FF4 FE for ppl who never played FF4

Free Enterprise

Get airship at the start. Find the Crystal (unless you're playing K0). Use the Crystal to beat the final boss. The end.

This is a reference list of what there is to do in each location in the game, what each key item does, where all the possible key item locations are, and what your characters do. Intended for people who have not played FF4 before or are otherwise very new to FE. Includes variations on notes depending on what flags you have set.






What There Is To Do Everywhere

Look at these maps so you know where these locations are! --> https://fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff4/ff4maps.htm

There's 3 worlds: overworld, underworld, and the moon. You start in the overworld and can unlock the underworld and the moon with key items.

Always explore towns and look in grass, water, pots, and bookcases for treasure chests. Look for invisible paths too. Note every town has an inn and armor/weapon shops. In some towns the item shops are hidden, so take note of these when looking for the Pass (the item you can use to get quick access to the final boss).

If a location does not state a number of trapped chests here, that means there are none.



Overworld Locations

Baron Town/Castle
You start here. The castle is locked at first. The town has an item shop. Cheap inn that also has 2 boss fights for a key item and a party member. When you find the Baron Key later on, come back here and you can unlock the armor/weapon shop and also go to the locked door in the southwest to sneak into the castle.

Baron Castle
You need the Baron Key to get here through the southwest locked door of Baron. You fight a boss in the main hall. Go north to fight another boss and get a character and key item (no key item in K0) (this unlocks the castle permanently from the world map), or east to the basement to fight a boss if playing on K2/K3/K4 for a possible key item.

Myst Cave
Northwest of Baron within walking distance. Just some chests and a boss fight in here, no key items or party members.

Myst
Slightly northwest of Baron between some mountains. Has an armor/weapon shop but no item shop. If you have the Package, you can go in the left side to activate a cutscene; go to Kaipo afterward to fight a boss to get a new party member (or enter from the right side if you don't want to do this). In N1/N2, talk to Rydia's mom lying on the ground for a key item once you've found and beaten the D.Mist boss battle.

Kaipo
In the middle of the big desert. Note if you used the Package in Myst you will fight a boss immediately on entering, so be careful (you get a party member out of this). If you have the SandRuby, take it to the northeast house for another party member. The town has a weapon/armor shop, and the item shop is inside the inn.

Watery Pass
Northeast of Kaipo. Multipart dungeon with a free character recruit at the entrance if playing on N0. Other than that just chests and a boss, no key items.

Damcyan
Wrecked castle north of Watery Pass. When you enter, move 1 tile down and go around the right side for hidden chests. Go up the stairs in the castle for a character (if playing N0) and to unlock the hovercraft.

Antlion Cave
Just east of Damcyan. Fight the boss for a key item.

Mt. Hobbs
Wide mountain just east of Antlion. If you have Rydia you can use the left entrance, which lets you get chests before the boss. Otherwise you can use the right entrance. When you enter the boss room, you can see which character you will get from fighting the boss, and the fight wont start unless you go down 1 tile, so you can turn around and leave if you prefer.

Fabul
Southeast of Hobbs. Go to the throne room to fight a boss for a key item (no key item in K0). If you've met Yang in Sylph Cave and/or used the pan on him, go all the way up the left tower to talk to his wife and get 1 or 2 key items respectively. Has an armor/weapon shop and an item shop.

Toroia
Town surrounded by forests east of Fabul/northwest of Baron. Like Baron, the town and castle are different maps. The town has a weapon/armor shop and 2 item shops (one in a bar which is an unmarked house, talk to the lady at the entrance). In the same bar, talk to the guy at the back if you have a Pass to go straight to the final boss. Be sure to have the Crystal if you do this (unless playing on K0).

Toroia Castle
Go to the left tower and talk to Edward for a key item (if playing N0), and go to the right tower and get some treasures from the right staircase, and the left staircase as well if you have the Earth Crystal.

Tower of Zot
Talk to the green soldier in the Toroia Castle throne room to go here. Has one trapped chest. You get 2 new characters and 1 key item for beating the two bosses. Be warned you do NOT get healed between these two bosses, so have healing spells/items. You must have the Earth Crystal in order to fight the second boss and get your characters/key item, but you can fight the first boss anytime.

