Final Fantasy IV WT (UC)

Final Fantasy IV

Platform: Snes / SFC
Released:
 19.07.1991 (J)
 23.11.1991 (NA)

Based on: NTSC-U/C-version (SNS-F4-USA) (1991)



- I would recommend against playing the North American version because of
all the changes that were made. It's your call, though.
- You can pause the game during battle. This will stop the play time counter
from running.
- You have 46 slots for items in your inventory. The items you buy and
de-equip are not automatically stacked. Dropped items and items found in
containers are. Move items on top of each other to stack them.

- Throughout the game, you'll see a lot of changes in your party lineup,
as seen below. Whenever a character leaves, all the items they had equipped
will be lost, even if it's a character who eventually rejoins the party.
You should really try to avoid losing any (important) items like this.

   Misty Cave        |DK   |              |
   Watery Pass       |D L  |Te            |
   Antlion Cave      |D L  |  Gl          |
   Mt. Hobs          |D LR |  Gl          |
   Mt. Ordeals       |D    |Te    PaPo    |
   Old Waterway      |C    |Te  YaPaPo    |
   Cave Magnes       |C    |Te  Ya    Ci  |
   Tower of Zot      |C    |Te  Ya    Ci  |
   Tower of Bab-il 1 |CKLR |    Ya        |
   Cave of Eblana    |CKLR |              |
   Tower of Bab-il 2 |CKLRE|              |
   Sealed Cave       |CKLRE|              |
   Giant of Bab-il   |C LRE|            Fu|
   Lunar Underground |CKLRE|              |

- During battle and in the menu, your characters are positioned like so:
   2          2
    4        4
   1    or    1
    5        5
   3          3

- In the left formation, the characters in slots 1, 2, and 3 are in the
front row, whereas 4 and 5 are in the back row. In the right formation,
these positions are swapped. You can move characters to different slots
using the Change command, and toggle the formation using Form.
- An enemy is considered to be in the front row if it's either closest
to your characters or their sprite overlaps horizontally with the enemy
who is closest to your party. As you clear out enemies from the front,
the row states are updated accordingly. Inflicting a polymorph ailment
may change an enemy's row from front to back due to their new, smaller
size.

- Stats:
 Lv       | ATP (Lv/4), Accuracy bonus (Lv/4), Eva multip.(Lv/16)(req. shld)
 Strength | ATP (Str/4), ATP multiplier (Str/8)
 Agility  | ATP multip. (Agi/16), Eva&MEva multip.(Agi/8)\(Agi/32), ATB
 Vitality | DFP (Vit/2)
 Wisdom   | Magic multip.(Black), Magic evade (Wis/8), MEvade multip.(Wis/32)
 Will     | Magic multip.(White), Magic evade (Wil/8), MEvade multip.(Wil/32)

- The physical damage you deal with a normal attack equals...

      ATPm * (Offense + CritP - enemy DFP)

   ATPm: ATP multiplier (ie. number of hit rolls)(1 by default)
   Accuracy: Success rate per hit roll

     -> Accuracy = total Accuracy / 98

   Offense = (ATP + rnd(0,ATP/2)) * et

     -> ATP = base ATP + weapon ATP
     -> e: elemental variable (2; 4; 0,5; 0)
     -> t: type bonus (4)

   CritP = base CritP + weapon ATP/2

     -> Crit% = base Crit% * wpnCrit / 98

       -> wpnCrit = 2 \ 3 (bow) \ 1 (dual wield)


- Physical damage received equals...

      (ATPm - character Evade) * (Offense - character DFP)

   Evade: Successful Evade rolls

   Offense = (ATP + rnd(0,ATP/2)) * t

     -> t: type resistance (0,5)


- Magical damage equals...

      (Mag-m - target MEvade) * (MgOffense - target MDF)

   Mag-m: Magic multiplier (ie. number of hit rolls)

   MgOffense = (base + rnd(0,base/2)) * e

     -> e: elemental variable (2, 4, -1)


- Default Accuracy for your characters is 50. Default Evade is 30.
- The character in slot 1 gains a 1,25x Accuracy bonus (not visible in
the menu).
- Press left or right during battle to access the Defend and Change
commands. While defending, the character's DFP is doubled.
- You can switch weapons (and shields) mid-battle by pressing up in the
item menu.
- The vast majority of enemies in the game have only single digit DFP,
whereas MDF values do generally go up as you progress.
- DFP is doubled when the target is in the back row. Accuracy is halved,
possibly twice, if the attacker and/or target is in the back row and the
attacker isn't using a ranged weapon or doesn't have the unintentionally
permanent long range flag that comes from equipping a long range weapon.
- The status screen shows the character's Evade multipliers in front of
DFP/MDF rather than Evade rate, which is *very* misleading. Either way,
the two numbers indicate the number of evade rolls and the success rate
of each roll. Eg. an Evade of 3x20% would give you three evade rolls
with a 20/98 chance of success each.
- Armor can provide varying bonuses to Evade and Magic Evade, but I
haven't included these values in the equipment list mainly due to the
lack of space.
- Enemy Evade and Magic Evade are supposed to affect hit rolls the same
way, but they're not loaded into RAM properly and, thus, don't do anything.
- Magic multiplier is Wisdom\Will/4 + 1. Magic accuracy is Base +
Wisdom\Will/2. Black Magic, Summon Magic, and Ninjutsu use Wisdom.
White Magic uses Will. Magic is unaffected by row.
- Some spells can be cast either on a single target or all targets.
Multi-casting divides the power by the number of targets. For healing
spells, even dead characters count in the menu, but not during battle.
The power is calculated individually, thus resulting in variation even
when the targets share the same defensive attributes.
- Spells that don't deal damage or heal HP only get one hit roll, even
when multi-targeting.
- There are a number of weapons that can be used during battle to cast
certain spells with 0 casting time and no MP cost. The weapon has to
equipped for this to be possible. Just press Confirm twice when the
cursor is on the weapon. The spells have fixed hit and power values
that are in no way affected by the user's stats. The enemy's MDF and
elemental resistance are still factors, however.
- You can find base power and accuracy values for magic in the Misc.
file.
- If an attack has a power value that exceeds 511, it will cause the
random variable to reach its cap of 255. This is mainly limited to
Meteo and the (now mostly absent) Fang items.
- There are seven elements - Fire, Ice, Thunder, Anti-Air, Holy, Dark,
and Drain - and four levels of elemental resistance - Weak, Weak x4,
Absorb/Resist, and Immune.
 × Elemental absorption only causes magical damage to be absorbed,
 whereas physical attacks will get a 0,5x power multiplier instead.
 × All flying enemies are weak to Anti-Air attacks and immune to ground-
 based attacks (ie. Quake, Titan).
 × Elemental immunity doesn't occur among enemies outside of Zombies
 nor is it provided by any equipment (with one exception).
 × The Dark element becomes irrelevant not far into the game, as it's
 only used by Cecil's Dark Knight weapons.
 × The Drain element never occurs on its own in an enemy's elemental
 resistance values. Instead, it's pretty much always included when an
 enemy absorbs some other element(s). Drain resistance only affects
 physical attacks, not magical.
 × Using a draining attack on an Undead enemy will reverse the effect.
 × There's also an eighth element, Element 80, that serves seemingly no
 purpose, as no weapon or spell uses it. If you force it on a weapon, it
 functions like a typical element. The element is still commonly found
 in resistance values, as, similar to Drain, it's pretty much always
 included when an enemy has 4x weakness to some other element(s). Despite
 its presence, it's not acknowledged by Libra, nor is Drain if that was
 ever set as a weakness.
- There are eight enemy types: Dragon, Machine, Reptile, Spirit, Giant,
Flan, Mage, and Undead. Not all enemies fall under any of these types,
however. Most don't.
- Minimum damage is 1. If the number of successful hits is 0, then it's
a miss. Max damage is 9999.
- At 255 DFP or MDF, a subject becomes immune to physical or magical
attacks. No enemy natively has defense this high.
- Magic is generally much more powerful than physical attacks, but you
need to use it with moderation to avoid running out of MP. Ether is
neither easy to come by nor very potent. Tents and Cabins are a great
way to recover both HP and MP, but you can only use those at save points
and on the Overworld. Aside from items and recovery points, you can also
use the Psych spell to drain MP from enemies, provided their MDF isn't too
high. The spell only has a base power of 16, which the random variable can
boost up to 24. It's a bit more viable in the NA version due to some enemies
having lower MDF. As a last resort, you could drain MP from another PC.
- An enemy's max MP equals max HP/16. Enemies don't consume MP for anything.
- A good number of enemies have counterattacks that are triggered by
certain actions, such as normal attacks or magic. The counter hits a
random character. Reflected magic won't trigger any counters.
- When dual-wielding, Edge receives no critical hit power bonus based
on his weapons.

- Critical hit rates and power vary between characters, as seen below.

              %  Pow  Hex               RAM address
 Cecil D   |  2   20 (14) |          1 | 7E2041~2
 Cecil P   |  3   30 (1E) |          2 | 7E20C1~2
 Kain      |  2   20 (14) |          3 | 7E2141~2
 Rydia     |  1   40 (28) |          4 | 7E21C1~2
 Rosa      |  2   60 (3C) |          5 | 7E2241~2
 Edge      |  8   25 (19) |

 Tellah    |  1   30 (1E) |
 Gilbert   |  2   30 (1E) |
 Yang      |  1   50 (32) |
 Palom     |  1   30 (1E) |
 Porom     |  1   30 (1E) |
 Cid       |  5   35 (23) |
 FuSoYa    |  0    0      |

- Due to a programming error, it's not only possible but often inevitable
that a character will permanently lose the ability to deal critical hits.
The inevitable cause is when a character is temporarily absent during an
event battle. There are a number of these throughout the game, and they
will cause nearly all characters to lose their criticals (all except Kain
and Edge).
- The other, avoidable, way for a character to lose criticals is by being
dead or petrified at the start of battle.
- The bug is not present in any version on any other system (PS1, etc.).
- Below, you can see where a character loses their criticals. If the
name is in brackets, it means the character would lose them if they
weren't already lost.

 Damcyan Castle  | Cecil D  Rydia
 Kaipo           |(Cecil D)(Rydia) Rosa
 Mt. Hobs        |(Cecil D)(Rydia)(Rosa)              Gilbert
 Fabul Castle    |         (Rydia)                   (Gilbert) Yang
 Mt. Ordeals     |                       Palom  Porom  Tellah
 Tower of Zot    | Cecil P                             Cid    (Yang)
 Tower of Babil 1| Any if killed by Explode in first Lugae fight
 Final Battle    | Characters in slots 1, 2, and 3

- You can easily restore criticals or prevent losing them in the first
place through RAM manipulation. If you're playing the game on emulator,
this is a simple process.
- To restore criticals, follow these steps:
 1. Insert the appropriate values into the character's critical hit
  RAM addresses. 41/C1 for critical hit rate and 42/C2 for power.
 2. Enter the character's equipment menu.
 3. Turn off the "cheat." No need to save and reset as is typical.
- Rather than restore them, you can also just prevent the loss by locking
the values when coming up to one of the event battles.


- FF4 is the first Final Fantasy to utilize the famed Active Time Battle,
or ATB, system. Instead of battles that consist of rounds where every
subject gets one action, the ATB system revolves around a real-time
element that allows a subject to act as soon as their (hidden) ATB
counter reaches 0, although only one subject can act at a time. A
subject's Agility stat determines how many ATB "ticks" is required,
and the length of a single tick varies depending on what Battle Speed
the game is set to, as seen below.
- The length of a tick can vary somewhat due to technical limitations.
- ATB = 5 * Cecil's Agi / Agi.
- Most spells and some command abilities have an additional charge time.
- Enemies have a 1 ATB charge for every action except for counters,
which are executed immediately and have no impact on ATB.

      ATB           Message

    1 | 12f         1 |  45f
    2 | 18f         2 |  77f       60f = 1 second
    3 | 27f         3 | 109f
    4 | 39f         4 | 141f
    5 | 49f         5 | 173f
    6 | 65f         6 | 205f

- Time pauses when actions are executed and when in the magic or item
menu.
- The iconic ATB gauge is, indeed, not yet present in FF4, and there's
no way to switch between characters that are ready to act (this wasn't
possible until FF6).
- A subject's ATB values can be modified by the ATB multiplier, which
is 16/16 by default, 12/16 at minimum, and 32/16 at maximum. The ATB
multiplier can be altered by the Haste/Fast (+8) and Slow (-3) spells.
Haste and Slow are, indeed, not any kind of status effects the way they
are in subsequent installments. Instead, they have a cumulative effect
on the ATB multiplier, just like damage/healing has on HP. The multiplier
affects *all* ATB values, including those associated with status effects.

- Normal enemies have slight variation in their Agi stats. The short
enemy list shows the minimum values. With few exceptions, these values
can be up to 3 points higher.
- If you'd like to know how high Cecil's Agi has to be for the enemy
to have x ATB, multiply the enemy's Agi by x/5.

- In a regular battle, all subjects start with ATB - x, where x is the
lowest ATB value among all subjects minus 1, meaning the fastest subject
starts at 1 ATB.
- In a pre-emptive battle, your party starts at 1 ATB, whereas the enemy
party starts at double the normal amount.
- The enemy can get the jump on you as well, with two different surprise
attacks. The regular one is merely a pre-emptive in reverse. The other,
less common, one is the back attack, where the enemy not only gets the
pre-emptive ATB advantage, but your party formation is also flipped.
- The odds of getting a non-regular battle are determined by how the
party's average level compares to the enemy's average level.

- Exp is divided among active party members. Characters that temporarily
leave the party will gain Exp while MIA (the same amount as active
characters).
- HP and MP gains on leveling up are randomized to an extent. Gains for
the other five stats are fixed up to Lv70, after which the character
will get one of eight possible stat gain sets per level.

