%%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%walk3 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. ---NEW ITEMS FOR SALE--- The shops at Dorter and elsewhere have a lot of new stuff. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Ninja Blade Ninjabl 3000 TrCity Atk: 8, 5% Parry Murasame Katana 7000 TrCity Atk: 10, 5% Parry Musk Pole Pole 2400 TrCity/City Atk: 8, 20% Parry Croakadile Bag Bag 53000 TrCity/City Atk: 10, 0% Parry, Mag. Attack +1 Headband Hat 5000 TrCity/City HP +56, Physical Attack +2 Ancient Sword Sword 5000 Castle Atk: 9, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Immobilize Mythril Bow Bow 5000 Castle Atk: 7, 0% Parry Mythril Spear Polearm 4500 Castle Atk: 10, 10% Parry Ice Shield Shield 6000 Castle Phy.Evade: 28%, Mag.Evade: 0%, Absorbs: Ice, Halves: Fire, Weakness: Lightning Flame Shield Shield 6500 Castle Phy.Evade: 31%, Mag.Evade: 0%, Absorbs: Fire, Halves: Ice, Weakness: Water Close Helmet Helm 4000 Castle HP +70 Poison Bow Crossbw 4000 Castle/Goug Atk: 4, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Poison Winged Boots Cloak 2500 Any Always: Float Magepower Glove Gauntlt 20000 Any Magick Attack +2 Reflect Ring Ring 10000 Any Always: Reflect Nu Khai Armband Armlet 10000 Any Immune: Confuse,Charm; Halves: Dark X-Potion Item 700 Any Restores 150 HP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Headbands are 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.) Although the Croakadile Bag may look powerful, it does variable amounts of damage, which limits its usefulness during actual battles. Plus, it's ridiculously expensive! Now that you're in Chapter III, you can also buy X-Potions, so you'll want to learn the corresponding ability for any item-users you have. 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, as well as the Mythril Bow and some other stuff. The Flame Shield and Ice Shield absorb fire and ice, respectively, which lets you do a handy trick: Cast a fire or ice magick 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! Of the two shields, the Flame Shield is definitely the better. Not only does it have a higher evade rate, its elemental profile is more useful. The Ice Shield makes you weak to lightning. The Flame Shield, on the other hand, is only weak to water, and there are very few water attacks. So, the extra 500 gil for the Flame Shield is definitely worth it. ---ERRAND UPDATE--- All this new equipment is expensive, so luckily there's a whole slew of new errands, at least one in every town. ---New Errands------------------------------------------------------------------ CITY DAYS COST APPROX. REWARD Frontier Marathon Dorter 14-16 0 21265 gil, 156 JP, wonder Second Frontier Marathon Dorter 14-16 0 21265 gil, 156 JP, wonder > Must complete "Frontier Marathon" Third Frontier Marathon Dorter 14-16 0 21265 gil, 156 JP, wonder > Must complete "Second Frontier Marathon" Stolen Tomes Gariland 12-16 11000 2026 gil, 112 JP The Gariland Magick Melee Gariland 14-16 0 22265 gil, 166 JP, artefact > Month of Virgo only Minstrel in Distress Eagrose 13-16 50 1216 gil, 98 JP Mameco the Minstrel Eagrose 15-16 0 5239 gil, 104 JP > Must complete "Minstrel in Distress" Lorraide Mine Zaland 10-14 1100 2726 gil, 102 JP The Zaland Melee Zaland 14-16 0 20865 gil, 250 JP > Month of Aries only The Dawn Queen Lionel 8-12 100 15729 gil, 102 JP Zerro's Challenge Lionel 8-9 50 10999 gil, 143 JP, artefact Mesa's Legacy Goug 10-13 10000 576 gil, 55 JP Clockwork Faire Goug 11-13 100 5418 gil, 95 JP, artefact Artificers' Contest Goug 14-16 0 20865 gil, 250 JP > Month of Sagittarius only Merchant's Regret Warjilis 14-15 2000 5049 gil, 103 JP, wonder -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Particular profitable ones are "The Dawn Queen" in Lionel, "Zerro's Challenge" in Lionel, and the three "Frontier Marathon" errands in Dorter. (You must complete the Frontier Marathons in sequence; finishing each one opens up the next.) Finishing "Zerro's Challenge" will also open up other errands later on. If you're short on cash, doing these errands will help you out. I've also re-listed the 3 errands that show up in particular months. If you haven't already done these, these are great for earning money if it happens to be the right month. (If you already did any of these in Chapter II, you can't do it again.) AVOID "Mesa's Legacy" and "Stolen Tomes." Both these errands are rip-offs that cost you more money than you'll earn! (If you're a completionist and want to finish every errand, you can always come back to these later, once money is no longer an issue.) Some errands, including the Frontier Marathons, will now start yielding Wonders of the Ancient World. Like the Artefacts, these have no actual function; they're just for display! ---MAP UPDATE--- If you had characters who were running errands at Lionel Castle and ended up "trapped" when you were kicked out of the castle back in Chapter II, you can finally go collect those characters from the Tavern now. Lionel Castle is back to being a regular, blue-dot town. Note that a couple of other routes on the map have disappeared: the sea route between Goug and Warjilis permanently vanishes at the start of Chapter III, and Orbonne Monastery is temporarily inaccessible. ---POACHERS' DENS--- The Poachers' Dens are now open. Whenever a character with the Thief's "Poach" ability KOs a monster with a physical attack, one item is sent to the Poachers' Den. You can then buy that item by visiting the Poachers' Den in Dorter or in Warjilis. Other cities do not have Dens. (A third Poachers' Den will become available in Chapter IV when you reach the city of Sal Ghidos.) If you poached any monsters back in Chapters I or II, you can now buy their items at the Den. You do need to have the Poach support ability currently equipped on at least one character--it doesn't have to be Ramza--in order to enter a Poachers' Den. There are a couple reasons to poach items. First, 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! Each monster type yields one of two possible items: a frequent item or an infrequent one. See the Poaching List for a complete list of which monsters give you which items. Many of the best monsters to poach don't appear under Chapter IV, but if you recruited a Pig at Tchigolith Fenlands in Chapter II, you can now start poaching your pigs for rare items. And Red Chocobos, which also appear fairly frequently in Chapter III, sometimes yield the Barette when poached, which protects female characters against a number of status ailments. Finally, the Poachers' Dens have one other purpose. Any item that you SELL to the Poachers' Den gets added to its inventory and can be bought back later for the same price that you sold it. So, if you need to sell anything for cash, sell it to the Poachers' Den, and it will be less expensive if you later want to buy it again. ---RENDEZVOUS MODE--- A new Rendezvous mission, The Fete, is available. This one can be a little difficult if you haven't yet learned Shirahadori (see below), but with a Summoner you should be able to win. There's also the Lost Heirloom mission from last chapter if you haven't done that yet; the Nu Khai Armbands that you can now buy will make this battle easier by protecting you from Charm. ---ABILITIES TO LEARN--- 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, you'll really want Ramza to 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 little. Combining the Ninja's inherent speed and double attack with a barehanded attack powered by the Monk's Brawler ability makes for an incredibly strong and quick fighter. But the Ninja job isn't strictly necessary -- and it can be a bit of pain to unlock, 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. You may also want to start developing a stealing specialist, if you haven't already. You'll be encountering more and more enemies with rare equipment that you can't buy at the Outfitter, so you may want to swipe it :). 