O ________ ________ | __ __ __ __ __| |__ ____/_ | | | ___ __ _ __ | | | __ _// | | \ / / \/ | | / | | /_ || | | /_ | | | | /_ __ | | |_/| | |/ | //-\ || | |_/| //-\ |/ | | | //-\ __ || | _ | | || | /--- ||_/ | _ | /--- || | | | /--- / // || | | | /_ / / /_\__| | | |/ /_\/ | |/ /_/_// / | | | | | / | / | / / / / T A C T I C S T h e W a r o f t h e L i o n s %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE WAR OF THE LIONS FAQ % % Version 1.37 % % by Fritz Fraundorf % % qumarsh@gmail.com % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% For best results, view this document using a fixed-width font (e.g. Courier). Make sure that the window is at least 79 characters wide, so that the numbers below all appear a single line: 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 If they appear on more than one line, you may need to make your window bigger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- %%%%TABLE OF CONTENTS%%%% To jump to any section of this FAQ, press Ctrl+F to Find and type in the code (beginning with 00) next to the section title. I. Revision History 00rev II. Frequently Asked Questions 00faq III. Walkthrough - Main Quest Chapter I: The Meager 00walk1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00walk2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00walk3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00walk4 IV. Walkthrough - Subquests 00sub Agrias's Birthday 00agr Gollund Colliery 00col Recruiting Balthier 00balt Nelveska Temple 00nel Recruiting Cloud 00cloud Disorder in the Order 00dis Lionel's New Liege Lord 00lio Midlight's Deep 00md V. Battle Strategies Chapter I: The Meager 00bs1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00bs2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00bs3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00bs4 Subquests 00bssub Midlight's Deep 00bsmd VI. Jobs General Information about Jobs 00job0 Standard Jobs 00job1 Special Jobs 00job2 Monsters 00mon VII. Ability Strategies Ability Combos 00abil Character Strategies 00char Party Strategies 00par VIII. Statistics and Leveling Bravery and Faith 00brave EXP, JP, and Gil 00exp Quickly Raising EXP and JP 00quick Automated Leveling 00auto Level-Downs and Stat Grinding 00down IX. Equipment and Items 00equip Weapons 00weap Shields 00sh Headgear 00head Armor 00armor Accessories 00acc Items 00item X. Finding Items Poached Items 00poach Shop Chart 00shop Rare Item Locations 00rare Missable Items and Events 00miss XI. Errands 00err XII. Other Game Information Ivalician Calendar 00calendar Zodiac Compatibility 00zodiac Party & Boss Zodiac Signs 00boss Status Changes 00status Elemental Affinities 00elem Arithmeticks Chart 00arith Random Battles 00rb Various Tricks 00tricks XIII. Miscellaneous Reference Zodiac Stone Locations 00stones FMV Movie List 00fmv FF References 00ffr XIV. PSone -> PSP Changes Game Changes 00psone Name Conversion Chart 00names XV. Credits / Disclaimer 00cred ******************************************************************************* I. REVISION HISTORY 00REV ******************************************************************************* ---Version 1.37 (1/10/08)--- - The Orator abilities Enlighten and Intimidate decrease Faith and Bravery by TWENTY, not five, as I'd typed. Thanks to Drew Seleski for pointing out that my mistake; my apologies for taking so long to correct this error. That's what happens when I indiscriminately copy-and-paste :P. - Walkthrough and battle strategy changes: > Added more description of the different kinds of shops at the beginning of the Chapter I walkthrough, as well as more suggestions on mining the Warriors' Guild if you're so inclined. > In Chapter I, adding some notes about good Zodiac signs to use against the bosses (who are all Virgos). Matching Zodiac signs tends to be particularly useful in Chapter I since your characters tend to still be more similar at this point, so you have more latitude to deploy based on Zodiac sign. > Added another tip to the Chapter I Dorter battle, about how you can effectively extend the range of your Black Magick by targeting the tile in front of the enemy. (This tactic starts becoming particularly useful at Dorter since it's the first time the enemy has long-range attacks.) > Added some more recommended abilities to the beginning of the Chapter III walkthrough as ones to shoot for if you don't already have them, including Shirahadori, Dual Wield, and Ignore Elevation. > The second wave of errands in Chapter IV become available after Limberry, not Eagrose; I've corrected this in the walkthrough. (It was already correct in the Errands section.) > Added a reminder to equip Nu Khai Armbands for Eagrose Castle to the Chapter IV walkthrough. > In Chapter IV, there's an extra Blood Sword you can find using Treasure Hunter at Eagrose Castle Keep. I've added this to the walkthrough & battle strategy, as well as to the Rare Item Locations list. Credit goes to the BradyGames guide for highlighting this one. > Added casting Atheist status on your characters as another tactic for the Elidibus battle, as well as a caution that this *won't* allow you to learn Zodiark if put on your Summoner. (You need to take at least 1 HP damage to learn the spell.) > Added Graviga as another good ability against major bosses, for the same reason as Lich. - Updated Orlandeau's and Agrias's character strategies to note that Shirahadori and Move +3 could also be swapped out for Mana Shield / Manafont for a somewhat more defensive version of the character. Thanks to Pat Polk for the suggestion. Also updated Agrias's description to note that you may want to pick up Move +2 while you're working on unlocking Dark Knight and Move +3. - Clarified the description of Lich; it does damage equal to half the target's maximum HP, like Graviga. - Also updated Various Tricks with a Friendly And Unfriendly Fire note to summarize the various magick-targeting tactics. ---Version 1.36 (1/9/08)--- - Added an additional Archer-based character strategy, and updated Mustadio's (to reflect Arts of War as another possible action ability for him) and Beowulf's (to suggest the Excalibur for its auto-Haste effect, since his attack power isn't so important). - Updated the Samurai's job description to note that Iaido attacks are based on magick attack strength and that raising a Samurai's magick attack is thus helpful. Also updated the Time Mage job description to suggest Iaido as a good secondary ability since it gives the Time Mage some offense and makes use of the Time Mage's high magick attack without consuming MP. - The Faith and Atheist status actually change Faith to 100 or 0, respectively; I've clarified this throughout the FAQ where it was unclear (or erroneous :P). - New ability combos added: Geomancy + Move +1/2/3 or Teleport; Dance or Sing + Vanish (which I'd only had listed in the Party Strategies section, where it's easily missed), and Soulbind + Lifefont or Reraise. - Noted in the walkthrough and weapons list that the Faerie Harp can actually be used to Charm any target, regardless of gender. - Added to the Undead section in Various Tricks to note that Raise can be used to do damage equal to half an Undead character's max HP. - Added an additional Various Trick, "Last-Second Silence Cure," describing how you can start casting magick while silenced and THEN cure yourself. - Also added a trick concerning the Rod of Faith: you can lower a character's Faith to use him/her as a fighter, then only equip the Rod of Faith when you want to turn the character into a magick-user - Updated the description of the pig family ability "Snort" to note that it's only effective on humans (not other monsters) - Updated the Arithmetician's job description to clarify that you don't need to equip Black Magick, etc., to use those spells with Arithmeticks since they're all automatically included in the Arithmeticks command. (I hadn't explicitly mentioned this earlier.) - Clarified Meliadoul's job description (and mention in the walkthrough) to point out that if you want to make her a magick-user for her Faith, you probably won't want to leave her in her Divine Knight job since its magick attack is rather low. ---Version 1.35 (1/8/08)--- - Added a new section on Elemental Affinities. This lists the abilities that have each elemental affinity and what can defend against each element, as well as explaining in general how affinities work. It's still missing a few of the enemy-only magicks but I'll get them in a future update. - Finished fixing up the Character Strategies section for now. I divided the section into Generic Character and Special Character strategies, and added a number more strategies for the special characters, as well as a Summoner and a Monk set-up to the generic section. I realize this section is still pretty thin, so if anyone would like to recommend any other character set-ups they think would be good here, I'm all ears :) - Started redoing the Status Changes section. On the existing list of status changes, I corrected or clarified the appearance and effects of the various status changes. I also organized the list into good/bad/neutral status. I'll have more detailed information on status effects in the next update. - Triggering Mana Shield DOES depend on Bravery (as well as having at least 1 MP, of course), so I've updated this throughout the FAQ. - Corrected the description of Steal Heart and Plunder Heart -- it CAN be used on monsters, since monsters are of course considered to be of a different gender. Sorry for the goof! - Corrected the description of Defend; it reduces the enemy hit rate (for both physical and magickal attacks), not the damage you receive. - Clarified the cut-off for critical HP (20% of max) in the descriptions of Reaction Abilities and of the Tame ability. - Cherche is the common poach from the Behemoth King and the Artemis Bow is the rare. I previously had them the other way around, so I've corrected this throught the FAQ. Thanks to J.J. Garcia again for the catch. - Updated the description of the Parry ability to note that it doesn't work against rear attacks. - I'd been writing "Oracle" when I meant "Mystic" more than a few times throughout the FAQ. (Oracle was the PSone name for the same job -- old habits die hard!) I've fixed them all now -- thanks to Tam Thanh Truong for the catch. - Amended Meliadoul's job description to note that giving her a polearm or crossbow isn't such a good idea since it means she can't use her sword techniques. - In the Summoner's job description, added the Mystic's Manafont as another ability that can be used to recover MP. - Updated the Earning EXP/JP/Gil section to note how gil is awarded for picking up items from chests when you already have 99 of the item. - Updated the Thunderstorm info. in various tricks to clarify that light rains have no effect on elemental damage. ---Version 1.33 (1/6/08)--- - Matt Dorothy pointed out that the Balthier quest is actually available sooner -- after the battle at Bervenia. You don't have to wait until Zeltennia Castle. I've updated this throughout the FAQ. - Expanded the Prime Numbers list into a larger Arithmeticks Chart that shows what multiple each number can be hit by, lists the numbers that CAN'T be hit by Arithmeticks, and gives some tips on evading enemy Arithmeticks. - Continuing with the Arithmeticks stuff, I updated the Level Downs section to point out that you may also want to level-down lv 99 characters when facing enemy Arithmeticians (so you can't be hit by Level Multiple of 3). I also added a "All 9 Fever" trick to Various Tricks and to Statistics and Leveling: when you're maxed out at lv 99, it's easy to cast healing spells and buffs to the whole team using Level Multiple of 3. - More walkthrough and battle strategy changes: > Added an alternate strategy from reader RalphTheBleeder for the Lionel Castle Gate -- casting Black Magicks through the gate to KO Gaffgarion. I also suggested putting your melee fighters at the TOP of the deployment screen since they're attacked from the rear here. > Redid the Cuchulainn battle strategy, which was previously pretty thin. Thanks to Juan Mejia for suggesting a couple of useful abilities here. > Revised the Chapter III walkthrough to emphasize the value of trying to recruit or poach some of the behemoths in the Zeklaus Desert battle. > Clarified the walkthrough for the Wiegraf battle to make it clear that you need to equip the abilities before you start part 1 of the battle (since you can't change partway through). I also added a bit more to the alternate strategies for this battle (including using Hallowed Bolt as an attempt to silence Belias); thanks to readers Michael Wood and warren for these suggestions. > Bervenia: Elaborated the "lure Meliadoul down into the town" tactic. > Dorter Chapter IV: Added stealing Cletienne's MP as another tactic. > Lost Halidom: Added Shirahadori and Auto-Potion as good defensive abilities, and recommending giving Rubber Boots to Reis (via a job change) if you're using her here, so that she won't get KOed by Tri- Thunder. > Clarified when the rumor for the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest appears (also after Bervenia, although you can't do the battles until much later). > The Oubliette: If you're jumping straight down to the bottom to look for the exit, it's a good idea to make the character Invisible or use some defensive ability to keep him/her from getting surrounded and KOed. - Updated the Monsters section with more information about how the contents of monster eggs is determined. - Also updated the Quickly Raising EXP section with a tip on how to use monster breeding to get high-level monsters. - Updated the EXP section of Statistics and Leveling to clarify that physial attack, magick attack, and speed don't increase with every level up, since the old text made it sound unclear. Thanks to Minh Vu for pointing out this was unclear. - Updated the Level-Downs and Stat Grinding section with the specific location of the Degenerator in Zeklaus Desert, and with Mime as a good alternative to Onion Knight for level-up stat gains. Thanks again to Minh Vu for the recommendation. - Job section changes: > Added a note to Cloud's job description pointing out that his Limit attacks depend on his Magick Attack strength, and clarified that the other sword techniques are physical. Thanks to winddraco for the suggestion. > Added the stat ratings for Holy Dragon Reis and filled in the job description a bit more. > Added some discussion of Holy Breath to Reis's Dragonkin job description, and pointed out that the breath attacks can be strengthened by raising her Magick Attack. > Corrected the vertical range on the dragons' Breath attacks -- it's 2, not infinity :P. > Further clarified how/why Arithmeticians are slow to gain JP. - Gaffgarion doesn't have a Blood Sword at the Lionel Castle Gate, only at the Gallows; I've corrected this throughout the FAQ. Sorry for the goof! - Since Sekhret can also be found fairly easily in Zeklaus Desert, I updated the best locations to find Sekhret, in the Poaching & Rare Items lists and elsewhere throughout the FAQ. - Corrected the effects of thunderstorms on magick: thunder goes up 125% (not 120%), fire goes down 75% (not 70%), and ice is unaffected. - Expanded the "attack 2 enemies in 1 turn" trick to note that you can also use it with polearms (and other shorter-range weapons). - Updated the Missable Items and Events list by adding the Pigs at Finnath Creek as another good (though not necessary) place to get one. - Corrected some more typos/other goofs ... I realize I kept referring to the "Entice" skill by its PSone name, "Invitation." D'oh. - Happy New Year! ---Version 1.31 (1/3/08)--- - More walkthrough and battle strategy changes: > Nelveska Temple: Noted that since Construct 7 is weak to lightning, Reis's Thunder Breath works well, but that Construct 7 is also immune to attacks of other elements (even non-magickal ones!) > Midlight's Deep Terminus: Recommended bringing someone who can cure status ailments, and suggested Construct 8 + another character with Chantage as a way to survive Zodiark in a pinch. - Added some new ability combos: Arts of War + Dual Wield, Vengeance or Blade Beam + Reraise or Dragonheart, Graviga + Climhazzard, Immobilize or Leg Shot + Jump, and Haste + Doom Fist or Condemn. - Started work on revising the Character Strategies section. I'll add more to this section in the next update; it certainly needs a lot of work! Apologies for all the around cruddiness :P. (Thanks to winddraco for some suggestions for Cloud here.) - Corrected the poached items for Red Chocobo -- as you might expect, Remedy is the common idea and Barette the rare, not the other way around. Thanks to J.J. Garcia for the catch. - The Clockwork Faire errand isn't time-sensitive; it just appears in Chapter 3. I've fixed this in the Errands list; thanks to J.J. Garcia for this correction as well. - Also updated the Poached Items list with some tips on poaching -- thanks to Pat Polk for the suggestion. - Updated Construct 8's job description to note that it's also immune to all *non*-Lightning elements. - Corrected more typos, as always ;). Thanks to J.J. Garcia for pointing out thatI had the Thunder Rod listed as "Casts: Lightning" and not "Casts: Thunder" ;) (Older updates not listed.) ******************************************************************************* II. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 00FAQ ******************************************************************************* Q. Is Cloud still in this version of the game, like he was in the PSone release? A. Yes. In fact, you can actually recruit him earlier than you could before. Q. How do I get Cloud to join my party? And where do I find his sword? A. See the "Walkthrough - Subquests" section of the FAQ. You need to complete the Gollund Colliery, Nelveska Temple, and Recruiting Cloud quests in sequence. Q. I didn't buy the flower when I had the chance. Can I still get Cloud? A. Unfortunately, it seems that you have only one chance to buy the flower. If you declined to buy it, you are not able to get Cloud, or complete the other sidequests that depend on the flower. Sorry :( Q. What's new in the PSP version of the game? A. Check out the PSP Version Changes section - just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00psone to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. How do I beat Wiegraf? A. Equip the Auto-Potion ability and a gun on Ramza. Run from Wiegraf and keep using the Tailwind ability to boost your speed. Repeat until you are getting seven or eight turns in a row, then start shooting at Wiegraf. Against Belias, stand still and shoot at him until he dies. Q. Where is Midlight's Deep? A. After you beat Mullonde Holy Place, go to the Port City of Warjilis. You will see a scene at the bar, then the way to Midlight's Deep will appear. Q. How do I beat / find items in Midlight's Deep? A. See the cleverly-titled Midlight's Deep section of the walkthrough ;) . Just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00md to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. OK, I think I understand the idea of finding the items, but how do I rotate the camera to get the correct perspective? A. Use the analog stick (in the lower left of the PSP). Every time you tap it left or right, the perspective changes. Q. Are there items or events in this game that I can permanently miss? What do I need to do to see them? A. I've put together a Missable Items and Events list -- just press Ctrl+F and enter 00miss to jump to that section. Q. How do I use the Samurai's ability Iaido? A. First learn the ability you want to use. Then buy several of the corresponding Samurai sword. During battle, you can use the ability if you have the appropriate type of sword in your inventory (NOT equipped). Note that this may break the sword, so I'd buy several copies. Q. How do I learn Ultima? A. Only Ramza and Luso can learn Ultima. Ramza or Luso must be in their base job; then, if someone casts the spell on him, he will learn it. (As long as just one of the two characters learns it, you can have him cast it on the other to learn it later.) The best time to learn the spell is from the assassins outside Limberry Castle in Chapter IV, but you can also have Luso learn it on the Riovanes Castle Roof in Chapter III or from another player in the multiplayer mode. (There's also a guest character who can learn Ultima during the final battle if Ramza or Luso casts it on her.) Q. How do I get the lipstick accessory? A. First, you need to keep Agrias, Alicia, Lavian, and Mustadio on your roster until Chapter IV. Once Chapter IV begins, travel back and forth between Gollund and Lesalia until the calendar says 1 Cancer. If you have at least 500,000 gil and are standing on a town (NOT a castle) when the calendar turns 1 Cancer, you should get the scene where you acquire the Tynar Rouge accessory. Q. Help! I beat the last boss and the game said it was saving afterwards, but when I load up my last save, I'm just at the last boss fight again. Can I go anywhere else? A. Unfortunately, no :(. The game clear save is just to unlock some of the multiplayer missions. If you want to continue roving the world map, you need to keep a separate save from before you began the final sequence of battles. Q. How do I beat the Lionel Castle Gate? A. Give Ramza the Chakra ability and have him use it every turn. Don't open the gate until the fight outside is finished. For more tips, see the Battle Strategies for Chapter II. Press Ctrl+F and type in 00bs2 to jump there. Q. How do I learn Zodiark? A. You can only learn Zodiark from Elidibus, the boss of Midlight's Deep, by having him cast it on one of your Summoners. Equip the Mana Shield ability to survive it. (You only have a random chance to learn the spell when you're hit with it, so you might not learn it the first time you're hit with it, but the odds are definitely in your favor!) Q. How do I recruit monsters? A. You need an Orator. Then just use their Entice or Tame abilities on the monsters. (For more information, see "Recruiting Monsters" in the Monsters section.) Q. How do I poach enemies? A. Equip the Thief ability Poach and kill a monster with a regular attack. Then go to a Poachers' Den in a trade city and you can purchase what you've poached. Note that Poachers' Dens are NOT available in all cities; only Dorter, Warjilis, and Sal Ghidos have them, and they don't appear until the start of Chapter III. Q. How do I get the Genji equipment? Can I steal it from the boss who has it? A. Unfortunately, you can never steal from that boss in the PSP version, so he gets to keep his Genji gear to himself. Alas! However, you CAN get the Genji Armor and Masamune from the new "Lionel's New Liege Lord" subquest. Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the guide for that quest. Q. Aren't there some new jobs added to the PSP version that weren't in the PSone version? How do I unlock them? A. The PSP version of FF Tactics has two new jobs. To make a character into an Onion Knight, simply get their Squire and Chemist jobs up to level 6. To make a character into a Dark Knight, you first Master (learn all the abilities for) Knight and Black Mage, have Dragoon, Geomancer, Samurai, and Ninja at level 8, AND kill 20 enemies (not just KO--they must turn to chests or crystals) with the character. Yikes! :) Q. What are the new subquests in the PSP version? How do I access them? A. There are three new subquests in Chapter IV, one revolving around Beowulf and the others revolving around Agrias. Beowulf's subquest is available after returning Reis to human form at Nelveska Temple and after completing Mullonde Cathedral in the main storyline. (Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the section with all the details on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest.) Agrias has a couple of different subquests. First, if you still have Alicia and Lavian, the Tynar Rouge event can be accessed on 1 Cancer. Second, after Mullonde, travel to Zeltennia to open up another battle accessed via the Tavern at Gariland. For details on these events, press Ctrl+F and enter 00agr to jump to Agrias's Birthday or 00dis for Disorder in the Order, respectively. Q. How do I recruit Luso and Balthier? A. Luso is recruited automatically in Chapter III, as you head through the Zeklaus Desert on the way to Riovanes. Balthier isn't available until you've completed the battle at the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV. Any time after that, read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor at the Gariland tavern, then go to the Dorter tavern and read the "Call for Guards" rumor. Win the battle that ensues when you try to leave town and Balthier joins. Q. Is there a way I can quickly gain levels? A. Sure, see the Quickly Raising EXP & JP (00quick) for strategies for this. With the right magicks, it's even possible to make this process completely automatic! But keep in mind you never *need* to do this to finish the game. Usually, a change of strategy should be enough to get you past the next battle and you don't need to spend time leveling if you don't want to. Q. How do I ride a Chocobo? A. Move the character onto the same square as the Chocobo. Q. What's the deal with Onion Knights? They seem horrible. Is there any way to make them stronger? A. Actually, yes. The Onion Knight's job level goes up as you master other jobs, and if you can get the Onion Knight up to job level 8, they'll become more powerful. Also, if you play the game's multiplayer missions, you can earn some powerful "Onion" equipment that only Onion Knights can equip. Q. One of my characters is threatening to leave the team. What do I do? A. This is happening because your character has either a very low Bravery or a very high Faith. Use Orator skills to increase his/her Bravery or lower his/her Faith a little. Q. Is there any kind of New Game+ mode, so that I can start from the beginning but keep all my levels and items? A. Unfortunately, no. FF Tactics dates back to a time before this feature started becoming common in RPGs. Whenever you start a new game, you always have to start from scratch. Q. Where do I get all the Zodiac Stones? A. Look in the Zodiac Stones list near the end of the file. Be warned that this list contains some spoilers. Q. Why don't any of the characters have noses? A. Your guess is as good as mine. Some genetic defect or something, I suppose. ******************************************************************************* III. WALKTHROUGH - MAIN QUEST ******************************************************************************* You'll begin by entering your name and birthdate. If you want Ramza (the protagonist) to end up with a certain Zodiac sign, see the Ivalician Calendar section to match up the sign you want with what birthdate you should enter. In a regular game, it's not *too* important to give him a particular Zodiac sign, so you can enter your own birthday or whatever else you want if you'd like. But, if you want to maximize the damage he can do to enemy bosses, Capricorn is probably your best bet; you'll get this sign if you enter a birthdate between December 23rd and January 19th. (Or, if you want as wide a range of Zodiac signs as possible, you could make him a Taurus, Virgo, or Sagittarius, as no other story characters have these signs.) The game starts at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy knights shows up, and you have to fight. This battle is pretty much automatic, as everyone except Ramza is controlled by the computer. Gaffgarion and Agrias will take care of most of the enemies without any trouble, so you can have Ramza just do pretty much whatever you want. It's possible that one or more of your weaker teammates--Alicia, Lavian, and Ladd--will get KOed. Don't worry; none of them can die permanently in this battle. After Gaffgarion and Agrias finish wiping out the enemies, there will be some story scenes, and Ramza will enter into an extended flashback. %%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk1 All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as a knight-in-training with the Order of the Northern Sky. You (Ramza) and Delita will be at the academy in Gariland, where you receive the assignment to defeat some thieves entering the town. You are automatically joined by four squires and two chemists, then the first battle begins. See "Battle Strategies" for tips on the battles. After you win the battle, you will go to the map screen. You can click on Gariland to visit its shops. The Tavern is used to hear information about the game's story and world, and later to run Errands for extra JP and money and to enter the multiplayer mode. The Outfitter is used to buy items. Finally, the Warriors' Guild allows you to recruit new human characters to your roster. You may want to stop at the Warriors' Guild recruit some new characters. In particular, look for characters with reasonably high Bravery, especially if your current characters don't have very good Bravery. Bravery affects the your chance of using Reaction Abilities and the strength of some attacks -- higher is better, of course! (Although there are abilities to raise everyone's Bravery later, you probably won't get them right away.) You may also want a character or two with high Faith to turn into a magick-user. A second thing to look at is the character's Zodiac sign. Taurus and Capricorn characters will be particularly effective against the bosses in this chapter and the next, so getting some of those signs on your roster will give you a bit of a leg up. If you want to spend the time, you can mine the Guild until you get just the character you want. If you don't like the character that appears; simply select "Don't Hire." You won't be charged anything and you can select Male Soldier or Female Soldier to roll another character. You can keep doing this until you get some high Bravery characters -- though it's certainly not necessary to spend the time here if you don't want. Note that female recruits are 100 gil cheaper and probably more useful in the long run since some of the game's most powerful items can only be used by female characters. This is probably the only time in the game that you'll want to use the Warriors' Guild. If you lose any of your main team members later in the game, you're probably better off resetting. It's tough to replace characters who have already been built up with a lot of abilities! Stop by the Outfitter's in Gariland to buy some Potions. If one or both of your Chemists has enough JP to learn the Phoenix Down ability, learn that ability and then buy a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs at the store. Phoenix Downs are great to have as they allow you to revive a KOed character. You'll also want to equip one of your Chemists with the Mythril Knife you picked up as a Battle Trophy in the first battle; it's stronger than the Daggers they already have. Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to Mandalia Plain. As soon as you leave the city, you'll have a flashback (yes, a flashback within a flashback) to the death of Ramza's father Barbaneth. After that sequence has ended, you'll be back in Gariland. Click on Mandalia Plain once again and this time you'll actually get there. At Mandalia Plain, you'll meet Argath, under attack by the Corpse Brigade. You can choose whether or not to help him (bottom option) or just go after the Corpse Brigade (to option). This has no long-term impact on the storyline; it only affects the victory conditions for the upcoming battle: - If you choose not to help Argath (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies. It doesn't matter if Argath is KOed during the battle or not. Choosing this option also adds 10 points to the Bravery score of every character in your current squad, including Delita. 2 points of this change will remain even after the battle. - Choosing to help Argath (bottom choice) adds an additional requirement to the battle: you'll have to keep Argath from getting KOed during the battle. This option has no effect on your team's Bravery. The first option both makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery. High Bravery is pretty useful since it increases some weapons' attack strength and your chance of using Reaction Abilities. There's no benefit at all from choosing the second option, so choose the first! When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which option you choose before the battle. Back on the map, go on up to Eagrose Castle. You'll have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then Zalbaag will send you to rendezvous with his spy at Dorter. At this point, you might want to consider changing some of your characters to new jobs. Chemists are really more useful than either White Mages or Black Mages, so keep your Chemists as-is. But you might want to change some of your Squires to Knights, since Knights have more HP and damage potential than Squires. (Archers are also available at this time. They're good in general, but I'd skip them for the next few battles as melee combat is best for them.) I made Ramza into a Knight at this point. It's probably a good idea to keep at least one Squire, though. Why is that? As long as you have at least one Squire active in battle, everyone will earn some JP towards that job, and that will help you buy useful Squire abilities like Counter Tackle, Move +1, and JP Boost. Move +1 and JP Boost are particulary useful -- JP Boost increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other abilities faster--it's a good investment! At any rate, if you do change jobs, be sure to buy (and equip) new gear for those characters. Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There's new equipment for sale here. Stock up on Potions, then arm your characters with the new gear. Make sure all your Squires and Knights have Longswords, the best weapon available to them right now. In particular, if you changed any of your characters' jobs, be sure they have equipment that goes with the new jobs. You can safely skip the Mythril Knife, though--it'll just increase a Chemist's attack power by 1 point, and they don't do much fighting, anyway. The shop also sells Battle Boots, which increase your movement range by 1 tile. As handy is this, they're pricey, so you won't be able to afford them for your whole team. If you buy them for anyone, give them to your Chemist, so he/she can get around the battlefield quickly enough to heal people. Also stop by the shop at Gariland, which sells different items than the one at Eagrose. The Eagrose has equipment for Knights and Archers, but the shop offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which is better armor for your Squires and Chemists. Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! (Unlike in a lot of games, armor in FF Tactics doesn't actually reduce the damage you take; it gives you more HP or MP. Still, it helps you stay alive longer!) Don't forget that you change Delita's and Argath's equipment, too, despite the fact that they're guest characters. You can (and should!) have them learn new abilities, too! You may want to gain some levels before proceeding. You can do this by strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain until you get into a random battle. Note that while Ramza is required in story battles, you do NOT have to deploy Ramza during the random battles. (Also, since Delita and Argath are Guest characters, they won't participate in random battles, only story ones.) By the way, it'll help you out in some of the future battles if you're able to teach Argath a simple Black Magick spell. This is pretty tricky, though, since he doesn't participate in any of the random battles and can only earn JP in the story battles. So, the only way to do this is to have your Chemists take enough actions during the story battles that Argath gains some JP in the Chemist job and is able to unlock the Black Mage job. It's cool if you can do this, but don't worry too much about it if you can't; it's not *necessary*. Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head down that direction. When you get to Gariland, you'll see a scene promoting the multiplayer mode. Continue on to the Weald and complete the battle there. Before proceeding on to Dorter, make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down. You can skip the abilities for all the individual condition-curing items, though; most of the conditions are that bad and when you get Remedies, those will cure *any* status change. Other good abilities to learn are Stone and Rush. When you get the JP, pick up Move +1, Focus, and Counter Tackle. Ramza can also use the Tailwind ability, which you'll want to get as well. Chemists should have Potion and Phoenix Down. When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you'll be tossed into a battle at the Dorter Slums. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don't win at first, try again, or build up your levels first. Upon your victory, you'll be able to visit the town. There's no new equipment to buy, but stock up on items. You'll want at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Potions are cheap (50 gil each), so there's no reason not to carry plenty. Also, winning the battle at Dorter Slums netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than anything you can find in stores. Equip it one of your characters. Again, you may want to build levels before proceeding to the next battle. When you're ready, go on up to the Zeklaus Desert, where you'll have a battle at the Sand Rat's Sieve. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter I--so it may take you a couple tries. After you win, you'll rescue the Marquis. You'll also pick up a Blind Knife. It's not stronger than the other knives you already have, but it does inflict Blind status on enemies (lowering their hit rate), so give it to a Chemist. Return to Eagrose Castle. You'll meet Duke Larg, and then Dycedarg will let Ramza and friends in on the next mission against the Corpse Brigade. The shops at all three towns will now be stocked with new items. At Eagrose, you can buy Iron Swords for both your Squires and Knights, as well as Escutcheons, Iron Helms, and Bronze Armor for any Knights you have. Gariland has better light armor, used by jobs other than Knights. If you're using mages, you can buy new magick weapons at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen Robes, which will raise their MP max. All towns also carry a new accessory-- the Shoulder Cape, which will boost both your physical and magick evade rates by a little bit (10%). It's not really as useful as the Battle Boots, though. The most important new item isn't actually an equipment--it's the Hi-Potion, which is now for sale under Items! Hi-Potions restore 70 HP instead of the 30 you get from a regular Potion, and since you should have a lot more than 30 HP now, you'll need the healing boost. You can't use Hi-Potions unless you've learned the Hi-Potion ability (under Chemist), so be sure to have your Chemist(s) learn this ability. Buy as much of the new gear as you can. There's a lot to buy, so you might not be able to afford it all. Aside from restocking your item supply, the priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the Leather Plate at Gariland, as well as restocking your item supply. After you're done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands' Den, south of the Mandalia Plain. You may want to bring more male characters than female ones here, as there's a chance that one of the enemies can charm a female character--but it's pretty unlikely, so don't go out of your way to adjust your roster. Also, if you happen to have any characters on your roster who are Tauruses, Capricorns, or male Pisces, they're good to deploy here. You'll be facing your first boss character here, and she's a female Virgo. The three Zodiac signs listed above will do the most damage to her. Again, it's definitely not essential to have them, but it'll help you out if you do. The Brigands' Den is easier than the Sand Rat's Sieve, so if you won there, you should be able to attain victory here. Victory here nets you a Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you've got at this point. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as the Corpse Brigade strikes back. Strip Argath of all his equipment, as he'll be leaving your party shortly. Go back up to Eagrose. A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and Delita decide to rescue Tietra, and Argath leaves. At this point, you'll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven't already. If you change any of your characters to Monks, do so; they're very strong fighters. If any of your characters have enough JP to buy the Knight abiity Equip Heavy Armor, a good strategy is to learn that ability and then make the character into a Monk--the heavy armor will make up for the Monk's otherwise poor HP count. It would also help to have a Black Mage and Archer. However, you will still want to have a healer, so give one of your characters the Items ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, you need to learn (and equip) the Throw Item ability ... otherwise, your items will have a range of 1, and, as Sonic would say, that's NO GOOD! After you've finished changing jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for them. If you're just now switching to Archers, I'll explain the difference between bowguns and regular bows: bowguns only require one hand, allowing you to equip a shield, but bows deal more damage. Since Archers are usually in the back line and don't get attacked too much, a shield isn't too important, so I almost always use regular bows. Note, also, that the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods (for Black Mages) boost the damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks, respectively. A good trick, then, is to buy a particular Rod and then learn some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Fire Rod and then try to learn Fire and Fira). This will increase the damage you can do with your magick. These rods also sometimes cast Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder when executing a physical attack, if your Black Mage happens to get caught in a melee. Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will play. Once you get to Gariland, buy plenty of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). If you weren't able to purchase all the equipment upgrades you wanted before the Brigands' Den, you could do so now as well, but you're probably better off saving your money--there are even better items coming soon. But if any of your equipment was stolen by the Thieves in the last battle, be sure to replace it. Go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau. You'll have another battle against Milleuda (Wiegraf's sister). She is of course still a female Virgo, so any Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters you have will be the most effective against her. After you win this battle, the shops will again update their shelves with new equipment. As before, you'll find heavy armor and most kinds of weapons in Eagrose, and lighter armor in Gariland and Dorter. Buy what you can and replace any items that Milleuda may have broken, then forge on the Fovoham Windflats. At Fovoham Windflats, you'll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to Final Fantasy V). This battle isn't too difficult if you have good jobs. If you want to exploit your Zodiac signs to maximize damage against him, he's a male Virgo, so Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces will be the most effective. Nothing is added to the shops after the battle at Fovoham, so if your item supply is okay, you can continue directly on to Ziekden Fortress, the final battle of the chapter. You'll probably want non-basic Jobs (particularly a Monk or an Archer) for this battle. And, again, Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces characters will be good against the boss. If you need JP, you can always go to the Siedge Weald or the Mandalia Plain to fight some random battles. At Ziekden Fortress, you'll find Tietra being held captive by a Gragoroth, a Corpse Brigade knight. Argath arrive with some troops, and you'll find yourself battling an unexpected enemy. After you kill him, there are a couple FMV scenes, the fort blows up, and the chapter ends. The game will give you a chance to save, and then you'll move on to Chapter II. %%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk2 You now return to the present, at Orbonne Monastery. Your current mission is to rescue Princess Ovelia. After a brief chat, you'll be given a chance to add Ramza's fellow mercenary Ladd and both of Agrias's Knights (Alicia and Lavian) to the party. There's no real reason not to take them along, so sign them up! They start with a bare minimum of abilities, though, so they probably won't see much use compared to the characters you're carrying over from Chapter I. Note that to do one of Agrias's Subquests in Chapter IV, you MUST keep Alicia and Lavian (as well as Agrias, of course) on your roster until the subquest, even if you never use them in battle. Don't dismiss them or let them get killed if you want to complete all the sidequests. Agrias and Gaffgarion will also join as Guests. You still have all your characters from Chapter I (except Delita) as well. You'll see that Ramza's appearance has changed at the start of the chapter. His Squire job is now able to equip heavy armor and shields, plus he has a new ability to learn, Steel. Steel gives a character a +5 Bravery boost during a battle, and some of this increase will remain even after the battle. Raising your Bravery makes your Reaction Abilities and some attacks stronger, so this is a good ability to learn. If Ramza has some spare turns near the end of a battle, you can spend them using Steel to boost up characters' Bravery. If you have any abilities to learn, get them. Since the Guest AI can be somewhat poor at targeting spells, you may want to de-equip any spellcasting abilities (Black Magick or Mystic Arts) that Agrias may have equipped. When you've got your team organized, go north to the only location available to you: Dorter, where a battle awaits you. Win it (well, obviously) and you'll have access to all of the map again. At this point, you should have had all your characters upgraded from the beginning Jobs (Squire or Chemist) to more advanced ones. In particular, you'll want to have a Monk, Archer, Black Mage, and White Mage somewhere in the party. An Orator is also useful, but might take some time to get, as you have to get the Mystic job up to job level 3, and Mystic itself requires job level 3 of White Mage. If you want to take the time to get it, you can also get the Thief Job, which is unlocked by getting Archer to job level 3. You now have the ability to take Errands at taverns. You can earn a lot of gil and some JP from these jobs, so take them up (never more than one at a time, though). Always choose to spend the maxinum number of days possible. While the characters are away, you can continue on without them, or you have the main group build up job levels with random battles. Or, if you just want to pass time, you can walk back and forth between two blue dots on the map, which will never trigger any random battles. (You can use Eagrose & Ziekden Fortress, or Dorter & the Monastery.) All the stores have new equipment, so pay them a visit to gear up your characters. Remember that you'll have to hike back to Eagrose to purchase heavy armor and most weapons. Conversely, you'll only find lighter armor at the other two cities. Don't buy any equipment for Gaffgarion. (It's OK to get stuff for Agrias, but her equipment is already really good.) Stock up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs. Note you can have random battles at the Fovoham Windflats and the Zeklaus Desert that occur on entirely different maps from the story battles there. They also feature some advanced monsters, so try recruiting them with a Orator. Just make sure to keep an eye on the number of eggs they produce; wipe out the majority of eggs before they clog your roster. This is a good chance to build up your characters if you want. As long as you have the Jobs I recommended above and new equipment for your main squad of characters, you should be fine. When you feel confident that you're done preparing, go to Araguay Woods, east of Dorter. Here you have to save Boco the chocobo from goblins. As when you met Argath, you're given two options, which will affect your victory conditions: - If you choose not to help Boco (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies, and you don't have to keep Boco from being KOed. However, you'll also suffer a 10 point PENALTY to everyone's Bravery; 2 points of which will remain even after the battle. - Choosing to help Boco (bottom choice) means you must keep Boco from getting KOed during the battle, but does not penalize your Bravery. This time, the top choice still gives you an easier battle, but you'll take a hit to your Bravery for selecting it. Since protecting Boco during the battle isn't hard at all, choose the second option to keep from losing Bravery. After the battle, Boco will join. Back on the map, go into your roster screen and change Gaffgarion into a Time Mage or another crummy job. If you have the auto-equip feature on, be sure to also strip off all his gear. Equip it on one of your other characters. He has good armor, and the Power Gauntlet will give you an attack boost. (It's great for an Archer, or another character who doesn't need the movement bonus of the Battle Boots.) Then continue on to Zeirchele Falls. It's pretty here, but there's still a battle awaiting you. Be sure to deploy an Archer for it. After the battle, Delita will leave you with Ovelia. Ramza sets a new course for Lionel Castle, so Fort Besselat disappears from your map, not to return until much later in the game. Back on the map, help yourself to Gaffgarion's equipment if you didn't earlier. If you need items, go back to Dorter. There's also some new equipment for sale at Dorter and at Eagrose, so it's probably worth making the trip as you'll want the new gear for the next battle. However, you may want to pass on the Poison Rod for your Black Mages. While it does a little more damage physically (and sometimes poisons its target), it doesn't boost the power of any of your Black Magick like the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods do. Since your Black Mages usually attack with magick most of the time (I assume ;) ), you're probably better off sticking your existing rod. While Ovelia is listed on your roster as a Guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles. So, you're safe de-equipping her Wizard's Hat and Wizard's Robe and giving them to another character. The Wizard's Robe is an especially nice pick-up since you can't buy them stores yet. It raises your magick attack, so give it to one of your mages. However, she WILL be able to use some of her abilities later. So, go into Ovelia's ability screen and teach her as many abilities under Princess as you can, then equip them. They'll come in handy in a few battles later down the road. The next battle is a tough one, so be prepared. You'll want Archers and Black Mages, and, if you don't include a White Mage in the party, one of the characters should have White Magick as a secondary ability. A Black Chocobo also be helpful, if you can get one. (Boco will randomly lay eggs and they may hatch into Black Chocobos, but there's obviously an element of luck/randomness to this.) I ended up using Ramza, two Archers, and a Black Mage. If you don't When you're ready, go south past the falls to the Castled City of Zaland. You'll meet Mustadio, who is being chased by some bad guys. Once again, you're given two options for the upcoming battle: - Choosing the first option means that you DO NOT have to keep Mustadio from getting KOed during the battle. This option raises the Bravery of each character on your current squad (including Agrias) by 5, 1 point of which is permanent. - Choosing the second option means that you DO have to keep from getting Mustadio from getting KOed. However, this option raises all the characters' Bravery by 10, 2 points of which are permanent. In other words, you'll get a Bravery increase either way, but you'll get a BIGGER increase for helping Mustadio. Of course, this also makes the battle harder. So, there's no clear "best option" here. It's up to you which you choose. Since this battle can be pretty challenging, you might want to just pick the first option; it makes the fight quite a bit easier and you're only missing out on 1 extra point of Bravery. Again, no matter what you pick, Mustadio joins you afterwards as a Guest. When all the talking is finished, you're now able to visit the stores in Zaland. There's not very much in the way of selection, but if you didn't upgrade your equipment after Zeirchele Falls, the Adamant Vest, Wizard's Hat, and Serpent Staff are all for sale here. (There's nothing brand new.) There are also a pair of new Errands available at the Tavern. Your next stop is Balias Tor. When you first try to leave Zaland, there will be a cutscene. Afterwards, you'll be back on the map, but Balias Tor is still red. Travel there for real this time, and you'll get into a fight. Following the fight, a cut scene will pop up back at Eagrose Castle with Dycedarg and Gaffgarion scheming. You can now finally get to Lionel Castle--don't worry; there's no fight! You'll chat with Delacroix and learn about the Zodiac Stones. Agrias and Ovelia will then leave the party. Then you get to go shopping! There is a lot of really powerful equipment you can get here, so load up on it (you should have a lot of money by now). The Lightning Bow is a great weapon for any Archers you have; it has a fairly high attack power and sometimes casts the Thundaga spell. The stores also have a lot of new accessories -- you might want to pick up a Mage's Cloak or two for your magick users. Finally, you can now buy the Remedy item in all stores. It can cure any status ailment, so now there's really no point for your Chemists to learn the abilities for any of the other status-restoring items. Buy any stuff you want in Lionel now, as you won't be able to do so later. Since your access to the shops will be blocked off later, it might be a wise idea to buy some spare pieces of heavy armor and helms. That way, if any of your gear gets stolen or broken, you have a replacement. Now that you've reached Lionel Castle, you'll be able to deploy 5 characters in both story and random battles, instead of just 4. If you've been using a core team of just four characters, be sure to get a fifth equipped. Also, you may want to send some of your characters out on a errand if you haven't been doing them -- you can earn a lot of money from some. Again, walking between Dorter and Orbonne Monastery is an easy way to pass time and complete the errands while avoiding random battles. Be sure to complete all the errands before heading on to Goug, though. Once you get to Goug, it will be a while before you can go back to the other towns to retrieve your characters. If you go back up to Zaland, you can also buy some new light armor: Green Berets and Wizard Clothing. Keep your magick users equipped with Wizard's Hats, though, as those raise their magick power. If Mustadio has enough JP, pick up the Seal Evil ability for him if you haven't already--it'll be handy in the next battle, as it turns undead to stone. On to the fenlands. Fight your way through here on to Goug. Upon arriving in the city, there will be a brief scene and then you're back on the map. The store doesn't have much of anything, but if you've got a Orator or Chemist, be sure to buy them a Romandan Pistol. The Romandan Pistol has a great range overall, and is especially useful if you have a chance to pair it with the Knight's Arts of War abilities -- you can use it rend enemies' equipments or stats at a distance! Goug also has a number of accessories Make sure you're stocked up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs; you'll need them. You may also want to equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters who have it. Try to leave the city and you'll be immediately thrust into a battle. Deploy your Orator (if you have one), somebody with a bow, and somebody with Black Magick. Ludovich, the leader of the Baert Company, will appear with Mustadio and Besrudio (Mustadio's father) captive. Mustadio reveals the location of the Zodiac Stone. Ramza forks it over and you find out that Delacroix was in on the plot. It's fight time. After a fairly tough battle, you check on Besrudio. Mustadio reveals that the Zodiac Stone that Ludovich got was really a fake. Mustadio will now join as you a normal party member -- now you can control him! The only downside to this is that he can now be permanently killed. Be sure to keep him alive; you'll need him to complete most of the subquests in Chapter IV. Musty's equipment is all gone, so be sure to re-equip him. Also, if he learned any skills while he was a Guest, they're gone for some reason. The route back through the fenlands disappears. Take the ship (well, just walk across the ocean) over to the Port City of Warjilis. Upon getting off the ship, you'll see a FMV sequence with Delita. After that scene's ended, you can explore the town. There's no new equipment available, but to make some easy money, go to the bar and accept the errand (to find the Highwind!), then go back to Goug and get the job there as well. (There will be a cutscene with Delacroix's scheming when you leave Warjilis the first time). Just go back and forth between the two cities until both jobs are complete. If you weren't able to afford all the equipment you wanted in Goug or elsewhere, you should be able to get it now. Now that you have Mustadio, a good general trick for leveling up quickly is to use Arm Shot or Leg Shot to debilitate the last enemy in a battle. Then, you're free to let the other enemies turn into crystals/chests. Crystals from human enemies are often a good source of new abilities. Also, while the last enemy is Disabled or Immobilized, you can have your characters attack each other to raise JP. If you use the right strategy, you shouldn't really need to grind in this fashion, but it's an efficient way to raise levels if you decide to do so. Now go up to Balias Swale, where you'll find another fight. You'll deploy two squads here to save Agrias from Delacroix's Gryphon Knights. This is a really easy fight, so you might want to deploy some weaker characters to give them a boost. Agrias will rejoin, this time as a controllabe, non-guest character. Again, if you want to complete all the sidequests in the game, don't dismiss her or let her get killed. After getting Agrias, if you head back down to Warjilis, you'll find the shops have a few new items available. Most notably, you can replace your Power Gauntlets with the Diamond Bracelets, which gives you the Power Gauntlet's +1 Physical Attack but also +1 Magick Attack and immunity to Slow. The latter ability is pretty handy in the upcoming battle, so buy some for your main squad. You can also upgrade your Wizard Clothing to the Brigandine, which gives you a few more HP. (You'll probably want to keep magick-oriented characters on the Wizard Clothing or robes, though, for the magick bonus.) There's also the Mage's Staff, and, in the unlikely event you have a Samurai, the Osafune katana. Your next stop is Golgollada Gallows. Make sure you're ready; this is a tough battle. The execution turns out to be a trap, and you have to fight Gaffgarion. Bring your Diamond Bracelets! After you attain victory at the Gallows (it may take a few tries!), you'll see a scene back at Lionel Castle in which you find out more about Ovelia's past and Delacroix's plans. Then you're back on the map. When you move back up to Balias Swale, you'll see a cutscene with Wiegraf. Now, you can now wander around the map again. Next up is the final battles of the chapter, which occur at Lionel Castle. However, if you want to travel elsewhere, you can do so. If you click on any of the destinations PAST Lionel Castle, you can walk right through the castle without getting into a fight. Just don't click on the castle ITSELF until you're ready to fight. Make sure that Ramza has the Chakra ability and Martial Arts equipped, either by making him a Monk or by assigning it as a secondary action ability. (Or, if Ramza has Teleport or Ignore Elevation, you could use one of those abilities instead.) Equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters that have it. When you've done all that, it's time for the final battles of the chapter. When you click on Lionel Castle, you'll have no choice but to attack the gate. As Ramza tries to open the gate, Gaffgarion shows up yet again and surrounds the castle. If you thought the Gallows was bad, here's more fun. Actually, the gate isn't as bad if you play your cards right (see the battle strategies). The save game screen will pop up at the conclusion of the battle -- there's another couple battles right after this one. It's your call as to whether you should save. I'd recommend saving in a separate slot in case you need to go back to get more JP. After saving, you cut back to Delita at Zeirchele Falls with Ovelia. There's an easy battle here against the Order of the Northern Sky, but you get to control Delita during it :) Afterwards, you're given another chance to save (again, don't save in your main slot). Then your roster screen shows up, allowing Ramza's crew to learn new abilities or change equipment (which might be necessary if the Knights at the gate used Rend on you.) When you leave the formation screen, you'll immediately go to the next battle and start deploying your characters. This time you're up against Delacroix, who uses his Zodiac Stone to turn (with some pyrotechnics) into Cuchulainn. Beat him and he'll blow up (with more nifty effects) and drop another Zodiac Stone. Delita delivers Ovelia to Duke Goltanna, while Duke Larg maintains Orinus as the heir to the throne. As the War of the Lions begins over these claims to the throne, Chapter II draws to a close, and you're again given a chance to save. %%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk3 Three months into the War of the Lions, things are looking bad for both Larg and Goltanna. After a scene of Goltanna's council of war, we cut back to Ramza, whose new mission is to convince Zalbaag that someone is manipulating Ivalice into the war. You'll start the chapter positioned at Dorter. The shops have a lot of new stuff--as weird as it seems, those Croakadile Bags are *really* powerful, although expensive. The Headbands are also a great buy; not only do they increase your HP over the previous hats, they also give you a physical attack boost. (You may want to keep your magick users with the Wizard's Hats, though, as those boost their *magick* power.) Now that you're in Chapter III, you can also buy X-Potions, so you'll want to learn the corresponding ability with any item-users you have. The Poachers' Dens are also now open. You can now use the Thief's "Poach" ability to poach enemies and get items from them at the Poachers' Den. Poached items are cheap; you can buy them for half their usual price! You can also get some rare items from poaching that you can't get anywhere else! Note, though, that Poachers' Dens are only found in Dorter and Warjilis, not other cities. (Sal Ghidos, which you'll reach in Chapter IV, also has a Poachers' Den.) For additional shopping opportunities, visit one of the castles, Lionel or Eagrose. There you can pick up the Ancient Sword, a strong sword that can also Immobilize enemies, the Mythril Bow, and some other stuff. The Fire Shield and Ice Shield absorb fire and ice, respectively, which lets you do a handy trick: Cast a fire or ice spell that targets both enemies and an ally with the shield -- you'll damage the enemies, AND heal your character! Not only does this let you get around the "friendly fire" effects when fighting in close quarters, it even replenishes your HP! All this new equipment is expensive, so luckily there's a whole slew of new errands, at least one in every town. If you're short on cash, I recommend spending a while completing them, buying stuff, and building up your characters. If you're offered any "contest" errand, take it right away, because you won't have the chance for very long. There are some abilities you'll need at the end of Chapter III that it's a good idea to start learning now. You don't need these abilities just yet, but if you build your characters towards those abilities now, you won't have to spend time grinding for them later. Specifically, Ramza MUST have Focus and Tailwind (both Squire), and Auto-Potion (Chemist). If you have the chance to unlock the Ninja job for him, that'll also help out a lot, although it's not strictly necessary. (It can be a bit of pain to unlock, though, as it requires Ramza to at least have Archer at level 4, Thief at level 5, and Geomancer at level 2.) For your other characters, acquiring the Dragoon or Ninja job on as many as characters as possible is helpful, but also not a must-have. Combining the Ninja's inherent speed and double attack with the Monk's Brawler ability makes for an incredibly strong and quick fighter. You may also want to start developing a stealing specialist, if you haven't already. Later in the chapter, you'll be able to start stealing rare equipment (that you can't buy in stores) from enemy units. It'll be a big help if you can learn the Thief's Steal abilities, and either Concentration (Archer) or Brawler (Monk), either of which will improve your stealing success rate. Finally, some other abilities that you want to work towards over the course of the chapter are the Samurai's Shirahadori reaction ability, the Ninja's Dual Wield support ability, and the Dragoon's Ignore Elevation movement ability. Shirahadori blocks physical attacks outright and, if combined with a high Bravery stat (which you can boost with Ramza's Steel ability), can render you virtually impervious to physical attacks (save arrows). It's one of the best abilities in the game. If you haven't already unlocked the Samurai job, though, you'll need to get a character with Knight level 4, Monk level 5, and Dragoon level 2 to become a Samurai. The Ninja's Dual Wield ability is also great as it allows you equip two weapons at once and effectively double (or come close to doubling) yourattack power. Finally, the Dragoon's Ignore Elevation is helpful for navigating battlefields with tall walls as it allows you to essentially walk right over them. When you're ready to get on with the game, equip your team with gear that boosts their Move or Jump ranges. Safeguard may also be helpful. Then go up from Dorter, across the Zeklaus Desert, to the Mining Town of Gollund. There's a fight here where you have to rescue Orran (although I can't imagine he'd need much rescuing). Black Magick and Thieves are handy here. After you save Orran, you'll chat briefly, and then he'll head off to the south, sadly depriving you of his super-powerful Celestial Stasis spell. There's no new equipment in the Gollund shops, so just head straight on to Lesalia. There's no fight when you first get here, just a short chat with Zalbaag. However, as soon as you leave, you'll have to fight Zalmour. It's a pretty easy battle. Alma then joins up as a guest. When you have a chance, de-equip her Healing Staff, Barette, and Red Shoes. The Healing Staff and Barette are items you can't ever buy in shops, and the Red Shoes won't be available to purchase until much later. (It's safe to de-equip all her gear since, despite being a guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles.) The Healing Staff is an interesting "weapon" in that it actually restores HP to the character hit by it. Equipping it on a magick-oriented character can be quite useful since they probably won't be doing much fighting anyway and it gives you a free source of healing. If you want to complete some errands easily, you can take the ones at Gollund and Lesalia and then just walk back and forth until they're done. Before leaving this region, you can also stop at the store in Lesalia to buy new heavy armor. Then go down to Dorter; there's some new equipment here as well. In particular, the Jujitsu Gi is a great set of clothes for fighting-oriented characters as it also boots your physical atack power, and the Celebrant's Miter is a hat that boosts your MP. (You'll probably want to keep your fighters using the Headband for the attack boost.) Depending on what jobs you're using, there may be weapon upgrades as well. A more powerful gun, the Mythril Gun, is now available for sale. Since Goug is the only city that sells guns, though, you'll have to walk all the way down there if you want to buy it. (Note that the sea route between Goug and Warjilis has vanished as of Chapter III.) It's 2 points stronger and a stronger guns never appears in stores, so it's worth the trip if you didn't get the chance to steal them during the Gollund battle. Purchase anything you want, then head to Orbonne Monastery. Note that once you enter, you'll be locked into a series of three battles, so make sure that you're well stocked with supplies. You could also pick up a few of the Jade Armlet accessory, since they'll be helpful in an upcoming battle, but they're fairly expensive and not really necessary. At Orbonne Monastery, enter the Monastery Vaults (it's the only option available), where you'll find Simon wounded. He tells you about Funebris's plot, and Ramza chases after the troops looking for the Virgo Stone. You'll have a chance to save your game. All you'd have to repeat if you died is that short scene with Simon, but if you want to save, save in a separate slot since you're locked into a series of battle. The roster screen will come up, then you will go down to the second floor and have a fight. After beating the second floor, you have another save opportunity. Again, save in a slot separate from your main file. For the next battle, you may want to equip any accessories you have that boost your Jump statistic. After you leave the roster screen, you'll go to the third floor for another battle against Isilud. Upon winning it, there's yet another save point, and then the last of the three battles, this time with Wiegraf. This time, equip any Jade Armlets you have to protect yourself from his sword attacks. Afterwards, Isilud escapes with a friend and your Zodiac Stones captive. Outside, Wiegraf transforms in a rather frightening scene and Simon then shows up to give you the Scriptures of Germonique. Back on the map, go to the Chronicle option and check out your Artefacts. Examine the Scriptures of Germonique and press Triangle to read it. After you read it (which takes a while), go to Dorter. A mage will demand the Scriptures and ask if you've read them. It doesn't seem to matter what you say. When he leaves, the route to Riovanes Castle will open. Try to leave Dorter (just click anywhere on the map) and you'll see an FMV scene with Delita and Ovelia. After the scene concludes, go into Dorter and check out the shops, which once again have some new equipment. The Power Garbs are a great buy; they're good new clothes that also raise your attack power. And don't miss the White Robe for your magick-users; you'll have to scroll down through all the clothes to find it. However, you may want to keep your Headbands and Celebrant's Miters instead of buying Black Cowls, since the Cowls don't have any special stat boost. Similarly, the Diamond Shields are not an especially great shield since they don't have any elemental properties, nor the magick block rate of the Aegis Shield. There are also a few new errands available down at Lionel Castle and the Castled City of Zaland, as well as at Eagrose Castle. It's now time to head north to Riovanes. As you head up through the Zeklaus Desert, you'll run into a fixed battle. Deploy your characters; if you have anyone who can Poach or Entice/Tame monsters, they're good to bring here. There will be a CG scene, as Ramza jumps in to help Luso, and then the battle starts. Defeat or recruit the enemy Behemoths and Luso will join up. (Luso is the lead character from the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy Tactics A2, not coming to North America until later this year ... he's just moonlighting here :) .) He's basically a clone of Ramza, but he has an intrinsic Poach ability (no ability needs to be equipped for it). This makes him very handy for treasure hunting, especially during the monster-laden random battles. (Story battles, of course, contain mostly humans and Poach doesn't work on them.) On the other hand, you may want to de-equip Luso's Icebrand sword and give it to Agrias -- it will make her Holy Sword techniques extremely powerful! If you poached any of the behemoths, you may want to go back to the Poachers' Den in Dorter to see what you got, since a lot of these items can be quite useful. If you recruited any of the behemoths, you're even better off; you can keep one behemoth on your team, have it breed other behemoths, and poach *those*. After helping out Luso, continue on up to Lesalia, where there is more new stuff (bows, daggers, and swords). Then continue to the Grogh Heights. Equip some accessories to boost your Jump and smash your way through here (I actually felt kind of bad killing those guys off) and you'll meet up with Orran again. You'll receive a Mythril Gun in spoils from the battle, so if you didn't bother to go to Goug to buy any Mythril Guns, equip this one now. Your next stop is the Walled City of Yardrow. Here you'll encounter Marach (the guy you met in Dorter) and Rapha. You have to save Rapha from Marach and the Riovanes soldiers. Deploy lots of healers and magick-users; skip the archers. After the fight, Rapha discusses her past. (Why the Grand Duke wants Rapha and Marach's powers so badly is one of FF Tactics's great unsolved mysteries ;) .) Marach, meanwhile, delivers a amphibian ultimatum. Rapha joins up as a guest for the next couple battles. She probably won't be all that helpful, though, since her Sky Mantra abilities only strike random tiles in their effect radius and can't be targeted too precisely. Before you leave Yardrow, stop at the Outfitter and pick up some better equipment for Rapha. But do NOT equip her with any "rare," non-buyable items like the Barette or Healing Staff; if you do, you'll lose them when Rapha goes from being a Guest into a regular character. There's also good gear for your magick users: the Gold Hairpins, which raise both your HP and MP a lot, and the Black Robe, which strengthens the power of any of your fire-, ice-, or lighting-elemental spells. (You may want to keep healers on the White Robe, since it's got elemental defenses and they don't need the offensive capability.) There are also some new accessories; pick up a pair of the speed-boosting Hermes Shoes for later use. The Bracer is also available. It's really expensive (50,000 gil), but it gives you a huge +3 attack boost, so buy one or two if you can afford them. When you leave town, there will be another Delita battle. It's a piece of cake. Back with Ramza's squad, if you want to do further shopping, you can go back down to Lesalia to buy new helmets, the Platinum Sword, and the Assassin's Dagger. If you have Ninjas, Samurais, or Dancers in the party, you may even want to trek all the way back to Dorter, as you will find new weapons for those three jobs there. When you've completed your shopping spree, fight through the Yuguewood and its undead inhabitants. Deploy Mustadio and his Seal Evil ability will make quick work of them. Don't go on to Riovanes Castle just yet. It contains some very powerful bosses, so you need to make sure you're prepared. For Ramza, you'll want the Focus and Tailwind Squire abilities, as well as Auto-Potion from Chemist. Buy a healthy stock (30+) of X-Potions. You'll also want at least one pair of Hermes Shoes and a Green Beret. (If you sold all your Green Berets, you can buy another one at Yardrow.) Also helpful are Jujitsu Gis and Chameleon Robes (both of which protect against instant KO) and Jade Armlets (protection against Stop), particularly if you want to try to learn Ultima at Riovanes as opposed to later. Since the Jade Armlets are pretty expensive, you may not want to bother buying them unless you're set on going for Ultima. (If you don't get Ultima now, you can also get it in Chapter IV.) Finally, if any characters are close to reaching the Dragoon or Ninja jobs, you may want to bring them up to those jobs, as they are quite helpful. Zeklaus Desert is a good place to level up if you need to earn more JP. When you think you're ready, save your game, then pay a visit to Riovanes Castle. You'll see a scene with Barrington and the Templars, then have a chance to save. Be SURE to save in a separate slot from your main game, so that you can get out of the castle if you need to go back and level more/buy stuff. If you save in your main slot, you may wind up STUCK and have to start again from scratch! You then go to the first of a series of three battles. Strip Rafa of all her equipment; if she gets taken out quickly in the upcoming battle, Marach will also disappear. Equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters that have it. If you have someone with the Golem summon or the Dragoon ability Ignore Elevation, you'll definitely want to deploy those characters. Finally, equipping shields or capes for evasion may also be helpful. After you defeat everyone outside the gate, a wounded Knight will crawl out, warning of the Lucavi's rampage. Now, make sure you're prepared. You're about face a two-part battle against a Zodiac-charged Wiegraf, and he is rather powerful. However, if you know what you're doing, he isn't that hard to beat. Before the battle starts, turn Ramza into a Chemist and equip him with a Mythril Gun, then set his secondary ability to Mettle. Next, you need to drop all your Potions and Hi-Potions. On the roster screen, click on any character and go to Equipment. Choose View List, find your Potions and Hi-Potions and selectDiscard. Throw away ALL of them, so that you can only use X-Potions when Auto-Potion activates. As for your other characters, make them into Dragoons or give them range weapons. Keep Agrias as a Holy Knight if she has the Hallowed Bolt ability. (If your Ramza is quite strong, you may not need such preparation--just give him Dual Wield or Jump.) When you think you're set, close the party roster screen and you'll be thrust into the battle against Wiegraf. If you win both rounds of the battle, you'll go on to the last of this sequence of battles, on the roof. Be sure to save again. For this battle, make Ramza into a job with a high Speed stat (Ninja if available, otherwise Geomancer, Thief, or Monk), and equip him with a Green Beret and Hermes Shoes to boost his Speed as high as possible. Equipping the rest of the team with accessories boosting Speed or Move is helpful as well. You can also try to learn the Ultima spell during the rooftop battle. To do so, you'll need to deploy Luso (in his Game Hunter job), and equip the whole team with Jade Armlets and either Chameleon Robes or Jujitsu Gis. (Keep Ramza with the Hermes Shoes, though.) Or, if you took Alma's Barette, you can also equip that to protect a female character against both Stop AND KO. It's pretty challenging to learn Ultima here. There's another opportunity to learn the spell in Chapter IV where you don't have to contend with a suicidal Rapha and will have a much easier time. So, unless you really like a challenge, I would recommend waiting until Chapter IV. Anyway, after you (eventually) ward off Elmdore and his assassins, Rapha will use the Zodiac Stone to restore her family to a happy ending. You'll get your Zodiac Stones back, along with Wiegraf's Aries stone and Isilud's Pisces stone. Rapha and Marach will offer to join. You'll definitely want to take Rapha, as her low Bravery makes her ideal for using Treasure Hunter. Marach basically sucks, but if you don't have a full roster already, there's no harm in signing him up. He's pretty similar to Rapha in that his abilities strike random tiles. What's interesting is that they do more damage to enemies with LOW Faith, the reverse of most magick abilities. %%%CHAPTER IV: IN THE NAME OF LOVE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk4 Chapter IV picks up right where Chapter III left off. After a brief scene in Zeltennia Castle with Orlandeau and Orran, you'll be plopped back on the world map -- haven't seen that for a while, huh? -- outside Riovanes. Ramza's appearance has changed again, giving him the ability to equip knight's swords, powerful weapons that you'll start acquiring soon. He has also has a new ability available (Shout), so be sure to learn that. You'll note that Squire does not appear as a Mastered job even if you learn all the abilities -- that's because Ramza is missing the Ultima spell. If you managed to have Luso learn it back on the roof, you can now have him cast it on Ramza in any battle to teach it to Ramza. Otherwise, you'll have a chance to learn Ultima for both characters later on. Be sure to change back to your normal jobs if you're still altered from the fights in Riovanes Castle. While you're still at Riovanes, you can do a bit of equipment upgrading. There are new swords, shields, and armor available. If you visit Dorter, you can also buy new a ninja blade, katana, clothes (Gaia Gear), the Yagyu Darkroods shuriken, and the Angel Ring accessory. Pick up weapons you might need for you current jobs (and if you're using Throw, stock up on Darkroods). There are also a number of errands you can take in the various towns, but many of them aren't worth the time they take (and you sometimes LOSE money on them), so it's probably not worth the bother. Now that you're in Chapter IV, you can start accessing the game's side quests. First, assuming you still have Mustadio, you can head down to Goug to start the Gollund Colliery quest, which will net you two great new characters (Beowulf and Construct 8) as well as one OK one (Reis the Holy Dragon). This quest is covered in the Gollund Colliery section below -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00col to jump there. Second, you can also access the event to earn the Tynar Rouge accessory ... that is, IF you still have Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian on your team. It occurs on 1 Cancer, which follows the month of Gemini, which follows Taurus. So, if you're in Gemini or Taurus, keep your head up about that. See the Agrias's Birthday section below for the full scoop on how to complete that mission. If you don't complete these sidequests now, don't worry--they have no expiration date and you can always complete them later. You'll notice that a couple new routes have opened up from Riovanes: a shortcut back towards Eagrose Castle, and another down towards Dorter leading through the new Mount Bervenia location. You'll need to visit Mount Bervenia later if you're doing the Cloud Subquest, but there's not much to see there now. Instead, you'll want to head towards Zeltennia, where Ramza hopes to meet up with Delita to discuss the Church's plot. Go up to the pass near Lesalia. This is a routine battle against the Order of the Southern Sky. Whip through here and continue on towards the Free City of Bervenia. Before you enter the town, equip the Safeguard ability on everybody who has it. Archer's Bane, Jump, and Ignore Elevation are also helpful. In Bervenia, you'll encounter -- and fight -- Isilud's sister Meliadoul, accompanied by some Summoners and Archers. She has some very useful pieces of equipment (the Defender knight's sword and the Chantage perfume), so you may want to deploy someone with Steal and try to snag them, especially the Chantage. (See the battle strategies for more tips on stealing.) If you don't get them here, there *are* other ways to get them, but it's certainly worth taking a shot and acquiring them here. When you win the battle against Meliadoul, she'll teleport away and you'll be able to visit the shops in town. The Outfitter doesn't have anything new, but if you were able to steal Meliadoul's Defender and/or Chantage, equip them. The Defender is the first knight's sword you will have come across, which can only be used a select few jobs (Knight, Dark Knight, plus Ramza's Squire job and Agrias's Holy Knight job are the only ones who can use it now.) Also, now that you've completed the battle at Bervenia, you can begin the subquest to recruit Balthier. It requires trekking back down to Gariland, so you can either do it now or just wait until you pass through that way a few battles later. For the full scoop on the Balthier quest, see the Recruiting Balthier section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00balt to jump down there. When you first leave Bervenia, there will be another intermission with Delita and Ovelia. Move on to Finnath Creek for another battle. You may want to bring an Orator or someone else with Speechcraft and Beast Tongue as you may able to recruit a Pig here. Instant-KO attacks (e.g. the Black Mage's Death) or petrification attacks (the Mystic's Induration or Beowulf's Break) will also be helpful here. After crossing the creek, you can finally get to Zeltennia Castle. Ramza will go to the church, where he'll meet Delita again. In an FMV scene, Delita explains more of the church's plan. Zalmour then shows up, and it's fight time (did you really think you could go somewhere without one?). With Delita's help, it's quite easy. After the battle, you'll meet with Valmafra, then Delita will leave (bummer). Strangely, the shops *still* don't have anything new. But restock your items; you'll need lots of X-Potions. You may also want to grab a couple Aegis Shields for any shield-using characters, if you don't already have some in your inventory. Then go to the Beddha Sandwaste, south of Bervenia. Here you'll encounter another Knight Templar, Barich, in a tough battle. To prepare yourself, you may want to equip White Robes and Aegis Shields to protect against enemy magic; deploying someone with the Esuna White Magick spell may also be helpful. This is one the last difficult encounters of the game, as pretty soon you... well, you'll see. After beating Barich (it may well take you a few tries), go to Fort Besselat. You'll have a choice as to whether to attack the south or north wall. Each is a different battle. I find that the south wall is easier, especially if you don't have characters with a good Jump rating. Still, a good Jump stat is useful for either battle, as is Archer's Bane. Whichever way you go, you'll end up at the floodgate. Save your game in a different slot, then continue. There's a second battle at the sluice. After Ramza blows up the sluice, he, Orran, and Valmafra will rescue Orlandeau. Orran goes back to Zeltennia to guard Ovelia, but Orlandeau THEN JOINS YOU! YAHOO!! If you just heard a giant sucking sound, it was all the challenge going down to Mexico (er, unless you live in Mexico, then it all went to Zimbabwe). Orlandeau is ridiculously powerful, and once you have him, hardly anyone in the game has a chance against you. He has all of Agrias's, Gaffgarion's, and Meliadoul's sword techniques, plus a full set of Crystal equipment and the Excalibur, the latter of which gives him a permanent Haste. He can also use every type of sword (katana, knight's sword, etc.). To put it simply, he is hell on wheels. Meanwhile, Delita advances his power. A cutscene pops up instructing you to go to Limberry. A handy new path now opens up between Fort Besselat and Zeirchele Falls. If you didn't already recruit Balthier, now is a great time to hike over to Gariland and begin that quest. (Again, see the Recruiting Balthier section below for the full scoop.) Your next stop is the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. On the way, stop in at Zeltennia. Finally, there's new equipment for sale! Aside from one hat that becomes available after Limberry, the gear here and at Sal Ghidos is the last round of equipment upgrades you can find in stores. There's better equipment out there, of course, but you have to steal or find it; you can't buy it. There's no point in holding back on upgrading, but save 50,000 - 75,000 gil or so for some accessories you'll need for the next arc. At Zeltennia, you'll find a new knife, sword, crossbow, polearm, shield, helm, armor, and the Featherweave Cloak accessory. Note that there are two new sets of armor available: the Crystal Mirror, which is a "regular" set of armor, and the Mirror Mail, which gives the character a permanent Reflect (basically the same as a Reflect Ring, but it doesn't take up your accessory slot :) ). This reflects enemy spells, but it also reflects your own cure spells or buffs. If you only use items to heal, though, the Reflect effect can be useful. At your next stop, the Trade City of Sal Ghidos, you'll run into what is probably a familiar face ... it's Aerith! Choose the SECOND option to buy a flower from her; you'll need to do so if you want to complete all the subquests. Be careful not to speed through the text and choose the first option by mistake! Once you have the flower, you can complete the Nelveska Temple quest (again, covered below in the subquests section), though this also requires you to have finished the Gollund Colliery quest first. The Nelveska Temple nets you one character upgrade, as well as the chance to acquire some rare items via the Treasure Hunter ability. Completing the Nelveska Temple in turn opens the Recruiting Cloud quest, which lets you recruit Cloud from Final Fantasy VII into your party. If you accidentally do NOT buy the flower, however, you'll miss out on your chance on complete these quests. After meeting with Aerith at Sal Ghidos, head into town (yup, there's no fight). There's yet more new equipment! Will the wonders never cease? Be sure to stop in for an upgrade. You can get new knives, katanas, polearms, poles, clothes, and hats. There's also the new Luminous Robe, although it doesn't have any special bonuses, so if you're using Black Magick, you may prefer to keep the Black Robe for its offensive bonuses. Before you leave, you'll want to have a good selection of equipment to protect yourself against the status conditions you'll face at Limberry. Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets are especially helpful, as they protect against the KO and Stop conditions that Celia and Lettie throw at you, and Protect Rings will defend against Sleep and Doom. You may also want to pick up a Nu Khai Armband or two for male characters; these protect against Charm. There are also a couple of new errands. Since Zeltennia and Sal Ghidos are right next to each other, you can easily clear the errands in either town (as well as in Bervenia) just by walking back and forth between them. They may help you out if you need to earn a little cash to buy stuff, though, in many cases, they're just as likely to lose you money as to earn you it. If you still need more money, you could complete the next two story battles (en route to Limberry), then come back to Sal Ghidos to shop with the bonus gil you received. Pop on down to Mount Germinas, where you'll have a run-in with some bandits. With Orlandeau in your party, this battle is a breeze. There is one unique item here, which you can obtain either during the story battle or a random battle. It's the Invisibility Cloak, a cloak that (as you might expect) automatically makes you invisible. To get the cloak, first save the game; then equip someone with Treasure Hunter ability and move him/her to the top of the mountain. You'll receive either an Ether or the cloak; the LOWER your Bravery, the HIGHER your chances of getting the cloak. (Rapha is good for this because she has a pretty low Bravery.) If you get the Ether, you lose your shot at getting the cloak, so you'll have to reset and try again. There's no time limit on attempting to get the cloak (as long as you don't search and get an Ether), so if you don't have a good Move/Jump range or if your Bravery is too low, you can skip it for now and come back later. After Mount Germinas, you'll go to Lake Poescas. This is another undead scenario, but it's really easy. As always, Mustadio and (if you have him) Balthier are good for petrifying the undead. You then see a scene with Dycedarg, after which you can go to Limberry Castle. There's a sequence of four battles at Limberry Castle; as usual, you'll want to save in a different slot between them, so that you don't lock yourself in. The first battle is at the gate (isn't it always?). You'll be fighting Celia and Lettie again, so equipping your anti-Stop/KO/Charm gear is essential. The battle is pretty easy, but it's your best chance to learn Ultima. To do so, just make Ramza into a Squire before the battle and he'll learn the spell when Celia or Lettie casts it on him. (Luso can also learn the spell, but it's probably easiest to just have Ramza learn it here and then later teach it to Luso by having Ramza cast it on him.) After winning the gate battle, you'll see a story scene with Elmdore and Folmarv. Keep your status protection gear equipped for the next battle. If Ramza already learned Ultima, you can switch him back to his regular job now; otherwise, you'll have a second chance in this next battle. The second battle is against Elmdore, Celia, and Lettie in the keep. If you're looking for revenge from the Riovanes Castle Roof, now's your chance -- but look out, Elmdore is still pretty darn tough, and nearly impossible to hit. Check the battle strategies if you need help beating him. After defeating Elmdore in the keep, you can return your equipment to normal as you won't have to fight Celia and Lettie any more. Next up is the courtyard, you'll have to square off against an old "friend." Deploying someone who can inflict Disable status (e.g. Mustadio, Balthier, Beowulf, or a Mystic) is particularly important for this battle. Finally, you'll proceed down to the basement for the last battle in this sequence and your last encounter with Elmdore -- now in Lucavi form. Equipping Protect Rings beforehand will help guard against some of the status attacks he uses on you. Meliadoul will also help you out here. After you defeat Elmdore for the last time, you'll collect two more Zodiac Stones--Elmdore's Gemini stone and Meliadoul's Sagittarius stone--and Meliadoul will offer to join you. Although she's not quite as powerful as Orlandeau (Orlandeau has all her sword techniques, plus more!), her sword techniques are still pretty good ... and, unlike in the PSone version, they work on monsters! She also has a pretty high Faith, so she can be good with magick too if you change her to a magick-using job. She comes equipped with the Save the Queen knight's sword; if you don't plan on using her, give this sword to someone else as it's probably stronger than anything else you have save the Excalibur. Limberry Castle is now a normal town, so you can go to the Tavern and Outfitter (although there's nothing new at the shop). When you try to leave, you'll see a long set of story scenes with Ovelia and then with Zalbaag. Now take a look at map. You'll note Eagrose Castle has turned red. It's time to hike all the way back there. A new wilderness location has opened up west of Limberry: Dorvauldar Marsh. Although nothing story-related happens here and you never *have* to visit, it provides a handy shortcut between Limberry and Fort Besselat. Now that you've defeated Elmdore, many towns around the map also have new errands to complete. As you make your way back to Eagrose, stop in at a non-castle town. You can now buy Thief's Caps, the last piece of new equipment that the shops will carry. If you don't have any Nu Khai Armbands, you'll also want to acquire a set of those for an upcoming battle. If you step into Dorter on the way back to Eagrose, you'll have an extra battle against Cletienne, another of Folmarv's henchmen. Meliadoul automatically participates as a guest in this battle, so be sure to equip her accordingly. Alternately, you can avoid this battle entirely if you go to Bervenia and head west along the northern coast ... but this is such a long and circuitous route that you're likely to have more random battles than you save by avoiding Cletienne. (Note that the Cletienne battle will also not trigger if you never admitted into Meliadoul into your party or if she has already been killed or fired.) When you finally do reach Eagrose, Ramza will open the gate (no gate battle, yay!), and then you'll line up for a fight. For an easy victory, equip Nu Khai Armbands and deploy Agrias, Orlandeau, and Meliadoul. You'll fight a two- stage battle against another Lucavi, Adrammelech. When killed, he will yield the Capricorn Zodiac Stone. (You can also pick up an extra Blood Sword in this battle if you bring someone with Treasure Hunter and low Bravery, but it's not too important to get.) After defeating Adrammelech, head to Gariland. Stock up on Holy Water and take the new route south to Mullonde. At Mullonde, you'll be treated to a series of battles, beginning outside the church (not that hard), and progressing inside, where you'll face off against Folmarv, Loffrey, and Cletienne. Equip Safeguard here since Loffrey likes to break your equipment. The three Knights Templar will teleport away after you beat on them for a while. If any of your equipment got broken in this battle, you'll need to replace it; strip the gear from somebody you're not going to be using in the next battle. You'll then go to the sanctuary, where Ramza will have to fight a possessed former ally. This is the last of the sequence of the battles at Mullonde; afterwards, Ramza will meet up with a dying Funebris, who tells him that Folmarv is going to Orbonne Monastery. Back on the map, a handy route has opened up between Mullonde and the Clockwork City of Goug. Another set of subquests becomes available: Midlight's Deep in Warjilis Trade City, Disorder in the Order (in Zeltennia and Dorter), and (if you've already completed the Nelveska Temple quest) Lionel's New Liege Lord. And if you're still working on the earlier subquests, the new route between Mullonde and Goug makes them a lot easier. If you're going to do these quests or anything else on the map, take care of it now! Once you go to Orbonne Monastery, you're locked into the game's final series of battles. Before you go to Orbonne, make sure you're ready. Your main team of characters should be at least level 40. Equip yourself with all your best abilities, and change to your best jobs. Earning JP doesn't matter now. In truth, the last sequence of battles isn't all that difficult, just long. You may also want to buy a couple pairs of Winged Boots since they'll be helpful in one of the upcoming battles. Definitely purchase some Thief's Caps if you haven't already. !!!CAUTION!!! Once you enter Orbonne, there is NO way to return to the world map. If you want to be able to continue playing the game on the world map, you must keep a save from before you entered the Monastery. Once you enter the Monastery, save in a DIFFERENT slot. !!!CAUTION!!! The first battle at Orbonne is against some generic enemies -- an easy battle. Afterwards, you'll move on to the fifth for the next battle. Beforehand, ready your Safeguard abilities to protect yourself from Crush attacks. Equipping Winged Boots or the Jump +x and Fly abilities will also help you navigate the pit-laden terrain. On the fifth level, you'll face the first of a series of four battles against the Zodiac Braves. First up is Loffrey. After you defeat him, he'll suck you through a portal to the Necrohol of Mullonde (of no apparent relation to Mullonde Cathedral), then destroy the way back. Return your abilities and equipment to normal. Your next opponent is Cletienne. After that, you'll face Barich, brought back to life by the Zodiac Stones. This can be a pretty tough fight; deploying long-range attackers is a good idea and you'll probably want to equip Thief's Caps to keep Barich from Immobilizing or Disabling you. Finally, you'll head to the Airship Graveyard, which is really just a single airship, and a rather odd location for a final battle. Folmarv will use the Leo Stone to transform him into a giant lion, Hashmal. You may want to equip your Jade Armlets again for this battle since he likes to cast Stop on you. Defeat him and you'll get the Ragnarok sword. St. Ajora will then appear. You now have one last chance to save your game and adjust your characters. Equip the Ragnarok sword. It's strong but not quite as useful as the Excalibur, since it doesn't give you an automatic Haste. But if you have two characters who can use knight's swords (Knights, Dark Knights, and many of the special jobs), you can give the Ragnarok to the second one Another Alma will somehow appear. Ajora then summons four Ultima Demons in response, then transforms into Ultima. Alma will join you as a guest for the final battle, against the Generic Angel Boss (TM). After pounding on Ultima for a while, Ultima will (of course) reveal his/her/its (?) true form, a skeletony-type of angel. Thankfully, the Ultima Demons disappear for this phase of the battle. When you defeat Ultima's second form, it will blow up (nice special effects). The Battle Is Won! Leave the game on after the credits for an additional scene. Note that when the game says it's saving afterwards, it's just doing so to unlock some of the multiplayer missions. If you saved at any point during the final sequence of battles (i.e., any time after you entered Orbonne Monastery), loading this save will only put you back into the last set of battles and doesn't allow you back to the world map. So, again, if you want to do anything outside of the Necrohol, hang on to a separate save from before you entered Orbonne Monastery! If you haven't beaten Midlight's Deep and all the other subquests, you're not done yet! Keep on reading for information on those quests. ******************************************************************************* IV. WALKTHROUGH - SUBQUESTS 00sub ******************************************************************************* Final Fantasy Tactics boasts a number of optional subquests, all of which become available at various points in Chapter IV. In addition, some of the subquests require you to have completed other subquests first. Specific requirements for each quest are listed with the walkthroughs below, but I've also provided this cheesy ASCII chart to demonstrate how they flow together. Agrias's Birthday --------> Recruiting Cloud (beginning of Chapter IV) / / Gollund Colliery ----------> Nelveska Temple (beginning of Chapter IV) (after Fort Besselat) ------> Lionel's New Liege Lord Recruiting Balthier (after Mullonde) (after Free City of Bervenia battle) Disorder in the Order (after Mullonde) Midlight's Deep (after Mullonde) Walkthroughs for the quests are below. Battle strategies for the battles encountered within these quests can be found in the Subquest Battle Strategies section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00bssub to jump there. %%%AGRIAS'S BIRTHDAY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00agr QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Tynar Rouge A pair of Agrias-related subquests become available in Chapter IV. The first one allows you to obtain the Tynar Rouge, a good accessory for female characters (if not *quite* as abusive as the Chantage). To trigger the scene in which you acquire the Tynar Rouge, you must move onto a TOWN or CITY (NOT a castle) on the world map on the date of 1 Cancer, which is Agrias's birthday. In addition, you must also meet these other requirements: - Agrias, Mustadio, Alicia, and Lavian must still be alive and on your roster. - You must have at least 500,000 gil in your War Funds. Only 50,000 of this will be spent as part of the quest, but you must have 500,000 available. - You must be in Chapter IV. (This event can be completed at any point during Chapter IV, though.) Assuming you meet the above requirements, if you move onto a town (again, a castle will NOT work), on 1 Cancer, you'll see a scene in which Mustadio buys Agrias the Tynar Rouge lip rouge for her birthday. The 50,000 gil cost of the rouge will be subtracted from your War Funds. It's worth the expense, though, as the Tynar Rouge is a great accessory. It can be equipped by any female character (not just Agrias) and grants a permanent Shell, Protect, and Haste, as well as a bonus to your attack and magick strength. 1 Cancer follows after 32 Gemini. The easiest way to ensure that you land on a city or town on that date is to simply move back and forth between Gollund Coal City and Lesalia. Both of these count as towns, so you're guaranteed to land on a town on 1 Cancer. If you somehow miss the date and don't end up on a town on 1 Cancer, don't worry; the event never "expires." You can just wait until all the months cycle through and try again the next time 1 Cancer comes up, as long as you still meet the requirements listed above. (Fortunately, the villains are more than happy to postpone their plans of world domination while you spend a year shopping for makeup.) %%%GOLLUND COLLIERY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00col QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Beowulf, Reis [Holy Dragon], and Construct 8 join the party In the Gollund Colliery quest, you'll recruit three new characters: Beowulf, Reis (in dragon form), and Construct 8. It's the first in a series of three quests, also leading into the Nelveska Temple and Cloud quests. To complete ANY of these quests, you must have Mustadio still around, so don't dismiss him or let him get killed! To start the quest, once Chapter IV begins, go to the Clockwork City of Goug. Besrudio, Mustadio's father, will show you an iron sphere he's found. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to repeat it.) Now go to the Mining Town of Gollund, in the center of the map. At the Tavern in Gollund, listen to the rumor "The Haunted Mine." You will be asked to fight a monster in the coal mines. Leave the bar. Nothing will happen at first, but go north to Lesalia. Ramza will automatically go into the Tavern and learn more about the coal mine job. He agrees to take it. On the way out, Beowulf will stop you and ask you to take him with you. Choose the second option to sign him up and he joins you as a Guest. (If you choose the first option and reject his assistance, the quest will end and you'll be permanently locked out of it!) You'll note that the Mining Town of Gollund has turned red. First, equip Mystic Arts as Beowulf's second ability, since he already has a bunch of Mystic Arts spells learned. Go back into Lesalia and check at the Outfitter's; depending on how far you are through Chapter IV, you may be able to buy Beowulf some better equipment. Equipment that protects you against ice will be especially helpful in the upcoming battles, so you may want to pick up some Ice Shields or White Robes if you don't have any in your inventory. (You'll have to go to a non-castle town to buy the robes.) You'll also need some NON-ice weapons, so if your only swords are Icebrands, get something else for this quest. Save your game--there's an extended series of battles coming up--and return to Gollund, where you'll be forced into entering the Gollund Colliery. You have to fight through three areas in the snow. Equipping your anti-ice gear will protect you well against the ice attacks you'll face. After the three battles, you'll reach the Coal Shaft. The monsters here are actually WEAK against ice, so strip off your anti-ice gear and equip any Icebrands you have. In the Coal Shaft, the Holy Dragon Reis is being attacked by an Archaeodemon. You have to save her. After this battle, you'll get the Aquarius Zodiac Stone, and Reis and Beowulf will offer to join you. Sign them both up as you need them for later quests. (Be sure to keep them alive, too!) Reis, particularly while she's still stuck in dragon form, is not that great, but Beowulf IS. In particular, shoot for learning his Vengeance and Chicken abilities. Chicken does a HUGE drop on enemy Bravery and frequently turnes them into a helpless chicken, while Vengeance is a potent attack with a long range. Now that you've got the Aquarius Stone, return to Goug. You will put in the Aquarius stone in the iron sphere, which transforms into Construct 8. A comical scene will follow, and then another new character, Construct 8, joins you. Construct 8 is more like a monster in that it can't change jobs, but it's super-strong anyway. It has a long-range laser attack, an inherent Counter, and is basically impervious to magick and most (though not all) status conditions. Sign it up for sure! On the way out of Goug, if you've progressed sufficiently far in the game, you'll get another scene in which Besrudio puts together another device that requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. If you've finished up Fort Besselat, you can now begin the Nelveska Temple quest, below. %%%RECRUITING BALTHIER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00balt QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After completing battle at the Free City of Bervenia REWARDS: Balthier joins the party, Ras Algethi gun, Mirage Vest Balthier from Final Fantasy XII makes an appearance as an optional cameo character you can sign up for your team. Any time after completing the battle at the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV, visit the Magick City of Gariland and enter the Tavern. Read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor. Now, go east to Dorter and visit the Taven there. Read the new rumor here ("A Call for Guards") that will have appeared if you read the rumor at Gariland. It seems like nothing has happened, but return to the map and try to leave Dorter. You'll get into kicked into a battle (though not without a lengthy FMV intro to Balthier first). Balthier will help you out here as a guest. You can check the Other Subquests section of the battle strategies if you need help, but it should be really be pretty easy. Afterwards, you can sign Balthier up for your team. He's basically a combination of Mustadio (he has all of Mustadio's Aimed Shot abilities) and a Thief, with one unique ability of his own: Barrage. Barrage allows him to attack four times in a row for 1/2 damage each time, essentially allowing you to do double damage. His "Plunder" abilities are also a little better than regular Stealing; when it comes to stealing equipment, a Plunder is 10 percentage points more likely to succeed than a Steal. (So, if a Steal would have, say, a 36% success rate, Plunder will have a 46% success rate, for instance.) Balthier also comes equipped with a Ras Algethi gun and Mirage Vest, two items you can't find anywhere else! Both are quite strong, so if you don't plan on using Balthier, you should at least give his gear to someone else. %%%NELVESKA TEMPLE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00nel QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After clearing Fort Besselat and completing Gollund Colliery quest REWARDS: Reis returns to human form, various items found with Treasure Hunter In order to begin the Nelveska Temple quest, you must first have finished the battles at Fort Besselat in the main storyline, as well as having completed the Gollund Colliery quest above. (Beowulf and Reis the Holy Dragon must also still be on your team.) When you first reach the Trade City of Sal Ghidos during the main storyline, you'll be asked to buy a flower for 1 gil from Aerith. Make sure you choose the SECOND option to buy the flower. You'll need to buy this flower in order to continue with the quest. If you fail to buy the flower when asked, it seems that you do NOT have a second chance to get it, which means that you unfortunately can't continue with this quest :( Once you've got the flower, go down to Goug and you'll see a scene where Besrudio presents another device unearthed from the tunnels; this one requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to go back to Goug.) Now go back up to Zeltennia Castle. Go to the tavern and listen to the "Cursed Isle of Nelveska" rumor. This will open up a new path on your map from Zeltennia to Nelveska Temple. Although you can open up the route to Nelveska as soon as you reach Zeltennia, in order to actually trigger the battle there, you must have seen the scene at Goug where Besrudio presents his weathervane-like device. The battle at Nelveska Temple contains a number of rare items that can be found using Treasure Hunter. These items include a super-powered Javelin and Escutcheon as well as the Sasuke's Blade ninja blade and the goofy Nagnarok sword. The Javelin II and Escutcheon II are especially worth picking up (and the Escutcheon II isn't available anywhere else!). You only have this one chance to get them, as there are no random battles at Nelveska Temple. Of course, you certainly don't NEED any of these items and they can be tricky to get, so it's up to you as to whether you want to try for them. If you do want to get the items, you'll need to have a LOW Bravery -- the higher your Treasure Hunter's Bravery, the higher the odds of getting a crummy item instead. Rapha is great for this purpose since her Bravery already starts pretty low. For the best odds, though, you'll want to lower it even further. The best way to do this is probably with the Orator ability Intimidate; for every use of this ability, she'll lose 20 points of Bravery during the battle but 5 points permanently. Be careful not to reduce her permanent Bravery TOO low, though, or she will quit the party (so using Beowulf's Chicken may not be a good idea). 15 to 20 is probably a safe number. Whether you're planning on looking for the items or not, you'll probably want to buy some Gold Needle or Remedies before you leave town for the coming battle, or equip Jade Armlets -- the Cockatrices at the temple can turn you to stone. Go to Nelveska and you'll be attacked by Construct 7. This is the one battle here, so search for the hidden items if you want, or just take down Construct 7. (See the battle strategies for tips both on the fight and on successfully retrieving the items.) When Construct 7 explodes, you'll get its power source: the Cancer Zodiac Stone. When you try to leave Nelveska Island, Beowulf will use the Cancer stone to restore the dragon Reis to her normal human form. She will then re-join your party, keeping all her dragon abilities and adding many new ones she can learn. Even in human form, her Dragonkin job can use very little equipment (just hair adornments, bags, and some accessories), but she has an inherent Dual Wield and killer stats. If you now return the Cancer Stone to Besrudio, he'll summon Cloud ... but you won't be able to go any further to recruit him onto the team unless you've already defeated Adrammelech in the main storylie. (See Recruiting Cloud, below.) If you've gone even further and cleared Mullonde in the main storyline, you can also embark on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest. %%%RECRUITING CLOUD%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00cloud QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: Immediately after completing Nelveska Temple quest REWARDS: Cloud joins the party You can get Cloud any time after you complete Ford Besselat. In order to get him, you must first complete the Gollund Colliery quest, followed by the Nelveska Temple quest, both described above. You'll also still need Mustadio around. Having completed both of these quests, hike all the way back to Goug. (If you've finished the battles at Mullonde, you'll have a handy shortcut.) Besrudio will power up the weathervane with the Cancer Stone and it will ... summon Cloud. Cloud, in typical Cloud fashion, will refuse to let you introduce yourselves and run off in pursuit of Sephiroth. Now you have to go all the way to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. Remember when you met Aerith here earlier? Well, she's back, and this time she's being accosted by some thieves. Cloud comes to save her, but has another one of his schizophrenic breakdowns. You have to save him from the thieves. This is quite an easy battle, although you may want to equip Safeguard beforehand so the Thieves can't steal any of your gear. Afterwards, Clod... er, Cloud will join you. You're still not totally finished with this quest. In order for Cloud to be able to use his Limit attacks, you need to find his Materia Blade. The Blade is found using the Treasure Hunter ability on Mount Bervenia. The easiest method is to go to Riovanes Castle and just move back and forth between Riovanes and Mount Bervenia until you get into a random battle. Once you're in battle, move your Treasure Hunter to the very tippy-top of the volcano to discover the Materia Blade. You'll need a Jump at least of 4 to reach the volcano top -- equip Germinas Boots if you need a boost. Unlike the other rare items found with Treasure Hunter, this one doesn't depend on your Bravery. You'll always receive the Materia Blade on this tile, regardless of your Bravery; there's no chance of getting the wrong thing. Once you've secured the Materia Blade, finish off the rest of the enemies to end the battle. (If you end the battle by mistake before getting the Blade, just start up another battle; the Blade never disappears until you find it.) If you're having a hard time getting your Treasure Hunter up to the top during the battle, one strategy is to kill off all but one enemy, and then use Beowulf's Chicken ability to turn the last enemy into a chicken. This leaves you free to spend as much time as needed navigating the volcano. Equipping Cloud with the Materia Blade allows him to use his Limit command, although you still have to learn all the Limit abilities individually. Honestly, Cloud isn't really all that great a character, in my estimation -- his Limits take a long time to charge (you'll probably want to give him the Time Mage's Swiftness ability), and he starts back at level 1. %%%DISORDER IN THE ORDER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00dis QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles REWARDS: Lots of stealable equipment The second of two Agrias-related quests, this quest becomes available late in Chapter IV, after you win the battles at Mullonde Cathedral. You do NOT have to have completed the other Agrias quest (Agrias's Birthday) to access it. First, after clearing the Cathedral, make tracks for Zeltennia Castle, in the upper right corner of the map. As long as Agrias is still with you, when you reach Zeltennia, you'll see a scene in which Agrias meets with Ovelia and sets up an important later plot point. (If Alicia and Lavian are still around, they'll also participate in this scene, but they're not required.) Nothing else happens here, but now head to the Magick City of Gariland or Eagrose Castle and hit up the Tavern. If you saw the above, there will be a new rumor, "Disorder in the Order." Listen to it. Now, if you head back to the Brigands' Den south of Mandalia Plain, you'll get into a battle against some deserts from the Order of the Northern Sky. Agrias functions as a Guest in this battle. Be SURE to bring a character who can steal, as there are a lot of great rare items you can get here. (Balthier may be particularly useful, since his Plunder skills a little bit more likely to succeed than regular Steals.) While none of the stealable items are available ONLY in this battle, it's a chance to grab second copies of some items you can't buy in stores. The extra Venetian Shield and Kaiser Shield you can get here are particularly handy, and you can also get more magick guns, a Sasuke's Blade, and Ninja Gear and a Barette. If you bring Orlandeau along, you can also see a few extra lines of dialogue. The actual battle should be fairly easy. Nothing special happens when you clear it--it's mostly just an avenue for stealing a lot of great items :) %%%LIONEL'S NEW LIEGE LORD%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00lio QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles AND completing Gollund Colliery quest REWARDS: Genji Armor, Zeus Mace, Sortile'ge, stealable Masamune and Chantage, Hydrascale Bag, other equipment To begin the new Beowulf subquest, you must first complete the Nelveska Temple quest. At this point, you will have recruited Beowulf and Reis and returned Reis to human form. Beowulf and Reis must also still be alive and on your roster. (It's not necessary to do to the quest to recruit Cloud or get his Materia Blade.) You also have to completed the battle against Zalbaag at Mullonde in the main storyline. Finally, to activate the quest, you have to have read the "Lionel's New Liege Lord" rumor that appears in Taverns after you've completed the battle at Bervenia Free City during Chapter IV. This rumor can be read before or after you recruit Beowulf and Reis. The main purpose of this quest is to acquire the Masamune and Genji Armor, as well as a few other goodies. This quest, of course, takes place at Lionel Castle. As soon as you visit Lionel Castle after meeting the requirements above, you're thrown into the quest, so you'll want to prepare first. Make sure you have a character able to steal, as this subquest gives you a chance to steal a Masamune and a Chantage. When you reach Lionel Castle, you'll see a story scene and Reis will be spirited away. You're given a chance to save and adjust your roster before being booted into battle. (Since Reis is presently kidnapped, you won't be able to select her as part of your team for this battle.) Note that Beowulf functions as a guest in this subquest. If he's KOed in the first battle, you lose, so be sure to equip with some decent armor and/or a shield and deploy a healer. (In thesecond battle, it doesn't matter if he's KOed.) The bosses here have Safeguard, which renders them immune to Meliadoul's Unyielding Blade attacks, so you probably won't want to deploy her unless she has some good other abilities. You'll fight a sequence of two battles at Lionel. The first is against Beowulf's old pal Aliste. When you win here, you'll get the Genji Armor, the second strongest suit of armor in the game. You'll have another chance to save and adjust your team -- so equip that Genji Armor -- before moving on to the second battle, against Bremondt himself. Be sure to deploy your stealing character here, as one of the enemy samurai has the Masamune and this is the by far the best place to get it. (See the battle strategies for more info.) When Bremondt goes down, you'll receive a Zeus Mace, a very nice staff, for your efforts. (There's a second Zeus Mace in Midlight's Deep, but it doesn't hurt to have two!) Beowulf and Reis are reunited, and in gratitude for all your help, Beowulf hands over all his treasure, including a Gold Hairpin, a Hydrascale Bag, a pair of Hermes Shoes, a Diamond Bracelet, and the Sortile'ge perfume. You're now prompted to add Beowulf and Reis back into your roster, and this subquest is now complete! %%%MIDLIGHT'S DEEP%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00md QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles REWARDS: Numerous rare items, Zodiark summon, the Byblos joins the party Midlight's Deep is a dungeon with ten floors (each a separate battle), each packed with really powerful equipment. It's completely optional, and in fact is more difficult than the actual end of the game. You can only access Midlight's Deep after you beat Mullonde Holy Place. Then go to the Port City of Warjilis. When you arrive, you'll automatically see a scene in the tavern in which Ramza overhears a rumor about the Deep. (Fans of the original PSone version of FF Tactics may get a kick out of some of the dialogue here.) When you leave town, a route will automatically pop up to the tiny island to the east, which contains Midlight's Deep, a ten-floor bonus dungeon. To enter Midlight's Deep, move to the island. Then, click on Midlight's Deep a second time. Choose the floor you want to enter. (At the beginning, only the first floor will be accessible, but you'll open up more as you progress.) ---General Instructions-------------------------------------------------------- BATTLES IN THE DEEP Midlight's Deep battles are basically considered random battles, which means that the exact line-up of enemies changes each time. It also means that you don't have to deploy Ramza. The exception is the initial encounter on the last floor, which has a fixed set of enemies AND requires Ramza to be deployed. NAVIGATING THE DARKNESS To make things challenging, every floor of Midlight's Deep is completely dark. You can see your team and the enemies, but you can't see the terrain. Crystals left by dead enemies will light up much of the area, but there's another way to see. Select an attack with a really long range, like a gun attack, Beowulf's Vengeance, Construct 8's Dispose, or best of all, Teleport (which lights up the *whole* map). When you're choosing a target, most of the panels on the battlefield will be highlighted, giving you a chance to study the terrain. You don't even have to USE the selected attack, just select it, look at the map, and then cancel back to the menu. Since you can do this every round, you shouldn't have too much trouble seeing what you're doing. FINDING THE EXITS But not only do you have to beat the enemies on each level, you ALSO have to find the exit to open up the next level. If you kill all the enemies without finding the exit, you'll just be kicked back to the map screen and have to replay the level before you can advance. To find the exit, you simply have to move a character onto the tile that contains the exit, at which point you'll get a message telling you that you "found a passage leading deeper." Once you finish off the remaining enemies and return to the map, you'll be able to select the next floor. You do NOT need the Treasure Hunter ability to find the exits. To make things tricky, the exit is RANDOMLY placed on one of several possible tiles -- so you don't know where it is! But, the exit is usually on the enemy's side of the battlefield, and often in a corner. Not always, though. Rmemeber, the battle ends when you KO the last enemy, and if you didn't find the exit, you'll have to replay the level. So, you need to find the exit BEFORE you KO that last enemy. The easiest way to do this is to KO all but one enemy, then use Beowulf's Chicken spell on the last one to turn it into a chicken. (If the enemy has 60 or more Bravery, you'll have to use Chicken twice before it actually turns into a chicken.) Once the last enemy is a harmless chicken, it's easy to walk around the level and look for the exit. Chicken lasts for quite a while, but each turn the enemy gets 1 point of Bravery back, and when it has 10 Bravery, the Chicken spell will wear off. But, if you always recast Chicken when it's close to wearing off, you can keep the enemy a chicken forever :). Of course, you don't HAVE to use the Chicken trick to find the exit -- it just makes it a lot easier. While you do need to find the exits to advance, there's no obligation to find the exit on your first visit. If the battle gets rough, it's fine to just finish off the enemies and forget about finding the exit. You can look for it on your next visit. Also, once you've found a floor's exit once, you never need to look for it again. So, if you return to a previous floor to hunt for items or poach monsters, you don't need to worry about looking for the exit. ACQUIRING THE RARE ITEMS But wait! There's more! Each level contains a number of rare items that you can find using the Treasure Hunter ability. Simply move a character with Treasure Hunter onto the correct tile and a new item is yours. If a character without Treasure Hunter steps on the tile, you'll often spring a trap instead, but the item remains there, waiting for a character with Treasure Hunter. (Note that even once the item is picked up, any trap on the tile remains there, and then even a Treasure Hunter can spring it.) As with most rare Treasure Hunter finds, you need a LOW Bravery level to pick up the special item. The higher your Bravery, the higher your chance you'll get a crummy Phoenix Down instead. (The chance of getting the Phoenix Down is simply equal to the character's current Bravery -- so a lower Bravery decreases your chance of getting it.) If you DO pick up the Phoenix Down, the "good" item is gone forever, even if you leave the map and come back later. So, if you want to get all the items, you may want to save pretty frequently and only try picking up one or two items at a time. That way, it's easy to reset and try again if you don't get the item you want. Rapha is great for finding the items because her Bravery already starts pretty low. For the best odds, though, you'll want to lower it even further. The best way to do this is probably with the Orator ability Intimidate; for every use of this ability, she'll lose 20 points of Bravery during the battle but 5 points permanently. Be careful not to reduce her permanent Bravery TOO low, though, or she will quit the party--so using Beowulf's Chicken may not be a good idea. 15 to 20 is probably a safe number and will give you some margin of error in case she gets with a Bravery-lowering ability during a battle. To make Rapha (or whomever you're using as a Treasure Hunter) more mobile, give her Germinas Boots to increase her move and jump range. If available, you can also switch her to an agile job like Thief, Dragoon, or Monk. If you're having trouble with Rapha getting KOed quickly, try equipping her with the Invisibility Cloak found on Mount Germinas (see Various Tricks). This cloak causes her to start the battle invisible. As long as she doesn't take any action and just moves around the battlefield looking for items and exits, she will stay invisible and will be virtually ignored by the enemies. (She's still vulnerable to area-effect spells.) The Septie`me perfume, poachable from the Greater Hydras found in the Deep, and the Ninja Gear found on the sixth floor of the dungeon (The Palings) also have the same invisibility effect. And since the Ninja Gear is body armor instead of an accessory, it allows you to also equip Germinas Boots at the same time. As a caution, note that enemy characters with Treasure Hunter can also pick up the rare items, which will prevent you from getting them! At the start of each battle, you may want to check all the enemy humans to see if they have Treasure Hunter. If they do, either KO or Immobilize them quickly to prevent them from beating you to the loot! LOCATING THE RARE ITEMS So WHERE are all these great items? Of course, on each floor, the items are in different locations. Since the tiles are not given any names or numbers in the game, I've had to assign my own numbers to them. Here's the scheme I've used: When the battle starts, tilt the analog stick on the PSP left or right. When you do this, the screen will change perspective and you'll be looking at the battlefield from a different angle. Keep doing this until your characters are facing down and to the left on the screen. Now, move the cursor to the lower left corner. This tile is (X: 0, Y: 0). If you move the cursor to the right (using the right arrow on the D-pad), you'll be at (X: 1, Y: 0), then (X: 2, Y: 0), (X: 3, Y: 0), and so on. If you start at (X: 0, Y: 0) and move upwards (up arrow on the D-pad), you'll be at (X: 0, Y: 1). So a tile like (X: 4, Y: 3) would be four tiles to the right and three tiles up from the lower-left corner (again, this is when your team is facing DOWN and to the LEFT at the start of the battle). I've given the locations of all the items using this coordinate system. For exact item locations, see each level's battle strategy. POACHING There are also a number of rare monsters in Midlight's Deep, and poaching them can get you some unique items you can't find anywhere else. (See the Poaching List for the complete list.) Fortunately, since Warjilis Trade City is a trade city, it has a Poachers' Den. So, after poaching some monsters, it's easy to head back to Warjilis and check on your haul. If you're serious about poaching (and have space on your roster), the best tactic for getting these rare items is to recruit a monster from the species using the Orator abilities Entice or Tame. (The Dragon's Charm ability possessed by Reis can also be used to recruit dragons and hydras, and works 100% of the time.) Once you've recruited the monster, just walk back and forth between Warjilis and the Deep. As the days pass, the monster will lay eggs and the eggs will hatch into new monsters. (You can use the Preview Monster Eggs trick from the Various Tricks section to see what monsters you're getting and delete any that aren't the exact type you want.) Poach THESE hatched monsters, but leave the original in your roster. That way, you have a limitless supply of monsters to poach. This is a great way to poach rare monsters that you don't appear in the wild very frequently. In fact, breeding monsters is the ONLY way to get a Wild Boar, which in turn is your only source for two super-rare items (the Ribbon and the Fallingstar Bag). ---Floor-by-Floor Walkthrough-------------------------------------------------- Whew! I think that's all the instruction you need. Now head on in! The first floor, The Crevasse, is just kind of practice; the monsters here are very weak. You can find two of the magickal guns here, although you may already have a Glacial Gun if you stole one earlier. The Blaze Gun is a little stronger than the Glacial Gun, though, and both are worth picking up. These "magickal" guns do elemental attacks. Their damage varies; sometimes you get a -ra or a -ga spell visual effect and increased damage. The damage estimate you see when preparing to attack is the "low" estimate if you just get the regular spell. Note that the Kiyomori hidden on this level is just a regular Kiyomori katana like you could buy in a store, making it the most useless pickup in the Deep. After you find the exit in The Crevasse, you'll open up The Stair. It's similar in layout to The Crevasse, but is a lot more challenging. Bringing Archer's Bane is a good idea as there are a lot of enemy Archers. After that comes The Hollow. Here, you'll want to deploy range attackers as the enemies start a distance and can easily be picked off. The Hollow also contains two good pieces of equipment: the Yoichi Bow and the Zeus Mace. Be sure to pick them up! In general, collecting all the Elixirs is not necessary as there are quite a few of them and you can do fine without getting them all (or even any). The fourth floor, The Catacombs, is also quite challenging. It may take you a few tries to collect everything here, especially if you get a tough group of monsters. But, the equipment available here is also quite good: the Kaiser Shield as well as the Rod of Faith. The Rod of Faith is particularly valuable and available here only. It's a rod that maximizes its wielder's Faith while equipped, increasing their magick power (but also the magick damage they receive). You can also whack other characters with it to give *them* Faith status as well. Since the Rod maximizes your Faith regardless of its normal value, you can also reduce a character's Faith to make them strong against enemy magick and then only give them the Rod when you want them using magick. (See the related item under Various Tricks for more on this strategy.) The Catacombs also holds the Faerie Harp. If you don't use Bards, you can skip it. It's worth noting, though, that the Faerie Harp is the only attack or ability that can Charm all targets regardless of gender or human/monster status -- plus it's the strongest harp, so it's a good pickup if you DO have a Bard around. Level 5 is The Oubliette. Here, you can get a second Excalibur sword, which is definitely worth picking up (especially since it's right next to where you start!). Although you should already have one since Orlandeau comes with one, two never hurts ... the automatic Haste effect is incredibly useful! You can give the second to another character who uses knight's swords, like Agrias, Beowulf, Meliadoul, or Ramza -- or any character in the Knight job. You can also find the Iga Blade ninja blade here. Next stop is The Palings. You can pick up the lightning magickal gun, the Blaster, here; it's the strongest gun available in single-player. The other items -- Ninja Gear, the Cursed Ring, and an Elixir -- aren't that great but they're all right at the starting pointing, so they're easy to grab. Floor seven is The Crossing. The items here aren't all that great. There's the Koga Blade ninja blade, and a Staff of the Magi. The Staff of the Magi isn't very good; it has a higher *attack power* than the Zeus Mace, but no benefit to your magick strength -- and how often do your magick-users hit people with their staves? But, you want to bring Luso or somebody else with the Poach skill, as there's a chance of running into the stronger minotaur monster here. Either of the items you get from poaching it cannot be found anywhere else. By now, you're getting near the bottom, and the difficulty level is rising. again. The next two floors will be quite tough, but they also contain some very strong items. The Switchback holds the Ragnarok sword (not actually as good as Excalibur as it doesn't cast Haste), Robe of Lords (a GREAT robe), and the best bow, the Perseus Bow. The final normal floor is The Interstice. It holds the game's best heavy armor -- the Maximillian and Grand Helm -- as well as the Venetian Shield, second only to the Escutcheon (II) as a shield. You want this stuff. There's only one level left after this, appropriately named Terminus. There's a boss encounter the first time you enter here, and it's your one chance to learn the game's best Summon, Zodiark. If you want to learn it, deploy your best Summoner (with Summoner as his/her current job) and arm him/her with the Time Mage ability Mana Shield for protection. When you enter Terminus, you'll meet some weird old guy named Elidibus, who will turn himself into a Lucavi. You'll be accompanied in this battle by a purple Byblos monster (its personal name varies). After defeating Elidibus (and hopefully learning Zodiark from him), you'll get the 13th (!) Zodiac Stone, Serpentarius. The Byblos will offer to join your party. This is your one opportunity to get this character, so sign it up. He's only OK, though. Congratulations! You've beaten Midlight's Deep! You may notice that the Deep stays a red dot on the map screen even after you've finished off Elidibus. Don't worry; you haven't missed anything. It just stays red forever. But, there's still a few more things to do. Go back into Terminus after you defeat Elidibus, and bring a Treasure Hunter. On the top level (where Elidibus was), there are four items: two Elixirs, the Chirijiraden (the best samurai sword), and the Chaos Blade. The Chaos Blade is one of the best weapons in the game; it has a whopping 40 attack points, automatically Regens you, and petrifies enemies! If you're into poaching, you can find Pigs and Swines on Terminus, as well as all the members of the hydra family. All of these monsters yield rare items when poached. (And if you want REALLY rare items, recruit a Pig or Swine and wait until you breed a Wild Boar, then poach that!) You can also use Reis's Dragon's Charm to recruit a Tiamat. They're THE best monster in the game, and they're almost as strong as (if not stronger than) Orlandeau! For other rare weapons, equip all your characters with Sticky Fingers and go to The Interstice. If you can run into some Ninjas here, they'll throw a variety of nice weapons at you, which -- assuming you have Sticky Fingers -- you'll catch and claim for your own. If you're at a high enough level, you can even get Chaos Blades! Masamunes, Chirijiradens, Javelin IIs, and most other rare weapons can also be obtained here. (The exceptions are the weapons that can't be thrown, like staves.) What else is there left to do? If you leave Midlight's Deep and head back around the overworld, some of the wilderness locations have "special" random battles that you can occasionally run into, like the infamous all-Monk melee on Grogh Heights. And at Mount Germinas, there's a rare battle against some gun- wielding Chemists and Orators, where you can steal additional copies of the magick guns, and sometimes the Stoneshooter. You can also continue poaching monsters if you're looking to complete your collection of items -- see the Rare Item Locations for where you can find everything. And, if you haven't finished the other subquests, those are still out there to complete! Finally, you can team up a friend who owns a copy of the game to complete the game's multiplayer team missions, or battle against each other in the Melee mode. (Note that you need to complete the main quest first in order to unlock all the team missions.) I don't have these covered in the FAQ yet, but I'm hoping to find some way to work them into a future version. ******************************************************************************* V. BATTLE STRATEGIES ******************************************************************************* %%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bs1 --Battle 1: Gariland-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x3, Squire (female) x1, Chemist (male) x1 The key in this battle is advance slowly and not to let your characters get spread out. Stay on the left side, away from the bulk of the houses. The enemy Chemist has the ability to heal the other enemies, which can be a pain. If you have the chance to take him out, do so; otherwise, he'll heal the enemy soldiers you've been attacking. Actually, you can stop him from doing this even if you attack him just once. He'll use up his turn healing himself instead of healing any of the other enemies. Attack from the enemy from behind or from the side whenever possible, as you're more likely to land a hit that way. (In general, rear attacks are best as they also cancel out enemy shields -- but no enemies have shields yet, so side and rear attacks will be equally effective.) At the end of each character's turn, you choose which direction they facing. Make sure you end your turns facing the enemies, which will make it harder for them to hit you from behind! (When possible, you can even put your back to the side of a building to protect it completely!) Make good use of your Chemists for healing--you start out with 5 Potions and you can use them to heal a character who gets injured. If you don't have teammates who need healing, the Chemists can also attack. (Note that Chemists have an inherent Throw Item ability, so they don't have to be next to a character to use an item on him/her. This is NOT true for other characters using the Item ability, however.) Don't worry about Delita; the Guest AI is pretty reckless and it's likely he'll get himself KOed. Since he's a Guest character, though, he can't die permanently and will be revived at the end of the battle. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Mythril Knife, Phoenix Down, Potion --Battle 2: Mandalia Plain-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x4, Thief (male) x1, Red Panther x1 Your choice before the battle affects your victory conditions here. If you chose just to fight the Corpse Brigade, you only have to KO all the enemies. If you chose the second option, then there's an additional requirement: You must also keep Argath from being KOed, as you will lose the battle if he gets KOed. The first option is better, of course, since it makes the battle easier and If you DID choose to help Argath, though, you need to protect him. Start moving a Chemist towards Argath right away. Fortunately, Argath will probably flee away from the enemies and into one corner. Heal him just to be on the safe side, and then you're free to concentrate on the enemies. Attack from above if you can, and guard your back with the rocks scattered about the battlefield or with other ally units. Remember that if you act without moving, or move without acting, your next turn will come sooner than if you both act AND move. So if there's no real need for a character to move or to take action, don't do it just for the heck of it. Your next turn will come sooner if you don't. You'll encounter your first monster here in the form of a Red Panther. It's the toughest unit in the enemy forces, but it's not too bad. Be warned that, like all monsters, it will counterattack you whenever you attack it. Don't attack the Red Panther using a character who's low on HP, or the counterattack is liable to KO you! (You CAN avoid the counterattack by using the Squire ability Stone to attack from a distance, but this ability is really too weak to be worth using.) The Red Panther can also poison you, which causes you to lose a little HP after each turn you take. You can cure this with an Antidote if you want, but it's probably not necessary--the poison wears off after a few turns, anyway. This may be your first chance to pick up crystals or chests. When the counter over a KOed enemy unit goes down past 0, the unit vanishes and is replaced with a crystal or treasure chest. Pick these up by moving onto the same tile. Picking up a chest will get you an item. Picking up a crystal will either heal the unit, or in some cases give you the option of learning many of the defeated enemy's abilities. (Note that although you point the cursor at an individual ability, you actually learn ALL of the abilities offered, regardless of what you pick!) Crystals from monsters will only heal you since monsters don't have any abilities you can learn, and crystals from humans won't always offer you an ability either. (Unless the units is in desperate need of healing, you should generally choose to learn the ability, as this permanently adds abilities to the character!) Crystals from humans are great to pick up as they can teach you new abilities, so grab them when you see them. Monster crystals are only necessary to pick up if you need healing -- or to prevent the enemies from getting to them first, as they can heal themselves with crystals too! Chests typically just offer items you can buy in stores anyway and so are not as important to collect, but early on they can still be useful as money is tighter. If one of your OWN units gets KOed, you must act to revive the character before the countdown runs down and the character is lost permanently. Right now, you've got two ways to revive a character. If one of your Chemists learned the Phoenix Down and you have Phoenix Downs in stock, you can use the Phoenix Down to revive the character. Or, you can hurry and clear the battle before the countdown runs out -- when you win a battle, any characters who have been KOed but not completely erased will be brought back to life. BATTLE TROPHIES: Potion x2 --Battle 3: The Siedge Weald-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Red Panther x1, Goblin x2, Black Goblin x2, Bomb x2 This battle is nothing but monsters; watch out for their counterattacks! For the most part, though, they're not too tough. Take out on the enemies on the higher ground first before you start crossing the water. Otherwise, you'll expose yourself to attack from above. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 4: Dorter Slums-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x1, Archer (male) x3, Black Mage (male) x 2 The enemy has Archers and Black Mages, who both have ranged attacks and can hit you from a distance. This means that you'll need to be more aggressive; if you hang back at a distance, the enemy can keep hitting you from afar! Note that when one of your characters gets hit with a Black Magick spell, the characters in adjacent tiles also take damage. There are two ways to avoid this. While the spell is still charging, you can move the other characters out of the way, or you can kill the Black Mage charging the spell and stop the attack entirely! Since the spells do quite a bit of damage, it's great to take out the Black Mages as soon as you have the chance. They don't have much HP so you can finish them off easily. (Note that spells can also have a "friendly fire" effect -- if another enemy is in range of the spell when it goes off, they get hurt too! You can possibly use this to your advantage by positioning targeted characters next to enemy units.) To check when the spell is going to be fired, press the Circle button when it's your turn, then use the Triangle button to bring up the menu and choose Turn List. If you have Black Mages of your own, you can also use these area damage effects to extend the effective range of your magicks. If the range of your magick is one tile too short to hit an enemy, you can target the tile directly in front of the enemy and the magick will still hit the enemy thanks to the area effect. This is a good tactic for hitting more distant enemies, like you see in this battle. Just make sure the enemy won't be able to move out of the way before the magick activates! There are two enemy Archers on the tall building beside where you start. At the beginning of the battle, Delita and Argath will begin climbing up the building to attack them. Let Delita and Argath handle the two Archers, and send at most one other character up the building. The rest of your team should advance down the street. Take out the Black Mages first since they can do so much damage. It's likely that one or more of your characters will get KOed during the battle. Remember that if the counter over their head goes below 0, you lose the character permanently. To avoid this, when a character's counter gets low (0 or 1), use a Phoenix Down on him or her. Even if another attack takes the character out right away, the counter will be reset and you've bought yourself a few more turns to finish the battle. Since you start on the street and the enemy has the high ground, Archers are not particularly useful here. On the other hand, Move +1 is a great ability to have as it helps you quickly close the distance between you and the enemy's ranged attackers. BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Iron Sword, Hempen Robe, Ether --Battle 5: The Sand Rat's Sietch-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Delita [guest], 1 other 2nd Squad - Argath [guest], 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x 3, Archer (male) x1, Monk (male) x2 You'll deploy your characters in two squads for this battle. Be sure to deploy somebody with the Items command (either a Chemist, or another character who's learned the ability) in the second group. There are two entrances to the fort. When the battle begins, send most of your characters towards the entrance that's closer to Argath. This is where the bulk of the fighting will take place. Argath will probably make a suicide mission into the building, but keep healing him anyway -- if you were able to give him a Black Magick spell (as recommended in the walkthrough), he'll be very helpful. Don't crowd the doorway or you'll get in trouble. Let the enemies come outside to you. Meanwhile, Delita will head towards the other entrance. You might want to send one other character with him. Hopefully, Delita's squad have the chance to sneak up on the enemy Archer from the rear and take him out so he can't keep shooting at the main squad. Remember that if a character doesn't move on a particular turn, his or her next turn will come quicker. If you don't need to move to land an attack, stay put and you'll get more turns. This is especially helpful for your Chemist; by having him/her remain stationary and throw items to the characters who need healing, you'll get more turns and more chances to heal. BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Hi-Potion, Blind Knife --Battle 6: Brigands' Den-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda [Knight; Virgo], Thief (male) x2, White Mage (female) x2 If you happen to have any male Pisces characters or Taurus and Capricorns of either gender, deploying them here can be useful. Milleuda, the boss here, is always a female Virgo, and the three Zodiac signs listed above will do extra damage to her. (You can only prepare your Zodiac signs in this way when fighting bosses; non-boss enemies have randomized Zodiac signs.) I recommend standing up on cliffs on the left side of the fort when possible; you have a height advantage there. Since you should have Hi-Potions now, use them for all your healing needs--the 30 HP from a regular Potion just doesn't cut it now. There are two White Mages here. One has Black Magick spells as a secondary ability and the other can use Items. The Black Magick-wielding mage is the most dangerous, so try to take her out first. (You can use the same tricks you used in Dorter to avoid their spells.) However, if the Item-using mage comes out of the fort and starts using Hi-Potions, you may need to take her out first or she'll just heal all the enemies. If either mage starts casting Cure, note that you can stop it more or less same way you can stop a Black Magick spell -- either take out the enemy they're trying to heal, or KO the Mage herself. After you've taken out the White Mages, concentrate on Milleuda. Her attacks are quite strong, If you have the Rend Weapon or Rend Armor abilities (both from the Knight job), you may want to try them on her. Breaking her weapon will greatly reduce her attack power, and breaking her armor will reduce her HP total. If you already have a Thief, you could try stealing her equipment too, as she's got a nice set of gear, but you'll be able to buy all her stuff eventually. The Thieves here may swipe some of your armor, or at least your headgear. Although this might be annoying, it's not really too bad; you can just re-buy the items after the battle. What's much more deadly, though, is the Steal Heart attack they may use on your female characters, which will turn them to the enemy side. If you have a choice, try to deploy male characters for this battle as they can't be affected by a Steal Hart from a male Thief. Milleuda is the game's first boss character, which means that as soon as you KO her, the battle ends, even if there are other enemies left standing. If you're in danger, take her out quickly to end the fight. But if you've got Milleuda cornered or otherwise have the upper hand, you may want to finish off the other enemies for more Exp & JP, then let them die completely so they turn into a chest or crystal. BATTLE TROPHIES: 700 gil, Iron Sword, Bronze Shield --Battle 7: Lenalian Plateau-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda [Knight; Virgo], Knight (female) x2, Black Mage (male) x2, Time Mage (female) x1 Again, Taurus, Capricorn, and male Pisces characters will do extra damage against Milleuda since she's a female Virgo. Play the first few rounds defensively to prevent any early casualties, and use the high ground to your advantage. Send one or two characters after the Black Mages, and possibly the Time Mage as well. If you have an Archer, send him/her up onto the tall ridge and shoot down on the enemies. After knocking out the Black Mages, concentrate on Milleuda. This time, she has the Counter ability, which means that whenever you hit her with a close- range attack, she has a chance of striking back. So, be sure not to use any close-range attacks against her unless your HP is high. A good strategy is to attack her with long-distance attacks like bows and Black Magick, which won't allow her to counterattack. Milleuda might also use her Rend abilities to break your gear. Again, as soon as Milleuda goes down, the battle ends, even if other enemies are still standing. BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Silken Robe, Battle Boots --Battle 8: Windflat Mill-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Wiegraf [White Knight; Virgo], Boco [Chocobo; Aries], Knight (female), Monk (female) x2 Like his sister, Wiegraf is a Virgo. He's male, though, so this time Taurus, Capricorn, and FEMALE Pisces characters are the ones to deploy (if you happen to have them -- if not, don't sweat it). Wiegraf is the only real threat here; most of his companions are pretty weak. Start moving along the bottom of the cliff and quickly take out the Chocobo (Boco) and the Monk. Wiegraf and the other enemies will soon move down to fight you. Finish off any enemies that are low on HP, then go after Wiegraf. Wiegraf uses a couple different special sword techniques that allow him to attack from a distance and (unlike magick) don't require any charge time. Most of the time, he'll use Northswain's Strike, which strikes a single character (usually for about 35 HP or so), but if your characters are close together, he may also use Judgment Blade to attack a "plus-shaped" group of tiles. These attacks are pretty strong, but Wiegraf doesn't have a great defense, so if you hit him with a few strong attacks (Mythril Swords, black magick), he'll go down quickly. Just stay healed! Because you're fighting in such close quarters, watch out for the "friendly fire" effects of your own spells! In general, if one of your allies is standing right next to an enemy, a useful trick is to target the tile right BEHIND the enemy to avoid hitting your ally when the spell goes off. For instance, if your characters are positioned like below, target the space marked with a *: *EA (A = ally, E = enemy) This way, you'll still hit the enemy, but the spell is positioned so as not to harm your ally. As soon as Wiegraf's HP drops to critical status, he'll teleport away and the battle will end. BATTLE TROPHIES: Hi-Potion --Battle 9: Ziekden Fortress-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Delita [guest], 1 other 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Argath [Knight; Virgo], Knight (male) x3, Black Mage (female) x3 You'll deploy in two squads again for this battle. Deploy your best damage- dealer along with Ramza in the first squad. The character in the second squad are going to be largely useless as they start far away from the action. If you want to pick and choose Zodiac signs, Argath is again a Virgo and susceptible to Taurus, Capricorn, and female Pisces attacks. Luckily, you can almost beat the whole fight just using Ramza. Just go after Argath and completely ignore the other guys. He's only got a crossbow, so he can't do much damage to you, and he's useless at close ranges. Just chase him down and hit him with your strongest attacks, like Knight and Monk attacks and Black Magick. You want to block him from climbing up the stairs to the roof of the fort, as he has a good sniping point if he gets up there and it's slow climbing up after him. Just position your characters between him and the stairs and he shouldn't be able to climb up there. Argath does have the Auto-Potion ability, which gives him a random chance to heal himself with a Potion when you hit him, so you may want to avoid using very weak attacks against him--the gain from the Auto-Potion may heal him more than you hurt him for! (The ability isn't always activated, though. And Auto- Potion also can't protect him whenever you land the killing blow. Again, as you soon as you knock down Argath, the fight--and the chapter--ends. BATTLE TROPHIES: None %%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bs2 --Battle 10: Dorter-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Gaffgarion [guest], Agrias [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Black Mage (male) x2, Archer (female) x2, Thief (male) x2 There's no boss here, so you'll have to wipe out every enemy on the map to win. If you've got good jobs, though, this battle should be no problem. Just move up the path and take out the enemies as you go. The Black Mages and Archers do the most damage, so when you've got a choice, go after them before the Thieves. Agrias has a nasty habit of casting spells indiscriminatly on your own people, thanks to the goofy Guest AI. You can either de-equip her spells from the menu beforehand, or pay attention to which she enemy she is targeting and stay clear. BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Flame Rod, Mage Masher, Phoenix Down --Battle 11: Araguay Woods-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Gaffgarion [guest], Agrias [guest], Boco [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Goblin x5, Black Goblin x1 If you choose the second option before the battle, you must keep Boco from being KOed. Fortunately, this isn't hard. Boco will usually retreat into a corner, where will be chased by the lone Black Goblin. Boco can take care of himself just fine, so don't bother going after the Black Goblin unless you've mopped up all the other enemies. The Goblins aren't very strong, especially with Agrias's and Gaffgarion's help, so I recommend just rushing them. Stay out of the ditches. BATTLE TROPHIES: Hi-Potion --Battle 12: Zeirchele Falls-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Delita [guest], Ovelia [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Gaffgarion [Fell Knight; Virgo], Knight (male) x5 First, take out Gafgarion. If you turned him into a crummy job before the battle and stripped off his armor (heh heh), you should be able to KO him in one hit. The mission here is to protect Ovelia, which means you can't let her get KOed. She isn't in too much danger, though, since she can cast Aegis, which puts a whole lot of good defensive buffs on her. She only has enough MP to cast this once, though, and it wears off after a few turns. Just to be on the safe side, keep a healer reasonably close to her. Start off by taking out the Knights on your side of the falls. One of the Knights from the far side will probably try to cross over, so position an Archer (assuming you have one) on the corner of the cliff and shoot down at the guy. Agrias tends to loiter in the water and may finish him off; if not, send a character or two down after him. A great trick here is to KO one of the enemy Knights while he's standing on the bridge. Until he decomposes into a chest/crystal, his body will completely block the other Knights from crossing the bridge. Since the Knights have NO ranged attacks, you can use this as a chance to shoot at them from afar. If any of the Knights drops to critical HP, he may try to flee up the cliffs on the side of the falls. You'll have to chase after him, so it may be useful to bring a character with a good Move range to this battle. (Battle Shoes and Move+1 or +2 will increase your Move range.) BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 13: Zaland-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Mustadio [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x2, Black Mage (male) x2, Archer (female) x2 This is a toughie. If you chose the second option before the battle, you'll have to keep Mustadio alive; otherwise, you can let him get KOed without losing the battle. (Of course, choosing the second option also gives you a greater boost to your Bravery.) When deploying your character, deploy them in the "front" row (i.e., the row where Ramza is already standing). This starts them closer to the gate and allows them to get into the city faster. The enemy is holed up inside Zaland and launches arrows and powerful Black Magick at you through (and over) the wall. Any melee characters you have will need to rush for the gates. In the mean time, your Archers and mages can fire back with their own ranged attacks. Equip the Archer's Bane reaction ability on any character who has it, as it will help protect you against the enemy arrows. Mustadio will initially do one of our things. Most likely, he'll run up on the top of the gate and attack with his gun from them. This is the "good" outcome since it keeps relatively him out of harm's way. But sometimes he'll stay on the ground inside the city, which is bad news, as all the enemies will pick on him and it's hard to reach for him healing. In this case, your best option is to cast Shell on him to reduce the magick damage he takes. Note that you can't throw items through the wall, but you CAN cast White Magick through it, so you're probably better off with a White Mage for healing here. If you've been using Ramza mostly for close-range attacks, he may not be much help here. On his first turn, have him use Tailwind on one of your Archers or Black Mages to boost their speed and get them more turns. Then start him running towards the gate so he can get into the city and use melee attacks. Make the Mages your first target, since their magick attacks are so strong. Use Black Magick, bows, and the Black Chocobo (if you brought one) to take them out as quickly as possible. Until the Mages go down, keep your characters spread out so enemy magicks can't hit more than one of your characters at a time. After the Mages go down, go after the Archers, then the Knights. Mustadio's initial abilities seem to be randomly determined, but if he happens to start with Beastmaster, land the Black Chocobo next to him. Mustadio's Beastmaster skill will allow the Black Chocobo to cast Choco Meteor, a really strong attack. (You can tell what abilities Mustadio has equipped by clicking on his tile.) Mustadio also uses his Aimed Shot abilities to put status conditions on the enemies. Immobilize (from Leg Shot) will keep an enemy from moving for a few turns, and Disable (from Arm Shot) will keep an enemy from taking action. If a bad guy gets hit with Disable, don't bother targeting them any further, since they can't do anything to hurt you for a few turns. A Knight that's been Immobilized is also a low-priority target since he can't move to attack you as long as you stay out of the tiles directly next to him. (The Black Mages and Archers can still shoot even if they're Immobilized, though!) As for the Knights, they'll probably try to climb over the wall on the side of the map opposite the gate into the city. Agrias will attack them, but she can't take them out her own, so help her out with your ranged attacks. The Knights may also use Phoenix Downs to revive any Mages and Archers you KO. Characters revived with Phoenix Down comes back with only a little HP, though, so you should be able to knock them back out again with just a single attack. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Mythril Sword, Hi-Potion --Battle 14: Balias Tor-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Mustadio [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x2, Archer (female) x2, Summoner (female) x2 This battle can be harder than it looks. The enemy squad has Summoners for the first time (one positioned on each side of the hill), and their summon spells can do big damage to your team. On the first turn, Mustadio will probably chase after one of the Summoners. Send a fast and/or magic-using character around the opposite side of the hill to take out the other Summoner. The Summoners don't have much HP, so you should be able to finish them off in a couple turns. Meanwhile, have the rest of your squad attack the center of the hill. If you can attack the enemies quickly, the Summoners may squander their turns casting Moogle for healing instead of using damaging summons on you. You're not *required* to keep Mustadio alive in this battle -- if he gets KOed, you won't lose the battle -- but it's a good idea to keep him standing, as his gun is quite helpful. As in Zaland, don't waste your turns attacking enemies that Mustadio has Immobilized or Disabled. A cool trick here is to use the Squire ability Rush to knock the Knights and Archers off the hill. They'll take damage if they fall too far, and you'll put them out of range of attacking you. BATTLE TROPHIES: 1000 gil, Holy Water --Battle 15: Tchigolith Fenlands-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Mustadio [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Skeleton x2, Bonesnatch x1, Ghoul x2, Floating Eye or Malboro x1 The last member of the enemy forces is randomly determined; it's usually a Floating Eye, but sometimes you'll get a Malboro instead. Randomness aside, this is a fairly normal battle with a few quirks. First, if you end your turn in the swamp, you get poisoned. (Simply passing through the swamp as part of a move won't poison you as long as you end the move on dry land.) This isn't that bad, but if you have a choice, stand on land. And be sure not to end your turn in any water where the Depth is displayed as 2 -- if you stop here, you won't be able to take any actions, as you're up to your head in water. (The Ninja ability Waterwalking would prevent this, in the unlikely event you have it already.) Second, almost all the enemies (everyone except the Malboro or Floating Eye) are undead -- that means you can use heal spells and items to damage them. It's quite effective. If you've had a chance to learn Mustadio's Seal Evil ability, he may also use that to turn the undead monsters to turn them to stone. Other than those two exceptions, there's nothing here you haven't seen before. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 16: Goug Lowtown-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Mustadio [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Archer (female) x2, Thief (male) x2, Summoner (male) x2 The enemy Archers in this battle have a huge range and it's hard to stay out of range completely. So, don't deploy any character who has really low HP as you probably won't be able to protect him/her/it completely. Equipping the Archer's Bane reaction ability will help you a lot, if you have it available. Mustadio will be almost invariably killed at the start of the battle -- he has no equipment and starts right next to the enemies. Don't worry about him. He's still a Guest so he can't die permanently yet. Move your guys up onto the roof. Use ranged attacks to take out the Summoners. Note that both Summoners are one side of the enemy roof and both Archers on the other. If you stick towards the side of the map with the Summoners, it may keep the Archers from shooting at you for a turn or two. Kill any unit that moves onto your roof; Thieves first, Archers second. Early in the battle, don't chase enemies over to the other roof, or you'll get surrounded. Just fire ranged attacks at them. (Later, once there are only a couple enemies left, it's safe to jump across.) Your highest priority is to keep your guys healed, not to hit the enemy. Useful abilities here are Chakra, Counter, Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga, and Archer's Bane. Bows and guns are useful for their ranged attacks. When the Summoners start charging a spell, use the Turn List to check what it is. If it's just Moogle, you're fine, as that only heals them a little. But if they start casting anything else, it's an attack spell. Try to quickly take out the Summoner before he can finish the spell, or spread your characters out to minimize the hurt. Summon magick does a lot of damage! If the battle drags on for a while, the Summoners may run out of MP. In this case, you can pretty much ignore them completely as they can't really harm you at all. BATTLE TROPHIES: 100 gil, Thunder Rod --Battle 17: Balias Swale-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Agrias [guest], 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: 1st Squad - Knight (male) x2, Black Mage (male) x1, Archer (female) x1 2nd Squad - Black Mage (male) x1, Archer (female) x 2 Kill the Black Mages first (using range attacks if you have them), then the Archers. This fight is really easy; just make sure Agrias stays alive. Because it's so easy, it's a good time to let the enemies' counters run out and pick up the loot they leave behind. (Paralyze Agrias or use Mustadio's Arm or Leg Shot on her to keep her from finishing off the last enemy.) The archer in the second squad has a Poison Bow crossbow you could steal, although it's not too special and you'll be able to buy it soon enough anyway. BATTLE TROPHIES: Echo Herbs --Battle 18: Golgollada Gallows-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Gaffgarion [Fell Knight; Virgo], Knight (male) x3, Archer (female) x2, Time Mage (female) x2 Deploy at least one strong fighter in the second squad (Agrias is good). For the rest of your team, anyone with a ranged attack is really useful (bows, guns, or Black Magick), and Monks and Geomancers can be good too. Note that although Gaffgarion seems like a boss character, KOing him will NOT end this battle. You need to take out all the enemies! You're surrounded by enemies. What you need to do to gain the advantage is start climbing up the side of the gate, near where the first squad starts. Move immediately for the scaffolding, though as move, you can continue to use your attacks to disable the enemy forces. Because there are so many enemies here and they all start close to you, you need to limit the number of enemies who can functionally attack you at once. Abilities that are good for this are Mustadio's Arm Shot, Agrias's Judgment Blade (which sometimes causes Stop), and the Geomancer's Tanglevine (which also causes Stop and almost always works). Leg Shot is also useful against the Knights, but not against the other characters, since they can all attack from a distance. Once you start getting up on the scaffolding and gate, you can start attacking. Go after those pesky Archers first. You can use bows, guns, Black Magick, and Agrias's Holy Sword to attack from a distance. These attacks all have an infinite vertical range, so you can use them all the way from atop of the gate or on the scaffolding. Once you have the height advantage, it's a lot harder for the enemy Knights and Archers to hit you, and you can fight them a few at a time. You'll be taking a lot of hits, so a good way to heal yourself is to not have your healer move once he or she is in position on the scaffolding -- this lets him/her get more turns. Throw Items has a really good vertical range, so even if you're positioned up on top of the gate, you can throw items down to characters still climbing up. Gaffgarion is the most dangerous enemy here; not only does his Shadowblade do good damage to you, it drains HP back to him. If you have a really powerful magick spell (like Firaja or Holy or something), you can try using that to take him out in one shot. Or, if you use Steal Weapon or Rend Weapon to disable his Blood Sword, you can disable all his sword techniques (*and* net you a Blood Sword if you steal it!). Otherwise, you'll just have to knock him down bit by bit. Take out the Archers first and then start hammering on him with your whole team, since you need to damage him faster than he can heal himself. He has Counter; attacking from a distance (if you can) is one way to get around this, but you can also just hit him with Arm Shot. If he's Disabled, he can't use his Counter. You needn't take away *all* his HP; as soon as he gets to critical status, he'll teleport away. The Time Mages are your lowest priority here. Even though they don't have much HP, taking them out is just a waste of turns as they can't do all that much to harm you. About all they do is cast Slow, and if you brought Diamond Bracelets from Warjilis, you're immune to that. So attack the Time Mages last. Using Ramza's Tailwind to increase the speed of your most crucial characters. If your archers or gunners have a spare turn, you can also have them try using Focus to build up their attack power. If you just can't win, try fighting some battles in Balias Swale to get some better abilities like Arise, Equip Heavy Armor, Auto-Potion, Chakra (which I would strongly advise you to acquire by now), etc. If you deploy Agrias in this battle, there will be some extra dialogue between her and Ramza when she finds out he's a Beoulve. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 19: Lionel Castle Gate-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza 2nd Squad - 4 others ENEMY FORCES: 1st Squad - Gaffgarion [Fell Knight; Virgo] 2nd Squad - Knight (female) x3, Archer (male) x2, Summoner (male) x1 When deploying your second squad, any characters that you want in the front row (e.g. melee fighters) should be placed in the back of the three rows (i.e., the top-right) on the deployment screen. You'll be attacked from behind, so these characters will actually end up closest to the enemy. Meanwhile, ranged attackers and magick users should go towards the bottom-left of the deployment screen so they'll end up behind your fighters. Ramza starts trapped inside the gate with Gaffgarion, while the rest of your characters have another set of enemies to fight outside. There are a couple different strategies you can use to deal with Gaffgarion: 1. The simplest strategy is to move down Ramza to the ground and have him use Chakra on every turn to heal the damage Gaff is doing. (If Ramza doesn't have Chakra, Hi-Potions should work too, as long as you have enough of them.) Stay close to Gaffgarion so he won't try to go anywhere else Don't attack Gaffgarion or open the gate; just sit there and use Chakra. This lets you stall Gaffgarion while your other characters defeat the enemies outside. 2. If Ramza has the Time Mage ability Teleport or the Dragoon ability Ignore Elevation, you can use one of those to move him outside of the gate and strand Gaffgarion inside. 3. Finally, if one of your other characters has strong Black Magicks (e.g. a -ja or a -ga spell coupled with Arcane Strength), deploy him/her outside the gate. Use Ramza to lure Gaffgarion near the gate, and then have the Black Mage use magick on Gaffgarion (since Black Magicks can go through walls) to KO him. It doesn't matter if the spell KOs Ramza as long as you KO Gaff because KOing Gaffgarion will cause Ramza to recover with 1 HP. Once you've KOed Gaffgarion, you can have Ramza open the gate and join the fight outside. This strategy has the advantage that it allows Ramza to help fight outside and turns Gaffgarion into a crystal that you can use for healing or ability learning (sadly, you can't learn his special sword techniques from the crystal), but it only works if you have strong Black Magicks. Meanwhile, your other four characters have to take on the gang outside the gate. The Summoner is the most dangerous enemy here, so try to take him out immediately or use Mustadio's Arm Shot to Disable him. If he does start casting a spell, spread your characters out so he can't blast your whole team. In general, Arm Shot is a great ability for this fight, as it reduces the number of enemies that can attack you at once. (You can also use the Mystic's Hesitation spell for the same effect.) Moreover, putting Disable on a character causes him/her to flee into a corner, which means that it will take another turn or two to get back into the battle even once Disable wears off. Note that Disabling a character who's charging up an attack will cancel the attack. This is a good way to stop a Summon or Archer's Aim attack if you've got no other options. For dealing damage, guns are quite helpful as they can allow you to attack without having to Move. Remember that if you don't move during a turn, your next turn will come more quickly, which helps a lot when you're surrounded by lots of enemies! Agrias's sword techniques are also great for damage-dealing, and her Northswain's Strike ability (if you have it) has a chance of taking out an enemy outright. Also, when enemies are bunched together, use Black Magick, Summon spells or Agrias's Judgment Blade to hit more than one enemy at a time. Once you've mopped up most of the enemies outside the gate, move Ramza up to the switch on the left side of the gate and he will open the door. Now, have your whole gang rush inside and attack Gaffgarion. Try to rend his sword, or even better, steal it. Again, using Arm Shot to Disable him is quite useful, as it not only prevents from attacking you, but turns off his counterattack and prevents him from blocking with his shield. He shouldn't be too much trouble -- the hard part is the fight outside the gate. But, be careful not to let him pick up any crystallized enemies; he can use the crystals to restore all his HP just like you can! Either pick up the crystals as soon as they appear, or position your characters to block his route to the crystals. You do have to take away ALL his HP this time instead of just reducing him to crtical, but once you do, he's finally gone for good. BATTLE TROPHIES: 700 gil, Mythril Helm --Battle 20: Zeirchele Falls-- YOUR FORCES: Delita, Ovelia [guest] ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x1, Archer (male) x1, Black Mage (female) x1 Delita is your only controllable character here. Ovelia is a guest. As before, she'll probably just cast Aegis and run. But now that she has more MP, she can also cast Aegis on Delita on her second turn instead of only casting it on herself. Move Delita across the bridge and start attacking the enemy forces. He has all of the Holy Sword techniques, so use them -- with Hallowed Bolt and Judgment Blade, you can probably hit more than enemy at once. Since there are only three enemies and none of them are that strong, you should be able to defeat them without much trouble. Really, this battle is quite easy; the main purpose of it is just to give you a chance to play as Delita :) BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 21: Lionel Castle Oratory-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Cuchulainn [The Impure; Scorpio] This battle can be tricky because Cuchulainn casts a variety of status attacks from a distance while running from you--plus, he gets the first turn! You'll find him easier to beat if you can trap him so he can't move. To get the jump on Cuchulainn, deploy your 4 teammates as follows: __ XX X = character other than Ramza XX --- Ramza can be placed on any other tile because he'll automatically move forward during the pre-battle story events. If you place your characters in this formation, Cuchulainn will have to come down the stairs on his first turn to start casting his magick. Now you can rush him and attack. If you can surround him, he won't be able to flee out of range. If you can't get within striking distance on a particular character's turn, at least position him/her on the stairs to keep him from climbing back up. You could also use Leg Shot to Immobilize him, but since you can surround him pretty well this tactic anyway, it's just kind of a wasted turn. (He's immune to Disable, so don't bother trying Arm Shot.) As noted above, Cuchulainn's attacks consist primarily of status-attack magick. (Occasionally, he'll use a physical attack instead.) His Nightmare spell will inflict Sleep or Doom on a group of characters and has a 100% hit rate, and his Bio magicks do damage and inflict various other status ailments. Use the Esuna magick or the Monk's Purification ability to wake up the sleeping characters if you have either available; otherwise, try using weak physical attacks (e.g. Stone) to wake them up. Doom will cause your character to KO when the countdown finishes. There's pretty no way to remove it, so just revive the characters after they're KOed. (Striking a character with the White Staff *may* remove the Doom status, but it doesn't always work and isn't worth forfeiting a stronger weapon for.) Other status ailments can be cured with Purification, Esuna, or the appropriate items if you happen to have them. Try to keep your support characters spread out so they can't all be hit with Cuchulainn's magick at once. Since both the Sleep and Doom effects of Nightmare can be prevented with Protect Rings, you might be tempted to equip those. However, if you equip Protect Rings, Cuchulainn will just cast Bio spells more. Since the Bio spells are usually more dangerous than Nightmare, you're better off without Protect Rings! Good attacks to use against Cuchulainn include physical attacks and Agrias's sword techniques. Guns and bows are also good, particularly if you trap him down on your level. (If he escapes to the top of the map, guns will be less useful because there are usually too many obstacles to get a clear line of fire.) The Monk's Aurablast may also be helpful in hitting him before you have a chance to trap him. Magick may be somewhat less useful here since it will probably hit your allies too and you may be halted with a status effect before you can get the spell off anyway. However, if you happen to have the Lich summon spell already or the Time Mage's Graviga, these will do a lot of damage -- they both do damage equal to half the target's max HP, regardless of how high that max may be! (Even Gravity, which does damage equal to 1/4 of max HP, can be useful.) In general, a good mix of close range fighters and gun/bow users is probably best, and be sure to bring one or two characters who can use Phoenix Downs! And since Cuchulainn is a Scorpio, any Cancer or Pisces characters you might have (including Agrias) will do particular damage to him. Cuchulainn has between 450 and 500 HP. BATTLE TROPHIES: None %%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bs3 --Battle 22: Gollund-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Orran [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x2, Thief (female) x3, Orator (male) x1 The battlefield here is covered in snow, which restricts your movement. And top of that, the buildings are steep. So, you'll want to deploy characters with a good Jump or Move range, or equip accessories to boost it. Because you start on the bottom and the enemy is on rooftops above you, guns and bows are not too effective here (you can't hit the enemy from below). Instead, try bringing Black Magick or the Dragoon's Jump attack. Finally, the enemy has three Thieves that like to steal your equipment, so you may want to protect your investments by equipping the Safeguard ability, which prevents steals. Orran possess the Celestial Stasis spell, which will Disable, Stop, or Immobilize at least half the enemy forces every time he casts it. However, he's still vulnerable until he gets this spell off, and the enemy Chemists can hit him from a distance with their guns. So, keep an eye on his HP. From where you start the battle, move a healer character and another character to the right and up the low steps. These characters will be in a good position to heal Orran (with White Magick or Throw Items) if he needs it. You can also cast Protect him on if he's relatively healthy to boost his defense. The rest of your squad can go around the other side of the building to start fighting the enemies there. The enemies will probably be no match for your forces; the key is just to keep Orran from getting killed, since if he's KOed, you lose the battled. This battle is also a great opportunity to do some stealing! Both Chemists are carrying Mythril Guns, which are 2 attack points stronger than the Romandan Pistols you're toting. These are the best prize to steal. Additionally, you can grab an Orichalcum Dirk (a good dagger) and Germinas Boots (boots that boost both your move *and* jump) from the Orator. The Thieves may also carry Jujitsu Gis and Main Gauche, although Main Gauches aren't as strong as the Orichalcum Dirk. Especially later in the battle, when Orran may have paralyzed lots of enemies, try to steal some of their gear if their can! Orran's Counter Tackle will knock enemies off the roofs for extra damage, and you can try this yourself with Rush. The Orator tends to stay on the highest roof and may be tough to reach, but you should be able to jump up there using the "steps" on the right side of the roof. At that point, you can attack him while on the roof or Rush him off the roof so your entire crew can attack him. Or, just use Black Magick to attack from below. BATTLE TROPHIES: 1500 gil, Battle Folio --Battle 23: Lesalia Castle Postern-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Alma [guest], 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Zalmour [Celebrant; Sagittarius], Knight (male) x3, Monk (female) x2 If you didn't spot the rest of your team right away, they're behind the gate. Since none of the enemies here have much in the way of range attacks (just some weak Geomancy spells), you needn't rush down to attack them. Instead, keep your characters up on top of the castle and let the enemies come up to you. The majority of them will come up the stairs, so position the bulk of your team there. Because the enemies are often in clusters, magick (and geomancy) works well on them. The railing blocks direct gun shots down onto the ground, but if you move up on top of the railing, you should be able to shoot from there. Standing on the railing also gives you a height advantage and makes it harder for the enemies to hit you. Alma will probably cast Aegis on Ramza once, which will make him super-powered for a few turns. (Shell and Protect will reduce the damage he takes, Regen heals him, and Haste gets him more turns!) Take advantage of that! After that, she'll just thwack your characters with her Healing Staff to restore their HP. The annoying part of this battle is Zalmour, who can cast Cura and Arise to heal his troops. When you have the chance, start attacking him. (You may also want to try stealing his White Robe if you get a chance.) He'll go down quickly, and, as soon as you KO him, you win the battle. BATTLE TROPHIES: Ether --Battle 24: Monastery Vaults - Second Level-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x1, Time Mage (male) x2, Dragoon (male) x3 This is your first encounter with enemy Dragoons. Their standard attack has a two-tile range attack and is quite strong, and they can also use the Jump attack. If one of them jumps at a character, try to move that character away before the Dragoon lands (assuming you have a chance, that is). If you cast Haste on your characters, you'll get more turns and hence a better chance of being able to duck out of the way. Since the Dragoons are so strong physically, you'll probably want to bring some tough close-range fighters to fight back with. The Dragoons have a high evade rate, so equipping the Concentration ability (Archer) on any characters that have it is a good idea, as it ensures that your attacks never miss. Also, if your fighters have Fire Shields or Ice Shields equipped, remember that casting a fire or blizzard spell on the group will both damage the enemy Dragoons and heal any characters with the appropriate shield -- it's good for close-quarters fighting! Take out the enemy Chemist so he can't heal the enemies, but save the Time Mages for last. Pretty much all they'll do is cast Haste. If you have the chance, though, position one of your characters next to the character getting the Haste, as this allows you to BATTLE TROPHIES: Battle Folio --Battle 25: Monastery Vaults - Third Level-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Isilud [Nightblade; Gemini], Knight (male) x2, Archer (male) x2, Summoner (male) x1 Your first order of business in this maze-like level is to send one or two characters down the hall to kill the Summoner -- used ranged attacks to take him out quickly before he can hit you with any Summoners. After the Summoner, go after the archer that will have come up behind him. At this time Isilud and his gang will be nearing you from behind. You'll want to get up on top of the bookshelves to fight him on the same level. If you have a Jump statistic of at least 5 (you can increase with the Spiked Boots or Germinas Boots), you can jump directly on top of the shelves; otherwise, you'll have to use the stairs in the corner. The stairs can get a little crowded, so being able to jump up is helpful. Watch out; Isilud has the Dragoon's Jump attack and an incredibly long jump range. Haste is useful to avoid it. His plain sword attack is strong too, and he can also counterattack. He also has Safeguard, so you can't steal or break his sword or other equipment. Just ignore the other guys and attack Isilud. The Mythril Gun and Agrias's Holy Sword techniques are both quite effective here, and you can also use your own Jump attacks if you've got a Dragoon. When Isilud drops to critical HP, he'll teleport away and you win. BATTLE TROPHIES: Guardian Bracelet --Battle 26: Monastery Vaults - First Level-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Wiegraf [White Knight; Virgo], Knight (female) x2, Archer (female) x2, Black Mage (female) x1 Spread your characters out in your initial deployment since Wiegraf is almost guaranteed to hit your group with a Judgment Blade before you have a chance to move. The tall wall divides this level into two halves -- the half where you start and the half where the bad guys start, with a small doorway in the middle. But Wiegraf will come running through to your side right away. Just go after Wiegraf; most of his followers are irrelevant, as they probably won't even reach you before Wiegraf goes down. The Archers can shoot through the doorway from the other side, though, so Archer's Bane may be helpful. As before, Wiegraf will use Judgment Blade a lot. Judgment Blade also randomly casts Stop on you sometimes, but you protect yourself from that by equipping Jade Armlets. (The armlets won't stop you from taking HP damage from Judgment Blade, though.) Focus your attacks on Wiegraf. If you can't kill him in two or so rounds, the other enemies will show up and you're in trouble. Wiegraf must be knocked down to 0 HP before you win. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2500 gil --Battle 27: Zeklaus Desert-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Luso [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Behemoth x3, Behemoth King x2, Dark Behemoth x1 It's Behemoth city! When the formation screen appears, deploy all your characters towards the upper-left corner of the available purple tiles. This will start your characters as close to Luso as possible. Luso can hold his own pretty well -- he comes with an Icebrand sword, which is better than anything sold in stores at this point. Still, if he gets surrounded by Behemoths, he'll get killed and you'll lose the battle, so move a healer into position ASAP. (Casting the Protect spell on him or your other characters is also a good idea, as the Behemoths only use physical attacks.) If you move some other fighters down into the canyon with the Behemoths, you'll keep them from ganging up on any one particular character. Remember that all the Behemoths, being monsters, can counterattack, so Luso can take damage pretty quickly fighting against them. (Fortunately, he's smart enough to flee if his HP drops to critical, but even if it's not yet critical, a series of behemoth attacks could take him out before he has a chance to move!) Try to take out a few of the purple "regular" Behemoths quickly, before the Behemoth Kings and Dark Behemoth have a chance to make it over to you. Those are lot stronger and will take several attacks to kill. Agrias's Holy Sword techniques are good for taking out the monsters and can't be counterattacked. If you have an Orator or someone else with Speechcraft and Beast Tongue, it's definitely worth trying to recruit some of the monsters here. If you can turn one Traitor and keep it alive through the battle, it'll join your squad. None of these monsters are ones you could otherwise recruit at this point in the game, and the Behemoth King and Dark Behemoth are particularly rare. If you get any of them, you can use them to breed more behemoths and poach them for rare items! (Or, Luso automatically poaches any enemy he kills, so he if kills any of the behemoths here, you should also get something good.) BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 28: Grogh Heights-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x2, Chemist (male) x2, Archer (male) x1, Thief (female) x1 This is a fairly straightforward battle. The main challenges are the Thief, who of course can steal your gear, and the Chemists, who both have guns and a humongous range from their vantage point atop the heights. You'll want to target the Chemists first. Fire back with your own guns, or have Mustadio use his Arm Shot from a distance to Disable them. The small passes between the cliffs can be a bit of a choke point as you try to climb up. If you boost your Jump height with accessories and agile jobs, that will help you scale the heights quickly. On the other hand, if the enemies do get bunched up in a row in a pass, firing one of Agrias's Divine Ruination skills (if you have it) will decimate them. Because this is a fairly easy battle, it's a good chance to build up your weaker characters if you want. I suppose you could also try letting the enemies decay into crystals or chests, but these guys don't really have much worth taking. (Hey, they're deserters, what do you expect?) BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Gun --Battle 29: Yardrow-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Marach [Netherseer; Gemini], Summoner (female) x2, Ninja (male) x3 This is another protect-the-guest battle, so deploy somebody with healing abilities or you're toast. In fact, bringing two might not be a bad idea! Move a character into the gateway to block it prevent the enemies from going after Rapha. At the start of the battle, one of the Ninjas will probably give himself an unfair height advantage by climbing up on the roof and throwing weapons at you. Use guns or magick to take him out quickly. You could also equip the Thief ability Sticky Fingers, which will let you catch whatever the ninja throws at you, but it's probably not worth giving up your regular Reaction Ability for. The Ninjas here can hit really hard since they get two attacks. Make them your first target, and stay out of hand-to-hand range when possible. Even at a distance, the Ninjas can still Throw weapons at you, but this attack isn't nearly as strong. As at Grogh Heights, the gate into the city is a bit of a choke point, which means it's a great opportunity to fire some Divine Ruinations and hit several enemies at once. If you've got anybody with an attack that can go through the wall (i.e., magick or some monster skills), you can try to kill the Summoners that way. The enemies start pretty bunched up inside, so this can be a good way of attacking more than one enemy at a time. Otherwise you'll have to go through the Ninjas at the gate. As usual, watch what areas the Summoners are targeting so you can try to keep your team split up and out of the way. Watch out for Rapha's skills -- they target a 3x3 square of the map and hit random tiles, making them as likely to hit you as the bad guys. (Marach's skills do the same, which fortunately means he's pretty unlikely to actually hit you ... and even if they do, they do very little damage.) Although Marach teleports away when you defeat him, you must defeat ALL the enemies to win here. Since Marach is really the least threatening guy here, save him for last. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Yagyu Darkrood, Holy Water --Battle 30: Zeltennia Castle-- YOUR FORCES: Delita, Ovelia [guest] ENEMY FORCES: Ninja (male) x1, Ninja (female) x1 It's just Delita and Ovelia against two Ninjas. This should be a cinch; although the Ninjas can hit hard, Delita and Ovelia have enough HP to survive a few attacks, and one Holy Sword technique should be enough to take out each ninja. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 31: The Yuguewood-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Black Mage (male, undead) x2, Time Mage (female, undead) x2, Ghoul x1, Ghast x1, Revenant x1 Every enemy here is undead, including the humans. After you KO them, when their counter runs out, they may REVIVE instead of turning into a crystal! This means that, after you KO the first enemy, you have to hustle to finish off the rest before the first ones start reviving again. Fortunately, there's an easier way. Just use Mustadio's Seal Evil skill, which turns any undead enemy into stone and prevents them from resurrecting :) (plus it almost always hits!) You can also handle the three ghost monsters by Poaching them; a Poached monster disappears from the map and hence can't be revived. Since the enemies are undead, Cure spells and other healing abilities (e.g. Raise, items, and Chakra) will do quite a bit of damage to them while simultaneously healing any nearby allies. You can even strike them with the Healing Staff! Summon spells also work well, as the enemies are usually packed together. The two Black Mages are your toughest opponents, so take them out first. The Time Mages are a bit of a pain too, since they can cast Slow or Immobilize on you. You can prevent the former by equipping Diamond Bracelets and the later by equipping Guardian Bracelets. For your close-range fighters, defense against Immobilize is the most important, but for your gunners and magick users, being Immobilized may not be such a problem. They have enough range that they can still attack even if they're rooted in one spot, so you might be better off giving them Diamond Bracelets instead. Rapha is just an "ordinary" guest here, so it doesn't matter if she gets KOed. BATTLE TROPHIES: Phoenix Down x2 --Battle 32: Riovanes Castle Gate-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Rapha [guest], 1 other 2nd Squad - 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Marach [Netherseer; Gemini], Knight (male) x3, Archer (female) x3 Deploy another fast character with Ramza, but make sure both are well-armored. You'll want the two of them to break through to the enemy back line quickly and take out the Archers. The second squad starts further from the battle, but they can bring up the rear and keep fighting the Knights. You'll face a constain rain of arrows from the enemy Archers atop the gates, so equipping Archer's Bane on as many characters as possible will be a big help. The Golem summon is also quite helpful if you have it; cast it at the beginning of the battle and it will temporarily absorb some of the physical damage you receive. The Mystic ability Defense Boost would also be helpful here, as would the Protect spell or the Kiyomori Iaido (which casts Protect). Equipping shields and capes will also boost your evade rate. Rafa is here as a guest and Marach as an enemy. If EITHER of them is reduced to critical HP, they will BOTH teleport away. You want to be rid of them; Marach's pole attack is reasonably strong, and he tends to block your route up to the Archers. So, a simple strategy is to de-equip all of Rafa's armor before the battle and then take her out with one attack. This will get Marach out of the way and let you get to the Archers more easily. Take out the enemy Knight on the bridge to keep him from blocking your path, then start hurrying up the steps. You want to get to the enemy Archers as quickly as possible. (If you have the Dragoon ability Ignore Elevation, this is easy-peasy, of course; you can just jump right up from the drawbridge.) Spells that you can fire at them from a few tiles away will be helpful. If you have Arithmeticks, that will be helpful as well. Finally, you could also try riding a Black Chocobo up to the top of the gate; this strategy would be best combined with the Golem spell to prevent the Chocobo from being shot to death by the Archers. Keep your close-range fighters in the rear so they can fend off the enemy Knights as they approach. Since the enemy Knights have a fairly high evade rate, Concentration may also be useful; alternately, you can just attack them with Agrias's Holy Sword techniques, as they never miss. If you keep killing off one of the Knights, the other ones may keep bringing him back with Phoenix Down, thus wasting their turns. As long as you stay on level ground, the Monk's Revive ability will be useful in bringing back your dead guys. Once the Archers are dead, you can have all your characters mop up the remaining Knights. BATTLE TROPHIES: Elven Cloak, Hi-Potion, X-Potion --Battle 33: Riovanes Castle Keep-- YOUR FORCES: PHASE ONE: Ramza PHASE TWO: 1st Squad - Ramza, 1 other 2nd Squad - 3 others ENEMY FORCES: PHASE ONE: Wiegraf [White Knight; Virgo] PHASE TWO: Belias [Gigas; Virgo], Archaeodaemon x3 Despite his fearsome reputation, Wiegraf really isn't that difficult, if you know how to beat him. For his first form, you have just Ramza. Make sure he has the Auto-Potion ability and throw away all your Potions and Hi-Potions, so that Ramza can use a X-Potion to heal himself whenever Wiegraf attacks him. (Auto-Potion doesn't always activate, so if Ramza runs low on HP, you can also use an X-Potion on yourself to heal.) Run from Wiegraf and keep using the Tailwind ability to boost your speed. If you can, sucker Wiegraf into going into the water and you'll be safe for a turn. Eventually (after you keep using Tailwind), Ramza will get fast enough that he will get two turns in a row frequently. Use these extra turns to get further away from Wiegraf (out of the range of his Hallowed Bolt) and keep using Tailwind. You will reach a point where you will not have to use all your moves to get out of Wiegraf's range. Now instead of moving each turn, you can use Tailwind and then "Wait" to get your next turn faster, allowing you to use Tailwind even more. Keep going until Ramza's speed maxes out at 50. (You can check it by going to Status in his menu.) Then use Focus a few times to build up your attack power. Now start blasting at Wiegraf with a gun (and keep moving out of range when necessary), or use whatever other weapon you have. After Wiegraf drops to critical HP, he will disappear, only to return shortly as Belias. Yup, it's not over yet. Your other characters will now show up, but Wiegraf summons three Archaeodaemons. On his first turn, Belias will start charging up a super-powerful Cyclops summon (200+ HP damage), and if you survive that, he'll hit you with more summons. The trick here is that all the speed and attack power bonuses from the first phase of the battle persist, so Ramza can stand still and shoot away (or run up and attack if he has a close-range weapon). You should be able to kill Belias before he gets to cast Cyclops. If not, have your other guys start attacking Belias if they can get close enough or have range attacks (bows/guns), or using Jump if they can't get in range for a regular attack. Agrias should use her Hallowed Bolt sword technique, which has a chance of inflicting Silence on Belias and keeping him from casting his summons (unfortunately, you usually *don't* get this Silence effect). You may still be able to beat Belias even if Ramza doesn't take him down. Again, the Lich summon spell or the Time Magick Graviga do a lot of damage to Belias, if you can get them off. He has about 1100 HP and as soon as you defeat him, the Archaeodaemons also disappear. This is, of course, the most extreme strategy for fighting Wiegraf/Belias. If Ramza is pretty strong, you can take out Belias with fewer moves and certainly don't need to spend as much time boosting yourself during the first round. A sufficiently strong Ramza (say, as a Ninja with Brawler and a Bracer equipped) attacking Wiegraf and Belias from behind could even do enough damage to punch out both of them without needing any boosts at all. The Jump attack can also be effective if Ramza has a high speed. But if you're having trouble, the gun/Auto-Potion/Tailwind strategy almost assures you of victory. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 34: Riovanes Castle Roof-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Elmdore [Ark Knight; Gemini], Celia [Assassin; Virgo], Lettie [Assassin; Sagittarius] This battle is always really short: either you win fast or you lose fast! All you have to do to win is reduce any one of the enemies to critical HP to win. Problem is, Rapha loves to make suicide ruins at the bad guys, and if she gets KOed, you lose. Ramza always starts in a fixed location, regardless of where you place him on the deployment screen. Deploy your other characters towards the top of the deployment screen -- this will start them closer to the battle. If Ramza is fast enough (e.g. Ninja + Green Beret + Hermes Shoes), he can move first and immediately rush to attack either Celia or Lettie, and you should be fine. (Elmdore is not a good target; he can use First Strike to turn your attack into one of his own.) If Ramza isn't this quick, it's entirely possible that Rapha will be killed before you ever get to move. When you do finally get a chance to move, HEAL RAPHA. Putting Disarm on Rapha (via Mustadio's Arm Shot) as soon as you can will guarantee that she will flee the battle and try to stay out of harm's way. You can also try casting a Cure spell on an empty square within Rapha's move range. Rapha will move to the square to receive the spell and thus you can lure her away from the Assassins. Send as many characters up to the roof as you can; if nothing else, they can serve as decoys to draw attacks away from Rapha. Celia and Lettie use ridiculous Subdual Arts abilities on you that have a 100% chance of either casting Stop on you or dealing an Instant KO. You can guard against the former by equipping Jade Armlets and the latter with Jujitsu Gis or Chameleon Robes. Alma's Barette, if equipped on a female character, will also protect against both Stop *and* KO. Concentrate all your attacks on a single character, since as soon as any one of them drops to critical HP, you win. If any of your own characters get KOed, don't bother trying to revive them; you're better off continuing to attack and ending the battle quickly. Luck plays a big role here, especially if you're not fast enough to get the first move. If you deploy Luso in his Game Hunter job, he can learn Ultima should Celia or Lettie cast it on him. (Ramza can't learn it until Chapter IV, but if you have Luso learn it here, he can cast it on Ramza once you reach Chapter IV to teach it to Ramza.) If you're fully equipped with Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets (preventing Celia and Lettie from using their Stop or KO attacks on you), they will almost always cast Ultima on their turns. Move Luso in range of whomever they target to make sure he gets hit with the spell. It's not easy to learn here since Rapha is so vulnerable, so you're probably better off skipping it-- you'll have another, easier opportunity to learn it in Chapter IV. It's also possible to steal the Cachusha accessory from Celia and a Barette from Lettie. Neither of these items is sold in stores, but, again, you do also have other, easier methods for acquiring them, so it's probably not worth bothering with them here. BATTLE TROPHIES: None %%%CHAPTER IV: IN THE NAME OF LOVE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bs4 --Battle 35: Dugeura Pass-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x1, Archer (male) x1, Black Mage (male) x2, Dragoon (male) x2 There's not a whole lot to say about this fight, because there's nothing here you haven't seen before. Send one or two characters up to the top of the pass while your other guys fight the main group of enemies. The Black Mages are probably the most dangerous enemies here since their spells can do a lot of damage. Hit them with Disable, Silence, or just move quickly across the battlefield to take them out. BATTLE TROPHIES: 3000 gil, Diamond Armor --Battle 36: Bervenia-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Meliadoul [Divine Knight; Capricorn], Archer (female) x2, Summoner (female) x2, Ninja (female) x1 An enemy Ninja will immediately move down to attack the second squad. Deploy a reasonably strong fighter in the front line of the second squad so you can take her out quickly. (Again, you could also use Sticky Fingers to guard against the Ninja's initial Throw attack, but it's not really worth a Reaction Ability slot as there's only a single Ninja and you can take her out quickly.) Placing your slower characters in the first squad is a good idea as they start closer to the bulk of the battle. In general, Dragoons are quite helpful on this level, since there are steep building walls--Jump and Ignore Elevation (if you have it) will let you attack enemies at a higher level. Since there are enemy Archers at the very top raining arrows down on you, Archer's Bane or shields may be helpful. Deploy fast and/or shooting characters in the second squad, and fighters in the first squad. While it's tempting to rush the enemies here, you don't want to scale the city TOO quickly, or you may get surrounded and cut off from your healing. Additionally, if you don't go up too fast, you can probably lure Meliadoul down into the town area. This is really beneficial for two reasons: it leaves you clear to jump up and KO the Summoners and Archers, and isolating Meliadoul will make it easier to attack (and steal from) her. It's probably a good idea to attack the Summoners first, since their spells can do a lot of damage. Be careful about taking out the Summoner on the left side of the map, though. The crate there is needed for less agile characters to climb up the city ramparts, and if you KO her while she's standing on the box, it can obstruct the route up, making it slow going for some characters. Meliadoul uses Crush skills that will shatter your equipment and do quite a bit of damage. Equipping the Chemist ability Safeguard will protect against this (especially important if you've got rare gear you don't want to lose), as well as rendering you immune to the HP-damaging part of the skills as well! So, equip this ability on as many character as possible. Meliadoul also has the Defender knight's sword and Chantage, an accessory that gives her a permanent Regen and Reraise. While you don't have to worry about the Reraise, as KOing Meliadoul will end the battle, this is a GREAT accessory to steal. The Defender is nice too. To steal from her, first try increasing your success by raising your Speed (e.g. with Tailwind) or lowering Meliadoul's (with Rend Speed). The support abilities Concentration or Brawler will also improve your chance of stealing, as will targeting her from the side or behind or using Arm Shot to Disable her (although both of these are redundant with Concentration). Putting Meliadoul to Sleep with Mimic Darlavon (Orator) or Repose (Mystic) will also improve your chances to steal, but be warned -- if you steal her weapon when she's asleep, she may still use her Crush skills when she wakes up due to an apparent bug in the game. Finally, since Meliadoul is a Capricorn, you'll have better luck stealing with a Taurus, Virgo, or male Cancer, and poorer chances stealing withan Aries, Libra, or female Cancer. It may take a lot of stealing attempts before you succeed, so if you're serious about stealing, wipe out the other enemies first. (The Chantage is worth the effort!) If you're planning on stealing both the Defender and Chantage, swipe the Defender first as this reduces her attack power and prevents her from using her Crush skills (unless you steal it while she's asleep). If you don't care to steal, or once you've gotten the goods, you can just rush Meliadoul. Spread your characters out to avoid taking too much damage from the summon spells. BATTLE TROPHIES: Jade Armlet, Remedy x2 --Battle 37: Finnath Creek-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Random chocobos and pigs When deploying characters, don't put anybody on the solitary square in the second squad; it's in the middle of the water. On this level, you'll face a random assortment of chocobos and possibly some Pigs. You may want to bring an Orator because if a Pig shows up, it's definitely worth recruiting. Although it's no good in a battle, you can use it to breed the various pig-class monsters, all of which can be poached for great items. This battle can be annoying because the regular yellow Chocobos will keep using Choco Cure to heal themselves. One strategy is to just use attacks that will defeat the Chocobos outright by turning them to stone or instantly KOing them -- then it doesn't matter how much HP they have! If you have Beowulf, his Break attacks works great; you could use the Black Mage's Death or the Mystic's Induration. Agrias's Northswain's Strike occasionally does an instant KO too, but fairly infrequently. If you don't have any petrification or instant-KO attacks, the best strategy is to concentrate on one Chocobo at a time. Since the Red Chocobos will bombard you with Choco Meteor for fairly big damage, you'll probably want to kill them first. (Red Chocobos also make good targets for poaching; you may receive a Barette from them.) As annoying as the Choco Cures can be, this level still shouldn't be too difficult. The Ninja ability Waterwalking, the Feather Boots, and the Time Mage ability Levitate will all make it easier to navigate the watery terrain here. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 38: Outlying Church-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Zalmour [Celebrant; Sagittarius], Knight (male) x3, Mystic (male) x2 Delita teams up with Ramza as a guest in this battle. Without him, this might be a tough battle, but with him, it's a pushover, since his Holy Sword techniques are even stronger than Agrias's. Just be sure not to stand between Delita and the enemies or YOU'LL get hit too when he uses Divine Ruination! Zalmour stands atop the church and uses Curaga to heal his followers. A nice trick is to stand next to the guys that Zalmour is going to cast Curaga on (you can find out in the AT list; just click on Zalmour's name) for free healing. Ignore Elevation or a Jump attack with high vertical range can be useful for attacking enemies on higher levels, but they're far from critical--Delita can pretty much kill all the enemies on his own! Zalmour doesn't have anything worth stealing, either, so just thrash him and move on. BATTLE TROPHIES: Angel Ring --Battle 39: Beddha Sandwaste-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Barich [Machinist; Sagittarius], Knight (male) x2, Archer (male) x2, Black Mage (male) x2 You start this battle with all your characters poisoned, even if you equip accessories guarding against poison! Bringing somebody with the Esuna spell may be helpful to de-poison yourself quickly. You can also use the Lifefont ability, Chantage accessory, or Dragonheart ability to offset the HP losses from the poison. Barich has all of Mustadio's abilities, which means he can easily Immobilize or Disable you. Esuna or the Monk ability Purification will also clear these up, though Remedies will NOT. (Purification is especially effective since it activates immediately and has a good hit rate.) Barich also has a Glacial Gun, which shoots ice spells at you. Equipping White Robes here is a good idea, as it will reduce the damage from the Glacial Gun and the Black Mage in the back. Ice Shields would render you completely immune to the Glacial Gun ... but if you're immune, Barich will just use Arm Shot and Leg Shot instead, which is WORSE, so that's probably a bad strategy. Since the battle ends when Barich is KOed, the best tactic is probably just to rush him. Barich often tends to retreat into the back of the battlefield, though, so throw an Immobilize of your own on him (e.g. with Leg Shot) as soon as you can to keep him in place. (Slow or Stop will also work.) Then pound on him; you have to reduce him all the way to 0 HP before the battle ends. There's a Black Mage in the back casting powerful -ja spells at you. Equipping Aegis Shields and White Robes may be a good idea to protect against his spells. Or, use Magick Counter to give him back what you're getting. You may also want to try stealing from Barich. This is your first chance to snag a Glacial Gun, which can't be bought in stores, though you'll find them later. Barich's Lambent Hat and Luminous Robe are also nice, but you'll be able to buy them shortly in stores. Stealing the Glacial Gun takes away his range attack, but he can still Immobilize and Disable you at close range with his punches. As with Meliadoul, pumping up your Speed or equipping Martial Arts and Concentration will improve your stealing success rate, as will Disabling Barich and/or putting him to Sleep. BATTLE TROPHIES: 5000 gil --Battle 40: Fort Besselat - South Wall-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x3, Archer (male) x2, Thief (male) x1, Ninja (male) x1 Leave behind the magic-users behind unless they have Equip Heavy Armor or some good defensive abilities; they'll get killed easily. Split up your characters and attack the side walls on each side. Get up on top as soon as you can; it's very advantageous position. This works especially well if you've got archers or gunners -- station them atop the walls, don't move (so their CT gauge fills faster), and just shoot at the enemies. Watch out for the Thief, who might -- take Don't worry about the Knights initially. You should be able to get up on top of the walls before the Knights can reach you, and once you're up there, you've got a definite height advantage in taking them out. BATTLE TROPHIES: Circlet --Battle 40: Fort Besselat - North Wall-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Monk (male) x1, Archer (male) x2, Summoner (male) x1, Dragoon (male) x2 There are high walls on this level, which can make it tricky to navigate if you don't have characters with a high Jump statistic. Characters who can't jump directly over the first wall will have to cross one-by-one using the "box" in front of it. This can be time-consuming, especially when you're suffering the summons and arrows of the enemy forces. (Archer's Bane is, of course, helpful in defending against the latter.) In particular, there's a Summoner tucked away behind the first wall who will bombard you with some nasty summons (like Leviathan). Get a character over the initial wall ASAP to take him out. Even if you can just weaken him to critical HP, he'll probably start casting Faerie to heal himself instead of attacking you. You can also try Arithmeticks as a way of attacking enemies on the far side of the wall. A lone Monk starts out on the ground near you. If you can get your party over the wall quickly, you can postpone having to deal with him. Otherwise, you'll have to take out him quickly so he's not attacking your back. (Or, just throw an Immobilize on him so he can't catch up with you.) Once the Summoner is taken out, you can split up your characters. Have the ones who can easily scale heights climb up the tower to take out the Archers, while the others finish up the Dragoons on the ground. BATTLE TROPHIES: Carabineer Mail --Battle 41: Fort Besselat Sluice-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x4, Black Mage (male) x2, Archer (male) x2 Split up your characters and go up the paths. Because the enemies have such a height advantage, guns are not so good here; it's hard to get a clear shot. Jump attacks, on the other hand, are quite useful. A fun trick to do is stand on the steps or below the dam wall and use Jump attacks on the stationary Knights. As long as none of your other characters gets close to them, the Knights won't move and will just sit there while you Jump on them. The Black Mages have some strong spells, so you may want to target them first, though. Since two of the Knights are pretty stationary, this is a good chance to let the other KOed enemies decay into crystals/chests for loot (and additional kills, if you're trying to unlock the Dark Knight job). You could even bring a weaker character or two and attack and heal each other to build up EXP or JP, if you want (though it's hardly necessary). Unlike the PSone version, you don't need to do anything with any switches to clear this level. Just take out all the enemies and the battle ends. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 42: Mount Germinas-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Archer (male) x3, Thief (male) x2, Ninja (male) x1 This is the first time you get to use your new buddy Orlandeau. For a good taste of his power, deploy him in squad 1. Move him up the mountain as far as he can and then use Shadowblade on the Ninja leader. Bang, he's dead. You almost have to feel sorry for the poor bandits... almost. Heh, heh. With Shadowblade you can KO a fully healthy bad guy each turn just with Orlandeau and also refill Orlandeau's own HP by 270 or so. There are a pair of thieves in this battle, so either take them out quickly or equip Safeguard to keep them from nabbing your stuff. You don't want to lose any rare items to them! The Archer that starts in the back corner is carrying an Artemis Bow, a strong bow, which you might want to steal. But if you don't, there's plenty more (in fact, an infinite supply from random battles) that you can get later. If you DO want to steal the bow, a good strategy for it is to kill off all the other enemies and then surround the Archers with your characters, blocking him from moving. Since bows can't be used against adjacent tiles, he can't attack you, and you can just stand there and attempt steals 'til you get the bow. This map also contains the Invisibility Cloak, although it's not necessary to claim it now. To get the cloak, put the Treasure Hunter ability and move to the very top of the peak. The top of the peak forms sort of an "L" shape; the tile holding the Cloak is the one between the two "legs" of the L: ___ / / X --/ -- When you land on this tile, you'll receive either an Ether or the Cloak; your chance of getting the Cloak goes up the lower your Bravery. (You only get to pick up the item once, so if you get the Ether, you can no longer get the Cloak; you'll have to reset the game and try again.) You can also pick up the cloak in any random battles at this location, though, so it's by no means necessary to acquire it during the story battle. BATTLE TROPHIES: 7700 gil, Winged Boots, Germinas Boots --Battle 43: Lake Poescas-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Archer (male, undead) x2, Mystic (male, undead) x1, Summoner (female, undead) x1, Revenant x2 This is a really easy battle. Use Mustadio and/or Balthier's Seal Evil ability and you can gun down each of the Revenants in one shot. (You can also use cure spells against them, as always.) Magick and Dragoons will also be helpful for attacking the enemies atop the wooden platform. They're undead, too, so you can use Seal Evil on them as well. Once you get on top of the platform, watch out for the enemy's Counter Tackles. They can knock your characters off the platform, which will put you back out of range AND do a fair amount of damage. Just stay away from the edge and you should be fine. (You can check which enemy units do and don't have Counter Tackle by viewing their status screen. The only thing tricky about this level is that the undead humans will keep coming back to life if you don't finish off the rest of the enemy party in time--but, again, Seal Evil will prevent this. Both the archers have Artemis Bows if you're in the mood for a little stealing. BATTLE TROPHIES: Phoenix Down x2 --Battle 44: Limberry Castle Gate-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Celia [Assassin; Virgo], Lettie [Assassin; Sagittarius], Reaver x4 This battle looks hard at first, but it's not. All you have to do is weaken Celia or Lettie to critical HP and the battle will immediately end. The Reavers will only use Bio spells, which don't do all that much damage, so your main threat is Celia and Lettie. Their Subdual Arts skills can hit with you a 100% KO or Stop, and they also have a 100% Charm against male characters. The Charm is the worst of these since it turns your characters actively against the rest of your team, so give your male characters Nu Khai Armbands to immunize them, or just deploy all female characters. Pairing a Jujitsu Gi with a Jade Armlet will protect you against both KO and Stop; if you have Barettes or Ribbons, you can use those too. If you have Construct 8 on your roster, it's completely immune to status changes and is quite useful here. Because this battle is fairly easy, it's your best chance to learn Ultima. You can learn this spell if Ramza is a Squire or Luso is a Game Hunter and Celia or Lettie casts the spell on him. If Ramza is protected against KO and Stop (from equipping a Jujitsu Gi and a Jade Armlet), Celia is almost guaranteed to cast the spell on him on her first round. Once you get Ultima, just have your main group gang up on Lettie to quickly end the battle. A few sword techniques and/or Construct 8's Dispose should do the trick. You can completely ignore the Reavers. Since this battle is so easy to end quickly, your best defense is a good offense. Even if one or two allies gets KOed, don't bother reviving them. (Since Ramza starts stranded from your main team, it's pretty likely him for him to be KOed.) Just finish off Lettie and you'll be done in no time at all. BATTLE TROPHIES: Echo Herbs --Battle 45: Limberry Castle Keep-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Elmdore [Ark Knight], Celia [Assassin], Lettie [Assassin] It's just your team versus Elmdore, Celia, and Lettie. Celia and Lettie have the same abilities as before. As long as you're equipped with Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets (or other equipment that protects you against KO/Stop), they'll mostly just do Ultima, which isn't too bad. If you "kill" either of them, they will turn into Ultima Demons, which are stronger, so leave them be. Elmdore is even tougher than his underlings; he has an 100% working teleport to any square and does big damage to a wide area with his Muramasa Iaido. Worse, he has Shirahadori, which gives him a high evade rate against a wide range of physical attacks, even guns. First, spread out your characters to try to minimize how much his Iaido can hurt your team. Then, attack Elmdore with things he *can't* dodge. Sword techniques are great, as is Construct 8's Dispose, if you have him. You can also use Magick and Arithmeticks, or, in a pinch, a Dual Wielded attack, since he can only block one of the hits. Other physical attacks are nearly useless. Also, whenever Celia or Lettie starts casting Ultima, have the targeted character stand next to Elmdore. (Check the Turn List in case you didn't catch who the target is.) This will cause the Ultima to spill over and hit Elmdore for a fair amount of damage (100-200 HP), a nice way of getting in some extra damage against him. You need only reduce Elmdore to critical HP to end the battle. If you didn't learn Ultima during the prior battle, you can also learn it here. Note: In the North American PSone release, you could steal all of Elmdore's powerful Genji equipment. This is no longer possible (you can't steal from him at all), so don't even try! BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 46: Limberry Castle Inner Court-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Argath [Deathknight; Virgo], Ultima Demon x5 Argath himself can't do much damage, but his Ultima Demons can cast some really powerful magic. Especially Argath takes a while to wear down, you'll need to take out the Demons first. Fortunately, they're pretty slow and don't have much HP, so chances are good you can take out one or two before they can even move. The large gap in the middle of the stage can make it hard to reach the Ultima Demons in the rear, so either bring characters with Ignore Elevation or just use a variety of long-range attacks (guns, Arithmeticks, Summons, Jump, Dispose, etc.) Once you've finished off all the demons, you can attack Argath. He comes equipped with Mirror Mail, which reflects most magick. (The -ja Black Magick spells, Ultima, Meteor, and summons all still work, though.) He also has Safeguard, so Orlandeau's Crush skills won't work against him, but other sword skills will. Fortunately, Argath's own attacks are quite weak, but his constant use of Shadowblade keeps healing him. As long as your whole team is attacking him, though, you'll be able to deal way more damage than he can recover. The really aggravating part is Argath's Critical: Recover HP reaction ability, which has a chance of completely restoring his HP when you reduce his HP to critical. (And since he has a fairly high Bravery stat, it's likely to trigger!) Fortunately, there's also an easy way to stop this. Just having Mustadio or Balthier keep using Arm Shot on him until you put Disable on him. (Beowulf's Disable also works ... the Mystic Art Hesitation does *not*, since the Mirror Mail will reflect it.) Being Disabled will prevent him from using his reaction ability (as well as from restoring his HP with Shadowblade), and you can easily pound him into oblivion before Disable wears off. If for some reason this isn't an option (e.g. none of Mustadio, Balthier, and Beowulf is in your party), your best bet is to reduce his HP fairly low (to about 100 or so) but not yet put him in Critical status. Then, use one very strong attack against him (e.g., an Orlandeau sword technique) to KO him without ever putting him in critical status. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 47: Limberry Castle Undercroft-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Meliadoul [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Zalera [Death Seraph; Gemini], Knight (undead, male) x2, Skeleton x1, Bonesnatch x1, Skeletal Fiend x1 Deploy Mustadio and/or Balthier and use Seal Evil to quickly petrify the two undead Knights. The various skeletons are not really worth bothering with; Meliadoul can take them out. Just go after Zalera. Zalera's main attack is Nightmare, which inflicts Sleep and Doom on a small group of people. Equipping Protect Rings will guard against both of these. Zalera also likes to use Bind (causes Stop on a small group) and Flareja, a strong attack spell. One strategy here is to leave one character vulnerable to Sleep to sucker Zalera into casting Nightmare. If you then wake the character up (use Purification or a weak attack), Zalera will probably just keep casting Nightmare over and over. Construct 8 is also quite useful here since it is inherently immune to Stop, Sleep, and magick. Attack Zalera with Lich, Divine Ruination, Graviga, and Shadowblade. He has about 1100 HP. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 48 (optional): Dorter-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Meliadoul [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Cletienne [Sorceror; Gemini], Black Mage (female) x1, Time Mage (female) x1, Summoner (female) x2 This is the same battlefield as you saw at the beginning of Chapter II. The enemies here are all magick-users, so there's no value in reaction abilities or armor that defend against physical attacks (e.g. Counter or Shirahadori). Instead, equip Aegis Shields, which have a high magick block rate, and abilities like Magick Counter. And, if you have Construct 8, it's basically invulnerable in this battle since it's immune to magic. You'll probably want to take out the Summoners first; they're close by and you'll want to stop them from hitting you with Summons. The Time Mages, on the other hand, can be ignored. Cletienne has an array of strong offensive and defensive spells, plus he can use Magick Counter to throw your spells back at him. If you want to avoid this, Guns and Jump may be your best bets for attacking him up on the roof. (Magical guns, however, count as magick attacks that he can Magick Counter.) You could also use Orlandeau's Duskblade or another MP-draining ability to steal Cletienne's MP so he can't even use magicks. But since he has little HP, it's probably just as easy to attack him head-on. As soon as he's KOed, you win the battle. Cletienne has a Dragon Rod, a rare-ish rod, that you can steal. You needn't get it here, though, as you can also steal one a few battles later or poach it. Plus, the Dragon Rod is pretty crummy anyway. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 49: Eagrose Castle Keep-- YOUR FORCES: 1ST PHASE: Ramza, Zalbaag [guest], 4 others 2ND PHASE: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: 1ST PHASE: Dycedarg [Rune Knight; Scorpio], Knight (male) x5 2ND PHASE: Adrammelech [The Wroth; Scorpio] Equipping Nu Khai Armbands before this battle is a good idea. Use Agrias's, Orlandeau's, and Meliadoul's sword techniques to hit Dycedarg from down below. (Construct 8's Dipose is also useful, but you may not want to deploy it here since there's no way to protect it against Confusion.) In particular, hitting Dycedarg with Crush Weapon will break his Defender sword and prevent him from using any of his sword techniques against you. (You could also try stealing the Defender if you want, but it's a little tricky -- using Ignore Elevation to jump up to the top of the arch may be your best bet.) It's quite likely that you can finish off Dycedarg before he has a chance to move much of anywhere, but it's possible he'll start descending the stairs. If he does, run under the arch and keep attacking him. He likes to use Hallowed Bolt and Divine Ruination (if you haven't yet broken his sword); to avoid these, don't put characters next to each other or on the same line of fire. Zalbaag is likely to get KOed either way, but it doesn't matter as you don't need to keep him alive. The enemy Knights can be safely ignored. When Dycedarg is KOed, he'll return as Adrammelech. Everyone else will disappear from the board (including Zalbaag), and the battle restarts. If Adrammelech is still up on the arch, you can keep attacking him with sword techniques, but after a character attacks, start moving your characters under the archway so that you can keep hitting Adrammelech once he starts coming down the steps. Adrammelech uses the Befuddle spell to confuse you, but if you equipped Nu Khai Armbands, you'll be immune to this. Note that Confusion is one of the few status conditions that Construct 8 is NOT immune to. In fact, there's no way to protect it from confusion, so you probably won't want to use it here. Adrammelech is pretty slow, so you can probably get in quite a few licks--and maybe even kill him--before he even has a chance to cast a spell. Like all Lucavi, Adrammelech will take a lot of damage from Lich or Graviga since they take away half his maximum HP. He has 1500 HP. If you want, you can pick up a Blood Sword during this battle using Treasure Hunter. It's located in the rectangular area where you start, but in the corner furthest from your starting point. As with other rare Treasure Hunter items, having a low Bravery will improve your odds of getting it. You can pick it up during either stage of the battle. However, it's hardly necessary to snag -- you may already have one from Gaffgarion, you can find another one in the bonus dungeon, and there's a unlimited supply available from poaching Hydras. So, you needn't bother with it unless it's convenient. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 50: Mullonde Cathedral-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: White Mage (male) x1, Summoner (male) x1, Orator (male) x2, Geomancer (male) x2 If you have anyone with Ignore Elevation, deploy him or her in the first squad and you can immediately jump up and attack the Summoner and White Mage, who are the most annoying opponents. The rest of the squad will have to climb up the steps. The characters in the second squad will be battling against two Orators, so giving them Earplug could be useful. Again, Ignore Elevation will help them get atop the church quickly, although the steps are reasonably close by. The Summoner has another Dragon Rod you can steal, if you didn't get one from Cletienne and/or want a second one. But, again, it's not good for very much. Honestly, this battle is pretty easy. It's noteworthy mostly because it's the only story battle where the enemy has Geomancers :) BATTLE TROPHIES: X-Potion --Battle 51: Mullonde Cathedral Nave-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Folmarv [Divine Knight; Leo], Loffrey [Divine Knight; Capricorn], Cletienne [Sorceror; Gemini] Despite what the victory conditions screen says, all you have to do here is KO any of one of the three Knights Templar and then they all will retreat. Cletinne is the weakest, so just attack him. Loffrey and Folmarv have an annoying habit of breaking your equipment, so Safeguard is probably a good idea -- it both saves your equipment AND prevents you from taking damage from the Crush attacks. Since you only need to KO one guy here, you can probably finish this up quite quickly. If you deploy Meliadoul, there will be some extra dialogue between her and Folmarv on her first turn. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 52: Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Zalbaag [Ark Knight; Cancer], Archaeodaemon x2, Ultima Demon x1 The demons here are actually quite a bit more powerful than Zalbaag and use a variety of strong magick attacks. So, unlike most boss battles, you're probably better off killing at least two of the demons first, and *then* going after Zalbaag. Zalbaag frequently flees into a corner, plus he uses Lifefont to recover his HP with each move. Hitting him with an Immobilize (e.g. from Leg Shot) will stop both of these. In fact, if you can Immobilize him right away, you may be able to just focus your attacks on him and finish him off before the demons hit you with too magic. Physical attacks are not that effective against him since he has Defense Boost, but he'll go down eventually ... and if you take out the demons first, he can do very little to hurt you. Zalbaag can (and probably will) turn your characters to vampires, but you can cure this with Holy Water. Construct 8 is useful in this battle as it is immune to vampirization (though the raw damage from the Vampire ability can still hurt it) and has a very long range. Ironically, if Zalbaag tries to vampirize a character who's already a vampire, the Vampire attack will backfire and cause *Zalbaag* to turn into a vampire! This will prevent him from recovering HP with Lifefont. But, the odds on this are a bit too low to really bank on. BATTLE TROPHIES: Elixir --Battle 53: Monastery Vaults - Fourth Level-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (male) x3, Archer (male) x1, Monk (male) x2 Your first priority is to kill off the guys down on the floor on the other side of the room, especially the Monks. Most range attacks will work from atop the central "ridge" of books, and reasonably agile melee fighters can climb over the ridge to reach the enemies. Characters who can't easily climb over the ridge should just stand atop it -- there will be enemies coming that way soon as well. The Knights' behavior will depend on how quickly you advance. If you quickly moved most of your team across the ridge, they'll probably descend under the archway to fight you there. But if you still have some characters on the higher levels, they may try to cross the narrow walkway up top. In this case, they'll vulnerable to a Divine Ruination or Shockwave that can hit several of them in a line. Unyielding Blade techniques (Meliadoul and Orlandeau) are also useful against all the enemies here. Overall, this isn't a particularly hard battle. You can steal Yoichi's Bow, which is even stronger than the Artemis Bow, from the Archer ... of course, since you're past the point of no return, there's no need to bother with this unless someone in your current team can use it. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 54: Monastery Vaults - Fifth Level-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Loffrey [Divine Knight; Capricorn], Black Mage (male) x2, Time Mage (male) x1, Summoner (male) x2 Now it gets interesting. The enemy forces are magick-heavy here, so adjust your defenses accordingly -- Aegis Shields are good, as is Magick Counter and cloaks that give a good boost to your magick evade rate. Counter, Shirahadori, and First Strike are totally pointless. Construct 8, being immune to magick, is good to deploy if you have it--it won't be able to navigate the holes well, but Dispose has such a long range that it doesn't need to travel very far! The floor is laded with holes (the black spots) that impede your movement. If you have Fly or Winged Boots, however, you can simply hover right across them. You can also jump across the holes with a good jump rating. If you can't jump across, there's a looping path around the outsides of the map that lets you walk all the way, but it's slow and you'll keep getting hit by magick on the way. Avoid this route if you can. Deploying lots of characters with range attacks is useful as you can just blast away regardless of the gaps in the floor. Loffrey's Save the Queen sword gives him a permanent Protect spell that makes him slow to kill. So, try to KO the other guys (especially the Summoners) first before you take on Loffrey. Loffrey uses Unyielding Blade techniques to crush your gear, but equipping Safeguard will both preventing him from breaking your equipment and spare you from the HP damage. Speaking of Crushing, using Crush Weapon on Loffrey is a great tactic; destroying his sword will remove his Protect as well as prevent him from using his sword techniques. (You can also use Rend Weapon or steal it.) BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 55: The Necrohol of Mullonde-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Cletienne [Sorceror; Gemini], Time Mage (male) x2, Ninja (male) x2, Samurai (male) x2 The 2nd squad starts some distance away, so fill it with fast characters or characters with long-range attacks. Cletienne has really strong spells and a range of the whole battlefield. Since he starts close to you, just forget the other enemies and rush him. If you can pounce on him on quickly, you can probably to wrap this fight up very quickly. Cletienne's Magick Boost reaction ability allows him to gain magick power when you hit him. So, don't try to wear him down with weak attacks. Instead, try only attack him with your strongest attacks so that you can take him out in as a few hits as possible. Or, you can simply use MP-draining abilities-- Orlandeau's Duskblade works especially well--on Cletienne to take away all his MP, so that he can't even use his magick. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 56: Lost Halidom-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Barich [Machinist; Sagittairus], Chemist (male) x1, Dark Behemoth x1, Hydra x1, Greater Hydra x1, Tiamat x1 This can be a tough fight. Barich and his crew start on a separate piece of land from you. Barich and his Chemist can shoot at you from afar, but if you jump over to his portion of the battlefield, his monsters will tear you to shreds. Barich, as before, will use Aimed Shot abilities to try to Immobilize and Disable you, but this time, if you're equipped with Thief's Caps, you're immune to this. Shirahadori is also great for defense, as it allows you to block the shots from the enemy guns (only in video games...), even though shields/cloaks are of no use. Auto-Potion is also helpful for dealing with the enemy gun attacks. The second squad starts pretty far away from Barich. A good tactic may be to fill the first squad with characters with medium-range attacks (e.g. sword techniques). They should be able to move forward and target Barich across the gap without having to jump over the chasm. Meanwhile, deploy characters with long-range attacks such as guns, Arithmeticks, or a long-range Jump in the second squad. On their first turns, have them move up towards the first squad and start targeting Barich with their range attacks. If you completed the Gollund Colliery quest, Beowulf and Construct 8 will both be of great use here for their long-range attacks (Vengeance and Dispose, respectively). Barich may try to hide behind his monsters (and/or the Chemist), in which case you'll have to take them out first in order to shoot him. Unfortunately, Barich's own Thief's Cap prevents you from Immobilizing HIM. Barich's Hydras will usually spend a turn or two advancing along Barich's portion of the battlefield without attacking you. After that, they'll fly over and land on your side! At this point, you may want to jump over Barich's side and start attacking him directly--if you've done enough to damage to him already, you can probably take him out with a few attacks. (He does use Lifefont to regenerate his HP, though.) If you completed the Nelveska Temple and restored Reis to human form, you could also try putting Reis in the second squad. Have her run up to the little "bridge" connecting the two halves of the battlefield and use Dragon's Charm to charm the enemy Tiamat. Not only will this prevent the Tiamat from attacking you, it will turn it against Barich! However, it usually takes a turn or two for the Tiamat to come within range, so this may not be the most efficient strategy -- and you have to watch out for the Dark Behemoth in the mean time! If you DO use this strategy, you may wish to change Reis to a job other than Dragonkin and equip Rubber Boots so that the Tiamat's Tri-Thunder attack won't kill her before she can charm it. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Battle 57: Airship Graveyard-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Hashmal [Bringer of Order; Leo] Hashmal's two main attacks are Bind, which puts Stop on a group of characters, and Quake, a fairly powerful area attack spell. Of course, equipping Jade Armlets will protect you against the former. Since completely protecting yourself against Stop will cause him to JUST cast Quake, one strategy is to leave one character unprotected against Stop as a decoy. Hashmal will probably try to Stop him/her, buying your other characters time to attack. Using this strategy, you can probably defeat him before casts more than one Quake (perhaps before he casts ANY). And, if you completed the Gollund Colliery quest, you have an ace up your sleeve: Construct 8, who is immune to both magick and Stop! Although Hashmal's spells are strong, with 5 of you versus 1 of him, you shouldn't have too much trouble taking him down. Just rush him. As always, Lich and Graviga are effective against him. He only has 1500 HP. BATTLE TROPHIES: Ragnarok --Battle 58: Airship Graveyard-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Alma [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: 1ST PHASE: Ultima [High Seraph; Virgo], Ultima Demon x4 2ND PHASE: Ultima [Arch Seraph; Virgo] Be sure to deploy your best characters for this, the final battle. If you have Beowulf and he's learned the Drain Spellblade, use him! Drain does a LOT of damage to Ultima's second form. Lich and Graviga are extremely effective as well. Alma will fight as a guest in this battle. She starts off with only 1 HP, so toss her an X-Potion or cure spell to keep her alive. She will first cast Aegis on herself, then start casting on the rest of the team. Aegis includes a number of useful buffs, so this is actually pretty helpful. Note that if Ramza or Luso casts the Ultima spell on Alma, she can learn it. This is not advised, however; you want her casting Aegis, which is quite a bit more useful! (You can toss Alma an Ether or Hi-Ether if she starts running out of MP.) The Ultima Demons can do more damage than Ultima, so try to defeat them first. They don't have all that much HP, so you might even be able to take them out with group attacks. If you're using Orlandeau, Shadowblade is also handy since it restores his HP at the same time as doing damage. Ultima has several different attacks. There's a physical attack, which is fairly strong but otherwise nothing special, the Grand Cross spell, which inflicts random status conditions, and an souped-up Ultima spell that is still rather weak and slow to charge. Note that this Ultima spell has a "friendly fire" effect and can damage Ultima's own units (and Ultima herself). You can use this to your advantage; if you see her charging the spell up, move the targetted unit close to some enemies and they'll take damage too. (You can recognize Ultima because it's the only spell she charges up that shows estimated HP damage in the preview -- Grand Cross is a status attack only.) Ultima can also teleport around the battlefield, often putting her out of your reach (which is another reason not to try killing her before the Demons). If the battle drags on, the Ultima Demons you took out early on may start turning into crystals. Grab these as soon as they appear. Ultima will try to claim them, and, if she does, her HP will be completely restored! It only takes about 1200 points of damage to defeat Ultima's first form. Of course, like all good final bosses, Ultima has a second form that appears after the first is defeated. This one has over 3000 HP (!), but it's probably easier, since there won't be any Ultima Demons around to harass you. Attack her with the aforementioned Drain attack (Beowulf), Lich, Graviga, and sword techniques. Fortunately, Ultima is pretty slow, and you have quite a bit of time to heal up and attack between her moves, especially if Alma has been casting Haste on you via Aegis. And, if Alma has been casting Aegis on your party, Ultima may well waste her turns using Dispelja to remove the effects of Aegis, and not even inflict any damage on you. Again, Ultima teleports around the battlefield on each of her turns. If she moves out of range, just wait in the center of the ship and on her next turn she should move in range again. Once you defeat Ultima's second form, you win the game. Congratulations! %%%SUBQUEST BATTLE STRATEGIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bssub --Gollund Colliery Battle 1: Gollund Colliery Floor-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, 2 others 2nd Squad - Beowulf [guest], 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x5 For some reason, you are being attacked by a large band of Chemists. (Note that there's one hidden under the staircase right next to where you start!) Since the Chemists exclusively fight with guns, there's no need for any type of magick defense. And since guns always have a 100% hit rate, boosting your evade rate is pointless; leave behind the cloaks and shields and go for dual- wielded or two-handed weapons and other accessories. Finally, close-range reaction abilities like Counter are pointless; choose reaction abilities like Auto-Potion or Adrenaline Rush that are useful at any range. The key to this battle is to close the distance between you and the Summoners as quickly as possible. Fast characters or those with a high Move rate will be good for this. You can also use Arithmeticks, Summons, Jump, or your own guns to hit from a distance. Since the Chemists all have Items, they can keep healing themselves and reviving their KOed comrades, which gets a little annoying. If you have Orlandeau and/or Meliadoul, using their Crush abilities to break the Chemists' armor will reduce their maximum HP and limit the amount they can heal themselves. (Rend and Steal abilities work for this, too, but they often miss and don't do any direct damage!) You can also use Summons to strike a whole area and wipe all the critical-HP Chemists who have just been revived. Reviving any of your *own* KOed can also be difficult--because the Chemists have guns, they'll immediately shoot and KO any character with critical HP. You'll need Arise to effectively revive characters. Of course, if a KOed character's death counter is getting low, you may need to toss a Phoenix Down or Raise on them anyway--even if they just KOed again, you've at least reset their counter and saved them from permanent death. BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Bow, Mythril Shield --Gollund Colliery Battle 2: Gollund Colliery Slope-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x1, Thief (male) x2, Behemoths x1, Behemoth King x1 This battle has a similar setting as the previous, but there's only Chemist and, instead, two Thieves and two behemoths. (The Behemoth King is hiding in the cubby-hole behind the Thief near your start position.) With a more conventional assortment of enemies, this should actually be a more straightforward battle. The Chemist here has a Glacial Gun that you may want to steal -- though if he happens to start with the Maintenance ability, you're out of luck. He can do quite a bit of damage from it and you can't reach him to attack right away, but equipping Ice Shields will protect you from the damage. The Thief on the top level has a tendency to just sit in the corner until you come very close, making him a sitting duck for magick or Jump attacks. Since the Behemoth King is a somewhat rare monster, you may also want to Entice or Tame it onto your team. Alternately, Poach it and you'll score either an Artemis Bow or a Cherche perfume. BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Knife, Mythril Spear --Gollund Colliery Battle 3: Gollund Colliery Ridge-- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (male) x2, Blue Dragon x2, Pig x1 This time, you're fighting two Chemists, two Blue Dragons, and a dancing pig (huh?). The Pig is safe to leave 'til last; it can't do any harm. The Blue Dragons, however, can and WILL harm you. Equipping Ice Shields will defend against their Ice Breath attack, but even their physical attacks are strong. The Blue Dragons are weak against fire, so use fire attacks for extra damage. Do NOT use ice attacks (including Geomancy, the Icebrand, and the Glacial Gun), as they will absorb the ice and gain HP! Special sword techniques are your best offense (as usual). If you Entice the Pig to your team, you can breed and Poach pigs for great items, so this is a great opportunity to recruit one! If you already have a Pig on the team, you can just axe this one. BATTLE TROPHIES: Mythril Sword, Mythril Armor --Gollund Colliery Battle 4: Gollund Coal Shaft-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], Reis [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Syneugh [Archaeodemon], Plague Horror x3, Ochu x2 You need to keep Reis, the Holy Dragon, alive in this battle. Be sure to bring someone who can heal her. In order to get into Reis's area, you need to climb up onto the upper level and pass through the narrow doorway. If you use jobs or accessories that get your Jump score up to 4, you can jump directly up onto the ledge, which helps you close the distance quickly. Otherwise, you'll have to take the long route up by using the stairs behind where your party starts. The Plague Horrors will turn you to stone or cast Doom on you if given the chance, so kill them first -- both the Plague Horrors and Ochus are weak against ice, so use ice attacks! If the enemies get lined up in the narrow passage, use Shockwave (Monk) or Divine Ruination (Agrias/Orlandeau) to hit the whole line of them. Reis will probably also rip into them with her Ice Breath. After taking out the Plague Horrors, go after Syneugh. (Reis should be able to handle the two Ochus.) Make sure to keep Reis healed. Syneugh uses Gigaflare a lot, which hits a wide area but isn't nearly as powerful as it looks (although it does do a number on the frame rate ^_^). It also hits his own teammates if they happen to be standing in your vicinity! Syneugh doesn't have very much HP; if you have Orlandeau, he might able to kill Syneugh in one shot. This battle isn't really as tough as it may look -- just make sure Reis stays healed! BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Balthier Subquest Battle: Dorter Slums-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Balthier [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Archer (male) x3, White Mage (female) x1, Monk (male) x1, Thief (male) x1 The bulk of your team will start away from Ramza and Balthier, so it may be helpful to bring characters with a high Move range or guns, so that they can join the fray quickly. You'll need to make sure Ramza doesn't get separated and surrounded. Balthier won't fight on the frontlines, but he has a super- strong gun and will assist from the rooftops. Unless Ramza gets surrounded, this should be an easy battle. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Nelveska Temple Battle: Nelveska Temple-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Construct 7 [Automaton], Cockatrice x3, Hydra x2 The enemies here will hit you hard and fast. When deploying characters, put Orlandeau on either the far left or far right. If you have another character with an automatic Haste (e.g. from the Tynar Rouge), place her behind Orlandeau. Together, they can probably KO one of the Hydras on the pillars before it has a chance to move. The Hydras will attack you first. Watch out for their Tri-Attack, which hits both the unit in front of them as well any to either side. Try to kill off one of them before the Cockatrices reach you. The Cockatrices have relatively little HP, so you may be able to take them out with group attacks (e.g. Hallowed Bolt). Since all the enemies are fairly close by, you often don't need to move attack to them. Remember that not moving gives you your next turn faster, so don't move unless you need here. Since you're getting assaulted from all sides here, Orlandeau's Shadowblade attack is quite useful here -- it both deals damage AND restores a lot of his HP, keeping him healthy. Construct 7 will probably come out of its nook in the temple to attack you. It attacks are brutal and can do 300+ damage to you. Try to thin out the other monsters a little bit first so you won't be swarmed while you're wearing Construct 7 down. Once you've taken out at least half the other monsters, rush Construct 7. It has NO Faith, so magick attacks are useless, and it's also immune to all elements except Lightning, so even non-magickal attacks that do elemental damage (like the Monk's Shockwave) don't work. Regular physical attacks and sword techniques will work. In addition, Construct 7 IS weak to non-magickal lightning attacks, so Reis's Thunder Breath attack will do quite a bit of damage; it should take off more than half the Construct's HP! When you KO Construct 7 the first time, it will come back with 1 HP, so KO it again and the battle will end. However, there are ALSO a bunch of hidden items that you can find during this battle. If you want to get them, you have to get them during this battle, as you can't come back here after defeating Construct 7. On top of the two pillars where the Hydras start, you'll find the best polearm (right pillar) and shield (left pillar). They're called the Javelin and Escutcheon, but they're really totally different items. The lower your Bravery, the better your odds of discovering them; otherwise, you'll end up with a regular Javelin and Escutcheon, the WORST polearm and shield. To get up on top of the pillars, move Construct 8 or Reis next to the pillar as a stepping-stone. You'll need at least a jump of 4 to get up using the stepping- stone method. (Ignore Elevation is not an option because you need that ability slot for Treasure Hunter!) There are also two other hidden items: the Sasuke's Blade ninja blade, and the Nagnarok sword, a sword that turns enemies into Toads. The Nagnarok has only 1 attack power but a high evade rate when used with Parry. Both these items also require low Bravery, or you'll get Elixirs instead. Sasuke's Blade is hidden in the grassy area behind the temple. When you're facing the temple, on the right side, you'll see a staircase-like cliff that you can use to climb up on top of the temple. Once you're on top of the temple, continue moving away from your starting point into the green and brown grassy area at the back end of the map. The specific tile is near the very far back. Face the temple and move the cursor the upper-left corner of the map. Now, move the cursor one tile to the right and one tile down. You should be on a tile with a height of 4. This is the tile with Sasuke's Blade. The Nagnarok sword is much closer to where you start. When the battle starts, you'll see that Construct 7 is in the "doorway" of the temple just in front of where you start. It's a black area with pillars on either side. You'll have to lure Construct 7 out of the way. Once Construct 7 moves out of the way, move into that "doorway," as if you were walking inside the temple. This is a narrow passageway -- move the character as far back in the passage as the game will let you in. The tile deepest inside the temple has the Nagnarok. This can be a tough battle in its own right, and trying to claim all these items will make it even harder. Bringing as any many women with Chantage as possible will help keep you alive, of course -- and even Angel Rings (which only give you Reraise once per battle) are useful. If your Treasure Hunter is relatively weak, try equipping him/her with the Invisibility Cloak found on Mount Germinas. As long as the character doesn't take any actual action and just moves around picking up items, s/he should be left alone completely. KOing one or both Hydras at the very start of the battle will leave their bodies atop the pillars, preventing you from climbing up there until they crystallize ... but go ahead and KO them anyway. You're being attacked by so many enemies at the start that it's easier to take them out and then just wait for them to crystallize once things have settled down. The biggest concern when item-hunting is Construct 7 and its strong attacks. Unfortunately, it's immune to most of the status conditions you might want to inflict; instead, use Rend Speed over and over to whittle down its speed and minimize the number of turns it gets. Once you've taken away all its speed, you can then use Rend Power on it to make it even weaker. (Note that if you combine Arts of War with Dual Wield, you get two Rends per turn.) If you're doing the Rends at close range, you will have to endure Construct 7's counterattacks, which is why Chantage will be helpful. Beware of accidentally killing Construct 7 with any counterattacks you might have; you don't want the battle to end prematurely! (And, keep in mind that all of Construct 7's special attacks decrease its own HP a little bit.) You'll probably need to stand by and keep healing Construct 7 while you continue item-hunting. The other enemies can (and should!) be safely killed, of course. Because the Javelin II and Esutcheon II have the same names as the crummy Javelin and the Escutcheon, it's hard to tell during the battle which one you've picked up. The Javelin II is gray instead of silver and has a fatter point, and the Escutcheon II has gold trim (instead of silver) and an extra vertical bar on its face. These details can be tough to spot in the few seconds the item is displayed, though. An easier method is to put Reequip on your Treasure Hunter, which will allow you to examine the items list during battle. As long as you have "Display Unequippable Items" set to "On" (under Options), you can see your entire list of equipment. Press Select to check the stats. If the Javelin or Escutcheon has great stats, it's the one you want; if it has terrible stats, it's the "regular" version. (You can reset if you don't get what you're looking for.) You needn't even use up a turn to use Reequip in this way; just cancel out of the equipment menu without changing anything and you can take another action. If you're not shooting for ALL the items, the Escutcheon II is generally the best to pick up since it can be equipped by many jobs and cannot be found anywhere else in the game. (The Javelin II and Sasuke's Blade can eventually be caught with Sticky Fingers, and a Sasuke's Blade can be stolen in another subquest.) The Javelin II is probably second-best, since it's the strongest polearm, whereas Sasuke's Blade is inferior to the Koga and Iga blades found in Midlight's Deep. The Nagnarok is the lowest priority, since it is of rather dubious value to begin with and can always be poached from Swines. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Cloud Subquest Battle: Sal Ghidos-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Cloud [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x1, Monk (male) x1, Thief (male) x3 At this point in the game, a bunch of generic enemies with underpowered jobs shouldn't pose much threat -- if you can't win this battle, you probably shouldn't be playing the game ;). The main concern here is the three Thieves, who may try to steal your stuff. If you've got any rare gear, you'll probably want to equip Safeguard to make sure you don't lose it -- or just take the Thieves out ASAP. You also need to make sure Cloud stays healthy, since you lose the battle if he's KOed. He's usually not in any danger, though, since he often flees into the far side of the map and avoids the melee completely. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Disorder in the Order Battle: Brigands' Den-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Squire (male) x2, Knight (male) x2, Monk (female) x1, Ninja (male) x1 Agrias fights as a Guest in this battle, but it's not necessary to keep her from getting KOed. (You won't lose if she does.) In fact, if you want to steal from all the enemies here, it's probably a GOOD idea to KO her yourself, to keep her from finishing off the enemies before you do. Since she's a Guest, you can leave her KOed as long as you want and she won't ever disappear. This battle is mainly a stealing extravaganza! Every enemy here has at least one rare item you can't find in stores (although all these items are also available in at least one other place in the game as well). The Squires have Blaze and Glacial Guns respectively, the Ninja has a Sasuke's Blade, the Monk has Ninja Gear and a Barette, and the Knights have a Venetian Shield and a Kaiser Shields. If you get nothing else, the shields are probably your best bet. Since there's a LOT to steal here, equipping Concentration or Martial Arts to boost your success rate be helpful. Don't forget that raising your Speed also helps you steal items, so use Ramza and Luso's Tailwind (or the Bard's Rousing Melody) to crank up your Speed stat. Balthier's Plunder skills are also advantageous here--they're more likely to successfully steal than a regular Steal. A couple of the enemies start up on top of the fort, which makes them hard to reach unless you have a good Jump or Ignore Elevation. However, if you march up to the top of the ramp in front of the fort, you can still hit them up with a lot of special attacks (e.g. sword techniques), and guns and (especially) Construct 8's Dispose are always good for attacking from a distance. Note that all the enemies in this battle act as "special" characters who will never crystallize or turn into chests. This can be kinda handy if you want to steal from them. You can knock out all but one enemy, then revive just the enemy you want to steal from, pilfer what you want, KO the enemy again, and repeat. You never have to worry about anyone disappearing completely. Just don't finish off the last enemy until you're done stealing! BATTLE TROPHIES: None --Lionel's New Liege Lord Battle 1: Lionel Castle Gate-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Alite [Templar; Scorpio], Archer (male) x2, Time Mage (female) x1, Ninja (male) x2 Beowulf fights on your team as a Guest in this battle, which means you only get to choose 3 other charactes to deploy. And while it's not spelled out in the victory conditions, you have to keep Beowulf alive -- if he gets KOed, you immediately get a Game Over. Be sure to equip him with some good armor or a shield beforehand. It's probably a wise idea to deploy a decent healer as well so that you can keep his health up. Since your principal enemy here has Safeguard, Meliadoul's sword techniques are useless, so you probably won't want to deploy her. Aliste starts up on the roof, but since he has Elmdore's Master Teleportation ability, he'll probably warp down to fight you before you can climb up after him. He's a Templar just like Beowulf, so he has all of Beowulf's Spellblade skills. (He has a nice set of Genji gear, but, also like Elmdore, he has Safeguard, which means you unfortunately can't steal it from him.) Since he can inflict a lot of status changes on you, be sure to have Remedy or Esuna ready. Alternately, try wiping out Aliste's MP using the Knight's Rend MP, Orlandeau's Duskblade, or the Dark Knight's Infernal Strike. You might want to send one or two of your less powerful characters to take out the Ninjas coming through the castle gate. The other enemies can probably be ignored. The Archers won't do too much damage, and they're hard to attack since the castle wall blocks your ability to shoot at them. If you want to take them out, use Construct 8's Dispose, which can go through walls. Focus your attacks on Alite. He uses Shirahadori to guard your physical attacks. You can try to weaken this by using Orator skills to lower his Bravery (since a lower Bravery means reaction abilities trigger less often), and Beowulf may help you in this regard. Otherwise, just throw some spells and sword techniques (or Construct 8's Dispose) at him until he goes down. The first time you KO him, he'll revive with 1 HP, but just punch him out a second time and you win the battle for real. BATTLE TROPHIES: Genji Armor --Lionel's New Liege Lord Battle 2: Lionel Castle Oratory-- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Beowulf [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: PHASE ONE: Bremondt [Celebrant; Gemini], Mystic (female) x2, Samurai (female) x2, Ninja (male) x2 PHASE TWO: Bremondt [Dark Dragon; Gemini] Bremondt has a pretty powerful set of underlings here. Most importantly, the Samurai to Bremondt's right (the left side of the screen when the battle begins) has a stealable Masamune. This is by far the easiest place to get this weapon, so be sure to steal it! (The only other way to get a Masamune is to catch it using Sticky Fingers when enemy Ninjas throw it.) Some of Bremondt's other troops are pretty tough, too. The Mystic on his left (again, the right side of the screen initially) is equipped with Chantage, which means that there's no point in attacking her, as she'll just revive on her next turn. The only way to take her out is to break the Chantage or steal it. Since Chantage is extremely useful, stealing it isn't a bad idea, although you CAN get them elsewhere. Watch out, both Mystics also have a pretty strong attack since they're equipped with bags. Other rare items available here are a Cachusha and Barette--stolen from the Mystics on Bremondt's right and left, respectively--and the Sortile'ge perfume, also stolen from the Mystic on his right. You'll be receiving a Sortile'ge and Hydrascale Bag for completing this quest anyway, though, so these are pretty skippable. Bremondt himself is equipped with a Lordly Robe and (despite being male) a Ribbon, which gives him a fair amount of HP. (Unfortunately, he has Safeguard, so you can't steal this stuff from him.) As long as at least one of his underlings is KOed, though, he usually wastes his turns casting Arise. (This can actually helpful be if you accidentally KO the Samurai with the Masamune before you're able to steal it.) Just make sure at least one of the generic enemies stays knocked out while you go after Bremondt. Since the Ribbon doesn't protect Bremondt from the Atheist status, you can also try using the Mystic's Disbelief (or Beowulf's Doubt) to prevent him from casting magicks. Alternately, attack his MP with Rend MP / Duskblade / Infernal Strike. When Bremondt is first KOed, he will transform into the Dark Dragon, and all the other enemy troops will be wiped from the board. It's now time for the second phase of this battle. The Dark Dragon has some really strong physical attacks, and might occasionally use breath attacks as well. It can Counter you when you attack, so you're probably better off using sword techniques or other abilities that aren't standard melee attacks. The Dark Dragon has about 3,000 HP; when you defeat it, you'll clear this battle and the subquest. BATTLE TROPHIES: Zeus Mace %%%MIDLIGHT'S DEEP%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00bsmd For a general description of how to advance in Midlight's Deep and find items, see the Midlight's Deep section of the walkthrough. ---Level 1: The Crevasse--- In this level, you start out at the top of a large cliff with a staircase-like path winding down it. The enemies are all at the bottom, which gives you a big height advantage. It's easy to rain ranged attacks down on them. (If you do want to use melee attacks, Ignore Elevation or other jump boosts are helpful for navigating the cliff and descending quickly.) The enemies here are all weak jobs and monsters, so they shouldn't be that difficult. (Sometimes you'll get nothing but goblins!) This a good warm-up for the tougher Midlight's Deep battles, though. Remember to find the exit before you KO the last enemy. Otherwise, you won't be able to advance to the next level! ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 2, Y: 2 | height: 7) Glacial Gun (X: 9, Y: 0 | height: 22) Blaze Gun (X: 4, Y: 9 | height: 17) Kiyomori (X: 6, Y: 0 | height: 20) Elixir ---Level 2: The Stair--- Despite the name, this floor isn't quite a stair. Instead, it's a bumpy landscape full of variations in height. (So, again, Ignore Elevation and jump boosts are helpful.) This level is a head-on confrontation between you and your opponents, who start quite close to you. You do still have a bit of a height advantage, though. The enemy's forces are usually comprised of Archers, ahrimans, and skeletons. Since there are often multiple Archers, the Archer's Bane ability is quite helpful. Having your own strong range attacks also lets you KO the Archers quickly. Take out the Archers first, then go after the skeletons (their Anima attacks can be pretty strong!), and finally the ahrimans. Since you're being attacked by the full party at once, putting Disable or Chicken on some enemies or using Rend/Crush Weapon on humans will stop their attacks and give you some breathing room. You may fight ghosts or goblins instead, which is usually an easier battle. Both groups of enemies are definitely toughter than those in The Crevasse, however. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 2, Y: 7 | height: 6) Blood Sword (X: 6, Y:10 | height: 9) Elixir (X: 8, Y: 1 | height: 1) Save the Queen (X: 4, Y: 0 | height: 0) Elixir ---Level 3: The Hollow--- The Hollow has a big chasm running through the center of it, dividing the map into three separate regions. Your party starts on a separate "island" from the enemy squad and you can only cross with a jump. If you bring a lot of characters with long-range attacks (guns, Arithmeticks, Construct 8's Dispose), this should be fairly easy. From your starting point, guns and Dispose can hit almost all of the enemies. Since they have to navigate around the pits, you can just stand there and blast away. Just Wait instead of moving and you can get your next turn even faster. Still, the enemies will catch up with you eventually, so you'll want to bring along a good close-range fighter or two (like Orlandeau) as well. Probably the most dangerous enemy here are the Mindflayers. Their Mind Blast ability can Berserk or Confuse you, and has enough range that it can reach across the chasm. Try to take them out first. (Remember that Confused characters can be cured by whacking them with a physical attack. This doesn't cure Berserk, though.) You'll likely see some Black Mages as well, who can of course hit you with magick from a distance. Stealing away their MP is one good way of dealing with them. A gun paired with Rend MP can do this from a long distance, and Orlandeau's Duskblade has a decent range too. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 4, Y: 3 | height: 1.5) Elixir (X: 8, Y: 6 | height: 0.5) Zeus Mace (X: 7, Y:15 | height: 1.5) Elixir (X: 2, Y: 9 | height: 4.5) Yoichi Bow ---Level 4: The Catacombs--- The Catacombs are actually just a big staircase that winds back and forth, similar to The Crevasse (the first floor). However, the staircase is longer and each tier is separated by a chasm, so you can't jump straight down. Depending on the enemies you face, this level can either be easy or pretty challenging. There are three main types of enemies you'll face here: Malboros, Aevises, and Mystics. The Malboros are the easiest. They're slow, don't have ranged attacks, and tend to bunch up in groups. You can take your time advancing against them and attack them with wide-range attacks (e.g. Hallowed Bolt). The other enemies are tougher. The Aevises will quickly fly up the stairs to attack you and can fly over your front line to attack the magick-/item-users in the back. The Mystics can also be a pain since they will put lots of status conditions on you and often start near your team. If you have any Hair Adornments to equip on your female characters, they will protect against lots of potential status ailments. Attack the Mystics first since they have less HP and you can probably KO them the fastest. Attack the Aevises second and save any Malboros for last. The exit is almost always towards the end of path, as are most of the items. This can make them difficult to reach if the enemy squad confronts you head-on. You'll probably have the best luck finding everything when you're fighting the Malboros and have plenty of room and time for navigation. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X:12, Y: 2 | height: 7) Elixir (X: 4, Y: 8 | height: 4) Rod of Faith (X: 5, Y:10 | height: 4) Kaiser Shield (X: 5, Y: 9 | height: 6) Faerie Harp ---Level 5: The Oubliette--- The Oubliette is basically a "king of the hill" scenario. You're up on top of a hill which is surrounded by loads of enemies. There's only one path up (or down) the hill, which loops counterclockwise around the cliff. Note that the Excalibur is hidden right on the top of the hill, where you start. Be sure to pick this one up ... the permanent Haste is very useful! If you have Reequip, you can even arm yourself it with it right away. Of course, it's possible to launch attacks down at the enemies from atop the the cliff, but it's trickier than it looks. The angle is so steep that guns probably won't work. Your best best is probably just to wind your way down the trail. For the most part, you'll be on the opposite side of the hill as the enemies and they can't hit you anyways. Do be careful when you're descending the initial ramp, though. If you stand close to the edge of the cliff, any enemy Archers or Summoners CAN hit you from below. Because the trail is pretty narrow, it can get hard to see where your characters are, or how far your moving/targeting range extends. Don't forget that you can rotate the "camera" by tapping the analog stick (in the lower-left of the PSP) left or right. This will often help you get a better view. Pressing the R button on top of the PSP will also tilt the camera angle. After you've made a couple turns around the hill and end up facing the irection you did when you started the level, you'll come to a pass that's only two tiles wide. This is the best place to fight. You can just send Divine Ruinations or Shockwaves down this corridor and rip the enemies. (If you have both Agrias and Orlandeau you can cover the entire pass with Divine Ruinations.) Another tactic is the to block the full width of the pass with Invisible characters. (Ninja Gear, Septie`me perfume, and the Invisibility Cloak can all make characters Invisible.) The enemies can't walk past your Invisible characters, and because you're Invisible, they won't be able to attack you either. Then, you can just have the rest of your team launch magicks or sword techniques at the enemies from behind your "invisible wall." Any White Mages you encounter are actually the most dangerous enemies here, as they will keep healing and Raising the other enemies. Kill them first. If the enemy team is nothing but various sorts of dryads, it's much easier. With all the carnage going on, finding the exit can be tough. Try using Ignore Elevation and jumping down to the far end of the path right away. This works best if the character is Invisible or otherwise has a good defense, as s/he is otherwise likely to get surrounded and KOed. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 4, Y: 8 | height: 18) Excalibur (X: 0, Y:11 | height: 11) Elixir (X: 6, Y:11 | height: 7) Iga Blade (X: 6, Y: 0 | height: 1) Elixir ---Level 6: The Palings--- The Palings seems really small at first, but scroll around to see the whole picture. It's a mostly flat level with three big rock ridges. Select a long range attack to get a feel for where they are. Since you can't move over or through the ridges (even with Ignore Elevation), you'll have to wind your way around them. A much better strategy, though, is to just cast magick *through* them, while the enemies are still trying to navigate around them. Sword techniques and summon spells work great for this purpose. You can even use Jump to attack over the walls. Using Invisible characters to block the passage works here, too (see The Oubliette, above). As in The Oubliette, it can often get pretty hard to see where you're going, so rotate the camera to keep track of where the enemies are and where you can move. Sometimes, you'll encounter a slew of Vampire Cats here. They like to use Blaster to turn you to stone, so you may want to equip Jade Armlets for protection just in case, or at least bring a supply of Gold Needle or Remdies. Note that all the hidden items are right in the starting corner -- there's no reason not to pick them up! (If you start on top of one the item tiles, you have to first move to another tile and then move to the item tile before you can get the item to appear.) ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 0, Y: 9 | height: 5) Elixir (X: 0, Y: 8 | height: 5) Blaster (X: 1, Y, 8 | height: 5) Cursed Ring (X: 1, Y: 9 | height: 5) Ninja Gear ---Level 7: The Crossing--- The Crossing is a mostly flat level with a big rock ridge running through the middle. There's a small gap running through the ridge (the Crossing, I suppose) that separates it into two smaller cliffs. You start off next to one of the ends of the ridge. Most of the time, the enemies will all be clustered around the other cliff. Advance forwards and start fighting them, using height to your advantage where you can. Again, because you're often fighting a large group at once, abilities that quickly put an enemy out of commission (e.g. Chicken or Arm Shot) are helpful. Sometimes, the enemies will be more spread out across the level. Advance foward just the same and cross the level on the level ground. Trying to climb over the ridge is just liable to get your characters separated and surrounded. There's actually not much need to climb up onto the top of the ridge except to find the items stashed up there. Most of the items (including the two rare weapons) are atop the cliff that you start beside. To get up there, from the starting point, move forward a little bit, then move sideways into the gap through the ridge. From here, you can jump on top of the ridge, but you'll need a Jump of 5. If you need a boost, use Construct 8 or another large monster as a stepping stool. (Remember, of course, that you can't combine Ignore Elevation with Treasure Hunter.) ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 4, Y: 4 | height: 12) Elixir (X: 4, Y:10 | height: 13) Staff of the Magi (X: 4, Y:12 | height: 12) Koga Blade (X: 4, Y:14 | height: 10) Elixir ---Level 8: The Switchback--- This level has two tiers. You start on the high one and have to cross it, descend a stair, and fight back across the lower tier (hence the name "The Switchback.") As in other levels like The Oubliette, the decline is so steep that it's pretty hard to shoot downwards, so you're better off heading for the stairs. Often times, you'll encounter a swarm of Archers (and nothing but!) here, so readying Archer's Bane beforehand is a good strategy. This fight isn't too tough since the Archers can't do all THAT much damage (and often take time charging up Aim). On other occasions, you'll fight very powerful monsters -- behemoth, dragons, and hydras (oh my!). When you see these guys, you may want to forestall hunting for items or the exit and just focus on surviving. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 4, Y: 6 | height: 3) Perseus Bow (X: 6, Y: 7 | height: 3) Lordly Robe (X: 9, Y: 8 | height: 3) Ragnarok (X:10, Y:10 | height: 3) Elixir ---Level 9: The Interstice--- The Interstice has a tricky layout. You start on one of two pillars. (There's also a tiny mini-pillar in between the two pillars.) Parallel to the pillars is a flat plateau area where the enemies often start. The terrain in between and on the other side of the pillars is flat. The enemies often start on top of the plateau. From their position here, they will launch spells and arrows up at you. If you stand on the side of the pillar closest to them, you can hit them back with some ranged attacks. To really attack them (and to use any close-range abilities), though, you'll need to take down the long route down to their plateau. Jump across the mini-pillar to the other pillar. From here, there's a staircase down to the plateau. You should probably hurry for the staircase as quickly as you can. While you CAN attack from the top of the pillars, it's too crowded to move around, making it difficult to target the enemies you want. Start moving across the pillars as fast as you can. You *could* also use Ignore Elevation to jump down to the plateau, but this is pretty tricky because: (a) there's a hole in the corner of the map closest to where you start; the only route you can take is directly down off the front of the pillar where you start and (b) the character is liable to get surrounded and killed quickly. Only try this if you have a pretty sturdy character with a lot of HP or a good reaction ability (e.g. Shirahadori). You'll also need to take the plateau route if you want to claim all the items -- the Maximillian armor is located on the far end of the plateau, and the Venetian Shield is down on the flat floor. (The Grand Helm is up on the pillars.) All of these are definitely worth grabbing. The specific enemies you face here, of course, vary. Often times, you'll face an assortment of Black Mages, Archers, Knights, and Chocobos. Don't forget that you can stop the Black Mages pretty quickly by stealing their MP -- Orlandeau's Duskblade works well for that. Another set of enemies involves Ninja and Samurai. They're fairly easy. If you're just looking to clear the battle, kill the Ninjas first, since they can throw from a distance. But, if the Ninjas are at a high level (90+) they will throw rare weapons at you that you can catch the Thief reaction ability Sticky Fingers. Kill off the Samurai first and then just sit around and let them throw weapons at you. Finally, sometimes, instead of the Ninja and Samurai convention, you get dragons and Cockatrices. This is tough. Try to stay in a tight group on the pillars and use your best attacks. Attack the Cockatrices first, then go for the dragons closest to you. Note that with all enemy groups, some of the enemies can sometimes be very hard to see, if they slip in between the pillars or between the pillar and plateau. Try to track where they're moving so you don't forget about them if you can't see them on the screen. Finding the exit in this level can be tricky. It's often on the flat "flooor" below the pillars and plateau. Your best best is to put Ignore Elevation on an invisible character and immediately to quickly from the starting pillar down to the flat ground. If you don't have the items/abilities for that, you'll have to take the very long route: hop across the pillars, descend to the plateau, cross the plateau, and THEN reach the set of stairs down the floor. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X: 3, Y: 4 | height: 8) Grand Helm (X: 3, Y: 5 | height: 2) Venetian Shield (X: 9, Y: 0 | height: 4) Maximillian (X: 3, Y:10 | height: 2) Elixir ---Level 10: Terminus--- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, the Byblos [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Elidibus [Serpentarius], Reaver x6 Note that the battle with Elidibus is considered a story battle; you'll have to deploy Ramza the first time you visit here. If you want to learn the Zodiark summon spell (and this is your only opportunity to do so), you'll need to deploy someone who is a Summoner (which can be Ramza or someone else). There's no exit to find here, just a confrontation with Elidibus and a whole pile of Reavers. Elidibus is at the top of a spiral staircase; you'll have to fight your way up past the Reavers to reach him. The enemy Reavers are gray. The purple monster behind you, the Byblos, is NOT an enemy; its a Guest fighting on your side. Don't kill it; it's your friend! (The personal name of the Byblos is random, but it can be identified by its "Byblos" monster type and purple color.) The Byblos is pretty slow-moving, but it can heal you from afar. Keep it alive and it will join you afterwards. Begin fighting your way up the stairs. The Reavers aren't hard to kill; sword techniques or Dual Wielded physical attacks work wonders. Since their Bio spells take time to charge, you can often KO them before they can even cast the spell. The Bio spells don't do all that much HP damage. However, they can inflict a variety of status ailments, so bring an ability like Esuna or Purification to remove these -- Purification is especially helpful since it doesn't need to charge. You can probably Elidibus quickly. Elidibus's main attack is the extremely powerful Zodiark summon (700+ damage). It's obvious when he's going to cast it from the humongous damage estimates -- plus it takes a long time to charge. Get out of the way if you can! Split your team up so he can't take out too many at one time. Once you've gotten past the Reavers, healing is pretty much pointless because Zodiark will basically kill you no matter how much HP you have. (And, if you're using Beowulf, keeping his HP low will allow Vengeance to do more damage!) Do, however, revive KOed characters. Angel Rings and Chantage will be quite useful in this battle as they let you recover from the inevitable KO. (Angel Rings work only once; Chantage works multiple times.) Another tactic is to use the Mystic ability Disbelief or Beowulf's Doubt to give your characters the Atheist status, which temporarily reduces your Faith to 0 and makes you immune to magick. Atheist status also renders your own magick useless, though, so you WON'T want to put it on any magick-users in your team. (Atheist status also prevents you from learning the Zodiark spell; see below.) A final tactic to survive Zodiark is to pair Construct 8 with one or more characters with Chantage. Construct 8 has a permanent Atheist status, so Zodiark won't KO it, and as long it's alive, the Chantage characters will revive themselves. (Unfortunately, since Construct 8 is slow and takes a long time to get across the battlefield, it may not be all that much help with the actual fighting.) While Zodiark is Elidibus's main attack, you'll also need to watch out for his Poisonous Frog, which turns characters into toads (and poisons them), rendering them usueless. For female characters, equipping any Cachushas or Ribbons you have may be a good idea as they will protect you from both Poison and Toad status. Alternately, you can just use Esuna or Purification to remove the status -- Purification is especially helpful since it doesn't need to charge. When you reach Elidibus, attack him with your strongest abilities -- preferably ones that hit from a distance so that he can't counterattack you. Sword techniques, as always, are great. He's particularly vulnerable while charging Zodiark, so be sure to attack him at these times. Attack Boost will also help you do more damage quickly. The key to this battle is mostly just surviving Zodiark; if you can keep one or two heavy hitters alive, you can fell him fairly quickly. You can learn Zodiark if Elidibus casts it on a Summoner and the Summoner survives the spell. (Coming back to life with Reraise doesn't count; the Summoner must NOT be KOed by the spell.) When this happens, there's a random probability (high but not 100%) that you'll learn the spell. The easiest way to learn the spell is to equip the Time Mage ability Mana Shield and make sure your Bravery is reasonably high. As long as you have at least 1 MP, this ability (when activated) causes all attacks to damage only your MP instead of HP. So, being hit with Zodiark will empty out your MP, but leave the character standing. If you don't learn the spell on your first attempt, use an Ether or Chakra to get back at least 1 MP and try again. If you don't have Mana Shield, an alternate method is to put Equip Heavy Armor on the Summoner to get his or her HP as high as possible, then start hitting Elidibus with Rend Magick as many times as you can (preferably using a gun, bow, or polearm to attack from a distance, so that he can't counterattack). This will lower his magick power and decrease the amount of damage Zodiark can do, potentially allowing your Summoner to withstand the spell without Mana Shield. (Mana Shield is only 400 JP, though, so it's not too tough to learn.) Using the Atheist status to temporarily reduce your Faith to 0 will NOT work; your Summoner must take at least 1 HP damage from Zodiark in order to learn it. (Of course, it's fine to cast Atheist on all your other characters if you want.) Elidibus has 2600-2700 HP. If you are trying to learn Zodiark, keep track of how much damage you're doing and don't hurt him too much until you learn the spell. You don't want to kill him on accident. (Remember, this battle is your only chance to learn Zodiark.) The four hidden items are all located on the platform where Elidibus starts. You'll have a much easier time finding them if you come back AFTER you beat him, instead of trying to get them during the battle with Elidibus. ITEM LOCATIONS: (X:10, Y: 7 | height: 15) Chaos Blade (X:12, Y: 5 | height: 15) Chirijiraden (X:12, Y: 7 | height: 15) Elixir (X:10, Y: 5 | height: 15) Elixir ******************************************************************************* VI. JOBS 00job0 ******************************************************************************* ---General Information About Jobs---------------------------------------------- ---EQUIPPING ABILITIES--- Each job has a category of Action Abilities (e.g. "Black Magick" or "Steal"). This category of abilities is always available for use by the job. In addition, each job can equip one other job's Action Ability category. So, you can have a Black Mage with the Knight's Arts of War ability, or a Samurai who uses both her inherent Iaido ability plus the Chemists' Items ability. Each job can also equip one Reaction Ability, one Support Ability, and one Movement Ability. Note that the Reaction/Support/Movement Abilities that a job can learn are NOT automatically available (with a few exceptions noted below). You must use your slots to equip them! The exception to all of the above is the Onion Knight job, which can't equip any abilities at all. ---JOBS & STATS--- A character's current stats are, of course, partially determined by his or her current level, as well as by the jobs you used to level up with in the past. (Note that you can use job effects on level ups as a way of grinding your characters' stats even higher. See Level Downs & Stat Grinding under Statistics and Leveling for more information.) But, a character's CURRENT job also plays a big role in determining your current stats. Black Mages have high MP and magick strength, but a weak physical attack. Thieves are speedy but don't have much HP. Below, I've given rough approximations of each job's stats on a scale of 1 star (poor) to 5 stars (excellent). Three stats do not change with level ups and depend only on your current job plus your accessories/equipment. Movement range is the number of tiles a character can move per turn. Jump height is the maximum height distance between tiles that a character can traverse while moving. (Additionally, when faced with a gap, characters can make horizontal jumps equal to half their Jump height.) Finally, each job has a inherent evade rate for physical attacks. Note that this inherent evade rate is only good against attacks from the front. (By contrast, shields can also evade attacks from the side, and cloaks can evade attacks from all directions.) Note that even though the status screen has a space for an inherent magikal evade rate, all controllable jobs have a 0% basic magick evade. The only way to evade magick is to equip shields or accessories. ---UNLOCKING JOBS--- Aside from Squire and Chemist, jobs must be unlocked. In order to use a given job, a character must first gain Job Levels with other jobs. For example, to switch to the White Mage job, a character must have Chemist at job level 3 or higher. (The requirements for each job are listed in the charts below.) Job Levels are determined by the TOTAL amount of JP you've earned with a given job. Spending JP to purchase abilities does NOT decrease this total. So, a character who's earned 730 JP with Samurai would have a Samurai job level of 4, even if he's spent 500 of those JP on abilities. Job Level 1 0 JP total Job Level 2 200 JP total Job Level 3 400 JP total Job Level 4 700 JP total Job Level 5 1100 JP total Job Level 6 1600 JP total Job Level 7 2200 JP total Job Level 8 3000 JP total Mastered All abilities learned Note that it's possible to Master a job even if your job level is less than 8. Squire, Geomancer, and some special jobs require less than 3000 JP to Master, and you can Master other jobs with less than 3000 JP if you learn a lot of abilities from crystals. Your Job Level is actually independent of whether you've Mastered the job and continues to go up until it reaches 8, even if you've already Mastered the job. Keep this in mind, because most jobs unlock based on JOB LEVELS, not on Mastered jobs. (For instance, Dark Knight requires you to have job level 8 with Geomancer, even though you can master Geomancer with only job level 7!) The Job Level for Onion Knight is determined by the number of other jobs that you've Mastered. Mime always has Job Level 1. Both Onion Knight and Mime are always Mastered. ---SPECIAL JOBS--- Some story characters that join your party have special jobs available for that character. They aren't available to generic characters. In all cases where a story character has a special job, the special job replaces the Squire job for that character. For more on these special jobs, see the Special Jobs portion of the job/ability list, below. ---Deciphering the Charts------------------------------------------------------ A few (well, many) words of explanation about the job & ability charts below. ---ACTION ABILITIES--- MP: Action Abilities first list the MP cost of each ability. If no MP cost is listed, the ability doesn't require MP to use. REFLECT & ARITHMETICKS: For magick, you may see an "R" and/or an "A" after its MP cost. "R" means the spell can be reflected -- if it's cast on a character who has the Reflect status, the spell will bounce off and might even strike another target! "A" means it can be cast using the Arithmetician's Arithmeticks ability. SPEED: Next comes the Speed ("SPD") of the ability. This determines how long the ability takes to charge up. The SMALLER the number, the LONGER it takes to charge. If no number is listed, the ability is used instantaneously and doesn't need to charge. RANGE: Two numbers are listed for Range ("RNG"). The first ("H") is the horizontal range in tiles -- how many tiles away can the target be? Usually, you'll see a number. You might also see "Weapon" instead, which means the range of the ability is equal to the range of the user's current weapon. "4Dir" means "4 directions"; the ability reaches only in the cardinal directions and extends the length of its effect radius (see below). The second number under Range ("V") is the vertical range. Some abilities can only target characters who are within a certain height of the caster. A * displayed here means the ability has an infinite vertical range and can target characters at any height (most abilities actually fall into this category). EFFECT RADIUS: Many abilities affect not just the character targeted, but nearby tiles as well. This is the "Effect Radius" of the ability, and is listed under "RAD". Again, the first number is the horizontal radius -- how wide is the effect radius in terms of # of map tiles? (An ability with a radius of 1 targets only one tile; a greater radius target more.) The second number is the vertical radius. In most cases, the effect radius only holds over tiles within a certain vertical height of the central target. So, for instance, the spell Blizzaga has a range of 4/*. This means that it can target any unit within 4 panels of the caster, regardless of vertical distance. It also has an effect radius of 2/3. This means that it has a radius of horizontal size 2 -- it hits both the targeted tile and neighboring tiles that are 1 tile away. The vertical radius is 3, so any neighboring tiles that differ in height by more than 3 will NOT be part of the effect radius. TARGETS: Target ("TAR") determines whether the ability affects only allies within in the effect radius, only foes, or both. Continuing the Blizzara example, Blizzara target All units within the radius, meaning that both enemy units and your own allies will be affected. Look out! LINE OF FIRE: Finally, Line of Fire ("LF") displays whether the ability requires an unobstructed line of fire between the user and the target. If Y (yes) is displayed here, the ability requires a direct line of fire and CANNOT travel through other units or obstructions such as walls. (If there is another unit in the way, that unit will be hit instead! See Shoot Enemies Next to You under Various Tricks for tips on how to exploit this to your advantage.) If N (no) is displayed for Line of Fire, the ability does NOT require a direct line of fire and works even if there are walls or other units in the way. Of course, Line of Fire is irrelevant for abilities that affect only the user or units in adjacent tiles, since there can't be any other obstacles in between. ---REACTION ABILITIES--- Reaction Abilities trigger when the character is hit by a specific kind of action. The action that triggers that the Reaction Ability is listed under Trigger. ("Critical HP" means when you have less than 20% of your max HP and the character is kneeling/crouching.) Most Reaction Abilities don't always activate. In most cases, the chance of a Reaction Ability activating is equal to the character's Bravery. If "Yes" is displayed under Bravery ("BRV"), the chance of the Reaction Ability activating is equal to your Bravery. If "No" is displayed, Bravery does not affect the Reaction Ability; the ability either ALWAYS works, or is affected by something else listed in the description for that ability. ---SUPPORT AND MOVEMENT ABILITIES--- Support and Movement Abilities are pretty straightforward. ---INNATE ABILITIES--- Abilities marked with a + are automatically used by that that job and only needs to be equipped when you switch to another job. For example, the Ninja doesn't need to equip Dual Wield to use two weapons. You only need Dual Wield when you change to a different job and want to retain that ability. ---RECOMMENDED ABILITIES--- Some abilities have been marked with *. A * here means the ability is (in my usually inaccurate opinion) one of the job's best. %%%STANDARD JOBS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00job1 ---SQUIRE---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : none Needed for jobs : Knight (lv. 2), Archer (lv. 2), Onion Knight (lv. 6), Mime (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, axes, flails Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Fundaments-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Counter Tackle Phys. attack Yes 180 Counterattack using Rush --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Equip Axes + 170 Equip Axes regardless of current job Beastmaster 200 Monsters in adjacent tiles gain an extra ability. (Limited to vertical range of 3.) Defend 50 Allows use of Defend action to double evade rate for 1 turn JP Boost * 250 Raises JP received by the unit by 50% --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Move +1 * 200 Movement range + 1 JP to master: 1670 --MY THOUGHTS-- Squires are what you'd expect from a starting job -- functional, but nothing all that special. Their abilities are useful early on, but there aren't too many that you'd use later on. Move +1 is a great all-purpose movement ability though, and definitely worth learning before you move on from Squire. (Most other jobs have a movement range of only 3, making it tough for them to keep up with the battle.) JP Boost is also great for helping you learn other abilities quickly, especially when you switch to a new job and need to gain levels quickly. It's a great investment to learn JP Boost early on. If you're into grinding levels, Focus and Stone are good abilities to use repeatedly to build up experience or JP. ---CHEMIST--------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : none Needed for jobs : White Mage (lv. 2), Black Mage (lv. 2), Onion Knight (lv. 6), Mime (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 3 Innate ability: Throw Items Physical evade : 5% Stats: HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Items-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Potion * 1/* 1/- Any Y 30 Can use Potions (restore 30 HP) Hi-Potion * 1/* 1/- Any Y 200 Can use Hi-Potions (restore 70 HP) X-Potion * 1/* 1/- Any Y 300 Can use X-Potions (restore 150 HP) Ether 1/* 1/- Any Y 300 Can use Ethers (restore 20 MP) Hi-Ether * 1/* 1/- Any Y 400 Can use Hi-Ethers (restore 50 MP) Elixir 1/* 1/- Any Y 900 Can use Elixirs (restore all HP & MP) Antidote 1/* 1/- Any Y 70 Can use Antidotes (cures Poison) Eye Drops 1/* 1/- Any Y 80 Can use Eye Drops (cures Blind) Echo Herbs 1/* 1/- Any Y 120 Can use Echo Herbs (cures Silence) Maiden's Kiss 1/* 1/- Any Y 200 Can use Maiden's Kisses (cures Toad) Gold Needle 1/* 1/- Any Y 250 Can use Gold Needles (cures Stone) Holy Water 1/* 1/- Any Y 400 Can use Holy Water (cures Undead and Vampire) Remedy * 1/* 1/- Any Y 700 Can use Remedies (cures Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, and Sleep) Phoenix Down * 1/* 1/- Any Y 90 Can use Phoenix Down (revives KOed character with minimal HP) Note 1: All Items abilities require you to have the corresponding item in your inventory. One item is consumed with each use. Aside from Elixirs, all the items can be bought at the Outfitter, although some do not become available until later in the game. Note 2: The Throw Items ability (equippable, and also innate in the Chemist job) extends the range of all Items abilities from 1 to 4. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Auto-Potion * Any HP loss Yes 400 Use weakest potion available on self --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Throw Items +* 350 Increases horizontal range of Items command from 1 to 4. Safeguard * 250 Equipment can't be broken or stolen Reequip 0 Allows use of Reequip action to change unit's equipment (but consumes turn) --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Treasure Hunter 100 Allows you to discover any hidden items on the destination tile, which are then added to your inventory. Your chance of getting a more valuable item increases with LOW Bravery. JP to master: 5140 --MY THOUGHTS-- Despite being a "basic" job, Chemists are great! Items are great for healing because they don't take any time to charge and never miss. Ethers and Hi-Ethers are also a convenient way to restore MP. And, since the effect of items is fixed, you can assign the Items ability even to a character with low magic ability. The only real downside is that items can only heal one character at a time. Early in the game, Chemists make great healers. Plus, once you're able to buy guns (late in Chapter II), they have a good range attack, giving them something else to do when the team doesn't need healing. Be sure to learn Throw Items before you switch your Chemist to another job. Otherwise, your items will only have a range of 1 and won't be much good at all. (Chemists themselves don't need to learn Throw Items, as they have it as an intrinsic ability.) It's pretty safe to skip the items that cure negative status (Eye Drops, etc.); you don't have to face these status conditions all that often. Save your JP and just learn Remedy; once Remedies become available (midway through Chapter II) they duplicate the effects of ALL the other items. The exception is Holy Water, but there's pretty much only point where you have to worry about being hit with the Undead or Vampire conditions. Safeguard is an important support ability, especially later in the game when you have rare equipment that you can't buy in stores. You don't want that being broken or stolen! Although you don't need to equip Safeguard all the time, it's good to have on hand for particular battles where the enemies are apt to break your equipment. The Treasure Hunter movement ability, on the other hand, isn't all that useful during the main game since most of the items you find from it are nothing special. However, in the game's sidequests, Treasure Hunter will net you some rare items you can't find anywhere else, so at that point you'll definitely want to have at least one character learn Treasure Hunter. (Preferably someone with low Bravery, as this increases your chance of getting good items with it.) ---KNIGHT---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Squire lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Monk (lv. 3), Samurai (lv. 4), Dark Knight (Mastered!) Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 10% HP: **** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Arts of War-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Rend Helm Weapon Any Y 300 Destroys target's headgear Rend Armor Weapon Any Y 400 Destroys target's armor Rend Shield Weapon Any Y 300 Destroys target's shield Rend Weapon * Weapon Any Y 400 Destroys target's weapon Rend MP Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target's MP Rend Speed * Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target's speed Rend Power Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target's phys. attack Rend Magick Weapon Any Y 250 Lowers target's mag. attack When combined with the Dual Wield support ability, Arts of War fires twice per use since the character is wielding two weapons. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Parry No 200 Block physical attacks with weapon; rate of success is equal to current weapon's Block Rate (see weapon list). Not effective against rear attacks. --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Equip Heavy Armor +* 500 Can equip heavy armor + helmets regardless of job Equip Shields + 250 Can equip shields regardless of job Equip Swords +* 400 Can equip swords regardless of job (does not apply to knight's swords) --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 3750 --MY THOUGHTS-- The Knight's greatest asset is not the Arts of War, but its fairly good fighting stats and inherent ability to equip swords, heavy armor, and shields, a power that can be transfered to other jobs with its support abilities. Equip Heavy Armor helps make vulnerable jobs tougher, and Equip Sword is quite useful for many of the story characters, who need to have a sword equipped in order to use their special abilities. Knights are also a good job late in the game, when you've learned all the abilities you want and now just want to maximize your characters' power. They have good HP and attack power, and are one of the few jobs that can equip knight's swords, the single-player game's most powerful weapons. (The only other standard job that can use them is Dark Knight, which has quite a few prerequisites to unlock). The Arts of War abilities are only moderately useful as Knight. They have fairly low accuracy and if you're close enough to use them, you'll often want to just start attacking and KO the enemy rather than mess with his/her stats. However, pairing Arts of War with a gun (e.g. by using the Orator's Equip Gun ability) or the Archer's bows lets you use these attacks at a distance, which makes them quite useful. You can break your enemies' weapons before they can get close enough to use them! ---ARCHER---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Squire lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Thief (lv. 3), Ninja (lv. 4) Equippable weapons: Bows, crossbows Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, hats, clothes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 10% HP: *** MP: ** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Aim-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Aim +1 * Weapon Any Y 100 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +2 * Weapon Any Y 150 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +3 * Weapon Any Y 200 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +4 Weapon Any Y 250 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +5 Weapon Any Y 300 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +7 Weapon Any Y 400 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +10 Weapon Any Y 700 Charge up attack for more damage Aim +20 Weapon Any Y 1200 Charge up attack for more damage Each of these Aim abilities does more damage than the previous one, but also takes longer to charge. (e.g., Aim +4 does more damage than Aim +3). Note that if the enemy you're targeting moves while you're charging, your attack will miss. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Adrenaline Rush * Any HP loss Yes 900 Raise Speed by 1 Archer's Bane * Arrow attack Yes 450 Evade bow / crossbow attacks --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Equip Crossbows + 350 Can equip crossbows regardless of job (does not apply to regular bows) Concentration * 400 Prevents enemies from evading your physical attacks --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Jump +1 200 Jump height + 1 JP to master: 5600 --MY THOUGHTS-- Archers make a very valuable addition to your team early in the game, when you have few other range attacks. Later in the game, as you acquire guns, sword techniques, and other ranged attacks, Archers become somewhat less useful. For one thing, their Aim command is of limited value. The high Aims (Aim +10, etc.) take too long to charge and there's rarely any enemy you can target with them. The short Aims will increase your damage a little and are worth using when you have the chance, but don't increase your offense enough to make them worth choosing over another command. Archer's Bane, though, is a great reaction ability against enemy Archers -- with a high Bravery, you're almost impervious to arrows! Since you'll fight Archers in quite a few battles throughout the game, this is a good ability to learn early on. Always equip your Archers with the 2-handed longbows rather than crossbows-- longbows do more damage, have a longer range, and don't need a direct line of fire. Crossbows do let you equip a shield at the same time, but since your Archers should be on the back line anyway, they don't need shields that much. Note that Archers are in fact the ONLY standard job that can equip longbows. The Equip Crossbows ability only let other jobs use crossbows (not longbows), which makes the ability of dubious value since crossbows are not so good. ---MONK------------------------------------------------------------------------ Required jobs : Knight lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Geomancer (lv. 4), Samurai (lv. 5) Equippable weapons: none Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Clothes Jump height : 4 Innate ability: Brawler Physical evade : 20% Stats: HP: ***** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Martial Arts-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Cyclone Slf 2/0 Any - 150 Non-elemental attack Pummel 1/1 1/- Any - 300 Non-elemental attack, does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Aurablast 3/3 1/- Any Y 300 Non-elemental attack Shockwave * 4Dir 8/2 Any N 600 Earth attack Doom Fist 1/0 1/- Any - 300 Causes Doom status (enemy is KOed after 3 turns) Purification * Slf 2/0 Any - 200 Removes Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Berserk, Toad, Poison, Sleep, Immobilize, Disable Chakra * Slf 2/0 Any - 350 Restores some HP and MP Revive * 1/0 1/- Any - 500 Revives KOed character with minimal HP --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Critical:RecoverHP Critical HP Yes 500 Restores HP completely Counter * Phys. Attack Yes 300 Counter-attack with physical attack First Strike * Attack command Yes 1300 Cancels enemy's Attack command and you attack enemy instead (does not work against monsters) --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Brawler +* 200 Raises unarmed attack strength --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Lifefont * 300 Restores HP whenever you Move JP to master: 5300 --MY THOUGHTS-- Monks rock! In my opinion, they have the best selection of abilities in the game. Shockwave and to a lesser extent Aurablast are decent offensive abilities. And, they have three healing abilities that don't require any charge time: Chakra can restore HP *AND* MP to a group, Revive revives KOed character and usually has an 80+% hit rate, and Purification cures a number of status changes to a group. Martial Arts is a great command to have as it gives you both offensive and defensive abilities packed into one ability slot. The one caveat is that the healing abilities work only over a small vertical range -- you can't Revive someone at a different height than you, for instance -- so be mindful of that during battle. Monks also have great reaction abilities. Counter is a great reaction ability to have in almost all situations. Getting counterattacks in response to enemy attacks lets you do a LOT more damage. Against humans, First Strike is even better since it cancels the enemy's attack outright, but it's not effective against monster attacks -- so don't use it when you're traveling the map and will just be facing random battles. Critical: Recover HP can be moderately useful too since it can restore your HP to full and save a critically wounded character, but many attacks can KO you outright and never even put you in critical HP. (So, Counter is usually better.) Another advantage of Monks is that they have good stats: they have a strong attack and are pretty speedy. Consider pairing their attack with the Ninja's Dual Wield to get two punches and double your damage! Their only weakness is that they can't equip much in the way of armor, but Equip Heavy Armor can be a good remedy for that. ---WHITE MAGE------------------------------------------------------------------ Required jobs : Chemist lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Mystic (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 5) Equippable weapons: Staves Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: White Magicks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Cure * 6 RA 25 4/* 2/1 Any N 50 Restores HP Cura * 10RA 20 4/* 2/1 Any N 180 Restores HP (more) Curaga 16RA 15 4/* 2/2 Any N 450 Restores HP (even more) Curaja 20RA 10 4/* 2/3 Any N 800 Restores HP (best) Raise * 10RA 25 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Revives KOed character with minimal HP Arise * 20RA 10 4/* 1/- Any N 600 Revives KOed character with full HP Reraise * 16RA 15 3/* 1/- Any N 1000 Gives Reraise status (automatically return once from KO) Regen * 8 RA 25 3/* 2/0 Any N 350 Gives Regen status (restores HP each turn) Protect 6 RA 25 3/* 2/0 Any N 70 Gives Protect status (decreases physical damage received) Protectja 24 15 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Gives Protect status Shell 6 RA 25 3/* 2/0 Any N 70 Gives Shell status (decreases magick damage received) Shellja 20 15 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Gives Shell status Wall 24RA 25 3/* 1/- Any N 400 Gives both Protect and Shell status Esuna 18RA 34 3/* 2/2 Any N 300 Cures Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Berserk, Toad, Poison, Sleep, Immobilize, and/or Disable Holy 56RA 17 5/* 1/- Any N 600 Holy attack --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Regenerate * Any HP loss Yes 400 Gain Regen status (restores HP each turn) --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Arcane Defense * 400 Lowers damage received from magick --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 7070 --MY THOUGHTS-- White Mages are, of course, a healing oriented job; Holy is their only real offensive spell. However, they tend not to be as effective on defense as Chemists, since their spells consume MP and need time to charge up. The charge time is particularly problematic if an ally has just been hit for a lot of damage and you need to patch him/her up right away -- you might not have time to wait! What's GOOD about White Mages? Well, they can heal more than one character at a time (since most of their spells affect more than one tile). They can cast a few other "buffing" spells like Protect and Shell, though note these buffs can miss if you have low faith or magick power! Their Arise spell is also capable of restoring a character at full HP, which Phoenix Down or a Monk's Revive cannot do. They're also the fastest of the mage jobs. Overall, though, the charge times and MP costs associated with White Magick make Chemists a better choice. If you're likely to get any use out of White Mages, it's probably in the early stages of the game, when you'll frequently face barrages of weak attacks spread out against your team. Then, the ability to heal multiple characters at once is important. White Magick can also be used an offensive weapon against undead enemies, though there aren't too many undead enemies and most are pretty easy anyway. Besides, you can use Chemists' Items to hurt undead enemies too! ---BLACK MAGE------------------------------------------------------------------ Required jobs : Chemist lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Time Mage (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 5), Dark Knight (Mastered!) Equippable weapons: Rods Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ** Mag. Atk.: ***** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Black Magicks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Fire * 6 RA 25 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Fire attack Fira * 12RA 20 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Fire attack (stronger) Firaga * 24RA 15 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Fire attack (even stronger) Firaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900 Fire attack (strongest) Thunder * 6 RA 25 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Lightning attack Thundara 10RA 20 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Lightning attack (stronger) Thundaga * 24RA 15 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Lightning attack (even stronger) Thundaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900 Lightning attack (strongest) Blizzard * 6 RA 25 4/* 2/1 All N 50 Ice attack Blizzara * 12RA 20 4/* 2/2 All N 200 Ice attack (stronger) Blizzaga * 24RA 15 4/* 2/3 All N 500 Ice attack (even stronger) Blizzaja 48 10 4/* 3/3 All N 900 Ice attack (strongest) Poison 6 RA 34 4/* 2/2 All N 150 Causes Poison status Toad 12RA 20 3/* 1 All N 500 Causes Toad status, or cures Toad status if target already a Toad Death 24RA 10 4/* 1 All N 600 Instant KO Flare 60RA 15 5/1 1 All N 1000 Non-elemental attack --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Magick Counter * Magick attack Yes 800 Counterattack w/ same spell --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Arcane Strength 400 Raises magick damage --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 8400 --MY THOUGHTS-- When it comes to magick, Black Mages are the mythril standard -- they have a lot of MP (second only to Summoner in standard jobs, and third to Summoners and Beowulf's Templar job overall), and THE highest magick strength of any job. Plus, they can equip rods that boost their magick abilities even further, and their Arcane Strength makes their magick do more damage. In other words, the magick abilities of other jobs get even stronger when used by a Black Mage -- so a great strategy is to learn spells from other jobs, then turn your characters into Black Mages. (Or, even better, learn Arithmeticks and then turn into a Black Mage so you can cast ALL spells at high power!) They're the best magick job available. So, how about Black Mages' own spells? Well, Black Magick tend to be pretty useful--especially early in the game, when you have few other abilities that can attack multiple enemies. Against monsters, you can also use Black Magick to exploit their elemental weaknesses (check the Monsters section below to see what they are). Later in the game, Black Magick isn't quite as effective since you have other ways of attacking groups of enemies that don't consume MP and don't need to charge (e.g., sword techniques, Iaido). Plus, the strongest Black Magick spells take a while charge, although the Time Mage's Swiftness support ability is one remedy for this -- or you could use Arithmeticks, which lets you cast spells without charge time. Note that the -ja spells CANNOT be used with Arithmeticks, so if you're using Arithmeticks, you'll probably want to learn Flare first. (On the other hand, -ja spells can't be reflected, so even if an enemy has Reflect, you can use -ja spells to still attack with magick.) Magick Counter is also a good reaction ability when faced when lots of enemy mages. ---TIME MAGE------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Black Mage lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Summoner (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4) Equippable weapons: Staves Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Time Magicks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Haste * 8 RA 50 3/* 2/0 Any N 100 Causes Haste status Hasteja 30 15 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Causes Haste status Slow * 8 RA 50 3/* 2/0 Any N 80 Causes Slow status Slowja 30RA 15 3/* 2/3 Any N 600 Causes Slow status Stop * 14RA 15 3/* 2/0 Any N 350 Causes Stop status Immobilize * 10RA 34 3/* 2/1 Any N 100 Causes Immobilize status Float 8 RA 50 4/* 2/1 Any N 200 Causes Float status Reflect * 12RA 50 4/* 1 Any N 300 Causes Reflect status Quick * 24R 25 4/* 1 Any N 900 Fills CT gauge - instant turn! Gravity 24RA 17 4/* 2/1 Any N 250 Damage = 1/4 of user's max HP Graviga 50RA 10 4/* 2/3 Any N 550 Damage = 1/2 of user's max HP Meteor 70 5 4/* 4/3 Any N 1500 Non-elemental magick attack --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Critical: Quick * Critical HP Yes 800 Fills CT gauge to 100; instant turn! Mana Shield * Any HP loss Yes 400 Damage dealt only to MP instead of HP if MP >0 --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Swiftness * 1000 Speeds spell/ability charge time --Movement Abilities-- ---------------------------------------------------------- Teleport 650 Teleport to any square when moving regardless of move range or obstacles in the way. Chance of failure increases with longer move distance. Levitate 540 Permanent Float status JP to master: 8920 --MY THOUGHTS-- Time Mages mostly play a support role, casting spells to assist allies or keep the enemies from acting. These abilities can be quite useful, but it's probably a good idea to have another ability ready set from another job (e.g. another magick command) to supplement them with more conventional offense or defense. The Samurai's Iaido, if available, is also a good choice since it's boosted by the Time Mage's high magick attack but saves your MP for Time Magick. Having good magick stats (Magick Attack and Faith) is also important so that your Hastes and Slows are likely to succeed. Meteor and the Gravity spells can also be good attack spells, but they can be somewhat slow, especially Meteor. (Gravity and Graviga are particular useful against major bosses since they are helpful in cutting down the bosses' large HP totals.) Try first casting Immobilize to keep enemies from running out of your way out of your Meteor. The Time Mage's own Swiftness support ability also speeds the charge time of these spells. It's good for Time Magicks as well as for Summons and Cloud's Limit attacks. A great ability to transfer to other jobs is the Mana Shield reaction ability, which makes damage go to your MP instead of your HP as long as you have at least 1 MP. This isn't so good for magick users since it quickly drains your MP, but it can be great on physical fighters who weren't going to use their MP anyway -- especially if you pair it with Manafont or another ability that lets you recover MP quickly. Mana Shield is also very helpful in surviving the Zodiark summon in order to learn it (see Summoner, below). On the other hand, the Teleport movement ability isn't quite as great as it seems. While you can conceivably warp long distances with it, the further you're teleporting, the greater the likelihood the teleport will fail and you'll end up back where you started, unable to move at all that turn. ---SUMMONER-------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Time Mage lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5) Equippable weapons: Staves, rods Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Summon-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Moogle 8 34 4/* 3/2 Ally N 110 "Moogle Charm": Restores HP Shiva 24 15 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Glacial Shards": Ice magick attack Ramuh * 24 15 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Judgment Bolt": Lightning magick attack Ifrit 24 15 4/* 3/2 Foe N 200 "Infernal Blaze": Fire magick attack Titan * 30 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 220 "Gaia's Wrath": Earth magick attack Golem * 40 25 All allies N 500 "Earthen Wall": Blocks physical attacks targeting allies until its HP damage limit is reached Carbuncle 30 20 4/* 3/2 Ally N 350 "Ruby Light": Gives Reflect status Bahamut 60 7 4/* 4/3 Foe N 1600 "Megaflare": Non-elemental attack Odin 50 8 4/* 4/3 Foe N 900 "Obliteration": Non-elemental attack Leviathan 48 8 4/* 4/3 Foe N 860 "Tidal Wave": Water magick attack Salamander 48 8 4/* 3/2 Foe N 860 "Wyrmfire": Fire magick attack Sylph * 26 15 4/* 3/2 Foe N 400 "Whispering Wind": Inflicts Silence status Faerie * 28 15 4/* 3/2 Ally N 400 "Fey Light": Restores HP Lich * 40 10 4/* 3/2 Foe N 600 "Descending Darkness": Dark attack; does damage equal to 1/2 of target's maximum HP but may miss Cyclops 62 9 4/* 3/2 Foe N 1000 "Climactic Fear": Non-elemental attack Zodiark * 99 6 4/* 4/3 Foe N n/a "Darkening Cloud": Non-elemental attack When Summons are used, a special attack name (not just the name of the sword) is displayed -- these are listed in quotation marks above. The Zodiark summon cannot be purchased with JP; it must be learned from the boss on the last floor of the bonus dungeon. See the Midlight's Deep battle strategies for more tips on how to learn it. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Critical:Recover MP Critical HP Yes 400 Restores MP to maximum --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Halve MP * 1000 Halves MP cost of abilities --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 9800 --MY THOUGHTS-- While summons don't have quite the power in FF Tactics as they do in some other FF games, they're still strong. Plus, they have a wide effect radius, and, unlike Black and White Magick, don't hurt your teammates or heal the enemies. The Summon command also offers you a nice mix of both offensive abilities and a few defensive ones: Moogle and Faerie restore HP, and the very useful Golem summon blocks all enemy physical attacks for a while. The Lich summon is also particularly effective against many of the game's major bosses; it always takes away half their maximum HP despite their high HP totals. The disadvantages of Summons are that they take quite a while to charge and cost a fair amount of MP. The former could be remedied with the Time Mage's Swiftness ability, which shortens charge time. MP costs can be dealt with using the Summoner's own Halve MP support ability to decrease MP costs, with equipment that boosts your max MP (all robes, and some hats), or with the Chemists's Ethers & Hi-Ethers. There are also some abilities that let you gain MP from your enemies: The Mystic's Absorb MP lets you absorb MP from enemy spells, or you could also pair Summon with Mystic Arts to use Empowerment to steal enemy's MP. (Orlandeau's Duskblade and Beowulf's Syphon can also steal MP.) Unfortunately, you can't equip *both* Swiftness and Halve MP as they use the same support ability slot, but you could pair Swiftness with MP-boosting equipment, Items, Empowerment, or Absorb MP. ---THIEF----------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Archer lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Dragoon (lv. 4), Ninja (lv. 5) Equippable weapons: Knives Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 4 Stats: Physical evade : 25% HP: *** MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Steal-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Steal Gil 1/1 1/- Foe - 10 Steal small amount of gil Steal Heart * 3/1 1/- Foe N 150 Inflicts Charm; only effective on monsters and opposite sex Steal Helm * 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target's helmet Steal Armor * 1/1 1/- Foe - 450 Steal target's armor Steal Shield * 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target's shield Steal Weapon * 1/1 1/- Foe - 600 Steal target's weapon Steal Accessory 1/1 1/- Foe - 500 Steal target's accessory Steal EXP 1/1 1/- Foe - 250 Steal target's current EXP --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Vigilance Any HP loss Yes 200 Enter into "Defend" state (doubles evade rates) Gil Snapper Any HP loss 200 Receive gil equal to HP lost Sticky Fingers Throw 200 Blocks Ninja's Throw attack; thrown item is added to your inventory! --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Poach * 200 Monsters KOed with physical attack are poached and disappear from the map; item becomes available at Poachers' Den --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Move +2 * 560 Movement range + 2 Jump +2 500 Jump height + 2 JP to master: 4520 --MY THOUGHTS-- Thieves are poor at magick and only moderately strong physically. But, boy, are they fast! Their movement range and jump height are both 4, so they can get across the map quickly. This job is useful mainly for its abilities. Stealing your opponents' equipment not only cripples them, but adds items to your inventory--and this is the best way to get a number of rare items! If you like getting rare items, you'll also want Poach; many pieces of equipment can only be obtained through poaching monsters. (A side note about Poach: this also has the advantage of removing monsters' bodies from the map, preventing them from getting revived.) You could just learn the crucial Steal abilities and then move onto other job. Ninja, in particular, might be a good to graduate your Thief too, since the success of Steal is affected by your speed--and Ninjas are even faster than Thieves! When Thieves aren't stealing, they can also fight. Since they can only equip knives, though, their offense can be somewhat weak on its own. You may want to use an ability like Equip Axes or Equip Swords to bolster their offense. If you're planning on using Steal Heart at all, a female Thief is somewhat more advantageous to have than a male Thief, as Steal Hearts works on the opposite gender and there are somewhat more male enemies than female ones. Move +2 is also a great movement ability and makes characters quite a bit more mobile. Note that this ability supercedes the Squire's Move +1 in every way -- there's absolutely no trade-off or downside to selecting Move +2 over Move +1 once you've learned +2. The Thief's reaction abilities, on the other hand, tend not to be too useful. Gil Snapper is worthless as the amount of gil you receive from it is so small-- the same goes for Steal Gil. Sticky Fingers is not particularly useful for the bulk of the game as you won't fight too many Ninjas, but can be used in the optional sidequests to harvest rare weapons from high-level enemy Ninjas. So, again, if you like rare items, Thief is your job :) ---ORATOR---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Mystic lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Bard (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5) Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Innate ability: Beast Tongue Physical evade : 5% Stats: HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Speechcraft-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Entice * 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Enemies join party Stall 3/3 1/- Any N 100 Resets target's CT Praise 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Bravery by 4 # Intimidate * 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Bravery by 20 & Preach 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Raises Faith by 4 # Enlighten * 3/3 1/- Any N 200 Lowers Faith by 20 & Condemn 3/3 1/- Any N 500 Causes Doom status (enemy is KOed after 3 turns) Beg 3/3 1/- Foe N 100 Receive gil from enemy Insult 3/3 1/- Any N 300 Causes Berserk status Mimic Darlavon 3/3 2/* Any N 300 Causes Sleep status # Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 4. 3 points of this change remains only for the battle, but 1 is permanent. & Note: These abilities change Faith or Bravery by 20. 5 points of this change is permanent. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Earplug Speechcraft Yes 300 Cancels Speechcraft ability used on character --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Equip Guns +* 800 Can equip guns regardless of job Tame 500 Physical attacks will recruit monsters if they have critical HP (< 20% of max) Beast Tongue +* 100 Can use Speechcraft against monsters --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 3900 --MY THOUGHTS-- Like Time Mages, Orators play a supplementary role. One of their main purpose is to recruit enemy units -- if you want to recruit monsters on this team, you need this job! (To recruit monsters, either use Entice + Beast Tongue, or equip Tame and hit monsters with a physical attack.) Equip Guns is the other key Orator ability. While Orators can equip guns naturally, Equip Guns lets you transfer this ability to other jobs. Having the long range of a gun is handy for "support" jobs that aren't going to be on the front lines. Finally, the Orator lets you play with Bravery and Faith statistics. Boosting your Bravery is particularly useful as it increases the strenght of some attacks and makes your Reaction Ability more likely to activate -- and has no side effects. However, you can just as easily raise your Bravery with Ramza's Steel ability, which also has the advantage that it never misses. Since Faith controls both the damage you deal with magick and receive from enemy magick, it can also be advantageous to raise your magick users' Faith (making them stronger) and lower everyone else's Faith (since they won't be using magick, decreasing their Faith makes enemy magick less effective). It's not essential to tweak your Bravery and Faith like this, but if you DO want to do so, a good tactic is to do it in a random battle against weaker monsters (e.g. at Mandalia Plain), where you can use Speechcraft with less enemy interference. A tough story battle is not a good place to grind Bravery and Faith. You can safely skip Earplug since you'll face enemy Orators only very rarely. ---MYSTIC---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : White Mage lv. 3 Needed for jobs : Orator (lv. 3), Arithmetician (lv. 4) Equippable weapons: Staves, rods, poles, books Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Mystic Arts-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Umbra 4 RA 50 4/* 2/1 Any N 100 Causes Blind status Empowerment * 2 50 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Drain 1/3 of MP from target Invigoration 16 50 4/* 1/- Any N 350 Drain 1/4 of HP from target Belief * 6 RA 25 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Faith status (character has 100 Faith; both character's own magick and others' magick targeting the character are maximally effective) Disbelief * 6 RA 25 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Atheist status (character cannot use magick but is also immune to others' magick) Corruption 20RA 20 4/* 1/- Any N 300 Causes Undead status Quiescence 16RA 34 4/* 1/- Any N 170 Causes Silence status Fervor 16RA 20 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Berserk status Trepidation * 20RA 25 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Lowers target's Bravery Delirium 20RA 20 4/* 1/- Any N 400 Causes Confusion status Harmony 34 A 34 4/* 1/- Any N 800 Removes Float, Reraise, Regen, Invisible, Protect, Shell, Haste, Faith, Reflect Hesitation * 10RA 20 4/* 2/0 Any N 100 Causes Disable status Repose 24RA 17 4/* 2/1 Any N 350 Causes Sleep status Induration 16RA 10 4/* 1/- Any N 600 Causes Stone status --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Absorb MP Magick Yes 250 Gain MP equal to MP cost of spell --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Defense Boost * 400 Lowers physical damage received --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Ignore Weather 200 Move through swamps at normal speed even if it's raining; cancels weather effects on Black Magick Manafont 350 Restores some MP whenever you move JP to master: 5970 --MY THOUGHTS-- Mystics specialize in inflicting status conditions on their foes. These spells often fail, so if you want to use this job, a character with high Faith is necessary to increase your success rate. In general, though, Mystic is just not a very useful job. They don't have much in the way of direct offense or defense, and their status affliction spells just aren't useful enough to compensate for their charge time, MP cost, and success rate. Mustadio and, later, Beowulf are much more effective at inflicting these kinds of status conditions. Defense Boost can be a somewhat useful support ability, however. ---GEOMANCER------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Monk lv. 4 Needed for jobs : Ninja (lv. 2), Dancer (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5), Dark Knight (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Swords, axes Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: Shields, hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 10% HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Geomancy-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Sinkhole * 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes Immobilize Torrent 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Toad Tanglevine * 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes Stop Contortion * 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Non-elemental attack, causes Stone Tremor 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Earth attack, causes Confusion Wind Slash * 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Disable Will-o'-the-Wisp * 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, causes Sleep Quicksand 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Water attack, causes Doom Sandstorm 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Blind Snowstorm 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Ice attack, causes Silence Wind Blast 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Wind attack, causes Slow Magma Surge 5/* 2/0 Any N 150 Fire attack, instant KO Note: During battle, only one Geomancy ability is available for use at any given time. The available ability is determined by the terrain type of the tile on which the user is standing: Sinkhole : Soil, Wasteland Torrent : Canal, River, Lake, Ocean, Waterfall Tanglevine : Grassland, Underbrush, Vines Contortion : Gravel, Flagstone, Stone Wall, Earthen Wall, Gravestone Tremor : Stone Outcropping, Basalt Wind Slash : Book, Tree, Brick, Bridge, Furnishings, Iron, Moss, Coffin Will-o'-the-Wisp: Wooden Floor, Carpet, Coffer, Stairs, Wooden Deck Quicksand : Marsh, Swamp, Poisonous Fen Sandstorm : Sand, Stalactite, Salt Flat Snowstorm : Snow Wind Blast : Roof, Chimney Magma Surge : Lava, Machinery --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Nature's Wrath Phys. attack Yes 300 Counter using Geomancy command or Geomancy --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Attack Boost * 400 Raises physical damage --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Ignore Terrain 220 Moving through water does not decrease movement range Lavawalking 150 Can move across and stop on lava tiles JP to master: 2870 --MY THOUGHTS-- Geomancers are sort of a hybrid physical/magick job -- they're pretty decent fighters, and can also do long-range elemental and status attacks with their Geomancy. When the Geomancer job first becomes available, it can be quite useful. Geomancy doesn't cost any MP and activates instantly, and it can hit a group of enemies. Unfortunately, as the game progresses, the damage inflicted by Geomancy doesn't keep pace with enemy HP, and they quickly become less useful. Plus, there's also the disadvantage that you don't have much choice over the Geomancy attacks available at any given time -- at most, you can choose between two or three different attacks by moving to tiles with different terrain. You can't really choose a specific kind of status condition to inflict. Attack Boost, however, remains a great support ability throughout the game and useful for any fighting-oriented job. It increases the power not just of the Attack command, but other "special" physical attacks like sword techniques. Lavawalking is the game's most singularly useless ability, as only a single, optional map has lava on it, and it's usually a fairly easy battle anyway. But, hey, it's only 150 JP, what a steal! ---DRAGOON--------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Thief lv. 4 Needed for jobs : Samurai (lv. 2), Dancer (lv. 5), Mime (lv. 5), Dark Knight (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Polearms Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Jump height : 4 Stats: Physical evade : 10% HP: **** MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Jump-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Horizontal Jump 2 * 150 Extends horizontal range of Jump to 2 or fewer tiles Horizontal Jump 3 350 Extends horizontal range of Jump to 3 or fewer tiles Horizontal Jump 4 550 Extends horizontal range of Jump to 4 or fewer tiles Horizontal Jump 5 800 Extends horizontal range of Jump to 5 or fewer tiles Horizontal Jump 8 * 1100 Extends horizontal range of Jump to 8 or fewer tiles Vertical Jump 2 * 100 Extends vertical range of Jump to 2 Vertical Jump 3 250 Extends vertical range of Jump to 3 Vertical Jump 4 400 Extends vertical range of Jump to 4 Vertical Jump 5 550 Extends vertical range of Jump to 5 Vertical Jump 6 700 Extends vertical range of Jump to 6 Vertical Jump 7 * 1000 Extends vertical range of Jump to 7 Vertical Jump 8 1500 Extends vertical range of Jump to 8 The Jump command causes the user to temporarily disappear from the battlefield (by jumping off the screen). On return, the user strikes the targeted unit with a physical attack, then bounces back to his/her original tile. All the action abilities simply extend the maximum horizontal or vertical range of this attack. The speed of a Jump is equal to twice the user's Speed statistic. Jump does NOT require an unobstructed line of fire. (Note that the unit's tile cannot be moved into while s/he is off the screen.) --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Dragonheart * Phys. Attack Yes 600 Cast Reraise on self (return once from KO automatically) --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Equip Polearms + 400 Can equip Polearms regardless of job --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Ignore Elevation * 700 Infinite jump height in movement JP to master: 9150 --MY THOUGHTS-- Dragoons are sort of a souped-up Knight. They have comparable HP and attack power, can equip armor, and their polearms have a range of two tiles. Dragoons also have the Jump attack, which is quite effective. It does a good amount of damage, potentially has a HUGE range (if you've learned the right abilities), and puts the Dragoon temporarily out of damage. Just make sure your target doesn't move out of the way and cancel your Jump attack! Unfortunately, you can't preview the exact CT list for a Jump attack like you can with magicks, but you can look at the enemy CT gauges when selecting a target. Don't target any enemy who has a high CT gauge, especially if your character is relatively slow. A tip about learning the Jump action abilities: Each Horizontal Jump or Vertical Jump ability replaces all the ones below it. In other words, if you have Horizontal Jump 8, you can do a jump of 1-8 panels; you don't need to learn any other remaining Horizontal Jumps. So, a good strategy is to just learn a couple of the early Horizontal and Vertical Jump abilities (like 2 or 3) to give yourself a decent Jump, then save up your JP for Horizontal Jump 8 and Vertical Jump 7 or 8. Once you get those, your Jump attack will be amazing! Don't waste your JP building up your range one ability at a time. (Horizontal Jump 8 is more advantageous to learn first because in most cases you don't need that great a vertical range to your jump, anyways.) Both Ignore Elevation and Dragonheart are also great abilities. Ignore Elevation completely changes how can you move around certain maps; for instance, you can jump right up a castle wall to attack the Archers up there, or take a shortcut over the side of a cliff. This can be very helpful in a number of story battles as it lets you get the jump on enemy range attackers. And, of course, Dragonheart gives you a Reraise when attacked -- I'm sure you can see the value in that :) ---SAMURAI--------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Knight lv. 4, Monk lv. 5, Dragoon lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Dark Knight (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Katanas Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Helms, armor, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 20% HP: ** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Iaido-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Ashura Slf 3/3 Foe N 100 "Spirit Blade": Non-elemental magick attack Kotetsu Slf 3/3 Foe N 200 "Binding Darkness": Non-elemental magick attack Osafune Slf 3/3 Foe N 300 "Verse of Oblivion": Lowers enemy MP Murasame * Slf 3/3 Ally N 400 "Rain of Wisdom": Restores HP Ama-no-Murakumo * Slf 3/3 Foe N 500 "Cloudsea Curse": Non-elemental magick attack, causes Slow Kiyomori Slf 3/3 Ally N 600 "Purifying Breeze": Gives Protect and Shell status Muramasa * Slf 3/3 Foe N 700 "Doomed Aspirations": Non- elemental magick attack, causes Confusion and Doom Kiku-ichimonji 4Dir 8/3 Foe N 800 "Sanguine Blossom": Non-elemental magick attack Masamune Slf 3/3 Ally N 900 "Ethereal Embrace": Gives Regen and Haste status Chirijiraden Slf 3/3 Foe N 1000 "Raging Inferno": Non-elemental magick attack Iaido abilities can only be used if you possess the corresponding katana in your inventory (NOT equipped on the character). There is a chance that the katana will break when the ability is used. Aside from the Masamune and Chirijiraden, all of the katanas can be purchased at the Outfitter, although some do not become available until later in the game. When Iaido abilities are used, a special attack name (not just the name of the sword) is displayed -- these are listed in quotation marks above. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Bonecrusher Critical HP Yes 200 Counterattack and do damage equal to your own maximum HP Shirahadori * Phys. Attack Yes 700 Evade physical attacks. Does not work against bows and crossbows, but DOES work against guns! --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Equip Katana + 400 Can equip Katanas regardless of job Doublehand 900 Equip one weapon in two hands to increase damage dealt --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------- Swim 300 Can move and act even in water of depth = 2 (i.e., water up to your head) JP to master: 8000 --MY THOUGHTS-- Somewhat like the Monk and Summoner, Iaido nicely mixes both offense and healing. Murasame in particular is a GREAT healing ability, since it restores HP to a large group and requires no charge time. Masamune is in theory also very useful as it casts Regen and Haste to a group of characters, but its value is more limited in practice since Masamunes are pretty hard to get. Unfortunately, the downside to Iaido is that the katana have a tendency to break pretty frequently, which means that this job expensive quickly. (Why, it's almost like Samurai were throwing money at their enemies!) This means Iaido actually tends to get more useful later on, when you have more spare cash for katana. If you want to use a particular Iaido ability, bringing a couple of copies of that katana into battle is a pretty good ability. Equipping accessories that boosts your magick attack is also advantageous since damage from Iaido depends on your magick attack stat, not physical attack. Perhaps the best Samurai ability, then, is Shirahadori, which pumps up your evade rate in accordance with your Bravery. With a high Bravery, you can be virtually invulnerable to physical attacks! This is one of the best reaction abilities in the game and definitely worth learning. Note that the Samurai only has modest stats. They have limited HP, although they can equip heavy armor to boost it. Their attack is pretty good, but since they only have one katana for a weapon, they falter in comparison to the Ninja (which gets TWO weapons) or the Knight (which can use knight's swords). Sure, you can equip Doublehand to increase your attack power, but that uses up your support ability slot. Overall, my feeling is that Samurai is a decent job, but not quite as effective as Dragoons or (especially) Ninja. However, Iaido is a good supplementary Action Ability and can be particularly good when paired with a magick-oriented job -- the job's high magick attack will increase the power of Iaido, and Iaido gives a mage an alternative to magick that doesn't cost MP and doesn't require charging. ---NINJA----------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Archer lv. 4, Thief lv. 5, Geomancer lv. 2 Needed for jobs : Dark Knight (lv. 8) Equippable weapons: Knives, ninja blades, flails Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 4 Innate ability: Dual Wield Physical evade : 30% Stats: HP: * MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: ***** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Throw-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Shuriken * 5/* 1/- Any Y 50 Throw shuriken Bomb 5/* 1/- Any Y 70 Throw bombs Knife 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw knives Sword * 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw swords Flail * 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw flails Katana 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw samurai katanas Ninja Blade 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw ninja blades Axe 5/* 1/- Any Y 120 Throw axes Polearm 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw polearms Pole 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw poles Knight's Sword 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw knight's swords Book 5/* 1/- Any Y 100 Throw books The Throw command allows you to attack by throwing weapons & items from your inventory. Obviously, the item/weapon is lost when it is thrown. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Vanish Any HP loss Yes 1000 Gain Invisiblity status Reflexes Any evadable No 400 Doubles existing evade % attack --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Dual Wield +* 1000 Equip weapons in both hands Note that the damage estimate for Dual Wielded attacks is just for the FIRST attack -- if you have a weapon in both hands, the total damage will be much higher! --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------- Waterwalking 420 Stand on surface of water rather than decreasing height to go underwater. Can move on top of deep water without penalty. JP to master: 4040 --MY THOUGHTS-- With a high speed and attack strength, and the innate ability to wield two weapons, Ninja make life very dangerous for your opponents. You can do a lot of damage with two weapons, and their high speed means that Ninjas get to act first and strike before your enemy does. (Plus, their good movement range and jump height makes it easy for them to reach enemies.) Ninjas are effective for sneaking in and taking out enemy archers, gunners, or mages before they can get a spell or shot off. Overall, Ninja is one of the most effective standard job. Aim for leveling up Archer and Thief quickly to unlock it! Throw is also a pretty good action ability. It's not the strongest attack, but throwing good weapons usually does a fair amount of damage and has a nice range. The strongest weapon that you can buy to throw is the Morning Star flail ... well, it's tied with the Slasher axe, but the Slasher costs more money. Buying weapons does mean that the gil costs of Throw add up, but, fortunately, you can always switch back to regular attacks since the Ninja's regular attacks are good too. Good abilities from other jobs to consider for your Ninja are Steal (Ninjas have a very high speed, so this makes your steals more effective) and the Monk's Brawler. Brawler lets you get two punches, which can be an extremely strong physical attack, especially with high Bravery. The main weakness of Ninjas (besides pirates) is their physical frailty; they have very low HP and can't take much damage. This is particularly problematic if you're using Ninjas to rush in and attack first -- they can get surrounded and KOed while your other characters catch up. To solve this, you can equip cloaks or Shirahadori to boost their evade rate, give them an Angel Ring or Chantage or the Dragonheart reaction ability for a Reraise, or use Equip Heavy Armor to gain more HP. Note that Ninjas can equip both ninja blades and flails. Overall, flails are stronger, but they're also more unpredictable -- sometimes they do MORE than the estimated damage, sometimes they do LESS. This can be frustrating if you're trying to finish off a weak enemy and end up not quite doing enough damage. On the other hand, in the long run, flails DO do more damage. It's your call whether you want to favor predictability or the ---ARITHMETICIAN--------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : White Mage lv. 5, Black Mage lv. 5, Time Mage lv. 4, Mystic lv. 4 Needed for jobs : none Equippable weapons: Poles, books Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: * MP: *** Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: * Speed: * --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Throw-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- CT n/a Any N 250 Base equations on CT Level n/a Any N 350 Base equations on level Exp n/a Any N 200 Base equations on EXP Height * n/a Any N 250 Base equations on height Prime * n/a Any N 300 Selects by prime number Multiple of 5 n/a Any N 200 Selects by multiple of 5 Multiple of 4 * n/a Any N 400 Selects by multiple of 4 Multiple of 3 * n/a Any N 600 Selects by multiple of 3 Each time you use Arithmeticks, you select one from the first four abilities and one from the second four abilities. This determines what characters the ability will target. For example, selecting "Height" "Multiple of 5" will target all characters whose current height on the map is a multiple of 5. Finally, you select the magick to cast on these targets. Allowable magicks are those marked with an "A" under Black Mage, White Mage, Time Mage, and Mystic (see above). Note that you do NOT need those jobs' Action Abilities equipped; Arithmeticks always allows access to ALL the allowable magicks you've learned. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Cup of Life HP restore Yes 200 If healing ability used on character restores more HP than is needed to return to max HP, the excess HP is distributed to the rest of the party Soulbind * Any HP loss Yes 300 Inflicted damage is divided between you and the character who inflicted it --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- EXP Boost * 350 Doubles EXP received in battle --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------- Accrue EXP 400 Earn EXP whenever you move Accure JP 400 Earn JP whenever you move JP to master: 4550 --MY THOUGHTS-- Arithmeticians are extremely powerful magick-wielders. Unlike conventional magick, Arithmeticks takes no time to charge, can strike all the way across the board, and costs no MP! By trying different combinations of multiple and CT/Level/EXP/Height, you can customize exactly who your magick is going to hit. Note that you can preview who Arithmeticks will hit before you use it. Look for the characters with yellow targeting tiles at their feet. If you don't like the combination of targets you're getting, cancel back a few menus and pick a different match of base and multiple. You can't always target exactly the characters you want, but you can usually get reasonably close. Check out the Arithmeticks Chart (Ctrl+F and then 00arith) for help targeting. The problem is that Arithmeticians also require a lot of JP to reach this level of power. First of all, you need to learn spells from the other magick-using jobs, then you have to learn all the Arithmeticks abilities to make your targeting flexible. Moreover, Arithmeticians are REALLY pokey and don't get many turns, making them slow to earn JP. (Giving them an accessory to boost their speed will help.) Arithmeticks also have a very low magick strength, so their spells won't be too effective while they're still an Arithmetician. To remedy this, change the Arithmetician into a Black Mage after you've learned all their abilities and set their second action ability to Arithmeticks. In this highly-evolved form, they can toast enemies around the battlefield or heal your whole party, without even having to charge or use MP! In other words, Arithmeticians are great if you want to spend the time to build them up, but you certainly don't need them to beat the regular game. ---BARD------------------------------------------------------------------------ Required jobs : Summoner lv. 5, Orator lv. 5, MALE characters only Needed for jobs : none Equippable weapons: Instruments Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: * MP: * Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Bardsong-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Seraph Song * 17 All allies N 100 Restores MP Life's Anthem 17 All allies N 100 Restores HP Rousing Melody * 13 All allies N 100 Raises speed by 1 Battle Chant * 13 All allies N 100 Raises physical attack power by 1 Magickal Refrain 10 All allies N 100 Raises magick attack power by 1 Nameless Song * 10 All allies N 100 Gives Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, or Haste Finale * 5 All allies N 100 Fills CT to 100 (instant turn!) Bardsong abilities activate repeatedly until a new command is entered for the character. This means that even if you wait out your turns (causing your CT gauge to fill more quickly), you can keep activating the ability! --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Magick Boost Any HP loss Yes 500 Magick attack power + 1 Faith Boost Magick Yes 400 Faith + 3 --Support Abilities-- none --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Move +3 * 1000 Movement range + 3 Fly 5000 Ignore terrain and obstacles while moving JP to master: 7900 --MY THOUGHTS-- Bards can cast a variety of buffs to your whole party, regardless of where the characters are standing. Boosting your speed and attack/magic power, or quickly filling your CT gauge, can help your whole team fight more effectively. On the other hand, Bards can't do much ELSE; they have very little HP or MP and a weak attack. Also, their buffs don't always succeed and will miss quite a few of your party members each time they're used. Bards can learn Fly, which costs an astronomical 5000 JP! The ability to fly over enemies and obstacles in the terrain is pretty cool; it's sort of a combination of Ignore Elevation and Teleport. But, it's not worth the JP cost at all. On the other hand, Move +3 is much more reasonably priced and is extremely effective for getting around the map quickly! Of course, if you have Move +3, then Move +1 and Move +2 become completely obsolete. ---DANCER---------------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Geomancer lv. 5, Dragoon lv. 5, FEMALE characters only Needed for jobs : none Equippable weapons: Knives, cloths Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Jump height : 3 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: * MP: * Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Dance-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Witch Hunt 17 All enemies N 100 Lowers enemy MP Mincing Minuet 17 All enemies N 100 Lowers enemy HP Slow Dance * 13 All enemies N 100 Lowers enemy speed by 1 Polka 13 All enemies N 100 Lowers enemy physical attack by 1 Heathen Frolick * 10 All enemies N 100 Lowers enemy magical attack by 1 Forbidden Dance * 10 All enemies N 100 Causes Blind, Confuse, Silence, Toad, Poison, Slow, Stop, or Sleep Last Waltz 5 All enemies N 100 Empties enemy CT --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Fury Any HP loss Yes 600 Physical attack power + 1 Bravery Boost Physical atk Yes 700 Bravery + 3 --Support Abilities-- none --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Jump +3 1000 Jump height + 3 Fly 5000 Can fly over terrain and enemies JP to master: 8000 --MY THOUGHTS-- Whereas Bards cast buffs to help your entire party, Dancers lower the stats of the entire party. Mincing Minuet does far too little damage to bother with, but lowering enemy speed or attack power, or inflicting status conditions with Forbidden Dance, can be useful. Dancers tend to be better than Bards. Since there are generally more bad guys on the map than party members, it's more effective to drop the enemies' stats than boost your own. Plus, they have a stronger physical attack. Dancers also work well with the Knight's Parry ability, as their cloth weapons have a VERY high parry rate (50%). As with Bard, Fly is definitely not worth 5000 JP ... and Jump +3 is pretty pointless too, since Ignore Elevation lets you jump even higher and costs fewer JP! (True, Jump +3 does increase your ability to horizontal jumps, which Ignore Elevation doesn't, but there are VERY few places where you need to make long horizontal jumps.) ---MIME------------------------------------------------------------------------ Required jobs : Squire lv. 8, Chemist lv. 8, Summoner lv. 5, Orator lv. 5, Geomancer lv. 5, Dragoon lv. 5 Needed for jobs : none Equippable weapons: None Movement range : 4 Equippable armor: None Jump height : 4 Stats: Physical evade : 5% HP: ***** MP: * Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***** --ABILITIES-- NO ABILITIES The Mime copies every action that your other characters take. --MY THOUGHTS-- Mimes aren't quite as good as you'd think. They only mimic abilities in the exact direction and range that they were originally used, which means they usually miss. However, if you use them very carefully, they can be useful, as they could potentially double the number of actions you take. Try pairing a Mime with a Arithmetician -- everything spell the Arithmetician calculates, the Mime will repeat for twice the effect (of course, you could just make two Arithmeticians instead...). ---DARK KNIGHT----------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Knight MASTERED, Black Mage MASTERED, Samurai lv. 8, Ninja lv. 8, Geomancer lv. 8, Dragoon lv. 8, must kill 20 enemies (so that they turn into chests/crystals) with the character Needed for jobs : none Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords, Movement range : 3 fell swords, axes, flails Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, clothes, armor, robes Physical evade : 0% Stats: HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Darkness-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Sanguine Sword * 3/* 1/- Any N 300 Drains HP Infernal Strike 3/* 1/- Any N 500 Drains MP Crushing Blow 3/* 1/2 Any N 100 Attack, causes Stop. Element of this attack is based on element of user's current weapon. Abyssal Blade * 3/Cone 3/2 Any N 1200 Non-elemental attack; does more damage to units closer to caster. Consumes HP equal to 20% of user's maximum HP Unholy Sacrifice * Slf 3/3 All N 1200 Dark attack, causes Slow. Consumes HP equal to 30% of user's max HP. The greater the user's max HP, the more damage this ability does. Darkness techniques have a 100% hit rate. However, they cannot be used unless the user is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. --Reaction Abilities-- none --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- HP Boost * 2000 Increases maximum HP by 20% Vehemence * 400 Attack strength up by 50%, but increases damage received by 50% --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------- Move +3# * 1000 Movement range + 3 Jump +3# 1000 Jump height + 3 #: Move +3 is available for female Dark Knights, Jump +3 for males. JP to master: 6700 --MY THOUGHTS-- Well, Dark Knights are very strong. They have the strongest attack power of any regular job, can equip knight's swords and heavy armor, and pretty much all of their abilities are great (though Crushing Blow, Abyssal Blade, and Unholy Sacrifice are all height-limited). Note that you can negate the HP costs associated with Abyssal Blade and Unholy Sacrifice by equipping the Time Mage ability Mana Shield. Dark Knights are also the only job (aside from Onion Knights, of course) that can equip the fell swords, special weapons found in the game's multiplayer mode. So what's the catch? Well, the requirements for this job are also astronomical. You need to completely master two other jobs (one physical, one magickal) and get four other jobs up to level 8 ... plus you need to kill 20 enemies with the character. By the time you do all that, you'll probably be tough enough that you don't even *need* the Dark Knight job! So, while the Dark Knight is indisputably powerful, it's also quite unnecessary as far as the completing the single-player mode. It's fun to play with if you do unlock it, but you definitely don't need to jump through the hoops if you don't want to. ---ONION KNIGHT---------------------------------------------------------------- Required jobs : Squire lv. 6, Chemist lv. 6 Needed for jobs : None Equippable weapons: All Movement range : 3 Equippable armor: All Jump height : 3 Physical evade : 5% Stats: when job lv.8: 30% HP: * MP: * Phys. Atk.: * Mag. Atk.: * Speed: *** Upon reaching job level 8 (see below), the Onion Knight's stats will increase: HP: ***** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: ***** --ABILITIES-- NO ABILITIES The Onion Knight cannot use any abilities, but can use any kind of equipment. Even items normally reserved for female characters can be used by male Onion Knights (and by female Onion Knights, too, of course). --MY THOUGHTS-- Taken in their base form, Onion Knights seem how exactly how the game describes them: sad. Sure, they can equip any piece of equipment, but they have terrible stats and NO abilities. Even if you gave them a good sword and armor, they'd still be just a weaker Knight with no abilities. Plus, they don't gain experience from taking actions. So what's the point of Onion Knights? Well, for every two other jobs you master, the job level of Onion Knight increases. If you master 16 jobs and get Onion Knight to job level 8, their stats will see a BIG increase. (Yes, mastering 16 jobs is a LOT of abilities to learn.) Also, if you play the game's multiplayer mode, you can earn the Onion gear, very strong equipment that can only be used by Onion Knights. With these two things, Onion Knights can be very strong melee fighters, although they still have no abilities. The Onion Knight also gains the best stat bonuses on level-up, but since they don't get EXP from attacking and can't equip Steal EXP, the only way to level them up is with the Wild Boar's Bequeath Bacon ability (available with the Beastmaster support ability). Since Wild Boars can only be obtained by breeding them from a Swine or from other Wild Boars, this can take quite a while. If you're not interested in spending a lot of time leveling up your jobs or breeding Wild Boars, you probably won't have much use for the Onion Knight. (And you certainly don't *need* them for the single-player mode!) But, if you want to spend the time, you'll end up with the best stats available in the game! %%%SPECIAL JOBS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00job2 These are special jobs used by specific story characters. They aren't available to generic characters. In all cases where a story character has a special job, the special job replaces the Squire job for that character. All the special jobs have the same reaction, support, and movement abilities as the Squire job (which they replace). Therefore, I haven't bothered to list them. The exceptions are the Ark Knight, Automaton, and Byblos jobs, which do have different abilities. ---SQUIRE [RAMZA]-------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Ramza Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, Jump height : 3 knight's swords (ch. 4), flails Physical evade : 10% Equippable armor: Shields (ch. 2+), hats, helms (ch. 2+), clothes, armor (ch. 2+), robes Stats: HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Mettle-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison Tailwind * 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Raises speed by 1 for duration of battle Chant * 1/3 1/- Any - 0 Restores HP, Ramza loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed Steel (ch. 2+) * 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Raises Bravery by 5 # Shout (ch. 4) * Slf 1/- Self - 500 Raises Bravery by 10 #, physical and magick strength by 1, speed by 1 Ultima (ch. 4) 10 20 4/* 2/1 Any N N/A Non-elemental magick attack JP to master: 2570 # Note: These abilities increase your Bravery. Most of this change remains only for the battle, but for every 4 points you increase your Bravery during battle, you get a 1 point permanent increase in Bravery. Ultima can only be learned by having Luso or an enemy cast it on Ramza; see the "Learning Ultima" section under Various Tricks for more information on this. --MY THOUGHTS-- Ramza's Squire job is powered up quite a bit relative to a regular Squire. He has better stats, some extra abilities, and he can equip knight's swords and heavy armor. (Unlike a regular Squire, though, he can't use axes, oddly enough.) Most of Ramza's extra abilities are quite useful. Tailwind is a speed boost, Steel is a Bravery boost, and Shout raises all stats but only works on Ramza. Steel is particulary useful as it's the fastest way of permanently adding to your Bravery; it has a 100% hit rate and costs no MP. Whenever Ramza has a spare turn, it's a good idea to have him use Steel to boost a teammate's Bravery (or Shout to boost his own); increasing your Bravery makes your reaction abilities much more effective. In a pinch, Chant is good for healing too. On the other hand, the Ultima spell is actually pretty weak, especially given that you have to go out of your way to learn it. So, Mettle makes for a good set of support abilities. But since Ramza doesn't have much in the way of direct attack abilities and only one healing ability that also hurts him, you'll probably eventually want to supplement Mettle with some other abilities. You can switch Ramza to another job (I like to make him Monk or a Ninja) and equip Mettle as your second command. Or, since his Squire job is pretty strong statistically, learn abilities with a different job and then switch him back to Squire! ---SQUIRE [DELITA]------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Delita (ch. 1) Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, flails Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Physical evade : 5% Stats: HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Mettle-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison Chant * 1/3 1/- Any - 0 Restores HP, Delita loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed JP to master: 1620 --MY THOUGHTS-- Like Ramza's, Delita's Squire job has superior stats to a regular Squire, although he only has one extra ability, Chant. Chant comes in quite useful during Chapter I, as it lets Delita heal other party members for a substantial amount (albeit at the cost of some of his own HP). Expect to see the guest AI using it fairly frequently. ---SQUIRE [ARGATH]------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Argath (ch. 1) Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, axes, flails Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Physical evade : 15% Stats: HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Fundaments-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison Rend Helm Weapon Any Y 300 Destroys target's headgear Rend Armor Weapon Any Y 400 Destroys target's armor JP to master: 2320 --MY THOUGHTS-- Again, compared to a regular Squire, Argath has better stats and a couple extra abilities: Rend Helm and Rend Armor. They'd be nice to use, but since Argath only gains JP during story battles (he doesn't participate in random battles), you likely won't even have a chance to learn them. Instead, you may want to supplement him with a Black Magick spell or two if available, or perhaps Items. ---FELL KNIGHT----------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Gaffgarion Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Physical evade : 15% Stats: HP: ***** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Fell Sword-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Shadowblade * 3/* 1/- Any N 0 Absorbs HP from target Duskblade 3/* 1/- Any N 500 Absorbs MP from target Fell Sword techniques have a 100% hit rate. However, they cannot be used unless Gaffgarion is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. JP to master: 1650 --MY THOUGHTS-- Gaffgarion is cool, but he's only in your party for two battles plus the intro battle at the start of the game. But, his Shadowblade technique is quite powerful (and restores some of Gaffgarion's HP!), so he'll be helpful while you've got him. ---HOLY KNIGHT----------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Agrias, Delita (ch. 2+) Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Physical evade : 25% Stats: HP: ***** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Holy Sword-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Judgment Blade * 2/* 2/0 Any N 0 Physical attack, causes Stop Cleansing Strike 3/2 1/- Any N 400 Physical attack, causes Doom Northswain's Strike 3/1 1/- Any N 500 Physical attack, instant KO Hallowed Bolt * 3/* 2/1 Any N 700 Physical attack, causes Silence Divine Ruination * 4Dir 5/2 Any N 800 Physical attack, causes Confusion Chant (Delita only) * 1/3 1/- Any - 0 Restores HP, Delita loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed Holy Sword techniques have a 100% hit rate. However, they cannot be used unless Agrias/Delita is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. JP to master: 3450 --MY THOUGHTS-- Agrias's sword techniques makes her an invaluable member of your party as soon as she joins, and she'll stay that way pretty much throughout the game. Her Holy Sword abilities are great because they do a lot of damage, require no charge time or MP, and have a few panels' range! She's likely to be a major part of your offense, especially before you get Orlandeau, who has all of Agrias's abilities and then some. Even with Orlandeau available, though, Agrias still makes for a good fighter; she's just not quite *as* strong ;). You may want to save up your JP for Hallowed Bolt and Divine Ruination, her best techniques. Divine Ruination is her strongest technique and can damage quite a few enemies if they all happen to be standing on a straight line. Hallowed Bolt isn't quite as strong, but it works on a diagonal and can strike multiple enemies standing next to each other. Note that since sword techniques are considered physical attacks, the Geomancer's Attack Boost can make them even stronger! Delita's version of the Holy Knight job is even tougher, but he only shows up as a Holy Knight for a few battles. ---PRINCESS-------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Ovelia Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Staves Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Physical evade : 20% Stats: HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Holy Magicks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Aegis * 30 25 5/* 1/- Any N 0 Gives Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, and Haste status Dispelna 20 25 4/* 1/- Any N 0 Cures Stone, Confuse, Silence, Vampire, Toad, Poison, Stop, Sleep, Immobilize, and Disable JP to master: 1050 --MY THOUGHTS-- Well, Ovelia only fights in a few battles, but she's actually a useful character (you wouldn't expect her to be, but she is!). Aegis is a great spell since it casts 5 different buffs at once; unfortunately, since you can't control her, she'll mostly cast it on herself. ---MACHINIST------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Mustadio Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Knives, guns Jump height : 4 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Physical evade : 18% Stats: HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: **** Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Aimed Shot-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Leg Shot Weapon Any Y 200 Causes Immobilize status Arm Shot * Weapon Any Y 300 Causes Disable status Seal Evil * Weapon Any Y 200 Turns undead to Stone JP to master: 1750 --MY THOUGHTS-- With his Arm Shot ability and a gun, Mustadio can disable enemies from across the battlefield. This is a great ability since it effectively stops enemy from taking any kind of action for a few turns. You can Disable enemy mages to keep them from casting spells while the rest of your team is trying to reach them, or Disable a melee fighter and have the rest of your team pounce on him/her without fear of reprisal. Or, when you're just faced with a lot of enemies at once, Disabling a few can make the crowd more manageable. Since Disable also shuts down reaction abilities, you can also use it to stop monsters from counter-attacking you or to keep humans from recovering from your attacks. Towards the very end of the game, it becomes slightly less useful since many human enemies are equipped with Thief's Caps, which renders them immune to Disable status. Seal Evil is also useful: it turns undead enemies to stone, which not only defeats them instantly, but prevents them from reviving. (And it has a high hit rate!) Although you won't face undead enemies in too many battles, it's quite handy in the ones where you do. In order for Mustadio's Aimed Shot abilities to keep their long range, Mustadio needs to stay equipped with a gun. Once you've finished learning his Aimed Shot abilities, you may want to consider switching him to a Chemist, another job that can equip guns. This will let him supplement his Aimed Shots with the ability to heal your teammates. Once you get Balthier, though, Mustadio essentially becomes obsolete, since Balthier has even more abilities and better stats. ---ASTROLOGER------------------------------------------------------------------ Used by: Orran Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Books Jump height : 4 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes Physical evade : 15% --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Astrology-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Celestial Stasis * 20 All foes! N 0 Causes Stop, Immobilize, or Disable Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison JP to master: 1865 --MY THOUGHTS-- Orran is ludicrously powerful, thanks to his Celestial Stasis spell, which will debilitate most of the enemies on the board every time he uses it and doesn't even cost any MP! Too bad he only shows up in one battle and you don't even get to control him :( ---CLERIC---------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Alma Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Staves Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Physical evade : 18% Stats: HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Holy Magicks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Aegis * 30 25 5/* 1/- Any N 0 Gives Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, and Haste status Dispelna 20 25 4/* 1/- Any N 0 Cures Stone, Confuse, Silence, Vampire, Toad, Poison, Stop, Sleep, Immobilize, and Disable Ultima 10 20 4/* 2/1 Any N n/a Non-elemental magick attack Chant * 1/3 1/- Any - 0 Restores HP, Alma loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed JP to master: 1050 --MY THOUGHTS-- Alma is almost identical to Ovelia, except that she has Chant. As with Ovelia, Aegis is a great support spell, so she'll be useful during the few battles where you can control her. You can use Items to keep up her MP and allow her to keep casting the spell. It's a good idea to de-equip Alma of her all gear before you go to Orbonne Monastery in Chapter III, since most of it can't be bought in stores. When Alma rejoins during the final battle, it is possible for her to learn Ultima from casting Ramza or Luso casting it on her, but you're better off with her Aegis spell! ---GAME HUNTER----------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Luso Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, knight's swords, Jump height : 3 flails Physical evade : 10% Equippable armor: Shields, hats, helms, clothes, armor, robes Innate ability: Poach Stats: HP: **** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Huntcraft-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Focus * Slf 1/- Self - 300 Raises physical attack power by 1 for duration of battle Rush 1/1 1/- Any - 80 Weak physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Stone 4/* 1/- Any Y 90 Weak (ranged) physical attack, may knock enemy back one tile; does variable damage (may be more or less than estimate) Salve 1/2 1/- Any - 150 Cures Blind, Silence, Poison Tailwind * 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Raises speed by 1 for duration of battle Chant * 1/3 1/- Any - 0 Restores HP, Luso loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed Steel * 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Raises Bravery by 5 Shout * Slf 1/- Self - 500 Raises Bravery by 10, attack and magick strength by 1, speed by 1 Ultima 10 20 4/* 2/1 Any N N/A Non-elemental magick attack JP to master: 4430 Ultima can only be learned by having Ramza or an enemy cast it on Luso; see the "Learning Ultima" section under Various Tricks for more information on this. --MY THOUGHTS-- Luso is basically a clone of Ramza, even down to his stats, and so has the same strengths and weaknesses. Luso's main distinguishing feature is his innate Poach ability, which can be nice for hunting for the rare items you get from poaching some monsters. Overall, Luso's OK -- but you already have one Ramza, and *that* Ramza is the one you're required to use in story battles. As a result, Luso is sadly pretty redundant in most cases. Ramza's abilities aren't good enough that you need two people in the party using them, not when you fill that slot in your party with a character who has a different set of abilities. ---SKYSEER--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Rapha Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Staves, poles Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Physical evade : 10% Stats: HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --Action Abilities: Sky Mantra-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Heaven's Wrath * 34 4/* 2/3 Any N 100 Lightning attack, strikes random tiles within radius Ashura 25 4/* 2/3 Any N 200 Fire attack, strikes random tiles within radius Adamantine Blade 20 4/* 2/3 Any N 300 Wind attack, strikes random tiles within radius Maelstrom 17 4/* 2/3 Any N 400 Water attack, strikes random tiles within radius Celestial Void * 20 4/* 2/3 Any N 500 Non-elemental magick attack, strikes random tiles within radius. Causes Blind, Confuse, Silence, Toad, Poison, Slow, or Sleep Divinity 15 4/* 2/3 Any N 600 Earth attack, strikes random tiles within radius Sky Mantra attacks do not take enemy Faith into consideration. This is unlike most magick attacks, which do high damage to targets with high Faith and low damage to enemies with low Faith. JP to master: 3150 --MY THOUGHTS-- As you've probably observed during her time as a guest, Rapha's Sky Mantra abilities are pretty useless. They strike random tiles within their effect radius, making them often as likely to hit your allies as your enemies, and they don't even do all that much damage anyway. (Plus, they take time to charge.) On the other hand, given her low Bravery, Rapha is a character that can easily be made into a good Treasure Hunter. (You're more likely to get good items with Treasure Hunter if your Bravery is low.) And, if you're planning to tackle the bonus dungeon, you'll definitely want a Treasure Hunter! Of course, it's not in any way necessary to specifically use Rapha for this; any other character with low Bravery works fine. Rapha just tends to be convenient since her Bravery is already pretty low to start with -- and you may want to lower her Bravery even further with the Orator's Intimidate to increase your odds further. ---NETHERSEER------------------------------------------------------------------ Used By: Marach Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Rods, poles Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, clothes, robes Physical evade : 8% Stats: HP: *** MP: **** Phys. Atk.: *** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --Action Abilities: Nether Mantra-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Hell's Wrath * 34 4/* 2/3 Any N 100 Lightning attack, strikes random tiles within radius Nether Ashura 25 4/* 2/3 Any N 200 Fire attack, strikes random tiles within radius Nether Blade 20 4/* 2/3 Any N 300 Wind attack, strikes random tiles within radius Nether Maelstrom 17 4/* 2/3 Any N 400 Water attack, strikes random tiles within radius Corporeal Void * 20 4/* 2/3 Any N 500 Non-elemental magick attack, strikes random tiles within radius. Causes Blind, Confuse, Silence, Toad, Poison, Slow, or Sleep Impiety 15 4/* 2/3 Any N 600 Earth attack, strikes random tiles within radius Nether Mantra attacks do increased damage to enemies with LOW Faith. This is the opposite of most magick attacks, which do increased damage to enemies with high Faith. JP to master: 3150 --MY THOUGHTS-- Marach's abilities are quite similar to Rapha's in that they strike random tiles. His main interesting feature is that Nether Mantra does more damage to enemies with LOW Faith (the reverse of regular magick), with gives you a magick attack that's actually effective against low-Faith enemies. Unfortunately, since Nether Mantra is so random, it's still not all that useful. While Rapha can easily be turned into a Treasure Hunter thanks to her low starting Bravery, Marach has a pretty average Bravery and isn't particularly good for this. In other words: there's generally not much of a reason to put Marach in your party, and he's usually considered the least useful of the story characters. If you're not set on having all the story characters on your roster, you could even skip recruiting him--or sign him up, take his equipment, and then delete him. If you do want to use Marach, you can always switch him to some standard job instead of relying on his Nether Mantra abilities. Of course, then he's really no different from any other generic character. ---TEMPLAR--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Beowulf Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, knight's swords Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Physical evade : 14% Stats: HP: **** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Spellblade-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Blind 6 4/* 1/- Any N 50 Causes Blind Syphon * 2 4/* 1/- Any N 100 Absorbs MP from target Drain 12 4/* 1/- Any N 180 Absorbs HP from target Faith 10 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Causes Faith status (character has 100 Faith; both character's own magick and others' magick targeting the character are maximally effective) Doubt 10 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Causes Atheist status (character cannot use magick but is also immune to others' magick) Zombie 14 4/* 1/- Any N 150 Causes Undead condition Silence 16 4/* 1/- Any N 90 Causes Silence Berserk 16 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Causes Berserk Chicken * 12 4/* 1/- Any N 500 Lowers target's Bravery by 50 Confuse 14 4/* 1/- Any N 200 Causes Confusion Dispel 20 4/* 1/- Any N 300 Removes Float, Reraise, Regen, Invisible, Protect, Shell, Haste, Faith, Reflect Disable * 14 4/* 1/- Any N 50 Causes Disable status Sleep 20 4/* 1/- Any N 170 Causes Sleep Break * 24 4/* 1/- Any N 300 Causes Stone Vengeance * 20 8/* 1/- Any N 600 Deals damage = (Beowulf's max HP minus Beowulf's current HP) Spellblade techniques cannot be used unless Beowulf is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. JP to master: 4340 --MY THOUGHTS-- Beowulf is essentially a Mystic on steroids -- like a Mystic, he specializes in inflicing status conditions, but his abilities don't need to charge and in some cases cost less MP than the Mystic equivalent! Plus, with a knight's sword, he can be a pretty good fighter, and Templar has the highest MP of any job in the game. A trio of Spellblade abilities are particularly useful. First off, Chicken drops an enemy's Bravery by 50, which will turn it into a useless chicken in one shot if the enemy's Bravery is less than 60. It has a 70-100% hit rate, and it only costs 12 MP! It's a great ability for quickly reducing the number of enemies you need to fight at once, and is also a pretty good way of prolonging a battle (e.g. to hunt for items in the bonus dungeon). Vengeance is also a great ranged attack that can do quite a bit of damage when Beowulf is low on HP (and it has a fantastic range of EIGHT panels); the main downside is that it's useless at the start of a battle when Beowulf hasn't been harmed yet. Finally, Beowulf's Break spell also has a pretty high chance of turning an enemy instantly to stone. ---AUTOMATON------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Construct 8 Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: none Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: none Physical : 0% Innate abilities: Counter, Ignore Terrain, Ignore Weather#, cannot enter water. Construct 8 is also immune to most status conditions, all elements except thunder, and (by virtue of having 0 Faith) all magick. It's weak to Lightning, but only non-magickal Lightning attacks since it's immune to magick. # Since Construct 8 has no magick and can't enter water, its Ignore Weather would appear not to ever actually do anything. What in the world? --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Tasks-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Destroy 1/2 1/- Any - 0 Physical attack Compress 1/2 1/- Any - 0 Instant KO Dispose * 8/* 1/- Any N 0 Physical attack Pulverize 1/0 1/- Any - 0 Physical attack All Tasks abilities consume some of Construct 8's HP when used. --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Counter Automatically eqppd. Yes 0 Counter-attack with physical attack --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ---------------------------------------------------------- Defense Boost Automatically eqpd. 0 Lowers damage received from physical attacks --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 0 --MY THOUGHTS-- Since Construct 8 is a special "monster," it can't change jobs, use equipment, or learn new abilities. That means it's not a very customizable character and has pretty much a fixed set of strengths and weaknesses. One of Construct 8's great strengths is its Dispose ability, which has a range of 8 panels and never misses. It's only moderately strong, but the range and hit rate make it good for taking out enemy mages and gunners/archers. Construct 8 is also great on defense, since it's immune to magick and most status conditions (Confusion being one of the notable exceptions). This makes it especially useful in particular battles where the enemy relies heavily on magick or status attacks. Plus, it has an inherent Defense Boost and Counter. You can also use Construct 8 as a stepping-stool to help other characters climb up to higher ledges. (Other large monsters have this ability as well.) This is necessary to find the hidden items at Nelveska Temple, and can often be handy in Midlight's Deep as well. The downside to Construct 8 is that it's pretty slow and has a short move range, so it's pretty rare that you'll actually have a chance to use its close range attacks. It's of course also immune to any POSITIVE magick you might want to cast on it, like buffs or Cure spells. Using the Tasks abilities also consumes some of its HP, but it's not all that much, so this isn't much to worry about. The biggest concern is that since Construct 8 can't use equipment or change abilities, it's hard to upgrade. (The best you can do is gain levels and raise its Bravery.) This means that it's hard to remedy some of its weaknesses like its short movement range, and that it eventually can't keep pace with the rest of your team. In sum, Construct 8 proves to be quite useful when you first get it and remains very helpful in particular story battles (against enemies using magick or status attacks), but its usefulness may start to fade as other characters gain more and more abilities that Construct 8 can never have. ---SKY PIRATE------------------------------------------------------------------ Used By: Balthier Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Knives, swords, knight's swords, Jump height : 4 bows, crossbows, guns, polearms Physical evade : 25% Equippable armor: Shields, hats, helms, clothes, armor, robes Innate ability: Safeguard Stats: HP: *** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: ***** --Action Abilities: Piracy-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Leg Shot Weapon Any Y 200 Causes Immobilize status Arm Shot * Weapon Any Y 300 Causes Disable status Seal Evil * Weapon Any Y 200 Turns undead to Stone Barrage Weapon Any Y 1200 Use weapon 4 times in a row at 1/2 damage per attack Plunder Gil 1/1 1/- Foe - 10 Steal small amount of gil Plunder Heart * 3/1 1/- Foe N 150 Inflicts Charm; only effective on monsters and opposite sex Plunder Helm * 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target's helmet Plunder Armor * 1/1 1/- Foe - 450 Steal target's armor Plunder Shield * 1/1 1/- Foe - 350 Steal target's shield Plunder Weapon * 1/1 1/- Foe - 600 Steal target's weapon Plunder Accessory 1/1 1/- Foe - 500 Steal target's accessory Plunder EXP 1/1 1/- Foe - 250 Steal target's current EXP The range of Leg Arm, Arm Shot, Seal Evil, and Barrage are equal to the range of his current weapon. Note that the Plunder abilities have a higher hit rate than the Thief's Steal equivalents. JP to master: 6350 --MY THOUGHTS-- Balthier is an all-around great character, and quite versatile. As you can see from his available equipment, he can function both as a ranged fighter or a close-range one. Essentially, he's a combination of Mustadio (he has all of Mustadio's Aimed Shot abilities) and a Thief ... except that he's also physically stronger, is more successful at stealing than a Thief, and has the super speed of a Ninja. How can you go wrong with that? Once Balthier joins, there's not all that much use for Mustadio since Balthier has all of Mustadio's ability and then some! Balthier's one completely unique ability, Barrage, is also quite useful. It's similar to Dual Wield in the sense that is essentially doubles your attack power, except that Barrage lets Balthier still equip a shield in his other hand. Barrage also divides the damage across four attacks, so that if one or two is missed or blocked, you can still connect with the others. (On the other hand, if you land a critical hit and knock the enemy backwards, all the other attacks will miss!) Since Barrage counts as a regular attack, it can also be combined with Poach or Tame. In the right circumstances, Barrage can also be used to attack multiple enemies in one turn -- see "Shoot Enemies Next to You" under Various Tricks. Sadly, Dual Wield and Barrage CANNOT be combined; you still only get 4 attacks even if Balthier has a weapon in both hands. No Genji Glove + Offering this time around :( ---SWORD SAINT----------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Orlandeau Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords, katanas, Jump height : 3 ninja blades Physical evade : 12% Equippable armor: Shields, hats, helms, clothes, armor, robes Stats: HP: ***** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: **** --Action Abilities: Swordplay-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Judgment Blade * 2/* 2/0 Any N 0 Physical attack, causes Stop Cleansing Strike 3/2 1/- Any N 400 Physical attack, causes Doom Northswain's Strike 3/1 1/- Any N 500 Physical attack, instant KO Hallowed Bolt * 3/* 2/1 Any N 700 Physical attack, causes Silence Divine Ruination * 4Dir 5/2 Any N 800 Physical attack, causes Confusion Crush Armor 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Physical attack, destroys target's armor Crush Helm 3/* 1/- Any N 400 Physical attack, destroys target's headgear Crush Weapon * 3/* 1/- Any N 500 Physical attack, destroys target's weapon Crush Accessory 3/* 1/- Any N 800 Physical attack, destroys target's accessory Shadowblade * 3/* 1/- Any N 0 Absorbs HP from target Duskblade * 3/* 1/- Any N 500 Absorbs MP from target Swordplay techniques have a 100% hit rate. However, they cannot be used unless Orlandeau is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. Note that Crush abilities have a 0% hit rate against targets with Safeguard. (Unlike in the PSone version, though, they CAN target monsters and unequipped humans!) JP to master: 5850 --MY THOUGHTS-- There's probably not much I need to say here. The Thunder God himself is overwhelmingly powerful -- he has all of Agrias's, Meliadoul's, and Gaffgarion's sword techniques (all useful in their own right), he has tremendous HP and attack power, and he comes with the Excalibur sword, which gives a permanent Haste. His attacks do tremendous damage and he can take down most enemy units with a sword technique. Shadowblade even lets him heal himself in the process! In other words, the only reason you *wouldn't* want Orlandeau on your team is to challenge yourself by making the game harder. Otherwise, he's going to be your strongest character -- to the point of being more than a little unbalanced ;) Particularly useful abilities are Hallowed Bolt and Divine Ruination for group damage, Shadowblade for restoring Orlandeaus' HP, Crush Weapon for disabling an enemy's offense, and Duskblade against enemy magick users. Duskblade steals so much MP that you can often steal an enemy mage's entire magick gauge and render them completely useless. This is a great tactic against magick-using enemies! (You can also use it as a crippling the last enemy if you extend the battle for any reason.) And, as with Agrias, giving him the Geomancer's Attack Boost will make his sword techniques stronger. ---HOLY DRAGON----------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Reis (before completing Nelveska Temple quest) Movement range : 5 Equippable weapons: none Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: none Physical evade : 5% Stats: HP: ***** MP: * Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: ***** Speed: **** --Action Abilities: Breath-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Ice Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Ice attack Fire Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Fire attack Thunder Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Lightning attack These three Breath attacks can only target characters in a straight line from Reis, not on a diagonal. --Reaction Abilities-- none --Support Abilities-- none --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 0 --MY THOUGHTS-- In her dragon form, Reis is limited to her three breath attacks. (And, being a monster, she obviously can't change jobs.) She has a lot of HP, though, and her movement range is actually much better than her human form's. Her magick attack is also phenomenally high, which means that her breath attacks are likely to do more damage now than as a human! However, her very limited set of abilities and inability to use any kind of equipment or accessories means you'll get more use out of her human form in the long run. Note that if you fail to buy Aerith's flower at Sal Ghidos, you won't be able to complete the quest to restore Reis to human form and she'll actually be stuck in dragon form for the entirety of the game. ---DRAGONKIN------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Reis (after Nelveska Temple quest) Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Bags Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hair adornments Physical evade : 7% Equippable accessories: Rings, armlets, perfume, and lip rouge only Innate abilities: Beastmaster, Tame, Dual Wield Stats: HP: ***** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: ***** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: ***** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Dragon-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Ice Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Ice attack # Fire Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Fire attack # Thunder Breath * 2/2 1/- Any Y 0 Lightning attack # Dragon's Charm * 2/2 1/- Foe N 300 Dragon or hydra joins as guest, and can be recruited after battle (100% hit rate!) Dragon's Gift 2/2 1/- Any N 300 Heals dragon or hydra and removes Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Berserk, Toad, Poison, Stop, Sleep, Immobilize, and Disable. Consumes Reis's HP when used. Dragon's Might 2/2 1/- Any N 400 Boosts dragon or hydra's Bravery, speed, physical attack, and magick attack Dragon's Speed 2/2 1/- Any N 400 Fills dragon or hydra's CT gauge to 100 (instant turn!) Holy Breath 4/* 3/3 Any N 900 Holy attack, strikes random tiles within radius # The initial three Breath attacks can only target characters in a straight line from Reis, not on a diagonal. JP to master: 2350 --MY THOUGHTS-- Although Reis's abilities don't seem too exciting at first glance, check out her stats! Dragonkin is the fastest job in the game and Reis also has great HP, MP, and physical attack power. She can also attack twice (as if she were a Ninja) and her attack can Tame monsters. Note that bags can't be Dual- Wielded (as is the true for any character), but Reis's Dual Wield does work with her fists or other weapons you give her using Equip ____ abilities. Unfortunately, the job is weakened by her lack of equipment. Moreover, although Reis's primary weapons is her fists, she does *not* have the Brawler ability. So, to make her stronger, give her Brawler or an Equip ___ ability. For a melee fighter, Reis's movement range of 3 is also rather poor, and she also can't equip the accessories that would increase it. Move +1 or Move +2 will help, though. (Or, alternately, give her the Septie`me perfume or Tynar Rouge; a permanent Haste will give her more turns, so it doesn't matter so much if she can't move very far on each turn.) As for her abilities, her three initial Breath attacks are nice, since they supplement her fists with elemental attacks with a 2-tile range (and they're automatically learned, so you don't have to spend any JP!). You can make them stronger by raising Reis's Magick Attack (e.g. with accessories). Holy Breath can be used as a range attack and does sizable damage, but since it strikes random tiles, it's not very reliable unless you're fighting a large enemy group. The four "Dragon's _____" are only useful if you have dragons or hydras on your squad. This gives them a somewhat use -- but the hydra family contains the strongest monsters in the game, so they may be worth recruiting and adding to your team! One trick is to use Dragon's Charm to recruit dragons/hydras just to help you in one battle and also save you from fighting them; you don't have to permanently add them to your party at the end of the battle if you don't want to. ---SOLDIER--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Cloud Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: Swords Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Hats, hair adornments, clothes Physical evade : 20% Stats: HP: **** MP: ***** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: *** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Limit-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Brave Slash 34 2/* 1/- Any N 150 Non-elemental magick attack Cross Slash * 25 2/* 2/2 Any N 200 Non-elemental magick attack Blade Beam * 20 2/* 1/- Any N 250 Damage = (Cloud's max HP minus current HP) Climhazzard 15 2/* 1/- Any N 500 Damage = (TARGET'S max HP minus current HP) Meteorain 10 3/* 3/0 Any N 600 Non-elemental magick attack Finishing Touch * 20 3/* 2/0 Any N 700 Causes KO, Stone, Stop Omnislash 7 3/* 3/0 Any N 1200 Non-elemental magick attack Cherry Blossom 5 3/* 3/0 Any N 2500 Non-elemental magick attack Limit techniques cannot be used unless Cloud is equipped with the Materia Blade sword. Note that the damage from Limit attacks is determined by Cloud's MAGICK Attack stat, NOT his Physical Attack (unlike Agrias, Meliadoul, and Orlandeau's sword techniques). JP to master: 7150 --MY THOUGHTS-- For being a hidden character, Cloud could be better. His Limit abilities take a very long time to charge, and they can only target panels (not units), so the enemy will just move away while he's charging. Give him the Time Mage's Swiftness ability to make up for this. Even with that, Cloud is a little pokey -- he only has a movement range of 3, so you may also want to give him Germinas Boots or Move +1/Move +2 to boost his movement. Finishing Touch is very powerful, though; it petrifies or KOs enemies, and can hit a whole group. Cloud starts at level 1, which means that you'll have to spend a lot of time bringing him up to snuff. However, as he gains levels, you'll find that his stats turn out to be pretty good. He has good HP and a lot of MP, so you could try making him into a magick-user. Equipping Cloud with gear to raise his Magick Attack also makes his Limits stronger. Unfortunately, his physical attack is only moderately strong at best, since he's stuck with the Materia Blade if you want to use Limits. Personally, I still don't think he's worth the trouble, but other people seem to like him. ---DIVINE KNIGHT--------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Meliadoul Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords, crossbows, Jump height : 3 polearms Physical evade : 10% Equippable armor: Shields, helms, clothes, armor, robes Stats: HP: **** MP: *** Phys. Atk.: **** Mag. Atk.: ** Speed: *** --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Unyielding Blade-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Crush Armor * 3/* 1/- Any N 200 Physical attack, destroys target's armor Crush Helm 3/* 1/- Any N 400 Physical attack, destroys target's headgear Crush Weapon * 3/* 1/- Any N 500 Physical attack, destroys target's weapon Crush Accessory 3/* 1/- Any N 800 Physical attack, destroys target's accessory Unyielding Blade techniques have a 100% hit rate. However, they cannot be used unless Meliadoul is equipped with a sword, knight's sword, or fell sword. Note that these abilities have a 0% hit rate against targets with Safeguard. Unlike in the PSone version, though, they CAN target monsters and unequipped humans! JP to master: 2950 --MY THOUGHTS-- Meliadoul's sword skills are quite useful, since they do good damage, never miss, and can shatter enemy equipment. In the PSP version, they can even be used against targets who don't have the relevant item equipped (e.g. Crush Armor can still damage a target without armor), which means they also work on monsters! They're all limited to hitting a single target, though. Of her abilities, Crush Armor and Crush Weapon are probably the best -- Crush Armor does the most HP damage, and Crush Weapon can cripple an enemy's offense. Unfortunately for Meliadoul, she doesn't join the team until *after* Orlandeau, who has all her sword techniques and then some, as well as better stats! So, what would otherwise be a good character may not find all that use on your squad. Both Orlandeau and Agrias tend to have more useful swordskills. Still, Meliadoul can make for a pretty good second-string fighter. You could also try making her into a magick-using job since she starts with high Faith. She can also equip polearms and crossbows, but giving her one of these weapons won't allow her to use her sword techniques. ---ARK KNIGHT------------------------------------------------------------------ Used By: Zalbaag Movement range : 4 Equippable weapons: Swords, knight's swords Jump height : 3 Equippable armor: Shields, helms, armor, robes Physical evade : 10% --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Blade of Ruin-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Magicksap 20 34 4/* 2/0 Any ? 0 Lowers target's MP Speedsap 20 34 4/* 2/0 Any ? 0 Lowers target's speed Powersap 20 34 4/* 2/0 Any ? 0 Lowers target's physical attack strength Mindsap 20 34 4/* 2/0 Any ? 0 Lowers target's magick attack strength --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Counter Phys. Attack Yes 300 Counter-attack with physical attack Counter Tackle Phys. attack Yes 180 Counterattack using Rush --Support Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Concentration 400 Prevents enemies from evading your physical attacks Safeguard 250 Equipment can't be broken or stolen Swiftness 1000 Speeds spell/ability charge time --Movement Abilities-- JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Move +1 200 Movement range + 1 JP to master: 2130 --MY THOUGHTS-- Zalbaag doesn't really do much. He's only in one half of one battle that you may win in one or two rounds. He has a nice set of abilities, but you'll never see them in action. ---BYBLOS---------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: the Byblos (name varies) Movement range : 3 Equippable weapons: none Jump height : 6 Equippable armor: none Physical evade : 33% Innate abilities: Counter (100%), Poach, Ignore Elevation, can't enter water --ABILITIES-- --Action Abilities: Byblos-- RNG RAD MP SPD H/V H/V TAR LF JP EFFECT --------------------------------------------------------------- Energize 4/* 1/- Any N 0 Restores HP, the Byblos loses HP equal to 1/2 of amount healed Parasite 4/* 1/- Any N 0 Causes Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, and/or Sleep Vengeance 5/3 1/- Any N 0 Damage = (Byblos's max HP minus current HP) Manaburn 5/3 1/- Any N 0 Deals damage equal to target's current MP --Reaction Abilities-- TRIGGER BRV JP EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------ Counter Automatically eqppd. Yes 0 Counter-attack with physical attack --Support Abilities-- none --Movement Abilities-- none JP to master: 0 --MY THOUGHTS-- The Byblos doesn't join you until you've reached the last battle of the bonus dungeon, which limits its usefulness. By the time it's joined your team, you've already completed pretty much the whole single-player game! What can it do, though? Like Construct 8, it's a special "monster" and can't change jobs or use equipment. So, the Byblos is limited to its four abilities. While none of these are *bad*, they still give only the Byblos a very limited set of abilities ... and the Byblos doesn't share Construct 8's immunity to magick. The Byblos does have an innate Poach, although the addition of Luso (who also has an innate Poach) to the PSP version makes this somewhat less exciting. %%%MONSTERS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00mon In addition to human characters, Final Fantasy Tactics also features a variety of monsters. Monsters mostly appear in random battles, but also appear in a few story battles. ---About Monsters-------------------------------------------------------------- ---MONSTER TYPES--- Monsters are divided by Family and Rank. Each monster Family has three Ranks: for instance, the chocobo family contains Chocobo (Rank I), Black Chocobo (Rank II), and Red Chocobo (Rank III). Within a Family, the monsters look the same but simply have different color schemes. Each's monsters color scheme is listed in the table below. The color scheme will help you quickly identify a monster. It can also be used to help identify the monster inside an egg (see Previewing Monster Eggs under Various Tricks) ---MONSTER ABILITIES--- Monsters cannot change jobs, but instead have a fixed set of 1-3 Action Abilities. These are their only actions; they have no regular attack command. Each monster also has one EXTRA ability. This abilitiy can only be used if an ally with the Beastmaster support ability (Squire) is standing directly next to the monster. (Reis's Dragonkin job also has an inherent Beastmaster). All Action Abilities used by standard (non-boss) monsters have no charge time and consume no MP. *ALL* monsters have Counter as an innate Reaction Ability. Since this is true of EVERY monster, I haven't listed it for each monster in the table, but be aware of it! Most monsters one or more innate Movement abilities (such as Ignore Elevation or Levitate). These are listed in the tables. Finally, many monsters also have various elemental affinities, such as Absorbs: Fire (fire attacks actually heal the monster), Immune: Ice, etc. ---RECRUITING MONSTERS--- Monsters can be recruited into your party in five ways: 1. Use the Orator's Entice skill to recruit an enemy monster onto your team. After the battle, you'll be able to permanently sign the monster up for your team. Note that in order to use Entice (or any other Speechcraft skill) on monsters, you must have the Beast Tongue support ability (also from Orator). Beast Tongue is an innate ability for Orators and doesn't need to be learned or equipped as long as you're an Orator, but if you switch to another job, you'll have to equip Beast Tongue to Entice monsters. Reis's Dragon's Charm ability also has the same effect and does not require Beast Tongue, but only works on the dragon and hydra families. 2. With the Orator's Tame support ability equipped, attack a monster. If the monster is in critical (low) HP after the attack, you can recruit the monster. Reis's Dragonkin job has Tame as an innate ability. 3. Once you have recruited a monster onto your team, the monster will lay eggs and produce other monsters in the same family. Eggs are laid and hatch as you move around the world map. The Rank of the monster laying the egg determines which kind of Ranks it can produce: Produces... Rank I Rank II Rank III ----------------------------------- Rank I Frequently Rarely Never Rank II Frequently Rarely Rarely Rank III Frequently Frequently Rarely Note that Rank I monsters can never produce Rank III monsters directly. However, you can use it to breed a Rank II monster, which can then go on to produce a Rank III monster. The level of a newborn monster is randomly determined and can be as high as your highest-level character. So if you recruit a monster type you like but the monster is at a low experience level, one strategy is to let it breed and you may get a higher-level version of the same monster. 4. Rarely, you'll get into a random battle where a monster appears to fight as a Guest on your team. Complete the battle and you'll be able to recruit the Guest monster as a regular party member. 