- The encounter rate in the game can be rather fickle. Sometimes you
can take 50 steps before another random encounter, sometimes only one.
- A given area has eight slots for encounters, with the following odds:
     1 | 43/256     5 | 32/256
     2 | 43/256     6 | 32/256
     3 | 43/256     7 | 16/256
     4 | 43/256     8 |  4/256

- Hold L and R during battle to flee. Doing so may cause you to drop
some gil (25% of what you would have won had you finished the battle).
Don't hesitate to run away from enemies that give you too much trouble.
- Running away is pretty much instant outside of ambushes, where you
can flee at earliest when the first PC gets their turn. In a normal
situation, fleeing occurs when the ATB ticks and you're holding down
L and R.
- The actual escape timer is only used when the enemy in slot 1 is Lv97
or above. There are a handful of enemies like this at the end of the
game. The timers are: 3 (97), 7 (98), and 10\15 (99). The Lv99 counter
starts at 10, but is set to 15 whenever the ATB ticks and you're not
holding L and R. In the other two cases, the counter will not reset.


- Status ailments/conditions:

 Poison        | Lose 1/8 mHP every 20+Vit ATB / 1 HP per step on the field
 Bleed         | -2 HP per tick for 30 ATB
 Blind         | Accuracy/2, Evade/2
 Silence       | Unable to cast magic
 Sleep         | Unable to act for 50 ATB - 2/3*Will
 Stun/Paralysis| Unable to act for 50 ATB - 2/3*Will
 Stop          | Unable to act for 30/150/300/600 ATB
 Confusion     | Attack allies. Negated if physically attacked.
 Toad/Frog     | ATP=1, DFP=0, ATP in *2, no crit, can only cast Toad/Heal
 Mini          | ATP=1, DFP=0, ATP in *2, no crit
 Porky         | Unable to cast magic (ex. Porky/Heal) or use specials
 Curse         | ATP/2, DFP/2
 Float         | Unaffected by Quake / trap floors on the field
 Berserk       | No control, Auto-Attack, ATP*1,5
 Image         | Evade two physical attacks
 Reflect       | Reflect spells back at the caster for 30 ATB
 Petrification | Gradually turn to stone (essentially dead)
  Stage 1      | 1/3 petrified
  Stage 2      | 2/3 petrified
  Stage 3      | Fully petrified (yet able to act)
  Stage 4      | Fully petrified and kneeling (unable to act)
 Instant Death | Instant death (ID)

- Bleed, Sleep, Stun, Stop, Confuse, Curse, Berserk and Petrification <s4
are removed at the end of battle. All ailments are removed upon death.
- Gear can make you immune to all status ailments except Bleed and Stop.
- Enemies have a single stat to determine their resistance to ailments
that involve an ATB countdown. This value is Lv + 10.
- Normal enemies with Poison immunity are still very much susceptible to
Poison due to a programming error.
- Enemies with the boss flag (mainly, indeed, bosses) are immune to all
ailments (except Bleed) as well as Stop and Weak.
- A regular attack with the added effect of a status ailment will inflict
that ailment at a 100% rate so long as the target isn't immune and the
attack hits them during their regular ATB charge, ie. it doesn't work
during an action's charge time or if the subject is in the action queue.
- Stun and Sleep have the above ATB restriction even when inflicted with
a spell or a special attack. They also don't work if the target already
has either of them. Attacking a sleeping target will *not* wake it up.
Stun and Sleep also prevent any other ailment from being inflicted.
- Due to a programming error, when calculating the duration of Sleep or
Stun, the resistance value overflows if it exceeds 63 (ie. 74 = 10, 99 =
25, etc.).
- The penalties from Toad and Mini are applied when attacks occur. They
don't actually have a direct, visible impact on the character's stats.
So, no, they don't trigger the critical hit bug.
- A subject in Berserk requires (at least) one extra ATB tick to get a
turn (more at the beginning of a battle), as their ATB resets after one
tick for some reason.
- A subject in Berserk can't be inflicted with another status ailment
(besides Stop)(and not because of the priority system). Heal doesn't
remove Berserk.
- Petrification generally happens in three or four stages, with few enemies
being able to petrify you instantly. Once a character is inflicted with
the first stage, a timer (20 + Vitality) starts counting down until it
advances to stage 3 and then stage 4 (incapacitation). Being hit by a
petrification attack again will advance the condition to the next stage
(resetting the timer in the process), including stage 2, which is skipped
otherwise.
- Due to a programming error, the first character's Petrification timer
will freeze if another character's stage 3 timer expires.
- When inflicting Petrification s1/2 with a physical attack (which only
the Medusa Sword can do legitimately), the game erroneously uses the ATB
formula for Stun/Sleep, thus making higher level enemies *more* vulnerable
to Gradual Petrification, not less (at least until the overflow).
- Reflect doesn't affect Quake, Meteo, Summons, or spells that have
already been bounced off of an opposing party's Reflect.
- Casting Stop on enemies with Stun or Sleep will prevent the enemy from
properly executing actions once the Stop wears off, possibly resulting
in a soft-lock depending on the action. If it's just Attack, you can
(probably) still finish the battle. Otherwise, you have to reset. (This
was apparently fixed in the North American 1.1 version, although if you're
unsure about your version, you shouldn't risk it.)
- Casting Stop on characters with Stun or Sleep will prevent those ailments
from expiring, although you can still heal them with Heal. (Again, this
should be fixed in the NA 1.1 version.)
- The game also employs a status ailment priority system, where an
existing, higher priority ailment will prevent the subject from being
inflicted with a lower priority ailment. In practice, the whole system
is largely inconsequential, but even so, here's how it works.
- The ailments involved are divided into two classes, with ailments
lower on the list being lower priority. Additionally, physical attacks
place class 2 ailments above class 1, whereas magical and special attacks
place class 1 above class 2.
- Poison is not affected by priority when the attack is magical.
- Petrification s1-3 is not affected by priority when inflicted by Petrify
or Ray.
- Float does *not* prevent other ailments despite being handled in the
same byte as class 2 ailments.

       Class 1              Class 2
   Instant Death        Curse
   Petrification s4     Stun
   Toad                 Sleep
   Mini                 Confusion
   Porky                Berserk
   Silence              Petrification s2
   Blind                Petrification s1
   Poison


- Healing items:
   Cure1    |   96 HP           Heal     | Heal status
   Cure2    |  480 HP           Life     | Revive w/ 5*Vit HP
   Cure3    | 1920 HP           Elixir   | 100% HP & MP
   Ether1   |   48 MP           Tent     | 1000 HP, 100 MP + status \all
   Ether2   |  144 MP           Cabin    | 100% HP & MP + status \all

- Magic casting items:
   All gone

- Using a healing item outside of battle gives you max power. In battle,
the random variable is applied as normal.
- Just like in the Nes installments, the game returns to the item/magic
menu after healing, so healing multiple times in a row is still kind of
slow.
- The level 1 Cure spell is the most cost-efficient healing spell outside
of battle.
- You can use Tents and Cabins on the overworld and at Save Points,
- Resting at an inn fully heals your party. Some locations also have
recovery points.

- There are plenty of tempting rare drops in the game, but unlike in my
other guides, I'd have to recommend that you ignore most of them due to
the terrible odds: about 0,08% for the 4th slot item and 0,9% for the 3rd.
The overall drop rate is 5%. Getting a 3rd slot drop isn't that hard, but
most of the high profile items are slot 4.
- Using fast-forward may or may not help with rare drops. If you're not
getting that slot 4 drop even after several hours, you may need to delay
finishing off the last enemy in order to find the RNG sweet spot.

- The game has received extensive reverse engineering attention from
dedicated fans over the years. I consulted some of these people while
working on the guide and I am most grateful that they took the time to
answer my oblivious questions and, thus, help me sort out some of the
technical details.




        Baron / Misty Cave
        Kaipo / Watery Pass
        Damcyan / Antlion Cave
        Mt. Hobs / Fabul
        Mt. Ordeals / Mysidia
        Old Waterway / Baron
        Troia / Cave Magnes
        Tower of Zot
        Dwarf Castle / Tower of Bab-il 1
        Cave of Eblana / Tower of Bab-il 2
        Land of Summon Monsters
        Sylvan Cave
        Sealed Cave
        The Moon
        Giant of Bab-il
        Cave Bahamut
        Lunar Subterrane




 ¤~~~~~~¤   Baron Castle   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:              Default (Cecil):      Default (Kain):
   300 gil             Shadow Sword  ¤       Spear
   Cure1               Shadow Shield ¤       Iron Shield
   Tent                Shadow Helmet ¤       Iron Helm          ¤: Unique
 PC:                   Shadow Armor  ¤       Iron Armor
   Kain Lv10           Shadow Gloves ¤       Iron Gloves

- Once you're in control, you are to head to the top floor of the west
tower. Grab the items first, though, as you won't be able to get back
into the castle for quite a while.
- You'll start off with just one item in your inventory: Package
(Unique, Temp).
- Have a look at the settings, although there's not much you can do
in this version (can't choose between Active and Wait (the game uses
Wait), no button config and no cursor memory).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Town of Baron   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Shop:                             Items (nc):
  Cure1              30 gil          Cure1   (c)         Ether1
  Life              150 gil          Heal    (c)         Tent
  Heal              100 gil          Tent    (c)         Tent
  Tent              100 gil          Cure1               Tent
  Carrot             50 gil          Cure1               Heal
  Ether1         10 000 gil          Cure1               Life
                                                         Heal

- You may find some hidden items here and there.
- Nc-items are items obtained on the field through means other than
examining treasure chests.
- I've tagged certain items as 'Unique' or 'Artifact.' Unique items
are, indeed, unique, whereas Artifact items are available in a limited
quantity greater than one. Temp-items will inevitably be lost.
- You'll find a person named Namingway in the training room, who can
change your characters' names. You'll run into him again in several
other places.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Baron Region   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Lost & Found: Imp Summon (Imp \ 4)

- Maybe level up first before heading to the first dungeon.
- Cecil's special attack Ankoku is... not available in this version.
- Kain's special attack, Jump, is a long range attack with double the
power of a normal attack. It takes 4 ATB for him to jump and another 4
ATB for him to land the hit. While in the air, he can't be targeted by
actions.
- You can change the character you appear as on the field by hitting R.
This has seemingly no effect on how the game plays, though.
- The Sword Rats will use a powerful counterattack (Needle) whenever
they're hit, so it would be in your best interest to try to kill them
with a single blow.

      -- Chocobo Forest --

 Item (nc): Carrot

- Catch a chocobo and you can ride it (no encounters).
- You can't actually ride the White Chocobo, but instead, when you
catch one, you'll recover your MP.
- Then we have the Big Chocobo, who will come out if you have a
Carrot to spare. You can use him to store your items, so keep that
in mind if you're too obsessed to let go of your uniques and stuff.
He's got 126 slots.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Misty Cave   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  Boss:
   Cure1               Tent                Dragon Mist
   Heal                Cure1

- The first dungeon is quite short and simple.

[Boss]
- 465 HP, 700 Exp, 200 gil
- Try not to attack her in her mist form, otherwise she'll retaliate
with a powerful counterattack (20-30 pod).

      -- Village of Mist --

- Kain leaves the party here, so better de-equip him, so you can sell
his stuff for some gil. He'll have a completely new set of gear when
he eventually rejoins.
- Characters who temporarily leave the party will gain experience even
in their absence.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Kaipo   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Shop:                             Item (nc):
  Rod               100 gil          Ether1
  Staff             160 gil        PC:
  ShortBow          220 gil          Rydia Lv1
  Iron Arrow         10 gil        Default (Rydia):
  Cloth              50 gil          Rod
  Leather Clothes   200 gil          Cap
  Cap               100 gil          Leather Clothes
  IronRing          100 gil          IronRing

[Boss: Officer]
- 221 HP / 27 HP. 880 Exp, 245 gil in total.
- You'll have to go through a fixed encounter (close enough to a boss)
with an Officer and 3 Soldiers during the initial event. It's just you
alone, but at least you start off with max HP. I suggest you take out
the Officer after killing two of the Soldiers, as he'll run away if you
kill all three Soldiers.

- The item shop is carrying the same wares that you found in Baron.
- Rydia starts off with the Chocobo summon (7 MP).
- Mages like Rydia won't be impressing you with their physical attacks.
Magic is their game and it can be very powerful, so long as you have
the MP. How stingy you want to be with magic is up to you. You probably
don't want to end up facing a boss with 0 MP, although there's usually
a save point before a boss. Using the special rod spells allows mages
to deal at least some damage without consuming any MP, although they're
only viable in the earlier parts of the game.
- Mages have low HP and DFP, so keep them in the back row.
- You can use the Rod during battle for a simple special attack (1x28).
- Find Rosa in one of the houses.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Watery Pass   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   Cure1               Ether1              Darkness Blade  ¤
   Heal                IceRod              Darkness Gloves ¤
   Tent                200 gil             Darkness Helm   ¤
   120 gil             Cure1               Darkness Armor  ¤
   IronRing            Cure1               Ether1
   Elixir              Leather Cap
   Cure2               Ether1            Default (Tellah):
   1000 gil            Ether1              Staff
   Cure1               Heal                Leather Clothes

 TPC:                Boss:                     ¤: Unique
   Tellah Lv20         Octomammoth

- Tellah is hanging around near the entrance and will join your party
when you talk to him. His initial spells are:
 × White: Cure2, Heal, Life1, Exit, Charm, Blink
 × Black: Fire1, Ice-1, Lit-1, Stop, Psych
- You may want to level up Rydia a bit further, though it's not strictly
necessary. I suggest you have Tellah use Black Magic, while Rydia covers
the healing. If you run out of MP, you can either head back to Kaipo to
rest or use a Tent (50 vs 100 gil). A Tent won't revive a dead character,
though. While Tellah has Psych, enemies early in the game have little MP,
so you'll have to use it frequently. Rydia learns it too, but not until
Lv32. Tellah may not level up here, but even if he does, he's stuck at
90 MP and doesn't get any new spells from leveling.
 × Enemy MP is HP/16, in case you forgot.
- Use Lit-1 to take out Fly Killers quickly. Keep pressing left to target
all enemies. Once you have the Darkness Blade, Cecil can (consistently)
take them out in one hit.
- Fang Shells are also weak to Thunder, but Cecil can take them out in
one hit, so I'd save the MP.
- Unless killed by the damage, the WaterBug will counter magic by fully
healing itself. They run away after attacking once. If you can't get them
before that, that's fine. It's no big deal. Either way, have Tellah drain
their 6 MP.
- CaveToads use Toad when alone. They mostly come in groups of three, so
take out one, then wait for one of the remaining ones to attack and take
out that one last. You can one-shot them with Cecil and the Ice Rod. A
multi-target Ice-1 isn't quite strong enough to one-shot them consistently.
- Mad Toads use Toad as a counter. The Ice Rod isn't guaranteed to one-
shot them (unless you manage to hit them physically).
- This is probably the place where you'll have your first encounter
with undead enemies - Zombies, to be exact. The enemies in the Zombie
family are the only enemies who are straight up immune to an element,
that element being Dark, which is inherent in all of the Dark Knight's
weapons. As a result, a normal attack from these weapons will only deal
1 pod, barring a(n unlikely) critical hit. A single Fire spell might
take them out, but it depends on the RNG. If any survive, you can mop
them up with the Rod and Ice Rod.
- Healing damages Undead enemies, but revival items and spells will not
instantly kill them. (That wasn't added until FF5.)
- TinyMages counter Attack with Hold and spells with Psych. Magic is
ineffective anyway. Have Cecil take them out in one hit. If you get hit
by Hold, there's no need to panic, as the effect wears off after a while.
- The enemies in the flan-family really don't care to take damage from
physical attacks. Either use magic of the appropriate element or flee.
- You can use the Ice Rod to cast Ice-1 with a power of 2x16 (needs to
be equipped). That'll let Rydia take out some enemies without using
any MP. Even the normal attack is worth using at times, since it's not
only Ice-elemental but also has a quad power modifier against reptiles
(WaterHag, Basilisk, Turtle). It has limited accuracy even in the front
row (where mages generally shouldn't be), but it can still get some nice
results.
- At Lv12, Rydia learns Warp, which warps you back to the previous area.
Not particularly useful. Exit is the one that warps you out of a dungeon.
These spells don't work in some places.
- You'll reach a small overworld area after B3. Make sure you save and
use a Tent if you're low on MP. Once you jump down from the waterfall,
you can't return. The boss isn't far.