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. If you don't get to this until Chapter IV, though, it's not a big deal. 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 Time Mage's Teleport movement ability. Shirahadori blocks physical attacks outright whenever it activates; if combined with a high Bravery stat (which you can boost with Ramza's Steel ability), it can render you virtually impervious to physical attacks. 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 to effectively double (or come close to doubling) your attack power. Finally, the Time Mage's Teleport is helpful for navigating battlefields with tall walls (as it allows you to essentially warp right up them), for teleporting through enemy forces blocking your path, and for extending your move range in a pinch. If you try to teleport long distances, it'll probably fail, but this ability is still extremely helpful for navigating both heights and crowded maps. Also, if you have a Summoner, the Golem summon will also help out in a battle near the end of the chapter. Lastly, if you haven't been using Ramza's Steel to work on building up your Bravery, try to do so when you get a chance -- having a high Bravery will make your Reaction Abilities a lot more useful (such as the aforementioned Shirahadori). ---ON WITH THE ADVENTURE!--- 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. ---Battle 22: Gollund----------------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Orran [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Orator (lv 18, male) Thief (lv 21, female) Thief (lv 20, female) Thief (lv 19, female) Chemist (lv 21, male) Chemist (lv 21, male) GUEST: Orran [Cancer] - lv 18 Astrologer - Bravery 73, Faith 71 Equipment : Bestiary, Wizard's Hat, Gaia Gear, Hermes Shoes Abilities : Astrology, other abilities random Immune : All negative status except Stone, Blind, Silence, Oil, Slow, Stop VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Orran is KOed or Ramza dies WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 10 x 10 Snow Snowstorm 73% Roof, Chimney Wind Blast 24% Wooden Floor Will-o'-the-Wisp 2% Flagstone Contortion 1% --STRATEGY-- The buildings here are steep, which restricts your movement. 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; it's hard to target the enemy from below. Instead, try bringing the Dragoon's Jump attack or Black Magick. Also, since the enemy has three Thieves that like to steal your equipment, 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 your 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. If Orran's relatively healthy and doesn't need immediately healing, you can also cast Protect him on 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 battle. 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. 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 prizes 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 to swipe, although these aren't quite as good to grab -- the 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 this gear if you can! If you've played the original PSone version of FF Tactics, you may find this battle more challenging this time around. It's been restored to the original Japanese level of difficulty. Orran's stats are now a lot lower, and it's quite a bit easier for the enemies to KO him. BATTLE TROPHIES: 1500 gil, Battle Folio --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1.5, Snow POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 2, Up: 2 (height: 2, Snow) Hi-Potion Close Helmet none Left: 5, Up: 1 (height: 0, Snow) Holy Water Iron Flail none Left: 5, Up: 6 (height: 16, Chimney) Potion Spear none Left: 9, Up: 9 (height: 1, Snow) Phoenix Down Mage's Staff none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you save Orran, you'll chat briefly, and then he'll head off to the south, sadly depriving you of Celestial Stasis :) Gollund's shops don't offer any new equipment, 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. ---Battle 23: Lesalia Castle Postern-------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Alma [guest], 2 others 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Zalmour (lv 24 Celebrant) Knight (lv 22, male) Knight (lv 22, male) Knight (lv 20, male) Monk (lv 21, female) Monk (lv 21, female) GUEST: Alma [Leo] - lv 3 Cleric - Bravery 39, Faith 87 Equipment : Healing Staff, Barette, Wizard Clothing, Red Shoes Abilities : Holy Magicks, Items, other abilities random BOSS: Zalmour [Sagittarius] - lv 24 Celebrant - Bravery 54, Faith 78 Equipment : Musk Pole, Wizard's Hat, White Robe, Elven Cloak Abilities : Priest Magicks, random action ability, Archer's Bane, Halve MP, Lifefont Immune : All negative status except Blind, Confuse, Silence, Oil, Berserk, and Slow VICTORY CONDITION: KO Zalmour LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 11 x 10 Grassland Tanglevine 55% Flagstone Contortion 22% Soil Sinkhole 12% Obstructed -- 12% --STRATEGY-- If you didn't spot the rest of your team right away, they're behind the gate. Since none of the enemies here has much in the way of range attacks (just maybe some weak Geomancy abilities), 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 near the stairs. 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 stand 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 it! After casting Aegis, Alma will just thwack your characters with her Healing Staff to restore their HP. The level 22 Knights may have Flame Shields or Ice Shields, which gives them some elemental weaknesses you can exploit. Thunder and other lightning magicks will do extra damage to Knights with an Ice Shield. Knights with Flame Shields are weak against water, although there aren't many water attacks that you can use (but, the Leviathan summon and the Ninja's Snowmelt Bomb are two). 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 ... so this is a pretty easy fight. BATTLE TROPHIES: Ether --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 0, Soil POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 9, Up: 10 (height: 5, Grassland) Ether Brigandine none Left: 0, Up: 10 (height: 5, Grassland) Holy Water Ancient Sword none Left: 0, Up: 8 (height: 2, Grassland) Phoenix Down Ninja Blade none Left: 1, Up: 0 (height: 0, Soil) Remedy Diamond Braclt none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---ALMA--- Alma now joins up as a guest. She won't be doing any more fighting, though, so go ahead and de-equip her Healing Staff, Barette, and Red Shoes. These are all valuable items: 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. 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. ---BAD ERRANDS--- Both Gollund and Lesalia have new errands you can complete: ---New Errands------------------------------------------------------------------ CITY DAYS COST APPROX. REWARD Old Toppa's Will Gollund 11-13 8000 3462 gil, 106 JP Salvage Expedition Lesalia 10-14 3000 976 gil, 90 JP, artefact Abandoned Mine Lesalia 10-14 1000 2576 gil, 90 JP, artefact -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can complete these errands easily by walking back and forth between Gollund and Lesalia. However, none of them are particular lucrative and they may cost you more money than you earn! ---EQUIPMENT UPGRADES--- Before leaving this region, you can also stop at the Outfitter in Lesalia to buy new heavy armor. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Mythril Gun Gun 15000 Goug Atk: 8, 5% Parry Kunai Ninjabl 5000 TrCity Atk: 9, 5% Parry Ama-no-Murakumo Katana 8000 TrCity Atk: 11, 5% Parry Bestiary Book 6000 TrCity Atk: 8, 15% Parry Damask Cloth Cloth 7000 TrCity Atk: 8, 50% Parry Iron Fan Pole 4000 TrCity/City Atk: 9, 20% Parry Celebrant's Miter Hat 6000 TrCity/City HP +64, MP +20, Magick Attack +1 Jujitsu Gi Clothes 4000 TrCity/City HP +60, Phys. Attack +1, Immune: KO Chameleon Robe Robe 5000 TrCity/City HP +40, MP +28, Immune: KO, Absorbs: Holy Fuma Shuriken Star 300 TrCity/City Atk: 7 Main Gauche Knife 3000 Castle/City Atk: 6, 40% Parry Aegis Shield Shield 10000 Castle Phy.Evade: 10%, Mag.Evade: 50%, Magick Attack +1 Diamond Helm Helm 6000 Castle HP +80 Diamond Armor Armor 6000 Castle HP +80 Sleep Blade Sword 5000 Castle Atk: 9, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Sleep Slasher Axe 12000 Castle Atk: 16, 0% Parry, Inflicts: Slow Flame Mace Flail 4000 Castl/TrCity Atk: 11, 0% Parry, fire elemental, Spell Effect: Fira Germinas Boots Shoes 5000 Any Move +1, Jump +1 Jade Armlet Armlet 10000 Any Immune: Stone, Stop Elven Cloak Cloak 8000 Any Phy.Evade: 25%, Mag.Evade: 25% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Aegis Shield that's now available is much worse against physical attacks than your existing shields, but it has a 50% evade rate against magicks! Combined with the Ninja's Reflexes, in fact, you have a 100% evade rate against evadable magicks! It's not too good for most situations, since you don't face nearly as many magick attacks as physical attacks. But, you may want to keep one or two Aegis Shields on hand for battles against magick users. The Aegi Shield is also a great choice for characters who have learned Shirahadori. Shirahadori can block most physical attacks by itself, so you can use your shield slot to beef up your magick defense. Don't blow all your money in Lesalia, because there's some new equipment down in Dorter as well. In particular, the Jujitsu Gi is a great set of clothes for fighting-oriented characters as it also boots your physical attack power, and the Celebrant's Miter is a hat for mages because it 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, you'll have to walk all the way down to Goug if you want to buy it. It's 2 points stronger and a stronger gun never appears in stores, so it's worth the trip if you didn't get the chance to steal any Mythril Guns during the Gollund battle. Buying 5 Chameleon Robes at Dorter would give you an easy way to beat an upcoming boss, but you probably don't need them as the boss isn't that tough even without them. ---EVENTS AT ORBONNE--- Purchase anything you want. Then head to Orbonne Monastery, which has appeared on the map again. Once you enter the monastery, you'll be locked into a series of three battles. Make sure that you're well stocked with supplies. You could also pick up a few of the Jade Armlet accessory to help with 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. ---Battle 24: Monastery Vaults - Second Level----------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Dragoon (lv 25, male) Dragoon (lv 25, male) Dragoon (lv 24, male) Chemist (lv 24, male) Time Mage (lv 23, male) Time Mage (lv 22, male) VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Indoors (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 10 Brick Wind Slash 73% Obstructed -- 20% Stairs Will-o'-the-Wisp 8% --STRATEGY-- This is your first encounter with enemy Dragoons. Their standard attack has a two-tile range 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. Although the Dragoons obviously can't be hit *while* they're Jumping, you can still charge up attacks (including a Jump of your own!) that will hit them when they land. Since the Dragoons are so strong physically, you'll probably want to bring some tough close-range fighters with which to fight back. 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 can't be evaded. Also, if your fighters have Flame Shields or Ice Shields equipped, remember that casting Fire or Blizzard magicks on the group will both damage the enemy Dragoons and heal any characters with the appropriate shield -- it's good for close-quarters fighting! (Be careful, though, one of the Dragoons may have a Flame or Ice Shield himself.) You'll want to take out the enemy Chemist so he can't heal the enemies, but you can 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 enemy that Haste is going to be cast on; this allows you to pick up the Haste status as well! BATTLE TROPHIES: Battle Folio --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 9, Brick - closest to open door at bottom POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 9, Up: 0 (height: 12, Brick) Potion Murasame none Left: 4, Up: 9 (height: 12, Brick) Remedy Musk Pole none Left: 3, Up: 4 (height: 6, Brick) Hi-Potion Poison Bow none Left: 0, Up: 5 (height: 0, Brick) Ether Mythril Bow none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 (i.e., the Spiked Boots or Germinas Boots). After you leave the roster screen, you'll go to the third floor for another battle against Isilud. ---Battle 25: Monastery Vaults - Third Level------------------------------------ YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Isilud (lv 26 Nightblade) Knight (lv 24, male) Knight (lv 23, male) Archer (lv 23, male) Archer (lv 21, male) Summoner (lv 22, male) BOSS: Isilud [Gemini] - lv 26 Nightblade - Bravery 73, Faith 62 Equipment : Platinum Sword, Golden Shield, Platinum Helm, Platinum Armor, Power Gauntlet Abilities*: Arts of War, Jump, Counter, Safeguard, Ignore Elevation Immune : All negative status except Blind, Silence, Oil, and Slow * Isilud's Nightblade job also has Concentration as an innate ability. VICTORY CONDITION: Reduce Isilud to critical HP (< 20% of max HP) LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Indoors (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 11 Book Wind Slash 67% Flagstone Contortion 31% Stairs Will-o'-the-Wisp 2% --STRATEGY-- 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 summons. 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 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. As at Lesalia, the Knights here may have Ice or Flame Shields. These shields make them weak against lightning and water attacks, respectively. Watch out; Isilud has the Dragoon's Jump attack and an incredibly long jump range. If you use Haste, though, you may have a chance to move out of the way before he comes back down. His plain sword attack is strong, too, and he can 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. Before you finish off Isilud, you may want to send a character with Treasure Hunter to the extreme corner of the map near where you start. You may get a Croakadile Bag from this treasure tile. Although the bag is not very good as a weapon, you can sell it for 26,500 gil, which will fund a lot of good equipment! As with most good Treasure Hunter pickups, your chance of getting the bag is greater the *lower* your Bravery. BATTLE TROPHIES: Guardian Bracelet --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 9, Book POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 10,Up: 0 (height: 8, Book) Phoenix Down Croakadile Bag none Left: 6, Up: 5 (height: 7, Book) Holy Water Ice Shield none Left: 9, Up: 9 (height: 7, Book) Potion Flame Shield none Left: 7, Up: 11 (height: 8, Book) Hi-Potion Headband none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upon winning against Isilud, there's yet another save point, and then the last of the three battles, this time with Wiegraf. Before the battle, equip any Jade Armlets you have to protect yourself from his sword attacks. (Alternately, if you equip your *entire* team with Chameleon Robes, you can stop his sword techniques outright.) ---Battle 26: Monastery Vaults - First Level------------------------------------ YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Wiegraf (lv 27 White Knight) Knight (lv 24, female) Knight (lv 24, female) Black Mage (lv 22, female) Archer (lv 23, female) Archer (lv 21, female) BOSS: Wiegraf [Virgo] - lv 27 White Knight - Bravery 71, Faith 64 Equipment : Diamond Sword, Crystal Helm, random armor, Elven Cloak Abilities : Holy Sword, random 2nd action ability, Counter, Doublehand, Move +1 Immune : All negative status except Blind, Silence, Oil, and Slow VICTORY CONDITION: KO Wiegraf LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Indoors (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 13 x 9 Brick, Furnishings Wind Slash 63% Wooden Floor, Stairs Will-o'-the-Wisp 22% Obstructed -- 14% --STRATEGY-- A