Copyright 2003-5 Aaron "Shifter" Jezovit. This Walkthrough and everything included within this file cannot be reproduced in any way, shape or form (physical, electronical, or otherwise). This Walkthrough cannot be used for profitable purposes, promotional purposes, or even non-profit purposes. It cannot be used in any sort of commercial transaction. Furthermore, this Walkthrough cannot be used by the publishers, editors, employees or associates, etc. of any company, group, business, or association, etc., nor can it be used by game sites and the like, in magazines, guides, books, etc. or in any other form of printed or electronic media (including mediums not specifically mentioned) in ANY way, shape or form (including reprinting, reference or inclusion), without the express written permission of the author Aaron Jezovit. This Walkthrough was created and is owned by Aaron Jezovit. All copyrights and trademakrs are acknowledged and respected that are not specifically mentioned in the FAQ. If you want to put my Walkthrough up on your webpage, or anywhere else you may, you MUST contact me before hand. If you want to contribute to my Walkthrough, e-mail me at the below e-mail address, you will be credited with your contribution. Any corrections, suggestions, questions or comments, please e-mail them as well. Squareª and Squaresoftª are both © Copyright of their respective owners. Anything related with Squaresoftª is © Copyright SquareEnix. All rights reserved. Forward I started writing this many, many years after I finished this game. My hope is to pass on my own strategies to others. I have completed all the Final Fantasies (1 through 10, Tactics, Mystic Quest etc.), and thought I should write a Walkthrough for all, or at least most of the Final Fantasys. This occurred to me on the 16th of October. On the 17th, I started this walkthrough. After many days of playing Final Fantasy, and taking tomes of notes, this was completed its first draft (ready to be proofread by a few friends) early morning on November 5th. I think, as an unpublished writer, that writing over 90 pages in that amount of time is very absurd. But I did. If you, the one who has decided to take my `hand' as I walk you through this great game, find anything wrong with the walkthrough, please e-mail me at: olthadir@gmail.com, with the correction, suggestion or comment. I would be happy to hear from you! Table of Contents 1) Introduction 1.1 What is in this Final Fantasy from other Final Fantasy's? 1.2 A Sort of Discalimer 2) The Rules 2.1 Game Play System 2.2 Menu Screen 2.3 Combat 2.4 Status Ailments 2.5 Statistics 2.6 Overworld Map 3) Starting out 3.1 Classes 3.2 Building the Perfect Party 3.3 Battle Strategies 4) THE WALKTHROUGH 4.1) The Beginning 4.1.1 Coneria Castle 4.1.2 Coneria Town 4.1.3 Temple of Fiends 4.1.4 The Bridge 4.1.5 Matoya'a Cave 4.1.6 Pravoka 4.2) The Elvish Task 4.2.1 City of the Elves 4.2.2 Leveling up 4.2.3 The Dwarves 4.2.4 Northwest Castle 4.2.5 The Road to Marsh Cave 4.2.6 Marsh Cave 4.2.7 Return to Northwest Castle 4.2.8 Return to Matoya's Cave 4.2.9 Castle of Elf 4.2.10 The Key 4.3) The First Fiend 4.3.1 Melmond 4.3.2 Titan's Tunnel 4.3.3 Earth Cave 4.3.4 Return to Earth Cave 4.3.5 Return to Titan's Cave and Sarda's Cave 4.3.6 Final return to Earth Cave 4.3.7 Melmond 4.4) Into the Fire 4.4.1 Crescent Lake 4.4.2 Gurgu Volcano 4.4.3 Return to Crescent Lake 4.4.4 Ice Cave 4.4.5 Return to Crescent Lake and Elfland 4.4.6 Ryukahn Desert 4.5) The Test of Courage 4.5.1 Cardia Island 4.5.2 Castle of Ordeal 4.5.3 The Reward of Courage 4.6) Under the Sea 4.6.1 Onrac 4.6.2 Gaia 4.6.3 The Caravan 4.6.4 The Waterfall 4.6.5 Return to the Caravan 4.6.6 Gaia 4.6.7 The Sea Shrine 4.6.8 Return to the Shrine 4.7) Airborne! 4.7.1 Melmond 4.7.2 Lefein 4.7.3 Mirage Tower 4.7.4 The Floating Castle 4.8) The Final Task 4.8.1 Crescent Lake 4.8.2 Temple of Fiends 4.8.3 2000 years ago... 5) APPENDIX 5.1 Magic 5.1.1 White Magic 5.1.2 Black Magic 5.2 Weapons 5.3 Armour 5.3.1 Body 5.3.2 Head 5.3.3 Arm 5.3.4 Shields 5.4 Items 6) ADDITIONAL NOTES 6.1 Version History 1) Introduction This is a walkthrough for the first Final Fantasy created. It is for the NES system, the good old 8-bit. It came out in Japan in 1987, met with rave reviews and then was released in North America three years later in 1990. This is where it all began. The franchise that gave Squaresoft a name. The beginning of the characters, items and of course, the Crystals. The First, Final Fantasy. If, you are like the average gamer, chances are you heard of the Final Fantasy series, probably with the release of Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan), or the Playstation release of Final Fantasy VII. But, way back in 1987 (1990 for most of us) this little doozy of a game captured many people, and never let go. I am one of those people. I had Nintendo Power, I read the magazines, I dreamt about the games. I didn't get many of them, but one game I really wanted was Final Fantasy. I got it off my uncle who, when he finished it, gave it to me. That's right, I have the original 8-bit cartrage and instruction booklet. No, I don't have the original box. I was eight years old, why would I keep the box? And please don't e-mail me, I'm not going to sell it. Is Final Fantasy the best game of the series? Personally, I don't think so. It is good, and is high in my books, but there are better ones. This game introduced practically everything to the world. It has the first occurrence of most of the classes, spells, and some characters. It brought into our lives the Fighter, Thief, Black Belt (or Monk in later games), Red Mage, White Mage and everyone's apparent favourite, the Black Mage. In this game, the classes have no character. There is no personal lives of the main characters. A big let down, but it is the only Final Fantasy like that. 1.1 What is in this game from other games We first get to see my favourite character: Bahamut. We all know him of the summoms of the subsequent games. One of the most powerful creatures of all Final Fantasy, we get to see him as a King of other Dragons. This game also introduces the four crystals, for each of the four elements: earth, fire, water and wind. The airship makes its first appearance, sadly there is no Cid who has built it, but there is a reference to the peoples who built it, and considering Cid built every other airship in the Final Fantasy series, I'm just considering that he built it anyway. Many weapons, well mythical weapons enter the scene in this game first. The Masamune, remains the most powerful weapon EVER, and is in this game. Think Sephiroth was cool with it, wait until you see your White Wizard deal more damage than your knight! Excalibur (called Xcalbur) is in here too. There are other weapons and items that are found in other games (primarily Final Fantasy IX) that I won't mention there because they are mentioned in Final Fantasy IX as a sort of tribute. 1.2 A Sort of Disclaimer Something I would like to point in this section. People have different strategies when it comes to playing Final Fantasy, actually any RPG. That is what is so great about it, you can choose a certain playing style. I, of course, have a way of playing that will seem silly to one player, but ingenious to another. For the purposes of this walkthrough I will be using my opinion to form the general strategy that I give. If you are a beginner, by all means follow my footprints. But, you don't have to. You may not like my style and want to start a new game and begin your own. If you just need some help with the game itself, and have your own strategy, I hope to have this walkthrough help you out too. For the most part, I will be using my party (Fighter, Black Belt, Red Mage, Black Mage), and the levels I find work well at certain points in the game. The range I give will indicate what I think is acceptable. For example, my party is weapon based. My characters have a higher strength than a party with three mages, or two mages and a thief for example. The levels I give will say where I think the party should be generally. I will also list suggested equipment at various integral points in the game. I will list what is good for all classes, this way if you have a party that differs from mine, this walkthrough isn't useless to you. I will try to list all the options available to you, expressing the fact that what I chose is a good way, because I finished the game in that manner. That doesn't mean your party of two Fighters a Thief and a Red Mage is doomed to fail. They will succeed. This is a guide, nothing more. I'm not heartless, I'm just opinionated. There are a lot of times when we are forced to choose between what weapon, armour and especially magic we should buy or equip. I'll try to outline each choice, you have an informed choice. Then you make the decision. Remember, I'm not telling you what to do, I'm suggesting what you could do based on what worked for me. 2) The Rules 2.1 Game Play System I am going to take the time here, before we get into the specifics of party building, I am going to give the `low down' on Game play. It is very, very simple. No frills here. Simple as it gets. You create and control a party of four warriors of differing abilities. The central theme of combat is to get experience points and gold. Experience points raise your levels, which makes your warriors stats higher and thus better. Gold allows you to buy weapons, armour and magic. Combat is the central theme of every Final Fantasy game. Without combat, you don't get stronger, and fail quite miserably. Before I begin with the combat system, I would like to outline the magic system. In Final Fantasy, the magic system is very different from the ones that come after it. If you played any Final Fantasy after Final Fantasy IIIj you will know what I am talking about: MP. But, I digress. This magic system is different. A lot different. If you have played Dungeons and Dragons, the magic system there is very similar. There are 8 levels of magic. They do not reflect character level. You gain access to these levels at certain character levels in the game. Each magician can learn three spells per Magic Level. The catch here is, there is usually four spells per level (Eight if you are a Red Mage, four from Black and four from White). So, you can't learn all the spells with one character. Now, you can cast the spells from a certain Magic Level a certain number of times. That number depends on the character level. For example: VIVI, the Black Mage is level 8. He can cast level 1 spells five times, level 2 spells three times, level 3 spells two times and level 4 spells once. These can only be restored when you go to the inn, or use a tent/cabin/house. Now, remember how each level, you have three spells to choose from? It doesn't matter which spell you choose, you can only cast spells from that level a certain number of times. So, VIVI can only use his FIR2 spell (a Level 3 spell) twice before having to go back to the inn. If he has LIT2 (another level 3 spell), he can't cast it if he used his FIR2 spell twice. It sounds complicated, but it isn't. It can be frustrating, and the reason why I don't rely too heavily on mages. But, magic is nevertheless really good in this game. With Magic out of the way, we need to talk about the other combat oriented objects: weapons and armour. These wonderful pieces of human invention allow the Light Warriors to physically harm their foes, or help defend against attacks. This is where it gets tough, though. Not every class can use every weapon. The Fighter can use practically everything. The only thing the Fighter can't equip is Nunchaku. Everything else he can have. On the other hand, all the Black Belt can equip are the nunchaku. It depends on class. The Thief can equip light weapons and armour, the Black Mage can equip bracelets and daggers, the White Mage can equip Hammers and staves (they aren't as powerful as you think) and Bracelets, the Red mage can equip some heavy weapons and some heavy armour. I'm not going to get into it too deeply simply because I am going to be telling you who can and can't wear certain weapons and armour in the walkthrough. One thing everyone seems to forget about weapons and armour is to equip them. Some people think that just buying the item will be enough. Well, first off, you are wrong, and secondly, you are not the only one. You MUST equip everything you have in order to be using it. Other wise you will be just fighting with your bare hands (which isn't that bad of a thing in some cases). 2.2 Menu Screen With that in mind, I move my explanations to the Menu Screen. The menu screen is where you take inventory of what you have, check the welfare of the Warriors, equip them with weapons and armour and also heal your party. To get to it, hit the START button. The screen is divided into two. On the right is your party. On the left side is the four orbs the Heros carry. They light up as you progress through the game and restore their light (hence the name Light Warriors). Just below that is the party's GP (Gold Pieces). And below that is the selector and list of options. I will start with the party and their stats. Each member of your party is listed here. Their name in the top left hand corner of their personal information box. Below their name is their level. To the right of this is their character sprite, or picture. It is basically for easy reference. Below that is their hit points, divided into two. Their current HP then their maximum HP (Current/max). If the character can use magic, their magic is listen below. Each number is how many times they have left to cast a spell. Next off, we have the option list. First off is ITEM. In here lists all the special items your party has. It doesn't get very big. This is where you go when you are told to use an item on the world map (like the ROD or LUTE). It is also where yo go to use a potion or tent/cabin/house. If you are using a potion a small mini-info screen pops up. Then you just choose who you want to heal. On this mini screen the characters name, status and current/maximum HP is listed. Second on the list is MAGIC. When you chose this, the cursor will move to the four character info boxes. When you choose a magic user, their magic list will come up. Here is where you will find the detailed list of how many times they can use a certain spell. That is listen on the left hand side of the screen as well as the Spell level. On the right is the list of spells the character knows. You can choose a spell to use it outside battle. This, of course, only works with some white magic, like CURE, PURE, LIFE etc. When you are healing someone, the screen switches to the mini-info screen, and you can choose who you want to cast the spell on. Next is the WEAPON option. This allows you to see the weapon inventory of all the Light Warriors. Three options run across the top of the screen: EQUIP, TRADE and DROP. I'll get to them later. Down the left side are your characters names, and beside them are the weapons they have on them. Each character can only carry four weapons. When you hit EQUIP, you can move the cursor down to select the weapon you want that character to use. Hitting `A' will put an `E' next to the weapon. That means they are using that weapon. Some classes can't use certain weapons, and when that happens there is a buzzing noise telling you they can't equip it. The TRADE command allows you to switch weapons to another character. You select the weapon you want to trade, then put the other cursor to where you want it to go, and it gets switched. Finally the DROP button is used when you don't have any more room, or want to get rid of a certain weapon. When you select a weapon, it is gone forever, and cannot be recovered (It is better to sell unwanted weapons). Next on the option list is ARMOR. It is exactly the same as the WEAPON menu, but lists armour. Finally, there is the STATUS option. This shows you the breakdown of the statistics of your character. In the top left will be your characters name, then going across the top, their little picture, their class, then their level. Below that will be their current experience points, and just below that will be how many experience points they need to get to the next level. Now, the two boxes below this detail the stats of the character. On the right is Str. Agl. Int. Vit. And Luck. On the left is Damage, Hit %, Absorb and Evade %. The details of that are covered below in the Statistics section. 2.3 Combat Now, on to combat. The combat system is turned based. It is a relaxing strategic system. Bad part is, it can be boring sometimes. When combat begins, you are presented with a screen where the enemies are on the left, and your party is on the left. Your characters names and Hit Points are on the right, and the monster's names are on the bottom left. The commands to choose from, which will be covered below, pop up in the bottom right. Combat begins one of three ways. Normally both sides get to act simultaneously. You start off by choosing the command you want to use for all four of your characters. You get to select leisurely. There is no time limit. When you select the command for the fourth character, the round begins. Everyone acts according to their speed and randomness. Higher the speed, higher the chances of going first. When your party and all the enemies have acted, the round is over, and another one begins. The other two ways combat begins is with one side being able to act before the other. This can be a blessing, or a curse, depending on what side of the surprise you are on. Basically sone side gets to act before the other side. A Pre-Emptive Strike means its all you. All four of your character get to act first without any attacks from the enemy. Then combat continues on normally. The same if the monsters surprise your party. They all get to act first, and you can't do a thing. The Combat system itself is very simple. Well, the concept is. The strategy is the hard part. But, we are keeping that for later. Basically, you can do five things: Fight, cast Magic, Drink potions, Run away or use and Item. The Fight command is the primary command. It makes your character attack with their equipped weapon. First you choose who you will attack, then the attack is made when it is that characters turn. Its that simple. The Magic command, is just like the Fight command. Except you get a little menu asking you what spell you want to cast. Once you have chosen the spell, you select who you want to cast it on, and that's all. The spell will be cast when it's that characters turn. Some spells (like LIT2 and HEAL) target everyone. All you have to do is select the spell. The Drink command, is just as simple as the ones above. You select it, and a small window listing the amount of potions you have. You pick one, and who are are going to feed it to, and presto, that character just drank a potion. Run away is probably the easiest command. You just hit it and for that round the character will focus all his actions on getting the party away safely. If they pass, the combat is over, no gold nor experience points are given out. If you fail, that characters actions are wasted, and combat continues. Some battles you can't run from, no matter how hard you try. Finally, the Item command. Now, this one is a but difficult. Actually, it isn't. It just took me a long time to figure it out. When you select it, you get the inventory of that character. When you select the weapon or armour they are holding, you `use' it. It doesn't get used much until later in the game when some special items have spells in them. An example would be Thor's Hammer. When it is used in combat it casts LIT2 on the enemy party. 2.4 Status Ailments Now that we have all that figured out, lets get to a bit of the details of combat: Status Ailments. These little annoyances are abundant in all Final Fantasy's. In some games they are much more annoying than you could ever want. Luckily for you Final Fantasy I's status ailments are not as annoying, but that doesn't mean they aren't annoying. They are. Poison (POIS) Everyone hates this one. Luckily, its not as bad in the future games. A poisoned character takes 1HP damage every stem taken on the map. Nothing else. Oh, the screen goes fuzzy for that step. Sound like it's not that bad? Try getting back to the inn while your HP is dropping as you walk. Its a lot worse than you think. The character takes some damage at the end off every round. Remedy: PURE, the spell or the potion. Stun (STUN): caused by two different things: Paralysation attacks and stun attacks. They are basically the same thing. The character affected can't do anything. Their actions are nullified. This gets really annoying when you want to fight with your fighter to finish off the battle, but have to rely on your mages to do the dirty work. Remedy: Nothing physical. Sometimes ends on combat. Goes away after combat. Blindness: (DARK): This one is the really annoying one. Because your character can't see, their hit percent and evade percent is reduced. They miss a lot, and they get hit lot. That is all this thing does. If it afflicts someone who relies on their evade, you had better watch out, or know LIFE, because you'll need it. Remedy: It goes away after combat is over. It can also be taken out by a LAMP spell. Muted (MUTE): When a character is muted, they can't speak, and thus cannot cast spells. It really doesn't effect fighters, but it really weakens your mages. It does nothing physically, but stops spells from being cast. It also disables your ability to use magical items in combat. Remedy: It goes away at the end of combat, but you can also cast AMUT to let the Warrior speak again. Sleep (SLEP): Just like stun, but a little better. Basically, your character is out of the round. If they are hit, they have a good change of waking up. The bad part is, because they are asleep, their evade is down. Remedy: Goes away at the end of combat. Sometimes wears off, and goes away usually after a hit. Turned to Stone (STON): This is a nasty one. When you are turned to stone, your character is basically dead. It is even considered to be dead. It cannot fight or be attacked. The worse part is, if all your characters are stoned, that's a game over. If the last surviving character in your party (usually the one who single-handedly brings the dead party back to the clinic) is turned to stone, the game is over. It is a good idea to use SOFT on them right away... Remedy: SOFT, spell or potion. Death (DEAD): When your HP is reduced to 0, it is game over for that character. They fall to the ground (literally) and that's that. When all your character are dead, that's game over. The character cannot be targeted by anything but a LIFE spell. Remedy: A clinic, or LIFE or even LIF2. The magical use of this ailment (i.e. RUB) can be stopped by equipping armour like the ProRing and the Ribbon. Also casting ARUB will help. 2.5 Statistics As I said earlier, these appear in the STATUS screen. They represent the different abilities of your characters. They are divided as this: Strength (Str.) The physical element of the character. This directly affects the amount of damage the character deals. Agility (Agl.) The quickness or dexterity the character has. Mainly used for how fast the character acts. This also effects how hard it is for a character to be it. It has some play in running from battle. Intelligence (Int.) The characters smarts. Mainly how powerful the magic it they will be using, as well as how well they defend from magic. Vitality (Vit.) How physically resistant the character is to such things as poison. Also the higher the Vitality, the higher the Hit Points are. Luck (Luck) How lucky the character is. The big factor in running away. Also just pure luck. Sometimes manifests itself as a lucky hit or a near miss. Damage: The total damage of the character. This number is basically a marker. It does not say directly how much damage the character can deal. A 30 in damage doesn't man they deal around 30 damage. This is changed by character strength, character class and the big one: weapon. Hit %: The chance to hit a given opponent. It sometimes can be greater that 100. That doesn't mean the character always hits. That means they hit always when the thing they are hitting's evade is 0%. It is also directly affected by the weapon. Absorb: How much damage the character can take. The number does not represent the amount of damage they are stopping, it simply represents how well damage is being stopped. Its is directly influenced by armour as well as vitality a bit. Evade %: How well the character avoids a hit. Directly influenced by armour, as well as agility. For example, wearing heavy armour usually lowers evade, where as some small pieces of armour such as bracelets actually raise evade. 2.6 Overworld Map In the course of the walkthrough I will be referring to various land formations in the game. They different typed of land have various characteristics and sometimes different enemies live there. Also, only some forms of transportation can be used to get over them. Grass: The basic and most abundant (instead of the ocean of course) is the Grassland. It is what you see outside Coneria city. It is green, and very simple. This has the least encounter chance. This is first of two land forms you can land the airship on. Plains: This is differentiated from the Grasslands basically only by colour. The two land forms are very similar when it comes to transportation. It is the second and last type you can land the Airship on. There are somewhat different enemies living in the Plains then there are in the Grasslands, but they generally have the same chance of an encounter. Plains are yellow with green dots on them. Forests: These things are everywhere. They are actually very abundant. Sometimes more abundant that you would want them to be. (Which is good if you are an environmentalist or a naturalist. I kinda like the fact there are a lot of forests... oh what? Right! The walkthrough...) Monsters love to hide there (remember what your parents said? Monsters live in the forest? Well, they are right!), and the encounter rate is about double that of the Plains and Grasslands. They are pretty obvious. Dark green with black that sort of look like trees. When you start walking in them, your character looks like he is walking through shrubbery. Swamp: Luckily, there is no smell. Swamps hold certain monsters. I hate the monsters that live in swamps. I hope you do too. They are annoying poisonous creatures. The chance of encounter is more than the Plains and Grasslands, but less than the Forests. They look like Grasslands with greyish lines. Desert: Hot. Arid... if you ever been to one, maybe you could imagine what it would be like if you were wearing armour, a helmet, shield, swords and also carrying 99 Heal Potions, 30 Houses and a bunch of other stuff. I bet it would suck. Yet, these troopers walk through the desert just like it is a Grassland! Rock on! Anyway, the desert has its own monster list, usually containing really different monsters like the T-Rex and Anklo. They can be dangerous. Deserts, in Final Fantasy usually have interesting things inside them. Its not the case as much in this Final Fantasy. You can get some good exp though, if you know what you are looking for. They are yellow and black dots. Rivers: Yes. Rowing down a river was never so much fun. Especially when Ocho attacks. Mmmm... poison. You can only go on rivers in a Canoe. They have a very distinct monster list, usually comprising of river creatures like Crocodiles, Caribe, the lovely Ocho and such. Bolt the bastards. Rivers are light blue with white dots. Mountains: These are my favourite. Have you ever seen a mountain? I did. I always imagine what they would look like if I was standing in the same spot as the Light Warriors looking at these mountains. That's all they do. Unless you thing blocking your way, mostly in annoying ways, doing something. They are white with black lines on them. The weird things about these mountains is that they are all flat on top. Oceans: Argh mateys! Actually, that makes more sense than you think. The only way you can ride the waves is in a Ship. The ocean has the same monster list for the whole game. The whole sea is populated with the same creatures. That really sucks. Especially when you are level 15 going for a cruise on your boat. It's a waste of your time. As soon as you can dump the Ship. But, for the first while when you have it, it's the best thing since a pocket sized House. The ocean is dark blue with a light blue design on it really depicting it is an ocean. It looks like an ocean. It is very abundant. If you need a bigger explanation than that, get out more, you need more help than this walkthrough. 3) Starting out Now, with all that behind us, lets get into the game a bit shall we? When we load up our game, we get a small story. The basis of the game. The world is veiled in darkness. The wind stops, the sea is wild, and the earth begins to rot. The people wait their only hope a prophecy.... `When the world is in darkness Four Warriors will come....' After a long journey, four young warriors arrive, each holding an ORB. That is the basic story of Final Fantasy. Of course, it gets much more complicated as we go on. You control these Four Warriors, and the first thing we have to do, is choose who will be the Light Warriors. The next screen after this is a simple black screen with three options: CONTINUE, NEW GAME and RESPOND RATE. By pressing right or left on the Control Pad, you can change the respond rate. What that is, is the speed of the text in the game. I like mine at around 7 or 8. 