[Boss: Octomammoth]
- 2350 HP, 31 Agi, w:TD, 1200 Exp, 500 gil
- The boss does nothing but attack.
- Every two hits after the first one, the boss's ATB gets multiplied
by 1,9; 1,8; 1,7; 1,6; 1,5; 1,4; and finally 1,3, as indicated by the
boss's changing sprite. It's the new ATB value that gets multiplied,
not the original one.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Damcyan   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                    TPC:
   Tent                Life                  Edward Lv5
   CrossBow            Ether1
   Leather Cap         Cure1               Default (Edward):
   RubyRing        10× Iron Arrows  (nc)     Dreamer Harp (Unique)
   Cure1           10× White Arrows (nc)     Leather Cap
   300 gil         10× White Arrows (nc)     Bard Tunic
   200 gil                                   RubyRing

- Tellah will leave the party here (de-equip his items) and be replaced
by Gilbert (aka Edward).
- Cecil and Rydia will lose their critical hits in the Tellah vs Gilbert
event battle (if they still had them). Unfortunate (unless you restore
them).
- Gilbert is a character who's more useful when he's supporting the party
by inflicting status ailments rather than directly contributing to dps,
although, for what it's worth, he *does* deal more physical damage than
Rosa or Rydia when no weaknesses are involved.
- He can inflict Sleep (or Confusion) with his normal attack and Sleep/
Confusion/Silence with the Sing command (25% chance each and 25% chance
of failure). His other two abilities are Heal and Hide. Heal consumes
one Cure1 and heals 15-20 HP to the entire party. Hide hides Gilbert, so
he can't attack, but he can't be attacked either. He'll hide automatically
when low on HP.
 × Don't forget that Sleep and Stun can only be inflicted during a subject's
 regular ATB charge. A sleeping subject will *not* wake up from getting
 attacked.
 × In the event that Gilbert is morphed into a Toad, using Sing will
 inflict Toad. A lot of enemies are immune, though, and even when they're
 not, it could easily miss.
- You'll also receive the Hovercraft, which is able to cross reefs or
something.
- If you need healing, you can use the recovery pots on the third floor.
- If you try to go through the Watery Pass again (through the south
entrance), your party will refuse to jump down from the waterfall.
- You'll find the next dungeon east of the castle. You might want to
return to the Water Pass to get Gilbert to Lv10 first. Without any Fire
magic, you should just run away from the Zombies.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Antlion Cave   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                                  Party:
   190 gil           210 gil           Life                Lv15-20
   Cure1             Life              Ether1
   Tent              Charm Harp        Tent              Boss:
   Cure1             250 gil           SandRuby            Antlion
   Cure1             Heal            (Unique, Temp)(nc)

- A couple of reptiles here, too (Basilisk and Turtle). You could try
putting Rydia in the front row, but definitely keep Gil in the back.
- The Charm Harp inflicts Confusion, but Sleep is more useful, even if
it deals more damage.

[Boss]
- 1000 HP, 5 Agi, 1500 Exp, 800 gil
- Stick to magic to avoid counters.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Kaipo   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 PC:                 Default (Rosa):
   Rosa Lv10           ShortBow            Cap
                       50× Iron Arrows     Leather Clothes
                                           IronRing

- Go give the Sand Ruby to Rosa, and she will join the party after the
following event. She won't be hanging out with you for long, though.
- Gilbert has to beat a fixed encounter on his own, so make sure he's
fully equipped. You only have to land three hits. Damage doesn't matter
(so long as you don't miss). Rosa immediately loses her criticals as a
result of this battle. Cecil and Rydia will lose them again if you restored
them. Hey, at least Gilbert's still got his criticals.
- Rosa can equip staves, but she should probably stick to bows for now,
as then she can at least deal decent damage to flying enemies.
- Initial spells: Cure1, Hold, Peep, Slow, Sight
- You can inflict Stun with Hold, but it's not something you can afford
to use much. Rosa doesn't get Psych, so you need to be more mindful of
her MP.
- Rosa has two special Command Abilities: Pray and Aim. Pray may or may
not heal the party for a double digit figure (50% chance), and Aim is a
normal attack with max accuracy.
 × Using Aim when Rosa is in slot 1 will cause her accuracy to overflow
 (resulting in an accy of 62%), so don't put her there.

 Lost & Found: Imp Summon (Imp \ 4)             \\\ North Damcyan ||


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Mt. Hobs   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:              TPC:                Special:
   Tent                Yang Lv10           Rydia's Fire1
   Cure1
   Heal              Default (Yang):     Boss:
   350 gil             FireClaw            MomBomb
   10× White Arrows    Leather Clothes

- After the initial event, Rydia will learn to cast Fire1.
- Switch formations, so you can have Rosa, Rydia, and Gilbert all in
the back row.
- The Cockatrice can use Beak, which causes instant petrification.
However, it's only used when it's the last remaining enemy and it's
been targeted by magic, and even then, you can cancel it and put them
back in their regular attack pattern by using a non-magical attack. If
you confuse them, they'll use Beak on their allies.
- Gargoyles use Weak after attacking three times, which leaves the
character with single digit HP.
- Take out Skeletons with two multi-target Fire spells. You might also
run into the Red Bone, a stronger skeleton warrior. Magic isn't as
effective on them, but since they come with regular skeletons, it's
still worth using, and you can just finish them off with physicals.
- Spirits spam you with Fire1 (~30). Try to confuse or silence them with
Sing. All the enemies in the Spirit family will become completely inert
if you hit them with a Blizzard spell. If you multi-target it, only one
will be affected, however. These ones aren't very dangerous, though, so
it's not really worth the MP.
- There are two types of bombs here: the regular Bomb (50 HP) and the
Gray Bomb (100 HP). The bomb family's trademark move is Explode, in which
the bomb self-destructs and deals whatever HP they had left as damage.
Both of these two bombs attack twice before using Explode. Neither of
these drop anything, by the way.
- Yang (or Yan) will join your party as the fifth character when you
encounter the boss. The event battle prior to the boss will rob even
Gilbert of his criticals (and anyone else if you restored them).

[Boss]
- (10 800 HP) / 50 HP / 100 HP, (1900 Exp, 1200 Gil) / 2460 Exp, 555 gil
- You might be looking at a little trouble here. The boss starts off
looking like a regular bomb, but after taking 800 pod, it'll reveal
its true form. The boss will no longer attack, but will eventually
explode on you (regardless of any damage you deal), dealing ~90 pod to
your entire party. In the wake of the explosion, she'll leave behind
3 regular Bombs and 3 Gray Bombs, who will also give you the usual
self-destruct treatment.
- It's technically possible to beat the boss before she blows up, but
it's *very* unlikely when playing legit.

- Yang's weapons have 0 ATP, but he uses a different base ATP formula
that compensates for it: 2*(Lv+1) + Str/4.
- Yang has three... No, *one* Command Ability: Kick. (Groan...)
 × Kick: Attack all enemies. Damage = ((ATPm/2)*ATP)/2) + rnd(0,ATP) -
 (ATPm/2) * enemy DFP. 1x ATB charge, 100% accuracy. Sadly, unaffected
 by weapon element. If the damage is below 1, it's a miss.


      -- Chocobo Forest --  (Northeast of Fabul)

 Item (nc): Carrot


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Fabul   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   Cure1    (nc)       Cure1    (nc)
   Tent                Cure1
   Heal                Black Shield ¤           ¤: Unique
   Cure1               Ether1
   500 gil  (nc)       Black Sword  ¤ (nc)
   Tent

 Shop:
  FireClaw           350 gil       Black Helm         980 gil
  IceClaw            450 gil       Black Armor       3000 gil
  Thunder Claw       550 gil       Black Gloves       800 gil

- You'll want to pick up an Ice Claw, but you don't have to buy one yet.
They're also available in Baron.
- Once you're prepared, go trigger the scene in the throne room. Rosa
and Rydia will ditch the party afterwards (again, you should probably
unequip their gear), leaving you with just Gilbert and Yang. You'll be
fully healed and then fight a number of fixed encounters during the
events that follow. Rydia will lose her criticals again if they were
restored. Rosa won't, as she's already considered MIA when the events
begin. Yang will lose his after the last one (as does Gilbert if you
restored them), which is an event battle against Kain. It ends once
you fall below 25% HP.
 - It's technically possible to beat Kain, but he's got 65 000 HP, so
 it's not very feasible when playing legit. Even if you beat him, you
 gain nothing, and it doesn't change the events in any way.
- After the event battles, you'll get Rydia back for a while, but soon
you'll be left with no one other than Cecil.
- Head to the inn to trigger the next event, during which you'll obtain
the Black Sword, a weapon that inflicts Instant Death, the only such
weapon in the game.
 × While the ID effect only works during the enemy's ATB charge, this is
 not likely to be an issue, since pretty much the only enemy you'll be
 killing instantly is the Zu, who uses a chain action that's executed
 faster than a normal action.
- The ship is waiting for you east of the castle. Once you get on,
you'll be separated from the rest of your party (de-equip everyone
other than Cecil). Gilbert will never return, and Rosa and Rydia will
both stay off the grid for a decent while.


      -- Mysidia Region --

 Party: Cecil Lv20

- Better not wander around too much.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Mysidia   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 TPCs:               Default (Palom):    Default (Porom):
   Palom Lv10          Rod                 Staff
   Porom Lv10          Leather Cap         Leather Cap
                       Leather Clothes     Leather Clothes
                       IronRing            IronRing

 Shop:
  Gaea Cap           700 gil       IceRod             220 gil
  Gaea Robe          500 gil       FlameRod           380 gil
  Silver Bracelet    650 gil       Cure Staff         480 gil
  Paladin Shield     700 gil       CrossBow           700 gil
  Paladin Helm      4000 gil       White Arrow         20 gil
  Paladin Armor     8000 gil       Cure2              150 gil
  Paladin Gloves    3000 gil       Cabin             1000 gil

- Head to the temple to trigger the next event. You will then be joined
by the twins, Palom and Porom.
- Porom's initial spells: Cure, Hold, Peep, Slow, Sight
- Palom's initial spells: Fire1, Ice-1, Lit-1, Sleep, Venom
- Both have the Command Ability Twin. Whoever uses it, it involves both
twins casting a powerful spell together, either Flare (75% chance, 10 MP)
or Meteo (25%, 20 MP). It'll use the Wisdom stat of the one who chose the
command. While Flare has a higher base power (120 vs 80), Meteo usually
does more damage, since the power isn't divided. The casting time is rather
lengthy, at 3x regular ATB, randomly based on either twin's ATB. While the
regular Meteo is Holy-elemental, the twins' version is not. The command
can technically fail, but the odds are only 1/256.
- 3 Gaea Caps, 2 Gaea Robes, 4 Silver Bracelets, Paladin Shield, Paladin
Helm, Paladin Armor, Paladin Gloves, 2 Flame Rods, Cure Staff = 22 640 gil
- Better pick up some Hi-Potions/Cure2's (30 sounds good).
- You can use the Cure Staff during battle to cast Cure1 \all (24-36 HP)
and Flame Rod to cast Fire1 (3x16). They're not as powerful as the regular
spells, but at least it's free.
- Get at least a few levels for the twins. Below, you can see what spells
they'll learn.

            Palom              Porom

 Lv11 | Ice-2, Piggy       Life1
 Lv12 | Fire2
 Lv13 | Lit-2              Cure2
 Lv14 | Stop
 Lv15 |                    Mute
 Lv16 |
 Lv17 |
 Lv18 |                    Bersk
 Lv19 | Virus              Exit
 Lv20 |                    Heal
 Lv21 |
 Lv22 | Toad
 Lv23 | Quake              Blink
 Lv24 |
 Lv25 |                    Charm
 Lv26 | Drain
 Lv27 |
 Lv28 |
 Lv29 | Warp
 Lv30 |
 Lv31 |                    Size
 Lv32 | Ice-3
 Lv33 | Fire3              Cure3
 Lv34 | Lit-3


      -- Chocobo Forest --  (South of Mt. Ordeals)

Item (nc): Carrot


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Mt. Ordeals   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:              TPC: Tellah           Default
   Cure1             Default (Tellah 2):   (Cecil - Paladin):
   Cure1               Staff                 Legend Sword
   Ether1              Gaea Robe              (Unique, Temp)
   Ether1              IronRing              Cloth

 Special:
   Cecil's Class Change (Paladin)          Bosses:
   Tellah's Forgotten Magic                  Milon (+4× Ghasts)
                                             Milon Z
 Lost & Found:                               Dark Knight
   Cursed Ring    (Soul, Spirit \ 4)
   Lilith Rod     (Lilith \ 4)

- Visit the chocobo forest again if you need to recover your MP.
- There's a new type of spirit here, Soul, but it has 0 Magic, so it's
no more a concern than the regular ones.
- You'll find three members of the zombie family here: Zombie (40 HP),
Ghoul (120 HP) and Revenant (160 HP). All are virtually immune to
Cecil's attacks (although that's going to change soon). Fire2 works
nicely, although you should start with Cura if you get the encounter
with 7 of them. You can also just run away if you'd rather save your MP.
- Liliths counter Attack with Slap, which can inflict Stun, Silence, or
Curse. Go with Fire.
- You'll bump into Tellah again in the second area.
- You'll fight the boss after the save point.