Magnet Cave
Walk all the way north from Toroia to enter Chocobo Forest. Get a black (purple) chocobo to fly east to a cave that is otherwise inaccessible (as the entrance is covered in trees). Don't come in here without the twinharp, as you can't beat the boss without it. You get a key item from the boss (press A on the crystal).

Silvera
Small island south of Fabul, has an item and armor/weapon shop.

Adamant Cave
Near Silvera, you need the hook to bring the hovercraft here to access this (when you have the hook, press A when your airship is directly above the hovercraft to pick it up). Trade the Rat Tail for a key item or the Pink Tail for Adamant Armor (extremely good). NOTE: If you equip the Adamant Armor and then take it off, the character will be permanently and extremely weak to fire and ice. This carries over to any character who takes their slot! Adamant Armor is OP but it's a commitment, so be careful.

Mt. Ordeals
Big mountain south of Silvera. You get a new character here in N0. Fight 3 bosses here for a key item. This will also turn Cecil into a Paladin (aka makes him not suck), unlock all of Tellah's spells, and unlock all of FuSoYa's spells if playing on F1.

Mysidia
West of Mt. Ordeals. You get 2 new characters here in N0. Has weapon/armor and item shops. If you have the Darkness Crystal, walk into this town to get the whale ship that unlocks the moon and Giant of Babil.

Agart
West of Mysidia. Cheapest inn tied with Baron if you need to heal. Has a weapon/armor shop, and an item shop inside the inn. If you have the Magma Key, enter the middle of town and use it on the well to blow up the mountain. Fly down the hole to go to the underworld.

Eblan Castle
Wrecked castle west of Agart. There are 3 trapped chests in here. Does not lead anywhere or have any boss fights, it's just a treasure trove.

Eblan Cave
If you have the hook, bring the hovercraft here (press A when flying directly over it to pick it up) and ride the hovercraft from Eblan Castle to enter the west cave. There is one trapped chest here, as well as weapon/armor and item shops and an inn. Continue through the cave for a new character, and also to enter the upper part of Tower of Babil.

Tower of Babil (upper)
Reached by going through Eblan Cave if you have the hook. Tower of Babil is 2 dungeons that are not connected; the other part is only accessed through the underworld. This section has 1 trapped chest and 2 bosses. You are given a free heal at the start of the 2nd boss fight. When you win, you get a second airship and unlock the underworld. Fly to the crater in the northeast underworld to blow up the Agart mountain, which creates a passage you can use to go freely between the overworld and underworld. Note this renders the Magma Key useless.



Underworld Locations

Northeast Crater - Go back to overworld.

Dwarf Castle - castle in central underworld. Has weapon/armor and item shops. Go to the throne room to do 2 back-to-back boss fights. Between the two fights, Rydia becomes an adult (unlocks more summons and level 2 elementals, but loses white magic) and a new party member joins. You get a key item from the dwarves after winning. Note, if playing on G0, if you have a mage that knows Warp, you can use Warp as soon as possible after beating the bosses here, and this will take you to the Sealed Cave crystal room for another key item. Due to a glitch, when you exit the Sealed Cave crystal room after doing this, you will be back in Dwarf Castle.

Dwarf Base - The door directly to the west of Dwarf Castle. Walk straight up and talk to the empty pot for a full party heal. Nothing else to do here really.

Kokkol - southeasternmost corner of underworld. If you have the Adamant and Legend, take them upstairs to the blacksmith to get either an Excalibur (Paladin Cecil's 2nd strongest weapon) or the Crystal (if playing on V1). This also unlocks a weapon/armor shop on the bottom floor, talk to the guy at the rightmost counter.

Tomra - south central border of underworld. Has a weapon/armor shop and an item shop.

Sealed Cave
Cave beside Tomra. You need the Luca Key to open the door. Every door after the first one in here is an encounter (unless playing on E1, E2, or E4), so if playing on E3 you can turn encounters on in the menu to talk to the door to fight it. These give incredibly good exp, but beware, Disrupt is an auto-kill on whoever was targeted by Search (unless they have Ribbon or Adamant Armor equipped). You can cast Wall or use StarVeil on whoever is the target of Search to reflect Disrupt to auto-kill the door if you manage to get it out before Disrupt, or you can just beat it normally if not fast enough for that. This is a good option for leveling if you do not have access to Sirens, especially if you already have 10 key items and are playing on X2. Skip these in E3 if you have Sirens. The end of the cave has a key item (if you didn't glitch it in Dwarf Castle) but you must fight a boss after.