1 is the slowest, and 9 is the fastest. As a beginner, I suggest 5. Just so you don't fall asleep during battles. You can change it every time you CONTINUE a game, so you aren't stuck with your selection. CONTINUE, allows you to continue from where you last saved the game. NEW GAME is where we are headed. The screen then changes to what is possibly the hardest thing to do in the game. And I mean it. Choose your party. You get one chance to choose the best combination of classes to get the job done. I hope my little description below will help you. 3.1 Classes Ok, so here are the six classes. I'll list the facts about them first, then talk from my own experience and opinion. Remember, that last part is MY OPINION. It maybe wrong when it comes to you, so don't follow it, unless you think the same way I do, which you probably don't do (which is a good thing actually...) Fighter Facts: Arguably the strongest character throughout the game. Their strength remains a constant presence in your party. You feel it all the time. They never get hit, and when they do, its usually around 1 to 5 hp of damage. Unless you are up against a bad ass boss, or a hard random encounter, in which case, it's more, but my point is the damage a well armoured fighter will take is considerably less than any other character in the game. These walking metallic humanoids of destruction can be quite expensive. That weapon that deals damage, and that armour that makes him invincible (for a small fraction of the game... hehe) cost gold. It can be quite a bit of gold too. The best part of the Fighter: it attacks, and deals damage, killing everything it sees, so money really isn't much of a problem. You just have to earn it. Opinion: You need a Fighter. I love this class simply because it works so well. This game is simple. Random encounters are at the core. If you find them hard, your party is missing a presence like the Fighter. They are easy to use (just press fight) and they deal damage all the time. Leveling up is easy, you get the Exp and Gold just by mindlessly pressing fight. They can equip EVERYTHING good in the game. Weapons? Yes they can use it. Armour? Yes. They can use it, unless it's a wimpy weapon or armour for someone like the mages... but who cares, swords are better than knives anyway. Fighters are the backbone of my party, they save the day in more ways than one. Thief Facts: They are fast. Their agility is their strong point. They usually go first, they can almost always run from a battle, and best of all, they easily avoid getting hit. But can they fight? Not as well as Fighters, but better than the other classes. They can use some weapons, usually light ones, their armour available is usually lacking, but every class is like that except the fighter. Their presence in a party is like a thief would be in real life. You don't notice them until you want to hit them and you can't. They are always sneaking around. They can get your party out of a bind really easily, because they can run from practically every battle. It actually does help. Opinion: The can't steal, so what's the use of them? So what, they can run from battles. They hardly get hit. Thieves always get hit when you REALLY don't want them too. Their lack of good weapons and armour leave them out to dry on my list. But, they are very close to being the second best fighters in the game. They are good in a party with magic users, but not as good as a Black Belt in my opinion. Their running ability is good when in trouble. Black Belt Facts: Cheep. These guys are so inexpensive. The best in a party with more than one mage where you need to save every penny for magic. They can only use about three weapons and equip just a few more articles of armour, and they all can bet bought really early in the game. That means they can be killed really easily. Because their evade and agility are lower than the thief, (thankfully they are higher than everyone else's) they get hit, and when they do it hurts. The big upside is, they can kick some serious ass. And I mean it. At around level 11, they don't need weapons, they use their bare hands (It took me a loooong time to realize that...) And deal some wicked damage. Sometimes, if you are lucky, the Black Belt makes Fighter look like a three year old child. A bit of patience pays off with the Black Belt. Opinion: *drool* Get him and wait. Want to see a Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? The Black Belt seems like another bloke who can't equip anything and can't deal damage. He seems like a wasted character. But wait. Oh please wait... As soon as his power gets higher than the iron nunchucks (best weapon for him) get rid of them and let those fists fly!! Oh man its madness. And he's cheep. You buy two pair of nunchucks, a cap, gloves, cloth armour, and maybe a few bracelets along the way... that's only about 2000 Gold for the WHOLE GAME!!! And he can deal more damage than the Fighter sometimes. Bad thing is, you have to wait for him to mature... around level 11. (Which really isn't that far in the game, trust me. After that, he only gets better) Red Mage Facts: Average. Average in every sense of the word. The Red Mage is the guy who looked at all the classes and said, "Yes, I like that." He took bits of each put them together and you get a Red Mage. They can cast Magic: Black and White, they can use most weapons and armour. What more could you ask for? They are not specially trained in the magical arts, some spells they simply can't use. But, the core spells are there. The elements, CURE spells... the core spells. The rest, the special spells, he can't cast. Especially the really good higher level spells. He can't cast them. The Red Mage, as I said, is a good all around character. They tend to be very expensive though. They can use some weapons, and some armour and some spells. Well, they all cost money, and sometimes that gets mighty expensive. They are the money hoggers of the game. Opinion: Well rounded is good. I love the Red Mage. They are the Gods of the Average. Cast a spell in a bind, he has it. Want to simply attack, he's not bad at it. He can fill any hole you want. Can't make up your mind: Red Mage. He is supremely good in the early stages of the game. Sad part is, down the road, he really starts to average out when all the other characters get much better. All the good spells he can't cast, all the good weapons he can't use. Sometimes, you really start to feel the weight of a Red Mage in the party in the late stages of the game. I still use them though. If you every played Dungeons & Dragons (either second or third editions) and like the Bard, by all means, get a Red Mage: it is the same concept. I think it pays off to have one, yet sometimes when I'm down the line I'd rather have a White Mage. White Mage Facts: They can save the day when the day is going to hell. These little puppies protect your party from dying. Plain and simple. Their magic is specific to that effect. All their spells either heal, cure, or protect your party. They have all the strategic spells you need to destroy opponents. Bad side: They have the same amount of combat abilities as a tree in the wind, sometimes they get lucky and hit a passer-by. They suck in combat. They are the guys you fight with and say, "Geez, why are you in my party? Dealing one damage to a mummy is pitiful!" yet, an hour later, you will be thanking the fact that you had a White Mage with HARM, LIFE, CURE, AFIR, INVS... all their spells come in handy where it matters most: BOSS BATTLES! Their cure spells are good in a crunch, but their defensive spells can mean the difference between 60 damage from a Fire spell to 20 damage. They are worth it in the late game. Why? Three words: WALL, LIF2 and Masamune. Unstoppable. Opinion: I'm still out to lunch on the White Mage. They can be really helpful. They can also really drag down a party. So, my suggestion to you (this is what I thought to myself) is to find out what kind of game you play. If you are the type of person who likes your party to have full, or close to full hit points all the time, OR if you are the type of person who likes to have an overly elaborate strategy during an important fight, get the White Mage. If you are the type of person who keeps your characters above the 50% mark with potions and love to just run into a place, and if the baddies kill you before you kill them, you level up some more. Leave him out. He will only slow down your party. So, just think about it. Note: I really don't know wether or not the White Mage is a man or a woman. In his comics on 8-Bit Theatre, Brian Clevenger has White Mage as a female. Yet, some books, including Nintendo Power, claim the White Mage to be a male. I think, considering practically every other white mage is a woman in the other games, it is safe to say it is a girl. But, really, who cares? If you want it to be a girl, go for it. If you want it to be a guy, so be it. Black Mage Facts: Say Bye, Bye baddies! This class can burn away any problem you have. The magic is all offensive and hot damn, there is nothing stopping him when you use it. FIRE, LIT, ICE, and my personal fav: NUKE. They all do good damage when used correctly. The problem: some spells suck against some enemies. You actually have to think like a Black Mage now... what is that monsters weakness... hrmm... That's the fun part. The not so fun part is when you would rather attack. Like I said earlier, swords are better than knives, and the Black Mage can't lift anything else, it seems, but knives. And they can't wear any armour. So what does one do? Kill them with magic. The big problem is money. Black Mages cost money. Their spells, like everyone else's cost money. Luckily, you won't be spending it weapons or armour. If you like to cast magic, and remember monsters weaknesses and exploit them (Oh, what an evil thought), by all means, use the Black Mage, Opinion: In the long run, this class is a powerhouse. Magically. Otherwise, he can be taken down very easily. But with a good party to back him up, the Black Mage usually ends a battle a few rounds earlier than it would have normally been finished. That's how good they are with their magic. Is it worth it though? Some say yes, some say no. I say yes, but that is because I like a balanced party. Their magic is useful in a crunch, and it sometimes (if used correctly) can deal as much damage than an attacking Red Mage or sometimes a Fighter. With all that said, you are probably saying, ok now I want each of them... help me more. Like I said, this is the hardest part of the game. To assist you, I have a list of the transformations of each of the classes below. About halfway through the game, the characters get `promoted' into another class. This class is much more powerful than the one before. Each one has different pros and cons to them, but they usually run a parallel with the class they originated from. Knight (from Fighter) Basically the Knight is a super-Fighter. They deal a bit more damage, take a bit less damage and look a lot cooler. The best part of the upgrade is the fact that they can cast the first three level spells of White Magic. Believe me, this gets useful. A bunch of really good weapons and armour can now be used, most of which couldn't be used by the Fighter. The best one is the Xcalbur. Ninja (from Thief) Ok, I sorta gave the thief a bad wrap above. The Ninja is super cool. Basically, the Ninja is a Fighter who kicks ass. You still have the wonderous high agility of the thief, plus more weapons to chose from. To top it all off, the first three levels of Black Magic are yours to master. Isn't that just so cool? I mean, think about it: a half decent fight who can run from battles, generally always go first AND can cast black magic! All that time you thought the Thief really was a waste of time is truly made up for it now. The question is, do you have the patience to get there? Master (from Black Belt) Nothing really changes for the Master. The big change you will see is MORE ATTACKS! Yes, more attacks. And the more attacks you have, the higher the damage. Sometimes, you will hit for upwards of 9 hits, dealing a total of 600 HP! That's insane if you think about that fact that the most powerful monster in the game has only 2000 hp! Nothing else really changes... but who cares! SUPER DAMAGE! Red Wizard (from Red Mage) All Red Mage gets for all his hard work is to take his hood off. That's what it seems like to me. He is just the same old guy, just beefed up to be on the same level as his companions. He is still the master of the average, the most even character ever. No big change though... White Wizard (from White Mage) The same happens to White Mage. Just beefed up to keep on par with everyone else. S/he is a little more powerful, but you can't really see it. Becoming a White Wizard does, though, pave the way for the ultimate spells: WALL and LIF2. Black Wizard (from Black Mage) WOAH! Where did his hat go? Is that a man? With cool spikes? Wow... he looks so cool! I thought he was a creation from the void, whose very essence was magic... Sorry folks. Those two dots in the darkness are actually the dudes eyes. I know, I was disappointed too (well, I really wasn't disappointed at the time I first played it. When I played it, Black Mages were men, not creations like in Final Fantasy IX). But, he does get a power boost when he takes off that straw hat. His combat is a bit better, but still lacks what it takes to be formidable. His magic is much better too, and look out for his NUKE and STOP spells... they are super. So now that you know all that, go make your party? What? I made it more difficult with all the different flavours? I know. So, I'll get into a bit of a strategy below. 3.2 Building the perfect party Like I said numerous times above, this is the hardest part of the game. If you make a party that you don't like, or more importantly, can't work with, you'll just get frustrated and not get anywhere in the game. The instruction manual that came with the game back in 1990 (its actually called the Explorers Handbook. Oh Squaresoft's marketing.) Says to sample the game with the default party (Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, Red Mage). This is a good idea, if you really can't make up your mind, or haven't played a Final Fantasy before, and don't know the character classes. You just playa bit, try out your strategy and see where you go. If you just want to play, do the Beginner Party. This is what I suggest. A Fighter, Black Belt, White Mage and Black Mage. This is the ultimate balance. Everything you need in the right proportions. Magic of both strengths, a good fighter and the special guy. Of course, if you don't like the Black Belt then take the Thief along with you. Maybe the agility of the Thief will work better for you. If you love magic, (and I mean LOVE magic), a good party is the Fighter, Red, White and Black Mages. This is going to tap your wallet big time. It will be a bit difficult mind you. You have to love magic though. It is all about magic in this party. I don't think it will be a good idea to have this party, because I tend not to rely on magic that much. Final Fantasy has a very harsh magic system. Much harsher than the good ol' MP system of the later games. On the other extreme, if you really like combat, try a heavy combat party like the Fighter, Thief and Black Belt. The fourth party member can be someone like a Red Mage, to add that needed magical punch. Or, if you hate magic that much, just put in another Black Belt (they don't cost anything). In this party, all your money will be spent on weapons and armour. But all the money you would be spending on magic you can buy many other things: like CURE potions. Believe me, you'll need it. Now, these party configurations are just suggestions. You have to remember there are hundreds of combinations, some really hard (like 4 White Mages, try that!). They key is to know what you like, and go with it. If you like balance, make sure you have as much magic usage as you need and as much brute strength. If you have played a Final Fantasy before, you should know some of the classes by now (especially if you played Final Fantasy V or Tactics, which are the most apparent), and just make a party using your favourite classes. NOTE: don't pick the thief because he can steal. He can't steal. I like to call him the honourable thief. He should be called the Fast Guy. Bottom line when choosing your party is what will work. If you choose a bunch of White Mages you have to be insane (although some people have reportedly finished the game with 4 White Mages...). Just read the descriptions I have supplied you with and use some patience. If you don't like something, you can always start a new game and try all over again. The first hour or so of game time is very easy to redo, so don't hesitate if you are disappointed with a class or two. I really just was to remind some people, here, about some of the classes. I KNOW some people will be disappointed with the Thief and especially the Black Belt. All you have to do is wait, and you will see their ass-kicking qualities. You HAVE to wait for them though. Black Belt really is quite bad until he tosses away his nunchakus around Level 9 or 10. Thief is alright with his agility for the most part, but when he gets promoted to the Ninja, he kicks ass. I have to reiterate: Patience is the key with those two classes. Now, before I start showing you how to get through the game, I will talk a bit about saving. This game is long, and quite difficult to play in one sitting. Especially after it gets frustrating. That is why there is the save option. You can save in four ways: Inn, Tent, Cabin or House. That's all. Inn's are in town. When you stay at an Inn, your HP is restored to full and your game is automatically saved. You can turn off the system (Hold RESET while you turn POWER off!!), and when you hit CONTINUE on the main menu, you are put at the door to the INN you saved at. If you have a tent, cabin or house, you can also save away from the town. You can only use these wonders on the world map. That means no saving in dungeons, right before a boss. They can be purchased at an item shop. When you use these items, you get some HP recovered (depending on the form you get), and can save. 3.3 Battle Strategies The final section before we start on with the walkthrough. This tells you my secrets for staying alive in normal battles. They are general. I go into much more detail when I get deeper into the walkthrough. I give advice about how to defeat the monsters in a certain dungeon when I talk about the dungeon. The most basic strategy that must be taught to every beginner of Final Fantasy is NEVER gang up on one creature. Chances are you will die very quickly. The `AI' is very primitive. When you tell a Light Warrior to attack a creature, they attack that creature. If it is dead, it will attack nothing. So, if you are fighting 4 imps, make sure your Fighter, Red Mage and Black Belt aren't all attack the same enemy. You will lose a great deal of damage on nothing. Spread out your attacks. Know your enemies hitpoints, and most importantly, know your characters average damage. That way you can spread out your attacks well and take the least amount of time (and thus damage) in battle. One of the best strategies I have ever discovered (and yes, I discovered it on my on while I was writing this walkthrough. Considering how many times I finished this before, it's actually kind of sad) is to kill the monsters before they attack you. Sounds easy right? Well, it is a bit more difficult than that. I will start off with an example. You are fighting 6 imps. When do you start? Well, the BIG problem with the `AI' of Final Fantasy is that it is not very random when it comes to battles. In a group of the same type of monsters, their speed in battle is determined together (where as your party's is determined independently). That means they usually attack together, sometimes with your characters fighting in between their attack. This creates an illusion of randomness (try it, and you'll see. It took me 12 years to see it! But I wasn't really looking for it). The monsters fight in order. They starts in the middle, then the top, then the bottom, then the next column repeats the pattern. It is the same pattern that the `attack-all' spells follow. When you get a chance (they are usually a level 3 spells), cast one, and watch the patters of attack. Exactly the same. So what? Simple. Attack the last middle one first. The one closest to you in the middle. Then the bottom, then the top. This way, when combat resolves, chances are the rightmost middle enemy is dead before it was their turn to attack. That s less damage to you. This becomes invaluable throughout the game. Especially when fighting large groups of enemies. This doesn't work as well when fighting a large party of different types of creatures. The group of creatures fight differently. So, a party of one mummy, one vampire and one cockatrice will attack according to their separate speeds, and thus not follow this pattern. But a group of 6 Sahag will. 4) WALKTHROUGH 4.1 The Beginning 4.1.1 Coneria Castle And so, the adventure begins. You start out right below the city enclosure of Coneria. The first thing we are going to do, is see the king. We are the Light Warriors, and we need to see him, to tell him we arrived. Walk straight ahead, and enter the castle. You can walk around the castles base floor and talk to everyone. It is a good idea to talk to everyone in a city or castle. Everyone has a something good to say. They all add either to the story, or to the ambiance of the game. All the guards ask you if you are the Light Warriors. The world is in much need of you! Queen Jane's room is off to the left, and the Princesses sister is to the right. If you talk to them, you get a hint that there is something wrong: the Princess is missing. In the top right hand corner of the castle is an old man who tells you that the castle treasury was locked with a key given to the Elf Prince. Keep that in mind. Up on the second floor, you prepare for your audience with the king. You find him at the end of the long corridor on this throne. You are told that a man named Garland has kidnapped Princess Sara! He begs you to help her. Don't feel like saving a princess? Well, you have to. If you go outside and go a bit north, the only way off this little island is to go across the channel. Sadly, there is no bridge. It will be the kings reward. Some guards tell you information pertaining to Garland keep: it is in the northwest. A man in the castles bottom floor tells you that Garland was a good knight once. Then something happened. I wonder what it was? Maybe we'll find out when we get there, and talk to Garland. Anyway, its time to get prepared. 4.1.2 Coneria Town One of the most frequently asked questions of beginners to Final Fantasy is, what town do I enter? The answer: any of them. They are all the same. Coneria town is a nice small town. The people here seem happy, on the outside. Many of them plea with you to save the princess. A guard begs you to revive the light of the ORBS. This world is a troubled one. Two bits of information that should be kept in your mind: Lukhan the sage. An old man in the top left tells you that he left Coneria to join his colleagues in Crescent Lake. Lukhan was the man who prophesied your arrival, maybe he has some answers. Another man says he is from Pravoka, a beautiful port city in the east. Why has he left his port city to stay here? What is so wrong in Pravoka? You must put these questions out of your mind as we set out to first save this ill stricken town. You have 400 GP in your possession when you begin. Lets put it to good use. Go to the weapon and armour shop. Then to the magic shop. Shops: Weapon: Wooden Staff 5g Small Knife 5g Wooden Nunchaku 10g Rapier 10g Iron Hammer 10g Armour: Cloth 10g Wooden Armour 50g Chain Armour 80g Black Magic: FIRE 100g SLEP 100g LOCK 100g LIT 100g White Magic: CURE 100g HARM 100g FOG 100g RUSE 100g Item shop: Heal Potion: 60g Pure Potion 75g Tent 75g Clinic: 40g Inn: 30g Best purchases: Fighter: Rapier (10g), Chain Armour (80g) Black Belt: Wooden Nunchakus (10g), Wooden Armour (50g) Red Mage: Rapier (10g), Chain Armour (80g) Black Mage: Small Dagger (5g), Cloth (10g) Thief: Rapier (10g), Wooden Armour (50g) White Mage: Iron Hammer (10g), Cloth (10g) Magic: If you have a Red Mage in your party, chances are if you buy the Chain Armour, you won't have enough for two spells. Don't worry, just wait. You'll have the money soon. Black Mage: FIRE White Mage: CURE Red Mage: CURE Now, with all that bought and equipped, go outside and begin to fight. We need some money for more spells and potions. But, more importantly, we need some levels. The best way to level up is to walk around the forest surrounding Coneria. The Imps and Wolves there are easy prey to defeat. Be careful of some monsters though. There can be some MadPonys around that can be a bit dangerous. They have just over 60 hp, and can pack a punch. Cast FIRE, it deals a bit more damage than Black Belt can deal physically. Keep on fighting them until you get enough money to buy the rest of the magic spells you need. If you get really bored of fighting imps and wolves, once you reach level 2 you should go into the Temple of Fiends and fight there as well (see below). The monsters there are a lot harder, but they give more exp and especially gold. You should have enough weapons and armour. When you are finished, your party should be Level 3 and equipped with the following: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Rapier, Chain Armour Thief: Rapier Wooden Armour Black Belt: Woden Nunchaku, Wooden Armour Red Mage: Rapier, Chain Armour Black Mage: Small Dagger, Cloth White Mage: Iron Hammer, Cloth Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE Black Mage: FIRE, LIT White Mage: CURE, HARM You should also a few Heal potions (about 5). If you are really paranoid, or have some extra few bucks you want to spend, buy a tent so you can save. With all that, we go. My way of doing things is to go into a dungeon, get all the items go home, heal, and go back in to fight the boss. This way, you are fully powered up, have all the loot you need. Probably leveled up a bit and bought all you need to face the evil fiend inside. In this case, that really isn't necessary. The Temple of Fiends is really small, and easy to get through. Its basic purpose it to get you acquainted with the game. To prepare you for the trials ahead. To let you get a personal system up and running. I also allows you to test out the classes, to see which ones you like. Nevertheless, in we go. 4.1.3 The Temple of Fiends Enemies: Bone, Spider, Zombie, Ghoul, Wolf, Grey Wolf, Creep, Imp, Grey Imp, Werewolf, Gargoyle When in combat in The Temple of Fiends remember one thing: Undead HATE FIRE. If a creature is undead, blast them with FIRE, and they get toasted. If you are here to get treasure, use your magic against enemies like the Ghoul. They are strong. If you have a White Mage in your party, cast HARM. The best part about this spell is that it affects All Enemies. That way, if you are faced with a large group of undead, this spell will plow right through them. It can be better than FIRE. Watch out for these Ghouls, they are quite strong and can stun your characters. Be careful, and run if you need to. Another creature to look out for is the Grey Wolf. They have over 70hp, and are tough to kill. Magic really doesn't work well on them, so focus your attacks on them. Have Fighter and Red Mage or Thief team up on them to get them out of your hair before they take out your party. If you are really unlucky, you may encounter a Gargoyle or Werewolves. Werewolves can poison you, and Gargoyles can pack a punch. Be very careful if you meet these fellows, and remember, Running can be a good thing, you don't want to die. This is a basic dungeon. It is very, very, very simple. Garland is straight ahead. But, we are here for treasure first. Once you walk in, take the road left. Follow it all the way to the end, and go inside the small room. Inside the treasure chest is a Cap. Equip it on the Fighter, as he is the guy who takes most of the damage in the party. Go outside the room, and now go up. All the way up, until you see another small room. Inside here is a Cabin and a Heal Potion. Hurray! Free stuff! The Cabin restores more HP than a Tent. My advice is to save it for later, when you'll really need it. But and use tents for now. Now, we can leave, go back to Coneria, heal up, buy anything we have left out, and return to whop Garland's ass and save the princess. Or, if you are already level 3, and confident in your party's strength, we can go straight to him. Go back to the entrance, and walk straight up into the large room. There are 5 bats, Princess Sara and Garland. Talk to Garland. He yells at you for trying to take Princess Sara, and attacks. BOSS: Garland HP: 106 Dmg: 15-30 Exp: 130 G: 250 Weaknesses: none Strengths: none Magic used: none You should have your HP full, or almost full when you begin this battle. As you can see Garland can hit you for 30 HP, that's almost half of some of your characters HP. As soon as they get hit hard, or get almost to 30, get Red Mage or White Mage to cast CURE on them. Have Fighter, Black Belt and Thief fight, and Black Mage to use FIRE every round. In no time, Garland will fall. Once that battle is over, walk up to Princess Sara and he thanks you for saving her, and warps you back to Coneria Castle. Talk to the King, and he thanks you for saving his daughter. He builds the bridge for you, to continue you on your way, and also tells you to save the world. Big words, and a big responsibility, are you shure you can handle it? Talk to Princess Sara, and she hands you a LUTE that was passed down in her family for 2000 years. Hopefully it will come in handy at some point. Get outside the throne room and talk to everyone. It seems you have restored some happiness here. The same is going on outside, in the city. Everyone seems to be a little more happy. One person mentions a witch named Matoya. Another refers to her again, saying how her eyesight is bad. Maybe we should check her out, see if the Light Warriors can do anything about it. Buy some more Heal Potions, and Pure potions. Also, if you have enough grab a tent. Just in case. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Rapier, Chain Armour, Cap Thief: Rapier, Wooden Armour Black Belt: Wooden Nunchaku, Wooden Armour Red Mage: Rapier, Chain Armour Black Mage: Small Dagger, Cloth White Mage: Iron Hammer, Cloth Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE Black Mage: FIRE, LIT White Mage: CURE, HARM I suggest that you don't waste your money on the third spell. The other two spells are not worth the time and money. If you really want to, though, I would have to suggest RUSE for the White and Red mages, and SLEP for Black. But again. Its not really worth it. RUSE can be helpful though, especially if you are in danger, but you really only need CURE and HARM. Those are the only two spells you will be using often. 