[Boss]
- 3100 HP, 8 Agi / 170 HP, 2-5 Agi. 3800 Exp, 3300 gil.
- The Ghasts have the typical zombie characteristics. A single Fire2
will quickly dispatch them.
- Scar counters with Lit-1 (~40) and also uses it once lone. He dies
when below 1001 HP.

- Return to heal and save.

[Boss]
- 3000 HP, 9 Agi, w:FHA, A:I, 4000 Exp, 3000 gil
- His only non-counter action is his normal attack, which poisons you.
If Cecil is poisoned, you won't be able to Berserk him. You can use the
Tsue to cast Poisona during battle.
- He's, indeed, considered a flying enemy, so Quake won't work here.
Use Virus instead, if you have it.

- Return to save. You'll be fully healed after the next event.
- De-equip Cecil before you approach the monument. He's about to go
through the Class Change, and, as a result, he'll restart at Level 1
and lose all his current equipment.

[Boss]
- 1000 HP, no xp / gil
- Do nothing and he'll just die. You can beat him into submission as well.

- Since the Paladin is considered a different character, Cecil will
have the ability to deal critical hits again even if he lost them as
a Dark Knight. His critical hit rate and power are indeed a bit higher
now (3\30 vs 2\20).
- Cecil is now able to learn and use some basic White Magic spells.
- Cecil's new special ability is Cover, which allows him to take hits
for others. He'll also do it automatically whenever one of your
characters has low HP (unless he's badly injured himself).
- Tellah will regain all his forgotten spells. He's still stuck with
just 90 MP, though.
 × White: Hold, Mute, Slow, Fast, Bersk, Wall, Peep, Cure1, Cure3,
 Cure4, Life2, Size, Sight, Float
 × Black: Toad, Piggy, Warp, Venom, Fire2, Fire3, Ice-2, Ice-3,
 Lit-2, Lit-3, Virus, Weak, Sleep, Stone, Drain, Meteo
- The few spells Tellah does *not* get are: Fatal, Quake, Nuke, and White.

- While Cecil can now damage all Undead enemies (often with increased
power thanks to the Legend's Light element), there are simply too many
of them here. Continue to rely mainly on Fire2 as you level up Cecil to
Lv20 or so. At Lv20, he'll reach a solid hit count of 4.
- While you'll soon find weapons with higher ATP, the Legend Sword may
still outperform them thanks to its higher accuracy. It does depend on
the situation, though. There's a Fire-elemental sword you may want to
use in one dungeon, and an Ice-elemental one you'll want to use in
another. There's also a sword that can inflict Sleep, which can be
fairly useful. Even if you unequip it, you can't actually get rid of
the Legend. You can't even store it.
- Remember to always use the level 1 Cure spell when healing characters
with magic outside of combat. It's the most cost-efficient.

- Return to Mysidia and talk to the elder. After that, you can use the
teleporter in one of the houses to return to Baron (and Mist).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Village of Mist   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  Shop:
   Cure1   (nc)        Tiara               Whip              3000 gil
   Heal    (nc)        Cloth               Dancing Dagger    5000 gil
   100 gil (nc)        RubyRing            Bard Tunic          70 gil
                       Change Rod (Unique)

- The Tiara increases Wisdom by 10, and the Change Rod increases it by
5. Combined, they would boost the Black Magic multiplier by 3 or 4.
Neither Tellah nor Palom can equip the former, however. For now, give
it to Porom for the defense. Tellah can use the rod, but he's (mostly)
better off with the Thunder Rod in the next dungeon.
- You can use the Change Rod during battle to cast Piggy with 100%
accuracy (in stark contrast to the regular spell). Unlike the other two
polymorph ailments, Porky has no impact on ATP or DFP. On characters,
Porky is about the same as Silence, but on enemies, the difference is
far more noticeable. While both of them prevent the use of regular magic,
Porky also prevents the use of special abilities. The rod will remain
useful until the end of the game, provided you don't lose it.
- The Dancing Dagger can be used during battle to perform a magical
attack with a base power of 8x40. Get at least one for Palom and maybe
one for Cecil if you didn't level him up that much. Either way, the
enemies in the next dungeon have MDF ranging from 12 to 22, so the
special attack will do 144-384 pod. With a 4x50 ATP, Cecil will do
188-300 pod on the same enemies with a normal attack.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Baron   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                TPC:
   2000 gil                              Yang
   Thunder Claw                        Default (Yang 2):
   Baron Key (Unique, Temp)(nc)          Leather Clothes

 Shop:
  Thunder Rod        700 gil            FireClaw           350 gil
  Headband           450 gil (Str +5)   IceClaw            450 gil
  Karate Gi         4000 gil (Str +3)   Thunder Claw       550 gil

- Head to the inn to find Yang. Talk to him, and you'll have to fight
a couple of knights (200 HP) followed by Yang himself. He's got 62 000
HP, but the battle ends when you attack him with Cecil after he's used
two Kicks. You can end it by taking his HP to 0 as well, but that's
hardly ideal. Either way, he re-joins the party. You'll also get the
Baron Key, which you can use to open the doors to the weapon shop and
the Old Waterway.
 × In the Yang fight, he's supposed to use a normal attack on Cecil
 before each Kick, but this doesn't happen due to a programming error.
- Combined, the Headband and Karate Gi will increase the ATP multiplier
by 1, and ATP by 2. Yang obviously needs these, but Cecil should probably
stick to the heavy armor, as switching to the kung fu gear would drop
his DFP by 12.
- Use the Thunder Rod during battle to cast Lit-1 with a power of 4x16.
- In case you forgot, Yang's Kick does damage that equals:
 ((ATPm/2)*ATP)/2) + rnd(0,ATP) - (ATPm/2) * enemy DFP
- So, if he has an ATP of 7x70, the damage comes out as 105 (210/2) + 0~70.
- Buy three extra Headbands and put them in storage.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Old Waterway   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   1000 gil            Life                Life
   Cure2               500 gil             Ether1
   Ether1              Life                Ancient Sword (Unique)

- Go with a Thunder-Ice combo for Yang. Equipping two claws of the same
element won't have any additional effect. When equipped with two claws,
the accuracy modifiers are combined and divided by two.
- The Ice Rod *could* be of some use here, if you don't mind hot-swapping
between that and the Thunder Rod. It won't make a big difference, though.
- You'll encounter Guards in the last two areas. As you may have already
noticed, they have nasty counterattacks for both normal attacks and magic,
Size and Piggy, respectively. Yang should be able to take them out with
a single hit. If needed, you can heal Porky with the Change Rod, although
the actual spell is only 1 MP, so not a big difference. Using the rod on
the knights isn't the best idea, since it doesn't stop them from casting
Piggy. It does miss frequently due to the low accuracy, but even so.
- Don't forget that polymorphing enemies may result in an enemy getting
switched from front row to back row due to their new, smaller size. This
happens in the 2x Baron Guard encounter, for instance.
- The Ancient Sword is weaker and less accurate than the Legend Sword.
The only thing it has going for it is that it inflicts Curse, which just
isn't useful enough to compensate for the lower damage.
- There's a save point at the end.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Baron Castle   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  TPC:
   Ether1              Heal                Cid Lv20
   Ether1              Cure1
   Cure2               Cure2             Default (Cid):
   Cure2               Life                Wooden Hammer
   Life                Tent                Prisoner Clothes (Artifact)
   Life                Tent
   Tent                Ether1            Bosses:
   Cure1               Elixir  (nc)        Baigan (+ RightArm & Left Arm)
                       Ether1  (nc)        Kainazzo

[Boss]
- 3500 HP, 8 Agi, 4800 Exp (+10 for each arm), 3000 gil
- Beigan will revive the arms if you take out both of them. Destroy only
one of them (the closer one), then focus on the main target. You should
probably damage the other arm as well at some point, as once the body is
gone, the remaining arm(s) will use Explode, dealing up to 350 pod.
- Might not want to use the Dancing Dagger's special here. He casts
Reflect on himself in response to magic, and while it won't affect the
special attack, you don't really want him to redirect his Reflects on
your characters, since that would make it harder to heal, at least with
magic. I'm sure you have a decent supply of Hi-Potions, but even so.

- Loot the east side of the castle before heading into the throne room.
Better go save the game as well.
- De-equip everything off Palom and Porom.

[Boss]
- 4000 HP, 48 MDF, 15 Agi, w:I/T, 5500 Exp, 4000 gil
- He's weak to Ice normally and weak to Thunder when surrounded by
water. The water goes away when he's hit with a Lightning spell, which
also prevents him from using Tsunami and Haste (unless it was queued).
Tellah's level 3 spells will do ~4000 pod, so you can easily make this
quick.
- Tsunami's base damage is 4% of his cHP. It ignores MDF.
- When below 701 HP after taking a hit, he'll retreat into his shell
and heal himself for 400 HP. Hitting him while he's hiding in his shell
won't prompt him to heal again, but once he's out, you can re-trigger it.

- Palom and Porom will be gone after the following event, and there's
nothing you can do to get them back (even though the item menu pops
up when you examine their bodies).
- On the plus side, Cid will join your party, and you'll also get the
airship, Enterprise.
- Cid's unique Command Ability, Peep, is just... Peep... and that's it.
- You can sell the elemental rods now.


      -- Chocobo Forest --  (on the island northwest of Kaipo)

 Item (nc): Carrot

      -- Chocobo Forest --  (south of Troia)

 Item (nc): Carrot


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Agart   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Shop:                                                           Item (nc):
  Spear               60 gil       Iron Helm          150 gil      Cure2
  Boomrang          3000 gil       Iron Shield        100 gil
  Iron Armor         600 gil       Iron Gloves        130 gil

- (South of Baron)
- The enemies in the neighborhood might be too much for you to handle.
The Eblana region has the same encounters. Feel free to try them at some
point. Maybe get a few levels in the Troia/Silvera region first.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Silvera   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items (nc):
   Silver Staff        Silver Knife        5000 gil

 Shop:
  Silver Sword      6000 gil       Silver Armor    17 000 gil
  Silver Knife      3000 gil       Silver Helm       3000 gil
  Silver Staff      4000 gil       Silver Shield     1000 gil
  Silver Hammer     8000 gil       Silver Gloves     2000 gil

- (South of Fabul / Northeast of Mysidia)
- Silver Hammer, 2 Silver Armors, 2 Silver Helms, 2 Silver Gloves,
Silver Shield = 53 000 gil
- Upgrading Cecil's armor will only give him an increase of 5 DFP and
3 MDF. Maybe pass up on the Silver Armor. Definitely forget about the
sword, and sell the knife. Hang on to Cid's default weapon if you're
planning on fighting enemies in Cave Magnes before the boss (although
you can buy one in Troia as well).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Eblan Castle   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   Slumber Sword ¤*    Cure2               600 gil
   Cure2  (nc)         Heal                Cure2
   Cure2  (nc)         Cure2               Ether1
   Ether1              Cure2               Drain Lance   ¤*
   2000 gil            Life                Life   (nc)
   10× Mute Arrows     Cabin               Cabin
                                           800 gil
                 *: Trap                   Ether1
                 ¤: Unique                 Ether1
                                           Elixir         *

- This is the abandoned castle on the continent with the huge tower
sticking out from the giant hole.
- There are no random encounters here, but the trapped chests feature
enemies that you won't encounter normally for a good while.
- One of the chests in the left tower is a monster-in-a-box; you'll
have to fight a Staleman and 4 Skulls for the Slumber Sword.
 × The skeletons can Curse you, and the Golem can put you to sleep.
 Cecil and Yang can one-shot the skeletons with the appropriate
 elemental weapons. A multi-target Fire3 will also dispatch them
 easily, although it would be a better idea to take out the Golem
 with Ice-3. An instant kill with Stone is also an option.
- The Slumber Sword will deal a little less damage than the Legend
Sword due to its lower accuracy, but it's still worth using at times
for its Sleepstrike ability.
- As already explained at the beginning, if a normal attack fails to
inflict an ailment even though the target isn't immune, it's because
the hit didn't land during the target's regular ATB charge. Unless the
enemy is rather slow, you'll need to hit them right after they attack.
With multiple enemies, it's not that simple, and you may need to take
queued actions into account.
- One of the chests in the right tower is also a monster-in-a-box;
you'll have to fight a Lamia and two Black Cats for the Drain Lance.
 × Careful with those counters. Magic is safe with the Lamia, but
 the Coeurls counter pretty much everything. A multi-target Lv3 spell
 is likely, but not guaranteed, to take out the cats. If you've just
 saved, you might as well risk it. You can safely hit them with the
 Slumber Sword so long as you get the timing right. Lamia is immune to
 both Sleep and Stun, but everything else works, so just take your pick.
- And, finally, one more trap in the basement; you'll have to fight
3 Mad Ogres for an Elixir.
 × These guys hit pretty hard and have 254 MDF, but most ailments are
 still good (all except Porky and Toad).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Troia (& Silvera) Region   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

- Equip the Slumber Sword (if you have it) and Fire Claw while in this
region. It's mostly Sting Rats and Treants.
- StingRat is the last enemy in the Needlemouse family. Their Needle
has a base power of 88. Stun them or turn them into pigs to avoid the
counter. All the other enemies are immune to Porky except for Panther.
When there are Treants in the back, you can just use the rod on a single
target. That's still better than nothing. Or maybe try confusing one of
the trees.
- Yang can easily handle the Treants and Cannibals, although they're
generally in the back row. He might still be able to one-shot them,
nonetheless.
- Pythons are trivial due to their low HP.
- And then there's the Panther, the first enemy in the Coeurl family.
Their trademark special attack, Blaster, inflicts either Instant Death
or Stun, typically the former. I'm sure you'd rather have neither, so
make sure they're not the last enemy standing (at least not without
Sleep or Porky), and you can avoid it.
- Don't hesitate to use those Tents when on the overworld. That's what
they're there for.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Agart / Eblana Region   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Lost & Found:
   10× Medusa Arrow (1-3) / Medusa Sword  (BlackLiz \ 4)

- Like I said, these guys might be a little too much. If you're not feeling
that ambitious, you don't need to bother.
- Equip the Ice Claw, and Yang can easily take out Black Lizards and Flame
Dogs. Flame Dogs have a nasty solo action, but since they're in the front
row, that's not likely to be an issue.
- Turn HugeCells into pigs to prevent them from both healing and fleeing.
- Try to put the Rocs to sleep with the Slumber Sword. If there are three
chicks, kick 'em.
- The Medusa Arrows will instantly kill enemies that aren't immune to
Petrification. It can still fail if you don't hit the enemy during their
ATB charge.
- In the unlikely event that you manage to score a Medusa Sword, you can
go ahead and just stash it in your storage as a trophy. While it boasts
a nice ATP figure, the accuracy is just a bit too limited, and the added
Petrification effect is too slow to be of any significance (requires two
cycles).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Toroia   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Shop:                                                          Items (nc):
  GreatBow          2000 gil      Wooden Hammer       80 gil      1000 gil
  Fire Arrow          30 gil      Leather Cap        330 gil      Cure2
  Ice Arrow           30 gil      RubyRing          1000 gil      Ether1
  Lit Arrow           30 gil      Pass            10 000 gil      Ether2

- (The village surrounded by forests northwest of Baron)

      -- Troia Castle --

 Items:
   Tent                Ether1              TwinHarp  (nc)
   Tent                Ether1               (Unique, Temp)
   Cure2               RubyRing            Ether1    (nc)
   Cure2               RubyRing

- Find Gilbert and you'll obtain the TwinHarp.
- Once you feel prepared, head north to find the Chocobo forest / village.