shortcut to beating this battle is to equip all your characters with Chameleon Robes, which absorb holy damage. The enemy AI mistakenly believes that Wiegraf's sword techniques do holy damage, so if your team is equipped with Chameleon Robes, he won't even use them. But, you do need to equip ALL your characters with the robes; if even one character has different armor, Wiegraf won't be fooled. If you're not using the Chameleon Robes, spread your characters out in your initial deployment. Wiegraf is almost guaranteed to target 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 and 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 (or Shirahadori, if you have it) may be helpful. As in your previous battle, Wiegraf will use Judgment Blade a lot (unless you have the Chameleon Robes on). Judgment Blade randomly casts Stop on you sometimes, but you can protect yourself from that by equipping Jade Armlets. The armlets won't stop you Judgment Blade from doing HP damage, though. Focus your attacks on Wiegraf. If you can't kill him in two rounds of turns or so, the other enemies will show up and you're in trouble. This time, Wiegraf must be knocked down to 0 HP before you win. It's pretty hard to get, but there IS a fairly valuable Treasure Hunter item on this level. If you can make it over to the enemies' side of the map, there's a Magepower Glove up on the wooden platform on the other side. (See below for exact coordinates.) This useful accessory boosts your Magick Attack by 2, making it useful for mages! Although you can buy it item in stores, it costs a lot of money (20,000 gil!), so the Treasure Hunter pickup is nice if you can get a character across the map to claim it. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2500 gil --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 0, Brick - on Ramza's left at start POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 0 (height: 0, Brick) Holy Water Nu Khai Armband none Left: 2, Up: 6 (height: 0, Brick) Phoenix Down Reflect Ring none Left: 6, Up: 0 (height: 8, Wooden Fl.) Remedy Magepower Glove none Left: 7, Up: 11 (height: 1, Brick) Ether Winged Boots none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Afterwards, Isilud escapes with both a friend and your Zodiac Stones captive. Outside, Wiegraf transforms in a rather frightening scene, and then Simon shows up to give you the Scriptures of Germonique. ---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 if you want to read it (this takes a while). If you're having a hard time reading the text, pressing the L button on your PSP will make the background darker (and thus make the text easier to read), while the R button makes the background brighter. Reading the Scriptures has no direct impact on the game, but it fills in some story information. ---STORY EVENTS--- After you're done reading, go to Dorter. A mage will demand the Scriptures and ask if you've read them. It doesn't matter what you say. When the mage 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. ---MORE NEW ITEMS--- Go into Dorter and check out the shops, which once again have some new equipment. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Kodachi Ninjabl 7000 TrCity Atk: 10, 5% Parry Bloodstring Harp Instrmt 10000 TrCity Atk: 13, 10% Parry, drains HP from target to wielder Papyrus Codex Book 10000 TrCity Atk: 9, 15% Parry Wizard's Rod Rod 8000 TrCity/City Atk: 4, 20% Parry, Mag.Attack +2 Golden Staff Staff 7000 TrCity/City Atk: 6, 15% Parry Gokuu Pole Pole 7500 TrCity/City Atk: 10, 20% Parry, Inflicts: Atheist Pantherskin Bag Bag 52000 TrCity/City Atk: 12, 0% Parry, Always: Regen Black Cowl Hat 7000 TrCity/City HP +72 Power Garb Clothes 7000 TrCity/City HP +70, Physical Attack +2 White Robe Robe 9000 TrCity/City HP +50, MP +34, halves: Fire, Lightning, Ice Orichalcum Dirk Knife 4000 Castle/City Atk: 7, 5% Parry Diamond Sword Sword 8000 Castle Atk: 10, 10% Parry Windslash Bow Bow 8000 Castle Atk: 8, 0% Parry Partisan Polearm 7000 Castle Atk: 11, 10% Parry Diamond Shield Shield 12000 Castle Atk: 34, 15% Parry Hunting Bow Crossbw 8000 Castle/Goug Atk: 6, 5% Parry Magick Ring Ring 10000 Any Immune: Silence, Berserk Japa Mala Armlet 15000 Any Immune: Undead, Vampire, Toad, Poison; Boosts: All 8 elements Hi-Ether Item 600 Any Restores 50 MP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Power Garbs are a great buy; they're good new clothes that also raise your physical 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! It has the nice effect of halving damage from fire, lightning, and ice attacks. But even as you upgrade your robes, KEEP at least one Chameleon Robe in your inventory; you'll want it for a particular battle near the end of the chapter. 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. If you were able to snag the Croakadile Bag from the Monastery, you can sell it off for a cool 26,500 gil. The Gokuu Pole has an interesting effect. When you hit a unit with it, it may randomly inflicts the Atheist status. Atheist temporarily reduces a unit's Faith to 0, which means that it can neither use magicks nor be hurt by them. In theory, you could use this effect to stop enemy mages or to immunize your own allies against enemy magick by striking them with the pole. But, the pole only inflicts Atheist status *sometimes*, and the jobs that use poles (Mystic and Arithmetician) are generally not jobs you want to spend a lot of time in. So, its practical value is somewhat limited. ---ERRANDS & RENDEZVOUS MISSION--- There are also a few new errands available down at Lionel Castle and the Castled City of Zaland, as well as at Eagrose Castle. ---New Errands------------------------------------------------------------------ CITY DAYS COST APPROX. REWARD Guard Duty Eagrose 11-13 2000 17235 gil, 146 JP, artefact The Siedge Weald Zaland 11-13 1100 5054 gil, 105 JP, wonder Trick of the Light Lionel 14-15 1050 5049 gil, 83 JP, wonder Fenland Mystery Lionel 13-14 1100 5049 gil, 83 JP, wonder -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Guard Duty" at Eagrose is a good errand to take; the others are pretty mediocre. Taverns also offer a new Rendezvous Mode mission, Desert Minefield. This one is relatively easy, although tough to clear with just a few characters. It's now time to head north to Riovanes. As you head up through the Zeklaus Desert, you'll run into a story battle. ---Battle 27: Zeklaus Desert---------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Luso [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Dark Behemoth (lv 23) Behemoth King (lv 16) Behemoth King (lv 15) Behemoth (lv 18) Behemoth (lv 17) Behemoth (lv 16) GUEST: Luso [Cancer] - lv 25 Game Hunter - Bravery 55, Faith 48 Equipment : Icebrand, Platinum Shield, Crystal Helm, Jujitsu Gi, Elven Cloak Abilities : Huntcraft, other abilities random VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, or recruit all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Luso is KOed or Ramza dies WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 18 x 10 Sand Sandstorm 62% Stone Outcropping Tremor 36% Obstructed -- 2% --STRATEGY-- 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. If you have anyone who can Poach or Entice/Tame monsters, they're good to bring here. After you deploy your characters, there will be a CG scene, as Ramza jumps in to help Luso. Then the battle starts and then the battle starts. It's Behemoth city! Luso can hold his own pretty well -- he comes with an Icebrand sword, which is better than anything sold at the Outfitter 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 magick 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. All the Behemoths can counterattack (since they're monsters), which means 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 dealing damage and can't be counterattacked. If you have an Orator or someone else with Entice 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 find 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! Luso also automatically poaches any enemy he kills, so he if kills any of the behemoths here, you should also get something good. The Treasure Hunter items here are especially poor, as they're the same items available when this map first opened in Chapter I. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1, Sand POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 2, Up: 7 (height: 2.5, Sand) Phoenix Down Blind Knife Sten Needle Left: 0, Up: 11 (height: 0, Sand) Echo Herbs Battle Boots Degenerator Left: 6, Up: 8 (height: 0, Sand) Hi-Potion Thunder Rod none Left: 6, Up: 17 (height: 0, Sand) Potion Iron Sword Hypnogas -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---LUSO--- Defeat or recruit all the enemy Behemoths and Luso will join up. (Luso is the lead character from the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy Tactics A2 ... he's just moonlighting here.) Luso is basically a clone of Ramza, but as long as he's in his Game Hunter job, 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. Luso's Game Hunter job also has a little more MP than Ramza's Squire job. You may want to de-equip Luso's Icebrand sword and give it to Agrias -- it will make her Holy Sword techniques extremely powerful! ---POACHING--- 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*. Both Behemoth Kings and Dark Behemoths can give you rare items you can't find at the Outfitter. ---OUTFITTER & NEXT BATTLE--- Up in Lesalia, you can pick up the Windslash Bow, Orichalcum Dirk, and Diamond Sword if you didn't get them immediately after the Monastery sequence. You may want to skip the Diamond Sword, though, since there will be another new sword after just a few more battles. Grab anything you need, then continue to the Grogh Heights. ---Battle 28: Grogh Heights----------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Thief (lv 27, female) Archer (lv 26, male) Chemist (lv 27, male) Chemist (lv 26, male) Squire (lv 27, male) Squire (lv 25, male) VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Night, thunderstorm (evade rate vs. bows x 1.80, fire dmg +25%, lightning dmg -25%) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 13 x 11 Grassland, Underbrush Tanglevine 59% Soil Sinkhole 16% Brick Wind Slash 10% Stone Outcropping Tremor 9% Stairs, Coffer Will-o'-the-Wisp 3% Flagstone Contortion 2% --STRATEGY-- 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. If the *enemies* get bunched up in a row in a pass, firing one of Agrias's Divine Ruination skills (if you have it) will decimate them. There's a thunderstorm going on here, so fire attacks will be weaker and thunder attacks will be stronger. Given that there's both a storm *and* this battle is at night, evade rates versus bows will nearly double! Between these effects and the fact that it's harder to target enemies when firing uphill, Archers may not be the best pick for this battle. Because this is a fairly easy battle, it's a good chance to build up your weaker characters if you want. 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 8.5, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 11,Up: 1 (height: 0, Underbrush) Ether Sleep Blade none Left: 11,Up: 10 (height: 0, Underbrush) Potion Main Gauche none Left: 4, Up: 1 (height: 6, Underbrush) Remedy Ama-no-Murakumo none Left: 0, Up: 10 (height: 9, Underbrush) Hi-Potion Kunai none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After smashing your way through the Heights (I actually felt kind of bad killing those guys off), you'll meet up with Orran again. You'll also 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. ---Battle 29: Yardrow----------------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Marach (lv 23 Netherseer) Ninja (lv 26, male) Ninja (lv 25, male) Ninja (lv 24, male) Summoner (lv 28, female) Summoner (lv 27, female) GUEST: Rapha [Pisces] - lv 22 Skyseer - Bravery 31, Faith 69 Equipment : Musk Pole, Celebrant's Miter, White Robe, Elven Cloak Abilities : Sky Mantra, other abilities random ENEMY: Marach [Gemini] - lv 23 Netherseer - Bravery 69, Faith 31 Equipment : Gokuu Pole, Headband, random armor, random accessory Abilities : Nether Mantra, random 2nd action ability, random Squire abilities VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Rapha is KOed or Ramza dies WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 10 Stone Wall, Flagstone Contortion 33% Grassland Tanglevine 31% Soil Sinkhole 17% Roof, Chimney Wind Blast 10% Obstructed -- 6% Wooden Floor, Stairs Will-o'-the-Wisp 4% --STRATEGY-- Here you'll encounter Marach (the guy you met in Dorter) and Rapha. You have to save Rapha from Marach and the Riovanes soldiers. 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! Black Magick will be useful here, but avoid using Archers because they won't be able to fire through the city walls. To protect Rapha, move a character into the city gateway to block it and prevent the enemies from following her outside. 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. Even if you have Shirahadori, it can only block one of the two attacks. So make the Ninjas 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. It's also possible to get inside with Teleport, Ignore Elevation, or even just a high Jump rating (5). Otherwise, you'll have to fight through the Ninjas at the gate to reach the Summoners. As usual, watch what areas the Summoners are targeting so you can try to keep your team split up and out of the way. 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. Finally, beware of 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, he does very little damage. It's possible to steal the Japa Mala accessory from one of the Ninjas and the Magick Ring from one of the Summoners. Although both of these items are already in stores, they're pretty expensive, so you may want to try stealing them. The Japa Mala is particularly useful. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Yagyu Darkrood, Holy Water --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1.5, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 4 (height: 1, Grassland) Potion Mythril Gun none Left: 5, Up: 7 (height: 3, Flagstone) Phoenix Down Slasher none *Left: 5, Up: 11(height: 9, Chimney) Holy Water Flame Mace none *Left: 0, Up: 9 (height: 11, Wooden F.) Hi-Potion Hunting Bow none * Requires Jump of 5. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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--- 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. ---EQUIPMENT AND ERRANDS IN YARDROW--- After you reach Yardrow, another new set of equipment is added to the stores. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Ninja Longblade Ninjabl 10000 TrCity Atk: 12, 5% Parry Kiyomori Katana 10000 TrCity Atk: 12, 15% Parry Cashmere Cloth 15000 TrCity Atk: 10, 50% Parry Gold Hairpin Hat 12000 TrCity/City HP +80, MP +50, Immune: Silence Black Robe Robe 13000 TrCity/City HP +60, MP +30, Boosts: Fire, Lightning, Ice Assassin's Dagger Knife 5000 Castle/City Atk: 7, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Doom Platinum Sword Sword 11000 Castle Atk: 12, 10% Parry Platinum Helm Helm 8000 Castle HP +90 Circlet Helm 10000 Castle HP +100 Platinum Armor Armor 9000 Castle HP +90 Morning Star Flail 9000 Castl/TrCity Atk: 16, 0% Parry Hermes Shoes Shoes 7000 Any Speed +1 Bracer Gauntlt 50000 Any Phys. Atk +3 Vampire Cape Cloak 15000 Any Ph.Evade: 28%, Mg.Evade: 28% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Any magick users on your main team will benefit quite a bit from this new gear. The Gold Hairpins raise both your HP and MP a lot, and the Black Robe strengthens the power of any of your fire-, ice-, or lighting-elemental spells. (You may want to keep healers using the White Robe, since it's got elemental defenses and they don't need the offensive capability.) Even though you're upgrading your equipment, remember to keep at least one Chameleon Robe in your inventory--its ability to absorb Holy damage is important for a battle at the end of the chapter. 