laser Weapon for Arumat (16 synth slots) ATK+18% ATK+18% or Increases critical hit chance (depending how many Tri-Emblems you put on this weapon, you may not need a 2nd ATK+18%) Increases critical hit chance Increases critical hit chance Mediumistic Bow (10 synth slots) Increases critical hit chance Increases critical hit chance ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% Imperial Sword (10 synth slots) Increases critical hit chance Increases critical hit chance ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% ATK/INT/DEF/HIT/GRD +5% Trident Harpoon (? synth slots) Wizard's Staff (? synth slots) Character stats at lv 200/255 with no gear/Battle Skills or BEAT status bonus: Reimi lv 200/255 39996 HP, 2556 MP, 1833 ATK, 839 INT, 1770 DEF, 1305 HIT, 875 GRD 55884 HP, 2961 MP, 1953 ATK, 999 INT, 1944 DEF, 1489 HIT, 1339 GRD Bacchus lv 200/255 63715 HP, 2005 MP, 2015 ATK, 725 INT, 3008 DEF, 1173 HIT, 830 GRD 89195 HP, 2337 MP, 2146 ATK, 858 INT, 3279 DEF, 1356 HIT, 1276 GRD Arumat lv 200/255 54595 HP, 3331 MP, 2857 ATK, 1493 INT, 1611 DEF, 1493 HIT, 780 GRD 76431 HP, 3887 MP, 3043 ATK, 1774 INT, 1743 DEF, 1732 HIT, 1207 GRD Sarah lv 200/255 37565 HP, 4035 MP, 1545 ATK, 1832 INT, 1253 DEF, 1004 HIT, 700 GRD 52594 HP, 4704 MP, 1651 ATK, 2171 INT, 1372 DEF, 1169 HIT, 1076 GRD Meracle lv 200/255 46524 HP, 2158 MP, 2801 ATK, 599 INT, 1611 DEF, 1066 HIT, 1059 GRD ? Edge lv 200/255 50264 HP, 2930 MP, 2219 ATK, 1320 INT, 2011 DEF, 1172 HIT, 991 GRD ? Myuria lv 200/255 36200 HP, 4581 MP, 1228 ATK, 2006 INT, 1214 DEF, 904 HIT, 779 GRD ? Lymle lv 200/255 ? ? 6. Wandering Dungeon Walkthrough Area 20 - Cave of the Seven Stars Repeat Anytime in between your exploration of the Wandering Dungeon, you can head back to the Cave of the Seven Stars again to get some Magical Clay, Fol, XP, etc. Farming Metal Scumbags for Fol: Create three weapons with 4 Mille-feuille (+40% fol) factors on them for Sarah, Meracle, and Edge, since they have no- factor weapons easily purchasable in En II. Your fourth member will be Bacchus who will switch between a weak weapon and the Scumbag Slayer to finish the Scumbags off. You can also create a 30% x3 Fol wrist and neck accessory and duplicate them several times for everyone. B6 is the best place to hunt Metal Scumbags down. Set everyone to Manual, and give Bacchus No Guard and a weak weapon. Spam Black Hole Sphere on the Metal Scumbags which will guarantee they won't escape as long as there's at least one up. When you get tired of their thievery, equip Bacchus with the Scumbag Slayer and the Black Hole Sphere will guarantee their deaths. Use Meracle's Ocarina to revive the Scumbags and do it again if you need more Fol. You can easily make 99 million fol in a couple of minutes this way. That should be enough Fol to purchase 55 Tri-Emblems at 1.8 mil cost, assuming you handed in all his shop orders for the discount. Metal Scumbags are also great for leveling up lagging behind or unused characters. Create +XP weapons and accessories and hunt down the scumbags, then use the Ocarina to revive them. Note that this will remove some of the Wandering Dungeon challenge, although not as much as synthing tons of uber gear would. Create one weapon with 4x 40% XP on it, then duplicate that weapon 8 times, then synth the weapons onto other no-factor weapons that each party member can equip. Meracle: Slasher Claws, Edge: Observer's Sword, Lymle: Wand of Wonder, Myuria: Symbol Staff, Arumat: Eldarian Scythe, Sarah: Observer's Spear, Reimi: Wild Arc, Bacchus: Doesn't need a +XP% weapon as he'll be using the Scumbag Slayer. Farming XP isn't as easy as getting max Fol, so build up a good blue board before hunting down Scumbags. If you do it right each 3 scumbag fight should be worth about 2 mil XP. Try not to do any XP farming until you've been through the Wandering Dunugeon a few times and enjoyed the challenge going in at lv 120-125. If you go to B6 and head north and the first enemy you spot is a Spirit Priest, you'll find a Metal Scumbag just around the left corner. Keep using Meracle's Ocarina and he will keep respawning at the last location you killed him. Don't stand directly on his spawn point or he won't show up. To steal Magical Clay from the Bone Knights on B1, use Myuria's A+forward attack that knocks down. Equip her with a Slayers Bangle with 3 "Adds one hit chance per attack" synthed onto it for the best chances of thievery. After stealing the Clay, Escape from battle and start the encounter again. Once you've got 20 Magical Clay, do as much duplicating on the spot as you can, then steal more. This will save a lot of trips and disc swapping for more Clay. Have Sarah or Lymle in the party with Elusion so you can escape instantly. You can only steal one item per enemy per battle, so if you get a Hyper Potion from the Bone Knight, you won't be able to grab a