      -- Chocobo Village --

 Items (nc):
   Carrot              Carrot              Carrot

- Since you can't land your airship on forests, you'll need to use one
of the Black Chocobos found here to reach the cave east.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Cave Magnes   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                        Party:
   Cure2               Cure2                     Lv~30
   Heal                Cure3
   Ether1              Life
   500 gil             Charm Claw    ¤          ¤: Unique
   Ether1              Ether2                   t: Temp
                       Earth Crystal ¤t (nc)

 Lost & Found:                     Boss:
   Mage Summon  (Mage \ 4)           Dark Elf 1 & 2
   Zeus Gloves  (Ogre \ 4)            (separate phases)

- You can't use any metallic equipment in this dungeon. The solution,
of course, is to run away from all battles (or use non-metallic gear).
- The boss is waiting for you in the crystal room. Make sure you use
the second save point nearby first.

[Boss]
- 65 000 HP (Elf 1) / 2000 HP, 9 Agi (Elf 2) / 3000 HP, 11 Agi (Dragon), W:H
- 6000 Exp, 5000 gil
- Your first battle with him is scripted, and will end in your defeat.
However, after the scene that follows, you'll not only fully regain
your health, but will also be able to put your heavy gear back on as
the magnetic field disappears.
- He still uses Weak in the second battle, but it can only hit one character.
He technically has 22 000 HP in this battle, but he transforms after going
below 20k.
- In dragon form, he alternates between a regular physical attack and
Dark Breath, an attack that deals 25% mHP damage to your whole party.
Fire-resistant gear could bring it down to 10%, but there's no legitimate
way to *obtain* any such gear at this point in the game. You'll just
have to make do.
- Inflict Slow if needed.
- In case you want to give him a taste of his own medicine, Weak works
on his dragon form.

- Grab the crystal afterwards.
- The Legend Sword works well on the enemies here, just as it did for
the boss.
- The Charm Claw inflicts Confusion, which isn't bad, but it hardly
matters when Yang is killing most enemies in one hit. More importantly,
however, it has a quad power modifier against giants, such as the Ogres.
It does bring down his base damage a bit, since it has no accuracy bonus,
but he's probably still able to one-shot the other enemies. It also gives
him Speed +3. You can store it after this dungeon.

- Before you trigger the next event in Troia, go stock up on Cure2's.


      -- Toroia Castle --

 Items:
   Cure2               GreatBow            1000 gil
   Heal                10× Fire Arrows     Elixir
   Ether1              10× Fire Arrows     Ether2
   Ether2              10× Lit Arrows      Ether1
   Elixir              10× Ice Arrows      Heal
   1000 gil            10× Ice Arrows      Cure2

- Go see the women in front of the crystal room. After that, you can go
loot the stuff in the hidden treasure room. Keep the Great Bow for Rosa.
- Return to your airship, and you'll soon find yourself in the Tower of Zot.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Tower of Zot   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                  Default (Kain 2):       PCs:
   Fire Mail               Wind Spear    ¤         Kain, Rosa
   Fire Sword (trap)       Silver Shield
   Poison Claw   ¤         Silver Helm           Special:
   Fire Shield             Silver Armor            Exit (Rosa)
   Earth Hammer            Silver Gloves
   Wizard Robe           Default (Rosa 2):          #: Artifact
   Magma Stone (nc) ¤t     Prisoner Clothes #       ¤: Unique
                                                    t: Temp
 Bosses:
   Magus Sisters (Sandy, Cindy, Mindy)     Lost & Found:
   Valvalis                                  Silence Staff  (Marion \ 3-4)

- You will no longer have access to this dungeon once you clear the
events here.
- You can return to Troia, but you'll automatically return to Zot once
you board your airship again.
- The Fire Mail and Fire Shield make the wearer weak to Fire and resistant
to Ice.
- Yang should go with a Fire-Ice combo, but you can ditch the Ice later.
The Carapace is the only enemy resistant to Fire, but they're only found
on 1F and 2F. Even when an enemy resists the element of one the claws,
the element they're weak to will take priority.
- You don't have to fight the flans if you'd rather save the MP. Psych
still works well on most of the enemies here. This is, sadly, the last
dungeon where that's the case. Some enemies have MDF figures that are
equal to or just a little above Psych's base power value, so it can
still work with favorable RNG. Eventually, though, even that won't help.
- Kick doesn't hit flans, and it's not because they have max DFP. It's
a very redundant attribute, though, since the damage would still be 0
even if it did hit them.
- The second chest you find is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to fight
a Flame Dog for the Fire Sword. Switch to that unless you're already
one-shotting everything with the Slumber Sword. That one's also good
for inflicting Sleep on flans and back row enemies. At least switch to
the Fire Sword for the bosses.
- The Poison Claw inflicts Poison, which is completely insignificant,
but you should still equip it, since it boosts accuracy and Strength.
- You can use the Earth Hammer during battle to cast Quake, which does
a fair amount of damage (1x200) to all (non-flying) enemies. Good for
taking out flans, not that you'll be running into many of those, since
you're pretty much at the end of the dungeon. The weapon is also Fire-
elemental.
- The Wizard Robe gives you Will +5.
- You'll fight the Magus Sisters immediately after the Save Point on 5F.

[Boss]
- 2200 (right), 4300 (middle), 2500 HP (left), 3000 Exp and 3000 gil each
- Their 'Delta Attack' is just regular spells reflected off Cindy (~200-
400 pod). It's not some special attack that wipes you out like in FFX.
- Cindy (the middle one) is able to bring her sisters back to life, so
take her out first.
- Psych works well in case Tellah needs a refill.

- Return to save and heal. De-equip Tella, as he's going to be leaving
your party during the next event, whereas Rosa and Kain rejoin.
- Tellah's duel with Golbez results in Cecil, Yang, and Cid losing their
criticals.
- Set Rosa's gear as soon as you gain control. Give her the Gaea Robe to
make her immune to Petrification. Switch to the Wizard Robe after the
boss. You can keep Kain in the back row, as he'll only be using Jump in
the next battle.

[Boss]
- 6000 HP, 9500 Exp, 5500 gil
- Easily the toughest boss so far. While in her Whirlwind Mode, she uses
a nasty Weak + Ray combo. She also gets a functioning Evade (4x45%) and
is immune to magic during this time, not that you have any, since you
just lost your sage. You can cancel the mode by using Jump, but you may
not be able to prevent every Weak. Quickly use a Hi-Potion to heal the
character hit by it. With a little luck, Ray won't hit the same character
multiple times, in which case you can just ignore it. You also don't want
her to attack any character that was hit by Weak. She can deal up to 270-
360 pod with max RNG. Using Slow helps, as always.


      -- Agart --

- Go use the Magma Stone on the well. Afterwards, you can fly down the
hole to reach the Underworld. You won't be able to come back up until
after the next dungeon. Get some Ice Arrows for Rosa. Hang on to the
Flame Sword for a little longer.
- If you got the Drain Lance, don't bother using it. The high ATP is
offset by the second worst accuracy in the game and a -10 penalty to all
stats. It also lacks the Anti-Air element, whereas the Drain element is
resisted by any enemy that absorbs anything.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Dwarf Castle   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:              Items (nc):           Party:
   Dwarf Axe           500 gil               Lv~40
   Strength Wrist      500 gil
   Ether2              1000 gil            PC:
   Elixir              Carrot                Rydia
   Ether1              Carrot
   Cure2               Carrot                  #: Artifact
   Elixir
   Ether1            Default (Rydia 2):    Bosses:
   Bl.Belt   #         Whip                  3× Cal & 3× Brena
   Cabin               Gaea Robe              (+ Calbrena)
   Cabin               Silver Bracelet       Golbez
   Cabin

 Shop:
  Fire Sword        14 000 gil       Fire Mail         30 000 gil
  Flame Lance       11 000 gil       Fire Shield         1250 gil
  Dwarf Axe         15 000 gil       Wizard Robe         1200 gil
  Darkness Arrow        40 gil       Wizard Hat          2000 gil
                                     Rune Bracelet       2000 gil

- You can't explore much of the castle initially (can't buy any gear
yet), but it opens up after the boss.
- De-equip all the items Cid has. He will no longer be joining you in
battle once you trigger the scene in the throne room.
- You're looking at two bosses in a row.

[Boss]
- Cal (blue, back): 1000 HP, Brena (red, front): 300 HP, 16-19 Agi,
1000 Exp, 500 gil each
- Calbrena: 4624 HP, 11 Agi, 15 000 Exp, 5000 gil
- If dolls of only one type are present, they'll transform into Calbrena.
If Calbrena has less than 101 HP left, it'll split into the six dolls again.
- While the blue ones have more HP, they don't have boss benefits, so you
could inflict Mini or Stop.
- Calcabrina hits *very* hard, almost reaching quad digits in the worst
case. It can also inflict Confusion and Stun. It also technically has
nasty counters for elemental spells, but you can't trigger them.
 |
[Boss]
- 3001 HP, 27 Agi, w:FH, 20 000 Exp, 10 000 (+1000) gil
- Rydia rejoins the party here.
- He just spams you with Fire2, Lit-3, and Virus (~100-300 pod).
- Reviving the three dead characters might be too much trouble than it's
worth. You can probably manage with just Cecil and Rydia.
- Kain should use the Fire Sword (if he's in) while Cecil uses the Legend.
- Technically, he has 22 001 HP, but the battle ends after he falls below
19 001.

- Rydia is no longer able to cast White Magic.
- New spells: Fire2, Ice-2, Lit-2.
- New Summon spells: Mist, Titan, Shiva, Indra, Jinn.
- Give Rydia that Tiara you got earlier if you still have it.
- 2 Wizard Hats (Cecil, Rosa), 3 Rune Bracelets (Rosa, Rydia, Yang).
- The Flame Lance would've been useful in Zot, but it's a bit too late
for that now. You certainly don't want to use it in the next dungeon.
- The Dwarf Axe gives you Str&Vit +5 and Mag&Agi -5. Maybe worth giving
to Kain until he gets that Blizzard Lance, and it's not far. Note that
it's actually long range, not that you really want Kain or Cecil in the
back row, since your more fragile characters would have to take their
place in the front.
- Don't forget that equipping a ranged weapon gives that character the
permanent long range flag. I suppose you could consider it compensation
for the lost criticals.
- The Black Belt (Str +5) should go to Yang for now. You can give it to
Cecil or Kain later if you don't mind the low defense.
- The Power Wrist gives you Str +5. Worth using despite the low defense.
The stronger ones aren't *that* much stronger.

- Use the hidden path in the basement to reach the next dungeon.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Tower of Bab-il 1   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  Lost & Found:
   10× Ice Arrows      Life                Silence Staff  (Marion \ 3-4)
   10× Ice Arrows      Life
   Ether1              Cure2                       #: Artifact
   Bandanna      #     Ice Shield   *              *: Monster-in-a-box
   Blizzard Lance *    Ice Armor    *    Boss(es):
   IceBrand       *    2000 gil            Dr. Lugae & Balnab
   CatClaw             Cure2                 (+ Balnab-Z)
   Archer Bow          Ether2              Dr. Lugae 2

- You will no longer have access to this dungeon after a future story event.
- You can't use Exit or Warp here.
- When alone, Flame Dogs spam you with Fire, which deals 20% mHP damage
(10% with Fire resistance, 40% with weakness) and can hit all characters.
Once again, you can use Piggy (but not Silence) to prevent it, although
if all three of your fighters are one-shotting them, it's not likely to
be necessary. As such, it's better to have Rydia use the whip than the
Change Rod, so she can stun enemies (except when they're too fast, like
the FlameMen).
 × Characters with decent Magic Evade can easily avoid attacks like Fire
 when the enemy has 0 Magic.
- The Silence Staff is the one rare drop I have to recommend getting.
It's only slot 3, so it's *significantly* easier than a slot 4 drop. 1F
is the best place. Just run away from the other battles. If you have a
fast-forward option, use it. You can get one in a few hours (IGT).
- The Silence Staff is pretty much the best staff in the game. It's got
Will +10, Silencestrike and Magekiller. There's another staff with Will
+15, but by the time you get that, Rosa's Will could be so high she won't
even need those extra 5 points.
- There are two trapped chests on the second floor (Alert + Stoneman &
Alert + Chimera) and two more on the fourth (Alert + FlameDog & Alert +
Naga). The Alerts have 254 MDF.
- The Cat Claw is pretty much Yang's best weapon, with high accuracy,
Str & Agi +5, and Sleepstrike.
- You'll start running into Chimeras above 3F. When alone, they spam you
with Blaze, which deals 25% mHP damage (10% with Ice resistance, 50% with
weakness) and can hit all characters. They're immune to Porky, Sleep, and
Stun, and they resist all three main elements, so maybe have one of your
fighters switch to a non-elemental weapon. You might want to use Jump on
them when they're in the back row.
- With two save points and flans only common on two floors (4F and 5F),
it's unlikely Rydia will need to do any draining.
- The first Save Point is on the fourth floor.
- The Ice Armor and Ice Shield make the wearer weak to Ice and resistant
to Fire.
- Medusas spam you with Ray until there's only one enemy left. Mainly
a concern when you get ambushed.
- On the 6th floor, you can see a chest that you can't reach. Just ignore
it. (It's the last Cure2 you find in the new areas, although if you come
back here later, it'll still appear to be closed even if you've opened it.)
- The second Save Point is on the seventh floor. You'll find the boss on
the floor above.