4.1.4 The Bridge We have to remember what was being said in the city now. People talked of Pravoka and Matoya. Both of those lie east and north. We, as the curious Light Warriors who will spread happiness and joy across the land will look into these places and see what is going on. (While acquiring precious experience and gold in the mean time!) We will begin by crossing the bridge, the symbol that we are ready to begin the journey. This is the big leagues folks. This is where the game begins. If you didn't like how your party fared, this is the time to change it. Start again, and pick a new party. If you were thrilled with its performance, by all means cross that bridge. Beyond is the real world, and many, many threats. If you are not prepared, they will swallow you up for a snack. Now, on with the walkthrough. Before you leave Coneria, remember to stay in the inn. By saving the princess you get a bridge built, but no free healing. Crossing the bridge begins a story screen. We are whisked to a scene where the world opens before our characters. "And so, their journey begins..." Are the opening lines. Getting goose-bumps? I did. There are a few credits to the Japanese designers. Look how few there are... oh the good old days.... 4.1.5 Matoya's Cave We are going to Maytoa's cave for various reasons. Mainly, to gain experience and gold. Secondly, to learn a special ability. And Thirdly, to sate our curiosity about this witch. Is she evil, is she good? Why is she blind? The overworld from this point on will be much more harsh that the small Coneria continent we just left. A lot of the same creatures inhabit the part of the world, but be careful, some of them can be dangerous, even at level 3 or 4. Creatures: Imp, Creep, Mad Pony, Iguana, Asp, Grey Imp, Ogre, Bone, Spider, Zombie, Ghoul, Wolf, Grey Wolf, Werewolf, Green Ogre. If you encounter an Ogre or Green Ogre my word of advice is to run, especially if there is more than one. If there is one, try your luck, but be ready to run. They will kill you in a few rounds. They are tough but if you manage to defeat them (which is quite a feat) you'll be rewarded with a lot of gold. Use the same strategy as I outlined above, in The Temple of Fiends. If you meet a Creep, use FIRE to fend it off. Same with the undead. They are rare, though. If you encounter an Asp or Werewolf, try your best to take them out as quickly as possible. They can poison you, and we want to avoid that as much as we can. You should only have a few PURE potions with you, so it is a rick if you get poisoned. We have a long way to go. Mayota's cave is north of the bridge, and Pravoka is due west. We are headed to Matoya first. Just follow the coastline north, go between the mountains and around the river (to the west). Then just go north and a bit east, and you will arrive at a cave. Inside is Matoya. When you enter, there is s large room above you. When you walk towards the door, you see a broom walking around. Matoya's magic broom? Someone said she was a witch. When you talk to it, it says: `...TCELES B HSUP' What is that? The suggestion is, it's a magic spell. In fact it is. When you get outside, we'll talk about it again. But, now we talk to Matoya. In the inner chamber of her cave, we find Matoya sitting at her desk looking quite content. But, when we talk to her all she says is that she can`t see without her CRYSTAL. She also wants to know who stole her crystal. The plot thickens. Someone stole Matoya's crystal! But who? Maybe someone in Pravoka will tell us. Before you leave, be sure to pick up the two heal potions and one pure potions in the treasure to the left of Matoya. You can walk over the skulls. 4.1.6 To Pravoka! Now that we are outside, I'll talk about the gibberish the broom was talking about. TCELES B HSUP is Push B Select backwards. Ah! Yup. I know you knew that. It is obvious... So, do it and see what happens! A world map all your own! And what's this? The Crystal theme? The map outlines where you are (the big cross) and major points in the world, the flashing dots. It doesn't tell you anything else. You need the world map from the game itself to tell you that. Now, on we go. Don't be afraid to fight. We need some money. We have to buy some new weapons, armour and magic as soon as we get to Pravoka. They can be quite expensive. From Matoya's cave we will head south until you reach the mountain just south of the river. Then head east. We go through a desert (beware of Iguanas), then a forest (beware werewolves!!) Then enter a second forest. We go south from here, and Pravoka, a cute little town, is right there. Go inside and go straight up to the Inn. Shops: Weapon: Iron Hammer10g Short Sword 550g Hand Axe 550g Scimitar 200g Armour: Wooden Armour 50g Chain Armour 80g Iron Armour 800g Wooden Shield 15g Gloves 60g Black Magic: ICE 400g DARK 400g TMPR 400g SLOW 400g White Magic: LAMP 400g MUTE 400g ALIT 400g INVS 400g Item shop: Heal Potion: 60g Pure Potion 75g Tent 75g Cabin 250g Clinic: 80g Inn: 50g This is a choice you have. Fighter can equip the Hand Axe or the Short Sword. The big difference is damage and Hit%. As you can see they cost the same. What would you want to wager? Hand Axe: 16 Damage, 5 Hit% Short Sword: 15 Damage, 10 Hit% The choice is yours. I go with the Short Sword. One point of Damage doesn't really make a difference. But to some people, it does! Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Short Sword (Hand axe), Chain Armour, Cap, Gloves, Wooden Shield Thief: Scimitar (optional), Wooden Armour, Gloves Black Belt: Woden Nunchaku, Wooden Armour, Gloves Red Mage: Short Sword, Chain Armour, Gloves Black Mage: Small Dagger, Cloth, Gloves White Mage: Iron Hammer, Cloth, Gloves Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE/ICE Black Mage: FIRE, LIT/ICE White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS This party costs a lot to put together right now. There is a lot of time wasted to get the magic and all the weapons you need. Try to get gloves for everyone, they add a bit of defence. Don't bother buying the Iron armour for the Fighter. Its for sale in the next town, and there are a lot more money making opportunities there. Only get one of the spells for this level. The rest of them are good, and you can get them later. But not right now. All we are doing here is getting ready for later, when we leave Pravoka. You don't HAVE to get the scimitar for the Thief. The Short Sword is a good buy for the Red Mage though, and if you don't get it here, remember to go back and get it. Talk to everyone around town. You find out that there are pirates plaguing the city. Don't talk to the pirate in the top left of the city yet. Try to get some money outside Pravoka for at least better armour for the Fighter. You'll get a lot of gold from the next battle for the weapons and spells. Once again, don't waste too much time leveling up here, you can always come back. Just get good armour and weapons. Don't worry, the good ones are coming up soon. When you are ready (about level 4) talk to the pirate. He gets angry and attacks you. This battle is easy, but watch your hit points. Because there are nine pirates, they may gang up on your mages and kill them. The battle is easy, but don't let it go out of hand. When it is over, collect your gold, and buy what else you need. The Pirate's give over their ship to you, and the seas are yours to explore! But, before we do that, we need to talk to some people, and get some information. Now that the pirates are sated, maybe the people have more to say. There is a gentleman who says he escaped from a city called Melmond, in the west. It is in trouble, but the trouble is not mentioned. What is going on? Another person mentions that the elven prince is under a sleep spell. He goes on to say that Matoya has that herb. But Matoya can't see... We need to go south, maybe the answers lie in the Elven cities. Now with the ship, we can go south, across the sea to the Elven city. But, of course, its not as easy as that. The sea is flooded with enemies (someone in Pravoka warns you about them). Sea Enemies: Shark, Sahag, Red Sahag, Odd Eye, Kyzoku The key to winning on the sea is LIT. Sea enemies hate that spell and get fried by it quite easily. Other than that its all brute strength. Sharks have a lot of hit points, and can hit you quite hard, so watch out for them. Odd eyes have a high chance of stunning one of your characters, so be sure to target them first. Kyzoku are rare, and attack in large groups. They have a lot of money though. Take the ship out of Pravoka's bay and head to Coneria, then go due south. When you reach land, go west to the port above the Elvin city. 4.2 The Elvish Task 4.2.1 The City of the Elves First, got to the Inn. Rest up, save. Then go to the castle and talk to every one. You learn that a man named Astos has put a spell on the Prince, putting him to sleep after he attacked the castle and ransacked the treasury. The only thing that can bring him out of his slumber is the Herb. An Elf in the courtyard in the south west section of the castle remembers that the only person who has Herbs is Matoya. But how do we get it from Matoya? She is blind! We also learn that Dwarves live at the Western end of the sea. We will go there for some information later. In the city, we learn that Astos is a Dark Elf. And if the Prince doesn't wake up soon, he will dominate the Elvin world! Well, the Light Warriors can't let that happen! A rather brave Elf tells how he travelled Northwest and saw a ruined castle. He turned back after that. Maybe this Dark Elf Astos lives there. We also learn that Astos wears a disguise. This guy sounds like quite the evil man! Spreading such chaos about the land. But, before we try to answer these questions, we really do need to get stronger. Shops: Weapon: Iron Nunchaku 200g Large Dagger 175g Iron Staff 200g Sabre 450g Silver Sword 4000g Armour: Iron Armour 800g Copper Bracelet 1000g Iron Shield 100g Cap 80g Wooden Helmet 100g Black Magic (level 3): FIR2 1500g HOLD 1500g LIT2 1500g LOK2 1500g White Magic (level 3): CUR2 1500g HRM2 1500g AFIR 1500g HEAL 1500g Black Magic (level 4): SLP2 4000g FAST 4000g CONF 4000g ICE2 4000g White Magic (level 4): PURE 4000g FEAR 4000g AICE 4000g AMUT 4000g Item shop: Heal Potion: 60g Pure Potion 75g Tent 75g House 3000g Soft Potion 800g Clinic: 200g Inn: 100g What we will be doing here will be leveling up. Below is what you should have to begin leveling up. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Short Sword (Hand axe), Chain Armour, Wooden Helmet, Gloves, Iron Shield Thief: Saber, Wooden Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Belt: Iron Nunchaku, Wooden Armour, Gloves Red Mage: Short Sword, Chain Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Large Dagger, Cloth, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Iron Hammer, Cloth, Gloves Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE/ICE/CUR2 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT/ICE/FIR2 White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS/CUR2 You may not be able to afford the magic. That's alright. Just wait for that. This part of the game is all about leveling up. That's what we are doing. This is the outline of where we need to be before we leave. Before we leave for the Dwarven Caves, be around level 5. Try to get all the level 3 magic and armour you can get. Just get one spell for the mages, the spells suggested are listed above. The magic isn't as crucial as the armour is, unless you really like magic. Before we leave for the Northwest Castle to check out the elves story, be around level 5 or 6. Be sure to have the spells listed above, all the armour, and at least a Silver Sword for your fighter. And A LOT of pure potions. You'll need them. After that, level up to level 9 or 10 for the next leg of the journey. What you need for that will be listed below, after we go through the Dwarves and Astos. 4.2.2 Leveling up Where do you level up? Where is the best place? Just east of the Elven settlements is a nice plain. There you will be fighting Ogres and Creeps. Remember how I told you to run away from them? Well, now hope you see them. And fight them. All the time. For the first little while, they are hard to fight. But stick in there, and run when you need to. Eventually they will become very easy. Watch the money pile up. All the silver weapons are really expensive, and if you want those kick ass spells, you need the money. The Ogres are great for money and experience. You'll fly up to level 9 or 10 in a few hours. Something I found while roaming around the world was a great place to level up if you want to take a hike. The best time in around level 4, probably level 5. Go back to Pravoka, and go south through the mountains. The enemies here are somewhat more difficult that those east of the Elven city. In a few battles I was lucky enough to face a Great Ogre and two Ogres. If you can survive, the payoff is big. I only suggest this to those people who hate levelling up and would rather explore that walk in circles. Essentially, you can stay east of the Elfland until you get to level 9. It is a bit easier, considering you are so close to Elfland. But (and this is a small but) the Inn and Clinic in Pravoka are more than half as expensive as they are in Elfland. This is a choice, dependant on how you play the game really. For a slightly bigger pay off you can take a longer trek and walk south of Pravoka, between the mountains and fight Ogres. Or, you can fight Ogres and Creeps east of Elfland, for a slightly less pay off (the difference is really small. I actually didn't notice it when I was playing it south of Pravoka. One thing is for sure, it is a bit more challenging). 4.2.3 The Dwarves When you reach about level 5. Take a break. Go back to Pravoka if you need to and buy those spells you missed. Only INVS and ICE are paramount. I would suggest also getting MUTE and ALIT for the White Mage. If you have a Red Mage, then get ICE, INVS and MUTE (you can substitute MUTE with ALIT of you want, but I found MUTE to be a bit better in the long run) For your Black Mage though, you could get SLEP, SLOW and TMPR of you really want. SLOW is barely worth the money though. Don't waste it on TMPR. SLEP helps out with enemies that have attacks you don't want to deal with. The spell helps out a lot with the Cockatrices you'll find later. Buy it, it is an investment. The Dwarven cave is located north west of Coneria. From Elfland go north for a while, then west for as far as you can go. Follow the coast north until you find a port. From the port go south west until you get between to mountains. The cave entrance is right there. First point of business is to enter the door directly above you. Inside is over 1000g. Then talk to everyone. You very quickly learn that Astos was the one who stole Matoya's crystal! Now, we have a connection! Astos is the key to all this! You also find out that the earth to the west is rotting. Probably in connection with that man from Pravoka's story about trouble in Melmond. But, there is no way west. There is also a dwarf named Nerrick, who may be your key to the west. He is building a canal. But, he has reached a snag: ne needs TNT, but can't get any. Maybe we'll find it later, and then help Nerrick and go west. Two things we need to remember for later in the game is the Dwarven Smith. He has been waiting for the Light Warriors for a long time, and says he will use his abilities to create a great sword for them. Only if they can get ADAMANT for them. The other is a Dwarf who says he is looking for the FLOATER. He says, with this stone, he can fly. Sounds interesting, considering back in Pravoka a man mentioned to us that there are no ports to the north. Keep them in mind. Maybe someone will help us out later. With the cave searched, we head back to Elfland. Heal and save. I think you can understand what we have to do now. Once we find this Astos guy, we get the Crystal back from him, give it to Matoya in return for her Herbs. Then we take the Herbs to the Elf Prince! Maybe we could talk to him about the locked doors. Remember in Coneria Castle a man telling us about the Key that was given to the Elves 400 years ago? Anyway, this solves everything that has come up, with the exception of a few major questions: Why did Lakhan the Prophet go to Crescent Lake? What is going on in Melmond? And does the earth rot have anything to do with it? Where can we find TNT to help Nerrick build his canal? Where can we find ADAMANT and the FLOATER? The big one right now should be where is Astos? There is one person we haven't talked to yet, and that's the King of the Northwest castle. 4.2.4 The Northwest Castle Level up a but more so you are roughly level 6 or 7. Make sure you have a lot of Pure potions. You'll need them, almost all the enemies out here are poisonous. You may want to have a cabin or two. Remember that Cabin we got from the Temple of Fiends? That comes in handy now. If the going gets tough, use it. Enemies: Green Ogre, Werewolf, Scorpion, Wolf, Grey Wolf, Grey Imp, Ogre, Creep, Asp, Geist, Arachnid. The main idea here is that you will either be bashed to a blood pulp, or poisoned into unconsciousness. What you need to defend against that is Iron Armour for your Fighter and a hell of a lot of Pure potions (have I said that already? Yes? Well, I haven't said it enough.) I'm serious here. I'm talking like 20 or 30 potions. Same for Heal potions. Have a lot. You'll need them! Be sure to have a Silver sword for your fighter and a 3rd level spell for your mages. Take out the poison enemies first (Werewolf, Scorpion, Asp, Arachnid). Worry about the other guys second. Chances are you'll arrive at the Northwest castle without incident. But, be safe, really. Because the land between Elfland and Northwest castle is VERY unforgiving. From Elfland, head west until you reach a mountain range. Walk under it, still going west, until you can't go went anymore. Now start heading north. This forest is filled with enemies. You'll probably get tired of random encounters. Remember, don't run unless you have to, you get precious experience and gold for these battles! But, don't be silly and stay in them too long. Try not to let ANY of your characters fall. When you reach a river, pass around it on the west side. Continue north. The castle is just ahead. Inside the castle, you find no one but a few bats and a single king. Looks like Astos might have done something here too. By talking to the Lone King he implores you to go to Marsh Cave and get his Crown back. Astos has double crossed this poor king as well. We might as well try and fix what Astos has done wrong. We now have a place to start. Hopefully the whereabouts of Astos will be found. Or maybe he is in the Marsh cave with the corwn. For now, lets head back to Elfland for a rest. 4.2.5 The Road to the March Cave We are in the final stretch of leveling up. There isn't much more of this to come. Not at this scale anyway. Your party should look like this now: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Iron Armour, Wooden Helmet, Gloves, Iron Shield Thief: Saber, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Black Belt: Unarmed, Wooden Armour, Gloves Red Mage: Silver Sword, Chain Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Large Dagger, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Iron Hammer, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2 White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HEAL or HRM2 Ok, the big choice here is what about Red Mage. The best spells are above for him. Also, White mage has a decision. Depending on what you would rather have her do dictates the third spell. HEAL restores a few hit points to the whole party. Its not the best spell, and it does waste a third level spell, but it does have its uses. It barely heals 30hp. For a third level spell, that's not that good. I would suggest HRM2 simply because it is a lot more useful against stronger undead in the game. Sadly there really isn't much stronger, but sometimes there is. It's a good idea, if you have the money to get HRM2 over HEAL. The reason why I choose HRM2, is because there are three items later in the game that cast HEAL for free. If you have enough money for an extra fourth level spell, get your Red or Black Mage ICE2 or FAST. I suggest ICE2, but FAST is equally as good. Especially if you cast it on an unarmed Black Belt. FAST becomes so much better later in the game when you fight more powerful bosses. Get it when you come back from the Marsh Cave. Now, with the Black Belt. At around level 8 or 9, take off the Iron Nunchaku. You might say: but you crazy! And I would respond: Just get into battle. With the hindrance of the Iron Nunchaku gone, the Black Belt can hit more times. And the more you hit, the more damage he deals. My level nine Black Belt can do just about 70 damage. A lot better than the usual 28 he averaged before. You might also want to remove his armour. Check the stats before you try anything. Whatever is more important to you, Absorb or evade. I would think about un equiping Black Belt completely soon. I strongly suggest (again) to have a lot of Pure potions and Heal potions. 50 Heal potions is not overkill either is 50 Pure potions. If you really want to, it is a good idea to actually get 99 in each. Of course, this is an exaggeration. The point being, be prepared!! I had brought 30 heal and 20 pure potions along, and I was level 10. I used all my heal and half my pure. If you were going in there with a level 8 or 9, definatly take more. I go a little less on the Pure potions because I avoid poison creatures as best as I can. I mean I kill them first. That is the best strategy here. The road to the Marsh Cave is very similar as going to the Northwest Castle. Head west until you cannot go west any more, then go north. This time, though, keep on the west. Follow the mountain north. There will be an opening soon. Skip over it, continuing north. You are looking for the second opening in the mountains. This one is really small actually. Its easy to miss, keep your eyes open. Take that one west, then follow the mountains south. You are now at the other side of the mountains you were following north. You can now see the little trap that I told you to avoid by skipping the first opening in the mountains. Keep going south. When you see it, follow the ocean now. Right at the bottom of this continent is the hole which leads to Marsh Cave. Use a Cabin or tent to save outside here. I am going to take you in here, grab as much treasure as we can, and come back out. This will take a few trips, but it is worth it. We get a lot of god items and a lot of money. Make sure you have a few cabins, so if it gets tough in there, you can get out and heal and save your game. You may want to go back to Elfland and pick up a few level 4 spells if you want. I wouldn't suggest it because you could make it through the cave without them. But of you are having trouble, or really like magic, by all means head back and get te spells. The plus side is you get a lot of experience points, the down side is it takes a bit of time. Do whatever works for you. Remember, slow and steady wins the race, and patience gets you through a game like this! 4.2.6 Marsh Cave Creatures: Red Bone, Crawl, Scum, Muck, Shadow, Gargoyle, Zombie, Ghoul, Bone, Spider, Arachnid, Werewolf, Grey Wolf, Scorpion, Wizard Just by looking at this list you can tell you are in for a rough ride. Scum, Werewolves, Arachnids and Scorpions all have poison. Kill them first. The undead we saw before, except the Red Bone and Shadow. The Red Bone have almost 150 hp and have the same weaknesses against HARM and FIRE as their brethren. They can deal a bit of damage too. The Shadow is a nasty one. They can use Dark on your fighters. That isn't good considering they can't fight as well. If that happens, I think you can take them out with FIRE or HARM. Save your FIR2 for later. Don't use FIRE on the Crawl. They don't have the weakness as their cousin. Now, the real pain of this dungeon is the Scum and Muck. They are abundant, and travel in big packs. These sons-of-bitches have strong immunities to physical attacks. Especially the Scum. Use ICE or FIRE on the Scum. Try to take these guys out fast, they can poison you really quickly. If a character does get poisoned, wait until the battle is over before you use a pure on them. A restored character in battle might poisoned again. We are trying to save on Pure's here. The Muck, can be killed with a dedicated physical assault. They aren't as resistant to physical attack as the Scum are. If they are getting annoying though, LIT is their weakness. When you enter Marsh Cave, you are placed at a cross roads. North or South. I'm taking you north, because there is treasure north. There is stuff that we already have, so if you want to, you can ignore it. I think the experience is worth it though. Walk north from the entrance through a winding corridor. There are stairs at the end. Go down them. Now you find yourself in the middle of a big room, with a maze of pillars all around you. Head south until you can get into the room that is on your west side. The far right treasure chest has 620 gold. The closer one has a Short Sword. Now, head back north to the staircase, go north and into this room. Inside is 680 gold. Exit this room and walk east until you see another room. It isn't far. Inside this room is a Large Dagger. Ok, I know 1300 gold you can get by fighting around six ogres and we already have a Large Dagger and don't need a Short Sword. But, we didn't have all the experience points you just got by going this way did we? And we can sell the sword and the dagger for a few more gold. Every penny counts. Go back to the staircase. Once back on the first floor, we will head south. All the way south. Keep to the left though, there is a dead end on your right just after the ladder to the overworld. Inside the room at the bottom of this corridor is a room. Inside is the ladder to the second floor (or basement). You are in a room now. Take the door on the right out, and walk south, past the room. Go all the way to the bottom, then go east. We are ignoring all the rooms in here because they are all empty. All the treasure chests are empty. If you are starting to feel the pain of this dungeon, or are almost out of magic, get out. Go back to the beginning and use a cabin or tent to rest up. Then come back in. There is one more floor to go. Down this ladder is the third floor (or basement). I the room directly south east of you is some iron armour. Take it. If you want another 295g and some exp, go east as far as you can go. In this last room there is the money. From this far room, go down until you are under the next room that is south of the one with the money in it. Then start walking west. Ignore the first two rooms, they are empty. In the second one there is a House and an empty chest. This will come in handy later, if you are hurting from the Cave when we are done. In the room directly south of the room with the Iron Armour (and the entrance) is a copper bracelet. Now, Head south from there. Ignore this room, and go east. Ignore the second room, and continue east. Inside here is 385g. Take it. Now go back to the room just west of where you are. Inside here is a chest surrounded with white `people'. When you step in the square in front of the chest, you enter combat. These are Wizards. They are difficult, especially after you have been trying to stay alive all this time. Hopefully you don't have to fight very many. It is random, so you can fight either two or six, or anywhere in between. They are worth 300g each, and a fare share of exp though... so you can still hope for a big pay off. The strategy you want to take for this battle to kick their asses. Use weapons to take them out. If you need help because there are a lot of them, cast INVS on your important character and cast LIT2 with your Red and Black Mages. They deal in between 30 and 60 hp, so be ready to cast CUR2. Oh, don't use all your spells. You still have to get out of this hell hole. When they are all killed, you can get the Crown. If you are level 10, it's a simple battle is you are outnumbering the wizards. If you have two good fighters, the battle will go by quickly. If you are filled with magic users (yes a Black and White mage counts), have a bit of defence, like INVS, and make sure your Black Mage attacks with LIT2. When you emerge victorious, grab the Lone Kings Crown. Make your way back out (that is the easy part, the cave is designed to trick you from coming in. If you have trouble, just work backwards from my description on how to get out, above.) As soon as you get out, use a Cabin. If you are seriously hurting from the battle, use the House. The House restores magic too, so if you really need it use it for the trip back. There are three rooms at the bottom of Marsh cave, south of the room with the Crown. The rooms are locked. Inside is (from west to east) Silver Bracelet, Silver Knife and 1020 gold. You can't get the Silver Knife for a while yet. Its in a town a while after this. If you really want it (it'll put Black Mage up a few notches in terms of physical power. Let me explain. Large Dagger: Damage:7 Hit: 10%. Silver Knife: Damage: 10 Hit: 15%. Your decision.) The Silver Bracelet is great for any mage. It has 11 points of absorb more than the Copper Bracelet. Being about level 10 or 11 should make the trip a bit easier, but be prepared. Poison can attack at any level. It's a great way to get gold and experience before we tackle the next bend of our adventure. But, more on that later. Back in Elfland (hope you made it, it can be a rough trip), sell the useless duplicate items you have and buy some fourth level magic. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Iron Armour, Wooden Helmet, Gloves, Iron Shield Thief: Saber, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Chain Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Large Dagger, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Iron Hammer, Copper Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE or PURE Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE Not much changed here. Black Belt can take off his armour. It is hindering his evade. The Absorb rating raises with the level of the Black Belt (it is equal to his level). Another big decision for all you Red Mage users out there: AICE or PURE? AICE will come in handy later in the game when you fight ice creatures. But after that, there really isn't that many ice creatures. PURE is the best pick I think. If you paired your Red Mage with a White Mage, maybe AICE is the best pick. Unless you want ultimate defence against poison and have both Red and White Mages to know Pure (you should be sick of poison now). Save your money though. Don't go wasting it on spells you don't need. We will be getting a lot more money and cool weapons soon! A good thing to have for the for coming section of the game is the spell FAST. Make sure either your Red Mage or Black Mage have it. Its not a bad idea to have both of them learn it. If you don't have MUTE for your White (or Red) Mage go NOW and get it. You'll thank me later. 