Land of Summons
Small cave island in southwest underworld. The cave part has 1 trapped chest. Cast Float on your whole party (press right on the dpad when selecting a target to select your whole party) in the menu each time you change rooms to avoid taking floor damage. The town part has a key item in the first area in a chest at the top part behind a warp tile. The second town area has a weapon/armor shop and an inn inside the item shop, as well as a library where you can fight 2 bosses in the basement for possible key items if playing K2/K3/K4. In the first part of town, in the south near the entrance warp, there is a tile with an almost-invisible outline that is a warp to a treasure room. The very bottom of the treasure room has another almost-invisible warp that is an exit to the world map.

Sylph Cave
Northwest corner of underworld. Like in Land of Summons, cast Float on your party in the menu (press right on the dpad when selecting a target to select your whole party) every time you change rooms to avoid taking floor damage. There are 7 trapped chests in here. Branching paths require 2 trips to get all chests. One of the paths ends with Yang. Hit him with the pan if you have it to get an item from the fairy (possibly a key item in K2/K3/K4). Then go back to Fabul and talk to his wife at the top of the left tower for a key item (if you used the pan, talk to her again for a second key item).

Tower of Babil (lower entrance)
Tower of Babil is 2 dungeons that are not connected; the other part is only accessed through Eblan Cave in the overworld. This part has 4 trapped chests and 1 mandatory and 1 optional boss. Climb to the top of the tower and beat the boss for a key item. On your way down, on the 5th floor, if you have the Tower Key, cross the long bridge and unlock the room for another boss fight, this will give you a key item when you leave the tower.

west underworld
There's a thin strip of 3 tiles on the middle of the map on the west border of the underworld. If you have Sirens, come here and use them to initiate dragon egg fights. These give you 34000 exp, or 68000 if you have 10 key items and are playing on X2.

Moon Locations (note: in the whale ship, talk to the crystal to go back and forth between the moon and overworld. Walk on the warp in the bottom left to exit the ship. Use the rudder at the top to drive the ship around.) (also note: there is pretty much no need to come here in K0 or K1 as there are no key items, unless you -really- can't find the Pass. This is the "endgame" in vanilla so everything is incredibly strong and getting around is hard.)

Cave Bahamut
Circular cave on the moon. Fight the boss in K2/K3/K4 for a possible key item.

Namingway
Small cave south of the castle enclosed entirely by mountains, you can land within the mountains. One of the mouse guys in here is an item shop.

Subterrane/Core
The rest of the moon is a maze of caves. Before you get into the castle part, the cave network has 1 trapped chest. In the castle, you get a new character. After the castle, the Lunar Core has 8 trapped chests and 5 bosses that give you possible key items in K2/K3/K4. At the end of the Lunar Core is the final boss (this is how you get to the final boss if you don't have the Pass). Do not fight the final boss without the Crystal (unless playing on K0).

Other Locations

Giant of Babil
Talk to the helmsman on the right in the Whale Ship to go here. 1 trapped chest and 2 boss fights. This is the end of the game in V2. There is basically no reason to come here in K0 or K1 or K2 (unless you feel like fighting two incredibly powerful bosses for a new character) unless playing on V2.






What Key Items Do


List of key Items (17, or 14 when K flag not set)

Adamant - If you also have the Legend Sword, take this to the blacksmith on the top floor of Kokkol to get an Excalibur (Cecil's 2nd strongest sword) or the Crystal (if playing on V1).

Baron Key - You can open the Baron weapon/armor shop with this, and also the locked door in the southwest corner of Baron Town (this takes you into the castle where you can fight 3 bosses, 1 of which is a key item slot and the other of which is a summon slot)

Crystal (except in K0) - use this immediately in the final boss fight, you cannot win otherwise

Darkness Crystal - take this to Mysidia to get the Whale ship. This ship allows you to go to the moon and the Giant of Babil

Earth Crystal - take this to the left staircase in Toroia Castle's east tower for a ton of treasures, and use it in Tower of Zot in order to fight the 2nd boss for a key item and 2 characters

Hook - allows you to carry the hovercraft. You can use this to get to Eblan (which leads to a new character and then into the upper side of Babil Tower, where you defeat 2 bosses to unlock the underworld) and Adamant Cave (where you can exchange Rat Tail for a key item, or Pink Tail for Adamant Armor)

Legend (except in K0) - a sword. See Adamant.