[Boss]
- Dr.Lugae: 4416 HP, 11 Agi, Balnab: 3927 HP, 6x86 ATP, 31 Agi
- Balnab Z: 4000 HP, 9x114 ATP, 31 Agi
- After their initial blunders, they'll settle into a simple routine,
where Balnab merely attacks and the Doctor provides support by using
Heal on Balnab.
- Try to take them out at the same time. If you take out Lugae first,
Balnab will self-destruct using Explode. If you take out Balnab first,
you'll have to face Balnab-Z, who attacks twice then self-destructs.
Getting killed by Explode results in the character losing criticals.
 |
[Boss]
- 6600 HP, 27 Agi, 15 000 Exp, 4000 gil, Tower Key (Unique, Temp)
- He starts off by poisoning your whole party, but it won't have time to
take effect, as he regularly uses Heal on your whole party. His Sleep
counter won't be much of an issue for the same reason. The only thing
you have to worry about is his Laser, which has a 20% cHP base power,
but if you deal some damage, it'll quickly lose its edge.
- Give Yang Thunder Claws for maximum ownage.

- Use the key on the locked door on the 5th floor. De-equip all of
Yang's gear (or at least the rare stuff) before going in. Give his
Bandanna and Black Belt Dougi to Cecil or Kain.
- Once Yang is gone, it's time to leave the tower. Another scene will
take place, and you'll find yourself on the overworld with no way to
return underground.


      -- Baron Castle --

 Special: Enterprise upgrade

- Go talk to Cid's assistants on the east side of the castle. They'll
proceed to modify your airship, so you can use it to pick up the
Hovercraft. This allows you to access the cave on the Eblana continent.
You know, the continent where the Tower of Babil sticks out and where
you also find the abandoned Eblana Castle (which you should check out
once Edge joins if you ignored it earlier).


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Cave of Eblana   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  Party:
   Shuriken            Elixir              Lv40-45
   Heal                Cure2
   1200 gil            Cabin             PC:
   Cure1   (nc)        Cure2               Edge Lv25
   Cure1   (nc)        800 gil
   Ether1              850 gil           Default (Edge):
   Tent                Life                Short Sword
   Cure2               Life                Short Sword
   Cure 3              Life                Bandanna      #
   Shuriken            Drain Sword   ¤*    Bl.Belt       #
   Elixir              Ether2              Silver Gloves

 Lost & Found:                         *: Trap
   Zeus Gloves (Staleman 2-4)          #: Artifact
                                       ¤: Unique
 Shop:
  Power Staff         2000 gil       Ice Armor         35 000 gil
  IceBrand          26 000 gil       Black Robe        10 000 gil
  Blizzard Lance    21 000 gil       Ice Shield        10 000 gil
  Short Sword         4000 gil
  Archer Bow          3000 gil
  Poison Arrow          70 gil

- You should get Edge to join your party as soon as possible and get
the items afterwards.
- The Power Staff does ok damage but also inflicts Berserk, so don't
use it if it doesn't result in a kill. If you got the Silence Staff,
you don't need it.
- The Zeus Gloves are a common drop (*if* you get a drop), but the
Staleman itself is a rare encounter, so you can forget about it. You
can't get it from the trapped chest encounter.
- You'll find an underground settlement on the B2 floor.
- The Black Robe is supposed to give you Wisdom +5, but this was changed
to Will for some reason. Still worth using for the defense increase.
- The chest in the save room is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to fight
two Stalemen for the Drain Sword.
- At the end of the cave (right after the save point), Edge will join
your party as the fifth and final party member. The event battle here
will *not* affect your criticals.
- Edge has three Command Abilities:
 1. Ninjutsu: Ninjutsu skills are basically spells. You'll start off
  with just one (Flame). Not much use for them.
 2. Throw: Throw allows you to throw ninja stars and some regular weapons.
  The damage is usually pretty good, but keep in mind, everything you
  throw will be lost in the process. The damage equals Edge's Lv * ATP
  (+ 0~98 random). The weapon's element/type modifiers are ignored.
 3. Steal: Steal allows you to steal items from enemies. It's the same
  item that's first on their drop list (as in, nothing too impressive).
  You can steal multiple times from the same enemy. The chance of success
  equals 50 + Edge's Lv - enemy SR.
- Triple digit HP is not going to cut it, so you'll want to spend some
time leveling up Edge. At Lv40, he'll have about as much HP as Rydia,
which isn't great, but I guess it'll have to do. Eventually, he'll have
about as much HP as Rosa. Start off building up here, but maybe move to
the first level of the tower later, where you can possibly score the Bomb
summon.
- Edge can equip Yang's claws, but can't match his ATP. Even so, if you
find Edge's damage output a bit too underwhelming even after getting a
bunch of levels, you could try giving him the Cat Claw and see if it that
makes him more useful. He'll get better eventually, though.
- The three elemental claws can boost Edge's damage output substantially
when applicable. Fire and Ice have very limited use, but at the very
least hang on to the Thunder Claw.
- If you want to give Edge the long range flag (with a Boomerang or the
Full Moon), note that the long range weapon has to be equipped either
in his right hand or as his sole weapon. Again, once the flag is on, it
stays on, regardless of what the character equips.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Tower of Bab-il 2   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                  Special:
   Cure3               Middle Sword        Flood & Blitz (Ninjutsu)
   Cure3               82 000 gil
   Ogre Axe (trap)     Cure2             Lost & Found:
   2000 gil            Poison Claw (nc)    Bomb Summon    (Balloon  \ 4)
                       Cure2               Silence Staff  (Sorcerer \ 3-4)
 Boss:
   Rubicant

- You'll be exploring different areas of the tower than last time, and will
no longer have access to these areas once you complete the events here.
- Watch out for those counters (Blaster, Charm), Cecil and Kain should
be able to take out BackCats with a single normal attack. Lamias often
appear in eggs, so you can get one free hit in, with the next one likely
resulting in a kill. If Rydia needs a fill up, Lamia eggs are her best bet.
- Lamias are immune to Stun and Sleep. BlackCats are immune to Mini and
Toad. Mad Ogres have 254 MDF and are immune to Porky and Toad.
- If Rydia has reached Lv46, she could wipe out whole groups with Stone,
but it does have limited accuracy.
- If you got the Silence Staff, Rosa can do some nice damage to Mad Ogres.
- If you think you're up for it, B1 is the best place for scoring the Bomb
summon, with two common Bomb encounters. Again, just run away from the
other battles.
- The chest on B2 is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to fight 4 Mad Ogres
for the Ogre Killer.
- The Save Point is on the north side of B3.
- The boss awaits you on the 5th floor. Before you get to fight him,
you'll have to go through an event battle with K.Eblan and Q.Eblan.
You don't have to do anything in that one, though, as the battle ends
on its own. Edge learns Flood and Blitz during the scene that follows.

[Boss]
- 25 200 HP, 38 Agi, W/A:I, 25 000 Exp, 7000 gil
- Ruby's kind enough to fully heal you right before the battle begins.
- He'll counter regular attacks with Fire2 (~70 pod to all), so just hold
back if you need time to heal. His most dangerous attack is Glare (~2000
pod, F), which he uses at a slow pace, but even if it kills someone, you
have plenty of time to revive them. You don't even necessarily have to
revive them yourself. For some reason, Ruby will revive any dead characters
if you cast Fire magic (other than Ifrit) on him.
- He'll absorb Ice-elemental magic when he's blocking with his cape. If
you're not sure Rydia can get the spell in before he puts it up, use
Ice-2 instead of Ice-3/Shiva. Even if it gets absorbed, it'll only heal
him for at most ~1k. Same goes for Flood.
- For some reason, the cape, indeed, only affects Ice magic. Ice-elemental
weapons will still deal considerable damage regardless.

- The door behind Ruby leads you to the Crystal Room, but you won't be
able to take more than a few steps here before a trap floor sends you
falling down a bunch of floors. This isn't one of the areas you've
previously explored, though. Just keep going, and you'll soon obtain
the second airship, the Falcon.
- Q.Lamias don't counter normal attacks with Charm.
- Check the other door on 7F for a buggy hidden item. There are four
more of these in the upcoming dungeons.


      -- Dwarf Castle --

 Item (nc):                            Special:
   Luca Necklace (Unique, Temp)          Falcon upgrade

- Initially, the Falcon is unable to fly across lava, but you can
quickly take care of that by visiting Cid in the Dwarven Castle.
- You'll also need the Luca Necklace in order to enter the Sealed Cave.

      -- Kokkol, the Smith's --

 Items:
   Heal   (nc)         Elixir  (nc)
   Cure2  (nc)         1000 gil

- In the southeast corner of the Underworld.
- The chest is quite well hidden. Check the walls *very* thoroughly.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Tomra   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   Cure2               Cure2    (nc)
   470 gil  (nc)       Cabin
   490 gil             480 gil

 Shop:
  Middle Sword        7000 gil       Diamond Armor     40 000 gil
  Chain Whip          6000 gil       Diamond Helm      10 000 gil
  Ogre Axe          45 000 gil       Diamond Gloves      5000 gil
  Mute Arrow           100 gil       Diamond Bracelet    4000 gil
                                     Diamond Shield    15 000 gil
                                     Tiara             20 000 gil

- A town in the southern region of the Underworld.
- Chain Whip, Diamond Armor, Diamond Gloves = 51k.
- I'd stick to the old Str-boosting gear (Strength Wrist, Bandanna,
Black Belt), but the choice is yours. Grab a Tiara for Rydia if you
missed it back in Mist. No need to buy another Middle Sword. Just get
the gear from the Sealed Cave. It's on the first two levels (check the
second and last doors from right to left along the north wall on B2).
Don't finish the dungeon yet, though, unless you're passing up on the
optional dungeons.

      -- Underworld 3 --

 Theft: Ether1 (GlomWing)

- On the southern part of the Sylvan region, you'll find some enemies
you can't encounter anywhere else.
- For whatever reason, the victory music doesn't fade out as quickly
here as it normally does. It can easily fool you into thinking you got
an item drop even though you didn't.

- You now have access to three new dungeons: Sealed Cave, Sylvan Cave,
and the Land of Summon Monsters. Only the first one is mandatory, but
the others are (also) filled with nice magic items, so check them out
too once you feel like you're up for the task.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Land of Summon Monsters   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   Life                  Ninja Sword   ¤       2000 gil
   Ether1                Life                  RatTail     ¤t
   Cure2                 Cure3                 Heal
   Cure2                 Defense Sword ¤(trap) Life
   Cabin                 Ether1                10× Samurai Arrows
   Cure2                 3000 gil              Samurai Bow ¤
   Poison Axe            2000 gil              Ether2
                                               Elixir         ¤: Unique

 Special:              Bosses:        Lost & Found:
   Asura Summon          Asura          Silence Staff  (Conjurer \ 3-4)
   Leviathan Summon      Leviatan

 Shop:
  Long Sword        11 000 gil       Sorcerer Robe     30 000 gil
  Blitz Whip        10 000 gil       Aegis Shield      20 000 gil
  Charm Rod           5000 gil       Charm Arrow          110 gil
  Lunar Staff         7000 gil

- On an "island" west of the Dwarf Castle.
- Cast Float on your party to avoid getting damaged by the floor (50
points a step). You'll need to cast it again whenever you move to
another area.
- Most of the enemies have 32-35 Speed, so inflicting ailments with
normal attacks can be difficult.
- The Warriors and Fiends are fairly tough, but they have no ailment
immunities. The Fiends counter any damage with Charm, but, once again,
inflicting Porky will easily prevent that. If you don't have the Change
Rod, use Toad instead. Their SR is a bit too high to make Stun/Sleep
all that useful. If Rydia has Quake (Lv44) and you don't mind burning
the MP, you can use that to wipe them out easily.
- Red Eyes try to confuse you as their third action. You can confuse
them or petrify them.
- Psych works ok on Warriors, Arachnes, and Conjurers.
- Psych works best on Hooligans (12 MDF), but using magic on them puts
them in Weak Mode, and you can't easily cancel it, so you better finish
them off quickly afterwards or inflict Silence or Toad.
- The Clappers only spam you with Blitz, which does 50% max HP damage
with no Thunder resistance. Use Weak if you have it (Lv48). Getting
back attacked by two of them could get ugly, but at least it's unlikely,
seeing as they're the least common enemies here. If things aren't looking
too good, don't hesitate to flee.
- The last chest on the B3 floor is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to
fight 5 Warriors for the Defender. Give this one to Kain if you already
got the Light Sword.
- After passing through the cave, you'll find the Town of Summon Monsters.
- There's a hidden teleporter on the B4 floor that takes you to the
Samurai Bow. There's another hidden teleporter in this room that takes
you back to the world map. Try not to use it on accident.
- Blitz Whip, 2 Sorcerer Robes, 2 Aegis Shields = 110k.
 × Get a Lunar Staff (Will +10) if you didn't get the Silence Staff.
- There's a free Charm Rod (Wis +10) in the Sylph Cave, but if you
really can't wait, it's only 5 grand.
- There's a Save Point in one of the houses on the B5 floor. Use it
before challenging the bosses.
- On the bottom floor of the library, you'll find two human NPCs who
are actually Asura and Leviathan. Defeat them to obtain their summons.