Magical Clay off them also. Repeat this process anytime you need more Clay, Fol, XP, or Gabriel Celeste's Feathers. Area 21 - Wandering Dungeon 1F-5F Average Party Level - 120 The point of your first trip should be to obtain 2-3 Philosopher's Stones for IC, possibly find Santa, and search chests for some of the gear like Hidden Claws, Absolute Protector, etc. There's not really any need to do any more Synthesis until attempting the Ethereal Queen. Having around 5000-6000 ATK and 2500-4500 DEF should be fine for your attackers for the 1st trip. Keep working on building up a set of the best gear through subsequent trips. Monsters are pretty consistent in their HP values on all floors. If you can handle the first floor, the other floors enemies are about the same level. The bosses do get more difficult, though. The dungeon is always arranged in a box like shape. To easily remember the location of some important spots like the entrance/exit, just count the rows down and across where the room is located. It's best to explore the maps dead ends first - look for series of hallways and rooms that are isolated and non- looping to the rest of the dungeon, and explore there first. Bosses are always in the large square or cross shaped rooms, except the square room with the large altar. Geostones are normal drops off all enemies but Hell Clowns in the dungeon. Since most enemies are Undead or Demons from 6F and above, including Lymle and/or Myuria in the party will increase the Geostone drop rate. Geostones cannot be stolen. The two big IC items for the Wandering Dungeon are Dragon God Scales and Philosopher's Stones. Dragon God Scales drop off of Dominator Dragons on 16F+, and Philosopher's Stones drop off Damascus Forts on 11F+ On your 2nd trip you should have better gear and try to get down to 18F or so, and hopefully find Santa somewhere. Make sure you have one of each regular Seed and 10 Fermented Sushi to get a discount on his prices. Ditch HP Boost and replace it with Energy Shield, Fury Boost, etc. Getting to lv 255 isn't necessary, but it does boost base stats by 150-200 from lv 200. Party mainstays like Edge, Reimi, Meracle, and Bacchus aren't too difficult to get 50 BTs just through normal gameplay. Arumat and Sarah both have unusual BTs that require you to go to low level areas and grind enemies, use self-inflicting status items, jump 5555 times, etc. to get 50 BTs. Ah yes, when was the last time I had to use a combination of autofire controller, rubber bands, and duct tape? Star Ocean 3. Battle 24 - Prehistoric Psynard 2F Average Party Level - 125 Take down the Psynard with ranged/non elemental attacks, it can't be stunned. You should have plenty of experience dealing with these things by now, and they are just normal enemies elsewhere. Battle 25 - Ring Beast 4F Average Party Level - 130 Take out the henchmen first, then take down the Ring Beast at range. You should have plenty of experience dealing with these things by now, and they are just normal enemies elsewhere. Area 21 - Wandering Dungeon 6F-10F Keep an eye out for the Trident Harpoon for Sarah on 9F, and Hidden Claws for Meracle on 10F. The Lil' Vending Machine on 9F is also great for crafting lots of Symbol Cards from inside the Calnus. From 8F and above you should start scouring every room for Santa if you need stacks of Tri-Emblems. Santa will only show up in the larger cross/square sized rooms, not the winding hallway shaped rooms. Battle 26 - Chimera Beast 6F Average Party Level - 135 Take out the henchmen first, then take down the Chimera. You should have plenty of experience dealing with these things by now, and they are just normal enemies elsewhere. Battle 27 - Imperfect Amaros 8F HP - 3859231 Average Party Level - 140 Use someone with high crit rate like Arumat on its shell to break it. Battle 28 - Amaros Manifest II 10F HP - 4672290 Average Party Level - 145 This boss isn't much different from last time, except the bugs are extremely deadly. Even getting near their tails is a death sentence without the best gear. Try to approach them from the front or at range. They don't have a lot of HP so they die quickly, fortunately. You might get unlucky and have the boss spawn a ton of bugs, which could spell doom if you are under lv 150 and not in great gear. Once the bugs are dead, start tanting and blindsiding the boss to do as much damage as possible to its weak spot. If the boss is in Rush mode it will usually just turn around and hide its tail again, so turn your allies to manual (besides Sarah) so you can keep the boss out of Rush mode as much as possible for more blindside opportunities. If you're here on subsequent trips around lv 180+ and the best gear, this boss is much easier! Area 22 - Wandering Dungeon 11F-15F Average Party Level - 150+ The Absolute Protector could be on 11F, 13F, and Trident Harpoon on 