4.2.7 Back to the Northwest Castle Now, we have the Lone Kings Crown. By bringing the Crown back to him we should be able to find out about Astos, and start restoring order to the world. You should be about level 10 or 11. The road to the Northwest Castle is should be easy now. Make sure you are prepared. When you arrive at the spooky castle of the Lone King, you make your way to the throne room and hand over the Crown to the Lone King. When you walk up to the throne, and show the Lone King the Crown... he reveals himself to be Astos! Demanding the crown, and revealing he has Matoya's Crystal, you do what any good Light Warrior would: Refuse! He attacks you. BOSS: Astos HP: 168 Dmg: 16-52 Exp: 2250 G: 2000 Weaknesses: none Strengths: LIT2, SLEP, SLOW Magic used: RUB, SLO2, FAST, FIR2 Use MUTE as soon as you can. Cast it in the first round, and pray to whatever god you believe in that it works. If it doesn't, hope to that same god that Astos doesn't cast RUB. If MUTE works, and RUB is blocked, you are so set. Just pummel the double-crossing, lying Dark Elf. Make sure you cast that MUTE, if it works... Like I said, you are good. But if it doesn't work, you have to go on with three Light Warriors. How? Well, if Astos RUBed someone like your Black Belt or Thief (eg, secondary fighter) you are fine. Just cast FAST on your primary fighter and make sure you have CUR2 ready. But, don't forget, Astos can still cast RUB again, so don't give up on that MUTE! I told you that you would thank me. If someone major is killed, you'll have a harder time, but it is not impossible. Just be patient and keep at him. Use whatever resource you have. Keep on attacking, and heal as much as you can. You can do it Actually, because Astos gives out a lot of experience, I would suggest you use a tent outside, not necessarily for the healing, but for the saving. If one of your party members die, reset and try again. Hopefully MUTE will work before your patience runs out. With Astos dead, we have the Crystal. Now, we can go to Matoya and get the Herb to restore the Elvin Prince. 4.2.8 Return to Matoya's Cave It's really basic. You are probably level 10, maybe 11, so going to Matoya's cave is a cinch. Juts get there and pick up the herb, then head back to the Castle of Elf and restore the Prince! Matoya is a little but of a... well witch with a `b' after you return the Crystal. She `trades' the Herb for the Crystal you have, and if you talk to her again, she yells at you to leave. Ungrateful witch! Oh well, you have the Herb, and you don't have to talk to her ever again. 4.2.9 Castle of Elf Walk in to the Castle... no wait, Strut. Yeah, Strut into the castle. You deserve it. Hand over the Herb to the Prince's aide, and the prince awakens. Now talk to him. He recognizes you as the Light Warriors, which triggers a memory of a prophecy. Then he hands over the Key as the fulfil a prophecy! Well, it sounds like more than the King of Coneria and Lukhan know of the prophecy! We are getting somewhere now! 4.2.10 The Key Now, with the key, we can go back to all those places with locked doors: Coneria Castle, Castle of Elf, the Dwarven Cave, and the Temple of Fiends and Marsh Cave. Marsh cave is optional though. There are two Silver Knives in other locked rooms else where, so the only reason why you are going into the Marsh Cave is to get 400g for the knife, a Silver Bracelet (saves you 5000g, that's one 4th level spell, or one ninth of the Steel Armour on sale in Melmond) and 1020g, not to mention the experience and money from enemies. Actually, I suggest you make the trip back. You probably have the left over Pure and Heal potions to do it, and you are hopefully around level 11. It will save you some time when we start leveling up for the next big adventure. Remember, you can never level up too much. So, we start with the Castle of Elf. From the entrance, walk around the castle from the right and go into the treasury. There is some gold and a Silver Hammer for the White Mage as well as a Copper Gauntlet for the Fighter. Sell any access weapons and armour. Then, go to Coneria, and pick up the items there. Basically they equal gold, as we have everything there. The only good things are the Iron Shield for the Fighter and the Silver Knife for the Black Mage. We also find TNT! Nerrick will be very, very happy! To save time, we speed up to the Temple to Fiends and open the two locked doors on the right hand side of the Temple. Inside is a Soft Potion and two special swords: The Were Sword and the Rune Sword. They are effective against Were creatures and Magic users respectively. Seeing as we have a Silver Sword for the Fighter, sell the Were sword. Only he and the Red Mage can use it, and it really isn't that great. Plus, 3000g sounds better. Give the Rine Sword to the Thief for now. Now we now go to the Dwarven cave and hand over the TNT to Nerrick who opens a canal to the western sea. The door near Nerrick can now be open, and inside is a great deal of items for us. In here we find some stuff to sell (wooden Helmet etc), but we find some great weapons are armour. The Silver Armour is great for the Red Mage, sell it otherwise. The Iron Armour is better for the Fighter. The Iron Helmet rounds out the ensemble. For the Thief we find the Dragon Sword which is one point better than the Rune blade. I think you could keep the Rune blade if you want. Just in case you go fighting some magic users. Otherwise, sell it. Now, we head back to Elfland and trek to the Northwest Castle and grab the booty from there. Be careful though, each chest is guarded. Inside these chests are the Falchion, Power Staff and the Iron Gauntlet. Be careful though, as these chests are guarded. The top right and left are guarded by mummies (ranging in number from 2 to 5), and the center one is guarded my Images (ranging in number from 2 to 5 as well). Just have your Red and/or Black Mage to cast FIR2 to get rid of them. They drop almost (and sometimes over) 1000g, so if you want, hang out here and grab some money. Return to Elfland and sell the Falchion for a crappy 225g. Its useless. Equip the Iron Gauntlet on the Fighter, sell the Copper one. Now the Power Staff. Despite its name, it really isn't that powerful. With the Silver Dagger equipped, the Black Mage has a damage rating of 10, and a Hit % of 15. With the Silver Hammer, the White Mage has a damage rating of 12 and a Hit % of 5. The Power Staff has a Damage of 12 and a Hit % of 0. It only benefits the Black Mage in terms of Damage, but leaves him really lacking in his ability to hit. I consider hitting more important than damage. I mean, if you can't hit, why bother with damage? So, I'd sell the Power Staff. Plus, its worth 6172g. And if we want the Steel Armour for the Fighter later, we'll need every bit of money. SAVE IT! Now if you want, you an go back to Marsh cave and pick up the items (and most importantly, the exp and gold from the monsters) there. The chests at the bottom are guarded by Wizards. They should be a breeze by now. The one at the far right is guarded by Wizards, but also has some Cobra's guarding it on the top. If you take the treasure from the bottom, you should be fine. The centre room with the Silver knife is guarded by Cobra's. Blast them with ICE2 for a quick boost in exp and money. When you are all done, your party should look like this: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Iron Armour, Iron Helmet, Iron Gauntlet, Iron Shield Thief: Dragon Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver (Copper) Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver (Copper) Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE or PURE Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE The deal here is that there is only one Silver Bracelet. White and Black Mages both benefit from it, as does Thief. The question here is who gets it? If you have Thief, White and Black Mages, my suggestion to you is to give it to whoever is closer to the front. If your party formation is Fighter, Thief, White Mage, Black Mage, give it to Thief. If your party is Fighter Black Belt, Red Mage and Black Mage then give it to Black Mage. Give it to whom ever benefits from it the most. Thief can now deal some damage with the Dragon Sword (finally). He is starting to look more like a secondary fighter. Right now we are saving up for a big purchase. I know it seems absurd, but once you get it, you'll understand. Now, we go to the Western Sea, and see what all the fuss is about in Melmond. 4.3 The First Fiend 4.3.1 Melmond Go through the canal created by Nerrick and sail west. There is a small island there, just go around it, and there is Melmond. Shops: Weapon: Iron Staff 200g Sabre 450g Long Sword 1500g Falchion 450g Armour: Steel Armour 45000g Silver Bracelet 5000g Iron Helmet 450g Copper Gauntlet 750g Iron Gauntlet 750g Black Magic (level 5): FIR3 8000g BANE 8000g WARP 8000g SLO2 8000g White Magic (level 5): CUR3 8000g LIFE 8000g HRM3 8000g HEL2 8000g Item shop: No Item Shop Clinic: No Clinic Inn: 100g The greatest thing about collecting all the treasures in the locked rooms is that you don't have to worry about buying anything in Melmond. The only think you have to worry about is Magic. If you saved up enough money, buy the Steel Armour. It is the best armour right now, and will stay on the Fighter for long, long time. If you don't have the 45000 g for the armour, hang around and try to get some money from the creatures in the overworld. You can also head to the Earth Cave to pick up some more money. The town itself seems to be in ruins. The walls are broken, there are a few destroyed buildings. There are what seems like hundreds of tombstones. One towns person tells the sad tale of a Vampire who attacked the city, laying waste to many houses, even the Clinic is destroyed (all the more incentive to stay alive!!). Another sad towns person begs the Light Warriors to destroy the Vampire, who is stealing the power of the earth. Another tells you that when the Earth Orb shines again, the Earth, and the city, will begin to prosper again. Well, it looks like we have found out what is happening in Melmond, all we have to do is save the city! A man in the far north of the town tells us where to find the Earth cave: on a peninsula southwest of the city. There is also a mention of a man named Sarda, who is not afraid of the Earth cave. We should probably go talk to him first, he may have some clues as how to fight the Vampire. There is mention of a Titan in a tunnel, which loves rubies. We should keep that in mind. A man in the city mentions that an ancient people in the north, who's civilization now is in ruin, used a stone to make a ship fly. Remember the Dwarf in the Dwarf village who mentioned the Floater? Maybe the stone this man is talking about the Floater. And a flying ship? How absurd! Lastly, a man in the north east of the city yells at your ignorance for not knowing who he is. He is named Dr. Unne, and says that everyone knows him. Seeing as you don't, and also never heard of him up until this point, we should remember him. Nothing more is said... something tells me this guy is just insane. Lets start looking for some more information. First off, lets wonder west, looking for this man Sarda. 4.3.2 Titan's Tunnel Once you start walking west of Melmond, you quickly realize that the land certainly is rotting away. The entire landscape is a swamp. Not until you get a bit further, close to the mountains does the swamp subside to the original grasslands. One could imagine how beautiful this place must have looked before the earth rot. Once you reach the mountains to the west of Melmond, go through them (there is a small pass) and into a small forest. The entrance to Titans Tunnel is right there. Once you enter, you quickly realize that Titan's Tunnel is aptly named. A Titan has placed himself in the only way west. If you talk to him he simply declares the road blocked off. Remember what that man in Melmond said? That Titan's love rubies? Now where can we find a Ruby? Back at Melmond, no one says anything different. Looks like we are going to have to find this Ruby on our own. Although we can't get to Sarda to get him to help us, we might have to brave the Earth Cave ourselves. 4.3.3 Earth Cave From where I am in the game, I have just over 30,000g. That means we need just about 15,000 g to get the Steel Armour. And, PLEASE listen to me about this Steel Armour. It is worth every gold piece, and even more. Steel Armour has an Absorb of 34 and an evade of 33%. Iron Armour has an Absorb of 24 and an evade of 23%. That's ten points better. And you won't find anything better for a long time. A long, long time. In terms of armour, try and buy Silver Bracelets for your mages. They will need it. You will be needing money for the great Level 5 spells that are for sale here too. But, if you have a Red Mage, you'll have to wait for a while before you can learn some of them. But, we need money first. The best part about going through the locked doors is that we don't need to buy any more weapons. Earth cave is a great place to level up, if you can stay alive. There is a place called the Hall of Giants, where every step is a battle with a Giant. The best part of fighting Giants is that each Giant gives you 879 gold and 879 exp! Creatures: Giant, Cobra, Image, Giest, Earth, Wizard, Bull, Asp, Ogre, Green Ogre, Gargoyle, Sipder, Arachnid, Mummy, Grey Wolf, Were Wolf, Troll, Spectre, Cockatrice, Ooze. Same old stuff here. The big things you have to worry about now is the creature: Earth. This guy is a big one. Usually, he is guarding some treasures, and sometimes he is in pairs. The best part about these guys is that he is worth 1536 exp. That's 384 per Light Warrior. That's a good thing. The bad thing is he can deal almost 150 damage, and have almost 300 hit points. It is going to take a bit to kill these guys, but it is worth it. Just use Fire to take him out, that's his weakness. Also look out for the Cockatrice. Those birds can cause Stone. Their weakness is ICE. They are a pain, so take some Soft along. Not too much, but enough just to be safe (about 10). If you want to fight them for the exp and such, cast SLEP as soon as you can. They usually get knocked out long enough for you to kill them. Also, a bit of a warning, be prepared to fight larger groups of some old enemies. Great Wolves come in packs with Were Wolves that add up to about 7, and the most dangerous are the Great Ogres who usually travel in groups of 4. What I'll be doing here is taking you into the first two levels of the Earth Cave to grab the treasure. Hopefully by then, you should have enough gold for at least the Steel Armour and the Silver Bracelets you need. A few levels won't hurt as well. You should be at level 11 or 12, which is good for the treasure. It will be a god idea to fight those Giants for a time. Just bring along a lot of Cabins and go off getting a level or two, and some money. Just be careful though, those Giants can be ruthless. The Hall of Giants is located due west of the staircase. Just walk west down that corridor. The whole vertical corridor there is filled with Giants (two squares east of the far wall). Stay really close to the edge, incase anything happens you can jet out. Remember, Melmond doesn't have an Item shop or a Clinic, so be careful. When you think you are ready (ie, not being killed by the random encounters), lets get some treasure (I suggest about Level 12). From the entrance, we go north. The path turns east and opens to a room. Guarding the chest is an Earth. These guys can be trouble. The best thing to do is have everyone attack and have your Black Mage cast FIR2. It should be killed either the first round, or the second round (don't cast FIR2 in the second round unless everyone missed and you think you need it) Inside the room is 1975g. Return to the entrance and take the south-east path. It continues south, until it splits off: west and east. Take the east road. Inside this room is a Pure Potion and 795g. Return to the cross road and take the west road. Ignore the first south path, it leads to a dead end. Instead, take the last one, down into another room. Another Earth guards the chest in this room. It's the first one on the right. Inside is 880g and a Heal potion. The road to the second basement is the far east road from the entrance. Remember, if you are battle weary, just go outside and either use a Cabin or go back to Melmond. The second floor is a confusing maze of rooms. I will list here the way to get the treasures, and get out. Below this is how to get to the staircase from the first floor. For sake of simplicity, I am referring to the small passages between these `rooms' as doors. They do not open, they are simple one `square' passage between the thin walls. From the stairs, take the south door, then walk a few squares east and take that north door. Now, go south and south again. Now, take the door that is directly east of you. Go down in that room to the south doorway, now follow that small corridor to its north end. There is a door way in this other rooms south east section. In there, take the east door to the treasure room (There is a real door there). Inside is a Cabin, 330g and a Coral Sword for the Thief (well, its up to you really. The Dragon Sword and the Coral Sword are exactly the same. The only difference is the fact that the Dragon sword works better against Dragons and the Coral Sword works better against water creatures). From this room we take the west door out, then the south one. Walk west to the second southern exit then walk south until you can't any more (you should be passing three doors). Now take the east door, walk south though another door and enter the treasure room. There is an Earth in the entrance way of this room, which basically means that after you fight it, and walk into the room, when you want to leave, you have to fight it again. Just make sure you are prepared with close to full hp. Inside is 5000g (or as I like to call it, one Silver Bracelet) a wooden shield (drop it if you want, it's a waste or space) and 575g. Now, take the east exit, go north through three doors. The choice is wether or not to go on. I suggest to leave now, stock up on what we need, then come back to explore the third floor later. If you want to go on, this is how you get to the third floor: walk east from here, take the south door and walk down this long corridor. Inside the next room, turn east and go into the far northern door and down the stairs. If you want to leave, after the three north doors go west, then take the north door on the west. Now go north all the way up as far as you can go. Turn west, take that south door, turn west again, and go north, into the staircase. If you want to go on, jump down to the end of this section on what to do in the third floor. With all that money, we return to Melmond and stock up on what we need. It would be a god idea to return to a city we've been to before to get some items like Heal potions, Cabins and even some Soft potions just in case. The Party should look like this now: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Steel Armour, Iron Helmet, Iron Gauntlet, Iron Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE or PURE/CUR3 or FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3 or WARP White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 or LIFE A big question is magic. What should you get? FIR3 for your Black Mage is a great buy, considering the monsters in the Earth Cave are weak against it. Although, WARP will help you get out if you are having trouble. I would go with FIR3 simply because how much better it is. You should be a good enough level now to not need WARP to get out of the cave. White Mage also is faces with a bit of a dilemma. CUR3 or LIFE? If you are afraid of dying and have enough Cure potions to drown someone, go for LIFE. It will help you if a character gets killed on the way back from treasure hunting. If you are fairly certain you won't die, get CUR3 instead. If, you have been fighting a lot of Giants, and have enough money, don't worry at all, and just get them both. The big problem now is the Red Mage. He has gotten to the point where his development is becoming a hindrance. He cannot learn LIFE, BANE or WARP until he gets promoted to a Red Wizard. Because the Red Wizard cannot learn LIF2 later in the game, I would suggest getting LIFE as soon as you can. In the end the Red Wizard should have FIR3, CUR3 and LIFE. Forget WARP, with Red Mage in your party, you have a good enough fighter to last you. This would be a great time to go back to someplace like Elfland and pick up some more Heal, Pure, and especially Soft Potions. You'll need Soft. If you want, grab a few Cabins as well. Now, we go back into the Earth Cave, to see what is deeper. You should be about Lv 13. 4.3.4 Return to Earth Cave Once again, we just slip into the far east corridor and go down the stairs at the end of them. In the second Basement, take the direct route to the staircase which is as follows: Take the south door, walk east, then take the north one, then walk east, then the south one. Now walk south, through two doors. Now, take the east door. Walk all the way east and then go south twice. Inside this room, walk east, then go north to the stairs. The Third Basement is filled with nasty enemies. The part I hate are the bats. They always step in the way. They don't do anything (except go "kee... kee..."). They are just annoying. Anyway, there are a lot of Cockatrices about on this floor. They don't do any damage. Their max is 2. But that have a fairly good chance to change you to stone. Personally, I don't think it would be a pleasant feeling to be turned to stone (even if you could be turned back a moment later), so I wouldn't want the Light Warriors to experience that. If it does happen, the stoned Warrior doesn't get any exp for that battle. I strongly suggest running. If you have a thief, you are in the clear as they can run almost all the time, otherwise, you should have some Soft. Hope it is enough. From the staircase walk east down the corridor and go into the north door. Walk a bit east and into the treasure room. Inside is an Earth guarding the entrance, so on the way out you'll have to fight him again. Use the same strategy as all the Earth's before. Inside is a Tent. Yeah, ok... it's not the greatest item, but it might come in handy! Now, go back, and just stay going north, take the first west you can get. If you continue on going north, there is a treasure to the south-east. It has a Heal potion... it is so not worth it. Anyway, pass though the west door, and walk into the treasure room. Inside is another Earth guarding the entrance. You know what that means. The treasure has 3400g. The path us very straight forward now, there is only one way you can go. When you reach the next treasure room, ignore it. Its filled with annoying bats. From there, go south all you can, and take the first west. The treasure inside this treasure room is guarded by another Earth. There is 1020g inside that one. Now, make your way south, and we'll see who is inside the big room. Sure enough, we find the Vampire. If you are at level 13, this battle should be easy. BOSS: Vampire HP: 156 Dmg: 76-152 Exp: 1200 G: 2000 Weaknesses: FIRE HARM Strengths: QAKE, ICE, RUB, BANE, BRAK, SLEP, STUN, SLOW Magic used: Dazzle (Stun) Just cast HRM2 and FIR2 and have your fighter attack. The battle should be over in a round or two if you are at level 13. The chest beyond has the Ruby we need to get past the Titan. If you go behind the Vampires room, there is a stone plate beyond. When the Light Warriors inspect it, it says that they sense evil, but can't move the plate. Its time to see Sarda. Make your way out of Earth cave, and use that tent (if you need it) as soon as you get out. Then go to Melmond and use the Inn. 4.3.5 Return to Titan's Cave and Sarda's Cave Hand over the Ruby to the Titan, and he gobbles it up. Now, we can get going! To the south is a small treasure room, and inside is some money, a Great Axe and a Silver Helmet. Equip the Silver Helmet on the Fighter, and save the Axe to be sold. North of all this is the exit to Sarda's Cave. Outside, just weave yourself through the mountains south, until you get to Sarda's cave. Inside is the hermit. You can tell he lives here alone, and does quite well for himself because he has a store room (full of stuff that you can't touch). In the room to the north west is Sarda. Talk to him, and he hands over the Rod, the item we need to use to take that stone plate off. He says that the source of the earth's rot is deeper still in the cave. It looks like the Vampire wasn't the cause of all Melmond's troubles. Lets go back to Melmond and prepare for the final trip to Earth Cave. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Iron Gauntlet, Iron Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3, WARP White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE By now, you should have enough money for all the spells listed above. Now, start saving for the next level spells we will be getting our hands on in a short while. But, before that, make sure you have about 60-99 Heal potions, a few Pure (around 20-30) and some Soft (10-20 if you intend to run a lot, 30 if you intent to fight the cockatrices). Have a few Cabins ready too, just in case. Now, we make our way back into the Earth cave, to find this evil and do away with it. 4.3.6 The Final Return to Earth Cave. We should be at around level 13 or 14 now. If not, you will probably go up a level on your way down. My advice would be to hold off using your magic (especially FAST and FIR2 and FIR3 spells) until the end. Don't worry about using your resources though, you don't have to come all the way back through the Earth Cave. It is a one way trip. We just go the sae way. Take the far east corridor on the first floor, then go down. On the Second basement, that this direct route: south door, then walk a bit east, then the north one, walk a bit east again, then take the south door. Go south again, then take the door directly east of you. Now take the south door and walk east along this small corridor. Then go north. Turn east and take the south door. Now continue taking the south paths (if there is another south, make sure it is the most easternly one). When you can't go south any more, walk east, and go north, and go down the stairs. The third basement is quite easy to navigate. Walk down this long corridor east, then walk north until you are given a westerly choice. Take that west door while going west. Keep going west until you are forced to head south. This should be south of the room filled with bats. Walk south until you are given a way east, then take that. This should be right next to the small room with one chest in it. Now, walk south, then east, and go into the Vampires room. To the east is a door. Walk out that and follow the path to the stone plate we saw before. Now, stand infront of it, and go to the item screen and use the ROD Sarda gave to us. It breaks away, and we can now go deeper into the Earth Cave. If you are at level 14 by now, this should be easy. I will take you through the fourth level, getting all the treasure. Be sure to use your Heal Potions when ever you need to. That's why I told you to bring 99, so you can use as many as you need. This is another one of those annoying room levels. They really start to get annoying don't they? From the stairs, take the west door, and walk north through another one. Pass the west door and take the north one. Weave your way through these doors, making your way west and you'll come to a treasure room. Be sure to use some potions, most of the chests here are guarded. There are five chests. Three to the west, and two in front of you. On the west side of the most southern one (the one due west of you) there are two Sphinx's. They have just over 200hp, and have no special attacks, but sometimes can pack a wallop, especially if you have a party with a lot of mages in it. Be sure to have close to full hit points. The chest contains 1455g. The treasures furthest west from the door (the two right next to each other) has two Sphinx's guarding the furthest west one. The contain (from west to east) 5450g and 1520g. The rest of them are guarded by A WzOgre, a GrOgre and one or two Hyena's. When you fight these guys, be sure to spread your attack. The WzOgre casts RUSE on itself first, making it harder to hit. If it stays around long enough, it casts DARK. You'll have a hell of a time trying to hit it then. If you don't want to fight these enemies, I suggest getting the two treasures north of the door from the sides, and avoid the square that is directly south of the chest. If you don't tough it there, you avoid the encounter. The chests have (from west to east) a Wooden Staff and 3400g. From there, we want to go back to the place where we passed the west door. Now, we take it. From there, we take the south door, and walk all the way west, to take the north door. Now, take the west, then south twice. Walk a bit west, then take the north door, walk west some more then south. Now, walk south all the way down until you reach the treasure room, which is a bit east. These chests all have a Wizard Ogre, a Great Ogre and one or two Hyena's guarding them on the square on the south side. Fight them if you think you can for the gold and experience, but if you want to avoid them, just take the treasure from the side. From south to north the chests contain a Cabin, a Silver Shield and 1250g. Equip the Silver Shield on the Fighter. From this treasure room, just walk north, taking every northern door. If there are two, take the most western one. You should pass through five of them. The fifth one will put you in the room with the stairs. The fifth floor has no treasure on it. We are taking the direct course to our destination. Walk south, hen east and north through the door. Walk north as much as you can (staying west) until you can't go north any more. Now walk a bit west and take the south door. Follow it all the way down to the end. Walk west, then north into the room. Before you is a red orb, surrounded by spikes, Beyond it is another black orb. Make sure your hit points are full. Walk forward and talk to the orb. BOSS: Lich HP: 400 Dmg: 40-80 Exp: 2200 G: 3000 Weaknesses: FIRE Strengths: ICE, RUB, BANE, STUN, SLEP, BRAK Magic used: ICE2, SLP2, FAST, LIT2, HOLD, FIR2, SLOW, SLEP If you are level 14 or 15, this battle should be easy for you. On the first round, I would suggest having your Black Mage and/or Red Mage cast FAST on your attacking characters, while your White Mage casts any defensive spell you have. Lich will cast either FIR2, ICE2 or LIT2. Your guess is as good as mine as to what to cast. Pick one and hope it's the one. Chances are Lich will cast FIR2, but one time when I fought him all he used was ICE2. If not, you will be receiving about 100-120 damage. Make sure you don't get any lower than that. On the second round, have your attackers Fight, have your Black and/or Red Mages cast FIR2 and if you have FIR3, cast away!! Now, have your White Mage cast either INVS on itself, or someone you really want to keep alive, or cast another ANTI spell in anticipation for a spell. If the hit points are getting low, cast CUR2 on the Warrior. Cast your FIRE spells every round. Attack on every round. The battle should be over in a few rounds!! With that done, all that is left is to walk forward and recharge the orb. When the screen shakes, the orb is recharged (check it out on your menu screen! Yeah!!!) Now, take another step forward, and you'll be warped out of Earth Cave! 4.3.7 Melmond On your return to Melmond, everyone is glad you defeated the evil. By talking to them, they praise you, asking you to complete your mission (WARRIORS revive the light of the ORBS!), some notice the earth is beginning to recover. With the mysteries solved on this chapter, we take note of what we have yet to answer: Unanswered mysteries: Why did Lakhan the Prophet go to Crescent Lake? Where can we find ADAMANT and the FLOATER? What is this ancient civilization who could have ships to fly? Does this FLOATER have anything to do with the flying ships? What happened to the prosperous civilization to the north? Who is Dr Unne, and what why is he so important? With those questions in mind, we now travel to the far east and see what we can learn from there. Remember a man in Pravoka telling us that there are no ports in the north? Well, we will have to see if we can find any information on that in the last remaining land we have: the east. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Iron Gauntlet, Silver Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3, WARP White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE 4.4 Into the Fire 4.4.1 Crescent Lake There are two ways to get to Crescent Lake. You can travel east, going along the south of Elfland (making a stop over. It is a good idea to buy some Soft potions here, you may need them). Or, travelling west (it is a round world) until you come to the Crescent Lake continent. Either is alright, but you might get lost going west. If you are going east, travel south, along the coast, passing by Marsh Cave, Elfland, the place we fought Ogres, and now the new lands. There is a huge swamp just east of the Plains where we fought those Ogres. Keep on going west. Soon, we will pass a desert nestled in some mountains. We are almost their. Just past that, we can start going north. There is a huge forest. Keep on going north. Soon, we can find the port. North west of Crescent Lake. When we dock, we can start walking south east, then enter the forest. You hopefully have some Pure potions, there are a lot of poison creatures around here. I think, sometimes, this forest is worse than Marsh Cave. Be prepared. Soon, we can see the Crescent Lake, and the city in the centre of it, Walk around the lake, and get into the city. Shops: Weapon: Silver Knife 800g Silver Sword 4000g Silver Hammer 2500g Silver Axe 4500g Armour: Silver Armour 7500g Silver Shield 2500g Buckler 2500g Silver Helmet 2500g Silver Gauntlet 2500g Black Magic (level 6): LIT3 20000g RUB 20000g QAKE 20000g STUN 20000g White Magic (level 6): SOFT 8000g EXIT 8000g FOG2 8000g INV2 8000g Item shop: Heal Potion 60g Pure Potion 75g Cabin 250g House 3000g Clinic: 400g Inn: 200g Crescent Lake is a small village. Luckily for you, it has everything you need to continue your adventure. Unlike Melmond, it hasn't been physically attacked by any of the Fiends. The only thing it lacks is Soft potions. Hopefully you heeded my advice and pick up a few more Soft potions in Elfland. You will need them later. As for weapons and armour, your money can be kept. The only thing work buying here is a few bits of armour. The Buckler is the first shield that can be used by the Thief and Red Mage. Buy it immediately. Also, buy the Silver Gauntlet for your Fighter and Red Mage. Now your Red Mage has a decent defence. As for magic, chances are you can't use 6th level spells yet. You can start using them at Level 16. If you want, you can buy some of them for when you can use them. Or, level up inside the Volcano. I would suggest INV2 for your White Mage either way. If you have money still, go ahead and buy LIT3 for your Black Mage. Red Mage can't use any of these spells yet even at Level 16, so save your money. The best thing for you to do right now is to pick up 99 Heal Potions. I'm serious this time. Make sure you have 99. You will need them. Mark my words! Pick up a couple houses, too. Our next destination is a bit difficult, and you may need them. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Silver Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Silver Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves, Buckler Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap, Buckler Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3/(LIT2) White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE/(INV2) There really isn't that many people in Crescent Lake. There is a woman walking the city to tells you that the recovery of the robs can be done. Sounds to me like a towns person who is finding comfort in your existence. The other person is a man in to north west part of the city, near a few gravestones. He is asleep. Brings a new meaning to a sleepy village. Of, course, one of the longest mysteries we know is why did Lukhan come here. The answer to that is behind the Magic Shops. Follow the path through the forest and you'll come to the Circle of Sages. These Sages, are probably the most important people in the game. We will be coming back all the time to see if they will tell us anything more. They know your destiny. They tell you about what has been going on in the world. They tell of the Four Elements being slowly taken over by the Four Fiends. The Fiends controlling the elements and causing destruction. We learn that 200 years ago, the Fiend of the Water and the Fiend of the Air teamed up to destroy civilization. Maybe that's what happened to the great civilization to the north. One of the Sages congratulates us on defeating Lich, the Earth Fiend, and gives us a Canoe. This will allow us to get to the Gurgu Volcano and defeat the Fire Fiend. We also finally meet Lukhan, who tells us that this is our destiny. It is being fulfilled as we speak. Great, now we have the fate of the whole world in our hands. 4.4.2 Gurgu Volcano The Volcano is somewhat difficult dungeon. It is filled with useful, and sometimes useless, treasure. Because of this fact, I will be taking you in there, to get the bulk of the treasure. Then, we are coming out, using a house to restore our health (and more importantly, magic), then going back in, picking up the rest of the treasure, and fighting the Fiend. You should be level 15. In order to get to the Volcano, we have to use our brand spanking new Canoe. What is that? There is no Canoe on your menu screen? Of course not. You are carrying it with you (along with your Houses and Cabins)! So, just walk up to the river, and off you go! River monsters are very annoying. Either they travel in big groups (Caribe), have poisonous attacks (Ocho), or are just damn annoying (Gator and Hydra). With the exception of the Hydra, they are all weak against LIT spells. Considering that your ICE spells are a different level than your LIT spells, go right ahead and use them. Follow the river out of the Crescent Lake. We are going against the current here, up into the mountains (I'm trying to set the mood here). So, I hope you got your sleep. Go into the mountains, and pass the southern branch. Then weave through that, and turn north. Follow that up until you can go east. Follow that now as it turns north, then go west. Follow that and at the next crossroads, go west again. Follow that to the Volcano. Monsters: Red Gargoyle, Fire, Red Dragon, Pede, Cerebus, Agama, Red Giant, Perilisk, Hyena, Red Hydra, Grey Worm, Wizard Ogre, Sphynx, Green Ogre, Scorpion, Bull, Muck, Giant, Iguana The majority of the creatures are fire based. That means ICE will work absolute wonders on them. The big scary monsters to look out for are the Cerebus, Agama, Perilisk and the Red Hydra. The cast fire based spells that damage all your party. Watch out for these guys. Red Gargoyles have some magic up their rocky sleeves. They can cast FIRE, FIRE2 and even HOLD. They don't cast it often enough, but they will have a tendency to cast it when you really don't want them too. Now, the Perilisk is a dangerous, dangerous little beast. Remember how I told you to run away from the Cockatrices from the Earth Cave? These guys are worse. They are of the same breed (ie, the same picture, different colour). They have low hit points (44). They deal 20 times more damage than the Cockatrice (up to 40 damage). But, they have an ability called Squint. And guess what it does... KILLS! Yup. Kills the targeted character. My advice: RUN. Or, if you think you can handle them, SLEP works well. Be careful though... it may not work and you may lose some of your party members. Ok, so, we get into the Volcano. It really isn't as complex as Earth Cave. But, one thing we need to look out for: the Lava. When you walk on the lava, all four Light Warriors take 1hp of damage. Sounds like nothing? You are in a volcano. Having second thoughts about now buying 99 Heal potions? You should. We start off at the cone. Walk west, through the lava. The staircase down is right there. On to the second floor. This floor is jam packed with treasure. There are about 18 treasure boxes. Only a few are worth it. There are a lot of Silver armours that we already have. Grab them all anyway, unless it's filling your inventory, then get rid of it. There are two pieces in here that you need, the Fire Armour and Fire Shield. Everything else you can drop. So lets begin. The door to the north of you is the way to go. This giant room is filled with treasure. And nasty creatures. This is why we are going out after this. Watch and see. Go north weaving through the walls. At the first turn west, take it, and go toward the chest. There is a Fire guarding it. If you really want to, you can skip this treasure. It's a Silver Helmet. They are easy if you fight straight out. If they become difficult, all you need to do is cast an ICE spell. It can even help if you cast ICE, the level 2. From there, go back to the far east, where you turned to get this chest. Now, we are going north. Walk a bit west, until we can go north. Go all the way north, then we are going around, and then we are walking south. There is a chest here. Inside is 4150g. Now, we are going back, zig-zagging north and south, up and down this weaving corridor. Right at the end is the Giant Sword. It is guarded by a Fire. Smash him up, and take your booty. The Giant Sword is a good sword. It has 10% more hit%. But, it loses a point of damage. I equip the Giant Sword because there are a few giants in the Volcano. Plus, I like to hit. You can do whatever you want. Now we are going all the way back. Through the winding corridor, and go out the south entrance. Turn west this time, and when you can, go south. Go as far as you can go, then turn east and follow that to the chest. It is guarded by another Fire. Inside is 1520g. Now, go out the door that is to the west of the chest. Now, we are back in the small corridor filled with lave. We will be going west a few steps to the next door. Inside here, we go north, but stay on the west side. We are going through here, stay south as we go though. Its just another winding corridor, but it is a bit smaller. Right before we enter, there is a square right before the treasures. Its against the last wall on the right side. If you want to avoid fighting two Fires. So, before you get in, just walk on the far west side. Inside is a whole bunch of chests. But, some are guarded. Most of the chests have Silver Helmets. The rest are filled with gold. Basically, I'm going to run them down like this. I'll start from the west, and start going east. Then, move south a notch, and go from west to east again. Ok? Get that? Here we go. Firstly, a Silver Helmet, then 1760g. Next row has another Silver Helmet, 1520g, and a Silver Shield. Third row has a 1455g and a Silver Axe. Fourth row has a Heal potion, a Cabin, 1975g a Pure potion and finally a Heal Potion. Got that? Good. Oh, and to warn you, see that one square that is surrounded by chests? The place you have to stand to get the 1455g? It is guarded by a Grey Worm. This beast is a bit scary. It can do a bunch of damage. But, so can you. It is weak against ICE. So pound into it, and cast ICE if you need it. It has 280hp. It can deal up to 100hp, so be careful. The exp is worth it, you should be getting just about 400 exp each. I am skipping two chests here. They are at the very far north of the treasure room. They have 750g and 795g. I think it's a waste of time. Of course, you can go right ahead and get them if you love treasure. Now, we can go. I think you'll need it. Go back north, through the winding corridor, then around and out. All the way out of the volcano. Set up camp by using one of your Houses to restore your magic. Now, we are going back in, to grab the last bit of the treasure, and defeat the Fiend. Ok? With your hitpoints and magic restored we go back into the heat. Walk west in the beginning to the staircase. Now we are back on the big treasure room. All we have to do now is walk straight west. Ignore the doors. We have been through them all. The last one right next to the stairs down is to a dead end. On the third basement, we are going east. Just keep on going east. Try to stay off the lava. Or, if you want, stay on the lava. There are no random encounters on the lava. But every step you take your whole party takes a point of damage. You do the math. The stair is at the end of this corridor. This floor is full of lava. That is either a good thing or a bad thing if you think about it. Good because no random encounters. Bad because you'll be taking damage. See why I told you to bring 99 Heal Potions now? It helps. Use them as much as you can. I would suggest to try and keep as many as you can though, you want to have full hit points when you get to the end. We still have three more floors, and a few important treasures to pick up. From the stairs, walk west a step, then head due south, past the pillar in the middle. There is some safe ground there. Now walk to the southernmost point here, and head east.. Walk around this pillar to the westernmost side, walk to the next pillar, then walk to the stairs. They go up (I didn't notice I was going up until the sixth or seventh time through... so technically we are going up to the third floor again...) This floor is comprised of corridors and small rooms. There is rocks all over the place and lava. This is what I would think the depths of a volcano should look like. Roughly. But enough of my opinion, lets get back to Squaresofts idea of a volcano. We start in the north east and have to go to the south west. And this is how we do it. We walk south into the next room. Now, we walk west. The south again, the west. All the way west. The stairs are at the end. Don't worry, there is no treasure, just dead ends. We are almost there. Hope you have more than 40 Heal potions... So, we have headed down again, ending up on the second, fourth basement. Anyway, inside the room right next to the stairs has some treasure, guarded treasure. The chest on the right is guarded by a Grey Worm on the west side. Inside is a Soft Potion, you can avoid the Worm by taking the chest from the north. Remember to avoid the square all together though. The chest in the north has 2750g. Its guarded by an Agama on the south. You can avoid it by going from the east side. If you do fight it, cast ICE if you want (keep your ICE2 for later). Watch out for its HEAT ability, it can knock out your party and drop their hitpoints by about 30-60 points. Be careful. Now, we follow this corridor as it goes west, the south. There is another room with one chest, with only 1760g. Why not grab it? Its easy money. Plus, spells now cost 20,000g. It'll help a bit. Anyway, get out and keep on moving west. This is the room that makes the trip here worth while. Inside the room that is west of the last one we were in, is five chests. In between the two chests in the north west is a Grey Worm. After you beat him, you can add 7340g and the Flame Shield. Keep the shield, and equip it onto your Fighter. Drop anything useless to give it to him. Its worth it. There is also 880g, a Pure Potion, and the most coveted item in the Volcano: the Ice Sword. Equip it as soon as you get it!! Now get out of here and walk south. Remember the single chest room we got out of just a moment ago? Well, go back there and now we head south. After a turn east, we come to another room. Inside is 10g and 155g. There is also a Grey Worm guarding those chests (it is located one square south of one chest, and one square west of the other). Worth it? Nope. Skip over it, and continue going west. In the other room to the west of everything in here are three chests. Only the top two have anything. A House on the right and 2000g on the left. The other chest has nothing. Now, we go south, out of this room. Keep walking south, keeping east as much as we can. At the bottom, just north of the last staircase is our second last treasures. The chest to the furthest south has an Agama guarding it on the west side. There is 1250g inside. The other chest has a Wooden Staff. I wish we could throw it onto the lava and watch it burn. Oh well... Now, go out and walk south to the final staircase. Get ready... This is a huge floor. A big, big massive floor. But, its very, very empty. This is what we do. Walk west. Inside this big room is the second big treasure. Right before we start walking in between the candles to grab the treasure, we have to fight an Agama. But, right infront of the treasure, we have to fight nasty dude. A Red Dragon. Not our friend. 248 hit points of flame spewing badness. Ok, maybe I'm making him seem more dangerous than he really is. Just blast him with ICE, (ICE2 if you are really scared). He can deal up to 150 points of damage, so be careful. He also has a nice attack called BLAZE. It damages all your party. Luckily, you have the Ice Sword. Smack it around and in a round or two, it'll be over. Grab your prize, the Flame Armour. Equip it, and get ready for the final phase of our mission. Go back outside the room, and walk east. But, as soon as you get to the bit of lava running north and south, follow it south. It will save you a bit of a headache. The only reason I'm doing it is to avoid the random encounters. This will allow us to keep our hit points. Chances are you'll meet an agama or something else that really isn't nice and flame us, causing us to lose a bunch of hp. We need to save out hp as much as possible. When you reach the end, walk south east and into the room. Inside is our Fiend of Fire. Use those Heal potions to heal up, then talk to the orb. It opens up, and the Fiend attacks... BOSS: Kary HP: 600 Dmg: 40-80 Exp: 2475 G: 3000 Weaknesses: ICE Strengths: LIT, FIRE, BANE, BRAK Magic used: FIR2, DARK, HOLD This can be quite a difficult battle. For the first round, have the Black (or Red) Mage cast FAST on your Fighter and/or Black Belt, and have your White (or Red) Mage cast AFIR. That is a very important spell. Make sure it is cast as soon as you can. Then attack. Have Black (or Red) Mage to cast ICE2 every round, and your White Mage cast healing spells, or INVS on anyone you want to be safe, preferably your attackers. Watch out though, because Kary can also cast Hold and Stun any of your characters. Just keep on attacking. Eventually, Kary will fall, and you can move on, lighting yet another orb. Take a step forward, and head back to Crescent Lake. How do you get back you say? Yeah, I know, this nasty river system is a pain. From the Volcano, go east. First south you can take, go south. Just keep going south until you can't any more. Then turn east. There is the Lake. Now, take a well deserved sleep in the Inn. 4.4.3 Crescent Lake Upon our return, just go up and check up on the sleeping guy in the back of the city. You'll find him awake, and giving you a vital clue as to the whereabouts of the Floater. Its in the Ice Cave. That is our next destination. Here is what the party should look like before we go: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Ice Sword, Steel (Flame)Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Flame Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves, Buckler Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver (Giant) Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap, Buckler Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3/LIT3, RUB White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE/INV2 The Steel Armour for the Fighter is still better than the Flame Armour, but don't get rid of it. The Flame Armour will help you in the Ice Cave. The only difference between the two armours is that the Steel Armour has 23% better evade. Switch armours when he get to the cave. Another decision that faces us the Equipment of the Red Mage. The Giant Sword, as I said, loses two damage, but gains 5 percent in hit. It really is up to you what you put on him. There is a Giant (the Frost Giant) in the Ice Cave, if that sways your opinion at all. You should probably be around level 16 now, and can use the 6th level spells (well, some of them). If you try to buy EXIT for your White Mage, you soon realize that she can't learn it! Oh well, we can learn it later. EXIT is an extremely important spell, so keep a slot open for it in your White Mages magic inventory. Black Mage can get every spell there. Red Mage, though can't learn any until later. Stock up, again, on 99 heal potions. The Ice Cave is as relenting as the arctic (or so I hear). If you haven't yet, be sure to have a hand full of Soft Potions. This is another place with those nasty Cockatrices. 4.4.4 Ice Cave If you thought the road to the Volcano was hard, wait till you get a load of this. The river system seem to get more complex in the northen mountains. No worries though. It really isn't that bad. The bad thing is, those damn Carbie are all over the place. Man, I hate those fish. Anyway, walk over to your ship. Once boarded and ready, go around this little peninsula and head north. There is this small straight that opens up into a bay where a river empties into it. Move your boat to the river, weigh anchor, and voila, you are on your canoe. Now, this is the annoying part. From here, head west, until you get to the small lake with about four rivers coming out of it. We are taking the first one north. This soon branches off west. We go east, and follow it north. The river soon goes west, and so do we. There is a small branch to the north, ignore it. Soon, the river goes south. We want the west branch. Follow that to the Ice Cave. Get off your Canoe, and walk through the narrow valley and enter Hell on Ice. But, before you do that, equip the Flame Armour on the Fighter. It'll help a lot! Monsters: Spectre, Mage, Cockatrice, Frost Wolf, Frost Dragon, Wraith, Image, Great Pede, Sorcerer, Frost Giant, Eye, Mummy, Wizard Mostly a new bunch of fiends. If in doubt (or if they are coloured white) blast them with FIRE. The only exception to this is the Sorcerer and the Cockatrice. The Cockatrice doesn't like ICE (I don't know why it lives in this cave either). The Sorcerer doesn't have a weak point. That's the good news. The bad news is that a lot of these monsters either deal you a lot of damage or have some sort of special attack that hurts like hell. Example? I have a lot of them. The Spectre and Wraith both have Stun attacks. Which means every time they hit you, you have a chance of being stunned. Not good, especially since most of the time they attack in groups. The Cockatrices, as we know (hopefully by my walkthrough and not from first hand experience) can turn you to stone with a simple attack. The Sorcerer is probably the worse of the bunch. When they attack, they can kill you. Like the spell RUB. All they do is attack. They can wipe out your entire party easily. They also have an ability called Trance. If they use that, your whole party can be stunned. Not a good monster. The Mage has a bag full of spells. LIT3 and FIR3 deal a bunch of damage, BANE deals a lot of damage as well. The Mage can also cast SLO2 and STUN, which really doesn't help matters. Worst of all though, the Mage will probably cast RUB. Oh yes, that makes two creatures in here that know RUB. Hope they don't use it on your White or Red Mages. Finally, the Frost Wolves and the Frost Giant all have an ability that deals ICE damage to your whole party. They usually travel together too. Make sure the Flame Armour is on your Fighter! A lot of these creatures can deal upwards of 90 damage. If you don't believe in wasting time getting 99 heal potions, then I suggest you start living with it. You'll need it. With that said, lets start walking through the Ice Cave. Take the hand of your nearest Light Warrior! You start off at the end of an ultra wide corridor. Walk east. At the end, turn south, then west. The staircase down it at the end. You end up at the north eastern part of a giant square. And guess what, the staircase down that we are headed for is... RIGHT! In the south western part! The quickest way is to go due south until you can't go any further, then due west. The next floor is very small. Take a few steps south east, and up the stairs we go. You are now at the northern end of a room. Start walking counter clockwise around it, the door inside is south of the staircase you just popped up in. Inside are a bunch of holes and three treasure chests. Here is the deal. The one on the left has the Flame Sword. You NEED this treasure! The one on the right is a Cloth, being guarded by four Mages. Might I remind you that Mages know many nasty spells and the Cloth is only worth 5g when you sell it? Ok then, we sip that. Oh, and the chest in the middle, surrounded by holes? You can guess, and you'll probably be right. Grab the Flame Sword, equip it immediately and fall down the hole that is south of the chest, and west one square. Understand that? No? Ok. There is the chest that has the Flame Sword. West of that is a hole. South of that hole is another hole. Fall down that one. You end up in a room that is filled with all sorts of nasty undead. It is a small room, thankfully, but as soon as you take a step you will be plunged into a fight with 7 to 9 undead. All with nasty abilities. Use HRM2 or FIR2 to get out of that mess. Now, we get the rest of the booty in here. Just a bit south and a little west of you is a bunch of cold water (I'm assuming it is cold water simply because it looks the same as Lava, but greyish blue. If it was ice, you could just walk over it). Anyway, the point is, it will deal you one damage every step you take. It leads to a room with two chests. When you take a step forward, you will fight a Frost Dragon. These guys are tough, but if you know what you are doing, they should be easy. Smack him around with the Flame Sword and cast a precious FIR2 (or FIR3 if you can spare) and the fight will be over before he knew what melted him. Now, grab the Ice Armour. If you want a Silver Gauntlet, step over and take it, but remember, you will be fighting that Frost Dragon again. I'd advice to forget the Gauntlet. This is a tough cave, you don't need any more tough battles than you already have. We head back to where that undead room left us, and now we go south. There is a small patch of ultra-cold-water that we wade through. Now, keep on going south. Ignore the other pathways, they lead to dead ends. When we go as far south as we can, the road splits off into two ways, the west and the east road. The east road takes us up a floor. The west brings up to a treasure trove of gold. Of course, we are going west. Don't worry, there isn't any nasties guarding the treasures here. Just your ordinary run-of-the-mill random encounters that can destroy your party in a single round. The chests in this room contain, 7900g, 5450g, 180g, 9900g, 5000g and 12350g. Re-thinking going in there? Trust me, its worth it. With your pockets filled with cold (literally!) hard cash, make your way back to the fork in the road and take the east path. Follow it to the staircase that goes up, to the first floor. If you have a good eye and saw that there is a whole section of the dungeon that you couldn't get to on the first floor, well, you just got there. And there is some pretty kick ass stuff here. Walk into the door that is right in front of you. There is a chest to the south. Inside is a Heal Potion. Go outside the door. There is a small room to the south of the door you just came out. Go there. Inside is 10000g. Now, head east. There is another room here (There is also a staircase just east of the room. That is where we go to get out of here, but after we find the Floater). Inside are three chests and a hole. Grab the booty in the chests before anything. There is 9500g, a Tent and the Ice Shield. Now drop down the hole. We are back in the room with the three chests, now in the middle of the it. The chest that we couldn't get is right in front of us. But wait. Heal up, because there is a creature there waiting for us. BOSS: Eye HP: 162 Dmg: 30-60 Exp: 3225 G: 3225 Weaknesses: None Strengths: QAKE Magic used: XXXX, BRAK, RUB, LIT2 HOLD LAMP, SLOW, SLEP Ok, maybe he isn't much of a boss. He is very easy actually. I just put it there like that to make it seem so epic. Anyway just cast FIR3 with your Black Mage. That should kill him in one hit. Otherwise, just poke him with the Flame Sword. Hope he doesn't go first too, he just might cast XXXX or RUB. If you don't have a Black Mage, you might be in for a rough ride. Attacking won't always work, the Eye has a high evade. But keep at him. He really isn't that hard. Just remember, there isn't a defence against RUB that you have right now... just pray. With the Eye out of the way, all that is left is to get out alive. That is harder than you think. Wait, you probably already know that though. Anyway, grab the Floater and drop down any hole. You'll end up in the undead filled room again. Yup, we have to go all the way back. Just look above on how to get out. Retrace your steps all the way back to the last hole, just go around that last room to the stairs out. Then paddle your way back to Crescent Lake. 4.4.5 Return to Crescent Lake and Elfland Ok, now we have the Floater. Now what? Talking to the Sages brings no insight as to what to do. So, the question is: What the Hell do I do now? The answer to that lies in Elfland. The Elf that is standing beside the Armour shop tell you of the key to this mystery. "In the desert south of the crescent, something is emerging from below the sand.... Use the FLOATER!" And so we do. 4.4.6 Ryukahn Desert The desert that we saw on our first trip to Crescent Lake is our destination. Hop back onto the boat and go south to the desert. Weigh anchor at the river mouth just east of the desert and walk in. Jump to your item screen and select the Floater. There she is! The airship that has been buried beneath the sands for about 200 years has risen, and you can go anywhere! The skies are yours! Now, with this all done, we can look back and see what we still have to learn. Unanswered mysteries: Where can we find ADAMANT? What is this ancient civilization who could have ships to fly? What happened to the prosperous civilization to the north? Who is Dr Unne, and what why is he so important? Of course, without even thinking, we know we have to go north. It is the last place we have to go. Now, with the airship, we can ignore ports and just fly! But before we go on, we have to focus on some business. Keep the Ice Armour and Ice Shield. Don't sell them. They will come in handy soon. Very handy. Oh, if you don't have a Thief, then you can sell them. Actually, you can pick which one you want, Flame or Ice. They are exactly the same statistically, just that they defend better against a different element. Now, the whole world just opened up to us. We can go anywhere and do anything we want, really. But, there is something that we should do before we do anything else. That is: visit the Cardia Islands. 