[Boss]
- 23 000 HP, 66 Agi, 20 000 Exp
- She casts Cure4 (100% HP), Life1 (no effect) and Cure3 (2000-3000 HP)
while relying entirely on counterattacks to deal damage. Bring her speed
down by casting Slow twice, then hit her with Reflect. Rydia can still
use Quake and summons, though. You can also Berserk your fighters.
- Keep in mind, Reflect wears off after a while, but Slow makes it last
longer.
- You can get her to cast a spell on loop if you just attack her once
during the casting time of the spell or after the spell (but before she
starts casting the next spell).

- Better go heal up before taking on the other one.

[Boss]
- 35 000 HP, 53 Agi, w:T, 28 000 Exp
- Big Wave does 25% mHP damage to all. He'll use Ice-2 once or twice
between each of those.
- Might want to use Slow (and Berserk) again.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Sylvan Cave   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:
   10× Charm Arrows      Cure3                 1000 gil
   Cure2                 Heal                  Cabin
   Cure2                 Heal                  10× Fire Arrows
   Heal                  Ether1                10× Ice Arrows
   Charm Rod             Elixir   *            10× Lit Arrows
   Cure2                 Elixir   *            Ether1
   3000 gil              Elixir   *            Cure2
   Heal                  Full Moon Chakram ¤*  Mute Dagger  ¤*
   2000 gil              Avenger  *            Elixir
   Cure2                 10× Medusa Arrows  *  CatClaw
                         ElvenBow ¤            Poison Claw  #

 Lost & Found:                          #: Artifact
   Ribbon       (ToadLady \ 4)          ¤: Unique
   Cursed Ring  (Ghost    \ 4)          *: Monster-in-a-box

- A cave in the northwest part of the Underworld.
- This one's not as linear as the LoSM. The path splits when you take
the first stairs down. The northern path leads to the six trapped chests,
whereas the southern path leads to the Sylphs' home. At the end of both
paths is a warp that takes you back out.
- There's quite a bit of stuff here, so watch your inventory space.
- Malboros always start off with Bad Breath (Toad, Mini, Porky, Silence,
Darkness, Confuse), and they'll use it again after a few other attacks.
Fortunately, it only affects a single character and it misses if the
character is immune to even one of those ailments. You can use gear like
the Rune Bracelet (Rosa, Rydia, Edge), Headband (any), or RubyRing (any).
- As for dispatching them, Toad works when there are no other enemies
present. Typically the case on B1 and B3. On B2 and B4, they're usually
tagging with DarkTrees or DarkTrees and Ghosts. If it's just DarkTrees,
you could try your luck with Stone. When there are both, then there's
only one Malboro, so you can just use a single target Toad. Stun only
puts them on hold for 13 ATB, but it's still something. Rydia won't be
stunning anyone when she's using the Change Rod, but, like I said, you
could equip Edge with the Cat Claw.
- DarkTrees are only immune to Porky, Mini, and Toad. Edge can one-shot
them with a Fire Claw.
- Ghosts are immune to Stun, Sleep, and Petrification. You can probably
one-shot them. Also ok for Psych.
- The Toad squad is in no way dangerous, just annoying. Once you take
out the Lady, the toads will do nothing. You can prevent her from
commanding the toads by inflicting Toad. Psych works well on the Lady.
- Quake is highly effective here.
- The six chests the teleporter leads you to are all trapped.

 1-3: 6× Ghosts      -> Elixir
 4.   2× DarkTrees, 2× Molbols  -> Full Moon Chakram     123
 5.   2× Molbols     -> Avenger                          456
 6.   2× Centipedes  -> 10× Medusa Arrows

- The Avenger is a Holy-elemental, two-handed sword with Auto-Berserk.
Might want to use it on the boss in the Sealed Cave.
- There's one more monster-in-a-box closer to the Sylphs' place, in a
little room only accessible through a hidden passage; you'll have to
fight a ToadLady and 6 TinyToads for the Mute Dagger.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Sealed Cave   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Party:              Boss:
   Lv45-55             EvilWall

 Items:
   Long Sword          Light Sword  ¤      Cure2
   Ether1              Ninja Star          Life             ¤: Unique
   Life                Elixir              Life             t: Temp
   Cure2               5000 gil            Ether2
   Ether1              Long Sword          Cure3
   Life                Ninja Hood   ¤      Shadow Sword  (nc)
   Life                Ether1              Darkness Crystal ¤t (nc)

- This is the cave near Tomera. Use Luca's Necklace to gain access.
- You'll have to fight a number of fixed encounters with some TrapDoors
here. They have a nasty attack called Disrupt that instantly kills the
target, and they can also transform into another monster (a Manticore
or a Yellow Dragon) when their HP gets low. Many of them only lead to
empty rooms, but the Experience is quite good. There are 15 of them in
total, but only 3 of them are completely mandatory.
- VampLadies use Glance (Confuse) as their 4th action unless they're
the only type of enemy left.
- Manticores use Blaze as their first of three actions. Petrification
is the only ailment worth hitting them with.
- The first Save Point is on B2, behind the fifth door.
- The Ninja Hood is the only (easily available) piece of gear that can
boost Cecil's Agi (+3). He doesn't really need it in this version, though.
- When you first reach B3, you'll be in a little room with two chests.
The exit is south, but it might be a little hard to notice.
- There are no encounters below B3.
- The second Save Point is on B4. You'll encounter the boss on B5 after
grabbing the Crystal.
- Check the stairway leading to B5 to find another unintentional hidden
item. You can also check one of the ropes nearby to fight 6 Ghosts.

[Boss]
- 19 000 HP, 66 Agi, 23 000 Exp, 8000 gil
- You have very little time until he gets close and starts instantly
killing your characters with Crush. If all else fails, you can level
up to Lv50, at which point you can utterly destroy him with Holy and
Flare. I myself build up at the Sylvan Cave. Better have something
playing in the background while grinding. May I suggest 2D streamers
from Japan?
- In the unlikely event that you've managed to score a Ribbon, you can
equip that to make a character immune to Instant Death.

- De-equip Kain right before you reach the entrance, as he'll leave the
party again.


      -- Dwarf Castle --

 Special: Falcon upgrade 2

- Go see the king. After the scenes that follow, you'll be able to use
the Falcon to return to the Overworld. Once the path is open again, you
can use it with either airship.
- Note that, while you can already give Kokkol the Adamantite, he won't
be done until you get the Whale.
- If you don't have a Thunder Claw, pick one up either in Baron or Fabul.
Edge should use that in the next dungeon.

      -- Mysidia --

- After the scene here, you'll have the, er... Big Whale. Inside the
Whale, you can rest and access the Fat Chocobo without using any greens.
Examine the crystal to fly to the Moon and back. To simply fly around,
examine the thing north of the crystal. The Whale is slower than the
airships, though, and you can't take it to the Underworld.

      -- Grotto Adamant --

 Item (nc): Adamant (Artifact, Temp)

- Trade the Rat Tail for a chunk of Adamantite.
- This place is on a little island near Silvera. You'll have to use
the Hovercraft in order to reach it.

      -- Kokkol, the Smith's --

 Item (nc): Excalbur (Unique)

- Kukuro will use the Adamantite to upgrade the Legend Sword to the
Excalibur.

- The Odin summon is also now available (in Baron). Feel free to pick
that up if you think you're up for it.


      -- Fabul --

 Items (nc):                 Special:
   Pan   (Unique, Temp)        Sylph Summon
   Spoon (Unique)

- This little side quest has a very limited time window, so it's now
or never. The quest involves running back and forth between Yang in
the Sylvan Cave and his wife in Fabul. Like so:
 1. Find Yang in the Sylph Cave and talk to the fairies. Perhaps you
  already did. If not, take the southern stairs on B2. Cast Float to
  avoid floor damage.
 2. Talk to Yang's wife in Fabul to receive the Frying Pan.
 3. Use the pan on Yang and receive the Sylph summon.
 4. Give the pan back to Yang's wife to receive the Spoon.
- The Spoon is a weapon to be thrown by Edge and it deals fairly
substantial damage. Better save it for a special occasion.
- Even if you miss this quest, you can still get the Sylph summon later.


      -- Moon Surface --

 Lost & Found:                             Theft:
   Bomb Summon (Balloon, Grenade \ 4)        Ether (Pudding, MoonCell)

- There are only 3 locations here: The Lunar's Lair, Bahamut's Cave
(in the donut-shaped valley), and another place that doesn't have a
real name.
- Try hitting Grenades with Lit-1.

      -- Lunar Settlement --

 Shop:
  Ether2            50 000 gil
  Elixir           100 000 gil
  Whistle           20 000 gil

- South of the Crystal Palace is a cave inhabited by a bunch of Hummingways.
- The Whistle is a consumable that lets you access the Fat Chocobo on
the field.

      -- Lunar Path --

 Items:
   Elixir (trap)       Heal                Cure2

- In order to reach the Lunar's Lair, you'll have to go through two
small caves. The first one is just a little west of the palace. You'll
have to go through these caves every time you want to leave or enter
the final dungeon.
- The first chest you find is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to fight
2 Prokaryotes and 2 Eukaryotes for an Elixir.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Lunar's Lair   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Item (nc):      TPC:              Default (FuSoYa):
   280 gil         FuSoYa Lv50       Lunar Staff       Sorcerer Robe
                                     Wizard Hat        Diamond Bracelet

- You'll be joined by FuSoYa, who will accompany you for the next dungeon.
 × FuSoYa has no critical hits natively.
- Check the door leading to the crystal room for some gil. You can also
check the healing panel for a "monster-in-a-box."
- Once you return to the Blue Planet, you'll automatically end up inside
the Giant of Bab-il, and you're stuck there until you're finished. Grab
the Defender from storage as well as some Lightning Arrows, if you have
any. Lightning weapons deal quad damage to machines (and not because of
the element), and all the normal enemies in the next dungeon are machines.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Giant of Bab-il   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                PC:                   Bosses:
   Shuriken              Kain                  Four Fiends
   Cure2                                        (Scarmiglione,
   Ether1              Default (Kain 3):         Rubicante,
   10× Samurai Arrows    Gungnir        ¤        Cagnazzo,
   Cabin                 Samurai Shield #        Barbariccia)
   Life                  Samurai Helm   #      CPU (+ Attacker & Defender)
   Life                  Samurai Armor  #              #: Artifact
   Elixir (trap)         Samurai Gloves #              ¤: Unique

- You will no longer have access to this dungeon once you complete the
events here.
- You can't drain MP from any of the enemies here, but there's a save
point at the end, right before the bosses.
- You can use a single target Thunder spell to cause Beamers and Machines
to malfunction and start attacking their allies.
- Stun works very well on Horsemen thanks to the overflow (if it hits).
Status ailments won't help you with any of the other enemies here.
- Use Weak on MacGiants and D.Machines, or at least the latter. The
MacGiants take good damage from Lightning weapons, so it might not be
needed for those. The dragon is the only enemy here who isn't a machine-
type, despite both their name and appearance.
- The last chest you find is a monster-in-a-box; you'll have to fight the
Last Arm (9500 HP) for an Elixir. You may want to save before this one,
as it might permanently lock you into battle by constantly inflicting a
massive 150 ATB Stop with Magnet. If below 1001 HP, it'll self-destruct.

[Boss: Elements]     FITHA    Attacks of note
- Scar:  17 000 HP   WAAAA     -
- Ruby:  29 000 HP   AWAAA     Fire3, Glare
- Cag:   17 000 HP   AAWAA     Big Wave (25% mHP \all)
- Barb:  30 000 HP     Ww      Storm (single digit HP \all)
- 89 Spd, 62 500 Exp, 10 000 gil
- You'll be fully healed before the battle.
- You'll be fighting each of the Four Elements again in a single battle,
one at a time. They're technically split into two pairs, where each pair
is combined into one enemy, with their HP pool being shared and the boss's
appearance and elemental attributes being altered on the fly. Once below a
certain HP threshold, Scar is changed into Ruby and Cag is changed into Barb.
- The first of each pair has to spend an actual turn to set their resistances.
This action will remain part of the boss's action loop, even though it
becomes redundant after the first time.
- For whatever reason, the White spell deals normal damage to an Undead
enemy even if it's supposed to absorb Holy, Scar 2 being the only enemy
with such a combination. Holy-elemental weapons will still be resisted,
though. Eg. the Defender will deal about 1 grand more damage than the
Excalibur. The Flame Sword and Icebrand would substantially outperform
even that against the first two bosses respectively, but it really doesn't
have to be that precise. Elemental spells and jutsu will get the job done
easily.
- All of these fights are simpler than when you first fought them. Ie. Ruby
doesn't use his cape, etc.
- Scar only deals damage with normal attacks, but the damage can be pretty
high (1000 pod), and the bosses are very fast. Cecil needs 36 Agi to push
them to 2 ATB. Slow will carry over from the first of a pair to the other.
- If you finish off the first of a pair when their action was queued, the
boss that follows will perform that action instead.
- Barbariccia uses Maelstrom as her sixth and last action in her AI loop.
Try to be ready for it.

- Return to save.
- FuSoYa will leave the party after the next boss. If he's still using his
default gear, you can just keep it on, since it's stuff you can just buy.

[Boss: CPU]                         Action
- CPU:      20 000 HP,  38 Spd     Wall (self)
- Attacker:   2000 HP   31 Spd     Maser:  10% mHP dmg \all
- Defender:   2000 HP, 111 Spd     Remedy: Heal 10% mHP (CPU)
- 50 000 Exp each, 10 333 gil
- If you take out both of the small orbs, the big orb will kill a couple
of your characters with Globe 199, and then simply revive them (the orbs,
not your characters).

- Your party will consist of the five main characters for the rest of
the game.


      -- Kokkol, the Smith's --

 Shop:
  Shuriken          20 000 gil
  Ninja Star        50 000 gil
  Samurai Arrow        140 gil

- A new shop is available.


      -- Baron Castle --

 Special:            Boss:
   Odin Summon         Odin

- Now that you've been to the land of the summon monsters, you can fight
Odin in the Baron Castle. Just head to the basement from the east tower.

[Boss]
- 20 500 HP, 43-46 Agi, W:T, 18 000 Exp
- He'll attack 3-1 times, then use Zantetsuken, which will pretty much
annihilate you (3000-6000 pod to all). Do try to take him out before
that happens. Holy and Flare should bring it home, once again.