5. Finally, a Chocobo will be automatically offered to the party after winning a Chapter II story battle. And now, on with the monster list! ---Chocobo Family-------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Single feather The Chocobo family of monsters is unique in that human characters to ride them. To ride one, move a character onto the same tile as a friendly chocobo (of any color). The character will mount the chocobo and they'll move and act as a single unit. Essentially, this allows you to combine the movement range and skills of a Chocobo with the action abilities of a human. CHOCOBO Family: Chocobo Rank : I Color scheme : Bright yellow Move : 6 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 15% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Swim ELEMENTAL ABILITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Choco Beak 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Choco Cure Self 2/2 Any - Restores HP (Choco Esuna) Self 2/2 Any - Cures Stone, Blind, Silence, Poison, Stop, Immobilize, Disable BLACK CHOCOBO Family: Chocobo Rank : II Color scheme : Black/dark purple Move : 6 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 25% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Fly, Swim ELEMENTAL ABILITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Choco Beak 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Choco Pellets 4/* 1/- Any N Physical attack Choco Esuna Self 2/2 Any - Cures Stone, Blind, Silence, Poison, Stop, Immobilize, Disable (Choco Meteor) 5/* 1/- Any N Non-elemental magick attack RED CHOCOBO Family: Chocobo Rank : I Color scheme : Bright red Move : 6 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 10% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Ignore Elevation, Swim ELEMENTAL ABILITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Choco Beak 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Choco Pellets 4/* 1/- Any N Physical attack Choco Meteor 5/* 1/- Any N Non-elemental magick attack (Choco Cure) Self 2/2 Any - Restores HP ---Goblin Family--------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Goblin lying face-down on ground GOBLIN Family: Goblin Rank : I Color scheme : Red and gray Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 18% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tackle 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Eye Gouge 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Blind status (Goblin Punch) 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack BLACK GOBLIN Family: Goblin Rank : II Color scheme : Black and gray Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 19% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tackle 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Spin Punch Self 2/1 Any - Physical attack (Goblin Punch) 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack GOBBLEDYGOOK Family: Goblin Rank : III Color scheme : Brown skin, green clothes Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 20% with purple trim MOVEMENT ABILITIES: none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tackle 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Eye Gouge 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Blind status Goblin Punch 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack (Bloodfeast) 1/0 1/- Any - Drains HP from target to user ---Panther Family-------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Skull RED PANTHER Family: Panther Rank : I Color scheme : Tan Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 23% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Ignore Elevation, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Claw 1/3 1/- Any - Physical attack Venom Fang 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Poison status (Cat Scratch) 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack COEURL Family: Panther Rank : II Color scheme : Blue-gray Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 26% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Ignore Elevation, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Claw 1/3 1/- Any - Physical attack Cat Scratch 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Venom Fang 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Poison status (Blaster) 3/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Stone or Stop status VAMPIRE CAT Family: Panther Rank : III Color scheme : Purple Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 24% MOVEMENT ABILITIES: Ignore Elevation, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Claw 1/3 1/- Any - Physical attack Cat Scratch 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Blaster 3/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Stone or Stop status (Vampire) 1/0 1/- Any - Drains HP from target to user; inflicts Vampire status on target ---Bomb Family----------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Floating flame BOMB Family: Bomb Rank : I Color scheme : Red Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 10% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Float, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Fire, Halves Ice, Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bite 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Self-Destruct Self 3/3 Any N KOs user & damages nearby units, inflicts Oil status (Bomblet) 1/0 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack GRENADE Family: Bomb Rank : II Color scheme : Light blue Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 11% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Float, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Fire, Halves Ice, Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bite 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Bomblet 1/0 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Self-Destruct Self 3/3 Any N KOs user & damages nearby units, inflicts Oil status (Flame Attack) 3/* 1/- Any N Fire attack EXPLODER Family: Bomb Rank : III Color scheme : Gray Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 12% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Float, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Fire, Halves Ice, Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bite 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Self-Destruct Self 3/3 Any N KOs user & damages nearby units, inflicts Oil status Spark Self 3/1 Any N Fire attack (will also heal user since bombs absorb fire) (Bomblet) 1/0 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack ---Skeleton Family------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Cape and pile of bones SKELETON Family: Skeleton Rank : I Color scheme : Gray with blue cloak Move : 3 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 11% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Chop 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Thunder Anima 3/* 1/- Any Y Lightning attack (Water Anima) 3/1 1/- Any Y Water attack BONESNATCH Family: Skeleton Rank : II Color scheme : Gray with green cloak Move : 3 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 12% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Chop 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Water Anima 3/* 1/- Any Y Water attack (Ice Anima) 3/* 1/- Any Y Ice attack SKELETAL FIEND Family: Skeleton Rank : III Color scheme : Gray with red cloak Move : 3 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 13% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : none ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Chop 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Ice Anima 3/* 1/- Any Y Ice attack (Wind Anima) 3/* 1/- Any Y Wind attack ---Minotaur Family------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Horned skull WISENKIN Family: Minotaur Rank : I Color scheme : Dark green with gray head Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 11% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Pickaxe 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack (Feral Spin) Self 2/1 Any - Physical attack MINOTAUR Family: Minotaur Rank : II Color scheme : Red with gray head Move : 4 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 15% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Pickaxe 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Feral Spin Self 2/1 Any - Physical attack (Breathe Fire) 2/* 1/- Any Y Fire attack, targets in 4 directions only SEKHRET Family: Minotaur Rank : III Color scheme : Purple Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 12% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Water ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Pickaxe 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Earthsplitter Self 3/1 Ally N Earth attack Beef Up Self 1/- Any - Raises user's Physical Attack by 2 (Breathe Fire) 2/* 1/- Any Y Fire attack, targets in 4 directions only ---Ghost Family---------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Floating cloak GHOUL Family: Ghost Rank : I Color scheme : Purple body, yellow shirt Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 26% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Teleport, Levitate, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ectoplasm 3/* 1/- Any Y Non-elemental attack Sleep Touch 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Sleep status (Oily Touch) 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Oil status GHAST Family: Ghost Rank : II Color scheme : Gray body, red shirt Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 27% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Teleport, Levitate, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ectoplasm 3/* 1/- Any Y Non-elemental attack Oily Touch 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Oil status (Drain Touch) 1/2 1/- Any - Drains target's HP REVENANT Family: Ghost Rank : III Color scheme : Tan body, green shirt Move : 5 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 28% Is Undead. MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Teleport, Levitate, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Darkness, Weak to Fire and Holy ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Ectoplasm 3/* 1/- Any Y Non-elemental attack Drain Touch 1/2 1/- Any - Drains target's HP (Zombie Touch) 1/2 1/- Any - Inflicts Undead status ---Mindflayer Family----------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Mindflayer lying face-down on ground PISCODAEMON Family: Mindflayer Rank : I Color scheme : Tan with brown cloak Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 8% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterbreathing ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Water, Weak to Lightning ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack (Ink) 2/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Blind; targets in 4 cardinal directions only SQUIDRAKEN Family: Mindflayer Rank : II Color scheme : Purple with green cloak Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 9% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterbreathing ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Water, Weak to Lightning ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Ink 2/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Blind; targets in 4 cardinal directions only Dischord Self 3/1 Any N Removes Float, Reraise, Invisible, Regen, Protect, Shell, Haste, Faith, and Reflect (Mind Blast) 3/* 2/1 Any N Inflicts Confusion or Berserk MINDFLAYER Family: Mindflayer Rank : III Color scheme : Pale green with red cloak Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 10% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterbreathing ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Water, Weak to Lightning ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Ink 2/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Blind; targets in 4 cardinal directions only Mind Blast 3/* 2/1 Any N Inflicts Confusion or Berserk (Level Drain) 4/* 1/- Any N Lowers target's experience level by 1 ---Ahriman Family-------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Wing FLOATING EYE Family: Ahriman Rank : I Color scheme : Green with orange wings Move : 5 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 12% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Wing Buffet 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack (Dread Gaze) 3/* 1/- Any Y Lowers target's Bravery by 10 AHRIMAN Family: Ahriman Rank : II Color scheme : Yellow with purple wings Move : 5 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 13% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Wing Buffet 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Bewitching Gaze 3/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Stone, Blind, Silence, Immobilize, or Disable status Dread Gaze 3/* 1/- Any Y Lowers target's Bravery by 10 (Doom) 3/* 1/- Any N Inflicts Doom status PLAGUE HORROR Family: Ahriman Rank : III Color scheme : Red with black wings Move : 5 Jump : 5 Physical evade : 11% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Wing Buffet 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Bewitching Gaze 3/* 1/- Any Y Inflicts Stone, Blind, Silence, Immobilize, or Disable status Doom 3/* 1/- Any N Inflicts Doom status (Beam) 4/* 1/- Any N Lowers target's Magick Attack by 2 ---Aevis Family---------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Two feathers JURA AEVIS Family: Aevis Rank : I Color scheme : Blue with white plumage Move : 6 Jump : 6 Physical evade : 30% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Talon Dive 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack (Featherbomb) 3/* 1/- Any N Non-elemental attack STEELHAWK Family: Aevis Rank : II Color scheme : Gray with yellow plumage Move : 6 Jump : 6 Physical evade : 28% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Talon Dive 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Glitterlust 1/1 1/- Any - Steals gil (Beak) 1/0 1/- Any - Inflicts Stone status COCKATRICE Family: Aevis Rank : III Color scheme : Black with red plumage Move : 6 Jump : 6 Physical evade : 33% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Halves Wind, Weak to Earth ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Talon Dive 1/2 1/- Any - Non-elemental attack Beak 1/0 1/- Any - Inflicts Stone status Featherbomb 3/* 1/- Any N Non-elemental attack (Peck) 1/1 1/- Any - Lowers target's Physical Attack strength by 2 ---Treant Family--------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Tree branch DRYAD Family: Treant Rank : I Color scheme : Light brown w/ green hair Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Earth, Weak to Fire ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Leaf Rain Self 2/0 Any - Non-elemental attack (Guardian Nymph) Self 2/0 Any - Gives Protect status, 100% hit rate TREANT Family: Treant Rank : II Color scheme : Gray with red hair Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Earth, Weak to Fire ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Leaf Rain Self 2/0 Any - Non-elemental attack Life Nymph Self 2/0 Any - Restores HP (Shell Nymph) Self 2/0 Any - Gives Shell status, 100% hit rate ELDER TREANT Family: Treant Rank : III Color scheme : Silver with gold hair Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Earth, Weak to Fire ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Leaf Rain Self 2/0 Any - Non-elemental attack Guardian Nymph Self 2/0 Any - Gives Protect status, 100% hit rate Shell Nymph Self 2/0 Any - Gives Shell status, 100% hit rate (Magick Nymph) Self 2/0 Any - Restores MP ---Malboro Family-------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Two tentacles in puddle of water OCHU Family: Malboro Rank : I Color scheme : Gray-green / tan Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterwalking ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack Goo 1/1 1/- Any - Inflicts Immobilize status (Lick) 1/0 1/- Any - Gives Reflect status MALBORO Family: Malboro Rank : II Color scheme : Bright light green Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterwalking ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack Lick 1/0 1/- Any - Gives Reflect status (Bad Breath) Self 3/0 Any - Inflicts Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, and/or Sleep GREATER MALBORO Family: Malboro Rank : III Color scheme : Dark gray Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Waterwalking ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tentacles 1/1 1/- Any - Physical attack Bad Breath Self 3/0 Any - Inflicts Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, and/or Sleep (Malboro Spores) 1/0 1/- Any - Turns target into Malboro (permanently!) ---Behemoth Family------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Spiny tail BEHEMOTH Family: Behemoth Rank : I Color scheme : Purple with yellow hair Move : 4 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 13% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Gore 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Heave 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack, instant KO (Gigaflare) 4/* 3/0 Any N Non-elemental attack BEHEMOTH KING Family: Behemoth Rank : II Color scheme : Gold with green hair Move : 4 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 13% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Gore 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Heave 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack, instant KO (Twister) 4/* 3/2 Any N Wind attack DARK BEHEMOTH Family: Behemoth Rank : III Color scheme : Black with orange hair Move : 4 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 18% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Gore 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Heave 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack, instant KO (Almagest) 4/* 3/1 Any N Does damage equal to (Dark Behemoth's max HP - current HP) ---Dragon Family--------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Large wing DRAGON Family: Dragon Rank : I Color scheme : Light green Move : 5 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 5% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Charge 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack (Tail Sweep) 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack RED DRAGON Family: Dragon Rank : II Color scheme : Brick red Move : 5 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 8% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Fire, Weak to Ice ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Charge 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Thunder Breath 2/2 1/- Any Y Lightning attack (Fire Breath) 2/2 1/- Any Y Fire attack BLUE DRAGON Family: Dragon Rank : III Color scheme : Light blue Move : 5 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 9% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Absorbs Ice, Weak to Fire ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Charge 1/2 1/- Any - Physical attack Ice Breath 2/2 1/- Any Y Ice attack (Thunder Breath) 2/2 1/- Any Y Lightning attack ---Hydra Family---------------------------------------------------------------- When KOed, looks like: Three-headed skull HYDRA Family: Hydra Rank : III Color scheme : Gold Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice and Wind ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tri-Attack 1/? 1/- Any - Physical attack, attacks on front and to both sides simultaneously (Tri-Breath) 2/* 2/* Any N Non-elemental attack, attacks on front and to both sides simultaneously GREATER HYDRA Family: Hydra Rank : III Color scheme : Dark purple / black Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice and Wind ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tri-Attack 1/? 1/- Any - Physical attack, attacks on front and to both sides simultaneously Tri-Flame 4/* 2/0 Any N Fire attack; strikes 3 times on random tile(s) within effect radius (Tri-Thunder) 4/* 2/0 Any N Lightning attack; strikes 3 times on random tile(s) within effect radius TIAMAT Family: Hydra Rank : III Color scheme : Off-white Move : 4 Jump : 4 Physical evade : 0% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Fly, can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: Weak to Ice and Wind ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Tri-Breath 2/* 2/* Any N Non-elemental attack, attacks on front and to both sides simultaneously Tri-Thunder 4/* 2/0 Any N Lightning attack; strikes 3 times on random tile(s) within effect radius Tri-Flame 4/* 2/0 Any N Fire attack; strikes 3 times on random tile(s) within effect radius (Dark Whisper) 4/* 2/0 Any N Dark attack; strikes 3 times within effect radius; can inflict KO or Sleep ---Pig Family------------------------------------------------------------------ When KOed, looks like: Pig lying face-down on ground PIG Family: Pig Rank : I Color scheme : Light yellow, red ears Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 42% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Reckless Charge 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack (Squeak) 1/1 1/- Any - Revives KOed character with full HP SWINE Family: Pig Rank : II Color scheme : Light pink, magenta ears Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 36% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Reckless Charge 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack Toot 1/1 1/- Any - Inflicts Confusion or Sleep (Snort) 1/1 1/- Foe - Inflicts Charm status; only effective on human targets WILD BOAR Family: Pig Rank : III Color scheme : Silver with magenta ears Move : 3 Jump : 3 Physical evade : 39% MOVEMENT ABILITIES : Can't enter water ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: none ACTION ABILITIES: H/V H/V TAR LF EFFECT ------------------------------------------------------------------ Reckless Charge 1/0 1/- Any - Physical attack Snort 1/1 1/- Foe - Inflicts Charm status; only effective on human targets (Bequeath Bacon) 1/1 1/- Any - Target's level up 1, user becomes crystal ******************************************************************************* VII. ABILITY STRATEGIES ******************************************************************************* %%%ABILITY COMBOS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00abil Arts of War (Knight) + Equip Guns (Orator) or Archer's bows ------------------------------------------------------ The Rending techniques are a lot more useful when used at a distance! Against mages, use Rend MP or Rend Magick to cripple their magick right away. And against close-range fighters, you can use Rend Weapon to destroy their weapon before they even reach you! Arts of War (Knight) + Dual Wield (Ninja) ------------------------------------------------------ When you have two weapons equipped, you get also two strikes of any Arts of War ability, making them doubly effective! You get two chances to break an enemy's gear, or can decrease their stats twice as fast. Attack Boost (Geomancer) + Holy Sword (Holy Knight) or Swordplay (Sword Saint) or Unyielding Blade (Divine Knight) ------------------------------------------------------ Sword techniques are considered physical attacks, so pairing them with Attack Boost will make them even stronger! Mana Shield (Time Mage) + Manafont (Mystic) ------------------------------------------------------ Whenever Mana Shield is triggered, it saves you from taking any actual damage to your HP as long as you have at least 1 MP left. Of course, a strong attack may cause you to lose all your MP ... but with Manafont, you can gain back a little MP just by moving, which is enough to activate your Mana Shield again! Darkness (Dark Knight) + Mana Shield (Time Mage) ----------------------------------------------------- The strongest Darkness abilities normally consume some of the user's HP ... but Mana Shield convers the HP loss into an MP one instead! This essentially turns them into regular magicks (albeit ones with a hefty MP cost) -- plus, you can then use Infernal Strike to swipe MP from the enemies and recharge! Fire Rod + Fire/Fira/Firaga/Firaja (Black Mage) Ice Rod + Blizzard/Blizzara/Blizzaga/Blizzaja (Black Mage) Thunder Rod + Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga/Thundaja (Black Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ The Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods increase the power of the corresponding elemental magick. So, pick a particular element of magick to focus on and pair it up with the corresponding rod. Early in the game, this is a great way to increase the damage your Black Magick can do. Equip Guns (Orator) + Poach (Thief) or Tame (Orator) ------------------------------------------------------ Monsters with low HP tend to run away into a corner, making it hard to catch up and use the physical attacks you need to Poach or Tame them. So equip a gun and you've got a nice long range :) Dance (Dancer) or Sing (Bard) + Vanish (Ninja) ------------------------------------------------------ The Vanish ability gives you Invisible status whenever you get hit, which means that enemies can't target you again until you perform an action. But if you've already entered into a Song or Dance state before Vanish activated, continuing to perform it does NOT count as a new action, and you can stay invisible while continuing to hurt the enemies or help your teammates! Switching to a new song/dance will cause you to lose your Vanish, but you can always regain it if an enemy attacks you again. And make sure you don't get caught in the effect radius of a wide-area attack, which will also remove your Vanish. Immobilize (Time Mage) or Leg Shot (Machinist) + Aim (Archer) or Limit (Soldier) or Jump (Dragoon) ------------------------------------------------------ Abilities that take a long time to charge can often be difficult to use. But not if the enemies can't move out of the way... Corruption (Mystic) + White Magick (White Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ The Corruption ability makes enemies undead, which means they suffer damage from healing spells. Suddenly, your White Mage's Cure spells become both a great defensive tool *and* an offensive weapon ... and Arise works as an instant KO attack! You can even use Arithmeticks to cause your White Magicks to hit many targets at once! Darkness (Dark Knight) + Lifefont (Monk) ------------------------------------------------------ Sure, a number of Darkness abilities consume some of your HP ... but if you equip Lifefont, you can gain a lot of it back as you move around! Summon (Summoner) + Absorb MP (Mystic) or Manafont (Mystic) or Hi-Ether (Chemist) ------------------------------------------------------ Normally, summons eat up a lot of your MP -- but you can remedy this by equipping an ability that gets you your MP back quickly. Steel (Ramza's Squire job) + Shirahadori (Samurai) on any character ------------------------------------------------------ With a high Bravery, Shirahadori can protect you from virtually all physical attacks. How to get a high Bravery? Well, Ramza's Steel ability is a Bravery booster with a 100% success rate... Vehemence (Dark Knight) + Shirahadori (Samurai) + Aegis Shield or Escutcheon II ------------------------------------------------------ Vehemence increases your attack power at the cost of increasing the damage you receive ... but Shirahadori will keep a lot of physical attacks from even hitting you! Then, to protect against magick, equip an Aegis Shield or Escutcheon II. Parry (Knight) + Cloths ------------------------------------------------------ Cloths have a 50% evade rate, so equipping Parry on a Dancer means you can avoid half of all physical attacks. Geomancy + Move +1 (Squire) or Move +2 (Thief) or Move +3 (Dark Knight/Bard) or Teleport (Time Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ Since the Geomancy command inflicts different status changes and different elemental damage depending on where you're standing, it's most flexible and useful if you can get around the battlefield easily. Move +1/2/3 or Teleport will help in that regard. Barrage (Sky Pirate) + Guns ------------------------------------------------------ Using Barrage with a gun lets you attack two enemies in one turn, as long as they're in the same line of fire -- see "Shoot Enemies Next to You" under Various Tricks for the skinny. Magick Counter (Black Mage) + Arcane Strength (Black Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ If you're going to counter it, why not make it stronger? Barrage (Sky Pirate) + Poach (Thief) or Tame (Orator) ------------------------------------------------------ Balthier's Barrage attack counts as a regular attack, so you can use it as an easy way of Poaching monsters for items or Taming them onto your side. Reflexes (Ninja) + Featherweave Cloak ------------------------------------------------------ The Reflexes reaction ability doubles your existing evasion rate. Pair it with a Featherweave Cloak for a 80% physical evade rate and a 40% magick evade rate -- pretty good! You could also use a shield, but they don't work against attacks from behind, and cloaks do. Vengeance (Templar/Byblos) or Blade Beam (Soldier) + Dragonheart (Dragoon) or Reraise (White Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ Vengeance and Blade Beam both get stronger as the user's HP decreases, which means they're most powerful when the user is near-KO. Of course, this is normally kind of risky, but you can get some insurance with Dragonheart or the Reraise magick, which will bring you back after you're KOed. (Of course, the Byblos can't equip Dragonheart, but you *can* cast Reraise on it.) Soulbind + Lifefont (Monk) or Reraise (White Mage) ------------------------------------------------------ Soulbind splits the damage you receive with the enemy who inflicted it. This makes it advantageous for the character with Soulbind to take a lot of damage ... but you'll still need some way to heal the damage you DO take. Lifefont will take care of that, or a cast of Reraise will revive the character if he or she is KOed. Graviga (Time Mage) + Climhazzard (Soldier) ------------------------------------------------------ Climhazzard does damage equal to the amount of HP your target has already lost. Hitting a unit with Graviga will take away half its HP, and Climhazzard will take off the other half. Of course, you could just cast Graviga twice, but Climhazzard charges faster and uses no MP. As a one-two punch, you can have Cloud start charging Climhazzard while the Time Mage is the midst of charging Graviga. Regenerator (White Mage) + Lifefont (Monk) ------------------------------------------------------ You want HP? You've got HP... but if it's still not enough, throw in Chakra. Parry (Knight) + Nagnarok sword + Treasure Hunter ------------------------------------------------------ If you're using a character for Treasure Hunting, you want the character to have low Bravery ... but this also makes most Reaction Abilities useless, since they depend on Bravery to activate. Parry, however, only depends on your weapon's block rate, so pair it with the Nagnarok sword and its 50% block rate (add Equip Swords if needed) and you've got a decent Reaction Ability for even a low-Bravery character. Haste (Time Mage) + Doom Fist (Monk) or Condemn (Orator) ------------------------------------------------------ Doom KOs a unit after it's received three turns -- so casting Haste on it will actually speed up its imminent demise! Of course, you'd better make sure the enemy can't hurt you too much in the mean time! It's best used against enemy White Mages or Chemists (or other defensive units), but this is more a fun combo than a practicle one ;) Steal Weapon (Thief) + Throw (Ninja) ------------------------------------------------------ This isn't that great a combo, but there's a certain joy in stealing somebody's weapon and then turning around and killing them with it. Gil Snapper (Thief) + Throw (Ninja) or Iaido (Samurai) or Items (Chemist) ------------------------------------------------------ Throw, Iaido, and Items all consume items from your inventory, which cost money to replace. Over the course of a battle, Gil Snapper will give you some extra spending money to help replace what you used. (But, the money earned from Gil Snapper is usually nothing compared to your post-battle Bonus Coin, so this is not a very effectice combo.) %%%CHARACTER STRATEGIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00char ---Generic Character Strategies------------------------------------------------ MONK (esp. RAMZA) Reaction Ability : Counter or First Strike Support Ability : Dual Wield Movement Ability : Lifefont Equipment : no weapon equipped Bravery : High (as close to 97 as possible) ------------------------------------------------------ The Dual Wield ability gives you two punches. Coupled with a high Bravery, this makes for an extremely powerful attack -- and you've also got all the Monk's helpful restorative abilities. Strong punches are particularly useful early in the game when you don't have access to high-level weapons to equip. You can land even more attacks if you equip the Monk's own Counter or First Strike. (First Strike is only good against humans.) Since you'll have a high Bravery, these abilities will activate quickly and let you counterattack a lot! Since this set-up leaves your Monk without any extra armor, Lifefont is pretty useful for recovering HP. This set-up can be particularly useful for Ramza because his Shout ability lets him raise his own Bravery quickly. BLACK MAGE Action Ability : Arithmeticks Reaction Ability : Magick Counter Support Ability : Arcane Srength Movement Ability : Manafont Equipment : Rod of Faith, Lordly Robe, Japa Mala ------------------------------------------------------ The ultimate magic-user. Be sure to have all the Arithmeticks, and get as many spells (Black, White, Time, and Mystic Arts) as you can. For a more defensive character of this character, swap out Magick Counter for Mana Shield, which uses your MP to protect you from physical attacks. As long as you're using Arithmeticks, you don't need MP anyway, and if you keep walking around, Manafont will regenerate your MP and keep up your Mana Shield! NINJA or BALTHIER Action Ability : Steal Support Ability : Brawler Equipment : Mirage Vest or Ninja Gear, Green Beret or Lambent Hat or Thief's Cap, Hermes Shoes ------------------------------------------------------ If you're looking to steal items, this will do the trick! Ninjas have the highest speed of any regular job, and the equipment raises it even further, increasing your hit rate for stealing. Brawler raises it even more! Once you get Balthier, he's even better for stealing items, as his Plunder abilities have a higher rate of success than a regular Steal and his Sky Pirate job has a high Speed to boot. SUMMONER Reaction Ability : Absorb MP Support Ability : Swiftness Movement Ability : Manafont Equipment : Wizard's Rod, Wizard's Robe, Magepower Glove Faith : High ------------------------------------------------------ Summons are powerful, but take a while to charge and use lots of MP. You can remedy the former with Swiftness and the latter with Manafont and/or MP Absorb. To increase the strength of your summons, raise your Faith and equip a Wizard's Rod, Wizard's Robe, and/or Magepower Glove. (Pure gains in magick attack may be more helpful for a Summoner than elemental boosts since many summons are non-elemental). ARCHER Action Ability : Arts of War Reaction Ability : Archer's Bane Support Ability : Concentration Equipment : Bow ------------------------------------------------------ When you're attacking from a distance with bows, you often don't have a choice of what angle to strike from, so Concentration will ensure you hit even when attacking from the front. Adding Arts of War as an action ability lets you rend enemy stats or equipment from a distance, and Concentration helps this as well. To keep the enemy from shooting bows back at you, you can use the Archer's own Archer's Bane ability. NINJA Reaction Ability : Reflexes Support Ability : Equip Shields Equipment : Crystal Shield (or better), Featherweave Cloak ------------------------------------------------------ It's almost impossible (if not actually impossible) to get hit. Imagine a party of five of these... SAMURAI or DARK KNIGHT ... or SQUIRE [RAMZA] or SWORD SAINT [ORLANDEAU] Reaction Ability : Mana Shield Bravery : High (as close to 97 as possible) ------------------------------------------------------ The downside of Mana Shield is that it's only good with high MP ... and most high-MP jobs are magick-using jobs, where you need to *keep* your MP! But Samurai and Dark Knight are two jobs that don't need MP to use their abilities, but still have a high MP total. Ramza's "special" Squire job and Orlandeau's Sword Saint job have even more, and are also melee-oriented jobs. With these jobs, Mana Shield turns their extra MP into a nice buffer of extra health. Raise your Bravery as high as possible so Mana Shield will activate more frequently. RAPHA - OR OTHER LOW-BRAVERY FEMALE CHARACTER Job : Thief or Ninja Reaction Ability : Parry Support Ability : Equip Swords Movement Ability : Treasure Hunter Equipment : Nagnarok, Septie`me Bravery : Low (just above 10) ------------------------------------------------------ Hunting for items in Midlight's Deep? With this set-up, you can turn Rapha (or any other character with a low Bravery) into the ultimate Treasure Hunter. Thief and Ninja are mobile jobs; both have a move and jump of 4, allowing Rapha to navigate to more remote locations. The Septie`me perfume gives Rapha a permanent Haste, allowing her to get more turns and scoot around the map even more quickly, as well as making her Invisible. As long as she never takes action and just moves around looking for items, the enemies will never attack her. Finally, if she DOES lose her Invisibility (e.g. because she was hit in a wide-radius attack spell), the Nagnarok coupled with Parry gives her a 50% evade rate despite her low Bravery. Actually, this is pretty much overkill; you could go Treasure Hunting with half these abilities... :) ---Special Character Strategies------------------------------------------------ RAMZA Reaction Ability : Counter or First Strike Support Ability : Dual Wield Movement Ability : Lifefont Equipment : No weapon equipped Bravery : High (as close to 97 as possible) ------------------------------------------------------ This set-up, described above in Generic Character Strategies, works great for Ramza because his Shout ability lets him raise his own Bravery quickly. MUSTADIO Job : Machinist Action Ability : Items Reaction Ability : Auto-Potion Support Ability : Throw Items Equipment : Magick gun, Japa Mala Faith : High ------------------------------------------------------ After you've mastered Machinist, Chemist is a great supplementary for Mustadio because it allows him to keep his gun (and consequently his long-range Aimed Shot abilities). Once you've mastered Chemist, switch him back to a Machinist for its improved Speed, then give him Items and Throw Items to make him into a great healer/support character. If you're using the magick guns, you can increase their damage output by raising his Faith and giving him a Japa Mala for the elemental boost. Since Mustadio's guns give him a ranged attack, you could also consider giving him Arts of War, which will let him break enemy gear or reduce their stats from a distance. However, you might find this somewhat redundant with Arm Shot and Leg Shot, which while not identical are also pretty effective at shutting down enemy forces. LUSO Job : Game Hunter Reaction Ability : Auto-Potion (optional) Support Ability : Dual Wield or Doublehand Movement Ability : Lifefont (optional) Equipment : Knight's sword, Power Garb, Headband, Bracer Bravery : High (as close to 97 as possible) ------------------------------------------------------ Luso's distinguishing characteristic is his inherent Poach. If you want to exploit this, you'll need to make it easy for Luso to kill enemies with physical attacks. Give him a couple strong knight's swords with Dual Wield; or, if you have only a limited supply, one knight's sword plus Doublehand. Raising his Bravery with Shout will make his knight's sword even stronger. For further attack boosts, equip a Bracer and perhaps a Power Garb and/or a Headband. The Power Garb and Headband aren't the best armors in terms of HP ratings, so if you give him these, you may want to give him Auto-Potion or Lifefont to keep his HP up. RAPHA Job : Thief or Ninja Reaction Ability : Parry Support Ability : Equip Swords Movement Ability : Treasure Hunter Equipment : Nagnarok, Septie`me Bravery : Low (just above 10) ------------------------------------------------------ As described above, this is a great set-up for the Treasure Hunter ability if you want to exploit Rapha's low Bravery. ORLANDEAU Job : Sword Saint Action Ability : Iaido or other Reaction Ability : Shirahadori Support Ability : Dual Wield Movement Ability : Move +3 Equipment : Chaos Blade, Excalibur, Maximillian, Grand Helm, Angel Ring Bravery : High (97) Faith : Low (03) ------------------------------------------------------ Orlandeau's tough in any form, but with the right set of ability, he comes to close to the ultimate character and could win almost any single-player battle by himself. As long as he's not using magick (and with his sword techniques, there's not much reason to), you can lower his faith to render him nearly impervious to enemy magick. He can't equip Chantage, of course, but an Angel Ring makes a good back-up as it gives him one Reraise per battle in case he does get KOed. If you want to poach monsters, ditch Dual Wield and the Chaos Blade and give him Poach and the Escutcheon II instead. Iaido might be a good secondary action ability since it gives him both group attack capability and (through Murasame and Kiyomori) some healing and support abilities. For a more defensive version of this character, you can swap out Shirahadori and Teleport for Mana Shield and Manafont. You'll be a little less mobile, but Mana Shield and Manafont will provide Orlandeau with an almost constant buffer of HP that is effective against any kind of attack. AGRIAS Job : Holy Knight Action Ability : Iaido or other Reaction Ability : Shirahadori Support Ability : Dual Wield Movement Ability : Move +3 Equipment : Chaos Blade, Excalibur, Maximillian, Ribbon, Chantage or Tynar Rouge Bravery : High (97) Faith : Low (03) ------------------------------------------------------ Same as Orlandeau, but with the Ribbon's immunity to status changes, she's even more invulnerable. For an accessory, you can choose between a Chantage (for a permanent Reraise), or the instant Haste, attack boost, and protection of the Tynar Rouge. The Rouge is probably the overall better choice, with the extra attack power and permanent Shell/Protect, you may not even need a Reraise that often! Since Agrias is female and can't use the Bard job, getting Move +3 requires unlocking Dark Knight; in the mean time, you can give her the Thief's Move +2. BEOWULF Job : Templar Action Ability : Summon or Darkness Equipment : Excalibur ------------------------------------------------------ Beowulf's Templar job is fairly useful as it can inflict a lot of status conditions with no charge time. It also has the highest MP total of any job in the game. This means that Beowulf can also make a good Summoner, since the high MP cost of Summons isn't such an issue for him. If you take this route with him, you may also want to give him Swiftness so the Summons charge faster. Since Beowulf's Spellblade abilities don't depend on the strength of his weapon, maximizing out his weapon power isn't so important. Instead, give him an Excalibur for its permanent Haste effect. Or, if you've unlocked Dark Knight, the Darkness abilities pair up well with Beowulf's Vengeance ability. You can first use Darkness attacks, which sap Beowulf's HP ... thus making his Vengeance attack stronger! And, if his HP gets *too* low, you can restore it with Sanguine Sword. REIS Job : Dragonkin Action Ability : Martial Arts or Steal or Jump Support Ability : Brawler Movement Ability : Move +3 Equipment : no weapon, Septie`me or Tynar Rouge Bravery : High (97) ------------------------------------------------------ Although Reis has high HP, her punches are pretty weak without Brawler and a high Bravery. Finally, since her move range is somewhat short, Move +3 (or a lesser movement ability) will help her get across the battlefield. She can't use much equipment, but you CAN give her perfume or lip rouge. Both the Septie`me or Tynar Rouge will increase her magick attack (making her breath attacks stronger) and give her Haste, allowing her to take more turs. What about action abilities? If you've equipped Brawler, it makes sense to also give her Martial Arts or Steal as an action ability since both these abilities benefit from Brawler. Or, you could give her Jump, since she has very high speed and this will make your Jump attacks execute quickly. Paired with a Tiamat or Greater Hydra, Reis makes for one heck of a fighting team, and she's also good at recruiting enemy monsters with her inherent Tame. CONSTRUCT 8 Bravery : High (97) ------------------------------------------------------ Since Construct 8 can't change abilities or equipment and always has the minimal level of Faith, the only way you can improve it is to max out its Bravery and level it up. BALTHIER Job : Sky Pirate Support Ability : Brawler Equipment : Mirage Vest or Ninja Gear, Green Beret or Lambent Hat or Thief's Cap, Hermes Shoes ------------------------------------------------------ Again, if you want to steal, this is the way to go. Balthier's Plunder abilities and high Speed make him the best item-stealer in the game, if you're so inclined. CLOUD Support Ability : Swiftness Equipment : Materia Blade, Lambent Hat, Magepower Glove ------------------------------------------------------ Swiftness makes Cloud's Limits charge faster. And giving him a Lambent Hat for headgear and Magepower Glove as accessoriy raises his magick attack strength, which makes his Limits stronger. BYBLOS Bravery : High (97) Faith : Low (03) ------------------------------------------------------ As with Construct 8, tweaking the Byblos is pretty much limited to increasing its Bravery. None of the Byblos's abilities depend on Faith, so you can also safely lower its Faith to 3 to defend it against enemy magick. %%%PARTY STRATEGIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00par HOLY JUSTICE 4 Knights with Chameleon Robes Black Mage with Arithmeticks, Holy (White Mage) learned, Chameleon Robes ------------------------------------------------------ Have the Black Mage calculate Holy on as many targets as possible; it will do lots of damage to the enemies but heal all your characters since Chameleon Robes absorb holy damage! PHANTOMS OF THE OPERA 4 Dancers with Mincing Minuet (Dancer) and Vanish (Ninja) Ramza as a Mime ------------------------------------------------------ At the start of the battle, have all the Dancers dance Mincing Minuet, which will damage all the enemies. Have them Wait out all their turns and they will keep on Mincing. When the Dancers get hit, Vanish will turn them invisible. Now, if you act while invisible, you'll become visible again... but if you just wait, you keep using Mincing Minuet, and it doesn't count as an action! In other words, you can stay invisible (and consequently inVINCible) and keep damaging the enemies. You can't lose! Well, except for Ramza... just have run and hide; he'll Mimic all the Minuets. (In non-story battles, you can dump Ramza in favor of another Dancer.) KEEP YOURSELF ALIVE 1 female character with Chantage Another character with Ninja Gear, the Invisiblity Cloak, or Septie`me perfume ------------------------------------------------------ Chantage makes a character virtually invulnerable by giving her a permanent Reraise ... but, of course, the one catch is that at least one other character has to be still alive for the Reraise to work. What to do? Make another teammate invisible (using the Ninja Gear, Invisibility Cloak, or Septie`me) and have him/her hide in the corner where s/he won't get hit. As long as the invisible character doesn't act and stays invisible, s/he won't get targeted by enemies and can't die. This means the character with Chantage can Reraise indefinitely! You can't lose! The only possible snag is if the invisible character gets caught in the effect radius of a wide-range spell, which will cause you to lose invisibility, but hiding in the corner is usually a good way to keep this from happening. ******************************************************************************* VIII. STATISTICS AND LEVELING ******************************************************************************* %%%BRAVERY AND FAITH%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00brave Bravery and Faith are two "special" statistics that are not affected by gaining levels. Bravery affects a couple different combat skills, while Faith governs the effectiveness of magic. Bravery and Faith each range on a scale from 0 to 100 for each character, both human and monster. They are not affected by equipment, experience level, or job. Instead, only a few abilities and story events (listed below) will change Bravery or Faith temporarily for a battle. At the end of the battle, a quarter of this change (rounded down) also becomes permanent. For instance, raising your Bravery by 4 during a battle results in a 1-point permanent increase at the end of the battle. Or, a 9-point decrease in Bravery during a battle will result in a 2-point permanent decrease. This calculation means it's not possible for Bravery or Faith to be permanently raised above 97 or below 3 -- you can only get a 3-point change, which is not enough for a permanent change! ---Bravery--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bravery relates to a couple different elements in combat. Generally speaking, a high Bravery is better (and, in fact, will help you out quite a lot!) ---WHAT DOES BRAVERY AFFECT?--- - The chance of using most Reaction Abilities in response to an enemy attack is equal to your Bravery. So, a high Bravery means you'll use Reaction Abilities more. This is quite helpful, and the best reason for raising your Bravery. - A higher Bravery increases the damage you deal when attacking with fists, knight's swords, and/or katanas. - A higher level of Bravery increases your level of success at some Errands. - If a unit's Bravery drops below 10 during battle, she/he/it will turn into a Chicken. As a Chicken, the character cannot be controlled and will simply flee into a corner and do nothing. A Chicken regains 1 Bravery each turn and will turn back into its regular self once his/her Bravery gets back to 10. - If a unit's permanent Bravery gets too low, he or she will abandon the team out of cowardice and permanently disappear from the roster. - When discovering items using the Treasure Hunter movement ability, you receive one of two different possible items based on Bravery ... in this case, having a LOW Bravery makes receiving the "good" item more likely. For this reason, Rapha makes a great Treasure Hunter as she starts with a very low Bravery. ---WHAT CHANGES BRAVERY?--- Bravery can be increased during battle by: - Your choices in two story battles. Choosing to rush the enemy and not help Argath on the Mandalia Plain in Chapter I will raise the current team's Bravery by 10 for the battle (at least 2 of which is thus permanent). In Chapter II, choosing to help Mustadio at Zaland will raise Bravery by 20; choosing not to help him will raise Bravery by 10. - The Orator's Praise skill raises Bravery by 4. - The Dancer's Bravery Boost reaction ability raises Bravery by 3 in response to a physical attack. Note that one use of this by itself is not enough for a permanent change. - Ramza and Luso's ability Steel (only available in Chapter II or later) raises Bravery by 5 and has a 100% hit rate. - Ramza and Luso have an ability called Shout (not available for Ramza until Chapter IV) that raises their own Bravery by 10, but can only target themselves, not other allies. - Reis's Dragon's Might ability raises a dragon or hydra's Bravery. It does not work on other characters/monsters. Bravery can be decreased by: - Choosing not to help Boco in the story battle at Araguay Woods in Chapter II. This gives a 10 point penalty to the party's Bravery - The Mystic's Trepidation magick and the Orator's Intimidate ability each lowers Bravery by 20. - Beowulf's Chicken ability lowers Bravery by 50! - The Dread Gaze ability possessed by the Floating Eye and Ahriman monsters lowers a character's Bravery by 10. Remember that only 1/4 (25%) of these changes remain after a battle. ---WHAT LEVEL OF BRAVERY IS GOOD?--- There's little reason not to shoot for as high a Bravery as you can get. It makes your Reaction Abilities more effective, and increases the power of certain weapon types. The ONLY downside to having a higher Bravery is that it keeps you from finding rare items with Treasure Hunter. But, you can just keep one specialized character with a low Bravery for that, and raise your main fighting team to have as high a Bravery as possible. Plus, once you've collected all the rare Treasure Hunter items, you don't need a low-Bravery character any more and can raise his/her Bravery back up. ---HOW CAN I RAISE BRAVERY?--- The best way to gain Bravery is to use Ramza and Luso's Steel ability. Steel gives you the largest Bravery boost (5) and has a 100% hit rate. (To increase Ramza and Luso's own Bravery, Shout is even better.) If you want to grind Bravery, deploy both Ramza and Luso, increase their speed, and use Steel/Shout until everyone's Bravery is maxed out at 100. Then finish off the enemies. Since only 1/4 of your Bravery gains are permanent, you'll have to repeat this process quite a few times to actually reach the highest permanent Bravery possible (97). Also, when you encounter the three battles in the story where you're given a choice of mission objectives, be sure to pick the options that net you a higher Bravery (don't help Argath; help Boco and Mustadio). This is a nice early Bravery boost before you have other abilities to tweak it. ---HOW CAN I LOWER BRAVERY?--- The only reason you'll want to lower Bravery is for Treasure Hunter, but the quickest way to do this is with Beowulf's Chicken. (The good Treasure Hunter items don't show up until after Beowulf is available.) Each use of Chicken can net up to a 12-point drop in permanent Bravery. Use it over the course of several battles to drop your Bravery quite a bit. For final tuning of your Bravery, use Intimidate to make smaller 4-point changes. (Remember that if you go TOO low, you run the risk of the character deserting!) ---Faith----------------------------------------------------------------------- Faith is mostly related to magick, and can be both good and bad. ---WHAT DOES FAITH AFFECT?--- - Magick is most effective when cast by characters with high Faith. Attack spells do more damage, healing spells restore more HP, and status-changing magick is more likely to succeed. (The exception is Sky Mantra abilities, which are independent of Faith.) - But, enemy magick is also more effective against you when you have high Faith. - "Magick" guns (Glacial Gun, Blaze Gun, Blaster) are more likely to do high damage when the user has high Faith. - A LOW Faith increases the attack strength of fell swords wielded by the character. - A LOW level of Faith also increases the damage a character receives from Marach's Nether Mantra ability. - A higher level of Faith increases your level of success at some Errands. - If your character's permanent Faith level gets too high, the character will experience a religious conversion and permanently quit the team. ---WHAT CHANGES FAITH?--- Faith can be increased by: - The Orator's Preach skill raises Faith by 4. - The Bard's Faith Boost reaction ability raises Faith by 3 in response to a magick attack. Note that one use of this by itself is not enough for a permanent change. - The Mystic's Belief spell and the Templar's Belief swordskill cause Faith status, which acts as a temporary increase in a character's Faith to 100. Because this status has no effect on a character's actual Faith number, it does not result in any permanent change to Faith. - The Rod of Faith weapon gives the character equipped with it a permanent Faith status as long as it is equipped. (But, again, this never affects your actual Faith number.) - Striking characters with the Rod of Faith can bestow the Faith status on them. Faith can be decreased by: - The Orator's Enlighten skill lowers Faith by 20. - The Mystic's Disbelief spell and Templar's Doubt swordksill cause Atheist status, which is the reverse of Faith status: it acts as a temporary reduction to 0 in Faith, but also has no permanent impact on Faith. ---WHAT LEVEL OF FAITH IS GOOD?--- Unlike with Bravery, there's no "best" Faith value since Faith is a double- edged sword -- it makes your own magicks stronger, but it also increases the damage you take from enemy magicks. For magick-users, you'll probably want a high Faith in order to increase your magick strength. If you have a support character using a magick gun, you might want to boost his Faith as well to make the gun more effective. Remember, though, that you can't get your Faith TOO high (95+) or the character will quit your team. If a character isn't going to be using magick, you may want to lower his Faith as low as possible. Of course, this destroys his/her ability to use magicks, but it also renders them virtually invulnerable to enemy magicks. For characters who use primarily physical attacks (e.g. Ninjas, Dark Knights, special characters with swordskills) and not magicks, low Faith is actually a great defensive asset! ---HOW CAN I RAISE/LOWER FAITH?--- You're pretty much dependent on the Orator's skills to change Faith. Just make as many characters into Orators as possible, defeat most of the enemies and cripple the remaining ones (see tips below), then have them use Enlighten or Preach on each other. %%%EXP, JP, AND GIL%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00exp ---EXP and Experience Levels--------------------------------------------------- Characters gain experience after every successful action except Defend and Re-equip, unless they're KOed by an enemy counterattack. Gaining 100 experience points advances a character's experience level by 1 and resets the experience count to 0. You cannot "carry over" any excess experience; gaining 23 EXP when you have 99 EXP still leaves you with 0 EXP at your new level. Stats that increase with level gains include maximum HP, maximum MP, attack power, magick power, and speed. Attack and magick power and speed increase fairly slowly, though; you won't see these increase with every level gain. Bravery and Faith do NOT increase with level up; they have their own mechanic (see Bravery and Faith, above). Other stats that do NOT increase with level ups are Move and Jump ranges and evade rates. Of the five stats that do change, the amount each stat increases at level-up is determined by the character's current job. For example, being a Knight will cause you to gain more HP at level up than a Black Mage, but vice versa for MP. (You can exploit this by leveling down and then back up; see Level-Downs & Stat Grinding, below) A character's experience level and current EXP count can also be used as the basis of targeting Arithmeticks (see the Arithmetician job description above). ---HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE?--- The number of experience points you earn is largely determined by the gap beween YOUR level and the TARGET's level. You'll earn 10 EXP for performing an action on a target as the same level as you. Performing actions (either healing or attacking) on characters of higher level than you will get you MORE experience, and the gain is bigger the bigger the difference in level. Of course, healing or attacking characters of lower level will you earn you LESS experience, and the penalty is bigger the bigger the gap (though you'll always earn at least 1 EXP). A good way to build up low-level characters is to have them heal teammates who are at a higher level. This is safe and won't get them counterattacked, and if there's a big gap in level, they'll gain experience quickly. This technique is particularly useful for building up Cloud, who starts at experience level 1 at a time when most of your characters are probably at least level 40. Guns are also useful for low-level characters since their damage is not based on any stats that are dependent on level. (Regular gun damage is based only on the attack strength of the gun, and magickal guns reflect only attack strength and Faith, which doesn't change with levels.) ---OTHER WAYS TO GAIN EXP--- - The Arithmetician support ability EXP Boost doubles the experience you earn from regular actions. - The Thief action ability Steal EXP steals all of an enemy's current experience counter (i.e., anywhere from 0 to 99) and adds it to the stealer's own experience counter. This can be useful for small-scale experience boosts, but it's limited by the amount of EXP that your enemy has. - The Arithmetician movement ability Accrue EXP gives you additional experience every time you move around the battlefield. - The Wild Boar monster -- available only by breeding from a Swine or other Wild Boar -- has an ability called Bequeath Bacon that becomes available when it is standing next to an ally with the Squire's Beastmaster support ability. This ability causes its target to gain 1 experience level, but turns the Wild Boar into a crystal, killing it permanently. ---ONION KNIGHTS--- The Onion Knight job cannot gain EXP! So, the easy way to level up to Onion Knights is switch them to another job to level up. The hard way is to use Bequeath Bacon, which is time-consuming but rewards you with the best stat gains -- see the Level-Downs and Stat Grinding section below. ---Gaining JP------------------------------------------------------------------ JP is gained after every action, just like experience. Characters earn JP for each job separately -- whatever your current job is, that's the job you'll earn JP for. JP is used to "purchase" new abilities. It is also used to advance your job level -- see Unlocking Jobs uo in the Jobs section. ---SPILLOVER JP--- Whenever a character gains JP, all other allies ALSO gain some JP for the same job, equal to 25% of the JP earned by the original character. For example, if a character on your team who's a Ninja performs an action and gains 40 JP, your other units will also gain 10 JP for the Ninja job, regardless of what their current job is. This bonus applies ONLY to characters participating in the current battle. It does not apply to the other characters in your roster whom you did not deploy. Note that "spillover" JP accumulates even for a jobs a given character hasn't unlocked yet. You'll see it once the job DOES becomes available. For instance, if Ramza earns JP as a Dragoon, Agrias will get spillover JP for the Dragoon job, even if she hasn't unlocked it. JP continues to be earned and distributed this way even if the character already has 9999 JP for the job and his/her own JP count has stopped. ---OTHER WAYS TO GAIN JP--- - Characters at higher experience levels gain more JP! So, you'll find it much quicker to unlock jobs and abilities at the end of the game than at the start. - The Squire support ability JP Boost increases the JP you earn for each action by 50%. - The Arithmetician movement ability Accrue JP gives you additional experience every time you move around the battlefield. - JP is received from completing any Errand available in the Taverns in every town. For the best reward, match up your jobs with the demands of the Errand -- see the Errands list for more information. ---Gil------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gil is Ivalice's currency and is used to purchase items and services in towns. Unlike EXP and JP, gil is not earned after every action. Instead, it's primarily earned at the end of a battle as Bonus Coin. The amount of Bonus Coin you receive at the end of the battle is equal to the combined level of all the enemies times 100. The other major way to earn gil is to sell items and equipment in your inventory to the Outfitter or Poachers' Den. You'll receive half the list price for each item (e.g., an item that costs 400 gil to buy at the Outfitter will net you 200 gil when sold). A lot of equipment simply becomes obsolete after newer equipment becomes available, so sell away! For example, there's no reason to keep Leather Helms (+10 HP) when Bronze Helms (+20 HP) are available. However, you may want to hang on to equipment with particular special effects (e.g. immunity to certain status conditions), as these often come in handy for particular battles. ---OTHER WAYS TO EARN GIL--- - Gil is received from completing any Errand available in the Taverns in every town. It costs some gil to sign up for each Errand to begin with, though, so your profit is often somewhat limited--in some cases, you can even LOSE money on an Errand! For the best reward, match up your jobs with the demands of the Errand -- see the Errands list for more information. - The Thief action ability Steal Gil gives you a small amount of gil if it succesfully hits an enemy unit. (Note that when enemy Thieves hit YOU with Steal Gil, you'll actually lose money out of your War Funds!) - The Thief reaction ability Gil Snapper, when triggered, gives you an amount of gil equal to the amount of damage the character just received. This actually isn't all that useful an ability, since the amount of gil you get from it is small compared to Bonus Coin. (Even an attack that does 998 HP damage would only get you 998 gil, compared to the tens of thousands you can earn in Bonus Gil.) - Many story battles also give you a fixed amount of gil as a Battle Trophy after the battle in addition to the regular Bonus Coin. These include story battles #1, #4, #5, #6, #7, #10, #13, #14, #16, #19, #22, #26, #29, #35, #39, and #42. This gil tends to be helpful early in the game, but in the later battles is quite small relative to the Bonus Coin. - If you pick up an item from a chest during the battle and already have the maximum 99 copies of that item, you'll instead be given gil equal to 1/4 of the list price of the item. %%%QUICKLY EARNING EXP AND JP%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00quick The follow sections describes how EXP, JP, and gil are earned, and strategies for earning them quickly and maxing out your stats. It's RARELY (if ever!) necessary to spend time grinding experience to complete the game. In most cases, a change of strategy is all you need to get you through the next battle. But, if you're absolutely stuck or if you just want to max out your characters, read on :) ---BASIC STRATEGY--- The basic strategy for quickly raising JP is to take out all but 1 or 2 enemies, and then afflict the remaining ones with status conditions that prevent them from doing much of anything. Now, your characters can simply perform actions over and over to net JP. A more detailed breakdown of these steps: ---PARALYZING THE ENEMIES--- Status conditions that prevent the enemy from doing much of anything include Stop, Disable, Toad, and Chicken. Chicken and (especially) Toad are the best as Chicken lasts for as many as 10 enemy turns, and Toad lasts until actively removed. Turning the last enemies to Stone will end the battle, so don't do this. To further increase the number of actions you can take relative to the enemy, you can raise your Speed and/or lower the enemy's (e.g., with Tailwind, Rend Speed, etc.) This will reduce the amount of time you have to waste watching the enemy move. Finally, remember that it's important to keep the last enemy alive. If the last enemy is KOed, the battle ends. For this reason, it's a good idea to remove Reaction Abilities that would allow you to counterattack and accidentally KO the enemy. ---RAISING JP--- The Focus ability (Squire) is probably the best for gaining JP, as it can be acquired early in the game, requires no charge time, always succeeds, and does not consume MP. Plus, it even has a fairly short animation! Once you've turned the enemies into poultry or amphibians, you can simply use Focus over and over to build JP. Most of the special story characters, however, can't learn Focus, and neither can monsters. For these characters, you'll need to use other action patterns: - Inflict a minor status condition, then cure that condition. For instance, make a character blind with the Mystic's Umbra spell or Beowulf's Blind sword technique, then use Eye Drops to remove it. - Attack other allied units. This works best if you turn the character into a Toad first to minimize the damage s/he can do. (You could also use repeated Rend Powers instead of Toad.) Or, equip the target with Chantage and she will regenerate no matter times you attack and KO her. If you're going to be attacking your allies, make sure they aren't equipped with shields, cloaks, or reaction abilities that can stop attacks (like Shirahadori or First Strike). You won't earn any JP for a dodged or blocked attack. - After you do some damage attacking your allies, you can also then use Chakra or other healing abilities to heal the damage you inflicted, for another source of JP. Equipping the Squire's JP Boost is a HUGE help in raising JP. This ability gives you a 50% boost to your JP and can be learned very early. (Even characters without a Squire job have JP Boost available.) Remember that the "spillover JP" effect means that whenever you gain for a given job, the other active characters gain a lesser amount of JP for the same job. You can adjust your strategy accordingly: If you really want to learn abilities from ONE job, you can turn multiple characters into that job to maximize your JP gains for that job. Or, you can use different jobs to spread your JP gains between multiple jobs. This can be useful if Character A only needs a few more JP for a particular job (say, Knight) -- you can make Character B a Knight and Character A can just pick up the remaining Knight JP from spillover while s/he works on a different job. ---RAISING EXP--- You can raise experience points in pretty much the same way as JP, since you'll also earn experience for all of the actions listed above. Since you can earn more experience by attacking/healing high-level characters, a good strategy is to bring a mix of high-level and low-level characters, and let the low-level characters beat up the high-level characters. Adding high- level characters to your team will also increase the level of the enemies, and so the low-level characters can earn more EXP from them as well. If you're trying to max out your characters, note that you'll hit the maximum experience level LONG before you master every job. So, it makes more sense to focus your leveling efforts on gaining JP and to equip JP Boost instead of EXP Boost. Once you hit level 99 and 99 experience, you can easily cast healing or defensive magicks to your whole party using Arithmeticks and Level Multiple of 3 or Exp Multiple of 3. (Of course, you might hit a few enemies too.) Note that, for monsters, it may be faster to get a "new" high-level monster rather than level up an existing one. The level of a new monster born from an egg can be as high as the highest-level character on your roster. So, if you have a monster type you like but the monster is at a low experience level, you can let the monster breed and you can probably get a higher-level version of the same monster that way. ---RAISING BRAVERY/FAITH--- If you want to grind your Bravery and Faith up or down, you can paralyze the enemies in the same way, and then repeatedly use abilities that change your Bravery and Faith. The best abilities for this job are: - Raising Bravery: Steel (Ramza/Luso) - Lowering Bravery: Chicken (Beowulf) for large changes, Intimidate (Orator) for smaller changes - Raising Faith: Preach (Orator) - Lowering Faith: Enlighten (Orator) ---PARALYZING EXCESS PARTY MEMBERS--- If you have extra party members that you don't want to level, use the Orator's Induration spell to turn them to stone. This prevents them from getting any turns at all, so you don't have to bother with them. (And, unlike being KOed, it will never kill you permanently.) This can be a useful strategy if you're trying to level up weaker characters, who might not be able to handle the enemy party on their own. You can bring a few strong characters to wipe out the batch of enemies, but then turn those strong characters into Stone so you won't have to bother with them while your weak characters train. %%%AUTOMATED LEVELING%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00auto It's possible to combine the above leveling tactics to make the game AI automatically raise JP and experience for you! You can let the characters fight and earn JP without even having to watch the game. The procedure is pretty straightforward -- you really only need the Toad and Induration spells to do it, although having Rend Power and/or Rend Speed and Berserk will help. Here's the method: STEP ONE: Make sure at least one character on your team has learned the Toad spell (Black Mage), and also either Induration (Mystic) or Arithmeticks. STEP TWO: In the Options list, set Battle Prompts, Display Ability Names, and Display Effect Messages, and Display Earned EXP/JP (items 6 through 9) to OFF, so that these messages won't interrupt the game. STEP THREE: Designate one character as the Toad-caster. Change the remaining characters to whatever Jobs you want to gain JP. STEP FOUR (OPTIONAL): Equip JP Boost on the characters who will be gaining JP. This isn't strictly *necessary*, but certainly helps you gain JP faster! STEP FIVE: Get into a battle. Random battles at the Mandalia Plain work great because they have weak enemies and helpful terrain, but anywhere works. STEP SIX: Defeat all but 1 or 2 of the enemies. Clear out the enemy bodies and any chests or crystals. (Crystals will interrupt the battle with a message you have to respond to, so you want to get rid of them.) STEP SEVEN (OPTIONAL): Use Rend Speed (Knight) repeatedly to reduce the remaining enemies' speed. This isn't required, but will speed up your leveling by reducing the number of enemy turns interrupting the process. STEP EIGHT (OPTIONAL): Use Rend Power (Knight) to reduce your own characters' and the enemies' attack strength. This allows you to earn more JP per battle, as your characters will have to take more turns to finish off the enemies. If you're going to be using Rend Power on yourself, remove any accessories or reaction abilities that evade physical attacks (e.g. shields or Shirahadori), so that you won't be dodging the Rend Powers. STEP NINE: Use the Toad spell to turn the remaining enemies, as well as your allies, into toads. Having a high Faith will increase the likelihood that the spell succeed in turning characters into toads. Once you have Arithmeticks, you can use it to more efficiently cast Toad on everyone. As noted in sahkuh's YouTube video below, Mandalia Plain provides a great opportunity to do this. Just put all the characters you want to turn to Toads on height 2 ground (and lure the enemy up there) and position your Toad-caster stands on the height 4 rock, then cast Height Prime Toad. If the spell misses any characters, move the remaining ones onto the height 3 rocks and cast Height Multiple of 3 Toad. If you're not using Arithmeticks, it may be helpful to bring Chakra or some Ethers to make sure you have enough MP for repeated casts of Toad. STEP TEN (OPTIONAL): If there any characters you don't need to level up, take them out of the action so that they don't steal any of the EXP/JP! You can do this in two ways: 10A) Set them to AI control and pick the Coward option. As long as they're Toads, they'll simply run and hide in the corner. 10B) Use the Mystic's Induration spell to turn them to Stone. STEP ELEVEN: Set your Toad allies to fight automatically. There are two ways to do this: 11A) Use the Mystic's Fervor spell to give them Berserk status. (You can use Arithmeticks to cast this on many characters at once.) If you have Fervor available, this is the preferred method. Just make sure you don't Berserk your human character by accident, as s/he will finish off the enemy toads too quickly. 11B) Set the characters to AI control. Choose the "Berserker" AI pattern and set them to attack the remaining enemies. As long as ALL your allies have Toad or Stone status, they'll attack away. (If there is at least one non- Toad character on your side, AI-controlled Toads will flee instead of attacking.) Note that method 11B will NOT work if any of the characters have the Black Magicks command and the Toad spell, as the AI will then have the characters cast Toad on themselves to turn back into human form. You can either drain away their all MP beforehand, or just use method 11A. The AI-controlled toads will sometimes also get "stuck" in a weird AI pattern and stop attacking the enemy. If you're using this method and the AI stops attacking, press Triangle to pause and change the AI to Coward for one turn to make your characters run away. Then switch them back to Berserker and they should start attacking again. Since this requires additional babysitting of the game and isn't completely automatic, using the Fervor magick is better. Characters with Berserk status will ALWAYS attack. At this point, the Toad-ified characters will automatically fight the enemy toad(s), doing minimal damage (especially if you used Rend Power beforehand) but earning JP each time. This allows them to automatically earn a tremendous amount of JP as they keep fighting in toad form. The only issue is what to do with your remaining human character, who was casting Toad on everyone: STEP TWELVE: Remove your Toad-caster from active control, so that your team will be fully automatic. Again, you can do this in two ways: 12A) Cast the Mystic's Induration spell on yourself to turn to Stone. The character won't get any turns at all for the rest of battle, so you won't have to enter commands for him/her. However, s/he won't be able to participate in the auto-leveling either. 