13F. The Damascus Forts don't really start showing up until the 13-14th floor, but once they are around, keep killing them until you get at least 2-3 Philosopher's Stones, so you don't have to farm for tons of Magical Clay to duplicate them at an 11 Clay cost. On 14F, there is guaranteed to be a Philosopher's Stone in a chest. The Little Mutants drop Micro Heavy Ion Colliders, two of which are needed for Bacchus' best weapon. Battle 29 - Runaway Dragon 12F Aside from having a ton of HP, this dragon isn't any different from the normal kind. Battle 30 - Kokabiel Risen 14F HP - 3407301 She's the exact same as before. Take out her spawn with AOE attacks, then avoid her attacks, then hit her when she's in her protective shell, and repeat. Area 23 - Wandering Dungeon 16F+ There's one more chance at an Absolute Protector on 16F. Dragon God Scales drop off the Dominator Dragons on these floors, which are needed for the Universal Armor for Arumat/Edge. If you're already decked out in the best gear, the Hell Clowns aren't too much of a threat except to the bonus board. Otherwise, treat them with extreme caution and try to take them out with Reimi/Rush Combos. On 18F and 20F, there is guaranteed to be a Philosopher's Stone in a chest, and there is a Dragon God Scale on each floor of 16F-20F. Battle 31 - Shadow Edge/Bacchus/Myuria 16F Set your party to Fight Freestyle to keep the three separated and occupied. Hit Myuria first, as she has the least HP. Take out Edge and then Bacchus afterwards. Battle 32 - Shadow Lymle/Meracle/Faize 18F Set your party to Fight Freestyle to keep the three separated and occupied. Hit Lymle first, as she has the least HP. Take out Meracle and then Faize afterwards. Battle 33 - Ethereal Queen 2W/4W/6W 20F Average Party Level - 200+ HP - 22100000/44200000/66300000 ATK 6295/6313/6611, INT 5390/4997/5390, DEF 3794/3811/3825, HIT 1261/1303/1353, GRD 100, LUCK 100 Video - There are a bunch of party combinations that can be used. The most efficient would be Reimi, Edge, Myuria, and Sarah. You'd have Reimi running around triggering Rush Combos, Edge joining in with Scintillant Scream doing enormous amounts of Rush Combo damage, and Sarah/Myuria healing/rezzing. You could also replace Myuria with Bacchus if you feel like trying to stun. Apparently the EQ will use Supernova less frequently if there is only one person in her short range, so Reimi+one melee+two healers seems to be the most efficient setup. Critical Hit, Energy Shield and Fury Boost are all preferred skills. Everyone should have their Chain Combos set up to do maximum damage during a Rush Combo. Savage Sparrows, Galvanic Shock, X Claw/Max Shockwave, Scintillant Stream, Dragon Roar, etc. Once the battle starts, take control of Sarah/your healers and move them far into a corner. Lead EQ away from them and try to keep them apart as much as possible. If the EQ gets near your healer(s), make them revive as many people as possible before they die, then lure the EQ back away from your healer(s), then revive them. It's easier if you set your healers to Manual so they don't try running out of the corner at the sight of the EQ, but it's more work trying to manage them and Reimi at the same time, so choose what works for your skill level. Control Reimi (set to Manual) and use Savage Sparrows followed by a Rush Combo as often as possible. A few of her attacks can stun so an Anti-Stun Amulet is preferred. She will AOE drain everyones mana nearby, so be ready to use Convert or MP recovery items. The EQ can be stunned with Galvanic Shock and normal attacks with the "Chance to stun" factor, but unfortunately she uses "Empress Massacre" immediately followed by "Divine Wave" too often for close range attacks to be very useful. She also seems to be highly resistant to being stunned, even though it's possible. Once EQ gets to 60% health, she becomes permanently in Rush mode while using Supernova followed by Divine Wave as often as possible. Kite her around with Reimi and watch for her using Supernova or not. If she uses Supernova, run away. If she uses Divine Wave or some long casting move like Empress Massacre, you can get off another Savage Sparrows and trigger another Rush Combo before she can finish. She can be stunned in the middle of a Rush Combo with Bacchus joining in using Galvanic Shock, which will end the Rush Combo with her still stunned, giving you a free opportunity to start up another one. Divine Wave can be dodged since there are spaces in the walls being fired out. Fighting her 4 and 6 winged forms just means her non-Supernova abilities are as deadly to be caught in, and she takes longer to kill. If you don't find her challenging enough, synthesize an Angelstone (Enemy Def+100%) and a Shadestone (Enemy ATK/INT +100%) to two weapons and try facing her then!
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