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 physical attack boost, so buy one or two for your front-line fighters if you can afford them. You could also pick up some better equipment for Rapha, but it's hardly necessary as you don't need to protect her from being KOed in the subsequent battles. At any rate, do NOT equip Rapha 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 to a regular character. There's also a pair of errands here: ---New Errands------------------------------------------------------------------ CITY DAYS COST APPROX. REWARD Diving Expedition Yardrow 10-14 5000 2026 gil, 69 JP The Yardrow Melee Yardrow 14-16 0 22265 gil, 166 JP, artefact > Month of Cancer only -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Only "The Yardrow Melee" is worth doing, but that only shows up during the month of Cancer. ---LEAVING YARDROW--- When you leave town, you'll cut to another Delita battle. ---Battle 30: Zeltennia Castle Chapel Ruins------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Delita, Ovelia [guest] ENEMY FORCES: Ninja (lv 22, male) Ninja (lv 22, female) ALLY: Delita [Sagittarius] - lv 30 Holy Knight - Bravery 85, Faith 52 Equipment : Save the Queen, Platinum Shield, Platinum Helm, Carabineer Mail, Germinas Boots Abilities : Holy Sword, Arts of War, Parry, Concentration, Move +1 Immune : Chicken, Toad, Charm, and Doom GUEST: Ovelia [Taurus] - lv 5 Princess - Bravery 53, Faith 72 Equipment : Mage's Staff, Gold Hairpin, White Robe, Elven Cloak Abilities : White Magicks, Counter Tackle, Reequip, Move +1 VICTORY CONDITION: KO all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ovelia is KOed or Delita is killed WEATHER: Clear night (evade rate vs. bows x 1.33) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 16 x 9 Grassland Tanglevine 54% Flagstone Contortion 25% Brick Wind Slash 18% Obstructed -- 3% --STRATEGY-- 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- No Treasure Hunter items can be obtained during this battle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---MORE EQUIPMENT FOR SALE--- 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. ---NEW RENDEZVOUS MISSION--- Clearing the battle at Yardrow also opens up another Rendezvous Mode mission, Littering, which pits you against ten enemy Ninjas. If you bring characters with the Sticky Fingers reaction ability, you can catch the weapons that the Ninjas throw, which is a great way to build up your stock of weapons! You can also start winning rare equipment from this mission, although your experience level probably isn't high enough yet for these items to appear. When you've completed your shopping and catching spree, head on up to the Yuguewood. ---Battle 31: The Yuguewood----------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Black Mage (lv 28, male, undead) Revenant* Black Mage (lv 27, male, undead) Ghast* Time Mage (lv 28, female, undead) Ghoul* Time Mage (lv 27, female, undead) * The levels of these enemies depends on the highest level on your own roster. VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, or recruit all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear night (evade rate vs. bows x 1.33) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 8 Grassland Tanglevine 63% Flagstone Contortion 20% Tree, Moss Wind Slash 13% Obstructed -- 4% Stone Outcropping Tremor 1% --STRATEGY-- 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! As for the rest of your team, Phoenix Down is also a really effective ability here as it has a 100% hit rate for KOing undead monsters. So, you might want to make a number of your characters into Chemists or give them the Items command plus Throw Items. (Phoenix Down merely KOs the undead and doesn't petrify them, though, so they do have the opportunity to revive.) Other tactics for dealing with the ghost monsters include Poaching them; a Poached monster disappears from the map and hence can't be revived. You could even use the Orator's Tame or Entice to recruit the ghosts -- even if you don't plan on keeping them, it removes them as enemies. The undead humans are immune to Traitor status, however. Since the enemies are undead, Cure spells and other healing abilities (e.g. Raise and items) 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 undead humans have "upgraded" versions of their jobs that give them better stats than regular Black Mages and Time Mages. That makes the two Black Mages 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. Which to choose? For your close-range fighters, defense against Immobilize is the most important, so give them Guardian Bracelets. But for your gunners and magick users, being Immobilized may not be such a problem, as they have enough range that they can still attack even if they're rooted in one spot. So you might be better off giving Diamond Bracelets to your range attackers. Rapha is just an "ordinary" guest here, so it doesn't matter if she gets KOed. BATTLE TROPHIES: Phoenix Down x2 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 2, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 2, Up: 5 (height: 3, Grassland) Holy Water Damask Cloth none Left: 4, Up: 5 (height: 4, Grassland) Phoenix Down Iron Fan none Left: 7, Up: 2 (height: 4, Grassland) Remedy Mythril Spear none Left: 11, Up: 1 (height: 2, Grassland) Ether Bestiary none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---PREPARATION FOR RIOVANES--- Don't go on to Riovanes Castle just yet. It contains some very powerful bosses and you need to make sure you're prepared. For Ramza, you'll want two Squire abilities: Focus and *especially* Tailwind. Also buy a Chameleon Robe, a Green Beret, and at least one pair of Hermes Shoes. (If you sold all your Green Berets and Chameleon Robes, you can re-buy them at Yardrow.) Also helpful are a good supply of X-Potions, Jujitsu Gis and Chameleon Robes (both of which protect against instant KO), and Jade Armlets (protection against Stop). These items are particularly helpful if you want to attempt to learn the Ultima magick at Riovanes ... but since Ultima actually isn't very good and is much easier to learn in Chapter IV, you may not want to bother. 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. Finally, a last bit of preparation you could do is to use the Orator's Enlighten skill to lower the Faith of your physical fighters. That will reduce the damage they will take from the powerful magickal attacks you're about to encounter. DON'T lower your mages' Faith -- that will make their own magicks less powerful! ---AT RIOVANES--- 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 Rapha of all her equipment beforehand. ---Battle 32: Riovanes Castle Gate---------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Rapha [guest], 1 other 2nd Squad - 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Marach (lv 24 Netherseer) Knight (lv 29, male) Knight (lv 28, male) Knight (lv 27, male) Archer (lv 29, female) Archer (lv 28, female) Archer (lv 27, female) ENEMY: Marach [Gemini] - lv 24 Netherseer - Bravery 69, Faith 31 Equipment : Gokuu Pole, Headband, random armor, random accessory Abilities : Nether Mantra, random 2nd action ability, random Squire abilities VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear night (evade rate vs. bows x 1.33) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 12 Flagstone Contortion 53% Grassland Tanglevine 24% Canal Torrent 8% Swamp Quicksand 8% Soil Sinkhole 5% Obstructed -- 1% --STRATEGY-- 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 constant rain of arrows from the enemy Archers atop the gates, so equipping Archer's Bane or (preferably) Shirahadori 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 magick or the Kiyomori Iaido (which casts Protect). Equipping shields and capes will also boost your evade rate. Rapha 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. If you de-equipped Rapha's armor before the battle, you can KO her in one attack and quickly remove Marach from the battlefield. Take out the enemy Knight on the bridge to keep him from blocking your path, then start hurrying up the steps. You want to reach the enemy Archers as quickly as possible. (If you have the Dragoon ability Ignore Elevation or the Time Mage ability Teleport, this is easy-peasy, of course; you can just jump right up from the drawbridge.) Any abilities that you can fire at the Archers from a few tiles away will be helpful, as is Arithmeticks. 