- You can store the Thunder Claw (and other claws) at this point.
They've served you well. A couple of them could still be of use when
farming certain rare drops.


 ¤~~~~~~¤   Cave Bahamut   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                Lost & Found:
   Samurai Gloves #      Ribbon       (Warlock  \ 4)
   Samurai Shield #      Artemis Bow  (Kary     \ 4)     #: Artifact
   Samurai Armor  #      Rune Axe     (RedGiant \ 4)
   Samurai Helm   #

 Special:              Boss:           Theft:
   Bahamut Summon        Bahamut         10× Artemis Arrows (Kary)

- Warlocks use Weak when alone (with an Attack/Weak loop).
- If all enemies are Karies, they'll throw some hits at you before using
their special attack, Hug, which will fully heal the target while at the
same time causing full Petrifaction. After that, they'll run away.
- Warlocks are only immune to Toad, and Karies are only immune to Porky
and Toad. Both are very vulnerable to Stun thanks to the overflow, although
it can be difficult to hit them during their ATB charge. Safer to just
have Rydia use the Change Rod on the mages.
- You can steal Artemis Arrows from the Karies. They're the strongest
arrows by far and have quad power against dragons. Rosa should stick to
a staff, though, to boost her Cure magic.
- Use Weak on RedGiants and D.Bones. If there are two RedGiants, you
might want to beat up the other one to save MP.
- Before you can reach Bahamut, you'll have to take care of three fixed
Behemoth encounters, easily predicted when you're forced on a single
tile wide path. They rely almost entirely on counterattacks to deal
damage, and you're going to have to eat quite a few of those. Instant
ownage stuff doesn't work, since they have the boss flag, and offensive
magic potency is limited thanks to their 254 MDF. Use only the strongest
attacks and cast Blink to avoid damage. If Rydia has Bomb, she should
use that to save MP. Don't use Holy-elemental magic (White, Meteo) or
they'll retaliate with Maelstrom, leaving your whole party with single
digit HP. These guys won't respawn, so you can safely warp out to save
and recover your health whenever needed.
- Unfortunately, there's no save point here. It's not a long dungeon,
though.
- Assuming you've already got Asura and Leviathan, you can fight Bahamut
for his summon.

[Boss]
- 37 000 HP, 27 Agi, 35 000 Exp
- Bahamut will count down from 5 and then unleash Mega Flare, which
deals fairly massive damage, anywhere between 1000-6000 pod. You can
Reflect it, but you don't have enough time to cast it on everyone.



 ¤~~~~~~¤   Lunar Subterrane   ¤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~¤

 Items:                                                  Party:
  B1 | Ninja Suit     ¤*       B5 | White Robe    ¤        Lv60-70
  B2b| Life Staff     ¤*       B5 | Crystal Helm  ¤*
  B2a| Flame Whip     ¤        B5 | Cabin
  B2a| Dragoon Shield ¤        B6 | Ninja Star
  B3 | Dragoon Helm   ¤        B6 | 10× Artemis Arrows
  B3 | Dragoon Mail   ¤        B6 | Cabin
  B3 | Dragoon Gloves          B6 | Heroine Vest   *
  B4 | 10× Artemis Arrows      B6 | Life1                ¤: Unique
  B4 | Elixir                  B5b| Protect Ring   *     *: Trap
  B4 | Cure3                   B7 | Ribbon
  B4 | Cure3                   B7 | Ribbon
  B4 | Stardust Rod   ¤*       B8 | Ninja Star
  B5 | Crystal Shield ¤*       B9 | Elixir
  B5 | Protect Ring            B9 | Whistle
  B5 | Crystal Mail   ¤*       B10| Ninja Star
  B5 | Crystal Gloves ¤*       B10| Ninja Star

 Monster-in-a-box:                                Items (nc):
   Ninja Suit      | 2x RedGiant                    Rod
   Life Staff      | 2x Warlock, 2x Kary            150 gil
   Stardust Rod    | Behemoth                       Murasame      ¤
   Crystal Shield  | Blue Dragon, Red Dragon        Masamune      ¤
   Crystal Mail    | Behemoth                       White Lance   ¤
   Crystal Gloves  | 2x Red Dragon                  Crystal Sword ¤
   Crystal Helm    | Dragon Fossil, Warlock         Crystal       ¤t
   Heroine Vest    | Warlock, 3x Kary
   Protect Ring    | Behemoth

 Lost & Found:                               Bosses:
   Warlock    | Ribbon          (4)            Pale Dim
   Kary       | Artemis Bow     (4)            Wyvern
   RedGiant   | Rune Axe        (4)            Plague
   FatalEye   | Protect Ring    (4)            2× D.Lunar
   Blue Dragon| Dragon Whip     (3)            Ogopogo
   Red Dragon | Dragoon Spear   (3)            Zeromus
   Red Dragon | Crystal Ring    (4)
   Behemoth   | Power Sash      (3)
   EvilMask   | Glass Mask      (4)
   PinkPuff   | Pink Tail       (4)


- You'll likely run out of space here unless you use a Gysahl Whistle.
You can use the one you find near the end.
- There are two Save Points: one on B5 and another on B7. The one on B5
isn't near the main path, though.
- Throughout the caves, you'll find some pedestals holding some of the
most powerful equipment in the game (mostly weapons). They're all guarded
by powerful bosses, so before examining them, make sure you've recently
saved somewhere, so you won't lose too much progress should you die. While
they're all optional, if you can't handle them, you probably can't handle
the final boss either.
- On the first levels, you'll find the same enemies as in Bahamut's Lair.
It's not until about halfway through that you start seeing some new faces.
- You'll no doubt notice the change in scenery once you descend below B7.
During these last levels, you'll encounter the nastiest, most powerful
enemies in the game. You also won't be able to use Exit beyond this point.

- Use Stop or Weak on Kinryuus. Their Blitz deals 50% mHP damage (10% with
Thunder resistance), and they counter all attacks with Entangle (Stun).
- D.Fossils inflict Stun with their normal attacks. If Cecil gets stunned,
you might want to use Weak.
- Blue Dragons are nothing to worry about, although they do resist all
elements, so Cecil and Kain will only deal 50% damage.
- Red Dragons have similar stats as Blue Dragons, but only resist Fire.
When alone, they use Heat Ray (~1000 pod to all, F). Psych works great.
- FatalEyes will spam you with Count to inflict Doom / Death Sentence
on you. An all-out attack will hopefully take them out before anyone
falls. Flare/Holy would help, but it's a pretty common encounter (on B5
and B6), so you might want to save your MP.
- Casting Thunder magic on a Tricker is not a very good idea. Psych
works great on them, although the places where they're common are close
to the save points.
- The little room on the B5 level where you find the Cabin is the so
called 'Pink Puff Room.' It's the room quite close to the path that
takes you to B6. This is the only place in the game where you can
encounter the Purin Princess aka Pink Puff. Their slot 4 drop is the
Pink Tail, which you could trade for an Adamantite Armor with the tail
collector. However, without any Alarms, scoring one of those tails is
*insanely* hard, so don't even think about it. Even if you were to somehow
obtain the armor, I would advise against using it due to the permanent
elemental weakness that comes with it.
- Either way, the Puffs come in groups of 5 and have 10 000 HP. They're
kind of annoying to deal with because of how they Berserk your characters.
- You should already be familiar with the Behemoths. They'll counterattack
constantly, so choose your attacks wisely. Don't use magic besides Blink
and maybe Bomb. If it's too much of a pain, just run.
- Face will Reflect both parties (which makes healing rather difficult)
and then start throwing some nice little spells like Holy and Flare at
you (~2000). If you just spam Attack with all characters, you might take
them out before they even pull off that first Holy.
- Zemus Breath is surprisingly harmless, as he thinks it's a good idea
to spam you with Libra. Mindblast can stun you, but tends to miss. Even
when it misses, it still causes Bleed. They take a while to beat down,
since they have high HP and 254 MDF.
- In stark contrast, hanging out with Zemus Mind is nothing short of
unpleasant. After attacking you a couple of times, he'll cast a Confuse
spell that affects your entire party. Run like a bitch.
- Breath and Mind are the only enemies in the final area.

- The hidden path on B1 leads to a dead end with the first optional boss,
Hakuryuu. At least grab the two items on the way even if you're not taking
on the boss yet.
- The B2 floor would probably be the best place to try to get your
Artemis Bow (if you're patient enough). It's not really something Rosa
should be using, though, since it has -10 Mag.
- Check the stairs leading down on B3 for a hidden item (toss it).
- There's one last hidden item (150 gil) in the first doorway on B5.
- The Dragoon gear and Protect Rings grant resistance to all three
primary elements (Fire, Ice, and Thunder). Spread those around and you
can have four of your five characters resist the three main elements.
- The path splits on B6. The hidden path takes you to a dead end with a
save point and one of the optional bosses (Wyvern). If you need to heal
up, it's faster to get to the other save point by taking the main path
on B6.
- The Heroine Vest increases Strength, Vitality and Speed, but lowers
Magic (+/-15). Again, not recommended.

[Boss: Pale Dim]
- 27 300 HP, 40-43 Agi, A:FIT, 55 000 Exp + Murasame
- Pale Dim counters normal attacks with Slow, summons with Quake, and
elemental magic with Glare/Blizzard/Blitz.
- The Murasame increases Str, Vit, and Will by 5 and decreases the other
two by 5.

[Boss: Wyvern]
- 25 000 HP, 43-46 Agi, 64 000 Exp + Crystal Sword
- He starts off with Mega Flare right off the bat, and it definitely
hurts (~3000). However, so long as you refrain from using Summons,
that'll be the only one you'll see.
- After breaking the ice, he'll just spam reflected Flares (~1200) and
occasionally heal 2500 HP. Hardly anything to worry about.

- Two more bosses on B7, right next to the second and final Save Point.

[Boss: Plague]
- 28 000 HP, 29-32 Agi, w:A, 31 105 Exp, 550 gil + White Lance
- Another easy one. He'll inflict Death Sentence on your whole party,
and then it's just a race against time to finish the battle before the
reaper claims you. Even if you run out of time, you can squeeze in a
Phoenix Down as your characters are falling, so it's very much possible
to survive it.

[Boss: 2× D.Lunar]
- 21 000 HP, 30 Agi, w:F, 50 000 Exp
- Using the Attack command will prompt them to enter 'Bio mode,' where
they Reflect themselves and start throwing reflected Virus at you (~1500).
Once one of them is down, the remaining one can't do anything other than
counter with Fire (or Remedy if you use a Summon).
- If you already got the Ragnarok, Cecil can hit them for max damage.
Berserk may not help, since then Cecil will target either one in random.
The Crystal Mail also just makes him immune to Berserk.
- You might want to do some preparations before you put them in Bio mode
(if you do that at all). Their regular script is Attack, Fire, Attack x4,
Bad Breath (all). Again, a character will evade Bad Breath completely if
they're immune to even *one* of the ailments (Toad, Mini, Porky, Silence,
Darkness, Confuse), You can use gear like the Crystal Mail, White Robe,
Rune Bracelet, RubyRing, and Headband.

- The last pedestal is on B8.

[Boss: Ogopogo]
- 37 000 HP, 38 Agi, 61 000 Exp + Masamune
- His loop is: double Big Wave (50% mHP), Attack x3, Big Wave (25% mHP),
Attack x2. Magic is countered with Blaze (25% mHP, Ice).

- Once you've gotten all the items, return to save and prepare for the
final boss. If you don't mind the hike, you could leave the dungeon to
spend some of the money you've made. If you'd like to level up, try to
score some rare drop(s) at the same time, so you can potentially take
out two stones with one bird. The Exp requirement per level caps at Lv70,
from which point on, each level is 160-200k Exp depending on the character.
Lv99 requires a total of 8-10 million Exp.
- After Lv70, a character will receive one of eight possible stat gain
sets per level, some of which actually reduce stats. If you're feeling
obsessive, these are the best ones:
                                              Lv70
         Str Agi Vit Wis Wil         Str  Agi  Vit  Wis  Wil
 Cecil  | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | 2 |      | 85 | 41 | 70 | 36 | 41 |
 Kain   | 3 | 3 | - | - | 3 |      | 73 | 48 | 63 | 12 | 39 |
        | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 |
 Edge   | 2 | - | 2 | - | - |      | 59 | 54 | 47 | 34 | 25 |
        | - | 3 | - | 3 | - |
 Rydia  | 3 | 3 | - | 3 | 3 |      | 36 | 33 | 34 | 63 | 54 |
        | 2 | - | 2 | 2 | 2 |
 Rosa   | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |      | 48 | 32 | 42 | 22 | 71 |

- De-equip anything that might lower Rosa's and Rydia's Magic (Artemis
Bow, Heroine Vest) and equip stuff to boost it instead (Life Staff,
Stardust Rod, White Robe, Tiara (Rydia)). Cecil should equip the Ninja
Hood if it gets him to 41 Agi.
- You'll be fully healed for the final battle.
- There are three event battles before the real battle begins. The first
two have FuSoYa and Golbez fighting Zemus. The third one ends when you
use the Crystal with Cecil.
 × The characters in slots 1, 2, and 3 will lose their criticals as a
 result of the first two event battles (unless you lock the values).

[Boss: Zeromus]
- 45 000 + 61 000 HP, 69 Agi
- He starts off in an invincible state, but removes it right away as his
first action (not noticeable when playing legit).
- He mostly relies on Big Bang (~2000), which comes with visual effects
I don't think you should look at. He'll always shake on the previous turn.
- Black Hole will negate support magic, so you can forget about Haste.
You can (and should) still Slow Zeromus, though. It doesn't affect that.
- You'll want to avoid those Flare counters (~2000), so only have Rydia
summon outside of Beta phase (ie. before the first Big Bang and after his
full HP recovery).
- He changes his Magic stat for every attack (as seen in the enemy list).
If you trigger a counterattack while he's charging for an attack, you
can end up powering up or powering down the attack being charged. Eg. a
Flare counter will cut Big Bang's damage by half.
- He'll fully recover his HP once when he falls below 16 001 HP (can be
avoided with reflected magic). His subsequent attack pattern includes
Flare as a normal attack. His final attack pattern, when below 12 001 HP,
consists only of a low power Meteo (~1000) that can easily miss some of
your characters.





End of file.