4.5 The Test of Courage 4.5.1 Cardia Islands This is what the party should look like right now Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Fighter: Flame Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Flame Shield Thief: Dragon (Coral) Sword, Silver Bracelet, Cap, Gloves, Buckler Black Belt: Unarmed Red Mage: Silver (Giant) Sword, Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap, Buckler Black Mage: Silver Dagger, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Mage: Silver Hammer, Silver Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Mage: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3 Black Mage: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW/FIR2, LIT2/ICE2, FAST/FIR3/LIT3, RUB White Mage: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE/INV2 Its pretty straight forward right now. Not much changes. But, when this is done, we will have to spend a lot of money and time getting the best party we can together. Don't worry, it's fun! The Cardia Islands are a chain of islands that join the two northern continents. Just use your map to get there, you can't really miss them with the good old map. Press B Select and take a gander. See them there? That's where we are going. This place is filled with Dragons. Wait! Sheath that sword! They are good dragons! Yes, friendly folk. They share their knowledge with you. Most of them, though, have `courage' on their mind. They speak of an adventure that will bring them to the Castle of Ordeal, and getting the proper praise from Bahamut, their king. Some speak of the Castle, saying how proof of courage is in there. Some other, more docile dragons tell you of the Civilization to the North. It supposedly was very big, and mechanical. Facinating! Some of the islands have treasure inside! Not the best treasure, though. Money, a potion, a Cabin and a House. But, they are free. The island with Bahamut on it is the forested island with two entrances to it. His is the southern most one. Down the long corridor is Bahamut, and he tells you to go to the Castle of Ordeal and bring back the proof of courage that is there. We will get a reward worthy of Warriors. Sounds good. And trust me, it is. 4.5.2 Castle of Ordeal You may think that with the Airship travel is going to be simple. Well, it is in a nutshell, but sadly the Castle of Ordeal is surrounded by forest and swamp. We can't land anywhere near it. We'll have to go far east of it, to a strip of plains. The `landing' strip is due east of the little lake in the mountains right next to the Castle of Ordeal. Where is the Castle? Well, just a bit north east of the islands. It is actually due east from Bahamuts island. But, before we go there, we have to prepare. Make sure you have 99 Heal Potions. Make sure you have a lot of Pure and Soft Potions as well. There are a lot of poisonous creatures on the way, and inside the Castle of Ordeal. Remember Marsh Cave? Remember how I said it was horribly full of poisonous creatures? This is worse. In one battle my whole party was poisoned. Then three of them were poisoned in the next battle. The creatures called Catman seem to have a 75% poison hit chance. Man, that is annoying. There are also really annoying creatures that deal a lot of damage and have a lot of hit points. Creatures like Wyrm, Sphinx, Saber Tooth Tiger, and if you are really unlucky: the Anklo. They have a lot of hit points, high defence and can do quite a bit of damage They gave my Fighter 150hp of damage, and it wasn't a critical hit. Also, there is a creature you really have to look out for: the Sauria. Its related to the Iguana. It has a Glance attack, which means you get turned to Stone. The Manticor has a poison ability, but is weaker than its cousin, the Sphinx. Those are just the creatures outside the Castle of Ordeal. Land the airship after you filled up your inventory full of Heal Potions, Pure Potions Soft Potions and a few Houses. Walk west to the castle. Use magic sparingly if you can. If you end up using it, use a House before you enter the castle, you will need magic in the Castle of Ordeal to fight the magic users inside. The Castle is small, but a very difficult maze. There are three floors, one of which has no encounters on it. It has some really good items in it, so just hold out. It is filled with nasties though. Enemies: Medusa, Mancat, Wizard Mummy, Zombie Dragon, Zombull, Red Gargoyle, Mummy, Sorcerer, Nitemare, Mud Golem Medusa, just like the myth, can turn you to stone. Unlike the myth, there are a lot of them. They can also poison you if they don't turn you to stone. The Mancat is annoying. It can't poison you, but it can cast FIR2, SLOW, DARK, SLEP, FIRE, LIT and CURE. Magic isn;t that effective against it either. Instead attack them. Wizard Mummys, thankfully can't cast any spells. They are just stronger forms of the normal Mummys. They can also put you to sleep, and very often travel in groups with Mummys. Zumbulls are just annoying forms of the Bulls we fought before. They can deal a bit more damage, take a bit more damage, but because they are undead, are very vulnerable to FIRE and HARM spells. Nitemares are not that bad. The can cause DARK on your characters, but that is their big threat. If they get annoying, blast them with ICE. Mud Golems can poison you, but if you act fast you can take them out before they do anything. The first round they almost always cast FAST. They can deal almost 130 damage too. But they only have around 170hp. Magic doesn't work well, so just beat them into the uh... dirt. Watch out for our old friends too, the Red Gargoyles and the Sorcerers. They are as annoying as ever, but don't come up as commonly as the creatures mentioned above. Nevertheless, prepare for them! Once you get into the Castle of Ordeal, there is a man standing at the entrance. I really fail to see the importance of this old man. I don't know where he came from, nor where he goes. All he says is that you need the CROWN to access the higher levels of the castles. He tells you to step on the throne to move up. Then he disappears. Weird. The throne he talked about is in the north west section of the Castle. The second floor is where the fun starts. You start off in the middle of the floor. Outside the door is a small room that you are in, and pillars all over the place. The idea is to walk onto a pillar, and it magically transports you to another location in the castle (on this floor thankfully). Go ahead and touch the pillar to the east. Now, go north and touch the second one. You warp a but west, now there is a choice. Hit the bottom one. Go to the next pillar just south of you. Now you are in a turret on the south west part of the castle. Another decision. Hit the southern one. Walk south through this corridor and touch the next pillar. You will warp to the north west turret. Now touch the south east pillar. Walk down this corridor and go inside the room, which leads to the turret on the north east side of the castle. Inside is the Zeus Gauntlet. A cool magical item. Guarding it, though is a Mud Golem or two. Smack them up as they cast FAST, and collect your prize. The really cool part of the Zeus Gauntlet is that when you use it on combat, it casts LIT2. Yeah, free magic! Don't equip it on your Fighter, though. Give it to a mage, or someone who doesn't do much damage in battle. Get out of this room and move west a few squares. We are going south, but we don't want to go due south. We have a choice of three pillars. We want the southwestern most one. When we hit that one, we end up in the south east turret, the one with the stairs! The third floor is just one big room. Its full of treasure too. Walk north, down this corridor to the door, and walk in. Just inside the door is a fight: two Nitemare. Remember that square, you'll have to fight them again in a minute, after you get the chest above. Inside the treasure chest you are faced with is probably the most useful item in the game. A Heal Staff. And its not guarded! Take it, and give it to someone who doesn't deal a lot of damage when they attack (like White or Black Mage). Then, instead of fighting, have them use the Heal Staff in battle. It casts HEAL. Your party gets healed 12-24 hp! I use it almost every round. It is so good! Try to get it on the top left side of the Mages weapon screen so when you hit ITEM on the battle screen it's the first one. Your Warriors will be at full hit points for a long time if you use it all the time. But, don't let its power go to your head, it only heals 12-24 hp. It isn't always enough. Anyway, with your party smiling, we continue west. There are three chests here. The top one is a Gold Bracelet (perfect for that Mage of yours!), just beneath it is an Ice Sword (An excellent gift for that Red Mage you don't know what to buy for! What's that? You don't have a Red Mage? You have a Thief? Well, keep it anyway, you'll be happy you did!) And just below that is an Iron Gauntlet. Ok, so every item in here isn't great. If you need to, forget the Iron Gauntlet. The Zeus Gauntlet is better for its LIT2 properties anyway. South of all these great presents are four chests. The western most one is empty (imagine opening an empty box for Christmas! :`( ). Then there is a House, 1455g and 7340g. We go west and see a chest and another throne. Inside the chest is the TAIL. The symbol of courage. Maybe if you were a dragon it would make more sense. Right in front of the throne is a Zombie Dragon. He can deal up to 120hp, so blast him with a FIRE spell. It'll put him back to sleep in no time. Step on the throne and you'll be warped back to the first floor. Walk out of the Castle of Ordeal and use a House. I think you need it! Now, trek back to your airship, and take the Tail back to Bahamut. 4.5.3 Reward of Courage With the Tail returned to Bahamut, you completed the trial and get promoted. If you thought getting the Zeus Gauntlet and Heal Staff was cool... this is so much better! Here is a break down of what happens: Fighter gets transformed to the Knight. There really isn't much of a change here. The Knight can equip the best in weapons and armour. He becomes a tank. It is really, really cool. The Knight also gets to use the first three levels of White Magic. Its like having a apprentice White Mage in your party! Sadly, he really isn't as powerful, but it does have its uses. Don't quite his day job of hacking enemies to bits though. Thief probably gets the best transformation. He becomes the Ninja, and we know how cool Ninja's are! He can equip almost everything the Fighter could. He is just as fast as he was before, but he can do some good damage now. Its like having a really fast Fighter in the party. I think its worth the wait. Best of all, the Ninja can use the first four (yes, 4!) Levels of Black Magic. How cool is that? The Black Belt completes his training and becomes a Master. What's the difference? Nothing really. He gains no magic. He still can't equip anything. But he can deal a lot more damage with those fists of his. Sometimes even more than the Knight! His defence becomes a bit better, and we can equip some key items on him and not lose his natural defence. This is the strongest character in the game. He kick ass better than Jackie Chan, by far. We are talking Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon here. (If would be so cool to actually see the Master deal all this damage. I'm almost certain it would be the coolest thing in the entire universe). The Red Mage becomes the Red Wizard. Finally, we can get a few spells that were out of his reach. He still can't get all the really good high level spells, but he makes up for that by being able to equip some half decent weapons and armour. He is still the God of the Average. He deals more damage now too. The White Mage becomes the White Wizard. There isn't much of a change here, just like the Red Wizard. But, she can deal most damage with that Hammer of hers though. Some spells open up, especially the really high level life savers like WALL, CUR4 and especially LIF2. This is the best candidate, by the way, to receive the Masamune. The Black Mage becomes the Black Wizard and takes off his straw hat. He is a man now. If you, like so many people (including me) like the idea that Black Mages were `void people', like in Brian Clevengers comics, or Final Fantasy 9, this is a disappointment to you. It can't be perfect, but remember, the Black Mage really isn't a Black Mage any more, he's a Black Wizard! He does gain some more stamina (mean hit points!) And a bit of strength, but basically, he still sucks as a fighter. His magic improves, as well as the spells available to him. Now, we can get the power of STOP, ZAP! And especially the ultra power of NUKE. Ever want to set off a nuclear blast with your bare hands? Because of the money we have been saving, and the equipment opportunities we have, this is what you should go out and get for your party. They should look a little something like this: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Flame Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Flame Shield Ninja: Ice Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, Zeus Gauntlet Master: Unarmed Red Wizard: Ice Sword, (Gold Bracelet) Silver Armour, Gloves, Cap, Buckler Black Wizard: Silver Dagger, Silver (Gold) Bracelet, Gloves, Cap White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Silver (Gold) Bracelet, Gloves, Cap Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD(LOK2)/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE/INV2, EXIT Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD(LOK2)/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff Go back to all the cities we explored and pick up those spells for the Knight and Ninja. The Knight spells are easy because he can't use any other ones. The only decision for him is what 2ed level spells are best. Considering LAMP sucks, the three listed will do fine. The Thief on the other hand has it best. TMPR is a good buy for the Ninja because at least he does some damage, if you want, you can get it for your Black Wizard too. 400g isn't much, why not go for a full magic screen? While your at it, pick up all the third spells for the Black Wizard! Personally, I think HOLD is better than LOK2, but some people say otherwise. But because it is my walkthrough, I say buy HOLD. It may only target one enemy, but sometimes it works. The decision is yours. Don't forget to go back and pick up WARP and EXIT for your Wizards too. The Red Wizard can also get INV2. I strongly suggest getting that, especially if you don't have a White Mage in the party. Now, we head to Onrac, the location of our next trial. 4.6 Under the Sea 4.6.1 Onrac Onrac is a nice little city situated in the northwest. It is actually the only city on the northwestern continent. It is west of the Cardia Islands, or roughly north of the Earth Cave. Once again, the airship can't land near the city, so we have to land it somewhere else. Follow the river that is just a bit west of the city. South west of Onrac is a plain. Land there, and canoe up to Onrac. Shops: Weapon: No Weapon Shop Armour: No Armour shop Black Magic (level 7):SABR 45000g BLND 45000g White Magic (level 7):ARUB 45000g HEL3 45000g Item shop: Heal Potion 60g Pure Potion 75g Cabin 250g House 3000g Soft Potion 800g Clinic: 750g Inn: 300g In my humble opinion, Onrac is a waste of money. Do not buy anything here. Unless it is Heal Potions and such. The magic is a waste. SABR can only be used by the Black Wizard, and all it does is increase his hit and damage percentages. His weapon skill sucks to begin with, there is no point it making it better. Plus, the Black Wizard is a great person to drop all the magical items on, to use them in battle. Why have him attack when he can cast FIR2 or LIT2 for free? BLND is just like DARK, but more powerful, and targets one monster. The point? To waste money. HEL3 is a waste of money also, as it heals only up to 96 hp. Plus, you will be getting more Heal armours, that have the HEAL spell in them. Save your money. ARUB, is useless as well. It is a level 7 spell, but many items once equipped protect against RUB. One such items is the ProRing, which we will be getting soon. Another really bad thing about Onrac is the item shop. You know how you always buy Heal potions by tirelessly tapping away at that `A' button? Well, you can't to that here. Unless you want 99 Cabins. If you want Heal Potions, go back to Coneria. Onrac's purpose you ask? We'll see in a moment. Just talk to the people. Onrac's history is told to you from the grieving people in the city. 200 years ago, Onrac was a beautiful city, with a beautiful sea shrine. Then Fiend of Water came and destroyed the shrine, sending it to the bottom of the sea. Mermaids lived in the Shrine, and are now caught beneath the waves. We also learn that a Caravan master by the name of Underhill (Lord of the Rings refrence?) Is selling something strange... hrmm, I wonder what it is? We should check it out, someone tells us it is located in the Western Desert oasis. We are also asked about OXYALE, and we find out that it is what we need to use the submarine to get down to the Sea Shrine. Another small adventure it seems. We also meet a few people (including his brother) who tell us who Dr. Unne really is a linguist, who is trying to decipher an ancient language. All that he needs to complete his work is a Slab. A woman near Dr. Unne's brother says that many treasures were lost in the Shrine, including a cryptic tone plate. Could that be the Slab? Now, there is a man in the city named Kope, who says he saw a shiny object fall from the sky. Kope says it was a Robot that fell near the Waterfall. Another thing we need to check out. With all this that we have to check out, I'm going to suggest we make a stop over at another city, to get some more information, as well as some better items. 4.6.2 Gaia Gaia is a beautiful city in the far north. If I had to choose a city to live in, in this game, it would be Gaia. It is the least bothered, and most beautiful city. Gaia is located north of the Yahnikurm Desert (The big desert on the North East continent). It is in the mountains, and very secluded. It can be hard to find. Just go to the big desert that is east of the Cardia Islands and go north, following the mountains. Shops: Weapon: Catclaw 65000g Armour: Gold Bracelet 50000g ProRing 20000g Black Magic (level 7): ICE3 45000g BRAK 45000g White Magic (level 7): CUR4 45000g HRM4 45000g Black Magic (level 8): STOP 60000g ZAP! 60000g XXXX 60000g White Magic (level 8) FADE 6000g WALL 60000g XFER 60000g Item shop: Cabin 250g House 3000g Heal Potion 60g Pure Potion 75g Clinic: 750g Inn: 500g Gaia is a paradise for the shopper. The best of the best can be bought here. Go to the Weapon shop and get the Catclaw. That weapon is for your Black Wizard. He finally has a good weapon. This is the best weapon for the Black Wizard. How good is it? Its better than the Giant Sword. Maybe not in the hands of the Black Wizard, but he finally can do some meaningful damage to most creatures. Next, hit the Armour shop. Get ProRings. When you put them on, it protects against RUB. How usefull! Get one for each of your mages, and if you want, each of your warriors. The problem is, it will have to replace your equipped Gauntlets, if you hae them. You have to decide what you would prefer for your Warriors. The ProRing, though, is better than the Zeus Gauntlet. Keep the Gauntlet for LIT2, and equip the ProRing on your Ninja or Red Wizard. If you are trying to save money, just give it to your mages. (NOTE: The Master, if you haven't noticed, has a good absorb and evade by himself. As soon as you equip him with something, his evade goes to whatever the item gives, losing his natural evade. The good thing is, there is a small glitch in the game where if the item is equipped when the Master is going level up, the absorb goes back to what it should be (usually the level), thus giving him the ability of the ProRing and other goodies. The downfall is, as soon as another item touches his inventory, he loses that, and his absorb returns to what the item gives. My advice, fill his inventory with useful things, then wait until he is about to go level up, equip the ProRing (or any other goodies you may have, like the Ribbon), and when he goes level up, DON'T TOUCH HIM AGAIN!) He will be safe from RUB and the such. The best time to do this is late in the game when you won't be getting any more useful items. Then just wait for the level up, equip, and sit back and enjoy the protection of such items as the Ribbon and ProRing.) With that bought, head to the Magic shops. Hit level 7 first (this can wait, depending if you want them at all or not. Chances are you are around level 19 or 20, and don't have (or just got) access to the 7th level. Buy them both, they are good. You can skip HRM4 and BRAK if you want, they are less useful. ICE3 is the last spell the Red Wizard can learn. The rest are for the White and Black Wizards. As for the 8th level spells, there are three listed here. The fourth spells are the best. They are hidden away somewhere, and we'll get to them later. If you are going to buy them, and when you do, buy STOP (very good spell), ZAP! if you want. For the White Wizard, buy FADE and WALL. WALL is the important one. The really bad thing about Gaia is the item shop. You know how you always buy Heal potions by tirelessly tapping away at that `A' button? Well, you can't to that here. Unless you want 99 Cabins. If you want Heal Potions, go back to Coneria. Now we talk to people. Gaia is filled with useful information. Which is surprising if you think about where it is located. One would assume that all the information you get from here is probably going to be rumour, or speculation. That's up to you to decide and find out. Someone mentions that they saw something fly across the sky, headed east. This is very similar to what Kope said he saw. Maybe Kope was right. Another towns person says that they think someone studied Lefeinish. Could that me Dr. Unne? Someone also mentions that there is a city to the south that speaks a different language. Another place to look into. There are some people in the city who speak of the SKY WARRIORS, and how they flew around in the sky. They came from a castle that floated high in the sky. Maybe the ship we are on is theirs. Another person mentions the Yahnikurm desert, and that there is a tower there, that he believes is a mirage. We'll have to check that out too! Someone tells you that there is a fairy in a spring, and that she was kidnapped! Next to the Clinic we meet a Pirate who says he Bottled the fairy and sold her to the caravan. Now, we know what the caravan is selling. Lets save the fairy! Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Flame (Ice) Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Flame Shield Ninja: Ice (Flame) Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, (Zeus Gauntlet) Master: Unarmed (ProRing) [see below] Red Wizard: Ice (Flame) Sword, Gold Bracelet, ProRing, Cap, Buckler (Zeus Gauntlet) Black Wizard: Catsclaw, Gold Bracelet, ProRing, Cap White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Gold Bracelet, ProRing, Cap Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3 White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3 LIFE/INV2, EXIT/CUR4 Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff 4.6.3 The Caravan The caravan is located north of the landing place for Onrac. It is north of the Western Desert. It is, basically a little desert, just north of the big one. Land your airship, and head north through the desert. Be careful, a lot of Anklo's are around here, and if you fought one on your way to the Castle of Ordeal, you know what they are like. They only give you 1g too. Cheap bastards. When you get to the Caravan, all you can really do is buy something. The only thing that is for sale is a BOTTLE, for 50,000g!!! How absurd is that! Sad thing is, we have to buy it to get any further in the game. If you are like me, and spent all your money on magic and items in Gaia, we have nothing. Worry not. We have another place we can go now. 4.6.4 The Waterfall Now, we look at the Waterfall. The one that Kope said he saw something fall near. Seeing as we can't get into the Sea Shrine without Oxyale, and we don't have enough money to buy the Bottle to see what the Fairy has to say, we might as well do this. Take the river you usually canoe up to Onrac, but just keep going north. Eventually, you'll enter the Waterfall. Enemies: Nitemare, Mud Golem, Gas Dragon, Mummy, Wizard Mummy, Perilisk, Cockatrice Yup, that's all there is. No variety in the Waterfall. The Gras Dragon can be a big danger if it uses its Poison Gas ability. Bad thing about that is, it deals a lot of damage. To all your characters. It has 350hp too, so it can be a little difficult to beat. Blast it with an ICE spell to kill it. Mud Golems are easy to fight, as are the mostly harmless Nitemares. The Mummies in here are the same as they always are. The things you have to loo out for are the Perilisks and the Cockatrices. Hopefully, you have those ProRings, they work wonders protecting against their RUB ability! Sadly, it doesn't help to protect you from the Cockatrices Stone. The Waterfall is a very nasty maze. It is hard to navigate simply because of how nasty it is. It will be hard for me to describe the way through, but I will do my best. Here we go. From where you start off, head north. The first western way you see, go west. Keep going west until you can't go west any more. Now, we are going north. When you can go west again, go west. Follow the path (of you can call it that) west until you reach a big crossroad. You may not notice it is a crossroad, but it is. Keep going west. Go as far as you can, then go south. Keep going south as far as you can, then you will reach a room. Get ready, though. Just inside the room is a nasty battle. A random amount of Mummies, Wizard Mummies, Cockatrices and/or Perilisks. That's right! Hopefully you are lucky (both fights) and have a screen full of Mummies, not nasty birds. Smash them, then collect your treasure. The Robot you find gives you a CUBE, and says it is the key to the Floating Castle. When you inquire it some more all it does is say: "Please....". All we have to do now, is locate the Floating Castle... If you try to use the Cube here, or outside, nothing happens. We need some more information. Inside the treasure chests are some sweet booty. Lots of gold, and three items: the Defence Sword, the Ribbon and the Wizards Staff. The Defence Sword casts RUSE in battle. The Wizards Staff casts CONF, and the Ribbon, protects the wearer from most status ailments. Equip the Defence on the Knight, the Ribbon on a mage (White is my opinion), and hand the Wizard's staff to someone who would use it. Now, we head back to the Caravan and buy the Bottle. 4.6.5 Return to the Caravan Now that we have 50,000g we buy the Bottle and look at it. The Bottle pops open, the Fairy appears, but flies away before we can do a thing! Damn fairy. Lets go back to the scene of the crime, Gaia. 4.6.6 Gaia When we go to the pond, lo and behold, the Fairy is there! When we talk to her, she thanks us for rescuing her, and she dives to the bottom of the pond to get us OXYALE! Now we are getting somewhere! Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Defence Sword, Steel Armour, Silver Helmet, Silver Gauntlet, Flame Shield Ninja: Ice (Flame) Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, (Ribbon) Master: Unarmed (ProRing, Ribbon) Red Wizard: Ice (Flame) Sword, Gold Bracelet, Cap (Ribbon), Buckler, (ProRing) Black Wizard: Catsclaw, Gold Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Gold Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3, (BRAK) White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3, LIFE/INV2, EXIT/CUR4, (HRM4) Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff, Defence, Wizard's Staff 4.6.7 The Sea Shrine We already know where the Shrine is, its really easy to get there. Now that we have the Oxyale, all we have to do is talk to the woman who built the submarine and down we go. Now that we have the EXIT spell, treasure getting will be easy. And because the Sea Shrine has a great deal of treasure, we will be taking full advantage of the EXIT spell. Enemies: Lobster, Ghost, Wizard Sahag, Big Eye, Naga, Sea Snake, Grey Shark, Sea Troll, Water, Rock Golem, Shark, Red Sahag. Guess what. Everything (with a few exceptions) is weak against LIT. Remember the Zeus Gauntlet? It is now your best friend. The only creatures that aren't weak against LIT are the Ghost (he's undead, which means FIRE and HARM), Water, who is weak against ICE and the Rock Golem who has no weaknesses. Also, all the enemies (except the Ghost) are strong against FIRE, so make sure no one is using the Flame Sword. Instead use the two Ice Swords you have. For the most part, these enemies are average. Watch out for the Lobster, who can poison you and deal a fair amount of damage. The Naga can also poison you, but deals a lot less damage. The Naga can cast a few spells, though: LIT2, HOLD, SLOW, DARK, LIT, LOCK and SLEP. The Rock Golem can cast SLOW. And the Big Eye can cause STUN and DARK. The only monster I would warn you about is the Ghost. That beast can deal a fair bit of damage. Be careful. Hope you have the Light Axe and Mage Staff, and blast them with that! That is about it. Basically have two warriors fight, one use the Heal Staff and another use the Zeus Gantlet. You'll blast through in no time. It is a very easy place because we have all the magic and items we need to get through it. Use the Zeus Gauntlet and Heal Staff all the time and you'll see. It's a great place to level up too! We start off on the middle floor. It's a bit confusing... but I figured it out. Up is the Mermaids, and our first destination. Remember, if the going gets tough, cast EXIT. You don't want to die down here! There is a lot of good treasure too, so maybe you'll want to use it to get a good price on some of your old weapons and armour you'll sell instead of dropping. Let's begin. As I said, we start off on the middle floor. This is a very large floor with two ways off it, and two chests. We are getting the first one. Walk north, and we begin to walk through the pillared walkway, break off west before the large room, and continue west until you reach a door. Inside is a chest and 2000g. Go back to the pillars and continue north. When we reach the end, we go west and go up the stairs. This floor looks like it took the most of the damage when the Water Fiend attacked. It's all fragmented and comprises of narrow walkways. Luckily, you won't fall if you go to far. It seems the Light Warriors are not as suicidal as the other heros in the subsequent Final Fantasies. Nevertheless, some major treasure getting takes place here. Head south, then west. Ignore the room as it is empty. Continue going west, then round this room from the north. We are going to ignore this room simply because the chest inside only has 20g. Continue now, walking west. When we reach the end, go north. Inside is the Opal Armour. Do whatever it takes to make sure your Knight gets it. It is great armour. Now, head south, all the way south. There is a room at the end, inside is the Mage Staff. It is a greatly useful item as it casts FIR2. Don't use it in here though, all the creatures are strong against Fire. Now, we go east. At the fork in the road, take the north road, and go inside the room. Inside is the Light Axe. Like Most Axes, the power is high, but the hit% is low. Actually with this Axe, both suck. The Ice Sword is better, in both ways. Hand it off to your White Wizard though, it casts HRM2 when used in battle. Outside this room, continue going east, then south. Pass the stairs and enter the room next to them. Inside is a chest with 12350g. Now, go up. The fifth floor is the refuge of the mermaids. It is also where most of them put the treasures of the Shrine. At least the ones they could keep. It is like a small town, in the sense that each Mermaid has something important to say. Some of them will tell you how amazed they are that you are here, and how surprised that you can breathe underwater. Some of them recognize you as legendary warriors! Others have more pressing information to tell you. Kraken is on the bottom floor (I kinda gave that one away). But, the most important information is that the Lefeinish used a musical tone to unlock the Mirage Tower. That would mean that we would have to learn Lefeinish before we investigate the mysterious tower in the desert. Collect the treasure all over the top floor. There is every piece of Opal armour you can get. Opal Bracelet, Opal Gauntlet, Opal Helmet and Opal Shield. Make sure you get them all, they are very good pieces of armour. Give the Opal Bracelet to your most important Wizard. When you are done collecting treasure, look around. Notice anything? Of course, there is a room in the north west that we haven't gone to. How do you get there? You go to the north east corner and take the narrow passage all the way east, and you'll end up at the room (Physics? What? What's that?). Inside is the Helmet and Gauntlet that complete the Opal suit, and of course, the Slab. Cast EXIT, and sell your useless items. If you don't want to cast exit, make your way out of the Shrine. The worst thing about Onrac is the fact that it doesn't have any shops. So, you'll have to go all the way back to another town in order to sell the useless crap (like get 50% of the 45,000g you spent on your Steel Armour. What a deal huh?). I suggest going back to Gaia, that way you can buy the spells you didn't get. You should be around Level 20 -21, so Level 7 spells have opened up no doubt by now. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Defence Sword, Opal Armour, Opal Helmet, Opal Gauntlet, Opal Shield Ninja: Ice Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, (Ribbon) Master: Unarmed (ProRing) (Ribbon) Red Wizard: Ice Sword, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, Cap (Ribbon), ProRing Black Wizard: Catsclaw, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3, BRAK White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3, LIFE/INV2, EXIT/CUR4, HRM4 Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff, Defence, Wizard's Staff, Light Axe Right now, the best thing to have is two slots in your amour inventory. Try to make sure you have them for the two last pieces of armour in the Shrine. They are worth it. Now, we go back in. 4.6.8 Return to the Shrine Now, we will be exploring the west side, so when yo get to the pillars, make a right turn, so you are walking west. Go around this room, then head north. Go inside this room, and grab the 9900g in the chest. Get out of here, go around it, then head north west. The stairs down is in the top corner. This floor also seems to be a bit damaged, and is very empty. It seems the treasures that were on this floor, the Mermaids were able to save. Walk a bit west, then at the first road north, go north, and continue north as far as you can go. The stairs up will be at the very top of the floor. You now land on the first of three small rooms. Just hot the next stairs on that floor (you seriously can't miss them). Now, go right around this room (west than south is the shortest route) to the next flight of stairs. The room on this floor is empty. You end up on another small room. Go in the door, grab the two chests (110g and 450g) then head out the door in the north to the stairs that lead down. This floor is another damaged floor that has a lot of narrow passages. The last of the treasure is here. It was probably too close to Kraken for the Mermaids to save. From the stairs, head west until you can go south, then go south to the room. Inside are two chests. The left one has 8135g, and the left one is guarded by 3 Water. It has 7690g. Now, head west, as far as you can go. There should be a room there. Inside are three chests. The one on the south has 385g, and the one on the west has 5450g. The one on the far east, though, is guarded by a whole lot of Mummies, Wizard Mummies, and sometimes Perlisks. Mage Staff them, use the Light Axe on the Mummies. If there are Perlisks, physically attack them or cast ICE on them. Inside is the Power Gauntlet. It casts SABR. That is useful for your Red Wizard or your Ninja. Take the Zeus Gauntlet off them, and hand it to an magic users who will use it more, and equip the Gauntlet. It has the same stats as the Zeus Gauntlet, but it casts SABR. Now, walk north into the next room. Guarding this chest is two (or sometimes one) Grey Shark and a Wizard Sahag. Zeus Gauntlet them, and grab the Light Axe inside. Now you have two HRM2 casting weapons. You can sell the second one if you want. Now, the last bit of treasure. Walk east for as far as you can go, and inside this room there are four chests. The south west chest contains 2750g. Now, the square that is Northwest of this chest has two (or one) Grey Shark(s) and a Wizard Sahag. Take them out and grab the rest of the booty: 7340g, 9900g and another precious Ribbon. Slap that on your second magic user (if you have one) or save it for when you face a bad enemy who has many status effects he can give you. Head out of this room, and walk west a bit, turn north and walk as far as you can go. Then turn west. The stairs down await you. This is another empty floor, but that's good. All we want now is to rid the world of the foul Kraken. Head west from the stairs, until there is a turn north near the end. Walk north, ignoring the rooms for they are empty, until you can turn west. Do so, follow it as it turns south, then walk into the room. This large room has smaller rooms inside it, which you can't get into. If it is supposed to be a maze, it is a poor example as one. But it does look cool. Weave between the ones just north of you, then continue walking north. You'll reach a room directly in front of you, so walk west, between rooms, then south. You should see the door. Go out it, and head north. Inside another room is the Fiend: Kraken. BOSS: Kraken HP: 800 Dmg: 50-200 Exp: 4245 G: 5000 Weaknesses: LIT Strengths: QAKE, FIRE Magic used: LIT2, INK (Dark) This guy is easy, as long as you can avoid his hits. He can deal a lot of damage. Just look at him. He looks big and strong. Imaging being hit with each tentacle. That would hurt, and it does. He rarely used LIT2, but occasionally uses INK. It also damages your characters and has a good chance of making them Dark. Cast FAST of your fighters, use the Power Gauntlet, Cast INV2 and have your Black Mage cast LIT3 every round. LIT3 will make quick work of the Fiend, and INV2 will protect from a few of the hits. Kraken should fall in a few founds. Use CUR3 is needed as well. With Kraken out of the picture, walk forward, recharge the orb and warp out of the Shrine! 4.7 Airborne! 4.7.1 Melmond Now, with the Slab, we can give it to Dr Unne so he can finish his studies of the ancient tongue. Heal up in Onrac (or wait for the cheaper Inns of Coneria or even Melmond), and go see Dr Unne. He is very happy you came, and treats you more like an equal than someone who doesn't know him. Don't you hate people who don't know you are the Light Warriors? Anyway, he teaches you the language (this is amazing, if you look at the Knights intelligence score). Now, what do we do with this language? Unanswered mysteries: Where can we find ADAMANT? What is this ancient civilization who could have ships to fly? What happened to the prosperous civilization to the north? What is the CUBE the Robot gave us, and where did the Robot come from? How do we get into the supposedly locked Mirage Tower? Where is the Floating Castle the Robot spoke of, and how do we get there? Is the civilization of the north still alive in the city south of Gaia? You probably have many other questions than these broad ones. Well, now we go and answer them. But, first an item check: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Defence Sword, Opal Armour, Opal Helmet, Opal Gauntlet, Opal Shield Ninja: Ice Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, (Ribbon) Master: Unarmed (ProRing) (Ribbon) Red Wizard: Ice Sword, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, Cap (Ribbon), ProRing Black Wizard: Catsclaw, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3, BRAK White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3, LIFE/INV2, EXIT/CUR4, HRM4 Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff, Defence, Wizard's Staff, Power Gauntlet, Light Axe (x2 if you want) The basics of this is that the bracketed items are what they might have as well, depending on what your party is made of. For example, if you have a Red Wizard, Black Wizard, Knight and Ninja, the Power Gauntlet should go to the Ninja, and the Zeus Gauntlet should go to the Red Wizard, because, if you followed my advice, the Ninja (with the higher absorb) should be in front of the Red Wizard. Also, the Black Wizard should have the Ribbon, the ProRing and the Opal Bracelet, where the Red Wizard should have the Zeus Gauntlet instead of the ProRing (Because it is a better item, keep it though, incase you need it). Understand? The best items should go to the party member closest to the front of the party. Bracelets and the other stuff (Ribbons, ProRings and such) should go to your mages, or the people who can't equip as much armour. The same aspect goes for the Magical items. Try to make sure the person using the Heal Staff isn;t one of your strongest characters. Give it to your weakest, so their attack isn't missed. If you have a Black Wizard equipped with the Catclaw, you under stand the power shift he experienced, yet it really isn't enough to make a huge difference (although, hitting for about 80-120 damage is good!). Nevertheless, he his the best to give the offensive magic casting items, like the Mage Staff and the Zeus Gauntlet if you don't have it equipped on a Ninja or Red Wizard. Of course, if you don't have a Black Mage, the default, I say, is the weakest character. The best thing I think is to have the two weakest characters have the magical items, like the White Wizard with the Heal Staff and Light Axe, where the Black Wizard has the Mage Staff and the Zeus Gauntlet as well as the other Light Axe. That way, you can attack with your two main fighters, and cast spells endlessly with you other spell casters. 4.7.2 Lefein No wonder this civilization is considered lost! The only surviving city of the Great Northern Civilization that made things fly is far south of the Yahnikurm desert. You have to land on a very small square of land next to the mountains containing the Yahnikurm desert, and walk south east through the forest and swamps to get there. The square can be easilly missed, which makes it difficult for some people to actually get into Lefein. Look for the lake that is east of the desert. The small square is just north west of the lake. Now, before you actually make the trek, make sure you have a few Cabins and Houses and a lot of Soft and especially Heal Potions. The trip can be quite difficult. Another thing you might want to have before you go is 120,000 gold. It will save you a trip (60,000 for a White Wizard and 60,000 for a Black Wizard. If you don't have either, don't worry about the money). On your journey to the lost city of Lefein, you will encounter the worst of the overworlds enemies. Well, maybe not the worst... but it seems like it sometimes. The ones we met already are the Giant, Frost Giant and Frost Wolf (use FIRE or the Mage Staff to blast them), Ocho, Anklo, Tiger, Saber Tooth Tiger, Great Pede, Catman, Manticor, Sphinx, Zombull, Wyvern and Wyrm. But, there are some new ones. The Red Anklo, Tyro and the T Rex. The Red Anklo is just like its cousin, but does more damage. It also leaves 300times the gold, thankfully. The Tyro and T Rex ate cousins, the Tyro being the weakest. They can deal a tremendous amount of damage (especially the T Rex) and have high hit points (480 and 600 respectively). But, they have some kick ass experience (3387 and 7200 respectively)!! The city is located far south, and a bit east of where you landed the airship. Walk through the forest. Just follow it as it goes east then south. You'll reach Lefein soon enough. Hopefully alive. A good party level to be at is about 22. 21 is good too. Any lower and you risk an extinction of the Light Warriors. Lefein is a city that answers a lot of the questions we have. Most of the more pressing ones, like what happened to the great civilization that was in the North? It also sates some of our curiosity we have about where the Floating Castle is, and other topics. Some of the Lefeins are surprised you are the Light Warriors. Surprised in a good way, that is. They are happy you are around doing your destiny. One tells you that the Airship you have is the property of the Lefein's greatest Warriors: the Sky Warriors. You soon find out that these Warriors were sent out 400 years ago to investigate the problems in the world. It seems as though they failed. Someone says that the Sky Warriors are still alive, just turned into bats. In all honesty, lets not go looking for them, remember how many bats we met? Oh well, rest in peace Sky Warriors! You also learn that the majority of their civilization was destroyed 400 years ago when a battle between the Lefein army and Tiamat, the Air Fiend took place. Of course, Tiamat won, and took the power of the Air from the Lefeins, and now lives in the Floating Castle. It seems that some Lefein's believe that there is someone controlling the fiends, and that person was searched out by the Sky Warriors. Sadly, they never found the controller, or else the four Light Warriors would probably be herding Wolves north of Coneria or something. Looks like we might have one final battle after we restore the last Orb. We also learn that the Floating Castle is connected to the Mirage Tower. Which answers something for us. There is a man in the south east section of the town that gives you the Chime, the key into The Mirage Tower. One last thing to do before we enter the Mirage Tower is buy the best Black and White magic ever. Walk to the utmost north east section of the city. Now walk east past the wall (through the small break in the wall) and continue straight east. There is a small building, where they sell LIF2 and NUKE. Buy them for your White Wizard and Black Wizard. Sadly, the Red Wizard can't learn them. Be lucky he has that one level seven spell though. We have the key to the Mirage Tower, and we allegedly have the key to the Floating Castle too. Lets see what we can do! 4.7.3 Mirage Tower This place is small, only three floors, but it has enough treasure to completely fill your inventory. Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Defence Sword, Opal Armour, Opal Helmet, Opal Gauntlet, Opal Shield Ninja: Ice Sword, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, (Ribbon) Master: Unarmed (ProRing) (Ribbon) Red Wizard: Ice Sword, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, Cap (Ribbon), ProRing Black Wizard: Catsclaw, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) White Wizard: Silver Hammer, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Cap (Ribbon) Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3, BRAK/NUKE White Wizard: CURE, HARM/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE/CUR3, LIFE/INV2, EXIT/CUR4, HRM4/LIF2 Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Zeus Gauntlet, Heal Staff, Defence, Wizard's Staff, Light Axe (x2), Mage Staff Don't worry, this will all change soon enough. Land your airship east and just a but south of the Mirage Tower. There is a small square of Grass that is there. Land and it is a short walk away. The Tower is a simple place. It has been locked up for 400 years, so I don't think the creatures in here are too happy. Enemies: Catman, Chimera, Guard, Saber Tooth Tiger, Badman, Blue Dragon, Mummy, Wizard Mummy, Cockatrice, Perlisk, Vampire, Medusa, Nitemare, Cerebus Yes, the Curse of the Mummy reaches here too. They al all over the place. Luckily you have two Light Axes and a Mage Staff! We have met most of these creatures, and you should be familiar with their weaknesses and strategies to defeat them by now. As for the new creatures, the Badman is a small man with a sword. And that's basically all he is. He really isn't that `bad'. His attack can deal up to or sometimes over 80 damage. He has just about 260 hit points. Nothing else. The Guard, is a robot (no, he is not weak against LIT, that came in MUCH later in the franchise). He is immune to RUB, BANE, STUN, SLEP, BRAK. They can also stun. Lucky for you, they only have 200 hit points. And finally, a minor guardian, the Blue Dragon. He has just over 450 hit points and a weakness to FIRE. He can deal some damage with his THUNDER ability, so be careful, it damages your whole party. But drill him with your attacks, and he'll be history in a round or two. When you enter the tower, you can see your destination, directly west of you. All you have to do is go in the door above you, and out the one to the west right? Right! There is no trick here, unless you want treasure. Through the door, walk north as far as you can go, and walk west through the pillars. Turn north with the path you are now on, and start gathering treasure. Starting from west to east (north to south if needed), a Cabin, Aegis shield, 2750g, 18010g, 3400g, Vorpal, 880g and the Heal Helmet. Keep it all for now. The Vorpal is just bit better than the Ice Sword for your Ninja or Red Wizard. The Aegis shield is the better item for your Knight now. Toss (or sell) the Opal Shield. Keep the Heal Helmet. It acts just as the Heal Staff. Now you have two! Just north of the treasure chests is a robot, who asks you if you are the Master. I guess we are not, because we can't do anything to him. So back south, and lets go up to the next floor. The second floor, is a bit more complex than the simple first floor. Our destination for the time being is the treasure in the middle. Begin walking counter-clockwise around the tower. Keep to the centre though. When you reach about the 11 o'clock location, there is a break in the pillar wall. Slip in, and walk all the way east. You should be able to get right up next to the room. Now, walk all the way south and get in. There is a neat design made with the chests. From the north to south, starting on the west side, the chests contain: 13000g, 12350g, Thor's Hammer, 7900g, 8135g, (now the east side) a House, 7690g, Sun Sword, 10000g and the Dragon Armour. The Thor's Hammer is for your White Wizard. If you don't have a White Wizard, keep it, it casts LIT2. If you don't want it, toss the Gauntlet, not the Hammer goes in your weapon inventory. The Armour inventory gets cluttered too much. The Sun Sword is great for the Ninja or the Red Wizard. The Dragon Armour is exactly the same as the Opal Armour, but it defends better against Dragon attacks. Put it on, the added ability is worth it. Sell the Opal Armour. This is where I would suggest you cast EXIT and go back to Gaia and sell what you don't want. We are now going to the Floating Castle, and will be overwhelmed with treasure, it won't be the last time we go back to Gaia. When you come back to the Tower, just go around the doors on the first floor. On the second, go counter-clockwise around the tower again. When you hit the opening, go north against the room, not south. There is a Robot who tells you about a Robot escaping with the Cube. (If you haven't gone to the Waterfall yet, do so now.) Go up the stairs. The third floor is easy. Walk around the room, and enter on the south door. Be careful though, there is a Blue Dragon on the inside. Like I said above, he is weak against Fire spells. Just attack with your fighters, and use the Mage Staff if you want. Cast FIR2 or FIR3 if you are really paranoid. He can cast THUNDER, which damages your whole party for about 30-60 damage. He should be easy enough to beat. Chances are you are at about level 21 now. Walk into the room and beam up to the Floating Castle. 4.7.4 Floating Castle This place is cool. Cool music (sort of, it can get annoying), cool background and, wicked treasures. Every creature has a lot of experience to give, so if you want, stay and level up a bit! As you can see, it is far above earth. You can't even see the planet from the castle... maybe if there was a window somewhere in the castle. Enemies: Air, Slime, Sentry, Jimera, Wizard Vampire, Grey Naga, Green Medusa, Fighter, Evilman, Eye, Mancat, Manticor, Sorcerer, Nitemare, Guard, Badman, Rock Golem, Mud Golem, Red Hydra, Naocho, Warmech These are all nasty in their own way. But, if you are level 21 or 22, it should be easy going. Just remember, you have a Heal Staff and a Heal Helmet, use them as much as you can! They save a lot of Heal Potions. Air is just like Water, but a bit more powerful. The Slime, is like their brethren. They can poison you, and are a bit strong against physical attacks. Keep at them though. Use FIRE is you get worried. The Sentry is the only mechanical creature in this game that is weak against LIT. Use it. It can deal your characters almost 200hp of damage. Jimera is like the Chimera but can use Poison Gas and Cremate, which means more ways to take damage. Use ICE spells. The Wizard Vampire is a easy creature to beat, if you know what you are doing. First off, use the Light Axe's you have, and attack with the Sun Sword. They are easy to beat then. Be careful though, they can stun you and cast AFIR, ICE2, LIT2 and FIR2. The Grey Naga is a weakling when it comes to bashing you, but it can poison you. They can also cast RUSE, SLOW, DARK, SLEP, FIRE, LIT and HEAL. They only have 420 hp, and are a bit weak. A dedicated attack, even with RUSE casted on them will dispatch them. Green Medusa are just like their brethren, but more powerful. The stun instead of poisoning, though. The Fighter is a nice alternative to the Mage. These guys have a poor attack, which goes against their name. They only have 200hp, and can cast a lot of spells. Chances are you won't be able to see them though. WALL, XFER, HEL3, HEL4, FOG2, INV2,CUR3 and CUR4. All defence spells. Just whack them. They'll die rather quickly. The Evilman is the magic casting Badman. Be a bit careful with them, they can cast NUKE and XXXX as well as XFER and BLND. You are protected as long as you have ProRings on. Remember, though, XFER removes that defence. Finally... Warmech. I won't touch on him here. I'll wait until you actually fight him... IF you actually fight him. You begin your adventures in the Floating Castle in the centre of the bottom floor. There is enough treasure in this damn place to make anyone go mad. I hope you don't mind dropping some equipment, because we will be doing a bit of that. Go outside the door and head west. Inside this room are four chests. From west to east they contain, 9900g, a Heal Potion, 4150g and 7900g. Feel rich? Go outside this room, and now we go to the eastern room. Inside is, from west to east, 5000g, a ProRing, 6720g, another Heal Helmet and 180g. I suggest keeping the second Heal Helmet, for those times when you are fighting one enemy, and want to heal. Have your Knight attack, and the other three use their Heal items. The Southern room has one chest, the Bane Sword. It sucks, as does the spell. Every enemy at this stage of the game is practically immune to it. There is no point in having it. It also sucks as a sword. Sucks really bad. You can cast EXIT and sell the crap off at Gaia or drop it of you don't want the gold. Either or, we go to the second floor. The transporter is on the northern section. The second floor is very similar to the first. Covered in treasure. The layout is very simple too. The northwestern room has a Silver Helmet and a House. If you want the House, grab it, the Silver Helmet, I hope you gathered, is useless at this point in the game. The northeastern room had an Opal Gauntlet. If you have two Knights, you just scored. Otherwise, you got 10,000g, or a free trip to the menu screen to toss it out the window. The western room has 880g and 13000g. Better than items I say. The eastern room, though, has some good stuff in it. An Opal Shield (useless unless you have two Knights), and the third Ribbon. These Ribbon's are useless statistically wise, but they protect you from almost every status ailment. Keep it. The southeastern room has two very interesting magical items, the White Shirt and Black Shirt. They are not god if you equip them, but good if you use them in battle. The Black Shirt casts ICE2 (the only element we don't have for free), and the White Shirt casts INV2, which is great if you don't have a White or Red Wizard. I would try to keep them, but if your inventory is getting full, get rid of them. Make your own decision here. Sorry... The southwestern room has the Adamant. Remember the adamant? Smith the Dwarven weapon-smith needed it, and now we found it. EXIT out of here, head back to the Dwarven Cave and hand it over. You get the Xcalibur. The second best sword in the game. Hand it over to your Knight, and get ready to kick ass. Do it now! What are you waiting for?! When you get back to the Floating Castle, and the second floor, just walk straight south. The Transporter to the third floor is there. Where are the walls on this floor? Who knows. Maybe this was the place of the battle between the Lefien army and Tiamat. We must be getting close. Right next to you, on your eastern side is a line of blocks. There is a Robot on the east side of it. If you talk to him, you find out that the blocks make a window, one which you can overlook the whole world. When you look, you watch as the four powers you are flowing together to the centre of the four altars: the Temple of Fiends. If you have a world map handy with you, look at it. Otherwise look at it next time you get to the world map. Notice the locations of the four shrines. Now notice the location of the Temple of Fiends. Remember the Black Orb at the altar of the Temple? Something is going on.... But, first, we must be rid of Tiamat. From the window head east. Take the southernmost walkway. It wraps