Luca Key - unlocks the Sealed Cave, which contains a key item

Magma Key - take it to the well in Agart to unlock the underworld

Package - take it to the left entrance of Myst to trigger the Titan cutscene. Then go to Kaipo and defeat the boss to get the new party member.

Pan - take it to Yang in Sylph Cave and hit him with it. Then take it back to his wife at the top of the left tower in Fabul to get another key item.

P1 ONLY - Pass - Take this to the bar in Toroia to go right to the final boss. In P1 this is mixed in with the other key items. In P0 you can buy it in a shop and in P2 you can find 3 of them in chests.

Pink Tail (except in K0) - take it to Adamant Cave to get an Adamant Armor

Rat Tail - take it to Adamant Cave to get another key item

SandRuby - take it to the northeast house in Kaipo to get a new party member

Spoon - throw it as Edge in the final boss fight for 9999 damage

Tower Key - unlocks the engine room in the 5th floor of Babil Tower. Fight the boss in this room and then you will get a key item when you leave the tower (NOT the same as the key item you get at the top of the tower)

Twinharp - take this to Magnet Cave. You need this to win the boss fight, which gives you another key item






Where Key Items Are

If you play on K0/K1, all 17 base locations will have key items. If you play on K2 or K3/K4, there are another 10 or 37 locations added, respectively, so which of the 27 or 55 locations has a key item vs. a regular item is random.


K0/K1 KEY ITEM LOCATIONS

Start of the game - In K0 this is the Package.

Antlion Cave - Beat the boss. In K0 this is the SandRuby.

Fabul - Talk to the king, beat the boss. In K0 this is not a key item.

Mt. Ordeals - Beat the 3rd boss. In K0 this is the Legend Sword, but that isn't a key item in K0.

Baron Inn - Talk to the party recruit sitting beside the chests, and do 2 back to back boss fights. In K0 this is the Baron Key.

Baron Castle - Beat the boss in the throne room, but you need the Baron Key to get in from the southwest door in Baron Town. In K0 this is not a key item.

Magnet Cave - Beat the boss, but you need the Twinharp to do this. In K0 this is the Earth Crystal.

Tower of Zot - Beat the 2nd boss, but you need the Earth Crystal to do this. In K0 this is the Magma Key.

Adamant Cave - Trade in the Rat Tail for a key item. You need the Hook to get here. In K0 this is the Adamant.

Dwarf Castle (underworld) - Go to the throne room and beat 2 back-to-back boss fights. In K0 this is the Luca Key.

Sealed Cave (underworld) - Get to the end of the cave, requires the Luca Key (or use Warp right after getting the Dwarf Castle key item in G0, does not require the Luca Key). In K0 this is the Darkness Crystal.

Land of Summons (underworld) - In the first part of the town area, at the top of the map there is a chest behind a warp tile. Open it for a key item. In K0 this is the Rat Tail.

Sylph Cave (underworld) - Use a map for this one as there are 2 exits. Get to the exit that has Yang (and use the Pan on him if you have it), and then go to the top of Fabul's left tower to talk to his wife. She will give you a key item (the Pan in K0). If you used the pan on him, give it back to her for another key item (the Spoon in K0).

Tower of Babil (underworld entrance, not Eblan entrance) - Climb to the top of the tower and beat the boss (Tower Key in K0). Use the tower key on the 5th floor long bridge and beat the boss, then you will get a key item on your way back out when you leave (Hook in K0).

N0 ONLY - Toroia Castle - Talk to Edward in the west tower. In K0 this is the TwinHarp.

N1/N2 ONLY - Myst - After you've found and beaten the D.Mist boss fight, go here and talk to Rydia's mom lying on the ground.


K2 KEY ITEM LOCATIONS - save before attempting these

All K1 locations

Land of Summons (underworld) - In the 2nd part of the town area, one of the buildings is a library. Beat each of the 2 bosses in the basement for a possible key item each.

Sylph Cave (underworld) - If you have the pan, hit Yang with it to get a possible key item from the fairy.

Baron Castle - if you go through the main hall to the right side you'll have access to the basement. Beat the boss down here for a possible key item. Like the Baron Castle location above, you need the Baron Key to unlock this area.