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 to ensure your attacks connect. Alternately, you can just attack with Agrias's Holy Sword techniques, which can never be evaded. If you keep killing off one of the Knights, the other ones may keep bringing him back with Phoenix Down, thus wasting their turns. The Monk's Revive ability will be useful in bringing back your KOed allies, but only if you stay on level ground; it has no vertical range. Once the Archers are KOed, you can have all your characters mop up the remaining Knights. BATTLE TROPHIES: Elven Cloak, Hi-Potion, X-Potion --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 3, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 11 (height: 5, Grassland) Remedy Celebrant's Miter none Left: 4, Up: 4 (height: 2, Grassland) Ether Diamond Helm none Left: 8, Up: 3 (height: 2, Grassland) Hi-Potion Aegis Shield none Left: 11,Up: 11 (height: 13, Flagstone) Potion Fuma Shuriken none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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're reading this walkthrough and coming prepared ;), he isn't that hard to beat. Before the battle starts, turn Ramza into his basic Squire job and equip him with a Chameleon Robe. Make sure he also has some sort of healing ability, like Chakra (Martial Arts), Lifefont, Items, or Auto-Potion. If you're using Auto-Potion, you should also 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 select Discard. 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. ---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 (lv 28 White Knight) PHASE TWO: Belias (lv 31 Gigas) Archaeodaemon (lv 29) Archaeodaemon (lv 28) Archaeodaemon (lv 27) BOSS: Wiegraf [Virgo] - lv 28 White Knight - Bravery 71, Faith 64 Equipment : Diamond Sword, Diamond Shield, Diamond Helm, Diamond Armor, Diamond Bracelet Abilities : Holy Sword, Martial Arts, Counter, Safeguard, Move +1 Immune : All negative status except Blind, Silence, Oil, and Slow BOSS: Belias [Virgo] - lv 31 Gigas - Bravery 70, Faith 70 HP: about 1045, MP: about 255 Abilities : Dread, Summon Gigas, Brawler, Swiftness, can't enter water Immune : All negative status except Blind, Slow, and Immobilize VICTORY CONDITION: Phase One - Reduce Wiegraf to critical HP (< 20% of max HP) Phase Two - KO Belias LOSS CONDITION: Phase One - Ramza is KOed Phase Two - Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Indoors (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 8 Flagstone Contortion 68% Canal Torrent 23% Grassland Tanglevine 7% Obstructed -- 2% --STRATEGY-- Wiegraf has a fearsome reputation, in part because you're now stuck in Riovanes Castle if you don't have another save to go back to. Your ease of beating him will really depend on what abilities and equipment Ramza has. Wiegraf can be easy with the right set-up, or very tough if you're stuck inside without an ideal set of abilities. For his first form, you have just Ramza. Wiegraf has a number of strong Holy Sword techniques. However, you can stop them completely by equipping a Chameleon Robe. Due to a bug in the game's AI, the computer thinks that Wiegraf's sword techniques do Holy-elemental damage (even though they actually don't), and won't use them when you're equipped with the Chameleon Robe, which absorbs Holy damage. Instead, Wiegraf will just use some fairly weak Martial Arts abilities. Once you're protected with the Chameleon Robe, Wiegraf can't do much damage to you. Keep running from him and keep using the Tailwind ability to boost Ramza's Speed, and healing when you need to. 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 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 start using Focus to build up your attack power. (If you don't have Focus, give Ramza a gun instead, since guns are not reliant on physical attack power.) After you've built up your attack, just run up to Wiegraf and you can knock him out quickly in one or two attacks. If you don't have a Chameleon Robe, there's actually one that you can find on this very map. Equip Treasure Hunter and quickly move in front of the torch to Ramza's right to find the Chameleon Robe, then use Reequip to change into it. You can do this on a single turn. Since the Chameleon Robe is the "good" item on this Treasure Hunter title, your odds of obtaining it are LOWER the higher Ramza's Bravery. You might just get a Ether instead. But if that happens, you could always just reset and try again. To keep your HP up while you're Yelling, Auto-Potion works great if you throw away all your Potions and Hi-Potions before the battle; Ramza will use an X-Potion to heal himself for 150 HP whenever Wiegraf attacks him. (Auto-Potion doesn't always activate, so if Ramza runs low on HP, you can also manually use an X-Potion on yourself to heal.) Another way to keep your HP up is the combination of Mana Shield (Time Mage) and Manafont (Mystic). Mana Shield will protect you by diverting damage to Ramza's MP, and Manafont restores some MP every time you move and keeps up your Mana Shield. If you don't have Manafont, you can also pair Mana Shield with the Monk's Chakra. Run from Wiegraf while using Chakra each turn; since Chakra restores your MP, you'll keep up your Mana Shield. Even when Mana Shield doesn't trigger, you should have enough HP to survive at least one hit, and Chakra will keep restoring your HP afterwards. Whenever you get far enough from Wiegraf that he can't attack you, use Tailwind. This tactic takes a little longer because it requires you to navigate out of Wiegraf's range in order to use Tailwind, but it otherwise works the same. If you don't have any Chameleon Robes, Auto-Potion, or Mana Shield available, available, you could try the Tailwind strategy but with some other ability to restore your HP, like Critical: Recover HP, Regenerator, or Lifefont. These abilities don't restore quite as much HP as Auto-Potion or don't work as reliably, so it might be more difficult, but you could give it a shot. If you have Auto-Potion but not Tailwind, you could also use Rend Speed and Rend Power to weaken Wiegraf -- but a disadvantage of such a strategy is that debuffs won't carry over to the next stage of the battle, whereas any buffs you place on Ramza *do*. If you can't use the heal & Tailwind strategy at all, you'll just have to finish off Wiegraf quickly, before he can kill you. The Dragoon's Jump attack may be useful, since Wiegraf can't counterattack if you use it at a distance. If you need to resort to physical attacks, equip Concentration or attack Wiegraf from behind so he can't dodge. You can also try using a Blood Sword (if you have one) to recover a little HP with each attack, but this only really works if you can Dual Wield it with a stronger weapon since a Blood Sword doesn't do enough damage by itself to defeat Wiegraf. If you have a magick-oriented Ramza, you could try use strong Black Magicks to finish Wiegraf in a single shot. Equipping the Hermes Shoes as an accessory to boost Ramza's Speed may also help you get the jump on him. Finally, the Mystic's Defense Boost ability will reduce the damage Wiegraf can do to you, and even Mana Shield by itself will give you an additional buffer of life before he kills you. 