around and starts to turn north. When you can, take the road west to the door. Inside, going north to south from the west side, then the east side, is: 6400g, Cloth (GARBAGE!!!!!!), ProCape, Soft Potion, 9500g, 8135g. The ProCape can be worn by anyone. Now, we start going west. Walk back to the window, and now go north. Walk north, as far north as the north road takes you (Got that? We are heading north). There are four chests in the northern room. 9000g, a Heal potion, a ProRing, and 5450g. Toss the ProRing if you don't need it. Head back to the transporter. Now, (please don't be an idiot and go into the transporter, I was using it as a landmark!) Go west. Stay north, though. In this room, which is a short walk is the goodies of goodies. From the far west there is Soft Potion, 4150g, 3400g and the Katana. Equip the Katana on the Ninja. The Katana is the best weapon for the Ninja. That's all the treasure there is to find. Everything else is either useless or the Masamune. So, this is what your party should look like: Optimum Party: Weapon/Armour Knight: Xcalbur, Dragon Armour, Opal Helmet, Opal Gauntlet, Aegis Shield Ninja: Katana, Ice Armour, Ice Shield, ProRing, Ribbon Master: Unarmed ProRing, Ribbon [see below] Red Wizard: Sun Sword (Defence), Gold (Opal) Bracelet, Ribbon, ProRing Black Wizard: Catclaw, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Ribbon White Wizard: Thor's Hammer, Gold (Opal) Bracelet, ProRing, Ribbon Magic Red Wizard: CURE, FIRE, LIT/ICE, INVS, MUTE/CUR2, FIR2, LIT2/ ICE2, FAST, AICE/CUR3, FIR3, WARP/LIT3, INV2, EXIT/ICE3 Black Wizard: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF/FIR3, WARP/LIT3, RUB/ICE3, BRAK/NUKE, STOP, ZAP! White Wizard: CURE, HARM, RUSE/INVS, MUTE, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR, HRM2/PURE, AICE, AMUT/CUR3, LIFE/INV2, EXIT, FOG2/CUR4, HRM4/LIF2, WALL, FADE Knight: CURE, FOG, RUSE/MUTE, INVS, ALIT/CUR2, AFIR Ninja: FIRE, LIT, SLEP/ICE, SLOW, TMPR/FIR2, LIT2, HOLD/ICE2, FAST, CONF Magical Items to keep: Heal Staff, Heal Helmet (x2), Thor's Hammer, Mage Staff, Black Shirt Defence, Light Axe (x2), White Shirt This is what your party should look like. With all the money you have from selling items you don't need or want, and also from the chest, fill out the magic screens of your magic users. The spells I have above are the best buys in my opinion. Some levels, as you can see, don't have all three. That's because in my opinion, the third spell of that level is not worth getting. I don't like the spell, or it will never be used by me. If you want to see a nice list of magic, though, pick a spell and get it. As for the magical items, I have listen them in order of importance. I will have to, though, group together the Heal equipment (they ae a life and time saver, believe me!) And also the Hammer, Staff and Shirt. They are useful, because FIRE, LIT and ICE for free is a great deal. The Defence is good because it casts RUSE, which is an added bonus when you need defence, but it can be tossed. The Light Axes are useful, but also, we have a Mage Staff that casts the other undead weakness. Keep one if you want, or if you really hate undead, both. Finally the White Shirt. It is a good item, don't get me wrong. INV2 for free is a great deal. But, it is a piece of armour, so it does take up some space. Plus, you will probably only use INV2 in a major battle, and your Red and White Wizards have enough of it to last that long. But, if you don't have a Red or White Wizard, I strongly suggest you keep it. INV2 will help out your party greatly in the last few battles. Now, I will touch on the Master. I spoke about the little glitch that resets his natural defence ability at a level up. The big problem was it usually went down as soon as the inventory was shuffled with. We are now at the point in the game where your inventory is essentially done with. Also, defence against RUB and other ailments is paramount. Keep your eyes on the Masters experience, and when you see him being ready for a level up, stack his armour inventory full of magical items, like the White Shirt and a Heal Helmet and a Ribbon and ProRing. Equip the ProRing and Ribbon for the battle, and when he goes level up, the defence given by the pieces of armour will be forfeited, but their defensive properties will be kept. In other words, the Masters natural defence will stay, and he will gain the protection from RUB and the other status ailments. Back to the Floating Castle. On the third floor, the transporter to the fourth floor is south of the western room. So, from the transporter from the second floor, walk west, but take the southernmost path. Hop on the transporter. The fourth floor defies physics. Its one of those rooms. You walk forward in one direction and you'll never stop walking. Freaky. But remember, this is a Fantasy game. And fantasy games are allowed to mess with physics. Now. Walk east for two intersections. At the second intersection walk down. On the second intersection will be the transporter to the fifth floor. Going west two intersections and north two intersections works as well. The fifth floor is scary. Basically it is a long narrow bridge that leads from the transporter to Tiamat. Easy enough. But, it has a lot of enemies on it. Including the Warmech. Chances are you won't fight the Warmech. But, if you do, hope you are lucky, this nasty machine will kill you. It is the second most difficult enemy in the game. The most difficult is the last boss. (So, Warmech is sort of like the Omega Weapon of Final Fantasy V, VII and X, or Ozma of Final Fantasy IX, or....) DEMI-BOSS(sort of): Warmech HP: 1000 Dmg: 128-256 Exp: 32000 G: 32000 Weaknesses: None Strengths: None Magic used: Nuclear Scared? You should be. Basically if he hits you, you lose an absurd amount of hit points. If he uses Nuclear, you lose the same amount. So how do you win? Luck (Eventually, just by pounding him, but you need to around level 30 to do that, and you still can die). Cast AFIR to make Nuclear hurt a little less, INV2 to hope he misses a bit more. Cast FAST in the hops your guys can hit him before he kills you. Then let loose with everything you have. Hope you win! If you do, you get 8000exp for each of your Light Warriors. How great is that? This bridge is a good place to level up at, if you can beat Warmech. If you are insane (and you'll have to be) to make each of your character lv99 (actually, I don't even know if you can) this is a great place to do it. BOSS: Tiamat HP: 1000 Dmg: 50-100 Exp: 5496 G: 6000 Weaknesses: None Strengths: QAKE, FIRE, LIT, ICE Magic used: THUNDER, POISON GAS, BLIZZARD As you can see, Tiamat has a load of nasty spells. She is immune to every element. And she can cast nasty things. Thunder, Poison Gas and Blizzard deal around 50-100 damage to your Warriors. The best thing to do is cast INV2 and cast FAST on all attacking members of your party. Tiamat is also weak against BRAK, so if you have it, cast it on her, there is a chance she will die in a round! Then hack the evil Dragon Queen to death. (I wonder if, like in ancient mythology Tiamat is Bahamut's mate?) With the battle over we can now light the last of the Orbs. Step forward and recharge the Orb. Now, warp out of here (unless you want to hunt down Warmech, you crazy kamikaze!). The world order has been restored. The Four Fiends have been killed. Yet, there is no peace! (Also known as a lack of credits and ending sequence) So, what do we do? Who knows the answer to our problem? The Sages of Crescent Lake! 4.8 The Final Task 4.8.1 Crescent Lake The Sages are still there, standing in a neat little circle like they always do. They say that the Temple of Fiends is the centre of the Four Altars of the Elements. We already knew that though... We also learn that there is someone in the past, 2000 years in the past exactly, that is controlling the Fiends. Not only is this force controlling the Fiends, but is sending them through time, back here to wreck the same old havoc we stopped them from doing. If we don't go back in time and stop this from happening, nothing will change. One Sage suggests that someone went back 2000 years from the present. This could be interesting. I hope you got this. Its somewhat confusing to fully understand. The Four Fiends originate 2000 years from now, where they are being sent through time back here, damaging the world as the do. Someone who is 2000 years in the past is sending them here every time we kill them. They aren't here right now, so don't go running after them. The fact is the world won't get better unless we do something to stop this time loop. So, we have to go to the Temple of Fiends, (which is now a time gate) and travel 2000 years back in time and defeat this evil, thus stopping the time-loop we ate caught in. Got it? No? Well, lets go to the Temple of Fiends anyway. 4.8.2 Temple of Fiends You should know where this place is. If you don't, then there is something wrong. It's the broken castle north of Coneria. Inside, walk up to Garland's room. Inside are the five bats and the.... wait, five bats? Why does that sound familiar? The Sky Warriors of course! Talk to them, they have information pertaining to how to activate the Time Gate, and also what happened to them. With the Time Gate open, we can walk in. After you Crono... oh, wait, wrong walkthrough. Before you enter, though, be sure that you are about level 22 or 23. 4.8.3 2000 years ago... Enemies: Everything nasty from before and Worm and Iron Golem. That's right. The Temple of Fiends of the past is a hell on earth. Inside is all the tough creatures from all the dungeons we went through. But there are a lot more of them. For example, you will be fighting four Earths, four Fires, a group full of Frost Wolves. Even four Dragons (of most types). Be prepared for anything. Luckily, the location of these enemies are a little organized, so we can prepare ahead of time. The good thing is, we will be getting a lot of experience points. We hope to get up to level 27 in the Temple. We start off on the middle of the ground floor. I guess this is supposed to be the surviving floor that Garland occupies 2000 years from now. We start by going south as far as we can go, then going east. The stairs are at the bottom of the castles south east turret. I really don't understand the architecture of this place. The stairs we went up were on the south east part of the castle, now we are at the middle of the second floor. Oh well, I guess they built castles differently 2000 years ago. Anyway, walk east to the stairs that go up. Now, we walk south as far as we can go. We will be walking from the north west turret, to the south west turret. When you get there, turn east, and walk to the centre of the castle. Walk north into the room at the centre of this floor. Inside the door is a creature called the Phantom. He has all the spells you don't want him to have (STOP, ZAP!, XFER, BRAK, RUB, HOLD), but he is undead. He only has 360 hitpoints, so he shouldn't be too hard to beat with a Knight, Master and/or Ninja in the party. If you get worried though, cast FAST on your best fighter. The chest on the west has 45,000g, and the chest on the east has 65,000g. Don't you wish those treasures survived 2000 years? Money is useless to you now, unless you want to roll around in it. Now, walk up to the stone plate. Use the LUTE here. The stone plate magically disappears! Oh Princess Sara, always the thoughtful woman carrying 2000 year old artifacts and handing them out to self proclaimed Light Warriors. Who knew you would be right! Go down the ladder to the second floor. Now, we are in the middle of the second floor. Get out of the room, and walk south as far as you can go. Now walk all the way west (don't go in the turret). Now, walk north, and go down the stairs to the first floor. Back on the first floor, we are now in the north west turret. Walk all the way west to the north east turret, and go down those stairs. Now, we are in the basement of the Temple of Fiends. (!) The first Basement is basically the old Earth Shrine. There is the old holder for the Orb of Earth (though, I have no idea where it is, is SHOULD be there). Because of that, expect to be faced with every Earth creature you hate. There will be a lot of Earths, Mud Golems and Rock Golems. Walk north all the way, then east all the way, then south. We just toured all the underground turrets. How fun. If you want to see the supposed Earth Orb, go west from the south east turret, and in that door. Now go all the way north. Wow... (You don't have to do this.) (I don't know how to get to the stairs that are next to the south west turret, nor how to get into that far room). Back at the south east turret, right before you get to walk down the stairs, we have to fight Lich again. Lich has the same ol' stats, but he is a little more powerful. He knows NUKE, and that is not a good thing. Luckily, he still has 400 hp. Get your Red or White Wizard to cast AFIR, incase he casts it first round, which he usually does. Get your Black Wizard to cast a Fire spell. The Mage Staff doesn't deal as much damage. Then hack away at him. He should be killed in the first round. To the second basement. You guessed it, the Second Basement is the Fire Shrine. From where you start off I think you can see very clearly where your destination is (if you can't, its just east of you, behind a wall). Of course, we have to go all the way around the damn place. Make sure you have ready access to your Black Shirt, as you'll probably be casting it every round. Get out of here bu walking west as far as you can go. Now go north, into that really big room. Go up, into the middle of those four boxes, turn east, walk to the middle of the next four boxes in the bigger room, then go south out the door. Go into that boxed in place. The Stairs down is just north of you, with Kary waiting. If you go south, though, you can get some more gold (yay!) And some items. They are another ProRing, another ProCape and another Katana. If you go south, there are two doors. Inside the west door is the ProRing and further away, the Katana. In the east door is the ProCape, and further away, 26,000g. If you want the ProRing, walk in the west door. The chest is right there. Now, walk south, then west. Exit that door, then follow the path all the way to your shiny new Katana. The east room is exactally the same. The ProCape chest is right there, then bu going south, and following the long path east, you'll come to the room with the 26,000g. It's a good adventure if you need the experience points. Now, Kary. She is the same as she always is. Just hack away at her, and cast your ICE spells. Cast FAST if you are a bit worried. Also cast AFIR if you want, it can save your life if she casts FIR3. Now, go down the stairs. The Third Basement... right! The Water floor! With Thor's Hammer being used every round, this place is a bit easy. Be careful though, there monsters attack in big groups. Two Sea Trolls and six Lobsters can widdle you down very effectively. Just keep at it and don't rely too much on your Heal Staff and Helmets. They are very useful but won't save you. They only heal around 20 hp every round, sometimes that's not enough! We start off at the north west corner, and have to go to the south east. So, we walk east, enter this small room, then exit it. Walk south, around a room, and enter the door which is there. Walk through it, going south, then exit it at the southern most door. Now, go around it on the outside, and into the next room. Walk east, and exit the first door you see south of you (I don't now what those tablets are. They don't say anything). Now, walk all the way south, then all the way east. Kraken is awaiting you in this thin corridor. He is waiting at the fourth pillar from the east. Kraken is the same has he always is. Nothing really changes, but he likes to cast LIT3 a lot more. So, counter with ALIT. Cast FAST (of you want, you'll need them later) on your fighters, and cast LIT3 yourself. Kraken should be gone in no time. The fourth basement is the realm of Wind. This is a hard one because the wind creatures are especially hard considering we just fought them. And they come in bigger numbers. Hopefully you are at around lev 26 or 27 by now. If not, think about casting EXIT, and levelling up. The Masamune is on this floor, so, if you want it, you can still grab it. And that is exactly where we are going. Travel south, walking through the small corridor, when you reach the top of a blocked off area, turn east. Then walk through the small eastern corridor. Walk south around the blocked off area, then walk south east through the jagged path. At the end of this path is the Masamune. The Masamune is the best weapon in the game. It can be equipped by anyone. So, who should you give it to? I wouldn't give it to the Knight. He already has the Xcalbur. I would suggest you give it to your White Wizard or Red Wizard. If you have a Master, you know he is powerful on his own. The Black Wizard should be using the magical items, and his own magic all the time. If you like your White Wizard to be casting magic and using items, give it to your second fighter. The Ninja uses the Masamune really well (plus it looks better with him using it). My suggestion is to not give it to the Knight, or Master. It will only lower the power of your party. Give it to anyone else, you think will use it well. Now, you can either cast EXIT to leave, and level up some more, or stay in the fight. There are two more dangerous foes remaining: Tiamat and who ever is causing the scourge on the world. If you have been using your magic a lot, I would suggest you get out, heal up and come back, trying not to use magic as much. Basically, the best thing to go in with is a lot of FASTs, one WALL and a lot of defensive spells (ALIT, AFIR, AICE, INV2). Save NUKE as well. If you used these spells, think about heading out. If you don't have EXIT, you are stuck here, so you might as well go as far as you can go! From the Masamune room, follow the narrow jagged path back to the larger room. Walk west out of it, and north back to where you started. Now, turn your attention to the east. Tiamat is waiting in the small corridor. Tiamat is a real tough one. She was before and she is now. Try and cast BRAK and hope she is dispatched then. If not, cast FAST on your fighters and hope they can do 1000 points of damage before she poisons you to death. Poison was her attack of choice against me, but she can also cast Thunder and Blizzard. They deal a lot more than they did in the Floating Castle, so be careful! Now, with the four fiends dealt with, we can walk forward and temp fate by attacking the root of this evil. The stairway down to the last floor is east. Just stay north. This floor looks cool. There are hundreds of pillars making a triangular design in the circle. We start off at the tip of the triangle. Walk south west, keeping an eye on the room in the center. When you pass the halfway point of the room, start walking south east. The door is just there. Inside is..... I'm not going to say. But anyway, they explain to you the evil plan and how the Time-Loop works. Now, the attack CHAOS This is the hardest battle in the game. You should be level 27 or higher to beat Chaos. DO NOT try it at a lower level (although 26 may work). Chaos knows everything. Every spell. He doesn't cast a lot of them. He is also very string against every spell. The only spell that works well is NUKE. Make sure you cast it. Don't waste your time casting FIRE, ICE or LIT spells. They are a waste of a turn. He has 2000 hit points. First thing you do should be to cast FAST on your fighters, especially the one with the Masamune (Get the Ninja to cast it on himself, this opens up another Black Wizard action). The White Wizard should cast WALL on herself. The next round is tricky. It all depends on what Chaos does. He has an ability called CRACK. Its basically like a RUB for everyone. Hope it doesn't work. He can cast ICE3, FIR3, LIT3 or even NUKE. All deal a lot of damage, so be sure you cast AFIR, ALIT or AICE with your White Wizard soon. AFIR works best because, if he casts NUKE, chances are you're dead. Now, attack. A FASTed Knight and Masamune equipped Ninja or Red Wizard deals about 300 points of damage. When you see it drop below that, cast FAST again. Hope Chaos doesn't whip out a nasty spell and the battle should be won. There really isn't much more strategy to that. Just luck. So: Good Luck!! 5. APPENDIX Abbreviations Fi: Fighter, Kn: Knight, Th: Thief, Ni: Ninja, BB: Black Belt, Ma: Master, BM: Black Mage, BW: Black Wizard, WM: White Mage, WW: White Wizard, RM: Red Mage, RW: Red Wizard, dmg: Damage, lv: level. 5.1 MAGIC There really isn't that many magic spells in the game. It may seem like it, because of the fact that you have to choose three out of the four, and chances are you'll never use the fourth spell. Well, for your convienence, I have listed below, all the spells, and what they do as well as who can use them. Incase you don't like my suggestions above. When it lists the mage of a class (BM, WM, RM), that means that the Wizard of that class can use it as well. 5.1.2 White Magic Name Lv. Cost Effect Who can use it Location CURE 1 100 Restores 10-30 HP (one) Kn, RM, WM Coneria HARM 1 100 Inflicts 20-80 dmg on Undead (all) WM Coneria FOG 1 100 Increases armour by 8 (one) Kn, WM, RM Coneria RUSE 1 100 Increases the evade of Caster by 40% Kn, WM, RW Coneria LAMP 2 400 Counters DARK (one) Kn, WM, RM Pravoka MUTE 2 400 Effected enemy cannot use magic (one) Kn, WM, RM Pravoka ALIT 2 400 Reduces LIT damage by 25-50% (all) Kn, WM, RM Pravoka INVS 2 400 Increases evade by 20%(one) Kn, WM, RM Pravoka CUR2 3 1500 Restores 32-64 hp of a Warrior (one) Kn, WM, RM Elfland HRM2 3 1500 Deals 40-160 dmg on undead (all) WM Elfland AFIR 3 1500 Reduces FIRE dmg by 25-50% (all) Kn, WM, RM Elfland HEAL 3 1500 Restores 12-24 hp (all) WM Elfland PURE 4 4000 Removes Poison (one) WM, RM Elfland FEAR 4 4000 Causes some foes to flee (all) WM Elfland AICE 4 4000 Reduces ICE dmg by 25-50% (all) WM, RM Elfland AMUT 4 4000 Removes MUTE (one) WM, RW Elfland CUR3 5 8000 Restores 64-128 hp (one) WM, RM Melmond LIFE 5 8000 Revives a Dead Warrior to 1hp WM, RW Melmond HRM3 5 8000 Deals 60-240 dmg to undead (all) WM Melmond HEL2 5 8000 Restores 28-48 hp (all) WM Melmond SOFT 6 20000 Removes Stone (one) WM Crescent Lake EXIT 6 20000 Transports all Warriors from a dungeon WW, RW Crescent Lake FOG2 6 20000 Increases Armour by 12 points (all) WM, RW Crescent Lake INV2 6 20000 Increases evade by 40% (all) WM, RW Crescent Lake CUR4 7 45000 Fully restores Hp (one) WW Gaia HRM4 7 45000 Deals 80-320hp to undead (all) WW Gaia ARUB 7 45000 Protects from RUB (all) WM, RW Onrac HEL3 7 45000 Restores 48-96 hp (all) WW Onrac FADE 8 60000 Eradicates evil (all) WW Gaia WALL 8 60000 Protects from all elements (one) WW Gaia XFER 8 60000 Removes a foe's special defence (one) WW Gaia LIF2 8 60000 Revives a Warrior giving full HP WW Lefein 5.1.2 Black Magic Remember, Fire deals more damage to Ice creatures as well as Undead. Lit spells deal more damage to Water creatures. Ice spells do more damage against Fire creatures. Name Lv. Cost Effect Who can use it Location FIRE 1 100 Deals 10-40 Fire dmg. (one) Ni, BM, RM Coneria SLEP 1 100 Puts enemies to sleep (all) Ni, BM, RM Coneria LOCK 1 100 Chance to hit foe increases by 10%(one) Ni, BM, RM Coneria LIT 1 100 Deals 10-40 Lightning dmg. (one) Ni, BM, RM Coneria ICE 2 400 Deals 20-80 Ice dmg (one) Ni, BM, RM Pravoka DARK 2 400 Reduces foe's hit% (all) Ni, BM, RM Pravoka TMPR 2 400 Weapon strength increased by 14 (one) Ni, BM, RM Pravoka SLOW 2 400 Cause foe's to lose intelligence (all) Ni, BM, RM Pravoka FIR2 3 1500 Deals 30-120 Fire dmg (all) Ni, BM, RM Elfland HOLD 3 1500 Makes one foe comatose (one) Ni, BM, RM Elfland LIT2 3 1500 Deals 30-120 Lightning dmg (all) Ni, BM, RM Elfland LOK2 3 1500 Increases chance to hit foe (all) Ni, BM, RM Elfland SLP2 4 4000 More effective than SLEP (one) Ni, BM, RM Elfland FAST 4 4000 Increases hits a Warrior makes (one) Ni, BM, RM Elfland CONF 4 4000 Causes foes to attack each other (all) Ni, BM, RM Elfland ICE2 4 4000 Deals 40-160 Ice dmg (all) Ni, BM, RM Elfland FIR3 5 8000 Deals 50-200 Fire dmg (all) BM, RM Melmond BANE 5 8000 Poisonous cloud covers enemies (all) BM, RM Melmond WARP 5 8000 Warriors brought up one dungeon lv. BW, RW Melmond SLO2 5 8000 More effective than SLOW (one) BM, RM Melmond LIT3 6 20000 Deals 60-240 Lightning dmg (all) BM, RW Crescent Lake RUB 6 20000 Erases an enemy (one) BM Crescent Lake QAKE 6 20000 Causes an Earthquake (all) BM Crescent Lake STUN 6 20000 Paralyses a foe of 300 hp or less (one) BM Crescent Lake ICE3 7 45000 Deals 70-280 Ice dmg (all) BM, RW Gaia BRAK 7 45000 Shatters an enemy (one) BW Gaia SABR 7 45000 Increase weapon hit by 40% dmg by 15 BW Onrac BLND 7 45000 Makes a foe Blind (one) BM Onrac STOP 8 60000 Frezes time for a foe (one) BW Gaia ZAP! 8 60000 Sends foes to the void (all) BW Gaia XXXX 8 60000 Utterly destroys a foe (one) BW Gaia NUKE 8 60000 Creates a massive nuclear blast (all) BW Lefein 5.2 WEAPONS There are many weapons, enough that there is a choice. Name Damage Hit% Cost Used By Special Bane Sword 22 20 30000 Kn, Ni, RW Casts BANE Catclaw 22 35 65000 Kn, Ni, RW, BW Coral Sword 19 15 4000 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Defence 30 35 20000 Kn, Ni, RW Casts RUSE Dragon Sword 18 8 4000 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Falchion 15 10 450 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RW, RM Flame Sword 26 20 5000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Giant Sword 21 20 4000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Great Axe 22 5 1000 Fi, Kn, Ni Hand Axe 16 5 550 Fi, Kn, Ni Heal Staff 6 0 12500 Ni, WM, WW Casts HEAL Ice Sword 29 25 7500 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Iron Staff 14 0 200 Fi, Kn, Ni, BB, Ma Iron Nunchuck 16 0 200 Ni, BB, Ma Iron Hammer 9 0 10 Fi, Kn, Ni, WM, WW Katana 33 35 30000 Ni Large Dagger 7 10 175 All but WM, WW, BB, Ma Light Axe 28 15 5000 Fi, Kn, Ni Casts HRM2 Long Sword 20 10 1500 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Mage Staff 12 10 12500 Ni, BM, BW Casts FIR2 Masamune 56 50 30000 All Power Staff 12 0 12345 All but Th, RM, RW Rapier 9 5 10 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Rune Sword 18 15 2500 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Eff. to Magic users Sabre 13 5 450 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Scimitar 10 10 200 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Short Sword 15 10 550 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Silver Hammer 12 5 2500 Fi, Kn, Ni, WM, WW Silver Sword 23 15 4000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Silver Knife 10 15 800 All but WM, WW, BB, Ma Silver Axe 25 10 4500 Fi, Kn, Ni Small Dagger 5 10 5 All but BB and Ma Sun Sword 32 30 10000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Eff. To Undead Thor's Hammer 18 15 20000 Kn, Ni, WW Casts LIT2 Vorpal 24 25 15000 Kn, Ni, RW Were Sword 18 15 3000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Eff. To WERE Wizard Staff 15 15 25000 BW Casts CONF Wooden Nunchuck 12 0 10 Ni, BB, Ma Wooden Staff 6 0 5 All Xcalber 45 35 30000 Kn 5.3 ARMOUR 5.3.1 Body Name Absorb Evade % Cost Used By Special Black Shirt 24 2 2 Kn Casts ICE2 Chain Armour 15 15 80 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Cloth 1 2 10 All Copper Bracelet 4 1 1000 All Dragon Armour 42 10 30000 Kn Eff to Dragons Flame Armour 34 10 15000 Fi, Kn, Ni Gold Bracelet 24 1 50000 All Ice Armour 34 10 15000 Fi, Kn, Ni Iron Armour 24 23 800 Fi, Kn, Ni Opal Bracelet 34 1 75000 All Opal Armour 42 10 30000 Kn Silver Armour 18 8 7500 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM, RW Silver Bracelet 15 1 5000 All Steel Armour 34 33 45000 Fi, Kn White Shirt 24 2 2 WW Casts INV2 Wooden Armour 4 8 50 All but BM, BW, WM, WW 5.3.2 Head Name Absorb Evade % Cost Used By Special Cap 8 2 80 All but BB, Ma Heal Helmet 6 3 10000 Kn, Ni Casts HEL2 Iron Helmet 5 5 450 Fi, Kn, Ni Opal Helmet 8 3 5000 Kn Ribbon 1 1 2 All Def. Against status Silver Helmet 6 3 250 Fi, Kn, Ni Wooden Helmet 3 3 100 Fi, Kn, Ni 5.3.3 Arm Name Absorb Evade % Cost Used By Special Copper Gauntlet 2 3 200 Fi, Kn, Ni Gloves 1 1 60 All Iron Gauntlet 4 5 750 Fi, Kn, Ni Opal Gauntlet 8 3 20000 Kn Power Gauntlet 6 3 5000 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM Casts SABR ProRing 8 1 20000 All Defends RUB Silver Gauntlet 6 3 2500 Fi, Kn, Ni, RM Zeus Gauntlet 6 3 7500 Kn, Ni, RM 5.3.4 Shields Name Absorb Evade % Cost Used By Special Aegis Shield 16 0 40000 Kn Def. Stone Buckler 2 0 2500 Fi, Kn, Th, Ni, RM, RW Flame Shield 12 0 10000 Fi, Kn, Ni Def. Ice Ice Shield 12 0 10000 Fi, Kn, Ni Def. Fire Iron Shield 4 0 100 Fi, Kn, Ni Opal Shield 16 0 15000 Kn ProCape 8 2 20000 All but BB, Ma Silver Shield 8 0 2500 Fi, Kn, Ni Wooden Shield 2 0 15 Fi, Kn, Ni 5.4 ITEMS Name Description Adamant An incredibly strong mineral Bottle Contains a suprise Cabin Heals more HP than the Tent. Also saves the game. Can be used only on the Overworld Map. Chime "Stamped on the bottom: Made in LEFEIN" A beautifully crafted Chime Crown "The Stolen Crown". The Crown of the Lonely King of Northwest Castle Crystal "A ball made of crystal". A vision enhancing item used by Matoya Cube "Colours gather and swirl in the CUBE". A mysterious key. Floater "A mysterious rock". An item used in ancient times Heal Potion Heals up to30 HP in battle. Heals 30 HP on the item screen. Herb Received from Matoya. Heals a Curse House Heals most Hp and some Magic. Saves the Game. Can be used only on the Overworld Map. Key "The Mystic KEY". The Key to many locked doors. Held by the Elven Prince. Lute "Beautiful music fills the air!" A gift from Princess Sara Oxyale "The OXYALE furnishes fresh air" Allows someone to breathe, even in the most harsh conditions. Pure Potion Removes Poison Rod "The ROD to remove the plate from the earth". A strong Rod from Sarda. Ruby "A large red stone" A Titan's favourite meal Slab "Unknown symbols cover the SLAB". The key to a mysterious ancient language Soft Removes Stone Tail "OOHH!! It Stinks! Throw it over.... No! Don't do that!!" A rat's tail Tent Heals some HP and saves the game. Can be used only on the Overworld Map TNT "Be careful!" A powerful explosive. 6. ADDITIONAL NOTES 6.1 VERSION HISTORY 1.0 Released in Nov. 2003. Complted version 1.1 Edited April 8, 2005. Added Version History, and small editing problems with the Appendix.