Bahamut Cave (moon) - Beat the boss in the circular mountain cave for a possible key item.

Lunar Core (moon) Beat the 5 bosses in here for a possible key item each.


K3/K4 KEY ITEM LOCATIONS

All K1 and K2 locations

Tower of Zot - 1 trapped chest

Eblan Castle - 3 trapped chests

Eblan Cave - 1 trapped chest (need Hook to get here)

Tower of Babil (Eblan entrance) 1 trapped chest (need Hook to get to Eblan Cave, which then leads here)

Land of Summons (underworld) - 1 trapped chest in cave section

Sylph Cave (underworld) - 7 trapped chests

Tower of Babil (underworld entrance) - 4 trapped chests

Lunar Cave (moon) - 1 trapped chest

Lunar Core (moon) - 9 trapped chests






Some Character Notes


Melee Characters (overall strat: pretty good to berserk them in some fights once you have some mages, it makes them attack more often and for more damage)

Cecil - Sucks as a dark knight, but becomes a Paladin when you beat Mt. Ordeals, and is then very strong and able to use some white magic.

Cid - Not extremely good overall but has decently high HP for earlygame and can do a lot of damage with a good axe or good bow/arrow.

Edge - OP. Starts at level 25 and can carry though several overworld dungeons. Use Dart to throw some stuff in your inventory, some of which can do crazy damage. Ninja magic is good in earlygame too (Flame and Blitz attack all enemies on the field for example). Very fast at higher levels.

Edward - Not good. Pretty much your first choice with a dismissal. Can do well with a good bow and arrow but is outclassed by everyone else.

Kain - Can wear a lot of good weapons/armor. Jump takes him offscreen for a bit and then lands for more damage than a regular attack.

Yang - Not very strong early on, but at higher levels can do a lot of damage and has massive HP reserves.


Red Mages

FuSoYa - Starts at level 50 with all spells in the game in F0, so F1 and F2 settings exist as a challenge if you like. Decent magic stats, but unfortunately sees almost nothing in the way of HP or MP growth. At least he can use Psych on the final boss to completely heal his MP, but this takes a turn that could be used healing, so keep an eye on MP budgeting if you don't have a white mage. If playing on F1, he unlocks all the white and black spells he can learn when you complete Mt. Ordeals. If playing on F2, he gradually learns more spells when you beat more bosses.

Tellah - Nice to have in earlygame, but overall bad stats and very little HP growth. No MP growth afaik. Completely outclassed by FuSoYa. If you can help it, don't rely on him for white magic in lategame, have healing items for backup. He unlocks all the white and black spells he can learn when you complete Mt. Ordeals, but will need a SomaDrop before he can use Meteo.


White Mages

Porom - Her Will stat is pretty wild. Great healer. If she has over 2000 HP and halfway decent armor, give her a good staff and spam Cure4 and the final boss is a walk in the park.

Rosa - Also a fantastic healer with more HP than Porom. She also has Aim which is like Jump but for arrows (longer to do, but higher output).


Black Mages

Palom - Learns Quake early, which rules. Very good damage output overall.

Rydia - I think she takes longer than Palom to learn spells like Quake and Nuke. However, she also has summons. You can get Levia, Baham, Asura, Sylph, and Odin as treasures or in shops depending on your flags. Baham is her strongest summon. Sylph is a HP healing spell, and Asura randomly casts cure magic or Life on your whole party (sometimes does nothing). Levia is strong water damage to all enemies. Odin insta-kills non-bosses. If you beat the bosses in Dwarf Castle, she becomes an adult (gets more summons and level 2 elementals, but loses her white magic... which wasn't very good anyway).





Note: Rydia's summons cannot be reflected. Neither can Quake or Meteo when used by amyone. Get owned, D.Lunar.

Another note: Cabin fully heals your party and revives KOed members. Tent heals up to a certain amount and doesnt revive.



Now that you know what there is to do in every town, where the key items are and what they do, and who your party members are, check out https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a1t3H4aX-yB2_wM67iKy_dwdCjJzY4qAyWfKzRCv8Og/edit to learn about boss gimmicks, what items do, and what some good beginner strategies are. And reference https://goo.gl/8pWrrR to see what equips are better than others. And reference https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/522596-final-fantasy-ii/faqs/53021 to learn what each spell does.