12B) Cast Toad on yourself, then set the character to AI control and choose the "Berserker" AI pattern to start attacking the enemy. This has the advantage of allowing all 5 characters to gain JP, but it ONLY works if you are using Arithmeticks to cast Toad--because if you have the Black Magicks command available, the AI will simply cast Toad on itself and turn the character back to a human. So, if you don't have Arithmeticks yet, use method 12A. Once you've turned your last human character into Stone or an AI-controlled toad, your party will be fully automatic. Your toads will battle the enemy toad and rack up a ton of JP in the process. At this point, you can simply leave the game running and do something else. Just make sure your PSP has plenty of power -- you may want to plug it in before you leave. Eventually, your party will finish off the last enemy toad. Then, it's time to repeat the process with a new battle. Using Rend Power will allow each battle to run longer since the characters will need more turns to finish off the enemy toad. You can level every character in the game this way except for Construct 8, who is immune to Toad status. To build up Construct 8, you can use Rend Power to reduce its attack strength as much as possible and then set it to AI control. CAUTION!: Of course, it's still possible for the enemy toad(s) to KO/kill your characters. This is bad. However, as long as you outnumber the enemy and/or used Rend Speed on the enemy toads, you'll win easily. If you want to be extra cautious, give your characters Reraise before you've turned everyone to toads. YouTube user sahkuh has uploaded an excellent video demonstration of this general method. At the time of this writing, this video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3dSSDwNSFE %%%LEVEL DOWNS AND STAT GRINDING%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00down As noted in the EXP section, the stat gains you gain at level up are partially based on your current job -- for example, being a Knight will cause you to gain more HP at level up than a Black Mage, but vice versa for MP. If you want to max out your stats, find a Degenerator trap on a map, or recruit a Mindflayer and use Beastmaster to access its Level Blast ability. (Both of these will lower a character's experience level.) Turn into your character into a Mystic and activate the trap/Level Blast. Since Mystics have small stat gains per level, the level drop will only decrease your stats a little. Now, change the character into a better job and level back up. Your stat gains at level up will be based on the current job, so by the time you get back to the same level, you'll have gained more than you lost. This results in a net INCREASE in your stats, even though at you're at the SAME level! If you really have nothing better to do with your time ;), you can keep repeating this cycle over and over to keep raising your stats. Two convenient Degenerator traps that you may want to use: - Zeklaus Desert, in the ravine in the center of the map. It's in one corner of the ravine, on a tile of height 0 next to a cliff with height 3. If you enter the desert from Gollund, you'll start fairly close to this tile. - Midlight's Deep floor 2, The Stair. It's on the tile with one of the Elixirs (see the Midlight's Deep sections above for the specific location of the tile). Of the two Elixirs, it's actually the one that's right next to where your team starts, which makes it really handy! If you REALLY want to maximize your stat gains, the job with the best stats at level-up is the Onion Knight. But since Onion Knights don't gain regular experience and can't equip the Steal EXP or Accrue EXP skills, there's only way to level them up: the Wild Boar's Bequeath Bacon skill. First, you'll need a Swine on your team; use it to breed some Wild Boars. (Wild Boars don't appear anywhere on their own.) During battle, position the Wild Boar next to a character with the Squire's Beastmaster skill (or Reis, whose Dragonkin job has an innate Beastmaster) to make Bequeath Bacon available. Use Bequeath Bacon on your Onion Knight. This causes the Onion Knight to gain 1 level, but turns the Wild Boar into a crystal, killing it permanently. Then, get another Wild Boar and repeat the process to gain another level, and so on. This obviously takes a lot of time, but you can great stats out of it, so if you're into leveling, go hog wild :) (pun intended ;) ) If you don't want to go to all this effort, a quicker alternative is to level up as a Mime. Mimes don't have quite as big stat gains as Onion Knights, but they're still big and it's a lot easier to gain levels as a Mime since they can earn experience the usual ways. The other reason you may want to use level downs is if you're expecting to face enemy Arithmeticians (which is pretty infrequent). Changing level 99 characters to level 98 prevents them from being hit by Level Multiple of 3 spells. ******************************************************************************* IX. EQUIPMENT AND ITEMS 00equip ******************************************************************************* A few words of introduction here as well: Many (but not all) items can be bought at the Outfitters, but most are not available at the start of the game. As you progress through the game, the shop inventories go through a series of revisions. In the tables below, the SHOP column denotes which revision makes the item available: #1: Beginning of Game #2: Chapter I - After reaching Eagrose Castle #3: Chapter I - After Sand Rat's Sieve #4: Chapter I - After defeating Milleuda at Lenalian Plateau #5: Chapter II - Beginning of chapter #6: Chapter II - After Ovelia and Agrias join as guests #7: Chapter II - After reaching Lionel Castle #8: Chapter II - After reaching Goug #9: Chapter II - After battle at Balias Tor #10: Chapter III - Beginning of chapter #11: Chapter III - After Alma joins as guest #12: Chapter III - After battles at Orbonne Monastery #13: Chapter III - After Rapha joins as guest #14: Chapter IV - Beginning of chapter #15: Chapter IV - After Fort Besselat #16: Chapter IV - After battles at Limberry Castle A "--" in the SHOP column indicates the item is NEVER available at stores -- see the Rare Item Locations list in Section X for information on where to get these. All items, including ones that can't be bought at the Outfitters, can be sold for 1/2 the listed price. Items acquired through the Poacher's Den are bought for 1/2 the listed price. # denotes an item that can ONLY be obtained in the game's multiplayer mode. %%%WEAPONS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00weap In the tables below, PARRY is the evasion rate granted by the weapon when used with the Knight's Parry reaction ability. Without Parry equipped, this statistic has no effect. DAMAGE BASES: Different classes of weapons use different stats in calculating their damage output. For example, the damage from Swords is based on the user's Physical Attack stat (as well as on the strength of the sword, etc.), while Ninja Blades take into consideration both Physical Attack and Speed. (These are listed in the charts below for each weapon type.) Based on a character's stats, you can try to choose a good matching weapon type. Here's a quick overview of what stats relate to what weapon types: Physical Attack : Swords, Axes, Rods, Flails, Crossbows, Polearms Phys. Attack & Speed : Knives, Ninja Blades, Bows Phys. Attack & Bravery : Fists, Knight's Swords, Katanas Phys. Attack & LOW Faith : Fell Swords Phys. Attack & Mag. Attack : Instruments, Books, Cloths Magick Attack : Staves, Poles Faith : Magick guns none : Non-magick guns, Bags (Note that since guns don't take any of the user's statistics into consideration, they can be good for low-level characters with poor stats.) DUAL WIELD: This indicates whether the weapon can be used with the Ninja's Dual Wield ability, which allows you to equip two weapons at once. DOUBLEHAND: Indicates whether the weapon can be used with the Samurai's Doublehand ability, which allows you to wield one weapon with both hands to increase your attack power. "Doublehand: Only" means that the weapon type ALWAYS requires both hands. You don't Doublehand to use these weapons, but you also can't use Doublehand to increase their attack power. RANGE: Each weapon type has a range. The horizontal range is how many tiles the weapon reaches. The vertical range is the maximum allowable difference in height between you and your target. A * here indicates an unlimited vertical range. Note that many weapons have different vertical range when used to attack upwards (i.e., an enemy above you) vs. when used to attack downards. Unlike magick, all weapons have an effect radius of 1 tile only -- they only strike a single target. Almost weapon types require a direct line of fire between the user and target. The exception is regular bows (regular bows ONLY - NOT crossbows!), which can also be fired in a vertical arc between the user and target. SPECIAL: Finally, many weapons have various special effects. Most commonly, these are one or more of the following: - "Inflicts:" - The weapon inflicts a status effect on its target. - "Always:" - The weapon gives the user a permanent status effect. - "Boosts:" - The weapon increases the power of spells of the named element when cast by the user (e.g. "Boosts: Ice" increases the power of ice spells cast by the person with the weapon). - "Casts:" - The weapon will sometimes cast a particular magick on its target after dealing its regular damage. - "____ elemental" - The weapon does elemental damage ---Fists----------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Bravery Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : No All human jobs, when no other weapon equipped Horiz. range : 1 Vert. range : 2 up, 3 down Equipping the Brawler support ability (Monk) increases the power of barehanded attacks. ---Knives---------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Speed Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Squire, Chemist, Thief, Orator, Ninja, Horiz. range : 1 Dancer, Onion Knight Vert. range : 2 up, Special Jobs: Squire [Ramza], Machinist, Game Hunter, 3 down Templar, Sky Pirate With Ability: none PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Dagger 100 3 5% #1 Mythril Knife 500 4 5% #2 Blind Knife 800 4 5% #3 Inflicts: Blind Mage Masher 1500 4 5% #4 Inflicts: Silence Platinum Dagger 1800 5 10% #6 Main Gauche 3000 6 40% #11 Orichalcum Dirk 4000 7 5% #12 Assassin's Dagger 5000 7 5% #13 Inflicts: Doom Air Knife 8000 10 5% #15 Wind elemental Zwill Straightblade 12000 12 10% -- Inflicts: Sleep ---Ninja Blades---------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Speed Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Ninja, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: Sword Saint Vert. range : 2 up, With Ability: none 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Ninja Blade 3000 8 5% #10 Kunai 5000 9 5% #11 Kodachi 7000 10 5% #12 Ninja Longblade 10000 12 5% #13 Spellbinder 16000 13 5% #14 Inflicts: Disable Sasuke's Blade 10 14 15% -- Iga Blade 10 15 10% -- Koga Blade 10 15 5% -- Orochi # 10 20 5% -- Drains HP from target to wielder Moonsilk Blade # 10 26 5% -- ---Swords---------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Squire, Knight, Geomancer, Dark Knight, Horiz. range : 1 Onion Knight Vert. range : 2 up, Special Jobs: Squire [Ramza], Squire [Delita], 3 down Squire [Argath], Fell Knight, Holy Knight, Game Hunter, Templar, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Sword Saint, Soldier, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability: Equip Swords [Knight] PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Nagnarok 10 1 50% -- Inflicts: Toad Broadsword 200 4 5% #1 Longsword 500 5 10% #2 Iron Sword 900 6 5% #3 Mythril Sword 1600 7 8% #4 Coral Sword 3300 8 5% #6 Lightning elemental Blood Sword 2500 8 5% -- Drains HP from target to wielder Ancient Sword 5000 9 5% #10 Inflicts: Immobilize Sleep Blade 5000 9 5% #11 Inflicts: Sleep Diamond Sword 8000 10 10% #12 Materia Blade 10 10 10% -- Enables Cloud's Limit command Platinum Sword 11000 12 10% #13 Icebrand 14000 13 10% #14 Ice elemental; Casts: Blizzaga Runeblade 20000 14 15% #15 Magick Atk+2 Moonblade # 10 20 15% -- Always: Haste Onion Sword # 10 50 15% -- Only equippable by Onion Knights! ---Knight's Swords------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Bravery Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Knight, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: Squire [Ramza] (ch.4), Fell Knight, Vert. range : 2 up, Holy Knight, Game Hunter, Templar, 3 down Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability: none PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Defender 40000 16 60% -- Save the Queen 10 18 30% -- Always: Protect Excalibur 10 21 30% -- Always: Haste; Absorbs: Holy; Boosts: Holy Ragnarok 10 24 20% -- Always: Shell Durandal # 10 26 40% -- Holy elemental; Always: Shell, Protect Chaos Blade 10 40 20% -- Always: Regen; Inflicts: Stone ---Katanas--------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Bravery Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Samurai, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: Sword Saint Vert. range : 2 up, With Ability: Equip Katana [Samurai] 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Ashura 1600 7 15% #7 Kotestu 3000 8 15% #7 Osafune 5000 9 15% #9 Murasame 7000 10 15% #10 Ama-no-Murakumo 8000 11 15% #11 Kiyomori 10000 12 15% #13 Muramasa 15000 14 15% #14 Kiku-ichimonji 22000 15 15% #15 Masamune 10 18 15% -- Chirijiraden 10 25 15% -- ---Fell Swords----------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, LOW Faith Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Dark Knight, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: none Vert. range : 2 up With Ability: none 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Chaosbringer # 10 16 0% -- Dark elemental, Inflicts: Blind Deathbringer # 10 20 0% -- Dark elemental, Inflicts: Doom Arondight # 10 24 0% -- Dark elemental, Inflicts: Slow Balmung # 10 32 0% -- Dark elemental, Inflicts: Stop Valhalla # 10 40 0% -- Dark elemental; Inflicts: instant KO ---Axes------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : Only Regular Jobs: Squire, Geomancer, Dark Knight, Horiz. range : 1 Onion Knight Vert. range : 2 up, Special Jobs: Squire [Argath] 3 down With Ability: Equip Axes [Squire] PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Battle Axe 1500 9 0% #4 Giant's Axe 4000 12 0% #7 Slasher 12000 16 0% #11 Inflicts: Slow Francisca # 10 24 0% -- Golden Axe # 10 30 0% -- Note: All axes do variable damage. The actual damage inflicted may be more or less than the estimate you see. (The estimate is the *average* damage you'll inflict.) ---Rods------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Black Mage, Summoner, Mystic, Horiz. range : 1 Onion Knight Vert. range : 2 up, Special Jobs: Netherseer 3 down With Ability: none PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Rod 200 3 20% #1 Thunder Rod 400 3 20% #3 Lightning elemental; Boosts: Lightning, Casts: Thunder Flame Rod 400 3 20% #3 Fire elemental; Boosts: Fire; Casts: Fire Ice Rod 400 3 20% #3 Ice elemental; Boosts: Ice; Casts: Blizzard Poison Rod 500 3 20% #6 Inflicts: Poison Wizard's Rod 8000 4 20% #12 Magick Atk+2 Dragon Rod 12000 5 20% -- Rod of Faith 10 5 20% -- Always: Faith; Inflicts: Faith Stardust Rod # 10 5 20% -- Magick Atk+3; Casts: Gravity Crown Sceptre # 10 5 20% -- Magick Atk+4 ---Staves---------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Magick Attack Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: White Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Mystic, Horiz. range : 1 Onion Knight Vert. range : 2 up, Special Jobs: Princess, Cleric, Skyseer 3 down With Ability: none PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Oak Staff 120 3 15% #1 White Staff 800 3 15% #3 Removes (from target): Doom Serpent Staff 2200 5 15% #6 Mage's Staff 4000 4 15% #9 Magick Atk+1 Healing Staff 4000 4 15% -- Restores HP instead of inflicting damage Nirvana # 10 5 15% -- Holy elemental, Magick Atk+3 Dreamwaker # 10 5 15% -- Magick Atk+4 Golden Staff 7000 6 15% #12 Zeus Mace 10 6 15% -- Physical Atk+2, Magick Atk+1 Staff of the Magi 10 7 15% -- ---Flails---------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : Yes Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Squire, Ninja, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: Squire [Ramza], Squire [Delita], Vert. range : 2 up, Squire [Argath], Game Hunter : 3 down With Ability: none PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Iron Flail 1200 9 0% #9 Flame Mace 4000 11 0% #11 Fire elemental; Casts: Fira Morning Star 9000 16 0% #13 Scorpion Tail 40000 23 0% -- Vesper # 10 36 0% -- Note: All axes do variable damage. The actual damage inflicted may be more or less than the estimate you see. (The estimate is the *average* damage you'll inflict.) ---Guns------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage based on user's: nothing (regular guns) Dual Wield : No Faith (magick guns) Doublehand : No Used By : Horiz. range : 3-8 Regular Jobs: Chemist, Orator, Onion Knight Vert. range : * up, Special Jobs: Machinist, Sky Pirate * down With Ability: Equip Guns [Orator] PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Romandan Pistol 5000 6 5% #8 Mythril Gun 15000 8 5% #11 Ras Algethi 28000 12 5% -- Stoneshooter 10 16 5% -- Inflicts: Stone; user begins each battle with Stone status Fomalhaut # 10 18 5% -- Glacial Gun 10 20 5% -- Ice elemental; variable damage* Blaze Gun 10 21 5% -- Fire elemental; variable damage* Blaster 10 22 5% -- Lightning elemental; variable damage* Note: All guns have a 100% hit rate, although Shirahadori can still be used to block them. * Note 2: These three guns do variable damage. The actual damage inflicted may be MORE than the estimate you see. (Unlike with axes or flails, the damage done by elemental guns is never LESS than the estimate.) ---Crossbows------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Archer, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 3-4 Special Jobs: Sky Pirate, Divine Knight Vert. range : * up, With Ability: Equip Crossbows [Archer] * down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Bowgun 400 3 5% #2 Knightslayer 1500 3 5% #4 Inflicts: Blind Crossbow 2000 4 5% #7 Poison Bow 4000 4 5% #10 Inflicts: Poison Hunting Bow 8000 6 5% #12 Gastrophetes 20000 10 5% #15 ---Bows------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Speed Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : Only Regular Jobs: Archer, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 3-5* Special Jobs: Sky Pirate Vert. range : * up, With Ability: none * down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Long Bow 800 4 0% #3 Silver Bow 1500 5 0% #4 Ice Bow 2000 5 0% #5 Ice elemental Lightning Bow 3000 6 0% #7 Lightning elemental; Casts: Thundaga Mythril Bow 5000 7 0% #10 Windslash Bow 8000 8 0% #12 Wind elemental Artemis Bow 22000 10 0% -- Yoichi Bow 10 12 0% -- Perseus Bow 10 16 0% -- Sagittarius Bow # 10 24 0% -- * Note: Bows have a horizontal range of 3-5 on level ground. Attacking downwards INCREASES the maximum range, while firing upwards decreases your range. From a high vantage point, you can shoot extremely far! Note 2: Unlike all other weapons, bows do not require a direct line of fire, since they can also be fired in an arc over obstacles and other enemies. This is really helpful in maps crowded with enemies or obstacles. ---Instruments----------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Magick Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Bard, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 3 Special Jobs: none Vert. range : * up, With Ability: none * down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Lamia's Harp 5000 10 10% #7 Inflicts: Confusion Bloodstring Harp 10000 13 10% #12 Drains HP from target to wielder Faerie Harp 30000 15 10% -- Inflicts: Charm Note that unlike other Charm attacks, the Faerie Harp can be used on all targets: on same- and opposite-gender humans and on monsters. ---Books----------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Magick Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Mystic, Arithmetician, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 3 Special Jobs: Astrologer Vert. range : * up, With Ability: none * down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Battle Folio 3000 7 15% #7 Bestiary 6000 8 15% #11 Papyrus Codex 10000 9 15% #12 Omnilex 30000 11 15% -- ---Polearms-------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Dragoon, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1-2 Special Jobs: Sky Pirate, Divine Knight Vert. range : 3 up, With Ability: Equip Polearms [Dragoon] 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Javelin 1000 8 10% #5 Spear 2000 9 10% #7 Mythril Spear 4500 10 10% #10 Partisan 7000 11 10% #12 Obelisk 10000 12 10% #15 Holy Lance 18000 14 10% -- Holy elemental; Casts: Holy Dragon Whisker 44000 17 10% -- Gae Bolg # 10 24 15% -- Gungnir # 10 29 15% -- Lightning elemental Javelin (II) 1000 30 10% -- ---Poles----------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Magick Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : Yes Regular Jobs: Mystic, Arithmetician, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1-2 Special Jobs: Skyseer, Netherseer Vert. range : 3 up, With Ability: none 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Cypress Pole 1000 6 20% #6 Battle Bamboo 1400 7 20% #7 Musk Pole 2400 8 20% #10 Iron Fan 4000 9 20% #11 Gokuu Pole 7500 10 20% #12 Inflicts: Atheist Ivory Pole 10000 11 20% -- Eight-fluted Pole 20000 12 20% #15 Removes (from target): Blind, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, Slow, Stop, Immobilize, Disable Whale Whisker 37000 16 20% -- ---Bags------------------------------------------------------------------------ Damage based on user's: nothing Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Women (any job), Onion Knights (m or f!) Horiz. range : 1 Special Jobs: Women (any job) Vert. range : 2 up, With Ability: none 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Pantherskin Bag 52000 12 0% #12 Always: Regen Croakadile Bag 53000 10 0% #10 Magick Atk+1 Hydrascale Bag 58000 14 0% #15 Speed+1 Fallingstar Bag 60000 20 0% -- Note: All bags do variable damage. The actual damage inflicted may be more or less than the estimate you see. (The estimate is the *average* damage you'll inflict.) ---Cloths---------------------------------------------------------------------- Damage based on user's: Physical Attack, Magick Attack Dual Wield : No Used By : Doublehand : No Regular Jobs: Dancer, Onion Knight Horiz. range : 1-2 Special Jobs: none Vert. range : 3 up, With Ability: none : 3 down PRICE ATK PARRY SHOP SPECIAL Damask Cloth 7000 8 50% #11 Cashmere 15000 10 50% #13 Wyrmweave Silk 40000 15 50% -- %%%SHIELDS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00sh Shields are used to increase your evade rate. The PHYS and MAG columns show the evasion rate of the shield for physical and magickal attacks, respectively. Note that shields are ineffective against attacks from the rear. Used By: Regular Jobs : Knight, Archer, Geomancer, Dragoon, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Special Jobs : Squire [Ramza] (ch. 2+), Fell Knight, Holy Knight, Game Hunter, Templar, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability : Equip Shields [Knight] PRICE PHYS MAG SHOP SPECIAL Escutcheon 400 10% 3% #2 Buckler 700 13% 3% #3 Bronze Shield 1200 16% 0% #4 Round Shield 1600 19% 0% #5 Mythril Shield 2500 22% 5% #6 Golden Shield 3500 25% 0% #7 Ice Shield 6000 28% 0% #10 Absorbs: Ice; Halves: Fire; Weakness: Lightning Flame Shield 6500 31% 0% #10 Absorbs: Fire; Halves: Ice; Weakness: Water Aegis Shield 10000 10% 50% #1 Magick Atk+1 Diamond Shield 12000 34% 15% #12 Platinum Shield 16000 37% 10% #14 Crystal Shield 21000 40% 15% #15 Genji Shield # 10 43% 0% -- Kaiser Shield 10 46% 20% -- Boosts: Fire, Lightning, Ice Venetian Shield 10 50% 25% -- Halves: Fire, Lightning, Ice Reverie Shield # 10 50% 25% -- Halves: All elemental damage Escutcheon (II) 400 75% 50% -- %%%HEADGEAR%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00head Headgear (and armor) increases maximum HP and MP. The HP and MP columns show how much each piece of gear increases your HP/MP. ---Helms----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : Knight, Dragoon, Samurai, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Special Jobs : Squire [Ramza] (ch. 2+), Fell Knight, Holy Knight, Game Hunter, Templar, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability : Equip Heavy Armor [Knight] PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Leather Helm 200 10 0 #2 Bronze Helm 500 20 0 #2 Iron Helm 1000 30 0 #3 Barbut 1500 40 0 #5 Mythril Helm 2100 50 0 #6 Golden Helm 2800 60 0 #7 Close Helmet 4000 70 0 #10 Diamond Helm 6000 80 0 #11 Platinum Helm 8000 90 0 #13 Circlet 10000 100 0 #13 Crystal Helm 14000 120 0 #15 Genji Helm # 10 130 0 -- Grand Helm 10 150 0 -- Immune: Blind, Sleep Vanguard Helm # 10 150 20 -- Onion Helm # 10 200 0 -- Only equippable by Onion Knights --Hats------------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : Squire, Chemist, Archer, White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Thief, Orator, Mystic, Geomancer, Ninja, Arithmetician, Bard, Dancer, Onion Knight Special Jobs : Squire [Ramza], Squire [Delita], Squire [Argath], Princess, Machinist, Astrologer, Cleric, Game Hunter, Skyseer, Netherseer, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Soldier With Ability : none Used By: Squire, Chemist, Archer, White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Thief, Orator, Mystic, Geomancer, Ninja, Arithmetician, Bard, Dancer PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Leather Cap 150 8 0 #1 Plumed Hat 350 16 5 #2 Red Hood 800 24 8 #3 Headgear 1200 32 0 #5 Physical Atk+1 Wizard's Hat 1800 40 12 #6 Magick Atk+1 Green Beret 3000 48 0 #7 Speed+1 Headband 5000 56 0 #10 Physical Atk+2 Brass Coronet # 10 60 100 -- Magick Atk+3; Immune: Silence Celebrant's Miter 6000 64 20 #11 Magick Atk+1 Black Cowl 7000 72 0 #12 Gold Hairpin 12000 80 50 #13 Immune: Silence Lambent Hat 16000 88 15 #15 Magick Atk+1, Speed+1 Thief's Cap 35000 100 0 #16 Speed+2; Immune: Immobilize, Disable Acacia Hat # 10 120 20 -- Speed+2; Immune: Berserk, Charm, Confuse ---Hair Adornments------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : Women (any job), Onion Knights (of either gender) Special Jobs : Soldier With Ability : none PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Cachusha 20000 20 0 -- Immune: Undead, Blind, Silence, Toad, Poison, Slow, Immobilize, Disable, Doom Barette 20000 20 0 -- Immune: KO, Stone, Traitor, Confuse, Vampire, Berserk, Stop, Charm, Sleep Ribbon 60000 10 0 -- Immune: All negative status except Chicken, Oil, Atheist, and Faith %%%ARMOR%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00armor Armor (and headgear) increases maximum HP and MP. The HP and MP columns show how much each piece of gear increases your HP/MP. ---Armor----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : Knight, Dragoon, Samurai, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Special Jobs : Squire [Ramza] (ch. 2+), Fell Knight, Holy Knight, Game Hunter, Templar, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability : Equip Heavy Armor [Knight] PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Leather Armor 200 10 0 #2 Linen Cuirass 600 20 0 #2 Bronze Armor 800 30 0 #3 Chainmail 1300 40 0 #4 Mythril Armor 2000 50 0 #5 Plate Mail 3000 60 0 #6 Golden Armor 3600 70 0 #7 Diamond Armor 6000 80 0 #11 Platinum Armor 9000 90 0 #13 Carabineer Mail 13000 100 0 #14 Mirror Mail 18000 130 0 #15 Always: Reflect Crystal Mail 19000 110 0 #15 Genji Armor 10 150 0 -- Grand Armor # 10 170 0 -- Always: Regen, Reraise Maximillian 10 200 0 -- Onion Armor # 10 250 0 -- Only equippable by Onion Knights; Always: Regen, Reraise, Shell, Protect ---Clothes--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : All except Knight, Dragoon, Samurai, Mime, Dark Knight Special Jobs : All except Holy Dragon, Automaton, Dragonkin, Byblos With Ability : none PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Clothing 150 5 0 #1 Leather Clothing 300 10 0 #2 Leather Plate 500 18 0 #3 Ringmail 900 24 0 #4 Mythril Vest 1500 30 0 #5 Adamant Vest 1600 36 0 #6 Wizard Clothing 1900 42 15 #7 Brigandine 2500 50 0 #9 Jujitsu Gi 4000 60 0 #11 Physical Atk+1; Immune: KO Power Garb 7000 70 0 #12 Physical Atk+2 Gaia Gear 10000 85 10 #14 Absorbs: Earth; Boosts: Earth Black Garb 12000 100 0 #15 Immune: Stop Ninja Gear 10 20 0 -- Speed+2; Always: Invisible Mirage Vest 10 120 0 -- Speed+1; Immune: Stone, Poison, Sleep Minerva Bustier # 10 120 0 -- Only equippable by women; Immune: Fire, Lightning, Wind, Darkness; Halves: Ice, Water, Earth, Holy Rubber Suit 48000 150 50 -- Immune: Lightning Brave Suit # 10 160 40 -- Always: Reraise, Regen ---Robes----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Regular Jobs : Knight, White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Orator, Mystic, Geomancer, Dragoon, Samurai, Arithmetician, Dark Knight, Onion Knight Special Jobs : Squire [Ramza], Squire [Delita], Fell Knight, Holy Knight, Princess, Cleric, Game Hunter, Skyseer, Netherseer, Templar, Sky Pirate, Sword Saint, Divine Knight, Ark Knight With Ability : none PRICE HP MP SHOP SPECIAL Hempen Robe 1200 10 10 #3 Silken Robe 2400 20 16 #4 Wizard's Robe 4000 30 22 #7 Magick Atk+2 Chameleon Robe 5000 40 28 #11 Immune: KO; Absorbs: Holy White Robe 9000 50 34 #12 Halves: Fire, Lightning, Ice Black Robe 13000 60 30 #13 Boosts: Fire, Lightning, Ice Luminous Robe 30000 75 50 #15 Lordly Robe 10 100 80 -- Physical Atk+2, Magick Atk+1; Always: Protect, Shell Sage's Robe # 10 120 100 -- Halves: All elemental damage %%%ACCESSORIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00acc Accessories provide a number of beneficial effects, such as increased stats, permanent buffs, or immunity to certain status changes. ---Shoes----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: All except Mime and Dragonkin PRICE SHOP EFFECT Battle Boots 1000 #2 Move+1 Spiked Boots 1200 #5 Jump+1 Rubber Boots 1500 #7 Immune: Immobilize, Lightning Winged Boots 2500 #10 Always: Float Germinas Boots 5000 #11 Move+1, Jump+1 Hermes Shoes 7000 #13 Speed+1 Red Shoes 10000 #15 Magick Atk+1, Move+1 Gaius Caligae # 10 -- Move+2 ---Gauntlets------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: All except Mime and Dragonkin PRICE SHOP EFFECT Power Gauntlet 5000 #6 Physical Atk+1 Magepower Glove 20000 #10 Magick Atk+2 Bracer 50000 #13 Physical Atk+3 Genji Glove # 10 -- Physical Atk+2, Magick Atk+2 Brigand's Gloves # 10 -- Speed+1; Always: Haste Onion Gloves # 10 -- Only equippable by Onion Knights; Immune: All negative status except Chicken, Oil, Atheist, and Faith ---Rings----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: All except Mime PRICE SHOP EFFECT Protect Ring 5000 #7 Immune: Sleep, Doom Magick Ring 10000 #12 Immune: Silence, Berserk Reflect Ring 10000 #10 Always: Reflect Angel Ring 20000 #14 Immune: KO, Blind; Always: Reraise Cursed Ring 10 -- Physical Atk+1, Magick Atk+1, Speed+1; Always: Undead; Immune: Traitor Sage's Ring # 10 -- Absorbs: All 8 elements; Boosts: All 8 elements Note: The Angel Ring always starts you with a Reraise, but, unlike the Chantage, it only gives you one Reraise per battle. If you're KOed a second time, you won't Reraise. ---Armlets--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: All except Mime PRICE SHOP EFFECT Diamond Bracelet 5000 #9 Physical Atk+1, Magick Atk+1; Immune: Slow Guardian Bracelet 7000 #7 Immune: Immobilize, Disable Nu Khai Armband 10000 #10 Immune: Confuse, Charm; Halves: Dark Jade Armlet 10000 #11 Immune: Stone, Stop Japa Mala 15000 #12 Immune: Undead, Vampire, Toad, Poison; Boosts: All 8 elements Empyreal Armband # 10 -- Speed+1; Immune: Slow, Stop, Immobilize ---Cloaks---------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: All except Mime and Dragonkin PRICE PHYS MAG SHOP SPECIAL Shoulder Cape 300 10% 10% #3 Leather Cloak 800 15% 15% #5 Mage's Cloak 2000 18% 18% #7 Magick Atk+1 Elven Cloak 8000 25% 25% #11 Vampire Cape 15000 28% 28% #13 Featherweave Cloak 20000 40% 30% #15 Invisibility Cloak 10 35% 0% -- Always: Invisible Note that cloaks, unlike shields, ARE effective against attacks from the rear (and from all other directions too, of course). ---Perfumes-------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Women, Onion Knights (of either gender) PRICE SHOP EFFECT Cherche 30000 -- Always: Float, Reflect Sortile'ge 30000 -- Always: Protect, Shell Chantage 60000 -- Always: Reraise, Regen Septie`me 30000 -- Magick Atk+1; Always: Haste, Invisible (Chantage rocks, the Reraise never disappears so you can just keep coming back to life an infinite number of times!) ---Lip Rouge------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Women, Onion Knights (of either gender) PRICE SHOP EFFECT Tynar Rouge 10 -- Phys Atk+3; Mag Atk+3; Boosts: Holy; Always: Protect, Shell, Haste %%%ITEMS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00item Certain inventory items are needed for particular Action Abilities. ---Potions--------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Chemist (Items) PRICE SHOP EFFECT Potion 50 #1 Restores 30 HP Antidote 50 #1 Removes: Poison Eye Drops 50 #1 Removes: Blind Echo Herbs 50 #2 Removes: Silence Maiden's Kiss 50 #2 Removes: Toad Golden Needle 100 #2 Removes: Stone Hi-Potion 200 #3 Removes: 70 HP Ether 200 #7 Removes: 20 MP Phoenix Down 300 #1 Removes: KO, restores minimal HP Remedy 350 #7 Removes: Stone, Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Toad, Poison, Sleep Hi-Ether 600 #12 Restores 50 MP X-Potion 700 #10 Restores 150 HP Holy Water 2000 #5 Removes: Undead, Vampire Elixir 10 -- Restores HP and MP completely ---Bombs----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Ninja (Throw) PRICE ATK SHOP SPECIAL Flameburst Bomb 250 8 #7 Fire elemental Snowmelt Bomb 250 8 #7 Ice elemental Spark Bomb 250 8 #7 Lightning elemental ---Stars----------------------------------------------------------------------- Used By: Ninja (Throw) PRICE ATK SHOP SPECIAL Shuriken 50 4 #5 Fuma Shuriken 300 7 #11 Yagyu Darkrood 1000 10 #14 ******************************************************************************* X. FINDING ITEMS ******************************************************************************* %%%POACHED ITEMS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00poach --List of Poached Items-------------------------------------------------------- Each monster can give you one of two items when you poach it. There's one you get most of the time (the common one), and one (the rare one) you only get occasionally -- about 15% of the time or so. A place where the monster is commonly found has also been listed. Most monsters show up in many locations, but there are certain locations where they show up the most frequently. (Areas marked MD: are floors of Midlight's Deep, the bonus dungeon.) Note that poached items only cost half their usual retail price! In the list below: * indicates an item that can't be bought in regular stores -- but can also be found other ways besides poaching ** indicates an item that can ONLY be found by poaching. COMMON RARE COMMONLY FOUND Ahriman Fuma Shuriken Air Knife Mount Bervenia Behemoth Guardian Bracelet Pantherskin Bag MD: The Switchback Behemoth King ** Cherche * Artemis Bow MD: The Switchback Black Chocobo Eye Drops X-Potion Balias Swale Black Goblin Hi-Potion Shoulder Cape The Siedge Weald Blue Dragon Cashmere * Dragon Rod MD: The Switchback Bomb Fire Ball Flame Rod The Siedge Weald Bonesnatch Hi-Potion Partisan Tchigolith Fenlands Chocobo Phoenix Down Hi-Potion Mandalia Plain Cockatrice Gold Needle Featherweave Cloak MD: The Interstice Coeurl Gold Needle Germinas Boots Mount Germinas Dark Behemoth Wizard's Rod * Stoneshooter MD: The Switchback Dragon Jade Armlet Hydrascale Bag MD: The Switchback Dryad Eye Drops * Healing Staff MD: The Switchback Elder Treant Protect Ring * Defender MD: The Oubliette Exploder Spark Bomb Fire Shield Lake Poescas Floating Eye Shuriken Platinum Dagger Lenalian Plateau Ghast Water Ball Main Gauche Araguay Woods Ghoul Ether Kunai Araguay Woods Gobbledygook Mage Masher Ancient Sword MD: The Oubliette Goblin Potion Hi-Potion Mandalia Plain Greater Hydra ** Septie`me ** Rubber Suit MD: The Switchback Greater Malboro Elixir * Omnilex MD: The Catacombs Grenade Hi-Potion Snowmelt Bomb Lake Poescas Hydra * Blood Sword * Scorpion Tail MD: The Switchback Jura Aevis Potion Rubber Boots Zeklaus Desert Malboro Platinum Dagger Ice Shield Dorvauldar Marsh Mindflayer Hi-Ether Vampire Cape Zeirchele Falls Minotaur Coral Sword Slasher Balias Tor Ochu Nu Khai Armband Chameleon Robe MD: The Catacombs Pig Maiden's Kiss * Cachusha MD: Terminus Piscodaemon Echo Grass Hi-Potion Zeirchele Falls Plague Horror Yagyu Darkrood * Zwill Straightblade Mount Bervenia Red Chocobo Remedy * Barette Finnath Creek Red Dragon * Sortile'ge * Dragon Whisker Beddha Sandwaste Red Panther Antidote Battle Boots Mandalia Plain Revenant Hi-Ether Mythril Gun Lake Poescas Sekhret * Holy Lance * Ivory Pole Zeklaus Desert Skeletal Fiend Mage's Cloak Elven Cloak Zeklaus Desert Skeleton Holy Water Ether Tchigolith Fenlands Squidraken Shoulder Cape Sleep Blade Zeirchele Falls Steelhawk Phoenix Down Hunting Bow Zeklaus Desert Swine * Chantage * Nagnarok MD: Terminus Tiamat ** Wyrmweave Silk * Whale Whisker MD: Terminus Treant Golden Staff * Faerie Harp MD: The Switchback Vampire Cat Holy Water Croakadile Bag MD: The Palings Wild Boar ** Ribbon ** Fallingstar Bag Breeding only! Wisenkin Battle Axe Giant's Axe Balias Tor ---Tips on Poaching------------------------------------------------------------ If you're trying to get a particular poachable item, it's pretty time-consuming to keep tracking down the monster in the wild and poaching it until you get the item you want. Instead, use Entice or Tame to recruit the monster to your team. Then, after you've saved, get into a new battle. Deploy the monster, have another character poach it, and finish the fight. Check the Poachers' Den and if you didn't get the item you were looking for, you can simply reload from your save and try poaching the same monster again. If you've got some spare spaces on your roster, you can also breed multiple copies of the monster. Just walk between two blue dots on the map and the monster will keep producing eggs. Dismiss the monsters you don't want to poach and poach the ones you do. (You can also use the "Preview Monster Eggs" trick described under Various Tricks to try to get rid of eggs you don't want, either.) Always keep one copy of the monster in your roster without poaching it and you'll have no problem breeding further copies. Items that can be particularly useful to "farm" in this way include the hair adornments, perfumes, and Rubber Suit. Breeding monsters is also a helpful way to obtain harder-to-find monsters like Sekhret and the Greater Malboro, and the *only* way to get the Wild Boar. You can breed Rank III monsters from a Rank II monster of the same family (e.g. a Minotaur, Malboro, or Wild Boar) or from another copy of the Rank III monster. Rank I monsters don't breed Rank III monsters, but you can first breed a Rank II monster and use that to breed a Rank III. You have the best odds of breeding the Rank III monsters from another copy of the Rank III monster and not a Rank II, so once you get the Rank III monster, hang on to one copy for breeding purposes. %%%SHOP CHART%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00shop ---Where to Buy Items---------------------------------------------------------- The Outfitters in towns differ in the types of items and equipment they sell. For example, one town will have Knives but not Crossbows; another will sell Crossbows but not Knives. There are actually only six different "catalogs" of item types available. The Magick City of Gariland, Clockwork City of Goug, and Royal Capital of Lesalia have unique catalogs. All the other towns can be divided into three types: TRADE CITY: Merchant City of Dorter Port City of Warjilis Trade City of Sal Ghidos CASTLE: Eagrose Castle Lionel Castle Riovanes Castle Zeltennia Castle Limberry Castle TOWN: Castled City of Zaland Mining Town of Gollund Walled City of Yardrow Free City of Bervenia The items available at each town type are: TRADE CITY CASTLE TOWN GARILAND* GOUG LESALIA Knives X X X X Ninja Blades X Swords* X X Katanas X Axes X Rods X X X X Staves X X X Flails X X Guns X Crossbows X X Bows X X Instruments X Books X Polearms X X Poles X X X Bags X X X Cloths X Shields X X X TRADE CITY CASTLE TOWN GARILAND GOUG LESALIA Helms X X Hats X X X TRADE CITY CASTLE TOWN GARILAND GOUG LESALIA Armor X X Clothes X X X Robes X X X TRADE CITY CASTLE TOWN GARILAND GOUG LESALIA Accessories X X X X X X TRADE CITY CASTLE TOWN GARILAND GOUG LESALIA Shuriken X X Bombs X X X X Items X X X X X X Note: Knight's Swords, Hair Adornments, Perfumes, and Lip Rouge are never available in stores. * Note 2: In addition to the item types listed above, Gariland also sells the Broadsword, but no other types of swords. ---When to Buy Items----------------------------------------------------------- Within a particular category, the specific items that are available is determined by how far in the story you've progressed. Reaching certain points of the game adds new items to the stores. Once a new item appears in a shop, it is always for sale and never goes away. Note, however, that even after an item is "unlocked," it does not appear in every shop. Instead, shops in different towns sell different types of items. See the list above to see which shops sell which categories of items. Some items NEVER become available in shops and can only be obtained by stealing, poaching, the Treasure Hunter ability, or through the multiplayer missions. --#1: CHAPTER I - BEGINNING OF GAME-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Dagger 100 SWORD: Broadsword 200 ROD: Rod 200 STAFF: Oak Staff 120 HAT: Leather Cap 150 CLOTHES: Clothing 150 ITEM: Potion 50 ITEM: Antidote 50 ITEM: Eye Drops 50 ITEM: Phoenix Down 300 --#2: CHAPTER I - AFTER REACHING EAGROSE CASTLE-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Mythril Knife 500 SWORD: Longsword 500 CROSSBOW: Bowgun 400 SHIELD: Escutcheon 400 HELM: Leather Helm 200 HELM: Bronze Helm 500 HAT: Plumed Hat 350 ARMOR: Leather Armor 200 ARMOR: Linen Cuirass 600 CLOTHES: Leather Clothing 300 ACCESSORY: Battle Boots 1000 ITEM: Echo Herbs 50 ITEM: Maiden's Kiss 50 ITEM: Gold Needle 100 --#3: CHAPTER I - AFTER SAND RAT'S SIEVE-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Blind Knife 800 SWORD: Iron Sword 900 ROD: Flame Rod 400 ROD: Ice Rod 400 ROD: Thunder Rod 400 STAFF: White Staff 800 BOW: Long Bow 800 SHIELD: Buckler 700 HELM: Iron Helm 1000 HAT: Red Hood 800 ARMOR: Bronze Armor 800 CLOTHES: Leather Plate 500 ROBE: Hempen Robe 1200 ACCESSORY: Shoulder Cape 300 ITEM: Hi-Potion 200 --#4: CHAPTER I - AFTER DEFEATING MILLEUDA AT LENALIAN PLATEAU-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Mage Masher 1500 SWORD: Mythril Sword 1600 AXE: Battle Axe 1500 CROSSBOW: Knightslayer 1500 BOW: Silver Bow 1500 SHIELD: Bronze Shield 1200 ARMOR: Chainmail 1300 CLOTHES: Ringmail 900 ROBE: Silken Robe 2400 --#5: CHAPTER II - BEGINNING OF CHAPTER-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE BOW: Ice Bow 2000 POLEARM: Javelin 1000 SHIELD: Round Shield 1600 HELM: Barbut 1500 HAT: Headgear 1200 ARMOR: Mythril Armor 2000 CLOTHES: Mythril Vest 1500 ACCESSORY: Spiked Boots 1200 ACCESSORY: Leather Cloak 800 ITEM: Holy Water 2000 STAR: Shuriken 50 --#6: CHAPTER II - AFTER OVELIA AND AGRIAS JOIN AS GUESTS-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Platinum Dagger 1800 SWORD: Coral Sword 3300 ROD: Poison Rod 500 STAFF: Serpent Staff 2200 POLE: Cypress Pole 1000 SHIELD: Mythril Shield 2500 HELM: Mythril Helm 2100 HAT: Wizard's Hat 1800 ARMOR: Plate Mail 3000 CLOTHES: Adamant Vest 1600 ACCESSORY: Power Gauntlet 5000 --#7: CHAPTER II - AFTER REACHING LIONEL CASTLE-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KATANA: Kotetsu 1600 KATANA: Ashura 3000 AXE: Giant's Axe 4000 CROSSBOW: Crossbow 2000 BOW: Lightning Bow 3000 INSTRUMENT: Lamia's Harp 5000 BOOK: Battle Folio 3000 POLEARM: Spear 2000 POLE: Battle Bamboo 1400 SHIELD: Golden Shield 3500 HELM: Golden Helm 2800 HAT: Green Beret 3000 ARMOR: Golden Armor 3600 CLOTHES: Wizard Clothing 1900 ROBE: Wizard's Robe 4000 ACCESSORY: Rubber Boots 1500 ACCESSORY: Protect Ring 5000 ACCESSORY: Guardian Bracelet 7000 ACCESSORY: Mage's Cloak 2000 ITEM: Ether 200 ITEM: Remedy 350 BOMB: Flameburst Bomb 250 BOMB: Snowmelt Bomb 250 BOMB: Spark Bomb 250 --#8: CHAPTER II - AFTER REACHING GOUG-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE GUN: Romandan Pistol 5000 --#9: CHAPTER II - AFTER RESCUING AGRIAS AT BALIAS TOR-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KATANA: Osafune 5000 STAFF: Mage's Staff 4000 FLAIL: Iron Flail 1200 CLOTHES: Brigandine 2500 ACCESSORY: Diamond Bracelet 5000 --#10: CHAPTER III - BEGINNING OF CHAPTER-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE NINJA BLADE: Ninja Blade 3000 SWORD: Ancient Sword 5000 KATANA: Murasame 7000 CROSSBOW: Poison Bow 4000 BOW: Mythril Bow 5000 POLEARM: Mythril Spear 4500 POLE: Musk Pole 2400 BAG: Croakadile Bag 53000 SHIELD: Ice Shield 6000 SHIELD: Flame Shield 6500 HELM: Close Helmet 4000 HAT: Headband 5000 ACCESSORY: Winged Boots 2500 ACCESSORY: Magepower Glove 20000 ACCESSORY: Reflect Ring 10000 ACCESSORY: Nu Khai Armband 10000 ITEM: X-Potion 700 --#11: CHAPTER III - AFTER ALMA JOINS AS GUEST-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Main Gauche 3000 NINJA BLADE: Kunai 5000 SWORD: Sleep Blade 5000 KATANA: Ama-no-Murakumo 8000 AXE: Slasher 12000 FLAIL: Flame Mace 4000 GUN: Mythril Gun 15000 BOOK: Bestiary 6000 POLE: Iron Fan 4000 CLOTH: Damask Cloth 7000 SHIELD: Aegis Shield 10000 HELM: Diamond Helm 6000 HAT: Celebrant's Miter 6000 ARMOR: Diamond Armor 6000 CLOTHES: Jujitsu Gi 4000 ROBE: Chameleon Robe 5000 ACCESSORY: Germinas Boots 5000 ACCESSORY: Jade Armlet 10000 ACCESSORY: Elven Cloak 8000 STAR: Fuma Shuriken 300 --#12: CHAPTER III - AFTER BATTLES AT ORBONNE MONASTERY-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Orichalcum Dirk 4000 NINJA BLADE: Kodachi 7000 SWORD: Diamond Sword 8000 ROD: Wizard's Rod 8000 STAFF: Golden Staff 7000 CROSSBOW: Hunting Bow 8000 BOW: Windslash Bow 8000 INSTRUMENT: Bloodstring Harp 10000 BOOK: Papyrus Codex 10000 POLE: Gokuu Pole 7500 POLEARM: Partisan 7000 BAG: Pantherskin Bag 52000 SHIELD: Diamond Shield 12000 HAT: Black Cowl 7000 CLOTHES: Power Garb 7000 ROBE: White Robe 9000 ACCESSORY: Magick Ring 10000 ACCESSORY: Japa Mala 15000 ITEM: Hi-Ether 600 --#13: CHAPTER III - AFTER RAPHA JOINS AS GUEST-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Assassin's Dagger 5000 NINJA BLADE: Ninja Longblade 10000 SWORD: Platinum Sword 11000 KATANA: Kiyomori 10000 FLAIL: Morning Star 9000 CLOTH: Cashmere 15000 HELM: Platinum Helm 8000 HELM: Circlet 10000 HAT: Gold Hairpin 12000 ARMOR: Platinum Armor 9000 ROBE: Black Robe 13000 ACCESSORY: Hermes Shoes 7000 ACCESSORY: Bracer 50000 ACCESSORY: Vampire Cape 15000 --#14: CHAPTER IV - BEGINNING OF CHAPTER-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE NINJA BLADE: Spellbinder 16000 SWORD: Icebrand 14000 KATANA: Muramasa 15000 SHIELD: Platinum Shield 16000 ARMOR: Carabineer Mail 13000 CLOTHES: Gaia Gear 10000 ACCESSORY: Angel Ring 20000 STAR: Yagyu Darkrood 1000 --#15: CHAPTER IV - AFTER FORT BESSELAT-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE KNIFE: Air Knife 8000 SWORD: Runeblade 20000 KATANA: Kiku-ichimonji 22000 CROSSBOW: Gastrophetes 20000 POLEARM: Obelisk 10000 POLE: Eight-fluted Pole 20000 BAG: Hydrascale Bag 58000 SHIELD: Crystal Shield 21000 HELM: Crystal Helm 14000 HAT: Lambent Hat 16000 ARMOR: Crystal Mail 19000 ARMOR: Mirror Mail 18000 CLOTHES: Black Garb 12000 ROBE: Luminous Robe 30000 ACCESSORY: Red Shoes 10000 ACCESSORY: Featherweave Cloak 20000 --#16: CHAPTER IV - AFTER BATTLES AT LIMBERRY CASTLE-- ITEM TYPE ITEM PRICE HAT: Thief's Cap 35000 %%%RARE ITEM LOCATIONS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00rare This is a list of where you can find all the items that are Not Sold In Stores but are otherwise available in the SINGLE-PLAYER game. Additional rare items are available in the multiplayer mode -- I hope to add these to a future version of the FAQ. (There may be other places to find some of these items -- please let me know if you know of any!) I've also indicated whether or not there is a limited supply of each item. For some rare items, there is only a limited number of them available in the game, so if you miss the items, or if they get broken or stolen during battle, you may not be able to find any more! CAUTION: ALL rare items found with Treasure Hunter are better found with a low Bravery. The higher your Bravery, the higher you'll get a crummy generic item instead of the rare item. (The chance of getting the "bad" item is simply equal to your Bravery.) If you pick up the bad item from a tile, note that you can no longer get the good item there! The exception is the Materia Blade, which you always get regardless of your Bravery. MANY rare weapons can be caught from enemy Ninjas throwing them at you. To do this, equip the reaction ability Sticky Fingers (Thief); when a Ninja throws the item at you, you'll catch it and it will be added to your inventory. Rare items are only thrown if the enemy Ninja has a very high level (90+); you can find high-level Ninjas on the Midlight's Deep floor 9, The Interstice. Items not listed here can be bought in shops. See the Shops List above for when they become available. There is an unlimited supply of all shop items. Since many rare items can be poached from monsters, stolen in random battles, or caught with Sticky Fingers, there are actually not that many truly missable items in the game. The items listed below are the only ones that (to my knowledge) are actually missable: WEAPONS: Rod of Faith, Zeus Mace, Staff of the Magi, Ras Algethi, Perseus Bow SHIELDS: Kaiser Shield, Venetian Shield, Escutcheon (II) HEADGEAR: Grand Helm ARMOR: Genji Armor, Maximillian, Ninja Gear, Mirage Vest, Lordly Robe ACCESSORIES: Invisibility Cloak, Cursed Ring, Tynar Rouge ABILITIES: Ultima, Zodiark ---Weapons--------------------------------------------------------------------- Zwill Crossblade [knife]: - Rare poach from Plague Horror. Plague Horrors are frequently found at Mount Bervenia. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. Sasuke's Blade [ninja blade]: - Found using Treasure Hunter at Nelveska Temple. Sasuke's Blade is located BEHIND the temple, in the grassy/dirt area. From the back left corner of the map, it's one tile to the right and one tile towards the temple -- it's a tile with height 4. (See the Nelveksa Temple battle strategy under Subquest Battle Strategies for more specific details.) This can only be done during the battle with Construct 7 here in the Nelveska Temple subquest, as there are no later battles at the Temple. - Steal from the enemy Ninja during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Iga Blade [ninja blade]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 5, The Oubliette. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Koga Blade [ninja blade]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 7, The Crossing. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see above). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Nagnarok [sword]: - Found using Treasure Hunter at Nelveska Temple. It's inside the temple, in the little nook where Construct 7 starts, at the far back of the nook. (See the Nelveksa Temple battle strategy under Subquest Battle Strategies for more specific details.) This can only be done during the battle with Construct 7 here in the Nelveska Temple subquest, as there are no later battles at the Temple. - Rare poach from Swine. Swines appear in random battles on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. Alternately, recruit a Pig earlier in the game during Gollund Collier Battle 2 or the story battle at Finnath Creek and wait for it to breed a Swine. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. Blood Sword [sword]: - Steal from Gaffgarion at Story Battle 18: Golgollada Gallows. - Found using Treasure Hunter during Story Battle 49: Eagrose Castle Keep. (See battle strategy for exact location.) - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 2, The Stair. - Common poach from Hydra. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. Materia Blade [sword]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on the highest tile at Mount Bervenia. Unlike other Treasure Hunter items, you ALWAYS get this one regardless of Bravery. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy ninjas (see above). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Defender [knight's sword]: - Steal from enemy boss in Story Battle 36: Bervenia. - Steal from enemy boss during the first phase of Story Battle 49: Eagrose Castle Keep. (NOT available during the second phase of the battle.) - Rare poach from Elder Treant. These sometimes appear on Midlight's Deep floors 5 (The Oubliette) or 8 (The Switchback). - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy ninjas (see above). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable and can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Save the Queen [knight's sword]: - Meliadoul's initial equipment. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 2, The Stair. - Steal from enemy boss in story battle 54: Monastery Vaults - Fifth Level, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Excalibur [knight's sword]: - Orlandeau's initial equipment. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 5, The Oubliette. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Ragnarok [knight's sword]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 8, The Switchback. - Received as a Battle Trophy for completing Story Battle 57: Graveyard of Airships, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Chaos Blade [knight's sword]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Masamune [katana]: - Stolen from one of the enemy Samurai during the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest (Lionel Castle Oratory). It is only available during the first phase of this battle, before you KO the boss. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Chirijiraden [katana]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Dragon Rod [rod]: - Steal from enemy boss during Story Battle 48: Dorter. - Stolen from (or dropped in a chest by) enemy Summoner during Story Battle 50: Mullonde Cathedral. - Rare poach from Blue Dragon. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. Rod of Faith [rod]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 4, The Catacombs. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Healing Staff [staff]: - Alma's initial equipment in Chapter III; de-equip it from her before entering Orbonne Monastery to keep it. - Rare poach from Dryad. - Equipped by the guest in the last battle, but you can't de-equip it and this is past the point of no return to the world map anyway. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. Zeus Mace [staff]: - Received as a Battle Trophy for completing the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest (Lionel Castle Oratory). Note that you CANNOT start this quest if Mustadio, Beowulf, or Reis is killed or departs the team and/or if you choose not to buy the flower from Aerith when you first arrive in Sal Ghidos. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 3, The Hollow. - Steal from enemy boss at story battle 55: Necrohol of Mullonde, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Staff of the Magi [staff]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Floor floor 7, The Crossing. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Scorpion Tail [flail]: - Rare poach from Hydra. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable and can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Ras Algethi [gun]: - Balthier's initial equipment. Complete the Recruiting Balthier subquest after visiting the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV to get him. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Glacial Gun [gun]: - Stolen from enemy boss in Story Battle 39: Beddha Sandwaste. - Steal (or dropped in a chest by) the enemy Chemist in Gollund Colliery subquest battle 2: Gollund Colliery Slope. - Stolen from one of the enemy Squires during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 1, The Crevasse. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Chemists in random battles at Mount Germinas. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can always be stolen/dropped in random battles. Blaze Gun [gun]: - Stolen from one of the enemy Squires during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 1, The Crevasse. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Chemists in random battles at Mount Germinas. - Stolen from enemy Chemist in Story Battle 56: Lost Halidom, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can always be stolen/dropped in random battles. Blaster [gun]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 6, The Palings. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Chemists in random battles at Mount Germinas. - Stolen from enemy boss in Story Battle 56: Lost Halidom, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can always be stolen/dropped in random battles. Stoneshooter [gun]: - Steal from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Chemists during random battles at Mount Germinas. You can tell if the Chemist is carrying the gun because he/she will begin the battle turned to stone. Use a Gold Needle, Remedy, or other ability to cure the petrification, then steal the gun. (See "The Stoneshooter" under Various Tricks for more info.) - Rare poach from Dark Behemoth. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached, and stolen/dropped in random battles. Artemis Bow [bow]: - Stolen from (or dropped in chest by) one of the enemy Archers in Story Battle 42: Mount Germinas. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) either enemy Archer in Story Battle 43: Lake Poescas. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Archers in random battles later in Chapter IV and in Midlight's Deep. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) enemy Archers in the first battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest, Lionel Castle Gate. - Rare poach from Behemoth King. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached, and stolen/dropped in random battles. Yoichi Bow [bow]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 3, The Hollow. - Stolen from (or dropped in chests by) by high-level enemy Archers in random Midlight's Deep encounters. - Stolen from (or dropped in chest by) the Archer in story battle Battle 53: Monaster Vaults - Fourth Level, but this is past the point of no return to the world map. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be stolen/dropped in random battles. Perseus Bow [bow]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 8, The Switchback. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Faerie Harp [instrument]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 4, The Catacombs. - Rare poach from Treant. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Omnilex [book]: - Rare poach from Greater Malboro. Greater Malboros are pretty uncommon, but you can find them on Midlight's Deep floor 4, The Catacombs, or by recruiting a weaker malboro and having it breed. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached or caught with Sticky Fingers. Holy Lance [polearm]: - Common poach from Sekhret. Sekhret shows up at Zeklaus Desert and sometimes on Midlight's Deep floor 7, The Crossing, but is pretty rare. You can also get a Minotaur on your team and wait for it to breed a Sekhret. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached or caught with Sticky Fingers. Dragon Whisker [polearm]: - Rare poach from Red Dragon. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached or caught with Sticky Fingers. Javelin (II) [polearm]: - Found using Treasure Hunter atop the right pillar during the Nelveksa Temple. You need to use Construct 8, Reis, or another large monster as a stepping- stone to climb up on top of the pillar. This can only be done during the battle with Construct 7 here in the Nelveska Temple subquest, as there are no later battles at the Temple. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be caught with Sticky Fingers. Ivory Pole [pole]: - Rare poach from Sekhret. Sekhret shows up at Zeklaus Desert and sometimes on Midlight's Deep floor 7, The Crossing, but is pretty rare. You can also get a Minotaur on your team and wait for it to breed a Sekhret. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached or caught with Sticky Fingers. Whale Whisker [pole]: - Rare poach from Tiamat. Tiamats are best found on the last floor of Midlight's Deep, Terminus, in random battles after you defeat the boss there. - Catch with Sticky Fingers from enemy Ninjas (see top of section). LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached or caught with Sticky Fingers. Fallingstar Bag [bag]: - Rare poach from Wild Boar. Wild Boars NEVER appear in the wild. The only way to find one is to breed them from a Swine. Use Entice or Tame to recruit a Pig or Swine during Gollund Colliery battle 2, the story battle at Finnath Creek, or in random battles on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. Then, move around the map and let your Swine produce eggs until one of them hatches into a Wild Boar. Good luck :P (A Pig does not directly produce Wild Boars, but it can give you a Swine, which can in turn give you the boar.) LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Wyrmweave Silk [cloth]: - Common poach from Tiamat. Tiamats are best found on the last floor of Midlight's Deep, Terminus, in random battles after you defeat the boss there. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. ---Shields--------------------------------------------------------------------- Kaiser Shield: - Steal from one of the enemy Knights during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 4, The Catacombs. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Venetian Shield: - Steal from one of the enemy Knights during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 9, The Interstice. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Escutcheon (II): - Found using Treasure Hunter atop the right pillar during the Nelveksa Temple. You need to use Construct 8, Reis, or another large monster as a stepping- stone to climb up on top of the pillar. You must get it during the battle with Construct 7 here in the Nelveska Temple subquest, as there are no later battles at the Temple. This is the ONLY place to find this shield in the game! LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. ---Headgear-------------------------------------------------------------------- Grand Helm [helm]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 9, The Interstice. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Cachusha [hair adornment]: - Steal from Celia in Story Battle 34: Riovanes Castle Roof. - Steal from the enemy Mystic on the boss's right in the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest, Lionel Castle Oratory. (Only available during the first phase of this battle, before you KO the boss.) - Rare poach from Pig. You can find Pigs in the story battle at Finnath Creek, in the second battle of the Gollund Colliery subquest, or in random battles on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Barette [hair adornment]: - Alma's initial equipment in Chapter III; de-equip it from her before entering Orbonne Monastery to keep it. - Steal from Lettie in Story Battle 34: Riovanes Castle Roof. - Steal from the enemy Mystic on the boss's left in the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest, Lionel Castle Oratory. (Only available during the first phase of this battle, before you KO the boss.) - Rare poach from Red Chocobo. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Ribbon [hair adornment]: - Rare poach from Wild Boar. Wild Boars NEVER appear in the wild. The only way to find one is to breed them from a Swine. Use Entice or Tame to recruit a Pig or Swine during Gollund Colliery battle 2, the story battle at Finnath Creek, or in random battles on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. Then, move around the map and let your Swine produce eggs until one of them hatches into a Wild Boar. Good luck :P (A Pig does not directly produce Wild Boars, but it can give you a Swine, which can in turn give you the boar.) - Equipped by the guest in the last battle, but you can't de-equip it and this is past the point of no return to the world map anyway. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. ---Armor----------------------------------------------------------------------- Genji Armor [armor]: - Received as a Battle Trophy from completing the first battle of the New Liege Lord of Lionel Castle subquest, Lionel Castle Gate. Note that you CANNOT start this quest if Mustadio, Beowulf, or Reis is killed or departs the team and/or if you choose not to buy the flower from Aerith when you first arrive in Sal Ghidos ... and, so, you would not be able to get the armor in the single-player mode. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Maximillian [armor]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 9, The Interstice. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Ninja Gear [clothes]: - Steal from one of the enemy Monks during the battle in the Disorder in the Order subquest. - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 6, The Palings. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Mirage Vest [clothes]: - Balthier's initial equipment. Complete the Recruiting Balthier subquest after visiting the Free City of Bervenia in Chapter IV to get him. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Rubber Suit [clothes]: - Rare poach from Greater Hydra. You can find Greater Hydras on the latter floors of Midlight's Deep. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Lordly Robe [robe]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 6, The Switchback. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. ---Accessories----------------------------------------------------------------- Invisibility Cloak [cloak]: - Found using Treasure Hunter atop Mount Germinas, either in the initial story battle there or in a subsequent random battle. See "The Invisibility Cloak" under Various Tricks for its exact location. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Cursed Ring [ring]: - Found using Treasure Hunter on Midlight's Deep floor 6, The Switchback. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. Chantage [perfume]: - Steal from enemy boss during Story Battle 36: Bervenia. - Steal from the enemy Mystic on the boss's left in the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest, Lionel Castle Oratory. (Only available during the first phase of this battle, before you KO the boss.) - Common poach from Swine. Swines appear in random battles on Midlight's Deep floor 10, Terminus. Alternately, recruit a Pig earlier in the game during Gollund Collier Battle 2 or the story battle at Finnath Creek and wait for it to breed a Swine. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Cherche [perfume]: - Common poach from Behemoth King. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Sortile'ge [perfume]: - Received from Beowulf for completing the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest. - Steal from the enemy Mystic on the boss's right in the second battle of the Lionel's New Liege Lord subquest, Lionel Castle Oratory. (Only available during the first phase of this battle, before you KO the boss.) - Common poach from Red Dragon. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Septie`me [perfume]: - Common poach from Greater Hydra. Greater Hydras can be found on the lower levels of Midlight's Deep. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, can be poached. Tynar Rouge [lip rouge]: - Complete the Agrias's Birthday quest in Chapter IV. You must keep Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian alive until Chapter IV to do this quest. See the Agrias's Birthday section under Walkthrough - Subquests for complete details on how to complete this event. LIMITED SUPPLY?: Yes. ---Items----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elixir [item]: - Received as a Battle Trophy for completing Story Battle 52: Mullonde Cathedral Sanctuary. - Received using Treasure Hunter at Nelveska Temple, as the "bad" item in place of the Nagnarok and Sasuke's Blade (i.e., if your Bravery is high). - 14 found using Treasure Hunter at many locations in Midlight's Deep. - Common poach from Greater Malboro. Greater Malboros are pretty uncommon, but you can find them on Midlight's Deep floor 4, The Catacombs, or by recruiting a weaker malboro and having it breed. LIMITED SUPPLY?: No, poachable. ---Abilities------------------------------------------------------------------- Ultima [Game Hunter/Squire (Ramza)]: - Learned by having Celia or Lettie cast on Luso during Story Battle 34: Riovanes Castle Roof; Luso must be in the Game Hunter job. - Learned by having Celia or Lettie cast on Ramza or Luso during Story Battles 44: Limberry Castle Gate and/or 45: Limberry Castle Keep. The targeted character must be in the Game Hunter (Luso) or Squire (Ramza) job. See the "Learning Ultima" section under Various Tricks for more information. - Once Ramza or Luso has learned it, you can teach it to the other by casting it on him when the target is in the Game Hunter (Luso) or Squire (Ramza) job. MISSABLE?: Yes (in single-player mode), if no one has learned it by the time you finish Story Battle 45. Zodiark [Summoner]: - Learned by having Elidibus cast it on a Summoner during the initial battle on the tenth floor of Midlight's Deep (Terminus), if the Summoner survives. Each time this happens, you have a high (but not 100%) chance of learning the spell; you may need to have Elidibus cast it on you more than once if you don't learn it the first time. Use Mana Shield to survive the spell, or see the battle strategy for this battle for additional tips. - Can be taught to other characters by first casting on an enemy Summoner, then having the enemy Summoner cast it at the character whom you want to learn the spell. Again, the target must be a Summoner when hit by the spell. MISSABLE?: Yes, if you don't learn it during the battle with Elidibus. %%%MISSABLE ITEMS AND EVENTS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00miss This is a quick list of story events and unique items that you can "miss" over the course of the game, and what you need to do to make sure you're able to see every story events and collec every item. This is just a quick list of key points; for a more detailed treatment, see the corresponding walkthrough section. Points marked ESSENTIAL *must* be completed to get an item or see an event. Points marked GOOD IDEA are not strictly necessary, but will make the process easier -- for example, stealing a rare item that otherwise can only be obtained through poaching a hard-to-find enemy. Finally, I've pointed out some points that seem like they might be needed but are actually NOT IMPORTANT, so that you don't have to worry about them! ---CHAPTER I------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing in this chapter is missable, or affects your ability to complete anything else later. * GOOD IDEA: At the start of the battle at Mandalia Plains, you'll be given a choice whether to help Argath or directly attack the enemy. Choose the first option to make the battle easier and gain Bravery, since there aren't as many ways to raise your Bravery early on. However, your choice here does not affect anything else in Chapter I or later on. ---CHAPTER II------------------------------------------------------------------ * ESSENTIAL: At the very beginning of this chapter, you will be able to add Alicia and Lavian to your roster. Add them to your roster, and do NOT let them leave until you have completed the Agrias's Birthday sidequest in Chapter IV. This means that you must not dismiss them, must not let them get turned into crystals/chests, and must not let them abandon the party due to having a very low Bravery or very high Faith. * NOT IMPORTANT: At this time, you will also be able to add Ladd to your roster. Ladd is basically just a generic male human. He doesn't have any special abilities and isn't needed for any sidequests. So, you can take him or leave him as you want. * GOOD IDEA: At the start of the story battle at Araguay Woods, you'll be given a choice whether to help Boco. Choose the second option to avoid losing Bravery. However, your choice here does not affect anything else. * NOT IMPORTANT: After the Araguay Woods battle, you will be able to add Boco the chocobo to your roster. Boco is just a regular yellow Chocobo, so you don't have to take him along. * ESSENTIAL: After completing the story battle at the Clockwork City of Goug, you will be able to add Mustadio to your roster. Mustadio is a unique story character and is also needed for most of the sidequests in Chapter IV, so add him to your roster and don't lose him. * ESSENTIAL: After the battle at Balias Swale, you will be able to add Agrias to your roster. Agrias is another unique story character and is needed for two sidequests in Chapter IV, so add her to your team. * ESSENTIAL: Deploying Agrias during the battle at Golgollada Gallows will allow you to see some extra dialogue between her and Ramza. This dialogue is not, however, needed to unlock anything else later. ---CHAPTER III----------------------------------------------------------------- * GOOD IDEA: When Alma joins the party, it's a good idea de-equip her Healing Staff and Barette (as well as her Red Shoes) before you go to the Orbonne Monastery. This is not *required* as both these items can be poached later: the Healing Staff is a rare poach from Dryads and the Barette is a rare poach from Red Chocobos. * NOT IMPORTANT: During a story event, you will be asked whether or not you have read the Scriptures of Germonique. Your response here has no bearing on anything, so don't worry about it :) * GOOD IDEA: The story battle at Zeklaus Desert features all three types of behemoths. All three types of behemoth yield rare items when poached. So, you may want to poach them, or recruit one or more onto your team (with Entice or Tame) to breed more behemoths for poaching. However, it is not necessary to poach/recruit them here as there are plenty of behemoths in random battles later in the game. * ESSENTIAL: After the battle at Zeklaus Desert, you will be able to add Luso to your roster. This is your only opportunity to get this unique character on your team, so add him. (Luso is not needed to unlock any other events, though.) * ESSENTIAL: At the very end of Chapter III, you will be given a chance to add Rapha and Marach to your roster. Both are unique story characters and each has different abilities, so sign them up. (They are not, however, very useful :P.) ---CHAPTER IV------------------------------------------------------------------ The Gollund Colliery sidequest is available at the beginning of this chapter. Assuming you still have Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian on your roster, the Agrias's Birthday sidequest is also available at this time. Both of these sidequests are available until completed and never disappear. (See Walkthrough - Sidequests for the full walkthroughs for these quests.) ---Agrias's Birthday--- * ESSENTIAL: After completing the Agrias's Birthday sidequest, you will receive the Tynar Rouge accessory. This is a one-of-a-kind item and cannot be replaced, so don't throw it away, or let it get broken or stolen by an enemy. After completing the Agrias's Birthday event, Alicia and Lavian are not strictly needed for any other events, although they will appear in Disorder in the Order if you still have them along. ---Gollund Colliery--- * ESSENTIAL: Near the beginning of this quest (at the Tavern in Lesalia), Beowulf will ask you to team up. Choose the second option to agree to this. Otherwise, Beowulf will leave and the quest cannot be completed. * GOOD IDEA: In the third battle in this quest (Gollund Colliery Ridge), you will encounter an enemy Pig. Entice or Tame the Pig so you can start breeding monsters from the pig family. Some rare items can only be obtained by poaching pig-family monsters -- including those from the Wild Boar monster, which can ONLY be obtained by breeding! If you do miss the Pig here, though, you can get others much later. * ESSENTIAL: After completing the last battle of this quest, Beowulf and Holy Dragon Reis will offer to join your team. Both are unique story characters and both are needed for later quests, so sign them up. * ESSENTIAL: Upon return to the Clockwork City of Goug, Construct 8 will also be offered as another character. Construct 8 is another unique character, so recruit it. ---Chapter IV Main Quest - Up to Bervenia Free City--- * GOOD IDEA: During the story battle at Bervenia Free City, you may want to steal the Defender and Chantage from Meliadoul, especially since both are good items. However, these can also be poached/stolen/caught later if you miss them. After completing the story battle at the Free City of Bervenia, the Recruiting Balthier sidequest is now available. It does not depend on any missable factors. ---Recruiting Balthier Quest--- * ESSENTIAL: After you complete this quest, Balthier will offer to join. Again, he is a unique story character, so sign him up. He is not needed for any other quests. * ESSENTIAL: Balthier's initial equipment includes the Ras Algethi gun and the Mirage Vest body armor. Both of these are unique items, so, again, don't throw them away or let them get broken. (Note that you must sign up Balthier to get them.) ---Chapter IV Main Quest - Finnath Creek to Sal Ghidos--- * GOOD IDEA: During the story battle at Finnath Creek (NOT during the random battles), there's a random chance of encountering one more enemy Pigs. If you don't already have one, Entice or Tame a Pig so you can start breeding monsters from the pig family. Some rare items can only be obtained by poaching pig-family monsters -- including those from the Wild Boar monster, which can ONLY be obtained by breeding! If you don't get any Pigs here, you can get others later. * GOOD IDEA: In the story battle at Beddha Sandwaste, you can steal a Glacial Gun from Barich. This is a rare item that can't be bought in stores, but it's not unique and you can get an infinite supply from random battles later. * ESSENTIAL: After completing the battles at Fort Besselat, Orlandeau will offer to join. Sign him up as he is another unique story character. * GOOD IDEA: Orlandeau's initial equipment includes the Excalibur knight's sword. The Excalibur isn't unique (an infinite supply can be caught from high- level enemy Ninjas), but Excaliburs are hard to get, so hang on to it! * ESSENTIAL: When you first visit the Trade City of Sal Ghidos, you will see a cutscene in which Aerith offers you a flower. Choose the SECOND option to buy the flower. If you do not buy the flower, you will NOT be able to complete the Nelveska Temple & Recruiting Cloud subquests, and there is only ONE chance to get it!! Once you have the flower, you can complete the Nelveska Temple sidequest if you also finished the Gollund Colliery quest and still have Beowulf and Reis on your team. ---Nelveska Temple Quest--- * ESSENTIAL: Using the Treasure Hunter ability, move atop the left pillar to find the Escutcheon (II) shield. You will need to use a large monster (such as Reis or Construct 8) as a stepping-stone to get up on top of the pillar. You may instead receive a crummy regular Escutcheon; the chance of getting this BAD Escutcheon is equal to your Bravery. So, a lower Bravery is better! This is the ONLY chance to get the Escutcheon II in the game and you CANNOT come back to this map afterwards, so you must pick it up here to get every item. * GOOD IDEA: The Javelin II, Sasuke's Blade, and Nagnarok weapons can also be found with Treasure Hunter and low Bravery here. These, however, are not unique; Sasuke's Blade and the Javelin II can be caught from enemy Ninjas and the Nagnarok can be poached from Swine. * ESSENTIAL: After completing the events in this quest, Reis's new version will offer to rejoin your party. She is another unique story character and needed for the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest, so sign her up. ---Chapter IV Main Quest - Mount Germinas to Limberry--- * ESSENTIAL: The Mount Germinas map contains a one-of-a-kind item, the Invisibility Cloak, found using Treasure Hunter atop the mountain. (See Various Tricks for a map to its location.) Again, the lower your Bravery, the better chance of getting the Invisibility Cloak instead of just an Ether. You only get to pick up ONE of these items, so if you end up with the Ether, the Invisibility Cloak is gone for good! Unlike with the Nelveska Temple items, however, there's absolutely no need to get this during the story battle here -- you can come back and get it in a random battle at any time. * GOOD IDEA: You may encounter another Pig in the story battle at Finnath Creek. (It's random whether or not you'll see it.) If you missed the Pig in the Gollund Colliery, try to recruit this one. If you don't get one here, you can still find an infinite supply in the last floor of Midlight's Deep. * ESSENTIAL: At Limberry, you'll face a series of four battles. In the first two battles, you'll need to learn Ultima by having one of the Assassins cast it on either Ramza in his Squire job, or Luso in his Game Hunter job. It is easiest to learn it in the first battle (at the gate). * NOT IMPORTANT: You can't steal Elmdore's equipment in this version of the game, so don't even try. * ESSENTIAL: After winning all the battles at Limberry, Meliadoul will offer to join you. Sign her up; she is a unique character and is needed for another couple story events. * GOOD IDEA: Meliadoul comes with a Save The Queen sword. Again, the supply of these is actually unlimited (since they can be caught from enemy Ninjas), but keeping this one as a good idea! The Recruiting Cloud quest is now available. ---Recruiting Cloud Quest--- * ESSENTIAL: When given the chance to sign up Cloud, add him. He isn't needed for anything else, but IS a unique story character. * GOOD IDEA: Cloud's Materia Blade is found atop Mount Bervenia using Treasure Hunter. Bravery is NOT important. Try to hang onto it since Cloud needs it for his Limit command, but if you lose it, you CAN get more from enemy Ninjas. ---Chapter IV Main Quest - Eagrose to End--- * ESSENTIAL: After Limberry, you will be directed back to Eagrose. On your way back to Eagrose, enter Dorter Trade City for an optional battle. (This battle will only trigger if you have Meliadoul on your roster.) If you visit Eagrose before activated this battle, it will disappear. * GOOD IDEA: In the aforementioned Dorter battle, you can steal a Dragon Rod from Cletienne. This weapon can also be found as a rare poach from Blue Dragons, but it's easiest to steal. * GOOD IDEA: The boss at Eagrose has a Defender sword you can steal, if you missed the one at Bervenia or want a second one. Again, there's actually an unlimited supply of Defenders (from poaching Elder Treants), so you don't *have* to get this one. * GOOD IDEA: Once you get to Mullonde, you'll face a series of three battles. In the first battle, the enemy Summoner has another Dragon Rod if you missed the prior one. * ESSENTIAL: For the second battle at Mullonde, deploy Meliadoul for some additional mid-battle dialogue. (This is not needed to unlock anything else, however.) Once you complete the battles at Mullonde, you will be able to complete the last set of sidequests, as well as the last set of story battles. You must still have Beowulf, Reis, and Agrias to complete this final set of sidequests. * ESSENTIAL: After entering Orbonne Monastery for the final sequence of battles, SAVE YOUR GAME IN A DIFFERENT SLOT. You will NOT be able to get out to the world map again. So, if you want to be able to roam the map at all, you must keep a separate save from BEFORE you went into the Monastery. ---Lionel's New Liege Lord Quest--- * NOT IMPORANT: Alite has Safeguard, so you can't steal any of his Genji gear. Sorry. * ESSENTIAL: After completing the first battle of this quest, you will receive the Genji Armor as a battle trophy. This is a unique item, so do not let get it stolen or broken. * GOOD IDEA: You can steal the Masamune from one of the enemy samurai in the second battle of this quest. The Masamune can only be otherwise obtained by catching it from enemy Ninjas, so it's good to get here. (Be careful using the Masamune for Iaido; if it breaks, you'll have to catch a replacement!) * GOOD IDEA: You can also steal a Cachusha and Barette from the enemy Mystics in the same battle. These are also available from poaching. * ESSENTIAL: You will receive a Zeus Mace as a battle trophy after the second battle. Keep it; this is one of only two in the game. ---Disorder in the Order Quest--- * GOOD IDEA: If you still have Alicia and Lavian in your roster, the story event at Zeltennia Castle will include them in the background. However, having them here doesn't affect the actual event, nor your ability to do anything else later. Note that once you've completed this event, Alicia and Lavian aren't used for anything else, so you could dismiss them if you want since they're otherwise just generic characters. * ESSENTIAL: If you bring Orlandeau to the battle in this quest, you can see a little extra dialogue. But, it's not needed for anything else. * ESSENTIAL: In the battle in this quest, you can steal Venetian and Kaiser Shields from the two Knights, and Ninja Gear from the enemy Monk. There is only other one copy of each of these items, so be sure to snag them. * GOOD IDEA: You can also steal a Sasuke's Blade, Barette, Blaze Gun, and Glacial Gun in the same battle, although none of these are strictly necessary. ---Midlight's Deep--- All the floors of Midlight's Deep have items you can find with Treasure Hunter. Again, a lower Bravery increases your chance is needed to get these items; otherwise, you just get a Phoenix Down. If you get the Phoenix Down, the "good" item disappears, even if you leave the battle and re-enter. * GOOD IDEA: Good Treasure Hunter pickups on The Crevasse: Glacial Gun and Blaze Gun. (Both also obtainable in random battles, however.) * GOOD IDEA: Good Treasure Hunter pickups on The Stair: Save The Queen and Blood Sword. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Hollow: Zeus Mace. There are only two of these available in the game; the other comes from the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest. * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Hollow: Yoichi Bow. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Catacombs: Rod of Faith. Only available here. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Catacombs: Kaiser Shield. One of only two; the other comes from Disorder in the Order. * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Catacombs: Faerie Harp. * GOOD IDEA: Good Treasure Hunter pickups on The Oubliette: Excalibur and Iga Blade. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Palings: Cursed Ring (only one in the game). * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Palings: Ninja Gear (1 of 2 in the game; the other from Disorder in the Order). * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Palings: Blaster gun. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Crossing: Staff of the Magi (only one in the game). * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Crossing: Koga Blade. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickups on The Switchback: Perseus Bow and Lordly Robe (both only available here). * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickup on The Switchback: Excalibur. * ESSENTIAL: Treasure Hunter pickups on The Interstice: Maximillian and Grand Helm (both unique), and Venetian Shield (1 of 2 in the game; the other is from Disorder in the Order) * ESSENTIAL: The first time you enter floor 10 (Terminus), you'll fight a story battle. This is your only chance to obtain the Zodiark summon, by having it the boss cast it on a character using the Summoner job. Use Mana Shield to survive the spell. * ESSENTIAL: After defeating Elidibus, you will be able to sign up the Byblos. This is a unique monster/character, so add it. * GOOD IDEA: Treasure Hunter pickups on Terminus: Chaos Blade and Chirijiraden. (Be careful using the Chirijiraden for Iaido; if it breaks, you'll have to catch a replacement!) ******************************************************************************* XI. ERRANDS 00err ******************************************************************************* New errands appear in the Taverns as you progress through the game. Each town has its own set of Errands. Occasionally, the characters sent on an errand may fail to complete it. If this happens, let the calendar advance a month and the errand should re-appear in the Tavern. As listed below, some errands will yield Artefact or Wonder of the World when you complete them. The specific artefact or wonder you receive is random, but the errands that give you them are fixed. [ This section needs some updating and expanding; I'll get to it a future revision of the FAQ! ] ---Chapter II------------------------------------------------------------------ Mount Gulg Mother Lode Chapter: 2 Days: 15-16 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 3100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Bandits Chapter: 2 Days: 11-13 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, JP Shoreline Defense Chapter: 2 Days: 8-9 Location: Magick City of Gariland Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, JP Miner's Tale Chapter: 2 Days: 8-11 Location: Magick City of Gariland Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, JP The Hindenburg Chapter: 2 Days: 8-15 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, JP Zaland Embassy Antiques Chapter: 2 Days: 10-12 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: 6000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP My Little Carrot Chapter: 2 Days: 15-16 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, JP Miner Shortage Chapter: 2 Days: 7-9 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, JP The Highwind Chapter: 2 Days: 5-8 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: 1050 Reward: Gil, JP ---Chapter III----------------------------------------------------------------- Frontier Marathon Chapter: 3 Days: 14-16 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: Free Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Second Frontier Marathon Chapter: 3 Days: 14-16 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: Free Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Third Frontier Marathon Chapter: 3 Days: 14-16 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: Free Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Stolen Tomes Chapter: 3 Days: 12-16 Location: Magick City of Gariland Cost: 11000 Reward: Gil, JP Minstrel in Distress Chapter: 3 Days: 13-16 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 50 Reward: Gil, JP Mameco the Minstrel Chapter: 3 Days: 15-16 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: Free Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Dancers for this errand, must complete above errand first Lorraide Mine Chapter: 3 Days: 10-14 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: 1100 Reward: Gil, JP The Dawn Queen Chapter: 3 Days: 8-12 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, JP Zerro's Challenge Chapter: 3 Days: 8-9 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 50 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Clockwork Faire Chapter: * Days: 11-13 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Use Chemists for this errand Mesa's Legacy Chapter: 3 Days: 10-13 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: 10000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: This errand is a rip-off. Merchant's Regret Chapter: 3 Days: 14-15 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: 2000 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Old Toppa's Will Chapter: 3 Days: 11-13 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 8000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Send Chemists on this errand. Salvage Expedition Chapter: 3 Days: 10-14 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 3000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Abandoned Mine Chapter: 3 Days: 10-14 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Errands below only appear after completing the battles at Orbonne Monastery. Guard Duty Chapter: 3+ Days: 11-13 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 2000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP The Siedge Weald Chapter: 3+ Days: 11-13 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: 1100 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Trick of the Light Chapter: 3+ Days: 14-15 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 1050 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Fenland Mystery Chapter: 3+ Days: 13-14 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 1100 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Diving Expedition Chapter: 3+ Days: 10-14 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: 5000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Archers for this errand ---Chapter IV------------------------------------------------------------------ Gleddia Isle Chapter: 4 Days: 9-11 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: 4000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Foundered Vessel Chapter: 4 Days: 8-13 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: Free Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Fia's Wish Chapter: 4 Days: 12-14 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: 3000 Reward: Gil, JP Secret Society Chapter: 4 Days: 2-3 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, JP Lettre d'amour Chapter: 4 Days: 10-12 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: Free Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Arithmeticks Tutor Wanted Chapter: 4 Days: 10-13 Location: Magick City of Gariland Cost: 50 Reward: Gil, JP Hellspawned Beast Chapter: 4 Days: 14-15 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, JP Metamorphosed Misery Chapter: 4 Days: 15-16 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 1100 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must completed above errand first Count Minimas Chapter: 4 Days: 12-14 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Count Minimas Chapter: 4 Days: 12-15 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Count Minimas Chapter: 4 Days: 11-12 Location: Merchant City of Dorter Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Father's Nightmare Chapter: 4 Days: 15-16 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 1500 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Use Chemists for this errand The Durga Chapter: 4 Days: 11-14 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Devil in the Dark Chapter: 4 Days: 8-10 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, JP Rain-Swept Slopes Chapter: 4 Days: 13-16 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: 600 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP True Romance Chapter: 4 Days: 8-12 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: Free Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete "Lettre d'amour" errand at Riovanes Castle first In the Darkness Chapter: 4 Days: 12-14 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: 1500 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use White Mages for this errand Wandering Gambler Chapter: 4 Days: 9-12 Location: Port City of Warjilis Cost: 15000 Reward: Gil, JP Coal Miners Wanted Chapter: 4 Days: 4-6 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 50 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Archers for this errand More Coal Miners Wanted Chapter: 4 Days: 4-6 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 150 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Most complete above errand first, use Archers for this errand Lamzen the Adventurer Chapter: 4 Days: 12-16 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 1100 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Frontier Expedition Chapter: 4 Days: 10-14 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 5000 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP The Falcon Chapter: 4 Days: 7-9 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: 3500 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Use Archers for this errand Endless Caverns Chapter: 4 Days: 12-14 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 8000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Past Glory Chapter: 4 Days: 7-15 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 500 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Use Geomancers for this errand Beddha Sandwaste Chapter: 4 Days: 11-15 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 550 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Adventurers Wanted Chapter: 4 Days: 8-12 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Shadows from the Past Chapter: 4 Days: 12-15 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Rhana Strait Chapter: 4 Days: 9-13 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 3100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Zerro Strikes Chapter: 4 Days: 8-9 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete errand "Zerro's Challenge" in Lionel Castle first, use Chemists for this errand Nightwalker Chapter: 4 Days: 8-12 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, JP Zerro's Return Chapter: 4 Days: 8-9 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 500 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete errand "Zerro Strikes" at Zeltennia Castle first Thief Zerro Reborn! Chapter: 4 Days: 8-9 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 5000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Himca Cliffs Chapter: 4 Days: 8-12 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 1500 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Ore of the Gods Chapter: 4 Days: 9-11 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 13000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Lake Poescas Depths Chapter: 4 Days: 12-14 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 1500 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Cellar Dungeon Chapter: 4 Days: 11-13 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 3000 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Uninvited Guests Chapter: 4 Days: 8-13 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, JP Gysahl Greens Chapter: 4 Days: 2-4 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Wandering Gambler Chapter: 4 Days: 11-13 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 15000 Reward: Gil, JP Zerro's Final Heist Chapter: 4 Days: 8-9 Location: Limberry Castle Cost: 10000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must complete errand "Thief Zerro Reborn!" at Eagrose Castle first Errands below only appear after defeating Zalera. Ancient Wonder Chapter: 4+ Days: 13-14 Location: Eagrose Castle Cost: 200 Reward: Gil, wonder, JP Cattedona Chapter: 4+ Days: 14-15 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: 500 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Orators for this errand Lionel Emissary Chapter: 4+ Days: 14-15 Location: Lionel Castle Cost: 4000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Twilight Gustkov Chapter: 4+ Days: 14-15 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Thieves for this errand Terror's Maw Chapter: 4+ Days: 13-14 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 1500 Reward: Gil, JP Miner's Dream Chapter: 4+ Days: 12-14 Location: Mining Town of Gollund Cost: 150 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Ducal Disaster Chapter: 4+ Days: 15-16 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 6000 Reward: Gil, JP Young Lord Pappal Chapter: 4+ Days: 12-15 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 3000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Cries in the Dark Chapter: 4+ Days: 8-11 Location: Royal City of Lesalia Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, JP Salvage Work Chapter: 4+ Days: 9-14 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: Free Reward: Gil, JP Coal Mining Expedition Chapter: 4+ Days: 10-14 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, JP Second Coal Mining Expedition Chapter: 4+ Days: 10-14 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Must complete above errand first Historic Revolt Chapter: 4+ Days: 8-10 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: 3050 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Tutoring Chapter: 4+ Days: 8-12 Location: Riovanes Castle Cost: 200 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use magick-users for this errand The Behemoth Chapter: 4+ Days: 13-15 Location: Free City of Bervenia Cost: 500 Reward: Gil, JP Dredge Work Chapter: 4+ Days: 6-10 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 1000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Archers for this errand Missing Boy Chapter: 4+ Days: 15-16 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 3500 Reward: Gil, JP Appraisal Chapter: 4+ Days: 8-9 Location: Zeltennia Castle Cost: 550 Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Use Chemists for this errand Death's Gorge Chapter: 4+ Days: 9-14 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 13000 Reward: Gil, JP The Typhoon Chapter: 4+ Days: 10-13 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 11000 Reward: Gil, JP Note: Use Chemists for this errand Beastly Trail Chapter: 4+ Days: 11-13 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 10000 Reward: Gil, JP Memories Chapter: 4+ Days: 10-12 Location: Trade City of Sal Ghidos Cost: 100 Reward: Gil, JP ---Contest Errands------------------------------------------------------------- The following "contest" errands don't seem to be associated with any particular chapter. Instead, they only show up at certain times of the year: Arteficer's Contest Chapter: * Days: 14-16 Location: Clockwork City of Goug Cost: Free Reward: Gil, JP Note: Only during month of Sagittarius, use Chemists for this errand The Yardrow Melee Chapter: * Days: 14-16 Location: Walled City of Yardrow Cost: Free Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Only during month of Cancer Gariland Magick Melee Chapter: * Days: 14-16 Location: Magick City of Gariland Cost: Free Reward: Gil, artefact, JP Note: Only during month of Virgo, use magick-users for this errand The Zaland Melee Chapter: * Days: 14-16 Location: Castled City of Zaland Cost: Free Reward: Gil, JP Notes: Only during month of Aries, use Monks for this errand ******************************************************************************* XII. OTHER GAME INFORMATION ******************************************************************************* %%%IVALICIAN CALENDAR%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00calendar Aries 30 days [Mar. 21 to Apr. 19] Dry month Taurus 31 days [Apr. 20 to May 20] Dry month Gemini 32 days [May 21 to June 21] Wet month Cancer 31 days [June 22 to July 22] Wet month Leo 31 days [July 23 to Aug. 22] Dry month Virgo 31 days [Aug. 23 to Sep. 22] Dry month Libra 31 days [Sep. 23 to Oct. 23] Dry month Scorpio 30 days [Oct. 24 to Nov. 22] Dry month Sagittarius 30 days [Nov. 23 to Dec. 22] Wet month Capricorn 28 days [Dec. 23 to Jan. 19] Wet month Aquarius 30 days [Jan. 20 to Feb. 18] Wet month Pisces 30 days [Feb. 19 to Mar. 20] Dry month Thunderstorms are more common during wet months than dry months. %%%ZODIAC COMPATIBILITY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00zodiac Ar T G Cn Le V Li Sc Sa Cp Aq P Aries X O ? O X Taurus X O ? O X Gemini X O ? O X Cancer X X O ? O Leo O X X O ? Virgo O X X O ? Libra ? O X X O Scorpio ? O X X O Sagittarius O ? O X X Capricorn X O ? O X Aquarius X O ? O X Pisces X O ? O X O: Good X: Bad ?: Worst (same sex), Best (opposite sex) Monsters are considered to have the same sex as other monsters, but to differ in sex from both male & female humans. %%%PARTY & BOSS ZODIAC SIGNS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00boss While generic units (even those in story battles) have random Zodiac signs, most story characters have predefined Zodiac signs. Those for your party members and enemy bosses are listed below. Temporary party members are indicated by (parentheses). --PARTY MEMBERS-- Aries : Lavian, Boco Taurus : (Ovelia) Gemini : Marach, Construct 8 Cancer : Agrias, Luso, (Orran), (Zalbaag) Leo : Balthier, (Alma) Virgo : (Argath), (Gaffgarion) Libra : Mustadio, Beowulf Scorpio : Orlandeau Sagittarius : (Delita) Capricorn : Ladd, Meliadoul Aquarius : Cloud Pisces : Alicia, Rapha, Reis random : The Byblos user-entered: Ramza Note that no permanent story characters have Taurus, Virgo, or Sagittarius as their Zodiac sign. If you want a complete set of Zodiac signs, you could give Ramza one of these signs. (See the Calendar above for which sign corresponds to which dates.) On the other hand, due to the proliferation of Gemini and Virgo bosses, you're probably better off making him a Capricorn to give him good compatibility with those bosses. --ENEMY BOSSES - BY BATTLE-- This chart details when you'll encounter enemy bosses with each Zodiac sign. For each Zodiac sign, the numbers indicate a story battle where a boss has that sign (e.g. the 25 for Gemini means that battle #25 has a Gemini boss). See the chart above for which Zodiac signs will be effective against each boss. Some battles are listed more than once in this chart because some battles have more than one boss. If a numbers doesn't appear anywhere in the chart, that's because there's no boss in that battle! Aries : 8 Taurus : none Gemini : 25, 29, 32, 34, 45, 47, 48, 51, 55, Lionel's New Liege Lord #2 Cancer : 52 Leo : 51, 57 Virgo : 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 18, 19, 26, 33, 34, 44, 45, 46, 58 Libra : none Scorpio : 21, 49, Lionel's New Liege Lord #1 Sagittarius : 23, 34, 38, 39, 44, 45, 56 Capricorn : 36, 51, 54 Aquarius : none Pisces : none Serpentarius: Midlight's Deep floor 10 random : Gollund Colliery #4, Nelveska Temple Note that Zodiac signs are NOT evenly distributed across bosses -- most bosses are Geminis and Virgos, with a few Sagittariuses and Capricorns. So, you might want to adjust your party line-up accordingly: - Against Gemini bosses, Virgos, Capricorns, and especially opposite-gender Scorpios are effective - Against Virgo bosses, Tauruses, Capricorns, and especially opposite-gender Pisces are effective Since Capricorn is good against BOTH Gemini and Virgo bosses, it's a particularly helpful Zodiac sign to have! --ENEMY BOSSES - BY CHARACTER-- The chart below details which enemy boss characters have which Zodiac signs. Don't peek if you don't want to know all the boss names! !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! Aries : Boco Taurus : none Gemini : Isilud, Marach, Elmdore, Zalera, Cletienne, Bremondt Cancer : Zalbaag Leo : Folmarv, Hashmal Virgo : Milleuda, Wiegraf, Argath, Gaffgarion, Belias*, Celia, Ultima Libra : none Scorpio : Cuchulainn, Dycedarg, Adrammelech, Alite Sagittarius : Zalmour, Lettie, Barich Capricorn : Meliadoul, Loffrey Aquarius : none Pisces : none Serpentarius: Elidibus random : Syneugh, Construct 7 * Note: While Belias is ostensibly the Lucavi of Aries, its actual in-game zodiac sign during the battle is Virgo, because it transforms from Wiegraf. !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! %%%STATUS CHANGES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00status ---Status Related to Game Mechanics--- APPEARANCE EFFECT Charging Gold "C" Charging up spell; increases physical damage received Performing Sing / dance Charging up song or dance Defending Crossed arms Doubles evade rate (both physical & magickal) Critical Kneeling None; just indicates that you're low on HP. (Some reaction abilities trigger only when Critical.) KO Lying down Character dies after counter gone Chicken Becomes a chicken Character cannot be controlled and will only flee into corner ---Positive Status Changes--- APPEARANCE EFFECT Float Floats in air Move over water as if land; immune to earth attacks Reraise Angel icon Revived on next turn after being KOed Invisible Transparent Can't be attacked until you Act Regen Blue tint HP increases after each of character's turns Protect Triangle icon Lowers physical damage received Shell Square icon Lowers magick damage received Haste Fast animation CT gauge fills faster ---Negative Status Changes--- APPEARANCE EFFECT Sleep "Zzz" Can't do anything; receive more damage from physical attacks Poison Green tint, HP decreases after each of character's turns skull icon Blind Sunglasses icon Doubles enemy's chance to evade your attacks Oil Black tint, oil Receive double damage from fire attacks spill icon Stone Turns gray Can't do anything or take damage. Game Over if all units KOed or Stone Silence "..." Can't use magick or Speechcraft Toad Becomes a toad Can't use any abilities except Attack and Toad magick. Stats down. Slow Slow animation CT gauge fills more slowly Stop No animation CT gauge doesn't fill at all; can't do anything Immobilize Gold arrow icon Can't "Move" Disable Hand icon Can't "Act" or use Reaction Abilities Doom Countdown KOed when countdown expired Vampire Bat icon Character is undead AND confused Undead Purple tint Healing spells damage character; drain attacks restore HP Charm Heart icon Character temporarily fights on enemy's side Traitor none Character has permanently joined enemy team Berserk Red tint, angry Attack power up; character cannot be controlled face icon and only performs physical attacks Confuse Weird animation, Character performs random actions "?" icon ---Neutral Status Changes--- APPEARANCE EFFECT Reflect none Magicks bounce off target onto another tile Atheist Ankh & down arrow Faith temporarily changed to 0 Faith Ankh & up arrow Faith temporarily changed to 100 %%%ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00elem Many abilities and a few weapons have one of eight elemental affinities: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind, Earth, Water, Holy, or Dark. By paying attention to these elemental affinities, you can increase the power of your attacks and decrease the damage from enemy abilities! Elemental affinities can increase damage in two ways. First, many monsters are weak to a particular element. An attack of this element will do DOUBLE its usual damage! A few pieces of equipment will also make a character weak to an element. Second, some equipment "boosts" one or more elements. When you have such an item equipped, any attacks you use of that element are 25% stronger. This is in addition to any weakness effect. For example, if Luso has the Gaia Gear (which Boosts: Earth) equipped, any earth attack he executes does 25% more damage. The Boost effect does NOT "stack" -- equipping more than one boost for the same element has no additional effect. For example, equipping both a Flame Rod and a Japa Mala (both of which boost Fire) is the same as equipping just the Flame Rod. Elemental effects can be defended against in three main ways. Some equipment will HALVE the damage you taken from a given element. Other equipment grants you IMMUNITY to a particular element, which means that you take NO damage at all from that element. Finally, some equipment ABSORBS an element, which means that damage from that element is converted into a HP *gain*. (So, absorbing water means that a water attack that normally does 200 HP damage will instead restore 200 HP!) Many monsters also have some innate elemental defenses. Finally, elemental affinities come into a play in a few other ways. The Oil status doubles damage received from fire attacks. The Float status makes a character immune to earth attacks. And, during a thunderstorm, fire attacks are 25% weaker and lightning attacks are 25% stronger. (A light rain has no effect on elemental damage.) For each of the eight elements, the chart below lists which attacks carry that element, and what is weak or strong against that element. ---Fire------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABILITIES WITH FIRE AFFINITY: Fire [Black Mage, Flame Rod] Ashura [Skyseer] Fira [Black Mage, Flame Mace] Nether Ashura [Netherseer] Firaga [Black Mage] Fire Breath [Holy Dragon, Dragonkin, Firaja [Black Mage] Red Dragon] Ifrit [Summoner] Flame Attack [Grenade] Salamander [Summoner] Spark [Exploder] Will-o'-the-Wisp [Geomancer] Breathe Fire [Minotaur, Sekhret] Magma Surge [Geomancer] Tri-Flame [Greater Hydra, Tiamat] WEAPONS WITH FIRE AFFINITY: Flame Rod [rod] Blaze Gun [gun] Flame Mace [flail] Flameburst Bomb [bomb] Boosted by : Flame Rod, Kaiser Shield, Black Robe, Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Skeleton family, Ghost family, Treant family, Blue Dragon Halved by : Ice Shield, Venetian Shield, Reverie Shield, White Robe Immunity : Minerva Bustier, Automaton Absorbed by : Flame Shield, Sage's Ring, Bomb family, Red Dragon Any unit with the Oil status change receives double damage from fire attacks. After being struck with a fire attack, the Oil status disappears. During a thunderstorm, damage from fire attacks is decreased by 25%. ---Lightning------------------------------------------------------------------- ABILITIES WITH LIGHTNING AFFINITY: Thunder [Black Mage; Thunder Rod] Hell's Wrath [Netherseer] Thundara [Black Mage] Thunder Breath [Holy Dragon, Dragonkin, Thundaga [Black Mage; Lightning Bow] Red Dragon, Blue Dragon] Thundaja [Black Mage] Thunder Anima [Skeleton] Ramuh [Summoner] Tri-Thunder [Greater Hydra, Tiamat] Heaven's Wrath [Skyseer] WEAPONS WITH LIGHTNING AFFINITY: Coral Sword [sword] Lightning Bow [bow] Thunder Rod [rod] Gungnir [polearm] Blaster [gun] Spark Bomb [bomb] Boosted by : Thunder Rod, Kaiser Shield, Black Robe, Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Ice Shield, Mindflayer family, Automaton Halved by : Venetian Shield, Reverie Shield, White Robe, Sage's Robe Immunity : Minerva Bustier, Rubber Suit, Rubber Boots Absorbed by : Sage's Ring During a thunderstorm, damage from lightning attacks is increased by 25%. This is in addition to any increase from Boosts and/or enemy Weaknesses. ---Ice------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABILITIES WITH ICE AFFINITY: Blizzard [Black Mage; Ice Rod] Snowstorm [Geomancer] Blizzara [Black Mage] Ice Breath [Holy Dragon, Dragonkin, Blue Blizzaga [Black Mage; Icebrand] Dragon] Blizzaja [Black Mage] Ice Anima [Bonesnatch, Skeletal Fiend] Shiva [Summoner] WEAPONS WITH ICE AFFINITY: Icebrand [sword] Glacial Gun [gun] Ice Rod [rod] Ice Bow [bow] Boosted by : Ice Rod, Kaiser Shield, Black Robe, Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Goblin family, Ahriman family, Malboro family, Hydra family, Red Dragon Halved by : Flame Shield, Venetian Shield, Reverie Shield, Minerva Bustier, White Robe, Sage's Robe, Bomb family Immunity : Automaton Absorbed by : Ice Shield, Sage's Ring, Blue Dragon ---Wind------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABILITIES WITH WIND FAMILY: Wind Slash [Geomancer] Nether Blade [Skyseer] Sandstorm [Geomancer] Wind Anima [Skeletal Fiend] Wind Blast [Geomancer] Twister [Behemoth King] Adamantine Blade [Skyseer] WEAPONS WITH WIND AFFINITY: Air Knife [knife] Windslash Bow [bow] Boosted by : Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Hydra family Halved by : Reverie Shield, Sage's Robe, Ahriman family, Aevis family Immunity : Minerva Bustier, Automaton Absorbed by : Sage's Ring ---Earth----------------------------------------------------------------------- ABILITIES WITH EARTH AFFINITY: Shockwave [Monk] Impiety [Netherseer] Titan [Summoner] Earthsplitter [Sekhret] Tremor [Geomancer] Quake [Bringer of Order] Divinity [Skyseer] WEAPONS WITH EARTH AFFINITY: none Boosted by : Gaia Gear, Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Panther family, Aevis family Halved by : Reverie Shield, Minerva Bustier, Sage's Robe Immunity : Float status, Automaton Absorbed by : Gaia Gear, Sage's Ring, Treant family ---Water----------------------------------------------------------------------- ABILITIES WITH WATER AFFINITY: Leviathan [Summoner] Maelstrom [Skyseer] Torrent [Geomancer] Nether Maelstrom [Netherseer] Quicksand [Geomancer] Water Anima [Skeleton, Bonesnatch] WEAPONS WITH WATER AFFINITY: none Boosted by : Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Flame Shield, Bomb family, Minotaur family Halved by : Reverie Shield, Minerva Bustier, Sage's Robe Immunity : Automaton Absorbed by : Sage's Ring, Mindflayer family ---Holy------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABILITIES WITH HOLY AFFINITY: Holy [White Mage, Holy Lance] Holy Breath [Dragonkin] WEAPONS WITH HOLY AFFINITY: Durandal [knight's sword] Holy Lance [polearm] Nirvana [staff] Boosted by : Excalibur, Tynar Rouge, Sage's Ring, Japa Mala Weakness : Skeleton family, Ghost family Halved by : Reverie Shield, Minerva Bustier, Sage's Robe Immunity : Automaton Absorbed by : Excalibur, Chameleon Robe, Sage's Ring ---Dark------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABILITIES WITH DARK AFFINITY: Lich [Summoner] Dark Whisper [Tiamat] Unholy Sacrifice [Dark Knight] WEAPONS WITH DARK AFFINITY: ALL fell swords Boosted by : Sage's Ring Halved by : Reverie Shield, Sage's Robe, Nu Khai Armband Immunity : Minerva Bustier, Automaton Absorbed by : Sage's Ring, Skeleton family, Ghost family %%%ARITHMETICKS CHART%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00arith The chart below is a quick reference as to which numbers can be targeted by each multiple when using Arithmetician. For example, characters at height = 3 will be hit by a Height Multiple of 3 or Height Prime spell, but not Height Multiple of 4 or 5. You might find this chart handy when using Arithmeticks, or trying to avoid enemy Arithmeticks attacks. Some numbers, such as 34, can't be hit by ANY Arithmeticks multiple. (These are numbers that are not prime but do not have 3, 4, or 5 as a factor.) These numbers are indicated in the table by a solid horizonal line. If you expect to face enemy Arithmeticians, you can use these numbers to help avoid their attacks in two ways: - As long as you stand on tiles with height of 0, 1, or any fractional number (e.g. 2.5), you cannot be hit by Height-based Arithmeticks. - If you have level 99 characters, you may want to level them down using a Degenerator trap (e.g. at Zeklaus Desert) so that they can't be hit by Level Multiple of 3. That said, enemy Arithmeticians appear only very rarely. QUICK LIST OF PRIME NUMBERS (ONLY DIVISIBLE BY THEMSELVES AND 1): 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97 QUICK LIST OF NUMBERS NOT TARGETABLE: 0 1 14 22 26 34 38 46 49 58 62 74 77 82 86 91 94 98 All fractional height numbers (e.g. height = 2.5) ---FULL ARITHMETICKS CHART--- # MULT.3 MULT.4 MULT.5 PRIME | # MULT.3 MULT.4 MULT.5 PRIME 0 ------------------------------------ | 25 X 1 ------------------------------------ | 26 ---------------------------------- 2 X | 27 X 3 X X | 28 X 4 X | 29 X 5 X X | 30 X X 6 X | 31 X 7 X | 32 X 8 X | 33 X 9 X | 34 ---------------------------------- 10 X | 35 X 11 X | 36 X X 12 X X | 37 X 13 X | 38 ---------------------------------- 14 ----------------------------------- | 39 X 15 X X | 40 X X 16 X | 41 X 17 X | 42 X 18 X | 43 X 19 X | 44 X 20 X X | 45 X X 21 X | 46 ---------------------------------- 22 ----------------------------------- | 47 X 23 X | 48 X X 24 X X | 49 ---------------------------------- # MULT.3 MULT.4 MULT.5 PRIME | # MULT.3 MULT.4 MULT.5 PRIME 50 X | 75 X X 51 X | 76 X 52 X | 77 ---------------------------------- 53 X | 78 X 54 X | 79 X 55 X | 80 X X 56 X | 81 X 57 X | 82 ---------------------------------- 58 ----------------------------------- | 83 X 59 X | 84 X X 60 X X X | 85 X 61 X | 86 ---------------------------------- 62 ----------------------------------- | 87 X 63 X | 88 X 64 X | 89 X 65 X | 90 X X 66 X | 91 ---------------------------------- 67 X | 92 X 68 X | 93 X 69 X | 94 ---------------------------------- 70 X | 95 X 71 X | 96 X X 72 X X | 97 X 73 X | 98 ---------------------------------- 74 ----------------------------------- | 99 X All fractional numbers ---------------------------------- %%%RANDOM BATTLES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00rb For now, I'm just listing the categories of monsters that appear in each location; I'll update this with more details soon. Mandalia Plain: Chocobo, Goblin, Panther The Siedge Weald: Goblin, Bomb, Skeleton, Minotaur Zeklaus Desert: Bomb, Avis, Minotaur, Skeleton Lenalian Plataeu: Panther Fovoham Windflats: Mindflayer, Avis, Minotaur, Goblin Araguay Woods: Ghost, Skeleton, Dryad, Panther, Aevis, Malboro, Goblin Zeirchele Falls: Mindflayer, Panther, Chocobo, Skeleton, Ahriman, Minotaur Balias Tor: Chocobo, Bomb, Minotaur, Panther, Aevis Tchigolith Fenlands: Panther, Ghost, Ahriman, Minotaur, Skeleton, Malboro, Bomb Balias Swale: Chocobo, Goblin, Mindflayer, Panther Grogh Heights: Chocobo, Bomb, Ahriman, Dragon The Yuguewood: Ghost, Dryad, Panther Mount Bervenia: Ahriman, Chocobo, Ghost, Behemoth, Bomb Dugeura Pass: Chocobo, Panther, Avis, Minotaur, Behemoth Finnath Creek: Chocobo, Mindflayer, Dragon Beddha Sandwaste: Bomb, Panther, Skeleton, Aevis, Ahriman, Behemoth, Dragon Mount Germinas: Chocobo, Panther, Minotaur, Aevis, Dragon Lake Poescas: Bomb, Ghost, Skeleton, Behemoth Dorvauldar Marsh: Goblin, Mindflayer, Dragon, Skeleton, Minotaur, Malboro %%%VARIOUS TRICKS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00tricks ---PAUSE BATTLES--- If you push Triangle while the enemies are moving, the game will pause after the current enemy stops moving. (When you press Triangle, you'll hear a chime sound indicating the pause was activated.) Once paused, you can check out everyone's status. When you're done, just click on any character and choose Done to resume. ---EVASION RATE--- You've probably noticed that the status screen features three numbers for each character's evade rate. The first number, C-Ev, comes from the character's current class/job. It's effective only against attacks from the FRONT. The second number, S-Ev, comes from the character's shield; it's effective against attacks from the front and side, but NOT from the back. The final number, A-Ev, comes from the character's accessory (i.e., cloaks) and is effective against ALL attacks. And, of course, there are separate evade rates for both physical and magick attacks. No job actually has a magick C-Ev greater than 0, so magick can be evaded only with a shield or cloak. You can plan your attacks with these evade rates in mind. If an enemy has a shield, attack him or her from behind. (Note that if an enemy doesn't have a shield, attacking from the side or behind are equally effective.) If an enemy has a high overall physical evade rate, use magick -- or guns, which ignore evade rates completely. Finally, equipping the Archer's Concentration ability completely prevents your physical attacks from being evaded. And, of course, positioning your own characters so that their backs/sides can't be attacked helps you evade enemy attacks. Note that the Shirahadori, First Strike, and Archer's Bane reaction abilities stop attacks outright and are independent of evade rate. ---SHOOT ENEMIES NEXT TO YOU--- Normally, you can't shoot enemies close to you with a bow or gun, but all you have to do is target a square in a straight line behind the enemy you want to hit (there doesn't even have to be anybody in the square). You'll end up hitting the enemy in front of you. ---2ENEMIES1TURN.COM--- The Shoot Enemies Next To You trick above can be combined with Balthier's Barrage ability to attack two or more different enemies in one turn. This only works if Balthier has a weapon with a range of 2 or more, and if the enemies are both in a line from Balthier (and within range of his weapon). Target the enemy that's further back with Barrage. Balthier will use a series of four attacks; of course, the initial strikes will actually hit the enemy closer to Balthier. However, once that first enemy is KOed, Balthier will continue attacking and hit his "original" target -- the enemy in back! This way, you can divide your damage between two targets instead of wasting a lot of damage finishing off an enemy that was already low on HP. This trick works with guns, bows, polearms, and any other weapon with a range of 2 or more. ---CURING & DRAINING THE UNDEAD--- As per Final Fantasy standards, undead enemies take damage when hit with Cure spells, and the Arise spell works like an instant KO attack! (Raise will also do damage equal to 1/2 of the enemy's max HP -- thus KOing if it's at half HP or below.) On the other hand, undead characters are also *immune* to attacks that drain HP to the user, like the Blood Sword or the Mystic's Invigoration. These attacks backfire if used against an undead monster! (The undead monster gains HP, and you lose HP!) Undead characters include monsters from the Skeleton and Ghost families, as well as human enemies in a few story battles, units who have had the Mystic spell Corruption cast on them, and any ally equipped with the Cursed Ring. ---STOP UNDEAD REVIVAL--- Normally, KOed units disappear and turn into a crystal or chest when their countdown hits 0. Undead monsters or humans, however, may instead resurrect themselves with full HP! Fortunately, there's two easy ways to stop this: First, you can turn the undead unit to stone, so it's never actually KOed. The Seal Evil ability used by Mustadio and Balthier works great for this. Second, for undead monsters, you can Poach or Tame them. Poached monsters disappear from the map completely (and hence can't resurrect), and Tamed monsters will actually fight on your side! ---CRYSTAL LOOT--- When you collect a crystal from a defeated enemy human and select Acquire Abilities, you can point the cursor to any of several abilities. Don't be fooled! You're not making a choice here, you actually learn ALL the abilities listed. This makes collecting crystals a great way to learn abilities quickly! ---FRIENDLY (AND UNFRIENDLY) FIRE)--- Most magicks affect not just the targeted character or tile, but also the surrounding panels. (The radius of this effect varies from magick to magick.) Geomancy, Iaido, and a number of sword techniques and monster abilities also have this effect. This area effect can of course be used to hit multiple enemies, but you can also exploit it in a number of other ways. If an enemy is a little too far out of range to target directly with the magick, you may still be able to target a somewhat closer tile and catch the enemy in the wider effect radius. (This is a good tactic for hitting more distant enemies.) The same is true for using White Magick or Time Magick to assist distant allies. Of course, you also need to watch out for a "friendly fire" effect when casting magicks -- you don't want to hit your own characters in the effect radius! If one of your allies is standing close to an enemy, you'll hurt him or her if you target the enemy directly. So, one solution is to target a more remote panel that will catch the enemy in the effect radius of your spell, but leave your ally out of range. (Of course, this also works in reverse for when you want to heal an ally, but not an enemy.) Just make sure the enemy won't be able to move before the magick is cast. Note that Summons and Iaido abilities ONLY target the "correct" units. They won't hurt allies, or heal enemies. ---IMPROVE STEALING ODDS--- You can boost the success rate of the Steal command in a number of ways: - Put the enemy to Sleep - using a Sleep Blade weapon, Mimic Darlavon (Orator), Repose (Mystic), etc. - Target the enemy from behind or to the side, so the move will be harder to evade. - Putting Disable status on the enemy (e.g. with Arm Shot) will also prevent the enemy from evading, although the steal may still fail. - Equip Concentration (Archer) or Brawler (Monk) as a support ability. (If you're using Concentration, then there's no need to try to steal from behind as the enemy can't evade anyway.) - Increase your Speed statistic, or decrease the enemy's Speed. Or, switch your stealing character to a job that has a high speed rating (e.g. Thief or Ninja) - Use Balthier's Plunder abilities, which have a somewhat higher success rate than the regular Steal command - Surround the character from whom you're trying to steal with both your main thief and a Mime; the Mime will duplicate all of your Steal attempts - And, of course, stealing using a character who has good Zodiac compatibility with the target will improve your success, though you often don't have a lot of options here... It's helpful to use one or more of these tactics if you're interested in stealing enemy gear, as the Steal command has a pretty low success rate otherwise. ---AUTO-X-POTION--- The Auto-Potion reaction ability normally causes you to (sometimes) use a Potion when attacked. However, if there aren't any Potions in your inventory, you'll use a Hi-Potion instead, and if there aren't any Hi-Potions, you'll use an X-Potion. Once you start getting Hi-Potions and X-Potions, then, it's actually a great idea to throw out your weaker potions so Auto-Potion will only use Hi-Potions or X-Potions -- you can heal yourself for a lot more HP that way! (This trick is particularly important in the Wiegraf battle in Chapter III.) ---REVIVE THE LIVING--- Annoyed by long charge times for Raise spells? Well, who says you can't start charging the spell before the target dies? If somebody's low on life and you know they're going to die, start charging up Raise or (preferably) Arise. And if they fail to die for Arise, kill them and the Arise will bring them back to full health! (why waste the spell?) ---THUNDERSTORM--- During a thunderstorm, lightning do 125% normal damage and fire spells do 75% normal damage. Movement through swamp tiles is also slowed during a storm. These effects occur only during a thunderstorm (when the screen occasionally flashes) and not during a light rain. ---LAST-SECOND SILENCE CURE--- Silence status prevents you from casting magick or summons, but all that matters is whether or not you're Silenced at the time the magick is actually cast, not when you start charging. It's possible to start casting magick while you're Silenced and *then* have someone else remove the Silence effect, as long as you do so before the magick finishes charging. This can come in handy if your magick-user happens to get his/her turn before the character who can remove Silence. It's also useful if you get Silenced while in the middle of charging a spell -- if you quickly cure the Silence, you can still use your spell. You can also use the timing of Silence in dealing with enemy magicks -- e.g., casting Silence on an enemyshortly before his or her magick activates will cancel the spell. Note that Silence also prevents the use of Speechcraft, but since Speechcraft abilities all activate instanteously, these timing effects don't come into play. ---TIME OF THE SEASONS--- As in Final Fantasy XII, Ivalice alternates between wet and dry seasons. Each year has two wet seasons (Gemini/Cancer and Sagittarius/Capricon/Aquarius) and two dry ones (Leo/Virgo/Libra/Scorpio and Pisces/Aries/Taurus). Thunderstorms (see above) are more common during the "Wet" months than the "Dry" ones. ---MONSTER EGG PREVIEW--- Trying to breed a particular kind of monster? You can actually take a "sneak peek" as to what an egg will hatch into. Open your party roster, position the cursor over the egg in question, and move the cursor back and forth to another party member to the left or right. When you move over the egg, the future monster's portrait will display for a fraction of a second, and if you can move back and forth quickly, you can get a decent glimpse of what the monster is going to be. You can identify the monster family by its portrait, and from the color scheme, you might even be able to tell which monster it is within that family. (See the Monsters list for the color scheme of each monster type.) If the monster in the egg is not what you want, you can go ahead and dismiss the egg. ---LEARNING ULTIMA--- Luso's Game Hunter job and Ramza's Chapter IV Squire job both have an extra ability that can't be learned with JP: Ultima! This ability can only be learned by having Ramza or Luso be hit with the spell while he is in the relevant job. In the main game, the best time to learn this ability is the Limberry Castle Gate, where Celia and Lettie will cast the spell on you. You can also learn it from them in the subsequent Limberry Castle Keep, and Luso can also learn it on the roof of Riovanes Castle at the end of Chapter III. Once you've acquired the spell, you can have Ramza and Luso cast it on the other to learn it that way. You can even learn Ultima in the multiplayer mode by having one of the other player's character cast it on you. (Note that only Ramza's "Chapter IV" version can learn Ultima.) This is a great way to still get the spell in case you miss it during the main quest. During the final battle, Alma can also learn Ultima if Ramza or Luso casts it on her. ---RARE RANDOM BATTLES--- There are a number of "special" random battles at particular wilderness locations. If you enter these location heading the correct direction, there's a chance you'll sometimes get into an unusual random battle. (They don't ALWAYS show up.) Nothing tells you explicitly that you're in one of these battles, but they feature novel enemy parties. For instance, you can enter a battle against a large team of enemy Monks if entering Grogh Heights from the south, and one against a team of enemy Samurai entering the Yuguewood from the east. Mount Germinas has a rare battle against some gun-wielding Chemists and Orators, where you can steal additional copies of the magick guns, and sometimes the Stoneshooter (see below). Mandalia Plains has a battle against a large set of enemy dragons. ---THE STONESHOOTER--- The Stoneshooter is an unusual weapon ... it's the strongest gun without a "magical" effect, but it's not without some drawbacks. If you equip it, you're turned to stone at the start of the battle! If you de-stone the character with an item or spell, he or she can then fight normally, but the gun isn't all that strong and doesn't have any special effects. It's not worth the hassle, in my opinion. Where to find the Stoneshooter? Occasionally, at Mount Germinas, you'll get into a random battle where you'll see one of the enemy Chemists turned into stone at the start of the battle. That's because he's equipped with the Stoneshooter. Use a Remedy or Esuna to de-stone him and then you can steal the Stoneshooter. (You can also get the Stoneshooter by poaching a Dark Behemoth, although this is the "rare" poach.) ---THE INVISIBILITY CLOAK--- Also found at Mount Germinas is the Invisibility Cloak, an accessory that gives a character an automatic Invisibilty at the start of every battle. The Cloak can be found during the initial story battle, or later during a random battle. To get the cloak, put the Treasure Hunter ability and move to the very top of the peak. The top of the peak forms sort of an "L" shape; the tile holding the Cloak is the one between the two "legs" of the L: ___ / / X --/ -- When you land on this tile, you'll receive either an Ether or the Cloak; your chance of getting the Cloak goes up the lower your Bravery. You only get to pick up the item once, so if you get the Ether, you can no longer get the Cloak. ---SOUND TEST--- To access a "sound test" where you can listen to all the game's music, select New Game on the title screen and then enter your name as PolkaPolka . You'll immediately be brought to the sound test. Just turn the game off when you're done. ---STEPPING STONES--- You can use Construct 8 as a stepping stone to reach high places -- another character can move onto its head as it were a normal panel, and move from there to somewhere else. You can't END your move on top of Construct 8, but you can use it for a mid-move boost. In addition, Holy Dragon Reis, malboros, dragons, and hydras can all be used the same way... even enemy ones! ---RIDING CHOCOBOS--- It's actually not too useful, but you can ride Chocobos. Move a character onto the same tile as a friendly chocobo (of any color). The character will mount the chocobo and they'll move and act as a single unit. Basically, this allows you to have a human character with the movement range of a Chocobo. All Chocobos have a nice movement range (6), and Black Chocobos can fly ... but, in most cases, it's probably not worth taking up a whole slot on your battle team with a Chocobo. ---CATCH RARE WEAPONS--- Rare weapons like the Excalibur and Whale Whisker can't be bought in stores ... but there's a way to get an infinite supply of them! They're thrown by high- level (90+) enemy Ninjas, and if you equip the Thief's Sticky Fingers reaction ability, you can catch the thrown weapons and add them to your inventory. You can find lots of enemy Ninjas on level 9 of Midlight's Deep, The Interstice, but you'll have to raise your own levels until you start seeing level 90+ Ninjas. Unfortunately, rare weapons that can't be thrown, like staves and rods, can't be attainable in this way, so they're one (or two) of a kind. ---MONSTER COMPATIBILITY--- When it comes to calculating Zodiac compatibility, monsters are actually considered a third sex. All monsters are considered to be the same sex as each other (maybe that explains why they all lay eggs), but they're all considered to be "different sex" vs. any human. ---ROD OF FAITH--- The Rod of Faith, found on the fourth floor (The Catacombs) of the Midlight's Deep bonus dungeon, has an interesting effect. While equipped with the Rod, a character has permanent Faith status, giving him or her 100 Faith. Of course, this is good simply for making your own magick maximally powerful, but it also allows you to make a more versatile character. Whenever the Rod is removed, the character's Faith reverts back to its "normal" value. So, if you want a flexible character who can also defend well against enemy magick, lower his or her Faith very low (as close to 03 as you can). Without the Rod equipped, the character is virtually invulnerable to enemy magick and makes a good fighter. But *with* the Rod equipped, s/he is now a high-Faith magick user! Using the Reequip ability, you could even make this change mid-battle, although it costs you a turn. Since there's only one Rod of Faith available, though, you can only use this tactic with a single character at a time. ---ALL 9 FEVER-- Once you max out at level 99 and 99 experience, you can easily cast healing or defensive magicks to your whole party using Arithmeticks and Level Multiple of 3 or Exp Multiple of 3. (Of course, you might hit a few enemies too.) ---BONUS COIN--- The amount of bonus gil you receive at the end of the battle is equal to the combined level of the enemies times 100. ---SWORD TECHNIQUES WITHOUT A SWORD--- Here's an unusual bug to beware of: Normally, you need to have a sword equipped to use any of the "sword technique" commands possessed by many of the special characters. However, there's a bug where enemies (or Charmed allies) can sometimes use sword techniques even without a sword! This seems to happen if an enemy is first put in an abnormal status condition such as Sleep that prevents him or her from acting normally (including allies being Charmed), and you then steal or rend that enemy's sword. In this case, the sword techniques don't get "switched off" and the enemy will still be able to use the techniques. Unfortunately, this only works for enemy characters, not your own characters, so it's less a trick and more something to watch out for! ******************************************************************************* XIII. MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE ******************************************************************************* %%%ZODIAC STONE LOCATIONS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00stones !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! Aries -- Get when you beat Wiegraf in Riovanes Castle. Taurus -- In Mustadio's possession; you receive it after the battle in Goug Machine City. Re-obtained in Riovanes Castle. Gemini -- Received after defeating Elmdore. Cancer -- Received after defeating Construct 7. [optional] Libra -- T.G. Cid (Orlandeau) has it; you'll get it when he joins Scorpio -- Received after you defeat Delacroix. Re-obtained in Riovanes Castle. Sagittarius -- Meliadoul has it; you'll get it when she joins. Capricorn -- Obtained after killing Adrammelech. Aquarius -- Given by Beowulf when he joins. [optional] Pisces -- Received from Isilud in Riovanes Castle. Leo -- You never get this one, Folmarv has it. Virgo -- As above; Folmarv also has this one. Serpentarius -- Receive after you defeat Elidibus in Midlight's Deep. [optional] !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! %%%FMV MOVIE LIST%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00fmv !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! This is a list of the FMV cutscenes (found only in the PSP release). #1: Title Screen #2: New game -- Delita escapes with Ovelia captive --Chapter I-- #3: Ramza thinks about Argath's words. Whistling with a blade of grass. #4: Ziekden Fortress explodes; Ramza disappears in the snow. --Chapter II-- #5: Ramza and Delita speak at Zeirchele Falls; Delita leaves Ovelia in Ramza's care. Flashback to Tietra's demise. #6: Ramza and Delita meet again in Warjilis Port City. --Chapter III-- #7: At Zeltennia, Ovelia and Delita discuss their personal histories. Delita pledges to build a new Ivalice. #8: Luso is pursued by Behemoths across Zeklaus Desert; Ramza throws a sword to rescue him. --Chapter IV-- #9: Delita's reveals the Church's plans to Ramza at a church in Zeltennia. Zalmour arrives and surrounds the church. #10: Thieves ambush Ramza in Dorter; Balthier appears on the scene. [optional; only seen if you complete the Recruiting Balthier subquest] #11: Ending. Account of Alazlam discovering Orran's papers. Ramza and Alma ride off into the sunset. #12: End credits. !!!SPOILER ALERT!!! %%%FF REFERENCES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00ffr I haven't included FF series mainstays like the classes, summon monster gang, Chocobos and other monsters, Cid, etc. just the references to specific games. Final Fantasy I: Wonders: Mirage Tower, Fortress of Trials, Matoya Cave, Shrine of Chaos Artefacts: Rat's Tail Final Fantasy II: Wonders: Pandaemonium, Semitt Falls, Shrine of Chaos (Jade) Artefacts: Minwu Orb Final Fantasy III: Wonders: Forbidden Land Eureka, Crystal Tower, Falgabard, Tozus Village Errands: Enterprise, Yggdrasil (World Tree), Chocobo Restaurant Gisahl Other: Salonia (Materia), Unei (in proposition "Endless Caverns") Final Fantasy IV: Wonders: Tower of Babel, Castle of Trials, Chocobo Forest Artefacts: Lugae, Calcobrena, Rat's Tail Errands: Enterprise, Anna and Gilbert [Edward], Assault Door ("Minimum's Melancholy") Final Fantasy V: Wonders: Ronkan Ruins Artefacts: Excalipoor Other: Almagest spell, Boco, Byblos, Apanda, Mossfungus (Mossfungus is an enemy in the last dungeon) Final Fantasy VI: Wonders: Phantom Train, Floating Continent Errands: Setzer, Blackjack Final Fantasy VII: Artefacts: Materia, St. Elmo's Fire [attack used by Ghost Ships] Errands: Black-caped man ("Nightwalker"), Highwind Multiplayer Missions: Teioh the chocobo Other: Cloud and Aerith (duhhh.....), Adamantainmai (mentioned in a work history, it's an enemy near Wutai) Ogre Battle: Other: Zodiac Stones, Zeltennia ******************************************************************************* XIV. PSONE->PSP CHANGES ******************************************************************************* %%%GAME CHANGES%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00psone Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions was originally released in 1997 (Japan) and 1998 (North America) as Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSone. Here's a list of the known changes between the 2007 PSP version and the original 1997/1998 PSone version: * Two new crossover characters have been added as party members: Balthier, from Final Fantasy XII, and Luso, from the forthcoming Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 (try saying that two times fast!). * Additional subquests and accompanying battles have been added to Chapter IV. In addition to the mission to recruit Balthier, there are also the new Agrias's Birthday, Disorder in the Order, and Lionel's New Liege Lord quests. * Two new jobs are available for all characters: Dark Knight and Onion Knight. * Two multiplayer modes have been added. One allows you to compete against other player's team. The other has you team up with another player to clear a variety of special missions. Both are playable only over an "Ad Hoc" (i.e.: local) connection -- no Internet play, sadly. * The maximum roster size has been increased by 8 (from 16 to 24), to allow you to add Luso and Balthier to your crew without having to kick out any of the other story characters. * Key story scenes are now illustrated with cel-shaded animated cutscenes and voice acting, instead of the in-game cutscenes and CG movies of the original. * There are a number of new story scenes and battles added to the main storyline, including: - Loffrey recruiting Wiegraf near the end of Chapter II. - Delita traveling with Ovelia at Zeirchele Falls, also near the end of Chapter II. (This scene also involves a new story battle!) - Ramza's meeting with Luso in Chapter III and the battle to rescue him. - As assasination attempt against Ovelia near the end of Chapter III. (There's a new Delita battle here as well.) - Delita demonstrating the blade-of-grass whistle to Ovelia soon after the beginning of Chapter IV. - A battle against Argath at Limberry Castle in Chapter IV. - An additional battle against Cletienne in Dorter on the way back to Eagrose in Chapter IV. * Job prerequisites and ability JP costs have been changed--specifically, some jobs now require the prerequisite jobs to be leveled up to a higher level, and some abilities cost more JP to learn. * The Speed of some abilities has also been changed. Some abilities (mostly Summons, plus a few Time Mage abilities and the Mystic's Petrify/Induration) now take longer to charge. * The "Crush" abilities used by Meliadoul and Orlandeau can now still damage enemies even if they don't have the relevant piece of equipment. This means that these abilities can also now damage monsters, making them a lot more useful! * New pieces of equipment have been added. A few are obtainable in the single- player game as Balthier's initial equipment; the rest can only be found by completing the multiplayer missions. * The quest to recruit Cloud is immediately after completing Fort Besselat (and the other prerequisite subquests). In the PSone version, this quest could not be done until substantially later--after defeating Adrammelech. * It's no longer possible to steal any of Elmdore's equipment. Actually, this is consistent with the original Japanese PSone release, where you couldn't steal his equipment either--the ability to steal his gear is unique to the North American PSone version. * The "item duplication" trick/glitch (which allowed you to buy extra copies of some weapons that you couldn't normally buy) has been removed from the game, as has the glitch that allowed you to earn infinite JP via a bug in the ability- learning menu. * Instead of using the Gregorian Calendar (January to December), dates are now displayed in Zodiac format (e.g. 3 Capricorn). The year also now alternates between "Wet months" (in which storms are more likely) and "Dry months," similar to the cycle on Final Fantasy XII's Giza Plains. * Victory conditions for the Bethla Garrison/Fort Besselat sluice battle in Chapter IV have changed. In the PSone version, you had to throw a pair of switches to finish the battle. This meant that you could hang around even after you'd killed all the enemies to have your characters hit each other and easily level up. In the PSP version, the battle ends as soon as you defeat all the enemies. * All of Rapha's skills are now learnable as soon as she joins the party. In the PSone version, many did not appear until Chapter IV. * In the PSone version, using a spell or special technique would occasionally cause the character to shout out a special quote (e.g. "Life is short...Bury! Steady Sword!"). These quotes have been removed from the PSP version. * In the PSP version, when a summon spell is cast, the name of that summon's special attack is displayed (e.g. Shiva casts "Glacial Shards"), as in most Final Fantasy games. The PSone version simply displayed the name of the summoned creature itself (e.g. "Shiva"). Similarly, each Iaido ability now has a special name when being cast, rather than simply the name of the katana. * In the PSone version, the game would cycle through various "attract" movies-- a trailer for the game and videos demonstrating all the jobs--if left on the title screen for a while. These movies do not exist in the PSP version; the title sequence just repeats over and over if the game is left running on the title menu. * The icons for some of the status conditions have been changed -- probably to be more visible on a smaller screen. * Some other visual display elements have also been changed. For example, the party roster screen now has more characters per row (to fit the widescreen format), the victory condition and battle clear screens are different, and the text map on the map screen is printed in a different & bigger font. * On the bad side of things, the game runs somewhat slower than the original PSone version. * Also on the bad sides, some of the sound effects (e.g. some ability effects, and the "death screams" when characters are KOed) also sound different (and poorer) on the PSP hardware. To be honest, I have such a tin ear for these kinds of differences that it's hard for me to tell exactly what has and hasn't changed, but it's been widely reported that they do sound different :) * And, of course, the game has been retitled Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, given a new logo, and rebranded as part of Square Enix's new Ivalice Alliance franchise. In addition, the North American, European, and Australian releases boast some further changes: * The game has been completely retranslated, with the Engrish-y awkwardness from the original version being replaced with a "medieval" style similar to the English version of Final Fantasy XII. If you're familiar with the old 1998 PSone translation and want to get up to speed with the new one, check out the name conversion guide below. * The slowdown in the North American and European releases is not as bad as it was in the Japanese PSP release (or so I'm told). * The X and O button mappings are reversed from the North American PSone release -- X now selects things in menus and O cancels, as in almost all North American releases. (Explanation: In Japanese versions of games, using O to select and X to cancel is actually the standard. In North America, the reverse is true; usually X selects and O cancels. Games being localized from Japan generally have the X and O buttons swapped -- in fact, this is a Sony- mandated change. The original PSone translation of FF Tactics apparently slipped through the cracks, in keeping with the general kookiness of its localization, and ended up with the O button to confirm. The PSP localization brings things back in life with the North American standard.) %%%NAME CONVERSION CHART%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00names The new English translation has changed quite a few names from the much- maligned 1998 translation seen in the PSone version, so I've provided this chart to help FF Tactics veterans get up to speed with the new translation. ---Game Mechanics-------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] Brave Bravery Propositions Errands Treasure (from Prop.s) Artefacts Unexplored Land Wonders of the Ancient World Strengthen: (equipment) Boosts: Cancel: (equipment) Immune: Always: (equipment) Equip: Bonus Gil Bonus Coin STATUS CONDITIONS Transparent Invisible Darkness Blind Petrify Stone Frog Toad Don't Move Immobilize Don't Act Disable Blood Suck Vampire Death Sentence Doom Invitation Traitor Innocent Atheist ---Story----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] CHARACTERS Adramelk Adrammelech Alazlam J.D. Arazlam Durai Algus Sadalfas Argath Thadalfus Alphons Draclau Alphonse Delacroix Altima Ultima Balbanes Beoulve Barbaneth Beoulve Balk Fenzol Barich Fendsor Balmafula Lanandu Valmafra Lenande Besrodio Bunanza Besrudio Bunansa Bestrada Larg Bestrald Larg Beowulf Kadmus Beowulf Cadmus Buremonda Bremondt Cidolfas Orlandu Cidolfus Orlandeau Delita Hyral Delita Heiral Druksmald Goltana Druksmald Goltanna Elidibs Elidibus Gaff Gafgarion Goffard Gaffgarion Gelkanis Barinten Gerrith Barrington Golagros Levine Gragoroth Levigne Gustav Margueriff Gustav Margriff Hashmalum Hashmal Izlude Tingle Isilud Tengille Kletian Drowa Cletienne Duroi Lede Lettie Malak Galthana Marach Galthena Marge Funeral Marcel Funebris Mesdoram Elmdor Messam Elmdore Miluda Folles Milleuda Folles Mustadio Bunanza Mustadio Bunansa Olan Durai Orran Durai Omdolia Atkascha Ondoria Atkascha Orinas Atkascha Orinus Atkascha Professor Bordam Daravon Master Darlavon Queklain Cuchulainn Rad Ladd Rafa Galthana Rapha Galthena Reis Dular Reis Duelar Rofel Wodring Loffrey Wodring Rudvich Bart Ludovich Baert Ruvelia Atkascha Louveria Atkascha Simon Pen Rakshu Simon Penn-Lachish Sinogue Syneugh Teta Hyral Tietra Heiral Velius Belias Vicks Biggs Vormav Tingel Folmarv Tengille Worker 8 Construct 8 Zalbag Beoulve Zalbaag Beoulve Zalmo Rusnada Zalmour Lucianada TERMS Hokuten Knights Order of the Northern Sky Nanten Knights Order of the Southern Sky Death Corps Corpse Brigade Bart Company Baert Company Temple Knights Knights Templar Black Sheep Knights Blackram Knights Lion's War War of the Lions Mosfungus Mossfungus CHAPTER TITLES The Manipulator & the The Manipulative & the Subservient Subservient Somebody to Love In the Name of Love ---Places---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] OVERWORLD Ygros Castle Eagrose Castle Sweegy Woods The Siedge Weald Sand Rat Cellar Sand Rat's Sietch Thieves' Fort Brigands' Den Lenalia Plateau Lenalian Plateau Fovoham Plains Fovoham Windflats Fort Zeakden Ziekden Fortress Zirekile Falls Zeirchele Falls Fort City Zaland Castled City of Zaland Bariaus Hill Balias Tor Zigolis Swamp Tchigolith Fenlands Goug Machine City Clockwork City of Goug Warjilis Trade City Port City of Warjilis Bariaus Valley Balias Swale Golgorand Execution Site Golgollada Gallows Goland Coal City Mining Town of Gollund Lesalia Imperial Capital Royal City of Lesalia Grog Hill Grogh Heights Yardow Fort City Walled City of Yardrow Yuguo Woods The Yuguewood Doguola Pass Dugeura Pass Bervenia Volcano Mount Bervenia Finath River Finnath Creek Bed Desert Beddha Sandwaste Bethla Garrison Fort Besselat Zarghidas Trade City Trade City of Sal Ghidos Germinas Peak Mount Germinas Dolbodar Swamp Dorvauldar Marsh Murond Holy Place Mullonde DEEP DUNGEON/MIDLIGHT'S DEEP Deep Dungeon Midlight's Deep NOGIAS The Crevasse TERMINATE The Stair DELTA The Hollow VALKYRIES The Catacombs MLAPAN The Oubliette TIGER The Palings BRIDGE The Switchback HORROR The Interstice END Terminus ---Jobs------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] Priest White Mage Wizard Black Mage Mediator Orator Oracle Mystic Lancer Dragoon Calculator Arithmetician SPECIAL JOBS Delita's Sis Commoner Dark Knight Fell Knight Engineer Machinist Heaven Knight Skyseer Hell Knight Netherseer Holy Swordsman Sword Saint Arc Knight Ark Knight Temple Knight Templar Steel Giant Automaton Dragoner Dragonkin ENEMY JOBS Impure King The Impure Holy Priest Celebrant Warlock Gigas Angel of Death Death Seraph Lune Knight Rune Knight Ghost of Fury The Wroth Regulator Bringer of Order ---Monsters-------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] Gobbledeguk Gobbledygook Cuar Coeurl Vampire Vampire Cat Explosion Exploder Living Bone Skeletal Fiend Bull Demon Wisenkin Minitaurus Minotaur Sacred Sekhret Gust Ghast Pisco Demon Piscodaemon Squidlarkin Squidraken Flotiball Floating Eye Plague Plague Horror Juravis Jura Aevis Woodman Dryad Taiju Elder Treant Hyudra Hydra Hydra Greater Hydra Uribo Pig Porky Swine Apanda Reaver Archaic Demon Archaeodaemon ---Abilities------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] SQUIRE Basic Skill Fundaments Accumulate Focus Dash Rush Throw Stone Stone Heal Salve Monster Skill Beastmaster Gained Jp UP JP Boost CHEMIST Throw Item Throw Items Maintenance Safeguard Equip Change Reequip Move-Find Item Treasure Hunter KNIGHT Battle Skill Arts of War * Break Rend * Magic Break Rend MP Mind Break Rend Magick Weapon Guard Parry Equip Armor Equip Heavy Armor ARCHER Charge+x Aim +x Speed Save Adrenaline Rush Arrow Guard Archer's Bane Concentrate Concentration MONK Punch Art Martial Arts Spin Fist Cyclone Repeating Fist Pummel Wave Fist Aurablast Earth Slash Shockwave Secret Fist Doom Fist Stigma Magic Purification HP Restore Critical: Recover HP Hamedo First Strike Martial Arts Brawler Move-HP UP Lifefont WHITE MAGE/PRIEST White Magic White Magicks Cure 2 Cura Cure 3 Curaga Cure 4 Curaja Raise 2 Arise Protect 2 Protectja Shell 2 Shellja Regenerator Regenerate Magic DefendUP Arcane Defense BLACK MAGE/WIZARD Black Magic Black Magicks Fire 2 Fira Fire 3 Firaga Fire 4 Firaja Bolt Thunder Bolt 2 Thundara Bolt 3 Thundaga Bolt 4 Thundaja Ice Blizzard Ice 2 Blizzara Ice 3 Blizzaga Ice 4 Blizzaja Frog Toad Magic AttackUP Arcane Strength TIME MAGIC Time Magic Time Magicks Haste 2 Hasteja Slow 2 Slowja Don't Move Immobilize Demi Gravity Demi 2 Graviga MP Switch Mana Shield Short Charge Swiftness Float [movement ability] Levitate SUMMONER Summon Magic Summon Silf Sylph Fairy Faerie Zodiac Zodiark MP Restore Critical: Recover MP Half of MP Halve MP THIEF Gil Taking Steal Caution Vigilance Gilgame Heart Gil Snapper Catch Sticky Fingers Secret Hunt Poach ORATOR/MEDIATOR Talk Skill Speechcraft Invitation Entice Persuade Stall Threaten Intimidate Solution Enlighten Death Sentence Condemn Negotiate Beg Finger Guard Earplug Train Tame Monster Talk Beast Tongue MYSTIC/ORACLE Yin-Yang Magic Mystic Arts Blind Umbra Spell Absorb Empowerment Life Absorb Invigoration Pray Faith Belief Doubt Faith Disbelief Zombie Corruption Silence Song Quiescence Blind Rage Fervor Foxbird Trepidation Confusion Song Delirium Dispel Magic Harmony Paralyze Hesitation Sleep Repose Petrify Induration Absorb Used MP Absorb MP Defense UP Defense Boost Any Weather Ignore Weather Move-MP Up Manafont GEOMANCER Elemental Geomancy Pitfall Sinkhole Water Ball Torrent Hell Ivy Tanglevine Carve Model Contortion Local Quake Tremor Kamaitachi Wind Slash Demon Fire Will-o'-the-Wisp Blizzard Snowstorm Gusty Wind Wind Blast Lava Ball Magma Surge Counter Flood Nature's Wrath Attack UP Attack Boost Any Ground Ignore Terrain Move on Lava Lavawalking DRAGOON/LANCER Level Jump x Horizontal Jump x Dragon Spirit Dragonheart Equip Spear Equip Polearms Ignore Height Ignore Elevation SAMURAI Draw Out Iaido Asura Ashura Koutetsu Kotetsu Bizen Boat Osafune Heaven's Cloud Ama-no-Murakumo Meatbone Slash Bonecrusher Blade Grasp Shirahadori Two Hands Doublehand Walk on Water Swim NINJA Ball Bomb Stick Pole Spear Polearm Knight Sword Knight's Sword Dictionary Book Sunken State Vanish Abandon Reflexes Two Swords Dual Wield Move in Water Waterwalking ARITHMETICIAN/CALCULATOR Math Skill Arithmeticks Prime Number Prime 3 Multiple of 3 4 Multiple of 4 5 Multiple of 5 Distribute Cup of Life Damage Split Soulbind Gained Exp UP EXP Boost Move-Get Exp Accrue EXP Move-Get JP Accrue JP BARD Sing Bardsong Angel Song Seraph Song Life Song Life's Anthem Cheer Song Rousing Melody Battle Song Battle Chant Magic Song Magickal Refrain Last Song Finale MA Save Magick Boost Face Up Faith Boost DANCER Wiznaibus Mincing Minuet Polka Polka Polka Disillusion Heathen Frolic Nameless Dance Forbidden Dance Last Dance Last Waltz A Save Fury Brave Up Bravery Boost SQUIRE [Ramza] Guts Mettle Accumulate Focus Dash Rush Throw Stone Stone Heal Salve Yell Tailwind Wish Chant Cheer Up Steel Scream Shout Equip Axe Equip Axes Monster Skill Beastmaster Gained Jp UP JP Boost DARK KNIGHT / FELL KNIGHT Dark Sword [command] Fell Sword Night Sword Shadowblade Dark Sword [ability] Duskblade HOLY KNIGHT Stasis Sword Judgment Blade Split Punch Cleansing Strike Crush Punch Northswain's Strike Lightning Stab Hallowed Bolt Holy Explosion Divine Ruination PRINCESS & CLERIC Holy Magic Holy Magick Mbarrier Aegis Deathspell 2 Dispelna ENGINEER / MACHINIST Snipe Aimed Shot Leg Aim Leg Shot Arm Aim Arm Shot ASTROLOGIST / ASTROLOGER Starry Heaven Astrology Galaxy Stop Celestial Stasis HEAVEN KNIGHT / SKYSEER Truth Sky Mantra Heaven's Thunder Heaven's Wrath Asura Ashura Diamond Sword Adamantine Blade Hydragon Pit Maelstrom Space Storage Celestial Void Sky Demon Divinity HELL KNIGHT / NETHERSEER Un-Truth Nether Mantra Heaven Bltback Hell's Wrath Asura Back Nether Ashura Dia Swrd Back Nether Blade Dragn Pit Back Nether Maelstrom Space Str Back Corporeal Void Sky Demon Back Impiety HOLY SWORDSMAN / SWORD SAINT All Swordskill Swordplay DIVINE KNIGHT Mighty Sword Unyielding Blade Shellbust Stab Crush Armor Blastar Punch Crush Helm Hellcry Punch Crush Weapon Icewolf Bite Crush Accessory ARC KNIGHT / ARK KNIGHT Destroy Sword Blade of Ruin * Ruin *sap TEMPLE KNIGHT / TEMPLAR Magic Sword Spellblade Aspel Syphon Innocent Doubt Despair Dispel Shock! Vengeance STEEL GIANT / AUTOMATON Work Tasks Crush Pulverize DRAGONER / DRAGONKIN * Bracelet * Breath Dragon Tame Dragon's Charm Dragon Care Dragon's Gift Dragon PowerUp Dragon's Might Dragon LevelUp Dragon's Speed SOLDIER Braver Brave Slash BYBLOS Energy Energize Shock Vengeance Difference Manaburn ENEMY JOB ABILITIES Use Hand Subdual Arts Stop Bracelet Suffocate Teleport 2 Master Teleportation MONSTER ABILITIES Choco Attack Choco Beak Choco Ball Choco Pellets Scratch Claw Poison Nail Venom Fang Cat Kick Cat Scratch Blood Suck Vampire Small Bomb Bomblet Turn Punch Spin Punch Bloodfeast Mutilate Knife Hand Chop * Soul * Anima Aqua Anima Water Anima Wave Around Feral Spin Blow Fire Breathe Fire Mimic Titan Earthsplitter Gather Power Beef Up Throw Spirit Ectoplasm Grease Touch Oily Touch Tentacle Tentacles Black Ink Ink Odd Soundwave Dischord Look of Fright Dread Gaze Wing Attack Wing Buffet Look of Devil Bewitching Gaze Death Sentence Doom Circle Beam Scratch Up Talon Dive Shine Lover Glitterlust Beaking Peck Shake Off Pickaxe Leaf Dance Leaf Rain Spirit of Life Life Nymph Protect Spirit Guardian Nymph Clam Spirit Shell Nymph Bad Bracelet Bad Breath Malboro Virus Malboro Spores Stab Up Gore Sudden Cry Heave Dash Charge Tail Swing Tail Sweep Hurricane Twister Ulmaguest Almagest Triple * Tri-* Straight Dash Reckless Charge Oink Squeak Pooh- Toot Nose Breath Snort Please Eat Bequeath Bacon ---Equipment------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] ITEM CATEGORIES Ninja Sword Ninja Blade Knight Sword Knight's Sword Hammer Flail Dictionary Book Spear Polearm Stick Pole Ribbon Hair Adornment Mantle Cloak Magic Ball Bomb WEAPONS Zorlin Shape Zwill Straightblade Hidden Knife Ninja Blade Ninja Knife Kunai Short Edge Kodachi Ninja Edge Ninja Longblade Spell Edge Spellbinder Sasuke Knife Sasuke's Blade Koga/Iga Knife Koga/Iga Blade Nagrarock Nagnarok Sleep Sword Sleep Blade Koutetsu Kotetsu Bizen Boat Osafune Heaven's Cloud Ama-no-Murakumo Rainbow Staff Serpent Staff Wizard Staff Mage's Staff Sage Staff Staff of the Magi Faith Rod Rod of Faith Flail Iron Flail Flame Whip Flame Mace Romanda Gun Romandan Pistol Blaze Gun Glacial Gun Glacier Gun Blaze Gun Blast Gun Blaster Night Killer Knightslayer Gastrafitis Gastrophetes Ultimus Bow Artemis Bow Bloody Strings Bloodstring Harp Fairy Harp Faerie Harp Battle Dict Battle Folio Monster Dict Bestiary Papyrus Plate Papyrus Codex Madelgelm Omnilex Oberisk Obelisk H Bag Hydrascale Bag C Bag Croakadile Bag P Bag Pantherskin Bag FS Bag Fallingstar Bag Persia Damask Cloth Ryozan Silk Wyrmweave Silk SHIELDS Platina Shield Platinum Shield Kaiser Plate Kaiser Shield HELMS Barbuta Barbut Cross Helm Close Helmet Feather Cap Plumed Hat Triangle Hat Wizard's Hat Twist Headband Headband Holy Miter Celebrant's Miter Black Hood Black Cowl Flash Hat Lambent Hat Thief Hat Thief's Cap ARMOR Platina Armor Platinum Armor Carabini Mail Carabineer Mail Reflect Mail Mirror Mail Leather Outfit Leather Clothing Leather Vest Leather Plate Chain Vest Ringmail Adaman Vest Adamant Vest Judo Outfit Jujitsu Gi Power Sleeve Power Garb Earth Clothes Gaia Gear Black Costume Black Garb Wizard Outift Wizard Clothing Secret Clothes Ninja Gear Rubber Costume Rubber Suit Linen Robe Hempen Robe Silk Robe Silken Robe Light Robe Luminous Robe Robe of Lords Lordly Robe ACCESSORIES Spike Shoes Spiked Boots Feather Boots Winged Boots Sprint Shoes Hermes Shoes Power Wrist Power Gauntlet Magic Gauntlet Magepower Glove Genji Gauntlet Genji Glove Defense Ring Protect Ring Magic Ring Magick Ring N-Kai Armlet Nu Khai Armband 108 Gems Japa Mala Defense Armlet Guardian Bracelet Diamond Armlet Diamond Bracelet Small Mantle Shoulder Cape Leather Mantle Leather Cloak Wizard Mantle Mage's Cloak Elf Mantle Elven Cloak Dracula Mantle Vampire Cape Feather Mantle Featherweave Cloak Vanish Mantle Invisibility Cloak Salty Rage Sortile'ge Setiemson Septie`me ITEMS Eye Drop Eye Drops Echo Grass Echo Herbs Soft Gold Needle Magic Shuriken Fuma Shuriken Yagyu Darkness Yagyu Darkrood Fire Ball Flameburst Bomb Water Ball Snowmelt Bomb Lightning Ball Spark Bomb ---Errands--------------------------------------------------------------------- [1998 PSone translation] [2007 PSP translation] TREASURES/ARTEFACTS Four Gods Set Four-Deity Plate Statue of Lylis Statuette of Lilith Beetle Charm Scarab Charm Zeni-Sword Coin Blade Malice Mask Hanya Mask Kid's Bread Moppet Bread Adult's Bread Goliath Bread Yurgeivogue Lugae M-Fiction Novel Mesa's Musings Diary of Nanai Nanai's Histories Wyuvle Veil of Wiyu Book of Enavia Enavia Chronicles Magical Gun Enchanted Pistol M Machinegun Enchanted Machinegun Magi-Sword Zanmato Minu Orb Orb of Minwu Tarot of Ben Tarot de Bennstat Excalipar Excalipoor Parasite Tree Yggdrasil Mistletoe Longibunne Spear Lance of Longibunne UNEXPLORED LAND/WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD Magic Continent Floating Continent Castle of Trials Fortress of Trials Falgabird Falgabard Magic Train Phantom Train Touzas Village Tozus Village Semite Falls Semitt Falls ******************************************************************************* XV. CREDITS / DISCLAIMER 00cred ******************************************************************************* This FAQ is copyright 1998 and 2007 by Fritz Fraundorf. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is copyright 1997 and 2007 by Square Enix. This FAQ is not associated with or endorsed by Square Enix or Sony. You may freely distribute this FAQ if it is not altered in any way and I am credited. This FAQ is distributed by weight, not volume, and some settling of its contents may have occured during shipping. %%%CREDITS%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ---PSP VERSION CREDITS--------------------------------------------------------- - Aaron N. Price for the name of one of the errands in the new translation. - ace luna for suggesting I add a note about Midlight's Deep always staying red on the map. - Agostino Gruppi for pointing out typos in the range for bows and crossbows. - Albert K.G. for the late-game save files that allowed me to quickly update a lot of the retranslated names, for some of the starting conditions for the new subquests, and for Dark Knight stats and abilities. - Alexander Scott for suggesting I add using cure spells on the undead to the Various Tricks section. - Andrew Lyfoung for the PSP version's removal of the infinite-JP trick. - Anocruxis via the GameFAQs.com secrets page for the procedure for recruiting Balthier. - Archie Fiasco for suggestions on how to level up characters without Focus. - azymyth for info on the new Chapter IV Argath battle and some of the info. on how your choice on Mandalia Plain in Chapter I affects your Bravery. - BradyGames's official guide for the game for the Brass Coronet stats and for the location of the Blood Sword during the Eagrose Castle Keep battle. - Brent Clevenger for pointing out that the Balthier quest isn't immediately available in Chapter IV. - Carlos Alexandre for pointing out some of the merits of Ramza's Squire job. - Cecil Beoulve for the Oracle level-down stat raising trick. - Chris Ng for confirming that buying Aerith's flower is a one-time opportunity and for the bug where enemies use swordskills without a sword. - Cody Hickman for suggesting the missable items list. - Cristiano Bruzzo for some of the new JP costs for abilities. - Darius Rodriguez for the info on how Bravery and Faith increases are calculated after a battle. - Darrel Wade for noting that monks can equip clothes, and correcting the price of two of the guns. - David Jamison for correcting the location of the Faerie Harp. - Derek Kupper for pointing out that bows are unlike all other weapons in that they don't require a direct line of fire. - Desmond Gaban for the correct size of the roster increase in the PSP version. - Doug for pointing out that you can't steal a Blood Sword from Gaffgarion until the Gallows. - Doug Prevo for more info. on enemies using swordskills without a sword. - Drew Seleski for correcting the amount that Intimidate and Enlighten lower Bravery and Faith. - Edgar Hernandez for pointing out I had the coordinates for the Excalibur reversed in the Midlight's Deep item locations. - Emanuel Mak for learning Ultima in the multiplayer mode. - Felix_Omni for Dark Knight, Sky Pirate, and Game Hunter abilities. - Flaring Bahamut for when the new Cletienne battle occurs in Chapter IV, for when Agrias's subquest actually becomes available, and for pointing out some typos :). - Freaky Liar for highlighting Flails as a great weapon to throw. - gunblade15 for using Balthier's Barrage to attack more than one enemy per turn, for reminding me to note the difference between the Angel Ring and the Chantage, for suggesting I make a more obvious warning about saving in the final sequence of battles, for pointing out a typo in the Nagnarok's stats, and for some of the stats on the multiplayer-only items. - Gunther Kris Santos for catching a few more abilities with different JP costs in the PSP version. - Harvey Ng Lee for when failed errands reappear in the Tavern, and for also pointing out the reversed Excalibur coordinates. - Havamere for info on the Onion Knight. - IGN.com and 1Up.com for information on some of the various changes to the PSP release. - J.J. Garcia for pointing out that I had the Red Chocobo and Behemoth King poached items backwards, for when the Clockwork Faire errand is available, and for pointing out a typo in the weapons list. - James Derr for first suggesting the usefulness of Ramza's Steel ability in raising Bravery. - Jason Wood for which quests do and don't require Alicia and Lavian, and that you only need to protect Beowulf during the *first* Lionel Castle battle. - John Hoffman for the new names for the Deep Dungeon/Midlight's Deep floors, and the rumor necessary to start the Beowulf Subquest. - Jonathan Tabish for some of the information on the sound effect changes in the PSP version. - Johnny World for the new name of the Zorlin Shape (Zwill Straightblade). - Joseph Welke for correcting the job prerequisities for Dragoon. - Joshua Evans for pointing out a typo in one of the battle strategies. - Juan Mejia for suggesting Aurablast and Leg Shot as useful abilities against Cuchulainn. - Judg3m3nt for a couple tactics for the Lionel Castle Gate battle. - kami_amaya via the GameFAQs.com secrets page for the sound test. - Ken Bernardo for the current name and stats of the Almagest monster ability. - Leonardo Vaz for Luso learning Ultima, for being able to catch Scorpion Tails with Sticky Fingers, and for the new names of the Great(er) Malboro and Malboro Virus (now Malboro Spores). - Leonardo Vidal for some more requirements on the Tynar Rouge event. - Logicmanhero for Dark Knight, Balthier, and Luso abilities. - Luze for Reflexes mechanics and the Featherweave Cloak/Reflex combo. - Manny for suggesting I add a note about the character departures due to low Bravery/high Faith. - Matt Dorothy for Balthier being available as soon as you finish Bervenia. - Mauro Schiavo and Benedict Icton for bringing the clear-game save problem to my attention. - Michael Wood for using Hallowed Bolt on Belias. - Minh Vu for pointing out the EXP section was misleading about when attack strength and speed go up, and for Mimes as a good alternative to Onion Knights for stat grinding. - Muhammad Iqbal for the FF VII reference in one of the multiplayer missions. - Mytherial J for the changes to Meliadoul's abilities in the PSP version (they now work on unequipped enemies and monsters!) - Not Dice for pointing out that the FAQ about stealing the Genji equipment was a little confusing. - Olivier for pointing out when Cloud becomes available in the PSP version, and for being one of several readers to point out that Beowulf is available from the start of Chapter IV. - Pat Polk for correcting when the Tynar Rouge quest becomes available, for quite a few of the new PSP names, for correcting a few item locations in Midlight's Deep, for the Mana Shield + Manafont combo, for the Infinite Revival party strategy, for some of the mechanics of Balthier's Barrage ability, for insights on gaining levels, and for pointing out a few other typos and errors. - RalphTheBleeder for the Black Magicks strategy for Lionel Castle Gate. - Reninzo for catching another point where I'd still said Reis couldn't use any equipment. - RevenantThings and LDKAngel via the GameFAQs.com FF T secrets page for the PSP version job prerequisities. - Rob Mako for the procedure for recruiting Luso. - Romuald Brunet for suggesting Teleport at the Lionel Castle Gate battle. - sahkuh on YouTube for the video demonstrating the Toad-based automated leveling technique. - Sane Valios for info on the inability to steal from Elmdore in the PSP version. - Seth X.H. for the correct prerequisites for the Nelveska Temple battle. - Shaun Tang for pointing out the Chemist with the Glacial Gun in the colliery may have Maintenance, for suggesting Inviting the Pig in the colliery, for pointing out that Beowulf is available at the beginning of Chapter IV, for the Disable tactic on the Riovanes Castle Roof, and confirming that Luso can learn Ultima in Chapter III. - Tam Thanh Truong for pointing out that I'd written "Oracle" instead of "Mystic" more than a few times in the FAQ. - Tom Dougall for pointing out that my Learning Ultima instructions were a little TOO opaque. - Tony Lawrence for using Balthier's Barrage with Poach. - Ty'ere Mosley for pointing out that Zodiark isn't learned 100% of the time when you're hit with the spell; it's random. - UnshakableWill for recommending Break or other petrification/instant KO attacks as a strategy for the Finnath Creek battle. - Vincent Cheng for suggesting clarifications to the Arithmetician's job description and for JP-raising tips. - Warren for suggesting using Magick Break against Elidibus, for alternate strategies against Wiegraf/Belias, and for pointing out that Masamune Iaido is somewhat limited in usefulness since Masamunes are so rare :P - winddraco for the stats on almost all of the mutiplayer-only items, for weapon damage stats, for confirming that the Tynar Rouge event never expires even if you miss it on 1 Cancer the first time, for filling in the stats on the Ribbon, for the mechanics of Balthier's Plunder and the Dark Knight abilities, for when and how Onion Knights get more powerful, for Onion Knight level up strategies, for Brawler improving stealing, for Cloud's Limit using Magick Attack, and for pointing out a couple typos and other goofs. - XmushXroomX via the GameFAQs.com secrets page for "previewing" monster eggs. ---PSONE VERSION CREDITS------------------------------------------------------- - Alex Jennings (ajenning@isd.net) for one FF reference. - Andrew Schoonmaker (neon@eskimo.com) for general corrections, the Bonus Gil info, and the Shock trick on the final battle. - Ben Ford (bhford@ibm.net) for improving the Shoot Enemies Close to You Trick. - Billy Sauls (doomsday@citynet.net) for tips on the "Roof of Doom" (Riovanes Castle Roof). - C.J. Showers (CaptainAndy98@yahoo.com) for info on the Bloody Strings draining HP. - cobblerob@softhome.net for the suggestion to use Teleport to light up the Deep Dungeon. - Dan Polcari (magus@cyberverse.com) for the Chaos Blade's stats, the Stop Galaxy quote, and the Deep Dungeon / Vietnam War connection. - David Artman (tzombie@netrox.net) for correcting which option to choose on the battle to save Mustadio. - D. B. Brown (dbrown1@stny.lrun.com) for suggestions on the Knight job. - H. Clower (SeigfriedH@hotmail.com) for tips on the Riovanes Castle roof, dismissal quotes, a lot of thoughts on various jobs, and correcting my mistake on Fire/Ice/Bolt 4. - Henry LaPierre (freeza@ix.netcom.com) for writing the Alundra FAQ. This has nothing to do with FF Tactics, but I never would have gotten through that game without it. - Jacob Carson (Zebra-38@worldnet.att.net) for most of the rare poaching items. - James Yoon (daedelon1@hotmail.com) for some JP costs. - Jason Narad (rdnarad@aiusa.com) for where to get the Escutcheon II and Javelin II. - Jason Wong (pchwong@netcom.ca) for stats on the Zorlin Shape and Scorpion Tail. - Jeff Smith (snsi@win.bright.net) for the suggest to Rend Weapon Gaffgarion. - Jeremy Frey for some Draw Out quotes. - jerid23@aol.com for the poaching list, as well as the stats on the other perfumes. - jjukil@aol.com for tips for the Riovanes Castle Roof, the Wild Boar abilities, and the effect of Malboro Gem. - joas@nbnet.nb.ca for some spell quotes and Riovanes Castle roof tips. - John LaRusic (johnlr@telusplanet.net) for making the excellent HTML version of the FAQ. - Joshua Kodroff (jjk209@psu.edu) for the suggestion to use Phoenix Down on the undead. - Justin Kudo-Pfeiffer's (endymion@linex.com) Deep Dungeon Guide for a lot of background info on the Deep Dungeon and the location of the Kaiser Plate. - John Jung (locke@wam.umd.edu) for the effect of the Wild Boar's Please Eat ability. - Justin McKennon (xhacker_m998@hotmail.com) for spell quotes, character quotes, the item stats I was missing, and the strategy for the Bethla Garrison north gate. - Ken Bernardo (DBnoise@aol.com) for noting that you need Mustadio to do the Cloud subquest. - Ladotheus (frivest@ibm.net) for the Monk / Dual Wield suggestion. - Marcin Szymanski for the Mincing Minuet / Vanish strategy (from PSM Online). - Masumo's Final Fantasy Tactics page (http://members.tripod.com/~masumo) for some info on some of the poaching items, and stats on the Rubber Costume. - Matt32 (teletech1@mindspring.com) for reminding me to add Golagros's name to the walkthrough, and for the dismissal quotes I was missing - Matthew Weng (agent99x@bmw.autobahn.org) for tips on stealing the Genji gear. - Matt Hobbs (yelseyking@aol.com) for the Commonly Found part of the poaching list, a lot of the poached item stats, the JP costs for the abilities I was missing, propisition info, dismissal quotes, where to get the Sasuke Knife and Nagrarock, and for revamping the ENTIRE spell quotes list. - Mike Stucke (mastucke@concentric.net) for explaining the meaning of the Deep Dungeon floor names. - neelixbeta@aol.com for the Bard / Dancer JP trick and using Don't Move with call spells. - Not Me (nineteenounces@hotmail.com) for the explanation of how Jump and axe/mace weapons work. - oblivion@pegasus.rutgers.edu for being the first to point out that there really ARE items on level 10, and for the "Holy Justice" team. - Patrick Chalnik (pat@fur.com) for the stats on the second Escutcheon. - Paul Nathans (elyzhutch@aol.com) for poaching info and pointing out the Wild Boar monster. - PlayStation Gamer (http://www.sol.no/games/psgamer) for the instructions on how to get Cloud. - PSM magazine for the location of the Vanish Mantle. - PSM Online (http://www.psmonline.com) for the "buy unpurchasable items" trick, and many of the ability strategies. - Rori Bryant-Raible (CaitSith88@aol.com) for numerous tips and advice, plus the weather effects. - rpgskills@aol.com for the monster abilities I was missing, and some poaching info. - Shane Lile (ShaneLile@mindless.com) for mistranslations info. - shinra2@yahoo.com for some poached items. - t.g.cid@mindless.com for general info, stealing a Defender and Chantage from Meliadoul, and the unhittable ninja. - The Falcon (Falcon@kktv.com) for how JP and gil is determined on errands. - The Mighty Octopus (tmo42@usaor.net) for one FF reference and the Brave/Faith permanent change info. - Tony Barath (serpent@wizardsinc.net) for where to find Dark Behemoths. - Zachary Piper (zpiper@student.umass.edu) for strategies for Golgorand Execution Site. - And Square, for making one of my favorite strategy RPGs.
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Final Fantasy Tactics - The War of the Lions :: F.A.Q. / Walkthrough v1.37
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