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 if you used Tailwind/Focus, Ramza can run up to Belias and repeatedly attack him with high-powered hits. You should be able to kill Belias before he gets to cast Cyclops. If Ramza isn't able to kill Belias on his own, or you couldn't use the Tailwind and Focus strategy, you'll have to take down Belias with the rest of your team. Have your other allies start attacking Belias. You want to him as quickly as possible, so range attacks (bows/guns) are good as they may not require you to move. The Dragoon's Jump ability is also good because it takes you off the screen, where Belias can't kill you. Agrias should use her strongest sword technique. As in the fight against Cuchulainn, the Lich summon spell or the Time Magick Graviga do a lot of damage if you can get them off, and a strong Black Magick spell could be useful too. If you already have Arithmeticks, a Level Prime calculation will allow you to hit Belias without requiring any charge times; depending on his Exp, height, or CT, other calculations may work too. Ideally, you can take out Belias before he even casts Cyclops. If you can't manage that, though, you may still be able to keep yourself alive long enough to finish him off. Using the Jump attack may get some of your characters off the screen when Cyclops fires and keep them alive. You can also try Silencing Belias, either with the Mystic's Quiescence or Agrias's Hallowed Bolt. While putting Silence on Belias will abort his initial Cyclops summon, he will still be able to use his Petrify ability to turn you to stone, so this tactic works better if you pair it with Jade Armlets to protect yourself from Stone. Finally, you could try using the Mystic's Disbelief magick or the Gokuu Pole to attempt to put the Atheist status on your strongest fighter, which will make him/her immune to magick and able to survive the initial Cyclops casting. (Or, deploy characters who already have very low Faith to begin with.) Belias and his demons can still kill you with physical attacks and petrification, so using Silence or Atheist is just a stop-gap measure to keep a few characters alive long enough to finish killing him. Belias has about 1045 HP. As soon as you defeat him, the Archaeodaemons also disappear. (The Archaeodaemons are special enemy-only monsters, so don't even bother trying to recruit them.) The strategies above are, of course, the most extreme strategies 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 bare-fisted 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 Tailwind strategy almost assures you of victory. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 3, Flagstone - on Ramza's left at start POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 4, Up: 5 (height: 4, Flagstone) Ether Chameleon Robe none Left: 6, Up: 2 (height: 4, Flagstone) Hi-Potion Jujitsu Gi none Left: 9, Up: 0 (height: 7, Flagstone) Potion Diamond Armor none Left: 9, Up: 7 (height: 7, Grassland) Remedy Germinas Boots none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---Battle 34: Riovanes Castle Roof---------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Rapha [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Elmdore (lv 33 Ark Knight) Celia (lv 29 Assassin) Lettie (lv 28 Assassin) GUEST: Rapha [Pisces] - lv 23 Skyseer - Bravery 31, Faith 69 Equipment : Musk Pole, Celebrant's Miter, White Robe, Elven Cloak Abilities : Sky Mantra, other abilities random BOSS: Elmdore [Gemini] - lv 33 Ark Knight - Bravery 70, Faith 70 Equipment : Muramasa, Black Cowl, Black Robe, Nu Khai Armband Abilities*: Sword Spirit, First Strike, Doublehand, Ignore Elevation Immune : All negative status except Blind, Silence, Oil, and Slow * Elmdore's Ark Knight job also includes Safeguard as an innate ability. BOSS: Celia [Virgo] - lv 29 Assassin - Bravery 65, Faith 70 Equipment : Kiyomori x2, Black Cowl, Gaia Gear, Cachusha Abilities : Subdual Arts, random action ability, random Squire abilities, Move+1 Immune : Stone, Chicken, Toad BOSS: Lettie [Sagittarius] - lv 28 Assassin - Bravery 65, Faith 70 Equipment : Spellbinder x2, Black Cowl, Power Garb, Barette Abilities : Subdual Arts, random action ability, random Squire abilities, Move+1 Immune : Stone, Chicken, Toad VICTORY CONDITION: Reduce any one of the enemies to critical HP (< 20% of max) LOSS CONDITION: Rapha is KOed or Ramza dies WEATHER: Clear night (evade rate vs. bows x 1.33) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 11 x 10 Roof, Chimney Wind Blast 79% Obstructed -- 12% Wooden Floor Will-o'-the-Wisp 8% Stone Wall Contortion 1% --STRATEGY-- You'll want to optimize your team for speed 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. Give the Ignore Elevation or Teleport movement abilities to as many character as possible. 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. This battle is always really short: either you win quickly or you lose quickly! 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 runs at the bad guys, and if she gets KOed, you lose. 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. (Don't attack Elmdore; he can use First Strike to turn your attack into one of his own.) With Teleport or Ignore Elevation, you may be able to get another quick character up on the roof to join the attack too. Where possible, attack the assassins from behind so they can't evade. Concentrate all your attacks on a single enemy, 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 your team is quick enough to end the battle in a few turns, the bad guys won't really have a chance to kill Rapha. If you're not that fast, you'll need to protect her, so heal her ASAP. Put Disable on Rapha (via Mustadio's Arm Shot) as soon as you can; she'll flee the battle and mostly 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 can inflict Stop or KO on you with 100% success. You can guard against the former by equipping Jade Armlets and the latter with Jujitsu Gis or Chameleon Robes. A Barette, if equipped on a female character, will also protect against both Stop *and* KO. 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 teach it to Ramza as soon as you reach Chapter IV.) If you're fully equipped with Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets, Celia and Lettie's Stop or KO attacks won't work on you and instead they will almost always cast Ultima. Move Luso in range of whomever they target to make sure he gets hit with the magick. It's not easy to learn Ultima here since Rapha is so vulnerable, so you're probably better off skipping it--you'll have more opportunities to learn Ultima in Chapter IV that don't involve a suicidal Rapha. It's also possible to steal a Cachusha from Celia and a Barette from Lettie. Neither of these items is ever sold at the Outfitter, 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1.5, Stone Wall - on Ramza's left at start POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 3, Up: 3 (height: 12, Chimney) Phoenix Down Elven Cloak none Left: 3, Up: 5 (height: 14, Chimney) Potion Orichalcum Dirk none Left: 3, Up: 7 (height: 12, Chimney) Hi-Potion Kodachi none Left: 10, Up: 3 (height: 2, Roof) Maiden's Kiss Jade Armlet none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Finally, Rapha and Marach will offer to join. ALLY: Rapha [Pisces] - Skyseer, lv. based on party's - Bravery 31, Faith 69 Equipment : Musk Pole, Celebrant's Miter, White Robe, Elven Cloak Abilities : Sky Mantra, other abilities random ALLY: Marach [Gemini] - Netherseer, lv. based on party's - Bravery 69, Faith 31 Equipment : Gokuu Pole, Black Cowl, Wizard's Robe, Japa Mala Abilities : Nether Mantra, other abilities random You'll want to take Rapha. Her low Bravery makes her ideal for using Treasure Hunter, which works best with low Bravery. 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 and get stronger when Marach has LOW Faith, the reverse of most magick abilities. (Rapha's abilities simply ignore Faith entirely.) If you have an Orator lower Marach's Faith, you can use Marach to attack the enemies with magick while being resistant to magick himself ... but the randomness of his abilities still makes him not too useful. This concludes Chapter III.
miércoles, 18 de mayo de 2016
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